“There’s a lot of guys that are underperforming right now, and as a staff we’re going to get it out of them. I’m confident, but it’s going to take some work, it’s not going to happen overnight,” Sacco shared to reporters at a news conference on Wednesday. “But we feel like we have a good enough team, and the character is good enough in the room where we’re going to get the most out of them.”
Almost the entire roster needs to play a lot better, but which specific players do the Bruins need to improve the most?
Here is a list of five notable names.
Elias Lindholm, Center
The Bruins signed Lindholm to a seven-year contract worth $54.25 million ($7.75 million salary cap hit) to become a No. 1 center who could generate offense for both himself and his teammates. But so far he’s been a complementary player at best, and that’s unacceptable for a player who makes just under $8 million annually.
Lindholm started well with five points (two goals, three assists) in the first three games. But since then, he has been invisible for most games, including a 17-game goal drought. He has provided just four assists in that period.
Lindholm started the season in the center of the first line, alongside Pavel Zacha on the left wing and David Pastrnak on the right wing. The hope for the Bruins was that this line would develop immediate chemistry and help Lindholm regain the form he showed during the 2021-2022 season, when he scored a career-high 42 goals and 40 assists while playing for the Calgary Flames. For whatever reason, the chemistry between Lindholm and Pastrnak just hasn’t developed.
Lindholm has nine total points in 20 games, with only three coming at 5-on-5.
“He missed a lot of camp, so he didn’t develop chemistry with who we envisioned him to be. After that, they got off to a rough start and that didn’t happen,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said of Lindholm at a news conference Wednesday.
“So we turned it around. They found a little bit more traction in terms of where their positioning is now [Pavel] Zacha and [David] Playing Pastrnak together. Brad [Marchand] and Elias, but it doesn’t translate into the results we want. So it has to be better. He has publicly acknowledged that. It has to be better.”
Lindholm’s struggles have also hurt the power play, a unit that ranks last in the league with an 11.7 percent success rate. Lindholm has not excelled in the bumper role. He has zero goals and just three assists on the power play.
Lindholm needs to be more aggressive to score. In eleven of twenty matches he scored zero or one shot on net. The Bruins are the second-lowest scoring team in the league with 2.40 goals per game. Lindholm needs to be a scorer for the Bruins as they don’t have many high-end skills.
After recording a career-high of 82 points during that 2021-22 season, Lindholm’s scoring has dropped to 64 points in 2022-23 and 44 last season. He’s on pace for 37 this season, which would be a third consecutive decline. If this trend doesn’t reverse, it’s a big problem for the Bruins, as he’s signed for another six seasons.
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2021-22 with flames: 3.01 points/60 minutes
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2022-23 with flames: 2.57
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2023-24 with Flames/Canucks: 1.89/1.56
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2024-25 with Bruins: 1.47
Charlie Coyle, Center
Coyle set a career high in scoring last season with 60 points, including a personal best of 25 goals. He took his offensive game to the next level in the first year the Bruins were without top two centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.
Coyle’s production has taken a significant step back so far this season. He has five points (four goals, one assist) in 20 games, giving him just 16.4 points on pace. It would be shocking if he finished the season under 20 points, but the fact that that results in so much less offensively compared to 2023-24 is a huge problem for a Bruins team that lacks depth, especially at center.
Coyle is also below 50 percent on faceoffs (49.2). He has won at least 51.6 percent of his draws in each of the last two seasons. Coyle was on the ice for ten goals at five-on-five, which is the second-highest total among B’s forwards.
Coyle is one of the Bruins’ best two-way players. He plays in almost every situation. In fact, he is the team’s only forward who averages more than two minutes of ice time per game on both the power play (2:44) and penalty kill (2:53). He needs to be more productive offensively and take the lead on penalty kicks – a unit that has struggled mightily in 20 games.
Nikita Zadorov, defender
The Bruins signed Zadorov to a six-year, $30 million deal on Day 1 of free agency. The veteran defenseman was expected to add some much-needed size and strength to the blue line, as well as defensive prowess, penalty kill and perhaps some small offense as well. He has the potential to be a tone setter with his physical playing style.
Unfortunately for the B’s, Zadorov has had the opposite effect. He is one of the most undisciplined players in the league and leads all defenders with thirteen minor penalties. He also made little impression offensively, with zero goals and two assists in the last fifteen games. In 10 of those 15 games, he had either zero or one shot on net.
“We also want a higher level from him. He’s shown a lot of that,” Sweeney said of Zadorov on Wednesday. “But he had a difficult start by taking too many penalties and putting himself in there by trying to be an aggressive player, and conveying the identity of what is described, and he ended up in the penalty area. And now suddenly, you is playing a little more cautiously, and we need him to reassert himself.”
Zadorov has the chance to become a real difference maker if he can set the physical tone and not go over the edge. He can’t take that many penalties. The Bruins should be a lot tougher to play against, and Zadorov has the size and skills to lead that offense.
Charlie McAvoy, defender
McAvoy is one of the top 10 most talented defenders in the world. He has the potential to dominate games on both ends of the ice while setting the tone for his team on every play with huge hits and physical play. He is also the team’s second-highest paid player ($9.5 million per year average) and wears an “A” on his jersey as an assistant captain.
McAvoy’s performance through twenty games was sub-par.
From an offensive standpoint, he struggles to make a consistent impact. McAvoy scored in each of the first two matches in October. He has scored one goal in the eighteen games since then. He scores 0.91 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 – he has never finished below 1.0 in an entire season.
McAvoy leads all B defensemen with 4:17 of power-play ice time per game, yet he has zero points with the man advantage since the second game of the campaign. This is a big reason why Boston ranks last in power play percentage.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of McAvoy’s play so far is his lack of discipline. His twelve minor penalties taken are the second most of any defender in the league. The Bruins need McAvoy on the ice as much as possible. He is an elite player who can play in all situations. Spending too much time in the penalty area is a big problem.
The expectation is that McAvoy will always be a super impactful player on both ends of the ice. But with Hampus Lindholm out of the lineup, the responsibility on McAvoy is even greater.
Jeremy Swayman, goaltender
Swayman was a top 10 goaltender the past three seasons, and after the Linus Ullmark trade in June, there was no longer any debate about who Boston’s No. 1 netminder was. But Swayman wasn’t signed until two days before the season opener. He was signed to an eight-year contract worth $64 million, making him the fifth highest-paid goaltender in the league.
So far he has not honored that contract. Not even close.
Swayman has posted a record of 5-7-2 with a save percentage of .884 and a GAA of 3.47. He ranks 71st out of 75 qualifying goaltenders with fewer than 7.3 more goals than expected, according to MoneyPuck. His .916 save percentage over the previous three seasons ranked joint sixth in the league over that span.
How much of Swayman’s slow start can be attributed to him missing all of training camp and preseason because he was out of contract? That’s not easy to quantify, but it’s also not easy to jump back into contention as a goaltender if you don’t encounter NHL shots every day during practices or games.
“I think Jeremy would recognize that he hasn’t played as well as he’s capable of and we fully expect him to get back there,” Sweeney said on Wednesday.
Goaltending has been the Bruins’ strength for years. It has been a weakness this season, mostly due to Swayman. Backup goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, who came over in the Ullmark trade, has played well with a .901 save percentage and 2.74 GAA. Korpisalo has a .932 save percentage in three starts this month.
The Bruins aren’t going anywhere if Swayman doesn’t turn things around ASAP. They need goaltending to bail them out when the offense struggles to score and there are defensive lapses – two common problems for the team through 20 games. Swayman is paid like a top-five goalie, and that’s the level of performance the Bruins need to not only make the playoffs, but win a round or two if they get there.
