Do The Boston Bruins Still Need A Defenseman?
The Boston Bruins seem to have most of their bases covered going into the 2015-16 season. They’ve found adequate, young replacements for the forwards who were traded, moved, or just let go. They’ve got an ample supply of goaltenders who could easily combine to work the twenty to twenty-five games needed to cover Tuukka Rask next season. The Black and Gold have made a lot of right moves, but there is still one section that has a lot of the fans left in doubt.
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Will the Bruins have enough reliable NHL caliber defensemen come October 8th?
If you had asked this question at the same time last year, the answer would have been an unequivocal ‘yes’. The Bruins had nine NHL-ready players. The team looked solid, and was ready to go. Then everything came apart for the B’s. Chiarelli chose to sign away Johnny Boychuk(which was the beginning of the end for Chiarelli), and the Bruins sustained so many injuries, they had to scrape up talent from the Providence club to make it through the season.
The Bruins didn’t make the playoffs last season, and the lack of reliable and healthy defenseman was what hurt them the most.
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So, Don Sweeney had to pick up the pieces and attempt to rebuild. That rebuild became harder once he realized that Dougie Hamilton had no desire to stay in Boston. He also chose to let Matt Bartkowski try his luck in free agency. (Good call Don!) This left the Bruins with a lot of holes to fill in the blue line.
Sweeney wasted no time in filling the roster with blueliners. Don Sweeney chose to extend Adam McQuaid. This call was questioned by a fair amount of the fans. Other teams were looking for a snarl-and-sass defenseman, and when McQuaid is healthy, he’s exactly that. The Bruins got Colin Miller in the Milan Lucic trade, and then got Matt Irwin through free agency.
If we include Zach Trotman(who will be fighting hard for one of those spots on the bottom pair), the Bruins now have eight defensemen. In theory, that should get them through the season.
The biggest concern for Bruins fans is who will end up being that all-important second pair. Zdeno Chara won’t be playing the monster minutes anymore. In all likelihood, neither will Dennis Seidenberg. The Bruins were looking for solid, and dependable second pair blueliners. If Kevan Miller is good to go in October, he might be able to do it. Matt Irwin could be able to handle the job as well.
It’s a certainty that Claude Julien will be fiddling with the lines like they’re a Black and Gold Rubik’s Cube. He’s going to want all the lines to match up, and that means a lot of trial-and-error in the preseason (and probably the first dozen games as well). At the moment, the answer looks like a ‘no’. The Bruins should have all the tools they need to get through the season.
If Chara, Seidenberg, Kevan Miller, and McQuaid all have healthy seasons, then we won’t have much to worry about. If the Bruins have another serious run of bad luck when it comes to injuries though, it could be a very rough season.