3 players Bruins must trade in 2025 NHL offseason

The Boston Bruins failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016. It was a disastrous season for the franchise, finishing last in the Atlantic Division and with the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins have hired former player Marco Strum to attempt to right the ship as the head coach. Still, there is a lot of work to do to turn things around in Boston. They have to be active in the trade market, and there are multiple players the Bruins must trade in the 2025 NHL offseason.

Boston has not only hired a new coach but has also already made a transaction this summer, trading Ryan Mast and a seventh-round pick for Victor Soderstrom. While trading for the former 11th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft may be exciting, Soderstrom has yet to do much at the NHL level. Meanwhile, Boston has numerous needs to address before the start of the 2025-26 NHL season. To begin with, they have 10 free agents currently, seven of them being restricted free agents. That includes players such as Morgan Geekie.

Further, the Bruins are in a precarious situation. While they have draft capital, with six picks in the first round over the next four seasons, they have just $24.7 million in cap space. They also have just 13 players under a current NHL contract. The Bruins need to shed salary while both improving draft capital and their team for next season.

The Bruins trade away a new addition

Boston currently has seven players making over $5 million per year. These seven players account for over $54 million of their current $70.7 million in cap hit. While there are stars such as David Pastrnak and Jeremy Swayman in that calculation, there is also Casey Mittelstadt. Mittelstadt will make $5.75 million per year for the next two seasons. The center was playing on the third line at the end of the season, a spot that should not be filled by someone making that amount of money.

Mittelstadt was traded from the Colorado Avalanche during the season after being acquired from the Buffalo Sabres during the 2023-24 campaign. Mittelstadt would spend just 91 games with the Aves between two seasons before being shipped off to Boston, but during that time, he signed a three-year deal worth $5.75 million per year. He also wasn’t a major contributor to the Bruins this year. He scored just four goals and added two assists in his 18 games. Furthermore, he had a -17 plus-minus rating in those 18 games.

The American-born forward has played in over 80 games just three times in his career, and has never scored more than 60 points. Furthermore, his 40 points combined between the two teams this past season were the fourth-highest of his career. For someone being paid as a top-six forward in the NHL, his production has yet to match it. Mittelstadt’s defensive statistics have declined over the past few seasons, and he has become more of a one-way forward. With declining production and a high cost, the Bruins need to part ways with this forward to move back towards making the playoffs.

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