As the 2024-25 season comes to an end, it’s time to give out some team awards to the Boston Bruins. While the season hasn’t gone the way anyone would have liked, there are still plenty of things worthy of being shouted out, bringing us to my 2024-25 Bruins Awards.
While there are some pretty standard awards, there will also be some surprising ones given out here as well. As the Bruins close out the season and begin to move on from 2024-25, there are hopefully a lot of lessons the organization will take away from this season.
MVP – David Pastrnak
Let’s get the most obvious award out of the way first. There is no one more valuable to the Bruins’ franchise at the moment than David Pastrnak. He just hit over 100 points for the third season in a row. It’s remarkable that he was able to hit that mark this season with the state of the roster around him and the slow start he had to the 2024-25 season. For reference, he had eight points in the first 10 games of the season and 18 points in his last 10 games.
If there was ever a season to nominate a guy from a non-playoff team for the Hart Trophy, this would be one, considering what Pastrnak has been able to accomplish on a disappointing and underperforming roster. With Brad Marchand traded, this is officially his team now. He and Charlie McAvoy are who most consider to be the frontrunners for the captaincy next season. But whether he gets the position or not, it does not diminish the fact that he has truly grown into a leader on and off the ice, and it has shown tremendously in the last few weeks.
Pastrnak is the most valuable player this season, and it isn’t even close. It’s a scary thought to picture what the Bruins would be without him, and if they are back in the playoff picture next season, it will most likely be off the back of his hard work and fantastic play on the ice.
Best Contract Value – Morgan Geekie
Morgan Geekie has officially reached the 30-goal mark for the first time in his NHL career. This comes only two seasons after registering a career-high nine goals in a season with the Seattle Kraken. That franchise must be kicking themselves right now after not extending him a qualifying offer in 2023, allowing him the chance to sign a two-year, $4 million contract with the Bruins. Yes, he’s scored 30 goals this season while on a contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $2 million, an absolute bargain for Boston’s front office.
Like Pastrnak, Geekie’s success this season is even more significant considering his slow start that saw him be a healthy scratch for a stretch early. Now, he has 30 goals and over 50 points, setting him up for what is sure to be a significant pay raise this summer. The soon-to-be restricted free agent has the second-highest points on the roster, putting him ahead of guys like Elias Lindholm ($7.75 million AAV) and Pavel Zacha ($4.25 million AAV).
Credit where credit is due, general manager Don Sweeney really hit the jackpot with the Geekie deal. Hopefully, he’s signed to a fair deal with a decent term that will see him wearing the spoked-B for the foreseeable future.
Absence Most Felt – Hampus Lindholm
Before he fractured his patella, Hampus Lindholm was arguably the best defenseman on the Bruins’ roster given McAvoy’s slow start and Mason Lohrei continuing to grow into a true NHL defenseman. He has not played since Nov. 12 and his absence has definitely been felt throughout the 2024-25 season.
The Bruins’ defense really struggled in 2024-25. There have been many bad turnovers, difficulties moving the puck out of the zone, and lapses in defensive zone coverage. Would Lindholm’s presence magically fix all of their issues? No. But it wouldn’t have hurt either. While his presence wouldn’t have been the difference maker between them making the playoffs or not, he definitely could have helped them get a few more wins under their belt. Lindholm’s absence was certainly felt on the ice this season, and no one else ever quite managed to step up to fill the hole left by his injury.
Most Exciting Prospect for 2025-26 Season – Fraser Minten
There is a lot to be excited about with Fraser Minten. He arrived in the organization from the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of the Brandon Carlo trade, along with a conditional first-round pick and a fourth-round pick. Minten is another effort by the Bruins to bring in young offensive talent to the organization. He is another second-round pick from the 2022 NHL Draft, joining new teammate Matthew Poitras.
Minten made his NHL debut in 2023-24, playing in four games for the Maple Leafs. In 2024-25, he played primarily in the American Hockey League (AHL), but had 15 games in the NHL with Toronto, where he registered two goals and four points.
Since the trade, he’s primarily been playing with the Providence Bruins, but recently got called up to Boston. He’s looked good in a small sample size, recording his first goal as a Bruin against the New Jersey Devils on April 8. He’s actually getting some decent ice time and opportunities, and is making the most of it. He’s someone to start getting excited about and hopefully will be given much more NHL playing time next season.
Biggest Surprise – Cole Koepke
Think back to October 2024. Pastrnak is playing well but not at the clip anyone has come to expect from him, Brad Marchand is still getting up to speed after his offseason surgeries, Geekie is a healthy scratch, and the Bruins are in enough of a disarray that rumbles are beginning that Jim Montgomery may get fired. The Bruins need someone to step up, and who will it be? If you came into the season thinking Cole Koepke would be one of the early heroes for the Bruins, you’re lying.
The Bruins’ fourth line of Koepke, Johnny Beecher, and Mark Kastelic was one of the best lines in the NHL in the first month of the season, propelling all three to new career highs in points. They were truly the highlight of a very bleak start to the season for the Bruins when many still had higher aspirations and expectations for this team.
Of those three, the biggest surprise of the 2024-25 season has been Koepke. He was not really a guy on anyone’s radar to even make the roster out of training camp. His professional career has mainly been at the AHL level, with the 26-year-old only registering 26 NHL games in the two previous seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had one goal and three total points in that time.
In 2024-25, Koepke appeared in 71 games, registering 10 goals and 17 points. Yes, 11 of those 17 points came before Jan. 1, 2025, but it is still remarkable to see how big of a step he’s taken forward. He went from being a fringe option for making the roster to a solid presence and contributor all season.
Most Deserving of a Fight – Jeremy Swayman
Never forget what the referees took from all of us on March 23, 2025: a goalie fight. This was of course, not the first occasion that Jeremy Swayman has tried to initiate a fight in his NHL career, but it was the first time he had a willing opponent in Los Angeles Kings’ goaltender, Darcy Kuemper.
2024-25 has not been a good season for Swayman. He has certainly not played his best, but he also hasn’t gotten any help from the team around him. The defense in general has been pretty suspect all season, often leaving him out to dry. Yes, there have been plenty of bad goals that Swayman should have stopped, but there have also been lots of moments when the Bruins had horrific coverage on the ice, leaving guys open with a clear shot on net or allowing opponents to get breakaway after breakaway. It’s also hard to win games when the team goes entire periods without getting a single shot off at the other end of the ice.
Making the Linus Ullmark trade last season was also probably not the best decision by the Bruins’ front office. He had one more season on his contract, and I think both he and Swayman benefited from having a strong, reliable goalie rotation over the traditional starter-backup model. Adjusting from that was always going to have some challenges, but doing it in a season when there were also contract negotiations for Swayman and question marks with the roster was not great decision-making in hindsight. Joonas Korpisalo has been a fine backup all season, better than expected even, but nothing can replicate what Ullmark and Swayman had in net.
Swayman has not been great this season, but the blame cannot be completely on him, even if plenty of Boston media and fans want to pin it on him like it’s always been done with Bruins’ goalies. All this to say, it has not been Swayman’s season, and if he wants a goalie fight, he deserves a fight.
2025 Bruins Offseason
For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Bruins are heading into a long offseason. They’ve been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and are looking at a potential top-five pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. It is entirely possible to turn things around and be a contender again next season, but it all starts with having a solid 2025 offseason.
The rebuild has already begun. They’ve acquired a number of young players and have several draft picks in this year’s draft. Now, they just need to commit to developing those young players, and getting them onto the roster next season. With a bounce back from Swayman, and the return of Lindholm, this can be a competitive team again. But there are several long months ahead before anyone can see if they will.
