The Bruins Are Maxed Out on Injuries
The Boston Bruins don’t look like a broken team. Their record is still respectable, they’ve had stretches where they’ve looked like a legit playoff group, and Jeremy Swayman has stolen them more than a few points. But when you zoom out on this season, one thing jumps off the page: they are absolutely maxed out on injuries, and the only real key to how this year ends is whether they can finally get—and stay—healthy.
How the Injury Pile-Up Started
From the start of the season, the Bruins have been juggling bodies. The blue line got hit early with injuries to depth guys like Jordan Harris, who needed ankle surgery and landed on long-term injured reserve. That alone would be annoying but manageable. The real problems started when the injuries moved from the bottom of the roster into the core.
Hampus Lindholm missed time with a lower-body issue. Then came the puck to Charlie McAvoy’s face, surgery, and an indefinite timeline. When your No. 1 defenseman goes down, everything on the back end changes: matchups, special teams, minutes, and the confidence of the group in front of the goalie.
A Top-Heavy Team That Can’t Afford Absences
Up front, it hasn’t been any easier. The Bruins built their forward group around a clear structure: Elias Lindholm and David Pastrňák driving the top line, a strong second line with Pavel Zacha, Casey Mittelstadt, and Viktor Arvidsson, and depth that could chip in without being overexposed. Instead, they’ve had stretches where Mittelstadt and Arvidsson were on injured reserve at the same time, Lindholm was out, and now Pastrňák and Zacha are both day-to-day after getting banged up. When that many key forwards are hurt, guys who should be in third-line and fourth-line roles suddenly have to carry offense they aren’t built to carry.
That’s the heart of the issue for this Bruins team: they rely heavily on their top talent and aren’t really built to sustain this amount of injuries. When everyone is in the lineup, Boston looks like a tough out in the East. The power play is dangerous, the top six can trade chances with anyone, McAvoy drives play from the back end, and Swayman cleans up the messes. When even one or two of those pillars are missing, the margin for error becomes tiny. When half of them are missing, every mistake feels like it ends up in the back of the net.
The Path Forward: Health as the X-Factor
There is some good news. Lindholm is back in the lineup. Mittelstadt has been activated. Arvidsson is expected to return at some point in the near future. Pastrňák and Zacha are both considered short-term injuries, not season-enders. McAvoy’s timeline is longer, but the expectation is that he’ll be back later in the season. If the Bruins can just survive this stretch without sinking in the standings, there is a realistic version of this roster in January or February where they suddenly look deep again instead of patched together.
That’s why health isn’t just a side story for the Bruins. It is the story. This season won’t be defined by a trade deadline splash or some dramatic system change. It will be defined by whether their best players are actually on the ice when it matters most. If the bodies finally come back and stay back, Boston can still be a dangerous team. If the injury list keeps filling up instead of shrinking, this year is going to feel like a what-if from start to finish.