A successful weekend for the Bruins, who inflicted the beatdown of all beatdowns with a nine-goal pummeling of the Canadiens on Saturday, appeared to come with some shuffling on the defensive depth chart.
Namely in the No. 7 spot, with Parker Wotherspoon shifted from an emergency recall to a regular recall.
Dec 19, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon (29) during the third period against the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)
In theory, nothing changes all that much with Wotherspoon shifting from an emergency recall to a regular recall.
Not when it comes to Wotherspoon’s on-ice role, at the very least. He’s still going to be looked at the ‘first guy up’ for Montgomery and Joe Sacco if and when the Bruins suffer a day-to-day injury on the backend. Or if and when they decide that they wanna get another look at him and give someone else on the backend a breather.
But from a roster maneuverability standpoint, the Bruins have by all means decided that Wotherspoon is their No. 7 defenseman (at the very worst) for the immediate future.
When on an emergency recall, Wotherspoon had the ability to be shuttled back and forth to Boston and Providence and back again without the threat of waivers. That, given the way he had played for a shorthanded Bruins squad and in a league where everybody is constantly looking for cheap defensive help, was huge.
But by converting Wotherspoon’s recall to a standard one, and with Wotherspoon playing more than 10 games since he last cleared waivers, waivers is back on the table should the Bruins try to send him back to Providence.
And given the way he’s played of late, there’s absolutely zero reason to think the B’s would do that. Not when you consider Bruins general manager Don Sweeney’s obsession (it’s almost a fetish at this point) for hoarding NHL-quality defensemen given their defensive shortcomings from a personnel standpoint in numerous playoff runs.
Dec 15, 2023; Elmont, New York, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon (29) during the second period against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)
In action for 14 NHL games since that Dec. 15 outing against the Islanders, Wotherspoon has averaged just over 18 minutes per game for the Bruins, and ranks second on the team in blocked shots (28) and seventh in hits (23) over that stretch. The Bruins have also seen Wotherspoon’s offensive game begin to crack through, as he dished a damn near perfectly tippable shot-pass towards Jake DeBrusk in last week’s win over the Avalanche.
Jake DeBrusk tips one past Georgiev.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) January 19, 2024
Primary assist to Wotherspoon.
3-1 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/PqruSef4gaBeyond the hits, blocks, and even the offensive strides, Wotherspoon has been dependable when the Bruins have needed him most. Deployed for over 38 minutes of shorthanded time on ice over the last month and change, the Bruins have allowed just two goals and nine high-danger chances during Wotherspoon’s on-ice penalty-killing work, according to the data compiled and organized by NaturalStatTrick.com. On the goal front, he’s tied for the third-best total among the group of 86 defensemen with at least 30 shorthanded minutes over that span, while he’s tied for the fifth-fewest high-danger chances against over that stretch.
That’s a welcomed weapon for a Boston penalty kill that’s had to work overtime this year, with the Bruins whistled for the fifth-most penalties in hockey this year, at 200 penalties taken.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – NOVEMBER 18: Mason Lohrei #6 of the Boston Bruins skates past Josh Anderson #17 of the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at TD Garden on November 18, 2023. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
But Wotherspoon’s gain turned out to be Mason Lohrei‘s loss, as the Bruins sent the 23-year-old Lohrei down to Providence ahead of Saturday’s head-to-head with the Canadiens.
Lohrei responded to his latest demotion with the overtime winner in Sunday’s P-Bruins win over Bridgeport.
🚨 Mason makes it happen to cap off another fun one in Providence🚨 pic.twitter.com/mupC4bVvbQ
— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) January 21, 2024But for Lohrei, the demotion is twofold. One: Lohrei, in the first year of his entry-level deal, has minor-league options. Wotherspoon, as we’ve established, does not under a regular recall. Sending him down to Providence is certainly the path of least resistance from a roster finagling standpoint for Sweeney and the Bruins. And two, the role of a seventh defenseman simply doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for Lohrei, who needs minutes on minutes to accelerate his development, and considering that Lohrei was unlikely to bump someone else into that No. 7 spot that given the rope the Bruins have afforded to their veteran options. (You can complain about Matt Grzelcyk all you want, but his usage over Lohrei in recent outings — and particularly in games that featured both players — only confirmed that he’s viewed as a better option in the now than the still-extremely-green Lohrei.)
Being a seventh defenseman is all about your ability to essentially be a microwave player of sorts who can jump in without missing a beat and can elevate your game to any role asked of you that night. That’s naturally a role fit for a grizzled pro veteran like Wotherspoon (or even Ian Mitchell before him) over a Lohrei type.
Jan 11, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (48) warms up before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. (Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)
That said, it will be interesting to see if Wotherspoon pushes as more than a seventh defenseman for this club, and if and when the competition aspect of it all gets real.
When the Bruins acquired Dmitry Orlov ahead of the trade deadline last year, it became apparent that you had three players (Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, and Connor Clifton) battling for two spots. The B’s rotated those three players, and that rotation continued until Forbort suffered an injury that ended his regular season.
The competition isn’t as stiff this time around, and I doubt the Bruins make a play for an Orlov-type this deadline for a multitude of reasons. But the inconsistencies of a Grzelcyk, the coach-incorporated rest days of a Kevin Shattenkirk, and the Montgomery-acknowledged ‘rustiness’ of Forbort in his first game in almost two months certainly seem to open the door to a competition should Wotherspoon take advantage of it.
Which is always easier to do with a locked down — for now — spot in Boston.
