What went wrong for the Bruins in 2024-25 — and what comes next

On March 29, Matthew Wood, the 15th pick in 2023, signed his entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators. On April 6, the former University of Connecticut forward made his NHL debut against the Montreal Canadiens.

On March 31, Ryan Leonard, the eighth pick in 2023, signed his first pro contract with the Washington Capitals. The next day, the former Boston College Eagle played his first NHL game, against his hometown Boston Bruins.

The same day Leonard turned pro, ex-Eagle Gabe Perreault, the No. 23 selection in 2023, did the same with the New York Rangers. On April 2, Leonard’s college and U.S. National Team Development Program linemate appeared in his first NHL game, against the Minnesota Wild.

Wood, Leonard and Perreault are three of the 14 2023 first-rounders who have advanced to the NHL. The Boston Bruins did not have a first-rounder in 2023, having traded it to Washington in the Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway transaction. It was one of four first-round picks they have traded since 2018 in pursuit of postseason-and-beyond reinforcements; Rick Nash, Ondrej Kase and Hampus Lindholm were the others.

When it comes to former collegians turning pro for the Bruins recently, two of the three were Jake Schmaltz and Ty Gallagher, who were seventh-round selections in 2019 and 2021 (Dans Locmelis was the other). On March 25, Schmaltz, 23, signed a one-year AHL contract. On March 19, Gallagher, 22, agreed to a two-year AHL contract. Both reported to Providence after completing their college commitments at North Dakota and Colorado College.

That neither signed an NHL contract signals the unlikelihood of pending varsity appearances.

The Bruins finished 2024-25 with 76 points. It is their lowest total in an 82-game season since 2006-07 (76) and 2005-06 (74). Multiple circumstances stacked atop one another to produce this result: inconsistent goaltending, injuries, poor coaching, misguided signings, a flickering power play.

But the Bruins’ most significant shortcoming was that when their go-to players said goodbye or started to slow, they had no internal successors ready to take their turn. Their prospect pool, compromised by trades and underwhelming selections, was just about empty.

By the time general manager Don Sweeney had to correct the organizational course, it was too late to fix.

An unexpected turn

Jakub Lauko was as happy as anyone whose life had been turned upside down. On March 6, Lauko’s disappointment in being traded by the Minnesota Wild was countered by the excitement of going home. Lauko was the Bruins’ third-round pick in 2018.

He was rejoining a club he had helped win 65 games in 2022-23, an NHL record. The following season, Lauko and the Bruins advanced to a second-round meeting with the Florida Panthers, the 2023-24 Stanley Cup champions.

Lauko thought about all these things that night while he took a car service from Vancouver, where he had been with the Wild, to Seattle. The next day, during a cross-country flight to Tampa, Fla., to rejoin his former teammates, Lauko learned things would not be as he imagined.

Lauko slept for part of the eastbound flight. When he awoke and checked his phone, Lauko thought he was dreaming. Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo and Brad Marchand were all on the move. By the time Lauko checked into the Bruins’ hotel that afternoon, he had just enough time to give Carlo a goodbye hug.

“It feels like two completely different teams than when I left,” Lauko said.

In 2023, Sweeney went all in at the trade deadline by adding Orlov, Hathaway and Tyler Bertuzzi to a record-setting roster. Two years later, Sweeney went all out. Trent Frederic, Justin Brazeau and Max Jones were also sent packing.

In just two seasons, the Bruins had shriveled. The promptness of the tumble makes Lauko shake his head.

“So fast,” Lauko said. “Two years ago, arguably the biggest … I don’t want to say waste. But that was a waste. One of the best teams ever assembled, probably. And we choked it.”

Lauko landed in Tampa shortly after Marat Khusnutdinov, also part of the deal, arrived via Rockford, Ill., where he had been with the Iowa Wild. Sweeney targeted them for a reason. Lauko (6 feet 1, 193 pounds), 25, and Khusnutdinov (5-11, 176), 22, are fast. Brazeau (6-6, 227), 27, is not.

Management believed beefy players such as Brazeau, Coyle (6-3, 215), Carlo (6-5, 220), Frederic (6-3, 221) and Jones (6-3, 216) would serve the club well to make up for skill and speed deficiencies. As for the Bruins’ biggest weakness at center, Sweeney invested seven years and $54.25 million in Elias Lindholm.

In retrospect, signing Lindholm was an overpriced shortcut. This season became the year when the 2023 retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci caught up to the Bruins. Coyle scored a career-high 60 points in 2023-24. The 33-year-old Coyle had 22 points at the time of his trade. Pavel Zacha, who had a career-best 59 points in 2023-24, finished with 47. Matt Poitras was not ready.

The problem: Since 2018, the Bruins’ picks have appeared in 468 NHL games. It is the third-lowest sum, more than only the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins have picked 36 times in the last seven drafts. Only the Winnipeg Jets (35) have made fewer picks.

In comparison, Washington’s picks since 2018, as of Thursday, had totaled 1,220 games. The Capitals have developed Martin Fehervary (25 years old), Connor McMichael (24) and Aliaksei Protas (24), who have become critical parts of their turnaround. In that way, trading for Jakob Chychrun, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Logan Thompson were complementary pieces of the puzzle.

“What I think goes unnoticed is a lot of years of hard work and development in the minor leagues,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “To retool — whatever words you want to use — and add players in free agency and through the draft, you still need to develop Aliaksei Protas, Marty Fehervary, Rasmus Sandin, Connor McMichael.

“And have those players playing the way they are right now on a winning team. You’re looking at a 30-goal scorer. A 25-goal scorer. Marty Fehervary can play 22 minutes a night in a shutdown role without any issues whatsoever. Rasmus Sandin has turned into a phenomenal two-way defenseman. We didn’t just trade for these guys in the summer. This has been five, six years in the making.”

None of the Bruins’ picks since 2018, be it Poitras (second round, 2022), Fabian Lysell (first round, 2021) or Dean Letourneau (first round, 2024), is a sure thing in the NHL. It’s why shredding the roster and tanking for a 2025 lottery pick was Sweeney’s only short-term solution.

This meant the ones still standing had to eat it.

“It’s not easy,” Zacha said. “You create friendships and relationships with players. Especially the guys who have been around here long and they’re not here anymore. It’s never easy for anybody. But you have to battle through it as much as you can.”

Deficiencies elsewhere

The Bruins believed they were due for a step forward in 2024-25. Nikita Zadorov, signed for six years and $30 million, was supposed to reinforce a defense that rolled Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm as its top two defensemen. Mark Kastelic, brought in as part of the Linus Ullmark trade, brought belligerence on the fourth line. Zacha and Coyle, dependable as first- and second-line centers in 2023-24, would be better with the addition of Lindholm.

But the Bruins misfired in training camp. Turbulence extended into the regular season. Coach Jim Montgomery lost his job because he could not find any answers.

“We thought, ‘OK, this is going to be a good year for us,’” Zacha said. “Then, going in a lot of ups and downs: Having two really good games, beating teams by a lot. Then, having two really down games. Having those big ups and downs was not really here two years ago.”

It did not help that the Bruins finished the season without their top two defensemen. McAvoy played a career-low 50 games because of a shoulder injury. Lindholm made 17 appearances, also a career low, because of a broken patella. Lindholm was the team’s best player when Justin Faulk’s shot rocketed off his leg on Nov. 12, 2024.

Lindholm’s injury, in particular, forced Zadorov and Mason Lohrei to take more shifts than expected. It did not go well. Zadorov finished with 145 penalty minutes, No. 1 in the league as of the end of the Bruins’ season. Lohrei had been on the ice for more five-on-five goals against than any defenseman in the league save for six through Monday.

Once McAvoy went down, Lohrei became the full-time quarterback on the No. 1 power-play unit. He could not bring it to life. The Bruins had one of the worst power plays in the league. As a rule, coaches stack their top offensive players on the power play. The Bruins’ lack of PP firepower reflects how few game-changers they have across their roster.

They believed they had a puck-stopping difference-maker. Jeremy Swayman proved he can counterbalance offensive shortcomings and defensive mistakes. But after Ullmark’s trade and missing all of camp because of contract negotiations, Swayman struggled to gain traction all season. Partly because of Swayman’s down year, the Bruins allowed 272 goals.

The Bruins are counting on Swayman, McAvoy and David Pastrnak to lead the 2025-26 club out of the valley. But they need a whole lot of help.

Next year’s coach, whether it’s Joe Sacco or assistant coach Jay Leach or Providence coach Ryan Mougenel, will require a secondary tier to support the Bruins’ best players, especially up front. For now, that layer includes Zacha, Lindholm and Casey Mittelstadt. More change is coming, which is not something Zacha once expected. Zacha was one of only three players in the regular-season finale who also dressed in Game 7 against the Panthers in the 2023 playoffs. Pastrnak and Swayman were the others.

Sweeney has options. He could flip some of the futures capital he acquired. The GM has all of his 2026 picks save for his fifth-rounder, which sets him up to extend an offer sheet. He has nearly $30 million in cap space, although part of it will go toward pending restricted free agents such as Lohrei and Morgan Geekie.

But dealing picks and spending in free agency put the Bruins where they stand. It is not a place they care to revisit.

“There have to be some additions here, for sure,” Zacha said. “It’s something everyone knows. Even up top. They know that something needs to be done, a little bit from the team we have now, a little bit more help. But how much? It’s hard to say. They for sure are working on a plan right now, how to make us better. No one wants to make us worse.”

(Top photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)