Sturm’s Test Begins: Bruins Seek Redemption After Disastrous Season

The Boston Bruins are less than a month away from the start of their 2025-26 season, and it will be imperative for them to come out swinging. Last season was a rough start. The team went 4-7-1 in the month of October, and while they got off to a decent start in terms of goals, things quickly deteriorated towards the end of the first month. They got shut out twice, and it set the stage for the biggest issue that plagued them last season: a lack of shots and goals.

While saying a team will want to get off to a strong start is a no-brainer, there is some extra pressure for the Bruins not to repeat what happened last season. They know all too well how hard it can be to get momentum going after a slow start.

Additionally, with a new head coach this season in Marco Sturm, there will be extra pressure for the team to give any indication that things will be turning around under his new reign. There is also, of course, pressure on general manager Don Sweeney, who has gotten increased scrutiny in recent seasons for his roster-building decisions, especially in light of his decision not to bring in a top-end offensive talent to help with goal-scoring issues this summer.

Importance of Building Momentum

Momentum is a powerful aspect of sports, and it is something the Bruins never quite got last season. One great run can be a difference maker in the NHL. In 2024-25, the team’s longest win streak was only four games, coming in early December. Meanwhile, in March, they had a 10-game losing streak, the wrong kind of momentum. There were only nine occurrences last season where they strung multiple wins in a row, and all but one of those occurrences ended at two.

The roster that will take the ice in 2025-26 will be very different from 2024-25. With so many new players playing together, starting strong is extra important to help get guys comfortable playing with each other and begin developing chemistry. The Bruins have had recurring issues with consistently performing offensive lines, and last season, it was especially apparent. Former head coach Jim Montgomery tried numerous line combinations to little success during their rough start to 2024-25.

Getting the line combinations worked out and gelling early will go a long way toward building momentum for the rest of the season. It will also help tremendously in building confidence with all the new faces, but especially when considering all the young guys that are in the mix for roster spots this season. Just to name a few, there are Fraser Minten, Marat Khusnutdinov, Matthew Poitras, and Fabian Lysell.

Starting Strong With a New Coach

It’s always a bit of a toss-up on how quickly a team will adjust to a new coach and system. It only gets harder when throwing in a roster filled with a lot of players who have either never played together or have played less than 20 games as a unit.

In some ways, it’s a full fresh start. Particularly on offense, the Bruins could be looking at half their forwards either being brand new to the franchise, acquired at the trade deadline last season and only played a handful of games, or the special Sean Kuraly situation of a guy returning to the team after four seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets. This gives Sturm a real opportunity to build and influence this roster.

A strong start to the season would build trust between the players and Sturm as well as the fan base and the new head coach. Everyone, from the new guys to the returning players, will be looking to build trust and confidence in the brand-new coach. It was clear last season that the slow start lost Montgomery control of the locker room, and Sturm is not going to want to run the risk of repeating the same mistakes, especially so early in his tenure.

While Sturm is certainly saying all the right things in the run-up to the start of training camp, the start of the season will be the first real test to see if he’s able to implement his messages of intensity and accountability.

Pressure on Sweeney

There is pressure up and down the franchise after the disastrous 2024-25 season to see if they’ll be able to quickly right the ship and be competitive again in 2025-26. But no one is under more pressure and scrutiny than Sweeney, who continues to receive contract extensions while being unable to deliver on a championship win in a decade on the job. Instead, now multiple head coaches have been fired for not performing despite the major flaws in the rosters the GM continues to build.

To his credit, Sweeney did pull the trigger at the deadline last season and made a number of big moves. But he has still done little to address depth scoring, the team’s biggest lingering issue under his tenure. In theory, his idea that their issues can be solved if everyone steps up just a bit and does their part could work. In practice, I think the chances will be slim that their goal scoring issues will be solved with the pieces acquired and everyone stepping up in 2025-26.

But maybe it will work out. Maybe Sweeney will finally give one of the young guys a real opportunity to step up and prove himself, and they’ll be the goal scoring help the team desperately needs. As a reminder, the Bruins had multiple games last season where they didn’t get a shot on goal for an entire period. Nothing else matters, not Jeremy Swayman’s performance in goal, not the defense’s issues in their own zone, not the disastrous special teams performances, if the team can’t score goals. To state the obvious, they are a necessity to win games.

A strong start to the season would silence many of Sweeney’s doubters and quiet down the rapidly expanding belief amongst the Bruins’ fan base that this franchise will never win a Stanley Cup as long as he’s in charge. A good start wouldn’t get rid of that sentiment entirely, but would at least calm it down.

2025-26 Starts in Less Than a Month

There is once again movement around Warrior Ice Arena. Captains’ practices began last week, and rookie camp starts this week. This weekend will also see the Prospects Challenge taking place in Buffalo, NY. It’ll be a great opportunity to see top prospects like Minten and Dans Locmelis for the first time in 2025-26.

The main training camp start date has yet to be announced, but expect it sometime next week. The team’s first preseason game will take place Sept. 21 against the Washington Capitals. They’ll then face the team again in the first game of the season on Oct. 8, officially kicking off the 2025-26 NHL season. Make sure to stay tuned to

The Hockey Writers all season long.

Bears’ Ben Johnson ‘hopeful’ on DJ Moore, Jaylon Johnson injuries

It was a rough opening to the 2025 NFL season for the Chicago Bears, who lost on Monday night at home to the divisional rival Minnesota Vikings despite being the better team for the majority of the game. The loss marked the beginning of the Ben Johnson era, which didn't get off to the great start that so many had been hoping for all offseason.

Adding insult to injury, the Bears didn't make it through the game unscathed from a health perspective either, as wide receiver DJ Moore suffered an injury late in the game, and cornerback Jaylon Johnson didn't play due to his own ailment.

However, on Wednesday, the team got a relatively optimistic update on those two players.

“Ben Johnson used the word ‘hopeful' to describe the injury statues of T.J. Edwards and Jaylon Johnson and whether they'll be able to play vs. DET. He said ‘that's the hope' when asked whether DJ Moore would be good to go after he took a pretty big hit late vs. MIN,” reported Courtney Cronin on X, formerly Twitter.

The Bears certainly could have used Jaylon Johnson in the secondary on Monday night when Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy overcame a brutal pick six and began dicing up the Chicago defensive backfield, allowing his team to score three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Moore is a crucial piece of a Bears wide receiving core that is looking to give Caleb Williams as much help as possible as he begins his second season in the NFL.

Next up for the Bears is another tough divisional matchup (as every NFC North game figures to be) against the Detroit Lions, who also had a disappointing showing in their first game of the year. That contest will mark the return of Johnson to face his former team, and is set to get underway on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET from the Motor City.

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