The Boston Bruins are off to a strong start in 2025-26 after winning their first three games of the season against the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and Buffalo Sabres. This is a fun team to watch again after the trudge fest that was the 2024-25 season. Most importantly, through the first three games, the team has had nine different goal-scorers.
Related: Meet Your New Bruins: Michael Eyssimont
Depth scoring has been an issue with the Bruins for several seasons now. With the presence of David Pastrnak on the roster, they’ve always managed to put together a good top line. Even last season, when everything else seemed to go wrong, he still had over 100 points, and Morgan Geekie hit 30 goals in a season for the first time in his career. But outside of that first line, the team has rarely been able to go more than a few months in a season with consistent depth scoring. From the hunt for a second line wing that seemed to extend multiple seasons to the constant rotations of players on the third line, the middle-six has been a particular area of concern for a while.
While it is still very, very early, the Bruins, led by new head coach Marco Sturm, look like they may finally be onto something with their current line combinations. The third line in particular, consisting of all new faces in Tanner Jeannot, Fraser Minten, and Michael Eyssimont, has looked good throughout preseason and the first three games of the season.
Who Is the Third Line?
Jeannot was general manager (GM) Don Sweeney’s biggest free agent signing this season, a five-year deal with an average annual value (AAV) of $3.4 million. The 28-year-old came from the Los Angeles Kings organization where he had 13 points in 67 games last season. He’s also previously played for the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Nashville Predators, where he had his best season in 2021-22 with 24 goals and 41 points in 81 games. That was the only season he registered more than 10 goals, as he’s primarily made his name as a more physical, aggressive player.
As mentioned above, all three players on the third line are new members of the Bruins. Minten, a 2022 second-round draft pick, was traded to the team by the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2025 Trade Deadline as part of the Brandon Carlo deal. He primarily spent last season in the American Hockey League (AHL), but was called up for the final six games of the 2024-25 season where he had a goal and averaged 15 minutes of ice time. In just a few seasons, he’s grown into a solid, young center with a lot of excitement and potential at the NHL level.
Eyssimont was also a free agent signing this summer, brought in on a two-year deal with an AAV of $1.45 million. The 29-year-old has been around the league, playing for the Winnipeg Jets, San Jose Sharks, Lightning, Seattle Kraken, and now the Bruins. His best season came in 2023-24 for Tampa Bay when he had 11 goals and 25 points in 81 games. Similar to Jeannot, he is mostly known as a depth guy with a more gritty playing style while still managing a decent amount of speed on the ice.
Early 2025-26 Success
A solid third line, an energy line as some will say, is often a difference maker between the top contenders for the Stanley Cup and those who will make the playoffs but not go particularly far. One of the examples that best comes to mind was the third line of Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman, and Barclay Goodrow, which was a huge factor in their Stanley Cup wins a few seasons ago.
Throughout the preseason and the first three games of the season, Minten, Jeannot, and Eyssimont have been impressive. They’ve been defensively sound, something the Bruins’ roster in general sorely lacked in 2024-25. They’re playing tough and gritty hockey, making the most of tough assignments and fewer minutes than the top guys in the forward group. The three have even garnered early praise from Sturm.
The third line particularly shone in the team’s second game of the season against the Blackhawks. While Chicago managed to score off of an unfortunate deflection by Jeannot while he was trying to block the shot, he made it up later with the tying goal, assisted by Eyssimont. From an analytics perspective, Jeannot was the fifth most effective skater for the Bruins, trailing guys like Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, and Pastrnak. Not bad company to be in.
Of course, when talking about the Blackhawks game and the third line, Minten can’t be forgotten having scored the overtime winning goal after almost scoring the game-winner late in the third period. Additionally, he had three shots and four hits, showcasing that he can play the physical game along with his linemates.
What Should Expectations Be?
The Blackhawks game is a perfect example of what the third line needs to do if the Bruins want a chance to be real competitors again. On a night where Pastrnak can’t carry the team on his back, the depth guys need to step up. Minten, Jeannot, and Eyssimont will not be on the scoresheet every night, but if they can step up and contribute when the team needs it most, that will be more than enough.
There is certainly pressure on this line. Jeannot’s contract was considered to be one of the worst ones signed during this past free agency, which will bring increased scrutiny and eyes on him all season. The Bruins’ fanbase has been dying for exciting rookies that hopefully won’t be hampered by questionable decisions made by Sweeney (like in the case of Matthew Poitras last season), so there is a lot of interest in Minten and what he can do.
Related: Meet Your New Bruins: Tanner Jeannot
While the start of the season has, of course, been great almost across the board for the Bruins, and the third line in particular, expectations must be kept reasonable. Minten is a rookie while Jeannot and Eyssimont are looking for consistency after each of them have moved around a bit in the past few seasons. Will any of them score over 20 goals this season? Probably not. But if all three can get over the 10-goal mark and show up when other guys may not be at the top of the game, that will be a great measure of success for this group.
It’s too early to tell how successful this group will be and if they’ll manage to meet the expectations that have formed for them, but at least at the moment, it looks like Sturm may be onto something by putting this group together. It will certainly be fun to watch how they continue to perform together.
