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Boston Bruins bye week comes at the perfect time

By Dave Stevenson

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 19: David Pastrnak #88 and Charlie McAvoy #73 help teammate Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins off the ice during the game against the New York Rangers at the TD Garden on January 19, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 19: David Pastrnak #88 and Charlie McAvoy #73 help teammate Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins off the ice during the game against the New York Rangers at the TD Garden on January 19, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Boston Bruins are getting their bye week right before the All-Star break. That’s perfect timing for a team that needs some time to heal. 

Every season, each NHL team gets a bye week. For some teams, the timing is a bit weird. The Boston Bruins, for example, have theirs a little early, as it’s right before the All-Star break. Most teams wouldn’t benefit from one so early in the season. But for the Bruins, it comes just in the nick of time.

Even though Boston has gotten healthy, they’re still a bit banged up. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy isn’t quite 100 percent. Getting nine days off should help him get to full health. Even though star center Patrice Bergeron is back and healthy, he’s been taking some maintenance days off, which suggests maybe something’s ailing him a bit. Nine days without a game should help him heal.

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At this point in the season, just about every player is starting to get fatigued. This is expected, as the NHL season is a brutal one. The Bruins have been hit hard by the injury bug. Getting time off could be the best thing for them right now.

Most importantly, the Bruins’ bye week allows them to access goaltender 3Tuukka Rask’s injury. He left his last game after being hit by Filip Chytil of the New York Rangers. McAvoy actually inadvertently pushed him into Rask. He left the game and entered concussion protocol. Rask is someone the Bruins can’t afford to lose.

The bye week gives Boston time to figure out what to do. Ideally, Rask will get healthy soon. But concussions are weird. No two concussions are the same. They affect each player differently. If Rask’s concussion appears to be one that will keep him out for a while, the Bruins have time to find his replacement, whether that be internal or external.

Finally, the Bruins front office can use this bye week to start their heavy duty scouting for potential trade deadline candidates. Recently, they’ve had a presence at St. Louis Blues games, which suggests they have an interest in Brayden Schenn or potentially Vladimir Tarasenko.

Next. 3 Players The Bruins Should Trade For. dark

Most teams don’t like having an early bye week. But the Bruins are getting theirs at just the right time.

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