Welcome to the Bruins’ on-the-fly youth movement

The Bruins are one of the youngest teams in the NHL. Among teams that could realistically be considered Stanley Cup contenders, they’re THE youngest.

Does that surprise you? It would be understandable if it does. Just two years ago, we were talking about a veteran-laden “Last Dance” squad trying to make history for soon-to-be-retired franchise legends Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.

Last year, a cap-strapped Don Sweeney tried to plug holes – both roster-wise and leadership-wise – with cheap mid-30s veterans like James van Riemsdyk, Kevin Shattenkirk, Milan Lucic (before that went awry) and, later in the season, Pat Maroon.

Now, all of those guys are gone. Well, technically van Riemsdyk and Shattenkirk are still free agents who could return, however unlikely that may be.

This summer, Sweeney did bring in a couple more veterans in free-agent splashes Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, but both are 29-year-olds in their prime, not 35-year-olds in the twilight of their careers.

In fact, the only mid-30s player left on the roster is the captain, Brad Marchand, who turned 36 in May. Good luck telling him he’s in the twilight of his career. He still had 67 points last season and played all 82 games for the first time in his career.

Charlie Coyle is 32. Hampus Lindholm and new (presumed) backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo are both 30. And that’s it. Everyone else projected to be on the opening night roster as of right now is under 30. Alternate captains David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy are 28 and 26, respectively. Still-to-be-signed franchise goalie Jeremy Swayman is 25.

According to the @NHL_Rosters Twitter/X account, the average age of the Bruins’ projected opening night roster is 27.1 years old, sixth-youngest in the NHL.

Look at those other teams in the top eight: Buffalo, Philadelphia, Montreal, Utah, Ottawa, Anaheim, Columbus. They are all firmly entrenched in rebuilds, although Utah and Ottawa could potentially surprise some people and at least make a playoff push.

The Bruins are decidedly not in a rebuild. They were one of the final eight teams standing this spring, and they believe the moves they made this offseason will help them go further and give them a better chance to beat the division rival and Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

Obviously it remains to be seen whether that’s actually how the season plays out. It’s possible everything could go sideways and this year could turn into a disaster. But as things stand now, it’s pretty impressive that the Bruins have been able to get so much younger in just two years without having to rebuild or even really reset. Much like most line changes, this youth movement has happened on the fly.

According to the NHL, the Bruins had the seventh-oldest opening day roster two years ago with an average age of 28.6. Last year, they were middle of the pack with the 15th-youngest at 28.2 years old. Now they’re the sixth-youngest, chopping off a full year in their average age.

Last year’s youth movement was highlighted by the arrival of rookies Matt Poitras, Johnny Beecher, Mason Lohrei and Justin Brazeau. Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov and other AHL forwards will get a shot to make the jump this year with the NHL roster appearing to be one forward short as of now.

But an underrated part of this youth shift has been Sweeney’s ability to identify players in their mid-20s who haven’t quite clicked elsewhere that have proven to be good fits in Boston. Pavel Zacha, Morgan Geekie, Andrew Peeke and Parker Wotherspoon all fit that profile. Max Jones and Mark Kastelic could follow suit in the bottom six this year.

Getting younger wasn’t the only identity shift for the Bruins this summer. The more obvious and discussed one was that they got bigger and more physical. Just look at the guys they brought in. Zadorov is 6-foot-6, 248 pounds. Kastelic is 6-4, 226. Jones is 6-3, 216. Elias Lindholm is the smallest of the new guys, but he’s still 6-1, 202.

According to Elite Prospects , the average height and weight of the Bruins’ roster is 6-foot-2, 208 pounds. That would be Boston’s biggest roster since 2002-03, a squad that weighed in at 6-2, 211 and featured the “700 Pound Line” of Joe Thornton, Glen Murray and Mike Knuble.

These may not quite be the big, bad Bruins of yore, but the bigger, younger 2024-25 Bruins have arrived.