Paul Boutilier Passes Away At Age 63
In an unfortunate announcement from the NHL’s Alumni Association, the group shared that former defenseman Paul Boutilier has passed away at the age of 63. He played for the New York Islanders, Boston Bruins, Minnesota North Stars, New York Rangers, and Winnipeg Jets throughout his NHL career.
The roots of that career sprouted in the 1980-81 season when Boutilier scored 10 goals and 39 points in 72 games for the QMJHL’s Sherbrooke Castors. In the postseason, he registered three goals and 10 points in 14 games, setting him up as one of the top-30 talents heading into the 1981 NHL Draft. He was ultimately selected with the 21st overall pick by the Islanders, one spot ahead of current Jets’ head coach, Scott Arniel.
Despite debuting in the NHL in the 1981-82 campaign, Boutilier wouldn’t become a full-time player in New York until the 1982-83 season. He didn’t factor in as much as he may have liked, but he was a part of the last Islanders team to win the Stanley Cup in 1983, having his name engraved on the illustrious silver.
Over the next three years, Boutilier enjoyed the most productive years of his career. From the beginning of the 1983-84 season to the end of the 1985-86 campaign, Boutilier registered 16 goals and 80 points in 183 games for the Islanders with a +14 rating. During the 1984-85 season, he was the third-highest scoring defenseman on the team behind Denis Potvin and Tomas Jonsson.
Unfortunately, inconsistency became a recurring theme throughout Boutilier’s career. He played for four different organizations over the last three years of his career, scoring seven goals and 21 points in 75 games with a -4 rating split between the Bruins, North Stars, Rangers, and Jets.
After a two-year career with NLA’s SC Bern, Boutilier retired after the 1990-91 season. He worked for several years as an assistant coach at St. Mary’s University and Dalhousie University in Canada, and he also had a one-year stint as a development coach with the Nashville Predators. The last stop of his coaching career was working as a defensive coach and assistant coach for the QMJHL’s Montcon Wildcats and Québec Remparts this past season, respectively.
All in all, Boutilier finished his NHL career with 27 goals and 110 points in 288 games with a +1 rating and a Stanley Cup ring from 1983. We at PHR offer our condolences to those impacted by Boutilier’s loss.
Jamie Langenbrunner Leaving Bruins Organization
Although the Boston Bruins did not lose Assistant General Manager Evan Gold to the Vancouver Canucks, they’re still losing their other Assistant General Manager heading into the offseason. According to Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Jamie Langenbrunner is leaving the Bruins organization to pursue other opportunities.
Langenbrunner, 50, has been with Boston for the last 11 years. After retiring in January of 2014, Langenbrunner joined the Bruins as a development coach ahead of the 2015-16 season. He spent several years in that role before becoming the team’s Director of Player Development in 2019-20, a position now held by former defenseman Adam McQuaid.
Since the 2022-23 season, Langenbrunner has been Boston’s Assistant General Manager alongside Gold. Langenbrunner has managed the player personnel responsibilities, while Gold has managed the day-to-day operations. If the Canucks had hired Gold as their next General Manager, the expectation was that Langenbrunner would have been brought to Vancouver with him. Additionally, Langenbrunner was loosely linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ General Manager vacancy before the team ultimately landed on John Chayka.
A few days ago, the New Jersey Devils felt like a logical fit for Langenbrunner. The native of Cloquet, MN, played nearly a decade with the Devils and served as captain of the team for four years. New Jersey had an opening for an Assistant General Manager after Sunny Mehta took the reins. This position was filled by Braden Birch, who had worked closely with Mehta in the Florida Panthers organization.
Given that Ryan Johnson has been promoted as the Canucks next General Manager, the team technically has an opening at the AGM position, which could entice Langenbrunner if it comes with more responsibility. Additionally, the Nashville Predators remain the only current team with a vacancy at the General Manager position, for which Langenbrunner could be a candidate.
Bruins Sign Lukas Reichel To One-Year Extension
The Boston Bruins have awarded a young forward with another chance to prove himself. Lukas Reichel has been signed to a one-year, two-way contract extension with a $950K cap hit at the NHL level. The Bruins acquired Reichel at the Trade Deadline in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick.
The acquisition of Reichel marked Boston’s chance to tap into first-round potential that the Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks failed to find. Reichel began his time as a Bruin in the minor-leagues – but he earned a quick call-up after scoring five points in his first three games with Providence. Reichel kept it going with two points in his Boston debut, though his hot hand quickly fizzled out after that – with only one assist over his next eight games in the NHL. He appeared in two more games with Boston, and four more with Providence, before the season came to a close. Reichel also played one game of Boston’s first-round loss against the Buffalo Sabres, and three games of Providence’s division semi-final upset at the hands of the Springfield Thunderbirds. He managed no scoring in the postseason.
Reichel was selected 17th-overall in the 2020 NHL Draft by the Blackhawks. He was coming off his first season in the DEL, Germany’s top league, where he scored 24 points in 42 games. Reichel was also a major piece of Germany’s international rosters, netting five points in seven games at the 2020 World Junior Championship and nine points in 12 additional international friendlies. He repeated those feats in the season after his draft selection – netting 27 points in 38 DEL games and six points in nine games at the 2021 World Championships.
Strong scoring in Germany inspired a quick move to North American pros in 2022-23. Reichel was a near-immediate impact for the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs but failed to find the same spark in the NHL. He finished his rookie season with just one point in 11 NHL games and 57 points in 56 AHL games. Once again, Reichel managed to match those marks as a sophomore, netting 51 points in 55 AHL games and an encouraging 15 points in 23 NHL games.
It seemed the skillful scorer had finally found his footing in the Blackhawks organization. Chicago tested that by deploying him full-time in the NHL during the 2024-25 season. But Reichel failed to command his own line and wound up on Chicago’s third-line, with only 22 points in 70 games on the year. Rather than stick with those struggles, the Blackhawks capitalized on Reichel’s strong start – four points in five games – to last season. He was traded to the Canucks in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick and went on to score just one point in 14 games with Vancouver before being traded again.
Reichel is a skilled winger who showed he can still produce with three points in five games at the 2026 Winter Olympics. He represents a difficult lineup challenge for Boston. If the Bruins can find the right mix of defense and play-driving support, they could tap into major scoring upside. Reichel has yet to find that performance in the NHL but would be an X-factor in the middle-six if he can discover it on his new, one-year deal.
Don Sweeney, Peter Chiarelli Could Support Harvard Coach Search
Harvard Crimson men’s hockey head coach Ted Donato has announced his plans to step away from the school after 22 years with the team. The news leaves a vacancy in one of the most reserved seats in college hockey, behind a Crimson squad that has added more NHL talent in recent years. To match their growing roster, the Crimson could look towards their NHL alum to support their coaching search. Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney and former Bruins and Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli could both be tapped to aid the search per NHL.com’s Mark Divver. School legend Brad Kwong could also chime in.
All three overlapped on the 1984-85 Crimson roster. That season marked Sweeney’s freshman year, while Chiarelli was a sophomore and Kwong was Harvard’s senior captain. The Crimson wouldn’t reach championship heights that season but they did win an ECAC Conference Championship in the 1986-87 season, led by Chiarelli as captain and Sweeney as a top-pair defender. Chiarelli – who would retire from playing one year later – scored a career-high 15 points in 34 games that season. Sweeney played one more year for the Crimson and secured 1988 all-star honors after scoring 29 points in 30 games.
Sweeney went on to become a core component of the Bruins lineup from 1988 to 2003, before ending his playing career with a one-off season on the Dallas Stars. He still holds the fifth-most games played (1,052) in Bruins history and has since reached new heights with the team as a manager.
Chiarelli preceded Sweeney as Boston’s GM. He was with the team form 2006 to 2015 and oversaw their run to the Stanley Cup in 2010. The Bruins made two other appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals under Chiarelli’s reign in 2011 and 2013. Some of the best and worst moments of Chiarelli’s career came with the Bruins. He added franchise a legend trading for Tuukka Rask. Chiarelli also added core components of the Cup-winning roster, including Marc Savard, Johnny Boychuk, and Mark Recchi. Most notably, he also orchestrated a trade that sent winger Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for draft picks that would turn into Tyler Seguin (2010 first-round), Jared Knight (2010 second-round), and Dougie Hamilton (2011 first-round).
But those draft picks would not shine for Chiarelli. One of the darkest stains on his career occurred a few years later when Seguin was traded to the Dallas Stars alongside Rich Peverley and Ryan Button in exchange for Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith, Matt Fraser, and Joe Morrow. Seguin continues to stand as a difference-maker in Dallas’ lineup – when healthy. He was a star amid some of Dallas’ toughest seasons, leaving the unanswered question of if he could have been the injection of youth that pushed Boston back to championship success.
Success with the Bruins aside, the experience that Sweeney and Chiarelli gained just across town will be invaluable as Harvard looks to keep their hockey club on the right track. Both GMs bring strong thinking and hockey awareness to the Crimson’s search. The same can be said about Kwong, who continues to invest in hockey and owned the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints from 2009 to 2024. The trio will face a tough task attempting to replace Donato, a former Bruins forward and father of current Chicago Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato.
Donato led Harvard to the postseason in each of his first two seasons with the club, before hitting a cold spell from 2007 to 2014. With an injection of NHL prospects like Alexander Kerfoot, Jimmy Vesey, and Colin Blackwell – the Crimson turned those fortunes around in 2015. Back in the playoffs, the yclimbed all the way to the Frozen Four in 2017, with the additions of Ryan Donato, Adam Fox, and John Marino. Harvard has made an additional six postseasons in nine seasons since – and won the ECAC for the first time since 1989’s National Championship in 2022, then supported by NHL talent including Matthew Coronato, Alex Laferriere, and Ian Moore. Keeping postseason experience the norm in Harvard will be top priority in a coaching search.
Photo courtesy of Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images.
Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy Suspended Six Games To Start 2026-27 Season
After a year bumps, bruises, and injury – top Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy will have to wait longer than most to play again. McAvoy has been suspended six games to start the 2026-27 season for his slash on Buffalo Sabres winger Zach Benson in Boston’s decisive loss on April 28, per Chris Johnston of The Athletic. McAvoy will forfeit just a bit more than $300K in salary due to the suspension, Johnston adds.
The incident leading to McAvoy’s slash occurred in the final 90 seconds of Boston’s season. On a race for a puck headed towards an empty net, Benson’s skate swept McAvoy’s legs from under him – causing the defender to crash into the end-boards. In response, McAvoy two-hand slashed Benson across his upper-body. He was assessed a game misconduct and major penalty on the play. Benson was also handed a minor penalty for tripping. The NHL explained that McAvoy used his stick as a weapon – even loading up for the strike – which led to the significant suspension.
This is McAvoy’s fourth run-in with the NHL Department of Player Safety. He was suspended one game in 2019 for a check to the head of Columbus Blue Jackets winger Josh Anderson. In 2022, McAvoy was fined $5K for tripping Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei. The first significant suspension of his career came at the start of the 2023-24 season, when McAvoy was forced to miss four games after a check to the head of Florida Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Now, McAvoy’s record of suspensions will find a new low. His absence will leave a big hole in Boston’s lineup to start the season. He averaged 24:23 in ice time this season – three minutes more than anyone else on the roster. He finished the year with 11 goals and 61 points in 69 games, to go with 62 penalty minutes, 79 hits, and 129 shot blocks. Once again, his physical and relentless style of hockey made a difference for the Bruins – though it also led McAvoy to miss 13 games from a string of difficult injuries, including losing multiple teeth. A bit more discipline next season could go far in helping McAvoy avoid both injury and the Department of Safety.
The Bruins bumped Andrew Peeke up the lineup in McAvoy’s absence this season. They may not be able to do the same next season, with Peeke set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He finished the 2025-26 season with 14 points, 105 hits, and a team-leading 135 shot blocks. Those impacts helped Peeke climb to an average 19:23 in ice time, nearly a minute more than he managed in his first season with Boston last year. After another season offering impactful depth, Peeke should be a strong candidate to re-sign with the Bruins who will have more than $16MM in cap space per PuckPedia. If Peeke moves on, the top right-defense role will be open to a summer signing for the first games of the season.
Boston Bruins Hypothetical Offseason Targets
As the Stanley Cup playoffs progress, it is becoming more evident that the remaining teams in contention for the Stanley Cup have a blend of speed and skill that benefits a team’s game in all facets. According to Shawn Hutcheon of The Fourth Period, the Boston Bruins are looking to add that exact attribute to their offseason checklist.
Before the 2025-26 NHL season, Bruins management entered with a clear indication of what style they wanted their roster to play like. A hard-nosed, physical team that would be a hard-out in every contest, no matter the circumstances. As a team with a fan base that expects a competitive hockey club to contend for a championship, this was the foundation laid by President Cam Neely and General Manager Don Sweeney in their construction of this past year’s Bruins squad.
The Bruins proved themselves a tough team to roll over throughout 2025-26; they ended with 18 wins (fourth in NHL) after allowing a goal first. Having made the playoffs after a tumultuous year in which they selected seventh overall in the 2025 NHL Draft, management found a key weakness in their first-round matchup with the Buffalo Sabres: speed. Neely said that it was an attribute that the team was looking to acquire in “one way, shape, or form.”
The Sabres finished second in the regular season in 18-20 mph skating speed bursts with 6962 per NHL EDGE, and had Beck Malenstyn, who finished with the top skating speed recorded all year at 24.94 mph. If you compare both teams in terms of speed bursts, Buffalo had nearly one hundred speed bursts at 22mph or higher. Boston’s players eclipsed that number just 54 times in comparison.
So where do the Bruins go from here? Now that their season has ended, they have a lengthy window to evaluate where they can address their lack of speed. Boston currently holds the 23rd overall pick as their highest of seven total draft picks that they’d ideally use to restock their prospect pool. If they wanted to, they could take a swing and make a trade for a player who could complement the team’s current forward group and elevate the team’s pace. How they’ll approach that remains to be seen, but with a little above $16MM in cap space, there is some wiggle room to find a fit.
Option 1: Owen Tippett
Tippett is a familiar name for those who kept tabs on the rumor mill with the Bruins during the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline. The 27-year-old winger finished his 2025-26 season with 28 goals and 51 points in 81 games and added two points in six playoff games with the Flyers before suffering a sports hernia injury that sidelined him in Philadelphia’s eventual second-round loss to Carolina.
Tippett, with the tenth-highest top speed tracked at 23.97 mph, would be an accessible option for the Bruins to package assets in a trade for his services. Not only would he add the goal-scoring touch that Boston would benefit from in their middle-six forward group, but he finished this season 2nd among all NHL skaters in most +22 mph speed bursts with 61 total. He tallied more than stars like Tim Stutzle, Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Brayden Point, and trailed Connor McDavid (151) for most bursts above that mark.
Option 2: Bobby McMann
The forward with a 6-foot-2, 209 lb frame may not appeal as a speedy option when reading that profile, but McMann is a fast player at that size. McMann tracked the league’s seventh fastest top speed at 24.25 mph and finished with 28 speed bursts above 22 mph.
McCann’s current situation makes him an even more appealing option. The 29-year-old is coming off a 14-point stretch in 18 games after the trade deadline when the Toronto Maple Leafs sent him to the Seattle Kraken for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick. His 32 points with the Maple Leafs before that deal total 46 points in 78 games this past year. A career year will command a solid salary as McMann enters his 30’s, but one the Bruins could consider signing when July 1 hits.
Option 3: Olen Zellweger
Zellweger is a younger option the Bruins could consider; however, it would be one that would cost a prettier penny. Among all Ducks defensemen this past year, no one was faster than Zellweger. He tracked a top skating speed of 22.49 mph and eight +22 speed bursts
Zellweger had not seen ice-time in the playoffs in any capacity up until last night’s Game 4 win over the Vegas Golden Knights and hadn’t skated since April 7th of the regular season. He is 22 years old, and his entry-level contract is expiring, making him a restricted free agent this summer with Anaheim. The Bruins could use a youthful jolt on their left side, especially one with NHL experience; the former 2021 second-round pick had 22 points in 76 games this year.
Given the roster turnover Boston has had over the last two years, the team is significantly younger than it has been. Younger pieces like Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov are the team’s faster players, who could lean on speed development if none of these outside pieces become available. However, if the team wants to keep pace with the Montreal’s and Buffalo’s of the East, getting uncomfortable and making a swing would be in their best interest.
Bruins Notes: Pastrnak, Sturm, Hagens
Following a first-round exit at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres, the Boston Bruins’ leadership met with the media on Wednesday for a candid end-of-season press conference. While CEO Charlie Jacobs expressed confidence that the organization is on the “right track,” the overarching theme of the day was the identified need for high-end personnel upgrades. President Cam Neely was blunt regarding the roster’s current construction, stating that the team lacks a true No. 1 center and must prioritize adding both talent and speed this summer to become a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
Additional Bruins notes:
- Cam Neely identified the lack of a premier center as a primary concern. He noted that the solution could come from “growing one from within” or looking “outside our group,” but emphasized that the vacancy must be rectified to move the needle in the postseason.
- Addressing David Pastrnak’s comments about turning 30 and wanting to maximize his prime, Don Sweeney acknowledged the need to “accelerate” the team’s improvement. Sweeney noted that “everything is in play,” including the potential use of future assets to bolster the current roster.
- Sweeney praised first-year head coach Marco Sturm for making the team “a hell of a lot more competitive.” While the foundation is set, management plans to “tweak” the defensive system to eliminate the inconsistencies that crept into their game late in the season.
- The Bruins remain without a captain, but Neely confirmed that discussions for next season have already begun. While Sweeney views leadership as a “collective thing,” Marco Sturm will have a significant voice in determining if a single player will wear the “C” next year.
- Sweeney discussed top prospect James Hagens, noting he would have preferred Hagens play for the Providence Bruins in the AHL playoffs rather than Team USA at the World Championships, but “rules are rules.” He cautioned that the path to the NHL remains a difficult “A-Z” journey.
- Several Bruins are confirmed for the upcoming World Championships, including Joonas Korpisalo and Henri Jokiharju (Finland), James Hagens, Sean Kuraly, and Mason Lohrei (USA), and Fraser Minten (Canada).
Bruins Reassign Lukas Reichel
5/3/26: The Bruins reassigned Reichel to Providence today, according to a team announcement.
5/2/26: While Boston’s playoff run is over, one of their players will still have some postseason action on the horizon. PuckPedia reports that the Bruins have placed winger Lukas Reichel on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Providence.
This is the second time that the 23-year-old has been on waivers this season. Vancouver acquired Reichel early in the season from Chicago for a fourth-round pick in the hopes that he could give a banged-up roster a bit of a lift. However, he struggled and some of their injured players returned, resulting in the Canucks waiving him in mid-December, where he passed through unclaimed.
Looking for some extra winger depth at the trade deadline, the Bruins flipped a sixth-round pick to Vancouver to acquire Reichel and left him briefly in the minors. He eventually was recalled, getting into ten games down the stretch before returning to the AHL. Reichel was then brought up for the postseason and suited up once against the Sabres.
On the season, Reichel played in just 29 NHL games between Chicago, Vancouver, and Boston, notching three goals and five assists. He also picked up 19 points in 27 AHL contests and added three more in five games for Germany at the Olympics. For his career, Reichel has 23 goals and 39 assists in 198 career NHL contests.
A first-round pick back in 2020 (17th overall), Reichel is slated to become a restricted free agent this summer and will be owed a $1.3MM qualifying offer with salary arbitration rights. At this point, it seems unlikely he’ll receive that. That also makes it quite unlikely that he’ll be claimed by Sunday’s 1 PM CT deadline, paving the way for him to return to Providence as the league-leading Bruins look to have a long postseason run.
Latest On Bruins Captaincy
- Boston Bruins head coach Marco Sturm told the media today that he is comfortable with the team’s current leadership structure, and may not necessarily enter 2026-27 with a captain. The Bruins have not had a captain since they traded Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers. The team had four alternate captains in 2025-26: Elias Lindholm, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy, and David Pastrnak. Among that quartet, McAvoy and Pastrnak are the most likely candidates, at face value, to be captain given the length of their respective tenures in Boston.
Bruins Notes: Zadorov, Arvidsson, Lindholm
Boston Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov played the latter portion of the team’s first-round series against the Buffalo Sabres with an MCL that was “fully [torn] off the bone,” he told the media yesterday. Zadorov’s status was up in the air before game five. But other than that moment, his availability for games was not seen to be in question. The injury did appear to impact his play, though, as The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa wrote Zadorov “was compromised” after his MCL tear.
Zadorov, 31, is one of Boston’s most experienced defensemen and a blueliner who plays a significant role in head coach Marco Sturm‘s lineup. Standing 6’7″, 255 pounds, Zadorov scored 22 points in 81 games this season, also registering 152 penalty minutes and 196 hits. He averaged 20:52 time on ice per game during the regular season, good for No. 3 on the team.
Other notes from Boston:
- Zadorov wasn’t the only Bruins veteran battling an injury against the Sabres. Veteran forward Viktor Arvidsson sustained a fractured rib and punctured lung, relays Conor Ryan of the Boston Globe. Arvidsson was No. 4 on the Bruins in scoring in the regular season, potting 25 goals and 54 points in 69 games. He suffered his injury in game four and wasn’t able to play in games five or six. The 33-year-old, who scored just 27 points the year before joining the Bruins, is set to become a UFA this summer.
- While some players suffer injuries only during the course of a playoff series, other suffer the injuries earlier in the season and the ailments just become something to manage over the course of the entire rest of the campaign. Veteran defenseman Hampus Lindholm is one of the players in the latter category, as he told the media today that he played through a foot fracture that he first suffered in December. The Bruins’ No. 2 defenseman behind Charlie McAvoy has seen his last two campaigns defined by injury, as a lower-body injury limited him to just 17 games played in 2024-25. This past season, he scored 26 points in 67 contests averaging 21:37 time on ice per game.