The Boston Bruins defense is among the biggest question marks heading into the new season. After all, it might be clear as a sunny day. However, under current circumstances, there are big questions left ahead of the new campaign.
Both Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo remain unsigned as the waiting game continues. Everyone expects them signed at some point, there is no way of them taking a sabbatical year in the press box or in front of their TVs. But the fact that they still haven’t inked deals are cause for concern nonetheless.
Kevan Miller and John Moore are believed to be on the trade block in case the Bruins won’t find enough cap space to re-sign both their young defensemen, which is always a tight situation. Nevertheless, both are injured, and might not be ready for the beginning of the season. There, potentially, are four key absences. It would be sure interesting to see how the Bruins align their defense for the start of the year with these guys out of the picture.
What would the Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy do, if he had the full staff?
“If everyone else was back, we’d have our top-six: Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug, and Matt Grzelcyk, and Charlie, Brandon, and Kevan Miller,” Cassidy said in an interview for the Boston Globe.
“Without Moore. If some of those guys aren’t in the mix, well that’s where Connor Clifton, Urho Vaakanainen, Jeremy Lauzon, Jakub Zboril…am I forgetting anybody? I guess there’s always guys who could surprise. Cooper Zech, I guess he could surprise you. Chris Breen’s back. There could be some surprises,” Cassidy added.
So, that’s it. That would be the ideal lineup for Bruce Cassidy. Interestingly, without John Moore. Does this indicate that if Cassidy had to choose which veteran defenseman has to be traded to clear the salary cap space, it’s Moore over Miller? To sum it up, if fully healthy, all players signed and nobody traded, that’s the preference of the defensive lineup for the Bruins Head Coach.
