On June 26, 2010, Zach Trotman got a call from his agent.

The Boston Bruins had selected him as the 210th overall – and final – pick in the seventh round of the 2010 Entry Draft. He was the last player to go – and he went to Boston.

Trotman didn’t believe him at first: "I was like, ‘Shut up, you’re lying to me’ so he’s like ‘No, they just traded Chicago for the last overall pick'."

Trotman didn’t expect to get drafted, let alone have Boston Bruins then-general manager Peter Chiarelli trade a 2011 seventh-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks to secure him. So what first sounded like a late, seventh-round "why the hell not" move was – in reality – far from it.

The initial excitement and nerves of draft day may have subsided since then, but the expectations he – and the club – put on himself never really did even if only a dozen or so players drafted in the seventh round have played on NHL ice since the first organized draft in 1963. We are, after all, talking about a club that prides itself on its ‘defense-first mentality’ and solid drafting record.

So when Chiarelli made that calculated move, he did it with the expectation that the 6-foot-3 defenseman was going to become a valuable addition to the black and gold defense corps.

For five years, the Bruins have been patiently waiting for the 24-year-old to develop into an NHL-caliber defenseman. He spent two seasons with Lake Superior University, then two all-but-complete years with the Providence Bruins. He was a slow, but sure, work in progress – but the end goal has always been to be an NHL-level skater.

And that’s exactly what the Bruins got this year.

In the 27 games he’s played this season, Trotman thrived with Zdeno Chara, with whom he shared more than a third of his 5-on-5 minutes.

(via Puckalytics WOWY Statistics)

Together, they were the second most dominant possession pairing, controlling 54.2% of shot attempts and generating shots at a rate of 61.86 per 60 minutes. Defensively, they were just as effective in limiting shots against, allowing only 52.21 attempts per 60 minutes.

Naturally, one would assume that playing with an elite defenseman would significantly influence Trotman’s numbers.

Surprisingly, that’s more wrong than right.

Yes, Chara makes Trotman better. But he’s only played 35% of his even-strength minutes with him, leaving about 253 minutes away from him. Apart from Chara, Trotman controlled 52.1% of shot attempts and generated 55.49 shots per 60 minutes – which most people would say is a very solid showing for a rookie defenseman.

He’s no passenger to the rest of his teammates, either: the 5 players that Trotman was on the ice with for more than 100 minutes all played better with him than without him – and those players just so happened to be (in addition to Chara) two-way forwards Chris Kelly, Brad Marchand, Carl Soderberg and Patrice Bergeron.

Admittedly, the sample sizes are small. After all, Trotman has only played in 29 NHL games – barely over the league minimum to graduate from ‘rookie’ status. But it’s still worth noting when you consider just how dominant Chara, Marchand and Bergeron are to begin with.

Possession-wise, Trotman proved to be just as solid at driving his teammates’ play, ranking 3rd in CF% Rel among Bruins defensemen. Offensively, his teammates generated nearly 7 more scoring chances per 60 minutes when he was on the ice than when he wasn’t.

For the record, that’s a team-leading rate.

Still -- assuming Trotman may have had his numbers padded a little bit by playing with Chara (who wouldn’t?), his underlying numbers are the key. And they show he’s just as productive individually:

At even-strength, Trotman controlled 53% of play. Using dCorsi – a metric that measures a player’s impact on possession based on usage and quality of teammates – Trotman made the 3rd best defensive impact out of the 8 defensemen that logged more than 200 minutes this season, right behind Dougie Hamilton and Chara. On a per minute basis, he was actually the Bruins’ best defenseman in limiting opponents’ shots against, giving up just 50.03 attempts per 60 minutes.

While looking at usage, though, it must be noted that Trotman was playing against weaker opposition and in very advantageous zone starts this season. He was the most sheltered among his peers, seeing a generous 58% of his starts in the o-zone:

(via war-on-ice)

It’s not entirely wrong to think that his offensive zone starts may have boosted his numbers. But he sure made the most out of them, firing away scoring chances at a rate of 27.28 per 60 minutes.

From a scoring standpoint, Trotman produced 0.77 points per 60 minutes at 5v5, which is well above the league average rate of about 0.6 points per game. His 2.44 shooting percentage was quite low however, but that could be explained in part by looking at his Hextally graphs from war-on-ice.com.

What we can see right away is that Trotman’s not shooting in the dangerous, high-reward areas of the offensive zone. For the most part, Trotman was mainly a perimeter shooter last season. So if he can generate more high-danger scoring chances low in the slot, he could very well see his offensive output increase next season.

Still – if there are any significant limitations in Trotman’s play, they don’t show in his performance this season.

And the Bruins won’t really get to see these limitations unless they throw him to the wolves next year. But for a club that’s starved for goals, Boston may not want to do that just yet – or at all. Pairing Trotman and Krug has the makings for a highly efficient duo with some serious offensive upside provided they receive ample minutes against opponents’ weaker lines. Sheltering Trotman and Krug together for more offensive production is not only smart, it’s a luxury that Boston can afford by having Chara and Dougie Hamilton take on the tougher matchups instead.

Trotman has shown this season that he has what it takes to become a solid centerpiece among the Bruins’ defense corps. He’s developed into a NHL-ready defenseman under the committed tutelage of the Providence Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, who gave him a solid endorsement going forward:

"I think now he feels like he can defend anybody after that time at the end of the year playing with [Zdeno] Chara. He’s given us that here. I don’t know what next year will bring for him, but he’s certainly a guy the Bruins can rely on. Where he fits in the lineup I can’t speculate, but he’s certainly NHL ready."

Trotman’s come a long way from being the last pick of the entire 2010 draft to an NHL-ready defenseman. Given his impressive showing this year, you can bet Trotman will most likely be a permanent fixture on the black and gold’s blueline next year, although his exact position in the lineup is still to be determined.

But one thing’s for sure: "It doesn't matter where you get drafted. You have the opportunity. It's all about what you do with it."

"[…] it makes you maybe want to work harder to prove yourself, like 'oh, I can be better than those other guys.'"

I couldn’t agree more.