Although the Boston Bruins currently occupy the top wildcard berth in the Eastern Conference — and have won two games in a row — president Cam Neely hasn't ruled out a potential retool ahead of the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline.

“We’ll see where we’re at,” Neely told NHL.com's Amalie Benjamin on Wednesday. “I think right now, we’ve got to look at two paths: one that we’re buying and one that we may be retooling a little bit. We still feel like we’ve got a playoff team here and we certainly don’t want to jeopardize getting out of the playoffs because we made some moves that may be good for the future, but not good for the present.”

Despite still being in a playoff spot, it's been a tough season for the Bruins in 2024-25. Boston fired head coach Jim Montgomery in mid-November, replacing him behind the bench with interim Joe Sacco.

Although the results started to improve directly after Sacco took over, Boston has had a brutal start to January, being mired in a six-game losing skid before defeating the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning to bust the slump.

Team CEO and alternate governor Charlie Jacobs made it clear he still has full faith in both Neely and general manager Don Sweeney.

“I feel everyone’s frustration — and I hear it too — but I also feel it because, like our fan base, I am also a fan and I support this team,” Jacobs said, per Benjamin. “I believe in our leadership. I know that’s been called into question quite a bit recently. I hope that we can build off the last two games that we’ve played because they played like our team. Our team, in my opinion, has yet to play its best game. I feel like we’ve got it in our system, we’ve got it in the room. And our hope is that we can find it.”

Will Bruins really retool at deadline?

Boston Bruins center Pavel Zacha (18) celebrates with defenseman Nikita Zadorov (91) and left wing Brad Marchand (63) after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the third period at the TD Garden.
Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

After adding two big ticket free agents in Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov over the summer, the goal in Boston was again to advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs — at the least. But through over half of the 2024-25 campaign, there's a very real chance that the team won't make it for the first time since 2015-16.

“I’m not going to measure the success in making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, OK? Let’s be very clear about that,” Jacobs said. “Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. But you can’t win the Stanley Cup if you don’t make it to the playoffs, and our team has done that for the past eight years and I hope we do it again this year for our ninth. But it’s been some trying moments, for sure.”

Now 22-19-5 — and 14-10-2 under Sacco — a hot streak is all it would take to ensure the front office is buying, rather than retooling, at the deadline. It's been a frustrating campaign, but there's still a path for the Bruins to finish in a familiar top three spot in the Atlantic Division; they're currently tied with the Lightning for third, but have played four more games.

It'll be interesting to see how the squad fares between now and March 7 — and the implications it will have for the future of the storied Original Six franchise.

The Bruins are back in action against the Ottawa Senators in Canada's capital city on Saturday afternoon.