The Bruins Just Got BAD News...

You've probably seen that James Higgins is out about a week. It's not a week. Marco Stern said it himself on Saturday, it's definitely going to be a few weeks. A Penguins defenseman cross-checked him on Thursday. In a game, the Bruins won 6-2, and he never came back. He's a 20-year-old rookie with 12 points in 17 games, tied for the most of any rookie in the league. And he plays on the line the Bruins trust, with the hardest minutes. So, what's happening to that line, and to the Bruins while he's gone? And I'm going to show you the new lines, how the line changes, and how I think the next 10 games go. Let's be honest with who he is and what role he plays on this team. David Pastrnak is the best player this season on the team so far with 24 points. After today's game against Florida, James Higgins is fifth with 12. But he plays on that third line with Casey Middlestadt and Elias Lindholm, and Marco Sturm says that he used that line as a shutdown line most of the time. Against Vegas on Monday, that line played 10 minutes and 37 seconds against Eichel's line at 5-on-5, and the Bruins won it 1-0 with a 3-0 edge and high danger chances. Across the season, those three have played 121 minutes together at 5-on-5, and they've outscored teams 8-3. And three of them have scored 17 goals between them this year, that's the same as Geeky, Zaka, and Pasternak. Elias Lindholm said it about Higgins that he plays the right way, he goes to the hard areas, plays good defensively. Which really does sound like a line that you can't lose, except here's the catch. That line has outscored teams eight to three, but it's taken only 47.8% of the shot attempts. How you might ask? By shooting the lights out, James Higgins has scored on 17.6% of his 34 shots, Casey Middlestadt is at 20.8 on 24, and Lindholm is at 20.7 on 29. So to put that into perspective, David Pasternak, the best player on the team, is shooting 13.1%, and JJ Pastrnak is at 12.9%. Let's say all three shot at David Pasternak's 13.1% instead. Higgins turns 34 shots into about 4.5 goals, not 6. Middlestat turns 24 into about... 3, not 5, Lindholm turns 29 into about 3.8 and not 6. That would be 11 goals instead of 17, a drop of 6 before anyone gets hurt. So honestly, that line was bound to cool off at some point, whether or not James Higgins was hurt. Although right now, when they're riding a hot streak, you don't want to turn that line down. And if you want to stay up to date and see how this James Higgins injury plays out and how the Bruins move around these lines, be sure to hit that subscribe button to track. every single game. We're on the road to 10,000 subscribers. And I want to be honest to James Higgins as well. You got to be fair to him. He is a very hot shooter. He was drafted seventh overall in 2025 and didn't come out of nowhere. His role was bound to be this. He turned 20 on Tuesday. So the Bruins have already trusted him in a real NHL role, hard minutes against other teams, best lines. And that's a huge statement already in this early in his NHL career. At Boston College, he scored 37 points in 37 games, then last year, 47 points in 34 games, including 23 goals. In the NHL, he's scoring on 13 minutes and 20 seconds a night. That works out to 1.59 goals per 60 minutes, which is 94th percentile in the league. And the Bruins have also said, no, absolutely not. When other teams have asked about trading for him, he wasn't available in any trade. And here's what he isn't. He plays 1 minute and 41 seconds a night on the power play with 1 assist and no goal. Though the power play, which ranks 21st in the league at 19.6%, doesn't change too much right now. The damage really is going to be 5 on 5 with him out. And the rookie race does not wait for him either. Connolly in Vegas is level with him at 12 points. He's played one more game. Kanterov in Chicago has 8 goals and 2 more than Higgins. And James Higgins is averaging about... 0.71 points per game over that five to nine games he could miss. That's about four to six points he doesn't add, and the race moves on without him. Which brings us to the new lines. And here's what Marco Sturm chose to run for today's game against Florida, where they won four to one. The top line was Paterka, Zaka, and Pasternak. Then the second line had Asemont, Mitten, and Geeky. Middlestadt, Lindholm, and Huznatdinov moves into the third spot in James Higgins' role, and Janot, Poitras, and Kastlick on that fourth line. And Marco Sturm told reporters they use this line for a shutdown role most of the time, so he'll try that out, see how it works, so the job stays the same for the most part. And Marat Huznatdinov this year has played 13 minutes and 49 seconds a night, almost exactly what James Higgins plays, and he's shooting 18.8%, so the minutes fit, and the Shooting percentage fits. I think what we saw today as well, that the role did not change, but the finishing certainly is going to. I mean, James Higgins producing six goals and Marat, who's in Athena, only has three thus far. But using that line as your shutdown line and being able to score in transition is still going to be a top. Top idea for that team, for that line, really. We saw Mikey Acema jump into the lines today, and the Bruins called him up from Providence, where he led the AHL with 13 goals in eight games, including a natural hat-trick on Friday. So he has been running hot in the AHL as well. But we also got to keep it in perspective as well. In 269 NHL games, he has 74 points, plays 11 minutes and 22 seconds a night. Marco Sturm said that he definitely deserved the call-up today. He said... Let's put it that way, I'd expect him on the 4th line first, and one more injury moves him up. And ultimately that wasn't the case, we saw it here today on that second line. I think a big question for a lot of people is, will this team still be able to score with James Higgins out for multiple weeks? The Bruins average 3.71 goals a game, which is 6th best in the league, and they give up 2.35, which is 4th best in the league. Their last 10, 7 wins, 2 regulation losses, and 1 overtime loss. With 38 goals, 4 and 24 against. Giki has 13 points. Paterka has 13 points. Zaka has 12 points. Mitten has 11. And Pasturak has 22. And Elias Lindholm on the third line has 14 points as well. That's a lot of scoring that doesn't necessarily need James Higgins. And in that 6-2 win against Pittsburgh, the Bruins got a goal from every line with Higgins out for the third period as well. And the weak spot is the bottom. Tanner Jenotte has one goal on 8.3% shooting. And Kasslick this season has three goals. And so far this season, we've seen the goalies be able to bail out the defense a little bit. Jeremy Swainman has a .913 save percentage, and Michael DiPietro is a 9-25. They're also giving up 7.9 high danger shots a game, saving 87.3% of them when the league averages 79.8. That's covering for a quiet third line for the time being, but a very quiet fourth line. That's also a number that can drop if the saves slip, and that third line and fourth The third line stops scoring, the fourth line continues to not score at the level we want to, could very well become a problem. Now we gotta also ask, how long is a few weeks? So let's do the math, because that's what decides how much this really matters. The earliest he can come back is around Thursday, because the injury reserve is a minimum of seven days. But Sturm said a few weeks, and Daily Faceoff also says week to week. If it's two weeks, he misses five games. Florida, Montreal, Minnesota, LA, and Detroit, back for Washington on the 21st. If it's three weeks, he misses seven games, back for Toronto on the 27th. If it's four weeks, he misses nine games, back for Colorado on December 1st. So my guess is probably somewhere around the middle of that. I want to say the lower, the better, obviously, but I also hope he would return a little bit earlier. Keeps him out for, you know, the toughest part of the schedule, gets him back for a soft stretch, maybe the best idea. And it matters a lot because the Bruins do not have to rush a 20-year-old rookie back in the lineup with a back injury. 9-12-4-1 record with first place in the Atlantic. They have things on lock already, and James Higgins is a bonus. And you gotta keep in mind as well, the team still hasn't said what the injury is per se. Some reports say you're back, the league's own recap says midsection. It's gonna be, you know, a timeline that I'm assuming Marco Sturm is gonna update us on. Not be given straight to us. Now, how many games is the next few weeks? From Sunday, December 1st, the Bruins play 10, and 9 of them are at home. This week, it's 3, all at home. Florida on Sunday, who are 9, 6, and 2. Montreal on Thursday, 10, 3, and 3. And Minnesota on Saturday, 12, 3, and 3. And a goal differential of plus 21. And that's going to be a big test, too, because Minnesota does not give their opponents very much. And especially on a line that... Was winning games, that was shooting hot. They need someone to be able to finish now that James Higgins is out. It's a little bit friendlier after that. The LA Kings are 5-7-2. Detroit is 7-7-3. And that's the only road game and the only back-to-back on the 17th and 18th. Washington is 9-6, Winnipeg is 6-8-3, Toronto is 8-7-2, and Vancouver is 3-14-1. The softest stretch right there, and it should be when he's due back, and maybe, honestly, the best time to bring him back as well. So here's my prediction with James Higgins. I think the third line will score a little bit less. The Bruins may want to lean a little bit harder on their top lines, and they win. A big part of this though I think to consider is the Bruins didn't lose their best player, but they've lost one of the ones that are hottest right now. So the engine is going to keep going, but you're going to certainly miss that scoring kind of acceleration on that third line, but also the energy and the momentum he can bring to a team already at such a young age. So when you hear the Bruins lost James Higgins, here's what they actually lost. 13 minutes a night with six goals on a line that's shooting 17 and 21% shooting percentage. A line that was going to cool off and losing its finisher and going to be replaced by a guy who plays the same minutes, smaller hit than it sounds. One last thing. Who would you rather see on the third line? Would you rather see Murat, who's not seen enough to continue there, maybe Mikey Ace a month, even though he did score today? Let me know in the comments below what you would do with this lineup, if any changes after today's game.