Through 13 NHL seasons, Charlie Coyle has never missed the playoffs, though it’s not always come easy for the new Blue Jackets center.
In fact, he was nearly 0-for-1. In his first season back in 2012-13, Coyle was a rookie on a Minnesota team that made the postseason by the skin of its teeth, clinching a playoff spot with a victory on the last day of the regular season.
Longtime Blue Jackets fans will know where this is going. The team that Coyle’s Wild kept out of the postseason by a tiebreaker was none other than the Blue Jackets, who completed a furious dash to the finish by beating Nashville that same night. Thousands of fans remained in Nationwide Arena to watch the Wild’s game with Colorado on the video board, only to see Minnesota hold off the Avs to end the Jackets’ season.
Considering it was more than a decade ago, some of the details of that playoff push had been lost to time in Coyle’s mind – especially the fact that it was his new team who suffered the heartbreak that countered Minnesota's elation.
“Is that what it was?” Coyle said when reminded recently. “Sorry about that.”
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It’s fair to say that all these years later, all will be forgiven if Coyle can make it 14 out of 14 when it comes to Stanley Cup Playoffs appearances. He was acquired by the Blue Jackets to help make it so, as Coyle’s timely scoring, dependable two-way play and veteran leadership were added this offseason to bolster a CBJ team that fell just two points short of a postseason bid.
Few NHL players have the winning experience of Coyle, who is the only active player to have skated in at least 13 NHL seasons and made the playoffs every time. Just 37 players have ever had a streak that long in league history, the most recent being Paul Martin, who qualified 14 straight seasons with New Jersey, Pittsburgh and San Jose from 2004-18.
He’ll be the first to tell you his extraordinary run – including six seasons in Minnesota, six more in Boston and a postseason appearance last year in Colorado – in many ways is good fortune, a product of being in the right place at the right time throughout his career, including a pair of deadline deals that sent him from non-playoff teams to contenders.
At the same time, though, it’s fair to say Coyle has learned a thing or two about winning in his career, and his hope is that he can bring that knowledge to the Blue Jackets.
“That’s what any team needs is people who have that experience,” Coyle said. “We have guys with experience, and I’m definitely one who has been around. I’m one of the oldest guys on the team, so I definitely have that.
“It’s good in a way because I’ve gone through stuff, I’ve seen stuff. I’ve been on good teams and seen how teams do things, what works here, what works there. You kind of bring some good stuff and you learn from the stuff that is so-so or not so good. Then you can relay those experiences or those messages, which I think can only help.”
Coyle will acknowledge he’s not naturally the most vocal player, but he does have a reputation as one hockey's good guys, which should help him fit into the locker room's leadership structure. He also expressed respect for the Jackets’ established veterans like captain Boone Jenner and Zach Werenski – who have been with the Jackets throughout their entire careers, through both playoff appearances and lean seasons – and leaders like alternate captain Erik Gudbranson and Sean Monahan, who have landed in Columbus after being other places like Coyle.
He sees his role as simply to be another voice, one who can bring ideas to the table when the need arises. It will be similar to his situation in previous seasons in Boston, where he arrived in a locker room that featured such names as Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Krejci, who set a tone that helped the Bruins to a .695 points percentage from his arrival in 2019 through 2024.
“It just trickles down, but they set the tone and that’s just the standard, and it’s kind of like that every year,” Coyle said. “It’s hard to lose that, when you have that and you have work ethic and bring in good players who have skill but you have work ethic first. That’s just the recipe. They see it happen over and over, and then you just keep building on that and you keep that foundation. It’s very big, and it gives you the best chance to make the playoffs, one, but have a run and have a chance to win every year.”
Those words echo similar thoughts expressed at the end of the 2023-24 season by Sean Kuraly, who started his career in Boston with five playoff appearances before coming to Columbus the past four seasons. It takes a lot of work to get the train on the tracks, but in many ways, winning begets winning, whether it's having the confidence and experience to handle the ups and downs of games or the ability to nip losing streaks in the bud before they upend a season.
Those are the lessons the Blue Jackets started to put into practice a season ago, and Columbus went from having the second-most losses in the league when leading after two periods in 2023-24 to placing fourth a season ago with nine third-period comeback victories.
Such improvements are the type of things Coyle noticed a season ago from afar, and now that he’s up close, he sees a team putting a winning mentality into practice.
“When we’re a hard team to play against and stick to what our coaches want structure-wise and then play hockey on top of that, within that, the potential is there, which is very exciting,” Coyle said. “Teams see that. I know I’ve seen that even last year with this team, and another year with these younger guys who are a year older and have more experience and have some more veteran leadership coming and growing that way, that can only help.
“As long as you stay on the path and keep doing the right things, and from what I’ve seen, it’s there, which is really, really exciting.”
Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason is a big part of elevating that level, and he’s quite familiar with Coyle, having served as an assistant coach with the Wild when Coyle was in Minnesota. As a coach, bringing in a veteran voice such as Coyle’s is nothing but a positive move.
“I know how much of a good pro he is,” Evason said. “He’s obviously been in the league a long time now. His awareness, his professionalism, his leadership qualities, all that he brings to the table not only in games but in practice and in that room is a huge benefit to our organization.”
But for all of the winning Coyle has done, he’s yet to reach the ultimate goal, which is to lift the Stanley Cup. The closest he’s come was in 2019 when the Bruins lost to St. Louis in the Final, coincidentally a season in which the Bruins eliminated the Blue Jackets in the second round thanks in part to Coyle's late tying goal and overtime winner in Game 1.
His hope is that this season, he’ll be scoring such crucial goals for the Union Blue.
“That’s what you want to do is make the playoffs,” Coyle said. “I’ve been fortunate to make it as much as I have, but it’s also, ‘All right, well, I’ve made it 13 years. I want to do something with it.’ That’s what keeps you going for more.”
