Bruce Cassidy and the Bruins have a good problem to have when it comes to the glut of NHL talent present near the bottom of Boston's D corps.
Whereas many questions posed to Cassidy during Phase 3 practices have revolved around the club's efforts of shoring up its middle-six forward grouping (a largely fruitless venture, given the absences of David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase), the state of the club's blue line hasn't occupied nearly as much collective headspace for Boston's coaching staff.
In Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy, Boston has a top D pair comprised of a future Hall of Famer (and still damn good defensive force) and a 22-year-old budding star — capable of both snuffing out scoring chances and driving play through the neutral zone and down the other end of the sheet. As mismatched as their skillsets may be, the case could be made that Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo were Boston's most dependable defensive duo during last year's Cup run, with the strides in Carlo's D-zone game complimenting the usual offensive excellence Krug regularly orchestrates with the puck on his stick.
In Matt Grzelcyk, Boston has an analytics ace and versatile weapon on the third pairing — a key cog that would likely log heaps of additional minutes on another team much less fortune than Boston when it comes to defensive depth.
As such, the one question that does loom large for that defensive group— who slots in next to Grzelcyk — has been viewed as more a luxury than hindrance for Cassidy and his crew so far in camp.
“We got eight guys that can play in the league,” the B’s bench boss noted last week.
Much like Grzelcyk, John Moore would likely be the beneficiary of hefty minutes on teams saddled with a much more porous defensive corps. But on this roster, the 29-year-old veteran is likely tabbed as the team's seventh or eighth option out of the gate this postseason — a role he accepted and excelled in last season when pressed into action during the Stanley Cup Final.
Injuries might have derailed Connor Clifton from building off of last year's breakout season, but the 25-year-old defenseman out of Quinnipiac made the most of the NHL's four-month stoppage — with a clean bill of health serving as a green light of sorts for "Cliffy Hockey" to reintroduce the bombastic style of play that made him a playoff staple last spring.
Unlike both Moore and Clifton, Jeremy Lauzon entered Boston's "Return To Play" campaign with no playoff experience on his admittedly brief time up in the NHL ranks. And yet, for all that the Val-d'Or native might lack in terms of years or flash, Lauzon hasn't done little to relinquish his claim as Boston's sixth starting defenseman.
In fact, a quick glance at some of the underlying numbers doesn't just paint the picture of a youngster that shouldn't be on the outside looking in at any starting lineup this postseason — it highlights a defensive force who very well could serve as an X-factor for the Bruins during this unorthodox playoff gauntlet.
Much like his overall style of play, Lauzon's numbers this season — 19 games played, 15:25 average time on ice, one goal, one assist — may not jump off the page. Whereas his D partner in Grzelcyk is often at his best coasting through the neutral zone or operating with the puck along the offensive blue line, Lauzon makes most of his impact in Boston's own zone, using his size, stick and sound hockey IQ to break up scoring bids around Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak.
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So far, that mix of Lauzon's stay-at-home, physical approach and Grzelcyk's quick-moving mentality has allowed Boston's third pairing to morph into a defensive unit that rarely spends much time chasing the puck in its own backyard.
"The biggest thing that stands out to me with him is just his competitive nature," Grzelcyk said of Lauzon, a natural left-shot skater that has filled in seamlessly on the right side this season. "He's a defenseman who likes to close off plays himself and not really rely on his teammates to close off his own battles. He's, for as big a guy he is, an unbelievable skater and it's great. I think that we complement each other really well and he helps me out on the defensive zone with that aggressiveness.
"I think that allows me to also play aggressive and forces me to use my feet. I think that's when I'm at my best, so I know what he's bringing to the table each and every night. And I think that helps a lot in my game as well. So certainly excited to see him make the jump this year and we've relied on him a lot down the stretch, especially with the injuries that we've had so, so couldn't be any happier for Lauzy."
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With Kevan Miller ruled out for the entire season, Clifton spending extended stretches on the shelf and Moore recovering from major offseason surgery, Lauzon played a key role in solidifying the back end of the Bruins' blue-line grouping this season, with his 5v5 expected goals against per 60 minutes rate of 1.8 ranking second among all Bruins defensemen, behind only Grzelcyk's 1.75.
(For Reference: Expected goals account for both shot quantity and quality by factoring in multiple shot factors, including the type of shot, distance from the net, angle, 5v5, power play, penalty kill, etc. As such, a player with a low expected goals against means that opposing teams aren’t generating good looks when he’s out on the ice).
Lauzon’s propensity to throw his weight around, separate player from puck and snuff out scoring chances in Grade-A areas has allowed an already imposing Bruins defense to reach another level of effectiveness — with opposing shot rates continuing to dry up whenever Lauzon hops over the boards.
(For reference on Micah Blake McCurdy’s individual impact charts via Hockey Viz — On the offensive side of things, you’d want to see a player providing positive numbers — with the red blobs signifying where the team is generating a majority of their shots from whenever said player is on the ice. Defensively, negative numbers are a sign that a team is snuffing out opposing scoring chances whenever said player is on the ice. As such, the blue blobs represent where the opposition’s shots aren’t regularly coming from. As you can see above, opposing shot rates all over the Grade-A areas of the ice, like the low slot and crease are shrouded in blue when Lauzon has been on the ice.)
When slotted in next to Grzelcyk, Lauzon has elevated Boston's third D pairing into one of the more effective defensive duos across the league. Among the 217 total D pairings in the NHL that have logged at least 150 minutes of 5v5 time on ice this season, a Grzelcyk + Lauzon pair rank:
1st overall in expected goals against per 60 minutes - 1.41
1st overall in high-danger scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes - 5.54
3rd overall in goals against per 60 minutes - 0.92
7th overall in scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes - 19.71
That's pretty damn effective, especially for a third-pairing on a loaded Bruins roster.
While Cassidy hasn't committed to any lineup decisions through the final stretch of Phase 3, it seems like a forgone conclusion that Lauzon is the man to beat when it comes to locking down that No. 6 spot.
"W have the luxury of putting anybody we want there. ... At the end of the day, we'll play our six best," Cassidy said. "But Lauzy went in there, played right, and gave us an element of size, grit, and some abrasiveness that I thought we were lacking at the time when he went in. So good timing for him and he took advantage of a situation and played to his strengths. So we'd like what he's done. I liked what Jeremy did. So I don't see any reason why if he doesn't keep playing the same way, he can't go in there and stay on that third pair. But let's get through that round robin and see where he's at."
He may not make plenty of highlight reels during those round-robin tuneups. But if these underlying numbers hold steady in Lauzon's favor, the opposition won't have any clips worthy of consideration either, especially when the B's latest defensive stalwart is patrolling the blue line.
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick, Corsica, Corey Sznajder, Sean Tierney and HockeyViz.