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Bruins show some fight against Florida. Charlie McAvoy is most valuable. Wotherspoon and Peeke form a solid pair. Monty goes crazy. Check your Hyman at the door. Plus, much more!
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What is Bruins Benders Podcast?
A weekly Boston Bruins Podcast by a couple of Benders. News, highlights, trades, rumors, and more! Can’t skate, weak ankles, but we know all things Black & Gold!
Welcome to the Bruins Benchers Podcast,
Season 3, Episode 22.
Montgomery Burns with Maddie
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All right.
It is rapid review time.
And the Bruins lost a couple.
And, you know, it's, I'll tell you,
when they lost to the Rangers,
Rangers have been tough with them.
Rangers are a scary team for the Bruins.
And there was some talk here
about the Bruins kind of,
I don't know,
coasting into the playoffs
and postseason.
And Monty has a frigging fit
the other day.
And, you know,
it didn't start well for the
Bruins this week.
No, it didn't.
And the Rangers do kind of
have the number.
But look,
the Rangers are a really good team.
I mean, they have lots of depth.
They have a very good
defense and very good goaltending.
So they're going to be tough for anybody.
But the Bruins really didn't seem,
you know, they've been starting slow.
They've been having trouble holding leads.
Their defensive structure
hasn't been great.
Their net front battle
presence hasn't been great.
So they lose to the Rangers,
and then here come the Flyers,
and the Flyers just embarrassed them.
The Bruins didn't really
seem up to the challenge.
The Flyers are desperate to
make the playoffs.
They're fighting for their lives,
and the Bruins just weren't ready to go.
Uh, no.
And then coming into this Panthers game,
you know,
the way the Bruins finished the
Flyers game and then the
way they started practice
money lost his mind.
He lost his mind because they just, uh,
they just haven't seemed to
kind of focus in.
And he said they weren't
ready for the playoffs.
Just bluntly said it.
And, um,
Yeah,
so a little bit of a tough stretch there,
but then they rebound last
night with a big win over
Florida in Florida against
a team that's kind of been
their nemesis in the playoffs.
The Bruins have handled them this year.
They're 3-0 against them this year.
They play them again on April 6th,
so that should be a pretty good tilt,
but a good bounce-back win
last night for the Bruins.
Well, you've talked about this before,
and you're a big advocate
for your bottom six guys in
the playoffs being a big deal,
making a big difference,
like being able to set the tone,
being able to give you this
offensive balance.
A lot of times that's the matchup,
third lines against each other, whatever,
that wins the thing in the
end or has an advantage.
So I think that this Bruins
team has always been
relying on the top guys,
and the way they go, the team goes.
There's not a lot of depth in that.
If they aren't ready to go,
the bottom six guys don't
always rise to the challenge.
So they kind of take on
whatever mood or whatever
You know, however,
the top guys are playing at the time.
And I think that this Bruins
team has that kind of thing.
If Pasternak and Marchand,
Marchand had like three goals in 24 games,
like he's not playing great,
looks to be hitting a
little bit of a wall.
He's older.
He's played every game.
which I don't know if I agree with.
He's had double hips and that whole thing.
It's been great for the
first two-thirds of the
season or whatever,
but for the last 25-ish games,
he's been okay.
He's been okay.
So however they go is how the team goes,
and I think that that's
part of the issue.
with them is that it's not really,
I think we're finding out
it's not really Cassidy.
That was the issue when it comes to that,
like he would lose his mind.
And then they bring in Monty
who was more of a softer
voice and positive guy.
Well, now he's losing his mind.
So what does that say about
the core of the team at the
end of the day?
You know, are they tough enough?
Do they want it bad enough
in those types of things?
Yeah,
I think that's something that you
have to worry about a little bit.
I don't know if Monty is...
I think he was really more
in that instance trying to
get their attention.
Like, look,
we've been pretty good over the
course of the season.
And we're kind of slipping
here and falling into some bad habits.
And we got to shake out of
this before we start the
playoffs or it's going to
be an early round exit.
So I think he was, yeah,
I think he was kind of trying to, uh,
to light a fire under them there.
Yeah, sure.
All right.
And that leads us to, to chirp.
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And Sherp1 is just that.
Monty loses his mind at a
practice prior to the Panthers game.
Is this a sign that he might
be getting a little
desperate or having to
change kind of how he's
coaching and his coaching
style with this group?
I don't, like I said,
I don't think it's
desperation necessarily.
I think he was just trying
to light a fire under them.
You know, desperate is when you're down,
you know,
3-1 in a series and you're trying,
you know,
pulling things out of your ass
to try to get the team to respond.
I don't think he's lost the
team because they did respond, you know,
for the second half of that practice.
And then in the Florida game,
I thought they showed a lot
more kind of fight back in
battle than they have.
And I think that is actually
a good sign for the playoffs.
So we'll see what happens there.
But it seemed to have caught
their attention.
Yeah, without a doubt.
And I just hope that, you know,
I'm a big believer when
you're coaching to stick to
your personality.
You can't be someone you're not.
So if he wants to think that
he's going to have to go
out and like be a screamer
and do this whole thing,
that's just not going to
work at the end of the day.
And I think he is feeling a
little bit of pressure now.
I mean,
they blew it last year with him at
the helm.
And if they don't, if they go out with a
sort of a whimper in round one.
Now, I mean,
you have to really consider
whether his job is on the
line at that point.
And if,
if they're going to continue to go
with him,
if they aren't performing in the
playoffs.
So, you know, that's a,
and it's going to be a
tough first round matchup unless,
you know,
if they get the capitals or
probably beat the capitals,
but the wings could be tough.
Yeah.
the frigging maple leaves
will be really tough, tough.
So, you know, who knows what,
what happens there?
So I think it's, it's, um,
it's definitely a time
where you have to consider
whether Monty will survive
this if they kind of go in, you know,
with a whimper and then go
out with a whimper in the,
in the first round.
Yeah,
I think you have to ask that question.
I mean, it's it's kind of unfair.
The guy's been here for two
years and the team has, you know,
had the greatest regular
season of all time,
but then lost in the playoffs.
And then this year it was
kind of expected to be more
of kind of a bridge here.
You know,
you lose some key guys off your team,
Bergeron and Crecce and and and.
Bertuzzi and Hall, like a lot of you,
you're lost a lot of
offensive talent and depth off this team.
And they responded and
they've been pretty good all year long.
I mean, they have flaws.
Everybody has flaws with the exception,
maybe of a couple of teams.
Um, so it'll be interesting to see and,
and how,
how things shake out if they do
lose early in the playoffs, you know,
because he has had such a,
a pretty good regular season, you know,
good regular seasons that,
With, you know, especially this year,
the expectations were a little bit lower.
Yeah, they were.
And, you know, of course,
they're going to be a
little lower anyway.
But they did play pretty
well for much of the season.
They're right in position to
be the top team in the
Eastern Conference.
I mean, they are in position to do that,
which not a lot of people expected.
I mean, I had them second in the division,
which, you know,
they could still end up there.
But I certainly didn't think
that they'd win.
you know,
when the conference or when a
president's trophy or any of that,
So it has been a pretty good
year considering.
But again,
it all comes down to the postseason.
You just don't.
If they don't win and they
lose in the first round again,
that's not a good thing.
A chirp, too.
And how about this?
The Bruins are 9-1-4 when
they fight this year.
So all you wackadoos who
think that fighting is the
core of hockey still,
I guess you're right.
I guess the Bruins just need
to fight every game.
Yeah.
They'd be 82-0 if they fought every game,
right?
Yeah, sure, fight.
Yeah, every time they fight, they win.
Chirp 2, rough figures here,
but this was from Ty Anderson.
But since Hampus Lindholm
returns to the lineup on March 9th,
the Lindholm-Brandon Carlo
pair has been on the ice
for 11 goals against and
about 120 minutes or so of
all situational play.
So the Bruins have allowed
11 goals in the 290 minutes
or so with that pairing off the ice.
So the Bruins rose to the
physical challenge by Florida.
Finally,
does this bode well for them going
into the playoffs?
And a listener asked how to
solve this Lindholm-Carlo pairing,
but I think you saw it
toward the end of the game.
Be more physical.
Yeah, that's the answer for those guys.
Did you know that that fight
was Hampus Lindholm's first
career fight in the NHL?
That was his first career fight.
Wow.
His first career fight in the league.
In the league.
Wow.
I mean, he's a nice guy.
Brandon Kylo's a nice guy, too.
Yeah, they're both wonderful.
They need to play more like
they played last night.
Brandon Kylo, I think this year, overall,
has been more physical than he has been.
Is it enough?
No, it is not enough.
He can still do more.
And Hampus Lindholm needs to
do a lot more.
And the fact that he stood
up to Sam Bennett last
night was a giant step, in my opinion,
in the right direction.
And they need to.
That's the difference.
That's the reason.
If they're going to be out,
especially if they're going
to be out against...
other teams, top lines,
like if that's the Bruins, you know,
so-called shutdown line,
if they're going to be out
there against the other teams, top lines,
they have to be much more nasty, much,
much, much more nasty.
You don't necessarily have to fight,
but you have to use your
big bodies to cross check,
clear the front of the net,
make people not want to come in there,
not necessarily box them
out and lift their sticks,
make them not want to go there.
That's the difference
between a nasty physical
defenseman and a guy who just, you know,
takes care of someone's stick.
You know, that's not the same thing,
especially in the playoffs.
So I, and I think Lynn home, especially if,
if I think it will help him
be engaged more and give
him a little more confidence and,
Because last year,
he really struggled in the first round.
It seemed like he didn't
really want any real contact,
and he was kind of really indecisive.
The hard forechecking really bothered him.
But I think if he stands up to Sam Bennett,
now maybe that turns a corner for him.
Look, the players,
they listen to the nonsense.
He knows that people think he's soft.
He knows this.
So if he has some of that...
you know,
kind of confidence from being
more physical, getting in a fight,
you know, he survived it.
Like maybe that's all he
really needed to say, okay, I can,
I can do this part of it too.
Uh, and I, I agree on Carlo.
I think he's been pretty good,
largely most of the year.
And I think he's been more physical.
I think he's been a little
bit better after the
whistle and that type of thing.
And then we stood up to
Kachuk last night at the end of the game.
I thought that was great.
Like, I think that's what he needs to do.
So I think that pairing, uh,
really needs to play that
way and they'll be fine.
Cause they're both good players.
Like there'll be fine.
So, but I,
but I think it's necessary and
they're going to be part of
the fall guys.
If it doesn't go well.
Yeah.
Because if I play this this
way with those kinds of numbers,
then there's going to be a big,
hefty blame.
And then you have to wonder, you know,
do you have to move on from
a Lindholm or do you have
to change the dynamic of your defense,
which we've talked about?
Yeah.
I mean,
Lindholm really needs to be for
that pairing.
He needs to be much better
because he needs to be the
one going back on pucks and
making the decisions to
pass the puck out of the zone.
That's not really Brandon Carlo's game.
you know, McAvoy can do it.
You know,
Lindholm is your other guy who's
supposed to be your, you know,
your really good puck moving defenseman.
And if he's worried about
getting knocked around, you know,
you see the turnovers and
hemmed in their own zone
and problems with that.
So he really has to be much
better and kind of raise his game,
not necessarily to the
level he was at at the
beginning of last year,
because that's just unfair.
He was playing at a
ridiculous level and you
can't expect him to, to,
do that for an entire season
or entire playoff.
Um,
cause that just hasn't been in his
nature over the course of his career.
But, um, to approach that, um, would,
would really help the Bruins, uh,
a lot in the playoffs.
100%.
And I, and I agree.
So I think, um,
You know,
they're a major focus when it
comes to the success of the
team because they both play heavy minutes,
and that needs to be a good pairing.
It would help McAvoy out a
lot if that was the case, too.
So we'll see how that goes for them.
Chirp3, per an NHL source,
the Bruins are frontrunners
to sign forward in 2023
Frozen Four hero Jacob Quillen.
but a knot in on his
teammate Colin Graff with Quinnipiac.
And more at Boston Hockey now.
Bruins can clinch the
playoffs with one point
tonight against Tampa for a
shitty soft bridge team.
That's pretty good, eh?
Yeah, I mean,
this was supposed to be a
year that they weren't
expected to do much.
I mean,
I went back and looked at some of
the ESPN predictions for the season.
A lot of them had them
missing the playoffs.
A lot of them had them as
the first or second wildcard team.
A lot of them had them third
in the division, so...
they had them kind of much
lower down than where they've been,
you know,
over the course of this course
of the year.
So I think the Bruins have
over performed a little bit
based on expectations going
into the year.
So they've,
they've been doing pretty well
and here they are with the
chance to be the second team that,
that clinches a playoff
berth with a point tonight.
Yeah, I think so too.
And yeah,
It's good that they
responded the way they did last night.
I'm really interested to see
how they play second night
of back to back against
another good team.
If they come out tonight and
play the same kind of way and win.
then we may have seen a
turning point in Florida.
We really may have.
And that whole practice and stepping up,
Martian fighting, Lindholm fighting,
Wotherspoon stepping up to Kachuk,
all of it.
Like all of it being, okay,
almost like a turning point
in the Vancouver series in
the finals where they just
say enough's enough and
they just start fighting back.
Maybe it is,
maybe it is a turning point
kind of thing.
If they come out and they,
and they shit on their,
and shit their pants,
then here we are again.
Here we are again.
Yeah.
Charlie last night, by the way, had, uh,
you know, didn't have any points,
but had seven or eight hits
in that game last night.
So he was, uh,
he was certainly throwing
his body around.
And when he does that, uh, and Marshan,
you know, steps up and fights.
Um, I think he really, you know,
those guys kind of set the, set the, uh,
set the table,
set the message of how the
Bruins needed to respond to these guys.
You know, Marchand's 5'9",
he's fighting Mikolo, who's 6'4".
I mean, he's given up, you know,
seven inches or whatever and, you know,
got a couple shots in, but then, you know,
thrown to the ice and Lindholm, you know,
it wasn't the fact that
they actually fought.
It was the fact that they
actually stood up for themselves.
And if they can continue to
do that and match the physicality,
I think they'll be fine.
They're a good team.
They're a good team.
You're going to be, you know,
a tough out with the
goaltending and the defense and, you know,
some star players, you know,
they're going to be a tough
out if they can match that physicality.
But that's the big thing.
Can they do that for three
months or however long it takes to,
you know, go deep,
deep into the playoffs?
That'll be, you know,
that'll be the challenge.
It will.
Chirp number four.
Is Charlie McEvoy the key to
the success of your Boston Bruins?
So I was looking at this and
somebody I can't recall who posted this,
but when the Bruins,
when he scores a goal,
the Bruins are eight and one.
Wow.
When he has a point,
they have five regulation
losses in 31 games.
Wow.
So when he is playing like a top five,
10 defensemen, the Bruins usually win.
And when he doesn't, they aren't as good.
And that's that's clear as day.
And I was looking at it
before his two point game last night.
He was pointless in like 10,
10 or 11 games in a row.
He just hasn't hasn't been
hasn't been great, hasn't been himself.
And they need him to be that
stud back there that's
scoring goals and getting assists.
And he had a big hit last
night on Reinhardt.
When he's kind of the alpha
dog back there and playing
well and playing with confidence,
they are a different team.
They are.
Um, whether he, you know,
it's hard to say that he, you know,
one guy makes all the difference, but, um,
it, it definitely,
cause he plays a lot of minutes.
So when he's playing a lot
of minutes at a very high level,
they're an extremely tough team to beat.
Yeah.
Without, without question.
He is, I mean, he plays 25 minutes a game,
whatever.
He's going to play more in the playoffs.
So yeah, he's a big factor.
Yeah.
without question.
And we just talked about
Carlo and what he has to
bring to the table.
And if anything happens to McAvoy,
if he's not playing well,
it puts even more pressure on Carlo.
So yes, it's a,
it's a big factor for sure.
And he has to be the,
the drew Dowdy and the, you know,
all the list of guys,
guys over the years who
have been stud defensemen
who have led cup runs.
He's got to be that guy.
And until he's that guy,
then it's hard to put him in
the conversation of the top
three or four defensemen in the league.
It's just hard to do.
So he doesn't bring quite
the offensive numbers those
other guys do.
So this is what he needs to be, for sure.
All right, Chirp 5.
Parker Wotherspoon and
Andrew Peek are the third pair.
And is it the third pair
come playoff time?
Wotherspoon and Peake played
11-43 last night.
It was 1-0 Bruins,
5-2 in shots for the Bruins.
A good effort for them.
And then Wotherspoon stands up to Kachuk.
And that could be your third pairing.
I think it should be.
I think it should be your
third pairing in the playoffs.
I don't think lower eyes are ready, uh,
for the physicality of the playoffs.
Um,
and I think he still makes them the
mistakes that, you know,
you can't really live with
in the playoffs.
You know, it's fine.
Um,
you know,
for him to learn in the regular season.
And this is part of my point
of why I thought he should
have been getting minutes
in the regular season down
the stretch of some of
these games where he was benched.
Cause now you can't really
use them in the playoffs
because you don't trust them.
So I think the water spoon
peak pairing has been good.
Uh,
I think they both play a physical style.
They're both willing to block shots.
They're both willing to fight.
Uh, I don't know if, if, uh,
while the spoon is particularly, um,
great at fighting,
but he's willing to do it.
Uh, peak has been really good and very,
very solid since he joined the Bruins.
I believe he,
I don't know what his plus
minus was last night,
but I think he's a plus three.
He's playing about 13, 14,
15 minutes a night.
Um, you know, and he's,
and he's physical in the
corners and he's wins puck battles.
He had a really good, uh,
play last night where, uh,
it was four on four and, um,
Florida was going to get a
short power play for like 17, 20 seconds.
And Pete got the puck.
And instead of just firing
it down the ice on a four on four,
he held onto it,
brought it back behind his net and,
and essentially killed off
the 20 seconds that Florida
had would have had for
power play time just by being,
being smart and,
and having game awareness
and good hockey IQ.
Um,
So I think it's things like
that and his physical play
that really will kind of
add to the Bruins.
And I think he's exactly the
type of guy that we were
talking about wanting for
the bottom three.
for the bottom pair,
a guy that's physical and,
and is big and will hit you
and grind on you and, and protect your,
you know,
the front of the net and your goalie.
So, um,
I think he's been an excellent
addition so far.
And I think you,
you might be looking at
this in a couple of years saying, wow,
Andrew peak trade was a,
was a pretty good move.
And he ended up being kind
of a steal at the end of the day.
Sure.
And then Nevin from Twitter,
he wanted to hear our thoughts on peak.
Wotherspoon, by the way, plus seven,
1750 average ice time.
Okay.
Wow.
But Nevin says he'd love to
hear thoughts on peak.
He hasn't been able to watch much.
So I'll tell you,
I'm happy with peak in that,
in that acquisition for the
reasons you just said,
like we wanted guys who, I mean,
we keep talking about the
third pairing when they won the cup,
you know,
you gotta be that type of
pairing was kind of hard to
play against kind of,
and we talk about that all the time,
but you know,
just kind of standing up to
guys at playing with a
little bit of an edge,
you're only going to play,
you know, 12 minutes a game,
probably come playoff time, you know,
just,
just maybe one of them can penalty kill,
you know,
stay and get in front of the net,
protect your goalie, you know,
keep it simple and those types of things.
And I think they, they could,
they have the possibility
and they've done it already of,
of sort of playing well off each other.
Yeah, I think so.
I think they have a pretty
good chemistry with each other.
And I think that's exactly
what you need out of your third pair.
Tough to play against, you know,
in your own end.
And look, if they if after every shift,
it's essentially zero zero
and they don't give up any
goals while they're out
there and and give the
other team a hard time.
That's a win, in my opinion.
Like we are third pair to go out there.
You don't, you don't get scored on and you,
and you rough up the other
teams guys while you're out there.
And then, you know, your shifts over,
that's a win.
That's a, that's a nice job.
You ate some ice,
ice time up that Charlie
McAvoy or Brandon Carlo or
somebody else doesn't have to cover.
you know?
And so, um,
that's exactly what you need
from those guys, killing penalties,
blocking shots,
doing whatever it takes to, to,
to win the games and just
being strong and sturdy in your own end.
I mean, that's,
that you can't ask for
really more than that from those guys.
Right now peak is, you know,
17 minutes a game.
He's,
he's a plus four and six games with them.
He has an assist.
He has only two giveaways.
Like, so he's playing simple,
playing smart.
Um,
He's been good.
He's been fine.
I actually saw someone on Twitter,
I think it was,
say they hadn't really noticed him,
which is a good thing.
Exactly.
You don't want to notice him.
Yeah.
If he's in the offensive end,
maybe you want to notice him.
If he does something, you're like, oh.
you know, like low ride,
a couple of low drags in
the offensive end, some goals.
Uh, that's nice.
But in the defensive end,
you don't want to notice them at all.
Like it's, you know,
like peak passes to coil,
coil gets it out of the zone when,
you know, you know,
it's not low ride passes to
Brian Hart who scores.
It's not that,
that's not what you're looking for.
So, um, yeah, any kind of, uh, you know,
positive, uh,
um, performance in the own,
in your own zone.
That's, that leads to, uh,
you going unnoticed is, is definitely, uh,
a good, a good thing.
Oh, it's a great thing.
Like I, there was, yeah,
there was a game where I was like, boy,
I haven't really heard his name much,
but that's, that's not bad.
You know, again,
he's not going to give you
a lot of offense.
He has two shots on net.
Like,
he's just not going to do a lot of
that thing peak,
but he's going to be a little bigger,
a little more physical.
He's going to be solid with the puck, uh,
perfect like that is pretty
well too for a big guy that
I that he does he's done
well and that's a big step
up from derrick forboard
sure a big step up who was
like a deer on ice all
right then chirp six
realistic offensive plan
for the bruins and then if
you have a reach option on
what they could do and this
comes from joe phil on twitter
A realistic off-season plan for me,
I don't think,
I don't want Elias Lindholm,
I've decided.
I don't want him.
I think he's been down the last few years.
The face-off part I do like.
I'm more of like a,
give me like a Chandler Stevenson type,
a big guy who is going to
be probably similar to Charlie Coyle.
Maybe if you played him with
great players like if he was
playing with a pasta knock
maybe that brings some
offense out of them um but
that would be a guy that I
would want for the bruins
um big strong guy um down
the middle um so he'd be
someone I'd be looking at I
would want to add some
depth on defense I think
the guys that you have
right now I think um
makes up your, your top six.
I mean, low, right.
I think slides in for Grizzly.
When, when Grizzly looks at UFA,
I think he's gone.
I think four boards gone.
So I think you're looking at, you know,
McAvoy, you know, low rye or Lindholm,
Carlo and water spoon and peak.
I think that's your six.
And then you fill in, um,
if you can improve that,
certainly try to do that.
Um,
but I think you need help on the middle
and then it's, you know,
do you sign JD to, uh,
to a short-term deal possibly, um,
depending on how he does in the playoffs,
uh,
Or do you go for a winger
that can score with a guy like, you know,
I guess the reach would be
a guy like Stamkos if he
happens to leave Tampa Bay.
You know,
there's a guy who can certainly
put the puck in the net and
would give you some more
offensive firepower.
Um,
but I'm looking at a guy like Stevenson
and then some depth on D and, and then,
you know,
hopefully you fill in a little
bit with some, um,
scoring punch on the wings.
Uh,
plus you have the young kids that you
probably need to give a
shot to your Merkulovs and,
and Lysels and, and Patras.
So, yeah, so I'm, I'm going with, you know,
realistic, they signed Swayman,
they trade Allmark,
they let all the UFAs pretty much go.
Um, and they decide on DeBrusque.
Maybe they trade his rights
for somebody else and a one
for one change of scenery type thing.
Or they trade him for some
draft pick assets.
Maybe.
I don't know.
But that's going to be.
He's going to have to take
just about what he's been making,
in my opinion,
one or two year deal right
at kind of where he's making now.
Like there's no raise in his sights,
I don't think.
I mean, he is kind of what he is.
You know,
he's doing kind of what
Frederick's doing right now offensively.
And Frederick's making 2.3,
like even four millions a
stretch for DeBrusque right now.
But so we'll see what happens there.
My reach has always been
Jonathan Marshall.
So I like the guy a lot.
Yeah.
Playoff performer.
I say try to go.
He's a little older and he's not big.
He's five, nine, whatever.
But, you know, the guys, the guys,
a playoff proven playoff
guy and a really good
player and under the radar player.
And I think he's a guy I
wouldn't mind them moving
on from Nebraska and fitting Marshall.
So right in there, he's making five now.
you know,
I don't know what it's going to
cost five and a half, six, whatever.
Yeah.
I say, give it him, give him a, maybe.
Cause I,
he competes every night and he produces,
you know, and he always,
he hasn't always played
with the best talent.
I mean, he's played with, you know,
talent now,
but when he first was in Vegas,
he wasn't playing with the
greatest talent and that
team went all the way to the cup finals.
So,
He certainly can do things on the line.
So I would love that.
I'd be in on that.
I mean,
the thing you have going for you
with a guy like Stamkos is
you can be in cup
contention next year if
he's kind of the guy.
And he'd bring him in and say, you know,
we can win this thing.
Come on, Stammer.
Yeah.
Play with us.
And maybe you get him.
Just with that thought alone,
like you can be a
difference maker and we can
slide coil back down to C3
and or you can be C2 or
whatever and we can.
We can give it a run,
give it a go one last time or whatever.
Maybe you can sell that to him.
But the money goes quick.
It does go.
After Swayman is at seven or
whatever it is, probably,
now you're down to like 15.
And you lost a bunch of UFAs.
You got to fill some spots.
You're going to have to go with some kids.
But if you want to make a
real roster-changing move
like Amartya Soh,
that's like the, the,
the half of the rest of it.
Right.
And you're, you know,
and you're right back to
kind of squeezing pennies.
So, uh, it goes pretty quick.
And that's why DeBrusque is such a,
such an interesting thing.
Like,
do you really want to do that with
him again?
Uh, it kind of is what he is.
And do you want to,
do you want to do that on a
long-term deal?
I'm not sure you do.
I don't like, I don't like,
I would give him two more years, uh,
and say, okay, here's a two-year deal.
Gets you to about 29 years old.
Would you give him two times five?
Jesus.
See, I don't even love that.
He's going to want a raise.
I mean, he's going to want a raise.
Right.
I don't even love that.
I don't know if he deserves one either.
I don't think he does.
I don't love it.
I think I go to two for eight again.
And I just don't love that either.
I don't, I don't.
Yeah, I'm not.
I mean, if, if it was, if it comes down to,
you know, March or so, you know,
four times, you know,
six and a half or DeBrusque, you know,
two times five or,
or four times five or four
times five and a half.
I'm going with March or so I think.
Yeah,
I'm going with Marchessault for five.
You know, he's making five now.
So who's a better player?
Yeah, I mean, Marchessault,
you'll probably have to go six,
six and a half at least, I would say.
Okay.
But I would still do that, you know,
for another couple mil a year.
You know, even though he's older,
I would probably do that.
I mean, if you look at your five,
I'm going to look at the $5
million players right now out there.
Joel Farabee, Jared McCann, Ryan Strom,
Tyler Johnson, Ricard Raquel, Granlin,
Babashev, Marcheseau, Tarasenko, Palmieri,
Riley Smith.
So is he?
Yeah,
Marcheseau is better than like 90% of
those guys.
90% of these guys, but it's DeBrusque.
I mean, is he better than Drake Batherson?
Is he better than Conor Garland?
No.
Blake Coleman.
Yes.
Probably homes in that, you know, four,
eight, five.
Yeah.
Obviously Zaka, Olofsen, Tuck.
Yeah.
Coils in there too.
Coils in there at five calls
at five and change.
Yeah.
So he's probably like better
than half of those guys.
So he's probably going to
want to get into that area.
You know?
Yeah.
I mean, two years.
Yeah.
Maybe I do two for 10.
I mean,
if you bring him in and do two for
10 and you can still
somehow get March or so,
now you're cooking with gas.
But that's Swayman, March or so, DeBrusque,
that's all your money.
Yeah.
That's pretty much all your money.
That's 19 mil.
Yeah.
If it's 775.
Right.
And you have 22 and change, 22 and a half,
I think.
So you're really looking at Merculo.
And you have some RFAs.
Like you have Boquist, who's an RFA,
and Bussey's an RFA.
You probably have him.
You have Heinen.
Will you bring him back, Heinen?
Yeah, I mean, Heinen, maybe.
I mean, Heinen wanted to take a short,
but he's going to want to
raise because he's had a good year.
Yeah.
He has.
Well, yeah, I mean, he had to take a shit,
shit contract this year.
He's not going in this time.
He's going to probably want, you know,
predrick money he's probably
gonna want to and change
someone I would think
someone give him two now
based on this you know
based on this season I
don't think that's I don't
think that's a bad call so
but let them that's what
I'm saying like yeah that's
the thing it'll probably be
the bruins honestly I know
it's just really tough he's
one of monty's guys you know yeah
He does a lot of little things.
And, you know,
he chips in ish offensively.
Right.
Not great, but he's.
When you go in with Beecher,
do you go in with Beecher, Brazzo,
Heinen next year, fourth line?
Yeah, sure.
I love that.
I'd be all in.
So that's low cost.
Yeah,
but if you could get like Boquist as
an RFA,
could you do the same thing with
Boquist at a cheaper rate?
Right.
And Boquist has speed and
he's shown some offensive touch too.
I probably would go with
that route and save, you know, a million.
Yeah.
Cause you're going to have
to save a million.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, if you,
if you want to spend on
some of the higher price guys,
you're going to have to cut
towards the bottom of your
roster and either fill it
in with low guys or low costs, you know,
veterans.
Right.
So right now you have peak Wotherspoon,
Lindholm, Carlo McAvoy and who?
Lowry.
Lowry.
low rye, all under contract.
Yep.
So your defense is pretty much set.
Right.
Depth there.
So that's good.
It is.
And then with Swayman, you have to get,
you have to trade all Mark.
I mean, you just have to,
because that's all Mark.
If you keep all Mark, you're, you're,
preventing yourself from
getting a marsh so type of
guy you are you can't right
you can't have them both
right like that's that's
just too much so um so you
wheel him and then then
you're filling in guys
kazaka's on the contract
coil pastanak marshan's one
more year so your core is
kind of there you know
geeky frederick geeky yeah
he's you know those guys
yeah those guys are all on
the contract so
Yeah.
So, yeah, I mean,
you can go out and you have
a guy like Patra who was
here half the year.
You have a guy like, like LaSalle, who,
you know,
I guess he just got pinged up
and hopefully it's not a
career threatening thing,
but might've had another
serious concussion in Providence, uh,
over the weekend.
Um,
He just hit the 50-point mark,
which is a pretty good
milestone for Providence players.
Merkulov, I believe,
has 58 points and is third
or fourth in the league in scoring,
I believe.
He is, yeah.
He's had a great year.
That's another guy that, you know,
is he someone you give a
spot to or you're hopeful
maybe that he wins a spot.
So it'll be interesting to
see how that all kind of shakes out.
You know, are there guys there, you know,
obviously JBR is gone.
So there's probably a, you know,
an opening there.
So there's some guys that
they can plug in.
I would rather see them plug
it in with higher end talent.
But I mean,
I guess you have to see at some
point what you have in the younger guys.
Right.
So if you don't, if, so if you don't,
if you deal Debrusque,
then you can come in with a
Marchessault type of player.
If you don't,
I don't know if you really can.
Or if you have room.
Probably prevent you from
Lysel or Merkulov getting a shot,
probably.
Right,
because then you keep them down again.
And Merkulov needs to have one.
Lysel...
Maybe he can start down there.
But Merkulov, in my opinion,
there's not much more he can do there.
It's time for him to come up
here and figure it out.
Yeah.
And I don't think he's a
fourth-line center either.
He's not.
He's got to come up and play top six.
Or at least top nine to start.
But give him an honest shot top nine.
Right.
He's got to play with – and
not six minutes a night either.
Well, that's the other thing.
Right.
He's got to play with some offensive –
you know, some offensive talent,
whether that's, you know,
he starts on the third line
and occasionally he'll cycle through and,
and get a shift or two or
three during a game,
depending on how he's doing with,
you know,
the likes of Pasternak or
Marchand or somebody like that coil.
So, you know,
we can see what he can do
with those types of players, you know,
that, that probably needs to happen.
Yeah, 100%.
And then Chirp7.
The Bruins have until June
1st to sign goalie prospect
Reed Dick or lose him as a UFA.
And August 15th to sign
Quinn Olsen or lose his rights as well.
I would think they sign Dick
and lose Olsen.
What are your thoughts?
Yeah, keep the dick and lose Olsen.
That's where I'm at, too.
I think you can never have
too many goalies in your system.
The Bruins do a good job developing them,
so if they can have a guy
like Dick in the system,
and whether he comes up and
plays for Providence or
makes it to the Bruins eventually,
or they use him as a trade ship,
that's something that they
should definitely consider.
And then Olsen,
You know, he's been fine in college,
but he hasn't really done anything that,
you know, sets the world on fire.
So I think losing his rights wouldn't be,
you know, any huge loss,
especially if they're going after the,
you know,
the likes of Quillen at Quinnipiac, too.
You know,
there's a guy that kind of could
take his spot.
Yeah, I mean,
the thing about Reed Dick as
well is that he has really
progressed since they drafted him.
Like he's had his best year.
He's a second team all star
in the WHL with Swift Current this year.
And he was a little banged up.
So he may have been first team.
Like,
he's had a really good year for them.
He was a project to begin with.
His numbers were kind of skewed.
He was on bad teams.
He was also very raw.
But he's really learned the position.
He's big.
He's athletic.
Like,
he's becoming a really good prospect.
And you're losing probably
Kyle Kaiser and Linus Allmark.
at least,
and then you have Bussey that you
have to sign.
So you have Swayman that you have to sign.
So Swayman, Bussey, DiPietro,
and then Dick,
and I don't know what's
happening with Svedback
with the Providence College Friars.
So if he goes back a junior
year or if he signs his ELC.
So I think you're right.
You want to have depth in your goaltending,
and I think they keep Dick.
But the thing about Olsen is,
Olsen had a decent year this year,
but he was kind of down.
He's 22 years old.
He'll be 23 in May.
So he's an older prospect.
He's played five seasons at
Minnesota Duluth.
He had just four goals.
I know.
Yeah.
I mean, he hasn't, he's not, he's not,
he's had seven, three, six, seven,
and four goals.
And he's a, you know, he's a center.
He's a, he's a offensive player.
He hasn't done anything really,
like I said,
hasn't done really anything
to light the world on fire.
So I think I'm fine with him, you know,
with them letting him, you know, walk and,
and focusing more on Dick.
And like you said,
if they get the kid from Quinnipiac,
then he slots in as a
better prospect right away.
Absolutely.
And you can move on from Olsen.
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All right,
the beauty this week for the
Bruins is David Pasternak.
This will teach those filthy
bastards who's lovable.
Pasternak gets his 100th point.
He now has 101 as he
assisted on the game winner
from Zaka last night.
45 goals, 56 assists for 101 points.
Last season, he had 113 points.
So he's 12 points away with
nine games to play.
He's played every game.
He's played 20 minutes per game.
And he gets a lot of grief
for the type of player he
is and so forth.
But, I mean,
he does at 20 minutes per game
as a forward and to play
every single game last year
and now every single game
this year is pretty
impressive for his type of player.
It really is.
Yeah, his type of player.
He's more physical this year
than he has been in the past,
I feel like.
And it's not all the time.
So, you know,
don't pretend like I'm saying
he's out there banging
bodies all the time.
But he will lay some hits
and surprise some people for sure.
He had a reverse hit on Keith Jachuk.
Not Keith.
Yeah.
He felt it.
I swear to God.
Yeah,
on to Chuck last night that set up
McAvoy's goal.
And he didn't get an assist on the play,
but that was really the
start of the play.
You know,
he kind of shielded the puck and
got the puck back to Gryzlik,
who got it over to McAvoy for the goal.
So, I mean, to Zaka, then to Gryzlik,
then for the goal.
So, yeah, I mean, he's kind of...
growing his game you know
every year and still
producing the type of
numbers that you would want
to see from your star player and um
You know,
I feel like he's kind of growing
into a leadership role and, you know,
he's still going to give
you the bad turnovers
because he's a creative
player and that's what
happens when guys are creative.
They're going to try things
that normal hockey players,
normal people wouldn't try
and occasionally he's going
to fail and that's going to
look terrible.
But then when he does the
right things and the puck
goes in or he makes the
move and it goes in,
you're wowed and you're like, oh my God,
I can't believe he did that
and I can't believe it worked.
So, you know, for some of that stuff,
you got to take the good with the bad.
But there's been much, much,
much more good than bad with him.
Do you know how many hits he
had last season?
I don't.
Ninety one.
Fuck.
Really?
He has 60 this year.
He had 91 last season.
91.
In this season,
he has the highest
defensive zone starts at
32% than he's had since
2021 when he had 33%.
So his D zone starts are
higher than they were last year.
Like you said,
he's much more physical than
people give him credit for
because you see the flash
and the gila flora type of thing,
which he really is like...
a modern day Gila floor type player.
And people just don't give
him that credit.
And he needs, he needs a foreign player.
And there's some of that biased with,
you know,
the Bruins have Bruins fans have
that bias.
They had that bias with
Crecce and Rask and, you know, they,
you just don't,
they just don't consider
those players as tough and so forth,
which is bogus sometimes, you know,
it just is what it is,
but he just doesn't, um,
He's playing 20 minutes a game,
and he's playing every
single game for two straight years.
My goodness.
He's not just sitting out
games and faking injuries
and avoiding contact and all that stuff.
He really puts it out there.
He's a really good player
and a player that you would
absolutely miss if he was gone.
Oh, hell yeah.
I mean, 100%.
He's going to go down as one of the top...
Three, four players in Bruins history.
He is.
Yeah.
He's going to go down as one
of the top three or four players.
You're going to be up there
with Busek and Orr and Bork.
And then you start talking
about Neely and Pasternak.
And he's probably going to pass Neely.
Yeah.
And Bergeron.
From Lingerity alone.
Sure.
I mean,
he'll probably end up the second
highest goal scorer in
Bruins history behind us.
Yeah.
I mean,
he's shooting up the fucking charts
already.
He's like eight already.
Yeah.
You know, he's, he's,
he's only 27 or something.
Yeah.
Just coming in.
If he played till he's 37,
that's 10 more seasons.
And if he scored 30 goals,
that's 300 goals.
Yeah.
You know, that's, that's crazy.
He's up to 800 goals or so.
Like he's approaching like Opechkin.
Like, yeah, I mean, God almighty.
He has a, puts together a few more 45,
50 goal seasons.
You know, there's.
Then there's talk about that thing.
Yeah.
Then you got some things to talk about.
Sure you do.
Sure you do.
And that's, that's,
that's great for the old podcast,
isn't it?
It is.
We'll keep talking about
that till kingdom come.
Yeah.
Let's see who goes longer.
David Pass has got a head start.
Yeah.
I'm going to retire and stop
playing golf sooner rather than later,
I think.
And the bender this week is
Andrew Berkshire.
Right.
For those of you who don't
know who this is,
he is a writer who covers
Montreal Canadiens for
Montreal Hockey Now.
And he had an absolutely
wild take on Zach Hyman.
Basically saying that the
reason that he scored 50
goals was because he was
rich and born on third base, essentially.
He had all the advantages growing up.
His parents bought a hockey
league for him and his
siblings to play in.
He got the best trainers,
NHL caliber training from
when he was a little kid.
So it's all about the
advantages and has nothing
to do with the hard work.
um, that Hyman puts in or has put in, uh,
to score over 50 goals at
31 years of age.
He's playing with some great players too.
Uh,
and that was brought up by Mr. Berkshire.
saying that he was lucky
that he was playing with
the likes of Austin
Matthews and Connor McDavid.
The Connor McDavid thing,
I'm going to give him
credit for because he was a
free agent and he said,
where can I go and make
some decent money and play
with some great players?
So he sought out Edmonton and said,
I want to play with Connor McDavid.
That's a smart guy, in my opinion.
If your bread and butter is
scoring goals at the net front,
And you can have Connor
McDavid rushing the puck up
ice or Leon Drysdale or, you know,
that power play and then
feeding you pucks at the doorstep.
That is brilliant.
That is not lucky.
That is no job by him and
his management team and his
agent to get him in a
situation where he can take
advantage of what he does best.
Sure.
And.
I don't care if you had a
million dollars or 50 bucks or 20 bucks.
You have to put in a
tremendous amount of work
to make it to the NHL level.
I don't care if it was a
silver spoon or a rusty spoon.
Who cares?
Yeah.
You have to put in an insane
amount of work to get to
that level and perform that way.
And he goes where you get punished.
So it's not like here's some
little rich guy that's
sitting out on the fringe
and flipping shots in from
the left wing boards.
He is at the net front.
Like 75 percent of his goals
are scored basically in the paint.
So he's going where you get
punished to score goals,
but he still goes there and
he still scores them.
And is that, you know, lucky?
Is that being rich?
I think that's, you know, for two,
you know, fortitude.
It's like, you know,
I'm going to do what it
takes to score a goal and
maybe I'm going to take a
cross check for it.
But he's still going into
those areas and scoring.
So I just I can't believe
that somebody would come out and say, oh,
you know,
the only reason that he that
he's done this is because of, you know,
his his, you know, monetary advances,
you know,
or or stature over other people
just boggles my mind.
Yeah,
I think Andrew needs to check his
hymen at the door because, you know,
here's the thing about hymen.
You say yourself is that you
were afraid of like Ryan
Nugent Hopkins and guys
that play with great talent
because they they do have
inflated numbers and you
can make that argument.
I'll debate that with you.
And it's a it's a fair debate.
Fine.
But the whole silver spooner thing,
just come at a weird angle on it.
Like that's, I mean,
Zach Heim is a good hockey player.
He's been a good hockey
player and I'm sure he goes
somewhere else and, and do fine.
Like would he score 50 goals or,
or be out of his mind?
Probably not,
but he scored 30 probably
like he's a good player.
Like,
So, so yeah,
we've had that discussion
about getting players off of, you know,
playing against talent.
He's played with two of the
best players in the world,
maybe the two best players in the world.
So he's, he's, you know,
he's fortunate for sure,
but I don't think it's lucky,
like you said, because he picked,
he picked his spot and it was savvy,
smart move for his career.
He's going to make a lot of
money because of it.
so good move um but this was
uh this was weird and it's
one of those you know I'm
gonna I'm gonna say weird
stuff on social media so
people will click and
follow and viral and and
like vince mcmahon said no
no such thing as bad
publicity yeah so
everybody's talking about
him all these people are
liking his stuff and and
and retweeting it and all
this stuff great like good for you I mean
But the whole thing of
pretending like you're some
kind of a Robin Hood,
like we've got to shine a
light on all these rich
people that are controlling
the sport and the poor
people can't get into the sport.
Yes, hockey is expensive.
It is an expensive sport.
We've had this discussion about golf.
Yeah, I mean, and and Formula One,
like everything,
like sports are expensive.
But at the same time,
if if a less fortunate kid
is playing and he's really, really good,
the scouts,
the people that matter will find you.
They will.
If you're a really, really good player,
it doesn't matter what team
you're playing on.
It doesn't matter if you're
playing AAU or whatever.
They will find you if you're a really,
really good player.
So that's still how things work.
They'll find the good players.
Word of mouth, whatever it is.
So it's not like, oh,
just because you have all this money,
that automatically...
you know,
get you a D one scholarship or
get you playing, you know,
minor league hockey in
Canada or get you to the NHL.
It doesn't work that way.
There's plenty of rich
people who have played
hockey that haven't made it
plenty of poor people that
have played hockey that have made it.
So, um, you know, that's,
that's really not, um,
what it comes down to.
It comes down to the
dedication and the hard
work and the hours that the
athletes put in.
And that's what it comes
down to in the end, in my opinion,
anyway.
yeah I mean I i it was a
weird take and there was
some things about it like
that he was saying that I
agree with like you can't
be anything you want to be
and stuff like that I've
said that for years like
this stuff like that I
agreed with and it's to
take but that whole you
know elitist thing is
conspiracy was kind of
weird um and like you said
like hyman and nugent hopkins and
rob brown and guys who have
had kevin stevens who have
had inflated numbers
because they're playing
with great players sure
what do you want them not
to score goals when they're
playing mcdavid pass it
pass it back like I don't I
don't know so um weird take
uh and we'll see what
happens with andrew good
old andrew um all right
centennial season spotlight
let's start the fire
burning with some tuka rask
Oh, yeah.
Two U's, two K's.
Two points.
Two points, brother.
I mean, Tuca should be in the Hall of Fame,
in my opinion.
His numbers are just off the charts.
He's the best goalie that
the Bruins have ever had.
If you talk about raw talent,
you talk about performance,
his numbers are so much
better than Cheever's.
They're close to Thomas.
That can be a debate.
And Thomas won the thing,
so that's where the debate is.
But he's still a more talented,
gifted player than Thomas was.
He just got a bad rap for kind of his...
His personality rubbed
people the wrong way at
times and said things
bluntly that people didn't
love sometimes.
And then the whole thing with the playoffs,
leaving the team and that whole thing.
So there are some black marks, I guess,
against him.
But I think he's the best
goalie they've ever had.
I agree.
I think he is the best
goalie they've ever had too.
And, you know, I love achievers.
I was a achievers guy and, and Thomas,
well,
I was told a special place in my
heart for winning that cup and, uh,
you know, being cons might and all that.
So, um, but Tuka,
when you do look at the
numbers and the save
percentage and goals
against and all that stuff,
he's right up there with,
with some of the great greatest ever.
Uh,
so he does belong in the hall of fame
and,
In my opinion, he probably should,
you know, I mean,
I think he probably will at
some point have his number
on the raft visit at the TD Garden.
He should.
I mean,
he should be the first goalie up there.
Yeah, I think so.
I think it'll throw people
in a fizzy fit over
Cheaters and stuff and Thomas,
but he should be up there.
In his career,
a .228 goals against and a
.921 save percentage for his career.
Yeah.
And in the playoffs, 222-925?
So he's even better in the playoffs.
That's what you're saying.
Better.
Because there's a narrative
out there that that's not the case.
No, better.
Yeah.
308 wins in his career, 165 losses.
Like the guy was outstanding for many.
I mean, he had years where he was 188, 199,
202.
Like he just,
he's just a tremendous goaltender.
And he's one of those guys
you got to romanticize about later on.
He'd be like, wow, he was awesome.
And the more shitty
goaltenders come through, he'd be like,
oh, remember Rask?
Rask was like dynamite.
He'd win games.
He'd steal games.
He completely shut down the
Penguins when they were
good in the playoffs that series.
And the Bruins swept them.
It was ridiculous.
They could not score against them.
With Crosby and Malkin in their prime.
Yeah.
He was in their head by the
end of that series.
No doubt about it.
I mean, that's a playoff series.
Like, for God's sakes.
I mean,
Chicago was better than they were
and they blew the game late.
I get it.
You know, and then game seven, you know,
they didn't score.
They didn't score like they
couldn't score.
They, they, they,
they dominated play for the
first 10 minutes.
Johansson has a shot right in front.
Like he has a golden chance in front.
Doesn't score.
you know, I mean,
so then he takes the rap for that too.
Yeah.
But I mean,
that's part of being a bully is
you're going to get,
you're going to get all the hate,
you know, when,
when there's a series of plays that,
that leads to, you know, whatever happens,
you know, when a goal goes in, yeah,
there's some bad ones.
There's some soft ones from time to time,
but nine times out of 10,
it's not the goalie's fault.
It's someone else's fault,
but the goalie still takes the blame.
Right.
And I really think the thing about Rask,
I think there were times
where he'd kind of let a
goal in just to prove a point.
Sometimes there were times
he wouldn't make a little
bit of an extra effort to be like,
our defense is hemmed in.
That asshole made a terrible play.
All right, goal.
I just believe that in my mind.
That would be tremendous if
he came out now and he was just like, oh,
can you believe some of the
fucking plays?
Some of the guys.
That's what I had in front of me.
Oh my God.
You know, skating up ice,
throw the hit falls down.
A guy comes in on a two on.
Oh, I'm letting that go.
And fuck that was right to
his knees and just fire away.
Fellas.
Yeah.
Oh, I need some, I need some, uh, you know,
at Centennial spotlights on that.
I need a Tuka Rask podcast.
Can we get him on the podcast?
Yeah, let's get him on the pod.
That'd be great.
Let's just be candid with Tuka Rask.
Tuka,
give me some stories about back in
the day.
Did you let some goals in on purpose?
Who was your least favorite teammate?
What defenseman do you
thought really sucked?
How many shots went in off
defense when you were like,
what the fuck is wrong with you, Tuka?
You aren't me.
You know, stop trying to save pucks here.
Let me, let me do my job.
Yeah.
Fucking way.
Stop having to go off your
fucking shin pads.
Oh, beautiful.
Uh, all right.
Providence Bruins, beauty of the week.
Hey, how about Michael Callahan?
Remember him?
Like Michael Callahan.
He has played 61 games as a defenseman.
He has four goals and 11 assists.
He was a 2018 fifth round
pick of the Arizona Coyotes.
Coyotes chose to trade him to Boston.
And here's what Robert Chalmers, our buddy,
had to say.
uh who handles the uh scouts
a lot of the prospects mike
callahan is having a nice
season with providence and
it won't go unnoticed great
leadership works hard keeps
the game steady definitely
needs a little work to his
defensive game but when you
watch him he keeps it
simple definitely going to
work hard and camp next
season for a spot and a
good maybe a spot to be a
depth defenseman next year
there you go maybe there's your seventh d
In Boston next year because
he's a big kid.
I don't know how physical he is.
Hopefully he plays with some snarl.
I don't know that.
I haven't watched enough of
him to know if he has that in him.
But those are the kind of
guys that they need to start bringing in.
Guys like Peek that are big, long stick,
physical, tough to play against.
They need more of that.
And, you know,
they also need to be able to
play hockey and pass the
puck out of their own zone.
And he is an RFA with arbitration rights.
I don't think he'll get to arbitration.
So maybe they sign him to a
one-year deal or something
and keep him in the system,
especially if he's been
playing well and they want a low-risk,
high-reward kind of step
guy for next year.
Or they sign him to a little
bit more money and then
give him a two-way.
Right.
You know, and then he can...
you know,
pro is game still at Providence
and they'll bring them up
if they need them for, you know,
injury sake or emergencies.
Right.
So, uh,
you can follow Robert Chalmers on X
at Ivan, Ivan, Ivan.
Uh, he does a lot of great prospect stuff.
yeah he's a shows a lot of
clips yeah yeah he's a he's
a great resource he's uh a
guy we've had on the pod
he's he's uh tremendous
knows a lot about uh minor
league hockey and uh the
college game as well so um
you should definitely shoot him a follow
In the prospect spotlight this week,
Andre Gasso from the Boston
College Eagles.
He was a draft pick of your
Boston Bruins back in 2021.
A seventh rounder at pick 213.
6'4", 205.
Played on a loaded BC team
in the NCAA tournament.
They won Hockey East.
They won the...
Yeah, they won Hockey East tournament,
and they are number one
team in the country.
Yes.
And they are playing Michigan Tech,
I believe, tomorrow.
And Gasso had a pretty good
year at 11 goals,
17 assists for 28 points in 36 games.
Similar to last year, we had 29 points.
So a consistently good year
for Gasso playing with Oskar Jelvic,
another prospect for the Bruins.
Yeah.
uh and a loaded team like we
said like grace says five
or six like first round
picks on that team will
smith and um ryan leonard
ryan leonard are playing
they have a perot like shit
yeah yeah they're loaded um
but yeah he uh he's had a
good year for them and
Maybe he's a low rounder
that they can get something out of.
He's played at a high level,
playing with the number one
team in the country.
This is his sophomore year.
I would assume he'd play
again next year there and
then maybe decide on an ELC after that.
We'll see.
Yeah, I would say.
They might give him another
year or maybe he'll come out.
If Boston College wins the title,
he may come out.
They're going to lose...
you know then again yeah
they're gonna lose all
those freshman kid because
the freshman kids because
they've been drafted and
and so forth so maybe he
gets a little bit more of
an opportunity next year to
you know a little more ice
time and you know a little
more power play time and so
forth so maybe that's you
know enticement for him to
go back but uh yeah we'll
see hopefully you know he
blossoms into you know a
good prospect he's a big kid so you know
hopefully that works out for
him and the Bruins.
Cause the Bruins,
like we've said consistently,
they could certainly use
some of those late round
picks to hit because of the,
their lack of, uh,
of depth in the farm system.
And Jelvik, uh, is a sophomore as well.
He had 37 points in 37 games,
25 assists at an excellent year for BC.
And he's another guy.
Does he, uh,
he come out,
he's probably more likely I
think to come out,
but we'll see on those two guys.
And again,
playing at a high level
producing number one team in the country.
I mean, it can't, can't be a bad thing.
I mean, it can't, cannot be a bad thing.
No.
Um, we're a week ahead for Boston tonight.
It'll be the Tampa Bay lightning in Tampa.
Second night of a back to back.
And then, uh,
uh, on the 30th at Washington,
a team fighting for playoff position.
And then on April 2nd at Nashville,
one of the hottest teams in
the league lately.
So this is a tough little
stretch right here.
It is, uh,
tonight they have a chance to
clinch a playoff spot with
the point against Tampa.
And then Washington
potentially could be a
first round playoff matchup
depending on how the,
how the standings fall.
So that could be, uh,
you know,
a couple of teams looking to send
messages to each other on that one.
And hopefully Tom Wilson
stays away from our fragile defenseman.
Hopefully he does.
Might be a good night to sit,
Charlie McEvoy.
Put some guys in bubble wrap
before that game.
Yeah, I mean,
Washington's been a team that
I just thought wasn't very
good beginning of the year.
Yeah, they traded guys off.
Yeah.
I mean, they have 81 points.
They're a point behind the Flyers.
They're 36-26-9.
They don't score a ton of goals.
They don't even have 200 goals yet.
And they're a minus 26 differential.
But somehow, some way,
they're hanging in the thing.
Yeah.
I mean, Ovechkin seems to have, you know,
he had a lull there for a bit.
But lately,
he seemed to have been producing more.
Um, and then they have some, you know,
they have some good talent, you know,
TJ Oshie has been hurt and
in and out of the lineup.
And, you know,
they've had injuries with
Backstrom and Kuznetsov and, you know,
a bunch of guys.
So, um,
If they're all back and
healthy and producing,
they have some talent there.
Right.
Tampa Bay is the first wild
card at 85 points.
Washington is the second wild card at 81,
but they're only one point
behind Philadelphia in the Metro.
So they're two points ahead
of Detroit in the wild card, who has 79.
And then you have Jersey at 76,
Islanders at 75.
So it's coming down to really Washington,
Detroit,
in that thing.
And then Nashville is the
number one wildcard in the
West at 90 points.
And Vegas has 86 points as
the second wildcard.
They're six points ahead of St.
Louis,
so they're probably going to make it.
But boy,
they were close to not being in it.
Yeah.
Which is interesting.
They had some injuries.
I mean,
Eichel and Stone were out for quite
some time.
They still have like 20,
21 million and change on
long-term IR right now, I think.
I mean, so they've been
Decimated by injuries, but they're also,
you know, like you said,
playing that game.
So they were able to bring in some guys,
you know,
like Hannafin to kind of
supplement their team there.
And if they're back and
healthy come playoff time, you know,
look out.
Absolutely.
I mean, absolutely.
Look out.
I mean,
that's a team that you don't want
to play as the frigging second wild card.
No, uh, at all.
I mean, that's, that's a,
that's a tough one.
Uh, all right,
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