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Boston Bruins player outlook 2018: Brandon Carlo will finally put together a solid season

By Sam Minton

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 5: Brandon Carlo #25 of the Boston Bruins takes a shot against the Nashville Predators during the first period at TD Garden on October 5, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 5: Brandon Carlo #25 of the Boston Bruins takes a shot against the Nashville Predators during the first period at TD Garden on October 5, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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Brandon Carlo’s season ended just as he was catching fire. This season Carlo will look to etch a role for himself in a packed Boston Bruins defense.

Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo fell to the ice in pain after his ankle decided to go in a way it isn’t supposed to. After that, Carlo wouldn’t play another game for the Bruins. He was out for the rest of the season and was forced to watch his team get eliminated in the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It was a really terrible way for Carlo’s season to end. Not just because he got injured, but because he had started to gain some traction in an otherwise poor season.

In 76 games, Carlo had 6 assists and a rating of +10. For the majority of the year, Carlo was struggling. When you have a -4 game your defense can’t be solid.

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Headed into next season Carlo will have a lot of work to do. The Bruins defense is packed. They have basically everyone returning and also signed John Moore. If Carlo wants to play he is going to have to earn it.

Prediction time

If Carlo gets the opportunity, I think he will be able to put together a strong season.

Carlo will be fighting for a spot in the last defensive pairing. The Bruins first d-pairing is locked up. That’ll be Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy. The second-pairing will definitely have Torey Krug, but the other spot will be up for grabs as well.

Krug and Carlo have played together before and were pretty successful. Still with the investment, the Bruins made in Moore I think they have a plan for him.

Seeing that Krug and Carlo were successful, Matt Grzelcyk and Carlo could be a solid pairing. Grzelcyk plays a similar game to Krug so it should be a seamless transition.

I think Carlo will put up some solid numbers. If he has 10 goals and 15 assists you can’t be mad at him. He is a bottom defenseman and not expected to put up crazy numbers. You leave that to Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug.

Hopefully when Carlo returns he will be much better in the Bruins zone. The B’s need him to be solid defensively. At times Boston struggled a lot in their own zone, which led to plenty of goals being scored. If the Bruins can fix that issue they will be one of the best teams in the league.

We know that they can score.

Next. NHL Network doesn’t think highly of Patrice Bergeron. dark

This will be Brandon Carlo’s 3rd season in the NHL. Hopefully, this will be his lucky season where he takes the next step in his career.

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