By: Andrew Parker
The Bruins have been great so far this season and they got even better at the trade deadline. Following the latest victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on the last day of February, the Bruins did not lose a game in regulation in the entire month. Jake DeBrusk is the hottest player in the league right now, the fourth line is clicking like never before, and secondary scoring is stepping up with the absence of David Pastrnak.
Oh, and then they also acquired two pretty solid pieces at the deadline to help out.
Charlie Coyle
The Bruins traded for Massachusetts native Charlie Coyle at the deadline, giving the Wild a fifth round pick and Ryan Donato. Coyle brings much needed stability to a third line that never seemed to show up this season.
The haul going back to Minnesota seemed fair, as Donato seemed to be passed in the depth chart by other younger wingers like Danton Heinen and Peter Cehlarik. Also, Coyle is the perfect solution to the third line center job, something the Bruins haven’t been able to fill since Riley Nash left in free agency last off-season.
So far since Coyle has arrived, we have seen Cehlarik-Coyle-Backes and Nordstrom-Coyle-Backes. Those are far better lines than what we have seen earlier this season.
Marcus Johansson
The Bruins waited until one hour before the end of the trade deadline to acquire Marcus Johansson from the New Jersey Devils for two draft picks. Johansson was a name who started gaining speculation with the Bruins during the day of the deadline, after not being able to land Mark Stone or Wayne Simmonds.
Don Sweeney also did not want to part with a first round pick two years in a row, so it may have limited the Bruins chances at a top tier talent. Regardless, the addition of Johansson for the price was fair.
Since he was acquired, he has been slotted in on the RW on David Krejci’s line and fit in perfect. With a DeBrusk-Krejci-Johansson line while Pastrnak is out, the team can still compete at a high level and produce secondary scoring when needed.
The trade deadline went well for the Bruins, as they acquired two pieces they needed for their playoff run and to compete with the Lightning. When fully healthy, I expect the Bruins lines to look something like this:
Marchand-Bergeron-Heinen
DeBrusk-Krejci-Pastrnak
Johansson-Coyle-Backes
Acciari-Kuraly-Wagner
Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Gryzelyck-Miller
Cover photo via: Christopher Evans/Boston
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