Insider: Marco Sturm May Be Early Favorite For This NHL Award

The Boston Bruins will put their perfect 3-0-0 record to the test on Monday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Lightning (0-2-0).

Boston enters action tied atop the NHL standings with the two-time defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers at six points apiece.

The 2025-26 regular season is still in its infancy, however, so Sean McIndoe of The Athletic isn’t ready to call the Bruins title contenders.

McIndoe ranked the five teams with the best chances of winning the Stanley Cup on Monday and Boston wasn’t included.

“And no, it doesn’t get them into the top five. It doesn’t get them anywhere close, in fact. … If you’re looking at the long term, you’re not going to pretend that a 76-point team suddenly pushed to the front of the Cup chase based on one good week,” the senior NHL writer said. “But the Bruins are worth talking about, and maybe the conversation should start with whether this was really a 76-point team last year.”

The insider added that “on paper, this is still a team that should have enough talent to at least stay in the playoff race.”

The biggest offseason change came with the hiring of first-year head coach Marco Sturm. The 47-year-old former left-wing has led the Bruins to wins over the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres to begin the campaign.

McIndoe noted that while the opening schedule hasn’t exactly been a huge test, Sturm is still an early-season candidate for the Jack Adams Award, given to the Coach of the Year.

“You can only beat the teams the schedule gives you, but we’ll learn more this week, starting Monday when the Bruins host the Lightning,” he wrote. “After that, it’s on to road stops in Vegas and Colorado. Beat a few of those teams, and then we can talk about early-season surprises. Until then, we might at least have our early Jack Adams favorite.”