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It was an undeniable shock to their system, but the Boston Bruins are not in a situation where they can lament about the loss of Johnny Boychuk. The trade, which will hit its seven-day anniversary tomorrow afternoon, happened, and the B’s have to work with what they have. This was not going to be an issue according to the general manager and the coach, as the club had veterans returning from injury (Adam McQuaid and Dennis Seidenberg) to go along with the continued progression of younger talents like Torey Krug, Kevan Miller, and Matt Bartkowski.
Boychuk would be an Islander, and that’d be alright ‘cause of this guy, that guy, oh and that guy over there. But through two games, can you really give the vote of confidence to this club’s defensive structure? It’s only been two games, sure, but I still have no idea what the Bruins want to throw out there on a nightly basis when it comes to configuring their six through three pairings.
I don’t think they do either, though.
Now, I think they’re good with a top pairing of Zdeno Chara and third-year pro Dougie Hamilton. This allows the Bruins to have a solid two-way defender in Hamilton matched up along with arguably the game’s best shutdown defenseman. You’ve seen this, too, as Hamilton hasn’t been a player that’s too afraid to take challenges to push the play up and through the neutral zone. And while he’s struggled out of the game, this is the best way for Hamilton to grow into an even better defensive-zone talent.
So, amidst all the confusion and pairing-switching, the Bruins likely have their top duo with Hamilton and Chara, though they tinkered with this for a quick minute on opening night by putting McQuaid with Chara and dropping Hamilton down with Seidenberg.
On the second pairing, Seidenberg is your rock. The veteran German blue-liner is the secondary shutdown defenseman that the Bruins missed last season, and he’s for the most part quite reliable in that role. But when it comes to finding a partner that suits his game well, the Bruins are in a weird spot, I think.
For example: I think McQuaid was one of the best Bruins on Wednesday night against Philadelphia. He was responsible in his own zone without relinquishing too much of his identity as a physical presence, but he also took chances to keep the puck alive at the other end of the rink. I don’t think he had that same type of presence in last night’s loss to Detroit.
Is he a reliable option as a top-four defender on a nightly basis? With as much time as he’s missed over the last few seasons, probably not. That’s not to say that he won’t be at some point in time (think maybe 20 games from now), or to say that bad games don’t happen (last night was certainly a bad one), but his struggles with certain matchups really seem to put him at a disadvantage at times. Like last night, for example. McQuaid may be a better fit on that third-pairing with Krug, which is where he spent most of his 2013-14.
This brings us to the mystery man, Bartkowski.
You were told about Bartkowski’s progression, and I don’t think it was as farfetched as some thought. At 26, and with a half-year of top-four minutes under his belt (he had played a combined 20 NHL games entering last season), you could argue that the Pittsburgh, Penn. native was ready to contribute to the club on a full-time basis. But through two games, Bartkowski’s stayed in a suit as the club’s healthy scratch.
You 'get' it, ‘cause the Bruins have seven NHL d-men and only six slots open, but I don’t think this is exactly consistent with what was billed to you when Boychuk’s bags were packed for Long Island. Both Chiarelli and Julien noted the progression of No. 43, and while his preseason had some bumps, I think his overall game and ceiling warranted a legitimate regular season look at him. Out of the gate, especially.
For the Black and Gold, you need to know what you have with Bartkowski, especially in a contract year that comes with an affordable $1.25 million cap-hit.
The season’s only 120 minutes old, of course, and there’s nothing that says that Bartkowski couldn’t draw in for the next 80 games and make this entire footnote irrelevant. But after last night’s defensive debacle in Detroit, where the Bruins were more than lucky to skate off as one-goal losers in a game where they were territoriality dominated, you’d think that there may be a subtle realization that you might not need to dress McQuaid and Miller for what you could argue ends up as the same role on a nightly basis.
This isn’t to suggest that Bartkowski is the answer, but given the role the Bruins gave him last year when it mattered most, you can’t help but wonder where and when he’ll factor into this as the Bruins seem like a club still in need of configuring their defensive pairings in an effective order, especially against ‘skill’ clubs.
And you thought the defensive logjam was solved a week ago…
HockeyBuzz Cast: Oct. 10, 2014
The panel of Eklund, Mike Augello, USA Today's Kevin Allen and Ty Anderson discuss the Chris Pronger hiring by the NHL and Thursday night's season openers.