Why the Boston Bruins Bet Big on JJ Peterka | Ep. 154

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 Jack sending out a troup of bucking to say, today,

0:20 Speaker 2: here's a chance pop fa right down with goalie Scars.

0:22 Speaker 1: Oh my one a move by the rookie too on

0:25 Speaker 1: one plaster not moving in it to oil dances in

0:30 Speaker 1: podcast home right away corner faster Chester.

0:40 Speaker 2: What is that for? Most? Welcome in everyone to another

0:52 Speaker 2: episode of Bruin's Tape to Tape. I'm your host today,

0:56 Speaker 2: Caroline with a K, and I am excited to welcome

0:59 Speaker 2: in my fantastic co host Maria from Watertown.

1:02 Speaker 1: Hey Maria, Hello, Hi Caroline. What's happening today?

1:07 Speaker 2: Just enjoying the dog days of summer. It's almost over,

1:11 Speaker 2: which is just shocking to me.

1:13 Speaker 1: I know, yeah, we've had great weather, but it's gone

1:16 Speaker 1: a little too quickly, and that's why we have gathered

1:19 Speaker 1: to talk about our Boston Bruins.

1:22 Speaker 2: Yes, we're continuing our summer series on players, and we're

1:27 Speaker 2: doing a player profile on recently acquired winger JJ Peterca

1:32 Speaker 2: has a little bit of a background in how he

1:35 Speaker 2: came to the Boston Bruins.

1:36 Speaker 1: The twenty four year old was actually.

1:38 Speaker 2: Part of a late trade deal right around the draft,

1:45 Speaker 2: which is funny because the Utah Mammoth actually traded for

1:49 Speaker 2: him a year prior, and they spent one year with.

1:53 Speaker 1: Him and decided to move on.

1:56 Speaker 2: And so the Boston Bruins sent its twenty twenty six

2:00 Speaker 2: first round pick in the draft, so number twenty three,

2:03 Speaker 2: and a twenty twenty first round pick that belonged to

2:06 Speaker 2: the Florida Panthers, which the Bruins did acquire in the

2:10 Speaker 2: Brad Marsh and trade back in twenty twenty five. The

2:13 Speaker 2: Florida pick is top ten per protected. Thinking about that,

2:17 Speaker 2: if Peterka does become a bit of a something, maybe

2:21 Speaker 2: we didn't give Brad away for just.

2:23 Speaker 1: A bad thing. It's certainly better than the value of

2:27 Speaker 1: that draft pick. Yes, and I might go off in

2:29 Speaker 1: a little bit of a tangent here, but it's a

2:32 Speaker 1: bird in hand. I will take a proven an HL

2:36 Speaker 1: player over the unknown of a draft pick that's not

2:41 Speaker 1: your number one, because those guys are gonna take forever.

2:45 Speaker 1: There's too much unknown there. And I've heard enough experts

2:49 Speaker 1: say this about the hell with the draft picks. If

2:52 Speaker 1: you can trade a draft pick again, unless you're not

2:55 Speaker 1: going to give away Connor Berdard James Hagen's that's okay.

2:59 Speaker 1: I'm removing the players from the equation, folkses if you

3:03 Speaker 1: can take and try to pick for a known commodity,

3:07 Speaker 1: I'm doing that every day, all day. And this kid's

3:10 Speaker 1: only twenty four, right, Yeah.

3:12 Speaker 2: Before we dive into who this guy is, I just

3:14 Speaker 2: want to say, for the record, when it looked like

3:18 Speaker 2: Victor Arvidson was not coming back, and this was prior

3:21 Speaker 2: to the July one free agency start, I definitely made

3:25 Speaker 2: a comment in saying, if they're not signing Victor Arvidson,

3:29 Speaker 2: this must mean they are looking for somebody who can

3:32 Speaker 2: fill a similar role, with a similar style of play,

3:36 Speaker 2: who is probably younger and sure enough in comes JJ

3:43 Speaker 2: Peterca Now, I am very excited about this particular player, Maria.

3:48 Speaker 2: I'm expecting a full on Golden Retriever out there with

3:53 Speaker 2: his speed and excitement to play.

3:56 Speaker 1: I'm expecting a pit bull.

4:00 Speaker 2: He was drafted in twenty twenty. He was number thirty

4:03 Speaker 2: four overall by Buffalo, who, shockingly, under the leadership quote

4:10 Speaker 2: unquote of Kevin Adams, did have great success in drafting

4:14 Speaker 2: and finding excellent talent. I will give them that, but

4:18 Speaker 2: once again, like many players who spent their beginning years

4:23 Speaker 2: in Buffalo never got traction, but likely because of all

4:28 Speaker 2: of those things, he ended up being treated to Utah. Now,

4:32 Speaker 2: this is a guy, as Elite Prospects said, has an unrelenting.

4:37 Speaker 1: Moose hoping you would get to Yeah, he is hard

4:40 Speaker 1: on every puck. He is eager and willing to fight.

4:43 Speaker 2: And he has a disruptive streak in him.

4:47 Speaker 1: He's been called a real pain in the ass. And

4:50 Speaker 1: I'm sure cam Neely does have his fingerprints on this team.

4:55 Speaker 1: As we've said it once, we've said it twice. He

4:58 Speaker 1: has come out and said that he wants this Bruins

5:02 Speaker 1: team basically to be a nightmare to play against. Now, yes,

5:06 Speaker 1: it hasn't fully translated as yet, we're starting to see

5:10 Speaker 1: the assembly of that. Now one might ask the question,

5:15 Speaker 1: which is a logical question to ask, why would the

5:18 Speaker 1: Utah Mammoth trade this kid? Sure, why would they trade him?

5:22 Speaker 1: So some of the speculation is that his performance in

5:27 Speaker 1: Utah didn't match or didn't meet the expectations a top

5:32 Speaker 1: six contract on the team, and management wanted to clear

5:37 Speaker 1: space for incoming young players.

5:41 Speaker 2: Yes, and I think on the surface, I think that

5:44 Speaker 2: is a very valid point to make.

5:46 Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that's good or bad. I'm just

5:48 Speaker 1: saying one would ask a question right now because you've

5:51 Speaker 1: got a young kid who went relatively high in the draft,

5:55 Speaker 1: projected in the manner that you just spoke about in

5:58 Speaker 1: the twenty twenty NHL Draft and quite hasn't met those

6:03 Speaker 1: standards yet. But again it could be. And we've talked

6:07 Speaker 1: about this with other players, right the system, the structure,

6:12 Speaker 1: the role, the assemblance of the team as a whole

6:15 Speaker 1: in another organization may not be suited to what you're

6:19 Speaker 1: expected to do as a top player prospect.

6:23 Speaker 2: And keep in mind he started his NHL career on

6:29 Speaker 2: those particular teams. And unless you are some superhuman like

6:34 Speaker 2: a Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid maclin Celebrini, you're gonna need

6:40 Speaker 2: a little time to cook and grow.

6:42 Speaker 1: And does Utah have a David Pasternak on your team?

6:46 Speaker 1: They have a higher degree of across the board talent

6:50 Speaker 1: than Buffalo certainly has had.

6:52 Speaker 2: But my biggest takeaway is that in spite of a

6:57 Speaker 2: let's call it a statistically rest season last year in Utah,

7:03 Speaker 2: he did have two excellent seasons in Buffalo and let

7:07 Speaker 2: me just say a statistically depressed season for JJ Pitterca

7:11 Speaker 2: last year, he still scored twenty five goals, forty seven

7:14 Speaker 2: points with a plus six finish and a five point

7:17 Speaker 2: two points share.

7:18 Speaker 1: Okay, so that's nothing to hoopoo about. I really like

7:22 Speaker 1: the twenty five goals.

7:23 Speaker 2: Yes, he's a dynamic, controlled zone entry winger who can

7:27 Speaker 2: turn defensive structure into immediate offense. He's the type of

7:31 Speaker 2: player whose success won't actually primarily be measured by whether

7:36 Speaker 2: he scores twenty five thirty five, forty five goals. It's

7:39 Speaker 2: going to be whether he becomes the player who can

7:42 Speaker 2: consistently turn the Bruins neutral zone stops into controlled entries

7:46 Speaker 2: and rush chances. And what is the style of play

7:50 Speaker 2: that we have talked about that Marco Sturm is pushing

7:54 Speaker 2: his players to execute on stopping things in the neutral zone,

7:59 Speaker 2: not with a trap. Remember we love Trapp's cousin the

8:02 Speaker 2: one two two, which is forcing other teams to make

8:05 Speaker 2: mistakes and then when they make those mistakes, pouncing on

8:10 Speaker 2: that puck, transitioning and rushing in JJ Peterca. When I

8:14 Speaker 2: say I expect a Golden Retriever style of play, he

8:19 Speaker 2: might not be the one who necessarily forces the error

8:23 Speaker 2: by the opposing team, but the second he sees it,

8:27 Speaker 2: because of his speed, his hockey IQ and his incredible

8:31 Speaker 2: shooting mentality, he's gonna see it like a dog because

8:35 Speaker 2: he's a frisbee and he's like, let's go. And that

8:38 Speaker 2: is what gets me excited about seeing a player like him,

8:42 Speaker 2: because we now have him also for a number of seasons.

8:47 Speaker 1: He's young, he's going to.

8:49 Speaker 2: Learn a ton and even though his ability to contribute

8:55 Speaker 2: on the Mammoth team was not as great as his

8:58 Speaker 2: ability to contribute on the Buffet, Remember, the Buffalo team

9:02 Speaker 2: was more reliant on him to.

9:04 Speaker 1: Do things as opposed to Utah.

9:07 Speaker 2: Across the board, his shooting percentage remained extremely high and consistent.

9:14 Speaker 2: So his ability to contribute to chances.

9:19 Speaker 1: Suggests that if he's just.

9:22 Speaker 2: In an environment where that is the style of play,

9:26 Speaker 2: he will continue to score those goals. He will continue

9:30 Speaker 2: to make those plays, and that is very exciting for me.

9:35 Speaker 2: We need speed, we need someone who's got that get

9:37 Speaker 2: up and go and will not slow down, and we need.

9:41 Speaker 1: That balance in scoring. That was a perpetual and somewhat

9:46 Speaker 1: it became more so towards the end of the season

9:49 Speaker 1: when it came down to do or die, but the

9:52 Speaker 1: secondary scoring became extremely problematic for the bian best seasons.

9:58 Speaker 1: I think it's a little too early to project where

10:01 Speaker 1: peterka is gonna be what line, But I'm I would

10:04 Speaker 1: venture to guess that I was saying too. Yeah, that's

10:08 Speaker 1: what I would say too.

10:09 Speaker 2: And to your point, that lack of balance scoring, the

10:12 Speaker 2: lack of defined roles.

10:16 Speaker 1: Specific jobs.

10:18 Speaker 2: We've said before, really successful teams have all of their

10:23 Speaker 2: players with their very specific job, right, and you've got

10:27 Speaker 2: David Pasternach, winger, elite offensive creator, that is his job. Okay,

10:33 Speaker 2: player extraordinaire, geeky, excellent finisher. We saw that even when

10:37 Speaker 2: he was going through his rough patches, he was there.

10:39 Speaker 2: He was doing what he was supposed to be doing

10:41 Speaker 2: it just the hockey gods weren't allowing those pucks in.

10:44 Speaker 2: It's not like he just stopped playing Casey Middlestat. He's

10:48 Speaker 2: an excellent possession, playmaking center, Fraser Minton, very responsible two

10:54 Speaker 2: way center. He's, as we have talked about him, he's

10:57 Speaker 2: not the next David Cragie, but he's bringing that kind

10:59 Speaker 2: of energy and approach to his game and so with

11:03 Speaker 2: the departure of Arvidson, he was the transition winger, but

11:09 Speaker 2: he was entering his mid thirties, and here we have

11:11 Speaker 2: a twenty four year old.

11:12 Speaker 1: Who's locked up until he's twenty eight. He becomes a

11:16 Speaker 1: UFA at the age of twenty eight. What year is that,

11:20 Speaker 1: twenty thirty.

11:21 Speaker 2: Because of this, Boston didn't have any other consistent winger

11:26 Speaker 2: who could just explode through that neutral zone with the puck.

11:30 Speaker 2: And that is quite literally Peterka's calling card. This is

11:33 Speaker 2: what he is known for. And I think that this

11:36 Speaker 2: was a very smart acquisition.

11:38 Speaker 1: And that's the part of Ardvudson's game that I know

11:41 Speaker 1: I came to really respect and enjoy and admire because

11:46 Speaker 1: he was relentless and as disappointing as it was when

11:50 Speaker 1: he moved on, I'm not quite sure I still understand

11:54 Speaker 1: why we couldn't match what he got, other than you

11:58 Speaker 1: wanted to move on to the younger model.

12:01 Speaker 2: But Sturm really wants to have a very nimble Boston

12:06 Speaker 2: Bruins team. And that doesn't necessarily mean that, oh, they

12:09 Speaker 2: need to be literally faster. You can still be quite

12:13 Speaker 2: nimble and fast without having that literal speed. But it

12:19 Speaker 2: doesn't hurt to have that, especially in someone who has

12:23 Speaker 2: the ability to just pick up on plays and go.

12:28 Speaker 2: His style does not lend itself to a more steady,

12:33 Speaker 2: measured style of play. He's not gonna be the best

12:37 Speaker 2: at creating offense or generating offense, and that's okay. That

12:41 Speaker 2: doesn't have to be his job. We have solid centers

12:44 Speaker 2: who can do that. We have David Pasternock who could

12:46 Speaker 2: get blood out of a stone. His job is going

12:49 Speaker 2: to be very specific, and with his youth and his

12:52 Speaker 2: speed and his fearlessness, I think we are going to

12:55 Speaker 2: see Boston get better and better at the rush and

12:59 Speaker 2: at that transition game. Last year, one of the biggest

13:02 Speaker 2: improvements that we saw was their commitment to staying above

13:06 Speaker 2: the puck and limiting those odd man rushes, and that

13:10 Speaker 2: comes from Storm's plan, his approach. It's almost like, I

13:15 Speaker 2: really hope that Storm isn't a transition coach because personally

13:20 Speaker 2: I really enjoy his style that he wants to have

13:24 Speaker 2: the players do because it's exciting. Right, how many times

13:28 Speaker 2: in the last fifteen years have we seen, oh my god,

13:30 Speaker 2: the world's most boring hockey out of this team. What

13:34 Speaker 2: he is trying to get out of his players. Is

13:36 Speaker 2: a very exciting brand of hockey. And so if you

13:40 Speaker 2: bring in a kid like this and then you've got

13:43 Speaker 2: someone who also has that shoot first mentality and will

13:46 Speaker 2: take advantage of those opportunities, I think we will start

13:49 Speaker 2: to see some of that secondary scoring.

13:52 Speaker 1: Dear God, we have to see that.

13:54 Speaker 2: And he's young enough that he's still developing. He can

13:59 Speaker 2: learn earn how to become a more well rounded player

14:04 Speaker 2: as well. Storm is not afraid to sit and scratch players.

14:08 Speaker 2: It doesn't matter who you are. We've seen him do that.

14:11 Speaker 2: We saw him do that with Mason Laura when he

14:15 Speaker 2: and so he's going to have to learn some new skills.

14:20 Speaker 2: If peterca can buy in, because how many times last

14:23 Speaker 2: year did we hear Storm talk about, well, we got

14:26 Speaker 2: to make sure people are buying in. As long as

14:28 Speaker 2: he buys in into the concepts of the reload, the

14:32 Speaker 2: puck support, back pressure, neutral zone transitioning, and he's following through,

14:38 Speaker 2: then Storm will reward him with more and more responsibility.

14:42 Speaker 1: And there's that Homeland connection. Then there is the Kevin

14:47 Speaker 1: Adams connection. Kevin Adams has recently been brought on by

14:51 Speaker 1: the Bruins organization as a quote unquote special assistant to

14:56 Speaker 1: Tom Sweeney. I don't know if that means this guy

14:59 Speaker 1: could be coming in to take your job, Donnie if

15:02 Speaker 1: things don't work out good. But god, oh, but Kevin

15:07 Speaker 1: had familiarity with Yes Petka in Buffalo. He was part

15:11 Speaker 1: of the group that drafted him. Sure so.

15:15 Speaker 2: And there's another assistant coach who also coached Peterca in

15:19 Speaker 2: Salzburg in Germany, So he's got a lot of connections

15:23 Speaker 2: to Boston. What are you going to be looking for

15:27 Speaker 2: with a player like this? What are your expectations? Keeping

15:32 Speaker 2: in mind he's all of twenty four years old, so

15:35 Speaker 2: how much of his decision making can we truly rely

15:38 Speaker 2: on to be.

15:39 Speaker 1: Excellent all the time? Well, i'd be in German. I mean,

15:42 Speaker 1: I think we have to have some patients, yep, because

15:46 Speaker 1: as we saw from the introduction of Marco's the whole

15:50 Speaker 1: new defensive structure, a lot of players struggled. Yes, it's

15:55 Speaker 1: very different getting on board with that. So I think

16:00 Speaker 1: we have to like temper our expectations, at least for

16:04 Speaker 1: the start of the season. I don't know that this

16:07 Speaker 1: kid is going to come in guns of blazon and

16:10 Speaker 1: just start scoring an abundance of goals, because we all

16:14 Speaker 1: know that as a member of the Boston Ruins and

16:18 Speaker 1: as a part of the Bruins roster, there is an

16:21 Speaker 1: expectation that you have some degree of defensive responsibility. Yeah,

16:27 Speaker 1: talks to bottom forwards, defenceman, goalies. Okay. What I think

16:33 Speaker 1: might be a little bit of a disservice to this kid, though,

16:36 Speaker 1: is the fact that he's coming in at a pretty

16:39 Speaker 1: big salary, coming in at a pretty big salary seven

16:43 Speaker 1: point seven eight seven point which is a tick higher

16:47 Speaker 1: than Elias Lindtelman. Honestly, bringing in this kid makes that

16:50 Speaker 1: Elias contract look even worse than it already is. This

16:54 Speaker 1: kid's twenty four. You're paying a thirty one year old

16:57 Speaker 1: seven point seventy five who can't healthy, who can't perform,

17:02 Speaker 1: who can't produce. And I've said it once, I'm gonna

17:05 Speaker 1: say it again. He's damaged goods. He's got a chronic

17:08 Speaker 1: back issue in my view, that is never going to

17:12 Speaker 1: enable him, i think, to fully meet the standard of

17:16 Speaker 1: performance that we thought we were going to get from

17:19 Speaker 1: this guy. So that's a conversation for a different day.

17:22 Speaker 1: So I'm curious to see how much of a leash.

17:27 Speaker 1: This kid will get right. Maybe he'll get a little

17:29 Speaker 1: bit more leashed than Mason Laurai did, because Mason laura

17:34 Speaker 1: has been part of the system, oh yeah, for a

17:37 Speaker 1: longer period of time. But I think we have to

17:41 Speaker 1: expect some growing pains, a little bit of growing pain.

17:45 Speaker 1: And we're gonna see growing pains too with James Hagen.

17:50 Speaker 2: Boston is about to get even younger. Two or three

17:54 Speaker 2: seasons ago, Boston was second oldest in mean, it's been

17:58 Speaker 2: Pittsburgh for a while because it's a retirement home down there.

18:01 Speaker 2: Last year they got younger, and I think they're about

18:04 Speaker 2: to get a lot younger too, And so I think

18:07 Speaker 2: the next two seasons are going to be a time

18:10 Speaker 2: full of transition because two things are happening at once.

18:13 Speaker 2: I believe we are going into phase two of that rebuild,

18:18 Speaker 2: because yes, they exceeded expectations in that first year, but

18:24 Speaker 2: they're not done. They still have to find the right

18:28 Speaker 2: personnelity and that's something that every team is always doing.

18:31 Speaker 1: They're always tweaking personnel. We're going to be talking.

18:33 Speaker 2: About the forwards in a couple of weeks and the

18:37 Speaker 2: defenceman in.

18:38 Speaker 1: Terms of who's got what roles.

18:41 Speaker 2: On this team, what roles are still vacant, because we've

18:46 Speaker 2: all seen what happens when you ask a player forward

18:49 Speaker 2: or defense to take on a role that is not

18:54 Speaker 2: a natural fit. It doesn't go well for anybody. And

18:57 Speaker 2: so I'm really hoping that what I was able to

19:02 Speaker 2: find on JJ Peterca and his mentality in the game,

19:07 Speaker 2: how he approaches the game, how he executes the game,

19:11 Speaker 2: that will transition beautifully with someone like David Pasternak, where

19:18 Speaker 2: I could see them being on the power play together.

19:21 Speaker 2: Can you imagine somebody like Victor Arvidson, but potentially faster

19:28 Speaker 2: getting out there, getting the puck, getting it up to

19:31 Speaker 2: pasta and actually finally being somebody who can play with

19:35 Speaker 2: and support him. That would be truly amazing, truly amazing.

19:40 Speaker 2: Is he our white Whale? I don't know.

19:42 Speaker 1: I can give the Bruins management credit for understanding that

19:47 Speaker 1: they needed to get a bit faster, right, They needed

19:51 Speaker 1: to get faster, They need to try and solve their

19:55 Speaker 1: secondary scoring problem. Right, they needed to be more consistent

19:59 Speaker 1: because again we fell into a trap last season. It's

20:03 Speaker 1: late in the season once again of solely relying on

20:06 Speaker 1: one line no matter how Marco mixed them all up,

20:09 Speaker 1: it was still one line that was providing an abundance

20:13 Speaker 1: of scoring. I still think there are to me questions,

20:17 Speaker 1: and we'll get into this in a future episode. We

20:20 Speaker 1: still need to figure out how to get more offensive

20:23 Speaker 1: production from our back end too. But I like the

20:26 Speaker 1: fact that they're understanding that they need to get a

20:29 Speaker 1: little younger. It's in younger and more experienced, with more

20:34 Speaker 1: proven track record type players without exclusively relying on the draft,

20:40 Speaker 1: because they want this retool to be a bit quicker.

20:44 Speaker 1: I also like the fact that they're not building a

20:47 Speaker 1: team now specifically to beat another team, one team in

20:51 Speaker 1: your own division a conference, because it blows up in

20:54 Speaker 1: your face and every other team around you has improved

20:58 Speaker 1: as well. My own only concern is the cap hit

21:02 Speaker 1: and the amount of money, because if he doesn't improve

21:06 Speaker 1: on his numbers and his stats, if that doesn't bear out,

21:10 Speaker 1: that's not going to look like a great contract down

21:13 Speaker 1: the road. Yeah.

21:14 Speaker 2: No, it's definitely expensive. So the other piece of this

21:17 Speaker 2: transition period that Boston is then moving into, in addition

21:22 Speaker 2: to continuing the growth and development of the team as

21:26 Speaker 2: a whole, into Marco's vision of how to play the

21:31 Speaker 2: game that he sees in his mind is the fact

21:34 Speaker 2: that we are probably also just a couple of years

21:38 Speaker 2: away from having a significantly younger team. If you listened

21:45 Speaker 2: to our episode on some of these prospects, we've got

21:49 Speaker 2: probably at least three young men who are going into

21:55 Speaker 2: likely their final NCAA seasons, and I full we would

22:00 Speaker 2: expect to see those guys end up in Providence shortly

22:05 Speaker 2: after their season.

22:06 Speaker 1: Ends, and then really genuinely.

22:09 Speaker 2: Entering the pipeline, possibly as soon as next season two seasons.

22:13 Speaker 2: We're talking about Dean Laturno, Will Zeller's, Chris Polosi. Like

22:17 Speaker 2: a bunch of these guys, plus you've got James Hagen's

22:21 Speaker 2: waiting in the wings and a couple of other guys

22:23 Speaker 2: who have already been doing their time in the AHL.

22:26 Speaker 2: And so what I like about bringing in someone like

22:30 Speaker 2: peterca is he's also kind of that middleman between in

22:36 Speaker 2: terms of his age and his years of experience already

22:40 Speaker 2: in the NHL, being in a place where he's going

22:43 Speaker 2: to be playing with Dare I say it, at this

22:46 Speaker 2: point Pasta is about to be really he's a veteran

22:48 Speaker 2: player at he's thirty years old, and.

22:51 Speaker 1: Someone like him he's designated as a leader on this team.

22:55 Speaker 2: Right, right, We've got this kid who already has NHL experience,

22:59 Speaker 2: so here he knows what is going on. He doesn't

23:02 Speaker 2: have to learn that aspect of playing in the NHL,

23:06 Speaker 2: and so he can learn and grow and develop in

23:08 Speaker 2: that regard by playing with guys like David Pasternak or

23:11 Speaker 2: Pavel Zaka or any of these other line mates that

23:15 Speaker 2: he's going to have because they've all been playing for

23:17 Speaker 2: longer than him, and then he will be able to

23:20 Speaker 2: serve as that mentor to these really young guys who

23:24 Speaker 2: are coming in. I can see his hiring, for lack

23:29 Speaker 2: of a better phrase, as very intentional in trying to

23:34 Speaker 2: build the next iteration of the Bruins, because we've said

23:38 Speaker 2: goodbye to that most recent golden age of Boston and

23:44 Speaker 2: they're now trying to build up this next age of

23:49 Speaker 2: the Bruins, trying to avoid creating those gigantic gaps.

23:54 Speaker 1: The threshold should be high, but just younger players, and

23:58 Speaker 1: it's not going to trans right away. It may not

24:01 Speaker 1: even translate with jj Petka until the midway point of

24:06 Speaker 1: this season. Right in terms of okay, what are we

24:10 Speaker 1: truly going to get from this player. What can we

24:12 Speaker 1: truly expect from this player? But I think we should

24:17 Speaker 1: I don't think it's unrealistic based on the age, what

24:21 Speaker 1: we've part about, what has been projected to have to

24:25 Speaker 1: set a relatively high threshold.

24:28 Speaker 2: When you're watching this team in the fall, keep an

24:31 Speaker 2: eye out on this player. See what he's doing really well.

24:34 Speaker 2: If you see him coming up the boards, watch how

24:37 Speaker 2: he enters the zone.

24:38 Speaker 1: Is it controlled?

24:39 Speaker 2: Can he transition quickly when that puck gets loose in

24:44 Speaker 2: that neutral zone? Is he aggressively grabbing it and taking it?

24:49 Speaker 2: Is he going and following whoever has the puck quickly?

24:54 Speaker 2: Is he getting into position and taking advantage of that

24:58 Speaker 2: transition and the rush? He may not necessarily be executing

25:01 Speaker 2: on it perfectly. He's got to learn how to play

25:04 Speaker 2: with these new teammates, right. That can take a little while.

25:07 Speaker 2: He's got to learn this new system. But if that

25:10 Speaker 2: is truly his calling card, as we have been led

25:13 Speaker 2: to believe based on his stats scouting reports, You're gonna

25:17 Speaker 2: see that aspect, that element immediately, because that's like his personality,

25:22 Speaker 2: that doesn't change.

25:23 Speaker 1: That's what I'm going to be keep an eye on.

25:25 Speaker 1: I'm going to watch him see who he gets put

25:29 Speaker 1: on with.

25:29 Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if we see him maybe bounce

25:33 Speaker 2: in the middle a little bit like second or third

25:36 Speaker 2: as he gets familiar. But I am certainly, based on

25:40 Speaker 2: what I've seen, under the impression that they're hiring this

25:42 Speaker 2: guy specifically to take Arvidson's spot on that second line.

25:46 Speaker 2: And even if it wasn't to take Arvidson's spot, which

25:49 Speaker 2: happens to be on the second line, what I've read

25:51 Speaker 2: about him and what I've seen of this kid to

25:54 Speaker 2: me already, I would be like that, I want to

25:57 Speaker 2: see him on the second line. I'm hiring you because

25:59 Speaker 2: you're seven million, you do this. That's a second line, right.

26:03 Speaker 1: I would ask the fan base to maybe give him

26:05 Speaker 1: a little time to transition. And I think there's going

26:09 Speaker 1: to be a lot of maneuvering as it relates two

26:12 Speaker 1: lines coming up this season, because when you look at

26:17 Speaker 1: currently what the Broins website has listed as its rostery Molly, yeah,

26:24 Speaker 1: fully mo. So it's like, where are all these guys

26:26 Speaker 1: gonna eventually? You can't keep them all on the active roster. Nope,

26:30 Speaker 1: you can't keep them all on the active rosters. But

26:33 Speaker 1: I like the fact that there's going to be actual competition. Yes,

26:38 Speaker 1: you want a spot on opening day, you better freaking

26:41 Speaker 1: earn it, and a good variety to choose from.

26:43 Speaker 2: I get the sense, certainly that based on how Sturm

26:48 Speaker 2: wants to see his team play, he knows what the

26:51 Speaker 2: jobs have to be, he knows what their job openings are,

26:55 Speaker 2: and he's going to try and find the players who

26:59 Speaker 2: can be the most successful in that.

27:01 Speaker 1: And because there's a.

27:03 Speaker 2: Lot of guys to choose from, hopefully that means the

27:06 Speaker 2: right guys, the best guys, get those spots.

27:09 Speaker 1: Yep, yep.

27:10 Speaker 2: Because this Atlantic Division. We've said it time and time again,

27:13 Speaker 2: the Atlantic Division is the most competitive of all of

27:17 Speaker 2: the divisions, and it's only getting more and more insane.

27:21 Speaker 2: I've seen the roster for the Panthers and the what

27:27 Speaker 2: the halves are doing, and I'm shaking in my boots

27:31 Speaker 2: a little bit.

27:34 Speaker 1: They're not the only ones, right, They're not the only

27:36 Speaker 1: ones exactly. People are not messing around.

27:39 Speaker 2: But final thoughts, opinions, questions, concerns that you may have

27:44 Speaker 2: about Patka.

27:45 Speaker 1: Well, I don't know much about him. You've done a

27:48 Speaker 1: great job filling us in. As always, if your research

27:52 Speaker 1: and your statistics because we don't watch this Utah team, right,

27:56 Speaker 1: so we're kind of getting an unknown like what I've

28:01 Speaker 1: heard and read thus far. I like that he is young.

28:05 Speaker 1: I'm just concerned about the contract and how that is

28:09 Speaker 1: going to ultimately play out, because you do have other

28:13 Speaker 1: areas of need here. We still need a proven right

28:17 Speaker 1: shot defense. I don't Again, they don't grow on trees,

28:21 Speaker 1: but with what you have left in your projected cap space,

28:25 Speaker 1: you're not going to get them. We look for the best.

28:29 Speaker 1: We've already seen the worst. You know, we've lived it, right,

28:32 Speaker 1: we can only be that. Yeah, we can only go up.

28:35 Speaker 1: But looking down at this roster right now, does it

28:39 Speaker 1: gives me Stanley Cup playoff vibes? Yeah?

28:42 Speaker 2: Not quite yet, but yeah, but I'm not mad. So

28:45 Speaker 2: it's okay, It's okay. I'm very open minded and feeling positive.

28:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, we feel like that now.

28:50 Speaker 2: Anyways, make sure you let and subscribe for more content,

28:54 Speaker 2: and be sure to leave and reading a review. To

28:56 Speaker 2: help other Bruins fans find us. You can support the

28:59 Speaker 2: podcast by winning our Patreon or following us on our

29:02 Speaker 2: socials at Tape to Tape MK and on substack at

29:05 Speaker 2: Tape to tape, mk dot substack dot com. Final thoughts,

29:10 Speaker 2: go bees, and as always, go bes.