Bruins get some awful news about defenseman Brandon Carlo

The hits keep coming for Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery confirmed today that Carlo will be back in the B's lineup for tonight's game against the Dallas Stars after missing the past few games with an unconfirmed injury.

"Carlo is in. We're getting healthy on the back end and people are coming in the lineup, so others will have to move out."

- Jim Montgomery

The thing is... 

I'm not so sure Carlo should be back in the lineup.

The 25 year old blue liner confirmed to the media earlier today that he suffered yet ANOTHER concussion early this season, the 5th of his short career.

He missed the majority of the 2020-21 season due to concussion issues, but managed to put together a full campaign of 79 games last season. Again, by my count that's five concussions in just six full seasons in the NHL. Ouch. He hasn't played a full 82 game schedule since his rookie campaign back in 2016-17, which incidentally is his best season by production in his NHL career.

I'm going to trust that the Bruins' medical staff knows what they're doing with Carlo, but honestly the fact that he's back in the lineup makes me nervous. There was some talk a few years back that if a player suffers five concussions in a ten year period then they should be consider retirement. Again, by my count Carlo has suffered five concussions in just six seasons. That's playing with fire. The kid is just 25 years old and he's earned nearly $11 million since he entered the league back in 2016. Would anyone blame him if he packed it up and took some early retirement to save his brain? I certainly wouldn't.

Of course, Carlo is a highly tuned athlete and a fierce competitor, so I don't see him quitting anytime soon.

As for the Bruins, they could certainly use his steadying presence on the backend. Failed prospect turned bottom pairing blueliner Jakub Zboril will come out of the lineup to make room for Carlo this evening when the Bruins take on the Stars.