Sportsnet: Shayna Goldman on the Jeff Marek Show talking about the Boston Bruins and how they will need to address their center position.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “And we saw the top three teams in the NHL lose. The Rangers lost the Buffalo, the Boston Bruins lost to Columbus, and the Vegas Golden Knights lost to Calgary. Boston’s lost three games in a row now. Do they stink?
Goldman: “Yep, cancel the season. It’s over. They’re terrible. Throw them out. You know what, they’re a tough one because you open the season and you look at this incredible record. And you have to remember the context, they have the easiest schedule in the league. So yes, getting the points early is important, but there’s more to it than I think that they needed.
I still think the Bruins are very good team. I think that they’re gonna have to make a change in the top-nine. I think they’re gonna need another center. Like it’s, I think, if anything the next month or two will decide that they’re not running away with games consistently. Like you want to have as much support as you could have and they just don’t have it.
But they should be encouraged by what their goaltenders have done, you know, Jeremy Swayman I think has been incredibly impressive. I think that Linus Ullmark too. You have one of the best tandems in the league. You know you have a really good blue line. You know, Charlie McAvoy is playing, you know, top-notch hockey most of the time this season.
So this is just kind of like a little blip in their season, but it’s never a bad thing I think for a team to get a reality check earlier after flying high to start the season because it gives you a little more context on what you need to build on. So often, we see teams run away with their records and they just keep playing at that level when you should be improving along the way and just trying to get better, even if you’re you know, compiling the wins. So I think it’s it’s good for them to get this out of the way now so they’re better down the stretch.
Marek: “So what you’re saying is they’re still shopping for Elias Lindholm?”
Goldman: “I mean, they should be. Absolutely should be. That center depth is not what they need it to be. I think, even like you look at someone like (Pavel) Zacha and they brought him in last year, and he had one of the best seasons of his career. It was on the wing. I know this is a player that likes to be at center more. So that was true throughout his time in New Jersey. He was better on the wing. So you need to maximize players.
I don’t think it’s ideal to have Charlie Coyle as your you know, trying to have him as a top-line center. He’s really good as a middle-six center. So while you can try to make up for that with elite winger depth right or, you know, a super strong blue line or amazing goaltenders, you want to be as well-rounded as possible.
And for Boston, you want to be doing this in the Brad Marchand era. They didn’t get to do it again in the Patrice Bergeron era. So maybe that puts a little more pressure on it and you want to do it while Pastrnak and McAvoy are in their primes. And you know Hampus Lindholm is playing at this level and you have the strength and net that you have right now.
So yeah, definitely the time to look seriously down the middle and find an option whether you go as flashy as Elias Lindholm or you can find someone a little bit more low-key that’s going to take them up a notch from where they are right now.
