The Boston Bruins might have to start exercising even more of their contingency plans.
Already down third-pairing defenseman Matt Grzelcyk due to a concussion suffered in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, Zdeno Chara’s status for Game 5 (and beyond) now is up in the air.
During the second period of the B’s 4-2 Game 4 loss to the St. Louis Blues, Chara took a shot off the face, causing him to bleed quite a bit. He later returned to the bench in the third period, but did not take a single shift, for reasons head coach Bruce Cassidy later explained.
Cassidy also indicated that Chara’s status for Game 5 is uncertain, but listed four possible names to replace the captain should he be unable to go.
“(Steven) Kampfer, or we have (Urho) Vaakanainen, (Jeremy) Lauzon and (Jakub) Zboril. That’d be the route we’d go,” Cassidy told reporters, via a CLNS Media Live Stream. “We’d have to look at Kampfer, obviously, first. He’s been the one playing for us in the playoffs, but (Chara) is another left stick, so we may measure that as well.”
While Kampfer does make the most sense from an experience standpoint, there is the obviously drawback that he is a right shot, while Chara is left. Grzelcyk also is a left-shot, and he was replaced by John Moore, who’s looked good so far.
There’s a combined 20 games of NHL experience between the other three, 16 of which belong to Lauzon. Judging by the fact that Cassidy had Vaakanainen travel with the team to St. Louis, he seems to be the most likely replacement of the three Black Aces options.
Playing a guy on his off hand isn’t ideal, but it’s not an insurmountable problem. Kampfer has looked fine when called upon this postseason, so going with him instead of a player that comes with a lot more uncertainty might be the smartest bet.
