The Bruins grades continue. This time we will be looking at two of the Bruins leaders on defense in Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug.
Chara
Inside the regular season numbers: 10 goals, 19 assists, 29 points, +18
Inside the postseason numbers: 0 goals, 1 assist, 1 point, -3
Grade: A-
Chara was the best defenseman for the Bruins this season.
His offensive numbers weren’t anything to be wowed by, but he did manage to find the back of the net ten times.
The 40 year old didn’t light the lamp very often, but he did his job as a defenseman. Chara had a fantastic +18 while on the ice, allowing opposing offenses to do very little. There were times throughout the season where Chara looked superhuman.
Chara’s postseason numbers can be quite misleading. He may have failed to score and surrendered a -3 on the ice, but Chara did everything possible to hold the banged up blue line together. Injuries on defenseman were mounting in the postseason and Chara stepped up big time, he is arguably the reason the Bruins managed to win Game No. 1.
Chara wasn’t able to keep the ship afloat on his own, but he is the last person to blame for the blue line struggles in the postseason.
Krug
Inside the regular season numbers: 8 goals, 43 assists, 51 points, -10
Inside the postseason numbers: N/A
Grade: B-
Krug had a season of peaks and valleys for the Bruins, but was ultimately a solid defenseman.
Krug achieved a career high 43 assists and managed to find the back of the net eight times. These are solid numbers for a player at his position.
Krug, like many Bruins during the 2016-2017 campaign, couldn’t seem to find any consistency. The Bruins defenseman would go through streaks in which he looked totally lost, but would then rebound with several solid games.
Despite struggles throughout the season and a subpar -10 on the ice, Krug was badly missed in the postseason. He exited during the second to last game of the season with a lower body injury and never returned to the Bruins lineup.
Krug was one of the leaders on defense, and Boston was unable to weather the storm without him. Defensive struggles in the playoffs were what ultimately doomed the B’s.
