NHL Free Agency: Where Do the Boston Bruins Stand? | Ep. 155

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

0:02 Speaker 2: Please?

0:03 Speaker 3: I need something to do.

0:13 Speaker 4: I'll Jack sending out a trough of bocking to say thy.

0:19 Speaker 1: Watch today.

0:20 Speaker 4: Here's a chance pop fa right down the goalie scars,

0:22 Speaker 4: oh my water move by the rookie to on.

0:25 Speaker 3: One paster not moving in far set it joins on

0:28 Speaker 3: his own oil dances at podcast. W at home right away,

0:33 Speaker 3: corner fastersta, what is that for? Most?

0:50 Speaker 2: Welcome in everyone to another episode of Bruin's Tape to Tape.

0:55 Speaker 2: I will be your host today. I am Maria from Watertown.

0:58 Speaker 2: I am joined today as always by my fabulous and

1:02 Speaker 2: hardworking co host Caroline with ak Welcome in.

1:07 Speaker 3: How are you good? I'm good. We are about a

1:11 Speaker 3: month away from the start of youth hockey season, so

1:15 Speaker 3: my friends and family have all been warned that they

1:18 Speaker 3: have fewer than thirty days left to hang out with us,

1:22 Speaker 3: and then they won't see us until April.

1:26 Speaker 2: Then you'll be living in rinks in and around your

1:29 Speaker 2: area of the country. Yes, and we are getting closer

1:33 Speaker 2: and closer to the start of relatively formal HL related activities. Well,

1:39 Speaker 2: we'll be coming upon workie camp and then training camp.

1:43 Speaker 2: So with that in mind, we are going to be

1:46 Speaker 2: focusing this episode and upcoming episodes to do a little

1:51 Speaker 2: bit of deep dives into three different topics. Today, we're

1:56 Speaker 2: going to focus on free agency and how the Bruins

2:00 Speaker 2: fared or didn't fare, and how teams across the league

2:04 Speaker 2: fared with free agency during the summer of twenty twenty six,

2:09 Speaker 2: and then following episodes, we're going to be doing kind

2:12 Speaker 2: of detailed, comprehensive reviews of the Bruins' defensive groups and

2:18 Speaker 2: forward groups. So we'll start with free agency. So, in

2:23 Speaker 2: terms of what the Bruins did during free agency, I

2:27 Speaker 2: shuddered to say that the biggest deal that they made

2:31 Speaker 2: was signing Connorclifton. Short of that, there wasn't anything that

2:36 Speaker 2: caused us to want to dance in the streets, so

2:39 Speaker 2: to speak.

2:40 Speaker 3: And they didn't even really do much in terms of

2:43 Speaker 3: actual signings because a lot of their roster changes came

2:49 Speaker 3: about because of trades. JJ Peterke came through a trade.

2:54 Speaker 3: What's his name, well, the Wiborgan or the defenseman from Magers.

3:00 Speaker 3: He came via a trade, but was even less busy

3:05 Speaker 3: than last year's free agency, And we thought that that

3:09 Speaker 3: was a snoozefest.

3:10 Speaker 2: This positively put us in a coma. It was a

3:14 Speaker 2: snooze fest as it came to the Bruins. There were

3:17 Speaker 2: other teams, and we'll do a little bit of reviewing

3:20 Speaker 2: on that, but there were other teams that made it

3:22 Speaker 2: worth their while to participate in free agency. And let's

3:27 Speaker 2: face facks, we've come to understand for the most part,

3:31 Speaker 2: how Bruins management operates, and any of us who continued

3:36 Speaker 2: to wait for the Bruins to make big deals or

3:39 Speaker 2: big splashes in free agency, I think we've learned that's

3:43 Speaker 2: just not how they roll. And this really wasn't a

3:47 Speaker 2: free agent class where the Bruins had a snowball's chance

3:51 Speaker 2: in hell of landing anybody of any notoriety simply because

3:57 Speaker 2: they didn't have the money to do so, or they

4:01 Speaker 2: didn't have the assets that one might need to part

4:04 Speaker 2: with in order to make participating in free agency worth

4:08 Speaker 2: their while.

4:09 Speaker 3: Yeah, it was underwhelming in general in the grand scheme

4:13 Speaker 3: of things, But I think we've known for a really

4:15 Speaker 3: long time that Boston is risk averse, and that tends

4:19 Speaker 3: to happen. I think with a lot of really well

4:24 Speaker 3: established teams, I think you'll still see that in some degree.

4:28 Speaker 3: You No, you're not going to see crazy big moves

4:31 Speaker 3: with teams like New York or Montreal or Toronto or

4:37 Speaker 3: even Buffalo. It's you're going to see some of the

4:41 Speaker 3: more exciting things happen with teams that are younger or

4:46 Speaker 3: they're actively building, and so because they're building, they have

4:49 Speaker 3: a lot more money to spend. Hence why we saw

4:51 Speaker 3: the craziness of the offersheet situation flying left and right.

4:57 Speaker 2: Oh, that was a little fun between Flyers and the Ducks.

5:01 Speaker 3: And even other teams that do have a lot of

5:05 Speaker 3: established players like Florida. I mean, that's a totally different

5:09 Speaker 3: kind of organization. The way that they operate, the way

5:12 Speaker 3: that team another team like Vegas, the way they approach

5:16 Speaker 3: doing business is very different. And so it's not a

5:21 Speaker 3: surprise then that those teams in particular were quite active

5:25 Speaker 3: in aggressively pursuing a lot of very high end talent.

5:31 Speaker 3: The one was the biggest surprise to me in terms

5:33 Speaker 3: of signings offer sheet drama aside, honestly, was where Bobrovski

5:40 Speaker 3: ended up. No one I saw that coming. Yeah, who

5:44 Speaker 3: saw that coming? I didn't think that he was going

5:47 Speaker 3: to be staying in Florida because of how expensive he

5:50 Speaker 3: is and his age. Those are just two factors that

5:53 Speaker 3: are always gonna ultimately result in a player going elsewhere.

5:57 Speaker 3: I was surprised at Toronto was as aggressive as they

6:02 Speaker 3: were and they went after him and they got him.

6:05 Speaker 3: So that's going to be a great test to see

6:07 Speaker 3: where the issue really lies, because there's no way you're

6:10 Speaker 3: going to be the reason they're not doing well. Yes,

6:13 Speaker 3: I agree with you. There.

6:15 Speaker 2: The other the other significant signing I think we're on

6:18 Speaker 2: the topic of goalies is Frederick Anderson signing with the

6:23 Speaker 2: Oilers because what have we been saying for what seems

6:27 Speaker 2: like a flippant eternity where Edmonton is concerned, When are

6:31 Speaker 2: they actually going to get a bona fide full tender

6:35 Speaker 2: in there now? Again, that will also be very very

6:38 Speaker 2: telling in terms of where lies the problem in Edmonton

6:44 Speaker 2: And if Freddie Anderson isn't part of the solution to

6:48 Speaker 2: the problem, does Zapp push Connor McDavid and even Drivesidle

6:52 Speaker 2: to want to continue being invested.

6:55 Speaker 3: Yeah, and Anderson, he's obviously he's very elite, unlike a

7:01 Speaker 3: goalie like Bob or even I would argue Swayman or Vassie.

7:07 Speaker 3: He's got some sometimes some issues with consistency, and then

7:12 Speaker 3: he sometimes will have some health issues that result in

7:15 Speaker 3: his inability to just play at that level consistently because

7:18 Speaker 3: he's out. I don't know that he's necessarily the perfect

7:22 Speaker 3: goalie to hire for Edmonton in order to actually definitively

7:27 Speaker 3: say this is where the problem is, like how hiring

7:31 Speaker 3: Bob in Toronto will most certainly help them identify the issues. However,

7:37 Speaker 3: Anderson will always give the team in front of him

7:41 Speaker 3: the opportunity to be in the game and take that game.

7:46 Speaker 3: He's that kind of goalie. That's where his consistency lies.

7:50 Speaker 3: If Edmonton is unable to take advantage of those opportunities.

7:55 Speaker 3: I do think that he is going to be that

7:58 Speaker 3: Bell Weather. He may not be the perfect goalie, the

8:01 Speaker 3: best goalie, but he's a heck of a lot better

8:03 Speaker 3: than anything that they've had for a number for.

8:06 Speaker 2: A number of years. He's a very good NHL goalie,

8:11 Speaker 2: and some might argue that if Edmonton had had a

8:15 Speaker 2: very good NHL goalie, we might be having a different

8:18 Speaker 2: conversation and maybe they would have had a better opportunity

8:23 Speaker 2: to invoice it as Stanley Cup. At this point, I

8:26 Speaker 2: think it's incumbent on the Oilers right now. It'll be

8:29 Speaker 2: interesting to see how things play out there because their

8:33 Speaker 2: head coach has been a lightning rod of criticism, mostly

8:38 Speaker 2: due to his own actions. So it'll be interesting to

8:41 Speaker 2: see how long Mike Babcock can hold his shit together

8:46 Speaker 2: to understand that this is a new age NHL and

8:50 Speaker 2: young players have to be and maybe are expecting to

8:54 Speaker 2: be treated in different manners than players of the past.

8:58 Speaker 2: From what I've read by all accoutuns, the players are

9:02 Speaker 2: speaking highly of Mike Babcock, but the proof will.

9:05 Speaker 3: Be in the win loss record.

9:07 Speaker 2: Yes, it always is, right, Yeah, that's the de facto

9:10 Speaker 2: test is prove your worth in a win loss record.

9:14 Speaker 3: So some other big news, which was technically assigning. Patrick

9:18 Speaker 3: Kane is returning for his final hurrah.

9:23 Speaker 2: Now that was kind of a little, i don't want

9:26 Speaker 2: to say, shocking surprising, because all the speculation from insiders

9:32 Speaker 2: was that it was either Buffalo or he'd go back

9:36 Speaker 2: to Detroit. Now, I wonder if the uncertainty with what's

9:40 Speaker 2: happening with Dylan Larkin in Detroit led him to look

9:44 Speaker 2: in a different direction. Could he is he's from Buffalo.

9:49 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, this is kind of my understanding of the situation,

9:53 Speaker 3: and I wasn't paying super close attention, but this is

9:57 Speaker 3: just my outsider's take. He's currently third seven years old.

10:01 Speaker 3: He turns thirty eight in November. And was it a

10:04 Speaker 3: two year deal that he signed? Two year? Yeah, eight million.

10:08 Speaker 3: He's effectively playing till he's almost forty, So this is

10:11 Speaker 3: this is it it?

10:13 Speaker 2: And maybe he wants to retire.

10:15 Speaker 3: And so my impression, knowing that he was looking at

10:19 Speaker 3: his final years in the NHL, he was going to

10:21 Speaker 3: end up in one of two places, Buffalo because that

10:24 Speaker 3: is where he is from, or he's going to go

10:27 Speaker 3: back home to Chicago. And when I saw that headline,

10:32 Speaker 3: my reaction was, that's what's right. I'm I'm of the

10:37 Speaker 3: ilk that if you have a player who spends the

10:40 Speaker 3: majority of their career with you and they end up leaving,

10:42 Speaker 3: everybody leaves for the most part, like the experiences of

10:46 Speaker 3: Andre Copitar or Patrice Bergeron or Sidney Crosby, that's really

10:52 Speaker 3: rare and unusual, even final years of their career. I mean,

10:56 Speaker 3: what happened with Brad Marshan not unusual. Bobby or finish

11:00 Speaker 3: playing with the Bruins. Esposito didn't finish with the.

11:03 Speaker 2: It's it's highly unusual. It's unfortunately, especially when it's because

11:08 Speaker 2: you have this hardcast, right, but you've had business and

11:12 Speaker 2: you've had sustained success. Kane and Tapes and Postsa and

11:17 Speaker 2: Donkey Keith. How many Stanley Cups did they win as

11:20 Speaker 2: a group, and everybody know it was going to have

11:23 Speaker 2: to come to an end because you couldn't keep and pay.

11:26 Speaker 3: I love seeing this kind of what do you call

11:30 Speaker 3: it putting a bow on a career, whether it's yes,

11:32 Speaker 3: you literally do get to go and finish playing great,

11:36 Speaker 3: but also then seeing opportunities where a player gets to

11:39 Speaker 3: come back they sign for a one day contract, like

11:43 Speaker 3: we saw with Marc Andre Fleury or even Zadano Chara

11:46 Speaker 3: he had signed a one day contract to officially retire

11:50 Speaker 3: as a Boston Bruin. I love that kind of story.

11:52 Speaker 3: I think that's good on him. I've got my own

11:55 Speaker 3: personal opinions about him as a player and a human being,

11:59 Speaker 3: but in terms of the way that I think that

12:02 Speaker 3: hockey stories should end, great perfect.

12:04 Speaker 2: Yeah, and yes he's had some hiccups along the way

12:08 Speaker 2: and his off ice stuff, but by all accounts, he's

12:12 Speaker 2: been humbled by it, has learned, has grown from it.

12:15 Speaker 2: Let's hope, and let's face facts too, that black Hawks

12:18 Speaker 2: team could really use some veteran leadership. Here. You have

12:23 Speaker 2: Connor Bodard that they signed to a five year eighteen

12:27 Speaker 2: million dollars needs molding and growing and developing, right, and

12:33 Speaker 2: some of it may be that hopefully Patrick Kane can

12:38 Speaker 2: help share.

12:39 Speaker 3: Some pearls of wisdom.

12:40 Speaker 2: Clearly the black Hawks want Connor Badar to be the

12:43 Speaker 2: face of their franchise. Y, I mean, there's no doubt

12:47 Speaker 2: about that, but he needs the guidance in order to

12:50 Speaker 2: get there. Yeah, I just can't still see that organization

12:53 Speaker 2: going anywhere either. So I just they're a little stuck

12:57 Speaker 2: right now.

12:58 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I don't know that Patrick Kaine is going

13:03 Speaker 3: to provide what they need, at least on the ice. Now. Look,

13:07 Speaker 3: I haven't watched him play, so I don't know what

13:11 Speaker 3: he can still quite literally bring to the ice. But again,

13:16 Speaker 3: as is well known in the sport of hockey, you

13:18 Speaker 3: don't win on the back of one single player, and

13:21 Speaker 3: so perhaps he is that transition piece to continue to

13:25 Speaker 3: explicitly grow and develop Connor Bedard. But then what about

13:29 Speaker 3: the rest of their team, And yeah, I was quickly

13:31 Speaker 3: looking at their roster and they've got some name Snake

13:36 Speaker 3: got Badard, they still have Tyler Bertuzzi, Ryan Donado, Patrick Kin,

13:41 Speaker 3: Andrew MANJAPANI. I'm just looking at this going there's nothing

13:45 Speaker 3: here that's going to set the world on fire. No.

13:48 Speaker 3: Compared to other teams that are actively in a building phase,

13:54 Speaker 3: this has been a long time rebuild though.

13:56 Speaker 2: This is really taken the Blackhawks, like, we get frustrated

14:00 Speaker 2: here in Boston with our rebuild retotal process, but you know,

14:06 Speaker 2: we hope we're in a shorter window.

14:08 Speaker 3: Yeah, and again, that's a team that is a really

14:12 Speaker 3: well established, entrenched in the culture team, so they're probably

14:16 Speaker 3: going to be a lot more risk averse. It's not

14:17 Speaker 3: like with San Jose or Anaheim. They're making waves. They're

14:22 Speaker 3: going they're being aggressive, and they're pursuing a lot of

14:25 Speaker 3: really young talent. And San Jose, I think is a

14:28 Speaker 3: perfect example to compare with Chicago in terms of their

14:34 Speaker 3: rebuild because over the last couple of years, those two

14:37 Speaker 3: teams have had top five picks multiple years in a row,

14:43 Speaker 3: and look at what has been happening in San Jose

14:47 Speaker 3: versus what's happening in Chicago and San Jose. I don't

14:52 Speaker 3: know that hockey town. I don't know if it's raining

14:55 Speaker 3: money there or what the hell is going on.

14:57 Speaker 2: But in addition to they made out like bandits in

15:01 Speaker 2: the draft, they made out like Bandrinia again, are you about?

15:06 Speaker 2: Oh no, he's heads above conniber Dart, heads above No,

15:11 Speaker 2: there's just no two ways about it. Heads above Connibra Dart.

15:16 Speaker 2: But they also in free agency signed Jacob Truba and

15:21 Speaker 2: Mason Marchmant.

15:22 Speaker 3: I know, I know they've got a phenomenal goaltender in Askarov.

15:26 Speaker 3: That guy impressed the heck out of me the two

15:29 Speaker 3: times that we saw Boston play. And they just signed

15:36 Speaker 3: maclin Celabrini, right, he most expensive contract, and you have.

15:44 Speaker 2: The numbers, they are in front of you because they

15:46 Speaker 2: make you want to vomit gold on he's.

15:49 Speaker 3: I believe he's making nineteen million dollars per year.

15:54 Speaker 2: He signed a five year, ninety one million dollar extent

16:00 Speaker 2: with a cap hit of eighteen million, eight hundred per season.

16:06 Speaker 3: Nineteen million dollars.

16:07 Speaker 2: And how much does David Pastor Knack make chunk change eleven?

16:12 Speaker 2: He's and what's going on kids, Like, I think players

16:17 Speaker 2: don't get worked up about this for the most because

16:20 Speaker 2: their salary caps keep going up, and no one's going

16:23 Speaker 2: to begrudge anybody getting their bag up cash, right.

16:27 Speaker 3: Because then they set the market. Those guys set the

16:30 Speaker 3: market for the next guy. They get it that if

16:34 Speaker 3: maclan Celebrini can make nineteen million dollars, if David Pasternach

16:39 Speaker 3: were to come up, if his contract were coming up

16:42 Speaker 3: in this year, you mean to tell me that he

16:45 Speaker 3: wouldn't be jumping from eleven million dollars to twenty million dollars. Easy.

16:49 Speaker 3: Of course they want to.

16:50 Speaker 2: See those guys, And this is what makes I just

16:53 Speaker 2: don't understand this. Just to compare and contrast, So we

16:57 Speaker 2: have Maclin Celebrini, who is a generational talent.

17:01 Speaker 3: There's just a generational talent, right, he's a lot of kids.

17:05 Speaker 2: And then but I'm then I'm looking at what the

17:08 Speaker 2: Minnesota Wild gave Carillo, who is basically a no show

17:14 Speaker 2: in the playoffs, but they signed him to an eight year,

17:18 Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty six million dollar contract with the

17:20 Speaker 2: cap hit of seventeen million per season.

17:23 Speaker 3: Which that had been previously the highest the highest. There

17:27 Speaker 3: was an extension during the season.

17:29 Speaker 2: During the season. Yeah, and then it came Leo Keemlson

17:32 Speaker 2: because their hand was forced, and then and then Macrimona.

17:35 Speaker 2: It's I guess it's great for the NHL to see

17:39 Speaker 2: guys getting these types of deals because it shows the

17:43 Speaker 2: league is growing. It's apparently getting more profitable. Right the

17:47 Speaker 2: TV revenues, marketing revenues, those streams are flowing in next year.

17:53 Speaker 2: The next season, the cap is slated to go up again.

17:57 Speaker 2: The league is making progress. I mean, it's never going

18:00 Speaker 2: to be anything like what NBA players are pulling down. Yeah, well,

18:04 Speaker 2: don't worry about going to catch baseball. My god, they

18:07 Speaker 2: have no no. So it doesn't matter that there's been

18:11 Speaker 2: all kinds of conversation about a potential workstopage next season,

18:16 Speaker 2: because there are owners who want to implement a salary

18:20 Speaker 2: cap similar to how it's implemented in the NHL, and

18:24 Speaker 2: that conversation is being spearheaded by the majority owner of

18:29 Speaker 2: the Boston Red Sox, John Henry, who happens to own

18:33 Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh Penguins.

18:34 Speaker 3: At one time.

18:35 Speaker 2: There's pros and cons to which I think, when is

18:38 Speaker 2: enough money enough money to be earned by players? If

18:42 Speaker 2: owners are doing it at the expense of the athletes.

18:46 Speaker 2: That's what The.

18:48 Speaker 3: Thing that always will come with a salary cap is

18:51 Speaker 3: a salary floor, and that is just as important, I think,

18:57 Speaker 3: for maintaining that parody as the cap, because to your

19:03 Speaker 3: point of owners then going on the cheap. You talked

19:07 Speaker 3: about how this was the case decades ago.

19:10 Speaker 2: You would see in Boston, well, they would never spend

19:14 Speaker 2: to the cap. It was one of the most embarrassing

19:19 Speaker 2: worst kept secrets in the NHL, never what they spend

19:22 Speaker 2: to the cap.

19:23 Speaker 3: And so there's so many things wrong with that because

19:25 Speaker 3: you're exploiting players, the fans are irritated because you're not

19:31 Speaker 3: going to bring in anybody who's really good because you

19:34 Speaker 3: don't want to pay them. And then you may end

19:37 Speaker 3: up on a team that is never going to go

19:41 Speaker 3: anywhere because your ownership will not spend the money. They

19:45 Speaker 3: will not invest the money in the team to grow

19:48 Speaker 3: and get better. And then you're playing against teams that

19:52 Speaker 3: if they're spending millions a billion dollars every year, how

19:58 Speaker 3: could you possibly compete against a team like that? That's

20:01 Speaker 3: not a You don't want to play a game like that,

20:04 Speaker 3: it's not fun. Ask long suffering Buffalo fans, and we're

20:09 Speaker 3: in a similar situation where maybe not in terms of

20:12 Speaker 3: the money spending, but just being in this stagnant, terrible place.

20:16 Speaker 3: Nobody wants that, and that's honestly, one of the best

20:20 Speaker 3: things about a salary cap is a mandatory salary floor.

20:26 Speaker 2: The thing that concerns me a little bit is, you know,

20:29 Speaker 2: we're still seeing a lot of long term deals being

20:32 Speaker 2: signed because there's money there to give the higher end players, right,

20:36 Speaker 2: because the organization's like, this is our guy, we drafted him,

20:40 Speaker 2: we got to have this guy on the team. Okay, fine,

20:44 Speaker 2: so sign him to the seven, eight year deal. But

20:47 Speaker 2: there is concern about the guys who are now signing

20:51 Speaker 2: just a one year deal or a two year deal

20:54 Speaker 2: because they want to see what the next deal could

20:58 Speaker 2: potentially bring them. So I guess good for them, but

21:03 Speaker 2: it makes it harder on ownership to plan your future, right,

21:07 Speaker 2: no stability stability.

21:09 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting because I feel like we don't see

21:12 Speaker 3: a ton of mid length term contracts as much anymore.

21:18 Speaker 3: We don't really see the four year the five year

21:21 Speaker 3: as much, which again I get both arguments, because maybe

21:26 Speaker 3: the ownership doesn't want to have that seven year contract

21:28 Speaker 3: because that's what the new contract length is, right, they

21:31 Speaker 3: want to have it lower potentially if it's a guy

21:34 Speaker 3: that they're unsure about or they want to let's see

21:37 Speaker 3: it kind of situation. And I see young players or

21:41 Speaker 3: other players wanting to do the one two year contract

21:44 Speaker 3: to then maybe jump up in salaries. So it's a

21:47 Speaker 3: very complicated situation. And I don't know. It just seems

21:52 Speaker 3: like it goes through different trends in what we see

21:54 Speaker 3: and as every CBA gets negotiated since it really got

22:00 Speaker 3: going after the four h five lockout, contracts used to

22:05 Speaker 3: be like twenty years long. No, not really, but twelve right,

22:09 Speaker 3: twelve year long contract, which is insane, and the term

22:12 Speaker 3: has gotten shorter and shorter, and so it just got

22:15 Speaker 3: shorter now and I wouldn't be surprised if in coming

22:18 Speaker 3: years they get even a little bit shorter. I don't know,

22:22 Speaker 3: I don't know.

22:23 Speaker 2: And you know what, if that's the case again, I say,

22:26 Speaker 2: good on the players, go get you bag of cash now.

22:29 Speaker 2: I say that now. But do you want a little

22:31 Speaker 2: bit of loyalty too.

22:32 Speaker 3: From your players? Right?

22:34 Speaker 2: Do you want to stick around and try to be

22:36 Speaker 2: part of something bigger and special? Now, if you're languishing

22:40 Speaker 2: in an organization that just seemingly can't continue to get

22:44 Speaker 2: out of its own way, I'm referring to have an example.

22:47 Speaker 2: I think the Edmonton Oilers are a perfect example of that.

22:51 Speaker 3: Right.

22:51 Speaker 2: I have to give Connor McDavid a shit ton of

22:54 Speaker 2: credit for sticking it out there, because at some point,

22:57 Speaker 2: when do you say to yourselves?

22:59 Speaker 3: What am I doing here? Am I here? Do I

23:01 Speaker 3: want to win.

23:02 Speaker 2: A Stanley Cup? Of course I want to win a

23:04 Speaker 2: Stanley Cup? Am I going to be able to do

23:06 Speaker 2: it here? How many kicks at the can are we

23:09 Speaker 2: going to get here to do this?

23:11 Speaker 3: Exactly? Yeah? And of course they're also motivated because they

23:15 Speaker 3: want to stay in a single place because then they

23:17 Speaker 3: start to have families. They don't want to move a lot.

23:19 Speaker 3: It's ever changing and evolving, and there's a ton of

23:22 Speaker 3: reasons why you would want to go in any direction. Personally,

23:26 Speaker 3: I would like to see more two, three, four year contracts.

23:32 Speaker 3: I don't have anything wrong against the long term ones,

23:35 Speaker 3: that's absolutely yeah. We want to lock up players like

23:38 Speaker 3: Geee Pasternak, you Celebrini, whomever. But I think if you're

23:44 Speaker 3: coming in and you're not a one hundred percent guarantee,

23:49 Speaker 3: known entity. Right you come in, you do need to

23:52 Speaker 3: stay with the team. I think at least for two years.

23:55 Speaker 3: I love to go back to the metaphor of a job.

23:58 Speaker 3: Right you start your job, you really got to wait

24:01 Speaker 3: a whole year to learn a year's worth of your

24:05 Speaker 3: job and how everything works and how you were and

24:08 Speaker 3: then really you can start to make a true impact

24:10 Speaker 3: or make changes or do whatever in the second year

24:13 Speaker 3: of your job. And anyone who's coming in for really

24:16 Speaker 3: less than that, can you really make an opinion on

24:20 Speaker 3: how impactful they were. Maybe, but you really got to

24:23 Speaker 3: know if they're the right fit. You have to have

24:25 Speaker 3: them for a couple of years. You really you have to.

24:28 Speaker 2: Well, it'll be interesting to see how this all plays

24:30 Speaker 2: out with these two or three year terms. And that

24:33 Speaker 2: leads me into what other teams have done here in

24:37 Speaker 2: free agency, because the Bruins free agency was so boring.

24:40 Speaker 2: The Dallas Stars and Jason Robertson now they came to

24:45 Speaker 2: terms and they had good arbitration, one year, twelve million

24:49 Speaker 2: dollar deal for hun and he turned down apparently an

24:54 Speaker 2: offer from another team.

24:56 Speaker 3: From what I've heard and read, it wasn't that he

25:00 Speaker 3: was strictly chasing money, although you do see that with

25:05 Speaker 3: the younger players, For him, he explicitly wanted to stay

25:10 Speaker 3: in Dallas. He wanted to make his money in Dallas.

25:14 Speaker 3: So he obviously was given an opportunity and apparently more

25:18 Speaker 3: than just the opportunity in Seattle. We just don't know

25:22 Speaker 3: where else. But he wanted to make that money specifically there,

25:25 Speaker 3: and so I understand that. I get it. Dallas is

25:28 Speaker 3: going to have to figure out what they want to

25:30 Speaker 3: do because once he's I believe he's eligible for free

25:34 Speaker 3: agency next summer.

25:36 Speaker 2: He's on free agent list again for twenty twenty.

25:40 Speaker 3: Seven, but he'll be unrestricted or he is listed will

25:44 Speaker 3: be listed as a UFA in twenty twenty seven. Dallas

25:48 Speaker 3: is going to have to think long and hard about

25:50 Speaker 3: how they want to manage that.

25:52 Speaker 2: And Tyler Sagan will be part of that on the

25:55 Speaker 2: Dallas Stars as well. The list in general for twenty

25:59 Speaker 2: twenty seven has some significant and serious names on it.

26:05 Speaker 2: You know, you've got Robertson, Carlson, Dowdy, Sagan, Nikita Kucherov.

26:09 Speaker 2: Now again, these players, they likely won't go anywhere. Mark Stone,

26:13 Speaker 2: cal mccarr right, Alex Petrangelo, Sidney Crosby, Quinn Hughes. That's

26:19 Speaker 2: going to be an interesting story to follow. That's a

26:22 Speaker 2: really big one in Minnesota and his brother Jack, because

26:26 Speaker 2: you're probably reading the same things that I've been reading

26:29 Speaker 2: about they want to be together. Where is that going

26:32 Speaker 2: to be? Is it going to be in Jersey? Is

26:35 Speaker 2: it going to be in Minnesota? Is it going to

26:38 Speaker 2: be someplace else where a team could swoop in and say, hey, boys,

26:43 Speaker 2: look what we have here. You who knows. I don't

26:47 Speaker 2: know if the Bruins will be in on any of this,

26:50 Speaker 2: but again, if the Bruins are looking at a short

26:54 Speaker 2: term retool, right, because we all know that Sweeney is

27:00 Speaker 2: fairly adept at making good hockey trades or good hockey signings, right,

27:06 Speaker 2: this list has no shortage of pretty good players. If

27:11 Speaker 2: you look at what's coming up for next season. Now,

27:14 Speaker 2: a lot of these guys may get extended during the

27:17 Speaker 2: course of the season because owners and organizations may not

27:20 Speaker 2: want to risk them going, especially when they finally nail

27:24 Speaker 2: down how much more the cap is going to go

27:26 Speaker 2: up next season.

27:28 Speaker 3: Fully expect a lot of those big names who are

27:32 Speaker 3: faces of their franchise to be extended but I think

27:37 Speaker 3: you're right in that they like to wait and find out,

27:40 Speaker 3: and I believe they get a sense of what the

27:41 Speaker 3: cap is going to be the following year by the

27:43 Speaker 3: start of the new calendar years the year, so then

27:49 Speaker 3: typically you'll be seeing as trades ramp up as well.

27:54 Speaker 3: Between then and mid March, those big names are going

27:58 Speaker 3: to get resigned. To think Kle mccar, Nikita kuchirov Mark Stone,

28:03 Speaker 3: they're gonna be staying. I would be shocked, especially if

28:08 Speaker 3: Kale mccar and went anywhere else, anywhere.

28:12 Speaker 2: Else, or even Sidney Crosby. I can't imagine, right, I know,

28:18 Speaker 2: I know there's especially.

28:21 Speaker 3: With I don't know how much stock I buy into

28:24 Speaker 3: the rumors, especially ones that don't explicitly involve the Boston Bruins,

28:28 Speaker 3: but the biggest one being that, Okay, if sid really

28:33 Speaker 3: wants another legitimate Cup run, could he end up in Colorado?

28:40 Speaker 3: Could he end up in Montreal because they're up and coming.

28:45 Speaker 3: Could he end up in Florida for a year? I

28:48 Speaker 3: don't think that would be a good fit.

28:50 Speaker 1: He loves playing with Brad Marsham, Yeah, but the player

28:55 Speaker 1: that Sidney Crosby is, I don't think that would ever work.

29:00 Speaker 1: But I could see.

29:01 Speaker 3: Him in Colorado and the culture that they have there,

29:04 Speaker 3: and even potentially Montreal because of the youth and excitement there,

29:11 Speaker 3: and he could maybe see that being also a place

29:14 Speaker 3: to make a big impact. Although you could then make

29:16 Speaker 3: the exact same argument for staying we building on his

29:20 Speaker 3: legacy of sending the next young group of Penguins players

29:26 Speaker 3: out into the beyond. This is also the last season

29:30 Speaker 3: for Alex Ovechkin.

29:32 Speaker 2: You just took the words out of my mind because

29:35 Speaker 2: they've been on the same trajectory for a long time.

29:39 Speaker 2: And Sydney Crosby presents himself as someone who is extremely loyal. Yes,

29:45 Speaker 2: and I can't imagine that he would lead the Penguins

29:49 Speaker 2: to go elsewhere. And Alex Ovechkin is coming back for

29:54 Speaker 2: one more season at a very team friendly price of

29:58 Speaker 2: four and a quarter million dollars. Yeah, I could see

30:01 Speaker 2: Sid doing right. This is a one year deal. Who

30:05 Speaker 2: knows if this will be it for Alex or not?

30:07 Speaker 2: Seems like believe he turns forty one this September. That's

30:12 Speaker 2: right because he Sid also just had his birthday last week.

30:17 Speaker 2: In case anyone ever forgets, it's eight seven eighty seven.

30:22 Speaker 2: So he just turned thirty nine years old.

30:26 Speaker 3: I don't know.

30:27 Speaker 4: It would be a hell of a thing if both

30:31 Speaker 4: of those players, who are two players whose skill and

30:35 Speaker 4: rivalry rejuvenated the entire league, especially right after.

30:42 Speaker 2: The lockout, they put the NHL on the map again,

30:46 Speaker 2: and their rivalry and there to some degree of camaraderie.

30:50 Speaker 3: Can you imagine them retendering at the same time they

30:54 Speaker 3: they started as enemies and then it kind of turned

30:57 Speaker 3: into a very healthy mutual respect. If you go back

31:02 Speaker 3: and you watch interviews. I've seen definitely interviews with Sid

31:07 Speaker 3: who is the consummate professional, But when he was a kid,

31:11 Speaker 3: he would say in interviews, I hate that guy. Like

31:15 Speaker 3: you could never imagine him saying anything like that today

31:18 Speaker 3: just because he's now, you know, this elder statesman. But

31:21 Speaker 3: I think people forget that twenty years ago he was

31:23 Speaker 3: a kid who was like, I hate that guy. And

31:25 Speaker 3: now it's just such a mutual respect for each other.

31:29 Speaker 3: But if, man, if they were to retire together, huge

31:34 Speaker 3: that usually pretty Yeah. I just got goose by I

31:37 Speaker 3: am and I gotta tell you. The Hockey Hall of

31:41 Speaker 3: Fame has a three year mandatory waiting period before you

31:43 Speaker 3: can be considered and you used to be able to

31:46 Speaker 3: have scenarios where that could be waived, and I believe

31:49 Speaker 3: Wayne Gretzky was the last one where that was waived. God,

31:53 Speaker 3: can you imagine them making sid wait wouldn't no? Could no?

32:00 Speaker 2: There's like, just put him in, Obuchkin in. They should

32:03 Speaker 2: just put him in now. They should just put him

32:05 Speaker 2: in now. And just as an aside, an interesting points

32:08 Speaker 2: during one of our discord conversations, the LA Kings and

32:12 Speaker 2: I want to I want to touch it on what

32:14 Speaker 2: they did free agency, because what they did is unbelievable

32:18 Speaker 2: in free agency as well. But they also announced that

32:21 Speaker 2: they were going to retire it immediate, to which you said,

32:26 Speaker 2: and you were absolutely right to which why does it

32:30 Speaker 2: take the Bruins so long to make these announcements and

32:35 Speaker 2: schedule these things, and to which my response was because

32:40 Speaker 2: they want to ensure that they take the fullest advantage

32:44 Speaker 2: the opportunity to capitalize financially.

32:48 Speaker 3: Oh ye, in any way, shape or form. Yes, yep.

32:52 Speaker 3: And maybe this is the thinking of other organizations, but

32:55 Speaker 3: still very good question, very fair to ask. How the

32:58 Speaker 3: Bruins are That's why always been like what do we do? Yeah?

33:02 Speaker 3: And again I know.

33:03 Speaker 2: They're doing it, and people will say, what quit your bitch,

33:06 Speaker 2: and they're doing it. He's going to have the whole

33:07 Speaker 2: day to himself, and as well, he should have data himself.

33:11 Speaker 2: But it seems to me that there are certain no

33:13 Speaker 2: brainer things that an organization, you know, La Kings just said,

33:18 Speaker 2: we're doing this. Yeah, he's finished, We're doing this.

33:22 Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. And it's always been like this because maybe

33:26 Speaker 3: you know, someone might make the argument, well they had

33:28 Speaker 3: the centennial, then it was going to be Chara because

33:31 Speaker 3: then it's going to be burg around and you have

33:34 Speaker 3: to do things in a spread out way or whatever.

33:36 Speaker 2: No.

33:36 Speaker 3: No, now, even if the centennial hadn't happened, they still

33:39 Speaker 3: would have waited. They could have done it. No, they

33:41 Speaker 3: could have done it before the centennial the year that

33:43 Speaker 3: Tara retired.

33:44 Speaker 2: Yeah. So anyways, you know, any opportunity I can take

33:48 Speaker 2: take a shot at Bruin's ownership, I'm going to tease it.

33:50 Speaker 2: So the La Kings also made Jesus. I think they

33:54 Speaker 2: had the most free agent signings other than did they

33:57 Speaker 2: really the Yeah I'm looking at so Vegas signed four

34:02 Speaker 2: five sick nine wow, nine free agents. Now you know

34:08 Speaker 2: a lot of like they're going to be like deal

34:10 Speaker 2: breakers or deal makers in this. But they've certainly added

34:14 Speaker 2: to their their depth, so they've they've got quantity maybe

34:18 Speaker 2: over quality, where I'd say the signings by the La Kings.

34:24 Speaker 3: Were quantity and quality.

34:27 Speaker 2: You know, say what you will of a Corey Perry,

34:30 Speaker 2: the guy can still bring it, you can still bring it.

34:32 Speaker 2: He's still got grello. He's still a dickhead, but he

34:35 Speaker 2: can still bring it on the ice.

34:38 Speaker 3: Scott Lawton, Yeah, some good signings and they have Panarin

34:41 Speaker 3: and they have Paner right. Ellie is definitely one of

34:44 Speaker 3: those teams that they're like San Jose or even Anaheim.

34:48 Speaker 3: They've had glimpses in the very recent past. Anaheim has

34:53 Speaker 3: won a Stanley Cup. The Kings have won a Stanley Cup.

34:56 Speaker 3: San Jose's come really close. So they've gotten the taste

34:59 Speaker 3: and they want to do well. And I think I

35:01 Speaker 3: wouldn't be surprised if some of the aggressive actions of

35:06 Speaker 3: Anaheim have also motivated the Kings to get their rears

35:11 Speaker 3: in gear because they're nearby rivals. The Kings have fallen

35:17 Speaker 3: short in the same round of the playoffs for like

35:20 Speaker 3: five years, and they've always been a competitive team. I

35:24 Speaker 3: don't remember them in recent years kind of being ap team.

35:28 Speaker 3: But now that they have a little more money, they're

35:30 Speaker 3: taking advantage. I think of the opportunity that they have.

35:33 Speaker 3: That's what organizations should do. That's what you like to see.

35:36 Speaker 2: The other as it relates to maybe the competition for

35:39 Speaker 2: the Bruins is the Tampa Bay Lightning landed John Carlson

35:42 Speaker 2: from the Washington Capital. But John Carlson anyways, who pretty

35:48 Speaker 2: damn good defenseman in my mind.

35:51 Speaker 3: Yeah, speaking of other really perennial powerhouses that didn't really

35:56 Speaker 3: do a ton, I mean, aside from Tampa, they were

36:00 Speaker 3: relatively quiet, but they didn't have much that they needed

36:03 Speaker 3: to do because their head coach has a system that

36:09 Speaker 3: really has continued to create a team that is so

36:13 Speaker 3: competitive and it's independent of maybe necessarily the personnel. And

36:18 Speaker 3: it's the same thing I think like within Carolina, where

36:20 Speaker 3: they didn't do a heck of a lot. They lost players,

36:24 Speaker 3: as is expected when you win the Stanley Cup, but

36:26 Speaker 3: I wouldn't be worried about them not keeping up because

36:30 Speaker 3: of the system established by their head coach. So they

36:34 Speaker 3: could have done zero moves and I would still be

36:38 Speaker 3: just as nervous playing against them this fall right. There

36:42 Speaker 3: are only a few teams that can do that, and

36:44 Speaker 3: it's like Colorado, Tampa, and Carolina and it comes down

36:49 Speaker 3: to their coaches.

36:50 Speaker 2: So are there any other free agent we might have

36:53 Speaker 2: missed in terms of notable I don't think so. Maybe

36:57 Speaker 2: someday we'll be talking about some splash that the Bruins make.

37:01 Speaker 2: But it seems like whenever we get to these types

37:04 Speaker 2: of events that we're always rumored to be in the

37:08 Speaker 2: mix of something, but it never really comes to fruition,

37:12 Speaker 2: but by the bridesmaid, never the bride, always the bride'smaid.

37:16 Speaker 2: So with that being said, we thank you for listening.

37:20 Speaker 2: Please make sure you like and subscribe for more content,

37:24 Speaker 2: and be sure to leave us a rating and a

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37:42 Speaker 2: dot com. Any closing thoughts, Bees Go Bruins.

38:00 Speaker 4: Something the

38:05 Speaker 3: B