For years, we’ve associated the term ‘Boston Bruins’ with the NHL Playoffs. It was almost a given, to the point you could pencil them in from Day 1. But in 2024-25, something changed, as mismanagement and disarray followed.
You can argue that it began when the Bruins shipped off Linus Ullmark to Ottawa and brought in Joonas Korpisalo as insurance for Jeremy Swayman. Or maybe free agency, when nobody they brought in seemed to help. Further, the Jeremy Swayman-Don Sweeney standoff didn’t help matters.
Yeah, it’s like the Swayman standoff was an omen just waiting to be unleashed in Boston, and the result was a last-place finish in the Eastern Conference. This is a team that may not even beat out rebuilding squads like the Philadelphia Flyers, and one that let so much talent go to waste as that championship window went from wide open to shut, and perhaps closed for the next few years. Or not, but we’ll get to that later.
Way too many variables to name tanked the Boston Bruins this season
Wow, where do you start? Firing Jim Montgomery had to be the biggest gut punch. And it drives home the phrase, “Blessing in disguise,” if you’re Montgomery. One minute, you’re coaching in an ever-growing hopeless situation in Massachusetts, and the next minute, you’re out of a job. Fast-forward another minute, and you’re in St. Louis, and a few minutes later, you took the Blues to the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Bruins couldn’t score, couldn’t stop anyone from scoring, and they didn’t look like they wanted to score or stop anyone from scoring. They never strung together momentum under head coach Joe Sacco. And to be frank, they played the most uninspiring hockey of any team this season apart from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Then came the trade deadline, in which Sweeney sold stock in just about everything to try and cut his losses. And in the process, the Bruins lost whatever little relevancy they had left. Six months ago, I’d have laughed if someone said this was in the Bruins immediate future. Yeah, maybe a couple years down the road, and that was a big maybe. But this year? No.
How do the Bruins begin to fix this mess and will they return to relevancy?
If there’s any good news, it’s that the Bruins have some cap space, with Puck Pedia clocking them in at $26.3 million. Boston still has some good players, and although Jeremy Swayman had a down season, I still wouldn’t count him out. Nor would I count out David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, or Pavel Zacha.
Boston still has a decent core, and Sweeney needs to remember that. Plus, it’s the Bruins. An Original Six team, and one that you can make the argument is America’s Team as far as the NHL goes. There are a lot of good reasons for players to continue their careers wearing a Bruins sweater, so don’t expect pending free agents to write them off because of one bad season.
Plus, injuries hit this team hard, with Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm missing extended time. That said, there was a lot of mismanagement and stress going on this season. But, given the position internal and external forces put the Bruins in, this year provided valuable learning experiences, and one in which they can bounce back from, starting in June.