Bruins don't need to overpay for Elias Lindholm

He’s more dominant offensively, playing in all situations, growing chemistry with Brad Marchand and showing the kind of consistency that has eluded the talented center previously in his NHL career.

“The more you contribute, the more confidence grows and you just keep riding that,” said Coyle. “I always just tried to play the right way and do it for the team and I play with some good linemates, some good players and play the right way and you hope you get rewarded for it. You hope the team gets rewarded for it. That’s the main thing.”

The 31-year-old Coyle actually has more goals (18) and more points (42) than Scheifele this season and has outproduced the 29-year-old Lindholm (nine goals and 32 points in 49 games) in a big way as well. Sure, it’s a down season for Lindholm in Calgary, but this feels like a move that has zero basis in what Boston’s roster actually needs this season thanks to the way Coyle has performed in his best NHL season to date.

“I see someone that wants to take over games and control games,” said Jim Montgomery of Coyle. “But there’s also a difference in his attitude. You can just see the swagger and confidence he has.

Coyle’s play, the ascension of 19-year-old Matt Poitras into a legit NHL center option and Trent Frederic turning into a player that can drive a line as well, along with Pavel Zacha’s consistently strong play, has lessened Boston’s need for a high-end top-6 pivot.

Morgan Geekie’s strong play in the middle as the season has rolled out has also fortified the center position as well.

Clearly there is a need for a center that’s more of a faceoff specialist as it’s an area where Boston has struggled during the key moments in close games when they need a win on the draw. Coyle has become the “go-to guy” in those situations with a 50.9 percent win rate and the most faceoffs (892) of anybody on the team, and Zacha has been surprisingly good winning 53.5 percent of his draws.

Faceoffs was also a specialty of Johnny Beecher (53.9 percent) when he was up with the NHL club prior to his demotion to the Providence Bruins. But Geekie (44.2 percent), Poitras (43.7) and Frederic (46.4) have struggled in the faceoff circle, as has Jesper Boqvist (47.1) since getting called back up from the AHL in place of Beecher.

So trading for an experienced veteran bottom-6 center capable of winning big draws might be a target for the B’s at the NHL trade deadline.

But that hasn’t stopped The Athletic from speculating about a laughable theoretical trade package for Elias Lindholm, with the Bruins at the top of the list. The Athletic threw out a 2025 first-round pick, Frederic and Poitras as the trade scenario for the Bruins dealing for Lindholm. What they fail to mention is that Frederic has more goals and three fewer points than Lindholm just on his own this season, and that’s probably not even a deal that Boston would do straight up as a hockey trade of Frederic-for-Lindholm.

The 25-year-old Frederic is on pace for career highs in goals (23) and points (49) while playing the power forward game for a 6-foot-3, 220-pound forward, and is signed to a $2.3 million contract through next season. There is zero shot that the Bruins are going to trade Frederic for Lindholm, or for anybody else for that matter.

The sense here is that there is zero pressure on the Bruins to trade for a player like Lindholm having a down season when the center position has not been an issue for the B’s all season long. They have much bigger needs for a tough, veteran defenseman capable of playing top-4 minutes and perhaps for a veteran fourth-line presence that can add a little more physical thump to the forward group.

There should be zero urgency for Bruins management to fork over another first-round pick and a legit NHL center prospect in Poitras for another player that will 30 years old with his best seasons perhaps already behind him. The only trade target that would make sense for Boston giving up a package like that would be a younger player that the Bruins could tie up to a long-term deal to become part of the Bruins core group along with Jeremy Swayman, Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Brandon Carlo, Marchand, Hampus Lindholm, Coyle, Zacha and Frederic.

Don’t expect the Lindholm-to-Bruins rumors to go away as we approach the NHL trade deadline on March 8, but anybody that’s actually watched the B’s should realize that Lindholm isn’t a player that Bruins team actually needs as they’ve built up the best record (31-9-9) in the Eastern Conference ahead of the NHL All-Star break.

The Bruins will much likely be buyers at a smaller level even as they have become legit Cup contenders in a wide-open Eastern Conference this season, and that’s perfectly okay even if it’s not going to appease fans always chasing after the big, shiny object ahead of the annual trade deadline frenzy.