WILMINGTON, Mass. -- When Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli traded veteran defenseman Johnny Boychuk prior to the start of this season, the team's defensive depth took a hit.
In the immediate aftermath, many wondered what would happen if the Bruins had to deal with key injuries on their blue line, as occurred last season when both Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid were lost for the season.
Only seven games into the season, and with Boston holding a 3-4-0 record, the Bruins' so-called depth will be tested.
On Saturday, defenseman Kevan Miller suffered a dislocated right shoulder and will be out indefinitely. That means Matt Bartkowski, who has been a healthy scratch in six of the seven games this season, will return to the lineup Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks at TD Garden.
"You never want to see it under this circumstance," Bartkowski said of returning to the lineup. "Millsy's a good friend of mine, and you never want to see any of these D get hurt, but it's good to get back in and play some games."
In the one game he played this season, Bartkowski made a defensive miscue in the closing second of regulation on Oct. 13 that resulted in the Bruins losing 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche. He said he's looking for redemption, given this opportunity to return to the lineup.
"Yeah, absolutely," he said. "All around, it wasn't a good game, but I'd like to get some games in a row here and get going.
"It's always better, easier to get into the flow playing a few games in a row. It's easier to be more consistent."
Bruins coach Claude Julien will likely reunite Bartkowski and Seidenberg as the team's second defensive unit. Zdeno Chara and Dougie Hamilton will remain the top pair, while McQuaid and Torey Krug will be the third pair.
"He's just got to play his game," Julien said of Bartkowski. "His game is about skating and moving the puck, or he has to just continue to work hard on being a little harder to play against. He's a defenseman and he has to defend. He's got to be hard, sometimes a little harder in areas where he has to defend. Those are areas that we talk about with him and continue to work with him on."
Unless Chiarelli decides to recall either David Warsofsky or Zach Trotman from Providence, the Bruins will go with only six defensemen on the active roster moving forward.
"We have some depth, and we talk about that all the time," Julien said. "If there's an area, I thought we had lots of it, we talked about it during camp and had to make hard decisions on the back end. There's an opportunity to take advantage of that depth we talk about, and that's all we can do as we speak."
Too many times in the early portion of the season the Bruins have dealt with defensive miscues, and that's one of the reasons they remain a sub-.500 team. During the team's recent three-game road trip, Boston showed improvement in the defensive end, but with Miller's injury, the depth will be tested.
"When we're on our game, I think we should be fine," Seidenberg said. "It's about us making strong plays in the defensive zone and making good first passes for forwards to come out of the zone with speed. The past few games we haven't done it enough.
"There have been glimpses, and when we did it, guys have had great speed entering the other zone. Overall, we have to be sharper. We have to be a little bit more focused and cut down on breakdowns."
Hamilton played one of his better overall games of the season on Saturday against Buffalo. Last season, he was thrust into a more important role after Seidenberg and McQuaid were injured. Hamilton performed well in that situation, and many believe this season will be a breakout one for him. He struggled a bit at the start, but he's coming around.
Overall, Hamilton realizes everyone needs to be more consistent, especially with Miller sidelined.
"It's pretty unfortunate to see Millsy go down," Hamilton said. "We obviously had a tough time last year with injuries, so it's tough to see it happen already. We have Bart that can step in, so it doesn't really change much for us. As a group, we're playing well. We can all skate, move the puck, be good defensively and get our shots through."
Seidenberg concurs.
"The guys are used to it after all year last year," he said. "Millsy's a big, strong, tough player, and guys have to pick that up, the physical play. Overall, we just have to focus on our game, and it doesn't really matter if somebody goes down. Yes, it's really bad for Kevan, but at the end we have to go out and win games."
Seidenberg traditionally gets off to a slow start, but this season has been more of a work in progress than usual. He missed the majority of last season after he tore his ACL and MCL on Dec. 27. He knew once he returned to game action this season it would take him a bit to get back up to speed.
"I'm still getting there," he said. "I think I'm skating well. It's just about timing, the approach, the defensive zone and closing gaps. It is a work in progress. If I work on them, it'll come, for sure."
The veteran blueliner will be the first to admit there's plenty of room for improvement in his game. If he can remain healthy, he's shown in the past how dominant a defender he can be in the Bruins' system. For Boston to get where it expects to this season, it'll need Seidenberg at his best.
The Bruins are at their best when their defensive game is sound. The team is built on defense and uses that defense to bring about a strong offensive game. The defense hasn't completely connected yet this season, but the Bruins know it has to on a consistent basis in order to have success.
"We're pretty much ready for anything now," Hamilton said. "With everything we've gone through as a group, just being able to play with other guys and play with anybody, I think we can all play with each other and be able to handle that. It's nice when we're comfortable with each other."