A recent development at the Boston Bruins' training camp has fans wondering how they got it so wrong this offseason. As soon as Don Sweeney acquired JJ Peterka, fans immediately pictured him on the other wing with David Pastrnak. However, through the first three days of camp, Peterka has been a mainstay on the right wing with Casey Mittelstadt and Pavel Zacha.
After Day 1 of training camp, Marco Sturm seemed to be rolling with placeholder lines until he got a better picture of the team's chemistry. On Day 2, he ran it back with the lines, which made them seem a bit more concrete. On Day 3, the same trios took to the ice again, even playing in an intersquad scrimmage, which made it almost certain these were the groups Sturm had cooked up to start the season.
Instead of being disappointed in the lack of an opportunity with Pastrnak, Peterka is taking the assignment in stride. He has history with Mittelstadt from their time with the Buffalo Sabres, and he seems comfortable with Zacha.
JJ Peterka on his early chemistry with Casey Mittelstadt and Pavel Zacha: “It's been good. Played with Casey actually a lot in Buffalo. With Pav, it's pretty easy to play. Pretty smart player.” pic.twitter.com/x2nzApq32K
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin9) September 19, 2026
There is still plenty of time for things to change, as Sturm changed lines so much last season that it would make your head spin. The hope is that he won't need to do it as much this season and the offense will click more efficiently, but that hasn't always been the case for the Bruins over the last few seasons.
JJ Peterka is feeling comfortable on the second line
Once the lines started to take shape, it made sense that Sturm was trying to reclaim the magic from last season. Peterka was the upgrade on the wing over Viktor Arvidsson this offseason, and given how well the second line played with the veteran, common sense would dictate that adding Peterka could make Zacha and Mittelstadt even better.
The worry will remain whether Pastrnak has enough talent around him on the top line, but Sturm and the front office want their two most talented forwards to hold it down in the top six by leading their own lines. If Pastrnak can get the most out of Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm, and Peterka can get the most out of his linemates, the depth looks increasingly better.
It might be too early to put that pressure on a rookie, but speaking of talented forwards, if James Hagens can get something going with Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov, the Bruins suddenly have a solid top-nine featuring high-end offensive talent and two-way play spread across three lines.
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