Taking a look at the Bruins’ options to replace David Krejci

Author Ty Anderson

August 2nd, 2021 3:20 AM

Make no mistake about it, the loss of David Krejci is a massive one for the Bruins.

A constant in the Bruins’ lineup for almost a decade and a half, having Krejci behind Patrice Bergeron on the Bruins’ depth chart has given the Black and Gold a one-two center punch that few teams have been able to best. Especially come postseason time, with Krejci being a two-time postseason-leading scorer (2011 and 2013), and with his 111 playoff points since 2010 tied with Bergeron tied for the fifth-most in the NHL, trailing only Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Nikita Kucherov, and Geno Malkin.

Krejci remained effective in 2021, too, with eight goals and 44 points for the B’s, and another two goals and nine points in 11 postseason games. And the 35-year-old Krejci was undoubtedly revitalized upon the team’s acquisition of Taylor Hall, with the Krejci line looking and producing at its most dangerous since the days of Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton (and Jarome Iginla).

In fact, Krejci’s rates were near the top of the league, as his 2.47 assists per 60 minutes of all-situation play were the fifth-most among all NHL skaters with at least 800 minutes played. The only players with better rates? Leon Draisaitl (2.54), Nathan MacKinnon (2.82), Artemi Panarin (2.98), and Connor McDavid (3.42). Not the worst company.

So, yeah, don’t kid yourself. It’s a gigantic, gigantic loss for the Bruins.

And with no set-in-stone option set to step up into his spot and replace his production.

• Charlie Coyle

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  The most natural move for the Bruins, right now, would be to simply bump Charlie Coyle up from his third-line center spot to the middle of Boston's second line between Hall and Craig Smith. Coyle's contract ($5.25 million for the next five years) would also be an indication that the Bruins were somewhat prepared for Coyle eventually making this leap for the Black and Gold.
  
  But the Weymouth, Mass. native is also coming off a rough 2021, with six goals and 16 points in 51 games as the centerpiece of a third line that simply never got going. It didn't help that Coyle played through injuries that offseason knee surgeries, and the Bruins have hope that a healthier Coyle will revert back to what he was when the B's first added him to the mix in 2019, but there's no doubt that the B's are going to need a lot more from No. 13 if he's going to be the team's second-line pivot in 2021.
  
  Now, it helps that Coyle has some experience in a second-line role, at least from an ice-time standpoint, with 19 efforts of at least 17 minutes this past season, and with 54 total efforts of at least 17 minutes over the last two seasons. It's not as if the minutes would be too much for Coyle. It's just about what he would do with those minutes and if his style could successfully mesh with Hall and Smith. Coyle has experience playing with the latter, but it's worth mentioning that Smith played better when promoted off Coyle's line, so do with that you will as it relates to the chemistry that the two have.
  
  A positive note? Coyle put up a career-best 38 assists and 56 points in a second-line role for the Wild in 2016-17.

• Jack Studnicka

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  It's nothing like what the Bruins have gone through with Jakub Zboril and Zach Senyshyn, but we are inching closer and closer to decision time on B's top prospect Jack Studnicka.
  
  At 22, and with 24 goals and 61 points in 76 AHL games (and as an all-situation threat) since 2018, it's worth wondering what exactly Studnicka has left to prove in the AHL. The Bruins seem aware of what Studnicka can do, too. As much as they wanted to further his development, the Bruins seemed pretty adamant that Studnicka was going to play in a top-six role for the Big B's or not at all in 2021. And they stuck to that for the most part, aside from a mini-run with Studnicka tried out as the Black and Gold's fourth-line center, and it came with two goals and an assist in 20 total games with Boston. (Not exactly the best sample when projecting a jump into the second-line center role, I know.)
  
  But when you look at upside, and what the Bruins' needs may be if they want that line to look as close as it did to last year with Krejci between Hall and Smith, the crafty, right-shot Studnicka may be the Bruins' best bet.
  
  There's also been some offseason hype with Studnicka, too, with Mark Divver reporting that Studnicka has added significant muscle this offseason in an effort to be a more complete threat as an NHL center in 2021-22.

• Erik Haula

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  Signed to a two-year, $4.75 million contract last week, Erik Haula is coming to the Bruins in search of career stability. In what's been a straight-up awkward couple of years for the Finnish center, Haula is making the jump to Boston after a 2021 season with Nashville that saw him pot nine goals and 21 points in 51 games, along with one goal and four points in six playoff games. This is after Haula did not fit in Carolina on or off the ice, and after an 11-game run with the Panthers to close out 2019-20.
  
  But Haula has experience playing in a second-line role, and was actually at his best in such a role for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-18, with a career-high 29 goals and 55 points in 76 games back then. But the Knights' addition of Paul Statsny the following offseason, and a season-ending knee injury accelerated the end of Haula's Vegas run, and threw him into that aforementioned multi-season odyssey without a fit or any sort of stability.
  
  That said, Haula has an idea where he can contribute the most, and it might be music to the B's ears.
  
  "I feel like my natural position is at center," Haula said last week. I think my strength is my versatility. In my career, I've played every single role up and down the lineup. Last year playing in Nashville and playing both the power play and the penalty kill, obviously for a player that's the best way because you're always in the game, you're never sitting during penalties or whatever it is. I feel like that's when you get into a flow of things."
  
  Haula has scored 94 goals and 196 points over a 456-game career between Minnesota, Vegas, Carolina, Florida, and Nashville.
• Nick Foligno

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  The 33-year-old Foligno signed a two-year deal with the Bruins knowing that his role with the team was "TBD."
  
  Capable of playing all three forward positions, injuries and other assorted wackiness actually threw Foligno into the center role quite a bit for the Blue Jackets in recent years, with Foligno taking the fifth-most faceoffs among all Columbus skaters over the last three seasons. He actually fared all that terrible over that span either, with a 51.0 percent success rate.
  
  But, similar to how they viewed David Backes, who also arrived to the Bruins with positional versatility, the Bruins' likely preference is to keep Foligno on the wing to get the most bang for their buck on his $3.8 million per year salary. This feel especially true when considering that the majority of Foligno's shot attempts and goals come from the front of the net, and makes it feel likely that the Bruins are aiming for Foligno to be a more complete version of middle-six left winger Nick Ritchie.

• Christian Dvorak

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  Multiple reports linked the Bruins to Arizona center Christian Dvorak leading up to the 2021 NHL Draft.
  
  Now, a trade did not materialize, but it's worth wondering if the Bruins remain interested in the 25-year-old, especially with Krejci officially out of the mix for the Bruins. Signed for the next four seasons at $4.45 million, Dvorak is coming off a 2021 campaign that included 17 goals and 31 points in 56 games, and with those 17 goals sitting as the third-most among all Coyotes. The 2021 year in the desert also came with a career-high in both power-play points (11) and time on ice per night (18:24) for Dvorak, and Dvorak's career totals to date are certainly encouraging, with 67 goals and 146 points in 302 games, all with an Arizona franchise that's scored the fourth-fewest goals in all of hockey over that five-year stretch.
  
  Another thing that makes Dvorak a potentially interesting option for the Bruins? His chemistry with Taylor Hall.
  
  When the Coyotes made their move for Hall during the 2019-20 season, Arizona was quick to put Hall with Dvorak, and Hall actually spent all but 83 of his 500-plus five-on-five minutes with Arizona riding with Dvorak. The Coyotes outscored opponents 23-22, and had a plus-26 scoring chance and plus-27 high-danger scoring chance differential in 424 and a half minutes of five-on-five action with Hall and Dvorak out there together.

• Jack Eichel

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  You're not going to be able to convince me that the timing of the statement from Jack Eichel's camp was a coincidence. David Krejci had announced his move to the Czech Republic for a whole six hours or so when Eichel's camp came out and blasted the Sabres and their handling of their client's trade request. If Eichel's camp wanted the headlines, a Friday night in the middle of summer — and with the whole sports world focused on the Olympics as well as the MLB trade deadline — that was not the best time. But in professional hockey circles, the Massachusetts native blasting the Sabres for not trading him yet or letting him get the procedure that would allegedly put him on track to be ready for Opening Night on the same day the Bruins' longtime No. 2 center announced that he was leaving the organization? We all know the game being played there.
  
  The vibe is that Eichel wants to play here. In addition to this being his hometown, Eichel's Boston University buddies, Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk, are both on the Bruins. He's also been working out with some of the Black and Gold's skaters, including Brad Marchand and Connor Clifton, at Warrior Ice Arena. But Eichel doesn't hold the cards... yet. He's a year away from his no-move clause going into effect, where he could essentially pull a Hall and force a move to Boston.
  
  In other words, it would behoove the Sabres to move Eichel as far away from Boston while they still can.
  
  But let's say the Bruins want to make a move for Eichel. What's it going to cost? Well, an awful lot.
  
  For all the talk of Eichel's injury (and the obviously concerning part of his desired recovery, which is a surgery never before performed on an NHL player), Buffalo wants and needs a haul in exchange for their disgruntled captain. You're talking about more than your finest combination of Jake DeBrusk, John Moore, Jakub Lauko, Urho Vaakanainen and a couple of picks. It's a deal that would almost certainly have to include someone like Brandon Carlo. And then some. And then some. Because there's simply no way the Sabres can stomach losing yet another trade to their division rival and essentially helping Boston build their second-line one-two for years to come, especially after seeing their starting goaltender jump to Boston in free agency.
  
  But there's no denying the allure of trying to make that move happen as Krejci's replacement if you're Don Sweeney.

Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.

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Author Ty Anderson

Category:

• Bruins
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• Ty Anderson

Tags:

2021 bruins offseason,boston bruins,Charlie Coyle,Christian Dvorak,David Krejci,erik haula,Jack Eichel,Jack Studnicka,Nick Foligno