3 players the Bruins already regret signing this past summer

The 2024 season has not gone as planned for the Boston Bruins. They did earn a much-needed win in their last game, but at 9-9-3, they're tied with the Buffalo Sabres for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. In fact, if the season ended today, Boston would miss out on the playoffs entirely for the first time since the 2015-16 season. This slow start to the season is why the Bruins fired head coach Jim Montgomery.

A lot of their struggles have to do with underperforming players on the roster. Jeremy Swayman, under two months after signing a massive extension, has a sub-.900 save percentage in 14 appearances. Justin Brazeau and Cole Koepke have more points than players like Charlie McAvoy and Pavel Zacha. Even Brad Marchand has been underwhelming offensively.

As disappointing as players like Zacha, Marchand, and McAvoy have been, it's hard not to place some of the blame for Boston's struggles onto the shoulders of GM Don Sweeney. Several of his big free agency signings have not aged as well as he or Bruins fans might've hoped. These three in particular are ones he has reason to regret.

3. The Bruins admitted defeat on the Max Jones signing in record time

Looking to shake things up in their bottom six, the Bruins signed Max Jones to a two-year deal worth $2 million. After just four regular appearances, the Bruins decided that they had seen enough and placed him onto waivers, and it's hard to blame them.

Jones had eight penalty minutes in those four games and he was a -4 on the ice despite averaging just 11:13 on the ice. He did provide some toughness with eight hits, but outside of that, he was a net negative. Not much was expected for a player who has just a $1 million cap hit, but the Bruins certainly expected him to play in more than four games before getting waived.

Considering the fact that Danton Heinen's cap hit in the deal he signed with the Vancouver Canucks is just $2.25 million over that same two-year period, it's safe to say that the Bruins regret letting Heinen walk and replacing him with the cheaper, yet ineffective, Jones. Heinen would've been a perfect fit in this Bruins lineup, much like he was last season.

2. The Bruins should've seen Elias Lindholm's rough start coming

The biggest deal that the Bruins made over the offseason was also a bit of a questionable one. They signed Elias Lindholm to a seven-year deal worth $54.25 million. His cap hit was set at $7.75 million annually.

On paper, this Lindholm deal made a lot of sense. The Bruins were interested in Lindholm at this past year's trade deadline and were in dire need of a top-six center. For much of his career, Lindholm was just that. The problem, though, is that his production has been trending in the wrong direction for a couple of years now.

Lindholm set career highs with 42 goals and 82 points in the 2021-22 campaign but had just 22 goals and 64 points the following season. As if that drop-off wasn't steep enough, Lindholm had 15 goals and 44 points in 75 games splitting time with the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks last season.

Despite Lindholm's downward trajectory, the Bruins gave the 29-year-old that massive seven-year deal. Predictably, it has not aged well so far. He has appeared in all 21 games thus far, but has just three goals and 10 assists while having a -2 rating on the ice.

Will things get better? Probably. Will he be close to worth the deal he got? Probably not. Lindholm is a fine player, but he isn't the No. 1 center that this Bruins team really needs, and given the price tag, that's a problem.

1. Nikita Zadorov has not been nearly as impactful as the Bruins envisioned

The Nikita Zadorov contract wasn't as big as Lindholm's, but at six years for $30 million, the Bruins expected the hard-nosed defenseman to be extremely impactful. Unfortunately, he has been anything but that so far.

Through 21 games, Zadorov is still searching for his first goal and has just five assists. Sure, offense is not his strong suit, but he has a -1 rating on the ice and has an absurd 27 giveaways. For context, he had just 32 giveaways all of last season. Sure, moving to a new team and a new system will certainly lead to more giveaways to start, but 27 giveaways in just 21 games is a ton, especially considering last year's numbers.

To make matters worse, Zadorov's 46 penalty minutes lead the league. A physical player like Zadorov is bound to take more penalties than most, and 17 of those minutes came from one game, but still - Zadorov is taking more penalties than the Bruins would like. His 13 minor penalties lead the league according to StatMuse.

At the end of the day, Zadorov has not done nearly enough to justify the monster payday he received. Things can and probably will get better. His style of play should work well in the playoffs. However, the Bruins have to get there first, and Zadorov hasn't done enough to help them get there.