Joe Haggerty and James Murphy discuss a number of Bruins topics in a mailbag edition of Pucks with Haggs, including whether or not Jim Montgomery deserves a contract extension going into what's believed to be his last season under contract with Boston.
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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.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Bruins beat is brought to you by price picks and the game time app.
00:06And welcome into the Bruins beat on CLNS media presented by prize picks. Go use that promo
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00:22I'm Evan Marinovsky. That is Connor Ryan. Connor, what is up?
00:27Evan, I'm doing well. How are you doing?
00:30Doing great. Doing great today. We're getting negative, baby. We've, we've seen some of
00:35the comments we've heard you on our, uh, positive videos over the last two weeks of best Sweeney
00:41this best Sweeney that today we're gloves are coming off and we're, we're looking back
00:47at the bad stuff. We're getting down in the mud, fists up, bang, bang, you know, getting
00:53ready to see the, the bad things that, uh, that have happened since Don Sweeney started
00:57in 2015. Uh, and we're doing one episode cause I initially, I thought, okay, maybe we can
01:02do a bad draft picks and separately, a bad signings went back and looked. There's not
01:07enough bad draft picks to, um, do two episodes or do it one episode.
01:14There's a couple, but there's not a huge group. It also helps when you're not picking the
01:21first and second round for like years on end. So that's the thing. If they were, we
01:25could rip on that. Um, but again, it's like, I was saying this to you, it's hard to quantify
01:30like a third round pick as bad or like a fourth or fifth, sixth or set. Like those are for
01:37lack of a better term, crapshoot picks. You don't know what those are, you know, what
01:41those are going to bring. Um, so I'm not going to put, you know, like Curtis hall as a, as
01:47a selection here. Cause again, fourth rounder in 2018, I mean, you know, what were you really
01:53expecting? If you get anything, that's terrific. But, um, so how we're going to format this
01:58is we're going to do the, the, the, the, we each draft three, but we're going to pick
02:02between draft picks and signings. We're not going to do separate cause there aren't even
02:06enough bad draft picks to do like three and three.
02:10I know people are like, yes, there must be, there has to be back around 2015. He was a
02:15terrible pick in the seventh round. Like, no, can't do that. Uh, we're, we're not going
02:19to do that. Where's the Pavel Shen or ratio? It's like seven ground pick. Um, God, I think
02:28that might've been my first dev camp with Pavel Shen. I remember, uh, it was my first
02:32dev camp in 2018 and Jack Becker was there cause he was 2015, uh, pick. And I remember
02:37Sarah Sivian friend of the show, Sarah Sivian, uh, back then was like, you know, I've seen
02:42this kid at Penn state a bunch of times and by God, he stinks. Like he's not that good.
02:48Uh, and uh, yeah. And he was seventh rounder. Like again, like, you know, not expecting
02:53a heck of a lot crap shoot. Yeah. I mean it's, that's what the seventh round pick is. Um,
02:59so uh, we'll do a coin flip again. We'll do a coin flips crazy. I have the same coin.
03:03We did the coin flip for, Oh my God. It's almost like recording these all in a row.
03:09No way. We would never do something like that. It sounds like I'm wearing the same
03:12exact thing. They're like, wow. Evan and Connor, they never changed clothes. Same thing. Glasses,
03:17hat, fan, everything. He's a Sims character. Well, the fans are like, we know that. Yeah,
03:22that's true. That's true. Um, I, I stopped mine, but sometimes I'll sit in here and just
03:27like boil as we do these episodes. I'm like, I just leave it on. Um, but anyway, uh, let's
03:34have you pick first or pick a, what do you want to pick? Heads or tails? Tails. All right.
03:39So you did tails last time at work. Let's see what happens. And it's tails. So you get
03:44the, you get the first pick. You get to pick the worst, either free agent or draft a pick
03:51since John Sweeney began in 2015. The floor is yours. Uh, I don't think I'm breaking any
03:55new ground here, Evan, but I got to go with Zach Sennishen 15th overall in 2015. We all
04:00know about the 2015 draft at this point. But still, when you look at just the number
04:05of players that would have, uh, you know, helped out the Bruins in short order, uh,
04:10would have potentially put you over the top and, you know, 2019 at the very least, but
04:14who knows if one of these guys, you get a Kyle Connor or a Shabbat or any of these players.
04:19And I don't look at like the guys that like dropped out of the first round. Like I don't
04:23look at like Sebastian Aho, everyone missed on him in the first round. Right? Like, but
04:27even I think we mentioned this on the last podcast that we definitely didn't record 10
04:31minutes ago. Uh, I have like a Travis connecting, right? Like I got a solid middle six player
04:39that plays the in the right way can impact the game. Um, just even one more of those
04:43players I think would have maybe been the difference. Yeah. I mean, you lost game seven
04:46of the Stanley cup final four years after the draft, like just any other roster player,
04:51maybe it would have been the difference there and helped you out. So you look at that and
04:54the ramifications of 2019, you look at, again, a lot of very good rosters before and after
05:012019 that maybe would have been put over the top. If you add another solid, you know, player,
05:07let alone a franchise, a bars all or someone like that. Um, again, I don't harp too much
05:13on Zaborrel because, you know, again, didn't work out, but was rated exactly where he was.
05:18Like that was a guy people thought was going to be a top 10 pick. Um, but Senechum was
05:23way off the board. That's almost like we, we got our two guys, let's swing for the fences
05:27for a guy that had speed, had some potential of what he saw in the OHL, but still was quite
05:32the reach when you had quite a few guys that you look at where they were like a guy like Kyle
05:37Connor looms large in terms of maybe if there was ever a draft where it wasn't smart to swing
05:42for the fences, when there was surefire production and talent there in front of you, that's a tough
05:47one. You look back and we've done this a thousand. I mean, this is not like breaking new ground.
05:51We have done this times and we will probably do this more bars, all 16,
05:58Connor, 17, Shabbat 18. Uh, I mean, again, like, you know, Eric's in act 20,
06:06Brock Besser, 23 connect me 24, uh, Bavalia 28. Like you had legit NHL talent come after.
06:16Um, and I agree. I mean, I, you know, I understand the thinking of like, Hey,
06:19we're going to take a swing on a guy who we really like, but probably isn't a first round pick.
06:25But I just think, you know, you look back and you're like, Oh my God,
06:28like that, like right there. It's right there. And Barzal was highly rated. If memory serves
06:34at the time, people liked him, obviously he's the 16th pick. I don't believe he had good,
06:39uh, draft pre-draft interviews. What I heard was the thing, but also like, look at like Kyle
06:44Connor, who, who I also, I forget. I don't think he had his first year in Michigan, right? It was
06:49the next year where he put up like 70 points, but I think he'd lit up the USHL. If I believe,
06:55I believe that's right for a guy like Kyle Connor. So, uh, you look at just what he provided him to
07:00just pure offense. Um, and you're the Bruins where you already have in 2015, you have a guy
07:05in David Pasternak who didn't realize his potential, but you realize something pretty
07:09early on. This is a guy that should not have gone 25th overall the year before you got something
07:13here. What if we pair him with another guy who lit up the USHL and Kyle Connor, right?
07:18And again, like it could have just been a connecting. We're not asking for a 30 goal guy,
07:21like a Besser or a Kyle Connor or someone like that. Like even just a guy that gave you 20 goal,
07:26another DeBrusque, you know, which another DeBrusque would have helped that team
07:31pretty good. Oh, David crazy would have been pumped. I also think like, again,
07:34Barzal was the next best. He was best available at 15. If, if I remember correctly. So like,
07:39if you just went with the best available there, but boom, like that guy on, uh, the,
07:44the guy on Tik TOK, the kid who always eats at Costco, like boom, you give me weight.
07:50I know you, I know you sent that in a text recently. I had no idea what you're talking
07:54about. I'm already starting to get caught up on Anderson. I didn't actually didn't know about
07:57that either. So I guess I'm behind the times in terms of what you already told me about,
08:02uh, sketcher or whatever it is. And I'm still far behind on that. So a lot of this is true.
08:07I have to get caught up on all these new things. I'm still doing the dab and it's 20, 20.
08:11That's right. You saw it. I respect that. Um, and then I remember Ty sent us the video of the dude
08:16on Tik TOK. Who's a dresses up as like a wizard and runs behind like the counter. I hate that.
08:22That's all I get. Now the guy's just harassing people at TJ Maxx.
08:26That's all it is. It's all it is. Uh, yeah. Kyle Connor lit up the, that's interesting. He did
08:31three years in the USHL from 12 to 15 at 80 points crazy in 2015. And then went on and anyone
08:38psycho mode in Michigan. Yeah. And 71 in Michigan. And he didn't win the Hobie Baker. I don't think.
08:45No. I wonder who won it. Was it, was that Jimmy VC who won it in 2016?
08:492016 absolutely was. Yeah. That's who it was. Oh, wow. Um, that's crazy. My God. Um,
08:57but anyway, so yeah, I mean, I, yeah. Seneschen number one, that's an easy one.
09:01Um, I, I don't, uh, begrudge you from that. Uh, my pick, this is a tough call because there are
09:08two free agent signings I'm looking at. Um, both were high paying one more than the other. Um,
09:17I guess I'll for my second pick, I will go with, I'm going to go with Matt Bolesky.
09:26Um, yeah, cause actually I have the next two picks so I can, it actually does not matter.
09:31Matt Bolesky, uh, five years, 19 million over those five years. Again, um, not crazy money,
09:36but like, I was just going back and looking and again, the cap was different then. So like,
09:41you know, just under 5 million per for a winger was a fair amount of money.
09:46And I looking back at his numbers with the ducks. So he had kind of a breakout season in 2014,
09:5315, 22 goals, 32 points. Um, you know, had 24 points the year before wasn't a proven guy.
10:01Kind of looked like he was on the upswing though. And like the Bruins were coming in at sort of a,
10:05you know, Hey, this guy has potential. Um, wasn't the case at all. Uh, came in here,
10:10had 15 goals and 37 points in that really weird 2015, 16 year where everybody was injured at all
10:17times and he didn't really produce. And then 16, 17 was embarrassing. Three goals, eight points,
10:2249 games. And then it was just, he fell off. Um, had some injury trouble, uh, ended up in
10:28Providence for a while. That next season, um, just wasn't worth it at all. Ended up getting
10:33traded to the Rangers. And after that never really regained his footing in the NHL ever
10:39like completely fell off. Um, he's still only 36 and this all took place the end of the last decade.
10:47So, um, really a tough signing for the Bruins that was post Luchich, uh, cause they had,
10:54that was that 15 off season. They had traded, uh, Luchich and then the draft had happened.
11:00And then they wanted to kind of re-sign a cheaper version of Luchich, uh, who had younger upside,
11:06all that stuff wasn't Bolesky at all. Um, and again, like one of those other bailed, uh,
11:14David Creechie wingers where just like, they could not find a fit for him.
11:19Um, I think that's what they, yeah, that's who they paired him with. If memory serves.
11:22I believe so. And he had a great playoff run. I know right before free agency too,
11:26but like he did the way he played with it. I think he primarily played with gets a lot of,
11:30quite a bit, like a very different player from a guy like David Creechie as well. Like it just
11:33wasn't a good fit. You were kind of banking on him carrying through what he saw in the post
11:38season just did not work out at all. He had that OT goal against the Blackhawks where he like slid
11:43on his butt and I'd be like, that's him. That's the guy like, you know, we got to have him. Um,
11:48guys, he doesn't score every goal like that. No guys. Yeah. Unfortunately he doesn't. Um,
11:53but yeah, unfortunate for the, for him. I mean, obviously like, you know, fourth round pick in
11:57oh six, um, just didn't, just didn't really pan out. I mean, he kind of panned out. He had some
12:02good years in the NHL. Like, yeah, that's great. But for the money that he was given and again,
12:06we're pro getting the bag. So like go, go off, Matt Bolesky, get that money. Um, but for the
12:11Bruins just, uh, wasn't really a, um, a smart signing. Uh, I want to get to my second pick
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13:40It's that easy. So with my second pick, this was who I was considering taking with my first pick,
13:45David Backus, five years, 30 million, 6 million per, really nice piece in St. Louis. It's
13:53interesting. I think we've talked about this before, how the best American players of the
13:58two thousands of that time kind of had the David Backus mold of like gritty, hard-nosed,
14:05good around the net, like not very fast, not super skilled, but just like gritty
14:11guys. You want your room leaders. Like that's the kind of player you want. Obviously you do
14:15Patrick Keynes, but like David Backus was, you know, that was kind of the prototypical American
14:20player. Bruin signed him right before his age 32 year for 6 million per looked at him. I mean,
14:28again, this was, you know, when they had Bergeron and great, she looked at him as kind of another
14:32leader in the room, looked at him as a right wing just never really could take off here.
14:37I mean, he did have like that first year, 16, 17 had 38 points. Yeah. Like 38 points in 74 games.
14:45The tough part there again was the Bruins, you know, invested in him as his career was going,
14:50you know, on the downtrend rather than, you know, picking a guy who was going on the up. So like
14:55looking back and again, I was, you know, I wasn't covering the team then.
14:59Were you covering the team in 2015, 16? I was not. No. So like we weren't around then we would
15:05have been like, wow, that was a terrible pick. I mean, who would ever want to do such a thing?
15:08But when you look back though, you wonder like, oh, they're, you know, signing a guy 6 million
15:14per, I don't remember the reaction, but 6 million per for five years for guys 32 and not very quick
15:19in a league that was quickly becoming all about speed. You look back and you wonder like how that
15:24one, how that one happened and like what the rationale is. And I think that was also a reaction
15:29to like getting another Luchich type player of big physical and it just didn't work out.
15:36Yeah. I feel like everyone had the same kind of scenario play out when Bacchus signed,
15:40because it was, I think it was Bob McKenzie who tweeted like Bruins signed Bacchus
15:44one year, 6 million people were like, oh, that's great. Hell yeah. Like got a new veteran voice
15:51come in. And then like five minutes later, he's like, sorry. Uh, it's five years. Everyone's like,
15:57okay, not as good. Yeah, exactly. And as you said, like I get the rationale in terms of having
16:03this veteran guy, a captain of a team, well-respected a guy that really good, really good
16:09guy. Yeah. And played a key role in terms of, you know, with this, with that roster kind of being
16:14in transition, a lot of younger players coming in, I get that sentiment, but for 6 million for a guy
16:19that played a style of game that wasn't going to translate well, once you're past the age of 30,
16:26again, I mean, this is a guy that was scratched in game seven of the Stanley cup final against
16:30his former team. And you can make the argument that probably shouldn't have been the case, but
16:34like Carson Kuhlman kind of outplayed him and did more in a top six role than Bacchus in that
16:38series. He has scored a goal in game six, an elimination game, Carson Kuhlman. So again,
16:45I get the ration of why the Bruins would target a player like that, but for that term and for that
16:50price, like that, which kind of hindered you from making other kinds of marginal moves, it probably
16:54would have moved the needle more for you. Again, in 2016, when you needed that veteran presence,
17:00I get it. But when it's 2018 and Pasternak is taking a huge step forward and Rask is still
17:06playing at a high level and he's still a Bergeron and Creechie, that's when you look at what David
17:09Bacchus was bringing you and what the price was, it just wasn't worth it. No. And I mean, it is
17:15like, again, it was a sad ending because like you had that loss to his former team in the cup final,
17:22you know, missed his chance at a cup, didn't play in game six and seven. And then, you know,
17:28I think he got, did he get bought out? Was that what it was? He could put on, I forget how his
17:33time ended here. He was put on waivers, I believe no one took him and then they had to dump his
17:39contract more or less to Anaheim. So they got Andre Kasha, who they hoped was going to be the
17:45potential top six guy with high upside and gave up Axel Anderson draft pick and Bacchus to kind
17:52of dump that contract, Bacchus' deal, but ended up not working out. But again, it's not good when
17:57you have to give up draft capital just to get a contract off your books. Yeah. But again, Bacchus
18:03had a really great career with St. Louis, you know, 45 points the year before coming here,
18:0958 before that, highest 62 in 2010-11. But just, you know, and you're right, that contract was
18:16annoying. Every year we would talk like, oh, if the Bruins had that extra 6 million, imagine what
18:21they could do, or even like some of that 6 million. So not fun there. What's your second pick?
18:27I'm going to stick with free agency, actually. I'm going to go with John Moore,
18:32who signed 5 years, 13.7, so 2.75 million per year. Assigning that, you know, when they got
18:39him, you looked at the term, especially for a guy that I think was 28, was solid in roles with
18:46the Devils leading up to that, solid kind of puck moving guy. But you look at just the term,
18:50especially for a guy that you didn't really know what exactly he was in terms of, was he a guy that
18:56you view as a top floor fixture? Is he a guy that you think has more room to grow? It just didn't
19:00work out. Only kind of played one full year, dealt with injuries quite a bit. He only played,
19:06played four total years with the Bruins for his time here ended, but only played 97 games over
19:10those four years. So he dealt with a lot of injuries. Wasn't super effective in terms of
19:15what his overall role was. Great guy in the room. Guys loved him. Great guy to talk to, but in terms
19:22of what the price is, and especially I think the term more than anything, it just was, it was one
19:27of those contracts you look at like on Cap Friendly, prayers up, but like, you'd look at like his,
19:33how many years he was. RIP in peace, Cap Friendly. Yeah. But you look at like, you know, when they'd
19:37have like the chart of like how long guys are signed for, and you look at like another three
19:41blocks for more in terms of his contract, you're like, I don't like that that much. So I think,
19:46especially the term and what he provided just didn't really work with what the Bruins were
19:50trying to do at that point, where again, that was even before they went to the Stanley cup.
19:54So they were a team that was trying to build for now and for the future. And the overall
19:59investment in more just didn't work out. Do I remember right? He had a heap. So he played in
20:04game seven against the blues and I think he had a, like a scoring chance or two in that first period.
20:10Like people probably not went back and watched why they wouldn't have. Yeah. But in that first
20:16like 10 minutes, the Bruins dominated and they had a bunch of chances. And I think he
20:22set one or two of them up, which like, when I look, I think back, I'm like, imagine if those
20:26had went in and like John Moore was like a folk hero, things would just go so differently.
20:33But I agree. And we, you know, that was another one of those contracts where like,
20:36it doesn't kill you, but to not have that 2.75 mil and have it tied up in that,
20:42where he's just not really playing. It just, it didn't help anybody. It didn't help anybody.
20:48We'll get to your next pick in a second of the first quick word from our friends over at the
20:52Stanley cup final is over and what a thriller. It was the Celtics or NBA champions with hockey
20:59and basketball playoffs over attention turns to the MLB. And is there a better activity to do
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21:23good weather and great vibes. I feel like every year I make a slew of fond memories at Fenway.
21:28For me last year, it was in Chicago, watching the red Sox take down the cubs at historic Wrigley
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22:30tickets lowest price guaranteed. Now back to the show. So Connor, your third and final pick,
22:39what's it going to be? So I mean, you could look at the moral, because I think you look at the
22:44consequences of that draft, but I'm going to go with another player from 2015. Because you look
22:48at just where he was projected how desperate and the Bruins were for this to be a pick that panned
22:54out. I'm going to go with JFK, Jacob Forsbeck to Carlson, 45th overall in 2015. And again, I feel
23:01kind of bad because as soon as he was drafted, everyone was like, Oh, this guy's an ex Bergeron.
23:06It's not that great to compare him to the best defensive forward of all time. You're kind of
23:11starting from a rough spot there. Yeah. I do think you look at just the fact he wasn't able to put
23:17put it together at the NHL level. You look at 2015, where they projected him to be and he gets
23:23you know, had a solid little stretch there for a while, I think in 2018, 19, that season, but that's
23:28a guy that when you look at where Bergeron was getting up there in age for Craig, he was getting
23:32up there in age, but you can look at a guy like Sidnika, who is 2018. And you hopefully you hope
23:38that he would pan out. But like, JFK was a guy that you needed to hit and, you know, arrive in
23:442020, 21, where he could step in when and ease the workload for a guy like Bergeron or Craig Jean,
23:51it just didn't work out. So there's a lot of different options you can kind of go to in terms
23:55of weighing, you know, necessity, their overall skill set, what have you, but I think JFK, a guy
24:01that I think had a, even it's not fair to compare him to Bergeron was mapped out to having a pretty
24:06solid floor of like, all right, he's not Bergeron, he'd be a really good three C, good at face offs,
24:11good at all these things, wasn't able to put it together. No, he wasn't. That's a great pick. I
24:17was not expecting you to go with that one for that. So now I'm like scrambling. I'm like,
24:23Oh, shoot, what's going to be my third pick? I'm like, I'm like taking Michael. I'm like
24:26taking Michael Pennix, Jr. overall, just throwing everything off. I'm like, Sean, Sean McVeigh.
24:32When the, when the Patriots drafted Cole strange, I'm like, what the fuck are they doing?
24:38You know who I'm going to go with? I'm going to go in line with what you just mentioned.
24:41Um, same kind of situation, Jackson, Nika in 2018, uh, Jackson, Nika taken 53rd overall.
24:49So second rounder and similar type of thing of, you know, that was a time when, you know,
24:552015 was, you know, Bergeron had just been on the cover of, um, NHL 15. Um, you know,
25:01crazy was great. They weren't really like, I don't think the future of the center ice position was
25:08like fully on people's minds. 2018 was the first time or one of the first years when I think you
25:13really started to hear that. And I think that was the same off season. The Bruins like went
25:16super hard for John Tavares, um, kind of replaced David crazy and crazy was pissed.
25:23Yeah. Crazy. I think the best season of his career that next year, that would have been
25:26perfect every year. Just like go for someone and try to, you know, get them going. Keep on
25:30trying to sign Jimmy VZ. Just piss off. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Um, but Seneca,
25:37again, a guy that, you know, had a lot of high expectations, um, you know, was a high offensive
25:43centerman had chances and just never really could hold onto it. Now, you know, is some of that
25:50Bruce Cassidy, maybe like, uh, I've mentioned to you, you know, people remember back, um,
25:55it was that 2020, 2021 season when he started out the season as like the top line center.
26:00I think was it Bergeron who was hurt, uh, to begin that year. Um, and he was there for like a game
26:06and then into the shadow realm he went. Um, so again, maybe with a coach that was more lenient,
26:12sure. But again, like hasn't really fit anywhere else. Like didn't fit in Vancouver. Um, you know,
26:21did you see his numbers with the shocks this past year, which again, you're looking at like,
26:24all right, on the Bruins tough to crack the lineup, but like his numbers are the shocks,
26:27especially where, let me tell you, there's a lot of plying time up for grabs. That team was,
26:31we might be able to play on that team. I think we could play on the sharks, but I have his numbers
26:35here. 0.0 goals, 17 games. I can't get across these plus minus. I can't imagine it minus minus
26:42four minus 14 playing 1149, 1149 of ice time a game. Like it's not good. Yeah. Like that fell
26:50off. And I w you know, you wonder like what happened. And again, like not every second round
26:54picks going to hit, we get that. Uh, but they had such high hopes for him. Um, and you know,
26:59just kind of, I don't want to say a bust. Cause like a second rounder is it's not like he was
27:04like, you know, third overall, but like for what you hoped nowhere near, and then you traded him
27:10for almost nothing to Vancouver. I mean, I know you're like Michael D Pietro, um, back in that
27:15trade and didn't they get like a defenseman back in that deal? They got, um, Myron Berg,
27:20right. I remember who just saw it. Def camp. That's right. Um, so again, not a heck of a
27:24lot for him. Um, we talked a lot. I remember in those years, uh, 19, 20 of like, Oh, do you dangle
27:30stud Nico? We kept being like, no, like that's a guy you want to keep and have as your next
27:34franchise centerman. And I think people look back like hindsight's 2020, obviously, but like,
27:39we look back and it's like, they didn't have a lot of other good young talent at that time.
27:44So like, I think that's why I said Nico looked as good as he did. Um, so, um, tough for said
27:49Nico tough for the Bruins. The, my, uh, my pick, I was debating going with that one actually wasn't
27:54the Boral because the Boral again, like it was a bust. Um, and he would've been picked at some
27:59point, but you know, at the time, like was projected to be like the 13th overall pick
28:05that wasn't, they didn't draft like, you know, crazy out of the blue for him. Wasn't like
28:10um, Nick Foligno two years, 7.6 mil. Uh, it was only a two year deal. So like, you know,
28:17not the end of the world. Um, but a lot of money tied up in a guy who had, I think it was at 13
28:25points. Yeah. 13 points. His first year was a minus 13 on that 2021, 22 Bruins team. I know
28:30him and Cassidy obviously didn't get along. Um, and then, you know, he had an uptick the next year
28:35with the Bruins 26 points, 60 games. Um, you know, just kind of slower, a fourth liner. Awesome
28:43quote, really good guy. Um, great for the culture. Awesome for the room. Uh, and actually had a like
28:49fairly okay season for Chicago last year. Like Chicago gave him a ton of money. Yeah. And he was
28:54good last year. He was good his last year with the Bruins too. Like for what his role was once you,
28:58once you knew that he was all right, he should be more of a, a bottom six player and his value
29:02maybe isn't always directly on the ice. Again, you don't want to be paying a guy
29:067.6 million over two years for justice off ice impact, but at least rebound a little bit. And
29:11that's a guy that you compare that to like the back is contract, right? Like maybe you overpay
29:15for a guy who's veteran presence. You really lean on not when it's five years, two years. Okay.
29:21Yes. Five years bit much. Um, I agree with you, but yeah, I mean, unfortunate for those two years,
29:27but again, he was great for the content, a fun guy to be around. So, um, not, uh, not bad. What
29:34else would, what else would you have gone for? I mean, yeah, there's like, you look at like a guy
29:38like Axel Anderson, who I think is just playing in Sweden. Now he was a second round pick. Um,
29:43they, again, they kind of trade him as part of the deal to get back to his contract off the books.
29:47So it wasn't like he went somewhere and ripped it up or anything like that, which wasn't a good
29:51pick for where the Bruins had him in the second round. You maybe say like Fulbert for three years,
29:56you know, 3 million per again, like steady in terms of what his job was, but dealt with quite
30:00a bit of injuries. It kind of hampered his game, but it was kind of the ones that stand out to me.
30:05Yeah. I mean like, and then on the free agency front, like you could go with like a Derek
30:09Forbert, but again, like you still got something out of him for 3 million. It just, the expectation
30:15was he was going to be this top pairing guy with McAvoy for cheap money. Wasn't the case. And then
30:21that was that same off season as Felino as Holla as Omar, when you had all this money to spend,
30:26and you just kind of signed a bunch of, you know, aside from Omar, you signed a bunch of,
30:30you know, middle six or bottom pairing guys. Um, one draft pick who I left off the worst. Cause I
30:36just, I forgot for some reason I put them under the best, but like legit probably worst, uh,
30:42round one pick 18, 2017 or whole back in Heinen. Um, you know, I know he's having a nice little
30:47run out there in Anaheim. Now, uh, you traded him and that happens. You got, yeah, you got
30:53something like legit, like you would hope back in Heinen turned into Lindholm. So he just went
30:57out and got Hampus Lindholm anyway. Um, but never really developed into a, you know, top pairing
31:03defenseman or anything like that here. Um, so that'd be another one that I'd probably.
31:07And also I believe it was the two picks right after back in Heinen in that draft,
31:11where I think we're Josh Norris to Ottawa and Robert Thomas to blues.
31:15That's right. I forgot about that one. So yeah, that too, that too. So again, like, I mean,
31:23for worst picks, I think we had six listed, including back in, I just included back in
31:28Heinen. Like, you know, we had Anderson's to Nika's, a Boral Senechen, JFK, and then free agency.
31:34Like, you know, Craig Smith didn't, you know, wasn't as great as he could have been, but like
31:39still gave you a value third line guy, volume shooter. I'll tell you. Yeah. Like Craig,
31:45we don't, we don't put so much, we don't put so much Craig Sith Sith. Exactly. Craig Sith. No,
31:49we don't. So like, I'm fine with that too. So like, again, there haven't been a ton,
31:54but there've been a couple that it's a bit of, we're egregious, like Bacchus,
31:57Bolesky, Senechen. Those three are like, you know, that's bad. Um, so yeah. So we'll see
32:04what happens in the next couple of years. We'll see like, where does Dean Letourneau fit in?
32:07Where does Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadoroff, where do they slot in? Um, I mean, I picked Lindholm
32:13with my first pit or first pick in the free agency draft. So man, that guy better be good.
32:19Um, but, uh, yeah, that's this episode of Bruins Beat. Uh, Connor, continue to enjoy your honeymoon
32:25in the future. Uh, you enjoy it swinging from the vines and hanging with the animals and lions and
32:33tigers and all that stuff. Maybe you'll encounter a real bear. That'd be kind of sick. That'd be,
32:38that'd be very, that'd be very strange if I ran into a bear where, where I'm going, but.
32:41I know, but you know, maybe one can dream. One can dream. Yeah. I shouldn't. Yeah. I shouldn't
32:47besmirch. I shouldn't besmirch a unique idea that you threw out there. I'm sorry. Sorry for
32:52ranting on your parade. What if I, what if we brought the bears over from like Maine and just
32:56stuck them in like Tanzania? I feel like, I feel like we would, we'd probably be put on like a UN
33:01panel about destroying the ecosystem and it would have killed us. And rightfully so. If we did
33:06something like that. Um, anyways, Connor, go enjoy your future honeymoon. Uh, that is Connor
33:13Ryan. I'm Evan Maranofsky presented by PrizePix and GameTime, you Bruins Beat listeners. Have a
33:17great rest of your week.
33:36Transcribed by https://otter.ai