Managing nine healthy bodies on your blue line is not going to be easy.
That's something Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy already appears to be learning ahead of Saturday's head-to-head with the Maple Leafs in Toronto.
That begins with healthy scratching Adam McQuaid for the first time in 16 games for Kevan Miller, and all while still trying to figure out a spot in the lineup for defenseman Nick Holden, whom the Bruins acquired from the Rangers earlier this week.
McQuaid has recorded one goal and 16 shots, along with 20 blocked shots and 35 hits, since returning to the Boston lineup on Jan. 17, and was even trusted with ice time in the last moments of the B's successful lead-protecting finish in Edmonton on Tuesday.
But Miller has been a fixuture of the Boston defense this season, with a goal and 10 points in 44 games this season, along with a heavy 18:35 of action per game.
"Adam did a great job. Kevan did a great job before he got hurt," said Cassidy. "That's always a tough call when you're not playing guys that are healthy."
As for Holden, it sounds like the Bruins will take their time with getting him adjusted to the Black and Gold's system (the Rangers played a man-on-man defensive system while the B's implement more zone-type defensive schemes) before throwing him in.
"It's gonna be a day-to-day, game-to-game decision," Cassidy said of Holden's eventual jump into action with the B's. "No word on tomorrow [against Buffalo]. Let's get through tonight and see what we've got. He will get in eventually. But I don't want to pinpoint."
But given where they were in last year's postseason, going 10 players deep into their organizational depth chart on the blue line, it's something the B's will take.
"It's a good problem to have in the long run," Cassidy admitted.
Tuukka Rask gets the start in the Boston net.
The Leafs will be without center and Jack White look-alike Auston Matthews (shoulder, day-to-day) for this game. This means that the 20-year-old Matthews will have missed three of the four games in the season series between the B's and Leafs.
The Bruins have lost three straight games in Toronto.
Here are the expected lines and pairings for the Bruins...
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - Ryan Spooner
Danton Heinen - Riley Nash - David Backes
Tim Schaller - Sean Kuraly - Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk - Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
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