When the 2024-25 NHL season started, the Boston Bruins looked much better on paper than the prior season. One of the early talking points was just how big the Bruins were from top to bottom. In recent years, the team made it clear that they wanted to be difficult to play against in the postseason; evidently, this meant large bodies capable of playing a physical, grueling brand of hockey. What the team failed to consider, however, was that building a lineup almost entirely around size left them lacking the speed needed to compete in the modern NHL. While the best teams do value size, they also blend it with speed and talent. For this reason, general manager Don Sweeney needs to prioritize talent this offseason. The 2023-24 squad’s overachievement gave the front office a false sense of security, making it harder to accurately evaluate which parts of the lineup were actually built for sustained success.
In a perfect world, the Bruins would load up on all of the big, fast and skilled players across the NHL. Unfortunately, this isn’t a perfect world and finding players who combine all three traits is much easier said than done. For starters, the best players rarely hit free agency—and for good reason. Another thing to consider is that any team willing to part with a player who blends these skillsets is also very aware of their talent and will charge accordingly. This is why the Bruins need to stay smart and patient as they retool the roster; this job isn’t going to be completed overnight.
The good news for the Bruins is that this job has already begun.
Bruins Beginning to Shift Their Identity
When Sweeney ultimately pulled the plug on the 2024-25 season and effectively held a fire sale, he made sure to acquire multiple pieces who could be part of the Bruins’ long-term plans under a new-look identity. Players like Marat Khusnutdinov, Jakub Lauko, Fraser Minten and Casey Mittelstadt immediately came in and showed elements of what the Bruins were missing for most of the season.
One player already on the roster all season who fit this mold was Cole Koepke. The soon-to-be 27-year-old had a breakout season with the Bruins and put up career-highs in goals (10), assists (7), points (17) and games played (73). Koepke turned heads early as a member of the team’s bottom-six due to his gritty, fast style of play paired with the ability to generate offense. It’s unclear if he’ll find himself a new home this offseason due to a well-deserved raise or if the Bruins will find a way to keep him in the mix moving forward. Given the plethora of players vying for bottom-six roles next season, the team could opt to let Koepke earn a slight bump in pay elsewhere. At the same time, if his cost remains close enough to a minimum deal, the team would be wise to retain him on a short-term deal and let him continue helping the team.
There’s a lot of work to be done to fully fix this Bruins lineup, but it’s clear that the team is already looking to change up their typical evaluation style and find talented players who can make an impact in the NHL. Some young names who could be key contributors for the Bruins in the near-future include Matthew Poitras (21), Will Zellers (19), Fabian Lysell (22), Khusnutdinov (22), Minten (20), Dans Locmelis (21), Brett Harrison (21), plus 2024 first-round pick Dean Letourneau and whoever the Bruins elect to take seventh overall this year.
Talent will always win out over pure speed and pure size. If the Bruins can focus on identifying talent—without boxing players in based on one trait or another, they’ll find that things have a way of working themselves out. With the Bruins picking higher in the draft this season than they have since 2010, and their first time with a top-10 pick since 2011, they have a chance to add a cornerstone player down the middle who can help the team in the long run.
There’s no doubt the Bruins want to be competitive again next season, but rushing any decision for the sake of mediocrity is never the right answer. The team can absolutely find value this offseason and turn the team back into a playoff contender in short order, but doing so just to make the playoffs, without a real chance to go deep, is a short-sighted goal the Bruins must avoid if they want to return to perennial contention.
