Matt Poitras EARNED Spot on Bruins Roster | Pucks with Haggs

Matt Poitras EARNED Spot on Bruins Roster | Pucks with Haggs

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Make sure to hit subscribe to the Bruins Ringside YouTube channel and turn on notifications for when a new video drops on the channel. Welcome in to this episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast. It is the 228th episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast. I’m your host Joe Hagerty. You can find my work at joehagerty.substack.com. Subscribe and get yourself a premium membership. Get all of my Bruins and NHL writing sent straight directly to your inbox. I also write columns during the week for the Boston Sports Journal. Uh and I do a weekly Q&A that’s coming up today on Friday when we record this with the subscribers. So definitely subscribe to the Boston Sports Journal and get a ton of great stuff uh going your way. Uh today I have with me longtime friend and colleague Mick Collagio doing double duty this week this week. Mick, please tell everybody where they can find your work. Rink wrap. I lo I rink rap I do link to X and on Facebook and I wrote the Bruins for the hockey news yearbook and I’m thrilled to be participating in the 200 and Elias Lynholm episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast. It could be the Ron Murphy, the Doug Roberts, the Gary Galley, the Reed Larson, although I flipped the order on those guys. I won’t keep going on this folks, but you know where you know where in the Tom Fergus this is heading. Gary Galley’s a good one. That’s a He was a good player. That was that’s a good 1980s Bruins pull right there. 80s early n was Was was he in the early 90s too or just 80s? He joined them during the same season that Don Sweeney did 88 89 season and he played for them into the 911 92 before getting traded to the Flyers for Gourd Murphy. Uh and actually or was it Dallas? I’m having a hard time remembering who came first in Murphy’s career. But um but yeah, it was a uh part of the problem was is brick would have instructed us. Galley was the uh president of the Bruins uh chapter of the players union. Oh yeah. And so uh uh those guys during the NHL labor wars of the early 90s got the gas. Yes. Yeah. when it when it gets to be around uh times when you have uh got labor disagreements, that is being the head of the the union is is tough for uh for any team, especially if you’re like a marginal sort of bubble player. That can be an awkward position to be in. Um but yeah, uh that’s uh I love the the oldtime Bruins references uh with Galley and everybody else that uh Well, you came to the right place. I know. I know. Um, all right. Well, well, let’s welcome into the Pucks with Hags podcast. Uh, always glad to have Mick here. We were going to have Andy Brickley on this week. Uh, scheduling snafu, so we will actually have, I think, Brick on next week with us. And that’ll be fun. Looking forward to that. Uh, he can preview the season with us. He’s always a great guest. Um, but we will soldier on without him today, Mick, for sure. Um, let’s just talk, I guess, first of all, about um, last night’s uh, preseason game. Bruins won three to one over the Washington Capitals. Um it was a very light training campesque roster for the Bruins traveling to Washington. There was a lot of young guys, prospects, guys that are battling for spots and it was a pretty NHL heavy lineup they went up against in Washington and it looked that way like it was going to go that route. Uh which typically it does in those kind of situations in the first period. Uh where the Bruins were losing one- nothing and they were getting severely outshot. They had like three shots on net or something like that was I think they were shot like 16 to three in the first period. Um but they ended up uh having a strong second and third period uh and end up winning the game three to one. Brett Harrison has two goals and that was his first preseason game uh of this entire training camp uh for the Bruins aside from the the prospects challenge. Uh Riley Tuy has a goal. I thought there were a number of younger players fighting for roster spots that had good games. Uh so it was encouraging all around. I think not only that they won, um, but the the way some of those players looked, a great deal of those players looked, I think it gives them the Bruins more information as far as who they’re going to end up putting on the roster. I thought it was also telling though, Mick, to be honest with you, for me anyway, that Fraser Minton was not in that game. Um, and there were a lot of other young forwards fighting for spots that were. My read into that is that Fraser Minton is probably going to make this team. I think he’s shown enough that they are already determining that he’s going to be on the NHL roster to start the year and that’s why they didn’t need another look at him. Um, and that they’re still looking at a lot of these other players and trying to determine who if anybody is going to be on there. Um, could I be wrong about that? Sure. But that that was my read going in. Just your thoughts on what you saw last night, the players they chose to play and anything else. Hey, so on the minted front, 100% agree. Um, and I wasn’t waited with baited breath. I had made up my mind about this long ago. Uh, this kid has gut and the ability to play big boy hockey and help the Bruins win games right now, wherever he is on the ice. Uh, whatever they decide, he best fits. So, uh, he’s got a strong defensive backbone and general rankmanship that will serve them well. and it tickles them to have a guy who’s only 21 who they can put in their NHL lineup right now. They don’t have a lot of that right now. This is a rare opportunity for them to do that and and uh this is the place for him to build his game and I’m fully confident that’s what’s going to happen here. Um I thought Matt Potra played well again even though he was on a line that looked very awkward with Blue Mel and Steves. I thought that they had a hard time. I thought Blue Mel played better. I thought this was a better game for Blue Mel. I thought that Steves had just a real a tough tough night. Um and uh not a lot went well for him. Um I’ve been kind of singing his praises of late and talking about what a good and fine all-around player he is and maybe he could be the next gen Nola Charari for the Bruins. uh got a little offensive upside there by his, you know, you look at what 62 points in 50 something games for the Marlies last year. So, uh the guy does a lot of things well and he doesn’t hurt you and the Bruins need young players who won’t hurt them uh with offensive upside. So, he checks a lot of boxes in my head. But last night, I’m just thinking like this poor kid can’t catch a break right now. So, um but I did like Patra again. I like Cuadra again and it would disappoint me at this point if the Bruins don’t start him in on an opening night at center. Well, Mick, he was setting guys up left and right in that game. And he had four shots on net, too. He had some good chances himself, but he had so many quality plays where he was setting his teammates up for good offensive chances, just making great decisions with the puck. you know, he really like stood out to me with his playmaking, his vision, how he was setting other guys up and making them better in addition to him. Um, you know, and and the one play that kind of encapsulates everything that you’re talking about is that phenomenal pass that he made to Steves where he was leading Steves in all alone and Steves had to it was a you know, you catching the puck on your backhand is always tough, right? But like he had him wide open going to the net. Like you couldn’t have served it up any better to somebody for a goalcoring chance. And Steves fumbles the puck away and he just can’t handle it and it it goes away and it doesn’t turn into a scoring chance. And there were several times last night where Steves was in position to be a finisher on a play on a twoon-one or on a play like that where he’s going to go in all alone and either they didn’t get a shot at all. Breakaways. Didn’t he blow up in his face? Two breakaways. Oh, I felt so bad for the kid. And I think, you know, and just in those situations, if you want to be a top six guy in the NHL and that’s your aspiration and you keep fumbling away those chances, like you’re not going to make the team as a top six forward. It’s just not going to happen. You know, they’re going to look at you and say, “All right, he just can’t make the plays there.” You know, like other guys can’t, right? And like you have to if you’re going to I do believe he can be a good player for them in the bottom six. So, right. Right. I I’m I’m not I’m not saying that I expect him to make the team, but No, I think right now with Blue Mel playing better better brand of hockey. Y um even though Blue Mel’s opportunities to play with the top end veteran players has passed him by, I feel like he’s playing better hockey now that he’s not in that situation anymore and he’s playing on the line with other bubble guys. And I feel like he’s playing a better game overall. And um I don’t think it’s great, but I do think it’s been better. He made a couple really good plays. He he got himself a great scoring chance uh that um he gave himself by picking off a a pass at the Ranger blue line or the Capitals blue line, sorry, and um and going in and yeah, so I mean there’s uh there’s an uptick in his game right now that has to get them second thoughts about this because the first part of his camp I didn’t like at all. Yeah, I I’m the thing about Blume Ml is he gets chances every game because of his shooting and his his willingness to shoot the puck. And you’re seeing him consistently get scoring chances every game. And they need players like that. And I think he looks like a guy to me the way he shoots that if he consistently gets scoring chances, he’s going to get a good number of them to go in like, you know, more than his share um to actually go in because of the way he shoots the puck. So I’ve seen enough out of him to think he’s he should make the team and could help them. I certainly think Matt Potra should make the team based on what I’ve seen. Um I I just think he’s a guy that they need players that can generate offense and generate offensive chances. And I think he’s consistently every time I’ve watched him play shown that he can generate for himself and even more so for other players. especially if you play them with guys that have a little bit of offensive wrinkle to their game and have a little bit of an ability to, you know, also like play a smart offensive brand of hockey and like are going to be able to do something with the passes that he’s throwing towards them when he does. Um, and he’s also like, you know, you’ve I I’ve noticed too that he’s shown a little bit more of a toughness um when he gets stood up or when things get physical and an ability to absorb those hits and not quite put himself in areas where he’s getting crushed, but being able to take the level of physicality that he’s also getting from at the NHL like levels of that of the physicality he’s been okay with. There was one uh shift last night where he got crushed by somebody. It was I think it was um oh what’s his name the old uh he was a former first round pick that destroyed posternneck in the playoffs um like I don’t know 10 years ago. Um he was playing for the Rangers. I can’t remember his name but he’s huge hard-hitting defenseman. He destroyed Potra last night and Potra stayed on the ice and still ended up almost getting a twoon one scoring chance going the other way after that happened and didn’t like immediately peel off and go to the bench. Um, which I was impressed by. Like that’s he’s he’s much stronger and physically more in that man level of strength and ability to withstain uh withstand physicality than he was when he first got brought up as a 19-year-old. So, I think just physically too, he’s in a better place now to to make an NHL team and to to um withstand the rigors uh of an NHL season. Um so, I I liked Blumel. I really liked Potra. I’ve I think Minton is probably already made the team. Uh Steves, I think, is going to start in the HL, especially after last night. Um and who’s Nadinov? I think I liked his game last night, too, actually. I thought he played really hard. He didn’t end up on the score sheet. Uh, but I thought he played a good hard game. Um, and I, you know, he’s probably gonna end up as the 13th forward to start, I would think. Um, but should be making the team as well. Uh, it’s interesting though, we’re talking about all these players, Mick. Uh, we don’t we haven’t said really anything about Brett Harrison who scored two goals last night. Uh, Riley Tuy scores a goal. Patrick Brown makes a really nice play to set up the empty netter and I thought played a strong game. I thought Riley Duran was really good. uh a bunch of those players as well. Uh the depth guys and the guys that are going to start in Providence I thought had really good games. And you know for me Brett Harrison I thought looked like a different guy during the prospects challenge when I watched him play looked much better than last year where he spent time in the coast. Yeah. He was not in the lineup at the end of the year when the Providence Bruins went on their playoff run. was kind of a forgotten guy last year and he looks like he made a determination to focus this summer on getting much better as a player, bigger, stronger, faster, and you’re seeing it now because like I I the way he took the puck hard to the net last night was excellent and I thought he was noticeable and I thought he was good and and same thing in the prospects challenge. He looks like he’s taken like a half step forward here and I’m interested to see what he’s going to be able to do in Providence now because I think he’s ready um to show exactly what kind of player he can be and I was impressed by last night and I’ve been impressed by his whole camp. Yeah, they drafted him for skill and um and it was questioned as to whether he’s a center or a wing when they first drafted him and if I’m want to say third round but he’s he’s a very very good player. The problem was is he had so far to come with his physical uh prowess. Um he just had such a featherweight of a of a fighter. He was always wanted to do the right things and since he’s been to Providence, but you know th those are those are big old mean old men in that league too. I know it’s more of a developmental league than ever before and how it’s been trending, but it’s come slowly for Harrison and and uh definitely this camp, including as you noted the prospects camp, has been a whole different level of Brett Harrison. So, this is kind of revives him as a radar on the radar prospect for them uh going forward. Um he’s a left shot. Uh right now the Bruins are richer in left shots than they are in rights whether it’s here or down there. Um but again another reason to go see your Providence Bruins this season. I think that this team’s potential Calder Cup team if things uh if they kind of keep some of the guys they could wind up with here. Um they’re they’re a nice looking hockey team right as it’s shaping up. Yep. And uh Riley Tuy I thought was good last night too. And I’ve been kind of harsh on him at times because I think at the NHL level he has not really shown as a guy that was a former first round pick and a big body and like he did have a pretty solid year in Providence once he settled in there uh last year and I thought he was good in the playoffs for them. Um but scores a hustle goal last night that really gets the Bruins going where he fights through a defense but basically overpowers him. gets to a puck that slowly dumps towards the net and just beats the is able to poke it through the goalie and and start sort of started things going there for the Bruins. So, I I really liked his game and that play that he made as well. Um and uh and Patrick Brown is a guy actually that somebody sent an email about um saying uh that Patrick Brown has earned a spot this training camp over the kids who’s going to make the team just for the sake of youth. Um, what do you think about Patrick Brown? I I mean, I’ve always liked him. Um, I don’t think he’s necessarily done enough to make the team, even though I think he’s had a really good camp. I think he’s more of like the Crash Davis sort of captain type uh for the AHL team who will occasionally come up and be able to help you uh if you need a bottom six body if you’ve got injuries and things like that. I just don’t know. He’s never going to have the speed, I think, to be able to consistently play at the NHL for long, long periods of time. Um, I don’t think he has the is able to, you know, have the the skating speed and the legs like game to game to be able to play like he does when he’s up there. Uh, but I think he’s the perfect veteran guy to have in the AHL that will play some NHL time with you always and will bounce back and forth. Is a great leader and role model for the guys down in the AHL. The guy that sets the example and really is an excellent player at the AHL level as we see when we go down there and watch the Providence Bruins play. similarly to how Jason Magna was for them when they had him a couple of years back. Magna was on the long list of waiver uh wire guys the last couple of days. U and Brown came in last year and he’s just been terrific. A terrific citizen for this team, a terrific player in his role. Um and a guy with very limited upside who is an example setter. Um he scored the prettiest goal of the camp in my estimation. Um the late man down the slot going down a one knee for the beautiful one high high high part of the net one-timer. I mean, you know, as I said, I know I’ve said this before, but I but I I can’t emphasize it enough that had Fabian Lysel or Matai Blue made that play and scored that goal, we would never hear the end of it. They’d be talking uh allstar, you know, but instead it was Brown that did it and it’s like, oh no, they’re gonna put him on the team now. It’s the Bruins know where they want this to go and Yeah. And and and regarding note about uh Tuy uh and Duran, those guys are big straight line, especially Tuy’s really tall, but big straight line skaters who Sweeney Y coming into last season had theorized that with Max Jones, with Cole Keep that those guys would form a really big forche with an incumbent Johnny Beecher and that you would have a wave a long legs coming at you hard on the straight line for check and cause defenseman anxiety. It was good in theory. It didn’t go well in practice for anyone outside of Kepky really and Kepky moved on. Jones they traded after he had spent time in the miners. Um Tufty was a good player for Providence last year and uh gave him a dimension that they otherwise wouldn’t have. So, it’s easy to overlook guys because they’re not the shiniest, newest toys, but uh we have long enough to see the warts. If they stay here long enough, we start criticizing. Well, Tuy and Duran, um especially Tuy last night, uh those guys are still uh trying hard to get over the bubble here. Uh and so, do we really know what the Bruins are thinking on this? I have a general idea and they’re not part of it, but I could be wrong. Yeah. No, I I don’t think they are, but I I think they you file them under the heading of like these are guys we will see this year, you know. I think I think I think the Bruins feel really comfortable around about the depth they have on this team this year and players coming up and being able to play um and fill in and be the next man up like you mentioned. And and I think there’s a really good feeling about the overall depth of this organizationally of this team uh both at defenseman and forward, you know, like I thought I think Jordan Harris has had a great camp. I think he’s been really good and I’ve liked his game and he got crushed a bunch of times last night and just kept going. Yes, he did. And kept playing. Um and I really like that. And I Sodrom’s had some decent moments. I think he’s shown definitely some skill. Uh he’s made some mistakes too, but I think he looks has looked like a guy that is going to be able to help them if they need him. Uh same thing with Callahan. I think he’s really solid and I think he had a good game last night. Callahan last night. Loved his game last night, especially his response at the end when Corposalo got uh jabbed there. Uh looking for that last minute and Corposalo played great last night, too. That was good to see. Uh for sure he like Asparo. That kid is feisty. Yes, I like him a lot. I’ve noticed I noticed him a few times. I remember towards the beginning of camp, I saw the name and I I noticed him and I was like, who is this kid? Like I like the way he plays. I really like that. He’s like 26, so he’s obviously not a prospect, but I really like the way he plays and I think he’s another guy that definitely could play some time in Boston this year based on what we saw. And I just like his approach and I like I like I like I like how he he plays like a Bruin. I I think you’re very noticeable. Aspero reminds me of one of those guys who is gonna go through the league until he’s on the Montreal Canadians. And when he gets there, he’s going to be a lot more formidable of a player and the home crowd’s going to go nuts every time he hits somebody. You know, he’s gonna be one of those guys. Yep. No, no, for sure. Uh all right, let’s take a break uh in the action right now to talk about our sponsors. Uh first of all, we got prize picks. 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There’s also the CLNS Media Network and Celtics All Access on CLNS, the NBA History Channel, Patriots Press Pass, and the Bruins Rankside YouTube channels as well. Also, please make sure to turn on your notifications so you know the instant a new Pucks with Hags podcast video drops on the interwebs. All right, thank God we got through all that, Mickey. We we said thank you to all of our sponsors. We That is another uh checked box in this week’s episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast, and we love checked boxes. Um, all right. Uh, this is from uh Mfortune1 on Twitter. Uh, three the Michael Fortune. Uh, is it possible that Beecher doesn’t make the team? I’m getting the feeling he might not. I wouldn’t be disappointed if he didn’t. Plenty of time to show us something and he has not. Um, Beecher was another guy that played last night. I did not notice him a ton. Uh, except he he continues to win faceoffs. He won 10 of 14 faceoffs. Uh, I think that’s the biggest asset that he brings to the table is like his obvious speed, skating speed, and his ability to win faceoffs. But aside and he had a good game. Um his second his game in Philly was good. He’d scored a goal, killed some penalties. I thought he showed a little bit of what he can do. Uh but in in your mind did he do enough uh to make this team where I think there’s going to be a lot of competition for those bottom six spots that there’s very few scenarios and I’d include Beecher in this where the Bruins have hoped for somebody to move the needle for them and change their minds about what they thought about the player coming into camp. Yeah. I don’t think Beecher has. I think it’s just more of Johnny Beecher and Johnny Beecher it’s incremental for him and he’s getting more and more comfortable in his own skin and he fits right in with this group of guys who are new to the organization. He’s very much not having been a late first round pick, but he’s very much in the throws with a prove it kind of a deal uh to be able to walk uh you know if he doesn’t uh like it here in a year, but you know and he can have a good year and and also the Bruins get to say yeah we’ll fit you in but on our terms. So that’s where he’s at. So if you do the math and you have uh who’s Nadino off and blue Mel and Matt Potra makes this team then Johnny Beecher is forward number 15 and I’m not sure they want to carry 23 much less uh 22. No. So I mean they can’t carry throw 23. Uh and we know that they don’t prefer to carry 23 and they can’t carry 24. So, uh, so Beecher is the extra guy if Potra makes this team and Blue Mel makes this team. So, um, and right now I think it’s trending that way for opening night at least. So, he would go through waiverss if that were the case. He would have to be put on waivers. Yep. And I think he would go through. I mean, I I don’t I don’t even think DPR is going to get taken on waiverss to be I don’t see any of the Bruins players getting taken on waver. I’m getting a lot of uh DPR. What are they going to do? What are they going to do? Are they going to trade Corpy and all this? I’m thinking, have you been watching the games? Corposalo is lights out. There’s no way they’re moving him. I just go, “Oh, we shouldn’t spend that much on.” Yeah, right. Okay. But you paid Swayman as much. And that’s what moved it. And Corposalo is an excellent veteran backup. One of the best in the league. And he’s pushing Swayman. That’s exactly what Swayman needs. Exactly what the Bruins need. and all this DPRO talk uh because he was AHL goalie of the year. Hey, Brandon Busy was only not AHL goalie of the year two years before that because of Wolf over in Calgary. So, uh you know, and where’s he now? You know, I mean, so DPro, yeah, good goalie. Yeah. Is he is he gonna make this team? No. No, definitely not. And and like if you’re going to trade Corposalo, do it. you do it after he’s had a great year where his value is up and you’re gonna you you know right now it look it’s a salary dump for Corpusal if you tried to move him and you’re gonna actually have to give away good assets along with him and pay half of his contract uh for the rest of the duration of it if you wanted to trade him. So it’s like now is not the time to do that anyway. And I totally agree with what you’re saying about Swayman needing that guy right now and him looking good and him being motivated and all, you know, he’s a proven NHL guy. Like you need to keep him. Um you definitely can’t move him right now. Um can’t compromise the back end of a team that doesn’t score much. No, totally. And and I do think I don’t think DPro is going to get lost in waiverss. I don’t think any of these players are going to get lost in waiverss. I don’t think Fabian Lysel is gonna get lost. There’s a chance, but I’m not thinking so either. No, I don’t think Johnny Beach definitely don’t think Johnny Beecher is going to get taken on waivers. So, um I agree with you. I think he’s on the outside looking in right now. I just think there’s too much that other players are bringing to the table more than what he brings to the table right now. But again, he will be another player that when injuries come, as they inevitably will, that will help them and will will be able to supplement what they already have. And I think he’s the perfect piece to put into a a fourth line type situation if like say Castellic gets banged up and you know Caralei gets hurt or whatever you know like like once if players start getting injured that are definitely going to be on the NHL team and are going to be playing in that role. I think Beecher is the perfect guy to sub in for it. Um I just think he’s at that stage in his career where like you need to you know be able to show more consistently at the NHL level if you’re going to beat out other guys that are showing more than you are. Um, and I say that with my dark horse on on who’s going to get taken in waiverss, it’s V. Yeah, maybe. Yes. Yeah, that’s the kind of guy because he can drop the gloves because he’s tough guy because he’s a good veteran AHL guy. Definitely. I think that’s a guy, you’re right. And I think he’s had a good camp, too. Um, guys like him, Patrick Brown, those are the kind of guys that you could see plucked up by somebody else potentially. uh guys that might have value um to another team, especially if they’re a little light in their, you know, in their fourth line or their bottom six. Um all right, this is from Bobby Rotundo on uh Twitter. As a Bruins fan watching the preseason games this year, I see a hustling team. They will try hard, but the talent isn’t quite there right now. They are likely fighting for the last playoff spot at best. I mean, I think that’s pretty accurate. I think that’s exactly where they are. um elite high level scoring talent-wise, offensive talent-wise, they are definitely a little light. Um I think it’s going to be five on five. It’s going to be a challenge for them to put up big numbers offensively. I think they’re going to rely on a lot in the power play. And I I I can also say, Mick, I’ve liked some of what I’ve seen on the power play. I really like what they’re doing entry-wise now. Um, I think they’ve come up with some creative, smart ways on uh to to enter the zone and you’re seeing it with easier zone entries now that they’re getting in and that thereby allows them to, you know, set up a little bit more and to see what the actual power play is going to look like. And I think it’s a work in progress right now. I don’t think it’s perfect, but I think you’re seeing how it’s going to work and you’re seeing it get better. And I think we’re going to eventually see a very effective power play based on just the pieces that I’ve seen and the steps that I’ve seen and the little bits of improvement I’ve seen. Perhaps um you know I’m encouraged by it, but at the same time defense is always adjust as well. So, I’m not really sure how much of it is the byproduct of the chaotic preseason with mixing matching opponents and matchups and all of that stuff. I haven’t really been able to uh have enough body of work there to develop a real sense of confidence about it has to be better than last year and it already is. So, we hopefully that’ll come along. Um, uh, you know, they they, uh, it’s it’s, uh, it’s something you can also work on during the season if if you do hit a snag and you go in a slump and you change personnel on it or tweak something. Um, I remember the Bruins through two 2011 the championship season. They uh, they went to a funny looking power play late in the game and it helped them because it gave the defenses something new to look at. Uh Carolina did it in ‘ 05 06 when Lavlet was coaching them. Uh they had uh two centermen. They had like double quarterbacks and only one weak side player. And so there’s lots of funny little things you can do just to change the fulcrum. And suddenly the defense is like how are we orienting on this? How are we boxing on this? And so there’s a lot that you can do. I just felt like it really kind of gets stagnant for the Bruins last year. This year we got a lot more things to look at, a lot more possibilities. Um, so it’s obviously more compelling theater right now to watch and see how it goes. And um, they’ll be better at it. How much better? We’ll see in the long run. So yeah, I I’ um I can’t find the tweet right now, but somebody tweeted about um Lysel last night as well. Um and just basically was saying I if they think he’s headed to the uh back to Providence uh based on what they saw. Um, I don’t I that like, you know, I I I think last night was kind of the perfect encapsulation of what we’ve seen out of Fabian Lysel where he actually wasn’t bad. I thought he made some some good plays. He was in the flow. He was, you know, passing the puck well. I think he was moving with speed, like all the stuff that you want to see. But at the end of it, he plays 1427. He’s a minus one. He doesn’t have a shot on net. and he takes a tripping penalty u because he’s not able to move the other net. Yes, exactly. 200 foot penalty. He probably leads professional hockey in 200 foot penalties over the last three years. He might. He’s he is he’s I don’t I can’t see Marco Sturm looking down and saying, “Sign me up. Get that kid on my team for opening night.” No. No way. The problem is we’ve just seen too much of this like when it really matters, right? like when in a game like last night when he’s in the lineup, when he gets a chance like with roster spots on the line, the coach basically says in the morning like there’s two or three spots on this team that are like there for the taking, somebody has to step up and take them and then he has a game like that like where he’s just like not impactful enough and then he makes a couple mistakes that really hurt you. Like he’s just it’s not going to happen for him in Boston and I don’t want to beat a dead horse and I think he’s a decent kid and a good kid. I don’t want to like, you know, come down on him uh too much. And I think, you know, we we’re definitely critical of him at times, but it’s like you got to step up and show something there if you want to make if you want to be in the NHL, you just have to. Bruins was so praised around the hockey world for taking Fabian Lysel 21st overall and 21, I want to say. Uh uh because hey, the Bruins finally took a guy with the skills. They finally took a chance on a guy with talent. Good for them. Good for them. That’s all I heard. And now that we’re this far down the road and it looks like this pick is a bust. Um I don’t want to hear anybody crap on the Bruins for not drafting skill, right? That’s what they were going for when they tried. They rolled the dice on skill. That’s what they were hoping for. It was he reminds me a lot of Martin Samuelson who whom ca came from the Avalanche when the Bruins made the deal with Raymond Bourke. Yeah. Uh in March of 2000. Uh fun to watch, got skills, could skate, could handle the puck, but just for whatever reason it doesn’t translate into a professional hockey game with success. any other um as we uh enter the last uh preseason game here, Mick, on Saturday, uh with the with uh training camp and the preseason kind of wrapping up. Uh any other sort of thoughts or players or anything we have not covered to this point that sticks out in your mind that you wanted to mention? M did not have a great second game. I love this game. Um Yep. I thought I thought that, you know, that he totally deserved another chance and I’m glad he got it. I didn’t feel like it was a particularly good night for him. I don’t feel like he built built on it at all. Um, and so I felt bad for him because I feel like he’s been the consmate professional, a leader in Providence, a guy who really wants to get everything possible out of himself. Um I’m unfortunately because of the timeline of the two players Murk and Lysel uh wind up in the same conversation get talked about like like uh Pelican and Pulock on the Islanders defense you know it’s like they they go together they couldn’t be more opposite as far as their uh professional application of their abilities. Yeah. Um if if if Murk had Lysell’s wheels, he’d be a $10 million guy in the NHL and um but you know, we’re blessed with what we’re blessed with and and I don’t feel like Murk had a great game and and I sort of see this team whittling down to it’s crystallizing for me. I’m looking at my own little scribble chart this morning and assuming that Jordan Harris is your seventh D. Yep. um than uh then Beecher and Blue Mel’s in the opening night. It really depends on what they if they’re going to do anything about Casey Middlestad because I mean it’s kind of been the elephant in the kitchen here. He’s played horribly and Mattra has been the better hockey player by fare, right? Middle stat’s injured at this point. I I missed that. I’m not I missed I missed that. I’m not aware of it. Uh so now if that happens now you can’t do anything. Yeah. So an injury might open the spot for somebody else to start the year if he’s not able to play right. So yeah. So if that happens then then it buys you time to make a decision and work something out. Um you know but um Middlestat just struggled throughout this camp. He’s looked like the guy that Buffalo and Colorado decided no longer fit in and Yep. And um that’s the guy that he looks like when he plays. If the injury has something to do with that, we’ll find out down the road. Um Matt Potra to me has done what he needs to do to start this season with the Boston Bruins. Yep. I think so too. And Blue Melt too. I they would both be on my team and I would have already had Fraser Minton on the team based on what I’ve seen out of him. So I think all three of them in my mind would make the team. And if that means, you know, Middlestat is is, you know, he he did skate prior to the practices yesterday, did not skate with the team. Uh, but he’s been out for the last couple of games. So, we’ll see how the last couple days. We’ll see how that develops. But like in my mind, I think all three of those players, Balopatra, and Minton have all done enough uh to earn a spot on the team. And and and who’s Nadino, too? I’ve actually liked his game a lot. Um, and I think his versatility helps and I think he would be a good guy to have as an extra forward if it works out that way to start the year. Uh, we’ll see how it it develops. Um, but I think uh, good stuff, Mick. I appreciate you coming on today. And, uh, everybody else out there, thank you for listening. Let’s, uh, thank our sponsors real quick. This episode is brought to you by Prize Pix. You and I make decisions every day, but on Prize Pick, being right can get you paid. Don’t miss any of the excitement this season on Prize Picks, where it’s good to be right. Uh, the show is also brought to you by Game Time, the best ticket app to take the guesswork out of buying college football tickets. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use the code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply, but again, create an account, redeem the code CLNS for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go, download the Game Time app today. And uh, thank you for listening to the Pucks with a podcast, a proud member of the CLNS Media Network. Make sure to hit subscribe to the Bruins Ringside YouTube channel and turn on notifications for when a new video drops on the channel. Mick, thank you very much for joining us. [Music]

Pucks with Haggs host Joe Haggerty and guest Mick Colageo discuss the latest preseason games and what the NHL roster is going to look like. 

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