The Boston Bruins have a solid trio of players that head coach Marco Sturm is going to depend on throughout the 2026-27 season. He has one of the top offensive players in the league in David Pastrnak, a hard-hitting and highly skilled defenseman in Charlie McAvoy and one of the best goaltenders in the NHL in Jeremy Swayman. That threesome keyed the Bruins’ run to the playoffs last season as they scored 100 points and earned a spot in the postseason as a Wild Card team.
The Bruins were unable to get past the Buffalo Sabres, blowing the first game after taking a 2-0 lead deep into the third period. Buffalo won the series in six games, ending Boston’s season in the first round of the postseason.
The improvement that the team displayed last year could have triggered general manager Don Sweeney into a very active offseason. There was hope among the fandom that the Bruins might go against type and bring in one or two big-name free agents to give Pastrnak, McAvoy and Swayman some real support.
However, the biggest move the Bruins made was trading for winger J.J. Peterka of the Utah Mammoth. The 24-year-old Peterka appears to be a legitimate goal scorer who should be coming into the prime of his career, but he did not come cheaply. The Bruins sent two first-round draft picks to the Mammoth, and that could turn out to be too high of a price.
Even if Peterka turns out to be a solid acquisition, the Bruins should have done more with free agency in the offseason. This team has been hurting at center since the end of the 2022-23 season when Hall of Famer Patrice Bergeron and fellow star David Krejci retired.
The Bruins need a true No. 1 center because Elias Lindholm has not been able to fill that role adequately. Sweeney should have addressed that need at the start of free agency.
Bruins should have made a big move for Alex Tuch
There really was no excuse for not making a major effort to get Alex Tuch of the Buffalo Sabres in the fold. He is a long-time division rival, and he was one of the main reasons the Sabres were able to defeat the Bruins in the playoffs. Tuch scored four goals and three assists against Boston, as the Bruins could not contain him.
Tuch was scheduled to be a free agent July 1, but the Washington Capitals were proactive in making a move to acquir Tuch.. They gave him an eight-year, $84 million contract just before the start of free agency and the Sabres moved him to Washington in a sign-and-trade deal.
The Sabres received a 3rd-round draft pick and depth forward David Kampf in return for Tuch. While the contract he received may be somewhat expensive, the third-round pick and the depth player was not a hefty price to pay.
Tuch was originally a first-round draft pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2014 after playing his college hockey at Boston College. He was a highly respected college player, and the Bruins should have made a move for him.
While the Sabres may have been hesitant to trade him to a division rival, the Capitals are an Eastern Conference team and Tuch can hurt them when he plays for the Caps.
If the Bruins had offered the Sabres a second-round draft pick and a depth player or a prospect, perhaps they could have enticed a deal with Buffalo.
It’s a mistake that the Bruins did not go all-in on the 30-year-old Tuch and find a way to secure his services. They still need a No. 1 center and Tuch could have filled that role.
Sweeney rarely shows the aggressiveness needed to make big deals
As the Bruins demonstrated their improvement last season, many expected Sweeney to add to the team’s core by making one or two key moves at the trade deadline. Instead, the Bruins were very quiet and the only move they made for an NHL player was a minor trade with the Vancouver Canucks for Lukas Reichel.
He has explosive skating speed, but he is clearly an ordinary player. Reichel scored 3 goals and 5 assists while playing 29 games last season for three teams, and he does not figure in the team’s long-term plans.
While this was not a great season for free agents, the Bruins were not involved in deals for defensemen Rasmus Andersson, John Carlson, Mason Marchment, Jacob Trouba or Anders Lee. It seems that Sweeney is hesitant to go after free agents and that has been an issue for a team that is looking for key players who can add to the Boston core.
The Boston Bruins have a solid trio of players that head coach Marco Sturm is going to depend on throughout the 2026-27 season. He has one of the top offensive players in the league in David Pastrnak, a hard-hitting and highly skilled defenseman in Charlie McAvoy and one of the best goaltenders in the NHL in Jeremy Swayman.
