How Will Merkulov impact Bruins lineup? | Poke the Bear

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Poke The Bear with Conor Ryan Ep. 190

Conor Ryan of Boston.com gives his reaction to the Bruins' first game back after the Christmas break and some of the strong performances from the team's young core, and if there is another guy in Providence who is ready for the call to Boston.


Topics:

- Bruins get a big win in Buffalo

- Jake DeBrusk and Hampus Lindholm have strong showings

- Mason Lohrei shows his potential

- Should the Bruins keep Pavel Zacha on the wing?

- What could Georgii Merkulov bring to Boston?


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Transcript
00:00 I feel like we go through the same narrative with the breast where I think he's playing a really
00:03 strong to a game but but of course like dude needs to score and I think you're if you're the
00:09 Bruins you're trying to stay the course here because he's still doing enough that he's not
00:13 like you got to take him out of the lineup or he's hurting your overall product on the ice but
00:17 uh you're just hoping that he finally starts you know that shooting percentage starts going
00:21 the other way and he starts burying more of these chances and welcome in to poke the bear episode
00:35 190 presented by clns media and sponsored by our good friends over at factor meals and fan duel
00:42 my name is connor ryan as you can see going solo today uh it's the the week after christmas right
00:48 before new year's as i'm sure most of you uh can attest to not a lot going on right now we're
00:55 taking it easy if you if you're working this week you know you're you're uh not getting over exerted
01:01 with stuff you're letting those worries and troubles go over into 2024 so we're keeping it
01:07 pretty low key in this episode we're not having uh evan or ty or anyone on board um you're stuck
01:12 with me for this one as i as i ferry you into the new year so we figured with this new episode um
01:19 what better time to once again bring back one of our uh mailbags where you guys send in questions
01:26 uh related uh to anything with the bruins and i do what i can to uh to answer them so uh thankfully
01:34 uh for everyone who did send in a few questions a lot of them related to probably the biggest
01:38 news of today as we're recording on friday which is georgie murky love uh getting called up we kind
01:44 of saw the you could read the tea leaves that he was most likely going to get called up um only
01:48 reason the bruins didn't do it yesterday is because i believe the team uh providence was
01:52 in utica so they wanted to wait for them to get back before sending murky love here but uh we
01:58 touched on it quite a bit uh on our latest episode uh that are recorded with evan but um we'll kind
02:03 of delve a little bit more into what his role is and with this team over these next couple of weeks
02:08 um which you guys sent along those kind of questions so without further ado how about we
02:13 just dive right into it with our first question which is from ice frog who says hi connor the
02:18 bruins call up murky love try him out in a top six role who do you think is the most likely to move
02:23 down in the lineup who do you think is most likely to move out of the lineup also would they use
02:27 murky love at center or wing first of all uh thanks for the question ice frog um and yeah i i think you
02:33 kind of saw the bruins approach uh based on what we saw during lines on friday at warrior ice arena
02:39 which is murky love for the time being at least is more or less going to slot into uh the vacancy
02:45 with uh where matt potter is on third line so uh murky love was uh third line center next to
02:52 frederick and jvr uh as of friday uh and as a result steve bumps out of the lineup and then
02:59 dan hein and moves down to the fourth line with lauco and beecher so um that seems to be the plan
03:05 starting off here and uh i like it in terms of one you're putting murky love in his natural
03:11 spot he can play wing but he's probably at his best as a centerman and you're putting him with
03:16 two guys you know it's not like you're putting him with posturnoch or debrusk or anything like
03:20 that but two you know capable nhl veterans who um can do a lot of damage especially around the net
03:26 front which is where murky love is really really good um even at his age with his lack of experience
03:32 really poised for the puck i always wanted to bring the puck into grade a ice and can do a lot
03:36 of damage there so uh i like that they're starting off by putting him in that spot see if you can
03:41 drive play further down the lineup which is i think what you're hoping for uh what he can bring
03:46 is kind of this mid-season spark uh with this offense right now and again it's a good problem
03:52 to have right i don't imagine this is going to be a situation where he's up here for good um
03:57 listen if he goes and puts up seven points in five games and yeah you change your opinion on it but
04:03 i think especially with patra out for at least probably another week maybe a little bit more
04:07 while he's over world juniors doesn't hurt to put in another young player like murky love in that
04:12 spot at the very least get him up uh in the nhl learn some experience and see how he does there
04:19 and if he still has some seasoning to do which is to be expected for any young player um as soon
04:24 as patra comes back you can either send him down or if he's playing at a high level you got a good
04:28 problem on your hands maybe potter moves to the wing maybe murky love moves to the wing if you've
04:32 got two uh rookies in your your uh bottom six along with a third guy with beecher who are all
04:38 carving out uh established roles on this team that's a great problem to have so i can i kind
04:43 of see that being their approach at least out of the gate with murky love in this maybe five six
04:48 game kind of trial size that they kind of have for him where uh they want to see whether he can
04:53 drive play in patra spot and then if he rolls with it and the time comes for patra to come back
04:58 you kick that can a little bit down the road because again that's a good problem to have so
05:01 thank you again for the question ice frog we turn next to ryan great last name we know it's your
05:07 first name i guess but ryan asked uh seidenberg and chara played together despite both being
05:12 same-handed why not come to playoffs play carlo and mcavoy together and let them ride for 35
05:17 minutes a night thanks for the question ryan um it's definitely a uh intriguing option to have
05:22 uh for the brunes i mean listen you mentioned seidenberg and chara i think most brunes fans
05:28 would would kill to have a pairing like that again in terms of playing 27 28 minutes a night
05:34 shut down defense i mean well i think we all know the the usual suspects that played a key role on
05:40 that 2011 team with chara and bergeron what have you but um mark recce horton but i think seidenberg
05:47 is right up there he was a monster throughout that playoff run and i can get the uh the appeal
05:54 of maybe putting your two probably best defensemen this year especially i think carlo has been
05:59 money all season long but um i think the the biggest issue there is beyond the fact that i
06:06 think montgomery is pretty keen on balancing and having you know different options there with guys
06:11 that are uh you know different shots in those spots i still think they want to keep it more
06:17 balanced in terms of their top four where they can have two very you know rather than having
06:22 maybe one mega pairing you can have two damn good you know pairings it's not to say that you know
06:27 on paper at least mcavoy with whoever whether it's grizzly who hasn't really been playing at a high
06:33 level or lori that can be a really good pairing in and of itself and then carlo and lintel last
06:38 year were arguably the best shut down pair in the league and i know lintel really hasn't had a strong
06:44 start to the year but i was really encouraged by what you saw from him uh on wednesday against
06:49 buffalo where uh looked like kind of lintel of old again didn't have any points but you saw how
06:54 assertive he was with the puck he was killing plays um aggressive without you know putting
06:59 himself out in bad spots making really quick uh tap passes getting the puck out of the uh
07:04 bruins defensive zone so uh i still think for right now at least you know barring
07:10 continued struggles for those key cogs like a lintel or a grizzly i still think montgomery
07:16 wants to keep those guys kind of separated out there and um you know rather have a really really
07:22 strong top four as opposed to a really top heavy top pairing when again you need pretty much
07:27 everyone to pull on the rope come the postseason so thank you for the question ryan we turn next to
07:32 moonlight graham great film makes makes many men cry uh moonlight graham asks toughness and are we
07:39 going to get any great question moonlight uh listen it is definitely going to be i think a
07:46 work in progress in terms of finding and again i say toughness i think what this team needs
07:51 especially in today's nhl is uh tone setters i i think that's something where whether this team is
07:57 falling into a rut they're in a critical game where all of a sudden you have um uh a stretch
08:04 there where you need a response whether it's a heavy hit um a fight what have you i think you
08:10 saw in that game against minnesota right before the holidays with lauco where bruins give up a
08:16 goal to johansson on the power play immediately leco drops the gloves guys get a spark from that
08:22 and then uh the bruin score well leco's in the box like i think he need more responses like that
08:28 again listen you'll take a guy who's going to land 10 you know 10 hits a night of course but
08:33 i i think that the lack of not response but the lack of just guys that can have that momentum
08:39 shifting play that's not a tangible goal or what have you like i i think you see every time in the
08:44 postseason there's at least one game where mcavoy has one of those heavy hits it kind of changes the
08:49 complexion of a game but it can't just be him you know it can't just be him it can't just be
08:53 you know i think frederick's done a pretty good job at um you know answering the bell when needed
08:58 and i think lauco now that he's finally been cleared to fight i'm sure you're going to see
09:01 him kind of muck it up a lot more here but i i think it needs to be a lot more of those kind of
09:06 guys buying and delivering a big hit when needed and kind of setting the tone when the situation
09:11 arises again uh in a perfect situation you have a guy like luci chair to do that i don't see that
09:16 being the case anymore so you gotta have to make do with what what you have on this roster and then
09:21 you kind of see what other options are out there you know whether it's i don't know if you're going
09:25 to be relinquishing draft assets to get like a you know a few years ago when like delorey was a guy
09:31 that players coveted or even like a hathaway you know maybe that's a situation when the bruins
09:36 view it as you know rather than spending premium assets to get a lint home or a top defenseman
09:43 you know maybe it's a situation where um you get like a fourth line established veteran guy that
09:48 can maybe make more of an impact on the fourth line with a few younger guys like lauco and bicho
09:53 and see how that kind of maps out so i could see that i know uh ty anderson and i mentioned like
09:59 picking up maybe really affordable free agents like guy like wayne simmons listen he's he's
10:04 pretty cooked but if you want to bring him on for a league minimum bring him on the roster and just
10:08 have him as kind of a physical deterrent maybe that's a an avenue you take so uh it is something
10:14 that i think needs to be addressed on this thing whether it's internally or going and finding a guy
10:20 at an affordable value to to add to that team but it is something that you just want to see a little
10:24 bit more again maybe not overall pushback or you know guys that can beat the brakes off of players
10:30 but uh players that can respond and you know change the momentum of the game beyond just
10:36 you know a dangle and a snipe in the offensive offensive zone so i think that is something
10:40 this team definitely has to keep tabs on as this year goes on so good question moonlight
10:45 now before we uh go on to our next set of questions here we're going to take a brief break
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11:48 all right next question is from brian who asks uh given the lack of point production from jake
11:52 debrusk what's a realistic deal for him look like and any chance he and the bees can find some common
11:57 ground on that or will he land elsewhere uh great question brian uh again it is probably the the
12:04 most consequential thing in terms of internally on this roster is getting debrusk back playing at a
12:09 high level i think you should be encouraged by what you saw on uh wednesday in buffalo i think
12:14 that was one of his best games of the year gets two two assists on on coils goals um first multiple
12:20 multi-point game in the season frame which is crazy to think about but uh beyond that looked
12:25 really engaged did more of the stuff that we've seen all year which is you know he's moving his
12:29 feet being active um but finally gets rolled over some tangible points which is hopefully a step in
12:34 the right direction and again i still think this is a situation where um i don't know where exactly
12:42 the the best value is for debrusk right in terms of a deal because he's not a guy that i think you
12:47 want to sell short on or or just move for the sake of thinking that all right you don't want to pay
12:51 him get anything for him when again he's shooting i think five percent this season it's like you know
12:56 what eight or nine percent below his career average like would you rather like stay the
13:04 course with a guy who's still being a solid to a player that is the law of averages say he's due
13:09 for a heater at some point again i think we can probably throw out the 30 goal prediction that i
13:13 think it had from earlier on this year but if he heats up and ends the year with 20 you know 22
13:19 goals and and continues to play really good two-way hockey i think you'd rather keep that
13:24 than selling him for uh you know whatever the return will be because again i think he has value
13:29 even if he's a pending free agent on the trade market but for the kind of guys that you want to
13:34 move him for right like you want to move him for a guy like a alias lindholm or a um you know noah
13:41 hannafin one of these guys that can really impact this team that if you're moving a guy like to
13:45 brusque off makes it worth your while i can't see like a team like calgary being someone that
13:50 necessarily covets a guy who's 27 is a good player but as a pending free agent does the brush really
13:56 want to go to calgary where that team seems like it's mine for a longer rebuild facilities don't
14:01 really get rave reviews from uh other players and other teams across the league like i don't know if
14:07 that's necessarily a team that that wants a team probably wants to brusque is a team like uh you
14:12 know the avalanche or a contending team that wants a little bit more of a scoring punch and think that
14:17 he can break through with them right like i don't know what you're getting from a team like the
14:20 avalanche that makes it worth what you know debris can and should be right with this team so again
14:26 like i feel like we go through the same narrative with the breast where i think he's playing a
14:30 really strong to a game but but of course like dude needs to score and i think you're if you're
14:37 the bruins you're trying to stay the course here because he's still doing enough that he's not like
14:41 you got to take him out of the lineup or he's hurting your overall product on the ice but uh
14:46 you're just hoping that he finally starts you know that shooting percentage starts going the
14:49 other way and he starts burying more of these chances uh because i still think he's an important
14:53 part of this team and i think the bruins ideally want to keep him um but it will be fascinating to
14:58 see what's going to happen when um the time comes for that contract because he told me before the
15:04 year i was looking more at that bernin hagel contract is kind of the the common ground there
15:09 if it ends up being like 5 million or something like that for a long-term deal for the breast i
15:13 think if you're the bruins you probably jump on it because even if he's not a 30 goal guy but is a
15:19 good two-way player that plays 16 17 minutes a night can give you 20 goals ideally 20 plus um
15:25 i still think there's some pretty good value there for what he brings to this team so
15:29 definitely something worth keeping tabs on uh so once again uh thanks for the question brian
15:34 move on now to rob plowinski who asks uh best game for freddie last night versus buffalo line
15:41 changes for top nine best they've looked in a couple of weeks which i agree uh should they
15:45 keep him at center uh thanks for the question rob uh i think for right now uh i think frederick has
15:52 done a pretty solid job playing down the middle again it's his natural position so he's has no
15:57 qualms with doing it um i still think ideally the bruins want to keep him at wing um it's something
16:03 that we've discussed multiple times both during training camp and the start of the year where
16:07 frederick kind of best fits and it seems like montgomery and the bruins are more inclined to
16:11 keeping him at wing i think uh in spurts he can do a very good job down the middle but it seems
16:16 like for montgomery's approach um the the most important thing is keeping frederick playing a
16:22 simplified game right when he tries to either do too much or uh gets kind of caught up in a lot of
16:27 the you know greater details of playing at center uh sometimes he can kind of get away from his game
16:35 or tries doing too much and i think we've all seen now at this point with frederick when he's at his
16:38 best when he's playing really simple uh hockey getting to the front of the net again annoying
16:44 guys we're not going out of his way to do it kind of letting the the chaos kind of come to him that's
16:49 usually how i think he's at his best as opposed to maybe earlier earlier on in his career when he was
16:53 kind of like a heat-seeking missile trying to to get under the skin of opponents so i think ideally
16:58 they want to keep him at wing that's where i think he saw most of his success last year it just
17:02 depends on who's going to be a centerman right uh because again coil's done a really good job this
17:08 year but i still love when he plays with uh frederick i think that's a really really strong
17:12 pairing uh in terms of building out your roster but who knows if murkula plays well with him or
17:18 patra comes back energized i think they still want to keep him on the wing and have him kind of
17:22 playing that simplified hockey that really benefited him and the bruins last year so uh
17:27 thanks for the question rob you go next to cj kelly who asks once the world juniors is over
17:32 how will the bruins determine if patra had a good tournament and they got what they wanted
17:36 by sending him time on ice points playing on both sides of the puck leadership uh and you also ask
17:41 if murk is brought back and stays what happens to the lineup once patra is back so a good question
17:47 cj i think for the bruin it's all about confidence right i i think for them um you saw with patra
17:53 earlier on this year uh when he was kind of accelerating his timeline and stamping a spot
17:59 in this lineup a lot of it had to do with just how poised and confident he was with the puck
18:03 even as a 19 year old and it's not to say that he's uh that's been few and far between but you've
18:09 had less games where he's had these really dominant shifts where he doesn't look like a
18:12 19 year old out there right where he's uh making guys miss up high uh holding on to the puck
18:17 winning board battles and bringing the puck into grade a ice and letting his natural talent take
18:22 over and i think for them that that's how they're gonna uh weigh just how much he's built off of
18:28 this experience of world juniors where he's a top line center he's helping team canada hopefully uh
18:33 you know take home a medal there during that tournament and i think if you're playing with
18:37 confidence and poise all the other stuff plays out right like you're playing confident you're
18:42 gonna get more ice time you're gonna naturally get more points um you're gonna improve both sides
18:47 of your your overall game and work on your 200 foot game so i think for them that's the biggest
18:51 key i think confidence is the the most important thing that they're hoping to kind of re-spark
18:57 with him going into this second half of the year and give him a little bit more juice going into
19:00 this kind of grueling stretch of the season uh and if he's playing confidently all the rest of
19:06 that stuff's gonna to show itself right like it's not like a guy who's not confident all of a sudden
19:11 is gonna go on a heater he's going to all of a sudden start averaging 15 plus minutes a night
19:16 like i think once you're playing to your strengths and feeling good about your game the rest kind of
19:20 solves itself and then if uh when patra comes back and murky love is still up here it's great
19:25 problem to have right then all of a sudden you're looking at um you know just a guy like uh lauco or
19:31 or heinie and slot out of the lineup you push the guy down there i still think um whether it's
19:35 murky love or patra that can be a lot of intrigue there as to one of those guys moving to the wing
19:41 um and all of a sudden you've got a bottom six that has a lot of young talent that if they're
19:46 proving their worth up here you got a pretty good situation on your hands not just for this year in
19:50 terms of that offensive upside but especially in the years ahead because i think especially
19:54 the guy like murky love has been a really present pleasant surprise because you you look at
20:00 obviously patra no one expected him to be a 19 year old guy up in the nhl but murky love's guy
20:06 that we've heard the the script on him for a long time now right where it's uh really offensively
20:11 gifted had a lot to work on defensively and all the credits to him he's made a lot of strides in
20:17 that department so again i don't think he's going to be winning any selkies in in the future but
20:22 if murky love can be a steady two-way player and that offensive instincts that has made him such a
20:27 coveted prospect can play it at the nhl level you got a very good player in your hands if you're
20:32 the Bruins all right thanks for the question cj as we kind of go into the final stretch here
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21:55 over at factor meals all right we have a quite a few questions so we'll kind of wrap it up with
21:59 these last two here so one from nathan roe who asks do you think laura has done enough to stay
22:06 in boston when grizz and forbert are healthy great question nathan and it's definitely i think
22:10 something that if you asked me back in november when he was sent down the first time i'd be like
22:15 i really like laura's game i can see the potential you've got a potential top four stalwart on your
22:22 hands but i think when you'll get his defensive game still a lot to work on there that i wouldn't
22:27 be so confident putting them in there again got guys that are injured without a doubt first guy
22:33 up you want him playing minutes when needed up here but now i think i'm kind of i don't know
22:39 if i'm ready to fully say that he deserves to stay up here full time yet but i think what i've been
22:44 really encouraged with so far over this kind of second stint he's been with the team is that the
22:48 defensive game has been a lot improved and again not to say that it's perfect again the guy is
22:53 switched to defense when he was 17 years old like he is already a plays a position that needs a lot
23:00 of refinement has a really long development curve and he's already you know kind of playing catch up
23:05 in terms of just the amount of years and reps he's had so i think patience has to be prescribed
23:11 with a guy like laurie but all the credit to him you know this is a player that if you listen to
23:16 our podcast earlier on this year we were talking about laurie being like a great prospect a really
23:21 intriguing guy i mean six five offensive defenseman not a lot out there uh that have that profile but
23:27 give him a full year in providence let him learn the ropes and you know check back in 2024 see if
23:32 he's ready he accelerated his timeline was a really strong pre-season uh you know showed his uh
23:38 potential at spurts during that first stint but then like in the second uh time up with boston now
23:44 defensive game's been a whole lot better uh brunes out were outscored by opponents 13 to 7 when laurie
23:49 was on the ice over those first 12 games last six games he's been back up here uh brunes have
23:54 outscored teams 5-1 so uh that's a sign of i think a really good young player um when obviously the
24:02 potential the talents there we all know that but when you have a young player that can hit those
24:07 you know expected bumps in the road and can immediately learn from it not just over the
24:11 span of a year but over a month or so in terms of making those corrections um that's very encouraging
24:17 to see so i'm still not ready quite yet like again it all comes down to like how healthy guys like
24:23 grizzly and forbert are i think that's been the case all year um i think forbert's had a really
24:28 really good season as well so i can't see him being a guy that'll be the odd man out we know
24:33 how good he is on the pk but his five on five numbers have been really really good uh so far
24:38 this season as well uh chris is kind of the wild card right because um when he's healthy he still
24:43 has a lot of value to this team especially when he's with macka boy just hasn't been the case
24:48 this year so if he's back uh eventually in the lineup grizzly and the results still aren't there
24:53 especially with macka boy when you know those two are playing at a high level together they're one
24:58 of the best pairings in the league at least during the regular season um if those returns still
25:03 aren't really there then that's when i think you uh you give lauren extended look so i think they're
25:08 going to give grizzly a long leash once he's back healthy to kind of reset you know reset and
25:13 reassert his value to this team in the lineup but if their turns aren't there in just a you know a
25:18 few weeks or months down the road i can see it being the situation maybe a guy like low right
25:22 does leapfrog him if especially if laurent continues to make these strides defensively so
25:27 thanks for the question nathan and our last one uh is a question from mama cars who asks what is
25:33 jake bruss future with the bruins production seems down this year although he looked good last game
25:38 and you also have a follow-up so we kind of talked about the rest future i still think ideally the
25:43 bruins want to keep him on board i think um montgomery's been pleased with his overall
25:47 two-way game you know he's not doing enough to take him out of the lineup right like he's still
25:53 like not costing you games i would say but there's been a lot of times where an extra goal two from
25:58 the rest would either get you a win outright or would save you from a few of these white knuckle
26:03 third periods where you're frantically protecting a one goal lead you're expending energy in november
26:09 and december um and and that's been huge for this team is you just haven't gotten that necessary
26:15 scoring depth to put you over the top in some of these situations so um i think ideally they want
26:20 to keep him again like in terms of a trade i just don't know what you're gonna get as a proper
26:25 return for a pending free agent for a team that um one you know wants him long term or targets him
26:33 this year like a contending team and you're gonna get a return that maximizes what the value is for
26:38 giving up a a top six guy that should be in your lineup for the foreseeable future so again what's
26:43 that next contract gonna be it's gonna be the big question um because you hope that i think for the
26:48 bruins sake uh that he gets on a bit of a heater here in the second half and hopefully that game
26:53 against the sabers is a bit of a jumping off point for him but uh i i think ideally they want to keep
26:59 him here long term and and view him as a guy that can give you 20 goals in a in most seasons uh once
27:05 the shooting percentage doesn't go in the tank as it's been this year but uh i think that they still
27:11 view him as a really strong two-way guy that um you can pencil them into their into your top six
27:16 grouping for the foreseeable future so i think ideally they want to keep him here just depends
27:20 on what that contract's going to be and then your follow-up is who hands out the chicken wings
27:24 during post-game interviews uh great question uh i know the last time the bruins were in buffalo
27:30 last season and swin was eating buffalo uh wings during his interview i believe it was oh mark
27:35 uh a guy who spent a few years in buffalo i'm sure knows quite a few good spots to grab some wings
27:40 there i think he was the one giving out the wings last time couldn't confirm uh this most recent one
27:46 who it was but if i had to guess i would assume it'd be a guy who's got those buffalo ties like
27:50 oh mark is once again doing that again so maybe that's a a running trend whenever they make it to
27:55 buffalo which seems like a probably a highlight of that trip if you're going up there so no
27:59 disrespect to buffalo but you guys know anyway that is uh that will wrap up our uh our latest
28:07 episode episode 190 of poke the bear uh again thank you guys for listening thank you for those
28:13 who sent in their questions um again as we go into the new year uh we can't thank you guys enough for
28:18 all of your support whether it's uh speaking for myself evan ty everyone who takes part in these
28:24 podcasts on both poke the bear and bruins beat we can't do it without you guys and your support so
28:30 once again thank you all for listening uh reading our stuff uh tweeting at us all that stuff it
28:36 really is appreciated for everything that we do um and we love the opportunity we have to connect
28:43 with you guys and cover this great sport so uh once again thank you all so much for
28:48 listening on this latest episode i will see you all in 2024
28:55 you
28:56 you
28:56 you

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