Going into the 2025-26 season, one thing was clear: if the Boston Bruins were going to turn things around, they were going to have to get some big bounce-back seasons or career years from some players. One of those players who provided that was fourth-line forward Mark Kastelic.
First-year coach Marco Sturm was looking for someone to step up, and one of those needed to be goalie Jeremy Swayman. He did, but so did Kastelic, and he played a big role in Boston's surprising campaign that ended with a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. With that said, let's grade Kastelic's 2025-26 season, his second with the Bruins, after being acquired from the Ottawa Senators in June of 2024 as part of the return in the Linus Ullmark trade.
Mark Kastelic's 2025-26 regular season
If you had Mark Kastelic having a career year for the Bruins this past season, then that was a bold take that became reality. Primarily playing with Sean Kuraly in the middle and rotating wings on the other side, Kastelic played in all 82 regular-season games with 12 goals and 10 assists. He had a plus/minus of plus-6.
Kastelic racked up 140 minutes in penalties, which isn't surprising, but there was one stat that not many Boston fans, if any, would believe. Four of Kastelic's 12 goals were game winners. That is not something you expect to see from a fourth-liner with double-digit goals, a quarter of them being game-winning strikes.
Mark Kastelic's 2026 postseason
Kastelic averaged 11:25 in all six games of the first-round series against the Buffalo Sabres in the six-game loss. He picked up an assist in Game 4, setting up the ultimate garbage-time goal if there ever was one. Boston was shorthanded and down 6-0 with 40 seconds left when Kastelic found Sean Kuraly to break the shutout. Overall, his line did what they were supposed to do as a fourth line in the postseason, grind out shifts and make life difficult for Buffalo.
Mark Kastelic 2025-26 Grade: A-
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