B’s roster shapes up already Defensemen
Moves bring about early look to ’16-17
General manager Don Sweeney is surely doing his due diligence in attempts to improve the Bruins.
Jason Demers would have been a nice addition, but the right-shot defenseman signed with the Florida Panthers on Saturday. The best defenseman remaining on the free agent market is left-shot Kris Russell, but he wouldn’t make much sense for the B’s, who already have Zdeno Chara, John-Michael Liles, Torey Krug and Joe Morrow shooting from that side.
Up front, there is still the Jimmy Vesey sweepstakes for Sweeney to jump into, but what we see now could very well be what we see when the 2016-17 season opens.
So how does it all fit together? Well, not quite seamlessly. But let’s try to put the lineup together:
Forwards
Gone are the days when coach Claude Julien could roll out the same four lines. And 2016-17 shapes up as his biggest challenge yet.
Free-agent signee David Backes already has been told that he could flip back and forth between thirdline center and first-line right winger alongside center Patrice Bergeron and left winger Brad Marchand. This will depend mostly on Ryan Spooner’s work as a centerman. If Spooner centers a third line that can’t get out of its own zone, Backes will have to drop down.
Presuming Spooner can hold his own, here is how we would have the lines: Bergeron between Marchand and Backes, David Krejci between Frank Vatrano on the left and David Pastrnak on the right, Spooner between left winger Matt Beleskey and right winger Jimmy Hayes and, for a fourth line, Noel Acciari centering newly signed Riley Nash and whoever makes the cut from a group that includes Tyler Randell, Brian Ferlin and Seth Griffith.
There are wild cards at play, too, beyond Vesey choosing a team to sign with as a rookie. Danton Heinen left Denver University two years early, so he must believe he at least has a shot at making the NHL roster. Before the Backes signing, Austin Czarnik was expected to push Spooner. Zach Senyshyn and Jake DeBrusk could also push for prolonged tryouts into the regular season should they impress at camp.
But whether or not pleasant surprises arise, Julien will very likely be be moving around these pieces on a nightly basis.
With the collection of centers, there has been much speculation that Krejci will be dealt for a topfour defenseman. It’s hard to believe that any team would give up such a hot commodity until they see Krejci play a good 20-25 games coming off a second hip surgery.
Operating under the assumption there won’t be a major upgrade to the defense, here’s what we’d do:
Play Colin Miller with Chara. Miller will be 24 on Oct. 29 and while there are both promise and question marks in his game, it’s time to see if he can be a reliable, full-time NHL defenseman. Competition is the name of the game. Miller needs to get a good, long look without getting yanked out of the lineup.
Krug should play with Adam McQuaid, with whom he’s most comfortable, leaving Liles to be paired with Kevan Miller. If need be, you can flip the Millers in late-game, lead-protection situations. Joe Morrow can be the seventh defenseman.
Goalies
Tuukka Rask won the 2013-14 Vezina Trophy while playing 58 games. Since then, he has played 70 and 64 games, respectively. If Anton Khudobin, brought back in free agency, can give Rask the kind of breather Chad Johnson gave the No. 1 in 2013-14, that would be ideal.
If Malcolm Subban continues to improve like he did before suffering a season-ending larynx injury last season, he’ll deserve to pitch in with a few starts.