The Boston Bruins may have found a useful piece last summer because the Toronto Maple Leafs chose to move on from Alex Steeves.
Steeves had been with Toronto since March of 2021, when the Maple Leafs signed the undrafted free agent. Over more than four years in the organization, he never really got a real NHL foothold. Then last summer, Toronto let him walk in free agency, and Boston general manager Don Sweeney stepped in.
Steeves opened the year in Providence with the Bruins’ AHL club and produced quickly, putting up three goals and five assists in nine games. A month into the 2025-26 season, Boston brought him up, and he made the kind of first impression that keeps a player around.
His Bruins debut came in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. Two nights later, he was back in the lineup for the second half of the home-and-home at TD Garden, and he scored in a 5-3 Boston win. From there, he stayed with the big club for the rest of the season.
In all, Steeves appeared in 43 regular-season games for first-year head coach Marco Sturm, finishing with nine goals and 16 points while averaging 11:56 of ice time per game. That performance earned him a two-year extension worth an AAV of $1.625 million, a move that looked like a quick reward at the time. After he cooled off following the deal, it now looks like the kind of decision Sweeney and the front office may end up second-guessing.
The postseason brought a different role. As the regular season wound down, Steeves started ending up as a scratch, and that carried into Boston’s first-round series against the Buffalo Sabres. He played in just two of the six games and did not record a point.
What his place in Sturm’s lineup looks like going forward remains to be seen.
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