Bruins’ Coaching Search Options with Mike Sullivan Gone | The Skate Pod, Ep. 437

Bruins’ Coaching Search Options with Mike Sullivan Gone | The Skate Pod, Ep. 437

Welcome in to episode 437 of the Skate Podcast. I’m Brian D. Feliz joined by Bridget P and Scott Mclofflin. Today we have plenty of questions from you guys that we’re going to answer today in an impromptu mailbag. Again, just keep sending questions throughout the summer. I think normally during the regular season, we kind of promote when we’re doing mailbags. It’s safe to assume if you’re sending questions throughout the offseason, we’ll probably get to at least a couple every episode. Um, but before we get to those and our opening shifts, bridging Scott, how are your playoff brackets looking with 80% or so of the first round now completed? Uh, my mine looks great because I didn’t fill it out. So, I’m I’m just filling it out as we go. So, I’m Okay, that’s called cheating. That is cheating. So, my bracket My my real answer is mine’s horrible because I picked Tampa to win the cup. So, I’m I’m dead. I’m out. Okay. So, I have the ABS winning the cup. So, if they had lost last night, then my bracket would have been completely busted. But, they’re still in it. They’re going to game seven. So, that series still hasn’t been determined yet. But, I mean, the only real difference I’ve I’ve had so far in the result is that I thought a lot of these series were going to go seven games and they haven’t. I I think that was just optimistic because I wanted it to go seven games. I wanted to see the Capitals and Montreal go seven games. I wanted to see Tampa, Florida go seven games. I think the only series or one of the only series I thought wouldn’t was the New Jersey series. Um and that obviously didn’t. So, uh yeah, no, most of the teams I’ve picked have gotten through, but the big one that we’re waiting on still is ABS Dallas. And that was obviously going to be a tough series to predict because for an opening round matchup, those are two really good teams. Yeah, I mean, of the series that have concluded so far, I’m five for six and my two cup picks for now are still in. I’m with you, Bridget. I had Colorado going to the end. I I saw I saw Dallas Colorado as a pick them. If it if you had Heiskin in, if you had Jason Robertson healthy, you’re down two of your top players, your number one defenseman and arguably your best forward, maybe second best now that they have Ranson in and you’re playing Colorado that’s been as healthy as they’ve been in four years, three or four years. I just thought that their depth would ultimately come through. And to Dallas’s credit, they’ve been opportunistic and they’ve been very good. And that’s going seven. The only series I got wrong so far was Edmonton and LA. I thought the at home injury and Edmonton’s goalending would do them in. And I think that you play the same team four years in a row. Some eventually you would think that LA would find their way to break through. They go up 2 in the series. They’re a byfield clear away from going up 3-1 and he doesn’t clear the puck out of the zone. Evan Buchard keeps it in. Next thing you know, Bousard ties it. Oilers win it uh later on and then they they go on to win four straight eventually. So, uh, but the east I picked, uh, accurately, not necessarily to the game. And then out west, I’m still waiting on St. Louis and Winnipeg. And then where I picked St. Louis and then Dallas, Colorado, I picked Colorado. So, what’s the other series? Uh, Vegas and Minnesota. I picked Vegas. Although, great showing for the Wild. Um, but yeah, it’s it’s it’s been a good first round. It’s been entertaining for for not many seven game series. It’s been pretty entertaining. and the uh so the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche are going seven and then maybe Winnipeg and St. Louis will go seven. We’ll find that out in due time. But Scott, let’s throw it to you in your opening shift because one series did recently conclude and uh I think there’s a sigh of relief, pun intended, up in Toronto. Yeah, the uh the Leafs avoided the the uh the dreaded 3 0 collapse, which they got up three on Ottawa, then lost two. Uh they’re in Ottawa for game six. And I think I think everyone, myself included, is expecting like, oh man, they’re going to lose this and then Saturday night in Toronto is going to be crazy with how nervous everyone’s going to be. and they pulled it out and won uh won game six in Ottawa. You know, I thought, look, the the Leafs were a better team. Um parts of that series were played very evenly. What the two three overtime games. Um, you know, and and Ottawa, like Ottawa has depth and they have a lot to build on there, but they kind of lack the elite offensive firepower. Um, Mark struggled to start that series and then came around. I didn’t like the goal he gave up to Austin Matthews in game six. Kind of got caught cheating a little bit trying to see through a screen and Matthews just beats him low. Um, but yeah, so now the Leafs are in the second round and they get Florida, which is going to be fascinating. I think I think that’s going to be a pretty short series for Florida, but we’ll see if this Leafs team can can surprise us. Um, obviously I think there’s heightened interest there because a it’s the Leafs and B this is, you know, the Bruins division. And had the Leafs collapsed and blown it and lost in the first round, you’d imagine there would be major changes, um, two of the core four are set to hit unrestricted free agency anyways, uh, in MNER and Tavvarz if they don’t get resigned. So, still really interested to see what happens with this Leafs team and what they decide to do because I think that kind of blowup could still be in play if they go out easily to the Panthers. If this is a four or five game series and they’re barely competitive, I think you could still see uh some some major shakeups there in Toronto. And that leads perfectly into my opening shift, which has to do with Brad Marshon and the Panthers and the Bruins uh conditional pick in 2027. So uh Panthers get through the Lightning, they win that series four to two. And now we know who they’re playing. They’re playing the Leafs. So Marshon already threw that first round and the stipulation for that conditional first round pick in 2027 is that the Panthers have to win two rounds. So I guess you’re and he has to play at least 50% of their playoff games and and which he he’s he has so far and it it looks like he’s healthy. So that at least the there’s that going for him and for the Bruins uh chances. So he had four assists. I think he was plus five in the first series, so he didn’t score, but he had he impacted the game. And there was a few games he didn’t get a lot of playing time, but by and large, he was playing about 17 minutes a game. Um, and he so he’s on to the next round. And Bruins fans, it’s probably not that difficult for them to root against the Leafs. So, but it is a little bit harder to root for the Panthers, but there’s clear rooting interest for Bruins fans in this series because if you want that first round pick instead of second round pick, and I know it’s not until 2027, and it could be a late round pick, but it’s still better. Um, and the Panthers, it seems like they have a good chance against the Leafs, so that’s something that everyone in Boston will be watching. Yeah. Yeah. And I I’ll just mention because I got some information on that pick this week that I threw out on Twitter and included in my article. Uh so that pick if it does convert to a firstrounder, it’s top 10 protected in 2027, meaning if the Panthers were to get a top 10 pick that year, they can keep it in the pick slides to 2028. Instead, it would be unprotected in 2028. So, I think, you know, when the trade was made, we had that it was it could be a first in 2027 or 2028, and there wasn’t really any clarity on how it would be decided which year it was. So, there you go. That’s that’s what determines what year it will be. I kind of feel like it’s highly unlikely it would be a top 10 pick anyway, just with the kind of slide they would have to have. But, hey, the Bruins did it, so it’s possible. It’s possible. But um as of right now, they don’t look like a team that would be picking that high. All right, so there’s that. That’s kind of kind of good news for the Bruins. Um and Brian, this is a little bit of bad news if you thought that the Bruins head coaching search was going to involve a certain head coach who was on the market for just a few days. Yeah, I mean, if you’re someone out there who really wanted Mike Sullivan as next head coach for the Bruins, then yeah, you’re out of luck a little bit because he’s now with the Rangers. And so, okay, what does that mean for the Bruins? Well, that means that there are still a couple of names out there that have some very credible and in most cases decorated experience in the National Hockey League as head coaches. You have John Tordella out there who would be a very polarizing hire. I don’t think many Bruins fans would like that. But you have John Tordella won a cup with the Lightning in 04. Peter Lavette won a cup with the Hurricanes in ’06. He’s currently on the market. Uh you have Rick Tockett who is less decorated of a of a head coach, but very respected player in individual in his day and individual in the hockey world. And Dan Bazma who won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins back in the day. He’s also on the market. So, there are definitely some options, some may be better than others when it comes to a fit for the Bruins that are out there with headlined experience. I’m not so sure I see many of those names I just mentioned as a proper fit for the Bruins for one reason or the other. Maybe from the coach’s perspective or from the organization’s perspective or or or what have you. But there is one name that does check check off a few boxes that Don Sweeney mentioned to a question asked by Bridget during their management press conference, which is kind of what are they what are they looking for in the head coaching search? And Don Sweeney did admit that they would prefer that in an ideal world that the candidate head coaching candidate would have some level of past NHL coaching experience. Well, Marco Sturm is a name that comes to my mind that’s a little bit more outside the box. And Scott has a name in his mind as well that he’ll get to in just a minute. And there’s a couple out there. Marco Sturm was uh a very important coach for Germany international hockey over the last decade getting getting their program to a pretty good spot. Although granted, it was during a time in the Olympics where NHL players weren’t there, but still he’s a trusted individual in Germany international hockey. Yeah, I mean he’s still he’s still got Germany to a gold medal game at the Olympics. Like NHLers are No, that’s that’s an all-time high point for Germany international hockey. Yeah. And it’s it’s accolades like that that got him to assistant coaching position with the LA Kings for four seasons, which checks that box Sweeney refers to. Um and he’s now been the head coach of the Ontario Rain, who is the Kings AHL affiliate now for three years. He’s done a good job down there. Of course, everybody knows Marco Sturm from his time in Boston. One of the instrumental players in the resurrection of Boston Bruins hockey in the mid to late 2000s. Of course, he was part of the Joe Thornton trade, which was um on paper a big loss to the Bruins at the time. But anyway, he’s a fascinating name to me. I think a lot of I think he’s thought very highly of by Bruins fans regarding his time here. He wasn’t on the 2011 championship team, but he was part of the fabric that got the team to build that culture uh the years leading up to it. And I just think that him coaching in the AHL for the last three years speaks to his ability to to resonate with with a younger uh hockey player these days. And at the same time, he comes from that old school era of hockey playing in the NHL uh throughout the 90s and 2000s. So, he’s an interesting name and he’s an outside the box candidate. and uh he’s one I’m keeping an eye on. Yeah, I I like Sturm and I I I ultimately don’t know if it’s even going to be all that outside the box because I think he’s going to have interest from other teams as well. Um he’s kind of at that point now where people are are taking notice of of what he’s doing. So, um maybe even maybe even the Kings Scott after this collapse in the first round. Maybe. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that’s that’s a tough one because it’s like it’s literally just the Oilers are this big beast that they can’t get past. Um, you know, I don’t I don’t know if the if a coaching change changes that, but you’re right, like I’m sure that’s an organization that feels like they have to try to change something because Conor McDavid and Leon Dettle aren’t going anywhere. Um, you know, so like they’re in your division, you’re gonna have to go through them. So yeah, they got to try something. But um yeah, Sturm Sturm checks a lot of my boxes too in terms of like he’s, you know, he’s not totally new. Like he does have that some experience as you mentioned, but he’s like fresh enough blood that you feel like he can like adapt and grow with the team and he’s not going to come in sort of set in his ways. Um, you know, I I said all along like I I’m not opposed to uh an experienced coach or if you even want to, you know, call him a retread or whatever, but there weren’t that many that I was like that makes sense to me. Sullivan was one. I said that on here. Um, I think he would have been a good fit, but yeah, some of the others you mentioned, like I’m just not not as sure. I’m with you. like I’m not certain that they make a lot of sense. Uh Jay Woodcraft is one I’d be interested in. You know, I don’t he doesn’t have the long resume of a Sullivan or Lavlet or Tortoella, but obviously has been a head coach in the NHL with Edmonton for about a year and a half. He took over as interim coach, then had a good season, a full year in uh 22 23, and then got fired when they got off to a slow start the next season, like 12 games in. So, he by by all accounts, like he’s really pretty devoted to learning as much as he can about coaching. I guess he’s like spent time over in Europe talking to different coaches and kind of observing how they do things. and it is just a a figure that I think everyone thinks is going to get a chance again sooner rather than later. A lot of coaches that second time around are better prepared to be an NHL head coach. Um so he’s someone I’ I’d be interested in as well. But bridge, I’ll let you go, but I do have a question for you guys about Sullivan after. Yeah. So I I think Sturm is an interesting one because that’s one that we hadn’t really talked about before, right? like our we’ve kind of shifted gears. We were talking a little bit more about um for the record, I did have him on my very first list right after the Bruins season ended. All right, there you go. I don’t know. I don’t know if we talked about it much, but it was on No, we didn’t. I don’t think we talked about it. I don’t know if we just I don’t know if we discussed it here. We may have briefly, but yeah, but but yeah, now is a good time to bring it up, especially because you see a guy like Sullivan come on the board and then right off the board and um we we talked about Lavlet before, we now no longer really have to talk about the college guys because those guys are pretty much ruled out. So, um, and Sturm because of, you know, he he’s well, some college g I mean, like I wouldn’t say ruled out. No, I’m talking about college only guys. Um, yeah, guys who have only coached in college and have never um been an an NHL or AHL coach. Um, so so yeah, Storm’s someone to look at. I my friend Paige, who used to be my broadcast partner uh for Hockey East, is now broadcasting out there for them. So, I’ll have to give her a call and see what she thinks because I’m sure she’s talked to him quite a bit this year and just to see what what the feeling is out there because obviously they’re pretty far away out in California. And um yeah, I’ll have to touch base with her and see what she thinks of him and and if she’s heard anything about, you know, if he’s if they want to bring him up the pipeline in LA now at some point. So, uh, yeah. Yes. And and it is worth noting for anyone who’s confused, the Ontario rain play in Ontario, California. It’s not not Ontario. Canada. Yep. When she first told me that, I was like, “Oh, you’re moving to Canada.” She’s like, “No.” Like, okay. Yeah. Oh, it’s California. All right. Yeah. And that may have been the previously relationship between an NHL team and an AHL affiliate that made zero sense when it comes to uh proximity between the two cities when it was the Manchester Monarchs as the AHL affiliate to the LA Kings. Uh not necessarily a quick flight if you got to get there, but quick follow up on this sixth hour flight across the country. Yeah. They’re calling you up on a east coast trip on on Mike Sullivan. So, the Rangers, and this was kind of getting reported as soon as he became available, Chris Drury and the Rangers clearly made him their number one priority. Uh, I heard Elliot Freriedman on his 32 thoughts podcast even framed it as Chris Drury was going to consider it a failure if he didn’t get Sullivan. So, they went above and beyond. Didn’t even like interview anyone else. We don’t know the terms of the contract yet, but it sounds like he’s going to be one of, if not the highest paid coach in NHL history. Bruins clearly weren’t willing to go there. Didn’t view Sullivan the same way based on things that I heard. Um, but do you think they should have? Like, do you think they should have done what the Rangers did or tried to get into a bidding war for him? I think uh of the names I mentioned of the headline experience guys available toella lavalierette biosma um tit Sullivan he was the top of my list among those candidates but not to the extent where I’m going to have a massive bidding war because you know I think that Mike Sullivan is not you know he’s not the reason that the Penguins have not been a playoff team the last three years. They have some roster issues, right? But he hasn’t been that’s the reason that they’ve gotten to the playoffs. Like coaching hasn’t gotten them to the playoffs. And I just I look at Pittsburgh’s roster the last three years. I look at Boston’s roster right now. And again, there’s four months or whatever it is, five months before we know Boston’s final roster. Uh certainly we’ll know more about Boston’s roster come July 1, July 2. So, you know, Boston is an unfinished product right now. Maybe come September they would be a really good improved roster with Mike Sullivan coaching, but as of right now, if you’re him, you’re looking at the Bruins roster and you’re saying, “Well, how’s this much better than what I’ve just dealing with in Pittsburgh? Um, a lot’s hinging on this off season. Maybe I’m a part of it, maybe I’m not.” So, I just I guess what I’m saying is I don’t think Mike Sullivan would come in and be some savior if the roster isn’t vastly improved. If the roster’s vastly improved, then there’s probably multiple coaches that can get the Bruins back to where they want them to be. So, um, I wouldn’t have gotten into a massive bidding war necessarily. No, it’d be interesting to hear, you know, if they had a conversation at all or if it was just completely fast-tracked with the Rangers. Um, but yeah, Scott’s question was, do you think that they should have pursued it more heavily, more, you know, competitively, I guess, with the Rangers? and maybe maybe Sullivan wasn’t really high on their list to begin with. So, um that’s what we don’t know. Uh, I would have liked to see them at least get an interview and and, you know, have a chance at signing him because I did think he was a really good candidate and I would have been happy and I would have been pretty confident that the team was going to experience uh, you know, a good start next season with hopefully offseason additions that make the team better as well as a head coach that I think most people would be pretty confident in. I mean, this is a guy who just coached at Four Nations. This is a guy who has two Stanley Cups, like we mentioned last episode. This is a guy who seems to be liked. Um, I don’t think it it was ever a conversation of about losing the room in Pittsburgh. He seem and he was there for such a long time that um, you know, it’s good to to know that he’s probably not going to be somebody that wears your players down in in terms of, you know, wearing down relationships. He seemed like he would have been a good fit. And I mean, credit to Drury and the Rangers for identifying what they wanted and going after it and and doing it. And maybe they caught the Bruins by surprise. I don’t think they caught them by surprise. I think the Bruins were well aware of what was going on. Um, I think they, like I said, I think they just didn’t they might have liked Sullivan to an extent. They might have wanted to talk to him, but they didn’t view him the same way that the Rangers did, which was like that the Rangers were I think I turned on Twitter like they were, we need to have this guy, like we need to get him. I don’t think I just don’t think the Bruins felt that way. And um you know, yeah, like he he might have been top of my list. So, in that sense, I do think they should have reached out. They should have been interested, but at the same time, I’m not I I can’t really get worked up over not doing what the Rangers did, which is zeroing in on one guy, really not even doing much of a search and then throwing the bag at him. Like I I’m honestly fine if the Bruins say, “You know what? We want to we want to take a little more time. We want to cast a wider net. We want to talk to more people.” And so, no, we’re not gonna go toe-to-toe with the Rangers in a bidding war. um you know, like three days after Sullivan leaves Pittsburgh. Um I like I said, I I think he would have been good for the Bruins. I was pro Sullivan, but I I’m also not I’m totally fine with the Bruins approaching it the way that they did because I do think there’s if they do this search right, like there are other candidates, good candidates that they should be able to to interview and have a chance to get. That’s not just the retreads, the biggest names. That’s, as we mentioned, Sturm or Jay Woodraftoft. I’d throw Todd Nelson, head coach of the Hershey Bears. um you know some some NHL assistants whether it’s uh like Misha Donskov in Dallas who I think is widely respected and people think is going to start getting some opportunities or um in Washington Mitch Love is a pretty respected assistant coach even internally like yeah look at Ryan Mujanel look at Jay Leachch um I’m I’m like I’m good with going over more options and taking a little more time with this. I don’t think the Bruins needed to necessarily rush into making Mike Sullivan maybe the highest paid coach ever. And when he when Sweeney was talking about who like who would qualify for what he wants and like the timeline and he he had a lot there were a lot of answers um in that last press conference that the team had about the coaching search. I think that was like the first 10 minutes of the press conference. Um, and one of the things that stood out to me about uh his what he was looking for, who he was looking for was basically they’re just in the process of identifying and not interviewing at this time, at least as of the time of the press conference. And uh, one of the reasons was because he said there’s still guys coaching in the playoffs that he wants to to bring in and take a look at. And now whether or not that is head coaches that were in the playoffs and might get let go after you say a first round exit or assistants that could be on teams that are maybe going to make a deeper run. So that would that would point to some of the names that Scott just brought up because those are assistants on teams that are in the playoffs right now. Yeah. I mean throw throw throw Mark Sevard in there too in Toronto. Although I would say maybe not a a banner series for the Toronto Power Play until um until they finally broke through in game six, but uh that was that was they were not reflecting very well on on Seart’s coaching the first five games of that series. So yeah, those are those are different things to keep an eye on because it seems like they’re they’re interested in checking out a wide range of candidates. um and still haven’t really fully gotten into the thick of the coaching search if they’ve interviewed anyone at all at this point besides obviously talking to Sacko. All right, so before we get into the mailback questions, do you guys have any closing thoughts on any of the opening shifts outside of the coaching which seems like we’ve kind of gone over now at this point? I don’t think so. No. All right. Well, let’s start off hot. Okay. I want to go to an email that Roger sent into us. Roger, thank you for submitting your question. He says this. I’m not sure why so many people are bashing the Bruins management for the team’s horrible performance this year. Weren’t the three of you part of the group of pundits in the Boston media who picked the Bruins to contend for the cup before the season started? I remember a lot of people picking the Bruins to have a great year this year because they added Lyn Holman Zador off and would have Potra and Laurai this year as more experienced players. Why is it Don Sweeny’s fault that Jim Montgomery coached like he didn’t want the job anymore? And also Sweeny’s fault that every starter except for Passion and Geeky regressed in all three phases of the game. So Roger, I’ll say this to your first part. Yeah, 100%. You’re absolutely right. The three of us did sit here in September with our preseason predictions and we did pick the Bruins to go on a very deep playoff run. Uh what I would say though is that I don’t recall many times, well, I I’ll speak for myself. My issue with management in the recent press conference wasn’t even so much their offseason moves last year. it was or even answering questions. I didn’t love the the the tone of the press conference. And there was a little bit of a lack of accountability, genuine lack of accountability. It was a lot of, well, look at what we’ve done here. Look what we’ve done there. And that’s all well and good. I didn’t sit here at all throughout this season, at least much, and really blame Sweeney or Neie for anything regarding this roster. I called the players out from day one. I was I was calling out Monty as well. I very much was blaming the players and the only criticism I had of Sweeney and Neilie throughout the season was if they didn’t do what was right at the deadline and sell and because because I kind of saw that this season was going to be not what we thought it was going to be. And I did blame a lot of the players and and uh the coaches. My issue with management had has more so to do with there’s smuggness at the podium, which if you want to say it’s from questions from the media, go for it. Like, sure, take it takes two to tango. But I’m just saying my criticism in recent episodes was more so their attitudes, less saying that, oh, they shouldn’t have signed Zorov and and Lynholm. I’d be a hypocrite to say that I wasn’t happy when they made those moves. I thought that they overachieved the year before making it to the second round. I said, “Okay, if they made it to the second round last year with Coyle and Zaka as your top two centers, then maybe they will achieve properly this season and at least get back to the second round, maybe the conference finals, maybe the cup finals, adding Elias Lenholm and Nikita Sador off.” I was wrong about that. Management was wrong about that, but I’m not I’m not and I don’t think I have bitched about them for making those signings. But Bridget and Scott, I will allow you guys the opportunity to refute or concede to what Roger was saying. Well, so two things. I I don’t think we’ve ever been called pundits before in that. By the way, I will say I don’t think I pasted it into the mailbag. Uh Roger sent several emails over and he did say he’s a big fan of the show, so he’s not like he’s not like ripping us, but Oh, no. Well, well, he he he’s right though. We we were much higher on this team going into the season. Oh yeah. I we mentioned it before on a a few occasions. I thought that the first line or what we thought was going to be the first line with I when you matched up Lynholm, Elias Lindholm and Posternok was going to be you know I think I said it was going to be a top five line in the league. I was incorrect. Um and then when they got together at the end of the season they looked a little bit better but when they first started out they certainly did not look like that. Um, I think what one of the main points of Roger’s question in this situation is why why didn’t we blame Monty more? Kind of feels like what the crux of this is. Um, and I when you think about like Monty only was here for a certain amount of time and did he make mistakes? Yeah, the power play was was so bad. um and never really got better throughout the season when he was here or when he was gone. Uh I don’t know guys, do you think the power play really looked like it changed much under Sacko when when the coaching change was made? No. A little bit more movement, but the the efficiency wasn’t much better. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean to just like bring it back to to management though, like I I I think one of the criticisms you can make of Sweeney in terms of what he did during like Yeah, we can go back to last offseason, but even during the season, yeah, the power play kept struggling. There was no effort to bring in a power play coach to shake up the coaching staff and get fresh eyes on it. He said when he met with the media after he fired Montgomery, he said if things don’t get better, there will be more changes. Things got better for a few weeks and then went downhill again. And there were not any changes until the trade deadline. So like what what happened to there’s going to be more changes if things don’t get better. So like I think that’s fair. You know, there was no I would say while the season was still in the balance before it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to miss the playoffs and sell, there wasn’t really any effort to change things on the fly. There weren’t any trades to shake up the roster to try to jolt the team in a different way besides just the coaching change. Um, you saw a team in the Colorado Avalanche this year that turned over a significant amount of their roster during the season, brought in a second and third line center, completely changed over their goalending, like made real changes on the fly because their GM did not like the way that their team was looking and said, “I’m not waiting till the offseason. I’m doing this now.” Don Sweeney just held held held held. All right, time to sell. We never got it together. like that’s that’s worthy of criticism, I think. Um, you know, and then if you go back to last off season, look, it’s it’s a results business. So, did we think that they had a pretty good off season? Yeah, I think we all saw the reasoning behind their moves. Um, and and all like them. Ultimately, your I’m gonna say your two biggest signings, meaning Swayman and Elias Lindholm, two biggest contracts value-wise, did not even come close to living up to them in year one. Doesn’t mean they won’t live up to it going forward. Year one, we’re not even close to what you signed them to be. And Nikita Zidorov ultimately by the end of the season, I was fine with Zidorov. Is he overpaid? Probably. Is it an an absolute albatross of a contract? No, I don’t really think so. Um, but if you want to throw him in and say your top three signings, like that’s just the reality of the business. When you don’t get results, you’re going to come under criticism and eventually you’ll lose your job. And that goes for like any job anywhere. You know, if if people don’t listen or watch to this podcast, guess what? At some point, we don’t do a podcast anymore. If people don’t go to wei.com, I’m not going to be site editor anymore. They’ll find someone else. Like that’s how even if I even if I’m doing a good job, even if I my processes right and there’s thought and reason that goes into things that I do, if the end result isn’t there, you don’t get to keep doing it. Like that’s that’s just the that and that goes for hockey general managers. Like that’s that’s why this criticism because the results this year were disastrous. We hope that doesn’t happen to you, Scott. You know, we hope Well, we’ll see. Um much more likely for me to do something stupid again than you. Yeah, but to to to Roger’s question though and and and but yeah, like he’s right. We absolutely predicted the Bruins to have a good season and and we were we were dead wrong about that. So, but but you know, my thing is I just I to to Roger’s other point about why are people bitching about Sweeney when when the players all regressed and underperformed? You know, I I personally like I’m I’m with them. Like I was I was talking about this all season. Charlie Coyle had 22 points prior to the trade deadline. Fred Frederick had around 15. Um, Pavle Zaka for the first two months of the year had maybe like less than 10 points. I mean, I you know, I I I saw that. I I I I do think I called that out in real time. I think that my issues with Sweeney, and it goes beyond Sweeney, it’s just it’s just organizationally with the Bruins drafting and developing and scouting process out even outside of 2015. I my biggest problem with the Bruins has been some of their first round some of the few first round picks that they have had in the last decade. I just think that they I think they tried to go low floor or or uh high floor low ceiling and you know I haven’t loved some of those picks but as far as as far as free agency and and trade deadlines Sweeney has he for the most part he’s done what has been asked of him for a team that was contending. you’re if you’re a contending team, you’re going to go out of the trade deadline and you are going to spend draft collateral to try to win a Stanley Cup. I think in 2023 2024, you can make the argument despite their lack of depth up the middle that in the standings they were a contending team. Uh they didn’t really have the the the finances to to have a big trade deadline, but they didn’t their big acquisition was Pat Maroon. So, it’s not even like he did anything crazy at that trade deadline cuz he kind of knew that last year they were overachieving and it probably wasn’t worth mortgaging the future too much. Um, so I I I think I think when you see a lot of people you see a lot of people bitching about Sweeney and and Neie, I think a lot of it is at times rational. I think a lot of it I think some of it a few times is a little bit irrational, but I think a lot of the vigor you’ve seen online probably and heard on podcast and on the radio the last couple of weeks is probably stemmed from a bit of an arrogant approach that they had at that press conference that people just didn’t like. Uh some of the answers people didn’t like. So, I think it was more of a personality issue at times than it was some of the logistical moves cuz I think Roger’s absolutely right that this season was not this this season was a lost season mainly because of the lack of preparation and performance by the players and the coaches. And yes, Don Sweeney is in charge of that construction of that of those personnel pieces, but a lot of those personnel pieces, even outside of their career years last year, have been reliable producers in their roles. And there was a lot of uh a lot of people not doing their jobs this past season. And it led to the trade deadline where I commend uh ownership uh and management for doing what they did. and despite a kind of tense press conference a few weeks ago. Um, but any any final thoughts on on your current feelings towards management bridging Scott? No, but there is another question that we wanted to get to that’s uh in the same vein related to management and I’ll just read it if you don’t mind. Um, it’s from we got this email from Matt. He said, “Do you think Sweeney and company should think about the moves they make this summer to potentially help bring Marshon back? Do you think he might not return if he h isn’t a fan of the coaching hire or other players that they sign? I know he loves Boston, but it could be a factor.” Um, and so just to answer that first, we This is something that people like have come up to me and just wanted to have a conversation with me about. We haven’t talked about it much on the podcast, the idea of Marshon coming back to Boston. I have my own feelings about how likely that would be. Um, just based off of the press conference, mostly based off the, you know, just reading into some of the things that Marshon said in his um, his first press conference after being traded. But what do you guys think? Do you think it’s a, you know, on the table that they’re making some of their decisions around trying to get Marshan back? No, I think it’s a complete non-factor because I don’t think Marian’s coming back. I I don’t I don’t know what would have changed between March 7th and July 1. Like, they were apart by over a million dollars per year on a contract. And Marshian’s playing well in the playoffs. He’s probably going to get the money he wants or pretty close to it. Now, whether it’s from a contender, whether any contender can afford that or, you know, maybe has to settle for something a little less, but um no, I mean, they they worked right up until the night before the trade deadline to try to get a an extension done and ended up too far apart and ended up trading them. And I don’t I guess until I see or or hear anything about someone budging in in a major way, I have a hard time seeing Marshian coming back because he wants to be paid what he’s worth. And the Bruins have clearly a different value in mind that led to this gap and ultimately a divorce that I think is going to be a permanent divorce. Um, in terms of his playing career, obviously he’ll come back after he retires and his numbers going to be retired at some point and and all that, like he’s Martian’s going to be around Boston and, you know, we’ll get standing ovations anytime he’s shown at the Garden, but in terms of playing, I I don’t see it until or or unless something changes. Yeah, I think there’s some things that can’t be undone from a relationship standpoint. I just think that I think Mar Shannon has a lot of pride as a as a as a player and a professional and I know he has a bit a massive love and appreciation for the Boston Bruins, but the only way I see Marshian coming back would be if he was willing to maybe take a, you know, a discount because I I don’t think the Bruins will offer him the most that somebody else will. and he would do that because maybe he has personal or family reasons why he wants to be in the Boston area because that’s the other side of this too is the human element and and and the personal side and and obviously where you work affects you know where your family lives and maybe he wants to not uproot his family. Uh I it if in that scenario maybe he would be willing to come back to Boston outside of which would require which would require a change of heart from where things were in March. on his side. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As far as take probably taking less from from Boston than someone else. Yeah. Um but but to Scott’s point, I I don’t see it happening. I think that you know the mid-season projections as far as what Marian would make uh in in in free agency was around 7.8 million. And I just don’t listen, you have the Bruins will have just under $29 million of cap space to work with. You have to sign, you have to figure five of that at least is going to Geeky. Uh, you know, I don’t know how much that’s going to Lorai, maybe two, two and a half on a bridge deal. Um, you know, do they want to bring back Beer and Husadino at at cheap money? That all adds up. But those are your RFAS. Now you got to talk about, okay, now do we need 13 or 14 for Mner potentially? All right, if we don’t get MNER, are we paying um, you know, eight and a half for Eers? Uh, is there is there a defenseman they want to bring in? So, I just I just see the Bruins wanting to allocate their money elsewhere for some younger players in free agency other than, you know, a 37y old Brad Marshand uh at at a similar ticket to, you know, maybe what a uh Kuzco makes in the open market as a left winger. Kuseno might make less or Eer. So, I I just don’t know if I see the fit. I don’t know if I see either side wanting it um when it doesn’t make sense financially. maybe for either side. Well, yeah. And also like you already pulled this band-aid off where all right, Marian’s gone. Now it’s Posanak and Makavoy’s team and but like now if you bring Marshan back like I’m sure they could figure it out but you’re just kind of now you’re like extending something that you know instead of making a change that’s going to be inevitable at some point that it feels like you’ve already made and now we’re already down this road of turning the page to the next era. Like I don’t know it. Look, nothing’s impossible, but I just I don’t see it. Yeah. And and my gut feeling after watching his press conference right after he got traded was that the reason it was so emotional is because it was final. um and that it if they were going to get something done and if he was ever going to be a Bruin again um you know with another contract before he retires it it wouldn’t have been that emotional and and I know people have said this and I I don’t even think this is a you know and a crazy thing to think that oh well this would be a genius if Sweeney traded him to Florida got a got a second or fourth first round pick out of it. And then look at that, he comes back and the Bruins now have this draft capital. They essentially lent Marshon out for a few months on in a season that they knew that they couldn’t use him in the playoffs. So like if that was actually orchestrated as a plan, I could I understand why people have thought of it this way. Um and if that’s how it worked out, it would look pretty smart, wouldn’t it? But I I just think that the reason that it it ever came to be in the first place was that the the contract wasn’t going to happen. And instead of completely closing the door on it though, I will say this because there’s still variables that are at play with whether or not he’d come back. Brian mentioned one which would be a change of heart and deciding that he actually really would prefer to to just go back where he’s comfortable and and be in Boston and maybe he misses playing with some of the guys. And um that would also mean that the Bruins would want to bring him back. So uh what I’m thinking is as we were talking, what if some of those guys like you were mentioning, Brian, like what if the guys that the Bruins originally wanted, they’re s say they’re we’re in the middle of free agency, they’re they go somewhere else, they’re signed elsewhere, and then all of a sudden the money is still there. like they they still do have the cap space and maybe they like Marchon better than the other guys that are still left out there as free agents. Do then they change their mind and say we actually have the space. Um and you and we have not heard either management or ownership commit to an captain currently being on this team because I I had sent you this a few days ago. um ownership when Charlie Jacobs was speaking in an interview to Nathan said that uh who knows if the captain is on this team right now and and so theoretically I don’t know if they’ve fully turned the page yet because obviously they haven’t put a C on anyone else’s jersey and uh we’ll see. I just wanted to bring up those situations because there is certainly a scenario where all of a sudden the guys that maybe you were trying to target would rather sign for a bigger contract or they just prefer a different city and here you are with maybe it not looking like such a bad idea. No. Yeah. I mean you you never say never like we don’t know how it all plays out and you’re absolutely right. I mean, maybe maybe to your point, the Bruins are targeting somebody and they go I mean, if you look at the leftwing um you know, billboard, so to speak, I mean, or or power rankings that are available in free agency. I mean, Marshian is you know, I’d probably put him maybe maybe third or fourth of a of of you know, the highest rated left left wingers in the market uh come July. I do know I do know that based off of everything the Bruins have said, management ownership ownership in particular, it really seems like the Bruins are going to be if they lose out on a couple of players that they want, I don’t know if it’s going to be because of the dollars that they offer. It might be because the player wanted to go somewhere else. So, um, yeah, never say never. Never say never, but I would be surprised, especially if in a situation where Martian wins a cup. Let’s say he wins a cup with the Panthers, right? There’s just a level of awkwardness when you’re when you’re the captain of a team. And it’s not Marian’s fault that necessarily that the the Bruins traded him. I mean, but you know, he he goes to Florida, he wins the cup after being the Bruins captain for the last couple of seasons and for the majority of this past season, and then he’s going to go back into a room where, you know, his best friends are still starving for that. It’s just, and again, that’s if Florida won and if he went back to Boston, but there’s just human elements. I just I just see it being really difficult. Yeah. And the in the scenario where like he’s the Bruins third or fourth choice. I think in that scenario, like the Bruins would also have to be Marian’s third or fourth choice where like maybe he had a couple teams in mind he was hoping were going to be after him and their interest isn’t as um you know they’re not as interested as he was hoping or they’re not offering as much and and they both kind of go back to each other maybe a little sheepish because otherwise like if Martian has the offers that he wants on the table I don’t think he’s going wait around and be like, “Hey, yeah, Don, like I’ll wait for you to, you know, see if you can land these three or four other guys you’d rather have than me.” Like, no. Like, he’s he’s got pride, you know? He’s going to be like, “You want Nick Eers over me?” And like I like we could talk about why Eers might make more sense. a he’s younger but he’s like seven years younger but for you know for one but like if you’re a Martian you’re like after everything I did for you you know you’re out here targeting Nick Eers instead of just signing me so um yeah like there would be some awkwardness there if it did happen but I could I could see maybe if both sides aren’t able to get exactly what they want to start free agency do they start to look at each other again. All right, so let’s go to this next question because it kind of also has a little bit to do with free agency in a sense. This question is from Duncan and Duncan asks, “There is a chunk of the Bruins fan base that is appalled by the notion that the Bruins are going to have to pay Mitch Marner much more than Passionac and Makavoy, but I feel like any other highc caliber free agents, Basser, Ellers, etc. are also going to earn something similar to or even slightly above Passnack or Makavoy. Isn’t that just the market now? How can you sign any top tier free agents if you are being so stubborn about not paying them more than your studs? I get the concern, but it’s also impractical and what’s the point of even thinking about free agency if that’s your mentality. So, Duncan, what I would say is this. I think that there are Bruins fans that also agree with that. And by the way, your your your interpretation of of free agency is is exactly right. If there are Bruins fans that are upset about the notion of free agents getting paid more than than your top players, they really shouldn’t be if you’re going to acquire. I because yeah, that’s that’s how it works. It’s the market. The cap’s going up and it’s it’s supply and demand, right? I think that’s where some Bruins fans acknowledge that and they say, “See, this is why you don’t want to build your team or rely too heavily on free agency.” Um, but there’s no doubt that, you know, you have to everybody everybody dips their toes into free agency. It’s just about how much and how desperate you are. I think, yeah, like if you look at the the names out there right now, so we talked about this before the podcast, Scott clarified for me, but yeah, Makavoy is making nine and a half right now. Passion is making 1125. So according to uh AFP Analytics, who this this is their mid-season projections of the UFA market and what they’re going to make this summer. They’re actually, if you’re interested, AFP Analytics will also put out very soon. Uh they mentioned on Twitter today their their final uh end of season projections about every UFA and RFA and predicting what their contract on term and AEV will look like. So, that’s something you can you can reference. But from their mid-season calculations, and I think these are probably going to go up a little bit in term uh I’m sorry, in uh in value. Mitch Mner in the middle of the season was projected to get eight years, 12.6 million in free agency. I think we can all probably say that’s going to be at least 13. Brock Basser mid-season was is projected seven years at 9.1 million. Um Nick Nikolai Eers projected six years, 7.5 million. Um, so I mean, you know, I think I think some players you might like Maro, you’re not getting less than than Makavoy or Passion. He’s going to he would be the highest paid Bruin. I think Eers, you might be able to get under those players, but generally speaking, and some others like like Andre um Kouseno, I think I think he’d be an interesting option for the Bruins. Um, you know, depending on how who’s who they get or who they don’t get, if Eers is in their plans or not. If they get Mner, they’re probably not getting Eers. So, it just depends on how it plays out. But to your question, and Bridget Scott, I apologize for rambling. I’ll let you guys, you know, take over. But, um, if you’re appalled by the notion of of new Bruins getting paid more than your studs, I I guess it Yeah, it’s just it’s just the business. It’s just how free agency works. Whether or not you want the Bruins involved in free agency for that reason or not, I think that’s where maybe some some discourse is had. Yeah. I mean, if you’re not going to pay anyone more than Makavoy or Posnock, then you’re saying you don’t want any other star players is basically what it comes down to. I I think this team needs more star star players. Like I I think that’s what they’re lacking. Um especially offensively, they just don’t have enough firepower. They don’t have enough guys who can who can score in bunches, who can consistently be counted on to put up points. And if you want to add those guys, you have to pay. And you know, look, like Posanak is already a great value at 11.25. Over the next couple years, as the cap keeps going up, he’s going to be if he keeps playing at this level, then he’s far and away one of the best values in the NHL. So like, you can’t you can’t go if you set 11.25 25 as your high-end mark and say, you know, we’re not paying anyone over that, then you’re just not going to add any other stars like for the next five years. And I don’t think that would be very wise for them. No, I mean it’s it’s pretty simple. Like even though Mitch Mner is not better than David Posternok, the point in time where he’s coming on the market, things are just more expensive and the competition that is is going to be had for him this year is high enough to drive up the price. So, uh, if you want to get better and if you really because you hear Bruins fans say the same thing, uh, they they think that every offseason, as most fan bases do, the Bruins should be going after best available because the Bruins are a team that should be financially allin and should be, you know, competitively allin. And so the fan base wants the to the team to target guys like Mitch Martyr. Um and and obviously there is a risk of overpaying for a top free agent, but you you kind of have to do it and hope that you know things pan out if you’re able to you know correctly evaluate what and project out what the future of this player might be and the fit on your team. So yeah, the the pasta contract is great value. And the funny thing is when that extension, you know, the if you guys can remember back to when we were talking about an extension getting done with past and how it was kind of controversial like the Bruins didn’t seem want to go over 11 and then 11.25 got it done, but it almost didn’t and now it seems like that was very fair. Uh, and that that contract is not going to be as um, you know, it’s not a huge overpay at all. So, yeah. And I think that maybe we’re speaking a little bit too much for the fan base, but I’ve seen a lot of I’ve seen much more, hey, the Bruins need to get Mitch Mer than, hey, he shouldn’t get paid this much money. Like I’ve seen more of uh on more fans on the side of do what it takes to make your team better by adding somebody like that. Yeah. And that’s sort of like similar to the debate that happened for for years just internally among the Bruins where David Crerache was getting paid more than Patrice Berseron and Zedo Charara. And like I know people had an issue with that. So some fans and were like cr doesn’t deserve to be the highest paid player or whatever. And I just never had an issue with it because it was like well Bridget to your point it’s like it was just a matter of when his contract was up like his was coming up at the right time for him to get a boost. Bers and Charer weren’t up at that time so their contracts were locked in. And like if you wanted to keep Crerache you had to go over it. Like it’s just that simple. And like I I never had an issue with it then. I don’t now. It’s just like it’s just the financial market of the NHL. It’s It’s all about when your contract’s up. Yeah. And And I think where the problem lies with that is like this free agency class, Mitch Mner, to your point, Scott, you’re paying for a star with him. He’s a he’s a legit star. He’s one of the he’s one of the premier right-wingers in hockey alongside David Passionac. But the problem is when you have a free agency class like last summer where there aren’t any stars available, you have a bunch of good players that time the market properly with their contracts expiring. Like when you have to pay top dollar for Elias Lynholm and Nikita Zador off because you feel like they address needs and let’s be honest, there’s nobody better in in a in a UFA class than them and you’re paying for those guys. Well, that’s where you start to get some resentment from fans regarding free agency because you’re like, “Okay, I get free agency. You got to pay top dollar. Um, but maybe we don’t think that this was the class to do it.” But again, it’s it’s a very layered conversation and and and you know, there’s there’s multiple sides to every every argument. Um, guys, to add this to it just real quick, Brian, you mentioned how you know Mitch Mer is a true star coming available on the free agency market this year whereas last year there wasn’t. It is rare like like this is a rare situation, a rare occurrence that a guy doesn’t get extended by his organization when he’s a star. Like normally these like teams try to hold on to these guys as much as they can. And it just seems like that that’s not going to happen with Mner and with Toronto. So, uh, that that’s also what drives the price up because it’s like, okay, we don’t even know if there’s going to be a guy that comes next year on the market that’s going to be as high of an impact player because who knows, maybe maybe Jack Eel signs an extension and he doesn’t ever come available. And there’s there’s that uncertainty as well with with teams that are going to resign guys and like dry ctidle. Remember we were having the dry settle conversation with the Oilers and uh oh what if he comes like that would have been a crazy you know insanely high contested uh bidding war over somebody like that. So when stars come available the bidding war drives up the price. You just have to be willing to pay it or not and or move on. Yeah. or in the rare case that they do become available whether it’s by trade of free agency they don’t want to sign with you like that I know Boston is much more attractive than Carolina but Carolina the last two years made two big trades for star wingers Jake Gensel and Miko Rantin and neither one wanted to sign there now it see we don’t have to get like it seems like maybe Gensel would have been open to and they might not have offered enough but whatever like they took swings and it didn’t pay off for them. So, um, yeah, very last point I’ll make on MNER. Really fascinating to see to wa another reason to watch this Toronto, Florida series because I think not even saying it’s right or wrong, but how he plays in this series, I think is going to inform a lot of the the discussion, especially as it relates to the Bruins, as to whether or not he’s worth spending 13 or 14 million on. Yeah. And and again, of course, the you know, this is why drafting and developing regardless of where you’re drafting, like it’s obviously easier to hit on draft picks the higher you’re drafting in the first round, but there are plenty of examples around the league where and and the you know, the Bruins are one of them over the last 20 years, but I mean Tampa Bay and and there’s there there’s a lot of examples of teams that have ended up ended up finding star players and and franchise guys even outside the first round. So, if you’re able to draft and develop um and have more hits than misses and maybe get lucky a few times, you’re not going to be relying so much on free agency, right? So, it it all it all ties together. The the the dependency on free agency for an organization is kind of a separate ailment. Um, of course, free agency is used to, you know, supply and supplement here and there, but um okay guys, let’s get to a couple quick ones before we get out of here. I’m going to lump two together real quick and then we’ll end with a fun with a fun trade proposal because we all love trade proposals. Um, so I’m going to lump in these two questions real quick. The first one comes from uh Remy and Remy says, “You guys mentioned Marat Husadino spending the summer in Moscow and my question is this. What are your thoughts on those players that are trying to earn a full-time spot on the team Lysel who’s Nadinov etc. not going that extra mile and perhaps sacrificing most of their summer to stay and train in Boston at Warrior where they may be exposed to more time with veteran players, coaches, staff, etc. And so I’ll lump that in with a um question regarding Dan Lash Melis and I’m just trying to find where it was. It was CJ who said, “I saw that Dan Zashmelis is headed to the World Junior Champ or World Championships following Providence’s second game against the Checkers. Are you surprised that the Bruins agreed to this considering how much they wanted him to develop in Providence and make a deep run with the Providence Bruins?” So, uh, first part on players not that are trying to make the team full-time, not sticking around in Boston all summer for any benefits that may bring. And then on, uh, Lush Melis. Yeah. So, I’ll say blanket statement. I don’t have a problem with either one of these. Um, starting with who’s Nadinov, uh, guys have lives and families and Mad Husnadinov is still, uh, not even two years removed from moving out of Russia for the first time in his life. Um, his entire family, parents, everyone is still over there. I think it’s un Are there benefits of staying in Boston, being at Warrior, being around Bruins teammates all summer? Yeah, of course there are. I think it’s unrealistic to ask guys to not spend the the only couple months that they get off uh to say like no, don’t go spend it with your family. Um especially a young guy who does not have a family of his own yet, who hasn’t started a new life here yet. um like it’s it’s not fair and and you got to take into account like these are still human beings and I think you know I speak for all of us and hopefully most of our listeners hopefully you’re close to your family like it it matters and guys aren’t going to sacrifice like not seeing their family and and friends too back home like at all and but for the record Brian did offer if he wanted to stay in Boston that he to stay with him if you wanted to. Yeah, Bridget. Bridget, we got to keep that stuff off the podcast. My personal life remains off the podcast, please. Thank you. I know, but Brian had a nice guest room all made up for him, but Koozie, no, no, I’m I’m I’m recording. No, no, no. We’ll get lunch after. Sorry, man. He’s Heard his name. He speak He speaks better English now, it seems like. Yeah. Um Yeah. So, so, and by the way, he’ll get to he’ll be skating with some really good players in Russ in Moscow over the summer. There’s a there’s a lot of really good hockey players around there. Um, and then on Lush Melis, he’s he hasn’t he’s not on his entry level contract yet. Technically, he’s on an atto right now. So, I wouldn’t even be surprised if that was part of the agreement going into it was like, yeah, I’ll come in on an ATO, I’ll play, but then I want to go to World Championships, which by the way, World Championships, higher level of competition than the AHL playoffs. So, uh, if anything, I I only I know that’s it’s not a good thing for Providence because he’s been a good player there, but it’s a good thing for Denmis because that’s a good tournament for him to be playing in. Yeah. I mean, he’s going to go play against against some of the Bruins. Uh because we know that world championship a few guys have gone over. Pasta’s gone over. Lalco Zaka’s not because he’s dealing with a little bit of an injury. Um Swayman went, Elias Lindholm went. So, he’s playing against NHL guys right now rather than AHL guys, which maybe that does help. and he’s playing for Lapia, which um just because I I’m around him a little bit in college hockey, I know how big of a deal this is to him to play for his country. Um and how how guys, especially from some of those European countries that aren’t necessarily way up high in in terms of like, you know, they’re not like a Finland, they’re not like a Sweden. They’re they’re really prideful of that. Um and playing playing for their country in that way. I’m sure it was part of the deal. um when he when he came and signed with the Bruins uh in atto out of college out of UMass not surprised think it’s you know one way or the other he was going to be getting great experience if this is what he wanted to do then you know let let him go out there let him experience that because international hockey playing international hockey has been really valuable in development for guys think about world juniors how much do we talk about world juniors in in development for uh guys that then, you know, metriculate up to the NHL and do tend to that tends to be a good sign that they’re going to do well in the NHL as well. So, talking about uh Lane Hudson or Ryan Leonard and and guys like that that international experience has a big impact on. Scott, I just want to say real quick, uh I just saw this on Twitter. I think Spit and Chicklets may have posted this, but Victor Hedmond played the playoffs for Tampa Bay with a broken leg. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why your your cup pick won’t come to fruition, but that’s that’s quite the uh injury to have to play through hockey players, man. I Yeah, I get that one back. So, I’m not I’m I’m no longer wrong. No. Yeah. To your friends who get paid 20 bucks to for your buy in for the bracket. Do you think they’ll give you your money back? I hope so. I’ll have to I’ll have to hunt some people down. Um, yeah. I mean, I’m assuming that’s that was like a non weightbearing fracture. Obviously, if it’s if it’s a weight bearing bone, that’s you can’t really play through that at all. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. But, but still like, yeah, obviously it’s got to affect them. So, all right, you two, let’s get to one last question. Okay. And um as I said a few minutes ago, it’s it’s it’s a trade proposal, which by the way, one other lightning piece I nearly just saw on Twitter, uh their GM, same press conference, Julian Breez said uh he thinks they are not going to be able to sign Hobie Baker winner Isaac Howard at all. So Isaac Howard had already announced he was going back to Michigan State for his senior year. Um Breeze basically just dropped that and said he doesn’t think they’re going to sign him at all. So Isaac Howard will be getting traded. He is a a pretty highly ranked prospect. Um I kind of seems like a Rucker McGroy situation last year where Winnipeg wasn’t going to sign him. They end up trading him to Pittsburgh. Yeah. And you got to trade him before his uh before his rights expire. Yeah. Because his right a lot of times guys stay for well and then when in COVID, you know, stay five, six years and their rights would expire on you. And so you got to got to move the contract before the the kid becomes a just a regular free agent. And when when would that be? Do we know when does the rights expire? I think not till after next year. Yeah, because normally it’s like if you take a fifth year option, that’s kind of when you’re normally getting into that territory, but Okay. Huh. Like that’s what happened with the Bruins um getting John Ferinaci. Wow. All right. Interesting times in uh in Tampa Bay. We’ll see what happens with John Cooper as well. I mean, they’re a team that they obviously fell short, but they they went all in, you know, at the deadline. They they they are the only team in the NHL, Tampa Bay, that has not had a top 10 draft pick uh over the last over the last 10 years. I mean, by the way, June happens. Breeze did also say John Cooper will be will be back. So, he did say that. Unless John Cooper changes his mind, that’s their expectation. Okay. Well, there’s there’s some good news, too. Wow. last couple episodes, we’ve had some news breaking while we’re on. That’s that’s that’s good Um All right, guys. Last question. The Skate Podcast, the official podcast of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Yeah. All right. Um Dan in Denver gives us this trade proposal. I don’t know. Hand up. I don’t know if this money matches up, although he does mention some retained salary here. So, I I’m going to trust that maybe Dan asked this knowing that the money matches up. But anyway, he says to the New York Islanders, by the way, first off, just maybe Dan does, but assuming people who email us under understand salary cap, very very dangerous game we’re playing there, Brian. Okay. Well, that’s why Scott, that that’s that’s why I’m going to read it and you’re going to come in right away and say, “Nope, that doesn’t work.” But, uh, all right. So to the New York Islanders, Casey Middlestead, Matthew Potra, Fabian Lysel, 2026 first round, top five protected, 2027 first round, top 10 protected, and a 2027 second round pick to the Boston Bruins. Matt Barzel, Noah Dobson, Anthony Declair, 50% retained. Um, just looking at this quickly, I don’t think that it does match up, but I could be wrong. Well, it it doesn’t match up, but because it’s the off season, it doesn’t really matter if it matches up. You can plan the rest of your off season and cap situation around it. Um, so yeah, I’m not going to just come right in and say it doesn’t work because in the summer you can figure out a way to make it work. Um, when I first saw this proposal, I was like, “No way. That’s insane. Bruins are giving up way too much. And I I still think that is probably where I land, but it’s not I guess when you start to think about it more, it’s not like as insane. I do really like Noah Dobson. Um so he’s like and he’s a restricted free agent, so you would have to sign him to an extension. Um, Barzel I like, although not as not as much as I thought I was going to. Like, he still kind of leaves a little to be desired to me. Um, I think he’s been better as a wing than a center. So, I don’t know if you’re necessarily plugging him in as your, you know, graband go number one center. Like, the Islanders haven’t really used him that way. And that’s a team that has needed offense. So, you would think if they really truly believe Barcel was a legit bonafide number one center, they’d be using him as such. Um, yeah, like I I like the idea. It’s it’s creative and I appreciate creativity and the more I thought about it, it didn’t seem as insane as I as my very first reaction reading this, but I still think the Bruins are giving up too much in this situation. Yeah, look at the I mean the draft and prospect capital is just there’s a lot there, right? Like Casey Middle, I don’t think like I’m not sure anybody in Boston really is super high in him because they haven’t seen him that much and when they did see him, he was on a bad team and that wasn’t playing good hockey. So Casey Middlestad is, you know, I don’t think people are going to be mad about him if he were on the way out the door for in this trade. But Matt Potran and Fibby and Lysel who are still young, those are two guys that there’s been different times over the last few years where uh it seemed like they wouldn’t want to trade either of them, never mind both of them in the same deal. And then two first round picks in 2026 and 2027 when you finally have gotten some draft capital back. That’s Yeah, that’s kind of that’s what kills it for me. Yeah, it’s it’s too too much and too young and too much of the future is going out to bring those three guys in. Also, you can you you can take Anthony Declair and keep him in New York. I I have no interest in Anthony Declare to be completely honest. Also, it said 50% retention salary retention, but I think he only has a three and a half million AAV anyway. So, that’s not going to save you a whole like he was the cheapest part of this deal. I put some of the but that there would need to be salary retention because that’s a really bad contract. He signed to 2028 and quite frankly like like he played like a league minimum player this year. I mean he had a bad season. So in that case no need to really include him in the deal probably in the first place. Um but anyway yes that was the trade proposal uh deal proposal we got. Um, send in send in other ideas. Uh, we we got more mailbag questions as well. We just don’t really have time to get to them right now, but as Brian mentioned off the top. If we don’t get to it, we probably will next week um or at some point soon. So, keep sending them in. And let me put the email and everything up so in case people don’t know um how to get involved with us. Obviously, you can send it to any of our Twitters, comments on our YouTube, or send an email to uh skatepodwi.com. Yeah, I mean, I uh I guess I don’t really give give much of an answer of my own on this one at this point, but uh I think you guys kind of hit it. I I will say like the the future being mortgage, I mean, Noah Dobson’s 25. Um Barzel, I think, is 27 and he had an 80 point year last year. He only played 30 games this year. Dobson had a 70-point season last year. Came back down to earth this year. But I mean, he’s a 25-year-old right shot defense right behind Mackaoy right now and he would be your power play quarterback. So, um, you know, one of those first round picks, right? It like is it is it 20? Is it 25? I mean, I I it’s something to think about. Um, I guess I guess I don’t have an answer right now, but I I think which is probably uh not a good thing on this podcast. I mean, I I I’m leaning toward I’m I’m really thinking about it. Like, it depends what those picks are. Like, if the Bruins are planning on being a playoff team again, you’re you know, are you are you drafting between, you know, 17 and 32? And, you know, is is is getting Noah adoption at 25 not good for your future? I mean, he’s he’s still got a decade plus left in the league. So, uh and Barzel is young. Yeah. Good. Very creative. But yes, thank you to everybody who who uh submitted questions. And are we all are we all set to go here? I mean, we have we have the draft lottery on Monday, so we will know where the Bruins are picking in the draft come June. And we can start to narrow down and we’ll be talking to uh Chris Peters uh later on to break down the prospects and and more specifically what prospects could be in the Bruins drafting range. So, um and he knows all about prospects. We’ve had him on a few times before. Scott, where does he where does he write for again or work? Chris was at FL hockey. Okay. Yeah, we’ve had him we had him on the uh the Lysel draft which you know he gave us some he he kind of pointed us towards Lys because we talked to him before he was drafted already and that was a player that we had brought up and he had given us some insight on him before the Bruins even got to him and it’ll be good timing because like you said Monday will be the draft lottery and there’s going to be immediate availability for the Bruins. So, I assume Scott and I will both be down there, maybe get another chance to ask some some questions uh to I assume Sweeney will be available. I’m not sure if the others will. Um it’s gonna it’s going to be Sweeny. So, so yeah, maybe some more questions, more news to come out from from that Monday and some more specifics on where they’re going to be drafting because we did our fun little draft lottery, but we didn’t we don’t know our fun, I should say, mock draft. Uh, but we don’t know if there are actually going to be pending at five or maybe they’re maybe there’s some good news and they’re they’re drafting in the first two. Um, so that’ll be exciting and the the timing for having Chris on will be good because we’ll know at that point where they’re drafting and we can be more specific with him and what he thinks will happen at say, you know, whether it’s one, two, five, seven, what it may be. All right, I assume you two are good to go. So, thank you all very much for listening. Have a great weekend and we’ll talk to you next week. Hey guys, thanks for watching Escape Podcast. If you want to see more of our videos, visit our playlist not in front of a screen. You can listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Don’t forget to follow us on social media. And if you enjoyed this video, please don’t forget to give us a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel, and leave a comment.

Discussing the Bruins’ coaching search options after the news the Mike Sullivan signed with the Rangers and Jon Cooper is safe with the Lightning. Plus, what’s at stake for the Bruins in the Panthers-Leafs second-round series and we answer more viewer questions!

Follow us on Twitter: @TheSkatePod | @smclaughlin9 | @briandefelice_ | @bridgetteproulx | Email us at skatepod@weei.com

Leave your questions in the comments and we will answer as many as we can!

Jump to:
00:00 – Leafs-Panthers series impact on Bruins
08:00 – More coaching search options for Bruins
17:00 – Mike Sullivan to the Rangers 
25:00 – Mailbag starts
26:00 – Are fans too hard on Sweeney?
37:00 – Could Marchand return to Boston?
49:00 – What will Mitch Marner’s price tag be in free agency?
1:01:00 – Is it good for Dans Locmelis to leave Providence for Worlds?
1:07:00 – Jon Cooper staying in Tampa Bay

Photo: Tom Szczerbowski-Imagn Images

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