In this episode of Pucks with Haggs, Joe Haggerty is joined by Mick Colageo for a special mailbag edition following the Boston Bruins shutout victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.
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This episode of the Pucks with Haggs Podcast is brought to you by Fanduel Sportsbook is the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5 and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything from spreads to player props and more! So, visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season with an offer you won’t wanna miss. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.
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00:00 I think you're right.
00:00 They keep winning the games you're gonna win
00:02 because you've got that foundation
00:04 of goaltending and defense.
00:06 And then we'll see how they are against the iron
00:09 and we'll see if later in the season
00:12 if people get tired, if there are limitations,
00:15 you have been flawed the season,
00:16 there'll be times where it doesn't go as well
00:18 as it is right now.
00:19 - Yeah.
00:20 Oh, and the ultimate, there is one X factor
00:22 and it's the ultimate X factor for this team.
00:24 And really what has tied everything together is Matt Potra.
00:27 - "Potra the Ags" is brought to you by FanDuel,
00:29 the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network.
00:32 - Welcome to the latest edition
00:34 of the "Pucks with Hags" podcast.
00:35 As always, I'm your host, Joe Hagerty.
00:37 You can find my stuff on joehagerty.substack.com.
00:40 If you get a premium membership,
00:41 you'll have everything I write about hockey
00:44 and the Bruins sent right to your inbox
00:46 and you'll be able to read full complete articles.
00:48 A lot of what I have right now is behind a paywall
00:51 'cause we're right in the middle of Bruin season.
00:52 You can also check out my stuff at Boston Sports Journal.
00:56 We have Mick Colaggio, my longtime friend
00:58 and colleague with me.
00:59 Mick, please let the people know
01:01 where they can read your stuff.
01:03 - Yeah, you can find me on Twitter @mickcolaggio.
01:08 Do you see it on my screen there?
01:09 Do they see my screen the way I do with my name on it?
01:12 - I think they do.
01:13 - Okay, good.
01:14 And rinkrapmc.com.
01:19 - Good stuff from Mick.
01:21 He brings years and years, decades even,
01:25 of knowledge of the Bruins covering the beat,
01:27 that kind of context to everything that he writes.
01:29 So he is a must read at all times.
01:32 I also wanna give-
01:33 - You say centuries, but we know there's only been one.
01:36 - Or millennia, whatever the case may be.
01:39 But I also wanna give a quick shout out
01:41 to our sponsors, FanDuel Sportsbook.
01:45 We're in the middle of the NHL season right now.
01:47 We were coming off the frozen frenzy at ESPN
01:50 where they had every game known to man playing
01:53 and they had Butcher Grass and Weeksey breaking it all down
01:57 and kind of doing a red zone style thing
01:59 with hockey last night on ESPN.
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02:40 All right, with that, the sponsorship's out of the way.
02:43 Let's break it down real quick, Mick.
02:45 First things first, and I wrote about this today
02:49 in Boston Sports Journal.
02:51 The Bruins fooled us again.
02:53 For the second year in a row, we expected them to struggle.
02:56 We expected the changes or the adversity
02:59 or whatever they were going through to like pack a punch
03:02 and to knock them down a little bit.
03:04 A lot of naysayers, prognosticators,
03:06 whatever you wanna, doom and gloomers,
03:07 whatever you wanna call them,
03:09 were saying this is gonna be the year now
03:11 with Bergeron and Crecci retired
03:12 that they're gonna miss the playoffs.
03:13 I certainly thought they'd be a wild card at best.
03:17 But a lot of people, just like a summer before,
03:19 were predicting bad things for the Bruins
03:23 and were expecting to see a crash and burn.
03:26 Instead, we see a 4-0 road trip
03:28 through California and Chicago,
03:29 a 6-0-0 start to the season,
03:31 which is their second best going back to 1937-38.
03:36 They're definitely doing what we thought
03:38 they were gonna do and what we talked a lot about them doing
03:40 which is winning with defense and goaltending.
03:42 They've allowed seven goals in six games.
03:45 Linus Almark and Jeremy Swainman, outstanding.
03:47 The defense has been outstanding.
03:49 The offense has been good enough
03:51 to help them win and be undefeated.
03:53 Obvious caveat here is they're playing
03:55 Chicago, San Jose, Anaheim.
03:57 They've got a bunch of Nashville.
03:59 They've got a bunch of cream puffs in there
04:00 to start the season,
04:01 so that's gonna help them get off to a good start too.
04:03 But look, if you're gonna be a playoff team,
04:05 those are the teams, if you beat all of those teams
04:08 with consistency and all the time
04:09 and you get a handful of wins against the Iron
04:13 and the better teams, you're gonna be a playoff team.
04:14 That's all they have to do to make the playoffs.
04:17 So your thoughts on the team,
04:20 what you've seen so far, the impressions,
04:22 and if you feel like you were at all wrong
04:24 about what you thought about this team
04:26 going into the season now
04:27 looking back at the first six games.
04:29 - You know, it's gonna sound like a cop-out,
04:31 but it's really more of you're wrong so many times
04:35 in your life that you realize that you become shy.
04:40 You get a little gun shy and make predictions.
04:42 Last year, I wasn't feeling great about it
04:44 with the injuries at the beginning of the season,
04:47 but so many X factors turned up roses.
04:51 And this year, I felt a little more solid
04:54 because I felt like there's less to think about,
04:57 but that didn't leave me in a great place.
04:59 It left me feeling about the Bruins
05:01 how you felt about them going into the season,
05:03 which is this is a team that's gonna have a tougher Detroit,
05:06 a tougher Ottawa, a tougher Buffalo to hurdle over.
05:13 But yeah, if you try to just get away
05:16 from comparing the last year and just say, what is this?
05:18 It's an excellent goaltending tandem,
05:21 best in the league last year,
05:22 will be one of the best this year.
05:25 Really solid defensive team, team chemistry.
05:29 They filled it out with sturdy kinds of players,
05:32 not a lot of X factor kind of players,
05:34 players that we're hoping,
05:35 even though he's got a bad knee and he's 35,
05:38 we're hoping he'll score 50 goals like he did in 1987.
05:40 Not a lot of that kind of guy.
05:42 A Rand Reemseik would be the only guy
05:45 would classify that way.
05:47 And he's been excellent.
05:48 He's been the guy I've been wrong.
05:49 So let me be microcosm about this
05:52 and say that JVR, I was wrong about.
05:55 This guy, now we're only six games in, but I guess-
05:59 - He's gonna have to stay in one piece
06:01 and stay healthy, of course.
06:02 Like that's been-
06:03 - I just have not seen inspired hockey out of him
06:05 for what, a half a dozen years.
06:07 And yet I'm looking at a player right now
06:10 who seems to me like he's got a new lease on life.
06:12 And that to me has been inspiring.
06:15 A lot of the rest of it, I feel like,
06:17 is pretty much gone the way it should.
06:20 You know, there's funny little things though
06:22 that happened along the way.
06:24 One of the things I wrote down for myself,
06:25 a little note here,
06:27 during the game, Ryan Donato had the puck
06:30 and he tried to back in on Charlie McEvoy
06:32 down the low right wing corner.
06:34 And Charlie McEvoy would have none of it.
06:36 He stuck out his hockey pants
06:38 and Charlie McEvoy just, boom, you know,
06:40 just knocked him right to the ice.
06:42 Donato gets up and probably three seconds later,
06:45 takes the puck out of the corner and spins off of Patra
06:49 and goes to the net with it.
06:51 And Patra got completely schooled
06:53 in a one-on-one situation by the same guy
06:56 who seconds earlier was absolutely leveled by McEvoy
06:59 when he tried to make a body protection move on him.
07:03 So, you know, I mean,
07:04 and as great as Patra's goal was last night,
07:07 let's remember who he beat on his way down the ice,
07:09 Corey Perry.
07:10 - Yeah.
07:11 - He's basically like, you know,
07:13 Wayne Cashman circa '83,
07:16 very at the very end, you know,
07:18 and, you know, so,
07:20 I don't know if he's got the stick kid,
07:22 the stick boy.
07:23 - A lot of grittin' balls
07:25 that Corey Perry's gave at this point.
07:27 That's about all he's got.
07:28 - That's right.
07:29 And you know, in the last year or two,
07:31 he's had more than I realized he had left.
07:35 But sooner or later, father, time wins.
07:38 And we saw a little bit of that last night.
07:40 So yeah, I like the Bruins.
07:43 If I just, you know,
07:45 I think you're right.
07:46 They keep winning the games you're gonna win
07:48 because you've got that foundation
07:50 of goaltending and defense.
07:51 And then we'll see how they are against the iron.
07:55 And we'll see if the later in the season,
07:57 if people get tired, if there are limitations,
08:00 the ebb and flow of the season,
08:02 there'll be times where it doesn't go as well
08:03 as it is right now.
08:04 - Yeah.
08:05 Oh, and the ultimate, there is one X factor
08:08 and it's the ultimate X factor for this team.
08:10 And really what has tied everything together is Matt Potra.
08:12 19 years old, you know,
08:14 can't come out of nowhere in training camp
08:16 to really show that he can play on this team.
08:19 I think he has punched his ticket to be on this team
08:22 all year based on, you know,
08:24 the way he looked in training camp, of course,
08:25 and the way he's looked during the season,
08:27 but also the way he just took it up another level
08:29 on the West Coast trip production-wise,
08:31 scored three goals, you know,
08:34 helped them win the game in Los Angeles big time,
08:36 was a huge factor in that win.
08:37 And again, last night,
08:38 gives them some breathing room against the Blackhawks,
08:41 but the way he's able to strip Corey Perry,
08:43 beat him down the ice and score that goal.
08:45 And, you know, his presence has allowed
08:48 a lot of different things to happen.
08:49 His presence has allowed Jim Montgomery
08:52 to play with the other lines
08:53 and kind of put things together that he'd like to see.
08:55 It's allowed him to put together a third line
08:57 of Charlie Coyle, James Van Reamsdyke, and Trent Frederick
09:00 that is excellent, that is big, that is physical,
09:03 that is puck protection,
09:04 that is going to lean on the other team's defensemen
09:07 and their players and wear them down.
09:08 And you saw the goal that they scored
09:10 to make it three to nothing,
09:11 where all of them were winning battles
09:13 around the front of the net and just wearing them down.
09:15 And ultimately, JVR makes a really nice pass to Frederick
09:18 and Frederick finally puts it in
09:20 after he was battling with his guy
09:22 out in front a little bit.
09:23 And you start to see the makings of Patra's ability
09:27 to play a top six center spot and to produce some offense
09:30 and to bring something out of some other players offensively
09:32 and the potential that he has,
09:34 it started to allow Montgomery to play a little bit
09:36 with his forwards and feel comfortable
09:37 about putting things together the way they should
09:40 and the way they can get back to the depth
09:42 that they had before.
09:43 That was really the question I had about these forwards
09:46 was what kind of depth are they going to have,
09:48 especially at the center position, but all over,
09:51 if they're just relying on two lines,
09:53 hopefully to provide some offense
09:55 and not sure what you're going to get out of the third line,
09:58 especially if Coyle has to play up
10:00 and then hopeful that a fourth line
10:02 that's got a couple of young guys in Lauco and Beecher
10:04 is going to be able to provide energy and be responsible.
10:07 And I think what we're seeing now is Patra's presence
10:10 has allowed him to put everything together
10:13 in a way that the Bruins have depth again
10:14 at the forward position.
10:15 And they're starting to get back to what they were last year,
10:18 where not only can they get scoring and offense
10:20 out of the top two lines, and they haven't even really,
10:23 well, they've gotten a ton out of Pasternak,
10:25 but Marchand started to get going on this trip
10:27 and Zaka scores a goal.
10:28 - I love how Marchand's playing.
10:30 - Oh, he's playing great.
10:32 - He's playing like a captain.
10:33 - Yeah, he's really got it up in his pace,
10:36 his tempo and intensity of puck touches
10:40 and how he's playing the game right now
10:42 and how he's skating.
10:44 I love what I'm seeing.
10:45 And if things mess up and things screw up,
10:47 I'm not worried about early season Marchand right now
10:50 because I see the energy.
10:51 I see him really looking like the guy
10:55 who was healthy five years ago
10:57 and not the banged up one who needed double labrum.
11:00 So this is huge, potentially huge for the Bruins,
11:05 for Marchand to really catch stride as a hockey player
11:08 and be his elite self again at this age.
11:11 - And being a leader.
11:12 I think he set the tone leadership-wise with this team
11:15 and he's really helped them.
11:16 And I thought it was important,
11:18 some of the tone that they had
11:19 at the beginning of the season was,
11:20 we're not gonna talk about the guys
11:21 that aren't here anymore.
11:22 We're just gonna talk about the guys that are here
11:23 and this is our group.
11:24 And having that mentality going into the year
11:27 didn't allow them to dwell on what they didn't have
11:29 or the guys that retired
11:30 and just to focus on what they were doing.
11:32 And I thought that was a really good statement
11:34 and move that the leadership group made
11:36 saying those things and spreading that message around
11:39 to start the year.
11:39 But to your point, he's also backed it up
11:41 with the way he's played on the ice.
11:42 That play he made, was it against LA,
11:45 where he took a big hit against the sideboards
11:48 to make a pass to set up a goal.
11:50 I think it was to Pasta.
11:51 Like that's a great play.
11:52 That's a leadership play.
11:53 That's setting the tone for everybody else
11:55 that you're gonna take a hit to make a play.
11:57 - He accepted the contact and he had the incredible ability
12:00 of his to shield the puck
12:02 and still make a play off of a hit like that.
12:05 - And that sets the tone with everybody that, guess what?
12:07 If your best player, your captain is doing that,
12:09 everybody's expected to do that.
12:11 And that's winning hockey.
12:12 And they're starting to get back to that.
12:14 And just the fact that they're gonna,
12:16 they have some players out here on the ice
12:19 that are creating things offensively and doing enough.
12:23 And you kind of thought this might be the case
12:24 with Pasternak, Marci and some of the guys they had.
12:26 They have just enough offense to get by
12:28 with the great defense and the goaltending
12:30 that they're gonna have.
12:31 And I don't think- - That's their house.
12:33 - I don't think the defense and the goaltending
12:34 are going away.
12:35 They are, as we thought, gonna win games three to two,
12:38 three to one, two to one, one to nothing.
12:40 We're gonna see a lot of that, I think, this year,
12:42 unless they really change what they're doing.
12:44 And I don't think they should at this point
12:45 until an injury happens or something happens
12:48 where they've gotta change things up, something unforeseen.
12:52 Because right now I think they have a winning formula.
12:53 And I think they're gonna win against some pretty good teams
12:56 as well as the teams- - I'm looking forward
12:58 to those games to see how they measure up.
13:00 - Yeah. - And one of the things
13:02 from last night that kind of struck me
13:04 was how badly they outshot the Blackhawks.
13:07 The Bruins have not been a shot volume team.
13:09 And I think this was cited in the ESPN telecast
13:13 that the last time the Bruins had this many shots
13:17 or something was a game that Cassidy coached.
13:20 They didn't note that Cassidy coached it,
13:22 but it was the first thing I thought
13:23 was from the season that Cassidy coached.
13:25 - Yes. - And he was,
13:26 as Nick Foligno said, a shot volume coach.
13:28 Whereas Montgomery- - Funneling pucks
13:30 he used to call it, funneling pucks.
13:32 - Right, yeah, Bork-Neely hockey.
13:35 You know, just kick the crap out of Ron Tugnet.
13:37 But in this case, it's Montgomery's a possession game.
13:41 You're looking for the right shot and you're holding on.
13:43 It's a little more like Robbie Futoric
13:45 had the Bruins playing back 20 years ago.
13:47 And in this case, for the Bruins to have that many shots,
13:52 I thought was a byproduct of the fact
13:54 that they were so relentless.
13:56 Each line was four-checking the Blackhawks silly,
13:59 and they were relentless.
14:00 They were playing like it was a playoff series.
14:03 You know they can't do 82 games like that,
14:05 but it was fun to watch an early season game
14:08 where they were playing that way
14:09 and being that dominant on the territorial and possession.
14:13 And everything was just adding up to the point
14:14 that they were out shooting them silly.
14:16 - Well, and especially when you factor
14:18 in the context of the game,
14:19 which is the last game of a super long road trip
14:22 where they've had multiple time zone changes,
14:25 you would expect them to have dead legs
14:26 or to have nothing last night,
14:28 or be one of the ones that's almost like
14:29 a kind of a scheduled loss.
14:31 - Which makes me wonder,
14:34 and I started thinking about this before we went on,
14:36 what are we gonna do tomorrow?
14:39 - Right, and tomorrow may end up being that game,
14:43 but I was impressed that it didn't happen in Chicago.
14:46 And that they, to your point,
14:48 brought out as much as they did,
14:49 were four-checking and skating as hard
14:51 and really putting forth the effort like they were.
14:54 Good to note that Jacob Lauco is gonna be okay.
14:58 Got a scary cut above his eye or around his eye.
15:01 He sent out a funny tweet today,
15:03 one of the Lord of the Rings characters
15:05 with a messed up face saying,
15:07 "This is what I looked like this morning."
15:09 So his sense of humor is intact and he was laughing about it
15:12 as hockey players always do
15:14 when they have gruesome injuries like that.
15:15 - Pretty scary moment for any player.
15:17 It's every player's nightmare to suddenly
15:20 have your, but in his case, at least he was,
15:24 had his hand on his face and he was running off the ice
15:26 'cause he knew he had been kicked.
15:29 It was kind of a heel kick, an accidental heel kick
15:31 from Dickerson there.
15:33 And he didn't even see him, he was behind him
15:35 and he kicked upward, backward, and like a horse.
15:38 And I don't know why he did it,
15:39 but it was like, kind of like whatever he was doing
15:42 in the middle of doing, that was the move he made.
15:44 And Lauco's face was down there.
15:46 He had taken a nasty hit.
15:47 Now it would have been worth talking about
15:49 if this didn't happen.
15:50 - Yeah, yeah.
15:51 - He had just been knocked down pretty hard.
15:52 - And I always have that vision in my head
15:56 of the mule kick coming back to get me with the skates
15:59 when I'm on the ground as a hockey coach
16:01 putting on the goalie pads for the kids.
16:03 I always have that nightmare,
16:05 like please do not kick back with your leg right now
16:08 when you're back there like getting the pads on.
16:10 So like that, even for like just a coach putting on the pads
16:14 that's like the worst case scenario,
16:16 nightmare, doomsday scenario
16:18 to see the skate blade coming at you like that
16:19 when your face is so close.
16:20 So I'm glad that Lauco is okay.
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17:00 - Some fresh news earlier this afternoon,
17:04 Wednesday afternoon, Ian Mitchell
17:07 put on waivers by the Bruins.
17:10 That might be a guy that they lose potentially.
17:12 We'll see if he passes through
17:15 and he goes down to Providence.
17:17 Had a good camp.
17:18 - That's a good point you make in there.
17:19 I didn't really think much about that
17:21 because every player buddy on waivers has been clearing
17:24 except for one or two guys, but he's a guy who might not.
17:27 - Yeah, puck moving defenseman,
17:28 a guy that's got a little bit of offensive upside,
17:30 has played some NHL games.
17:32 - Right, he's slightly proven.
17:34 - Yes, so that's the kind of guy,
17:36 if anybody's looking for a puck mover
17:38 or anybody is hurting because of injuries
17:41 early in the season, he could get scooped up.
17:43 And I'm sure that that was a consideration going in,
17:46 but he also had a little bit of struggles
17:49 when he'd been in the lineup so far this season.
17:53 A couple of games I think he got in there
17:54 and he didn't look great.
17:56 So I understand why they did it.
17:58 Maybe there was a salary cap component as well.
18:00 - Do you think that this is the prelude to,
18:03 do you suspect this is the prelude to anything else?
18:06 - I don't, I don't, do you?
18:07 I mean, I think this was more roster based
18:10 than anything else, but our performance.
18:11 - Okay, so right, 'cause you're still,
18:14 now wait a second.
18:15 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:16 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:17 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:18 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:19 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:20 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:20 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:21 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:22 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:23 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:24 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:25 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:25 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:26 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:27 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:28 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:29 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:30 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:30 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:31 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:32 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:33 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:34 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:35 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:35 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:36 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:37 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:38 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:39 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:40 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:40 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:41 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:42 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:43 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:44 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:45 I'm gonna go back to the,
18:45 I'm gonna go back to the,
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20:27 I'm gonna go back to the,
20:28 I'm gonna go back to the,
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20:37 I'm gonna go back to the,
20:38 I'm gonna go back to the,
20:39 I'm gonna go back to the,
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21:27 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:27 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:28 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:29 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:30 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:31 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:32 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:32 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:33 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:34 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:35 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:36 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:37 I'm gonna go back to the,
21:38 If they made it public
21:40 and suspended him for a game
21:41 for being late to a team meeting,
21:42 I am gonna say right now,
21:43 that's not the first time
21:44 he's been late to a team meeting.
21:46 'Cause I think the last resort
21:47 is putting it in public
21:49 and going that discipline route.
21:51 Maybe this happened a couple times last year,
21:53 it got swept under the rug.
21:54 And now this year with different leadership
21:57 and a different tone
21:58 and Jim Montgomery,
21:59 I think coaching a little differently this year, frankly,
22:02 with the previous Bergeron gone,
22:04 that it's gonna be a little bit of a different story
22:06 and it's gonna be a little stricter
22:08 as far as the ship that they run.
22:09 So like, I think there is a level
22:12 of irresponsibility to him
22:14 and sort of, it took him a little bit longer,
22:16 I think to mature into the player that he is now
22:19 than maybe it did for some other players.
22:21 I like Jake DeBruys personally.
22:22 I don't hold anything against him
22:24 for a trade request
22:26 because he did not get along with Bruce Cassidy
22:27 and did not like the situation he was in.
22:30 That happens all the time.
22:31 I don't think that's a reflection on him as a person,
22:33 but I will say like,
22:36 he sees it was not a great start
22:38 to a guy that's in a contract year with the Bruins
22:40 and wants to get a big money, big term deal from them.
22:44 And certainly gonna get one from somebody in the league,
22:46 if he even has a half decent season this year,
22:48 if he gets 25 goals,
22:49 he's gonna get a really good contract.
22:51 I just don't think it's gonna be from the Bruins.
22:53 And I think some of the issues to start the year
22:55 inconsistency wise
22:56 in missing that team meeting or being late to it,
22:58 kind of highlight some of the things
23:00 that maybe the Bruins aren't that comfortable
23:02 giving them a six year, huge money deal,
23:06 giving them all that money
23:07 and the responsibility that comes along with that.
23:10 But they've got to balance that.
23:11 - A core player investment.
23:13 - Right, but you gotta balance that
23:15 with how are you gonna replace his offense and his goals?
23:17 'Cause there's obviously a dynamic skater and score
23:19 and those guys don't grow on trees.
23:20 So it's an interesting situation.
23:23 - Some of the best hand I have ever seen.
23:25 - Yeah.
23:25 - I can't believe how he can reach behind himself
23:28 while he's really accelerating
23:30 through the middle of the rink
23:31 and you got guys coming at you,
23:32 wanna take you out
23:34 and he can knock a puck down out of the air and keep it.
23:37 And it's like, what the hell did,
23:39 it's like a cartoon.
23:40 And to have that kind of skill.
23:43 Now he's come along so far
23:46 and he really won me over last season.
23:49 - Yeah, me too.
23:50 - And I was very slow to the party on Jake Nebraska.
23:52 I traded him seven times.
23:54 - Yeah.
23:55 - And I didn't know,
23:57 I questioned, very heavily questioned the prior season
24:00 how it was possible to rescind a trade request
24:05 and to actually ever be able to undo that.
24:09 But the Bruins somehow made that happen with him
24:12 and then got the best of his career so far
24:14 after that happened.
24:16 So, I mean, I've been so stupefied by that
24:19 and so embracing Jake Nebraska
24:21 and thinking I was wrong about this guy.
24:24 It just took him a while, et cetera.
24:26 That for this to happen now in a contract year
24:31 and why did the Bruins go into the year
24:33 without signing him to begin with?
24:35 I have a hard time trying to compartmentalize
24:38 all of this stuff.
24:39 - Well, because I don't think
24:40 they have intentions of signing him.
24:41 That's my own personal opinion.
24:43 I think this is a Tory Crook situation
24:45 where they don't want to-
24:46 - It's a horrendous situation.
24:47 - Yeah, they do not want to give him that huge money,
24:50 a long-term deal.
24:51 And I think they feel like it would be a bad investment.
24:54 And it's hard for them
24:55 because I think they,
24:56 players like him with his skillset
24:59 and his ability to score goals and create offense
25:02 don't grow on trees.
25:03 And it's made more difficult by the fact that to your point,
25:06 he had a really good season last year and he played tough
25:09 and he played, did a lot of the things
25:10 away from the puck that they want him to do.
25:12 I think he was a much more complete, more consistent player.
25:15 He was going to score 30 goals
25:16 if he didn't get hurt in the Winter Classic
25:18 where he scored two goals in the third period
25:20 on a broken leg.
25:20 So like, I think there are a lot of things
25:25 that make it a difficult decision for them.
25:27 But ultimately, I think at the end of the day,
25:29 maybe some of what's gone on early in the season
25:31 is he's not sure they want him back.
25:33 I'm not sure they want him back.
25:35 And I think there's going to be like a level of awkwardness
25:38 until it gets resolved one way or the other,
25:40 or they both just decide like, that's it.
25:43 We're not going to talk about it anymore.
25:44 You know, I think that whole thing
25:46 creates a delicate situation.
25:48 And I just don't think Dubrask is the kind of guy
25:51 that is going to be able to perform his best
25:54 if he knows like every move is, you know,
25:57 could be his next contract and staying in with the Bruins
25:59 could be dependent on like every little thing
26:01 that he's doing.
26:02 I don't think he's going to, he's the type of player
26:04 that will respond positively to that kind of pressure
26:07 on his shoulders.
26:07 I think it may go in the other direction.
26:10 So, but in the other part of it too, as I referenced before,
26:14 he's very popular.
26:15 He's good buddies with David Posnack.
26:17 He's very popular with a lot of the guys in that room.
26:20 How unpopular is it going to be with them
26:22 if he doesn't come back and how much of a problem
26:24 are those guys going to have who are very influential,
26:27 players you want to keep happy,
26:28 players that want him around?
26:30 How much is it going to ruffle their feathers
26:31 if they just, you know, wave goodbye to him
26:33 or don't treat him the right way?
26:35 Don't give him a good offer and kind of low ball him
26:37 or, you know, stonewall him and don't talk to him.
26:39 All that stuff I think is a really interesting scenario
26:41 that's going to play out.
26:43 - Yeah, we got to hope it doesn't degenerate
26:45 into a early nineties, wartime players,
26:50 owners versus players kind of negotiations
26:54 that is really just sort of a prelude to a bitter departure
26:59 and go learn how to yodel.
27:01 You know, this is-
27:02 - And Don Sweeney's not the go learn how to yodel
27:07 kind of guy, so I don't think it's ever going to-
27:08 - No, no, and he's not.
27:11 And in fact, he would have been gone by now
27:14 if he was anywhere near close to that.
27:16 - Right.
27:17 - But you hope that this incident,
27:22 because even though you allude to the possibility,
27:24 the strong possibility that there's much more happened
27:27 that led to this going public,
27:29 but if this is an isolated incident,
27:32 at least on a record it is,
27:33 that it does not have the power to sabotage their ability
27:38 to get the best deal possible for him.
27:41 He would also be trading from a point of weakness
27:43 if your season was going poorly,
27:44 but their season's going fantastic.
27:47 So if you got a deal, if there's something happening here,
27:51 and whether it's Elias Lindholm,
27:55 or it's whoever else whose name has been in the papers
27:59 for quite a while here that would interest the Bruins,
28:03 and things have gone well enough with Zaka
28:06 that I got to wonder what the Bruins,
28:08 what they would want to do about it
28:10 if they knew they were going to trade them,
28:12 what they would want to get.
28:13 We know it wouldn't be a goalie
28:14 and we know it wouldn't be a defenseman,
28:16 but what would it be?
28:17 Unless it was the right left shot defenseman
28:22 to be a top four guy,
28:23 solidified the way they did at the deadline with Orloff,
28:27 what would be that guy?
28:28 Other than that, everybody would assume center,
28:31 but right now we know Potter's all set,
28:34 and you know, Coyle ain't going anywhere.
28:37 Question is, is how do they feel about Zaka?
28:40 - Yep, yeah. - In that position.
28:41 - Yeah, do we like him at center or wing ultimately?
28:43 - And if you don't like him,
28:44 if you want another winger, what do you want?
28:46 You got elite line drivers with Marsh, Shannon, Pasternak,
28:51 and you know, scoring wingers and playmakers,
28:55 and is this an opportunity
28:57 to become a more physical team maybe,
28:59 but in the top six rather than just, you know,
29:03 having your muscle down below?
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30:24 Well, you know, then this question is later on.
30:28 I had it later on, but I'm going to ask it next
30:30 because it kind of comes right out of that last question.
30:33 If the Bruins secure a playoff spot by the trade deadline,
30:36 what are the chances they will try to acquire
30:37 a number one center for a deep run in the playoffs?
30:39 And what would they be willing to give up
30:41 in players and draft picks?
30:43 And that's from Kirk19721974.
30:47 You know, I think it's hard to answer this right now.
30:51 And I don't think we can intelligently answer it right now
30:54 because we're going to have to see more of Matt Potra,
30:56 see more of Pavel Zaka in a real premium center role
31:01 on this team.
31:02 But if they continue to play like they're playing right now
31:06 and continue to go as they're going,
31:08 and I don't know that they need a number one center.
31:10 I think that they're okay with what they have.
31:12 And I think, you know, maybe there'll be other spots
31:15 they can fortify, or maybe they get another winger
31:17 to go in the top six that's dynamic, that can score goals.
31:21 Like, I think you can base it a little more
31:22 on the specific team and what the need has
31:25 this year and beyond.
31:26 - And that doesn't even, that doesn't take injuries
31:29 into consideration.
31:29 - Right, and that too.
31:30 But rather than having blinders on,
31:32 like we have to trade for a number one center.
31:34 - No, we're not there anymore.
31:35 - I think if they continue as the status quo
31:37 and if they continue to play as they are
31:38 in those centers that are in the top six spots,
31:41 continue to excel, there is zero reason
31:44 to go get Elias Lindholm and overpay for him.
31:46 There is zero reason to overpay
31:48 and take on Ryan Nugent Hopkins' contract.
31:50 There's no reason to get any of these guys.
31:52 I think they have the answers to the questions right now,
31:54 but I can't say that definitively six games into the season.
31:57 I need to see a bigger sample size with them
32:00 in these big spots before I'm ready to go there.
32:02 - Me too.
32:03 The only thing that we don't know that would be great to know
32:06 is what is happening on the phones.
32:11 What are the calls that are coming in to Don Sweeney?
32:14 Who is asking for what and what are they dangling?
32:18 Because there might be opportunities.
32:21 Sometimes you have an early season opportunity
32:24 to formulate your team and add a dimension
32:27 that might be completely change your trajectory
32:30 in a subtle way even, but it could do it.
32:33 And who knows what's there.
32:35 And to me, knowing that would be,
32:39 that's a crystal ball they actually have.
32:42 Who knows what's happening right now,
32:43 what the rumblings are.
32:44 Because if there's ever a time to trade, it's now.
32:47 The prices are lower.
32:49 You're in a great position in the standings.
32:52 You have opportunity to do something
32:56 to make your team better.
32:57 Right now, things are about as good as they can get
33:01 for the Bruins when it comes to trading.
33:03 Question is, is what's going on?
33:05 - Yeah, and as far as pieces they would trade,
33:07 Jake DeBrusca, we just talked about.
33:09 I think given his situation, I think he could,
33:11 and his value to other teams around the league,
33:13 he could certainly factor into any trade talks
33:15 you were gonna have.
33:16 Matt Grislyk, I think is the natural one to trade
33:19 based on Mason low-rise emergence
33:21 and based on the fact that he's 5'10", 5'9", 170 pounds.
33:25 And you wanna get bigger on the back end.
33:28 It's got nothing to do with him as a player.
33:30 I think he's a premium puck mover.
33:31 I think he's a very good defenseman.
33:33 Very good defensive defenseman, frankly, for his size
33:35 because of his stick and his positioning
33:37 and the technical aspects of how he plays defense.
33:40 But when it comes to playoff time,
33:42 you can take advantage of players that size on the back end.
33:44 You just can't.
33:45 They have a hard time staying healthy.
33:46 And I think defensively,
33:47 you can push them around closer to the net,
33:50 especially when it gets more physical.
33:51 So I think those would be two of the natural players
33:54 that some kind of a bigger deal would be based around
33:57 if they did indeed go there.
33:59 Here's an interesting one.
34:01 Will Kevin Shattenkirk be a seventh player
34:03 award candidate this year from soup, gutta, poop
34:07 on Twitter?
34:07 I mean, Shattenkirk strikes me as the,
34:12 if he has a solid season,
34:13 he could definitely get consideration for that.
34:15 And it seems like it's going a little more,
34:18 it was going for a little while, like towards,
34:20 and it still does to a degree,
34:21 towards the young players that emerge.
34:23 Like Patra could end up definitely being a seventh.
34:25 - He's gonna win this thing.
34:27 And I'm gonna be saying all along
34:28 that it should have been JBR.
34:30 - Right, right, right.
34:31 - That's how this is gonna go.
34:32 Patra's gonna win it.
34:33 And I'm gonna be sitting there saying
34:34 it should have been JBR.
34:36 Because I didn't expect JBR.
34:37 The definition of the award is player performs
34:41 above and beyond what one would normally expect.
34:43 That was the original definition.
34:45 TB 38, seventh player award, 1969.
34:47 Eddie Westphal won the first one.
34:49 And, but, you know, Tim Thomas won it twice.
34:54 Billy Guerin won it twice.
34:56 I mean, these are ridiculous wins
34:59 for a second time around made no sense.
35:03 You know?
35:04 So Patra, yeah, the shiny new toy will definitely get it.
35:08 - Yeah.
35:09 If he sticks around and he has a good season,
35:11 he will end up getting it.
35:12 - Shan Kirk's exactly what they thought
35:14 they were gonna get.
35:15 A guy who you wanna protect his minutes,
35:17 you wanna protect his matchups,
35:18 especially his matchups.
35:20 And then he's gonna help you do what he does well.
35:24 Which is-
35:25 - Get pucks to the net.
35:26 He's been fantastic getting his shots through.
35:29 - And he gives you kind of,
35:30 he's like power play insurance.
35:32 So bring stability to a power play that struggles.
35:35 - But you saw that-
35:36 - You saw that unit or not.
35:37 - You've seen it consistently.
35:38 He can get a shot through from the point.
35:40 He finds shooting lanes and he gets the shot,
35:43 pucks to the net.
35:44 And that helps you create offense five on five.
35:46 We saw it in the game against Chicago.
35:50 Pavel Zak is tapping on the ice saying,
35:51 "Hey, I'm here, good position."
35:53 They're like ready to tip a puck.
35:54 Shan Kirk gets it right to him.
35:56 He tips it in, bing, bang, boom.
35:57 Like it was a great play.
35:59 And it was a smart play by two veteran guys
36:01 that were absolutely on the same wavelength
36:03 that are starting to get used to playing together
36:05 and create offense the old fashioned way.
36:07 So, I think he's already started to show his value.
36:11 Even if you also see that times,
36:13 he's gonna be taken advantage of just with turnovers
36:16 and the defensive zone,
36:17 some of the stuff traditionally
36:19 that he struggles a little bit with
36:20 when he's not in the offensive zone creating.
36:22 - It was nice to see him jump a player there
36:24 when Swainman was-
36:26 - Yes.
36:27 Yes.
36:28 Yes.
36:29 Yeah, who was that?
36:30 I can't remember.
36:31 - I think it was Perry.
36:31 Was it Perry?
36:32 - Yeah.
36:33 Yeah, I think it was Perry, yes.
36:34 Perry was crowding Swainman
36:35 and then he jumped on him and tackled him.
36:37 Yes.
36:38 - Yeah, he wound up on the bottom,
36:39 but he took one for the team.
36:40 Good thing.
36:41 - He did.
36:41 He did.
36:42 And that was a veteran move.
36:43 Those are like good signs.
36:45 That stuff, JBR, the way he's playing,
36:47 like the veterans that are playing the way that they are,
36:49 I think they realize they're in a pretty good situation here
36:51 and the Bruins are getting their best.
36:53 All right, thoughts on Barry Melrose's impact
36:56 on hockey overall,
36:57 but also do you think the Hockey Hall of Fame
36:59 will get him in quicker
37:00 due to his medical condition from Louis G. Prod?
37:05 I mean, I would hope so.
37:07 I always hope the Hockey Hall of Fame moves
37:11 with speed and with wisdom and with diligence
37:14 when it's a situation like it is with Barry Melrose.
37:17 And I was sad to see that he wasn't gonna be part
37:20 of the ESPN coverage this year
37:21 'cause he's so synonymous with that.
37:23 I'm sad that I'm not gonna see him
37:25 at any of the big national events
37:26 in his big pinstripe suit,
37:27 smoking a cigar somewhere with the slick back hair.
37:29 Like, it became something you look forward to
37:32 would see him in a big chair
37:34 in like a lobby of the rink or the hotel
37:36 where the all-star game
37:38 or the Stanley Cup Finals is going on.
37:40 And he's puffing away in a cigar
37:42 with a big smile on his face,
37:43 just enjoying himself and everybody enjoying his company.
37:46 And even when ESPN was the sport
37:51 whose name you will not mention,
37:53 hockey was the sport whose name
37:54 you will not mention on ESPN,
37:56 he was still the guy that carried the torch there
37:58 and represented it for all those years,
38:00 he and Steve Levy.
38:01 So, I hope everything is going as well as it can for him.
38:06 And I do hope he gets that honor, Willie,
38:08 he's still around to enjoy it.
38:10 But just your thoughts on Barry Melrose
38:12 and his legacy right now.
38:14 - Yeah, I'm never sure what the Hockey Hall of Fame,
38:18 what they're thinking, what they'll do.
38:20 Rick Middleton.
38:21 But when it comes to, and Keith Kachuk,
38:27 but when it comes to a guy like Barry Melrose,
38:31 all I remember is when I think of my friends
38:35 who were closer to him, like Louise Kornetta,
38:38 all the years she's worked for ESPN.
38:40 And always had the most wonderful things to say.
38:45 I just spoke in the last week with the great Cap Rader
38:49 who just turned 70.
38:51 And--
38:51 - I hope Cap is doing well, he's awesome.
38:53 - Yeah, he is, he's doing well.
38:55 And he's actually still doing some coaching,
38:58 some teaching of goalies and working with teams
39:02 and squads coming down to Plymouth State and stuff
39:05 and New Hampshire.
39:06 And so, but he's very close to Barry
39:10 and he's known this for a while.
39:12 I didn't, so it's not like a brand new diagnosis.
39:17 This is just going public now.
39:20 And these people love Barry.
39:24 I didn't know Barry well,
39:26 but any time I had my few encounters with him
39:28 have been really, really great.
39:30 And so, Hockey's a family
39:33 and a lot of people in the family are really in pain
39:38 when they see somebody like this suffering.
39:41 And so, God bless the man and his family
39:44 and we go from there.
39:46 - Well said, Mick, that's well said.
39:48 And prayers and thoughts to Barry Melrose and his family.
39:52 Like I said, I hope things are going as well
39:54 as they can from him.
39:55 It's, I'm sure a difficult time for them
39:58 and it's a difficult time for the hockey world.
40:00 But the good thing is he's a wildly popular guy
40:04 with tons of friends and tons of people supporting him
40:06 and rooting for him.
40:07 And I'm sure he feels that regardless
40:09 of what's going on with him.
40:11 So best wishes to Barry Melrose.
40:12 Thank you very much for the question too.
40:14 That was a great question to sort of wrap things up on.
40:17 Mick, thank you very much for the time.
40:19 I appreciate you coming on
40:21 and answering some mailbag questions this week.
40:24 For this Everything is Awesome Bruins team
40:26 that can't seem to lose.
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41:07 Just go to fanduel.com/boston and kick it off right
41:11 now that hockey and football are in full swing.
41:13 Mick, thank you very much for joining me this week.
41:15 I appreciate it and I'll see you tomorrow night
41:17 at the garden.
41:19 - Yeah, I will find out if this team really cannot lose.
41:22 (laughing)
41:23 Yes, and we'll see if it's a scheduled loss or not.
41:25 But for now, thank you very much for listening
41:27 to the Fox with Hags podcast.
41:29 We'll see you at the rink.
41:30 (upbeat music)
41:35 (upbeat music)
41:38 (upbeat music)
41:41 (upbeat music)