Bruins Not Expected To Name New Captain | The Skate Pod, Ep. 466

Bruins Not Expected To Name New Captain | The Skate Pod, Ep. 466

Welcome in to episode 466 of the skate podcast. I am Brian Deliz joined live and in color for the first time in a long time by Bridget Pru and Scott Mclofflin and bridging Scott. I wanted to challenge you guys right off the bat. It is July 31st, 2025. When do you think is the last time we recorded live and in person? Did Did you go back and look this up? No, this is straight off my memory. So, I don’t even know if I’m correct. It’s just my Let’s just Well, let’s let’s talk through it together. So, I feel like it might have been last summer. Was there one time last summer we came in? Was it training camp last year? I mean, we were all together. I had just gotten surgery, which means it would have been September. That was But I don’t know if we recorded that. We just saw each other at Warrior. So, true. I don’t think we recorded. I’ll tell you guys what I think it is and we can work from there and tell me if I’m wrong. I feel like the last time we recorded in person was heading into the 22 23 season. I feel like we gave our preseason predictions. There was definitely one since then. I I don’t remember the exact occasion, but there’s been one in like the last two years where for for some reason we came in, but I I don’t remember exactly what it was. Well, we’ll probably be in here more often now that I live about 20 steps away. So, we can And you guys live close, too. Bridget lives in the old WAF studio upstairs now. Yeah. Yeah. They don’t They haven’t found out yet, but I’m hoping they don’t find me and Dimmitri the rat. Finally, something’s come out of that old AF studio. My pet rat that we keep up there. One time I was here, Brian, do you remember the rats when we used to work the overnight? There was There was It was outside. It wasn’t inside. Are we talking literally or figuratively? We talking literal rats. Stuck in literal rats. Okay. Okay. Literal rats. Hey, watch what you say. You never know. You never know if this room’s bugged. I wasn’t talking about Scott. I mean, we do have our mics on, but um so one time Brian and I used to work the overnights here. We used to grind away. And uh one time it was the middle of winter and my car obviously was warm. You know, it it comes in, it’s hot. The car underneath it is still warm from driving or whatever. And I walked outside to my car to get something. And there was a rat sleeping under it because it was trying to keep warm. And I’m not afraid of rats, or at least I didn’t think I was afraid of rats. And it ran directly at me. It It didn’t like I I auto started the car and it it ran directly at me. I’m like infinite directions it could have run it. And then that’s when I realized I was afraid of rats. Yeah. And that was also the first time I met Scott. He’s hiding under my car. I mean, in fairness, you wake me up in the middle of the night. That’s what I’m doing. I’m just running straight at you. It just ran right at me and I was like, “Oh my god.” And it was the most scared I’ve ever been of an animal. But I just for a second when it was shock, I was like, “It’s going to kill me.” It didn’t though. But uh to Bridget’s point about doing this more often going forward. I mean, so we obviously started doing Streamyard a couple of seasons ago and we upped our episode total each week to three. And so logistically, it just made more sense because of the YouTube element and the uh amount of episodes per week that we would just do it remotely. But as you can tell, you’re watching us right now in studio. And for the longest time, we didn’t have a a way to do that. But thanks to Bridget’s technology, we are. Yes. And Nessen, I’ll thank them. They gave me this camera to record uh this week in Hockey East. So, it’s been I mean, guys, we still have to actually post this episode and like match up the video and audio. So, there’s a chance this still turns out to be a disaster. It’s just it’s just the audio and then a picture that says like, “Whoops.” Yeah. So, if you’re watching this uh on YouTube, you’ll know that it worked. It did turn out successfully. If you’re watching a graphic that says skate pod, then it didn’t work. Technical difficulties. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, we do have Brian came in and he was like, “Is there anything to talk about, but it turned out we actually we do have quite a bit. We always find something.” So, I’ll go right into my opening shift and uh it’s a story that Steve Conroy had in the Boston Herald where he caught up with Charlie Makavoy and there’s there’s a bunch of stuff in there. We can get into more of it, but the most notable takeaway was uh Makavoy said that he expects him to go into the season without a C. Um with him and Pastnock and obviously one other player or maybe a couple other players uh just all wearing A’s. Um, you know, so this is something like we’ve speculated about, you know, A, who would be captain? B, would they even have one? Well, it sounds like they’re not going to pick one, at least based on what Charlie Mackoy thinks right now. Um, so like I’ll just read um I’ll just read the quote here. Uh, wait, hold on. Now I lost. Uh, going into this year, we’re both going to have A’s. That’s what I know. I don’t think there’s any fire under them to do anything with that. I’m assuming he’s referring to management and coaches. And guess what? That’s totally fine. Me and Poster are spending time together, which I find incredible, learning about him a little bit more about him as a leader. Just what I’ll say on that front is I love that we’re going to be able to take this on together and regardless of letters, we know that this is our team, me and him. So, we’ve known that much like that that much is clear. It’s going to be Posanak and Makavoy team, but was one of them going to get the C? Who should it be? How would they handle that? Personally, I think eventually you’re going to have to pick a C. You generally teams don’t go without a captain for that long. Maybe it’s one season. Um, but at least for now, it looks like they’re going to push that decision down the line a little bit. I guess it’s not all that surprising. We’ll get more into that. Um, my opening shift has to do with uh just some quotes that came out of James Hagens at the World Junior’s Showcase out in Minnesota. So, he’s been there. He’s looked good. I don’t know if anyone’s seen any highlights of him. There wasn’t really a way to watch it, but see clips come out. Um, and he had he had a bunch of assists. Um, and but he did speak to the media. He spoke to NHL.com’s um Mike Morali, is that how you say it? Morali. Morali. and uh he said he he really sounded like he’s intending on going back to Boston College. So, it seems like the decision was made behind the scenes. Um and this is the quote. He says, “I want to be able to win a bean pot, be able to win a national championship. Uh everyone has their roles, but our team goal is winning. That’s what we want to do. We fell short of it last year, but it’s hopefully going to happen this year.” They’re talking about how BC was the number one team in the country last year and then they struggled in both the Hockey East tournament and the NCAA tournament. They didn’t win the Bean Pot. So, they did have uh pro one of the best rosters you’ll see, but not that in in result. So, uh now that he’s taking over, he he’s talking about trying to hit some of those goals, those milestones in college hockey that they weren’t able to do last year. So him and Greg Brown, his coach at Boston College, also were speaking as if it was a certainty that he’ll be back um playing at Connie Forum this fall. Yeah. Which, you know, I think we we expected I had been hearing that for a few weeks now. Um but we hadn’t heard it from Hagens directly or even from Greg Brown. So, uh, you know, I guess it’s still not like 100% confirmation where he didn’t exactly say like, “Yes, I’m 100% going back to BC, but the quote you just had him talking like that, I think makes it pretty obvious that’s where he’s going to be.” And so, is that the right thing for him? And and and we all have opinions on that. I think we’re aligned in that and we’ll we’ll discuss that later. Also, I do think the only way to watch that that coverage was to to sign up for USA Hockeyy’s uh TV, which I don’t know if it was online or offline, but I told you guys I was like, I’m not paying for that. And then and then and then last last game or yesterday, I I found myself uh paying for it. Did you really? You paid for it ju just for the just for the just for the month and then I’m gonna cancel it after that. Um how much was it for a month? because there’s really no there I don’t know there’s any Bruins prospects playing for the uh national development program over the over the course of the year. So it’s really not because they’d all be dra that’d be like almost all draft eligible players for next year. So um yeah. No, I I think I I think I paid like um I think it was like $15 for like the tournament or something like that. And do did you get put on their mailing list and uh you can like go back and forth about the jerseys for the Olympics or Yeah, I won’t disclose that information right now, but but yes. Yes, I do. Yes, I am. Yeah, I think if you’re paying $14.99 to watch like four tournament games, you should have a say in what they wear in the Olympics. Absolutely. 100%. Maybe they’ll take it more seriously after they blocked you on Twitter for harassing them. Yeah. Well, so I actually uh I I did post uh cuz cuz James Hagens, a lot’s made of his skill. Um, but there was there was a play that showed off his his physicality uh in yesterday’s game against Sweden. And I I did I did post that for people to see. And um uh a friend um messaged me and said, “Hey, just a heads up, you know, USA hockey has been uh emailing people about copyright issues, whatever that.” So I’m like, you know what, if they if they email me for posting a small clip, they will they will just quickly get a cancellation and uh and that’s no problem with me. But um yeah, so anyway, so that’s the only way to watch that stuff. But my opening shift is today’s Thursday. We’re we’re doing a Tuesday Thursday recording schedule for the time being until things rev up in September. And so throwback Thursday, right? So I thought to myself, what is what is my favorite Bruins game of all time? Whether it was something I was at in person or just watched on television that isn’t the 2011 game seven Stanley Cup victory over the Vancouver Conucks. I think that’s an obvious answer for everybody. This is a question I asked people online actually recently um about a month ago and there’s a lot of good answers there. I’m sure the two of you have your own answers and I’m sure a lot of them are similar possibly. But you know if if one of you guys chooses my answer I I definitely have others I can audible too. So for those listening for those listening watching no one steals it. You want to go right now or you want No, let’s save it. Let’s save it. Let’s save it. What? Oh, by the way, we already threw away uh three for Thursday apparently. Yeah. I apologize. RIP long our our longunning three for Thursday series. It it made it a whole one week. Well, well, I was just say it made it one episode. I mean, Scott Scott did say last week that, you know, this might be tossed out uh when we review if we liked it or not. Well, yeah. And we also got in here today and we’re talking through ideas and I was like, “Oh, I didn’t come up with anything for a three for Thursday.” So, that kind of took care of that. So, that’s on us. We We’ll go back to it in August, probably. We’ll see. We’ll see. You may never hear from it again, but I think my my game might actually talk might actually tie into something else that I think we’re going to discuss today. So, and are there three of those? Wasn’t one of our opening shifts, but Marco Sturm uh was on Spit and Chicklets. I think it was actually recorded uh right after like his introductory press conference because you could hear you hear him reference a couple times like as I said yesterday in my press conference, but they’re just releasing it now. So there’s not a ton of like up to-date information there on like you know this Makavoy al you know captain alternate captain thing um or even free agency because that hadn’t happened yet but there is some stuff in there including like how they might play and system they might play. Um so I don’t know I don’t know where you guys want to start. We got couple bunch of things we can kind of jump around to. If you guys don’t mind let’s start with the captaincy. Okay. Um, and I want to give I want to give my read on the situation. The way I see this is that and and I keep going back to something that Andy Brickley said on the record on a on a Nessen podcast. I think it was with Sophia. Um, or it may have been with a different host, so I apologize if it was somebody else, but basically Brick said that he had the feeling that the the Bruins have always wanted Makavoy to be that next guy, that next captain for the organization beyond Bers Marian, etc. And I do believe that there’s some smoke to that. But I also at the same time think that last year with Makavoy’s injuries and the trading wave of Marshand and just the the downward spiral that the team was going through after selling that David Passnack did severely step up and I do think that he has, you know, open some eyes in the organization. Everybody’s known organizationally how good of a player he is, but oh man, should should David be the the next captain over Charlie. And I think what we’re seeing now with the 2A’s is simply what the Bruins believed to what they’re now curious about. And I think they just want to see, you know what, there’s a case for both of you. Let’s see who takes it now and runs with it. And I think that’s what we’re seeing with the possible two-way situation. And do you think maybe there’s a, you know, internal competition though despite the guys being at completely different positions? A lot of times we talk about internal competition between goalies or between centers or you know young guys who are trying to outplay each other for a spot. This is a completely different kind of internal competition. But do you think maybe it affects how you know a a an extra little piece of motivation? Um or do you think that both of these guys kind of treat it like they treated the A’s last year because they both had A’s um when Marshon was the captain. So, does it really change much for them? Yeah, it’s going to be really interesting to see because you can also have a plan and a vision going in that then changes during the season. So, like Makavoy and Posanok right now could be saying like, hey, you know, I read the Makavoy quote. He said he’s spending time with Posanak this summer. They’ve talked through these things. You can do all that. You can have a plan. You can say like, all right, we’re on the we got on the same page. We have the same vision. We’re going to work together. We’re going to talk things through together, work through different problems and situations together. And then, you know, sometime in December, hey, Makavoy kind of does something one way and Pasar’s like, oh, he didn’t he didn’t talk to me about that. Like those things can come up. Not even doesn’t have to be intentional. Doesn’t even have to be like a power play by Makavoy to try to, you know, take on more. Like sometimes those things just happen because in the course of a season you don’t always have time or you know to like consult with your other captains. A lot of times you do but sometimes it might just be something in the moment that you don’t really have time to like hey pasta you know come over here let’s talk about it like you might just step up and address it right away. So I am interested to see how that dynamic works. Um, I think if they’re on the same page and there is like truly that level of friendship, friendship, camaraderie, respect where neither one of them feels like, oh, I want to get the C, so you know, I have to I have to angle myself ahead of the other guy. Um, if they are truly on the same page, then it can work. But there are also examples of this not really working. And I found so I found a story in the um uh news and observer down in Carolina and it was about the Hurricanes because I was just trying to look at recent examples of teams that have gone through like a full season without a captain. There’s plenty of examples of teams that trade away their captain and then part of the season they don’t have one. Like obviously the Bruins did that this past season years ago they did it when they traded away Joe Thornton. um like that happens. But 201617, the Carolina Hurricanes went through a whole season without a C. And in this story, it details how at the end of the season, players in their exit interviews told team management like I think we really needed a captain. Like I think we needed one voice. Well, the next season they split the C and they so it would be like Jordan Stall for home games, Justin Faulk for road games and it seems like that didn’t really solve the problem and people still like people still thought they needed one voice. So that can happen where like again I doubt either Jordan Stall or Justin Faulk like sabotage that intentionally but sometimes you do end up in a situation where eventually you have to pick a voice. you have to pick a C and I think the Bruins will get there eventually. So the question is, you know, are you good for this season and then you figure it out or does something come up in season this year where you start to have, you know, a little bit of a of a tugof-war there. It’s also interesting to me, sorry Brian. No, it’s all good. It’s interesting to me because it’s coming at a time where there’s and we’ve talked about this. It’s it seems like it would be a good time to have one unified voice when there’s so many new players that came in at the deadline. There were so many new players that came in in free agency that it might have just been useful to have a a point of contact for the new guys like a a at least a a hierarchy that was kind of more more like every other team. So, uh maybe this is going to add another layer of of it being, you know, a learning curve to not have a captain because uh they there’s at some point they’re going to have to create some chemistry. They’re going to have to come together, have unity. Maybe because one’s a forward, one’s a defenseman, Makavoy, you know, locking it down, talking all the defenseman and and he’s in charge of that and Pastor Knox and the forward group or whatever. Or maybe it’s just completely whoever feels like it’s their turn to talk, they talk. Um, but it does like when you have a team that hasn’t been together that long and there’s a lot of new faces and a lot of young guys coming in really only the only line from last year that’s still together is geeky Elias Lindholm and David Posnock and then from there on it’s all going to be different. So, and then the D is is obviously much more of what it used to be. But in terms of the forward groups, like somebody’s gonna have to try to get the room, the new room to feel comfortable and to feel like a group. And even that offensive line you mentioned was together for like the last 10 games right around there. So it’s even that has some some time to go. Marco Sturm himself even said, and I think it was on the spit and podcast, maybe elsewhere as well, maybe in Connor’s article. Um, but he mentioned that, you know, he would like to have a captain, but he also says he has to get to know the players. So, when Scott mentions the Hurricanes players in their exit interview saying that they’d rather have that one voice, I think that’s I think that is clear. I think that’s the preference for players, but right now the Bruins just simply don’t know who that voice uh should be. And so, I think they’re looking at it saying, “Well, we don’t want to rush who that voice is because you it’s you don’t want to get into the territory of stripping away a captaincy from somebody. You don’t want to do Joe Thornton and, you know, Joe Pavvelski type stuff here.” So, I think yes, there’s potential for there to be just subconscious natural um competition for that C. Like, you know, could there be could there be a division in the room? Certain players gravitating towards listening to to Passnack versus Makavoy, Passnack or Makavoy just like I said, subconsciously doing things, making efforts to to show that they’re a leader and rubbing off the runway on on their counterpart. I guess that’s the worst case scenario. I don’t think that’s likely. I think what’s more likely is a younger version of what you had with Berseron and Charara where one guy had the C on his chest, but if you ask that room, everybody thought that there were two captains. So obviously they have a long way to go from a leadership perspective, but if that can be their rapport while even when one of them does get the C inevitably, hopefully that’s that’s what happens in that room. And also to to bring in like a an example of when it does work to have two C’s. I’m speaking specifically because in college hockey many teams have two C’s or three. There are some college hockey teams that have three captains. Um and they they spread the sea out. And I’ve not heard of that ever causing a problem. Now, I’m sure it does in specific situations, but in all of the teams that I’ve covered, I’ve never noticed a dynamic that was like, “Oh, this guy wishes he was the only captain.” And it’s just it’s because it’s an accepted thing in college hockey. It’s normal. Yeah. I I think it’s very different, though. Like, I think a pro hockey environment is very different than college. So, I think that can fly in college and it can work. Um because a they’re so young that like those guys haven’t really been training for years to be a leader and they you know haven’t really been around anything different. I think once you get to the NHL, like there’s a reason it’s the norm to have one C because it’s worked for for a long time. And um you know, but I will say on the subject of like two C’s because I did see people on social media say like why not just give them both C’s instead of having everyone be an A. Well, I think if you’re not sure, if your goal is to eventually get down to one of them being the C and you’re not sure which one, it makes more sense to have them be A’s right now and then eventually elevate one to C to the C instead of having both of them be C’s and then have to take that away from someone like that would be worse. Yeah. I’m curious if if we start to see uh no pun intended, one of them emerge as as an unofficial captain throughout the year, whether it’s player availability with the media or if there’s like a tough or if there’s some sort of, you know, PR reason for one of the players to be available on behalf of the organization, like who they choose. Like there could be little things like that that tip us off as time goes on. I mean, it’s not out of the question that one of them gets the C mid-season, but I just think right now the Bruins are in a a year of transition. I don’t I don’t know if there’s a huge rush to put a C on someone’s jersey this year as as long as they’re both okay behind the scenes with shouldering the leadership responsibility together. Yeah. Quickly, like last thing I’ll note is there was actually a time in Bruins history when they had two C’s. Um, after Terry O’Reilly retired in 1985, Ray Bourke and Rick Middleton were co- captains for three straight seasons. That lasted three years. Now, I would point out that A, that was a long time ago. And B, a very different situation where Rick Middleton was the veteran getting close to the end of his career. Ray Bour was still pretty young, like getting into his prime. And you know, in this case, you have two guys right around the same age, both in their prime. So, I think if you were to go back to 1985, like that’s easy to sell to Ray Bour because it’s like, yeah, you’re going to split it with Middleton who doesn’t have that many years left and then it’s going to be all yours. Whereas in this case, it’s like if one of them gets a seat, if everything goes well, they keep it for a long time, right? Like you hope both of these guys are here for many years to come. Yeah. Yeah, it’s a tough it’s a tough situation. I guess maybe a good situation to have two guys that you feel like could do it. Um and but yeah, it’ll be interesting to see what what actually plays out like you said, Brian. Um and at least we do have a little bit more clarity because we’ve been going through the summer and being like I think Poster Knox should get it like you know now that we kind of know and uh that it was reported we can kind of stop that conversation. maybe put that a little bit or at least change that conversation to be more about um both the guys the guys talk about who gets the third A has Yeah. Well, at the same time, could you imagine how Bruins Nation would would respond if if the Bruins went Vancouver Canucks Allah 2012 or whatever and and they named Jeremy SW the captain uh like they did with Roberto Lango. Obviously, that would never happen. Um but I’m sure that would go over well with people. Um, but no, the the most recent time the Bruins didn’t have a captain, I don’t and forgive me if one of you guys mentioned earlier, but that was when they traded Thornton, right? And so the rest of the season other than post Martian trade this year. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Correct. And um so when they traded Joe Thornton, they were captainless until the following season and obviously they brought in Zenoara and he was given the captaincy right away over at the time a very young yet mature beyond his years, Patrice Berseron. And while in the moment it made sense because Char was the established culture um veteran, you could make the argument back then, all right, Pers might not be ready for the C right now, but he could be in like three or four years and how how would he feel then? It just it just never became an issue. Obviously, you know, you know who I want to talk to about this and maybe we can get him back on the podcast. Razer. I feel like Razer would have a good perspective on being in rooms with, you know, going through something like this, like going through a change of captaincy. I saw Razer was at uh he’s in London at an Oasis concert. Okay. One of the big Oasis shows. He might not be able to join us this week then. I I want to get him on just to get the review of Oasis. Okay. Well, we’ll get I love Oasis. I I don’t think I’m going to be able to get to any of the shows on this tour. They don’t come to Boston, unfortunately. The closest they get is New York and Toronto, but very very expensive. Um, but I’m I’m jealous that he gets to be there. It’s definitely interesting time. Can’t believe he didn’t invite you, right? Rude. No kidding. Like, and pay for your ticket. I mean, Sunday skate co-host like, yeah, we should have all gone. What the hell, Razer? Um, it is interesting though because it’s not often I can you guys think of another time where you had a you had a team with two players that were star players in there. Obviously, Passnack is more of a star player than Makavoy, but two star players in their primes with a team around them that doesn’t have a captain. Like, it’s it’s a very it it takes timing. It takes the uniqueness of having two players of that caliber. It’s not a very oftentimes when when you have an older captain that retires or gets traded, there’s that obvious next choice. And depending on who you ask, it might be obvious, but clearly it’s not. And so it’s to have two players in their prime that are both captain caliber is is rare. Yeah. I mean, nothing immediately comes to mind. Um cuz even like that Hurricanes example, the the players they were choosing between weren’t superstars, right? Like Jordan Stall and Justin Fog were good players. Um but not that caliber star. Um, yeah. The the only thing I can think of is like those situations where it gets a little murky and there’s a change. Like you mentioned Thornton and Pavvelski or John Tavvarz giving it up to Austin Matthews in Toronto, but like that’s not it’s not quite the same. You know, those are those are a little different. But yeah, nothing comes to mind in terms of like, hey, we have two stars in their prime and you know, at least for a little bit, neither one of them gets to see. I I guess I guess post Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh with a young Crosby and Malin, but it really wasn’t even it really wasn’t the question. It was it was Crosby all the way back then. So, um All right. Well, that that’s uh something to keep an eye on and uh not just entering the season, but throughout who who emerges as that as that that guy. Um want to go Hagens. Yeah, let’s do Hagens. Okay. So, Hagens, I I read the quote from him in my opening shift. We had already really even when he was drafted, draft night, Scott and I were at the Garden thinking back to that uh midnight recording uh where I lost my car. By the way, that night I never told that story. I couldn’t find my car at 1:00 a.m. Dude, where’s my car at 2 Peru and Ashton? 1 a.m. I think I spent about a half hour walking up and down. Probably not the safest streets in Boston trying to find my car. It was towed, right? It got towed, right? Nope. Oh, what happened? I did call my dad and at 2 a.m. and tell him it got towed, but But it was where you left it, right? But it was where I left it. It was But was on Portland Street and I thought I left it on Canal Street, so it wasn’t close. I I I mean, listen, you’re not the first person in the Bruins universe who has stumbled around Canal Street and Portland Street late at night and not really knowing where they were. So, I wasn’t I wasn’t drunk. We were covering the But I was so hungry that I felt like I was like out of it cuz I was so hungry and so tired. And I’m like, I swear this is where I parked my car and it wasn’t. And my dad got in his car to try to come pick me up. And then I called him about 15 minutes after. I’m like, hey, I got great news. I found my car. And he’s like, all right, I’m going back to bed. And then I told him it was just uh it was just to see if he was ready. It was a you know, it was like when you do a fire drill, it was just a test. It was a radio emergency test. I was really helpful in this situation in that I so I walked out of the building with Bridget. Had no idea any of this happened because I just went on the tea. I was I took the tea back and didn’t hear about this until well after the fact. Yeah. Wait, so you recorded a podcast with us knowing you had a tea to get still. Huh? Yeah. That’s that’s ballsy. Like like that’s what what time was the last train? Uh they were until like 1:30. Okay. Okay. Cuz we were recording Yeah. till like midnight. Yeah. No, we were we started recording at midnight. I think we recorded at like 12:40 or something. Yeah. Little secret of the tea. I think they say it runs till 1, I think, is like their official cut off, but 1:00 is actually when it leaves the when the last one leaves each end of the destination. So, if you’re at the garden going north, like you have until 1:30, which is good for Bruins fans who might want to go to, you know, get a a postgame drink somewhere nearby. They have a little more time than they probably think. They can help me find my car. Yeah, there you go. I’m never parking there again. Uh, but anyway, that was that was we were all setting the scene. We’re setting the scene for the for a conversation that we’ve been having since draft night, which was talking about what Hagens can work on and we thought it was going to be at the collegiate level for another year and why we thought he would benefit from going back. And uh you you and I both have spoken to people from BC that we know that we’re pretty sure that he was going to be back with them next year. And now it seems like from his own mouth confirming uh that. I mean it doesn’t say I’m going back. But when you say I want to win a bean pot, you can’t do that if you’re on the Bruins. Yeah. And I I got just talking to people at development camp around the Bruins that week. Like I had a strong sense coming out of that week that the Bruins definitely wanted him to go back and I think I even said on here like I feel like Hagens just kind of had to get to that decision on his own and needed a little bit more time. Um but the Red Sox intent I mean the Red Sox I’m looking at So we have a trade deadline show on TV in here. So I was looking at that. Um the Bruin the Bruins stop watching TV while you’re supposed to be working. Okay. Well, okay. Part of my job is also like if the Red Sox make a big trade, I have to make sure we’re on it. But so I am kind of like monitoring this out of the corner of my eye. The Socks aren’t trading Hagens, are they? Listen, by the end of this episode, I might I might have them doing exactly that. So yeah, that’s keep No. So yeah. So I think the Bruins intentions were very clear like they wanted him to go back to BC and uh and and he’s going to. So yeah, I think it’s the right call like for sure. we for all the reasons we’ve talked about, you know, he can get stronger both both physically in terms of, you know, working in the weight room, but also on the ice, like absorbing contact more, winning battles more. You know, we talked about it last episode with Ryan Lambert, like when you’re 510 and a half, you’re just going to lose some battles against guys who are 6’3, 6’4. Like, it’s just going to happen. But how do you get better in them? You know, how do you maybe turn a lost battle into a 50/50 tie up? How do you turn a 50-50 into a one battle? So, um, that kind of stuff, scoring more goals definitely has to be a goal for him. A, I think it’s big for him. B, that BC team’s going to need him to. Like, it’s not going to be as loaded of a BC team as last year. He lists off those goals of, you know, Bean Pod, Hockey East, national title. Those should all still be realistic for BC. I don’t know if they’re going to be the favorite. Not right now. Not even trying to be biased here, like I just think BEu is a better, deeper team this year. Um, so even just locally in terms of that rivalry, like I think BEu is going to be better, but that has to play out on the ice. The team that’s number one going into the year doesn’t win it all all the time. So, um, BC will still have a good team for sure. And if he can take that next step and be one of the very best players in college hockey, which should be attainable for him, then that goes a long way. like then he can carry a lot of that load and elevate that team. If he were to start the season with the Bruins, that BC team would really be in trouble cuz they don’t know have know their goalie yet either. They have Laterno. They’d be fine. They have number one center Dean Lerno. Yeah. Um, well, so for the Bruins and for Hagens, it’s best for both parties in my opinion because like I’ve said before, and it’s common knowledge at this point, obviously, but the Bruins like they’re trying to regain their structure, their identity, and I just don’t think that you need James Higgins to to get back to basics and fundamentals structurally as a team. Furthermore, you don’t want him being a rookie in that environment when a team’s trying to get their footing, right? It doesn’t bode well for him either. So to go back to BC and to play in all those tournaments, those high-profile tournaments that Scott mentioned, as well as trying to lead uh Team USA to a third gold at the World Junior Classics, which will be on US soil this year, that to be the guy starring in those moments, um it is is invaluable to him. And I just think, yeah, it’s not having Ryan Leonard and and and Gabe Perau on his line, when you have a line with three elite players, just naturally, they’re all going to want the puck on their stick. So, when you take away those players from Hagens’s line, yeah, maybe he plays with a really good player like like Teddy Stigga, but Hagens will be the guy. And so when you combine that with his physical maturity, his experience, a year older, I just think that next year is going to be a great opportunity for him to develop. And I promise you Bruins fans, like the season will fly. It’ll be April before you know it, maybe late March, and he’ll be joining the team. And you’ll look back in a couple of years, five years, 10 years, and say, “I forgot he didn’t even start his rookie year with them.” Right? So it’s in the moment, it’s an exciting prospect. we all want to see him, but it’s it’s it’s best for everybody for him to do what he has to do at BC while the Bruins do what they have to do at the NHL level and then have that marriage uh a little bit later this year maybe. I work with a lot of guys who have been in college hockey for a really long time, like whether they’re broadcasters, coaches, um and they all pretty much believe the same thing that a lot of the freshman that go to the NHL are not ready right after their freshman season. Maybe Mlin Celbrini is an exception or maybe he would have still done a a a good job developing at BEu and it wouldn’t have made a difference. But a lot pretty much every player that comes through college that is on an NHL trajectory fares better when they have that extra year to develop. And I know coaches a lot of college coaches that think that. I know people who have been just watching the game. Like I have a broadcast partner who’s adamant about this. He’s been uh broadcasting college hockey since Yeah. for like 30 years. Um, and it’s not just because we want to see them play college hockey because it’s our job, but uh, it’s because they benefit from it. And you see guys go to the to the pros too early. They end up in the AHL. They don’t even end up in the NHL. They then all of a sudden they’re toiling away um, and losing their confidence on an AHL team looking up at the big club thinking they should be there. And whereas he could be the man at BC and like it there’s there’s just a benefit that it may even be an intangible like un like you can’t put your finger on exactly what it is. Um it’s because it’s a lot of things all at once. Why it’s normally beneficial for guys to at least play two years in college before they go. And Ryan Leonard, great player. He stayed two seasons and it benefited him. And you you see how confident he came out of his sophomore season. I think that’s going to help his career in the NHL. And I think the same thing will happen for James Higgins. Yeah. If there’s an example of like a high-end player, a top 10 pick who regretted going back to college for a second year, I can’t think of it. I would love to have someone point it out to me. Like you mentioned Leonard, Gabe Perau last year as well at BC. Kale Mard did certainly did not regret doing a second year at UMass. Charlie Makavoy benefited from a second year at BEu. I wanted him to go for a third and then a fourth year, but like you know, but he was ready to step in and help the Bruins in the playoffs right away after a second year at BEu. Even before that, Chris Krider doing a second year at BC walked right into the Rangers lineup and helped them on a run to did they get to the cup final that year or at least the Eastern Conference Finals, but like he was ready like it helped get him ready. So, I don’t know if the Bruins are going to be, you know, in a playoff spot where he’s walking in like a Leonard Makavoy or or Krider or Mar did the same thing with the ABS, but you know, if he go if he goes back and has a really strong year, he’s going to be so much more prepared for the NHL after that second year than he would if you’re trying to for kind of force him into the NHL now in October. Like, this season at BC will do so much for him. I wanted Kell Macar to stay at UMass for the full full five years of eligibility. I was like, we got it. We got a natty coming. Come on. Uh yeah, they won the year. Yeah, they won it the year after he left and then Yeah, then he won a cup. He won a cup. Yeah. Um just one last comment on Hagens, too, cuz again, I know I I posted the clip online, but it’s just an example of of his physicality, too. He does not shy away from from from engaging in in board battles and stuff. I mean, yeah, like Scott mentioned, he’s 510 and a half, so he’ll naturally lose some battles, but it’s not because of a lack of effort. Like, I I do think that I just want for for Bruins fans that haven’t watched him a ton or you hear, “Oh, he’s like the next Jack Hughes.” Like, he he’s not he’s not a soft finesse player. He he does have edge to his game and as a center iceman, that’s important. You can’t shy away from from contact and board battles. So, no, I’m not saying he’s Brady Martin coming out of the the most recent draft class, cuz he’s certainly not, and nobody is when it comes to bodychecking, but he’s not a finesse player only. He he he does what it takes to to win battles and and he gets he gets his nose in there, and that’s an important trait for him to have, too. Yeah. He always goes into the corners, right? He doesn’t shy away from the corners. He one of my the things that I observed from watching him in person a few times last year was that he even though he’s smaller, he tends to win those battles even even in the areas where he’s going up against a bigger player or or an older player along the boards. And he he he always wants to and normally is first to pucks. So that helps him win those battles because when you get there first, you get that advantage of of having uh you know a second of extra time to do something with a puck. But uh he’s effective in those areas. Yeah. And Brian, I think you mentioned earlier, you know, or maybe Bridget did like winning uh helping the US win World Juniors again. He’s going to be the best player on that team. He was one of the best last year as an underage player really like you know 18-year-old in a tournament dominated by 19 year olds. Um he led that team in ice time among forwards. He was the number one center. He was one of their top scorers. He’s out at the, as we said, he’s out at the World Junior Showcase. Um, Brian tweeted that hit. You know, I’ve tweeted out a couple of his goals that he scored out there or some of the assists that he’s had. He had one really sick pass the other day to set up Brody Zeamer, I think it was. Um, had a wraparound goal against Sweden on Wednesday. And just like to to give you a tweet here from friend of the pod Chris Peters who’s out there at uh in Minnesota tweeting about Hagen says seems to be a cut above most players on the ice when he’s out there this week. And it’s like yeah like that’s what you want to hear and that’s what you expect when he’s going against his own age group. And his performance at World Juniors last year was one of those things where I’m like when people would say oh his season was kind of disappointing. It’s like, all right, you can point to the production at BC if you want, but like did you watch World Juniors? Cuz like he was pretty damn awesome on that team and helped them win goals and he was a year younger than most of the guys on the ice. Well, once again, he got there were other players that played so well like Cole Hudson who, you know, puts up all these points is uh and then Leonard who’s the captain and they have all these other guys and and Eisermanman even we were talking about during the tournament. kind of just because he was one of many people in the conversation probably was one of the reasons he got passed on by some teams. And if US wins a third straight gold this year, he’ll have had to have had an amazing tournament because Sweden I think Sweden’s going to be a good team. They’re they’re they’re showing it right now in the summer showcase that they’re a team to be reckoned with. But Canada’s going to be a problem. Uh they they’re going to be a problem. They have now I’ll just mention some names. They’re going to have Gavin McKenna, right? Uh Porter Marone will be there, Michael Misa and Matthew Schaefer. I don’t know if they’re going to be NHL bound to start this season, but even if they are, like I’m sure they’ll still probably find a way to be in a tournament like Matt was. It It depends. Yeah, it depends on how much they’re playing in the NHL, how they’re looking. like if they’re good players on their respective NHL teams, then those teams might just keep them and not let them go. Um but yeah, certainly either one or both could be. Would they be in this summer showcase for Canada if they if they thought they’d be NHL to start the year? Yeah, they’d probably still go. Okay. Yeah. I mean, and for Potra, it was a little bit of a different situation because he was he was a rookie, but he also was kind of in a like a little bit of a slump and they were, I think, hoping they get him some of his mojo back by going. And then, um, there’s always a risk of injury, too, which is why NHL teams are hesitant to do stuff like that. like uh Jake O’Brien, I’m pretty sure he is not on like Canada Canada had a lineup yesterday with with all those guys and I think I think I saw somebody who was covering a tournament say that they might be sending some of those players home as the tournament goes along. um like some of the prominent players that they know are locks, but with a full lineup, a fully loaded lineup uh yesterday against Finland, I think Jacob Bryan was not even in the lineup and he is he was the eighth overall selection in the in the draft. That just goes to show you if Canada brings their whole arsenal of players, especially after getting a lot of criticism last year for the roster that they that they gave at the uh at the World Juniors, I expect Canada to to be a very very difficult team to beat. And so if the USA is finds a way to win gold and they go through Canada and Hagens is a big part of that, that’s a good thing for Boston. It’s gonna be a lot of really good international hockey this upcoming season. It’s I’m looking forward to it. Um we’re we just spend probably more time than we normally would in the summer talking about the World Juniors that are coming up in January. Usually the Bruins don’t have prospects there, so it’s very easy for us to ignore. Well, technically we when we watched it last year, we didn’t know we were watching a Bruins prospect. uh play. But uh but anyway, we we got that in uh late December, early January, and then the Olympics midFebruary uh which is going to be those are going to come, you know, pretty much back to back to each other. And that’s I’m I’m looking forward to that span. Yeah, we can if you want transition to Makavoy here because one of the other things he talked about in that Herald article um was the Olympics. Um you know about because remember remember when we talked to him at the end of the se at the end of the season. Yeah. Break up day. Was it breakup day? Yeah. and he was like really down and talked about how like you know he was so looking forward to for nations and it was an incredible experience but his quote was along the lines of like wasn’t worth it or something I gave up more more than I you know agreed to or like something like that like essentially intimating that it wasn’t worth it for him and again based on the infection the shoulder injury and missing the rest of the year you get that and but I remember like that did bring up some questions of like is he going to go to the Olympics? Like is he kind of down on international hockey right now? And then he got named as one of the US’s first was that six five players, six players that they that they name. Um so like oh okay like obviously he’s back in and he talked about that in um in Steve Conroy’s article and saying like no there’s never any doubt about that. Like it’s still the highest honor to to play for your country in the Olympics and that’s been a lifelong dream. Obviously, he’s part of this generation that has never had the opportunity to play in the Olympics. Um, you know, along with a bunch of other guys, Pastanox never played in them. Like this whole generation of of great players who, you know, until Four Nations never had any best on best international experience. Conor Mc like Conor McDavid hasn’t got to play in an Olympics. like we watched him in four nations come as close as he’s been so far and he was, you know, he scores the game, winning goal in overtime. So, uh, all those guys at least got a taste of it last year, though it’s not exactly the same thing. I think we could all agree it was really good hockey. um and would have been even better if Makavoy stayed healthy and and if um you know the Kachchucks were both dealing with injuries and if anybody if everybody had stayed healthy in that tournament that even though it was it was an overtime game and it was already a really good game for the championship like it could have been even better I think and maybe a better result for for the Americans. Absolutely. way way too early uh question here, but it’s it’s it’s 2030. Is is does James Higgins have a legit chance at making an Olympic roster in 2030? I’ll say yes. Yeah, I’ll say yes, too. I mean, at that point, you’ll have some guys that are kind of starting to age out a little bit that are in their mid 20s right now. Yeah, he’ll be what, like 23, 24? Yeah, 22 23 23. He’ll be he’ll be he should be part of that next wave that’s coming up um by then. Yeah. Uh, obviously Makavoy uh is down on international hockey just with the way that everything happened, but certainly the Olympics is uh yeah, he mentioned it. It’s it’s the highest honor and and I think that’s something he he would ever pass up. Um, so yeah, there’s going to be a lot of fun hockey this year, international, as Bridget mentioned. I’ll tell you guys one thing, I’ll be watching more NCAA hockey than I’ve ever watched in my life. I’ll be watching teams all around the country because you have to watch me, Brian. Well, of course, anytime I have a chance to watch. You know what? You know what? people would really benefit from watching every every Friday at 6 PM this week in Hockey East where we go over the best prospects in Hockey East. Actually, I think people would benefit from watching that on Essence. The the uh the the hockey schedules have been released, right? A lot of them. A bunch. Is there is is Gavin McKenna playing any local teams? Unfortunately, no. Okay. Marta Martone is that Michigan State is at BEu very early in the season. I think October 17th, like that weekend. Yep. I’m I’m on that game. I’m on one of those two games. Yeah. So, that that’s why I was hoping McKenna picked Michigan State when he was down to those two cuz I wanted to see him in Boston. Um but yeah, no, I was looking and I think the closest Penn State gets is like New York like they might be at one of the New York schools at some point, but maybe maybe in the postseason, you know, maybe in the NCAA tournament there’s you know what’s the regional this year? Who’s who’s the the local regional? The Northeast regional? Probably not Manchester again. Probably not Manchester. Definitely not Manchester again. I think it might be Worcester this year. That’s close. I mean, they were in they were in the tournament last year. Maybe if we draw to New England, you know, it could it could happen. Uh what about uh North Dakota? They they play any hockey teams? Do we know? Uh I don’t think so because I think I looked at that too to see if um you know to track Wills Deers. Yeah. But I don’t think they’re in New England at all. All right. Well, in any event, gonna be a lot of fun hockey to watch. And I know Bridget’s looking something up. So, yeah, but I know Denver’s coming, but I don’t think Yeah, Denver’s at BC again. Yeah, that’s been a pretty regular series. Um, one other thing I wanted to mention from Makavoy, uh, and we can tie this into part of Marco Sturm’s interview with Spin Chigas as well is, uh, Makavoy talked about, you know, like how they’re going to play. And so referencing additions like Corali, Jano, Asamont, Mag says, you name three guys there that really embody what we could be, and I think we’re all thinking the same thing about what kind of team we might have to be. you get those guys to be a pain in the ass. Play fast, play hard, be that team that no one really wants to play against. We can be a hard out. I think we’ve always been a defensive team. That’s probably been what makes us our best for a while now. We have great goalending and great defense. Um, and then he references needing to be physical. He thinks they still have enough offense uh to be productive, but wraps up saying, “Let’s win ugly games. I’m excited to see what it’s going to look like and how they want us to play. Um, obviously referencing that at this point they, you know, they’re not practicing yet, so they don’t have the full system from Mako Sturm when you know exactly what they’re going to do. But right now, the imagination is making me think that we might be the team that’s hard, that’s big, physical, and can be annoying. Um, which I think is Yeah. Like that’s what they have to do. you know, now how many wins that gets you very much remains to be seen, but it it does confirm like what we all expect, which is this is a team that’s going to have to grind. Yeah. And and I think that it’s appropriate to to build that identity before supplementing it with like true elite talent to complement your already star players. I I just don’t think going out and adding Brock Basher to this team, you you have you kind of have to you have to rebuild. You have to start from scratch. And I just it’s okay to add those players or or a player that that can help you really score. I think once you have reestablished how you want to play as a team, I I just you can’t do it backwards, I think, is and and and also in in a hard cap world, it’s tough to do it, too. Yeah. I mean, I think you can do both at once. Like I I don’t think you need to do available. Yeah. You know, we just really weren’t. I mean, but the risk is so you go this way where it’s okay, we’re going to establish defensive identity, be hard to play against, grind it out, all that. You hope you win a lot of 2132 games. But if you get to January, February, and you’re losing a lot of 2132 games, well, guys are gonna stop buying in. Like if you’re losing a lot of hockey games and you’re asking guys to play defensive style and hey sacrifice some offense and they’re looking around going well we’re 30th in scoring like and we’re you know eighth in our division like this isn’t working. You only keep guys bought into playing that way if you’re winning. And I still question doubt whether this team has enough talent to win even if they do play pretty good team defense. Yeah. And that and and that’s fair and that’s why it’s that’s why it’s okay guys go perform, go execute, right? Like like no one’s going to hold your hand through this. I mean I do think that they have enough talent to certainly contend for a final playoff spot. And so if like I I hear what you’re saying, Scott, I think if somebody like Martin Nus was available as a free agent this past summer, like they would have Yeah. then they wouldn’t have been like, “Oh, we don’t want to do it backwards.” Like they would have done it, but I just don’t think that guy was there or worth worth having. And so yeah, it’s a situation where they they didn’t add and they they have what they have. But I no excuses. Like if if they if they if they lose a bunch of games and they they they shut down, then shame on them. Then then then shame on them. like we we’ll be we’ll be having a different conversation then. Well, Scott, you you mentioned the uh Spitting Chicklets podcast that Marco Stern was on, and this was slightly before we started recording, you were mentioning the actual like he he started to talk about actual physical systems of of thinking that they might start out uh you you you Yeah. So, they they asked him like, “Will you bring the 131 to Boston?” And the Spit and Chicklets guys refer to it as um the the ambience system, you know, putting you to sleep. Yes. Um and the Kings have been a team that’s played that way. Now, they got away from it in the last couple years, but from kind of when they had to when they had to do their own reset and Sturm went there as an assistant coach through those rebuilding, retooling years, like they were pretty committed to playing the 131. Um, and I guess maybe it’s worth just a quick explainer if people listening don’t know exactly what that is. It’s a defensive neutral zone system where you have one for checker, three players kind of lined up across the neutral zone, basically setting up a wall and then one defenseman behind them to retrieve the dump in. Cuz the idea is you force the other team to dump it in. They can’t get through, so they just have to dump the puck in. and then you have your one guy back. Go get it. Ideally, you have a clean breakout. So, yes, the for viewers it tends it can be boring to watch because it slows the game down. There’s not a lot of transition hockey. There’s not a lot of fast back and forth. Uh there’s a lot of changes in possession. Yes. So, I thought it was interesting to hear Sturm say that obviously it depends on his roster and what the team is capable of doing, but he did point out that when they implemented it in LA during that rebuild or retool, whatever you want to call it, and they were a younger team, he said he thought it really helped them buy in defensively. it was easier for young players to grasp as a defensive system and it helped them establish a defensive identity that kept them in games against teams that on paper and on the ice were more talented. So, it made me think like that could be in play for for the Bruins this year. Um, if that’s the kind of team that Marco Stern thinks they have where hey, we’re going to do this. We know we’re not going to play this way for five years, but we’re gonna do it this year because it’s gonna help us find our defensive game. Someone’s calling in. Yeah. Do you want Do you want to see if this person has a thought on the Bruins this season? Kudos to Scott for battling through that phone ring. Um that that used to haunt my dreams, that freaking phone ring. Oh my god. Hopefully hopefully it’s very faint or they can’t hear it at all. Uh listen, I can see it showing up on the audio level. So, but Scott, one other thing that comes to my mind as well is losing those those close games next year. Their special teams have to be better. You can I understand the Bruins will have a ton of scoring depth. That that’s that’s no secret, right? But do you need to have the best best five on five scoring depth in a league to have a better power play with your top players? and bringing in Steve’s spot and just having a better power play in general should go a long way for the Bruins. If they’re going to bank on being a defensively structured team and win lowscoring games, but they can also have a middle of the pack power play and instead instead of 29th, whatever the hell they were last year, then they should be able to win some of those closer games. And the penalty kill, you really have no excuse. Jeremy Swayman has to be better. Nikita Zorov, Charlie Makavoy, uh you know, Andrew Peak, and then you know, some of your forwards up front like Khan Cari and and Eimon and some other players like they should having a good penalty kill is all about goalending and work ethic from the other four players on the ice. So, um I just think there’s their special teams have to get better and I’m not looking at them having a really good third line or a bad third line as as a breaking point for that. You know what I mean? Like special teams to me, there’s no excuse to be better. We’ve talked about it in the past, the power play, their their power play breakout and their zone entries have to change. We’ve talked about how we want that to look like. And then in the offensive zone, like there’s no reason why a power play with David Passion can’t be, you know, a middle of the pack power play league just with him alone. The only problem for that is they Yeah, they need to be a better power play, but they didn’t add better power play personnel. I think I think the power play can improve vastly with better coaching as well though. Like I like I said like like their their power play breakout last year was and neutral zone attacking and and and and offensive zone entries were I hated it. I couldn’t stand it. It was it was it was island hockey. It was one guy going you had players that were flatfooted. One guy trying to go through three. Like that’s not that’s not how you attack when you have an extra guy on the ice. Like that to me is coaching. Yeah, and like you’re right with, you know, Morgan Geeky, Casey Middlestad, Elias Lindholm has been a good power play player in the past. Like there’s enough there. I think one of the, you’re right, entries getting into the zone cleanly. And then also the power play quarterback remains a question mark because we just have to be honest about this. Charlie Makavoy has not been a very good one for several years now. So, is he the power play quarterback and has he gotten better at it? You know, can this coaching staff work with him to get better at it? Or do you are you bold enough to say, well, if he’s not getting the job done, we’re going to try Mason Laurier or Hampus Lindholm and is one of them good enough? So that very much still has to be worked out and figured out because that spot is just too important to have someone who doesn’t do a very good job at it. Well, if Flynn Holmes’s back and fully healthy, which he’s supposed to be healthy going through a full training camp, full preseason, but obviously we haven’t seen him yet. So that’s why I say if um he is the number two guy and with the chance to pass Mabo to me, I don’t think it’s Lauri. I I think Lynholm would probably start as your QB on power play two and then if he’s out you probably have Lindholm and Lauri both on I guess the second power play unit cuz usually cuz that group’s going to be out there when the power play ends. So usually you like to have two defenseman on that unit. So I could Yeah, I guess my my point is still that Lynholm is next in the hierarchy for me with the I think based on what we’ve seen from him in the past probably more likely than Lurai to jump up and take that QB1 spot. Yeah, I mean Laura had chances last year and at times would look great and at times would have just really baffling turnovers and bad decisions that would lead to short-handed chances and goals against. So yeah, I mean Hampton Synindholm on the top power play unit is like something we’ve only seen in pretty small stretches, but there’s been times it’s been encouraging like Yeah, right before he got hurt. Yeah, right before he got hurt. Like they just moved him up. It looked really good and then unfortunately he suffers a season ending injury like I don’t know what was that two maybe three games into that that experiment. So like I said like it’s small flashes. You can go back to you know a couple years ago where Makavoy misses the start of the year and Lindholm’s out there and looks good. So there’s at least something there. It’s not something he’s done regularly throughout his career. Like even in Anaheim he wasn’t usually on the top power play unit. It was usually Cam Fowler. So, um, yeah, but he should be a candidate. So, I got two questions for you guys. And you would think the answer would be the same. The answer for one would be the answer for the other, but I Do we want to see if uh caller has has an answer? Perhaps. Perhaps. Oh my god. Um, between Makavoy, Lynholm, and Mason Laurai, which player do you think has the better shot, and which player do you think is the better shooting threat? because you would think it would be one and the same, but if one’s not using their shot, then they’re not much of a of a shooting threat, right? And if if one is better at getting their shot through rather than just get the shot off, like get the shot through effectively and then, you know, or also, and you’re talking about scoring, but I also would consider it, you know, a shot that produces a rebound that you score on to be equally as good. Yep. I I almost have like three different answers here. So, all three of them. I I think I think Makavoy has the hardest shot. If we’re just talking about stepping into a one-time I think Mason Lauri is the best goal scorer of those three. Like get him in close and he finishes. I think Hamus Lindholm is the best at getting a shot through. Yeah. So, where does that leave us though? If you’re trying to design, right? You know what I mean? Like we’ll have to see, you know? So I think I to me I think Lind Holm has the most like effective if you want to consider it to be an assist off the shot or goal off the shot like he has he’s the most effective at moving the puck towards the net to create opportunities whether it’s for him or for someone else. And he always gets it through. He gets it through. Uh and that’s why it’s dangerous because it comes back out. Hopefully, you’re you’re hoping it it catches a goalie somewhere or bounce off a body like in front of the goalie and it comes to someone else and and it you know, you know how hockey works. You never know how the puck’s going to bounce, but that’s why his shot is effective. Yeah. And I I’ve pointed this out before. So, the best power plays that Steve spot ran and he was always Pete Davor’s right-hand man. So, in San Jose and Dallas, he had the benefit of Joe Pavvelski in front of the net. one of the best to ever do it. If he thinks he has there’s no Joe Pavvelski on this team in terms of being able to do that, but if he thinks he has someone who is he can put in front of the net and they can be a weapon on deflections, rebounds, well then I think Hamus Lindholm is the best fit for a power play that operates that way because as I just said, I think he’s the best at getting it through. I thought when they made that change last year that was at a time where like the power play just wasn’t shooting enough and it was so refreshing to see Hamus Lindam just get the puck and get it on net and get it down low. So if that’s how they want to operate because that’s how Steve spots power plays have generally operated. I think Hamus Lindholm could be a good fit for that. Well and the one guy on Boston that I I forget who it was that mentioned this. I don’t know if it was if it was Sturm or somebody, but somebody mentioned that uh Victor Ardson, maybe it was maybe it was in Connor’s article, maybe he brought up how possibly, but I I think the Bruins like Arbertson because he he he can be that guy on a power play. So if Auburnson’s on your second power play unit, he could be on your first, but if he’s netfront on your second unit and then Lynholm’s on your second unit, well there’s that there’s that yeah that partnership, you know, but that still leaves the the other unit with presumably Makavoy and and Passnack and maybe Elias home and middle side. Who knows? I mean, they they they have to find their identity and they have you have to get shots through. You can’t kill your own power play by just passing it around the perimeter. You just you got to get shots through early and often. Um what else? I thought we were just going to be like, “All right, well, it’s time to go and totally forget about your question to start.” Yeah. Throw throwback Thursday. Throwback Thursday. We We tease Throwback Thursday and we just don’t even do it. Like, no. Um, if if I can steal this game because No, I’m going first. Okay, fine. I think you guys all have different games. I’m going to guess that. I think so, too. But first, what you got? I I It’s like when you call shotgun. I did that earlier. Um, so the uh the Berseron Berseron Berseron uh playoff game. Uh that one that I picked that one because that one made you feel something like that made you feel like emotional almost. 2013 first round against Toronto. The the game seven comeback. Yes. Game seven comeback. I’m sitting there thinking, well, this season’s over and I’m starting to feel emotional the other way. I’m upset cuz as a kid, I mean, obviously we’re more impartial now, but as a kid, I we all grew up Bruins fans and I was so invested back then. That’s how I ended up doing what I do now. Um, that was like starting to get really upset there wasn’t going to be any more Bruins hockey to watch and then all of a sudden like there’s hope and then all of a sudden Berson scores and and then it was like just just ecstatic that what what did I just watch? Like you felt like you watched something really special. I had a friend that was at the game and I was I’ve always to this day been jealous of him and he’s a freaking he’s a Maple Leafs fan. He was there wearing a Leafs jersey and I was like ha but I was like I should have had that I should have had that ticket. So I don’t know if I’ve told you guys this and I know Scott was there covering it but I also was at that game. I was I was fortunate enough to be there with my brother and um I will tell you this about that game. Now I hate both of you. I will tell you this about that game and and I know it’s I know it’s on the many Bruins fans Matt Rushmore’s right but mine as well for for for the ending but I will tell you this the first 50 minutes of that game was as boring as it gets. It was a very uneventful game um in general up until up until but so for 50 minutes it was it was I remember saying to my brother I was like they can’t even they can’t even you know connect on a pass and and again this is this wasn’t last spring Bruins right this was the Bruins who had just come off of a cup you know two years prior and whatnot they this they were capable of of greatness obviously but I remember um they were down they were down four to one and I remember saying to my brother and people were already filing out of the came out of the arena. I was going to bring that out. I was going to be like, there’s a few thousand people Yeah. who will never admit that they left that game early. Yeah. I I turned to my brother and I and I said, you know, I said, if they can just get if they can make it 4-2 with 10 minutes left and then make it 4-3 with five minutes left and just try to have the goalie pulled, I can see a path. But they but they hadn’t did anything. And then minutes later, Horton scored and I said, “Oh, there it is. There’s the first one. 4-2, but they never got that goal with 5 minutes left. So now it’s 4-2 and there’s like a minute and change remaining and I’m like, well, they needed to get another goal before now. And then Luchi scores with like 50s something seconds left. And I I remember saying to my brother, you would think I’d be up cheering, right? Which I was, but my my first thought was, you Of course, now you make it 4-3 and now you’re going to now you’re going to now you’re giving me this hope. Now you’re going to lose. And then of course there was the Burge runal and the the roof went off the garden. And I remember this like it was yesterday. Every time the Bruins have a playoff game and it goes to overtime. I’m at home and I’m like pacing. I’m trying to distract myself cuz I’m like they’re going to find a way. You’re nervous all the way in the popcorn. You’re nervous they’re going to lose, right? I remember walking around the concourse between the third period and overtime. I felt it within me and I saw it in everybody else’s face. Everybody knew the Bruins were winning that game. There wasn’t a shed of doubt which is you never see that but everybody like they they are there’s no chance of losing this game and of course they end up winning. Well, and I remember like how so like after they tie it like just how loud the building stayed like like I said like people had filed out some you know obviously it’s still mostly full but like tell us if you were one of those people. There was just like this this buzz and cheering that just continued. And then during the intermission going into overtime, you got the whole place singing along to Don’t Stop Believing, which is like sports cliche 101, but it was like so cool in the moment. So yeah, like that that’s unforgettable. It it would be up there for me. It would not have been my pick just because like you mentioned the first 50 m like it’s an incredible comeback and moment. It was not a great 60 plus minute game. I think it was it also like to me one of the reasons it’s my that came to mind first for me was because of how great a call it was too. I was watching at home. You guys were there. I was watching at home and I was I believe a senior in high school about ready to go to UMass to try to be a play-by-play broadcaster. And that was just such an electric call by Jack. Yeah. I mean, it’s funny the the Berseron Berseron Berseron I think people forget cuz it’s an all-time call. That was very close to being Peverly Peley because Rich Peverly had a chance to score the game-winning goal with like seconds remaining in regulation. I think it was the Bruins put their third line out there. I think Chris Kelly had a shot on that or something like that and the puck just hopped overly stick or something like that and he had a chance to win the game and that would have just been bonkers if they just won 5-4 flat out in regulation. But of course as as history played out uh he couldn’t have asked for a better ending. I mean that might have been Jack’s best call that he had with the Bruins and it was also on every single Berseron was Berseron Berseron Berseron. Oh, that was Goer. Yeah, that was Goher. I mean, Jack’s call was great, too. Yeah. And then you you always hear the Bersron Bersron over every highlight of Bersron, like when he retired and and so that lives on. Yeah. Um that’ll live on every time someone does a tribute to Bersron. Yeah. And then later that year, Dave O’Brien like I I wouldn’t say copied it, but like David took it. Yeah. with the David Ortiz, David Ortiz, David Ortiz for his grand slam in game six of the ALCS, which was that fall. And that obviously that was all the marathon year. Like that comeback had me convinced that that Bruins team was like a team of destiny and they were going to win it all and obviously sports is sports and they break your heart and you know don’t really care about teams of destiny. So, um obviously they came up short at the very end against Chicago in the cup final, but um yeah, I mean that was like just such an incredibly emotional spring like that game, but everything leading up to it obviously um the games when when they got back to the Garden late in the regular season like while the manhunt was still going on. Um, and then throughout that playoff run they brought out like before every game there was like a different victim of like of the bombing who would come out and like wave the flag and it was it was so incred like I I just remember like so many times throughout that run like just having chills like being in that building. I remember the um I believe the Bruins were scheduled to host the Ottawa Senators the uh I think the day of of the marathon obviously that got postponed and the first home game or or maybe they were playing the the Senators the following day but whatever it was it got postponed and the first game was against the Sabres at the Garden and that I remember I was in college at the time and I remember um my roommates and I like it’s everybody on campus whether you’re a hockey fan or just gen didn’t matter uh sports fan or not, everybody was just watching like that game and and I’m actually it’s not because it’s cold here. I’m getting chills right now thinking of the of the crowd that of the crowd that day uh singing that anthem. Yeah. Renee Rancor letting the fans take over the anthem. Yeah, that was that was by the way like came out like I think maybe years after the fact like um in all the reviews of like how they handled the response to the marathon bombing, they basically admitted like it was a mistake to have that game while you know the Zavas had not yet been captured or or found. Um, which is like crazy to think about too cuz I remember going into that game like I cover that game and thinking like it like should we be doing it? Like it felt once we were there it felt like this is the right place to be and like have everyone back together. But I remember like leading up to it thinking like is this safe? Like should there be a hockey game tonight type of type of thing. So yeah. Yeah. and arena security has really obviously just for events in general. like that makes makes the world react and it’s gotten much better since then. Obviously, uh Scott, did you want to go next? Did you I think I know where you’re going and it might might be a good dovetail into this year’s team if I’m reading between the lines. Yes, because Maya involves the 131 that we talked about earlier and it is uh game seven 2011 Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The one- nothing win, David Crerache setting up Na Nathan Horton late in the third period. Um finally cleanly breaking through GE Bush’s famous 131 with that Tampa team. Um what’s Gee doing these days? Is he a broadcasting now? Uh, I think he was a villain in the latest Marvel movie. Oh, well, his daughter was at Yale. I don’t know if she still is, but I used to see him at Yale hockey games. Speaking of Marvel, the the the most recent Superman movie that came out for DC, are they starting to do like their own version of the Marvel verse? cuz like the end credits had a they’ve been Yeah, they’ve been trying to and it’s kind of they’ve had it kind of had a few false starts, but yeah, the new the new Superman is supposed to be the start of DC’s next era. That’s cool. I will say Superman very good. Um yeah, they they did a good job. So, we’ll see where they where they take that. I was not as big a fan of Fantastic 4, which the the new Marvel movie that just came out, but uh anyways, that’s uh that’s Movie Corner. And also Jurassic Park kind of sucked, too. But yeah, that wasn’t great. I haven’t seen that. I I haven’t seen any of them. No. Yeah, you can you can wait for that to be free. There’s no bigger jaws. Bigger Jaws. Big Jaws. Do you know what I’m referring to? Yes. So, it’s a Family Guy quote. Peter tries to make bigger Jaws and it’s Jaws and the uh the fisherman team up to fight bigger Jaws which is essentially what the second version of gira like the second part of Jurassic uh park is the Jurassic World with Chris Pratt and they they team up with the velociaptors in the uh T-Rex to fight this big bigger dinosaurs. I it’s just bigger jaws. They stole that from Peter Griffin. Yeah. And so to bring this all back to uh my my pick for favorite game, where where are we guys? I think I don’t know. You said you brought up Douche and next thing you know it’s next thing you know it’s bigger Jaws. Um yeah. So I mean that win over Tampa in game seven might have been the best start to finish 60-minute game I’ve I’ve seen. like it was one- nothing but like this game was all the evidence you need that one- nothing can be incredibly entertaining because both teams had chances like I believe they were both in the 30s in terms of shots on goal that you know it was not it was not like a complete slugfest where it’s like oh shots at 20 to 18 at the end like there were chances and I say like the Bruins getting finally getting through the 131 like they actually did a few times like they figured that out as that series went on um but they’re getting denied by Rollison Tim Thomas obviously at the other end coming up huge. Um but that play that that led to that goal was so perfect where you just have like the regroup. You have three guys kind of coming up the same wing. Ference with the pass. Crerache splits right through you know two guys in the wall of three and then it’s the the quick twoon one in the offensive zone and the pass to Horton. It’s like that like that should be like example a on video of like how you break down a a 131 and and find that that seam. Now you’ve given other teams that ammo to to do it against the Bruins. But that I will say that is my most edge of my seat game I’ve ever watched. Right. Cuz that was one where you’re like how is this scoreless? And I I remember I watched it in New Hampshire um up at my my family’s house on Lake Winnipegasi and I like I had to even I had to go to the neighbors house because we didn’t have TV. So I was over with the neighbors and I was just like screaming the whole time and and just on the edge of my seat being like how how is this how is this how have we not seen a goal yet? But yet it was still you felt like every single shift it was a chance. Yeah, that that was a great series and that that Tampa Bay team was very good. People for forget their their path to the conference finals was an impressive one. I mean, it was it was it was the uh Sydney Crosby Penguins after having just won the Stanley Cup going to back-to-back cups against Detroit. Um the highpowered uh Washington Capitals led by Obachkin and Backstrom and all of them. And this is when peak peak Mike Green. Yeah. peak Mike Green and and those Capitals teams, they they were always around the President’s Trophy, but they never could get past the second round. Um, but Tampa Bay got through them and then obviously they beat the Bruins in the finals. The Bruins had their own amazing path beating the Canadians in game seven and getting that sweep revenge on the Flyers. But that that Tampa Bay team was was stacked. I mean, you had you had on on the back side of their careers, but you still had Lavalier and St. Louis and a young Stamco, a young Headman, and a good supporting cast. That was a good team. But yeah, that game seven would have been my answer. Scott, I thought you were going somewhere else, so I’m gonna have to take my audible. That that that game that game seven was Oh, I know where you think I was going. That game seven was outstanding. And I and I I remember just like standing watching at home cuz I just my I couldn’t sit. I I I had to just I had to just be moving. And that crowd as the clock wound down and the glass looks like it’s going to fall in the ice and you see towels in the air and and it’s their first time winning the fi the conference finals in in and at that point 21 years and um just when they finally won go back on YouTube and watch like when they when they all go uh celebrate with Tim Thomas and just the crowd behind them and then Journeys Don’t Stop Believing starts playing and It’s just such an emotional thing cuz they’re all hugging each other and you hear Tim Tim Thomas on the uh uh on the TV say to Nathan Horton, “You did it again. Unbelievable.” Cuz the cameras were up in their face. And then it goes from that into Black Betty and the crowd is just like, “Oh, let’s go.” And the vibes were just the vibes were incredible. Um obviously we know how that year ended. I think most of that playoff run I didn’t really truly sit like I was like either like literally on the edge of the couch or standing or pacing and my my dog was like very concerned about me. He was like why are we pacing? What are we doing? And then when the Bruins won the cup I actually he was on my lap. I had a cocker spaniel uh and I like literally like jumped up and like tossed him and I caught him. So he was he was like what is going on? But uh that game ironically wasn’t that wasn’t that exciting. I mean the result was the the actual cup final the 2011 the win. I mean that was really it was really close. Yeah. That was just they took the crowd out. Yeah. Pretty quick like by early second period halfway through the game. At that point as a Bruins fan you’re just one you’re just wondering like what’s going to go wrong. You know what I mean? But but that that was a game where it just it could have been 10 nothing and I would have been just like until that final buzzer goes it’s it’s it’s I don’t know. I think I got cocky a little bit like early I was like a they got this this is going to be good. Yeah. Um so yeah obviously for those listening and watching like we’re not counting that game with this exercise because you know winning the cup is obvious. But so for me there’s a couple different ways I can go. Again Scott took the one I was going to go with. I think game seven uh round one against the Canadians in 2011 is a great option, but I’m going to go a few years before and I’m going to go game six. Round one, 2008, Bruins beat the Montreal Canadians to force game seven and they win 5-4. It’s back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And obviously Marco Storm gets the game-winning goal um with a few minutes remaining regulation, maybe like three or four minutes. And at that time it was just we hadn’t experienced anything like that with the Bruins in in a long time. Like the the last time they made made the playoffs was the 0304 season. They lost to the Canadians in round one. Then you had the lockout. Then you had two years of finishing 13th in the Eastern Conference. And it had just been a while since since the Garden was that the current Garden had never sounded like that ever. Um, you had to go back to the old Boston Garden to have a game where the crowd was that into it and the game was that exciting. And the Bruins were just the ultimate underdogs. I said it to you guys a few weeks ago. I think they were 0 and8 against the Canadians that year in the regular season. And then if you include the playoffs, they were 1 and 11 against that Canadians team. Um, heading into game five and then they they they stole a game in Montreal. So now they’re 2-1 against the Canadians that year who finished first in the East heading into game six. And that game was the ignition for that era of Bruins hockey that ended up in a Stanley Cup three years later. It didn’t come without heartbreaks, right? Scott Walker beats the Bruins the following year when the Bruins had high hopes and then obviously the Flyers in 2010. But that game put the Bruins back on the map. We’ve talked about it um a lot and it was just an amazing game and it’s something that you look at this year with this Bruins team and I’m not saying they’re going to have a round one where they play the Panthers and somebody has a Marco Stur moment, but as far as like a team that overachieves on the ice compared to what their roster on paper is. The Bruins have a similar opportunity this year because that Bruins team also did it without Patrice Bersron. He he missed 72 games that year from the uh the Jones uh hit. So, I remember watching that game as a freshman in high school and that was just, you know, that was euphoria for me at the time and and still to this day is one of my favorite Bruins games of all time. Yeah, that that was incredible because it it’s it’s interesting because like that game still holds up even though they ended up losing game seven because you’re right, it was like you knew it was the start of something. It wasn’t a team that had super high expectations and it was like, okay, yeah, it’s a first round exit, but like boy do I feel good about where this team’s headed. And you know, now, hey, listen, like now you’re in an era of Bruins hockey where you’re hoping for one of those moments, whether it’s this year or next year, where you know, you get a team that starts to build some momentum and has a moment like that, a series like that in the playoffs where you start to feel really good about where they’re heading. And of course, as you said, like that team was heading to to really good things. And that that whole series, but that game in particular was like really felt like the start of it. And I know we we all come from the same generation, so we can’t provide like I’m sure some of our listeners are uh were around for the 80s and the 90s, whereas, you know, we kind of really started paying attention in 2000s because we’re you’re we’re 90s babies. I don’t know about you, but yeah. I mean, like I I remember like the second half of the 90s. Yeah. So, like we we missed out on the 80s, we missed out on the 70s teams. Like, we missed out on the, you know, the statue moment of Bobby or uh and so I’m sure, you know, if you want to comment on our YouTube or tweet at us what your favorite um Bruins game that you witnessed was. Uh I’m sure we missed all of those previous generations because we just weren’t we weren’t there. And this question was that our favorites that we’ve witnessed. out and and and outside of cup clinchers because that probably goes without saying, right? If if you’re if you were around for the 70 1970 Mother’s Day Bobby Y win or or when they beat the Rangers in 72 or obviously the Conucks in 11 like those we we we get those would be up there. But that’s why outside of that, right? Yeah. One other one that that came to mind for me and and it really stands out because so the the 20101 season was the first year I started covering the Bruins. I was an intern at wei.com that year. Not a bad start for you, right? And so like since then in varying capacities for different people like I’ve been a member of the media. So like even on the few occasions where I go as a fan, I still kind of have like media brain and you know you’re trying to be like unbiased type of thing. Um, one of the last games I went to as a true diehard fan before being in the media and it gets forgotten because of how the series ended, but 2010 game one against Philly where Mark Savvar comes back and scores uh the overtime winner like 54 game. It was up and down. Like again, unfortunately, the series ends with them blowing three 0 series lead, 300 game seven lead. And like Bruins fans just want to wipe everything about that year out of their memories. Um, but that game one was being in that building up in the balcony was like incredible. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, because at the time it’s it’s crazy. You look back and you you realize how how quickly he played after that Mark Yeah. uh Matt Cook hit and and and and in hindsight, we learned that Seavard still wasn’t uh you know, obviously back to full health, but that was a great game. He’s had lifelong effects from that. And he and he said like there’s parts of that game he doesn’t remember like in parts of that series that are like still just kind of blocked out. And and that Bruins team gets remembered for for blowing it to the Flyers 03 and up 3 0 in game seven. But Marco Stern knew Bus as head coach. He went down uh for the season in his first shift of game one. So they played that whole series out with a top six forward. And then David Creeche goes down in game four with the Mike Richards hit. So the Bruins, yeah, they lost a series, but the the the Flyers won their four games with the Bruins not having Sturm and Creeche. So I think I think Ference was hurt and like maybe Seidenberg too, I think. Yeah, they were they were really banged They were banged up and and they actually that that Saber series was pretty fun, too. There was some fun games there. Uh, another underrated the hero. Mro the hero. Another underrated game that comes to my mind is when the Bruins clinched um in 2013 over the Penguins. Adam McQuade had the game-winning goal. That was a fun game. Um, and then also 2019 game five against the Blue Jackets. That was a fun game. That was a back and forth third period and Passion ended up winning that game for them. And then the last game I’ll mention was the first game I think it was game one against the Islanders uh in was it 2021? That first one with the full building. First one the full building. I think Passnack had a hat-tick. That was a fun one too. When when fans got back in the building that was Yeah, that was insane. at like the national anthem that day because I had started like covering the Bruins here during the pandemic. Like my first game and games that I did was with nobody in the crowd and it was so eerie and so weird. And then when people started to come back in, you started feel like everybody was kind of getting to let out that energy that everybody had pent up. It was so loud and it was like I had goosebumps the like the whole time. And then once the national anthem started, like I don’t know, it was emotional. I feel like I like had a tear in my eye. I was like, “Oh my god, we can do stuff again. People can come.” Even just pregame, it was like one of the rowdiest crowd. Like that crowd was just lit up. They booed when the there’s a pregame there’s always like a there’s a two beer limit or something or like no smoking in the building and there’s a two beer limit. And the fans were booing that added the the thing on the uh the screen that was telling them they couldn’t have more than two beers at a time. I think um and we’re we’re going to get going here, but and Scott, maybe you can go into your your your history uh history arsenal here. Um but for some older Bruins fans, I’m sure some games that they would mention would be the Brad Park playoff game against the Sabres. Um Craig Janney had a a memorable goal um against the the Devils in a playoff game. I think that was maybe back in the early 90s or late 80s. It was late late ‘ 80s. 88. Yeah, it might have been on one of those cup run like the 90 cup run maybe. Um 88 when they knocked off the Canadians for the first time in forever. Like that one be up there. Um yeah, I mean the certainly like the lunch pale in the late 70s like those teams had some really memorable games. Um, some of them were memorable because people just beat the crap out of each other. Not it wasn’t even like Yeah. I mean, those teams were also really skilled though. Like just unfortunately for them, not quite as skilled as the Canadians who are in the middle of arguably the greatest dynasty in NHL history. Certainly at least post merger. Um, those Canadian teams are just dominant. But, um, yeah, I mean those Bruins teams are really good. This this is a question I got in a in a recent um mailbag that I wrote. Best Bruins team to never win a Stanley Cup. And and there’s some there’s some options here obviously and I gave some in my lifetime. I know the the I know that the the most recent one is the 22 23 Bruins with the records they set. But I’m I’m telling you that 197172 Bruins team that lost to Ken Dryen 7071 sorry 7071 that that lost to Ken Dryden that Bruins team was littered with with Hall of Famers. I mean you had or Espazto Chievers um Bu I mean you had so many of these guys and they their their goal differential was plus 192 and Ken Dryen up until that series had only played six games and I don’t even know if he started the first game of the series. So, he goes on to be a Hall of Famer, but he was unknown. And that Bruins team obviously between their 70 and 72 cups. Um, I think that’s the best team, but you know, it’s obviously subjective. I mean, that’s one of the that’s certainly one of the greatest teams ever to to not win the cup. And it’s it’s sandwiched right in between obviously two teams that did. Um, but yeah, feel quite as bad when you do it the next year, but Right. No, but like yeah, they set so many records. I think that was the year that or was like plus 124 or whatever. That’s still the record for plus minus. Um they had mult you know several hundred point scorers. Um but yeah that the 22 23 team um I mean I would throw 089 in there. That was a really good team. 2013 too. Like I mean I mean if Bersron’s playing somewhat healthy like I do think that that series has a chance to go seven. Like Gregory Greg Gregory Campbell obviously wasn’t a huge player for them uh up the lineup but he was a big loss too. I just think the Blackhawks won the war of attrition in that series. I mean that Bruins team I just won a cup. I mean they’re up there too but 089 was stacked as well. 1314 was the president’s trophy team but they had some they were good. I mean, the 8990 team that I believe they won the President’s Trophy or they at least had the best record in the East. Yeah. Ultimately, they lose to Edmonton in the Stanley Cup final. But I think a lot of people would throw that one out there as a team that was had a really good season. Um, and that Oilers team wasn’t as great as the other Oilers teams. They had already traded away Gretzky. They’d had a really good season, but like not a dominant one. They almost got knocked out in the first round by Winnipeg. Like they needed a borderline miraculous. I think they were down 3-1 and came back or 20 or something. I forget what the format was, but they were down in that series and had to come back. Um like they were beatable and that Bruins team probably should have had a chance against them. Um but came up short, but that was a a really good team. If if you want me to go way back in history, the team that still owns the record for best winning percentage in this season was the 192930 Bruins who were so good they forced the league midseason to add off sides because they would cherrypick and like make long passes to get into the offensive zone and were just like scoring like seven goals a game or something. Was there no line? They just were like, “We have to paint. You just kind of do whatever. Have to paint lines on all the ice now mid-season.” Uh, there might have been I don’t know if they had a line. There might have been lines, but there was no there was no offsides. Yeah. Then what would be the point of I I don’t know. I I wasn’t alive, so I don’t remember exactly what the ranks look like. That was almost 100 years ago. So that that was that was a few years before I started covering those few. That was five five years into their history. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so I mean Yeah. I mean there’s a question, too. Um, so f favorite Bruins game that you ever you’ve ever seen. Were they playing at Matthews still then? How many years did they play at Matthews? So I think the Garden might have been open by then. Um, but I Yeah, I believe they’re already in the Garden because they were selling like Eddie Shore was a superstar and they were selling it out. Yeah. Well, I I bring it up because Matthews were probably going to see the last game of Matthews Arena this year. So So they were Uh yeah, so the the Garden Open 1928 29th season. Okay. All right. So there’s a couple of questions for the listeners to uh to think on and give us your responses. Favorite Bruins game of all time that you’ve watched that wasn’t a cup clinching game and then the the best Bruins team’s not win a cup. What do you think? There’s a lot of options there. Hash throwback Thursday. Throwback Thursday. There we go. There we go. Yeah, I think tune in next Thursday to see what what new idea we come up with. What what one week idea we have. It’s going to start with a T though. You’ll know that. Uh well, yeah, we we’ll figure it out. Well, at this point, we have uh we’ve asked people to listen to us for uh nearly an hour, 45 minutes, I think. Well, it’s an hour and a half. That’s been going for longer. That has our pre-recording conversation that I’ll make sure to not include in the upload. that that won’t make the air. Pretty sure Scott called me Meg at one point. Um so yeah, shut up, Meg. Yeah, and I think I swore at him and definitely flipped him off. So, uh that won’t be in it. Yeah, but um I remember when we were recording in here, like when we first started doing this together and our entire like off show would be about Game of Thrones and we were like, we’re going to do Game of Thrones bonus episodes. That’s right. Yeah. and and we all didn’t like the ending, but anyway, it’s probably a little bit too late to uh to do that, but probably but so the the Beu women are going to uh Belfast, which is near where the Game of Thrones set is, and I might potentially be going to do the uh Friendship Four out in Belfast. And if so, I’ll be stopping by the Game of Thrones museum, I think. So, um that’ll be cool. Hopefully, definitely. Yeah. the when the BEu men went out. I think they were out there last year. Last year Marramac was too. I know a few people did that tour of like the the sets and stuff. Um I’ll be taking pictures up like up on those winding staircases up up in the courtyard. I pretend to be Daenerys for a little bit, you know, just see if they got set all the poor people on fire. I’ll break my hair. I will need a dragon. I will need a dragon. Okay. Um, but yeah, if a show’s been out for nearly 10 years, I don’t think you can spoil it anymore. It’s on the people to like if you if if someone doesn’t know how the Sopranos ends, and I say how the Sopranos ends. I mean, like, it’s not I’m still waiting on the the next Game of Thrones books. Yeah. For George R. Martin to finish The Song of Vice and Fire, which I’ve been patiently waiting for for 15 years now. I think was when the last book came out. We’ll have to give it a few months. we could do some pre-show Stranger Things conversations because I’ve been waiting for about 50 years for that next season to come out. So, that’ll be a fun one. Um, but yeah, so this is this has been fun, guys. It’s been good to get back in person. I think we can we can probably do this at least maybe, you know, maybe once or twice a month over uh once the season starts. You know how we get off the rails like when we just record from home? I feel like this was much worse. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was much better, Bridget. I’m gonna I’m gonna go glass half full. I mean, this was We’ve done it much more. Yeah, that’s true. And and we haven’t even brought Nick in. No. No. If you guys think we were random during the episode, outside of the episode recordings, it’s even worse. Oh, so much worse. We try to actually keep it on the tracks during We literally walked around the whole building saying hi to people before we get in here. Giving people chocolate, which we want to thank Skip and Abigail. We picked up the chocolate today. I’m about to try some. So, yeah. Yeah. No, we’ve covered everything. I think that’s I already ate all mine. Yeah. Scott’s been holding lunch for like two weeks. Yeah. I’ve had mine for a week. How long do you think chocolate’s going to last at my place? I’m I’m someone who eats everything very slowly. Like if I really like it, I’ll savor it and I’ll be like, “Oh, I’m only going to have one at a time.” And then it goes bad. See, I don’t I don’t have that problem. So like I ate it all and you’re lucky I didn’t eat all of you guys. It was tempting just looking at it at that in my fridge every day. How much of mine did you eat? No comment. Yeah, it wasn’t nothing. I know that. So today starts with me saying what are we going to talk about and two hours later we got to wrap it up. So thank you all very much for listening and we’ll talk to you next. 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.

We record in person for a special “Throwback Thursday” episode! Could having no captain be an issue for the Bruins next season? James Hagens indicates he is heading back to BC. And, Who will be PP QB under Sturm?

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

Jump to:
00:00 – Opening shifts: No captains, Hagens back to BC, throwback thursday
10:00 – Could having no captain be an issue?
27:00 – Hagens indicates he is heading back to BC
43:00 – McAvoy talks 2026 Olympics
48:00 – Marco Sturm system & special teams: Who will be PP QB under Sturm?
1:04:00 – “Throwback Thursday:” our favorite Bruins games

Intro: Jake Zimmer

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