Which Big Free Agent Will Bruins Sign? (Mock Offseason Part 2) | The Skate Pod, Ep. 443

Which Big Free Agent Will Bruins Sign? (Mock Offseason Part 2) | The Skate Pod, Ep. 443

3 welcome in to episode 443 of the Skate Podcast i am Brian D feliz joined by Bridget Pru and Scott Mclofflin bridging Scott today is part two of our Boston Bruins offseason mockup series where we’re going to focus heavily on the cap space we have remaining and how we’re going to allocate it throughout the UFA class whether it’s players that were on the Bruins last year the UFAs or just the open market but first Scott I know you and Bridget and myself probably have some loose ends to tie up with some of the Don Sweeney uh contract extension talk yeah I kind of just had like one thing that I wanted to touch on just because it it feels like it’s been one of the mo well there’s been a couple things like just talking to friends that come up and one is obviously like what has Don Sweeney done to earn this and one point I make to make to people and like not even really trying to defend him but I said on here before it’s like all right what are you asking him to do like him or a new GM or whoever you’re asking them to build a team that just missed the playoffs into a Stanley Cup contender and they don’t want this to be a decades a you know 10-year process they want it to be shorter term all I point out to people is Don Sweeney did do this he took over in 2015 a non-playoff team and in four years had them in the Stanley Cup final and that was yes with mistakes made along the way and there’s stuff he could have done better that you hope he’s learned from specifically talking about the 2015 draft um and there were mistakes and successes after that but like that overarching theme of what you need to do over these next several years is something he has actually done that you like no matter what you think of him you do have to give him some credit for that now he had a better core to start with no question about it you still had Berseron Marian Crara Posak just emerging as a star caliber player like no doubt about it you had more to work with so it’s more work this time but again like as we talked about last episode along the lines of you know be careful what you wish for like take a look around at who other teams that are hiring general managers this offseason are going for i mean Ken Holland was tasked with retooling slashrebuilding the Red Wings after their last cup in ’08 and failed miserably like wasted the back nine of Datsuk and Zedberg and then had absolutely zero answers once those two retired uh you know like you you can do worse on someone who has at least had some experience going through this so that was one and then the second thing that a couple people have asked me is like how uh how many coaches does a GM get to hire before you have to fire them and there and I even hear it on radio there’s like this prevailing belief that swing only gets one more coaching hire that like can’t possibly fire and hire another coach to which I say well what if this coach still to be still yet to be hired has a good four or five year run this team’s back in contention status and then it’s time to change the coach like Sweeney might not get the chance to hire to fire and hire another coach in the next two years like this hire has to be more successful than that but I I don’t really get the idea of this is the last coach Don Sweeney will hire it’s like well yeah if things don’t go well sure but there’s a world where things go well and it’s still time to change the coach four or five years from now like that’s just how this works the average lifespan of an NHL coach is less than two and a half years you know so like I that that’s another one I don’t I don’t really get like there’s absolutely a world where Don Sweeney eventually fires this coach he hires and gets to hire another one yeah I mean I I think you summed up kind of what was left from that conversation pretty well um I didn’t I didn’t see as much negative backlash as I thought I would necessarily i mean maybe people had I saw I saw a lot I saw a lot but I I shouldn’t say a lot i saw like a medium amount i thought it would be more but maybe it’s also you you spend your times in the depths of Twitter and I don’t so you’re you’re down in the trenches yeah I would say like anywhere on Bruins social media it was uh not not the best PR day for them but um you know that’s to be expected obviously fans are upset and we’ve talked about why it’s very understandable like this past season was unacceptable so um I get it and you know like I’m not I’m not telling fans like don’t be upset that Sweeny’s still here like it that’s absolutely well within any fan’s right um there there were just like those couple things left that I I felt like deserved a little more explanation or or kind of background okay yeah i mean I als I also think that even people who aren’t Don Sweeney admirers I think they probably recognize well the Bruins are having an issue right now probably maybe hiring the next coach because there might be some some instability at the some questions as from a perspective coach and maybe they felt as though well if you got to you got to hire a coach and maybe in doing so it’s it’s extending Don Sweeney to kind of mitigate some of those questions from a from a coaching candidate so but uh okay any playoff thoughts before we get into our discussion today uh I I’ve kind of I kind of thought Florida might roll Carolina game one of the Eastern Conference Finals did did nothing to dissuade me a comfortable 5-2 win um Rod Brendmore dragged into losing the head games in the first period of game one he’s whining about the refs it’s like yeah they missed the call like 100% and yes it is amazing that the Panthers get away with as much as they do but when like seven minutes into the game you’re just behind the bench complaining to the refs and then like not stopping during any break in action from there on it’s like dude this is the tone you want to set for the series like you want to be Crybaby in period one of game one like h I just thought it was awful optics and it’s it’s not new for Rod Brendmore i think it’s one of the biggest criticisms of him is like he he just allows himself to get sucked into like playing the complaint to the refs scheme and it’s like are you going to say it’s like man it’s like that rubs off on your team like it it to me it becomes like an attitude that just kind of like seeps through the lineup and it’s like just go out and play it’s the Eastern Conference Finals yeah they missed the call so what like you got to fight through it it’s it’s playoff hockey and what do you have to say about uh Brad Marshon’s uh issues with the refs well yeah it is dumb that like he’s the only one who gets a misconduct on a play where Shane Gosner shoots the puck at him but I I thought that whole sequence was funny i didn’t really think Martian was in danger of getting hurt like I saw people saying like the shot came up high i’m like came up to like a stomach like let’s calm down it wasn’t going to hit him in the head um yeah I sort of thought that was all pretty funny in the end and like the game’s out of reach so it doesn’t really matter that Marshian got a misconduct but I get why he was probably upset about it yeah I mean he was screaming at the refs too but um but yeah I mean that’s that’s classic playoff Marshon um so yeah guys I think we should spend a majority of this episode on our part two um which I believe is going to be the last of the series i don’t think we’re going to need a part three hey who unless unless we can’t agree on stuff and like then I mean we might have like three totally different opinions and like then we got to we might have to reorganize our front office you know maybe maybe like we look for a special advisor to come in you know may maybe two of us are firing one of one of the others like Yeah it would be you going Scott it would be I mean we’re never gonna we’re never gonna each other i heard Bridget hired uh Zado to be some sort of consultant for us so yeah we’ll we’ll see we’ll see what he can help us with but um let me just reset the table for those who may not have heard episode one or or part one and or yeah just could be in the dark a little bit so the NHL salary cap heading into next season is projected to be 95 million or 955 yeah 955 that’s that’s locked in is that official yeah yeah that they announced that in January February I think oh okay all right then so it’s $95 and a half million dollars right now uh the Bruins have contracted salaries for 66,681,667 so heading into our part one episode we had 28,818 333 of cap space to work with and then Bridget I don’t know if you have the uh the graphic you want to pull it up and so last episode we wanted to make some decisions on some restricted free agents um for the Boston Bruins so we decided on a five-year contract extension for Morgan Geeky at $6 million a year and we had Marat Husadino we signed to a two-year extension at $925,000 jacob Loco we signed to a one-year $1 million contract and then Mason Laurai we signed to a 2-year $2.5 million bridge deal and then that got us down to cap space remaining of 18,394 333 and that gets us to today um I should also say as well that that is not including the contracts of players down in Providence like a Matt Potra or a Frasier Minton who we expect probably will both be accounted for in this roster so really if you were to take away their their contracts which is um I think it’s 1 million686,666 combined for potra and mitten and that would bring you down to salary cap remaining of 16,77667 so I know that’s a lot of numbers at you but when we go into today’s conversation the real number that we’re working with is more so 16 million and change probably rather than the 18 million and change just a little nuance for the listeners bridget and Scott um did you have anything to add to that uh no just just in case people caught it on the graphic quick note that I think we had Castick’s wrong salary i think we had his salary last season listed so it’s it’s 1.567 million which we do have that correct in like all our notes that we’re working off so so just a visual error for those watching on YouTube okay so let’s let’s let’s begin conversation so myself Bridget and Scott have not discussed the players that we would like to potentially bring in and at what contract uh value in terms so I mean I think there’s clearly one big decision that needs to be made among the three of us and it’ll probably it will majorly affect the rest of today’s episode and that question is the elephant in the room of how serious are we at offering Mitch Mner a contract he’s projected to make around $13 million and that would clearly take up a massive chunk of our allowance to spend um do you guys have any thoughts one way or the other before I give mine or is this a unanimous decision i’ll let you guys talk i mean in my perfect world I’m finding a way to get Mitch Mner i don’t know how realistic it is obviously we’re not privy to whether he would want to come here or go somewhere else but my like path a would be to go after Mitch Mner because I think this team needs another offensive star i think this is your best chance of getting one um if it means I have to you know uh cheap out at other spots I’m okay with doing that because again as I’ve said before I don’t think this is a one-year retool so I’m not approaching this off season as like okay I need to fill in this spot this spot this spot and this spot and I’m not going to go after Mitch Mner because I want four guys elsewhere no like to me get the star and then if you you know are going cheap elsewhere you deal with that for a year and then next off season when the cap goes up again and you have more space then you can fill in more um but there are not Mitch Mner’s available every year yes I know he struggled in the playoffs and this was not the first year that’s happened and that does give me some hesitation absolutely it is worth considering and bringing up and talking about uh but you need guys who can create offense and and who can drive lines right now you only have one guy who can do that in David Posano and that is not enough to win in the NHL it’s not and I don’t know where else this team is finding a second offensive star um so yeah I would be and this I will argue for this exercise that is what I would want to do is go after Mitch Mner so I think Brian and I are of the belief that I mean obviously Mitch Mner is the best available forward on the market he is somebody that’s going to be an impact player immediately um his price tag is going to be high that’s not even you know the biggest issue because there is cap um that we do have that and like you mentioned there’s going to be some depth issues but you can live with that my when I was you know running through this exercise my original thought process was also to determine what was kind of unrealistic and what was realistic so um in my mind I like when I’m really being honest with myself I think there’s maybe a 10% chance he wants to come to Boston like I really genuinely think he’s going to go on the market look for the best deal and there’s going to be so many options for him there’s just there’s going to be a lot of offers um and the Bruins would have to make probably the very best offer in order for him to end up in Boston and that could be a really really high number um are we maybe we could talk about what a number might look like if you really needed to blow him away to get him here like how high are you willing to go because in my mind I think he’s only going to the team that offers him the most money yeah yeah I don’t i mean obviously for the point of this exercise I guess we can’t really assume that but you know like I I think he cares about winning to some extent i know you know does that mean he doesn’t come to Boston because why Boston tries to win i know Boston tries to win but they beat they beat his team in the playoffs three times yeah but maybe he looks at the situation now and says I don’t know like I’m not sure i mean I guess David Posnik always lends credibility to your case that you’re you know you’re going to be a contender but um but yeah I mean he’s he’s probably not going to want to go to a team that’s but I can’t say that for sure because the it feels like a lot to him with this deal is going to be about the the contract like the money um that’s my gut feeling is that he’s going to it’s a big part it’s a big part of it for for any unrestricted free agent but you know just because he might want out of Toronto or be willing to leave Toronto doesn’t mean that suddenly he’s okay with going to a loser franchise like he might still want to go to another team that that win you know that has a winning record and is in the playoffs and has a chance to compete for a Stanley Cup uh he might just not want it to be Toronto like he might just be sick of being there so I look I think if the Bruins are seriously in on Mitch Marner I think he would seriously consider it like I and I I don’t know if they necessarily have to be the very best offer um but yeah but you’re going to have to be competitive like don’t waste your time offering him 11 million a year he’s going to get more than that i think to start you got to be at at least 12 his Yeah his projection from AFP analytics is what 12.9 yeah so pretty much 13 um Yeah i mean you might have to be at 13 like that might be the number that gets it done and obviously for for seven years the maximum you can offer in terms of length okay so before we before we get to why don’t we just because it’s organically happening this way I think maybe let’s just stick with what Scott’s offering right now and let’s talk about in this situation because I and it sounds like Bridget and I entered this conversation maybe with a bit of a different strategy um because Mitch Mner is going to take up 90% of your or 85% of your cap allowance this off season and if you go for Mitch Mner when you include some of the the the players in Providence that we we do think will be filling up the the bottom half of their forward roster you’re really left with maybe two to three million dollars to remaining to to to get anybody else anybody else besides Mitch Mner so let’s just keep it here for now and and let let’s just play this out with Scott because I because I do want to consider all angles legitimately so in the scenario where we signed Mitch Mner for $13 million let’s call it that right now we’d be looking at our forward lines as you look at Geeky Elias Lindholm David Pashnack is your number one line let’s call it and then on your second line we’re probably talking about Pavl Zach on the left Casey Middlestad at center Mitch Mner on the right third line is pro well okay so let’s So let me So so then let’s let’s hear it well yeah i mean signing Mitch Mner is not the only part of my plan because to your point you do have to fill out the rest of your roster so the two to3 million would not be enough to do that so and by the way if you if even if you filled in the rest of those gaps with like AHL guys like you bring up Lysel like as one of the f like you’re the math that I have you have less than a million dollars left uh to fill in like it’s and that would be you would also have to get like bring up Callahan as your defense it would be bringing up all guys from from Providence not adding NHL guys necessar like out UFAs from outside and um pretty much your only move would be Marner to bring in but I think what you’re saying Scott is you you need to move someone out um you’d be attempting to move someone out i think I know who it is so yeah I think it naturally has to be either Casey Middlestad or Pavl Zaka uh middle status signed for two more years at 5.75 million a year he does not have any trade protection uh Pavle Zaka signed for two more years at 4.75 million and he has an eight team eight just eight team no trade list um I would rather trade Middlestad who I’m not have not been blown away by i don’t love really love the way he plays i think Zaka is more versatile uh I realize you know we’re talking about like trying to find centers so does trading a center away really make sense maybe not but you might have to put up with it i think Pavloaka can be my second line center i know everyone has him kind of earmarked to move back to the wing this season and in in a perfect world maybe he does but in this world I’m trying to trade away Middlestad i’ll have Zaka center my second line with with Mner and then I’ll try to find another forward because now I’ve moved out 5.75 million uh the second guy that I would trade away is Jonas Corposalo you might have to retain some SE he has a $3 million cap hit uh signed through 2028 i know the Bruins Don Sweeney said you know they’re going to have more of a goalie competition there were times Corpusal deserve to play more okay but he didn’t and if Jeremy Swayman is going to be the 55 to 60 game starter you expect him to be and you still hope he’ll be uh in what you hope is a bounceback season then I don’t need to pay my backup goalie $3 million to me that’s not a good use of of money um if you were reducing Swimman’s workload to 50 games or fewer and all of a sudden your backup’s starting 30 to 35 games I I’m more open to having that kind of money invested in my backup goalie uh but as things stand I’m not and I’m willing to bring back Michael Dpatro give him a shot to be a backup he had a good season in the AHL so even if you have to retain a little bit of money on Corpusalo I think you can free up about another 1.6 million here or so um you know say you retain 500,000 on Corposalo that’s a $2.5 million cap hit out dph is probably signing for 900,000 or so um so that’s another So I’ve just freed up between those two moves about $7.3 million and and honestly like I don’t even care what I get back in return those are salary dump trades okay but that Yeah those are salary dump trades and so who’s taking on those like who has cap for that like that’s why I didn’t get into this game and I I I’m glad you came up with a completely different plan because now we can discuss it but like the reason I didn’t go down this road was because I don’t there’s so many things that would be difficult about this plan well welcome to being an NHL GM no but like I’m saying it was easier to to wrap my head around a realistic situation and I just don’t find this to be realistic so Marner you’d have to blow him away right but if we’re talking about the trades like who’s going to take Middle Stat like who are you getting rid of this contract to who’s going to take a lot of teams have cap space a lot of teams have cap space and what you have to trade a guy that you just spent Charlie Coyle on uh to then just and like package him with a draft pick to get rid of him i I don’t I don’t see like I I don’t think I should have to include a draft pick like I I I mean like trade him for like a third round pick yeah i mean I I’m fine with that as long as somebody wants to take on his contract his contract is not a good contract um he’s getting Well it depends it’s not If he gets back to being a 5560 point guy it’s not a bad contract at all yeah i just don’t know if right now his value is like people see him like that so or if they’re confident that that he’ll be that yeah it’s a fair question and I don’t know the answer to that either but I’m I’m betting on some team out there being willing to take the chance so it’s it’s it’s very clear it’s very clear at this point that even in Scott’s scenario here where he’s trying to bring in Marner it’s clearly going to be very difficult you’d have to you’d have to a be the the destination he chooses which that alone I I really do feel like his time in Toronto has been so dramatic and probably at times uh unhappy for him i could see him just signing for a team out west whether it’s with a with a good young core whether it’s an Anaheim uh whether it’s a San Jose who just got Mlin Celibbrini and and Will Smith and Eklund and they have another top two pick this year so like I could see him going somewhere with a really strong young core that’s that’s on the rise and he can wear his sandals to the rank every day i don’t see Boston with their massive question marks where he would be one of the biggest answers um and he knows that so he’d be like “Okay so they’re kind of relying on me.” And I could see him not wanting to go to Boston because of the uncertainty of their franchise right now and it’s not too dissimilar to Toronto as some of the places I just mentioned but let’s say he did choose Boston and Scott you were able to trade away Middlestat and Corpuso i’m curious about what you’re using where how you’re using their cap space to fill out the roster so now you have Geeky Linhome Passion you have MNER Zaka question mark i still think that there’s somebody on defense that you’d like to add so I I I just want to flush out the rest of your idea so that I can hear your whole picture so I do want to use an offer sheet and the guy I want to target is Will Culie of the New York Rangers uh he is projected uh to get a contract of three and a half million dollars AAV um uh I had how many years where where did that go uh do he Kulie is projected to get three years three and a half million on his extension the Rangers have cap issues i think they would like to keep but they’re they’re going to need to figure some things out i am hoping that uh by making that offer they’ll take the second round pick for him um and consider that you know a trade worth making in order for them to get under under the cap and fill out their roster elsewhere to me that is how you use an offer sheet i know people have this dream of Matthew Ny after watching him in the playoffs with Toronto toronto has more cap space and if they’re letting at least one of Moner and Tavvar’s walk they have enough to keep an eyes and match an offer sheet which means you have to really go above and beyond and give up you know at least a first second and third round pick because you got to offer at least 7 million if you went even higher than that you’re talking about two first round picks um if you went over like 9 million that is so I don’t think that’s all that realistic so I’m looking at teams that have cap issues like the Edmonton Oilers did last year when the Blues went after and successfully got both Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg the Rangers are a team that has cap issues so Will would be my target hopefully I get him for that three and a half million projected but maybe because it’s an offer sheet has to be a little more you know around four million or so um you definitely need to sign a defenseman so my ideally on the right side to slot in behind Makavoy my ideal target there in unrestricted free agency would be Dante Fabro who is projected by AFP analytics to get four years 4.5 million i don’t think I’m going to be able to afford him unfortunately i’ve gone all in on Mner i don’t think I’m going to have the cap space left to spend four and a half million on that defenseman um so a guy that I would settle for is Nick Pervix from the Lightning same age 26 projected to get two years 2.6 million i think I can figure out how a way to fit that in so that is sort of the bulk of my plan and then I am going to add a depth forward ideally for cheap money um maybe as we get closer to the end here we can figure out who that might be but that’s kind of what the the rest of my plan looks like all right well we could figure that out but that’s assuming we’re going entirely with your plan well Brian Brian asked what the rest of it looked like so strong arm us to be like “And so you guys can add one person to this roster now that I spent all the money.” Well I so I I you know my my strategy here was to go with a more free agent UFA versus salary cap remaining and and who would I think could fit at the end of the day more more realistically knowing that because I know Scott that he was probably going to go the Mara route so I went with my direction to offer a separate uh road that we could decide on but it doesn’t mean that I don’t prefer Scott’s plan so I just I just know that I wanted to give multiple different looks for us to decide on but so I just want to because I’m kind of writing down his lineup so I can visually look at it when we get there so I I So I think I have your second line now Scott of Zaka Marner your third line are you going with the kids a combination of kids yeah I think you know Slotten Potra on the third line and then at least one of Minton Husnadinov with him maybe one of them’s on the fourth line uh I wouldn’t love having a third line of all three of them but possibly depending on depending on this veteran forward X that we’re able to find maybe um maybe I have to start that way you’d still have a hole on the third line though well that’s what I’m saying i I’m hoping to go out and find a cheap veteran who can fit there i’m saying ideally it would not be a Husadino of Minton Potra line i would I would like for one of them to be on the fourth line so this is this is why it’s a little bit tricky because when you say “Well I hope I could find a veteran forward.” I I don’t know if you have the money to do it but that that that’s but but but again this is why this is why it’s good to have different different uh looks here so we can kind of talk about it and then on defense Scott uh you got you got Makavoy with who who do you think Makavoy’s with is it is it with Lynholm in this situation do you do or Lurai do you like the idea because you mentioned last episode that Lori Peak has not been a great uh pairing do you like the idea of Lorai and Peak as a third pair next year or would you prefer Makavoy and Lurai Lindholm and Pervix and then Zodoraf and Peak would you like something like that i think that’s what I would start with i’m I so that this process has already started but I make sure in my end of season meeting with Mason Laurai that we are making it very clear how much we want him to work on his defensive game this off seasonason we’re going to work with him and if he’s around all summer he can be in Warrior um but I’m hoping he comes back in a better place i’ve pointed out before that when he’s with Makavoy that is a pairing that has actually had some success like they are in the positives in terms of goal differential expected goals all of that so I’m Makavoy has also spoken highly of Mason Laura he at one point this season said Mace is a stud um which I know in part is just good leadership and it’s you know pumping up a kid’s confidence but I I would like to give that a chance whe whether it’s out of the gate or just at some point down the line um and see if Lauri can can show me that he can handle playing on that pairing okay I think I’m with you on that Scott think wherever I go with with with my defensive addition um I also would probably prefer maybe Zorov and Peak and then I I want to separate Lynholman and Makavoy for that ability to to separate your two top defenseman on multiple pairs okay so I think I got Scott’s lineup here bridget let’s go to you so mine is like so far different that it’s there’s not a single guy on here that is the same um so I’ll say the parts that I agree with for Scott is that if you can move Middle stat and even Corposalo that that’s fine like that I agree with but I just think it will be difficult um to find a taker for Middlestead maybe um and because of the crazy uh lack of cap left for Marner I decided to go a different direction um and not even actually this wasn’t even mostly because of cap this is mostly because I just think there’s like a 10% chance he chooses Boston and there’s just he’s going to choose somewhere else i think Brian feels the same way um it’s it even if you did offer him 13 million I don’t know if he comes here so um my well for the sake for the sake of us being the front office though like would you so like whether we think he ultimately would accept and come here is one thing but for your planning purposes like would you offer him 13 million a year i think you have to i don’t even think like I think that’s like there’s going to be teams that are willing to do it no but I I’m saying like is that your plan A like would you be like yes I want to go offer Mitch Marner 7 years 13 million a year or are you like I don’t even want to do that i just want to focus elsewhere um if Marner is their plan A then yeah they have they have I’m asking you Bridget where the front office that’s the whole It’s not my plan well that’s okay so that but that’s we we are the front office we’re talking about this i I want to know your opinion as my fellow code GM is my opinion is that you sure uh 13 is I think fair 13 million is fair you’re I feel like you’re still not getting my question do you want to do that like do you if you’re going to go after Mitch Mner it has to be your plan A taking we can go to plan B if he doesn’t want to come here but I’m saying I’m saying we sit here in May and formulate our plan for July 1st do you want us to go after Mitch Mner i think I think to be fair I think to be fair here it’s it’s difficult to answer that question without see we need to look at all different scenarios so so so that’s why that’s why I’m glad we got Scots but of course I’m just I’m trying to pin you guys down on do you want to pursue Mitch Mner this off season yeah but but but what I’m what I’m saying is because you because you did your exercise and I knew that you were going to right i w I wanted to write yours down look at yours and then I wanted to see what the other options are and then be able to because you have to be able to look at all scenarios so like yes at at surface value Scott I love what your plan is and I I I can already see myself um wanting to go with yours regardless of what I end up saying in a few minutes where Bridget says unless she can can offer me something else that I’m not thinking of but but but in order to do so I I I want to see every meal in front of me but that doesn’t mean I don’t already know what what what meal I’m going to like but but this is why I want to see what Bridget has like Bridget I know went through this exercise let’s last episode Scott you remember she was she was upset she couldn’t get to it in part one but now and I’m not just going to take your plan and just agree with it completely i know i’m not saying take my plan i maybe that’s there’s some I wasn’t getting across i I was just curious like is what you’re about to present is is this your plan A because you don’t even really you don’t even really want to pursue Mitch Martin this is because I have I have given up on that as an idea right like I have I have already gone through the exercise of do I think he’ll come and like if if I’m like the actual GM in real life you probably do offer see what happens but at the same time like the first day of free agency if you don’t know like there’s so much that happens if you don’t know like right to that point though guys to that to that point like this is why um I I may say right now that I want to go with Scott’s plan as plan A but so so so at the end of the episode today I may say let’s go with Scott’s plan and then and then and then afterwards maybe Mitch chooses somewhere else and that’s where it’s like okay so now we at least we have these other ones lined up that that’s so that’s why we have to offer these first to the listeners before we kind of or like he he might Mitch Martner might be like yeah I’m going to take a week to evaluate these offers and and make my decision and meanwhile the second third and fourth best free agents might sign like so that that’s the other part is like you you might have to decide all right if Mitch Marner doesn’t decide on July 1 is he enough of a priority that we wait for his decision or do we just say you know what forget it we like this other plant so yeah but as long as as long as you have one as long as you have plan B right ready to go and that’s I I want to come out of here today with two plans i I I I want to come out here with a Mner plan and a non-Mer plan that’s ultimately what I want and And so anyway but Bridget why don’t you give us your analysis yeah so um basically my thought process was to just be realistic um and though I think everybody would like to get the biggest fish I just went through mine guessing that probably more likely than not it wouldn’t happen right so I went with a more conservative like okay we’re going to take what we can get assuming that Marner pro like there’s just a higher chance that he ends up elsewhere so this was Do you want me to just read off my my plan um also I’m not sure if Scott’s plan the math adds up but because I was trying to run the numbers too but I don’t it does i have it all broken we’re missing a sing we’re missing a player like there’s a whole Okay yeah there’s the veteran free agent X that’s math done out on what does X equal uh hold on Bridget just go i I was going to get to it at the end so it’s not front of front and center in my notes right now okay all right so my plan was to target someone that was in that second bracket like I think there’s a clear or forwards at least there’s a there’s a top five group of guys that are out there marner being at the top um and then you have in terms of like what the projections are for for contracts like there’s a a group of of guys that are rate like above six and a half and up so it’s Marner Besser Eers Chavaris I think it’s actually six um Sam Bennett and Brad Marshon and so I went through some of those other guys that weren’t Mitch Mner and plugged them in and tried to watch the way that my my roster turned out in that case and I kept coming back though I did come back to Brad Marshon a few times and we can talk about that too because like of the available options I like if you just think of it say we had no connection this is just another UFA and there’s like the backstory wasn’t there like he’d be a great fit like I know that sounds crazy but if you just like try to separate the situation like he like I genuinely came back to him multiple times but once again trying to use logic and reality I was like I mean like like genuinely if you said you you can sign one of these three contracts uh Brock Besser 7 years 8.4 million that’s his AFP projection nick Eers six years 8.1 million or so they have Marshian projected low so I’m gonna I’m gonna say with this great playoff run let’s say he gets his 7 million three years 7 million I would sign Marshian in three years 7 million yep me too yeah there was a lot of scenarios where I’m like okay let me consider let me consider this guy like Besser and I’m like why would I want Besser if Marshon’s available and like if I could get him I like him better as a fit for a lot of reasons and this style of play and I trust him and like we know what we’re getting and there’s a there was several times they came back around to it and the reason why he’s not on my roster right now is because I also think that just trying to dig deep and be realistic i don’t think I think that bridge has been burned i don’t not even burn just like I think the decision was made right i think that there’s maybe some hard feelings but it’s also an understanding that this is a job and like there’s was also professionalism i don’t think they hate each other i think just they just made a decision and I don’t know if the either of them will go back on it um and I do think he’ll get offered seven million from someone may hey maybe he wins a cup in you know a month from now or I guess less uh and then he’s like you know what i do want to go back to Boston let’s let’s maybe come up with a slightly friendlier deal than I was expecting the first i don’t know probably not going to happen um but he fills the hole that they have like he would fill the hole that they created for themselves because they traded him so um he’s still a star uh free agent available and so I didn’t rule him out in my thought process until I kind of um got to the point where I was like well it’s probably more likely that they’re that the organization wants to go younger like they’ve made this decision um so I started looking at some of the younger guys that also were gritty um and I kept coming back to Sam Bennett so my my plan has Sam Bennett coming in um and wait I made my own little graphic for this and I um and so anyway I have Sam Bennett coming in as second line center zaka stays on the left side uh I kept middle stat even though I’m open to if someone would take him but um he was on the right so it’s essentially a line of centers for your second line um and that was the first move I made and it looks like Sam Bennett’s cap hit would be it’s the projection was at 6 million uh 637 about that um so that’s significantly less than Mitch Mner and it did give you more flexibility to do things with Yeah other holes in your roster that feels like a number that’s going to end up being low i think Sam Bennett once again in the postseason is only helping his his own value i like I do honest honestly think you you’re going to have to go to seven at least um to get Sam Bennett which I’m okay with i had him in one of my plans as well um he is not far down my list at all uh if if we’re not getting Marner yeah and he’s so he’s 29 um so obviously he’s 28 he’s 28 i thought he just turned 29 um well maybe if it was in the last few weeks he did but the uh the projection has him at 28 so he is Either way he still has a lot of career left you’re going to probably need to sign him to a like a longer deal um you don’t think you necessarily have to go the full seven but um he’s probably going to look be looking for a pretty stable deal to set him up here for the rest of his prime and he I mean you hate him when he’s not on the team but he’s another guy that if you bring him in like he is younger than Marshon he has that same attitude of of being a pest um you wanted to bring in a center now look you have all of these center options you can rotate around if like it feels like just trying to plug the hole and and just trying different blocks and seeing what fits the best and this is another center you can bring in and um the the question to me is with this though is like he’s on a line with Zaka and Middlestat what does that dynamic look like like to me that there’s no guarantee that there’s chemistry with that group at all there’s no guarantee with anybody having chemistry when you’re bringing in players from the outside like that’s that’s a risk you’re taking um but if you think about like their styles of play I just they’re they’re very different and and especially like if you have the the play making like the past first guys on the same line like is Bennett going to be the finisher on that line is he like Yeah he’s he’s the one around the net front which is like that that’s how he works ideally so you know like you look at what he has in in Florida and I guess it’s a little different depending on whether Verhagi’s on that line or not because Verhagi is also like a setup in the slot guy but yeah I mean you have Kachchuck as as sort of the the playmaker um and Bennett tends to be right around the net front or behind the net um battling down low that’s exactly what his role would be on that line obviously you’re not giving him the same caliber of wings as he has in Florida specifically you’re not giving him a Matthew Kachchuck you can’t unless you put him on the line with Posternok um but yeah I think I think Bennett and Zaka could work together i I am still considering trading Middlestad in this scenario especially bringing in Bennett like can I move Middlestad free up money elsewhere and do something else on the wing um you know we can go down that path if we if we ultimately choose this plan um I guess I just I don’t know i’m I’m as you can tell I’m pretty down on Casey Middlestead in general i think we all are i mean there was a text that went in the group chat before we started the series which was uh hey are we are we good to trade someone i think we all knew who it was that we were all thinking and it just it was a move that was made at the deadline that doesn’t seem like a fit so I don’t know i think we’re not the only three people that see it either and I maybe fans tuned out after the trade deadline but uh but yeah I I would be completely open to that because not only was it kind of a a weird fit but the contract is not good like Pavle Zaka has a reasonable contract under $5 million casey Middlestad’s contract is just rough for what like and we had mentioned this at some point during the last episode like well what if he’s your third line center like is there a way you maneuver this where you got Zaka Bennett or like I would say out and then he’s he’s bumped down to the third line well then you still have that argument of like everybody thought Charlie Coyle was an overpaid third line guy this would be the same thing like he’d be making so much money to be your third liner his contract is f uh 5 million750,000 so I would say there is a scenario if we wait till the third one that we get to um maybe maybe I’ll inform you guys on that but also just quickly on that on that point you made Bridget like it’s it’s I the coil comparison I understand it but but the cap is continuing to rise it’s not the same percentage as Corals was against his cap and uh ultimately the the Bruins did sign him or they did trade for him last year so it’s a contract that’s on our books and I’m more concerned about where’s the best place for him to to succeed but before we get to to mine I just want to get your lineup did you Did you say you had your lineup somewhere written down just so I can visually look at it myself yes I do i accidentally spelled middle stat wrong though oh that’s okay i did the double just ignore this part okay so um this is what my lineup looks like and I’m not a like a 100% fan of this this is cap compliant um so I put Sam Bennett in the project so Scott’s saying he might get higher so maybe change that to 7 million for him um and then I decided to move Mark Castlick up um because I wanted a stronger guy on this third line and I had Matt Potra there and as the center of the third line Castlick on the left side and I added Patrick Kane um for his projection was like three and a half million his current contract is four million with Detroit um you’d probably just need like a one-year deal for for him if you can get him under three and a half um maybe that adds a scoring threat to your third line um he was kind of my out of the box like really trying to think hard about how to add a scorer like somebody who can make an impact on the score sheet um though I’m not I don’t like his game completely i mean it’s not super well-rounded uh defensively I would have questions about this line that I’ve put together um but he’s an option on the power play and maybe you get scoring from your third line more so than if you loaded up all your money onto Mner and then dealt with like the Providence depth and then my fourth line is not very controversial who’s Nadine off Mitten and like we had LaCo and I put Lysella as an option as well so like Lalco as the extra skater Lysel as the right wing i like the young line this is probably just me saying I want to see this because it’s you know a young line of who’s being off Mitten and Lysel could be could be interesting and you you know depending on how much cap space you have left that might be what you’re you know what you can afford and then I added a like a mid-range defenseman on the right side uh to pair with Zidoraf and I I grabbed Cody Cece who I kind of alluded to last episode um uh Dallas defenseman his projection came in right around three and a half million which I thought fit where I was at budget-wise pretty well um so what are your thoughts on some of those other like fill-in pieces i I’m extremely out on Cody Cece i just do not like him as a player um yeah I think there’s other things we can do on on the right side [Music] um Kane’s interesting i don’t I don’t hate it in a vacuum i do worry about how he fits on this team he is he’s a net negative at five on five nowadays um you know still definitely still power play specialist and your power play does need help so if you’re not getting you know a Mitch Mner or another high-end you know free agent like that like Kane is a cheaper option who can come in and help your power play um you know I think like other veterans that I had kind of looked at in maybe a slightly lesser price range were guys like Brandon Sad um Victor Olafson Evani Danov um I think any of them could be had for between like two and a half to three um so I I think it depends on what you’re looking for there where like Stad’s a more well-rounded player probably at this point but Kane still definitely has the the highest offensive upside or not upside because obviously he’s older but he he’s gonna give you the most offensive production of of any of those guys yeah so Bridget we have we have some similarities but but yet different and so uh I’ll just kind of lump in ours together a little bit here so basically when I look at the guys that are available I obviously took this at an appro with an approach of not pursuing Mitch Mner not only did I know that Scott was going to offer that though we didn’t discuss it I just knew he was going to because I know him um you know I do I don’t love how much of the cap he takes up when it comes to UFA allowance and at the same time as we saw in Scott’s exercise it’s it’s excruciatingly painful to even try to make it all work to fit him in but um I still like that he offered it because it’s it’s it’s a very very um interesting approach but beyond Mitch Mner I look at some of the players that are available in free agency and I don’t love a lot of their their ages and and and or lack of production and what they’re what they’re going to be making so for example Brock Besser I’m not I’m not comfortable paying Brock Besser $8 half million for the next six years i think he has 173 points season the rest of his career has been in the 40s in points uh per year sometimes in the 50s he’s a good player i don’t I’m not saying he’s not a good player but I don’t want to fall into the oh we didn’t get Mitch Mner so I’m going to grab Brock Besser at that price tag i I don’t I’m not in love with it um Matt Duchain he’s 34 years old point per game this past season that’s great am I paying him seven seven plus million dollars for the next three years i don’t know if I’m doing that john Tvarez 34 years old am I paying him almost 8 million not doing that cloeru 37 not paying him nikolai Eers he’s approaching 30 years old good player really good player am I paying him eight million because I didn’t get Mitch Mner i to me that that’s that’s the classic what happened last year which is we’re just going to grab somebody to grab somebody not saying he’s not a good player but I don’t know if I love the price tag even with the cap improving um Brad Marshian you guys touched on Jimmy Ben’s 35 years old is am I paying a projected 48 for him i don’t think so so I try to become cap compliant while getting players not necessarily Moneyball but Bridget brings up Patrick Kane okay Patrick Kane was third among UFA wingers in points per game last season behind Mitch Mner and Nikolai Elers okay well Patrick Kane is projected to make $3.5 million for one year would I rather get his produ his production on the power play at that cheap price tag i’m not married to the player or would I rather spend an extra 5 million on Brock Besser where Patrick Kane outperformed him in offensive production last year uh or Nikolai Eers which is again you just don’t know the fit we don’t know the fit about Patrick Kane either but I did pencil Patrick Kane in i also uh penciled in Sam Bennett and I penciled in Dante Fabra so when you when you take away the salary cap that is going to Sam Bennett for $6.4 million Patrick Kane for $3.5 million Dante Fabro for $4.5 million Matt Potra at 870,000 and Frasier Mitten at $816,666 we are left with 2 million279148 and even if Sam Bennett is an extra million or so we’re still cap compliant with cap remaining my lineup in this situation now I also Dante Fabro I just think he’s he’s 27 years old former first round pick played with BEu at uh um yeah played with BU played with Charlie Makavoy at BEu i think he’s a defenseman who’s hitting his stride i do like the Nick Pervik’s signing by Scott if for some reason I couldn’t fit Fabro’s cap in but in this situation I can so I’m going to pencil him in there 27 years old i think he’s a good solid puck moving good skater top four defenseman to help replace what you lost in Brandon Carlo but replace it in a different way because he’s a different player and then up front I I I just think that you would probably go with Morgan Geeki Elias Lynholm David Pastnac your second line would be Pavle Zaka at left wing Sam Bennett in the middle Patrick Kane in the right your third line would be Frasier Mitten would be playing on the left wing to start casey Middlestat would be centering him and Matt Potra on the right and then your fourth line would be who’s Nadine off on the left Mark Cassick at center Jacob Loco at the right defense Mason Lauri Charlie Makavoy Hamp Sling Dante Fabro Nikita Zidorov Andrew Peak i don’t look at this as a off season that is crippling the Bruins long term you’re not married to Patrick Kane yes you would have to fill his void probably the following year at the top six if he was to move on i think internally you could do that or through free agency or hopefully whoever you draft maybe this year somehow someway that would be be able to be solved in future seasons but I think Sam Bennett at 28 years old 29 years old for the next six years I don’t hate a six million six and a half million dollar contract for him when the salary cap is going to be going up and up and up in this in this league i think Casey Middlestat I put him down to third line so that Mitten and Patra at least have some young veteran presence there and they can play off of each other i don’t love Middlestat in my top six if he’s going to be on the roster I do think he’s better down the line maybe he creates some mismatches for you and I think your fourth line Castlic and Loco is great who’s Nadinov I do think has more upside than a fourth liner right now i just think it’s kind of a a numbers game and we’ll see how it plays out um so this is kind of where I’m at i I simply looked at the salary cap how much money that they had after our first episode and how they could you know bring in some guys less creative than Scott’s there’s no offer sheets here there’s no trades here but I just kind of went with this approach to give us this option as well so how much money’s left now at the end of yours 2,27948 okay so that’s that’s enough that so that’s enough to fill in your 13th forward seventh defenseman which by the way like I guess just for the sake of throwing this out there um I kept coming back to like I think looking at your own UFAS uh which we still didn’t really run through but you know I think Yoki Haru out Weatherspoon out i’m fine bringing back Cole Keepky for like a million dollars it’s basically the same deal as Loco um and now you know the that that combination of like Loco and Keepy as my 12th and 13th forward uh Mike Callahan at like league minimum 775 to be my seventh defenseman i would be cool with um you know I thought he did some some good things last year he would need to clear waiverss to go back to Providence um but he’s also kind of like far enough along now where he’s not really developing anymore so I think he can be my seventh defenseman even if that means he’s going to sit for stretches um and Brian’s plan leaves me enough cap space to do that um so one hangup here that I got to throw into both of yours is for whatever it’s worth now they haven’t gotten a deal done yet but Patrick Kane and Steve Eiserman have both said they are optimistic about getting an extension done to keep him in Detroit before he even gets to the open market mhm so again maybe they’re wrong like maybe it doesn’t happen but I do think we have to consider that there’s a strong possibility that Patrick Kane will not even be there on July 1st yeah and in that situation then okay then then who else could we try to grab there are some further guys further down the list well so this is where I’d like to circle back to part of my plan for basically that same money you offer sheet Will and trade a second round pick for him yeah i mean I I I love Will i I I if I know that the offer sheet is successful and and and then that’s great um so in that situation you’d be looking at Zaka C uh Koulie and Bennett no Kane and you’d still be under the cap yep yeah yeah I mean ultimately you know when I when I when I attacked this this exercise I didn’t want to do so where you could be left with shitty contracts for for a long time and it’s and be guilty of oh you’re just trying to you know get back into the playoffs not do the things the right way i don’t think Dante Faber at $4 half million is that i think that’s a very very fair contract in fact I think it’ll be a good one in time patrick Kane first of all the value is for for again as I said he was ranked third behind Mner and Eers in winger point per game production among UFAs available he’s a proven winner yes he’s older but so are a lot of the other guys in this list like you know Tavvarez and Jiru and Marshan and others like Ben like there’s a lot of guys in their 30s um but Kane produced last year I don’t think $ three half million dollars for potential 60 to 65 point production next year for one year signing for one year anybody would would would scoff at and then Sam Bennett like I I I just think when the when the cap is at 113 million in two years maybe he’s your third line center and again when you’re talking about percentage against the cap it’s not that bad maybe at that point your first round pick this year is around maybe or or whatever i I don’t think that this off season is is you’re not you’re not married to some long-term contracts with guys in their 30s i don’t think you’re overpaying a ton if in fact I think you’re getting good value and I do think that this roster I think I think this roster should be a playoff roster if not competing for a playoff spot no problem um and and that’s great like you could because you do want that you do want that improvement year to year i could see this roster being like a like a 200 uh eight Bruins or a 2017 Bruins where you know they might not be a Final Four roster but they should be in the playoffs and and that should build on something and I just don’t think you’re married to a John Tavvarez contract or Nikolai Eer’s contract or you know any of these guys that are 30 years old or into their 30s i just or Brock Besser brock Besser at 8.5 million he’s 28 years old i don’t love that either so I think this off season is is is realistic and I think I think it doesn’t you and I think that it it improves your roster and uh and again we have draft picks in the way and I like I like this offseason i think it’s I think it’s a responsible off seasonason while also trying to be um while improving i I have a question about those two plans so if we think about the two plans and which one Bridget’s phone blow is blown up is that the the Casey Middlestat trade calls someone Yeah actually I got to take this uh Minnesota wants them back no I’m just kidding um no so if you if you think about which one like aside from the fact that I think one is much more realistic than the other um that aside which one gives you a better chance of being a playoff team next year it’s Scots for sure like that’s that could be a playoff team i mean more than than the plan like the Bennett plan i think I think Scots is well so I think I think the one that I lit out there I think should be a playoff team i think Scots I think so too i think Scots is definitely a playoff team because you know I mean well I I will say this like last so in in in in the situation that I put out there and Bridget I’m going to lump ours together because they’re similar but different but you know you would have between Pastnack and Kane you’d probably have you know 160 points between the two of them maybe 170 between Pastack and Marner you’re looking at 200 plus points between the two of them um that’s significant production on your right on your top two right uh wingers um so Scott’s scenario is an extra you know 35 to 50 point production in your in your right wing position alone in your top two lines so that that that does that does improve your playoff chances they should absolutely be a playoff team i I want Dante Fabro but if we get Mner Nick Perix I have no issue with i think he’s going to be a perfectly serviceable defenseman um and then of course Scott’s also adding Will now is there a world where you get Mara but we don’t find a way to offer she that makes things trickier but again there’s also the the possibility of Scott saying “Well we can find a veteran forward.” I also like in addition to Mitten Impatra and I’ve been saying this before and I’m not saying he’s going to be there in October but if push came to shove and you didn’t have the money to get somebody for October I I wouldn’t hate the idea of of of a Dons Lash Melis winning a spot as well in the bottom six and seeing if he can provide something if you went big at Mner and you just didn’t have the luxury of going external everywhere so I do think that there’s a way where it’s like okay in Scots world you have Geeky Linholm Passnack Zaka Marner again a lot has to go right for the for that combination but let’s just say that we can we can figure it out geeky Lynholm Passnack Koulie Zaka Marner Lmelis Minton Patra who’s Nadinov Castic Loco Lurai Makavoy Linholm Perbixov Peak I like that as well a lot have a lot has to go right for us to to do that and then there are going to be questions about Mitch Mner and and and what he can do in the future and how will his contract age and is he you know does he fit the culture that not only Boston has historically have but where we want it to get to you know if you get Marner but you don’t get I’m afraid your top six is too light I love the idea of Kie and Marner because Koulie is a bull in a China closet forward power forward but if we don’t get well now I have concerns about our forwards being too too weak to play against so a lot has to go right in that scenario whereas in the scenario I painted I’m fairly confident that we can get this done as long as you know we’re the highest bidder and um I don’t have those those intangible questions that I have with Scots i’m looking at both and I do love the idea of Dante Fabro in my top four over Nick Pervix however I would do Scots if we can do it so I I think that would be a fair plan A um but I’ll just I probably rambled for like five minutes now so you guys go no you’re good i feel like we argued and then you just like sat and watched for half the episode so there you go i I was not to like throw a third option in here but there is I did have like a more aggressive non Marner Sam Bennett plan so like I just think it’s worth mentioning because I think there is a way where you could get Sam Bennett and Nick Eers um and I like Eers i like him more than Besser as a player i think he’s he is a better he’s better with the puck on his stick he’s better at creating stuff uh on his own and for his linemates rather than just being someone who needs to be set up to finish i think dealers plays defense um but like so kind of going back to my original plan where you’re basically salary dumping Casey Middlestad and Jonas Corposalo you could then get Eers for the the six years 8 million that he’s projected you can get Bennett you can offer Sheic like you can do all the stuff I want and then you still have to take the downgrade on defense from a Fabro to a perix which is you know a $2 million cut um so like that again I’m clearly like I as you can tell I’m trying to be bold and going big and like maybe it veers too far into hey this isn’t fantasy hockey which I get but I do you know look Dony’s in a situation where I think he they need to at least be talking about bigger bolder outside the box plans um so I do think it’s worth throwing out there i also don’t want to gloss over how big of a need that top four defenseman is though like we I feel like Bruins fans and and us we we’ve been talking a lot about how they got to get help in the top six and they got to and that’s true but they also are right now without a top four right shot defenseman and so when I look at getting Marner it absolutely prevents our ability to do so and I think Dant Dante Fabro 27 years old I think he can be your solution there for the next you know five six years unless somebody exceeds him and in that in that case that’s a good problem to have so I don’t Yeah Fabro fabro’s had an interesting career cuz like he started well in Nashville then really fell off to the point where he was like a third pairing like 13 minutes a night guy and was really struggling uh he gets moved early on last season from Nashville to Columbus and really found his game in Columbus and ended up having definitely the best season of his career um he gives you some offense some puck movement on the back end which I think they could use pervix’s a little bit more probably stay at home type of guy he he is you know he can he can get involved offensively but it’s definitely not a strength um Perix is a little bit of a of an analytics darling like there’s underlying analytics that suggest maybe he can handle a little more than what he’s been given in Tampa um but I do you know like the previous three years would worry me about Fabra a little bit but what he showed in Columbus is definitely encouraging and I think there is still you know some upside for him to to play at that level and be a legit top four defenseman whereas Perix you’re like you’re I think you’re hoping a little more he’s probably ideally a third pairing guy and you’re just you’re just hoping he works with Hampus Lindhol all right well I think I think it’s probably coming down to decision time here so uh I mean I’ll just I’ll just read I’ll just read the rosters again and and and obviously they they have more some have more of a difficulty in executing than others um but they’re all Well I know Bridget and Mine’s cap compliant scott yours yours is too although there’s still a bit of a mystery as to who that final forward would be but um I by the way like in my outline I ended up with it being Brandon Sad for like low low twos or so okay so I I’ll read off Scots then so it sounds like we have Morgan so Scott is trading away Casey Middlestad he’s trading away Yonas Corporal he’s offer shooting Will all three of those things are executed and and that’s done the question marks of executing those are not a factor here we know we can get it done uh so Scott has Morgan Geeky Elias Lindholm David Passion Will Pavl Zakas and Mitch Mner he has Brandon Sad frasier Mitten and Matt Potra yeah then he has Morat Husandino Mark Castlick and Jacob Loco and Cole Keepy as maybe a 13th forward potentially he has Mason honestly like probably Keepy playing over Loco not that it really matters but okay then he has uh Laurian Makavoy Hampus Lynholm Nick Pervix Nikita Sadorov Andrew Peak Bridget has Morgan Geeky Elias Lynholm David Passionac Pavo Zaka Steining Sam Bennett Casey Middlestat on the right mark Cassick is third line left wing matt Patra Patrick Kane third line right wing moratus Nadino off fourth line frasier Mitten fourth line center fabian Lysel jacob Loco fourth line right wing hamph home charlie Mackoy nik store off cody defense I would much rather have Fabro than CC and there is cap space left for me to change that so okay so Fabro for Bridget and then Lauri and Peak um for myself I’m offering us the option of signing Sam Bennett Patrick Kane and Dante Fabro along with Matt Potra and Fraser Mitten on the books as well so our lineup would be Morgan Geeky Elias Lynholm David Passionac Pavo Zaka on the left Sam Bennett and Patrick Kane on the right Frasier Mitten on the left hand side on the third line centered by Casey Middlestat matt Potra on the right morat Husadena fourth line left wing mark Castle fourth line center jacob Loco fourth line right wing and same as Scott like Cole Keepy could be that depth forward too and they can rotate mason Lauri Charlie Makavoy Hampus Lynholm Dante Fabro Nikita Sedorov and Andrew Peak and that is cap compliant as well so I guess it’s voting time I suppose this is the hard part but yeah yeah well I was going to say like I mean we can vote if we want but I was going to say like if we want to kind of I guess if maybe just see what you guys think of this like thrown out as kind of the ultimate compromise roster here all right two of us did not have us landing Mitch Mner let’s say we don’t get him either we don’t go all in on him or we just get indications he’s going to go somewhere else okay we don’t we don’t get Mitch Mner we two two you two have us getting Sam Bennett i like the idea of going after Sam Bennett if we did not land Mner so let’s give ourselves that um we all like the idea of Dante Fabro i think we all consider him a worthy target on the right side so let’s do that i’m going to say we don’t get Patrick Kane because I’m thinking he will resign with Detroit so where I’ll throw my plan in is I do like really like the idea of offer sheeting Will and trading for him yeah I that that’s I forgot we talked about that a few minutes ago that’s I think I think that’s a really solid uh you know I think I think in that situation I think that you you know we’re not getting the offensive upside in our top six i think we probably also need I think if you don’t get Patrick K if you don’t get Mitch Mner obviously in his in his 100 points at least Patrick Kane in his 65 points or 60 to 65 points in a full 82 game season i think he had he had 59 points in 72 games last year so add an extra 10 games of health and he’s probably around 65 points you know I don’t Will is a 45 point guy at this stage in his career maybe 50 points with upside but you are certainly getting a lot of sandpaper and physicality and straight ahead hockey with him and Sam Bennett does that help us where the league is going [Music] um I think that there’s I mean all at the same time like Patrick Kane’s 30 you know 7 years old so he’s not going to be around much longer anyway but if we’re talking about this year do we have enough offense in that scenario where you’re looking at Morgan Geeky Elias Lindholm David Passnack Will Sam Bennett and uh Pavle Zaka and then we have the kids in the third line which is maybe Middlestat Mitten and Patra um I just I I think I think our offensive output is still probably in question a little bit we’re still a little topheavy from a scoring perspective um do I mean I agree yeah you’re you’re right um yeah i I just think like if if we’re not if we’re not getting Marner and you’re not going after an Eers or Besser or one of the veterans like Duchain or Tavvarz yeah I mean Kane could be a shortcut if he gets to the open market i just have serious questions about whether he’s going to so yeah yeah I mean do I love this team no do I Are they better yes should should it be a playoff team yes is it a cup contender no but again you’re building out more of an identity you’ve improved you know may maybe you keep Casey Middle on the second line like Bridget had and hope he gets back to being a 50 to 60 point guy like if Casey Middle set’s here I I honestly think you kind of need that from him is there a way to get Marner and Fabro because it would be really tough i even when he traded out those other two contracts like I don’t think it fit i I kept ending up having to settle on defense unless because like even if you don’t offer sheet like you still need another forward somewhere so unless there’s like a million half dollar guy somewhere that I overlooked i mean I will say like one really cheap option I considered was so I think I did actually play it out like getting Marner and Fabro and basically what I had to settle for up front is bringing back James Van Reike at like a million dollars and plugging him on the third line just as like hey he might score 15 goals give me 35 points yeah so yeah see the reality is these things are figured out over a longer duration than uh an hour and 15-minute podcast um because you know because we we’ve we’ve we’ve thrown out different scenarios now now we’re trying to brainstorm because you’re right Scott it doesn’t necessarily have to be one of these plans altogether um you know may maybe what’s that part three yeah yeah I mean I mean may maybe we get you know you know our our our scouts and our player development personnel and which is our listeners they may have some feedback as well and and maybe we can uh you know kind of come to a final decision we got to we got to settle on our team before we log off today by the way we we also just because we did promise we can do this in like a minute but we did say we were going to make our seventh overall pick as well i would then argue maybe we should do part three because no ju just we’ve covered the draft extensively we had Chris Peters if people really want the breakdowns on all these guys listen to our episode with Chris Peters um just from what what was that a week or two ago uh I will just say like I I let’s say the top six in the draft is just to stick to like the general consensus schaefer Misa Hagens Martone Fondell Denier are off the board i will say at seven I’m taking Jacob Bryant i think Brian’s probably with me yeah yeah I am i just I I just don’t see I I don’t see the other guys being there i mean you never know could be wrong but I I do like O’Brien’s upside i know I know his skating is a question but but it’s uh a lot of these guys have questions i mean Porter Marone his skating is a question um they all have questions i do like the upside and with with some further development so I would go Jacob O’Brien because as we’re talking about here there’s not there’s no none of these guys we’re talking about none of them are high offensive production center iceman none of them whether it’s Sam Bennett Pablo Zaka well Middle Stad you still hope he could be yeah that’s true that’s true that’s true um as for the draft like I’d be really really hoping the NYA was still there but I don’t think he will be so like if he was there at seven definitely him but if not I agree with you guys because um that’s the unfortunate thing about the way that the ping pong balls bounced i thought that if you got top six you had kind of you know you had your your pick really maybe Denway is still there for you at six but at at seven there’s a good chance other people saw what he did this season were impressed and decide to go with him higher so yeah okay we got to come to come to a decision scott Scott ordered it so do one of you guys want to go first scott are are you are you steadfast in in uh in what you said i think yeah he said like most of what seems like like the major he picked out like the majority on each of the things and like yeah the majority of us think it’s probably out of reach for Marner so I mean second second line has Sam Bennett and Will on it is that like Zak yeah or or you keep Middlestad there and Coolie’s on your third line that’s fine with me too so want to say first line stays the same we haven’t touched that so Gilen home pasta which by the way could very well change once the season starts but we’re just kind of going under that for now but those guys are all under contract as long as long as you get geeky under contract but um then it’ be Zaka Bennett Middlestat then it would be who you have who do you have centering your third line probably I think they’re probably going to want it to be Frasier Mitten to start maybe i mean I don’t I think I don’t know if they have I think they might have plans for Potra at wing if you’re comparing him to to Mitten if middle stats in the second line it might be Mitten centering and uh and Patra that work for you Scott okay give it give it a shot and then last fourth line is who’s Nadine off um Castillic Locoy okay yep and then our D pairs are you have you have Lauri Makavoy right Scott not that i mean yeah you can line it up however I guess yeah and and so the only addition is is Fabro and then the rest of the 5D that you already had are Lindhol Makava Boy Zadora Laura and Peak so right and that is without trading off Corpusalo right so we keep him as the backup yeah okay yeah and we and we but we have we have Zorov as a third third pair defenseman with Peak and then we’re putting Laura with Makaoy and Lynholm with Fabro just to kind of split up the top two defenseman and then uh and then yeah like obviously there’s you know now this is kind of a separate comment from our exercise but like you know is there I’ve seen I’ve seen I’ve seen rumors out there about Minnesota and and and Marco Rossi and and and teams being interested in him and you know I have questions about his why is he sliding down in their lineup when he’s you know a young younger 60 50 60 point player um but I I mean something like and that that that might take some draft capital to get him i mean I guess there’s other things out there that we haven’t really considered in this exercise like hockey trades we just It’s tough to predict hockey trades i mean Scott’s trades here or middle set and corporal not the I guess you could probably find takers if you had to but as far as like NHL player and NHL player back or or I don’t know it’s just tough that’s kind of why I more so kept it to cap allowance and and the free agency free agent list but yeah there’s there’s there’s a ton of ways that this offseason can go for you know the reality is we just kind of covered like three of hund different scenarios that they can do bridget are you putting together a graphic so we can Yeah I’m trying to I don’t have a number for what’s like a three Three and a half three and a half okay all right well then I will have that up in a second but you guys can keep talking yeah i think there’s stuff I like about this rot like look bringing in Sam Bennett and Will really gives you a physical element and more of an identity if they’re on a if they’re on the same line that line’s going to be a menace on the for check if they’re on two different lines then you have tone setters uh on each of your middle six lines um yeah look we’ve talked about it like the clear you know what this roster still lacks is like a true second difference making forward to go along with you know to go along with David Posanok you still don’t have a second offensive star um it it’s it’s a concern and it’s something that you’re whenever it is that you’re going to be in cup contention again it’s going to have to be addressed before then um you know so like like I said I don’t I don’t love this team we’ve assembled it’s why it’s my least favorite of of what I’ve heard you know i mean like I like I like Scots better than than than what we came to and I and I like the one that I came better than what we came to and like has like with mine I feel like we we stayed under the cap but we addressed top six scoring with a Patrick Kane but also Sam Bennett but more so Patrick Kane and I just think that as well as the power play i mean the Bruins had one of the worst power players in the league last year i mean Patrick Kane helps that um and then I I I just like the I just think that getting a top four defenseman is very much a need for them and and not really something that should be plugged in with another third pair pair guy and so I looked at my roster i’m under the cap okay we got Bennett we got Patrick Kane for that offensive production as well and then we got Dante Fabro and I look at Scott’s and Scott has a home run offensive producer with Mitch Mner but you know and and then you get you get Will ideally and then but then your your bottom six it’s kind of okay let’s let’s let’s see if we can fill that up but then the Perix part it’s just like I don’t I love Marty but it’s like he’s still not I don’t think Pervix is a solid top four defenseman at this point he could be i mean Fabro is also kind of unproven but then I look at what we came to and it’s like and Bennett and I don’t know i’m just like there’s no who’s a scorer there zaka Middlestat i mean Yeah well there’s also you know again like as I’ve said many times you’re the Bruins almost certainly are not going to be able to fill all of their holes on their roster this summer and so like I could see the scenario where you have to go cheaper at your second pairing right defenseman because you just can’t fill that this off season and you leave that open to be addressed in the future you don’t tie yourself down long term you know Pervix is maybe two or three years or you even bring back Yoki Haru for two years or you know like that might have to be something you just kick the can down the road um I if you go bigger up front yeah i mean I mean Kane I if you’re saying that that Stevie Y has him under wraps then that is what it is but I mean Well and like I don’t know that like I said I’m just going off what each each party said at at Detroit’s breakup day yeah but like but like you know you’re not you’re you’re going if you’re getting Kane you’re going cheap there i mean three and a half million dollars for a potential 60 plus point production is pretty cheap um you know and then and you know I think I think Fabro was a more than fair fair value and I think Bennett you know obviously the the nature of free agency is players you know they get offered more years in turn than there probably were sometimes um but I just don’t think Bennett at you know six and a half or even seven um at 28 years old is is is all that bad i mean with the cap going up but I mean I don’t know i guess I guess in your world Scott if you know that you’re trading middle stat and you know you’re trading Corpusal and you know you’re offer seating then I’m just going to know that they’re that they’re signing Kane um but yeah I guess we’ll go with what Bridget has up there for now it’s a it’s I guess that’s a compromise right um you know and I don’t think you’re like I’m just like for cap purposes like you’re still about a million and a half like compliant like you have a million and a half left with the cap so yeah I mean at the end of the day this is not a Stanley Cup team next year so did that include like your 13th forward and seventh defenseman yep i put Cole Kepky in um I didn’t put a seventh defenseman in i didn’t know yeah I think I think we say Callahan at league minimum 775 okay so then that has you under um and then let’s see so you probably have like 700,000 or so left somewhere around there you have 600,000 663,000 left yeah that that’s fine okay yeah i mean I I like I said I I think there’s there’s a little bit of question marks offensively but I think you hope that middle stack can can step up and and again like you know you’re not tying yourself to a Brock Besser for for six years at 8 and a half million you know maybe maybe who who you draft at number seven overall maybe he comes in in a year or two and and and over the next you know five to seven years 10 years he’s providing what you’re not getting in free agency this year maybe maybe somebody steps up we don’t anticipate like again maybe maybe a Dons Lash Melis or Frasier Mitten or Matt Potra ends up being you know a little bit more than we than we hope offensively or you just never know so I don’t think we’re really buying away our problems here i think we’re you know we’re filling out a roster respectfully and not overcommitting to any position uh at a at with somebody at a bad value or a bad age um and and and organically if we aren’t a great team next year you know then it’s a good draft and we’re gonna have to lick our wounds but I don’t I just don’t think Marner is enticing but there’s but there’s other areas to address and I just think I don’t know i I don’t know it’s it’s t it’s tough it’s just it’s an incomplete roster you’re I know him and passion would be great but I don’t want to be in a situation where you have unhappy stars you know that are not seeing a positive direction of the team and I don’t know it’s just that this is I I actually think this is kind of a fitting way to end because I think this is genuinely how a lot of general managers feel on like July 20th is they’re like “Yeah I like the moves we made we didn’t really get our top priority there’s still some holes I wish we could have addressed like very few general managers go into September and are like man boy do I love my roster i really did every single thing I wanted to do this off season and we never had to go to plan B so it it’s it probably makes this whole exercise more realistic that we settled and compromised and are kind of like uh do I really love this like that’s what the Bruins offseason is going to be this year we are not going to get to training camp in September and be like “Wow this Bruins roster is awesome.” Like you know we we hit it all out of the park and did everything we wanted to do like it’s that’s not how it’s going to go no but I do think we have a couple of playoff rosters here yeah like I mean I think I think I think the one Scott said I think you know would should be a playoff roster most definitely because of the topheavy nature of Mner and Passion and then I think that you know the one that I offered and and Bridgets is similar i I think it does you know there’s there’s there’s definitely enough there where it should be a playoff roster uh because one thing too is everybody always keeps saying well the Bruins um you know they finished fifth last in the league last year it’s like yeah I know they did but it’s not when the roster is healthy i don’t think it’s a I don’t even think last year was the fifth worst roster in the league i mean they were kind of flirting with playoff contention for a long long time uh yes they played more games than people for most of the year but I mean you go down some key players you sell at the deadline and it’s just going to just going to fall and fall fast and that was kind of by design so I mean I’m not looking at this as like oh are they going to go from fifth last in the league to a playoff team it’s it’s all the truth is always kind of somewhere in the middle sometimes so Mhm yeah and also like another thing I’ve told multiple people the last couple days is like it makes a huge difference if Jeremy Swayman plays like the goal you’re paying him to be like we can’t overstate how much him being quite frankly bad last year hurt the whole team and like how much more of a challenge it just makes it to be a good team when you’re not getting goalending like we haven’t seen that in so long around here what what how far back do you have to go to the last time the Bruins had bottom 10 goalending in the NHL like mid 2000s at possibly even longer than that like it’s been a long time since we’ve watched a team that didn’t have at least above average goalending and usually it’s been top five to 10 in the league yeah i mean you you went let’s just go back to like the late 90s turn of the century but you had Byron Defoe you know above average goalie um obviously Andrew Raycraft came into the mix for a little bit there and then they had a slight limbo stage where they had was it Hanu Toy Hanu Toyven and they thought he was the next guy and uh eventually you found your way to um to Timmy and then Tuka and Hallmark and Swayman so it’s been a while but all right this episode has been a while thank you everybody for bearing with us but we had to talk about it out loud i know is all over the map but yeah this was the final so I just wanted to put it up one last time this was the final it’s not sexy it’s not a sexy roster it’s better than what we had though it’s not a sexy roster but it’s not It’s It’s certainly not doing what a lot of people blasted management for last year which was overpaying and and overvaluing just to spend at free agency i mean I think we kind of did so respectfully here responsibly I should say but it’s not I don’t we’re not tied to anybody in their 30s and overpaying many people i think Will is that’s great value for him um I like the value on Dante Fabro Sam Bennett that’s not even that bad of a contract especially with the cap going up and everybody knows what he brings we’re still with we we have some question marks offensively right now in our in our middle six but again you said it Scott casey Middlestat he’s capable i don’t know if he’s better suited on the wing um I think that’s kind of why I may have pencled him in as a third line center i don’t I think he kind of needs to go up the middle of the ice with his wingers but whatever we can we can we can figure it out that’s up for the new coach to tinker with yeah I guess so i guess so i I wouldn’t I wouldn’t hate Lynholm Bennett Middlestat down the middle i think that’s pretty decent when you don’t really have a true number one all things considered but all right do you guys have any final takes before uh we’re here until dinner i know right i have a doctor’s appointment to go to you got to go all right well let us know uh how much you disagree with us in the comments or very quick little note uh the Chicago Blackhawks are hiring Jeff Blill to be their next head coach yes Bruins talked to him i don’t think he was uh at or near the top of their list but just throwing that out there and as as a refresher we did choose Marco Sturm so yes that’s our head coach who will be t tinkering with the lines scott wanted the job but it just wasn’t it was unprofessional to be a GM and a coach at the same time this isn’t slapshot okay all right guys i think we got to go hopefully people followed us to this point who knows it’s a long one well there’s there’s podcasts out there that are three or four hours and they have multiple episodes a week so we’ll we’ll take one long one but uh we’re heading into a long weekend you you guys have three full days maybe you’re traveling somewhere in the rain sitting in traffic yeah people got time to listen yeah so everybody have a have a nice uh holiday weekend and we’ll talk to you next week hey guys thanks for watching Escape Podcast if you want to see more of our videos visit our playlist not in front of a screen you can listen to us on Spotify Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast don’t forget to follow us on social media and if you enjoyed this video please don’t forget to give us a thumbs up subscribe to our channel and leave a comment

In Part 2 of our two-part “Bruins Mock Offseason” series, we debate which players to add in free agency to put together a playoff-caliber roster. We go through what it would take to get Mitch Marner and how a roster would balance out if he was or wasn’t the Bruins’ big target. Plus, what the Bruins could do to add a top-four defenseman.

Follow us on Twitter: @TheSkatePod | @smclaughlin9 | @briandefelice_ | @bridgetteproulx | Email us at skatepod@weei.com

Leave your questions in the comments and we will answer as many as we can!

Jump to:
00:00 – Don Sweeney contract extension sidenotes
11:00 – What would a roster look like with Mitch Marner?
41:00 – Which of the top six UFA forward options would fit best with Bruins?
1:02:00 – What to do with Bruins current UFA’s

Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images (Bennett); Claus Andersen/Getty Images (Marner)

Follow The Skate Podcast on the Audacy App or wherever you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/TheSkatePodcast

Don’t forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/weeivideo

📡 LISTEN LIVE ➡️ https://www.audacy.com/weei/listen
📺WATCH LIVE ➡️ http://weei.com/watch
💻WATCH LIVE ON TWITCH ➡️ http://twitch.tv/bostonweei
Download the Audacy App today and stream your WEEI wherever you are! ➡️
https://go.audacy.com/y-listen-live-weei

FOLLOW US:
TWITTER – https://twitter.com/WEEI
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/weeisports/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/WEEI/

Thumbnail images courtesy of Getty Images/USA Today Network.