On this episode of Pucks with Haggs, Joe Haggerty hosts a mailbag edition of the show, answering all of your fan questions about the future of the Bruins, pieces the team may add, and much more!
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00:00Welcome to another edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast, powered by PrizePix, the exclusive
00:09daily fantasy partner of the CLNS Media Network.
00:13This is the 111th episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast.
00:17Thank you for tuning in.
00:18I'm your host, Joe Hagerty.
00:19You can find my work at joehagerty.substack.com.
00:24Subscribe to a premium membership and get all of my NHL and Bruins writing sent straight
00:28directly to your inbox.
00:29I also write three columns a week for the Boston Sports Journal, so go to bostonsportsjournal.com.
00:35Check all of my work out there as well.
00:38Let's thank our sponsors real quick before we get into the nitty gritty of this podcast.
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02:23All right, we are going to do a mailbag episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast.
02:28We are in the death valley of hockey news, as we like to call it.
02:32The middle of June to the middle of August, basically, in the NHL is where everybody goes
02:37to their cottages in Canada, all the executives, all the scouts, all the players, all the movers
02:42and shakers, all the coaches.
02:45Everybody just goes away and basically shuts it down for the entire month, gets on their
02:49boat on the lake, goes fishing, goes golfing, takes their vacation they've been waiting
02:53all year to go on, gets married.
02:55A lot of players do that right about this time of year.
02:58All of that stuff is happening because there is pretty much nothing going on in the hockey
03:02world, and that's basically where we're at right now.
03:05With the Boston Bruins and with the NHL, the only thing right now is Jeremy Swayman's contract.
03:11We'll get more on that later.
03:13Where he hasn't signed, nothing is going on there, but everybody else has been signed.
03:17You're not seeing really a lot of trades.
03:19You're not seeing a lot of free agent signings.
03:21You're not seeing much of anything right now.
03:24It's the perfect time to answer some of your questions.
03:26That's what we're going to do in this episode.
03:28The first one, as I always do when I send out the tweet looking for questions, I look
03:33for Bruins, NHL, and pop culture questions, all in that order.
03:40The first question is from Frederick underscore MVP on Twitter.
03:46He's got a little bit of each question, which I think is phenomenal.
03:48The first question is, what recent sports related documentary or series has caught your
03:52attention and why it's worth a watch?
03:55Now, I know this is a hockey podcast and I cover hockey and I cover the NHL, so a lot
04:02of the other sports, maybe you're not watching as many documentaries or TV series on these
04:10other sports and things in the sporting world.
04:14There is a good series right now on, I think it's FX.
04:18You can watch it on Hulu.
04:21I can't remember the name of it, but it's about the LA Clippers and it's about Donald
04:25Sterling and it's got Lawrence Fishburne playing Doc Rivers.
04:31It's basically about the whole saga where Donald Sterling got bounced from ownership
04:38and it's a dramatization of that whole thing.
04:41That series is pretty good.
04:43Donald Sterling is played by none other than Ed O'Neill.
04:46Yes, Al Bundy plays Donald Sterling, so that is actually pretty entertaining too.
04:53It was good.
04:54There wasn't a ton of basketball in it.
04:56It was more about the stuff that was going on behind the scenes, but there was enough
04:59to keep it interesting for people that love sports.
05:01In that vein though, I felt like it was a poor man's version of winning time, which
05:09was on HBO.
05:11It had two seasons and you can go on HBO Max and watch it right now if you missed it the
05:16first time, but it's all about the Lakers dynasty and the rise of the Lakers.
05:22You're sitting there saying to yourself, why the hell would I want to watch about the rise
05:24of the Lakers dynasty?
05:25Well, there's a lot of stuff about the Celtics and Larry Bird and Red Auerbach and all that
05:31good stuff in there too.
05:33They actually have what they called, it was a origin episode of the villain of the series,
05:38which was Larry Bird, and they basically go through his whole story.
05:41The guy that plays Larry Bird is excellent.
05:43That whole episode is really, really good.
05:46It goes through a bunch of stuff from his history, including him walking onto Indiana
05:49State in jeans and torching everybody in a pickup game before he decided to go to Indiana
05:55State after he famously had dropped out and left Indiana and Bobby Knight.
06:01All that stuff is really great.
06:02If you love Larry Bird, if you love the Celtics, it's worth a watch just because of that, but
06:06the guys that played Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, all the different players, Norm
06:13Nixon's son actually played Norm Nixon in it.
06:17Oh, what's the guy's name?
06:20I can't think of a guy's name, the actor, but he played, the one that played Pat Riley
06:24was excellent too.
06:26So I would check it out.
06:28John C. Reilly is in it playing Dr. Buss, Jerry Buss.
06:33So that part is interesting too.
06:36I thought the series was well done.
06:38The music was great.
06:39The direction was great.
06:40The writing was excellent.
06:41The characters were all fleshed out.
06:43I know Jerry West was really pissed at his portrayal and it was kind of unfair at the
06:47beginning.
06:48It seemed like they were taking shots at him a little bit and I can understand why he wasn't
06:52happy.
06:53And I remember Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I think writing on a sub stack that he didn't like
06:55the way the series went and how everybody was portrayed as well.
07:00When you take it for a TV series, that's not quite like, that's not quite a documentary.
07:06So it's not a hundred percent truth.
07:08Some stuff has been stretched and really sort of like fabricated to a degree for dramatic
07:14purposes.
07:16I think it's sucked in and find it really interesting.
07:18I grew up in the eighties in the middle of the Laker Celtics rivalry.
07:21I was very invested in it as a kid.
07:24I watched all those games and like everybody else of that era, we would turn down the TV
07:28and turn up the radio broadcast and listen to Johnny most while we were watching the
07:32games on TV.
07:34But I lived through all that stuff.
07:36So it was really interesting to watch it from this perspective.
07:39And I think it's worth for anybody that didn't catch it, it got canceled after two seasons.
07:45They were going to make more.
07:46So they kind of wrapped up the series pretty quickly at the end of the second season, which
07:50actually ended with the Celtics winning a championship and Lakers really being at the
07:56sort of down note.
07:58They called it like the empire strikes back part of the series where the heroes, the Lakers
08:04are really at the lowest point.
08:07And basically the, yeah, I won't give it away, but like they're all at their low point at
08:11the end of the second season with the Celtics winning a championship.
08:14And they were hoping to have a third season where they were going to show how they rebounded
08:17from that and continue to build.
08:19And instead they had to do it really quickly in like five, 10 minutes of like sort of written
08:26lines at the end of the series, kind of telling what happened to everybody.
08:31But aside from the abbreviated ending, I would say it's very much worth watching.
08:37And you can, like I said, stream it on HBO Max winning time about the Celtics and the
08:42Lakers.
08:43I highly recommend that.
08:44That's probably the best thing I've seen recently.
08:47I saw this Pete Rose documentary or something on HBO Max.
08:51I haven't gotten a chance to watch that yet.
08:52So I may like that as well.
08:54And I always love the 30 for 30s.
08:56Like all of them are great.
08:59I have some personal favorites.
09:01Obviously the one about the 2004 Red Sox Yankees was really good.
09:04There's one about Lakers, Celtics, Bird Magic.
09:07That's really good.
09:08A bunch of ones that are really good.
09:09I liked the I hate Christian Leitner one because I obviously was in high school around the
09:13time Leitner was playing at Duke and everybody hated Christian Leitner and Duke back then.
09:19So that was a fun one to watch as well.
09:21And I learned a lot about him.
09:22I didn't know he was a working class kid from Buffalo.
09:24I thought he was a rich kid that went and played basketball at Duke.
09:26And I guess that was the perception of him and it was completely wrong.
09:30So a lot about that documentary I actually kind of enjoyed.
09:33So I would recommend winning time though if you're going to try to watch something and
09:37you haven't watched it yet about the Lakers and the Celtics.
09:40Now with Major League Baseball in full swing with the Boston Red Sox actually doing okay.
09:45Sort of fighting for a playoff spot.
09:47Certainly better than I think anybody would have expected going into this season.
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11:30NHL question next from Frederick underscore MVP.
11:34With the new rule changes this season, which team is most likely to benefit and how?
11:41I mean, is there anything really significant about the rule changes that you feel like
11:46is going to benefit any one team?
11:49I don't know.
11:50I'm going to skip that one because I just don't think, I don't see the rule changes.
11:54They're subtle.
11:55I don't see the rule changes really benefiting anybody tremendously.
12:02At least not off the top of my head.
12:03I may come back to that one when I have a guest later on down the line.
12:07So I may reserve, and I may actually ask this question again when I've got a couple of guests
12:11on next time, because I like this question anyway, the three-pronged attack.
12:15But I'm going to reserve that one and sort of pass that one for now and maybe think about
12:18it a little bit more, because I don't really sense that any team is going to get a tremendous
12:23amount of benefit from the rule changes.
12:25I will tell you one thing that I did think was interesting.
12:28This isn't about rule changes, but I did think it's interesting finding out that Dallas has
12:32actually got the worst deal as far as travel in the NHL these days.
12:37I think everybody assumed it was Vancouver or Seattle, and certainly Vancouver had a
12:43tough before Seattle was made an NHL team, before expansion went there.
12:48But I guess that's changed things now for Vancouver quite a bit.
12:51And Dallas actually has the worst travel.
12:54You knew it was going to be a Western Conference team, because there's a lot more far-reaching
12:57teams in the Western Conference.
13:01But I thought it would be a Pacific Northwest team.
13:03I did not think it was going to be Dallas, even though I guess that makes sense, them
13:06being in Texas and pretty much far away from everybody.
13:11That's the kind of thing I want to see rule changes done to sort of mitigate, is the travel,
13:17the Western Conference having to fly all over the place and really having it a lot worse
13:21than the East.
13:23I think the East and West teams should be playing less against each other each season.
13:29For instance, every Eastern Conference team plays every Western Conference team once,
13:34twice during the year, once at home and once on the road.
13:38The Bruins play the Edmonton Oilers once at TD Garden and once out in Edmonton every single
13:43season.
13:44I understand that for sales ticket purposes, because every town wants to have Conor McDavid
13:49and the Edmonton Oilers come to town to sell tickets.
13:51Some need it, like the Florida team.
13:55Some of the non-traditional teams, I think, need that.
13:59Arizona Coyotes moving to Utah now.
14:02Teams like that, I think, need it.
14:04Teams like the Boston Bruins do not need it.
14:07There's also a lot of NHL teams that don't necessarily, that you could go Conor McDavid
14:11coming to Boston every other year instead of every year, and that would be perfectly
14:16fine.
14:17I think if you did that, if you eliminated some of those Western Conference games, it
14:19would lighten the load travel-wise on teams like the Dallas Stars.
14:24I want to see more divisional rival games.
14:27I want to see the Bruins play the Canadians more.
14:29I want to see the Bruins play the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Florida Panthers, the Toronto
14:32Maple Leafs more.
14:34I want to see them playing all those teams like five times a year or more, if you can
14:38do it.
14:40But I want to go back sort of to when I first started covering the NHL, the Bruins were
14:47playing the Canadians, I want to say it was like eight times a year.
14:49I want to see it get back to that point where they're playing everybody in their division
14:52a lot and really breeding the rivalry, breeding the hatred, building all of that up before
14:58they face each other in the playoffs when they have the divisional rivalries or the
15:02divisional playoffs set up and you're playing everybody out of your division a couple of
15:05times.
15:06I want to see that happen more.
15:08And I want to see that during the regular season rather than them playing all these
15:11teams they're barely going to see and traveling all around the country to every single Western
15:15Conference city.
15:16So, you know, maybe there's something that can be done with that with the schedule makers
15:20in the short term.
15:21Certainly it would be cheaper too for the NHL owners, which I think they're interested
15:26in the bottom line there.
15:27If you're not traveling as much to the West Conference and you're traveling to all the
15:32teams that are closer to you, I think it's in their best interest as well fiscally to
15:35do something like that.
15:36And it's less, you know, air miles, less fuel used, like better for the environment, all
15:42that stuff.
15:43There's a lot of arguments you can make better for the players too, obviously.
15:47Less travel, less time on planes, more sleep, more rest, more practice time, all that stuff.
15:51So I wish that's something they would talk about as a rule change.
15:54Forget about like teams benefiting from some like subtle like, you know, way that they're
15:58going to call penalties, interpret penalties different this year or whatever.
16:03All right.
16:04Bruins question.
16:05Can you evaluate the Bruins-Swayman situation?
16:07Yes, I can evaluate the Bruins-Swayman situation.
16:11I've explained this a few times.
16:14It hasn't changed much.
16:16I don't think it's going to change much before.
16:19Like once you've hit this point where there's clearly a bit of an impasse where the two
16:22sides aren't coming to an agreement, have not come to an agreement.
16:26The only thing they agreed on was that they did not want to go to arbitration, both Jeremy
16:29Swayman's camp and the Bruins camp, which smartly so, I think that was a commitment
16:33from both sides that we're going to get a contract done and we're really going to commit
16:37to it.
16:38We're not going to force the other side into arbitration, which they could have done, which
16:41could have like, obviously, Jeremy Swayman didn't want to go there again.
16:44He had hard feelings about last time, didn't want to experience that again.
16:48I totally understand that.
16:50But like the Bruins had every right to take them there and try to get another cheap year
16:54or two out of him or cheaper year or two out of him.
16:57And certainly they would have in arbitration.
16:59Like his numbers are not great for a goaltender.
17:02And this is where the problem lies, all right.
17:07He had a very good season this past year, was named to the all-star game, was the number
17:11one goalie in the playoffs.
17:14Like he did some really good things, there's no question about it.
17:16And the performance he had for about a month in the Stanley Cup playoffs was like nonpareil.
17:22It was outstanding.
17:24There's no question.
17:26He answered a lot of questions.
17:28He played so well that they felt comfortable trading Leenis Almark.
17:31There was a lot of great things going on in the postseason, but it was only a month, okay.
17:37There's no comparable to Jeremy Swayman in the NHL, as far as goalies go, that is getting
17:43paid more than $7 million a year.
17:48Definitely nobody comparable to Jeremy Swayman where he is right now in his career that is
17:52getting paid $8 million a year.
17:54So everybody automatically assumes he's going to get eight years and $64 million and the
17:57Bruins should pay him like a number one because he had a good month in the playoffs and he
18:02had a pretty good season where he was named to the all-star game.
18:04But the bottom line is Jeremy Swayman has not started more than 44 games in an NHL season.
18:11Jeremy Swayman has never been a Vezina Trophy finalist.
18:14Jeremy Swayman has never been considered one of the top three goalies in the league at
18:19any point in his career.
18:24There's no goalie that has not even had one season of proving he's a number one goalie
18:30with the accompanying workload, playing 60 games a year, playing 55 to 60 games a year.
18:36You got to do that before you can get paid like a number one goalie.
18:39He has not done that yet.
18:41And that's where the problem comes in for the negotiations.
18:44Negotiations, it's kind of like real estate with sports player contracts.
18:49You've got to find comparables.
18:50Just like in real estate, you've got to find comparable properties to get the proper value
18:55for your house.
18:56In player contract negotiations, you have to find comparable players that are getting
19:01paid the same that you are in order to win your argument and get the contract that you
19:06want from the team.
19:09And the tough part for Jeremy Swayman's camp is there are no comparables to Jeremy Swayman
19:14based on what he's done in the NHL to date that got these massive eight year, eight million
19:20plus deals.
19:22The closest comparable to Jeremy Swayman that I could find was UC Soros before he signed
19:29his deal that he just signed for like 7.5 million or whatever it was on a long term
19:33deal.
19:35He had previously been splitting time with Pekka Rinne and he got paid three years, $15
19:40million with very similar numbers to Jeremy Swayman having split time with Pekka Rinne,
19:46just like Jeremy Swayman split time with Linus Ullmark.
19:51And then three years later now, down the line, now Soros gets the huge deal that we're talking
19:56about Jeremy Swayman potentially getting right now.
20:01You don't want to sign Jeremy Swayman to a three year contract and let him potentially
20:05be able to walk away in free agency where it's going to cost you even more.
20:09That I think would be a mistake, but just the same, I also think the Bruins cannot give
20:14him eight years and $64 million based on where he is right now, having never even played
20:20one season as a number one goalie with that kind of physical and mental workload.
20:26And then being able to have something in the tank in the playoffs after you've played that
20:29many games and played at a high level, you know, you've got to have a really good season
20:35or two where you're like top five in the Vezina Trophy voting, where you play 55 to 60 games
20:40and maintain your numbers, you know, where you prove that you can handle the workload
20:44of being a number one guy more than like just a month during the playoffs.
20:49And that's where I think the difficulty is right now is, and I think it was Dan Rosen
20:53on NHL.com, he had a mailbag and it was written questions.
20:57And he tried to say that like Connor Hellebuck and like a bunch of other goalies were comparables
21:02in Saros right now, after he's played 60 plus games, a couple of years in a row, were
21:08comparables to Jeremy Swayman.
21:11And because they traded Allmark, the Bruins believe he's a number one goalie.
21:15So he should be paid like a number one goalie.
21:16That is not how contracts work.
21:18That is not how it works.
21:20And granted, the Bruins are in a tough spot right now because they traded Allmark and
21:24their leverage is kind of gone.
21:27Because you know, they have Corpo Salo and Brandon Bussey, and they're not going to want
21:30to start the season with those two in net as your number one and number two, or one
21:34and one A. You know, this team is built to have elite goaltending and they need an elite
21:39goaltender like Jeremy Swayman.
21:41They need to get the same elite level of goaltending they got from Swayman and Allmark last year.
21:45So they need to keep them happy.
21:48They need to get them in training camp and be ready to go in the regular season.
21:51But at the same time, I think if Swayman's camp is pushing for eight years and $64 million,
21:58I don't think they can get there because I don't think there's a comparable getting
22:01paid that in the NHL, a comparable goalie.
22:04And that's what makes, I think, this a difficult negotiation.
22:08What makes this hard as far as trying to find a landing spot for the contract and what you're
22:14going to pay Swayman and all that stuff.
22:18I think that's where we're at right now is it's kind of an impasse because Swayman probably
22:23wants more than he should want or has earned to this point or sort of like deserves.
22:31And the Bruins don't want to offend him.
22:33The Bruins don't want to lowball him and piss him off.
22:35But at the same time, the Bruins don't want to create a situation where they're paying
22:41somebody eight years and $64 million that's never played more than 44 games in the NHL.
22:46That's never been a Vezina Trophy finalist.
22:48And all of a sudden he becomes a comparable to all these other NHL goalies that are like
22:54in the same situation where they can be like, Swayman got paid $8 million a year.
22:57This guy should be getting paid $8 million a year.
22:59And that's like a way to really like create inflationary contracts and make everything
23:05go through the roof.
23:06So you're not going to see the Bruins do that.
23:08You're not going to see a team that's owned by Jeremy Jacobs all of a sudden sign the
23:12super inflationary deal to a guy like Jeremy Swayman.
23:15That's what I believe anyway, just given his track record right now.
23:20So what's the middle ground?
23:21Maybe they can pay him.
23:24Maybe they sign him to like a five year deal for $7 million a year or something like that.
23:31Maybe they can find something in the middle where it's not quite the super long term deal,
23:35but where they are buying out some years of free agency and they could probably justify
23:39paying him $7 million a year instead of $8 because he's on the way up.
23:46And you can, I think, stretch it a little bit to seven just to give him some love and
23:53make him feel like you believe in him and that he's the number one guy.
23:56But I think if you start getting into the $8 million range for a guy like that, where
24:00he's getting paid like he's won Vezina trophies and that he's played 60 plus games and that
24:04he's been a workhorse before he's done that, I think that's problematic on a lot of different
24:08levels, especially if he proves or he shows you that he can't do it once the going gets
24:14tough and he really gets pushed and he's playing every game for two or three weeks
24:19straight and he can't maintain his performance.
24:21So I'm not saying that's going to happen.
24:22I don't think that's going to happen.
24:23I think Jeremy Swainman is the number one goalie.
24:25I think he's going to be excellent with the Bruins.
24:27But from a business perspective, I just don't think as the GM of the team, you can make
24:31that much of a leap with a huge contract like that before you've at least seen the goalie
24:35go out and prove it by playing all those games and playing at a high level and being that
24:39workhorse number one goalie.
24:41He just hasn't done that yet for a longer stretch than doing it in the playoffs for
24:46a month.
24:47So, which was, he was brilliant, obviously, but he needs to do it for more than that.
24:50All right.
24:51So I hope that answers your question.
24:53Hi, Joe.
24:54My favorite Bruin of all time, Ray Bork, celebrated a birthday this week.
24:58Could either you or your guests please share a favorite story about Ray that might not
25:02be well known to Bruins fans?
25:04Well, and that's from Roger Perry.
25:06Thank you, Roger.
25:07I am going to also bring this up to Mick, I think, and maybe Mark Diver, maybe Kevin
25:13Paul Dupont.
25:14I think he's going to come on this coming week.
25:16So we're going to get all those guys on to tell their Ray Bork stories.
25:22Mine is probably not as interesting as the other ones.
25:26I didn't cover Ray Bork, so I know him.
25:31The best story I have about Ray Bork, personally, is playing against him in Milan Lucic's Celebrity
25:38All-Star game, softball game.
25:40This is probably like 2011-ish, 2012-ish.
25:45And I was playing left field.
25:46He was up at bat, and he's a very good softball player, a great athlete, obviously.
25:52And I don't know if he did this on purpose.
25:54He frigging crushed a line drive right down the left field line and forced my fat ass
26:01to chase after the ball and run around and try to get it.
26:06And he ended up legging out a triple, Papa Bear Ray Bork, because it took me so long
26:12to track down the ball and get it back to the infield, because he had smoked it, and
26:17it started rattling around the wall.
26:18And this was at the Spinner's Field up in Lowell.
26:20And then he had a huge smile on his face after he ended up at third base legging out a triple,
26:25because he'd hit one to me out in left field.
26:28So that's probably my best Ray Bork story, personally.
26:34But I also love his restaurant, Tresca.
26:37His son, Chris, from his time playing with the Bruins, I had some great conversations
26:41with him.
26:42You know, Ray was around the team a little bit more.
26:44He'd be in Providence when Chris was down there as well.
26:49And he was like in, I believe it was Hartford, when his son Ryan played for the Wolf Pack,
26:53too.
26:54So you'd see him at those games a lot.
26:55Just a great guy, outstanding, classy guy, soft-spoken, but was, like, very friendly
27:03if, you know, you wanted to talk to him about anything.
27:07Exactly the kind of ambassador you would want for the Boston Bruins, and the kind of guy
27:10that would be a captain for a long time and a Hall of Famer.
27:13So class individual.
27:15But I hope some of the guys that covered him, who we will have on at a later time, will
27:22be able to tell you some better stories.
27:24So that will suffice for now.
27:25Just imagining me chasing his smoked ball down the left field line in a Celebrity All-Star
27:31game, where, you know, we had all kinds of—we had a cast of thousands out there.
27:35Lenny Clark was the pitcher.
27:37Toucher and Rich played in one of those games.
27:40Tuca Rast played shortstop.
27:41I don't think he'd ever played softball before in his life, and he was playing shortstop.
27:44There was some pretty funny stuff that happened in those games.
27:49I think Daniel Paia got mad at me because I caught his fly ball that he hit the right
27:53field at one point.
27:54There's all kinds of fun stuff going on with those games.
27:57So maybe we'll talk a little bit more about them at some point.
28:00Maybe we'll have some people on the plate in one of those Celebrity softball games.
28:04But that's the best story I can give you for his birthday.
28:08Hopefully we'll get some better ones out of Mick and Kevin Paul Dupont and those guys.
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29:13Thoughts on Bruins Merkulov and the narrative from many that he could be a solid option
29:17for second line right wing out of camp.
29:20I have a hard time believing he'd be considered with absolutely no experience on the right
29:24side nor any trial period recently in Providence.
29:27Thanks.
29:29From Black and Gold 277 and he actually went the extra mile of putting down where he played
29:37positionally.
29:39center 2324 in Providence one game at left wing 66 at center 2223 21 games at left wing
29:4746 at center 2122 two games at left wing six at center and look that's in some level it
29:57is interesting that he's only played left wing and center but like I gotta be honest
30:04with you like I think any player can adjust to playing left wing right wing yes you gotta
30:10play on your backhand more if you're playing on your offside yes it changes the way you
30:14do certain things and it makes it a little more difficult at times certainly on the breakout
30:18and pickpockets off the board and you know sometimes accepting passes too can be a more
30:23of a challenge if you're on your offside but like guys have done it Jake DeBrusque did
30:27it and made the transition very well especially skill guys I think that already have good
30:32hand I and have good stick skills good hands I think those kind of guys will be able to
30:37do it pretty seamlessly and pretty quickly and like you say no trial period isn't that
30:43what preseason is isn't that a trial period wouldn't you get looks at him at right wing
30:48during practice and during games in a trial period during training camp if you're going
30:53to try him out there potentially during the regular season so like to say it's a narrative
30:59really like the bro Don Sweeney mentioned Merkulov mentioned Riley Duran and mentioned
31:05Fabian Lysell by name when we were talking about a potential spot being open alongside
31:12Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand and maybe Charlie Coyle moves over to right wing and
31:16you have Merkulov playing center I suppose that's a possibility as well but like is it
31:23a narrative of the GM actually mentioned his name as potentially being a candidate
31:28is this still a narrative then I don't think so so you know bottom line with with the Merkulov
31:34stuff like if like if his only shot is going to be to play right wing and his only top
31:41six shot is going to be to play right wing with Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle don't
31:45you think they're going to look at him there don't you think he's wanting going to want
31:48to look there especially if before when he was brought up as a center it was like in
31:52a fourth line situation where he was miscast last year and really didn't do much of anything
31:57except from hit the post with one shot wasn't really distinguishable or noticeable at all
32:02and like to his defense I think he was much worried about being a good two-way center
32:06good defensive player and that kind of lessened his offensive impact and what he could do
32:10there so wouldn't you want him to get a top six look at you know a place where the Bruins
32:19need him like and like I said trial period is training camp like you you're going to
32:25have like almost a month to give him reps there to get look at it in the preseason to
32:29get look at it in practice to take a look and see if it might work and maybe it won't
32:33and he'll be out of the running but I just think you know I think he's been thrown into
32:40the mix by the GM and he was mentioned as a potential candidate so like why wouldn't
32:47you he be discussed at that point like I don't know I don't understand why the where
32:53the sort of like defensiveness about it or where the sort of you know oh that couldn't
33:00possibly happen because he did never played a game there in Providence well that you know
33:04what sometimes you need it at the NHL level to play a certain position and they get looks
33:08at especially in training camp where they have all that time to experiment with things
33:13and play around you take a look at it and see how he looks why wouldn't you like and
33:17maybe it goes no further than there and that's what's likely to happen is if he's really
33:21uncomfortable at right wing they'll short circuit it quick and they'll take a look at
33:25it and be like yeah this isn't really working you know he's more of a center or a left wing
33:30and it's just gonna be problematic for him but like why rule him out now when you haven't
33:35even looked at it like that seems more sort of like head scratching to me then you know
33:42potentially throwing him in there and see how he looks so it's an interesting point
33:46I'll give you that but just because a player the last few years hasn't played the right
33:51wing in Providence does not mean he's gonna get not gonna get looks at the NHL level with
33:56the Boston Bruins so I appreciate the email though and the question and I think it's a
34:03good one and I think it's a big year for Merkulov big year for Merkulov and Lysell both of them
34:10you know they both have established themselves in the AHL as solid players and as offensive
34:16playmakers and guys that can make things happen and now it's really up to them to make
34:20it happen at the NHL level and to make that step that next step to show that they can
34:25cross over and make that jump into being effective NHL players and sort of doing what Mason Lowry
34:30did last year and you know somebody asked me before like what would you consider a successful
34:35season for Fabian Lysell and it wouldn't necessarily be like 20 goals 50 points like whatever it
34:41would be sticking with the Bruins for most of the year would be staying at the NHL level
34:45it would be playing with Brad Marcian and Charlie Coyle and them having enough trust
34:50in him that they want him to stick around and that they're gonna keep him there you
34:55know it would be something like that it would be like doing what Johnny Beecher and Mason
34:59Lowry did last year and really kind of establishing themselves at the NHL level and sticking around
35:05the team for most of the year and even if he gets bounced once or twice the HL and he
35:09you know as it has a handful of games here and there but if like either Merkulov or Lysell
35:13spends the majority of the season at the NHL level playing for the Boston Bruins I
35:18really feel like that's the kind of forward progress you want to see from those players
35:24at this point and that the offensive numbers and more of the production more the top six
35:29reps and more of the you know trust will start to like be shown towards them as they establish
35:36themselves and as they can prove that they could be a useful piece at the NHL level for
35:41a team that's you know good that's that's playoff caliber that should be Stanley Cup
35:46caliber this year with the addition of Nikita Zdorov and Elias Lindholm as well as you know
35:53Mack Jones and some of the other players that the Bruins brought on board so you know it's
35:57gonna be an interesting year I do think in a lot of ways I certainly think Lysell is
36:03probably gonna be looked at much longer and harder for this right wing spot than Merkulov
36:08would just because I think it's tailor-made for him and really it's kind of the circle
36:12of life in the NHL that Jake DeBrusque was a first-round pick and ends up moving on and
36:17free agency because the Bruins didn't want to pay that kind of money or term to him and
36:21now the guy they took a few years ago right wing in the first round is kind of at that
36:27NHL crossroads right now and that's sort of the circle of life and player draft and development
36:32as you draft those guys knowing that they're gonna end up replacing veterans that you can't
36:36afford anymore and the Bruins are gonna take a hit offensively with Jake DeBrusque not
36:40around anymore because they're gonna miss his speed and skill and production and he
36:44didn't you know put up massive numbers over the course of his career but like he was a
36:49guy that put defensemen on their heels he was a guy that was feared offensively to that
36:54he could create and certainly when he was really feeling it and playing with speed and
36:58the skating game was going he could make things happen and he was dynamic so they need another
37:02dynamic force in that top six to create offense and to score and Merkulof could certainly
37:08I mean Lysel could certainly be that guy if he continues to make the forward progress
37:13that he did last year in Providence where he had some ups and downs but you know for
37:17the most part ended the year on a high note so that's another sort of to your point I
37:23think it's more Lysel than Merkulof probably being looked at in that spot now I'm interested
37:28to see how Riley Duran is gonna fit into all this because that it was interesting I thought
37:32that Don Sweeney mentioned Riley Duran along with those other two names as young players
37:36that could surprise and camp or get looks I think he's more of a bottom six than a top
37:41six candidate on the wing but maybe you know he becomes a bottom six guy that ends up helping
37:47push Trent Frederick or Morgan Geeky to that right wing spot because I know they're gonna
37:51get a lot of looks there as well but the bottom line is I think there will be a lot of candidates
37:56and I think there's gonna be a lot of people that the Bruins are gonna look at and give
38:01reps to in that spot and ultimately it's gonna be how they behave and perform how they
38:07produce how Brad Martian and Charlie Coyle feel about those players playing alongside
38:12them I think there's gonna have to be a lot of trust there and they're gonna have a lot
38:15of feedback and a lot of say into who's playing with them and don't underrate that but at
38:20the end of the day why wouldn't you want one of you young players to step in and be able
38:23to do that job and at least give them a long look before you go out and you know sign a
38:29guy or trade for a guy at the trade deadline and they have to give up assets for him and
38:33you know devote cap space to him as well so it's gonna be interesting and I know there's
38:38a lot of opinions about this and there certainly will be a lot of curious eyes watching in
38:42training camp when all these players get looks with Coyle and Martian and get reps and to
38:47see who does what and there's gonna be a lot of pressure on guys like Mark Alove and and
38:50Lysel to make that jump because they're at that point in their careers where they have
38:55to go from prospects to established NHL players or otherwise they won't be prospects anymore
39:00within a year or two you know it happens that fast so should be interesting though thank
39:06you very much for the question I believe that was from Mark Allred from black and gold love
39:12his podcast love his work but he was black and gold 277 on Twitter so thank you for the
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40:47last-minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right that's it for this week's pucks
40:53with hags mailbag edition some of those mailbag questions like I said I'm gonna save for Mick
40:58next week or dupes or whoever you have on because I love some of those questions I want
41:01to get other people's takes but we will be back to our regularly scheduled pucks with
41:06hags podcast with guests next week so thanks for listening see you