Bruins’ top 2 D-lines are untouchables

Editor’s Note: Part 2 of a series previewing the Bruins training camp.

No positions on the team come as close to being etched in stone. The questions come if that stone chips or cracks.

As the Bruins prepare for Monday’s scheduled opening of training camp, the expectation is that there won’t be any changes to the defense corps, and that defense corps will protect Tuukka Rask when the NHL’s coronavirus-interrupted season resumes on or [...]

Editor’s Note: Part 2 of a series previewing the Bruins training camp.

No positions on the team come as close to being etched in stone. The questions come if that stone chips or cracks.

As the Bruins prepare for Monday’s scheduled opening of training camp, the expectation is that there won’t be any changes to the defense corps, and that defense corps will protect Tuukka Rask when the NHL’s coronavirus-interrupted season resumes on or about Aug. 1.

He may love to experiment, and always a Plan B, C and so on, but there’s really no reason for B’s coach Bruce Cassidy to mess with two groups largely responsible for a first-place finish in the overall standings, and the accompanying free pass into the first round of playoffs under the NHL’s Return to Play plan. The Bruins surrendered the fewest goals in the NHL (167, a 2.39 average over 70 games), which helped them continue to get results on the nights when their top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak didn’t produce. It also led to Rask (league-best 2.12 goals-against average) and Jaroslav Halak (2.39; sixth) sharing the William Jennings Trophy as the NHL’s most miserly goalie duo.

So, get ready for more of captain Zdeno Chara and third-year teammate Charlie McAvoy as the top pairing, Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo behind them and Matt Grzelcyk anchoring the third duo. If there’s any drama on the blue line, it concerns the identity of Grzelcyk’s right-side partner, but that seemed to be sorted out by the time the B’s played what proved to be their final regular-season game on March 10: Rookie Jeremy Lauzon effectively won the job over Connor Clifton and John Moore, who’ll provide depth in case of almost inevitable injuries or illness: The B’s used eight defensemen during last year’s 24-game run to the Stanley Cup Final.

Clearly, the defense corps has a lot going for it, with chemistry topping the list: The Chara-McAvoy and Krug-Carlo pairings both have two full seasons of experience together, and there’s a nice defense-offense component to each duo: Chara and Carlo are more inclined to stay at home; Krug and McAvoy have the skills and instincts to start or join offensive attacks. If, indeed, Grzelyck and Lauzon form the third pairing, Grzelcyk has the skating ability to carry pucks, while Lauzon’s specialty is recovering them.

Other benefits: There’s some size on all three pairings in Chara (6 feet 9 inches, 250 pounds), Carlo (6-5, 212) and Lauzon (6-1, 204), and the group is relatively young: McAvoy, Carlo and Lauzon are all 23 or younger, Grzelcyk is 26 and Krug turned 29 in April.

Then there’s Chara, the 43-year-old marvel who ranked second on the team to partner McAvoy (23 minutes, 10 seconds) in per-game ice time at 21:01, led the blue-liners at plus-26 and missed only two of 70 games — both because of lingering effects from the jaw fracture he sustained in last year’s Stanley Cup Final.

Questions about whether time will finally catch up to Chara probably will increase under the current scenario, which calls for a relatively brief training camp (the B’s are due in their hub city bubble — reportedly Toronto — by July 26) after a four-month layoff, but consider: Chara has been among the most frequent attendees for small-group workouts at Warrior Arena since the facility reopened on July 8 and he won’t have to jump straight into an actual playoff series: Their league-best record means the B’s avoid a best-of-5 play-in round and participate instead in a three-game round-robin tournament against the Lightning, Capitals and Flyers, the Nos. 2-4 seeds in the Eastern Conference. Not that the round-robin isn’t important — it’ll determine the top four seeds for the true playoff rounds — but it’s a little less stressful than jumping straight into a short, winner-take-all series.

The defenseman under the most stress in camp probably would be Lauzon. Recalled from AHL Providence in late January (Clifton was hurt; Moore had been ineffective), he was a solid presence over 18 games, but he’ll need a strong camp to stay ahead of Moore and Clifton — both of whom have NHL playoff experience. Lauzon does not.

It would probably take a terrible training camp (or an injury or illness) for Rask to lose his starting job to Halak, and even that might not do it. Rask has taken steps to avoid a slow start by participating in small-group workouts (so has Halak), and after instances of needing time to get his game in order before this season, he was a standout in that respect this year.

Alternating with Halak over the first eight games of 2019-20, Rask went 3-0-1, then posted an 8-2-1 mark while playing 11 of the Bruins’ next 15. His return from the All-Star/Bye Week break, which he spent recovering from a concussion, was also strong: 3-1-0 with only six goals allowed in his first four games.

One down-the-road question is whether Cassidy gives Halak any game time before the Bruins’ first-round playoff series. During training camp, though, the focus will be on getting both goalies sharp while keeping each of them fresh.