What’s Bruin **LIVE**

What’s Bruin **LIVE**

Heat. Heat. scor. Welcome in folks for another episode of What’s Brewing. I am your host Chris Nosik joined again by the wonderful, the one and only Gail Triion. Gail, it’s been a couple boring, boring weeks in the hockey world. How are you getting through this summer? Um, well, I I guess I’m kind of just spending time with my family more than anything. You know, I’ve had a busy busy July so far between Fourth of July, graduation parties, uh my cousin just had our Jack and Jill baby shower. We’ve got a lot going on. Busy summer, but not for the Bruins. No, no, no. But we took a couple weeks off. Uh like you said, we we both had a lot of stuff going on these past couple weeks. Um but you know to kind of round out the the last iota of the the 24 25 season for the Bruins um you know we figured we’d jump back on and then we’ll come back on in a couple weeks beginning of August and and look forward to the new season. Uh obviously a lot of the offseason moves have has started. You know we’ve we’ve talked along a lot about those along the way. Um, but just, you know, your I wanted to start off by just kind of saying what are your final thoughts or or summary, you know, for for the past season that we went through? Obviously, lot of ups, lot of downs, mostly downs, but, you know, I I know we talked extensively that there’s a lot of reason to be optimistic overall about the future. Um, but just this past season, um, any any final thoughts that you may have? Um, so I think one thing is is that, you know, and a lot of people tell me, uh, to take off my black and gold glasses, uh, so to speak, but I, as bad as the season was, I don’t think it’s a true indication of where the franchise is. There’s no doubt that Sleman had a down year. He was absolutely horrendous. If you compare him to his his previous work, I think between the contract missing training camp, then all the injuries in front of him, he just never got his mojo going. Um I think with all the injuries that the Bruins had, and you you know, people can say injuries happen across the league. They do, but a lot of those injuries, I don’t think that the Bruins realized how devastating or how long those injuries were going to be like Campus Lindholm, you know what I mean? Y So, they didn’t go out and fill that position. They just took on the next man up mentality. And unfortunately, the next man up wasn’t, you know, they they weren’t then they lost Mackoy. So, I think that as bad as the season was, I’m glad to close that chapter and move forward to next season. And, you know, and I think that that’s my that’s my take on it. It was a bad season, but it wasn’t a season like I still think if we if a couple of things changed and and I’m not talking just injuries, just a couple of bounces here and there, they would have been in it a lot longer than they were. You know what I mean? Surprisingly long for for what was going wrong, right? Um, I I think for me this season kind of epitomizes the phrase multiple things can be true at one time. A and a lot of a lot of that was lost. Real quick, we do have Michael jumping in wishing us and I want to wish everyone a a great summer. So, thanks for the comment here, Michael. Anyone who has questions, comments, definitely throw them in there. Um, because we, you know, like I said, we’ll be a little all over the place on this one. But, uh, you know, I I do think a lot of fans lost sight of that. Multiple things could be true at one time. Um, yes, the team was struggling, but yes, Montgomery kind of also had that one foot out the door kind, you know, I mean, he was throwing the lines in a blender. It seemed like every other shift like, you know, for that, how could they get into a groove with that going on, right? Uh yet they still somehow managed to be in first for for a while at the beginning of the season. Um you know and it just kind of all fell apart at once. Hampus Lindholm was finally going to get that power play one quarterback position cracked in the knee and is done for ultimately the year. Um, like you said, the Swayman stuff, just a perfect storm of of problems, you know, and just it it like you said, it’s not an indication of where the organization really is in their cycle of competing, right? you know, but it’s also a very different spot than say a team like Buffalo or or Anaheim or Chicago, the perpetual rebuilding, right? Um just because you’re in a position similar Chicago’s been rebuilding since Taves and Kane left. You know what I mean? They they’ve been rebuilding for a long time, right? And and I do think there is a little bit of parallel to the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals when they got that pick for Ryan Leonard. Um just because they weren’t a team that you really looked at and said, “Oh, they should have a top 10 pick. they ended up with one and and maybe Higgins turns out to be the Bruins version of Ryan Leonard and and whatnot, but it it just, you know, last season it was anything that could go wrong likely was going to go wrong, right? So, that’s a very true statement. you know, everything from the goalending to the coaching to, you know, it it to the trade deadline. You look you you traded away key guys, which was ultimately going to make the team worse, but then it stayed a little bit better than we thought it was going to. And then, you know, the epitome of that was the draft. like you you could move up to fourth overall, but you couldn’t drop any further than what was it, ninth or something. And so you end up where smack dab in the middle at seventh where this supposed ledge in talent was, but then somehow you get the guy you wanted in the first place, right? So like or the one the fans wanted, right? And then I want also since you’re talking about that, let’s talk about the fact that you know they always say um you know Bruins fans are like let’s am I muted? Uh no I’m having an issue with your audio Michael since I know you’re writing some comments in there. I just want to know how it’s coming off for the audience because I’ll refresh my page. Uh but it definitely sounds very um robotic. I don’t know if it’s um if it’s the microphone, headphones, something like that. Could be on my end. Um I just want to see how it’s coming for the viewers, if that makes sense. Uh hopefully we can get a comment in there soon. But um let’s let’s see where we’re at right now. You can hear both, Michael. Okay. So, it’s got to be on my end. So, you go ahead. I’ll refresh my page and jump right back in. Okay. Okay. I was just saying um now I think you’re muted. But I’m not I’m not muted. You’re not muted. Okay, let me refresh mine. If you’re not muted and they can hear you, then it’s probably an error on my end. Oh, that sounds like a bigger issue. So, you go ahead and I’ll be right back. Okay. Hey guys, it’s I’m solo for a few minutes. Um, I don’t even know what I was talking about. So, I think I was talking about the draft. Are you back? Can you hear me? I’m back. And can you hear me? Yes, I can. And I’m going to switch those back. It’ll bother you. I’m like I’m flying solo. I don’t even remember what I was talking about. Um, I don’t know. Let’s go back to Mike’s comment here with Bosset adding many bottom six guys. Where will ice time be for Blumel, Lisel, Mitten, Patra, and uh probably some of the other young guys in there? Uh I don’t know. That’s the benefit of doing live shows is it gets us all thrown off. Um I don’t even know what we were talking about anymore. Well, so let let’s jump right in with that. Um, I think that once training camp starts and Maric Sturm gets his hands on this roster with the rest of the co coaching staff, um, we don’t know how the roster is going to shake out. You know, I I I’m not sure that all of these guys see time in the NHL. some of them are going to get bounced back down to the AHL. Um, and you want your guys to be the ones that you’re naming, Michael, are probably more your middle six than your bottom six. I wonder if they’re looking at it in terms of like specific like position battles. For instance, Potra will be going against will be fighting for the 2C spot against Casey Middlestead. Yes, they’ll try other people there, but that’s the main battle. And if you know, if you look at it in camp and you go, okay, Casey Middlestead is clearly our 2C right now. Potra is just not ready. How does he look in a 3C role? How does he look on a on a on a right-wing role? And then at that point, you go, “Okay, he’s just not there yet. we’re gonna send him to Providence. Like it it’s for for some of the guys, especially the ones that you’re mentioning, you know, it’s not just going to be a okay, you didn’t we’ll take Georgie Mulaf for example, he is basically fighting for the third line center or third line left wing spot and he’s got a battle over Blumel. He’s got to battle over Kustadinov. He’s got a battle over, you know, we’ll even throw Pavle Zaka in there. you know, he’s got to beat out three, four, five guys to get that role. Doesn’t mean he can’t do it, but you know, the likelihood of him earning that spot is considerably lower, but at the same time, if you compare him to say like Blumel, you know, Blumel’s game is a little more well-rounded. And so, you’re basically challenging him to step up and say, “Prove to us that you’re better than these other guys.” And there has to be a reason that they only gave him a one-year extension. Yeah. I mean, you know, he he wanted to come back and prove that he could be an NHL player. Um I’m not sure, you know, kind of how that all fit in. I I don’t I don’t think they’re as high on him as a lot of fans are, you know, and and if you really watch him in Providence, like, yeah, in a first line role, he he’s he’s a great AHL player, but sometimes that’s all players end up being is a great AHL player who gets a cup of coffee in the NHL. And you know what? Fans tend to really like those guys at first and then they look at them three, four, five, six years into their career going, “Yep, that’s all they are.” Who Well, the perfect example is Chris Bourke. Yeah, Chris Bour did not make it in the NHL, but he excelled in the AHL. He just couldn’t find his footing. He was not like his father. And, you know, it’s unfair to compare him to Ray. One was a defenseman, one was a forward, but he retired and Hershey retired his number, you know, and another one is Keith Aoin. he just couldn’t get his footing in the NHL and again, you know, had a phenomenal AHL career that he’s in the AHL Hockey Hall of Fame, you know. So, I mean, there’s there’s a lot of different things that, you know, two things can be true. You can be a skilled hockey player and just not make it in the NHL. Yeah. I mean, the NHL, we’re talking the best of the best of the best. So, like it, you know, it really does mean something to to do that. And sometimes you need that extra, you know, kick in the ass by having them bring someone else in and have you go, “Wait a minute. I I thought that was my spot, right?” And then you then you go one of two ways. Either you fold and and you stay in the AHL or you work harder and and you beat him out for it. Well, and that’s the thing. Um, you know, previous to this upcoming year, George Mccurof was not pushing anyone out of the lineup. this season is going to be his best season. Him and Lysel, the two prospects that fans have been wanting to see in the NHL, this is the season that they have the biggest opportunity to push someone out of the lineup, right? And and you know, we saw it last year in the preseason. Uh both DPro and Busy got their looks. They got looks in the preseason and both of them clearly looked overmatched and so nothing was done with Corposalo because you still need an NHL level backup and Swayman was signing at the time and and that whole thing was still going on. But we got a glimpse of of what those guys did under a pressure situation of perform or and make this team or don’t, right? And neither one of them did, right? And so, you know, like I’m not that worried about Busy being it signed by Florida. I’m not that worried if they end up waving DPro and he gets claimed on waiverss because he just hasn’t been good enough to force himself into a spot on this team, right? And you know, does that mean you don’t look to trade Corposalo if there’s a a trade that makes sense? You know me, I’ll look at every trade as long as it makes sense. But the, you know, just because you’re in a rebuilding mode does not mean you can’t try to ice a competitive team. If these are the players that are going to make that happen, they’ll get the ice time. And and I know people don’t believe that, but you know, with management’s jobs getting on the line more and more every day, they’re going to go with the best players, right? Can you go to pyrog? I think that’s his screen name. This first one here. Yes. Uh if I may ask, do you see Posox staying longterm if Boston keeps on a downward trajectory or should Boston maybe look to trade for some high tier prospects? I think Pastnox stays. I He is the new face of the franchise. He has officially taken the mantle. himself, Makavoy, and Swayman are the three that they are building this team around in terms of long-term. Um, yes, I know Elias Lynholm is here for a while and so isn’t Nikita Zadorov, but in terms of face of the franchise, you know, who your key, you know, whether it be media relations, whether it be the go-to on the ice, you know, whoever it is, it’s Pastanok Mavoy and Swayman. And I don’t see them giving up and trading pasta for prospects when Sweeney has been able to work other trades to package together key players and get um prospects the other way. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I know he’s asking about maybe they should trade for higher for high tier prospects, but one you have to give up major pieces to get the you know, if you’re talking like the Matthew Schaers and those guys, you got to give up way more than they’re worth because you’re trying to buy in on them far too soon and other teams just aren’t going to be ready to give up on them. That being said too, I I would also say that you’re you’re kind of discounting, you know, the ceiling of guys like Potra and Minton. Um, you know, Zeers, who they just brought in this year in the Carlo deal. Um, you know, even Lel has a very high ceiling. Um, Bluml was one of the top goal scorers in the American Hockey League for the past two seasons. So, they did bring in someone who can score. It’s just a matter of can he do it at the NHL level. Well, Mirculaf was doing it at the AHL level, too. So, now you have two top AHL scorers who are fighting for their NHL lives. Both of them are looking at it as a last chance opportunity. Now, the real good part about Blumel is David Posternok wanted him here, right? And so, I I do wonder how much that helps him push for for a spot on the team. But they do have some higherend talent that is in the pipeline. It, you know, now that you’ve got the James Hagens in there. Um, you know, Dan’s watch Melis, he’s been playing international games for for Latvia for what, six years now, right? Like he’s been playing amongst men, so he he really has an opportunity to to push. He’s used to playing against some of these guys. Lok Yo Hunen, he’s another high-end talent. And I think people are underestimating the addition of Victor Sodestrom, right? I think he can make a real push on the right side. And um and and you know, you’re asking about the high-end prospects. Some of them just aren’t ready yet. That’s the problem. Like Hagens, he’s got to go back to BC for one more season. Well, and I forget who it was that um that tweeted it. Um, and yes, I still say tweet. Um, that David Passnak is seventh all time, right? In points scored, but he’s less than 100 points from Patrice Berseron, who’s third. Yeah. So, I mean, you think about it, Pasnak is going to move into the one of the top spot, you know, the top three spots, if not this season, next season. You know what I mean? Oh, for sure. And and you look at the type of player that David Posnock is, he’s he’s the player that’s gonna bring other people want to play with him. Other players want to play with him. And if Swayman has that bounceback years, other players are going to want to play in front of him. You know what I mean? Especially defenseman, right? Defense are going to want to play in front of him, knowing if I screw up, he’s behind me. And then, you know what? You also now have Marco Sturm who built really good relationships with prospects in LA and overseas that you know it this team is definitely headed in the right direction. Am I going to say they’re going to make the playoffs this year? I have no idea. I think they would have made the playoffs last year if a couple of things shook out a little bit differently. So I you know that’s you know unfortunately that’s the world of sports. Yeah, you know, it it’s a bounce. It is what it is, you know, as they say. Um, I don’t know if anyone’s airing juniors, by the way. Uh, yeah, Mike’s comment. I don’t know, especially up in Canada. Uh, you know who might know goo? Uh, Mike, uh, Google. You know who does usually if there is um if there is anyone that airs it, it’s going to be the NHL network. Yeah. Um you know what um Dom also might know, especially up in Canada, that seems like a TSN or a Sportsnet thing up there as well. So um Oh, John, we appreciate the the compliment here. He says, “Our hockey knowledge is amazing.” So thank you. Uh, William says, “Trading a guy like Pasta is what makes GMs infamous.” Yeah, especially at this point. So, um, there was there was a um a a trade. There was a comment. Uh, man, it’s been such a slow off seasonason, but you’d think I’d I’d remember I had flagged something for us to talk about on the show. I don’t know. It was like two weeks ago. Um, and now I have to scroll back through Twitter. Luckily, it’s not that far away, but there was a trade. I think the trade was done. I I definitely should have sent it to you, but that was my fault. Um, bear with me for just a minute here. Do you see that they’re going to be keeping the decentralized draft? Yes. I don’t care. It is what it is. I think that if they figure out how to uh how to um what’s the word I’m thinking of? shorten it. Yeah. You know, the time in between it’s going to be fine. Um I get where they were going with everything with the whole idea of everything, you know, like the one-on ones with the or the one-on-one groups, if you will, in that little bubble after the player was drafted. But let’s be honest, they didn’t have to televise every single one. That was overdone. Um, you know, maybe if they had just done the first five and then taken the clips and shared them on social media because that’s all it was for. Let’s be honest. It was just content. Um, so Michael, USA hockeytv.com is going to stream it. I don’t know if you get that in Canada, by the way. Oh, that’s a good question. Um, yeah, poor Hagens got ghosted, froze up. Boston was just so excited that their internet crashed. Um, no, I found what it was though. There. So, and I know Dom posted an article about it. Um, Eigor, I’m going to butcher his last name. Chinacov. Oh, yeah. that situation um is definitely one worth keeping an eye on with the uh Columbus Blue Jackets. Um he has basically come out and said that he wants to be traded. He is under contract so he will respect the contract. Um there he is. Dom always has the answers from the top rope. TSN is streaming in on TSN app or on TSN plus not on TV though. Yeah. So there you go. There is the answer. Um, but as I was saying, he’s he’s requested a trade from Columbus. He is respectful of the fact that he has a contract, so he’ll come in and he’ll honor his commitment to the contract, but he’d like to be traded. Uh, and if he’s if it’s not granted, then he will heavily consider going back to Russia and playing back over there. Um, now there was some some very important clarification from his agent by basically saying he’s going to fulfill his contract. He’d like to play for another team. Um, I flagged this though because the way Columbus handles this is something that Bruins fans need to pay attention to because Don Sweeney has done a hell of a job of avoiding situations like this. Correct. Now, Brad Marshian saying, “Go ahead and trade me,” was not him demanding a trade out of the organization. He would have probably been perfectly happy if he had stayed and just played out the rest of the contract. Mhm. Um, I can’t think of Who’s the last Bruin that you can think of who basically said, “Could you please trade me?” Uh, you mean like like, “I don’t want to be here anymore.” Oh, Phil Castle. Okay. So, we’re going all the way back to Phil Kessle. Yeah, that that’s the last one I was thinking of, too. So, I mean, Hamilton didn’t want to be in Boston, but I don’t think he was like, “Trade me.” Uh Brad Stewart didn’t want to be in Boston, but I don’t think he was. You know what I mean? Like, they weren’t demanding it. Phil Kessle sat out and said, “Trade me.” Like, not want to be here, right? I I would probably equate this more to the Douggee Hamilton level of I don’t want to be here, but I signed here, so I’m I’m gonna make the best of it as much as I can. Um hopefully something changes and it can get better. That kind of thing. Um but watching how Columbus handles this because now 31 teams know this player doesn’t want to play for the Columbus Blue Jackets, which means their offers all just went down in value. Correct. And so they either watch him walk away to Russia, they play a player who doesn’t want to be there or nope. De Brusk. Okay. So is not being mentioned. He didn’t say trade me right now. He did. He did, but then he reneged on his trade and then you know what I mean? So he did. He asked for a trade in the middle of a season and then I took I took his more along the line of like Douggee Hamilton as well where it was more like I I don’t really want to be here so I’d like he didn’t want to play for Bruce Cassidy. Right. So he asked for a trade midseason and then went oh walked it back and said I’ll stay because they moved him with Marshian and Berseron. He’s an ent. I’m gonna go off on a different tangent so I’m just going to shut my mouth. Um, we’ve seen some some players have heavy requests, sure, but ultimately de Bruss by the time his contract was up, he wanted to stay in Boston. On his terms though, on his terms, absolutely. He’s an entitled little brat. Sorry. I mean, he’s he’s not the only one in the NHL, let’s be honest. So, yeah, but and I agree with you. He’s not the only one in the NHL, but that is not a typical Bruins player. No, it’s not. A typical Bruins player puts the team above. You know what I mean? Well, I shouldn’t say that. The last era put the team first. Patrice Berseron, David Crerache, Brad Mashian, Zado, like all those players put the team above their own personal success. You know what I mean? And Jake De Brusk was all about Jake De Brrisk. And if you notice, Jake de Brusk stayed. They didn’t opt to trade him because they weren’t getting what they perceived to be enough value for him. They let him walk. And yes, they miss his offense, but at the same time, it’s replaceable. He was replaceable. Freaky. And let’s see. Uh Dom says the way CBJ should handle Jiggor is play him on the top line. and let him score like he like he is capable and watch his value skyrocket, which is the same thing that the Bruins did with Jake De Brrisque. Unfortunately, De Brusk is just too streaky of a player, so his value never saw that incline come back. Correct. So, but Dom, where I’m going with this though is is what how would Don Sweeney handle it versus how um what’s his name in in Columbus is handling it? They just got a new GM. It’s not Kalinan anymore. Um, but just, you know, more often than not, this type of incident is quashed in one way or another well before it gets to this point under Don Sweeney. Fair or not fair to say? Oh, fair. So, and and it wouldn’t be as public as it is, right? Thank you. It is uh Don Wadell. Um I just couldn’t remember who as it is like there were whispers, you know, it wasn’t it became public that Dresque wanted a trade, but it wasn’t public when it was happening and he wasn’t, you know what I mean? Like his agent wasn’t out there speaking for him, right? His agent wasn’t putting out Twitter threads, right? Saying that he wants to be gone. Uh and and and when he kind of came out and said it, it was a past tense thing. He was saying, “Yes, I had asked for a trade.” Correct. We’ve moved on from that. I want to be here. So on and so forth. So yes, it all came out after the fact, which it was bound to anyway. I mean, that’s just the world of of social media and everything, but this is happening in real time and that happened after the fact, right? But just in general, this type of thing doesn’t happen as much to the Bruins. And a lot of that has to do with the amount of respect that someone like Don Sweeney has garnered by treating players bar and by by large better than other GMs have in the past. Well, I think the other thing too is you got to look at Columbus versus an original six franchise. Yeah, there’s that factor. There’s that. We’ll let you know when some player doesn’t want to play for original six franchise, right? And then you also have to look at who’s on the Columbus roster versus who’s on a Boston, you know what I mean? Like, you know, Jake De Brass, I mean, he Jake De Brass wanted to play with Patrice Berseron. Who’s in Columbus that you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, they’re getting better. Columbus, they are. But but again, it’s the same thing of, you know, someone not wanting to be in Chicago because Connor Badard hasn’t reached his level, you know, if he reaches his level. Yeah. I mean, you know, someone someone having the opportunity to stay and play with Sydney Crosby in Pittsburgh, you know what I mean? Like, you have to look at the players that, you know, it’s not always just the the contract or the minutes. It’s who you’re playing with and who you’re playing for. You know what the coaches, you know, there’s so many different factors. And we also don’t know what it’s like in that locker room because we’re not covering that team. You know what I mean? We’re not, you know, there’s there’s so many different factors for everything. like um I’m sure that a lot of the leadership people in Boston were basically telling De Brass, “We know you’re unhappy. Keep your mouth shut though because that wasn’t the culture in Boston.” And what I mean by leadership, I’m talking about the player leadership, not management. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you never hear a lot of discourse from the Boston locker room that you do from other locker rooms. Real quick, Dom is chiming in. He said, “Drust didn’t resend his request until after Cassidy was fired. When the news broke, he still wanted to be traded and played a whole season under a trade request, I think is what he means there.” Um, I I I could have sworn I mean I don’t think he had like officially rescended his trade request until after Cassidy was fired, but I I I I know there were heavy rumblings and there were more people who were, you know, that confident that it was a real thing and and whatnot, but it wasn’t there was nothing from the team, nothing from the agent officially out there. Um, you know, but yeah, I mean, De Brusk, De Brusk would be the best example, the most recent best example other than, you know, going back to, you know, Kessle and Hamilton. Um, but to your point, the, you know, the locker room kept as much of it in, you know, none of the players bought into the to talking about it or anything like that. And China right now is playing with Fanty and Kent Johnson on their second line, so there’s going to be plenty of opportunity for him. Uh William is even chiming in saying Columbus is likely a better roster to be honest. Um I mean depends, you know, I mean he’s playing with Fanti right now. You know, I I think some of it is just he, you know, he wants to to play somewhere else. Um you know, there there’s a lot that goes into these kinds of situations. So, all I’m saying is is it’s a it’s a situation for Bruins fans to keep an eye on because it already seems to get to be past the point where more often than not, Don Sweeney is able to take care of it before it gets to this point. And and a lot of that has to do with, you know, and and I think a lot of this, you know, Don Wedell is also very well respected, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of this for China started under the old regime and he’s just not moving on from it because now it’s Don Wadell, right? So, you know, there’s a little bit there. And yeah, in hindsight, I would agree with William. In hindsight, they dropped the ball keeping the Brusquek. Um, you know, the problem is is we don’t really know for sure what they were getting offered in trades. So, until we we know what they passed up on, you can’t really say that for sure. So, um, I will go back to Pyru’s uh question here. He wants to know, do we like Don Sweeney? Do we feel like he’s a good GM? And do we feel confident in management and ownership? I’ll let you start with this one. All right. So, I don’t Sorry, I was trying to look up something. By the way, um I don’t not like Don Sweeney. I think he’s a masterful at trades and I think he um sees a need for he also spins magic with the cap. Yes, Evan Gold helps a lot with that. But yes, but with the tandem, I look at him as a tandem, right? But I think one of the things that one of Sweeny’s strengths is identifying those players that are not excelling on different franchises and seeing something in them. Morgan Geeki that they can bring and bring out the best of themselves in a Bruins uniform. And I think that he swings and misses sometimes. Max Jones and he swings. That wasn’t a big swing though. Let’s be honest. That was not a You know what? But neither was Morgan Geeky. Morgan Geeky wasn’t a big swing. You know what I mean? So, but he swings and he misses sometimes. So, I think that he gets crap for them not making the playoffs or being first round exits or, you know, um two years against Florida. Well, the second year was the second round, but people don’t realize that he’s not on the ice. He’s not playing the game. There’s no reason that that historic team should have been bounced by Florida in the first round. No, that one was that was coaching. That was coaching because he should not have rode in that series. Yeah, he should have played the tandem. He should have played the tandem, but that’s hindsight 2020. But I do I’m confident in his ability to bring this team back to where where it was, but I’m not confident enough to say that he can help this team yet bring another Stanley Cup to Boston. I mean, he’s he in 2019 because 2013 he still wasn’t the GM. So 2019 he was the GM. That was still a lot of Charelli’s team and a lot of the players that he participated in their development, right? So yeah. Um, real quick, I got to pull up Dom’s comment here. I want the Jacobs to adopt me and let me handle their cash for them. If they do that, then I’ll like them. Uh I well I mean I think Charlie Jacobs is better than Jeremy Jacobs, but they’re they’re business owners and they can say till they’re blue in the face that they want championships. They make money because they Delaware North owns the building. So they make money off the Celtics. They make money off the Celtics concession stands. They make the money off the their own concession stands, the tickets, everything. And so, and yes, part of their ticket pricing does go back to the players. You know what I mean? So, it’s not like they keep all the money. Part of it does go back to the players and stuff like that. I think it’s the $21 beer that people are more upset about than than the season ticket price. Like at least there’s a value of I have a seat in the building for every game there, right? Because then I also have to go and pay $20 for, you know, Well, that’s an exaggeration. It’s not $20 a beer. I mean, it’s an it is an exa it’s an Well, for two beers, it’s, you know, $21, but I mean, it’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but who’s going and getting just one? Come on. Right. No, but I but I understand. Well, you can’t double fist in the garden anymore. Oh, you can’t double fist in the garden anymore. I thought you could go up and still get You’re buying two beers. You have to have that second person with you. Okay, that that’s different from the last time I was actually able to get, you know, I’ve stopped drinking because of all the health issues I’ve been going through. So, it’s not even something I’ve been paying attention to, but um yeah, gone of the days where you could walk up and be like, “Give me two.” Yeah. Oh, man. I mean, two made sense because that’s all you could carry at least. But um I’m I’m a little bit mixed on on the ownership and I do appreciate the fact that he separated management and ownership because there is for me heavily I’m kind of with Will on this one. Um he says ownership spends to the cap. So A+ there. Um there’s two different ways that I can look at the ownership. One, they’re not involved enough. But also like you said, these guys are business owners. So, if they want to just own the business and hand hand the hockey part over to hockey people and just stay the hell out of the way, I’m very much okay with that as long as the checks continue to clear and they just let the hockey people pay for what they need to pay for and they don’t do an internal cap where they go, well, the league cap is 90 whatever it is, 988 or 985. We don’t want you spending more than, you know, 85 million on players. That’s our internal cap. It let them spend to the cap. Let them spend over the cap if necessary as far as the the LTIR cost, the IR cost, all that stuff. Um, you know, let the hockey people handle the hockey decisions. Done. Yeah. And and Don points out the Jacobs own the concessions to almost half the NHL team. So, it’s not just when the Bruins play. they they they are not hurting for cash. Uh as far as management is concerned, I I do think those positions just like with a coach, they are hired with an intent to at some point be fired. And so I think we are closer to the back half for both of both Neely and Sweeney, but their track record does earn them the right to stick around. But I think it’s I I don’t think Jacobs I don’t think Neilie’s on the hot seat as much as John Sweeney is. And I think it should be the other way around personally. And I love Cam Neely as a player. Um but I think I don’t think Charlie Jacobs is going to be like getting rid of both of them at the same time. No, I think I think a as a tandem they are closer to the to the end of their tenure and that it is a continual perpetual fight to maintain their job. Now, specifically, not nearly, you don’t think they’re as tied together as No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. I mean, it it’s fair. I mean, I see I see both ways of it. Um, like you, like you, I I like Don Sweeney in his role better than Cam Neely in his. Um, that being said, I definitely don’t see them moving on from Neie and moving Sweeney up. I don’t see that being the move. Um, I wouldn’t hate it, but I just don’t see them doing that. But as far as Sweeney and his role, uh, first of all, no GM is going to be perfect. Otherwise, that GM would win the cup every year because they make every correct move. Um, Don Sweeney has a canny ability to fix his mistakes in unforeseen ways. Uh, and also deal with things that come across his plate that were not expected, i.e. Rick Nash retiring. You know, they they tried for a while to find that right winger for David Crerache and they just couldn’t do it. But you cannot say Don Sweeney didn’t try. Oh, I agree. I agree. Because he was he was tra he tried internal options. He tried trading for players. You finally had someone in Rick Nash that you went this looks good and then boom, concussion player retires, right? How the hell is that on Sweeney? It’s not. Right. And and and so yeah, it just, you know, his mistakes in the draft are there just like everybody every other GM’s, but at the same time, he’s been able to pick players when he has had draft picks that he has been able to trade. You know, um Ryan Lingren comes to mind. Um Ero Vakenan got you Hampus Lindholm. So, you know, was Vakan the best pick? Probably not. But you know what? You’ve got one of the best left shot defenseman in your top four that you could possibly have on a hell of a contract because let’s be honest, that contract is probably the Bruins best right now if he comes back healthy between what you get for the value that you’re paying. So, he can do the job. I just I’m with you. I’m just wondering if he’s going to be the guy to push him over to another cup. So, um, Bob says he blows cap space o by overpaying fourthlininers year in and year out. Um, but again, so like two years ago, he brought in all these no-name players, these four flyers, whatever, and everyone was like, “They’re not making the playoffs. They’re not making the playoffs.” Not only did they make the playoffs, they beat the Leafs and then lost to the Panthers, the eventual Stanley Cup winners. Um but so again they were in cap hell so they traded players they didn’t want to trade like Nick Felino and Tyler Hall you know and you know there’s so many different things that go into it that it’s unfortunate that when you have holes to fill like even um Oh my god, why am I drawing a blank position? Yeah. Um, who they just signed? Bottom forward. Janelle. Oh, Janelle. Yeah. Like the Bruins weren’t the only one in on him. You know what I mean? So, and again, it’s not so much the dollar amount for me. It was the term. Like, it was a longer term that I wanted for a player like that, but there’s still a need for a player like that. So, I’m not I I don’t think he li really like blows the cap by overpaying fourth liners year in and year out. I think that the problem is is that when he brings in players and people are like, why is he bringing in players instead of playing the prospects? The problem is is that the prospects aren’t ready. And that’s what happens when you’re drafting in the second round, third round, fifth round, sixth round is they need to develop and sometimes it takes a little longer. And that being said, let you know the term, everyone’s complaining about the term on Jan Tanner Jano’s contract, but one, the cap is now going up exponentially, it seems. And two, he’s 28, not 38, right? Like let’s let’s not act like he’s signed, you know, an eight-year contract to a guy who’s 34, right? Well, and the other thing is too is that they’re really hoping that again not being under a magnifying glass and playing lower in, you know, in the bottom six that he’s going to have a different role and not be, you know, demanded to be a high out, you know, scoring output. You know, that’s not the role that the Bruins want him in. That’s like when he scores it’s going to be a bonus, but that’s not why they brought him in, right? But also the type like I I know a lot of people are connecting him with a guy like Matthew Potra and so let’s just go down that hole for a minute. Matthew Potra has the sense to be able to find him when he’s open and know how he plays. So Tanner Jano has not played with a player like Matthew Potra since his 24 goal campaign. He has been playing fourthline minutes, fourthline rolls, banger rolls. like that’s what he’s been doing. So, yes, he can do that and put up three, four goals a year and and get just 78 games and be, you know, a fourthline grinder, but he does have a decent shot for a lower six forward player. So he could help bring to your third line something that you haven’t had, which is the depth scoring. If you have the talent around him and you’re not saying, “Okay, our bottom six are all banger guys,” right? So, you know, that’s where someone like Minton or Potra or, you know, um even Casey Middlestat, honestly, if he he could end up being your 3C if if he’s beaten out. So there’s just a lot of options there. And he adds to the mix of internal competition. And and to your point, what was it like nine or 10 teams were trying to sign the guy, right? So I know a lot of people look at it and go fine, you know, let one of those teams make the mistake. But you don’t know it’s a mistake yet, right? We’re assuming it’s a mistake. You want it to be a mistake. You’re rooting for the mistake by saying that. Like, you know, he is a hardworking guy. He’s a locker room guy as well. And clearly last season a lot of was going wrong in the locker room. And if you look at every single guy they signed, they addressed all of that. So it doesn’t matter who makes the team, they’re going to have a better locker room unit, period. Uh let’s see. Getting some good questions here. Do you see Elias Lindholm and Zadorov rebounding or is it a ride it out scenario? I 100% especially Elias Lynholm. Um I think that what we saw down the stretch and we have talked about this at Nauseium and I know that um he uh Pyro Og is new to us. Um, so he hasn’t heard this conversation, but Elias Lindholm with his injured back at the beginning of training camp and the beginning of the season hindered him. And when coming out of Four Nations, he was purely healthy. He was ignited and down the stretch, he put up the numbers that I’m expecting to see from him next year. He built that chemistry that Pastanox um that the Bruins were hoping to see that they didn’t see because of his injury. And Zidorov, I think once he was put into a role to where he had to run the defense because Makavoy was injured, Lindholm was injured, Brandon Carlo was traded. We saw this door off that I think we’ll see going forward as well. He definitely put and so and again going to a new conference, a new league, I mean a new conference, a new team, a new city, you know, everything. And yes, another new coach. Yeah. And and you know, you get one coach and then you got a new another new coach, you know, you’re learning a whole new system and then your defensive captain is injured. You your other defenseman who your other top defenseman is injured. you know, your goalender is not playing to his his best ability. The team out of the gate struggled, then you get a new coach, and then your captain is injured, and then your captain is traded. So many things happened last season. Um, it’s definitely I I expect a lot more out of both Lynholm and Zidorov next year. Absolutely, 100%. and and no and Zidorov will be slotted ideally correctly. You know, with with Hampus being back, uh you’ll get your defensive back. I I agree with everything you just said there. I don’t think it’s a ride it out yet. Um you know, Elias, I think, has that bounceback season. Now, does that mean he’s going to be 80 85 point Elias Lindholm? Maybe not. Let’s let’s take it one step. I don’t know. I’m not gonna You know what? If he’s playing with Pastanok and Geeky, I mean, you never know. I don’t rule it out. But I’m just saying like I’m looking at it going if I can get 60 point Elias Lynn home back this season then we can work to 70 and 80 in the next couple seasons and try and build on it. All I’m saying is is let’s you know let’s not say all of a sudden he has to be an 85 point score in order for it to be a last time he had those numbers was when he had Gdro and Kachchuck. You know what I mean? Now he has now he has Posnak and Geeki. Closest thing he’s had to it. So again, I’m not saying he has to go out and be the the the points leader or anything like that, but Oh, Pasnach’s still going to be the points leader. You know, he he has a chance to very much bounce back 100%. He it’s going to be it’s going to be Pastan, Geeky, and Lynholm is the top three is in my opinion. Those are going to be the top three for offensive output. Um, and then I don’t And Pablo Zaka was third on the team last year. He wouldn’t have been, but you know, Brad Mash got traded, so um, you know, but shout out Dom real quick. Dom, thanks so much for tuning in. I’ll be in touch. Got a couple questions for you at some point. U, but shout out Dom. Check him out. dom.hockey. Um, just all the information you could possibly want on on all the Bruins prospects. Don, thank you so much and and hopefully we get you back again soon. So, uh say say hello to the grandkids for us and uh have a great night. Um but with that, uh did you did you have did I cut you off on something there? No. Okay. Uh Bob says, “I watched a lot of Providence games this past season. They were blocking the offensive prospects in Providence also. It’s an organizational problem at both levels.” Um, and then he provides VL Brown Pitlick as getting top billing five on five power play and penalty kill. Um, Bob, I’m gonna have to to put you in the spotlight a little bit here because VL Brown and Pitlick were not aligned last year that frequently. Uh, Brown was stapled to Fabian Lel and that’s where Leel’s game matured a lot. Uh, also you had Georgie Mcculaf got 54 points in 56 games. Vinnie Lati 50 points in 47 games. Tyler Pitlick had 46 points in 59 games and Patrick Brown had 46 points in 56 games. So two of your examples, Pitlick and Brown were your leading scorers. So they were playing the guys who were playing and oh by the way VL 37 points in 68 games and he was one of your better left wings in Providence. So those were the guys who were scoring for one and for two they weren’t aligned. Brown was stapled to Fabian Lel and Fabian Lel’s game improved because of it. Providence isn’t just about scoring. Providence is about all-around player development and that is and Fabian Lel if you watched him from start to finish night and day in the difference of his game and the maturity of the player both on and off the ice and that’s what someone like Patrick Brown was there to do. So it’s not an organizational problem in blocking the offensive prospects. You can’t say that until they block James Hagens from making this roster, right? because every other player that they have right now, their game is was not NHL ready for the role they were projected to be in. You’re not going to call Matthew Potra up to put him in a fourthline role. That’s not his game. And you you didn’t want to waste him on a third line role because the parts of his game that he needed to develop, he needed to play penalty killing time. He needed to play power play time. He needed the topline minutes that he was getting in Providence. And oh, by the way, Donslis comes in and he goes off on scoring as well. Uh he was over two, he was at two points per game during his time in the American Hockey League. Limited, but it was there. Even Ty Gallagher stepped in on defense and provided offense, five points in 11 games. So, the offense came there, just not from those guys. And you have to remember too when Patcha first got sent down he didn’t have his game. It took him a while. It took him a while to finally break through. And once he finally broke through, he was much better. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Once he broke through and and he was on like he was playing with guys of his age is the best way to put it. Uh he was still by far probably the best player on the ice most of the time, at least on the Boston side. Yeah. But you know, also if you look at Potra’s game when he was down there, he got more physical. He got in people’s faces. His game was lacking physicality and he found that part of his game, right? Uh let’s see. He then adds, “LMOS looked great when he arrived. I think he was paired with Padra.” Yes, he that was one of the pairs. Collegic care career, too. absolutely went under the radar playing over at UMass, but it absolutely, you know, I really wouldn’t have minded seeing La Melis make this roster. I do think he has a fighting chance to do so, but if he’s one of your top two centers in Providence next year, I’m not that upset about it. Neither am I. It it like his game could use it. It won’t hurt him for that. Michael, I won’t be upset if him, Patra, you know, if they start the season in Providence. I won’t be upset if they start the season in Providence. And if they continue to build on what they were playing on last year, then I’m not opposed to them pushing out of Sean Carali or you know what I mean? Like that’s the whole thing. Like, yeah, Sean, they signed Sean Carelli, but it doesn’t mean that he’s going to be in Boston this entire year, right? And I will only be upset if those guys are in Providence if in camp we see them far exceeding the player who makes the roster. But again, that’s what but but again, you have to remember camp is different than playing NHL games for an expended extended period of time. Oh, 100%. 100%. I’m I’m talking like light years better. Like if if you look at one and you go, “What is he doing here?” Like um the difference between what we saw in Corposal and Brandon Busy last year. You looked at Brandon Busy and you went, “He’s just not there.” No, but I but I get what you’re saying. But also in camp, you have to remember who who had a good camp last year. I’ll let you know when I think of it. Exactly. Exactly. We could be here for a while. Right. All right, let’s move on. Uh, Michael asks, “Will Callahan and Harris both get reps?” Well, you don’t have Spoon, right? You don’t have Wtherspoon. He’s gone. He’s in Pittsburgh. So, let’s let’s let’s talk about this. You’ve got Lori, Makavoy, Lynholm, Zidorov, Yokiharu, right? That’s five. Who’s your sixth? Oh, Peak. Sorry, Peak. Almost forgot about Peak. I was like, I know you’re forgetting somebody, but I can’t think of who it is. So, yes. I’m not sure it’s going to be Callahan over Harris, but Callahan again when he was brought up after the trade deadline and got some got some minutes, he wasn’t a liability. And that’s the whole thing I have. Do you remember I think it was Montgomery’s first season where he was rotating that seventh defenseman? Yep. Yep. Um I’m not opposed to that. I’m not opposed to them. I’m not a po I don’t want to see Lindholm Mackoy or Zidorov sitting but I’m okay with even Pete getting a night off. I’m okay with Yokiharu getting a night off. I’m okay with Laurai getting a night off. There’s no reason why if you feel that you have a strong enough seventh defenseman that you’re not rotating your defenseman to keep them fresh. I I don’t see either of them making the team out of camp. I I’ll be honest about that. I I don’t see So, who’s the seventh defenseman then? Because they’re not carrying just six sodum. I think he is being vastly underrated in what he potentially can bring to the table. He has to learn the Bruins system. Sure. Sure. But already knows it. Sure. Sod also plays on the right side. Huh. Sodestrom is also on the right side and you have um I’m trying to you you have I mean no one really can play both sides like extensively but you’re not really going to ask anybody to do that. The the one person in your system who you could do that with would probably be Jackson Edward. Um but he’s nowhere near ready. But when when you look at your your right side, um I really wouldn’t be surprised if Yoki Haru is your odd man out. I really wouldn’t. I can see Soderstrom taking the second spot on that right side and playing much better than people are anticipating. Keep in mind, we’re talking about a former overall 11th pick and last year he was defenseman of the year for his league. He’s a very good player. He didn’t stop playing because he was bad. He did not want to make the move to Utah. So, he went over, I think it was to the SHL, right? So, he’s on a one-year deal. He’s looking to prove himself in the National Hockey League. I think he’s got a much better shot to make this team than people are giving him credit for. And he also has, albeit limited, but some NHL experience with high-end minutes. So, I I think his signing is completely under the radar for for most most of the Bruins fan base. Um, I think Yoki Haru was signed for the lack of better options out there. To be completely honest, the right-handed defensive market was crap. But I also don’t think we saw such a small sample size and he played very well with Sidorov. Yeah, that’s why I think they were okay with bringing him in on the 3×3 contract because there is a little bit of known there and maybe he becomes your quote unquote Zidorov whisperer. Yeah. Like maybe. But and and let’s say he does. Okay. So, you’re going to play them as your third pairing. Maybe. Like I really like the idea of a Lingholm Sodom pair because they’re both very solid two-way defenseman. Both big in size. both solid skaters. Obviously, you’re assuming Lynholm comes back healthy, but that with Lauri M. Have to see where the chemistry is with the two. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, 100%. 100%. But that’s where you could see someone like Peak being rotated in as your seventh defenseman or Yoki Haru as your seventh defenseman and then Harris ends up in Providence. Callahan ends up in Providence. They’re your first call. fine with Callahan being in Providence. Oh, I I know you are. I’m just saying I I don’t think either one of them are going to get significant time in Boston to start the season. Now, that also means that you have a position of strength where you can come the trade deadline if you’re still another halfin halfout team. You can make a similar decision to what we saw this past year where you look at a guy like Andrew Peak, you move off of him. You look at a guy like Pavlo Zaka, you move off of him or Casey Middlestat or, you know, Victor Arvdson, you can move him at the trade deadline if he’s showing to have enough value there and send him to a playoff team where he can be a good rental piece. So you still have players I mean even the guys that you signed Eimont Carali you know Hustadino these are guys that you could move to a contending team and still get something for if you’re in the right position at the trade deadline. There’s a ton of options here. I do like this comment though. Yeah, we go in depth. Uh, and and we got a little bit more coming up that we’ll we’ll have information on as well. Um, Sodstrom needs 42 something games or he’s a group six unrestricted free agent. Um, they signed him as a group six unrestricted free agent. Oh, no, I’m sorry. They traded for him, but yes, he he needs a handful of games to become an unrestricted free agent. I’m sorry. Yes. Um cuz he was the one they got in the the Ryan Mast the infamous Ryan Mast trade. Still don’t know why they signed that contract early, but yes, he is a pending group six unrestricted free agent. So, he’s going to be looking to prove himself at the NHL level. Um there’s there’s just going to be so much opportunity and they still have five contract spots they can fill. I think they’ll save those towards the end of the year for some of the college kids. But um I’ll say yeah, I mean they’ll they’ll have at least one or two. It it’ll be very interesting to see the future of this team. Um but would you say they are in a better position now than they were two months into last season? uh with a with a normal Jeremy Swayman. Absolutely. Him alone changes the makeup of this team and a lot of people want to crap all over Jeremy. People are trying to trade him because Bruins fans hate their goalenders. Um, but a normal Jeremy Swayman who took the net from Allark the year before his contract issue, the one that showed up at Worlds and won gold this off season. That Jeremy Swayman shows up with the chip on his shoulder to shut everyone up. That automatically changes the makeup of this team. Automatically that’ll by quite a bit. That alone quite a bit. Yeah. Not to mention not to mention you’ve now got Elias Lindholm that is like you guys don’t want me here. Let me show you what I can do. You’ve got Nikita’s the door off that is now a year of Bruins hockey under his belt and will have the pressure taken off him with a healthy Makavoy and a healthy Lynholm. but became a leader on and off the ice entering this season. And you have a coach that wants to be here number one. A coach, a coach that not only wants to be here, wore the spoke to be was the only player in the Joe Thornton trade that wanted to be in Boston. Well, I mean, Wayne Primo did, but whatever. Um, but you have Mako Storm who knows what it means to pull that Bruins bee, that spoked B on his chest for 82 games. Knows what it means to play in the playoffs for the Bruins. Knows what it game-winning goals. Knows how to shut down Montreal. Knows what the rivalries are in the original six franchises. You know what I mean? Like, he understands that. and coaching the Ontario rain knows what it means to get a pro the best out of a prospect or your young players to elevate their play. So, I 100% believe that we’re going to see a lot more pluses. I’m not saying they’re going to win a Stanley Cup next year. You’re not. That’s not what you’re saying. Multiple things. I’m not You know what? We’re going 82 and 0. There it is. There we go. But did they lose the game? I’m gonna say you were wrong. But seriously, Swayman, Mackoy, Elias Lindholm, Hampas Lindholm, Nikita Zidorov, David Posnock, Morgan Geeky, these players want to shut the critics up. Oh yeah. And we we saw last year Morgan the players see what’s going on. They hear it. We know Morgan Geeky. Shout out Brett Howard. Yep. You know he Listen, I asked I asked him about it in the locker room. Oh yeah. Care to share. I wrote about it. You don’t remember that? Oh, that’s right. You did? Oh, I asked him point blank about it. You know, like that people, you know, how he felt about the fact that people wanted him gone and then all of a sudden they were like, “You need to sign him now.” Like they flip the switch. You know what I mean? It’s like and and Brett Howard, yes, love you, Brett. He 100% laid down on his sword because he was the frontr runner to, you know, be like, get geeky off this roster and then he’s one of the ones that did the 180 and said the Bruins need to sign him now. Yeah. You know, but shout out to Brett. He he he ate the crow, you know, but but fed it to him. And I’ll eat the crow if they’re 100% healthy and Swayman doesn’t show, you know what I mean? I’ll eat the crow. I just don’t think that Swayman’s going to show up this year and be like, you know, he’s he’s coming in on fire ready to prove all of the haters wrong. All of the all of the fans that said you we kept the wrong goalender, the Bruins signed the wrong goalender, that it should have been Corpusal and not Swayman, that Swayman isn’t worth this and Swayman isn’t worth that. Swayman is so much the epitome of what it means to be a Boston Bruin that it’s, you know what I mean? And I know that he has the ego, but goalenders have to have egos. Go a success. You know how they say in in baseball, if you hit 300, you’re a Hall of Famer? Yeah. You’re not a good goalender unless you stop 90% of the pucks that you see. So you have to have the mentality that you’re going to stop 100% of them knowing that 5% 8% are going to go in and you’re still going to be okay. right now. A goalender who at every single level from the age of I want to say it was like 12 or 13 to now what is he 25 now something like that he has had a total of two seasons with a sub 900 save percentage and both of those seasons he was hovering at 89 in change. He didn’t forget how to stop a puck. He just it just it that’s like saying Alex Ovetchkin had a down year. He forgot how to score, right? Like scoring 38 instead of 55. You got the Bruins have the best goalie coach in the league. I’d say the best goalending coach tandem because Mike Dunham in Providence does a fantastic job. He’s down in Providence. I’m talking about Bobna. Oh, Bob. Goalie Bob, man. Gotta love goalie Bob. So he’s the one he’s the one coach that everybody wanted kept around, right? So what does that tell you? Bruins fans were united on one thing. Keep goalie Bob. Oh yeah, that’s it. You can’t get Bruins fans to agree on jack Except keep goalie Bob. Correct. One of that that that right there has to tell you something. But as you said, the most popular player in Boston is always the backup goalender. Always. We saw it when Tukaras was the starter. We couldn’t stop hearing how he was overpaid and um one of Tukaras’s former backups hung him up. I really I really want Tukaras to do mean tweets someday. Oh, that would be awesome. Oh, that would be fantastic. Go through them because Tuka has such a personality. He Oh, yeah. Amazing. The the unobstructed views broadcast, you could really see it start to come out sometimes, too. Oh, yeah. They well they got more comfortable. I I think the the second season of Unobstructive Views if they do it obviously I don’t work at Nessen anymore so I don’t know if they’re still doing it. Um, but if they it’s not like they have writing going on, they might as well do video content. But if they do unobstructed views with Ray Croft, Berson, and Tukarasque um in in this upcoming season, number one, the team’s going to be a little bit better, right? They might actually see a win, right? It was Yeah, that was like really hard um watching them struggle through how bad that team was. Um but that’s the first thing. And the second thing is, as you could see with every broadcast, Berseron got more comfortable. Obviously, Ray Craft is always on camera because he’s one of the in studio hosts. He’s also ride, you know, he does the morning brew, so he’s used to being on a micro spotlight. Yeah. But Berseron um definitely got more comfortable. And I think that the one thing that they need to do is they need to talk more about like when you’re talking when you’re facing like if they’re playing the Panthers, Tukar Ras needs to be able to talk about what it’s like to play against a player like a Sam Bennett. He doesn’t need he doesn’t need to have played against Sam Bennett, but he faced players that were like Sam Bennett. You know what I mean? So yeah, they need to and Berseron definitely faced Sam Bennett, Al Alexander Barov. So they need to tell those type of stories and I think that that that is going to bring that bring out the personality more in each of those players. But absolutely, I digress, you know. Let’s stop talking about my former employee. But Rasque uh one of his backups, Inaro Halak, hung him up. Um, honestly, one of the very underrated goalenders. I I think he he had a sneaky, very, very good career. Um, but there were time I mean, people were calling him to start over Tuka, right? So, um, just, you know, we we saw Hawk hang him up, Blake Wheeler, Tyler Johnson, who was a legend of nine games, uh, and then, of course, Riley Nash. Um, all of them decided to officially retire this season. Yeah. Uh, or this off seasonason rather. Um, do you have any any thoughts or or you know stories that that you want to share on any of those guys? Listen, trading Blake Wheeler is what brought every brought a Stanley Cup to Boston. So, or one of the reasons that you know what I mean? So, um, no, I mean, and each player, you know, there’s a Bruin, there’s a saying that the Bruins alumni always say, once a Bruin, always a Bruin. So, it doesn’t matter if Tyler Johnson only played nine games for Boston, he’s still a Boston Bruin. You know, and he may have only played nine games for the original six franchise, but that was nine games more than some player, you know what I mean? some players get the and it’s unfortunate because I think he was one of the ones that on the PTO you look they brought in who did they bring in the year before on a PTO that ended up turning out to be a great Dan Heinen. Yeah. Well, not only him but there was someone else too before that. But yeah, like you know it’s like you you take your chances on those players and unfortunately he just never gelled in this system. Um but if you But I think a lot of Bruins fans also thought he was going to be a savior of sorts just because he had won, you know, he had the pedigree, you know, and so he he also didn’t get so he had a great camp, had a great camp and then he was out for basically two months. It took him two months to sign the guy. So he had two months off and so he like had to go through it all again, right? And then right after they sign him, they change coaches, right? So like the guy, let’s be honest, didn’t get a fair shake in Boston either. Like Yeah. You know, and and some of that had to do with Okay. So Swayman’s contract came in. Maybe it was a little higher than than Sweeney anticipated. So they couldn’t get the Johnson deal done. And but you know, clearly he hung around. He hung around on the PTO. He didn’t have to do that. He wanted to be in Boston. I think if he had been able to keep that run strung together, I think he probably would have, ironically, he might have been the Bruin who started out the season the strongest, but we’ll never know, right? So, um, but no, they all they all had great careers in of them themselves. My question is, do you think Don Sweeney makes the Mark Stewart Blake Wheeler trade to Atlanta to bring in Peverly? Because this Pever was the target in that deal. They got someone else in it. I don’t remember who exactly, but it was two for two. But do you think Don Sweeney makes that move? because Blake Wheeler at the time still a very young player and we know how much Don Sweeney likes to keep those young guys once they make the roster, right? But I mean, the thing is though is you have to look at the fact that you have to sometimes make those decisions for the better of the franchise, right? I mean, we can use the perfect example of the Boston Red Sox. They traded the face of the franchise, Nomar Garcia, and then they won the World Series, ending the curse, right? Yep. So, sometimes you have to make those decisions. So, I don’t know if Sweeney makes that trade, but we don’t I mean, you can’t play what if because it was long before he took over. Oh yeah. Well, well, long before he took over, but you also have to remember that he also Who did he give up for uh my brain is like completely mush right now on trades. Who did he give up for Bratusi or Hathaway? Oh, that was the complicated um three-way deal, which they’re not going to be able to do anymore because of the new CBA, but they gave up a first, second, and third round pick, a fifth round pick to Minnesota because they retained on Orof and uh it was Craig Smith. Craig Smith was the only player that he dealt away in that, right? But that was the genius of it. He got Olaf and Hathaway for four overall draft picks, right? A one first, a second, a third, and a fifth. And the first and fifth were the only two in the same draft, right? That was it. So, yeah, it it just, you know, it it was a great move, you know. Um We’ll we’ll see what what other moves they have up their sleeves. I know there’s a lot of questions, you know, would you trade this player, that player? And by and large, I think you and I are in agreeance. The answer is yes. What’s the return? Right. No one’s untouchable on this team. But at the same time, we’re not trading David Posternok because he turns the puck over. Oh my god. Like would you trade David Postron? Well, yes, if the right deal presents itself because guess what? If you’re trying to trade for a player like a Leon Dryidle, a Conor McDavid, someone like that, that’s what you’re going to have to give up. But those guys aren’t becoming available in trade because guess what? They all have no movement clauses. So, but but even but even if they are, the reason why they’re coming up on trades is because they hate where they are. You know what I mean? And they they hate where they are or they’re becoming an unrestricted free agent in six months and right and they and they know and it’s but that said they hate where they are and they’re coming in unrestricted. So, you’re going to get something for them. You know what I mean? And even then, you have to also look at the bigger picture. If you’re going to give up David Posnock for Leon Dryidle, you have to give something else up, too. You’re not just giving up David Posnock. So, how big of a pitcher, how big, you know, how many how much do you have to give up to sign that one player who’s becoming an unre, you know what I mean? That may not be that the realistic name that you’re targeting in in something like that right now would be Jack Eel. That would be the realistic name that you’d be targeting. But even then, the argument I would have is you have David Posanok locked up, right? Why are you going to risk maybe signing Jack Eel when you have a David Posternok who’s not fighting the league? It would have to be a sign and trade. It would have to be, you know what I mean? Like they would have to sign Eel and then trade him. Kind of like what the Toronto did with Mner. They signed Mner and then they traded him. So that you know that they’re locked. You know what I mean? So you know that they’re locked up. That’s the only way you make a move like that is that you know that the player coming is going to be here longer and they are not just a rental, right? And and even with a guy like Eel in order for me to even think about that. I need to know Lel is going to be able to replace Pastnok in this lineup because I need a winger for Eel. Well, my thing is that I’m not giving up Passnock for Eigel. I’m not I’m I’m not I’m not giving up a 60 goal scorer for Jack Eel. And I like Jack Eel. That’s not I love Jack Eel’s game. I I I that’s the only thing I can think of. My I’m not giving up the entire offense for a center who may not have someone to feed the puck to, especially when I have James Hagens coming down the line, right? You know what I mean? So that’s that’s the thing. Now, am I giving up I’m not even giving up David Passmach for Conor McDavid. No, I don’t want to pay McDavid’s next contract. No. Number one. Number two, he’s not a Bruin player. No, you’re you’re re refacing your entire franchise. Not just rebuilding, you are refacing it entirely to something that you’re not. Right. and and it just it’s just not worth it for Boston in any way, shape, or form. Speaking of Conor McDavid, let’s hit the schedule. It’s a good segue. Uh yes, the schedule is out. Very good segue. Yeah. Where do you want to start on it? How’s game one season opener? In Washington. So, um I think it’s going to be a good test to play a team like Washington because they’re so close. to the same style. Not necessarily the personnel, but the same style, the same system. They’re close to the same system. So, I think it’s going to be a fairly decent test game one on the road and then you’re opening up at home the very next night against Chicago. Yeah. you know, so you could you could go you could be two and 0 to start the season, which would be a great way to start for this team. Um, you could I mean, you could be one and one. Um, I mean really in in the backtobacks or I wouldn’t I wouldn’t even if you started 0 and2 I mean obviously we got to see how they play to Chicago you have issues. I agree. However, however one I I got to see how the game plays out and two with Chicago game two of the season like for them it’s still a fresh hey we’re still in it. like they are a young team that would still have confidence at that point. So, while I agree with the sentiment that if you lose to Chicago, it’s um you’ve got problems, uh if it’s game two of the season in the second half of backtoback to start the season, I’m not going to overly freak out over it if you play well and you just get beat by kids who have all the energy in the world that you’re just not up to speed with yet, right? So even at that point, I’m not panicking, but yeah, it it you should be at least 10 and one after two, right? That would be the way to go. Um I know you had recently published an article on your Substack analyzing a few games that you’re looking forward to. Um so the next one on your list because obviously the season opener, who’s not excited for the new season? Um, the next one you have is October 21st as Florida comes to Boston. It’s the return of Brad Marshan. Yep. Um, I mean, let’s be honest, who’s not looking forward to that one? Well, I mean, you want to talk about a measuring stick, who else do you measure up against than the reigning Stanley Cup champions back to back and your and your former captain? Yeah. Um, number one, can he also get it? Micro Storm out coach Paul Morris. Paul Maurice. Can Jeremy Swayman outplay Babroski? Can Elias Lindholm hold his own against Alexander Baroff? Because Brad Mashian’s playing on the third line, so it’s not, you know what I mean? So, who who is going to is Nikita Zadorf going to put him through the boards? Uh, he could, right? He he very well could. Although, I also wouldn’t put it past Paul Maurice. They can’t do it on defense, but on offense, I wouldn’t put it past him to have uh Boquist, Nosk, and and Marian start the line. Just all former Bruins. Go ahead. Yeah. And then as soon as puck drops, change it up. But right, it it it just I mean, how could you not be excited to see him come back now a two-time cup champion, you really didn’t get a good chance to, you know, see him off because he was injured. He was injured. And when they came back and when Florida played Boston after the trade, um Martian was still hurt. So he didn’t play. So, it wasn’t like when they saw Brandon Carlo, you know what I mean? After the trade, they didn’t get to see Brad Marshand at all. And a lot of people again are going to be like, “Well, look what he did in Florida for the playoffs.” Again, third line minutes coming off an injury. No one knew what he was going to do. So, let’s see what Grind does for him. And I think that doing third line minutes, you’re going to see a rejuvenated Brad Marshan. Let’s also not forget his third line center is a second line center on most teams. Anton Lundelle and E2 Luca Rhinan could he is like a second line player at like their third line is not your prototypical third line right like they play physical and and whatnot but they have that throughout their lineup. They don’t have a checking line. their fourth line of Samuskavich, Noshik, and Bo Bowquist, like they’re just a line that goes out there so the other three can rest and they have one goal in mind. Don’t let the opposition score. Beyond that, if you’re able to get a goal, great. We’ll take it. But it honestly, just keep it out of our zone and just give our other nine guys a breather and they’ll go out and score if they can get enough rest, right? Play nine minutes a night. Kill some penalties for us. Like when when Kachchuck screws up and he’s in the box, no, you’re killing that penalty. That’s your job, right? But you know what? It won him a cup, so they’re not going to complain about it, right? So, um, after Florida, you have a very interesting choice, uh, which is the New York Rangers coming to the Garden on You skipped on Oh, I’m sorry. You’re right. November 15th, which is Boston Montreal. Always a good rivalry. Always. Always. I think that’s all that needs to be said there. But Montreal is one of the best young talented teams coming up and it’s going, you’re talking about a good test. That team is going to be a good test now that they have Noah Dobson, Lane Hudson on the back end. It does the NHL, not just Boston, but it does the NHL better when Montreal is a good team. Yes. Same thing with Philly. Uh Boston obviously is another one on that list. Chicago’s another one on that list. Detroit’s on that list. Like there are certain markets that the NHL overall does better when they’re a good team. And I think real quick just off topic a little bit. I think having Arizona relocated to Utah and wanting to be competitive. You know, right now there isn’t a team out there that you’re looking at going they don’t want to at some point be competitive for a Stanley Cup, right? Pittsburgh’s working on a rebuild. They’re they’re going through something that is unusual, but they still have Sydney Crosby and and Getty Malcin. So, and they still have them. That’s the point is they still have them. And those players aren’t going to allow them to just fall off a cliff. So, um but the November 28th game, you have the Rangers coming to Boston on this list. Why? A lot of it is the the Black Friday matinea. Um Okay. because they took a year off from the Black Friday matinea which is really weird because it was a staple in Boston right it was 100% a staple in Boston so that’s part of it the second thing is it’s Mike Sullivan a former Boston Bruins coach Charlie Mackoy’s father-in-law the Rangers are going through what the Bruins kind of went through with a new coach new lineups you They made some big splashes and trades. Chris Drury has his head on a platter with the fans just like Don Sweeney does. And oh, by the way, Joe Sako has joined the team as one of one of the assistants. You know what I mean? So, I just think that this is going to be a great matchup. You also mentioned when Florida comes to town, Swayman Babroski. How about Swayan Shurken? Yeah. as a matchup. Yeah, I think that that’s a card that that is uh a little underrated. Um and then you have February 1st Y the the outdoor game against Tampa. That’s just that’s just I mean you have to I mean the Bruins and outdoor games there’s nothing like that atmosphere. Even when the Bruins I mean god awful showing against Montreal. Yeah. It was brutal. We don’t talk about that. Yeah. in that second winter classic. But you got to remember Marco Sturm was the hero of the first outdoor game the Bruins played. David Posnock was the hero of an outdoor game. You know what I mean? So you have and then he missed Barbie Girl, right? But you know what I mean? Like they’re going to Florida has both Winter Classic, both outdoor games. The Panthers have, you know, the Winter Classic and Tampa has the Stadium Series. So, it’s gonna be, first of all, Evan’s not trying to push hockey in Florida at all. No, not at all. Um, but you know what I mean? It’s like, but the Bruins take it to another level in outdoor games and it’s just that atmosphere is just phenomenal. And you know why the atmosphere is going to be great in those those two specific games is because well obviously no state income tax. You’re such an ass. Uh and then they got the three-week break for the Olympics. I had to sneak that in there. I mean come on. They’re they’re playing two outdoor games in a no tag state. They don’t think that’s going to come up at all. Come on. This a state with four of the last what? Five Stanley Cup champions. Yeah. that’s not going to be mentioned at all once during the game, I promise you. Um, they get the three-week break uh in February for the Olympics and then they they open up again on February 26th. Welcome home, Charlie Coyle. Yeah, that’s his first time back, isn’t it? Oh, I don’t even know. I didn’t even look. I think I think so because I think Columbus is one of the teams you only play twice. Once on the road, once at home. Um, and then the regular season rounds up April 14th. They end the season against New Jersey again this year, which is going to be interesting because New Jersey is yet another team that’s going to be in the mix for their division. So, well, I’m hoping that the Bruins can not have it come down to the last game of the season. You know what I mean? Um, yeah, that’d be nice. I’m hoping that they have something locked up long before that. You got to look at how tough this division is going to be this year. Um, you know, Florida is going to be up there. We don’t know. You don’t know what Tampa’s going to be like. I mean, Tampa can they they have their ups and downs. Um, well, one thing we know is Buffalo’s winning the division for sure. They’re winning first place in the bottom. Okay. They’re winning first place in the bottom of the division. Okay. Well, I would I mean golf score. They’re winning the golf score. Listen. Sorry. Listen. Where’ the Bruins finish last year? Three points behind Buffalo. Okay. Hey, but five teams from the division won the playoffs or so I I will say I think we could see that happen again. just I’m just saying I think we could see that happen again with five teams coming out of the Atlantic because when you really look at the Atlantic versus the Metro um I mean did the Islanders did they really get better or did they get worse and then better from that worst position right you know the Penguins as much as Crosby and Malcolm are trying to keep the water off the sinking ship there’s only so much they can do Um, Philly is just Yeah, they’re Okay, so there’s three of them right there. The Rangers have a bunch of new players and they’re going to be trying to to figure it all out. And we saw what that did to Nashville last year. Remember how Nashville won the off season and then all of a sudden no one could figure out their left hand from their right and and put the puck in the net. So, I wouldn’t be surprised to see New York and Columbus finish exactly where they did again this year. Maybe the top three have a different order because I don’t think Washington’s going to be the same kind of powerhouse that they look like they were this year. Um, but I really wouldn’t be surprised if you saw the same one, two, three, change up the order, your preference, and then the same four, five, and then in the Eastern Conference, you would see, you know, four of the five in the top probably be the same. Ottawa is the team that really you just don’t know enough about. Montreal just they it’s a product that’s been building for too long to just lose faith in it. And that organization with this rebuild has just stayed the course so consistently that it just seems like their next step. Okay, now we’re going to finish fourth in the division, you know, because they only finished fifth by five or six points, right? Ottawa seems like the team that is just more okay, hey, this year we hit the dart board. Next year we are going to try and land on an actual color. You’re over team. What’s that? You’re overlooking. Which one? Boston. Toronto. Toronto was top division. I’m saying they’re still going to be in it, but they could fall off. They I don’t see them finishing first. I don’t see them winning the division. I I mean, but we don’t know how they’re going to shake out without Mner. No, but I think their defensive game overall is going to still be there. Their offense is going to be okay, but their their goalending is still it’s not the greatest, but Stallars was, you know, it’s decent depth. Stolars, Wall, and um uh Hildabby, right? So, yeah, they don’t have Matt Murray anymore, but that that’s not the end of the world. Hilde is ready to be their number three. That’s what he is. um Tampa, you know, like I very easily could see Montreal winning the division mostly just because they have the young youth over Florida. I don’t think Florida’s going to care that much over the division. I really don’t. Oh, they finished third in the division this year and it they didn’t phase them at all. Yeah, but they also finished third in the division because they had a lot of injuries. You have to remember Matthew. Absolutely. Matthew Kachchuck did not play a lot especially Um, and Eklad, not Yeah, Eklad had the suspension, too. So, I mean, you have to I’m just saying. I’m not sure that Florida’s like not at the top of their game. No, absolutely. I think Florida’s by far the favorite to win the division. I’m just saying I could see Montreal being competitive for the division because they have the youthful legs to to go all out for all 82 games. Whereas Florida is more likely to lay back a few times and just be like, you know, it’s game, you know, 46 and it’s the back the second half of a backtoback and we got the Olympic break in two weeks. Like just we’re down by two. Just let this one go. I’m just saying I could I can see it happening. I’m not saying it will, but uh and then Boston Detroit obviously Detroit is still gonna Detroit Boston fans are upset with um Don Sweeney. Just imagine how they would feel if Steve Eerman was their GM right now. Imagine having Kyle Dubis as the GM. when he was with Toronto or now with Pittsburgh. Oh, Toronto. He’s done a better job with Pittsburgh. I think he’s more able to do what he wants in Pittsburgh because he’s the president as well. Well, yeah. Um I I think I mean he’s the president and the GM of course. How many times do you really think he tried to trade martner? Let’s be honest. How many times do you think that before the the uh NMC kicked in, do you think he tried to trade Marner and he was told no, you can’t trade him by Brendan Shanahan? Oh, yeah. And I’m not sure he didn’t I’m I’m not sure he didn’t field calls on it. You know what I mean? And I’m sure that he had a couple of packages together just like I’m sure Sweeney has fielded calls on Patrice Berseron has fielded, you know what I mean? Like that’s you love to say it. It’s their job. No, I’m I’m talking he had a deal in place ready to pull the trigger on and Brendan Shanahan came down and said, “No, we’re not doing it.” Um, they didn’t trade Mitch Martyr not because of Kyle Dubis, but because of Brendan Shanahan. I’m not sure that Dubis had it out for Mitch Mner. I’m not I don’t think he had it out for him. I think he was I think he was willing to move off of Knander before his NMC kicked in. I think he was willing to move off of Marner before his NMC kicked in. I think every single time he tried to do something to shake up the roster during his duration there, he was completely shut down and he was told you play around the periphery of the roster. That is where you have freedom. Anything else, you know, anything else you have to run up the ladder. Well, that core four was, you know, the core four. I get that. But I I almost can guarantee you that he was fighting tooth and nail to say we got to break these guys up and was shut down at every turn. So anyway, um yeah, do you do you have any I We went longer than I was thinking we would. So, it’s funny cuz we said um you know it’ll probably be a short one and then but we get some great questions. Great questions. I love the questions. Um but I will say puck off hockey is no more. Um we’re rebranding. Okay, we’re rebranding. Some some announcements are coming uh on August 1. And so our next show, our next show will be on August 6th. Am I getting the date right on that? It’s the Is that the Wednesday? Uh, hold on. I think you have a calendar more readily available than I do. I do. I think that’s the Wednesday because we are going to do Wednesdays, you and I, going forward. Yes. Um, but there will be a complete rebrand of of the network. Um the we’ll be bringing back a new show with with a new co-host. You and I will still be doing our thing on Wednesdays. Um so people need to to keep an eye out uh for for what’s coming. We’ve taken some time off from our show and a lot of things have been reconsidered and and rethought about. Yep. And uh August 1st will be the big day that it all gets revealed and and we’ll be doing some shows that week. Okay. So, look forward to hearing all your announcements. A lot of hockey content is coming is and and where was it? Oh, Pyro Gob’s comment here. The the going in depth part. Oh, it’s only beginning. Yeah. Uh do you have any other thoughts here? Um whether it’s I just want to say that I was a guest on Bruins tape to tape with um Maria and Caroline last week and it came out today. It was the episode. It was their hundth episode. Um I was a guest. Um they released it today and my uh site is up and running as well as my Substack. So, if you don’t want to subscribe to Substack, you can just head on over to my WordPress. Yeah, cuz your Substack is so expensive. Well, I know cuz it’s free. Um, but there’s multiple ways. And you can always catch me on Twitter, too. Like I said, I will talk puck with anyone. I won’t deal with trolls, though. Like, if you want to debate something with me, I will 100% because not everyone has the same opinions. You and I don’t always have the same opinions. Um, there’s a reason our show goes for almost two hours now, right? Because we talk. Um, but seriously, uh, you know, you guys, these shows are better when you guys send us the questions. So, keep coming, you know, keep sending us questions and read my stuff, damn it. Uh, yeah, a lot of stuff is coming down the road. Um, and just a little snippet, uh, you know, in case if you follow All Things Boston Hockey, the Fleet announced their new head coach today. Um, so, and the story is up on my site and I will be watching the press conference later because I was at work today, so I didn’t have the opportunity and having another story come out probably tomorrow about that. So, um, yeah. So mainly my site is focusing mainly on the Bruins and the fleet for now. Once training camp starts, I’ll hit more on the prospects and then Providence when it comes out. You and I will collaborate and you know crossost all the stuff that we do um to get the stuff out there more and and then also um hockey once hockey starts. though, men’s and women’s, too. It’s going to be it’s going to be an awesome fall. Uh, like I said, the content is just starting. Um, and, uh, like I said, it’s we’re, you know, uh, hopefully Dom is able to come back at some point sooner rather than later. Um, but he’s got some stuff going on. So, in as much as you are knowledgeable on prospects and I can hold my own, Dom is topnotch when it comes to prospects. Dom is he is the Dom for a reason. Yep. So, not not just Dom, he is the Dom. Yeah. So, definitely check out dom.hockey. um will uh we’re definitely in touch, him and I, and and I’ve learned so much from I I will be calling him Yoda. Um but uh yeah, like I said, there’s a lot to come and uh I want to thank everybody for jumping on and and we’ll see everybody on say August 6th. So until then, go Bees. Good night, guys.

The summer drags on, but the 2025-26 schedule is out for the Bruins. Join Chris and Gayle as they take a look at what is ahead for the Boston Bruins in the new season.