Bruce Cassidy paints a picture of what Bruins' D corps might look like without Zdeno Chara in 2021

Barring a surprise trade — or a dramatic offer-sheet scenario — it would appear as though Don Sweeney and the Bruins are done perusing what has been a stagnant free-agent and trade market this fall.

Of course, there's still plenty of internal moves remaining on Boston's offseason checklist, headlined by the fate of restricted free agent Jake DeBrusk. But on the blue line — which remains B's primary question mark entering the 2021 campaign — the status of Zdeno Chara and whether or not Boston's captain dons a black and gold sweater for a 15th season continues to loom large over a roster suddenly asking a lot out of green group of D-men.

Chara stated his desire to return to Boston shortly after the B's were bounced out of the Toronto bubble, but since then it's primarily been radio silence between all parties. Granted, the veteran defenseman could be waiting until more concrete details are established about what players can expect in a drastically altered 2020-21 season. But there also stands a viable chance that Chara — whether it be via retirement or potentially free agency — is no longer anchoring Boston's D corps this winter.

As hard as it might be to envision a Bruins club without the future Hall of Famer patrolling the blue line, it is a scenario that Bruce Cassidy has accepted that could become reality in 2021. And with a tentative starting date of Jan. 1 still circled by the league as the start of this new season, the work is already underway in terms of assembling a reshuffling D corps if Chara does indeed depart.



Speaking on NHL Network Wednesday, Cassidy noted that Boston does have options if Chara retires/signs elsewhere, with Jeremy Lauzon standing as a logical candidate for a bump in minutes.

"Well, it has — because there's been conversations that he may not be back," Cassidy said when asked if he's thought about Chara not playing with Boston moving forward. "Ultimately those decisions are made by management. Obviously, coaches have input. But for me, the part of it that's a little bit impersonal is they're always preparing for who is in the lineup.

"So we're looking at it — if Zee's not in, could Lauzon go in and do the job and Jeremy played hard this year. He's a bigger body — he's bigger than people think. He's about 215 pounds, he plays hard. He's not 6-9, but he's a big guy. And he can do some of the things that Zee brings to the table in terms of shutting down good players, playing hard against good players. He's got some work to do on the penalty kill, obviously, to get to where Zee's at. But that's another area that we feel he can help us."

Although Lauzon had a bit of a shaky showing during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs up in the bubble, the 23-year-old defenseman was arguably Boston's most pleasant surprise in 2019-20 — shoring up the club's third defensive pairing after getting called up to the NHL ranks at the end of January. He may not be flashy, but Lauzon has the size and defensive instincts to be a steady, stay-at-home presence at this level — ranking second among B's defensemen last season (min. 250 minutes of 5v5 play) with a goals against per 60 minutes rate of 1.67.



(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 seen above, opponents are generating more in terms of excess shots around Grade-A ice when Lauzon is on the bench. When he’s out on a shift? There’s a whole lot of blue out there. )

Lauzon very well could be the logical pick to skate next to another steady blueliner in Brandon Carlo as a shutdown second pairing, even if the two skaters only logged 6:18 of ice time together in 2019-20.

Of course, there are plenty of other options Boston can turn to on defense, whether it other younger skaters such as Jakub Zboril and Urho Vaakanainen or veterans like John Moore and Kevan Miller, although health remains a question mark for the latter.

As polarizing as Chara might be to some fans, given his struggles against faster opponents and the evident erosion of his skills (far from a revelation for a 43-year-old defenseman), the veteran should still bring value to this club on a cheap contract, especially if asked to serve in a lesser role moving forward.

But if Chara is either hanging up his skates or playing elsewhere in 2021, Cassidy and his staff do have a number of intriguing options to explore — and a slew of new responsibilities to hand off to the next generation of B's blueliners.

"You have some of the young guys we picked a few years ago, Vaakanainen and Zboril, both first-round picks, Lauzon was a second," Cassidy said. "So a little bit of that circle of life situation where you draft and develop and they've had good years down in Providence. We may have to find out if they are ready to play or not. And we've done that with other players here obviously. (Charlie) McAvoy was a little more accelerated, but Carlo went through it, we went through it with (Matt) Grzelcyk. So that's something we're looking at.

"And we feel Kevan Miller, he's skating, is back to being healthy. He's got to play games to prove that his body can get through it, but he brings some of that big-brother (mentality) and bite that, if Zee weren't to be here, can make up for some of that. So that's what we're looking at on the back end. And again, maybe it's an opportunity for other guys to step up in the leadership department — like a Carlo, like a McAvoy, like a Grzelcyk, that have been here for a few years. And maybe that sort of that influences their game as well and they become a little more consistent very night. So that's the upside of it. The downside is Zee's a Hall of Famer."