The 2026-27 Boston Bruins season continues to steadily approach. The puck drops in 33 days, yet two huge situations remain entirely unresolved for the Bruins.
The Bruins have done well adding to their roster, as they look to build off the successful 2025-26 season that led to a 100-point season along with a playoff berth.
The Bruins then let veteran UFAs Viktor Arvidsson and Andrew Peeke walk away, while replacing them with JJ Peterka, Connor Clifton, and Will Borgen.
The key theme most have wanted to see from Boston is a focus on youth. The team has gotten younger through these moves, but two huge questions surrounding key youth players remain unresolved as the final week of August winds down.
First, Matthew Poitras remains unsigned and a restricted free agent as of Thursday.
Poitras, 22, was a second-round pick for the Bruins in the 2022 NHL Draft. Over the last three seasons, he raised his stock big time, then has plateaued in the last 18 months and change.
Poitras has 69 NHL games under his belt, but played just three games in the NHL this past year, scoring one goal.
His future seems to point elsewhere after this last season, where he couldn't break into the NHL team, and the Bruins added two other young centers.
Those centers, Fraser Minten and James Hagens, both have surpassed Poitras in the organizational depth chart for centers, leading to persistent questions surrounding his Bruins future, especially after he's been tagged in trade rumors.
In his previous 66 NHL games, Poitras has six goals and 26 points, a promising start for the young forward.
Poitras has shown an ability to be versatile for the Bruins, and a shift to the wing remains in the cards.
Poitras posted 13 goals and 44 points in 69 games with the Providence Bruins this past season.
The other big question surrounds Mason Lohrei.
Lohrei, 25, was a second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. He's played 191 NHL games, posting 16 goals and 72 points across that time.
This past season, Lohrei played mostly on his off-side, posting seven goals and 26 points in 73 games. His offensive potential is there, but too often there have been defensive miscues that have taken away from his overall talent.
Entering the season, he looks set to be a healthy scratch for the Bruins at full health. On the left side, he finished as the fourth choice behind Hampus Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, and Jonathan Aspirot.
On the right side, there's Charlie McAvoy and the new additions Clifton and Borgen, both of whom you'd expect to play over Lohrei on their natural side.
Those moves have called into question Lohrei's future, as it's unlikely the Bruins would want him to be a healthy scratch all year, or block any of the new additions.
As training camp goes on, figuring out where each player stands defensively will become a major part of the story.
