Boston Bruins: Is an Ondrej Kase return to the lineup possible?

The Boston Bruins have won five games in a row following the NHL trade deadline. Taylor Hall, Curtis Lazar, and Mike Reilly’s injection into the lineup have invigorated a team that previously struggled to consistently generate offense outside of the powerplay.

Now it appears to be the least of their concerns. Bruins’ head coach Bruce Cassidy has in turn been able to roll four forward lines, regardless of the situation, a luxury he seldom enjoyed prior to his team’s latest winning streak.

Cassidy was handcuffed in large part because he lost versatile forward Ondrej Kase to injury in Boston’s second game of the season. After taking a Miles Wood high stick to his face, Kase who has been prone to concussions in his career, appeared out of it while being assisted by trainers from the bench back to the locker room.

Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel for Kase. During media availability earlier today Bruce Cassidy provided the most in-depth assessment of Ondrej Kase’s health since being knocked out of the lineup months ago.

It has been a long and grueling road for Kase to even get this far. The prospect that he could rejoin the team in advance of the playoffs is a major accomplishment. Obviously, he will need to get back into game shape and be cleared by the training staff, but this is a massive mental victory for him and the team.

If Ondrej Kase returns to the lineup this season who would he replace?

When Kase returns from injury another player will need to come out of the lineup and it’s on the head coach to make a difficult decision on who takes a seat.

For this exercise, we’re assuming Boston’s top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak is untouchable. Moving to the second line Taylor Hall has gelled magically with David Krejci, and Craig Smith has been producing at a torrid pace. So it’s unlikely Cassidy would tinker with anything there. Chris Wagner, Sean Kuraly, and Curtis Lazar have comprised one of the more reliable fourth lines in the game, so I doubt he will shake that trio up either.

A real possibility would be to break up Boston’s third line. Charlie Coyle who is a mastermind of puck possession would remain the pivot, so it’s between Jake DeBrusk and Nick Ritchie. Both of whom have had a rough go of it of late. DeBrusk has battled injuries and a complete lack of puck luck all season, while Ritchie’s production has fallen off a cliff since being paired with Coyle.

However, Nick Ritchie has something that Jake DeBrusk doesn’t and that’s powerplay minutes with Boston’s top line. Something Cassidy will likely want in his back pocket come playoff time. In fairness to DeBrusk, his speed and shootout success have been his greatest assets in the NHL, but even those are comparable to what Kase can provide.

Any way you slice it, DeBrusk is the odd man out, mainly because the Bruins have managed to enjoy success despite his lack of offensive contribution.