Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Matthew Poitras will “get an opportunity,” and the 22-year-old forward is expected to get a longer runway once he’s fully healthy.
Poitras has been getting healthier every day, and according to Mick Colageo, it sounds as if Boston plans to give him extended leeway to play NHL games when he’s ready. The Bruins announced with their final round of roster cuts that Poitras will begin the season on injured reserve after dealing with a lower-body injury from Sep. 22.
Because he’s on a two-way deal and opened the season on IR, Poitras will count just $30,990 against the cap to start the year. That cap hit is prorated based on the amount of time he spent on the roster last season.
Boston’s handling of Poitras reflects where he is in his career so far: some flashes, some stops and starts. The Bruins picked him 54th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, and since then he has bounced between Providence and Boston. Before 2025-26, he had played 33 NHL games across the previous two seasons, including just three NHL games before he re-signed after his entry-level contract.
Sweeney also said during the season introductory press conference that he plans to keep extension talks going with Pavel Zacha. The 29-year-old is one of only two forwards in Boston’s top six without a contract beyond this season, with Casey Mittelstadt being the other.
Still, Sweeney made clear he wants another big year from Zacha. The Bruins center is coming off a career-best season with 30 goals and 65 points in 78 games, marking the third time in four years in Boston that he set a new scoring high. A major part of that production came on Boston’s top power-play unit, where he posted 10 goals and 21 points last season.
Zacha may also factor into Boston’s search for a top-line center, though Sweeney’s comments on Elias Lindholm painted a different picture. When asked about Lindholm, Sweeney called the center a “good, complimentary player.”
Lindholm is in the third season of the seven-year, $54.25MM deal he signed with the Bruins in free agency in 2024. He remains the top-line center for David Pastrnak and potentially JJ Peterka, and Boston is hoping he can keep providing the kind of 200-foot game it wants from him. Lindholm finished 2025-26 with 17 goals and 48 points in 69 games.
In Other News...
Bruins Fans Are Suddenly Watching A Strange Marchenko Trade Rumor
A stray bit of social media sleuthing has Bruins fans doing a double take, with Kirill Marchenko suddenly entering the conversation around Boston. The wingers name popped up after an online observation noticed mutual Instagram follows between Marchenko and a pair of Bruins players, enough to send speculation spinning even though there is no hockey-related evidence behind it.
For a fan base that is always alert to possible roster upgrades, the temptation to connect dots is obvious, especially when a player profile like Marchenkos gets dragged into the mix. Still, the buzz appears to be little more than the kind of coincidence the internet loves to turn into a rumor, leaving Boston supporters with a fresh topic to watch but no real sign that anything is actually brewing. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Need JJ Peterka To Fix One Offensive Problem Fast
The trade market is starting to move again as the league heads toward its cap-compliant roster deadline, with Elliotte Friedman reporting that a deal involving Kirill Marchenko between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs could be close. For Boston, the ripple effect matters because the Bruins have already made their big swing, bringing in winger JJ Peterka to help address an offense that has lacked enough punch for too long.
Peterka arrives with real expectations attached, and the Bruins will need him to translate that upside quickly once the season opens against the New York Rangers at TD Garden. The fit is obvious enough: Boston wants more speed, more finishing and more reliable scoring depth, and Peterka is the kind of addition that can change the look of a forward group if he settles in right away. The only question is how fast that impact shows up, because for a team trying to reestablish itself, offensive fixes have a way of becoming urgent the moment the puck drops. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Finally Found A Backup Goalie Worth Watching
After Bostons first-round playoff exit, the Bruins moved on from Joonas Korpisalo by sending him to the New York Rangers, a change that opened a cleaner runway behind Jeremy Swayman. It also created a real opportunity for Michael DiPietro, whose path to the NHL roster had been less about hype than about timing and steady work.
DiPietro took advantage of it in camp and preseason, where he put together the kind of showing that made the backup picture more interesting than it has been in a while. For a Bruins team looking to sort out the goal crease after last springs disappointment, having a second goaltender who earned the job on merit gives the season a little more stability, even if the long-term questions around the position are still very much part of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]