Boston Bruins: 3 Options if Grzelcyk Misses Time
By Scott Roche
One position that the Boston Bruins could not afford many injures at is with their defense. They enter the 2020-21 NHL season already a young group with the departure of Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara in free agency.
While the Bruins made it through the first two games against the New Jersey Devils without an injury to their blue line, but they were not as lucky against the New York Islanders in their third game Monday night.
Early in the third period, Matt Grzelcyk collided with the Islanders Jordan Eberle in a board battle that resulted in both players being called for a minor penalty. Unortunalty for the Bruins, Grzelcyk was down on the ice before skating off to the locker room with what appeared to be an arm or shoulder injury after falling awkwardly to the ice.
Matt Grzelcyk heads to the room after getting tied up with Jordan Eberle. Not good. pic.twitter.com/2ljVDgJONJ
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) January 19, 2021
Grzelcyk did not return to the game, which left the Black and Gold with only five defensemen to finish out the game. If Grz is going to miss some time, the Bruins’ depth on defense is going to be tested early in the season.
Who steps into Grzelcyk’s roster spot for the Bruins?
There are three obvious options for coach Bruce Cassidy to choose from. Veteran John Moore, Connor Clifton, and prospect Urho Vaakanainen.
Moore played in just 24 games last season and is in the middle of a five-year, $13.75 million contract that general manager Don Sweeney handed out to the 30-year-old. He would be the most likely choice as he is a left-handed shot like Grzelcyk.
In a surprise during training camp, Kevan Miller moved ahead of Clifton on the depth chart, although Clifton still remains an option. Vaakanainen is on the Bruins taxi squad after Jakub Zboril beat him out for the final roster spot, but you have to think that Cassidy would go with experience in this situation against the talented Philadelphia Flyers Thursday night.
Next. Bruins: 3 takeaways from 1-0 loss to Islanders. dark
Regardless of who gets the call if Grzelcyk is out, the Bruins are just three games into the season and they already have to see how much depth they have on defense too early into the shortened 56-game season.