Few teams lose their top-two centers in a single offseason, but that's the challenge the Boston Bruins faced entering the 2023-24 NHL season.
Not only did the Bruins lose a No. 1 and No. 2 center in Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, both of those players were franchise legends who helped lead the B's to their only title (2011) in the last 50 years. Making matters worse for the Bruins was the lack of salary cap space to replace these retiring stars with another top-six center over the summer.
One of the biggest questions surrounding the Bruins on Opening Night in October was, do they have enough depth and talent at center? Can they be a contender in the Eastern Conference if Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle are the team's top-six centers?
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Well, through the first two months of the season, the answer to both questions appears to be yes.
The Bruins really couldn't have asked for better production from both Coyle and Zacha so far. Coyle ranks third on the Bruins with 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 26 games. He is on pace to set career highs in goals, assists and points. He's also scoring 2.82 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, well above his previous high of 2.04 in 2016-17.
Coyle makes a strong impact defensively, too, which has been critical to the Bruins winning games without a six-time Selke Trophy winner in Bergeron. Coyle is winning 53.7 percent of his faceoffs, which ranks second on the B's and is the highest of his career. He also leads Bruins forwards with 2:55 of shorthanded ice time per game for a penalty kill that leads the league with a 89.9 percent success rate. The Bruins have a plus-4 goal differential with Coyle on the ice at 5-on-5 even though he starts just 40 percent of his shifts in the attacking zone. No one on the team has taken more defensive zone faceoffs than Coyle.
Zacha set career highs with 21 goals and 36 assists last season -- his first in Boston since arriving in a trade with the New Jersey Devils in July of 2022. The deal, which sent Erik Haula to New Jersey, has been an absolute steal for the Bruins. Zacha has scored eight goals with 10 assists in 26 games, putting him on pace for 25 goals and 34 assists over 82 games. Since he signed a four-year extension on Jan. 14, Zacha ranks 20th among all players in 5-on-5 goals scored with 18 in his last 67 regular season games.
Coyle and Zacha are actually outscoring Bergeron and Krejci at 5-on-5 through 26 games compared to last season.
The Bruins' production at center extends beyond Coyle and Zacha.
Rookies Matthew Poitras and John Beecher are playing a meaningful role as well. Poitras has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 25 games, which is good production from a 19-year-old kid who surprisingly earned an Opening Night roster spot.
Beecher has five points (four goals, one assist) points in 25 games while making a good impact defensively and on the penalty kill. He leads the Bruins with a 55.0 faceoff win percentage, while playing 1:46 of penalty kill time per game. He's a physical, smart two-way player who has started to earn head coach Jim Montgomery's trust in key spots. For example, when the Bruins needed to win a faceoff in their own zone near the end of Saturday's game against the Coyotes, it was Beecher who took it (and won it).
Other players who have mostly played on the wing with the Bruins but are natural centers include Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie. Frederic is on pace for a career-high 37 points. Now that Zacha is day-to-day with an upper body injury, we could see both Frederic and Geekie take more shifts down the middle than usual.
Overall, the Bruins have pretty good depth at center. This group has absolutely exceeded expectations set before the year, although there's still a lot of hockey left between now and the end of the regular season.
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Do the Bruins still need to add depth at center before the trade deadline in March? It's not a huge need at the moment, but doing so wouldn't be a bad idea. Much like starting pitching in baseball, you can never have enough good centermen. If Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm is available and a deal is possible, then B's general manager Don Sweeney should pursue that.
But right now, the Bruins' primary needs ahead of the trade deadline should be finding a goal-scoring wing and another reliable defenseman.
Boston's weaknesses defensively are a real concern, so adding another veteran presence to the blue line would make a lot of sense. David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and James van Riemsdyk are the team's top-scoring wingers, but after those guys there's plenty of uncertainty.
It would be helpful if Jake DeBrusk rediscovered his scoring form from last season. His four goals in 25 games are simply not going to cut it. Therefore, another proven goal scorer on the wing could make a tremendous impact on this team's ability to win in the playoffs.
Given the importance of the center position, it's very encouraging for the Bruins that these players have performed so well to this point in the season. A lot of teams wouldn't have been able to recover so quickly from losing players of Bergeron and Krejci's caliber in a single offseason, but Boston has done the job -- at least so far -- with an impressive mix of both veterans and rookies stepping up.