Attention may have drifted to baseball’s hottest stretch, but the Bruins’ offseason keeps inching along. Boston is still 70 days away from the start of the 2026-27 regular season, and while the league’s summer freeze has been in place for a while, there are still a few items worth tracking.
One of the bigger Bruins-related developments came out of Colorado, where Georgii Merkulov’s run in Boston officially ended. The Avalanche announced a one-year, two-way deal for Merkulov with an NHL cap hit of $850,000.
He appeared in 11 NHL games across the last three seasons and finished with one assist. In Providence, though, he was a far bigger presence: 240 points, with 94 goals and 146 assists, in 271 games for the P-Bruins.
He also led the team in scoring in each of the last four seasons.
Boston Hockey Now’s prospects coverage is also rolling on this week. The rankings began yesterday with Nos. 15 through 11, and the next two installments are coming later this week.
The early group includes one player who is further along than the others, but all five still need more time before they can wear the Spoked-B. The Russians, in particular, remain a work in progress.
The site will also get into the prospects who missed the cut.
Around the league, Connor Bedard and Cole Perfetti both spoke to the media after signing five-year contracts last week. Bedard, who just turned 21 and landed a five-year, $75 million deal, addressed the Patrick Kane chatter, his shoulder injury, and the possibility of a reunion with Kane.
Perfetti, meanwhile, said Jets players are feeling the heat around the Connor Hellebuyck trade rumors and noted they know “as much as everyone else in the city of Winnipeg.” He also said he did not seriously consider arbitration after signing his 5x$6M contract.
The Hellebuyck noise didn’t stop there. Bleacher Report’s July trade board is out, with Connor Hellebuyck and Dylan Larkin headlining the list of names that could be in play this summer.
Elsewhere, the Penguins’ rebuild is still a work in progress despite a playoff appearance last season, and Dan Kingerski took a look at where that timeline stands. TSN reported that Jack Campbell has retired via Instagram and is moving into an identity and performance coach role.
Drafted in the first round in 2010 by Dallas, Campbell finished with a 93-52-18 record across stops with the Stars, Kings, Maple Leafs, and Oilers. The Oilers will also keep carrying a buyout payment every year through the 2029-30 season.
Back in Boston, the prospect board has Pavel Zacha at No. 12 and Mason Lohrei at No. 7.
In Other News...
Bruins Still Have One Unsettled Problem Hanging Over This Roster
The NHL offseason has been relatively quiet, but the calendar is about to pick up as arbitration cases begin and more player movement is expected around the league. For the Bruins, the biggest lingering issue is on the back end, where they have more NHL-caliber defensemen than they can realistically dress on a nightly basis, a surplus that has kept the conversation about roster balance from going away.
Boston has time to sort through it, at least for now, because Charlie McAvoys six-game suspension gives the club a little breathing room before any decision becomes urgent. Even so, the logjam on defense still feels like the one unsettled problem hanging over the roster, and with other teams continuing to hunt for additions, the Bruins may eventually have to answer it with a move of their own. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Bring Back Connor Clifton And Fans Will Have Strong Opinions
Connor Clifton is back in Boston on a two-year, $4.5 million deal, giving the Bruins a familiar face for the bottom of the blue line and a player they know well from his first run with the club. The fit is pretty clear on paper: Clifton brings a physical edge, stays reliable in his own end and gives the Bruins another defenseman who can handle the kind of hard minutes that tend to matter once the games get heavier.
Don Sweeney made it clear the organization still values Cliftons competitive streak and the energy he can bring to a room, which helps explain why Boston circled back. There is still plenty of debate to come about what this reunion means for the defense mix and how much runway Clifton will get, especially after a stretch away from Boston that did not go as smoothly as he or his old team would have liked. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins May Finally Have A Veteran Answer To Their Quiet Offseason
Bostons quiet offseason has left plenty of room for speculation about how the club will round out its forward group, and veteran depth remains one of the more obvious needs as training camp approaches. One name making the rounds is James van Riemsdyk, whose recent season with the Detroit Red Wings showed he can still bring usable offense and a steady presence to the bottom six.
For a Bruins team that could use more experience in its middle and lower lines, van Riemsdyk also fits the kind of low-risk addition that can help a second power-play unit and give younger players a seasoned pro to lean on. No move is in place yet, and no offer has been reported, but the possibility alone suggests Boston may not be done searching for a practical answer to an otherwise understated summer. [Read more 🡒]