David Krejci knew before the season that in a lineup without Marc Savard, the expectations usually placed on No. 91 might fall on him. With Savard recovering from post-concussion syndrome, Krejci worked as the team’s top-line pivot early in the season prior to going down with a concussion of his own on Nov. 20. Now, the circumstances of Savard’s most recent concussion of season-ending variety have him in a familiar spot centering Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton.
“I like to have that responsibility,” Krejci said Tuesday. “I like to know that I'm important to the team. Not that I didn't think [that was the case] when Savvy was here, but [now] I feel that way a little more. I'll take that.”
Peter Chiarelli spoke in Monday’s press conference of there being a “gap” the Bruins needed to fill regarding their centers with Savard out. It seems that Tyler Seguin is fighting to stay out of the press box and Zach Hamill, called up last week, doesn’t have the experience the general manager would ideally like on a playoff team. When factoring in the fact that Chiarelli said on WEEI Tuesday that he would move the Maple Leafs’ first-round pick in a deal, it seems the B’s could seek help at center externally, though he’s said multiple times that a first-line center with the abilities of Savard cannot be had via trade.
Should the team not add a center and instead go forward with the likes of Blake Wheeler, Seguin, or Hamill as a center, Krejci is confident both in the team and the crop of pivots without Savard. The team got off to a respectable 13-8-2 start without him, and Krejci had 10 points over the first nine games of the season.
“You can't replace Savvy. You just can't. He's a tremendous player and we just can't replace him,” Krejci said. “On the other hand, we've shown in the past that we can do it without him, especially at the beginning of the year and at the end of last year. We've just got to go back and play that same type of hockey. I feel comfortable with the group we have right now.”
Krejci has not scored a goal in the last 19 games, picking up 11 assists in the process. In 46 games thus far, he has 35 points (7 G, 28 A), good for third on the team despite missing seven games with the aforementioned concussion.
While the spotlight might be shining down the middle when it comes to questions of depth for the coming season, Krejci looks at it as a case of the entire team, and not just the centers, being aware of what they need to do to make up for the 33-year-old Savard’s production.
“When one of your best players goes down, every single guy in the room feels a little pressure that he needs to step his game up a little bit. I think that's what happened [after Savard went down last month].
“Everybody stepped up their game. They know it's going to be much harder to win hockey games without him, so everybody's got to step up and get to another level. I think that's what we've done in the last [two weeks] since Savvy went down. We've just got to keep doing that.”
As it pertains to Krejci, Claude Julien wouldn’t be surprised to see an elevation in his game now that he knows that there might be added pressure. Krejci turned it on last season following Savard’s concussion on March 7, racking up 19 points over the final 18 games of the season.
“He’s done it numerous times in the past, whether it was his first year when Bergeron went down, and when Savard went down [the past two seasons], I think he’s become a real good player,” Julien said. “He thrives on being relied upon and he likes those kinds of challenges. I would like to think that’s going to happen again.”
Julien hopes that the team doesn’t have to wait until March to get the most out of Krejci. With Savard down and the team already trying to figure out who its third-line center will be come the playoffs, the team doesn’t need any more questions about the center position. For Krejci, the time is now.
“Hopefully it doesn’t take him that long every year to get going, but certainly he’s one of those guys that as the season progresses, he does get better and the more the games have meaning, the better he plays,” Julien said. “We really need him. We need him to step his game up and play that big role for our hockey club. He’s capable of doing that, and we hope that it happens.”
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