After being bounced in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Buffalo Sabres last spring, the Boston Bruins were hoping to make some offseason additions to take the next step in the 2026-27 season.
General manager Don Sweeney traded for forward JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth in the biggest move, which cost him two first-round draft picks. However, the rest of the moves were kind of, well, meh, if we're being honest. Sara Civian of Bleacher Report dropped one prediction for each NHL team for this upcoming season; the one for the Bruins should have fans bracing for reality.
"Through no fault of David Pastrňák, Charlie McAvoy, and/or Jeremy Swayman, it's hard to see the Bruins improving on, or even repeating, last year's first-round exit,'' wrote Civian. "Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie both had career seasons last year, and it really concealed the depth issues throughout this roster. JJ Peterka is a wonderful addition, Marco Sturm has been great as head coach, and yet, this roster just feels like pieces of something great that may or may not happen one day, but not today.''
Bruins facing uphill climb in 2026-27
Look, we're not going to say the Civian is completely wrong. There is a lot of truth in what she wrote. How many people saw Morgan Geekie have another career year for the Black and Gold? Who saw Marco Strum's system taking off the way it did in the second half of the season? Who saw Fraser Minten become such a big part of the lineup? Jeremy Swayman had a big bounce-back season.
More importantly, injuries to other clubs really played a big part in the Bruins being the first Eastern Conference wild-card team with 100 points. The door was opened for the Black and Gold, and they took full advantage and walked right through.
However, given how much most teams around them in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference got better this season, have the Bruins really gotten better? They basically replaced Viktor Arvidsson with Peterka, traded for defenseman Will Borgen from the New York Rangers, while re-signing Connor Clifton in free agency. Is that going to be good enough to get back into the postseason?
More importantly, are the Bruins banking on Sturm's system working wonders again this winter? Did Boston add the right players to fit it? Maybe, just maybe, the Bruins are hoping that some youth injected into the lineup might be enough to surprise some this year and make a difference.
There are a lot of questions surrounding the Bruins going into the season, but if they are going to come close to having success like they had last year, they are going to have to have a lot of things go right again in 2026-27.
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