Will Bruins Have Upward Trajectory Next Season? | The Skate Pod, Ep. 461

Will Bruins Have Upward Trajectory Next Season? | The Skate Pod, Ep. 461

Welcome in to episode 461 of the Skate Podcast. I am Brian Deliz joined by Bridget Brew and Scott Mclofflin. And before I introduce Bridget and Scott and get to the opening shifts, I do want to throw it right to Bridget because she claims to have a surprise guest that I myself am unaware of. So, Bridget, take it away. Yeah, I do. Um, you I’ll just I can’t. It’s hard to introduce. So, I’m just going to show you. Okay. Um, so I may or may not have gone back to the store and bought the giraffe butler that I sent you guys. And so now I’m just eating popcorn out of him. So, wow. Here. For for people not watching, so people watching on YouTube have a very good view of of this surprise guest. Bridget, can you describe what it is you’re you’re talking about that um we uh we were joking about in in our group text and now you have actually purchased. Yeah. So, it wasn’t cheap, but it’s it’s made out of solid gold, right? It’s solid gold. Yeah. It’s a gold It’s a gold giraffe butler. And if you have no idea if you’re listening, you have no idea what that looks like, just go look it up on YouTube. Also, I might post a a nice little Tik Tok about me buying him, but he uh I had sent the picture. I thought it was hilarious. I was like, “This thing is so funny.” I saw it at HomeGoods and I was like thinking about it all week and I’m like, “I need to go back.” I’m like, “I need to I I can’t not have him.” So, I went back and I bought him. And anyone want to guess how much money he was? I mean, solid gold. So, it’s got to be in the thousands. I’m going to say 6,500. I I’ll I’ll say what I thought Scott was going to say, which was 69.99. Oh, there you go. That That That was a Scott joke that he didn’t elect to go with, but Yeah. No. So, um he was I I went in I paid $150 for my giraffe butler, and I plan on using him for popcorn like I’m using him for right now. But I also am open to suggestions of what I should use him for and where I should put him. So, and what I should name him. So, I’m thinking Harold, but I’m not I’m not 100%. So, all right, Brian, what did you think? Well, so as I’m looking at it, the first thing that comes to my mind is is Toy Story. And when that kid Sid like has all those toys in his room and he’s like taking them all apart and you know putting baby head dolls on spiders and all that stuff. I can see you printing out a picture of Scott’s head, right? Laminating it and then putting it in place of the giraffe’s head and now you just have a statue of Scott holding a No, that No, that’s not what So what I was actually going to do was see how Oh, come on. Look, the picture of Scott’s head right there. Well, I was actually thinking of putting it on the bowl because it’s a big popcorn bowl and if I put Scott’s Pops on the front of it, I thought that would be good branding. All right. Well, I’ll I’ll I’ll do a mockup of what I’m thinking and then you can see if you like it. Okay. I’m sure. Crank up the Photoshop. Uh, send it over. I’m gonna I’ll check with uh Bruins PR to see if we can get the giraffe its own seat in the press box. I think we put that right between us. We have popcorn there all game. Yes. For for Christ’s sake, Scott gets a a gold giraffe a press pass before myself. What do we What’s going on here? Going on here? I don’t know how they could possibly say no. But uh so what do we think? Harold a good name? No. Yes. Harold’s fine. We’ll go with Harold for now. Working title. I like it. Welcome to the pod, Harold. Uh we’ll get to his opening shift later. If you see me eating popcorn, it’s because Harold is just holding it for me. So, yeah. There we go. All right. There’s our new guest and surprise to me. I don’t know if Scott knew about it, but that’s I did not. No. All righty. Are you jealous? Yes, actually. All right. Well, why don’t we go to uh since Bridget had her surprise guest first, let’s go to Scott with his opening shift to start. So, the NHL announced uh it’s scheduled for opening night. Now, the rest of the team schedules are the full season schedule’s coming on Wednesday. Um, but ESPN announced a triple header for opening night. Blackhawks at Panthers at 5:00 Eastern. Uh, Panthers banner raising, followed by Penguins at Rangers at 8:00 and then Avalanche at Kings at 10:30. And I got to say, I just think the NHL needs to do a better job with opening night and like making this an event. I know like that they’re trying to do that by making it a triple header, but a five o’clock banner raising doesn’t really scream like marquee event. Having the Panthers face the Blackhawks, one of the worst teams in the league. I know Connor Badard is star power, but like they’re still a bad team. There’s no rivalry there or anything. Um, Rangers and Penguins is the second game. I know two big markets, New York, Pittsburgh, they both miss the playoffs. Like two non-playoff teams and you’re in your prime time spot on opening night. Avalanche at Kings, good game, but it’s 10:30 Eastern. Most people probably won’t be up for it. Um, it just like this feels to me similar to what the NHL to me did wrong last season. Now, maybe their ratings tell them otherwise. I know ratings were down, so it doesn’t seem like it worked, but last year we got all these like prime time national TV games that had crappy matchups because they always resort to putting the same teams on TV and and Boston’s one of them and they were part of the problem at times last year and might be again this year if they have a lot of national TV games. But, you know, Boston, New York, Philly, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, and it’s like they’re so afraid to put non-traditional teams in these prime time spots. It’s like, yeah, you might finally get a little bit of Panthers because now they’ve won back-to-back Stanley Cups, but otherwise, like, you don’t get Tampa, you don’t get you, you know, you only get Vegas in like a late night slot. like they just don’t branch out. And seeing this opening night schedule, like this is how they’re launching the season, I’m like, “Oh, they’re just going to do the same thing. The ESPN and TNT are just going to do the same thing again this year. We’re just going to get all the same markets regardless of whether those teams are good or not because the league and these networks are are afraid to branch out and show the actual best teams if they’re not in the best markets.” Okay. Do we do we want to I I have some thoughts on this. We can circle back to this afterwards. Um Bridget, do you want to go? Yeah. So, I mean, mine’s really not much because um we’re still waiting on it, but obviously those games were announced. Bruins schedule is going to be announced tomorrow at 1. So, uh I guess the opening shift is just to mention that that is happening for people to look out for it. So, Wednesday at 1 p.m., um, if you’re somebody who wants to see it right away, that’s when you can find it. And, uh, you know, then we can go through what it looks like for the Bruins, what what they’re, uh, what games might be exciting, what, you know, what’s coming up in the, uh, early part of the schedule and whatnot. So, uh, it doesn’t appear they’ll be starting out the same way they did last year, uh, which was they were the team, uh, that was playing Florida to start, uh, the season. So, uh, not not the case this year. Um, but yet it wasn’t swapped out for a better matchup. So, uh, so yeah, and that that was a big one. Like that was a good matchup. like that was actually worth putting on on opening night. Um, Blackhawks, not so much. Um, okay. So, last episode, I believe it was, Bridget had mentioned something and and it got me thinking about a a question to to go over today and we’re basically discussing how the Bruins season next year, it could range from being a a lottery team to at the lowest floor to a ceiling of maybe contending for a wild card spot. And in that situation, Bridget was asking, “Well, if they’re contending for a wild card spot, wouldn’t they be sellers at the deadline just like last season where they were contending for a wild card spot and decided to sell at the deadline?” And and I, you know, I have an answer to that and I don’t know if you guys want to start with it now because we we can just bleed into this. So, I think the difference is between last year and this coming season, if the Bruins were in a wild card contention at the trade deadline, is that last year the Bruins hadn’t sold in 20 years. They were long overdue, right? They they they needed to do what they did last year and it was it was it was a necessary evil to take steps back to move forward. But I do think that next year, let’s say the team is playing well and their structure is better than we all thought it would be and their scoring is more opportunistic than we all thought it would be and they’re playing like a hard hard team to play against, right? And and there’s some younger kids along the way that are that are a part of that like a Frasier Minton or, you know, Matt Potra or Fabian Lel or maybe even a James Hagus down the line. Who knows, right? But there there are some younger players in this team. I do think that there are some situations where a team can make the playoffs where, you know, there’s like a 99.9% chance that they aren’t going to go very far. But that playoff experience does matter and can be beneficial going forward as opposed to selling. I think that had the Bruins not sold last year, then I would still be clamoring for just if you’re not in a playoff position at the deadline, you sell because you have to do it. But they’ve now done it. Now, there are those who might say, “If the Bruins are in are in wild card contention next year, I want them to sell again. I want them to keep finishing as low as possible.” And then there’s other people who would say they did sell last year. They have some younger players on the rise now in the prospect system. They they are building towards something. The playoffs could be good experience for a Matt Potch or a Frasier Minton, just younger players. And it it’s good cuz this is a brand new group. So it’s not like you have Charlie Coyle and Brad Marshian and Brandon Carlo, guys that have been in the playoffs all the time. This is a brand new group with very little playoff experience for the most part. So if they could experience that as a group as a new group for the first time, that’s beneficial. So it just leads the question, what should the Bruins goal be next year? right now. Obviously, it depends on how bad they are or how decent they are. But it like if they’re struggling like bad and you get to the deadline, yeah, of course, like just keep selling. But if they have a competitive team at the deadline, so if we’re talking about a wild card contending team this coming season, let’s say that’s that’s a scenario that happens, what should their goal be? Should it be to sell again and go back to the try to go back to the lottery or should it be to try to build something with this group going forward and continue that that positive trajectory? So, um I now throw it to you guys and you know listeners and commenters, but uh in in the scenario of a wildcard contending team at next year’s deadline, like what should this team’s goal be, right? And so that’s that that was a question that came to my mind. Yeah. I also I think a distinct possibility is if they’re in a similar position, you know, close to the playoffs in the hunt, but like clearly not one of the better teams in the league, maybe it’s a small cell, right? Like instead of instead of selling off multiple core pieces, including guys with term left on their contract, maybe it’s just Victor Arverson and Andrew Peak, two pending unrestricted free agents. if they’re not signed to extensions by then, like those are guys you don’t need to hang on to and lose for nothing. So, if you can get something for them, you do. And then you still roll with what you have left and see if you can find a way to get into the playoffs. And and I I agree with you, like if you’re if you’re a younger team, like if some of these younger players actually do claim lineup spots and and run with them this season, there’s definitely real value in making the playoffs and getting experience. even if you’re out in five games in round one, like those guys at least got to see it. They got to learn something. You can use that going forward. Um, but I don’t think you you don’t hang on to pending UFAs like an Arvid Center or Peak um just to do that. Like if if you can get something for those guys and you’re not really going to be making a run, then you do. Yeah. And I mean, just looking back at last year, like how big this cell was, it’s probably not even really possible to do that or it doesn’t really make sense to do that this year because you don’t have Marshon there to like, you know, the the caliber of players that are on expiring deals are now different. So, um, so like the the ability to do that is is kind of changed because you already got rid of Carlo and Coyle. And so it’s not like you’re we’re talking about that being this year’s deadline. Um, because it happened a little bit prematurely. They sold them before the end of their or before the last year of their contract. So, uh, the people that are left for you to sell, yeah, I think it’s not quite as big unless you were to really like make a trade. um which I don’t which would mean like with sway or you you understand what I’m saying like that seems a little bit more difficult to do um and a little bit less likely to do. So yeah, small sell and see what happens could definitely be the case um in March when the trade deadline comes around. And um yeah, it it’ll be interesting though because they what they did this past year was once they decided that it was a a down year, they Don Sweeney, Cam Neily management really went all in one direction and we had talked about oh maybe it’s a mini mini cell retool whatever like just trade Frederick and Brazo and that’s not what happened. So, um, yeah, and I know people listening too probably think I’d rather them if they’re in that position do the same thing and tank again. And I’d rather see them get another a chance at a top five pick. Well, and that and that’s why that’s why I posed the question, right? Because I I I see why one would think that, right? But at the same time, and I think what Scott laid out is is is most most realistic where it’s like maybe you just do a couple of small sales of guys that aren’t around for a long time. But I in my mind as we sit here in July, okay, so you know, we’re it’s nine months away from this anyway. But um I to me the Bruins buying at next year’s deadline would be them just not selling, right? Like like I don’t think there’s a world where they’re buyers next year, right? like their their version of buying would be like kind of staying padded, just rolling the dice just just to see if they can get into the playoffs and try to build something for the future. But I think the difference between the 24 25 Bruins and what I anticipate from the 2526 Bruins is that last year’s team was in a wildcard position contending forward around the deadline because they were a bad team. like they they were a team that had a lot of underperformances that got off to a bad start and they they were they were sliding they were sliding to that wild card contention and also the league was kind of down in a way. But with the 2526 Bruins, if they’re in a wild card contention position at the deadline, it’s probably because they’re probably exceeding expectations to that point. So they’re trending upwards towards that deadline. So I just I just would be I would just caution people about if the team is building something towards the future and and they’re exceeding expectations but it’s but it’s expectations that are being exceeded not for this year but for trying to build for the future. I would be care I’d be careful about just saying well guys you know great 75% of the season and we all just tank for McKenna because when you when you if they’ve gotten to that point they’re building they’re building something they’re doing something right. So and and as we know it’s just it’s not a guarantee. I I fully expect the Bruins even if they play their best next year to still have a mid- round pick in the first round which in a in a very deep draft like they should still get a really solid prospect. So, if the Bruins come out of the gates next year and and they suck, you will not hear me saying anything but like just Yeah. Like like if they suck, they suck. Like try to get McKenna. I’m more so talking about if the team is exceeding expectations and and they are building something that you can see for the future that you can, you know, get excited for. D just at the deadline just but to Bridget’s point maybe you don’t maybe those th those players like Coyle and and Marian and Carlo like those significant players probably aren’t there to be sold anyway at this year’s deadline like you’re not moving Passnack or Mavoy stuff like that. So um anyway I just I just thought it was worth talking about to see what people think. I mean I guess Zaka could be some maybe Zaka. I was going to say like the names on that next tier would be like Zaka and Middlestad, but it’s kind of a conundrum because if if you’re playing well and and the season’s trending towards maybe you can make the playoffs, well, chances are that second line has at least done decently well, right? Like you’re not going to have a terrible second line and be in the hunt for a playoff spot. Not unless like David Posnak has like 150 points. Um, so if Middlestad and Zaka actually both bounce back and are playing pretty well, then like what would make them attractive to other teams in a trade also makes them attractive to the Bruins to keep because, you know, if if they’re if they play at a second line level and then you trade them, well, like now you need a whole new second line. And as we learned this p as people should have learned this past summer, it’s not exactly easy to go out and get top six talent. It doesn’t really become available all that often. So yeah, like those guys having a good season would make them really valuable trade chips, but then where does that leave the Bruins? Like then then you’re, you know, like I said, like then you’re looking for three top six forwards basically before you’re ready to make any noise. And who are they? Like one of them is James Hagens eventually, but like where are you getting the other two? Is you know, one of them’s maybe your draft pick next year and then I don’t know, you’re trying to go after free agent, but like what free agent wants to come to a team that’s now having a second down season in a row. Like it, you know, it’s not it’s not as simple as just saying, oh, if those guys bounce back, then trade them and get value. Like you might end up wanting to keep those guys. Like last year, I would have pulled my hair out if the Bruins tried to buy at the deadline for that team because the Bruins, they needed to sell. They hadn’t sold in nearly 20 years and they needed they it was the end of something. Bers at that point’s gone a couple years. Creech’s gone a couple years. Like like you don’t they needed to replenish this the prospect pool and in a big way. And as it turns out, their their ability to sell at the last year’s deadline did help them fall. Now they went from fifth odds to drafting seventh. But whatever, Hagens fell to them. And now that they’ve h now that they like they have Hagens now. I’m not saying that it’s not great to continue to to to stock the pipeline going forward. But that like he could he should be that future number one center for the Bruins. And if not, he should be an elite number two center. But my point is the Bruins are in a much their prospect pool is already in a much different spot than it was pre last year’s deadline. Hagens is a is a gradea prospect. I think Will Moore is is is a good prospect, high value pick for where he was selected. Um Will Zeers another very exciting prospect. like the Bruins, he might be 2, three years away still, but these are players that weren’t in the Bruins prospect system prior to last year’s deadline, which was why last year’s deadline, they needed to sell because that’s this organization needed it, but now they have replenished a little bit. I’m not saying they can’t continue to do so, but it was just more of a desperate need last year. And whereas like if they made the play if let’s say they made the playoffs last year, they were going nowhere in the playoffs and they didn’t have anything to build on going forward. Whereas if they don’t if they make the playoffs this coming year and their destiny is no further than the first round, I can understand why somebody would say, “Well, Brian, they they went nowhere.” Yeah, but it’s not that simple because let’s look back at the 2007 2008 Bruins. Does any Bruins fan that watched that trajectory from 0708 to their cup win in 11, that 0708 playoff round against the Montreal Canadians, a round that they lost. But the organization built from that, they built off that. They grew from that. That was the start of something. So like and they they had a young Milan Luchich, they had a young David Krichi, still a relatively young Patrice Bjon. They had a young Phil Kessle. Um, but you also had, you know, a veteran in Mark Zavar and Dino Charara and others to kind of, you know, supplement that youth. But now the Bruins, they you can start to see them maybe have that next wave of youth led by James Higgins. Now, that’s not me saying that their prospect pool uh still doesn’t need improvement. It does, but whereas last year it was desolate, and that’s not the case. now. So that’s why I do I could see if the if the Bruins next year made the playoffs and they had a similar type experience of the 0708 Bruins, you could see why that could be beneficial for the team going forward, whereas last year that wasn’t the case. They were a dead man walking and they needed to have a cell at the deadline. So it’s just a different situation. Um, and that that’s why Bridges Bridget, thanks for asking the question because like I said to you guys before we started recording in typical skate pod fashion, like we didn’t really answer it directly because um, we got diverted and and uh, but I was listening back and I was like, that’s a question that we should really kind of peel back more. So, yeah. Well, and and just to because I just wanted to look this up to highlight your point about like their Hagen’s changing their outlook so much in terms of prospects. I saw uh Scott Wheeler of the Athletic um just this week, actually just on Monday rank posted his ranking of the top 100 drafted NHL prospects. Um, so obviously not like Gavin McKenna and not anyone from future drafts, but want to guess where he has James Hagen’s ranked among all NHL drafted prospects. I’ll let Bridget guess because I did see this. Um, okay. I did not see this. I’m trying to tell whether or not he’s giving him extra respect or disrespect from where he got drafted. Um, I’m gonna guess disrespect. So, I’m going to say he’s like 20. No. Uh, Scott Wheeler was very high on Hagens going into the draft. He has him as the eighth best prospect in all of hockey. All right. So, like there you go. Like you have again like you could debate exactly where he should be, but like you have one of the 10 to 12 best prospects in in the sport right now who’s in his vicinity like if you don’t mind. Um, so yeah, I can just run through the top 10. So he has one, Matthew Schaefer, two, Michael Misa, three, Ivan Demadov, who did make his debut with the Canadians late in the season. Four, Zayn Perk, five, Zeve Buy. Six, Sam Dickinson. Seven, Artum Leunov, so running defenseman there. Eight, James Haggins. Nine, Porter Martone. 10, Berkeley Ken. 11, Caleb Denier. 12. Anton Frenell, by the way, how about Hagen’s former lineates? Third, Gabe Perau 13. Ryan Leonard 15. So, he’s he’s ranked third among 2020 2025 drafties. Yeah. And I I think that is where Scott Wheeler had him in his final rankings, too. I think he had Hagens as his number three prospect going into the draft. Yeah. And and this is why and and for for those of you that have the opinion of we just keep keep tanking going forward. Um I understand where you’re coming from. Like I I I I trust me, I do. But you have to understand as well the significance of the addition of James Hagens from this that that they’ve gained since last year’s trade deadline. Um, and again, like I said, all they by by all by all accounts of all uh analysts, the Bruins graded very well in their 2025 draft class. Okay, so Higgins leads that charge, but they also have some other prospects, but again, you don’t get the the Now, Chris Peters was on here and he didn’t have the highest of um ceilings for Will Zeers in the NHL. I tend to think Zeers could be a little bit better in the NHL than what Chris Peters believes, but at the end of the day, he’s somebody that you got in addition to a second round pick and Charlie and Casey Middlestad for Charlie Coyle. Like Will Zeers I fully expect to be an NHL player one day, whether it’s for the Bruins or somebody else. I expect him to be. Um again, these are players prospects that Boston didn’t have, you know, less like less than a year half a year ago. So, when we talk about what should their goal be going forward next year, again, don’t get me wrong. If the team sucks next year all the way through up until the trade deadline, then you just you lean into that and you say, “Yeah, they suck and they’re going to be a lottery pick and let’s not get let’s not get in the way of that.” But if the team from October through March, they are they are showing everybody that that this team has finally turned a corner and that they’re building something new and they’re possibly going to make the playoffs and maybe instead of picking top five in a deep draft, they’re picking, you know, maybe 16th or 17th overall or fifth whatever, like 15th, 14th if they miss the playoffs. And then who knows where the where the lottery brings you, right? But um I just you know I don’t want I just don’t want to get in the way of that either like because if they’re building towards something and there is something called momentum and and and positive vibes and just growth and development happens somewhere. So um what what what the Bruins goal should be to me is they should be their goal should be to try to make the playoffs and and get experience for for certain players in the organization and build towards something. that should be their goal um entering the season. If the team is not good, then of course you have to readjust and not get in the way of that negative trajectory as well. But that’s what their goal should be in my mind. And I think though some people would say this like how realistic is that? like just I I know we’ll get some push back like so I don’t disagree with you Brian but I’m sure there’ll be some push back of like all right well it take a lot of things going right to be in a situation where you’re comfortable letting the team ride ride ride out try to be a wild card team see what happens with that like it feels like Makavoy and Lynholm would have to be fully healthy for the whole season and and up to speed of what they can Swayman would have to bounce back. Like top six would have to perform. Pasta would have to be insane. Uh and there was there’s a lot of stuff that would have to happen for you to even be in that position. Which and and but whether or not it’s realistic is is you know to me it’s irrelevant because I I’m focusing on what’s happening in in front of you, right? So like if it if Bridget to your point if it ends up not being realistic then it then that’s fine. Like I have no issues with that, right? like you you you you you deal with what’s in front of you. Um so if the like if Makavoy doesn’t play well or Lynholm isn’t playing up to health or if Syoma doesn’t bounce back, I’m not getting in the way of them being a lottery team, right? So, I’m I’m just saying what their what their pre-season goal should be shouldn’t be let’s go into the season and and and do everything we can to tank like like Scott says all the time like there is something called like hockey karma and you don’t want to go into a season with that being your goal. If that’s what if that’s what the reality is, no problem. That’s what it is. But I don’t think like they should be going into the year because that’s not that’s not good for people’s psyches. It’s not good for people’s um you know energy and and especially for your top players that like you don’t want to give that that that energy to them of like no and that’s not going to be because they have a new head coach who’s absolutely not going to accept that as the path for the season. So Marco Sturtorm maybe he has a little bit of a directive to you’re allowed to spend a little bit more time with like giving younger guys a chance which could obviously affect your standings position or whatever. But, you know, maybe maybe he’s been told that’s okay. Like, if you if you really think that development is is key over, you know, points here and there, but you know, that he’s coming in and he’s trying to make an impact in his first season as an NHL head coach and get this thing going back in the right direction. Yeah. And that that path to competitiveness, not to contention, but to competitiveness isn’t crazy. like Swimman being much better than last season is not crazy. Makavoy and Lindholm being healthy and by extension your defense being much better is not crazy. Um, you know, having a new coach who is going to emphasize defensive structure and has highlighted that as something that this team needs to get back to like good coaching and and players who buy in can get defensive structure back. So, yeah, I don’t I don’t see a realistic path to this team being a top 10 offense and winning games 5 to2, but I can see the path to a lot of close games. And then it’s just like if you’re in a lot of close games, then it comes down to just how does it break? Like, you know, can can you hold a late lead? Can you come back and force overtime if you’re down by one? like just all these things that where the the margin of error is like or you know the margin between those two things is like nothing. It’s it’s paper thin and if you start landing on the right side of it more often than not then all a sudden you might be in a playoff spot. If you land on the wrong side of it more often than not then you’re probably out of it. Um, but you know, I think like I I said this when I was on Jones and Kev a couple weeks ago, like they would never say this, but I think realistically their goal is like don’t get embarrassed. Don’t get embarrassed like we did last year. Like be competitive, be in it every night and be in close games. And yeah, probably lowscoring games because they’re not, this team’s not playing six to five games, but they might play a lot of 2-1, 32, 3-1 type of games. um might not be the most exciting at times, but like that’s the foundation that they’re trying to establish. And publicly, they’re probably going to say they’re aiming for more than that, but like behind the scenes, realistically, I think that’s what they should be going for. I I think I think sometimes there’s a there’s a phrase, history tends to repeat itself. And I think right now the Bruins are relying on history, best case scenario, repeating itself because it’s all that they know. And I and I and I keep bringing up the 0708 Bruins because I think that’s the best case ceiling for this 2025 2026 Bruins team. And I want to I want to highlight some parallels here because again like that 0708 team was the start of the next 15 20 years of Bruins prominence, right? And obviously you have a lot of the same characters involved like Marco Stern was a player on that 0708 Bruins team and the 0607 team and now he comes in as a coach. So I I just want to highlight some some parallels here. So in 2006 2007 um Dave Lewis was the Bruins head coach. The Bruins finished with 76 points with a team plus minus of minus 70. Last in the Northeast division, 13th in the conference, eighth last in the overall standings. Okay. The 2425 Bruins finished with how many points you guys? You remember? I’ll just tell you. 71 76 same amount of points um plus minus of minus 50 last in the Atlantic division fifth last new overall standings so two just bottom out seasons right okay now the 0708 Bruins what was the difference between the 078 Bruins and the 0607 Bruins I’ll tell you what based on the roster not much you’re talking Glenn Metropolit Schaefer like marginal you know players the biggest difference was Khlo Julian okay So Julian comes in in that season. The Bruins finished with 94 points. Uh team plus minus of minus 10, third in the division, eighth in the conference, uh 15th in the league. And as we know, they took the Canadians who they were 0 and8 against that year in the regular season um to seven games. And if you remember, that team was predicated on a lot of lowscoring wins. So I’m I’m sorry, Brian. Did you say they played the Canadians eight times? What what what is what is this nonsense you speak of? Yeah. 0 and8. They went 0 and8 against the Canadians that year in the regular season back when the Northeast division I think had was it five teams? Something like that. Maybe six teams. Oh yeah, I think it was five. Um yeah, now now we get maybe four matchups a year. Sometimes only three. Yeah. To Scott’s point, the uh the the divisional games have um severely diminished. But which really limits our chance to go to Montreal, which we really don’t like. But to to to circle it back to the comparison, guys, like this is this is what I think the Bruins are looking at. They’re trying to, you know, do they view a Victor Averson like a Glenn Metropolitan, right? Like you come in older guy like, you know, now has more of an NHL established career to his point to this point than Metropolitan, but like a Peter Schaefer or something like that. Let’s sprinkle in some just like some middleling veterans along with some core players and just try to get ourselves to as Scott said it not embarrass ourselves and just be competitive and I can’t help but draw conclusions and draw parallels from the from the situation from 0607 to 0708 to 2425 to 2526. Now, one of uh somebody online mentioned to me the only flaw in your comparison is that Klo Julian or Marco Sturm is a is a first- time head coach. And that’s absolutely true. Klo Julian came in with a a pedigree of of NHL success. Um never I don’t no Stanley Cup success, but he was a well-known defensive specialist as a head coach in the NHL. Marco Sturm, that’s his that’s his MO, but he had to do it at the NHL level. So, that is a difference. But outside of that, you can find a lot of parallels. And I think best case, if the 24 if the 2526 Bruins have a season like the 078 Bruins, then you can see why the Bruins are looking at maybe building off of that because that’s what they did 20 years ago. But I think worst case is what we’re talking about, which is a lottery team. And even then, worst case has an asterisk because that could lead to a very, very, very high prospect. So, it’s really I kind of look at this season as like either way, I think the Bruins could be, you know, I don’t know, in a in in a good spot going forward. They could be. I mean, the the other side of it, like if things go poorly and they’re they’re well out of it and they end up selling off a few pieces again and they’re in the lottery and they’re picking high is you do at some point start to run into the risk of how much longer David Posak and Charlie Makavoy and really Posanak especially wants to be a part of it. Like does he if now you’re two bad seasons in a row, does he see the light at the end of the tunnel? Like is he bought into seeing this through? Because if this season goes like last season did, then I I kind of think the further away you get from contention, the longer the rebuild gets. And this, we mentioned this uh was it our last episode or maybe two episodes ago, I brought up the Daily Face Offic on on rebuilds and how yeah that they often do work. Teams come out of them in a better spot, but they can take a decade or longer. Like the average over the last 20 years since the advent of the salary cap was eight and a half years to come out of, you know, backtoback like bottom 10 finishes marking the start of a rebuild to back-to-back playoff appearances or like a run to the Stanley Cup final marking the end of it. Like on average that’s eight and a half years. I don’t know if Pnar’s gonna want to be here through something that’s going to take that long take that long. So like he would have to be convinced that they have a path to to getting it done quicker. And obviously he would be part of the solution for for getting it done quicker. But I wouldn’t blame him if after like a second bad season, he’s asking questions about like what is the vision and like how are we getting out of this? Do you think if they give him the C like that makes him feel more ownership over it? And maybe like he and I’m not saying he would even if he didn’t have the C, but like I feel like if if you’re the captain of a team that’s kind of going through this and trying to turn it around, I don’t know if you necessarily see abandoning that team as as much of an option. So, I don’t know. And obviously, that’s one thing that’s still yet to come. Um, and we’re still probably a month or two away from know, you know, we were talking about like probably around some point during preseason or camp like knowing who gets the C. But I don’t know, that was one thing that popped into my mind while you were talking about like people or players not being willing to stick around. like I don’t know if he’s the captain he probably takes a lot of pride in bringing bringing it back to what it was when he was enjoying his time with Berseron and Crerachche and and he what he remembers from earlier parts in his career. Uh, I just want to make a a quick uh edit too because I forgot to mention this with the that that 0708 team. Like people will mention David Cr was an addition to the 0607 team, but Creeche played 56 games and it was his first full year and he had like 27 points. Yes, Milan Luchi was a rookie, but the the equalizer is that Patrice Bersron missed 72 games that year. And like so that that’s also why that that that that team was such a rallying team for the city cuz once Berseron went down for the year, you’re talking about a team that had been in the basement for the last couple of years and they miss now they just lost their best player for the whole season and they still were found a way to to rally. So that that’s why that that team had such good vibes. But um yeah, Bridget to your point like I and Scott like that is the risk, right? The risk is that if this prolongs and there’s no growth at all, why of course like why would your best players look around and say, “Hey, I again,” because I talked about this earlier in the summer, but Passback turns 30, I think, next May. Um, and Makavoy is like a year behind him. So, these guys aren’t they’re not kids anymore. And there does come a time where you start to look around because you they’re at that age where they know how hard it is to win, right? They they’ve been to the Synup Finals when they were relatively young in their careers. Makavoy was his first second full season and and then they’ve yet to go back and obviously they lost that series. So they they they’re at that age where they know how hard it is to get there and that it can take some time and that that time might not align with their career. So they they do have to look out for themselves at a certain point which is why I do feel like like they probably brought these these players in for a reason. They’re they probably think that the best way to show growth isn’t by bringing in just singularly bringing in a top six forward this this summer who by the way none of them wanted to none of them chose Boston. and they all elected to stay where they were for the most part besides Marner and Neilers. But like I just think the Bruins problems just went so far beyond that one score which is still part of the solution, a major part of the solution, but it’s all it’s like do you you have to start from like the foundation more or less. And I think that the Bruins are like if we can just get the right players in this year um to to to play the right way to reestablish structure and identity and and Passion and Makavoy know that and can see that then that should then they shouldn’t want to jump ship. Um because but but yeah, that doesn’t mean that it’s it’s going to work. And if it doesn’t work, then yeah, like it’s it’s tricky. Although, like I said, if if if they do have a low finish and Gavin McKenna or or or one of these high prospects is at their in their in their reach, there’s reason for optimism there, too, if you’re those players as well. But, um, yeah, I guess it’s just all over the map. Who knows? Why do we do this podcast, guys? Who who knows? Well, and like I also think there’s a difference between like, okay, they finish low and then win the lottery and get Gavin McKenna. those guys all know the hype around Gavin McKenna as well. So like that brings with it a different energy than oh we have the we have the seventh overall pick again and this time there’s not as known of a name that falls to us and now now it’s like okay well like how excited are those guys going to be about another seventh overall pick, right? Like that’s that’s a little different that there’s levels to, you know, like if you’re going to go down, if you get all the way to the bottom and get McKenna, that’s a little different in terms of what the future looks like than whoever ends up going seventh or eighth next year. um who who may be a very good player but doesn’t bring the immediate excitement of we just drafted Gavin McKenna the guy who’s drawn comparisons to you know maybe not quite McDavid but like the net you know a celibbrini or badard or like something just a level below that and this is where having Higgins though does matter because like Hag like I’m not saying Hagens is McKenna but Higgins is he’s he’s a blue chip gradea prospect and they have him too like he alone is worth the excitement for the future if you’re these if you’re the Bruins top players too. So it’s like that’s why last year was so important to do what they did and now that they did it it just kind of changes like they’re just they’re they’re it’s they’re starting to hopefully ascend little by little here. They got a little bit of that that good karma clearly because I don’t that was there there was a few things that had to go right for them to get Hagens at seven and at all really and then at seven even more so. But uh yeah, and do you guys think it’s odd at all that we, you know, the timeline here for Hagens, we thought maybe we would have known the decision after development camp on whether or not he was going back to BC, but still there hasn’t been any sort of official announcement of what the plan is for him. Yeah. I part of me wonders like if a decision’s been made, but they just haven’t announced it yet. Or or like maybe everyone kind of knows the way it’s trending, but they want Higgins to kind of get there on his own. You know what I mean? Like we know he’s probably going back, but you know, in his mind, he’s not 100% there yet. So like we’ll give him the time to get there on his own. Um, but yeah, I mean, you do you have seen uh, you know, if you follow these things on social media, like you’ve seen some players over the last week or two since the draft take to social media to announce their plans for next season or it’s gotten leaked on where they’re going. Obviously, Gavin McKenna was the big one, but there’s been some others. Um, you know, just as it relates to BC, Justin Carbono, who was slated to go to BC as a freshman, announced that he was staying in the QMJHL with his junior team, uh, for another year. So, he’s not heading to BC. Um, but like there’s there have been more of those kind of trickling out here in, you know, the last week or so. Um, so you you know both players and teams and teams at both levels like the NHL team but also Boston College like yeah you want to know ahead of time on these things. You don’t want this dragging through August where like BC is wondering like do we have to try to find some late replacement for James Hagens? Um which is a huge like you’re not right like you’re just you’re not you’re certainly not getting another player of that caliber. Um, you know, unless it again like unless it happens early enough that you jump on I, you know, a Portoone or like some someone like that who might still make the jump to college. But, um, yeah, I think people probably want answers sooner rather than later. Um, but it could still like I would kind of put it towards like the end of July as when you’d be like as when I would start to think like that’s kind of weird that there’s still no decision. Yeah. And I mean if I hear anything obviously I’ll I’ll bring it up on the podcast. I’m just like constantly harassing people at BC like tagging them like hey any news like do you think it’s already do you think it’s already been made? I honestly don’t I get the sense it’s not 100%. That’s Yeah, I Adam Mcuade sounded like he was going back to BC. I think the Bruins want him to go back to BC for another year. Um but they’re not going to force it on him. Like they’re not going to be like you have to go back to BC. So I don’t know. Like like I said, like I still think that’s where it ends up, but I think Hagens might I just think like he might have needed a little bit of time to to get there on his own without being told like, “Hey, you’re doing this.” So, what if he what if he surprised people and let’s just say at the last hour the the Islanders drafted drafted him first overall or somebody drafted him in the in the top three? Do we do we think that there’d be more like generally with top three picks there’s there’s less question about them going pro in their first year trying to like the fact that he slid like you can make the argument like again like he’s a top three talent in this draft. So, if he went closer to where we all thought he was maybe going to go, certainly prior to the the month before the draft, would there be much as many people saying, “Ah, he should go back to college, or is it the fact that he went seventh and fell to the Bruins and it’s more like, ah, maybe he should go back to BC?” I think it’s I think it’s the fact that he has development left to do and at that level, he can gain confidence and he I I don’t know, guys. like I I try to imagine him at at BC and like predict what that season would look like for him and I think he would have an amazing season. I think he’d get a lot out of it. Um and I try to predict, you know, what would it look like if he was playing in Boston and I have a harder time see like the learning curve is going to be so much steeper there um than just like building on his foundation from freshman season and playing another season in the NCAA. He’s small. That probably factors into it as well. Like he’s uh he’s not over six feet tall. He’s he’s still got some muscle to put on probably. He mentioned he had has already gained weight um over the last few months, but there’s still plenty of that for him to do, too. So, can you do that while you’re also in the NHL? Yes. Um but that’s there’d be a lot on his plate, I think. Uh that could be hard to to handle. And it just feels like the smoothest transition would be spend the semester or not the semester, spend the season at BC and then maybe join the team in Mar like depending on how far BC goes in the playoffs. Like that might if they go really far, you might not get them at all because they if they’re in the national championship game, is it worth burning his ELC for like three games? No, probably not. But, uh, well, it might be if if he really wants to turn pro and burn that year or like Yeah, sometimes with your top prospect, you have to bend a little. Yeah, I was gonna say it wouldn’t it would be a favor. Like it’d be like, hey, this we’re doing this for you because we just want you to be happy. you know, it would not necessarily be the best thing for the team to do in terms like financially, but uh yeah, you see you see it happen with top prospects because they don’t they want them to be happy and um I don’t know to me that just seems like what would be the smoothest and probably best for him honestly. Yeah, I I personally like I I think he would struggle in the NHL this season. Now, if he does decide he wants to go pro and the Bruins sign him, I’d love to be proven wrong because that’d be a lot of fun to watch. But he would not be the first high pick who struggles as an 18-year-old in the NHL because not everyone is Conor McDavid or Sydney Crosby where you hit the ground running right away. Like, no. sometimes you’re Tyler Sean who ends up I’ve made this comparison before but who didn’t produce a ton as a rookie was in and out of the lineup at times didn’t play in the playoffs until Berseron had a concussion and obviously then made a big impact in that Tampa Bay series but um yeah like it sometimes it’s a roller coaster because it’s just really hard um and I think that’s probably what it would be for him that’s not to say that there wouldn’t be value in that or that wouldn’t make him a better player for it, but I just think there’s a lot he could get out of another season in college. Like just just beyond like seeing his production go up and the physical stuff like getting stronger, competing against college age players again, also just like playing in all situations. I mean, BC didn’t use him on the penalty kill very much last year. Greg Brown likes to use his top players on the PK. I imagine Hagens would get PK time this year and like again he wouldn’t be a penalty killer right away in the NHL but maybe somewhere down the line he might be. So like that’s valuable experience too. Yeah. All good points guys. All good points. I think on the weight that you mentioned Bridget I think he mentioned after one of the development camp practices that he he was weighing weighing in around 175 during last year’s BC season mid-season. Uh which makes sense because guys are losing a lot of weight because they’re doing so much cardio throughout the year. Um it makes sense that guys entered the year um heavier than mid-season form. But yeah, I think he said he was around like 190 19 maybe 190 195. I think he’s gained like 15 20 pounds since last year’s mid-season. So that I mean for for somebody who is 510 and a half, whatever he is, I don’t know how much I don’t know what that perfect number is for him if he’s already around 190. I think you can still add like more lean muscle, but I I just I just want to keep reiterating like I know he people comment on his size and they they he does get compared to like a Jack Hughes like just like a more undersized skilled set, but it’s like like he’s thicker than Jack Hughes like he’s not like like I don’t think Augusta Wind is knocking over James Higgins. Like he’s a different he is a different build despite being labeled as like an undersized center, right? Like I just want to make that distinction cuz at least that that’s my that’s what do you guys see the same thing I’m talking about. It’s not the same exact build. I mean and look at how successful Lane Hudson has been as well. Like Lane Hudson is somebody who I thought maybe would fall over an Augusta win but uh like having stood next to both him and Hagens in person like yeah they’re built different. Like Hagens is certainly seems more sturdy. um you know, he’s not like he’s not super skinny, right? Like he’s not like a little linky guy. Like he’s built like a hockey player. So um yeah. So, I don’t know about you guys, I wouldn’t mind if we just took five to 10 minutes and just answered one or two mailbags just to, you know, get knocked that off the docket because I think that I know I know on Thursday and we’re going to do a um we’re going to do something something unique on Thursday, an idea that that that Scott brought up to us and it’s just going to be a an offseason superlatives to the Bruins and just, you know, projecting and things to look forward to. Um, but my my my best ideas come from Jones and Keefe. I just sometimes I just like steal steal segments they do and I’m like I’m like, “Oh, let’s do a hockey version.” So, I don’t know how much time we’ll have for mailbags next next episode. So, I just wanted to get a one or two in if you guys don’t mind. Yeah. Well, qu just before we do, when I brought up the opening night schedule uh as my opening shift, Brian, you said you had a thought on it. I didn’t I didn’t know if you wanted to get to that. Oh, yeah. I just I was just curious um like what the what the perfect scenario would be if we were planning it, right? So, like I could see I could see like who would I want the Panthers banner night to be against, right? I think there’s three options that come to mind. I think it’s if you really want to be torturous, it’s the Oilers, but you’re not sending them out there to start the season. No. In the East, I would say like like Tampa Bay or Toronto. Like I think I think those are two like especially that they’re they’re rivals to to the Panthers. They’re relevant. Um Tampa is obviously a non-traditional market that has had uh a ton of success. And then Toronto is that original six team that is also highly competitive and has playoff history with the Panthers. So like I think that was a miss there. Like I think Tampa or Toronto would have been a really good opening night for for for Florida. Um both teams that Florida had to go through to win this most recent Stanley Cup. Um I don’t I have less thoughts on the West West Coast game, but that was the first first note that came to my mind uh about the Panthers. So I I was just curious like what you guys if you were planning like what you may have done. Would you do a triple header or or or what games would you have liked to see on opening night? Honestly, even Boston vers again would have been okay like would have been decent bec not saying like uh cal same caliber teams but like there’s storylines there that exist especially the Marshon one. though, uh, and the history is still there. So, I could still see that being a a matchup that would garner more interest than obviously Chicago, um, and in Florida. But that’s my only thought really. Yeah. Or first off, I would not do a triple header. the five o’clock star for like the start of the season and the banner raising just doesn’t it just doesn’t scream like marquee event to me that it someone on Twitter described it as a soft launch and like that’s what it feels like. Um, so I I would do a call it a 7:00 game, but we know the the banner raising starts at 7, so you’re probably actually looking like a 7:30 game. Like that’s fine. Just do it that way. And yeah, Tampa, Toronto, that makes sense. I would also even say, you know, now if I’m taking away that 8:00 Rangers Penguins game, like Panthers, Rangers, now I don’t know if the Rangers make two trips to Florida this year or not because that is also the Winter Classic this year. Um, so you could even like work in that as a preview, but I I even though they missed the playoffs, I do think the Rangers have some selling power because they were close and now they have Mike Sullivan coming in. It’s kind of, you know, new start. like you you can sell that pretty easily if if you’re ESPN. So yeah, any of those I mean the Capitals like another team that was one of the top in the East is marketable has Alex Ovetchkin. Like that that could have made sense, but instead three of the first three of the first four teams we’re going to see to start the season missed the playoffs last year. Like that’s that’s kind of what I just come back to where I’m like I I get the star power argument with Bedard and Crosby, but I don’t know. Like those teams aren’t I’m not dying to watch those teams. And maybe the general population still is. Maybe that’s still the selling point. But for me where it’s like, you know, most nights I have my pick of whatever game I want to watch on ESPN Plus, it’s like I wasn’t seeking out the Penguins or Blackhawks last year. Well, also you there’s always that element too entering a season of like you can sell fans on it’s a clean slate and and it’s anybody’s game, but the Penguins and Blackhawks aren’t teams that are on the rise. The Blackhawks should be, but they’re their lineup is even more desolate than the Bruins. And then the Penguins, like they’re really yet to do what the Bruins did last year, which was, you know, really have that that that that reset that they haven’t had in a long time. And they still have Crosby. I get it. But so you can’t even sell the fans on like, well, they could be good this year. No, they won’t. They won’t be. But, you know, it’s it’s funny you mentioned the Winter Classic, Scott. Sneaky thing that we haven’t talked about at all is the fact that they’re the Bruins are at an outdoor game next year, too. The uh the stadium series down in Tampa Bay against against the the Lightning. I I’m not saying we should have talked about it to this point, but I I keep forgetting about that. Um that’s something that we’ll find out on the schedule tomorrow, too. Yeah. the date. But one final scheduled thought for me, and I mentioned this earlier, but I just based on seeing the opening night slate, I think the Bruins are still going to have a lot of national TV games this year because like I said, I think both networks, ESPN and TNT, are always kind of going to default to the the classic markets that they believe draw, even if those teams aren’t that good. So I, you know, I think they can talk themselves into Boston as as a great market, Pastanok as a star, and I think they’re going to see that as like a safer bet to put in national TV than like the Carolina Hurricanes, a team, you know, is going to be good, but isn’t going to be a big draw. So, um, don’t be surprised when even after a such a bad year, the Bruins still are on national TV quite a bit. Well, also like let’s let’s call it for the way that it is, but stylistically they’re going to look unbelievable on the edge with those new uniforms. It’s true. They need national TV time. Okay, let’s just get to two quick questions. I promise we’ll keep it quick. Oh, there they Oh my god. I can’t wait to see the white ones. Uh Bridget’s showing the uh Bruins uniforms for those who can’t watch on YouTube. So, um quick couple few questions regarding Florida. This is from Marshan Fan63. Uh, what does it take for any NHL team to beat the Panthers? Is it speed or breaking them down physically by playing punishing hockey where they are scared to go into the corners? Thank you. Uh, that was from Marian Fan63. I think it’s a good question worth bringing up because I know it’s a Bruins podcast, but I think it’s worth going over because the Panthers are undoubtedly the class of the NHL and they and they have been for um certainly two years and you can make the argument, you know, three. I mean, obviously Vegas beat them three years ago, but they went to the finals, so they’re among them. Um, so whether it’s the Bruins or anybody else in the NHL, what is the best way to to try to defeat the Florida Panthers? And I’m not saying on a random night in February. Um, more so in a seven game series. What’s that blueprint? Is it is it is it try to match them or is it like do styles make fights like have a different style? Man, it’s so tough because like my instinct is to say that it’s speed and transition because Florida is so aggressive on the fore. They will give you some odd man chances like they will give you some chances going the other way, but you need the clean enough breakout to get going the other way and you need to be good enough in transition to do it. So, like in my head I’m like that should make sense and if I was a coach, like that’s what I’d be looking at. But then I think of like the Carolina Hurricanes who are usually pretty good at that and just get their doors blown off by the Panthers in the playoffs every year. And I’m like, well, maybe that doesn’t work. Or, you know, maybe the the Hurricanes just don’t execute it well enough. Or maybe they don’t don’t they don’t have the goalending because that’s another key. That’s ob like a duh type answer. But you got to have the goalending. I I do think the Panthers have run into some teams who haven’t gotten great goalending against them. Whether it’s the Oilers, whether it’s the Hurricanes breaking down every year. Um like the Panthers are going to get chances. They’re just too good not to. So, you got to have a goalie who’s going to steal steal some saves for you and maybe steal a couple games in the series. Yeah. Unfortunately for the teams in the East, uh Florida kept all of their big free agents. They were able like there’s not a huge difference in the team that’s going to be on the ice next year. We thought they were going to maybe lose Sam Bennett. Were they going to lose Brad Marshon? There was, you know, a list of guys that we didn’t think they’d have money for everyone. uh and they they found a way to get it done. So they’re they’re not getting worse, right? Like my first instinct for this question is like hope that they come back down to earth with but that would have required probably losing more than they did, right? losing losing a a key player or or something like that where you know maybe the cap becomes an issue for them and they can’t afford to put together a team that was as good as last year’s team but we haven’t seen that. So answering that question is really difficult because they won two straight Stanley Cups. They made it to three straight finals and obviously it’s hard to find the solution to beat them because look at every team that they’ve run through and what they’ve tried and still the Panthers come out of the series winning. Yeah, it’s it’s there there’s really no magic answer. It’s just difficult to execute, right? It’s it’s it’s goalending. It’s it’s defense. It’s special teams. And and you know, there is a part of me that understands why the Bruins went out and you know, and gotten Nikita the door off a few years ago despite it being an unpopular choice because, you know, if you’re if you’re undersized, especially on the back end, like Florida’s just going to run through you. Like it just is what it is. And so I I do think an element of size certainly on defense is important because you have to box out and just have that structure whether it’s the door off or somebody else like it’s important. So um you know it it’s there’s really no magic formula right it’s it’s not some great mystery like I said special teams defense opportic scoring um it’s just about executing it. It’s tough to do. It’s tough to execute and uh yeah anyway so I don’t think the Bruins have to worry about that anytime soon. I don’t think they’ll be playing Florida in the playoffs, but you never know. May maybe if they do make it as a wild card and and you know that’s that David versus Goliath uh matchup. Okay. Um let’s go to is it uh G George Mroy 3058 on YouTube? Sorry if I butchered your name George your last name. Um I would trade Swayman Lysel and a draft pick for any top six forward under the age of 25. Potra potential to be a top six, possibly top three forward center hopefully and he is on a very small contract. Betting on Potra is a very good bet as it doesn’t cost much for his scoring upside is high. What do you all think of trying to get Mason McTavish? So I guess to boil it down, we’re talking Slam and Lysel and a draft pick for Mason McTavish. This this hypothetical I do see McTavish’s name out there um as it pertains to Bruins fans asking about him. Um, I don’t know if the Bruins are going to be very active in the trade market uh between now and the start of the season, but if they were to like this is this is one of those hypotheticals that you see out there quite often. U McTavish is a is a fun name to talk about. Uh, how does that how does that deal look to you guys? Is it is it possible? Would you have an appetite for it? I like Mason McTavish. Uh if he’s at all available, I would definitely be inquiring. Um I don’t think you have to give up Swayman. I think it’ be a different kind of package. Uh Anaheim, I think, believes in Lucas Dalll as their goalie of the future, so they would be looking for something else. Um but yeah, I mean is a restricted free agent who hasn’t signed yet. Uh there was there were a couple like I don’t know if they were full on reports but rumors that he like wasn’t happy or or maybe had questions about the direction the Ducks were going or some of the moves that they made. Um so I don’t know like it’s a situation to keep tabs on for sure. And you know, to George’s larger point, like I think the Bruins need to at least be in contact on all of these young top six forwards who may or may not be available. It’s possible none of them ever even get close to getting traded, but McDav should be one. We’ve talked about Martin Hass plenty. Jordan Kyu in St. Louis, his name keeps kind of popping up here and there. So yeah, you got to, you know, at least look at all of them. I I think Kyu and Nas probably take more to get. They’re more proven than McTavish is. Um but McTavish as a center. I don’t know if he has first like true firstline center upside, but I I like him as a player. So um I would certainly be interested in bringing him in and and figuring out where he fits. It would cost a lot. I don’t think it would be Swayman. Um but again, like you gotta you need to be on the lookout for players like that. So you got to at least uh have the phone lines open. Yeah. And and so I’m guessing part of the the idea of this is, you know, the one of the key parts of of this idea is that it has to be somebody young. Uh and it has to be somebody who’s still kind of developing, but you think you could build around. Um, and that’s why Mick Tavish is the name I’m guessing that he throws out there because I mean, if you think of some of the other young guys that are under 25, there’s just not a lot of guys that are probably going to be on the move, right? Like I a lot of So, weirdly enough, the NHL PR uh Twitter account has been putting up different stats about younger players this week because they’re trying to do like a spotlight for um the best young talent in the league. So, they put up uh yesterday they put up uh active players aged 23 and younger with the most career goals. And McTavish just tied for ninth with 60 goals so far in his career. But like the guy the other guys that are on this list are just guys that you’re probably not going to be able to get. Um like Stutzel’s not going anywhere. Um I can read some of the other names if you’d like. Like there’s Wyatt Johnson, there’s uh Mattie Beneers, there’s there’s Alex Lafrenier. Like there these are names that you a lot of these guys probably aren’t going to be available and you would have to give up something significant to get a few of those guys, but McTavish might be more affordable. Um all right, let’s get to one more quick one. And I think this is a good one to end on because it’s it’s not talked about often. It’s not the sexiest topic, but it’s it’s one that’s worth going over and I appreciate the question and and I have I have questions as well about about about this. So, uh this is from Chip. And Chip says, “How does the defensive depth chart look? Thinking of the 7 to 10 range as they always come into play.” Uh he says, “Go Big 10, spend that money. Love the college stuff. Thank you all for helping the summer go by quicker.” Chip, thanks for listening and sending the question. So, I’ll just quickly say, uh, you know, you have you have Makavoy, Lynholm, Lauri, Zadorov, Peak, and um, who am I missing? Yoki Haru. So, uh, beyond them, you’re looking at Jordan Harris and, uh, you have Victor Sodestrom, who they traded for, uh, Michael Callahan, and then Frederick Brun. Those are the probably the names, but in particular, so you guys can comment on all those players, right? But also talk about Frederick Brun cuz he’s somebody who people have asked me about as well about somebody who could be uh think that he’s NHL ready right now. Um obviously the depth chart would probably hinder that opportunity for him at least come October, but you never know. Um so what do you guys make of their depth chart? You agree with the names I mentioned? Any others I missed? Well, I just want to mention like one of the differences because people might not have followed what happened to Parker Weatherspoon, but he’s um he signed with Pittsburgh if I’m correct on that. Um so he’s he’s not with the team anymore. So that’s one depth piece that’s not there for the defense. Yeah. I mean I I think it’s a pretty good depth chart. Like obviously I think the spot we focused on the most is who’s your number two on the right side behind Mackaoy and that’s a very fair question because neither Yoki Haru nor Peak are really ideally suited for that but this is what you have. Um but I think the depth is good. Like Jordan Harris has played well in the NHL before. He got off to a good start in Montreal before he went to Columbus and things kind of just fell apart. Did not work there for whatever reason. Um, you know, Victor Sodestrom has some talent. Had not put it together in the NHL before he went overseas to Sweden. Played well in Sweden. Now he’s back trying to prove himself in North America again. Um, you know, still in his 20s, so like not not a finished product. like I I like bringing him in and seeing what you have. Mike Callian I thought acquitted himself pretty well in NHL action last year. Perfectly solid guy to have in a depth role. Um and yeah, and Frederick Brune is is interesting. We saw him make his NHL debut very late in the season. Uh was that the last game that he got into? I think maybe. Um, but anyways, like you saw him get a taste and that was really a reward for for the season he had had in Providence where uh he did take some pretty big steps and and most notably improved his defending. You know, I I think more time in Providence is going to be good for him to continue to work on his defending and and to round out his game, but yeah, he definitely could be a future NHLer and it wouldn’t wouldn’t surprise me if he makes a push like like you said, Brian, like he has an uphill fight. The depth chart just wouldn’t seem to favor him. But, you know, he he may be one of the first in line if there’s an injury at some point, which we know there always is on defense. So, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if you see Frederick Brnee get another chance this year. And I I think we know who the top six guys are, but I’ll ask you guys this. Who’s the seventh defenseman? Like, who’s the next guy in that it sticks with the team, right? This is a guy who will be on the roster for most of the year, will be around the team in Boston for most of the year. This isn’t someone who bounces back and forth to Providence um as necessary. This is kind of the person that you as as with every year sticks around, gets in uh a good chunk of the games, too. We’re talking about somebody like Parker Weatherspoon last year who got into quite a few games. Um who do you think that is this year? Cuz I I’ll go first. I think Michael Callahan might be that guy for them this year as the seventh defenseman. That which would be a uh a jump for him because he’s spent almost the entirety of his pro career with the Providence Bruins. um and then did handle the games that he got last year. So, this would be a that would be a bigger workload for him in the NHL. That’d be a jump. But to me, he seems like he might be the guy they’re looking for in that seventh defenseman spot. Well, I I guess it partially depends on handedness. And so, if we’re talking on the right side, I think it’s, you know, probably Soderstrom. Um, now Callahan’s a lefty, right? Mhm. So, I think he’s battling with with Jordan Harris, and I think Harris might be the more established NHL guy to this point. Um, and that’s a very marginal discrepancy between them, but uh, so I feel like, and part of me with with Sodestrom, I think part of me wants thinks that the Bruins might want to see how he reaclimates to the North American style of play uh, in Providence before, you know, going up to Boston anyway because I think he’s playing on a different sheet of ice over in Europe. But um so I because of the hindness it’s I guess it’s tough for me to say. I think they’re thinner on the right side. So part of me thinks since Sodtorm is the only righty of the bunch. Maybe maybe him. He also has maybe more NHL games to his name among the three. Anyway, it might be close with Harris. Maybe Harris has more. So maybe maybe Sodestrom because they’re they’re just thinner on the right side. Um, and then on the left side, I it’s between Harris and Callahan. I I could see Harris, but I think it’s a coin flip right now. I don’t really I don’t really have a definitive answer. I I think it’s Harris. I would pencil him in as the seventh guy right now just because of the NHL experience. He’s played uh I believe 164 NHL games. Yeah. And um SodaStrom’s played 53. So that’s sign that’s a significant discrepancy there. Okay. So and then obviously Calian got some last year as well. So they all have some NHL experience. Um and it’s also worth noting they all would need to clear waiverss to be sent down. So yeah, there’ll be a decision there. There’s definitely a battle. But I guess the way I look at it is like first off I think like any of them could clear waivers. So I’m not super concerned about that. But I think Sodestrom coming back to North America can maybe use some actual playing time and not just be sitting on the bench as a seventh D. Um Callahan I don’t think has like a ton to learn in Providence at this point. So Bridget, you might be right. Like he I do think he’s at a point in his career where he could pro he could probably go some stretches without playing games and and be fine. I don’t think he has to do a whole lot more developing in the AHL. Um, but I kind of feel the same way about Harris. Like, he’s he’s been around the NHL. He’s hasn’t been in the minors in a while. Like, you know, he’s he’s an NHLer just based on his career to this point. So, I would imagine he’d be okay in that kind of role as well. So, I kind of think it comes down to Harris or Callahan for the seventh spot. And by the way, they might also elect to keep eight. like because they’re not right up against the cap, they can keep the full 23 man roster this year, so they could decide to keep eight defenseman around. Like that that used to be the norm. And it really wasn’t until the last few years that we saw the Bruins going with seven on the NHL on the active roster uh more often than eight, but you you could see that as well. Well, and again, I just feel like um like the biggest argument for Sodestrom is the fact that I just think organizationally Boston is the thinnest on the right side and and and and now now if if Harris andor Callahan is comfortable playing their offside, then then fine. Um but but at the same time, like I said, as I mentioned, I I I see Sodorm wanting to reaclimate to the North American style of play as well. So, um yeah, I think I I think it’s a I think it’s a fascinating question. I I I’m with Scott like I think their their depth beyond their top six is actually better than I like some of their their NHL depth right now. But um what I also just want to mention quickly cuz while we were recording so Bridget chocked this down as another update while we’re recording not after we’re recording but very very um you know minor signing but the Bruins have signed uh John Fonacci to a a one-year two-way contract NHL cap hit of 775. So, that news came out and um you know to be expected but you know it seems like a worthwhile investment. Any thoughts on that? I believe he was their one restricted free agent that was still unsigned. Um so now now everyone who needed a contract has a contract. So there you go. Yep. All right. Well, that that does it for these uh mailbags. Again, keep sending them throughout the summer. we will find time to sprinkle them in. Even if it’s not a designated mailbag episode, we can always throw a couple in cuz we all love talking hockey and and you guys you guys send some some fun questions in. Um, also Bridget, I know you mentioned this earlier. I want to shout out uh I want to shout out Skip. Skip the chocolate. Uh we are very much looking forward to that. Skip was our was our listener over in Switzerland uh from Providence or not Providence from Rhode Island. Um, maybe Providence, I don’t know. But, um, was really mad at Scott about Tanner Jano being mean to Tanner Jano. So, yeah. So, uh, # show us some spine, my favorite phrase going forward. And, uh, we appreciate that that gift, Skip. So, we’ll we’ll we’ll give you a review once we’ve had it. Have you guys ever had Swiss chocolate before? Uh, I have. Yeah. My sister went to Switzerland probably I don’t know like five or six years ago and brought some back. So that that was the one time I think I had like true legit Swiss chocolate. I’m not talking about toblone either. Like right the like these Swiss chocolate that I’m thinking of is like it’s basically like a flat sheet of chocolate and they they chop it up and it’s like got nuts in it or it’s got um caramel in it or whatever. It’s it’s all very good. But I’ve been to Switzerland before once and I was obsessed with it. So So swi Swiss hot chocolate from Market Pass. It doesn’t count, right? No. Okay, just checking. Just checking. So we have we have we have we have Skip that was listening over in Switzerland. I also want to shout out our listeners that um are over in in the UK. I mean, we had a lot of people commenting uh on the start of our last episode with some of the just confusion uh between soccer and football and the origins of of of how, you know, North American soccer gets its name and and how even in Europe there’s they they refer to uh soccer as or you know some people US soccer as also soccer in the U in the UK. So, but again, the the listenership from um from Europe is is also very much appreciated and and and somebody commented um what’s what’s the name? Somebody said, “Brian, just watch Ted Lasso and uh as as some advice on how to uh learn the the distinctions there. There there is a lot of education that happens in Ted Lasso because especially the first season, it’s like that’s the entire point of the show is him him going over and learning learning on the job.” So yeah, it it is Ted Ted Lass is a great show. It I think it dips a little bit in kind of some of the newer seasons, but at least the first two seasons are are legitimately great. Can I can I throw in an idea as well? This is not my idea. Somebody when I was asking them what I should do with Harold, like what uses do I have? Because to be honest with you, I mean, he’s a giraffe butler. He has a bowl. I I think he might have been more useful if he had a tray. But anyway, uh because he has a bowl, I was trying to figure out what could I use him for because I’ve just spent $150 on this thing with absolutely no idea what I was going to actually use it for. And someone suggested to me that I use it to put the mailbag questions in and pull one pull them out of the bowl. So maybe maybe Harold can help us. I’ll just like pull pull the answers out. Um, you know, besides the the obvious popcorn use, I’m trying to figure out what else I can use them for. So, uh, I thought that was a good idea. Yeah, our our our show um Google Drive doc is saying, “Oh, thank God. Now, now it’s just going to be via paper.” And Bridget, you can have a blast printing those out printing it, you know, just for the effect. You I’m I’m somebody who will do things for the effect. You know that. Of course. Of course. Well, well, will can Harold print himself? Can he make himself useful? He is a butler. I think he, you know, I think he’s really maybe make us some cocktails or something. I don’t know. Um but but I he does take care of himself, you know. He he does a lot for me. So, um about putting him up here on the shelf like before we got on, I tested what he would look like up there, but you couldn’t really see his face. So, I was like, “No.” But I almost put them up like in my backdrop just like see if you guys noticed that there was just a big golden giraffe. I think I would maybe notice that to see if anyone noticed. I can’t promise I would have but uh my eye my eyes just go to the hockey east jacket which is a very very well done article of clothing. Um, I also just want to say this summer we and we’ve been talking about it, but the offseason you can probably more than more often than not look forward to uh Tuesday, Thursday episode releases, it just um as opposed to our traditional Monday, Wednesday, Friday during the season, we’ll probably, like I said, for the most part, we’ll go to two a week and you can expect them on Tuesday, Thursday. There’s always, you know, breaking news or or reasons to have an additional episode and we’ll we’ll let you know about that. But for those wondering why, it’s Tuesday, right? Not Monday. That this this is why. So, um just a little PSA there. Yeah. Hopefully, we’re going to get some um actual guests, not just Harold. Um Harold. Yeah. Some actual guests to interview uh coming up soon, we think. So, great. All right. Well, if you guys are all set, I’ll sign us off. So, thank you all very much for listening and we will talk to you on Thursday. Hey guys, thanks for watching the Skate 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 podcasts. 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.

Discussing some lingering thoughts on the Bruins’ trajectory and what their ultimate goal should be for next season. Plus, could James Hagens start this season with the Bruins? And, taking a look at the Bruins’ depth chart on defense.

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 – Opening shifts with a special guest
7:00 – What should Bruins do if they are a bubble team again?
22:00 – Where Hagens ranks among drafted NHL prospects
25:00 – Bruins trajectory next season
32:00 – Comparing next season to the Bruins’ 2007-08 team
44:00 – Hagens decision
55:00 – Opening night schedule
60:00 – Mailbag begins
1:09:00 – Looking at Bruins’ depth chart on defense

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