Another week, another series of Bruins’ grades! Today we will be looking at two more defensemen.
Brandon Carlo
Inside the regular season numbers: 6 goals, 10 assists, 16 points, +9
Inside the postseason numbers: N/A
Grade: A-
Brandon Carlo had a very solid rookie season for the Bruins. Given the general inconsistency of the Bruins defense in the 2016-2017 season, Carlo’s emergence was a very pleasant surprise.
Carlo was paired with Zdeno Chara for much of the season, and that helped him a lot. Chara is the Bruin’s best defenseman and he took Carlo under his wing.
When Chara was forced out of the lineup at timew due to injury, Carlo’s play slightly diminished, however this ultimately helped his development. In a poor 15 game stretch, he was -10 on the ice and only had one assist. This same stretch forced him to face several top players without much help, but this ultimately resulted in better play towards the end of the season.
Carlo had decent offensive numbers, finding the back of the net on six occasions. But, his role is to stop opposing goals and in that he excelled. The rookie defenseman finished the regular season +9 on the ice.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, Carlo missed the postseason due to injury and his presence on the blue line was sorely missed in the postseason.
Overall, Carlo still has room for improvement, but if his late season strides are any indication, the Bruins have a great defenseman moving forward.
Colin Miller
Inside the regular season numbers: 6 goals, 7 assists, 13 points, +/- 0
Inside the postseason numbers: 0 goals, 1 assists, 1 point, +1
Grade: B
Colin Miller had an up and down 2016-2017 campaign. When available, his play was for the most part pretty solid, but he struggled to stay on the ice. Miller had an injury riddled season.
Despite being a defenseman, he gave the Bruins’ offense a lot of life. He didn’t light the lamp very often, but he helped the Bruins sustain time in the offensive zone. This is largely do to his excellent puck movement.
Miller’s post season went about as well as the regular season. In the only full game he played, he was solid, but was forced out of the lineup after an injury, and it would unfortunately wind up being season ending. In Game No. 1 he recorded his first career playoff assist. Miller returned to the lineup in Game No. 4 but didn’t look quite right. Overall, it was a good but not great year for Miller.
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Really?