First Quarter Bruins Awards w/ Mark Divver & Mick Colageo | Pucks with Haggs - video Dailymotion

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Today, Joe Haggerty is joined by Mick Colageo, and by Mark Divver of NHL.com to pick some award recipients on the Bruins as they reach the quarter-mark of the season, to discuss Brad Marchand's ability to put the team on his back when he needs to, and talk about if the Bruins have a problem with maintaining late leads. That, and more!   This episode of the Pucks with Haggs Podcast is brought to you by Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering parter of the CLNS Media NetworkRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, Official Partner of the NFL. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First onlinereal money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.  Factor. Visit https://factormeals.com/HAGGS50 to get 50% off your first box! Factor is America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Kit, can help you fuel up fast with ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door.

Transcript

00:00:00 Bergeron was the captain and you needed a big game from the team or something for them to rally

00:00:05 around, he inevitably always stepped up and provided that as the leader and the sort of,

00:00:10 you know, focal point of that team. Marchand, I thought, did the same thing over the weekend.

00:00:14 Welcome to another edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast. I believe this is,

00:00:23 I think maybe the 47th episode we'll go with, the Torrey Krug episode of the Pucks with Hags

00:00:28 podcast. As always, I'm your host, Joe Hagerty. You can find my work at joehagerty.substack.com.

00:00:34 Join with a premium membership to get all Bruins and NHL content sent directly to your inbox

00:00:40 via email. I also cover the Bruins for Boston Sports Journal. So you can go to

00:00:44 bostonsportsjournal.com. Check out my columns after every single for the game for the Bruins.

00:00:49 And I also do a reader chat, a subscriber chat with them once a week as well. With me on the

00:00:55 podcast today are friends and colleagues, Mark Diver from the New England Hockey Journal and a

00:01:01 longtime friend and colleague also Mick Colaggio. Mick, please plug away and tell them where they

00:01:05 can find your work. My Rinkraft blog is now independent. Rinkraftmc.com. I link to it on

00:01:13 X Twitter. And you can also read me here on weekend columns and bostonhockey.now,

00:01:21 bostonhockey.com, bostonhockeynow.com. You'd think I would know this by now. And I'm also in

00:01:28 the hockey news with the seasonal issues. That is an excellent pitch right there, Mick. All right,

00:01:33 let's thank our sponsors as well. FanDuel Sportsbook, $150 in bonus bets with any winning

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00:01:48 NFL season, everything is going right now. Also, Factor Meals, America's number one ready to eat

00:01:53 meal kit, delicious meals ready in two minutes. If you're busy and on the go like I am, head to

00:01:58 factormeals.com/hags50 and use code hags50 to get 50% off your first box. All right, let's get right

00:02:05 into it. The Bruins lost three in a row. They had allowed 17 goals in that three game losing streak.

00:02:11 They looked pretty bad in the three game losing streak, but they've come back and won three in a

00:02:17 row. They got a get right game against San Jose that they won three to nothing and then a couple of

00:02:22 solid wins over the weekend. Mark, just your take on, because I haven't talked to you about it yet,

00:02:29 your take on the losing streak and now what we've seen in the last three games and sort of what to

00:02:34 make all of all of that when you're looking at it. Well, my takeaway from the losing streak was

00:02:40 that the goaltending, which had been off the charts before that, all of a sudden wasn't quite

00:02:48 as good. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't quite as good as it had been. And that that's the difference.

00:02:53 And that's, oh, that was the difference. They weren't, they weren't paying attention to the

00:02:59 details. And, you know, when the goaltending slipped a little bit, then they lost those

00:03:06 games and they, frankly, they looked bad at times doing it. But they got it back together here for a

00:03:13 couple of games and we'll see going forward if they can sustain that. Yeah. I mean, I definitely

00:03:19 also like I agree with you. I think the the I think the schedule to also kind of caught up to

00:03:24 them in that stretch. There's no question about that. They weren't able to practice for a long

00:03:28 period of time. Maybe that contributed to some of the slippage that we saw in the details.

00:03:32 In addition to, you know, they played three games in four days around around Thanksgiving. They had

00:03:38 two matinees coming off of Thanksgiving. You could see the slippage in their game coming into that

00:03:45 stretch because they were in the middle of like nine games in 16 or 17 days or whatever it was.

00:03:50 There was a very busy stretch that I think caught up to them. And I think the goaltenders were a

00:03:55 little tired, too. Definitely. And I think that factored into into the way that they played.

00:04:01 Mick, your thoughts on the three game winning streak that they're riding the games over the

00:04:06 weekend and how they've been able to bounce back from the three game losing streak.

00:04:10 They're playing a lot better without the puck hockey now than they were before the losing

00:04:19 streak started. Yeah, it was starting to catch up to their game. And to their credit as a team,

00:04:28 we all thought, well, boy, you know, the culture will be intact, but they're probably not going to

00:04:33 be good enough to win very much other than just get into the playoffs. This team has had an amazing

00:04:39 record. You've been able to win despite playing poorly. Right. So here we are on the other side

00:04:45 of that disastrous three game stretch, which was really, as Mark pointed out, worse than it

00:04:52 than the than the results looked prior to and especially in the recent games prior to

00:04:59 they built up to it and then the bottom fell out. So now that now it's a they're checking hard.

00:05:06 They're much better all over the ice. The 200 foot game for every player has been

00:05:12 we've been just a lot better, just ratcheting up that intensity and playing more physical.

00:05:19 And for the Bruins that unfortunately the ceiling on playing more physical

00:05:23 generally just relates to checking hard. And and, you know, you can argue it means that for any good

00:05:32 team. But in their case, I wish there was another dimension beyond that. But there isn't right now.

00:05:38 But certain guys are trying to do it. You know, the local is there is still stirs it up. Nice to

00:05:46 see the cage off of him. And he's playing with that reckless abandon again. Yeah, definitely.

00:05:52 And look, the Bruins are a team that are going to have to check hard. They're going to have to play

00:05:57 200 feet. They're going to have to watch the details and pay close attention to them because

00:06:03 they're just not able to separate and pull away from teams offensively to the point where they can

00:06:10 play looser with the puck or, you know, decide at times they're not going to play,

00:06:15 pay attention to that part of the game. They're just not that team. You know, they're going to win

00:06:19 with defense and goaltending and effort and energy. And it's not going to be them

00:06:24 overwhelming teams with their depth and their offense like it was before. So when that starts

00:06:29 to go away, whether it's the goalies slipping, whether it's the schedule catching up to them,

00:06:33 the legs aren't there. And you could also see mental mistakes, too. That's always my giveaway

00:06:38 in that losing streak was you start to start to see some strange mental mistakes and miscues

00:06:44 during games where you're like that normally doesn't isn't what you see a player do in that

00:06:50 situation. And that's when you kind of I thought anyway, you knew the schedule was sort of,

00:06:54 you know, working against him like that Pavel Zaka play where he breaks the stick and he goes

00:06:58 all the way to the end of the bench, long change in the second period to try to get another stick

00:07:03 and leaves his team shorthanded. And it turns into a puck in the back of a net. That's just like a

00:07:08 for my money, a simple mental mistake that a player makes when he's tired and he's not really

00:07:13 thinking, you know, about what he's doing on the ice or his mind isn't processing like it normally

00:07:18 does. But I'm going to be a Roman Hammerlick in Game Four at New York in 2013, when when the fourth

00:07:25 line of Bruins was was pouring it on the Rangers in overtime. And and and Hammerlick was just so

00:07:32 gassed that in the in the middle of the whole cycle, he just starts plotting a diagonal line

00:07:38 for the Ranger bench, like waving the white flag. And I'm thinking this is it. They're getting their

00:07:43 changes. Here comes crazy. And next thing you know, you figure the Bruins are going to end

00:07:49 the series right there. But one funny bounce off the boards and it went the other way.

00:07:54 I felt bad. I felt bad for Ronan Hammerlick in that series because Luchich just beat the

00:07:58 bejesus out of him, hammering him in the corner on the four check. And I think he I think he was

00:08:02 no mass from him at that point, too, in that series. No, no question about it. But getting

00:08:08 back to the to the weekend and what we saw out of the team, one of the big takes I had was and I

00:08:14 wrote about this was Brad Marchand. I thought I felt like this stretch over the last couple of

00:08:18 weeks was, you know, him really becoming the captain of this team and becoming the leader of

00:08:24 this team, not only leading them through the losing streak and making sure that, you know,

00:08:30 everybody stayed on the same page when things can start to stray a little bit when the team isn't

00:08:34 playing well and then coming right into the weekend where he kind of threw the team on his

00:08:38 shoulders with some great plays in both of those games that they won over the weekend, whether it

00:08:44 was, you know, jumping Nylander in overtime where William Nylander, I don't think ever expected

00:08:49 Marchand to be in his face in that moment. And he kind of panicked, blew a tire and lost the puck

00:08:54 and it turned into the game winning goal that he scored after Pasternak went down or taken over

00:08:59 in the third period of that game against Columbus and getting the natural hat trick. Just, you know,

00:09:04 at 35 years old, Mark, how impressed are you with what we continue to see out of Brad Marchand

00:09:10 stepping up in big moments? And it kind of reminded me to be honest with you of when Bergeron was the

00:09:14 captain and you needed a big game from the team or something for them to rally around. He inevitably

00:09:20 always stepped up and provided that as the leader and the sort of, you know, focal point of that

00:09:26 team. Marchand, I thought, did the same thing over the weekend. Yeah, I agree. And, you know, he

00:09:32 really has, I don't know if grown into it is the right way to term it, but you can see that

00:09:46 it's his role now and he's ready for it. You know, he kind of detected, or at least I did,

00:09:57 thought I detected a little bit of, you know, maybe questioning when he's not out there with

00:10:04 Bergeron and Pasta now, he's out there with different line mates. And the body language

00:10:10 a little bit, you know, kind of says that, you know, this is uncharted territory for him. What's

00:10:16 going to happen? Is he still going to be able to maintain his level of production? And, but no

00:10:22 frustration with it, which we've seen in the past out of him, not recently, but, you know, he's kept

00:10:30 it, he's kept it in check, his emotions in check and really coming up big this weekend was really

00:10:38 a special thing for him, I think. And, you know, given the fact that he had a death in the family

00:10:43 on top of it, really, really was something to see his performance. - What'd you think of the

00:10:50 natural hat trick there, Mick? That was pretty impressive. - He's a very emotional player.

00:10:55 So when you match it up with real life and you, and the intensity of what went on with the losing

00:11:01 streak, and he probably feels a lot more culpable as the captain during that period of time. And

00:11:08 that for him was probably a bit of a crisis. And that's probably why the only blip on the screen,

00:11:13 as far as him showing good self-control came up during that stretch. And so my legacy from the

00:11:22 past week was, is we've got consecutive generational player nights from Pasternak in Toronto,

00:11:29 and then, and Marchand obviously made the great play to intercept in overtime and free, and then

00:11:38 finish that game. And then the Columbus, he just completely took over and shot the puck like I

00:11:44 haven't seen him shoot it in a long time. Just the low, that first one, that low shot, that just was

00:11:50 like a freaking laser. That was amazing. And you could just tell it, he meant it, and it wasn't

00:11:55 over and he kept coming and it was great to see. And so it was really fun. There's so many

00:12:02 dimensions to this whole thing where on one hand, you got all these players that are, who's left?

00:12:09 Well, you got Pasternak, you got Marchand, those are the first two names that come out of anybody's

00:12:13 mouth. And then you get to think about the third guy. And as far as who's the offensive power on

00:12:18 this team, and we got consecutive games in which they both stepped up in ways that really were

00:12:25 career peak things. And for Marchand to do it at his age is just incredible. Now, can't expect this

00:12:33 kind of thing, like you're saying, Joe, you can't expect this every night going forward. And as good

00:12:41 as there are a lot of other guys that can do that. - And as good as they were, and especially Marchand

00:12:47 over the weekend, that's how bad they were during the losing streak too. Like, let's be honest,

00:12:52 Marchand and Pasternak and Zaka together were dreadful in two of those three games that they

00:12:56 lost. And I think that was definitely part of the equation too, is maybe sort of answering that.

00:13:02 'Cause you did, Mark, to your point, you did start to hear some questioning of like, what's going on

00:13:09 with Marchand? He looked a little slow and certainly a little behind the play and not like

00:13:15 himself during that losing streak. And again, I think it's a 35 year old guy that's in the middle

00:13:22 of a very difficult stretch like that. There's gonna be nights where he's gonna look like that

00:13:26 during the course of the NHL season, especially when he's trying to get used to playing with new

00:13:30 players that he's not, and he doesn't have the same center next to him that he's had for the

00:13:36 last decade plus. So all of that stuff's gonna play into it. But I thought it was just a really

00:13:41 great answer from him over the weekend, an opportunity for him to step up and lead that

00:13:47 team and show that he is absolutely unquestionably the leader and the captain of that team and sort

00:13:53 of the emotional focal point of that team. And I think he did all of those things. And it was great

00:13:58 to see, 'cause I thought it was a big answer coming out of a stretch where he'd struggled a

00:14:02 little bit. And to both of your points, like the fact that he sort of opened up after the game

00:14:07 against Columbus and talked about how important it was to him and how emotional it was to him,

00:14:13 that winner in Toronto and that game in Toronto with all of his family watching up in Nova Scotia,

00:14:18 when they were at the services for his grandmother. I think that added a layer to it as well of him

00:14:26 really rising to the occasion and wanting to do something special for her and for his family.

00:14:31 And it was great to hear that and see that. - Score early this NFL season with FanDuel,

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00:15:06 FanDuel, official partner of the NFL. - Question about the Bruins and I haven't written about this

00:15:14 yet. I'm probably gonna write about it this weekend, but sort of poking around the numbers

00:15:17 and I asked Monty about it yesterday. The Bruins lead the NHL in goals allowed late game situations

00:15:27 with the other teams goalie pulled. They've allowed six goals with the goalie pulled on the

00:15:34 other side. They have not had a lot of empty net goals. Their success ratio in those situations

00:15:41 is really not good. That's obviously gonna be something that's gonna come back to bite them

00:15:46 later on in the year in important games and in the playoffs. And to Montgomery's point,

00:15:54 he mentioned that they've by far, they lead the league in minutes played in six on five

00:16:01 situations with the goalie pulled on the other side. And I think it speaks to how they're

00:16:05 constantly playing in one goal games in the third period. They can't pull away from teams. So there's

00:16:10 very tight games that they play in. So they've been in more situations where that has happened.

00:16:15 So that plays a little bit into them allowing the most goals with the other teams goalie pulled.

00:16:20 But I think it's definitely an issue. You can see them getting pushed around in the D zone and

00:16:26 things getting a little chaotic around their net when another team is really pushing at them hard

00:16:30 at the end of games. And a bunch of times, more than a handful, they've been able to tie it up.

00:16:35 It happened again against Toronto before they won it in overtime. So just my thoughts, Mick,

00:16:41 what do you see as the issue there? What do you think can be addressed? And how much of a problem

00:16:47 do you see this being? Do you see this being just a weak point that the Bruins are going to have to

00:16:52 overcome or is this potentially an issue for them? - Even if the goals against don't come in the

00:17:00 direct result of a loss D zone face-off, I think that there's a cumulative effect to not being able

00:17:08 to win D zone draws. - For sure. - And even if the puck does go out of the zone and come back in,

00:17:16 I played some very, very, very serious beer league hockey in my day.

00:17:22 No, down at Adelard Arena, Mount St. Charles and Woonsocket, Rhode Island,

00:17:29 they had a short neutral zone and we had to play, I'm like half serious with this,

00:17:34 but it was just kind of to actually play the game a little bit sort of brings it home. I'm a

00:17:40 defenseman on a team. I'm the oldest guy on the team. And these guys who we were playing that

00:17:45 night played in that rink all the time and they knew how to play that rink. They did what the

00:17:49 Bruins used to do. They kept dumping the puck in and every time you get a turnaround and go back

00:17:53 and get it, you're playing the whole game to retrieve under pressure. And these guys are

00:17:59 coming at you from three angles and you're trying to move it without turning it over. And that's the

00:18:05 number one thing any pro scout ever talks about any defenseman is the retrieval and a good first

00:18:10 pass. Right, Mark? And so I think that that kind of pressure on a team and this is what happens to

00:18:19 you if you're not winning faceoffs. So I think that the fact that this is no longer a categorically

00:18:25 good faceoff team, I think that is what I think is sort of a contributing factor here, even if

00:18:34 those are not direct results all the time. I think there's a cumulative effect that they need to

00:18:41 either get better internally or go get somebody. Yeah, and I think, you know, Monty spoke to that

00:18:47 a little bit yesterday talking. He talked a lot more about the forwards and sort of putting players

00:18:53 in different situations now than they've been accustomed to in the past at the end of games,

00:18:59 because obviously for the longest time, the last minute of a game, Patrice Bergeron was going to

00:19:03 be out there taking faceoffs and be one of the forwards on the ice. And David Creechie would

00:19:08 be out there all the time, too. And, you know, now they're forced to have different players in

00:19:13 those situations. But I, you know, I also think it speaks a little bit in my mind to the defensemen

00:19:20 in front of the net and them not being able to just, you know, hold back what's happening around

00:19:26 them and sort of getting pushed around a little bit. I mean, I think it was the Toronto game.

00:19:30 There were like three guys down on the ice all over the place at the end of the game when Austin

00:19:35 Matthews scored that goal. It was just like ruins diving and falling and not even in position to

00:19:40 block shots or front Austin Matthews because they were just losing battles and getting pushed around.

00:19:46 And in my mind, that's something that plays into this as well. And I think it's a valid point where

00:19:51 you're saying about the faceoffs. And I think that is absolutely a part of it. Mark, your thoughts on

00:19:57 anything that you've seen as far as these situations go and observations with the team

00:20:03 as far as stuff that they need to address? - Well, in terms of the blowing the leads at the end,

00:20:09 I mean, in my many decades of watching this team, I don't recall a situation like this where they

00:20:18 were in a rut and they consistently give up goals at the end to tie the game. I can't recall that

00:20:27 ever being an issue. Maybe it has been, but I can't remember. And I wonder if,

00:20:33 you know, is it a mindset thing also that the urgency, just clear the puck, loft it, air mail it.

00:20:45 Don't be looking for the empty net. - Icing is not a bad play.

00:20:49 - And if it's icing, then okay, it's icing. Win the draw and reset and win the draw.

00:20:57 And Mick, I know, I'm sure you know at Adelard Arena, if you tried to go glass it out,

00:21:04 well, there was no glass. It would go off the wire and right back into the slot

00:21:07 for a grade A scoring chance. - That's right. You get a primary assist.

00:21:12 - Right. -

00:21:14 And then you got to walk crooked underneath the bleachers.

00:21:19 - That's right. That's right. And don't get up too fast in the locker room. That ceiling is low.

00:21:25 - Does the, and I think you're right, Mark. I don't think this has been an issue in the past.

00:21:34 And I think part of the reason it hasn't been an issue in the past is that the last, you know,

00:21:38 15 to 20 years, they've had two of the best defensive players of all time playing for them,

00:21:43 Zidane Ochara and Patrice Bergeron. And, you know, it makes you wonder if

00:21:48 when you talk about needs for this team, when you talk about the biggest need that this team has,

00:21:54 and we've for the longest time thought it was a frontline, you know, top six center

00:21:58 with Crecce and Bergeron retiring, and that's still, you know, it's certainly on the list,

00:22:06 but is there a certain type of defenseman, just a nasty, big, physical sort of defenseman

00:22:14 for those situations? Is that something that the Bruins need? I mean,

00:22:20 Forboard fits that kind of a profile to a degree for sure. Brandon Carlo is big and strong around

00:22:26 the net and kills a lot of plays. You've got two big, you know, frontline horse defensemen

00:22:32 in Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy. - I've been a big Lindholm fan since he got here,

00:22:39 but I gotta say the more I've watched this guy this season, I feel like there's sort of a legacy

00:22:46 to last playoff that he's punching below his weight. - Well, that's my question.

00:22:52 - You're talking about. - Yes, this is exactly my question is,

00:22:55 do they need that another defenseman, that kind of a defenseman that you can plop into those

00:23:01 situations at the end of games in front of the net that's not, you know, that's gonna clear bodies,

00:23:06 that's gonna like make sure the other team's guys are down on the ice and not, you know, his own

00:23:10 guys all over the place around the net. Is that something that as we watch this team more is

00:23:15 becoming perhaps more of a need, Mick? - Hard to say. I mean, it's like,

00:23:19 I think that Lindholm, that big body and the overall skill that he has, I think that,

00:23:26 you know, it's the elephant in my kitchen right now from a defensive standpoint is,

00:23:31 is he a bona fide member of a big three back there? I feel like Carlo is an excellent right

00:23:38 shot compliment to McAvoy. And I feel like Lindholm is your lone ranger on the left side,

00:23:46 because otherwise you have two specialty widgets. You know, you have a four birds long stick,

00:23:53 which is great in the PK, but in a fast five on five game, he could be a bit of a turnstile.

00:23:59 La Cruz is just the opposite. And we've talked about him quite a bit,

00:24:04 a wonderful little hockey player. - He, by the way, has not been great

00:24:09 this year either. I know there was an injury in the middle of it, but yeah, I think he's

00:24:12 struggled quite a bit this year too, when I've watched him before and after the injury.

00:24:16 - Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's so, I mean, he'll, we know that he's, that he's, he'll show better

00:24:21 than what we've seen. I'm confident to that. He's in the prime of his career. The question is,

00:24:27 is that good enough when it matters? And that's what we always tend to talk about. You know,

00:24:33 we always take the whole, the end season view when we discuss this stuff and play general manager.

00:24:40 And to me, the gnarling question for me right now is, is Lindholm got it in here to get meaner?

00:24:49 And that's, and that involves learning technique too, because if you're a coper rather than an

00:24:57 eliminator of guys in front of the net, if you cope with that contact rather than initiate

00:25:02 and eliminate people in front, and you're not the one standing over them, taking a chance that the

00:25:06 ref's going to whistle you, but instead you're the guy who's getting your foot caught between two

00:25:11 guys. And while you're trying to find the pocket, next thing you know, you're on your ass, right?

00:25:15 And so to me, that's sort of what concerns me with him. So there's a lot of maybes, ifs, and

00:25:23 Mason Lowry was here and they obviously like what they see there, but you know, and Mark, Mark is,

00:25:31 just wrote about him in Ringside, Rhode Island, the good, bad and ugly, taking a big hit in a

00:25:36 game. So there's- - We are going to get to that for sure.

00:25:39 - Yeah, I'm excited to hear some of this. So yeah, I think that the left side is an unsettled

00:25:46 question. They, another top four guy and yeah, would I like to see another Dmitry Orlov type

00:25:53 presence over there? Sure. I, you know, I don't want to go rad co-goudas level and have a guy who

00:26:01 had a magical run with the Panthers, but is back to being rad co-goudas.

00:26:04 - Right. - And I want to see a guy who can hold up

00:26:07 hockey wise, but be an initiator, be a tough guy. I want that over on that side. I think they need

00:26:14 to get that. - Yeah, and I agree. And

00:26:17 interesting, I was looking through some numbers before we jumped on and both Lindholm and McEvoy

00:26:24 are in the top 25 in the NHL in penalty minutes, both on track to go over a hundred pims this year.

00:26:30 And Lindholm is not like a real physical defenseman. I feel like there's a component,

00:26:36 there's definitely what you're talking about. And I think that's part of the issue is just not

00:26:40 stout enough around the net and not sort of mean enough around the net and needs to develop a

00:26:45 little bit more of that, especially in these situations at the end of games where it's just,

00:26:50 you know, warfare, it's a melee out there. I remember Dennis Wideman used that word once

00:26:54 to describe what it was like out there at the end of games when you were around the front of the net.

00:26:58 And it is, it's an absolute melee and you've got to be the aggressor instead of absorbing it.

00:27:03 But I think a lot of the penalties that he's taking are penalties because he's not skating

00:27:12 as well as he has in the last couple of years with the Bruins either. And I think that's

00:27:15 a component of it as well. And I think that's affected his overall game. I just don't think

00:27:20 he's been as good this year in any facet as he's been in the past couple of years for the Bruins.

00:27:28 What do you think, Mark, on the back end as it relates to

00:27:31 blowing the late leads and sort of what they have personnel-wise?

00:27:34 Well, as far as Lindholm goes, you know, you'd like to think that a guy could

00:27:42 change his game and be better. But the point he's at in his career and his age,

00:27:49 I think what you see is what he is. Yeah, he could be stouter around the net. You could say

00:27:57 that about a lot of guys, but I don't know if it's realistic to think that he's going to change

00:28:03 a whole lot as far as that goes. As far as bringing in another body, boy, I think Radko

00:28:12 Gudis would be a great addition. Maybe that's unrealistic to think that they're going to get

00:28:18 him given the money he makes and all that. But boy, to me, he would address a lot of needs. I

00:28:25 think there's a need for overall toughness, not just on the back end, but up front too.

00:28:32 You're not going to switch him to forward, but they don't have a guy who the other team

00:28:38 is nervous about when he's out there. Looch was going to fill that role. Obviously,

00:28:45 that's not happening. But if it's not Gudis, I don't know who else it would be, who you would

00:28:53 look for to bring in that role. No, no, nobody comes to mind. I'm sure there are players out

00:28:59 there that could fill that role in some way, shape or form and certainly be an upgrade maybe from

00:29:05 what they have. Could give them a little bit of element of that. But to your point, like in

00:29:10 today's NHL, there's only a limited amount of players that have that kind of presence and have

00:29:14 that kind of intimidation factor when it comes to putting a little fear or awareness into the other

00:29:22 team's heads before you're going to play them. And yeah, you're absolutely right. The absence

00:29:27 of Looch, each who they plan to have that kind of presence this year has been significant.

00:29:32 And it's something that they don't have enough of, even if Trent Frederick from time to time

00:29:40 will step up and play the role when he has to and did it recently and did a good job of that.

00:29:45 But it seems like he's sort of in between as far as being always being that guy. And to your point

00:29:51 at his career and where he is, he's entering sort of he is what he is status. And I don't know that

00:29:58 he's ever going to be that kind of player that other teams are going to be worried about.

00:30:02 There's a guy that comes to mind, Jacob Middleton with Minnesota. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yep.

00:30:13 And I know I give a pal once lost in Crouse here from Arizona. Yeah, that would be good. Yeah.

00:30:20 Jacob Middleton, though, was coming up with San Jose when when Ryan Mugenel was was out there.

00:30:27 And Ryan speaks very highly of of Middleton as not only the player, but the kind of person that he is.

00:30:35 He'd be a he'd be a fantastic fit. I don't think Minnesota's looking to peddle him anywhere. But

00:30:43 that's one name that I I think would be a real good addition. Yeah. Not one for in a row to start

00:30:51 off their new coaching tenure. So, yeah. Yeah. And they want to catch these teams when they're

00:30:59 really floundering. Right. And unfortunately, you know, some of these windows close.

00:31:06 Yeah, they do. Yeah. All right. We'll go around the horn real quick with a couple of

00:31:12 as we hit the quarter poll with the Bruins, a couple of sort of awards or recognized players

00:31:18 at this point, about a quarter of the season, a little bit more than a quarter of the season.

00:31:22 Bruins MVP to this point in the season. And I would say the Bruins goaltenders and goaltending

00:31:29 in general. But Jeremy Swainman individually, I think, has really stepped up to a different level

00:31:35 this year, pitched a shutout in that San Jose game. Obviously, it was a really well-played

00:31:39 defensive game, but I thought it was a great move by Jim Montgomery to go right back to him when he

00:31:45 had pulled him the previous game in Columbus. He responded with a good game. I think on balance,

00:31:51 he's been better than Linus Elmark when he's played this season and is continuing to sort of

00:31:56 pull for more playing time and a bigger role within that goaltending duo. But that that would

00:32:02 I would give MVP honors to Swainman at this point. Mark, you're a Bruins MVP at this point in the

00:32:07 season. I would agree with Swainman. I like the way he went at Montee a little bit when he got

00:32:14 pulled. I think that's a good sign that the competitor in him, that he would not just sit

00:32:22 over in the corner and sulk about his performance and being pulled from the game. But he confronted

00:32:29 the coach, you know, not disrespectfully, but he let him know what he felt, what he thought.

00:32:37 And I think that's a good thing. Absolutely. Mick, you're Bruins MVP at this point.

00:32:42 Probably Charlie McEvoy, because if you don't have him, you're in a world of trouble.

00:32:56 And anybody else as an individually, you just take him off the team and play this many games.

00:33:01 I feel like the team has a reasonable opportunity to match. If not come close to what it's done.

00:33:12 But I think if you pull him off this team, then the Bruins are big, big trouble. If he like blew

00:33:19 out his knee or something, then I think that that that'd be a massive problem. I feel like

00:33:26 they could survive all the losses that haven't been said. I'm somewhere between you guys,

00:33:34 but I do feel like I'm not on the Swainman bandwagon here. I feel like both guys have had

00:33:41 good moments and not so good moments, but they've both been very good overall.

00:33:48 And I feel like right now, I'm not as if I try to imagine, OK, let's just say you cash in all

00:33:59 mark and you trade for what this team needs. Do I really believe that that Swainman is that guy

00:34:05 right now? And let's go. I'm not I'm not 100 percent there for in either case right now,

00:34:13 I feel better about the tandem given how fragile this team has been defensively.

00:34:18 I just feel like the they give up so many great days early in games that I feel like

00:34:24 it isn't just one guy, it's both of them. And until that settles down and they sustain the

00:34:30 hockey, we've seen these last few games for a longer stretch. I'm not I'm not ready to part

00:34:36 with either one of these guys. And I'm not suggesting that your comments indicate that

00:34:40 you would right now. But I but I I don't feel like it's one goalie more than the other. I feel like

00:34:47 it's both. And but then I think about, you know, it's been amazing what passes come back and done

00:34:55 with the opponent's attention on him every single night. They're giving him other attention and he's

00:35:01 still getting it done. It's amazing to me what he's done this season, despite the added attention

00:35:07 that he's had to deal with on a regular basis. He's playing nastier physically. I love that.

00:35:13 He's growing into his role as a superstar. Martian as the leader is right up beside him in the same

00:35:20 sort of way as the goalies. And but for me, you know, from the if you're looking at it from the

00:35:25 prism of take a guy off this team and what happens to the Bruins, then McAvoy is at the top of my

00:35:31 list. Yeah. And obviously, when a team is what a 17, four and three, you're going to have a number

00:35:36 of players that are quality candidates for an MVP type thing, given the start that they've had.

00:35:42 And I agree with you. I think Pasternak on balance has been at least as good, if not better than last

00:35:48 year. Certainly, he is the the game breaker and the main guy to get things going offensively.

00:35:54 And the team really is going to struggle offensively if he goes into an extended slump at

00:35:59 any point. And he's become a better leader as well. And Martian, we have already discussed him

00:36:04 and what he's done this year as the captain and what he did over the weekend. McAvoy is an

00:36:08 interesting one for me because, like, obviously, he's super important on this team. He plays a ton

00:36:13 of roles physically. I think he's one of the tone setters for this team in a big way. And

00:36:19 you know that. And we talked about this last week where there's been, I think, a little trepidation

00:36:25 with him being that guy recently since that coming back from that four game suspension.

00:36:30 But he also, you know, he's a minus three on the year. He was a dash for like six straight games

00:36:37 before, during and after that losing streak. You know, he's had some tough moments this year, too.

00:36:43 I wouldn't say that he's been his best self throughout the season. I think it's been more

00:36:48 difficult for him not having, you know, some of the centers and not having the puck possession

00:36:54 that they're used to having, which definitely in the offensive zone definitely affects the

00:36:58 defenseman and affects their overall game. But I don't know that he's been the best that I've

00:37:04 ever seen him this season, but he's still been very, very good, obviously. And he's, you know,

00:37:09 picking his spots a little bit. Yeah, I'm not. And I'm not touting him as very,

00:37:12 very good as much as I am very, very important. Yes. So. So, yeah, I'm not disputing what you're

00:37:18 saying. In fact, I feel like after he hit Ekman Larsen and had that suspension, it took him a few

00:37:24 games to get back that mojo. He really looked to me like he was playing around the game a little

00:37:28 bit, trying to feel his way back before he started playing with that same physical confidence that

00:37:33 we like to see from him. Unsung hero to this point, and I'm going to go Charlie Coyle, because,

00:37:41 you know, not only does he play a huge role in the penalty kill, he's become a big face off guy

00:37:49 for them. He's become a player that will take on the other team's best line and play more of

00:37:55 a checking role when it's necessary. I think the line when he's out there with JVR and Trent

00:38:02 Frederick has been, you know, at points the best line that the team has had and one that

00:38:08 Jim Montgomery can rely on. They've played that well together for long stretches.

00:38:12 But you look at the numbers now, too. He's posting really good offensive numbers and he's been one of

00:38:19 the offensive stars of this team and providers. You know, he's on a pace. He's third on the team

00:38:26 in points, third on the team in goals. He's on pace for over 30 goals and almost 70 points.

00:38:30 And who knows if he's going to be able to keep this up, but he's really stepping up and providing

00:38:36 the kind of play that you needed from somebody at the center position with Crecce and with Bergeron

00:38:42 leaving. And he does it without a lot of fanfare, without a lot of hype and without a lot of

00:38:47 attention thrown his way. But he's been truly an outstanding player in all facets for the Bruins

00:38:52 this season. Mark, you're a unsung hero. Well, I have two, Brandon Carlo and Pavel Zaka.

00:39:00 Carlo, you know, has been a rock back there and has been nastier than he has been in the past.

00:39:08 I like that. And Zaka, you know, he's not Patrice Bergeron, but he's been very good most nights.

00:39:19 And I, you know, that was a question coming into the season. Could he

00:39:25 kind of raise the level of his game a little bit? And I think he's answered that in the

00:39:31 affirmative so far. Definitely. Mick, you're a, you're unsung hero. Yeah. You know what? I think

00:39:39 that the coil is a great pick. To me, he's the leader without the letter and he has been for a

00:39:47 little bit here. And this year it really comes forward that here's a guy that if you had another

00:39:52 eight hand out, he'd be wearing it. You could argue that he should be wearing it anyway. So

00:39:58 he's been terrific. And you're right. Incredible how many draws he's taken and that he has the

00:40:06 best percentage on the team. Well, Beecher actually is 56% on draws, but he's taken

00:40:15 substantially fewer and he takes them in different matchups. Coil gets the heavy lifting and he's

00:40:21 been getting it since a Burj Rani crazy got older. He's been getting a lot more of that

00:40:25 heavy lifting. And so for him to, like you said, Joe put up nine, 11, 20 and 24 games.

00:40:32 And to do this, given his matchups in his room, I'm amazed. He only plays 1726 average a game.

00:40:39 I tried to believe he's not, you know, scratching at 20 given, given your opportunity to have this

00:40:45 monster out there. One third of a hockey game, you get two people like him. You're you. It's a

00:40:51 great formula. But I do like the soccer talk, too. I feel like he is really shown his ability to run

00:40:59 with the with the big wheels here. And I love how that guy skates. And he's had a couple of down

00:41:04 moments this year. But I thought that he really responded well to to them with that first blemish

00:41:10 on the record was on his stick. And and I thought that he played great after that. You know, some

00:41:18 nights when the Bruins, I think this is still a learning curve for him. So when Zaka doesn't

00:41:24 look good or it looks kind of cloggy out there for him, I think that that doesn't mean that he's bad.

00:41:29 He's figuring it out still, you know, I mean, and so, you know, so he's been good. I'm really

00:41:35 impressed with what he's done. So that's that's I think it was a great pick there for me.

00:41:42 Yeah, and I agree with Zaka. I think his production is actually fairly similar to

00:41:46 Coyle's and he's been on balance a very good player for them stepping into a much bigger role.

00:41:51 And I've liked that as things have gone on, he's developed a little more chemistry with with

00:41:57 Pasternak, which at times I didn't see it as much when they were playing together. But I think

00:42:02 you've seen instances of them, you know, sort of being on the same wavelength, him setting them up

00:42:09 for offensive plays and them sort of figuring each other out when they're on the ice together. So

00:42:13 that has been a positive as well. And he also like every once in a while, he Zaka will do one of

00:42:21 those Patrice Bergeron style back checks where he just hustles back into the play and doesn't give

00:42:27 up on it and ends up breaking up a play at the other end because he's just putting the effort

00:42:32 in and playing, you know, the 200 feet, which I think is also necessary if you're going to be a

00:42:37 big time center. So credit to him. Bruin most in need of improvement. And I went with Hampus

00:42:43 Lindholm for all the reasons that we discussed before. Mick, who would your choice be?

00:42:48 Dubrask. You know, Monty's pumping his tires every time I look up. But I feel like Dubrask

00:42:57 is much closer to being the flyby player of five years ago than the really play through the game

00:43:09 and go right through that minefield guy that he was a year ago. And and I'm you know, sometimes

00:43:17 he plays good games. Sometimes he does something amazing out there and it gets my hopes up for him.

00:43:22 All the pucks will start going in. And then I see some games from him that I just feel like,

00:43:27 man, I just I just don't I don't know if it's in his head because it's a contract year and he's not

00:43:33 signed and what Bruin has ever come back when he's been UFA his whole final season. You know,

00:43:39 does that ever happen if you're not in a year to year thing like Char or Bergeron? You know, so

00:43:47 you know, so for me, I'm looking at him and I can't get my eyes off him when it comes to this.

00:43:53 I can imagine settling into what Lindholm is, as Mark says, you are what you are at your age.

00:43:58 You're 30 years old. If that's is that's what he is. That's fine. But give me a guy on the other

00:44:05 pairing who can be more than that. Gouda's small, you know, more that true guy. You're not going to

00:44:13 get that guy, but you can get somebody who suddenly brings more of that. And I'm OK with

00:44:19 Lindholm if there's somebody on the left shot side who's who's going to play monster minutes

00:44:24 and is going to take any match up, but plays with more physicality than I can deal with Lindholm.

00:44:30 Similar to St. Louis, when I think about Portrangelo, Parako and Bollmeister,

00:44:33 maybe Lindholm is Bollmeister, you know, and if that's the case, fine. But you've got to have

00:44:38 somebody else. He can't be the only one over there. So I'm so I'm not down on him as much as

00:44:44 I wish there was something more there and whether or not this is the right way for the Bruins to

00:44:48 try to build out a champion. You know, that that said, I got to say that I'm not settled on the

00:44:57 DeBruys thing. I just feel like he's the guy that I'm waiting for. Mark most Bruin, most need of

00:45:04 improvement at the quarter poll of the season. Yeah, I'd have to go with the Brusk. And, you

00:45:10 know, he's he's another guy that. You know. Consistency throughout his career in Boston,

00:45:19 it hasn't been there, which. Like Lindholm makes me think that, OK, this is this is who he is.

00:45:27 This is the guy that he is. He. He goes long stretches without goals and you wonder,

00:45:35 you know, when is he going to when is he going to bust out? And you contrast that with who he

00:45:42 is in the playoffs, which in the past he's been he's been real good in the playoffs. So.

00:45:47 I don't know, he's I guess the question I would ask, and I'm sure they're debating this in the

00:45:54 in the front offices, how much do you invest in that guy? Right. Right. Or do you say, OK,

00:46:02 yeah, he's a good player, but. If we traded him for this other guy, maybe we'll be better off

00:46:08 in the long run and, you know, without a streaky, you know, a gifted offensive player at times,

00:46:15 but not all the time. So maybe. You know, like I said, I'm sure they're debating that, but.

00:46:23 You know, the guy that you see. Not scoring for long stretches. I think that's that's who Jake is.

00:46:32 So I don't know. Playing like he has some sort of injury that nobody knows about that's going

00:46:37 to require an offseason surgery and no, he doesn't want to talk about it because,

00:46:41 you know, if he does, it's going to screw everything up for him.

00:46:44 So the only problem is, that's what I feel like I'm watching.

00:46:48 The only problem I have with all of that is just what he showed last year or something

00:46:52 different than that. I thought it was much more consistent last year. I thought he was

00:46:56 much more productive. He would have been a 30 goal score if he didn't get hurt

00:46:59 in the Winter Classic scoring winning again on a broken leg like he showed it last year.

00:47:04 And to your point, Mark, he's shown it in the playoffs at times as well.

00:47:08 So, you know, what's in there and you know, it can be tapped into,

00:47:11 you know, and that would be the only pause I would have if I were the Bruins and Bruins management

00:47:19 with also knowing if you do move him, you better have somebody that can provide that kind of

00:47:24 dynamic, you know, offensive scoring ability and have that upside that you're bringing back,

00:47:29 given the current state of what they have among their forward group. And that's, I think, what

00:47:33 makes it difficult for them. I've almost felt at times and wondered if this turns into a Tory

00:47:38 Krug situation where they're in a position where they kind of have to ride it out for the year

00:47:43 with him, even if they know that they're not going to want to, you know, invest a big term and lots

00:47:50 of money into him in a contract extension at the end of the year. And they might have to just like,

00:47:56 you know, say, see you later when the season's over. But it all depends, obviously, on what

00:48:00 kind of value they can get back for him, for sure. And I think he's been a little better lately. You

00:48:06 know, he went through a long stretch at the start of the year where he was not noticeable at all

00:48:10 and not even getting chances. His camp was just invisible. Yeah. And I think he started to,

00:48:17 you know, generate a little bit more and be a little bit more like he was last year. And I do

00:48:21 also wonder if the contract thing plays into some of this and it's on his mind too much. And it's

00:48:27 something that's, you know, impacting his play. But I also think there's just, you know, he's a

00:48:32 streaky player and there's a limit to how much he's going to be able to impact the game when he's

00:48:37 not put the buck in the net. And he's always going to be that kind of guy. And it just, I like,

00:48:42 you know, what's going to happen, Joe, if they trade him, right? He's going to go to that other

00:48:45 team and go, go lights out. And the world's going to look bad for about a month. But I always laugh

00:48:51 when, when we talk about DeBrusque, especially in these kinds of circumstances or context, because

00:48:57 I hear more from more hockey coaches that he absolutely infuriates them with the way he plays,

00:49:04 like they just, you know, you're, you're a old school hockey coaches out there, high school,

00:49:09 college, like whatever. I hear more about DeBrusque than any other player on the Bruins when

00:49:14 they, you know, they're frustrated about what they're watching. He's just that kind of player.

00:49:18 I think. - Well, if you want to be Bobby Ryan and play around the game and sneak up on it and have

00:49:25 10 seconds of impact, but make it be something that changes the outcome of the game, you got

00:49:29 to be Bobby Ryan. I think Jake DeBrusque showed us last fall that he's better if he goes more

00:49:35 Bergeron style, plays through the game, is part of the game, in the game, struggling with the game

00:49:40 and deals and goes straight through the gates of hell to get where he wants to go. And that's the

00:49:47 guy that I want to watch. And it's hard to be that guy. So I don't know what's going on, but right

00:49:55 now I don't find him settling, settling into that. He's not finding that yet. I'm not seeing it.

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00:51:18 if you go to factor meals. It gets the Hags thumbs up seal of approval. All right, let's move on to

00:51:23 Providence. Mark knows more about the Providence Bruins, watches more Providence Bruins games,

00:51:29 goes to more Providence Bruins practices, is around the team more than anybody else

00:51:33 in the media, I think. Your thoughts on Providence as of late, Mark, and how Mason Lowry has been

00:51:42 since he came back from Boston. Well, the team has been very good lately. They've won five in a row.

00:51:49 They got off to a slow start for a variety of reasons, a lot of new faces,

00:51:54 you know, guys, guys settling into new, a new city and a new group of teammates, but they've,

00:52:02 they played very well over the last two weekends. I think they've figured a lot of things out about

00:52:08 how they need to play to win. As far as Mason Lowry goes, you know, he's been pretty average

00:52:17 since he came down, you know, and I don't think that's all that surprising. At least it isn't to

00:52:25 me. I, you don't see guys grow by leaps and bounds in the American league. At least I don't. Yeah.

00:52:32 They get better gradually a lot of times. And, you know, I think Ryan Mugenel, the coach alluded

00:52:42 to this, I don't know, last week that when you get sent down, you know, it's a, you can say all the

00:52:50 right things about how you're going to do your best and you're going to, you know, embrace it.

00:52:55 But in reality, it's a, it's a, it's a blow to anyone's ego to be, to be sent down. And,

00:53:03 you know, I don't think Mason lacks for confidence. That's for sure. You can see that in his game.

00:53:08 He'll, he'll try anything, but he's been pretty average and still doing, you know,

00:53:19 the other day he carried the puck into four, four guys lined up in front of him at the opposing

00:53:25 blue line. You know, that's not going to fly, not in the American league, certainly anywhere.

00:53:33 Yeah. And so he does that. And here comes the three on one the other way,

00:53:38 because he's way up there caught and they didn't score. But I mean,

00:53:45 there's plays like that, that you see you know, once a game, maybe near the end of the game,

00:53:52 they had a one goal lead and they were really scrapping to try and preserve the lead.

00:53:56 He carries the puck up and instead of dumping it in behind the opposing teams D and letting his

00:54:03 forwards go for check. He, again, he, he tried to he tried to make a little play at the blue line

00:54:11 and got broken up. And, you know, that game situation awareness. Yeah. You know, I think

00:54:18 Monty commented on that more than once that that's one of the things that a guy like Mason has to

00:54:24 learn. And I have no doubt that he will learn that and that he'll, he'll be fine, you know,

00:54:33 down the road, but he he's not he's not there yet. And, you know, he's been he's been pretty average

00:54:41 in his first few games back in Providence. And I don't think that's surprising or alarming.

00:54:46 No, or anything like that. He he's going to be fine. No. And the age, the age,

00:54:52 I was the right place to learn the game situations, the time and place to be trying to make plays at

00:54:57 the blue line, you know, keeping it simple at certain points and dumping it and all that stuff.

00:55:02 Like I think is the right, you know, that's why he needed to go back there this year. And I don't

00:55:06 think there was ever any danger of him sticking around after you got an extended look at him in

00:55:11 Boston. You know, I think the right move was always to get him back down there and

00:55:15 and let him learn those things. Mick, I hope he's not doing it because he treats the league

00:55:20 with contempt because he's upset that he's there again, you know, because it looked pretty good for

00:55:25 a little while while he was here before the, you know, the bottom fell out on the team and

00:55:30 and he and he was needing to go back himself. But I'm curious, Mark, about I really thought

00:55:36 that Merkel off had a shot at making the Bruins and and I and McLaughlin was one of the last guys

00:55:44 cut. So and then I look at their seasons and they're very underwhelming from a statistical

00:55:50 standpoint. What are you seeing from I'm just curious if you make a quick hit on both of those

00:55:55 guys. Well, Merkel off, he doesn't have the numbers that he had last year, but his two way

00:56:01 game has grown by leaps and bounds from last year. Recently, especially, I mean, you just notice

00:56:13 plays that he makes back checks, plays along the wall on the defensive zone that a year ago,

00:56:21 you wouldn't have seen from him. He's. He's embraced that part of the game or, you know,

00:56:29 and not without that, without. You know, maybe complaining to the coaching staff that his numbers

00:56:38 aren't. Such that he's going to get a get a call. I think he he's very aware of that,

00:56:46 of where his numbers are this year compared to last year. But. You know, it's his two way game

00:56:53 that's either going to get him there or not. And, you know, play in one way. Jim Montgomery's not

00:56:59 not looking for that if and when he goes up. He's got to be a responsible player all over the ice.

00:57:08 And if he does that, I think the offensive part will come because he's such a smart offensive

00:57:15 player. So I. The numbers don't reflect it, but I think he's been very good, you know, to this point.

00:57:24 How are they using him? He's a left wing and who's he playing with?

00:57:27 No, he's a center. He's a center. So he is playing center. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He hasn't played much left.

00:57:33 You know, left wing at all in Providence, either last year or this year. This year,

00:57:40 I don't think he's played at all. Who is the guy that they train, who they let go?

00:57:45 Last year was playing with him.

00:57:47 High score.

00:57:51 Vinny Letary. Yeah. Were they not sort of interchangeable and moving around at one point?

00:57:59 Well, on the power play, they were deadly. Both of them together on the power play were were

00:58:04 were really good. But. No, Vinny played right wing at times with with Merck, but

00:58:13 Vinny went back and forth between center and and right wing, not always with Merck.

00:58:20 OK, now, Mark McLaughlin. You know, his offensive game is his withered, I would say this year.

00:58:28 The chances he's not he's not taking advantage of his chances. He.

00:58:34 So that's a concern, but. Boy, he does all the other things he, you know.

00:58:42 As far as being responsible defensively and on the four check, playing hard,

00:58:49 finishing his checks, he does all the things that.

00:58:52 You know, those of us who have watched him for a long time in college and on into the pros,

00:58:58 the thing you love about him is is is that part that he plays so hard and responsibly.

00:59:08 You know, I wouldn't. He could certainly come up and play on the fourth line

00:59:13 as a center or right wing and would fit right in.

00:59:16 But the offensive part has not come easily for him this year at all.

00:59:22 How impressive is Ferenc Acuben? His numbers obviously seem to be very good.

00:59:28 He is a very subtle player. You know, you really got to pay attention,

00:59:36 I think, to appreciate the things that he does, the little plays that he makes,

00:59:41 the smart decisions that he makes. You know, Ryan Mugenel likes the joke that, you know,

00:59:48 obviously he's a smart player because he went to Harvard, but there's a lot more to it than that.

00:59:54 You know, he's just. A cerebral player that does little things that that add up to wins.

01:00:05 You know, I think they they got a real good or a nice prospect there.

01:00:11 You know, I think he's looking at probably a full year in the American League and then

01:00:19 see where he's at, you know, in training camp next year.

01:00:21 And your favorite player in mind, Mark Fabian Lysell, I know he's been heard the last couple

01:00:28 of games. I think I mean, I think he's, you know, just seeing your tweets and your observations

01:00:35 that he had picked up his game, you know, from a slow start at the beginning of the year.

01:00:39 But now he's been out the last few games. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what to say about this guy.

01:00:44 Yeah, he picked he started slow. He got benched one afternoon along with Merkeloff.

01:00:53 And he responded, you know, with with some good play.

01:00:58 And, you know, the thing about him when he plays well, you know, my first question is,

01:01:06 what took you so long? What you know, what what have you been doing that's that's been

01:01:11 holding you back from this? Why why can't we see this? Why are you banging on the door to

01:01:18 get a look in Boston? Not doing that. And now he's got some injury. I don't know. I saw him.

01:01:27 They said they kind of intimated that all that wasn't a bag skate. Well, I know what a bag skate

01:01:34 is when I see one. They had him on the ice doing, you know, all kinds of skating things. And,

01:01:43 you know, he didn't play in he didn't play Friday. He didn't play Saturday. He didn't play Sunday.

01:01:48 He skated hard every one of those days. Now, Evan Gold tells me it's an upper body injury. And,

01:01:56 you know. I'll take him at his word, OK? They're not holding this guy out if there's not an injury,

01:02:02 if there's not something. But to see him skate that way and, you know, in practice.

01:02:10 And yet he still is not playing in the games. I don't know. That's I got a question that

01:02:18 is it a you know, I've heard kind of rumblings, you know, well, maybe it's his wrist or

01:02:23 some kind of upper body thing. I mean, I don't know. It's you've seen a lot of ducks over your

01:02:31 life and this one looks like a duck and walks like a duck. It's a mystery inside an enigma

01:02:38 wrapped up in a question mark. Well, you know, whenever the risk thing.

01:02:43 The first thing I thought of was, well, I remember when many, many years ago.

01:02:50 Somebody was injured. I asked Bruce Cassidy about it. Is it an upper body injury or is it a lower

01:02:58 body injury? And he said he looked at me and he said, well, Mark, it depends on whether

01:03:03 he's waving goodbye or wiping his butt. What he meant was, you know, that's that's classic

01:03:17 Butch, right? Yeah. But so is it a wrist injury? Is it his hand? I don't know. I don't know what

01:03:25 it is, but, you know, I go to practice yesterday and he is flying. He's absolutely flying around

01:03:32 the ice in practice. You know. I want to see that in a game in a stretch of games, not two or three

01:03:40 or four or five good games where he puts up some numbers. I want to see that for like 20 straight

01:03:46 games. And I don't know if I'm ever going to see that. Anything else, Mark and Providence worth

01:03:54 noting, remarking about any observations or things that you've seen that you think should

01:03:59 Bruins fans should know about? Well, Brandon Bussie, I don't think it's any secret what a

01:04:03 terrific prospect he is. Yeah. You know, he's been a little little banged up, a little sore

01:04:09 recently, but. Boy, the kid just competes, competes his butt off, and it's it's really

01:04:17 something to see a guy who just won't give up on any puck or on any shot.

01:04:22 You know, his numbers aren't as good this year because the team hasn't been as good in front of

01:04:29 him to this point. But they Boston has a has a good one in him. They're going to have at some

01:04:37 point they're going to have to decide, you know, what do you do with them now? That decision is

01:04:42 not imminent. It doesn't have to be right. It could be a year away. Who knows? But at some point,

01:04:48 you know, he's he's going to be a factor, I think, in Boston. He's a late bloomer. Now,

01:04:54 is he UFA at the end of this year? I don't think so. I think he's restricted. OK, because he because

01:05:00 he's a he's a bit of a late bloomer is a tall left stick for people who haven't seen him play

01:05:05 a little Dryden-esque. And in second best statistical season last year, the Wolf,

01:05:13 who played for the Calgary Flames last night. So, you know, I mean, so Bussie is now,

01:05:20 you know, if not happen statistically, then it's great to hear a report that he's playing just as

01:05:26 well. No, he's he steals games. He steals games. That's that's the impact he has.

01:05:33 They got outshot a couple of weeks ago, 40, 43 to whatever. And he stopped 42 of them and

01:05:42 they won in overtime on a Lysel goal. But maybe that's where he suffered the mystery injury,

01:05:51 celebrating after scoring that goal. I can't say enough about Bussie, not only the player, but

01:05:57 but the person. He's a he's a really he's a really good kid who understands, I think,

01:06:03 you know, what's going on here as he tries to climb his way to the NHL. I was really impressed

01:06:10 with him last year when I went to a game and he was a healthy scratch sitting with about a half

01:06:14 a dozen guys in the corner. And the Kaiser had to start and Kincaid was the backup. And Bussie was

01:06:22 so dialed into Kaiser's game that every little technique thing that happened out of the corner

01:06:28 or whatever, he was like, you know, he was on it and he was so behind him and in his corner.

01:06:34 And I told this to Mugenel when I thank you for setting us up to meet that in Jordan Kahn,

01:06:42 obviously. But he said, that's him. Yeah, he roots for his he roots for the other goalie. And

01:06:49 I had a goalie tell me that this was a while back, maybe before it became so such a thing. Now,

01:07:00 the goalie hog at the end of the Bruins games. He told me I never rooted for my partner. I always

01:07:07 rooted against him. I didn't want him to succeed. I didn't want him to do well. You know,

01:07:13 I wanted to be the guy. So, you know, rooting for your teammate when you're when you're the goalie

01:07:21 and you're not playing that night, that's that's not something to be taken for granted. Not

01:07:26 everybody does it. It's not necessarily an outlier, because if you read Ken Dryden's book,

01:07:31 The Game, you take a guy as legendary as Ken Dryden and the success he had in his short career.

01:07:36 And he actually is talking about his final season and writing this book and his longtime backup

01:07:43 there. You know, he's he took so many practice shots before storming off the ice just to kind

01:07:52 of reinforce to to why am I why blocking on him that he's still the guy is still my neck,

01:08:02 you know, and it's like, wow, I never would have guessed that that would be the dynamic there.

01:08:08 But Terry is that deep in his career and he's still doing that. Yeah, it speaks to Bussie that,

01:08:14 you know, for a young player like him at the age level, knowing what's in front of him at the NHL

01:08:20 level on in that organization, on that team, that there's no discouragement, there's no whatever

01:08:26 there's you know, he just continues to play hard, steal games, do what he needs to do

01:08:30 and have his stock rise. You know, you see a lot of players, the age level, when they

01:08:37 see that the end is full at the NHL level and it's going to be really it's going to take something,

01:08:42 you know, unforeseen and something way out of the ordinary for them to get a shot in the short term

01:08:49 to just not get distracted or discouraged by that. And I think that says something about him.

01:08:53 And that's definitely a credit to him. And it's an embarrassment of riches the Bruins have at the

01:08:58 goaltending department. That's very clear by having all three of those guys right now. And that's,

01:09:02 you know, why we all think at some point, probably in the summertime, something's going to be done

01:09:07 to address that situation one way or the other, because I think they just have to.

01:09:11 Anyway, New England Hockey Journal's Mark Mark Diver, Mick Colaggio, thank you very much for

01:09:17 joining us on the Pucks with Hags podcast. As always, thank you to our sponsors, FanDuel Sportsbook,

01:09:22 get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150. If your team wins,

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01:09:58 your first box. Mick, Mark, thank you very much. Good to see you guys.

01:10:02 Money will rock.

01:10:03 Until next time.

01:10:10 Thanks to everybody else out there for listening. We'll see you at the ring.

01:10:22 [inaudible].

First Quarter Bruins Awards w/ Mark Divver & Mick Colageo | Pucks with Haggs

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