Boston Bruins: Blueline Band-Aid Needed

When the Boston Bruins failed to make the playoffs for the second straight year, a lot of heads (rightfully so) turned to the Bruins defense as the biggest reason why. The Black and Gold tried to replace Dougie Hamilton during the offseason and failed. They still hadn’t filled the gap left by the Johnny Boychuk trade the year before. So when the 2015-16 Bruins took to the ice, it was a patchwork quilt of hits-and-misses that led to serious inconsistency as the season went on.

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The Bruins once again turned to their captain, Zdeno Chara to lead the way. Chara did that, but the 39-year old defenseman was certainly slowing down. He was asked to play 25-plus minutes a night because the Bruins just didn’t have any other option. The Bruins needed a top-four defenseman who could have cut into that time, but just couldn’t make it happen.

The best option the B’s had was to use who was available. This led Torey Krug to vault over all the other blueliners to become the new number two defenseman. Krug had a career-high 21:37 of ice time per game, but it came at a serious cost. Krug had to have surgery to repair damage to his right shoulder. Krug will likely miss opening night because of the rehab, and there is no one slated to take his place in the lineup as of now.

It only gets worse as you go down the roster. Dennis Seidenberg is 35 going on 50. The seasons of abuse are taking their toll, and the big German d-man was practically invisible last season. The Bruins aren’t likely to move him, and they’ll be on the hook for $4 million dollars for the next two seasons. Adam McQuaid said he was ready to become a top-four d-man this season, but that didn’t quite pan out. While he can still play reasonably well, he’s not worth the four-year, $11 million dollar contact he signed.

Kevan Miller is also a stay-at-home, bottom-pair defenseman. Due to the limitations of the B’s roster, Claude Julien and company decided to put Kevan Miller over Colin Miller in a top-four slot. That didn’t work either. While K. Miller certainly brought snarl to the squad, he seemed outclassed by many other teams’ top forward units.

Claude Julien did attempt to tap some greatness in the younger players in the roster. Colin Miller, Zach Trotman, and Joe Morrow all saw serious time in the Black and Gold uniform this season. None of them seemed to please Julien very much, and they found their play time limited. The bright side in all of this is that Colin Miller is quickly developing into a top-four NHL defenseman (something the B’s desperately need moving forward).

There is a lot of room at the bottom of the roster. Players like Trotman and Morrow could find themselves in stiff competition with the young prospects who are fighting for a spot. Brandon Carlo, Robbie O’Gara, and Jakub Zboril could find themselves wearing the ‘P’ or even the ‘B’ at the end of training camp in September.

If the Bruins want to be a championship team again, they’ll need to overhaul the blueline. That’s all there is to it.

Cam Neely and Don Sweeney know that they’ll have to look at their roster and prospects. They’ll need to determine what they’re willing to give up to get themselves a top-pair defenseman. Would they be willing to give up the first-round draft pick? Would they package that with some players the Bruins could afford to move? Ryan Spooner certainly had a solid first season in Boston, and his trade value is on the rise. The Bruins might be crafty enough to trade players like Alexander Khokhlachev or Malcolm Subban in order to fix their immediate problems.

If the Bruins don’t come up with a little trade magic this offseason, it could be another big disappointment for the fans this October.

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