One of the bigger surprise teams in the NHL in 2025-26 was the Boston Bruins. When the season began last fall, not many people outside of the walls of Warrior Ice Arena thought that they could make the playoffs.
Let's be honest, they went through an offseason of changes with a new coach in Marco Sturm and a new system. They some players who were looking for a bounce-back season, but you can never trust someone truly having a bounce-back season. They were also counting on some young players to step up and take on roles they haven't been used to.
In the end, they got some bounce-back seasons that they needed, and some of the younger players played well above expectations. All of that, along with some teams being down, led to a surprise 100 points and a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs as the first wild-card team.
Boston was bounced in six games by the equally surprising Buffalo Sabres, but unlike their rivals in Western New York, they are not built to return to the playoffs with the same roster, unless some major changes are made. Some teams are expected to bounce back next season, and Adam Gretz of Bleacher Report listed some sleeper teams, and one is bad news for the Black and Gold.
Bruins division foe listed a bounce-back teams in 2026-27
Gretz said that a lot of people are expecting next season, the Florida Panthers to get healthy and be a factor again. Let's face it, they had too many injuries to be a factor this past season. Two long runs to Stanley Cup championships the last two seasons, going into deep June, also didn't help. However, a veteran team is expected to be healthy and ready to go in 2026-27. They are expected to have Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, and Brad Marchand all back healthy next fall.
"A large part of their struggles this season came down to the fact that they were not only missing Barkov for the entire season and Tkachuk for half of it, but by the end of the season, they were basically playing with an AHL lineup due to injury problems that continued to build throughout the roster,'' wrote Gretz.
Nobody can survive an NHL season with an AHL lineup. Not even the two-time defending champs. Florida being a sleeper pick is a bit of stretch, but it just adds another obstacle for Don Sweeney and his team when it comes to another hurdle they'll have to get over to return to the playoffs next spring.
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