The Boston Bruins have seen incredible productivity from their fourth line so far in the 2024-25 season. The three members of the line are Mark Kastelic, who arrived from the Ottawa Senators in the Linus Ullmark trade this past summer, Johnny Beecher, the team’s 2019 first-round draft pick, and Cole Koepke.
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Koepke signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Bruins at the start of free agency this past offseason. The 26-year-old arrived from the Tampa Bay Lightning organization and spent most of last season in the American Hockey League (AHL).
While the Bruins are only 16 games into the 2024-25 season, Koepke has already far exceeded expectations. Not only did he make the team out of training camp, a surprise to many, but he is currently fourth on the team in overall points and is tied for third in goals with Justin Brazeau. He, along with Kastelic and Beecher, has been a bright spot in a very up-and-down start to the season.
Road to the NHL
Koepke was born on May 17, 1998, in Minnesota. He was a bit of a late bloomer and primarily played for Hermantown High School’s hockey team as a teenager. He eventually joined the United States Hockey League (USHL) when he was eighteen, a few years older than when many future NHLers joined the league. He played for the Sioux Falls Musketeers.
His breakout season came in 2017-18. He became an alternate captain for the Musketeers and registered 28 goals and 39 points in 60 games. He had more than double the amount of goals than he did assists, a ratio not seen often in hockey. His obvious goal-scoring abilities, power forward size (he’s 6-foot-2), and commitment to play for the University of Minnesota Duluth got the attention of NHL scouts. In the 2018 NHL Entry Level Draft at the age of 20, he was selected by the Lightning in the sixth round.
Koepke spent the next three seasons at the University of Minnesota Duluth, putting together a solid National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) career. He was part of an NCAA championship team in the 2018-19 season, was named to the NCHC, Duluth’s collegiate conference, first All-Star team in 2019-20, and was an honorable mention the following season. Additionally, he was a Hobey Baker Award nominee in his final NCAA season. In 104 games for Duluth, he registered 38 goals, 37 assists, and 75 total points.
Time with the Lightning Organization
Koepke made his professional hockey debut in the 2020-21 season after his third collegiate season came to an end. He joined Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, for the final nine games of their season. In that time, he scored his first professional goal and finished the nine-game stretch with two goals and three points in nine games. He spent the entirety of the following season (2021-22) with the Crunch, registering 20 goals and 39 assists in 69 games.
In the following season, Koepke made his NHL debut on Oct. 11, 2022, for the Lightning while facing off against the New York Rangers. His first NHL goal came a little over a month later on Nov. 13, 2022, against the Washington Capitals. In total, he spent 17 games with the Lightning that season, his only point being the one goal.
Last season, he once again spent the majority of his time in Syracuse. He appeared in nine NHL games, registering two assists in those games while having his second 20-goal season in the AHL.
What He Brings to the Bruins
There wasn’t much fanfare to Koepke’s arrival in Boston with most people assuming he would be used the same way he was in the Tampa Bay organization – an occasional call-up. He wasn’t just a dark horse candidate to make the Bruins roster out of training camp, he basically wasn’t on anyone’s radar.
But after an excellent training camp and preseason, Koepke made the roster and he hasn’t looked back since then. From the very first game, he has been impressive. All four of his goals have come at even strength, tied for first on the team with Brad Marchand (yes, he has more even-strength goals than David Pastrnak). He’s only averaging around 11 minutes of ice time a night, but the team is at its best during those 11 minutes.
With eight points in 16 games so far, Koepke has already far surpassed his stats for the Lightning (one goal and three points in 26 games). He’s also a plus-11, which leads the team for plus/minus. He, along with his linemates Kastelic and Beecher, defenseman Nikita Zadorov, Pavel Zacha, and newcomer Tyler Johnson, who has only appeared in three of 16 games so far, are the only plus players on the team at the moment.
Throughout his hockey career, Koepke has been a goal-scorer. While he wasn’t able to realize his potential in Tampa Bay, so far in 2024-25, the goals are coming. He’s a high-volume shooter who currently has a shooting percentage of 17.4%, fourth on the team behind Kastelic, Brazeau, and Beecher. He has 25 total shots on goal this season. What he does well is what many of his teammates have struggled with for stretches so far, simply getting shots off.
For a few seasons now, the Bruins have been a pretty top-heavy team when it comes to their forwards while struggling to get consistent offense out of their fourth line, and this season has seen the reverse issue. Koepke has been a big part of the offensive strength currently coming from the bottom of the depth chart.
While expectations may have been very low coming into the season, Koepke has certainly taken advantage of the moment, not only making the roster in Boston but making himself indispensable. There are 60-plus games left in the season and he will be one to watch in each and every one of them. There is a lot of potential in his game and this opening stretch has shown that the Bruins may have gotten the steal of the 2024 free agency by signing him to a league-minimum contract.
Road to American Thanksgiving
This is an important month for the Bruins. After a rough October, this is the time to get things back on track, and hopefully be in a playoff position by American Thanksgiving. The Atlantic Division continues to be a tough one, with the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers, solidly at the top. As head coach Jim Montgomery tries to jump-start the rest of the offense, it’ll be interesting to see what he does with Koepke. Already, he has gotten some time playing in the top two lines and is currently slated on the third line with Matthew Poitras and Charlie Coyle.
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Even as some of the other guys on the team, like Marchand, have finally gotten momentum going, Koepke has remained a top player. He contributed a goal in their recent overtime victory over the Calgary Flames and has been seeing an increase in his playing time over the past few games. It’ll be interesting to watch and see if his role expands in the next few weeks and if he’s able to continue to rise to the occasion like has so far in 2024-25.
