After recapping a tough loss against the Blue Jackets, Evan Marinofsky hands out superlatives for the first three-ish months of the Bruins season. Who's been the team MVP so far? Who's been the most improved? Tune in for more.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Bruins beat is brought to you by price picks and the game time app.
00:07And welcome into the Bruins beat presented by prize picks. Go use that promo code C L
00:12N S to get $50 back when you play just $5 and are presented by game time. Goes up from
00:19a code CLS to get $20 off that first purchase terms apply. I am Evan Marinovsky joined by
00:25nobody. It is just me today. It is you and me. We're just talking. Um, it's a Saturday
00:31morning, uh, after a six, two loss to the Columbus blue jackets, a very forgettable
00:38game. Uh, we'll talk about that a little bit at the top right now, but I really want to
00:43get into superlatives, uh, three months in kind of sort of a state of the team.
00:48We sort of get to take stock of what the Bruins are, what they aren't, uh, who's doing well,
00:53who isn't. Um, the narrative for the first two months obviously was sort of, uh, everybody
00:58was terrible. And in December things went up. I know it didn't seem it on Friday, but
01:04um, there, there were some good superlatives here and there's some worthy winners through
01:09three months, which again, I mean, do we want to spend 20 minutes talking about the Friday
01:13night game? No, no, I don't want to do that. I can't imagine you want to do that. Um, and
01:21so it's just me here today, which I like. Um, I haven't done this in a while. I was
01:24going to do this like a couple of weeks ago when I put out on Twitter that I wanted to
01:29do a mailbag and then, uh, the great courtland, uh, came on, uh, and joined me so I didn't
01:34have to do that solo.
01:35So this is my first solo episode in a long time. It's holiday week. I didn't feel like
01:40asking anybody to do it. Um, you know, people, uh, do certain things with their holidays
01:45and figured why not just do it myself. Uh, so it's just you and me just catching up.
01:51How you doing? All that stuff. Um, so the game on Friday night, obviously six to two,
01:58I'm recording this Saturday morning. So, uh, the game against the, the, the back to back,
02:02the second game against the blue jackets has yet to happen. Um, terrible loss. They got
02:08manhandled. I mean, that second period was awful. Um, Scott McLaughlin of WEI had an
02:13awesome story. Um, Friday night slash Saturday morning about how the special teams for the
02:19Bruins has let them down time and time again. And it's really let them down a lot. Um, it
02:25did obviously on Friday night, but it, it hasn't been fixed since the coaching change
02:29at all.
02:30Um, the PK has been bad. It was bad on Friday. The power play, obviously we've talked a lot
02:34about that. That hasn't really gotten any better. Um, so I mean that, that was a big
02:39difference on Friday. They're in that game a little bit more. Um, if they don't have
02:43their PK troubles, um, and they convert maybe one of those power play chances to is asking
02:50a lot, but one would, would have been nice. Um, and I also just think you look at sort
02:54of the letdown from Friday's game after Mondays. I mean, Connor and I talked about that capitals
03:00when maybe being the best of the season and they follow it up with a dud, like I feel
03:05like that's been sort of the case all year.
03:06They take two steps forward, they take two steps back. And I think that's sort of why
03:10you can't buy into this team. You can't sit there and say, Oh my God, uh, you know, I
03:15have full faith. This team's going deep. Like does anyone, and I think that's, what's going
03:19to make them so infuriating because they're in the playoffs. They're probably going to
03:24make the playoffs. I would be shocked if they didn't. The rest of the conference is bad.
03:28They tread water so that they're in it. They're going to have some really good performances,
03:35some really good nights against, you know, a Panthers or the lightning or the leafs.
03:39And they're going to have some games where like, what the hell was that? And I just,
03:43you know, I think back to 22, 23 and you know, that incredible season, I remember thinking
03:48like they didn't lose four straight games all year. Um, how are they going to, how are
03:52they possibly going to lose four games in a series? And of course they found a way to
03:56do that. And I wonder if this year it's almost like we're like, Oh, they can't string four
04:00good wins together. And then they go and do it four times and win a cup. But I'm not getting
04:04that far ahead of myself with that. Cause I just don't have the faith that this team
04:08come, the playoffs is going to be able to string together good performances.
04:11And I think what makes it so infuriating is they're not, they're not a team predicated
04:15on skill that, you know, it's not like, Oh, they need, you know, posh knock to be sniping
04:19goals and they need, you know, potholes not going to be dangling guys. And, and Brad Marsh
04:24and to be, you know, um, undressing defenders and things like that. They win games three
04:28to one, four to two, they win with great defense, good structure, compete, um, you know, kind
04:36of gritty, gritty play in the offensive zone. You know, you like, we'll get into Morgan
04:42geeky in a bit, but even like that first goal they scored on Friday where geeky four checks
04:46hard and, and forces the Columbus D to make a turnover, like things like that.
04:52That's just hard work. That's compete. Why is that not there more? And I, I, it is kind
04:56of built for the playoffs. They just aren't doing it consistently enough to where I have
05:00faith that that is going to be executed come April, May and June. So that those are sort
05:06of my two big takeaways from that Columbus game. Um, you know, again, we'll see what
05:10they do on Saturday night. Uh, we'll talk more about that on Monday and Monday's Bruins
05:14beat. Uh, I know this week's been kind of weird with podcasts just because Christmas
05:18was on Wednesday and Christmas Eve was Tuesday. And you know, it just was an odd time for
05:23the scheduling, which is why this is coming out either on a Saturday or Sunday. Um, but
05:27this is kind of evergreen. This is evergreen because it's December 28th. As I record this,
05:32we're almost, uh, to the end of the month. It's been about three months of the season.
05:36And again, wanting to take stock of sort of where the team's at and who's shined,
05:41who hasn't, and we're going to do superlatives. It's like a high school yearbook in here. Um,
05:46we are going to do, uh, some different things here. Uh, we'll do MVP later, but I want to
05:52start with most improved. Who's been the most improved. And I'm also curious to hear your
05:57answers to all these things. So make sure to leave a comment on YouTube, shoot me a
06:00tweet, um, DM me on Twitter, whatever you want to do. If you agree, you disagree. Uh,
06:05you have better candidates for these, but for most improved, I don't think there's a ton of
06:11candidates, but I went, I went with Mark Castilek, Mark Castilek of all people.
06:17And I think when you think about when he came in, right, he was the throw into that trade. At least
06:22it felt like, right. It was like the first round pick was the big, the big fish, right. In that
06:27deal. That was the big one. Then he got Jonas Corpo Salo, who is your backup. And you know,
06:32a guy that has been established in the NHL. And then he had Mark Castilek who, you know, played,
06:38I think like 63 and 65 games the last two years for Ottawa. He was thought of as inconsistent.
06:43You know, he played a gritty game, um, physical could fight, but you just didn't see that all
06:49the time. Again, it was the consistency issue with Ottawa that he struggled with.
06:53And since then, since coming here, he's been stable. He's been stable. I mean, just remember
07:00starting the year, it was that fourth line of him, Cole Koepke and Johnny Beecher that was
07:04scoring their goals. That's why they were winning those games early in the year was
07:07because that fourth line was humming. And that starts with Castilek. And I think Castilek the
07:12way he plays the style, he plays, um, his ability. He, I think he's, he has 11 points so far this
07:19year. So he's tied his career high. He's still young and you know, he's a bottom six or so. I
07:23can't imagine, um, him going a ton higher than that, but still tied a career high.
07:29And we're three months into the year. So my guess is knock on wood. He beats his career high. Um,
07:35and I just think the physicality he brings the four checking, um, the toughness. And I know we,
07:41we make fun of toughness a lot and say that doesn't matter, but a guy like him who can skate well,
07:46who's physical, who can create offense through that physicality,
07:50then it's worth it. Now he's not just some lug out there skating around,
07:54you know, Matt Rempe, there's a lot of value that he brings. And I think he's been,
07:59you know, so far, I mean, he's been an outstanding part of that trade.
08:03That was a great throw in that the Bruins got. Um, and he's someone that I am curious when the
08:08playoffs come around, what is his role? Um, it seems the Bruins kind of have a shutdown line
08:13forming with that Marshan Lindholm and coil line, which I would assume would be deployed
08:18against a Matthews line or a Barkoff line come the playoffs. Um, but I do wonder what cast a lick
08:24can bring you in a post-season series. Cause you know, they've kind of Bruins gotten dummied
08:30around in recent years. Um, and I, I think that he brings a, an added element there that they need.
08:35Um, and I, you know, pitches and scoring every now and again, which is nice. And I,
08:38they did try him up in the lineup. It didn't really work. I think he's more of a fourth liner.
08:42Um, he'll be kind of a, a NHL journeyman, but I, I, I genuinely think he's probably been the most
08:48improved on this team at alternate Canada. And it's hard to say this after Friday's game. Um,
08:53but you want to score Pozzolo? I mean, you think about what we talked about it a lot,
08:56his numbers in Ottawa last year were not good. Um, and coming into this year, uh, didn't really
09:02have a lot of expectations for him. Uh, was he going to be able to adequately back up Jeremy
09:06Swayman? And he has, I mean, obviously yes, Friday night was bad, but even entering Friday,
09:11I mean, he had the ninth highest, a high danger state percentage in hockey at five on five.
09:15Um, we joke all the time that if it's a high danger chance, he makes the same every time.
09:19Uh, it's more so the shots from outside that, uh, he's not as great with. So he's a candidate for
09:24it. Uh, but I still think Castellic, uh, probably gets it there. Mark Castle could be my pick for
09:30most improved. I'm curious to hear who else you guys think for most improved. Um, but to me,
09:35Castellic is the, is the, is the winner there. Uh, most underrated. We have two awards,
09:40two superlatives coming up. I think that sort of go kind of the same, but not a little different.
09:45I'll explain them. Uh, most underrated I'll go with Hampus Lindholm. He's been injured for a
09:50while. He's been out, but you think about last year and you think about sort of the post seasons
09:55he's had here that have really been underwhelming. I know he had that big goal last year against
09:59Toronto. He had the pass to posture knocking game seven as well. Um, but really like just
10:06ineffective last year at times and has had issues in the playoffs, uh, which has been unfortunate.
10:13But you think back to that 22, 23 season, the regular season, and we're third in the Norris.
10:18And you're like, Holy crap, like Burns have something in this guy, totally worth trading
10:21a first round pick for. And up until he got injured, uh, you know, a month or so ago,
10:27he was playing at that level. He was great. He was the team stunk and there were so many
10:32bad things and that's what we sort of focused on obviously, but he was terrific. He was great.
10:38And so I think he's been obviously a huge loss. You wonder whenever he does come back and I don't
10:43have any update on that. I don't have any new news for that. I do wonder when he comes back,
10:48that power play, uh, that last game that he got injured and he was running that top power play
10:52unit. They just finally put them up there. And I would assume when he comes back, they do the
10:56same again. Um, cause again, that first power play, uh, needs to be freshened up.
11:02The personnel has been the exact same. The formation has sort of been the same too.
11:07They keep trying to force it to posture knock, uh, for one timers. So, um, uh, that, you know,
11:13again, I think Lindholm provide you something a little bit different there. And again,
11:17he's still second on the Bruins and Corsi four percentage. Um, he didn't have a lot of offensive
11:22zone starts either. Um, so again, just a guy who reliable, good puck mover, um, and can
11:30pitch in on the offense. So to me, most underrated campus Lindholm, um, I think it's gonna be
11:35fascinating to see what he is when he comes back. Uh, can he jump right back into that form?
11:39Cause if he can, that's going to be a huge help to that backend. Uh, cause again, as we've talked
11:45a lot about this year, they're a team predicated on defense and that's a big addition back there.
11:51And Jordan Osterley has been great. Jordan Osterley, I think has been phenomenal,
11:55reliable puck movers, but a lot of NHL games. Um, I would assume he probably moves out for
12:01Lindholm, but also like low rye has is inconsistent at times in his own zone. So
12:07he can provide that offense and maybe you do want him for that second power play unit.
12:12Um, but I do wonder, uh, is it Osterley that comes out or low rye? I think it's probably
12:16going to be a little bit of both. Uh, when campus Lindholm comes back, um, we'll do another
12:22one here. Most overlooked, but shouldn't be. I made this myself really most overlooked,
12:27but shouldn't be M O B S B the Mosby award. Mr. Mosby award, uh, really just flows right
12:33off the tongue. Um, and I go with Morgan geeky, Morgan geeky. He was brutal. First two months,
12:41he was a nothing. And it's funny because, you know, he's a pending UFA.
12:47And I remember when the Bruins went and got him before last season, Connor Ryan wrote a lot about
12:51how this guy kind of had all this untapped potential and he showed it last year. And he
12:55really did. I mean, he fit anywhere in the lineup come the Panther series. He was centering the top
13:01line. I don't think we all agreed like this isn't the spot for him. And ironically enough, uh, he's
13:06on the top line. So even after they went out and signed Elias Lindholm. So the thing with geeky
13:13recently is he has fit well with Zaka and Pasternak. Um, he didn't register a point on Friday,
13:18but it was his great for checking. It was him pinning that Columbus defender up against the
13:22glass that led to Zaka's goal. He didn't get an assist on it, but gets an assist in the heart.
13:28Um, and so again, he's been terrific with Zaka and Pasternak. Um, I think he has nine points
13:35in December so far. And again, there's, you know, a game or two left in the month, but you'll take
13:39that every time from him. He's scoring timely goals. He's setting plays up. Um, you know,
13:45and again, he's sort of little, got a little grit to him. Good two way guy. So I just wonder with
13:50him, like, what do you do with that guy? Do you re-sign him at the end of the year
13:57or do you let him walk or do you deal him now when he has a lot of trade value? Now
14:03the Bruins are not in my opinion. And from, you know, sort of different things I've heard,
14:07they are not going to be a team that is going to be looking to add draft picks at the deadline,
14:14especially in the position that they're in. I know we've talked a lot about going for a retool
14:18this year, but I think they want players back. I think that if they're going to trade a geeky
14:22or a Frederick, we'll get to in a bit, they're going to want guys who can help their roster.
14:26Now. I don't know. What are you getting from Morgan geeky? You know, I would love,
14:30I would love for them to get, you know, second or third round pick at the deadline. I think
14:34that's terrific. You know, that's what you should go for, but they're in a playoff spot and we know
14:41that the, when the Bruins are, you know, in even just striking distance of the playoffs,
14:44they want to get there. They feel they have a chance. So I don't know what you're getting
14:47for geeky. So my guess is they hold onto him unless they package him with other things for
14:53someone bigger. I just don't see them dealing him for like a second or a third. Um, even though
14:59maybe that might be the best move long-term. It's interesting though. Cause he, again,
15:03as I said, he is producing now. So he brings you that value. Um, he's worked in that top six. I
15:09think we can all agree that he's probably not a long-term top six guy, but like he's playing like
15:14it, he's playing like it. So that's the funny part where we're sort of, that's why most overlooked,
15:19but shouldn't be like, Oh, close. He's close. Um, maybe you like Morgan geeky so much that
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16:09And that's why we say Pixmas it's there's, there's Christmas, there's Festivus and there's
16:14Pixmas. And I gotta say on Christmas, I talked about this the other day, there were some really
16:20good more or less, uh, players to take, um, for, uh, on Christmas day for the NFL games,
16:26for the NBA games, Jason Tatum was down to like 21 and a half points. So that was an easy, like
16:32more easily, even though they lost, he's still adjacent Tatum's doing that. Um, so maybe you
16:36want to get out of Morgan geeky while he's hot. Maybe you want to buy high, nothing wrong with
16:41that. Um, so again, download the app today and use code CLNS to get $50 instantly. After you play
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16:59Why not? What's wrong with that? Nothing's wrong with that. Um, so we've done geeky. We, you know,
17:05we've done most overlooked. We've done most underrated. We've done a most improved let's do,
17:11uh, let's do most likely to be traded Trent Frederick. I don't think there's any surprise
17:18here. We actually, we'll get to a surprise in a bit, but I, I don't know, man, I don't know.
17:24Not a lot of value there. That's the problem. But we keep hearing these reports from
17:28the insiders like Friedman and Kevin weeks that Frederick has suitors. Frederick has teams that
17:33really like his potential, what he could be. I just, why would you trade for that guy when you
17:40could just sign him for the most possible money, um, in the off season? So that's my biggest thing.
17:46Um, I just, what's the value there. And I mean, you look at, we'll get to biggest disappointment
17:53and he's certainly a candidate just hasn't given you much, just hasn't given you much.
17:58And that's been the tough part with him is like, you know, you saw streaks of it
18:02last year. You saw it in 22, 23, where he was dynamite. He was consistent. Um,
18:08a guy that could contribute with the physicality could put up points, um, was impactful. You
18:14noticed him good defensive game. This year just hasn't been there. And I don't know what it is.
18:20Um, but to me, the feeling with him is he's going to be traded at some point. Um,
18:25what his value will be. That's a great question. That's a great question, Evan.
18:30I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I always say the trade deadline, uh, deals, uh, the prices
18:37get so insane that it wouldn't shock me if he got you a first or second round pick, um, around
18:45the deadline. If someone's, you know, if there's a lot of teams going for him, it also wouldn't
18:48shock me if you didn't get a lot of value for him either. Um, I, you could do kind of a struggling
18:53player swap. Um, I don't know who that would be, but I would assume that's the route. The
18:57Bruins would be more apt to take because they would add someone to their lineup.
19:00But I also think when you look at sort of, you know, they have Patra and Providence who's
19:04definitely ready to come up. They went out and just got Oliver Wallstrom. Um, they, they wave
19:09Tyler Johnson. So like you have the, you have guys internally, if you did trade Frederick for picks
19:18or a pick or a prospect, I mean, you still have your third liners. You still have, you can still
19:25roll out there. You can put Matt Patra there and you can put Oliver Wallstrom there and you have
19:30Justin Brezo. So, um, you don't have to get a player in return, but I would imagine that's
19:35what they would want. I think they would want to do sort of like, you know, how the devils
19:38traded Pavel Zaka and got Eric Holla for him. I would assume the Bruins want to do something
19:44similar, just on a smaller scale. Connor always mentions the Tanner Jeno trade.
19:47If you can get that, I mean, you have to do that. You have to do that to get all those picks.
19:52You would do that every single time. Um, biggest disappointment. It could go to Frederick
19:57could go to Trent Frederick. Um, but I will go Elias Lindholm and obviously Elias Lindholm over
20:03the last a bunch of games has really seemed to find his groove. He registered another assist
20:09on Friday's game. He's been producing ever since that Vancouver game looks much more comfortable.
20:15You saw it against Calgary too. He was much, much better. Um, but up until then the offensive
20:21production was awful. Aside from that three assist game against the Islanders,
20:25the night before Thanksgiving, it was just, there were nights he didn't notice him.
20:29He was well into the minuses. I know we, we, uh, rag on plus minus,
20:34but he was well into the minuses and just not the guy you thought you were getting.
20:37And obviously it takes time for free agents to acclimate. Not everyone just comes right in and
20:42makes an impact, but I think that just the lack of impact, the lack of even average impact, the
20:47lack of even average production has been really concerning. And I think he's at like 19 points
20:52in 36 or 37 games, um, so far, and he's still third on the team, which is incredible. Um,
20:59but that's still not where you need him. You need him to be up with Marcian and Pasternak.
21:03And he's been on that pace the last five or six games. Can that be sustained though? Um,
21:07cause the Bruins are coming up on a crazy slate of games. They have Columbus, uh, Saturday,
21:12but then they have games coming up against a plethora of really good teams. I don't have
21:16the schedule in front of me right now. So I don't want to misspeak on some of those teams.
21:19And I don't want to ruin the network connection with this. Um, but again, they need, they,
21:25I can't stress enough how they need him to be better. Um, and up until the last six games,
21:30he really was not worth anywhere near what they paid for him. Um, but it's good. At least it's
21:36good that he's been that way of late. So there's that. I think there's a lot of guys you could put
21:41in the biggest disappointment category. Um, obviously over the last month, a lot of guys
21:45have come out of that. Um, but to me, Elias Lindholm, you went out, you spent big money.
21:50He was your big fish. You could put the door off in there as well. He's been better over the last
21:54couple of games too. He's been better, especially since Joe Sacco took over. Um, you've seen him
22:01be a lot more impactful, um, better puck moving, all that stuff. Um, but again, I go with Elias
22:07Lindholm for biggest disappointment. We got to have like names for all these superlatives.
22:11Like, I don't know if you guys listened to the rewatchables podcast over at the ringer and they
22:15have like, you know, it's like the Joey pants award, the name, everything, um, for the awards,
22:20maybe we'll, we'll, we'll like connect this to the 2011 Bruins, like the Michael Ryder,
22:24most improved player, or, uh, you know, like the Andrew Ference most overlooked, but shouldn't be,
22:29or something like that. Um, maybe we'll do that going forward when we do this again,
22:33cause Lord knows we'll be doing it again. Um, least surprising surprise,
22:39least surprising surprise to me is that Jim Montgomery got fired,
22:43least surprising surprise, little bit of a surprise, uh, because he hadn't been really
22:48successful in the regular season over the previous two years. Um, not so surprising
22:54given that he went into this year as a lame duck. Um, and there wasn't a huge vote of confidence
23:00from the front office. Never felt that way. Um, wasn't an internal candidate either.
23:04Like he didn't come up through the Bruins, which, you know, Joe Sacco has been here, you know,
23:0810 prior years. His assistant Bruce Cassidy was in Providence for a long time.
23:13Claude, obviously it's a different era, but, um, just never seemed to fit, never seemed to fit.
23:22And again, clearly the St. Louis stuff had that in his back pocket the whole time. It felt like,
23:27um, the more I talk to people, the more I get the feeling that, uh, St. Louis had that thing
23:32written out a long time ago. Not saying that that's factual or anything, but like,
23:36feels like that might've been the case. Um, but, uh, again, just, I think what I think,
23:42like the biggest thing with Montgomery is I think he's a good coach. I do. I don't think he's a
23:48stooge. I think he's a good, solid NHL coach. Who's kind of in that, like, you know,
23:55seven to 12 range of NHL coaches, you know, can sometimes get a little higher than that.
23:59Sometimes a little lower, but I mean, to think in his division, I'd have to go through Craig
24:04Barubi and or Paul Maurice and or, um, John Cooper to get to the conference final.
24:12I don't know about that. I don't know about that. I mean, Sheldon Keefe and the Leafs
24:17came. Oh, so close to coming back from a three, one deficit last year.
24:21Paul Maurice and the Panthers certainly did two years ago. He had problems with the playoffs in
24:28Dallas too. I don't know. So I'm, I I'm not surprised, but a little bit of surprise. So
24:34least surprising surprise, um, would be Jim Montgomery getting fired quite an eventful
24:41couple of, uh, uh, quite an eventful couple of, uh, first month, first two months, excuse me,
24:49uh, with, uh, the Swayman saga and then the Jim Montgomery signing, uh, or the
24:54Jim Montgomery firing, excuse me. Um, before we get into the MVP so far, before we get into
24:59the hottest take going forward, the guys, the Bruins need to come up the biggest in the second
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27:08What time is it? It's game time. It is definitely game time. Uh, as you can tell, I'm all stuff
27:16all of a sudden, because I've been in ranks the last bunch of days. I was, I'm about to head off
27:22to a rank after this. I was at a rank for like four or five hours yesterday. Um, it never seems
27:28to end, but it's time of year that you want to be in rank. So, uh, I am all for it. Um, what else
27:34could we do here for we'll do MVP last sort of keep it as a surprise. Um, the guy that the Bruins
27:41need to come up the biggest going forward. I think this one's easy. It's Jeremy Swainman.
27:47It is by far Jeremy Swainman. You can make the case for McAvoy. You can make the case for Elias
27:52Lindholm. You make the case for Matt Patra or David Pasternak. Pasternak's been producing a
27:57lot though lately. Um, and it goes without saying you need him to be good, but Jeremy Swainman,
28:02I think it's fascinating. Like obviously we expected him to not start out great just cause
28:08he missed all of training camp, but he has struggled for sure. Or, you know, over these
28:14three months, you know, even as of late, like recently has had some tougher showings. He got
28:20blamed for that game at Edmonton, uh, which again, I don't put that all on him, but you do need him
28:25to make one or two of those saves at the end there. Um, but I, again, I think if you can get
28:33just above average goaltending from Jeremy Swainman, I mean, think about where the Bruins
28:36are right now. And he has struggled. He has not been, I mean, he's league he's middle of the pack
28:43in like most stats for goalies. Um, his high danger save percentage has not been great.
28:49He's in the bottom, near the bottom of the league in that, uh, at five on five. If you can get him
28:55to just be average to above average, think about where they would be. Think about where this team
29:02would be with that. And he, he has been better of late. I know everybody loves to hate on Jeremy
29:06Swainman, especially after the contracting, but he has been better of late. Um, so I do think he's
29:11someone obviously that you really need, um, near his best. I'm not going to say at his best,
29:17because that doesn't always happen, but if you can get him to go on a run, sort of like what
29:20Lena's all marksmen doing in Ottawa, um, or even close to that, this team is more comfortably in
29:27the playoffs. Um, and you definitely need Swainman's best when the playoffs come around, you
29:31need 2024 playoffs, Jeremy Swainman, a hundred percent. So to me, he's the guy you need the
29:36biggest, uh, you need to come up the biggest going forward. Um, my hot take for the, for the next
29:42three months or for the rest of the season, and we'll see how this plays out. But my take
29:47posture comes up and plays between Zaka and Pasternak. I like it. I like it a lot. I like
29:53the idea of it. It sounds nice. I can picture it in my head. It looks nice. That skill that
30:00Matt Potter brings the good two-way ability, the high hockey IQ, putting him between Zaka and
30:05Pasternak. I think that gets a lot going. And you think about it like that line right now with
30:12Morgan Geeky, as I said earlier, has been working and Pasternak has mainly been the playmaker,
30:17which you would normally think wouldn't be the case, but he's been the guy setting up
30:20Pavel Zaka or setting up Morgan Geeky. I think if you put Matt Potter up there, who is, you know,
30:25has a ton of confidence coming out of Providence, whenever they do decide to bring him up,
30:29he becomes a playmaker. He becomes the guy that could be setting up Pavel Zaka or setting up David
30:35Pasternak. What he could bring to the power play too, like revitalizing that. And maybe we're
30:40expecting too much, but I do just think his overall skill, his setup abilities, and just
30:46his offensive IQ and what he can do in the offensive zone and protecting pucks along walls
30:51and elongating plays and things like that. I think he brings a lot there that would work really well
30:55with Zaka and Pasternak. And the best part is you keep that second line intact with Marshan,
31:00Lindholm and Coyle. And then that third line Geeky gets to go down to and probably center.
31:06And your third line is Brazzo, Geeky and Wallstrom and, or, you know, or Frederick,
31:11not and, or, you don't get four people on a third line or on any line. But if they dealt Frederick,
31:16you would still have that be your be your third line with Brazzo, Geeky and Wallstrom. So that's
31:22my hot take. My hot take going forward is that Matt Patra works his way up. I would love to say
31:26like my hot take is they get, you know, they trade for Dylan Larkin. I just don't know if they have
31:30the assets. Maybe Matt Patra is the centerpiece of that deal. You know, you look at sort of
31:36Detroit's rebuild and when are they going to hit their stride? Is Larkin going to be kind of too
31:40late for that, you know, in his career for him to be there when they're making the playoffs.
31:45So I would love to say they go out and trade for Dylan Larkin, but I'll keep my hot take
31:51relatively hot. I'll keep it. I'm not going to say it's warm. I think like most people would
31:56think Patra would come up and send to the third line. So I'll say it's, I'll say that's like,
32:01you know, if it's a stove, that's like a seven out of 10. Whereas like if I said,
32:05oh, they're going to trade for Dylan Larkin, that would be a 10 out of 10 on the heat scale.
32:09So finally we get to the MVP so far, which is kind of tough because no one's been the
32:16MVP from start to finish. There's no guy that's been, you know, consistent throughout.
32:22So you kind of have to go off of late, you know, since the Joe's since the coaching change
32:27and there are two that come to mind, but I give my MVP award to Brad Martian.
32:35Brad Martian has been your MVP so far this year. His goal scoring went way up after the coaching
32:42change. He set some huge goals this year, scored versus Detroit right after the coaching change to
32:47win that game in Detroit. Had that great game against the Islanders right before Thanksgiving,
32:54you know, scored two right at the start of the game to get that going.
32:5710 goals and eight assists since the coaching change had an assist on Friday. Even at 36,
33:04you know, we've talked about him a lot, kind of slowing down over the last couple of years. He
33:09had surgeries this off season. He had the double hip surgery a couple of years ago and we're like,
33:14all right, well, he's going to slow down. And he, it looked that way through the first two
33:18months of the year. I mean, he was having a tough time there and very on and off,
33:23very spotty production. And since Sacco took over, he has been dynamite. And to me, just his ability
33:30to score, um, you know, the, the, the clutchness of those goals to me, he's been your MVP so far.
33:37Um, the other guy is David Pasternak. Pasternak has a legit shot at it. He was definitely the
33:42team MVP last year. There was no doubt about that. Um, and I, you know, I think he's been good.
33:48There's still more to be desired from him. And I think it's kind of impressive that we feel that
33:53way, uh, even though he is going at a point per game pace and he's been much better over the last
33:58month. So, um, you know, still need to see some stuff from him, but for me,
34:02the MVP is Brad Marchand so far this year. Um, so I think that covers it. I think that covers
34:08superlatives. We, I don't think we missed any big ones. Um, some other guys that maybe you should
34:12get some props. Justin Brezow was scoring at the beginning of the year when they were struggling.
34:17He was someone that was, um, reliable. He hasn't been producing as much of late, but for that
34:22stretch there, when everybody wasn't, he was, so give him, give him, I give him props, um,
34:28need more from McAvoy for sure. But again, his look better over the last month has looked better
34:32since the Sacco coaching change, the D had been much more active in the offense. Um, so that's
34:37sort of the superlatives. That's the purlatives. I hope you enjoyed this. Um, it's always fun to
34:41just get to chat you and me. Um, and that's Bruins beat. That is Bruins beat. So we'll be back next
34:47week. I'm Evan Marinovsky, you Bruins beat listeners have a great rest of your week.