Bruins lines in practice hint at a big surprise for Game 1.

The Boston Bruins will be, at least based on the way things look right now, will be leaving one of their most experienced players on the sidelines for Game 1 of their first round playoff match up against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Now first and foremost it is important to keep in mind that the first game of that series will not take place until Thursday of this week which means that from now until then there remains plenty of time for things to change, however based on the lines being run in Bruins practice today it does indeed appear that the Bruins are making a surprising move. It was Boston Bruins insider Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston that first reported the lines being run at Bruins practice today, and there was one notable absence from those lines.

Here are the lines being run today as per Haggerty's report:

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak

Jake DeBrusk - DavidKrejci - Karson Kuhlman

Marcus Johansson - Charlie Coyle - Danton Heinen

Joakim Nordstrom - Noel Acciari - Chris Wagner

Now those lines might look pretty good to you, and that's because they are, but there is one name that has been left out of the Bruins top 4 lines. Left all by himself on the outside looking in at practice this morning was none other than Boston Bruins veteran forward David Backes. In spite of the fact that the Bruins used him in 70 games during the 2018 - 2019 regular season when Backes was healthy, it seems that Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy is not confident enough in his 34 year old winger to put him up against the speedy and dynamic Maple Leafs offense. 

 I must admit given the ways in which Backes has struggled as of late, especially over the course of the past 2 NHL seasons, it does make sense to put a player like Karson Kuhlman in the line up over him. The 23 year old center is much more suited to pacing a team like the Maple Leafs than Backes is, although you have to wonder how much Backes wealth of experience could tilt that in his favor. 

As I stated things may still change before Thursday, but for now it looks like the Bruins will be leaving a $6 million dollar player on the sidelines.

[pub]