The Boston Bruins’ recent signing of free agent defenseman Derek Morris, on the heels of their trade of Aaron Ward to Carolina, leaves the club with an interesting mix of left- and right-handed shots on its back line.
Boston’s depth chart on D now includes four left and two right defensemen. Now, while most NHL defensemen give you the boilerplate “I can play on either side, whatever the coach wants” response when asked about playing on his stronger or weaker side, there’s no question that every player has a comfort level on a particular side. Plus it’s in a team’s interest to have the majority of its players making outlet passes on their forehand rather than their backhand.
So how should the Bruins align their defense this coming season? It’s never too early to plan, and first and foremost if I was coaching the Black and Gold would be to move Zdeno Chara to the right side.
Most observers have already penciled in Morris for the Bruins’ top pair to Chara’s right in Ward’s old spot. But to me that weakens the Bruins in a number of ways, starting with the fact that Andrew Ference, Mark Stuart or Matt Hunwick would have to be the one to change sides on a regular basis. While Ference has shown flashes of versatility in his time in the Hub, he’s definitely better suited for his strong side because he already has enough to overcome with his size disadvantage. Stuart and Hunwick could conceivably move, but both have settled in well as young up-and-comers, so it’s not worth tampering with their comfort while they’re still developing into prime-time players.
Now that brings me to Chara, who blossomed into the 2009 Norris Trophy winner while patrolling the left side almost exclusively during his first three seasons in Boston. But most of the last two years have featured Ward skating alongside the towering blueliner to throw his body at pucks and opposing skaters, stay responsible and throw the occasional shot on net from the point. General manager Peter Chiarelli is singing Morris’ praises as a puck-mover who can also bring that physical element. However, he’s no Ward, nor should the Bruins want him to be. His offensive dimension, along with his youth and mobility make the team better and that’s why the moves were made.
They’ll be an even better club if Morris and Chara aren’t paired. The captain needs a stay-at-home partner. Morris doesn’t help the Bruins if he’s not strutting his stuff. Dennis Wideman, Boston’s other right-hander, doesn’t fit the bill either. Thus, Chara moving to the right side makes the most sense. And I declare that the best sidekick for Chara, at least to start the season, should be Stuart. The 25-year-old embodies a lot of the same rugged qualities as Ward, but he’s much younger and sports He-Man-like strength. He’s always in great enough shape to log the minutes required of a Chara partner. And it’s about time, now that Stuart’s entering his third NHL season, that the Bruins find out if what they have is a minutes-eating top-four guy or a player destined to just be in the bottom four and hold his own. To me, Stuart is a top-four player.
Assuming Chara is open to the shift, probably the only ones that will be against it will be some of the top snipers in the Eastern Conference. Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Mike Cammalleri are among those that skate the left wing. Now not only will they have to deal with gargantuan blueliner every time they’re on the ice, but he’ll already be on their side of the ice when they cross the blue line.
Pairing off the other four defenseman is easy if you reside in one of two camps. If you want a balanced pair and an offensive pair, you go Ference-Morris and Hunwick-Wideman. Or you switch them to keep Hunwick and Wideman apart. Wideman and Ference have proven a cohesive duo in stretches the last couple seasons.
Once the Bruins’ top pair is settled and a perfect match for Chara is found, everything else should fall into place. Even if Morris is on a “third pair” (or pair 2A to be politically correct), he’ll make up the minutes on the Bruins’ top power-play unit (a discussion for another column).
There are still more than seven weeks remaining before training camp opens, and the Bruins’ defense corps could change in terms of personnel over that span. But if everyone stays put on the back end, than Chara moving to the right sounds right to me.
In the playoffs, Ference and Hunwick were injured. The Bruins called on Mark Stuart and Steve Montador to take on more essential roles than the two were used to. Montador floundered while Stuart flourished. Let Stuart prove himself even more by playing next to Chara.
Matt,
As usual you’re column is right on. Its time for Stuart to sink or swim. He was a monster in the playoffs last year. And he makes the most sense to pair with Chara.
They can’t have Wideman and Hunwick together, that pairing is a disaster in the battle areas in front of the net and in the corners. I’d probably go wideman/ference, hunwick/morris.
However, based on Julien’s history, I can see a lot of different possibilities, especially if you don’t consider the right/left handedness, such as Hunwick being paired with Chara, Stuart staying on the 3rd pairing with Ference, and morris and wideman together. I don’t like putting the 2 righties together either, but I can see it happening.
I guess it remains to be seen but I also have trouble seeing morris as more of a #2 than wideman. And i dont think either of them really fit the billing of a true #2, like neidermayer.
We should refer to the big guy as, Norris Trophy winner-Chara!
It should be his title just as if he was granted knighthood.
Sorry, I’m just still basking in the idea that we had some domenance at the awards this year!
Very well thought out and interesting proposals. Wideman and Hunwick did appear to have some chemistry together last year, so I’d like to see them together again. The Stuart/Chara pairing I think would be a good idea as well, also because IMHO Stuart is a very smart player and would adapt/react well to Chara’s aggressiveness.
From what’s been said, I don’t think Julien’s going into camp with any combinations fixed in his mind, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Something else that Stuart brings to the table which people overlook all the time is his speed. He’s not as fast as Ference (when healthy) but he can blow the doors off Ward, Wideman and Chara without trying. He is in my opinion the most under rated Bruin. If he does end up with Chara for the majority of the year, look for him to make a BIG jump in points and it will not just be playing with Chara.
enjoy your posts. You do know your hockey. I am pretty sure Stuie played some shifts with Chara last year. Stuie is going to be a monster this year. I agree with Big Z and Stuart, but I would rather put Stuie on the right side. I do not htink we should f*** with Chara. Stuart will be fine.
Great post, I’ve linked this for discussion at The NHL Arena. Stuart and Chara makes a lot of sense.
Matt good read and great idea. I just assumed Chara and Morris would be paired together, but separating them gives the Bruins a balance of three strong defensive pairings. Plus it gives three offensive minded defensemen all on different pairings. But back to Stuart, this guy has stepped up his game big time. He reminds me a lot of Don Sweeney when he was paired with Ray. Just a smart and tough defenseman who is very reliable in his own end. Stuart even started to jump up on rushes late last season, showing he’s maturing as a player. I think Wideman needs to be paired with Hunwick, giving him another option to pass to, which would limit his opportunities of simply throwing the puck up the boards and having it picked off. They played real well together and the best of both players was apparent when they were paired alongside one another.