On this episode of Pucks with Haggs, host Joe Haggerty is joined by Jimmy Murphy. joe and Jimmy wonder if the incident on the B's bench between Jim Montgomery and Brad Marchand is an indicator of early cracks showing with the Black and Gold. All that, and much more!
00:00 - Intro
02:45 - Bruins Current Status
05:13 - New Player Impact
09:34 - Zadorov's Playing Style
12:50 - Missing Top Scorer
17:01 - Marchand’s Struggles
24:06 - Coaching Pressure
27:38 - Montgomery's Behavior
32:47 - Extension Discussion
34:31 - Coaching Considerations
41:29 - Offensive Catalyst Needed
44:10 - Team Speed Concerns
46:37 - Pasta's Casual Play
50:25 - No Need to Panic
********************************************
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Gametime - https://gametime.co
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00:00 - Intro
02:45 - Bruins Current Status
05:13 - New Player Impact
09:34 - Zadorov's Playing Style
12:50 - Missing Top Scorer
17:01 - Marchand’s Struggles
24:06 - Coaching Pressure
27:38 - Montgomery's Behavior
32:47 - Extension Discussion
34:31 - Coaching Considerations
41:29 - Offensive Catalyst Needed
44:10 - Team Speed Concerns
46:37 - Pasta's Casual Play
50:25 - No Need to Panic
********************************************
Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS
Download the app today and use Code CLNS when you sign up & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!
Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NHL tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Terms apply. What time is it? Gametime!
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Pucks with Hags is brought to you by Price Picks and the Game Time app.
00:05Welcome to another edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast powered by Prize Picks,
00:09the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the CLNS Media Network. I think this is the 134th episode
00:15of the Pucks with Hags podcast, so thank you for tuning in. Welcome on in. I'm your host,
00:19Joe Hagerty. You can find my work at joehagerty.substack.com. Go and get yourself a premium
00:25subscription and you can get all of my NHL and Bruins writing sent straight directly to your
00:29inbox. I also write three columns a week, usually after Bruins games at bostonsportsjournal.com,
00:35so make sure you check out bostonsportsjournal.com for not only the Bruins coverage but for every
00:40sport. They do a really good job today. Longtime friend and colleague Jimmy Murphy is here with us,
00:46James. And Jimmy Murphy is blowing up as we speak. I love it. Murph, tell everybody where they can
00:53find your work, my friend. So I'm writing over a psych call. I just started writing
00:58this season called RG.org. I got a story on Don Waddell over there right now, so you can go there.
01:04And then, of course, you can hear me on the Eye Test on the Sick Podcast Network with Pierre
01:08Maguire. Yeah, make sure you check out Murph's writing and the podcast with Pierre is excellent.
01:13They have very good guests on, so make sure you check out that as well. Before we get into our
01:19subjects for today, and we're going to talk a lot about the first two games of the road trip,
01:24we're recording this before the Nashville game on Tuesday night. We're going to definitely talk
01:28about the viral moment on the Bruins bench between Jim Montgomery and Brad Martian. We're going to
01:33talk just about, you know, the first handful of games where the Bruins are basically treading
01:37water at this point and where they're at right now. So we're going to cover all those topics,
01:43and we're going to answer some fan questions as well. But before we get into that,
01:48let's thank our sponsors, PrizePix. Always going to talk about our friends at PrizePix. Download
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02:28your first purchase. With the NBA and the Celtics, the reigning champion Boston Celtics starting up,
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02:38What time is it? Game time. That's right. All right, Murph, just your take overall as to where
02:45we're at with the Boston Bruins right now. 3-3, some good, some bad. Obviously,
02:52not good enough in the two games against the Florida Panthers, and it's really tough for
02:56the Bruins to have to play them twice out of the shoot in the first few weeks.
03:00But we've seen some good moments. Obviously, 3-3 is not horrendous, but
03:06also I think we see some trends or some things happening right now that we can start to formulate
03:11opinions on. Yeah, look, I kind of look at it like this, and Jim Montgomery, I forget what the
03:17question was, but he was kind of referenced to this the other night after the game,
03:21is you look at last season or even the last two seasons, right? And you had obviously two seasons
03:28ago Bergeron and Crecce, they're a much different team. They revolved around that. That was their
03:32engine. And Montgomery almost just had to come in and kind of fill out the lines. And I'm not
03:37saying he didn't do anything or he didn't deserve the Jack Adams, but even he admitted having Bergeron
03:42there was like having a Reg Dunlop, a player coach. So I think he kind of had that there.
03:47And that culture kind of trickled a little into last year. And I think now this year,
03:53where we're at right now, Joe, I think is where a lot of people thought they'd be at at this point
03:57in last season, where things are starting to come back to reality for the Boston Bruins, not just on
04:02the ice, but as an organization. And I think that they're, they're a contending team. I still do,
04:08but I also think that they have a lot of work. They're kind of, they're not in that elite group
04:12anymore. They're not in that Stanley Cup contender group anymore. And I think there's a lot of work
04:17to be done. I think the lineup has some holes where, look, I look at Zadar. I was just before
04:22I came on with you, I was looking at Zadar off stats and a lot of people told me I was,
04:26I loved the signing, but then after I was public about that, I had some scouts, some NHL execs
04:31come to me and say, you know, you guys are maybe overrating this guy a bit. There's a reason he's
04:37been on four teams in three years. And a lot of that is that he's always being played too high
04:43in the lineup. He's, he should be in the opinion of all these guys I spoke to should be a third
04:48pairing guy. And the bigger picture that to me is that I think we have a lot of guys like that on
04:54the Boston Bruins right now that, you know, maybe don't aren't in the right place in the lineup or
04:59don't know their place in the lineup. And I think they're still trying to figure that out. So
05:03I know it's, it's not, it hasn't been pretty, but I'm not as doom and gloom as a lot of people.
05:08I think they need a little more time to figure out where everyone fits right now.
05:12Yeah. I mean, that, that is definitely for sure. And some of those players, I think, frankly,
05:17are going to need time to like create an identity with the Bruins too. Like a lot of the new guys
05:21have actually been some of their best players. And I was going to get to this Cole Koepke leads
05:26the NHL with a plus 10. He's been outstanding for them. He is a big time credit to the Bruins
05:33NHL scouting staff, the pro scouting staff who continue to find these guys in other organizations
05:38that can come to the Bruins and are legit NHL players and guys that they can use. And they come
05:43on, you know, small contracts and they're really happy to come to the Bruins because they actually
05:47get an opportunity where he didn't get it really in Tampa and didn't seize it when he did get it.
05:51But you know, same with Parker Weatherspoon, same kind of guy with the Islanders languishing there
05:56and not getting a shot and he comes here and he becomes an NHL player. So like, you know,
06:00Elias Lindholm, I think has been pretty decent for the most part. I've liked his game and I
06:04really like some of the things that he brings to the table. I'll be honest with you, Murph,
06:08Zdorov to me is like the least of the Bruins backend issues. I actually think he's been good.
06:15He's taken too many penalties, but I think that's really the only area I look at and say,
06:20like, he's really problematic there. Like the Bruins backend has much bigger problems than
06:25Nikita Zdorov. Brandon Carlo has been terrible to start the season, really bad season for him.
06:30Charlie McEvoy, I think has been extremely undisciplined, had some really, really bad
06:34plays and it's kind of all over the place. And I don't know if he thought signing Zdorov was
06:39going to allow him to rove and be a rover and just fly around all over the place,
06:44but that's what he's doing. And I think that part of the Zdorov signing has had a negative impact
06:48as far as how McEvoy is acting, but that's not on Zdorov. Like I think Zdorov actually has not
06:54been bad. But I do think asking him to play, to your point, 24 minutes a night is probably asking
07:02too much. He's going to be in like the 18, 20 minutes a night. Yeah, but this McEvoy point
07:07you're making, Joe, is brilliant. And I think that's the biggest example. And maybe I phrase
07:12it wrong, but I agree with you. It's the effect that maybe these new players are having on the
07:19other players where maybe they thought they were afforded more luxuries. That's a great point by
07:23on McEvoy being a roamer, because I think that's exactly what he was thinking when he said, oh,
07:28these guys come on. I don't have to worry about it. I can pinch. He's going to drop that. But
07:31the problem is sometimes Zdorov pinches too. It's just his tendency. I don't think they're a good
07:36pairing. I think they're going to have to, you know, sooner rather than later, start to mix that
07:41up a little more in the back end. Yeah, I would. The one thing I would say, two things I would say
07:45about Zdorov that I've seen, and I think he's actually been really solid. But the two things
07:49I would say is he takes a lot of penalties and sometimes it's him just being stronger than
07:53everybody else. And it's not really his fault. You know, and I think a few of those have been
07:57in that category. The other thing to your point is I see him higher up in the ice than I would
08:04expect for a guy that's more of like a stay at home defensive defenseman. And he's making plays
08:09higher up the ice, more towards like the defensive blue line, you know, sometimes in the neutral zone.
08:14But there's definitely been a handful of times I'm like, wow, Zdorov's that high up. He's not
08:18closer to the net right now. And that's like surprised me a little bit, just seeing more of
08:22his tendencies, like when you're watching him all the time. So definitely that's something where
08:27I don't think, you know, if he's playing with McAvoy, I don't think McAvoy can just assume
08:31that Zdorov is going to be like stapled to the front of his own net and going to be there all
08:35the time. So I think McAvoy should continue to play exactly the way he's always played.
08:39But like there's, you know, there's been undisciplined stuff with McAvoy taking penalties
08:44too. Like I just don't, I don't like McAvoy's game the first few weeks of the season.
08:49That cross-checking penalty that he took after he knocked down, I forget which game it was,
08:54but it was one of the games at home where he knocked somebody down. And then he started,
09:00yeah. And he started, he started cross, yes. And he started cross-checking him when he was down,
09:05it was Verhege, I think. He started cross-checking him when he was down on the ice and it did it
09:09like five or six times. And then finally the ref's like, I need to call this. Like,
09:12this is an obvious penalty. What am I supposed to do here? Yeah. And then, and then the Bruins,
09:17and then the Bruins give up a power play goal, like almost immediately after McAvoy's in the box.
09:21Like that was just like a sign of a bunch and Montgomery talked about it after the game,
09:27how frustrated he was at that penalty, some of the penalties they took. And that was definitely
09:30one of them. So like, you know, there's that part of it. I don't think Mason Lora has been
09:35very good either, which is surprising to me. He seemed to be poised to take a big step this year.
09:40And I think he's really struggled out of the gate to start this year. Definitely some defensive
09:45issues, like with the puck, sometimes he's like made some turnovers and done some things that he
09:50wasn't doing as much last year that I also think is interesting. And maybe they're like pressuring
09:54him more. Maybe they've adjusted after watching him for a little bit. But I think back end,
09:59like there are very few, I actually haven't hated Hampus Lindholm. I think he's been decent. He's
10:04been pretty good for the most part. And Zdorov has been okay, but it's outside of them. And Peek,
10:11I guess, has been okay for the most part, even though I didn't like, I want to say it was like
10:14the first game against Florida, but none of them were good against the first game against Florida.
10:19But outside of those two, I think everybody else has been just okay. If not worse than okay,
10:25and it has things to fix. But like for me, the bigger issue has been the forward group. And
10:29that's where I think they still have, you know, Morgan Geeky is not going to be a permanent fit
10:36on the top six. And I think we saw that in the first few games. Trent Frederick off to a really
10:40bad start. Charlie Coyle off to a really slow start. Pasternak's got some goals, but I don't
10:44think he's played well at all. He looks like he's coasting through a lot of these games.
10:49Like he looked like a complete passenger in that last game against Utah, just not a good game at
10:54all. And he takes a really bad tripping penalty in overtime that, you know, you can argue it wasn't
11:00a trip, but Pasternak had a stick in the guy's skates and he tripped over them. And he was doing
11:05that nowhere near his own net. It was in the offensive zone. It was nowhere near like a
11:11game-saving play or anything like that. It was just a dumb, lazy thing to do. And he immediately
11:16got called for a penalty and it ends up turning the game on him. He's not all there right now.
11:23And Marcin looks like he's still playing catch up a little bit to where he's going to be post-surgery.
11:29You know, Max Jones and Riley Tufte have not found any kind of identity whatsoever with this
11:34team yet. Riley Tufte, I really don't think is an NHL player after watching him a little bit
11:38in training camp. And now I just don't see it. Like I see a six foot six guy that definitely is slow
11:45and doesn't even like win enough board battles for a guy that huge. Like he should be dominating
11:50that stuff. And I was seeing a game against Montreal. I don't know who it was, but it was
11:54a guy, maybe it was Hudson or somebody. It was somebody like half his size, just completely
11:58cleaned him out with the puck and like totally won the battle. And I was watching him. I'm like,
12:02isn't that guy like six five? Like what is he doing? You know, like that's going to be his
12:05bread and butter. So like, there's a lot, I think there's a lot of forwards that are struggling
12:11right now. And the end of the day, the bottom line, it comes down to some of these guys are
12:15off the slow starts. And I think we see Murph that this Bruins team is one top six forward short
12:22right now, big time, you know, Jake DeBrusque left and they did not replace his speed, his
12:27game-breaking ability, his skill, all that stuff. And I, and I know Dawn Sweeney is probably going
12:32to do it at the trade deadline. He wants to cycle through all these players and give them top six
12:36looks and see if anybody can, you know, they can catch lightning in a bottle and, you know,
12:40get by with somebody that they have like a Morgan Geeky or a Justin Brezow who's, Brezow's another
12:45one that's off to a slow start. See if one of these guys can seize hold of it. But to me, it
12:50looks like their one goal scorer short right now of really being a dangerous unit. And maybe the
12:55offense is going to be a little bit of a struggle, even with the addition of Elias Lindholm as the
12:59number one center. Yeah. And you know what, going back to Marcian too, you know, and I know we'll
13:04get into what happened with him in Montgomery in a second, but it's not just that he's off
13:10physically. It seems mentally to me too, just, he's a step behind thinking the game,
13:15getting the rhythm back and that, and that takes time and that's understandable. Look,
13:20he's kind of been a freak of nature when he's come back from these things before, when he's,
13:23you know, I remember, was it two seasons ago when he wasn't supposed to play until November
13:27and they came back later, right around now, like late October, I remember it was like on
13:31a Thursday night or something. He surprised everyone and came back. Yeah. He, you know,
13:36it's, it's nature, man. It's, I mean, I'm not saying that father time is completely
13:40caught up to him by any means, but it's catching up. I think it is. And I'm just thinking big
13:45pitcher and down the road and we have to, is he going to have to start to reinvent himself a bit
13:51out there? You know, we've seen other players who say, okay, this is what I've done for so long,
13:55but now my body's limiting me sometimes from doing that. What can I do now to fit in and still be a
14:01great help? And I think he's still got a ton to offer. It's just a matter of maybe there might
14:05be a period coming up here in the next month or so where he figures out or has to figure out,
14:10okay, what's my role in addition to what I've already done and what I can't do anymore. And
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16:04that, the one that always comes to my mind that adjusted and made a huge adjustment later in his
16:08career is your friend and mine, Mark Recchi, Hall of Fame player, who like definitely didn't have
16:14the speed and some of the things he had earlier in his career towards the end, but he would become
16:19a guy that was just this like undersized force that would be in front of the net, tipping pucks,
16:23getting rebounds, screening the goalie, like doing all of the smart like veteran things to
16:29make sure that the offense was running smoothly and that he was getting those hard-nosed goals
16:34that you need to get in order to win. And, you know, he would still produce like doing that. Like
16:38he still was a productive player even late in his career when he clearly like had the party
16:44rubble skating steps to try to keep up with everybody else. You know, like you could tell
16:48he was like working really hard to try to keep up when he was a little bit older, but he did.
16:52And he also did some really smart things, good team things to help the team. Because the one
16:58thing I noticed right now with Marcian is that he's trying to do too much by himself. Like he's
17:03trying to skate through two or three guys. He's trying to hold on to pucks. Like that one play,
17:08and we're going to get into it now, but that one play where you saw Montgomery barking at him on
17:14the bench was a blue line, offensive blue line turnover, where he tried to skate through two
17:18or three guys, lost the puck, and it ends up going the other way. And it turns into a goal
17:24that ended up getting overturned because it was offside. But like I think we've seen too much.
17:29And Marcian has always been a player that gets in modes like that, you know, where he gets into
17:33tunnel vision, not passing, hanging on to pucks, trying to do it all himself, like one-on-one
17:37hockey, which I don't think is good for him. And I think, you know, he's going to have to make that
17:42adjustment to simplify, pass the puck, do the little things to kind of get out of it. And to
17:47your point, he may have to adjust his game a little bit too as a 36-year-old guy that's
17:52definitely going to be slowing down. Yeah. You know, and look, by no means,
17:56all right, so Bruins fans, please don't come at me here. I'm not putting them on the same level.
17:59Brad Marcian is a future Hall of Famer. Brendan Gallagher is not. But Brendan Gallagher and Brad
18:05Marcian have long played similar styles. And you saw the last few years where Gallagher's game
18:11really regressed, and he was hearing it from the Montreal Meteor and the fans,
18:14and he was doing exactly what we're seeing Marcian do right now. And if you watch the Canadians now,
18:20he's been one of their better players because I think either somebody got to him in the offseason
18:24or he got to himself and he said, okay, I'm not that guy anymore. I can't get away with that now.
18:28I need to tighten up my game a bit, and I need to think the game more and understand that my skills,
18:36my body aren't always going to be able to catch up to what I want to do. And I'm going to have
18:40to kind of change that direction here. So I just see a little similarity there. And again,
18:44not putting them on the same level as players in terms of Hall of Fame status. But just another
18:48example, a current example of players adapting. So we'll see what happens with that. But you talked
18:54about some of these other forwards, and I credit you definitely. The Boston Bruins pro scouting
18:58staff overall has done a good job. But some of these guys right now, I think the bottom six guys
19:05that are being asked to maybe do a little more as the top six struggles, they seem a little bit out
19:10of their element. And I think you're right. I almost feel like Joe, there's the top three forwards
19:18and the bottom three forwards. I think they'll figure it out. I think eventually that evens off.
19:22I think the fourth line has already done it. I mean, they've been their best line.
19:26But that in-between group is something that I think Don Sweeney and his staff right now are
19:32probably really evaluating because I think there's still a lot of question marks there.
19:35And that's where he's going to have to go out on the trade market and get that. You said
19:39maybe at the trade deadline he'll do that. I think maybe it comes earlier, Joe, because I look at it
19:44right now. The one good thing for the Bruins right now with where they are, you started this off
19:48saying they're treading water. There's a lot of teams that we're expected to do better are treading
19:53water too right now. Some are even completely underwater, like the team they're going to play
19:58in Nashville on Tuesday night, who hasn't won a game yet and was expected to be a cup contender.
20:02So there's a lot of teams in the same position as the Bruins. So it's going to be the team
20:08that figures out exactly what they need first and goes out and gets it that's going to get
20:12that lead step. Well, the one other thing, though, to consider, Murph, is that early guy
20:18that they're going to add, is that going to be Tyler Johnson instead of a trade,
20:22which I think very well could be. He wouldn't be here if it wasn't going to be.
20:27He very well could give them a shot in the arm. The only reason I don't see them making a trade
20:31early is because they don't have the salary cap space. It would have to be cap for cap.
20:36Yes, they would have to seriously reconfigure their roster to do that,
20:39which makes it a little more complicated. Maybe they do. But I think their plan all along has
20:43been to bank cap space as the guys go on IR and have enough money at the trade deadline to get
20:48somebody because they're going to have to do that after paying and swimming a little bit more than
20:52I think they had originally anticipated. And, you know, I'm really loathe to break up the fourth
20:58line because Beecher, Kostelik and Kepke have been phenomenal. They've been so good together.
21:04I don't see how you want to mess with that or should mess with that.
21:07But Kepke, to me, has shown enough that I wonder if he ends up getting time with Marcian and Coyle
21:15as a right wing. And you can see what kind of a fit he could be there as a speedy guy that
21:20plays tenacious. Certainly he's shown he can finish. He's a little bit older, so he's a little
21:25bit more experienced after getting a lot of seasoning with Tampa's AHL team. I wonder if
21:33at some point he gets some looks, too, in addition to some of these other guys like Breazeau, Max
21:37Jones, Geeky, you know, maybe Tufte gets a look there. I don't know. But like Tufte has not shown
21:44me anything. I hate to bag on the guy, but I just have not seen anything to make me think that he
21:49shouldn't be anywhere but in Providence at this point. But like Kepke is a guy, you know, that
21:55I think has been outstanding and has been outstanding in preseason and now and like just
22:00from the very get-go, he was like out of a cannon his first preseason game at the guard and scored a
22:05goal. And I think ever since then he's continued to just be really, really good and shows that he's
22:10an AHL player and he deserves maybe some shots to play in that top six with guys like Marcian and Coyle.
22:16Yeah, I'm with you on that. I completely agree. But I want to go back, though,
22:20Joe, to the Marcian-Montgomery thing. Hold on, Murph. Before we get in that, let me get into
22:25one thing because we've got a couple of tweets here. Go for it. One from Goosey1994.
22:32Good. And these are reactions to Monty chastising and F-bombing Marcian on the bench and giving him
22:38like a little nudge when he was turned the other way and not looking at him. Good. Accountability
22:43needs to be held, veterans included. They can take it. That's why he's the captain. Basically
22:48saying Marcian can take that kind of conversation because he's the captain. I agree, too. And this
22:53is the other side. VM to Susan9 on Twitter. I don't like Marcian, but he deserves better from
22:58the coach. He's done more for the Bruins than Montgomery ever will. And, you know, those are
23:02two very different viewpoints on the interaction. Murph, I'll let you go first. I'm really curious
23:08as to what you think of this whole thing. Well, I'm going to sound like the boomer
23:12yelling at the clouds here, but people need to toughen up a bit. If you get an issue with that,
23:17then maybe you're following the wrong sport or you're in the wrong sport here. This is hockey.
23:21Yeah. All right. And it's still a big boy sport. It's still a tough sport.
23:25And these guys that are in it, they've got thick skin. The first tweet you read there,
23:30he's absolutely right. Marcian can't handle this. And it's not an insult when a coach does that.
23:34He didn't come out in the media and insult him or anything. He did that right on the bench.
23:38And, you know, one thing I've noticed about Montgomery is he does go to it from what I hear.
23:42I mean, I'm not behind the scenes, but from what players have told me and you know it, too, Joe,
23:46he goes to the players first before he says anything harsh to us. Obviously, that was an
23:51issue with the previous coach. And I just think this is normal. This happens. And you know what?
23:58When a team's kind of meandering and can't find their rhythm and can't get going, as Joe said,
24:03treading water, you need that type of emotion on the bench. I want to see that. And to be frank,
24:08I've been wanting to see it a lot more for Montgomery since he's been here. But as I
24:12said before, when we started off, he was in a position where he didn't really have to coach
24:16as much. Now he does. Now he knows it's on him to motivate these guys. And sometimes that's going
24:21to be getting in your face. Sometimes that's going to be giving a little nudge. And, you know,
24:25I hear Elliott Friedman and Kyle Bukaskis on their 32 Thoughts podcast saying, well, that could be
24:31something that really needs to be investigated internally. And this could be an issue because
24:35he gave him a little nudge. Come on. Seriously, sack up. Enough. I mean, this is hockey. Like,
24:41and that happens all the time. How many times you've seen players give each other nudges on
24:45ice? You know, like, come on, man, let's get going. So no issues with it. No issue with it
24:50whatsoever. No, like a youth hockey, like an adult coach doing that to a kid. Like high school, even
24:59like, you know, like, like, you're not you're not going to do that. Like that. That should not
25:03happen to grown men on a bench in a professional sports millions of dollars. Like, yeah, no,
25:10I don't. I don't. I don't see that as an issue. I don't see that as, you know, anything needs to
25:17be investigated, anything where Montgomery even needs to be chastised for that. Like,
25:22he wanted to make sure that Marcian was not looking at him. Marcian was staring straight
25:26ahead. And Montgomery wanted Marcian to know, I'm talking about you. And he wanted it to be
25:32clear that who he was talking about and who he was addressing that and gearing that towards.
25:36I mean, it was just a barely a nudge like that is not anything that anybody should have a huge
25:42issue with. And that is that's extremely soft. If you think that needs to be investigated,
25:47looked at like any kind of problem whatsoever. Like, I honestly hadn't heard the podcast.
25:51I hadn't heard Elliot Friedman and Kyle talking about it. And so I don't know the context of what
25:56they actually said. But I just don't see that as anything that's any any kind of a blip on
26:02the register in any radar in any way, shape or form. The what I will say, though, right,
26:09is I the one problematic thing for me in all of this, because I don't have an issue with him,
26:16like what he got mad about, too. I think it was a bad play for Marcian at the offensive blue line,
26:21giving up the puck there. I think it's exactly what he's he's done too much in the early going.
26:26And once you know, as a coach, as somebody that coaches hockey, I can tell you the one thing that
26:32pisses you off most as a coach. Well, a like the the dirty stuff like, you know, kids trying to
26:38hurt other kids like hits from behind, like all that crap, headshots like that's one level. But
26:42the other thing what pisses you off about your players the most is when you see them making the
26:48same mistakes over and over again and doing things you just talked about before the game started.
26:53And then they start doing it during the game. And like that is the stuff I think that gets you
26:57really aggravated and can get your dander up and can get you angry like that. And so like,
27:03I'm sure this has been a conversation and they've gone over this in video before.
27:08And that's where some of that, you know, that anger and that froth is coming from.
27:13But the other thing that is a big part of this equation, a big factor here is Montgomery's
27:19contract, his job situation, all of this stuff. And is he starting to do things now that are a
27:26little out of character because he's feeling the pressure and the stress of the situation?
27:30And he's always starting to see cracks within Montgomery of the way that he's acting and
27:35reacting. So the players pick up on that. That's a problem. If Montgomery's starting to act any
27:40different than he normally does, and I'd never seen a blow up like that on the bench before,
27:44like maybe behind closed doors, but I've never seen that on the bench. If he starts doing things
27:49that are out of character for him or different than he had done the last couple of years. And
27:52to your point, maybe he has to at times because it's a different group. But I thought they did
27:57some things last year that were like sort of, you know, task mastery, a little more hard nosed,
28:04you know. But if you really if he starts showing the pressure and he starts doing things where
28:10it's clear that all of his job situation is on his mind or is like definitely in there and it's
28:15a factor as to what's going on. Like, I think that's when you honestly, especially if they're
28:20struggling, I think that's when you as management have to start thinking about, like, do we have to,
28:24you know, make a move here? Do we have to do something about this? So we, you know, if we don't
28:29want to extend the coach, are we putting him in a position where like this is going to get worse
28:34because he's clearly stressed out about it? Like that is part of the equation that I would look at
28:39and say, like, how much of a factor is that? How much of a problem is the ongoing issue with Monty
28:46not having a new contract and him being in a lame duck situation? Because that is never easy for an
28:51NHL coach. When any NHL coach is in that position, especially with high expectations, you're talking
28:57about a road that usually doesn't end well for the coach. It usually ends with them being fired
29:02and replaced at some point during the season. I completely agree with everything you said there,
29:06and I'm glad you went there, Joe. And another factor I'll put in that's out there right now,
29:09and I don't think Montgomery is the only coach that may be thinking about this because there's
29:13other coaches in a similar position probably wondering what's going on with their job,
29:18is Joel Quinville is now on the market. And I know for a fact that teams are interested already,
29:22and you know, that first domino to drop might lead to him being hired. And the fact that a
29:28three-time Stanley Cup champion is available right now could be enticing to teams that are uncertain
29:34about their coaching situation going forward, or even in the present. So there's a lot of things
29:40going on. I'm glad you brought that up. And I want to just go further and blame management,
29:44because I think he did deserve an extension before the season started. I think he had done
29:48enough to do that. And I know he had only been past the first round of the playoffs, but again,
29:53considering the losses he experienced, I don't think he's done bad at all. I think he's been
29:57a solid coach here, and I think he deserved at least a two to three-year extension. And
30:03we've seen coaches get fired one year into an extension. So you never know. I mean,
30:06an extension doesn't mean you're locked in, but maybe with Jeremy Jacobs it does,
30:10because he doesn't want to be paying a guy to sit home. But still, I think that they have created
30:15this sort of monster right now that's percolating. So it's something to keep an eye on. I think
30:21you're right. If he does this more often, and he's sort of out of character, then we know that that
30:25stress is weighing on him. And the player, you made a great point there, the players can sense
30:30that too, because I'm like, this isn't you, man. You're just doing this because you're worried
30:34about your job. And once they start thinking that way, it's not good.
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32:46You know, you and I thinking that Montgomery deserves an extension though is not the same
32:50as the Bruins management thinking he deserves an extension. Clearly they did not think he
32:53deserved an extension and they want to see how things play out this year and they haven't seen
32:58enough in the playoffs. And I think that, Murph, you're bang on with that. I think that is the
33:01number one reason why they're, why they did not sign him to an extension because they're left
33:06wanting as far as the postseason goes with, you know, how he's done against other coaches in some
33:11of these series, getting them up for like home games, which they have not been able to do in
33:16the playoffs the last few years, which has been terribly like really surprising. And you know,
33:21like the too many men on the ice penalties, like some of the chaos that was on the bench
33:25during the postseason as well. I think there's a lot of things there going on where they were,
33:31they felt like maybe they could do better or certainly they didn't want to lock themselves
33:34into a contract where to your point, they'd have to fire them like a year in and then be paying
33:39them for a couple of years. Big money. Coaches make good money these days. So they, you know,
33:43I'm sure it would be a few million bucks that he would end up getting if he got an extension.
33:47Um, so they're, you know, they're hesitant about that and like, it doesn't put them in a,
33:52in a really tough spot. Absolutely. But like, I also think, and I've mentioned this a few times,
33:58like they set up this season very similarly to the way they set up the last season with
34:04Chloe Julian, where Bruce Cassidy was on that staff after he'd been in Providence. And you've
34:08got three guys, in my opinion, on that Bruins staff that could be head coaches of the Boston
34:13Bruins, Chris Kelly, Joe Sacco, and Jay Leach. I think any of those three guys could be internal
34:19candidates. And I don't think they would go back bringing Jay Leach back to spoke volumes to me.
34:24Right. I think it did. So like, I don't think Quinnville would be on their radar. I think it
34:29would be one of those guys if they made a move and they were bringing an internal guy. Um, and I
34:33think that, you know, Jay Leach was considered for the head coaching job when Montgomery was hired,
34:37like he was in the mix. So he's, he's even been thought of in that position before. So,
34:43you know, that's hard to ignore if you're Jim Montgomery too, that like Don Sweeney, if
34:48nothing else, I think is very deliberate, is very predictable, is very methodical with the way he
34:55does things. Right. I think after you see him the way he does things, like sometimes he surprised
35:00you, some of the trade deadline stuff will surprise you, like the big moves that they can
35:03make. But usually when they're interested in a player, they stay interested. It's not like a
35:08surprise guy. Usually it's somebody that they've been on for a while. The way that they handled the
35:13end of the Clojillion area and bringing in Bruce Cassidy, I think spoke to like the way they view
35:18things as far as coaching changes go and the way they go about it. And I, my radar went up as soon
35:23as Jay Leach was hired as an assistant. And I was like, Oh, okay. If they don't extend Jim Montgomery,
35:29this might be a problem. This might be mean trouble for him. Like this seems to be a pattern
35:33of what they're going to do. They want an answer in place and something in place. If they make the
35:37move and they've kind of hedged their bets here, if they need to make the move by having these guys
35:41on the staff. So, um, and inevitably if you're in a situation like Jim Montgomery and you go through
35:47a little period of struggle, you're going to feel the stress more than you would. If you were in the
35:51middle of a five-year contract, you're going to act a little differently. And it becomes a lot
35:55easier for the Bruins to potentially fire you and make a move. Uh, if it's the right time or if it's
36:00a, um, you know, a, a convenient time, uh, rather than stick with the coach through the end of the
36:07parade this year, I'll tell you that. No, yeah, definitely not. Definitely. Yeah. You won't have
36:12to worry about like the Patriots, uh, doing it under the cover of the Patriots, uh, collecting
36:16all the media and all the interest, but like, uh, you know, to the bottom line, to get back to what
36:21we talked about at first, I have no problem with the, the incident between Montgomery and Marcian
36:26in general. I think it's fine. I think coaches still should be able to, you know, get their
36:32message across in that way to their players. I didn't mind the nudge, like kicking, punching a
36:36player, smacking them off the head. All that stuff would be a level that you couldn't go to,
36:41but like a nudge on the shoulder is not something I would ever see as a problem. Like I really
36:45don't, you can't like the problem becomes you can't view, um, professional sports through the
36:52same prism you would corporate America, like working in an office where if a boss did that
36:57to an employee, a subordinate, that might be an issue. Certainly it would be with HR,
37:02like whatever, but you can't view like professional sports in that same prism.
37:06Like you can't treat it the same way as you would working in some like office in corporate America.
37:11Yeah. I'm totally with you on that. And you know, you look at right now when we're talking about
37:16the different things they've done that maybe set the path, uh, for this not to work. It's there,
37:22it's there. And he has to know that too. Uh, and so, I mean, it's a tough situation, but look,
37:28like I said, it's early yet. I think that, you know, nothing's imminent in terms of changes or
37:33big changes, whether it's coaching or trades or anything, I think, you know, at least wait
37:37till Thanksgiving. Tyler Johnson's the only thing I would say that's imminent is he'll get signed.
37:41I would think in the next few weeks, as soon as they can figure out the salary cap thing,
37:46but they, you know, they probably felt like, this is my thought is they probably felt some
37:52allegiance to give guys like Riley Tufte and Kepke and Max Jones and some of these other guys that
37:58they signed to deals on July one to give them a fair shot. Like they probably promised that to
38:04them when they signed them. Uh, they want to live up to their word, but I would assume at some point
38:10in the next few weeks, you're going to see Tyler Johnson get signed and inserted in there. Like
38:14Danton Heinen didn't sign until the end of October, October 30th. We're still not even
38:19there yet. Um, when Danton signed Heinen signed last year. So I would expect, uh, that he's going
38:25to be brought in and that would be the only imminent thing. Like coach, coach getting fire
38:28and trades, like any of that stuff. I think it's still a long way off. What do you think that Joe,
38:32the one thing, and like, I keep seeing people on, and then they're always going to do this
38:35on social media, bring up Lysell, bring up Merculaw. Don't see, I'm still against that.
38:42And I know I get, look, it could bring you some youthful excitement and enthusiasm. I get that,
38:47but they've tried it. And every time they try it, it's not working. So I just don't think that
38:53bringing up one of those kids right now is the answer. No, but that's the easy thing to go to
38:58is like, Oh, just bring up one of the kids. They'll give you a spark. Like Lysell is good
39:02offensively, but like, it would be a lot easier to do that. It would be a lot easier to do that.
39:07If they had been lights out awesome in training and preseason, like if one of them had been the
39:13last cut was phenomenal. Like you went, you gave the veteran the benefit of the doubt, but it was
39:18like, it was a hard decision to make. No, they sent those guys down early as a message, like not
39:24good enough. You were not good enough here. And Lysell was kind of up and down. I think that
39:28first weekend he did some good things in Providence, but he wasn't by any means dominant.
39:32Um, and I just, I, Tyler Johnson's a better option than either one of those, as far as a
39:37player, that's going to help them as far as a player that can play like all the different forward
39:41positions can play up and down the lineup can do a lot of different things. You could plug him in
39:44at right wing with coil and Martian. And I think you'd be a good fit there. Like, I think they're
39:49going to look at him first and see what he can provide. And this is part Murph, like I talked
39:53about of the audition. Like, I think this is going to be a by committee by audition, like
39:59tops, uh, six, like the second line, right wing spot. I think they're going to cycle
40:04through everybody and give them a shot there and see if anybody can actually like play well
40:08and hold onto it for a while. Um, that hasn't been the case yet, but I think that's going to
40:13continue to be the case. And like, it becomes a really key spot when coil is not playing great.
40:19Like I love Charlie coil, good guy. Um, great leader has been, has had an excellent career
40:25for the Bruins. Like to me, he showed last year that he can be a second line center,
40:30like that he can be a top six center in the NHL, had a fantastic season. Uh, but he has not been
40:36good to start this year. He's been like passive too much. Um, not looking for his own offense
40:41enough. Um, not using his size and strength and speed enough, just not good enough in general.
40:48Uh, and some of that is probably playing with a Martian right now who has been to one-on-one
40:52and they're not playing together as a duo. And because they don't have like,
40:56they had a game-breaking guy playing with them. Um, Jake to brusque who like helped them quite
41:02a bit too, you know, and to not have him, I think they, I think they miss him quite a bit.
41:08I think having that element of speed and game-breaking ability and offense was a big
41:13deal with those other two players. And like, you really need, if you're going to have Charlie coil,
41:18who is not really offense first, he's more of a two-way center. He's more of a guy that's going
41:22to like back check and, you know, do all the right things to have that. And a guy in Martian,
41:27that's maybe slowing down a little bit, not quite the dominant offensive force that he was four or
41:31five years ago. You got to have somebody on the right wing that can do more of the heavy lifting
41:35and do more of the scoring and be more of an offensive catalyst, you know, and can drive the
41:40line at times. Like I frankly think Russ did that a bit last year. I don't get the people look,
41:46maybe early on in his, his career, he didn't show it as much, but I mean, I think at least for the
41:51last three years, you know, ever since he kind of got through that whole battle with Cassidy,
41:56I would say the last two, the last year and the year before when he was like awesome in the
42:00winter classic and all that stuff. That was a great year. Yeah. If he, if he doesn't break
42:05his leg in the winter classic, man, he's, he's on his way to 30 goals. Easy. You know, he was a,
42:10he in Boston for some reason, not around the league, because when he talked to fans, scouts
42:14around the league, they saw it, but in Boston, everybody not to skate and say he didn't skate
42:18hard enough. I don't know what they were watching. I really don't. And he skated very
42:22hard. And I credit you for pointing out how they miss him right now, because you're right. He would
42:27be the perfect elixir for that line right now, because not only just his game, just him in
42:32general, he would bring energy to a line that right now is a bit dormant. And that's what he
42:37did when he was on the ice, he was full energy. He's, he's a big personality, good on the bench.
42:43That was a guy that I think, you know, a lot of people maybe didn't realize how much the Bruins
42:47are going to miss him and they never really replaced it. No, they didn't. And in general,
42:53I've seen a lot of Chris criticism saying the Bruins are like too slow now too. And,
42:59you know, they definitely brought in some size and, and slowed down a bit. I wouldn't say they're
43:04slow, but I don't think they like improve their speed, put it that way with the additions that
43:10they made the fourth line for sure. The fourth line is fast and big and strong and physical.
43:14Like the fourth line, the reason they're effective is because they're all those things.
43:19But like they lost a speed and skill element with the brusque that they did not adequately replace
43:24in the top six. All right. This is from Tom Collins. The coach is not the issue at all.
43:29And you can't blame the captain as he's the oldest dude out there and still grinding.
43:33If you watch his shifts, biggest issue is the other wingers cannot produce.
43:38Jake could do it. We let him go. Pasta is literally Manny Ramirez on skates and can
43:42score the puck, but can't grind when needed. That's interesting. Now fourth line is killing
43:47it, but how would they do against other lines? Those dudes are fun to watch. Can Patra play more?
43:51He's young and seems he can score the puck, but that's a lot to put on a young one. But look at
43:55what they're doing in Utah. I forgot his name, but he's around the same age and killing it.
44:00Clayton Keller, is that who he's talking about? But Clayton Keller is a little older than the
44:06team is, is too slow. We are bigger now on D which is great, but the forwards are too slow
44:10and careless with the puck. Hoping someone can step up besides the fourth liners.
44:14And that's from Tom Collins. Maybe he's talking about Dylan Gunther.
44:18I don't know. What's that Murph? Dylan Gunther maybe on Arizona? Oh yeah, Dylan Gunther.
44:24Yeah. No, I mean, Patra is a guy that I think we will continue to see more of because I think
44:29he's actually been one of their better forwards in the start here. Would you put him up on the
44:34second line? You know, if I were going to center, but I'd put them, I might put them at the wing.
44:42If I, no, if I was going to move them to the second line, I would put them at second center
44:45on the second line with Marcian and I would probably put Coyle down on the third line center
44:49and I would switch them all into line and then put somebody else on it. And maybe that's a time
44:54when you put Kepke on the wing. And if you're going to really like shake it up, you might as
44:58well shake it up and put in there too. That's a small line though, Marcian. Kepke's not that small.
45:03No, I'm saying Portia and Marcian though. Yeah, you're going to have those two. Yeah.
45:06Yeah. But, but Kepke's a pretty decent sized guy. Either way, Brazil there or somebody like,
45:13you know, there's a lot of different combinations you could do. But I just don't, I don't buy into,
45:18like, this is my thing on Patra. I like him. I think he's been good. I think he answered every
45:24question I had as to whether, like, he'd be better off going in Providence or not in training camp
45:28and early in the season. Like he showed he's an NHL player, like, and he's got top six ability and
45:33like he can help this team. There's no question about it. It was hard to read sometimes last year,
45:39the way the year went for him and the way it ended for him, whether he was regressing,
45:43whether he was like more the guy, like he just played out of his mind early in the year and he
45:47was more of the guy we saw in the second half. But I think we continue to see improvement from
45:50him that tells you that he's going to be a pretty high end NHL player. But the thing that I wonder
45:56about him is, can he stay in one piece? Like physically, can he stay healthy? And I think
46:02putting him on the wing puts him in more danger of getting hit, of getting hurt in board battles,
46:07of getting worn down physically, like all that stuff. So I would probably not put him there
46:13just for those reasons. Like, I just don't think he's built to be a winger. And I think putting
46:17him there, you risk him, you know, maybe sustaining more injuries. But like, if you're gonna, I do
46:23think he should get, at some point, some top six look with Marchand and with some skill to see if
46:30like they can make some things happen offensively, especially if Marchand, Coyle, and whoever they
46:35put at the right wing continue to struggle offensively. Like through no fault of Coyle's,
46:40I liked him. I liked him last year as a second line center. He's proven he can do it. But on
46:45this team with this personnel, maybe he's better playing on the third line with like Trent Frederick
46:49and Breazeau or something like that, and have a big huge physical puck possession third line
46:54with those three. Or at least get a look at it. But I do think it's interesting to see where Patra
47:00fits in all this. And like the pasta thing, Murph, like, he just hasn't been good to start the year.
47:08I have not been like that impressed with him. Like the other night, he had a play where he got the
47:13puck in the high slot, right? And it just popped out to him. I'm not sure if it was a pass or the
47:19puck popped out to him. But he had the puck in like the prime scoring area. And the casual way
47:27that he was handling the puck, and it looked like he was like maybe going to go for that like
47:31slingshot thing that he does sometimes with the puck. And he ends up just fumbling away the puck
47:36and losing it. No scoring chance, no shot on net, no nothing. And like when he doesn't make that
47:42play, the way he goes about doing it, it looks so casual and careless. It looks so bad. Like
47:48sometimes it results in a goal. But I wonder if like that kind of stuff he's falling in love with
47:52too much instead of being an actual like effective hockey player. And it's a tough balance, right?
47:57Because he's creative, he's playmaking, he thinks differently. Like that's part of what makes him
48:02great. But it also, I think, is a double-edged thing where it turns into turnovers and him not
48:07looking good at times. And like, you know, it puts fuel on the fire for people that want to
48:12criticize and put it that way. Yeah, I'll tell you, I don't know if it was last season, I think,
48:18when he went through a little stretch and Pierre was talking about it, Hags, and he said,
48:22reminds me of what we had to do with Jagger when he was younger. And just like because you just
48:27nailed it there where he thinks so much different than most of us, right? Or so much different than
48:33his teammates out there. He's seen the game in a much different way. And sometimes it can become
48:39too pensive and not reactionary or not instinctful, right? Yeah. And I think that,
48:44and that's fine. I mean, that's what's made him successful, but he needs to be more in a moment,
48:50in a split second, and to really react faster. And I think, you know, it will come right now,
48:55but I wonder too for him, Hags, sometimes I notice too, and I haven't, I don't think that's the issue
49:00right now. I think it's more of what you say, but I think another thing sometimes I've seen
49:04with Pasta is he tries to do too much, you know? But I don't think that's the issue right now,
49:08but he needs to just find a happy balance and just go out there and play and not think as much
49:13if he can. So we'll see what happens with that. But, you know, I think if one of those guys,
49:19Pasta or Marcian starts to find their groove, obviously it rubs off on the rest of the guys.
49:25And maybe the issue is right now that some of the, some of their teammates are just waiting
49:29instead of acting themselves and, and, and, and, you know, taking the baton themselves.
49:34They're waiting for these guys to kick it into high gear.
49:37Yeah. I will say also that line, Zach has had a lot of really good opportunities and he just
49:43hasn't been able to finish. Like he's been set up for a ton of great chances in the early going.
49:47He's played well. And he just has not been able to finish any of them. And it might look a little
49:52differently if he'd finished off some of those passes that Pasta threw his way or, you know,
49:56all that stuff. So like, you know, all right, well, let's, I'm going to play this into the next,
50:02the final tweet here. Rebuild incoming without Bergeron or Chara, this team is lost from DIGAR
50:10underscore 083. And like what I want to get, like what I wanted to say before I read that is
50:18like, I have total faith watching in the early going here that they're going to be fine. Like,
50:25you know what I mean? I don't see any like real problems with this team. I think they're going
50:29to score enough to win games. I think Swayman looks good. I think their defense is going to
50:34be fine. Like I think all of the problems they have a correctable, including the special teams,
50:40which has not been very good to start the year either. Yes. They're not going to be like a high
50:44powered, like we're going to score four goals a game offense. Like you can see that you can see
50:49they're a top six winger short right now. And that's going to cause some times where they're
50:53going to have some like offensive challenges. But I don't see anything like that says rebuild. I
50:59don't see anything that says this isn't a playoff team. I don't see anything that like, you know,
51:03Bruins fans need to be in the streets panicking. You know, I just think there are some frustrating
51:08things about this team. And like last year, I don't think they played particularly great early
51:13in the season either, but they got wins pretty easily. Like they were just getting wins sometimes
51:16when they didn't deserve to get wins last year and they were able to build up a good record as a
51:21result of that. Um, the, in the early going that hasn't happened as much, but now they've played
51:26Florida, the base played the best team in the NHL twice. Uh, and they're not going to play them
51:30again for a long time. Yep. So like is now when they start to like build up points and, you know,
51:36build up their record and like, I think they're going to be fine. I don't see anything on this
51:40aside from the coaching thing, which I think will play itself out. I don't see anything on,
51:45on that's problematic or concerning about like anything going on with this team right now.
51:50No, I mean, it's a good point. They are what we thought they'd be. They're just not,
51:55they're not doing the things that cater to that, that, that, you know, that they need to do to be
52:00successful with who they are. So I think it's a great point by you, but the only thing I would
52:04caution with them too, and I think they will do it is you don't wait too long because I think that
52:11the, the Atlantic division, you know, I said this the last time I was on with you and I'll say it
52:16over and over again. I think the Atlantic division is the toughest division in hockey right now. I
52:19think, you know, you've got that mix of teams, the Ottawa, the, I mean, I know Buffalo does not
52:24look good right now, but Ottawa, Buffalo, Montreal, who am I forgetting there, that other team that
52:29hasn't made the playoffs in a while, Detroit, one of those teams is going to get over the hump.
52:33Like one of them eventually is getting over the hump Joe. And I could easily see five teams from
52:38the Atlantic making the playoffs and three from the, so it's gonna, it, there's going to be a big
52:43mishmash there, a big like mess in the bottom of there, you know, in terms of the seventh
52:48to 10th to 11 seeds in Eastern conference, where you don't want to be in that you need to,
52:53at some point in the season, you need to figure it out and you get a little ahead of that.
52:56So you're not worrying about that and you're not freaking out at the end of the season. Oh my God,
53:00we might get bumped out here, but I don't think they're close to that right now. I really don't.
53:04I think it's a feeling out process, but as I said, there's so many teams that were expected
53:09to be cup contenders right now. You look at Colorado's just starting to get going,
53:13you know, and they, I know they had a lot of injuries, but you know, teams like that,
53:16they don't have gold 10 and I'll tell you that. But Nashville, you know, I mean, everyone was
53:22all over them with the off season. They had, they need some defense though. What about Edmonton?
53:26Edmonton, you know, we can go on and on here. Yeah. Total mess. Yes. There's a lot of teams
53:31that are a mess. So yeah, I just think a lot of those, unfortunately for the Bruins,
53:35a lot of those are out West. Yeah. Patience. I'll tell you, Bruins fans won't want to hear
53:40it right now though, but I think Toronto is finally figuring it out. Joe, in terms of,
53:44yeah, well, I mean, Ruby might be the guy that finally brings it out of them.
53:47And he's a lot better than people think. It's a lot better. I think. Yeah. It was one of the
53:53most underrated pickups of the off season. Uh, he's a late bloomer and he's, he's really showing
53:58it right now. Definitely. That was a great game last night. Like, I don't know what the hell
54:02Veselevsky was thinking, given the ice shower, uh, to Morgan Riley and then he ends up getting
54:08yanks like afterwards, like just complete, like, Oh, just buffoonery. Like for a great player to
54:14do something like that, it's just head scratching. Like, why do you do this early in the season too?
54:18I was like, I get you trying to spark a rivalry here, but yeah, I don't, would that have happened
54:23if Sam coast was still the captain in Tampa? I'm not sure. Not sure if that would have happened
54:27with stamp coast as the captain or not. All right. Uh, Murph, thank you very much for joining us.
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55:06time is it? It's game time Murph. Thanks buddy. Always a pleasure, my friend. All right. Absolutely.
55:11Everybody else out there. Thanks for listening. We'll see you at the room.