The Boston Bruins kept things relatively quiet this offseason, but their roster still changed in some unexpected places.
Boston made the move to bring in J.J. Peterka and signed Connor Clifton to a two-year deal, while the trade talk around Pavel Zacha and Casey Middlestadt never turned into anything concrete.
With Peterka and prospect James Hagens in the mix, the Bruins are hoping for a better result than last season’s first-round exit. And now, with mid-August here, the offseason is basically in the rearview and teams are turning toward training camp.
Even so, a few familiar names have already moved on from Boston and Providence. Viktor Arvidsson is gone to Detroit and Andrew Peeke signed in Utah, but there are also some lesser-known departures worth noting.
Georgii Merkulov is one of them. After years as a steady presence with the Providence Bruins, he has signed with the Colorado Avalanche.
Merkulov kept improving in the AHL and even got a handful of chances with Boston, but his production never really carried over at the NHL level. Since leaving Ohio State, he became a near point-per-game player in the AHL for four straight seasons.
Last year, he set the Providence Bruins’ all-time scoring mark with 240 points and posted 61 points in 70 games. Still, he managed only one NHL game last season and had just 10 combined over the previous two years.
At 25, he decided to try his luck in Colorado.
Riley Tufte has also found a new landing spot, signing with the New Jersey Devils. His path has been a long one.
After his junior year at Minnesota Duluth, he entered the Dallas Stars’ organization and spent four years with the Texas Stars without getting much of a look in Dallas. He then moved to the Colorado Avalanche, but the story stayed the same: plenty of time in the AHL, not much in the NHL.
Tufte came to Boston on a one-year deal hoping for a real opening, and while he did get six games after scoring 21 goals in the AHL, that was all he got. He re-signed, put up 32 goals in the AHL, and still only added four more NHL games and one NHL goal.
Now he’s chasing a fuller opportunity with New Jersey.
Matej Blumel is the third name on the list, and his departure may be the most surprising of the three. He arrived after a huge year with the Texas Stars, where he led the AHL with 39 goals in 2024-25.
Boston clearly saw something in him, giving him a one-way contract that paid the NHL salary whether he was in Boston or Providence. That usually says a team expects a player to stick.
Instead, Blumel never found his footing. His scoring dipped to 21 in the minors, and he couldn’t turn the chance into NHL goals.
After that season, he headed overseas, signing a four-year deal with HC Sparta Praha of the ELH.
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