Upon first glance, Bruins fans may have viewed the addition of Jarred Tinordi as a message sent to Boston’s younger defensemen.
It does, after all, come right after the Bruins were dealt a pair of brutal losses with head coach Bruce Cassidy recently challenging young blue liners like Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Connor Clifton and John Moore.
It prompted Cassidy to be asked if the move should be considered a “wake up call” for those defensemen. Cassidy, though, explained how it was to give the Bruins something they don’t have, not hinder what it does.
“Wake up call? I don’t know. Our depth has been challenged in terms of size,” Cassidy told reporters rather simply. “(Jeremy) Lauzon, (Kevan) Miller bring a lot of that element and with them being out — we don’t know on Miller obviously with Jeremy going to be four weeks minimum from his date of injury — so this gives us a different look back there, little more stout and stiffness. So, it’s just a different element of a make up of a back end.”
Tinordi was placed on waivers by the Nashville Predators on Friday. He’s played seven games this season, but his size at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds is rather noteworthy.
“Now, obviously, if we were more efficient back there, rock solid, then I don’t know if you do that (claim Tinordi), but at the end of the day it is a different element. And to ask some guys to go out and play like the Lauzons, the Millers that aren’t naturally that way, it’s a little more difficult.
“Do they have to be tougher in front of their net or harder, I guess? Yes. Do they need to be cleaner with the puck? Yes. And I think that’s what they need to focus on, not being something they’re not.”
Cassidy further explained how he can envision Tinordi bringing a “stiffness” to the blue line. The Bruins bench boss wouldn’t go as far as to say who the ex-Predator would be paired with, but Cassidy did note how Tinordi’s style of play — like Lauzon — could complement Charlie McAvoy on the top-line pairing.
“I’m not going to say he’s going to go in the first pair because we haven’t seen him yet, but he is that type of defender who could find a lot of usage in our back end right now because we lack that, obviously,” Cassidy said.
Tinordi will not be available when the Bruins take on the New York Rangers on Sunday due to COVID-19 protocols, but his status should be updated within the next few days.
