Boston Bruins
The Bruins are banking on a bounce-back season from Jeremy Swayman in net.
With the 2025-26 Bruins season set to get underway on Wednesday night, let’s run through some of our bold predictions for a new year at TD Garden.
Jeremy Swayman bounces back
The 2024-25 season was a lost season for Jeremy Swayman, with an extended contract holdout, the weight of that hefty new contract, defensive struggles, and his own regression in net leading to disaster.
Questions remain regarding how Swayman can handle an extended workload this season. But, after building up his stock as one of the top young netminders in the league over his first four years, Swayman can prove that his .892 save percentage last season was an abject outlier.
A stingier defensive structure, added reps for Joonas Korpisalo, and a clean slate this fall has Swayman bouncing back with a .913 save percentage as Boston’s go-to netminder.
He won’t be in the running for a Vezina. But, Swayman rights the ship and instills faith in the Bruins that they have a reliable option in net for the long haul.
Boston leads the NHL in hits, penalty minutes
Cam Neely noted on Monday that the Bruins wanted to add more “piss and vinegar” to their depth chart this offseason.
The presence of an established bruiser in Tanner Jeannot and noted fly in the ointment in Mikey Eyssimont should have teams prepping an extra helping of ice bags before games at TD Garden.
Add in the return of players like Nikita Zadorov and Mark Kastelic, and the Bruins will feature three players on their roster who recorded at least 200 hits last season — as well as three of the 12 NHLers who logged at least 79 penalty minutes.
It remains to be seen if the Bruins can outscore opponents on a regular basis. But, few teams will dole out as many welts as Marco Sturm’s club.
Boston ranks in bottom third of 5v5 goals scored
The Bruins’ effort and willingness to dole out punishment will be a regular occurrence on the ice this fall.
The same can’t be said for Boston’s secondary scoring. Outside of the noted on-ice cheat code that is David Pastrnak, the Bruins don’t have a lot of proven avenues of offense, especially in an unproven middle-six group.
After ranking 23rd in the league in 5-on-5 goals last season, the Bruins improve … to just 22nd overall this season.
Even with a promising top line and improved power play, there’s still far too many question marks in place with Boston’s middle-six personnel to expect steady production out of that area on the depth chart.
The Bruins’ top line combines for 101 goals
The Bruins’ is that their’ top line of David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, and Elias Lindholm are likely to keep landing punches this season — keeping an uneven offense somewhat afloat.
After somehow scoring 43 goals and 106 points on a wretched roster last season, Pastrnak tallies 51 goals in 2025-26, receiving a much-needed lift from a stronger power-play unit. The Bruins can presumably only go upwards after a season where Pastrnak only lit the lamp nine times on the man advantage.
Geekie scores 27 after his breakout season, with an expected regression in his 22.0 shooting percentage buoyed by an uptick in power-play production (just four of his 33 tallies last year came on the power play).
Lindholm — who scored 15 points in his final 17 games with this duo — pots 23 amid a 64-point campaign.
Hampus Lindholm takes over as Boston’s power-play QB
If there’s one area of optimism for Boston’s uneven offense outside of the top line, it rests on a power play seemingly destined for a resurgence after ranking 29th in the NHL in success rate (15.2 percent) last season.
New assistant coach Steve Spott has made revitalizing Boston’s man advantage his primary undertaking, with the team overhauling their approach on entries and Pastrnak’s sedentary spot at the left circle.
But, the return of Hampus Lindholm to the lineup also bodes well for Boston’s special-teams unit, as he eventually leapfrogs Charlie McAvoy as the team’s go-to option from the blue line on PP1.
Lindholm’s impact on the power play might be the most underrated part of the veteran defenseman’s game.
Since the start of the 2022-23 season, David Pastrnak has logged 524:28 of power-play reps alongside McAvoy as the team’s top defenseman on the man advantage. Over that extended stretch, the Bruins have outscored teams, 58-12 — equating to a 6.64 goals scored per 60 minutes rate.
Over that same stretch of the past three seasons, Pastrnak has only recorded 184:01 of power play ice time with Lindholm. Over that stretch, the Bruins have outscored teams, 36-1, which stands as an 11.74 goals scored per 60 minutes rate.
Don’t expect the Bruins’ man advantage to revert back to the days when Patrice Bergeron was in the bumper and Torey Krug was quarterbacking up high. But we’ve got Boston’s power play going from 29th in the NHL to 19th overall.
Mikey Eyssimont takes home 7th Player Award
Amid a season where the Bruins’ identity is rooted in a pugnacious, high-effort approach, Eyssimont quickly becomes a fan favorite as a bottom-six irritant.
Beyond Eyssimont’s reputation as a punishing forechecker and post-whistle pest, he has a bit more offensive upside than some might expect for a physical forward.
After potting 12 goals, doling out 200 hits, and becoming a regular contributor on the penalty kill, Eyssimont takes home the 7th Player Award as the player who has performed above and beyond expectations.
Bruins make a trade for scoring help
It remains to be seen if Boston has the patience to simply accrue draft capital and wait for multiple prospects to emerge, especially with players like Pastrnak and McAvoy already in their prime.
While the Bruins have a few blue-chip talents like James Hagens to incorporate into the lineup in the coming years, Sweeney has some added first-round picks and additional assets he can part ways with if the right deal presents itself.
Given Boston’s need for scoring help, Sweeney ultimately pulls off a deal to reel in Avalanche winger Martin Necas — whose time in Colorado comes to a close after he expresses a willingness to hit free agency.
But, the Czech winger changes his tune in Boston after joining a roster anchored by his fellow countryman in Pastrnak, with the Bruins adding a speedy, top-six talent into their core for the foreseeable future.
James Hagens earns a cup of coffee with the Bruins in the spring
Beyond Fraser Minten, don’t expect plenty of Bruins youngsters to make a sizable impact at the NHL level this year. (We’ve got Matt Poitras as one of several pieces in a Necas trade).
Instead, most of the focus will revolve around players in the collegiate ranks, headlined by James Hagens.
After posting 48 points for Boston College in his sophomore season, Hagens takes a page out of the book of his former Eagles teammate, Ryan Leonard, and turns pro in the spring.
Don’t expect Hagens to light the world on fire as he adjusts to the pro game over the final weeks of the regular season. But, Hagens’ speed and edge work offers hope that the Bruins have a legitimate top-six weapon for the future.
The Bruins don’t name a captain this season
For all of the discourse regarding Boston’s leadership hierarchy, the Bruins seem comfortable letting the situation play out organically when it comes to who emerges as the team’s next captain.
Ultimately, the Bruins opt to wait until next year to officially name a “C” — with Pastrnak, McAvoy, and an assortment of veterans like Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, and Sean Kuraly serving as the next wave of leaders on a retooling roster.
Bruins sneak into the playoffs as the final Wild Card team
It’s going to be a season full of growing pains for Sturm and a Bruins roster with plenty of question marks.
Scoring outside of the top line and power play will be a season-long issue for Boston, while the Bruins can’t afford an extended absence of players like McAvoy and Lindholm.
But, Bruins fans who have spent most of the offseason watching Gavin McKenna highlights might be disappointed.
Last season, Sweeney and Co. opted to tear down their roster when it looked as though the team didn’t have the horses to realistically compete for a playoff spot.
On the day that Boston uprooted their roster at the trade deadline on March 8, Boston was … two points out of a playoff spot. In other words, it’s extremely hard — even in a season where little goes right — to truly plummet down into the cellar of the standings.
And even with this current roster’s evident flaws, Sturm and his staff have the template in place for this team to steadily grind out points.
Ultimately, it all comes down to whether or not the Bruins’ top players can play to their standard — rather than outright exceed expectations.
- It is reasonable for Swayman to revert back to being at least a league-average goalie?
- How about Boston’s defense tightening up with two top defensemen back in the lineup?
- It is overshooting expectations to expect an overhauled power play anchored by one of the best offensive players in the league to be better than 29th overall?
Those aren’t exactly unrealistic asks. And if those critical areas of Boston’s gameplan all bounce back, you have an admittedly imperfect team — one than can keep games close and win far more games on the margins when compared to last year.
We’ve got Boston ultimately sneaking into the last Wild Card spot with a record of 40-31-11.
It may not be an extended playoff run in 2025-26, but Sturm’s efforts to reset the standard this winter moves this franchise in the right direction.
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