He has come a long way from the South Shore Kings. Weymouth, Massachusetts native Charlie Coyle has had a solid National Hockey League career after scoring just ten goals in 53 career collegiate games at Boston University. A huge postseason in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after the 2011-12 season where the 6-foot-3 center scored 15 goals with 19 assists in 17 games catapulted him to the American Hockey League with the Minnesota Wild’s affiliate, the Houston Aeros. Coyle would have a solid first professional season with 25 points in 47 games and move on to the NHL without turning back.
Through his career, Coyle has been a solid two-way forward, playing mostly center. During the 2016-17 season, Coyle scored 21 goals, which at the time was his career-high. The next season saw the former Massachusetts youth hockey star tally the most points of his career with 56, including a career-best 38 assists. Two years later, he would be traded to his hometown Boston Bruins where Coyle registered 16 points in 24 playoff games as the Bruins came within one win of a Stanley Cup.
Coyle’s time with Boston has been a huge positive. The South Shore native has delivered for the local team and coming into this season, there were huge shoes to fill with the departures of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. Coyle would need to step up to a top-six centermen role. The consensus going into the season was that Coyle was an excellent bottom-six pivot who can possess the puck and win faceoffs while playing a good 200-foot game. But could he deliver offensively when he had not reached 60 points in a season in his career?
After 69 games in 2023-24, Coyle has delivered and then some with a new career high in goals with 23 and now just two points away from his top point total with 56 points and 13 games to play. Coyle has also registered 103 hits which is the most he has had since the 2015-16 season (130). The 225-pound forward has also averaged the most ice time of his career at 18:06. At 31 years old, Coyle’s season is nothing less than impressive. At this stage of his 12-year existence in the NHL, the likelihood of such a season is very low, but Coyle has beaten the odds and is a key cog in the Bruins lineup as the playoffs approach.
The postseason will be a major test for Boston and Coyle. Since his 16-point playoff in 2018-19, Coyle has tallied just 16 more playoff points in the last four postseasons. The big center has incredibly durability and has not missed a game this season, but could that cause some fatigue during the playoffs? The odds say it might, but Coyle has already beaten the odds once.
