Bruins Play in Foundation Golf Tournament, Look to New Season

BOSTON –– The Boston Bruins were practicing their shots on Wednesday – on the fairway, that is.

​Pinehills Golf Club in Plymouth, Massachusetts, hosted the Boston Bruins Foundation’s 23rd Annual Golf Tournament, presented by TD, bringing out B’s roster players, alumni, and coaching staff to participate. Special Olympics Massachusetts athletes John Dunleavy, Chase Hertog and Tyler Lagasse were also on the course.

​“There are so many hall-of-famers that are here, and I think it’s great and refreshing for our younger guys to interact with them,” said Bob Sweeney, who is the president of the Boston Bruins Foundation. “Let’s call it the unofficial kickoff for the hockey season.”

​Proceeds from the tournament will go to the Boston Bruins Alumni Association and the Boston Bruins Foundation, a non-profit that works with charitable organizations committed to health, wellness, education and athletics. The Foundation has raised over $80.5 million since its start in 2003.  

​“I say this every year; I think it was instilled from the leaders from the Bruins, going back to Eddie Shore, Milt Schmidt, Johnny Bucyk, Fernie Flaman, Eddie Sandford, Ray Bourque, Rick Middleton, Terry O’Reilly, Wayne Cashman – I think they all set the tone,” Sweeney said. “It’s not only important what you do on the ice, but it’s what you do off the ice.”

Head coach Marco Sturm and some of his players caught up with the media ahead of the round. Here’s what they had to say as the 2026-27 NHL season approaches.

Sturm Enters Year Two with Confidence

Sturm is coming off a 100-point rookie season as an NHL head coach, and he is only looking to build on the initial success. After taking a brief time away from hockey at the beginning of the summer, Sturm dove into work, preparing the Bruins’ message and systems for training camp, which opens on Sept. 16 at Warrior Ice Arena.

“You go back at it as a coach, as a coaching staff, and try to find areas where we can get better and make a difference this year. There’s a lot of things going on with the draft, free agency, new signings, trades, whatever it is. You kind of try to adapt a few things, a few players, too, and here we are,” Sturm said. “I am really happy and very excited to be back and get things going again.”​

Boston welcomed a new face to Sturm’s group in June with the hiring of Matt McIlvane as an assistant coach. The duo was behind the bench together when Germany earned silver at the 2018 Olympics and most recently coached against each other in the American Hockey League.

“One of the reasons I brought in Matt is I worked with him before. He’s a great communicator, pays a lot of attention to details and he’s a teacher,” Sturm said. “I really believe he’s going to be a great fit for our D-corps. We still have some younger guys, too, who he can really develop.”

Summer Reset for the Players

Elias Lindholm’s main focus during the offseason was his health. During the team’s Exit Day in May, the forward said he was dealing with back problems during the year. E. Lindholm has worked through that.

“I think less heavy weights. It’s been a lot of rehab and so on, and a lot of focus on feeling good. Making my body feel good again,” he said. “It is kind of hard to know right now, but it’s been a good summer. My body feels ready to go.”

Hampus Lindholm revealed in May that he had a small fracture in his foot after blocking a shot around Christmas. The defenseman was happy to have the full summer to return to 100% while home in Sweden.

“Got married, so that was a highlight. Just spending time with the family and being home and being able to skate and work out and getting back to here, Boston, and feeling the urge to play again – it’s really fun,” H. Lindholm said. “Just being healthy and not having to think about stuff and just going out and being able to use your body how you always do it – it’s obviously huge…Really excited about the season. I think management has done some good moves. I think we have a great group of guys. That also gives some extra motivation into the summer. Working your butt off and come here and show that you still have some of your best years ahead of you.”

The backend will have some reinforcements this season, alongside H. Lindholm. The Bruins brought Connor Clifton back to Boston on a two-year deal and traded for Will Borgen from the New York Rangers. H. Lindholm and Clifton got reps together in their first stint as teammates.

“I was joking with Cliffy; we had 10 games together there, and we had 10 wins. So we’ve hopefully got to keep that going,” H. Lindholm said. “He’s a great guy, too. Great in the locker room. He has a great family. Just such a nice guy to have around.”

Reaction to Fraser Minten Contract

Before hitting the golf course, Fraser Minten signed a seven-year contract extension on Tuesday. The 22-year-old forward is now an official piece of the team’s core moving forward, which is good news to everyone in the Bruins locker room.

“I am very excited for him and his family. He’s a wonderful kid,” Sturm said. “I am just excited to have him here for a longer time because we have high hopes. We really believe that he will be a really good Bruin for a long, long time.”

Minten skated in all 82 regular-season games with the Bruins during the 2025-26 season and set career highs with 17 goals, 18 assists and 35 points, marking the most points by a Bruins rookie since 2017-18. Minten ranked fifth on the team with 142 hits and 27 takeaways.

“It’s great for him, and he’s a huge part of our team. I think it kind of just speaks to the mature player he is. It’s not that often that you see organizations put that much trust and ownership into a player – but he earned it,” Morgan Geekie said. “He can pay for dinner a few more times.”