Let’s get this part out of the way. Considering what was lost from last year’s team and how little money GM Don Sweeney had to spend, the Bruins’ overachieved in their 109-point regular season. In the playoffs, maybe if a certain goalie interference call went their way, they could have stolen the series from the Florida Panthers. But the better team won. The Bruins don’t need to hang their heads.

But making the second round is not the goal. We all knew this was a transition season and management made the best of it. Now, with more salary cap space and some interesting players available, the B’s have a chance to get back into the upper echelon of the National Hockey League. And with four unrestricted free agents in the forward group and three on defense, there is bound to be significant change this summer.

Here are four priorities that the B’s should have as they enter an off-season that could be very interesting offseason.

1. Find a landing spot for Linus Ullmark. This guy does not deserve to be “dumped.” He won the Vezina Award in 2022-23 and he’s still an excellent goalie. By all accounts, he has been a great teammate and sounding board for rising star Jeremy Swayman. And after a season of goalie-rotation talk, he did not gripe when it became obvious that Swayman was going to be the man in the playoffs. The hugs we saw the last two years were real.

But Swayman, a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, is going to get paid significantly more than the $3.475 million he got this year. Brandon Bussi is also a restricted free agent who needs to be signed, but the B’s top goalie prospect has yet to play in the NHL and will get a lot less than either Ullmark’s $5 million or whatever Swayman’s going to make. What they can get for Ullmark remains to be seen. He has a 16-team no-trade list that drops to 15 on July 1. Reportedly, he nixed a deal at the deadline. Perhaps he’d be willing to expand his list in order to find the right hockey situation to gear up for another crack at free agency. Maybe the B’s can get a useful skater in return, or perhaps they can get back into the top three rounds of this June’s draft. But the cap space will be too valuable. There are holes to be filled and, this time, not by stop-gap measures.

2. Sign Jake DeBrusk. That’s not to say if the wing walks into Sweeney’s office and asks for $8 million times eight years that he should be signed. Reason must prevail on both sides. But he should be worth about a $6 million AAV over multiple years.

DeBrusk has been a polarizing figure and he earned that earlier in his career with a one-dimensional game. But he’s become a much more well-rounded player than he was as a youngster. His speed and length make him a good penalty-killer and he’s displayed far more grit than his detractors would admit. In the Winter Classic last year, he scored the winning goal on a broken leg and, after Friday’s Game 6 loss, he revealed that he played much of the second half of the season with a broken hand.

Maybe if the Bruins were loaded up front they could allow DeBrusk to walk. But they’re already short of impact players up front. Letting DeBrusk walk would just create a new hole.

3. Beef up the forward corps. I understand the lament about the lack of a No. 1 center. But Sasha Barkovs don’t grow on trees. And they don’t come available on the free agent market very often. The closest thing could be Elias Lindholm, but if he doesn’t come down on his reported asking price of $9 million then it’s not worth it. He might even get it if the Canucks can upend the uber-talented Oilers in the West.

Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha are not Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, but they are both decent two-way centermen who would be more than adequate with some help on the wings.

And there should be some available. Sam Reinhart had a career year and we’ll see if Florida GM Bill Zito lets him get to free agency. They have something special going on in south Florida. Jake Guentzel will make quite a few dollars. Either player would help the B’s immensely. There’s also Tyler Toffoli, who is usually good for 25-30 goals a season. Jonathan Marchessault is an original Vegas misfit and may be too attached there to leave but, even at 33, he’d be very attractive. Or would Patrick Kane like to play for his fourth Original Six team? There will be options.

David Pastrnak needs help. His inability to cash in on Grade A chances against the Panthers is on him. He is making the big bucks to convert those. But toward the end of the regular season you could see that the burden of having to carry the team offensively as much as he did took a toll. And when teams have few threats, single stars can be limited in the playoffs.

4. Add another lefthanded defenseman. Sweeney made an excellent trade deadline move in obtaining Andrew Peeke to shore up the right side of the defense and to have another blueliner who can play hard minutes. Now they need another one for the left side. Parker Wotherspoon was a terrific story this year and proof that the B’s pro scouting staff is pretty darn good after they gave the AHL veteran a chance. When Derek Forbort went down, he went into the lineup and did what was asked of him. I’d want him on my team going forward. But to these eyes he’s an ideal seventh defenseman who has shown an ability to be plugged into the lineup after time off and not miss a beat.

Two of the three slots spots should got to Hampus Lindholm and Mason Lohrei, who grew immensely in the playoffs. But they could add some oomph in that third slot. Brady Skjei, if Carolina lets him walk, could be at the top of a lot of teams’ lists and may not fit in the B’s pay structure. But he could help quite a bit, as would a Nikita Zadorov. At the very least, they need to bring in another veteran presence (Brenden Dillon, Joel Edmundson?) who could push Wotherspoon, and vice versa.