Marco Sturm’s embrace of Bruins youth movement hit a snag in Dallas

October 21, 2026 | 7:55 AM

Marco Sturm has seemingly pushed all of the right buttons so far during the Bruins’ 7-2-1 start to a new hockey season.

Sturm’s willingness to empower Boston’s growing crop of younger players has paid immediate dividends — with that trust and patience translating into tangible production across the depth chart.

His lineup reshuffles have oftentimes paid dividends, be it Elias Lindholm’s strong play down in a third-line role or both Fraser Minten and Matt Poitras earning looks in the top-six unit.

Plenty has gone right for the Bruins, especially during a four-game road trip where Boston secured seven out of a possible eight points.

But after the Bruins let one point slip away on Tuesday night in Dallas, one second-guess looms over Boston’s bench boss.

The youngsters once again led the way against a stout Stars team — with both a 22-year-old Poitras and 19-year-old James Hagens finding the back of the net.

It was another encouraging sign of Boston’s ongoing retooling and incorporation of a new wave of talent. Of the last 20 goals the Bruins have scored this season, 12 have come from players aged 25 or younger.

But with the Bruins in crunch time and the club’s five-game winning streak in peril, Sturm opted to shorten his bench — even at the expense of the younger players who seemingly put Boston on the brink of another statement road win.

With the score knotted at 2-2 in the waning minutes of the third period, Sturm opted to sit both Hagens and Poitras — who did not see the ice for the final five-plus minutes of regulation and all 3:52 of overtime.

​Rookie blueliner Frederic Brunet — who set up Poitras’ fourth goal in seven games this season — also didn’t play for the final 4:33 of the third period before getting one shift in the extra period.

Granted, it’s not much of a surprise for coaches to curtail ice time for younger, unproven players during critical situations of a game — especially with at least a point up for grabs in a tied game in the third period.

Speaking postgame, Sturm alluded to the growing pains of giving those green skaters some runway — while also setting up roadblocks when the stakes are higher.

“It’s a good thing. Again, they still need to learn,” Sturm said of Hagens and Poitras. “You could see it when you play a team like Dallas today, a lot of veterans, and it’s kind of like a little bit more of a playoff atmosphere.

“You could tell they made a little bit more mistakes than some other games. But it’s healthy, though. It’s going to help them moving forward.”

Sturm’s stance isn’t much of an outlier across the NHL. But the decision to staple a hefty portion of Boston’s rookies and other young skaters to the bench seems like a legitimate second-guess in an eventual 3-2 OT loss to Dallas.​

Much of that stems from the tangible offensive production Boston has received from Hagens, Brunet, and Poitras — the latter logging only 9:01 of ice time in the loss.

But Tuesday’s scoring is no outlier for Boston’s fresh-faced supporting cast. ​

Poitras, Hagens, and Fraser Minten all lead the Bruins with six 5-on-5 points so far this season.

Among players with at least five games played so far this season, only Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon have posted more 5-on-5 points per 60 minutes than Poitras (5.08).

If the Bruins were hanging on for dear life to a 2-1 lead, it wouldn’t be as much of a surprise for Sturm to shelter his offensively gifted — but defensively raw — skaters in the third period.

But with Tuesday’s game eventually stuck in that 2-2 draw, giving more reps to Boston’s next wave of talent might have provided the offensive spark that has been par for the course all season long.​

Instead, Sturm opted for his veterans — a crew that has occasionally landed punches, but not consistently, at 5-on-5 play.

While Boston’s trio of Poitras, Minten, and Hagens leads the team in 5-on-5 points, David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, and JJ Peterka each have just four 5-on-5 points in 10 games, while Pavel Zacha has only two in nine games.

Their power-play contributions also left much to be desired, with Boston’s big guns going 0-for-4 on the man advantage against Dallas.

Had it not been for a few fantastic stops from Jeremy Swayman, a one-sided OT period for Dallas likely would have ended sooner — with Peterka, Pastrnak, and Charlie McAvoy all knocked for brutal turnovers.

A slashing call against Zacha also sealed Boston’s fate in the extra frame — with Mikko Rantanen completing his hat-trick with a power-play tally with 1:08 to go until the shootout round.

The good still far outweighs the bad for the Bruins after a 3-0-1 road trip.

But the end of Tuesday’s game might have been the first time Sturm and the Bruins recoiled from the risk of trotting out unproven talent in high-stakes hockey.

And it might have been the reason Boston left a point on the table as it now makes its way back from Dallas.

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.

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