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Replacing Boston Bruins’ Backes and Bergeron: Is it even possible?

By Christina Tsaknopoulos

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 5: Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy talks to David Krejci on the bench during their game against the Nashville Predators during first period action at TD Garden in Boston on Oct. 05, 2017. (Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 5: Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy talks to David Krejci on the bench during their game against the Nashville Predators during first period action at TD Garden in Boston on Oct. 05, 2017. (Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) /
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One game down, 82 to go.  Even though the Boston Bruins started off the season with a victory, it came without two important pieces of the team.  What’s going on with #37 and #42 of the Black and Gold?

On Thursday night, the Boston Bruins welcomed back the Garden Faithful with an energetic win against the Nashville Predators, a team who made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals last season.  While the Bruins’ youngsters sure did impress last night, they were without two very important core veteran players in Patrice Bergeron and David Backes.  Both of these veteran forwards were unable to dress for the season opener.

Boston Bruins Season Opener vs. Nashville
BOSTON, MA – OCTOBER 5: David Pastrnak /

Patrice Bergeron

The Bruins don’t seem to be saying much in regards to Patrice Bergeron’s injury and absence; however it does start to raise some questions.  For instance: Who do the Bruins expect to make up the difference in the face-off circle?  Is there someone who could come close to producing the amount of wins that Bergeron is known for?  Are the Bruins trying to downplay Bergeron’s injury?  Could it be that the Bruins are starting to put more pressure on David Krejci to perform more during the regular season?

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Over the last several seasons Bergeron’s face-off wins have been a crucial element in helping to not only provide the team with offense, but to also provide his team with the proper defense by winning important defensive zone face-offs.

Foxsports.com statistical reports show that in the 2015-2016 season Bergeron took 1978 face-offs while winning 1130 of those face-offs to get a winning face-off percentage of 57.1%.  In 2016-2017 Bergeron took 1812 face-offs, while winning 1089 of those giving him an even better face-off win percentage of 60%.  Since the 2014-2015 season Bergeron has taken the most Face-offs out of any active NHL player.

On Thursday, David Krejci was able to fill that void in Patrice Bergeron’s absence. Krejci had an impressive 77.3% face-off win percentage while winning 17 out of the 22 total face-offs he took.  The Boston Bruins will most certainly be looking towards David Krejci immensely this season.  Not just as a leader to help develop the youngsters as they are cracking their way into the lineup, but could they also potentially try to cash in on Krejci’s contract at or before the trading deadline?

David Backes

And now we come to the other vet the team is missing, and will be missing for some time.  David Backes was noticeably absent from the TD Garden as they were announcing the 2017-2018 Bruins team before the start of the game.  During the 1st intermission, the Bruins announced that Backes was going to miss anywhere from 3-4 weeks due to being diagnosed with diverticulitis.

For those of you who don’t know what diverticulitis is, it’s an infection of your colon.  While some cases are worst than others, some require serious surgery and others just require certain medications and antibiotics.

David Backes
BOSTON, MA – APRIL 6: David Backes /

While Krejci was able to step in and temporarily replace Bergeron, who can replace Backes?  He plays a very unique game, with a very balanced combination of strength, grit, and skill.  Looking at the roster in Boston and the players down in Providence, there really doesn’t appear to be many players who can provide a similar skill set.  While Backes may not technically be “irreplaceable,” his skill set certainly seems to be.

Next: Banged up Bruins look to team depth

Let’s all hope that Backes gets well soon and we see him on the ice sooner rather than later.  Losing a strong veteran player for extensive amounts of time at the beginning of a season could be a problem for this young Bruins team who has been hit with the injury bug hard and early.

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