New deals for Coyle, Wagner are a testament to Bruins’ established culture - and promising cap future

The price might have been pretty steep at the time, but the gamble that Don Sweeney played in Las Vegas back in February didn’t take very long to pay off in favor of his club. 

Despite dealing away with Ryan Donato and a conditional fifth-round pick, the Bruins solved their third-line center vacancy by bringing aboard Weymouth native Charlie Coyle — who eventually played a key role in Boston’s run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, lighting the lamp nine times during the B’s playoff push. 

But before Coyle had even taken to the ice with his new club, Sweeney believed he had found the perfect fit for an already established locker room in Boston.

“When Charlie was acquired, he wanted to jump on a plane right away to get to Vegas the very next day to be with the club," Sweeney said. "It says a lot about him as a player.”

Coyle might have been an outsider to the Bruins’ organization, but thanks to many local ties present on the roster, the forward already had a hunch in terms of what to expect from his new team.

Just about all of it was positive — and was reaffirmed for Coyle after a few days with his new teammates. 

“I met these guys at dinner in Vegas one night and that’s when I first met the team,” Coyle said Wednesday evening. “I could tell right there. I mean, I started to get a glimpse about what they were all about and how close they were and that was something that I wanted to be a part of.”

For as much as the pressure of playing in front of friends, family and the local media can often weigh on homegrown players, such hasn’t been the case for Coyle and fellow Mass. native Chris Wagner. 

For both former junior hockey teammates, the opportunity to remain with a winning organization — and add to an already established culture — was something that few franchises could offer. 

And stands as one of the primary reasons why both Coyle and Wagner will remain in black and gold sweaters for the foreseeable future.



Rather than wait for both Coyle and Wagner to hit the open market this summer, the Bruins inked both pending UFAs to new long-term extensions on Wednesday, just ahead of Boston's 2-1 victory over the Senators.

Coyle, signed through the 2025-26 season thanks to a six-year contract, will feature an annual cap hit of $5.25 million, while Wagner's deal runs three years at a clip of $1.35 million annually. Given that Kevin Hayes — a middle-six pivot noted for his puck-possession prowess, but without a 50-point campaign in his career — is counting $7.14 million against the cap for the Flyers for the next seven seasons, Coyle's deal is looking like a steal.

Such has been the case for the Bruins, however, when it comes to getting key cogs on the roster to buy in and settle for discounts in order to keep this collective group intact for a couple more potential Cup runs. Whereas teams like the Maple Leafs have allocated close to half of their entire cap space into four players, Boston's top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak represent a collective cap hit of just $19.6 million in 2019-20.

David Krejci stands as the highest cap hit on the team at $7.25 million annually. In total, there are 48 players in the NHL with a higher cap hit this season than the B's second-line center. Brandon Carlo and Charlie McAvoy agreed to bridge deals this offseason as RFAs, while Zdeno Chara only features a $2 million hit.

Coyle might still be in line for a nice payday next season and beyond, but he was candid when noting just how much his first few months in Boston solidified his decision to stay home.

"It was a little of everything, to be honest," Coyle said. "Just how everyone fit in and there were no cliques, just everyone having a good time and I could tell. I remember texting buddies and family and saying, 'You can tell. This is the real deal here.' And you see the run we had last year, and it just all came together. I felt lucky and fortunate to be there, so I feel even more to be here for the next six years.  ... Going into this year, starting from scratch in training camp, talking it over a lot, thinking about it. It just checks all the boxes, so I couldn’t be more happy.”

For Wagner, who goes back with Coyle for over a decade, there wasn't much in terms of collaboration when it came to getting both deals signed on the same day, as coincidental as the news might be. But he shared his teammate's sentiments about investing in this club for the foreseeable future.

"We had a couple brief conversations, but I think we both know that we wanted to stay," Wagner said of Coyle. "I think you guys probably knew that we wanted to stay, too. I think it’s pretty cool that it’s getting announced on the same day."

In the present, both Coyle and Wagner will continue to play key roles on the 2019-20 Bruins — a team that has collected an absurd 78% of its total available points so far this season.

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But looking beyond this year, Sweeney and the B's front office appear to be loading up for the future by keeping both Coyle and Wagner in the fold. So far, both Coyle and Wagner have played beyond their regular roles as third-line center and fourth-line winger when need be. Coyle certainly didn't look out of place skating between Marchand and Pastrnak during Wednesday's victory — with Boston holding a 10-5 edge in shot attempts and a 7-2 advantage in terms of scoring chances during the 7:21 of 5v5 ice time in which the 63-13-88 line was deployed.

"When you lose a big piece of your lineup in Patrice and you realize that David can go in and play and Charlie can go in and play — and Chris has played up and down the lineup and on both sides of the ice. I think it’s a comfort to the coaching staff and Bruce in particular," Sweeney said. "To know he can put guys in different situations and they’ll thrive. I think when our hockey club is healthy and if we can get healthy, hopefully, we’ll become a dangerous team in that regard.”

The versatility of players like Coyle and Wagner will be crucial for this club this season when the injury bug strikes once again, but the writing is also on the wall when it comes to these contracts and what Boston expects will be the next wave of players to take the reins of the locker room after the old guard in Bergeron, Chara and Krejci eventually hang up their skates. When Boston faces such a scenario, it wouldn't come as much of a surprise if Coyle is handling a top-six role down the middle for this club, with youngsters like Jack Studnicka carving out roles for themselves in due time.

Of course, when the day comes in which the next wave of Bruins are holding court in the locker room, Sweeney's cap management should keep this team free from the cost-cutting measures that forced the franchise to retool on the fly from 2014-16.

Whereas Boston has been right up against the cap ceiling of $81.5 million this year, the following offseason should offer much calmer waters, even with the likes of Chara, Torey Krug, Jaroslav Halak, Kevan Miller, Jake DeBrusk (RFA), Matt Grzelcyk (RFA), Joakim Nordstrom, Anders Bjork (RFA) and others all set to hit free agency.

Despite the volume of free agents, Boston should have some money to throw around next summer. If the NHL cap ceiling raises up to around $83.5 million, Boston should have around $20 million available. Some dead money is already set to come off the books in $1.9 million in retained salary for Matt Beleskey and $1.16 million off of Dennis Seidenberg's buy-out agreement.

If Boston finds a way to clear off the final year of David Backes' contract, Boston could be looking at around $26 million in available room to re-up Krug and others. Even a buy-out would be a more feasible route for Boston — considering that the Bruins would save $2 million in 2020-21, while only having to pay an extra $1 million to Backes in the following year. 

As has been the case with his recent deals for McAvoy and Carlo, Sweeney has managed to focus on both the present and the future when it comes to re-signing Coyle and Wagner to new contracts.

If Boston manages to orchestrate another Cup run in the spring of 2020, there's a good chance that both local products are going to have their fingerprints all over it. Fast forward to 2023, and it could very well be the same case, once again.

"I think we are a product of the depth of our club, and Charlie and Chris, we're really excited to have them for the foreseeable future," Sweeney said. "I think Charlie came in and fit in very nicely with our club last year, and now you're seeing versatility in him as a player ... And Chris brings elements that we really respect. Obviously, we play our bottom part of our lineup in trusted fashion, and he's a big part of the success of that line. And they're so ingrained in the community of Boston as well. I mean, they're hometown guys, but they clearly wanted to be here. They understand the pressure of playing associated with the Bruins. They're really good teammates, so for us, it was a really good fit. We're really excited to have them."