With the outbreak of COVID-19 on Boston Bruins roster this week, a pair of losses culminating in a postponement of all scheduled games through Dec. 26, that temporary shutdown is the right move to help a flailing team catch its breath.
After defeating the Calgary Flames on Dec. 11, word started to come out of Calgary that Flames players were going into the NHL’s COVID protocol. Knowing what could come next, many held their collective breaths and hoped that B’s players would not follow suit, but it did not take long for the situation to go south in Boston.
Losing Brad Marchand and Craig Smith were the first dominoes to fall in a team outbreak, but when Patrice Bergeron entered the league protocol on Wed. followed by Jeremy Swayman, Trent Frederic and Anton Blidh and a member of the team staff.
By the time Thursday rolled around and their game on Long Island loomed, Oskar Steen became the seventh Boston player to go out of the lineup, with another staffer added to the growing protocol list. The B’s made their date with the Islanders, but despite firing 40 shots on Semyon Varlamov, fell 3-1 to the struggling home team.
At that point, it was evident that even if the Bruins could put a team on the ice, the chances of being a competitive one were diminishing by the minute.
The league then postponed Saturday’s game in Montreal a day later. By Saturday, the team announced that all scheduled games through Dec. 26 were also delayed and to be rescheduled. A few hours later, another release revealed that forwards Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar had been placed in the protocol as well.
All in all, it’s been a disaster of a week that saw the B’s get drubbed at home by the Vegas Golden Knights, going 0-2 before the league mercifully put an end to Boston’s need to put together a patchwork roster. While it was a valid question whether the NHL should have intervened to stop the road contest and subsequent loss, Bruins GM Don Sweeney, who was made available to media Sat. evening, disagreed.
“We should have been playing that game along the same lines of several other teams that have gone through similar circumstances,” Sweeney said. “We played one short because we had a test come back positive while we arrived, and that’s just what you’re up against, but I do believe they made the right decision in having us play that game.”
The pandemic continues to loom large in all facets of life, with the emergence of the Omicron variant, and it could be that the NHL’s participation in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing is in jeopardy.
To be clear, the newest virus appears to carry mild to no symptoms for many. However, the highly contagious nature of the virus has raised the specter of more potential shutdowns or other mitigation measures. As far as the Bruins are concerned, a tactical pause to minimize risk of further spread is warranted. The team’s training facilities are closed until further notice and activities minimized for the next several days at least.
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“The vast majority of the players have had some mild symptoms, some have had zero,” Sweeney said. “I think one player had a day where he felt probably a little more under the weather than he had previously with mild so maybe I’d call it moderate- I think the two staff members are doing okay they might have moderate, but for the most part everyone is doing relatively well and trending in the right direction.”
Center of attention
If you wanted a glimpse into what the future of the Boston Bruins looks like without Bergeron and an eventual decline of Marchand, you got it against the Islanders. It is a grim future if it comes to pass.
The clock is ticking on the captain and his immediate future is becoming more of the elephant in the room as time goes on.
It is clear that the team’s most urgent need is at the center position. Bergeron continues to provide production and inspiration for the team at age 36, but with the mileage adding up, the question now becomes this: how much longer will he keep playing?
The future first-ballot Hall of Famer has nothing to prove. There are no more lofty goals to reach on the individual level for him. Sure, he’s 60 points away from reaching the 1,000-point milestone. He won’t hit that this year. So, one might think he’ll be back in 2022-23 to at least take a shot at becoming only the fourth Bruin in history to be in that exclusive club, joining Ray Bourque, Johnny Bucyk and Phil Esposito. However, there’s no guarantee of that.
What would likely fuel Bergeron’s continued commitment to continue playing is the camaraderie and the legitimate chase of one more championship. Absent that, what else does he really have left to play for? As previously noted, he’s had myriad injuries over the course of his storied career, and with a young family that walking away from the demands of being a professional athlete would make significant more time for, don’t expect No. 37 to be playing into his 40’s like Zdeno Chara did.
The more pressing issue for the Bruins: who will carry the mail at the center position?
With all respect to Jack Studnicka, at one point, the hope for him was that he could eventually develop into a serviceable No. 2 pivot. However, in the words of former U.S. Army Chief of Staff (and Massachusetts native) Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan: “Hope is not a method.”
Even if Studnicka was on track to be that second-line center (he’s not), it still wouldn’t change the fact that the B’s have no prospects for a No. 1. When Bergeron is gone, there is no roster player or future hopeful in the system who has a real shot of being able to replace the kind of impact the team has had at the position for so many years when the Bruins had a strong 1-2 punch with the current captain and David Krejci.
When Bergeron was out of the lineup against the Islanders, Charlie Coyle (East Weymouth, Mass.) slotted in next to David Pastrnak and Hall. The early returns were about what you might expect. Coyle is a good NHL player, but he’s a third-line center who has been pressed into second-line duty for much of the season.
Sweeney knows that. He also knows his top priority must be finding an heir apparent for Bergeron. So, how does he do it?
Slim pickings in house
Boston’s selection of Brett Harrison in the late third round last July could one day possibly provide a potential option on the second line. He has 15 goals in 22 games with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, six away from his career high in 58 games two years ago.
John Beecher is not going to be the answer on the top line either, though the B’s 2019 first-rounder will probably play for the team. He’s big and fast, but doesn’t project to be a scorer at the NHL level. After putting up four points in as many of his first games of the year, he’s been held without a point in his last eight contests with Michigan.
The aforementioned Studnicka looks more like a solid third-liner, assuming he can stay on and meet that potential. There have been whispers about a strained relationship between the youngster and Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy. Where once it looked like the B’s had stolen the center at the end of the second round in 2017, his development has stalled out after a 49-point rookie pro campaign in Providence (60 games).
With no future top center readily apparent in Boston’s system, the onus is on the GM to find a way to make some magic happen.
Trade or draft?
Trading for a true No. 1 center is a near-impossible task, one made more difficult in the modern era of the NHL's salary cap.
Rival GMs aren't in the habit of giving up top talent for lesser assets in return. The Bruins weren't ever in play for Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass.)- they didn't have the capital or the willingness of the Buffalo Sabres to make such a deal happen.
Sweeney and his pro scouts may have to work overtime to identify a younger, more raw trade option that wouldn't be cost prohibitive, but who that might be is anyone's guess at this point.
Drafting a top center usually requires a team to bottom-out, and with the current players on this roster, that won't happen. That means some needed luck, and given what happened in 2014 with Pastrnak, and again in 2016 with Charlie McAvoy, it's a possible, if unlikely option.
The good news for the Bruins is that the 2022 draft class is forward-heavy. The bad news? Anyone they might hope falls to them in the middle-to-latter half of the opening round isn't going to be ready for NHL duty for at least a couple of years.
Somehow landing a center draft pick like Team USA's Frank Nazar III would go a long way toward the recent trend of drafting more skill in landing Fabian Lysell and Harrison in 2021. Realistically, though, Nazar will probably be long off the board by the time the Bruins pick based on their current trajectory.
There are no easy options for Sweeney to address this, but as Gen. Sullivan said, "Hope is not a method."
He's going to have to be the most creative of his managerial career to find a viable option to replace that who cannot truly be replaced.
