Right-shot defensemen who can play in a top-four role are always a hot commodity in the NHL. For the last eight years, the Boston Bruins had the good fortune of not needing to look for one. Charlie McAvoy was on the right side of their top D pair, and Brandon Carlo was right behind him on the second.
Carlo is now gone, though. General manager Don Sweeney decided to part ways with him during the Bruins’ trade deadline firesale in March. Because of how valuable steady defenders like him are, Boston got a haul from the Toronto Maple Leafs in return: a 2026 first-round pick, a 2025 fourth-round pick, and a top prospect in center Fraser Minten.
The trade made all the sense in the world for Sweeney. Nonetheless, the Bruins now have a hole on the right side of their defense behind McAvoy. They did not make any external additions this summer to address it, so they will enter the season hoping one of their internal options can step up.
Enter Andrew Peeke. Based on the way new coach Marco Sturm has handled training camp so far, the 27-year-old Peeke is going to get first crack at that coveted top-four job.
Peeke has spent the vast majority of training camp practices paired with Hampus Lindholm on the second D pair. McAvoy has been with Mason Lohrei on the top pair. Nikita Zadorov and Henri Jokiharju, who were actually used as the top pair late last season due to injuries, are now the third pair.
That alignment could give the Bruins a balanced blue line… if it all works. Whether Lohrei has improved enough defensively to stick with McAvoy is one question. Whether Peeke can be a good enough partner for Lindholm is another.
In theory, Peeke can approximate Lindholm’s former partner, Carlo. He is also more of a defense-first defender. He’s big and strong at 6-foot-3, 214 pounds. He’s actually a more physical player than Carlo in terms of throwing hits.
But Peeke has also had more ups and downs in his career. In 2021-22 and 2022-23, he played top-four minutes with the Columbus Blue Jackets while pairing with talented players like Zach Werenski and Vladislav Gavrikov. But then he fell out of favor there in 2023-24 and was regularly getting healthy-scratched before being traded to Boston.
In a year-plus with the Bruins, Peeke has at least found his footing enough to be a rock-solid third-pairing defenseman. One of he or Jokiharju needs to be more than that if Boston’s blue line is going to be a strength, though.
There’s a reason Sturm is giving Peeke the first look, and it’s because of how Peeke finished last season. No, not how he finished in Boston. How he finished with Team USA at the World Championships.
Peeke emerged as a critical piece for a U.S. team that captured the country’s first gold at the World Championships since 1933. He played 18:12 per game, the third-most minutes on the team, while recording a goal, two assists and a plus-8 rating in 10 games.
Sturm wasn’t too familiar with Peeke’s game, but loved the reports he heard coming out of Worlds.
“I heard a lot of good things, especially coming out of the World Championship, that he played like a man,” Sturm said of Peeke earlier in training camp. “He carried it over right away. … I think he's a big, strong presence. Right now, I really like that pair.”
Peeke entered camp a confident man, coming off a career peak (pardon the pun).
“Obviously the year didn't end the way the Bruins hoped it would, and having that tournament and obviously doing well as a group there, individually as well, it gave me a little extra pep in my step going into summer confidence-wise,” Peeke told WEEI. “It was such an amazing experience to be able to do that. 92 years or whatever it was? So, it was unbelievable.”
Hearing his new coach say he “played like a man” was another nice little boost to his confidence.
“It's a big compliment,” Peeke said. “I think for the way that I've always played in the NHL, and tried to play, that's kind of my bread and butter, is winning battles, being strong, being physical, winning net-front. And obviously everything comes off that. And I think for me, it's as good of a compliment as I guess you can hear, is just being a man. Now I'm getting older and I’ve played more games in this league and understand how I can play.”
Peeke is entering the final year of his contract. He is trying not to think about that. If he plays the way he believes he is capable of playing, that next pay day will eventually take care of itself.
“I’m just focused on the guys and, for me, being in the right mindset going into the season and just taking it game by game and getting off to a good start for the Bruins,” he said. “I love being here. It's a great place to be.”