When a team is as good as the 2022-23 Boston Bruins, good players can be found all over the lineup. Players who may be found in the top six on other teams will find themselves somewhere in the bottom six for a team with extreme depth, and this is truly the case with this Bruins’ squad. For this season, head coach Jim Montgomery shouldn’t hesitate to move players around the lineup to form the lines he feels provide optimal value, even if it may be perceived as a “demotion” in the eyes of some.
David Pastrnak and Tyler Bertuzzi, for example, are the perfect linemates for David Krejci come playoff time. While it might be disappointing for fans to see the Bruins split up the Czech line that features Pavel Zacha on the left wing of the Bruins’ second line, Bertuzzi’s fit on the second line may be too much for Montgomery to pass up, at least to start the postseason.
Bertuzzi, a former 30-goal scorer in his own right, is far more lauded for his playmaking abilities. His vision and ability to make crisp, tape-to-tape passes is on display every single game and his connection alongside David Pastrnak at various points of his stint with the Bruins has been impossible to ignore. It shouldn’t be too surprising that an elite playmaker and elite scorer together make up such a dynamic duo and coupling them with a top-tier center like Krejci truly rounds out the line perfectly.
Since being traded to the Bruins, Bertuzzi has scored three goals and 14 points in 19 games. His 11 assists through 19 games already eclipsed his 10 from his 29 games with the Detroit Red Wings this season and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. Pastrnak will succeed regardless of who is playing on his line, but giving him such a strong passer on his line feels like a no-brainer for the Bruins when at full health.
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Pastrnak has scored 60 goals so far this season which puts him in elite company not just in Bruins’ history, but in NHL history too. Giving him the resources to continue scoring and producing in clutch situations gives the Bruins the best opportunity to win each and every night; that’s not something they should take for granted.
But if Bertuzzi slides onto the Bruins’ second line in a more permanent fashion, the conversation shifts to what this means for Zacha, in the midst of a career season.
Bruins Depth Gives Their Opposition Matchup Problems
Zacha who has set career-highs in every statistical category this season, including goals (21), assists (36), points (57) and games played (all 80 of the Bruins’ games so far this season), would then slot onto the team’s third line alongside Charlie Coyle and Taylor Hall. This would be one of the better second lines in the NHL and the Bruins get to play this combination on their third line. This line will undoubtedly be one of the biggest matchup problems for opposing teams in the playoffs and would also give the Bruins a bevy of options should they need to shake things up.
And who knows, maybe Zacha, Bertuzzi and Pastrnak can make up the Bruins’ second line next season should they retain Bertuzzi and Krejci retires.
For this season, though, it’s not hard to envision Zacha, Hall, Bertuzzi, Jake DeBrusk and even Coyle in a much rarer circumstance moving around the top-nine should this be deemed necessary, with Trent Frederic also still in the mix.
Speaking of Frederic, he’s another player who would find himself lower in the lineup as a result of these moves.
Frederic, who has also put up career-highs in every statistical category this season, would then slot onto the Bruins’ fourth line alongside Garnet Hathaway and likely Tomas Nosek, giving the Bruins a voracious fourth line that would undoubtedly generate energy for the Bruins while also posing an imminent threat to produce offense at any given time. While Frederic has exceeded all expectations this season, his assignment to the fourth line would be no more of a demotion than Zacha’s to the third line would be. With a deep attack on offense and defense, good players will appear up and down the lineup; when history is being made right in front of our eyes, this is easier to stomach even for the players.
This makes things interesting as well, as it would leave the Bruins, when at full health, with Nick Foligno, A.J. Greer and Jakub Lauko as reserves. This Bruins’ team is deep and good players will find themselves in situations that wouldn’t occur on a worse team. If the trade-off for winning a Stanley Cup is playing on a lower line or sometimes watching the game from the press box, that’s probably a deal most players would take 10 out of 10 times.
History is being made and the Bruins are hungry for the Stanley Cup. A team as unified as this one will play for each other through thick and thin and that could prove to be the difference maker when all is said and done.
