How Boston Bruins Overcame Challenges Where Detroit and Columbus Failed | Bruins News | Ep. 138

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

0:04 Speaker 1: something to do. I'll track shut it out. A triple

0:14 Speaker 1: bock of this, says.

0:19 Speaker 2: Today ask here's a chance pop right down with goalie Scars.

0:22 Speaker 1: Oh my, what a move by the rookie too on

0:25 Speaker 1: one faster not moving in shoeing to his own oil

0:30 Speaker 1: dances in podcast at home right away corner faster Chester?

0:40 Speaker 1: What's that for? Boston?

0:50 Speaker 2: Welcome in everyone to another episode of Bruins Tape to Tape.

0:54 Speaker 2: I'm your host this week, Caroline with a K, and

0:58 Speaker 2: our Boston Bruins have finally clinched a playoff spot for

1:02 Speaker 2: the first time in over a year. They have been redeemed.

1:08 Speaker 2: I don't know what, but they certainly backed their way in.

1:11 Speaker 2: But before I keep going, I want to welcome in

1:15 Speaker 2: a special guest because Maria from Watertown is enjoying Italy

1:20 Speaker 2: right now as we speak. So what's better than to

1:23 Speaker 2: talk about some other Eastern Conference teams? Then bringing in Anna,

1:28 Speaker 2: and we're going to talk about the Columbus Blue Jackets

1:31 Speaker 2: and the Detroit Red Wings. Anna, Hey, welcome back. It's

1:37 Speaker 2: been a minute, but one of our favorite guests and

1:40 Speaker 2: friends of the pod, keeping us on our toes and

1:42 Speaker 2: keeping us informed in our discord, especially when it comes

1:46 Speaker 2: to divisional rival Detroit Red Wings. Let's talk about what's

1:51 Speaker 2: going on around the rink for the Bruins real quick,

1:54 Speaker 2: and then we'll dive right into learning a little bit

1:57 Speaker 2: more about what the heck is happening in Detroit and

2:02 Speaker 2: will we see Charlie Coyle's playoff record continue. The Bruins

2:07 Speaker 2: clinched their playoff spot, they're currently fighting for wild Card one.

2:12 Speaker 2: Because again, nothing is easy. They do this to themselves

2:16 Speaker 2: all the time, and playoffs are going to be I

2:18 Speaker 2: don't know if they're going to be painful or not

2:20 Speaker 2: to watch, but hopefully they can beat New Jersey this

2:23 Speaker 2: week and clinch that first wild card spot. I don't

2:26 Speaker 2: want to see them go to Tampa again or a

2:30 Speaker 2: first round, nor do I want to see them play

2:32 Speaker 2: Carolina at all this season. That was enough. We don't

2:36 Speaker 2: need to see them do that again. But we've got

2:38 Speaker 2: three teams fighting for a single playoff spot in the

2:41 Speaker 2: East for the Metro third place, and four teams out

2:45 Speaker 2: West fighting for a spot in the Pacific. Special stick

2:49 Speaker 2: taps to Morgan Gegee this week, obviously because Maria called

2:53 Speaker 2: him out This is then the week that he comes

2:55 Speaker 2: back and is able to score again, getting himself a

2:58 Speaker 2: second hattie in his entire career in Carolina and then

3:03 Speaker 2: scoring on a beautiful breakaway against Tampa in Boston. What

3:07 Speaker 2: a great game that they totally blew at the end,

3:10 Speaker 2: typical Boston Bruins hockey final minute and they lost it all.

3:15 Speaker 2: They made it without really having to do anything and

3:18 Speaker 2: headed immediately to Columbus where they played the Blue Jackets

3:23 Speaker 2: for the third and final time. And Anna, you had

3:26 Speaker 2: mentioned before the start of the episode you didn't get

3:29 Speaker 2: to catch this game. Don't worry. It wasn't anything particularly thrilling,

3:34 Speaker 2: at least for the most part, no surprise. Columbus scored first,

3:39 Speaker 2: usually do that seems to be something that they were

3:41 Speaker 2: really really good at, and then playing a little back

3:44 Speaker 2: and forth, Boston tied it up, they led, then Columbus

3:48 Speaker 2: seemed to fall apart in the end. But very interesting

3:51 Speaker 2: story about their goaltender. Is his name jet At Greeds

3:56 Speaker 2: and then what's his name? From Latvia to try to

4:00 Speaker 2: forget that he's on the roster, well, so it sounds

4:04 Speaker 2: like one of the grades kind of grease greets whatever.

4:08 Speaker 2: Greebs greats. This is why I spend all this time editing,

4:11 Speaker 2: because I don't know these names for these other players.

4:13 Speaker 2: He's seemingly run away with the starting spot. I mean,

4:18 Speaker 2: how long has he been playing in the league. He's

4:20 Speaker 2: a young kid, right, this is.

4:22 Speaker 1: His rookie season, But he did have some games before then,

4:25 Speaker 1: and he should have been up at least last year,

4:28 Speaker 1: if not the year before. But because Elvis just is

4:31 Speaker 1: on that ridiculously along contract that Yarmo signed him to

4:35 Speaker 1: many years ago. Yea, but yeah, I mean, Greece has

4:39 Speaker 1: been a revelation because for a long time we had

4:41 Speaker 1: no idea like goldtending. We were doomed of goaltending after

4:45 Speaker 1: losing Proparovski. We had what corpus solo in vers Linklin's

4:49 Speaker 1: corpi back when news in Columbus. He had to think

4:52 Speaker 1: where one year he'd be great, the next year he'd

4:55 Speaker 1: be absolute utter trash. Oh no, it was a cycle.

4:58 Speaker 1: One year he would look like a legit star. You're like,

5:01 Speaker 1: oh my god, he's the future. In the next year

5:03 Speaker 1: it's like, do should be into eh? Hel what is

5:06 Speaker 1: he for? Evan? Mrs Lincoln's is always to spend He

5:09 Speaker 1: shows up for about three to four weeks in the year.

5:13 Speaker 1: Usually the first two or three weeks have been a

5:15 Speaker 1: week or two later in the season, and he's absolutely great,

5:18 Speaker 1: looks like a Vesno contender, Like dude is a brick wall.

5:22 Speaker 1: Nothing gets past him. He's just absolute god. And then

5:26 Speaker 1: the rest of the year he's outer.

5:28 Speaker 2: I feel for you on that. That's it's hard to

5:30 Speaker 2: get and find a good solid goaltender these days. I

5:34 Speaker 2: feel like it's there's just a lot of folks in

5:37 Speaker 2: the middle and it's hard to really find that the

5:41 Speaker 2: star player. I mean, to your point about Corpuslo, don't

5:44 Speaker 2: I don't think he's been a bad goalie. I think

5:49 Speaker 2: last season he was pretty solid, pretty consistent and decent.

5:53 Speaker 2: This year he's been phenomenal. So I laugh in my

5:55 Speaker 2: head as you're describing him having one year being awesome

5:59 Speaker 2: in the next year not And I'm thinking to myself,

6:01 Speaker 2: was this year then his awesome year? Because he did

6:06 Speaker 2: get a lot of criticism last season and even parts

6:10 Speaker 2: of this year, although since coming back from the Olympics,

6:14 Speaker 2: he and Swim have been like you could have either

6:19 Speaker 2: guy and they're gonna steal the game for you because

6:23 Speaker 2: the offense in front of them is just not showing.

6:26 Speaker 1: Up to work.

6:29 Speaker 2: But let's talk a little bit about which one do

6:33 Speaker 2: you want to talk about first, Columbus or Detroit.

6:38 Speaker 1: I have a lot less to say about Columbus, so.

6:43 Speaker 2: A super quick review of what's happened between Boston and

6:46 Speaker 2: Columbus and then we can get to the juicy stuff

6:49 Speaker 2: about divisional rival Detroit Red Wings. My first question, and

6:54 Speaker 2: I've asked you this earlier in the season, Charlie Coyle.

7:00 Speaker 2: This guy, love love love him. I was so sad

7:06 Speaker 2: when Boston traded him. I kind of knew it was coming.

7:09 Speaker 2: He was having a sort of crappy season last year

7:13 Speaker 2: after really coming into his own, got traded to Colorado,

7:19 Speaker 2: made it into the playoffs there, and then I believe

7:22 Speaker 2: it was in the off season, then he was traded

7:26 Speaker 2: to columb.

7:26 Speaker 1: And believe me, that was a very controversial trade in

7:29 Speaker 1: Columbus circles.

7:30 Speaker 2: Now, who did they trade him for?

7:33 Speaker 1: We traded him for a pick and Gavin Brindley.

7:36 Speaker 2: Okay, well how did that work out? I don't know.

7:39 Speaker 1: Gavin Brindley pretty much went straight to the NHL. We

7:42 Speaker 1: have to Colorado Avalanche and Columbus fans really liked Gavin

7:46 Speaker 1: because number one Gavin played for Michigan, I mean playing Columbus,

7:50 Speaker 1: but because Michigan has become the Blue Jacket development factory. Yes,

7:55 Speaker 1: you know over the last decade or so, like so

7:57 Speaker 1: many of our best players come from university skin so

8:00 Speaker 1: Ohio State fans Holiver nos and like Michigan players. Further More,

8:06 Speaker 1: Brindley was Adam v and Hilly's best friend. No, yeah,

8:11 Speaker 1: and so and so we traded him, and he also

8:13 Speaker 1: has some good upside. He was the one that we

8:16 Speaker 1: thought that, I mean, he's probably not ever going to

8:19 Speaker 1: be first line quality, but there were talks that maybe

8:21 Speaker 1: he would play on the first line just because he

8:24 Speaker 1: had a good chemistry with Aintilly, like back in college,

8:26 Speaker 1: folst who were a lestreck together. Yeah, even if Brindley

8:29 Speaker 1: probably should not be a first line guy, but it's like, guess,

8:31 Speaker 1: it's a good chemistry that he probably could have played

8:34 Speaker 1: in the first line on Columbus, just so that Ventilly

8:37 Speaker 1: is someone he had great chemistry with. Yeah, and so

8:40 Speaker 1: trading this guy away really did not make Blue Jackets

8:45 Speaker 1: fans happy. And also because along with Coyle we got Miles.

8:50 Speaker 1: Blue Jackets fans are it still are very very divided

8:56 Speaker 1: on myrles Wood.

8:57 Speaker 2: Really, so share the tea because I'm not familiar with.

9:00 Speaker 1: It's basically the same. Do I ever think that he's

9:03 Speaker 1: a very useful four flying grinder or do you think

9:05 Speaker 1: he's an absolute bum who brings down the entire team

9:08 Speaker 1: around him and it should not be on an NHL roster?

9:13 Speaker 2: And so, in your professional opinion, how has he performed

9:17 Speaker 2: this season? Good trade? Bad trade?

9:21 Speaker 1: I think it's a good trade. Here's the thing. The

9:23 Speaker 1: Bluejaggers were left in an impossible spot when Johnny Goodro

9:26 Speaker 1: was killed because they spent the off season before he

9:30 Speaker 1: was killed trying to get good now because they realize

9:34 Speaker 1: we have Arensky in his prime, Martenko's entering his prime,

9:38 Speaker 1: Johnny Goodrou is exiting his prime, and we also had

9:42 Speaker 1: some young guys like chick Ken Johnson who has been

9:45 Speaker 1: a major disappointment this year. Sean Monahan is exiting getting

9:48 Speaker 1: at the end of his prime. So it's like we

9:49 Speaker 1: had to win now, otherwise we had to start from

9:53 Speaker 1: square one and just trade everyone. How did you do

9:55 Speaker 1: when Don Waddle was faced with an impossible choice, but

9:58 Speaker 1: he was not in a position to to rebuild likely

10:01 Speaker 1: although it.

10:01 Speaker 2: Seemed like they certainly last year still overperformed, just missing

10:08 Speaker 2: the playoffs by two points. This year, it's literally coming

10:11 Speaker 2: down to the final game. It's entirely possible they would

10:15 Speaker 2: either just make it in or fall short by two

10:19 Speaker 2: points again. So do you think, and with the new

10:22 Speaker 2: coach as well, is Columbus at a point where they

10:27 Speaker 2: are about to make that leap forward? Or is this

10:31 Speaker 2: the high water mark for this team?

10:35 Speaker 1: I don't know how to be honest, And the reason

10:37 Speaker 1: for vett is because Don Waddle works in mysterious ways.

10:43 Speaker 1: And as for both good and bad, mostly good. I

10:46 Speaker 1: want to make that clear. I think that most of

10:47 Speaker 1: his decisions are good because both of my teams have

10:50 Speaker 1: very interesting general managers, and Wattle is the better of

10:55 Speaker 1: the two. Definitely at this point, Wattle wins more of

10:59 Speaker 1: his gamble, so not. But it's never to Campbells you expect.

11:03 Speaker 1: He always just does the weirdest stuff and you're just like,

11:06 Speaker 1: why would you do that? Almost as time it works, Yeah,

11:10 Speaker 1: like after Mason Marchmont and it's just like, yeah, hey,

11:13 Speaker 1: it's worked out, and we love him. He's a fan favorite. Now.

11:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a surprise one for me as well.

11:20 Speaker 2: He had a good game last night. I believe he

11:22 Speaker 2: scored a goal at least or was involved with some

11:25 Speaker 2: goal scoring. This is a guy who left Dallas in

11:29 Speaker 2: free agency literally last summer, goes to Seattle and it

11:34 Speaker 2: sounds like it just was not a good personnel fit

11:38 Speaker 2: and he ends up being traded fairly early in the Yeah,

11:45 Speaker 2: it was an early early trade coaching change or down

11:49 Speaker 2: to the end of the season. Now, how long has

11:51 Speaker 2: it been since the coaching change it's been was it

11:55 Speaker 2: the Olympic breaker?

11:56 Speaker 1: F it was back in January? Right?

11:59 Speaker 2: What's your take on how this has been going.

12:04 Speaker 1: I mean, bonus has been a definitive upgrade from episode

12:06 Speaker 1: even remotely a question. The only question I have is

12:10 Speaker 1: the timing that if you were going to do a

12:13 Speaker 1: coaching change, it should have been before of the new year,

12:16 Speaker 1: because I feel like it was becoming pretty obvious that

12:19 Speaker 1: Evison was not working out at like just beforeman, because

12:23 Speaker 1: here's what I kind of like to say about both

12:25 Speaker 1: of my teams. Well, now, ex coach and current coach

12:28 Speaker 1: Dean Evanson is the Dollar Tree version of Todd McClellan,

12:33 Speaker 1: who is McClellan is the Walmart version of John Squordorilla. Yeah,

12:38 Speaker 1: it's and so it's just like the all very similar coaches.

12:43 Speaker 1: Ye that for the guy you hire when you need

12:45 Speaker 1: a fire lit under the team's ass, but were not

12:49 Speaker 1: necessarily tactically the greatest, Like especially Evison and McLellan are

12:58 Speaker 1: very easy to prepare a guy. Yeah, that's probably been

13:01 Speaker 1: my biggest criticism. But Evanson is just he's not that great,

13:05 Speaker 1: Like he's he's really good at one faint and it's

13:07 Speaker 1: fighting a fire under ass. Nothing else he's all that

13:10 Speaker 1: good at, to be honest. And I think that after

13:13 Speaker 1: about a year and a half, I think that the

13:16 Speaker 1: lighting of fire under asses had run its course with

13:19 Speaker 1: this core. Yeah, Like I think out of all adapt

13:23 Speaker 1: goes free, he's probably got the shortest shelf life because

13:27 Speaker 1: that's all he's got, has nothing, So I think it

13:30 Speaker 1: was trying to move on. But Rick bonus, he has

13:33 Speaker 1: shown that this team had a lot more in them.

13:35 Speaker 1: M hm. Also that this team still has a lot

13:38 Speaker 1: of work to do, which I think we kind of

13:40 Speaker 1: knew Beforeman, Like, this team really overperformed when they went

13:43 Speaker 1: on that long wind streak. Yeah, massively overperformed, and we're

13:47 Speaker 1: kind of getting now. It's like the probably massive underperform

13:51 Speaker 1: at this point to balance things out, and it's just

13:54 Speaker 1: at the worst time of the season to do so.

13:56 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, my impression with that every team is going

14:01 Speaker 2: to have a coaching bump, right, That's just it's a

14:04 Speaker 2: well documented thing. They continued to show that, which then

14:09 Speaker 2: kind of makes you think, all right, this coach clearly

14:12 Speaker 2: is working really well with this team. I mean, Bonus,

14:15 Speaker 2: he's a veteran coach. That was probably to your point

14:18 Speaker 2: of him getting more out of them, that probably comes

14:21 Speaker 2: from his having way more experience working with players in

14:26 Speaker 2: this degree of coaching as opposed to the others.

14:29 Speaker 1: I mean, he's been coaching so long that three up

14:32 Speaker 1: the Blue Jackets players currently had dads coach by Bonus

14:35 Speaker 1: in the NHL.

14:36 Speaker 2: So see, he knows what he's doing. But on the

14:39 Speaker 2: flip side, then again to your point of there being

14:42 Speaker 2: three guys on that team whose dads were coached, I'm

14:46 Speaker 2: wondering if what you're seeing now with Columbus is just

14:50 Speaker 2: the result of the lack of experience with this time

14:54 Speaker 2: of the year and veterans having gone deep. I mean, yes,

14:59 Speaker 2: they brought in Charlie Coyle for a multitude of reasons.

15:01 Speaker 2: I think he's a great culture guy. He's a phenomenal center.

15:06 Speaker 2: Hearing what you're saying about the team, it makes me

15:08 Speaker 2: wonder if them sort of falling apart a little bit

15:12 Speaker 2: at this time of year is just something that you

15:14 Speaker 2: tend to to see in teams that maybe don't have

15:18 Speaker 2: the right balance of deep in the season and playoff

15:24 Speaker 2: veteran experience to get them past that point. Is that

15:28 Speaker 2: the secret sauce that's missing.

15:30 Speaker 1: I think it is because even most of the Blue Jackets,

15:34 Speaker 1: a lot of the Bluejackets core are seasoned veterans into

15:37 Speaker 1: the playoffs. Like people forget Wrenski was into playoffs quite

15:41 Speaker 1: a few times in his career, you know, I mean

15:44 Speaker 1: at least what free four times set already, Voon Jenner

15:48 Speaker 1: has been on the Blue Jackets. It's like, what twenty eleven,

15:50 Speaker 1: twenty twelve, he was one of the you know, top center.

15:54 Speaker 1: I mean he was an important piece of when they

15:57 Speaker 1: swept the Lightning in twenty nineteen.

15:59 Speaker 2: Yep.

16:00 Speaker 1: I mean a lot of merce Lincoln's was I think

16:02 Speaker 1: also on that roster, you know, like there was I mean,

16:05 Speaker 1: we have players and Monahan has been in the playoffs

16:07 Speaker 1: quite a few times. Garland has been in there a

16:10 Speaker 1: few times, so it's like we have a lot of guys,

16:13 Speaker 1: like most of the roster has been in the playoffs

16:16 Speaker 1: at least once, if not many several times. So I

16:20 Speaker 1: don't necessarily think it's that. I just think it's a

16:23 Speaker 1: roster with serious issues and that is a product of

16:27 Speaker 1: being forced to accelerate even when you're not in a

16:31 Speaker 1: position to accelerate. Once again, this scene was forcing an

16:34 Speaker 1: impossible situation. I think they lessly made the decision, like

16:39 Speaker 1: you have to just keep going with the acceleration at

16:41 Speaker 1: this point. Yeah, it's starting from scratch. You just can't

16:44 Speaker 1: do that. So it was an impossible situation and this

16:47 Speaker 1: is the result, Like this team's just not ready for it.

16:51 Speaker 1: And I think next year is going to be the

16:54 Speaker 1: make or break here, Like you have to at this

16:57 Speaker 1: point just hope that in the offseat because I don't

16:59 Speaker 1: think we're making the playoffs there too much has to

17:01 Speaker 1: go for a way. No, it's hockey like twenty nineteen,

17:05 Speaker 1: who fought the Blue Jackets sweep the Lightning, you know, right,

17:09 Speaker 1: but not only win the series, but not even just

17:12 Speaker 1: win the series, you know. But it's like weird things

17:15 Speaker 1: can happen. I don't think it's happening. I'm a realist.

17:17 Speaker 1: It's very unlikely.

17:19 Speaker 2: You're procuring for the worst and hoping for the best.

17:22 Speaker 1: Yes, no, it's literally my motto, Expect the worst, but

17:25 Speaker 1: hope for the best exactly. Yeah. But I think next

17:28 Speaker 1: year is to make or break here. I think that

17:30 Speaker 1: you have to go all in in the off season,

17:33 Speaker 1: get a few more big name make because a few

17:35 Speaker 1: more needle moving players, not necessarily star players, but guys

17:39 Speaker 1: who make a genuine impact like marchmin or Garland or Coil,

17:43 Speaker 1: like guys who actually make an impact at least in

17:46 Speaker 1: some aspect of the game. And if you still can't

17:48 Speaker 1: make the playoffs, then you just got blow fings up

17:50 Speaker 1: at that point, Yeah, because at that point most of

17:53 Speaker 1: the core is just too old. You're not winning with

17:55 Speaker 1: that core, and you just got to tear around Vantilly

17:59 Speaker 1: needs to be the old untouchable. They him and Jet

18:01 Speaker 1: Grieves assume need to be untouchables, and then you just

18:04 Speaker 1: build around them.

18:05 Speaker 2: And it sounds a lot like what happened with Boston

18:07 Speaker 2: that by some miracle they should have been torn down

18:13 Speaker 2: three years ago and somehow extended their shelf life a

18:17 Speaker 2: little bit, and then all of a sudden they didn't,

18:20 Speaker 2: and you had what we had last year, which was

18:23 Speaker 2: then particularly traumatic for a lot of us. I'm hoping

18:27 Speaker 2: that Columbus pulls through, that they get that spot. That's

18:31 Speaker 2: just me because again I'm rooting for Charlie Coyle to

18:34 Speaker 2: continue his playoff streak, and I like Columbus. I've always

18:39 Speaker 2: been a little bit of a fans. It's not like

18:41 Speaker 2: they were an easy team to play against, at least

18:44 Speaker 2: for Boston, right so they played their three games. Boston

18:47 Speaker 2: did sweep the series, but not without some degree of challenge.

18:52 Speaker 2: Boston this season has made nearly every goaltender look like

18:57 Speaker 2: of asn't a candidate at some point. They don't make

19:00 Speaker 2: it easy on themselves.

19:01 Speaker 1: Well, Hegan, let's help that.

19:04 Speaker 2: I didn't realize this until the second game that Boston

19:08 Speaker 2: played against them. I'd heard earlier that day that the

19:12 Speaker 2: stats for the goal differential for Columbus in the first

19:16 Speaker 2: period was third ranked in the league, behind Colorado and Carolina. However,

19:22 Speaker 2: their goal differential in the third pretty horrible. And as

19:26 Speaker 2: I'm watching that game, sure enough, boom boom, boom, three

19:30 Speaker 2: goals right away in the first I'm like, oh my god,

19:33 Speaker 2: Boston's never going to come back from this because of

19:35 Speaker 2: just the season that we'd been having, and then somehow

19:38 Speaker 2: the Bruins came back and forced it into not only overtime,

19:43 Speaker 2: but a shootout.

19:45 Speaker 1: It's nothing more terrifying for a Blue Jackets fan than

19:47 Speaker 1: having a lead going into the third period. Nothing. The

19:51 Speaker 1: moment we see that we have any lead out all

19:53 Speaker 1: going in for period, we know we're losing that game.

19:56 Speaker 1: It's over to turn the game off. It's not worth watching.

19:59 Speaker 1: You're not with I mean CNX game.

20:02 Speaker 2: That losing wasn't for lack of talent on the ice.

20:05 Speaker 2: I mean, certainly you've got a lot of really great

20:08 Speaker 2: players and some good future out there. So let's now

20:12 Speaker 2: talk about divisional arrival the Detroit Red Wings. The Bruins

20:18 Speaker 2: finished the series against Detroit this year with three wins

20:21 Speaker 2: and one loss, and it wasn't without drama. Certainly, we

20:26 Speaker 2: had a shootout win, we lost four to five in

20:30 Speaker 2: one game which was just crazy, a random three to

20:34 Speaker 2: zero win which I feel like probably came out of nowhere,

20:38 Speaker 2: and then a four or two win in our last

20:40 Speaker 2: outing before Actually what I would say was probably the

20:44 Speaker 2: stretch of wins that got Boston into the position that

20:48 Speaker 2: it currently is in and actually to make a wild

20:51 Speaker 2: card spot for Boston very well timed wins. Sorry, but

20:58 Speaker 2: I think the biggest piece of conversation that even we

21:02 Speaker 2: have had in the discord this is what ten playoff

21:07 Speaker 2: years that have been missed.

21:09 Speaker 1: In our one hundredth anniversary season. Ten straight years missing

21:12 Speaker 1: the playoffs. Historic collapse, which is, by the way, the

21:16 Speaker 1: third historic collapse in three years.

21:19 Speaker 2: It seems like March has been a bad month for

21:21 Speaker 2: this team for at least the last three years. For

21:24 Speaker 2: the month of March, and hopefully I counted this all

21:26 Speaker 2: up correctly, and certainly tell me if I'm wrong. They

21:30 Speaker 2: went seven and thirteen in the month of March, with

21:32 Speaker 2: two of those being overtime losses and one shootout loss.

21:36 Speaker 2: They started the season and played up until the break

21:42 Speaker 2: like a winning team, like a team that had control

21:46 Speaker 2: over their season, that they had a good handle on things.

21:50 Speaker 1: Going into the break. They only had to be five

21:52 Speaker 1: hundred for the rest of the season and they would

21:54 Speaker 1: have had a playoff spot.

21:55 Speaker 2: Fine, yeah, so what happened? Why does this keep happening?

21:59 Speaker 2: What is the iSER plan?

22:01 Speaker 1: What is he thinking?

22:02 Speaker 2: What is going on. Explain this to me.

22:05 Speaker 1: Well, unfortunately, the iSER plan is a endless series of

22:10 Speaker 1: pretty much. I don't know what. I stopped trying to

22:13 Speaker 1: understand him last year. Look, I was a longtime defender

22:17 Speaker 1: of niser plan. I really was up until last off

22:20 Speaker 1: season when I realized because last season showed just too

22:24 Speaker 1: many contradictions, too many foundational flaws in the plan. And

22:29 Speaker 1: that's mainly due to what I call the timeline of

22:32 Speaker 1: the rebuild. None of it works, not a single ounce

22:35 Speaker 1: of it works. He started going all in, decided to

22:39 Speaker 1: go all in several years ago, he was going to

22:42 Speaker 1: win with Larkin. Well then, why did you trade a

22:45 Speaker 1: Bertuzzi and Heronic right before that? Yeah, just before he

22:50 Speaker 1: signed Larkin, like literally the day before he signed Larkin,

22:54 Speaker 1: he traded Bertuzzi even just like what a week or

22:56 Speaker 1: two before that he traded Heronic. It's like, okay, So

22:59 Speaker 1: that doesn't make it okay. So maybe he just wants

23:01 Speaker 1: him to be, you know, the grizzle old veteran for

23:03 Speaker 1: Raymond and Cider. And then he went out and got

23:06 Speaker 1: to brink it, but to brink it more on Larkins timeline, Right,

23:10 Speaker 1: So what's going on there? And then we have all

23:13 Speaker 1: these other young prospects who are not quite ready yet

23:16 Speaker 1: or just coming in. We have several years, right, there

23:19 Speaker 1: were no new prospects, but two years I think at least.

23:23 Speaker 1: But how does that work with that? Evanson should have

23:25 Speaker 1: been up before he was allowed up. This should be

23:28 Speaker 1: in ben his third season, and.

23:30 Speaker 2: There's been coaching changes.

23:33 Speaker 1: He's fired two head coaches. The first one was not

23:36 Speaker 1: his coach. Now is Blaschell? Oh right, yep, Blaschell needed

23:40 Speaker 1: to have been gone. But the problem he clearly had

23:44 Speaker 1: just run his course, which is the unfortunate. I mean,

23:47 Speaker 1: like Gause, in a better world, we would have been

23:49 Speaker 1: able to keep Blashell one more season. Unfortunately, this is

23:54 Speaker 1: not a perfect world where rebuilds are extremely messy. Yes,

23:57 Speaker 1: what I would have done, was it done, is fire

24:00 Speaker 1: Blashil until Lalan. I don't care a shit what happens

24:04 Speaker 1: this season. This team can be unbelievably awful and we're

24:08 Speaker 1: not caring about the season, like it's a right off,

24:11 Speaker 1: you know. But instead it kind of judged him off

24:13 Speaker 1: at Sea and also they overperformed a season unfortunately. But

24:17 Speaker 1: also he kind of wore out his welcome fast. But

24:21 Speaker 1: unfortunately that happened, but Lake Bleashell needed to go too.

24:24 Speaker 1: Many players were getting worse under his watch, and he

24:28 Speaker 1: was supposed to be a player development coach, but players

24:30 Speaker 1: were really regressing under him at the end, so he

24:33 Speaker 1: had to go, even though but ideally he would have

24:35 Speaker 1: been around for one more year before getting a new

24:38 Speaker 1: head coach. Land wasn't good at keeping guys accountable. We've

24:43 Speaker 1: heard a lot of players were taking shots at him

24:47 Speaker 1: even before he was fired. There was a lot of

24:50 Speaker 1: poorly veiled shots at him even two months before he

24:53 Speaker 1: got fired. And then after he got fired, the players

24:56 Speaker 1: basically did the very polite version of I am so

25:00 Speaker 1: I'm glad he's gone. Screw him. And then McLelland comes in,

25:03 Speaker 1: and like I said earlier, he's a very easy coach

25:06 Speaker 1: to plan against. But it's not like he's void of

25:10 Speaker 1: any tactical prowess. He has to round himself with good

25:13 Speaker 1: assistant coaches, quality assistant coach corps. There are problems, Sarah,

25:18 Speaker 1: legitimate problems. Anybody's good at lighting a fire under it

25:21 Speaker 1: ver asses, and he has done that. Unfortunately, the roster

25:24 Speaker 1: just kind of sucks accelerated to rebuild when he shouldn't

25:27 Speaker 1: have he celerated to rebuild in Badard's draft year. Look,

25:30 Speaker 1: I don't think we would ever gotten b Dard. I

25:32 Speaker 1: don't think we'd have ever sucked hard enough to get him.

25:33 Speaker 1: I don't think we would have sucked hard enough to

25:35 Speaker 1: get Leo Carlson or Fanca Hilly, probably not even Will Smith.

25:38 Speaker 1: But you know he could have gotten who you're one

25:41 Speaker 1: position away from getting Ryan Leonard. Ooh yeah, yeah, we

25:46 Speaker 1: could have used a Ryan Leonard really badly. If you

25:50 Speaker 1: just not celerated, you could have easily landed Ryan Leonard.

25:53 Speaker 1: If he would have fallen to your lap, maybe you

25:56 Speaker 1: could have gotten little Smith. He sucked hard enough. You know,

25:58 Speaker 1: you definitely could have gotten Ryan Leonard said. We got

26:00 Speaker 1: nath Danielson, who at the time I liked, I was

26:03 Speaker 1: his biggest defender. But even then there was one guy

26:05 Speaker 1: who was better than him, Zach Benson. But we knew

26:07 Speaker 1: he wasn't going to get drafted because he's small. But

26:09 Speaker 1: Zack Benson was the better player at the time, has

26:12 Speaker 1: proven himself to be the better player since then. But

26:16 Speaker 1: Nate Danielson was the best player left. And if they

26:18 Speaker 1: did get him, no good the tom is he improved

26:21 Speaker 1: his biggest weakness, which was shooting. He was a god

26:24 Speaker 1: awful shooter going into the draft. I mean, the kid

26:27 Speaker 1: could not shoot to save his life. He's actually a

26:29 Speaker 1: good shooter now he is. It's to say all his

26:31 Speaker 1: other prop things were just he was just good at

26:34 Speaker 1: He hasn't elevated being any more than just good. He

26:37 Speaker 1: should be a very good Ferti line center. He's probably

26:39 Speaker 1: gonna have a very long NHL career. He will be

26:42 Speaker 1: that like third line center who teams won't want because

26:45 Speaker 1: he's elite. Defensively, He's going to be very good defensively.

26:48 Speaker 1: He's going to be the guy you want on your

26:49 Speaker 1: pound penal to kill. He skates well. He can provide

26:54 Speaker 1: some offense. He's not going to be consistent producer, but

26:57 Speaker 1: he can provide it.

26:58 Speaker 2: How long has Isserman been in his current position? With

27:04 Speaker 2: seven years now? Is he gonna still be in that position?

27:09 Speaker 1: Pot it out? It's not even it's not even couestion.

27:12 Speaker 1: Really yeah, because you see understand this, Mike chris Ilich.

27:16 Speaker 1: There's two big things. Number One, Chris Ilich only cares

27:19 Speaker 1: about money, that's it. He does not give a crap

27:22 Speaker 1: about the team. And guess what. The Red Wings are

27:26 Speaker 1: a complete financial wagon, and so as long as they're

27:29 Speaker 1: making more money than the year before, Ilich does not care.

27:32 Speaker 1: Number two, Isserman is basically an Ilich family member at

27:36 Speaker 1: this point, He's basically a sibling to Ilich. Entire organization

27:41 Speaker 1: is just a bunch of friends. There are no outside voices.

27:44 Speaker 1: Everyone in an organization are besties and they have no

27:49 Speaker 1: interest in breaking that up.

27:51 Speaker 2: I feel that because I have a similar complaint about Mealy.

27:57 Speaker 2: You've heard me say, you know how much I just

28:00 Speaker 2: I find him to be a snake. He was an

28:01 Speaker 2: excellent player, but look, I don't like how he operates

28:07 Speaker 2: as a president of hockey ops. I call him the

28:11 Speaker 2: shadow CEO, the shadow owner, because the elder Jacobs the

28:17 Speaker 2: spoon feeding him somewhere down in Florida. His son clearly

28:21 Speaker 2: is of an age I think where he probably grew

28:25 Speaker 2: up watching Neally in his prime and is just hook

28:30 Speaker 2: line and sinker going to follow Neely to the ends

28:33 Speaker 2: of the earth no matter what. And to your point,

28:37 Speaker 2: is Boston going to be bringing in all that cash

28:41 Speaker 2: every single year? Hell yeah, hell yeah, Because at the

28:44 Speaker 2: end of the day, when you have a team that

28:48 Speaker 2: is part of a city's identity. You can be as

28:53 Speaker 2: mad as you want to be, like we were last year, livid, livid,

28:57 Speaker 2: livid seeing a team just abs absolutely tank and not

29:02 Speaker 2: on purpose, which is painful to watch when it's like that.

29:05 Speaker 2: And then to sit there and in their post mortem

29:09 Speaker 2: listen to the Jacobs say yeah, we're gonna raise prices

29:12 Speaker 2: by four percent, and somebody says in the audience, pushing

29:16 Speaker 2: back and saying really four percent? Yeah, And guess what

29:23 Speaker 2: continues to be sellout crowd every single game because it's

29:27 Speaker 2: a drug. And what can I do? I'm not you

29:31 Speaker 2: know what I mean? I sorry that it's the same

29:33 Speaker 2: for you.

29:35 Speaker 1: You know how in the NBA there's the sell six

29:37 Speaker 1: and the Lakers. They are the two cornerstones of the league.

29:41 Speaker 1: They can suck unbelievably hard like they can have historically

29:44 Speaker 1: beast seasons. We're still gonna paye sell out every single game.

29:47 Speaker 1: We're gonna we're gonna have more money than they did

29:49 Speaker 1: the year before. There are basically two teams in the

29:52 Speaker 1: Rhythmics are basically kind of like that. But for the

29:55 Speaker 1: NHL there's a few teams us you know, Buffalo, Montreal.

30:00 Speaker 1: Those teams are always going to have no matter how

30:03 Speaker 1: bad they are, we're going to sell out, and to

30:05 Speaker 1: be fair in Buffalo's case, a lot of times it

30:06 Speaker 1: will be because fans of other teams come in even

30:09 Speaker 1: like well into when they're sucking, Like five years ago,

30:12 Speaker 1: if you were still getting in like better ratings than

30:14 Speaker 1: almost any other team when it comes to national broadcasts

30:17 Speaker 1: or even local broadcasts. There's just certain teams where it's

30:19 Speaker 1: just like we're just going to be money factories for

30:21 Speaker 1: the NHL. So yeah, if they have no incentive to

30:24 Speaker 1: get better when the fans are not giving an insensive,

30:28 Speaker 1: fans can start next year throwing jerseys on the ice

30:31 Speaker 1: and start chanting fire iesermen, Like the entire game could

30:34 Speaker 1: be nothing, even if they win, could be fingers, just

30:36 Speaker 1: channing fire izermen and throwing set winners on the ice

30:39 Speaker 1: as long as they keep making more money than the

30:41 Speaker 1: year before. Chris, So let's just going to hear that

30:43 Speaker 1: and go, oh that's a shame, Yeah, counting his fat

30:46 Speaker 1: wads of cash like it's not gonna matter.

30:51 Speaker 2: Oh, these guys are the worst, all right, Ierman's not

30:54 Speaker 2: going anywhere.

30:56 Speaker 1: They're going to be forced to rebuild soon unless Ierman

31:00 Speaker 1: finally gets aggressive because he is not aggressive. That's been

31:02 Speaker 1: his biggest problem. If you're going to do the thing

31:04 Speaker 1: that he did where he traded the Ironic and Bertuzzi

31:07 Speaker 1: decided to winn a Flarkin, then you've got to be aggressive.

31:09 Speaker 1: You can't make that work, but you got to be

31:11 Speaker 1: aggressive this offseason. I see this as the final off

31:14 Speaker 1: season of this core. This is the off season I'll

31:17 Speaker 1: make or break its. If you have to be aggressive,

31:19 Speaker 1: you have to get several new Igle movers because you

31:22 Speaker 1: have to replace Kane. You have to get a actually

31:25 Speaker 1: good bottom six, because that bottom six somehow gets worse

31:28 Speaker 1: every year. I don't understand how our defense gets worse

31:32 Speaker 1: every single year because every year they somehow find a

31:34 Speaker 1: way to get a new worst offnsman.

31:37 Speaker 2: What's your goaltending?

31:38 Speaker 1: Because again a complete cluster beep Yeah.

31:42 Speaker 2: Because I'm like, I can't even like is Gibson the guy?

31:46 Speaker 2: I feel like he's not the guy because didn't he

31:48 Speaker 2: play out in Anaheim.

31:50 Speaker 1: Yeah, he was a long time ago. He played his

31:53 Speaker 1: entire career in Anaheim for over a decade. Yes, he'll

31:55 Speaker 1: being traded to Detroit and he had a redemption year

31:58 Speaker 1: last year. He was very good in Anaheim back in

32:00 Speaker 1: the day, and when we started rebuilding, he fell off,

32:02 Speaker 1: and then he got good again last year and he

32:05 Speaker 1: has been good this year. But then, like always, every

32:09 Speaker 1: coach is done for the last seven years, maybe where

32:13 Speaker 1: they overplay for starting goaltender. I mean, but they played

32:16 Speaker 1: Gibson for what like thirteen fourteen straight games, including several

32:19 Speaker 1: back to backs. No, what they literally played him for

32:23 Speaker 1: at least twelve to fourteen games. They showed back to

32:26 Speaker 1: backs straight.

32:28 Speaker 2: I mean, I thought it was insane when Jeremy Swayman

32:33 Speaker 2: got the nod for playing back to back. I knew

32:37 Speaker 2: that Sorokan had done it this year, but I thought

32:40 Speaker 2: those two were the only ones.

32:43 Speaker 1: No, No, Jit Griz also has played a few back

32:45 Speaker 1: to backs this season.

32:47 Speaker 2: Blows my mind that they would do that, like again

32:49 Speaker 2: twenty five years ago. Happened all the time, but like

32:52 Speaker 2: the way that they blows my mind that anyone would

32:55 Speaker 2: do that on purpose.

32:56 Speaker 1: Age of goaltenders doing at starting goaltenders doing it. I

32:58 Speaker 1: think he's coming back. It's been trending that way for

33:00 Speaker 1: a few years now. But I think we are definitely,

33:04 Speaker 1: especially because goaltending is not there's really no big improvements

33:08 Speaker 1: in goaltending, and this us just getting the first around

33:10 Speaker 1: reason seemingly harder to get Google tenders for some odd reason. Yes,

33:14 Speaker 1: I think we are about to see an age of

33:16 Speaker 1: that where if you're the starter, you are basically going

33:20 Speaker 1: to be playing probably sixty plus games and doing a

33:23 Speaker 1: lot back to backs. And the Redmans are trying to

33:25 Speaker 1: do that. But of course if they want to do

33:26 Speaker 1: that cosa. But right, you know, like tandems are becoming

33:30 Speaker 1: a luxury again, this could just be a weird few

33:33 Speaker 1: year blip where it's been trending enough and that like

33:35 Speaker 1: it dies off in a few years again. At least

33:37 Speaker 1: the last few years I've started noticing it a bit

33:39 Speaker 1: more than this year was like the years seem to

33:42 Speaker 1: really sort exploding.

33:43 Speaker 2: I almost wonder if it was more noticeable this year

33:46 Speaker 2: just because of the compressed schedule and the fact that

33:48 Speaker 2: you could you could pay attention to that happening because

33:51 Speaker 2: they're playing literally every other day, and then oh there

33:54 Speaker 2: you go, they just he just played twice right in

33:56 Speaker 2: a row. So interesting. Interesting.

33:59 Speaker 1: They over play John Gibson. That was the big problem.

34:02 Speaker 1: I mean, they've been doing this for years. They they

34:04 Speaker 1: get a guy who plays as a starter. They overplay

34:08 Speaker 1: him in the second half of the season. They make

34:10 Speaker 1: them pay like they play them basically every freaking game,

34:13 Speaker 1: and then they fall off a cliff production wise, and

34:17 Speaker 1: we're like, well, that's a Scooby Doo mystery as to why.

34:20 Speaker 1: I guess we're gonna overplay them again. We gotta play

34:23 Speaker 1: them the next game, maybe they'll finally figure it out.

34:25 Speaker 1: And then the next season that always without fail. The

34:28 Speaker 1: next season we get a goals under in one year,

34:31 Speaker 1: we overplay them, and the next season they suck at

34:33 Speaker 1: complete garbage, unusable, We trade them, and then they get

34:37 Speaker 1: good again for the new team that for playing for.

34:39 Speaker 1: It's been a cycles for years and the Red Wings

34:42 Speaker 1: keep doing. Everyone understands how the cycle goes, except seemingly

34:46 Speaker 1: our coaching staff in front office Verda was just scratching

34:51 Speaker 1: her heads, like, how does this happen? I don't understand

34:53 Speaker 1: what's happening. What's going on?

34:56 Speaker 2: What does Detroit need to do this offseason? I mean,

35:00 Speaker 2: obviously whatever is happening in their development pipeline is something's

35:05 Speaker 2: not working there.

35:06 Speaker 1: But we have good goaltenders and that's about it. We

35:10 Speaker 1: have good goals any prospects. But that's about it.

35:13 Speaker 2: What do you want to see from the Red Wings

35:16 Speaker 2: in this off season, either with being fulfilled by trade,

35:20 Speaker 2: like you want to see somebody gone, you want to

35:23 Speaker 2: see somebody be signed, not signed, anything in particular. There.

35:30 Speaker 1: Okay, here's the thing. We could be here all day

35:33 Speaker 1: if I went and see specifics, because I believe me,

35:36 Speaker 1: when I write my article, which we will be titled

35:38 Speaker 1: What Must be Done Detroit twenty twenty sixth edition, it's

35:42 Speaker 1: going to be a very very long article.

35:44 Speaker 2: Yep.

35:44 Speaker 1: It's not going to be a fan of hurt to read.

35:48 Speaker 2: Give us the cliff notes there.

35:49 Speaker 1: But okay, so there's what should be done, yeah, and

35:53 Speaker 1: then there's what will probably actually be done. Knowing Isserman, well,

35:57 Speaker 1: I'm expecting he's going to stay to course because he

36:00 Speaker 1: hasn't shown a willingness to be aggressive. Maybe finally this

36:03 Speaker 1: season he books a trend. But until he does it,

36:06 Speaker 1: I'm just going to assume he keeps going to a

36:07 Speaker 1: trend because his argument is going to be because I

36:10 Speaker 1: already know what his arguments are going to be. Well,

36:12 Speaker 1: we got more points from last season. Clearly something's working.

36:15 Speaker 1: That's just going to be his argument and then also,

36:17 Speaker 1: he's gonna be, well, what am I supposed to do?

36:19 Speaker 1: The prospects aren't developing as quickly as we want do

36:22 Speaker 1: is there going to be his two arguments? Because those

36:24 Speaker 1: are his arguments every single season, every single season. In

36:28 Speaker 1: the end of season he says there like he gets

36:30 Speaker 1: to really upset when the press asks him, Okay, but

36:34 Speaker 1: why aren't you eiver trading the prospects because we got

36:37 Speaker 1: quality prospects that you never trade or call up for

36:40 Speaker 1: just wasting away in Grand rapids. But the guy's clearly

36:44 Speaker 1: ready prospects.

36:45 Speaker 2: They have a shelf life. We saw this happen in

36:49 Speaker 2: Boston a couple of seasons ago, and it was happening

36:52 Speaker 2: at the exact same time that the Bruins were operating

36:57 Speaker 2: on borrowed time. And because I don't know, Sweeney Neely

37:01 Speaker 2: wanted to keep this core together and kind of see

37:05 Speaker 2: how far they could take it. And that meant that

37:08 Speaker 2: guys down in Providence were not coming up or in

37:13 Speaker 2: the disastrous season, they would get called up for like

37:16 Speaker 2: a game. They were not able to play enough games,

37:22 Speaker 2: and it just it was horrible, and they would be

37:25 Speaker 2: sent down right away, and it just seemed like it

37:29 Speaker 2: was very stagnant between the big club and the AHL

37:35 Speaker 2: team that there was no movement back and forth. There

37:37 Speaker 2: was nothing happening. And finally, again I don't love how

37:43 Speaker 2: it went down, but it had to happen. Where they

37:46 Speaker 2: cleared house in Boston, they made room for openings and

37:52 Speaker 2: basically had a huge, huge, not only dev camp, rookie camp,

37:58 Speaker 2: and regular camp to give guys a legit shot at

38:04 Speaker 2: making the big team and having these guys go as

38:07 Speaker 2: far as they could so that way, when they had

38:10 Speaker 2: to get sent down, they knew what they were going

38:13 Speaker 2: to get if they needed them to come up. And

38:14 Speaker 2: we've had a few of those players come up and

38:17 Speaker 2: have found homes. I mean, Jonathan asbro is a fantastic example.

38:22 Speaker 2: This is the guy who played in the AHL for

38:25 Speaker 2: six or seven seasons and I can't imagine him not

38:29 Speaker 2: being a part of this core going into the playoffs.

38:31 Speaker 2: And in addition, the Providence Bruins, they've been one of

38:36 Speaker 2: the best teams. So finally it seems like, Okay, they're cooking,

38:39 Speaker 2: we're cooking. There's some synergy happening there between the two.

38:42 Speaker 2: So you feel good as a fan that not only

38:45 Speaker 2: is the team up in Boston a little bit fresher faced.

38:49 Speaker 2: There's some very good, very close prospects right there that

38:54 Speaker 2: could make that leap, and it sounds like that's just

38:57 Speaker 2: not happening in Detroit.

38:59 Speaker 1: You see point V like to call up AHL players,

39:02 Speaker 1: but it's AHL veterans and not the prospects. Like we

39:06 Speaker 1: have Dominic Seine on the team night now, who actually

39:08 Speaker 1: has been a good audition, like he's used the captain

39:11 Speaker 1: of the Griffins. This is a guy who made his

39:13 Speaker 1: NHL debut like what thirty one or something, just okay

39:16 Speaker 1: season ago. He's been good, but then they just don't

39:19 Speaker 1: play him in the important games when he's been probably

39:21 Speaker 1: the only good bottom six player we've had since he

39:24 Speaker 1: got called, and we just don't play him when the

39:26 Speaker 1: season's on the line. It's like he's the only guy

39:28 Speaker 1: on the bottom six who actually plays well. We got

39:30 Speaker 1: this guy named Sebastian Kosa, don't know if anyone's ever

39:34 Speaker 1: heard of him. Drafted fifteenth overall, Red Wings, traded up

39:38 Speaker 1: to fifteenth. So this is a guy drafted in the

39:41 Speaker 1: first round, traded up to get drafted him over Wolfstet

39:45 Speaker 1: who everyone thought was going to be drafted first and

39:47 Speaker 1: then you just don't call him up when you clearly

39:49 Speaker 1: don't trust your backup. Yeah, like, what's going on here?

39:54 Speaker 1: I mean, the thing is Cosa is not living up

39:56 Speaker 1: to the fifteen overall status. He's not going to be

40:00 Speaker 1: will Set the wild wan A baby.

40:02 Speaker 2: Oh my god. I can't believe that Detroit had an

40:04 Speaker 2: opportunity to get him and they didn't.

40:07 Speaker 1: Everyone thought Vectorators were going to draft wolf Set because

40:09 Speaker 1: the moment he traded up, everyone was like, okay for

40:12 Speaker 1: drafting wolf Set because we needed a goaltender. Then they

40:14 Speaker 1: drafted Cosa and we'll set fout what like two more

40:17 Speaker 1: positions or whatever. And somehow remember Edmonton was right after

40:24 Speaker 1: Detroit and they have always needed goaltenders. Everyone was like,

40:27 Speaker 1: they said, yeah they said. Everyone was like, what the heck?

40:31 Speaker 1: And so I can go on.

40:33 Speaker 2: Forever about what I think is wrong with Edmonton. And

40:36 Speaker 2: I'm not a fan of Edmonton. I don't know specifics,

40:40 Speaker 2: but I could give you a whole dissertation on what

40:43 Speaker 2: is going wrong with that team, just like I could

40:46 Speaker 2: give you a dissertation on what's wrong with the maple Leafs,

40:49 Speaker 2: and that would be relatively objective. In spite of my

40:54 Speaker 2: dislike of the leafs. I'm like, oh, that's a lot wrong.

40:57 Speaker 2: Everyone could and his name is Austin Matthews.

41:01 Speaker 1: Can't say that. I can't say that will be on

41:04 Speaker 1: your ass, Yeah right, say what I think needs to

41:07 Speaker 1: get done. The realistic option of what should be done

41:10 Speaker 1: if Izerman finally gets as to actually do something, is

41:14 Speaker 1: be minumbingly aggressive. You have to add a bunch of

41:18 Speaker 1: meatle moving players. You have to trade prospects. Is time

41:22 Speaker 1: clear out grand rapids, let him suck for a bit.

41:26 Speaker 1: You need to trade guys to win now if if

41:29 Speaker 1: you're going to win with his core. If not, then

41:32 Speaker 1: what you need to do is start selling off. I

41:34 Speaker 1: mean there's two paths you can take. You aggressively sell

41:38 Speaker 1: off every prospect to win now. But guess what going

41:41 Speaker 1: to be contending for like two diffree seasons this core.

41:44 Speaker 1: That's not ideal. But if I were to GM, if

41:48 Speaker 1: they were to fire Isserman and hire me as GM,

41:51 Speaker 1: everyone has a price except for Marie cider Recer is

41:54 Speaker 1: the only untouchable now Raymond. I do not want to sell.

41:57 Speaker 1: I don't want to sell Raymond, but he does have

41:59 Speaker 1: a price, and you have to basically sell your barn

42:03 Speaker 1: for him to brink hit. Whatever reasonable price go right,

42:07 Speaker 1: John Price gone, Simon Evanson. I don't want to get

42:11 Speaker 1: rid of him. He's a number one you're gonna you're

42:12 Speaker 1: gonna have to overpay for because he is good. But

42:16 Speaker 1: if someone were to overpay for him, I'd sell him.

42:19 Speaker 1: You know, if someone's willing to overspay for him, you

42:22 Speaker 1: can't sell him, especially because he's very clearly being groomed

42:26 Speaker 1: to be captain. Make him the court centerpiece of the

42:29 Speaker 1: next roster. I also would not sell Mirco Caspervius here

42:31 Speaker 1: because I want to see what his ceiling is. He

42:35 Speaker 1: showed flashes in his rookie season potentially being a one seed.

42:39 Speaker 1: I don't think he's gonna be a supertar, but any means,

42:41 Speaker 1: but I think he could be another Larkin, another guy

42:43 Speaker 1: who gets you like eighty to eighty five points a season.

42:45 Speaker 1: Not an ideal one see. But when you're a team

42:48 Speaker 1: that has had no luck, getting one's a luck you

42:51 Speaker 1: we know all about that. You just gotta do what

42:53 Speaker 1: you can and just hope that you get lucky, as

42:55 Speaker 1: with some like fur ground pick or whatever.

42:57 Speaker 2: I'll be curious to see what is said in that

43:00 Speaker 2: postseason presser and then what happens in the postseason when

43:05 Speaker 2: it comes to trades and free agencies. But worst case scenario,

43:10 Speaker 2: this is my last question for you looking at the playoffs.

43:14 Speaker 2: It's going to start at the end of this week.

43:16 Speaker 2: If the Blue Jackets don't make it, who are you

43:19 Speaker 2: going to be following with great interest? Who are you

43:23 Speaker 2: going to be rooting for? They don't have to be

43:27 Speaker 2: the same team.

43:28 Speaker 1: Yeah, the team I'll be following of great interests. I

43:33 Speaker 1: think this may be a shocking one to people, and

43:36 Speaker 1: I am not rooting for I want to make this clear.

43:38 Speaker 1: I am not rooting for this team. I hate this

43:40 Speaker 1: team with every fiber might be but I'm watching them

43:43 Speaker 1: with great interest. Who is that is? Pittsburgh?

43:46 Speaker 2: Oh?

43:48 Speaker 1: Oh? Because here's you know, this is the last year

43:51 Speaker 1: of the Big Free They got rejuvenated. They've gotten some

43:54 Speaker 1: nice young players and a lot of them look like

43:57 Speaker 1: they've turned back the clock. And this is a corve

44:00 Speaker 1: we know can do it in the playoffs. And so

44:03 Speaker 1: I just wonder is do they have just enough magic

44:06 Speaker 1: left in them to at least make a deep playoff run.

44:09 Speaker 1: If not, the Coups, I don't think they will. I

44:12 Speaker 1: want to claim for not my prediction for who wins

44:14 Speaker 1: the Cup or even makes the final Front of the East.

44:17 Speaker 1: But if any team surprises, I think it's going to

44:20 Speaker 1: be Pittsburgh. Interesting, Now, I hate that team, so I

44:24 Speaker 1: don't want them to The team I'll be rooting for

44:27 Speaker 1: is the team that everyone else and for mother is

44:29 Speaker 1: rooting for, and that is Buffalo.

44:32 Speaker 2: I was gonna say it has to be Buffalo.

44:33 Speaker 1: Or Detroit fans and Buffalo fans we got a comrade ship.

44:37 Speaker 1: We got to We've got camaraderie. You know, we're both

44:40 Speaker 1: lake Erie teams. We've gone through a lot of suffering

44:43 Speaker 1: in various sports, and Detroit fans are very good friends.

44:47 Speaker 1: We have always rooted for each over and basically every sport.

44:50 Speaker 1: You know, We're always wasn't even if Buffalo wasn't like

44:52 Speaker 1: the levelble losers, you know, but that helps. But you

44:56 Speaker 1: seem if it's not a camaraderie, Yeah, I am going

44:59 Speaker 1: to to say, utah, okay, I feel like.

45:02 Speaker 2: They give a similar vibe to Buffalo former Arizona right

45:07 Speaker 2: name kind of someone in the front office killing the team. Here,

45:13 Speaker 2: they are doing it right. It's the same thing like

45:15 Speaker 2: with Buffalo, right their GM was killing this team. Everyone

45:21 Speaker 2: was like, why the heck is this guy still there?

45:23 Speaker 2: They get rid of him, they bring in this tough

45:26 Speaker 2: guy and boom, you've got life.

45:29 Speaker 1: So I buy that. I think that's like for just

45:32 Speaker 1: underrated as a young as Yeah, feed out exciting young

45:37 Speaker 1: core if you actually watch that, yeah, by name for

45:40 Speaker 1: not exciting, like people aren't sitting there like, yeah, I

45:42 Speaker 1: gotta watch Clayton Keller and Logan Coolly, you know, but

45:45 Speaker 1: it's like for fun to watch for actually, like when

45:49 Speaker 1: you actually watch a game, like I'm locked in when

45:51 Speaker 1: I'm watching the Mammals. Yeah, yeah, you are an interesting

45:54 Speaker 1: team to actually watch, but we just don't have that

45:56 Speaker 1: exciting name like a Connor McDavid or a Matthew Schaffer.

46:00 Speaker 1: It's fun as hell to watch. I have watched so

46:02 Speaker 1: many Islanders games just to watch him play.

46:04 Speaker 2: Yeah, I like that choice. That's a good choice fo.

46:07 Speaker 1: But yeah, like it's for a fun team. That's not

46:09 Speaker 1: that people just don't pay enough attention to a little underdog.

46:13 Speaker 1: I like that.

46:13 Speaker 2: I'm gonna get on your bandwagon for my West Coast

46:16 Speaker 2: team because I'm thinking of, Okay, who's out there in Colorado.

46:20 Speaker 2: I don't have any beef with them, but whatever, they

46:23 Speaker 2: got enough supporters Dallas Minnesota cho curse screw the Golden

46:29 Speaker 2: Knights like never in any No.

46:32 Speaker 1: But most of those specific teams should not be in

46:34 Speaker 1: the playoffs.

46:36 Speaker 2: Most of them should not be NHL teams.

46:38 Speaker 1: Let's I'm sorry, but this playoff to format is a disgrace.

46:43 Speaker 1: This year it's been more of a disgrace than usual,

46:46 Speaker 1: so almostly because of the Pacific. It's never gonna change

46:49 Speaker 1: because Betman seems married to it. But hey, you know what,

46:51 Speaker 1: we never thought NASCAR would actually get rid of the playoffs,

46:54 Speaker 1: So maybe Betman will finally see the light just like

46:57 Speaker 1: NASCAR did. Yeah, but this year. If this year wasn't

47:00 Speaker 1: to put breaking point for people who were defending that

47:04 Speaker 1: playoff format, I don't know what will.

47:07 Speaker 2: My biggest criticism was the fact that when you're looking

47:11 Speaker 2: at the East versus the West, and this was a

47:14 Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago, but I said, Boston is the

47:19 Speaker 2: fifth best team in the league and was at the

47:24 Speaker 2: time barely holding on to a wildcard spot barely. But

47:30 Speaker 2: if you did it the way that it used to

47:33 Speaker 2: be twenty some odd years ago, they would have been

47:37 Speaker 2: easily in the playoffs, and it just makes you wonder

47:41 Speaker 2: if when it comes to the Stanley Cup Final, how

47:45 Speaker 2: easily the Western team makes it to that series compared

47:50 Speaker 2: to the East, because if you've got to go through

47:53 Speaker 2: the Pacific, come on the Pacific, Like, how hard could

47:56 Speaker 2: that possibly be for a team like Colorado or Minnesota

48:00 Speaker 2: or Dallas.

48:01 Speaker 1: For crying out loud, this could be Colorado. Let's be real,

48:04 Speaker 1: Colorado's making it out of the West.

48:06 Speaker 2: I don't know the bad juju with those jerseys they

48:10 Speaker 2: were wearing them. They got the President's Trophy while wearing them.

48:14 Speaker 2: Then their coach gets hit in the head with the puck.

48:16 Speaker 2: They kept wearing the bad juju jerseys.

48:20 Speaker 1: I'm going to say, has no center Depp Minnesota is Dallas.

48:25 Speaker 1: Dallas are professional chokers in the playoffs. Until they stopped

48:28 Speaker 1: choking in the playoffs, I will not never choose them

48:31 Speaker 1: to even make the final. If not, at least you

48:32 Speaker 1: would not win it.

48:33 Speaker 2: They're always going to lose in the conference final for sure.

48:36 Speaker 1: For Carolina of the West, ooh yeah, it was like

48:41 Speaker 1: until they do it, never choosing them. It's going to

48:44 Speaker 1: be Colorado. That's the only team unless we have a

48:46 Speaker 1: miracle team I think.

48:47 Speaker 2: These Coast teams are going to be dead. I guarantee

48:49 Speaker 2: you East Coast is probably gonna have way more Game sevens.

48:54 Speaker 2: They're going to have played more hockey yep by the

48:58 Speaker 2: time they get to the final than any West Coast team.

49:01 Speaker 1: But there is one thing can work to the tire

49:04 Speaker 1: team's advantage is that if the other team has been

49:07 Speaker 1: sitting on her ass for too long, true, resting too long.

49:11 Speaker 1: Like we saw this several years ago, wasn't it. I

49:13 Speaker 1: think it was to Vegas Panfer's Stanley Cup where the

49:16 Speaker 1: Panthers like made the Cup final like a week before

49:19 Speaker 1: the Yeah, and then all of her progress was just dead.

49:22 Speaker 1: Bobrovski had returned to human came in again. My prediction

49:26 Speaker 1: is Tampa Bay comes out of the East. I'm just

49:27 Speaker 1: saying that now. I hate like, I think we're getting

49:30 Speaker 1: a Colorado Lightning rematch from four years o.

49:33 Speaker 2: God, yeah twenty two right, Yeah, I think.

49:36 Speaker 1: We're getting that. Our only hope, our only savior from

49:39 Speaker 1: that potentially is if Carolina decides to not choke this

49:43 Speaker 1: year in the conference final. Good luck that. Yeah, taking that, see,

49:48 Speaker 1: I'll know we're gonna be in the Conference final again.

49:50 Speaker 1: I would not count on the Western team being able

49:53 Speaker 1: to easily win the Cup, even if I have an

49:55 Speaker 1: easy path. For that one reason true, because we've seen

49:58 Speaker 1: this happen, we have just a few years ago.

50:02 Speaker 2: So Anna tell our listeners again where they can find

50:05 Speaker 2: you on all of your places.

50:09 Speaker 1: Yeah, So the main thing I'm I'm here for is

50:11 Speaker 1: prism Hockey, which you can find on Patreon and substack.

50:15 Speaker 1: Subsec is the main platform, but I do have Patreon

50:18 Speaker 1: for folks who don't want to support substack, especially financially.

50:23 Speaker 1: And then I am on Twitter as a Despicable Anna.

50:25 Speaker 1: That's just my username. Thank you Montreal fans for giving

50:28 Speaker 1: me that name. So literally Boston fans will love this,

50:32 Speaker 1: but it's literally a diss to Montreal fans because they

50:34 Speaker 1: called me despicable and so like, I literally became known

50:39 Speaker 1: as a despicable little to them. So I just changed

50:41 Speaker 1: my name to despicable Anna as a case to Montreal fans.

50:44 Speaker 1: So on Instagram and I asked to started streaming on

50:47 Speaker 1: Twitch and kick lately usually about every o our Monday,

50:51 Speaker 1: I do hockey news, so excellent event of our nights

50:55 Speaker 1: they do writing streams or gaming. Check me out there.

50:58 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm literally just my name Anna Hudoc with

51:01 Speaker 1: an underscore between them on your platforms.

51:04 Speaker 2: Well, thank you again so much for coming and chatting

51:06 Speaker 2: with us about our favorite rivalries and other teams that

51:10 Speaker 2: the Bruins play. On the regular. We like to keep

51:12 Speaker 2: an eye on what's happening across the division and in

51:16 Speaker 2: the conference, so it's always fun to talk hockey with you.

51:19 Speaker 1: Anna.

51:20 Speaker 2: Thank you again so much for coming out.

51:21 Speaker 1: Welcome, always glad to be here. You guys got a

51:24 Speaker 1: grief thing going. You've got a great community. I don't

51:26 Speaker 1: listen to too many podcasts anymore because I just wanted

51:28 Speaker 1: time there and I do. I try to listen to yours,

51:31 Speaker 1: so you are my main go to hockey podcasts when

51:34 Speaker 1: I do have time. There's a reason you guys are

51:37 Speaker 1: promoted on my substack and nobody else so far.

51:40 Speaker 2: It's mutual. Well and then speaking of that, so make

51:44 Speaker 2: sure you like and subscribe for more content, and be

51:46 Speaker 2: sure to leave a rating and review to help other

51:48 Speaker 2: Bruins fans find us. And you can support the podcast

51:51 Speaker 2: by joining our Patreon or following us on our socials

51:54 Speaker 2: at Tape to Tape MK and on substack at tape

51:57 Speaker 2: to tape, mk dot substack dot com. Any final thoughts,

52:02 Speaker 2: special guest.

52:03 Speaker 1: Hopefully the Blue Jackets figured out next season, and hopefully

52:06 Speaker 1: the Red Thing's tirfing sound well.

52:09 Speaker 2: Ann As always go Bes