Bruins qualify Poitras, Duran and Ivan Ivan, not Harris or Wanner

The Bruins drew a sharp line through their young depth chart on June 29, qualifying Riley Duran, Ivan Ivan, Matt Poitras and Luke Cavallin while passing on Alexis Gendron, Jordan Harris and Max Wanner. With the NHL’s qualifying-offer deadline set for 5 p.m. ET on June 30, the list showed which prospects Boston still viewed as part of its short- and mid-term pipeline, and which ones it was willing to let hit the market.

That distinction mattered because a qualifying offer is more than a formality. It preserved Boston’s negotiating rights on those restricted free agents and gave the club the right of first refusal, or draft-choice compensation, if another team pushed the player with an offer sheet. For Providence, the practical takeaway was clear: Poitras, Duran, Ivan Ivan and Cavallin stayed attached to the organization, while Gendron, Harris and Wanner were not treated as must-retain pieces at that stage.

Poitras remains the most recognizable name in the group. He entered the offseason with 69 career NHL games and already had the profile of a player Boston still wanted to keep developing rather than risk losing. Duran also stayed in the fold as another forward the Bruins continued to evaluate. Ivan’s case was especially telling. Boston had acquired him from the Colorado Avalanche on June 27, then qualified him two days later before signing him to a one-year contract on June 30. In Colorado’s system last season, Ivan posted 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points in 66 AHL regular-season games with the Eagles, then added 15 points in 17 Calder Cup playoff games.

Cavallin gave Boston another goaltending piece to keep inside the organization. He split the 2025-26 season between the Maine Mariners and Providence, then showed enough in the AHL to earn a qualifying offer and, a day later, a one-year, two-way extension through the 2026-27 season with an NHL cap hit of $850,000. In eight AHL appearances for Providence, he put up a 2.47 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.

Boston’s handling of Harris was the clearest example of how flexible the process can be. He was not qualified on June 29, but the Bruins still signed him to a one-year contract on July 1 after he produced one goal and two assists in eight games with Boston last season. Wanner and Gendron did not get qualifying offers, and that left Boston with a cleaner roster picture heading into the rest of July, with the Providence-to-Boston path narrowed to the young pieces it still actively wanted to control.