While there will likely be multiple additions made to the Bruins NHL roster in what’s expected to be a busy summer, it’s already understood around the league that Boston’s top priority is going to be upgrading at the center position.
Full credit to Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha for stepping up this past season and admirably filling the void left by the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. They combined for 46 goals and 119 points while manning the middle of the top-6 for the Black and Gold this past season, which actually surpassed the 43 goals and 114 points that Krejci and Bergeron combined for during the 2022-23 regular season.
But it felt glaring that the Bruins didn’t have enough of a dominant 1-2 punch at the center position come playoff time when it came to the faceoff department, simply transporting the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive zone and having somebody able to matchup with opposing star frontline centers like Sasha Barkov. In short, it felt like they were one frontline center short of a true contending roster that really didn’t have enough this spring to fully push a dominant Florida Panthers in the second round of the playoffs.
“There are some things we need to address, and I need to address from the standpoint of free agency and or internal growth, I think [Charlie] Coyle, [Pavel] Zacha, a bunch of guys were able to step forward. And they were cast as a little bit of misfits in that in that regard,” said Sweeney. “We didn't see it that way. And I think they stepped forward and several other guys did too. We have to conquer that I have to be able to find some players that can come in and provide secondary scoring for us and key opportune times.”
“Misfits” is probably too strong of a word for what anybody considered Boston’s center situation this past season, but there’s little argument that adding a frontline pivot would slot everybody into a more comfortable spot.
Adding a top-line center would allow Coyle to slide down to a second-line center spot where he’d probably be a better fit and give the Bruins the flexibility to move Zacha over to a top-6 wing position if that’s where he fits their plans best. Then the Bruins could allow talented, playmaking Matt Poitras to compete for a third-line center spot coming off shoulder surgery and have a host of other pivot candidates like Morgan Geekie, Jesper Boqvist and Johnny Beecher ready to man the third- and fourth-line center spots at the bottom of the forward group.
A number of those players could be center candidates, but most of them weren’t exactly lighting the world on fire at the faceoff dot with Geekie (44.1 percent), Frederic (45.4 percent) and Boqvist (35.7 percent) all struggling during the regular season. Poitras wasn’t much better at 43.7 percent on faceoffs, but the expectation is such a young player will improve in that category with more seasoning at the pro level.
Certainly, Sweeney wasn’t discounting Poitras’ chances of again winning an NHL roster spot once he’s healthy next fall.
“We are in a situation where we can look to add to our core group of guys, and that also includes some of the younger guys, as Cam [Neely] mentioned, I think [Matt] Poitras was another one that we're going to hopefully come back as he’s healthy next year and see what he's capable of doing,” said Sweeney of the 20-year-old that finished with five goals and 15 points in 33 games as a rookie last season. “Moving forward he has to come back in and earn his spot like all of our young players and incoming returning players and [we will see] how much they can push the group internally. But we’re going to be aggressive [in free agency] to be able to complement what we currently have in some areas.”
All that being said, it shouldn’t surprise anybody that the chatter around the league is the Bruins are focused on upgrading the center position with the $20 plus million in salary cap space they’ll be holding this summer.
"I expect the Bruins to be in on [Elias Lindholm] if he hits the market,” said Hockey Night in Canada host Elliotte Friedman on last week’s 32 Thoughts podcast. “And you can throw [Vegas Golden Knights center] Chandler Stephenson in there.
“People believe Boston is going to get a center. Whether it's Lindholm, Stephenson or somebody else that we haven’t mentioned, there's a belief they are going to do something down the middle.”
Elliotte Friedman on today's 32 Thoughts podcast amidst Martin Necas speculation: "There was something going on w/[the Bruins and] another Eastern Conference team, a contender, and Ullmark. I do believe the Bruins & Hurricanes talked an Ullmark deal"https://t.co/XPbZeZzehk
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) May 24, 2024
The 30-year-old Lindholm would appear to be the big target that the Bruins want to bring in after being interested in him last season at the trade deadline. Lindholm is a well-rounded, experienced two-way defenseman who fits the mold of what the Bruins would be looking for and should still have gas in the tank at 29 years old.
The Vancouver Canucks ultimately outbid everybody else for Lindholm’s services at the trade deadline and the B’s understandably stood pat with their centers at the time based on the way Coyle and Zacha were outperforming expectations. Lindholm wasn’t great in Vancouver after the trade with just six goals and 12 points in 26 games along with a minus-6 rating and had just 15 goals and 44 points combined in a generally down season between Calgary and Vancouver last season.
But Lindholm elevated his game to five goals and 10 points in 13 playoff games along with a plus-4 rating for the Canucks, and he’s only a couple of years removed from a 42-goal, 82-point season with the Flames before the departures of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk submarined a strong Calgary group.
We're looking back on the best moments of the Canucks playoff run!
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) May 28, 2024
Today it's Elias Lindholm's overtime winner to complete the comeback in game four against the Nashville Predators!
📽️: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/mWPI2nDgrZ
That gives plenty of reason to believe Lindholm could revert to top form in joining a strong Bruins forward group that’s a frontline center away from being a truly dangerous bunch. The Bruins are also, as Friedman said, linked to Vegas Golden Knights pivot Chandler Stephenson, who isn’t a massive point producer but instead boasts a pair of Stanley Cup championships in Washington and Vegas on his resume.
Still, he’s averaged 18 goals and 60 points for the Golden Knights over the last three seasons and is young enough at 30 years old to continue to produce at that level for at least the next few seasons. And he isn’t likely to cost as much as Lindholm in terms of free agency dollars and term when the NHL free agency craziness kicks into overdrive.
Beyond the free agents, there’s also a strong link to Carolina Hurricanes restricted free agent center Martin Necas. The 25-year-old Czech center has been productive with 97 goals and 243 points over the last five NHL seasons in Carolina and appears to be on the outs with a Canes team that isn’t going to be able to provide him with the payday he’s looking for.
Clearly the talent is there and there’s always upside to adding some more of David Pastrnak’s countrymen to the Bruins mix, particularly after they all won a world championship this past month.
The Carolina Hurricanes have some tough decisions to make this offseason.
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) May 28, 2024
Could trading Martin Necas be the first of several moves? #CauseChaos@KathrynTappen | @jasondemers5 | @KenDaneykoMSG | @FriedgeHNIC | #NHLNow pic.twitter.com/LQYi6KOJWe
The Necas situation combined with previous trade talks between Carolina and Boston involving goalie Linus Ullmark give the Bruins another avenue to pursue a frontline center. The downside with Necas: He’s played mostly wing in Carolina and he clocked in winning just 34.1 percent of his draws with the Hurricanes last season.
It feels like, however, it wouldn’t be a straight Necas-for-Ullmark hockey trade even if something did happen with those two players. Goalies, even former Vezina Trophy winners, simply don’t fetch that much in trade even if Don Sweeney took issue with that line of thinking at the end-of-season presser.
“I think that goaltenders trade hands, you know, draft scenario one through nine overall one year. So, it's really what teams needs and what the market will bear, and ultimately it comes down to supply and demand, what a team wants and what you might have, ultimately, that generally shapes the trade market. There isn't a lot of goaltenders in exchange, so it's a small sample size to begin with, but arguably, they change and what other teams need will set the return.
“In a perfect world, we would keep the tandem because I think it's damn good. But we're going to explore opportunities. My phone's going to ring, I'm going to make calls. That's just what the job requires.”
In that perfect world, there is a huge mandate for the Bruins to upgrade their center position after the team showed this past year that they are perhaps closer to winning a Stanley Cup than anybody could have thought after losing Bergeron and Krejci. Sweeney and Co. are in a unique position to adding impact, game-changing kinds of players this summer and that all starts with improving their play down the middle.