Boston Bruins News: Bergeron Enters Hall of Fame & Offseason Questions | Ep. 148

0:01 Speaker 1: Can you start a podcast with me?

0:02 Speaker 2: Please?

0:03 Speaker 3: I need something to do.

0:13 Speaker 1: I'll struck shut it out in trouble.

0:14 Speaker 2: About to say this cast.

0:19 Speaker 4: Lunch tonight.

0:20 Speaker 1: Here's a chance Pops run down a goalie scars Oh bye wa a move by the rookie.

0:24 Speaker 2: Two on one plaster not moving in with Marshall, get a.

0:27 Speaker 1: Touch on the oone oil dances in padcast when hold right way corner faster and ugsterst what's that from.

0:41 Speaker 3: Boston they've been beating?

0:50 Speaker 2: Uh, it's why Garden.

0:51 Speaker 5: You're calling from the Hockey Hall of Fame and I'm here with Ron Friends, who is the chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame Committee, and we've back from the sport.

1:05 Speaker 2: That's the thing that I come in. Welcome gradually.

1:11 Speaker 6: Oh my god, thank you so much. I mean it's never in a million years I have your imagined that. So very very thankful, really honored, very emotional right now, but yeah, thank you so much. It really means a lot, amazing news. Thank you so much.

1:27 Speaker 2: Welcome in everyone to another episode summer series of Ruins. Tape to tape. We are recording on Monday, June twenty second, which turns out it is a historical day for Patrice bergeron a historical day for the Boston Bruins franchise. As you can lean from the clip you just listened to, Patrice Spergon is now officially a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame as a first year ballatee. So before we take a deep dive into what is an exceptional career for an exceptional hockey player an exceptional person, I want to welcome in my co host Caroline with a K. Are you as excited as I am?

2:15 Speaker 2: Because I literally have goosebumps.

2:18 Speaker 3: I have watched that video. I've watched other angles of that video over and over again. I have already started to see some of the official tribute videos come in. Every time, I have literal goosebumps watching. And the first time I saw that video clip, you could hear he got choked up in that moment. Once that happened, head to toe, goosebump.

2:41 Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna top on the exterior, but a softy on the inside when it comes to things like this, And so I got a bit teary eyed for me personally, I've been watching the Boston Bruins for a very, very long time, and I have always said to friends, members of my family, other hockey fans, there are only two jersey numbers that you will ever see me wear at a TV garden game or in an alternative arena. That would be number four and number thirty seven. That's it for me. Doesn't mean it's the be all or end all, but for me personally, the moments that are special for me related to the Boston Bruins are directly related to watching Robert gordon Or and Patrice Bergel.

3:31 Speaker 3: Yeah, and what I think makes him that much more special. What I think sets Burger on apart from a lot of Hockey Hall of Famers, a lot of Bruins who have their numbers retired up in the rafters, is the fact that he is a son of the Boston Bruins. He came in as an eighteen year old one single team that entire time. That's extra special because he was able to have such a long and distinguished impact, not just on the game of hockey, not just on his position as the perfect hockey player, the pinnacle of what it means to be a center, but as a part of the Boston Bruins.

4:17 Speaker 3: What he did, how he defined what it meant to be a Bruin was really incredible because when he came in, it was during a dark period, so to speak, for the Boston Bruins. And his talent and his personality and how he approached the game, coupled with the leadership that zadano'chara brought in, really brought being a Bruins fan to a new level, what it meant to be a Bruin to a new level, and it ushered in the third Golden age of this franchise.

4:52 Speaker 2: It's amazing. He came as an eighteen year old kid who struggled a little bit with the English language, but he assimilated very well, did everything that was asked of him, never stepped outside of the bounds of being a good hockey player, a class act, a good human. I dare anyone to find anyone out there who can say anything negative about Patrice Bergeron. I think and again it sounds like we are throwing pedals at his feet, as we should no, because honestly, I've raised two hockey players. You are raising a hockey player right now.

5:33 Speaker 2: And I know there's a lot of conversation about athletes shouldn't be held as role models, right, that's not what their role is. Their role is they've been gifted with certain talents and abilities and trajectories that none of us can fathom. However, when you have a person such as Patrice Bergeron who embodies all that you want your athlete person to be, you go ahead and you emulate that person all day, every day. As far as I'm concerned.

6:07 Speaker 3: There's always been the argument, you do what it takes to win, even if it means you're not necessarily the best person or the most well liked by everybody. And to your point, that should we really be raising athletes up to be role models, because they're people, and people are flawed, and there's always going to be something about a person or how they approach life or how they approach the game that might just rub someone the wrong way. When we talk about Patrese Bergeron as the perfect player, it's almost as if he were just made to be the example that everyone really should be held up against.

6:51 Speaker 3: He's called the perfect player for a multitude of reasons. He had incredible elite offensive and elite defensive abilities. We've talked about it on this podcast so many times that the role of a center in the game of hockey isn't just to play with two forwards, but the best centers are also centering your defensive pairing, thus making two lines out there at the same time. A lot of centers specialize in one area over the other. They're either very offensive or they're very defensive. There's nothing necessarily wrong with being one or the other, but he was quite literally both.

7:31 Speaker 3: They should rename the Selki Trophy after him because he is the record number of trophies in that regard.

7:39 Speaker 2: He won six. He was nominated twelve times. I mean, it's crazy. His career was nineteen seasons and you were nominated twelve times. Yeah, a Selk He's won Olympic gold, He's won a Stanley Cup, the Triple Gold. Noah.

7:57 Speaker 3: His hockey IQ, which is something that can be incredibly difficult to really articulate and define, it was Einstein level degree of IQ. He always seemed to know exactly what was happening or was about to happen on the ice, and could put himself in that position where he knew he was needed, where he could maximize his impact and efficiency. You talked about his professionalism, and I think we have heard from countless former teammates rivals, just how professional, humble, accountable, like a good human he is.

8:37 Speaker 3: And you mentioned the Triple Gold Club where he won Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medals, World Championship gold, Junior gold. He was the only inductee this year who was eligible who was already a member of that club. His humility, even in that video is so genuine and believable because I think that's just who he is and makes seeing him get everything that he deserves that much sweeter.

9:09 Speaker 2: Even Marco Stern, you know, was because Marco played with him obviously when he was a member of the Bruins and joked about the fact that it was such an honor. Not surprised that Patrice Bergeron was nominated, but jokingly said kind of like him to come back out of retirement because he looks fit enough to be ready to play. And a former Bruins coach, Jim Montgomery, gave us the impression that Patrice Bergeron was basically running the show. Yes, I remember that was making Jim's job as a first year coach with the Bruins so easy for him.

9:45 Speaker 2: Just goes to show you the person that he is. And I think what we sometimes forget about is early in Patrese's career, he suffered a concussion that we all thought was ending his career before it even started, and I believe it was back in two thousand and seven. We were worried it was another Eric Lindross situation. He was knocked unconscious, he was carried off the ice. He did not play the remainder of that season, and there was a great deal of concern as to whether this young player who we had such high hopes for was going to be able to come back and play this game at the same level.

10:30 Speaker 2: You know, and let's not forget that there was a Stanley Cup Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks where this is what.

10:39 Speaker 3: Makes him just enough level by thirteen, right, he played Game six, Game six we weren't and Game six ended. We don't need to go into the sympathetic details of how Game six ended. The Bruins were trying to force a Game seven to go back to Chicago. Blackhawks ended up poisting the stated only Cup on Tidgarden Ice, but later in the evening the terrees Bergeron was immediately transported to mass General Hospital because he was playing with a separated shoulder, a punctured one and a fractured rip.

11:15 Speaker 2: Correct. Now there's speculation about whether or not he would have been able to play Game seven, but this just shows the degree to which you know he put himself in and just talke players in general, that trophy needs that much to them. But for him to have played with those types of injuries to be available to his teammates speaks volumes exactly.

11:43 Speaker 3: So he's not the only one who got selected, but he is not Days and days.

11:49 Speaker 2: No, we could, and but we won't because there's going to be a celebration exclusively for Pateres at some point during the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven season by the Austin Ruins. But I will say I was a little surprised by the other members of this class of the Hall of Base because I didn't see this coming.

12:10 Speaker 3: As a quick refresher on how voting happens, you create value and desirability by limiting how many people can go into the Hall in any given year. When it comes to players, the maximum number of male players that can be inducted right now is four, so up to four men and up to two women, and this year they opted for three male players. And one female player. What's amazing is the fact that the other two players are goaltenders, and I love that we had.

12:50 Speaker 2: Talked off fair about who we thought would make the cut, so to speak. And I don't think I had either of these two goalies, to be perfectly honest with you, on my radar. Perhaps not this year, but eventually eventually, Yes, the two players being Carrie Price, who is.

13:10 Speaker 3: Arguably the Canadian's most impactful goaltender since Patrick Waugh himself, and then the other player, Pecorinna from the Nashville Predators. I gotta tell you, I had not heard that name, thought of that name in what seems like a lifetime.

13:31 Speaker 2: So to your point, to have two goalies in there, and there were a lot of goalies on the list, two performer Bruins as well. Tim Thomas was on the list and Brian Miller was on There were a lot of goaltending candidates.

13:46 Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, goalies always kind of get the short shrift when it comes to getting inducted to the Hall of Fame. We talked about it in our previous episode about how much harder that position is because you're held to just such an incredible standard very frequently and I thought it was exciting to see that Carrie Price got in. I'm always going to root against the habs, but as you and I have said many times, we are okay with some degree of success on behalf of the Montreal Canadians if that means that the rivalry is fed and fossed.

14:21 Speaker 7: Correct, correct, And I will often also say that I can very much so be a fan of a team's goaltender, separate from being any sort of fan or supporter of said team.

14:35 Speaker 2: We can appreciate, right, despite what our differences are from team to team or whatever the rivalry is. You're can appreciate greatness when you see it. You can appreciate seeing an honest effort on the ice.

14:51 Speaker 3: Yes, a little bit of a rundown. Let's talk first about Carrie Price. Since we're talking about him. He in twenty fifteen. He has a gold medal, no Stanley Cups, but a career save percentage of nine to seventeen.

15:07 Speaker 2: He helped the Canadians reach the Stanley Cup final. In twenty twenty one. He won the Bezna Trophy and the Heart Trophy, both in the same year. So not only was he given the NOD as the Best Goalie during the twenty fourteen twenty fifteen season. He also won the Most Valuable Player that same year.

15:27 Speaker 3: Yes, and he at one point, don't forget he was the highest paid center ever.

15:36 Speaker 2: Correct was from one of the most astronomical contracts ever seen. Insane.

15:43 Speaker 3: He signed his eight year, eighty four million dollar extension in twenty seventeen, and the deal carried a ten point five million average annual value. This is going to be one of those that goes down in history a little bit like the Rick dy Pietro contract from twenty six The Islanders signed Dphro to a fifteen year can you imagine, ten year, sixty seven point five million dollar contract worth four point five million annually. It was the longest contract in NHL history at the time, and so they were paying him even after he retired, up until twenty twenty one.

16:21 Speaker 3: However, because he carry Price had a right knee injury issue. It started as a tormentiscus turned into severe cartilage damage. He opted to not go into the surgery, et cetera. Knees on a goalie, hips on a goalie, forget about it. But because of the weird way that he retired but didn't retire, Like everybody was like, he's done playing, but he's not actually retired, So that way he could then continue to be paid. So his salary was on the books after he actually stopped playing, and at the very end of his contract.

17:00 Speaker 3: If you recall, and you may see a little bit of this joke going around the league, I believe San Jose's most famous goalie that never played because at one point, at the very end, the Habs had to unload that contract and San Jose needed to be above the floor.

17:17 Speaker 2: And so san Jose still has one more season, there's still technically paying carry Price. Carry Price had some demons that he was dealing with, which prompted him to step away from the game to address his own mental well being, which is understandable, right, It's a real thing, folks. Mental health issues are real and they can have a varying degree of impact on individuals. You know, he's a guy. He's a guy. I wouldn't have been upset to see him twist to Stanley Pup because man, he was a friggin gamer.

17:53 Speaker 2: Yes, Like, how many times did those Canadians break the hearts of the Boston Brwards with him? And that I don't know how many times I'd be watching games saying, why can't we figure this guy out? Why can't we get anything by the sky? Yeah?

18:09 Speaker 3: From twenty thirteen to twenty seventeen, he was arguably the best goalie in the world. That's why he got that massive contract. He was nearly textbook in terms of his technique. He was exceptional with his positioning. He hardly wasted any movement. He could track that puck like a heat seeking missile. I mean, it's that era of goaltender that certainly no longer exists in the NHL, and I think, in goodness, two years we're gonna see this conversation come right back around when the last of those goaltenders reaches eligibility in Marc Andre Fleury.

18:54 Speaker 2: But Peppa REMEI Yeah, there's no disputing the importance Hecrone had as a member of the National Predators.

19:04 Speaker 3: First of all, he was huge, six foot five during a time when goalies still were not giants, two.

19:10 Speaker 2: Hundred and seventeen pounds huge. Another guy who started and finished his career with the same franchise, YEP, leading them to some pretty memorable seasons, and he was drafted two hundred and fifty eighth overall, which is the eighth round, by the way, in two thousand and four, and so I think that's what makes his success that much more awesome. It's awesome to see with a nine to seventeen career safe percentage, he won a Vesna in twenty eighteen three hundred and sixty nine wins. Anytime an NHL goalie can get you three hundred wins, I mean, that's an incredible achievement.

19:47 Speaker 2: Three hundred is really when you start to get into elite territory.

19:51 Speaker 3: And he was a very athletic and explosive goaltender. He was very aggressive in the butterfly fantas past sick with the glove hand, I mean again being so huge. His reach was just outrageous, and he led the Nashville Predators to their first conference final and their first Stanley Cup Final in twenty seventeen. I think he's an I don't want to say that he's underrated, because obviously he's just now gotten some incredible recognition by getting into the hall. But I think he's a great role model for young kids goalies in the sense that, look, you don't have to come out looking perfect like Carrie Price when you start, you can still be a phenomenal goaltender.

20:38 Speaker 3: You can achieve a lot of amazing things even as an imperfect goalie. And starting from literally the bottom eighth round right right, going really far. You know, no Stanley cups, but it is not the end.

20:51 Speaker 2: All be all. His numbers alone, his impact to the success of that franchise, yeah, seemingly is enough get him the nod into the Hall of Fame for sure. Then we have a young lady, Cindy Curley. I'll let you speak to her.

21:08 Speaker 3: Cindy Curley. She's a throwback a little bit. And you have to keep in mind with the recent success and growth and development of the PWHL and I just posted on our sub stack a little bit of information just about pathway for women in professional hockey. But the ceiling that has consistently been raised over and over again for women in hockey, And so we're probably still a number of years away from some of the most famously well known current modern day women getting into the Hall. But she's an earlier pioneer.

21:46 Speaker 3: She played at Providence College back in the mid eighties. But she was the captain of the US women's national team. You know, women didn't play at the Olympics, which is arguably the crown jewel of international plays, until nineteen ninety eight, so outside of her time period, but there was still international play. So she was the captain of the US women's national team from nineteen eighty nine to nineteen ninety six. She competed in the first official IIHF Women's World Championships in nineteen ninety So if you think about it, you know, and again I highly recommend reading my recent post on the Substack about the pathway to the PWHL for women.

22:26 Speaker 3: Women have been playing hockey on college campuses since the late eighteen hundreds, the same amount of time as men, but women's varsity college hockey came about in the nineteen sixties and really started to Then the next level was the IIAJF, which happened in nineteen ninety and then in nineteen ninety eight in Nagow, and then today's PWHL. And so she was part of one of those firsts which was the international play, and the nineteen ninety World Championship was absolute historic. It was the inaugural women's World Championships.

23:01 Speaker 3: It was in Ottawa. She produced one of the greatest tournaments. Ever, she had eleven goals, twelve assists, twenty three points in five games, just five games, like even goals in five games. Now, yes, okay, there's gonna be women's hockey haters out there. Well, but how many other teams were they playing against that could have possibly been good?

23:20 Speaker 2: It doesn't matter, It doesn't matter.

23:22 Speaker 3: Eleven goals for crying out loud, Those totals remained single tournament records at the Women's World Championship to this day in twenty twenty six. She entered the US Hockey Hall of Fame in twenty thirteen, and so she is rightly so a member of the twenty twenty six Hockey Hall of Fame Class of Women because she had such an incredible impact at one of those ceiling stages of women's hockey, leading us to eventually.

23:47 Speaker 2: Somebody has to be the pioneer for exactly things grow and change and be open and accessible, right, and she is clearly one of those women. Hey, the way for what we're seeing now in the fact that there is a professional women's hockey league set is growing, it's expanding, players.

24:11 Speaker 3: Like Camer Gernado and Haley Wickanizer and Angela James, Hillary Knight, all of these women, they have had the opportunity and the ability to play in these international tournaments and these professional leagues because of the foundations that were laid by women like Curly. She was a pioneer. She helped grow women's hockey long before there were Olympics for women and the professional leagues. And so she's I mean, she's a Massachusetts native too, by the way, So for New England hockey fans, she is arguably one of the greatest players to ever come out of women's hockey in Massachusetts.

24:47 Speaker 2: I love it.

24:47 Speaker 3: I didn't know much about her, I'm sorry to say, but when I've learned about her, what I've learned has been very admirable.

24:55 Speaker 2: No, and I mean You're not alone. I didn't know much about her either, and I'm sure that there are many Pucky fans out there who are starting to pay more attention learn more about the women's game. Looking back on how did we get where we are now? Who's paved the way for these young college athletes now to know, Hey, this I could potentially play professionally. And then we have Keith Kuchuk. Now this has been well we have to because this is going to segue into a lot of big NHL news that has happened in recent days.

25:35 Speaker 2: Yes, so it's been a big week for the Kuchuk family.

25:40 Speaker 3: Yes, for that family in particular. I was honestly a little bit surprised. I mean, I know that he had a very particular reputation. I remember him playing back in the day, but that one was a little bit of a surprise. I guess that was the one I forget. See, I didn't even remember that he was in.

25:57 Speaker 2: You had to because you walk out anything having to do any Kuchuks.

26:01 Speaker 3: I do, because they hate him so much. I'm okay with you calling me out on that bias.

26:05 Speaker 2: I know it's a fact. That's just how you roll.

26:08 Speaker 3: It's as how I am.

26:09 Speaker 2: I hate him so much, But we need to talk about him in our next segment, which is all the news that has built up. Obviously, the headline news is the Hockey Hall of Fame and he Kuchuk, father of Matt and Brady Kuchuk, is now a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame class of twenty twenty six.

26:30 Speaker 3: What is interesting about Keith Kuchuk. I remember him from the later part of his career in my mind, and I don't know if this is universal. I think of him, I think of the Saint Louis Blues. But he did play for four teams over the course of eighteen seasons, so five hundred and thirty eight goals, five hundred and twenty seven assists, one thousand and sixty five points over twenty two hundred penalty minutes. He became only the fourth American born player to reach five hundred goals and one of the first great US power forwards.

27:06 Speaker 3: And again, I remember him from later in his career, so he's one that I probably couldn't necessarily appreciate anyway. He if I didn't have my bias.

27:18 Speaker 2: I do remember his play. I do, and I know he was a tough sob he was a power.

27:25 Speaker 3: Forward during the time period where that was what you wanted to be. I mean, think cam Neely. He is the archetype for the power forward, and so that's what made him particularly effective because a power forward isn't just an enforcer, but a power forward is an enforcer who has that goal scoring ability just like any other elite goalscorer of today. That's why they don't exist, because those elite goal scorers of today have kind of taken over, and that's the new trend for goal scoring.

27:57 Speaker 2: The local boy he was fro Melroseman, Massachusetts, two hundred and thirty five pounds, skating down on you. Okay, yes, tell me you're not going to get the hell out of the way when you see that coming at you. But there you have it, folks, the Class of twenty twenty six Hall of Famers. There you have it. So now we just need to talk about all of the chaos that has started to ensue within the league now that the Stanley Cup Finals are over. I don't know the Carolina Hurricanes are still partying, but they're having a time, as they well should.

28:32 Speaker 2: But there's been a great deal of news happening in the league that we are going to talk about with our remaining time during this episode.

28:42 Speaker 3: Let's hope it's a little bit more of an exciting off season than last year, because last year felt a little underwhelming.

28:50 Speaker 2: Well, it's been exciting for some teams, but I have a funny feeling that it won't be overly exciting for the Boston Ruins. But we shall. We have so much to talk about. There have been trades made, already, there have been coaching hires made already, teams are getting prepared for the draft, which is happening on June twenty six. And just a little bit of housekeeping for our listeners. For next week's episode, we are going to be re airing an episode that we had done last season as we're approaching development camp, so we're going to bring that episode back to light.

29:33 Speaker 2: And then our official season four starts July seven. We've got free agency that starts July first. The draft will have come and gone by then. We talked about in the intro. There's been a lot happening since the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup, and congratulations. They were a freaking well oiled machine. I have to give them credit, and I honestly didn't mind seeing Taylor Hall the Stanley cupp. We also had some retirement news. Donathan Tabes is following it a career. Yep.

30:08 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not too surprising. I feel so bad for him in some regards, and that his career was derailed pretty significantly because of long COVID.

30:20 Speaker 2: He would have been a guy that I would have guessed, I would have put money on the fact that he would have retired. Had fallen differently for him, he would have retired as a Chicago Blackhawk.

30:32 Speaker 3: Yeah, and the only thing that surprised me was the fact that he made an announcement about it, because I also forgot that he was forgot he was in Winnipeg. Yes, this is a guy who he had a very impressive career a number of Stanley Cups.

30:48 Speaker 2: Wasn't he referred to as Captain Clutch?

30:51 Speaker 3: But it would be remiss to not mention the fact that some of his legacy is slightly tarnished because he came from a team where there was the Kyle Beach incident. Sadly that did happen during his tenure as during his captaincy, So to what degree was he complicit in knowing? And unfortunately that's always gonna mark his legacy. But it's two things can be true, right, that happened, and you can feel sorry for someone that their career had to be ended because of long term COVID and it's just not the way you would want to see somebody go out.

31:27 Speaker 2: And the length to which he went to heal himself in order to come back to play, you wanted to keep playing. And now we get down to trades that are happening, and I want to jump to what I think is friggin' blockbuster trade.

31:43 Speaker 4: YEA.

31:45 Speaker 2: So for any of you who haven't been paying attention or you're taking the summer off, which I don't blame you, Brady Kutchuk is now a Florida Panther. You want to talk about worst kept secrets like we were saying about Patrice Berger, I know, right.

32:01 Speaker 3: Literally, nobody should have been shocked. I think we knew a couple of seasons ago after his brother Matthew was doing really well in Florida, and this has been their lead up to their first Stanley Cup appearance and then of course the subsequent two Cup wins. We all knew that he wanted to go there. There was speculation even on other podcasts and from other analysts who already started to look at the numbers back in March. I saw from what chaos after the trade deadline was looking at what's available for CAP and looking at who's got to be signed.

32:37 Speaker 3: Nobody's shocked. I think the only part for me that was a little bit surprising is just how good the return was that Ottawa won that trade.

32:49 Speaker 2: In my opinion, when you lose a cornerstone piece like Brady Kutchu. I mean, let's face fat, he was being paid as a kind of a franchise altering player, right he was there. Captain, the general manager and Brady Kuchuk himself as early as April were trying to debunk all these stories about him wanting out of Ottawa and his commitment to the team, and even the general manager called it, quote unquote nonsense. Right, But we've all learned, We've been sports fans long enough to know that they could say whatever they want.

33:23 Speaker 2: But when bush comes to shove, it's still a business, and teams and players are going to make decisions that are in their best business interest. What troubles need now is the pattern that I'm seeing in that there only seem to be in the National Hockey League three wanted destinations for players to go to Florida, Vegas, and Minnesota. Every time you hear about one of these notable players wanting to make a change, those are the teams that consistently come up. And wasn't even on Brady Kochuk's rada in terms of teams that he wanted to be traded to.

34:05 Speaker 2: And I know there was sports talk show fodder about that. But I think that's what I worry about in terms of you get to a point and you want to go where you believe and you think you have the best chance of winning and succeeding. There are financial reasons that I know Florida and Vegas are prime destinations because of the tax or no tax implications. But how do you end up standing a chance to compete and getting a lid of these guys.

34:35 Speaker 3: Yeah, So in the case of Brady Kuchuk, he wasn't going to go anywhere except for Florida, So nobody else had a shot because that's the only place that he was going to go.

34:43 Speaker 2: Honestly, he said, there were other teams. But if you haven't ality. But you know what, and I know we have different opinions on the Kutchuk brothers. I would still take them on my team. Okay, I would still take them on my team. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wouldn't take them on my team. But if you have an opportunity to go and play with your sibling, why not take it. The Fillino brothers are together in Minnesota, right. That was the other thing.

35:11 Speaker 3: Right when you look at the trade with uncle Nick going to Minnesota again, his brother.

35:16 Speaker 2: Is there, right.

35:17 Speaker 3: I wouldn't be shocked if at some point we see one of the New Jersey Hughes go to Minnesota because that's where Quinn is, right. So I think part of this is a little bit of a coincidence. Maybe what we see is implicit bias. Of course they're all going there, but they also have personal connections to those places, so that could be a thing. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying it all looks very convenient. But it just goes to show the Florida Panthers are not afraid to make a big deal to part with all of those draft picks.

35:54 Speaker 3: I think the Ottawa Senators were trying to hold out for an active player on the Panthers' rosters, and the Panthers were like, yeah, no way, Jose, but gave them all of those draft picks in Regia because they didn't like being on the sidelines watching what was happening. And they have is a bil Zito who's there, Sam right afraid? It is not afraid, And I think this was a perfect storm. My understanding and reading the situation, Brady probably has been looking for ways to make it happen so he can go and play with his brother.

36:33 Speaker 3: And if Ottawa wasn't going to be able to get a body in return, then it worked out that Brady was willing to leave and leave with his contract dollars in an effort to potentially make a real hard run at getting Jason Robertson, who is expensive, very inighensive.

36:59 Speaker 2: I did read somewhere don't be surprised if the Ottawa Senators put in a massive potential offera sheet on Jason Robertson, which I love that kind of crap. I say, do it right, You've seen our last note, like enough of this being cordial with each other, can do it.

37:20 Speaker 3: And so the other thing that has driven me a little bit nuts about the free agency in the last couple of seasons, and I want to say that I heard in a thirty two Thoughts episode from freege the league I think wants to move away from the what they call the sign and trade, which also drives me out because it's technically a trade and sign, but whatever the concept of the sign and trade because it's flirting with tampering, because how do you do that if you're not having a conversation about the sign right exactly.

37:56 Speaker 3: So what happened with Mitch Marner the fact that he was going to be eligible to go onto the market and he never even did because he got traded and then signed an extension. No one else had.

38:09 Speaker 2: A chance because no, And we want the drama about entertained, Yeah, we want the drama. Let's fact, like I want to see an OPERASTI if Ottawa wants to throw a boat look and let you know, Grady a little bit of an in Ottawa because they had that entire station with Lise Omark and all of the bullshit that was being spread out that and you know, Brady being a captain having to stand up there and answer those you know, family members being nonsense. Right, the fact that it was made the Clino despite everything that they was pretty significant accomplished.

38:51 Speaker 2: I know, you know, some people expected them to make a little bit more noise. Brady had absolutely no. He took full to his credit, he took fuld when when they got ousted. Absolutely and complete shift of it, which any good Cabrae.

39:08 Speaker 3: No, definitely, Although I will say I don't feel bad for him at all because he then had his father on his podcast and let his dad go off about soft players with mental health issues and didn't say anything when he knew he had to know why his goalie had to leave at the end of the game because he was having panic attacks out there. He had the year he deserved.

39:34 Speaker 2: Yeah, that was that was a bad look.

39:36 Speaker 3: No one was slanderliness to me. Nobody slander's leaders.

39:40 Speaker 2: And you know what, maybe after the podcast, the boys said to dad, why the hell did you say that? You know, they didn't want to embarrass their father on air.

39:48 Speaker 3: They could have cut it. Why not cut it?

39:51 Speaker 2: He agreed? I think he agreed. I'm still saying. I'm still saying I would take them on my team.

39:58 Speaker 3: But looking at the trades that have already happened so far, of the big ones of any sort of notable names, only one of them has resulted in players swapping, So Simon Benoit and Joseph Wall I thought were pretty sizable initial trades. That was really the one that kind of kicked off the trading post Cup before free agencies. The other big trade that was also a sign and trade also involved Toronto, and that was with Darren Radish. Between Tampa and Toronto.

40:32 Speaker 2: They better not be more.

40:33 Speaker 3: Of these because nobody likes these.

40:35 Speaker 2: No, it's kind of a snoozefest. But I mean, I would like to see our team do any trade at this point. And I know that Pablzaka's name is coming up a bit in the rumor.

40:47 Speaker 3: Mel Yep and Laura and the Bruins have participated in a trade thus far, Andre Gasso and a fourth round for this year's twenty six draft when to San Jose in exchange for two picks for this year that were originally owned by Florida and also by Montreal.

41:11 Speaker 2: Mason Lorii's name is coming up again too as potential trade, and I saw one and I hope this was a joke, a straight up exchange Wari for Darnell Nurse. Okay, what are we doing here?

41:27 Speaker 1: Oh good?

41:30 Speaker 3: Oh god.

41:31 Speaker 2: And that's another topic of conversation we need to talk about, because we just touched upon the fact that Leafs finally filled their coaching vacancy. Right now is only one coaching vacancy left and that is the Edmonton Oilers. And tell me that they can't be serious about hiring like that. I mean, I do believe in second chances and people learning lessons, but this guy has never changed, but never never changed. Point don't you have to look and say a leopard never changes his.

42:04 Speaker 3: Spots And he's not even and he's he's not. It's not like Tortorella, who can be an ass, or Cassidy, who could be a real jerk and a hard ass. Those men have cups. They have gone deep into playoffs many times in their career. Mike Babcock has really not done squat And what I find so bizarre about everything that I'm seeing right now, So first of all, the timing of the investigation.

42:33 Speaker 2: What a joke.

42:35 Speaker 3: You only are investigating him now after this instead of after actually what happened in Columbus where he's looking at players photos and making them uncomfortable to the point that they fired him before the season even started, and then nobody followed up. Oh, that's right. He can't violate an abuse policy if there is no abuse policy at the NHL level. So that's stupid. What are they gonna investigate him for. They don't have any policies related to what he has done being an abusive prick, sitting Mike Madonna after Game fourteen ninety nine, sitting Chris Chelli.

43:11 Speaker 2: Out like why would you ever sit though this guy is a first class assholey. There's no two ways about it.

43:18 Speaker 3: You you he's a first class asshole, and it could be a superstar player who gets his wrath because he clearly gets off on being a dick to these people and having that power and control. But god forbid, you're a journeyman down the line, your life is going to be hell. And the people who work for the organization, they've reported your training staff, your facilities people, your office people, they've reported him being just a terrible person. But then what's weird is the fact that, okay, they made the announcement.

43:53 Speaker 3: They asked, is it okay? Can we hire him? The NHL first said, yeah, oh wait, let's investigate. No, he's clear, but they still haven't hired him. So what's happening in Edmunds?

44:04 Speaker 2: Right?

44:05 Speaker 3: He went through the trouble. You knew it was probably gonna be a thing. That's why you asked, is it okay?

44:12 Speaker 2: I wonder if they're now worried about the pr machine and the blowback that may surface if they actually hire him.

44:20 Speaker 3: So have they moved on?

44:21 Speaker 2: I would like to hear what Connor McDavid or Leon dreis listening. That kid has got to run as far away from that freaking organization as he can if he ever wants a chance to win a Stanley Cup, because it's not going to happen there. I just can't see it happening there.

44:41 Speaker 3: Watching Edmonton function is very similar to watching Toronto function.

44:48 Speaker 2: I mean, do they have a real goaltender yet? No? Do they have a legit goaltender yet? You should be more worried about getting yourself a legitif freaking goalie than who the coach is gonna be?

44:59 Speaker 3: Yeah, and what's the rush? Wait for Bruce Castle? Well, that's how you want the rush?

45:05 Speaker 2: Because again, why hasn't Vegas given him the go ahead yet?

45:09 Speaker 3: We know because they're jerks and their indivision and.

45:14 Speaker 2: That's why this is more not fader, but more drama. But it's just like, what are we doing here? How is it okay for you deny him the right to go and coach somewhere? Yeah? I don't know where Edmonton is picking in the draft, but the draft is this week. Wouldn't you like any potential players that you draft to know who your coach is going to be? Wouldn't it be nice for the coach to be up there on the stage with other team representatives.

45:40 Speaker 3: I think that's the rush, and they I don't know now off the top of my head what they were doing in between the end of the season. I feel like it took them a long time to fire their coach. They didn't fire him right away, So some of this is also Pisspoor planning on your part constitutes an emergency. It's not supposed to constitute an emergency, mind, but has turned into that. And now Edmonton's strembling because they mishandled it. They can't have a full on coaching search like most other places, so I think they've dug themselves into a little bit of a hole here.

46:14 Speaker 2: Anyway, the draft, what do you expect from our team? I myself get very worried about having the Ruins organization with draft picks, just because I don't have a lot of faith in their ability to identify players that fit whatever system that they want to play.

46:34 Speaker 3: Yeah, so let's see, Boston isn't picking until the twenty third spot of the first round, so they still have a first round, which is great because there were a number of years where we didn't even have a first round.

46:48 Speaker 2: Pick.

46:49 Speaker 3: I have such low expectations, especially Don Sweeney is not a draft guy.

46:54 Speaker 2: He's been better, But no, when we said this last year, you and I could have drafted James Hagen. It doesn't take rocket science.

47:02 Speaker 3: No, And it's my understanding this particular draft class, while talented, certainly not as strong as other past recent draft classes in general. Like even looking at Gavin McKenna, he is no Connor Redard Macklin Celebrini.

47:21 Speaker 2: He's great, but well, honestly, I think Maclin Celebrini is far better performance than Connor Redard at at this point.

47:30 Speaker 3: But he's more entertaining, to say the least. But we'll see what happens during free agency. At a minimum, I think John Sweeney needs to move Jonis Corporoslo. There has to be a scenario where Jonis Corpora Salo is dealt from the Boston Ruins. Yeah, and there's still going to be a flurry of trades, especially as we get closer and closer first to the lead up to the draft, and then it'll chill out for probably like forty eight hours and then the timeline flips again. As you recall, the free agency is the bookend of the high holy period of the NHL, which starts with the trade deadline, going into the insanity of playoffs.

48:21 Speaker 5: You've got the draft lottery, you've got the Cup, you've got the draft itself, and then dev camp for pretty much every club, and then free agency and all of that kind of happening at the exact same time, one of the busiest ten.

48:37 Speaker 3: Days across the calendar, and so you're going to see some trading happening between today jogging.

48:45 Speaker 2: They get a position at the draft to meet a need that they want to fill for their team, there's going.

48:51 Speaker 3: To be them the draft, and then a lot of the new drafte's are going to be sent straight to their new home cities for development Camp. Interestingly enough, James Hagen's not going to be at dev camp, primarily because this kid has been playing basically hockey NonStop since August, so he's rightly excused from dev camp, but we'll probably see him then again at rookie camp. It's going to be a crazy time. And then in that stretch you've got all these trades that are going to be happening literally right up until noon on July first, And for the Bruins, my understanding in regards to Victor Arvidson that conversations are still ongoing and that it's a question of term, So we could still very well see an extension signed beforehand.

49:43 Speaker 3: We could still see him sign a brand new contract with the Boston Brewods post July. What if Boston is where he really wants to be, he could just exist there without a contract if he doesn't want to go anywhere else, And that could still be trades happening to trades happen in a flurry before the free agency, because again he's signing trades and getting that whole situation. But trades can happen up until a roster has to be submitted in September.

50:11 Speaker 2: But I'll be curious to see what scenarios the Bruins come up with. As I said earlier on, I have seen Pavel Saka's name be grown around as potential on the move candidate, and again Victor arguson he could be helpful not only to the Bruins, but he could be helpful to another team. I would like to think that John Sweeney is open to listening to any and all being made, or he's working the phones to see what offers he can get. But I don't see a scenario where the Bruins are going to be able to address their number one needs, which is a true kind I hate this term puck moving defenseman and a number one, number two center.

50:57 Speaker 3: Boston has to do something of note in the next ten days period. We have to see something. I don't care if it's only one, and if it's only one, it better be a defenseman. To me, that is what I need to see. If Boston wants to smartly build on what they accomplished last year this past season, they need to do it intentionally and within the core ideology of this franchise, which is defense first. As we've discussed, they're great on the back end. Even if Corpusala doesn't get moved, fine, we got to get that desquared away like that to me priority, I think I'm more of.

51:42 Speaker 2: The mindset of I want them to address getting help for Pasta and try to figure out a way to balance scoring because we had it in buckets, but we didn't have it consistently. Even with the sound defensive structure. You're not going to win a whole ton of games if you can't score more goals than the other team does. But from what I have read and seen, there's nothing really available in this free agency. So now you're looking at potentially another year down the road, another year of Pasta McAvoy's four years potentially being burned.

52:17 Speaker 2: Right you're thirty. I know.

52:20 Speaker 3: I I hope they're smart and they surprise us. It doesn't need to be a crazy blockbuster. And how do you draw people here? How do you draw people here? Where before you had a winning culture. And I'm not saying we have a loser's mentality here, That's not what I'm saying at all. But we're not in the same position as other teams now in the league because that balance is starting to come to fruition, that parody where no I can go here, and when potentially next year, where you guys are still a year, two, three years out and at that point Pasta is going to be two or three years older.

53:01 Speaker 3: Back a boy is going to be too. These are unsettling timed for the Boston Ruins franchise. We're not based in the dwellers, and I don't know that we're going to hit that rock bottom and right we already did that was previous season. Yeah, yeah, yeah, But no, to your point, I think what you're saying is actually really spot on in that for the magic elixir player, that magical player who can really make those things happen, that's going to be some guy who is looking to move to a team that is within a year or two of a Cup.

53:38 Speaker 3: Right, So Boston is not the place where that superstar, easy fix player is going to pick. But Boston will always be a desirable destination for literally every other category of player, literally every category of player because of just what the franchise represents. So I'm not worried in terms of Boston being able to find that diamond and the rough player like we got with someone like Freezer Minton, although he didn't also have really a choice in coming to Boston. Boston is a desirable destination because of the history, because we have a winning culture on the whole.

54:20 Speaker 3: This is a team that wins, This is an organization, is a fan base that won't accept anything.

54:26 Speaker 2: Less, and I think players like that. They like to be abled to accountable. The Rwons fans are very willing to do that. Yes, yes, sometimes yeah, sometimes we're nasty. But one more thing that I wanted to touch on, which I found it really interesting going through NHL dot Com. And besides the Boston Bruins, did you know that there were other teams in the league that did not have captains? The Bruins weren't the only ones.

54:54 Speaker 3: Well, I knew that Chicago traded their captain and Vancouver traded their captain this past season. And I'm trying to think of who else might be sans captain. The King Kings would be sans captain San Jose and the Saint Louis Blues are sans captains. Interesting little tidbit. Yes, and the Bruins have announced their development camp scheduling or twenty twenty six. Development camp begins on Monday, June twenty ninth, and we myself, Caroline and friend of God Mary Beth, we will be in the house at some point during these sessions, watching the growth and the development and see if we see any diamonds in the rough.

55:43 Speaker 3: Yes, I'm very excited to see what these guys can do.

55:46 Speaker 2: You know, sometimes, as someone who comes out of nowhere that surprises the hell out of you and you say to yourself, let's hope this guy gets an invitation to training camp, see what can happen.

55:58 Speaker 3: Yes, and we definitely saw that last year, so some good surprises there until on next episode.

56:04 Speaker 2: Final thoughts for me, anyways, is congratulations to all of the Hall of famers going in to the Hockey Hall of Fame. For me, I think, listen, nobody deserves it more than patrese bergeron. I would love to see him back with the Bruins organization in some capacity when he's ready to do so and he's got more time on his hands. Please make sure that you like and subscribe for more content, and be sure to leave a rating and a review to help other Bruins fans find us. You can support our podcast by joining our Patreon or following us on our socials at Tape to Tape, m P at Tape to Tape mk dot, substack dot com.

56:50 Speaker 2: Any closing thoughts go these go.

56:53 Speaker 4: Bruins still still be