Bergeron
Last week, I made my case for the Boston Bruins not pairing up newly signed right-handed defenseman Derek Morris with Norris Trophy winner Zdeno Chara on a regular basis.
But there is one place that I believe Morris and Chara should unite, and that’s the Bruins’ No. 1 power play unit. And that will benefit the Bruins in a number of ways, with the most important being that Patrice Bergeron should be relieved of the added responsibilities that come with manning the point as a forward.
The Bruins didn’t throw a little more than $3 million at Morris for the 2009-10 season to have him watch power plays from the bench or be relegated to the second unit. While the Bruins strive for balance and don’t like to designate their quartets as first and second, one group typically gets the bulk of the ice time — mainly the one featuring Chara, unless his unit is in a severe slump.
Morris is known for his offensive instincts and his ability to fire his shot through traffic, a department the Bruins sometimes struggled in 2008-09. The last time he played regularly for an NHL team and not the circus known as the Phoenix Coyotes, Morris lit the lamp line times and totaled 28 points on the power play for the 2002-03 Calgary Flames. Surrounded once again by high-caliber NHL talent, Morris should be able to approach those numbers in black and gold.
So with Chara and Morris, in Bergeron’s old spot, manning the points on the top unit, that leaves the second-group spots to fill. Last season, Dennis Wideman and Andrew Ference (when healthy) worked beautifully as a power-play duo. Of course, Matt Hunwick also enjoyed some highlights next to Wideman on the man-advantage and his offensive prowess is a big reason Boston decided to make a two-year commitment to him as a restricted free agent this summer. The competition to crack the power play unit will be intense this fall. Alas, there’s no room for Bergeron out by the blue line — and that can only be a positive.
Depending on what happens with Phil Kessel — both injury- and contract-wise — and how quick David Krejci recovers from his offseason surgery, the Bruins are going to need extra firepower up front on their power play. Bergeron can provide the perfect right-shooting competition to Michael Ryder, with the two stars jockeying for a spot on the top squad. Bergeron could even shift over and center the second unit in Krejci’s absence, with Marc Savard obviously entrenched as the No. 1 pivot.
Bergeron, to me, always held his own as a point man. But he’s always seemed most comfortable up front, and playing forward on the power play best puts his offensive talents to work. The Bruins need to be better in every area this season than they were last year, including on the power play (which ranked near the top of the NHL all season). With Bergeron up front and Morris on the back end, the Bruins should be in business with one of the league’s most productive man-advantages.
[...] The Bruins Blog: Bergeron’s point days should be through. Makes sense to move him back to playing forward. Why pay Morris all the money if not to help improve the PP. [...]
Matt, good “point.” Sorry, all cheesiness aside, this is good to see. I feel like Patrice playing the point on the PP has actually hurt his game, offensively. It seems to take him out of his rhythm, especially when he’s cycling along the boards. When they’ve had him as one of their six forwards on the PP, he seems to play better in those situations. It’s simply a mental thing, but sometimes those do more damage than physical issues.
Hey Matt,
Im a big fan of having dennis Wideman QB the top power play unit. This will take Chara to the second and give him sometime to rest during games and play mroe when we need him…. During 5v5 and the Penalty Kill. Also, I think he has a lot of turnovers while playing on the PP and wideman is the best offensive defenseman they have. Move Chara and Berg to the Second and Move Wideman to the first with Morris…
Nice column Matt
It will certainly be interesting to see how the PP units shape up, especially once Krejci, and hopefully Kessel, are healthy. I’d rather see Hunwick on the 2nd unit than Ference, Ference needs a little less ice time for his apparently fragile body. In my opinion Bergy should be on the top unit, but chemistry-wise, does that make sense? If you rank your top offensive forwards that’s something like: Savard, Kessel, Krejci, Ryder, Recchi, Sturm, Bergy, Wheeler, Kobasew, Lucic… but that’s not factoring set up man, net front man, shooter, and whatever other roles. A lot of those guys fighting for contracts are going to want that premium point production time, something that probably hurts kessel in his contract negotiation this year, he was relegated to 2nd unit duties and lost opportunities to produce against top teams. Not saying he absolutely should have been there, but the competition to get that prime ice time will be great to see. I don’t necessarily trust Julien’s comments that the guys who put in the effort and stay within the system/game plan get the ice time, he seems to have a few favorites that he rides a little too long during slumps. How does that affect those trying to fight their way in? How does the competition affect those in slumps? And why can’t the season start already?!