The 2024-25 NHL season was truly a disaster for the Boston Bruins, who will now head into the offseason with a handful of questions left unanswered, and requiring urgent answers. After missing out in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, star Charlie McAvoy dropped a freezing-cold remark for the team, including David Pastrnak and interim head coach Joe Sacco.
There is no defnite answer on what role Sacco will have in the Bruins during the 2025-26 campaign. Every card is still in play at the moment, setting the table up for a dramatic offseason in Beantown, one in which anything can happen.
The Bruins moved on from veteran leader Brad Marchand, leaving a void at the captain role, which is most likely to be filled in by Pastrnak next season.
However, that’s all in the future, and the players in Boston aren’t quite ready to move on from this past campaign, at least not without taking important lessons from it, hoping to right the ship in the 2025-26 NHL season.
Boston Bruins head coach Joe Sacco looks on behind the bench during the first period against the Utah Hockey Club at TD Garden on November 21, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts.
“Not a great year, not really by any stretch,” McAvoy said in conversation with the media. “Some pockets of good memories, I guess, but overall really a year to forget, with an unfortunate ending on my side. It’s all just motivation to not feel like this again. Never been here and I don’t want to be here again. I’m excited to put a close to this chapter, be done with it and honestly just get it behind me.”
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While Pastrnak is the clear-cut favorite to succeed Marchand as the Bruins’ captain in the upcoming campaign, the 28-year-old Czech forward made an honest statement on how the leaders behave in the organization.
“The leaders I had around me — it was never about who wears the C or who wears the A,” Pastrnak admitted. “Everybody in the room is equal here. It’s not about one guy. It’s going to be [many] of us, and we need to be working together.”
Dream turned to nightmare
It was a very challenging season for McAvoy, who in addition to the Bruins’ struggles, suffered a severe injury during the 4 Nations Face-Off. As he reflected on the past campaign, the star blueliner spoke about the physical and emotional toll his injury from the 4 Nations had on him.
Charlie McAvoy #25 of Team USA stands for the national anthem prior to the game against Team Finland in the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off at Bell Centre on February 13, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
“I’ve gone through so much because of that damn experience,” McAvoy added. “Like, it cost me my season. It cost me my sanity in a lot of ways. Like, none of this has been easy, and I get emotional. It was an incredible experience, and I waited my whole life to be a part of something like that.
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“But the way that it ended, and the aftermath of it, and what I had to go through, it cost me a lot more than I was willing to give, and that’s unfortunate, but it’s over now. And now I can finally put it to bed. And after we talk about it, I don’t want to talk about it ever again, honestly. Because it did cost me. It cost me a lot.”
