The 2025-26 Boston Bruins: A non-playoff team built for the playoffs

The 2025-26 Boston Bruins have all the makings of a team that fans would love. They possess size, tenacity, and an ability to drop the gloves, as well as players who won't take kindly to their teammates getting beaten up. It's nearly the definition of having it all for a Boston hockey fan. However, one key scoring element will be lacking, which makes it even more unfortunate that it took the front office so long to find the team some toughness.

How many times over the past few seasons of contention did fans watch the playoff games and wonder what it'd be like if they had a bit more meat in the lineup? We watched the Florida Panthers bully them around for two straight years, leading to David Pastrnak of all people having to defend the team's honor by dropping the gloves. Fans would've dreamt of a player like Tanner Jeannot or Jeffrey Viel in the bottom six to make the Panthers think twice.

Think back to the 2011 championship team, and there's no need to wonder why fans still love that group. They had the Merlot line, which would dole out some justice if things went south, and they also had Adam McQuaid and, sometimes, Zdeno Chara on the backend to fill the same role. They also had some meat in the middle of their lineup with players like Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton. Still, they added just enough scoring with the emergence of Brad Marchand and players like Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi, and David Krejci.

You also had the tougher teams of the '80s and '90s, who bullied teams and had plenty of power forwards, but at the end of the day, couldn't score with teams like the Edmonton Oilers, who beat them in the finals in 1988 and 1990. Cam Neely was part of both of those teams, and Don Sweeney had joined by the 1990 series, so it's no surprise that they've chosen to beef up their bottom six with "piss and vinegar" as Neely so eloquently put it.

The surprising thing is that it took them so long to do it. A bit more of a "punch you in the face" attitude would've served the Bruins well over the past few years, but instead, Neely and Sweeney sat on their hands and allowed the previous head coaches to stray from that style. It seems like Marco Sturm is a step back in the right direction, but now, there is barely any offense remaining.

With the Bruins being tougher to play against, they just might surprise us all and sneak into a playoff spot this year. Still, if you believe what all the experts are saying, their offense will ultimately come up short. It's a shame, because this iteration of the Bruins is more built for a long playoff run than any of the teams since the 2019 Stanley Cup Final run. However, it appears that the team may not be good enough to make the postseason, so we may not get to see it.