Marco Sturm doesn’t know how he’s going to use Casey Mittelstadt. At least not yet. The new Bruins coach wants the 26-year-old forward to tell him – not with words, but through his play.
“For me, a lot of times it's actually the player will dictate that. Not me sometimes,” Sturm said this past Saturday when asked where he sees Mittelstadt fitting. “I think he's just one of those guys, he's going to dictate whether he's better at center, or is he better on wing? I don't know. If he's going to play good enough at center, I will leave him there. No problem, right? But it's up to the players sometimes, where they want to be.”
Mittelstadt is a center by nature. Boston would certainly like for him to stick there. The team’s second and third centers behind Elias Lindholm remain undecided through one week of training camp. The Bruins would like it even more if Mittelstadt, who was the eighth overall pick for Buffalo back in 2017, proves capable of being a longer-term solution in their middle six.
They need to figure out just what they have in Mittelstadt first, though. Do they have the player who put up 59 and 57 points in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively, and was trending towards being a legitimate No. 2 center? Or do they have the player who plummeted to 40 points last season and left the Cup-chasing Colorado Avalanche feeling like they needed to move on and look elsewhere for center help?
As Sturm said, Mittelstadt himself will be the one to dictate that. He enters the season on a long list of Bruins who have something to prove.
“Personally, I wasn't happy with how last year went,” Mittelstadt told WEEI recently. “So, I think on a personal level, there's some pride to prove that you're a better player than that. And I think I'm in a good spot where I'm going to have a good opportunity, and a lot of guys kind of in the same boat.”
Rather than just trying to forget about last season, Mittelstadt said he did a lot of reflecting after it to figure out where and why things went wrong. What he really zeroed in on was his body: He didn’t feel strong enough to play the way he wanted, especially as the season went on.
“I think a big thing for me last year was probably just my body, making sure I'm getting stronger, and strong enough to kind of maintain how I want to play throughout the whole year,” he said. “I think on top of that, obviously some things on the ice. Try to work on my skating a little bit, as well as just finding the confidence and the mentality that I think I need to have to play.”
After getting traded in the deadline day deal that sent Charlie Coyle to Colorado, Mittelstadt arrived in Boston to a weird situation. The Bruins had just held a firesale, including trading away their captain. Their lineup featured more AHLers than NHLers down the stretch. Mittelstadt’s most common linemates were Cole Koepke and Vinni Lettieri – good guys and hard workers, but not exactly middle-six NHL talent.
But even with all that understood, Mittelstadt’s play wasn’t what he or the Bruins would have wanted. He had six points in 18 games after the trade and was a minus-17, which was second-worst on the team during that stretch ahead of only Mason Lohrei. That’s not nearly good enough for a player who has a $5.75 million cap hit for the next two years.
The Bruins need Mittelstadt to produce offense, both at 5-on-5 and on the power play. Their projected first line of David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm was the team’s lone bright spot down the stretch, and should be a bright spot again. But you can’t win in the NHL with just one line scoring. Mittelstadt may very well be the team’s most creative offensive player after that trio. His preseason got off to a good start Tuesday in New York with two assists in the Bruins' 5-4 comeback win over the Rangers.
But if he’s going to stick at center, he also needs to play defense. Sturm’s system demands it. Even if Mittelstadt puts up more points, it won’t do a whole lot of good if he and his line are giving it back at the other end of the ice.
“The centers are gonna have a lot on their plate,” Mittelstadt acknowledged when asked about Sturm’s system. “But I think [Sturm] does a good job of explaining things and kind of dumbing it down and making it simple. The rules are the rules, and if you follow them, you're gonna have success. I think that's the main thing to focus on. Obviously, just like anywhere, you're gonna have to play in all three zones, and you're gonna have to play well defensively. A big thing he preaches is if you play well defensively, you're gonna play with the puck a lot, so that's gonna be my focus. I love to play with the puck.”
If Mittelstadt can do that, he won’t give Sturm any reason to move him down the lineup or over to wing. Sturm’s approach with Mittelstadt is one that seems to be a common theme as the new coach gets to know his team: He needs to see the player do it first, but he’s optimistic they will.
“He has that skill. He has that hockey IQ to do that,” Sturm said when asked about Mittelstadt providing secondary scoring. “He’s gotten bounced around a little bit the last few years. It looks like he had a good summer, and hopefully now with fresh eyes and a new coach, I told him, ‘I don't care what happened. I want to move forward.’ So, it's going to be up to him. If he's going to play the way we think he can play, I think he's going to be very important for us.”