Back to Basics: Bruins time to pay the piper as they aim to re-establish structure and identity

(Photo Credit: Boston Bruins)

Last year, all that could have gone wrong for the Boston Bruins went wrong.

Jeremy Swayman's very public, and down right ugly contract negotiation throughout the summer and into training camp.

Training camp, and practices lacking tempo, purpose, and intensity.

The lame duck status of Jim Montgomery coaching without a contract extension that left him vulnerable, on edge, and probably a bit checked out before being fired.

Injuries, and underperformances up and down the lineup.

Dreadful special teams play.

Embarrassing team defense, and an agonizing lack of offense at even strength.

All culminating in Boston's first trade deadline sell job, and near bottom of the league finish in nearly two decades

Now while, yes, there was a major snowball effect at play that could help explain a little bit of why the Bruins were as bad as they were, and that it was just an off year - the reality, is that when Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci retired at the conclusion of the 2022-2023 season, the Bruins were due for a set back.

Many, myself included, expected it to happen heading into the 2023-2024 season.

Boston had been a contender for so long, that fifteen years of being trade deadline buyers left them with little high end draft collateral to try and find Bergeron, and or, Krejci's replacements. That said, and not to let the Bruins off the hook - even with the draft capital they did maintain over the years, Boston failed to find such center prospects.

As a result, the Bruins found themselves with no true internal succession plan for their long time, high end, top two centers upon their retirements.

Furthermore, because Boston still owed Bergeron and Krejci bonus money from the 2022-2023 season that went against the 2023-2024 salary cap, they had very little cap space to try and pay an external high end center replacement, or two.

Entering the 2023-2024 season with Pavel Zacha, and Charlie Coyle as Boston's No. 1, and No. 2 centers shouldn't have been a recipe for success.

But the team relied heavily on the goaltending tandem of Swayman, and Linus Ullmark, opportunistic scoring, and was the beneficiary of some individual over performances - Coyle, and Zacha namely having had career years.

The Bruins took advantage of some centennial season magic, and made the playoffs.

But in doing so, they were still skating on borrowed time.

Last offseason, cap space finally opened up for Boston, and they made some key free acquisitions - Elias Lindholm, and Nikita Zadorov.

Adding Lindholm seemed to many, again myself included, like a more appropriate Bergeron replacement than Zacha, or Coyle, and that the two aforementioned centers could slide down into more suited roles as 2nd, and 3rd line centers.

It appeared briefly that the Bruins may have actually avoided an anticipated major set back despite losing Bergeron, and Krejci to retirement.

Welp, that was a clear misjudgment.

And now? It's time for the Bruins to pay the piper.

No more shortcuts.

Over the last calendar year, it finally became time for Boston to decide on resetting.

Now this is where selling at last year's deadline has already paid dividends.

They finished 5th last in the league, moved down two spots in the lottery, and drafted James Hagens who fell to them at No. 7 overall. Hagens has No. 1 center potential - one of only a few players from the 2025 NHL Entry Draft class with such a ceiling.

But Hagens is more than likely going back to Boston College for his sophomore season, and may not dawn a Bruins jersey until at least next spring following the conclusion of the NCCA season.

So what does Boston's roster look like until then, and what should they focus on?

Well, as we've learned in the wake of day one of free agency, the Bruins didn't acquire anyone to fill their biggest need of a true top six scorer.

Instead, they signed a handful of bottom-six players that will presumably battle it out for roster spots in the fall, and or act as depth pieces.

Now it wasn't necessarily Boston's preference that they didn't acquire a high end scoring winger.

The salary cap went up $9M, and so most high end UFA's heading into the summer re-signed with their previous team.

Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, Brock Boeser, John Tavares, Andrei Kuzmenko, Claude Giroux, Patrick Kane, Brock Nelson, Matt Duchene - all re-signed with the team they last played for.

Mitch Marner technically re-signed in Toronto - but for the purpose of a sign and trade with Vegas, and so he clearly had no interest in Boston.

Nikolaj Ehlers is yet to sign as of Wednesday at 3PM, but he reportedly wants to play in a warm weather city with a small media market. Sound like Boston?

So without the ability to sign any of these top six forwards, Boston clearly pivoted to the mindset of ...

You know what? We bottomed out last year, we malfunctioned, we lost our structure, and our identity. Let's focus on acquiring the type of players that will help us get that back - even if most of them are short term additions and aren't around to see the our better days ahead down the line.

... My opinion, is that if you were to give Bruins management truth serum they would tell you that, for them, the 2025-2026 season is less about making the playoffs, and more about re-establishing their defensive structure, special teams effectiveness (an article for another time because there's so much they need to do better in all three zones), offensive generation, extended offensive zone time, opportunistic scoring, and their blue collar identity.

Now if the installation of foundational fundamentals, along with health, bounce back performances from some, and productive repeat performances from others results in Boston making the playoffs as a wild card team?

Then, great.

But the Bruins probably aren't expecting that - which is fine, as long as their structure, and identity returns so that they can build off of that going forward and then improve the roster personnel as the team's identity, and structure resolves.

Now, don't get me wrong - the roster is not great. They feel like a roster that hovers around the 10th worst in the league right now (on paper).

My best shot at forward lines, and defense pairs right now:

Geekie - Lindholm - Pastrnak

Zacha - Mittelstadt - Arvidsson

Khusnutdinov - Minten - Poitras

Jeannot - Kuraly - Kastelic

Lindholm - McAvoy

Zadorov - Jokiharju

Lohrei - Peeke

Swayman

Korpisalo

Extras: Eyssimont, Beecher, Harris

Talent isn't jumping off the page here, but work ethic and character seems prevalent.

As of right now, their floor to me is finishing the season with the 7th, to 10th worst record in the league - maybe i'm wrong, and it's lower.

Their ceiling? Could see them battling for a wild card spot late into the season, and maybe squeak in.

But either way, they should definitely be a tighter, and more difficult team to play, and score goals against - they likely just won't have enough goal scoring to win as many games as fans may like.

But again, maybe i'm wrong and they score more than anticipated.

Either way, next season is about taking steps forward regardless of where they finish in the standings. Last season Boston regressed and tore much of their roster down - next season should be about building back up - even if it takes some patience.

When it comes to the 2025-2026 Boston Bruins, the worst case scenario is that they continue to struggle scoring, they don't regain their defensive, or neutral zone structure, their special teams don't improve, and then they finish near the bottom of the league standings again (although the 2026 NHL Entry Draft class is stacked led by Gavin McKenna, so maybe not the worst thing?).

But the more (hopeful) comparable that comes to mind is the 2007-2008 Bruins.

Boston's 2007-2008 roster wasn’t much better than their 2006-2007 roster, especially when you consider the fact that Patrice Bergeron suffered a season ending concussion in October.

Still, new head coach Claude Julien came in and corrected many of the wrongs from the previous season under Dave Lewis where the 2006-2007 Bruins finished with 76 points (team plus/minus of -70), last in the Northeast Division, 13th in the Eastern Conference, and 8th last in the overall standings.

The 2007-2008 Bruins scrapped their way to 94 points predicated on defense and structure (team plus/minus of -10), 3rd in the Northeast Division, 8th in the Eastern Conference, 15th in the league. They made the playoffs, and had an honorable first round exit against Montreal we all remember.

Following the season in 2007-2008, the Bruins now had a new foundation in place, and the roster started to slowly improve from 2008-2009 through 2010-2011, and beyond.

Similar to the 2006-2007 season, the 2024-2025 Bruins finished with 76 points (team plus/minus of -50), finished last in the Atlantic Division, and 5th last in the overall standings.

Right now, the 2025-2026 Bruins currently have a better roster than the 2024-2025 roster post trade deadline, but not pre trade deadline.

Now, and similar to Julien, it's Marco Sturm and his staff who will look to re-establish Boston's defense, special teams, neutral zone play, offensive zone possession, generation, production, and overall structure.

Maybe if all goes well, the 2025-2026 Bruins, just like the 2007-2008 Bruins before them, can too structure and will their way to a final playoff spot- and then immediately follow that up in ensuing seasons by improving the roster personnel with a newfound structure and identity in place.

Let's see how things play out.

I'm sure Don Sweeney's job will ( ... eventually ... ) depend on it.