Marco Sturm's young stars are starting to take center stage for Bruins

It's always interesting to see how a roster begins to take shape when a new head coach takes over. The Boston Bruins entered this season with Marco Sturm attempting to put his spin on the roster, and some of his favorites are getting plenty of opportunities. The players most benefiting during this four-game winning streak are Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov.

While Jim Montgomery and Joe Sacco loved slotting John Beecher into a bottom-six center spot, Sturm dressed him for just five games so far this season. If Elias Lindholm didn't have an injury, that number might be just at three, as he was the Swedish center's replacement in the past two games.

Minten overtook Beecher as the team's young, bottom-six center this season. Minten has been a favorite of the new head coach ever since training camp, and he has been getting more and more opportunities as the season continued. The same goes for Khusnutdinov, who started the year as a fringe player in the lineup and is now running away with his opportunity at the first-line center spot.

While Khusnutdinov earned his way to a place in the lineup alongside David Pastrnak, that doesn't mean that Minten hasn't looked good in the bottom six. He is making the most out of a lack of offensive depth around him, and his reliable two-way game impresses Sturm nightly. Look no further than Tuesday night's win against the New York Islanders, as the head coach shortened his bench big time, and Minten was one of the players who benefited.

Bruins young stars shine against Islanders

Tanner Jeannot, Mikey Eyssimont, and Beecher didn't have their best games on Tuesday. Sturm stapled them to the bench for the last half of the third period, and he also moved Morgan Geekie down to a line with Sean Kuraly and Mark Kastelic. It left Minten with the opportunity to play in the middle of Pastrnak and Khusnutdinov.

Minten didn't look out of place playing in the top half of the lineup. In fact, it was the new-look first line that connected on Khusnutdinov's tying goal with five minutes remaining, with Minten and Pastrnak getting the assists.

By the NHL GameScore Impact Card, Minten was the best player on the ice for the Bruins. It's the defensive metrics (shown in purple) that should impress Boston fans the most. While the next thing the rookie has to learn is how to contribute on offense, along with this impressive defensive play, having the floor of an above-average checking line center is a great start.

Fans don't always give Don Sweeney too much credit. However, it's worth giving him some recognition for his work at last year's trade deadline. Neither Minten nor Khusnutdinov was on the Bruins' roster at this time last year, but Sweeney was able to rebuild the future of his forward group by trading Brandon Carlo and Justin Brazeau.