The biggest need this past offseason for the Boston Bruins was a top-line center. General manager Don Sweeney failed to address that, instead choosing to address the Bruins' bottom-six lines with grinders to make it tough to play against.
Marco Strum's first training camp as Bruins head coach had Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittlestadt, Fraser Minten, and Sean Kuraly as the top-four centers. Against the Utah Mammoth on Sunday night, Mittlestadt was scratched from the lineup, which moved Pavel Zacha to the middle for the game.
Over the summer, Mittlestadt and Zacha were rumored in several trades, but nothing came of them.