\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a lot of new faces in the room again this year,\u201d noted Nikita Zadorov<\/b>, back for a second season on the blue line, \u201cand we want to get a mojo going and a chemistry going \u2014 and we\u2019ll see from there. The main goal is to get back to the playoffs and show this city and the fans what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the power play, the Bruins converted with a meager 15.2 percent efficiency (29th in the league) last season. They put the puck in the net only 35 times on the man advantage, while surrendering 56 PPGs. (Only three clubs yielded more.) The struggle was a constant throughout the season, barely changing even after the March 7 roster purge.<\/p>\n
If Sturm and new assistant coach Steve Spott<\/b> can wring, say, another 10-12 power-play goals out of the lineup, and tighten up by another 10-12 on the other side, it would ostensibly wipe out that -21 differential and in turn could wipe out a DNQ repeat. Simple math, yes, but it\u2019s not a complicated game, though it looks like quantum physics when you\u2019re not scoring.<\/p>\n
About a month from the Oct. 8 season opener<\/a>, it remains a mystery how Sturm, in his first kicks as an NHL bench boss, will shape his game plan and define individual roles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will see in a couple of weeks,\u201d acknowledged Zadorov, who arrived last season with Jim Montgomery<\/b> as coach and finished with Joe Sacco<\/b> as interim bench boss designated for assignment. \u201cWe haven\u2019t really spoken about how we want to play yet \u2014 I guess we just have to wait for Marco to come in here and tell us.\u201d<\/p>\n Zadorov, referring to his new coach\u2019s \u201cr\u00e9sum\u00e9,\u201d found it intriguing and encouraging that Sturm spent his early NHL playing years under the tutelage of the straight-shooting Darryl Sutter<\/b> in San Jose. After playing seven seasons in the NHL, Zadorov in July 2021 was traded from Colorado to Calgary, where Sutter was his coach for the next two seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cDarryl Sutter was the favorite coach I ever had in my life, so I feel like we have a lot of mutual interests in that,\u201d said Zadorov. \u201cI like old school coaches. I like direct coaches. I like hard coaches. I\u2019m not afraid to take heat from them when I deserve it, as long as you tell it to my face and be fair with me and give me what I deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n Sutter, 67, was dismissed by the Flames after the 2022-23 season. Former Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy<\/b>, a Blackhawks rookie when Sutter directed the Chicago bench, many times expressed his appreciation for Sutter\u2019s unvarnished approach, some of which influenced the style of the now-Vegas coach. Cassidy\u2019s hard truths with the Bruins\u2019 rank-and-file stick carriers indeed played a part in his abrupt dismissal early in the summer \u203222 offseason.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I still was young and inexperienced a little bit,\u201d said Zadorov, asked if it took time to adapt to Sutter\u2019s ways. \u201cI think Darryl changed my career and changed my life a little bit, in a good way. Now, looking back, it was a really hard time for me, but I am glad it happened to me. I wouldn\u2019t be here, where I\u2019m at right now, without that, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n A rested and fit Charlie McAvoy<\/b>, feeling the best he has \u201cin years\u201d after some six months of rehabbing a February shoulder injury and infection, said he has \u201cthe full faith and trust that the coaches will put us in the best position to play [Sturm\u2019s] style.\u201d<\/p>\n The club\u2019s franchise blue liner, spoke only briefly with Sturm this summer.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was great to talk to,\u201d said McAvoy. \u201cHe\u2019s really excited, I think, with something to prove as a first-time coach, and we have a lot to prove as a team here, getting back to our standard of being a playoff hockey team. We\u2019re all hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with an average of 48 goals the last four seasons as one of the game\u2019s premier strikers, the 29-year-old Pastrnak figures a new coach will mean everyone will have to adapt, including himself.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all have to adapt, right? In life and in professional sports,\u201d said Pastrnak. \u201cNo different for me. It might be a new style. It might be a new D zone system. You never know. You have to adapt \u2026 if you sit still, your train\u2019s going to go away. That\u2019s not just in this sport, but in life as well.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2018Never Forget\u2019<\/p>\n 9\/11 remembrance hits home<\/p>\n Early Thursday morning, 24 years after the horror of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the hockey community will have three strong voices as part of the annual remembrance held at the State House.<\/p>\n Ex-NHLers Bob Sweeney<\/b>, nearly two decades into his tenure as executive director of the Boston Bruins Foundation<\/a>, will be the day\u2019s keynote speaker. <\/p>\n Sweeney, 61, is scheduled to be joined by Marty Walsh<\/b>, Boston\u2019s former mayor and the executive director of the NHL Players\u2019 Association, and Patrick Bavis<\/b>, whose brother, Mark<\/b>, then a scout for the Kings, was among the passengers who perished when United Flight 175 was hijacked on its way to Los Angeles and flown into the South Tower at the World Trade Center.<\/p>\n \u201cHard to believe, 24 years, and every year the families go to the State House chambers,\u201d mused Sweeney, whose sister-in-law, Madeline \u201cAmy\u201d Sweeney<\/b>, was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, which struck the North Tower. \u201dIt brings it back all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n To this day, Massachusetts presents the Madeline \u201cAmy\u201d Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery. The courageous Sweeney was on the phone to airline ground personnel, relaying critical information about the hijacking and the terrorists, in the moments leading to the airliner\u2019s crash into the tower. <\/p>\n Twins Mark and Mike Bavis<\/b> grew up in Roslindale and played together at Boston University for Jack Parker<\/b>. Following a brief coaching career, Mark transitioned to an amateur scouting role with the Kings. He and Kings director of pro scouting Ace Bailey<\/b>, the gregarious ex-Bruins forward, were headed to training camp the morning of the fateful crash.<\/p>\n Walsh last year married longtime partner Lorrie Higgins<\/b>, whose cousin, Susan <\/b>MacKay<\/b>, was among those killed on 9\/11.<\/p>\n Mike Bavis<\/b> will be at the State house for Patrick\u2019s speech, joined by siblings Kathy<\/b> (Sylvester<\/b>), Mary Ellen<\/b> (Moran<\/b>), Kelly<\/b> (Morrissey<\/b>) and John<\/b>. The full Bavis contingent will be upward of 20 on a day, Mike noted, when community and shared experience take on special meaning.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s mixed emotions, because it\u2019s still hard, it really is,\u201d he said. \u201cBut on the flipside, we see so many people who we have a special bond with \u2026 people who helped us and, hopefully, we helped them get through the days, months, and years. There\u2019s an uplifting side of that \u2014 in the sense of understanding, bonding and just probably being close enough to people who know exactly what you felt then, you felt again a month later, a year later, 10 years later. They understand.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n The Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation<\/a> annually awards scholarships to graduating Massachusetts high school seniors. According to Mike, the fund has awarded in excess of $1 million, shared by some 200 students.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look to seek out kids who\u2019ve made great contributions to their schools, their communities and, in some cases, around the world,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been fortunate to have some amazing kids who\u2019ve done great things.\u201d <\/p>\n For family members and friends of the victims, there can be no truly getting over 9\/11 \u2014 something underscored for Bob Sweeney early on when he was asked how his brother, Mike<\/b>, was doing after Amy perished. Their two children, Jack<\/b> and Anna<\/b>, were preschoolers at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d say, \u2018You know, he\u2019s doing OK,\u2019 but I paused, and said, \u2018You know what? I really can\u2019t answer that because I don\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing from 10:30 to 6:30 every night \u2026 is he able to sleep?\u2019 Obviously, some nights he didn\u2019t,\u201d recalled Sweeney. \u201cIt takes so long to move on, and on that particular day, it brings back 24 years all over again because of the significance of the day and the impact of when everybody gathers in Boston, or New York, or wherever, it comes back and it is still very raw.\u201d <\/p>\n It\u2019s the perseverance and dedication to their lost loved ones, said Sweeney, that he focuses on and finds uplifting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s refreshing to look at what people have done with such a horrific situation they were dealt with in 2001,\u201d he said. \u201cLook at all the non-profits established, whether it\u2019s the Ace Bailey Foundation, the Bavis Foundation, the Jeff Coombs<\/b> Foundation \u2026 and then to see the younger kids, like my niece and nephew who were four and five at the time \u2026 to see how they\u2019ve grown and become young adults and carried on the memory of the loved ones lost. That\u2019s what I think is important to recognize. <\/p>\n \u201cThe saying is, \u2018Never Forget.\u2019 And we will never forget, but I also think it\u2019s gratifying to see some positives out of that horrific day, based on what the kids have done and what the families have done to honor their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n Waiting game<\/p>\n Grzelcyk has a plan but not a team<\/p>\n Per his new agent, Sean Coffey<\/b>, ex-Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk<\/b> is deciding whether it\u2019s best to report to an NHL club under a professional tryout contract or find a suitor after the first weeks of the 2025-26 schedule shake out.<\/p>\n Grzelcyk\u2019s lifelong pal, former Harvard forward Jimmy Vesey<\/b>, opted for a different path after nine NHL seasons and six clubs. The 2016 Hobey Baker Award winner last month signed a two-year deal with Geneve-Servette in Switzerland\u2019s top pro league.<\/p>\n Across the ocean, said Coffey, is not where Grzelcyk, 31, is looking to set sail.<\/p>\n \u201cI still think he has at least four more good years of NHL mileage left, because of how he takes care of himself,\u201d noted Coffey. \u201cHopefully, in a couple of months time, he looks back at this as just a blip on the radar.\u201d<\/p>\n Last summer, Grzelcyk, an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career, signed a one-year deal<\/a> ($2.75 million) with the Penguins after seven seasons wearing the Spoked-B. He put up career-best numbers in assists and points (1-39\u201340) with the flightless birds, and from here it looked like a sure bet he would follow coaches Mike Sullivan<\/b> and David Quinn<\/b> from the Penguins to the Rangers.<\/p>\n Such are the vagaries of NHL roster construction and, in turn, careers. Thirty-two NHL clubs are about to open camp, but none deems the shifty, smart Grzelcyk a fit for the moment. From his side, at this stage of his career (and some $22 million in earnings), it\u2019s about current fit and how best to project, say, a four-year plan.<\/p>\n \u201cHe understands the marketplace dried up on him a little bit,\u201d said Coffey. \u201cEspecially for a defenseman and the way he plays, fit is really important. But I think he is confident with the year that he had, taking a \u2018prove-it\u2019 contract [with Pittsburgh], we think he hit a home run on a bad team.\u201d<\/p>\n The PTO route, in theory, would allow Grzelcyk to keep his legs fresh and up to NHL pace, and offer a pathway to a contract \u2014 be it with that club or another team watching him in preseason game action. Sitting out and assessing how the market develops can work, but it also comes with an out-of-sight-out-of-mind caveat.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we definitely remain confident that maybe it\u2019s not 32 teams, but there\u2019s plenty of teams that could use an established puck-moving, power-play guy who\u2019s played nearly 600 games and isn\u2019t old,\u201d said Coffey.<\/p>\n Loose pucks<\/p>\n In part because he figures it\u2019s not wise to run as much in the offseason as he did in his young 20s, Pastrnak augmented his workouts this summer with trail biking. \u201cI found it kind of exciting,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gets your quads stronger, I guess, and gets your mind away. For me, I am used to biking in the gym and staring down at the carpet. So it was nice to have some nature around me.\u201d Pastrnak trained part of the summer in Sweden, joining in practices with old pals William<\/b> and Alex Nylander<\/b>. Their dad, former Bruins forward Michael Nylander<\/b>, ran the workouts \u2026 Defenseman Hampus Lindholm<\/b><\/a>, who flew in from Sweden on Thursday, said he frequently surfed this summer as a means to strengthen his legs, knees, and core muscles. He spends the offseason in a fishing village not far from Helsingborg, where he grew up. \u201cI can see Denmark across the water,\u201d said Lindholm, noting the other country is only a 20-minute ferry ride away. \u201cI joke with my fianc\u00e9e, if she ever misses home, she can wake up and wave and see her home country on the other side.\u201d \u2026 Jeff Carlson<\/b> and Dave Hanson<\/b>, who appeared as two of the legendary \u201cHanson brothers\u201d in the epic 1977 hockey flick, \u201cSlap Shot,\u201d will be signing autographs Sunday (noon-2 p.m.) at \u201cSportsworld\u201d in Saugus. By the end of the day, we finally hope to solve one of hockey\u2019s greatest mysteries \u2014 who own da Chiefs?<\/p>\n![\"Nikita](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EOKXHUVMGIIO7KF7ISXLAUF3C4.jpg\")
Nikita Zadorov will be skating for his third coach since joining the Bruins prior to last season.Ken McGagh for The Boston Globe<\/p>\n![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GSWXHLL5U73M2NOPEEYDEG5G6M.jpg\")
Matt Grzelcyk first appeared in the NHL with the Bruins during the 2016-17 season.John Tlumacki\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n