Pucks with Haggs host Joe Haggerty and guest Mick Colageo discuss the flagging playoff hopes for the Bruins after a sour note to their final four game segment ahead of the 4 Nations break.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Pucks with Hags is brought to you by PrizePix and the Game Time app.
00:04Welcome to another edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast powered by PrizePix,
00:08the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the CLNS Media Network. This is the 164th episode of the
00:13Pucks with Hags podcast. I have with me today longtime friend and colleague, Mick Colaggio.
00:18Mick, please tell everybody where they can find your work, my friend.
00:21I live blog Bruins Home Games on my Rinkwrap blog, which I link to on X and Twitter,
00:26at Mick Colaggio, and X in Twitter, X in Facebook. And I also contribute to the
00:33seasonal issues of the Hockey News. The next one that comes out will be the Future Watch
00:37about the prospects. Love that. Future Watch is always a great addition of the Hockey News.
00:45Let's also, actually, I'm going to introduce myself because I didn't do that at the beginning
00:48of the show. My name is Joe Haggerty. You can find my work at joehaggerty.substack.com.
00:53Subscribe and get yourself a premium membership. Get all of my Bruin and NHL writing sent straight
00:58directly to your inbox. I also write columns three times a week for the Boston Sports Journal,
01:02so go to bostonsportsjournal.com. Please subscribe to that. Lots of good stuff there
01:07on all the different Boston sports. Before we get into the Bruins, and, you know,
01:13Mick, this is going to be an interesting show because it's a natural break in the schedule,
01:17right, with the Four Nations tournament coming up. They're not going to play for two weeks.
01:21And I think this is a good time to sort of take a long look at the Bruins and evaluate where they
01:27are and where they sit with 25 games to go. So this is an important sort of, you know,
01:33watermark in the season, and we're going to talk about that. But before we do that,
01:36let's thank our sponsors. PrizePix. Download the PrizePix app today and use the code CLNS
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01:51PrizePix. Run your game. Let's also thank the folks at GameTime. If you need any kind of
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02:07the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.
02:12Download GameTime today. What time is it, Mick? GameTime. GameTime is correct.
02:19A tough way that the Bruins went out of this break, Mick. They talked a lot about treating
02:29these last four games like the playoffs, and the first couple of games looked pretty good.
02:36You know, they did a good job. And then the last two games, they blew points. Let's face it. They
02:42had points in this, and we've seen this a lot with this team this year. This, you know, I counted,
02:46I wrote about this not after last night's or yesterday afternoon's game, but I think the last
02:51game against the Rangers. Counting that Golden Knights loss last night, four to three, where they
02:57had a three to one lead, and then it was tied, and it was a couple minutes to overtime, and they
03:02couldn't hang on. I think that's at least six games that I can count where they blew leads or
03:10couldn't quite push into overtime where they really had a chance to late in the game.
03:15And they'd be in a much different situation even if they just got one point in all those games,
03:19Mick. If they had five or six more points, they would be in a tremendously different situation.
03:24Even if maybe half of those games they had pulled out points, they'd be in a much different
03:28situation than they are right now. But I feel like this is a team that pretty consistently
03:33has not been able to get that push that they need in the third period to get to overtime to at least
03:38get that point, and has blown a bunch of leads where they didn't get anything when they should
03:43have at least got a point. And that game against Vegas, the four to three loss, it was kind of
03:49appropriate in a lot of ways for me because I think it's kind of a microcosm for the season,
03:54and it's what we've seen all year, and it's kind of like I believe what they are at this point.
03:58And I don't have any reason to believe that it's going to be any different in the 25 games when
04:04they come back from the Four Nations. And I almost felt like there was a little resignation with the
04:10players afterwards. There wasn't anger. There wasn't like disgust. There wasn't like strong
04:15emotion. They were saying the right things, but I kind of almost felt like they didn't believe
04:20what they were saying, like they were trying to convince themselves that they still had a shot
04:24with 25 games to go, and that they almost didn't believe what they were saying. They were just kind
04:28of like saying what they felt like they needed to say, maybe hoping to talk themselves into the
04:33belief. That was my sentiment, and that's what I felt like I got out of that locker room yesterday
04:38after the game was over. A couple of things. After they made the coaching change after 20 games,
04:46and they had an immediate spike, an adrenaline-driven spike with Joe Sacco,
04:52I thought that at the time that that would have been a perfect time to go get a stick like Tyler
04:58Toffoli's and find a way to get that winger who might have eased some of the one-goal games
05:07that wound up not going their way because they're such a grinded-out team unless pasta is hot.
05:13They're like the Celtics a couple of years ago. If Tatum was hot, they win. If Tatum's not, they lose.
05:20I just feel like this team has become so focused on key players' contributions
05:30that good opponents can take away those key players for the most part,
05:34and the Bruins won't have enough to make up the difference. And then you mix in with that
05:38the season-long legacy of not being able to outscore their mistakes. I mean, even yesterday
05:46when Nikita Zdorov, who almost had two goals in this game,
05:51blasted the puck yesterday twice. Second one was taken away. Too bad.
05:58Marciangoli interference. But when he was on a penalty kill, and he had extra time to clear
06:03that puck, and you could see he waited and changed his mind, surveyed the ice, and then failed to
06:09clear. And 30 seconds later, the puck's in the net. And those kinds of mistakes have just been
06:15killing this team all year long, not because of the quantity of them, but because of how timely
06:20they've been. And they just can't afford them. And it's not like Zdorov is a 22-year-old defenseman
06:29that they're breaking in. This is a guy that they got to bring in to try to add some oomph to
06:37their team, and it was a gamble because they know that he's a volatile player who gives you good and
06:43bad luck. And even in a game where he was giving you good stuff, he wound up giving you something
06:50bad. So I look at that, and then I think, okay, now here's the other prism. They change coaches
06:57after 20 games. To your point about postgame, this is another watershed point in the season,
07:07the four nations. The trade deadline is the trade deadline, but I feel like the four nations, I have
07:12no doubt, given how results-driven the Bruins management team is when it comes to trade
07:19deadlines and strategies on what they believe about their team and what they're going to try to build,
07:24they would never do what Chris Drury did in telling the rest of the league,
07:29look, I know we're 14-5-1 or something, but we really don't like our team. We don't feel like
07:35there's a lot of smoke and mirrors here. We're open for business. The Bruins would never do that.
07:42They believe in the results. And so after 20 games, they looked at their results,
07:49and they made a change at 8-9-3. Now we're where we are. I think everyone knew what this means.
07:59Now, granted, Rangers was the second of back-to-backs. It was a game that they could
08:03have won if they didn't give up that shorty to Kreider. But those kinds of mistakes have been
08:09killing them all season long. And to me, if they had added that stick earlier in the season when
08:14they righted their ship, then maybe some of these games aren't that close. And if only five of the
08:20L's or W's, where are they? Like you just said. But where are they now? Devastating loss referred
08:29to by one person yesterday as brutal. And that, to me, tells me that everybody in that room knew
08:43where this is going. The strategy will be based on where they are, and how they ended,
08:49and how they went into the break. Yeah. The feeling I got in that room yesterday,
08:54talking to the players, listening to how they were answering questions, what they were saying,
08:59it told me that they're putting on a brave face. They're putting on the face that they feel like
09:07it's saying the things they need to say in that situation. But it felt to me the way they were
09:12saying it, and the way they looked, like they didn't believe what they were saying.
09:15When they were saying, you know, we've still got 25 chances when we get back. And
09:19Marshan's saying we can play with any team in the league. Oh, by the way, they lost twice to
09:24Winnipeg, and they got outscored 14 to 3 in those two games. So I don't think they can play with
09:28Winnipeg. So I don't even know why he was saying it. They certainly haven't proven it. I don't
09:33even know why he would say that we can play with any team in the league, because there's definitely
09:36some teams they cannot play with, and it's already been shown. So like, I understand the
09:41defiance and sort of the, you know, trying to project confidence and all the stuff that they
09:46were doing, but you could just tell they didn't really believe what they were saying. And they
09:50were, it was just a down team. Well, they knew they couldn't be convincing. Yeah. And even whether
09:55they believe it or not, they knew we don't. Right. And, but they know, it seems like they kind of
10:00know where they are and what they are at this point. They've seen enough, you know, like,
10:04and I think everybody has to believe that they've got to trade some players.
10:08I think they got to mix it up. They got to change the mix. They need to get anybody that they don't
10:13think is in the long-term picture with this team. They should get value for it, the deadline,
10:18get something for, you know, whether it's, I mean, Justin Brezow is one we haven't really
10:24talked about, but he's another interesting one that they could probably get something
10:28pretty good for. And he's going to be a free agent because of his, you know, service time
10:32and his situation. And he was not in yesterday. He's a UFA and he didn't play yesterday. That's
10:37what somebody pointed out to me. And they said that he's not playing today. I wonder why that
10:41is. And maybe they didn't want him to get hurt before this four nations break, when they're
10:45going to talk about trades and they're going to move some players. And he's definitely a guy that
10:49will have value. Like I could see another team looking at him and saying, we could use that big
10:53body down low, use them on the power play. Like he's a guy, you put them with some good players,
10:57he's going to be very effective. Maybe there's a middle round pick coming. Yeah. So I think
11:03there's wheels. I think the wheels are turning a little bit on some of these guys and maybe
11:10potentially moving some players that aren't in the longterm future. And I think they should,
11:13you know, they can still try to compete for a playoff spot. The odds aren't with them,
11:17but they're right there. They can, you know, and they have the players to be able to push through,
11:21but maybe, but like it looked, they have 25 games left. They're going to have to go like
11:2617 and eight or something like that to make the playoffs and to hop over a couple of teams and
11:31to get in there and to, you know, withstand the games in hand that everybody has against them.
11:37And we haven't went on the road, which they haven't done all year.
11:39Right. Right. So there's a lot there that they're going to have to do, which I just didn't feel
11:44like the belief was there. It's funny. You mentioned Zdorov. I thought he was good until
11:49that point yesterday. I thought he had an excellent game. It was one of his best games as a Bruin
11:53until that, the very end when he couldn't clear the puck and the penalty kill just imploded.
11:59And like, it's just such a bad look when they get a break, the penalty, you know,
12:04the goal gets overturned for goalie interference and you can't use that momentum to like,
12:09even just get to overtime, to hang on and get to overtime and kill that penalty.
12:13A lot of my chance penalties in the second half of the season have been punitive.
12:17Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They've really hurt the team. There's no doubt. But the one other thing I would
12:21mention that you didn't mention, Mick, that I think is notable is Jeremy Swayman, horrible
12:26goal at the end of the second period. You know, soft goal where he's just fumbling the puck.
12:32It squirts in the net and you can't give up that goal there. That's not why they're
12:36paying them the money. That is not the guy that they need. And that, he's been pretty good for,
12:42you know, a month plus since the beginning of January. But that was a killer goal. That hurt
12:48them too. Like, and I know they were just hanging on and they weren't playing great anyway. But like,
12:53I felt like that was the, I felt that whole comeback coming for Vegas after he gave up that
12:58goal at the end of the second period and let in something out of nothing. It was a puck that he
13:03handled. It was a routine shot. He was doing something where he was trying to like flip
13:08around with the glove and he ended up knocking it between his legs into the net. It's just,
13:12you can't let in goals like that in situations like that. And I thought that was the beginning
13:16of the end for them in that game. And the biggest of pictures, I feel like the,
13:21a team should be able to make the playoffs with the goaltending the Bruins have gotten this year.
13:26Yeah. That said, yeah, Swayman has been part of this picture, like Marcian said that time
13:34when given the opportunity to take him off the hook. He's been part of the picture and his biggest
13:40part of the picture was early on. Yep. So, you know, these are the ramifications of decisions
13:47that he made and the team made. And so extraordinary goaltending of the last two prior
13:56years, would that have gotten this team into the playoffs? Perhaps. Yeah. But it wouldn't have made
14:02him a cup contender. We know that. No, to your point, if the goaltending wasn't subpar, far
14:08below what they usually get the first 20 games of the year, they are, they're in a better spot
14:14too. There's no doubt about it. And that is, you know, on the, as you said, on the organization
14:19and definitely on Swayman too. Like it's on both of them and there's a lot of blame there. And
14:24that's why I thought it was also kind of appropriate yesterday that he gives up a soft,
14:29bad goal that helps lead to their demise in that game, because he was such a part of the storyline
14:35and the situation, the early part of the year when they just like absolutely stumbled out of
14:40the gate and everybody knew it was coming. You know, the, the players all knew his teammates
14:45all knew, like everybody knew that struggle was coming based on him missing all the training camp
14:50and the way that situation unfolded. And since you're making that point, I just want to interject
14:55this one thought, and this is a risky muse because well, you'll, you'll hear it. I think in secret,
15:03Don Sweeney still believes what he believed about last year's team and that the additions that he
15:08made should have put this team in a cup contention, but for various and sundry reasons,
15:15along with the Swayman situation, Marchand needing time to round into form after three
15:20summer surgeries, an inexplicable number of returning veterans coming back into
15:27camp and having a lousy lifeless camp and a lifeless beginning to the season.
15:32It just was a perfect storm of this thing is not going well. And Monty could not run it.
15:40And after the surge, Joe Sacco was like, let's start with our underpinnings. We're a defensive
15:45team. We got to check. We got to shut down. We got to have our goaltending. We got to have a defense.
15:49We get all that. We think this team can score goals. That was the kernel. That was the theory.
15:54That was the big bang of anything good that was going to happen for the rest of the season.
15:58And for the most part, the Bruins have been a sounder defensive team, but they lose the
16:05tight ones against good teams and they fall apart on the road. And I think that's because they push
16:10too hard because they don't have enough. And that's when you lose your structure and that's
16:14when you drop your right and you get caught in the jaw and you go down. And I think that that's
16:18what's happened in a lot of their bad games this year. So, you know, this just didn't work out
16:25like Sweeney thought. But my point of this is I still think that there's part of him that's
16:30struggling with this and believing that if we didn't have the problems we had entering the
16:37season, then this thing might have all worked out. So then should we rip it up? Or if we rolled the
16:45same dice next year, how much better would we be? And the problem is, is you can't go back.
16:51It's a results business and changes are always made in these cases. So that's the struggle,
16:57I think, within Bruins management is, dammit, I want a do-over with what we did. We decided
17:04because I still believe it. But then you don't get that do-over, though. You can't go from one
17:10season to the next without making changes. That's why I think. And because Trent Frederick
17:17has not had a good year statistically. And every once in a while he pops in a goal here or there
17:23and he looks like the player everybody hopes he'll be. And then there's five games where
17:30there's not a lot happening. And as we get to this point, and where are they now in the results
17:36orientation of the management, I cannot, I've lost my confidence that they're going to tie him up.
17:43I think he's gone. Yeah, I do too. And I've felt that
17:46way for a while. And that's why I think he's a guy that's going to get traded.
17:50The Brazil one is sort of interesting. And I think I had assumed they were going to sign him,
17:56but they may, if they can get a pretty good draft pick for him, I think they should move him. And I
18:01think it would be like, that's good business, right? They use nothing to get him. They just
18:06pick him up off the street. They put some work in with him to develop him and turn them into an
18:12asset that can get them back a good draft pick. Like you do that. I would do that all day long.
18:17But I've felt for a while now, like Frederick was going to get traded.
18:21I just don't think he's a part of long-term future. I think they're not going to want to
18:24pay whatever he's going to get paid on the market, whatever his value is. And they will
18:28let somebody else pay him. And like, why not try to recoup something close to the first round pick
18:34you used to draft him? I think that's something you definitely, or a player that's going to help
18:39you one or the other. And I think, and I think that Nikita Zdorov is the Derek Morris of 2025.
18:47I think that he is the Bruins deep cut right there. Derek Morris.
18:50Yeah. They, they went from, they went from Nick Boynton to Paul Mara, to Aaron Ward,
18:56to Derek Morris, to Dennis Seidenberg, and the great search for the perfect partner for Zidane
19:01O'Chira. And, and even though Johnny Boychuck played most of the hockey with him, he and
19:07Seidenberg were the shutdown pair in the playoffs during their sweet spot. So, I think that to me,
19:14Zdorov is the Morris. They did not invest the kind of money in Derek Morris that they have invested
19:18in Nikita Zdorov though. Well, that, right. And so you're making my point because how the hell
19:24is he playing with Andrew Peake right now? And, and how is Charlie McEvoy coming? As I thought
19:32they were going to, because of the way last year ended, I thought that Mason Lowery, that
19:37they were going to roll the dice with Mason Lowery playing with Charlie McEvoy. And here we are,
19:42the most important hockey of the season, and Charlie McEvoy is playing with Mason Lowery.
19:46Nikita Zdorov is playing. Was he impactful yesterday? Yes. Positively, potentially positively,
19:53negatively. Typical Zdorov game. Big, big footprint on that one. And, you know, to me,
20:01he has kind of become the Derek Morris. Now, are they going to do what they did with Derek Morris
20:06and tell him, yeah, sorry, it didn't work out because at the deadline, I bet there are takers.
20:11Yeah, no, there would be. I mean, I think Vancouver wanted to keep him, so there would
20:14definitely be takers. I just, I don't think they're trading him. I don't see that happening.
20:19I'd be surprised if that happens, but I agree with you that it's been, it hasn't been a great fit
20:25in a regular season at times. Like, and there are parts of his game that hurt them when it comes to
20:31wins and losses. There's no doubt about it. But like the other part of it, like you talk about
20:36him, like skating with Andrew Peake. I mean, he did skate 25 minutes yesterday in that game. So
20:42he was playing with other partners. He was playing a lot. Like he was playing.
20:45They elevated him.
20:46He was playing at the level that, you know, they would expect a guy that they're paying
20:50that kind of money for as far as ice time goes. He was a heavy use guy in that game.
20:56All right, let's take a break, Mick, and we'll get back into all of this. I just want to talk
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22:54Do you think there is any chance whatsoever that they make the playoffs? Do you, do you
22:59give it like a 0.0% chance right now? No, I think a lot of things can happen because this year
23:05you even saw the Montreal Canadiens go on a tear. Yeah. Put themselves back in that conversation,
23:10albeit temporarily. So while they actually had a better points percentage than the Bruins at one
23:18point, maybe what a week or 10 days ago, they hit a bit of the wall there. This season is
23:27full of surges. It's almost like a game of musical chairs. If your surge comes and then
23:32the music stops, you're in a great spot because everybody just seems to be rising and sinking
23:37and rising and sinking like the waves of the ocean. And I mean, none of these teams are
23:43contenders in my opinion, but I do feel like, because none of them are making a significant
23:49surge that just is linear. I don't see that. There's no like 2018-19 St. Louis Blues here.
23:55I don't see that happening. Or the Penguins for the first of the two years that they won it in 16
24:00and 17, where they came back from the dregs. I just see a lot of meandering. It's just so
24:09different from say 21-22 when you had 50 win teams in the conference and the Bruins had to start,
24:17they win 50 games and they had to start the playoffs in Carolina. So this just seems to
24:22me like, I mean, those playoffs were decided in February. This playoff eight won't be decided
24:28until the final day. And this is probably the dream season in the Eastern Conference for
24:35the Bettman NHL, where it feels like every team has a chance. So I just don't know. I feel like
24:42it's a roulette wheel. It's a game of musical chairs. And when the music stops, it just depends
24:48on whether a team was having a good week or two weeks or not. And that's just where we are.
24:55I do think that the Ottawa Senators have pushed themselves above that.
25:00They have the makings of a really good hockey team and it's starting to come to fruition for them.
25:05Not enough for me to for them to get serious in the playoffs, but for them to be serious in the
25:10regular season that that has happened. And the Bruins are meandering with the rest just because
25:16of their multitude of problems, their ailments. It's just they can't seem to stop the bleeding.
25:22No, they can't. And the thing is that the problems become that it's sort of the same
25:29stuff over and over again. It's the bad penalties at the wrong times. It's the inability of the
25:33penalty kill to get the job done when you need it. It's the goals at the end of periods,
25:39those momentum shifting moments that they can't stop. It's not being able to force the issue and
25:44push your way into a point at the end of games, like other teams are able to impose their will
25:50on the Bruins at the end of games to push it to overtime. And so just basically force a puck into
25:54the net and make it happen. And the Bruins can't do that. They have not been able to do that this
25:59year at all. That has not been a trait or a characteristic of this team. And then there's,
26:06like you said, there's veteran players that I think have just not done their share and have
26:11not been good enough. Some of them will play a better hockey now than they were earlier in the
26:16season. But at the end of the day, they're in a bad spot. Trent Frederick is one of them. Charlie
26:23Coyle, who I love to death and I think he's a great person and I think he had an awesome year last
26:28year, has not been good this year. No, he hasn't. I feel like he pushed it. He started picking it up
26:34and then it's kind of stayed where it was for a while. And I feel like the one positive with
26:43Charlie Coyle is I feel like he's sustained some pretty decent play out of position. He's been
26:51asked to go back to the wing and I feel like he's been better there than I thought he could be
26:57based on history. In terms of what needs to happen with him going forward, if you're looking at a
27:04hockey trade and you're looking at a winger, I think when the Rangers were in the dumpster,
27:09I think that would have been the time to pull the trigger on a Coyle for Crider kind of deal.
27:14But it didn't happen. I don't know if it was ever on the table from either side, but
27:19to me, it's just the widget seemed to fit and it didn't happen. And now they are where they are.
27:27So who knows what happens from here? Because again, he's a guy who's not playing where he
27:31should be. And I feel like he's better than he was early in the year. But again, not a good
27:35year for him. No, not a good year for him. Not a good year, obviously. First year for Elias Lindholm,
27:41who I think has been a little better maybe the last few weeks. You noticed him a little more.
27:45He's made a few more plays and maybe that becomes like he comes back from four nations and he has
27:52a strong surge at the end. Now, maybe he's a little more comfortable. Who knows? I still want
27:57to keep an open mind as to who he is and what kind of a player he is, because I don't feel like we've
28:04seen the full picture with him. At least I hope not. No, we haven't. I'm sure we haven't. I just feel
28:08like he's been through too many changes. Yeah. And so we'll see what happens with him. But
28:14that's the kind of player that's going to have to really step up his game in that last 25-game
28:21stretch if the Bruins are going to do anything. But they're going to need all hands on deck with
28:27those veteran players that stick around. It should be a lot better than they are.
28:32Brandon Carlo kills penalties, logs a lot of minutes, hard minutes.
28:40But I don't feel like he's had a good year either. No, he hasn't. He's fumbled a lot of pucks this
28:48year. A lot of plays that you look down the ice from our perch up on the ninth floor and you say,
28:53okay, Carlo's got that. Whoops, he doesn't have that. It's been that kind of year for him. It's
28:58been real struggle. And last year was a bit of a struggle too at times. This year was more of a
29:04struggle. So I'm not really sure what management's feeling is about him as he's going into the prime
29:11years of his career. It just seemed like he was a more promising player two, three, four years ago
29:18than he has been over the last season. Yeah. And he's hit his ceiling as to how good he's
29:25going to be as a player. I'm not sure he's going to ever get any better than he is or was a couple
29:31of years ago. And it seems like there's been a little regression with him. A matchup D. But yeah,
29:38he just seems like he's been part of the picture. Just another guy who's not playing as well as
29:45we've seen him play or at least as consistently well as we've seen him play. So it's a tough one.
29:53He's a very thoughtful guy, competes hard. It just hasn't gone well for him like it hasn't
29:58with a lot of regulars. It's been that kind of a year for the Bruins. It's been strange.
30:02Even the fourth line, Mick, they came out like gangbusters at the beginning of the year. And
30:08they have not been as much of a factor. I know there's been some injuries and things go, guys
30:11going in and out of the lineup. But when they're together now, Kapke and Kostelik and Beecher have
30:18not been the factor that they were at the very beginning that really made you sit up and take
30:23notice as far as the energy and even popping in a goal every once in a while that they were doing
30:29earlier in the year. Well, when Monty tried to elevate those guys by breaking up their little
30:34band and sprinkling them through the top nine in hopes that some of their fervor and magic
30:39could rub off on the players who were not showing as strong a pulse, that had more of a negative
30:47effect on the fourth line than any positive effect in the top nine. And that fourth line
30:54ever since has not looked as good, even when in the brief moments when the band's been back
30:58together. Kostelik, we probably won't know the full story until the season's over of what he's
31:03been dealing with. But we know that he has been playing hurt and he's a tiger. He fights through
31:09it all. The guy's a freaking honey badger. But it's just been a struggle for him since he's gone
31:18down with the injuries, beginning with the concussion. Yep. No doubt. It absolutely has.
31:24All right. We're going to get to one more topic when we come back. We're going to take a little
31:28break to talk about game time. We're going to talk about Hampus Lindholm when we get back and
31:32his potential effect down that stretch in those 25 games. But let's first talk about game time.
31:38If you're looking for any kind of tickets whatsoever, you want to take the guesswork out
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32:29of the difference. And even if you are looking for tickets, obviously the Bruins aren't playing
32:33the next couple of weeks, Mick, but if you're looking for Four Nations tickets at the Garden,
32:38I would go check out Game Time as well. Maybe they got some tickets for the Four Nations
32:42because the word on the street that I've heard is that the tickets, there may be some available and
32:48maybe it hasn't been as brisk as people thought it was going to be as far as people buying up
32:53tickets to watch the Four Nations games. And if you can get your hands on tickets for the
32:57championship game with the hopes that it's US and Canada there at the end playing,
33:01that could be a pretty damn interesting viewing experience, Mick, and that might be worth the
33:06money. But bottom line is go to Game Time to check out all your options for any kind of tickets,
33:12comedy, concert, sports, theater, what have you. Download Game Time app, create an account,
33:17use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply, but again, download the Game Time
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33:27today. What time is it, Mick? Game time. Let me get your thoughts on the Four Nations. Do you
33:37think it's going to be good? Do you think it's going to be intense? Do you think it's going to
33:41be sort of a hybrid? Because I can't imagine it's going to be like the Olympics. I got to imagine
33:47it's going to be a little less on the intensity level, but the hope has to be that the players
33:52are going to play hard. I think all you need is one thing to happen and it'll snap everyone
34:01into taking no prisoners. Yeah. And I feel like when you put these teams, these players,
34:07these great players into this different context where there's suddenly, I feel like the event
34:13likelihood becomes much greater, you know, because teams are not in the throes of their
34:20of their systems and their expectations and everything they do by rote. It is going to be
34:31a whole different thing, but I do feel like the attitude won't be all-star weekend.
34:36I feel like it's players who want to, a lot of them want to make sure they make their
34:40Olympic team. So yeah, that's part of it too, for sure. So I think in Canada and U.S. that's going
34:46to be stronger than it will be for Sweden and Finland, but it may affect Sweden and Finland.
34:52We'll see. So I do feel like all you need is something to go have some sort of spectacular
34:58collision where there's blame and pointing fingers. And next thing you know, the whole
35:03thing ramps up. So, and I also think Canada is hypersensitive to the USA's dominance at the
35:11teenage level. And that they have a lot of pride. It is our game. I remember the PA announcer
35:18in 1993 when the Canadians hosted the all-star weekend and they were really concerned with the
35:28influx of Eastern Europeans into the NHL at the time and what that was going to mean for
35:33their franchise and their regional dominance. So I think there was just a lot there. You want
35:41to win the cup that year. Two years in a row, the team that hosted the all-star game won the cup.
35:45Rangers the next year. So it's just been, I'm looking forward to, I think it's going to be
35:54pretty cool just seeing so many great players across the ice from each other in the same game.
36:01It's going to be kind of fun. I know a lot of Bruins fans were pretty much like,
36:06oh damn it, they're interrupting my season for two weeks. I hate this. They should have done
36:12this before the season. I have no interest in it. I'm hearing this from Bruins fans right and left.
36:17This is what I'm getting. I think the crowds of this thing are going to be wearing international
36:21colors and they're going to be coming from those countries and they're going to be, that's how the
36:25crowd is going to be. And now I just found out yesterday that the game presentation will be
36:30reinvented. It won't be your typical Bruins game presentation personnel. You're not going to have
36:39Ron Poster on the organ. You're not going to have the typical trappings of a Bruins home game,
36:44except here's who's playing. It couldn't be like that. It's going to be like when the NCAA comes
36:48in and takes over your building. Okay, that's cool. That'll be interesting. Yeah, there's
36:54definitely the not wanting to mail it in because that's going to come into consideration for like
37:01the Olympic rosters and stuff. That incentive is definitely going to be there, thinking about
37:05the Olympics and wanting to be on those teams so you have a good showing at four nations. And that's
37:11part of it, the natural competitiveness. I think all that stuff will turn it into, as you said,
37:16like it will take one thing or one good game to happen and all of a sudden everybody will snap
37:20into it for sure. I think that's... Nobody wants to be embarrassed. No, that's definitely true.
37:26But yeah, I think it'll be interesting. I'm looking forward to it. I think the games at
37:31the Garden are going to be fantastic. And I do think there is some level of Canadian angst about
37:36USA hockey and them starting to take over at the international level at the World Juniors. And
37:43frankly, it's starting to take over in the NHL too, where you're seeing more and more
37:48U.S.-born players get to high levels, get picked first overall, be the best players in the league,
37:55like all that stuff is starting to happen. So I would think there's going to be some Canadian
38:01effort and some desire to make a statement about how good they still are and where they sit
38:07currently with all the players. The captain of Vatican City of the NHL is from Arizona.
38:14Yeah, yeah. This is where we are right now. I think we're a little desensitized to it in
38:18the Bruins market and in New England in general because of the fading
38:25legacy that we have with hockey. I do think that, I mean, Brian Barard was once first overall.
38:34By 2005, not a single Rhode Islander was drafted. Now in the era of junior hockey and Mount St.
38:41Charles becoming a junior program and a high school team is actually now a bit of a footnote
38:48to all of that. The whole post-Belisle legacy and trying to get a new arena there and all of that.
38:55The makeup of junior hockey and crystallizing with all these multi-ring complexes and these
39:00soup-to-nuts ADM programs like the Walpole Express, etc., that I do feel like there's a
39:06resurgence of junior talent and producing, including Rhode Islanders. We just had a
39:14native Rhode Islander from South County score a goal against the Bruins, Parker Ford. That was
39:20pretty cool to see a kid who played his youth hockey at the Brad Boss Arena, which didn't even
39:26exist when I was a sports editor of the Narragansett Times in the 90s. I told the South Kingstown High
39:32School Athletic Banquet, Senior Athletic Banquet, I've been waiting for a hockey rink around here,
39:36I guarantee you when you see my U-Haul pulling up 138 to leave the area, that's exactly what
39:44happened. Right on the money. Predictions I didn't want to be true. That's the one I nailed.
39:52Anyway, I do feel like we got New England hockey. I think we're just used to not putting out
40:00the top player in the world anymore here. I feel like we're desensitized to the fact that USA
40:08hockey has become such a wide-ranging thing with players from Florida, the Southwest, California,
40:14formidable players. They're everywhere. It's in the best place it's ever been,
40:18even if New England hockey isn't all it once was. I think New England hockey still
40:25is pretty high up there. Put it this way, I think the number one overall pick
40:33sort of thing is arbitrary. I think it's definitely starting to happen more where it's
40:39some unconventional places. You mentioned Austin Matthews, obviously. You're starting to see more
40:45unconventional areas produce high-level hockey talent. There's no doubt about that as far as
40:50in the U.S. or whatever, what have you. You still see Massachusetts produce at least a couple of
40:58first-round picks every single season, every single draft. There's at least one or two players.
41:05The thing that I think is dropping off in New England and Massachusetts is the depth of the
41:11talent that's being produced as far as draft picks go. No question. Because families have
41:16been priced out of playing hockey. Yeah, you're still seeing the very, very high-end kids getting
41:20taken in the first round. Those kids, the Ryan Leonards, the Will Smiths, those kids are still
41:24out there. Not every kid who makes it is a rich kid, but it's become a rich kid's sport. No,
41:29it definitely has. There's no doubt about it. And it's pricing out a lot of good athletes,
41:33like to your point, and that's a problem. Definitely. All right. But let's not get
41:39sidetracked. I do want to talk a little bit. Hampus Lindholm, he'll be coming back after
41:44the break. They're going to have like four or five practices coming out of the break
41:49before they start playing games. It'll be like a mini training camp. They got this one on Tuesday,
41:54right? What's that? They got today and tomorrow off, but then they end up practicing on Tuesday.
41:59I think so. Yeah. So it's like, you know, Lindholm's going to get a chance to really ramp up
42:05and get ready. And it totally makes sense that they didn't rush him in before the break. And
42:08you know, they're going to wait until the break to come back and have him do it the right way.
42:14How much of an impact can he make a difference? He's obviously a difference-making kind of player.
42:20He's going to help the back end in a big way. Can he be enough to help sort of help them go
42:26on the kind of epic run that they're going to need to go on the last 25 games to make the playoffs?
42:31Not discounting the possibility because Lindholm plays really well with McAvoy.
42:36Yeah. And in the full scope of the season, he was going to be Carlo's partner.
42:41I think in the moment, Lowry, for all of his skating and puck handling ability,
42:49he gets overmatched at times. And I think that the Bruins are going to have to go top heavy
42:55in order to try to eke out the wins on a short-term basis that they need to have in hard
43:00road games. And I think if Lindholm is truly ready, and I don't think they'll put him back
43:06in until he is, then I think he's going to wind up paired with McAvoy so that the Bruins can have
43:13the most formidable five-man unit and produce goals that have been so hard to come by this
43:18season. I remember Paul Murray saying during the 23 series that the thing he feared most about the
43:25Bruins was their four-man attack. That one side, one of those forwards is going to be, one of those
43:31defensemen, excuse me, is going to be one of those forwards as the puck enters the attacking zone.
43:37This is the game they have to play in order to generate more offense, barring an acquisition.
43:42Because even with Pasternak getting hot over the last month, with the new year, with Marchand
43:50really being the best athletic version of himself that we've seen all season,
43:55that he's trying so hard and trying to do too much at times, getting himself in the penalty box
44:00in the process. It's not carelessness on his part, it's effort. And so I just feel like they
44:08need something more. That's probably one of the rare spots where they could get it.
44:12Yeah, I mean it's going to be interesting to watch. I'm certainly going to be very
44:18interested, curious to see what's going to happen in the last 25 games. I think it's going to be
44:23entertaining. It was Swayman, I think, that talked about the season being a roller coaster. I think
44:28that's going to be what it's going to be like in the last 25 games too. Maybe they somehow find
44:34their way in to the playoffs at the end of it. But I feel like at this point it's going to be
44:40because other teams don't want it or can't take it. It's not going to be because the Bruins are
44:45going to take it. That's what I kind of feel like if they're going to make the playoffs.
44:49It's going to be by virtue of other teams falling out of it. Because of the pressure,
44:54because of injuries, whatever. I don't get the sense that this team is going to seize it from
45:01somebody else and rip off a long winning streak and earn it on their own, so to speak.
45:09Well, they need a lot of teams to fail though for them to be that team without that kind of a
45:14surge. To your point though, I think Lindholm puts them in the best position to go on a surge.
45:22I know it's a great point that you make about him potentially playing
45:25with McAvoy and just really maxing out those guys. At least in situations.
45:30In a 25-game sprint to the end of the season to try to make it to the playoffs, I would expect
45:36the Bruins to coach every game as a playoff. They're trying to win every single night and
45:41they're just going to ride their horses. That's going to be probably putting Lindholm and McAvoy
45:47together and cutting the game in half and having them play 25 minutes a night. That makes a lot of
45:52good sense as far as I'm concerned. We should note that Matty Potra and Michael Callahan have been
45:59assigned to the Providence Bruins for the Four Nations break. I'm not 100% convinced that
46:05Potra is coming back. I think that he played really well in Providence and really well when
46:11he first got back. I'm not so sure how I feel about how the Bruins are going to feel about it
46:18when it comes to these 25 DevCon 4 games. I'm not sure how they're going to feel about it
46:24at that time. We'll see what happens here. I'm not really sure. I'm just saying I'm not
46:31putting a little asterisk on this. No, that's a good point, Mick, because I think he's been erratic.
46:36He's been a young player. That's what he's been. He's been good some of the games and
46:39some of the games he's been a liability. Some of the games he's just been okay, but you can't
46:44count on him that you're going to get the exact same thing every single night in those pressure
46:50packed situations with the playoffs on the line. But then again, I think he's shown the ability
46:57to create offense where other players just aren't creating anything. You're right, and he's been able
47:02to do that a couple of games ago. Those passes from behind the net, just brilliant stuff that you can
47:06see the ability. The Bruins desperately need that. However, when I look at yesterday's game
47:11and I saw what I saw earlier in the season where he's getting pushed off the puck and his back
47:16checks are failing, it's his line a lot of the times when the Bruins are hemmed in.
47:22Yeah, no, and there's been some games, there's been a couple of them in the recent
47:27stretch where he's been a little bit of a liability at times. You've seen it.
47:33It's going to be interesting. It's going to be a very interesting decision. I think it's going to
47:38also be one that maybe a trade takes care of that decision. Who knows if they bring somebody else in
47:44because I think they're going to have to find somebody to come in, especially if they're
47:48trading Trent Frederick too. I would expect if they trade Frederick, that Patra would be the guy
47:53and he would be the third line center unless they bring somebody else in, unless they swap out for
47:57another center, but we'll see. All that stuff, all these questions to be TBA, to be announced,
48:04to be answered, Mick, over the last 25 games. Enjoy your Four Nations break. I'm sure we'll
48:10have you on next week and we'll break down some Four Nations stuff. That should be interesting.
48:15Are you going up to Montreal? I am not, but I'll be at the Boston Games.
48:18I will too, so I will see you there. All right. Thank you, Mick. Let's thank our sponsors real
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48:40Let's also thank our GameTime. If you need any kind of tickets, download the GameTime app,
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48:47but again, download the app, create an account and use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.
48:52Download GameTime today. What time is it, Mick? Time for the Beanpot GameTime. Beanpot GameTime.
48:58Enjoy your Beanpot GameTime. Hopefully the championship game is much better than the
49:01first two games last week. Hell yeah. Blowout City, baby. All right, Mick,
49:05thank you very much for joining us, my friend. Everybody else out there,
49:08thanks for listening. We'll see you at the rink.