4 takeaways from Don Sweeney & Charlie Coyle comments on trade, Bruins’ plans for deadline

LAS VEGAS — The first domino in the Bruins’ plans to load up ahead of another postseason run fell on Wednesday afternoon, as Don Sweeney made the move to pry forward Charlie Coyle from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Ryan Donato and a conditional fifth-round pick.

But could it be the only move that Boston makes ahead of Monday’s deadline? I certainly hope not, because the B’s still need to bring aboard another top-six option before it even has a puncher’s chance against a loaded Lightning team.

But during a conference call Thursday to discuss the Coyle trade, Sweeney had a few interesting comments about both Boston’s latest acquisition and the team’s overall approach to the deadline over the next couple of days.

Let’s take a look at some takeaways from Sweeney’s conference call, along with Coyle’s first comments as a member of the Bruins:

1. Could Boston be tapping out of deadline talks?

Sweeney is notorious for keeping his cards close to his chest, but his comments on Thursday have to be a bit concerning to those hoping that Boston swings for the fences and brings aboard a top-six talent like Mark Stone or Artemi Panarin later this week.

As we’ve noted before, Boston still has a boatload of assets that it can part ways with if need be to make another splash — whether it be its first-round pick, high-level prospects like Urho Vaakanainen, Jack Studnicka, Jeremy Lauzon, Peter Cehlarik and Jakub Lauko, along with pieces up on the NHL roster like Danton Heinen and Matt Grzelcyk.

And while the addition of a player like Stone could give Boston one of the best top-six groups in the league (along with slotting down someone like Heinen down to form an effective third line with Coyle and other pieces), Sweeney didn’t want to get too far ahead of himself.

“I don’t know if we’re going to necessarily do anything else," Sweeney said. "We’re going to continue to make calls and receive calls. We will continue to look at the marketplace and see what may or may not fit with our club. We’re going to cross our fingers that we stay healthy, and I think our club has deserved, a little bit like last year, put themselves in a position to try and challenge for a playoff spot and improve positioning, if possible, as we get down to the last 21 games.”

Now, you can see a bit of Sweeney’s reasoning, considering the fact that this roster as constructed (and largely healthy, save for David Pastrnak) has reeled off seven wins in a row, secured points in 12 straight contests and now sit with the third-best record in the entire NHL.

Still, even if offseason additions such as Chris Wagner and Jaroslav Halak have impressed and call-ups such as Karson Kuhlman and Cehlarik have shown something during short stints up in the NHL, that’s still not enough, when coupled with the addition of Coyle, to suddenly put this B’s team over the top. Still, Sweeney seemed pleased with the assets he already possesses.

“We’re going to continue to look at areas, but we’re excited," Sweeney said. "Talking to (Bruce Cassidy) last night or early this morning, he’s enjoyed watching Karson Kuhlman come in and add something to our hockey club. Didn’t know the player at all, didn’t have him in China, so he’s learning on the fly with him.

“And other players, Peter Cehlarik will obviously come back into the lineup potentially getting over his injury. … We have to stay healthy. That’s one of the paramount things as you go down the stretch, and you know the compression of the schedule. Will we look at adding more depth? Possibly. But we feel good about where we’re at. But you’re never comfortable.”

2. Looks like Boston will run with Coyle at center for starters.

For as much as Coyle has been noted as a versatile piece for Boston to slot up and down the lineup, it seems like the B’s will allow Coyle to return to his natural position — center — at least to start off his tenure with the Bruins.

Even though he has averaged over a minute per game on both the power play and the penalty kill this season, Coyle’s true value, especially in the offensive zone, lies in his production at 5v5 play — where he now ranks 5th on the Bruins in terms of 5v5 points accrued, behind only Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and David Krejci.

Where he’s at his best to continue to give Boston a lift in that area of the game is at center, as opposed to the wing, where he earned top line minutes after the Wild traded for Victor Rask back on Jan. 17.

Since that Rask trade, Coyle has tallied six points in 14 games after getting moved to the wing, but zero points in his seven outings.

“I see Charlie mostly playing the middle,” Sweeney said. “I like his size and strength in the middle of the ice. You know, watching him play the wing, he’s not necessarily a shoot-first guy. He’s a possession player, and can he complement? Certainly.”

With Trent Frederic sent down and Cehlarik recalled on Thursday, it looks like Coyle will get the keys to the third line to start on Saturday’s matchup against the Blues. Especially once Pastrnak gets a clean bill of health (and Boston makes another move to bring aboard a top-six option), Coyle could see some strong candidates to work with on his line, such as Heinen or Cehlarik.

“I think he’ll help drive a third line to give us more depth and more balance,” Sweeney said of Coyle. “You know, it’s an area that we internally haven’t, you know, we might not have as much publicly acknowledged it, but internally we certainly discussed like until recently we haven’t necessarily had the depth throughout our lineup in scoring.

Sweeney added: “That’s probably where he’s going to start but you guys know Bruce. He’ll tinker. He’ll tinker with the guys that are playing well. That’s one of the strengths of him as a coach certainly – identifying in game who is playing well, and maybe who’s not. I think he does a really good job of that.”

3. Do local roots factor into some of these moves? It sure looks like it.

While Jimmy Hayes is the latest example of a hometown kid not panning out with the Bruins, Boston has had a bit of luck recently — with both Chris Wagner and Grzelcyk excelling while playing with the pressure as being residents of the Commonwealth.

Coyle, an East Weymouth native and BU product, was candid when asked about what it will be like to return to TD Garden, this time donning Black and Gold.

“You got me smiling just thinking about it,” Coyle said about skating at the Garden on Tuesday. “I’m really not sure. It’s going to be a lot of emotions. You know, I got family and friends working on tickets already, so I know there’s going to be people there. The same people that are always watching on tv when I’m out in Minnesota playing for the last however many years. It’ll be a little different with them in the building, but I think it’s going to be a really awesome experience.”

It makes for a couple of nice storylines, but Sweeney did admit that evaluating how a player might perform under the larger spotlight as a local kid is something that is taken into consideration by Boston’s front office.

“We factor that in trying to continue to learn from the personalities of the players and do your due diligence in speaking with Chris Wagner in regards to Charlie and people that know, people that played with him, grown up with him," Sweeney said. "How’s he going to handle some of the things, as you referenced, are going to be challenges?

“Same thing with Ryan Donato and Tim Schaller and some of the other players that have played here and had success, and there are other players that haven’t. So, you’re right. It does add another layer that you need to sort of identify, openly discuss and really try and tap into the resources that you have to identify whether or not that player will thrive in this marketplace. So, we feel comfortable in this regard, and hopefully we’re right.

4. Coyle hasn’t thought much about the future.

By trading for Coyle, Boston has secured its third-line center through at least next year, with Coyle under contract through the 2019-20 season with a reasonable cap hit of $3.2 million. Still, given his versatility and steady level of production, you’d have to think that Coyle will be due for a much higher pay day in 2020.

With Boston already having to set aside some cash to handle upcoming RFA deals with players like Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen — along with other 2020 free agents like Torey Krug, Chris Wagner and Kevan Miller, the Bruins could be in for a bit of a cap crunch.

For now, though, Coyle isn’t dwelling too much on his contract status, especially with the Bruins:

"Not really. I mean, it’s in the back of my mind,” Coyle said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on right now in my mind, and I think I do a pretty good job of focusing on the task at hand here. I don’t look too far ahead. I’m not controlling that right now.

“That’s something I’ll talk about with my agents. My agents will handle it down the road, so I’m just really excited to be a part of this team, this year. You know, finish up the year strong and have a good playoff run. That’s what I’m most excited about, and I think we put all the efforts and that’s where my mindset’s at. I think that’s going to be the best thing right now, so that’s what I plan on doing.”