You might say hockey runs in the family for Charlie Coyle.
A native of Weymouth, Mass., Coyle counts former NHL players Tony Amonte and Bobby Sheehan among his cousins.
You might say hockey runs in the family for Charlie Coyle.
A native of Weymouth, Mass., Coyle counts former NHL players Tony Amonte and Bobby Sheehan among his cousins.
Even with that pedigree - Amonte scored 416 goals and 900 points during his 17-year career while Sheehan was a third-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1969 NHL Draft - Coyle has had no trouble making his own name.
A first-round pick by the San Jose Sharks in the 2010 NHL draft (No. 28), Coyle began impressing as a freshman at Weymouth High School. Coyle, who like Amonte played at Boston University, would gain notice at the national level. In 2009, he scored the game-winner for the champion United States against Switzerland in the final of the Under-18 Four Nations Cup. Coyle also helped the United States to a bronze medal at the 2011 World Junior Championship in Buffalo.
After scoring seven goals and 26 points in 37 games as a freshman with BU in 2010-11, Coyle left the Terriers 16 games into his sophomore season for major junior hockey. He joined Saint John of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he scored 15 goals and 38 points in 23 games to close his only junior season.
Moving to major junior was not the only big change for Coyle's hockey career around that time. On June 24, 2011, Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher traded defenseman Brent Burns and a second-round pick to the Sharks for a package that included Devin Setoguchi, a first-round pick and Coyle.
After spending half the 2012-13 season with Minnesota's AHL affiliate in Houston, Coyle began his NHL career on Feb. 4, 2013. As a rookie, he averaged just over 15 minutes per game and scored eight goals and 14 points in 37 games while helping Minnesota reach the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.
Skating mostly as a center, he notched 30 points in his first full season, 2013-14, and 35 points a season later. A move from center to right wing in December 2015 proved a boon as he topped 20 goals for the first time and finished the 2015-16 season with 21 goals and 42 points.
