Do the Bruins Have an Identity Problem? Andrew Raycroft Joins! ||The Greg Hill Show

Do the Bruins Have an Identity Problem? Andrew Raycroft Joins! ||The Greg Hill Show

A crazy couple of seasons have taken place. We went from Montgomery with a record high season that a very disappointing po postseason. Then he gets fired mid-season, gets replaced by Sako, then Sako gets canned, and now we’ve got Marco Sturm. Where do you see the Bruins stand right now? Where do you see them going in the future? It just feels like an identity crisis of sorts, if I could say that, especially now with their captain gone. Yeah, I think well it’s it’s this is the since I’ve done this job or like come back and and really paid attention to the Bruins again. Um this is definitely the the most um different offseason or or going into the season has the the most um the first time where there’s uncertainty or I’m a little unsure of what exactly this is going to look like or or or how it’s going to play out. I’ve even going into last year, um I I didn’t think they were as good as the year before, but I felt pretty confident in in the lineup that they had and who they had in the roster. And um this year I’m I’m I I’m cautiously optimistic, but that’s just kind of who I am anyways. And and I you know, I get it. But um the the fact that you have Lynholm, Matt, like I just I guess I go back to Yes. the the the the core of Berseron Cre Marian Charara is gone, but I still like the core of David Pasternack, Charlie Makavoy, Jeremy Sway, and Hampus Lindholm. Like, this is a pre this isn’t a team that is going to go to the bottom. They went to the bottom last year because it got really bad and they decided that that’s what they were going to do. Like the roster at the end of the season was was not very good. Why did it get so bad last Well, a lot of it we talked about Swayman um Hampus Lynholm missing 65 games that that killed him. Um there was no secondary option. The power play struggled because of it. He’s a huge piece of this. He’s he eats 23 24 minutes a night. Um I think we So does Greg. Yes, correct. Um we overlooked how important Hampus was and I think we saw that with the 65 games that he missed. Charlie Mackoy missed the last 30 games. So you missed their top two defenseman. I don’t care if you’re the Florida Panthers. If you if you miss two of your top defenseman and a few forwards up front, you’re not going to be as good. You’re just not. And what what happened with Monty? Well, I think with Monty, it seemed that he didn’t want to stay here. That’s the I think we heard at the start of the year that we want to do a contract extension. We want to do a contract and they couldn’t get to that. So, at some point you had to make a choice in where the season was going at that point. They’re only one game under 500, but it didn’t look good, right? They were losing 8 to one. They were losing nine to two on the road. They were giving up five goals in third periods in the neutral zone was a mess. And and it didn’t look right. It wasn’t right. And the fact that he wasn’t signing an extension that they were offering him, he wasn’t um putting pen to paper. They they had to make a decision. And it seemed obvious after the fact that he went right to St. Louis 3 days later, which is his hometown, which is where his wife’s from, which is where his family lives, that that was seemed to be a bit of an option in the back of his head, whether it was mid-season or at the end of the season, where he was just a little unsure if he was really going to stay here with as a Boston Bruin. And I think him going to St. Lewis was the perfect scenario for him and his family, but also kind of lent itself to where the brew it was it it seemed as though there was something else going on. It wasn’t just a matter of firing Jim Montgomery. It was that Jim Montgomery might not have really wanted to be here long term. So, you’re saying that 5-year deal wasn’t totally consummated the second he was fired with the Blues? Um, I’m just saying it’s it’s you can put, you know, you can connect the dots a little bit in the fact that he went to a it wasn’t it wasn’t the same as Bruce Cassidy. It it’s not the same as Bruce Cassidy and and and again these guys that that have very we’ve talked about we talked Mike McDaniel like you have two or three years if you’re a good coach you’re going to get a job again right out of the gates. That that’s just the way the hockey world is. Jim Montgomery. There’s there’s more to it in the fact that he went to the exact place that he wanted to go and signed a huge extension in St. Louis. Don’t you feel like they need to now stay put though? Like when it comes to Marco Sturm, they’ve got to give him a real fighting chance. It just felt like to me they canned Sako when nothing was going in like he was set up for failure. Correct. And and Joe has been around the league forever and and listen, he did a great job up until Christmas. That first six weeks, he got everybody back in place. But but again, it it just wasn’t sustainable with with the back end that they had with Lindholm out. Um and Joe Joe knew that. I I don’t I don’t see him not getting rehired as another coach. Like he was headachterm. Um they didn’t ever commit to him being the head coach. It was like he was the placeholder. They weren’t going to go and make a decision quickly in October. um and wanted the summer and and they took a long time to make this decision on Marco Sturm as well, which um I think just goes to show why they didn’t do that in October because they know that they can’t pull the trigger again 3 months into this. So, Sweeney I think is one of the more unique executives in Boston sports over the last generation because he’s had great success. They give you the numbers. I know Dan Duket got in trouble for it, but most points over a certain number of years, most regular season wins, and yet here they are on their third coach and not that what, four years, three years, and the coach they had, Cassidy, which you’re right, that felt like that was a unit that worked well together that had just run its course that y they were saddened to see Cassidy go. Cassidy was frustrated when he left and but I don’t I I think that that was a a a unit for a long period of time. How how do they make this work and how does Sweeney, you know, how long is the leash? Because I think it’s now on Sweeney. Sturm I guess could be collateral damage, but if the team isn’t successful in the next two to three years, that will be on Sweeney more so than the coach. Yeah, it it feels like that’s where we’re at. But I think it’s really important for everyone to understand that this is going to whenever and Don Sween is going to get fired at some point, right? Like no GM has ever been a GM for 50 straight years in his entire career. So I but it’s important for everyone to know the exact same thing’s going to happen when Don Sweeney gets fired. Whenever that is, whether if it’s 5 years from now, he’s going to get a job the next day if he wants it. He’s highly highly regarded in the national. You don’t get team Canada general manager opportunities for foreign nations being on the part of the Olympic team in Canada if you’re not really well respected and thought of very highly in the hockey world. It’s it’s it’s a massive job and the fact that he was given that job just proves what he’s thought of and how hard he works and what his um his discipline in the job is and how much he puts into it. So I it’s just important to put that out there first. I know we’re in Boston. I know it doesn’t really matter what everyone else thinks. This is Boston and and he’s been here a long time and they haven’t won a Stanley Cup under his and they had a bad draft 10 years ago, which we still somehow talk about all the time. I understand all that criticism and the fact that he’s gone through coaches. It is on them right now and I think I think Don knows it as well as anyone. He he’s a he’s a Boston guy now and and he understands that. How hard was it, do you think, for him when it came to Brad and the decision to to go with that trade? No, it was it was hard for everybody and and certainly the organization has to know what the what the fallout will be. Again, they they they know this market and and deal with it on a daily basis and they they I’m sure they knew, especially him going to Florida. Uh everybody knows what that narrative is going to be once once it gets done. And um but I also think it lends itself to to how good Don is at his job at a lot of times that he’s willing to to do that and willing to make those decisions. And um it the easy one would have been to let Brad stay. That that would have been the easy one. Did you believe any of the rumors that after he won the Stanley Cup that there were maybe talks of bringing him back? Um no. I think that I I mean talks is you know what what does that mean? I I don’t like I’m sure that yes, you have to talk about that. I’m sure Brad talked about it with his family and and had those discussions that Boston is one of three or four or five places that Brad probably would have been willing to go to. Um but I think I think the feeling I don’t know I for my feeling was once once he left and once they went on a run it felt like okay you do have to turn the page here. Um, it’s really hard to bring him back and and put the sea back on him and and do all of that now that he’s gone. I I think when the deal was done initially, I thought, well, maybe he could do a, you know, kind of a rental play, but once once you saw him in the playoffs in Florida, it felt like, okay, you kind of have to move on. It’ll be interesting to see how that all plays out. I just feel like the Bruins who we always say their fan base no matter what stays very intact. Like they they don’t they don’t miss buying their season tickets. They don’t miss out on games. Even if they’re having an off seasonason, it just feels like Bruins fans have a passion unlike any other team. But nobody’s even talking about them right now. Like this off season has felt so quiet around the Bruins that it’s almost scary. The winter is going to be a unique place this year in the Boston sports scene because neither team is competing for a championship. And you know, going back, how many games away were we for the Celtics and Bruins both being in the championship together? Remember that was the whole talk. You know, could they get a double championship? We were walk we were talking about how are they going to schedule to make sure that that fans could be able to watch. Oh, Curtis and Courtney talked about a parade on the game seven. It was a whole todo. Yeah, I remember. I do think though I like to that point again I you can debate that this team could be you know could be at the bottom or it could be eighth place, it could be fifth place in the con like you can debate it a bunch of different ways cuz no one really knows. But I do think like once it gets going and you see everybody back on the ice, you see Makavoy back, you see Lindholm back, you see Swayman taking a step, you see David P, you’re going to you’ll you’ll get a bit of a swell I think after the way the season ended last year. So many people just wanted to not think about it and we really won’t get that back until till training camp starts. But I again I I I don’t they’re not they’re not winning the conference by any means, but I think there’s more there than than people are giving them credit for. Hot button topic that NHL former NHL players have talked about, especially during this off season, the millionaires tax and in regards to playing in Boston. Do you think it plays into that? Yeah, certainly it does. it again, you see it. Florida or Tampa Bay have won the Stanley or won the Eastern Conference six years in a row, seven years in a row. So, there’s something there. I think Boston’s really lucky in in hockey circles that this is a place that guys want to live, though. So, you do have you you don’t have you don’t have the backs stop of um I I don’t I think it’s well we talked about family and and growing and you know raising kids and raising a family here. I think that’s a lot of the guys at that point and they’re are are have families and know that and understand that from a hockey perspective. I would say um I think that it’s a it’s kind of a European city. It’s kind of a Canadian city. It’s it’s something familiar. It’s small town but but big city. Um I think those are the reasons why hockey guys like it here. But at the end of the day when when I talk to my agent, okay, what’s my contract? It doesn’t really matter what my contract is. It’s it’s what am I what’s what’s my end dollar at the end of each season? How much am I actually what’s taxes, agent fees, cost of living, all of these things? What is my number at the end of the day? And that’s what guys are really guys have figured out that guys are are concerned about that. And that’s why you’re seeing and also it’s pretty cool to live on the beach and play hockey all season and no pressure and no fans. But uh Gary Bman, I think it was this past Cup final was asked about it and he got very defensive. Yeah, the the business side of it is very defensive because obviously they don’t want to make it look like one team or one state is getting an advantage, but there’s no question that and again Boston’s in between what’s going on up north. Again, you go to Canada and you know, you’re 53% tax on on in Toronto. You can’t even fly home when you get to your location. And you can’t if you’re in Vancouver, you can’t buy a house because they have foreign international housing rules. What? Really? Yeah. Yeah. You can’t buy If you’re an American in Vancouver, you can’t buy a house. So, all of those guys just have to rent. Yeah. Even if they’re a lifer. Even if they’re a lifer. Yeah. So, so how do you is there a process by which you could become able to purchase something or is it just only if you’re Canadian? Yeah, they did it because so many of the the Chinese dollars were coming over and they were just funneling it through real estate in Vancouver. So, Wow. Yeah. Here.

Identity crisis for the #Bruins ? How do you feel about the offseason and upcoming season?
Andrew “Razor” Raycroft Joins!
Can Bruins HC Marco Sturm change this team’s identity? #NHL #trending #fyp #news
Is Don Sweeney safe going forward? Can this team outperform the expectations and get back to playoffs?
The Greg Hill Show!

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