RECAPPING Bruins Dev Camp/Free Agency | Poke the Bear - video Dailymotion

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Join Connor Ryan and Ty Anderson in episode 245 of "Poke the Bear" as they dive into the Bruins' recent developments at Dev Camp and Free Agency. From highlighting promising college prospects like Riley Duran and Oscar Yelich to discussing the strategic signings of Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, this episode covers it all.  Learn about the team's focus on defensive strength, the impact of underrated prospects like Jackson Edward and Ryan Walsh, and the exciting prospects aiming to secure roster spots through training camp performances. Stay tuned for insights on the Bruins' multi-year plan for success and the dynamic roster decisions shaping their upcoming season.  0:00 - Intro 2:41 - Bruins Development Camp Overview 7:43 - Player Development Insights 10:37 - Expectations at BC 13:09 - Unique Prospect Development 15:26 - Underrated Prospect Watch 17:28 - Potential Seventh Round Gem 19:28 - Providence Pipeline Toughness 30:38 - Best case scenario 33:30 - Cap increase projections 38:18 - Nikita Zadorov's impact 42:51 - Zadorov's puck retrieval 46:00 - Lab entry concerns 53:23 - Potential depth challenges 54:57 - Addressing roster uncertainties    Prize Picks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy! Go to https://PrizePicks.com/CLNS  Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply. Go to https://gametime.co !  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the #CLNS Media Network’s YouTube channel for Boston #Bruins hockey. CLNS Media is the leading online provider of audio/video coverage for the Boston sports. Get complete inside access to the Bruins at TD Garden, the game day skates at Warrior, and everywhere on the road. CLNS #NHLBruins' credentialed insiders Mike "Trags" Petraglia, Evan Marinofski, Conor Ryan, and Joe "Haggs" Haggerty. Providing instantaneous news and analysis all in real time, as well as full access to complete videos from the players, coaches, ownership and everyone else on Causeway Street.  For the CLNS award winning Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox, College hoops, NBA History, go here to featured channels- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiP7KyKodc3OHuN_XhEyPPw?sub_confirmation=1

Transcript

00:00:00Poke the Bear is powered by Pricepix, the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the CLNS Media Network.

00:00:09And welcome into Poke the Bear episode 245 presented by CLNS Media and sponsored by our

00:00:15good friends over at Pricepix and Game Time Tickets. My name is Connor Ryan. Once again,

00:00:21we are joined by Ty Anderson of 98Fathers. What's up, Ty? How was your 4th of July? You

00:00:26have some glizzies, some burgers? It was kind of boring. I'm not going to lie to you. We are

00:00:31planning to see our friends tomorrow, the 6th, which is, you know, it's kind of like a everyone,

00:00:38you know, I'm 32. All my friends have kids now, basically, except for me. And so it's harder to

00:00:46make plans, I found. And there was really nothing going on family wise for me. So I just hung out.

00:00:54We hung out. We walked around Boston because we live here in town. And, you know, we got a couple

00:01:00of quesadillas. So not exactly traditional 4th of July cuisine, but a fun day in the city.

00:01:06Nevertheless, how about yourself? Listen, what's more American than being able to go out there and

00:01:11have a wide range of different culinary options? Like no one's eating quesadillas, I don't think.

00:01:16So what's more American than that? To have the freedom to walk amongst this revelry and still

00:01:22get a beautiful quesadilla? Can't have that in like Italy. Yeah. So I would argue I would argue

00:01:28we had the most 4th of July with our freedoms and our decisions to get whatever the hell we wanted

00:01:34to eat. It's going to go down a horrible path if we do the Tim Robinson sketch. But no, it's the

00:01:40same here. Low key. I think you get to a certain point where just being able to chill, decompress

00:01:45and do kind of nothing. We just threw a couple of burgers and hot dogs on the grill and relaxed.

00:01:50Didn't have like a whole bunch of people over. There's a little there's bliss to that, right?

00:01:54Look at how hectic things can be. So low key for us. Both of us were over at Bruins development

00:02:01camp at the start of the 4th of July. What's more American than going to Canada's national sport

00:02:06and seeing a Bruins prospect ski up and down the ice at Warrior Ice Arena? So second year in a row.

00:02:12I think it's our new tradition. Unfortunately, I know the NHL just loves to compress every we have

00:02:17like weeks upon weeks, Ty, where where the season ends, where it's it's us just talking about what

00:02:23could happen, finding out what's going to happen during the offseason, and then all gets compressed

00:02:28into about four days of absolute chaos. So this whole podcast will be us trying to recap, sort

00:02:36through all that happened about two months worth of news that happened in the span of four days.

00:02:41But we'll start with Dev Camp. Obviously, every year it's more of a, you know, checking in, seeing

00:02:48how players are as opposed to a real evaluation. That stuff comes in, you know, the fall with

00:02:54training camp and team players going to their respective leagues. And again, the Bruins don't

00:02:58necessarily have the most stacked prospect pipeline. So I mean, having a guy like Dean

00:03:04Letourneau there obviously helped quite a bit. But what kind of stood out to you in terms of like a

00:03:08player or two that you kind of caught your eye over these four days? I would say the continued

00:03:15progression of some of their college prospects, namely Riley Duran, Oscar Jelvic. These guys are

00:03:26you know, you can see them coming along even Andre Gasso. You're starting to kind of see

00:03:30their maturation, they're getting bigger, they're getting stronger. You know, even a guy who is

00:03:36jumping to college this upcoming year, you know, Chris Pelosi, like he looks a bit more filled out

00:03:43than he did a year ago, right? And that's part of the game for these kids now. It's not just

00:03:49how do you look on the ice, it's how does your frame look off the ice, right? Like you got to

00:03:53get a little bit stronger, obviously, as we all know, when you're going from the USHL to the

00:03:57college game or the college game to the pro game. And so to see their commitment to that, I

00:04:03think is important, it's impressive. And it's an encouraging sign, like you said, like not a lot

00:04:09of high picks. So the ones that you do make, you got to make sure that you're getting the

00:04:15right player, but that player is taking it seriously in terms of their progression. And clearly,

00:04:20the Bruins have found some guys who are taking the craft seriously. Yeah, and I think you just

00:04:24look at the roster, right? You have 35 players that took part in DevCamp, only four of them were

00:04:30under six feet. And it's all of these like forwards like Patra, Cole Spicer, Dan Lokmalis,

00:04:35and Djelovic, who are like, Lokmalis and Djelovic are two guys who maybe have more middle six upside

00:04:41if all things pan out. So you'll take a guy who's 5'10", 5'11", if they have that different kind of

00:04:46mentality. But as you said, like you look at all these forwards, they have like Gasso, who's 6'4",

00:04:51Pelosi's 6'1", but he was kind of known as a high motor kind of player when they drafted him.

00:04:56And you kind of saw that play out. Riley Duran, who I mean, the Bruins seem like he's like third

00:05:01in the line behind Lysel and Merkulov in terms of NHL reps, which again, it's encouraging. That's

00:05:06kind of how they mapped him out. But the fact they're already talking about him, you know,

00:05:10maybe making a push this year when you already have kind of a logjam of kind of fourth line

00:05:15players up in the roster right now. Encouraging to see that from them. But I just think you look

00:05:20at the Bruins overall approach, right? Like we've talked about this, I think last week when the

00:05:24Bruins took Letourneau of like, good on them for swinging for the fences with a guy that

00:05:28has some risk, right? Like he's definitely a project. I think we definitely saw that

00:05:32this week of you see the potential, you see that he's pretty, pretty raw. He's going to need some

00:05:36time to fill out there. But you can afford to take one of those kind of players who maybe have that

00:05:41boomer bust potential when you look at their strategy of just, you know, size on the blue line

00:05:48and forwards up front who have some size but have high motors and can be effective

00:05:52on the four check, you know, inject energy that kind of those two traits, right? In terms of your

00:05:58forward to your defense, like you're creating guys who have a pretty steady floor, right? Like,

00:06:02again, all these guys are going to go to the NHL, of course not. But if you're getting these guys

00:06:07in like the seventh round or the fifth round that become at the very least productive AHL players

00:06:11and fill out your roster there, and one of them can make the jump, or a guy could eventually be a

00:06:17third pair physical player or a steady bottom six player. You'll take that when you look at

00:06:22just how barren or how, how few opportunities this team has had to really swing for the fences

00:06:26and add guys like they've made the most of finding an identity craft and kind of crafting their farm

00:06:32system towards what they're trying to draft. Yeah. And, you know, obviously a guy like let's

00:06:37turn always the is the the outlier, you know, like that, that a lot of these guys seem to have

00:06:44trying to find a way to say it like they have safe ceilings, right? Like it's like, okay,

00:06:49this guy's made dependable, third liner, fourth liner, maybe can be like a Danton Heinen can move

00:06:55up to your second line in a pinch kind of deal. Not a lot of them have that this guy is everything

00:07:02works is a bonafide top six impact kind of talent on your roster. And so we talked about this,

00:07:09you know, last week, it's like, you got to be patient with that kind of player. And that player

00:07:13is going to go through different sort of, okay, I'm this kind of guy, or I'm that kind of guy,

00:07:18you know, talking to him this week, one on one, everyone was talking about,

00:07:22you know, you're changed Thompson, you're changed Thompson. And he was kind of like, you know,

00:07:26he's like, to be honest, I watch more Leon dry saddle, and I do change Thompson, like,

00:07:29that's a guy that he looks at and says, I want to be like him. And, you know, the second overall

00:07:34pick from 2014. I, you know, incredible player, as we all know, it'd be great if he hits that

00:07:41probably not going to hit that, let's be honest. But, you know, like, it's when it's funny that

00:07:46when we try to box somebody into you're this guy, that same guy goes, No, actually, I'm more like

00:07:50this guy. I like playing like him more than I like playing like Tate Thompson. So I think that's kind

00:07:55of funny. That's kind of interesting to me. But yeah, I mean, you got to produce some talents out

00:08:02of here. And that's such a simplified way of looking at it. But like, look at the the late

00:08:09era of Tampa Bay lightning hockey, right? Like, that produced Yanni Gord, who was undrafted

00:08:18that produced Ross Colton, who I believe was a fifth round pick, I want to say, like, the late,

00:08:24like the late era of those teams didn't have picks either. But they got guys that were

00:08:28valuable contributors in some fashion. And we're kind of entering that final window of that for

00:08:34now, the Bruins are gonna start having picks again, the next few years, whether or not they

00:08:38keep them. That's anybody's guess, as we all know. But in the now, like some of these guys,

00:08:43you're talking about, they got a hit. And so dev camp is a nice check in. It doesn't mean much.

00:08:48It's summer, you know, like things can happen, as we all know. But I would say off the jump,

00:08:54when it comes to Dean Letourneau, like we're looking at a guy that clearly has some work in

00:09:00front of him. But the overall framework is encouraging, I would say. Yeah, I agree. I

00:09:04think you look at it, right. It's something where I think it was preached very early on,

00:09:08you look at this guy who's 18, could put on another, you know, 25-30 pounds when he's all

00:09:15said and done. But again, you like it. I feel like there was some people who like mentioned,

00:09:20like, this guy's getting knocked off the puck quite a bit. This is a guy who's, you know,

00:09:24skating still not there. It's like, he's still a project. And I think it's also like the skating

00:09:29is not there. Like he had a few stumbles during like, technical drills and stuff like that,

00:09:33where I don't think even 18-year-olds are necessarily working on those kind of things.

00:09:37I think his overall, like his strides good. He has good acceleration. I think like,

00:09:41especially like his shot, but also like just like his, he doesn't seem like encumbered by his frame,

00:09:47right. There's some of these guys where they're kind of just, you know, they're either hindered

00:09:51by just how big they are. They still like don't have like that touch with the puck.

00:09:54He's good at like, you know, handling pucks, you know, kind of working in tight quarters.

00:09:59He had a couple of really good plays on Thursday during three on threes where it didn't have a lot

00:10:03of space and just has that reach. We can kind of make something happen out of nothing. So

00:10:07you look at like what he already has kind of dialed down for a player that size. It's encouraging.

00:10:12It's all about just taking those next steps, but also like those next steps aren't anything that

00:10:17is like a reach for what you're expecting. Like, this is a guy who again, he's probably going to

00:10:22take his lumps next year, going from prep to Boston college, a national championship contender

00:10:29in probably, you know, the best, you know, a league in college hockey, like that's to be expected,

00:10:34but you look at like what he needs to do. It's all about the things that every young player has

00:10:39to go through, like putting on weight, learning, you know, dealing with the higher pace, dealing

00:10:43with the added physicality. It's like, there's, he's a project, but I don't think there's anything

00:10:47in there that is asking way too much in terms of what he needs to do. Right? Like, it's not like

00:10:53this guy is six, seven, but man, he needs to work on his skating or like, man, this guy can't,

00:10:57he handles a puck like a grenade. Like it's not anything like that where you're like, all right,

00:11:01this guy really needs to dial down these things. It's all just the natural progression. But by

00:11:05saying that, it also means like, I don't think he's going to be one and done at BC. Like give

00:11:09this guy who's kind of a unicorn out there the time he needs to really kind of just find his

00:11:13footing, I think. Yeah. And I think this first year at BC is going to be telling, um, in terms

00:11:18of, okay, what's he doing on day one of Eagles, you know, camp season, whatever you want to call

00:11:25it. And then what's he doing by their final game of the year? You know, if they're in the frozen

00:11:29four, like, like, is he still in the fourth line, third line, or is he in a top six role? Like,

00:11:33like that might answer more questions than anything else. It's like, how are they utilizing him?

00:11:37You know, his goal is for BC his freshman year, and they're going to give an opportunity clearly

00:11:43if they're bringing him in following the departure of Will Smith, they're looking at it.

00:11:47Like, we think he can be an impact player sooner rather later, but you know, is he playing special

00:11:54teams? Is he playing on the PK or the power play? Is he, um, playing more than 10 minutes a night?

00:12:00You know, is he a regular lineup fixture? You know, he said that his goal is to earn a lineup

00:12:05spot full-time and to be playing special teams. So if he can do, let's say he has a full-time

00:12:10lineup spot, that's, that's box one. But if he can play in the PK, that's box two. If he can play

00:12:15in the power play, that's, that's box three. If he can check multiple boxes this year, then that's

00:12:20a win for him. And that increases the timeline a little bit. So I'm with you that in the sense

00:12:26that I think he's two to three years, I don't think he's going to be a one and done. It'd be

00:12:29great if he, if he were, but yeah, if he, if he is that, that means that he was like a Hobie Baker,

00:12:36you know, type of talent in terms of production and, and what BC did as a team overall. So

00:12:42I think he's going to be back. Uh, I want to, I'm going to say three years, I'm going to say three.

00:12:46Um, but I just really think it's about how do they utilize him this upcoming season?

00:12:53Yeah, absolutely. He's definitely someone that again, him being a BC also will be helpful in

00:12:57terms of just how many times the Bruins and any of us will be able to watch him, whether he's playing,

00:13:02you know, BU or any of the, any of these other hockeys teams. So his development, I think will

00:13:07be great to watch. And again, I think you expect learning curves and bumps along the way and hell,

00:13:12if it's his freshman year and he's got 20 goals in 35 games and also, you know, that's great news.

00:13:17Like I, I will be the first to be like, didn't see this coming. And that's a great problem to

00:13:21have where all of a sudden you have a guy that maybe he only is a year or two at BC and he's

00:13:25ready to make a push there. Again, I don't think that's going to be the expectation. And I will

00:13:29be very surprised if that is a guy going from prep to that level that quickly. But he's again,

00:13:35he's such a unique prospect that I don't really know. We'll see. We'll see how that kind of plays

00:13:40out. I also think it's, I also think it's important to note too, that like, it's very rare that a guy

00:13:47is a one and done at BC. Like it's just rare. Like I, you know, Ryan Leonard is staying for another

00:13:54year, right? Unfortunately for cutter cutter goatee did two years, right? Yeah. Yeah. Is

00:14:02Perot going back again? He is going back. Yeah. So, you know, the guy who was one and done was

00:14:07Will Smith, who was what? Sixth overall, fifth overall, something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Like

00:14:12you gotta be like a special, special talent to, to be able to do a one and done at BC.

00:14:18And not to say that these guys like Perot and Leonard couldn't go if they wanted to, but like

00:14:22just the overall ability to be a one and done requires something really special. And, you know,

00:14:29if Leonard wasn't a one and done after scoring what, 30 goals and 60 points or something like

00:14:33that, like he was, I think he was like the most pro ready out of all those guys, even more than

00:14:37Smith. Like I was shocked. So, you know, there's an element there of like, you gotta prove a lot

00:14:44right. To, to, to be able to like truly be that kind of guy. And I don't know, I think it's

00:14:49unreasonable to expect either Letourneau like internally to expect that of himself or for a

00:14:55program or a pro team to expect that out of him. So I think two to three sounds right. And so we'll

00:15:02see how it all transpires, but I think the BC program specifically, I, I, I do feel like that's

00:15:08a multi-year build. Whereas some other schools like, like BU, I feel like has more one and dones,

00:15:16you know, like I think the import more talent that is just like, this dude is pretty close to

00:15:20damn ready. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be great to see how it all kind of pans out for

00:15:27Letourneau. Before we wrap up depth camp, was there any player that you think, like, I think

00:15:34we've got these tiers, right? Of like, we know Patra, we know Laurie, we know Murky Love Lysel.

00:15:39I think Yelvick is probably in that tier below that, where he's a guy that I think is really

00:15:43kind of separate himself a little bit. Duran, is there any other early, maybe underrated prospect

00:15:47who you, you're going to be keeping tabs on, whether it's again, via, you know, people on

00:15:54Twitter, sending something along. I know we're going to get a whole lot of highlights as we do

00:15:58every year from the, our dedicated Providence, you know, prospects, watchers who clip everything

00:16:04there, you know, the, the, the work they do in terms of sending stuff along is much appreciated.

00:16:09But is there any player down in Providence or a guy who's going to college that you're excited

00:16:13to see this upcoming year? Yeah. You know, I touched on him a little bit earlier, but

00:16:18Chris Pelosi is going to be making the jump from the USHL to Quinnipiac this year. I know he's a

00:16:23freshman and, and, you know, the freshman deployment can always be kind of tricky in terms of how much

00:16:28ice time do you get, but a guy that people rave about whether it's teammates in the USHL, you

00:16:36know, Beckett Hendrickson, a guy who played with him and a fellow Bruins prospect, like they say

00:16:42that he's got something here. So I want to see how it translates and it might be a hard year

00:16:48to see how it does translate, but, but that's a guy that I'd be watching. You know, the top pick

00:16:54from their 23 class, I do believe I, I believe he was their first pick. So, so that that's a guy

00:17:02that, that I'd be watching closely. And the other one is actually from that same class, which is

00:17:09Ryan Walsh, who I believe is going to college this year. But, but had really good scoring numbers

00:17:18in the USHL a year ago. I'm forgetting the Nate, the team he played for, but I remember

00:17:22looking at the numbers and being like, wow, that's a more of a goal scorer than I thought. So

00:17:27those are two guys that I got my eye on this year. Again, jump into the college game. Just,

00:17:31just looked it up. Ryan Walsh is going to Cornell this year. So ever heard of it? Yeah. It's in the,

00:17:38it's called Colonel. It's the highest rank in the military. So he's going there. He was in Cedar

00:17:44rough Rapids, Cedar Rapids, rough riders this year, 79 points in 61 games. So clearly got a

00:17:51scorer's touch. So that's the guy that I'm looking at. Those are two guys I'm looking at. How about

00:17:54you? Yeah, I think one guy who, as I said earlier, you're going to get those tweets from

00:18:00Bruins network, Robert Chalmers, all these people who are dedicated in terms of, you know,

00:18:06clipping all this stuff. Jackson, Edward, a guy who a seventh round pick. So great value,

00:18:11even if he's maybe just a HL stalwart, but controlled chaos, I think is Jackson Edward.

00:18:17They're going to get a bunch of the door offs now in terms of these guys that are just absolute

00:18:21chaos on the ice. And again, like what has NHL ceiling is we'll see played for a great London

00:18:27Knights team run by the hunters who have a great track record as well. If you're a guy who's prone

00:18:33to laying out players and causing havoc, having Dale Hunter as a coach is probably a pretty useful

00:18:39resource to have. But he's a guy that, again, I think you look at the way he plays, pretty dynamic

00:18:46player, had more of, I think, an offensive touch than people expected, is prone to dumbing players,

00:18:52throwing them into the end board, stuff like that. But at least he'll be entertaining. And

00:18:57he's a guy that if he develops over the next couple of years in Providence, he could be a

00:19:01guy that down the road could be a really useful 70. Like maybe he's a third pairing guy like a

00:19:07Kevin Miller who's really physical, really punishing kind of player. It just he's a guy

00:19:11that especially for a seventh round pick, it's the way the NHL is going where it's so heavy on

00:19:18speed and skill. Now having a guy with Edwards game and just that that violence, that nastiness

00:19:23to his game makes him kind of an outlier and a rare kind of asset to have. So he's a guy I'm

00:19:28pretty excited to see how he kind of pans out next year. Yeah. And I know we have to put the

00:19:32qualifiers on it because he is a seventh round pick. And those guys, you know, they're basically

00:19:39their lottery tickets. I know. But, you know, Matt Roy from the LA Kings now with the Washington

00:19:45Capitals was a seventh round pick. A guy that we've talked about on this podcast before, Jacob

00:19:51Middleton was a seventh round pick. I believe Mackenzie Wegar was a seventh round pick as well.

00:19:57So you can find these guys and you alluded to it. You know, that London Knights program produces some

00:20:05extraordinary pricks, extraordinary pricks. They produce guys that play with that nastiness,

00:20:11that edge, that Dale Hunter mean streak. Just top my head here, Matthew Kachuk, Max Domi.

00:20:19Oh, God, there's another one who's a real SOB who played there. I'm not necessarily like super mean,

00:20:25but like Bo Horvat, you know, they produce these prickly prickly guys. Yes. Yes. Yeah, exactly.

00:20:32And so it's not going to have to be taught to him. You know, like, hey, you got to be a mean

00:20:37MFR. He's got to know how to do that. He's already been that kind of guy in the O.H.L.

00:20:42And so and I love what they've done in Providence this year in terms of

00:20:48helping those guys out with some legit nastiness. We're going to talk more about free agents later,

00:20:53but these were, you know, Billy Sweezy is a guy who plays with that edge. He's in the back end

00:20:58down in Providence. Jeff Vial is a guy that brought in who was in the NHL a couple of years ago.

00:21:04He fought Chara. That's how that's how willing this guy is to to fight and to, you know, to

00:21:10plant his skates in the ice and say, I'm here. He fought Chara. So they've they've restocked

00:21:16their Providence pipeline with some tough guys to ensure that some of these players like a Jackson

00:21:21Edward, like a Freddie Brunet, who played a lot last year but is still kind of young,

00:21:26that they have some protection and some insurance for when they're out there and trying to assert

00:21:30themselves as who they are. And for guy like Jackson Edward, that's he's going to have some

00:21:34guys that are going to come call and say, you think you're tough? Let's see. Yeah, no, it'll

00:21:37be fun to watch. There'll be no shortage. I think of it'd be like when Frederick first got to

00:21:41Providence, like every week would be like Trent Frederick had five fights this week and was just

00:21:46fighting everyone. Dude, that was like Kuntar was like that this year. Yeah, like. Yeah, exactly. So

00:21:52definitely fun to watch all that goes down in Providence and the various leagues across North

00:21:57America and Europe with this Bruins prospect pool. Ty, we're going to shift gears now and

00:22:02look at free agency, which happened. It feels like it was five weeks ago, but it was just on Monday.

00:22:07We'll break that down. But before we do that, let's take a quick break here from our good

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00:23:42Shout out once again to our good friends over at PrizePix. Alright, Ty, free agency. Bruins were

00:23:49active early on as soon as it hit noon, even though it felt like everyone had already announced

00:23:53who they were signing with at like 11.15 because everyone talks ahead of time anyway, so nothing

00:23:59really matters. But anyway, Bruins come away with, you know, say probably the best center on the

00:24:06market in Elias Lindholm and if not, you know, probably not the best overall, but absolutely

00:24:12probably the most intriguing in terms of his skill set in Nikita Zadorov. And again, they

00:24:16had some other pieces, Max Jones, a pretty physical guy who's going to be in that mix for the fourth

00:24:21line as well. But just as a sweeping kind of summary, what was kind of your overall impressions

00:24:26of what the Bruins did in free agency? Yeah, I think the Elias Lindholm trade was a very,

00:24:32I mean, sorry, signing was a very obvious one in the sense that they had tried to trade for him

00:24:37multiple years now. It was a multi-year quest. And once you can get that player for money alone

00:24:44and not have to part with first round picks and second round picks and prospects and all of that,

00:24:49like it just made it a no brainer. And Don Sweeney basically told me as much that, you know,

00:24:53they felt they were close over time, but by the end of their pursuit, they were kind of

00:24:58offering packages that didn't really entice Calgary because their cupboard was so barren.

00:25:03Right. And so kind of natural fit. You know, you didn't hear much about them being in on

00:25:10Sean Monaghan. You heard Chandler Stevenson, but not that strong. And then you look at that

00:25:16contract that Stevenson gets in Seattle and you're like, well, what's done with what the

00:25:21Kraken are doing? And like, what is the plan there? Yeah. And so, you know, it just made

00:25:28sense. Right. It was a natural move that ultimately made sense. And so not surprising at all. I think

00:25:35the real surprise was that, you know, we we spent God, how many shows did we spend going?

00:25:41They're going to get a center and a winger. They're going to get a center and a wing.

00:25:44They might need to get two wingers. Yeah. And Claire, we went through every effing player that

00:25:51was imaginable to talk about that, that they could get on the wings and then they throw us a curve

00:25:56ball and they go, they go D. And so it's really interesting that there are two longterm commitments

00:26:02were at left shot D and at center, one of which being obvious, the second one being obvious,

00:26:08but maybe not at that price point and that term. So a bit of a curveball, but I think

00:26:14when it comes to the biggest, the biggest signing, we had to expect it, right?

00:26:18Yeah, no, without a doubt. And I think Lindholm, I think it's only natural, right? For people to

00:26:23have some reservations about Lindholm in terms of last year was a bit of a struggle for him,

00:26:27which he even kind of mentioned during his availability with us. Like you're going into

00:26:32the last year of your contract. You don't have that clarity. The team you're on in Calgary sucks.

00:26:36So you find, you figure out pretty early on, you're going to get traded. You go to Vancouver

00:26:40and he finished strong with them, but it was in a weird spot for like pretty much the second

00:26:45half of the year, right? Like was moved to the wing. It's not really where he's best fit.

00:26:49Gets pushed down to like third line center. Cause you got Patterson, you got JT Miller ahead of them

00:26:54kind of just like Vancouver trading from was kind of weird anyway, in terms of,

00:26:57you know, you saw that rumor, what in like early March where Vancouver was like, we need Gensel

00:27:02and said, I'm like, yeah, why didn't you save up those assets to get Gensel instead of a guy

00:27:06like Lindholm? It was kind of a luxury on your team. So I understand that, you know,

00:27:10there's reservations about Lindholm in terms of last year and whether he's more of a

00:27:15elite second line center in terms of what his real value is. But you look at what the Bruins need

00:27:22and the fact that yes, maybe he is not a bonafide franchise top line center. He's the best one you

00:27:28got now. And he makes your team a hell of a lot better with just him out there. You know, whether

00:27:32it's him, his presence alone, where it moves guy like Zaka to the wing, if it bumps coil down a

00:27:38line where he can, you know, get easier matchups, he's not facing off against Sasha Barkov ever,

00:27:43every single night or the equivalent of that. And again, I think just his, his skillset, right? Like

00:27:50the fact that he's defensively responsible, which the Bruins value heavily put a lot of defensive

00:27:54responsibilities on their centermen his face off numbers, which that was a glaring issue last year.

00:28:00There was how many times in like, you know, genuine February, we'd be like at the garden

00:28:05after a game where they lose a close one, or they give up a lead late, or like, wow,

00:28:09like the productions there, what they've missed the most with Bergeron being gone as the face

00:28:12off numbers. So you have that. And again, like, I think people are looking at that contract,

00:28:18which like, I don't, I thought it was going to be like, seven times eight, I thought it was gonna

00:28:22be over eight for what he was going to get. And again, eight, 7.75. But you look at what his

00:28:28contract is. And yes, like there's the term involved, but I'm kind of just staying focused

00:28:33in the now of the next two, three years, which I think you have to do with free agency. And the

00:28:37fact that the cap hit should go down quite a bit the way these, I'd rather you give the money to

00:28:42these guys now before the cap jumps up in a couple of years. But I just think you look at Lindholm

00:28:48and what he can provide. Is he going to be an 80 point guy, a 42 goal guy like he was in 2021, 22?

00:28:55Probably not. I don't, I think that's probably reaching, but can he be a 65 point guy who's

00:29:00great two way player? Like you absolutely take that. Cause also I feel like people say that's

00:29:05like Bergeron light. Bergeron wasn't an 80 point guy. Like, and that's not to say that he's the

00:29:10same player as Lindholm. Like we know how good Bergeron was, how greatly, you know, how great

00:29:15he impacted the game every time he was over the ice. But if you get 65 points from another guy

00:29:20and you still have a guy like Zaka, a guy like Coyle and these other good players who probably

00:29:26were in elevated roles last year, they're sort of down a spot or two. It makes your whole lineup

00:29:30that much better. Yeah, 100%. And the other part of it too, is that like, you know, just breaking

00:29:36it down the last two years, basically post, uh, Gaudreau and Kachuk leaving, uh, Calgary,

00:29:44you know, his production hasn't been great, right? Like it's 58 even strength points over the last

00:29:50two years between, um, between Calgary and Vancouver, I believe. Um, but when I looked

00:29:58this up the other day, like it was, it was more than Anthony Sorelli. It was more than Tomas

00:30:03Hurdle. It was around the same as Ryan O'Reilly and Jordan Stahl. And the, the great sort of

00:30:11whatever here is that they're going to put them with David Pasternak. They're going to put them

00:30:16on their top power play unit. And you mentioned it, it's going to make everyone around them

00:30:21better because the matchups are going to get now, right? Like it's not going to be

00:30:26seven games of, of Charlie Coyle going head to head with Alexander Barkoff, which is not

00:30:30a matchup that Coyle can, can win. He can maybe break even, but he's not going to win that matchup.

00:30:38And that's best case scenario. I think with Lindholm, you can maybe break even a little bit

00:30:42more given the two-way know-how and the trickle-down effect of having that kind of matchup.

00:30:47And so I think what's, what's important to note, and I think I've said it here before. And if I,

00:30:53if I have, I'm sorry for repeating myself, but like the Bruins were not bridging the gap upfront

00:30:58between themselves and Florida on July one, it wasn't going to happen. The best they could do

00:31:05was try to even the playing field a little bit more in terms of their defensive know-how slotting

00:31:11guys into proper, more advantageous spots, and then going from there. And so for me,

00:31:16adding Lindholm and fortifying your fourth line to have a bit more jam and physicality and tone

00:31:23setting presence and, you know, Castlock, another guy that can win face-offs on the right side of

00:31:27the ice, like, like that's important to me. So I can't be a hypocrite and say, they got to get

00:31:34a center. They got to get a center. They got to get a center. And then they get one using the

00:31:37only method that they really have to get one and then go, no, I don't like it. So I like it because

00:31:41I think it slots everyone into their proper spot or closer to it, to your point or to what you said

00:31:47off the jump. Yes. If, and when this Bruins team wins a Stanley cup, I think Elias Lindholm is your

00:31:53second line center. I think that's, that's probably where he is, but this is a start.

00:31:58This is the start of a multi-year load up that I believe that me and you believe they're going to

00:32:03do where if there's a, if there's a center to be signed in 2025, I think they're going to be there

00:32:08too. I really do because of these things that we're talking about. And so I can't hate it from that

00:32:13standpoint, because I think it gets you closer. It doesn't elevate you above them, but it gets you a

00:32:18lot closer than you were on June 30th, in my opinion. Yeah. I think I've made this comparison

00:32:22a couple of times, but I kind of view the Bruins as kind of like the, the golden Knights pre Eichel,

00:32:27where it's like, they had a lot of guys down the middle who were more than capable, right? Like

00:32:31William Carlson, Stevenson, all these players who are great in their own right and can absolutely

00:32:37hold down the floor, but they're going to be keeping tabs on whoever else hits the market.

00:32:40Oh, you're not happy in your current spot or they're dangling you on the market. This guy

00:32:44really is going to hit frequency. They're going to be involved in all that stuff. And again,

00:32:47you look at like the seven-year term for Lindholm where it's like, well, you're going to be paying

00:32:51them seven and seven, you know, seven, seven, five when he's 35 and he's going to be a third

00:32:56line center. Uh, if the cap jumps up to like 112 million by 2029 30, which you see what third line

00:33:03centers make, right? Like that's the thing. Like that's why you look at like now with that contract,

00:33:08you look at like whatever Swainman's going to eventually sign for what you hope is long-term

00:33:12and locking him into seven and a half, 8 million, something like that. It's going to look really,

00:33:17really good. The more like the cap is really, I mean, barring some catastrophe, it should be

00:33:22jumping up pretty steadily of like three, 4 million per year, next three or four years.

00:33:27So, um, yeah, I'm encouraged by that. Yeah. So talking with somebody, uh, who knows more

00:33:32about this stuff than, than we do. Um, and they were happy to share with me some information.

00:33:37Um, the cap is going to go up dramatically next year in the year after and potentially the year

00:33:45after that, uh, Utah is the great sort of unknown here in terms of, uh, how much revenue will they

00:33:51help kick in? But it's a big reason why Arizona to Utah made a lot of sense for the league and why

00:33:59they were kind of eager to do it. You have the TV money that's been kicking in. Um, and this,

00:34:05this, this number blew my mind when they told me this was, um, you know, that since they were

00:34:10introduced in the NHL, Vegas and Seattle are top five in generating money in the league. I mean,

00:34:17these are new locations and that are printing money for the league. The fan buy-in has been

00:34:21spectacular. The stadiums are bumping every single night, like they're printing money. And so the

00:34:27belief is that Utah will do the same. Now, Utah has a lot to work on in terms of, um, it's arena.

00:34:33They have a lot of obstructed views and things like that, but, but, but, but the fans are, are in

00:34:39like, like the fan base has already bought in already developed. And so when they get their

00:34:44new arena, you know, say five or six years down, whatever, however long that is, like,

00:34:48I think they broke ground on it. I think they're building it, uh, or they're going to start soon.

00:34:52Um, that's going to generate even more hockey revenue. And so I think why the league is as

00:34:59why the league is projected to go to this, this new stratosphere soon is because they've hit home

00:35:05runs here in Vegas and Seattle. And so if that continues to be the case, which they believe it

00:35:10will be, um, you know, the cap is going to continue to go up. And so to your point, yeah,

00:35:15like your third line centers and your third pairing DS, like they're going to be making

00:35:20money. That's going to shock people. Just like if you told me 10 years ago,

00:35:24Hey, goal is you're going to make 10, 10 million. I'd be like, why, what, like, what do you mean?

00:35:29Hey, you're going to have forwards making 13 and a half million dollars. I would say

00:35:32you can't do that. You have, Oh, that you can make an 8.75. That's the best, you know,

00:35:36that's the best contract in hockey. Like you can't do that. Things change over time. Right.

00:35:41And so, so long as the cap is going up, it's not going to be as this big, this big worry. And so

00:35:47the people that I've talked to about the economics of this contract believe that it's going to age

00:35:52well. Um, and it might be a tad high, but it's not going to be like, Oh my God, they got 13%

00:35:58of their cap tied up in one guy. And he's a third liner now because he's 35 years old.

00:36:03Right. No, exactly. So yeah, I think we're all positive, not surprised in terms of what Lindholm

00:36:08brings. And again, I think he's due for a rebound with a full year next to Pasternak. So, uh, I

00:36:14think just makes the whole rest of the team better. We'll focus in now on Zdorov, who I think

00:36:18probably maybe more fans are maybe more excited about just in terms of the way he plays, right.

00:36:23Cause it was more unexpected, uh, what the signing is before we dive into that tie,

00:36:27take another quick break here from our good friends over at game time tickets.

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00:38:18All right Ty, looking at Nikita Zdorov, a player who's has the title of maybe the most

00:38:24imposing figure in the NHL. It's like a freight train. Very, very physical. Adds definitely

00:38:31a different element to the Bruins in their top four on defense. I did the numbers now. I think

00:38:36with Zdorov in place, the average height and weight of the Bruins defense is 6'3", 220 pounds.

00:38:44So definitely adds a different element there. What was your overall, your take on them

00:38:50signing, going on and getting a guy like Zdorov on the market? Well, let's start with the idea that

00:38:55he's basically a full-time member of this team. I don't think it was possible to have a greater

00:39:02height discrepancy going from one guy to another than it is going from Matt Griswold to Nikita

00:39:07Zdorov. So if you're a sizist out there, if you're a big believer in tall blue liners, Zdorov is your

00:39:16guy. And I like what he can bring from a tenacity standpoint. I like what he can bring from an

00:39:22attitude standpoint. And I think it's probably similar to Pat Maroon when talking to players,

00:39:28when they added Pat Maroon, it was a sense of everyone feels bigger when he's out there.

00:39:33And so Charlie McAvoy will probably feel a bit more imposing knowing that he has Nikita Zdorov

00:39:40to his left. Brandon Carlo would probably feel a little bit better going into corners and

00:39:46retrieving pucks with a four-checker bearing down on him, knowing that if a guy tries any nonsense,

00:39:51Zdorov is going to be right over there. And so it's going to help Mason Lowry, the odd chance

00:39:56that it's a lefty and a lefty out there. Everyone's going to feel better having this guy out there.

00:40:00And so that's important about his addition. Also going back to what we talked about earlier,

00:40:07this is them emphasizing defensive, maybe realizing that they're not built to outscore

00:40:14teams. So maybe they got to focus on trying to win games two to one, three to two, but having

00:40:20the personnel in place that allows them to do that more effectively and less sort of, we talked about

00:40:26this all the time last year, white knuckle, high wiring kind of act where you're like, oh my God,

00:40:31are they going to hang on? This maybe allows them to win those games a bit more comfortably

00:40:36knowing they have a six foot seven, six foot eight guy back there who is physically imposing

00:40:41and also improving as a defenseman. Yeah. I think that's the biggest thing I took away from it.

00:40:46Cause I think when you first heard, like, I think it was like when, or last week before

00:40:51frequency started, like the Bruins are interested in Zdorov and I was like, eh, I don't know.

00:40:56Cause like, I think you, you have that, that label. Cause I think we've seen multiple times,

00:40:59especially during this time with Colorado or early on with Calgary, where we'd go for a big hit,

00:41:05we'd kind of freelance, put himself out of position. There was that one game in Calgary,

00:41:09right. Where the Bruins played, where he like size, I'm trying to think who he hit,

00:41:13was it like Zaka or someone he like went out of position for a hit, went to an odd man rush,

00:41:18led to a goal for the Bruins and sparked a late comeback in that game. It was that

00:41:22West coast trip where Omar had the goalie goal, I believe. So he's been, and again,

00:41:27that's not to say that's going to be completely negated, right. He's still going to have

00:41:31games or plays where you're like, what are you doing there? But again, like if he makes up for

00:41:36it in terms of not just his physicality, but I think when you listen to Don Sweeney right after

00:41:40frequency ended or they, their main spending ended, they kind of view, I think that Vancouver

00:41:47playoff run as kind of what they think they can get out of him. Maybe not eight points in 13 games,

00:41:52but a dynamic player, like he's more than I think in their mind, just a physical tone setter. And I

00:41:59think it's also important that even before, you know, he maybe took that next step forward over

00:42:04this most recent playoff run. He's a big dude, obviously, but he's not this traffic cone or he's

00:42:09this very like, you know like anchor out there that he takes a while to get rolling. Like he's

00:42:14a really mobile defenseman when he was drafted, he was known as like a 40, 50 point defenseman in,

00:42:20you know, the junior leagues as well. So he can move. He's really actually underrated in terms of

00:42:26his transition game. Really good at retrieving the puck, good at exiting the puck, you know,

00:42:32with it on his stick, which is encouraging. That's a guy that you look at, you know,

00:42:39when Charlie McEvoy, I think was at his best is when, you know, him and Grizzly were so good

00:42:42together. It's that Grizzly could retrieve the puck, get the first pass, get going. And that

00:42:46made Charlie McEvoy that much better. Zdorov does the same thing, just in a different way. Like

00:42:52Zdorov is just so big that he can retrieve the puck. Good luck knocking him off the,

00:42:56knocking the puck off of his stick, and he can just kind of ferry it through.

00:42:59And if you have a guy like that, who is that size, who can make life easier for McEvoy and get him

00:43:04going, and Zdorov even mentioned this, like if McEvoy can avoid doing that dirty work and just

00:43:09look down the other end of the ice and be aggressive, like that's when McEvoy is at his

00:43:12best. When we see him activating and bringing the puck down the half wall and trying to make things

00:43:17happen, or researching and trying to lay out a guy with a hit, that's when McEvoy is kind of playing

00:43:22free and playing at his best. And a guy like Zdorov should be able to complement that. So

00:43:25you'll take the hits, you'll take all those things that are obviously the hallmarks of his game, but

00:43:29he's more than just a, you know, he's not a Joel Edmondson, a 6'5 guy who will lay out a guy,

00:43:34but then you'll be like, all right, what else is he going to bring to the table? So Zdorov

00:43:38can bring more, and I think the Bruins are kind of banking on that by signing him to this deal.

00:43:43Yeah, 100%. And actually, I had to go look it up. He hits Dubrovsk, which then opens the door

00:43:49for Zaka to score. So that's why you were thinking it was Zaka. Yeah, you know, transporting the

00:43:57puck is what really intrigues me, like watching more film, breaking more film down on him. Like,

00:44:03he's gotten noticeably better at that. And I think his playoff in Vancouver was really

00:44:08impressive in that regard. You know, just taking some more chances but not doing it at the expense

00:44:15of defense. And that was sort of the knock on him in Buffalo and Colorado. And, you know, it felt

00:44:22like, man, this guy's gonna be like a one-trip pony. He's just, you know, he's throwing his body

00:44:26around, sometimes at the expense of, you know, what's happening in his own zone. So I like the

00:44:33addition from that standpoint. The biggest thing for me is just going to be penalties. Like, can

00:44:40he curb that a little bit? Because if he doesn't, okay, well, now he's in the box. And now you're

00:44:47putting the strain on Lindholm and Lowry and Peek. And part of the reason why you're signing him

00:44:56is to put those players in more, you know, skill set friendly kind of spots. They are more

00:45:03offensively minded. So if you're taking penalties at the same rate you were a year ago, I believe he

00:45:08was fourth in the NHL, I want to say, in penalties taken a year ago. His penalty differential was,

00:45:14I believe, the worst in hockey. He was a minus 28 in terms of penalties drawn versus penalties taken.

00:45:20So if he's still in the box a whole bunch, that's going to force those guys to kill more,

00:45:25which is going to negate the advantages of signing him. And so that's something I'm a little

00:45:31bit worried about. However, bringing in Jay Leach, having Joe Sacco running the PK, I'm sure they can

00:45:38figure something out with the stick positioning, with how he attacks puck carriers that can curb

00:45:44that a little bit. Jay Leach, I think personally, ran a tremendous defensive system in Seattle to

00:45:50the point where it made guys that are maybe not as good as they looked in Seattle much better.

00:45:57You know what I'm saying? And so that's something I want to see. I want to see how they get him in

00:46:01the lab there and try to say, hey, don't take that route because you're putting yourself

00:46:06open for a hook or open for a trip. Just work on some little things here. Curb it just a tad here

00:46:12because the Bruins already took too many penalties a year ago. That's got to be curbed. And so when

00:46:18you bring in a guy like this, everything we've just talked about that we like about his game,

00:46:21we like about his development, it can go out the window if he's still taking 70 minutes in penalties

00:46:27and they're all minors. You know what I'm saying? That's got to get worked on for sure. Yeah,

00:46:32absolutely. No, he definitely has some things to work on. There will be those plays that will drive

00:46:35you crazy, but definitely adds a different element. I think Bruins fans are probably excited

00:46:40about just what he brings. He's also just like a fun player to watch. It is controlled chaos when

00:46:44he's out there. It's kind of like not as chaotic, but like even like you look at, I think it was

00:46:48game one of the Bruins Maple Leafs where it was Pat Maroon's kind of first legitimate game really

00:46:53with the Bruins where he's like knocking guys into the bench, challenging players like you

00:46:57think that from the door off like every single night, like he is, he is chaos. He's a fun player

00:47:01to watch. So I think Bruins fans should get excited about that. If he landed, if he landed

00:47:05in Florida, we'd be going, Oh my God, you gotta be kidding me. My God. Yeah. It's like a meaner,

00:47:10a meaner Radko Gutis doesn't sit on people. So exactly. Um, but you look at, you know,

00:47:16Zador brings a new element. I think Bruins fans like, you know, the fact that their decor now is

00:47:21arguably one through six, one of the deepest, if not murder, the most versatile in terms of

00:47:26mobility, size, everything you want, man, you've got a great goalie and Jeremy Swainman as well.

00:47:31Uh, but the decision to sign Zador off where you have, you know, you're allocating 5 million,

00:47:36put you out of the running in terms of maybe signing a top six board, you know, uh, I don't

00:47:41know, Toffoli, Marcus. So any one of those guys, even a guy like do Claire who went for a little

00:47:45bit cheaper at, you know, I think it was at three, seven, five with the Islanders. Um,

00:47:49so they're out of the running for that. You lose, obviously Jake DeBrusque, you lose like other

00:47:54guys that add secondary scoring and didn't Heinen who forgot he had 17 goals last year.

00:48:00So, uh, in terms of just their overall approach, right. Of prioritizing the defense over a middle

00:48:06six winger, uh, do you think that was the right call or, uh, how do you view kind of the path?

00:48:11They kind of opted for with this money that they had. Yeah. You know, I, I think it might be

00:48:17as simple as them realizing that they're not realizing, but saying like, we're going to spend

00:48:23big money on our goalie. We're going to lose some guys let's fortify the middle of the ice

00:48:29and the defense and basically embrace being a low scoring wipe them out defensively kind of team.

00:48:36And so I think for them internally, they probably look at, we're going to get more goals out of

00:48:41Pavel Zaka by playing the wing versus the center position. When I don't hate that philosophy

00:48:46because there were a few times last year where I think Zaka gave you everything he could at center,

00:48:51but I did think it affected his offensive awareness. If that makes sense. I feel like

00:48:57he was kind of heading to swivel all the time, almost to a detriment. Um, now it's a man just

00:49:03play left wing and fire that rocket. Please just shoot the puck more. Um, and I think they look at

00:49:10sort of what I mentioned earlier, we're getting Lindholm and Lowry into more offensive positions.

00:49:16I think the Bruins realize that Lindholm has to be more, has to be more of a guy who touches

00:49:20the puck more, who has the puck on a stick more, his offensive game is more confident when he is

00:49:27shooting the puck more and get some results. I mean, think about this, like think about how

00:49:31many times that we watched Lindholm last year and we would turn to each other and go, it looks good

00:49:37tonight. And it would basically pretty much always be a game where he had the puck on his stick.

00:49:42He's not a begin 90% of the shifts in the, in the D zone kind of guy. He's just not. And that's okay.

00:49:49That's not a knock against him as a person. It's just his style of play. He needs the puck on a

00:49:53stick more. So I think they look at that and Laura and they say, we're going to get,

00:49:57what do you want to say? 18 goals from their backend from those two guys, let's just say,

00:50:01you know, nine and nine, maybe one hits 10, maybe one hits 12. Um, so they're trying to replace it

00:50:08by just slotting people in better spots, you know? Yeah, no, I agree. And I also think they've

00:50:15probably taken a pragmatic look at it, right. Where they, I think if you're looking for a 20

00:50:21goal score, you can kick that can down the road a little bit, right. Where it's like, all right,

00:50:25we have multiple contingency plans internally right now. Right. As far as, all right, we can

00:50:31roll with, uh, you know, Trent Frederick, maybe he's up for a top six spot and we can give him

00:50:35a feature role. Maybe it's a guy like geeky. Um, you know, maybe it's like Patrick takes a huge

00:50:41jump and all of a sudden he's your second line center and they change things around around with

00:50:44that as well. Or like from based on what we heard quite a bit from dev camp, maybe this is the year

00:50:50they give a guy like Lysella look. Right. And again, like, is that set in stone that it could

00:50:55work? No, but like, please just give the guy a chance at this point. Like that's a guy that

00:51:00I feel like at this point, does it have much more approved in terms of offensively down in the AHL?

00:51:04And you hear about kind of the knocks against him from like what Mujanel has mentioned in terms of

00:51:09like defensive accountability, practice habits, those kinds of things. Kind of spoke pretty

00:51:15highly of him on Wednesday at dev camp in terms of like thinking that he's right on the cusp of

00:51:19breaking through there and got a lot better as the year kind of went on. So if you're a Lysella

00:51:24and you finally have this chance and maybe for him, I feel like Lysella is one of those players

00:51:27that's like, all right, I've hit my ceiling. What's next? Like if he's probably like one of

00:51:33those players that feels like, um, you know, give me a shot and I'll show you what I can do. Cause

00:51:37he's a guy that is great skater, really dynamic player. If he's a guy that you give him some chance,

00:51:43which would be ideal and he runs with it. And then again, this is incumbent on him to really

00:51:48have a strong training camp and preseason. But if he's a guy that can slot into that role and give

00:51:53you 15 goals or something like that, that'd be huge for this team in terms of, um, addressing

00:51:59that issue internally on a cheap deal. So I think the Bruins have internal candidates they can turn

00:52:04to you. And again, you've got multiple ones in place. If things backfire, whether it's Frederick's

00:52:09playing too high up, geeky is not in the right spot, Lysella or Merkulov don't pan out. But if

00:52:14all those options do fail, the Bruins can also go into the middle of the year and be like, all right,

00:52:20as in the case, every trade deadline, there'll be four or five guys who can give you a 15 to 20 goals

00:52:26that are going to be dangled on the market. We can, we can give up assets to get one of those players.

00:52:31If you're, if you sign Tyler Toffoli and the left side of your defense is severely weakened and you

00:52:36signed, uh, Alec Martinez or a stopgap who's not up to par. If you're trying to find like a door

00:52:42especially like guys like Joel Edmondson, who are six, five and kind of not that great

00:52:47go for like a first round pick at the deadline. I got like Zadorov who's six, six mobile

00:52:52and has the standing of arguably the most imposing guy. Those guys, one don't hit the

00:52:57market. And if they do, you're giving up like a premium prospect and a first on top of it.

00:53:01So I can see the Bruins being like, let's throw the money now at a player like that, that everyone

00:53:05probably is coveting. And then if all these internal options fail, we'll address things

00:53:10at the deadline. If it gets to that point. Yeah. And I think you just highlighted it that,

00:53:14that as currently constituted on June 30th and there are other guys out there that could have

00:53:20signed, we all know, but they were an injury away from either Mason Lowry or Parker Wetherspoon

00:53:30or Michael Callahan. Like one of these guys being elevated into a role that may be above their 24,

00:53:3725 ceiling. That's not to say they couldn't handle it or they, they're, they could be ready.

00:53:42Sure. But do you want to put yourself in that spot off the jump because you want to score more,

00:53:47you know, like there's a ying and a yang here, right? Like, and so I think that, that there's

00:53:52a way of them looking at this and saying, if we're going to have struggles and if we're going to be

00:53:58injured, we'd rather have the depth at defense than upfront. And so I, I, I, I back that in

00:54:06theory. Um, now we've got to see how these guys look like if Fabian Lysell or Georgie Murkloff,

00:54:12or dare I say, both prove that they're ready. Well, you just, you just answered a big problem

00:54:18for you. And you look at your roster and you're more willing to risk losing a Justin Brazzo,

00:54:25um, or someone to waivers. If you have to do that, which they probably wouldn't,

00:54:29they probably wouldn't. But if they do, you feel comfortable about it.

00:54:32If you were to lose a defenseman and now you got, you got Billy Sweezy, who, who am I like,

00:54:38I'm not trying to like knock these guys, but you got these guys that are not quite

00:54:42ready for full-time work playing key roles in full-time work. That's, that's a bit more

00:54:48damaging to, I think your overall season and your ability to be a top three team in your division.

00:54:54And so to your point, like you said it, like it's easier to address wingers and scoring

00:55:02at the deadline than it is defense every year, a defenseman goes for a King's ransom.

00:55:07Whereas there's always a winger that at two 45 on deadline day is had for like a third round pick

00:55:13and like a mid-tier prospect. And you're like, Oh, that's, that's not that bad actually. So I

00:55:17think it's the Bruins picking the, the, you know, you've heard the lesser of two evils.

00:55:21I think they're picking the less expensive of two evils should things hit the fan for whatever

00:55:26reason next season. Yeah, exactly. And I, again, we could be running a podcast in January and being

00:55:33like the Bruins lost another two, one game. Like what the hell that could happen. But it does seem

00:55:37like at the very least you really hope during camp, this gives you an opportunity where they

00:55:42give a guy like, like sell, look, it's kind of what we mentioned before with like a guy like

00:55:46Beecher last year of like, we just need clarity, right? Like let's find out what they have in

00:55:51these guys. And the same thing with like this past year, it's like Brendan Bussey, who's now

00:55:56in this weird limbo. It's like, why don't you give him a statitude to get his feet wet or see what

00:56:00you had in the player. They'll get an NHL game. Like give Lysol a look, see if he runs with it.

00:56:05If he hits a wall, if he's frustrated, it doesn't pan out. Then you finally know,

00:56:09and you can, you can move on or you can change gears there. I think right now it's all about,

00:56:14again, like, I think you'd feel a lot better if like the Bruins were able to get a guy,

00:56:18like do clear for three and a half or something. I'd give them an age in terms of the off season

00:56:22of you've addressed and have like some solid options all across your depth chart. There

00:56:27is some uncertainty there, but as you said, if you're able to get a player like Lysol and

00:56:34Merkel up to hit, and again, it's not to say like you're expecting a 20 and 20 season from

00:56:37these guys, but if you have a cost controlled young asset who can give you like more skill,

00:56:43especially up front at that price, you will absolutely take that. And it'd be a great

00:56:48problem to have. And it's a great opportunity for a guy like Lysol where the window should

00:56:53be there. Like the path is more open to him for him than it was like Potra last year.

00:56:58Potra had no business putting together a stretch like that in the preseason and

00:57:02accelerating his timeline. Like now it falls on a guy like Lysol to really roll with it.

00:57:06And if he's able to hit it, he will have a spot like on, on this roster come October 8th in

00:57:12Florida. 100%. And there's an element here of like, all right, let's find out. I don't need

00:57:21Merkel off putting up another point per game year in the AHL. I got to know if he can play here.

00:57:26Like I got to know Lysol first round pick 2021 first round pick. We're going to start to see

00:57:32those guys filter in next season. You know, those who haven't already, they're going to be given

00:57:36spots. And so I like it from the standpoint of like, you're putting the onus on the player

00:57:41to basically say, Hey, you, you know, you want to be here, show it. Like, we're not blocking

00:57:46anymore. You're not getting, you're not getting roadblocked by like David Perron, you know, or,

00:57:51or Blake Wheeler, any of these guys that they could have signed or whatever, you know, like,

00:57:56like there's no JVR in your way right now. Like it's on you, man. Like there's, there's a legit

00:58:03opening here in the top six. And one of you wants to grab it, grab it. If you don't, well,

00:58:07then who are you going to blame? Can't blame us. And so I like the idea of putting the onus on the

00:58:12player at the same time. However, the Bruins coaching staff has to give that person a fair

00:58:20shot. Yeah. That's how I look at it. Like you can't utilize Fabian Lysol the way that utilized

00:58:26him a year ago where he was playing 10 minutes. And I'm pretty sure he was playing with like Jason

00:58:30Megna and like another guy that we knew was going to be in the minors. And that's not a knock on

00:58:35Medina, but like, no, no, play him with NHL talent. See if he can skate with NHL talent.

00:58:40That's what I want to see. Um, he's proven he can play with age old guys. Look at the numbers.

00:58:45I got to know if he can play with Pasternak. I got to know if he can play with a, you know,

00:58:48a Martian and a coil or a Frederick in a, in a potter. Like I got to see that. So I hope that

00:58:53they give those players fair shots with those kinds of talents. You know, I was real bitchy

00:58:58a year ago when, when they gave Merkel off six, six minutes a night on a fourth line,

00:59:02I said, what is the point? You got to, you got a thousand of those guys. Let me put them with

00:59:07Zaka and Pasternak. Let's see if we got something here. So I want to see that, that, so it goes both

00:59:13ways. The players got developed, the players got to show he's ready, but the coaching staff has

00:59:17to give that player a fair shot. And so that's what I want to see in training camp from the

00:59:20Bruins. Yeah, absolutely. It'd be now all of a sudden a really fascinating storyline to follow

00:59:25at camp now in terms of these internal guys. And hopefully a guy like myself makes the most

00:59:30opportunity. And as you said, Montgomery and his staff give him the leeway where there's going to

00:59:34be bumps along the road to kind of see the forest over the trees in terms of what he could be,

00:59:39whether it's this year and the years ahead, if he carves out a role. So be interesting to watch

00:59:43since we get to that point. Ty, thank you for carving through a week's worth of news all in

00:59:50the span of a week on this podcast. We appreciate it. Where can we read your stuff? Where can we

00:59:56listen to you on the airwaves? All that good stuff. Yeah, you can find me at 95 sports up.com.

01:00:02Uh, you can also hear me on the podcast, the sports of underground with myself and my friend,

01:00:05Matt Dolph. Uh, that's pretty much it. I don't think I'm on the radio anytime soon. It is

01:00:10vacation season, but it's also vacation season for me in the sense that, um, I we've been going hard

01:00:17for so long, man, as you know, that it's kind of nice to not have to go anywhere for a few weeks.

01:00:22Yeah. So I don't think I'm going to be on the air much, very much, but that's not, that's always

01:00:26subject to change. You know, they fire a coach, they, they signed Swayman. Uh, we'll see what

01:00:30happens. So, um, I expect the latter, not the former just for the record, but, but, you know,

01:00:35you never know what could happen in this, in this world. So that's where you can find me.

01:00:38And how about yourself? Yes. You're going to read my stuff over at Boston.com and the Boston

01:00:42globe. We have you covered every step of the way this off season for whatever late breaking news

01:00:47does happen, uh, throughout the rest of this summer as well. Um, you can also find me on

01:00:51Twitter at Connor Ryan underscore 93. So, uh, Ty, thank you again. This is episode 245 of

01:00:59poke the bear. You fans have a great rest of your week.

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