How Bruins can fix roster, return to playoffs in 2026 season originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Bruins were the most disappointing team in the NHL this season, and the question now is: How do they retool their roster and get back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs as quickly as possible?

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney is about to face the biggest test of his career. He has to achieve two objectives at once.

The first is a quick retool that includes substantial roster improvements so the remaining prime years of David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Jeremy Swayman are not wasted. The second is he has to have an eye toward the future and dominate the 2025 NHL Draft.

Sweeney likely will have a top-five pick in every round this year, which he has never had during his decade-long tenure as B’s general manager. His draft record is average at best, and that must improve for the Bruins to have any sort of success both in the short- and long-term.

Here are five ways the Bruins can try to fix their roster and contend again next season (and beyond).

Jeremy Swayman regains his previous form

The easiest way for the Bruins to get back on track and make the playoffs next season is for starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman to play at the top 10 level he’s shown for most of his career.

Bruins goalie coach Bob Essensa and the rest of the staff need to figure out what went wrong with Swayman and which adjustments need to be made.

Expectations for Swayman went way up after his stellar 2024 playoff run and the offseason trade of Linus Ullmark that made the 26-year-old netminder the undisputed No. 1 in Boston’s crease.

Swayman’s 2024-25 season started with a contract dispute that resulted in him missing all of training camp and the preseason. He finally reached an eight-year, $66 million deal with the B’s a couple days before Opening Night.

Swayman was able to play a career-high 57 games without any injuries, but his performance dipped dramatically. His .920 save percentage from 2020-21 through 2023-24 was the sixth-highest among all goalies. He fell to a career-low .892 save percentage and a 3.12 GAA this season, while also ranking 92nd of 102 qualifying goalies with a minus-9.2 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck. Last season, Swayman ranked fourth in goals saved above expected (plus-18.4).

It was stunning to see Swayman go from leading the 2024 playoffs in save percentage and GSAA, and then play so poorly this past season.

Swayman is not as bad as he looked in 2024-25. We have multiple seasons of data to support that. And it’s not like the team defended well in front of him, either. But he can’t play this poorly again. He’s the league’s fifth-highest paid goalie. The Bruins don’t have the offensive firepower to overcome bad goaltending, so it’s on Swayman to return to the top 10 level he’s played at for most of his career.

Develop young talent

It’s impossible to retool, especially in a quick manner, without good young players coming through the system. You can’t plug all your roster holes in free agency and the trade market. It’s too expensive and just not feasible.

Teams have to draft and develop young players who make a meaningful impact at the NHL level. And as a bonus, these players are on cheap, team-friendly contracts.

The Bruins have not developed many NHL regulars in recent years, and the ones they have — John Beecher, Jakub Lauko, etc. — are not impact players. Only seven of the 36 players selected by the Bruins in the last seven drafts have played in an NHL game. Only two of those seven — Beecher and Mason Lohrei — have played more than 100 games.

Lohrei has the potential to be a top-four defenseman someday. He’s a gifted offensive player and an excellent skater. He tallied 33 points in his first full season with the B’s. It’s important for the Bruins to give him every chance to improve.

The Bruins also need to figure out the best development path for Casey Mittelstadt — a 26-year-old center acquired in the Charlie Coyle trade. Fraser Minten, who was acquired in the Brandon Carlo trade, has the makings of a very good middle-six forward. Will Zellers, a prospect acquired in the Coyle deal, led the USHL with 44 goals and shows great potential as a scorer.

Fabian Lysell, Boston’s 2021 first-round pick, finally played in the NHL this season and put together a couple encouraging performances late in the year. His speed and skill are desperately needed. Poitras has shown flashes of being a good NHL player despite a disappointing 2024-25 season.

It’s OK to make big moves in free agency and the trade market once in a while, but there has to be a steady flow of young players coming up through the system. That’s how you build championship depth.

Find a legitimate top-six center

The Bruins were able to survive at center last season without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, both of whom retired after the 2023 playoffs. That wasn’t the case this season. The lack of suitable replacements for Boston’s two longtime centers was a massive problem.

Making matters worse for the Bruins is there aren’t any good internal options. Matt Poitras had a nice rookie season in 2023-24, but he underwhelmed this year, tallying one goal in 33 NHL games. He spent most of the 2024-25 campaign in the AHL. Poitras still has potential as an NHL player, but thinking he could fill a top-six role any time soon would be foolish.

There aren’t any other prospects capable of stepping into that position, either, which highlights the importance of the Bruins using their 2025 first-round pick on the best center available.

Elias Lindholm was expected to be a top-six center, especially when he signed for top-six money (seven years, $54.25 million) on Day 1 of free agency last summer. Lindholm largely underwhelmed, often producing at the level of a No. 3 center. He has tallied 65-plus points only once since 2018-19.

The trade market is the best place for the Bruins to find a top-six center in the near future (more on that below).

Swing for the fences in trade market, free agency

The Bruins will have around $28 million in cap space this summer, per PuckPedia. They need to re-sign right wing Morgan Geekie and defenseman Mason Lohrei — both restricted free agents — but Sweeney does have some financial flexibility to chase big-ticket additions in free agency and/or the trade market.

The No. 1 player who could hit unrestricted free agency is Toronto Maple Leafs wing Mitch Marner. The 27-year-old forward is an elite offensive player who has averaged 95.25 points over the last four seasons, including a career-high 100 this year. It’s unknown whether the Leafs will let Marner get to free agency, but if he does hit the open market, the Bruins would be wise to make a run at him.

A center is Boston’s No. 1 need, but Marner is one of the league’s top playmakers. His 73 assists ranked tied for third-most with Connor McDavid.

Nikolaj Ehlers also could become a UFA. The Winnipeg Jets forward has scored 20-plus goals in eight of the last nine seasons, and he’s hit the 60-point mark in each of the last two seasons. The Bruins need a top-six left wing with Brad Marchand no longer on the roster, and Ehlers certainly would be able to fill that role.

The best center who could become a UFA is Florida Panthers veteran Sam Bennett. He scored 25 goals — the second-highest total of his career — in 76 games. He’ll be 29 years old in June. Bennett is a solid player and a winner, but he’s not the type of player who the Bruins should spend major money to acquire. Marner is far better offensively and a little younger.

Outside of Marner, there aren’t any real game-changers in free agency. So that leaves the trade market as perhaps the best place to make substantial upgrades.

The Bruins, as a result of their trade deadline deals, have a lot of good trade assets to use in the offseason. For starters, they have more early-round draft picks coming up than they’ve owned in a long time. That haul includes four first-round picks and five second-round picks over the next three drafts.

Top-six forwards are quite expensive to acquire via trade, and the Bruins might have to be creative to find a good deal. But the Bruins now have some talented prospects and a bunch of future draft picks, so they have the ammo to make a bold swing.

Hire the right coach

Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images

The Bruins have had some really good head coaches over the last 10 years, but they’ve ended up firing all of them.

They fired Claude Julien during the 2016-17 season, which, in fairness, made sense at the time. They fired Bruce Cassidy after the 2022 playoffs and he won the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights the very next season. They fired Jim Montgomery 20 games into this season and he helped the St. Louis Blues drastically improve and make the playoffs. Montgomery might actually receive some Jack Adams Award (coach of the year) votes.

This next hire — assuming it’s not interim head coach Joe Sacco — has to be able to develop young players and fix the special teams. The Bruins had the 29th-ranked power play and the 24th-ranked penalty kill this season.

The Bruins could look at an internal candidate such as Jay Leach, who has four years of assistant coach experience in the NHL. He also has four seasons of AHL head coaching experience with the Providence Bruins. Jay Pandolfo is the Boston University head coach, but before joining the Terriers, he was a Bruins assistant coach for several seasons. He would be a good candidate to pursue.

University of Denver head coach David Carle, who has done a tremendous job with that program (two national titles), should be ready for an NHL job. If the Pittsburgh Penguins move on from Mike Sullivan, would the B’s be interested in bringing back the Massachusetts native? Sullivan is an excellent coach who has won two Stanley Cup titles in Pittsburgh and also coaches Team USA.

The next coach will be the third that Sweeney has hired as GM. If he gets this one wrong, he might not get a fourth chance.