Ranking Bruins Top Prospects; Will Bruins Keep Same Center Group? | The Skate Pod, Ep. 472

Ranking Bruins Top Prospects; Will Bruins Keep Same Center Group? | The Skate Pod, Ep. 472

Welcome into episode 472 of the Skate Podcast. I’m Bridget Pru with Scott Mclofflin. Brian has work all day. Could not join us for this podcast, but uh you know, we’ll have him back hopefully for Thursday’s episode and uh you know, he’s busy plumbing somewhere. I mean, it it’s a little odd that he texted us that he wasn’t going to be able to do today three minutes after the Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce engagement news broke. I think Brian is just going out getting hammered celebrating that the big news. So, you know, you can you can say it’s work, but I’m I’m skeptical. Yeah. I mean, I’m not sure who the biggest Swifty is on this podcast, but we’re all pretty pro Taylor, so um I don’t know. I kind of thought it was you, though. surprising. It It’s It’s either you or Brian. I think I’m probably third. I do like You liar. You lie. That is not true. Okay. When we went to Montreal, whose playlist was 50% Taylor Swift? I mean, that was that was not mine. That was not mine. But I made it with you in mind because I know that’s what you like. I mean, you were the first person to listen to I like Bruce Springsteen. That’s I know you like Bruce Spring. That’s my playlist. that and I did not have any of him in my playlist, but uh you listen to the whole Tortured Poets Department album before I even got to it. Yeah. And I hated it. That that that’s my least favorite of her albums. That was not good. It wasn’t huge on it either. But um but yeah, so maybe Brian’s, you know, celebrating somewhere. Not sure, but it is it is a little sus. Um but Scott, do we have opening shifts today? cuz I mean we didn’t really even talk about it. I think you have one. Yeah, I have something I wanted to to bring up and we can break down a little bit. So, The Athletic is going through their uh preseason pipeline rankings for all 32 NHL teams. So, this is a series they do I think they do it twice a year. They do it every summer leading into the series like I mean leading into the season postdraft and then they usually do it in the middle of every season uh kind of with like mid-season updates of you know how everyone’s prospects are doing. Um so they’ve been rolling that out and they’re through as we sit here on Tuesday afternoon they’re through half the league so far and the Bruins as I think people would probably guess have moved up. They were 29th last year out of 32 teams and now they are 20th. And obviously a big part of that is the addition of James Hagens to their prospect pool. He is their number one prospect by a lot. No surprise there. Um but so they have but also you know a couple more deadline additions that at Frasier Minton they have as their number two prospect. And this was all written by Corey Prawman. So these are his rankings. Um Dan Lash Melis number three. He has been moving up. Uh that’s a climb for him. Brian would be happy to to hear that. Uh Will Moore their second round pick this year. Is their number four prospect now. Um some interesting rankings from there. Dean Lerno fifth. So, even after such a disappointing freshman year, uh, Matt Potra sixth, that’s an interesting place that I think I’ll want to get into a little more. I don’t think he would have been like to me I just felt like you didn’t you hadn’t said him yet because I didn’t think he was on that list anymore because he’s played enough like he’s played 66 NHL games. So, I kind of figured that meant he was like graduated from that list. Nope, he’s still there. He’s in sixth. Uh, and Fabian Lysel, who you know, for basically since he was drafted has always been first or second on these Bruins prospect rankings, maybe third, is now down to eighth. So, a bit of a slide there. Um, he uh, so Cory only ranked the top eight, but then did kind of like an honorable mention that he framed as has a chance to play in the NHL. And he has Will Zeers in that group, which is interesting. That’s a little lower than I think I would be on Will Zeers. So, um, yeah, some stuff to get into there, but I think the the big picture takeaway is that the Bruins are climbing up the NHL prospect rankings and really just on the strength of James Hagens alone, but but a few other pieces as well. Uh, you are not going to see them ranking near the bottom of the league this year. Well, so I don’t really have an opening shift, so let’s just get into this right now because I have some I have some thoughts because first of all, Zeers I would have put higher than LNO or you agree, disagree? I feel like I feel like LNO is probably the biggest surprise on that list for where he is because I would have put him down below Lysel and below. He’s above potter too, right? you said uh LNO. Yeah, he’s fifth. So, he’s above Patra and and Lysel. No, I have a huge issue with this list. So, I I think I think I agree like I’ve so I’ve probably guarded against it both ways on LNO where I was not at super high on him like pretty much right away and then watching him play at BC was pretty down on him. But I also can’t call him a bust yet, which I know some people are ready to do because this was always going to be a project. And so I think when I see him fifth on a rankings like this, it is it. So, what it tells me is that Cory Prawnman is still to an extent a believer in his upside and has not had his opinion drop off a ton from probably what it was last year during the draft. Um, which I think is fair. I would say like if you’re a believer in Dean Lerno in the summer of 2024 and you knew he was going to be a long-term project, then the bad freshman year in a season that everyone now admits he shouldn’t have even been at BC. We we were kind of on that right away, but now even Don Sweeny’s acknowledging that like you shouldn’t give up on him, right? So if you thought he was a first round caliber player last year, you probably shouldn’t be dropping him out of like the Bruins top 10 prospects, you know? So I I get having some belief. Um I would have him a little lower than that. And I think ultimately yes, I would have at least Potra and Zeers ahead of him. Um, I don’t know about Lysel because like I think I think LNO has LNO still has a ceiling that I’m just not sure is there for Fabian Lysel anymore. Like I’m really I’m pretty down on like what Fabian Lysel could top out as. Well, I guess I mean I guess at the end of the day, these are all just projections and they’re just guesses and they’re, you know, nobody has a magic ball to see into the future. That’s the thing about judging prospects and what makes it so difficult. But I just and also was this framed because this could have been framed in different ways. Was this more framed as like who has the highest potential? Who has like you know the most opportunity for seeing ice time in the NHL? What is that how it was framed? Because like obviously some of these guys are much more closer to finished NHL products. specifically talking about Malipatra who has already played in the NHL. Um like it how was it exactly phrased like what is this the order based off of? I mean I I don’t think there’s any one criteria. I think it’s you know combination of all that like yes ultimate upside is is a big part of it but so is the ability to play in the NHL. Like I I certainly don’t want to speak for Corey Pramman, but like I’ve I’ve read enough of his rankings over the year. My guess is he would probably and I think a lot of prospect people would price this like you might rank someone who tops out as a third or fourth liner higher. If you think like, okay, well they might never be better than a third liner, but I at least think they are going to be an NHLER. you might rank that player higher than someone who in theory has like a top six skill set, but you don’t think they’re just you just don’t think they’re ever going to stick in the NHL. You know what I mean? So like so like the total NHL impact I guess maybe it’s that maybe it’s who makes the biggest NHL impact and if you’re if you’re a third line regular then you’re making more of an NHL impact than the guy who has first line talent but never actually sticks. Yeah. So, if that’s the case, then I also think that there’s an element of like because if it’s making an impact on the franchise, like if if you’re not even going to get into the pros, like then you should not be high on this list. Like, I have way more questions about some of these guys than I do with Patra. Like, Potra literally already has started to make an impact. He’s you and he he’s played 66 games. Like I said, he’s uh gotten experience. He very obviously was able to make the league already. We think he’ll probably make the team again this year. Um out of camp, we think um obviously there’s still plenty of time to watch camp, watch preseason, and and see what we think after that. But in theory, there’s a spot for him on this roster. Um, it’s harder it’s hard for me to say that even if I even though I do think Dean Lerno will be a pro eventually, I don’t know if he’s gonna be impacting, you know, play more games or playing a bigger role than Hotra will be. Yeah. So, I’ll read uh I’m just going to read Cory’s analysis of Patchra because I think it is probably worth doing that. It’s just a paragraph. Uh he writes, “Potra played well in the AHL this season, but struggled when he was called up to the NHL. Potra is very skilled and intelligent. He makes a lot of difficult plays with the puck and can run a pro power play. He can create off the edge while also showing no fear to attack the inside despite his 5’11 frame. Potra doesn’t have the typical athleticism of an NHL forward, though. On top of his frame, he lacks NHL foot speed and isn’t overly physical. I like his effort level and it’s allowed him to overcome those shortcomings, but he may not be dynamic enough to be a full-time top nine forward, which I will I will say I think there’s a lot of people that I talked to around the NHL and even like around the Bruins who I think kind of feel that same way who I think still have a lot of questions about whether Potra is a going to be able to hold up physically in the NHL over a full season and over the long term and B is going to produce enough in the NHL because for as much as we might say like well the analytics show you know he’s created chances the reality is he still hasn’t put up a whole lot of points in the NHL and he certainly hasn’t scored goals well and here’s here’s what I think though there’s still a lot more questions that need to be answered about someone like DNO and Will Zers because he’s so young And like there’s just so much that we haven’t seen that you would need to see that I would need to see to, you know, definitively say, oh, he’s, you know, he’s more fit for the NHL than some of the guys that are ahead of him, right? Like I think Higgins is obvious, right? He shot great to the top. No, like, you know, he should be. Um, but even passing Lysel, like even putting Laterno ahead of Lysel after we’ve gotten a bit of a sample size and he hasn’t cracked the pros yet, it’s like I just feel like we have not enough answers about what Laterno could be just because we haven’t seen it yet. Um, so I would have put my more sure things like at the top some some of the guys who are probably closer to NHL readiness, I guess, above some of those guys that he had. Um, yeah, I I think the more I kind of think about it, yeah, I think I would have Podram either like third or fourth and not sixth. So moving him up a little feels fair to me. Hagens is the very obvious one. I think I’m okay with Frasier Minton, too. Again, especially if you’re going off like making an NHL impact. Like, I have questions about Frasier Minton’s ultimate offensive upside at the NHL level, but I think he’s going to be a good third line NHL player and at worst a steady fourth liner. Um, and so like that that is more than you can say for most prospects that like I’m really confident he’s going to be an NHL regular and play every night. So yeah, whether that’s this season or maybe it still takes another year before he really breaks in full-time, but him at two makes sense to me. And then yeah, I think like for me three would probably be a debate between Potra Lash Melis and Will Moore. That kind of feels like what would be my three through five. Yeah, I think and maybe and maybe Zellers, too. Like I I might have Zeers pushing that group. Yeah, Ze Zellers is young. We we had him on um he I think he’s going to have a good collegiate career and you know, we’ll see how long he sticks around in college, how he develops in college and what have you. But it’s I could see so like when you say Higgins and I think of what’s his future, I feel like I’m pretty confident that his future is going to be a regular NHL for for years for for many years. For Hatra, I feel like it could go either way. I I really think that he has the ability to stick, but his size hinders him and injuries may hinder him. And it’s just it it unfortunately for him has more to do with, you know, his how how he’s built than than really how I feel about um his skill set. But so like I feel like he’s he could go either way in the next few seasons. We’ll we’ll probably have a better idea. But when I think of Mitten and I think of uh Hagens, I think of guys that I could see having the futures like being full-time NHLers uh for seasons and seasons. But once again, just to kind of rein my own thought back in a little bit, we got a email the other day that was like, why are you guys giving Fergitten so much credit already when you haven’t? And it’s true. Maybe we’re overvaluing him. maybe were over excited about, you know, his role coming up and and in in in years to come, but uh because we did get a small sample size of him, uh we didn’t get a chance to see until after the trade deadline. Um and but it is because of his, you know, his size and two-way play that it feels like it’s pretty safe to say he’s going to be an NHLER uh regularly at some point, even if it’s not this year. Yeah, for sure. Um couple. So I mentioned that uh that Corey had has a chance to play as kind of like his honorable mentions basically and Ze was there. The other prospects he has listed in that group are on defense Frederick Brune, Elliot Growald and Liam Patterson. Patterson was their uh the second of their two second round picks uh in the 2025 draft. And then for other forwards, Christopher Pelosi, who’s at Quinnipiac, Jonathan Mel, who will be a freshman at BEu, and then interestingly, Carell Carrell Yelenov, who I don’t know if I’m saying that right, but that was their sixth round pick this year. Um, so he’s on the list and their third round pick, Cooper Simpson, is not, which feels a little weird to me. But, um, so those are those are the other ones he had listed in that category. But, um, yeah, I mean, another one I would throw in there though was Loki Johansson, who had a really good season uh, up in Monton in the QMGHL and will now be playing in Providence this year. So, um, I would definitely say he has a chance to to play NHL games. You want to know what this just brought into my mind? Because I’ve been working on the midday show this week and we had Chris Shime on for an hour to start today’s uh, today’s episode. I’m calling it an episode, today’s show. And, uh, he is obsessed with like Kyle Pitts and thinks Kyle Pitts is going to be great this season in the NFL. And it sparked a conversation between like me and the other producer behind the glass like who are some people that you watched in college or watched when they were younger talking hockey now like in hockey that you saw play college hockey and you’re like this kid is going to be a stud in the NHL and then just it never panned out. Do you have anyone that comes to mind for you like you were all in on this for being like the next best thing? So that there’s there’s several. And so the first one that always comes to mind for me for this is John Gillies who was a great college goalie for Providence College. He was I think a second or third round pick of the Calgary Flames. Um and I just thought like for sure this guy has a long NHL career in front of him. if the time that he was playing at Providence was, which was like mid2010s, he was on there that the team that got to the national title game in 2015 against BEu before it got mysteriously cancelled. Um, but I like I thought if you had asked me like who are the best goalies you’ve seen in say the past decade of college hockey at that point, it would have been Carnelluck as a clear one and then Gilly’s in the conversation for two and he just never he bounced around the AHL and ECHL for a long time but just never caught on in the NHL. Just never quite made it. Um, and then one that was kind of actually from like that same era era for Providence that was sort of delayed, but I thought Jake Walman was going to be awesome. Like I I thought he was going to walk into the NHL day one and be an impact top four guy. And it really took him a long time to become an NHL regular. And he he finally did. and like he’s put together a few nice seasons now the last few years, but that was after a lot of time spent in in the minors. Um yeah, I mean there’s a couple other Brandon Hickey was a pretty high draft pick at Beu, a defenseman who I thought had a really bright future and just never quite made it. Can I Can I throw one in before you say it because I feel like you’re gonna say it, but this is one for me from Beu JFK. See, no, I was I wasn’t super high on JFK. Even when he was out, I thought he would make the pros. I wasn’t sure he was going to be great, but I thought he’d make it. Um, and for those who don’t know, uh, that’s Jacob for forbaka Carlson who played at the same time Charlie Mackoy played at BEu and they used to run this uh, give and go that was super effective in in college and um, I don’t know, he was he was a forward and he was a winger I believe or was he a center? uh he was a center and so he was he was a pretty effective college player. Um and he I remember watching the outdoor game because college does some outdoor games at Fenway Frozen Fenway if people haven’t heard of it or if they haven’t been. Um and those he played a really really good game him and Mboy both had a really good game at Frozen Fenway one year back when they were in in college. But yeah, Go ahead. As I say, Forceback Carlson was one of the many prospects who fell victim to being compared to Patrice Berseron. Um, there’s so many every single coach Scott, every single coach every week. It’s so it’s I mean I remember before his freshman like after the Bruins drafted him uh I was talking to someone at BEu like in the BU program and they were like he has the offensive talent once the once the offense comes like he could be the next Berseron. And then I would watch him play at BEu and I was like I just kept thinking I was like where is this offense that people have told me is coming because I just never really saw it. And like ultimately it’s you can be smart defensively but it is really hard to stick with with so little offense in your game. something that, you know, unfortunately a player like Johnny Beecher is is kind of in the process of finding out and trying to prove he can still do enough to to be an NHLer. Yeah. And then so I also Andrew Buork was one that when I was in college he was at Notre Dame and at the time Notre Dame was in Hockey East. So I we saw him quite a bit. I followed, as I do now, Hockey East really closely and I just thought, you know, him being a Bruins prospect as well. I was obviously watching for that and thought he was going to do more in the pros than he did. He obviously made it, but then never really stuck. He gets traded to the Bruins trade him to get Taylor Hall um back a few seasons ago at the trade deadline and he never he hasn’t panned out since either. So uh he still I believe bounces back and forth from AHL to NHL, but I thought he was going to be like a regular and he just didn’t turn out to be. Yeah, that Yeah, I think those are that probably covers like the the big ones for me. But yeah, that is it’s always interesting because then the other side is that there’s guys that like you’re not super impressed with in college and then they have really nice pro careers. Like Connor Sherry, Connor Sherry, I did not captain at UMass when I was there. Didn’t really think he was going to have a pro career or at least not a long one. He won two Stanley Cups. He won one with Pittsburgh. He’s one of the very few players that have played on a line with Sydney Crosby and Alex Ovuchkin. Yeah. And like I So I will fully and maybe this was already starting to be highlighted by how good I thought Hickey and Walman were, but I will fully admit that like I I feel like I’m pretty good at judging forwards. Like even beyond just the the point totals, like you kind of just tell when when a forward has it. I I still struggle with defenseman sometimes and especially defensive defenseman. Um, and like two that come to mind, Josh Manson at Nor Eastern I was never super impressed with, and he has obviously had a very good NHL career. And Brett Peshy at UNH was another one where I was like, “Yeah, he looks good, but he doesn’t look quite as good as everyone tells me he is.” And then it turns out he actually just is that good and he’s had a really good NHL career as a top four defensive, too. So, maybe I should maybe I should have listened to other people. Yeah. You’re like, I don’t think they’re gonna be good. And they’re like on Team USA. It’s like, oh, I’m an idiot. But, uh, no. So, I have I have very few that go the other way that I thought weren’t good that are actually good. Like, I feel I don’t know. I just feel like I don’t tend to make mental notes of that um in the first place. But there’s I’ll I’ll say one more thing on this subject before we get to the the questions I had for us, which is there’s a few there’s also a few NHLers that I didn’t watch them when before they were in the NHL because they weren’t like they didn’t play in college, but when they first broke into the pros, I’m like this is going to be the next best player in the league. And I I I felt that about Andre Sesnikov when he first started. Um, and I just feel like he is obviously he’s good, but I’m talking about like I thought he was going to be like rivaling a top three player in the league for, you know, from when he came in and certainly now in his prime. Yeah, I that so I can sometimes fall victim to like the great World Junior performance. Like I’ll watch World Junior Championships and if someone has like an incredible couple games, I’m like, “Oh, he’s gonna be a star.” And it’s like you have to remind yourself that, you know, that’s one tournament in a very long development process. Like I remember years ago, Peter Razic had an unbelievable game against a US junior team playing for the Czech Republic and I was like, “That kid’s going to win VZN.” Like he’s unbelievable. And like obviously Peter Morazzic’s had a nice NHL career but has not certainly not been a star. Um it also it always feels good too when you like you hit an undrafted free agent where you know there’s a obviously a player’s not drafted and you watch them in college and you’re like that that kid’s going to be a good NHL player. Like watching Evan Rodriguez at BEu, I I remember like talking to people who were like, “Oh yeah, he’s just lucky he’s playing on Jack Eel’s line and that’s why he’s putting up a bunch of points.” And I was like, “I think Evan Rodriguez is going to be a good NHL player all on his own.” Like just had his day with the cup. Like the the the work ethic, the smarts, the way he played the game, his two-way play. I was like I was like I don’t know like that. I don’t pretend to be the smartest person in the room at all times, even even if sometimes I think I am. But I was like I was like I don’t know. Evan Rodriguez looks like he can play in the NHL to me and and he’s proven that correct. Yeah. Well, uh I’m trying to look up. So, this is a UMass kid that we were I mean, as someone who is a UMass alum, we were maybe sold a bill of goods that this player was going to be an undrafted free agent that signs and makes the NHL. Um, because he was the captain of UMass not that long ago. Bobby Trovinho, do you remember Bobby Trovinho? Oh, yeah. So, he got he got signed some incredible hockey tournaments. He Oh, he was amazing in college. Um, and he wasn’t drafted. He’s smaller, but he was like captain material. He was captain in college. The Rangers sign him. Never ends up playing for the Rangers. He was in the Wolfpack for two seasons and now he’s playing in Sweden. Um, so that was one that I was like, “Oh, he’ll make it as an undrafted free agent.” But that was probably a little bit of UMass bias. And because I, you know, you talked to Greg Carwell and he was just like, “This kid’s got it.” Like, you know what I mean? Uh, some people were really high on him. I I feel like there was one more I wanted to mention now. I can’t think of it because Bobby Trebinho got me off track. Well, maybe it’ll come back to me at some point later in the episode, but I mean, there’s there’s probably so many. If if you’re listening to us or watching us, comment if like your player that you thought was going to be amazing and then or had high hopes for or even if you just thought that they were going to be like a top five player in the league and then they were kind of just like middling, let us know. Yeah. Another one I just thought of was uh do you remember Stefon Dcasta at Marramac? I don’t. He he scored. So he was like he was a real like recruiting coup for uh Mark Deni was the coach at Marramck at the time but Dassa was like way off everyone’s radar. He was he grew up in France and like then came over to North America. Um but Marramck was like the first school to recruit him and then he started becoming like more and more of a prospect and he just stuck with the commitment because you know they they were the first ones on him and he wanted to honor that. and he scored like five goals his first game as a freshman and was an awesome college player and elevated some otherwise I would say like good but certainly not great Marramac teams. I think they made an NCA tournament uh one of the years he was there. Brian Brian would probably know Brian’s in Marramac. Yeah. And I like I I don’t I didn’t think he was gonna be like an NHL star, but I thought he would have a nice NHL career and he kind of only had like a cup of coffee. He played a few games at Ottawa at one point, but I’m going to look up what his um career games played was because I don’t think it ended up being all that many. He played he played 40 he played 47 NHL games across four years. I mean, that’s not nothing, but that’s not a lot. It’s not a full season. So, um, but so I I will say there’s a few kids in college hockey right now that I’ll be surprised if they don’t pan out to be pretty good, if not great NHL players. Like Ryan Leonard, I have I have so much belief that he’s going to have a great NHL career. Like there, if I’m wrong about him, maybe I will be. I’ll just put it out there now. Like to me, he’s cut from the same cloth as Mcachuck and there’s not many that are like that. He has this like look in his eye, the same look in his eye that Matt Chuck has. He can finish. He’s clutch. He’s I would be shocked if he’s not a good NHLer and doesn’t I mean it’s hard. I just think Machuck is a hard bar to to reach, but I think he can I think he can maybe be that one day. Um I’d be surprised if he doesn’t pan out. Um, I hear a lot of times people be just working in Hockey East talking about the Hudson’s as like, “Oh, I don’t know if they’re going to make it because their size.” I think Lane’s already kind of showing people that that’s not, you know, gonna hold him back this season. He did, but it that that was like it was so easy to see that going into the draft. Like it was like you didn’t even have to watch a ton of his US development program tape or talk to all that many people to be like, “Oh yeah, that’s a first round talent.” But then he falls because he’s short and completely dominates at BEu. Like you just have to watch one game of Lane Hudson at BEu to be like, “Oh yeah, that that kid’s really good. Like of course he’s going to be a good NHLer.” And then he dominates as as a rookie in in the NHL. And then the entire league lets it happen again with Cole Hudson, who also falls to the second round, even though he basically had the same career as Lane at the development program, now is doing the same things did at BEu and is probably going to be just as good of a pro, too. Yeah, he I mean, I was really impressed with him last year doing his games at BEu. I also think Eisermanman fell probably further than he should have, but um Cole Eisermanman at BU I should say. But I think both of the Hudsons, both Cole and Lane are like elite offensive defenseman upside. Um, and so I, yeah, I think that I heard so many people say and I I felt victim to it for a little bit just because I when I stood next to Lane, I I felt like I was bigger than him and I was like, “Okay, maybe that is problematic because I’m small. Like I’m pretty smashed.” Like normally I’ll stand next to Nikita. I’m used to standing next to like Nikita’s the door off now and and then like being looked down on by like several feet and like but whatever. He’s not necessarily built like your your typical NHL player, but he is certainly proving people wrong already. Um, so the Hudson’s probably will jump the opposite of I guess what the question was. And then Quinn Hudson isn’t I believe was undrafted. Yeah. So he’s he signed with the Oilers after last season. Um, yeah. I mean, he’s less of a certainty. Well, he’s also the he’s also a forward and the other two are defenseman and he’s also older. But I will say like Quinn Hudson showed me a lot last year. Like I was going into last year I was because he had a couple nibbles from NHL teams the year before and I was still kind of skeptical. I thought he was a little bit of a one-dimensional player and uh last season he really like like everything looked good. his playmaking, his finishing. I thought he became a much more well-rounded player. So, I still don’t know if he ultimately sticks as like a impact good NHL player, but I definitely give him much more of a chance after the jump that his game took last year at BEu. You know who else I’d be surprised if they’re not a good NHL or Jake Fowler from BC, BC’s goalie last year. One of the best college goalies like you were talking about with Gillies, like one of the best college goalies I’ve seen. um right up there with like Deon Levi, I would say. So, um yeah, that one I’d be I’d be a little bit surprised by. You know, you know what? This this episode turned into Holy again. Well, it it turned into Let’s Remember Some guys that old old uh old Dead Spin RIP to the original Dead Spin. Now it’s just a real piece of trash, but um if it even still exists. But they used to just do a thing called the let’s remember some guys and it would just it was kind of it’s kind of like Jones and Ke’s random baseball player of the day. They would just list a bunch of random players. Um that that’s what that’s what we’re doing. You know what that to me that’s a great summer episode. That’s a great great summer episode. Exactly. Crap. I just had the person I just had the thing back in my head for a second. Oh, okay. Here’s here’s something. Now we’re playing let’s forget some guys. Let’s forget some stuff and try to remember it. Okay. What do you think when you when when Connor Bernard got drafted, did you think that at this point in his career he’d be doing better than he is? Yes, definitely. Yeah. Like I feel like he’s kind of somebody I hear being talked about in that this kind of conversation where it’s like everyone obviously whenever someone goes next McDavid then everyone’s like oh where are you next McDavid and then no one’s really gonna be the next McDavid like it’d be so hard um and then it doesn’t happen and then people are disappointed and and he’s still obviously got plenty of time in his career but I feel like I definitely thought he was going to be like able to make a pretty immediate impact with Chicago and obviously the team has been bad but um yeah it’s just his career hasn’t started off the way I would have thought. Yeah. And obviously he hasn’t had a whole lot of help around him. No injuries and Yeah. But even even with that though like I so before last season I partly just to try to have a bold take but partly because I was also like I think I actually believe this. I tweeted that Mack and Celabbrini will will be better than Conor Baddard and then after Celabbrini’s rookie year in the NHL kind of feel even better about that. Like you definitely believe this because Mlin is a be you guys. No doubt in my mind that you truly do believe this in your car. Yeah, but like even so I my what I was going to say is like neither one of them had a whole lot around them and their teams both struggled a lot obviously, but when you watch them play like you see Celabbrini playing a two-way game and like competing physically in a way that I think Connor Bard even a year older still struggles with. So, Badard may very well still have more pure offensive upside. And if you said like one of those two is going to have 110 point season at some point, like I might still bet on Bedard to be that guy. But I do think there’s a good a decent chance that Celabbrini is just going to be the the better center when it’s all said and done. Although, I do still think I still think Bard’s going to be really good. Like, I still think he has he has a lot more to say than he’s showing so far. I think so, too. Yeah, I just bring it up because when you get drafted first overall, there’s obviously huge expectations. Um, especially when it’s first overall and you’re being compared to Conor McDavid, which obviously we have Gavin McKenna coming up next next draft. And I’m sure we’ll have a conversation about him. Oh, he’s like Conor McDavid and everybody’s Conor McDavid when they’re going number one overall if they’re uh, you know, if they’re a forward. That’s that’s just the comparison that everyone makes. You don’t hear like a, oh, he’s the next Dydney Crosby, right? with you. I feel like I never hear that. Yeah. It feels like that was like the generation before. Everyone was looking for that. Then they got McDavid. So now everyone’s looking for the next McDavid, which Yeah, but like spoiler like 99% of drafts there’s not going to be a Conor McDavid. No. And like you could still be a really good player and comp more to City Crosby and or Alex like comp to another really good player that just might happen to have more of a similar style game. I don’t know. Um, sometimes the comps, like I know some coaches, they just straight up won’t do comps. Um, like I’ve I’ve seen like a lot of times it’s like student journalists will ask the coach a question like, “Oh, you know what player is this person?” Um, I don’t do comps. No, I’m not. Next question. So, I get it though. It’s impossible. these kids are young and then you try to compare their skill set and you could even have like the most accurate comp ever, but a lot of times probably people wouldn’t even know who it is because it’s probably someone like more obscure but accurate because it’s I don’t know or or like I think it was Fabian Lysel’s uh the GM of the Vancouver Giants when he was there who said the only two players he seen skate like Lysel at that age were Conor McDavid and Pavl Beret and I was like, “All right, guy.” Like, way to put some incredible expectations on this kid. And obviously, he wasn’t saying like he’s going to be as good of a player as them, but even just comparing the one skill set, his skating to those guys, it’s like, man, like those are two of the best skaters in the history of hockey. Like, yeah, I don’t think a lot of people beat Conor McDavid in a foot race. So, yeah. All right. Are we good with Let’s Remember people? Yeah. All right. The the questions that I had prepared for you um are kind of it’s a which is more likely I guess is okay the way that this game is going to work. So which which of these two things do you think is going to be more likely for the Bruins this season? And the first one actually you know what I’m not I’m gonna skip this one because it chronologically it makes more sense to do it later. Is it more likely to see Lifell make the team this year or leave the team this year? Like he meaning like he by the end of the season won’t be on the Bruins in the organization at all like he moves on, requests a trade or gets traded or ends up with another team. Do you think it’s more likely that that happens or that he makes the team and is a Bruin for let’s we don’t even have to say the whole season like just is a Bruin for let’s say 50% of the season like he actually gets NHL time. So I’m gonna say it’s more likely that he’s out of the organization but with the caveat that I actually don’t think either one of these is super likely. Um, maybe he’ll prove us wrong in training camp, but I don’t think Fabian Lysel establishing himself as an NHL regular or making the team out of camp. I don’t see that as all that likely. Uh, unless he had a, like I said, had a really good summer and took like a big step forward. Um, but I also think like all right, even if he ends up with another whole season in in the AHL, the Bruins don’t really like there’s not really much of an incentive to trade him unless like his value to other teams isn’t going to be that high at this point. So, wait. And is he waiver eligible? What is he what’s his waiver status this season? No, he he can still just be sent down. Okay. Yeah. So, like I I don’t Yeah. I mean, I just struggle to see like the scenario where the Bruins trade him because even if even if for some reason like he did request a trade, I just don’t know why the Bruins would be obligated to honor it. Like he’s he’s a prospect. There’s he’s completely under team control. He’s not up for a contract. He has no What about this? What about this situation? He decides to go back and play in Sweden. I I would be stunned. I mean, I guess if that’s what he wants to do, that that’s what he he could do that, but I I can’t imagine like just giving up on the NHL like that. I can’t imagine he’s at that point either. In fact, I feel like he’s at more at the like the breaking point of like, why the heck is this team not giving me a chance? I need to go somewhere else to to buy that chance. Um, and so, and by the way, Scott, the game is which is more likely not. I don’t think either are likely because they’re I made that they’re kind of difficult to choose which side. I I picked I I said I said the trade’s more likely. I I just want to because I know how uh people can can twist words. I just want to emphasize I think they’re both unlikely, but I I’ll say the trade is more likely than than him sticking in the NHL this year. Okay. Well, I mean the question was not about a trade though is more likely to not be on the team at the end of the year. So that could mean any a bunch of different things. But anyway, you pick that. Well, I guess I guess I interpreted that as like out of the organization, right? Yeah. You mean like not on Providence either? Yeah, not on Providence, not like not in the organization, however that happens. Um, but I I will say I’ll just give like a quick thought on, you know, my my opinion on this I I think you’re right that the most likely situation is probably we see a similar thing to last year for him, which is, you know, obviously not what you want in a prospect that you drafted several years ago now going in the first round and thought that he would pro you probably I mean I think that the organization probably thought he’d playing in the NHL by now, right? Am I wrong about that? I feel like they they thought that he would have made the jump. Yet, at the same time, he hasn’t got a lot of chances to make the jump. And I think that’s because they just don’t think that he’s forcing their hand enough down in Providence. So, if he continues to do, you know, what he did last year, uh, he’s gonna he’s going to have to show some big improvement to to get that spot because it’s very obvious they’re not just going to give it to him and see what he does. He’s going to have to force someone’s hand. So, um, it’s not going to be a gimme for him. So, um, I guess I’ll agree with you then, Scott, that it’s more likely that he’s not here at the end of the season than that he plays 50% of his time this year in Boston. All right, the next one is, what is more likely, Patra getting 50 points in Boston this year, or is it more likely that Pontra spends a majority of the season in Providence? be more more likely that he spends the majority of the season in Providence for for some of the reasons that we already talked about, which is I might still be pretty high on Matt Potra and think he absolutely can be an NHL regular as early as this this year, but I I just sense that there is I don’t know like some kind some kind of like resistance within the organization where he’s like he’s really gonna have to force people’s hands to to stick in the NHL this year, especially as we’ve talked about in previous episodes where you have Casey Middlestad as certainly not an identical player, but like a similar style of center. uh you know like I just think there are questions within the organization of whether you know there’s room for two centers like that on the team especially when you have another young center that you’re high on who plays a different kind of game that might you know mix in better in Frasier Minton. So, not that it necessarily has to be one or the other, Minton or Patra, but I think it’s very possible that that’s how it plays out. And also like 50 points is a lot too. Like I said 50 points that’s going lower because obviously lower is more attainable. I guess maybe if I change the question to just a basic. Is it more likely Matra spends a majority of the season in the NHL or a majority of the season in the AHL? Does that make it easier? I mean, yeah. Well, I think I would still pick the AHL. You still pick the AHL? Yeah. Which is what happened this this past season, right? I believe he spent more played more games in Providence than you say he played 33 games in Boston. How many games did he play in Providence? 40 like 40 games with Providence, 33 in Boston. So, yeah. And like before people jump on me, like I think he should probably be in Boston more than Providence this year. I I would like to see that. I still think he can be an NHL regular and I don’t think this team’s going anywhere this year. So, I to me, you might as well give that a shot as long as long as he earns it. Um, but if I just had to bet on it right now, again, just based on how I think some people in the organization view him, I would have to bet that it’s more time in Providence. All right, next one is, and this one I just came up with at the last minute, but um is it more likely that the Bruins end the season with the same goalie group as they started or the same lineup of centers as they started? I will say the same lineup of centers, which might be a little bit of of an upset here, but I do think I do think that they’ll try to trade Yonas Corposal. Um, and I feel like they’re probably shopping him or at least listening on him more actively than any of the centers, although they’re pro they probably are listening on Middle as well. And like I could absolutely see him get traded. So like those are the two those are the two shakeups, right? Like two most likely shakeups. It would be Corposalo changing up the goalie group by moving him or Middlestad as the shakeup at center. So really, sorry, go ahead. So I like really you’re right like that there’s going to be others, but really for me it’s like which one of those two is more likely to get moved before the end of the season and I probably lean slight edge to Corposalo getting moved. So I would say that the center group remaining intact would be more likely by a very small margin. Okay, I’m gonna go goalie group staying the same is more likely because I think there’s a chance that out of camp either Potchra or Mitten like one of them makes it, one of them doesn’t or whatever and then it’s called up and ends up, you know what I mean? like which would change the center groups like say Pra doesn’t start the season in Boston but by the end of the season he’s their third line center or you know he somehow in this center rotation has carved a spot that he didn’t start at in the beginning of the season or vice versa maybe he starts there and he’s not there you know what I mean um also my thoughts go to like Zaka doesn’t start out as a center but then he becomes a center or or or vice versa on that like there’s technically ally that would be you’d have four different Yeah. I mean I guess technically you’re right that feels a little bit like kind of bending it because obviously there there becomes way more flexibility then at center than in goal where well even if no one’s switching positions. So but even if you don’t consider like switching from wing to center like I do think it’s legit to talk about somebody going up and down to Providence as a Yeah. Yeah, that’s fair. So, I’ll say the goalie group stays intact because maybe they’re looking for a trade for Corpusal that they can’t find and um they are more than willing to try to switch the roster around at center. We’ve seen them try many many combinations. So, we shall see. Um and then my last one was, and this one’s probably going to be unanimous, but um are the Bruins more likely to be buyers or sellers at the deadline this year? sellers for sure. It It’s It’s really hard for me to imagine this team buying because even if they’re even if they’re better than expected and they’re in the playoff hunt and maybe even in playoff position, I guess technically they could be buyers if they look for like a small addition. But regardless, it doesn’t feel like they’re going to be in a position to trade away from the future for like a big deadline move. So even then, like I think it would only be something minor. Um, but yeah, I think it’s much more likely that they’re not ready to make a real playoff push and you see them unload, you know, a veteran or two on an expiring contract or or maybe even one of your, you know, Middlestad or Zaka who has has term beyond this year because the Bruins obviously were willing to do that last year too. Coyle and Carlo had term left and they still traded them and not this is not part of this but my pardon me for the fact that like things keep popping into my head fast and furious and I’m just going to ask now because I thought of it. Um and this also comes from working the midday show today. Maybe we’re just recycling uh what they’re because because they talk All right. So they they have some good concepts but they don’t really usually apply them to hockey. So, we spent a good chunk of the day talking about Roman Anthony and Yeah. I I said I said before all my best ideas come from Jones and Keefe. Yeah. I mean, so so today it was could Roman Anthony be the face of the MLB and people there was a conversation about faces of Boston sports and like Posternok wasn’t even really put in there too much. But do you feel like Poster is or could be a top top five face of the NHL? Yeah, I mean I I think like during the Bruins record setting season, I he was probably in that conversation. Like he was the face of the best team in the league that year. So he’s already been up there. It’s really hard to be that that guy when your team’s not very good. So, a lot of that depends on team success. Like, like we do this right now, like if we were to say who are like the five faces of the NHL right now, like Conor McDavid, obviously, Matthew Kachchuck, Kachchuck, Crosby, stillkin, McKinnon, I guess. McKinnon, Pasta’s right there, too. I feel like you could, right? Like he’s not far off that group at all. Oh, but even even like you might even be able to make a case for Pasta over McKinnon just in that fact that like his personality kind of comes off more and like his like showmanship is there. Whereas McKinnon’s kind of quieter. He’s kind of more like the Crosby type where he’s more conservative with, you know, knows how to have fun. Sometimes that comes through and people relate to it, right? Like the the other obvious thing that hurts Posanarch in this is that he didn’t get to play in Four Nations, which was this massive international sensation. Like Matthew Kachchuck makes this top five we’re talking about because yes, he’s won the last two cups and you know he he is the face of the Panthers, but Four Nations was also a monster boost to him. Like that is by far the most popular attentiongrabbing thing he’s done in his career. So like he’s there in large part because he got to play in that. Plac didn’t even get to play in it. So which can we just say because this isn’t something we’ve talked about. Chuck just had to have surgery for the Yeah. He’s gonna miss the start of the season. Yeah. He he sustained an injury just like Mack Boy did in Four Nations. missed some time after tried to play in the in the final. Didn’t really take a shift after the first period, I don’t think. I think he maybe even took one only one or two shifts in the game. Um but missed I mean Yeah. I mean like still had a damn good playoff run even coming back. Yeah. No. So, so he missed a little bit of time, comes back, fights through it in the playoffs, and then has to get surgery in the offseason. And he’s going to miss, they say, the first month or two of the season, but how devastating would that be for USA and for him if he isn’t recovered by the time the Olympics roll around? Because now then he’s going to have, you want to know what it’s going to be? He’s going to have a really tough choice because he’s probably going to start feeling like he could do it like in December. He’s he’s playing in the Olympics. Oh, he’s like I will 100% guarantee that now. This is what I’m saying. Unless he like unless he suffers another injury obviously, but No, but what I’m saying is like he’s going to be in the same position as he was this playoffs where he’s like, I’m obviously going to play in the playoffs. Maybe he’s not at 100% and maybe it never heals properly again and he’s having to go through the same process at the end of next season and his injury just like the time the cycle the timeline of of it healing just never lines up. Um, but he’s gonna obvious he’s the kind of guy who’s gonna push and and play. Um, I would be I would also be really surprised if he doesn’t play in the Olympics, but he might not be 100% yet and that could cause further issues with this injury. So, I’ll put it out there. Um, tough tough guy to have tried to play through it at all and um, we’ll we’ll see how he recovers. But, uh, yeah, I do I do and just one last thought on this random question. I do think so. Unfortunately, because I think that these two players are great for the NHL, but unfortunately the next few seasons is Crosby’s going to retire and Ovkin is going to retire and at that point that’s two spots open for someone else to go into that top five and maybe if he say two seasons from now does get to see has you know is very obviously um caring to certain points of the season, certain games like carrying the team having such a huge offensive output that I could see him being top five say two years from now as he as we’re in this transitional period where he might be wearing a sea suit here. Yeah, I’m sure Danny would love for Conor Bedard to push his way into that group. I think ESPN would love that as well. ESPN TNT the TV partners. um you know Gavin McKenna by that point in a few years might be ready to make his push. So that’s yeah maybe but I feel like McKenna even it it will be a little bit longer I think just because of his age and uh you know sometimes when you start out on a terrible team it’s really hard to be the face of of something as we talked about with Bernard. Well, yeah. I mean, ESPN tried it. Like, they they’ve put Baddard and the Blackhawks in all these prime time national TV games the last couple years, even though they stink. And personally, I’m not super interested in watching Chicago. What What makes someone a top five player uh face of of the NHL is how clutch they are. So, you can be as talented as you want to be, but if you’re not clutch, you’re probably not up there, right? So like if you think about it, I mean Crosby’s been extremely clutch in his career. Um and including in international hockey where he scores a game-winning gold medal winning goal in the Vancouver Olympics and then obviously McDavid just does that in four nations and like McKinnon’s clutch like these are these are guys that have had some really clutch moments in their career. Oveskin and but Dard I feel has not had those moments yet. hasn’t been in really big moments, but even when you do get like put on those stages, you’re like, “Oh, I want to get behind this person, but they they need to, you know, score the go-ahead goal or score the overtime game winner or, you know, stuff like that.” And that’s why it’s another reason why Kachchuck is in that list is because he’s clutch. Everyone around the league hates it. They hate to see him with a puck on a stick at the end of a game uh heading towards their net because he finishes and he he finds a a way to win. Yeah, I mean it it helps. I think it’s less important than just the the overall skill level and just like general interest in the player because like like Ovetkin wasn’t that clutch for a long time. Like he had a he was dogged by questions about his playoff performance for the first 10 years of his career. Yeah. I mean, he was much he’s less clutch than the others that I that I mentioned. He was but like he was clearly still one of the faces of the league during that time. He was still he’s still leading the league in goals every year. Yeah, exactly. Um but I but all that said, I think is a clutch player and has a good personality and could be No, don’t don’t tell that to Boston Sports Radio. Yeah. Well, this is our this is our show, so I can say what I want. Uh anyway, those are my questions. We did get one submission from a listener that you wanted to get to before we sign off. Yeah. Uh so Roger, a regular emailer, had a send over an interesting and pretty random question. Um I’ll just read the question. So, he said, “Hi folks, I’m not sure if this belongs in a listener Q&A segment, but I just wondered if you have any thoughts about Dan Shaughnessy’s article on Sunday titled, The Real Boston Sports Experience may soon be for sale.” Um, and goes on to ask, “Do you foresee that you and the media will soon have to pay for access to coaches or athletes, or that teams will soon be offering fans the chance to pay for time with the media, coaches, and players? I have no knowledge of this. So I was curious if your industry is being impacted. So what I’ll say first is I think Dan Shaughnessy’s column was loaded in sarcasm uh as many Dan Shaughnessy columns are. But what he was what the column was referring to is something that the University of Oklahoma football program is doing this year, which is um selling to fans, to boosters the opportunity to have a media media experience, like a media game day experience where they can go down to uh postgame media areas and like sit in on press conferences. is in player interviews. Um, as far as I know, they’re the only ones doing this, but these are so these things are like sold out and they’re selling for uh like Oklahoma and Michigan that these packages sold for $690, nearly $700. Um, so Shaughnessy was writing as from the angle of like what if this spreads and he was going through like all the things you could experience of like just think you could be sitting in the room like as for you could have been sitting in the room for Bill Bich grunting through a press conference and like all the all these things that he was clearly kind of mocking of like why would you pay for this experience? And I got to be honest, I feel the same way. Like I I know I know we are obviously like it it’s I don’t want to say mundane, but like it’s part of our job. So like we don’t see that as something special. I guess I get why fans That’s not true. I have a different opinion about this. I I guess I get why fans would just like be that close to players and coaches, but I got to tell you, having been to many many press conferences throughout my life, I can’t imagine paying $700 for that experience, like I don’t I I don’t think it would be worth it for a fan. If if any if any Boston team starts doing this, I I would maybe advise people to to save their money because it is not all that glamorous. So, what I will say is access is hard to come by, right? Like we maybe take for granted the access that we have. I me and you, we go to Warrior or we go to TD Garden and after every game we talk to, you know, like I could just walk up and talk to Jeremy Swim whenever I want. I we can walk up and talk to, you know, name favorite player of someone. Yeah. But but the so I the fans are not going in the locker room. So that is so like that part of it is still off limits. If it’s just the press conference, I say definitely no because I I don’t think coaches like watching coaches talk is nearly as as entertaining as it especially because a lot of those press conferences are televised anyway. You don’t need to spend $600, whatever. But if it included like they put like 10 seats in the corner of the locker room while we’re in there, you know, talking and and you know, the players are kind of walking in and out because that’s what postgame locker rooms are like. Like guys are sometimes guys are coming in and out and grabbing stuff and you get to maybe see them and even if just the sight of them would be worth that money to some people that the access to maybe actually get a chance to say hi to David Poster might be worth that to someone. If that was included I could see why people would do it. Um but not not the press conference part though. Yeah. I I think like I think there’s other programs and teams that do things like this that to me would be way more appealing like being part of like a what what would you call like line up before players either go out the tunnel onto the ice or are coming off the ice like that I could absolutely see being a worthwhile experience where like where like you’re there and like you can like high five players or like even get autographs if they stop or whatever. Um, you know, like that that I think would be worth it. But the the like quote unquote media experience of like sitting in on a press conference unless you get to meet the coach or players after like I don’t do you get to ask a question. God, I hope not. Look, I listen I try I try not to get like too sanctimonious, but if we ever get to a point where they’re letting fans ask questions in press conferences, like I I may be looking for a new business to work in. Yeah. Yeah. No, that would be tough. And you want to know what Listen, I already hate like 80% of the questions that get asked. Like some questions are probably would be thoughtful fans. Some fans are really thoughtful. Some fans would take it really seriously. other fans would listen to something they heard on the radio and ask some like, you know, random. I don’t know. So, it could go it there would be way too much of a wide range of what people thought was acceptable. But I mean, yeah, 80% of the questions we hear, mostly when I hear Scott’s voice, I’m like, “Oh, no.” Again, uh this this guy ah here here comes something stupid. Yeah. No, even media members ask pretty dumb questions on a regular basis. So, I try not to be guilty of it, but I’m sure I’ve asked a few dumb questions before um that weren’t very well thought out just completely accidentally. But, uh yeah, that would that would make our jobs harder. But does the team sell um did they sell access to if you wanted to like sit on the bench during warm-ups? Because I see kids on the bench during Bruins warm-ups sometimes. Uh, yeah. I mean, I know like certainly for the Bruins that’s not sold. I don’t I don’t think I don’t know of any examples in hockey that sell that. I think it’s more like either, you know, there’s a reason those kids like either they won something or it’s a charity thing or they’re from some local team or something. Um, I do think there’s some football programs that sell like sideline access during warm-ups and obviously baseball you can buy your way like you can get a batting practice experience. There’s different ticket packages that include that. So, I think probably in other sports you see stuff like that. I don’t really know if there’s like a hockey equivalent of that. I I do think it makes way more sense for college football though because colleges are constantly trying to find ways for like boosters to give more money and like especially in the age of nil. Yeah. So it’s like they want boosters to give more money. They want like people that are already really entrenched in, you know, buying tickets every week like okay but how do we get a little bit more money out of them? Like it’s it makes a lot of sense for college sports I think because I I could I could see first of all just knowing some really big college football fans. My mom grew up in Pennsylvania. There were a lot of crazy Penn State fans there. Um, and I could see those people giving any amount of money to just like spend a day like seeing what what Yeah. going on the field pregame or or just any part of the experience. People like Notre Dame fans, Penn State football fans, Alabama football, like those kind of football programs. I could see people just giving giving so much money to that. Well, and you know what and you know what I would say? If I if I were a reporter covering college sports regularly besides college hockey, if I if I were covering big time college football and all of a sudden a bunch of boosters are showing up in media areas, take advantage of that and talk to them because boosters like to talk and they often know a lot of stuff about the program. Yeah. And they and maybe they have full. You never know. they’re rich. So, but but yeah, no, I I don’t I think it’s more honesty was like running with an idea that someone out like some other place had. And um yeah, I mean maybe maybe you do see more of it, but it’s it certainly doesn’t feel like something that will be uniform across es. Okay. And especially if it’s like specifically Boston sports, not every single And also the first part of this made me scared for a second because it was like is media gonna have to pay for access? It’s like I could actually see that happening because I feel like access is is hard to come by as it is. Like we’ve already gone from say 30 years ago, you can just walk up and talk to any player to now you have to request and now you have to go through this whole process and only three players are going to be available today and oh we requested this person but he’s just he’s not coming out to do media. um like access is certainly more restricted now and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re like you know what we are going to make the media companies pay to have a credential or you know yeah I mean that would be the end of regular media coverage though like like no no self-respecting media outlet would would pay for that so no no one would so what what it would end up being is the team would hire its own journalist like its own person to cover like and then yeah and that that would be it So every every piece of coverage postgame or at practices would be team slanted and fans would no longer get anything anything objective or or learn anything particularly interesting. Yeah. And some or some like random podcast would decide they wanted to pay for a credential. And so, and I say that being like maybe we’re a random podcast, but we also, you know, we we are from a media outlet, but like I’m talking about like some blog someone just invented. They’re like, you know what? I do want to pay 10 grand for this access. I’m going to do it because they’re just a rich person that likes to then now they’re the one covering it. I just don’t think that it it will happen. But access is I could see them thinking they could turn access into money. So I I I can’t actually. Like I I think at least pro teams are way too smart for that. Like I I know media is not as important as it once was. Like if you you could go back to like the 50s where it was like what was written in the newspaper was like the most important thing revolving around the team because that was all fans got to see. Like they weren’t airing postgame press conferences on TV or radio. So, like I understand like we’re not as important as we were back then, but I think teams are still smart enough to know that media coverage and exposure is too important to completely block out because that is what they would be doing if they started charging money for it. Like that would just be the end of neutral coverage from Exactly. We’re like the whole point of like neutral coverage is that there’s no money going either way. Like I’m not they’re not giving me money to say something nice and I’m not giving them money to get access. Like that’s just like the whole right nothing being exchanged is a part of it being fair and at least having a chance to be fair. So, um, so yeah, anyway, interesting discussion, I guess, to have off something that, uh, I guess throw up Sunday. Yeah. But, but, yeah, but yes, to answer Roger’s overarching question, uh, no, I do not see it coming to pro sports or specifically Boston sports. Uh, I wonder if anytime soon at all. And does Roger want it to happen? Like would Roger be someone who was like I’d spent 600 bucks to go hang out and watch, you know, Frabel’s press conference or Tatum’s press conference or something. I mean, also drop a comment if they offered press box access. Fans could get popcorn. Like you could sit next to they could sit in between Scott and I and I and they’ll get to see me sing That’s What Makes You Beautiful to Scott every second intermission. Listen, I I will pay a fan to take my seat next to Bridget so I don’t so I don’t have to sit there anymore. He’s always trying to find a way to like move my move my plaque that says my name. It’s like I just need to get away from her, but never never can. Never quite that lucky. Nope. Every year I tell Bruins PR, “Put me in a different seat.” And they they don’t listen. Would you can you put me in the opposite? Uh, I’d just bother someone else. That’s that’s all that would happen. Anyway, all right. Good times. We’ll have Brian back next episode, we believe. Um, hopefully he’s having a good time celebrating Taylor Swift’s engagement. Maybe he got invited to like, you know how when people get engaged, they have like a party with close friends and family after. Yeah, maybe that’s what happened. I don’t know. Maybe I have I have my I have my first of three fantasy football drafts tonight. So, I’m in like full on fantasy football mode at this this week like because all all my drafts are always like in this week right around Labor Day. Like sneaky one of my favorite weeks. I It’s my favorite part of playing fantasy football is just doing the drafts. So, really? I thought you were going to say it’s your favorite week cuz it’s my birthday week. Oh, I hadn’t even looked ahead. So, yeah. What’d you get? I’ll uh I’ll have to get it by by Thursday’s episode. Yeah. Oh, we got to record in person again, too. I mean, I’m literally like 50 steps from the office. So, got my Wait, I’m in my new apartment. I found my camera again. And wait, I’m going to show you my guy. It’s my guy Harold. He’s uh he’s right next to he’s right next to my lazy boy and he just sits there and he he’s doing a great job so far. I was gonna say Harold also a lazy boy. He doesn’t he doesn’t move much. He doesn’t move much. Um but you can the my favorite part of this is I have him like in the window and so when I walk by like when I walk out the front door I look up and I see him in the window. So if anyone ever walks by, they can just see a gira giraffe in the window. Like which one’s Bridget? That one. So yeah. Wait, is that is that facing the office? Like am I going to be able to see this from from the office? Not from the office. No, a little bit off to the side. I it does face the street that the office is on, but um you’ll see when I when you come over to to look at the apartment, we’ll have you know have you over for a beer or something. I’m going to see if you can spot my window as we walk as we walk up the stairs. All right. All right. Anything else? I had nothing else. I’m ready to go. All right. Peace out. He’s He’s had enough of you guys. All right. Yeah. I I hit my wall. Okay. Well, we hope you enjoyed. I have to go I have to go shop for your birthday gift now. Yeah, I gotta get out. Good. It better be good. Uh I’d take a golden elephant if you could find one. Go to home homegoods and see what you can come up with. But um all right, thank you guys all for listening and we’ll talk to you soon. 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 debate the order of the Bruins top eight prospects, talk about the NHL prospects we were high on that never panned out and go through a list of “what’s more likely” questions about different players and outcomes this Bruins season. Plus, we answer a listener question about buying access to a “media experience” for sports teams.

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

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

Jump to:
00:00 – Ranking the Bruins top eight prospects
16:00 – Prospects we were high on that never panned out
39:00 – “What’s more likely” segment starts
40:00 – Is it more likely we’ll see Lysell make the team this year or leave the team this year?
Is it more likely that Poitras plays a majority of his season in Boston or in Providence?
47:00 – Is it more likely that the Bruins end the season with the same goalie group or the same lineup of centers?
59:00 – Will teams soon begin selling access to press conferences?

Intro: Jake Zimmer

Photo: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

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