The Boston Bruins have to continue the next-man-up approach on defense, and it appears Tyler Lewington is the next man up.
Jakub Zboril is done for the season, while Derek Forbort and Connor Clifton are in the COVID-19 protocol. That resulted in Lewington getting added to the taxi squad Wednesday, but with John Moore getting hurt in the win over the Montreal Canadiens, the 27-year-old Lewington will be thrust into action Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Here are five things to know about Lewington.
He's a true stay-at-home defenseman
Lewington is a stay-at-home defenseman in every sense of the term. He'll get a little involved in the offense, but don't expect him to join the rush often or quarterback a power-play unit. His focus largely has been to use his size to defend the front of the net and work guys off the puck deep in the zone. He's often spent his time in the AHL this season on a pairing with Jack Ahcan, who is a gifted puck-mover. Lewington has proven he can supplement that type of player in the offensive zone, and he'll be with Urho Vaakanainen to start against the Flyers.
He has a little bit of NHL experience
The last-second plug-and-play role is a job Lewington is familiar with. He has 10 NHL games to his name, eight with the Washington Capitals and two with the Nashville Predators. While yet to become a full-time NHL player, Lewington is a good stopgap player for situations like these. You need those guys.
He fights with some regularity, and has scrapped with a few past and present Bruins
Take a gander at Lewington's HockeyFights page, and it is well-populated. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Lewington is a seasoned scrapper, whose fight card includes bouts with Trent Frederic, Zach Senyshyn, Tyler Randall and Matt Beleskey, among plenty of others. Last season, a similar player to Lewington, Jarred Tinordi, ended up fighting Tom Wilson in one of his first games with Boston after the nasty Tom Wilson hit on Brandon Carlo.
He didn't play a whole lot last season, but wasn't injured
The NHL established taxi squads for the 2020-21 season, and Lewington was the perfect candidate for a spot on the Predators' as an established player with a little bit of NHL experience. That's exactly the role he served, playing in just three AHL games with the Chicago Wolves and two with the Nashville Predators all season.
He was picked in a surprisingly successful 2013 seventh round of the draft
It's not often that seventh-round picks become NHL mainstays -- let alone make it to the top flight for a single game. But Lewington has the distinction of being a final-round player who made it to the NHL, having been selected in the seventh round (204th overall) in 2013. That 2013 seventh round produced some productive NHLers, including MacKenzie Weegar, Andreas Johnsson and Dominik Kubalik.
