The development of young defensemen has been a strong suit of the Bruins in recent years, with rookies of the ilk of Milan Jurcina, Andrew Alberts, and Kevin Dallman, who is now with St. Louis, all having made the jump to the big club this year.
The common thread is the guiding hand of Providence Bruins assistant coach Rob Murray, who works with the Peebs "d-men." He helped transform that trio, none of whom were high draft choices, into big league blue liners.
Murray's current star pupil is Mark Stuart, who was the B's top pick in 2003.
Stuart, who excelled for Colorado College, has made noticeable improvement since the beginning of his rookie year, and will likely press for a regular job in Boston next year.
"He's come a long way since I first saw him in training camp. He had to retrain himself. He'd always be running at the play, looking for the big hit. It took him a little while to get him out of that mode and wait for the puck to come to him. He's been one of our best every night, and is starting to show some offensive touch, but we really haven't put him in too many (offensive) situations."
The Bruins don't need Stuart to become a puck carrier/power play quarterback in the Orr/Bourque/Leetch tradition. Thunderous body checks and smart positional play are the best features of his skill set.
In one contest at Hartford, Stuart bowled over three lead dogs of the Pack with one devastating body check. Coincidentally, he also scored his first professional goal the same night.
More recently, in a 6-3 Peebs' loss at Manchester, on a night when the defense corps was a collective minus-nine, Stuart graded out at a plus-one.
"He's really passionate about the game," said Murray "which I appreciate. He's allowed himself to learn. He realized coming out of college that he had to adjust his game, and he's done that."
Despite the rapid progress he's already made, Stuart knows his game has got a lot of growing up to do.
"I've got more work ahead of me," he said, "but I'm excited about the challenge."
- Dan Hickling
