A beleaguered Bruins D corps has received a major lift with its 'big brother' back on the ice

There isn't a whole lot of flash to Kevan Miller's game when the veteran blueliner is out on a shift.

Nor will a glimpse into the underlying metrics paint the picture of a player that projects beyond the rugged, stay-at-home presence that Miller has cultivated for years since carving out a regular role on this Bruins' D corps.

But if you ask Bruce Cassidy and the Bruins, there are few graphs or stats that can accurately chart just what kind of lift the Original Six franchise receives whenever the 33-year-old skater is both patrolling the blue line and holding court in the B's locker room.

As abstract as "intangibles" can be when it comes to factoring in a player's impact both on and off the ice, Miller stands as Exhibit A in any counterargument to such sentiment — with a sterling 12-3-2 record with Miller in the B's lineup serving as a primed retort for Cassidy when it comes to assessing just what kind of a boost Boston's young D corps gains when the veteran is given the green light to play.



Given the state of Boston's defense over the last few weeks, Miller's return from a six-week layoff due to a setback with his surgically repaired knee couldn't have come at a more crucial time. Not only because his size and snarl is welcomed on a grouping without their top player in Charlie McAvoy and primary shutdown option in Brandon Carlo, but because of the domino effect that Miller tends to create when it comes to energizing a younger group of blueliners. Such was the case in years past with Matt Grzelcyk serving as his D partner on Boston's third pairing, and that trend has continued in 2021 with other youngsters like Jeremy Lauzon and Jakub Zboril looking to carve out regular roles.

"Well off the ice, he's a good voice in the locker room. Coaches can't be continually in there. I mean, we have our purpose and we certainly have our routine and when we feel we need to go in there and address certain things but there's a certain amount of — players just need to relax and take a deep breath and that's where having an older guy in there to sort of communicate some simple basic talking points, so to speak, can really help," Cassidy said of Miller's impact. "You lose Carlo in that regard and Miller, makes it a little tougher. I mean Tinordi has been around, but hasn't been here that long. So he's working on his own game and the other kids — Charlie, Grizz, yeah, certainly some of that will fall on to them but by the same token, they play a lot of minutes so they're probably in getting treatment or taking care of whatever needs to be taken care of, so they don't have a lot of time to look after the group between periods as well.

"So we missed that part of it with Kevan and then on the ice —the Big Brother. I've said this, he was a big part of why him and Zboril were a good pair. Jakub moves the puck well, but if Jakub has a bad shift or two when Kevan was there, I think he could reset him better than most. Get him back focused on 'Okay, we're still going to be the best pair tonight, hardest to play against. Just because we had one bad shift — it's not going to get away from us.' Whatever the message may be. And then his on-ice play, big brother. You saw it against Miles Wood earlier this year, he bumped into Tuukka — sort of settle that down in a hurry, gives you an element of physicality, shots suppression on the PK. I think we all know what his skill set is on the ice. But his effect on his partner has been good for us over the years. It started with Matt Grzelcyk and it's bled into Zboril, so it's the other reason that, knock on wood he can get through this stretch and stay healthy for us."

In a perfect situation moving forward, Miller won't need to log the amount of minutes forced upon him over the previous two games — with the veteran recording close to 48 minutes of total ice time on Tuesday and Thursday against the Flyers and Capitals with both McAvoy and Carlo still out. But as a third-pairing option, Miller still seems to have plenty left in the tank, so long as his knee cooperates. His effectiveness was evident during Thursday's win over the Caps, in which Miller landed five hits against Washington while also recording five blocks in an effort to keep Grade-A looks away from Jeremy Swayman in net.

Again, nothing too flashy — but on a Bruins D corps in need of stingy, hard-nosed play, Miller has supplemented plenty of what has been missing for this club during his lengthy time off the ice.

"He shows up and you know what you're gonna get from him," McAvoy said of Miller earlier this season. "We're all so happy to have him back. ... He's so steady, goes out and defends hard. He's strong. He's a leader by example and just having him back has really meant a lot to the team. He's just another one of those guys that comes to the rink every day and you're really happy to see and he just has that presence about him. It's pretty contagious. He's meant so much to us and having him back and seeing him just play great hockey, and help our team every single night has been so awesome."

Of course, even with his return to the ice, it's far from a guarantee that Miller's ravaged knee will completely cooperate, especially once the schedule ramps up even further going into the postseason. As such, the plan, for the time being, is for both player and team to take extra caution when it comes to Miller's workload, with the veteran opting to take maintenance days off the ice and potentially sitting out on the second leg of back-to-back slates.

Given how painful it was to sit out of NHL action for 651 days, even missing out on practices and taking a night off due to "load management" isn't something that Miller is too receptive to, even if he accepts the bigger picture when it comes to such a move.

Because, with a grueling slate of playoff hockey on the horizon and plenty of youngsters poised to take an uncertain leap into high-stakes contests, having a "big brother" in the room could go a long way for this evolving B's defense.

"I think we have a pretty good plan," said Miller of his plan moving forward. "I don't know back-to-back-wise how we'll do it, especially initially, just to make sure everything's good. Then going forward it's going to be fluid. I'm going to do my best to play my best and be in every game that I can. There will be days that' I'll take and just try to manage that load and then make sure that things are staying in a good spot. We'll just manage it a little more and be careful."