By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
It goes without saying that the 2024-25 Boston Bruins were a mess across the board. Every possible disaster coalesced into a Murphy’s Law type of season: the goaltending never got settled, the forwards struggled to score, and the defense collapsed due to injuries and a neverending parade to the penalty box. Hampus Lindholm’s season-ending knee injury in November destabilized an already struggling unit, and the nail was effectively hammered into the coffin when Charlie McAvoy joined him on Injured Reserve in February.
As a result, the Bruins sold at the deadline for the first time in well over a decade, parting with several key pieces, including another blueline stalwart in Brandon Carlo. What was left was a wholly unrecognizable defensive core that cycled through 12 players and 35 different pairings by seasons end. Per MoneyPuck.com, Mason Lohrei and Andrew Peeke finished as the most frequently deployed pair on the blueline, leading the team with 585 minutes played, but also with 34 goals against and a -13 rating.
Among the many tasks ahead of new Head Coach Marco Sturm to right the ship is to sort out the defense and identify preferred pairings ahead of training camp. Shortly after his introductory press conference earlier this week, Sturm went on 98.5 The Sports Hub for an interview and provided some insight into the roster and his outlook for the defense. He stressed the importance of the Bruins returning to the “defensive mindset” from his tenure with the team, stating that the defense will be solid and that they just need to stay healthy.
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Sturm was upfront about Lohrei needing to improve defensively and that he may need a veteran partner to assist with his development, adding that he liked Lohrei and McAvoy as a defense pairing. He may not be very far off about McAvoy being the best man for the job; before his season-ending injury at 4Nations, he and Lohrei played nearly 250 minutes together, and played well. The duo outscored their opponents 11-6 while on the ice, by far Lohrei’s best partnership, and the only one in which he was above water in goal differential.
With one pair effectively locked in, what should Sturm do about the rest of the defense? Nikita Zadorov and Henri Jokiharju proved to be found money when they were thrown together after the deadline, impressively conceding just five goals in almost 275 minutes of ice time. While they surprised as an effective shutdown pairing down the stretch, their future remains in question. Jokiharju arrived as an expiring free agent, and as of writing, has not re-signed with the Bruins. Should Jokiharju not return next season, Peeke would be the most suitable in-house replacement on Zadorov’s right side. The two played the second-most minutes together of all Bruins pairings in 24-’25, with a slightly favorable 14-12 goal difference in 375 minutes.
From there, the next big question is who will Hampus Lindholm play with? He has spent the overwhelming majority of his Bruins tenure paired with McAvoy or Carlo, and has minimal experience with anyone else in the current lineup. Partnering Lindholm with Zadorov makes sense on the surface to fill Carlo’s role on the shutdown pair, but as both are left-side defensemen, one would be forced to play on their offside. It would also make the defense very top-heavy, and would create a question mark of who would play next to Peeke.
Sturm added during his interview that they may look to add “another guy or two” to the defense, and if the Bruins do enter the free agent market, the options are slim, especially if they target a replacement for Jokiharju on the right side. Aaron Ekblad is likely to be the belle of the ball, hitting the UFA market as a top-pair blueliner in the middle of his prime with Cup-winning pedigree, and as such, will command a high price. Dante Fabbro would seem like a reasonable alternative, coming off a career resurgence with Columbus as Zach Werenski’s partner. But the Blue Jackets have over $40 million in cap space and acquired Fabbro midseason, so it will be hard to imagine they would let him walk.
Beyond Fabbro, the Bruins could opt to bring Jokiharju back as a known commodity, but after that, the market takes a steep drop. Trading for, or offer sheeting, Evan Bouchard or Noah Dobson would come at an exorbitant cost, and signing a veteran like Cody Ceci or John Klingberg would be a gamble.
Getting back to the defense-first identity that has been emblematic of the Bruins for nearly two decades should be paramount at a time when the team needs stability more than anything. The sooner the personnel on the blueline is sorted, the more time Sturm will have to establish his preferred pairings, roles, build chemistry, and get the Bruins back on track to playoff contention.
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