Boston, MA – Silence has many meanings. For the Boston Bruins, silence has been rare at their home in TD Garden. In game four of their first-round series against the Buffalo Sabres, the Bruins faced something worse than silence.
Through possibly their only two home games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Bruins scored just two goals against Buffalo goaltender Alex Lyon. Silence was the mood in TD Garden during game three. Throughout game four, boo birds were rained all over the ice.
Right from the start, it was clear that Boston was not prepared for a 2pm playoff game, or a playoff game in general. By the midway point of the first period, the home team found themselves down 3-0 and head coach Marco Sturm was forced to burn his timeout.
Not long after, the crowd would begin chanting ‘Swayman’ mockingly to belittle Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, something the Buffalo Sabres crowd had been trying in games 1 and 2 to mixed but generally unsuccessful results.
In the final minute, with Buffalo holding a 6-0 lead, forward Sean Kuraly scored shorthanded. The crowd cheered sarcastically so as to show their ‘appreciation’.
Post-game, the Bruins two franchise cornerstones had little explanation but rather shock to explain their team’s performance in a game that saw them go down 3-1 in the series with game 5 in Buffalo. McAvoy began by calling out the team’s effort, “Man to man in here, if we’re not [expletive] embarrassed with what just happened, then I don’t know what to say,” “Unacceptable. We expect better from ourselves. We are better than that, and we can’t show up like this.” added Pastrnak.
For the most part, the McAvoy-Pastrnak era in Boston has been largely successful, even coming just a game short of the Stanley Cup early in their tenures and posting the NHL’s best regular season of all time. However, without a Stanley Cup banner in TD Garden to show for it, it may be forgotten by fans. So how did we get here?
The Bruins drafted McAvoy after a second consecutive postseason miss, the first occurrence since the 1961 and 1962 seasons. Boston looked to be on the precipice of a major rebuild. Just five seasons prior, they had lifted the Lord Stanley in Vancouver (also causing the infamous riots of 2011). Just three seasons ago, they were in the Stanley Cup Final, two games away from lifting hockey’s ultimate prize once again. In 2014, they won the President’s trophy as the NHL’s best regular season team. Little did anyone know that game seven at TD Garden in the first round would be the last playoff hockey to grace Beantown for three seasons. At the 2015 NHL Draft, the Bruins fired their General Manager, Peter Chiarelli, and began their next era with Don Sweeney. Sweeney was quick to the trigger, immediately dealing two of their better players, Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton, for first round picks, giving the Bruins picks #13, #14, and #15 in one of the most loaded drafts in NHL history. How many all-star appearances would the three combine for? 0.
Boston’s other predicament in the 2016 NHL draft was the age of his core. Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci were all clearly past their prime and on the backslope of their careers. Luckily, in the 2014 NHL draft, Chiarelli had nabbed Pastrnak with the 25th pick.
With the 14th pick in the 2016 NHL draft, the Bruins selected Charlie McAvoy from Boston University.
Heading into the 2016-17 season, expectations were extremely low in Boston. To great surprise, the Bruins actually made the postseason, in large part due to Pastrnak’s 34 goal season (remember, scoring was much lower back then). Boston had even made a coaching change, axing 2011 Stanley Cup winning head coach Claude Julien for Bruce Cassidy. McAvoy was turning heads with his play at nearby BU, with 26 points in 38 games for the Terriers. He joined the Bruins’ AHL team, the Providence Bruins, for four games and contributed two assists transitioning on the fly just days after signing his pro contract.
McAvoy immediately jumped into the Bruins lineup for game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Ottawa Senators. In his first NHL game, McAvoy munched 24 minutes and was a +1 in an overtime victory in Ottawa to give the Bruins a 1-0 series lead. While the Bruins season ended in heartbreak in game six following Erik Karlsson’s heroics, the future of Boston defense after Zdeno Chara looked much brighter with McAvoy and fellow blue-chip prospect Brandon Carlo, although he did not get to play in the series.
2017-18 would be a major step forward for the Bruins. In McAvoy’s rookie season, the blueliner would record 32 points in 63 games. Before the season began, Pastrnak agreed to a six-year deal worth $40 million. He immediately demonstrated that the contract would be a major bargain for the Bruins for years to come with 35 goals and 80 points while playing the full 82 game season.
The postseason is where the Bruins really laid the foundation for the Pastrnak-McAvoy era. Despite what they eventually became, the Toronto Maple Leafs were then thought of as an up-and-coming team that had actually outperformed postseason expectations the year prior against the President’s trophy winning Washington Capitals and were coming into the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the best season in franchise history with 105 points. Through four games, it seemed the Bruins were in absolute command. Game two, in particular, was a Boston domination. In what was a 7-3 victory, Pastrnak had a hat trick AND three assists for six points. The Bruins would make things scary, dropping the next two games and trailing 4-3 in the third period of game seven, but the Bruins scored four straight to win 7-4. Pastrnak himself had a goal and an assist. In the seven game series, he had 13 points!
Unfortunately, in the next round, in what will become a theme throughout the Pastrnak-McAvoy era, it was quite clear the Bruins were no match for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite a game one upset, the Bruins would be gentlemanly swept 4-1, in spite of the duo combining for 11 points in the series.
The 2019 postseason is the closest Boston would come to lifting Lord Stanley. Once again, they bested the Maple Leafs with John Tavares in a seven-game series (this is when their fanbase really lost their mind), came back to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets in a tight six-game series, swept the Carolina Hurricanes, and took a 2-1 series lead against the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Final. Their trade deadline acquisitions, Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson were working out perfectly, going on to combine for 27 points in the playoff run. They lost game 4 4-2. One of the most controversial no-calls in recent memory led to David Perron scoring the game-winning goal on Boston ice. The Bruins, to their credit, responded in game six with an astounding 5-1 victory to force a game seven, but Jordan Binnington was a menace and the Blues won 4-1. No Stanley Cup for the Bruins.
Boston has yet to surpass six wins in a postseason since.
The Bruins entered 2019-20 on a clear mission of vengeance; they began the season 18-3-5 after November. There was a consensus opinion that Boston and St. Louis were bound to have a Stanley Cup Final rematch again. There was a small lull in December and January, but an 11-3-0 stretch in February had the Bruins primed for another deep postseason run. Boston’s last regular season game came on March 10, a 2-0 victory at the Philadelphia Flyers. Of course, that’s when the pandemic hit.
Truthfully, the Bruins were beginning to show signs of decline by that point and/or they were losing ground in the President’s Trophy race to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The season’s abrupt ending allowed Boston to hang onto that trophy as well as give everyone a general reset & break from the stretch of the NHL season. Pastrnak was having a spectacular season, tying Alex Ovechkin with 48 goals at the break. He was third in points with 95 throughout the 70 games. Tuukka Rask had also been having a stellar, Vezina-caliber season (he finished second behind Connor Hellebuyck, who as always, was carrying the Winnipeg Jets across the playoff line.
This leads to the second theme that has been prevalent throughout this era of Bruins hockey: elite but not necessarily impenetrable goaltending not quite having enough goal support to lead the Bruins to the promised land. Some of this falls on Pastrnak for not providing more scoring, some of it falls on McAvoy for not insulating the goaltender(s) better.
In the NHL ‘bubble’, the Bruins lost all three round robin games, placing them as the fourth seed, set to play the Hurricanes in a rematch of the previous season’s Eastern Conference Final. The Bruins won in a five game series that was much closer than the 4-1 score would suggest. In the next round, against the Lightning, they would again win game one and lose the next four. What really sucked about this series was that Rask had to leave the bubble for personal reasons and was not available for the entire series. While it is by no means a guarantee the Bruins win the series with Rask, his Vezina-caliber goaltending would have been a major upgrade over backup Jaroslav Halak’s sub-900 save percentage.
That offseason, longtime captain Zdeno Chara left in free agency due to a dispute with Boston about playing time. As well, Torey Krug, an undersized offensive defensemen who recently produced 59 points just two seasons ago and was the PP1 quarterback.
2020-21 was a mostly forgettable season as well. Pastrnak was dealing with a nagging hip injury he got surgery for after their loss against the Lightning (he missed the first seven games). A highlight of the season would be their Lake Tahoe outdoor game against the Philadelphia Flyers, a decisive victory that generated optimism. At the trade deadline, the Bruins made their biggest splash, trading for Taylor Hall (who many still thought of as a superstar). While they upset the Washington Capitals, with Chara, in a great first-round series, they again blew a series lead against the New York Islanders (2-1), ultimately losing the series in six games.
That summer, both David Krejci and Rask’s contracts expired. By the start of the 2021-22 season, the Bruins had signed neither. As well, Charlie McAvoy’s three-year bridge deal signed after their 2019 run, was coming to an end. While Rask would play four more games before retiring, Krejci would not sign that season. The Bruins also decided to extend McAvoy at $9.5 million annually until 2030 in October. Of note, the Bruins also signed goalie Linus Ullmark to a four-year deal and Jeremy Swayman had emerged as a more than fine goaltending option, posting a .943 in 10 games.
Boston ‘stumbled’ into a 107 point season that somehow made them the first wild card, having to go up to Raleigh to play the Hurricanes. The home team won each game, with game seven being decided by just one goal. Despite scoring 40 goals, something seemed off about Pastrnak’s game.
2022-23 was a big year for Boston and co. That offseason, the Bruins fired Cassidy and hired Jim Montgomery. They traded veterans such as Erik Haula to inject more youth, including Pavel Zacha. McAvoy was eager to prove to critics that his shiny new contract, which broke the franchise’s conventional norm of taking less, that he was worthy of the deal. Pastrnak was heading into a contract year, and the Bruins signed Krejci back. Rumors of a Patrice Bergeron retirement came and went that summer as well. For all intents and purposes, this looked like ‘the last dance’.
Man, oh man, did they break the regular season. With 65 wins and 135 points (both NHL records), as well as a 15-1 streak to end the regular season, Boston entered the postseason with a 1-3 chance of winning the Stanley Cup. Included was a 2-1 victory in the Winter Classic against Sidney Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins. Pastrnak cited a fully healthy offseason for his career-highs in goals (61) and points (113) as well as playing on the ‘Perfection Line’ with Bergeron and Brad Marchand. McAvoy and 2022 trade deadline acquisition Hampus Lindholm combined for over 100 points on the blue line and both were in serious Norris consideration. At the trade deadline, the Bruins dealt two future first-round picks for Dmitry Orlov and Tyler Bertuzzi. Of course, we know about the impending playoff implosion against the Florida Panthers. The blown 3-1 lead. The breakaway stop at the end of regulation in game five. The blunder in overtime. The game six blown lead. Game seven’s final minute. Carter Verhaeghe’s overtime winner. Swayman and Ullmark were having historic seasons with .920 and .938 save percentages, respectively. Ullmark was reportedly injured, causing Swayman to start the decisive game seven. For what it’s worth, the Bruins won many awards that season: the Jennings Trophy for Swayman & Ullmark, Bergon won the Selke, and Ullmark also won the Vezina.
That summer, both Bergeron and Krejci retired. Their impact on Boston sports cannot be understated. Bergeron was a perfect player and a perfect assistant captain when the Bruins broke a 39-year drought with their 2011 Stanley Cup. Krejci was the first line center for that team and will be one of the more underrated players in NHL history. To fill the leadership void, Marchand was named captain. To clear cap space, the Bruins also traded Hall to the Chicago Blackhawks and let both Orlov and Bertuzzi walk in free agency, among others. Luckily, they were able to pickup Morgan Geekie from the Seattle Kraken that summer. He would become a key fixture.
There were many concerns about the new-look Bruins heading into the 2023-24 season: regression to the mean (goaltending), how much would they miss Bergeron and Krejci, how would they replace the depth?
A 14-3-1 start would quell many of those concerns and had many wondering if Boston could even break their own records from the previous year. Of course, that regression eventually came, and it was painful. The Bruins could not even win the Atlantic Division, losing their last two games and forcing a date with the Maple Leafs. Boston once again created a 3-1 series lead, almost exclusively due to the contributions of Jeremy Swayman and Brad Marchand, and once again needed a decisive game seven to settle it. Fear was amuck around Boston given the events of the previous year. Losing to the Maple Leafs? That would truly mark this era of Bruins hockey a failure, according to consensus. There was legitmante concern as the Maple Leafs scored the game’s only goal to that point with less than 10 minutes to play. Luckily, Hampus Lindholm was able to score shortly after, and the game went into a sudden-death overtime.
Less than two minutes in, Lindholm sent a bank pass off the boards that gracefully landed on the stick of Pastrnak, flying in over the zone. There are still many disputes on the Leafs’ end over whether departed star Mitch Marner was responsible for the goal, and as NHLhockeydays details, this series effectively made Marner’s departure inevitable.
The Bruins earned a rematch with the Panthers in the second round. This time, it was the Bruins who found themselves down 3-1 in the series headed out on the road for the game five. Like the Panthers, the Bruins won that fifth game by a single goal (thanks to some Jeremy Swayman heroics once again). In a way that is all to similar to the present, the Bruins were pushed around and produced little offense such that the home crowd, at one point, chanted “shoot the puck” repeatedly in game three. Swayman’s heroics were not enough as Boston produced just one goal of support from Pavel Zacha before their hearts were broken in the final minutes via a Gustav Forsling goal. 2-1 Panthers. 4-2 series. Bruins eliminated. Jake DeBrusk, surprisingly, was the Bruins’ leading scorer that postseason, contributing 11 points in the 13 game postseason run.
That summer, it became painfully clear that brutal changes were coming. Their goaltending tandem of Swayman-Ullmark was clearly a luxury they could no longer afford, given the other holes on the roster. They traded Ullmark to the division rival Ottawa Senators for a first and Joonas Korpisalo’s questionable contract as well as Mark Kastellic. They let DeBrusk walk and signed Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov to rich, long-term deals in an effort to be tougher. Between McAvoy, Zadarov, Carlo, Lindholm, the recently acquired Andrew Peeke, and Mason Lohrei who had just turned pro before the playoff series against the Maple Leafs, the Bruins had one of the tallest blue lines in NHL history.
The other elephant in the room was Swayman’s contract. The goaltender had gone to arbitration the previous summer and there were clearly hurt feelings that came into play this summer. As the negotiations dragged on, President Cam Neely made the mistake of exclaiming, “I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now.” This created trade speculation and rumors he could ask away for a trade to play in front of a better team (remember, he had been carrying the Bruins throughout the previous postseason). Just days before the season opener against the Panthers, the two sides agreed on an eight-year contract worth $66 million. Today, that contract also looks like a bargain.
That opening-night game against the Panthers, a 6-4 defeat that only looked close due to two Bruins goals in the last four minutes, served as a preview of the torturous season to come for Boston. Montgomery was fired well before Christmas, McAvoy would miss time throughout the season, and Pastrnak’s 106 point season that had many wondering if he was a darkhorse Hart trophy candidate was not enough to make up for the Bruins’ flawed roster.
At the trade deadline, with the playoffs slipping, Sweeney decided to sell for the first time.
First to go was Coyle, the responsible middle-six center. In exchange, Casey Mittelstadt and the USHL’s leading scorer, Will Zellers (now playing for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks) both became Bruins, along with a future second round pick. Trent Frederic, a gritty 20 goal scorer the previous year, was dealt to the Edmonton Oilers as a rental for a second round pick. Promising power forward Justin Brazeau was dealt for a sixth round pick and prospect Marat Khusnutdinov. On deadline day, Carlo, a stout defensemen who had served the team admirably in his tenure nearing a decade, was sent to the Maple Leafs in exchange for prospect Fraser Minten, and a 2026 first round pick. The Bruins also dealt a fourth round pick in 2026 for once highly touted prospect Henri Jokiharju from Buffalo. \
In the deadline’s final minutes, Boston made their most shocking move yet: agreeing to send Marchand to the Panthers for a first round pick that will be made in 2028. The trade was bigger than the pick or present-day Marchand. It was the Bruins surrendering and admitting they were bound to miss the postseason for the first time in nine seasons. It was waving the white flag and labelling this team as not good enough. Rumors of a rift between Pastrnak and Marchand had surfaced early in the season, but were vehemently denied by both.
The season mercifully came to an end on April 15, a 5-4 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils. Despite holding the fifth best odds at the first overall pick, the Bruins were dropped back to seventh. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise; inexplicably, the Utah Mammoth and Nashville Predators, picking fourth and fifth, respectively, selected Caleb Desnoyers and Brady Martin. Once the Predators picked Martin, this guaranteed the Flyers and Bruins one of Porter Martone or James Hagens.
The Bruins were gifted Hagens.
Hagens was once projected as the first overall pick as recently as November. However, a ‘rough by generational talent standards’ (point per game) at Boston College (#1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament) slid Hagens down the draft board, despite a stellar World Junior Championship that ended with a repeat gold medal for the US.
That summer, the Bruins also signed depth pieces (Jonathan Aspirot, Sean Kuraly, and Tanner Jeannot) and traded for Viktor Arvidsson at his all-time low value.
Expectations entering 2025-26 were fairly low, just like 2016-17. Like 2017, they had a first-year head coach, Marco Sturm. The Bruins have been one of the NHL’s streakiest teams all year. A 3 game winning streak to start the season followed by a six game losing streak. Seven straight wins shortly after. A 13 game home winning streak that started before the new year and went past the trade deadline all the way to March 12. An outdoor game where they went up 5-1 as the visitors on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Raymond James Stadium. Sure, they blew the lead but this season has been nothing short of marvelous for the Bruins, ending with 100 points.
Arvidsson, Mittelstadt, and Zacha have formed one of the best lines in the NHL. Jeannot, Kuraly and Kastellic have been arguably the NHL’s best fourth line and they have been Boston’s best line this postseason so far. Both Lindholms have stayed healthy and bounced back marvelously. Geekie has continued to break out and has already made his six-year, $33 million contract look like a major bargain, contributing 39 goals despite a 17 game goal-less drought. Zadarov has given the Bruins jolts of energy with massive hits whenever they needed it while Aspirot has munched minutes on the top pair with McAvoy. Perhaps the most encouraging part of the season has been rookies Minten and Khusnutdinov with 35 and 33 points, respectively. On January 10, the Bruins lit up the rival New York Rangers at home with 10 goals, four of which were scored by Khusnutdinov.
At the end of the season, Boston was able to sign Hagens to a pro deal. Just after Boston clinched a playoff spot following the Detroit Red Wings’ loss to the Devils, Hagens debuted against the Blue Jackets and immediately notched his first point, an assist on a Jokiharju goal in a 3-2 victory.
In their final regular season game, the Bruins beat the Devils 4-0. For his coaching efforts, Sturm has generated buzz as a Jack Adams candidate.
As usual, goaltending has been elevating the Bruins. Swayman is second in the NHL in goals saved above expected while Korpisalo has been a stellar backup, giving the Bruins key wins, such as against the Sabres late in March, for example.
The Bruins prospect pool has also looked much more replenished and shined brightly this season. With the Ullmark pick, the Bruins drafted 6-7 center Dean Letourneau, who took a major leap into point-per-game territory. In the 2025 NHL draft, along with Hagens, they also nabbed promising prospects in later rounds including Will Moore (a second round pick once projected as a first round pick) and Cooper Simpson (who was over a point per game in the USHL and will now join the promising forward Zellers at North Dakota).
For all intents and purposes, between the trade deadline, this past summer, and the results of this season, Sweeney has revived the Bruins and taken himself off the hot seat.
The first two games of the postseason for the Bruins, at Buffalo, were a mixed bag. While the Sabres generally dominated play, the Bruins had multi-goal leads in the final 10 minutes of both games. In game one, they blew that lead, conceding four goals in less than five minutes of play. Luckily, in game two, perhaps helped by Swayman calling a timeout for the team. Swayman has been Boston’s best player so far. That is undisputable. In game three, Boston failed to generate any goal support after Jeannot opened the scoring. The Bruins now find themselves down 3-1 in the series.
Perhaps one day, Hagens, Minten, and whichever future Bruins are drafted with their premium surplus of picks in the next three drafts will be able to lead Boston to the promised land McAvoy & Pastrnak have come so close to reaching on several occasions.
However, for the 2025-26 season, it appears the Bruins’ Stanley Cup hopes are zero. If Boston would like to change that, they will need to first win game 5 in Buffalo Tuesday night, and then somehow win game 6 back in Boston on Friday, and then of course game 7 on Sunday in front of 19,000 Buffalo diehards.
See below for an interactive year-over-year summary of the Pastrnak-McAvoy era in Beantown:
2016-17 NHL season: the Bruins are at their lowest point, having missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in back to back seasons for the first time since 1962. In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year that saw head coach Claude Julien axed for Bruce Cassidy, pleasant surprises emerge as David Pastrnak leads the team with 34 goals and Charlie McAvoy, after a stellar season with the Boston University Terriers, joins the NHL club for their postseason run. Although short-lived, the series is a sign of things to come as McAvoy aveages over 26 minutes per game and Pastrnak has 4 points in the six game series. In the summer, Pastrnak agrees to a six-year contract worth $40 million. This contract will prove to be the NHL's best contract over its duration.
2017-18 NHL season: Boston takes another leap forward, with major help via Pastrnak's 35 goals and 80 points, as well as having a full season with Charlie McAvoy, munching minutes alongside captain Zdeno Chara. Pastrnak ties a franchise record with six points in game 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins win a playoff series for the first time in five seasons, winning game seven 7-4. They are subsequently bounced by the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.
2018-19 NHL season: the Bruins make a much deeper run in the postseason, in large part due to the goaltending from Tuukka Rask. They beat the Maple Leafs in seven games once again, the Columbus Blue Jackets in six, and sweep the Carolina Hurricanes. They take a 2-1 series lead over the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Final, but lose the next two games. They recover in game six, to force a game seven back home at TD Garden. However, Jordan Binnington's heroics give the Blues a 4-1 victory. The Bruins will never come this close to a Stanley Cup again in the Pastrnak-McAvoy era.
2019-20 NHL season: Boston comes out on fire, with a 18-3-5 record through two months. The season comes to an abrupt end due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bruins maintain their hot start well enough to win the President's trophy. Pastrnak has his most spectacular season to date, with 48 goals and 95 points in the 70 games. In the bubble, the Bruins lose all three round robin games, but gentlemanly sweep the Hurricanes before being gentlemanly swept themselves by the Lightning. In the offseason, Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug leave in free agency.
2020-21 NHL season: Before the season begins, the Bruins already face injury trouble: David Pastrnak, coming off his spectacular season, is forced to miss the first seven games recovering from a hip surgery he underwent after the Tampa series. The Bruins have a solid season, including an outdoor Lake Tahoe win against the Philadelphia Flyers, and matchup with the Washington Capitals, Chara's new team, in the first round. They win a close five-game series before blowing a 2-1 lead to the New York Islanders. That summer, both David Krejci and Rask's contracts expire.
2021-22 NHL season: when the season starts, neither Krejci nor Rask are on the roster. Though Rask comes back to play four games, he retires due to injury soon after. The previous season, Jeremy Swayman had emerged as a capable goalie and Boston decided to sign Linus Ullmark in free agency. Early in the season, the Bruins also extend McAvoy for $76 million over eight years. While the Bruins have a stellar season with 107 points, the strength of the Atlantic divison means they are forced to play the Hurricanes as a wild card team. The home team wins every game, meaning the Bruins season comes to an end in game seven with a 2-1 defeat.
2022-23 NHL season: following summer speculation that captain Patrice Bergeron may retire, and a head coach swap that sees Cassidy exit for Jim Montgomery, the Bruins have gotten the band all together for a 'last dance'. Krejci comes back and posts 56 points in 70 games. Pastrnak, coming off two slightly underwhelming seasons, rattles 60 goals and 113 points on the Perfection Line with Bergeron and Brad Marchand. He is rewarded with an extension worth $92 million over eight seasons. McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm each garner Norris votes. Ullmark and Swayman have a historic season in net that results in the Bruins breaking the NHL record for wins (65) and points (135). One of the wins is against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a terrific Winter Classic game. Unfortunately, they collapse in the playoffs against the Florida Panthers, blowing a 3-1 series lead.
2023-24 NHL season: following their last dance, Bergeron and Krejci both retire. Marchand takes over as captain. While many expected the Bs to regress, they largely impress, in no small part due to Pastranaks's 110 point season and stellar goaltending. They avenge past demons by beating the Maple Leafs once again, though they were 10 minutes away from blowing another 3-1 series lead. Pastrnak had his clutch moment, scoring the OT winner in game seven. Unfortunately, the Bruins are done after six games against the Panthers, yet again losing the final game on home ice.
2024-25 NHL season: due to salary cap constraints, the Bruins were forced to say goodbye to several key fixtures the previous offseason. Linus Ullmark was traded, Jake DeBrusk was let go in free agency, and Boston had yet to sign Swayman just days before the season opener against the Panthers. They also chose to sign Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov to long-term deals. The season is a disaster from the start and only gets worse when McAvoy is forced to miss time. At the trade deadline, the Bruins agree to punt on the season and deal away Marchand, Trent Frederic, Brandon Carlo, and others in an effort get younger. The Bruins finish fifth last in the NHL despite Pastrnak's 106 point effort that generated some Hart Trophy buzz.
2025-26 NHL season: the Bruins enter with a new head coach in Marco Sturm and are a pleasant surprise, finishing with 100 points and a postseason return. Pastrnak against posts 100 points, the Bruins squeeze 39 goals out of Morgan Geekie, and young pieces acquired at the 2025 NHL trade deadline such as Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov all contribute to a true team effort. Swayman, of course, plays the biggest role, finishing second in goals saved above expected. McAvoy misses some time with freak accidents, but take a major step forward and asserts himself as a true Norris-level defenseman. The postseason is a mixed bag with blown leads that has Boston down 3-1 to the Buffalo Sabres in the first round as of this writing. Due to the previous year's failures, the Bruins were able to draft James Hagens seventh overall, who is already making an impact at the NHL level. The Bruins prospect pool also looks replenished and has the Bruins primed for a bright future.
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