Blue-Line X-Factor: Which Defenseman Will Have Breakout Season For Bruins?

The Boston Bruins may have a lot of questions up front, but two positions the Black and Gold have plenty of depth are goaltending and defense.

With Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman holding it down between the pipes, the Bruins will only have to question who starts on any given night as the tandem pushes each other to excellence and hopefully more hugs.

The Bruins also retained the majority of their defensive core with Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Matt Grzelyck, Derek Forbort and Jakub Zboril all returning for Boston’s centennial season.

The B’s also added veteran Kevin Shattenkirk on the first day of NHL free agency to bolster the blue line. Mason Lohrei, meanwhile, is hungry to make the opening night roster instead of spending another season in Providence playing for the Bruins AHL affiliate.

So which defenseman needs to have a breakout campaign this season?

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In two seasons with Boston, Forbort solidified himself as one of the Bruins’ best penalty killers but missed a significant amount of time last season due to injuries.

While Forbort used his 6-foot-4, 208-pound body to lay thunderous hits (133 in 2021-22, 106 in 2022-23) and sacrificed that same body blocking shots (100 in 2021-22, 88 in 2022-23) it’s the number of turnovers that could cause Forbort to spend some time on the ninth floor watching the games as a healthy scratch instead of helping his teammates on the ice.

In the Bruins’ historic 65-win season, Forbort had 24 turnovers and only 14 takeaways in 54 games. The season prior, he also had more giveaways (32) compared to forced turnovers (15). As a defenseman, Forbort will need to tighten up those numbers especially since Boston lost arguably the best two-way center in NHL history – Patrice Bergeron – to retirement.

What Forbort has on his side: the confidence of Jim Montgomery.

Boston’s head coach told reporters after Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs why he has faith in the 31-year-old defenseman.

“Well Forby’s so good at a D-zone coverage and his penalty kill, and he showed that today, and down the stretch there with the last four to five minutes,” Montgomery told reporters, per a team-provided transcript. “He’s out there with Carlo killing a lot of important minutes for us, especially in a pulled-goalie situation.”

Forbort will have to provide that type of defense for the Bruins on a consistent basis to stop Zboril or Lohrei from taking his job.