Bruins Mailbag: How Will Merkulov IMPACT Bruins lineup? | Poke the Bear - video Dailymotion

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Conor Ryan of Boston.com gives his reaction to the Bruins' first game back after the Christmas break and some of the strong performances from the team's young core, and if there is another guy in Providence who is ready for the call to Boston.  SeatGeek! Use code DREAMERSPRO for $20 off your first SeatGeek order! Visit SeatGeek.com when you checkout! With NFL, NBA and NHL seasons in full swing, you don’t want to miss out - SeatGeek has your tickets to every game!  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.  SeatGeek! Use code DREAMERSPRO for $20 off your first SeatGeek order! Visit SeatGeek.com when you checkout! With NFL, NBA and NHL seasons in full swing, you don’t want to miss out - SeatGeek has your tickets to every game!  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.

Transcript

00:00 I feel like we go through the same narrative with the breast where I think he's playing a really

00:03 strong to a game but but of course like dude needs to score and I think you're if you're the

00:09 Bruins you're trying to stay the course here because he's still doing enough that he's not

00:13 like you got to take him out of the lineup or he's hurting your overall product on the ice but

00:17 uh you're just hoping that he finally starts you know that shooting percentage starts going

00:21 the other way and he starts burying more of these chances and welcome in to poke the bear episode

00:35 190 presented by clns media and sponsored by our good friends over at factor meals and fan duel

00:42 my name is connor ryan as you can see going solo today uh it's the the week after christmas right

00:48 before new year's as i'm sure most of you uh can attest to not a lot going on right now we're taking

00:55 it easy if you if you're working this week you know you're you're uh not getting over exerted

01:00 with stuff you're letting those worries and troubles go over into 2024 so we're keeping it

01:07 pretty low key in this episode we're not having uh evan or ty or anyone on board um you're stuck

01:12 with me for this one as i as i ferry you into the new year so we figured with this new episode um

01:20 what better time to once again bring back one of our uh mailbags where you guys send in questions

01:26 uh related uh to anything with the bruins and i do what i can to uh to answer them so uh thankfully

01:34 uh for everyone who did send in a few questions a lot of them related to probably the biggest

01:38 news of today as we're recording on friday which is georgie murky love uh getting called up we kind

01:44 of saw the you could read the tea leaves that he was most likely going to get called up um only

01:48 reason the bruins didn't do it yesterday is because i believe the team uh providence was in utica so

01:53 they wanted to wait for them to get back before sending murky love here but uh we touched on it

01:58 quite a bit uh on our latest episode uh that are recorded with evan but um we'll kind of

02:04 delve a little bit more into what his role is and with this team over these next couple of weeks um

02:09 which you guys sent along those kind of questions so without further ado how about we just dive

02:13 right into it with our first question which is from ice frog who says hi connor the bruins call

02:19 up murky love try him out in a top six role who do you think is the most likely to move down in

02:23 the lineup who do you think is most likely to move out of the lineup also would they use murky love

02:28 at center or wing first of all uh thanks for the question ice frog um and yeah i i think you kind

02:33 of saw the bruins approach uh based on what we saw during lines on friday at warrior ice arena

02:39 which is murky love for the time being at least is more or less going to slot into uh the vacancy

02:45 with uh where matt potter is on third line so uh murky love was uh third line center next to

02:52 frederick and jvr uh as of friday uh and as a result steve bumps out of the lineup and then

02:59 dan hein and moves down to the fourth line with lauco and beecher so um that seems to be the plan

03:05 starting off here and uh i like it in terms of one you're putting murky love in his natural

03:11 spot he can play wing but he's probably at his best as a centerman and you're putting him with

03:16 two guys you know it's not like you're putting him with posturnoch or debrusk or anything like

03:20 that but two you know capable nhl veterans who um can do a lot of damage especially around the net

03:26 front which is where murky love is really really good um even at his age with his lack of experience

03:32 really poised for the puck knows when to bring the puck into grade a ice and can do a lot of

03:36 damage there so uh i like that they're starting off by putting him in that spot see if you can

03:41 drive play further down the lineup which is i think what you're hoping for uh what he can bring

03:46 is kind of this mid-season spark uh with this offense right now and again it's a good problem

03:52 to have right i don't imagine this is going to be a situation where he's up here for good um

03:57 listen if he goes and puts up seven points in five games and yeah you change your opinion on it but

04:03 i think especially with patra out for at least probably another week maybe a little bit more

04:07 while he's over world juniors doesn't hurt to put in another young player like murky love in that

04:12 spot at the very least get him up uh in the nhl learn some experience and see how he does there

04:19 and if he still has some seasoning to do which is to be expected for any young player um as soon

04:24 as patra comes back you can either send him down or if he's playing at a high level you got a good

04:28 problem on your hands maybe potter moves to the wing maybe murky love moves to the wing if you've

04:32 got two uh rookies in your your uh bottom six along with a third guy with beecher who are all

04:38 carving out uh established roles on this team that's a great problem to have so i can i kind

04:43 of see that being their approach at least out of the gate with murky love in this maybe five six

04:48 game kind of trial size that they kind of have for him where uh they want to see whether he can drive

04:54 play in patra spot and then if he rolls with it and the time comes for patra to come back you kick

04:58 that can a little bit down the road because again that's a good problem to have so thank you again

05:02 for the question ice frog we turn next to ryan great last name even though it's your first name

05:07 i guess but ryan asked uh seidenberg and chara played together despite both being same-handed

05:13 why not come to playoffs play carlo and mcavoy together and let them ride for 35 minutes a night

05:18 thanks for the question ryan um it's definitely a uh intriguing option to have uh for the brunes i

05:23 mean listen you mentioned seidenberg and chara i think most brunes fans would would kill to have

05:30 a pairing like that again in terms of playing 27 28 minutes a night shut down defense i mean well

05:36 i think we all know the the usual suspects that played a key role on that 2011 team with chara

05:42 and bergeron and what have you but um mark recce horton but i think seidenberg's right up there he

05:48 was a a monster throughout that playoff run and i can get the uh the appeal of me putting your

05:55 two probably best defensemen this year especially i think carlo has been money all season long but

06:00 um i think the the biggest issue there is beyond the fact that i think montgomery is pretty keen

06:08 on balancing and having you know different options there with guys that are uh you know different

06:13 shots in those spots i still think they want to keep it more balanced in terms of their top four

06:19 where they can have two very you know rather than having maybe one mega pairing you can have two

06:24 damn good you know pairings it's not to say that you know uh on paper at least mcavoy with whoever

06:30 whether it's grizzly who hasn't really been playing at a high level or lori that can be a

06:36 really good pairing in and of itself and then carlo and lintel last year were arguably the best

06:40 shutdown pair in the league and i know lintel really hasn't had a strong start to the year but

06:45 i was really encouraged by what you saw from him uh on wednesday against buffalo where uh looked

06:51 like kind of lintel of old again didn't have any points but you saw how assertive he was with the

06:55 puck he was killing plays um aggressive without you know putting himself out in bad spots making

07:00 really quick uh tap passes getting the puck out of the uh bruin's defensive zone so uh i still

07:08 think for right now at least you know barring continued struggles for those key cogs like a

07:13 lintel or a grizzly i still think montgomery wants to keep those guys kind of separated out there and

07:18 you know rather have a really really strong top four as opposed to a really top heavy

07:24 top pairing when again you need pretty much everyone to pull on the rope come the post

07:28 season so thank you for the question ryan we turn next to moonlight gram great film

07:34 makes makes many men cry uh moonlight gram asks toughness and are we going to get any

07:39 great question moonlight uh listen it is definitely going to be i think a work in

07:46 progress in terms of finding and again i say toughness i think what this team needs especially

07:51 in today's nhl is uh tone setters i i think that's something where whether this team is

07:57 falling into a rut they're in a critical game where all of a sudden you have um uh a stretch

08:04 there where you need a response whether it's a heavy hit um a fight what have you i think you

08:11 saw in that game against minnesota right before the holidays with lauco where bruin's give up a

08:16 goal to johansson on the power play immediately leco drops the gloves guys get a spark from that

08:22 and then uh the bruin score well luck goes in the box like i think he had more responses like that

08:28 again listen you'll take a guy who's going to land 10 you know 10 hits a night of course but

08:33 i i think that the lack of not response but the lack of just guys that can have that momentum

08:39 shifting play that's not a tangible goal or what have you like i i think you see every time in the

08:44 post season there's at least one game where mcavoy has one of those heavy hits that kind of changes

08:49 the complexion of a game but it can't just be him you know it can't just be him it can't just be

08:53 you know i think frederick's done a pretty good job at um you know answering the bell when needed

08:58 and i think lauco now that he's finally been cleared to fight i'm sure you're going to see

09:01 him kind of muck it up a lot more here but i i think it needs to be a lot more of those kind of

09:06 guys buying and delivering a big hit when needed and kind of setting the tone when the situation

09:11 arises again uh in a perfect situation have a guy like luci chair to do that i don't see that being

09:16 the case anymore so you gotta have to make do with what what you have on this roster and then

09:21 you kind of see what other options are out there you know whether it's i don't know if you're going

09:25 to be relinquishing draft assets to get like a you know a few years ago when like delorea was a guy

09:31 that players coveted or even like a hathaway you know maybe that's a situation when the bruins

09:36 view it as you know rather than spending premium assets to get a lint home or a top defenseman

09:43 you know maybe it's a situation where um you get like a fourth line established veteran guy that

09:48 can maybe make more of an impact on the fourth line with a few younger guys like lauco and bicho

09:53 and see how that kind of maps out so i could see that i know uh ty anderson and i mentioned like

09:59 picking up maybe really affordable free agents like guy like wayne simmons listen he's he's

10:04 pretty cooked but if you want to bring him on for a league minimum bring him on the roster and just

10:08 have him as kind of a physical deterrent maybe that's a uh an avenue you take so uh it is

10:14 something that i think needs to be addressed on this thing whether it's internally or going and

10:19 finding a guy at an affordable value to to add to that team but it is something that you just want

10:24 to see a little bit more again maybe not overall pushback or you know guys that can beat the brakes

10:29 off of players but uh players that can respond and you know change the momentum of a game beyond just

10:36 you know a dangle and a snipe in the offensive offensive zone so i think that is something this

10:40 team definitely has to keep tabs on as this year goes on so good question moonlight now before we

10:46 go on to our next set of questions here we're going to take a brief break and listen to our

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11:42 partner of the nfl all right next question is from brian who asked given the lack of point

11:47 production from jake debrusk what's a realistic deal for him look like and any chance he and the

11:52 bees can find some common ground on that or will he land elsewhere uh great question brian uh again

11:58 it is probably the the most consequential thing in terms of internally on this roster is getting

12:04 debrusk back playing at a high level i think you should be encouraged by what you saw on uh wednesday

12:10 in buffalo i think that was one of his best games of the year gets two two assists on coils goals

12:15 um first multiple multi-point game in the season frame which is crazy to think about but uh beyond

12:21 that looked really engaged did more of the stuff that we've seen all year which is you know he's

12:25 moving his feet being active um but finally gets rolled with some tangible points which is

12:29 hopefully a step in the right direction and again i still think this is a situation where um

12:35 i don't know where exactly the the best value is for debrusk right in terms of a deal because

12:42 he's not a guy that i think you want to sell short on or or just move for the sake of thinking that

12:46 all right you don't want to pay him get anything for him when again he's shooting i think five

12:50 percent this season it's like you know uh what eight or nine percent below his career average

12:57 like would you rather like stay the course with a guy who's still being a solid to a player that is

13:03 the law of averages say he's due for a heater at some point again i think we can probably throw out

13:08 the 30 goal uh prediction that i think it had from earlier on this year but if he heats up and

13:13 ends the year with 20 you know 22 goals and and continues to play really good two-way hockey

13:18 i think you'd rather keep that than selling him for uh you know whatever the return will be because

13:23 again i think he has value even if he's a pending free agent on the trade market but for the kind

13:29 of guys that you want to move him for right like you want to move him for a guy like a elias lindholm

13:35 or a um you know noah hannafin one of these guys that can really impact this team that if you're

13:40 moving a guy like debrusk off makes it worth your while i can't see like a team like calgary being

13:46 someone that necessarily covets a guy who's 27 is a good player but as a pending free agent

13:51 does debrusk really want to go to calgary where that team seems like it's mine for a longer rebuild

13:56 facilities don't really get rave reviews from uh other players and other teams across the league

14:02 like i don't know if that's necessarily a team that wants a team probably wants to brusk as a team

14:06 like uh you know the avalanche or a contending team that wants a little bit more of a scoring

14:12 punch and think that he can break through with them right like i don't know what you're getting

14:16 from a team like the avalanche that makes it worth what you know debrusk can and should be

14:20 right with this team so again like i feel like we go through the same narrative with the breast where

14:26 i think he's playing a really strong to a game but but of course like dude needs to score and i

14:32 think you're if you're the bruins you're trying to stay the course here because he's still doing

14:36 enough that he's not like you got to take him out of the lineup or he's hurting your overall product

14:40 on the ice but uh you're just hoping that he finally starts you know that shooting percentage

14:44 starts going the other way and he starts burying more of these chances uh because i still think

14:49 he's an important part of this team and i think the bruins ideally want to keep him um but it

14:53 will be fascinating to see what's going to happen when um the time comes for that contract because

14:59 you told me before the year i was looking more at that bernin hagel contract is kind of the

15:03 the common ground there if it ends up being like five million or something like that for a long

15:08 term deal for the brus i think if you're the bruins you probably jump on it because even if

15:12 he's not a 30 goal guy but as a good two-way player that plays 16 17 minutes a night can give

15:18 you 20 goals ideally 20 plus um i still think there's some pretty good value there for what

15:23 he brings to this team so definitely something worth keeping tabs on uh so once again uh thanks

15:29 for the question brian move on now to rob plowinski who asks uh best game for freddie last night

15:36 versus buffalo line changes for top nine best they've looked in a couple of weeks which i agree

15:41 uh should they keep him at center uh thanks for the question rob uh i i think for right now uh

15:46 i think frederick has done a pretty solid job playing down the middle again it's his natural

15:51 position so he's has no qualms with doing it um i still think ideally the bruins want to keep him

15:57 at wing um it's something that we've discussed multiple times both during training camp and

16:02 the start of the year where frederick kind of best fits and it seems like montgomery and the

16:06 bruins are more inclined to keeping him at wing i think uh in spurts he can do a very good job

16:11 down the middle but it seems like for montgomery's approach um the the most important thing is

16:17 keeping frederick playing a simplified game right when he tries to either do too much or

16:21 it gets kind of caught up in a lot of the you know greater details of playing at center uh

16:29 sometimes he can kind of get away from his game or tries doing too much and i think we've all seen

16:33 now at this point with frederick when he's at his best when he's playing really simple uh hockey

16:38 getting to the front of the net again annoying guys but not going out of his way to do it kind

16:42 of letting the the chaos kind of come to him that's usually how i think he's at his best as

16:46 opposed to maybe earlier earlier on in his career when he was kind of like a heat-seeking missile

16:50 trying to to get under the skin of opponents so i think ideally they want to keep him at wing

16:55 that's where i think he saw most of his success last year it just depends on who's going to be

17:00 a centerman right uh because again coil's done a really good job this year but i still love when

17:05 he plays with uh frederick i think that's a really really strong pairing uh in terms of building out

17:10 your roster but who knows if murky love plays well with him or patra comes back energized i think they

17:16 still want to keep him on the wing and have him kind of playing that simplified hockey that really

17:20 benefited him and the bruins last year so uh thanks for the question rob you go next to cj kelly

17:26 who asks once the world juniors is over how will the brunettes determine if patra had a good

17:30 tournament and they got what they wanted by sending him time on ice points playing on both sides of

17:34 the puck leadership uh and you also ask if murk is brought back and stays what happens to the lineup

17:41 once patra is back so a good question cj i think for the bruin it's all about confidence right i

17:46 think for them um you saw with patra earlier on this year uh when he was kind of accelerating his

17:54 timeline and stamping a spot in this lineup a lot of it had to do with just how poised and

17:58 confident he was with the puck even as a 19 year old and it's not to say that he's uh that's been

18:04 few and far between but you've had less games where he's had these really dominant shifts where

18:07 he doesn't look like a 19 year old out there right where he's uh making guys miss up high uh holding

18:13 on to the puck winning board battles and bringing the puck into grade a ice and letting his natural

18:17 talent take over and i think for them that that's how they're gonna uh weigh just how much he's

18:24 built off of this experience of world juniors where he's a top line center he's helping team

18:28 canada hopefully uh you know take home a medal there during that tournament and i think if you're

18:32 playing with confidence and poise all the other stuff plays out right like you're playing confident

18:38 you're gonna get more ice time you're gonna naturally get more points um you're gonna

18:42 improve both sides of your your overall game and work on your 200 foot game so i think for them

18:47 that's the biggest key i think confidence is the the most important thing that they're hoping to

18:51 kind of re-spark with him going into this second half of the year and give him a little bit more

18:56 juice going into uh this kind of grueling stretch of the season uh and if he's playing confidently

19:02 all the rest of that stuff's gonna to show itself right like it's not like a guy who's not confident

19:06 all of a sudden is gonna go on a heater he's going to all of a sudden start averaging 15

19:11 plus minutes a night like i think once you're playing to your strengths and feeling good about

19:15 your game the rest kind of solves itself and then if uh when patra comes back and mark you'll have

19:19 still up here it's a great problem to have right then all of a sudden you're looking at um you know

19:24 just a guy like uh lauco or heinz slot out of the lineup you push a guy down there i still think

19:31 um whether it's murky love or patra that can be a lot of intrigue there as to one of those guys

19:35 moving to the wing um and all of a sudden you've got a bottom six that has a lot of young talent

19:41 that if they're proving their worth up here you got a pretty good situation on your hands not just

19:45 for this year in terms of that offensive upside but especially in the years ahead because i think

19:50 especially the guy like murky love has been a really present pleasant surprise because you you

19:55 look at obviously patra no one expected him to be a 19 year old guy up in the nhl but murky love's

20:02 guy that we've heard the the script on him for a long time now right where it's uh really

20:07 offensively gifted had a lot to work on defensively and all the credit to him he's made a lot of

20:12 strides in that department so again i don't think he's going to be winning any selkies in in the

20:16 future but if murky love can be a steady two-way player and that offensive instincts that has made

20:22 him such a coveted prospect can play it at the nhl level you got a very good player in your hands if

20:28 you're the Bruins all right thanks for the question cj um as we kind of go into the final stretch

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21:51 over at factor meals all right we have a quite a few questions so we'll kind of wrap it up with

21:55 these last two here so one from nathan roe who asks do you think laura has done enough to stay

22:01 in boston when grizz and forbert are healthy great question nathan and it's definitely i think

22:06 something that if you asked me back in november when he was sent down the first time i'd be like

22:11 i really like laura's game i can see the potential you've got a potential top four stalwart on your

22:18 hands but i think when you'll get his defensive game still a lot to work on there that i wouldn't

22:23 be so confident putting them in there again got guys that are injured without a doubt first guy

22:28 up you want him playing minutes when needed up here but now i think i'm kind of i don't know

22:35 if i'm ready to fully say that he deserves to stay up here full time yet but i think what i've been

22:40 really encouraged with so far over this kind of second stint he's been with the team is that the

22:44 defensive game has been a lot improved and again not to say that it's perfect again the guy is

22:49 switched to defense when he was 17 years old like he is already a plays a position that needs a lot

22:56 of refinement has a really long development curve and he's already you know kind of playing catch up

23:01 in terms of just the amount of years and reps he's had so i think patience has to be prescribed

23:07 with a guy like laurie but all the credit to him you know this is a player that if you listen to

23:11 our podcast earlier on this year we were talking about laurie being like a great prospect a really

23:17 intriguing guy i mean six five offensive defenseman not a lot out there uh that have that profile but

23:23 give him a full year in providence let him learn the ropes and you know check back in 2024 see if

23:28 he's ready he accelerated his timeline was a really strong pre-season uh you know showed his uh

23:34 potential at spurts during that first stint but then like in the second uh time up with boston now

23:40 defensive game's been a whole lot better uh brunes outs were outscored by opponents 13 to 7 when

23:45 laurie was on the ice over those first 12 games last six games he's been back up here brunes have

23:50 outscored teams 5-1 so uh that's a sign of i think a really good young player um when obviously the

23:58 potential the talents there we all know that but when you have a young player that can hit those

24:03 you know expected bumps in the road and can immediately learn from it not just over the

24:07 span of a year but over a month or so in terms of making those corrections um that's very encouraging

24:13 to see so i'm still not ready quite yet like again it all comes down to like how healthy guys like

24:19 grizzly and forbert are i think that's been the case all year um i think forbert's had a really

24:24 really good season as well so i can't see him being a guy that'll be the odd man out we know

24:29 how good he is on the pk but his five on five numbers have been really really good uh so far

24:34 this season as well uh kris is kind of the wild card right because um when he's healthy he still

24:39 has a lot of value to this team especially when he's with macka boy just hasn't been the case

24:44 this year so if he's back uh eventually in the lineup grizzly and the results still aren't there

24:49 especially with macka boy when you know those two are playing at a high level together they're one

24:54 of the best pairings in the league at least during the regular season um if those returns still

24:59 aren't really there then that's when i think you uh you give lauren extended look so i think they're

25:04 going to give grizzly a long leash once he's back healthy to kind of reset you know reset and

25:08 reassert his value to this team in the lineup but if their turns aren't there in just a you know a

25:14 few weeks or months down the road i can see it being the situation maybe a guy like low right

25:17 does leapfrog him if especially if laurent continues to make these strides defensively so

25:23 thanks for the question nathan and our last one uh is a question from mama cars who asks what is

25:29 jake bruss future with the bruins production seems down this year although he looked good last game

25:34 and you also have a follow-up so we kind of talked about the rest future i still think

25:38 ideally the bruins want to keep him on board i think montgomery's been pleased with his overall

25:43 two-way game you know he's not doing enough to take him out of the lineup right like he's still

25:49 like not costing you games i would say but there's been a lot of times where an extra goal two from

25:54 the rest would either get you a win outright or would save you from a few of these white knuckle

25:59 third periods where you're frantically protecting a one goal lead you're expending energy in november

26:05 and december um and and that's been huge for this team is you just haven't gotten the necessary

26:11 scoring depth to put you over the top in some of these situations so um i think ideally they want

26:16 to keep him again like in terms of a trade i just don't know what you're gonna get as a proper

26:21 return for a pending free agent for a team that um one you know wants him long term or targets him

26:28 this year like a contending team and you're gonna get a return that maximizes what the value is for

26:34 giving up a a top six guy that should be in your lineup for the foreseeable future so again what's

26:39 that next contract gonna be it's gonna be the big question um because you hope that i think for the

26:44 bruins sake uh that he gets on a bit of a heater here in the second half and hopefully that game

26:49 against the sabers is a bit of a jumping off point for him but uh i think ideally they want to keep

26:55 him here long term and and view him as a guy that can give you 20 goals in a in most seasons uh once

27:01 the shooting percentage doesn't go in the tank as it's been this year but uh i think that they still

27:07 view him as a really strong two-way guy that um you can pencil them into their into your top six

27:12 grouping for the foreseeable future so i think ideally they want to keep him here just depends

27:16 on what that contract's going to be and then your follow-up is who hands out the chicken wings

27:20 during post-game interviews uh great question uh i know the last time the bruins were in buffalo

27:26 last season and swin was eating buffalo uh wings during his interview i believe it was oh mark

27:31 uh a guy who spent a few years in buffalo i'm sure knows quite a few good spots to grab some wings

27:36 there i think he was the one giving out the wings last time couldn't confirm uh this most recent one

27:41 who it was but if i had to guess i would assume it'd be a guy who's got those buffalo ties like

27:46 oh mark is once again doing that again so maybe that's a a running trend whenever they make it to

27:51 buffalo which seems like a probably a highlight of that trip if you're going up there so no

27:55 disrespect to buffalo but you guys know anyway that is uh that will wrap up our uh our latest

28:03 episode episode 190 of poke the bear uh again thank you guys for listening thank you for those

28:09 who sent in their questions um again as we go into the new year uh we can't thank you guys enough for

28:14 all of your support whether it's uh speaking for myself evan ty everyone who takes part in these

28:19 podcasts on both poke the bear and bruins beat we can't do it without you guys and your support so

28:26 once again thank you all for listening uh reading our stuff uh tweeting at us all that stuff it

28:32 really is appreciated for everything that we do um and we love the opportunity we have to connect

28:38 with you guys and cover this great sport so uh once again thank you all so much for

28:44 listening on this latest episode i will see you all in 2024

28:51 you

28:52 you

Bruins Mailbag: How Will Merkulov IMPACT Bruins lineup? | Poke the Bear

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