In a clear admission that Elias Lindholm has not quite turned into the player they thought he would be after landing him in free agency, the Bruins didn’t hide their post-playoff analysis that they currently lack a frontline, legitimate No. 1 center on their roster.
At least they lack a No. 1 center in the way that Patrice Bergeron filled that role for the better part of two decades.
Or even in the way that, for one excellent season, Charlie Coyle stepped up into the void to temporarily replace Bergeron in some important ways before consistently keeping up with that excellence caught up to him. Coyle was obviously not able to maintain that level of play prior to getting traded away from the Black and Gold in the great B’s fire sale of 2025, and since then, the Bruins have operated without a proper setup man down the middle for David Pastrnak.
It’s the reason they rushed a teenage Matt Poitras into a top 6 center role a couple of years ago and settled into a “No. 1 center by committee” approach this season that saw Lindholm, Fraser Minten, and even Pavel Zacha get shifts there when things got desperate in the postseason.
Not-so-coincidentally, Pastrnak’s goal-scoring totals have gone down in the three seasons since Bergeron’s retirement from a higher water mark of 61 goals in 2022-23, and bottomed out with Pastrnak failing to reach 30 goals in a full season for the first time in 10 years, dating back to the last NHL season where he spent time playing in Providence. Pastrnak’s play-making skills have obviously flourished at the same time while driving his line with a career-high 71 assists this season, but an unspoken part of that development has been that it’s a byproduct of not actually having a center to drive his line.
“We all in this room recognize we don't have a true number one [center], you know, and that's something that we want to try to rectify, whether it's this offseason or those [younger] guys growing into it,” said Cam Neely. “But it's something that we know that's needed [for the roster].”
The plain-spoken statement from Neely indicates that there are no high hopes that Lindholm is going to turn back into something resembling the 40-goal, 80-point guy they might be getting based on his career year in Calgary. The 31-year-old has attributed some of his Bruins struggles to back problems that have seen him produce a remarkably consistent 17 goals and either 47 or 48 points over the last couple of seasons, but those back woes didn’t stop him from playing a full 82 games two years ago or participating for Team Sweden in the Olympics this past season.
Elias Lindholm talks about the back injury he was dealing with most of the season: https://t.co/tOaM7FNp7N pic.twitter.com/3OuZQ4tSyL
— Bridgette Proulx (@bridgetteproulx) May 3, 2026
Instead, it’s become clear that the 30-year-old Lindholm is a player more suited for solid, no-frills third-line center duties rather than being a productive, dynamic top-line guy.
Lindholm is excellent on faceoffs and has an NHL shot when he gets the puck around the net, but he is remarkably prone to mistakes defensively despite his 200-foot player reputation and is very clearly not a line-driving center based on his skating and skill set.
At his most basic essence, Lindholm is essentially an $8 million per season (or just shy of it, anyway) complimentary player for the Black and Gold.
The best bet for the Bruins is that either 21-year-old Fraser Minten or 19-year-old James Hagens develops into that elusive No. 1 center a year or two down the line, with Minten even showing some very Bergeron-like qualities in his first full NHL season.
“I think they both have that skill set. They're both a little different players. One's more like Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] as far as a 200-foot player and maybe [doesn’t] see the ice as well as Hagens does. Hagens’ head is up all the time [and] he's constantly looking to distribute. Fraser said to me at the exit meetings, he's like, ‘wow. what a difference playoff hockey is compared to regular season hockey.’ So that experience for him was invaluable,” said Neely. “He realizes how things close quicker. There's not as much time to do anything. Once he figures that out, like every player does over time, or most players do over time, I think he's going to grow and continue to grow.
“Whether they either become number one centers is up to them and how that goes for them and what the path is for them. You know, we want to give these guys every opportunity to take a job that's staring at them.”
Clearly, it’s also a great sign that Minten and Hagens were both selected to play for their respective countries at the 2026 IIHF World Championships, but in the meantime, it may mean that Pavel Zacha is the de facto No. 1 center until somebody else enters the equation with true frontline center credentials.
The 28-year-old Zacha is coming off career-highs with 30 goals and 65 points centering a surprisingly effective second line, and that’s probably where he hits best on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. Zacha disappointed a bit in the playoffs with just a goal and three points in the six-game series against the Sabres while battling through a high ankle sprain that clearly hampered his play, but he was a beast in Boston’s post-Olympic schedule, helping to carry them to the postseason.
PAVEL ZACHA SENDS IT TO OT IN THE FINAL SECONDS OF THE GAME! pic.twitter.com/9y2Vh79whV
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) March 29, 2026
That actually signifies another brewing challenge for the B’s as Zacha is entering the last year of his contract, coming off a career year and doing so in an NHL that is desperate for frontline centers of any type.
“Even at the trade deadline as you're exploring, whether it’s this time or the summertime, you realize that when you do make a call about a player of that [No. 1 center] nature, the guy on the other side says there's not even 32 of them in the league,” said Don Sweeney. “We feel pretty good this year that by committee, our guys did a good job [at No. 1 center]. And Fraser [Minten] spent some time, you know, 50 games in, he spent some time up in that [No. 1 center] spot, which is not an easy spot to play in. You're seeing a hell of a lot harder matchups. You're playing with a star player, and you're trying to navigate at times. He did a good job.”
The dearth of available No. 1 centers around the league is even more apparent after old friend Coyle just signed a six-year, $36 million extension with ironclad no-trade protection that’s going to keep him in Columbus with the Blue Jackets until he’s 40 years old.
#CBJ Charlie Coyle on staying in Columbus: "I've seen what we have. I've seen our potential and I'm excited for it and it's something I want to be here for and work towards."
— Kellyanne Stitts (@KellyanneStitts) May 12, 2026
"I'm pumped to see what a full year of [Rick Bowness] Bones will do for us," pic.twitter.com/J7FhBL12uE
It’s a testament to Coyle’s value as a 200-foot pivot that can play in all situations, a tiny bit of desperation on the part of Columbus to retain one of their own core players and a burgeoning market that is going to overpay centers with a strong NHL resume. As good as Coyle has been, he never approached the numbers that Zacha posted last season while the Czech center has topped 20 goals in three of the last four seasons.
It all means the Bruins and Zacha could be headed toward a difficult negotiation if the B’s don’t get a head start on things when they can begin extension negotiations over the summer.
There will very clearly be somebody out there that will project Zacha to be their No. 1 center and overpay for him just as the Bruins did with Lindholm and his seven-year, $54.25 million contract a couple of years ago.
Some will advocate for the Bruins dealing Zacha for prospects and/or draft picks rather than overpaying him in his walk year, and there may be a chance to really sell high on the player for blue-chip assets this coming season if they determine they can't sign him to a new contract. But the B’s center picture gets markedly worse if Zacha ends up hitting the open market and going to a different, higher bidder, and it's not easy to replace guys like Zacha that play an honest, two-way game while also showing 30-goal potential.
“I’ll leave that on my agent and them this summer, if there’s going to be anything. But so far there’s been nothing [with contract talks]. We were on a mission this season to make the playoffs, and then go from there,” said Zacha during the Bruins breakup day. “I think we’re both focused on the same goal; unfortunately, it didn’t work out, but now that there’s time this summer, we’ll see what happens.
“Boston’s been a big help for my personal life and also hockey-wise when I came from Jersey, I turned my career here a little bit, so of course you would want to stay here. I think it’s also not up to me fully, so we’ll see how it goes. But yeah, I like Boston so it would be fun to be here for a long time.”
Undoubtedly, it would be fun for Zacha, but it’s also going to involve more term and more money for a younger, more productive player than Coyle as the league is getting desperate for frontline centers. There’s never been a better time for one of those guys to enjoy a career year and that’s going to turn into a hefty price for a Bruins team desperate for quality top 6 center play.
ONE TIMERS
*Charlie McAvoy finally paid the piper this week for his actions at the end of Game 6 and was suspended six games for his overhand, two-handed slash on Zach Benson in the closing minutes of the game.
There were somewhat comparable actions that had resulted in five game suspensions by the NHL Department of Player Safety, but this was McAvoy’s third career suspension by a department that definitely pays attention to its frequent customers.
It was pretty clear that an egregious two-handed slash where he choked up and raised the stick over his head in a baseball swing motion was going to get some kind of suspension, but it also made a little more sense that McAvoy went that route, instead of throwing punches at the Buffalo pest, when he disclosed on Bruins breakup day that he had a fracture in his right hand that he playing through at the end of the playoffs.
From a team standpoint, the absence of McAvoy from the lineup for the opening six games for next season is a giant void for a team that showed a lot of issues breaking the puck out of their own zone in the final weeks of the regular season. It puts the Bruins in a tough spot still paying for the price next year for a heat-of-the-moment situation at the end of a playoff series that was already lost.
But it also remains to be seen as to what kind of upgrades await for a Bruins team that was already looking to add another top 4 right-handed defenseman to a team that was forced to push AHL graduate Jonathan Aspirot into top 4 duty for most of the regular season and playoffs this past season.
The biggest issue that this humble hockey writer has with this entire situation is the light treatment given to Buffalo Benson for the slewfoot going into the corner that precipitated the whole situation. Clearly Benson was giving a little payback to McAvoy for his physical play in the first round series with a dirty trip that even the NHL Department of Player Safety folks termed “dangerous” in the suspension video.
Boston’s Charlie McAvoy has been suspended for six regular season games for slashing Buffalo’s Zach Benson. https://t.co/j90GKNYbMe
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) May 12, 2026
But the NHL decision makers apparently felt that a minor tripping penalty for a clear slewfoot was an adequate penalty for a player in Benson that is doing a lot of Brad Marchand-type things for Buffalo in these playoffs. If the NHL Department of Player Safety is really trying to protect the players, then they might want to consider beginning to legistlate clear, “dangerous” slewfoots out of the game just as much as players acting badly trying to get retribution after the fact.