The Boston Bruins were a historically good team in the regular season last season. They set NHL records for points, wins, and tons of other things in between. They were incredibly fun to watch every single night.
Unfortunately, not many are thinking that they will be that good again. They lost their top two centers as Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci have both retired from the NHL. That leaves a magnificent hole down the middle of the ice.
Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle are good players in this league but they are not a 1-2 punch that you win a Stanley Cup with more often than not. If they are your second and third-line centers, that could be a different story. It would be even better if they were young bottom-six guys.
With the wingers that the Boston Bruins have in addition to outstanding goaltending and defense, they should really try to fix this problem. There are too many very good players there to just give up because your top two centers retired.
The Boston Bruins need to go out and find themselves some more centers.
If the Bruins went out there and made a big trade for another center or two, they would look really smart. Now, Bergeron and Krejci were both on team-friendly deals so not much cap space opened up. They are going to have to get creative if they want to make an addition.
During the season, they could consider making a trade for someone who could come in and be their number-one center. They might even think about getting two guys if they can. We’ve seen Don Sweeney be aggressive before and he could be again.
These are the two (realistic to trade for) centers that the Bruins should look at ahead of anyone else: