Only nine games are remaining in the Boston Bruins 2024-25 season, and sadly, that’s the best news surrounding the team in a long time. They are going to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs and are currently stuck on a seven-game losing streak, so the season can’t end quickly enough.
What happens moving forward is going to be interesting to watch, to say the least. Changes are coming, and lots of them, you would expect. Whether it’s with the coaching staff or the roster changes coming, this season, the front office needs to get the decisions right.
Ahead of a 6-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks Wednesday night, team president Cam Neely spoke with Jim McBride of the Boston Globe on some topics. Some things stuck out, but it’s clear he used this opportunity to send a message to his locker room.
Bruins' Cam Neely sends a message to the locker room
Neely spoke on several subjects, which included roster changes for next year potentially. He knows that this team has nine games left in the season, and with a depleted roster, he’s looking for one thing.
“There isn’t really too much I can say about liking during the season right now,” Neely said. “It’s just really about how we finish and seeing what guys may want to step up and show us that they’re NHL players.”
If he looks long and hard at some of the younger players, he might not find too many NHL players. Right now, because of injuries and other factors, truth be told, they are rolling out an AHL roster for the most part. You could make the case that they have two fourth lines, while a blueline that would mostly be in the AHL on most teams.
It might be better to break down who this comment may have been meant for than what he meant by it. Top prospect Fabian Lysell is one player who feels like he is having a lot of eyes on him with a thought to the future. The 2021 first-round draft pick is someone who needs to find a way onto the Boston roster sooner rather than later.
Marat Khusnutdinov was acquired at the trade deadline from the Minnesota Wild as part of a package for Justin Brazeau, and he looks like someone who will be a spark down in the lineup next year. He is fast and possesses a good shot. Playing above the bottom six might be asking too much from him.
John Beecher is someone who is a restricted free agent this summer and Henri Jokiharju, acquired from the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline, is someone who is auditioning for a job next year and beyond.
We could go on and on, but the truth is that the final nine games are big for some players in terms of securing a roster spot with Boston or another NHL club next season. There is something to watch over the final nine games with the Black and Gold, if you dare.
