The Boston Bruins were supposed to be heading into a rebuild after they traded Brad Marchand at the 2025 trade deadline and finished in a lottery position for the first time in over a decade. No one would've batted an eye if they had missed the playoffs for a second consecutive year last season, but the team miraculously recorded 100 points and finished in a wild card position on the strength of some surprising offense and a massive bounce-back season from Jeremy Swayman. 

The team will have to navigate Charlie McAvoy's six-game suspension to start the season. Still, the addition of JJ Peterka, the return of Connor Clifton, and continued growth from young forwards like James Hagens, Fraser Minten, and Marat Khusnutdinov have fans optimistic. 

Despite last season's return to the playoffs, the oddsmakers are predicting that the Bruins will fall back down to earth in 2026-27. Let's take a look at a couple of future bets heading into the new season. 

Hockey is a difficult sport to predict, so please gamble responsibly. Betting lines are from Fanduel Sportsbook and is subject to change. 

The Bruins may not have been projected to get 100 points last season, but once things started to come together, some wondered why they had been so skeptical that the team could go through a quick retool. They may have been operating under a first-year head coach in Marco Sturm and trying to navigate their first season without any of the players from the veteran core who won a Stanley Cup in 2011. Still, with players like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Jeremy Swayman, the team had the pieces to have success. 

It took some help that they didn't see coming, like the success of a second line of Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha, and Viktor Arvidsson, and the surprising emergence of Minten and Khusnutdinov, but the Bruins were in the mix for the entire season. They did lose Arvidsson in the offseason, but Peterka figures to give them a bit more offensive punch. 

I am on the side of the oddsmakers in that the Bruins will take a bit of a step back this season, but to say they'll be 14 points worse while getting an extra two games on their schedule feels like a bit of a stretch. Sturm will be more prepared in his second season, and barring a major Pastrnak injury or Swayman returning to his 2024-25 form, the team should eclipse the 86-point mark. 

Pastrnak eclipsed the 100-point mark in each of his past four seasons, but predictably took a slight step back without either Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, or David Krejci passing him the puck. The Czech superstar was on a talent island by himself in the forward group this past season, but made a push toward the end of the year to get his 100-point season. 

We've already seen that the benchmark is important for Pastrnak, and he likely would've gotten there easily if he hadn't missed five games with an injury. It was the first time he had missed games in three seasons, and another 82-game season in 2026-27 should allow the forward to get his fifth-straight triple-digit campaign. 

The Bruins made a point of bolstering the talent around Pastrnak at the draft, acquiring JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth for two first-round picks. If the German forward fits in with Boston as well as people expect, and he gets to play an entire season on Pastrnak's opposite wing, it'll benefit both the newest Bruin and their superstar.