FIVE UNDER THE RADAR
The Bruins have their share of stars. Brad Marchand could make a run for the Hart Trophy. David Pastrnak is one of the most riveting young players in the league. And if there was an analytics MVP, they would name the trophy after Patrice Bergeron. Charlie McAvoy may belong to this starry galaxy by the end of the year.
You can’t win without a few of those guys. But hockey teams don’t succeed with stars alone. In what is arguably the most team-oriented sport in the land, hockey teams need to have their lesser lights produce and pull their piece of rope. The Bruins as an organization have had a good history of role players flourishing, so much so that an award was created — the Seventh Player Award.
Call them overachievers, unsung, underrated, plumbers, grinders, what have you. They are on the rosters of all good teams.
Here’s a quick look at five players that fit the mold. If all of them have good years in 201819, the Bruins might be headed places.
Danton Heinen
Heinen enjoyed a very good rookie season and, if not for a rough patch in February, he might have been the Seventh Player. But it looks like he’s going to be asked to take a big step up in the lineup as David Krejci’s right wing. It’s a position for which the B’s brass pitched Ilya Kovalchuk in the offseason. Now it’s Heinen’s job. He showed great improvement from his first pro season to his second. The B’s hope he’ll continue on an upward trajectory. He scored 16 goals last year and should be in position to score even more with Krejci as his centerman and Jake DeBrusk on the left side.
Jaroslav Halak
The Czech netminder has been a good 1B goaltender for much of his career — not quite the shutdown starter, but close. The last few years he’s been stuck behind a porous Islanders defense but he will have better support in front of him as a backup. He will play an important role on this team. Last year Anton Khudobin was able to carry the ball for a couple of weeks while Tuukka Rask was trying to find his game. It’s probably no coincidence that, once he got himself right, Rask went on a stretch that actually put him in the Vezina discussion for a while. The B’s think they’ve upgraded at the backup position, accompanied by an elevated price tag. It needs to pay off.
Kevan Miller
There is a fairly large and vocal subset of the fandom that loves to pound away on the rugged defenseman, but his improvement from his first NHL year in 2013-14 to now has been remarkable. He skates very well for a big man, which is imperative in today’s NHL. And though he does his best work in the defensive zone, there aren’t many wings who care to get in front of him in the offensive zone when he has the puck and a full head of steam. The fight game is on the wane, but he may have to pick up a couple more with Adam McQuaid in New York.
Brandon Carlo
This is a pivotal season for the third-year pro. After a very promising rookie campaign, Carlo endured a sophomore season that was much more uneven. He was moved out from under the comforting wing span of Zdeno Chara and was paired with Torey Krug for much of the season. It was trying at times, but the pairing appeared to have turned a corner in the the last 10 games or so before Carlo suffered his second season-ending injury (broken ankle) in as many years. The lanky defenseman has looked good in preseason, closing quickly on puck carriers and skating well up and down the ice.
Joakim Nordstrom
The Swede doesn’t come to Boston from Carolina with a very high profile and is not a goalscorer. He scored two in 75 games last year (his high water mark is 10 in 201516). but he is known to be a very good penalty killer. The B’s need one. They lost Riley Nash, another former Hurricane without portfolio who became a very good role player and penalty killer. It might also be wise to cut back on the Bergeron-Marchand pairing on the kill just a wee bit.