Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha stepped into the top center roles for the Boston Bruins this season with solid production, but help will be needed if they want to make a deeper playoff run in 2024-25.

BRIGHTON, Mass. – After Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired following the 2022-23 season, the biggest question was who would replace the longtime Boston Bruins centers? Without much salary cap space to work with, general manager Don Sweeney and coach Jim Montgomery thrust Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha into the ‘top six’ center roles.

While Coyle had held down a ‘middle six’ pivot position for the past few seasons, Zacha spent most of last season playing on the wing. While addressing the media on Sunday, he said he felt his game only got better as the season went on, and that he was playing his best hockey in the final quarter of the regular season.

“I just started creating way more offensively and my face-offs got better within the season, so that’s something that I always build my foundation around,” Zacha said on Sunday. “And my defensive game was getting better too, and then just the offense was coming, the production was coming a little bit after.”

On paper, the duo delivered; Bergeron and Krejci combined for 114 points in their final season, while Coyle (60 points) and Zacha (59 points) totaled five more in 2023-24. Both had face-off winning percentages above 50 percent, and although Zacha struggled in the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs (39.8 percent), he ended up winning 24-of-36 face-offs (66.7 percent) across the final two games against the Florida Panthers in the second round.

Both carved out prominent roles on both ends of special teams, filling the mold of their predecessors. However, on a team where David Pastrnak (113 points) was the only player to exceed 70 points, reinforcements will be needed next season.

Of the four teams in the conference finals, three had at least four players score 70 points or more this season. The lone exception, Dallas, had just one in Jason Robertson (80), but also had five more players score at least 60 points. Besides Pastrnak, the Bruins had just Brad Marchand (67) and Coyle.

“I think they [Coyle and Zacha] stepped forward and several other guys did too, but we have to complement them,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said on Wednesday. “I have to find some players that can come in and provide secondary scoring for us at key opportune times.”

Sweeney will have more than $20 million in cap space to work with this offseason, which is the biggest difference between this year and last: It should be easier to get external options.

Coyle praised Zacha and Morgan Geekie for the strides they took this season, pointing out the difficulty in having to shift to wing and back to center at different points in the year, and that he feels they each – himself included – have a good baseline to build their games off of. But if the Bruins go shopping and bring in another center to compete for a larger role, he wants their style of play to fit in with the rest of the team.

“[We] pride ourselves on being a two-way player. That’s what I strive to be,” Coyle said on Sunday. “That’s what we’ve had here. Bergeron, Krejci, those guys. That’s what you want. Someone who’s played both ends of the ice and produces and meshes well and is a good team guy. You can always add in that department, and if that’s the plans, then we’ll welcome a guy like that with open arms.”

Between giving Jeremy Swayman a new contract and deciding the fate of unrestricted free agent Jake DeBrusk, Sweeney has some big decisions to make in the coming weeks. After hearing Bruins management answer some final questions before the offseason, it’s clear bringing in offensive reinforcements is high on that list.

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