Any team looking to dethrone the Florida Panthers and win the Stanley Cup must have a reliable bottom-six forward group. It's hard to match up with Florida, as their bottom six in their most recent championship featured a third line of Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell, and Brad Marchand. It might be impossible to compete with that, but teams can attempt to at least get close to that level.
The Boston Bruins won't have that kind of production in their bottom six next season, but that doesn't mean their depth should be written off. While there were some lean times last season where you wondered how the B's had fallen so far, the team will have considerably more depth this time around.
Bruins' bottom six outlook
It's impossible to predict how the lineup will look next season, especially considering there's a brand new coach in Marco Sturm. There are no guarantees that he will see the vision of David Pastrnak playing with Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie, which many fans assumed was the only sure thing heading into next season.
If you look at Daily Faceoff's lineup tool, they are likely pretty accurate with how they see the lineups heading. The previously mentioned first line would stay intact, while the second line rollout would be Pavel Zacha, Casey Mittelstadt, and Viktor Arvidsson (yikes).
The third line gets quite interesting in their predictions, as Tanner Jeannot comes to town to play with two of the Bruins' brightest young players. Fraser Minten moves into the three-hole on that line, while often physically-bullied Matt Poitras shifts to the right wing, a position where he could find more success.
The fourth line also has the potential to be a fan favorite in Boston, as Sean Kuraly returns to a hero's welcome to play alongside John Beecher and Michael Eyssimont. While Kuraly is the more veteran center on this line, Beecher's value as a faceoff/defensive zone guy at the position could shift Kuraly to the wing.
When looking at the depth chart, the Bruins' bottom six has the potential to be a playoff-caliber group. The only question is whether the top half of the lineup will be able to carry their weight, and that seems highly unlikely unless Pastrnak has an even more heroic season than 2024-25.