Coyle putting up career numbers with Bruins now that he can train properly

BOSTON – For each of the five-plus seasons that Charlie Coyle has spent as a member of the Boston Bruins, and the two previous ones with the Minnesota Wild, he has taken the ice every night, almost every game, playing his relentless style of hockey, using his strength and power to muscle past opponents, his stickiness to grind them to dust on the penalty kill. He has played all 82 games each of the past three seasons, 17 minutes a game of hard-nosed hockey.

And he did all of it while not being able to jump. Or sprint.

“You get used to it at some point, like, this is what I’m dealing with,” Coyle said.

As Coyle sits in the Bruins dressing room on this day late in the 2023-24 campaign, he’s not exactly planning to reveal what he’s been going through for the past seven seasons. But when he’s asked about what he did differently last offseason, what changed for him as he sat on the brink of a new role and a new responsibility and a new chance to prove himself, he can’t help but be honest.

“As far as in the gym?” he blows out air in a gesture of emphasis. “I haven’t been able to train the way I’ve been able to train until this summer. For the last six years, I’ve had issues. … This was the first summer where I could do everything, jump, run. I haven’t run or jumped in like five years, six years.”

It was a transformational summer. For the Bruins. For Coyle.

After the 2022-23 season, the Bruins lost two centers who had held down the position for the past decade and a half, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci. The simultaneous departure of two franchise icons opened spots down the middle for Coyle and Pavel Zacha. It was a season in which the Bruins were coming off a historic regular season and a tremendously disappointing Stanley Cup Playoffs, getting knocked out in the Eastern Conference First Round.

It would mark the biggest opportunity of Coyle’s career.

And he has responded. Coyle put up an NHL career season in 2023-24, with 60 points (25 goals, 35 assists), besting previous highs of 56 points (2016-17) and 21 goals (2015-16), coming when he played for the Wild.

He stabilized the Bruins’ top six in a surprisingly strong season for Boston, which finished second in the Atlantic Division. His assist in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round helped the Bruins take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Game 4 is Saturday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, NESN, TBS,…