The Return of Cliffy Hockey in Boston | Ep. 153

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

0:04 Speaker 1: something to do. I'll Jack send it out of trouble bocking.

0:14 Speaker 2: To say watch today.

0:20 Speaker 1: Here's a chance pop from right down with goalie scars.

0:22 Speaker 1: Oh my one a move by the rookie to.

0:24 Speaker 2: On one poster, not moving, set it on his own

0:29 Speaker 2: Oil dances in podcast at.

0:32 Speaker 1: Home right away, corner faster Chista, what is that for? Most?

0:51 Speaker 1: Welcome in everyone to another episode of Bruin's Tape to Tape.

0:55 Speaker 1: I will be your host today. I am Maria from Watertown.

0:59 Speaker 1: I am joy as always by my steadfast and reliable

1:04 Speaker 1: co host Caroline with a kay, how are you today,

1:07 Speaker 1: my friend?

1:08 Speaker 2: I'm good, I'm good. Happy recording Monday.

1:12 Speaker 1: Yeah, we've been able to enjoy some downtime ourselves while

1:16 Speaker 1: the hockey world is on a little bit of a

1:17 Speaker 1: hiatus as well. But today we're going to continue with

1:21 Speaker 1: what we have somewhat become a little bit of a

1:24 Speaker 1: tradition for us and doing some player profiles, and today

1:28 Speaker 1: we're going to focus on Honor Clifton who returns to Boston.

1:33 Speaker 1: Cliffy Hockey is back. In what way, shape or form

1:37 Speaker 1: that translates, we'll find out soon, but he comes back

1:42 Speaker 1: on a relatively friendly deal familiarity with the organization just

1:49 Speaker 1: by way of a refresher. Honor is thirty one years

1:52 Speaker 1: old and he signed a two year, four point five

1:57 Speaker 1: million dollar contract with the Bruins with a a two

2:00 Speaker 1: point two million dollar annual cap hit. We all know

2:04 Speaker 1: that from his prior experience here in Boston that he

2:07 Speaker 1: does play with a high degree of energy, sometimes a

2:12 Speaker 1: little frenetic, but probably had his best year with the

2:15 Speaker 1: Bruins in twenty twenty two twenty twenty three, which ultimately

2:21 Speaker 1: led to Connor basically pricing himself out of Boston as

2:26 Speaker 1: a free agent, and was one of those things everybody

2:28 Speaker 1: knew it was coming and everyone was like, hey, go

2:31 Speaker 1: out and get your bag of cash. And he did

2:33 Speaker 1: with the Buffalo Sabers, but the results never really translated

2:38 Speaker 1: with the Sabers, and I think a lot of that

2:41 Speaker 1: is due to the fact that that was a pretty

2:43 Speaker 1: bad Buffalo Sabers team at that time, both offensively, defensively,

2:49 Speaker 1: all the way around. I don't think you can say

2:51 Speaker 1: too much a Levy too much criticism at any players

2:56 Speaker 1: on that Buffalo Sabers team at the time. But he

2:59 Speaker 1: does come back to Boston. He is a right hand

3:03 Speaker 1: shot defenceman. Then much has been made about the fact

3:07 Speaker 1: that the Ruins don't have enough depth with right handed

3:10 Speaker 1: shot defenseman. I'm not sure this is the upgrade, honestly,

3:15 Speaker 1: that one was looking for. I think part of this

3:18 Speaker 1: signing is a little bit of a stop gap because

3:22 Speaker 1: Ruins are going to start the season the first seven

3:25 Speaker 1: games without Charlie Matcvoy. Not that I'm saying I'm not

3:29 Speaker 1: comparing the two, no, but.

3:31 Speaker 2: That's a big gap regardless of the type of defenseman

3:34 Speaker 2: any of them, like all of the defencemen on the roster,

3:38 Speaker 2: are going to be picking up extra slack and you

3:40 Speaker 2: need to have or don't have enough right handed defenseman period.

3:44 Speaker 2: And then you've got to bring in somebody who is

3:47 Speaker 2: a little bit more experienced, who played with some of

3:50 Speaker 2: the guys currently on the roster.

3:52 Speaker 1: And just as a reminder, Karna Clifton was part of

3:55 Speaker 1: that twenty nineteen year and making it to the stand

4:00 Speaker 1: only Cup finals. In the Cup run, he did get

4:02 Speaker 1: a decent amount of ice time.

4:05 Speaker 2: Yeah year, Yeah, He's played with Sean Corally in Boston,

4:10 Speaker 2: he played with Pasta, he played with Chucky. I think

4:15 Speaker 2: that's everybody that he played with.

4:18 Speaker 1: On that roster that far back.

4:21 Speaker 2: Crach was that, no, Yeah, I'm I think that he

4:24 Speaker 2: is probably a little bit of a stop gap at

4:27 Speaker 2: least in that regard some insurance in the in at

4:29 Speaker 2: the start of the season, especially because of Chucky being

4:34 Speaker 2: also the right handed d and they're being a lack

4:37 Speaker 2: of them to begin with. For folks who maybe aren't familiar,

4:41 Speaker 2: who don't necessarily remember, there's the concept of Cliffy hockey

4:46 Speaker 2: that initially was a joking term meaning, oh, it's chaotic

4:51 Speaker 2: and he's a little out of control and he's just

4:54 Speaker 2: out there being crazy, And that sort of changed for

4:58 Speaker 2: him as a defense as a player under Jim Montgomery.

5:02 Speaker 2: And if I'm recalling correctly, at one point Jim Montgomery

5:07 Speaker 2: had said, yeah, we don't use that phrase anymore. But

5:09 Speaker 2: when he's at his best, being very physical and dominant

5:14 Speaker 2: out on the ice, I think you can still affectionately

5:17 Speaker 2: call that Cliffy hockey because I think he has a

5:19 Speaker 2: very distinct playing style. When he has a very specific role,

5:24 Speaker 2: he does incredibly well. My impression, and I don't know

5:29 Speaker 2: if you had also kind of had this impression when

5:32 Speaker 2: he left Boston, he seemingly fell a little bit by

5:35 Speaker 2: the wayside, maybe was underperforming or I'm going to use

5:40 Speaker 2: this phrase very loosely, quote unquote getting worse as a player,

5:45 Speaker 2: And I certainly went into my research on this episode

5:51 Speaker 2: with that mindset. But I have to say, and hopefully

5:55 Speaker 2: this is going to be a little bit reassuring for you,

5:58 Speaker 2: Maria especially, he actually is in great shape. He left

6:03 Speaker 2: Boston to go to a Buffalo team that at the

6:07 Speaker 2: time was still very much so actively dying under the

6:12 Speaker 2: leadership of Kevin Adams. Remember their Cinderella transformation literally only

6:19 Speaker 2: happened about what a quarter of the way into last season,

6:23 Speaker 2: So keep that in mind. And so going out there

6:28 Speaker 2: and knowing the type of defenceman that he is, he

6:33 Speaker 2: didn't really receive a ton of guidance. And when you're

6:37 Speaker 2: that type of defenceman and you're not really being given

6:41 Speaker 2: a good structured role and you're in an organization that

6:45 Speaker 2: is constantly losing. Buffalo is a massive hockey town. They

6:52 Speaker 2: love the Sabers through the good times and the bad,

6:55 Speaker 2: and so there is a lot of pressure to perform

6:59 Speaker 2: well for fans that truly love the franchise and Buffalo

7:03 Speaker 2: was also and still is in arguably the most competitive

7:09 Speaker 2: division in the entire league. It can be easy to

7:13 Speaker 2: look at him, look at his situation, and interpret a decline,

7:17 Speaker 2: but in reality, he's remained remarkably stable over the last

7:23 Speaker 2: couple of seasons. First of all, you cannot deny the

7:28 Speaker 2: positive impact of a player coming quote unquote home. Right,

7:32 Speaker 2: He's still to maintain an apartment in Boston all these years,

7:35 Speaker 2: So who is renting his apartment with Fraser Minton renting

7:38 Speaker 2: Cliffy's apartment. One of the young guys is actually living

7:41 Speaker 2: in his house, right, So he has no place to

7:43 Speaker 2: live right now. Sure he's found something, but yeah, having

7:46 Speaker 2: a player come home is going to bring that positive

7:52 Speaker 2: mental attitude an approach to his game right off the bat,

7:56 Speaker 2: which is going to be great. I think we saw

7:58 Speaker 2: that to some degree with Sean Corally. The other thing

8:00 Speaker 2: that I think is going to go in Cliffy's favor

8:04 Speaker 2: is his style of play is probably a better fit

8:08 Speaker 2: with the coaching style of Marco Sturham, even more so

8:12 Speaker 2: than when he was in Buffalo when he first started

8:15 Speaker 2: out there. And again, it has less to do with

8:19 Speaker 2: overall talent and more about that role clarity. We've talked

8:24 Speaker 2: about that hundreds of times on this podcast, where if

8:27 Speaker 2: a player doesn't have a specific role or a job,

8:30 Speaker 2: then he becomes a jag. And for a team to

8:35 Speaker 2: be successful, you look at every team that goes on

8:39 Speaker 2: a deep Cup run, those teams that actually win the

8:42 Speaker 2: Stanley Cup, every single player has a clear role in

8:46 Speaker 2: responsibility and somebody else who can easily transition to fill

8:52 Speaker 2: some of those responsibilities when necessary. Connor Clifton, he's the

8:56 Speaker 2: type of player who has to exist for a reason.

8:59 Speaker 2: You have to ask what is the hockey problem that

9:02 Speaker 2: he is solving. He is an incredibly physical right shot defenseman.

9:06 Speaker 2: He closes gaps very quickly, he wins battles, and he

9:10 Speaker 2: ends these own possessions. So imagine him with someone like

9:16 Speaker 2: Jonathan Asparo like we talked about in last week, where

9:19 Speaker 2: Asparo is very effective at ending defensive zone time, and

9:25 Speaker 2: partner him with somebody like Connor Clifton, and Cliffy is

9:29 Speaker 2: gonna then lay out some pretty massive hits at the

9:32 Speaker 2: same time.

9:33 Speaker 3: So I find that very exciting. I'm looking forward to

9:37 Speaker 3: the depth that he brings. Yes, it's still a little

9:41 Speaker 3: to me. The signing itself is a little okay?

9:44 Speaker 1: Does that speak to what was available in the market

9:48 Speaker 1: and the fact that you needed something to potentially bridge

9:52 Speaker 1: the gap of not having Charlie McAvoy in your lineup

9:57 Speaker 1: for the first seven games of the season. Ye. I

10:00 Speaker 1: do recall saying to myself those of us who are

10:04 Speaker 1: fans of the Bruins, knowing that his final season in

10:08 Speaker 1: Boston was likely his best career year. So that was

10:12 Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two to twenty three season where he's

10:15 Speaker 1: played seventy eight games, five goals, eighteen assists, twenty three points,

10:20 Speaker 1: and he was a plus twenty yeah, sixteen minutes and penalties,

10:24 Speaker 1: which honestly not too shabby given the physical level of fight,

10:28 Speaker 1: which means to me he knows how to deliver a

10:31 Speaker 1: hint and do it within the parameters of what's allowed.

10:36 Speaker 2: Yeah.

10:36 Speaker 1: Right, A little bit older now that those statistics haven't

10:41 Speaker 1: continued to translate throughout his career or his time with

10:45 Speaker 1: Buffalo and then a very short period of time with

10:48 Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Penguins last season.

10:50 Speaker 2: True, I did also take a look at some more

10:55 Speaker 2: defensive significant stats, and yes, he played a lot less

11:00 Speaker 2: in Pittsburgh. One of the better ways that you can

11:04 Speaker 2: really evaluate his performance over the last three years away

11:07 Speaker 2: from Boston is looking at the per sixty rate of

11:11 Speaker 2: everything that he's done. And when you're talking about a defenseman,

11:14 Speaker 2: you really want to look at what is his expected

11:18 Speaker 2: goals against per sixty goals against being how many goals

11:21 Speaker 2: are going to be scored against him, scoring chances against him,

11:26 Speaker 2: high danger chances against, and high danger goals allowed. These

11:29 Speaker 2: are all things that a good defenseman is going to

11:33 Speaker 2: try to minimize, and I will own it. I was

11:37 Speaker 2: pleasantly surprised to see that across all of those kind

11:41 Speaker 2: of key defensive metrics he's been improving, even if he's

11:45 Speaker 2: playing less ice time in those areas. To me, that

11:49 Speaker 2: means perhaps he has matured as a defenceman, that his

11:55 Speaker 2: focus has become much more clearly defensive, defensively minded, and

12:02 Speaker 2: I think he can bring to the table that plus

12:07 Speaker 2: that physicality, it's going to be huge and he's.

12:10 Speaker 1: Reliable, right, you know what you're going to get pretty

12:14 Speaker 1: much shift after shift when he takes the ice. I

12:17 Speaker 1: do recall at that time saying to myself, it's unfortunate

12:22 Speaker 1: that he's going to price himself out of duston lease.

12:25 Speaker 2: Let's face it.

12:26 Speaker 1: Every team needs a Connor Clifton type guy on the

12:31 Speaker 1: back end, someone that you know you can pretty much

12:34 Speaker 1: throw out there in a variety of scenarios, maybe not

12:38 Speaker 1: on the power play, and you pretty much know what

12:41 Speaker 1: you're going to get from him.

12:43 Speaker 2: And I don't think anybody wants to see any player

12:46 Speaker 2: for that matter, but especially a defenceman being the type

12:49 Speaker 2: that has to chase plays. And he is an aggressive defenceman.

12:55 Speaker 2: And if you look at him playing that way, that's

12:58 Speaker 2: partly where the Cliffy Hawks the idea came from, is

13:01 Speaker 2: that chaos comes from his willingness to be aggressive. And

13:07 Speaker 2: he was even more successful in Boston because this has

13:12 Speaker 2: always been a franchise that really emphasizes strong defensive structure.

13:18 Speaker 2: And then during his tenure, in particular, starting under Bruce

13:23 Speaker 2: Cassidy and Jim Montgomery, those were well oiled machines in

13:29 Speaker 2: terms of defense and having a kind of back up,

13:34 Speaker 2: a safety net that would allow an aggressive defenseman to

13:38 Speaker 2: take those chances, whether it was to go and finish

13:41 Speaker 2: a really aggressive hit or take a risk. He was

13:45 Speaker 2: able to be successful because of the system in place

13:49 Speaker 2: around him, and without that kind of system and structure

13:53 Speaker 2: in Buffalo that can really leave somebody exposed and can

13:59 Speaker 2: make mistakes happen. And so when you think about now

14:02 Speaker 2: the type of coach that Marco Sturm is, where he

14:06 Speaker 2: is expecting a lot of simple play details structure, he's

14:11 Speaker 2: not going to be He doesn't give any of the

14:15 Speaker 2: players free reign to go out and play willy nilly

14:18 Speaker 2: however they want. Whether it's David Pasternak or Mason Laurai,

14:23 Speaker 2: everyone has a job. He has a specific expectation for

14:27 Speaker 2: every single person. And I think we could see potentially

14:31 Speaker 2: a resurgence in some of that well known Cliffy hockey

14:36 Speaker 2: in the positive way because of the environment that Sturm

14:40 Speaker 2: has created. He will have some of that safety net.

14:43 Speaker 2: Now we're not there yet by any means.

14:47 Speaker 1: This is all speculation on our part, because there's no

14:50 Speaker 1: denying for whatever reason that his level of play has

14:55 Speaker 1: declined a little bit. And to your point, a lot

14:58 Speaker 1: of that could be due to the fact of teams

15:00 Speaker 1: that he's played on, right, the personnel that were already there,

15:05 Speaker 1: the type of system, the type of role. I think

15:08 Speaker 1: what happened to him in Buffalo was that there were

15:12 Speaker 1: high expectations and the threshold for him was set at

15:17 Speaker 1: such a level that you would say, good luck there.

15:20 Speaker 1: They may want you to be the big dog there,

15:22 Speaker 1: but I don't know how that's going to translate for you,

15:25 Speaker 1: And I'm not sure that it did translate for him

15:29 Speaker 1: in the manner in which he might have expected it

15:33 Speaker 1: and the Sabers organization might have expected it to translate.

15:37 Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. And I think the other part of his game,

15:41 Speaker 2: besides that physicality and that good solid defensive ability, as

15:46 Speaker 2: I mentioned, his ability to keep the goals against scoring chances,

15:51 Speaker 2: all of those things low, which is obviously ideal. Some

15:55 Speaker 2: of his less great abilities in terms of exiting with

16:00 Speaker 2: possession and pucked retrieval, those were not so awesome, although

16:05 Speaker 2: again when he was involved.

16:06 Speaker 4: To a number he had some good speed. But he

16:10 Speaker 4: has actually improved over the last three years with his

16:14 Speaker 4: exit exiting with possession, and honestly, he hasn't completely collapsed

16:20 Speaker 4: when it comes to his puck retrieval. I don't think

16:22 Speaker 4: he's gotten objectively worse in that regard. I think sometimes

16:27 Speaker 4: that's the bare minimum, and if that's not, what is

16:30 Speaker 4: ultimately part of his job imagining him partnered up with

16:34 Speaker 4: Jonathan Asperau Asby is one who is going to be

16:38 Speaker 4: more likely to be better at the puck retrieval and

16:42 Speaker 4: the exits right while he's supporting him in that role

16:45 Speaker 4: and he's doing something slightly different as Aspero's partner.

16:49 Speaker 1: I'm going to find that very curious to see how

16:51 Speaker 1: this all plays out, because whatever happens in the first

16:55 Speaker 1: seven games of the season without Charlie Mack in the

16:59 Speaker 1: line up is I'm not quite sure that's what we're

17:02 Speaker 1: going to see throughout the course of the season. Yeah,

17:05 Speaker 1: I do think he fits the bill of what cam

17:09 Speaker 1: Neely said of wanting the Bruins to be tougher to

17:13 Speaker 1: play against. And I still think Karna Clipton can bring

17:17 Speaker 1: some of that yes to the table because you know,

17:21 Speaker 1: he's not afraid to hit.

17:23 Speaker 2: Yeah, And what I find fascinating as I was thinking

17:26 Speaker 2: about it, he's not dissimilar in terms of his style

17:31 Speaker 2: of play in some of his defensive abilities compared to

17:35 Speaker 2: Andrew Peak. In terms of the good stuff. The value

17:38 Speaker 2: wasn't coming from offense. Is not like Mason Lori or

17:44 Speaker 2: even Hampus in solid two way play. It's really in

17:49 Speaker 2: keeping things calm in the back end, winning those battles

17:52 Speaker 2: and killing plays, and you can't judge him and his

17:56 Speaker 2: abilities as a defenceman by what we see from players

18:02 Speaker 2: like Charlie McVoy right, because he plays most successfully in

18:06 Speaker 2: a very particular structured role. And I'm feeling optimistic that,

18:11 Speaker 2: especially because he did not have that kind of structure

18:15 Speaker 2: around him. He did not have that kind of role

18:17 Speaker 2: assignment in Buffalo and in Pittsburgh. He just was never

18:22 Speaker 2: going to be able to perform as well as he

18:25 Speaker 2: had in his final season in Boston because he was

18:27 Speaker 2: already then a little bit behind the eight ball. So

18:30 Speaker 2: your point there, do you find it odd that Andrew

18:34 Speaker 2: Peak they were fine with him moving on, right, But

18:38 Speaker 2: now comparing a little bit the type of play. So

18:42 Speaker 2: Andrew Peak goes off to Utah at a one million

18:45 Speaker 2: dollar cap hit for one year, but we've picked up

18:48 Speaker 2: Connor Clifton for a little bit longer, for a little

18:51 Speaker 2: bit more money. What is the turning point there? What

18:53 Speaker 2: is the Bruins rationale do you think for that?

18:57 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm fine with it, and I was fine

18:59 Speaker 1: with saying goodbye to Andrew Peak because there were definitely

19:03 Speaker 1: some shortcomings that we saw defensively with Andrew Peak. Especially

19:08 Speaker 1: when things became a little bit frantic or chaotic.

19:13 Speaker 2: Yeah, now, yeah, I think there are a couple of

19:17 Speaker 2: things in Connor's favor. I don't know that they're necessarily

19:22 Speaker 2: worth more financially compared to the one million and then

19:26 Speaker 2: the two whatever, but I think it's a couple of things.

19:30 Speaker 2: That he is older as a defenseman, you mature later.

19:34 Speaker 2: You want to have somebody in your back end who

19:37 Speaker 2: can reliably kill those plays, assist with getting the puck

19:42 Speaker 2: out of his own. That's a hallmark of Storm System

19:46 Speaker 2: is get it out fast because we want to play

19:48 Speaker 2: a high transition game. I think that he can help

19:52 Speaker 2: facilitate that transition game from the back end. So his

19:56 Speaker 2: decision making I think is probably better than Andrew Peaks,

20:01 Speaker 2: not just because of the age difference and that Connor

20:05 Speaker 2: Clifton has grown up a little bit more since he

20:07 Speaker 2: was last in Boston and Andrew Peak being twenty eight

20:10 Speaker 2: and he's thirty one. And I think he's a known

20:13 Speaker 2: entity that they know very well. They know is he coachable?

20:17 Speaker 2: How can he play four different kinds of coaches? He

20:22 Speaker 2: was in Boston for two different coaches. He's gone and

20:25 Speaker 2: seen some of the others and this is me entirely speculating,

20:29 Speaker 2: But when you've been around the block and you've worked professionally,

20:34 Speaker 2: like I'm going to speak for my own experience, I

20:36 Speaker 2: know what's important. I know it's not important at this

20:39 Speaker 2: point in my career. I know what a good boss

20:42 Speaker 2: looks like and a bad boss looks like. I know

20:44 Speaker 2: how to work with different kinds of people. And you

20:47 Speaker 2: probably wanted to come home, and so you already then

20:51 Speaker 2: have somebody who has some degree of buy into the system.

20:55 Speaker 2: He knows what a good structured defensive system looks like

20:59 Speaker 2: and how he can help. That just makes it one

21:03 Speaker 2: less thing potentially that Bruin's management has to worry about

21:08 Speaker 2: in the back end, whether it's the first ten games

21:11 Speaker 2: of the season or it's March and people are getting squirrely.

21:16 Speaker 2: That's my impression. Let's call a spade a spade here too.

21:19 Speaker 2: Campus lind Home cannot seem to stay healthy any longer.

21:23 Speaker 2: You just go into now a season thinking what is

21:26 Speaker 2: going to be the next injury or when is that

21:30 Speaker 2: knee or whatever going to resurface again where he's going

21:33 Speaker 2: to be out for a significant period of time. So

21:37 Speaker 2: maybe the organization is also hedging its bets on we

21:40 Speaker 2: could likely lose this.

21:41 Speaker 1: Guy campus again for a chunk of time in the season.

21:45 Speaker 2: Yeah, and you really want somebody who can step in

21:49 Speaker 2: and knows what they're doing. We've got a lot of

21:52 Speaker 2: young guys on d these days, and that's great, but

21:57 Speaker 2: that means there's a lot of inexperience there. And at

21:59 Speaker 2: this point, Connor Clifton is an experienced veteran defenseman now,

22:04 Speaker 2: and that's incredibly valuable when you have a system that

22:08 Speaker 2: really emphasizes defense, but does.

22:11 Speaker 1: It lends yourself to giving you a lot of confidence

22:14 Speaker 1: when now we're saying Connor Clifton is a veteran defenseman, right,

22:18 Speaker 1: and we're going to be doing an episode focusing on

22:22 Speaker 1: our defensive four and our forward four groups heading into

22:27 Speaker 1: the season, and there's quite a bit too unpack when

22:30 Speaker 1: it comes to the Bruins quote unquote defensive death at

22:34 Speaker 1: this point. Yeah.

22:36 Speaker 2: I would suggest for new watchers of the game who

22:39 Speaker 2: have not seen the joys of Cliffy hockey, or even

22:42 Speaker 2: folks who don't remember, look for a player who is

22:46 Speaker 2: going to be throwing good hits and he doesn't rack

22:49 Speaker 2: up a lot of penalty minutes.

22:50 Speaker 1: So he knows unlike other members of the Bruins defensive core,

22:55 Speaker 1: he knows how to hit someone legally.

22:58 Speaker 2: Yes, and effectively exactly, And that's great. Yeah. I think

23:02 Speaker 2: what I'm expecting to see out of Connor Clifton is

23:04 Speaker 2: exactly like we said. We're going to see a high energy,

23:07 Speaker 2: We're going to see good physical play. We're going to

23:10 Speaker 2: see a player who has a strong ability to gap

23:12 Speaker 2: up and really assist in that zone exit hopefully them

23:18 Speaker 2: getting better with more of the correct personnel and getting

23:21 Speaker 2: more familiar with Sturm's system. Really trying to create a

23:26 Speaker 2: team that thrives on transition. That's what he's ultimately trying

23:31 Speaker 2: to accomplish with this Bruins team. And I think that

23:34 Speaker 2: Connor Clifton is a good addition to make that happen.

23:39 Speaker 1: And I am going to be curious to see his

23:42 Speaker 1: usage and I'm going to be curious to see how

23:45 Speaker 1: that translates in terms of the defensive structure, if they

23:51 Speaker 1: clearly want to play, and how that helps the goaltenders too.

23:55 Speaker 2: Let's face it, we relied way too much.

23:58 Speaker 1: I can't even believe I'm saying this, but we've relied

24:01 Speaker 1: way too much on our goalies last season more than

24:05 Speaker 1: I think even they might have anticipated expected.

24:09 Speaker 2: Swamon has played roughly the same number of games as

24:12 Speaker 2: other significant starters, but I guarantee you he had a

24:14 Speaker 2: lot more work to do in that amount of time.

24:17 Speaker 1: Oh yes, oh yes.

24:18 Speaker 2: And the last thing I did fail to mention I

24:23 Speaker 2: fully expect to see him doing a lot of PK

24:25 Speaker 2: work is I don't know that I would necessarily call

24:27 Speaker 2: him a PK specialist, but he's definitely one that you

24:30 Speaker 2: want to have fully engaged and used a lot on

24:34 Speaker 2: the penalty kill. And that is again something else that

24:37 Speaker 2: for most of his time in Boston and most of

24:40 Speaker 2: what we've seen in the last two decades has been

24:43 Speaker 2: something that the Bruins have particularly excelled at and in

24:46 Speaker 2: recent years have not done as well on the penalty

24:50 Speaker 2: that was.

24:50 Speaker 1: Actually quite literally killing this team a little bit of regression.

24:54 Speaker 2: I would expect to see a much improved penalty kill

24:59 Speaker 2: with Connor Clifton on Matt Unit.

25:02 Speaker 1: I think fans who are unfamiliar with Connor Clifton will

25:06 Speaker 1: likely enjoy seeing him play because I myself love to

25:12 Speaker 1: see defencemen who are physical right and do it within

25:16 Speaker 1: the realms of the rules, but I'm all for ensuring

25:21 Speaker 1: that whoever's coming in to our end of the house

25:24 Speaker 1: as to look over his shoulder to see what's coming at.

25:28 Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. Can't wait for Cliffy hockey.

25:31 Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see how that translates and how it surfaces

25:35 Speaker 1: in the upcoming season. So with that being said, folks,

25:38 Speaker 1: thank you for listening. Please make sure you like and

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26:01 Speaker 1: m K dot substack dot com. Any closing thoughts, Go Bees,

26:06 Speaker 1: Go Bees.