The Boston Bruins’ season has come to an end as they missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season. 2024-25 was certainly a roller coaster for the organization, and things have been particularly bleak in the second half of the season.
But things can easily turn around this offseason — look at what the Washington Capitals have done to turn things around only a season after missing the playoffs last season. There is a path for the Bruins to turn it around this summer in similar fashion, and their process will also be aided by getting a top-10 draft pick for the first time since 2011 when they used the ninth-overall pick to select Dougie Hamilton.
Before the focus completely turns to the offseason and the various moves the Bruins’ front office should make, let’s revisit my predictions for the second half of the 2024-25 season I made back in January.
Prediction One: Roster Player Gets Traded at Deadline
Yep, this one certainly came true. Back in January, I thought that Trent Frederic would be the primary candidate for this spot given his approaching unrestricted free agent (UFA) status this summer. The 2016 first-round pick did end up being traded a few days before the deadline as part of a three-way trade with the Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils that also saw Max Jones sent away. In return, Boston got defenseman Maximus Wanner and a second round draft pick.
But little did anyone know that the Frederic trade was just the beginning. Justin Brazeau was then traded to the Minnesota Wild, and on deadline day, the front office also traded away Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo, Marc McLaughlin, and captain Brad Marchand. It was the ultimate fire sale, but one that needed to happen to finally and truly shake things up in Boston after many seasons of being excellent in the regular season, but only making it past the second round of the playoffs once in the last eight seasons.
While some of the deadline deals are worth side-eyeing, particularly the Marchand deal, most of them have brought in exciting, young talent that could play a major part in helping turn the team around next season.
Prediction Two: Bruins Extend Justin Brazeau
This one was obviously very wrong. As mentioned above, Brazeau was one of the many roster players was traded away at the deadline. While he is a solid player with a great story after working his way up from the ECHL to the NHL, there needed to be major changes in Boston this offseason. With a number of approaching free agents, given the state of the team, the front office was only going to prioritize bringing back one of them.
While Brazeau was third on the Bruins’ in points at one time this season, he definitely slowed down a bit in the second half of the season. Meanwhile, Morgan Geekie, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, completely turned things around from his slow start. At the moment, Geekie seems to have the higher ceiling between the two of them, so it makes sense why he was ultimately the pending restricted free agent the team decided to keep through the deadline and try to extend this summer.
Brazeau was traded to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Marat Khusnutdinov and Jakub Lauko. Best of luck to him in the first round of the playoffs as the Wild faceoff against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Prediction Three: Fabian Lysell Plays More NHL Games
Another prediction that came true. While it would have been nice to see him in more games, Fabian Lysell joined the Bruins for the final stretch of the season, appearing in 11 games in March and April. In total, he played in 12 NHL games this season, registering a goal and three points, all of which came in the final four games of the season when he really began to hit his stride.
The 22-year-old was the Bruins first-round selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, and it has been a source of frustration for many that the front office hasn’t been giving him many opportunities in Boston. His development has been hampered by injuries, but in 2024-25, he was healthy, registering 11 goals and 34 points in 51 American Hockey League (AHL) games in Providence.
I think there is still plenty to be excited for when it comes to Lysell and I believe he did enough in the final stretch of the season to earn a legitimate look to make the roster out of training camp next season. It’s important that the front office figure out their plan for him sooner rather than later. They’ve just acquired all of these young assets and if they don’t think Lysell is going to make it, then they need to trade him sooner rather than later when he still has value and potential to grow in another organization. But they can’t figure that out if they don’t give him legitimate minutes and chances at the NHL level.
12 games is still a small sample size, so it’s still hard to make any hard judgments on Lysell’s ceiling in the NHL. Hopefully he’s given a bigger opportunity to play next season.
Closing the Chapter on 2024-25
It was a disappointing season. The Bruins played worse than I think anyone predicted and now it’s time to hit the reset button. They need a new head coach and ideally a new general manager as well (though that continues to seem unlikely to happen). They also need to make a real commitment to getting these young players ready to make the leap to the NHL full time next season. All these trade deadline deals and assets brought in are worthless if they can’t do anything with them.
The 2024-25 season is a memorable one for a lot of the wrong reasons. While there are important lessons the front office and roster can take from it, it’s also important to close the chapter and look ahead to the future.
