BOSTON—The recent addition of Hampus Lindholm has brought real stability to the Boston Bruins defense.
We may be just two games into the 28-year-old’s TD Garden tenure, but his presence has transformed the group into a formidable unit that was missing a critical piece on the left side since Zdeno Chara prime years in Boston.
In Charlie McAvoy and Lindholm, the B’s now have a top pairing that is young but seasoned, skilled and brings out the best in each player. Moreover, the Swede’s arrival has finally allowed for Bruce Cassidy and his coaching staff to properly slot the rest of the blue line corps into their proper spots on the back end.
One thing is certain after the early returns: this is a better team today than it was a week ago.
“We’re up a little more, the gaps are a little better,” Cassidy said after his team’s 6-3 win at home against the N.Y. Islanders Saturday. “Gap control has been good; I thought our neutral zone transitions were cleaner. Lindholm has obviously helped us a lot in that regard- he’s a pretty smooth hockey player. Even our o-zone blue line today- we had a little more confidence, making some plays because they do collapse. Using each other, finding the high guy, keeping plays alive by moving our feet. I thought we did that in both games, we’re generating a lot of shot attempts.”
Lindholm-McAvoy gives Boston most effective pairing since Chara-Seidenberg
Even making such a comparison is a bit deceptive because Chara and Dennis Seidenberg were both left-shot defensemen, but when the Bruins went on their Stanley Cup championship run in 2011, the duo was an integral part of it all.
Chara’s offensive production that year during the regular season (44 points) was similar to McAvoy’s, though the current Bruin is trending up to 50 points or more as he approaches his best years in the NHL. Seidenberg’s 32 points are similar to Lindholm’s 23 and what he’ll end up with by the end of the regular season.
What makes the current duo so intriguing is that they are both under 30, with McAvoy having a higher offensive ceiling going forward. The Bruins and their fans are well aware of what he brings to the table, but how has the newest defenseman looked in the early going?
“With Lindholm, you see in the first two games that he’s always looking to make a play,” Taylor Hall said. “Some of those little plays- breaking pucks out, taking a hit to make the play, jumping up in the rush- those are invaluable, especially when you’re out there with that pair. You see 73 and 27 out, it’s time to make plays. It’s time to play in the o-zone and see what you can make happen.
"I think just his (Lindholm’s) personality really fits with our team, he’s excited to be here, having a contract. I think that makes him feel, probably, a bit better than most deadline trades. When you come in and you know you’re going to be here a long time, that’s great for him, and I think he’s only going to get better and better.”
Boston might have missed out on the chance to add Ryan McDonagh in 2018 and watched him go on to be a contributing piece to a pair of Stanley Cups by the Lightning. In Lindholm, they’ve upgraded the position in a major way, and gotten younger in doing it. Chara and Seidenberg were on the wrong side of 30 and out of their most productive NHL years, but Lindholm-McAvoy could have their best hockey in front of them.
Grzelcyk-Carlo: complementary pieces on the second unit
With the team transition game being more essential than ever in the modern NHL, Matt Grzelcyk is a prime puck transporter. The Charlestown, Mass. native can evade forechecking pressure with his feet and hands. He’s always been undersized, but his agility and straight-line speed, while being able to maintain full control of the puck, are assets.
Brandon Carlo is the quintessential shutdown player on the right side, making the NHL to stay in his very first pro season and forming a key defensive staple for the Bruins. He’s a fine partner for the smaller, more dynamic but offensively inclined Grzelcyk, and the two have been effective together, providing two experienced defenders who play differing styles, but who each bring complementary elements to the mix.
Any winning NHL team’s second pairing needs to be versatile and able to log close to 20 minutes to keep the gap between top pair minutes down, while also preventing the coaching staff from shortening the bench in tight contests.
Forbort-Reilly: reliability and transition for the bottom pair
One of the challenges Derek Forbort faced in coming in to Boston as a free agent was having to play in more structure than he had been used to in Los Angeles and Winnipeg. He’s gradually figured things out and now that he can slot down onto the third grouping in the defensive rotation, look for more steady and consistent play out of the veteran.
He’s been playing the left side alongside Connor Clifton while Mike Reilly has been a healthy scratch against Tampa and the Islanders, with the plan to shift No. 6 over to the right side. Reilly is an above average puck-mover, but his defensive acumen has gotten him into trouble at times, as Boston has been forced to play him up in the lineup with McAvoy and Carlo at times. Reilly is at his best when operating in transition and skating with the puck in space, and putting him with Forbort should help to get the most of the two players after both have at times had trouble individually.
Cassidy said earlier in the week that some of the challenges Reilly faces as a left-shot ‘D’ playing the right side beyond the obvious difficulty in handling hot passes on the backhand, is picking rimmed pucks up off the wall with the (left) curved stick facing toward the boards. Pivots on the right side when one is used to making those cuts on the opposite part of the ice takes some getting used to as well, though one advantage for a lefty playing the right side is that when an opponent coming down the wing at him cuts to the middle of the ice, his stick is positioned to defend that cut, versus having to reach across his body on the direction change.
Reilly likely needed some practice time to get comfortable, and the B’s have gone 3-0 with Clifton on the right side of the third pair, so watch for Reilly to slot in again at some point soon.
For depth, trade deadline acquisition Josh Brown is big, tough and just arrived from Ottawa on Thursday, so will need some time to get up to speed.
Outlook is positive
One of Don Sweeney's biggest tasks since McAvoy emerged as one of the NHL's best young blue liners was to find him a worthy partner. That box is checked.
Factor in a stingy goalie tandem in Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, and this team is clearly being constructed from the net on out. The critics will point to Sweeney failing to land another forward before the trade deadline, and that's a fair point.
However, as one of the NHL’s hottest teams since the start of the new year, the Bruins are at least in the conversation for an extended spring run.
