John Moore’s greatest asset is his skating ability, which perhaps was the biggest reason the Bruins courted the veteran defenseman in free agency and signed him to a five-year, $13.75 million deal.
The Bruins, as it stands, will enter training camp with a bulk of eight defensemen. It’s not exactly certain how the roles will shake out beyond the top pairing of Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy, but Moore is expected to bring a particular skill set to the Bruins' blue-line that they haven’t particularly had in the past few seasons.
At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, he has the skating skills to dictate the pace on the ice and manage the puck. He should serve as the counter to the Bruins more smaller, offensively-gifted defensemen such as 5-9 skaters Torey Krug and Matt Grzelcyk.
In 447 NHL games with four different NHL teams, Moore has 32 goals and 67 assists for 99 points, but his impact should come in other ways that can’t be measured on the score sheet. The Bruins will likely get the bulk of their offensive production at the blue line from McAvoy, Krug, and Grzelcyk. What Moore brings is a steady, strong fundamental presence on defense, a characteristic he’s long exhibited in his career.
“It’s not a negative, but everybody thinks because he does skate well, it leads to bigger numbers in the NHL,” said Steve Spott, who coached Moore on the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL in 2009-10. “I think he pushes for that, but he’s going to fit in nicely in a secondary role. He gives you a chance to have a real good shutdown defenseman who can kill penalties and be responsible. He gives another dimension compared to McAvoy and Krug, but he doesn’t have to play the same role. He can hide in the weeds a little bit and be one of those defensemen every coach would love to have.”
When Moore arrived in Kitchener for his only year in the OHL, Spott immediately identified Moore’s maturity on and off the ice. He was prepared in a way most teenagers weren’t. Long bus rides for road trips meant snacking on chips and other junk food. Moore typically packed his own meals and ate them when he arrived at their destination, conscious about the nutritional aspect of being a professional most players don’t grasp until later years.
The mental maturity matched Moore’s physical skills and he responded with 47 points in 61 games, and another 16 in 20 playoff games.
Moore was traded twice in the early stages of his career, first from Columbus to the Rangers, then again to Arizona. He signed a three-year deal with the Devils in 2015 and started to find his stride as part of their defensive core. The three most productive years of his career have come in the last three seasons, with 59 points in that span.
“He’s maybe one of the most professional young men I’ve ever coached as a teenager,” said Spott, who’s now an assistant with the San Jose Sharks. “He was doing things as a teenager a lot of kids in juniors were not doing yet.
“I think his edgework and his stride is pretty much flawless and what it allows him to do defensively is skate the puck out of trouble. Offensively, everybody is promoting the same thing about joining the rush and being more active and he should be able to beat a lot of back-checkers up the ice with his speed and ability to accelerate. It’s his greatest weapon and he’s shown he can use it as a really good tool in the NHL.”
It still remains to be seen where Moore will slot in with the Bruins. They have four left-shot defensemen – Chara, Moore, Krug, and Grzelcyk – which means one may play their off-side.
That could be Moore, who may be able to make that transition effectively because of his skating ability and stick skills.
“It’s about wins and he gives you another element to help you win every night and he doesn't have to do what others do,” Spott said. “His strengths are going to be playing against other teams top lines, making good decisions, and being a real good teammate.”
_____________________
_____________________