While so many of the state’s youth hockey players have been practicing and playing for weeks after their return to the rinks for 2025-26, the month of October brings with it another set of season-openers in the form of the National Hockey League’s annual return to work.

With so many storylines within the Bruins – from between the pipes and all the way up to the forward corps – along with their competition in the Atlantic Division and, of course, as far away as Edmonton, and even touching on the new days dawning in the NCAA, we caught up with Bruins Studio Analyst Billy Jaffe to talk about what he's looking forward to watching unfold in 2025-26.

The Emmy Award winning Jaffe, in addition to his NESN work, serves as an analyst for the NHL Network and appears on college hockey broadcasts. Outside the broadcast booth, Jaffe also served as a college hockey on-ice official for four years, is a hockey dad and coach, and his own career includes playing a couple of seasons for the legendary Red Berenson at the University of Michigan.

For Jaffe, now he’s back to the rink in earnest, too, and he’s keeping his eye on the Bruins, obviously, as well as the league and so much of what makes this time of year such a thrill. After all these years, what still excites him about this time of year?

“What excites me this time of year, as teams get ready, are the storylines around the league and the teams that have made big changes,” Jaffe says. “What young players are going to emerge? Who is going to take a step in going from a complementary player to a main-stage player? This is the time of year where I start, on a personal note, really, really working again. There’s a flow to get myself back up to speed, and it starts to especially get going the first week of October.”

Storyline 1: Bruins players who could take The Leap
Jaffe: Well, you hope, if you’re the Bruins, a couple of players could elevate their games – especially younger players. Can Fraser Minten make that step. Can Matt Poitras make that leap? He’s had parts of two seasons where he has been up. Can he elevate into that next level to where he’s a regular? Can Mason Lohrei? 

They’d love to have two or three of these young guys really take a step to where they fill roles that the Bruins need. But there are a lot of young players for a couple spots. They brought in Matěj Blümel and Alex Steeves as free agents from other organizations – they were high-scoring players in the American League last year. They’d love to see one, if not two of those guys take steps. But the reality is it’s going to be maybe one or two of those guys who are going to get an opportunity come October 8.

Understandably, the Bruins brought in some veteran or experience depth players to fill some roles. But these jobs are legitimately up for grabs if a younger player can make the case that he deserves to be there. They brought in veterans like Sean Kuraly and Tanner Jeannot and Michael Eyssimont. They brought in those guys because they need the depth.

Storyline 2: Marco Sturm's early impact
Jaffe: I’ve known Marco as a player, and I’ve covered other teams that he has been with. He’s just a real affable and approachable guy. So well-liked by his teammates and he played the game the right way – the kind of guy who could find a way to play on just about any team. 

[Now that he’s coaching the Bruins] I’m impressed with his presence so far. It’s very early, obviously. But his communication skills that I have seen, his energy and his passion have been evident in training camp. His ability to connect with players and people seems to be very strong. He gets his point across and the guys seem to be listening. And there’s change happening, so it’s imperative that they do listen.

Storyline 3: What to watch for in goal
Jaffe: Goaltending has to be better. I think that’s an obvious statement. Jeremy Swayman, last year, experienced coming back as a big-time No. 1, a contract negotiation and a holdout – a very different offseason. So he’s coming back and this year his only focus is hockey now. Like the rest of the team, this is a big reset year for him. How he handles it and how he performs will have a major impact on this team. I think that’s obvious.

Storyline 4: What to watch for on the blue line and where Charlie McAvoy ranks among the NHL’s defensemen
Jaffe: Charlie McAvoy, when his game is on, is one of the better defenseman in the entire league. He’s the complete package. He has a presence. He plays with pace. When he’s going, his impact touches the game in many ways. His speed, his physical play, his puck movement are all very high-level. And there’s no question that he’s in that upper echelon of defenseman in the National Hockey League. Having him back and healthy is imperative. 

Obviously, Charlie was hurt near the end of the year, but having Hampus Lindholm back – he has looked great so far. His skating, which was probably the biggest concern, how the kneecap was going to handle it, that has been great. They said that his kneecap healed; it was just aggravated by a screw in it, which isn’t uncommon. So they decided to take the screw out and they decided not to play him at the end of the year. We were all curious about how he was going to look, and his first step has been great. His presence has been great. Having [McAvoy and Lindholm] gives them a legitimate chance to be much more competitive. This is an obvious analysis, but both of them in the lineup gives you a different look.

Storyline 5: What young players, accepting the obvious differences in talent, can learn from Charlie McAvoy
Jaffe: His awareness. What he’s doing when he doesn’t have the puck and when he’s retrieving the puck. He’s scanning for options. Not just one play, but, “What are my options?” Keeping his feet moving, so he can turn and take ice, separate himself from forecheckers, is really good. 

He has good size – but he isn’t 6-foot-4, 220 pounds – and the reason he is so successful physically is because he’s a great skater with leg and core strength. Watch how he can line up a guy because of his balance and his strength. Size doesn’t matter, per se. It’s nice, but it’s also about timing and gap closure, and you don’t hit with your upper body. That’s where you make contact, but you really have to have a strong core and strong legs. The legs drive, and then he uses the chest and shoulder to destroy a guy.

Storyline 6: The Bruins forward corps
Jaffe: There’s no question that this is an incredibly different offensive lineup than they have had. They knew that this was going to happen eventually. Down the middle is a big question. 

Elias Lindholm needs to and should have a much more consistent year. The center position is going to be one to watch. Now, instead of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí, you’re talking Lindholm and Casey Mittelstadt and maybe Pavel Zacha, depending on whether you play him at left wing or center. 

You know who your fourth line center is going to be to start in Kuraly. But it’s a different look and a different skill set. You also know who your top line is to begin. Lindholm between Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak. The question is, after that, what you’re going to have? Can you develop enough depth scoring that it supports those top guys? It’s going to be very different than having two or three lines that you can rely on to score a fair amount. They have to cultivate more goals and they’re going to do it through a different structure and somewhat different system than they have in the past.

Storyline 7: What to expect from David Pastrnak
Jaffe: I think players of David Pasternak’s ilk, character and ability always strive to succeed, to improve. They always do. Nikita Kucherov is kind of the same way – he’ll get back on the ice 10 days after the season. David is the same way. He wants to improve. 

What David did last year, especially the last third of the regular season after all the trades, after the injuries, after the struggles, he became such a dominant presence in that room and for that team on and off the ice. We all wondered whether he’d be OK without all those guys there, and all he did was score more. 

The second half of the season, he was a dominant force, and you could make the argument he could have been the MVP of the National Hockey League. Now, he wasn’t going to, given his team situation, but he could’ve been. He’s the type of player that I look for him, absolutely, to get better. He’s 29. He’s in that perfect kind of sweet spot – physical maturity and mental maturity – I could see him having a couple of even bigger years. Now, the team around him matters, too. But I see him striving to get better. And his leadership really blew me away last year. Absolutely blew me away.

Storyline 8: What sort of impact can Zdeno Chara have?
Jaffe: What company, what team, wouldn’t want to have one of the most successful and unique and dominant in his specialty, back and involved with the organization? He succeeded and he broke the mold. No player that big became that good. He could control the game differently. His physical fitness and his mental fitness, it’s such a different level. He loves being around the team and the team loves having him around. When he was captain, he treated people with such respect. That presence is always here. If his presence can help these new players, and even these players who are in different roles than when he was around, if he can help them out, it’s a big win.

Storyline 9: How an Olympic year changes the start of 2025-26
Jaffe: I know [the Olympic year] is hard on an NHL player because of the condensed schedule. And, with the amount of games teams are playing in the first two or three months, you can’t get off to a bad start. You can’t afford it. If you’re a team that knows you’re going to be on the bubble, you can’t afford to be to have a bad start. 

The Bruins have four games in the month of February. Four games in the whole month. After the Olympics, there are fewer than 30 games. For a player, rest and recovery, the ability to play at a high level as much as possible early on is going to be key. These condensed schedules are tough on the bodies and on the minds.

Storyline 10: What to watch within the Atlantic Division
Jaffe: The obvious one is the beast that is the Florida Panthers. But you look at how they’re starting the season without one of the top players in the world and Sasha Barkov. Without another one of the top players in the world in Matthew Tkachuk and another center in Tomáš Nosek. He’s a depth player, but he’s an important fourth line player for them. They don’t have those three guys to begin the year, so, coming off three Stanley Cup appearances, a lot of hockey, where does this leave them? They still should have enough to be OK but the Barkov loss is mammoth. Just mammoth. He’s so fun to watch. He’s one of those players that I would encourage every young player if they have an opportunity to watch him. Just to watch how he uses his instincts and his body to do so many things. And he doesn’t do it fancy. He just does it.

But I have questions. 

The Tampa Bay Lightning – do they have another big push in them? They still have some unbelievable players. Kucherov, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy. They still should be good, but are they going to be great? 

The Toronto Maple Leafs with no Mitch Marner. However, they added some role players. Very good role players. Do you make up for losing 100 points by being a deeper team, and are you better because of that? Or are those hundred points in the regular season really, really tough to make up? Auston Matthews seems to have one unbelievable year and then one very good year. If he’s healthy, is he a 60+ goals guy? Have they learned enough to make it further in the playoffs? Another great question.

Ottawa, they took a step last year, right. They made it into the playoffs. Can they take another step? And I think the same could be said for Montreal. 

The best thing about what Montreal has done is that they have created a buzz about that team again in that city. That’s such a vibrant place, especially when that Montréal Canadiens team is good. It’s just such a fun place. They brought in another high-end defenseman in Noah Dobson, who loves to produce points, but you already had one there in Lane Hutson. How’s that going to play out? Do you still get improvement from Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki? Two excellent players. I think the fun question there is this youngster Ivan Demidov. Is he as electric in the NHL as the scouting reports say he is? Do they take a step again? 

Getting to the playoffs is one thing. If you’re a team like Ottawa and Montreal, you say, “We did that last year, we have to get better.” That’s even harder. It’s a good division. 

If you look at it with the Bruins, there are arguably five teams that are above them.

Storyline 11: Sidney Crosby’s future?
Jaffe: My thoughts on Sid are that this is one of the rare players who has handled everything that has come his way while being the face of the league for so many years. The team hasn’t been good the past couple years and he still has been outstanding. When you think it’s going to slide, it doesn’t. My thing with him is that if he feels he wants to stay a Penguin his whole life, he should be able to. If he feels that he wants to have one more kick at it somewhere else and get traded, he should be able to. He’s a unique talent and a unique athlete and public figure. He’s handled that side of the game like the other all-time grades. Really amazing class and dignity.

Storyline 12: Connor McDavid's future
Jaffe: Talk about a major storyline. Until something gets done, and this is going to sound dumb, but until something gets done, it’s a great story. It’s going to be speculation galore. There’s so much attention given to his contract situation. Now that Kirill Kaprizov has signed, does that make it easier? I don’t think so because McDavid was going to get more than anybody anyway, but now that contract is out there at 17 [million dollars AAV], but I think everybody thought that Connor would get 18+. The question is how many years. 

Edmonton has been to two Stanley Cup finals in a row. On the other hand, does the team have what it takes to get Connor what he wants ultimately, which is the win. Not just the appearance. We know anybody would take him in a millisecond. The problem is that if they have to move other pieces, what good does it do him? They might not be able to fit everything. He has to look at it and say, “Where do I go that gives me the best chance to win and make a lot of money?” It is definitely the biggest story in the league until he signed or traded. [Kaprizov] has the mantle right now. But that mantle will be handed off to number 97.

Storyline 13: What Jaffe's watching for this NCAA season
Jaffe: Michigan for obvious reasons. But I’ll want to watch the Penn States and the Michigan States to see their top guys. I see a lot of the eastern teams, so Boston University, Boston College. Providence College has a very good team. I love what they’re doing up at the University of Maine. UConn has developed their program. 

I’m very curious to see all of this movement, and the different type of player, impacts college hockey. How do these players handle it? The team thing is one element, but I’m really curious to see how these players going to college – and also players going from the Canadian junior leagues – how do they handle the newness? Out of the players who are coming down to the states to play in the NCAA, it’s a different lifestyle. They’re not playing three or four nights a week. They’re playing two nights a week, they’re going to class. That’s different. The travel is different. 

I’m not saying it’s better or worse. I’m saying, how do they handle it? It’s a very different cadence. I have an East Coast bias because I live here and I get to see a lot of these teams, but the teams who have brought in some of the big guys, I’m very curious to see how they do. And curious to see if it makes things better or not. I’m not sure. I don’t know how this thing is going to play out.