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Boston Bruins Jeremy Swayman (Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)

3 Bruins Predictions for First Half of 2025-26 Season

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Hannah Garfield | Last updated Sep 1, 2025 8:45 AM ET

With the 2025-26 season set to begin in just a few weeks, it’s time to start making some predictions. The team that takes the ice this season is one that will look a lot different than the one that started the 2024-25 season. There’s a new coach, no one remaining from the 2011 Stanley Cup-winning roster, and a lot of question marks about how good this team will be.

Generally, when going into a new season, there is some sense of how good a team will be. But the Bruins have a ton of question marks. Are they a real contender? No, probably not. Could they end up in the playoffs? A possibility. Could they be looking at a real shot at a top-five draft pick in the 2026 NHL Draft? Also a possibility.

While the Bruins did not really address their issues when it comes to generating points and offense outside of David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie, there are some positives going into the season that could see them finishing better than last season. Hampus Lindholm returns to the blue line after missing the majority of last season with a kneecap injury, which will be a huge help. With more stability to the defense, hopefully Jeremy Swayman will have a bounce-back in net. There are also a number of question marks surrounding the young players and how efficient/impactful they will be.

With so many question marks and the season really looking like it could go either way for the Bruins at this point, it’s hard to really try to predict and nail down what and who they will be. But there are still a few things that feel likely to happen.

Young Player Has Unexpected Impact

As mentioned above, the Bruins did not bring in any proven, consistent goal scorers this offseason. Generating points and offense was a major issue that plagued the team last season. They would go almost full periods without getting a shot off, and crazily enough, it’s impossible to score if you’re not shooting. Last season, Pastrnak led the team with 43 goals and 106 points. Second was Geekie with 33 goals, surpassing the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career, and 57 points. Then there was a three-way tie for third between Brad Marchand, who is no longer with the team, Pavel Zacha, and Elias Lindholm, who all had 47 points. Marchand had the most goals of the three, with 21.

The Bruins need someone to step up and help provide more offense. Elias Lindholm should hopefully be able to do more this season since he won’t be starting with a lingering injury like he did in 2024-25, but they need more. This is where hopefully one of the young players will be able to step it up.

Marat Khusnutdinov is probably one of the guys most likely to step it up and have a bigger impact this season. While he struggled in the Minnesota Wild organization, he showed promise in his 18 games in Boston last season. Casey Mittelstadt is another guy to keep an eye on. He’s a top ten pick from the 2017 Draft who hasn’t quite lived up to his potential in the NHL, but had four goals and six points in 18 games for Boston after being acquired at the trade deadline.

Then there is also Fraser Minten, who I think is a very exciting young player acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Matthew Poitras, who has shown great flashes for the Bruins but has been limited in his first two professional seasons by injury and general manager Don Sweeney’s decision-making, will also be one to watch. Finally, Fabian Lysell is entering a make-or-break year for his tenure in Boston, and will hopefully build off his momentum from the final games in 2024-25 and not only make the roster, but make an impact for the team in 2025-26.

The Bruins need help from somewhere in order to be competitive this season, and I think there is reason to be hopeful with the young guys to be impactful in the first half of the 2025-26 season.

Jeremy Swayman Returns to Form

Boston media and fans are notoriously harsh on goalies, and after his admittedly disappointing performance in 2024-25, many were ready to completely write off Swayman. But I believe and predict that he’ll return to form in 2025-26.

There were several difficulties facing the goaltender in 2024-25. He missed training camp and the preseason due to his contract negotiations, leaving him starting the season a step behind. With how much the team in front of him struggled in the first month of the season, it was definitely a challenge for him to get comfortable in net. The blue line was also in rough shape last season, and lost H. Lindholm, who had been arguably the best defenseman prior to his injury. For all the moments that Swayman missed an easy save, there were equally moments that the defense left him completely out to dry. Finally, he was also adjusting from having a strong goaltending tandem with Linus Ullmark, to being the number one, and that was always going to be an adjustment that I think people didn’t talk about enough going into last season.

Coming into 2025-26, Swayman will have a full summer, training camp, and preseason without contract negotiations hanging over his head as a distraction. He’s also coming off of a terrific run at the World Championship in May that saw him go a perfect 7-0 with two shutouts, a 1.69 goals-against average (GAA), and a .921 save percentage. He also now has one of his best defenseman back in front of him and a full season under his belt being the number one goaltender.

This season should see Swayman return to the discussion as one of the top goaltenders in the league. If the Bruins are in a playoff spot on Jan. 1, I fully believe it will be in large part due to him. He will be a difference maker in the first half of the 2025-26 season.

Charlie McAvoy on Pace for Career Year in Points

Charlie McAvoy missed the final 25 games of the 2024-25 season after suffering a shoulder injury at the 4 Nations Face-Off, which then later got infected and caused him to be hospitalized. But now he is fully healthy and ready to go this season with added weight on his shoulders. He and Pastrnak are now the two longest tenured players on the roster, and all eyes will be on one of them to eventually be named captain.

Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

After missing so much time, McAvoy is going to be eager to get back on the ice. There will also be a little extra motivation with him now one of the true leaders in the locker room, and the added pressure of already being named to Team USA for the 2026 Olympics this winter.

This is truly more of a “just have a feeling” prediction, but I think McAvoy will have a big season in 2025-26, especially with the return of H. Lindholm to the lineup to take some of the pressure off. His career high in points came in 2021-22 when he had 56. His highest total goals in a season is 12, which came in 2023-24. I’m predicting that he’ll come out of the gate this season roaring and be on pace to hit somewhere in the 55-60 range by the time the new year rolls around.

Hockey Season Almost Here

With the Bruins missing the postseason in 2024-25, they have had an extra-long summer break. With guys healthy, and young players ready to prove themselves, it should be an interesting training camp and start to the season. It truly could go both ways, and the first half of the season will be a great opportunity to test whether or not Sweeney’s plan for the team will pay off.

For the first time in a while, the roster taking the ice in 2025-26 will be drastically different than the one that started last season. Are they better, are they worse, who knows. But it won’t be long until we start figuring it out.