Paval Zacha has filled in for David Krejci on a line with Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak and Bruins’ Coach Jim Montgomery has been impressed. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
When the 2022-23 Bruins are fully healthy, Pavel Zacha will most likely drop down to play left wing on the third line with Charlie Coyle. But right now, we are getting a taste of what the Bruins could possibly look like beyond this season.
With David Krejci currently out (upper body, day-to-day), Zacha is filling the middle between Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak. And his first game there last Friday in Columbus could reasonably be considered a success. He picked up an assist and was plus-2 in 16:50 of ice time.
The challenge will become greater this week when the Bruins travel to face the Penguins on Tuesday, the Rangers on Thursday and the Maple Leafs on Saturday, even though all three of those teams are off to slower starts than expected.
In a small sample size, Coach Jim Montgomery liked what he saw from Zacha against the Blue Jackets.
“He did a lot of good things,” said Montgomery. “I thought he transported the puck really well. I thought he drove play and he did a really good job of getting pucks out to Hallsy and Pasta. And his D-zone, he was closing quicker than we expected. It’s not an easy D-zone coverage for centers and he grasped it and he’s getting better and better at it.”
Zacha said that, though it’s a different system than the one he played in New Jersey, he felt comfortable playing the pivot. He should get a couple of more games there, too. Montgomery said that though Krejci will travel with the team on the three-game trip, the veteran is definitely out for the Pittsburgh game and possibly the one in Manhattan. Krejci skated prior to practice on Monday at Warrior Ice Arena, but he did not return for the team portion.
One centerman’s responsibility in which Zacha was clearly rusty was on faceoffs. He won just three of 10 draws.
“I have to work on it. The more games I get in, the more reps, I’m going to get better. I always want to be over 50 percent and go from there. I have to focus on that a little more and practice it,” said Zacha, who could well find himself playing center in a future without Patrice Bergeron or Krejci, provided the Bruins extend his contract.
“When you play with Bergy and Krech, you play with the puck on your stick way more so I know how important it is to take faceoffs and win them, so I have to get better in the circle.”
In all, it feels like Zacha is still something of an unknown commodity. His size (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) and speed help him win puck battles and races, and that’s clearly been a positive. But knowing that he would be playing mostly on the wing, Zacha came into this season vowing to have more of a shoot-first mentality.
That hasn’t really materialized just yet. Through nine games, he’s averaging two shots a game, pretty much the same pace he had in his last two years in Jersey. He’s got just one goal.
“It can be a little bit better,” conceded Zacha, 25, who was raised as a centerman. “I’m still passing the puck a little more than I wanted, especially with some of the chances that I had, I had to shoot more. But it’s something that when you’re playing with players like that, you want to give them the puck . It’s something where I have to get a little bit better with the decisions there in certain areas, to know when to be more selfish and shoot or when to pass. That’s something as a center, you have the puck on your stick a little bit more and you’re making plays so that changes a little bit. But of course I want to be a big threat to score goals and create more chances offensively.”
IN ANOTHER POSITIVE sign for this team, Charlie McAvoy (shoulder surgery) shed his noncontact jersey and was a full participant in practice. While a target date has not been set, he’s ahead of the original Dec. 1 target date and Montgomery thinks he’ll play before Thanksgiving.
McAvoy won’t play on the upcoming trip, but will travel with the team to get re-acclimated to the player’s routine as well as get more familiarized with the tweaks Montgomery has instituted in the defensive and attacking approaches.
“Let’s do it!” said McAvoy with a big smile. “I won’t be playing on this trip, but just to be out there to keep getting practices and pregame skates, to be with the guys, I think we’re at that point where it’s more important for me to be on the ice with the guys than it is for me to just be here by myself. I’ll get to see the family back in New York, so that’s cool. That’s good timing. All good things.”
THE BRUINS HAD the rare opportunity in the middle of the season to have two days off the ice over the weekend. Montgomery felt it was a double-edged sword.
“The plus was their attitudes and their excitement to be at the rink, which goes a long way,” said Montgomery. “The negative was the sharpness and how good we were, especially in our checking portions of it. The passes, even after a day off, physically you get out of rhythm and for whatever reason, passes are sloppy. The passes were better than I expected, but our checking skills, we were mentally slow processing.”
MONTGOMERY SAID he’s leaning toward Linus Ullmark to start on Tuesday and then go with Jeremy Swayman to play in New York on Thursday, though that final decision has not been made.
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