NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1.
Today, the Boston Bruins.
When general manager Don Sweeney took to the podium after the first night of the 2026 NHL Draft, he apologized to the organization’s amateur scouts, knowing that they had spent so many days and nights working to prepare for a first-round pick that they did not end up making.
It was for a good reason, though.
As he said then, “We were trying to be aggressive and add players of the ilk of JJ (Peterka) and we’re happy to welcome him on board.”
That trade, sending the No. 23 pick in the 2026 draft and a conditional first-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft to the Utah Mammoth for Peterka, stands as the signature offseason move for the Bruins. It’s a trade they hope will continue the retool that began late in the 2024-25 season, when they shipped out several veterans, including captain Brad Marchand, to prepare for the team’s next iteration.
Between the addition of the 24-year-old Peterka, a top-six wing who has scored at least 25 goals each of the past three seasons, and 19-year-old forward James Hagens, the No. 7 pick in the 2025 draft, combined with holdovers like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins are set to take another step toward that this season, a step that they hope includes a second straight date with the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Inside look at the Boston Bruins ahead of the 2026-27 season
But, given the strength up and down the Atlantic Division, it won’t be easy, especially with some outstanding questions.
On defense, the Bruins have plenty of bodies, but it remains unclear how they’ll fit together. They added two right-shot defensemen in Will Borgen and Connor Clifton and subtracted Andrew Peeke. In goal, there is more certainty after the bounce-back season by Swayman in 2025-26, when he became a finalist for the Vezina Trophy after the worst season of his career, finishing 31-18-4 in 55 games (54 starts) with a 2.71 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage after going 22-29-7 in 58 games (all starts) with a 3.11 GAA and .892 save percentage the season prior.
He will be joined by two-time reigning American Hockey League goalie of the year Michael DiPietro.
But the biggest change is Peterka.
The wing, whose face lit up when he was asked about being on a line with Pastrnak, brings “speed and skill. He’s got an elite shot,” as Sweeney said. He should instantly become a weapon on a power play whose production jumped from 29th in the NHL (15.2 percent) in 2024-25 to ninth (23.4 percent) in 2025-26.
“His bio of high production has been really good, plays both wings, could probably play with a couple different types of centers, help drive a line but also complement the better guys in situations that we’re certainly trying to improve,” Sweeney said. “… We are trying to get deeper and add speed.”
Even as Boston has attempted to move from its last generation to the next, it has seen how difficult it can be to navigate the stalwarts and the up-and-comers in the division.
It’s why they wanted to acquire more young talent with potential, to go with what they had added to a system that was once barren, with a first round of players like Fraser Minten, 22, and Marat Khusnutdinov, 24, and a second round of Hagens, Dean Letourneau, 20, and Will Zellers, 20 -- all of whom have the chance to form a new core.
“The age band is attractive,” Sweeney said of Peterka. “I think he fits into a group of our players and bridges with the next wave of guys that we hope will continue to develop as we hopefully add them moving along over the next few years.”
And that is where the Bruins have set their sights, on a future that they see themselves finding while their key core pieces are still within their window.
Ultimately, the Bruins probably won’t be terribly different than they were in 2025-26, a team in transition, a team on the playoff bubble. The issue for them will be how much the teams around them have improved and how they fit in within the broader Atlantic.
“I hope it all comes together,” Sweeney said. “I hope we’re right back up in the upper echelon. The challenge is, we were a 100-point team.
We stood here last year and I don’t know whether or not any of us thought we were a bona fide 100-point team (at 45-27-10), but we went out and did it.”