On this episode of Pucks with Haggs, host Joe Haggerty is joined by guest Mick Colageo to discuss the Bruins slowdown offensively after the 2-0 home loss to the Vancouver Canucks. That, and much more!
*********************************
💰 Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS
Download the app today and use Code CLNS when you sign up & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!
🎫 Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NHL tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Terms apply. What time is it? Gametime!
*********************************
💰 Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS
Download the app today and use Code CLNS when you sign up & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!
🎫 Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NHL tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Terms apply. What time is it? Gametime!
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Pucks with Hags is brought to you by Price Picks and the GameTime app.
00:05Welcome to another edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast powered by Price Picks,
00:09the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the CLNS Media Network. I believe this is the 144th
00:16episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast. Thank you for tuning in and listening. Once again,
00:20I'm your host, Joe Hagerty. You can find my work at joehagerty.substack.com. Subscribe and get
00:25yourself a premium membership. You can get all of my Bruins and NHL writing sent straight directly
00:30to your inbox. I also write columns three times a week for the Boston Sports Journal. So go to
00:35bostonsportsjournal.com. Check out all their good stuff and all the different sports in Boston and
00:39get yourself a membership there as well to read all the good sports reporting and writing that's
00:44going on. With me today, longtime friend and colleague, Mick Colaggio. Mick, as you take a
00:49nice drink out of your big tumbler right there, why don't you tell everybody where they can find
00:53your work? Decaf green tea, by the way. Nothing in it. My morning potion. I like your original
01:02six hat, by the way, Mick. Looking good. Ken DeCoste, Milford News, great friend, gifted this
01:07to me. Love you, Ken. So you can find me at my Rig Rack blog on Twitter and Facebook, and I'll be
01:20writing the Bruins article in the next big hockey news money power issue.
01:28Awesome. Let's also thank our sponsors real quick before we dive into it.
01:33PrizePix, gotta give them some love. Download the PrizePix app today and use the code CLNS
01:37and get $50 instantly when you play five bucks. That's code CLNS on PrizePix to get $50 instantly
01:43when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed. PrizePix
01:48run your game. Also our great friends at GameTime, any kind of tickets you need, GameTime,
01:54comedy, concert, sports, what have you. Certainly there's some good Bruins games going on right now.
02:01You can go to GameTime to get tickets for those. Download the GameTime app, create an account,
02:05and use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply, of course, but download
02:10the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.
02:16Download GameTime today. What time is it, Mick? GameTime. That was a good one. All right.
02:27Let's just get into it, Mick. 2-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. We're recording this
02:33on Wednesday morning, so this is the morning after the 2-0 loss to the Canucks on Tuesday night.
02:38Frustrating game, no doubt about it. Tons of shots. Vastly outshot Vancouver. 26 block shots
02:49for the Canucks, so you're talking, I believe it was over 70 shot attempts for the Bruins in that
02:53game. A lot of rubber thrown at the net. A lot of scoring chances. Just couldn't put one past
02:58Kevin Lankanen, who normally I don't give the goalie a ton of credit when the Bruins get
03:05shut out. I'm more harping on the Bruins' lack of finish or their inability to get one past the
03:11goalie. I will say I thought Lankanen was very good in this game, and I was super impressed by
03:15the way Vancouver played. They had the Bruins at points flustered not only because they were
03:24blocking shots, but you could see in the neutral zone and on the breakout with the Bruins, guys
03:28were skating into each other. Guys weren't spaced out. There was errant passes. There was a lot of
03:34things I thought Vancouver was doing to just nudge the Bruins off their timing and off their game a
03:40little bit in this one. As much as you want to say the Bruins offensively, they struggled because
03:48they couldn't score a goal. I thought Vancouver did a hell of a job defensively and goaltending
03:53wise. This is one of those games where I almost give it a little more to Vancouver than Boston
03:58as far as how they influenced the game. Yep, agree. I think it's one of those games that you
04:03feel like, okay, look at the shot chart, and you realize how many close scrambles the Bruins had
04:08around the Vancouver net. You say, boy, but Lankanen was smothering more than he was making
04:14great saves, but there were a few great saves as well. You say a few of those pucks go in,
04:19and what's the conversation? Are we talking about how good Vancouver's sticks were? It seemed like
04:24every time the Bruins were in a one-on-one, they weren't going to win it as far as trying to deke
04:28a guy, get around a guy. Lowry had some moments, but there was always a, you know, and so did
04:33McAvoy. He had one brilliant one in the second period where he identified some chaos around the
04:38blue line where guys didn't seem to know what they were doing, and he just did right around through
04:42it and got himself off a great shot. So I was encouraged by a lot of what I saw last night from
04:48the Bruins, but I was also impressed with how Vancouver supported the puck and had such quick
04:53sticks. They reminded me of the Gloriero Blackhawks from 10, 12 years ago, 15 years ago,
04:59with the way they had so many quick sticks around the puck to support people, and it was very
05:05difficult. You had to be super clean to make good plays, and I felt like for the most part the
05:10Bruins had good structure, good effort, good everything. They just couldn't, and if there
05:16was something about where I say the Bruins lack was the legacy of the game for me, it's that they
05:22don't have a Neely in front of the net. Somebody who, Brazzo for all his effort and contortionism
05:29and trying hard to get his body in there to make things happen, they need something with a little
05:36more salt and pepper around the net to help them finish chances like the ones they got last night.
05:44They, yeah, I mean, I agree to a point, but I think they have the big bodies and they have
05:51the guys that can win the battles there sometimes. I think when Morgan Geeky
05:54is on his game, he will do that, finish plays around the net and certainly cause havoc and chaos
06:00around the net because he's tough. Brazzo, I think, is another guy that will do that. Like,
06:04they've got some guys. They just didn't finish last night. I feel like most nights or some nights,
06:09they will. More nights than not, those players will, and they've got enough size at this point.
06:16They don't have size with a guy that, you know, has a Hall of Fame finishing touch like Neely
06:20does, that's for sure. Yeah, they could definitely use a player like that. You know,
06:24maybe they could use a Jake DeBrusque too, Mick. He finished a puck right around the net and found
06:31a way to get one in. Yeah, but he was in the right place though. He was in the right place quite a
06:37bit. He was hanging around. He was what we called in pawn hockey days in the 60s at Colburn's and
06:43East Walpole Mass. He's a hanger. He's a hanger. He doesn't play through the game. He doesn't skate
06:49hard. He doesn't defend. He's a hanger. That guy last night just basically stood on the shoulders
06:56of all the effort made by his teammates and was the collector. That's what he was. And I'm not
07:02saying anybody could do it. I know that goal that he scored, anybody could do it, but he does have
07:08a lot of skill. He has great hand-eye, ridiculous hand-eye, tennis player growing up. Well, he also,
07:14he's got some good, he's got great technique too and just hockey intelligence as far as the skill
07:19end of it goes. You see the way he lowers his hand, his bottom hand on the stick when he's
07:24around the net and those particular opportunities to really like bang them home where not everybody
07:29does that. I've always noticed that with him. There are certain things that he does that are
07:33really like smart, savvy, like hockey smart kind of plays that come from somebody that you can tell
07:39his dad played. He played like, he has a lot of awareness of what he's doing and is well-schooled
07:46in a lot of the things that he does. And that allows him to finish in situations like that,
07:50even though to your point, he's an accomplished professional at what he does well. And I agree
07:58with the Bruins that you don't pay core player money to a guy who doesn't, who skirts the game.
08:09He's a Bobby Ryan type of player. He really kind of like, you don't see him for a lots of the game.
08:16And the moment you see him is the time he shows up with the dagger and yeah, those players useful.
08:22Yeah, they are. But if you don't have the luxury to allocate to them, then you can't have them.
08:28And that's where the Bruins are at. Yeah. No, nobody, nobody in my opinion over the last 10
08:37to 15 years has pissed off more like Massachusetts hockey, high school hockey coaches
08:44that I talked to than Jake DeBrusque, like almost to a man, high school hockey coaches that you talk
08:50to, like, and people that are hardcore hockey coaches around here, that is the one guy they
08:54will mention and be like, I cannot stand that player. They don't want to see a single kid
08:58wearing that jersey. Don't be emulating that, that's not the game you want to play.
09:03He bugs them because of the flybys because of like some of the inconsistent commitment to the,
09:09you know, some of the things that you should be doing as a winger that he doesn't always do,
09:12especially when he's not going well offensively. You know, I think there are definitely,
09:19he was a very polarizing figure when he was here from that perspective. And,
09:23you know, that's why he ran into trouble with Bruce Cassidy towards the end of Cassidy's run
09:26here is because I think Cassidy had a lot of the same thoughts and opinions on DeBrusque and
09:31rightfully so. And, you know, he's, but DeBrusque is a skilled player. Like you can't,
09:37the speed and skill and the game-breaking ability that he has, not everybody has,
09:41and he definitely hasn't. And it is something like, you know, as much as,
09:46like most, a lot of players could have finished that play last night.
09:50I don't think there's any doubt though, Mick, that the Bruins miss a player like Jake DeBrusque.
09:54And we've talked about this all year and they did not adequately replace him
09:58when he signed with Vancouver. Now I'm not blaming the Bruins for not matching what they
10:03were going to give him because I think DeBrusque knew before last year even started that he was
10:07gone. He had no intentions of coming back. He probably knew somebody in Western Canada,
10:11one of the teams was going to fork over a lot of money for him and he was going to be closer to
10:14home. So I'm not saying they should, yeah, I'm not saying they should open the Brinks truck for him
10:19because I think it was right to not, even if he has a great year this year, I don't think DeBrusque
10:24is going to be able to keep it up. Like he's going to have a good year this year. And I think after
10:27that it's going to go into cruise control and he's going to be comfortable and he's going to
10:31have a long-term contract. And I think it's going to be troublesome, that deal eventually
10:35for the Vancouver Canucks. But I think you also see right now as good as the Bruins have played
10:42defensively in the last three games, and they've been outstanding under Joe Sacco, I think,
10:47much more of a commitment to back-checking layers. I think the special teams have been better.
10:52The goaltending, Juswayman has played better. There's a lot of different things to like about
10:56what we've seen right now. And I think the effort level has gone way up, but they have only scored,
11:01what, three goals in three games. And I think that is going to be a recurring issue for this team,
11:08especially if it becomes like hard, tight-checking defense, where they're going to be in a lot of
11:13one-nothing, two-to-one, three-to-two games, as we thought they would have been last year. And it may
11:18be a little bit more this year, as we're seeing in these last three games.
11:22It looks like we're trying to win 0-0. Remember that? 2009-10 season, Phil Kessel
11:29leaves the Bruins via the deal with Toronto. And so the Bruins come into it, and they're like,
11:38they're putting Band-Aids out there. You got Miroslav Chatan. And you're really grinding
11:44your way through the season, Steve Bajin, and so on. And this, I always felt like was going to be
11:53like that year, and that it was going to be a grind. And even though you got stability down
12:00the middle now with Lynn Holm, who I love the way he's playing, I just wish the puck went in for him
12:06more, because I feel like his game has been good, deserving of that. So... Well, it's, you know,
12:11last night, the ending of that game, Mick, was kind of exactly the way it's gone most of the time
12:16for Lynn Holm, where he has that point-blank shot at the end with the goalie pulled, and he ends up
12:20like just firing it off Marcian, and it goes wider than that. Perfect example. Yeah. Yeah.
12:25So not an elite finisher, but his game until he gets to that place is really good. Really good.
12:32Yep. So...
12:34Yeah, they're going to miss a guy like Dabrowski on the back check a couple of years ago. I remember
12:42him at full flight going through the middle of the ice. He reaches behind him, because he glanced
12:48and saw an aerial pass cross ice going, and he reached behind him blind and knocked it down.
12:54I mean, that's the kind of hand-eye that guy has in flight. And yeah, skill is a wonderful thing,
13:02if you can get it. But it wasn't going to be a fit at the salary here, no more than
13:09Torrey Krug was going to be a top three salary on defense and have it work out. It just wasn't
13:14going to. There's certain realities of the cap that you can't do. So they move on, and now we're
13:22having that year. We're having that, it looks like the 0-0 year. And yeah, there's some internal
13:30solutions, things that are going to be better than they are right now in terms of result,
13:35brazo, geeky. Yeah, I agree with you on that. But it's one of those years where,
13:41boy, oh boy, would these scoreboards look different if you had 23-year-old Cam Neely
13:47out there? You'd be winning all these games. So it's tough when your game is good, and it
13:56gets frustrating, and you don't want to keep trying to change who you are in order to somehow
14:02try to change the result, when in the end, you won't be as good of a team. You got to be true
14:07to yourself. And what are you? So I think Dawn Sweeney's assignment going forward is to try to
14:13identify a diamond in the rough, somebody that can play the game that they look for from geeky
14:19and brazo, but might be a little nastier at it, a little more confrontational.
14:26That's my guess. You mean like the way Trent Frederick is supposed to be?
14:30Uh-oh. That seems to be exactly what you're describing, Mick.
14:42He's one guy who still looks like there's something off. As much as the team has come
14:48along, I loved watching McAvoy last night, except for that first shift of the third period.
14:53That would look like the first three weeks of the season, but his game overall, I just loved it.
15:01But when it comes to Frederick, he just looks to me like there's something that's not right. He was
15:09so good for so long at getting pucks out, getting pucks in, making little plays in tight traffic,
15:14confident handler of the puck, winning his share of one-on-ones. I don't see him winning anything
15:20right now. He goes there, he seems to get there a little late. I don't know if it's a recognition
15:26thing, if it's a physical thing when he is there, some combination there of confidence.
15:32His game is not in a good place.
15:35No, and it looks like to me that he's thinking too much and there's a hesitancy to what he's
15:41doing. And there were a lot of players that were doing that for the first 20 games. There was a
15:47lot of that going on with this team. And that was another thing that I think is attributable to the
15:53coaching a little bit, when players are playing that way. It seems like they're playing much
15:58faster, most of those guys, much more instinctual, and they're just letting it go now. And it's funny
16:04when that happens, now you're not hearing so much about, oh, the Bruins are too slow, they can't
16:09skate with all these other teams in the NHL, they went for size too much in the offseason, and it's
16:13killed that. I don't think I've seen that the last three games. I think they've looked
16:17perfectly fine speed-wise, and they're skating with the other team, and they're getting shots
16:22on net, they're out shooting all the other teams now, and getting more chances. It looks
16:27like a much better brand of hockey, but Frederick, there you go. These guys right here, I thought
16:34this was the best game I've seen from them since Monty broke them up and sprinkled
16:41their magic dust through the lineup without effect. I thought that since they've been a
16:45little discombobulated since then, this time I just thought that that line was really that line
16:51again, like we saw, they were like the silver lining around the black cloud early in the year.
16:56I feel like they're back to being those guys. Yeah, yeah, they definitely are. But getting back
17:03to Frederick, I think he's not, the one thing I've noticed about him is he's not getting pucks
17:11into places where he should want to get them, like into the corner behind the net down low
17:16where he and guys like Charlie Coyle are much better. I've noticed him at times trying to
17:22work it back to the point and trying to force it to go back to the point, and it ends up becoming
17:26like it either handcuffs the defenseman or it just misses him entirely and goes out of the net
17:31and starts going the other way and turns into a bad turnover. I've seen him doing that a little
17:36bit too much where I think he's just trying to be too fancy sometimes and trying to make plays
17:42when I think he's much more of a meat and potatoes, like get it to the areas where you can
17:48either your teammate or you can win a battle and get it towards the net and just hammer it home
17:54there. I just think he's kind of this year gotten away from his identity a little bit. Maybe he
18:00feels like he wanted to put up more offensive numbers or he felt pressure to match what he did
18:05last year. I don't know what's going on there. I'm sure the contract year thing
18:11factors into it, which in talking to him, he's admitted to me that he does think about it when
18:15he's away from the rink sometimes, even though he's the kind of kid that I think has always felt
18:21like his place is tenuous in the NHL and he has to give it everything he's got and
18:26there are no guarantees for him. I think he has that kind of mindset and that nothing is
18:31set in stone for him. I don't think he's gotten too comfortable by any means, but I think there
18:36is another level of uncertainty here. When I was talking to him, it seemed to me like he's
18:41really yearning for that long-term security of a big deal. He wants a long-term contract
18:47where he knows where he's going to be, where he's going to be taken care of, where he's not
18:52going to have to worry about going anywhere or another shoe dropping for a while. He's been
18:58going one year or two years on a lot of his contracts, and I think he wants to change that.
19:02I understand that. I wonder if all that stuff is playing a factor in all of this as well with him.
19:07Well, and this could get a little sticky then because if the Bruins decide that,
19:12well, look, we're really not sure how we feel about him, then it's going to slowly become
19:17the brusque from a circumstantial standpoint, if nothing else. And now that Montgomery is
19:23coaching his hometown Blues as much as he enjoyed playing for Monty, you got to wonder that if this
19:31season doesn't calm down for him, if it doesn't go well, if he doesn't find his mojo, then what
19:39are his own thoughts going to be when UFA gets closer and his uncertainty is there? Boy,
19:46St. Louis would love to gobble him up. And now that Monty's there, it's just times 10 the whole
19:54thing. So I really think the Bruins are a little bit, might need to get out of their comfort zone
20:00here to management and say, look, we know this player has been a little up and down, but we need
20:11more of what he brings and we need to make a commitment to him. And they've been slow to
20:17commit to certain guys that don't look like, you know, real like core, core, core. They're
20:25slow to commit to them. And Freddie is falling into that category. And I'm not really sure how
20:32it's going to turn out. And it's bothersome because the Bruins need more of his best
20:38rather than letting him go. I think that'd be a mistake.
20:42Yeah. I think the Bruins really badly need the best version of Trent Frederick
20:46this season to have success. And he hasn't, he hasn't been there. There's no question about that.
20:52All right. Let's take a pause in the action podcast wise for a sec to talk about PrizePix,
20:57Mick. PrizePix is the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America and the easiest and most
21:02exciting way to play daily fantasy sports instead of battling thousands of other players that could
21:06be pros or sharks. You simply pick more or less than on two to six players, staff projections,
21:11and you watch the winnings roll right in. It's fun and it's pretty simple. PrizePix is the best
21:16way to win real money this hockey season, which players are going off, which ones aren't.
21:20Make your picks in less than 60 seconds and turn your sports opinions into real money all season
21:24long on PrizePix. PrizePix even now offers Venmo for quick and easy deposits and withdrawals into
21:30your account this sports season. So it's nice and easy. This week on PrizePix, I'm looking at the
21:35hockey board and selecting Alex Lafreniere, more than 2.5 shots per game for the New York Rangers,
21:42and Sidney Crosby for more than 19.75 times on ice against the road warrior Vancouver Canucks
21:49in a Vancouver-Pittsburgh showdown as the Canucks have won like eight games in a row on the road or
21:54something like that. They're playing really good road hockey right now. You can win up now to 100
21:59times your money on PrizePix with as little as four correct picks. PrizePix also offers a weekly
22:03promotion that can lead to big payouts like Taco Tuesday. Each Tuesday, PrizePix discounts select
22:08player projections up to 25% to provide even more value for your lineups. As I said before,
22:14download the PrizePix app today and use the code CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play $5.
22:19That's code CLNS on PrizePix to get $50 instantly when you play five bucks. You don't even need to
22:24win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed. PrizePix, run your game. All right, let's get
22:32back into the podcast action, Mick. We talked about Trent Frederick before. How about Mark
22:36McLaughlin getting called up by the Bruins? Very interesting timing where he basically doesn't get
22:43called up at all the last couple of years. Has like three games in the NHL over the last two,
22:47three seasons. And then as soon as Monty is fired and Joe Sacco comes in, one of the moves is to
22:53bring Mark McLaughlin up from the AHL and get him a shot. I mean, that kind of tells me that maybe
22:59Monty wasn't a huge Mark McLaughlin fan and that maybe things have changed a little bit here. And
23:05it's interesting to see some of the different choices that are going on as far as player
23:09selection for the NHL roster. Some will say you lose to nothing in a game where you called up an
23:17AHL grinder that's a bottom six guy that's not really going to help you offensively. And you
23:22kind of get what you deserve a little by bringing up that personnel instead of going more like
23:26Merkulov, Lysell. And then the other part of it is like, I think McLaughlin has earned call-ups
23:32over the last few years with the way he's played, the way he works down in Providence, the leadership,
23:37the example he sets. I think those are the kind of organizational guys that you reward with NHL
23:43shots and NHL looks to show everybody else this is the right way to be as a player. This is what
23:48we want and this is how we want you to play. And I think McLaughlin comes up and he's had like what,
23:53four goals in the NHL when he has played, so he's actually produced with his shot as well.
23:59Didn't make, wasn't a huge factor offensively last night, but he did make some nice 200-foot
24:04plays, some nice two-way plays, and once again showed he kind of belongs in the NHL with the
24:09way he played last night. He got 14 shifts, 9.36, so he's 24 seconds from being a 10-minute guy.
24:17His hits were only surpassed by Zdorov with four, Geeky with five. He and McAvoy had three
24:29hits in the game according to the official stat sheet. McLaughlin... Yeah, and there was one play,
24:34there was one play, Mick, defensively in the D zone where he was hounding the point at a time
24:40when his line had been out there a while and needed to get a clear out of the zone,
24:44and he made a great play stripping the defenseman, trying to block it and then staying with him,
24:50stripping of the puck, just getting the puck out of the zone. And it was like, that is exactly
24:54what he brings to the table, is the smart, good play at the time when his line really needs it,
24:59and it's not sexy and it's not something a lot of people are going to notice,
25:02but it's just a damn good hockey play. He's like Watherspoon as a winger center.
25:07He played a lot of center for Mougenel in Providence. He's played a lot of wing.
25:15He's clearly a very Don Sweeney-ish player, and then he's a hybrid. He can play both positions.
25:24He can be dropped into different situations and hold up his end of the bargain when it comes to
25:30the elbow grease of the two-way, three-zone hockey game. He may not be the guy who's going
25:35to bang in the winning goal, but he's going to be the guy who provides glue, effort, and
25:42grittiness. He's very gritty. He's very tough. I remember one time, he had to wring out the
25:48blood out of his shirt in Providence after a fight he got, and he took a shot in the nose.
25:53But it didn't at all slow him down. He's a very resilient kid, and a little like Patrick Brown
26:01early in the season. Guys that you know are not in the long-term plans, but guys who, I think what
26:07really happened shortly before Monty got fired is this became a strict meritocracy, and that's why
26:13you're not seeing Lysell. I saw Providence play, and I watched 60 Minutes of Hockey, and I saw
26:19Lysell make one good play late in the third period of a one-goal game. He shut down a play on the
26:27half-wall defensive zone, made it good, went out at the point, took the puck away, got it up ice.
26:33I'm thinking, okay, that's a good play for Lysell. The rest of the game, I'm just like, blah,
26:41I'm not seeing it. And the fact that there are people clamoring now on social for,
26:48let's get this kid up here and see if he can help these guys. He can't even help the Pete Bruins
26:52right now. Let's just wake up and smell the coffee here. This is a meritocracy now.
26:59They need to know what they have, and in order to know what you have, you have to make sure you're
27:03firing on all cylinders. And the people who are going to fire on at least most of them are going
27:07to be the guys who get the looks if they're incumbents. And if guys are going to earn a spot,
27:12then they're going to be firing on all cylinders down there, and he's not doing it there. That's it.
27:17No. No, not even close. He's still on one goal, isn't he?
27:21I don't know.
27:23As of a few days ago, I think he only had one goal down in Providence.
27:25I'd just like to see him get chances. I'd like just to see his presence in the game. I'd like
27:30to see him play through the game. I'd like to see him do something other than a little
27:35freelance movie. It reminds me a little bit of Martin Samuelson, the guy that got in the
27:38Ray Bourque trade, a guy who had superior skating skills and would just really just kind of like
27:46be on his own planet out there. And I just don't see this. The legacy is going to be that they
27:54mishandled Lysel. No, they did not mishandle Lysel. They took a risk on picking Lysel,
28:00and it was applauded by the hockey-verse because they wanted to see the Bruins go out of character
28:05and go get somebody skilled like Sergei Samsonov. And nice that they decided on that kind of risk,
28:12and it didn't pan out. That's where we are.
28:16Yeah. No, I think he was the right player at the time. I mean, he was projected to be a first-round
28:20pick. Speed, skill, all that stuff was there. And sometimes those guys develop, and sometimes
28:26they don't. And he's at a crossroads right now where he needs to figure it out and start down
28:32the right development path of being an NHL player. He's done some good things in the NHL.
28:38Last year was a positive step for him. But it does continue to seem like, at least when I've
28:43watched him in opportunities to really seize something and take control of his NHL career
28:49and not be denied and say, I'm here. I'm going to make this team. You're not going to take this
28:55from me, have that attitude. I've never seen it from him. I just have not seen him with that
29:01absolute fire that he's going to be an NHL player, and he's going to win a job, and he's going to
29:07take somebody else's job, and he's going to make it happen. I have just never seen that sort of
29:12mentality from him on the ice. I've never seen him play that way. Whenever he gets chances to
29:20really start to lock down on something, similar to what Matt Pott, basically, when he's had
29:24chances to do what Matt Potra did last year in winning that job in training camp, opening
29:29everybody's eyes and just not being denied. Fabian Lysell has never done that at any point,
29:34and he needs to start being able to do that. He needs to start being able to say, this is who I
29:42am. I am going to be successful at any level. You can trust me at the NHL level. I'm going to be a
29:47good teammate. I'm going to be a productive guy. I'm going to show all my skills. He just doesn't
29:52do any of that, and it's too many times when he disappears and isn't on the same program with
29:57everybody else. It's been years now, so we can't continue to say, a few years ago, you give him the
30:04excuse. He was really young in the AHL. He was one of the youngest guys there. He's getting used to
30:10the North American game. You could start to make all these excuses for him, and I think we're at a
30:15point now where the excuses are starting to run out, right? I'm very thin. I don't pay attention
30:22to him. I get to a point where it's like, yeah, if I go see them play, he's one of the least
30:29things on my mind. I'm not there to see him. I'm there to see a lot of stuff, but not him in
30:34particular anymore because he's become wallpaper. I'm not sure that this is something that he's
30:45blown. I haven't even seen enough good hockey out of him to understand what version of him would be
30:53applicable to the Bruins if he started applying. It just doesn't look to me like it was a successful
31:03pick. That's all. I'm just- No. Yeah, we're trending that way.
31:08I look at Merkeloff, right? I say, okay, this kid really tries, and he's a little on the small side,
31:17not particularly fast point A to point B, but he's very polished pro. Now, granted, he's got a couple
31:23of two and a half years or whatever on Lysell, and those are critical if you're developing,
31:27and Merkeloff has developed. I'm very confident that he's going to be a really good KHL
31:33centerman at age 29. I'm not even confident that Lysell is going to be a good Swedish League player
31:40at age 29. I don't know where he's going to be. No idea. That's my Lysell right there.
31:48Yeah. Nope. I think you're right on with that. You're bang on, Mick. All right. Let's
31:54give a little love. Let's take a pause in the podcast and give a little love to our sponsor,
31:58Game Time. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time for obviously your
32:03Bruins tickets, but also if you're looking for tickets to the Patriots, Celtics, or even comedy
32:07or concert tickets as well. I know the football tickets are in vogue right now with Game Time,
32:13and everybody wants to get NFL tickets. I can tell you my memory, maybe someday another kid
32:22will have a Patriots memory like this going to 1985. Was it Gillette, Schaefer Stadium back then?
32:29I can't remember. No, it wasn't Gillette. I think it was Schaefer or something. It was Sullivan
32:32Stadium. New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals, last game of the regular season.
32:40Patriots clinched a wild card playoff spot in that game and then ripped down the goalposts
32:46in the field. Everybody stormed the field after the game was over, ripped down the goalposts,
32:51and carried them out of Sullivan Stadium through that opening onto Route 1 and carried them down
32:56Route 1. One guy got electrocuted to death. I remember that. I didn't see it. I was at that
33:02game. I was at that game. I was 11 years old, and I remember begging my dad to let me go down
33:09in the field with everybody else amid the mayhem. He's like, absolutely not. There's no way you're
33:14going down there. We saw it all go down, and then we left. That was always my memory of going to the
33:19Patriots, was that absolute pandemonium after the game was over, going back to the car. But
33:25if you want a memory like that at an NFL game, use Game Time. Game Time filters out the fluff
33:32to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through
33:37thousands of tickets. The game of the week at Game Time this week is Black Friday Showdown
33:42between the Bruins and the Penguins at TD Garden. The super deal is $102 in the balcony,
33:48which is pretty great as far as a price point goes for Bruins tickets right now. I saw $102.
33:55I saw $105. Absolutely, those are fantastic Black Friday deals for that game in Boston. So
34:02jump on Game Time and get tickets for Black Friday and the Penguins-Bruins. I mean, that's
34:06going to be a great game even though the Penguins aren't playing well. Penguins-Bruins always is a
34:10good game no matter where the two teams are on the standings. But as far as Game Time goes,
34:14you get priority Game Time picks. Curation makes it easier to save more on sports, comedy,
34:19concerts, and theater. All-in pricing, which I love toggling this feature, shows you the total
34:24up front with no surprise fees at checkout. Seat views get you a panoramic view from your seat in
34:29the app before you buy. And best of all, the lowest price guarantee or Game Time will credit
34:34you 110% of the difference. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code CLNS
34:40for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply, but download the Game Time app, create an account,
34:45use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Game Time today. What time is it,
34:51Mick? Time decision? Game Time. Game Time. Game Time. All right. Last order of business here
35:00on the podcast this week, Mick. Monty gets the job in St. Louis, five years. Love it.
35:07Not surprising that he got a job pretty quickly. A little surprising that they fired their coach
35:14in St. Louis to hire him and to sign him to a long-term deal. It makes you wonder,
35:19though, did Monty know that this was going to be probably an option all along? Was that a
35:25distraction in some ways? Did that play into, like, all the turmoil that we saw in the first
35:29few months of the season here in any way, shape, or form? I kind of think it did. I mean, I kind
35:35of—there was something weird about this team that I couldn't put my finger on the first few
35:39months of the season that I wasn't quite sure about. Obviously, there's always more going on
35:44behind the scenes than players, management, coaches are ever going to let on. Did everybody
35:50know or did some people know that this might be a possibility, that he was eyeing St. Louis after
35:56this year was over, win, lose, or draw, and it became a distraction once the contract wasn't
36:02signed to start the year? And that was sort of a thing that was hanging over everybody's head,
36:07because I kind of think it might have been, now that you look on it in retrospect.
36:11There's so many moving parts here, and why did the Bruins lowball them?
36:16You know, I mean, is it because you only won—you couldn't beat Florida in two tries,
36:21which is the best team of this era? The best team since—other than the Golden Knights
36:28or the Avalanche, when they had Landis Gogh, this is the best team.
36:32Look, Meg, let me interrupt you for one sec. I will continue to maintain this. Jim Montgomery's
36:40a good hockey coach. Jim Montgomery is not Toe Blake. He's not Scotty Bowman. I think he was
36:46outcoached in the playoffs two years in a row. They barely got by Toronto. I think he's gone
36:52and isn't even there to start this year if they don't win game seven. If Postanak doesn't score
36:56that overtime goal in game seven. So he got a loaded team his first year that he did well with,
37:02but anybody could have coached that team. I understand why the Bruins were very hesitant
37:10to give him a five-year contract extension. I wouldn't have ever done that with him,
37:16because I just don't think he showed enough to merit that in the playoffs.
37:20And he's a nice guy coach. He's a player's coach. After a while, players start to tune that out or
37:27take advantage of it. He might be a good fit in St. Louis because he's the younger players there,
37:33and it's a little bit of a different situation with different expectations, but I just don't
37:37think he ever really fit in the Boston market. I never felt like that when he was here.
37:44To me, it was a learning process. My only memory with him was playing with Paul Correa at Maine,
37:49and being the guy without the without the NHL wheels, but the guy who was just such a great
37:56player at that level. And that's usually the guys who make the great coaches.
38:04It really reminded me of how Robbie Futara coached the Bruins when he had them. A lot of short passes,
38:09a lot of cohesion, a lot of fussy shot selection. And so naturally, when this all unfolded and he
38:21left, the first thing I wanted to really get my head into Don Sweeney about was,
38:28is it possible that Monty's system, puck possession, shot selection, really didn't
38:35suit this team anymore without Bergeron and Crecce in the middle of this rink here?
38:40That this is now a team that has to play a different way to be successful, at least in
38:45the postseason. They also had a hard time trying to get out of their end. And so I've been really
38:51intrigued by what was going to happen with any other coach in this situation. And now I'm learning
38:56Joe Sacco, and I guess I'm going to continue to learn Joe Sacco, as he's got the work ethic in
39:01order. He's got the intensity in order. He's got the confidence mostly restored. And now we're
39:07going to start seeing what wrinkles he will bring and what he wants to do with this hockey team
39:13and put his own stamp on it. I'm looking forward to that. But yeah, it's a bizarre story. I think
39:19it's going to be a by the book thing. You know, if I'm alive, I want to read it when it finally
39:26comes out. Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting. There's like a little bit of a, you know,
39:33a Bruins Haters Club now probably in St. Louis and the coaching staff with Claude and
39:38Monty both there as far as just wanting to show them when they do play them. I think that'll be
39:41interesting. You know, just getting those two getting together and being on the same staff,
39:48I think is a very interesting thing. And to be honest with you, Claude, with his defensive
39:53mindset and his defensive structure and the way what he always brought to the table with
39:58the Bruins is probably a good compliment to a guy like Montgomery, who's definitely thinking more
40:04offense, risk taking, you know, puck possession, hanging on to pucks to create shots, playing his
40:11D in a way that's kind of high risk and or in high reward sometimes joining the rush. Yeah.
40:18Well, and playing down low, like the weak side D man going down by the dot when the puck is in
40:22the zone to attack. Yeah, that's super high risk, you know, like and then it allowed it turned into
40:30a lot of like odd man rushes that they allowed over the over the years and what he is here.
40:36And, you know, they complained about it and he would talk about it. But like, I think it
40:39was a byproduct of the system that money played to like you're obviously if you have a D playing
40:44that deep in the offensive zone and risking a lot, you're going to give up a lot to like
40:50that's just basic like logic. Yeah. Bruce Cassidy talked about that, too. He says there's no
40:55getting around. There's no system that gets around that skirts the issue of higher risk,
41:01higher reward, but a higher danger to it. Just yes, it's what you assess and what you think you
41:07have on the ice and what you guys are capable of that you have to decide how far you can try to
41:12push that envelope because offense is hard to create in hockey when it's being played at a
41:17high level. As we saw last night, that was a good hockey game. That was a good hockey game. It was
41:24definitely in there. Every inch was battled for on the ice. There's no question about it. All right.
41:28Mick, thank you very much for joining us. Download the prize picks app today and use the code CLNS
41:32and get $50 instantly when you play $5. That's code CLNS on prize picks to get $50 instantly.
41:37When you play five bucks, you don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed
41:42prize picks run your game. Also, our folks at GameTime, download the GameTime app,
41:49create an account, and use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply,
41:53but again, download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code
41:57CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download GameTime today. Mick, one more time. What time is it?
42:05GameTime. Mick, thank you very much for joining us. Have a great Thanksgiving, my friend. You too, Joe.
42:12Everybody else out there, thank you for listening. Enjoy your turkey. Enjoy your football. Enjoy the
42:17best holiday of the year where you don't have to give gifts, where there's no expectations. You can
42:22just sit in a comfy chair, watch football, drink a beer, eat turkey, and have turkey sandwiches for
42:27days afterwards. Enjoy family and friends. Everybody have a great, safe Thanksgiving.
42:33Enjoy a break from hockey after today for a little bit for at least a day. In the Bruins
42:38world, they have games before and after Thanksgiving, so there will be plenty of
42:42hockey on the menu, though. Thanks, everybody, for listening. We'll see you at the rink.