The Boston Bruins are returning to the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a significantly altered roster, retaining only seven players from their 2024 playoff team. Key players like Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak are among those who remain.
Key points
Boston Bruins return to 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Drastically different roster from 2024 playoffs
Only seven players from 2024 playoff team remain
Key players include Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak
Jeremy Swayman is the same goalie as in 2024
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are heading back to the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a drastically different roster than the one they had for the 2024 Playoffs.
The playoffs will be a new experience for this group. Yes, some of the new acquisitions such as Nikita Zadorov, Tanner Jeannot, and Elias Lindholm, have extensive playoff experience.
Heck, Sean Kuraly wasn't in Boston in 2024, but he's played 57 playoff games with the Bruins in his career. It's not new to him.
Someone new to it is one of Boston's most consistent players all year, Mark Kastelic.
The Bruins acquired Kastelic as a part of the Linus Ullmark trade to the in the summer of 2024, with Kastelic almost being looked over in the deal by some at the time.
Q&A
Which players from the 2024 Boston Bruins playoff roster are still on the team?
Seven players remain from the 2024 playoff roster, including Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, and Jeremy Swayman.
What changes have occurred in the Boston Bruins roster since the 2024 playoffs?
The Bruins have made significant changes, with only seven of the 18 skaters from the 2024 playoffs still on the team for the 2026 playoffs.
When did the Boston Bruins last play in the playoffs before 2026?
The last playoff game for the Boston Bruins before 2026 was in May 2024.
Who are the key players for the Boston Bruins heading into the 2026 playoffs?
Key players for the Bruins heading into the 2026 playoffs include Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, and Jeremy Swayman.
He wasn't looked over by Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney and his staff, who thought he could become a key piece for Boston's bottom-six.
This year, his second with Boston, Kastelic set career highs in goals, assists, points, shots, ice time, face-off percentage, you get the picture. By any metric, it's been a career year for Kastelic.
Sweeney heaped praise on Kastelic at his end-of-regular-season presser on Thursday.
"Yeah, I was really happy for Mark to get to double digits [goals] the other day, and then that line was really, really good in both [final] games, but they've been an important part."
Sweeney then looked back to the March 29 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets, where the Bruins erased a 3-0 deficit en route to solidifying a playoff spot.
Down 3-0, Tanner Jeannot dropped the gloves with Erik Gudbrandson. Six seconds later, Columbus' toughest and one of the NHL's premier fighters, Mathieu Olivier wanted a piece of Kastelic.
Kastelic, smaller than Olivier, did not back done.
The Bruins rallied around the fight, and then came back to win 4-3.
"In the comeback in Columbus, Tanner set the stage, but that's a tough spot for another player of Mark's ilk to know what's coming next in all likelihood [the fight with Olivier], and for him to meet that challenge without even thinking about it, it just permeates through the whole group.
And afterward, [the team giving him] the belt and being acknowledged for that, it says a lot about him and his character and what he means to our team, and what he means to the guys, what he means each morning to everyone."
The effusive praise from Sweeney to Kastelic is beyond well-earned. Game 1 will mark Kastelic's first-career NHL playoff game.
It's the first playoff game of any kind for him since two 2022 AHL Playoff games with the Belleville Senators, as a teammate of Jonathan Aspirot's.
Kastelic spoke exclusively with The Hockey News about it.
"Everything's so exciting and fun," Kastelic told The Hockey News. "Just the build-up and all that. [Those AHL Playoff games came] A while ago now, but I just remember, like, just it being the most fun I've had playing hockey, win or lose.
"Obviously, we want to win, and we have our goal at the end of the day, but to have this opportunity, it's amazing. I'm really looking forward to just see what we can do with it."
Kastelic's hands will be full all series against the Buffalo Sabres, whether it's dealing with the top-end guys like 6'7 Tage Thompson, or the fourth line with 6'6 Jordan Greenway. Buffalo's known for playing physical, hard, and fast.
It's a matchup Kastelic knows will be tough, but he's confident in his team.
"They've got some guys over there, but very confident in our abilities," Kastelic told THN. "I really like what we bring to the table.
"It's going to be probably a great battle, an intense battle, and that's right up our alley. So it should be really fun, and I can't wait to get after it."
