Bruins’ Blue Line in Crisis Mode as Injuries Mount, But Aspirot Emerges as a Bright Spot
Injuries are hitting hard across the NHL right now, but even in a league-wide game of “next man up,” the Bruins’ situation on the blue line is bordering on chaos.
Boston’s defensive corps has been decimated, and the timing couldn’t be worse. With top players sidelined - including their superstar winger David Pastrnak and defensive anchor Charlie McAvoy - the Bruins are being forced to dig deep into their organizational depth. Tuesday’s loss in Detroit added another hit: Michael Callahan, recently called up to help plug the holes, went down with a lower-body injury in the first period.
That means whoever suits up next - either Frederic Brunet or Victor Soderstrom, as interim head coach Marco Sturm hinted - will be the 10th defenseman to dress for the Bruins in just 29 games. That’s not a stat any team wants to be leading the league in.
And the outlook isn’t getting any clearer. McAvoy remains out indefinitely with facial injuries, and without him, the Bruins are missing not just their best defenseman, but their emotional leader on the back end.
Defensive Depth Tested to the Limit
Tuesday’s game against the Red Wings exposed the Bruins' current vulnerability. Detroit found space in the neutral zone far too easily, something Sturm pointed to as a breakdown in team structure - not just on the blue line, but up front as well.
“They have to. They have to,” Sturm said when asked if the forwards need to provide more support.
“That’s the one thing I didn’t like in Detroit - how we managed it. We have to help our D.
We can’t have them hanging. We can’t turn the pucks over in the neutral zone, especially in a game like that.”
The Bruins were already short-staffed with Callahan’s early exit, and things got even thinner when Nikita Zadorov racked up 14 minutes in penalties, leaving Boston with essentially four defensemen for long stretches. That kind of imbalance is tough to overcome, especially when players are being asked to skate on their off side.
In the last two games, Boston has dressed just one right-shot defenseman - Andrew Peeke - forcing others to play out of position. It’s a tough ask, and Sturm knows it.
“On one side of it, you’re so mad and you want to scream at them,” he said. “But on the other side, you have to remind yourself - they’re doing everything they can. We’re putting them in a lot of difficult situations, and they haven’t really done it before.”
Instead of hitting the ice Wednesday, the Bruins opted for a video session - a teaching day, as Sturm put it - to regroup without adding to the fatigue.
Jonathan Aspirot Steps Into the Spotlight
If there’s a silver lining to all this, it’s the emergence of Jonathan Aspirot - a player who wasn’t even on the NHL radar at the start of the season. Signed to a one-year deal in the offseason, the 26-year-old had spent years grinding in the AHL with Belleville and Calgary.
But with the injuries piling up, the Bruins gave him a shot. And he’s made the most of it.
Sturm, who saw Aspirot during his time coaching the Ontario Reign, admitted he didn’t think much of the defenseman at the time - “just a solid American League defenseman,” he said. But since getting the call from Providence, Aspirot has been leaned on heavily, skating top-pair minutes alongside Zadorov.
He logged 19:41 on Saturday and 21:14 on Tuesday in the home-and-home against Detroit. Back on Thanksgiving Eve, he played 20:45 in a win on Long Island and finished plus-3. Overall, he’s plus-4 - tied for the team lead with Mark Kastelic - and he’s doing it while playing on his off side.
“He fits better with the system I want to play,” Sturm said, noting that the Bruins’ hybrid man/zone scheme suits Aspirot’s mobility and instincts. “He can skate, he can close, he can do a lot of things just the way we want to defend.”
It’s a case of the right player meeting the right system at the right time - and in a season where the Bruins are scrambling for stability, Aspirot’s emergence has been one of the few constants.
Bruins vs. Blues: No Sympathy in the NHL
Don’t expect the St. Louis Blues to send any sympathy cards.
They’ve got their own injury list to manage. This week alone, they lost young winger Jimmy Snuggerud (wrist), Alexei Toropchenko (lower body), and Nathan Walker (upper body).
It’s been that kind of season.
The Blues have also struggled to find consistency in net. Jordan Binnington (6-6-5, .878 save percentage, 3.20 GAA) and Joel Hofer (3-5-2, .882, 3.29) have both had rough starts. Binnington was pulled in Monday’s 4-1 loss to Anaheim, but don’t count him out - he’s had some memorable moments at TD Garden, including a Stanley Cup Game 7 win and a Four Nations final.
With another defenseman expected to be called up, the Bruins made room by sending Riley Tufte back to Providence. It’s a small move in a season full of lineup juggling.
Bottom Line
The Bruins are in survival mode right now. The injuries are real, the depth is being tested, and the margin for error is razor thin. But in the middle of all that, players like Jonathan Aspirot are stepping up and giving Boston a fighting chance.
And in a league where every team faces adversity at some point, how you respond often says more than the injury report ever could.