How do Bruins adjust if Pastrnak, Kase can’t rejoin team in Boston?

An already frantic ramp-up for the Bruins so far in Phase 3 might be getting even more complicated in the coming days — due in large part to the murky status of both David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase. 

If Boston’s top-six forwards are clicking this postseason, there’s a good bet that both Pastrnak and Kase will have a large hand in said production. Pastrnak’s offensive talents are already well-documented, while Kase — acquired from Anaheim back in February — was the shot-first winger Boston hoped would finally put an end to the carousel of wingers that David Krejci has had to sort through.

And yet, while a majority of Boston’s roster has been able to shake off some of the rust at Warrior Ice Arena over the past week, both Pastrnak and Kase have only been given the green light to participate in one of Boston’s eight scheduled practices so far.

That lone session — held last Wednesday — was a small-group skate, with a majority of the B’s regulars sitting out on “maintenance days”. Since that skate, Pastrnak and Kase have been MIA, with Pastrnak’s agent confirming that the star winger has not tested positive for COVID-19, but is in quarantine after coming into contact with someone who did test positive for the virus. 

While the hope was that both wingers would at least be able to rejoin their teammates in Brighton before the club takes off for Toronto on Sunday, Cam Neely said that such sentiment may not play out. 

“It’s hard to say right now,” Neely said via Zoom on when the Bruins will expect Pastrnak and Kase back. “My best guess would be Toronto, but there’s hopes that (they will) before we leave, but my best guess would be Toronto.”

Clearly, this is a major setback for the Bruins and Bruce Cassidy — who are already up against the clock when it comes to tinkering with a forward corps still ripe with question marks beyond the usual production generated by the trio of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Pastrnak. 

So, where exactly do the Bruins go from here?



BSJ Analysis

While Wednesday’s news was disappointing, the writing was on the wall when it came to Pastrnak and Kase’s availability for the remainder of Boston’s on-ice work at Warrior. 

TSN’s Ryan Rishaug noted on Twitter earlier this week that all players are going to need three negative tests spaced 48 hours apart during the seven days prior to travel up to Canada. As such, any positive tests come Wednesday or Thursday could force a few players to remain behind while the rest of the roster heads up to either Toronto or Edmonton. Pastrnak and Kase may not be in quite the same boat, but it’s unknown just how long Pastrnak has to remain in quarantine.

If Pastrnak and Kase have to either join the rest of the team later up in Toronto, both wingers will almost certainly be behind the eight-ball when it comes to getting back up to speed.

Once arriving in Toronto, Boston might only have about three days of regular practice before jumping into its exhibition game against the Blue Jackets on July 30. Just a few days after that, Boston will begin round-robin play with a bout against the Flyers on August 2. 

Even if Pastrnak and Kase are able to skate on Day 1 up in Toronto, that’s not a ton of time for these two to get re-acclimated after more than four months off. 

Now, so long as he’s healthy and cleared by the time games commenced, I’m not too worried about Pastrnak’s ability to provide his usual offensive contributions right away.

Yes, he might be rusty, but even Marchand noted earlier this week that it doesn’t take a ton of time for him and Pastrnak to get back on the same page. Don’t expect that to change during this revamped playoff format. 

“I'm not really looking too much into that out there right now in the practice,” Marchand said of adjusting his game without Pastrnak. “Bergy and myself, it doesn't take long for chemistry to bounce back with us and I feel the same way with Pasta. Even when I'm going down with (Anders Bjork) now and with Bergy now, I think we're kind of looking into the areas where Pasta normally sets up. … That chemistry stuff — when we do our line drills, it comes back very quickly. 

“So right now I'm more honestly worried about my conditioning and not back up to where it needs to be because once we start playing games — it's a completely different ballgame. And yeah, it might take a couple days to get it back with Pasta, but it'll come back very fast and it's really not something that Bergy and I are concerned about.”

You could make the case even that a rusty — but rested — Pastrnak in the first week of August is in a better state than the Pastrnak that Boston had during last year’s Cup run, with a nagging thumb injury robbing the winger of some of the power behind his lethal one-timer. 

But Kase is another case entirely, and one that could cause plenty of headaches for Cassidy and his staff when it comes to plugging in the best players once the playoffs commence. 

On paper, there’s a lot to like about Kase’s game, especially when paired with a playmaking pivot like Krejci. 

Over the previous two seasons, Kase ranked 39th in the NHL (min. 500 minutes played) when it came to individual points per 60 minutes of 5v5 play at 2.23 — leading over players such Jamie Benn (2.22), Phil Kessel (2.22), Mikko Rantanen (2.13) and Vladimir Tarasenko (2.09). 

During that same stretch, Kase ranked ninth overall in terms of individual shots per 60 minutes at 10.54 — ahead of Nathan MacKinnon (10.53), Patrice Bergeron (9.93) and Jack Eichel (9.93).