After being a player that bounced all around the Minnesota Wild lineup while playing different roles for a team that always seemed to need something different from him, Charlie Coyle has become one of the consistent bricks that Boston has been able to build their team foundation around.
The Weymouth native has defined the term “core member” of the Black and Gold over the last five seasons and is coming off his best NHL campaign while stepping into the massive shoes of Patrice Bergeron after his retirement. The 32-year-old posted career-highs of 25 goals and 60 points in 82 games with a minus-2 rating while centering Brad Marchand pretty much all season and goes into this year poised to do the same as a second line for the B’s while David Pastrnak, Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha will likely make up the top forward line.
Coyle has high hopes for himself and for the team as well after putting together such a strong first season after the retirements of Bergeron and David Krejci.
“I think having another year under your belt and with [Bergeron and Krejci] gone and knowing kind of what to expect — everyone’s roles kind of changed a little bit,” said Coyle while speaking to reporters at the Bruins Fan Fest in Plymouth a couple of weeks ago. “There’s more responsibility put on some guys, and I want more responsibility on my shoulders.
“That’s why you play. You want that and I got a little more of that with playing different situations last year. So that’s huge. That can only help to get acclimated with that. I want to be a guy who plays in all sorts of roles and be important to the team. We all do. I think we can take another step forward here this year.”
Coyle was essentially the de facto top line center last season with no Bergeron or Krejci around after years serving as the third line center, and he may be bumping down a line this season after the Bruins inked Lindholm to a massive seven-year deal in free agency. But none of that is in any way disconcerting to a team guy like Coyle that sees Boston shoring up the center position with Lindholm and Mark Kastelic as a positive development for a hockey club whose center depth was challenged at times last year.
“I love the signings here. A lot of the guys, Kastelic too, just add a little bit of grit,” said Coyle. “Those guys, you can never have enough of that on the team. It’s a great thing to have, guys who work hard and can play the game well. I think it’s huge. It’s going to add to our identity a little bit. When you have 1-2-3-4 lines that can [just roll through games], wear [teams] down, it gets to be a bit much to defend.
“We’re looking forward to that. It’s something to build on. That’s the way we should play. That’s hockey, that’s playing the right way, and we gotta do more of that.”
Rolling lines, playing physical hockey and overwhelming teams with depth is undoubtedly winning hockey the way it should be played, and that’s always something Coyle has been striving for in his distinguished time with the hometown Bruins.
ONE TIMERS
*A little bit of interesting prospect movement as Bruins fifth-round draft pick Jonathan Morello, who impressed at dev camp with his speed and overall skill level, has decommitted from Clarkson University and is reportedly now set to play hockey at Boston University starting in the 2025-26 hockey season.
Well, that's an interesting Bruins prospect development https://t.co/hK4yyQA7nV
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) September 2, 2024
Morello is still slated to play for Dubuque in the USHL this coming season and then will be playing for Jay Pandolfo and Kim Branvold with the Terriers in a couple of seasons, a trend that we’re seeing with B’s draft picks where they end up playing collegiate hockey somewhere in New England where the Bruins can keep close tabs on the players.
Morello, who just turned 18 years old at the end of July and still had his moments as one of the youngest guys in Bruins development camp, posted 25 goals and 57 points in 50 games for the St. Michael’s Buzzers in the OJHL this past season. That should make him a great get for the Terriers program as well as they load up for another series of runs at a national title over the next few seasons.
* Well, how do you like that? After ranking the Boston Bruins at the very bottom of the NHL draft-and-develop pipeline over the last couple of years running, The Athletic bumped them up a few spots to 29th overall this summer after watching Mason Lohrei, Johnny Beecher, Matt Poitras and other young B’s prospects show that perhaps the Bruins prospect cupboard wasn’t nearly as bare as once speculated.
Boston’s ability to secure a first-round pick in the Linus Ullmark trade and draft a high-end center like Dean Letourneau gave the Bruins a high-ceiling prospect they were perhaps missing the last couple of seasons, and credit Corey Pronman for nailing the scouting report on Letourneau, as this is exactly what I saw during Bruins development camp:
“Letourneau was a dominant player at the prep level this season and is one of the best pro prospects to come through St. Andrew’s College. His toolkit is rather unique. He skates very well for a 6-foot-7 player. That he has legit offensive touch to go along with his feet makes his pro projection appealing. He can dangle defenders at full flight and create a lot of scoring chances. Letourneau doesn’t have high energy compete, though, and some scouts question his effort at times.
“But he gets to the middle well enough and isn’t afraid of using his body. The debate on Letourneau will be how real his offense is. The athleticism is obvious, but is he actually NHL smart or does he have NHL scoring ability? It’s so hard to pinpoint at the low level of competition he faced all season. He could be Tage Thompson, but he could be Joe Colborne or Riley Tufte too. I think he ends up somewhere in the middle.”
Letourneau is undeniably very talented and full of great potential as a 6-foot-7 center prospect, but he’s going to need to work on the consistent motor and compete level as he climbs up to a higher competitive rung playing at Boston College next season.