What the Boston Bruins' Defensive Pairings Will Look Like Without Zdeno Chara

For a multitude of reasons, the Boston Bruins’ defensive outlook will not match that of Saturday’s contest for the duration of Zdeno Chara’s protracted absence.

Not every matchup will bring the same apparent facility as Saturday’s 4-1 victory in Toronto (official NHL.com play-by-play transcript here). The Maple Leafs’ reception from their home crowd and head coach, as the Toronto Star’s Kevin McGran keenly captured it, underscored a plainly subpar effort on their part.

In addition, Kevan Miller, another Boston blue-line staple currently nursing an injury, may return to action before Chara. Although, that is anything but a guarantee.

In the interim, the Bruins will likely resort to a revolving door, granting opportunities for a cluster of call-ups from Providence.

Regardless, there will no less than a full month’s worth of tinkering and a committee approach to the position.

The Bruins announced Friday afternoon that Chara sustained a left knee ligament tear, which will sideline him for up to six weeks. The bare minimum is four weeks, which would equate to roughly 12 games.

Incidentally, based on the club’s timetable, the best-case scenario could have the captain ready to return by around Nov. 22. That would be in time for the Montreal Canadiens’ first visit to the TD Garden in 2014-15.

Of course, there is also the chance that Chara’s absence could spill into a four-game Western Conference road trip to start December. That would amount to roughly 18 or 19 straight games without his services.

If there is any silver lining in that, it will apply to at least one individual prospect. That yet-to-be-determined stand-in could win out as the indefinite sixth or seventh blueliner, elevating his stock in advance of a likely return to the AHL once full health is replenished on the roster.

For Saturday, Zach Trotman answered the summons to ensure a quorum, thus putting in his third career NHL appearance. Fellow call-up Joe Morrow (whom the Bruins returned to the minors on Sunday, per the team’s website) was the spare.

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For the better part of the Toronto tilt, Trotman teamed up with Matt Bartkowski, the usual seventh man, on the bottom pairing. The top four consisted of a Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid middle combination and a Dougie Hamilton-Dennis Seidenberg starting set.

Of those arrangements, the top tandem is the one most likely to stay the same until Chara restores normalcy. Both Hamilton and Seidenberg have logged substantial experience working with the captain on the most taxing and demanding assignments.

For the next month-plus, barring other developments, McQuaid is Seidenberg’s only company among healthy Bruins blueliners with at least three full NHL seasons. By that logic, his presence on the middle pair makes sense for maxing out the veteran presence on the ice.

Still, McQuaid has a laundry list of injuries on his career transcript and may command caution at times. In addition, the fresher Miller boasts a comparable stay-at-home skill set and paired with Krug for much of 2013-14.

Do not be surprised, therefore, if head coach Claude Julien lowers McQuaid in favor of Miller if and when any circumstances call for a shake-up. Ultimately, either combination is still giving the Bruins a balance between defensive sandpaper specialty and two-way proficiency.

Bartkowski might even benefit in his day job from working with the more grizzled McQuaid for a few practice rushes and game shifts. Per Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe, Julien said last Monday of Bartkowski:

"

His game is about skating and moving the puck. Where he has to continue to work hard is being a little harder to play against. He’s a defenseman who’s got to defend and has got to be hard, sometimes a little harder in areas where he has to defend.

"

Until Chara is available again, the Bruins' brass will surely demand that kind of growth from the 26-year-old Ohio State alumnus.

As long as no more than six of Boston’s blue-line regulars are available, Bartkowski figures to be a game-time mainstay. He split three seasons between the NHL and AHL before spending all of 2013-14 with the big club and logging 64 appearances.

As a left-hand shot capable of sprinkling a few points (he tallied 18 assists last season), Bartkowski would be a relatively easy third-pairing fit with several prospective partners. McQuaid and Miller both carry a right-curving twig and, as previously alluded, are more inclined to pry the puck than to push it.

Whether Miller and McQuaid with Bartkowski, Krug or a rotating combination will only become apparent once Miller is back. So far, the Bruins have offered nothing on his status beyond the “out indefinitely” prognosis they released last Monday.

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Until further notice, one can only expect a Providence fixture to be in Boston’s lineup each night. The fact that the Bruins reassigned Morrow suggests that Trotman will continue to plug that sixth slot.

Depending on how long Miller is out, though, management could spring for another internal transaction.

Remember last December, before anyone was expecting Miller himself to become an established NHLer so soon? That was when general manager Peter Chiarelli rationalized a reassignment to Caryn Switaj of the team’s website by explaining, “Ten games - once you play your tenth game, you’re exposed to waivers if you send the player down. So we felt that Kevan would probably be a waiver pickup by somebody. We didn’t want to risk it.”

Unless Miller is ready to return beforehand, the Bruins could encounter the same dilemma with Trotman as early as Nov. 11, the eve of another trip to Toronto. In that event, they may swap him out in favor of another farmhand to dodge the waiver wire.

Either that, or they could reassign him sooner, before they reach the precipice.

In either of those events, Morrow may be another resort. Hamilton’s fellow first-round draft choice from 2011 has been patiently incubating in the AHL and has no shortage of physicality in his game.

Morrow will all but have to put in his NHL debut sometime in 2014-15. Given the current circumstances, the one nitpick is the fact that he is a fellow left-handed shot of Bartkowski’s.

The same holds true for Chris Breen, a towering, 6’7” journeyman who has played nine NHL games with Calgary. Ditto for the undersized David Warsofsky, who has played six games for Boston.

Chris Casto, on the other hand, is a right shot, like Trotman, and rounds out a 6’1” frame with an even 200 pounds. He is, however, lacking in experience, having split only one full professional season between the AHL and ECHL.

Unless Miller heals in time to restore a quorum of six proven NHL blueliners, the Bruins will eventually need to make a compromise to fill their depth defense.

At the same time, Miller’s eventual return will lend them a few extra options that they lacked in their first unplanned Chara-less venture of 2014-15.

Look for Saturday’s configurations to continue until Trotman can give way to Miller, who can then trade second- and third-pairing shifts with McQuaid.

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics for this report were found via NHL.com.