The Boston Bruins will be without forward Charlie Coyle for the future as the skater has been placed on the league’s COVID protocol list. This comes just hours before the team is scheduled to battle the Washington Capitals. Stephen Whyno of the AP announced Coyle’s addition late Wednesday afternoon.

#NHLBruins’ Charlie Coyle added to NHL COVID protocol list, out tonight against Capitals. He’s fourth player on list.

— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) March 3, 2021

NHL Adds Bruins’ Charlie Coyle To COVID Protocol

Coyle has been an important part of Boston’s depth in 2020-21. The 28-year-old skater has five goals and eight points in 19 games. He also has a respectable 20 hits and eight blocks while playing in almost every situation. Some of Coyle’s underlying stats are just average; he has a 50.3 Corsi For with a -4.7 relative Corsi, but the traditional numbers are strong at this time. It’s exactly what Boston needs to support its signature “perfection” line.

The San Jose Sharks originally drafted Coyle in the first round of the 2010 Draft but traded him to the Minnesota Wild in 2011 as part of a package that included Brent Burns. Coyle skated for the Wild from 2012-13 through the midway point of 2018-19. That is when Minnesota traded the Massachusetts native to Boston in exchange for Ryan Donato and a late pick in the 2019 Draft that became Cade Webber. Overall, Coyle has 114 goals and 293 points in 589 regular-season games. He also has 19 goals and 36 points in 81 postseason games.

[pickup_prop id=”4465″]

How Boston Replaces Coyle

Boston will need to do some shuffling within its middle-six, but there are options available. Youngster Jack Studnicka could move up the depth chart with Greg McKegg filling in as the centre for the fourth-line behind him. The taxi squad also currently has Karson Kuhlman available to play down the middle if absolutely necessary. This weakens the Bruins’ depth, but they should be able to weather this absence without too much difficulty. The only real concern is who might step up on the bottom-six if Coyle is out long-term. Boston was still fairly top-heavy even before this recent event.

Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images