If you had given up on Jakub Zboril at some point in the last couple years, you weren't alone. Expectations for the 2015 first-round pick had diminished after six years of not being able to establish himself as a consistent NHL player. The Bruins could have lost him to Seattle in this summer's expansion draft and few would have thought much of it.
The Bruins didn't give up on Zboril, though, and they're pretty happy the Kraken didn't take him right about now.
After starting the season as Boston's seventh or eighth defenseman, Zboril has now played each of the last five games, and he's played really well. For a Bruins team that has been trying all season to figure out its defense and who fits where, the 24-year-old is starting to look like someone who could be part of the solution.
His latest strong outing came Wednesday night in the Bruins' 5-1 win over the Sabres. Zboril was noticeable at both ends of the ice all game long, for (mostly) all the right reasons.
In his own zone, Zboril repeatedly took the body and was physical in his one-on-one battles (a little too physical on a crosschecking penalty, which was perhaps his only negative on the night). He also showed good composure with the puck on his stick, consistently making the right decision and the right pass on breakouts without looking either too slow or too rushed.
He showed that same calm confidence in the offensive zone, getting involved without being too aggressive or getting caught up ice. He picked up his third assist in the last four games late in the first period when his shot from the point led to a juicy rebound that D partner Mike Reilly buried.
You can almost see that confidence growing shift to shift and game to game, and coach Bruce Cassidy said Wednesday night that he thinks that's the biggest reason Zboril is now playing the best hockey he's played at the NHL level.
"Confidence," Cassidy said when asked about Zboril's recent success. "I think he's understanding what it takes to play in this league. Like a lot of guys, it takes a while. We went through it with Grizz [Matt Grzelcyk] for a while. He'd go back down and then he'd come up, and he finally found what he would be good at.
"I think you're seeing it with Zboril, playing a harder brand of hockey, too. That's a big hit on [Kyle] Okposo. He's a big man and he kind of bounced off it. There was one right in front of our bench before that. He's willing to put his body in harm's way when the opportunity's there. He's a 200-pound man. So you're seeing a little more of that, which we need out of the group as a whole. I just think he's playing to his strengths. He's handling the puck, he's making good plays, moving his feet, shooting a little bit more."
When Zboril played his first game of the season back on Oct. 28, he looked fine but didn't exactly take a job and run with it. Cassidy gave Zboril credit for continuing to practice hard and making sure he was ready when he got another opportunity.
That opportunity came two weekends ago, when Cassidy decided Mike Reilly needed to watch a couple games from the press box. Zboril played well in a pair of wins over the Devils and Canadiens and basically forced Cassidy to keep him in the lineup. When Reilly re-entered the lineup this past weekend, it was Connor Clifton who came out, not Zboril.
The advanced stats back up the eye test on Zboril so far. In his 95 five-on-five minutes, the Bruins have outshot opponents 69-38 and outscored them 5-2. His 71.4% goals-for percentage and 67.7% expected goals-for percentage are both tops on the team.
Zboril may never be able to escape comparisons to other 2015 draft picks the Bruins could've had instead, but it's possible to acknowledge both that the Bruins messed up that draft and that Zboril can help these Bruins. For his part, Zboril said recently that he's "over" those comparisons and any bust talk, having deleted his social media accounts to avoid negativity along the way.
As long as Zboril continues to play like this -- clean at both ends of the ice and an asset in the transition game with his skating and passing -- he will have a spot in the Bruins' lineup and have a chance to really establish himself as an NHL contributor. As Cassidy points out, that will be the next step for him: Playing well for not just a five-game stretch, but consistently over a much bigger sample size.
"Hopefully he's able to stay consistent. That's the next challenge," Cassidy said. "That's one that Cliffy's had. He's had pockets of good hockey as well, and then it kind of dips a little bit. We've got to make sure he stays in the moment and understands what he's doing and doing well, and try to get that out of him every night."
