Bruins placing struggling forward on waivers another example of roster mismanagement in 2024-25
When the dust settles on the 2024-25 season for the Boston Bruins, there are going to be a number of areas that can be pointed to as to why they will likely miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs. From underperforming stars to poor special teams play, to injuries, take your pick. However, in the overall big picture, the number one area to point will be at the front office.
From bad free agent contracts handed out to poor roster management during the season, this season has been a rough one for Bruins fans. On Thursday, the latest case of roster mismanagement was exposed with a struggling forward.
Bruins place Oliver Wahlstrom on waivers
Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet posted on his X account that the Bruins placed forward Oliver Wahlstrom on waivers ahead of their game against his former team, the New York Islanders. He was claimed off of waivers back in December, and yes, I was one who thought it was a move that could be beneficial. Boy, was I wrong.
The 11th overall pick in the 2018 Entry Draft played in 16 games for the Bruins with a goal and an assist. He was a bottom-six player who never got his footing down in Boston. No matter who he played with, it just never worked out for Wahlstrom.
In 236 career games between the Islanders and Bruins, he has just 37 goals and 36 assists. In 27 games this season on Long Island, he had two goals and two assists, which is double his output with the Black and Gold.
New York believed that Wahlstrom was a player who still can make an impact in the NHL and so did Bruins GM Don Sweeney, and he still may. It’s surprising that placing him on waivers has taken this long as he was just another bottom-six forward who was blocking a roster spot for a youngster like Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov.
Whether or not Wahlstrom gets claimed or not remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, placing him on waivers for the purpose of another team claiming him and tkaing him off of Sweeney’s hands is just another example of how a season full of roster mismanagement has played a huge role in the Black and Gold’s struggles in 2024-25.
