The 2025-26 edition of the Boston Bruins is one that fans can easily fall in love with. It's a group that people didn't expect to have too much success this season, but for some reason, whatever head coach Marco Sturm is selling to the roster is working. While there's no denying that Sturm is a good X's-and-O's coach with some of his structural changes, it's the way his players compete for him that stands out.
The Bruins weren't going to be good this season by putting in the same efforts as they did in the 2024-25 season. That roster had a bit more skill until the trade deadline teardown, but something was missing in their work ethic and compete level. With some hungry young players and veterans trying to prove their doubters wrong, this year's team doesn't have a work ethic problem.
Sturm has been a big fan of the team's hard work in post-game press conferences, but it was his comments on an appearance with Andrew Raycroft and Billy Jaffe on their Morning Bru podcast that stick out as something for the players to hang their hats on.
"We play tough. We always follow up with other coaches and even players after games. That's something that always comes up. The way we work, but also how hard we play. That for me, it's nice to hear. It's nice to be part of because that's us. That's part of us and it seems like the fans love it too. "Marco Sturm
There are some Sheldon Keefe "respect in the handshake line" vibes to getting too confident about post-game comments about the team. However, after the struggles that fans went through last year with the way the Bruins worked, it is a great step in the right direction. It's also a good sign that Sturm has the players working like that in his first year as a head coach in a supposed rebuild season.
If in five years the Bruins haven't made any progress and teams are still talking about their hard work, then we'll have some concerns. Until then, we'll enjoy the fact that the roster is bought into what Sturm is selling, and it looks like Don Sweeney and Cam Neely made an excellent choice of who should lead the next era.