Bruins Should Give Young Players Late-Game Opportunities

The start of the 2026-27 NHL regular season could have gone a number of ways for the Boston Bruins. On the one hand, the team had made a major offseason acquisition in JJ Peterka and had the potential to build on a surprising 100-point campaign the previous season. On the other hand, the team was set to be without cornerstone defender Charlie McAvoy for the first six games of the season due to a suspension. Head coach Marco Sturm also had decisions to make on which young players would make the roster and how much playing time they’d receive early on.

Just a few weeks into the season, the Bruins hold a 7-2-1 record, good for first place in the Atlantic Division, second place in the Eastern Conference and fourth place in the NHL. A major factor in that success has been Sturm’s willingness to give the team’s younger players prominent roles, and they’ve rewarded his trust with strong performances.

Fraser Minten and Matt Poitras are tied with David Pastrnak for the team lead in goals, with four apiece, while James Hagens and Marat Khusnutdinov have three each. Minten leads the Bruins’ young players with eight points, tied for second on the team, followed by Hagens with seven, tied for third. Poitras has six points, tied for sixth, while Khusnutdinov has five, tied for eighth. On the blue line, Mason Lohrei and Frederic Brunet are getting the job done as well. Lohrei’s five points are also tied for eighth on the team while he’s averaging 17:56 of ice time per game. Brunet has recorded three points while averaging 16:57 per game. It isn’t an overstatement to say that the Bruins’ young players are contributing significantly at both ends of the ice.

Bruins Shortened Bench Raises Questions

It’s confusing, then, that the team would shorten its bench so much in the latter stages of the third period in Tuesday’s tilt between the Bruins and Dallas Stars. The Bruins led for most of the game, thanks to goals from Poitras and Hagens, before the Stars tied things up just over halfway through the third period. In the final five minutes of regulation, neither Hagens nor Poitras received a shift, while Brunet and Lohrei were sat for the final four minutes of regulation.