The Boston Bruins are one addition away from competing with Tampa Bay

After adding Charlie Coyle, the Bruins are one step closer to competing with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Battling through injuries, slumps and a rotating door of a third line, it’s safe to say the Boston Bruins have battled adversity in 2019. At times this season some thought the Bruins weren’t on the same level they were last year, let alone able to compete with Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference. While no one will touch them in the standings, Boston is the closest thing they have to competition coming out of the East.

The Bruins added center Charlie Coyle last week, filling in one of two wish list positions they have leading up to Monday’s NHL trade deadline. The other would be one of the right wingers available on trade bait boards.

The addition of Coyle is paramount to solidifying the third line. “Woah, big words, Bruin, but what do they mean?” The Bruins were relying on a handful of players to fill in the third line center roll and mixing linemates with them like throwing mud at a wall and seeing what would stick. Coyle gives them one locked-in piece to the puzzle that they can focus solely on building around before the playoffs.

Coyle has 28 points in 61 games this season. In his seventh NHL season, he adds veteran leadership and abilities to the Bruins bottom six. The importance for general manager Don Sweeney now is to add a top line right-winger, assuming the Bruins are riding with a “win now” mentality.

The top line of Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak is easily one of the best of the league, but dropping David Pastrnak to the second like with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk gives them one of, if not the best top six in the NHL. That is, assuming they can add one more piece. This is not a shot at Danton Heinen, who has been great in Pasta’s absence. To compete with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Bruins need one more player who is great right now, not in the future.

The Bruins are sitting one spot behind Tampa Bay in the East with 81 points (to Tampa’s ridiculous and untouchable 98). This puts them third in the NHL standings. They have won eight of their last 10 games but went to overtime in both losses. They are coming home after a Western road trip with nine out of a possible 10 points. They are also doing this without their best scorer, David Pastrnak.

The time is now for the Bruins. It’s completely understandable to want to hold onto assets and build for the future but this is a team with multiple star players in their 30’s, most of which were a part of the Stanley Cup winning 2011 team. With Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Zdeno Chara, Tuukka Rask and Brad Marchand all playing well, it only makes sense to give them exactly what they need to bring another championship to the starved city of Boston.

Top potential trade prospects like Mats Zuccarello off the board, the Bruins will look long and hard at players like Mark Stone and Wayne Simmonds, who has been the center of their trade deadline rumors for three seasons now. While the asking price for Stone is reportedly high, his impact would probably be worth it.

There’s an old adage that says “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and you could argue this for the current version of the Bruins. The Lightning are so damn good, though, and this (or any) team is going to need as much as they can get to win a Cup this year.

The Bruins are healthy, they added a much-needed center with Coyle, they just signed on-again, off-again forward Lee Stempniak and they are likely one good player away from another Stanley Cup run (Tampa is regular season great but the playoffs are a different beast). The time is now, Sweeney. Let’s make it happen.