Boston Bruins: Adam McQuaid Ready for 2016-17 Season

Boston Bruins: Adam McQuaid Ready for 2016-17 Season After Healthy Offseason

While Adam McQuaid may not be the most exciting or skilled defenseman in the NHL, there’s no denying toughness or his loyalty to his teammates. While the 29-year-old may draw the ire of fans in Boston due to his lack of offense, high price tag, given his ability, and injury history, his fit in the Bruins lineup each night is almost impossible to argue.

In a top-four role, McQuaid is clearly out of his element. In a bottom-six role, however, McQuaid has been able to thrive in the Bruins system. The issue, however, is that Kevan Miller is also locked up to a contract to play an identical role as McQuaid on a similar deal. While it’s easy to direct anger at both McQuaid and Miller for the contracts they signed, the blame for that dilemma should be designated to general manager Don Sweeney, and not the players themselves.

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For the first time in a long time, Adam McQuaid is ready to enter training camp and the preseason without having undergone offseason surgery. In the offseason prior to the 2014-15 season, McQuaid had surgery to correct an ankle injury that had been ailing the tough defenseman for a while throughout the season. Just one year later, McQuaid had surgery to remove a pectoral muscle that was related to another surgery that he had back in 2012. With a full offseason under his belt this year, McQuaid is treating this summer differently than he has in previous years.

“Training, skating, and relaxing…that’s about it,” McQuaid said. “This is the first (summer) I didn’t have a surgery in the last three years, so this is a good start. Not being behind the 8-ball is good. There’s probably going to be a lot of talk about the D-corps and uncertainty in different areas, but I’m looking forward to coming in, having a good training camp and having a really good season.”

McQuaid went on to mention a “fresh start” which is something that each member of the Bruins will welcome with open arms heading into the 2016-17 season.

“The guys that I’ve talked to, everybody is looking forward to just a fresh start and a fresh opportunity. Hopefully, we take care of what we can take care of, and see how everything else plays out.”