Boasting a profile of 5-foot-9 and clocking in at 180 pounds, Jack Ahcan may not project the most intimidating presence when out patrolling the blue line.
Of course, in today’s NHL, there are countless other avenues for undersized defensemen to still impact the game — be it transition skills, power-play QB duties, crisp skating to duck and weave past forecheckers, etc.
Ahcan certainly possesses some of those skillsets, no doubt.
It’s one of the reasons why the Bruins scooped up him as an undrafted free agent out of St. Could State. And given Boston’s track record of cultivating similar offensive talent like Torey Krug and Matt Grzelcyk, it made Ahcan’s pick of his pro destination a no-brainer.
But as easy as it might be to paint a player of Ahcan’s profile in broad strokes, he’s more than just an O-zone spark plug on the back end.
Look no further than early in the first period on Saturday night against the Lightning.
While a player like Grzelcyk might be more inclined to use his quick feet and crisp edge work to emerge unscathed against bigger bodies, Ahcan embraced contact when matched up with 6-foot-3, 206-pound Corey Perry — and held his own while scrapping for a puck in the corner.
Jack Ahcan looks hungry for some more NHL ice time: pic.twitter.com/gYIXu7ccNj
— Blake Thorne (@_BlakeThorne) December 5, 2021
It was one of many encouraging plays for Ahcan — who was pressed into service against the Bolts with Charlie McAvoy ruled out due to a non-COVID illness.
Soldiering on without far and away your top blueliner in McAvoy (and a very effective Jakub Zboril) might have spelled disaster against a high-powered offense like Tampa.
And yet, even though Boston only claimed one point in the eventual 3-2 OT loss at TD Garden, Boston’s beleaguered blue line limited the number of chances that the Lightning were able to generate — with Tampa generating just 1.67 expected goals at 5v5 play.
And even though Saturday marked just the fourth NHL game of Ahcan's career — and first game overall since Nov. 27 due to a COVID outbreak in Providence — the 24-year-old defenseman sure didn’t look out of place in his call-up assignment.
“I felt good,” Ahcan said Monday at Warrior Ice Arena. “I just try to keep it simple at the start. Had been a while since I skated or been up with the Bruins. Like I said, just keep it simple — move pucks up and down the ice and I felt good out there.”
Ahcan has the willingness and the snarl to engage larger skaters — similar in some ways to a Krug — but his bread and butter is still found down the other end of the ice.
And when Ahcan was out on the ice Saturday, the puck rarely left the offensive zone.
Now, granted, the Bruins handed Ahcan and his fellow D partner in Derek Forbort zero D-zone faceoffs in their 8:24 together. Given Ahcan’s lack of experience and his potential challenges of playing on the right side, the rationale was there for Ahcan to receive a lot of favorable starts. Still, even though a healthy portion of O-zone reps can sometimes inflate some puck-possession metrics, Ahcan’s numbers were cheat-code worthy.
In total, during the 14:58 of 5v5 ice time that Ahcan logged against Tampa Bay, the Bruins held commanding leads in:
Shot attempts: 31-5 (!)
Shots on goal: 18-3
Scoring chances: 16-2
High-danger scoring chances: 7-1
That’s silly.
Of course, if McAvoy returns to the lineup on Wednesday against the Canucks and the B’s don’t lose another defenseman to illness between now and then, it remains to be seen where Ahcan factors into the B’s depth chart on this road trip through Western Canada.
It could come down to a call between him and Connor Clifton on the third D pairing — with Ahcan once again slotted over to the right side. Regardless of where he fits in, the Bruins have to be pleased that they have another useful asset at their disposal on the blue line, especially after Ahcan hit some bumps in the road during his first crash course against NHL competition last spring.
He may not be the biggest body out there, but Ahcan has the tools to be an effective everyday NHLer in due time.
"He played more to his identity as a player,” Joe Sacco said of Ahcan. “I think that we talked with Jack before about what he needed to do and it was playing his game. He's a guy that transitions the puck well, he can jump up in the play at the right time and try to create some offense for us off the rush, on our attacks and also be good at the offensive blue line. That's another area that we felt that he could help us in.
"I thought he did a good job. And again, the biggest thing we were looking for him was to be a responsible player in his own end and he did it. He did a good job. He was competitive, didn't seem out of place last game against a good hockey club, so it was a good game for Jack. Since his recall, he looked like he was more comfortable last game.”
Other Notes:
The Bruins originally planned to fly out to Vancouver on Monday afternoon, but the team pushed back their departure to Tuesday — given the number of players currently on the shelf due to non-COVID illness.
Charlie Coyle, Matt Grzelcyk, Tomas Nosek and Linus Ullmark all missed practice on Monday due to the undisclosed ailment, which sidelined McAvoy on Saturday. Both Ullmark and McAvoy returned on Tuesday, while Coyle and Grzelcyk will travel with the club. Nosek will not travel.
Anton Blidh skated without any restrictions in a regular practice sweater on Tuesday, while Jakub Zboril will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
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Patrice Bergeron did not skate on Monday, but it was a maintenance day in order to deal with a broken nose that he suffered last Thursday against the Predators. He will need to wear a protective shield for the next few weeks.
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Bruce Cassidy remains in COVID protocol and will not join the Bruins for their flight on Tuesday. It remains to be seen when he will get the green light to return to Boston's bench.
"I spoke with Butch this morning and right now he's feeling better,” Sacco said. “So it's just a matter of going through the protocol. But fortunately his symptoms have dissipated and he's feeling better. … He's not coming with us originally and I'm not sure if he's an option during the trip. I don't know that. He could be, but originally he wasn't scheduled to come with us today. That's more of a day-by-day scenario right now.”
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Along with Ahcan, John Moore was also called up from Providence and will serve as added insurance on Boston’s blue line, especially with this non-COVID illness hovering about.
Ahcan was quick to praise Moore for the veteran’s influence as a veteran anchor on an AHL D corps down in Providence.
"He definitely brought a spark down to Providence with us," said Ahcan. "We were kind of down in the dumps, not the best start down there and he came in with a great attitude. Always learning from someone like him, staying on the ice after with him, practicing with him, seeing the way he kind of just approaches everyday life at the rink is pretty awesome to see. He rubs off on a lot of guys."