Boston Bruins: Would Eric Staal have made a big difference?

News emerged today that the Boston Bruins were in for Eric Staal from the Minnesota Wild last trade deadline. Do they still make the Stanley Cup Final if that move occurred?

Now, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required), Eric Staal nearly ended up as a member of the Boston Bruins at the trade deadline; in fact, it was the player himself that vetoed such a move. In hindsight, maybe he regrets his decision especially given he could’ve still renewed with the Minnesota Wild, as he indeed did.

You’d hedge a bet that the cost of the transaction would’ve been roughly equal to what was paid to bring in Marcus Johansson. A couple of draft picks to grab a rental player for the rigours of the NHL post-season. In that regard, the prospect pool and roster look no different if the move goes ahead or not.

However, the thinking is that such a move leads to Charlie Coyle potentially playing right-wing on the second line, given Eric Staal is primarily a center. You’d safely say that move actually improves your center depth and in actuality even improves the right-wing.

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Singled out like this, it’s a smart move and might’ve lead to a modicum more success. Maybe a couple less games, but there’s obviously no guarantee on winning the Stanley Cup on the difference of just one player.

Thinking goes though; with Charlie Coyle on their line, maybe David Krejci and Jake Debrusk find a different gear. Maybe they’re not in such average form by the time it gets to the Stanley Cup Final.

Who knows though, because perhaps the Boston Bruins don’t even make the Final should Staal have actually joined. After all, it was the fact that Staal didn’t join that led to Johansson being acquired instead. In turn, he found great form in the play-offs alongside none other than Charlie Coyle.

If Staal gets traded to the Boston Bruins, Johansson never finds that form alongside Coyle and who knows what that means for the play-off run. There were games there when the third and fourth line were easily the best two performing ones and you mess with that chemistry and maybe there’s no Stanley Cup Final. Does Staal manage 11 points like Johansson or provide more?

Looking at it from a different perspective though, Johansson had a significantly lower Corsi For in the regular season to Staal; 48.45% versus the latter’s 52.61%. Likewise, Staal was scoring 0.2 points per 60 minutes more than his counterpart and a better five-on-five shooting percentage by 1.03%.

Using just those statistics and ignoring chemistry and other less measurable factors, maybe in fact Eric Staal was the missing piece of the jigsaw. Factor in double the number of hits and a strong face-off winning percentage and maybe for Staal, it’s a missed opportunity.

We’re dealing completely in hypothetical, but for the Boston Bruins that’s last year. They are now focused firmly forward, hoping to win one more play-off game than last year.