The Boston Bruins still have time to change the shape of their roster, but the clock is already ticking toward a season that could get tricky fast.
With more than two months left before 2026-27 begins and training camps still sitting in September, Boston is one of several teams that may not be finished adding. That matters, because if the Bruins go into the year with the roster they have after free agency, there’s a real chance of regression.
The two biggest holes still hanging out there are a right-shot defenseman and a top-six center. Fill one or both, and the outlook looks different.
The problem is what’s happening around them in the Atlantic Division. Florida is expected to get healthy and has reloaded, while Buffalo and Montreal aren’t going away.
Tampa Bay is still there too. That leaves Boston staring at a division that already looks unforgiving before the season even starts.
On his latest 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman put the Bruins in a bucket nobody wants to land in.
"There's four really good teams there (in the Atlantic Division),'' said Friedman. "I think Ottawa's sort of, we're all curious to see how this goes, but they have a lot of talent.
And you've got three teams (Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and Toronto Maple Leafs) there that could go boom or bust. Like you just don't know what to expect.''
That boom-or-bust label has become familiar territory for Boston. It’s the kind of uncertainty that seems to follow the Bruins into every season during the Don Sweeney era. There’s still a chance to smooth things out over the next month, but if nothing major changes by August, this is the kind of roster they may be carrying into training camp and into 2026-27.
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