On this episode of Pucks with Haggs, host Joe Haggerty is joined by Boston.com's Conor Ryan and the Boston Globe's Kevin Paul Dupont to discuss the B's comeback win against the Blues, if it changes their opinion on the long term look for the team and whether Trevor Zegras would be a good fit for the Bruins. All that, and much more!
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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 price picks,
00:08the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the CLNS media network, I believe is the 140th
00:14episode of the pucks with hags podcast. Nice round number there. Thank you everybody there
00:18for listening. I'm your host, Joe Hagerty. You can find my work at joehagerty.substack.com
00:23subscribing, get yourself a premium membership. You get all of my Bruins and NHL writing
00:27sent straight directly to your inbox. I also write columns three times a week for the Boston
00:31sports journal at bostonsportsjournal.com. So Chuck that out as soon as you can today,
00:36today with me, I have double barreled action from boston.com slash Boston globe, the tag team
00:43on the hockey beat here, Connor Ryan and Kevin Paul Dupont. Thank you very much boys for joining
00:47me. Thank you for having me to be here. Hags, especially at number one 40. There you go.
00:54Use my IQ. Okay. There you go. Yes. We're, we're right into the Mensa category here. We're busting
00:59right through into that wall. Um, with all this, uh, smart, ingenious hockey talk that we have
01:04coming up. All right. Um, let's thank our sponsors real quick. Prize picks, download the prize picks
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01:19bonus. It's guaranteed prize picks run your game. And also if you need any tickets right now,
01:25this time of year, it's Patriots tickets, Celtics tickets, Bruins tickets, comedy tickets,
01:29concert tickets, any of that stuff. Game time is the app to use. Download the game time app,
01:34create an account and use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply,
01:40but again, download the game time app, create an account and use the code CLNS for $20 off
01:45your first purchase. Download game time today. What time is it? Connor game time, game time.
01:52That's right, everybody. All right, let's get into a dupes. Uh, I will give you first crack
01:57at this just right off the bat, three to two comeback win by the Bruins last night. They
02:01looked DOA after 40 minutes down two to nothing, same old mistakes, bad penalties, offensive zone
02:07penalties, a putrid power penalty kill that continues to give up power play goals. Like
02:12the flaws were coming out again. It really didn't look good. Players were frustrated on the bench
02:17yet. Somehow they turn it around in the third period, score three goals. David Postner gets a
02:21game winner. They win three to two against an admittedly not great St. Louis blues team.
02:26Um, they were talking turning point after, uh, the game last night, things they can win,
02:31they can build off of all that stuff. I believe it was their first third period come back of the
02:36year. My question to you is, does anything you saw last night change anything about what you've
02:40seen to this point? Do you believe this was like some kind of galvanizing moment for this team,
02:44or this is just like a sort of high blip on the radar screen of their season?
02:50It was certainly entertaining. I mean, for many aspects and, and, and as I was watching at home
02:56and getting texts from friends who were, you know, saying, this is it for Monty and they'll fire him
03:01in Dallas where he got fired last time. And there's the, the only thing I can say is, and,
03:06and, and this isn't much, but I do think it puts to rest any belief that they've folded on the
03:13coach. They, they want him out. You don't play like that in the third period, because if that
03:18is what you're trying to do, then at, at Oh two going into the final 20 adios. And we'll see,
03:26we'll see Joel Quinville here on Thursday, right? Yeah. So there's that now the, the, the, the,
03:32the overriding comportment of the 60 minutes, it was just too much rubbish. Again, you,
03:38and you've pointed it out a dismembered power play, although it did in his brief time there,
03:44eight shifts, and I think eight minutes Lindholm at the point at least showed,
03:53showed interest in shooting, right. Looked shot ready. And so that, you know, I, you know,
04:01maybe that maybe there's something there they can build on that. If he can come back,
04:05the fact that he didn't come back after leaving late in the first, if it just been a stinger,
04:09I think he would have seen a back on the bench, five, seven minutes into the second.
04:13So there's probably something going on there where he took that puck above the knee. Yeah. But
04:18overall, no, I can't, I can't, because this is kind of how I was feeling. If you're focusing on
04:24getting traction and getting a toe in and all that, I felt that way. And then they went down
04:28to Carolina and got waxed eight to two. So we'll see. I mean, any, anything can turn it,
04:37but I don't feel that those 20 minutes will. No, I agree. And I'm credit to you here,
04:42dupes for being here and not a dying of shock last night when Charlie McAvoy scored on that
04:46shot from the point, which, you know, he was, he, perhaps he saw Lindholm do it. Although I will say
04:51McAvoy has been shooting a little bit more regularly recently. It seems like he's kind
04:56of got it in his head now that he needs to shoot the puck. And for that matter, posture neck,
05:0010 shots on net last night. One of the maladies or the things that I've seen in the early going
05:04from him is he's passed up a ton of great scoring opportunities to try to pass it to other people
05:10and work the puck around instead of putting pucks on net and trying to score, which is what he does
05:14best. So he was definitely back to doing that a little bit last night. Yeah. The Lindholm thing
05:20definitely looked like it hit him above the knee, above the pad on leg under his pants.
05:26And that's an area where you don't have any protection. And I'm sure that something was
05:29going on there for sure. And they definitely missed him. So that was part of the guttiness
05:34of that win too, is they were down to five defenseman peaks already injured. Now Lindholm
05:38goes down. So it was nice to see all those things. They definitely didn't fold in that game. You're
05:42right. If they had completely quit on the coach and they were actively trying to get them fired,
05:47they just would have been a no-show for another 20 minutes done deal. And like,
05:50you know, let's move on to the next guy. They did show some hearts, some competitive,
05:54some life there, but Connor and this has been a theme for a while now.
06:00When you continue to see the same mistakes over and over getting repeated over and over,
06:05like it's wash, lather, wash, rinse, repeat with this team where they're doing the same mistakes
06:11all the time. Same flaws are coming out. Same mistakes are happening. Yes. They get a three
06:15to two win against St. Louis, but they barely eked out a win against a non, what's probably
06:19going to be a non-playoff team while not looking great in those first 40 minutes and making some
06:24of the same mistakes. Like, does, does this change anything about the trajectory of this team? What,
06:28how you feel about this team? Maybe how you feel we're going with Jim Montgomery eventually at
06:33some point where it's going to hit a low point where they have to make a move or at least do
06:37some kind of shakeup with this team. Cause it's still continuously looks like they need that,
06:41even though, you know, Morgan Geeky scores his first goal. Some of the other things we saw that
06:44were nice last night and good moments for individual players, but like there were still
06:48eight players last night that didn't have a shot on net. There's still too many passengers on this
06:53team. And it seems like the last few games we've seen that there are way too many players that are
06:57not doing anything during the game. And it's on a few guys to carry the team and get them to where
07:02they need to be. Yeah, no, I mean, echoing what Kevin said, like it's a step in the right
07:07direction. You saw that the Bruins didn't just kind of roll over and kind of mail it in. And
07:12we'd all be, I think maybe bracing for some more dour news on, on Wednesday, if they ended up just
07:18getting shut out in that game against, as you said, admittedly bad blues team. But I think the
07:23biggest thing for this team is yes, it's a step in the right direction. You feel good about your
07:27game and wins a win, what have you, but we've seen countless times this year where the Bruins have
07:31had wins where we're like, all right, they're, they're, they're finding their game and they can
07:36build off of this. You have the overtime win over the Maple Leafs. You have those two wins against
07:41the Flyers and the crack. And what happened after both of those kind of get right moments,
07:46they've completely, you know, fallen apart. They get shut out by the Flyers after one of those
07:50stretches, they get shut up by the Maple Leafs on the road. And you've kind of, once again,
07:54fallen to these stop and start kind of sequences here, where if you're a good team, a team that
07:59wants to be in the mix for the playoffs, you can't have that. You can't, you know, when, when one lose
08:05two or kind of hover around 500 like this. So I think it's all about how they respond moving
08:11forward. This is again, a great win, a good character when you hopefully build off of it,
08:15but what do you know now you're going into Thursday on the road against a very good Dallas
08:19team that a lot of people think are going to make some noise in the playoffs come the spring. So
08:24if they go into Dallas and you know, they play a competitive game, you get a point out of it.
08:29Maybe you feel like they're building something or they outright win. But if they go in on Thursday
08:34and they take five more, you know, high sticking penalties and Dallas scores three power play
08:39goals against them and they lose five, one, where exactly does that leave you? I feel like we're
08:43back in the exact same spot of where we feel like this team is once again, treading water.
08:47And that's just not a sustainable way to go through a, you know, go into the Thanksgiving
08:52week moving forward. No, they have, I believe it's 84 minor penalties now this year, which is 12 more
08:59than anybody else in the league. They are 26th in the NHL in penalty kill at about 73%, which is
09:06just awful. And you put those two together and it's an absolute killer. Not only are you bad
09:11undisciplined and taking bad penalties, but you are not adept at all at killing them off. So it's
09:15like the two weaknesses feed into each other, like against any good team, they are going to
09:19dismantle you and take advantage of those two weaknesses. And it feels like to me, and it's
09:25felt like this for a long time. I've always felt like an undisciplined team that takes bad penalties
09:30and the special teams are definitely under the purview of the coaching staff. Those are things
09:34that come down to coaching to a strong degree and the things that coaches should have a control over
09:39on a hockey team, especially a professional hockey team. And they're out of control right now.
09:44Both areas are problematic. Dupes, how do you, how do they go about solving those kinds of issues?
09:53The offensive zone penalties, which there's not a, you know, that nobody keeps track of that,
09:57but I think they, I'm sure they lead the NHL by a wide margin in offensive zone penalties,
10:02in minor penalties in general, and the penalty kill. Like where can you go to straighten out
10:08these areas? You know, does it come down, does there need to be a change in the voice in order
10:13to fix those areas? Because right now, like for instance, last night watching the Blues power play,
10:19yes, they made nice plays. The bumper was wide open. Like nobody was actively trying to take the
10:24puck away from the very middle, the heart of the St. Louis Blues power play. They were just letting
10:29it go there and then the plays were being made from there. It just did not look like there was
10:33a lot of will or effort or want to on that penalty kill. And you combine that with, they give up a
10:39power play goal and then they take another penalty what was like a minute later after that and go
10:44right back on the penalty kill again. I mean these, these are the kind of things we've seen all year
10:47long and what, what is going to have to change in order for this to improve? Well, short of a very
10:54large roll of gorilla tape, I don't know how, I don't know how to get a handle, a fix on all of
11:00that. It's, it's, you know, some of this hags too, let's remember it, Connor, is that there were
11:06concerns during the playoffs last year when they rolled up a record number of too many men on the
11:12ice penalties in two rounds. You know, the records they broke were of teams that had gone the four
11:17rounds. Yep. So they got there too fast. They had three abysmal starts. The first, first period starts
11:24very similar to the third period the other night where they didn't do anything for 20 minutes.
11:29They had one shot or they had two shots. So the starts were a problem during the playoffs.
11:35The discipline, the bench discipline was a, was a, you know, so I think what we're seeing is kind of a
11:40manifestation or continuance of a team that has trouble focusing. So, and that, you know, if you
11:48want to just say it's focus, I know that's, that's a very broad general term, but that's what it is.
11:55Something's got to get their attention. Now, methodology can do it. And I, and it will say,
12:02we don't talk about this much, but this is one of the failed methodologies of this team, which is
12:07when Sweeney went out and spent the big money on the two guys now who look grossly overpaid at the
12:12moment and, and Zdorov looks like he shouldn't even be on the team some nights. Hand in hand
12:19with spending all that dough was going to be, we're bringing in these big fast guys who are
12:24going to lead a four checking game, you know, interpretation. We're going to play down at the
12:29other end of the ice. Well, Tufte's in the minors. Who's the other kid they just shipped out? Max
12:34Jones is in the minors. Yeah, they're big. Yeah, they can skate, but application is everything.
12:40And frankly, we didn't see the speed. We didn't see the application. So that part could be
12:47sort of an anchor of, of getting their focus, which is if you could get
12:53the middle, the middle six or the bottom six really driven to leading a ferocious,
13:01uh, you know, uh, hunt and destroy for checking game, play it down the other end of they make it
13:07easier on the goal scorers as they come over the bench, maybe there's the traction, but that,
13:12that to me, we haven't seen, I haven't seen any of it. And I think that that could be a piece
13:18because other than saying, as I just did early, well, focus, you know, yeah, well, great, but you
13:24got to have an element here, a real element to build on. I don't see that it's the floor checking
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15:03the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed prize picks run your game. The way they talked about the approach
15:12to this season, the way they talked about July 1st of bringing those players in that you're talking
15:16about dupes. It sounded like they were trying to copycat the Florida Panthers and be more like the
15:20way the Panthers play and saw that as a nice formula to success and maybe a trend of where
15:25the league was trying to go with the high pressure, heavy forecheck, punish the defense. Certainly
15:30that's a recipe for success in the playoffs. And the Panthers have proven that the last couple of
15:35years. And it's something that I still think even in this day and age in the post season,
15:40you have to do is wear down the other team's defense around them over the course of a long
15:44series and kind of get them to bend to your will as the course of a six, six,
15:49seven game series is going on. Connor, just your thoughts on where they're at style of play-wise
15:56and what you see as a way to improve. If it can be improved some of the like flaws that we see
16:01in this team where special teams and discipline continue to be huge issues. Even last night,
16:06it was a great example of it where the first 40 minutes they were having major problems in both
16:10those areas and then they didn't take any penalties in the third. So it wasn't a factor
16:15and they were able to have success there when they weren't shooting themselves in the foot.
16:18Yeah. I mean, I do think that the lack of, you know, speed and puck pressure is something that's
16:23evident. I think it's no surprise when you look at how they play that the fourth line of castling
16:28Beecher and Kepke early on in the year were the only team where the only group doing anything
16:32because they were pressuring, pressuring puck carriers, making plays happen in the offensive
16:36zone. And it wasn't like they were, you know, like a 70s Soviet team in terms of how they're
16:40setting up these plays. They're crashing the net there, they're knocking home rebounds and they're
16:44making plays happen like that. Even you look at like the, the overtime Barshan goal a few games
16:51ago, whereas Lindholm just pressuring Anderson on the flames, like forcing a turnover, guys waiting
16:58at the crease and bangs home the rebound. Like that's kind of more of what you need. And that's
17:02when Sweeney mentions in the off season, like they, they need that speed and stuff like that.
17:07You see it with like how the Panthers play, like Nikita Zador, if you look at his profile, this,
17:12you know, six, six, the highlight reel is him bowling over players. And you're like, I want
17:16that guy. Then you get to the playoffs and a guy like Sam Bennett, who is what six foot six, one,
17:22not like the most imposing guy, but you notice him when he plays, especially in the playoffs,
17:27right. Where he's forcing turnovers, pressuring puck carriers. I think you just need more of that,
17:31that mindset. I don't think it's like the, the personnel of you need all of a sudden to have
17:35a bunch of six, four guys who look the pot, need to play the pot. And I just don't think
17:40you're seeing enough of that from the Bruins right now. So I think especially at five on five,
17:45you need a little bit more of that. And then personnel in the power play, you know, it's
17:49unfortunate that you lose Lindholm for a stretch there because, you know, it wasn't like he was
17:53necessarily reinventing the wheel in terms of what he was offering so far to start the year, but
17:58he was finding shooting lanes, was moving the puck with authority. And I think whether it's,
18:02you know, the lack of shot volume or the fact that the Bruins were just, seems like they were
18:06a half second behind what they needed to do. And in, you know, the NHL where, where these pro
18:11athletes are like that half second can be the difference between a puck getting through a
18:15shooting lane, a puck getting over to posture knock or not. And you're just not seeing enough
18:20of that. And that's why you hope Lindholm isn't out for a long stretch here. Cause I think putting
18:25him on the power play was a step in the right direction. You just needed to see a little more
18:29of it before he went down with that injury. Yeah. I mean, honestly, the, the balance of this season
18:34so far, I think Lindholm has been their most consistent defenseman. I think he's been their
18:37best defenseman to this point. McAvoy has been so erratic with the way that he's played. He's
18:42had some good moments, but he's really been up and down. Zdorov has definitely struggled to figure
18:48out his role and what, how he's going to operate best on this team. He's taken a ton of penalties.
18:53Carlo has, I think, gotten back to where he should be lately, but like really struggled
19:00at the beginning of the year. They're going to miss Lindholm if he's hurt and he's out for any
19:04significant period of time. One, one interesting thing or a couple of interesting things that
19:10Montgomery said this past week that I don't think have been talked much about was in regard to the
19:16penalty kill. And part of the reason it was struggling, we talked about it when they were
19:20at home earlier this week before they went in the road. And one of the things he said was that
19:24players that are on the penalty kill and they're trying new people out there need to relish the
19:27role that they're in. Maybe referencing that some players don't think they need to be on the penalty
19:34kill. Aren't happy to be on the penalty kill. Aren't like excited to be on the penalty kill
19:38and aren't really giving it everything they've got on there. And it needs to be more high effort
19:42and more max effort on the PK from some of those players. And the other thing was after the last
19:48loss, when they had zero shots in the third period at home and you know, third periods have been an
19:54issue. Montgomery made reference to, you know, when I think it was Scott McLaughlin asked him
20:00about if conditioning was an issue. And he said that conditioning was an issue during training camp
20:04to some degree and made a reference there. I thought that was really interesting too. And
20:08like that is actually sort of seems to have played out during the regular season with the awful
20:14October that they had. It did seem like it was not a great training camp for them. They weren't
20:18ready to go and ready to start the season right out of the starting gate. Maybe conditioning and
20:23the way things went in camp was A, they did maybe they didn't come in in the best of shape and B,
20:27they certainly weren't there at the start of the season. And then in Pasternak, I think, and I
20:33guess there was some reference to an injury yet over the summer where he wasn't able to work out
20:37completely on the road over the last couple of days. He mentioned something about that.
20:43But it seemed to me, he was one of those guys you could look at and say, he doesn't, he didn't look
20:46like he was in prime game shape to start this year when the season got going. Doops, did you make
20:52anything out of either of those comments from Montgomery just talking about, you know, guys
20:56relishing their roles on the penalty kit while they're out there or the training camp conditioning
21:00issue? Yeah, sure. And I wondered in retrospect to go back to the Pasternak thing. So Pasternak
21:04told the Czech media over the weekend that he was hurt at World Junior, World Championship.
21:14I don't think he went to World Junior.
21:1780 points in five games. That would be entertaining if he did. I would watch.
21:23So I wonder, I wonder what Montgomery might've been saying there. It was a concern because he
21:29had Marchand coming back from three operations and also that he hadn't made public until I asked
21:36him about, about what Pasta had said. He said, well, he, he basically said he had told me that,
21:41but I wasn't going to be telling the media. So, yeah. And, and, and frankly, I think Pasta was
21:46hurt before he went to the World Championship late in the season with the Bruins and he was
21:52nursing it along. And so ultimately he had four or six weeks there where we couldn't train this
21:57summer and his game has been off, you know, by, by his standards. So I think that's some of it.
22:03And I do think, I agree with Montgomery, you've got to have full buy-in on the PK and hand in
22:09hand with that, he's trying to temper or, or moderate Marchand's minutes on the PK and not
22:17wear him down at this age and have him fresher late in the season when you'll need him. So
22:21again, there's, there's, there's, there's multiple factors there, but a more energized power play
22:27with PK would certainly help. Of course, the, the, the odd dynamic here is yes, they're committing
22:34more fouls than anybody, as you pointed out, Joe, and putting themselves in the soup on the PK
22:41too often, but they're also contrary to a lot of Bruins teams, they're also getting the most
22:46power play chances, opportunities of anyone in the league. And that's only happened, I think,
22:52I think only once in the last 30 to 35 years, they've finished a season where they've had the
22:58most opportunities. Typically what we're saying about them is they're not moving their feet
23:02enough. They don't draw the foul enough, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. This year they are moving
23:06their feet enough. They are getting fouled. So it's crazy to me that they're leading both
23:11categories, one great, one awful. Yeah. They're kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum. It would,
23:18you would think it would tell you two different things about the team. You know, you would expect
23:23them to be low on the power play chances if they're high on the power plays and the penalties
23:26they're taking, but yeah, not the case. And I guess it would tell you that they're also in a
23:30lot of games where there's tons of penalties being called both ways, you know, and it's just a special
23:36teams fest, which is not, you know, part of the reason they're struggling is their special teams
23:40just are not good. And it's, it's a big factor. And I was actually talking to Trent Frederick the
23:44other day about his struggles. And it's something I'm going to write about at some point once
23:51things stabilize here. But like one of the things he was saying is he's not really on either a
23:57special teams unit. So when those games happen, they sitting on the bench for a while. And there's
24:01a lot of players in this category. They're just sitting there not doing anything for long
24:06stretches when the PK and the power player out there, and they totally lose rhythm with the game
24:10at that point and can't keep in touch with it. And, and maybe that's part of what's playing into
24:14him, you know, really having a tough season to start this year. Another guy, tough season
24:20this year, Morgan geeky. He's been scratched a couple of times. He definitely is, is not up to
24:26what he was last year when he had career highs and most offensive categories. He did score last night.
24:31Nice play posture neck feeds it to him and he scores. He was noticeable in the front of the net
24:36battling giving second and third effort. I felt like last night was the best game he's played
24:41all year and much more in line with the way that he played last season. Connor, anything you can
24:46read into his struggles what you saw last night and you know, is he potentially a guy that the
24:53Bruins could look at moving if you know, they do make a shakeup trade just based on his contract,
25:00the way he's played and maybe some interest that other teams might have in him given the way he
25:05played last year. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely a step in the right direction. His performance
25:10yesterday is kind of puzzling as to you look at what he provided last year and yes, it was a
25:15breakout year for him and he, you know, contributes to what 17 goals I think has over 140 hits, like
25:21do a little bit of everything for that team last year. And that kind of fit the template of
25:25so many guys that, you know, elevated their role between him, Heinen, what have you.
25:29And you're just not seeing much of anything in terms of engagement this year prior to the game
25:34in St. Louis. You're just not seeing, you're not noticing him out there, right? It's not like even
25:38these guys like Kepke or Kastelik who have been pleasant surprises where even if they're not,
25:43you know, burying the puck, they're making their presence felt on the four check, they're laying
25:48hits, they're doing little things. It just, he feels more of a passenger at least to start the
25:52year. So yeah, you hope that, you know, he's able to build off of that moving forward. I don't,
25:57it's not a good indictment, I think, on your roster construction that he's your top line
26:02forward right now, especially considering he hadn't scored a goal before Tuesday's game.
26:08But yeah, he is a guy that if you're the Bruins and you are trying to make a trade just to shake
26:12things up, I know the Penguins just traded Lazeller yesterday. He could be a guy that,
26:19you know, team could look at as someone you can try to draw something more out of. He's a player
26:24that the Bruins when they first got him saw like how little he was used in Seattle and think that
26:28he had more to give there. Maybe another team can have that same outlook in terms of what they can
26:34get from him. But, you know, the Bruins did that, what was it, like the 0-9-10 season where they
26:38started off slow and they traded Chuck Kobusu in like October. Like he could be kind of that next
26:43guy that's the kind of the shot across the bow of, you know, if things don't change, we're plucking
26:48this guy off the roster and seeing kind of how that changes things around. But just, you know,
26:53getting remotely enough from the guy. Maybe again, that's more of a statement on the way
26:56the Bruins were placing their bets in terms of what they were expecting in terms of secondary
27:03scoring and whether they thought all these guys that had career years like a geeky, like a coil,
27:08that was just going to be the status quo moving forward, which if that's the case,
27:12you operate with a whole lot of risk going into this year thinking those guys were going to,
27:16geeky was on pace for another 17-goal, 20-goal season moving forward.
27:20That is a great Bruins deep cup reference to Chuck Kobusu.
27:23Chuck Kobusu, of course.
27:24That's a good one.
27:25I'm going to give you props for that. And he's a Boston college guy and you still mentioned.
27:28Yeah, I know.
27:30No one's perfect.
27:32You know what team Boston sports fans are most excited about this time of year right now?
27:38It's not the Patriots, definitely not the Red Sox. I mean, there's plenty of Bruins fans that
27:44are very excited about the Boston Bruins, but I've got to tell you, I think the team that
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29:35and NBA tickets, folks. What time is it? It's Game Time.
29:49Your points on Morgan Geeky are well taken. I think last year, his play, second and third effort
29:57was everything to his effectiveness, to the way he played, why his offensive numbers were up. It was
30:02very evident watching him play night in, night out, that second and third effort was always
30:06there with him on the puck, off the puck, in front of the net. Maybe this year, knowing he had the
30:12inside track at the start of the year on playing in the top six and getting that first crack at
30:17Jake DeBrusque's vacant spot, maybe that changed his mindset of where he was in the NHL or where he
30:22is in this league or the way he can play or how he should play. I'm not sure, but it certainly
30:27looked like he was moving in a different direction with the way he was playing, and maybe he thought
30:32he was more of a skill guy this year than a guy that has to be second and third effort and do it
30:36in a blue-collar way. Maybe he's finally gotten the message that he needs to give what he gave
30:42last year in order to be effective. Dupes, what have you seen out of Morgan Geeky to this point,
30:48and what's your theory on why he struggled early in the year?
30:53I think his struggles basically have been his legs. What is he? He's a straight-line player,
30:59and I liked him a lot last year. We've seen so little of him this year, it's hard for me to make
31:04a real judgment on him. Again, I think he's a case of you can put pasta in and out of any
31:11of his six forwards, and you're going to get pasta shooting somewhere. Whereas Geeky, I think his
31:18style of game, his style of player is he'd be best on a fixed line, has a very defined role,
31:26and that role is what you saw last night, which is straight line, get to the net, knock a body,
31:31try to knock a body down, get in there. I would say he's one of three players I could see them,
31:39and this is strictly because of money. If they're going to go out and bring in a player of some
31:44substance, I think that's going to be an expensive player who's making some money,
31:48who's not performing very well. To do that, they're going to have to move some money.
31:53So Geeky's $2 million would be one peak at, I think, peaks at $2.75 million.
32:01Corpo Salo's $3 million. You can move him out and bring in Bussie. So between the three of those
32:08guys, I think between the three of them, it's about $7.5 million. You're not going to net that
32:14because you've got to bring in some kids to fill spots. So if there's a move, it isn't. Obviously,
32:20you can't trade Charlie. All these guys have guaranteed no-move contracts. The only one who
32:26doesn't, and of course they're not going there, is Swayman. He's too young to be in that category
32:31yet. So yeah, they can move his contract, but they're not doing that. So if they're going to
32:36make a move, I would say it is around the likes of Geeky and Peak, who's hurt at the moment.
32:41Corpo Salo, because that $3 million looks even heavier when it's $8 million and change for
32:49Swayman. So there's the math they can play with. Now, even then, that $5 million player I'm
32:57suggesting is going to be someone else's $5 million player who's not doing much, who they think they
33:04can put into the top six and make some magic. Right. And that's why he'll be available,
33:10whoever that player is, for the Bruins to pounce on. I wonder if Carlo could be entered into that
33:14mix too. He's a pretty valuable player to the Bruins, but his contract is, I guess, at a point
33:21where it could be movable, certainly for the kind of player he is. If you needed free cap space to
33:27get a player to come in, maybe you feel like with Lowry sort of coming on and young defenseman,
33:33Weatherspoon actually played really well last night and he's played well in pockets. Maybe
33:36you have the kind of players where you can withstand trading him and have a salary cap
33:40savings. But I agree with you, there's going to be at least a couple of players
33:45on this team with a salary cap hit that are going to have to be moved if you bring in a player of
33:49significance that you think is going to help. And the player that you've heard some whispers
33:55about, Trevor Zegers in Anaheim, maybe they think, because I think at this point you look
34:02at Pasternak and Lindholm did not work, right? It seems like Lindholm is a much better fit
34:07with Marchand. He's more of a Bergeron-esque presence. Lindholm, they seem to be working
34:11better together. So you still don't have a center to play with Pasternak if you don't like Zaka as
34:16a long-term solution at center. So it would reason to me that you would be on in the market for a
34:22center that could be potentially a number one center, or at least an offensively gifted center
34:26that you feel like could play well with Pasternak. And I think Trevor Zegers certainly would
34:30fit those kinds of categories. Thoughts, Dupes, on Zegers, what you think of him as a player,
34:37where you think he could fit in Boston, would that be a guy you would go after?
34:42Would that address some of these issues? You hear a lot of things in Anaheim that he doesn't really
34:48forecheck the way Greg Cronin wants him to. He doesn't play two-way center the way Greg Cronin
34:52wants him to. And it doesn't really fit what they're trying to do out there. But it's that
34:58kind of player that's worn out as welcome one place that might be available in a trade.
35:04Wouldn't impress me. What I think we're talking about here is somebody who can come in and
35:11play the middle, play it with attention, play it with focus, not be a freelancer.
35:15That's kind of everything he is. He's got skill and he's soft, let's face it.
35:23There's a lot of jerseys though, Dupes. All the 10-year-old kids love him.
35:27Oh, of course. Of course. And I get it.
35:31Because he can score a lacrosse goal.
35:32Yeah. Yeah. So there's an eye candy factor there that, as a bobble, that's great. But
35:39shift to shift, game to game, fitting into, and it isn't robotic hockey here. It isn't
35:46straight system hockey. One thing about Montgomery, there's plenty of room for
35:52if you've got creativity in your game, use it. He'll let you use it. Not a lot of coaches will
35:56do that. But I don't see that he's the type of player that answers to that. Even then,
36:04show your creativity, but be reliable in all three zones and use that creativity
36:12based on time and score. It's one thing if you're up 3-1 and there's eight minutes to go,
36:173-1 even might be too tight in this league, but 4-1, roll it out then.
36:24So he's not the guy. And frankly, off the top of my head, I don't have to go back and look
36:28at rosters here. You've got to look at weak teams. I think Chicago's got a lot of ex-Bruins
36:35who are scoring. They're going to have guys who are at the UFA threshold. Taylor Hall is going
36:42to be one of them. You bring him back, something like that. Again, the fix for any team in 2024
36:53hockey, 2025 and on, is on July 1. They tried it. The two guys they got to fix it right now
37:01ain't the answer. And I think Lindholm can be a valuable piece. When they start to play better,
37:09we're going to see more of him. I don't see he's the guy who carries you
37:12to that part. Zdorov, I don't know what to make of Zdorov right now. I don't.
37:19I don't. Yeah. I think Zdorov is like, the book we had heard on him coming here was they'd kind
37:26of settled into who he was as a player and some of the mistakes that he'd made and some of the
37:31things that he does had gone away. And I don't think that's what we've seen here so far as him
37:36at times trying to do way too much and taking too many penalties, being out of position too much,
37:44being far away from the net, trying to do things that he shouldn't be doing instead of just
37:48guarding the front of the net and being that hulking presence around the front that you
37:53expected him to be. And maybe as he settles in, he'll be more of the player that they need him
37:58to be rather than the player that he's trying to be right now. And who knows? It's hard to
38:04play armchair psychologist with why he's playing the way that he is, but I think he's definitely
38:08trying to do too much. There's no question about that. And maybe live up to the contract that he
38:13signed. Kind of like what we were saying long ago about David Backus. Yeah. They brought Backus in,
38:18gave him the money, telling me that guy wasn't that guy. Good guy. Nice, right? Talk forever,
38:25yada, yada, yada. But, you know, vastly overpaid for the role that he didn't fulfill.
38:34And part of it with Backus too, looking back in hindsight is he was kind of done. I think when
38:37they signed him too, he was a little bit older, I think there's a door off. And I think he was
38:40really close to the end of the line when they got him. And it's always like when those big
38:45bruising forwards talk about like they lost 15 pounds and they're trying to get faster. That's
38:49when you know, they're really in trouble because they're just like trying to like change their
38:53identity and it's not going to happen. You know, that's when he said that, that one training camp,
38:57I was like, Oh, that's not good. Like he's that's, that's when, you know, it's really the
39:00end for those kinds of players. I know Zegers went to BU for what, like a semester, Connor?
39:06I know that, yeah, I'm sure. I think one year. He lasted longer at BU than JR lasted at BC.
39:13I'll say that. That's true. You know, creativity wise, offensively, I think he would be really
39:21interesting with Pasternak. I think that could be actually kind of fun to watch, but he does not,
39:26and has never felt like the kind of player that you want in a significant role on your team in
39:30the playoffs or when things really get intense or when mistakes get magnified, or when you need a
39:35guy that can play two ways and, you know, play a mature game of hockey. I always think of that
39:41video. I'm sure you've seen this Connor where Zegers, and I don't even know who it was in the
39:46ducks were screwing around with some like pregame, like routine they went through and get sloth was
39:50looking at the two of them. Like, what the hell are you kids doing? Like this is ridiculous.
39:54That's what I think he is. He's kind of just a young carefree kid that I don't think wants to
39:58play the way you need to play in order to have like sustained success and team success at the
40:04NHL level. And part of it probably is because he got stardom based on a few trick goals that he did
40:09and some of the skills he brings to the table and the kids all love him and all know who he is.
40:13And why should he do anything differently than that? Because he's like already, he's already
40:17been on a video game cover from what he does instead of, you know, getting the team success
40:22and doing all that stuff. But your thoughts on Zegers as a potential guy coming in here?
40:27Well, you look at his stat line this year, Joey sure feels like a Boston Bruin this year and that
40:30he has one goal and two assists in 14 games. So he'd fit right in, in terms of the actual
40:36production. Uh, no, I mean, I get the appeal in terms of the offensive creativity and putting
40:41him with David Pasternak, but this is a guy that, again, I think you look at this system,
40:46um, and what the Bruins preach in terms of accountability. I mean, how you go back to
40:51training camp where everyone, I think was on board, the Fabian Lysel hype train and
40:56was like, Hey everyone, like, just cause you can dangle through three guys doesn't mean you're in
41:00the NHL. Uh, and I think you look at just what the returns have been for Zegers, especially since Greg
41:07Cronin came in. It's not like Greg Cronin's asking these guys to, you know, play a two,
41:11one game every single night. But listen, as a team with a lot of young players that need to get their
41:16act, you know, in order just to play responsible two-way hockey and what's happened since Greg
41:21Cronin's taken over, uh, Zegers has seven goals and 18 points in 45 total games. Like that ain't
41:28great. And if you're, let me tell you, I think the pressure in Boston's probably just a little
41:33bit more than it is out in Anaheim right now. If you have a guy like Zegers, who's got that,
41:38that hype, that appeal, if that trade ever happened, like people would probably be so
41:42excited looking at the highlight reels, kind of like how everyone looked at the highlight reels
41:45of Zdorov when they got them too. And I think when you look at Zegers and how his production
41:51has plummeted, um, you know, his, uh, inability kind of mold his game right now. Um, like hell
41:58he could go somewhere and end up, you know, writing the ship, what have you. I just don't
42:03feel like he's the right fit for what the Bruins need right now. And I think there's just, I think
42:07a lot of risk involved in terms of what player he can be. I don't think like he's going to go
42:12somewhere and all of a sudden be a 90 point guy. I think if you're the Bruins, you take him. If he
42:16can be a guy that can give you 25 goals or something like that, and he hasn't even shown
42:21that he can take that next step in Anaheim. So what's he going to do if he goes to a team like
42:25Boston? I think what Connor's trying to say here and he's utterly convinced me is we'll take
42:30Celebrini. I agree. Exactly. Yes. Yes. We'll take the best available BU superstar. Can we get James
42:38Higgins? We're focusing on the wrong West coast team guys. Exactly. Yeah. We call Mike
42:46Greer instead. I'm going to move a little North. Yeah. I just want to accumulate the BU superstars,
42:51the latest BU star, get them on the team as soon as possible. Let's do it. Let's make that. I'm
42:55sure Don Sweeney would be in favor of that as well. The hockey players. All right. Uh, thank
43:00you very much, boys. I think we did a significantly good job. It is the media of making the Bruins
43:04fans feel bad after a field good hockey team. So that's what we do. Well done guys. That's right.
43:12Give you everybody a pat on the back and some applause. All right. Let's thank our sponsors
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43:48What time is it Connor? Game time. Game time. Dupes. Connor, thank you very much for joining us.
43:55Thanks for having us. Everybody else out there, thank you for listening. We'll see you at the
43:59round.