Boston Bruins: Adam McQuaid Has Come a Long Way in a Short TIme

When Adam McQuaid signed a three-year contract extension with Boston Bruins on Thursday, the pleasant disbelief as to his rapid progression through the black and gold hierarchy/meritocracy gained at least one more layer.

Almost precisely 19 months to the date of the extension, the rugged defenseman was still a fixture in Providence. That was where he initially figured to spend a third full season in 2009-10. And it was where he was still subject to derision from a few ungrateful fans at the Dunkin Donuts Center in spite of the leadership qualities and grit that made him invaluable at the AHL level.

Sure, at the time, everyone could agree that the young blueliner was far from ready for The Show. But it was ludicrous to hear snorts of “McQuaid’s a bum!” as late as Dec. 13, 2009, at which point he was playing his 174th game with Providence (on top of 26 Calder Cup playoff games) and answering the bell as usual against the likes of Manchester Monarchs tough guy Richard Clune.

After all, McQuaid had established a fairly ornate trophy case over his junior and minor pro career, including the Baby Bs’ Amanda Hendricks Fan Appreciation accolade. Yet some rooters made it clear they wanted to see more out of him. (Probably not a whole new experience for a guy whose past accolades also include the Sudbury Wolves Most Underrated Player honors.)

Very few disagreed, though, that when McQuaid donned a Spoked "B" for his very next game in lieu of the Spoked "P," it was much sooner than ideal for him and the Bruins.

But what else could Peter Chiarelli and Co. do? With the injury bug incessantly nipping the parent club, it was only a matter of time before McQuaid and a handful of other prospects were thrust into a fiery NHL baptism much sooner than planned.

(Incidentally, you might as well file Brad Marchand, whose future with the franchise is still being configured, under a similar heading.)

Consuming a little less than 10 minutes of ice time at the Air Canada Centre in his NHL debut on Dec. 19, 2009, McQuaid landed two shots on goal. But in conventional first-night jitters fashion, he was also on the ice for both goals in a 2-0 loss to the Maple Leafs.

From there, aside from a game-winning goal in Montreal Feb. 7 and an off-ice concussion over the subsequent Olympic break, the rest of McQuaid’s season was rather uneventful between three more appearances in the AHL and 28 twirls with Boston.

But like the team as a whole, McQuaid would reemerge for the 2010-11 campaign a stronger player. Upon making the cut at training camp, he sprinkled 15 points over a 67-game log while engaging in a dozen fights and upping his plus/minus rate to plus-30, second on the team behind captain Zdeno Chara.

In the 2011 playoffs, he only emboldened his 6'4" posture. While using his comparatively limited ice time to the fullest, McQuaid stayed out of the box throughout the first three rounds. And after missing the last two games of the Philadelphia series due to a sprained neck sustained on a misjudged bodycheck, he benefited from the protracted interlude leading up to the Eastern Conference finals.

The first-year full-timer virtually cemented his endearment to the Bruins fan base with his grunt work in the Stanley Cup Finals. As the series began to turn around in Game 3, McQuaid logged 24 shifts and 17:49 worth of ice time, the most action he saw in any non-overtime playoff tilts. And over the final five games, he aggregated a plus-three rating while showing no hesitation to get his nose dirty with the opposing Vancouver Canucks.

By the end of the Bruins’ 2010-11 home slate, McQuaid’s style was unmistakably pleasing the 17,565 congregants at TD Garden. That’s to say nothing of the regular references he garnered on Boston sports talk shows in the afterglow of the team’s Cup victory.

And to think, only a year-and-a-half prior, he was struggling just to please some of the 4,920 attendees at The Dunk. To think that only that much time has passed between McQuaid’s default debut in Boston and his first long-term NHL pact that figures to soon elevate his income to millionaire status.