BOSTON — The Boston Bruins were not on Brady Tkachuk’s list, despite the year he spent at Boston University, his father Keith’s birthplace in Melrose and additional family roots in Charlestown. Whether the Bruins were ever on Zach Werenski’s radar is unknown. Boston is not one of Dylan Larkin’s preferred landing spots.Don Sweeney is trying to change all of this.“We’re a destination team. But not everybody has identified us,” said the Bruins general manager on Wednesday after acquiring Will Borgen and signing Connor Clifton. “We want to become that place that says, ‘No, no, no. That’s where I want to play.’”The quickest way to change leaguewide perception is to become a slam-dunk Stanley Cup contender. Whether the Bruins have done enough in that department remains to be seen.Sweeney added a legitimate top-six scoring threat in JJ Peterka, the 24-year-old flash-and-dash wing. Neither Borgen nor Clifton qualifies as blue-line equivalents.Borgen, acquired from the New York Rangers for a 2027 second-round pick and a conditional 2028 third-rounder, is a stay-at-home right-shot defenseman. He scored five goals and 10 assists in 75 games for the Rangers in 2025-26 while averaging 18:03 of ice time per appearance, including 2:13 on the penalty kill.Borgen is 6-foot-3 and 199 pounds, most likely a second-pair defenseman behind Charlie McAvoy. The Bruins plan to give Borgen some of McAvoy’s penalty-killing shifts. Borgen may even be the Bruins’ top-pair righty for the first six games of 2026-27 during McAvoy’s suspension. He is signed through 2030 at $4.1 million annually.“Will’s got length,” said Sweeney. “He skates well. He competes. He closes in the D-zone.”Clifton, originally signed by the Bruins as a free agent out of Quinnipiac, returns for his second tour on a two-year, $4.5 million contract. He appeared in 50 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, scoring two goals and four assists in 50 games. He averaged 16:46 of ice time per game. He led all Penguins with 180 hits. Clifton was a healthy scratch 32 times.“Last year as a whole was a pretty poor season for me from a points standpoint and games played standpoint,” said the 31-year-old Clifton. “I do think there was a lot of perseverance along the way.”Clifton projects to be the Bruins’ third-pair defender on the right side. If coach Marco Sturm likes Clifton’s skating, physicality and fearlessness next to Nikita Zadorov, the Bruins’ third pair could have opponents stuck in line for postgame ice bags.Clifton turned his first spin in Boston into a three-year, $10 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo traded Clifton to the Penguins after two seasons.Clifton kept his Boston condo after signing with the Sabres. He recently found a tenant for 2026-27 in Alex Steeves, his Team USA teammate at the World Championship. Steeves, however, does not have to worry about being thrown out by his landlord. Clifton, wife Amanda and two-year-old daughter Callie will be looking at a bigger property with a backyard when they return to Boston.“It’s a huge part of my past and who I am,” Clifton said of rejoining the Bruins.To make room for Borgen’s and Clifton’s salaries, the Bruins traded Joonas Korpisalo to the Rangers for forward Kalle Vaisanen and a 2028 fourth-rounder. Korpisalo was carrying a $3 million AAV for each of the next two seasons.Trading Korpisalo also opened the door for Michael DiPietro to serve as Jeremy Swayman’s backup in 2026-27. DiPietro, 27, is the two-time AHL Goalie of the Year. He is due $812,500 in 2026-27.“We just feel that Michael has earned this opportunity,” said Sweeney. “He comes in — not that Michael is ever going to worry about looking over his shoulder — and it’s just a real good opportunity to come in and take the last two years in particular and apply it to the National Hockey League.”The Bruins have approximately $4.5 million in cap space. It leaves Sweeney with flexibility to continue exploring trade options, especially if he moves the salaries of Mason Lohrei ($3.2 million AAV) or Henri Jokiharju ($3 million). Both Lohrei and Jokiharju are at risk of being healthy scratches if they open the season with the Bruins.Sweeney is likely to have company among his peers. Trade candidates remain, from Larkin to Jason Robertson to Kirill Marchenko. Sweeney may not be in the mix for top-tier players, but additional trades are more possible now than in previous offseasons.“There were a lot more aggressive conversations going on with particular players in trade scenarios. I think that’s possibly the newer landscape,” said Sweeney. “There’ll always be free agency. The players will always change. Some teams are still going deep in those situations. So I don’t think that’s ever going to change when a player hits there and they have the opportunity to change teams. But the trade scenarios seem to be becoming up a little more prevalently.”If Sweeney stands pat, however, it remains to be seen whether the team has improved to become a contender. They were fourth-worst in expected five-on-five goals against last year, per Natural Stat Trick. At the other end, they scored 182 five-on-five goals, 14.16 more than their expected output.Adding Borgen and Clifton while subtracting Andrew Peeke on defense does not project to move the needle significantly when it comes to defending, retrieving pucks or producing from the offensive blue line. Sweeney noted the Bruins may be more aggressive on the forecheck. This would give their defensemen more opportunities to surf in the offensive zone and extend puck cycles.“I think we’re back to being a competitive team with a little more balance,” said Sweeney, “to hopefully continue to attack.”