The Boston Bruins had a bounce-back season this past year, but thus far this summer, they haven't kept up in the arms race in the highly-competitive Atlantic Division. Will the Bruins take a step backward in 2026-27? Or can they be a Stanley Cup playoff team again?
The Atlantic Division may be the NHL’s most improved division this summer.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers made stunning roster and management changes. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres are going to be very good teams next season.
The Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings also have designs on a Stanley Cup playoff spot. So it will be extremely tough for an Atlantic team to make the playoffs.
But the one Atlantic team we haven’t mentioned is the Boston Bruins. The Bruins had a surprisingly solid 2025-26 season, finishing with the Atlantic’s fourth-best record. It looked like the Bs were in the midst of a bounce-back season that only required a roster retool rather than a full rebuild.
But the way things are panning out this summer, you have to wonder whether the Bruins’ retool may need another season before Boston can develop into a true Cup threat.
The Bruins acquired winger J.J. Peterka from the Utah Mammoth and picked up veteran defenseman Will Borgen from the New York Rangers. We don’t dislike those moves. But their forward group still lacks high-end talent other than star right winger David Pastrnak, and their goaltending could prove to be a problem if Jeremy Swayman’s backup, Michael DiPietro, can’t handle the rigors of the NHL after having a lot of success at the AHL level.
Boston GM Don Sweeney has made moves that should help the Bruins move in the right direction, but the Bs wouldn’t be the first team to take a half-step backward after some strong steps forward.
And a half-step backward is what this writer sees on the horizon for the Bruins. There’s a lot to like about Boston, but unless there’s significant internal development, the Bruins could easily slip out of the top four in the Atlantic and fail to earn a playoff berth.
The Bruins have $5.3 million in salary cap space, but Sweeney may hold on to it to address issues that arise during the season. But from our perspective, Boston is failing to keep up with the Joneses in the Atlantic. The Bruins need generational talent for their new generation, and if they don’t get that, they’ll go into the 2026-27 campaign as long shots to be as good as or better than they were last season.
The Atlantic is more competitive, but the Bruins haven’t added enough skill to remain a playoff team. Pastrnak is a terrific talent, but the truth is Boston doesn’t have enough Grade-A skill to run with the Atlantic teams that have much better depth than the Bruins.
Boston isn’t going to plummet to the bottom of the standings next season, but they’re also not going to be contending for a President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best regular-season team.
Until Boston acquires that kind of foundational talent, the Bruins will be on the periphery of the playoff race.
The reality is that Boston is in the lower-middle tier of the league. And while it’s reassuring for Bruins fans to see the team fighting to be a playoff team, the Bruins still have a long way to go before they’ll be regarded as a true championship-caliber squad.
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