Poke The Bear with Conor Ryan Ep. 205
Conor Ryan and Evan Marinofsky of the New England Hockey Journal take an in-depth look at the beginning of the Bruins western road trip as the B's go to OT in both of their first game of the trip, splitting the results. Where does this team find more consistency, and an ability to close out games late? That, and much more!
Topics:
- There was some good in the last two games…
- And definitely some bad
- Hampus Lindholm’s injury comes at a bad time
- Bruins must be buyers
- Fourth line is starting to cook
This episode of Poke the Bear 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 online real 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.
DISCLAIMER: Must be 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.
Factor Meals! Visit https://factormeals.com/POKE50 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.
Conor Ryan and Evan Marinofsky of the New England Hockey Journal take an in-depth look at the beginning of the Bruins western road trip as the B's go to OT in both of their first game of the trip, splitting the results. Where does this team find more consistency, and an ability to close out games late? That, and much more!
Topics:
- There was some good in the last two games…
- And definitely some bad
- Hampus Lindholm’s injury comes at a bad time
- Bruins must be buyers
- Fourth line is starting to cook
This episode of Poke the Bear 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 online real 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.
DISCLAIMER: Must be 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.
Factor Meals! Visit https://factormeals.com/POKE50 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.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 I have a tough time thinking they're gonna just ship him off.
00:03 Especially when you could potentially get Hanifin in the offseason.
00:07 I know Hanifin wants to get the most amount of money he possibly can, but I don't...
00:12 Like, I don't know. I don't see the need at this moment to go fully all-in for Hanifin.
00:18 And I get it, you would be-- I mean, again, Hanifin, McAvoy, Lindholm, Carlo, like, yes, I get it, how good it would be.
00:24 Long-term, is that the best thing to give up assets to get that when you could potentially get that in free agency?
00:30 [intro music]
00:40 And welcome in to Poke the Bear, episode 205.
00:43 That is Connor Ryan, I am Evan Marinovsky. Connor, what is up?
00:49 Evan, I'm here. I'm talking. I have a voice.
00:54 I am present. How are you?
00:57 I'm alright. You've been better, though. You've been...
01:01 Like, this thing's kicking your ass. You've got, like, a viral respiratory thing, right?
01:05 That's just absolutely... You're going, like, 20 rounds with this thing, you know?
01:09 Yeah, I've got a sinus infection, got a whole bunch of shit, so...
01:14 My apologies to anyone who heard my solo podcast last Saturday.
01:19 It sounded like, I think, a mix of, like, Spongebob when he didn't have water.
01:23 Mixed with, like, the Emperor.
01:26 So I can only imagine people listening to that, and they're constantly like, "What the fuck is this guy? This guy sounds like he's deceased."
01:32 So, I'm not sounding much better, but at least I can speak a little bit today.
01:37 My voice returned after a few days of literally not being able to do anything.
01:41 So, happy to be here, Evan. I'm not gonna say that this all started because...
01:47 One, Duncan didn't get me a free Dunkin's tracksuit, and two, the Terriers lost the beanpot.
01:53 But I'm just saying, I'm just saying, Evan. A little bit of a coincidence, isn't it?
01:58 I tend to agree with that. Especially the Dunkin's thing. That should have been...
02:02 I think that's on Dunks. I blame this on Dunks. I think that Dunks is behind this.
02:08 No, it's true. They'll send the tracksuits to the people who, like, do fake fucking Boston accents.
02:13 And make a little TikTok. So they'll send them to those people.
02:16 Are those people not the worst?
02:19 The hard-working Dunkin loyalists here, who go there every day for sustenance,
02:24 to fuel their days. They get fucking screwed, Evan.
02:28 The people who use Dunks to work. These people who do the fake Boston accents online.
02:34 Where's the work they're doing? They're just, "Oh, yeah, you know, in the habit, yeah."
02:39 Yeah, go back to fucking Motherhood.
02:42 This could be a whole other podcast, but there's two people I'm thinking of.
02:45 I'm not going to name them. But they do the fake Boston accents. I see them on TikTok.
02:50 Although I did give up TikTok for LentConner. So I have not been on TikTok in like a week.
02:55 And I'm doing okay. I'm doing okay. It is impressive.
02:58 But I always used to see their videos, whether they be on TikTok or Instagram.
03:03 And they get the sponsorships. Because these stupid companies with dumb marketing people think,
03:10 "Oh, yeah, this is what's gonna build our brand. We're gonna give it to these people
03:14 who have these fake videos. That's perfect." And it gets me so agitated. I can't stand it.
03:22 The fake influencer thing, the fake Boston accent thing. These people suck. I don't like them.
03:28 And you should be the one getting the Dunkin' sponsorship, not them. So that's where I stand on
03:33 that.
03:33 You're a good friend.
03:33 I try. And I also hate those people so much.
03:36 Yeah, not so bad. Yeah.
03:39 There are very few things that get me to really get agitated. That's one of them. That's one of
03:46 them. The other thing is people taking what other people report and tweeting it and not giving
03:52 credit. There were a couple people on Twitter, I've noticed, not gonna name names, who will take
03:57 people's reporting, which is behind a paywall, like at The Athletic or The Globe or different
04:03 things like that, New England Hockey Journal. And they will tweet out just what's in the story.
04:08 Yeah, it's funny.
04:08 It defeats the purpose of the whole thing now, doesn't it?
04:11 Now throw a little link at the bottom of it after you've already ripped out their
04:15 fucking information like a vulture in the Serengeti. Put a little link at the bottom
04:19 of it, it makes it all square away.
04:21 Yeah, that works. That's always perfect. And some people are like, "Oh, why are they
04:25 bitching about this?" Well, you're sick. You're not feeling great. I can feel myself getting sick
04:30 again for the second time in two or three weeks. So I'm pissed off. And I have some... It's like
04:36 Festivus, airing of grievances. I've got some grievances and that's what we're gonna do.
04:40 Anyways, the Bruins have been out west in Western Canada, which is also perfect for
04:46 you who need sleep, having to stay up until one in the morning to watch the 65 Edmonton game.
04:51 The goddamn Edmonton game. I was like, "Oh man, this game is so good."
04:55 Yeah.
04:57 Osmosis Jones is fighting for his goddamn life inside me. I'm like, "Go to bed, shit."
05:05 Like I can't.
05:06 I can't get out of this Magavoy goal. I'm sorry.
05:08 Yeah, I can't. Well, the best part was the minute the game ended, I took the TV off
05:14 and I went straight to bed. And I look at my phone and I see like Ty tweets the lobster pic of me.
05:19 And I'm like, "What the fuck? Why is this needed at this moment?" And I saw that TNT put my tweet on.
05:25 And the ironic part is that tweet sucked. That's like... And because, Connor, you're actually
05:31 creative. I'm not so much creative. So when I can't tweet out the clips of the game,
05:37 I don't know what to say. So I'm like, "That Magavoy goal was filthy."
05:42 Whereas that Steven A. GIF of him with Michael Wilbon, where is that?
05:47 It's a great GIF.
05:48 It is a great GIF, but it's a very 2015 kind of tweet. But TNT still eats that stuff up.
05:56 So I found that funny. I was like, "Man, they picked my worst tweet and put it on display."
06:02 I look like mainstream Evan.
06:04 It's good publicity for New England Hockey Journal.
06:07 Oh, just the best. Just the best. Anyways, Bruins win in overtime against Edmonton 6-5.
06:16 They lose in overtime on Thursday night 3-2 in Calgary. There's been some good.
06:23 There's been some bad. Both games going to overtime has not been great for people,
06:28 especially late. If you have some sleeping troubles and it's like, "Oh, I like to relax
06:32 before I go to bed," that's not going to do it for you. What have you liked good so far from
06:38 both games? Let's start with the good. Yeah. I mean, I do like some of the resilience that
06:43 comes with, especially in the Oilers game. Did not look good for a while there. You blow a full
06:48 one lead. I think the team was good as that. I think going into the late stages of third period,
06:53 I think we're on the same boat of like, "Man, you need some timely saves there. Can't put your foot
06:58 off the gas. This left side of this defense looks rough." It's a lot of evident flaws.
07:03 And I think you don't come out of these games, even that two-point win over Edmonton or getting
07:09 a point out of that Calgary game when this team was clearly gassed. I don't think you'd come out
07:14 of this being like, "Oh, this team has turned a new leaf," or they've gotten out of this kind
07:18 of malaise they've been in since the All-Star break. But I think you do like the resilience
07:23 you've seen from players in critical situations. Kind of what we said all year long, even games
07:28 where they're pretty flat, they tend to stick in games. They tend to fight through things.
07:32 You've had a lot of guys contribute that have been pretty stagnant for a while. You had a two-goal
07:37 game from Charlie Coyle. He gets 20 goals on the year. I think Jake Dabrowski had probably his,
07:44 maybe his best game of the year in Edmonton. He was awesome in that game and made more things
07:49 happen in this game against Calgary as well. Trenton Frederick has made a couple of plays
07:53 on the fourth line. I think we'll talk about it a little bit. The fourth line has had a few guys
07:58 step up as of late. So I think it'd be one thing if this team was really treading water and the
08:03 defense was struggling, and there's more to give there. But if they were just clinging onto games
08:08 off of just relying on Swayman and Ullmark and David Postenhark leading the way with three goals
08:15 and four games, then you're like, "All right, well, we know what they're relying on. They're
08:19 kind of just treading water right now." At least you're seeing some other players step up and
08:23 contribute over this stretch here, which has at least been pretty encouraging if you look at just
08:27 the way that more guys are pulling on the rope right now. They are. And I think to come out of
08:33 those two games with three points is a good thing. Resilient, obviously. The game against Edmonton,
08:40 you blow a couple of lead. You blow a pretty big lead, actually. Was it 4-2 or 4-1 entering the
08:46 third? It was 4-1. And that's kind of where we hit the bad, right? You're up 4-1 going into the
08:52 third. I know Edmonton's a desperate, fast team, but you've got to kind of find a way to hold onto
08:58 that. And that started with Jeremy Swayman letting that goal in. It wasn't Cody Sisi who scored,
09:04 but his shot got through. Cody Sisi would have scored, but I forget who the guy was.
09:07 Yeah, he had Mark, right? Yeah, he came in and just a little boop,
09:10 gets the goal. But that shot from Sisi came in.
09:13 Can't have it happen. No, not even a little bit. And as we saw,
09:18 I mean, that was kind of when that surge came where Edmonton scored right after and then they
09:22 scored a tie-in, and then it was just kind of back and forth. I think the goaltending from Swayman,
09:27 it's interesting because Swayman made some outstanding saves in that game,
09:31 especially in overtime. Yeah, like made some huge saves. And it's like, those are the shots,
09:37 like the one from Sisi that gets through. And it's frustrating, I think for everybody. So
09:42 that's one of the bad things. And then, you know, I mean, Derek Forbert continues to struggle.
09:47 And I know again, he's been back. I talked about this with Bell Frazier on Bruinsbeat earlier this
09:51 week. And for me, I mean, you don't have a ton of options with Lindholm-Hurt, which we'll get to in
09:56 a second. But you've got to let him try to at least get back into the swing of things. And I
10:04 think that's the tough part is obviously, yes, they could use someone else back there. It would
10:11 be he's not playing well enough to continue to play, but you do need him to continue to play
10:16 because you need him to get right for the postseason. And I think that's a tough dilemma
10:20 for this team. But this is the time to do it. I'm curious what else or what you thought of the bad
10:25 over the last two games. Yeah, I mean, definitely in the goaltending with Swaman, that is something
10:30 that has to get shored up. And it's frustrating, right? Because as we said, he had some great
10:33 saves in overtime. But when you're playing a team like Edmonton, that's so dangerous up front or
10:38 like hell, like, look, let's say you get to the playoffs and you play against Toronto, a really
10:44 explosive team, you're controlling play, then you let in a softy. That's how the floodgates start.
10:49 You can't have that happen. Some of these teams are so gifted offensively. Look at like,
10:53 Florida the same way. You cannot the margin of error is so slim in the playoffs that
10:58 it's also very funny because I feel like that's one thing that Rask would get obliterated with
11:04 every time because there was times where he'd be completely locked in. Fantastic. But then there
11:08 would be a few of those softies where you're like, Oh, and immediately we get fucking roasted.
11:14 Now it's like I fucking forward. I'm like, I don't know, like that was just pretty bad goals. So
11:23 I mean, I was I texted you like, forward or whatever other play, but you're right. Like it is
11:27 Swimming's got to have those. I completely agree. Yeah. Yeah. And again, it's you can
11:32 wait again. We'll take a deep breath. I can't do it because then I'll cough on my camera. I was
11:36 gonna say, yeah, I won't take it. Yeah, I'm all over the camera. Yeah, exactly. Like, you just
11:42 get an awful like, 4d Disney ride. Like, it's like the magic school bus. Yeah, it's like those
11:48 little kids. I always say like when little kids sneeze and they're like,
11:51 like snot all over their iPad. Just like,
12:11 the goddamn mucinex man's about to make a fucking appearance.
12:13 You know what? Before we continue, let's go to the fan duel real quick.
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13:07 good timing by me. Shout out to FanDuel for saving my life. Literally. Anywho,
13:15 so yeah, Swaven's got to be better. You know what's interesting? And this is just an observation
13:21 I've had. I saw some people tweeting about it after the Calgary game, that Pasternak play that,
13:27 you know, he had the two on O with McAvoy. Pasternak is so skilled that he makes those kinds
13:34 of plays. I'm all for him trying those things. The five hole did look open on Markstrom and
13:39 Markstrom just kind of closed it up quick. But Pasternak has this unfortunate habit of making
13:45 highly skilled plays look like he doesn't care. Like on that play, someone who doesn't watch a
13:51 lot of hockey would be like, what the hell is he doing? He's not even trying. Or like the shootout
13:56 attempts. Sometimes he'll try to do something very simple, but make it look skilled or
14:04 skilled and make it look simple. So it looks like he's doing nothing if it doesn't go in.
14:08 And people are like, wait, what's he doing? Like, does he even care? And it's like, no,
14:11 like he's trying to do something like, you know, unique. And I understood going for five hole
14:16 there. I initially thought he was trying to do the shot low pad and have the rebound bounce to
14:21 McAvoy, which is, which I was like, that's a crazy thing to do in overtime on a two on O.
14:25 But it looked like he was going five hole, which I, in that case, that makes a little bit more
14:30 sense. Do you have any other leftover, like good or bad that we're not about to talk about
14:35 from those two games? I mean, I think that's probably sums it up, right? I mean, I think
14:39 it's at least encouraging. You're seeing more guys get involved. You're seeing, I mean,
14:42 Montgomery has completely put those lines in a blender once again. So it's hard to really glean,
14:46 like which lines get in chemistry, which one we're seeing as maybe something we can,
14:51 they can build off of going forward. But I think that you're seeing more guys contribute. At least
14:56 is encouraging as you're trying to get more guys building their game. If everyone's building their
15:00 game, throw an individual game and playing at a high level, results are going to play out.
15:04 If the breast keeps on playing like that, if Frederick keeps on playing in the bottom six,
15:08 like that, if coils, you know, getting his scoring touchback, it's all going to lead to
15:13 better results across the board for this team moving forward. It is. I completely agree.
15:17 Campus Lindholm though, went down with an injury prior to this trip on a weird play,
15:23 kind of goes down and, you know, it sounds like it's gonna be week to week with him. No surgery
15:28 required. This comes at a bad time though, cause you get the trade deadline coming up soon.
15:33 And you know, Lindholm has had his ups and downs this year. You don't need him, you know,
15:41 last year, I remember in the playoffs, he had a little bit of a foot injury
15:44 and it sort of completely messed with him. He still doesn't look completely right. Now he has
15:50 something else that looks like, and this could kind of force their hand when it comes to the
15:55 deadline. Yeah, no, it's, it's a brutal timing for the Bruins, right? Because again, we've looked at
16:00 the trade deadline and what they could acquire. I think we've all agreed that we're looking more at
16:06 marginal upgrades and stuff further down the lineup that I think can be useful, whether it's
16:11 another fourth line kind of tone setting player, a third parent physical kind of player that can,
16:17 you know, keep skaters out of grade AIs, we'll add a little bit more punishment out there. Like
16:22 I think they could use those things, but now you're all of a sudden in a spot where,
16:25 all right, do they need to be in the hand of in sweepstakes? And I think in a perfect world,
16:30 the Bruins aren't, you know, relinquishing assets and doing cap gymnastics right now to bring him
16:36 in when they could ideally wait until the off season to just throw a contract at him, right?
16:40 Now they may not be in that situation cause there might be an actual need if Lindholm's not ready.
16:45 Cause, and it creates its own set of pros and cons, right? Like, obviously this team is better
16:50 with Noah Hannafin here, but when you look at what the cost is to get him via trade, where
16:56 you'd have to give up a 20, 25 first, maybe one of Laurie or Patra, you gotta make the money works.
17:02 You gotta move out a contract here or there. Like you'd much rather wait until he hits the market,
17:07 hopefully, and just give him a contract. If that's the situation, cause you don't want to lose one of
17:11 your few talented young players, uh, just because, you know, you've had injury bug bite, but you look
17:17 at like where Lindholm is right now, you look at Fulbright, how he's playing, Grislik is banged up.
17:21 Like let's say the defense is in trouble right now. It is. And you know, Grislik, as you'd mentioned,
17:27 banged up the other night, Fulbright has, uh, struggled quite a bit, uh, Lindholm out,
17:33 Wotherspoon, is that a guy you really want in there every night? Um, and you know, I, I just,
17:40 it's interesting. I saw in the athletic, they had a mock trade or like trades that should happen or
17:46 something. And Patra was involved in the, in their projected trade for, um, for Hennepin.
17:53 And I find the Patra stuff interesting because Sweeney's when, when Patra went down, uh, for
17:59 the season, Sweeney issued a statement and I don't have it in front of me, but basically said something
18:03 along the lines of we view him as someone who's going to be around here a long time. Um, you know,
18:07 and someone we really value. I have a tough time thinking they're going to just ship him off.
18:13 Um, especially when you could potentially get Hennepin in the off season. I know Hennepin
18:18 wants to get the most amount of money he possibly can, but I don't like, I don't know. I don't
18:23 see the need at this moment to go fully all in for Hennepin and I get it. You would be, I mean,
18:29 again, Hennepin, McAvoy, Lindholm, Carlo, like, yes, I get it. How good it would be
18:34 long-term. Is that the best thing to give up assets to get that when you could potentially
18:38 get that in free agency? But, um, we'll discuss that a little bit more in a second.
18:43 But first a quick word from our friends over at Factor Meals.
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19:47 meal delivery service. And now let's get back to the show.
19:52 So what we are seeing, uh, in terms of the Bruins and their deadline plan, um, we've said for a long
19:58 time, probably going to be out on the top guys, whether it be Hannah Finn or anybody else, but,
20:03 uh, they're going to have to be buyers. I don't think they can stand Pat. I don't think they can
20:07 do nothing. Um, they will at least have to do something. And I think it goes along the lines
20:12 of what we've been saying now for a couple of weeks and that, um, you know, it's the only
20:18 difference with these injuries to the left side of the defense. Um, the only change is that now we
20:24 know for a fact they need depth on D for a long time. It was a little bit of a debate of, Oh,
20:29 do they need a forward? They needed defenseman. Now it's like, I mean, you could use both.
20:33 You should get both, but priority one is getting some depth on the backend for sure.
20:39 Yeah. And I think it also goes into like, I did a pros and cons story today for Boston.com looking
20:45 at Hannah Finn and like one of the cons is like, all right, if you're going all in on Hannah Finn
20:49 and listen, like Hannah Finn's great. It's 27, six, three, uh, kind of like Lintone, right?
20:55 Like can move the puck can generate offense, can do a little bit of everything. He's very talented.
20:59 He's not necessarily like a bruising guy back there. Like he, he kills plays with like,
21:04 you know, positioning stick work first pass. He's not like separating the puck from a player by
21:10 smashing them into the boards. Right. Yeah. He's, he's not that kind of player. So if you're
21:16 spending all of your, again, very limited assets right now on a guy like Canada, who again, helps
21:20 your team, but it means you can't get that third pairing guy, um, that can, you know,
21:26 any little Bush can or Nick sealer who like eats pucks. He's like leaving the league,
21:30 having a block shots. Um, or even like, you know, maybe he's more of like a second pairing guy,
21:36 like Jacob Middleton, right? Like a guy who's a little bit more of a physical player.
21:41 You want to have the assets to get those guys or like a Brendan do Hame or someone else on
21:45 the fourth line for spending all of them on just to get a guy like Canada. Like the best case
21:50 scenario, if the Bruins are trying to like, you know, go, you swing for the fences. I mean,
21:55 without involving Hanifin, like maybe it's, you get like do Hame and Middleton from Minnesota,
22:00 which would probably cost a lot. And then you sign Hanifin in the off season. Like that would
22:04 be like all of a sudden you've got Hanifin with like a third pairing stalwart, like Middleton,
22:10 then you're cooking moving forward. Right. But again, this has to have a lot go your way,
22:15 need Hanifin to land in a spot where he doesn't want to sign me a long-term. Cause that's also
22:19 the risk you run. It's kind of like the Ryan McDonough thing, right? Where it's like,
22:23 remember in 2018, the Bruins, you know, we're linked to him, but it's like, ah,
22:27 we don't want to give up the breasts. We don't want to give up these guys really like,
22:30 and then McDonough goes to the, the lightning and becomes a stalwart of two, you know, cup winning
22:35 teams. It's like, well, don't want Hanifin right now just because we'd rather sign frequency.
22:40 Well, what if he goes to the Panthers? What if he goes to Tampa Bay? He's like, well,
22:44 back in the States in Florida, I was going to two pretty good winning franchises. I can live down
22:50 here. There's a family every once in a while. It's a quick direct flight between Fort Lauderdale
22:55 and Boston. It's not too bad. Then all of a sudden you're a Bruins fan. You're like, oh,
22:59 it's not great. I was going to say that's the fear is that as much as he might want to
23:06 sign here, you get to Florida. It's good franchises. Panthers are on the up and up,
23:11 you know, that's like an encouraging organization that lightning of one, a bunch,
23:15 they're really nice areas to live. Players want to go there. Matthew could Chuck
23:19 did that, you know, like old friend, old friend, Calgary, old friend, like you worry about that.
23:26 And then again, that's an Atlantic division team that could have it over you. So,
23:30 that's an interesting point. I agree with you. That is something to think about.
23:35 Um, we'll, we'll talk a lot more about the deadline in the coming days, weeks. I know
23:39 you're doing another podcast with Ty Anderson, um, on kind of deadline stuff. So I don't want to,
23:44 uh, get all up in that. Cause I know we're going to be talking about that a lot more
23:48 as the weeks and days go along. Uh, fourth line though, pleasant surprise. Uh, I know he's not
23:53 on the fourth line, but he's been on it in the past couple of games. Uh, Anthony Rashard,
23:57 how about that saucer pass to Charlie coil? That was, that was nifty. I like that.
24:03 Uh, but Brazos has been an interesting addition. Big guy creates space. No problem going to the
24:08 net. Like I like it. Um, and again, I don't know if you found a, you know, and just for Boquist
24:13 too has been kind of revitalized. He's had chances. He went in the shootout the other night.
24:18 Um, I, yeah, which is, um, but it is encouraging. Cause I don't think you found the set trio yet.
24:26 And there's obviously there's injuries and things like that. Um, but Brazos seems interesting.
24:31 Boquist has been interesting. Rashard has been interesting. They play with some speed and some
24:36 physicality. I think it's at least at the very least it's trending in the right direction.
24:41 Yeah. I think that's the best way to put it is turning the right direction. Cause it's still
24:44 a fourth line that he said they haven't found a set trio. I think they're still trying to find
24:48 their overall identity of what that line is. And when you like, look at guys like Boquist or
24:53 Rashard, um, where they are, like, are they just like, you know, uh, you know,
24:59 fast skating players that can maybe generate a little bit of offense. Like you'll take that.
25:04 Is that like what a fourth line should be? Like what exactly, you know, you can cater fourth line,
25:08 whoever you want. Right. Like there's like the Merlot lines, there's like Carolina's fourth line,
25:13 but a lot of just straight line guys that can, you know, like just create havoc on the floor check.
25:19 Um, drones have a lot of guys that can turn to, to kind of fill out different spots there. And
25:23 like, again, uh, the whole thing in Brazo is that he's, you know, known for being a pretty good
25:28 score on the AHL, big body, not like a powerful word. I would say like, I wouldn't view him as
25:33 this guy that's going to be, you know, the next Tom Wilson or anything like that. And it's skating
25:37 has been something that's been knocked, but puts himself in great AI. Cause every time he takes a
25:41 shot, it's like within five feet of the net, a pretty good formula to generate good chances there.
25:46 So, you know, whether it's him, Rashard again, Boakwest, like I think there was a lot of
25:51 people were upset when Beecher got sent down for, for Boakwest, but you know, he's been good
25:56 in face-offs been responsible defensively. Like he's doing all the little things you kind of need
26:00 to solidify that spot. So, um, again, I'd still like the Bruins to go get a like fourth line.
26:08 Maybe you got a little bit more of a sandpaper to the game before the deadline, but, um, it does
26:14 seem like that third, that fourth line is going to be a work in progress all the way up till April.
26:18 And then probably hell when we get to the playoffs, like there's still going to be a lot of
26:22 mixing and matching there. Yeah, I completely agree. Um, and again, you don't have to have it
26:27 filled out now. Um, and again, I think it also kind of comes back to what you were mentioning
26:32 about do Hame and, and guys like that is, you know, if you go out and get one of those guys,
26:38 where do they fit on that fourth line? How do they fit with a Brazzo or a lowco?
26:42 I Steen, I'm not that interested in anymore. Um, I think you kind of know what you have in him.
26:48 He's a good guy to fill in. Um, kind of a, as hag said last week, a tweener, you know,
26:53 going between the HL and the NHL, there's nothing wrong with that. Um, but I don't think Steen is
26:58 your long-term full-time solution on the fourth line, at least from what I've seen so far. But,
27:05 uh, this has been an adventure, Connor. This has been, this has been, uh, we did it. You did it.
27:11 Um, we only had to break once, but that was for an ad. So it was perfect timing anyway.
27:17 Yep. Absolutely. But, but anyways, you're grinding through some sickness,
27:21 but what can the people look forward to from you over at the globe and boss.com?
27:25 Yeah, we're going to be covered every step of the way. Um, this season with game recaps,
27:29 features, breakdowns. Again, we have a thing on Noah Hanifin out today. So please read that.
27:35 Um, you can find all of it over at boss.com. And if you want to follow me on Twitter,
27:38 you can at Connor Ryan, I'm the score 93.
27:41 Go do all that. That's Connor Ryan. I'm Evan Marinovsky poke the bear listeners. Have a great
27:46 rest of your week.
27:57 [inaudible].