The Bruins and GM Don Sweeney have said for years that younger players in the organization will have chances to compete for roster spots, the implication being that they will, in fact, play in the NHL.
Sweeney and the organization haven’t lived up to those comments.
For too long, young players have languished in Providence until they’re barely even young anymore (in NHL years). Even if they lack the talent to succeed in the league or the all-around ability to earn their keep in Boston, they must be staring at the spoked ‘P’ on their sweaters and wonder if there’s nothing they can do to earn a ‘B’. This has gone on long enough to argue that it’s a developmental problem with Sweeney and the coaching staffs.
But the 2025-26 season should be different. The expectations for the Boston Bruins are the lowest they’ve been since 2007, when they finished with the eighth-worst record in the league under Dave Lewis. Although Sweeney and others have repeatedly said they expected the B’s to be “competitive,” their ceiling smells of a borderline wild card team.
That is, unless, younger talent emerges. And with more open spots than arguably at any point in the last two decades, they really should. The question is whether Sweeney and the team are willing to follow through with more young (read: imperfect) players on the roster.
Their offseason spending spree on veteran grinders doesn’t indicate as much. But Sweeney is saying the right things, at the moment, and pushing back on the idea that certain young players are taking too long to develop.
Photo by Jake Seymour/98.5 The Sports Hub“I read an interesting comment that Matty Poitras is sort of at the end point. He’s 21 years old, he’s played 66 games, I look at that as positive,” Sweeney said, while speaking to reporters at the team’s annual charity golf tournament. “Guys like Dans Locmelis and guys that are coming for the first time, they should have their ears pinned back. Guys can go out and take advantage of opportunities, not unlike Fabian (Lysell) last year, in the last 12 games, and getting his feet wet. Is he more comfortable? Has he put the work in? Now can he go out and take advantage of the skill sets that he has, as a much more mature player? That’s what we’re going to be looking for.
“And the younger players, they’ll get a chance to knock the rust off in the summer and not have a summer hockey and shinny hockey mentality when it starts next week, because when the puck drops … Camp seems long, but it’s really not. I know moving forward, it’s going to get a lot shorter as well. But the games themselves are going to be really competitive for the spots and for the opportunities that they’re going to be presenting each and every one of the younger kids, as well as the vets.”
Recent history tells us that Sweeney and the Bruins won’t see enough out of guys like Poitras, Locmelis, and certainly Lysell, despite at times showing promise. Will they put in a satisfactory level of work? Will they show enough maturity? There have been too many cases of protracted development periods for these players that one has to wonder if the standards for cracking the NHL lineup are a little too high.
But this season, again, is different. It’s time now, more than ever, for the Bruins to turn over their ice time to more kids on the right side of 25 years old. Because as currently constituted, they look far from a legitimate playoff team.
Matt, a North Andover, Massachusetts native, has been with The Sports Hub since 2010. Growing up the son of Boston University All-American and Melrose High School hall-of-fame hockey player Steve Dolloff, sports was always a part of his life. After attending Northeastern University, Matt focused his love of sports on writing, extensively writing about all four major Boston teams. He also is a co-host of the Sports Hub Underground podcast and is a regular on-air contributor on the Sports Hub. Matt writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.
