I know you were very concerned, but we’re now fully functional with our new look!
I’m sure that you were concerned you’d be having a preseason Public Skate in that same SBN-authored post, but we managed to get our access sorted and can continue with your regularly scheduled programming.
As far as Bruins news goes, well…there’s really none. Not much is happening. It’s August 8, so that’s to be expected.
Around these parts, however, things have changed quite a bit, so let’s dive in:
A new look and feel
As you can undoubtedly see by now, your faithful Stanley Cup of Chowder’s layout has changed.
This is only the second time in the last decade or so that there’s been a major overhaul, so obviously that will cause some confusion.
I’d encourage you to explore the site a bit to see what might have changed, where things might have moved, etc.
In terms of whitespace, how XYZ looks, menu items, and all that stuff, that’s out of our hands – SB Nation handles the templates at a network level, so we just get to add our branding.
Overall though, you should experience less ad intrusion, more white space, and a generally snappier experience.
If you’re a frequent lurker who doesn’t have an account, I’d encourage you to make one, as I believe logged-in users have a slightly different ad experience and different interactions with comment counts.
As usual, please report any major issues in the comments, and we can escalate as needed.
The Feed
The Feed has already been a topic of discussion, and I’m glad to see people using it.
To answer some questions:
- No, participation in The Feed isn’t mandatory.
- No, we don’t plan to use The Feed to replace Morning Skates/Public Skates.
- Yes, The Feed is a replacement for what used to be FanPosts/FanShots.
We were encouraged to think of The Feed as a kind of sub-reddit for our site.
The best things for The Feed are things that don’t quite rise to the level of a full post, but still merit discussion. That could be a funny Tweet from a player, a random highlight you stumbled upon, a discussion topic you’d like to bring up, etc.
In some ways, The Feed is bound to cannibalize the comments section, but that’s okay. If you’d like to put something in the comments of a Public Skate and in The Feed, no problem.
We’ll work out the best way to use it over the next few weeks, but until then, I encourage you to try it out – it’s much quicker and more intuitive than FanPosts.
If you’re someone who comes back to the site multiple times a day (thank you, by the way), it’s a good idea to check in on The Feed to see if there’s new content, even if there are no new articles.
More to come
While our new look is set, we’re still going to be figuring out how to use these new tools as the season approaches.
For example, would it make sense to post a recap, plus a “Post-Game Reaction” item in The Feed? Should we have more polls in there? Should everything remain the same?
Time will tell.
In the meantime, we welcome your feedback. If you have thoughts on how you’d like us to change the site moving forward, please let us know.
If something is broken for you, please let us know either in the comments or via email (you can reach the site manager at bruinshockeynow(at)gmail.com).
In the meantime…welcome back.
What’s on tap for today?
Welcome welcome! Happy Monday.
Much of the hockey world has fallen into rest over the past month and change. The ever-present football held by Lucy in a McTavish offer sheet might still exist, but until someone actually goes out and does it, I don’t think we’re actually gonna see it. He’ll probably get signed in camp, as is usually the case with these kinds of things. Too many teams are still concerned about getting burned by a failed sheet (or hell, maybe even a successful one) that I don’t think one will ever be done unless it happens to involve some pretty wild circumstances.
So anyway the Bruins should 1000% break that stigma by going after Adam Fantilli next season. Surely this time Lucy will keep the football down long enough to kick it!
Anyway, the big early season story will be players putting their whole ass into their starts, because that could help in being considered for the Olympics.
The Winter Olympics will finally have their highest possible talent threshhold raised for the first time in decades, and it’s becoming clearer and clearer that the players are already getting excited for it. David Pastrnak of course is expected to help carry the Czechs to victory (big whoop, he does that in his day job), but plenty of other Bruins will likely get a look here or there; Jeremy Swayman certainly would love an opportunity to prove that last year was just an ugly fluke in a season full of ugly flukes, Charlie McAvoy would sure love to play for Team USA in a way that doesn’t immediately threaten his health I’m sure, and Elias Lindholm realistically has one more kick at this can before Tre Kronor decides to get a little younger in their next go-round.
As for Canadian Bruins? Well, let’s just wait and see how Hockey Canada tries to build their team before we go anywhere on that. It’ll probably be easy to say “McDavid, Crosby, Marner” and whatnot, but recent international teams made by Red and White (and sometimes Black) don’t exactly suggest that they’ll be making the best choices out of the gate. I’m sure they’ll be able to beat Latvia and Italy and whoever, but you never know with Hockey Canada these days…
We’ll have to see as the season plays out where each team plans on going. It’s a little easier with the middle powers (their answer will be EVERY NHLER PLEASE AND THANK YOU), but the main powers of the sport will be very interesting to watch indeed…
Either way, what’s on tap for you, Chowder?
Welcome to a new week, folks!
We’ve officially hit mid-August, and we’re actually in for a weird bit of fall-like weather in New England this week.
In case you weren’t already feeling the looming end of summer, a high temperature of 71 degrees should get you thinking about upcoming flannel and pumpkin-flavored everything…just not quite yet.
In a clear sign that we are still firmly in off-season mode around these parts, I realized this weekend that the Morning Skate I’d painstakingly, lovingly crafted for Friday published, but never made it to the home page.
In other words, it may as well have not been published at all, so…yeah. Still learning this new CMS and working out a few kinks. Please bear with us.
As we get closer to the end of August, we hope to start a new combination of both looking back and looking forward with posts on Bruins players.
These will take the place of the traditional “rank the player” posts, and will serve as a sort of recap/preview for each player, all in one.
The reasoning behind this is relatively simple: in the past, we spent a lot of time putting posts together for players who were no longer with the Bruins, which didn’t make a ton of sense (as much as we know you enjoyed arguing about Oskar Steen).
With this year’s trade deadline exodus, it didn’t seem to make much sense to spend time talking about Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, etc. in August.
Instead, we’ll do posts on guys currently on the roster, giving a snapshot of what happened last year and a look at what’s in store for this year.
Hopefully that isn’t too disappointing, but it’s meant to strike a balance between things that are interesting and things that aren’t a waste of everyone’s time/digital ink.
If you have any feedback or would prefer to see a different approach, you know where to find me.
Anyways, it’s another August Monday. What’s on tap for today?
(If you’re reading this post, I’m already a step ahead of last week, so…things are looking up!)
Welcome to the last Friday in August, folks!
If you’re a summer person, unfortunately, that time has come: Labor Day Weekend, the officially unofficial end of the best season of the year.
Hopefully you can squeeze in another beach day or two, maybe a cookout…but September looms.
The good news about September coming is that we’ll have a lot more to talk about around these parts relatively soon, so you won’t be limited to reading my stream-of-consciousness ramblings.
(Should we bring back Cehp-tember? The people demand Cehlarik Content.)
Here come the captains’ practices
In a sure sign that the hockey machine will slowly be creaking to life, the Bruins announced the schedule for captains’ practices — and believe it or not, they’re just a few days away.
Select Bruins will gather at Warrior Arena at 10 AM on both Tuesday and Thursday, with limited media availabilities to follow.
The awkward part, of course, is that the Bruins are technically without a captain for now, so they really should be called “Alternate Captains’ Practices,” but that’s splitting hairs.
It’s also silly that David Pastrnak hasn’t been named captain yet, especially after his performance in last season’s debacle, but that’s an argument for another day.
A national draw
You may have already discussed this, but the B’s national TV schedule was released earlier this week, and they’re getting quite a bit of exposure for a team that was bad last year.
The B’s will be on national TV in the United States 17 times next season — in this case, “national TV” means ABC, TNT, or ESPN.
The B’s will have six Saturday games on ABC, along with a smattering of other games: the season opener on TNT, Brad Marchand’s return to TD Garden on ESPN, etc.
If you’re without NESN, having access to nearly 25% of the team’s games is certainly a good thing.
If you’re a neutral observer, it remains to be seen if this much exposure to next year’s Bruins will be hazardous to your health.
Anyways, what’s on tap for today? Any big LDW plans?
Good Monday to you and yours. It’s Labor Day, so you keep away from your work at all costs! You go eat that tube meat on the beach! You go consume that hamburger! If I catch you working it’ll be the paddle for you!
Hockey is now firmly in the horizon; a mere 20 days separate us from the offseason and the preseason, and already it’s clear the Bruins are ready to get the season going. Captain’s practices are set for tuesday and thursday, and from what it sounds like, at least from Ty Anderson, there’s been plenty of Bruins who have made their way to Warrior over the summer as a result of missing the playoffs, so there’s a good chance that the current alternates will have a pretty good group to practice with.
Given how a number of them played last year, I sure hope it started with a primer on what the principal point of the puck is and why it’s good for it to be in the opponent’s net.
Other than that, it’s likely going to be gutcheck time for a good number of the preseason hopefuls in Boston over the next couple of weeks; Coach Sturm has yet to truly show us what he personally values in a team, and the young prospects (what little they have, anyway) have less than a week to get ready for a trip to the Harbor Center in Buffalo for the annual Prospects challenge. As a reminder; the Bruins will be playing the Pittsburgh Penguins at 3:30pm on the 12th, and then the Devils on the 14th at noon. If they end up winning those games, there’s a possible third game. After that, it’ll likely be the first couple games of preseason that will decide a number of young gun’s fates in this org. Some will stay as useful depth in Providence, others may relocate north to the Mariners in the ECHL, and some may have to find new homes.
And that’s just the prospects; there are a lot of new faces and returning faces that need to put their best foot forward for the Bruins faithful after last season, so the environment coming into camp will be very, very interesting indeed.
But of course, it all begins anew on Tuesday with the captains practices.
So yeah! What’s on tap, Chowder? I know for me it’s not doing a goddamn thing.
That’s right, folks: everybody’s favorite month is back!
While I’d really love to beat that dead horse again and do a whole month of Peter Cehlarik content, I don’t think you fine readers would be on board, so we’ll leave that alone.
(If you weren’t around for the Cehptember days and me being the biggest Cehlarik cheerleader on the planet, consider yourself lucky.)
With the calendar officially turned to September, the start of a new Bruins season feels that much closer.
They-don’t-have-a-captains’ practices will begin today at Warrior Arena, with various Bruins gathering without any adult supervision.
Late next week, the Bruins youths will be in action in Buffalo’s Prospects Challenge tournament, which is always one of those “OK, the new season is almost here” signs.
After that, things will get underway in earnest, and soon enough we’ll all be yelling at one another about Tanner Jeannot, the power play, and who knows what else. GET PUMPED.
I hope to kick off some review/preview content starting tomorrow, though some of that will depend on real-world bandwidth and other factors; please bear with us as we get back up to speed around these parts.
Elsewhere, in Bruins-related news:
- Jim McBride of The Boston Globe had a conversation with former Bruin Charlie Coyle, where he discussed his March trade and the rest of his season, including his move to Columbus.
- Ty Anderson had a piece on the Bruins finally (fingers crossed) having their two best defensemen healthy at the same time.
- Nikita Zadorov apparently got his first-ever hole-in-one recently, which is cool. There’s a joke there about him having an extra long offseason to practice after how bad the Bruins were, but you can fill that in on your own.
And that’s about it! You’ve almost made it through the longest Bruins offseason in several years.
What’s on tap for today?
Welcome to the first Friday in September, folks!
Fortunately for you, there will be no Cehptember this year, but Slovaktober is still being discussed.
Apologies for the lack of new content this week, as a couple of sick kids and back-to-school season kind of got in the way of more important website pursuits. We’ll get there.
The B’s unofficially returned to action earlier this week, with the players holding two captains’ practices at Warrior Arena.
The sessions were pretty well attended, with players present including Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Nikita Zadorov, Fabian Lysell, Mark Kastelic, Mason Lohrei, and Casey Mittelstadt.
As you may have anticipated, a lot of the post-practice media questions centered around captaincy, or lack thereof in the Bruins’ case.
All players asked emphasized the importance of having a group of leaders, not just one or two guys, so it doesn’t appear the team is too worried about a leadership void.
(But Pastrnak should still be the captain.)
Elsewhere, Jeremy Swayman spoke to the media and said that he changed “everything” this summer and he’s “a completely different human being” compared to last year at this point, so…I think that’s good?
This isn’t Bruins-related, but NHL.com also had an interesting piece on Gavin McKenna’s decision to attend Penn State and how the NCAA route is becoming increasingly appealing to top NHL prospects.
Finally, in a sure sign that the season isn’t too far away, the Bruins posted some photos of the new sheet of ice at TD Garden, featuring the team’s new spoked-B:
I enjoyed how many people clamored for the return of the yellow seats in the comments of that Tweet.
While there’s probably a 0.0000001% chance those seats will ever come back, it’s important to have dreams.
Anyways, first weekend in September — what’s on tap for today?
Welcome to a new week, folks!
The headline and photo don’t match, I’m aware — I was trying to tie in the fact that Bruins head coach Marco Sturm relatively recently visited a New England Patriots practice, but there were no photos of that encounter in the archive.
That was really only relevant because the Patriots started yesterday and it didn’t go terribly well, but it’s only Week 1.
Instead, I have baseball, which is played on a diamond…my sports references are all over the place, I know.
Anyways, hopefully you had a good weekend!
Captains’ practices wrapped up last week, meaning the youths will be in the spotlight this week: Rookie Camp is slated to open at Warrior Arena on Wednesday, while the Prospects Challenge tournament in Buffalo begins later this week.
Other than that, all eyes are on training camp, which is scheduled to open on September 17.
The B’s first preseason game will be just four days later, as they host the Washington Capitals at TD Garden on Sunday, September 21.
It feels like once September gets here, all of the dates start blurring together, so…here we are.
We’ll start some of our preseason look back/look ahead content tomorrow with David Pastrnak, and I actually have it already scheduled, so I’m sticking to it this time. Good job, me.
With training camp starting a week from Wednesday, this is kind of the last “quiet week” we’ll have for quite a while, so it’s a good time to stretch your typing fingers, practice your hot takes, choose your scapegoat, etc.
That way, by the time opening night rolls around, you’ll be in mid-season form.
It’s definitely a “feels like fall” morning in Boston today, so you know that the hockey season is right around the corner.
What’s on tap for today?
Editor’s note: This is the first of the new format of recap/preview content for the coming season. If you think it’s missing something or have any other suggestions, let me know in the comments.
Looking back (2024-2025)
- 82GP, 43G-63A-106PTS
For those of you who have been around this place for a while, I did a piece a long, long time ago (12 years?!) taking a look at Marc Savard’s incredible individual season on a terrible Bruins team.
(In case you can’t tell by the infographic, I had a lot more free time back then.)
In that season, Savard recorded 22G-74A-96PTS totals on a team that was really, really, really bad.
Oddly enough, that season (2006-2007) was the last time the B’s finished last in their division — until this past season.
Those two teams weren’t the same, of course: the Savard Bruins team was supposed to be bad and they fit the bill, while last season’s Bruins were supposed to be decent, but were ultimately a disaster.
My point, if I have one, is that Pastrnak’s individual season in the midst of last season’s team-wide calamity was extremely impressive, and probably deserves more plaudits than it received.
I think there’s an argument to be made that Pastrnak should have been a Hart finalist if you truly stick to the “most important to their team” logic, but he was never going to get a shout after such a bad year for the team.
Still, tied for third in the league in points (with Leon Draisaitl, of all people) is a remarkable achievement.
Pastrnak didn’t front-load his stats before the fire sale either.
In fact, he had a somewhat slow start and a hot finish: Pastrnak recorded 11 goals and 17 assists after the trade deadline.
To save you the time and sum up the rambling above: he was the Bruins best player last season.
What’s ahead in 2025-2026?
There are a few players who you could tab as “key contributors” to whatever success may look like for this year’s Bruins: Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman, maybe even Elias Lindholm are among them.
But I have a hard time believing any of those guys will embody “as goes Player X, so go the Bruins” as much as Pastrnak.
If you look at the current roster, this collection of players doesn’t scream “high-octane offense.”
Aside from Morgan Geekie, Pastrnak is the only player who eclipsed 20 goals last season — and it’s worth remembering Geekie did that in a career year, so it might not be the smartest bet to count on 30+ from him again this season.
The Bruins will undoubtedly be hoping for a better year for Lindholm, some scoring punch from Viktor Arvidsson, a stronger year from Pavel Zacha, etc.
However, Pastrnak is probably the only reliable scorer on the roster. If the Bruins don’t get another “ho hum, 40-60-100” season out of him, things will probably be pretty ugly.
(Side note: it’s funny how quickly we take for granted the fact that Pastrnak has recorded 40+ goals four seasons in a row and 50+ assists three seasons in a row.)
In addition, the Bruins will need Pastrnak to continue to step up in the leadership department. In my view, he proved himself a more-than-capable leader last season, especially down the stretch.
So…yeah. No pressure, David. 40 goals (50, maybe), 60-something assists…see you in the spring.
Welcome to Thursday, folks!
2025 Rookie Camp kicked off yesterday at Warrior Arena, with Bruins prospects and invitees hitting the ice for a morning practice.
Rookie Camp continues on Thursday, with a practice at 9:30 AM followed by travel to Buffalo for the 2025 Prospects Challenge.
The Rookie B’s will begin that tournament on Friday with a 3:30 PM game against the Rookie Penguins.
The full Prospects Challenge schedule can be found below:
- Friday, Sept. 12 at 3:30 PM vs. Penguins
- Saturday, Sept. 13: No game, just practice
- Sunday, Sept. 14 @ 12 PM vs. Devils
In case you missed it elsewhere, the B’s roster for Rookie Camp can be found below. Players with an asterisk are attending on an invite basis:
Forwards: Dalton Bancroft, Cole Chandler, Ty Cheveldayoff, Robert Cronin*, Riley Duran, Dylan Edwards*, Brett Harrison, Mavrick Lachance*, Dans Locmelis, Fraser Minten, Jake Schmaltz, Cooper Simpson, Emmanuel Vermette*
Defensemen: Grayson Burzynski*, Jackson Edward, Ty Gallagher, Loke Johansson, Dylan MacKinnon*, Oliver Turner*, Mitch Young*
Goaltenders: Ben Hrebik*, Simon Zajicek
Locmelis, whose photo accompanies this post, is getting plenty of press as a potential “intriguing prospect” as we move towards training camp, where he’s expected to get a shot to earn an NHL place.
Locmelis, you may remember, turned pro after last spring’s run with UMass ended in the quarterfinals of the Frozen Four.
He had a decent run with Providence, then had a very strong showing for Latvia in the 2025 IIHF World Championships, so he’s on a bit of a heater lately.
He’ll face plenty of competition for a bottom-six (or middle-six) spot on the NHL roster, as the Bruins seemingly have way too many players for a handful of spots, but we’ll see.
Regardless of whether or not he makes the NHL team out of camp, he’s one to keep an eye on going forward.
Aside from Rookie Camp and this weekend’s tournament, the start of regular training camp on Sept. 17 is the next big item on the agenda.
What’s on tap for today?
It’s not quite the full return of the NHL, but it’s something to watch on a Friday afternoon!
The Bruins will take on the Penguins in Buffalo’s Prospects Challenge this afternoon, beginning at 3:30 PM.
The game will be streamed live on the Bruins’ website — there was no direct link at the time of publishing, but click here or below to go to their homepage.
View the live stream
This stream will feature a split broadcast, with Ryan Johnston of 98.5 The Sports Hub doing play-by-play, while Michelle Crechiolo of Penguins.com does color commentary.
If you’ll be watching, here’s your place to share your thoughts!
Per Savebyryder, here’s what the lines will look like:
- Harrison-Minten-Bancroft
- Simpson-Locmelis-Duran
- Vermette-Schmaltz-Edwards
- Cheveldayoff-Chandler-Lachance
And the defense pairs:
- Edward-Burzynski
- Johansson-Gallagher
- Young-MacKinnon
Simon Zajicek and Ben Hrebik will split time in goal.
Discuss.
With Rookie Camp and the 2025 Prospects Challenge in the rearview mirror, it’s time for the real fun to begin!
The Bruins will kick off their 2025 Training Camp on Wednesday, with the team releasing the roster and schedule today.
There are no real surprises in the roster, as the B’s haven’t announced any PTOs (as of right now) — so it’s mostly who you’d expect.
Forwards: Joey Abate, Viktor Arvidsson, Dalton Bancroft, John Beecher, Matej Blumel, Patrick Brown, Riley Duran, Michael Eyssimont, John Farinacci, Morgan Geekie, Brett Harrison, Tanner Jeannot, Mark Kastelic, Marat Khusnutdinov, Sean Kuraly, Elias Lindholm, Dans Locmelis, Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov, Fraser Minten, Casey Mittelstadt, David Pastrnak, Matt Poitras, Jake Schmaltz, Alex Steeves, Riley Tufte, Jeffrey Viel, Pavel Zacha
Defensemen: Jonathan Aspirot, Frederic Brunet, Michael Callahan, Jackson Edward, Colin Felix, Ty Gallagher, Jordan Harris, Loke Johansson, Henri Jokiharju, Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, Charlie McAvoy, Andrew Peeke, Victor Soderstrom, Billy Sweezey, Max Wanner, Nikita Zadorov
Goaltenders: Luke Cavallin, Michael DiPietro, Joonas Korpisalo, Jeremy Swayman, Simon Zajicek
When does Bruins training camp start?
Camp will open on Wednesday, September 17, with the team generally gathering, mingling, and doing off-ice work.
Don Sweeney and Marco Sturm will both address the media, but that’s about it — don’t expect to hear too much from any of the players.
Practice starts on Thursday, with split squad practices starting that day and continuing through Saturday (with a split-squad scrimmage on that day).
The Bruins will then begin their preseason slate on Sunday, hosting the Washington Capitals at TD Garden at the “hey, the Patriots game is over” time of 5 PM.
From there, you know the drill: practice, preseason game, a day off thrown in here and there.
All training camp practices will take place at Warrior Arena in Brighton.
Anyone you’re particularly looking forward to seeing at camp? Predicted breakout star?
Discuss.
Looking back (2024-2025)
- Split between Boston and Toronto: 21GP, 3G-2A-5PTS
While the Bruins did plenty of wheeling and dealing at the 2025 trade deadline, the acquisition of Fraser Minten stood out as one of the most exciting moves.
Minten came to the Bruins as part of the trade that sent Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Reports, both at the deadline and in the months since, indicated that Minten was high on the Bruins’ list if they were going to make any deals with Toronto, and there were plenty in the Leafs fanbase who weren’t happy to see Minten go.
The kid (he just turned 21 in July) had a pretty wild 2024-2025 across the board: he played for two teams at the NHL level and two at the AHL level, so it’s fair to say he didn’t have much of a chance to put down roots.
He spent most of his Bruins tenure with Providence, putting up 3G-6A-9PTS totals across 19 games (regular season and playoffs).
He played six games with the B’s at the NHL level, recording one goal.
What’s ahead in 2025-2026?
It might be a bit of a stretch to say that the Minten Hype Train is already gearing up to leave the station, but he’s one of the players fans seem most excited to see more of in 2025-2026.
His roster spot isn’t a given, with a glut of players in the mix to break camp with the Bruins.
However, as a center, he fits a need for the Bruins.
With Elias Lindholm penciled in at 1C and Casey Mittelstadt (or Pavel Zacha, depending on what Marco Sturm wants to do) slated to occupy the 2C spot, there’s a place for Minten on a third line that, until recently, had been steadily occupied by Charlie Coyle.
Assuming a 21-year-old kid with 21 NHL games to his name is ready to hold down 3C for a full season is probably a tall order, but Minten appears ready to take on the task.
From Fluto Shinzawa in The Athletic:
Minten has had a good start to September by impressing in the Prospects Challenge, where the consensus was that he was probably a cut above playing at that level.
Like any young player, he’ll need to earn his spot through solid performances in training camp and during preseason games.
But if nothing else, the Bruins appear to have a good one on their hands — and a player who fills a roster need as well.
Hey, it worked out pretty well last time the Bruins acquired a prospect from the Maple Leafs.
This is a really weird time to be a Bruins fan.
Much like the Pats, a whole generation of fans grew up with this team being, if not actually Stanley Cup champions, then being one of the most successful teams in the NHL year over year in the 2010’s. A lot of that came at the expense of the prospect cupboard, the draft picks, the maybes, the tweeners, that sort of thing, so the Bruins have had to get creative in order to find talent, and Mason Lohrei is, or maybe more accurately was, one of those major finds; a player from NCAA hockey that clearly has some rough spots in his game, but more than enough promise to suggest that there’s a long time Bruin in this player somewhere.
…If you reaaaaaaally squint hard. Or ignore basic facts of his game.
Looking Back (2024-25)
- Statline:
- 5 goals
- 28 assists
- 33 points
- 77 games played
- 16 PIM
- Average TOI of 19:32
Mason Lohrei entered the 2024-25 season with a lot of hope behind him. He was a lot of the things fans liked in a defenseman (wasn’t a turret on skates, capable of impressive shots), while being less of the things that Bruins fans didn’t really care so much for (is over 6-foot). After such an impressive playoffs, the hope was that he would take the strong finish to his Bruins debut’ season and take it into his first full season to be a genuine dual threat defender; one that the B’s both sorely needed and would benefit from tremendously with a defense that got a little older in it’s depth that needed someone who could do zone exits for them.
So! How’d he do?
Yeah, he didn’t quite rise to the occasion. At least at 5-on-5.
Lohrei’s game by the individual tools he has is definitely impressive, and to that end he was a pretty good player on the power play with strong passing and a helluva shot, but it also belies that when put together and sent through his ability to see the game, to identify plays as they’re happening, to keep the puck secure while also creating zone exits and trying to keep hockey flowing in the right direction for Boston…Lohrei falls flat when he is doing literally anything other than being an available player with and without the puck in the offensive zone. Over the course of the 2024-25 season, Lohrei frustrating fans to no end as he showed some flashes of the talent that kept him on the roster for those 2023-24 playoffs…and then settling right back down again into struggling to identify what the forecheck was trying to do and coughing up an unforgivable turnover or completely missing a play as it develops in front of his eyes.
This led to Lohrei being the youngest head in a three-headed monster of defenders with horrific rates of turnovers; the other two being Brandon Carlo and Andrew Peeke, averaging at least 4.15 per 60 minutes, and surrendering by far the most unblocked shots of any Bruins defender and the highest quality of shot surrendered of any Bruins defender; giving up 2.71 Expected Goals Against per 60 minutes. Add a player who struggles to read his opponent and his teammates position on the ice to a pairing with someone seemingly allergic to doing anything with the puck unsupervised, as he often was with Brandon Carlo? Utter disaster. Losing both Lindholm and McAvoy in the same year badly exposed both Lohrei and Carlo, though only one was bad enough to get traded away…for now.
The response to the season was either one of two things; completely writing the player off, or optimism that the positives of his game would inevitably outweigh the negatives. After all, the Bruins problems are much, much worse than just one guy, and he’s young still! Young for a defenseman, anyway! Definitely young for the Boston Bruins! He’ll improve, they said!
Well, looking at his 2024-25 season, that’s probably right, in that it can’t get much worse.
What’s ahead in 2025-26?
If Lohrei wants to stay on this team past his contract’s second year, then we’d better see some marked improvement.
A lot of people are still high on Lohrei, and it’s hard not to see why. He’s big, he can score, he’s a decent skater, he had a really good playoffs once, did I mention he’s big? Because him being big is often a major selling point. But now it’s no longer “cute” for him to be giving up backbreaking turnovers at 24. He has the size and speed, but his game needs to mature in order for him to be taken seriously as a major option for this squad. He needs to be able to think this game at an NHL level, or he is going to be out of the NHL much quicker than maybe even he expects. Sure, defensemen maybe come into their own later than forwards do; this is a hard game to really learn and defense is a difficult position for even die-hard fans to really wrap their head around sometimes. But if he’s here, he needs to show that serious learning was done on the game of ice hockey, and critically what happens away from the end of your stick.
So let’s step away from the physical aspect of his game and set a decent goal for him: Break even on defense.
Don’t be a complete liability in your own end most nights you are on the ice for 18-20 minutes. Be a league average player defensively. Have a couple of really bad highlights, then a couple of really good ones, and then disappear into the background radiation of the season. Because if he can do that? Mason Lohrei could be a very strong player. All the things I said about his offensive game are still true; he can still pass like some of the best playmakers and he still has a cannon shot that is wicked accurate; something that a modern defenseman kind of needs in order to survive, it’s just everything else that’s dragging him into the depths.
Because there’s a non-zero chance Mason Lohrei will be asked to play that much again. He will be asked to play above-average minutes for his skillset; Lindholm and McAvoy will likely have struggles with both getting to 100% and being asked to play about 25 minutes apiece, so Lohrei, who has skills that resemble what Hampus and Mac can do, will be called upon to fill that void.
The time for Lohrei to show that he has learned something from that experience is now, because it is an increasingly long season, and any major stagnation in his game is going to get old really fast.
Happy Sunday, folks!
If you’d prefer to look away from the weekly NFL spectacle, the Bruins have you covered!
The Bruins Youths will play their last game of the 2025 Prospects Challenge on Sunday afternoon at12:30noon, facing the Devils prospects.
(“Devils Prospects” sounds like a good name for a band, if one doesn’t already exist by that name.)
The game will be streamed live on the Bruins’ website, if you’d like to tune in.
Watch the game live >>
If a prospects game doesn’t scratch your itch, never fear — the first preseason game will be just one week from today!
Discuss.
Looking Back (2024-25)
- All stats with LA
- 67 Games Played
- 7 Goals
- 6 Assists
- 13 Points
- 89 Penalty Minutes
Tanner Jeannot is coming into the 2025-26 season at the valley of his on-ice value. Or at least, that’s what it feels like after his 2024-25.
Jeannot was the centerpiece pickup of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s deadline in 2022-23, and from the get-go it was a headscratcher; Jeannot had only ever been a middle six player who had cracked 24 goals once in his entire career, and thus after one full season and it becoming increasingly clear that getting him had been a mistake, they traded him to the Kings in 2024 for a 4th round pick. The Kings got roughly the exact same production with slightly more games played. Over that time, Jeannot’s on-ice impact could best be described as “doesn’t embarrass himself in his own end but that’s about it”, and that’s about the most charitable description of his game that doesn’t involve the phrase “aura farming” or even more cynically, “branding genius.”
Part of what made Jeannot’s repeated moves so baffling was the continued cost that teams were willing to pay to get a player like him. While yes, being 6’2 and 220 pounds is pretty impressive, it’s clear that whatever scoring touch he had was probably not coming back, and as such Jeannot had to trade on his physicality more than anything else. Maybe good for a couple of decent fights, injuries that kept him out for long stretches of time, and being third from the bottom on the Kings in terms of possession, and 14th among regular skaters on the Kings in terms of quality chances. Repeatedly, teams have paid kings ransoms for a depth player who was good at scoring precisely once, and experiencing serious buyers remorse within six months.
He was a free agent a year later. The Boston Bruins picked him up for five years on a No Trade Clause.
What’s Ahead in 2025-26?
Jeannot’s shine as a power forward has begun to dim considerably, and even in a market that lionizes the contact part of this contact sport, we have been burned heavily by big player after big player who talks a big game, is sold as both a physical and scoring threat, and then either inconsistently does it or does it in a way that makes people angry, or the offense never materializes. Jeannot’s 2024-25 suggests that we are in for yet more of this unless he shows up to preseason ready to kick ass in a way he hasn’t kicked ass in an increasingly long time.
However, if there is something that could work in his favor, it’s that John Beecher and Matthew Poitras, guys who have been projected to be linemates of his come the end of preseason, are defensively responsible players that could help create An Shutdown Line alongside him. Since Jeannot at least doesn’t embarrass himself in his own end, there’s a chance this could give him a second wind in his career as respectable depth being treated as respectable depth. This will of course be looped into the same dumb narratives that follow this team around, but the alternative is
The “Bruins Bump” that the team seems to be at least partially aware of is a little more selective than it has been in recent years, but if you must hang onto this player who has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will probably disappoint you, then he can at least be a grizzled veteran that teaches two promising talents how to be a strong 4th line in 2030.
The player from 2021 may not return, but there is An Role for this player if the Bruins are willing to be intelligent about it. And maybe have a list together of teams they might have to call if he disappoints again. Buyers remorse seems to follow Jeannot around these days, and handing him an NTC made getting something for him that much harder.
Just the Facts
- The Time: 5pm EST
- The Place: TD Garden, Boston, MA
- Place to Watch: NESN, Monument Sports Network, ESPN I think
- Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub
- An Opposing Viewpoint: Japers’ Rink
Game Preview
Welcome friends…to Preseason.
It’s finally here. Hockey is back.
The NHL finally cracks its back, stretches itself out, and is starting to get itself back up after a long wait.
The Bruins will be lining up with their roster still as full as the beginning of camp. Like all beginnings of preseasons, one can kind of expect this game to be Providence and Maine-heavy in terms of roster construction for the B’s, and pretty Hershey/South Carolina-heavy for the Caps. If Ovie shows up here, it is almost certainly for moral support.
As for what to expect? Hard to say. The Bruins’ prospect pool is, as has been talked to death lately, thin. Boston needs to take stock of what they have and see if anyone aside from Fraser Minten and Jimmy Hagen can surpass some pretty low expectations; there’s been plenty of eyes turned from Fabian Lysell, but how does he look against a moving target? Simon Zajicek picked up a lot of interest through his heroic performance at the Prospect Challenge, but what about in a full 60 minute NHL hockey game…ish?
And what of the Caps prospect pool? The Caps have been able to pull together a very intriguing prospect pool; staying consistently in the top ten. Will that hold up to any scrutiny, and will they even be able to keep all of that talent if they continue to be as successful as they tend to be? Will this be a chance for them to join the Caps full time? Or the start of showing themselves off for the benefit of another team?
We find out this evening!
Looking back (2024-2025)
- 15G-12A-27PTS in 62 regular season games for Edmonton; 2G-5A-7PTS in 15 playoff games
Viktor Arvidsson entered last season, his first with the Oilers, coming off of a nightmare year in Los Angeles, where he missed more than 50 games due to a combination of injuries and surgeries.
Through that lens, reaching 15 goals and playing in 60+ games should be considered a win.
However, it was an up-and-down season overall for Arvidsson, who managed to provide some offense but still dealt with injuries and wound up in and out of the lineup as Edmonton went to the Stanley Cup Final again.
His trade to the Bruins was largely viewed as a salary dump through an Edmonton lens, while the Bruins will be hoping Arvidsson can be a bit of a reclamation project.
What’s ahead in 2025-2026?
The Bruins did not acquire Arvidsson thinking they’re getting the guy he was during his Nashville days, where he once scored 31, 29, and 34 goals over three seasons.
A reasonable goal for Arvidsson would be for him to eclipse his Edmonton production and maybe hit the 20-goal mark, which he did in his first two seasons in Los Angeles.
He’ll likely start the season on the second line, giving him plenty of opportunities to contribute.
The problem, of course, will be staying healthy.
As mentioned above, Arvidsson dealt with a few injuries in Edmonton last year, plus some serious injuries in Los Angeles during the 2023-2024 season.
He played 77 games for the Kings in 2022-2023, but before that? 58, 57, 50, and 66 from 2018 through 2022, split between Nashville and Los Angeles.
Assuming, for the sake of argument, he can stay on the ice, he should be a good fit for the Bruins’ top six.
He shoots the puck a lot, something the Bruins have lacked in recent years, and can be counted on to score 15+ goals if he has an average season.
On a team that isn’t exactly rich with offensive resources, Arvidsson should fill a need.
It’s also worth pointing out that Arvidsson almost certainly won’t spend the entire season with the Bruins: he’s a pending UFA, meaning he should be a decent asset for the Bruins at the trade deadline (even moreso if he has a bounce-back year).
Considering it only cost the B’s a fifth-round pick to acquire Arvidsson, they’re getting good value: some skill, a good shot, and value at the trade deadline.
It’s just preseason, it’s just preseason, it’s just preseaso-
1st Period
Things got started with Morgan Geekie being the recipient of a baubled attempt to leave the zone by the Capitals and hammering it home with gusto! 1-0 Bruins!
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And then…the rest of the first period happened.
First, Sonny Milano was the recipient of an unprotected slot as he caught Mike DiPietro looking on a broken up possession, and evened things up. 1-1 Everybody…
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Then the man who assisted on Milano’s goal, Hendrix Lapierre, got the puck off a quick little passing play behind the net, and the Caps took the lead. 2-1 Caps.
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Washington would add to it’s lead with a Sonny Milano breakout, as the save on Victor Soderstrom went all the way out to the blueline and to Ethen Frank, who sprung Milano. 3-1 Caps.
Finally, to end things out, Ivan Miroschnichenko stripped the puck from Mason Lohrei, and he set up Bogdan Trinyev to tip the puck in at point blank range. 4-1 Caps.
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Thus ends the first.
2nd Period
The Bruins did make some progress on unraveling this boondoggle early on! Jeffrey Viel won a puck battle and threw it out in front, and Patrick Brown put a missile past Logan Thompson in order to cut the lead in half! 4-2 Caps.
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The Caps however, answered back. Sonny Milano and Hendrix Lapierre led the charge out of the zone, and the only person back for it was Mason Lohrei; who couldn’t stop them from setting up Ryan Chesley to put the game’s scoring away. 5-2 Caps.
Third Period
There was nothing much worth mentioning here, and the Bruins took their L and went home, though not after a brief shootout. Simon Zajicek did what he could…
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…it just wasn’t enough for the Moral victory.
Bruins lose 5-2.
Game Notes
- Charlie McAvoy was the leader in ice time, with 21:01 logged.
- While saying in earnest that it is in fact still preseason and thus none of these results should be counted as anything more than noise…
- Most of the young guns had a pretty quiet night, and their on-ice impact reflects that. Matthew Poitras had the most impact of any of the young players, and that was largely due to being the target of some comical levels of violence against him through almost no fault of his own. The B’s youth needs to be better going forward of course, but I do feel there’s hope for some. Lysell was extremely active all night, and goshdarnit, he was trying so hard to get something to happen…he just happened to send the puck flying in space between Bruins. We shouldn’t get overconcerned about this one, but we do need to start seeing some progress here.
- If there was an area of the game Boston still has a lot of work to do, it’s speed in the neutral zone and in the defensive end, and that’s across all players. Washington was able to get the breaks they did because multiple players were already well behind the play by the time the scoring player had their shot. The Bruins surrendered a lot of the slot and high slot to Washington, and a part of it was that Washington was just able to get there before Boston was; they had better mobility through open ice, and were able to stay on the attack longer because they could shake their man without having to commit too much physically. Hopefully adding more of the main roster to this will improve it. If not? Oh dear.
- Mike DiPietro finished his night with a resounding .762 SV% on 21 shots, and while I don’t necessarily blame him for about half of the shots he faced, given that the Caps could’ve been shooting a collective 90% on expected goals, I do think that he struggled a bit with getting set for saves and that did kill him down the stretch, not that he was getting much help. Simon Zajicek meanwhile only saw 6 shots and then played out the shootout, but he did what was expected of him and didn’t make the problem worse. I freely admit to being a fan of his work on account of his aggression and big yellow-jacket pads, but he did put in the work to get noticed because he went out of his way to make his saves look good, especially in the shootout…with the exception of that last shot. That was pretty weak.
- David Pastrnak is gonna have a 80+ point season and he’s gonna have almost no help because oh my god the Bruins had all sorts of great chances and just could not stuff them behind Thompson enough for it to matter. Just endlessly frustrating.
- Andrew Peeke playing almost 19 minutes cannot happen again. Full stop. Even Charlie McAvoy being about even on impact…he just can’t do that. I don’t care if you have to bring up a college guy. Don’t do that.
- Whatever, man. It’s preseason. They get another shot at this on Tuesday against a slightly lesser prospect pool. If they still look like this in December? Then I’m worried.
Boston plays their next preseason game against the New York Rangers in Manhattan. That game starts at 7pm EST.
See you then!
