Despite dropping the season opener to the Florida Panthers in disappointing fashion, the Boston Bruins now hold a 2-1-0 record heading into a rematch with the defending Stanley Cup Champions at home Monday. In the early goings of the regular season, it’s not uncommon to see teams stumble out of the gate and shuffle lines to find combinations that work and establish consistency. The Bruins are no exception to this and should tinker with their lineup now to best position themselves as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. With new additions like Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, the team has already made a clear statement that reshaping their identity is not just a goal, but a necessity.
The key focus of this lineup tinkering should involve Boston’s center depth. Though Lindholm is off to a blazing hot start with the Bruins, scoring two goals and five points in his first three games, the emergence of Matt Poitras could give them some interesting options worth considering. The ability to adjust the roles of Lindholm, Poitras, and Charlie Coyle could create a more balanced and familiar attack for the team while maximizing the talents of their top forwards.
As it stands, Lindholm is the team’s top center on a line flanked by David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha. Lindholm’s defensive reliability paired with Pastrnak’s elite offensive game is a perfect match on paper; especially considering Lindholm is no offensive slouch himself, scoring 42 goals just a few seasons ago. Zacha’s transition back to the left wing—after serving as the team’s top center last season—has provided flexibility, but there remains potential for this line to be more explosive.
The Lindholm and Pastrnak combination has worked early in the season, but experimenting with Poitras on the top line could give Boston a new offensive dimension while also using Lindholm in a more beneficial way elsewhere in the lineup.
Poitras’ Potential an Intriguing Factor
Poitras is fresh off a standout performance in his season debut against the Los Angeles Kings after missing the first two games due to a preseason injury. Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery described it as Poitras’ best NHL game to date, which saw him play alongside Pastrnak and Zacha at various points of the game for brief intervals. It was a game that showed exactly what Poitras is capable of as a full-time NHL player. This would be on full display Saturday when Poitras made a brilliant pass at the end of his shift, leading to Pastrnak’s game-winner against the Kings.
Placing Poitras on the top line would unlock his high hockey IQ and creativity while giving him the opportunity to thrive alongside two of the Bruins’ most reliable offensive forces. This shift could help Poitras reach his full potential faster. This move would come with a lot more responsibility for Poitras, but it’s worth a look to see how he fairs while shifting Lindholm down to form a strong second line.
Related: Bruins Need to Figure Out How to Win Against Panthers
Shifting Lindholm to the second line could lead to significant benefits for Brad Marchand, who played the vast majority of his career alongside Patrice Bergeron, one of the greatest two-way centers in NHL history. Lindholm won’t replace Bergeron, but he does give the Bruins some sorely needed, high-IQ play cut from a similar cloth as Bergeron and would provide Marchand with the kind of support he has thrived on throughout his career.
Pairing Marchand and Lindholm together is a good fit in theory, but it also creates other questions that must be answered. For starters, the move would displace Charlie Coyle who has occupied a top-six role on the team since the retirements of Bergeron and David Krejci. It’s possible that Coyle could be used as a winger on this line, shifting Morgan Geekie down a line, but that may not be the best use of Coyle’s talents.
Reuniting Coyle and Frederic on the Third Line
Coyle has long been a versatile piece for the Bruins, capable of playing anywhere in the top nine and impacting the game. Reuniting Coyle and Frederic on the third line should give the team the physical, gritty depth needed to wear down opponents and dominate the tougher matchups. This move would help restore one of Boston’s most effective line combinations.
Adding Justin Brazeau, a physical presence himself, to this line would amplify its ability to dominate along the boards and in the dirty areas of the ice. Coyle and Frederic’s past chemistry should ease this transition, making them a strong checking line that can contribute offensively as well. This, in addition to the team’s fourth line that features John Beecher, Mark Kastelic and Cole Koepke, would allow the Bruins to roll four effective lines with consistency. Historically, the team has always been at its best when they can operate like this and this lineup has the chance to be one of the deepest in the NHL if everything goes according to plan.
This, of course, is exactly where the hypothetical could fall apart.
In a perfect world, the Bruins will have quickly developed a new top-six center in Poitras who can free up other players to play in situations their best suited for. He wouldn’t even have to be a legitimate top-tier player for the Bruins to benefit from such a move. At the same time, though, the Bruins aren’t in a situation where they can necessarily manage the highs and lows of development. If a player is going to experience their fair share of struggles, and this is fair to expect of a 20-year-old like Poitras, Montgomery may prefer to let him do so in a sheltered third-line role.
This is why the Bruins should be experimenting with moves like this early in the season to give themselves the most time to find a scenario that sticks. The reality of the situation is that teams don’t just manage lines from a game-to-game standpoint, but often from a shift-to-shift standpoint if the situation calls for it. There’s no harm in testing this hypothetical lineup in game-action, especially when lines can be shuffled between shifts.
