The Boston Bruins have fallen on hard times. First, Bruins legend Patrice Bergeron retires. Then, captain Brad Marchand is traded to the eventual Stanley Cup champs, the Florida Panthers. While those two moves devastated the Boston faithful, the bigger picture reveals the Bruins have lost their scoring power. Aside from David Pastrnak, the team lacks scoring big time. GM Don Sweeney did not help matters with a lackluster offseason. Where do they go from here?
Bruins offseason grows concern for upcoming season
Sweeney was active this offseason but the moves he made only have more questions. He re-signed center John Farinacci, who scored a goal in his only Bruins game. he then signed defenseman Jordan Harris, and forwards Riley Tufte, Alex Steeves, Matej Blumel, Sean Kuraly, Michael Eyssimont, and Tanner Jeannot. Those players combined to score 20 goals last season. Maybe a trade or two will boost morale and scoring. Sweeney traded for forwards Victor Soderstrom and Viktor Arvidsson in separate deals and they combined to score 15 goals during the 2024-25 season.
This is a massive problem for the Bruins and there is no solution in sight. They must find a solution from within and their goals must come from everywhere in the lineup. They do not have assets to trade and nobody on the roster will likely be traded for a premium piece. Pastrnak is the only bright spot in the lineup for consistent goal scoring and he cannot do it alone. The entire roster is going to have to step up in a big way to help this Boston team succeed this season.
Last season could give us an indication of how this season will go. Boston finished 28th in goals scored with 222 goals scored, 28th in goals per game with 2.71, and 29th in power play efficency with a 15.2% success rate.
The goal leaders from last season include Pastrnak (43), Morgan Geekie (33), Elias Lindholm (17), Casey Mittlestadt (15 between Boston and the Colorado Avalanche), and Pavel Zacha (14).
Unless something happens where Sweeney can acquire a goal scorer, this team is in serious trouble for scoring goals this season and may finish close to where they did last season. Pastrnak may be a lock for 40 goals but where will the rest of the offense come from? A player or two will have to have career years to help boost this offsense but will it be enough? Who will that player, or players, be? Plenty of questions heading into the 2025-26 season.