Blue Jackets Sign Charlie Coyle To Six-Year Extension
According to a team announcement, the Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Charlie Coyle to a six-year, $36MM ($6MM AAV) extension. Coyle was considered one of the top available unrestricted free agents heading into the offseason.
Earlier this morning, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reported that the Blue Jackets and Coyle were nearing an extension. Shortly thereafter, Pierre LeBrun of TSN added that both sides were ‘working on language’ as the talks progressed.
This contract will take Coyle through the 2031-32 season, when he’ll turn 40 years old. The length ties his previous high in contract years signed in Boston when he extended with the Bruins after the 2018-19 season.
The 34-year-old forward was set to be an unrestricted free agent coming off a six-year contract that paid him $31.50MM ($5.25MM AAV). Coyle finished the 2025-26 season in Columbus, resurging back to his former scoring ways. He was fourth on the Blue Jackets in scoring, tallying 20 goals for 58 points in his fifth consecutive season playing in 82 games. That mark with Columbus was his second-highest point total within that six-year contract span, with the highest production coming out of his 2023-24 campaign, where he reached 60 points in the Bruins centennial season.
Coyle’s new extension provides him with some stability in a time of his career where he has bounced around, to say the least. Coyle was a victim of the Bruins’ reset, where they dealt away the majority of their outer core to recoup future assets. The Weymouth, MA native was dealt to the Colorado Avalanche and produced 13 points in 19 regular-season games and added an assist in their seven-game, first-round loss to the Dallas Stars. The Avalanche then sent him to Columbus over the summer, where he played out the remainder of his deal before this extension.
Originally a first-round pick of the San Jose Sharks, Coyle never donned the teal and orange after he was selected 28th overall in the 2010 NHL draft. He became a key part of the package traded to Minnesota in exchange for Brent Burns, where Coyle signed his entry-level contract. After providing back-to-back 30-point campaigns in his early twenties, the Wild extended Coyle to a five-year, $16MM ($3.2MM AAV) contract. In the final year of that deal, they dealt him to Boston for Ryan Donato. Coyle proved himself as a key piece in Boston, providing 16 points in 24 playoff games en route to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, where Boston lost in seven games. The Bruins signed him shortly after to the contract that he just finished up in Ohio.
Coyle will assumbly finish out his career in Columbus, adding a blend of scoring, steady two-way play, and veteran leadership to a team that is on the cusp of making the dance in a tough Eastern Conference.
Columbus entered their offseason with over $40MM in cap space before the Coyle extension. Now the Blue Jackets have around $34MM to work with in a summer where they’re looking to build off a 92-point campaign that saw them fall seven points short of an Eastern Conference Wild Card spot that would’ve snapped their Stanley Cup Playoffs drought dating back to the 2019-20 season.
Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell will need to make several decisions this summer to supplement Coyle’s return. Unrestricted free agents for Columbus include forwards Mason Marchment, Danton Heinen, and captain Boone Jenner, as well as defensemen Erik Gudbranson and Brendan Smith. Along with Cole Sillinger and Egor Zamula as restricted free agents, former third overall pick Adam Fantilli, who scored a career-high 59 points at age 21, and goaltender Jet Greaves, who finished ninth in the NHL with 16.5 goals saved above expected, are restricted expiring deals.
They’ll have some added money from the expirations of buried and bought-out contracts from Adam Boqvist, Alexander Wennberg, and Ivan Fedotov. All three will come off the books and contribute $3.55MM to the space they can use to bring back key players.
Latest On Charlie Coyle Contract Talks
As the 2025-26 season progressed, more and more pending unrestricted free agents signed contract extensions to remain with their current teams. A free agent market that was once slated to feature big names such as Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov has thinned out to a considerable degree, simultaneously hurting teams with big spending plans and helping the players who remain without a contract. One of the players who appears set to benefit most is Columbus Blue Jackets pivot Charlie Coyle.
Coyle, 34, is a pending UFA coming off of an extremely strong platform season. He’s set to be one of the top players available overall, and plays a premium position (center.) While his age might give some teams pause, he’s expected to receive significant interest on July 1 if he makes it until then without a new contract.
Yesterday, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reported that the Blue Jackets are determined to not let things reach that point. According to Portzline, a potential Coyle extension “is an immensely important contract for the Blue Jackets, such that Coyle could be seen as having a blank check to set his terms.”
On one hand, it’s not too difficult to see why Columbus would be desperate to extend Coyle. For much of Columbus’ franchise history, the team has battled a talent deficiency at the center position.
The Blue Jackets have been searching for a true No. 1 center for most of their existence in the NHL, and could very well have found one in Adam Fantilli. But Fantilli is still developing into that role, and the team’s No. 2 center, Sean Monahan, played through injury this season and was limited to just 13 goals and 36 points in 78 games. That’s a steep decline from his production last season, when he scored 19 goals and 57 points in 54 games. Monahan’s down season only further underscored Coyle’s importance to Columbus’ lineup.
Keeping Coyle would ensure the center position remains an area of strength in the Blue Jackets’ lineup. Part of why it may be seen as essential to team management is the fact that Columbus is under substantial pressure to reach the playoffs. They have very narrowly missed out on playoff hockey in each of the last two seasons, doing so in dramatic fashion this year.
The Blue Jackets have not made the playoffs since 2019-20, when they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in a qualifying-round series. The club cannot afford to take a step backward or hurt their odds of competing next season, and most would argue that losing Coyle on the open market would be doing so.
With that said, on the other hand, it’s also fair to question whether investing in Coyle would be in the team’s best long-term interests. If Columbus do indeed feel backed into a corner with Coyle, as Portzline suggested, that’s not exactly an ideal position to negotiate from.
The team’s immense interest in keeping Coyle, combined with the anticipated heavy interest in his services from across the league, gives him a massive amount of leverage in talks with the Blue Jackets. Coyle spoke highly of his time in Columbus, but it still is likely to cost quite a bit to keep him from testing the open market.
Is paying top dollar for a talented veteran center the best move for the Blue Jackets to make if the goal is building a sustainable contender? That’s the question team management will have to answer over the next few months as it considers whether to extend Coyle.
Wild Notes: Trocheck, O’Reilly, Coyle
General Manager Bill Guerin is no stranger to bold moves, and that has continued into deadline season. Throughout the past few weeks, the Minnesota Wild have been heavily linked to New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck, but that interest appears to be waning.
A few days ago, Trocheck himself shared that he would prefer to stay in the Eastern Conference, but there was no indication on whether he would block a trade to Minnesota. It turns out, the Wild are pulling away from Trocheck for different reasons entirely. According to Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic, Minnesota simply isn’t comfortable meeting the Rangers’ asking price.
There isn’t much detailed information available about what exactly the Rangers are requesting. Still, after effectively trading four first-round picks for Quinn Hughes earlier this year, the Wild may not have the assets to acquire another top player.
Additional Wild notes:
- Regardless of evaporating interest in Trocheck, the team is still trying to acquire a top-six center. In the same report, Russo and Smith suggested that the Wild could target veteran center Ryan O’Reilly from the Nashville Predators. The two teams recently got together on a trade that sent Michael McCarron to Minnesota, so there wouldn’t be any anti-divisional bias from either side. Unfortunately, despite not having any trade protection, the Predators have a handshake agreement with O’Reilly to only send him to a location where he would be willing to play.
- Furthermore, the pair of reporters brought up the fact that the Wild have been interested in Charlie Coyle of the Columbus Blue Jackets for much of the season. Still, things look a lot different in Columbus recently, and the team has openly suggested they’d rather extend Coyle than trade him for future assets at the deadline. At any rate, if the Wild are intent on adding a top-six middleman, the pool of talent is quickly shrinking.
Morning Notes: Thomas, Blue Jackets, Belchetz
The Philadelphia Flyers are highly unlikely to be the landing spot for St. Louis Blues star center Robert Thomas if he is traded before the deadline, The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz reported today. A Flyers team source told Kurz that the team considers a trade for Thomas “completely unreasonable,” and with that feeling likely a result of the high price the Blues have set for teams interested in Thomas. According to Kurz, the Flyers “would probably have to be willing to part with” one of their two young wingers with star potential (Matvei Michkov, Porter Martone) as well as a first-round pick and another young roster player. Despite a pressing organizational need for a top-line center, the Flyers, per this report, believe the Blues’ asking price to simply be too steep for them to get involved in trade talks for Thomas.
Of course, value is in the eye of the beholder. From the Blues’ perspective, they’re likely to believe their high asking price for Thomas to be entirely fair. To an extent, it’s easy to see why. Thomas is an established No. 1 center who scored 81 points in 70 games last season, a 95-point 82-game scoring pace. While his production is down this year, the Blues’ struggles as a team this season make it difficult to pin Thomas’ decline entirely on some lasting decrease in his talent level. Thomas is 26 years old and has five additional seasons on a $8.125MM AAV contract. His below-market cap hit presents a serious opportunity for a team to get surplus value from him, especially as the upper limit rises.
There’s an argument to be made that, combining his talent and contract status, Thomas is one of the more valuable players to have been shopped on the in-season trade market in some time, so it’s understandable that the Blues would want to fetch a high price for the player. Value is all about leverage, after all, and the fact that the Blues can simply retain Thomas for the next half-decade gives them considerable leverage in comparison to a team shopping a rental player. But in any case, the Flyers have to move forward with the path they feel is best for them – and if they deem the Blues’ asking price too high, that is their right. Their search for a first-line center may yet continue in the 2026 draft, or perhaps within the continued development of recent first-rounders Jett Luchanko and Jack Nesbitt.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- Insider Frank Seravalli reported this morning that the Blue Jackets continue to receive trade inquiries centered around pending UFA forwards Charlie Coyle and Mason Marchment, though to this point, that trade interest has been turned away. Both players have been stellar since being traded to the Blue Jackets, with Marchment scoring 10 goals and 17 points in 18 games, and Coyle nabbing 16 goals and 46 points in 60 games. The Blue Jackets traded second and fourth-round picks for Marchment earlier this season, but could receive more than they invested given the player’s uptick in form since arriving in Ohio. They traded quality prospect Gavin Brindley alongside second and third-round picks for Coyle this past summer, but could receive similar, if not increased, value in return before the deadline. The issue with trading either player would be that it would signal a retreat on their playoff chase for the rest of the season. Columbus sits three points behind the Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and has gone 13-2-1 since hiring Rick Bowness as their head coach.
- Top 2026 NHL Draft prospect Ethan Belchetz will miss the rest of the season after suffering a broken left clavicle, per an announcement from his team, the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. Belchetz was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 OHL Priority Selection, and will finish his season with 34 goals and 59 points in 57 games. The 17-year-old stands 6’5″, 226 pounds, and projects as the kind of power forward who blends physicality and scoring ability that NHL teams covet. He has been ranked around the back-end of the top-10 in this year’s class, but it remains to be seen how his draft stock might change despite playing his final game before the draft.
Blue Jackets Looking To Extend Pending UFAs
On New Year’s Day, the Blue Jackets were in last place in the Eastern Conference and had a three-point cushion in the basement. They were all but set to punt on the season, and their high-value pending UFAs, namely Charlie Coyle and Boone Jenner, had found themselves high up on trade bait lists.
Fueled in part by a surprise coaching change, Columbus has now won 11 of its last 12 and is fully back in playoff contention. They’ve gone from 16th place to ninth in the past six weeks and are four points back of the Bruins for the final playoff spot with a game in hand.
If getting rental returns for Coyle and Jenner was general manager Don Waddell‘s deadline plan a month ago, that streak has changed his mind. The organization told RG.org’s James Murphy yesterday that they’ve stopped soliciting offers for Coyle, Jenner, and fellow pending UFA forward Mason Marchment and will instead start extension negotiations with all three players before the Olympic break ends.
All three have been legitimate impact players for the Jackets this season, particularly Coyle and Marchment. Acquired from the Avalanche last summer in something of a cap dump, the veteran Coyle has technically served as Columbus’ third-line center for virtually the entire campaign but is averaging north of 17 minutes of ice time per game thanks to extensive special-teams deployment. Coming off one of the more offensively underwhelming campaigns of his career for Boston and Colorado in 2024-25, he’s tossed up 15 goals and 42 points in 56 games to rank third on the Jackets in scoring.
There will be obvious trepidation over offering anything more than a one or two-year extension to Coyle, who turns 34 next month. He’s finishing at a 15.8% clip, and his possession numbers lag behind the average on a Columbus squad that’s greatly improved its play under Bowness. But for a Jackets squad teeming with cap space over the next couple of seasons, the risk of decline isn’t as pressing as it would be for a cap-strapped contender.
Marchment was a surprising in-season pickup from the Kraken in December, but he’s been the complete package in the nearly two months since his arrival. He’s clicked at nearly a point per game with nine goals and four assists in 14 games since the trade and leads Columbus forwards with a 53.1 CF% at even strength, although he’s helped out by playing a higher percentage of his games under Bowness. He’s still been a natural-looking fit on their top line alongside youngsters Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko.
Jenner may be the afterthought of the three in terms of on-ice performance this season, but he’s the captain and a career-long Blue Jacket. His production has taken something of a hit after missing most of last year with shoulder surgery, but he’s still produced eight goals and 27 points in 42 games, above his career-average pace. His 9.0% shooting rate is a bit below his career average and should come up down the stretch, too.
His 52.0 CF% signals his two-way game is still in a good spot, and he’s third on the team with 92 hits despite missing 14 games with an upper-body issue earlier in the year. Any concern about a long-term extension for the 32-year-old revolves around his extensive recent injury history. He’s missed double-digit games in every season since 2019-20 and has dealt with back problems for the vast majority of his career. The risk of aggressive age-related decline is palpable as a result.
Expecting Columbus to be able to swing extensions for all three is unrealistic – and considering all three are on the wrong side of 30, there’s a debate to be had over whether it’s a wise choice. Still, the question then shifts to whether the Jackets will still look to flip one of them and gain assets in return if it’s clear they’re too far off on an extension.
At least right now, the answer is no. “Regardless of whether they’re signed to extensions before the Olympic break ends, they’re off the trade market heading into the trade deadline,” a league source told Murphy.
“I’ve told everybody we will touch base over the break and see where they’re at and see where we’re at,” Waddell said. “And I said it last year, if players want to be here and we want ’em here, we’ll find a way to get it done. We did it last year, and we’ll do it again this year.”
Wild Notes: Wallstedt, Stramel, Coyle
The Minnesota Wild announced to the league that they are all-in on trying to win a Stanley Cup over the next two years when they acquired star blueliner Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks. As they seek a player who can occupy a top-six center role, one of the key trade assets they have to leverage is breakout rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt. Last month, it was reported that the Wild would consider dealing Wallstedt, and yesterday, The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith took things a step further, writing that a Wallstedt trade “really does feel inevitable.”
Despite his stellar rookie year, one where he’s posted a .914 save percentage across 23 games, Wallstedt is somewhat expendable for the Wild because they have starter Filip Gustavsson locked into a contract extension that carries a $6.8MM AAV, runs through 2030-31, and has a full no-move clause through next year. According to Russo and Smith, Wallstedt will be a real asset in play in the team’s search for a high-end center. For rival teams that have a need in net and a center to trade, Wallstedt’s availability could be a real opportunity to add a goaltender that could potentially be a starter in net for the next decade or more.
Other notes from the Twin Cities:
- Answering a question as to whether top prospect Charlie Stramel might exercise his right to hit unrestricted free agency when the Wild’s exclusive rights to sign him expire this summer, Russo and Smith relayed word from Stramel, who said he “100 percent” plans on signing with the Wild in some form when his NCAA season ends. It’s still to be determined whether that will be with AHL Iowa or whether the Wild will sign him to his entry-level deal and “burn” a year in doing so. Stramel is one of Minnesota’s best prospects, and is leading the Michigan State Spartans with 35 points in 26 NCAA games.
- Russo and Smith also reported yesterday that the Wild “have checked in with” the Columbus Blue Jackets regarding trade possibilities, including possibilities specifically related to veteran center Charlie Coyle, whose game Wild GM Bill Guerin is reportedly a fan of. Coyle, 33, played for the Wild from 2012-13 through 2018-19, and has had a stellar 2025-26 season, scoring 42 points in 56 games. Seeing as the Blue Jackets have surged after their recent coaching change, they could be unwilling to deal Coyle, even though he is a pending UFA. But as the Wild seek to upgrade their standing at the center position, it appears Coyle is very much on the team’s radar.
Blue Jackets Notes: Fantilli, Provorov, Forward Depth
There’s no question that the Columbus Blue Jackets have one of the cleanest cap tables in the league, especially for how competitive they’re expected to be in the 2025-26 season. Still, as their younger players continue to age, the Blue Jackets are getting closer to potentially having to make difficult decisions, and their extension negotiations with Adam Fantilli will have a major impact on their salary hierarchy moving forward.
Despite having a somewhat disappointing rookie season, albeit limited by injuries, the third overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft responded well last season, scoring 31 goals and 54 points in 82 games while averaging 17:29 of ice time per game. Fantilli still needs to improve in the faceoff dot and on the defensive side of the puck, but being a 30-goal scorer at 20 years old is nothing to scoff at.
In a recent interview with James Murphy of RG Media, Blue Jackets’ General Manager Don Waddell spoke about the upcoming negotiations with Fantilli, saying, We’re going to talk here in the next couple of weeks. Pat Brisson is his agent, and we’re going to do some face-to-face meetings. When these kinds of players are up and these kinds of deals need to be made, I think you need to be in front of each other. I think you make a lot more progress than just over the phone. So that’s always been my theory, and Pat’s the same way. I’ve done a lot of deals over the years with Pat, so we’ll be fine and sit down face-to-face and get this done. As we get closer to training camp, I think we’ll be much further ahead, and we have some dates already planned that we’ll meet, so let’s go from there.”
There technically shouldn’t be any rush on Columbus’s end, given that Fantilli is a few years away from even becoming arbitration-eligible. Still, for the sake of cost certainty and having one of their core pieces locked up long-term, the Blue Jackets are eyeing a long-term extension with Fantilli in the coming weeks.
Waddell also spoke about a separate extension this offseason. On the eve of free agency this summer, Columbus re-signed defenseman Ivan Provorov to a seven-year, $59.5MM contract, which represented only a $1.75MM yearly increase on his previous deal. Despite reports at the time indicating that Provorov might seek a larger deal on the open market, Waddell explained in the interview that there was no real concern he’d leave the organization.
Murphy quoted Waddell, saying, “Well, the good thing is I was in dialogue regularly with Mark Andler, his agent, and there’s a lot of outside noise, but Mark kept telling me, and Provorov too, that his first choice was to stay here in Columbus.” Waddell explained that although Provorov’s cap hit may seem high, he believes it will look more favorable as the salary cap increases. Additionally, Provorov’s preparation for each season is expected to enhance his longevity throughout the duration of the contract.
Lastly, Waddell touched on his excitement over the depth the Blue Jackets brought in this summer, particularly on offense. The team specifically targeted Charlie Coyle as a right-handed center and believes his leadership skills will prove a boon to the younger players on the roster.
Meanwhile, the team’s General Manager also remarked about the skill level of Miles Wood on the offensive side of the puck and Isac Lundeström‘s skill on the defensive side of the puck. All three additions are expected to maintain important roles for the Blue Jackets this season and help the team return to the postseason for the first time since the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Blue Jackets Acquire Charlie Coyle, Miles Wood From Avalanche
The Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired forwards Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for top prospect Gavin Brindley, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2025 third-round pick, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The deal was first reported by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The deal has now been confirmed by Columbus. Colorado will clear out $7.75MM in cap space with this move.
Columbus will land a much-needed second-line center through this move. Coyle started the 2024-25 season with the Boston Bruins, but posted a very quiet 15 goals and 22 points in the 64 games leading up to the Trade Deadline. With a lost season on hand, the Bruins opted to move Coyle to the forward-needy Colorado Avalanche in exchange for centerman Casey Mittelstadt, prospect William Zellers, and a 2025 second-round draft pick. It was a lofty return, but Coyle made it worthwhile with a surge back to scoring heights. He recorded 13 points in 19 games with Colorado – an 82-game pace of 56 points. But Coyle fell surprisingly snake-bitten in the postseason, and managed just one goal in Colorado’s seven playoff games.
Coyle’s surge back to productivity is one Columbus will hope can stick. He was a focal point of the Bruins’ offense during his six full seasons with the club. He had dipped to 28 points in 60 games with the Minnesota Wild prior to a mid-season move to the Bruins. But after a red-hot postseason in Boston – 16 points in 24 games – Coyle found his groove with 16 goals and 37 points in 70 games of his first full year with the Bruins. His scoring took a hit during the shortened 2020-21 campaign, but he climbed back to success with 44 and 45 points in the following two years. He then broke out in a big way during the 2023-24 season, netting a career-high 25 goals and 60 assists in 82 games.
That performance made Coyle’s ice cold start to the 2024-25 season all the more confusing. But even through peaks and valleys on the box score, Coyle has stayed a consistent two-way feature of anywhere he’s landed. He has a bulky 6-foot-3, 215-pound frame and controls movements through both directions of the neutral zone with confidence. That kind of reliable veteran could be invaluable as Columbus looks to build out behind a top line of Kent Johnson, Adam Fantilli, and Kirill Marchenko.
Just as valuable will be the gritty, veteran depth that Colorado adds in the form of Miles Wood. The 29-year-old winger was limited to just 37 games this year due to an upper-body injury. When he did play, he only tallied eight points. That scoring pace falls just short of the 27 and 26 points Wood totaled over the last two seasons, likely a result of an injury slowing him down. Wood’s career-year stands as his 2017-18 campaign with the New Jersey Devils. He scored 19 goals and 32 points in 76 games that year, though Wood’s true impact has always come away from the puck. He’s a bulky, physical forward who’s at his best when causing havoc along the boards or in the corners. He has recorded 182 points, split evenly, and 550 penalty minutes in 513 career games in the NHL. That imposing physical presence will back Columbus’ young top-six well.
But even with the clear-cut roles that Coyle and Wood are headed for, it’s a surprise to see the Blue Jackets move on from Brindley before giving him a consistent chance in the NHL. The team selected the 5-foot-8 winger with the 34th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, after a standout freshman year at the University of Michigan. Brindley performed even better in his sophomore season, scoring 25 goals and 53 points in only 40 games. His scoring led the Wolverines that season – above players like Rutger McGroarty, Dylan Duke, Seamus Casey, and Frank Nazar.
While he can be called undersized, Brindley is far from outworked. He’s a tireless forechecker, and creates a surprising amount of turnovers and chances deep in the offensive end for a player his size. But, as was to be expected, Brindley struggled to maintain that through his transition to pro leagues. He found his way into bottom-six minutes with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters this season, while playing through his first professional season. He ended the year with just 17 points, 24 penalty minutes, and a minus-10 through 52 games.
Those numbers – and especially his mere three points through the final 22 games of the season – will set Brindley on a course for the minor leagues again next year. But his upside will be sky-high – and in an Avalanche pool that can pad his size concerns, there could be the makings of a strong depth-winger here. This will be an upside bet for Colorado, and an err towards sure things for the Blue Jackets.
Photo courtesy of Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports.
Avalanche Notes: MacKinnon, Lindgren, Girard, Coyle
The Avalanche will be giving franchise center Nathan MacKinnon some rest as the postseason nears. He’s dealing with a minor injury and may not play again in the regular season, Corey Masisak of the Denver Post was first to report. Head coach Jared Bednar confirmed MacKinnon won’t play tonight against the Canucks and called him doubtful for their other two remaining contests (via Masisak).
That will mean extended rest for MacKinnon ahead of the first round. Colorado is the first team in the league to end their regular season schedule, playing Game 82 on Sunday. They’ll have at minimum six days of rest before Game 1 of their first playoff series.
It’s virtually confirmed that MacKinnon will be ready to go when the postseason starts, and today’s absence is more precautionary. Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now wrote, “It sounds like he’d be playing if the Avs were still fighting for something to close out the regular season.”
If that’s the case, MacKinnon ends his season with 32-84–116 in 79 games, along with a +25 rating. On a goals-per-game basis, it’s his worst showing in eight years, and his 1.47 points per game are his lowest since the 2021-22 season. That doesn’t mean much in a season where high-end scoring has regressed heavily. MacKinnon still enters game action tonight leading the league in assists and points, and could very well capture his second straight Hart Trophy in a few weeks’ time.
Unfortunately, there’s a more legitimate upper-body injury holding defenseman Ryan Lindgren out of tonight’s game, Bednar told Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports. The 27-year-old complementary defender, acquired from the Rangers in March, had gone without a point in his last eight games and has 2-1–3 in 18 contests since the swap, averaging 19 minutes per game with a minus-one rating. His second-pairing role will be filled by Samuel Girard, who Bednar confirmed returns tonight after a four-game absence due to an undisclosed injury (via Deen).
Also playing is pivot Charlie Coyle, who was banged up while recording two assists in Tuesday’s shootout win over the Golden Knights. That’s important with MacKinnon out to reduce the load increase on names like Jack Drury and Brock Nelson down the middle. Coyle has 1-7–8 in 16 games since being acquired from the Bruins for Casey Mittelstadt at the trade deadline.
Bruins, Avalanche Swap Charlie Coyle, Casey Mittelstadt
The Avalanche are acquiring center Charlie Coyle from the Bruins, Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic reports. Center Casey Mittelstadt is headed from Colorado to Boston in the deal, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The Bruins are also receiving forward prospect Will Zellers and a second-round pick in the deal, according to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff. LeBrun adds the Avs are receiving a 2026 fifth-rounder along with Coyle, while the second-round pick heading to Boston is in this year’s draft.
The deal swaps middle-six centers heading in completely opposite directions. Coyle, fresh off his 33rd birthday, posted a career-high 60 points in Boston last season but has scored just 15-7–22 in 64 games this year with a career-worst -14 rating. He’s signed through next season at a $5.25MM cap hit, a big risk for the Avs if there’s no salary retention and his play can’t rebound in what’s sure to be a reduced role behind Nathan MacKinnon and yesterday’s pickup Brock Nelson down the middle.
Coyle does bring an upgrade to Colorado’s third line in terms of overall experience and past performance, which is what the Avs are banking on despite his poor showing on a thin Bruins offense this year. He also brings some slight cap savings down the line – he costs $500K less against the cap than Mittelstadt and is signed for one less season. It’s worth noting he’s been quite the playoff performer in his career, posting 25-27–52 in 119 postseason games. He’s yet to miss the playoffs, going in six straight years with Minnesota and then another six with Boston. He’ll extend it to 13 years in a row in Denver.
Boston lands a much younger pivot in Mittelstadt, who hasn’t quite reached Coyle’s 60-point pinnacle but did reach 59 and 57 points the last two seasons. He hasn’t taken nearly as large a step back as Coyle this season, but it’s still been quite the difficult season. Mittelstadt has 11-23–34 through 63 games for the Avs, who acquired him at last year’s deadline in a major swap with the Sabres for Bowen Byram. Only 25 of those points have come at even strength, he’s won just 42.4% of his faceoffs, and his relative possession impacts are the worst they’ve been in five years. He wasn’t the reliable second-line center Colorado hoped they were getting last year, so they opted to acquire the veteran Nelson and Coyle while flipping Mittelstadt less than a year after signing him to a three-year, $17.25MM deal.
The mismatch in futures heading to the Bruins from the Avs is still surprising. Mittelstadt is seven years younger than Coyle and still has 60-point potential, and he’s a skilled sniper with a nearly 12% shooting rate. While a less reliable two-way presence than Coyle, who landed Selke Trophy votes for the first time last season, his age and contract align better with Boston’s now clear plan to retool their roster over the coming years. With Trent Frederic already out the door, Mittelstadt should easily fit into a top-six role for Boston down the stretch, although his poor faceoff showings may necessitate a shift to the wing to get him that ice time.
Boston picks up a fairly intriguing prospect in the 18-year-old Zellers. Selected in the third round of last year’s draft by the Avs out of prep school Shattuck St. Mary’s, the 5’11” center/winger jumped to the United States Hockey League for major junior play this year and hasn’t disappointed. In 40 games with the Green Bay Gamblers, the speedy forward leads the team in scoring with 37-21–58. He’s the high-energy, high-scoring type of prospect sorely missing from the Bruins’ system, even if he’ll be a long-term project developmentally.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.