Jonathan Aspirot: The Bruins' Most Underrated Defenseman | Ep. 152

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

0:03 Speaker 2: I need something to do.

0:13 Speaker 1: I'll jack shut it out. A troup of bucking to say.

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

0:22 Speaker 3: Oh my one.

0:23 Speaker 1: A move by the rookie.

0:24 Speaker 2: To on one faster not moving in set it on his own oil dances in podcast.

0:32 Speaker 1: Wat home right away corner faster Chester?

0:40 Speaker 2: What's that for?

0:41 Speaker 1: Boston?

0:51 Speaker 2: Welcome in everyone to another episode of Ruins Tape to Tape. I am your host today, Caroline with a K, and I'm welcoming in my fantastic co host, Maria from Watertown.

1:05 Speaker 1: How's it going Maria? It is going great. The heat has finally broken for a little bit here, so I'm enjoying having some windows open and not having to listen to the incessant sound of freaking air conditioners.

1:17 Speaker 2: But well, it may be summer, but we still have plenty to talk about. We are talking about Jonathan Asbureau as part of our ongoing summer series where we discuss players that maybe we didn't have a chance to really do a deep dive on during the NHL regular season. And this is a guy who quite frankly, came out of nowhere and has turned into quite a valuable assets on the Bruins' back end. So I'll give a little bit of a quick background on John and Asparo. He was undrafted. He's currently twenty seven year old defenseman from Quebec.

2:05 Speaker 2: He spent the previous six seasons in the AHL, and he actually started in Providence's last fall in the fall of twenty twenty five. He came to the Bruins organization via the free agency in July of twenty five, where he signed a one year, two way contract for league minimuma of seven to seventy five K. But he got his shot really, I mean, he went to camp, he did a phenomenal Jaba camp. Obviously, there were a lot of really great players vying for spots, but he got called up really quickly in October when campus Linnholm was placed on IR So it turned out actually, and we'll talk about this a little bit, very similar in terms of the style of play.

2:52 Speaker 2: So it was a really great matchup for calling him up for Hampus, and he actually did so well in that stretch of time that by January he earned his very first NHL contract with an extension for two years at a total of one point seven seventy five or eighty seven thousand aa V. He played sixty one games, averaging about sixteen minutes of ice time, so definitely more of a third line, third pairing guy this particular season. But his goals above replacement was an eight point five, his wins above replacement one point four, and his standings points above replacement was a two point six.

3:38 Speaker 2: And Maria, you're gonna love this. He had the highest plus minus rating on the team with a plus thirty thirty. Just crazy, unable. We know that you you'll have a good defenseman. What was your takeaway with Jonathan Asperau this season?

3:58 Speaker 1: Very serviceable, very solid, consistent defensive play. My concern is that he spent a lot of his time with Charlie Knackavoy, and Charlie's supposed to be your number one d guy, right, So you're seemingly having and people who cover the team saying it was beneficial for Charlie to have Jonathan Asparo as his defensive partner. I mean, there's no denying that Charlie did have one of his better season, right, Yes, What I question is the fact that is Jonathan Asparo supposed to be a number one parent guy.

4:42 Speaker 1: I don't believe. So, I don't believe. So he's not getting power play minutes, right, was he playing on the p K consistently? I don't know. I mean, but there's no denying the numbers. There are no denying the statistics and the numbers in that this is a player who realized I'm here. I want to stay. I don't want to be sent back down to Providence. But he's not a number one pairing guy, because if he was, he should be getting minutes on the PK or and or the penalty kit.

5:17 Speaker 2: I don't know.

5:18 Speaker 1: But in terms of was he a surprise and a pleasant surprise? APPS, A freaking lutely he was. Is he on a very good deal with the Bruins? Apps A freakingsolutely yes.

5:32 Speaker 2: What I really like about Jonathan Asparo and I think the reason why he was a great partner when he was paired up with Charlie McAvoy. He is a no frills kind of two ways support defense.

5:49 Speaker 1: He's not flashy. He keeps his game simple.

5:53 Speaker 2: Simple.

5:54 Speaker 1: Keeps his game simple means for me, I need our defensive war to try and make the first play on the puck when people are coming into your own end, and I want to see that you can move the puck out of our end quickly or smartly. I want you to make a smart play when you get that puck. Yes, one hundred percent this guy. He is a mobile support defenseman. So what does that mean.

6:21 Speaker 2: He's got great mobility and excellent passing with some offensive abilities. I mean again, he scored three goals, ten assists.

6:28 Speaker 1: I mean he's not going to be but the best to that is he allowed Charlie to have one of his better offensive years. Yes, he's incredibly versatile in that regard because he is so trustworthy. Coaches love this kind of player. He's the kind of defenceman that fans are really gonna almost and I don't mean this in any kind of offensive way, but offensive way. They're not going to notice him because he's doing his job. But the reason why I think he did so well in Boston and.

7:01 Speaker 2: Was so successful is because he has such a solid ability to transition and he can play aggressively in the neutral zone. And this was incredibly valuable because Sturm's system was employing the one two two method, which is effectively what I always like to call the neutral zone Trap's cousin, right, And it means engaging the defense a little bit further up in the neutral zone and shutting things down. And so as a result, he was really really good at this and prevented a lot of lengthy defensive zone time when he was on the ice.

7:40 Speaker 2: So what's his ceiling? He is not going to be consistently the top pair guy. That's twofold one, because I think his skill set and ability isn't really quite there. But because of just how versatile he is, he's gonna get moved around to be wherever the coaches need him to be. When they need a guy to play a simple game to ensure that there are going to be clean exits and good possession depending on even from game to game who they're going to be playing against, he's the guy. He's that kind of player.

8:21 Speaker 2: He's not being a he's not a massive tip the scales guy, but enough that he is making an incredibly positive impact shift after shift.

8:33 Speaker 1: So what do you now? The Ruins are going to start the upcoming season without Charlie mclvoyd because of the suspension, Right, Yeah, so that really will impact the Bruins' defensive pairings and their death for the first I believe it got seven games.

8:50 Speaker 2: Yeah, my correct in that.

8:52 Speaker 1: So yeah, And I'm looking at the current roster and the Bruins' depth of defense here, So that means I would assume I don't know who's going to jump to that number one spot. Is it going to be Hips or is it going to be Zadora? And then where does Asparo fit in? Where does Borgan fit in? Where does Connor Clifton Yoki Hart. There's a lot of questions here, and none of these names make me feel it would be confident right now. I know to start those first seven games, but I mean, where do you see Jonathan Asparo fitting in with this?

9:33 Speaker 1: Did the Bruins want to keep him with Charlie McAvoy because it did give Charlie the opportunity to spread his wings offensively, because God knows that is necessary. You've got to get more production offensively from your defenceman.

9:51 Speaker 2: I think so it's hard to say, because the start of the season is going to be a little bit of a circus because of the fact that Charlie McAvoy isn't going to be playing in the first because of basic two weeks of the season. Now for that stretch of time, who steps up. I think Sturm is going to make the decision based on what he sees at camp. The pessimist in me, the sin in me, is going to say, well, it's just going to go straight to hampus and that's how it is, and whether or not he's the right.

10:28 Speaker 3: Guy, I would what I would like to see is to see that the decision is genuinely made based on how things go at the start of the season, and is that Nikita Zadorov.

10:43 Speaker 2: I wouldn't be mad about it.

10:44 Speaker 1: In fact, I think when I said last season, I wanted him to get a look at on one of the power play units. I think he has. He certainly knows how to skate, he's not afraid to carry the puck in He's big enough that he's protecting the when he's carrying it in these they I mean, these are all open ended questions or all open ended questions. But to your earlier point, it adds to the value of a Jonathan Asparrow when you know you're you have a guy on defense who is less likely to take those risks, is more likely to make a smart play with the puck.

11:23 Speaker 1: So that it opens up the opportunity for potentially your deep partner to be able to make a little bit of an offensive play.

11:33 Speaker 2: Yeah. The problem though, also is the fact that all three of the players that we have just mentioned are all left handed, and Charlie McAvoy is a right handed yeah defenceman. You know, it goes without saying, but I will say it.

11:49 Speaker 1: Are other right handed defense men, and I think that's why they've brought in Connor Clifton, who's right handed, Will Borgan, who they just got from the Rangers right hand how good.

12:00 Speaker 2: Yoki Haru is also right handed.

12:03 Speaker 1: So that's the challenge, right both the forward skaters not necessarily a murderer's row of right handed defense. Right there's a lot of we're in.

12:15 Speaker 2: Flux right now in both the front and in the back. And I think whoever it is that the coaching staff decides is going to take on that role while Charlie McAvoy is out, whoever they partner him with, it has to be a given. And I think that Jonathan Aspero is that kind of player that it wouldn't shock me if they have to put somebody in to a role that perhaps they're not necessarily always in, which is crazy to think about the fact that we just don't have that next guy that we could easily tap. I mean, yes, we're talking about Zadorov, who is a next guy, and Hampus to some degree, but again they're left handed.

13:06 Speaker 2: They're on the left side. So it wouldn't shock me though, if Asparo has that opportunity, because he is the kind of player that coaches love because he is that meat and potatoes, simple defenceman, and he can hold his own even if he's not as flashy or noticeable as our big boys or the problem children. It's it's also partly why I love this guy as a defenceman. He's not a massive in terms of size. He's got a little bit of similarity in style from the good things that we loved about Matt Grislick, some of the things that we loved about Derek Forber, although he's a little bit more mobile, he moves around a little bit more than Forbert.

13:53 Speaker 2: What I find interesting as a good comparison stylistically is with Connor Clifton, and we're going to be revisiting Connor Clifton in a later episode this summer to reacquaint ourselves with him and what he has done since he last played in Boston. But the two of them play in terms of their physicality and their energy somewhat similarly. Now, granted, we would always talk about Cliffy hockey as not just high energy and high physicality, but a lot of times he would be a little bit of a riskier player.

14:30 Speaker 2: Although to not give me as much gray hair as this and Laura, however, I think that could be a pairing that would be actually a hell of a lot of fun because you've got two players then who have a high degree of physicality and energy, who can move the puck, get it out, and if Clifton can play a simple, smart game of hockey, you could have quite a dynamic duo in your back end. Maybe you want to split them up, maybe you want to spread the wealth in terms of how that high energy. But the fact that Clifton as alrighty Asparo is a lefty, could be a very interesting combination come this fall for your third pairing.

15:10 Speaker 2: And let's be clear also the fact that the way that Marco Sturm played and used his defenceman a little bit different than what we've seen in the past and different than what we see on a lot of other teams in the sense that there was not a massive spread in terms of minutes. You know, we didn't really see guys playing twenty eight minute games, but you had players like McAvoy and Linnholm doing like twenty three, maybe twenty four minutes, and then third pairing guys still getting sixteen seventeen minutes on average.

15:42 Speaker 2: I mean, that's not a huge spread. So just because we will likely see Asporo most of the time playing on that third pairing doesn't mean that we're not going to see him. Because this is a guy who gets tapped for a variety of reasons because of the degree of trust that coaches had in a player like him, and how much he thrives in Storm's style of play, and maybe playing with the top I mean Charlie Mapple boys on the ice against other team's top lines, right, That's something to be said that the coaching staff has a comfort level with pairing Jonathan with Charlie against those top one, top two lines during the game situation.

16:29 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. So this is a guy who I think could find himself on the Bruins back end for a good stretch of time. He is there for like no money. I think his value exceeds what they're paying him. Don Sweeney and company are certainly going to use this season as an evaluative season. Grant, yes, he already has that contract extension and they can't extend him again until twenty twenty eight. But I would love to see this defenceman come back and play the exact same kind of game again. And I don't think that what we saw, based on my understanding of the style of player that he is, his past history, I think what we saw is what we're going to get.

17:18 Speaker 2: And it was even evident when he was out. He was injured briefly and it was chaos. It was chaos in that back end.

17:29 Speaker 1: Yes, you are right because his consistency level of play. Don't underestimate how important that is. I mean, not only to his deep partner and his alignments, but to his goalies. Yes, yeah, my god, most of the Bruins team last season they were consistently inconsistent where it was peaks and valleys for everybody. But then to have that for your goaltenders. I mean, we mentioned in a previous episode just how much Jeremy Swayman was doing the load that he was carrying for this team, and to have a defenceman that you don't really ever have to worry.

18:13 Speaker 2: About worry about you is worth his weight in gold. That's also one of the benefits of having a player like Aspiro, where he's twenty seven, so he's no baby. Granted he's not spent a ton of time at the NHL level, but he knows who he is as a player. He knows what he brings. This is what I do, this is how I play, and that quiet confidence shows up in how he plays the game. So I love him. I think you do too. His story is.

18:49 Speaker 1: Great, his story is yes, and I admire his willingness to take advantage of the opportunity. I think in a lot of instances, you know, we have seen. You know we've criticized. I have criticized the Bruins for how they don't seem to be able to develop these young players. But by the same token, there have been instances where some of the young players haven't taken advantage of the opportunities that they have been presented with. And although Jonathan Asparo is not a young player, he's not, but he understands the fact that I'm here now, and I'm not giving anyone any reason to send me back down just yet.

19:32 Speaker 1: Right.

19:33 Speaker 2: I like it here, And that's the attitude that I think is going to keep him as the number five or number six. He's not going to be the number six, number seven, you know, number seven, number eight guy.

19:50 Speaker 1: No, no, no, agreed, agreed, agreed.

19:52 Speaker 2: So love this guy.

19:54 Speaker 1: Let's see if he can grow his game, if he can kill a penalty or two along the way, even better, I mean he might. He might not have any choice, honestly, right with Charlie being out for seven games, and so maybe that's another component of his game that will see grow a little bit. Yeah, it's always good for the coaching staff to have options.

20:16 Speaker 2: That is exactly what he provides. And I would really love to see him a little bit on the penalty kill because he has that ability to get the puck out and he is good with transition. So why not? Yeah? Not that to me, I think would translate. All I know is that this is a player who has incredible value for the Boston Bruins. They were stupidly lucky with him in just how well he fit in. I mean I think that they knew that obviously there was something there, especially going through camp, but I'm sure that none of them anticipated him coming in to cover for Hampus and then sticking around for pretty much the rest of the season.

21:03 Speaker 2: So how ell, I'm sure they're going to be thinking how else can we utilize the skills that he brings. You know, we're recording this.

21:12 Speaker 1: It is July.

21:13 Speaker 2: Free agency is still wide open. We don't know what this Boston Bruins team is actually going to look like right now, and what that defensive core is going to look like with or without Charlie McAvoy at the start of the season, and so who is he going to fit best with, who needs his degree of support or is his role going to be something a little bit more broad. All I know is that this guy, he's got a job and Boston just needs some degree of consistency and he's going to provide it. So thrilled, thrilled for this guy.

21:48 Speaker 2: Love this guy. Mustache man is taking us places.

21:52 Speaker 1: And we'll say what other roster moves the Bruins make as we get into the dog days of summer here. I know people think that everything just only happens on July one, but there's still a potential for the Bruins to have other trends actions to kind of help clarify what's going on with the rest of the roster moving closer to the start of the season.

22:14 Speaker 2: Yeah, but that being said, any final thoughts on Jonathan Asperu.

22:20 Speaker 1: Oh good on him.

22:21 Speaker 2: You know, I like the player.

22:22 Speaker 1: I want to see him continue to improve his game and contribute to the Big Boy Club.

22:28 Speaker 2: Absolutely, make sure you like and subscribe for more content, and be sure to leave a rating and review to help other Bruins fans find us. You can support the podcast by joining our Patreon or following us on our socials at Tape to Tape MK and on substack at Tape to Tape mk dot substack dot com.

22:47 Speaker 4: And as always, go Bes Go Best

23:06 Speaker 1: B