Is Marat Khusnutdinov the Future of the Bruins? | Ep. 93

0:00 Speaker 1: Hey Bruins fam. Before we air this week's episode.

0:03 Speaker 2: About Marat Husnadinov, we wanted to share some thoughts about the new Bruins head coach, Marco Sturm.

0:09 Speaker 3: As I'm listening to the Bruins press conference officially welcoming Marco Sturm as their newest head coach. In listening to Marco talk about the strengths and weaknesses of this current roster as constructed, it struck me how painfully far away the Boston Bruins are to returning to championship caliber form. Based on what we're seeing in the Stanley Cup Finals, the road to a rebuild for the Boston Bruins is likely going to be long and hard, simply based on what I'm seeing out of the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers.

0:58 Speaker 3: If that is what the Ruins will aspire to be again, which is a playoff contending team, And while I appreciate Marco's enthusiasm and his candor in how he spoke about the strengths and weaknesses of the Boston Bruins as currently constructed, It's very hard to garner an enormous amount of enthusiasm for a new head coach when you have really no true idea what your roster is going to be come opening day. I hope that Marco is ready for what is going to be an extreme challenge for him, because this is a fan base that is not going to suffer fools lightly any longer.

1:55 Speaker 3: And if things don't trend upward for the Boston Bruins, my fear is that our management team will once again be looking for a fall guy, and I would hate to have that fall guy be Marco Sturm. It's very difficult for any of us to assess what kind of a job a new head coach will or won't do until you know what he or she will have to work with. This is one step in the right direction. I will give management that much do. However, we need to see what changes will be made to the roster who stays and who goes before any of us can have any forethought into potentially what this Bruins team can or can't do for the upcoming season.

2:59 Speaker 2: I completely agree with Maria. In addition to her comments, I want to throw out some shade to Kevin DuPont from The Globe at forty one three in the press conference this MENSA candidate asked a legitimate question cloaked in misogyny.

3:17 Speaker 4: Marco Kevin Dubaddian, I'm curious about the one position open on the coaching staff from a variety of areas. You think more in terms of an old guy, a young guy, special teams person, a new guy, or that spectrum of associate coach. And lastly, and be careful with this with your wife and daughter here, would you consider a woman for that position?

3:47 Speaker 2: So, Kevin, what did you mean by that moronic comment? Please do tell me, because it sure sounds like you would assume that a woman behind the bench means that something inappropriate would happen, and that there's something inappropriate in a coach wanting a woman behind the bench. But it's only something that the women in your family shouldn't hear about, right, It's okay for the boys to hear about it.

4:12 Speaker 1: Grow up and go away, you ask anyways? Enjoy the show?

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4:18 Speaker 4: Please?

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4:56 Speaker 2: What's that for? Welcome in everyone to another episode of Bruins Tape to Tape. I'm your host this evening, Caroline with a K, and this is our next episode about our trade deadline acquisitions for the Boston Bruins. You're listening in on June eleventh, and I am here with my fantastic co host, Maria from Watertown.

5:30 Speaker 1: Hi Maria, Hi Caroline. What's going on? Oh?

5:35 Speaker 2: You know, living the dream, waiting for October to come around.

5:42 Speaker 1: It seems like an eternity since we have seen the black and gold on the ice. This has been unusual, unusual waters for fans of the Boston Bruins this season.

5:55 Speaker 3: But you know, we're here to try to make everyone feel a little bit that are about the Bruins roster?

6:02 Speaker 1: Yeah, right, isn't that what we're going to do?

6:05 Speaker 2: Obviously, And as we get closer and closer to free agency, it's yet another kind of tricky season because there are a lot of different rules and a lot of different things to understand about these contracts.

6:22 Speaker 6: What's the UFA, what's an r.

6:25 Speaker 1: What does all this mean?

6:26 Speaker 2: And so one of the interesting results I suppose of this year's trade deadline is the fact that the Boston Bruins acquired three RFAs restricted free agents, So not exactly what you would call a rental, which is what you might call someone who was a UFA.

6:51 Speaker 1: They have the right to go wherever the heck they want to go. RFAs are a.

6:56 Speaker 2: Completely different beast, and there are two different kinds of RFAs, and the kind of RFA that you are depends on.

7:02 Speaker 1: How long you have been in the business.

7:06 Speaker 2: Yeh, No, today we're going to be talking about Marat Who'snadinov? Which I was just thinking about this the other day and kind of chuckling to myself, Boy did we struggle with his name?

7:21 Speaker 1: And now I.

7:22 Speaker 3: Kind of won't even say it now it just rolls right off the ton Marat.

7:27 Speaker 1: He don't sell it yet.

7:29 Speaker 3: Yeah, I just need to say it like he was part Italian, so it would just roll off my tongue exactly.

7:36 Speaker 2: So, uh, Who'sadinov was part of a package deal that included uh, former Boston Bruin Jacob Blauco, who will talk about in next week's episode, and the two of them came to Boston for Justin Brazo, who was actually having a pretty good year. He you know, uh, basically was with Austin for a little over a year because he had signed the previous February, and then his year kind of plateaued, and I think, which was kind of a bummer. But I know, and I'll speak for myself, and I'm sure you agree in this that last year when Jacob Choe was traded away, I was a little sad.

8:27 Speaker 1: All the tools, he was.

8:29 Speaker 2: Great, I was personality, but you know, again, we're going to talk about him next week. But so I was thrilled to see him, but I was intrigued by this young Russian player apparently barely speaks English, that's how new he is.

8:47 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think he and Zadorov or quickly became BFFs.

8:53 Speaker 2: Yes. Well, and if you recall from last August when we did our player profiles on some of our new siinees, Zadorov was one of the first you know, Russians to sign with Boston in quite a while. Yes, you know, we had Orlov. We traded for him. He was a rental that doesn't really count, and so I was intrigued by how a Russian player would fare on the Boston Bruins because typically they have not gone far. It's just a you know, correlation is not equal causation, but interesting tidbit. And now we have two.

9:35 Speaker 1: So I'll give you the quick rundown on whusnadinop.

9:39 Speaker 2: What his deal is, kind of what he did for Boston in the short period of time that he was with us, and then we'll get your take.

9:49 Speaker 1: But first we're gonna take a quick break to hear from our sponsors.

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12:35 Speaker 1: So we are back talking about marat whusnandinov.

12:40 Speaker 2: He is a twenty two year old left handed center, and let me tell you you're going to be hearing about another left handed center after this.

12:48 Speaker 1: We have them in spaids right now.

12:50 Speaker 3: Apparently they the rights centers, but that's that's another question.

12:58 Speaker 2: Uh Who's Nadinov was drafted in the second round, thirty seventh overall back in twenty twenty by Minnesota. He played seventy five games last season. He scored five goals, seven assists, He got twelve points, and he was a negative eleven minus eleven.

13:21 Speaker 1: Kind of a theme as we talked about last week with.

13:27 Speaker 2: Being in the red as well, and I believe our remaining players at least one more.

13:37 Speaker 3: Also in the red. But we do in defense of us pointing that out. Yes, as far as the ten their tenure with the Boston Bruins on this season, we went from having a defensive structure that some was non existent and for those players who also spent time on the penalty kill unit, you know, our goaltending wasn't up to par. Our, defensive structure wasn't up to par. Our you know, penalty kill units were not up to par.

14:18 Speaker 1: We're giving up more gold.

14:21 Speaker 3: So again we point these stats out because their stats, however, they they shouldn't. They shouldn't define right the be all and end all for these players because they came into let's face facts, a shotty a shitty situation. Okay, there's no other way to put it. They came to the Bruins at a shitty time.

14:50 Speaker 1: Yeah, not a good time, no no.

14:54 Speaker 2: So Also, now keep in mind again he's twenty two years old. He's he's a bit younger, he's newer in the league.

15:05 Speaker 1: He's currently you know, playing fourth line minutes.

15:12 Speaker 2: So you know, his stats might not not might not knock your socks off. But again keep in mind, this guy is super young. I think he's gonna have a lot to show and being an RFA, unless Boston really doesn't feel like keeping him around, they're gonna hold on to him.

15:35 Speaker 1: So just two other quick stats for you.

15:39 Speaker 2: His COURSI four, which is basically, you know, how many times he's making an attempt. His percentage there was forty two and a half, so also not particularly spectacular. But and and again a large percentage of his season was in Minnesota, so not knowing really what their system.

16:01 Speaker 1: Was, what they were all about, you know, hard to really judge, but.

16:07 Speaker 6: Not awesome.

16:09 Speaker 2: However, if you recall from last week's episode, my favorite statistic, one of them being the individual points percentage. Again considering for all the goals that that player is on the ice, for how many of those did he touched where he got a point?

16:30 Speaker 1: He was actually in really good shape.

16:32 Speaker 2: He had a seventy one point forty three individual points percentage. And if you consider the fact that he's getting you know, maybe third line, fourth line minutes, that's relatively impactful.

16:45 Speaker 1: So that says a lot.

16:47 Speaker 2: It's something that he could potentially contribute to Boston. Now, the last thing I want to kind of run down before we talk about him a little bit is again his RFA status. So he's a restricted free agent, particularly because of his year, his age, he's twenty two years old. He's definitely not you know, worked in the NHL long enough.

17:09 Speaker 1: So this.

17:12 Speaker 2: He's also coming off of his first contract in the NHL, So he now has arbitration rights.

17:19 Speaker 1: So he's known as an RFA arb if you will.

17:24 Speaker 2: And so this means that the Boston Bruins can retain his negotiating rights and can extend a qualifying offer to maintain those rights if they cannot agree on a new contract. Whusnadinov now has the option to file for salary arbitration, allowing the independent arbiter to come in.

17:42 Speaker 1: And determine the salary.

17:44 Speaker 2: If you recall, obviously the highly painful situation with Jerby's wayman, I was just gonna go with this RFA with arbitration rights, But so is Trent Frederick a couple of seasons ago as well. So Again, being an RFA means the player cannot choose directly to leave the team as if he were an unrestricted free agent, which means he can go wherever he wants. He wants to stay, he can try and negotiate a deal there. If he doesn't want to stay, he can go someplace else. Boston is the one that has to kind of break up with him.

18:24 Speaker 2: Again, That's how we got Morgan Gigee, so knowing this, seeing a little bit of what he had to offer. What are your thoughts on Maret Husnadinov? Do you expect a qualifying offer? What do you think is going to happen with this guy?

18:45 Speaker 3: I I think the Bruins want to keep him. I think they want to keep him at a price that works for them. I don't know what this young and might be looking for. Again, he's only twenty two. He's only twenty two years old. You know, he likely wants to, I would guess not be a player that is being moved from team to team to team. I think it's really helpful to have a veteran like Nikita Zadorov, you know, on the same team with him to help guide him along both, you know, with a little bit of the language barrier that he's still working through.

19:36 Speaker 3: Again, and I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I'm going to take the same Maria from Watertown Company line. When it comes to young players, the Bruins need to fish or cut bait, which to me is right. You finally need to decide that you're going to make the commitment yep two, help grow and develop a young player like Merrit, put him in, put him in the right spot for me, that would be fourth line, right, And again you get yourself into a situation where he starts right in, you know, training camp day, and he's showing you that maybe you know he can handle more than that.

20:35 Speaker 3: Then yeah, awesome, But you know these are these again, and because these are restricted free agents. My other hesitation is the bumbling, bungling boobs that manage Boston Bruins and how they conduct themselves when it comes to these types of negotiations.

21:04 Speaker 1: Do you think.

21:07 Speaker 2: That he might spend any time down in Providence. I mean, he clearly didn't do that last season in Minnesota because he ended up with a grand total of seventy five games, or if he did, it was very brief. Do you think that that could be something that happens. I think it's dependent on how the rest of your roster starts to look in what you do at the draft with the draft picks that you have. Yeah, Now, hopefully, hopefully, when there's a new coach in place, training camp opens, rookie camp, right, these players are all going to be told, in no one certain terms, there were jobs you need to earn your jobs.

22:02 Speaker 2: Yeah, they'll be you know, there'll be structure, they'll be competition, they'll be guidance. A lot of that to me depends on what are you putting together.

22:16 Speaker 1: Here for these young players.

22:19 Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, and I think I'll be really curious to see how he does at camp. I mean, let's be honest, I'm super curious about this year's camp in general.

22:35 Speaker 1: In general, because it was such a.

22:38 Speaker 3: Well so many times this is what this is the spin that we get that it was, you know, camp sounded like a shit show, you know.

22:46 Speaker 2: But we commented on that agent went right right, We didn't.

22:50 Speaker 1: We didn't need Camp and Dawn to tell us that.

22:53 Speaker 2: No, So I'll be curious to see how he does there. And then you know, I fully expect them to retain his rights. They're gonna give him, you know, I mean contractually, they're obligated to give him a pay bump per you know, the minimum increase very similar to a cost of living increase that you or I might get at work. So you know, I certainly don't think that they're going to be offering him any kind of like significant extension.

23:36 Speaker 1: You know, he's eligible for that as part of the deal. July first, So what was he making when he came to US league minimum?

23:47 Speaker 6: I believe, now I have to check.

23:56 Speaker 1: I'm just curious. Oh no, he was making a lot more.

24:02 Speaker 2: Uh So, his cap hit was the nine twenty five, which is just above league minimum. But he was eligible for bonuses this this year as well, So he had an aav of one point three five million dollars and a bonus of eight point fifty signing bonus of you know, ninety two thousands, So nine twenty five, I mean still basically minimum wage in the NHL. I mean, you'll probably get bumped up to get a little bump.

24:35 Speaker 3: He'll get a little bump again. He is only he is only twenty to only twenty two. He's still got things to.

24:43 Speaker 2: Prove, right, He's not a you know, super phenom or what have you. But he I liked what I saw out there. I liked, you know, his presence on the ice. He was where he.

24:56 Speaker 1: Needed to be.

24:57 Speaker 2: Obviously, with a seventy one point four individual points percentage. She was on the ice when he needed to be on the ice. Unfortunately, he was also on the ice when things were not going well.

25:09 Speaker 1: I know, but I hadn't.

25:11 Speaker 3: Brought it out of fool, but that was the case for virtually, you know, anybody on that roster not named Morgan Geek or David Pasternak.

25:20 Speaker 2: Right, So yeah, so you know, and he wants to stay in Boston, Pernessen, So you know, he's going to be motivated to stick around and probably say yes to whatever they give him. And I think it's probably gonna be fair. You know, when you're looking at his player usage, did.

25:42 Speaker 1: You say fair? And Boston Brulins, are you.

25:46 Speaker 2: All right when it's when they cost this little Yeah, it's fair.

25:52 Speaker 1: It's the only.

25:53 Speaker 2: Time he's gonna get a fair deal in Boston because they're contractually obligated to give him an increase as an RFA, So that's literally it. So again, he is another one that I think he's gonna show us a lot of what kind of player he is that with a full year under his belt in Boston, if he were part of a trade package, Maria, how would you feel about that?

26:33 Speaker 1: I mean.

26:36 Speaker 3: Again, I would feel okay for the young man because I think you might be better served just because you know, I don't have again, I don't have a ton of faith and confidence in how we have worked with and developed young players.

26:58 Speaker 1: And again I.

27:01 Speaker 3: Feel like I'm regurgitating the same thing from the prior episode. But do you know, do you have faith in how we have the organization has handled some of our younger players that were supposed to be something right if they require tested high draft picks right in choosing these players, and then you the eventuality is you wind up either they don't meet their full potential, you end up trading them, and then they do meet.

27:37 Speaker 1: A little bit higher potential. So is it the player or is it you guys. Yeah, no, I.

27:44 Speaker 2: Think you're I completely agree with you, because if a player comes into Boston, and we kind of talked about this in the last episode that if.

27:53 Speaker 1: They require any degree of polish, I start to get a little nervous. So again, Jack Sudnika is a great example in recent times. You know, he wasn't David Pasternach.

28:10 Speaker 2: He needed polish, he needed development, and he kind of got hung out to dry and his career.

28:17 Speaker 1: I think it cost him his career quite frankly.

28:22 Speaker 2: David Pasternach is different because David Pasternach.

28:25 Speaker 1: Didn't really need any polishing.

28:28 Speaker 2: Patrice Bergeron didn't need any developing, Brad Marshan didn't need developing.

28:36 Speaker 1: That's why I'm worried about Marshan started when when camp started his he was fourth line. He was fourth line exactly.

28:45 Speaker 3: He was sent down to Providence, came back and then again he is not on the same stratosphere as you know David David Pasternach, but he turned himself into an elite player.

29:02 Speaker 1: Now.

29:03 Speaker 3: I want to have faith because things went so poorly this past season for the Bruins that there hopefully have been a lot of lessons learned in that we have got to do better by these young players. They're gonna make mistakes. How many times did we say last season?

29:25 Speaker 1: Right? What? How could this.

29:27 Speaker 3: Possibly get any worse to some of those young guys up from PROD. They're gonna make mistakes anyway they make. I mean, are they gonna their mistakes? Is gonna be any worse than the mistakes we watched veterans players make?

29:41 Speaker 2: I mean no, because if we're gonna lose, who cares if we lose by three goals or we lose by ten goals. If the loss is coming, you might as well invest in some of that youth.

29:53 Speaker 1: And this is also why I.

29:56 Speaker 2: Do worry about Matt Potra and I worry about someone like Who's Nadinov because both of them are so young. This is going to be a really critical period in their development in terms of how they can.

30:17 Speaker 1: Take their game to the next level.

30:19 Speaker 2: And I think that from what I saw from Who's Nadinov again, that he requires some polish, he requires some education. You know all of these things, but what do you expect when you walk into a room.

30:35 Speaker 1: Participate on a team where it's just completely other chaos?

30:40 Speaker 2: Now, lessons can be learned other than well, this was hard, not just like necessarily physically, but like you know, emotionally and psychologically to be on a team when everybody is so down. Maybe got a little bit of an emotion education, but that was about it, you know.

31:02 Speaker 3: So yeah, and there has to be an institutional change on their approach because it's going to be really difficult. Like we can try to guestimate all of this all we want, but if the philosophical approach that the organization has with respect to young players doesn't change, it's the very definition of madness when you keep doing the same thing over and over again and you expect a different result. Is that is my concern and my fear for young players like Who'stadinov and middle stat You need they still need guidance right right, And I know you're not in the business of doing that, but you just had one of the worst years in franchise history.

31:55 Speaker 3: So you got to start somewhere. And if it means with you know, giving these young players that you acquired, you agreed to take them, then you gotta you have to you have to make that commitment and you need to see it.

32:10 Speaker 6: Throw exactly exactly.

32:13 Speaker 1: So that's all she wrote. About Marit Housnadina. Any final thoughts, Maria, I just want this.

32:24 Speaker 3: I I just am looking forward to the Bruins doing something of significance come July one. I hope that I'm not going to be disappointed. But we shall see, we shall see. I mean it's the same same management duo in place, so I'm not sure how much is going to change, but again, hopefully that was what happened last season, was a big enough bucket of cold water on top of both their heads to wake them the hell up.

33:05 Speaker 2: Yeah, I would, I would have to think at least that at minimum. But as always, make sure you rate and reviews so we.

33:15 Speaker 1: Can follow us on social yes, so that way others can find us. And as always, go bees, Go Bees.