Bruins Notebook: Miller returns to practice, Heinen sticking on 2nd line & B’s celebrate Halloween

After returning to the ice at Warrior Ice Arena a couple of weeks ago, Kevan Miller took another big step Thursday in his return from a pair of knee surgeries last spring. 

While still donning a red, non-contact jersey, Miller was able to participate with the rest of the team during Thursday’s practice — an abbreviated session for the B’s given their extended time off this week.

Still, given the severity of his injuries — both a vertical and horizontal fracture to the same kneecap less than two months apart — Miller will be eased into the lineup when the time comes.

"He was good today,” Bruce Cassidy told media at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday. “We'll see how he did. I'm sure he's fine coming out of today's practice. It wasn't contact. Still in a non-contact jersey. I suspect he will join us for practice in a contact jersey sometime next week … He’s progressing well. He looked good out there. But there's still a timeline that he wouldn't be available in the next three games anyway."

The return of Miller — which should come at some point this month, barring any setbacks — will likely cause the Bruins to size up the current state of their D corps, given that Connor Clifton will likely either have to sit out for extended stretches or get sent down to Providence to make room for the veteran blue liner. 

However, Miller’s expected return being sooner rather than later should help Boston avoid one major headache.



If Miller and John Moore’s projected return was pushed back to, let's say, December, there stood a good chance that Clifton would need to be scratched in favor of Steven Kampfer anyway, because Clifton will no longer be exempt from waivers if he plays just 12 more games with Boston. 

(If Clifton played every game going forward, he’d be waivers-exempt after the B’s game against Montreal on November 26.)

But with Miller most likely cleared ahead of that November 26 deadline, it looks like the Bruins could conceivably send down Clifton to the AHL if necessary without much risk. 

Of course, the case can be made that wasting Clifton down in Providence isn’t conducive to his continued growth, given what he’s already showcased up in the NHL ranks. But top-pairing minutes against lesser competition should be preferred over sitting around as a 7th or 8th D with this club.

B’s aren’t stressing second line yet

For now, it looks as though Danton Heinen is going to stay to David Krejci’s right on the B’s second line. Cassidy and his staff may not exactly have a choice when it comes to that personnel move, given Karson Kuhlman’s broken leg and the play of a reworked third line of Charlie Coyle, Anders Bjork and Brett Ritchie. 

“Danton’s been here a while now, so maybe it’ll work out for him,” Cassidy said after Boston’s win over San Jose on Tuesday. “We still need to take a look at Ritchie there too, but I find that Coyle and Ritchie seem to have started to figure each other out a little bit. And I like Bjork’s speed on that side, so, little bit by default almost at the end.”

Heinen’s defensive contributions should provide a big lift to a line with Krejci and Jake DeBrusk, with opponents only managing to tally one 5v5 goal during the 133 minutes of ice time that Heinen has logged so far this year. 

Still, Heinen’s strengths, especially in the offensive zone, are much different from what a power forward in Ritchie brings, as well as the speed that Kuhlman offered that forward configuration.  

But, for all the talk of Krejci’s preference when it comes to finding the right wingers that play to his strengths, Cassidy was quick to note on Thursday that the second-line pivot is focusing much more on his own game than the personnel next to him.

“He’s said to me that some guys have better chemistry, but David, I’m telling you, last year — he was so dialed in, he put it on himself,” Cassidy said. “He said, ‘When I’m on, I’ve got to drive the line.’ 

“I think he had one of his better years in a long time. Clearly that had a lot to do with health, I think he stayed healthy, he was producing, he moved up when Bergy was out. … I think he felt he was contributing more than maybe in the past.”

B’s celebrate Halloween

With the Bruins having a couple of days off before taking on the Senators Saturday night, the team got into the Halloween spirit on Wednesday night with a costume party. As you can see from Zdeno Chara's Instagram post — quite a few went all out with their garb.

 

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Happy Halloween ?

A post shared by Zdeno Chara (@zeechara33) on Oct 30, 2019 at 7:13pm PDT