The Boston Bruins are heading into 2026-27 with a different kind of spotlight on them. Last season started with modest expectations after a 2024-25 finish tied with the Philadelphia Flyers in the basement of the Eastern Conference, but the Black and Gold surged after the break, grabbed the first Eastern Conference wild-card spot with 100 points, and drew the Buffalo Sabres in the first round. That run ended in six games, yet it left the group wanting more.
General manager Don Sweeney did not make many splashy moves over the summer, with JJ Peterka arriving from the Utah Mammoth as the biggest addition. Now, as training camp gets closer, the attention shifts to which players might come back to earth after strong 2025-26 showings. A few names stand out as regression candidates.
Casey Mittlestadt is one of them. His first full season in Boston came after arriving at the 2025 trade deadline from the Colorado Avalanche in the Charlie Coyle deal, and he settled into a second-line role under first-year head coach Marco Sturm alongside Pavel Zacha and Viktor Arvidsson.
Mittlestadt finished with 15 goals and 27 assists while averaging 15:10 a night. But with Zacha likely moving to the top line and Arvidsson gone in free agency to the Detroit Red Wings, Mittlestadt is entering a different setup.
His inconsistency makes him an obvious name to watch for a step back.
Mark Kastelic is another player who may have a tougher time matching last season’s numbers. He put together a career year on the fourth line with Tanner Jeannot and Sean Kuraly, posting 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points, all personal bests.
He also played all 82 games. That kind of production from a hard-driving depth forward is impressive, but given how he plays, it would be a surprise to see that exact output repeated.
Then there’s Marat Khusnutdinov, who carved out a strong role on the third line and even logged some time with David Pastrnak. Acquired from the Minnesota Wild in the return for Justin Brazeau, Khusnutdinov produced 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points in 77 regular-season games.
At 5-foot-11, he made life difficult for opponents and looked like a useful fit, but matching or topping those career highs may be a stretch. The Bruins would love to be wrong about that.
In Other News...
Bruins May Have Found A Draft Sleeper Worth Watching Closely
Matvei Kotkov is already giving the Bruins something to track after their 2026 third-round pick opened his professional career with a goal in his first Kontinental Hockey League game for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv. The Russian forward, taken 104th overall, arrived with some buzz after a strong MHL season that included playoff success and postseason MVP honors, and his early jump to the KHL only adds to the intrigue around a player Boston clearly believes has more upside than his draft slot suggests.
Kotkovs profile has the kind of traits that tend to translate if everything comes together, with evaluators pointing to his shot and his speed as the obvious selling points. The question is whether the rest of his game will catch up quickly enough, because the same reports that praise his skill also note the areas he still has to clean up as a pro, especially when the game gets heavier along the walls and the physical battles start to matter more. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Prospect Matvei Kotkov Just Flashed Why Hes Worth Watching
Matvei Kotkov is starting to give the Bruins something to track beyond draft-night optimism. The Boston prospect, picked in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, has already shown well in junior competition and at Bruins Developmental Camp, and now he is beginning to translate that promise into pro production with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the KHL.
For a fourth-round pick, every small step matters, especially when it comes in a league that can test young players against older competition every night. Kotkovs first goal of the season is the kind of early marker Bruins fans and development staff will keep circling, because it offers another reminder that there may be more upside here than his draft slot suggested. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Prospects In College Suddenly Matter More Than Fans Realize
The Bruins college pipeline is starting to look more important than a simple long-term project, especially with several prospects now in key development spots for the 2026-27 season. Will Moore is back at Boston College after a freshman year that showed flashes of why Boston invested a second-round pick in him, Ryan Walsh continues his run at Cornell, and Cooper Simpson has arrived at North Dakota with the kind of offensive rsum that made him one of the more intriguing young names in the system.
For Bruins fans, the appeal is in how different these paths are and how much each one could matter down the road. Moore is still learning to translate his skill against older competition, Walsh is grinding through the Ivy League route, and Simpson brings a scorers pedigree from the USHL that could give Boston a more dangerous option if his college game keeps moving in the right direction. The Bruins do not need these players to be finished products yet, but the fact that they are all in meaningful college roles makes their progress worth following closely. [Read more 🡒]