What are the #Bruins trade deadline plans? Are Don Sweeney and Cam Neely's jobs in jeopardy? #NHL Bruins legend Mike Milbury joins!
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00:00You know, I, I played in the, in the original Canada cup was like a half a century ago.
00:06And it was the great thing about it for the players is you put on a sweater that has your
00:11country's logo on it and all of a sudden it's a, there's a gleam in your eye.
00:16It really is kind of special.
00:19It was different when, when I played for team USA, because we had about, I'm going to guess
00:25like two and a half weeks or three weeks of, of training camp.
00:29These guys get two practices and they get thrown together.
00:32It doesn't, it doesn't diminish the feeling that each player has playing for your country,
00:37but there is, there's something extraordinary about how you feel when you put the Jersey
00:43on and you're playing against another, another nation.
00:47It's, it's just the, for whatever reason, it's, it's particularly exhilarating.
00:53Mike, we've been spending the last, I would say a couple weeks dissecting everything that
00:59Marsh and does or doesn't do on and off the ice.
01:02Do you think that there is any chance that he is going to be out of Boston by March 7th,
01:07the trade deadline?
01:10I think that it should be explored.
01:13I mean, I think they have to take a realistic look at where they are, which is out of the
01:18playoffs right now, although they're, you know, just fractionally out.
01:21They could make it back in.
01:23I don't think there's a realistic expectation of advancement deep into the playoff situation.
01:30It's just, it's just not going to happen.
01:32You've seen the way they've blown leads and they, their defenses, they should be a defense
01:37first organization because they don't have enough offensive firepower to, to try it the
01:42other way.
01:44And that's where their, their goal should be for going forward.
01:47But it doesn't look like they've got it all together and you've got to certainly point
01:53to the personnel first, and then you have to start thinking about who's doing the coaching
01:58and who's, who's disciplining who in certain situations, but they don't have it figured
02:03out.
02:04So to get back to your question, I think it has to be explored and I think it has to be
02:08done with some level of diplomacy.
02:11If they're going to explore it, they have to discuss it with Marsh and if he says no,
02:16then they have a tough call, but there are a lot of teams that have kept players well
02:20past their prime because of previous accomplishments with the team and they get nothing for them
02:27at the end.
02:28When, when I think two things could be accomplished, the player could get a chance to win another
02:32Stanley cup, maybe extend his career and you get an asset that will help you in the future.
02:38But it seems to be something that a lot of teams are reluctant to try it.
02:42I don't think they should be.
02:44And for this team, he's the second best with points this season.
02:47Like how are they going to fill that void if they said, no, no, they're not going to
02:50fill the void.
02:51They're going to, what they're going to do is they're going to, they're going to gamble
02:54on the future.
02:55They're going to gamble this guy who's such a competitor and a guy, a guy that I have
02:59told you, I think is the, you know, the, the premium left wing of all time and the Bruins
03:04organization and that says something.
03:07But that the organization has to face obstacles that the organization faces, not just be sentimental
03:16about the fact that Brad Marchand has been a great player here and they could do him
03:20a favor.
03:21They could extend his career potentially, and they could do something that they desperately
03:26need to do, which is gather assets going forward to make their team a better team and a competitive
03:32team and a team that could win a Stanley cup because they're not composed right now to
03:36be in that position.
03:37Mike, how hard is it for those conversations when you had them and you were at the Islanders
03:42and the owner would be saying, Hey, you know, we'd be better off with one series and the
03:46home gate in terms of the financial stability of the club, whereas you're looking at three
03:51to four years down the road.
03:52How do you balance that?
03:54And how real are those kinds of conversations to those that actually happen?
03:58Like is Don Sweeney hypothetically speaking now with the Jacobs about what their plans
04:04are at the deadline and what they have to get to?
04:07I would think that he would be talking to them.
04:09Yeah, I think that he and Kim would, would have to be facing, you know, some reality
04:16here that their jobs are maybe in jeopardy.
04:20I don't know the relationship between Charlie Jacobs, who's running the show now here.
04:25But I know that at times when, when I was a manager that the ownership got overly involved
04:32and that was a, that was a giant pain in the ass, but I don't think that's happening here.
04:38I think that, but I do think there's an obligation for the manager, the president in this case
04:45to continually be in contact with ownership because you know, they're, it's, they're in
04:51choppy waters right now and you want to be able to explain what you're doing and why
04:56you're doing it and, and give, give people that sign the paycheck a reason to continue
05:01to sign it for you.
05:03So I think there's gotta be, at this point there has to be fairly constant communication
05:08between those three guys.
05:10The rebuild or the retool, uh, however cam referred to it is how long does that take?
05:17And it's without significant, you know, high draft picks, it's, it's gotta be a while.
05:25There's no answer to that question because you don't know how you're going to work, how
05:33things are going to work out with these draft picks, but you've got to, you've, you've got
05:37to take the chance.
05:38I mean, I mean, you can't throw all your chips into a free agent basket.
05:43It's in this sport, especially even though the cap is going up, there's only so much
05:47you can spend in free agency and they went out and spend in free agency and they made
05:51mistakes this past off season.
05:53So, but the better way to do it, I think right now is to find ways to gather draft
05:59collateral and start putting the pressure on your scouts to, to, to look at things in
06:05a hard way and to fill some spots and their spots need to be filled or certainly in the
06:11top two center positions.
06:14And that's what, it's going to be a gamble.
06:16The whole thing is a game, it's a crapshoot trying to draft kids at 18 and figure out
06:21exactly where, what they're going to be like at 25 is a, nobody's perfect at that game,
06:27but you've got to play it.
06:29Mike, when they get back, they'll have about two weeks before the actual trade deadline.
06:37Has their mind kind of been made up in the direction that they want to go front office
06:42wise or will the two weeks play a major factor in the direction that they want to go into
06:52you're, you're talking about ownership wanting to go, I, I would think that they would mean
07:00two weeks is a long two weeks heading into the deadline.
07:03I think how the, how management handles this, um, is yes, going to be impactful on how they,
07:12they think about the future, how ownership thinks about the future, because unless does
07:17anybody on this radio station think that this team is going to go past the first round
07:22of the NHL playoffs?
07:24I don't think so.
07:26And so if we're thinking this and they have to be thinking that at this point, this is
07:31not two years ago when they were brilliant for most of the season.
07:35So you have to, you have to then take advantage of an opportunity to make things happen.
07:41By the way, did you see Kevin DuPont's?
07:43And I thought this was a really interesting idea.
07:45He tried to declare that there should be a trade week, like during the season, I don't
07:50know if it was a week or two weeks, but, but it would be such a great idea.
07:54First of all, it'd be great for the players.
07:55They don't have to sit around every day, worrying about when the team's playing well, where
07:58they're going to be traded or not.
08:00There'd be a two week window and that would be, it would cause people to have a flurry
08:04of conversations around the league and then they could finish the season.
08:08I thought it was a really interesting idea, but only two weeks, two weeks, and then the
08:13off season, of course you could make deals, but I thought it was, you know, would sort
08:17of, I don't know, compress the pressure and, and make sure that everybody was, you
08:22know, feeling good about themselves after the deadline was over.
08:26But anyway, this deadline comes up and I would think that there will be activity here.
08:31And if there's not activity and if I were the owner of the team, I would be disappointed.
08:36I think they need to realize the position they're at.
08:39I think they, I think ownership also has to recognize the fact that this, these two
08:43guys, Neely and Sweeney, did some really interesting things and looked like they
08:47were trying to get the team over the finish line for our championship.
08:51And sadly and surprisingly, it didn't really come close, but I thought, and I think
08:57most people thought the things they did two years ago in particular were, were really
09:03good and really savvy and looked like they positioned themselves to be, you know, in
09:07the Stanley cup final, but crap happens.
09:11It does.
09:12And it will be interesting over the next few weeks.
09:15And we certainly appreciate you taking the time.
09:17We will talk to you again next Thursday, Mike Milbury.
09:19You got it.
09:20All right.
09:21There he is.