{"id":636617,"date":"2026-08-04T02:30:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/636617\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T02:30:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:30:31","slug":"daily-bean-bruins-centers-nhl-expansion-talk-lysell-merkulov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/636617\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Bean: Bruins Centers; NHL Expansion Talk; Lysell & Merkulov"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re hopeful for any NHL news at this time of the offseason<\/a>; the dog days of August are among us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That does not mean there was nothing, though. The Boston Bruins<\/a>\u2019 top centers were ranked. Not high, but still ranked. The Athletic recently published a ranking of each team\u2019s top center duo, and while the Bruins ranked low, the front office is still confident in the group they have. Also, the NHL Network is rolling out a nine-part series, and David Pastrnak is still the second-best winger playing today.<\/p>\n

There are only 57 days until the Rangers come to town for the season opener.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elsewhere around the league, there is expansion talk regarding both Texas and Quebec. Bill Daly joined Jimmy Murphy and Pierre McGuire last week and expanded on the topic. There\u2019s more on Trent Whitfield<\/a>, specifically his comments on Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov. Free agency grades for a rival, and prospect talk around the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also another podcast to check out; our friends in San Jose spoke to Pete DeBoer.<\/p>\n

Happy Monday, catch up on Bruins and league news in today\u2019s Daily Bean<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Boston Bruins<\/p>\n

CENTERS<\/a>: The Bruins\u2019 top centers rank last in the Eastern Conference and 29th in the NHL. In a recent ranking from Harman Dayal of The Athletic, Pavel Zacha<\/a> and Elias Lindholm<\/a>\/Fraser Minten<\/a> landed near the bottom. And while Cam Neely<\/a> called out the lack of a true 1C, Don Sweeney<\/a> is confident in the center-by-committee plan the Bruins have.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is the full ranking from The Athletic ($).<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

NHL Media (via \ud835\udd4f)<\/a>: David Pastrnak<\/a> is the second-best winger in the league, according to the NHL Network. He only sits behind the Hart Trophy-winning Nikita Kucherov<\/a>, and ahead of players like Kirill Kaprizov<\/a> and Mitch Marner<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Click here for the full list<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NHL News & National Hockey Now<\/p>\n

The Sick Podcast \u2013 The Eye Test (video via YouTube)<\/a>: Bill Daly joined Jimmy Murphy and Pierre McGuire on The Sick Podcast \u2013 The Eye Test on July 29. They discussed the growth of the league, Russia\u2019s participation status, and expansion. Daly did not commit to expansion, but mentioned that there is a term sheet in place to work with a group from Texas (Houston or Austin) with a hopeful timeline for the 2029-30 season.<\/p>\n

Murphy also asked about Quebec City, and Daly said the biggest issue is the lack of an interested ownership group. Attached is the 15-minute clip of Daly\u2019s interview; click here for the full podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Colorado Hockey Now<\/a>: In Trent Whitfield\u2019s opening press conference<\/a>, he touched on the recently departed Fabian Lysell<\/a> and Georgii Merkulov<\/a>. Both players struggled to grasp a full-time spot in Boston, but they were highly productive AHL players. Aarif Deen breaks down what Whitfield said, and what that means for the Avalanche (and Eagles) going forward.<\/p>\n

San Jose Hockey Now<\/a>: Ex-Sharks and current Islanders coach Pete DeBoer joined the San Jose Hockey Now podcast this week. The bench boss was on for the first hour and talked Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, Matthew Schaefer<\/a>, the future of Team Canada, and the story about Joe Pavelski<\/a>\u2019s retirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida Hockey Now<\/a>: The Panthers made more than a few notable offseason moves. Aside from Brady Tkachuk<\/a>, they brought in a new goaltending tandem, Garnet Hathaway<\/a>, Johnny Beecher<\/a>, and more. George Richards looks at all of the moves and dishes out an offseason grade for the Panthers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chicago Hockey Now<\/a>: The Blackhawks lead the NHL with eight prospects in The Athletic\u2019s<\/a> top 100 ranking. The Blackhawks have two Tier 2 prospects, and six more between Tiers 3-6. Jack Bushman dives into the rankings and offers analysis on all eight Hawks prospects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

James Hagens<\/a> is No. 13, and Dean Letourneau<\/a> is No. 81.<\/p>\n

TSN (video)<\/a>: The Winnipeg Jets signed Viggo Bjorck<\/a> to an entry-level contract this summer. Sweden, and specifically head coach Magnus Havelid, does not think the 18-year-old will be available for Sweden\u2019s title defense at the World Juniors this winter.<\/p>\n

Bruins Offseason Schedule<\/p>\n

Friday, September 11: Rookie Camp opens \u2013 Warrior Ice Arena, Brighton, MA<\/p>\n

Sun, Sept 13-Mon, Sept 14: Prospects Showcase \u2013 LECOM Harborcenter, Buffalo, NY<\/p>\n

Wednesday, September 16: Training Camp opens \u2013 Warrior Ice Arena, Brighton, MA<\/p>\n

Sunday, September 20: First preseason game \u2013 TD Garden, Boston, MA<\/p>\n

Tuesday, September 29: Home opener \u2013 TD Garden, Boston, MA<\/p>\n

FOLLOW @JACKSTUDLEY13 ON \ud835\udd4f<\/a>\u00a0 | FOLLOW @BOSHockeyNow ON \ud835\udd4f<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re hopeful for any NHL news at this time of the offseason; the dog days of August are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5099],"tags":[154,95,5132,530,2178,2241,4512,13987,4112,19169,5,373,4,7011,7610],"class_list":["post-636617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boston-bruins","tag-boston","tag-boston-bruins","tag-bostonbruins","tag-bruins","tag-david-pastrnak","tag-dean-letourneau","tag-elias-lindholm","tag-fabian-lysell","tag-fraser-minten","tag-georgii-merkulov","tag-hockey","tag-james-hagens","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-expansion","tag-pavel-zacha"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117034891555465325","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}