After a disappointing 2024-25 season that saw the Boston Bruins finish near the bottom of the NHL standings, the front office and management made it clear at their end-of-the-year press conference that they were not going into a rebuild, but a retool.
When the dust settled and the moves were made, there were not many that were going to excite a lot of people in terms of improving the roster for the 2025-26 season. Are they a playoff team next spring? The jury is out on that, but if you're looking for an answer now, it might be a no.
The lack of big moves not made by general manager Don Sweeney didn't go unnoticed around the league and with the national media. One NHL writer took a subtle shot at the Black and Gold and Sweeney.
NHL writer takes jab at Bruins over underwhelming offseason
Sean McIndoe of The Athletic did an article about which Eastern Conference teams had weird offseasons and when it came to the Bruins, well, let's just say he couldn't resist making a jab at Sweeney and the Bruins.
"When the biggest story of your offseason is the release of Happy Gilmore 2, you're not going to set the meter on fire.''
What he is referring to is the bizarro-meter rankings he gave Boston and the movie released this summer. But in the overall big picture, he's not wrong. The biggest addition was acquiring Viktor Arvidsson from the Edmonton Oilers on July 1, and then shelling out a bizarre contract to Tanner Jeannot is not going to move the needle much, if at all, in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
There was a center addition made, which was their top need this offseason, and you could say that the biggest additions are getting defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm back healthy after last season was cut short by injuries. Training camp has begun, and maybe the Bruins can surprise, but it's going to take a lot of luck right now for that to happen.