Lindy and Pasta and Geeks: Boston's Future | Ep. 84

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome.

0:00 Speaker 2: Can you start a podcast with me please?

0:03 Speaker 1: I need something to do. I'll sack sit it out in trouble.

0:14 Speaker 2: I canna say this past.

0:19 Speaker 1: Watch today.

0:20 Speaker 2: Here's a chance pop from right down the goalie scars, Oh my wa a move by the rookie.

0:24 Speaker 1: Two on one pastor Not movie came with Marshaw getting to it.

0:29 Speaker 2: Oil dances in padcasta hold right way corner faster Chester.

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

0:51 Speaker 3: Welcome in everyone to another episode of Bruin's Tape to Tape.

0:56 Speaker 1: I will be your co host tonight. I am Maria from Watertown.

0:59 Speaker 3: We are recording this episode on Wednesday, April ninth. I want to welcome in my ever supportive and optimistic co host, Caroline with a kay.

1:15 Speaker 1: Welcome in, Caroline. How are we feeling today? I'm doing all right. You know, we are one week away from the end of this terrible, terrible season, so I'm looking forward to that.

1:31 Speaker 3: You and I were just talking off air about the fact that we just feel that this season has worn us down. As much as we have had to talk about with respect to the team, not a lot of it has been positive conversation because and you know, we try. We I think we try hard to look at you know, the good, the bad, and the ugly where it comes to, you know, the hockey team that we're talking about, which is the Boston Bruins. But man, oh Man, has this year been a freaking struggle to find continuous positive and silver linings.

2:21 Speaker 3: I don't know how you feel, but that's how I feel.

2:25 Speaker 1: You know, as much as I enjoyed last night's game against the Devils, I was also just irritated because we didn't get to see that kind of fun hockey very often, you know. And not to discredit the Bruins win, because you know, they were just they were all over the place. They were a very high energy. It was highly entertaining to watch. But you know, the Devils are probably already thinking ahead to the postseason. We've seen this countless times with our own Boston Bruins, where they're like they and many other top teams are just kind of barely making it to the finish line because it's really hard to stay you know, present in the here and now if you're a team going into the playoffs, and a lot of those teams also start to do some load management with some of their older players, and so they may have you know, new folks up and so the team might not do quite as well.

3:32 Speaker 1: So not to completely take away from the Bruins win, but in my mind there's an asterisk and that makes it exhausting because it's like, ah, this is what we could have had well.

3:43 Speaker 3: And you know, it seems to me that in some instances, the game against the Hurricanes and the game against the Devils, some players finally are understanding if we want to stay a part of this team or even find our way to potentially another team. Because my hope is that the roster will look vastly different in the upcoming season. I mean it already does look best and they realize that, you know, we do need to have a sense of whatever work ethic. I don't want to say a sense of pride, because I think all professional athletes go into their craft with a sense of pride, or they wouldn't be professional athletes.

4:35 Speaker 3: You know, where a team is taking a flyer on them, but you know the fact that they're you know, maybe reached there.

4:43 Speaker 1: I'm sick and tired of losing, over overload, whatever the case may be.

4:50 Speaker 3: If if we at least finish the season with being mildly entertained as opposed to extremely frustrated.

5:01 Speaker 1: I'll take that as a way to end the season. So, you know, usually, folks, we have a litany of items on the menu for our sit the table. But unfortunately, because we now know for a fact that in the same breath that the Bruins beat a very good Carolina Hurricanes team on Saturday night, they were eliminated officially from the playoffs that same night. So we don't have a lot of silver linings to hang our hats on. But we are going to focus a good amount of our conversation tonight on David pastronach because he has been since January one, the one, and I don't want to say the only, but he has been unable, unstoppable like what he has done.

6:04 Speaker 1: And I know you have statistics to back this up, so I'm looking forward to hearing those statistics, because you know, you're the stats person, and I go by what my sixty five year old eyes show me when I watch these games. And folks, we are so we as in fans of the Boston Bruins, are so goddamn lucky to have a player of this caliber who is going to be hopefully a part of this franchise for the entirety of his career. Yep, do I trust management? Not?

6:46 Speaker 3: No, no, But that's a story for another day. But when I think back, just a mirror a handful of years ago, not even that long, listening to some of the sports talk radio people here in the Boston area talking about David Pasternak being a liability because he turned the puckle for so much, and I think back.

7:16 Speaker 1: On how you all sound so stupid? Like you sound you sounded stupid then, And I know a lot of it is talk radio fodder, right, getting angry purpose the same.

7:31 Speaker 3: People that for years were saying we need a legitimate gull scara, Well you have one, and then you wanted to talk about trading him because okay, he he was turning the puck over because he has you want him to have the puck on his stick.

7:51 Speaker 1: Yeah.

7:51 Speaker 3: And a prime example of the intangibles that he brings Pasta does to the ice was the goal that Morgan Geeky scored last night for his I believe his thirtieth goal. Yes, David pastronach had two guys on him, two New Jersey Devil's players on him, and he still was able to make the pass to Morgan geek while there were two guys trying to manage David Pasternak. So I don't want to hear any more crap about trading David Pastronach from anybody.

8:29 Speaker 1: I agree, I agree, and I think that this past season we've seen him grow and change as a forward player more than we have seen, you know, at any other point in his career. And that's including the season where he scored. He had sixty goals in that in that one year. So I think what makes this particular season, honest to God, his hands down best season I see. I think a season that he should certainly be the most proud of, besides the fact that you had him still hit that century mark with points on a team where he had virtually no support until finally he and Geeky kind of started clicking.

9:24 Speaker 1: But even then, you know, there there we had essentially no power play. There. We were down to key defenceman offensive defenseman all season. Uh, none of the other veterans were performing. A goaltender like all of the things, all of the things, and the man still hit one hundred points. But it wasn't just the goal scoring that of course, impressed me and the point getting. But I've noticed in the past year he has elevated his more complete game, at least on the offensive front. Now, as you said, you know, oh, I have a turnovers and huh, he's not a great defensive player.

10:11 Speaker 1: That's not his job, so he doesn't have to be. He's not a center, he's not a centerman, so his job isn't to be both things. Right. His job, he's a winger. So he's got one job, and he's doing a phenomenal job at it. But I would say that Morgan Geeky has been the prime beneficiary of Pasta's largest area of growth, which has been playmaker. He has been.

10:39 Speaker 1: He's been a much more supportive player in the sense that you know, in the past we've complained ourselves as fans, Oh, he only goes to his office and he sits there and he waits for the puck to come to him. I did not see that at all here on the whole. You know, he was much more engaged in making plays happen. Really in a lot of opportunities where I think he would have attempted to score the goal or you know, make the play for himself. He passed it to Morgan Geeky. I've never seen him pass to another player in this way as much as I have seen this season, and to me, that really shows tremendous growth as a forward player because he's able to pretty well judge the situation because he knows every but but he's going to be looking at him.

11:44 Speaker 1: Everyone's going to be coming to him. Right to your point about the two devils on him, He's always going to have extra guys on him because the other players know him, they respect him, you know, they have to do that, and he has been able to. I don't know if it's building this rapport or chemistry or just growing his IQ or finally finding another person that he clicks with so well, very much in the same way that we saw between Brad Marsham and Patrice Berger. Is just like natural, like extension.

12:19 Speaker 1: And you never seen David Kostrnak because even when he was part of the Perfection line, I always thought he was kind of the extra piece. He was the cherry on top of what Bergie and Marshy produced. Right he is now I think in that kind of partnership, at least with Morgan Gigee at this time, and it's completely I think changed his game. I'm way more impressed by him, and like it's not that I wasn't impressed, but I have been so much more impressed with him, his presence on the ice, the things that he's done.

12:59 Speaker 1: I mean, we saw earlier in this year how we talked about again Brad marsh and willing this team, dragging this team from the edge. David Pasternak has taken this team on his back to then try and make wins happen. Because instead of you know, being in that role where like again with Marsha going in and trying to energize and get things going and getting guys excited and whatnot, Pasta is like, fine, I will go score all the goals, just try not to let any other ones in. And he did that. Five points against Carolina I think he has did I hear correctly, eleven points in the last two games or in the past week whatever.

13:47 Speaker 3: Some insane during the stretch right during these I believe they get Carolina Buffalo, which was lost, but still he factored in the goals that the Bruins did score. So Carolina Buffalo and the game against New Jersey eleven points in three freaking games people, And I think you know, we've all been ingrained to know the Bruins to have, you know, and expect a defensive structure from all of their players, and so right, he's he can't be that all the time for you.

14:28 Speaker 1: He shouldn't be that all the time for them.

14:30 Speaker 3: You want doing right, You want him doing what he's been doing for this team since the month of January. Since the month of January, David Pasternach has played forty games, twenty eight goals, thirty five assists, and he is the highest point talire in the National Hockey League January of twenty twenty five. And behind him, not far behind him. Right, let me know if you've heard of these players, Nikita Kucherov, Nathan McKinnon, Jason Roberts, Leon dry Sidle and now Leon dry Sidles had played less games because he's had some injuries.

15:23 Speaker 1: But be that as it may, he's he's at the top of elite, elite company here, folks.

15:31 Speaker 3: Yeah, we have a bonafide and I think we've all been aware of this, but a bonafide and legitimate NHL superstar.

15:43 Speaker 1: Yeah. He's currently fourth in points and fifth in goals considering in the first three months of this season, he was at the bottom and when we were all wondering, what is wrong with him? What is wrong with him? Something's up? Is there an injury still lingering? I think he just he didn't have someone to play with. He didn't have someone.

16:16 Speaker 3: No, it really wasn't clicking with right at the start of the season, it was not clicking with Elias lind Home and David Pastronach. We have since seen a shift in that, and again it's folks, it's a very small sample size. But since they made the change to having Elias lind Home on the line with Pasternak and Geeky, that trio has been pretty damn good. Like if it wasn't for that trio, I'm not sure if you would have won those games, that game against Carolina or the game now last night, he probably would have worried.

16:58 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, last night because you had you had a bunch of different goal scorers last night and a lot of person We'll get to those because we haven't had a lot of positives, and we need to talk about some positives at the tail end of the season that we hope will you know, kind of excite us into the building of this team in the future.

17:21 Speaker 3: But before we get totally off track, we had a little bit of news in the NHL. I don't know if you heard, but there's a new player who is now deemed to be the most prolific scorer in the National Hockey League, and that would be Alexander Ovechkin. Honestly, you know, I'm like tongue in cheeking this, but what a freaking accomplishment. Insane, insane, and he did it missing sixteen games this season with a broken leg. Just he deserves all the accolades that he gets because you are now your name is going to be in the record books for a very, very, very long time.

18:21 Speaker 1: Yeah, because he has still one more year on his contract, I thought for sure he would retire, which I mean you could, I guess, I guess you could. But why would you leave that money on the table? Yeah?

18:36 Speaker 3: Yeah, if you still have the fire to play, why not? I thought the same thing. But now that we're talking about it, why not If you're up for it, and you don't mind all of the conditioning and training that you need to put in in the off season and the grind of an eighty two game season, why not continue to add to that total, to make it even more difficult for here to break your record.

19:08 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the thing. There was a recent stat put out there. It was actually a joke making fun of Bizz about how long it would take him to break the record. But they listed a whole bunch of it was sports that and they were listing a whole bunch of or maybe TNT current players and based on their current goals per game, how long it would take, like what year they would potentially be doing the record. But the problem is he's still playing. The man's probably gonna break past nine hundred goals, So that threshold keeps like that that yard stick keeping right right, right right.

19:48 Speaker 1: He's not done yet, He's still time. So no, and and you know, congratulations to him.

19:55 Speaker 3: Nice job by the NHL with the celebration, you know the celebration, and I mean it's a little awkward maybe doing it on another team's sheet, but you know, credit to the New York Islanders for you know, being classy and understanding the historical moment that that was. And you know, Ovechkin having his wife and his mother and his kids there and the great One himself there, you know, watching all of these you know, last handful of games waiting for his record to be to be broken. So yeah, it's pretty pretty pretty special moment, I think, and you know, special for all of us too, as long longtime hockey fans who understand, you know, the endurance that it takes these players to be able and in today's NHL right like you know, and I heard conversation about this.

20:53 Speaker 1: You know, Gretzky had this record or cemented this record at a time where the league was really really different, like you could you could hack, and you could whack, and you could clutch and you could grab, and yet he still managed to score a bazillion goals where you know, all we did it during a time where you know, there's there were a lot more things being called. But here's where I will say, players in today's modern ever of the NHL much faster, much bigger, The goaltending is so much difficult, eating is night and day totally different.

21:37 Speaker 3: So you know, you can see the pros and cons of both both.

21:41 Speaker 1: Sides of it. But still you can't take away from this accomplishment. Yep, So congrats to him. Playoff picture is becoming almost and nearer.

21:58 Speaker 3: Lots of teams Now, if you go and look at the NHL standings, folks, there are a lot of teams that now have xes by their names. The Maple Leafs, the Lightning, the Panthers, the Capitals, the Hurricanes, the Ottawa Senators.

22:16 Speaker 1: Amazing you what a good goaltender can do for your team? Have clinched a wild card spot wild first time in christ I don't even know how long it's been. Yep.

22:30 Speaker 3: The Canadians are sniffing at that second wild card spot themselves. So I'm telling you this season is like bizarro world. I gotta tell you.

22:41 Speaker 1: What's what's even crazier. So as again, you know I love my stats, I love my hockey, an I know you do. So I was recently playing around with some numbers and some math and whatever as has to do with the standings, and I just so happened to notice as I was looking at the current standings. So the Habs are currently holding on for dear life to that second wild card spot with eighty seven points. The next four teams, the Rangers, the Red Wings, the Islanders, and the Blue Jackets yep, all have seventy nine points.

23:25 Speaker 1: So the tiebreaker is then your games played games remaining and points percentage, which all the teams have played seventy seven games and they all have.

23:43 Speaker 4: The same five thirteen points per secone, so I believe it then goes to regulation wins, which the Rangers.

23:53 Speaker 1: Have the tiebreaker for. But the fact that you are looking that deep into the tie breaking for potential spot, should you know the Montreal Canadians all of a sudden just completely and utterly implode, you know you'd be looking at that. But they're also on a six game win streak, which is also kind of shocking, so be kind of interesting to see if they do hang on and actually get in. But we'll see. There are just the two teams in the East who have not yet settled their situation, and three teams in the West yet to confirm their seat on the playoff Express.

24:41 Speaker 3: And officially eliminated in the Eastern Conference along with our Boston Bruins, are the Buffalo Sabers, and this is an order of where they finished in the standings. Buffalo Sabers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, and the Philadelphia Flyers. You are the second worst site, second worst team in the Eastern Conference. Yep, yeah, only only in ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers. Yeah, and you know the irony of looking at these teams that have clinched or maybe on the verge of clinching. So the players and the coach that you dispelled, the coach that you fired, Jim Montgomery has the Saint Louis Blues in the first wild card spot right now.

25:39 Speaker 3: For the Saint Louis Blues, you traded Trent Frederick to the Edmonton Oilers, ready for the playoffs. You traded Charlie Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche, ready for the playoffs. You traded Brandon Collo to the Toronto May Believe, ready for the playoffs. And last but not least, Brad Marshand to the Florida Panthers, who are ready for the playoffs.

26:10 Speaker 1: And don't forget, you've got one. Justin Braso went to the minds of wild Okay, they are hanging on to that second wild card. So the irony of that was not lost on me. And it just is.

26:28 Speaker 3: So telling of how things have gone this season. But again, once again I digress, I throw us off topic.

26:36 Speaker 1: But let's just are around the rink news. It's our around the rink news. Some sad news yes, today that the league announced the passing of Ray Sierro at the age of sixty two, which I tell you that to me is very frightening these three years younger than I am. So you know, the old folks of life is short and joy every day and every moment that you have sounds corny, but it's true, yep. Yeah.

27:10 Speaker 3: And he you know, reading everything, he was always well liked, well respected, a good person to deal with.

27:19 Speaker 1: Yeah, yep. Well, and he's also a fellow Saint Lawrence University alum as myself, so I've I grew up who knowing who he was well before. He was part of the Pittsburgh Penguins dynasty that won a whole bunch of Stanley Cups, So that one's like extra sad for me. He's a class of nineteen eighty five, but you know his name was all over that rink, and yeah, kind of a sad day. Yeah, sad day when you lose.

27:58 Speaker 3: You know, people that have done done the game of hockey good and have done the game the game proud. We'll also take a minute to chat about our p w HL, yes, friends and our fleet and you know, not a lot of news going on there, they're still primed in a and ready getting ready for playoffs. They do have an if you're looking for entertaining hockey to watch once the Bruins season, the Bruins season.

28:31 Speaker 1: Will come to an end. But yeah, it's done, it's done.

28:35 Speaker 3: April six is fan Appreciation Day for the Fleet, and I'm sure that you would be well entertained if you'd like to pick yourself up a ticket or two for that event.

28:48 Speaker 1: The games are starting to get real scrappy and it's turning into a very highly entertaining league and product out on the ice. So definitely recommend everyone check out a game for sure, yep.

29:04 Speaker 3: And then lastly with their spin around the rink. Jonas Corpusalo. He has been nominated for the It's Bill Masterton Award, and I'll let you speak to the intricacies of that award.

29:22 Speaker 1: Oh goodness, Maria. I think it's it's kind of a humanitarian well, it exemplifies qualities of this is from the NHL website person as sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey. And there are nominees I believe, from every team, from every team. So he's in uh, he's in good, He's in good. Company. Yep.

30:00 Speaker 3: So if you want to take a look at the list, folks, it's posted right on NHL dot com.

30:07 Speaker 1: Put it this way, it's all about resilience and you know, pushing through anything that was difficult. And the Colorado Avalanche have nominated Gabe Landscog. I saw that no one has a shot. I don't know if there are like rules around if he has to at least play one NHL game, but he is currently on loan to their AHL affiliate an additioning assignment, so he may get a shift before playoffs. I've been watching a clean sheet. It's pretty good. It's really good. I don't know if it's changed my personal opinion on like what he's doing, but I have to, you know, tip my hat to him.

30:56 Speaker 1: And I have a lot of respect for him, and I see a lot of the mental challenges that he has gone through trying to get back to where he was, and so I am kind of rooting for him a little bit, but like also whatever, yeah, no, no, no, I yeah, Like if he gets it, great, but I'm not you know, I'm not hanging my hat on that, holding my breath, what have you? I mean? Once you have that drive in you. It's just hard to turn it off. I would imagine, right, maybe it comes easier to some players than others.

31:33 Speaker 1: But if you still have that desire and that willingness to want to put the work and time and effort into it, God bless? Yeah, why bless? All Right?

31:46 Speaker 3: So before we get down to our focus tonight, which is the Boston Bruins, we're going to take a quick little break to hear from our sponsors.

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34:09 Speaker 3: Welcome back everyone, all right, So since our last episode, the Bruins have played four games.

34:18 Speaker 1: We had a loss to.

34:21 Speaker 3: The Montreal Canadians four to one. Once you know, things looked good in the first period, stop me if you've heard this before, and then I don't know what happens to this team in the second period. Second periods have been its problem to the Boston Bruins for a while. It's not just exclusive to this year, but this year it's like when the wheels fall off the bus.

34:46 Speaker 1: It's a shit show, all right.

34:48 Speaker 3: So then we fast forward to the game against the Carolina Hurricanes at home on Saturday night, where the fans were actually treated to a good hockey game.

35:02 Speaker 1: And there was no falling apart in the second period. So I just don't get it. Then, you know, you head to Buffalo and once again, right first peer was great, good hockey.

35:20 Speaker 3: You have a two goal lead, and then you proceed to give it all up and you end up losing six to three.

35:31 Speaker 1: Yeah. And then we.

35:32 Speaker 3: Have the game last night, which was a seven to two win against albeit a team that is miss was missing a couple of guys. However, their goal, their goalie was pretty good, and he did not look good. He got pulled and he got pulled, which was an odd time, very rare.

35:53 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, but and you had what seven different goal scorers yeah in that game, so that was a seven to two win. Yep. Yeah, And you had what was notable Fabite first in the game last yes, his first point, he assisted on a goal, Minton's first NHL goal, Callahan's first NHL goal passed one hundredth point, and Geeky's first time ever hitting thirty goals. I mean, this guy like scored nobles previously in his career, and Fabian li Cell had a point his first NHL point, and I know these he's been you know, and rightfully, so he's being looked at under a very kind of discreet and maybe you know it was a gigantic microscope.

36:45 Speaker 3: Get well, right, because you know it's it's an up and down with this kid.

36:50 Speaker 1: You see sparks.

36:52 Speaker 3: Yeah, and then he disappears, and I don't know if you know, somebody has to talk with him or pump him up, because then you see a different baby in life. So and then Jacob Blocko scored his first yea being traded back to the Boston Brooks.

37:11 Speaker 1: I forgot about that, but yeah, he really showcased his speed on that. I mean, you know, for as much as uh when we're having our in game chats, you know, he Luco is never gonna be really anything more than a bottom six player. But one of the things that I really like about him, and I was sad to see go when they traded him away a year ago, was that speed. I mean, Boston did not do themselves any favors in the off season this past year in that regard when they let you know, Jake de breask walk they traded away Lauco.

37:47 Speaker 1: You know, you still need to be fast again, you know.

37:54 Speaker 3: The these these folks, these are topics for conversations that were likely going to dive into once the sea and is over, because you know, we have thoughts and opinions, as you all know that listen to us right or wrong, We don't really care. There are thoughts in our opinions and we get to express them. But in terms of you know, how much faith we have in what direction management is going in and do we have faith for this management team to carry us into the right direction, particularly given how you know, it seems to be a pattern of behavior when it comes to negotiating contracts with their players that you know, I'm not feeling I'm not feeling great about.

38:49 Speaker 3: I'm not feeling great about. But you know, tonight we want to celebrate the silver lining, which is David Pasternak. Yeah what, And we we talked a little bit about David to start.

39:07 Speaker 1: This episode. But the fact that Pasta is now the third Ruin to hit one hundred points three years in a row and name is in the same sentence as Bobby Orr and Bozito pretty good, God damn company. And he's not even thirty. Ye I think yeah, I think we could legitimately see as long as management doesn't Ruin of kiss him off. Mismanage him do something stupid.

39:48 Speaker 3: Well, his contract is his contract, right, Yeah, but like when that contract ends, you know, I'm more concerned about where is this organization going for the future? Okay, that's would be my concern if I'm David Pastuna, right, you want, I mean, what professional athlete doesn't want to be on a winning team. They're rare, it happens, but it's a rarity, right And if you have given me signs and indications that you are in it to build competitive hockey team, which they have been, I'm not going to take that away from them.

40:32 Speaker 3: They have been competitive hockey teams. They have fallen short, and I know there are no guarantees, but in light of what's happened this season and the fact that none of us know where they're heading, don't you think that might be a point of concern for David and even Charlie.

40:58 Speaker 1: McAvoy at this point. Yeah, because at the end of the day, you know, I'm I'm never gonna fault a player for saying, you know, I need to be on a team that has a legitimate chance not just be a winning team, but actually have a chance, because it is at the end of the day, it is their name, and they want it in one place, in one place only, you know, they want it engraved on the Stanley Cup, and they will do what it takes at the end of the day if they feel like that's what they need to do. Again, I still talk about Brad Marsham because obviously it's something that is taking me forever to get over, but something that I thought about even just the other night.

41:47 Speaker 1: You know, some folks in the discord were talking about watching him play in the game. Also last night, I think, yes, they were playing the Maple Leafs, like, yeah, they're playing the Leafs. And I have not yet watched him play a single game, and this is my favorite player. I have not watched him play a game yet. I just am not ready for it. I can't whatever. But the more that I think about it, the more I'm realizing him demanding. Basically, I would have to assume he had the ability to say, then I want to go I'm only going to go to one place, or I'm gonna go here and you're gonna get me there like that, he had that privilege to say that.

42:29 Speaker 1: The fact that he said the Florida Panthers, that's a big fu to Boston to the to Boston management specifically, Like he could have said Dallas, he could have said, you know, there's play Winnipeg. Yeah, I'll go to Winnipeg for you know, two months whatever, right to win the Stanley Cup. But he picked the specific team that has been a thorn in the Bruins side for two years, two season, three seasons. Really. Oh and by the way, you signed certain guys in the off season specifically to go up against that team.

43:19 Speaker 1: You were building a team right to play against that team. To your point, you know, any player could say, because a lot of them have these no move clause, no trade clause, what have you. And so at any point, even though God forbid down the line, David Pasternak is just like on a team that is wallowing and management keeps just messing up and not engaged doing the right things, what have you, he can then go to management because he is already at that point in his career where he has that privilege that right to say you have to trade me, I want to go, and I'm gonna pick the team that has the best chance right now to switch gears.

44:08 Speaker 1: Just a tiny bit the like we said a little bit earlier, the largest the biggest beneficiary of David Pasternak's brilliance this season has been Morgan Geeky, and he is one that I am very very interested to see how this negotiation goes, because ice.

44:28 Speaker 3: Tag keeps going up and up and up, and I would Management's gonna I.

44:38 Speaker 1: Would keep him. I would keep him. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. He Morgan Geeky is actually a restricted free agent. He is not an unrestricted free agent. And there's been a lot of confusion all over the place about what is his actual status because he came to Boston under not unusual circumstances, but let's say less common circumstances. So and don't worry, folks, you could put your your pens and your notepads away. We'll talk about this again and again as.

45:18 Speaker 5: We get closer to the free agency, because I have to tell you, I have to look this stuff up pretty much every single time I think of it, because I can't ever truly remember anything.

45:30 Speaker 1: But this was an unusual and a new situation for me to kind of learn about. So here's what happened. So Morgan Geeky is an under or he's a restricted free agent going into the summer of twenty twenty three, he was with Seattle. He ended up in Seattle by way of Carolina, and he was not qualified by the Seattle crack. So what does that mean? First and foremost, if you just take a real quick step back, when you are under a certain age and you have not and played a certain number of seasons, there are some different rules around your contract.

46:19 Speaker 1: So this is known as the twenty seven seven rule. So you have to be twenty seven or seven seasons completed in order to become a UFA. Now there's some other little situations where that doesn't necessarily qualify, and you have to a season is playing for at least forty games. So he is not twenty seven. He actually turns twenty seven in July after the first so he is still under twenty seven epistart of free agency. So he was restricted, which means that there isn't the same kind of negotiating that happens that you freely hear about with your unrestricted free agents.

47:12 Speaker 1: Essentially, the team owns him and his right and it is at the team's discretion if they want to keep him or not, and they will give him a qualifying offer, which is typically a percentage pay raise. Think of it as your annual cost of living increase if you still happen to get one of those you number when we used to get two or three percent or whatever. Right, Yeah, that's essentially what he is given, so first and foremost to assuage listeners who are terrified that he is going to just walk. He literally cannot.

47:52 Speaker 1: He is at the Beck and call the Boston Bruins right now. Okay, that's what makes me nervous.

47:58 Speaker 6: Okay, So, and you do have a right to be nervous because who was a restricted free agent last year, Maria who caused us a lot of grief, Jeremy's wayman, just because they are restricted.

48:12 Speaker 1: Okay, this is what frightens me about this.

48:16 Speaker 3: We have talked in our discord, We've talked, you know, offline about things of this nature, and I think that I have made reference to it on a couple of occasions on this podcast. I have come around to your line of thinking in that I do not trust management, and specifically cam Neely.

48:36 Speaker 1: I believe that they have their own.

48:41 Speaker 3: Determining factors about values of players, and they like to nickel and die, and they like to play a little bit dirty in the sandbox. So this is, you know, this is my worry for David Pastronach. Now I'm not saying go out and give Morgan geeky whatever the hell he wants, because he doesn't strike me as that kind of player. However, right, things have not flowed smoothly for the Boston Bruins since the start of the season.

49:26 Speaker 1: Right, we had the the.

49:29 Speaker 3: Turmoil with Swayman's contract, the holdout, the you know, he said this, and he said that, and you know then I still think there's something that doesn't meet the eye with the dealings with Brad marshand and how the trade to Florida came about. So if I'm David Pastronach and I'm looking at this saying, I find, you know, I got someone that I'm comfortable playing with. Now we've developed chemistry, because God knows, you need to have something to show for this miserable season that everyone has been subjected to.

50:13 Speaker 1: So you have someone that is now aligning well, very well with David Pasternak.

50:20 Speaker 3: And not only that, he's also pumped in thirty goals of his own yep, right, yep.

50:27 Speaker 1: So yeah, So the important thing though, again, the various scenarios of what could happen. Right, The one thing that cannot happen is that Morgan Geeky effectively cannot just walk away walk away. The qualifying offer essentially just means that the team is saying we want to continue retaining your rights. That may also then come with a one year contract with that with a minimum pay increase. The team can do a qualifying offer where it's just we're retaining your rights and we want to negotiate.

51:09 Speaker 1: That's where Jeremy Swayman falls into, Right, they retained his rights and they negotiated contract. If they do the qualifying offer and the standard qualifying offer that's a year contract, and you know, they can kind of they're basically kicking the can down the line. What they can also do is qualifying offer to retain the rights and do a longer term contract. That is also something that can happen. I think that's what we are hoping to see. You know, how long that is is to be seen because he's turning twenty seven, so you know he's really at the prime.

51:50 Speaker 1: Are they going to give him, you know, three five years? I can't imagine them going with an eight year contract, not because of anything specifically against Porgan Geeky, this is just like his first real big breakout year. He was good last year, but this was like next level, And quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if management just doesn't have a taste for that kind of contract right now, not no good, right, So he's not necessarily going to go anywhere. And if, like Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins retain Geeky's rights and they can't come to an agreement on the salary, then we're seeing the whole Jeremy Swayman situation play out all over again, which means that he is going to then have to sit out and if he doesn't play by December first, he can't play, and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

52:44 Speaker 1: Right, we've already played that game, we already understand it. So first and foremost, he is in fact a restricted free agent, So don't worry. He's not going to walk away. That's the good news. Now, how do I know he is actually a restricted free agent? Because wait a minute. When a team doesn't offer a qualifying offer to retain your rights and you are this restricted free agent, that automatically makes you an unrestricted free agent, but that might only be for that period of time. So if at the end of that contract you still have not met the age twenty seven seven seasons, you are reverted back to an RFA.

53:37 Speaker 1: So that the fact that Seattle did not give Morgan Geek a qualifying offer, they let him go. That means he was allowed to sign anywhere because nobody had his rights. He signed a two year deal with Boston technically in that moment as an unrestricted free agent, but that was a temporary. If his birthday was literally four weeks earlier than it actually is, he would be an unrestricted free agent. It's all about the date. So, oh, that's what makes him a restricted free agent. Crazy, I didn't know that it was like a temporary.

54:20 Speaker 3: It sounds like that is more of a negotiating benefit for the organization than it is for the player himself.

54:30 Speaker 1: Yes, which again my alarm bells go off, and this all kind of comes comes from back in the day. I mean back in the day, like twenty years ago. It's not that far long ago. You know. It was a way to kind of protect the management, ownership the franchise, so when they got young new players, it wouldn't lose them really quickly because where do the new young players end up but the crappier teams on purpose, because that's the point of bringing parody the league. So someone like Connor Bodard, who is on a very terrible team that is not making any progress in my mind in the last no, no, no, he's he can't go anywhere.

55:18 Speaker 1: He is stuck there, whether he likes it or not. Now whether or not Chicago is acting in good faith is a whole other story. But the idea is that they want them there so they can stay there for a certain length of time to actually make a positive impact on the team and actually help make them better. Better. There you go. Thank you for coming to my ted talk. Thank you, teacher. I'll bring you an apple next time I see you. Thank you. I would you rather have an adult beverage that probably? Can you bring it to me?

55:52 Speaker 1: Fermented? Yeah,

55:56 Speaker 1: that I could do to go Scotch a preference. So well, we'll see what ends up happening.

56:08 Speaker 3: And again, you know he he would be someone when I'm looking at this roster, and I think I said it in a previous episode. If Pasta is happy, then that's all that should matter. I'm sorry, but that's all that should matter. But you know, we'll see what comes of all of this once the season. You know, I don't expect a lot of activity to be happening for the Boston Bruins, honestly while the Stanley Cup playoffs are going on, because you know, if you have teams that are contending, I would think that they don't want to be distracted from, you know, the mission at hand by talking about making making deals, but.

56:55 Speaker 1: Technically they're not allowed to until literally July sitting. But then all of these deals drop at exactly twelve, like whatever. Now, I'm mostly curious to see how management handles Geek's UH rights and what kind of contract they offer him and how quickly they get that done, because, quite frankly, considering how poorly I think management in particular the last two seasons have managed the talent, how have they how they've managed the players and their contracts, it's been exceptionally bad, the last two seasons, exceptionally bad.

57:39 Speaker 1: So, you know, and it all, he's good at making a deal, right, He's he seems to be able to make good hockey trades. Yeah, but when it comes to your point, instances of actual negotiations, there's always something. There's always something, and you know, nine times out of ten, I'm on the side of the players. Yeah. Well, and you know, it's just like I said, the last two years have been particularly bad. I don't I think that they completely botched any kind of relationship repair and cut and good faith contract negotiating with Jake DeBusk, you know, with danon Heinen, you know, there's no reason that he should have left, like they could have kept him.

58:33 Speaker 1: He took not that much more money, and just you know, maybe he is a jag, but at least he's consistently there, like you know, instead of having all of a sudden, this brand new team Jeremy Swayman debacle, Trent Frederick, we knew was not going anywhere, like bleeding all these players for nothing. It's just been a disaster. So if they decide to actually move quickly and make a good deal quickly, maybe some of my faith will be restored in their at least them having the concept of a plan to move forward with this team.

59:16 Speaker 7: I don't know, because otherwise, if they just fiddle fattle and they sit on their hands and they try to play hardball, then I'm going to be thinking, you guys don't know what you are doing.

59:27 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it would be foolish on their part to Nickel and Dime. Do I think they're not going to do that. No, I think they will Nickel and Dime.

59:40 Speaker 7: Right.

59:41 Speaker 3: It's you know, to some degree, sometimes it's the art of winning the deal as opposed to like, what are we doing here? You know this this person has worked well for us, is working well with our superstar, you know, and it sounds like we're pleading Morgan Geek's.

59:59 Speaker 1: Case for him, which is not what we're doing.

1:00:02 Speaker 3: It's more more a testament on how we feel about the comfort level of our management team in moving forward in what is not a retool.

1:00:17 Speaker 1: It's a rebuild, yeap. What what you're what you're going to have to undertake in the upcoming off season is a rebuild, not a retool. Yep, yep. But we shall see, We shall see what I just one more week, Maria, one more week, folks, one more weeks. Yeah. This has been a challenging, challenging year for for all of us.

1:00:44 Speaker 3: Not where any of us expected to be with this team when training camp opened, Because you know, I think many of us. As much as we questioned the off season signings, I think we were of the mindset of, Okay, we needed to get bigger and stronger on the back end. You know, we needed to try and remedy the gap we had at center and signing a line of you know, Elias lind Home and then the zudorof signing. But then just you know, they've never been able to get on the right track this season from the start of you know, we even talked about training camp.

1:01:28 Speaker 3: Training camp looked, even from our vantage point, like disjointed and so you know, veterans weren't ready to play, They weren't ready to go. They were being you know, you go here, you go there. You know, Jim Montgomery seemed to have lost his passion for coaching the team. You know, it doesn't seem like any messages he was trying to send, we're resonating with the team. Now you've got you know, the interim tag on on Joe Saco. You know that coaching staff must be thinking, well, I wonder where we're all going to land him when this season is over.

1:02:12 Speaker 1: But I will give Joe credit using his time out. Oh my god, it's like they listened to you, Maria. It's like they listened to you. What Okay, stop.

1:02:23 Speaker 3: Imagine Imagine that you call the time out, you reel your team in because the other team scores two quick ones. Okay, you get everyone, period. Okay, imagine that. Imagine that amazing, amazing Who knew that?

1:02:44 Speaker 1: I don't know, call me crazy, but you know I'm gonna pat myself on the back for that. Jeus Christ. But good good on you, Joe, for for lesson learned and for calling the time recognizing that your team was likely the verge of imploding and cutting it off before it happened. Yep, yep. But with that, with that throat, yeah, we've got mercyfulle how many more games left, my friend? Let's see the Bruins are playing that yep, three the Blackhawks tomorrow night, the tenth Thursday night at the TD Garden, and then they've got God, can you imagine this is this three thirty game against the Pittsburgh Penguins is a national It's gonna have a national audience.

1:03:39 Speaker 1: Two teams who have both been eliminated from the playoff pictures who have been freaking struggling their asses off. Okay, let's put them on national television. Why not?

1:03:51 Speaker 3: And then they finished on the fifteen Tuesday at home on Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils. It's fan appreciation night. It's the night that the Bruins hand out all of their own team awards, the nesson seventh Player reward, shirts off my back. Yeah, shirts off your back. It's usually typically a very very fun it is atmosphere it is be at the game. The crowd is pretty pretty engaged and excited. There's you know, giveaways going on all night long. So you know, hopefully that the fans will be treated to to a good hockey game, to a good hockey game.

1:04:36 Speaker 1: I don't want to say treated to a win, but a good game, an entertaining game to finish the season on a positive note, right right, I mean these are getting again. I'm going to say this, I'm going to sound like a moron after how things have happened this season, but these are three winnable games Boston Bruins, three very winnable games. Morgan GigE for seventh Player. I already put my vote in. Is that what you voted for? I did? I did?

1:05:04 Speaker 3: It would have been it would have been a real struggle for me between him and Mark Castilik. If Mark Costa had been able to stay finishing, Yeah, finish the season because.

1:05:17 Speaker 1: He was surprisingly good too. Yeah, he came out of nowhere.

1:05:20 Speaker 3: He came out of nowhere and again worked his ass off every shift. So but yeah, I'm Morgan geeky Betta be the one getting the trophy and whatever. They give him a vehicle truck this some type of vehicle. I think that is awarded.

1:05:36 Speaker 1: Well, anyways, snapshots after those games, except for after the Devil's game, because we'll be releasing another episode next Wednesday night. Correct, No, as always, make sure you like and subscribe, share and rate us so that other Bruins fans and other hockey fans can find us, and any words, Maria, We'll just let our viewers and listeners know next week what our off season, potential off season schedule is, so you don't forget about us during during the off season. But uh yeah, it's it's kind of a weird.

1:06:17 Speaker 1: It's going to be a very weird feeling knowing that the season is ending and we're not making plans for playoff episodes. So just one of them years, folks, Just one of those years. Let's hope that this is not no pattern of years. Yes, I once hope that this is not a pattern years. But with that being said, I'll give you the first indeed, as always, go B's sobs

1:07:02 Speaker 4: Sten st