After missing three months with a broken right fibula, Adam McQuaid returned to the lineup against the Canadiens last Wednesday with Kevan Miller sidelined by an illness. McQuaid appeared ready to return much earlier, but the strong play of Boston's six-pack of defensemen, particularly rookie Matt Grzelcyk, made Cassidy hesitant to make any changes.
Cassidy faced a similar situation on Saturday night, when Miller re-joined the team in Montreal. After playing two strong games, Cassidy decided McQuaid had earned the right to stay in the lineup and made Miller a scratch.
"We made a decision to keep him out the other night just for continuity. I thought that Adam deserved to stay in," said Cassidy. "We want Brandon [Carlo] to keep playing, he had a turnover in New York…we want him to play through those situations and I thought he was really good in Montreal [on Saturday].
"We'll re-evaluate tomorrow morning with Kevan. We've got seven good defensemen, we know that. It's not ideal for the one guy that is out. But that's a good problem to have.
"We've talked about going with seven D, it's always an option. We haven't used it lately…we could go that route if we feel it's going to make us better."
Carlo, who delivered one of his best games of the season in Boston's 4-1 win over Montreal on Saturday night, believes the back end is feeding off of the healthy competition.
"It's good to have that," said Carlo. "We have a lot of good players on the back end and it's good to push us in practice and games and throughout the entire season. When it gets to this point in the season it can get tough, but it gives you an extra push."
