Who has the most coveted on-ice skill on the Bruins? There's far from a consensus in the locker room

In a sport as specialized and skilled as hockey, even the most talented NHLers often have to compartmentalize their style of play in order to carve out an established role in such a competitive league.

Some rely on their size and strength to punch their ticket up to "The Show". Others put themselves on the map by way of a pro release and accurate, heavy shot. On-ice vision. Elite skating. You name it. 

While plenty of the elite players in the NHL have often mastered various aspects of the game, you'd be hard-pressed to find a pro that doesn't wish that they could add other skills to their on-ice repertoire. Some of it is physical, other is mental — as Bruce Cassidy noted earlier this month.

"I’ve always said, one man’s opinion — the two most difficult things to coach are hockey IQ and courage," he said. "They’re inside or they’re not. ... Everybody has different things they check off as a player. Biggest assets, to me - hockey IQ is right at — if it's not No. 1 — then skating is, but it's certainly No. 2. I just believe that more players you have that have that, the more you can move people around and adjust to some different things and they can react on the ice without it having to be structured.

"Let's face it, the game is fast. It's fluid. You've got guys switching, there's different things going on. Guys with hockey IQ that makes those reads, quick reads, tend to break up a lot of the plays that way or make plays the other way. I value it a lot."

 Hockey IQ — perhaps exemplified by a cerebral two-way pivot like Patrice Bergeron  —was referenced by multiple Bruins players when BostonSportsJournal.com asked  —which on-ice skill from a teammate would they want to incorporate into their game?

But, as expected, it was far from the consensus:

Charlie Coyle — Forward

"I would say — I'm trying to think, because there's a lot of good ones here. I'd have to pick someone's skating. It's hard, because like you kind of feel like — Grizz (Matt Grzelcyk) comes to mind right off the bat because he's such a great skater. So smooth. He's a smaller guy though. But if I had, I mean Jake (DeBrusk) has got that speed. (Anders) Bjork's got that speed. So I think any just better overall skating from one of those guys, I think that'd be huge. Because that's, I mean you gotta skate to play, but especially as this game kind of goes on and on — it's all about skating and speed and quickness and those are things that I've constantly got to work on it. And so if I had that right off the bat, then that would be awesome.”



(Grzelcyk uses his speed to shield the puck from the first man in for the Ducks and pushes the biscuit back out into the neutral zone, starting a rush down the other end of the ice.)



(Bjork uses his wheels to create something out of nothing on a rush along the boards against Chicago during the preseason).

Jake DeBrusk — Forward 



“That’s a good question. Jokingly, I’d say Zee's (Zdeno Chara) slap shot. If I had that, I think I’d get 45 goals.  But honestly, I’d probably go with Bergy’s hockey sense. That whole line, and there’s different players that you can take different things from — like Krech's (David Krejci) vision, but I’d say Bergy’s hockey sense. It’s just that he’s always in the right place, right time, it usually seems like. I feel like that helps your game out a lot, when you’re positionally sound like that.”



(Chara blasts one past Martin Jones of the Sharks back on Feb. 18, 2019.)

Charlie McAvoy - Defenseman

“That’s a really good question. It’s hard, because there’s so many guys that possess so many things. Like, would you want Zee’s size or stick? I mean, Torey (Krug's) offensive instincts are great. I mean, I can just compliment so many guys with all of the things that they’re really good at. It’s hard to particularly say one thing that I would want.

“With puck possession, I think we have a lot of guys that are great with that. Like Marchy’s (Brad Marchand) puck possession, Charlie Coyle’s puck possession — because when they have it, they just don’t give it up. They can possess it and can make those moves. .. I think I’m trying to grab a little bit of everybody, that’s what I’m trying to do.”



(Coyle refuses to cough up the puck on an O-zone shift against the Golden Knights back on Oct. 8, 2019).

Brandon Carlo - Defenseman

“I don’t think there’s any specific player, but there’s a couple of guys — Torey, Marchy, Bergy, Pasta (David Pastrnak). Just the way that those guys can see the ice, the plays that they make. You don’t even expect them at times to make the pass that they’re going to make. It catches you off guard in a way. Sometimes the guy receiving the pass doesn’t even know it’s coming. Just to have that vision around the ice, it would be really nice to have.”



(Over his last six full seasons in the NHL, Krug has racked up 228 assists).

Danton Heinen - Forward

“I think it probably would be — either Jake’s speed or Bergy’s stick. Just, I mean, you see the guys around the league with the speed and all of the best players — a lot of them can fly. That would probably help you slow down the game a bit and make the game just feel a lot slower. And then with Bergy’s stick — he’s just always in the right spot, he threads passes so well too. I’d say either one of those two.”



(DeBrusk exits the penalty box and uses his speed to skate in on a breakaway and score against the Islanders on March 19, 2019.)

Chris Wagner - Forward

"I'd probably say just Marchy's overall — like he can protect the puck well, but he can also go through people, too. I guess his whole puck-handling ability, I'd probably go with that. The fact that he is kind of a little guy, but it's his whole motor. He doesn't get tired with the puck ever and he's always pretty calm and collected with it as well. By doing that, he allows himself to make that extra, little play or wear some other guys out. 



(Marchand with a game of "keep away" while on a PK shift against the Devils back on Oct. 12, 2019).

Matt Grzelcyk - Defenseman

“I would say, maybe Marchy’s one-on-one ability and puck battle. I think that’s something that I’ve always admired about him. He’s obviously not the biggest guy, but he’s so strong on the puck and he can hurt you in so many different ways — whether it’s with skill or tenacity on the puck and that’s not a trait that everyone has, for sure. That just comes down to hard work and out-competing the guy next to you. There’s obviously quite a few skills that you’d want to take from someone, but I think, especially being kind of a guy with a similar stature — that can definitely be beneficial to my game.”



(Marchand avoids a pair of Pittsburgh skaters while operating the puck up on the blue line — eventually feeding Krug for a tally against Pittsburgh back on Nov. 4, 2019).

Torey Krug - Defenseman 

"Probably Bergy's positioning. Even when he's not trying to bat down a pass or not trying to deflect a pass, it will just hit him because he's in the right spot at the right time. That's probably what I'd take, especially as a defenseman — I think it would go a long way.

"I don't think hockey sense is necessarily god-given. Our talents are, for sure. But guys like that work on it and it's just that you have it over the years and you it's about having great knowledge and a great IQ — being in the right place at the right time. It certainly didn't happen overnight. I think now, when it happens, he's in the right spot and the puck just finds him. That's because he's just worked on it over the years."



(Bergeron puts himself in perfect position for a deflection off of a blast from Krug against the Senators).

Sean Kuraly - Forward

“I would take — I gotta give you, two. I’d either take Marchy’s cutbacks and puck protection — just how he gets inside guys and keeps the puck away from their sticks. Or I’d take Pasta’ finish — just his ability to score goals. (Marchand) uses his size as an advantage, because he can get inside of guys a little easier than the bigger guys. He honestly just turns what some would call a disadvantage into an advantage.”



(Pastrnak, who has averaged 35.6 goals per season over the last three years, is on pace for 70 tallies in the 2019-20 campaign.)