Grading the Bruins’ Offseason Moves So Far

Hagens, an excellent player who will likely spend another spend at least one more season playing for the Eagles before going pro, is a titanic upgrade at center for Boston. He will most likely not spend much, if any, time in the American Hockey League (AHL) before joining the team.

Prior to the draft, Hagens was predicted to go as low as fifth and even as high as first if Matthew Schaefer ended up not going first overall to the New York Islanders. He was never predicted to last until the Bruins were on the clock, though. Hagens, however, fell right into Boston’s lap at seven and following an introduction by none other than Adam Sandler himself, Hagens was a Bruin.

In his freshman season with BC, Hagens averaged a point per game, scoring 11 goals and racking up 26 assists (37 points) in 37 games. Hagens will be just 19 years old by the time his sophomore season is over in Chestnut Hill, making it a remote chance he returns for his junior season with the Eagles. However, fellow Eagles teammate Ryan Leonard from the 2024-25 season was drafted just one position lower (eighth overall) than Hagens and he went directly to the NHL following his sophomore season.

Among the other picks was William Moore, who was a member of the United States National Team Development Program last season. Moore should complement Hagens and serve as depth behind him once both compete at the NHL level. Both are strong two-way centers, and can score goals aplenty; it’s just a matter of them being willing to share the puck.

As for the rest of the picks, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney did a good job of planning for the future with drafting a defenseman in Liam Pettersson and Vashek Blanar. Neither are projected to sign their entry-level deals this season, but could get looks sooner than later given their need for size at the blue line and ability to get out of their own zone. Sweeney did what he needed to do to put the team in a good position down the road.

Final draft grade: B+

How Free Agency/Trades Graded (Thus Far)

Only a week into a free agency – plus a few days before where transactions were made – and Boston is looking mighty good with how they’ve handled it.

The first transaction that looks especially good is locking down goaltender Michael DiPietro. The best part isn’t even that Sweeney was able to sign him to a team-friendly $812,000 annual average value (AAV) contract, it’s that it was an NHL contract rather than a two-way contract like he signed prior to the 2024-25 season. It effectively signals the end of his time down in Providence.

DiPietro was stellar in the 2024-25 season starting in 40 games where he put together a 26-8-5 record, a goals against average (GAA) of 2.05 and a save percentage (SV%) of .927, and four shutouts. Standing at just 6-foot tall, he may be one of the smaller netminders in the league, but he moves fast from post-to-post and has NHL experience from his time with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Bruins have also agreed to terms with Henri Jokiharju, John Beecher, and even signed Morgan Geekie to an extension. The latter was a key move after Geekie put together a career season in 2024-25 and expressed as soon as the season was over that he wanted to remain in Boston.

In addition to Geekie signing an extension, the Bruins also traded for Viktor Arvidsson, signed Tanner Jeannot (to a five-year deal no less), and Sean Kuraly, among others. While it’s clear that not everyone will make the team come October, and may even signal the end for some players in Boston, all of the signings will give Sturm the peace of mind to know he has depth pieces to work with in case someone goes down with an injury during the season.

The market is slowly closing on bona fide players for the Bruins to either sign or trade for, so it will behoove them to be cautious moving forward this offseason. However, they have made some splashes so far that they can be happy with and build upon going forward.

Overall Free Agency/Trade Grade: A