Boston Bruins
The Bruins still have some questions over their D corps and who will earn the spot as the club’s 13th forward.
Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak could open the 2026-27 season on different lines. (Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)
September 24, 2026 | 7:41 AM
5 minutes to read
Time is running out for Marco Sturm and his coaching staff to assemble the best possible lineup for the Bruins’ season opener on Tuesday, Sept. 29 against the Rangers.
It’s a sprint to the starting line for Sturm and Co., with Boston already halfway through the preseason — despite holding their first full-squad skate of training camp less than a week ago.
Given the short runway that Sturm and his staff have to work with, there haven’t been too many tweaks or lineup reshuffles for Boston over the past week — beyond just flipping J.J. Peterka up to Boston’s top line.
But there are still several unsettled segments of Boston’s depth chart that will have to get sorted out before the Bruins begin a new hockey campaign against the Rangers at TD Garden.
After rolling out a far-too-early lineup projection in July, here’s our latest prediction of Boston’s Opening Night lineup.
FORWARDS
JJ Peterka — Elias Lindholm — David Pastrnak
Casey Mittelstadt — Pavel Zacha — Morgan Geekie
James Hagens — Fraser Minten — Marat Khusnutdinov
Tanner Jeannot — Sean Kuraly — Mark Kastelic
Extra Forward: Matt Poitras
Given the limited amount of time afforded to Sturm and his staff, there haven’t been too many tweaks to Boston’s forwards through the first week of camp — although switching Geekie and Peterka in the top-six grouping was a noteworthy move during Tuesday’s preseason win over the Flyers.
Those lines carried over into Wednesday’s practice, signaling that Sturm wants to see a bit more from Peterka as a fleet-footed playmaker stapled next to Pastrnak.
Both Pastrnak and Peterka generated a few quality looks in their limited reps together on Tuesday. Still, Peterka also meshed well with Zacha and Mittelstadt through the first 40 minutes of that preseason bout.
If Peterka can serve as a de facto replacement for Viktor Arvidsson and help drive play next to Zacha and Mittelstadt, it’d also be a welcome sight for a Bruins team that also needs to cultivate more scoring depth and not be so reliant on Pastrnak for offense.
Splitting up Peterka and Pastrnak might be the best long-term plan for the Bruins, and it remains to be seen if Elias Lindholm is the right pivot to get the most out of Pastrnak’s game.
But for Opening Night, it seems like Sturm wants to overload that top line with Peterka and Pastrnak together, and bank on a shot-ready winger like Geekie complementing a two-way line featuring Zacha and Mittelstadt.
Zacha and Mittelstadt’s chemistry was one of the top surprises last season, with Boston outscoring opponents, 48-29, in that duo’s 701 minutes of 5-on-5 reps. Expect both pending free agents to remain together on a line as Sturm continues to juggle his lines.
The “kid line” of Hagens, Minten, and Khusnutdinov seems set as Boston’s third line to open the year, although both Minten and Khusnutdinov could also be candidates to slot up next to Pastrnak if Sturm wants to really balance out his lines in due time.
Boston outscored its foes, 15-6, during the Khusnutdinov-Minten-Pastrnak line’s 188 minutes of 5-on-5 play last year.
And Hagens is also a player who could carve out an elevated role (and steady power-play reps) if he finds his footing in his first full year in the NHL.
Fair to say, the top-three lines Boston rolls out next Tuesday will probably look very different from the group Sturm calls on in March and April.
They haven’t skated together all that much in camp, but it’d be a surprise if Sturm doesn’t stick with his reliable group of checking-line forwards in Tanner Jeannot, Sean Kuraly, and Mark Kastelic to open the year.
Dans Locmelis is making a legitimate push to be in the running as a versatile 4C with strong faceoff skills. Still, his waiver-exempt status makes him a player Boston might opt to send down to Providence and slot into a top-six role in the AHL to marinate further. He could be called upon sooner rather than later when the injury bug inevitably starts to sting.
Who seizes the 13th forward spot remains up in the air.
Matt Poitras’ age, upside, solid preseason debut on Sunday, and waivers-eligible status would presumably make him the favorite to open the season in the NHL — with both Alex Steeves ($1.625 million cap hit) and Mikey Eyssimont’s ($1.45 million) pricier contracts perhaps making it easier for them to clear waivers and get assigned to Providence.
But Poitras’ health is worth monitoring, as he missed Wednesday’s practice with a lower-body injury and is day-to-day moving forward. If he’s hindered, Eyssimont or Steeves stands to benefit.
“Those short camps, you want to show. You want to deliver,” Sturm said of Poitras’ injury. “You want to prove to the coach, to the team, whatever. If you have one injury, then all of a sudden with only a week to go … you’re behind. As a player, you don’t want that. So that’s hard on the kid, for sure.”
DEFENSEMEN
Hampus Lindholm — Will Borgen
Nikita Zadorov — Connor Clifton
Jonathan Aspirot — Frederic Brunet
Extra D: Henri Jokiharju
Suspended: Charlie McAvoy
Injured: Mason Lohrei
There’s a lot unsettled with this group — which was the case when Boston broke camp with 10 waiver-eligible defensemen.
There’s a lot to like about how a rookie like Frederic Brunet could complement Charlie McAvoy as a puck-moving, pass-first partner who could make life easier for the team’s top D.
But Sturm and the Bruins will need to wait a few weeks to get a closer look at that duo, as McAvoy will miss the first six games of the season due to a suspension.
Further complicating matters is the health of Mason Lohrei, who — even with his status on the roster bubble — would presumably slot into Boston’s lineup in the short term with McAvoy out of the equation.
But Lohrei was injured during Wednesday’s practice, with Sturm acknowledging that the 25-year-old blueliner was undergoing testing — with a further update set for Thursday.
If Lohrei does miss time, Boston will need to get creative with its D corps.
Based on camp practices and Tuesday’s preseason game, it seems like Boston is set on opening the year with a steady, stay-at-home option in Will Borgen next to Hampus Lindholm — and Nikita Zadorov and Connor Clifton forming one of the more chaotic, physical, and entertaining D pairings in the league.
If Lohrei is sidelined, we have Jonathan Aspirot slotting in on the third D pairing next to Brunet — a left shot who can play on the right side. A physical, meat-and-potatoes player like Aspirot could potentially mesh well with a puck-moving partner like Brunet.
In this scenario, Henri Jokiharju holds court as Boston’s seventh D until Lohrei gets healthy and/or McAvoy returns from suspension.
But if Lohrei is good to go before Tuesday’s opener, Sturm could roll out the 2020 second-round pick on the third D pair next to Aspirot — and keep Brunet as the spare D-man.
Jokiharju, who hasn’t been a perfect fit for Sturm’s system, would then be a potential trade candidate or a player Boston places on waivers for an assignment to Providence.
GOALIES
Jeremy Swayman
Michael DiPietro
No surprises with this group. As expected, Jeremy Swayman will get the lion’s share of reps between the pipes — with the 27-year-old netminder coming off a bounce-back season where he finished third in Vezina Trophy voting.
After Boston dealt Joonas Korpisalo this summer, Michael DiPietro was deemed the next man up as the Bruins’ backup — a sentiment validated by the fact that Don Sweeney didn’t bring in any veteran competition at the position via PTO at the start of camp.
DiPietro more than held his own in his preseason debut on Sunday against Washington — stopping 30 of 32 shots against a hefty expected goals rate of 6.17.
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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