Just 15 minutes removed from Boston’s regular-season finale, Bruce Cassidy wasn’t ready to tip his hand quite yet when it comes to the Bruins’ plans for their first-round foe in the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But that doesn’t mean that a few plans haven’t already been set in motion by Boston’s bench boss.
Having already clinched home ice against Toronto to open the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Cassidy’s window to tinker with his roster and identify the best matchups against the Leafs has been severely limited — especially up front.
One shouldn’t put too much stock in the lineup rolled out for Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Lightning, which featured Zach Senyshyn on a line with Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson, Karson Kuhlman slotted down on the fourth line and both Anton Blidh and Trent Frederic logging shifts with David Backes. Never change, Game No. 82.
One vacancy that’s still yet to be addressed on the eve of postseason play is the valuable spot to David Krejci’s right — with the absence of other top-six options like Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Krejci himself on Thursday against Minnesota preventing Cassidy from getting one last look at the multiple combinations he can shuffle through going into the playoffs.
He may not have been ready to name the missing piece to slot in with Krejci and Jake DeBrusk on Saturday, but that doesn’t mean that Cassidy doesn’t already have someone in mind.
“That’ll get sorted out quickly this week,” Cassidy said. “Right now, we’ll have an internal discussion, and I have a pretty good idea which direction we’re going to go. Some of that will depend on, again, looking at Toronto as well.”
Of course, Boston can go in quite a few different directions when it comes to finding the solution on the second line. One avenue, as unlikely as it might have seemed just a few weeks ago, could have Karson Kuhlman and his 11 games of NHL experience up as a top-six contributor for the playoff run.
Given how many lines and players Cassidy juggled around this season in order to find a perfect fit for No. 46, it’d be quite the statement if an undrafted free agent like Kuhlman is the one who gets the first crack at the gig, but it’s hard to argue with a 74-46-83 line that is averaging an absurd seven 5v5 goals per 60 minutes of play — close to four goals over the regular 5v5 production generated by the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line over the same 60-minute sample.
“He grew as a player with each game,” Krejci said of Kuhlman. “He’s definitely got some game, he’s for real, and he’s playing some good hockey. It’s fun to watch him and he definitely surprised me with the way he’s playing.
The other option? Boston’s deadline acquisition in Johansson — who has helped generate a 55.56 Corsi For Percentage and a plus-12 shot differential during the 46:45 of 5v5 TOI in which he’s been paired with those two. Still, positive possession numbers aside, that combination has only generated one goal during that stretch, while Johansson has primarily skated over the last two weeks with Coyle on the third line, with that pair piling up 54:24 of TOI together over the span of 10 games.
Whatever way Cassidy is leaning, we likely won’t have an indication until practice gets underway at Warrior Ice Arena on Monday afternoon. Still, don’t overlook at what Kuhlman has provided to this club during his most recent call-up from Providence.
“Tonight, we put Krech and Pasta, so no, that wasn’t a demotion for (Kuhlman),” Cassidy said. “In fact, you might look at it the other way. We have enough confidence in him because he’s played lots of minutes. He’s been good for us. Again tonight, right in front of the net on (Danton) Heinen’s goal. He does these little things that endears himself to his teammates and the staff.”
Nice play by Danton Heinen to recover the puck in the slot — and eventually roof one past Pasquale.
Great screen by Kuhlman as well — who continues to play very, very well. pic.twitter.com/t7Syu45IOc
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) April 6, 2019