Could the Bruins lose Jeremy Swayman? | Pucks with Haggs
On this episode of the Pucks with Haggs podcast, host Joe Haggerty and Mick Colageo discuss the offer sheets sent out by the St. Louis Blues and whether that could open the door for a team to make an offer sheet to Jeremy Swayman. All that, and much more!
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Transcript
00:00Welcome to another edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast powered by Prize Picks, the exclusive
00:09daily fancy partner of the CLNS Media Network. I believe this is 115th episode of the Pucks
00:15with Hags podcast. As always, thank you very much for listening. I have with me today longtime
00:20friend and colleague, Mick Calagio. Mick, thanks for joining us and please tell everybody
00:24where they can find your work, my friend.
00:26BostonHockeyNow.com, primarily at this time of the year. Occasional issues of the Hockey
00:32News and my Rink Wrap blog has been kind of sleeping, but it's coming back. I'm starting
00:40to kick the bed a little bit on that one. We got to get that thing going again. So yeah,
00:45we're going and we're here. And pal Pete Shepard should be calling sometime. And you know,
00:52so 115, we're running out of uniforms. I can't make these comparisons anymore to who
00:56that would be in uniform. 115. Yeah, we've gone past the, this is the ex-player, Bruins
01:03player episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast because we're into the triple digits now.
01:08It'll be interesting though, maybe someday with all these numbers being retired, they
01:11might have to go into the triple digits with the numbers. I hope that doesn't ever happen.
01:15Oh God, please, please no. Hey, I'll tell you one thing we could do like the great regular
01:20seasons of all time. And for this one, this will be the bitter one of the 1978-79 Montreal
01:26Canadians who had 115 points, one shy of the top of first overall New York Islanders who
01:33had 116. And those were the Canadians who miraculously came back to topple the Bruins
01:40on the infamous too many men in the ice game, the evil May 10th, as opposed to the wonderful
01:47May 10th of 1970. That's right. A date in infamy for Boston Bruins fans at some points.
01:54We're going to go through some questions today. Bruins fans questions. We'll tackle a couple
02:00of recent topics with the Bruins. It should be a great episode where you're going to,
02:05you know, there'll be some Jeremy Swayman talk, no doubt about it, but we'll also answer
02:09some different Bruins questions. But first I just want to thank really quick, our sponsors
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02:27That's download the PrizePix app today and use the code CLNS for our first deposit match
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03:01Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, Mick, we have some interesting
03:09stuff here. Mark, Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway signed offer sheets with the St.
03:18Louis Blues, a couple of Edmonton Oilers players. We wait every summer and always say, oh, nobody's
03:24going to sign anybody to an offer sheet. It's not going to happen. And like every once in
03:28a while it happens. And, you know, very rarely, though, does it actually work out and they
03:31sign with the new team. This, though, is an interesting one. The Oilers aren't exactly
03:37flush in cap space and the Blues clearly targeted players where they're not going to
03:42have to give up a ton as far as draft pick compensation for the contracts that they signed
03:47them to. In fact, I think the Blues had to make a trade in order to recoup one of their
03:51draft picks in order to actually sign one of the players to this offer sheet, which
03:56is interesting because teams have to use their own actual draft picks as compensation if
04:01they sign the player, a restricted free agent to an offer sheet. Your thoughts just on this
04:07and if it relates in any way whatsoever to Jeremy Swayman as an RFA who's sitting out
04:13there who could be offer sheeted by somebody else. Granted, much bigger contract. It would
04:19have to be on an offer sheet, much bigger compensation package. And, you know, with
04:23all these players, they have to actually agree to sign the offer sheet before, you know,
04:28it gets it gets done and it gets tendered and the whole process starts. So, you know,
04:32Swayman would have to agree to, you know, upset the apple cart and really, you know,
04:38play cutthroat here by signing an offer sheet with somebody else if he wasn't satisfied
04:42with the way negotiations were going with the Bruins. But just your thoughts in general
04:46on these two offer sheet contracts and if it relates to the Bruins in any way.
04:52Well, it certainly has about 70,000 hockey fans, including myself, scurrying over to
05:01Puckpedia to see which teams have the amount of cap space it would probably take Swayman
05:07to sign an offer sheet. Yeah. And what their goaltending situation is. So my first one
05:15I brought up is the Utah Hockey Club, UHC. Carol Vemelka is one more year at 2.725 million
05:28and Conor Ingram, also in his late 20s, has got two years at 1.950. They have over they
05:38have almost 10 million in cap space. They're kind of trying to make a splash where they
05:44are. To me, why wouldn't Billy Armstrong do this? You know, I mean, yeah, you know, at
05:53the where I mean, now, granted, he doesn't get like the divisional. It isn't like a divisional
06:00leverage sort of a thing here. That's not that's not part of this, but or even conference.
06:09But as I recall, he was fired by the Bruins when he was in Providence. Yeah. So they got
06:16rid of two guys over their long history. No choice of their own. Rob Murray, who went
06:24on to coach the Alaska Aces, you know, posts of professional hockey. Yeah. And an army
06:37who was famously Peter Labulette's assistant coach when they won the Calder Cup back in
06:431999. So I mean, that's to say, who the hell knows, man? Yeah, it's definitely interesting
06:52in like that. You paint an interesting scenario because they would be able to do it. Clearly,
06:57they could use a goalie like Swayman and it would be a big splash for them. But from Swayman's
07:03end of it, is he going to roll the dice with potentially being stuck with the Arizona slash
07:10Utah Hockey Club, which, you know, it's I'm not sure how many years it's going to take
07:19for them to really like turn into anything whatsoever competitively and really, you know,
07:25that's rolling the dice like Swayman's an outdoorsy guy. Obviously, being in Utah would
07:30be a great place to be. It would be exciting to be with a first year team like there would
07:33be energy there with that. But like, let's face it, this is still the Arizona Coyotes
07:37that have moved to Utah. So this is the army has a lot of respect around the league for
07:43what he's done with that team in terms of filing the young end of the franchise and
07:49is positioning it to similarly almost to an expansion club. Yeah, a little like that right
07:58now. It's true to a point. But like, I think players are still going to view that as Arizona,
08:03even though it's new ownership, even though they've moved to a different place. I think
08:06they're going to still view it in that light until it's like proven to have been changed
08:11for a few years. And for a guy like Swayman to leave a Stanley Cup contender where he's
08:17built up like a reputation and a history with to go to a team like that, like I that would
08:23be a bold move because I feel like the only way reason he would do that in his camp would
08:27do that is to force the Bruins hand and try to get them to, you know, get off the pot
08:32and sign them to a contract. And they wouldn't actually want to go there. You know, it would
08:37be more like playing, you know, bluffing and playing poker with the Bruins if they were
08:42to sign an offer sheet. But like that's certainly if things go on long enough and go into training
08:47camp and, you know, I don't even know if you can do an offer sheet in training camp if
08:52it has to come over the summer or not. That's an interesting. I suppose you could if you
08:56still not sign. But that whole scenario is really interesting with a team that has cap
09:03space and a team that could, you know, cannonball into the pool and really like screw up the
09:09Bruins a little bit. I don't see him. I just don't see him as a player that's going to
09:15assign an offer sheet with somebody else. I feel like in some ways there was a good
09:20faith thing going on when they both declined arbitration. And this, I think, would go
09:26against that in a big way if he ended up signing an offer sheet. I feel like both sides want
09:31to get it done and there's good faith to want to get it done, even if they're not agreeing
09:35on the money and the term and like the details of the contract right now. And I feel like
09:40going the offer sheet route would really like, you know, destroy any like good faith participation
09:46that the that Swayman side would have, even though it's within their rights to do it.
09:51You know, he's an RFA. It's a tool that they could use and a team can use and, you know,
09:55all that stuff. I just I don't I don't see him as the type of person that's going to
10:00let that happen. At the end of the day, he wouldn't, you know, press the red button and
10:05sign that offer sheet to go to Utah to force the Bruins to sign him to a contract.
10:10I'm not so sure that he that he that he is either. But I look at. The reality of this
10:21happening and players are then suddenly talking to their families, talking to their agent,
10:29talking to peers, and and I think that at that point, it becomes a live wire because
10:36then the question is a different question. It takes on a new life on its own of this is your
10:43chance to to do something that's going to change everything. The Bruins have been sitting around
10:49here. You have no guarantee that they if you say no, that they're going to come to the table and
10:54meet you where you need to be met here. They've given you that indication. It's gone this long.
11:02We're only weeks away from training camp. What about Eisenman? I mean, he doesn't have Vasilevsky
11:11in Detroit. So, I mean, Billy Huso is almost making five million. He's got one more year.
11:18They got like 17 million in space. They've been kind of quiet. I mean, that one piece of the
11:23equation that would really I mean, more cider is RFA. So you've got to get that done, too. But
11:30I think 17 is enough to get it done. So, yeah, I mean, I'm looking at him and thinking he wants
11:36to probably replicate what what what what he built in Tampa and in Swayman could be as Vasilevsky.
11:46Yes, that one, I think it makes a little more sense as far as being a viable option for Swayman
11:53being something that would be tempting, at least. Certainly, they've built up a very good
11:59young core and they're continuing to build. And you have faith in Eisenman that he's going to get
12:03them, you know, where they need to go in the next year or two, because they're at a sort of
12:07crossroads point where he's been there for a few years and it's time for them to, you know, really
12:12make that big move into breaking into the Eastern Conference playoff party and breaking into that
12:17Atlantic Division group that's a playoff contender. And the history is there, obviously,
12:22a hockey town with the Red Wings. So that one's interesting. That one's really interesting.
12:30And it just speaks to like that's an avenue like it makes it a little more real when you see
12:36the Blues pick off a couple of talented young former first round picks that the Oilers had
12:41who were kind of stuck in Edmonton where they weren't maybe getting the opportunities
12:46that they wanted to get or they would have gotten on a different team.
12:50And they're obviously talented enough as former first round picks and they don't have a ton of
12:55cap space to keep these players like it's going to really, you know, it's going to give them
13:00trouble to keep all these players and keep the core group that they have and keep everything
13:04together. So it's kind of like the perfect storm where an offer sheet might happen,
13:09given all those things involved. I think Detroit's pretty set up for this.
13:15Yeah, no, that is interesting. Yeah, the good thing about the Bruins, though,
13:21right, is whatever offsheet number they're going to throw out there to sign Swayman,
13:26the Bruins are going to be able to match it. I'm sure they will. The end line of this story would
13:31be that they're just going to match whatever he gets and keep him.
13:35Well, that's what they'll say if forced to comment. That having been said, how high do we
13:42what would it? How high do we think Aizerman would go? Anybody would go?
13:51You'd have to severely overpay to get to a point where you could get the player.
13:56And now you're talking about what? Is it nine, 10 million that you would sign them to and you're
14:00giving up like what is it? Eleven, maybe? Four first round picks for compensation.
14:04Like that's a lot like whatever the compensation is when it gets to that level is crazy.
14:08Well, it would be hard for me to believe. Yeah, there is a.
14:14We have the I had it handy, should have had it up early. The whole package thing of
14:21what it's like you have to go in order to get to the point where it's
14:24100 straight first rounders, you know? Yeah, I think you get up into the seven,
14:31eight digits there, I think when you when you get there. But there are some people that are adamant
14:37that that that hey, if Dreisaitl is going to be worth 12 or 13 million to the Edmonton Oilers
14:46and he's not even their best player, then how is it that that the goaltender who
14:56a fair amount of people still, you know, ascend to the theory that the goaltender is the most
15:02important player on your team? Yep. I'm more your number one defenseman. Yeah, pending pending
15:10the makeup of your club. But it's that's that's, I don't consider it outrageous.
15:21I see a constellation in the night sky here. I think the stars are aligned as a question of a
15:27decision. All right, here we go. Hold on. I'm gonna pull up the offer sheet compensation.
15:439 million to 11 million is two firsts, a second and third round picks.
15:49So above 11.4 is four first round picks. So he would definitely get 11.3.
15:57Yeah, he would. I think he would definitely if somebody was gonna sign up to an offer sheet,
16:01where potentially the Bruins wouldn't match it, you'd have to, it'd have to be in the nine to 11
16:06and a half. It would be 11. It would be short of 11.4 be between 11 and 11.4. And then and then.
16:13So is Detroit or any team willing to give up two seconds, two firsts, a second and a third round
16:20pick and Jeremy Swayman and give him that kind of money? I don't know. Okay, but now let's let's
16:26let's look at it's got to be a good team too, though, so that it doesn't hurt that much
16:32to trade those positions. So it's got to be a Okay, so let's just get away from Detroit for
16:39a second here and see if there's a a team that's in that kind of a compensation package would make
16:49more sense if it was Utah. Like Utah would probably be able to give willing to give all
16:53that up because they have a talented young core, but they're missing the goalie like that makes
16:58sense for them to be willing to give up that package. If you're Detroit, although Detroit's
17:02got a good young core, too. They're more established. That's a lot to give up for a
17:08goaltender. When goaltenders don't have traditionally trade value wise, the highest
17:13trade value out there in the market. And essentially, you got to view that kind of as a
17:17trade. If you're giving up all these draft picks in order to sign the play. And here's the other
17:21thing, if you're the Red Wings and say, Okay, we missed the playoffs last year. However,
17:25we didn't miss it by that much. We pretty decent team. Right? We're pretty, we're pretty much
17:31established team. We even got another year of Patrick Kane coming. And and what do we do to get
17:37over to make ourselves a playoff team now, if they push themselves into the conversation by having the
17:44linchpin goaltender, and that's the move that changes the trajectory of their club, or at least
17:50it's standing as a playoff team, as opposed to not a playoff team, can suddenly changes the
17:57expectations by three rungs on the ladder, then on a 10 rung ladder, then then maybe it is feasible
18:04for for, you know, I don't know if the Utah can think the similarly about their club, as the Red
18:11Wings can, but I feel like the Red Wings are lined up for this and have the cap space to to make an
18:19outrageous kind of play here. And, and, and, and, and, and earn some stern words from Brian
18:26Burke in the process. Yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah, right. challenge somebody to a barn fight.
18:35I mean, the whole thing's interesting. I don't, I don't see it happening.
18:40Because I don't, at the end of the day, like I said, the player has to agree to it. It's not
18:44like you just send them an offer sheet, and it's done. That player has to sign the offer sheet,
18:48the player has to be interested in potentially going elsewhere. And, you know, really go that
18:53the full length of pressuring their own team or being willing to go somewhere else. I don't know
18:59that Swainman is willing to do that. It'll be interesting, though, if that becomes a reality,
19:04the closer they get to training camp, and as the you know, the next couple of weeks go on,
19:09if there's not a significant progress or anything gets done. I do think in general, though,
19:14these offer sheets make much more sense. From what St. Louis did, which is you take a sort of
19:20middle tier player, it's a 234 million dollar offer, where you're giving up second round
19:26picks, you're giving up third round picks, the compensation is not really that punitive.
19:31And the money's not that punitive, but you're you're, you know, getting a good young player,
19:36that's a former first round pick that just didn't have a concrete spot, or hadn't Croix
19:41established themselves on a talented Edmonton team and is kind of stuck amongst their really
19:46good depth. Those seem to be the ideal like offer sheet RFA kind of targets, not the franchise
19:52players, the guys making a ton of money that it's going to cost you an arm and a leg in terms of
19:57draft pick offsets to take them away. But it'll be interesting. I think it's, you know, it's
20:02something very interesting to talk about and think about. And at the Detroit one, it does,
20:08if you're a Bruins fan, it should scare you a little bit to think about a division rival coming
20:12in and potentially wooing Swayman away by just like offering them, you know, the sun and the
20:17moon and the stars and being willing to do that. If they view the goalie as like the last link to
20:23them, you know, turn into a contender in a playoff team, that should be a little scary for Bruins
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21:44And this is a question from Julian Beckett 75 on X Twitter. Still shocked you don't see more
21:50offer sheets. I get why, but you'd think more GMs would be a bit more bold. And maybe Mick,
21:55this is a sign that we're going to start seeing GMs do this a little more often after seeing
22:01the GM in St. Louis get a little bold here. I mean, all you need is this to happen and work out
22:07a few times in the right situations for the, I think the GMs to start,
22:12you know, Doug Armstrong and all the other GMs out there to start doing this a little bit more,
22:15if they feel like they're in a space to really improve their team.
22:19Another team that I've kind of thought about is the Carolina Hurricanes.
22:26They don't have quite the same number of cap space. They're not that far off.
22:31They could make a move to make the cap space, but they have history. They got
22:41Jesperi Kokaniemi, the 24-year-old centerman who's playing for them at 4.82 per on a long-term deal
22:55UFA in 2030 for the Montreal Canadiens and who elected to take the compensation.
23:02And so this is an interesting times where it concerns us. I'm just make sure one or two,
23:10because if you go back to the 80s and the Scott Stevens, Brendan Shanahan situation there,
23:18and I'm trying to remember which was the chicken and which was the egg,
23:22but the Blues and the Devils had a situation where I think that I think it might've been
23:27the Devils who signed Scott Stevens, who was RFA. And back then you did not have the
23:34structured draft pick compensation rules. You had an arbiter determine what the flesh and
23:40blood compensation should be. And the Blues were awarded Brendan Shanahan as compensation,
23:48which was in reality, a very fair one for one hockey trade. Not one that the Devils apparently
23:59chose, but it's worked out famously for them, better for them than it did for St. Louis.
24:05Shanahan won a Stanley Cup in Detroit or a couple or three. So this was a, I mean,
24:14and even he even passed through Hartford on his way there. So Shanahan had a traveled career,
24:21even though he had, it was quite the power forward, you know, drawing comparisons to
24:28players like Cam Neely and other, Keith Kuchuk, big physical forwards who were great around the
24:36net. And in Stevens, we know what his legacy is as a, just in a mid ice, middle of the ice assassin
24:44with the intercepting, the cutting forward, bringing the puck through the middle, boom,
24:51see ya bye. And the Devils built around him and Scott Niedermeyer and Martin Brodeur and either
25:00Ken Danico or Brian Rafalski and won the Stanley Cup three times. And we're in another game seven
25:06for it. So they, one of the great teams modeled after the seventies Montreal Canadiens.
25:14Absolutely. All right, let's move on to the next question. Is the Swayman contract holding up the
25:19Bruins from signing any million dollar guys to fill out the roster or are the Bruins going to
25:24give the rookies a shot? And that's from RNDC2 in the Boston Sports Journal Q and A that I do.
25:33I don't think this is holding up anything, the Swayman contract at this point. I think they have
25:38all the pieces in place and anything else they're going to add would be training camp invites to
25:44compete along with the rookies. But I, we talked about this a little bit last week, Mick, I really
25:49feel like they want Fabian Lysel to win this job. They want him to get that spot to make the team
25:56and potentially be a top six guy and see that, you know, investment with a first round pick pay off
26:04this year as the spot opens with Jake DeBrusca leaving in free agency. Yeah. And I also wonder
26:11if this question missed out on some press releases because they did sign some guys.
26:17They brought in Max Jones. They brought in Kostelik. They brought back LaTerre in the
26:24Lauco trade, who is a goal scorer, a playmaker. There's a bunch of guys they brought in. Vielle's
26:32an interesting one, I think, where he's actually gotten time in the NHL with San Jose as a fighter,
26:40as a tough guy, as a fourth line, like, intimidator type player. You know, he dropped
26:47the gloves with Zidane Ochara a couple of years ago when he was in San Jose. Like, it takes a
26:51certain guy to be willing to do that, you know, and that's an interesting piece that is probably
26:58going to be in Providence, but will be an option for them if they need the extra toughness, if they
27:03feel like they need a guy that, you know, can come up and bang bodies and potentially, you know,
27:09have the back of some of the star players if it goes that way against certain teams or if there's
27:14a time of year where you need an element like that and a player like that. After watching him
27:19and talking to people about him, I think he's a player that could end up in Boston for, you know,
27:23some cups of coffee this year. Yep, I agree. And there's other guys in that group. So it doesn't
27:30look like the Bruins didn't go out and do this already. They've already gotten a collection of
27:33hurdles there. I do agree with you, however, that, and I am intrigued to take a look at the
27:42unsigned, you know, the great vast sea of UFAs who are still hanging around out there.
27:51Yeah, Kyler Yamamoto, Blake Wheeler, guys like that that are out there, haven't retired, or like
27:56younger guys that haven't signed with a team, that could be options for sure.
28:00Yeah, I mean, I really do wonder. I really don't want to see Max Passeretti and Bruins
28:11Camp on a tryout. Passeretti, yep, that's another one. But I look at some of these guys and say,
28:19wow, this is, there's a lot of unsigned guys out there who aren't going anywhere right now.
28:26Some of them are obviously retiring, like Joe Pavelski. Hoffman, I know I'm not a fan. I feel
28:33like he's a, I feel, although watch him be the guy, but I do feel like there's some of these guys
28:40who have a history for being able to put the biscuit in the basket. And I wouldn't be surprised
28:46at all to see somebody come into camp on a Heinen scenario, but maybe with a little less of a,
28:55hey, let's make this work kind of a thing and get this guy back to where he was.
28:59Yeah, no, it would be more like the Alex Chasen invite last year, too. He was in training camp,
29:06too. Heinen beat him out for the spot. But that, you know, that's a guy the Bruins had always kind
29:11of been watching from afar over the years and finally got a chance to at least bring him in
29:16and have him be a part of a camp. You're totally right. And they're mostly aging guys,
29:23guys coming back from injuries, guys that are probably a year or two away from retirement.
29:29Those would be the potentially available guys, but that's why they're in the spot that they're in,
29:33you know, looking for training camp invites. You know, James Van Riemsdyk is in that situation
29:39as well. He and Shattenkirk are 35. Yep. Hoffman's 34. I think that you will see at least one,
29:49maybe two training camp invites of players like that. Certainly, it would help also.
29:55Yeah, it would help. I think he's going to retire, though, isn't he? After one.
29:58No, I think you're right. I think you're right. There was talk about that.
30:02So I think that there will be a couple of guys like that that will certainly be invited to camp
30:07and will compete. And there's, you know, why not? There's no risk there. It's high reward,
30:12potentially, with no risk. And you're not signing the player to a contract. You might not even have
30:17to sign the player to a contract to start the year. Like, Danton Heinen didn't get signed
30:21until, you know, mid-October, I think it was. He was definitely in limbo for a few weeks.
30:26I remember the year Jay Pandolfo made the Bruins out of camp on a training camp invite. And it was,
30:31I think, at least a month, maybe longer than that, before he actually signed a contract
30:36with the Bruins for that last year that he was in the league as well. So
30:41something like that is definitely realistic. But, like, I think at this point,
30:45the last guy that got signed to kind of a close-to-a-million-dollar contract was Daniel
30:49Sprong in Vancouver. He was sort of at the top of that list of players that were available and
30:53weren't signed in the first... I heard a little weeping and gnashing of teeth on social media
30:58about that. Like, why didn't the Bruins get this guy? I'm thinking, like, wait a second.
31:02Let's let this play out. I mean, it's unrealistic to think that you're going to put all your pegs
31:08into perfectly fit holes and say, here's our hockey team, and it's going to go from October to June.
31:14It never works out that way. So why would you try to pretend that you have this answer about a guy
31:20like that when, I mean, I look at this, and I think, okay, what is the Sweeney history? It's
31:27guys who have flexibility, who can move around in a lineup. And the guy I see there, that 26-year-old
31:33right shot setter, Michael McCloud. So maybe there's something there. Maybe there's some
31:43interest there. I don't tend to think it would be a guy like Silverberg. I tend to think it's
31:50going to be more... Silverberg is retired too. Yeah, is he? Okay. I think Cogliano is as well.
31:54So, yeah. Also, we got to remember, any of these players can't be looked at in a vacuum. They have
32:01to fit the profile. The Bruins want to be faster. They want everybody to be capable F1. And you got
32:11to be able to get there. If you happen to be big, good. But Don Sweeney insists that was the icing
32:20on the cake of getting faster, fiercer four-checkers. And, you know, first to the puck.
32:30If it were me, Yamamoto would be the guy at the top of the list because he's a former
32:34first-round pick. He's had some decent offensive numbers in the league. I think he is fairly
32:38flexible as far as where he plays, and he's youngish. He's a right shot too, and they don't
32:44have enough of those. So I think if that's... And that's the guy I'm sure that a lot of people are
32:48going to be looking for to bring in as a camp invite. And I think he makes a ton of sense
32:54for those reasons. But it'll be interesting to see how the whole thing plays out. And I do fully
32:58expect that they're going to have at least one, maybe two of those guys in training camp since
33:03there's at least one spot that's pretty fairly well established up for competition on that NHL
33:10pick. And that's what brings those guys too, right? Is if they hear or see that there might be a job
33:15opening there, especially on a team like the Bruins, that's going to bring somebody on an
33:18invite because they think they're going to have maybe a realistic shot at winning it instead of
33:22going somewhere else where there's not going to be any room at the inn. So that whole thing should
33:28be playing out right as training camp is starting next month. Take the guesswork out of buying MLB
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34:31last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Next question. Hags, I like this editions,
34:37I like the editions of soft season, but where's the vision for building this team?
34:41Where will a star forward center come from? New Lindholm is not a star and still has no
34:47wingers to write home about after pasta. Like isn't, I mean, I really think pasta is the only
34:53winger that he needs. I think Pavel Zak is a very good player. So I think that part is kind
34:57of off base, but on D it seems too many big contracts for a low rider break into the top
35:01four or top two minutes, even over a few years, the whole roster building doesn't seem to mesh.
35:06Am I missing something? And that's from Marco 0703 on Boston sports journal. Make your thoughts.
35:14Um, I'll take low ride first. Um, the Bruins want
35:22McAvoy to have a physical option to his left. That doesn't mean that every single
35:31shift of the season, it's going to be as a door off. McAvoy is going to play more minutes than
35:37the door off probably by more than five. So on average, so, and if that's the case,
35:46then Laura is the natural alternative to that as a fairly certain that Carlo and Lindholm will be a
35:55staple pairing that unless something goes terribly wrong or there's an injury that I don't
36:02think we're going to see that move very much. Uh, so we're really, you have a very solid one, two,
36:09three progression on the right shots with McAvoy, Carlo and Andrew peak on the left side. Lindholm
36:17is your number one on the depth chart, but he'll play on the Carlo pairing because of what he
36:22brings to the table, puck moving ability, fourth man on the attack. Um, so as a door off gives the
36:28Bruins an option to get McAvoy, get the pressure off of McAvoy from the four checkers who would do
36:36him harm on the retrievals and also allow him to focus less on the next hit. He makes the next
36:43city takes and play the game, uh, and grow his offensive abilities and be more comfortable out
36:49there. Um, and less distracted, not that he isn't tough, not that he can't handle it, not that he
36:55won't willingly engage it, but it's just all, it's just a next period in his career would be best
37:02with a guy who can really run some interference and be mean out there, um, and scare some people.
37:10Uh, that does to me, you know, all that does is make low rise situation better because he'll get
37:16his minutes, he'll get his shifts. He'll probably play 15 minutes or so, maybe 17, 18 on some nights.
37:24They could go with a very balanced night and give campus some easier nights, you know, and go with
37:28some balanced night and keep everybody fresh. This is not a situation that necessarily makes him sit
37:35at the kids table. I think that this is a situation that gives the Bruins more options and it won't be
37:41exclusive. It won't be the one and only thing we ever do once he's not like that anyway. So, um,
37:48but I think that's, that's how I'm looking at that more. As for Elias Lindholm goes, yeah, is he a flashy
37:54star, a razzle dazzle guy who's going to be a point per game player? Probably not, but it gives the
38:03Bruins kind of a European version of Charlie Coyle where you're going to have a guy who's one of the
38:08best players on the ice, no matter where the puck is and no matter which team has it in any zone,
38:14he's going to be, give you the solid top six glue. Has anybody noticed the playoff line for him?
38:22It wasn't bad. The most impactful hockey of the season, he played well, he produced. And so the
38:30idea that he doesn't have the, I'm sounding like President Biden here, the very idea. Um, so I think
38:37that, um, I think that the Lindholm effect is being vastly underrated because he's not a sexy
38:45signing, but it's going to be a tremendously meaningful one because it's going to drop the
38:51dominoes and make everybody better in lots of ways. Everybody just got better. Trust me.
38:58Well, when he says, and no wingers to write home about after pasta, A, Brad Marchand is an
39:04outstanding winger if he ever ends up playing with him. So there is somebody else to write home
39:08about after pasta. But like if Lindholm is projected to play with Pasternak and that's who he's most
39:14likely going to play with most of the year, that's really all you need. Like, I don't care about what
39:19you write home about after Pasternak, if he's playing with Pasternak most of the time, and
39:24that's who he's going to be feeding and teaming up with and building chemistry with. And you already
39:27add Zaka, who has good chemistry with Pasternak, who is going to be able to support, um, Lindholm
39:34because he's also a center and has that mindset and is a really good two way player. Like you put
39:38the three of them together. And I think that's going to be dynamic. I think it's going to be a
39:42really good line. Um, his best season came with Matthew Goodchuck and Johnny Goodrow on his two
39:47wings in Calgary, uh, where he had over 40 goals, over 80 points was a point per game player was a
39:52really, you know, uh, accomplished score that year. I don't think he's going to have that kind
39:57of season, but I think his numbers are going to go up based on playing with Zaka and Pasternak on
40:01a regular basis. And I think you're going to see the production be outstanding for him. In addition
40:06to what, to your point, him playing sort of like, uh, uh, you know, a European version of Patrice
40:11Bergeron out there as a good two way center, 200 foot player that, you know, does the right things
40:16as a smart player and is going to be one of the best players on the ice every time he's out there.
40:20So like I have, I have no issues with, uh, the way things are built right now. I think
40:26if Lindholm is playing with Pasternak and coil slides down to the second center spot with Brad
40:30Marcian, I think that's fine. I think they're in a good place with their centers now. Um, and then
40:35you have competition for the third line center spot with a lot of different guys, whether it's
40:39Patra, whether it's geeky, whether it's Trent Frederick, you know, there's go down the list.
40:44There's a bunch of guys, there's probably four or five guys, Merkulov, maybe even he, you know,
40:48places way into the competition there. Um, but I think you're going to have a lot of good qualified
40:53candidates to be third line centers and fourth line center that I think is going to be taken
40:56care of, whether it's Castellic, whether it's beach or whoever it is. Um, so I think for center
41:02wise, they're fine. I think Lindholm is the perfect acquisition for the guys that were available.
41:07Is he the flashiest guy? Like you said, no, but I think he was the best option they had
41:11and they secured it and brought him in. And really because in some ways his game is Bergeron
41:16esque. I think he might've been the ideal solution to bring in. Cause they wanted to
41:19I think he's the ideal solution. They wanted and needed a presence like that.
41:23You know, if he was available, this is, this to me is the right, the right kind of player for them.
41:28Right. Correct. And as far as the low ride thing goes, uh, I think it is, it creates the best
41:34possible development path for low ride, uh, and the most sensible and, and most, um, likely to
41:41succeed development path if he's on the third pairing to start the year, but he's going to get
41:47his minutes because he's going to be on the power play. He will definitely get, you know,
41:51to your point, 14, 15 minutes a game. He's not going to be down in the 10, 11, 12 minute range.
41:57And we all know injuries are going to happen to the backend and he is going to play more when
42:01that happens. And he's got the ability to, and we've already seen it. And it wouldn't shock me
42:05at all. If by the end of the year, he's in a top four and he's playing 20 minutes a night because
42:09he has a real breakthrough season. And because he continues to just get better and better,
42:12because I think they have something in him. That's very good. And I think we're going to
42:15continue to see that as he builds confidence and builds his two-way game and understands how to
42:20defend better in his own zone. But the bottom line is like, I don't understand why anybody
42:25would be complaining about Zdorov and him coming in because that is the exact element that Charlie
42:30McAvoy needed on his side. On many occasions, it's the exact element that the Bruins needed
42:35on the backend and the playoffs. It's the exact presence that they were missing and have been
42:39missing since Zdeno Czara retired. They needed somebody that was an absolute mean SOB back there
42:46that was going to be like a warrior around the net and make it a miserable place for the other
42:50team to go. And always have them thinking that he's lurking around ready to blast them with a
42:55big hit and ready to throw somebody away from the front of the net and just be that bad dude
43:01that's hanging around the net in the defensive zone. And Zdorov will be that. Is he going to
43:06have times where he's looking to make a hit and maybe takes himself out of position? Maybe. Not
43:10as many as he did when he was younger, but it may happen. He's going to take some penalties.
43:14There are going to be some things he's going to do along the way because nobody's a perfect player,
43:18but I think that is the exact kind of player the Bruins needed. And we talked about it last year.
43:22How many times did we say this team needs a Radko Gudas type as we were watching that team over the
43:27course of the year and going into the playoffs that they needed somebody like that on the backend.
43:32Zdorov is that guy. And they've got him now for a long time. And I think there is no way,
43:37shape or form where A, you should be complaining about that type of player and B,
43:41wondering what the team building is all about or having problems with the team building because
43:45they brought in a player like that. No way. That is exactly what you needed.
43:49What team building did you want? The one I'm looking at, I think the first Zdorov penalty
43:55of the year is going to be the one where somebody soft dumps Charlie McAvoy's corner
44:02and sends a speedy little F1. And when Zdorov cuts over a little bit, that player is going to,
44:07instead of trying to swerve around Zdorov, is going to skate at Zdorov and then pretend to
44:13get interfered with and go flying on boards and splat and then kind of throw a stick in the air
44:20like this. And so that's going to be... And you know what? The Bruins have to accept that.
44:25Yep. Lose a few battles to win a war.
44:29Play the game they want to play. Just keep on playing it and roll with those punches and
44:36eventually the whistles go away. Most definitely. But the bottom line is,
44:42I don't think there should be any questioning about the roster decision-making and the roster
44:46building based on the players that they brought in on July 1 because I think it makes total sense.
44:51I think what they're doing now is they're building towards the playoffs and they're building...
44:55They know they're going to have a good regular season team. They know they're going to be in
44:58the playoffs and they're collecting players that are going to help them in the post-season,
45:02help them beat teams like Florida, help them play a little bit more like Florida potentially
45:06at times, but certainly play a style that's going to be more successful in the playoffs
45:11and allow them to go on a longer journey and really make teams submit to their will over a
45:17long 6-7 game playoff series. I think that's what we're starting to see right now. It's very
45:23clear to me what they were trying to do by bringing in all these big, strong, tough players
45:27that are fast too and trying to create that element on a team that needed more of all that.
45:32I don't mean to put you on the spot, but you don't believe Don Sweeney either?
45:36I mean, he said this was about speed. They just happen to be big.
45:40No, I don't believe it. They didn't draft a player under 6'3". The smallest guy on their
45:46back end now is Charlie McAvoy at 6'1", 210, 250 pounds. He's a big 6'1". He still might be
45:54arguably the best hitter they have back there. Yes. No, I don't buy any of that. I think this
45:59was about getting bigger across the board and finding players that were big and fast and
46:05hit hard and were not shying away from the physicality, all that stuff, which is what you
46:09have to do if you're going to win in the playoffs. They focused on that, which kudos to them. I think
46:15it was a great job. Let's thank our sponsors real quick. Thank you, Mick. PrizePicks is the
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47:00Mick, thank you very much for joining us. Pleasure. Everybody else out there,
47:04thanks for listening. We'll see you at the rink.
47:14you