Boston Bruins: Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson deals prove genius

Despite reportedly being involved in trade talks for some of the big-name players available at the trade deadline last season, the Boston Bruins played it safe and brought in just Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson.

While there were plenty of question marks about the moves at the time, it proved to be the right decision. With the playoffs approaching and David Pastrnak sidelined with a thumb injury, there were plenty of questions about what the Boston Bruins were going to do at the trade deadline, they responded with Marcus Johansson and Charlie Coyle; not necessarily the guys people expected.

With reports circling that general manager Don Sweeney was involved in talks for Mark Stone or Wayne Simmonds, many fans were waiting in anticipation of some big news. Sweeney eventually did make trades, but they were seen at the time as a little surprising and slightly underwhelming.

The first trade that the Bruins made was to bring Charlie Coyle back to the team that he had grown up cheering for. The 27-year-old had 28 points in 60 games with the Minnesota Wild before being shipped up to Boston.

The move made the Boston Bruins better immediately, but the fear was that they had given up on Ryan Donato too soon. The 23-year-old had impressed in his brief stint with the Bruins during the 2017-18 season, recording 9 points in 12 regular season games.

It seemed as though Donato was well on his way to developing into a mainstay in the NHL.  However, he only recorded 9 points in 34 games with the Boston Bruins before being sent to the Minnesota Wild.

The Boston Bruins followed up trading for Coyle by acquiring Marcus Johansson from the New Jersey Devils. While Johansson only played in 10 games for Boston during the regular season because of an upper-body injury, he was often the best player on the ice for the Bruins during the playoffs.

It was during the playoffs that both players proved their worth and made Don Sweeney look like a genius for not overpaying at the trade deadline.

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Coyle finished the postseason tied for fifth in scoring on the Bruins with 16 points, while Johansson was a few spots behind that with 11 points. However, both players seemed to score whenever the team needed it most.

Johansson scored the game-winning goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the first round and then Coyle scored the game-tying goal and overtime winner in Game 1 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It was well-documented that the first line struggled throughout most of the playoffs, but it was always Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson on the third line that stepped up in their absence. It seems pretty unlikely that Boston would have even made it to the Stanley Cup Final without the two trade deadline acquisitions.

While the Boston Bruins came up just short of their ultimate goal, bringing in Coyle and Johansson gave them a perfect opportunity to win without giving up much of their future assets. It was a big change from what Sweeney did during the 2017-18 season when he acquired Rick Nash from the New York Rangers in exchange for Ryan Spooner, Matt Beleskey, Ryan Lindgren and the 1st and 7th round picks in the 2018 Draft.

Marcus Johansson is now an unrestricted free agent and will likely be looking to cash in on a deal worth much more than the Bruins can afford right now, but Charlie Coyle is still under contract for one more season. With Coyle being more than just a rental player, it makes that trade even better for the Bruins, especially with his cap hit at just $3.2 million.

Regardless of how last season ended, the additions of Coyle and Johansson proved to be the deals that the Bruins needed to take them on a lengthy playoff run. It proved that chasing after the biggest names available isn’t always the right move as you prepare for the playoffs, and the Boston Bruins are a perfect example of that.

More importantly, these deals allowed the team to get better immediately without sacrificing the future.