After a long six-plus months, the Boston Bruins 2024-25 season will end on Tuesday night at the TD Garden. They’ll miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a disappointing season that will see them near the bottom of the basement in the Eastern Conference standings.
Currently one point behind the Philadelphia Flyers, the Bruins are in position for a Top 6 pick in June’s Entry Draft, which they’ll be looking to add a future high-end talent, hopefully as early as next season. As the Bruins close out their season later Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils, here are three things to watch for.
7th Player Award winner
Who wins this yearly award? Honestly, this one should be fairly obvious as compared to past seasons, with Morgan Geekie the clear front-runner. If you want to nit-pick another winner, maybe Joonas Korpisalo after a bounce-back season? In the end, without Geekie and David Pastrnak, Boston is down with the San Jose Sharks in terms of points in the league. It’ll be surprising if someone other than Geekie wins.
Which version of the Devils shows up?
New Jersey is going to the playoffs as the third seed in the Metropolitan Division, and they’ll play the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round. Just seven days ago, they didn’t look like a team ready for the playoffs after the Bruins beat them 7-2.
On Sunday, they fell, 1-0, to the New York Islanders at home, 24 hours after the Isles were eliminated from playoff contention with a shootout loss against Flyers. Yes, the Devils are dealing with injuries, but you want to be playing good hockey entering the postseason. A New Jersey bounce-back is what their fans would like to see.
Bruins' prospects' last chance to impress
Some bright spots coming down the stretch of the season have been the play of some of the Black and Gold prospects. After starting out with the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL) after being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Fraser Minten has been impressing with each game he plays. He scored his first goal as a Bruin against the Devils last week on a nice shot from the slot.
Fabian Lysell finally scored his first career NHL goal in Sunday’s 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had a nice, calm finish along the side of the net on the power play off a nice pass from Pavel Zacha. It’s nice to see him pot his first one before the season ends. Both Minten and Lysell could be in the plans for 2025-26.