By: Ryan Jainchill | Follow me on Twitter / X @Jainchill_Ryan
The calendar year of 2025 was a time of change for the Boston Bruins. After eight consecutive seasons with a playoff berth, the 2024-25 squad struggled for long stretches, especially to begin 2025 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17. In the calendar year, the Bruins went 34-42-8 in the 84 games they played, with their longest winning streak being seven games from October 28th to November 11th and their longest losing streak being 10 games from March 13th to April 5th.
To end a disappointing 2024-25 season, the Bruins finished last in the Atlantic Division with a record of 33-39-10, the first time they had finished last in their division since the 2006-07 season. This led to the Bruins selecting in the top 10 of the NHL Entry Draft for the first time since 2011, a pick they acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But out of the rubble of the 2024-25 season came some optimism. Despite trading away key players like captain Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo and Trent Frederic, some savvy moves by General Manager Don Sweeney and President and Alternate Governor Cam Neely allowed the team to regain draft capital, NHL-caliber players and quality prospects, laying the foundation for a new era.
Now, as the calendar flips to 2026, the Bruins are right in the thick of a crowded Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, having shown flashes of a strong team with a physical identity but also having stretches of play where the scoring and defense have struggled.
The Bottoming Out
To start 2025, the Bruins held a 20-15-4 record. But despite being in a playoff spot for stretches, the team had already fired Head Coach Jim Montgomery and replaced him with Interim Head Coach Joe Sacco. In January, the Bruins began a five-game losing streak, including some frustrating losses to Toronto and the New York Islanders. But after snapping it with an overtime win over the Florida Panthers, it still was not enough to overcome a slow start, as the team finished the month with an overall record of 25-22-6.
In February, the 4 Nations Face-Off shortened the month, with the Bruins going 2-2-0 before the two-week break. But after the break, the team began to collapse, going 1-4-2 heading into March 7th, the NHL trade deadline. During the tournament, defenseman Charlie McAvoy suffered a shoulder injury and subsequent infection, taking him out of action for the remainder of the season, another blow to a struggling Bruins team that was already without defenseman Hampus Lindholm. The last game before the deadline, the Bruins’ second and final road game at the Lenovo Center against the Carolina Hurricanes, a broken stick from Nikita Zadorov allowed Seth Jarvis to give the Hurricanes a lead with 19 seconds to go, making the lasting memory of many in the black and gold a late loss on a broken stick.
The March 7th Deadline
Sweeney and Neely had gotten to work before the March 7th deadline, dealing Frederic and forward Max Jones to the Edmonton Oilers for a second-round pick among more, but the first of six deadline deals occurred that night. The Bruins dealt forward Justin Brazeau, who had battled through the minors to become a scoring bottom-six winger with size, to the Minnesota Wild for forwards Marat Khusnutdinov and old friend Jakub Lauko, as well as a late-round pick. While Lauko would leave in the offseason, Khusnutdinov has filled a role for the team, with his versatility and speed allowing him to play in multiple spots.
The first deadline deal sent Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2025 second-round pick, forward Casey Mittelstadt and forward Will Zellers, who took home the 2024-25 USHL Forward of the Year award. But this move was just the precursor for what was to come. At 3 p.m., the time of the deadline, it was announced that the Bruins had dealt Marchand to the Panthers, the team that had eliminated them in back-to-back postseasons, for a conditional second-round draft pick in 2027. While the conditions were met to turn it into a first-round pick, the idea of Marchand in a Panthers jersey after the playoff battles was a tough sight, especially as Marchand went on to win the Stanley Cup and re-sign in Florida.
Marchand was not the only player dealt at the 3 p.m. deadline. It was announced moments later that Carlo had been dealt to the Maple Leafs for forward Fraser Minten, a 2026 first-round pick and a 2025 fourth-round pick. The acquisition of Minten is just one piece of what was an excellent return for the players dealt at the deadline, as the young forward has become a quality player for the team in his rookie season.
Geekie’s Rise and Pastrnak’s Continued Dominance
In 2025, no Bruin has had their stock rise in the eyes of the fans than Geekie. In the first half of last season, Geekie was stuck in no man’s land. He had been healthy scratched at times in the first few months of play and was looking like he was a piece on the way out due to his contract expiring at season’s end. But a move onto a line with David Pastrnak gave Geekie a way to shine.
In his second year as a Bruin, the Manitoba native broke out, scoring 33 goals, 26 of which came in 2025. He finished the season with 33-24-57, all career-highs, which allowed him to ink a six-year contract to stay a Bruin. He became the first Bruins’ free agent signing since Jarome Iginla to score 30 goals in a season and solidified himself as a top scorer in the league.
To start 2025-26, Geekie has remained red hot, with 25-16-41 in 41 games. His 25 goals are tied for second in the league behind Nathan MacKinnon and his 41 points only trail Pastrnak for the team lead. Seven of his 25 goals have come on the power play, an output he has nearly doubled already from last season and has contributed to a Bruins’ power play that is fifth in the league at 24.8%.
Despite the struggles of the 2024-25 Bruins, Pastrnak was far from the reason the team bottomed out. He notched his third consecutive 100-point season, becoming one of three players in franchise history to do so. He also factored in 13 straight goals for the Bruins from April 1st to April 8th, trailing only Jaromir Jagr, Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky for most goals consecutively factored into in NHL history. His 113 points (47 goals and 66 assists) in the calendar year of 2025 make him the third Bruin in franchise history to have multiple calendar years of 100 points or more, joining Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr.
After the Marchand trade, this is Pastrnak’s team now. While Sturm chose not to name a captain this season, Pastrnak is likely the leading candidate for the role if one is named ahead of next season. So far in the 2025-26 season, Pastrnak has 44 points in 36 games and recently notched his 400th career goal and moved into fifth all-time in franchise history in goals with 408.
The Offseason
Finishing the year tied for worst in the Eastern Conference in points, the Bruins had the fifth-best odds at winning the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery and selecting first overall. In a year when not much went right, the Bruins’ luck was not on their side, as their selection fell to seventh. Despite what looked like an unfortunate sequence, Boston College forward James Hagens, who was considered a top-three selection in that draft for a stretch of time, fell to the seventh pick, where the Bruins selected him, establishing themselves with a top prospect for the first time in a while.
For the Bruins, the biggest news of the summer was the hiring of former player Marco Sturm as the 30th head coach in franchise history. After the firing of Montgomery in November of 2024 and the promotion of Sacco to the interim position, Sweeney and Neely had made it clear that they wanted to go external with their new head coach. Sturm, who spent five seasons in Boston from 2005-2010 as a player, was previously on the Los Angeles Kings coaching staff and has helped the team stay afloat so far in 2025-26.
In the offseason, the Bruins were in an interesting spot. With not many free agents on the roster, the Bruins extended Geekie and made a couple more in-house re-signings. Boston acquired forward Viktor Arvidsson from the Oilers for a fourth-round pick to solidify the second-line right wing spot. They dipped into the free agency market for forwards Tanner Jeannot, former Bruin Sean Kuraly and Michael Eyssimont, as well as signing forward Alex Steeves and defenseman Jonathan Aspirot to one-year deals.
A Fresh Start
Heading into the 2025-26 season, expectations were low surrounding the Bruins. In the Atlantic Division the year prior, five teams had made the playoffs and the Detroit Red Wings had missed by a few points. Not many predicted the team would be a playoff team going into the season, citing a lack of scoring outside the first line and a reliance on a bounce-back from netminder Jeremy Swayman, whose contract troubles bled into the beginning of last season.
In October, the Bruins were a game under .500 and had already endured a six-game losing streak. But in a testament to a budding identity as a hard team to play against, the team rattled off a seven-game win streak, highlighted by back-to-back victories over the Maple Leafs in early November. At Thanksgiving, a time that people usually view as the first quarter of the season, the Bruins were 14-11-0 and right in the thick of a jam-packed Atlantic Division.
Now, heading into 2026, the Bruins sit at 21-18-2 and in seventh in the Atlantic but only three points out of a Wild Card spot. While the team has been streaky, with two six-game losing streaks and a seven-game win streak, there is still some optimism for this Bruins team. Sturm’s coaching style and Sweeney and Neely’s offseason moves have given the Bruins a tough bottom-six to play against and the top players have continued to perform, even with the team’s injury troubles.
As for 2025, it may not be a year the fan base fondly remembers. The on-ice struggles, frustrations with management, the firesale at the trade deadline that sent away the team captain and franchise face and an overall state of flux with no real direction, the 2025 calendar year signaled the end of one era and the start of a new one. With many core players locked up, draft capital, top prospects and cap space heading into the 2026 offseason, the direction of the Bruins may soon be revealed.
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