Bruins legend Mike Milbury joins! Was the Monty firing fair? Who's truly to blame for the Bruins current record?
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00:00Mike Milbury, yesterday, the Bruins fired their third coach in seven years.
00:06Your thoughts on that this morning?
00:08Well, first of all, I like the tune we just listened to school of rock, right?
00:12We was bringing that up, uh, as we were coming back and that is featured in that Jack black
00:17film.
00:18Yes.
00:19Yes.
00:20I loved it.
00:21Anyway, that's neither here nor there.
00:22Um, all right.
00:24You know, they, they had to do what they had to do.
00:28The deal was pretty much done in advance of this, but was it fair?
00:33Probably not.
00:34Um, it was the first real adversity, at least in the regular season of note in his tenure.
00:42Um, but, but the situation was bad.
00:45Um, the goal differential is like the third worst in the league, which is very unusual
00:49for the Bruins power plays dead last the penalty killing, which is by the way, Joe Sacco's
00:55bread and butter, uh, is like 25th, but they look dispirited, disjointed, defeated, whatever
01:02D word you want to use, but lack of structure defensively.
01:06I mean, first goal the other night, I mean, and we'll talk about swimming in a bit, but
01:11I mean, Carl makes a, fluffs a pass at the offensive blue line, gets out of position,
01:16comes back, tries a desperation dive, and then winds up sprawling into his goaltender
01:21and knocking the puck into the net.
01:23I mean, no goalie is going to stop that, but it was like, for me, it was emblematic of
01:28what's been going wrong here.
01:29They've, they put themselves in bad situations and then made mistakes, try to cover them
01:33up.
01:34It's just, it's, it's a bad situation and I didn't see it correcting itself with Montgomery
01:41as coach.
01:42But I still, as I said, off the top really wasn't fair because it's, it's not just about
01:48the coaching.
01:49There's a lot about the roster.
01:50Okay.
01:51It's about the roster.
01:53You brought up the, his prior two seasons here and the performance of the players.
01:59And so is that not on them when it comes to how poorly they started this season?
02:07You know, you're going to splash the blame paint over the whole canvas here.
02:13I mean, it started for me, it started with management.
02:18It started with their really ill-advised decision to trade Linus Omar and then try
02:24to negotiate with Jeremy Swain.
02:26I mean, don't put the cart before the horse.
02:29Get the deal done with Swain when you have leverage.
02:32If it really gets ugly and you decide you want to trade him and keep Omar, even though
02:36there's a big age differential there, then go ahead and do it, but get the deal done.
02:41So you're, you've protected your organization.
02:44They didn't do that.
02:45And then Swayman and his lawyer, and I don't know why he paid a lawyer because he had so
02:50much to say during the course of the negotiations and he shut up and saved the 3% and do your
02:54own negotiating.
02:56But I think he's going to be a great goaltender, but this animosity on top of the arbitration
03:02that he had the year before, um, is, is appears to be a problem in the locker room now.
03:08I mean, when I hear him say during the negotiations, I went to business school, I know my comparables,
03:15you know, I don't, it sounded like he was a jerk and, and I don't know if he is or not,
03:21but it sounds like now when he talked yesterday or the day before about people in the locker
03:26room, not really, he lost guys as he was holding out, which shouldn't happen.
03:31I mean, everybody I know supported each other during difficult negotiations.
03:36That was, that was, that was really something that was important.
03:40And so you have to ask about, really, you have to ask what you're right.
03:44What kind of guy is he?
03:46If those guys are not willing to stand up for him and what kind of guys that they, it's
03:50the brotherhood, the brotherhood never steps in on contracts.
03:55You're talking about a grown man who, during a negotiation, right?
04:00When you know, when you're negotiating, the other side tries to find fault with you so
04:05that they can, but you're talking about a grown man who said he was going to hang on
04:10to that list of what they said about him and look at it all the time.
04:13Get over it.
04:14No, no, but Mike's right.
04:15Negotiation goes, Mike's right.
04:17The brotherhood of being a player in that locker room, supersedes contract negotiations
04:24about another man.
04:25If you're not a good guy, it doesn't matter.
04:27Being a good guy is so irrelevant.
04:29Goalies have always been weird.
04:31Like through all of human history, goalies are like me.
04:33They have a little screw loose.
04:34Like it's okay.
04:35Yeah, but that's right, Curtis, but you, you can't live without him.
04:39And so what they need to do here is, Butch Goring, who I played with and coached for
04:44me and with him, he used to do a thing called the lemon squeeze, where everybody in the
04:50locker room, guys could say whatever the hell they wanted.
04:53Time for a lemon squeeze in that room.
04:55And the squeeze has to start with swaying.
04:57He has to look in the mirror and say, okay, guys, I probably popped off.
05:01I said too much.
05:03And you know, I got to get back to what I do best, which is stopping the puck.
05:07Go to your goalie, coach goalie, Bob, figure it out and then shut up, shut up, get away
05:13from the microphone, stop the puck plate.
05:16You know, whenever you go to lunch, make sure you pick up the tab with your new contract.
05:20I mean, this guy needs to grow up, grow up.
05:23My question, Mike, and my first takeaway when this came out, when Rich broke the story yesterday
05:29was these suck bag players.
05:33Once again, get another guy fired and refuse to accept any responsibility.
05:38The legacy of the Bergeron Marsha and Bruins will be incredibly talented teams that when
05:44the going got tough, they pointed their finger at their coach.
05:47He, I don't know if I'm going to go that far with this.
05:51You know what I mean?
05:52This is this.
05:53I don't even know if the players pointed the finger at the coach here, but listen, but
05:56wait a second, you know, they, okay, let's go through the rest of the team.
06:01We went through the goaltender situation.
06:03The defense is poor.
06:04Zdorov is a mistake.
06:06He's a big lumbering, doesn't make a good outlet pass.
06:10I don't know what they were seeing in him.
06:11I didn't know the player until he got here.
06:13Lindholm is a mistake too.
06:15Yes, he is.
06:16He is there.
06:17I mean, he's no better than a second line center and they paid a ton of money to them
06:22and it's not working out what Lindholm is on a, I think a pace of what, eight goals
06:27for the year.
06:28We're at the quarter pole now.
06:29He's got two goals.
06:30I mean, he's on a 30, he's going to get less than 40 points for the year, whatever they're
06:36paying him.
06:37That's not, that's not on Jim Montgomery.
06:38No, no, it's not on Jim Montgomery, but somehow in the end, what is on Jim Montgomery is the,
06:46the appearance of lack of effort or care or togetherness, the lack of defensive structure,
06:54the lack of offensive pressure, what looks to be a team that doesn't skate very well.
06:59It could be out of condition.
07:00Those things start to mount up and I think they gave him a little bit of rope.
07:04I think they could have given them a little bit more.
07:07I don't think that the coaching changes the answer to this because I think the problem
07:14is the roster.
07:15So then what do you think Joe Sacco is going to be able to do?
07:17Like again, no disrespect to Joe Sacco, but it seems like it is a player issue through
07:22and through.
07:23So making the coachings change at this point of the season, are you really going to see
07:27a different Bruins team out there on the ice with a, with a, with an interim head coach?
07:31Well, I will answer that question, but I'll tell you that I had Joe Sacco in, in Long
07:36Island.
07:37A really good guy, a great role player.
07:42You know, I looked at his stats, he played about the same number of games that I played
07:46and I had more points than him.
07:48So don't expect them to increase the offense, hands of stone, great heart, great head.
07:55What he's going to do is change, hopefully change the attitude of the team.
08:01That's what, that's what I think you all expect a little bit of a bump and you know, everybody
08:07with a new voice, there's could be a new role, a new role for you.
08:12The door is open for something else to happen in your life.
08:15And so I think there could be a, there could be a change in attitude and uplifting of spirits,
08:22but that's not going to be good enough.
08:24They're going to need to make moves.
08:26They're going to need to trade people.
08:28Now is a very difficult time to make a trade because you're right now, there's not, I don't
08:33think there's one guy on the team that's overachieving.
08:35I don't, I don't think there's a guy on the team that you'd say is untouchable.
08:39There are a few guys I would not trade, but it's so, it's been so bad that you know, you're,
08:45you know, it's like the stock market.
08:47You sell high and buy low right now they're, they're at an all time low.
08:51Who would you not trade?
08:53Well, I certainly, I don't, I'm not, listen, I'm not going to trade Swayman.
08:57I'm not going to trade McAvoy.
08:59Probably not going to trade Poston, probably not, but he gives the goddamn puck away one
09:04more time.
09:05I'm going to strangle a son of a bitch.
09:07Wiggy says that's your, maybe you're, you're, you're only shot at changing things.
09:12It's a nice dangling chip out there.
09:14Yeah, it is.
09:15But you know, what are you going to get?
09:16And if you get a centerman, who's going to dish the puck to, who's going to score goals?
09:21He's got the magic touch most of the time, but he's been, he needs to be harnessed a
09:27little bit and he should have done it himself and coaches should have done it if he wasn't
09:31going to do it.
09:32But you know, there's only about three or four and, and that's, that's the extent of
09:36it.
09:37But what they've been trying to retool this team since Bergeron was on the way out with
09:43crazy on the way out the door, it's not going to work.
09:47They need to rebuild and the rebuild is long and slow and really painful and dangerous.
09:53Well, Mike, if that's the case, then like that, you wouldn't move on from a guy like
09:57pasta, right?
09:58It, then don't you have to sit down with him, the player and say, okay, who can we get to
10:04pay you with that will potentially unlock what we know you are.
10:10When we saw you were creature.
10:13I don't remember anybody, you know, I, I don't, that's an interesting point.
10:20I just don't know of any, any general manager that's gone to a player and say, who do you
10:24want me to get for you?
10:26Um, at least in my time, but I mean, he does need somebody that will get them the puck.
10:31He does need somebody that will be able to distribute to him and find them and have a
10:35chemistry with them.
10:36Um, they don't have that player on the roster right now.
10:39So I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask him.
10:41Yeah.
10:42Like, like as a GM in this sport, you know, hockey's the one sport where he might be more
10:48of a guy that needs somebody to help him create where he's not a creator on his own.
10:54So don't you have to like sit down with that player and see who works best with him?
10:59Because hockey's the only sport where it is about sometimes your line mates that can unlock
11:04what you do.
11:05Yeah.
11:06But the, you know, getting him to say what he wants or what the type of player he wants,
11:11you can't just go pick cherries.
11:13This is the sentiment I want.
11:14I'm going to go get him.
11:15It doesn't work that way.
11:17But yeah, I think there should be a lot of conversations in that room, not just with
11:22Postenok, with McAvoy, why, why won't he shoot the puck on the point on the power play?
11:27I mean, Jeremy Swayman, you know, as I said earlier, you know, shut up, get away from
11:32the microphone, talk only about hockey and, and, and focus on your game, which is not
11:37anywhere near what it should be right now.
11:41So those conversations, whether it's about line mates or chemistry or role on, on the
11:47team they need to be taken seriously now, and they need to be, those conversations need
11:53to be taken every day.
11:54But how did any of these players get this, get that message, Mike?
11:57I mean, they've been told that they're right.
11:59The coach is wrong.
12:01It's not your fault.
12:02There's a new sheriff in town.
12:04Oh yeah.
12:05The guy that's been here for 10 years.
12:07You know, but this is a big difference in being an assistant coach and a head coach,
12:12a huge difference.
12:14All of a sudden you walk in and there's just a different look at what, because you know,
12:18when you're an assistant coach, you can suggest somebody to be in the power play.
12:23When you're in the head coach, you can tell him, put him on the goddamn power play.
12:26There's a big difference there.
12:27And if the team underachieves, then he'll be out, right?
12:30Because what else is, well, you know, eventually, eventually
12:36management is going to have to take a hard look in the mirror and say, we've, we've messed
12:40up here.
12:41But if it's not now, when, well, now, right now, they have to go back and revisit their
12:49signings of Lindholm and Zdorov and say, how did we get here with these two guys?
12:54Isn't this mostly on Don Sweeney?
12:56Really?
12:57I mean, is he the right guy to be the general manager?
12:59Well, they've had some great success and come within a whisker of winning a Stanley cup.
13:04And it's, it's a hard thing to do, but right now, yes, it probably is on Don Sweeney.
13:11And I think he knows it.
13:12And I think his, he's got to look at his staff under a fine microscope and find out which
13:19scout, which, which assistant, what are the people that he needs to hold accountable and
13:26where do we go from here?
13:27They're not in a great spot.
13:29It's going to take some time.
13:30I mean, he needs to look back before he needs to look forward.
13:34I wasn't a fan of the guy, not on ice so much as off ice, but he let Jake DeBrusco, he let
13:41Denton Heinen go, he, uh, he did these two big deals in the off season, which you're
13:47all over.
13:48I mean, I, the, you know, so far, not so good when it comes to Don Sweeney.
13:52Well, you know, the record says a little something different.
13:56I mean, at least regular season record, I mean, they, they, they asked to the Florida
14:01Panthers were damn good team.
14:02The last two seasons on the Jim Montgomery, I mean, I don't know what you're expecting
14:08of them.
14:09I mean, you can look around the team at the league at teams like Columbus or Ottawa have
14:14been mired at the bottom of the heap for decades, it seems like, and, and that hasn't been the
14:19case around here.
14:20There's been something to watch.
14:21If you're going to be great in the regular season, my expectation is you don't get bounced
14:26in the first or second round of the playoffs.
14:28That's my expectation.
14:30Well, that's a pretty good expectation.
14:32You'd hope that would last, but you know, sometimes it's the luck of the draw and Florida
14:35was, you know, at, at the time peaking, although the Bruins had an opportunity to put them
14:40away and didn't.
14:41So you could speak what you will about that, but it's, you know, there were a lot of issues
14:46as you remember, was the goalie situation the right way to be handled or was Bergeron,
14:52you know, was hurt for a while and came back and wasn't quite what he used to be.
14:56And, and so they're all, I don't, I don't need to review it right now.
15:00It's just, it was bad and they had to do something.
15:04They pulled the trigger and they have to look at the mirror and it's not, it's not, this
15:07is not the answer.
15:10The answer is, it is the nature of the players and the talent level of players in the room.
15:15And that's what, that's what has to be addressed and you can't do that overnight.
15:19So, so obviously this can't be the team that you lost to in the Stanley cup finals a few
15:24years ago, the St. Louis blues, where you might be able to unlock a coach change.
15:31And then the team goes on to win a Stanley cup and with the coach change, do players,
15:38could they play harder for a Sacco versus maybe they just didn't want to play as hard
15:45for Montgomery.
15:46Is that's, you know, they get in a play hard for Bruce Cassidy cause he yelled at him.
15:53Slow.
15:54Julian had to go.
15:55I mean, I, yeah.
15:56Okay.
15:57So this is a different, it's, it's like, it's, that's the way in every sport though.
16:00You know, the things, you know, the, the, the, not with the same nucleus though.
16:05Well there isn't the same nucleus.
16:06Brad Martians, the only guy here from like the 2019 I think, I mean, it's only five years
16:12ago.
16:13This is the way it is now in the salary cap world as a constant turnover of personnel.
16:20And there has to be a further personnel turnover now because it's just, it's simply not good
16:25enough.
16:26I love it.
16:27Hockey players are just like football and basketball players.
16:29Just like the rest of us.
16:30I hated playing for Brad Childress and I could not stand them.
16:33Maybe I didn't go a little bit hard.
16:35Like I was supposed to.
16:36They're just like us.
16:39Mike TC is going to call.
16:40It's true.
16:41Just like us.
16:42All right.
16:44You know, they burnt the toast, the general manager and the staff.
16:48They burnt the toast for breakfast and now they got Joe Sacco to butter their bread and
16:52make it seem like it's okay.
16:55Not going to work.
16:56Still burnt.
16:57I like burnt toast though.
16:58I do too actually.
16:59Courtney likes burnt bagels.
17:00Gymnasts.
17:01Yeah.
17:02Perfectly crispy.
17:03All right, Mike Milbury.
17:04I'm so glad that we get your opinion on this and we will talk to you again next week and
17:08see if things are better, I guess.
17:09All right.
17:10All right.