Bruins legend Mike Milbury joins! Where is Milbury on this current Sacco led Bruins team? Is Elias Lindholm a bust?
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00:00Good morning, Mike.
00:01Good morning.
00:02How are you doing?
00:03Pretty good.
00:04You know, I'm still a little bit sleepy from my long zoning board meeting last night.
00:11Are you on the zoning board?
00:12I am.
00:13You are?
00:14Oh, wow.
00:15I am.
00:16Yes.
00:17We had major decisions last night about people's future and their real estate and all that
00:19kind of stuff.
00:20So you're a public servant.
00:22This is all volunteer.
00:23I wouldn't call myself a servant to anybody, Greg.
00:26All volunteer or do you get a stipend of some sort?
00:29No, no.
00:30It's strictly a volunteer deal.
00:31Are you able to, like potentially a Boston City Councilor, able to get any bribes or
00:38any kind of...
00:39Well, I haven't been offered any, but I'm open to offers, that's for sure.
00:43What were you guys voting on?
00:44Like some new golf course or retirement home or like what's the big vote?
00:49It was an abutter to a commercial property that was unhappy with the deal that they signed.
00:56They didn't think the commercial property, which is just recently built up like a warehouse
01:01and they didn't put in the trees that would shield them from the abutters property.
01:06And there was supposed to be white pine trees like eight feet apart and they were not planted
01:12properly.
01:13And I voted in favor of the abutter.
01:16I want to get to the Bruins because everybody will be yelling at me.
01:19You don't want to talk about pine trees anymore?
01:21No.
01:22Well, you, when it comes to the tinfoil hat and the conspiracy side of things, in your
01:29mind, what are the drones in New Jersey?
01:32You know what, before I get to what are the drones, what the hell is the rest of the government
01:39doing?
01:40Shoot them mothers down.
01:41Right.
01:42Shoot them.
01:43Get rid of the damn things or find out what they are.
01:45For three weeks we've been...
01:46Unless they have some communication with alien beings that say, if you shoot us down we're
01:52going to like melt you or whatever they do.
01:54Right, right.
01:55Right.
01:56Laser.
01:57They probably have some kind of super powerful laser.
01:58I don't know.
01:59I mean, but in the meantime, you know, I'm of the, uh, I'm not a pacifist.
02:01Yeah.
02:02But I mean, maybe we can't shoot them down.
02:04Like there must be some...
02:05Well, I, it's pretty interesting that they go dark when, you know, somebody comes near
02:09them or they start, now that, that's, that speaks to me of like a different universe
02:16of some kind.
02:17Yeah.
02:18But I'm, I'm, I'm certainly curious and I'm glad they're not over my house in Mashpee.
02:22They don't go dark when you have a cell phone though, that's...
02:27So listen, you're a guy on another topic of importance this morning.
02:31You're a guy who coached, a man who coached in professional sports for a long time.
02:36Do you think it's going to be difficult for Bill Belichick, his most recent experience
02:40being in the NFL to relate to and have success with these college football players at UNC?
02:47Yes, is the answer, but, um, you know, he just went through a radical change in his
02:54life when he, when the Patriots let him go, it had to be jarring, had to be unnerving.
03:00And then on top of that, he gets no offers from, from any viable team.
03:07I mean, you would think that, that with his pedigree, with his history, that he would
03:13get a ton of offers, but he doesn't.
03:15And now, so he says, what the heck?
03:18And you know, they'll have, he'll have comfortable circumstances.
03:22He won't have that much pressure.
03:24He'll have a lot of adulation.
03:26He'll have a lot of pain in the ass, people to shake hands with.
03:29But you know, if you can get through that or limit it, and I'm sure with his 400 page
03:35manifesto, he's got something there about how many appearances he has to do.
03:40He should be okay.
03:41He should be great.
03:42He'll, he'll be coaching and coaching his coaching, no matter what level.
03:45All right.
03:46Well, uh, heading into Tuesday night, I think it was Shimes lead, uh, many were suggesting
03:52this was a legit test when it comes to the, the Joe Sacco led Boston Bruins when you're
03:59playing Winnipeg and that's the first good team, first legit team they had played since
04:04that change was made.
04:06They get blown out.
04:07Where, where are you now on this team?
04:09I'm pretty much where I was, you know, a couple of weeks ago, which is that they, they have
04:15a giant hole in the middle and, and they're not going to be a contender until they address
04:20that and they've, they, they could polish up the sidelines and the wings and defense
04:27or whatever, but they don't have enough in the middle.
04:29I mean, this Elias Lindholm has been a bust three goals and what ten assists.
04:33I mean, this is not what you pay $8 million for, not to mention Zdorov who's been, you
04:40know, once in a while he hits somebody, but the rest of the time he's in the penalty box
04:45or making really what I think are inefficient and not very studious plays on the ice.
04:52I mean, they, they, they looked like they had grasped a concept of, of defensive efficiency
05:00under Joe for, you know, for the last seven, nine games, I guess it was seven and two.
05:07And then they hit this, this bump in the road and Winnipeg is a legit contender.
05:12I mean, they've fallen on a little bit of a hard time recently.
05:15I think there were four and six in their last 10 after a ridiculously hot start, but they
05:20clearly have talent.
05:23The runes for whatever reason, weren't ready.
05:26And I read that they felt their practices weren't good.
05:30Well, you know, I have to tell you that's, that's on the coach.
05:33I'm a big fan of the coach.
05:35You know, I, I known him for a long time and, and I think he's going to do a pretty good
05:39job as good a job as you can with the tools that he's given, but, but if the practices
05:44are sloppy and things aren't paid to a detail, attention is not paid to detail, then it is
05:52on him.
05:53And, and I saw it from Marcia and I saw it from Joe Sacco himself.
05:56They weren't happy with their practices.
05:58Well, take a look in the mirror, buddy, because that's your job.
06:02Mike, one of the things that we talked about with bill potentially not having another job
06:07is his inability to maybe work with front office people.
06:12What's it like in hockey?
06:14I know it's a different sport, but have you ever been involved?
06:17And it seems like maybe there's something that could be going on with the Bruins where
06:22front office and coaching don't see eye to eye when it comes to certain players.
06:28What is that like?
06:31You know, um, when I stopped playing and I went to see, uh, my boss, Harry Sinden, and
06:38he said, I said, I wanted to get into management.
06:41You know, I'm not that stupid.
06:42I didn't want to be a coach because you get fired every two years.
06:45Right.
06:46You got to move your family and all that stuff.
06:48And he said, well, if you want to be a manager, you've got to, you've got to learn coaching.
06:55So he sent me to Maine and I was general manager and coach of the Maine Mariners.
07:00And it was an incredible learning experience.
07:03I mean, just an incredible learning experience.
07:05And if you have not coached, um, you're, you really don't understand the mechanics of it.
07:12The, the, I don't know the emotions of it, whatever it is.
07:16And it was the best thing that I ever did in my professional hockey career.
07:21And, and, um, it took a while to adjust to be a coach.
07:25And, and, and I think it takes a while for, for people to understand just how difficult
07:30it can be as you know, Wiggy and, and you know, the Bruins have two guys in management
07:36situations that, that have never coached.
07:38Joe Sacco has been a head coach.
07:41Sacco's been a head coach, but I was talking about the management side.
07:44Don Sweeney.
07:45Yeah.
07:46Yeah.
07:47They, it's hard for them to grasp how, how things work in the locker room, how difficult
07:53it is to manage.
07:54And especially since the guy in, in, you know, in the locker room is the guy that's, you
07:59know, he's, he's the guy that's trying to drive the bus with your players.
08:05Probably hasn't had much input, hasn't had a little input, but so I think they have to
08:10understand what he's going through.
08:12And I don't know that either one of them can fully grasp that because they've never
08:16done it before.
08:17It's, it's really the, the dynamic between management and coaching is, is really fluid
08:25and, and depends a lot upon the experiences of both parties.
08:30Rank playing, coaching, and being an executive in terms of jobs you enjoy doing.
08:35There's nothing like playing.
08:37There's nothing like being, you know, in the pit, you know, it's so.
08:41I mean, and with, with a teammate that you really like, a bunch of teammates that you
08:46really like, there's no question.
08:47And then you'd take one step back and you're coaching and you, but you're still, you know,
08:52you're not in the pit, but you're close to it.
08:54And one step further removed as management, which is satisfying and, and, but not anywhere
09:01near, you know, the whole thing is about the game.
09:04And if you're playing the game, you should be the happiest you've ever been.
09:09And if you, you're the coaching, coaching the game, you should be second happiest in
09:14my opinion, but you're still part of it and you can still influence it.
09:18Um, and you still influence it as a manager, but there's nothing like playing
09:21Jeremy Swineman had an awful night the other night.
09:23I mean, they all, they all did, but I know Greg, I'm going to stop you there if you don't
09:28mind.
09:29I sorry to interrupt you.
09:30He, the first like three or four goals were so pathetically poorly defended and, and,
09:36and, and ricochets off shin pads and that sort of stuff.
09:40And then I think there's a kid who was fighting to get his confidence after a young man in
09:47a, at a very public battle with management, uh, not feeling, you know, good about himself
09:53in some ways are feeling a little defensive and he's fighting to get his, his confidence
09:58back.
09:58And, and he's got in front of him, you know, a very porous defense and the penalty killing
10:04killing was God awful the other night.
10:07I mean, so methodical and slow and, and, um, not, not really in any way what I would call
10:15an efficient use of their time on the ice and Joe Sacco is a penalty killing expert,
10:20but he has to see it.
10:22But I thought Swineman was on the way back and then he got discouraged after the first
10:29three, four goals and who wouldn't.
10:32And then he, he let in a couple of clunkers, but the game was, I thought the game was out
10:36of hand when that happened.
10:38So your question, if you look at him at Jeremy Swineman struggling, you, you would put that
10:45more on his confidence issue, or he's still upset about what the, he had to hear when
10:51they were talking about where he could improve or, and not on, not on training camp, not
10:57on missing training camp.
10:59Uh, it's, it's training campus too far in the rear view mirror.
11:04Now, I don't think there's any, um, shouldn't be any impact of this.
11:09I think the team's struggles have, have compounded his own personal struggles.
11:14And, uh, I think, you know, I think the mind is a terrible thing to waste, right?
11:20And his mind right now is like, I don't think he really feels comfortable with his teammates
11:25are comfortable with the defense in front of him or with his game.
11:29When, when somebody scores from below the goal line, as they did in Winnipeg the other
11:33night, you know, something's wrong.
11:35Cause this kid is mechanically.
11:38When I've seen him on his game, he's, he's been as incredible as a mechanical goal to
11:43their moving side to side, gearing up for the angles, making everything look easy.
11:49And when somebody scores from behind the goal line, you know, something's amiss.
11:54Mike and football were, we criticize the coach a lot for penalties, especially,
12:01you know, pre-snap penalties.
12:03They put that on the coach, but when you look at this Bruins team, they're the most penalized
12:09team in the NHL.
12:11And it's by a pretty good amount.
12:15What, where does that come from?
12:17I think it comes from two things, skating quickness or agility, I guess, all included
12:26in that and intelligence, because you want to put yourself in a position where you can
12:32ride somebody into the wall and not take a penalty.
12:35But if you're a half step behind, you're reaching and, and then you put yourself in
12:41a position where the referees can make an easy call.
12:44Make an easy call.
12:44So I think it's, it's quickness, it's intelligence.
12:48And, uh, and maybe I should add a third thing, a little bit of discipline.
12:53Cause you, you know, when you're in a vulnerable position, a weak position, and if you have
12:59to resort, resort to a hook or a hold or something like that, um, you know, you know, you're
13:05going to get the two minutes, you know, your, your arms are outstretched 90% of the time,
13:11especially now in this wimpy rule about slashing.
13:15When you hit a guy on the stick and you get two minutes, which still baffles me, you have
13:20to understand that that's the way it goes and, and, and learn from it.
13:24But they haven't, they haven't been able to do that.
13:27So is that like a, is that a front office thing?
13:29Not being able to recognize, cause when you bring up discipline and not like a lack of
13:37focus, is that the front office not being able to recognize players that could be lacking
13:43those, those two things?
13:44Or is that coaching not being able to get it out of them?
13:48Yeah.
13:48Like, or is it just the player can't get past it?
13:51That's just who he is as a player.
13:54I think it's a, I think it's a combination of things, but in the end it it's on the player.
14:00It's on the coach first.
14:02Cause we talked about this closest to the pit.
14:05You know, you're the one in the action.
14:07You're the one that has to be responsible for what goes on.
14:10But listen, I can't tell you that you can absolve the guys upstairs who, who pay Elias
14:17Lindholm for, you know, 13 points after a third of the season.
14:21And for Zdorov who leads the league in penalty minutes, these guys are just, they're not
14:25living up to the hype.
14:27And so that's where management has to take responsibility.
14:30But in the meantime, you know, if Zdorov has taken penalty after penalty, sit his fat
14:36ass down.
14:39Mike Milbury, you always live up to the hype.
14:41So thank you for taking the time this morning.
14:43I will not be here next week, next Thursday.
14:45I'm here through Wednesday.
14:47So happy, happy holidays.
14:49Merry Christmas.
14:49I hope you get everything you want and more.
14:52Thanks.
14:52I've already, I've already got everything I need.
14:55Oh, fantastic.
14:56Pretty good.
14:56I will not send my gifts then.
14:57I will.
14:58Uh, I had one that was going on.
14:59If it's red wine, please send it.
15:02All right, Mike.