Win now or wait till next year? With Johansson & Coyle deals, Bruins hold steady, but on uneven ground

As of 9:00 p.m. on Monday night, are the Bruins are a better team than they were just a few days ago? No doubt.

Coming off of a seven-game winning streak without their top goal scorer in David Pastrnak and undefeated in regulation for close to a month, a Bruins’ club in need of some offensive punch and stability found it in deals for Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson.

In Coyle, Boston finally has a dependable presence to slot in at third-line center — with a trio of Coyle, Peter Cehlarik and David Backes generating three high-danger scoring chances in Saturday’s shootout loss to St. Louis. In Boston’s previous six games, its third line only managed to muster one total high-danger scoring bid.

On a Bruins team that still ranks 26th in the NHL in 5v5 goals scored, Coyle should assuage some of those woes — with his 22 points at even strength good for fifth among all Bruins skaters this year.

By pulling the trigger on a deal for Johansson — Boston brings aboard a versatile winger that has now tallied six goals and 12 points over his last 13 games. He may not provide the same 5v5 scoring lift that Coyle projects, but the former Devil does the little things that can pay dividends on a B’s club that needs an extra spark in the O-zone.

A plus-player when it comes to getting the puck through the neutral zone — Johansson is one of just four players on this roster that has a carry-in percentage of over 50 percent and a zone entries per 60 minutes rate over 20. The other three B’s skaters that fit both criteria? Offensive-zone wizards in David Pastrnak, David Krejci and Brad Marchand.

So what is there to knock against Don Sweeney and this Bruins front office? After all, the team with the second-best record in the East and the fourth-best record in the entire league added a pair of key pieces for the stretch run — while only giving up one young skater in Ryan Donato and a bit of draft capital in a second rounder in 2019, a conditional fifth in 2019 and a fourth in 2020.

Given the current core of this B’s club — featuring a 41-year-old Zdeno Chara, 33-year-old Patrice Bergeron, 32-year-old Krejci and a 31-year-old Tuukka Rask — Boston is in a bit of an odd spot. Even with young studs such as Charlie McAvoy, Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk, Boston’s championship window is a bit hamstrung given the age of its top producers, putting the onus of Sweeney and his staff to maximize what they have in this club while players like No. 37 are still in their prime.

Given that mindset, the Bruins followed through by adding to this current roster with Coyle and Johansson. But was it enough?



By holding onto its first-round pick in 2019 and choosing to not part ways with top prospects such as Urho Vaakanainen or Jack Studnicka, Boston was unable to swing for the fences on deals for players like Mark Stone, Ryan Dzingel, Kevin Hayes and Chris Kreider — both rentals and players with term alike that would have given Boston considerably more firepower up front.

Boston improved for sure, but so did other teams vying for a sustained run at Lord Stanley’s Cup. Columbus, going all in with both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky ready to cash in on deals this summer, is putting all of its cards on the table for this postseason, adding Dzingel and Matt Duchene up front to go along with Adam McQuaid on defense and Keith Kinkaid in net.

Toronto added some help on the blue line in Jake Muzzin earlier this month, while San Jose, Nashville and Winnipeg brought in skilled forwards in Gustav Nyquist, Wayne Simmonds and Hayes, respectively.

The Lightning stood pat, but, well, they don’t need to tinker too much with a loaded roster and a 17-point cushion in the Atlantic Division.

Of course, to add more talent, the Bruins would have had to give away more talent — and Boston was not looking to sell the farm to put the 2018-19 club over the top.

“We were in on a bunch of things to explore what we would have liked to improve our club for now and moving forward without necessarily handcuffing ourselves and continuing to keep a long-term vision in place,” Sweeney said. “But we’re also trying to win.”

Such is the conundrum with this current roster with this Bruins team.

Is this Bruins team, with its core leading the way, talented enough to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the next couple of seasons? Certainly. Win a few rounds? Of course. Does it have enough talent in house to beat a club like Tampa Bay? Ehhh.

But if Boston is waiting for reinforcements to help its current crop of skaters, it’s likely going to come up from the AHL ranks and juniors, rather than other organizations.

“I know that people have indicted us for moving younger players,” Sweeney said. “You have to give up good players to get players that could help you win. That’s the nature of the business. We have to continue to draft and develop and hit. We just do. Have we knocked every one out of the park? Absolutely not, but we’ve accumulated enough good, young talent. We’ve implemented a lot of good, young players. So, I know a number of people a number of years ago asked me whether or not you’d be moving David Pastrnak. I don’t know if anybody is in the room today who was asking those questions, but I’ve told you I’m not moving David Pastrnak.

“I would say the same thing about Jake DeBrusk or if you want to ask me about a different player. You know, we’re committed to what we’re trying to do, but it’s a balancing act. Your team gets in a position where, I don’t know where we end up, but right now we sit pretty well in the standings, and we need to maintain that. I don’t think this town would accept anything less than to try and win, and our players don’t want to either.”

As far as charting the course of a franchise, the Bruins could be in MUCH worse shape. They can compete with the best of them now, and have guys like Studnicka and Vaakanainen waiting in the wings. They’re not going all in for one season like Columbus, nor are they in a sordid state like aging clubs such as Los Angeles.

But opting to toe the line between “win-now” and coveting future assets does have its limits when a Stanley Cup is the ultimate prize.

It’s a solid stance to have, opting to have the best of both worlds in a Cup-contending team and a roster poised for success five, six, or seven years further down the line. But just how viable is it? By the time McAvoy hits his stride as a franchise D-man, Vaakanainen assumes a top-four role, and Studnicka snags a pivot spot, will the decay of time already start to have its way with Bergeron, Krejci and Rask? We’ll find out soon enough.

“We had different conversations on different levels with different teams as to what players represent going forward, but I do believe that we would put ourselves and this organization in a tough position,” Sweeney said of dealing away another first-round pick. “I’m fortunate to have the support of the ownership group to make the decisions that we need to make and try and win. That’s the balancing act that we all face in this time of the year. You feel like, at times, you’re on the cusp of making a mistake but also making a really good decision, so it’s a balancing act."

A balancing act, for sure. Hopefully, it doesn't tip over anytime soon.