Bruins Roster Questions: Placeholders or Pieces for the Future? | Ep. 146

0:00 Speaker 1: Can you start a podcast with me?

0:02 Speaker 2: Please?

0:03 Speaker 1: I need something to do. All Jack sending out a

0:14 Speaker 1: triple bocking to say, today.

0:20 Speaker 2: Here's a chance pop all right down?

0:21 Speaker 1: The goalie scars, oh my one a move by the

0:24 Speaker 1: rookie to on one plaster not moving in setting Joe

0:28 Speaker 1: on his own oil dances in podcast Wait at home

0:32 Speaker 1: right away corner pasterst what is that for? Most?

0:50 Speaker 2: Welcome in, everyone to another episode of Ruins Tape to tape.

0:54 Speaker 2: I will be your host today. I am Maria from Watertown.

0:58 Speaker 2: We are recording today's episode on Monday, June eighth, after

1:03 Speaker 2: what has been a very steamy weekend here in my region.

1:08 Speaker 2: I want to welcome in my lovely co host Caroline

1:11 Speaker 2: with a kay. How are you.

1:13 Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm enjoying this beautiful weather today. It is

1:17 Speaker 1: a bluebird day. It rained finally last night, so the

1:23 Speaker 1: air is not completely choking me when I go outside

1:27 Speaker 1: with all that pollen pau is disgusting.

1:30 Speaker 2: And we're here talking hockey, so I'm happy. It's summer

1:34 Speaker 2: and here we are. So as our listeners know, we

1:39 Speaker 2: have been doing some player profiles over the course of

1:43 Speaker 2: this summer. Today we are going to focus on three

1:47 Speaker 2: members of the Boston Bruins, specifically Hannah Janeau to Michael

1:52 Speaker 2: Asimont and Henry Jokihi. We are going to be providing

1:56 Speaker 2: you with our assessments of their contribution to the team,

2:01 Speaker 2: whether or not we see them as part of the

2:05 Speaker 2: solution moving forward for the Boston Bruins. But before we

2:10 Speaker 2: take our deep dive into that, there has been a

2:13 Speaker 2: little bit of news over the last week or so,

2:17 Speaker 2: and some of it pretty significant that I think we

2:19 Speaker 2: do want to touch upon. This news came out I

2:23 Speaker 2: believe it was Sunday, might have been late Saturday, former

2:25 Speaker 2: Bruins Milan luccicic announcing that he is retiring and Melon

2:32 Speaker 2: was a significant contributor to the Bruins two thousand and

2:37 Speaker 2: eleven Stanley Cup championship. Things likely didn't pan out in

2:43 Speaker 2: a way that even Nylon or the Boston Bruins fan

2:46 Speaker 2: base might have expected. For your thoughts on Melon.

2:50 Speaker 1: And yeah, it's we're getting closer and closer to being

2:55 Speaker 1: fully removed from that twenty eleven Ruins team A long time.

3:01 Speaker 2: Do the math.

3:01 Speaker 1: It's been a long time, and it's bittersweet because we've

3:06 Speaker 1: seen a lot of hockey since then, And as I

3:09 Speaker 1: know you're gonna talk a little bit when we get

3:11 Speaker 1: to Stanley Cup discussion, it's probably going to be a

3:15 Speaker 1: little while still before we get to see that kind

3:19 Speaker 1: of run again.

3:20 Speaker 2: Well. Yeah, and he was deemed to be a quote

3:24 Speaker 2: unquote power forward. Yes, that's also he was going to

3:28 Speaker 2: be targeted as someone who was going to be the younger,

3:33 Speaker 2: newer model of Cam. Mean, now things didn't quite pan

3:36 Speaker 2: out that way for Melan. He was never fleet of

3:40 Speaker 2: foot so to speak. There were many times where it

3:43 Speaker 2: seemed like he was skating with cement in his skates.

3:47 Speaker 2: But there's no arguing that he was a significant factor

3:53 Speaker 2: in the Bruins winning a Stanley Cup in twenty and eleven,

3:56 Speaker 2: and also a significant factor in that historical comeback against

4:02 Speaker 2: the Toronto Maple Leafs where the Bruins were down by

4:06 Speaker 2: if I remember correctly, three goals with less than a

4:10 Speaker 2: handful of minutes left to go and he got the

4:13 Speaker 2: ball rolling. It was him who just energized everyone on

4:18 Speaker 2: the team, everyone in the TV garden. I believe it

4:21 Speaker 2: was Mother's Day game if I'm not mistaken. So credit

4:26 Speaker 2: to him for his contributions to the Boston Bruins and

4:30 Speaker 2: for a decent career in the NHL.

4:33 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a tough game and he played for a

4:35 Speaker 1: very long time and he.

4:36 Speaker 2: Played hard minutes. I will never forget. One of the

4:39 Speaker 2: most iconic moments too for Melon was I believe it

4:43 Speaker 2: was either a Toronto maple leaf or a Montreal Canadian

4:47 Speaker 2: that he sent crashing into the glass at the rink

4:52 Speaker 2: and the glass shattered. Not only did he shatter the player,

4:55 Speaker 2: he shattered the glass as well.

4:57 Speaker 1: Yes, that is iconic.

4:59 Speaker 2: The next piece of news that came across our wires

5:04 Speaker 2: was the fact that Dylan Larkin has apparently or is

5:07 Speaker 2: apparently asking for a trade out of Detroit. And I've

5:11 Speaker 2: read a little bit about this over the weekend, and

5:15 Speaker 2: it seems that maybe he, Dylan Larkin and his agent

5:20 Speaker 2: and Steve Arsman may not be seeing eye to eye.

5:23 Speaker 2: And we know Steve Wiseman is. He's cutthroat.

5:27 Speaker 1: He is. We've had some interesting conversation with friend of

5:30 Speaker 1: the Pod, Anna, who is our resident Columbus Blue Jackets

5:35 Speaker 1: slash expert in the discord. We are not the only

5:40 Speaker 1: ones who immediately thought, oh we could use a number

5:45 Speaker 1: one center. That would be really great. However, after a

5:50 Speaker 1: brief enjoyment of that fantasy world, we all remembered we

5:55 Speaker 1: have to be defensive first. That is the priority in

5:59 Speaker 1: the off season, and so it's unlikely.

6:02 Speaker 2: I think we're doing lark In a disservice because I

6:05 Speaker 2: think he does have some of that potential in him. Now.

6:08 Speaker 2: The issue for Dylan Larkin is this has been a

6:12 Speaker 2: progressive rebuild for the Detroit Red Wings for quite some time.

6:16 Speaker 2: This is the very concerns that I have with David

6:20 Speaker 2: Pasternach and how long he's going to have an appetite

6:23 Speaker 2: to keep doing a rebuild when these guys want to

6:26 Speaker 2: win a Stanley Cup and Larkin is the captain, is

6:30 Speaker 2: also loging a lot of minutes. There's also a lot

6:33 Speaker 2: of young guys. My bigger concern is he's getting paid

6:37 Speaker 2: a boatload of money by the Detroit Red Wings and

6:39 Speaker 2: he's not a UFA until twenty thirty one, where he's

6:43 Speaker 2: going to be like thirty four years old, and Iserman

6:46 Speaker 2: is going to want a freakin' hall. He is going

6:50 Speaker 2: to want a treasure chust in return for Dylan Markin.

6:54 Speaker 1: Oh, for sure, his AAV isn't terrible. We've talked and

6:59 Speaker 1: seen rumors in the discord about who's the guy from

7:03 Speaker 1: Dallas Jason Robertson, he's going to be asking for fourteen

7:08 Speaker 1: million dollars. Larkin is only at eight point seven AAV,

7:13 Speaker 1: which is in the grand scheme of things, not too bad.

7:16 Speaker 1: But like you said, Iserman has the cards here. People

7:21 Speaker 1: knows that the price rite a lot of teams and

7:25 Speaker 1: the value of what he offers as a player. And

7:30 Speaker 1: to quote again friend of the pod Anna, I'm sorry

7:33 Speaker 1: to break your hearts, but I would be genuinely stunned

7:35 Speaker 1: if he was traded to the Bruins. It doesn't make

7:38 Speaker 1: sense from an organizational perspective. And she offered her professional

7:46 Speaker 1: opinion in that these are some of the places that

7:48 Speaker 1: she thinks he would go, and I think they're actually

7:50 Speaker 1: these are pretty good. These are good ideas. Certainly Minnesota

7:54 Speaker 1: to go play with Quinn Hughes and Minnesota is a

7:57 Speaker 1: playoff team that definitely is in need of a center.

8:00 Speaker 1: And they played together USA Hockey Toronto because that's his

8:04 Speaker 1: childhood team. Although we've seen what happens when that little

8:09 Speaker 1: boy in his Toronto maple leef bedspread there.

8:13 Speaker 2: Things don't the fairy tale doesn't end well there, although

8:17 Speaker 2: it's right end well for Mitch Marner, but we'll talk

8:19 Speaker 2: about that. Yeah.

8:21 Speaker 1: And then Carolina because their style of hockey fits his

8:25 Speaker 1: perfectly and they're obviously a contender.

8:27 Speaker 2: But the big question is what of value of these teams.

8:31 Speaker 2: Steve Barsonman's going to want to get something of significant

8:35 Speaker 2: value in return. So if you look up and down now,

8:38 Speaker 2: I don't know short of what our core is for

8:43 Speaker 2: the Boston Bruins, of value that the Red Wings might want.

8:47 Speaker 2: Are you potentially going to give up James Hagens for

8:50 Speaker 2: Dylan Larkin. No, So I agree with Anna between the

8:54 Speaker 2: money and what the expected return, I don't think the

8:58 Speaker 2: Bruins could fit into that equation.

9:01 Speaker 1: No, and I do think that they should stay the

9:05 Speaker 1: course and focus on that right shot d more than

9:09 Speaker 1: anything moving forward. We especially have a roster right now

9:15 Speaker 1: that you would certainly call a bunch of jags, and

9:19 Speaker 1: I think the roster is comprised of a lot of

9:23 Speaker 1: guys who are placeholders in the sense that they're guys

9:27 Speaker 1: who are replacement level in all the metrics, and they're

9:31 Speaker 1: just holding a seat warm until Boston can kind of

9:34 Speaker 1: figure out either. Do we have somebody that we can

9:37 Speaker 1: develop and bring up. Can we trade, can we sign

9:40 Speaker 1: for something a little bit better? But each of those

9:43 Speaker 1: spots is earmarked. And as much as it would be

9:47 Speaker 1: lovely to have Dylan Larkin, he's just we don't really

9:51 Speaker 1: have a clear path to have him on the Boston

9:54 Speaker 1: Bruins based on need and availability of who we could

9:58 Speaker 1: give up.

9:58 Speaker 2: But let's call a space of spade too. That's a

10:01 Speaker 2: lot of that's a lot of coin. That is a

10:03 Speaker 2: lot of money to have tied up when you have

10:06 Speaker 2: more than one need if you want to get to

10:09 Speaker 2: the level of play that we're currently seeing right now,

10:12 Speaker 2: which we'll talk about in a little bit. The next

10:15 Speaker 2: piece of news that we want to talk about is

10:17 Speaker 2: the NHL has started its award presentations and we've had

10:23 Speaker 2: a few that have been announced over the last week

10:25 Speaker 2: or so. One I think surprised you based on the

10:28 Speaker 2: comments in the discord, was John Cooper winning Coach of

10:33 Speaker 2: the Year. I thought maybe Lindy Ruffet. I agreed with you.

10:36 Speaker 2: I thought maybe Linda.

10:37 Speaker 1: I didn't say who I thought it was you. I

10:40 Speaker 1: didn't even know that John Cooper.

10:41 Speaker 2: Was yeah, John Cooper, but I thought it was you.

10:46 Speaker 1: My bad whatever it is. I agree with them, that's

10:48 Speaker 1: not because it really should be who came in and

10:53 Speaker 1: made an impact, who saw the Buffalo Sabers getting as far.

10:57 Speaker 2: And I know that these awards are based on regular

11:02 Speaker 2: season accomplishments, but still we saw them make such a

11:07 Speaker 2: gigantic turnaround. This is on par with my opinion of

11:14 Speaker 2: what happened with the Vesna. And I'm not saying that

11:18 Speaker 2: Jeremy Swayman should have won it because I'm a Bruins fan.

11:21 Speaker 1: Soroken I think could have also easily been the winner.

11:26 Speaker 1: I have a problem with the idea that it was

11:28 Speaker 1: Vasilevsky because one, I think the days of peak Vassi

11:33 Speaker 1: are done and gone. And secondly, how hard can it

11:38 Speaker 1: be to be the best goalie when you're on a

11:41 Speaker 1: team that is consistently one of the best teams in

11:44 Speaker 1: the league coached by consistently one of the best coaches,

11:48 Speaker 1: compared to the Islanders and the Bruins, where those goalies

11:53 Speaker 1: had to do a hell of a lot more work.

11:56 Speaker 2: So, speaking of Vassilevski, the NHL is doing some fun

12:01 Speaker 2: stuff with the presentation of these awards. So Vasilevski's was

12:05 Speaker 2: left in his vehicle and by police officers and it

12:08 Speaker 2: looked like police officers were actually searching Vassilevski's vehicle, so

12:13 Speaker 2: I thought that was a little bit funny. Conor McDavid

12:16 Speaker 2: received his award for I think it was the Ted

12:19 Speaker 2: Lindsay for Most Outstanding Player. His was presented to him

12:23 Speaker 2: on the golf course.

12:25 Speaker 1: I didn't see that one.

12:26 Speaker 2: Yeah, And Cole Coffield won the award for the most

12:31 Speaker 2: Gentleman League Player and Suzuki of the Canadians won the

12:35 Speaker 2: Selki Yeah Trophy.

12:38 Speaker 1: So we still have I think the Wrensky won the

12:42 Speaker 1: Norrish Norris.

12:44 Speaker 2: We're still looking for the most Valuable Player and I

12:48 Speaker 2: think that's the one that's going to be announced at

12:50 Speaker 2: the NHL Awards ceremony. But that's what we have to

12:54 Speaker 2: date with NHL Awards. But we're going to get to

12:58 Speaker 2: the Stanley Cup Finals, which have been freaking off the charts,

13:03 Speaker 2: unbelievable hockey. These two teams, the Vegas Golden Knights and

13:07 Speaker 2: the Carolina Hurricanes, are freaking relentless. Just when you think

13:12 Speaker 2: one team has the game one, they're up three to nothing,

13:15 Speaker 2: the other team says, hey, yeah, not so fast, We're

13:19 Speaker 2: coming back and we're gonna take this game into overtime

13:23 Speaker 2: or win it in regulation with mere seconds left on

13:25 Speaker 2: the clock. And I don't know about you, but watching

13:28 Speaker 2: these two teams play makes me realize how far away

13:34 Speaker 2: the Boston Ruins are from getting themselves back into being

13:39 Speaker 2: a powerhouse team in the league that's going to contend.

13:42 Speaker 2: I don't know about you, That's just what my eyes

13:45 Speaker 2: are showing me. Yeah.

13:47 Speaker 1: I haven't watched much of the Cup Final because again,

13:50 Speaker 1: the idea is abhorrent to me. But I have watched

13:54 Speaker 1: some clips. I have tuned in periodically because I am

13:57 Speaker 1: seeing the conversation and the discord. I watched a little

13:59 Speaker 1: bit of the overtime from the last game that actually

14:03 Speaker 1: went to double overtime, and I knew it was going

14:05 Speaker 1: to go into double overtime because I'm watching that, and

14:07 Speaker 1: I'm like both teams they were falling all over themselves.

14:11 Speaker 1: Whether it was because of the ice because it's one

14:14 Speaker 1: hundred degrees in Lass, but even just watching the entire

14:18 Speaker 1: the Carolina Hurricanes path through the East and watching them play,

14:24 Speaker 1: I completely agree because it almost you could say that

14:29 Speaker 1: it was no contest for the Carolina Hurricanes to make

14:33 Speaker 1: it to the Cup Final. Because they had literally one

14:36 Speaker 1: loss under their belt to get there. They just steamrolled everybody.

14:41 Speaker 1: And watching them play and their level of intensity and

14:46 Speaker 1: just everything that they're doing out there, agree it was

14:49 Speaker 1: good for Boston to get into the playoffs, to remind players,

14:54 Speaker 1: especially ones who had been to the playoffs and experienced

14:58 Speaker 1: the grief and loss of last seas, and then to

15:01 Speaker 1: give those young kids who had been new last year,

15:04 Speaker 1: who'd never been to the playoffs, to give those young

15:07 Speaker 1: folks a taste. It was good. Hopefully it will motivate,

15:13 Speaker 1: but this is not the twenty thirteen to twenty twenty

15:18 Speaker 1: Boston Bruins.

15:21 Speaker 2: Watching the Game three on Saturday night. First of all,

15:25 Speaker 2: Vegas had two goals called off right away. They were

15:28 Speaker 2: the right calls. I hate to side with the NHL

15:31 Speaker 2: and the officials, but the goaltender interference was the correct call,

15:35 Speaker 2: and the offsides was the correct call. But then you

15:39 Speaker 2: have Mitch Marner seemed to be waving his biggest middle

15:43 Speaker 2: finger that he can find at the Toronto maple Leafs,

15:46 Speaker 2: and that organization three goals, the fastest hat trick in

15:51 Speaker 2: the history of the Stanley Cup Finals to put Vegas ahead,

15:56 Speaker 2: And I found it interesting I was reflecting on this,

16:00 Speaker 2: and I was then also thinking about the Vesna.

16:02 Speaker 1: This is a Stanley Cup final without an incredibly elite

16:07 Speaker 1: goaltender on the ice. You think about the last two

16:10 Speaker 1: seasons you had Bobrovski and in the past you've seen

16:15 Speaker 1: obviously Vassilevski, and to not have ultimately one of the

16:21 Speaker 1: best goaltenders playing is obviously contributing to the high number

16:27 Speaker 1: of goals. And I still stand by my own personal philosophy,

16:31 Speaker 1: which is goaltenders win Cups, and it's obviously going to

16:35 Speaker 1: come down to who can be the most clutch in

16:38 Speaker 1: that moment. But Freddy Anderson certainly got Carolina to the

16:43 Speaker 1: third round, and then Carolina took care of everybody else

16:48 Speaker 1: In that third round against Montreal. Shockingly, but not shockingly,

16:52 Speaker 1: Freddy Anderson got pulled and Brandon Bossy went in and

16:56 Speaker 1: he was lights out until that. And the thing is,

17:00 Speaker 1: when you're playing in the Stanley Cup, you're already at

17:04 Speaker 1: game three. You've lugged how many minutes as a player

17:07 Speaker 1: the whole season, and now you've played a really intense game.

17:12 Speaker 1: It's much more physically demanding, it's much more mentally draining,

17:17 Speaker 1: and even though you have the intermission period to take

17:20 Speaker 1: a break, it's not enough, Let's be honest, to be

17:24 Speaker 1: completely refreshed. Those games end when somebody just gets too

17:29 Speaker 1: tired and they make a mistake.

17:32 Speaker 2: But credit to Carolina for coming back and tying the

17:36 Speaker 2: flipping game when everyone thought this is over, this is

17:38 Speaker 2: over and no. So credit to them, and credit to

17:42 Speaker 2: Brendamore for pumping his guys up to get them back

17:45 Speaker 2: in that game. But holy moly, what a finals this

17:48 Speaker 2: has been, and what an eye opening view it is

17:51 Speaker 2: for those of us who are Bruins fans to say, yeah,

17:54 Speaker 2: we are nowhere near these two teams right now. So

17:58 Speaker 2: which brings us to today conversation, Yes, where we're going

18:02 Speaker 2: to talk about Michael Ismont, Hanah Janeau, and Henry Yoki Haru.

18:08 Speaker 1: Let's start out with poor little Mikey Asamot, Well little Mikey.

18:12 Speaker 1: So these three guys are signings from last year. Technically,

18:18 Speaker 1: Joki Haru was a re sign on June thirtieth, whereas

18:24 Speaker 1: jane and Asamont were brought in as part of free

18:28 Speaker 1: agency agency. Correct we did a whole episode last August

18:32 Speaker 1: about Mikey Asamont. I think for the most part. This

18:37 Speaker 1: is a guy who met general expectation. I think we

18:42 Speaker 1: were probably more optimistic about him last year for two reasons. One,

18:49 Speaker 1: we had just come off a very traumatic season where

18:52 Speaker 1: everything was terrible, and we hoped that everyone who signed

18:57 Speaker 1: could make some kind of generally positive impact. He played

19:01 Speaker 1: fifty six games. He's twenty nine years old. I keep

19:04 Speaker 1: thinking he's younger.

19:06 Speaker 2: I was a little surprised when I brought that up too,

19:08 Speaker 2: because I thought he was younger as well.

19:10 Speaker 1: Yeah, but he's a bit of a journeyman. There's always

19:13 Speaker 1: going to be a place for a player like him.

19:16 Speaker 1: So fifty six games played, eight goals, tenn assists, again

19:20 Speaker 1: met general expectations. He was expected to score about eight

19:23 Speaker 1: or nine goals. He signed a two year deal for

19:27 Speaker 1: a total of two point nine million, that's one point

19:30 Speaker 1: four to five AAV and he generally played third line

19:35 Speaker 1: minutes in and out the extra man you bring in.

19:39 Speaker 1: But he did play the most frequently with the kid

19:43 Speaker 1: line marat Us, Nadina and Freezer Mitten, and they seem

19:47 Speaker 1: to do fine together. This is a guy though that

19:49 Speaker 1: I'm thinking. He's got another year left on his contract.

19:53 Speaker 1: He's not very expensive he's certainly a placeholder jag type.

19:58 Speaker 1: I have to assume he's going to be a part

19:59 Speaker 1: of a package.

20:01 Speaker 2: My assessment on this based on how we finished the season.

20:05 Speaker 2: He was a healthy scratch on more than one occasion,

20:08 Speaker 2: and I think he is going to fall by the

20:11 Speaker 2: wayside because given his statistics in the number of games

20:15 Speaker 2: he's played, wouldn't we be better served to have a

20:18 Speaker 2: kid up from Providence or someone else up in his

20:22 Speaker 2: place and move that money offcubooks. I think my expectations

20:28 Speaker 2: for him, I expected them to be a little higher

20:31 Speaker 2: than what we saw. There were times where you know, hey,

20:35 Speaker 2: this guy has given it as all, and then there

20:37 Speaker 2: were other times where it was like, where are you?

20:40 Speaker 2: Are you out here? Are you playing a ship? What

20:42 Speaker 2: are you doing? I don't see him as part of

20:45 Speaker 2: the rebuild going forward. He's not, to me that key

20:49 Speaker 2: of components of what you're trying to rebuild, because we

20:52 Speaker 2: still don't know what that is yet. I don't see

20:55 Speaker 2: him being a part of that.

20:56 Speaker 1: Compare him to Alex Steves, who played paid forty three games. Now,

21:01 Speaker 1: granted he came in a little bit later, so he

21:03 Speaker 1: played forty three games, all right, Steve's also a center,

21:07 Speaker 1: but he had six point six goals above replacement compared

21:12 Speaker 1: to Michael Asimont's literally points.

21:14 Speaker 2: And he was a plus player to finish the season.

21:18 Speaker 2: Eastmant was a minus player to finish now, only a

21:20 Speaker 2: minus three. And I know that's not the be all

21:23 Speaker 2: and end all statistic, but even when you look at

21:27 Speaker 2: the average ice time, Steves was getting a little bit

21:30 Speaker 2: more than Astimont was.

21:32 Speaker 1: So my point being here, you've got two bottom six

21:36 Speaker 1: players at this point, same position, same general usage, but

21:42 Speaker 1: you have someone like Steves who is making actually a

21:46 Speaker 1: pretty good positive impact on the team in fewer games.

21:52 Speaker 1: Steves had one hundred and forty four hits this season.

21:56 Speaker 1: Acemont not even close. He had had fifty four. You're

22:02 Speaker 1: looking at a guy in someone like Steves who had

22:07 Speaker 1: less time on ice, played fewer games, scored nine goals

22:11 Speaker 1: and had seven assists for sixteen points versus the eight

22:16 Speaker 1: goals and tenniss for eighteen points in Asamot, and.

22:21 Speaker 2: Steves is three years younger. We can't have this many

22:26 Speaker 2: repetitive players, right, all right, we already have that. This

22:30 Speaker 2: is why when I say we seem to have an

22:32 Speaker 2: abundance of Jags This is the exact conversation. Now, if

22:36 Speaker 2: that's what we're going to do, then why aren't the

22:39 Speaker 2: Bruins filling those spots with people that they have drafted.

22:44 Speaker 2: Now that's a whole other conversation that I think we're

22:47 Speaker 2: going to have at some point during one of our

22:50 Speaker 2: podcasts this summer, because I think it begs the question

22:54 Speaker 2: of what is going on with the drafting and development

22:59 Speaker 2: of young players within the Bruins organization. But in this instance,

23:04 Speaker 2: I'm thinking, if I had to pick between a Simont

23:07 Speaker 2: and Steves, they serve the same role.

23:09 Speaker 1: Correct, I'm gonna go with the guy who's a little

23:11 Speaker 1: bit younger, who has more of an impact over a

23:16 Speaker 1: replacement level player, and unfortunately he may be a roster casualty. Yeah,

23:22 Speaker 1: so what's your letter grade for him? Oh?

23:24 Speaker 2: God, you know, I'm a little bit harsh with the

23:27 Speaker 2: red pen here. I'll give him a C.

23:30 Speaker 1: My grade is a C plus because he was slightly

23:35 Speaker 1: on the better side of average. Slightly, no harm done great,

23:40 Speaker 1: literally average in terms of every measure you could use.

23:44 Speaker 1: The number of jags in the bottom continues to exist

23:48 Speaker 1: for the Boston Bruins placeholders perhaps, And you know what

23:51 Speaker 1: if the Bruins actually have a long term plan, and

23:55 Speaker 1: these guys are placeholders. He's the exact kind of place

24:00 Speaker 1: holder that you would want. Does no harm, right, rolling

24:05 Speaker 1: my eyes.

24:05 Speaker 2: People can't see me roll in my eyes. But it's

24:08 Speaker 2: tiresome that when we continue to have these conversations around

24:14 Speaker 2: players that don't light a fire in our belly.

24:18 Speaker 1: But okay, next, the controversial one from last year, Tanners.

24:23 Speaker 1: You know, now we didn't love this particular signing. We

24:28 Speaker 1: had a whole episode about him. He's been in the

24:32 Speaker 1: league for six years, although I'll say five of those

24:34 Speaker 1: seasons are as full time players. Only his first full

24:39 Speaker 1: year in the league for Nashville was it a year

24:43 Speaker 1: that he truly amazed. Otherwise, he's basically put up almost

24:49 Speaker 1: the exact same numbers, games played, goals, all that every

24:53 Speaker 1: year for the last four seasons. Now that alone, okay, fine,

24:58 Speaker 1: you then know what you're getting. Obviously. The rub is

25:02 Speaker 1: the fact that he just turned twenty eight and his

25:06 Speaker 1: contract value.

25:07 Speaker 2: We both lost our minds on it when it first happened.

25:11 Speaker 2: The money, maybe it's a bit of an overpay.

25:14 Speaker 1: Three point four.

25:16 Speaker 2: The problem that I think most of us had in

25:19 Speaker 2: this region was the freaking term on this contract, and

25:23 Speaker 2: if I'm not mistaken, it's a full no trade because

25:27 Speaker 2: the guy doesn't want to move again given the role

25:29 Speaker 2: that he plays and the minutes that he plays in

25:33 Speaker 2: terms of what you're expecting him from a physical level. Sure,

25:38 Speaker 2: do we really think he's gonna make it to the

25:40 Speaker 2: end of this contract and play the majority of seasons?

25:45 Speaker 2: He played seventy seven games this season, But I would

25:49 Speaker 2: think that, I don't know. I'm not sure that the value.

25:53 Speaker 2: I haven't seen the significance or the significant return yet

25:57 Speaker 2: on the investment that was made and has been made

26:01 Speaker 2: in this player.

26:02 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fair. As a reminder to listeners, it's a

26:07 Speaker 1: five year contract for a total of seventeen million dollars,

26:10 Speaker 1: a three point four cap hit aav first two seasons

26:15 Speaker 1: full no trade clause, So that's the first season this

26:18 Speaker 1: coming season full no trade, followed by two modified no

26:22 Speaker 1: trade clause which is a fifteen team list and then

26:26 Speaker 1: a seventeen list in that second year, and then the

26:30 Speaker 1: final year. It's wide open. But you know, he plays

26:35 Speaker 1: a very physical game. We talked about Milan Lucich at

26:38 Speaker 1: the top of the episode. I think maybe the Bruins

26:42 Speaker 1: were hoping that he could be someone who could bring

26:46 Speaker 1: a little bit of that physical flavor that granted, nobody

26:51 Speaker 1: is going to compete with the physicality that Milan Lucich

26:54 Speaker 1: brought to the game back in the day. Last season,

26:57 Speaker 1: we only had Mark Castilik, and he was a younger,

27:00 Speaker 1: less experienced player, and then had some compute.

27:04 Speaker 2: He was pretty beat up and banged up. He had

27:06 Speaker 2: those congressions. He does have concussion issues.

27:09 Speaker 1: Yeah, they needed to have another guy who could play

27:13 Speaker 1: that same physical game, and they played really well together.

27:17 Speaker 1: I'm not saying that, you know, was a bad player

27:19 Speaker 1: at all. He had two hundred and thirty nine hits,

27:22 Speaker 1: which is one of the higher numbers in his career.

27:25 Speaker 1: The last time he had anything more was in twenty

27:29 Speaker 1: two when he had two hundred and ninety hits. This

27:32 Speaker 1: is a guy who's still very physical. Played seventy seven games,

27:35 Speaker 1: He had six goals, sixteen assists. This is not a

27:38 Speaker 1: guy who is going to be scoring the goals. I

27:41 Speaker 1: think we thought at the signing that we had that

27:44 Speaker 1: expectation that, like, yet, you got to score goals if

27:47 Speaker 1: you're going to be on the second line. And I

27:49 Speaker 1: think at the time, knowing the name the expectations, that's

27:53 Speaker 1: where we thought he was going to end up, and

27:57 Speaker 1: he's clearly the third and fourth line player at this point.

28:02 Speaker 1: He's got a very different role than what I was

28:04 Speaker 1: expecting him to have, But he's been consistent.

28:08 Speaker 2: On the positive side, given the physical nature of how

28:12 Speaker 2: he plays. Did have a few fisticuffs here in the

28:15 Speaker 2: throughout the course of the season, but he's not in

28:18 Speaker 2: any of the top tier categories of penalty minutes. Does

28:21 Speaker 2: seemingly play a relatively clean, hard game, leading the league

28:26 Speaker 2: in penalties this season, where in Nikita Zadorov and Mark

28:29 Speaker 2: Castili the Bruins.

28:31 Speaker 1: If you look at his assists per sixty minutes and

28:35 Speaker 1: his points per sixty minutes, he had almost one assist

28:39 Speaker 1: per sixty for amount of time that he played, so

28:41 Speaker 1: that's impactful. That's the most he's ever had in his career.

28:46 Speaker 1: And then his points per sixty was one point thirty six,

28:48 Speaker 1: which is also one of the highest that he's had. So, yeah,

28:52 Speaker 1: he's only on the ice for all of what ten

28:55 Speaker 1: minutes a game, maybe a little bit more twelve.

28:58 Speaker 2: Minutes per game, but he's puking what's his Yeah, he's

29:02 Speaker 2: twelve minutes thirty eight seconds. But I think you're right,

29:05 Speaker 2: that's an expensive placeholder. And I don't think he's going anywhere.

29:10 Speaker 2: We're having this conversation. I think it's a mood point

29:12 Speaker 2: because I don't believe that he's going anywhere, at least

29:16 Speaker 2: for the upcoming season. And John Sweeney, when this player

29:21 Speaker 2: was brought in, was talking about his leadership qualities and

29:25 Speaker 2: being a veteran voice or presence in the room. So

29:28 Speaker 2: maybe that's what he's being compensated for. I don't know.

29:32 Speaker 2: If you ask me did he do his job, I

29:34 Speaker 2: would say, hold my feet to the fire. Yes, am

29:38 Speaker 2: I excited about the impact that he made. I'm like, eh, meh,

29:43 Speaker 2: another met As far as I'm concerned.

29:45 Speaker 1: When you think about him compared to a replacement player,

29:49 Speaker 1: he didn't do a great job in that regard. He

29:53 Speaker 1: was basically average in terms of his ability to make

29:57 Speaker 1: a significant impact, to lead to a way or points

30:01 Speaker 1: or goals. It's just between him and Asamont. Reflecting on

30:05 Speaker 1: last year's signings, very underwhelming in both directions. This coming

30:10 Speaker 1: season with him should be very telling because remember this

30:15 Speaker 1: whole year, the beginning, especially under new coaching, everybody was

30:20 Speaker 1: learning this new system that it was different than what

30:24 Speaker 1: they've done and trying to find that chemistry. And he

30:29 Speaker 1: was on a line that had good chemistry and they

30:32 Speaker 1: did well together, and so I'm optimistic that they will

30:36 Speaker 1: continue to have good chemistry on that line. Namely, I'm

30:39 Speaker 1: talking about Cassolek and Jeneau. When they perform really well, man,

30:43 Speaker 1: do they do their job really well. In the Buffalo

30:46 Speaker 1: series when we really needed to see some physicality, that

30:49 Speaker 1: line had an incredible game. They were doing out the

30:53 Speaker 1: hits exactly how you'd want to see them, and we

30:56 Speaker 1: just need to see that happen a little bit more consistently.

30:58 Speaker 2: So they did have a great deal of ability like

31:01 Speaker 2: try to change momentum, bring a little bit of energy

31:03 Speaker 2: due to their physical nature of play. So I just

31:08 Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm ambivalent to the way seems like

31:10 Speaker 2: a nice guy. Yeah, worked hard shift after shift. Doesn't

31:15 Speaker 2: seem to be a guy that takes shifts off. You

31:17 Speaker 2: pretty much know most of the time when he was

31:19 Speaker 2: out on the ice. Yeah, Okay, what kind of grade

31:21 Speaker 2: would you give him plus? I was thinking' be minus.

31:24 Speaker 1: I'd be minus at the top of my head.

31:26 Speaker 2: But I think if there was a little bit more

31:29 Speaker 2: offensive numbers for him, I would have gone be minus

31:33 Speaker 2: because I think his offensive contribution was a bit lacking.

31:37 Speaker 1: But yeah, all right, let's talk about the guy that's

31:39 Speaker 1: the most intriguing. He's the most confusing player in the

31:45 Speaker 1: entire NHL. This is a man that I do not

31:47 Speaker 1: understand at all, Henry Joki. Are you as a refresher? Technically,

31:53 Speaker 1: he came to the Bruins at the trade deadline just

31:56 Speaker 1: begging to get out of Buffalo. They didn't even trade

32:01 Speaker 1: him for anything, really like at all, desperate to get.

32:04 Speaker 2: Out, and I wonder how he feels about that now.

32:09 Speaker 1: We talked about him last summer. We weren't sure if

32:13 Speaker 1: he was going to be re signed, and I wasn't

32:17 Speaker 1: really sure that he was going to be because he

32:20 Speaker 1: was seemingly expensive at the time. But they did sign

32:25 Speaker 1: him literally the day before the deadline on the thirtieth,

32:29 Speaker 1: and they signed him for three years with a value

32:34 Speaker 1: of nine million, So that's a three million aav cap hit,

32:39 Speaker 1: and it was a slight pay decrease because he had

32:43 Speaker 1: come from Buffalo, where he had a one year contract

32:47 Speaker 1: of a three point one And this was a little

32:51 Speaker 1: bit of a surprise because we knew that he wasn't

32:53 Speaker 1: going to obviously want to play for less, so I

32:56 Speaker 1: certainly thought that he was going to be on his

32:57 Speaker 1: way out. And he confused is me, because this is

33:01 Speaker 1: a guy who is always picked for his national team.

33:07 Speaker 1: He played for them in the Olympics. He just played

33:11 Speaker 1: for them for Worlds, Worlds and more way one and

33:16 Speaker 1: they won, Yes, Finland, he won. He won a bronze

33:21 Speaker 1: medal in the Olympics, and he won gold or whatever

33:24 Speaker 1: they wanted whatever, And he's consistently ending up on these

33:30 Speaker 1: winning national teams. And one thing that I have learned

33:34 Speaker 1: over the last couple of years, I apologize to the

33:38 Speaker 1: nation of Finland because I was not familiar with your game, Like,

33:42 Speaker 1: holy crap, this is a country that produces tremendous hockey

33:47 Speaker 1: talent beyond goaltenders, because I've all they known them for

33:50 Speaker 1: their goalies. So this is a guy who is incredibly

33:53 Speaker 1: successful on the international stage, and the international stage when

33:58 Speaker 1: the NHL is allowed to participate that level, their team

34:01 Speaker 1: is always fully NHL players. They were one of teams

34:06 Speaker 1: in the Olympics that had one hundred percent NHL roster.

34:11 Speaker 1: They participated in the Four Nations, so Why does it

34:15 Speaker 1: feel that this guy is the most underwhelming defenceman ever?

34:22 Speaker 1: Why does it feel like he doesn't play like.

34:24 Speaker 2: That because he is underwhelming on our team. Anyways, from

34:30 Speaker 2: what we saw, he played only forty one games. He

34:34 Speaker 2: was in and out of the lineup. Yeah.

34:36 Speaker 1: Right, But then here's the other thing that kind of

34:38 Speaker 1: was surprising. I don't know, is it just because he's

34:40 Speaker 1: very unassuming. He played literally half the games. He was

34:43 Speaker 1: clearly the seventh man. He's odd man out on the

34:48 Speaker 1: defensive depth chart. I looked at his numbers and I

34:52 Speaker 1: also compared him to three other bottom borderline odd man

34:57 Speaker 1: out defenseman ap Laurai and Peak. Asparo played sixty one games,

35:03 Speaker 1: Laurai played seventy three, and Peak played seventy seven. When

35:07 Speaker 1: you're looking at their contributions above average, and that average

35:12 Speaker 1: is the jag zero goals above replacement, wins above replacement,

35:16 Speaker 1: and then the standings points above replacement. But when you're

35:19 Speaker 1: considering that defensively, Asparo had the best numbers. He had

35:25 Speaker 1: an eight point five goals above replacement one point four

35:29 Speaker 1: wins above replacement. Yoki Haru had four goals above replacement

35:33 Speaker 1: and a point seven wins above replacement. Now, if he

35:37 Speaker 1: had played more games, he probably would have then ended

35:40 Speaker 1: up having very comparable numbers to Asparo, which blew my

35:44 Speaker 1: mind because I could see and recognize how good of

35:48 Speaker 1: a player Asparo is defensively, He's a defensive defenseman, and

35:53 Speaker 1: I thought, maybe some of those numbers are for Yoki

35:56 Speaker 1: howre You are just that good because he didn't play

36:01 Speaker 1: that often, but his low player usage supports that narrative

36:05 Speaker 1: that his positive contributions did actually belong to him, because

36:09 Speaker 1: then you look at someone like Lori, who played seventy

36:13 Speaker 1: three games, he had a negative two point one goals

36:18 Speaker 1: above replacement, and then Peek had a horrific year with

36:22 Speaker 1: a negative nine point one. That makes Yogi how You

36:26 Speaker 1: look even better. So I just I don't understand this guy.

36:31 Speaker 2: Why the in and out of the lineup. Then he's

36:33 Speaker 2: like why, That's what I'm wondering.

36:35 Speaker 1: Why was he if he could make that kind of

36:38 Speaker 1: an impact on literally half the games, and he's not

36:42 Speaker 1: just playing half the games, but he's playing bottom pair minutes. Probably, granted,

36:49 Speaker 1: Sterm did a good job of not overly relying on

36:54 Speaker 1: just the top three guys, rarely did you end up

36:58 Speaker 1: seeing games where, you know, McAvoy or Zadorov or Lynnholm,

37:03 Speaker 1: we're playing twenty eight twenty nine minutes, you know.

37:06 Speaker 2: But in the games that Yokiharyu was playing in he

37:09 Speaker 2: was averaging about seventeen minutes of ice time.

37:13 Speaker 1: Yeah, and McAvoy and company were probably really getting twenty

37:18 Speaker 1: one maybe twenty two on average, So it's not that

37:21 Speaker 1: huge of a spread. He was still playing bottom pair,

37:25 Speaker 1: but okay, there's nothing wrong with him. If he's a

37:28 Speaker 1: bottom pair player, that's just the same thing as being

37:31 Speaker 1: a bottom six forward. That doesn't mean you're bad. You

37:33 Speaker 1: have a different purpose. Right. Why the heck was he

37:36 Speaker 1: that not played more? I don't understand. Well.

37:39 Speaker 2: I think it's a question. I think that the organization

37:42 Speaker 2: sees some upside in Henry and trying to develop that upside.

37:47 Speaker 2: But when you're straddling the fence of what the Ruins

37:51 Speaker 2: have been doing with one foot on the rebuild line

37:54 Speaker 2: and the other foot over the we need to get

37:57 Speaker 2: in the playoffs. We can't have another year where we

37:59 Speaker 2: miss the playoff, or ownership is going to have our

38:02 Speaker 2: heads on a platter, so to speak. I think that

38:05 Speaker 2: has an impact on the usage of someone like Henry.

38:10 Speaker 1: Yeah, like they were. I don't know, Risk, I don't know.

38:14 Speaker 1: This is the least number of games that he has

38:16 Speaker 1: played in a season since his first year. He hasn't

38:20 Speaker 1: played fewer than sixty games since twenty twenty, and he

38:25 Speaker 1: performed right on target.

38:27 Speaker 2: Now, I will say I will say that there were instances,

38:31 Speaker 2: and I can't remember them specifically because we've spent a

38:35 Speaker 2: fair amount of time crapping on Mason louri When he's good,

38:39 Speaker 2: he's really good. But when he's bad, he's really bad

38:41 Speaker 2: type of scenarios. And I think there were some instances

38:45 Speaker 2: where they needed to have Henry take a view from

38:48 Speaker 2: another level on occasion. I think that's still part of

38:52 Speaker 2: the development of the player and not wanting to have

38:56 Speaker 2: compounding of mistakes and erarors, and what was good enough

39:01 Speaker 2: for Mason Laurai needed to also be good enough for

39:04 Speaker 2: other members of the decort as well. Sure.

39:07 Speaker 1: Yeah, he's just about to turn twenty seventy. I think

39:09 Speaker 1: in this month in June, as we've talked defensive players,

39:14 Speaker 1: they take a little bit longer to kind of.

39:17 Speaker 2: Get they need to be here.

39:19 Speaker 1: Eight. Clearly the Bruins see something here because you wouldn't

39:23 Speaker 1: sign him.

39:23 Speaker 2: Do we trust what they see though? Do we trust

39:26 Speaker 2: what they see?

39:27 Speaker 1: I don't know. I feel like the last couple of

39:30 Speaker 1: contracts that Sweeney has signed off on, and this is

39:34 Speaker 1: a guy who generally does a good job with his

39:38 Speaker 1: trades and his signings, this is why he confuses me, Maria,

39:41 Speaker 1: I don't understand.

39:42 Speaker 2: You're not alone. I don't think you're alone because I

39:45 Speaker 2: think this specific player, Henry, is an enigma to a

39:48 Speaker 2: lot of people in the area in terms of what's

39:51 Speaker 2: the threshold for this player. And I'm not sure that

39:55 Speaker 2: they have figured that out yet. But the other question

39:58 Speaker 2: is how much time do we give to figure it out?

40:01 Speaker 2: I don't know.

40:02 Speaker 1: I think how he gets used in the fall will

40:06 Speaker 1: give us an idea of the direction that Boston is

40:10 Speaker 1: going to be going in with him, because I think

40:14 Speaker 1: this past season they gave a lot of responsibility to

40:19 Speaker 1: Andrew Peak because he does have as a player. I

40:23 Speaker 1: think does have a lot of talent and ability as

40:26 Speaker 1: a defenseman, and they gave him more responsibility and it

40:29 Speaker 1: blew up in his face.

40:30 Speaker 2: I wouldn't completely blame that all of that on him,

40:35 Speaker 2: I know, but we talked about that at the last product.

40:37 Speaker 2: I'm okay with saying thanks by right, thanks for the memories, Andrew,

40:43 Speaker 2: but time for you to go make memories someplace else.

40:45 Speaker 1: And that's a player who I think they saw something

40:48 Speaker 1: there and then gave him that opportunity and then that happened.

40:53 Speaker 1: So will we see something like that happen with Yoki

40:57 Speaker 1: Haryu this fall? Are we going to see him all

41:00 Speaker 1: of a sudden then be given a longer leash more time,

41:03 Speaker 1: especially if we don't know what the defensive situation is

41:07 Speaker 1: going to be. There's going to be certainly some kind

41:10 Speaker 1: of notable changes happening on the back end. And being

41:14 Speaker 1: an older defenceman slightly more veteran, is he gonna then

41:19 Speaker 1: take that position that Andrew Peak had? Are we going

41:23 Speaker 1: to see more of him and see how he handles

41:26 Speaker 1: the increased workload if he gets that? Otherwise, what are

41:29 Speaker 1: they doing? What is this team doing with this guy?

41:32 Speaker 1: I don't know.

41:32 Speaker 2: I wish I could tell you. And I think the

41:36 Speaker 2: defensive structure wasn't as solid. It was not as solid

41:40 Speaker 2: as we had been led to believe that it was

41:43 Speaker 2: going to be. We saw snippets of it the course

41:46 Speaker 2: of the season, but it wasn't consistent enough, and I

41:49 Speaker 2: think you need to identify how you're going to tighten

41:52 Speaker 2: that up and do you have the right guys that

41:54 Speaker 2: are going to help you there. I don't know if

41:56 Speaker 2: Henry is one of those guys or potential to be

42:01 Speaker 2: one of those guys.

42:03 Speaker 1: Well, this is going to require John Sweeney and Cam

42:06 Speaker 1: to sign guys that fit the long term defensive brand

42:14 Speaker 1: of the Boston Bruins and not the defensive brand of

42:18 Speaker 1: right now, because that's what they've been doing for the

42:20 Speaker 1: last couple of seasons. Does he fit with what we've

42:23 Speaker 1: got right now or does he fit with whatever our

42:26 Speaker 1: broader plan is the defensive identity of the organization, because

42:31 Speaker 1: that's the only way that you're eventually going to get

42:33 Speaker 1: to where you need to go, because you can't assume

42:37 Speaker 1: that you're going to have the same coach in five seasons,

42:41 Speaker 1: but you're probably going to have a lot of the

42:42 Speaker 1: same players. Especially after having cleared house of a lot

42:47 Speaker 1: of the old guys, you are committing to a new,

42:51 Speaker 1: younger group and it would be absolutely insane to then

42:56 Speaker 1: clear house again after only three seasons. Who's mister Wright

43:02 Speaker 1: not mister right now before?

43:04 Speaker 2: That's a million dollar question, and one that I don't

43:07 Speaker 2: think the answers are going to come in this offseason either.

43:10 Speaker 2: My friend, No, I agree, but grade. I feel like

43:13 Speaker 2: I'm being really harsh with my grades here simply because

43:18 Speaker 2: nothing is like standing out saying, Oh, I can't wait

43:21 Speaker 2: to see what this player brings to the table next

43:25 Speaker 2: season or the season after that. I'm going to go

43:29 Speaker 2: C plus Yeah, go B. He made good contributions when

43:33 Speaker 2: he was on the ice. I want to see more.

43:35 Speaker 2: I don't understand why we didn't see more. Is it

43:38 Speaker 2: because there's something bad that we don't know about. Yeah,

43:41 Speaker 2: that's the interesting part of it, right, and the in

43:44 Speaker 2: and out of the lineup situation. It'll be interesting to

43:48 Speaker 2: see when it comes to the defensive groupings here. I

43:52 Speaker 2: still have high hopes for Jordan Harris.

43:55 Speaker 1: But yeah, there's going to be a lot of young

43:57 Speaker 1: blood coming in this ball.

44:00 Speaker 2: You know, and competition should be good and it should

44:04 Speaker 2: spark others who want to keep their jobs or have

44:08 Speaker 2: a more regular recurring role. Yeah, the Bruins in the

44:12 Speaker 2: upcoming season. With that being said, you have any final

44:16 Speaker 2: thoughts on this trio? Nope, because there is that much

44:21 Speaker 2: The thing about I just yet our lack of enthusiasm, folks,

44:25 Speaker 2: I think is probably palpable at this juncture, but it

44:29 Speaker 2: is what it is. Yeah, thank you as always folks

44:34 Speaker 2: for listening. Please make sure you like and subscribe for

44:37 Speaker 2: more content. Be sure to leave us eRating our review.

44:41 Speaker 2: To help other Bruins fans find us, You can support

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44:49 Speaker 2: our socials. Tape to tape mp at substack dot com.

44:54 Speaker 2: Any closing thoughts, my friend, go Bees, Go Bruins

45:14 Speaker 1: B