If the Boston Bruins really wanted to add an extra defenseman, they could’ve.
With rosters due by 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, teams have been gutting their training camp rosters, with heaps of players getting put on waivers over the last few days as a result.
In theory, the left side of the defense is the biggest area of concern for the Bruins entering the season, as they let Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug walk so they could give some of their youngsters a try.
And when serviceable blueliners hit the wire –Christian Djoos, Luke Schenn, Oliver Kylington and Luca Sbisa among them — the Bruins said no thanks.
“Well we certainly looked at every player that was on the waiver wire and discussed at length with the staff as well as our coaches in the last 24 hours,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Tuesday over Zoom. “But our group for now — knock on wood — is healthy, made some progression, and we just felt that rather than muddy that water if there wasn’t a clear advantage to adding a player — again, if we weren’t healthy I probably would’ve been a little more aggressive and possibly looked for a little more depth. But for where we sit right now I think we’re comfortable to move forward with our opening day roster.”
Sweeney’s line of thinking obviously makes sense. The Bruins are better off giving Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon and Urho Vaakanainen a long look instead of going after a player on the wire whos ceiling is more capped and the organization hasn’t invested in over the long haul.
And with John Moore already likely to be healthy scratched, as well as Connor Clifton (plus with Steven Kampfer potentially on the taxi squad) the Bruins didn’t need to compromise a roster spot for someone who was not an obvious upgrade.
