On this episode of Bruins Beat, Evan Marinofsky is joined by Scott McLaughlin as the Bruins continue to skid. After dropping a game on home ice to the struggling Philadelphia Flyers, questions start to arise about what the Bruins need to change. Jim Montgomery has taken to shuffling the lines to generate some offense, but could it take something more drastic than that? All that, and much more!
Topics:
- Bruins lay an egg against the Flyers
- There is no offense
- New-look lines
- More questions about Jim Montgomery
- What would be the right spark?
- Should they trade a guy off the roster?
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Topics:
- Bruins lay an egg against the Flyers
- There is no offense
- New-look lines
- More questions about Jim Montgomery
- What would be the right spark?
- Should they trade a guy off the roster?
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!
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SportsTranscript
00:00Bruins Beat is brought to you by PrizePix and the Game Time app.
00:07And welcome into the Bruins Beat presented by PrizePix.
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00:16And presented by Game Time.
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00:21Terms apply.
00:22I'm Evan Maranofsky.
00:23That's Scott McLaughlin.
00:24Scott, what is up?
00:27Not much, Evan.
00:28I'm hoping we have better chemistry than any of the Bruins' first three lines.
00:33Well, you're telling me that we might have more chemistry than Johnny Beecher with Pavel
00:41Zaka and David Pasternak?
00:43Is that what you're hitting at?
00:46That's what it's come down to, yeah.
00:48First line Johnny Beecher.
00:50You know what?
00:51It just goes to prove.
00:52Another scouting win for the Bruins.
00:55First round pick.
00:56First line player.
00:57God, I mean, we were saying it all along.
01:00We knew it.
01:01He has the speed to do it.
01:02There he is.
01:03It's finally the first line that the Bruins have been hoping for.
01:06It's going to be wild if these combinations that they had at Wednesday's practice actually
01:12click at all and produce something Thursday night.
01:15It would be funny if they win the cup at the end of the year and they're powered by the
01:20Martian Lindholm-Kastelik line and people are just immediately, like, the end of the
01:25year documentary.
01:26It's like, yeah, remember that day, like October 30th?
01:29They were 4-5-1.
01:31Montgomery jumbled the lines and then boom, like the fourth line was sprinkled throughout
01:35and they ended up winning the cup.
01:36Like, I give these lines a period and a half, but we'll get to them in a bit.
01:43Bruins lose on Tuesday night 2-0 to the Philadelphia Flyers in a complete stinker.
01:50I mean, that is as frustrating as demoralizing a loss, I think, as they've had this year.
01:56I thought Nashville was the worst prior to that.
01:59I mean, Florida game one was its own thing, but that's Florida.
02:02Going to a winless Nashville and lose 4-0, that's pretty bad.
02:06This, though, this really wasn't good.
02:09To come out with zero goals at any strength, at any situation in the game.
02:15So Philly, who, again, one of the worst teams in the league, feels like that Toronto win
02:22on Saturday was sort of the outlier.
02:25Where are you at right now with all this?
02:27Yeah, and I think that's what makes it even worse is that they took a step in the right
02:31direction in that Toronto game and, you know, actually played pretty well.
02:35Five on five.
02:36Had some good stretches.
02:38Probably should not have gotten to overtime, but, you know, they blowed away with a break.
02:44We'll pretend that last mistake didn't happen.
02:46Yeah, we'll brush that out.
02:47Leaves Austin Matthews wide open, but then they win in overtime and like you get that
02:51emotional lift and Brad Martian has the monkey off his back and you're thinking, OK, that's
02:56at least something you can build on.
02:58Now the Flyers are sitting there going into Tuesday night.
03:01They've given up the most goals in the NHL and it's like, all right, now here's where
03:06you start to build something.
03:08And then, as you said, they just lay a complete egg and get shut out.
03:13And like this wasn't a rent ran into a random goal.
03:18Who stands on his head Tuesday night?
03:20Like they didn't test Sam Erson that much.
03:24Like, no, at times a little bit.
03:27But I mean, they had a five on three, a five on three power play for a minute, 37 and had
03:34one actual good chance that forced him to make a save.
03:38And even that, like passing, I kind of shot it right into his chest.
03:41So it's like, ah, man, like they're just not generating anything offensively, certainly
03:48not in the way of high danger chances.
03:50They're down one, nothing going into the third period, and they land three shots on
03:55goal in the third period.
03:57I mean, it's baffling.
03:59Like, it's you can't explain it.
04:02Like, how how is that possible?
04:05How do you win three shots on goal trailing one nothing in, you know, like a game you
04:09have to have against a team that had been pretty porous defensively?
04:14It's yeah, the the vibes are not good.
04:18No.
04:19And you wrote it this morning.
04:20That five on three.
04:22You mentioned they had a minute, 37, six shot attempts in the order.
04:27You wrote Zaka wide after a partial block.
04:29Martian blocked Pasternak saved on a quality look from left dot the one actual high danger
04:34chance.
04:35Martian partially blocked and the puck flutters in on goal.
04:37Technically a shot on goal, but not a dangerous.
04:39I respect that you didn't count that one.
04:41McAvoy follows off a one timer.
04:43McAvoy shoots into a body as the power play expires and hands the Flyers a 21 the other
04:47way that I mean, again, like they had a lot of zone time last night and they produced
04:52nothing with it.
04:53And I don't even mean like in goals.
04:55It's just all perimeter stuff and they will pass until you're blue in the face around
05:01the outside down below the dots around the net.
05:04They will gladly do that.
05:06And there's no they just cannot figure out how to get to the front of the net.
05:11And there was a couple chances in the second.
05:13I think they finished with the court of natural statics seven five on five high danger chances
05:18throughout the game.
05:19Still, though, like if this was NHL 25 and you had the zone time number like the Bruins
05:24would I think would have crushed the Flyers in zone time, just the amount of time they
05:28were in the offensive zone.
05:30And that's what makes it so frustrating.
05:32And even those power plays, it's all stationary.
05:35It's it's Pasternak on one side of McAvoy Martian on the other.
05:40They do not move.
05:41They are just right there.
05:42You have Zaka in the middle.
05:44And then Brazos down there later.
05:46Like to me, it's there's nothing going right now.
05:51And it's I hit it on it earlier, like, you know, against Toronto, it was all working.
05:56But for the last week, it hasn't been.
05:58Utah wasn't there.
06:00Nashville wasn't there.
06:01Dallas wasn't there.
06:04The Dallas had never five on five goal.
06:06Utah, they had won.
06:07It was that Cole Koepke shot.
06:09If we want to play like the Pickhams, like, like really like Homer hit home our point.
06:15You could say they have won.
06:18Take away the Toronto game.
06:19They have won five on five goals since Utah.
06:22We take away the Toronto game and that never happened.
06:25Yeah, but it's a legitimate concern.
06:28And it's it's gotten to the point where I mean, again, like, you know, we talked about
06:32it at the very beginning.
06:34The lines today, Beecher, Zaka, Pasternak, Martian Lindholm, Kastelik, Jones, Coyle,
06:38Koepke, Frederick, Patra, Berzow, Geeky, the odd man out.
06:42I mean, that's how desperate they are at this point.
06:46Yeah, and the you know, the big news there is splitting up Brad Martian.
06:50I mean, David Pasternak and Elias Lindholm, who outside of a few random shifts had been
06:57together pretty much from the start of the year all through camp, you know, is a combination
07:03that the Bruins were excited about going into the season.
07:06That's when they signed Elias Lindholm to a big contract and free agency.
07:11It was partly with the intent of playing him with Pasternak.
07:14And you thought you thought there were some encouraging signs there early on.
07:19Lindholm had five points in the first three games.
07:23But since then, it just really has not worked.
07:27Lindholm has now got seven games without a point.
07:30Pasternak has two even strength points during that time, and one of them was a four on four
07:36playing with Patra.
07:39So it you know that they've been getting big.
07:42I went through.
07:43I just went through this a little while ago.
07:44They've been getting doubled up in high danger chances during their shifts on the season.
07:49It's twenty four twelve to the opponent.
07:52Like it hasn't worked.
07:54So you had to split them up.
07:56Jim Montgomery said that on Wednesday that, you know, he thinks it should work.
08:02He thinks there are two players who should mesh, but it just hasn't materialized.
08:06So they're changing that up.
08:08As you said, like you're taking what's been their best line, the fourth line of Beecher,
08:14Kastelik and Kepke.
08:16And now you're sprinkling those three guys throughout the lineup.
08:20And Montgomery said the idea is to try to, you know, tell them to keep playing the way
08:27they've been playing and hope that forces their new line mates to play that way.
08:32We'll see if it works.
08:34I don't know.
08:35Like it feels like the kind of thing that you do when you're when you're sort of out
08:39of ideas and you've tried everything else.
08:41So, you know, I get the thinking behind it.
08:45And at this point, like they've done so little at five on five that I'm not sure they're
08:50I'm not sure that really is like a worse option.
08:54Right.
08:55It's like if you're already getting nothing, then what does throwing everything into a
08:59blender really matter without any help from the outside?
09:04Like this is kind of all Jim Montgomery can do.
09:06And as of now, there is still no help from the outside.
09:10There's still no contract for Tyler Johnson.
09:13There's no call up of anyone from Providence.
09:16So, you know, he's trying to find a way to get something out of this group.
09:20Yeah.
09:21Maybe you get some duos that work well together and you saw Max Jones and Charlie Coyle are
09:26terrific together.
09:27You know, that's we figured it out.
09:29We've we've cracked the code.
09:31I think one of the most disappointing parts of Tuesday's game against the Flyers was that's
09:37a game where a Zaka Lindholm Pasternak line should have like four goals combined.
09:42Like, that should be a line that, you know, every guy has got like one to three points
09:47and it's a really good night and sort of something you build off of.
09:50Well, like, remember the remember the Flyers game, the Flyers game last year when it was
09:55it was Pasternak, Zaka and James Van Reemsteig.
09:58And they did like exactly that.
10:00They had like four goals in the first period or something.
10:02Yep.
10:03Just wipe the floor with them.
10:04And that's and that's what Tuesday was setting up to be.
10:07I thought like that's a give.
10:08That's a layup of a game for those guys.
10:10And they did have a lot of ozone time.
10:12Like, you know, they were Zaka had some chances down by the net.
10:16He's had a lot of chances this year that he just has not converted on.
10:21And so that's all well and good.
10:23But you can't you still can't produce at all.
10:26And that and I do wonder, like, is this a sign of a bigger problem of, you know, is Lindholm
10:32not a good fit with Pasternak?
10:34Like, I again, we're only a month in a lot can change.
10:38It's been nine games, but seven straight pointless games or it's been 10 games, excuse me, but
10:43seven straight pointless games is incredible for a number one center playing with David
10:49Pasternak and Pavel Zaka and being a number one power play guy, which, by the way, the
10:54Bruins ranked 26th in the NHL in power play percentage right now, which is not great.
11:00So it leads to a big question, Scott, leads to a big old question, which we'll get to
11:05in a second.
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12:44So the big question, Scott, and I think it's on everybody's mind.
12:47I did an episode on it on Friday and then the Bruins won against the Leafs.
12:50So I came on Bruins Beat with Connor on Monday and said, oh, all's good.
12:53It's all set.
12:54You know, they did what they had to do.
12:56They righted the ship.
12:57But we're back to back to Friday, which was, is Jim Montgomery on the hot seat?
13:02I mean, and I think that's a valid question to ask.
13:05A lot of the all of the buttons he pushed last week just didn't produce desired results.
13:10They do end up beating the Leafs, but again, had that bad play there at the end of the
13:14game.
13:15If they lose in overtime and they lose like they did on Tuesday.
13:19Like, are we sitting here wondering when he's fired if they had lost that Toronto game?
13:25And where do you think they're at with with the Montgomery stuff?
13:30Yeah, I think the seat has to be pretty warm at this point, whether that's fair or not.
13:35Like, you know, I think some of their issues this season are certainly on Montgomery.
13:40He hasn't been able to get the team to play the way that he wants them to play.
13:48You know, other issues are on Don Sweeney for not putting together a better roster and
13:53on the players for simply not performing up to the level that they're capable of,
13:58regardless of everything else that's going on around them.
14:00Like so many guys on this team are just underperforming.
14:04But the reality of the NHL and really every pro sports league is that when a team is
14:11underperforming, when management looks at it and says, wow, this really doesn't look
14:17anything like what we were expecting, the easiest change to make and usually the first
14:22change that gets made is the head coach.
14:25It's just the business.
14:26You can't you know, you're not making five trades to shake up the roster.
14:31You know, like you can't do that.
14:33What you can do is you can fire the head coach and bring in someone different with a
14:37different voice.
14:38So, yeah, I don't know, like how close the Bruins are to that.
14:44I don't have any sources or anyone telling me, you know, when it might happen or if
14:50it's going to happen or whatever.
14:51But just knowing the league and knowing how teams handle situations like this, you know,
14:59I think it's fair to say that like if it if it really starts to snowball, you know,
15:03if they go on the road and lose a couple more or, you know, come back home and lose to Seattle
15:09or Toronto next week or whatever, like.
15:13And all of a sudden you're talking about them losing, you know, seven out of eight or
15:17something like that.
15:19I think it stands to reason that some sort of big change like that would be coming.
15:25Yeah.
15:26And we said it before we came on, like the Toronto game next Tuesday.
15:29Like, is that is that the next is that the third like must win Maple Leafs game for Montgomery
15:34to keep his job?
15:35And I mean, this is a sort of a difficult stretch coming up.
15:38You have Carolina on Halloween night on Thursday.
15:41You have Philly on the road.
15:44Historically, the Bruins are usually pretty good in Philadelphia at 1 p.m.
15:47on Saturdays.
15:48So like maybe, you know, maybe it just it ends there.
15:51They come home against Seattle on Sunday for a five o'clock game, which is very out of
15:56the blue for the Bruins.
15:58And then they're in Toronto on on Tuesday.
16:01So you sort of have this four game stretch that's not easy.
16:06That's, you know, awkward times.
16:08And I agree with you, like they're not doing so hot.
16:12Obviously, management has high expectations.
16:15I also think Montgomery is such a fascinating case because, you know, he has had such great
16:20regular season success the last two years.
16:23Obviously, the 2023 playoffs hangs over his head like a dark cloud.
16:27I think management wishes they got to game seven against Florida last year in the second
16:31round, and he's still not signed after this year.
16:36So and again, he's he's not a guy that the Bruins developed.
16:41He was brought in.
16:42I always go back to that of like he's not he's not this guy who's been ingrained in the
16:46organization for years and years like a Bruce Cassidy or like a Jay Leach or a Chris Kelly
16:52or even like a Joe Sacco who's been around now for a really long time on the bench.
16:57Like, I just I wonder if and when they make that move.
17:02I also just Bruins are pretty stable organization like Sweeney's usually pretty calculated
17:08with this stuff.
17:10I know I'll get some crap for that, but like this isn't an organization that just fires
17:14coaches on a whim.
17:15I mean, you know, we're going back a long time.
17:17We're going back to when Shirely was GM, but and this is, you know, before I was covering
17:21the team.
17:22I think before you were covering the team to like there were a lot of times in oh nine
17:25and ten when Claude was rumored to be gone or on the hot seat or oh, they need to fire
17:30him now.
17:31Even in 2011, I that before that infamous thrashers game in December, like it was, you
17:35know, oh my God, does Claude need to go?
17:38We never really had that with Cassidy at all until it just ended one day and it was like,
17:42all right, well, that's that.
17:44But I I don't know.
17:46I have kind of a hard time imagining them just pulling the plug so soon and just, you
17:52know, less than three years into the guy's tenure, but he's not signed after this year.
17:56So like that's the other part of it that makes it so, you know, questionable.
18:00Yeah, it's it's been a long time since they've done an early season firing, like even like
18:05Claude was midseason, but that was in February.
18:08Yeah.
18:09Kind of change things up for the stretch runners that that team was trying to make a
18:13playoff push.
18:14So, yeah.
18:17And, you know, it also has something for general managers.
18:20There's.
18:22You don't want to fire coaches that you hired because every time you do it, you're
18:29going to be wondering, you know, how many of these do I get?
18:32And so Sweeney obviously inherited Claude Julian makes that change to Cassidy.
18:38Then he fires Cassidy and hires Montgomery.
18:41Now, if he's going to fire Montgomery after really just two plus years.
18:47You know, how many more does does he get?
18:50Is it he needs to hit a home run on the next hire or he's done?
18:55Whereas, you know, if you keep Montgomery around and you kind of muddle your way
19:00through this, like, you know, maybe that buys Sweeney a little extra time.
19:04So I know, like, you know, I said, like, it's the easy thing for GM to do and it
19:10is, but it's still not something you want to do.
19:14Like Don Sweeney doesn't want to fire Jim Montgomery.
19:18But the question is, you know, at some point, does this get bad enough where
19:23there's just no other shakeup to make?
19:25Which makes it more curious to me, though, that there haven't been roster moves
19:32like that Tyler Johnson hasn't been signed, that you haven't, you know, whether
19:37it's Fabian Laissel or whoever, you tried calling someone up from Providence
19:41for a spark, like I absolutely do not expect either of those guys or anyone
19:47else to be any kind of savior, but it at least changes the mix.
19:53Like it could at least be a spark.
19:54It could do something.
19:55Yeah.
19:57So it it feels like Don Don Sweeney has not exhausted all his options yet.
20:03So I wonder if you get any of that first before potentially firing Montgomery.
20:12But either way, like this, this can't snowball or or something will have to
20:16change.
20:18Something has to and it just comes down to what I also look at, like, you know,
20:23Bruce Cassidy went and won a cup the first year after they let him go.
20:26Like, and again, then you fire the guy you replaced him with two years later
20:30with nothing to really show for it.
20:33And that goes back to your point about Sweeney, you know, not wanting to look
20:36bad.
20:37And I just wonder if you'd be open to that.
20:38I mean, you know, they did go out and get Jay Leach in the offseason.
20:41So like Jay Leach is on the bench.
20:43Joe Sacco's on the bench.
20:44You do have these in interim internal replacements.
20:48I just.
20:51It's been interesting because the last couple weeks, this is sort of in a
20:54storyline.
20:55And obviously on the skateboard.
20:56I know you guys talk about it and I've talked about it a lot here and I haven't
21:01really given like a full opinion on.
21:03Yes, they should fire him or no, they shouldn't because I think it's really
21:06complex and it changes all the time and I don't think it's bad enough.
21:10I think they the last two years, I think Bruins fans and the Bruins themselves
21:13have become accustomed to just dominating the first month of the year.
21:16The first two months of the year and everybody's like, oh my God, the Bruins
21:19one of the best teams again.
21:20Wouldn't you?
21:21But you know, can you believe it?
21:22I mean, maybe they are just hitting some adversity.
21:25Maybe, you know, there are guys in this lineup.
21:28There has been turnover.
21:29Maybe it's just going to take some time to gel.
21:31I just feel like time is kind of not running out, but you can't lose so much
21:38track in the race here.
21:39Like that's the other part of it.
21:42And you have so many guys right now who are in their worst case scenarios.
21:46I mean, this is as bad as Charlie Coyle has played.
21:48I think with the Bruins so that there's that Gigi has been awful.
21:52Frederick has been bad.
21:54Zaka has not been himself.
21:56Pasternak at times, you know, has not been.
21:59Yeah, I know he has six goals.
22:00He leads the team in goals, but still I don't think he's played up to where he
22:03can be Lindholm McAvoy Brazil up until recently.
22:08Like so many guys are just not at that level.
22:12And yeah, some of that's the head coach, but it's also some on some of them
22:16too.
22:17So I think that's the difficult thing here is, you know, is a head coach
22:20is a new head coach going to come in and be enough of a spark?
22:22It was in 2017.
22:24Can it be now?
22:25I think that's the other part of it too.
22:27Right?
22:28So many of those guys, it's like regardless of any.
22:31Okay, maybe Montgomery's game plan doesn't fully suit your game or
22:38maybe you don't have the right combination, but.
22:41So many like all of those guys really can be so much better just individually
22:45like just go out and work your ass off and like see what happens like like
22:51that you can do right like you can skate hard you can play physical you can
22:56go to the front of the net regardless of what else is going on and then
23:00like try to build something from there but you're not even getting that like
23:04you're not even getting guys winning races winning battles like it's just
23:09it all looks so I don't know slow disconnected like yeah yeah like they
23:18do they look deflated and you're like I mean Charlie coils on pace for
23:24eight points.
23:25He has 1.10 games.
23:26Have you ever?
23:27I don't know if you ever seen so elite prospects when players are in
23:31juniors.
23:32I don't know if they do this for college or the NHL.
23:34What a player is in junior hockey.
23:36They have what they like what the stat line is then they say projected and
23:40it's basically just like a proportion of like how many points they have in
23:43that time.
23:44So if a guy has like zero goals and two assists in four games, they'll have
23:49them with like, you know, I don't know 30 something is 30 assists and 60
23:54games to end the year.
23:55No, no goals or anything.
23:56You're right coil right now would be like what 12 assists at the end of the
24:00year or something.
24:01I mean, that would be like his projected numbers.
24:03Yeah, like it's yeah, it's crazy.
24:06And yeah, that's where it's like there has to at least be some, you know,
24:11personal pride to just pick your game up and these guys all say the right
24:16things, you know, on Wednesday after practice, we talked to both coil and
24:21Elias Lindholm and like they're owning up to it.
24:24They're saying, you know, I haven't been good enough and here's what I have
24:28to do better.
24:29You know, they're not pointing fingers and not making excuses for themselves,
24:34but yet too many games they go out there and they're not doing it like the
24:40words and the intention of what they're saying or what they seem to recognize
24:47for whatever reason isn't translating to actually doing it on the ice.
24:50And that's, you know, it's almost up and down the lineup like you can maybe
24:56figure out, you know, a handful of guys who are actually playing hard on
25:00night-to-night basis.
25:01Like, all right, but the fourth line, those guys.
25:04Sure.
25:05But outside of that, like, I don't know that anyone's really bringing it
25:09consistently different guys and in different pockets here and there, but
25:13otherwise it's just, you know, all those guys were talking about like
25:18underperforming or not putting up points.
25:20It's like, yeah, those guys should all be top nine forwards.
25:24Like, you can't just, you just can't have that many guys underperforming and
25:28expect to go anywhere.
25:30You can't.
25:31And, and these are your highest earners.
25:33I mean, McAvoy is trying to do way too much on a shift to shift basis and
25:38Pasternak, just the body language sometimes is, is not good.
25:42And, and I think, you know, they, it's funny, Elliot Friedman wrote in 32
25:47thoughts, I think it was last week, maybe the week before mentioned how, you
25:52know, just a theory of his was that the Bruins kind of got demoralized by those
25:56two Panther losses early, where it's like, you're preparing your whole season
25:59to beat the Panthers.
26:00And in your first four games, you lose to them twice.
26:03And what kind of mental impact that has on them.
26:07And maybe it does, maybe it doesn't, but they look like a team that isn't
26:11playing for anything.
26:12I mean, you're right.
26:13Like the second, the second and third efforts winning puck battles,
26:17hustling.
26:18It's just, it's not there.
26:19I mean, that one goal on Thursday night, um, that the Flyers scored in the
26:23second, it's like, geez, it like cover them, win your battles, like hustle
26:29back.
26:30And, and that's where, you know, like, I think it was geeky who kind of did
26:33like a, a sort of a fly by, um, on the eventual score.
26:38If it is a portrait to potter along the board, right.
26:40Does the fly by that, that opens up a free passing lane.
26:44And it's yeah.
26:45Two, two forwards went off for a bad change there.
26:48Like the flyers were already one.
26:50Yeah.
26:51The flies were, I mean, yeah, the flies were already transitioning up ice and
26:54pasta knocking.
26:55I forgot who the other board was.
26:56Both are going off for a change there.
26:58And it's like, they've got five guys going forward and now you have two guys
27:02heading to the bench.
27:03Like, what do you think is going to happen here?
27:05Um, and that there's so many, there's so many mistakes like that too, where
27:08it's like, again, it almost seems like a lack of just mental engagement.
27:13I mean, how many unforced icings has this team had, you know, five and
27:18five, and then even on the power play, like they've had some icings where
27:21they've just completely missed passes.
27:24Like it's yeah.
27:26They, they, they just look, they look so often, you know, the, the Panthers
27:31thing maybe, but even that it's like, that's a couple of weeks ago, you know,
27:37you're, you're right.
27:38Like they get over it, get over yourselves.
27:41Like, okay.
27:42You're going to face them again later in the year.
27:44Like, worry about it that right now, just figure yourselves out.
27:48Yeah, no, it's exactly what it is.
27:51Um, so we've kind of discussed Montgomery getting fired.
27:54I wonder if there's other avenues to kind of spark the team too, that aren't
27:58just Tyler Johnson and Fabian Lysel.
28:00Uh, but first quick word from our friends over at game time, there's
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29:17Now back to the show.
29:19So I think it's interesting.
29:21I was on pucks with hags with a diver and hags actually earlier on
29:25Wednesday.
29:26So I'm in like the same outfit, the same people probably like, wow, he
29:29just never changes his clothes.
29:31It's like, no, I'm recording a million in a day.
29:33This is the same thing I had on for Wednesday skateboards.
29:36Exactly.
29:37Like, you know, we're not, you know, I don't have a designers designing
29:41me or anything.
29:43And Dipper brought up the idea of a trade.
29:46And I thought this was interesting.
29:49Trent Frederick and Morgan geeky, both in contract years, both nearing
29:54the end of their deals.
29:56Frederick, you know, obviously kind of wanting probably wants to be
30:01looked at as a top six forward as he enters the market was promoted to
30:04the fourth line on Wednesday.
30:05So I don't think that's going so hot.
30:07I think he has three points in, in, in 10 games and geeky as one point
30:12in nine.
30:14He brought up the idea of like a Trent Frederick for Frank for Toronto
30:18trade or some sort of semblance of that, you know, just dealing off a
30:22Frederick or a geeky Frederick, a guy that the room really likes someone
30:27who, you know, is still young, has some promise, has some grit to his
30:30game.
30:31Maybe he has some trade value and he is, you know, on an expiring deal
30:34and a team like Anaheim maybe would want someone that's young and like
30:39that.
30:40And maybe it's not a Frederick for a Toronto, but I do wonder if Sweeney
30:44starts to take calls on those guys.
30:47I don't know what trade value Morgan geeky has right now.
30:50I can't imagine it's much at all, but Frederick might have a little bit
30:53more.
30:54And I wonder if that's an area, a guy like a Frederick because no one
30:58else off.
30:59I mean, like Brazil, you're really dealing Brazil, you're not dealing
31:02anyone on the off the fourth line, although that would be the definition
31:05of selling high.
31:06Like you, you get like a second round pick for Cole Kempke.
31:09It's like, holy crap, we're cooking.
31:11We're dealing.
31:13But I do wonder if it's someone like a Frederick that gets that gets dealt
31:18or they go that route before or even after firing the coach.
31:22Yeah, it's it's fair.
31:24You know, I said like you can't make five trades, but yeah, you can make
31:28one, maybe two.
31:30Like it's it's possible this generally there aren't a whole lot of trades
31:36that get made this time of year.
31:38Although, you know, Utah and Detroit did just make one on Wednesday
31:43involving Ali Mata really because Utah has had like forty seven injuries
31:49on defense.
31:50I was going to say.
31:51Yeah, it's like they had to do something like the holy cow.
31:56But yeah, generally you don't see a lot of trades around this time of year.
32:00Certainly not like hockey trades, which I think is what the Bruins
32:03would want to do.
32:04I don't think they'd be interested in getting like picks or prospects
32:08like they'd want to know, you know, they'd want another player back.
32:13But yeah, you can poke around and see what's out there.
32:17You know, something like that trade in particular, Frederick for Vitrano,
32:21like that would make sense, right?
32:24You know, Vitrano probably sparks your offense a bit, you know,
32:29with Frederick.
32:30It's the ironic thing there is like Anaheim would be acquiring him,
32:35hoping that, you know, they're getting like this guy is going to kind of
32:39play tough, gritty, hard, you know, help kind of change.
32:44Change the culture a little in that way or how the team works
32:48and all those same things like make him in theory perfect
32:54for what the Bruins wanted to be this year.
32:57But he hasn't been that and they haven't been that.
33:01So yeah, like he's Frederick, especially like that.
33:06I know he has three points, so like he doesn't stand out as much as Coyle
33:10or Geeky down at one point, but I really feel like Frederick has just not
33:14looked like the player you expect him to look like, you know,
33:19not nearly as physically engaged as we've seen him in the past.
33:24You know, I feel like every time you see any Bruin kind of making a hit
33:30that can change momentum, it's always that fourth line and it's not Frederick.
33:34And like he has been that guy in the past and it just hasn't been there
33:39this year and he certainly hasn't been involved offensively nearly as much.
33:43So, yeah, I kind of feel like everything should be on the table.
33:47You know, I don't know how, like I said, like how realistic it is to actually
33:51pull off a trade in October, you know, or as the calendar turns to November here.
33:57But it's an option.
34:00Like I don't I think there's very few guys, you know, maybe a handful
34:05that you would consider like untouchable right now.
34:07So with all due respect to Trent Frederick, he probably would not be one of them.
34:12I agree.
34:13And that's the thing is that I think everything's on the table and you need
34:16to spark things some way because like again, I think this sort of hits back
34:21at this of like, you know, I had high expectations for this team this year
34:25in large part because, you know, they spent a lot of money getting a number
34:29one center.
34:30They spent a lot of money shoring up their defense with Nikita Zdorov,
34:33which again, I think everyone was kind of lukewarm on that at the time
34:36anyway, like, oh, you're getting bigger.
34:38But like, you know, how much better are you getting?
34:40I mean, that is an upgrade over grizzly objectively.
34:43So like I think that that's fair.
34:45And you also had guys like Trent Frederick and Morgan geeky entering
34:49contract years where it's like, all right, they're coming off of two really
34:53good years.
34:54And in their year where they're going to have to prove themselves, they're
34:57going to do it.
34:58And there's, you know, that everyone's moved back in the lineup.
35:00And, you know, maybe they'll play with pots or maybe they'll play with
35:02coil, whoever they play with.
35:03Like you're going to have more points and they're going to, you know,
35:06really prove themselves.
35:07And it's going to make it hard on the Bruins next year.
35:09I mean, they've tanked their value through their, through their first,
35:13you know, through the first eighth of the season.
35:15And I think that's also what's sinking.
35:18The Bruins is, you know, we talk about guys like McAvoy and Pasternak
35:21and Elias Lindholm not performing, but you also have these guys in the
35:25middle.
35:26Marsh and coil Frederick geeky, who just are not doing anything.
35:31And, you know, at least, you know, Marchand had that goal on, um, had the
35:35goal on Saturday night and he's had chances and this and that, but the
35:38puck's also not staying on his stick.
35:40Like, that's the other thing.
35:41And again, I don't know what the reasoning for that is, but like, he's
35:45having trouble handling the pocket times.
35:47And so they, you're right.
35:49They look off.
35:50They are way off.
35:51And does that change?
35:53If Jay Leach gets promoted, does that change?
35:55If Joe Sacco gets promoted?
35:57I don't know.
35:58I don't know.
35:59I don't know.
36:00Like, do we hit a point in December where it's like, holy crap, maybe
36:03this roster just isn't good.
36:05Like, and I, you, you're not blowing this up.
36:08Like I did.
36:09I will always disagree with blowing this, this core up.
36:12Um, McAvoy, Pasternak, Swayman, like you've got those guys signed.
36:16Those are, you know, high-end NHL players, at least they freaking
36:19should be, you know?
36:21So I, I don't know what, like, where do you see this headed?
36:25Yeah.
36:26Yeah.
36:27Well, the thing is, like, there's the debate of whether you improved
36:32from last year and put together a roster that can compete for the cup.
36:36Like, that's, that's one thing.
36:38And they feel very far from that right now.
36:41Completely.
36:42But even, okay.
36:44Even if you say like, maybe that's not their ceiling.
36:48This roster should still be way better than it's been so far than this
36:52team has played so far.
36:53Like, this should still comfortably be a playoff team.
36:57And right now they're not in playoff position.
37:00They're tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference.
37:03They're on tiebreaker.
37:04They're last in their division.
37:06They only have two regulation wins through 10 games.
37:09So, yeah.
37:11Like, so even if, even if we need to lower their ceiling and listen,
37:15I'm someone who thought this team was going to be a cup contender.
37:19Like, I'm with that was, that was what I said going into the year.
37:22I thought they're going to be built better for the playoffs.
37:25Even if they lost a few points in the regular season,
37:28because you don't have the best goalie tandem anymore.
37:31So, all right.
37:32That might cost you some points,
37:33but never did I imagine them playing like this for any prolonged stretch.
37:39And, you know, like you can play the, yeah, it's early in the season game,
37:43but you know, you're,
37:46you're getting to a point where like you're in a position where you have to
37:50start playing some ketchup and you don't want to be doing that, right?
37:54Like everyone talks about that Thanksgiving mark,
37:56like that's three weeks out and it's not hard and fast.
38:00There's teams that have proven that wrong in recent years that have come from
38:04lower in the standings in the second half of the year to make a run.
38:08You can do it, but you don't want to have to like, you know,
38:12you don't want to be in a position where you need like a 700 winning
38:16percentage over the second half of the year to make the playoffs.
38:19Like that's really tough.
38:21It's really tough to do.
38:23It is.
38:24And I mean, you're six points back of Florida right now.
38:26Who's in first.
38:28It's been the worst case scenario to start the year, I think.
38:31And it's,
38:32it's really kind of been a mess because you start with the swaying and stuff.
38:35And obviously they get it done right before the start of the year at the
38:3811th hour.
38:39But they also went through hell to get it done.
38:42And then you've got this where they just come out of the gate and they flop
38:46and they've completely flopped.
38:47And again, maybe over the next four games, they win all four.
38:50Maybe they go into Carolina on Thursday and win and they go to Philadelphia on
38:54Saturday and do the same.
38:55And they come home against Seattle and do the same in Toronto.
38:58And we sit here a week from now and go, Oh my God, this team is,
39:02is great.
39:03But you know, that guy's just starting to cook.
39:05But what indication do we have of that happening?
39:08That's the other part.
39:09Like we have, we have not, we have no, there's no sign Saturday.
39:13I thought was,
39:15but then you come out against one of the worst teams in the league,
39:17one of the worst defensive teams in the league and put up no goals and three
39:20shots in the third period.
39:22And I have a tough time believing that they're just going to write the ship
39:25in the next couple of days.
39:26I just don't.
39:27Yeah.
39:28They need to string good days together and good games together.
39:31And that's like,
39:34there's no excuse for them not being able to do that Tuesday.
39:37Like you had that win over Toronto yet Sunday off,
39:41yet a good full practice on Monday.
39:44And then you go out and do that Tuesday night.
39:46And it's like,
39:49it just, they can't be good.
39:51Once out of every five games,
39:53like they need to string together four or five straight good ones,
39:57almost regardless of the result.
39:59Like obviously they need to start winning games too,
40:02but just playing well game after game,
40:05like put four or five together and then maybe you can have an off game.
40:09Right.
40:10No one expects you to do it all 82,
40:12but they've been way too inconsistent.
40:15And just like,
40:17just a complete inability to,
40:20to ratchet it up for,
40:22you know,
40:23more than a game every like week and a half or two weeks.
40:26Completely,
40:27completely.
40:28And again,
40:29I think it's going to be fascinating to see what happens over these next
40:33couple of weeks,
40:34because I mean,
40:35we haven't had a stretch of Bruins games like this in how long.
40:39I mean,
40:40it's like,
40:41I can't remember a time when they've struggled to this extent since I've
40:45started doing Bruins beat.
40:47And that was 2019.
40:48Like I,
40:49I mean,
40:50obviously take the playoffs out of it.
40:51That debacle against the Panthers in 2023 was on a different,
40:54that's a different stratosphere,
40:56but regular season wise,
40:57I can't remember a time when they struggled like this.
41:00Was it 2017?
41:02Was that the last time?
41:05Yeah,
41:06maybe.
41:07I mean,
41:09even last year,
41:10I feel like they had a couple of stretches of maybe like five or six games
41:14where,
41:15you know,
41:16they'd fall off.
41:17Like they had one right before Christmas where they,
41:20they had a little bit of a skid,
41:22but it wasn't 10 games.
41:24And so,
41:25yeah,
41:26like 10 games is a pretty long stretch where they have not played good
41:30hockey.
41:31And for it to happen right out of the gates.
41:33Yeah.
41:34Yeah.
41:35I mean,
41:36I don't know how you get the questions about Montgomery's job status or
41:39about,
41:40are they going to make a trade or whatever,
41:42because there's nothing to fall back on.
41:44Like if,
41:45if this stretch happened,
41:46you know,
41:47if they got off to a good start through two months and then this happened
41:50in,
41:51in December,
41:52you'd be like,
41:53okay,
41:54well,
41:55this doesn't look good,
41:56but Hey,
41:57they have two months where we saw them playing pretty good hockey.
41:59Like,
42:00no,
42:01right now you don't have anything to fall back on as far as like,
42:03at least we know they can do it.
42:04They just have to get back to it.
42:06Like now you're getting people really kind of starting to wonder like,
42:10well,
42:11wait,
42:12can,
42:13can they do it like at all?
42:14Or is this just what this team is?
42:15So,
42:16yeah,
42:17they got it.
42:18They have to figure it out fast.
42:19Yeah.
42:20It's going to be interesting.
42:21Scott,
42:22what can the people look forward to from you over at EI?
42:25More,
42:26more skate podcast articles up on wei.com.
42:30I think that's it.
42:32Yeah.
42:33Get my Twitter handle here at S McLaughlin nine.
42:36And yeah,
42:37all that good stuff.
42:38All the fun stuff.
42:39Well,
42:40Scott,
42:41thank you for joining a very positive,
42:42uplifting episode of Bruins beat.
42:45I'm sure people are ready to spend money on the team and are really
42:48excited about these next four.
42:49We got it.
42:50We got them amped up,
42:51which is just what you need.
42:52Scott,
42:53as always,
42:54thank you.
42:55And that's what Bruins beat.
42:56I'm Evan Marinovsky,
42:57Bruce B listeners have a great rest of your week.