Ryan: When it comes to solving carousel of wingers on David Krejci’s line, there’s a simple solution

A campaign in which David Krejci broke the 70-point scoring plateau for the first time in a decade is an achievement in and of itself for the 33-year-old veteran.

The fact that he hit that level of production without a consistent presence to his right on Boston’s second line for a majority of the year is, well, a whole other accomplishment for the pivot. 

But such was the year for Krejci and his regular linemate in Jake DeBrusk, who managed to either tie or surpass their career scoring marks despite skating on 10 different combinations that logged at least 10 minutes of 5v5 TOI together.

Boston has plenty to get done during the 92-day break between now and the start of preseason action, but the vacancy on the B’s second line continues to loom over this club — much as it did throughout the 2018-19 campaign.

Cam Neely, speaking to the media Tuesday morning at TD Garden, noted that the need for another top-six forward has been “talked about at length.” It’s a daunting task for the club, with its current cap obligations holding Boston back from being major players out on the free-agent landscape.

Perhaps an internal option remains the best bet, but as evidenced by the number of bodies that Bruce Cassidy had to shuffle on that second line — finding that perfect piece for a pivot like Krejci could require some major tinkering across the rest of Cassidy’s combinations.

“I think David Krejci can still drive a line,” Neely said. “He’s such a great playmaker. You just need to find the right player to play with a guy like David. You need someone with a little bit more speed on the wing. David likes to hang onto the puck and try to slow the pace down a little bit. So it’s really finding the right guy.

“David wants to distribute the puck, so you need to have someone that’s willing to shoot the puck. Nowadays, there’s more pass-first guys than shooters, which is hard for me to understand, because I was shooter. All of my assists were rebounds.”

So, let’s see here...A winger with speed? Likes to shoot the puck?

Now that you think about it — the solution seems rather obvious, doesn’t it?



Plenty can change between now and September, but if the Bruins really want to make its top-six into the two-headed monster it can be, they need to slot down David Pastrnak and give Krejci the elite shooter that he can excel with.

The results have been there when No. 46 and No. 88 have skated together, to the surprise of very few.

In 88 minutes of 5v5 TOI that Krejci, Pastrnak and DeBrusk have skated together over the last two seasons, the Bruins have controlled 60.5% of shot attempts while outscoring the competition, 4-1.

During the 296:00 of 5v5 TOI in which Krejci and Pastrnak were together out on the ice this year alone — whether it be on the second line or up top during Patrice Bergeron’s absence due to injury — the Bruins scored 17 goals, good enough for a goals-per-60-minute rate of 3.45.

In a perfect scenario, bumping down Pastrnak seems like a no-brainer for the Bruins. Rather than having to look outside of the organization, Pastrnak stands as the perfect, in-house solution that compliments Krejci’s playmaking ability in the O-zone.

But of course, putting out one fire on the second line would then likely create another blaze up top with Bergeron and Brad Marchand, right?

It’s a difficult proposition:  Willingly breaking apart a top-line trio that has generated a plus-20 goal differential, plus-233 shot on goal differential and a GF/60 rate of 3.19 over the last three years together.

Sure, a DeBrusk-Krejci-Pastrnak line would be a nuisance for the opposition to handle. But who slots in next to Bergeron and Marchand?

If you ask me,  does it really matter?

While the Bruins have enjoyed plenty of success when they added a sniper like Pastrnak to a line with Bergeron and Marchand, such has been the case for just about every combo over the last 5-6 years that have featured No. 37 and No. 63 together.

Let’s take a look at some of the usual suspects that have skated with Bergeron and Marchand:

With David Pastrnak in 1,504 minutes of 5v5 play — 59.34 CF% / Plus-20 goal differential / Plus-233 shot differential / 3.19 goals for per 60 minutes

With Reilly Smith in 1,199 minutes of 5v5 play — 60.96 CF% / Plus-28 goal differential / Plus-241 shot differential / 3.45 goals for per 60 minutes

With Loui Eriksson in 372 5v5 minutes — 62.81 CF% / Plus-3 goal differential / Plus-108 shot differential / 2.26 goals for per 60 minutes

With Brett Connolly in 424 5v5 minutes — 55.23 CF% / Plus-3 goal differential / Plus-49 shot differential / 2.97 goals for per 60 minutes

With David Backes in 331 5v5 minutes — 59.77 CF% / Plus-8 goal differential / Plus-76 shot differential / 3.07 goals for per 60 minutes

With Lee Stempniak in 186 5v5 minutes — 58.45 CF% / Plus-6 goal differential / Plus-32 shot differential / 2.89 goals for per 60 minutes

With Anders Bjork in 57 5v5 minutes — 59.46 CF% / Plus-3 goal differential / Plus-6 shot differential / 4.18 goals for per 60 minutes

With Danton Heinen in 219 5v5 minutes - 54.52 CF% / Plus-7 goal differential / Plus-18 shot differential / 3.56 goals for per 60 minutes

Connolly, Stempniak, Smith and Eriksson might be long gone, but is it out of the realm of possibility that a combination of Marchand-Bergeron-Heinen could more than hold its own — perhaps even thrive — in a full year together?

It certainly looked pretty effective for extended stretches during the regular season, before Boston eventually pulled the plug in favor of a reunion with Pastrnak in late March.

“Danton Heinen did a good job,” Cassidy said Monday. “I felt at the end of the day could he sustain it every night? Wasn’t convinced. Not saying he could or couldn’t, but that was my decision to put Pasta back there. After that, I don’t know if we tried a whole lot of other guys. At the deadline we had some ideas. Unfortunately, the injury to (Marcus) Johansson, that’s the hand you’re dealt, so he could’ve been a good fit up there too. Going forward, next year I will talk about that.

“I think, geez, we went back to Anders Bjork we thought at a time would be – so, there could be a younger guy that steps up in camp. For me to say right now that this guy is going to go there, I don’t think you do that. You have to let the player earn it and see what they’ve got. So, that’s it, or maybe someone else will surface elsewhere.”

A two-way, defensive forward like Heinen may not generate a highlight reel quite like an offensive dynamo like Pastrnak, but if that new combination can continue to generate a GF/60 rate around 3.00 while relinquishing far fewer chances down the other end of the ice, it certainly sounds like a more than fair trade off.

For as gaudy as Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak’s numbers have been over the years together, the three were surprisingly mortal down the other end of the ice in 2018-19. While that group was out on the ice for 27 goals in favor of the Bruins over 461 minutes of 5v5 TOI, they also were out skating for 24 goals against during that same stretch.

This is the same group that, at one point in 2017-18, did not relinquish a single 5v5 goal for a stretch of over 200 minutes of TOI — generating both a 3.94 GF/60 and a 0.23 GA/60 rate all the way up through January of 2018.

Perhaps it was just a year of regression from 63-37-88 in Boston’s zone, but the fact remains that while Pastrnak could provide a huge lift to Krejci and DeBrusk, Boston could very well not take a hit if a player like Heinen or Bjork hit the ground running if given the opportunity up top.

Bjork remains as a bit of a wild card, especially after undergoing season-ending surgery for the second year in a row on the same shoulder. However, Don Sweeney noted Monday that the 22-year-old winger should be all cleared by September.

“You have players that hopefully will take a step this summer and come, ready, locked and loaded,” Sweeney said. “I mean, shame on any young player who doesn’t recognize that this was a taxing year for some of our players, that they don’t come with their ears pinned back to think, 'Boy,can I take a step here?' ''

Sweeney added that a versatile player like Charlie Coyle could be slotted over to skate on the wing with either Krejci or Bergeron if need be, although that could create a whole new set of problems in the bottom-six if Coyle is given the bump up. For as promising as young pivots like Jack Studnicka and Trent Frederic are, Boston ran into a similar snafu last fall, where prospects like Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson were expected to seize the vacancy left by Riley Nash’s departure. We all know how that went.

Other options are on the table as well. Perhaps the Bruins can clear enough cap space to ink a free agent outside of their own RFAs and UFAs. Maybe a trade involving Torey Krug could bring back a viable winger like Nikolaj Ehlers or Chris Kreider.

But when weighing the potential rewards that come from slotting down Pastrnak with the potential drawbacks (or really, lack thereof) or adding Bjork or Heinen to the top-line mix, the solution seems rather simple.

“I don’t what the right answer is when you lose in Game 7,” Cassidy said of keeping Pastrnak up with Bergeron and Marchand. “Should we have made a decision? I don’t know. I thought we made a lot of good calls this year. Unfortunately, we needed to win one more game. Going forward, to me it always depends okay what are the options. Who’s going to go there and make us the best team?”

Take your pick.