In the last two months, Hunwick has jumped from stand-in to stand-out. Boston's defense has taken a series of hits, with Andrew Ference out for two months after breaking his leg, Aaron Ward nursing a leg injury that so far has cost him five games, Shane Hnidy missing three games (lower body injury), and Dennis Wideman (muscle strain) one. The Bruins needed Hunwick.
"I've kind of been thrust into that position," Hunwick said, "just because of the fact that we've had some injuries and I had to play more minutes - not to say I didn't earn them, but at the same time, there's an opportunity for me to get a lot of good ice time as long as I keep playing consistent. That was my main objective, to come in and be a reliable player."
Hunwick put up a six-game point streak from Nov. 17-28 with three goals and five assists, tying the longest point streak by a Bruin rookie defenseman - a record held by Ray Bourque. In the last 13 games, Hunwick has three goals and 11 assists while posting a plus-12 rating. He is plus-14 for the season, second among NHL defensemen to Anaheim's Steve Montador (plus-15). Furthermore, Hunwick has three multiple-point games, including a three-assist effort in the Bruins' 7-2 victory at Atlanta Dec. 12.
The coaching staff always had confidence in his offensive skills, but they wanted him to expand his view of plays as they developed. Coaches Craig Ramsay and Doug Houda spent a lot of one-on-one time in practice and in the video room pushing Hunwick to improve.
"Probably the situation we wanted to see him most improve in was the vision of what was front of him, so that would help his puck-moving decisions," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "We knew that his strength was without a doubt his skating ability, his mobility, his ability to skate and support the attack, and he's shown that already. The biggest thing he needed to improve was the ability to see the play a little better.
