I think everyone wants our #1 center to be the elite of the elite. Which there are what 10 or so elite #1 centers in the league and they want our #2 to be a real #1. Bergeron or Krecji were never these high octane offensive guy so idk what they expect out of Coyle.
Ideally he's on the 3rd line to get those favorable match-ups but if he's putting up 60 points and playing reasonable defense that's all you can ask from your #2 center
If they can somehow get a scoring winger, they can put Zacha at 2C and slot Coyle into the 3C spot where he thrives.
This is why taking on the Korpisalo salary was a bad move (Sweeney's only bad move this off season, thus far, to be honest).
But if they were sitting with 10 million right now (Swayman still unsigned) instead of around 8 -- they could be a player for a Skinner, Tarasenko, etc. to round out the top 6.
I still think they could do something, provided Swayman agrees to be at around 7.25.
It might cost a Geekie, Coyle or Frederic to do it though.