Signed, Sealed, and Still Re-Tooling in Boston? | Ep. 99

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

0:02 Speaker 2: Please?

0:03 Speaker 1: I need something to do.

0:13 Speaker 2: I'll jack sending out a troup of buck of this

0:14 Speaker 2: says to day, here's a chance, pop right down with

0:21 Speaker 2: goalie Scars.

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

0:24 Speaker 2: Too on one faster not moving in with Marsha get it?

0:27 Speaker 1: Jet Oil dances in podcast Wait at home, right way corner,

0:33 Speaker 1: paster Chester. What is that for? Moston? Welcome in everyone

0:54 Speaker 1: to another episode of Bruins Tape to Tape. I'm your

0:58 Speaker 1: host today, Caroline, and I am joined by my fabulous

1:02 Speaker 1: co host, Maria from Watertown. Hey Maria, Hey Caroline, how's

1:06 Speaker 1: it going. It's going, it's going. It's about mid July,

1:11 Speaker 1: so we're just another week closer to hockey season. It's

1:17 Speaker 1: also a million degrees out and I have to show

1:19 Speaker 1: off some of my fantastic swag from our merch store.

1:23 Speaker 1: If you're not watching on YouTube, I've got a fancy

1:27 Speaker 1: glass with our microphone logo on it. I'm enjoying my

1:32 Speaker 1: juice cocktail here. It's fantastic. I'm keeping cool, keeping cool.

1:37 Speaker 1: How about you, Maria? What are you doing cool right now?

1:40 Speaker 2: Well, my air conditioners have not turned off much at

1:44 Speaker 2: all during these dog days of summer, So I'm spending

1:48 Speaker 2: as much time as I can, maybe out on the

1:50 Speaker 2: golf course and you know, reading up on as much

1:54 Speaker 2: hockey as I can stomach at this time of the year,

1:57 Speaker 2: while everyone else is taking their hockey breaks for development

2:04 Speaker 2: camps and training camps and rookie camps start in earnest.

2:08 Speaker 2: But we've had our time off and now it's time

2:12 Speaker 2: to take a look at the Bruins ross moving forward

2:18 Speaker 2: into the upcoming season.

2:20 Speaker 1: I know it's that time of year where every fan,

2:23 Speaker 1: no matter what team they're on, is asking the question,

2:26 Speaker 1: who's on my team again? I don't know who plays

2:28 Speaker 1: here anymore? What is this roster actually like?

2:31 Speaker 2: Right?

2:31 Speaker 1: Right, right?

2:31 Speaker 2: All valid questions, what are we going to look like?

2:34 Speaker 1: How are we going to do?

2:36 Speaker 2: And you know, obviously those are all going open ended

2:40 Speaker 2: questions right starting the season right and Bruins management really

2:47 Speaker 2: hasn't done a whole heck of a lot during free

2:52 Speaker 2: agency to maybe quell any of the fears of concerns

2:58 Speaker 2: that are being raised by not only us, but many

3:01 Speaker 2: other seasoned Bruins fans. So we're here to help in

3:08 Speaker 2: any way we can, but just rest assured that we

3:12 Speaker 2: likely have similar trepidations going into the upcoming season.

3:19 Speaker 1: Yep, well, I'm sorry, but Maria, as we go through

3:25 Speaker 1: Don and Cam's I don't know business dealings from a

3:29 Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, I'm afraid you're gonna get a

3:30 Speaker 1: little hot under the collar. But see now, I'm trying

3:34 Speaker 1: to stay.

3:35 Speaker 2: I'm trying to stay, come in retirement mode, and you

3:39 Speaker 2: my friend, trying to poke the bear.

3:43 Speaker 1: Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I'm not the one making

3:45 Speaker 1: these horrible decisions. Okay, I'm not making these horrible decisions.

3:50 Speaker 2: Help us, I know.

3:51 Speaker 1: But before we dive right in, we're just going to

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5:23 Speaker 1: All right, Maria, So here's the current situation as it

5:28 Speaker 1: stands it is. So we're recording this a little bit early.

5:32 Speaker 1: It's July eleventh recording day, and Boston currently has two

5:37 Speaker 1: point one million dollars still left in cap space, so

5:42 Speaker 1: the cap is going up to ninety five and a

5:45 Speaker 1: half million dollars, and there are currently three teams across

5:50 Speaker 1: the league that are over the cap. But keep in

5:53 Speaker 1: mind teams are allowed to exceed the cap by ten

5:56 Speaker 1: percent in the summer and they just have to get

5:58 Speaker 1: into compliance by the start of the season. And so

6:02 Speaker 1: Boston is currently six under the cap. So there are

6:06 Speaker 1: six other five other teams ahead of Boston that have

6:10 Speaker 1: less space than them. So not sure what you make

6:15 Speaker 1: of that. Not sure if it's trepidation, if it was

6:21 Speaker 1: the you know, availability of talent. I mean, in general,

6:27 Speaker 1: what was your impression going into free agency in terms

6:31 Speaker 1: of player availability at all? Like, were you impressed not

6:36 Speaker 1: impressed with the crop of free agents.

6:41 Speaker 2: I was not lusting after anybody, if if that's an

6:47 Speaker 2: appropriate response, I mean, were there viable players out there? Sure,

6:52 Speaker 2: you know, but I wasn't. I certainly wasn't going to

6:56 Speaker 2: throw the kind of money at Mitch Marner that Thegus

7:00 Speaker 2: Golden Knights threw at him. And Sam Bennett by all accounts,

7:08 Speaker 2: was going to stay in Florida no matter what. Right,

7:13 Speaker 2: that's just how the writing on the wall was. You know,

7:16 Speaker 2: Brockfester decided to stay in Vancouver, So right, maybe that

7:24 Speaker 2: was part of management's plan, right, I think we all

7:27 Speaker 2: at that time of the year, trade deadlines, free agency. Right,

7:31 Speaker 2: we look at it as Christmas in July, and who

7:34 Speaker 2: doesn't want a shiny new toy? Yeah, as a gift,

7:40 Speaker 2: but at what cost do you bring that gift to someone?

7:48 Speaker 2: My issue is that then we go out and sign

7:53 Speaker 2: a litany of and again, I don't want to be

8:00 Speaker 2: disrespectful in how I described this, because you know, anybody

8:05 Speaker 2: who plays in the NHL clearly has some level of skill, talent,

8:12 Speaker 2: and ability, or else you wouldn't be there. Yeah, but

8:16 Speaker 2: when did the Boston Bruins become the land of misfit toys?

8:21 Speaker 2: I know, a lack of a better Like we've once

8:23 Speaker 2: again gone out and signed a bunch of jacks to

8:29 Speaker 2: what end?

8:30 Speaker 1: Exactly? What end? Exactly? Now, this is something else that

8:34 Speaker 1: I haven't asked you yet. This season feels like or this,

8:41 Speaker 1: you know, off season certainly feels like a lot of

8:46 Speaker 1: I don't know if you would say it's the players

8:48 Speaker 1: doing this, the team's doing this, but it's it feels

8:51 Speaker 1: like it's flirting with circumventing the expected rules or whatever

8:58 Speaker 1: you want to call it by doing the trade and

9:01 Speaker 1: sign deal. We saw that with a number of players,

9:06 Speaker 1: but most notably, of course, Mitch Marner. And in that

9:13 Speaker 1: particular scenario that almost actually felt like an extortion situation

9:20 Speaker 1: that if Vegas didn't participate in a trade to get Marner,

9:27 Speaker 1: that if it went to free agency, that Toronto was

9:30 Speaker 1: threatening then to accuse them of interference regardless, it seemed like,

9:39 Speaker 1: aside from the fact that a lot of teams did

9:42 Speaker 1: some very last minute extensions, so we were being teased

9:47 Speaker 1: for a really long time on the possibility of some

9:50 Speaker 1: players hitting the market. They didn't, and then you saw

9:53 Speaker 1: a number of these trade and sign situations. What do

9:57 Speaker 1: you make of that trend? Because I wouldn't be surprised

10:01 Speaker 1: if we started to see that a little bit more

10:04 Speaker 1: as well. I mean, certainly teams would want something in

10:07 Speaker 1: return if their big fish is walking away for nothing,

10:11 Speaker 1: right well, and.

10:12 Speaker 2: You know what, I'm all for it for a variety

10:15 Speaker 2: of reasons. Number One, right, you drafted, if we're talking

10:21 Speaker 2: specifically about Mitch Marner, sure was drafted by the Maple

10:26 Speaker 2: Leafs a quote unquote homegrown talent. As an organization, you

10:32 Speaker 2: have invested an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources,

10:39 Speaker 2: not the least of which is money. And so why

10:43 Speaker 2: would you want to see that individual just go waltzing

10:48 Speaker 2: off and not get anything in return. Now, you, as

10:54 Speaker 2: the player an agent, you can say, well, the return

10:57 Speaker 2: on your investment was the fact that I played here

10:59 Speaker 2: for all this time, and you know I contributed. I

11:04 Speaker 2: was a meaningful contributor to the success of your team.

11:08 Speaker 2: So I can see both both sides of the coin

11:13 Speaker 2: in that conversation. I do like the the the drama

11:18 Speaker 2: of the you know stuff that came out about the tampering. However,

11:25 Speaker 2: if you listen, and as you do and I do,

11:28 Speaker 2: we listen to other podcasts, and tampering happens all the time.

11:34 Speaker 2: Oh for sure, it happens all the time. So I

11:38 Speaker 2: think Toronto, you know, to their credit and I hate

11:42 Speaker 2: to give them maple Liefs any credit for anything, took

11:45 Speaker 2: advantage of that because they know that there have the

11:48 Speaker 2: the the league is taking longer heart of looks at

11:54 Speaker 2: those types of shenanigans or potential backdoor deals. So, you know,

12:00 Speaker 2: good on Toronto.

12:02 Speaker 1: I suppose, I suppose I know, but listen, we'd be applauding.

12:07 Speaker 2: We'd be applauding otur team as opposed to what our

12:10 Speaker 2: team did was you know, kind of give away, give

12:17 Speaker 2: virtually give away your team's identity traded away, and I'm

12:22 Speaker 2: not sure that you got Now there's no even Stephen trades, right.

12:28 Speaker 2: I mean, it would be nice if that's how it worked,

12:31 Speaker 2: but it doesn't work that way. However, in some circumstances,

12:36 Speaker 2: you expect a little something something back in return when

12:42 Speaker 2: you trade away your identity and your culture.

12:45 Speaker 1: Yeah, yep. So let's take a quick look then at

12:54 Speaker 1: what actually what business was conducted. So I'm gonna go

12:59 Speaker 1: first through the extensions and then we'll talk about the acquisitions.

13:04 Speaker 1: So I'm going to talk about a player real quick,

13:09 Speaker 1: give you the basics of his contract, and then Maria

13:14 Speaker 1: gets to share her honest and unfiltered opinion of this deal.

13:22 Speaker 1: We'll call this a deal or no deal game of

13:25 Speaker 1: free agency for you. So let's start with Morgan Geeky,

13:31 Speaker 1: obviously the one that had all of us wringing our

13:33 Speaker 1: hands a little bit because of just how close to

13:36 Speaker 1: the deadline this one got. And we're all a little

13:40 Speaker 1: I don't know, Jumpie, based on last year's situation with

13:45 Speaker 1: Jeremy Swayman. But Morgan Geeky has signed a six year,

13:51 Speaker 1: five point five cap hit contract which includes signing bonuses

13:55 Speaker 1: through twenty twenty nine, he has full no tray for

14:00 Speaker 1: two seasons, and then he has a modified no trade

14:04 Speaker 1: in twenty seven to twenty eight to a seventeen team list,

14:07 Speaker 1: modified no trade twenty nine for a twelve team no

14:11 Speaker 1: trade list, and a modified no trade for twenty nine

14:16 Speaker 1: and thirty a sixteen no trade list, and then his

14:18 Speaker 1: final year of the contract. It's just the contract. What

14:22 Speaker 1: do you think of this deal for Morgan geek.

14:26 Speaker 2: I'm fine with the money. I'm fine with the money.

14:30 Speaker 2: The term might be a little bit longer then I

14:34 Speaker 2: would have, you know, I guess expected or wanted. However,

14:41 Speaker 2: I have said this on more than one occasion. If

14:43 Speaker 2: Pasta is happy, then we should all be happy. Clearly, clearly,

14:51 Speaker 2: there was chemistry that developed between these two players, and

14:55 Speaker 2: they made each other better on the ice together. My

15:02 Speaker 2: fear for Morgan Geeky is the expectation of living up

15:09 Speaker 2: to that contract, because now you know what he's done

15:13 Speaker 2: is you know, he made himself a thirty goal scorer

15:19 Speaker 2: for the first time in a while, and we his

15:23 Speaker 2: fans right are going to come to expect very close

15:30 Speaker 2: to that, if not a bit more than that, because

15:34 Speaker 2: you know their chemistry didn't really start developing until the

15:40 Speaker 2: second half of the season.

15:42 Speaker 1: Yeah, right, So.

15:45 Speaker 2: That's my only concern for that, And you know, I'm

15:49 Speaker 2: The other thing is these no trade clause They friggin

15:53 Speaker 2: drive me crazy. You know, I understand why you give

15:57 Speaker 2: no trade clauses to elite players, sure, elite players.

16:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, these no trade.

16:05 Speaker 2: Clauses are seemingly, like, you know, a part of the

16:10 Speaker 2: regular recurrence of contract negotiations. Now, I know it's only

16:15 Speaker 2: two years, but still, I don't know. I just stn't

16:20 Speaker 2: know when this became such a kind of secondary no

16:23 Speaker 2: brainer all that we're just going to hand out no

16:25 Speaker 2: trade clauses everybody and anybody that's not a new deal

16:29 Speaker 2: with their team.

16:31 Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. I mean, there's it's one of those

16:35 Speaker 1: things that I think there are certainly gms who are

16:40 Speaker 1: teams who hand them out a little too freely in

16:43 Speaker 1: some situations. But what the right circumstances are I don't

16:49 Speaker 1: know the answer to that.

16:50 Speaker 2: But I don't either. It just seems like it's become

16:53 Speaker 2: extremely common.

16:55 Speaker 1: Yeah, and starting to you can start to see certain

16:59 Speaker 1: teams really it tied up in a way that's not ideal.

17:05 Speaker 2: Then it it can become contentious, right, and we saw

17:08 Speaker 2: that happen at the Range. Though there was some dirt,

17:11 Speaker 2: you know, dirty pool that happened in with the Rangers

17:15 Speaker 2: with regard to with Jacob Trubas. So just just a

17:19 Speaker 2: little aside. But I'm glad Morgan Geeky is back, and

17:25 Speaker 2: I'm glad that you know, he'll be playing likely i'm assuming,

17:29 Speaker 2: alongside David Pasternach for the foreseeable future.

17:33 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. The only thing for me that this contract

17:37 Speaker 1: makes me a little bit nervous is the fact that

17:39 Speaker 1: it expires the same time as David Pasternach. And you know,

17:45 Speaker 1: obviously I don't know what the cap is going to

17:47 Speaker 1: be in twenty thirty one, but if both players are

17:53 Speaker 1: healthy and continue to play at a high level, they

17:57 Speaker 1: will be young enough to be eligible for at least

18:00 Speaker 1: one more contract in their career. And again, if everything

18:04 Speaker 1: goes really well and they are both still phenomenal players,

18:09 Speaker 1: that is going to be an expensive year.

18:12 Speaker 2: That is going to be because David Plastronach is a bargain.

18:18 Speaker 2: He is a bargain. And actually I think I heard

18:21 Speaker 2: as I was listening to the Spit and Chickletz last

18:24 Speaker 2: podcast when they did their free agency review, and Ryan

18:29 Speaker 2: Whitney was just laughing about the value of David like

18:35 Speaker 2: it's a it's a joke that David Pasternak is only

18:38 Speaker 2: and again tongue and she only making eleven million dogs

18:43 Speaker 2: compared to you know, other elite players in the league.

18:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, just as a in a side. Even

18:52 Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, when his contract extension talks

18:56 Speaker 1: were happening, there was talk this was part well, we're

18:59 Speaker 1: about two season into the new contract. He could have

19:03 Speaker 1: really pushed and if he had, for some reason gone

19:06 Speaker 1: to free agency, he could have walked away with at

19:08 Speaker 1: least thirteen million dollars.

19:09 Speaker 2: And this was a couple of seasons ago. And you

19:11 Speaker 2: know what, maybe maybe he will again. You know I

19:15 Speaker 2: mentioned this kind of tongue in cheek in our discord conversation.

19:19 Speaker 2: But you know, how much patience does a David Pasternach

19:24 Speaker 2: have to be part of a rebuilding effort? Right if

19:30 Speaker 2: things become as challenging and trying as they were last season,

19:36 Speaker 2: and I think we all hope that doesn't happen. Yeah,

19:42 Speaker 2: how long would it take before he marches into Donnie's

19:45 Speaker 2: office and say, yeah, I gotta go get me out

19:47 Speaker 2: of here.

19:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly. He's not thirty yet. But once they

19:52 Speaker 1: hit thirty and they don't have a cup to their name,

19:55 Speaker 1: I think they really start to get probably a little nervous.

19:58 Speaker 1: But that's a conversation for a other day or another day.

20:01 Speaker 1: So let's talk about Marat housnadinof So he's one again. Listeners,

20:05 Speaker 1: if you haven't already listened to our conversation about him

20:10 Speaker 1: from a couple episodes. He was a trade acquisition. He

20:15 Speaker 1: came to Boston in the swap with Minnesota, and he

20:20 Speaker 1: came in as an RFA, just a straight RFA. So

20:23 Speaker 1: he was one of those players where if he's basically

20:28 Speaker 1: at the mercy of management, so it was either he's

20:33 Speaker 1: given a qualifying offer and he takes it because he

20:37 Speaker 1: has no arbitration rights, or he's not given a qualifying

20:40 Speaker 1: offer and he's you know, set free to be a

20:43 Speaker 1: UFA for that particular off season. So he was granted

20:48 Speaker 1: a qualifying offer and he actually took a pay increase,

20:56 Speaker 1: So he got a two year deal, a nice little

20:59 Speaker 1: bridge deal nine to five as a cap hit. The

21:03 Speaker 1: base salary this coming year is nine hundred thousand and

21:06 Speaker 1: next season is nine fifty, so that evens out obviously

21:10 Speaker 1: to nine twenty five. So management clearly was intrigued enough

21:16 Speaker 1: to give him that kind of a deal, especially considering

21:23 Speaker 1: one of the next folks that we're going to talk

21:25 Speaker 1: about who did receive a qualifying offer and who didn't

21:31 Speaker 1: receive a qualifying offer in Jacob Lauco. So we're talking

21:36 Speaker 1: right now all essentially pennies like not even one percent

21:42 Speaker 1: of the cap. And it's interesting who got picked and

21:45 Speaker 1: who didn't. But that aside, because I'm sure we'll talk

21:48 Speaker 1: about that when we talk about the next fellow, Marat Husnadinov.

21:52 Speaker 1: What do you think about this particular deal, the term

21:55 Speaker 1: and the pay, and you know, based on our conversation

21:59 Speaker 1: about him last month, what do you think.

22:03 Speaker 2: I mean, does it light my fire? No, it doesn't.

22:08 Speaker 2: But you know, at least the money and the term

22:13 Speaker 2: themes use a friendly for the organization and it doesn't

22:19 Speaker 2: luck them in to anything that they can't get themselves

22:24 Speaker 2: out of if you need me. But I think you know,

22:29 Speaker 2: Whustadino falls into a category of a lot of other

22:33 Speaker 2: guys on this roster in a similar vein that you're like, okay,

22:37 Speaker 2: but why right, But why sure, why why not?

22:42 Speaker 1: Right? It's kind of like, okay, you know me and

22:45 Speaker 1: my analogies. So now we're shopping for groceries, and you

22:51 Speaker 1: know you have to have vegetables, right, you got to

22:53 Speaker 1: eat your veggies. So do you pick the green beans

22:58 Speaker 1: or the carrots? Well? Which one? You know? Maybe you

23:01 Speaker 1: don't love either, but which one do you pick? Uh?

23:06 Speaker 1: Who knows? Right what he is? He could be something

23:09 Speaker 1: interesting and a good deal. He could be something that's

23:13 Speaker 1: interesting and good trade bait, so to speak. But yeah,

23:20 Speaker 1: when it comes to this amount of money, okay, like great,

23:25 Speaker 1: Maybe he's such an unknown that's kind of the problem.

23:28 Speaker 2: I think that's part of it. And maybe they know

23:30 Speaker 2: something we don't. Maybe they see something we we don't.

23:35 Speaker 2: But you know, when when you cobble together, you know,

23:39 Speaker 2: nine twenty five here, nine point fifty here, one point two,

23:43 Speaker 2: it's like.

23:44 Speaker 1: What is it? What?

23:46 Speaker 2: When you add that up, couldn't you have gotten yourself

23:50 Speaker 2: a viable, proven scent?

23:53 Speaker 1: I don't know.

23:53 Speaker 2: And again maybe maybe maybe maybe the deals aren't out there.

23:58 Speaker 2: Maybe the deals aren't out there. Maybe there's so much

24:02 Speaker 2: uncertainty with this franchise right now that it's not an

24:08 Speaker 2: attractive proposition to come right here. And when you have

24:14 Speaker 2: management that has a reputation for hardball negotiations and nickel

24:20 Speaker 2: and diming players, you know, don't don't underestimate the fact

24:27 Speaker 2: that there's still a lot of people in the league

24:30 Speaker 2: that don't like how brad Marshand was dealt with. And

24:39 Speaker 2: I know, you know, they can say we sent him

24:41 Speaker 2: to where he wanted to go, and you know, there

24:44 Speaker 2: may be some truth to some of that. However, you

24:47 Speaker 2: look like a bunch of boobs.

24:53 Speaker 1: I was gonna say idiots, but yeah, he has boobs.

24:55 Speaker 1: Idiots because you didn't want to pay him right right,

25:00 Speaker 1: Oh exactly, you could have had one brad Marshand and

25:03 Speaker 1: instead you went off and bought ten John Beacher's right. So,

25:11 Speaker 1: speaking of John Beacher, he's the one that was particularly

25:16 Speaker 1: shocking to me, considering again you had Jacob Blouco right there.

25:23 Speaker 1: So John Beacher, this is this is interesting to me.

25:28 Speaker 1: This was a last chance deal. So he just came

25:32 Speaker 1: off of a three year deal. Previously he got a

25:37 Speaker 1: qualifying offer and a one year deal of nine hundred

25:40 Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Now what makes this interesting is he is

25:45 Speaker 1: now in this one season making less than he did

25:48 Speaker 1: in his previous contract. His old contract was worth nine

25:51 Speaker 1: to twenty five and that also had signing bonuses. So

25:56 Speaker 1: he effectively is taking a twenty five thousand dollars pay

25:59 Speaker 1: cut Tuesday in Boston, and he took the deal. And

26:07 Speaker 1: I think this is the last chance for him. I

26:09 Speaker 1: think they're giving him the last chance. What are your

26:13 Speaker 1: thoughts on this?

26:15 Speaker 2: Well, here we have another instance of a draft pick

26:21 Speaker 2: who has is struggling in this organization, struggling to develop,

26:28 Speaker 2: struggling to reach a level of expectation that maybe there

26:35 Speaker 2: was when drafting this player. It's interesting with the one

26:39 Speaker 2: year deal and bringing in a coach in Marco Sturm,

26:45 Speaker 2: who has been applauded for his development of young players

26:50 Speaker 2: in the Los Angeles Kings system. So maybe this is

26:55 Speaker 2: one of those instances where, Okay, maybe this is your

26:58 Speaker 2: last chance. We do see something there. Maybe Storm can

27:03 Speaker 2: bring it out in a feature more consistently and to

27:08 Speaker 2: the level that justifies being a high draft pick. If

27:12 Speaker 2: that doesn't happen, he won't make it past March.

27:18 Speaker 1: I don't think. I'm not I'm not sure I would

27:20 Speaker 1: even give him that much time, honestly, right, Yeah, yeah,

27:25 Speaker 1: he's gonna be certainly traded for something. And I think,

27:28 Speaker 1: you know, thinking back on his previous couple of seasons

27:33 Speaker 1: when he made it out of rookie camp, you know,

27:37 Speaker 1: alongside Mason Laurai and and all those kind of young kids,

27:40 Speaker 1: that group, he certainly has special skills when it comes

27:48 Speaker 1: to like face offs. He was one that was doing

27:51 Speaker 1: a great job with that, and he he does do

27:56 Speaker 1: some things very well. But as we've seen since see right,

28:03 Speaker 1: as we have seen with you know again that little

28:07 Speaker 1: group that I'm gonna just call the kids, right who

28:09 Speaker 1: all kind of came up together Patra low Rye Beacher.

28:14 Speaker 1: The problem with those kids is they've not been developed properly.

28:22 Speaker 1: And I'm not saying it in a way that doesn't

28:25 Speaker 1: put some of the responsibility on them, Like obviously, yes

28:29 Speaker 1: there's stuff that they have to be filed. They failed to.

28:33 Speaker 2: Take advantage of opportunities that were clearly provided them in

28:40 Speaker 2: training camp scenarios where you know, in past years, there

28:44 Speaker 2: weren't a lot of open spots, open foster spots on

28:48 Speaker 2: the Boston Bruins team. They got lucky in that time

28:51 Speaker 2: period because there were open spots. However, on the flip side.

28:55 Speaker 1: You know, last year in particular, I feel like those

29:00 Speaker 1: kids were put in scenarios where they were they never

29:05 Speaker 1: were gonna succeed, right, Like you know, putting Mace LOWII

29:10 Speaker 1: and we'll talk about him, you know, on in a

29:14 Speaker 1: position where without Charlie McAvoy and any sort of really

29:20 Speaker 1: good guiding hand, like, he went awry. You know, so

29:25 Speaker 1: maybe don't put him in that situation because he's twenty

29:27 Speaker 1: three and he doesn't know what he's doing. Or with

29:30 Speaker 1: Patra you know, why are you not calling him up

29:33 Speaker 1: to give him the experience? Or with Beacher, like why

29:36 Speaker 1: are you playing him in this way? So you know,

29:39 Speaker 1: it was it it. There were two sides to kind

29:41 Speaker 1: of what's happened with that particular group of kids. But yeah,

29:47 Speaker 1: we'll see if the new coach can kind of help

29:49 Speaker 1: turn them around, because they are the kids, right this

29:54 Speaker 1: is the this is the best that we have with

29:58 Speaker 1: this particular a group because right now our best players

30:04 Speaker 1: are quickly approaching thirty years old, and you need to

30:08 Speaker 1: make sure that the next batch in line right behind them,

30:13 Speaker 1: your twenty to twenty five year olds are getting properly

30:17 Speaker 1: developed so that they can take over. And that's the

30:21 Speaker 1: big question mark and Veature falls into that particular group.

30:27 Speaker 1: The other of the of the kids, obviously, Mason Lawright

30:31 Speaker 1: surprised everybody with a two year, three point two million

30:38 Speaker 1: dollars signing with signing bonuses this coming season worth two

30:43 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This is obviously a significant

30:47 Speaker 1: pay bump from his nine to twenty five k previously. Uh.

30:54 Speaker 1: You know, we've alluded to this particular contract in previous

30:58 Speaker 1: episodes with complete shock, because I think we both agree

31:06 Speaker 1: that when he's good, he's very, very good. It's a

31:11 Speaker 1: lot like how it was with Matt Rislick. When he's great,

31:15 Speaker 1: he's great.

31:16 Speaker 2: When he's bad' not horrible, it's bad and and not

31:20 Speaker 2: just bad where you say, oh, geezz, a young player

31:24 Speaker 2: made a mistake, No, he's bad is in that's it's costly, Okay,

31:31 Speaker 2: it can be costly and yeah, yeah, but it's an overpay.

31:38 Speaker 1: I don't this one.

31:39 Speaker 2: I don't. There's a couple of them I don't understand,

31:42 Speaker 2: and you know, far be it from me to try

31:45 Speaker 2: and understand, because you know, Don Sweeney's from Harvard and

31:48 Speaker 2: Heed's a lot smarter than me. But Jesus Christ, like

31:53 Speaker 2: really you rewarded this kid with that much of a

31:57 Speaker 2: bump yeah in in pay I don't, I don't understand it.

32:03 Speaker 2: I I would like to have someone in that organization

32:08 Speaker 2: explain to me the justification with that significant a jump

32:15 Speaker 2: in this player's salary.

32:18 Speaker 1: It should be Uh. I would have said, I was

32:23 Speaker 1: maybe expecting a one point five, right, And I would

32:29 Speaker 1: have even.

32:29 Speaker 2: Said, you know, to to something okay, right, because again,

32:35 Speaker 2: in in the scheme of things, what is that to

32:38 Speaker 2: an organization right at this point in hockey?

32:41 Speaker 1: Right?

32:41 Speaker 2: But three point two when you you have clear, clear

32:49 Speaker 2: and definable needs and I know, I know you can't

32:53 Speaker 2: carry the money over from one year to the other, right,

32:59 Speaker 2: But that does that mean that you should spend it

33:03 Speaker 2: all or a big part of it in an area

33:07 Speaker 2: that you scratch your head going huh, but why.

33:12 Speaker 1: They could have used that extra million or to pay

33:15 Speaker 1: brad marshand. Instead we've got an overpaid.

33:19 Speaker 2: So that's basically you make a good point, because that's

33:22 Speaker 2: basically what you did. So you gave it to a

33:25 Speaker 2: twenty three year old kid who now offensively offensively as

33:31 Speaker 2: a defenceman. He's clearly gifted and he seems to that

33:38 Speaker 2: aspect of his game comes more naturally to him, but

33:43 Speaker 2: the defensive part of his game still needs a ton

33:48 Speaker 2: of work. And so again these are the decisions where

33:53 Speaker 2: you want to just looked on Sweeney in the face

33:56 Speaker 2: and say, what the.

33:58 Speaker 1: Fuck are you doing? Yeah, yeah, it's that one's a

34:03 Speaker 1: head scratcher, and more evidence to the notion the idea

34:11 Speaker 1: that when Don and Cam are negotiating, that they are

34:16 Speaker 1: the worst negotiators out there, that they're the absolute worst,

34:21 Speaker 1: that they're terrible at negotiating, and I think this is

34:24 Speaker 1: one of them. So the last extension also kind of

34:29 Speaker 1: came in at the eleventh hour that did surprise me.

34:34 Speaker 1: So we talked about Henry Joki har you during our

34:38 Speaker 1: trade acquisition player profiles, and he was one that again

34:44 Speaker 1: coming in so late into the season, only playing those

34:47 Speaker 1: twenty games on a team that was just already drowning

34:52 Speaker 1: and you know, difficult to watch. He was the one

35:00 Speaker 1: that we weren't really sure if he actually wanted to

35:05 Speaker 1: be in Boston because, if you recall, at the trade deadline,

35:08 Speaker 1: he effectively said to Buffalo, because that's where he came from,

35:12 Speaker 1: he wanted out, just get me out of here, and

35:16 Speaker 1: Buffalo essentially just gave him to Boston for I think

35:21 Speaker 1: basically nothing in return. So we had raised the question

35:26 Speaker 1: does he even actually want to be in Boston? Is

35:28 Speaker 1: this a place that he wants to be in? Is

35:31 Speaker 1: he a good enough defenceman? Like? What kind of defensive

35:35 Speaker 1: abilities does he even bring to the table. So, whatever

35:38 Speaker 1: he did in those twenty games, Bruins management thought well

35:44 Speaker 1: of him because he earned himself a three times three

35:48 Speaker 1: million dollar contract with signing bonuses in twenty five twenty

35:53 Speaker 1: six worth five hundred thousand dollars and then in twenty

35:57 Speaker 1: six twenty seven a signing bonus of two hundred and

35:59 Speaker 1: fifty and your favorite, a modified no trade clause for

36:05 Speaker 1: the twenty five to twenty sixth season and eighteen no

36:08 Speaker 1: trade list. So what do you think of this one?

36:12 Speaker 1: I was surprised, but I was too.

36:15 Speaker 2: I was too because I think we were both in

36:17 Speaker 2: agreement that this would be one player where we would

36:20 Speaker 2: be like, you know, I'm not going to shed any

36:23 Speaker 2: tears if they move on, right. You know, I think

36:30 Speaker 2: he's young. He's young. He you know last season. I'm

36:35 Speaker 2: just looking at us now career wise, you know, in

36:40 Speaker 2: four hundred and seven games He's had nineteen goals seventy

36:45 Speaker 2: eight assists, which is not too shabby. Sure career wise,

36:50 Speaker 2: though he's overall in his career he's a minus seventeen,

36:53 Speaker 2: although he finished the twenty twenty four to twenty five

36:57 Speaker 2: season as a plus thirteen, so there must be Again

37:04 Speaker 2: they clearly the Bruins want to become a harder team

37:09 Speaker 2: to play against. We've heard that terminology used quite often

37:15 Speaker 2: already in this offseason, almost to the point where you know,

37:19 Speaker 2: it's it's making me nauseous to continue to hear it. Yeah,

37:23 Speaker 2: that in the term we want to play with more jukes,

37:25 Speaker 2: which I'm like, give me a break, Yeah, give me

37:28 Speaker 2: a break. So you know you can and we've talked

37:32 Speaker 2: about this before. You can have not have enough defense.

37:34 Speaker 2: You can never have enough goaltending, right right, yep.

37:37 Speaker 1: So well, and he's an interesting one because again and

37:43 Speaker 1: again maybe.

37:43 Speaker 2: A little overpay too well. Yeah, so two things.

37:47 Speaker 1: One to your point of his kind of maybe less

37:51 Speaker 1: than fantastic statistics. Keep in mind where he is coming from.

37:56 Speaker 1: He's coming from Chicago, He's coming from Buffalo team not exactly, no, no, no, understood. Yeah, right,

38:03 Speaker 1: And that's probably one of the rationales because again, you're

38:08 Speaker 1: they want to go back from you know, from what

38:12 Speaker 1: Storm says, Sweeney says, they want to go back to

38:17 Speaker 1: a more well, let's see if this comes to fruition,

38:22 Speaker 1: then I call it back to the you know, the

38:24 Speaker 1: Claude Julian days, where we're likely going to be having

38:29 Speaker 1: to watch a lot of games where you hope they

38:33 Speaker 1: get a lead and then they protect that lead and

38:36 Speaker 1: you end up winning the game, you know, three to two,

38:40 Speaker 1: two to one, you know, somewhere along those lines. Yeah. Yeah,

38:46 Speaker 1: but that's exhausting.

38:48 Speaker 2: It is exhausting. It's exhausting to fans. It's frustrating to

38:52 Speaker 2: fans because you know that style of play. Everybody has

38:57 Speaker 2: to be defensively responsible, right right, but then at the

39:03 Speaker 2: expense of potential rate of I don't know again.

39:07 Speaker 1: And that's what you have to do when you don't

39:09 Speaker 1: have a ton of offensive power. Obviously, as we're going

39:13 Speaker 1: to discuss, they will get from him. The other thing,

39:17 Speaker 1: you know that I wanted to bring up was, you know,

39:20 Speaker 1: you mentioned his price tag now when we had our

39:22 Speaker 1: conversation about him a couple of episodes ago. One of

39:26 Speaker 1: the things that also gave you pause and hesitation was

39:30 Speaker 1: his contract that he was finishing up, which was a

39:35 Speaker 1: three point one million dollar contract, and the price kind

39:38 Speaker 1: of gave you pause. You know, he he took a

39:42 Speaker 1: quote unquote pay cut of one hundred grand, but he

39:47 Speaker 1: made up for it in the fact that he got

39:49 Speaker 1: a little bit of term, like a little bit of

39:51 Speaker 1: a bridge deal. Any kind of reaction to that, or

39:59 Speaker 1: is it more of a well, let's wait and see now,

40:01 Speaker 1: because he's here for X number of years, is he

40:04 Speaker 1: actually worth Yeah? Three?

40:06 Speaker 2: I mean, I guess I have no choice but to say,

40:09 Speaker 2: let's wait and see. That might explain why Laura got

40:12 Speaker 2: what he got, because maybe they anticipated right, and they

40:17 Speaker 2: probably didn't want Yokiharu to be making more money than Laura.

40:22 Speaker 2: You know, these are the dilemmas that when you sometimes

40:26 Speaker 2: mismanage your froster or misallocate, you know, player values. This

40:34 Speaker 2: is the conundrum of the pickle or the mess that

40:37 Speaker 2: you get yourself into. One can only hope that he

40:43 Speaker 2: continues on an upward trajectory and becomes maybe you know,

40:49 Speaker 2: a team who because listen, any playoff contending team at

40:53 Speaker 2: some point in time is always looking for defensive help

40:58 Speaker 2: heading into the playoffs. I mean, yeah, look at what

41:02 Speaker 2: Seth Jones did for the Florida Panthers, and I'm not comparing.

41:08 Speaker 2: I'm not comparing well this kid to Seth Jones. I'm

41:11 Speaker 2: just the analogy of, you know, needing to shore up

41:15 Speaker 2: and have as much defensive depth. So maybe he one

41:19 Speaker 2: of the two of them, either Yokiharu or Lori, becomes

41:24 Speaker 2: a viable asset for the Bruins.

41:27 Speaker 1: Exactly. Yep. So let's dive in now to the new

41:32 Speaker 1: folks on the team. First, I'm going to talk about

41:37 Speaker 1: actually the trade acquisition Victor Arvidson. He was traded in

41:43 Speaker 1: from Edmonton on He's on year two of a two year,

41:48 Speaker 1: four million dollar contract. Edmonton did not retain any of that,

41:53 Speaker 1: so that is a four million dollar paycheck coming straight

41:56 Speaker 1: from Boston. And keep in mind he is a thirty

42:00 Speaker 1: two year old winger. Thoughts on this it basically, you know,

42:08 Speaker 1: another one of those like Yoki Haru situation where it's like,

42:11 Speaker 1: all right, here, take this guy. You know, I'm sure

42:14 Speaker 1: Edmonton was trying to shed cap, so here here's this

42:18 Speaker 1: veteran player.

42:20 Speaker 2: Why did you take his whole salary?

42:22 Speaker 1: Like?

42:22 Speaker 2: Why what? Why are you doing? Favors for the Edmonton Oilers.

42:29 Speaker 1: Right, so keep this in mind. Here's a little bit

42:33 Speaker 1: of info on him. If you don't know who he is.

42:36 Speaker 1: Obviously he is coming from Edmonton. Last season, he played

42:41 Speaker 1: sixty seven games, so pretty much most of the season.

42:44 Speaker 1: He had fifteen goals. All right, I'm not gonna you know,

42:47 Speaker 1: based on our current situation, I'm not going to say

42:50 Speaker 1: poo pooh to fifteen goals, twelve assists for twenty seven points.

42:55 Speaker 1: He was a minus three and he had twenty four

42:59 Speaker 1: penalty minutes. But on the plus side, his corsi four,

43:04 Speaker 1: so the man does take shots was over fifty percent.

43:06 Speaker 1: It was fifty five percent, So I mean, I guess

43:10 Speaker 1: I can't be mad about that. What do you what

43:13 Speaker 1: kind of role do you think this guy is going

43:15 Speaker 1: to even.

43:15 Speaker 3: Be playing on the team, because I hope this guy

43:18 Speaker 3: will light a fire under pavel Zaka's ass especially if

43:22 Speaker 3: this guy is a has a shoot first mentality, which

43:27 Speaker 3: is what we've heard, that he will take a shot,

43:31 Speaker 3: whereas pavel Zaka sometimes.

43:35 Speaker 2: Right doesn't take the shot that's given to him. There's

43:38 Speaker 2: there's a potential upside right to him as a player.

43:43 Speaker 2: He's got decent playoff stats, again, not that this roster

43:48 Speaker 2: is a playoff roster at this point in time, right, yeah, yep,

43:53 Speaker 2: but if if nothing else, maybe it will light a

43:58 Speaker 2: fire under sure, I mean, you know, State, and maybe

44:04 Speaker 2: we'll give them flexibility to be able to have moving

44:09 Speaker 2: parts on, you know, within the first three lines.

44:15 Speaker 1: Sure, exactly. So you know, Arvidson's coming off of a

44:19 Speaker 1: team that was just on obviously the ultimate Cup run,

44:23 Speaker 1: you know, thinking about where he could be placed on

44:26 Speaker 1: the roster, I think general consensus is that he would

44:31 Speaker 1: be a second line right wing and that Pavo Zaka

44:35 Speaker 1: would be moving to the left wing to be centered

44:37 Speaker 1: by Casey Middlestat. You know, we didn't really see I

44:44 Speaker 1: mean again those final twenty games when we're all we

44:47 Speaker 1: were all in deep mourning, like nobody was really paying attention.

44:51 Speaker 1: So we don't really know what that's going to look

44:53 Speaker 1: like potentially, But I would like.

44:56 Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you something, if the this year's

45:00 Speaker 2: team and coaching staff and management doesn't address their secondary

45:08 Speaker 2: scoring problems, okay, once and for all, this retool rebuild

45:17 Speaker 2: is going to be worthless, going to be worthless, and

45:22 Speaker 2: and you know, maybe that's some of what you know,

45:26 Speaker 2: the hope for Victor Arbinson will be where they can

45:30 Speaker 2: maybe try to balance and not have one top heavy line.

45:36 Speaker 2: But you've I mean, and again, I hate to keep

45:44 Speaker 2: going back and comparing, but the Florida Panthers have set

45:49 Speaker 2: the standard in the league for what you need to

45:54 Speaker 2: do to be a successful team. Not the best tea

46:00 Speaker 2: in the league. They don't care about the President's Trophy,

46:04 Speaker 2: but to be an elite team in the playoffs. They

46:08 Speaker 2: have set the standard. And you look at their lines

46:13 Speaker 2: and you see that they have balanced scoring throughout their lines.

46:21 Speaker 2: So the Bruins have got to figure this out. Maybe

46:25 Speaker 2: that's part of it. I still don't get why they

46:30 Speaker 2: felt the need to take the entire contract.

46:34 Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know they had the space. I have

46:37 Speaker 1: no idea, but I will say one thing, and it's

46:44 Speaker 1: I need to see this potential second line. If this

46:48 Speaker 1: is our base second line of Zaka, middle Stat and Arvidson,

46:52 Speaker 1: I'm going to need to see forty to fifty goals

46:56 Speaker 1: from this line this coming season. Oh yeah, yeah, minimum? Right,

47:01 Speaker 1: because I'm tired, and I think minimum, I know, fifty

47:06 Speaker 1: goals out of these combined players. And that's being forgiving

47:10 Speaker 1: and allowing Casey Middleset to effectively not have to score.

47:14 Speaker 2: But like you know, it has to come somewhere.

47:18 Speaker 1: It's got to come from your top six. I'm not

47:21 Speaker 1: worried about the top line right like I'm expecting.

47:24 Speaker 2: Oh, they're going to get No.

47:25 Speaker 1: One hundred goals from the top line. I need to

47:30 Speaker 1: see forty to fifty from that second line to feel

47:33 Speaker 1: like we're moving in the right direction for this. But

47:35 Speaker 1: are we.

47:37 Speaker 2: Are we setting our expectations much too high? And are

47:42 Speaker 2: we setting ourselves up for disappointment?

47:44 Speaker 3: Now?

47:45 Speaker 2: Hard to answer either one of those questions right now

47:49 Speaker 2: until we start seeing games, but I think we're going

47:54 Speaker 2: to be able to get those questions answered pretty quick

47:58 Speaker 2: into the season.

48:01 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, yep, exactly. All right, So next we will

48:07 Speaker 1: talk about the actual signings. So we brought in Jordan

48:13 Speaker 1: Harris from the Columbus Blue Jackets, a twenty five year

48:17 Speaker 1: old defenceman. He was traded in twenty twenty four from

48:20 Speaker 1: the Habs to Columbus, but he was not given a

48:24 Speaker 1: qualifying offer, so that made him a UFA for this

48:27 Speaker 1: off season. He'd been making one point four million annually

48:34 Speaker 1: in his previous contracts, but in signing with Boston. He

48:40 Speaker 1: actually took a pretty significant pay cut with a one

48:43 Speaker 1: year deal worth eight hundred and twenty five thousand dollars,

48:46 Speaker 1: so really quickly, because I didn't I have no idea

48:51 Speaker 1: who this kid was. He played only thirty three games

48:55 Speaker 1: last year with a goal and four assists minus one.

49:01 Speaker 1: You know, I think this is probably one of those

49:05 Speaker 1: situations where it's we need to gather uh defenseman just

49:11 Speaker 1: to have in the wings. You know, maybe he's gonna

49:13 Speaker 1: be in the you know, the the seventh or eighth

49:18 Speaker 1: defenseman to move up and down. But I just thought

49:22 Speaker 1: it was really intriguing that he was being paid, you know,

49:26 Speaker 1: over a million dollars previously and then got this one

49:29 Speaker 1: year deal for quite a lot less. So just maybe

49:34 Speaker 1: like what's going on here?

49:35 Speaker 2: But this he's a local boy, and so we know

49:38 Speaker 2: how much Donnie loves his his local boys. So you know,

49:43 Speaker 2: maybe it was a match that worked out not only

49:48 Speaker 2: for the organization but for the player too. So and again,

49:53 Speaker 2: you know, credit to the player for being willing to

49:56 Speaker 2: take a quote unquote hometown discount. But yeah, so I'm

50:05 Speaker 2: told I haven't I have very little expectation of that.

50:10 Speaker 2: If we see much of him at all, because you know,

50:13 Speaker 2: and let's hope this is not the case unless there

50:16 Speaker 2: are injuries again to key defensive players. I'm not sure

50:22 Speaker 2: we're going to see a lot of Jordan Harris, right who, Yes,

50:27 Speaker 2: he could shock the world, who knows. Sure, So our last.

50:34 Speaker 1: Two signings, I'm going to be very intrigued to see

50:41 Speaker 1: how they compare as the season progresses, because I am

50:46 Speaker 1: talking about, of course, Tanner Jane and Michael Isamont. Now,

50:51 Speaker 1: both players are twenty eight year old forwards. Okay, the

50:56 Speaker 1: difference in what their terms are and their pay is significant. Yeah,

51:04 Speaker 1: all right, And so I and I don't I don't

51:09 Speaker 1: know much about these players other than the you know,

51:14 Speaker 1: the stats and the information that I've read about them

51:16 Speaker 1: and seen in their you know, trade histories and blah

51:18 Speaker 1: blah blah. But this is going to be really interesting

51:20 Speaker 1: for me to track. I believe both players are effectively

51:25 Speaker 1: third line players. So let's start out with the easy one,

51:31 Speaker 1: which is Ismat because there's this less less to talk

51:36 Speaker 1: about him, I suppose. So he was traded this past

51:39 Speaker 1: year at the deadline from Tampa Bay to Seattle. He

51:44 Speaker 1: had He's received a two times one point four million

51:47 Speaker 1: dollar contract, which is an increase from the eight hundred

51:51 Speaker 1: thousand that he got from Tampa Bay. So kind of

51:53 Speaker 1: actually the inverse of what happened with Jordan Harris. So

51:58 Speaker 1: clearly Boston c something In this forward, you know, per

52:03 Speaker 1: the Internet, it says he can play all three positions,

52:06 Speaker 1: so he's likely though, gonna get a winger role. He's

52:15 Speaker 1: fairly I thought he was fairly I don't know, unknown

52:20 Speaker 1: to me, but he played seventy seven games last season,

52:24 Speaker 1: so he clearly was out there doing his thing. Nine goals,

52:28 Speaker 1: seven assists, sixteen points, he was a plus one and

52:31 Speaker 1: his coursy four percentages of fifty two. So I'm intrigued

52:36 Speaker 1: by him just from those statistics alone, that here you've

52:41 Speaker 1: got this kid who is making you know, one and

52:43 Speaker 1: change or whatever I just said and two. Yeah, at

52:48 Speaker 1: one point four to five million. And I think he's

52:53 Speaker 1: a little bit of a dark horse. I like that

52:55 Speaker 1: he played a full seventy seven last year. If he's

52:58 Speaker 1: a third liner nine goals, I'm not mad about that. No, No,

53:02 Speaker 1: So I'm intrigued. I don't know about your thoughts on

53:05 Speaker 1: I am too. I am too.

53:08 Speaker 2: And I like the fact that you know, there's an

53:12 Speaker 2: addition of competition for certain roles and hopefully you know,

53:19 Speaker 2: we talked about this last year at the start of

53:22 Speaker 2: the season about what a ship Show training camp was,

53:24 Speaker 2: and they seemed to be, you know, no clear direction

53:28 Speaker 2: or structure or you know, just it was just not good.

53:34 Speaker 1: It was just not good.

53:36 Speaker 2: So I think that this season there are actually viable

53:42 Speaker 2: spots that you know there in essence, these will be tryouts,

53:48 Speaker 2: These will be tryouts, and you are likely going to

53:52 Speaker 2: earn I hope you are likely going to earn your

53:55 Speaker 2: role or your spot in the opening day lineup by

54:00 Speaker 2: or two of what you accomplish during training camp and

54:04 Speaker 2: maybe you know, some of the preseason games. So i'm

54:07 Speaker 2: i'm i'm, I'm okay with this signing. Yeah, you know,

54:13 Speaker 2: it didn't cost you a lot. No, there's a good

54:16 Speaker 2: opportunity for a viable return and reward at at low risk.

54:22 Speaker 2: At low risk.

54:24 Speaker 1: Now to the other guy, the other guy, the semi counterpart. So,

54:29 Speaker 1: like I said, I'm expecting uh to be your third

54:35 Speaker 1: line right winger and the left winger. Oh and you

54:40 Speaker 1: know what, Maria, I just realized I forgot to put

54:42 Speaker 1: down some notes about another player. So we're gonna have

54:46 Speaker 1: to do his review on the fly. But he's an old,

54:49 Speaker 1: old friend of the team, so I shouldn't.

54:51 Speaker 2: Be Oh yeah, mister, I forgot all about it.

54:54 Speaker 1: But we're gonna talk about Tanner Jane. But Tanner Jane.

54:59 Speaker 1: So so I again have heard that there was a

55:04 Speaker 1: lot of competition for this guy. And if you recall,

55:07 Speaker 1: and we've talked a little bit about him, just because

55:10 Speaker 1: this competition.

55:11 Speaker 2: Doesn't mean mean that you have to be the highest bidder.

55:15 Speaker 1: Right, And was this ape was his alleged bidding war

55:20 Speaker 1: over him due to the fact that he can actually

55:23 Speaker 1: accomplish something, or is it because of the lack of

55:28 Speaker 1: options available for in the free agency? But regardless, So Danner,

55:35 Speaker 1: you know, essentially has taken over the contract of what

55:43 Speaker 1: Trent Frederick had. So he's he's signed a five year,

55:49 Speaker 1: three point four million dollar contract with I know, with

55:55 Speaker 1: signing bonuses and not tiny signing bonuses either. In twenty

55:59 Speaker 1: five twenty six it's a two point twenty five million

56:02 Speaker 1: dollar bonus, twenty six twenty seven a one point five,

56:05 Speaker 1: and twenty seven to twenty eight a one million and

56:08 Speaker 1: he has a full no trade through twenty twenty seven

56:11 Speaker 1: and then it goes modified for the next two seasons

56:14 Speaker 1: after with a fifteen team no trade followed by a

56:17 Speaker 1: seven team no trade. Now what irritates me about this

56:24 Speaker 1: particular contract because look, big picture, three point four million

56:28 Speaker 1: dollars Uh, not a ton of money, right, no snier,

56:35 Speaker 1: It's the right, fair, right, fair value, and even potentially

56:43 Speaker 1: fair term for a decent third line player.

56:47 Speaker 2: Right.

56:48 Speaker 1: Uh. My particular issue becomes the term and a little

56:53 Speaker 1: bit of the pay when I do a little bit

56:55 Speaker 1: of digger deep, dig deeper digging on this, particularly.

57:01 Speaker 2: Because he hasn't panned out right anywhere that he has landed.

57:06 Speaker 4: Right, he seems to have failed to meet expectations every

57:14 Speaker 4: team that he has played for in the NHL.

57:17 Speaker 1: That arguably the last time he was what I would

57:23 Speaker 1: consider successful was when he played for the Moosejaw Warriors,

57:28 Speaker 1: and this was, you know, quite a number of years

57:31 Speaker 1: ago at this point. Now, yes, I've heard the stories

57:34 Speaker 1: about how he is one of the most fit players

57:37 Speaker 1: that he has you know, awards named after him for

57:40 Speaker 1: his you know, fitness and his commitment to the room.

57:45 Speaker 2: He's a character guy, he'll defend his teammates, blah blah blah.

57:51 Speaker 1: Right, but I'm also getting a little bit tired of

57:58 Speaker 1: this team instead of trying to develop its own identity whatever,

58:05 Speaker 1: this post golden age ruins, because the golden age for me,

58:11 Speaker 1: of course, was the Chara Berger on marshand era. It

58:16 Speaker 1: now is the time for the team to figure out

58:18 Speaker 1: and develop its own new culture and its own identity.

58:23 Speaker 1: And right now, what it seems like they've been doing

58:26 Speaker 1: for the last two years is how do we be

58:29 Speaker 1: like Florida. Well, your only Florida can be Florida, right.

58:33 Speaker 1: You can try to imitate it, and it will never

58:37 Speaker 1: pan out to be exactly the same. You're going to

58:40 Speaker 1: end up with a cheaper in terms of quality, a

58:45 Speaker 1: crappier version that is just inauthentic and not who you are.

58:51 Speaker 1: And I recently listened to Elliott Friedman talking about how, oh,

58:57 Speaker 1: you know, the impression that he's getting from a wherever

59:01 Speaker 1: is that Jane is being brought in to take on

59:04 Speaker 1: some of those minutes that Zadorov was getting. But let

59:08 Speaker 1: me tell you, my friend, Zadorov wasn't getting minutes for fighting.

59:13 Speaker 1: He was getting minutes because he was taking stupid penalties

59:15 Speaker 1: because he's a lazy player, not because he's getting into fights,

59:19 Speaker 1: And I don't want a guy who can just go

59:21 Speaker 1: out and get into fights just to get into fights,

59:24 Speaker 1: or to be this tough guy or whatever. That's that's stupid,

59:27 Speaker 1: that is not what this game is. And the other

59:30 Speaker 1: idea that is he gonna be the juice that Don

59:33 Speaker 1: Sweeney keeps referring to. I'm zach. But I feel like

59:38 Speaker 1: if it's done or it's cam, they're trying to and

59:41 Speaker 1: you know you've seen this with their new throwback jersey,

59:45 Speaker 1: they're trying to go back to a time of old.

59:49 Speaker 1: Tradition is important in hockey, right. It's one of the

59:52 Speaker 1: things that makes hockey as a sport unique to all

59:56 Speaker 1: other sports because it's tradition is so important. But you

1:00:00 Speaker 1: cannot just focus on tradition in a way that takes

1:00:07 Speaker 1: the way you play the game backwards. When the game

1:00:10 Speaker 1: that is being played out on the ice is completely

1:00:13 Speaker 1: different than how it was being played in the nineteen

1:00:16 Speaker 1: eighties and the nineteen nineties. This is a time of

1:00:21 Speaker 1: high skill, extremely high skill elite goal scorers, not a

1:00:27 Speaker 1: time of go out and punch and knock out other players.

1:00:33 Speaker 1: And that is what I got from this particular signing.

1:00:38 Speaker 1: That makes me so irritated with this management because it

1:00:45 Speaker 1: tells me that they are so disconnected from the reality,

1:00:49 Speaker 1: they are so unaware of what the product is that

1:00:52 Speaker 1: is out on the ice these days that I'm at

1:00:58 Speaker 1: a loss because I don't know what they're doing, and

1:01:03 Speaker 1: it's it's troubling to me.

1:01:05 Speaker 2: It's troubling to me that you even right now, right now,

1:01:14 Speaker 2: at this you know, we just went through free agency,

1:01:17 Speaker 2: we just had development camp, rookie camp is going to

1:01:20 Speaker 2: be starting, and I have yet two understand what this

1:01:30 Speaker 2: team's identity is going to be. I've yet to understand.

1:01:36 Speaker 2: I've yet to understand the direction that management is going in,

1:01:40 Speaker 2: even with these particular signings. And I know that the

1:01:45 Speaker 2: phrase that they keep using is we want to be

1:01:48 Speaker 2: a team that's hard to play against. Okay, I can

1:01:51 Speaker 2: wrap my head around that, right because there was too

1:01:55 Speaker 2: much and we talked about it at nauseam where the

1:01:59 Speaker 2: opposing team was literally game after game, shift after shift,

1:02:05 Speaker 2: period after period, skating in, dancing in, waltzing in, walking

1:02:10 Speaker 2: into our own end of the ice, virtually untouched. Okay,

1:02:14 Speaker 2: I can get on board with that, But the last

1:02:17 Speaker 2: time I checked, you still have to score one more goal.

1:02:22 Speaker 2: Than the other team in order to win games.

1:02:26 Speaker 1: Right, yep.

1:02:27 Speaker 2: And I hate to sound like a broken record, and

1:02:31 Speaker 2: I hate to sound like an old head, but Jesus Christ,

1:02:36 Speaker 2: this lack of balanced scoring problem has gone back way

1:02:45 Speaker 2: beyond where we find ourselves now, way beyond. And this

1:02:52 Speaker 2: group has seemingly and when I say this group, this

1:02:57 Speaker 2: management group, because they've been the ones pretty much in charge, Okay, hey,

1:03:03 Speaker 2: have not have not resolved the problem. And for experts

1:03:09 Speaker 2: to say, oh, well, they're just lining themselves up because

1:03:14 Speaker 2: there's a better crop of free agents coming in next year,

1:03:18 Speaker 2: don't let them off the friggin' hook. No, for basically

1:03:23 Speaker 2: what they have done, which is inexcusable roster mismanagement. Okay,

1:03:29 Speaker 2: so again, I'm you know, Tanner jano Is probably is

1:03:35 Speaker 2: a character guy. You know, I've heard many people say,

1:03:39 Speaker 2: you know, he's a great guy to have in the

1:03:41 Speaker 2: locker room. He's got the potential, He's got the potential. Okay, Well,

1:03:46 Speaker 2: we're not in a position. We're not in a position

1:03:50 Speaker 2: I think that we can take reclamation problem project or

1:03:57 Speaker 2: should be taking reclamations right.

1:04:01 Speaker 1: Not at that kind of a term. Right. We can't

1:04:04 Speaker 1: afford a personality higher. Right now, we're in a startup phase.

1:04:08 Speaker 1: We need all hands on deck, we need everybody contributing.

1:04:12 Speaker 1: And I just like, yes, we talk about a lot.

1:04:16 Speaker 1: You know, it's important to have people contributing off the ice.

1:04:20 Speaker 1: That is very important. Obviously, we saw what happened when

1:04:23 Speaker 1: you subtracted all of those off ice support people, like

1:04:28 Speaker 1: what happened then on ice, But we're all right now

1:04:33 Speaker 1: we're trying to find You need to find a balance

1:04:36 Speaker 1: between making sure that you can have a good off ice,

1:04:40 Speaker 1: you know, team, and a good on ice team, and

1:04:44 Speaker 1: for that amount of money, for that amount of time,

1:04:46 Speaker 1: I'm not convinced that it's enough to make a difference

1:04:52 Speaker 1: on or off the ice. So who knows? Again, I mean,

1:04:56 Speaker 1: his agent has got.

1:04:57 Speaker 2: To be phenomenal to have been able to negotiate.

1:05:00 Speaker 1: And and how does he keep getting these opportunities? I

1:05:05 Speaker 1: don't know.

1:05:05 Speaker 2: I just that's the one to me that is like you, okay,

1:05:11 Speaker 2: you dumped Freddy.

1:05:13 Speaker 1: Right now you picked up Against which is just as bad.

1:05:16 Speaker 2: This is this player is likely going to be or

1:05:21 Speaker 2: is on paper probably a better player than Freddy, But

1:05:26 Speaker 2: why the five years?

1:05:28 Speaker 4: Right?

1:05:28 Speaker 1: Why? Why? Why? Especially considering he's been traded mid season

1:05:34 Speaker 1: two years in a row. I mean, that's just about

1:05:36 Speaker 1: as bad as not getting a qualifying offer, Like, well,

1:05:38 Speaker 1: what does that mean? What's wrong with you? What? That's suspicious? Like?

1:05:42 Speaker 1: I don't like that. But we will of course get

1:05:47 Speaker 1: into his situation more in the coming months. But of

1:05:52 Speaker 1: course I didn't want to forget quickly. Uh. The other

1:05:56 Speaker 1: one that he's come back into the fall Sean Kraal. So,

1:06:01 Speaker 1: if you recall, he started out in Boston way back

1:06:07 Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen, and he was with Boston for a

1:06:10 Speaker 1: number of years, including through the sad twenty nineteen Cup run.

1:06:16 Speaker 1: And actually his contract in Boston ended in twenty twenty

1:06:20 Speaker 1: one and he left as a UFA to go out

1:06:23 Speaker 1: to Columbus where he he spent four years, and he

1:06:28 Speaker 1: actually took on a great leadership role there. He wre

1:06:31 Speaker 1: A a number of times. But he is, of course

1:06:36 Speaker 1: coming towards the end of his career. He is thirty

1:06:38 Speaker 1: two years old. He just signed a two year contract

1:06:42 Speaker 1: for a little bit less money than he'd been making

1:06:45 Speaker 1: in Columbus. There he'd been making two point five in Boston,

1:06:49 Speaker 1: he's going to be making one point eight five.

1:06:53 Speaker 4: With some.

1:06:55 Speaker 1: No he's actually not getting any bonuses. I was just

1:06:57 Speaker 1: gonna say, but this is a guy who you know,

1:07:01 Speaker 1: we haven't seen him in four years. You're you're gonna

1:07:07 Speaker 1: see him probably at least to start as centering your

1:07:12 Speaker 1: third line. But this is a guy, Now, this is

1:07:15 Speaker 1: a guy who maybe he's not gonna be the biggest producer,

1:07:22 Speaker 1: He's maybe not the you know, he's obviously not going

1:07:26 Speaker 1: to be playing top line minutes. But this is a

1:07:30 Speaker 1: guy I think, who is going to provide good leadership

1:07:35 Speaker 1: on the ice for the bottom six players, especially the kids.

1:07:39 Speaker 1: And he's going to provide good leadership off the ice

1:07:43 Speaker 1: in the locker room. And he costs a hell of

1:07:46 Speaker 1: a lot less. But what are you thinking about Sean

1:07:50 Speaker 1: Coraley returning to Boston?

1:07:52 Speaker 2: I mean again, you know, none of these signings made

1:07:56 Speaker 2: me want to, you know, dance on a table, okay,

1:08:00 Speaker 2: And you know, my last memories of Sean Corally were

1:08:08 Speaker 2: you know, I had higher expectations for him than what

1:08:13 Speaker 2: he ultimately ended up providing, you know, to us. And

1:08:18 Speaker 2: I understand why the Bruins you know, moved on and

1:08:22 Speaker 2: let him go out and you know, get his bag

1:08:25 Speaker 2: of cash someplace else, because they weren't in a position

1:08:29 Speaker 2: where they were going to be paying whatever the market

1:08:32 Speaker 2: value was at the time. You know, again another you know,

1:08:40 Speaker 2: just another guy, just another guy. Sure, just another guy,

1:08:45 Speaker 2: you know, welcome back. I'm sure he's excited to be back.

1:08:49 Speaker 2: He has familiarity with maybe some of the players currently

1:08:53 Speaker 2: on the roster, certainly with management. Management has familiarity with

1:08:58 Speaker 2: the player. Okay, fine, but again we're we're we're building a.

1:09:04 Speaker 1: Roster of this.

1:09:07 Speaker 2: This isn't you know, this isn't twenty and eleven.

1:09:10 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for me, I'm hoping. You know, the

1:09:17 Speaker 1: biggest role that we realized that the team did not

1:09:21 Speaker 1: have last year at all, even at the very beginning,

1:09:25 Speaker 1: was an uncle Nick. So now we're just forever going

1:09:28 Speaker 1: to call that role the uncle Nick. Right.

1:09:31 Speaker 2: Well, it started even before that with you know, the

1:09:34 Speaker 2: likes of you know, I mean, we can start with

1:09:36 Speaker 2: charr but then you know Mark Reki Yeah yeah, yeah,

1:09:41 Speaker 2: you know, we can't underestimate Charlie Coyle's contribution as you know,

1:09:46 Speaker 2: a leader in that room. So yes, all important aspects

1:09:50 Speaker 2: of a team's dynamic and culture.

1:09:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and even when they when they traded

1:09:57 Speaker 1: Nick Felino away, you know, they brought in Kevin Chatt

1:10:00 Speaker 1: and Kirk who kind of was also a little bit

1:10:02 Speaker 1: in that role. You need that This is gonna sound ridiculous,

1:10:06 Speaker 1: but almost like a den Mother type for the bottom

1:10:09 Speaker 1: six to really be like the leader of those guys, right,

1:10:13 Speaker 1: And there was no Uncle Nick last year for that group.

1:10:18 Speaker 1: Really there wasn't. And I think it was you know,

1:10:23 Speaker 1: it wasn't something that Charlie Coyle could truly take over

1:10:27 Speaker 1: last year because he was having a rough year. So

1:10:30 Speaker 1: it's like really hard, I think, to play that role

1:10:32 Speaker 1: when you yourself are having such a difficult year and

1:10:35 Speaker 1: you're wrapped up in all of that as well. And

1:10:37 Speaker 1: so I think that that's the role that he could

1:10:41 Speaker 1: potentially be taking over, and hopefully that's an element that

1:10:49 Speaker 1: helps with everything that's disastrous happening off the ice as

1:10:56 Speaker 1: well as on the ice. So I'm not mad about it.

1:11:00 Speaker 2: I mean I think, oh no, I'm not bad. I'm

1:11:03 Speaker 2: not mad. I'm just like okay, ho hum, Like it

1:11:06 Speaker 2: doesn't you know, it doesn't give me. None of these signings, right,

1:11:11 Speaker 2: and I'm not sure that anybody is. We're probably not alone.

1:11:15 Speaker 2: None of these signings and deals give me a warm

1:11:20 Speaker 2: and fuzzy. Now, might I get a little bit warm

1:11:23 Speaker 2: and fuzzy when I see players on the ice and

1:11:28 Speaker 2: chemistry maybe developing, But you know, right now, on paper, yeah,

1:11:35 Speaker 2: this is not a roster that gives a lot of

1:11:39 Speaker 2: other teams in the league pause for concern.

1:11:42 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I agree.

1:11:44 Speaker 2: Maybe defensively, and maybe that's the road they're going to

1:11:47 Speaker 2: go down. Maybe defensively, you know, because you know Jeremy

1:11:52 Speaker 2: Swayman needs and will I mean, I'm going to say

1:11:58 Speaker 2: that he if he doesn't have a better year, this

1:12:04 Speaker 2: team is in a shit ton of trouble, a shit

1:12:08 Speaker 2: ton of trouble now. You know, based on how he

1:12:11 Speaker 2: performed in the Four Nations, it seems like he was

1:12:15 Speaker 2: on an upward trajectory, right, And I think having McAvoy

1:12:23 Speaker 2: and Lindholm back and healthy and staying healthy, because I

1:12:29 Speaker 2: thought the Bruins defense was going to be miserable for

1:12:33 Speaker 2: other teams to play against last season, and that unfortunately

1:12:37 Speaker 2: was not the case more often than not. So those

1:12:42 Speaker 2: are areas that I'm going to say will improve.

1:12:47 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well we shall see, we shall see. So

1:12:54 Speaker 1: it's already been well over an hour. Uh so we

1:12:58 Speaker 1: will call it there. What grade real quick. If you

1:13:04 Speaker 1: were going to give this free agency, what kind of

1:13:07 Speaker 1: letter grade are you handing out? D? Yeah, well I

1:13:12 Speaker 1: said D plus. Yeah, we can read a little bit

1:13:15 Speaker 1: more about.

1:13:18 Speaker 2: We can discuss this before we started, So yeah, right there.

1:13:24 Speaker 2: You know, I don't know, maybe you know we still

1:13:27 Speaker 2: have scars from last season. But yeah, it's it's hard.

1:13:32 Speaker 1: It's hard to be an optimistic fan right now because

1:13:35 Speaker 1: it just seems like we are. It's still very much

1:13:39 Speaker 1: an unmoored situation. But uh, as we go through the summer,

1:13:46 Speaker 1: we're going to talk again a little bit more about

1:13:48 Speaker 1: these players, especially the ones that we sort of glossed

1:13:51 Speaker 1: over to see. Okay, is there there there? What did

1:13:57 Speaker 1: management see potentially in this layer that made them go, yeah,

1:14:03 Speaker 1: we gotta get this guy. This is the guy that

1:14:05 Speaker 1: we want. So we will look a little bit further,

1:14:08 Speaker 1: We'll dig a little bit more. We'll bring you that

1:14:10 Speaker 1: information and see if our opinions have changed on that

1:14:14 Speaker 1: at all. This is also I forgot to announce at

1:14:19 Speaker 1: the top of the show, this is our ninety ninth episode.

1:14:25 Speaker 1: So next week we will have a very special guest

1:14:28 Speaker 1: to help us celebrate our one hundredth episode. Uh, and

1:14:32 Speaker 1: then it'll be almost time for preseason stuff, So any

1:14:39 Speaker 1: final thoughts, Maria, I can't believe we're almost at one

1:14:44 Speaker 1: hundred episodes. That's pretty exciting. It's crazy, Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah,

1:14:48 Speaker 1: yeah yeah.

1:14:49 Speaker 2: I can only hope to live to be one hundred.

1:14:51 Speaker 1: Eh maybe, I don't know. If I got to watch

1:14:56 Speaker 1: another you know, mosty years of this hockey, I don't

1:14:59 Speaker 1: know if I could do that. But anyways, as always,

1:15:05 Speaker 1: thanks for listening. Make sure you like and subscribe, follow

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1:15:17 Speaker 1: go Bees, Go Bees,