The Bruins’ blue line is beginning to get crowded.
With Brandon Carlo deemed match and able to go for Tuesday’s tilt in opposition to the Dallas Stars after sitting out per week and half with a concussion, Jakub Zboril was the odd-man out on Tuesday.
It was the primary scratch of the 12 months for Zboril, who was plus-1 with no factors and 4 photographs on web in six video games. He’s been averaging 15:33 of icetime a sport and has a Corsi score of 58.3% whereas seeing primarily offensive zone begins (over 70%).
Considering the numbers state of affairs in addition to the truth that the participant is getting back from reconstructive knee surgical procedure, Zboril needing to take a seat appeared virtually inevitable in some unspecified time in the future.
“I spoke with him this morning and we’re getting healthy on the back end. And we we need to get people in the lineup and people are going to have to move out,” stated Montgomery on Tuesday morning. “Zboril’s been good. There are areas in his game where we want him to be more assertive in and we’ve talked to him about that. We need to see him apply that in our practices to get back in the lineup. He knows that. He’s coming off knee surgery. There’s going to be growing pains with that. Not right away is he going to be a confident NHL player to be able to play night in, night out for us. We expected that. But we expect him to be a big part of the Bruins through the course of the season. For his personal growth, there’s a huge space there I think he can attain.”
Montgomery desires to see extra assertiveness from Zboril each within the offensive and defensive zones.
“We do drills in practice to allow players to have the opportunity to do that,” stated Montgomery. “Right now, we’re in (three games in four nights). He’s going to get back in. We’re shuffling bodies in and out just to get fresh legs and keep everybody involved. But we’re going to have a practice (Wednesday) and then there’s another practice coming before we go on the road (next week). Those are the opportunities. I think practice is important. I’ve always believed that and I love the way our team practices here. There’s a great culture here where players look to get better in practice.”
Zboril, the B’s first of three first spherical picks within the 2015 draft (thirteenth general), was an early star of coaching camp. At one level, Montgomery stated he was among the many B’s prime 5 gamers in camp. But he did stage off.
“I think he started off so well in camp because he was excited to show everybody the great work that he’s done and he was excited to play,” stated Montgomery. “And there are a lot of veteran NHL players when they come back to camp, they’re not excited for exhibition games. It’s why they probably only play two. And where it comes from is just not being sharp, being in a game rhythm because of the season-ending surgery. There’s always growing pains through that, for every player. We’re probably going to see it – I hope not so much – with (Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy) when they come back.”
Meanwhile, Montgomery stated that there can be no limitations on Carlo, who has suffered from a number of concussions.
“He’s full-go. (Monday) was a pretty rigorous practice and he felt great today. So he’s a good hockey player. We need him in our lineup. It makes us better,” stated Montgomery.
Meanwhile, Anton Stralman can also be nonetheless trying to get within the lineup after clearing up his work visa final week…
Montgomery additionally put A.J. Greer again within the lineup after he sat out one sport and Jakub Lauko got here out. Stay within the lineup, and deservedly so, was veteran Craig Smith. The proper wing had been scratched for 2 video games earlier than returning to the lineup for final Saturday’s sport in opposition to Minnesota, throughout which he picked up an help and was far more noticeable.
“It shows what a great pro he is,” stated Montgomery. “That’s adversity, and it’s early in the year. I remember meeting together with him face to face and I was like ‘I didn’t expect for us to be here.’ and He said ‘Neither did I.’ And we were open and honest with each other. I said ‘I don’t expect you to come out again, but it’s upon you.’ And I thought he was terrific last game.”….
Montgomery sees former Bruins Tyler Seguin, whom he coached in Dallas, as returning to kind after hip surgical procedure that restricted him to 3 video games in 2020-21. He conceded not too long ago that he contemplated retirement due to the difficulties of the rehabilitation course of.
He managed simply 49 factors in 81 video games final season, however within the six video games going into Tuesday’s on the Garden, he had 2-4-6 totals.
“I think Tyler’s been set back with some serious injuries in the past three years. And I think he’s really healthy this year and I think that’s why his game is back to where it’s always been, when he’s healthy. He’s an elite player in this league,” stated Montgomery.
Source: www.bostonherald.com