Bruins will return to playoffs next season, says CEO
04/24/2025 03:57 PM
The Boston Bruins just endured one of their worst seasons in franchise history, finishing dead last in the Atlantic Division and shipping out heart and soul captain Brad Marchand, among others, ahead of the NHL trade deadline. But despite that, CEO Charlie Jacobs believes the team will be back in the dance in 2026.
“We’ve spoken at great length about this: The team that we currently have, [if] healthy and with the additions we intend to make this summer, I anticipate that we’ll have a playoff team and play meaningful hockey at this time of year in 2026,” Jacobs said at the Bruins’ end-of-season media availability on Wednesday.
Jacobs also put his trust behind president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney after the miserable campaign.
“I'm proud to sit alongside these two gentlemen — because I know we've got the right people in the right seats on the bus to bring this franchise back to glory,” Jacobs said. “Cam and Don in their respective roles as president and general manager have proven that they can take a franchise that has missed the playoffs and build one for sustained success. It is my opinion that we can do it again, and this time, get over the hump and become a Stanley Cup champion.”
Those are certainly interesting comments considering Boston is now without Marchand, Brandon Carlo and Charlie Coyle. But the team was forced to endure most of the season without key defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, and that certainly played a role in their struggles.
Injuries, inconsistent goaltending doomed Bruins in 2024-25
Another problem was goaltending. The Bruins boasted the league’s best tandem over the last two years, made up of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman. But Ullmark was traded to the Ottawa Senators last summer, and Swayman had a down year after signing a massive eight-year, $66 million extension. He sported a 3.11 goals-against average and an .892 save percentage this season.
“Our goaltenders previously have been really, really good. This year, they weren’t as good. That’s fact. And our team in front of them didn’t defend with the same level of conviction,” Sweeney said at the press conference.
Probably the main item on the agenda for the front office this offseason is deciding on a new coach. Joe Sacco went 25-30-7 in an interim basis after Jim Montgomery was fired — and quickly hired by the St. Louis Blues — on November 19.
The Bruins’ brass confirmed that a coaching search is already underway, and Sacco will be a finalist to earn the job in 2025-26 and beyond. Another priority will be increasing the goal scoring — the Bruins scored just 2.71 goals per game, good for 27th league-wide.
On paper, it doesn’t look like Boston has a playoff-caliber roster, even with McAvoy and Lindholm back in the fold. If Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm can bounce back in Year 2 of their respective contracts, and Swayman returns to the level he was at a couple years ago, that would change things.
But for Bruins fans who watched Jacobs, Sweeney and Neely speak on Wednesday afternoon, it was hard to get too hopeful after a disastrous couple of months.
The post Bruins will return to playoffs next season, says CEO appeared first on ClutchPoints.
