The Boston Bruins head toward the 2026-27 season looking unfinished, and the gaps are obvious. Don Sweeney still hasn’t checked off two major items on the wish list: a top-six center and a top-four right-shot defenseman.
JJ Peterka could give the forward group a boost after arriving from the Utah Mammoth in June, but beyond that, Boston looks poised to lean heavily on a roster that still resembles the club that fell in the first round of the playoffs against the Buffalo Sabres. That setup leaves a few players looking like potential casualties before the end of the season.
One name that stands out is Casey Mittelstadt. With Viktor Arvidsson already gone in free agency to the Detroit Red Wings, the Bruins could end up missing two-thirds of a second line that was productive last season.
Mittelstadt and Pavel Zacha have both been floating through trade chatter for some time, but if Boston chooses between them, the logic points to Mittelstadt. Zacha is the one the Bruins should be committing to for the long haul, while Mittelstadt is the player more likely to cost himself out of Boston.
If the season starts going sideways before the trade deadline, moving him would be an easy call.
The blue line may force another move as well. Boston simply has too many defensemen for the coming season, which makes at least one trade feel inevitable. Mason Lohrei and Henri Jokiharju look like the most obvious candidates if Sweeney decides to trim the group.
Lohrei could use a reset somewhere else, where he might get more ice time and a cleaner runway. His Bruins tenure has been uneven, but a young defenseman with his upside would still draw interest from another team, especially with the final year of his contract approaching.
Jokiharju is a different case, but not a better one. His re-signing last summer was already a puzzling move, and the three-year deal carrying a $3 million AAV only looks tougher to justify from here. It has the feel of a contract the Bruins might want a second chance to undo.
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In Other News...
Bruins Face Growing Pressure On Pavel Zacha And Two Young Forwards
Don Sweeney has a handful of contract decisions to sort through as the Bruins head toward the final year of several key deals, and Pavel Zacha sits near the center of that discussion. Boston is weighing whether to commit long term to the versatile center while also looking at younger forwards Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten, a pair whose development makes them part of the organizations broader planning instead of just short-term roster pieces.
The timing matters, too, because the market around young players is starting to move and the Bruins will have to decide how aggressively they want to act before the rules change later this month. A new labor agreement is set to alter how long teams can extend players, which adds another layer of urgency to Bostons talks and raises the stakes on whether the front office chooses to lock in its options now or wait and risk a shorter window to do so. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Quiet Offseason May Not Last Much Longer For Sweeney
The Bruins offseason has been quieter than some around the league, but the market is beginning to heat up in a way that could nudge Boston into action. Around the NHL, teams are locking up younger players to longer deals, and the Pittsburgh Penguins new contract for Ville Koivunen is the latest sign that organizations are trying to get ahead of rising costs before training camp chatter starts to take over.
For Don Sweeney, the clock is part of the backdrop now. Boston still has key business to handle with two forwards eligible for extensions, and there is a limited window to work through it before the summer calendar gets away from him. The Providence Bruins also added some organizational depth with forward Cross Hanas on a one-year AHL contract, while elsewhere in the league the Kings are planning a future celebration for Anze Kopitar. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Could Be Pulled Into A Costly Devils Reunion Push
The Devils reshaping under GM Sunny Mehta has already prompted early looks at how New Jersey might build for 2026-27, and one name that keeps surfacing is a familiar one for both franchises: Pavel Zacha. The idea of a reunion has some logic for New Jersey, which knows the forward well, while Boston has reasons to pay close attention because Zacha has become part of its forward mix and remains the kind of player teams do not casually move.
For the Bruins, the situation carries a built-in layer of tension. Zacha is entering the final year of his contract, which makes him a player contenders will monitor closely and makes Bostons long-term plan around him an issue to watch as the season unfolds. New Jersey may be eyeing potential trade pieces to get a deal done, but until anything actually materializes, the Bruins are left balancing what he means to their present roster against the reality that his future could become a topic well before the year is out. [Read more 🡒]