The Boston Bruins managed to add a couple of players to the line-up in recent days, despite the league being in a suspended state.
Those two players were Jack Achan, a small skill-type defenseman out of St. Cloud State and Nick Wolff, who is on the opposite end of the scale measuring in at 6’5″ and 229lbs. Safe to say the Bruins were looking to cover all bases by snapping up these two.
First and foremost, despite having a few strong depth options currently developing in Providence, it’s great to see that the Boston Bruins are continuing to invest in their future on defense.
It’s vital that they retain strength on the blue-line; while they do have young guys like Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo, others like John Moore and Zdeno Chara can’t be relied upon forever and right now, there’s not even certainty that Torey Krug can or will be retained.
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Outside of that group, you’re looking at Matt Grzelyck, who is definitely part of that future albeit the part widely tipped to be sacrificed to the new Seattle expansion team.
Adding defensemen, even when the likes of Urho Vaakaneinen and Jakub Zboril will no doubt eventually graduate gives the Bruins flexibility in many areas.
Vitally, it gives them flexibility within the line-up to scratch under-performing players and swap in a player that can get the job done and isn’t a risk. Likewise, it also increases the options should the front office be trying to push through any trade deals.
Having some relatively NHL-ready options that you can throw into a trade, heck even having some graduated college players that are doing well in the AHL is an advantage. They’re free assets essentially, given the Bruins didn’t have to invest a cent in their development.
If the team is willing to sacrifice draft picks some years in the push for the Stanley Cup with this core of players, you have to be able to make up for it by re-stocking the cupboards in other ways.
Obviously time will tell is either Achan or Wolff are the real deal in the NHL, but right now I see skill and I see size; never bad things in the modern game.
Both captained their respective college sides, so at the very least you can expect the Bruins have added two level-headed, mature leaders as opposed to reckless youngsters that think the world owes them something. This could be a big asset in a locker room that seems to thrive on leaders.