Last year, yours truly wrote that Charlie Coyle was going to be the Bruins’ x-factor going into the 2020 playoffs; I mostly based this on his excellent play during last season and during the previous year’s playoffs.
This year, I’m picking...surprise, surprise, Charlie Coyle as the Bruins’ x-factor going into the 2021 playoffs.
Before getting into my reasoning, let’s clarify what I mean by x-factor: in this case, I’m referring to a player who unexpectedly has a huge impact on the success of a team in a game, series, or playoffs. The key word here is “unexpectedly,” which I use to rule out superstar players like Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, or Tuukka Rask, as we all expect these players to significantly impact the Bruins’ success.