Charlie Coyle, acquired from the Wild for Scituate native Ryan Donato on Wednesday, is excited to join the team he watched and wanted to play for as a kid growing up in Weymouth.
A homecoming, but a change of scenery.
Every kid’s dream, but most players’ worst fear.
Charlie Coyle has been living all of that. That’s what happens when the shock of being traded is mixed with the thrill of being sent to the team you watched and wanted to play for as a kid.
“If you’re a little kid playing, you fall in love with the game, and you’ve got the big dreams,” the newest Bruin said on Thursday night, after joining the team in Las Vegas. “Growing up in the Boston area, that’s what you envision when you’re playing street hockey in front of your house, or in practice, or skating on the pond when you’re younger. You envision playing for the hometown team. I definitely did some of that.”
The Weymouth native, 26, is expected to do that for real on Saturday in St. Louis, and then again when the Bruins host the Sharks next Tuesday night at TD Garden.
“It’s got me smiling, just thinking about it,” he said.
Coyle became a Bruin on Wednesday, when the Wild swapped him for another local product -- Scituate’s Ryan Donato, who had two assists in his debut on Thursday night against the Rangers -- and a fourth- or fifth-round choice in the 2019 NHL Draft. Much of what he has been asked, and thought about, since the deal was consummated, is its homecoming aspect.
“I don’t think it’s fully hit me,” he said, “but I’m pretty excited.”
The competition aspects of the transaction go into action on Friday, when Coyle and Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy decide where Coyle will play. Both general manager Don Sweeney and Cassidy envision Coyle as the plug for a season-long hole at No. 3 center -- a concept that became more tangible on Thursday night when Trent Frederic, a rookie who had filled the role for 11 games, was returned to AHL Providence. Coyle, however, has played as much wing as center over a 479-game NHL career, and with goal-scoring leader David Pastrnak still sidelined after Feb. 11 thumb surgery, the B’s could push Coyle onto one of the top two lines, too.
Coyle knows all about that drill. He has alternated between center and wing throughout a career that has seen him score as many as 21 goals (2015-16) and 56 points (’16-17), and that didn’t change this season.
“I think it was pretty 50-50,” said Coyle, who brings 10 goals and 28 points to the B’s. “I started to find my stride at center a month or two ago, and felt comfortable. Then the team makes changes, and you move to the wing, and I started to find a groove there as well.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen here. I’ll talk to the coach … see what his thoughts are, and we’ll go from there.”
Otherwise, Coyle enters something of a comfort zone. Besides the fact that he doesn’t have to figure out how to get anywhere once the team comes home, he has a long-time friend on the roster in winger and Walpole native Chris Wagner, a former teammate with the South Shore Kings. He’s joining a hot, playoff-bound team (seven straight wins and points in 12 straight games entering Saturday’s date with the Blues), and the two most important Bruins reached out to welcome him as soon as he was acquired.
“I was pretty shocked to get a call from Zdeno (Chara, Bruins captain) and Patrice (Bergeron), before their game” on Wednesday, Coyle said. “I knew they were playing, so I didn’t really expect anything. For them to call me and welcome me that way was pretty classy. I was pretty excited about that.”
While Wagner, the free-agent acquisition who has been a hit as a hard-nosed fourth-line winger, may fall slightly below Coyle on the depth chart, Coyle would like to follow in his friend’s footsteps.
“I remember how excited Chris was this summer, when he signed with the Bruins,” Coyle said. “It was a cool feeling for me to watch him feel that way. You kind of envision what that would be like for yourself, so to go through that now is really exciting.
“I think it’s going to be a really great experience.”