Gone are the days of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.
Since the longtime duo hung up their skates, the Boston Bruins have been searching for a dominant 1-2 punch down the middle.
They exceeded expectations with their “center by committee” approach during the 2025-26 season, which helped lead them to the playoffs. Still, Cam Neely openly acknowledged the Bruins’ lack of a true 1C at the end-of-season press conference.
Harman Dayal of The Athletic pieced together rankings for each team’s top-six center duos. Dayal pooled the duos into eight tiers ranging from “Generational” to “Zero top-six caliber centers.”
It should not be too surprising that the Oilers’ duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl stands alone in the “Generational” tier. Colorado (Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson) and Florida (Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett) are in the second tier, labeled “Elite.”
It also should not be too surprising that the Bruins’ tandem of Pavel Zacha and Fraser Minten/Elias Lindholm finished in the seventh tier, which Dayal labeled as “Major Weakness.” The Bruins are one of six teams in the seventh tier, while only one (Calgary) is in the eighth tier. They’re also the lowest-ranked team in the Eastern Conference, with Philadelphia as the only other Eastern team in the seventh tier.
The glaring issue is that the Bruins do not have a bona fide 1C. That is an issue the front office has publicly acknowledged.
“I mean, we all in this room recognize we don’t have a true number one [center],” Neely said in May. “And that’s something that we want to try to rectify, whether it’s this offseason or those guys (Fraser Minten and James Hagens) growing into it. But it’s something that we know that’s needed.”
Pavel Zacha is the Bruins’ top option down the middle, though not the true 1C Neely is calling for. He broke out last season, setting career highs in goals (30), points (65), and power play points (22), and he repeatedly said he’s comfortable playing center. He is widely viewed as a high-end 2C, and Dayal agrees with the 2C notion.
Zacha spent the majority of the 2025-26 season on the second line, away from David Pastrnak, and is an option to plug in next to Pastrnak and JJ Peterka this season.
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After Bergeron left, the Bruins brought in Elias Lindholm to provide immediate center help. A recurring back injury and two sub-50-point seasons have defined Lindholm’s tenure in Boston, and Neely’s comments in May hinted that Lindholm’s contract may not have panned out the way they intended. Ahead of the draft, Don Sweeney said that Lindholm fits into the committee role, is working hard to hit his previous level of play, “but it just might be this is what his new level is, and you have to accept that.”
Dayal did not mince words on Lindholm, saying that the “48 points he scored last season are inflated by all the time he spent playing with Pastrnak.”
The Bruins also have Fraser Minten, who is still young and only has 107 games of NHL experience on his resume. The 22-year-old finished his first full NHL season with 35 points (17-18–35), but was held off the scoresheet in six playoff games. When Neely said the Bruins lacked a 1C, he was speaking to whether Minten or James Hagens can develop into that role.
Dayal is hesitant to label Minten as a top-six center and is not sure how much offensive upside there is as he progresses.
Though Neely said the Bruins wanted to rectify their 1C spot this summer, it’s always easier said than done. Sweeney has repeated that there’s a finite number of them in the league. Those players also rarely become available to the open market.
Sweeney’s also confident in the center committee that the Bruins have.
“I mean, our centers, by committee, have done a good job. We’ve actually had players playing on the wing that when we have injuries can move into the middle of the ice
so we’re fortunate in that regard,” Sweeney said before the draft. “If you can go out and make a trade, in your description of who might be a true number one, then clearly every team wants to do that. And I think I said this before, I’ll repeat myself, the price was high for a certain player on a team because he looks around and says, ‘I don’t know if there are 32 of those players you might want to describe.’”
“But we feel very good about where our guys are at, and they did a good job this year. So for me, I don’t look at this as a negative right now. I think the depth of our center position is really good.
I think with James [Hagens] potentially going in the middle of the ice, Dean [Letourneau] coming in behind it, Will Moore plays the center. We’re positioned.”
The Bruins know that they lack a true 1C. It’s not a secret, and it’s been this way since Bergeron’s departure. Acquiring one is not easy, Sweeney knows that, and remains confident in the group they have.
They are also betting on the young talent they have in-house, hoping that they can find their answer within.
Still, The Athletic ranks the Bruins’ group of top-six centers last in the Eastern Conference and 29th across the NHL.
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