Given that the Bruins were already facing both a roster crunch and a salary cap crunch, it was fair to wonder if they really needed to sign Anton Stralman.
Bruins' offense surging, D banged up
Sure, the 36-year-old veteran defenseman, who was in training camp on a PTO (professional tryout), had looked good in the preseason and could probably help, but signing Stralman would make it nine defensemen on NHL contracts for the Bruins. Even with Charlie McAvoy on long-term injured reserve, the Bruins were going to need to bump one skater off the active roster just to fit Stralman in.
Well, without Stralman even playing yet, Saturday night justified signing him to a one-year deal this week, and showed why he may very well be a necessary addition and not just a luxury item.
What was an otherwise celebratory occasion for the Bruins, who beat the Coyotes 6-3 in their home opener, was dampened a bit late in the first period when Brandon Carlo took a hard hit from Liam O’Brien. A short time later, Carlo was ruled out for the rest of the game due to an upper-body injury.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery had no further update on Carlo after the game. Given Carlo’s history of head injuries -- he has had four concussions over the previous six seasons -- that is naturally the first concern.
Regardless of whether Carlo misses time, or how much, the concerning situation is exactly why general manager Don Sweeney took a “can never have too many defensemen” approach this offseason. It’s why over the summer he said he wasn’t worried about the number of D he had signed to NHL contracts, and might actually be looking to add even more.
“We go through quite a bit of defensemen in the course of the season and the year, so I don’t think that is a general major concern of mine,” Sweeney said in July. “I think the more the merrier in the depth of your organization, the better off you’re going to be, in particular the back end. For whatever reason, it’s reared its head, the war of attrition, you go through the playoffs. It’s happened to us, you know, Charlie [McAvoy] and Griz [Matt Grzelyck] are great examples of getting dinged up and ending up having surgery as a result. So no, I’m not disappointed to have the number of defense we have under contract at all.”
Of course, Sweeney did end up adding another defenseman in Stralman. It’s unclear when he will be able to make his regular-season debut, as he is currently waiting for a visa issue to be resolved.
If Carlo has to miss any amount of time, the Bruins better hope it’s resolved very soon. Otherwise, Connor Clifton would be the only right-shot defenseman on the active roster. While Jakub Zboril, Mike Reilly and possibly Matt Grzelcyk (if he’s ready to play soon) can play their off side, it wouldn’t be ideal to have two of them on the right.
None would really be an ideal fit next to Hampus Lindholm on the top pairing either. Stralman spent a lot of time with Lindholm in training camp and looked good playing there in the one preseason game they played together.
Beyond all that, Stralman would also be a welcome addition because this group could use his veteran poise. While the Bruins’ offense has looked great through two games, getting 11 goals from 10 different scorers, the defense has looked shaky at times. It looked shaky to close out the preseason as well. Zboril and Reilly, in particular, have not yet found consistent form defensively.
In the preseason, Stralman showed the defensive smarts that have allowed him to have such a long career, as he was consistently in good position to break up plays and was calm under pressure when he had the puck on his stick.
Stralman looked like a player who was probably going to provide an upgrade even if or when everyone was healthy on defense. But with that scenario continuing to be more of an “if” than a “when,” it’s clear why the Bruins needed to keep him around after camp.
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