( Photo Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images )

By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter/X @RyanJBosworth

As the 2026-27 National Hockey League season continues to close in, it’s a good time to dive into some names to keep an eye on as the season begins to ramp up, especially with training camp right around the corner.

There are certainly some new faces all throughout the roster, as well as some players that have already been in the organization looking to take the jump into a larger role in Boston. This isn’t going to be a typical list of the James Hagens, Fraser Mintens, etc. This list is going to consist of some players that you may not be keeping a specific eye out for, and some reasons why you should.

J.J. Peterka

I think the most obvious first choice would be newly-acquired J.J. Peterka. Acquired at the 2026 NHL Entry Draft for the Bruins’ 23rd overall pick and a first-round pick in 2028, the Bruins were clearly making a move to get the roster some help right now, and the Peterka trade was the right way to do it. While some thought it was a bit of an expensive price tag for a player who’s coming off a down year, Peterka has the potential to be a top-six winger for the Bruins and make a real impact, so the front office had to give it a shot.

Another major aspect of Peterka coming to Boston is the German connection to head coach Marco Sturm. Peterka struggled to make a connection with Utah’s head coach, André Tourigny, and the hope is that Marco will be able to pull the best out of Peterka, as we saw he was able to do with several Bruins players this past season.

Jeremy Swayman

It seems like ever since sitting out of the 2024 training camp until signing his eight-year, $64 million contract in October of 2024, Jeremy Swayman has been a Bruins player with the most eyes on him, especially considering the caliber of the season that followed him holding out.

Recording a career-low in both save percentage (.892%) and goals against average (3.11), Jeremy Swayman didn’t play to the value of his contract. After a strong showing at the 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships in 2025, and a full offseason without the noise of a new contract, Swayman came in and recorded an extremely strong year in his second season as a number one goaltender, even finding himself in the finalists for the Vezina Trophy.

While he finished third in voting this year, there was an extremely strong case to be made that he was the best goaltender playing behind some of the worst defense in the league, especially when looking at some finer metric details, like high-danger chances. Needless to say, he’s going to be a player to keep a specific eye out for.

Matt Poitras

Finally, arguably the player with the most turmoil surrounding him right now is Matt Poitras. Poitras is still unsigned with training camp right around two weeks away, and fans are starting to get restless. Poitras has been with the Bruins organization for three full seasons to this point, with his first coming in the 2023-24 season where he began the season with the big club, making the team right out of training camp.

He showed a ton of young promise, before he was sidelined with a shoulder injury that ended his season. He would come back at the start of the 2024-25 season, once again making the team out of training camp. However, that was the Bruins’ worst season in over a decade, and things surrounding the team weren’t conducive to Poitras’ development, so they sent him to Providence to work on some finer details.

Coming into the 2025-26 training camp, hopes were high surrounding Poitras. He played really well in Providence, and management was hoping he’d make the next necessary jump in his development, but he didn’t quite do it. Fraser Minten pushed Poitras out of his position and went on to have a stellar first full season in Boston. Poitras only played three games, and despite playing well, he didn’t play well enough to take his job back.

I assume a lot of people will have an eye out for Poitras to start this season, whether it be to see how he performs in training camp, or to see what kinds of moves are made to ship the young forward out of Boston if they’re unable to reach a common ground deal with him.