Through the first dozen or so games, one thing has made itself remarkably clear is the current group of defensemen on the Boston Bruins are just not good enough for this team to be a serious contender.
Since the departure of Zdeno Chara, the Bruins have not been able to find a left-handed defenseman to play with Charlie McAvoy. Yes, Matt Grzelcyk and McAvoy have played well together at times, but most would agree Grzelcyk is probably not the guy you want facing the other team’s top forwards every night.
Derek Forbort, who looks to be getting more comfortable with the Bruins’ system in recent games, is also not a top-pairing player on the Bruins or any other team in the NHL.