Bruins roster reset, projected lineup after free agent moves, Arvidsson trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins announced nine signings and one trade on Day 1 of NHL free agency. They were among the league’s busiest teams. But did any of these moves make the team significantly better?
Instead of chasing high-end talent with goal-scoring ability — the Bruins were one of the league’s worst offensive teams last season — general manager Don Sweeney added a bunch of bottom-six forwards with limited scoring potential.
The Viktor Arvidsson trade with the Oilers made sense, especially when the cost was only a 2027 fifth-round draft pick. Many of the other pickups were puzzling, though.
The Bruins do have a lot of depth now, and there will be plenty of internal competition for roster spots and roles in the coming months.
“We expect to be a much more competitive team,” Sweeney said Tuesday at a press conference. “The improvements now come from within. But make no mistake: If a younger player has the opportunity to make our team, he’s making our team.”
It’s hard to see how this roster, as currently put together, would be a playoff team in the Eastern Conference next season. This team is not as talented or as deep as the Panthers, Maple Leafs and Lightning in the division. So it’s probably wild card or bust for Boston.
But it’s still very early in the offseason and more moves could be made.
Let’s take a look at some potential line combinations after the Bruins’ flurry of activity Tuesday.
Also in the mix: Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov, Sean Kuraly, Matej Blumel
Let’s get this out of the way: The second, third and fourth lines could be constructed in 15 different iterations (maybe more), and our projections will change plenty of times between now and the end of training camp. After the Bruins signed a bunch of bottom-six forwards Tuesday, the possible line combos for new head coach Marco Sturm are seemingly endless.
However, the first line should be set in stone. The Morgan Geekie-Elias Lindholm-David Pastrnak trio played 88:58 of ice time after the trade deadline, and the B’s had a 56-33 edge in shots, a 65-33 advantage in scoring chances and a 17-6 goal differential during those minutes, per Natural Stat Trick.
Fabian Lysell deserves a real chance to prove himself. The 2021 first-round pick plays with a level of offensive skill and speed that Boston desperately needs. But for some reason, he hasn’t been given a real opportunity to earn a consistent NHL role.
The third-line center spot will be a fascinating position battle. The ideal scenario for the Bruins would be Fraser Minten or Matt Poitras — two of the team’s best and most NHL-ready prospects — taking the role.
One theme from the Bruins’ Day 1 free agent signings was that most of the players brought in all shoot the puck at a high rate. For example, there were 380 forwards last season who logged at least 500 even-strength minutes, per Natural Stat Trick, and Arvidsson ranked 19th with 9.56 shots per 60 minutes.
Boston ranked 31st in shot attempts and 29th in shots on net at even strength last season, so firing the puck on net as much as possible would be a welcome change for this team. That said, how many of these forwards can bury scoring chances consistently? Only two players listed above — Pastnak and Geekie — scored more than 17 goals last season.
Sweeney doesn’t seem concerned about his team’s ability to score, though.
“I do believe when you put the full group together, what they’re capable of doing, we’ll score enough if we play the right way, and we’ll defend a hell of a lot better, and I expect our goaltending to be significantly better,” Sweeney said Tuesday at a press conference.
Also in the mix: Michael Callahan, Jordan Harris
Losing Hampus Lindholm for most of the 2024-25 season and then losing Charlie McAvoy for the final two months of the campaign was a massive setback for the Bruins. They could have missed the playoffs anyway, but not having two top-pairing caliber defensemen due to injuries is a tough blow.
Lohrei has a lot to prove after signing a two-year bridge deal last week. He has impressive playmaking ability and skates really well, but he needs to make a substantial improvement defensively.
The right side of the blue line after McAvoy is a bit of a wild card.
The B’s still haven’t found a real replacement for Brandon Carlo after they traded him to the Maple Leafs in March. Andrew Peeke has been a nice find by Sweeney as a reliable third-pairing blueliner. Henri Jokiharju on the second pairing isn’t the most ideal situation, but he played fairly well after Boston acquired him from the Sabres at last season’s trade deadline. Still, upgrading on the right side of the second pairing needs to happen at some point.
The Bruins need Nikita Zadorov to bring physicality without taking too many penalties. He led all defensemen in penalty minutes last season, and he took 12 more minor penalties than any other player at his position.
Goaltenders
- Starter: Jeremy Swayman
- Backups: Joonas Korpisalo, Michael DiPietro
The most effective way for the Bruins to get back in the Eastern Conference playoff mix is for Jeremy Swayman to play at the level of a top 10 goalie again. He’s done that most of his career, so it’s definitely possible. After playing fantastic as Team USA’s No. 1 goalie at the World Championships in May and helping lead the Americans to their first gold medal at the tournament since 1933, Swayman should bring some positive momentum into camp.
The backup role will be another fun battle to watch. It would benefit the Bruins tremendously if they could trade Joonas Korpisalo and get rid of his contract that has three more seasons remaining and a $3 million salary cap hit. But given Korpisalo’s lackluster stats over the last two years, trading him could prove difficult.
The Bruins signed Michael DiPietro to a new contract last week. He’s coming off the best season of his career in Providence during which he went 26-8-5 with a .927 save percentage and a 2.05 GAA. DiPietro deserves a chance to compete for the backup job in Boston, and if he does make a strong case in camp and the preseason, it’ll be interesting to see how the Bruins react.