How the Bruins May Mend their Shorthanded Blue Line

The Boston Bruins have some holes to fill on the blue line.

After leaving Monday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Florida Panthers halfway through the first period, Matt Grzelcyk has been ruled out for “a couple weeks” with an upper-body injury. Charlie McAvoy, Grzelcyk’s D-partner on the first pair, will also likely miss time. The assistant captain has a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Tuesday following his five minute match penalty at 9:28 of the third period for an illegal check to the head against Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

The Bruins closed out Monday’s game at TD Garden with four defensemen – Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Derek Forbort and Kevin Shattenkrik – but will need to call up players from Providence (AHL) to supplement the shorthanded backend.

"We're still waiting on getting some information back before we make that [decision]," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said Tuesday at the team’s optional skate. “We’re going to have to call up players, but we just haven’t made decisions yet on that.”

Ian Mitchell and Mason Lohrei may be on tab for the call-up, but their fate will await the verdict of the McAvoy hearing.

Lohrei is likely the name that most Bruins fans are excited about. The 22-year-old defenseman had an impressive training camp, and stuck around for Boston’s final practice before the opening night roster was announced and he was sent to Providence to develop with more ice time.

"[Lohrei's] definitely one of the players being considered," Montgomery said. “I think he had a really good weekend this weekend. So, I mean, we’re excited about the player because of what he did in camp.”

Standing at 6-foot-5, 211 pounds, Lohrei’s size, speed, natural athleticism and two-way offensive ability made him stick out during training camp and preseason where he skated on a pair with both Brandon Carlo and McAvoy. Lohrei has logged four assists through seven games in Providence this season as he works towards his potential NHL debut.

Mitchell, on the other hand, started the season with the Bruins as the seventh defenseman and saw some game action before the team placed him on waivers Wednesday. In his first two games with Providence, Mitchell has one assist.

Lohrei, a left-shot defenseman, and Mitchell, a right-shot, may have the opportunity to play on their strong sides if slotted in to replace Grzelcyk and McAvoy, respectively. However, Montgomery isn’t just looking for perfect positional swaps – he wants the “best-available” option.

"We'd like to put players in situations to succeed, so if they can play the strong side, that would be best,” Montgomery said. “But we're going to bring up the best-available, too because they’ve earned it either down in Providence or here in training camp."

It’s also not guaranteed that, if Lohrei and Mitchell both get called up, they’d even play together. Montgomery is open to splitting Carlo and Lindholm up – Lohrei and Carlo got solid reps together during preseason – based on the specific game needs.

“Probably be a blend, just depending on the game,” Montgomery said. “Probably start [Carlo and Lindholm] apart and then maybe put them together if there’s a certain matchup that’s not being favorable and you want to maybe squash that matchup because we know that they can play against anyone.”

The Bruins, with their shiny 8-0-1 opening record, have an early-season depth test on the blue line, and it will be the responsibility of both veteran defenseman and young called-up talent to hold things down until the team’s first pair is back intact.