WILMINGTON, Mass. — The hallmark of any winning organization is quality depth.
That includes depth at the AHL level, so when an important NHL player is injured and out of the lineup, a young player is able to step in, contribute and not take too long to adjust to the increased speed and physicality of the top level.
Good depth in Providence is one reason why the Boston Bruins have been able to win six of their last eight games despite missing defensemen Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug and Kevan Miller to injuries for most of that span.
Joe Morrow, Zach Trotman and David Warsofsky were called up from the P-Bruins over the last two weeks to help replace these injured defensemen, as well as the struggling Matt Bartkowski. The early results from these young defensemen are encouraging — they are well-positioned in the defensive zone, not making too many awful mistakes in vulnerable areas and are contributing offensively.
In fact, all three of them rank inside the top 10 in average ice time among rookie defensemen. Even though the sample size is small, all of them have been excellent puck-possession players, as the corsi-for percentages in the chart below explain.
Trotman and Warsofsky’s solid possession numbers are even more impressive when you consider the three forwards on the ice for most of their even-strength shifts are Daniel Paille, Simon Gagne and Gregory Campbell — the three B’s forwards with the worst corsi-for percentage during 5-on-5 play.
| Player | TOI/G (NHL Rank) | GP | PTS | SOG | CF% (Team Rank among D-Men) |
| Zach Trotman | 14:25 (10th) | 5 | 2 | 9 | 58.88 (2nd) |
| David Warsofsky | 18:39 (4th) | 3 | 0 | 4 | 56.79 (4th) |
| Joe Morrow | 17:29 (7th) | 3 | 0 | 8 | 60.98 (1st) |
Morrow, in particular, is an intriguing prospect. The former first-round draft pick played a career-high 18:05 of ice time in Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers and led B’s defensemen with four shots on goal.
“He’s very coachable,” Julien said of Morrow. “I like the fact he’s confident. You don’t like seeing a player who’s afraid to make a mistake. You’d rather see a player go out there and play. Most of the time he’s making good decisions. I think he’s got a pretty good first pass, which is a quality you need in a defenseman. … His shot is a good shot, he’s got a quick release. He’s not standing there afraid to make a play or a pass, depending on who’s out there with him. He doesn’t care. He’ll do what he thinks is the right play at the time.”
To this point, Morrow isn’t being sheltered — he’s starting just 45.83 percent of his even-strength shifts in the attacking zone. Again, the sample size is small, but he’s not in awe of playing against quality competition despite having just three games of NHL experience.
Morrow, similar to Warosfsky and Trotman, has arrived to the NHL unafraid to fail. It’s an important attribute for young defensemen at the NHL level, especially for guys playing more than 15 minutes per game.
“(Morrow is) a guy that has a lot of confidence in himself and doesn’t get rattled,” Julien said. “That’s a pretty good quality to have. Some guys get rattled and the tougher it gets, the worse they get. He doesn’t seem to get fazed by much. That’s a good thing to have as a player.”
These three defensemen won’t be in Boston for the entire regular season because Chara, Krug and Miller should all return to the lineup at some point. So far, they have made management’s decision on who to send to Providence a difficult one, and that’s a good problem for the Bruins.
