Boston Bruins Report Card: John-Michael Liles
John-Michael Liles was one of two players brought over to help the team at the trade deadline. The Bruins front office knew that the current roster of defensemen weren’t cutting it, and they needed to find a cheap top-four blueliner that could help stabilize their defense. While it looked promising early, Liles just wasn’t able to help fix the problems the Bruins had, and the lack of quality two-way defensemen were one of the reasons the B’s failed to make the playoffs for the second straight year.
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John-Michael Liles – Defenseman
Games Played: 81 (17 with the Bruins)
Goals/ Assists/ Points: 6(0) / 15(6) / 21(6) 111 SOG with a 5.4% shot success rate
Liles was brought on board (from the Carolina Hurricanes) as another veteran presence for the Bruins (He finished the season playing 800 NHL games). He was supposed to help the Bruins plug a few holes and provide secondary scoring for Boston. When it came to closing the holes, Liles was a mixed bag. Sure, he brought some hustle and grit to the blueline. Unfortunately, he brought no secondary scoring to the Black and Gold. In his 17 games with the Bruins, he was unable to find the net.
Liles was another Bruins player who ran hot and cold during the season. In his last five games of the season, he had four assists, but was a -3. The 35-year old Liles had streaks of great play followed by moments of indecision that led to the other team taking advantage of those opportunities. Those opportunities led to goals, and those goals are the reason why the B’s didn’t make the playoffs.
The Bruins already have a few too many 30-plus blueliners on their roster. Zdeno Chara was asked to do the work of a man ten years younger. Chara held up well, but it was clear all the extra minutes were slowing him down. For the most part Dennis Seidenberg was invisible this year.
Liles will be a free agent next season. The Bruins aren’t likely to have him back next year. Torey Krug‘s shoulder surgery and projected five month rehab may force the Bruins to give Liles another look when training camp starts up again in September.
Final Grade: C-