The Bruins have a Matthew Poitras problem on their hands, and the clock is already working against them.
Boston tendered the restricted free agent a qualifying offer on June 29, 2026, keeping his rights after his three-year entry-level deal expired at the end of the 2025-26 season. That contract carried an average annual value of $870,000, while the qualifying offer from general manager Don Sweeney came in at $850,000 AAV. The July 15 signing deadline has already come and gone, which leaves Poitras in a tricky spot as the Bruins hold his rights.
The bigger issue is what Boston actually plans to do with him.
Poitras spent most of the 2025-26 season with AHL Providence, where he put up 44 points - 13 goals and 31 assists - in 69 games. Across his pro career, he has played 40 more games in the AHL than in the NHL, and he has become a familiar name on the list of Bruins demotions over the past two seasons. He has still managed 69 NHL games, with seven goals and 27 points, but unlike Michael DiPietro, he has not gotten another extended look at the top level.
That’s why the qualifying offer feels less like a simple formality and more like a decision point. Poitras is not arbitration-eligible, which gives him less leverage, and the Bruins’ offer could keep him in limbo until early December.
The question hanging over all of this is straightforward: if Boston is willing to keep promoting DiPietro, why not Poitras too? He profiles as a hard-working depth player who could still make a real impact in the team’s top nine.
There’s also the trade angle, and that’s where the conversation gets more interesting.
ESPN’s Rachel Kryshak wrote in May that Poitras could benefit from a change of scenery, and the situation around him has only grown murkier with the emergence of James Hagens. That has made Poitras look more expendable, at least from the outside. A team willing to be patient with his development and give him room to grow on both ends of the ice could end up with a middle-six center.
Dobber Prospects sees that kind of upside, too, describing him this way:
“Hard-working two-way forward with the skill to capitalize on opposing mistakes. Already displays a lot of pro-level habits and projects as a reliable NHL forward with secondary scoring ability.”
Poitras, selected 54th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, still has plenty of untapped potential. The constant shuffling between the AHL and NHL has likely slowed that growth, but it has not erased the appeal. Plenty of teams would be interested in a two-way forward with his profile.
If Boston does decide to move him, the return could matter. According to The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa, the Bruins should aim for a second-round pick. An NHL director of amateur scouting, speaking anonymously in that same reporting, said the league may already be cooling on Poitras.
“I wouldn’t trade for him, personally,” the director said. “If they can recoup a second, that’s a win for me.”
That leaves the Bruins with a simple but uncomfortable choice. They can keep waiting, keep shuttling Poitras between levels, and hope the fit eventually clicks. Or they can treat him like a trade asset and try to get value before the situation drifts any further.
For now, Boston seems stuck between those paths. And with Poitras still showing enough in Providence to look NHL-ready, the Bruins have to decide whether they trust him enough to keep him - or whether another team will be the one to cash in on the upside they never fully used.
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Bruins Offseason Could Get Even More Painful If Atlantic Rivals Strike
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The problem is that the Bruins are not operating in a vacuum. Buffalo and Detroit are both positioned to make meaningful offseason moves of their own, and if either Atlantic Division rival lands the kind of upgrade that changes its ceiling, Bostons path back up the standings only gets tougher. For a team that still needs help down the middle and on the blue line, the margin for error is already thin, and the rest of the division may be about to make it thinner. [Read more 🡒]