The Bruins got tougher and nastier, but did they get better?

Boston: At first glance, the Bruise“Reconstructed the reconstruction list is very much like a rehabilitation.

They signed a lot of boys, traded on Tuesday to a veteran, but for all new faces, they still have some of the same problems coming out on the first day of the free NHL agency.

The highlight, have a list with too many first -line score options and mass in front of the bottom.

Bruins’s CEO, Don Sweeney, thought he had a hardest team of workers, better players, and toughest customers who went to 2025-26. It is enthusiastic about the added energy and the juice that the new players will bring to the programming.

But what they do not contribute, at least on paper, is a constant offensive production.

The Bruins, who were among the lower teams of the NHL last year (2.7 goals per game), did not add a dynamic offensive player. The five players they signed combined by 54 points by 2024-25. For himself, Brad Marchand He had 47 in 61 games for Boston.

Bruins have a front line of David Pastrnak And Morgan Geekie, probably with Elias Lindholm or maybe Pavel Zacha. Both combinations are quite good, but they need Geekie to be close to his 33 goals last year and one of the centers that are constantly effective.

The second line is Zacha or Lindholm and two third -party liners that cost as second -unit boys. Viktor Arvidsson will get a shot. After that? Matt Poitras? Casey Mittelstadt? Matěj blümel? Fabian Lysell? FRASER MIGN? None of them have shown that they can still do it. Bruins have to wait for one of them to move forward.

James Hagens It may not be ready for the big leagues, but the team will look forward to the offensive skill, because they lack players outside this front line.

Marco Sturm could be tempted to throw on the pads.

In a hockey city, where the fourth -line physical crusters and the willing fighters, the Bruins have good ones, but it seems to be a surplus. They have too many guys who hit better than they shoot.

Bruins should be better in defense. There will always be wounds but it is reasonable to think Charlie McAvoy And Hampus Lindholm, its two best proponents, will play more than 67 games that combined for last year.

Boston will have Jeremy Swayman, too. It does not have to be the version of itself that reached the game All-Star in 2024. But they need it to be better than last season.

Sweeney hopes that a better defense will help the offense. The Bruins scored the few goals at the Eastern Conference by 2024-25, but more important was the differential of goals. Its -50 was last east and fourth in the NHL.

If they allow fewer goals, the offense will need to score less to close this gap. More than that, a better defense will take more time in the offensive zone. But that goes so far.

Sweeney thought the mix of new players in a new system, combined with a power game improved by the new assistant coach Steve Spott Combined, would suppose enough offense to be competitive.

“If the power game is back online and they feel better with themselves in this regard, I think that Sweeney said enough. “But this is the area that if we look at the group we are saying, ok, we have to make fun.”

However, this is a leap of faith.

Perhaps there is a candidate for the departure of Matěj Blümel (39 goals, 33 assists for the stars of Texas) and Alex Steeves (36 goals, 26 assists for the Toronto Marlies), who were prominent in the AHL. Both are only 25 years old and are promises, but they are not enough for stars and leaves to keep them.

Sweeney properly identified Morgan Geekie’s promise after Seattle has loose the loose. But it is not something they can trust.

In order for the Bruins to be good enough to be a playoff team, they need someone, or probably several bodies, take great steps forward.

Finally, Lysell is ready to explode? Can Poitras be healthy and keep in the NHL?

It is not good enough to be difficult to play. At some point, they must be difficult to stop.