It’s been a month and a half since the Bruins’ season ended, and we still don’t know if Patrice Bergeron and/or David Krejci plan to return.
Of course, it’s possible one or both have already made their decision and possibly even informed general manager Don Sweeney of their plans, and it just hasn’t been made public yet. At the very least, we would expect both to let Sweeney know before free agency begins on July 1, and ideally before the draft on June 28.
If both decide to retire, center becomes the biggest question mark on the Boston roster. Pavel Zacha showed that he can handle one of the vacated top-two center jobs, but how the Bruins fill the other will define their offseason.
Charlie Coyle remains best suited for a third-line role, and it wouldn’t appear the Bruins have any young centers ready to handle a top-six role. Georgii Merkulov may be the closest, and it wouldn’t be surprising at all if he wins a job lower in the lineup, but throwing him onto the first or second line with zero NHL experience and just one full season of AHL experience is too much to ask.
That would leave the Bruins with two options for how to approach the center position this offseason: 1. Go out and acquire a top-two center via trade or free agency in order to remain in win-now mode, or 2. Accept a step back, roll with what you have, and re-evaluate your options at the trade deadline or next offseason.
Obviously, there is no guarantee Sweeney will be able to do the former even if he wants to. Acquiring top-two centers is not easy under any circumstances, but it’s even more difficult when you lack cap space, draft picks and elite prospects like the Bruins do. The latter option may be the way Boston goes almost by default.
But that’s not as exciting, so let’s play along and say the Bruins do try to acquire an impact center this offseason. Who might be available? Here’s a look at some potential options. (Listen to the full podcast breakdown of this list in the player below.)
Centers the Bruins could target if Bergeron and Krejci retire
Pierre-Luc Dubois
Dubois has informed the Winnipeg Jets that he does not plan to sign a long-term extension with them, according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. With the soon-to-be 25-year-old center hitting restricted free agency this summer, a trade now appears to be the most likely outcome. Dubois has topped 60 points each of the last two seasons and brings size (6-foot-4, 214 pounds) and physicality on top of the offensive skill. Despite the fact that this is the second team Dubois has forced his way off of in three years, there is a lot to like here. Acquiring him will be costly, though, and the Jets are probably more likely seeking picks and prospects (which the Bruins lack) than any of the veteran contracts (Taylor Hall, Linus Ullmark, Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort) the Bruins would need to move in order to clear enough cap space to pull off such a move. Still, young, proven centers like Dubois don’t hit the market often. The Bruins would be crazy not to at least explore the possibility.
Mark Scheifele
Reports indicate that Dubois isn’t the only core piece the retooling Jets could move this offseason. Scheifele and goalie Connor Hellebuyck are the other big ones, with Scheifele of course being another center. Scheifele has topped 60 points in eight straight seasons, just scored a career-high 42 goals, is still in his prime at 30 years old, and is signed for just $6.125 million for this upcoming season. That’s the good. The bad is that he is legitimately bad defensively, he’s part of a Winnipeg leadership corps that has been dogged with criticism for years, and you would need to sign him to an extension into his mid-30s to make any trade worth it. The offense is enticing. Maybe you can convince yourself that a better organization and better locker room that’s more committed to defense would draw more commitment out of him. But there’s no question that going from an elite two-way No. 1 center like Bergeron to an all-offense player like Scheifele would be a dramatic shift.
Elias Lindholm
New Flames general manager Craig Conroy clearly wants to keep Lindholm, saying he’s the kind of player you build around. But he also said he won’t make the same mistake the Flames made with Johnny Gaudreau, who walked as a free agent and left Calgary with nothing in return. So, it stands to reason that if there’s any hesitation on Lindholm’s part to sign an extension with the Flames, Conroy would have to explore trading him. The 28-year-old Lindholm (no relation to current Bruin Hampus, by the way) is entering the final year of his contract and would become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Lindholm had a career year in 2021-22, putting up 42 goals and 82 points and finishing second in Selke Trophy voting. His goals (22), points (64) and defensive metrics all dropped off this past season without Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk on his wings, but Lindholm is still a really good center who’s in his prime. Conroy doesn’t sound like someone who plans to go into a full rebuild, so it’s possible he’d be more open to taking NHL contracts in return than Winnipeg would, potentially making Calgary a better trade partner for Boston. If Lindholm becomes available, you absolutely take a look.
J.T. Miller
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. Miller signed a seven-year extension with the Canucks before this past season, yet his name still popped up in trade rumors before the trade deadline as he once again seemed to be unhappy in Vancouver. Things seemed to go a little better once Rick Tocchet took over as head coach, but the Canucks are still in cap hell (they’re actually over the cap as of right now) and have to move out some money somewhere. That doesn’t make them a natural 1-for-1 match with the Bruins, who also need to move out money, but if Sweeney can dump a couple contracts elsewhere and if Miller is actually made available… who knows? Miller is averaging over a point per game across the last four seasons, so if he is available, you at least check in. He has a full no-trade clause that kicks in on July 1, so if there is any chance of Vancouver trading him, it would probably have to happen sooner than later.
Ryan O’Reilly
There’s not much in the way of top-two centers on the free-agent market, which is why we’ve focused on trades to this point. The 32-year-old O’Reilly would be the top option if he doesn’t re-sign with Toronto. The Bruins obviously know what O’Reilly is capable of, having seen him put up nine points in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final as his Blues topped the Bruins and O’Reilly won the Conn Smythe Trophy. He’s not that same player anymore, but he was still effective for the Maple Leafs after a midseason trade, recording 11 points in 13 regular-season games with them and nine points in 11 playoff games. It seems unlikely the Bruins would engage in any sort of bidding war for an older free agent, especially given their cap situation, but if they want to stay in win-now mode and the price isn’t too crazy, O’Reilly could make some sense.
Shane Wright
I loved this outside-the-box idea from the Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy, who pitched a trade between Boston and Seattle built around Wright and Jeremy Swayman. Wright was the fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft, and many believed he should’ve gone first. Despite an up-and-down year that saw him bounce between the NHL, AHL and OHL this past season, Wright is still widely considered a high-end, blue-chip center prospect, something the Bruins do not have. Getting him would completely change the Bruins’ long-term outlook at the center position. That said, we think it’s extremely unlikely. The Kraken almost certainly have not soured on Wright enough in one year to move him. They should still view him as the second part of their long-term 1-2 punch up the middle with Matty Beniers. It would probably take much more than Swayman to get Seattle to seriously think about it, as top-two centers are generally harder to find than goalies. Nonetheless, it’s a fun one for us to think about.
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