Boston Bruins: What to expect from Charlie Coyle in 2021
By Matt Hawkins
What can we expect from Boston Bruins’ center Charlie Coyle for the 2021 season?
Charlie Coyle was acquired by the Boston Bruins back in February of 2019 in a trade with the Minnesota Wild that saw forward Ryan Donato and a 2019 fourth-round pick go the other way.
Since being traded for, Coyle has been a great third line center. In 91 games with Boston, Coyle has registered 18 goals and 25 assists for 43 points. He’s a borderline second line center.
Because of his efforts, Coyle was awarded a six-year extension with an average annual value (AAV) of $5.25 million in November of 2019. So, if David Krejci or Patrice Bergeron decide to retire in this time frame or leave the team, Coyle will most likely be promoted to the top-six.
But with Coyle poised to play yet another season on the third line, what can we expect from him?
Through his time with the Bruins so far, Coyle has a 0.20 goals per game and 0.27 assists per game for 0.47 points per game. However, his career and Wild assists per game and points per game are all higher.
But last season Coyle averaged 0.23 goals per game and 0.30 assists per game for 0.53 points game with 16 goals and 21 assists for 37 points in 70 games.
So with the addition of Craig Smith, an almost guaranteed lock for 20 goals in a regular 82-game season, to the team, I think Coyle’s assists per game will be higher than his career average of 0.31 in 2021.
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Even if Smith is on the second line when David Pastrnak returns from injury, Coyle will have Ondrej Kase on his right wing, which is still better than what he had last season.
While I think his assists per game will go up, I don’t think the same for his goals per game. This is because Coyle’s career and Wild goals per game are both lower at 0.19. I think it’ll remain between his Bruins average of 0.20 and what he did last season.
So I think a goals per game of 0.22 and assists per game of 0.35 for 0.57 is fair to expect from Coyle in 2021. In 56 games, this gives Coyle 12 goals and 20 assists for 32 points.
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Overall, Coyle will be once again serving as the Bruins’ third line center. If it wasn’t for Bergeron and Krejci he would most likely be playing in the B’s top-six.