On this episode of Pucks with Haggs, host Joe Haggerty is joined by guests Mark Divver and Mick Colageo to discuss whether the Bruins are contenders or big pretenders after an 8-1 dismantling at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets. That, and much more!
**********************************
💰 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!
**********************************
💰 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
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Pucks with Hags is brought to you by Price Picks and the Game Time app.
00:05Welcome to the Pucks with Hags podcast powered by Price Picks,
00:08the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the CLNS Media Network.
00:12I believe this is the 148th episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast,
00:16so thank you for listening and tuning in. I'm your host, Joe Hagerty.
00:20You can find my work at joehagerty.substack.com.
00:23Subscribe and get yourself a premium membership.
00:25You get all my Bruins and NHL writing sent straight directly to your inbox.
00:29I also write columns three times a week for the Boston Sports Journal,
00:32so check out bostonsportsjournal.com. Some great stuff on the Patriots,
00:36the Red Sox, the Celtics, and of course, the Boston Bruins there,
00:40so check all that out with me today. I have long-time friends and colleagues,
00:44Mick Colaggio and the New England Hockey Journal's Mark Diver.
00:47Gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us.
00:50Pleasure.
00:51Let's also thank our sponsors real quick.
00:55Download the Price Picks app today and use the code CLNS and get $50 instantly.
00:59When you play $5, that's code CLNS on Price Picks to get $50 instantly.
01:04When you play $5, you don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus.
01:08It's guaranteed. Price Picks run your game.
01:11Let's also thank the folks at GameTime. If you need any kind of tickets, go to GameTime,
01:17download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code CLNS for $20 off your first
01:21purchase. Terms do apply, of course, but download the GameTime app, create an account,
01:26and use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.
01:29Download GameTime today. What time is it, Mick?
01:31GameTime.
01:34GameTime. That's right, Mick. Good job, buddy.
01:37All right. Let's get into it, Mark and Mick.
01:428-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.
01:48I mean, that was just an ass-whooping.
01:50They've had several of these on the road this year against good teams,
01:54against Dallas, against Carolina. Similar to that, it was 3-1 after the second period,
01:59but definitely they weren't playing great. You could see some looseness defensively and
02:04some bad penalties and some other things going on, and just the bottom completely dropped out
02:10in the third period. 8-1 loss.
02:14I guess the first thing, guys, I would just ask each of you, and Mark, we'll start with you,
02:19what was the biggest thing that stuck out to you at the end of this loss to Winnipeg last night?
02:26Well, that the previous wins, the winning streak, we knew it was against teams that
02:37aren't at the top of the league, and that certainly was reinforced last night against
02:44one of the better teams in the league. And I think at this point, the reality is this is
02:50where the Bruins are. They're not one of the top teams. They can't necessarily play with the
02:56Winnipeg Jets. Some nights, yeah, they can, but I think this is who they are at this point.
03:06I think that's the message to me. You don't expect to lose by seven goals, for God's sake, but
03:12against a very good team, they're going to come off short many nights.
03:19Yeah, and I think, look, like I said, this is the third time that it's gotten away from them
03:24against a good team, a playoff-caliber team, Dallas, Carolina, and now Winnipeg, and I think
03:29that's not a coincidence. When that happens to you several times, and it's kind of the same
03:35blueprint, that's not an aberration, that's not an outlier, that's kind of where you're at, and that's
03:39the reality check right now for this Bruins team. I did some of the numbers, five and nine against
03:46teams in the playoff structure right now this season, the Bruins. They've been outscored by 24
03:52goals in those 14 games. They have a minus-24 goal differential against the playoff teams,
03:58against the playoff-caliber teams in the league. So they've won some, lost more than they've won,
04:03gotten blown out a few times, and it hasn't been close a few times against these teams. So
04:07when they don't bring anything but their best, they get smoked by these good
04:10playoff teams, and that's just where they are right now. It continues to look to me
04:16like this is a first-round exit kind of team. This is a team that's probably
04:21going to get in the playoffs. They're third in the Atlantic division right now. They can beat
04:25the weaker sisters and the teams that they're supposed to beat, but they go up against
04:30the iron and they can't get it done. So that looks to me like the kind of team that gets into the
04:34playoff structure, gets in on a wild card maybe, and then is out five, six games in the first
04:41round, and that's it. You got to go back to the drawing board a little bit. Mick, anything that
04:46you took from last night's game, an overriding impression, and just your thoughts on what we're
04:50talking about here with the Bruins struggling against contenders and playoff teams, and really
04:55kind of showing maybe some of the flaws that this team has. The Jets have been the team that has
05:01been running out of gas in games and being tired with a tough schedule and with injuries, and
05:09obviously they were looking for a correction game. They didn't want to wilt again,
05:15but the Bruins shouldn't have been the team that wilted. It should have been toe-to-toe,
05:21and if there's something that I sense with the Bruins is that much like the 0-9-10 team,
05:28offense does not come easily for the Bruins. They struggle to generate offense, and if they
05:34feel like they've failed and it sets in as individuals and it becomes a collective, morale
05:40sinks and structure goes away, and thus you get a third period like you got last night,
05:47and it even affected Swayman finally with that shot out of the corner.
05:51I just think that Joe Sacco right now, his task is pretty much to
05:58try to get these guys to believe that they're better than they are, or try to find in them,
06:07if the Bruins believe what is in this roster can get there, can generate offense,
06:15and hang with good teams that have structure. Otherwise, we're going to start seeing the
06:22personnel, the shift of the season is going to go away from Bruins' dressing room to what they
06:28have on the whiteboard, and see if this team's going to start making some tweaks, start trying
06:33to get into a trade market, things like that, because right now it seems like there's a crisis
06:38of faith inside the group that they don't feel like they can generate the offense needed,
06:44and that's when you see them fall apart a little bit.
06:49Well, yeah, and the word I would use, Mick, is there's a fragility to this team and this group
06:54that hasn't been there before. I think there is a definite when things aren't going their way,
06:59when things start to go against them, especially against good teams, you see them crack and break
07:05much more than they had in the recent past. You just see these kind of moments, small pockets
07:12like the third period, where it just completely falls apart on them, and they can't reverse
07:15course. And look, I'll give credit, the difference last night from them getting whipped like dogs
07:22against Dallas and Carolina, and just taking it, was there was some fight at least in them last
07:28night. Trent Frederick got pissed, started a fight, probably didn't start it with the right
07:33guy because it was a guy that's never fought in the NHL, definitely not a fighter, and I think
07:37Winnipeg was not happy about that, that he picked a fight with the Gustafson kid.
07:41And then Kostelik goes at it with a six-foot-seven behemoth right after that, and that was a long
07:47time coming. Stanley had been, you know, he had pasta a couple times, there was stuff going on
07:51in that game, but they fought, and then you had Adam Lowry tangling with Nikita Zdorov right after
07:58that. So the one positive I took from last night's game is that it was a blowout loss, it got ugly,
08:04but at least some of the Bruins players showed that they were pissed at the end of it,
08:08and that they were going to go down fighting, and that they were going to do something about it
08:11instead of just taking it like they did in the first 20 games of the year, and not having any
08:15pushback or anything. You know, am I being a Neanderthal, Mark, thinking that way? Liking
08:20to see a couple of fights there at the end, or was this something that was something good to
08:24see from the Bruins? Well, if you are being a Neanderthal, Joe, I'm right there with you.
08:30Fighting good, Mark. Me like fighting.
08:37In some of those earlier blowouts, the Dallas game, they just took it. They just took it.
08:42Nobody stood up and said, okay, yeah, we're getting blown out here, but I'm pissed, and
08:47I'm going to try and do something about it. So there was that last night to, you know,
08:53at least keep you from shutting the TV off and going to bed. You know, but
09:00one thing that, against Winnipeg and against some of these other teams,
09:04one thing that stands out to me is the deficit in high-end skill that these teams have,
09:11that the Bruins have, compared to these teams like Winnipeg, Dallas, Florida.
09:18The Bruins don't have those guys up front. They don't have Kyle Conner. They don't have
09:23Stephen Shifley or some of the other guys who just, you know, are so offensively gifted.
09:31The Bruins have a handful of them, but they have to work so hard to put the puck in the net,
09:36and when it doesn't go in, like last night, they, and the other guys,
09:41everything they touch seems to go in, then they're going to get blown out.
09:45Yeah, we're going to get back to that in one sec, because I think that's a great point, Mark,
09:51but Mick, your thoughts on the fights there at the end of the game, and
09:56the Bruins kind of showing a little piss and vinegar there at the end of the game,
10:00that they weren't happy about the way things were going, at least some of them were anyway.
10:03Yeah, I wasn't really clear on the circumstances of Frederick's matchup there, how that evolved,
10:10but the fact that they fought, and the fact that they won the fights,
10:14well, they were 2-0-1, you know, I'll give Zydor off a tie, but I think that, but Kastelik...
10:22Well, and Kastelik, I give a huge amount of credit for, because he's a gigantic human being.
10:28Extend him ASAP, and pay, you know what, I know that the Maple Leafs made a mistake with a grinder
10:35forward, who was a tough guy, and wound up overpaying him, and it turned out to be one
10:38of the worst contracts in the league, I think just probably 10 years ago, can't remember his name,
10:44I don't think Kastelik is that kind of player, he looks to me, even in the playing of the game,
10:49like he understands very much what's going well, what's not going well, and how to react to it,
10:55and how to compete. I love what this kid brings, I feel like he's injected, he is so far and away
11:02the seventh player on this team, at this stage of the season, that, you know, this is the kind
11:11of player you need more of, and if you're not going to get high-end elite skills, at least get
11:20this. And a great identification by the Bruins on getting this guy in the Elmark trade, the best
11:28thing about it so far. Yeah, he was definitely, like, the element, the sandpaper, the physicality,
11:35the attitude that he brings, like, all that is something that was really not present on the
11:41Bruins' fourth line the last few years, and was really missing from that group in big amounts
11:48over the last few years, and they did a great job of identifying that kind of player to come in and
11:53be that guy, to the point where he's played on other lines now, because they're trying to get
11:57other players to play that way, and kind of get them dragged into the fight, and I think Kastelik
12:02can do that. But yeah, I've really liked what I've seen of him. I agree with your sentiments
12:07about extending him and making sure he's a longtime Bruin. I think he plays like a Bruin.
12:11I think he plays the identity that this fan base wants for this team. I think they appreciate him
12:17already, and I think he understands that, too. Like, I think he likes that, and he's voiced this
12:21a few times, that I think he enjoys knowing that the Bruins fans and the people that follow hockey
12:26in Boston kind of like his game and like what he brings and appreciate it, where maybe, you know,
12:32and we've seen this in Ottawa, where they kind of come down on Brady Kachuk sometimes for being a
12:36physical player and for playing the way that he plays. Like, you know, I don't know what's going
12:42on in Ottawa with the fans up there, but like, if you don't like the way Brady Kachuk plays,
12:45I think it's a you problem. It's not a Brady Kachuk problem, but maybe Kastelik was feeling
12:50that way when he was with the Senators, and now he's come to a place where everybody like sort
12:54of embraces the way he plays and isn't looking for, like, everybody to play with, you know,
12:59skill and grace and speed and, you know, be a finesse guy, and the hard-nosed, blue-collar kind
13:05of style of play is appreciated here. I mean, when you get your butt kicked on the road,
13:09especially in Canada, and you start fighting, you better win the fights,
13:15especially if you're a team like the Bruins or the Flyers. You better win the fights,
13:19because if you don't, then it's going to be like those battles against the mid-80s Canadians,
13:23where they had more tough guys than you did. Your toughest guys were tougher than their toughest
13:27guys, but if it was just somebody regular on the team, oh, all the time they'd get overmatched,
13:34you know, and so a lot of humiliation comes with that, and who's your daddy kind of moment,
13:42and yeah, do the Bruins go out looking like jerks last night? Good, let them. Take something,
13:48you know, get on the bus with some pride and, you know, let's go to the next one and see if
13:54you can figure out what's wrong with your team. I love Trent Frederick. He's a great kid. I think
13:59he's very popular in the room. I am okay with him being an a-hole, more on the ice. I think that's
14:05better for him and better for his game, and it's going to make him more effective. Like, if he
14:09wants to pick a fight with somebody like that and, you know, make a point, like, I'm totally fine with
14:13it, Mark. Frederick's a guy that has been so in and out this year and I think has struggled with,
14:18like, his identity of who he is as a player this year that a little more of that, I think,
14:23would go a long way towards him finding his game consistently night in and night out.
14:27Yeah, and he's just, he's really just come to life in the last few games,
14:32and yeah, he needs to be, he needs to be that guy. He needs a little
14:36Kostelik in his game, or a lot of Kostelik. You know, he's not, yeah, he can put the puck in the
14:44net once in a while, but he's not going to get by on that and, you know, he's not, he's not that
14:49skilled, you know, if he's, if he's skilled at all, but he's got to be, he's got to be a banger.
14:56He's got to be an instigator. He's got to be a guy who, who does things like he did last night,
15:02drops the gloves, and, you know, I feel like sometimes he's,
15:06he's a little too polite or a little, he waits to see, okay, do you want to fight me?
15:12Yeah, he's too honorable for his own good.
15:15You're going to fight. You're going to fight. It's, it's up, you know, I'm making that decision.
15:20He's, he's, maybe he's too nice of a kid. He is.
15:23You know, he wants to play within the code or whatever you want to call it,
15:27but sometimes you just got to drop them in and wade in there. And I wish, I wish he did more of
15:33that. Yeah, no, I agree. One other quick thing on hockey wise from last night, the Bruins, when
15:38they struck, not only is it the finishing end of the game, but just up and down the ice, there's
15:44so many fumbled pucks. It makes you think, boy, is the ice bad tonight? And then you have to see
15:48the opponents play the puck shooting these rink wide passes and it's fine. It can, everything
15:53connects. And you say, how come they can play the game at that pace? And the Bruins can't,
15:57I don't know. They all got the wrong kind of tape on their sticks or I'm not sure what half the time,
16:03but I, but I, you know, sometimes I wish I, you know, if I was like a, a little curmudgeon,
16:09like Eddie Shore coaching that team, I'd like grab everyone's hockey stick in there
16:14and do like a thousand strands of old school friction tape on their things and say,
16:18now pass the puck tape to tape and bend your knees, Madagascar, you know, and, and, you know,
16:24and, and, and let it be, let them find some chemistry at the pace that they can create it.
16:29But I just find the Bruins are tremendously sloppy and what should be routine plays. And
16:34when those go awry, you're always chasing the game.
16:37Yeah. And at this gets into, and this is the point Mark made earlier,
16:42what you see against teams like Winnipeg and, and specifically last night, I thought
16:48was the centers got dominated by Winnipeg centers. The, the play down the middle,
16:55man, Elias Lindholm, I thought was exposed last night and Shifley just dominated him and Shifley.
17:01It's interesting when you look at it a certain way, because when Bergeron and, and Crecci retired,
17:09who were the two biggest names that you heard might be coming in to replace them with the
17:13Boston Bruins. It was Elias Lindholm and it was Mark Shifley. Those were the two big names we
17:16heard that might be available. That might be candidates that the Bruins were probably looking
17:21at and potential. Obviously Shifley ends up signing an extension with Winnipeg and stays
17:26there long-term and the Bruins eventually get their man in Elias Lindholm. But last night,
17:31two of those goals that Elias, that Shifley and Kyle Connor scored five on five Lindholm was on
17:38the ice for his line was out there. He missed the net with six shots, Elias Lindholm. There
17:43was a play early in the game where Marcian had a perfect setup for him in front of the net.
17:47He just completely fans on the shot. And there was another time he got set up by somebody else
17:52and he fanned and kind of missed again. And, you know, I've seen this too much in the first few
17:58months of the season with Lindholm, where he gets set up for scores that a really skilled NHL player
18:04would just hammer home for a goal and would take care of. And he either misses it or he can't fully
18:09connect on it. And he certainly doesn't do enough damage to create an offensive opportunity.
18:14And now we're looking at guy, Lindholm was minus three last night. Like I said, missed the net
18:18with six shots. He is now on pace for eight goals and 36 points this season. That is his full season
18:26pace as far as far as his offensive production goes right now. And we're talking about a guy
18:31that got signed to a seven-year huge money deal, 54 plus million dollars this off season.
18:38Now, if this doesn't change, the Bruins are in real trouble. You know, if he, if this is who Elias
18:44Lindholm is, and this is all he's going to be like, as much as I like the fact that he hustles,
18:50that he's a pretty good two-way player, that he's got at least a little more physical than I thought
18:53he was going to be. And like, there's some things like back checking wise, hustle wise that I like,
18:59it's going to be a disaster if he can't produce more than this offensively.
19:03And they're tying up this kind of cap space with this guy and, you know, what they thought
19:07was going to be versus what he actually is. If he gets routinely outplayed by guys like Mark
19:12Shifley, they're going to lose every time they play a good team because their best players can't
19:16hang with the other team's best players. My question to you guys, Mick, and I'll start with
19:20you is what have you seen out of him? Do you think this is maybe just him, you know, getting used to
19:25his new surroundings and, you know, taking some time to get better because he's had some good
19:29seasons in the NHL? I know last year, like towards the end of the year, he was kind of in a third
19:34line center role in Vancouver, and maybe some have viewed him as ideally a third line center
19:39on a really good team, sort of a Charlie Coyle type. But he's also a guy, you know, that's put
19:44up 40 goals and 80 points in the league before in a season. And he's definitely had some good
19:47offensive seasons. Like, is this who he is? Do you think he's better than this? Like,
19:52where are we at with Elias Lindholm? Ooh, hell of a question. But I agree with your observations on
19:59him. I think that he has a lot of subtlety and polish to his without the puck game.
20:08With the puck, I feel like he needs elite wingers in order for his own production to go up.
20:15Not that he's going to be a passenger to their offense. He can interact with those players,
20:20I think. But if he has to be the main featured player who's going to produce offense,
20:25then I think people are going to be disappointed. I remember one time when Patrice Bergeron was
20:30first making $5 million a year, and he wasn't putting up great numbers. And there was some
20:36in our ranks who thought that he wasn't a $5 million player. Now, inflate that,
20:40that's probably about what Lindholm money is now. And Bergeron, you know, because he's such a hockey
20:48freak, he taught himself how to hit a one-timer from the circle. He taught himself how to play
20:53the bumper. He taught himself a lot of stuff that he just never stops. Like Donnie Sweeney
20:58was asked one time about Bergey and comparing him to Ray Bork as far as his intensity of
21:06commitment to the game goes. And Donnie said, I played with Raymond and Ray could step away from
21:10the game. Bergeron, he said, is unbelievable. He said he never, ever stops thinking about hockey
21:17and how to get better and what the team can do better. He never, ever gives it a rest.
21:22And I don't know Lindholm enough to know where he fits into this. The polish on his defensive game
21:30makes me think that there's going to be some of that there because he does some very high-end
21:34stuff when it comes to closing and surprising players and taking the puck from them in the
21:38middle of the ring. So there's some acumen there in him that's rare. And that's why the Bruins
21:44obviously saw that and liked that and said, we need that in our lineup. And because they saw
21:49production, even after Kuchuk left Calgary, he had a good year. And so they thought, well,
21:56it's all there. We need all we need to know here. And so, but it hasn't happened offensively for him
22:03yet. I hate it when guys in general try to shoot the puck, you know, 400 yards when it only needs
22:09to go 10 feet. And especially with today's synthetic sticks, everybody can make a goalie
22:15flinch from 35 feet. Why not just take the pass and not feel like you're going to go down to one
22:21knee and try to drill it through the glass, you know? And so I just like to see a more relaxed
22:26approach to the finishing plays on these guys' part. You know, it's almost like they're afraid,
22:30how am I going to look if this puck doesn't go in? It's going to look like I didn't try,
22:34you know, just do what you think makes sense.
22:38Mark, I'm going to get your thoughts on Lindholm in one sec, but I also want to take a pause in
22:42the podcast right now to give a little love to PrizePix. PrizePix is the largest daily fantasy
22:47sports platform in North America and the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports.
22:51Instead of battling thousands of other players, it could be pros or sharks to simply pick more
22:55or less than on two to six player staff projections. And you watch the winnings
22:58roll right in. It is fun and it is super duper simple. PrizePix is the best way to
23:03win real money this hockey season, which players are going off, which ones aren't.
23:06Make your picks in less than 60 seconds and turn your sports opinions into real money all season
23:11long on PrizePix. Join now because the holiday season, PrizePix is giving away two free picks
23:15in December and they're giving away 30 plus million dollars in rewards during Pixmas. That's
23:20right, I said it, Pixmas. This week on PrizePix, I'm looking at the hockey board and selecting
23:24Radko Gudis with over three hits, Vinny Trachek for over 11 face-offs won, and Brady Kachuk with
23:31more than 18 and a half minutes time on ice against Anaheim. Make your holidays bigger and
23:36brighter with PrizePix, the best place to get real money action while watching your favorite sports.
23:40You can also now win up to a hundred times your money on PrizePix. PrizePix now offers MasterCard
23:45for quick and early deposits into your accounts this sports season. Download the PrizePix app
23:50today and use the code CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play $5. That's code CLNS on PrizePix
23:55to get $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive a $50 bonus. It's
24:00guaranteed. PrizePix, run your game. All right, let's get right back into the podcast. Mark,
24:08the one overriding question, Mark, I guess I have about Linholm, and it's hard to say because I
24:12didn't watch a ton of him when he was on the West Coast. I did see him from time to time and thought
24:17he was a solid two-way center, is how much of this might be him continuing to get used to the guys
24:24he's playing with or just being in a new team and being in a new situation and, you know, sort of
24:29becoming automatic with knowing what guys are going to do in certain situations to be able to
24:33finish off those plays? And how much of this is maybe he's just not as offensively skilled as we
24:39thought he was? Like I, there's been a handful of times I've seen him in the early going in the
24:45first few months, not be able to handle or do something with a pass that one of his line mates
24:50has given him. And this has happened in the bumper during the power play. This has happened during
24:55five-on-five play. And you wonder if it's just not there or if he's just not expecting the pass
25:01and he's not ready for it. Maybe he's to Mick's point, squeezing the stick super hard and trying
25:07to really like impress everybody. And, you know, that is causing him to miss chances that he
25:12usually gets. Like, what exactly are you seeing with Linholm, who I think we all can agree is not
25:19a line driving kind of center. He's definitely a complimentary center, but he should be better
25:23offensively than he is right now. Yeah. You hope, you hope that it's an adjustment thing that,
25:31you know, moving across the continent to a new city and, you know,
25:35with your family and a new team, new line mates, new teammates, all of that.
25:41Yeah. You can understand that that could take some time to, to fit in. But too many,
25:48too many nights, I find myself thinking that this is a guy who's passed his prime.
25:55We've seen his best. He's had his best years. And now he's, he's not, he's not going to reach,
26:04you know, the, the, the, the point where he was in Calgary, maybe. And, you know, it's not,
26:12and if that's the case, then boy, that contract is an albatross. Yeah. Seven years.
26:18They're going to be looking to, I don't know, trade them. Who's going to take it, buy them out.
26:26You know, I don't, I don't think, I don't think that helps your financial situation, but, you know,
26:31I, I have, you know, like you, I didn't, you know, how many late games that I watched to,
26:38to check out Elias Lindholm over the last few years, not that many, but I thought I expected
26:44more. I thought he was better and maybe he is, and maybe he'll, he'll prove us wrong here, but
26:52he needs to get going on that. If he's going to, if he's going to prove it,
26:55prove that we're wrong. Some of the stuff we're saying here.
26:58Yeah. I mean, it's going to be a long season. It's going to be a long duration of his time
27:03in Boston. If he is getting paid to be at least a top six center in the NHL and he's routinely just,
27:10you know, coming on the short end of the stick, coming out on the short end of the stick against
27:15guys like Shifley and other players he's matched up with. And especially in the playoffs too,
27:19like it's not going to get any easier in the playoffs when you're going up against those
27:22guys, every single game in a seven game series. And he just needs to bring more than he is right
27:27now. And it's still in the honeymoon phase where like, you can make excuses for him that it's about
27:33feeling the pressure of the contract. It's about a new teammates. It's about new city. It's about,
27:38like you said, moving all the way across the country and getting like, you know getting,
27:44getting comfortable and getting situated and all that stuff. Like he's still in that phase where
27:48like all of that, I think is viable. And then maybe there's more there, but I just, I think
27:53he has been a big disappointment to this point with what he's been able to bring consistently
27:58in a night in night out basis. And if this is all that there is, man, that it is going to be a tough
28:03contract to deal with both from a salary cap perspective and what you could possibly do with
28:08him. All right. Big question for you, Mark. At this point, like are the Bruins pretenders,
28:17are the Bruins contenders, like where are you at just with what you've seen? Is there any shred,
28:23are we being too tough on them where this might've just been an off night and, you know, they could
28:27go and rip off like four wins on the rest of the road trip and, you know, we won't be talking about
28:31this anymore? Or do you think this goes deeper than that? Well, I think they are right now,
28:38they are pretenders. And I don't think there's a trade, they can't trade their way out of this.
28:44No, I don't think they can get better by a trade, but can they boost themselves to the point where
28:52they're more than a team that, you know, a first round casualty? I don't really see it with what
29:00they have now, you know, at this point. So, you know, I don't think, I think you don't want to
29:09overreact to last night because the Jets are a powerhouse right now. But, you know, I don't see
29:16a Bruins team that really looks like it's going to go anywhere come April. So that's where I'm at
29:25right now. Yeah, no, I agree that look, trading for a winger would certainly help that can put
29:34the puck in the net, get like a Jake DeBrusque type replacement. I think that would certainly
29:37help them offensively a little bit. And if they can score a few more goals, I think it's going to
29:42put less pressure on everybody else. But like, I think you're also entering a territory based on
29:46the way Lindholm is played. Like, do you need to like start looking for another center? Is this
29:52something where you need to, you know, and I don't know how they would do that salary cap wise,
29:57they'd probably have to trade somebody of significant cap it in order to make that happen.
30:01But is that something you have to have on your radar now to say, all right,
30:04this guy is not a number one center, we need to still continue to search and look
30:08for a number one center, Mick. Pretender or contender right now? And how far away do you
30:14think they are from contender status? I'm still struggling with the whole equation of how did
30:21this team contend for the President's Trophy most of last season, actually lead it for a while,
30:27finish only a few points away from it, win a round. I know Florida went six, but they were down three,
30:34one, they were never winning that series. They go and they get what they get. And you say,
30:39what was the one thing they took away? And that's Lena Selmark. And I say, okay,
30:46how's the goaltending been? Well, other than the fact that Swayman hadn't had a camp,
30:51I felt like his game was really coming. And I thought it was great the other night at home.
30:55Last night, the only goal I would say was all him was that one out of the corner. I think it was
30:59the second to last one. So I don't feel like goaltending has really been the issue with this
31:04team. I feel like Corpus Ali has been very good. I feel like Swayman has been consistently getting
31:09better. Last night was a stinker. Good teams have stinkers. Daryl Sittler night, 76.
31:16I'm starting to wonder if maybe the Bruins aren't going to leave Matty Potra and Providence as long
31:22as we thought, because against good opponents, they struggle for offense. And if this kid's
31:28starting to feel it, maybe the idea of leaving him there to just bake in the oven for a year
31:34isn't really, they may be looking for internal solutions and thinking that, look, obviously,
31:40Mark can speak to this because he's, you know, sees the Providence Bruins had quite a nice win
31:44quite a nice weekend there and an uptick and what his impressions are of the Potra
31:50situation. And is this a blip on the screen or is this something you think the Bruins might
31:55entertain? Yeah, we're going to get to the Providence because having Mark on, I definitely
32:01want to get down to what's going on in Providence. We're going to do that in the last segment, but
32:05we're going to take another pause here to thank the folks at PrizePix. If you're looking for
32:10tickets, take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game for obviously a Bruins tickets, but also
32:15if you're looking for tickets to the Patriots, Celtics, or even comedy or concert tickets as
32:19well. GameTime has a new feature called GameTime Picks that makes getting tickets to see your
32:23favorite team play live even easier. GameTime Picks filters out the fluff to show you only
32:28incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of
32:32tickets. The game of the week this week is this December 21st showdown between the Bruins and
32:37the Sabres of the Garden right ahead of Christmas. The super deal is $209 for load seats, which is
32:43pretty damn good value for Bruins tickets and how expensive they are these days. All right, GameTime
32:48has priority, which means GameTime Picks curation makes it easier to save more on sports, concerts,
32:53comedy, theater, etc. All in pricing, which I love. Toggling this feature shows the total up front with
32:58no surprise fees at checkout. It gives you seat views so you can get a panoramic view from your
33:02seat in the app before you buy. Lowest price guarantee or GameTime will credit you 110%
33:08of the difference. How great is that? Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code
33:12CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply, but again, download the GameTime app, create
33:17an account, use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download GameTime today. What time
33:23is it, Mick? GameTime! And I wonder when it's gonna be GameTime for Hampus Lindholm, who I thought was
33:29the Bruins' best player along with Pavel Zaka in the early stages of the season. They're starting
33:35to miss Hampus Lindholm with it not being GameTime. Well, let's face it, when Bergeron and Krejci both
33:42go out of their careers at one time, you suddenly become and you say, okay, we are a defense-centric
33:48team now. We got McAvoy, Carlo, Lindholm, that's our big three. Now they've added Zdorov to that,
33:54the growing low-rise brand, and say, okay, this is what our team is now. Well,
34:00I can't forget that now, you know, and say this offense is a work in progress. And there's a lot
34:05of it that's a little old, a little young, and a little patchwork. It's really not a great group
34:10of forwards right now. So the fact that they wanted to stabilize it with Lindholm, I neglected
34:17to mention that Hampus Lindholm was a very important player for them this season until he
34:22went down blocking that shot. And they have missed him because really, a four-man, the way
34:28they try to make up for their lack of pop up front is by having that four-man attack. And McAvoy,
34:34you know, some game, some not game, you know. And when it's going well, they talk about how
34:40great it is, but it's not going that well often enough. No, well, last night it definitely wasn't.
34:45And I agree with you on Lindholm. Like, we can talk about his work in the D-zone and what he
34:50does, killing penalties and some of the other stuff. But like, he was noticeable as the fourth
34:54man on the rush and like helping to create things offensively this year before he got hurt. He was
34:59really definitely helping them. Mick, you kind of answered this before, but I'm going to say a
35:03Twitter question of the week real quick from BabeRuth52. Joe, stop the gaslighting. Call out
35:09Swayman for what he is, nothing but an average goalie. Look, I'm with Mick. I think Swayman,
35:16obviously got off to a slow start, missing training camp, you know, struggled, which we all
35:21thought he was going to do. He's a 26-year-old kid that's only had a couple NHL seasons under
35:25his belt. He's not the veteran NHL goalie status yet where he can get himself ready on his own
35:31and be ready to go at the start of the regular season. He needed the reps in training camp.
35:35He definitely missed them. I think he's also felt the weight of the contract that he signed
35:39and felt the expectation that goes along with it and the weight of being the number one goalie
35:44and not having, you know, Tuca or Alina Selmark by his side anymore. I think all of this stuff,
35:50Mark, has gone on. And I think there are times early in the year where he looked like he was
35:55working his way into it. But I don't really think he's been the issue to a big degree with what's
36:00gone on here with the Bruins when they've had games like this. This has been more about allowing,
36:05you know, quality chances in the slot, allowing the best players to get in really good position
36:11to score goals, tic-tac goals, backdoor goals, coverage issues, like all kinds of things that
36:16are going on that aren't the goaltender's fault and are just giving quality chances to the other
36:20team all the time. I don't really think this has been a Swayman issue, even though I think some
36:24fans are pissed at him and probably holding it against him that he held out and missed all the
36:29training camp and blaming him now. But I don't think this has been, for the large part, a Swayman
36:33problem. I think the goaltending's been fine. I think Swayman's game is headed in the right
36:42direction, last night notwithstanding. Although, like you say, it was a team effort, a team downfall
36:50last night, not the goaltender. But, you know, as far as the fans, some fans being, you know,
36:58nothing Swayman can do will be good enough. Just, I mean, that was the way it was for 10 years with
37:05Tuukka Rask, for God's sake, you know? Like, nothing he could do would be good enough. So,
37:11I think the goaltending's been fine. It's been good, or it's been fine, I should say,
37:19and Swayman's game is going in the right direction. That's the least of the issues.
37:25Yeah, I agree. I think the play in front of him is the problem, much more of the problem than him.
37:30Like, has he been as, like, sort of superhuman as he was at times last year to this point? Probably
37:35not. But you also can't consistently expect your goaltender to play at that level all the time.
37:41Like, you can't make the kind of mistakes that you make in front of him and think he's always
37:45going to save your bacon, like, every single time. That's just unrealistic. And it's not
37:49sustainable for a hockey team. Providence Mark, I guess first of all, how has Patra
37:56looked down there? How has he acclimated? What kind of a role has he been playing?
38:02Well, I'd say his game's on the upswing. He had a very good weekend,
38:10you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, goals in all three games,
38:18playing well on both sides of the puck, and just, you know, improved over when he first arrived.
38:26And, you know, he had some games, you know, frankly, where, you know, it was just,
38:38you didn't notice him. You did not notice him. It was like a flatline situation. And,
38:45you know, one thing about the Bruins fan base is there's no in between.
38:51The guy's either a Hall of Famer or he's a bust. And, you know, when I pointed out a couple times
38:58on Twitter that, you know, maybe his game wasn't going that well, and, you know, the outrage,
39:05the, just the, you know, the fanboy and fangirl, you know, outlook that this guy is the future,
39:17and, you know, he's this and he's that. Well, he's none of those things right now.
39:21He's playing in the American Hockey League. So, you know, yeah, he had a good weekend.
39:30Is he going to go to Boston and have an impact? Geez, I have a hard time.
39:34I have a hard time seeing that. Can he help, you know, a little bit? Yeah, he probably can.
39:41But is it better for his game all around and long-term for him to stay in Providence
39:46a while longer? It doesn't have to be from now until the end of the season.
39:51Right.
39:51But, you know, build on these three, these last three good games and go from there. And,
39:58you know, I think the same things that you saw in the NHL, you know, getting bounced off the puck,
40:06you know, not being able to win races all the time, you saw that in the American League,
40:12the same as you did in the NHL. Lately, that's been a little better, you know,
40:18it's been a little better. So, you know, like I said, it's going in the right direction. I
40:25wouldn't mess with it right now unless, you know, if there's an injury, a center goes down or
40:30something like that, then yeah, okay, you got to do it. But I think he's where he needs to be at
40:36this point. And let's see what happens going forward here. Can he continue to build on this?
40:45There's been an outcry with the offensive struggles for the Bruins. Everybody,
40:49the same fans that you're talking about, have been crying about like,
40:53where's Fabian Lysel and why isn't he up? Why hasn't he been doing anything in Boston? Why
40:58hasn't he gotten a chance up there yet? And like every time I look at his numbers in Providence,
41:02he ain't lighting it up down there and he's been a minus player. And, you know, it doesn't look
41:06like he's deserved the NHL call. Just what have you seen out of Fabian Lysel to this point this
41:12year? He continues to be just a mystery. With the ability that he has, the skating ability,
41:27the ability to shoot the puck, I don't know why his numbers aren't better.
41:33But, I mean, he makes the same, they preach certain things in his game that he needs to do,
41:40and he makes the same mistakes over and over and over again. And he's in year three now.
41:49Yeah, he's not the youngest kid in the NHL anymore. He's not. And be that as it may,
41:56though, I think you're going to see him probably sooner rather than later, because we're at the
42:02point now, and I believe his entry-level contract, I believe this is the last year.
42:08Yeah.
42:10Whether he deserves it or not, and he probably doesn't, or whether he's, you know, has earned it
42:16at this point, which he hasn't, I think you're going to see him up. Just they need to see,
42:21they need to see this kid. Where does he stand against NHL players? What can he do? Can he do
42:27anything? Is there any, you know, what does he need to continue to work on? So I think
42:33at some point, you know, in the not too distant future, I think he's going to,
42:40they're going to take a look at him and see what they have.
42:42And perhaps on some level, there's also a hope that he can come up and do some good things,
42:47and then maybe some other NHL teams will notice, and he becomes like, you know, a value-
42:53The old trade showcase. The old trade showcase, yes.
42:57The old-fashioned trade showcase. But like, I mean, that, you know, if he came up and he flashed
43:02for a game or two, like, that's the kind of player with a skillset that, you know,
43:06maybe would intrigue another team, just based on what he can bring to the table.
43:10Yeah. I'd like to see him flash for a game or two down here before that happens. But,
43:19you know, he's a first-round pick. They've invested something in him, and they're going to,
43:25they're going to give him a look at some point, whether he deserves it or not.
43:29Um, any, anybody else or anything else of note going on in Providence as far as the
43:35players down there, players that have been doing well, trending in the right direction,
43:40guys that have surprised you, like anything that's noteworthy going on right now with the Peabros?
43:45Not really. It's pretty much what you expect from these guys. And the veterans, you know,
43:49the guys like Patrick Brown and Vinny Leteri, you know, are just, you know, I admire the way
43:57they go at it, the way they go at their business day after day and game after game. These guys are
44:03real pros. Now they're not going to get a call up and go up and be difference makers in the NHL,
44:11but they certainly are setting an example for some of the kids down here for, you know,
44:17this is how you do it. This is the way you play. But, you know, Jeffrey Vielle the other day scored
44:25just a spectacular shorthanded goal. You know, I didn't know he had that in his game, but
44:33it really was a great play. And, you know, there's a guy who came up to Boston and did exactly what
44:41no one had to tell him what to do. He knew what to do.
44:44It felt like we were turning the clock back to the 80s with that recall.
44:48He did his eight minutes or whatever he got, and he had an impact. You know, he had,
44:55who was that game against? I can't remember, but he had,
45:01it was Columbus against Columbus. You know, Columbus knew, they knew he was out there.
45:07Okay. They knew what he was about. So there's that. I don't think he's going to, you know,
45:13he could come up in a situation maybe the next time they play Winnipeg and see what he brings.
45:19But, you know, other than that, it's been pretty much, pretty quiet. They've struggled
45:27at times. You know, they're short on D. They have young D, some kids who probably don't
45:32belong in the league. They should probably be in the coast. But, you know, it's a learning
45:39experience for them. You know, Providence has had elite goaltending in the last few years.
45:46It hasn't been elite this year so far, but Brandon Busse had a couple of good games over
45:52the weekend. So hopefully he's finding his game. Mark, when I saw them a few weeks ago,
45:57I thought Riley Duran was really good. He seemed to play kind of the way Cole Koepke plays,
46:02and to an extent the way Kastler plays, kind of getting up and down the ice really hard,
46:06and the forecheck, straight line skating. And when I talked to him after the game,
46:12and then I talked to Moujanel after the game, everybody was, the consensus was is that he
46:18didn't start the season well, but this was the way they needed him to play, and it was good to see.
46:23Has that continued for him? Has he been able to be a good forechecker for them?
46:28What's going on with Duran's game in your mind right now?
46:31He has been. He has done that some games. Other games he hasn't, and he's been a healthy scratch
46:38a handful of times. I think with him, it's just a, this is a learning experience for him. First
46:45year out of college, the night-to-night consistency is something that hasn't been there.
46:53Hasn't been there.
46:58The other thing is the offensive game, and now I know they're not going to ever
47:03count on him for offense as probably a fourth-line player, but
47:09you'll like to see a little bit more of that from him. He goes, at times he goes long stretches
47:18without really having a chance or doing much. Maybe it's his line mates or the line isn't going,
47:27but you like to see a little bit more offense, a little bit more chances out of him,
47:34but the consistency is the thing. When he's dialed in, he's capable. When he isn't,
47:44then he's kind of just another guy. As a first-year pro, this is part of the learning process.
47:51100%. I think that was definitely the expectation for him coming out of college, and for all those
47:57college players, that's definitely an adjustment in their first year. I remember Farinacci saying
48:02that last year was a big adjustment for him too, especially the second half of the year,
48:05just dealing with the grind of the HL schedule, but I think we're going to see bigger and better
48:10things out of Riley Duran, no question about it. Mark, Mick, thank you very much for joining us.
48:15Let's thank our sponsors real quick. PrizePix, download the PrizePix app today and use the code
48:19CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play $5. That's code CLNS on PrizePix to get $50 instantly
48:24when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed. PrizePix,
48:30run your game. We're also going to thank our friends at GameTime. Download the GameTime app,
48:34create an account, use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase of any kind of tickets,
48:38game tickets, sports tickets, comedy tickets, concert tickets. Terms do apply, of course.
48:43Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.
48:48Download GameTime today. What time is it, Mick? GameTime. GameTime. That's right, Mick. Mark,
48:55Mick, thanks for joining us. Thanks, guys. Yeah, thank you. Everybody else out there,
49:01thanks for listening. We'll see you at the race.