Newest Bruins pick their sweater numbers, while another makes trade

It's pushing 100 degrees outside, but it's new sweater season for the Bruins.

After a fast-and-furious offseason with a focus on adding depth, the Bruins have confirmed nine new numbers for the 2025-26 season, with this year's sweater collection also coming with a trade between players.

But here's a closer look at the newest numbers on the roster for next year.

Acquired from the Oilers just before the start of free agency, veteran Swedish forward Viktor Arvidsson will wear No. 71 with the Bruins. That's because the No. 33 he's worn with the Predators, Kings, and Oilers is unofficially unavailable, with that number set to go to the rafters in honor of Bruins icon and Hockey Hall of Famer Zdeno Chara sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Arvidsson, who had 15 goals and 29 points for Edmonton a season ago, is the first player to wear No. 71 for the B's since Oliver Wahlstrom took that number during his 16-game run with the Bruins last season. Before Wahlstrom, it was last worn by Taylor Hall (2021-23) and Marc Savard (he quickly switched to 91), with Arvidsson becoming the sixth player in B's history to wear No. 71.

After wearing No. 28 with AHL Texas and No. 22 during his NHL cameo with the Stars, winger Matej Blumel will switch to No. 13 with the Bruins. Dropping down to the teens for Blumel really comes because No. 28 is currently worn by the Bruins' Elias Lindholm, and No. 22 is retired for Willie O'Ree.

A potential dark horse candidate to make this year's roster out of training camp, Blumel posted 39 goals and 72 points in 67 games for AHL Texas last season, and is the first Bruins player to wear No. 13 since Charlie Coyle.

Blumel is just the fourth Bruin in the post-2005 NHL to wear the number, joining a group featuring Coyle, Glen Metropolit, and Stan Chistov.

After wearing No. 21 or No. 23 at all four of his previous NHL stops, Mikey Eyssimont will switch to No. 81 for his Bruins run. What's interesting about that is that Eyssimont probably could've had either number if he really wanted, but he has apparently decided to go 60 spots up the chart to No. 81.

Eyssimont did not wear this number outside of the pro game, as far as we can tell (he wore No. 19 at St. Cloud State), but is a multiplication table answer of his birthday (Sept. 9), so maybe that's a potential reason for that switch.

Either way, the 28-year-old Eyssimont will be the first Bruin to wear No. 81 since Dmitry Orlov in 2023, and just the fifth player in franchise history to wear No. 81 behind Orlov, Anton Blidh, Miroslav Satan, and Phil Kessel.

After a one-year run wearing No. 10 with the L.A. Kings, Tanner Jeannot is going back to the No. 84 he wore during runs in Nashville and Tampa Bay. And as weird as it sounds, that one-year switch only came because No. 84 was already in use by the Kings, with it worn by defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov.

This is not a number we've seen all that much in Bruins history, with Jeannot just the second player in Boston history to wear No. 84, and the first since Jarred Tinordi wore No. 84 during his brief run with Boston in 2021.

In the Bruins organization after spending the previous four seasons in the Maple Leafs organization, Alex Steeves will pick up No. 21 for Boston. During his time in Toronto, Steeves wore No. 16 when with the Marlies and No. 46 with Toronto's NHL club. No. 16 is retired in Boston for Rick Middleton, whlle David No. 46 (made famous by David Krejci) might be one of those numbers that's unofficially taken out of circulation unless a true superstar wants to wear it.

Steeves is now the fourth Bruin to wear No. 21 in the last four years, with the number also worn by Nick Ritchie, Garnet Hathaway, and James van Riemsdyk.

There was only one problem with speedy bottom-six forward Sean Kuraly's return to Boston this summer, that being that the No. 52 he had worn during his Bruins tenure was unavailable to him, with it worn by defenseman Andrew Peeke. Keyword there, of course, being "was." That's because Kuraly and Peeke were able to make a trade Monday, with Kuraly officially getting his No. 52 back from Peeke in a "trade" posted by the Bruins on social media.

Kuraly didn't necessarily have a deep attachment to the No. 52 prior to breaking in with the Bruins, having worn No. 7 throughout his life (and most recently in Columbus), but Kuraly clearly developed an affinity for the number after the Bruins assigned it to him when he first made the NHL.

It also probably doesn't help/hurt that No. 7 would not be available to Kuraly, as it's retired for Phil Esposito.

With Kuraly back in No. 52, B's defender Andrew Peeke needed a new number, and decided on No. 26. In addition to being half of his previous number (look at those math skills), it does keep a '2' in Peeke's rotation, with the right-shot defender having worn No. 22 during his collegiate career at Notre Dame and No. 2 with the Blue Jackets prior to getting traded to Boston in 2024.

Peeke is the first Bruins defenseman to wear No. 26 since John-Michael Liles, though the number was last worn by forward Marc McLaughlin.

After wearing No. 54 in Montreal and No. 22 in Columbus, defenseman Jordan Harris will move to No. 43 with the Bruins. The Haverhill, Mass. native, who had one goal and five points in 33 games for the Jackets last season, takes the number from Frederic Brunet after he wore that during his brief NHL cameo.

Acquired from the Blackhawks in what was essentially Boston's first move of the 2025 offseason, Victor Soderstrom will come back to North American hockey and wear No. 29 for the Bruins in 2025-26.

Playing in Sweden this past season, Soderstrom had worn No. 9 for Brynas IF. That number was obviously unavailable to Soderstrom here in Boston, with it hanging from the rafters for the legendary Johnny Bucyk. And when we last saw Soderstrom on an NHL sheet, he was wearing No. 77 for the Coyotes. That number also hangs from the Garden rafters, in honor of Ray Bourque, and was also unavailable to the 5-foot-11 puckmover.

So he's landed on No. 29, taking that number from former Bruins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, marking the first time that that number has been in circulation in back-to-back years by two different players since Alex Auld wore that number in 2007-08 before Petteri Nokelainen wore it in 2008-09.