The Bruins face an interesting conundrum when Kevan Miller is cleared to return

What has been a regular sight ahead of Bruins’ practices at Warrior Ice Arena over the past few weeks should give Bruce Cassidy and his staff some added relief. 

They haven’t been cleared for contact, but both Kevan Miller and John Moore both have started to settle into a groove as far as on-ice work goes — with the veteran duo making a habit of taking to the frozen sheet before the rest of their teammates begin their morning session. 

It’s an encouraging step forward for both Miller and Moore, who were expected to miss a significant amount of time to open the 2019-20 season due to multiple knee fractures and major offseason shoulder surgery, respectively. 

Even without Miller and Moore’s contributions in the early going, Boston’s defense hasn’t withered at all to start the new campaign, with the B’s ranking second in the NHL with just 2.11 goals allowed per contest. 

A strong start from both Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak in net has plenty to do with those gaudy numbers — but a deep D corps has also largely held up its end of the bargain, clearing Grade-A chances in front of Rask and Halak on a regular basis. 

Still, even as the likes of Matt Grzelcyk, Connor Clifton and Steven Kampfer have solidified the third pairing and the depth behind it, the Bruins will certainly welcome the contributions from Miller and Moore — and the 832 combined games of NHL experience between them.

Miller, in particular, could add a heavier element to Boston’s blue line, with the veteran’s willingness to drop the gloves and/or an opposing skater on the ice clearly missed during last spring’s grueling slate of playoff hockey. 

There is no set timetable for Miller to be given the green light, given the nature of his injuries and the already sizable depth on Boston’s blue line — but the 31-year-old skater’s return to the ice means that regular practices should be on the horizon. 

"I don't know if it's two (days) on, one off, or what they've got him on," Cassidy said of Miller’s status. "But he's getting closer. Until he's with the team, it's hard to project (a return date). Let's get him with the team, get him in a normal sweater, get some contact and I'll probably have a better timeline of when he can return. So far so good, he's working hard on the drills he's been given."

Miller's return should only help an already strong Bruins' D corps when the time arrives. But when that time comes, the Bruins are going to have a few tough decisions to make.



By the time Miller is cleared to return, one would think that he'd slot back next to Grzelcyk, given their history together. Over the last three seasons, Grzelcyk-Miller have logged 907 minutes of 5v5 TOI together — the fifth-most utilized B's blue-line duo during that stretch of time.

Despite dealing with some heavy minutes against tough competition, the Grzelcyk-Miller have more than held their own — with the Bruins holding a 37-20 edge in 5v5 goals when they have been deployed. While Grzelcyk's breakout abilities have made him one of the most underrated D-men in the league, Miller is also far from a bruiser on the ice — with his possession entries per 60 minutes rate ranking in the 65th percentile of all NHLers over the last three years.

Still, for all of their previous success, keeping Grzelcyk-Miller for the long haul is far from a guarantee, especially with the emergence of Clifton and with youngsters like Urho Vaakanainen in the pipeline.

Clifton elevated his stock in Miller's absence last spring, tallying two goals and five points over 18 playoff games — while his 0.95 goals against per 60 min. rate during the regular season ranked second overall among Bruins skaters.

So far this year, Clifton has appeared in eight of Boston's nine games — but the expected peaks and valleys that come during a sophomore campaign also prompted Cassidy to sit the Quinnipiac product last week against the Ducks in favor of Kampfer.

"I felt Cliff's had good moments and average moments, kind of like Steve," Cassidy said last week of his message to Clifton. "I said, 'You need to continue to grow.' And I think his practice habits weren't good enough either, to be honest with you. He was behind. A little bit of it is, 'Are you taking this for granted? If you are, you shouldn't be.'

"And some of it was rewarding Steve for practicing well and playing well when he's gone into games. We wanted to keep him sharp. It was both sides of it. That was the message to him."

While Clifton will likely remain on the third D pairing for now, one has to wonder if Cassidy might cut down on the 24-year-old skater's starts for the next couple of weeks before Miller is set to return. Boston's D corps might be better with Clifton in the lineup, but the Bruins have to be wary of his overall reps.

Once Miller is back, the case could be made that Boston might opt to send Clifton down to Providence, as it would seem as though Kampfer has solidified his spot as the team's 7th D — while heavy minutes on the AHL is more beneficial to Clifton over spending time up on the ninth floor of TD Garden.

But if Clifton keeps on playing regularly, and Miller's return isn't in the cards until late November or early December, the Bruins could have a major issue when it comes to Clifton's waiver exemption. As currently constituted, Clifton only needs more 15 games of NHL experience before he would need to be exposed to waivers the next time he'd get sent down to Providence.

Based on Clifton's potential and current viability as a regular NHLer, it would seem like a certainty that the defenseman would get scooped up if he was to hit the waiver wire. So what can the Bruins do to prevent such a scenario from happening?

Obviously, getting Miller back up to speed and playing before that 15-game window (Which would be on Nov. 26 against Montreal if Clifton doesn't miss any time) would prevent plenty of headaches for the Bruins, even if opting to send Clifton down to Providence might still be a tough pill to swallow.

One other result could see the Bruins opt to deal Miller — given that he's on the final year of his deal — but one would have to think that any interested team would want to see Miller log a few games before dealing any assets for him.

Miller's return can only help the Bruins when the time comes, but given Clifton's value to the team — both in the short term and long term — the Bruins need to proceed carefully when it comes to keeping the rookie off of the waiver wire.