Boston Bruins 2025-2026 Season Primer!
Well, that that I mean I’m I was forward and and in and mentioning I just didn’t think we were as invested as a group last year and and it starts always starts with the players that standpoint. We just we did not raise our level of competition, you know, in a daily uh preparation that was necessary and and it showed up and this year I’m hopeful that uh the attention to detail, the structure, the things that we were trying to emphasize, but most importantly the competitiveness uh will show up and needs to show up and and uh and the guys within the locker room I think are recognizing it. There was a different tone. there was a different approach uh individually and collectively and and the newer guys that have come in are embracing that opportunity. I think Mike Eimon’s a great example of that. Um you know he welcomed an expanded role. He went out and executed at a higher level against the Rangers and and he finds himself uh riding shotgun with Tanner and and Frasier um in all likelihood if that’s the way Marco continues to go. That’s the way they practice today. So it was a good example of that infusion that we were talking about. Okay, Don Bees are back tomorrow night, baby. Let’s get it. Good morning. It’s Tuesday, October 7th, here inside the Salem 5 studios for Boston has entered the chat. Travis Thomas here with the Ice Queen herself. The Casey Hudson in the house. How are you? I don’t know if I could live up to some of your intros sometimes, but I’m fantastic. I am excited to enter the chat with you today. Also, zero caffeine and I am thriving. Big shout out to Jenny. Uh, let’s meet Boston Noble who had an event with Nessen yesterday. It was fantastic. It was so great to meet so many other um influencers and Bostononians and just really cool people in the area. So, it was worth staying up. I also did a hockey fantasy draft, too. You did? I did. How’s the team looking? Well, my team name is Casey’s Unreal Team, and I think it’s gonna pretty much live up to it. Oh, yeah. things things really went well and I was a nervous wreck because I couldn’t even get into the draft for like the first 45 minutes. If you are in Casey’s league, it’s over. Just give her the trophy. You’re cooked. You’re done. Her team’s going to smash you. That’s as simple as that. All right, coming up, both the Bruins and the Red Sox actually addressed the media yesterday. So, we’ll hear from both teams on this fine television program this morning. By the way, I’m seeing a lot of national media national fans now jumping on the bandwagon. Choo choo. Jumping on the hype train for the Patriots. Meanwhile, we’re like, “Bro, we told you they were going to be good. Duh.” So, we’ll talk about the state of the Pats later on in this program as well. Call us 617-7900928. Let’s start with the Bruins, though, because hey, Wednesday night at the Caps, Thursday back here against the Blackhawks. So, it’s getting started now. I turned on Nessen yesterday. Yeah. And I saw you in all your Ice Queen glory holding it down here contentwise. Before we get into playing sound bites, what were some of your takeaways from what you heard yesterday? Yeah, it was awesome. We had a two-hour hockey hub episode and I got to do it with Andy Brickley, which is just my favorite thing because, as you guys know, I like to do loads of research. I like to figure out some things from different perspectives and Brick is the best soundboard one can ask for. Um, we saw the bump in of Don Sweeney kind of mentioning just like a different tone to training camp and the overall theme of the entire press conference and something that came up quite a bit was energy and structure and then to be spearheaded by the energy that is brought in by Marco Sturm. And I think it just stands firmly behind the new era that is being addressed and the new things that are going to be kind of unveiling for this team because you saw different things and different um drills that were part of training camp. Uh Charlie Makavoy even mentioned the fact that this was a more structured and a sharper uh training camp that he has been a part of and some guys even mentioned how hard it was. So that’s all really good signage to the fact of like the new changes that needed to take place, how quickly those changes are becoming effective. And Don Sweeney said it, the preseason finale was a litmus test to kind of see where this team can go, especially in that first period. That’s where we saw the lines that should hopefully be playing out and unfolding for this team with the NHL season coming too. So, I feel like what you would expect out of so many new and uncertainties um in terms of like answering some questions, we have less questions. We have a little bit more of an established identity. And hey, it’s the beginning of the season. Let things unroll. All right. Well, Cam Ney talked about sort of the path for this team to get to the postseason. Take a listen. Yeah, I think I think uh you know, we’re going to have to play we’re going to have to we’re going to have to play tight defense if we’re going to be one of the eight as we’re structured right now. and we knew that going in. We tried to uh bolster our our lineup offensively in the offseason. It didn’t come to fruition. Um but we got guys that are going to be tough to play against, hard to play against. I think you’re, you know, teams are going to circle playing against the Bruins and go, “Oh, damn. We got to play them tonight.” That’s that’s I think the type of lineup that we we put together knowing that, you know, hopefully throughout the year we can we can add some offense somewhere. Our specialy teams have to get better. they should be able to get better. Uh there’s no reason for them not to be better. So, I think that’s an area of improvement, like I said, with the uh being healthy on the back end and also goalending. So, those are areas I really believe we’re going to improve upon. It’s just a matter of making sure that we’re keeping the puck out of our net. Um because it’s going to be a little bit more challenging to score some goals. Um but we’re we’re hoping to address that throughout the year as well. Ace, I must have been sleep at the wheel in hour one because there was a lot in that soundbite that I missed the first time around. Like he was so transparent about missing on offensive players in the offseason and then he casually just goes, “We’ll figure it out as the season goes on.” Translation, trade deadline, they’re going to be trying to get some offensive players in here. But I remember during the off season, you were really the only voice, I’ll give you credit here, that I heard that brought a calming effect because most people were like, “What are they doing? Who are these guys? This isn’t what they needed. They need scoring.” Blah blah blah blah. You were the first person I heard or only that said, “Hey, they got a lot bigger. They got a lot more physicality in terms of defense here. It wasn’t all for not this off season.” That’s what he’s saying here defensively. We’re going to beat people up, right? Yeah. And I don’t want to dismiss any of the concerns of like not having that confident like hard like hard accountability on secondary scoring. You can’t put a label on that quite yet. We can’t pick a player for that quite yet. But when you do become a team that’s hard to play against, and Brick and I talked about it yesterday, you saw physical, you saw very like dominant defensive teams slow down these speedy, skillful skillful teams. You know, like everyone knows I covered the Lightning for a team that were a lot a lot of skill, but when physicality was imposed upon them, they couldn’t get to their game. So, that is an edge that this team can solidify at one point or another. And having a healthy defense starts there. I mean, Hus Lynholm not being in your lineup, that is super impactful. And having all of these interchangeable pieces on your defense, not having the same reliable guys in front of you, that’s also going to change some of the confidence of your goalender and what gets past him. when there’s too much chaos going on in front of him, you’re going to get soft goals. You’re going to get that extra effort from an opponent that gets past your goalender. So, that’s where some things can hopefully clean up to where you don’t feel this like, oh my gosh, we’re just going to blow up right here. No, defense has to be clean. Goalending has to be clean. And then we can see where secondary scoring comes in. You can pick up a totality of goals if your special teams can finally figure it out. And on a humorous note, something else that Brick and I talked about because Don Sweeney did mention AC there in the opening. AC is getting his first touch of being on the penalty kill. Well, when this team was kind of falling behind in the preseason versus the New York Rangers, who was the Energizer Bunny that brought him to life? Mikey Acimont. What’s one of the goals that he picked up? A short-handed goal. He’s getting a PK opportunity the first time in his life. But this guy is so relentless, so pesky, has the capability to have um that that forcheing, that defensive edge, something that he is going to continue to work on. But if you’re looking of picking up some other gritty, ugly, whatever kind of goals, I love short-handed goals. Burick and I made a bet as to how many goals we might see out of Mikey ACimont short-handed wise that is. So, special teams coming together, special teams being able to get in a good and healthy percentile of efficiency. Those are going to be some extra goals that you lost out on a lot last year. Another thing that really hindered this team was allowing teams to get back into games in the third period. Well, we saw a solid first period out of them in that preseason finale. We didn’t see what we wanted to see out of them in the second period, but oh, we saw the cleanup in the third period so that they were able to close the door and secure the win. So, it’s just these micro adjustments that they have to make. The Atlantic division is very tough, but being tough to play against is going to help. Toby, write this down for me in my list of things to do. Uh, bet the P bet the under and the bees game all season and bet the bees on the puck line. Thanks. It always goes back to gambling. No. And Mike, if you feel like there’s going to be a lot of special teams in a game, if you see the bees on the penalty kill a lot, just throw them in for a goal. Add that one for me, Tobes. Thanks, brother. 6177900928. If you want to talk bees with us, Cam Ney did talk about offense, though, because outside of pasta and geeky, take a listen. Well, I mean, I’m I’m talking about specifically at the in in free agent time. You know, we we uh we targeted a few players and unfortunately didn’t work out for various reasons. And I guess to build off that, did that force you guys to pivot more towards the defensive direction that that you’ve embraced here or was that always that was that always going to be in effect there? Well, obviously, you know, our scouts have a a good idea and and uh our GM and assistant GMs have a really good idea who’s available leading into July 1. And then you take a look at those names and you start prioritizing, okay, who do you want to try to go after? So, we did that. Um, you know, we we really felt the bottom part of our lineup needed a little bit more um piss and vinegar, if you will. Um so that was something we attacked first and then you know the free agent class was was what it was from an offensive standpoint. So um when it was as limited as it was um you know maybe some from previous years you you know it’s going to be a little bit more challenging to try to get a player that you may want. But I thought our guys did a really good job of of uh putting a roster together that is going to give us that piss and vinegar and it’s going to be hard to play against and teams aren’t going to enjoy it. I mean, it’s not even 9:30 in the morning. When I think of the morning, I think bagels and coffee and serenity. I don’t think piss and vinegar. I mean, case, what? What’s he talking about? It’s not in your ingredients, but breakfast. It’s too early for piss and vinegar, isn’t it? I mean, look, it caught me off guard ever so slightly, but then I was just like, okay, yeah, it makes sense. Like, it’s a thing. So, it works. Uh, piss and vinegar it is. But that’s a great I mean it is a way to describe where we’re going with everything here and all the question marks when it comes to well the offensive side of things as you mentioned I guess I mean if you’re leaning on piss and vinegar that’s not a good sign but that’s just me. 6177900928 call us get in here. Here’s the other thing I want to ask you about this team. Who’s a leader? Because I I I know there’s been a lot of talk about pasta this and pasta that. But at the end of the day they really got rid of the actual leader of this team and Brad Marshannon. He’s gone on to brighter. Good for you. You know, I’m still Can you tell I’m hurt still by an amount of even finisher? Can we turn this into therapy? Brad, I miss you. But at the end of the day, like who’s the leader on this Bruins team? I think that’s going to be a big part of the success or not for this team this season. Yeah, I think that it’s still kind of something to be written because you have a coach that says he wants to get to know each of the players, which I absolutely admire. He’s not going to take anything off of he hearsay by any means. He’s going to see what works for him because well yeah because you’re captain and you you guys have to be lock step. You know what I mean? Because you’re going to be that voice whenever your coach is not around or like in those moments on the ice. Um not saying for the captain scene so nobody freak out when I preference this. But for months now I have just been saying that I’m a big fan of Nikita Zidorov. I like honesty. I like somebody that can can really speak to you and like yes, sometimes bluntness can be mistaken for speaking at you, but you’ve heard a number of guys talk about the respect that is there um because of his delivery. And look, it could be intimidating. Sometimes it could be what you don’t want to hear. But I know that learning from a locker room that a number of different leaders and personalities, you never know what voice you’re going to need in what moments. And sometimes you’re going to need that person that’s going to light a fire underneath you. And it doesn’t always come in a pretty fashion, but it’s going to help tilt things in you guys’ favor mentally so that you can be able to produce and tilt things in your favor on the ice. So, I like Sedor off in a sense, but you’ve got some really good heads in this locker room. Um, Marco Sturm actually talked about the fact that Tanner Jano is a leader, especially in the locker room, and he’s somebody that carries a different tune and a different voice. And when he’s going to take on any sort of enforcer role or be your protector on the ice, that’s somebody you’re probably going to lean to with a more open ear for anything that he has to say. and he’s been in a number of locker rooms. He’s been in a number of systems. So, he’s somebody who can have a perspective that just brings a calm composure and a different delivery also. So, I feel like they have some really good options. Could change the A’s when we figure out the C, but I don’t think it’s something that needs to be established right now because they’re all learning so many different things together at once. They’re finding unity in a different way by leaning on each other so that they can develop into what this new era is going to become. Let’s go back to Don Sweeney now about leadership on this team. They have uh they’ve done a good job. Obviously, you reference uh Charlie and and David in particular because they’re at the forefront of it. Uh you’re also acknowledging Hampus coming back in uh having missed and and not being part of that locker room for the vast majority of last season. You have other players that uh that are going to have to to continue to to have their voice um on and off the ice be heard a little louder. We’ve also brought in players that have been in other places and are comfortable. You mentioned Tanner. So, they’ve formed their leadership group. uh moving forward, uh they’ll acknowledge who the the third person to where the A will be. Uh they’re not concerned about about the the captaincy part of things. They’re only concerned about the leadership and and uh and them coming together as a group. um newer faces, personalities had a fantastic day yesterday obviously with with uh with you know Charlie and Cam supporting that and and Paulina and Lauren and everybody putting together an out outstanding day for us to get together as a family as Cam was described yesterday and and it it kicks off the season for us in all the right regards. So we’re we’re moving in the right directions in all those areas. All right, Case, let’s dive in. What can we expect tomorrow night in the nation’s capital for the season opener? By the way, because I brought this up earlier, Bees are heavy underdogs, nearly two to one in this game. What can we expect for the opener tomorrow night? Yeah, from a sports book perspective, of course, you’re going to see them as heavy underdogs because they’re going against a playoff team. Seeing what we saw out of the Capitals in the postseason, you could, if everything tends to pan out in terms of what the Bruins are going to pull on from the good stuff from from training camp, preseason, it could end up being a little bit more of a lowscoring affair. You don’t want to go in there and give this team any sort of power play opportunities. That’s for sure. Because we know that Over’s going to be kind of on another farewell tour of a sense. Um, but more importantly, they got some interchangeable pieces that went out. They could expose this defense in a number of ways, too. So, if they can come in high pace, I feel like that they can make it a good game. But I could see this one being uh under if the five if it’s sitting at five and a half. What’s it sitting at? I see you already in your thing. Sitting at five and a half. You like the under? It’s going to be close. I could see a a 3132 of some sort. And no, I’m not picking a team. Tell me. Go ahead and write that down in my list of things to do. Take the under tomorrow night in the nation’s capital. my man. Away games were away games were were a tough tossup for this team last year. So yeah, keep that in mind. But it would be a good test to see if they can pull on all the things that they did right in the first and third period versus the Rangers on Saturday versus this Capitals team. Now that Blackhawks team that comes here Thursday, that ain’t no damn playoff team. So that feels like if they come up short in the nation’s capital, which we don’t know, but if they do, feels like a spot they could get right on Thursday night, right? Yeah. That’s where the whole tough to play against and being able to slow down speed will really come into play because you’re looking at, you know, a lot of young guys. You’re looking at a number of speedsters on that Blackhawks team. So, they can come in and try to control the pace early. You don’t want this team getting pinned in their own zone. You don’t want them forced to play defense all night. That’s where you have to see them be able to control the game and force the Blackhawks into their pace. Toby, I got the under tomorrow night. You got that in? I’m locked in. Thursday, give me B’s money line. You got it. My man. He runs a great show here, Toby. And he’s my bookie. Oh, and a great photographer. And a true. Fantastic. With a with the best attitude, honestly. He’s security, too. Someone coming in here acting up. Toby going to get you out of here. Muscles. 617-7928. Call us. By the way, when we come back, we’ll explore what’s trending in the world of sports. But it’s more Bruins. I I mean, what more do you want from us? We’re giving you Bruins all the time here on Boston is entered the chat. Roll with us and remember this. Get the latest up to date live, baby. And it’s funky. Listen. Uh yeah. Uh we’ve got Boston sports headlines along with your daily dose of trending sports and social topics every weekday right here on Boston has entered the chat. Catch us live at 8 a.m. on Nessen, 9:00 a.m. right here on Nessen Nation every Monday through Friday. Come on y’all. Time now for what’s trending in the world of sports. Sports. Sports. More Bruins, baby. Zado Charara is getting his jersey retired case. Big Z in the house. Take a look at this. I want to bring you outside here because he wants to try and get a picture of you with him underneath the 11 banner. Oh, okay. That’s going to be a cool picture. [Music] Actually, Z, I’m full of crap. The reason we’re here, you see between 24 and 77 and retired number banners. Oh, that’s where 33 is going to go this year. Oh my god. Oh my god, Kim. Oh my gosh. Oh, thank you so much. Wow. What an honor. Um, you got me first of all. I don’t know what to say. This is a letter from Mr. Jacobs. You can read at some point, but yeah, definitely I will. And uh I’m shocked. I’m surprised. I I mean in in honestly Well, that’s what I was very grateful. Yeah, of course. But that’s why I brought you down. There’s nothing. Oh, I I was wondering like am I in trouble weak in a job? Uh, wow. But I I don’t know what to say. You got emotional stuff there, Case from one of the greatest Bruins players ever. I mean, how do you not get a little misty eyed seeing that? I love the element of surprise for him and his reaction, but it’s like actually 33 is going right there up to the rafters. It’s the coolest thing and it’s so welld deserved. I’ve touched it uh a hundred times since getting here. You didn’t have to be from Boston. You you didn’t even have to be a Bruins fan to know uh not only Zidane Noara as the player, but as the legend and just kind of the character that he established with his presence. That’s well said. I I mean, honestly, playing with him on video games even was a cheat code cuz he was bigger than everyone else and a lot of big guys are slow on on video games. He was not. He was lighting people up. So, thank you for all that. Stride. Could you imagine if Zedeno and I raced? Well, with those shoes you got on, you may have a chance here. That’s true. Case has some shoes that adds at least seven, eight, maybe nine feet. I’m only barely 55. She is a giant. Look at Look at this. She can not only Is she taller than Big Z, she can walk on the moon right now with no problem. She is strutting on the moon. Yeah, right. I need I need what are those things called? Stilts. Stilts. Yeah. But Big Big Z, man, congrats to you, man. I I actually saw him physically at the Boston Marathon the year he ran it. I was there cheering people on and it was incredible. Was it like all eye level and it was normalsized human beings running by me and I’m like, “You can do it. Come on.” And then he went by and I was like, “Big Z, you’re the man, baby. Keep striding. Keep striding.” I actually did get to see how short I am compared to Big Zy because uh he did the ceremonial pitch with Tuka um earlier at the Red at the Bruins theme night for the Red Sox which feels like ages ago at this point. So I went to go say hi to Tuka really fast because we work I work with him on Unstructed Views and like briefly went to go be like hello and well I had to break my neck and then on top of that I was just I got nervous so I was like you know what good good luck everyone should have been wearing those shoes you would have been all right. I had my cowboy boots on. Oh, you had cowboy boots on. Yeah. Damn, that should have added a little something. He’s just nine feet tall. What are you gonna dot tall? Call us 617-7900928 if you want to congratulate Big Z. Let’s go to LeBron James here. I want you to look at this tweet cuz this came out yesterday and it was very cryptic. This is from the Kang himself. The decision of all decisions, October 7th. That is today, I believe. Yes. At noon. # the second decision. What are we doing here, Mr. James? This is one of two things, case. One of them’s really going to upset me. The other one I’m with. Okay, I’ll tell you the one I’m with. If this is an announcement to say this is my final season and I’m taking my talents to retirement, then okay, he deserves a swan song. We can all say goodbye. He’s playing the Celtics here December 5th. Someone check me on that, but I’m pretty sure it’s December 5th at TD Garden. I’ll go to it. I’ll give him his flowers. LeBron, you’re the man. But the other option that will piss me off will be if this guy’s trying to sell me anything. If all of this is just to sell me some damn Beats headphones or a new LeBron pair of shoes or Space Jam 3, I’m losing it. No Space Jam 3. The original Monstars are the only monsters. Um, what do you need to bring your temperature down so that I don’t piss you off further? Because you think it’s an ad. It’s It’s giving merch of some sort. Because here’s the thing that I just picked up on. Second decision. Second decision. He made the big decision to leave Cleveland. Decision one. The big decision to move over to to LA. Yeah. Decision two. Yeah. Decision three, right, would be the next big thing in terms of retirement or taking my talents, which no, don’t take the talents anywhere else at this point. But this is why this also feels like merch of some sort. Something that he came out with is going to get the second generation of just now. Somebody told me today is Amazon Prime Day. So, are are we doing this like is this like an Amazon LeBron thing? That’s what I mean. There’s a lot of there could be somebody has things sitting in their cart. The cart number was blue this morning. Wait, what? And the blue number usually means like Amazon sales, discounts, lightning deals, or day of some sort. Oh. Oh, if you have something in your cart from whenever. Yeah, it’s usually yellow and it’s blue as of this morning, which I noticed and thought was kind of weird. LeBron, I’m on to you. This is This is tied to Amazon. That’s all this is. This is much to do about nothing. That’s all. Well, at least you can be prepared to be pissed and not let it ruin your day. See, we are therapeutic here. 6177900928. Any guesses on what LeBron’s pedaling here? Is it a Swan song? Is it Amazon Prime? Is it Space Jam 3? We’re going to find out at high noon. Also, what are we in a western? No. Space Jam 3. What is this? Is this tombstone? Like high noon. Come on, Ronnie. Come on. All right, we got more coming up here on Boston is enter the chat. Roll with us, baby. You know you want to. 617-7900928. We’ll be right back. [Music] Yeah, I I think you know there are a few things that we can point to. Um the most significant of which I think is to to remind ourselves that there’s no guarantee that we just pick up where we left off at the end of 2025, right? um just you know kind of expecting everyone to take a step forward uh I think could could allow us to uh to be complacent or to fall flat and so uh you know we’ll take stock of of the roster and we’ll think about opportunities to improve that could come through multiple paths um you know I think we we can talk about uh you know the different elements of of the game and say that uh you know we have to examine our our defense and and and you know we we led the league in in errors and and that’s not good enough. Um, at the same time, I think our outfield defense was was the best in baseball. Um, you know, on the whole, our our offensive unit was was good. Uh, by almost all metrics. We were, you know, a top 10 team in, you know, scoring runs, in getting on base, in slugging. Um, but we didn’t execute consistently with runners in scoring position, right? Um, we we struck out with runners in scoring position. Uh, and and that’s another thing that we can examine. Um, but you know, right now, uh, I think we’ll kind of zoom out a little bit and and take stock of where we are and we’ll be open to to all possible pathways to improving the team. All right, that’s the state of the Red Sox there. You heard Craig Brelo there. We welcome in Natt Gordon of the Play Tessy podcast family to the program. Welcome back, my man. Thanks for having me back. I love being here. Well, we love having you. And I want to say this, these playoffs without the Red Sox absolutely suck. With the addition of I guess Tigers Mariners, which looks like a decent series, the rest of them are trash. At least the Yankees are losing, but without the Socks, this isn’t fun to me anymore. Yeah. And with We love the Yankees being down 02, don’t get me wrong. I I want to see them get swept, but the truth is, yeah, you you talk about being unhappy with what you’re seeing right now. As soon as the Yankees are out, you have even one less thing to root for. What? It’s going to be what? Like root against the Dodgers at that point. It’s like, yeah, we want the Dodgers to lose, but it’s not personal like it is with the Yankees. Yeah, you’re right. This is terrible. Like, socks, we need you in this. So, now 8973 was the final record. They bow out in the wild card round. Yesterday was the end of the season press conference. We heard a bevy of things there from a lot of folks. What stood out to you? Well, I thought what stood out to me was the outfield situation is is definitely unsettled as we thought and they’re going to want to add more power to the lineup. And I think those two things are are interconnected. like if they want to add a DH, there’s a few guys on the free agent market, trade market you could you could go take a look at, but if you’re gonna add a DH, you don’t have room for all four of those outfielders. We’re talking Roman Anthony, Sedon, Raphaela, Jiren, Duran, Will Abrau. You’re not going to have room for all those guys if you bring in a power a power DH bat. So, it’s all connected and we’re going to see what they do. But I I think one of those guys could be on the way out. Scary thoughts. the the business side that has to play into this because I feel like there was a load of fans that were like, “We’re happy that we finally made it to a postseason. All is well.” We talked about the bright future ahead and there’s a number of fans that are like, “No, it wasn’t enough.” Uh, if you had to play devil’s advocate, who do you think that they would move on from to bring in another DH? Because that’s where the tough decisions really come into play. Yeah, I mean, I think the only guy I would consider truly 100% safe is Roman Anthony. He’s obviously not going anywhere. He’s the future of this organization. Let’s be real. He’s the present and future of this organization. Um, if I had to lean one way, I’d probably lean Jiren Durant. It’s hard to say. Like I thought Sadon Raphaela for a portion of this year proved to be a staple both offensively and defensively on this team. Uh, so really Jiren and Abrau would be the top two guys I would I would think, but really it could go either which way just because so much of it is determined on what they can get back uh who they like. I mean, I think that may that Abrau, Raphaela, Anthony have room to grow, whereas Jer Duran is kind of on the other. Yeah, he’s he’s where he’s at, right? And you know, they’re they’re in a contending window. So, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And all these guys have control on their deals, but just you you look at guys who could keep ascending and then one guy who may be on the other side of that who teams value and would give a lot for, it makes sense. Yeah. But his stock’s never going to be higher than it was. I want to stick with Durant for a second because I kind of have a take on him. I think the Red Sox gambled and as a gambler I actually appreciated it and I defended it at the time around the trade deadline. There were the rumors. I’m sure you remember, you probably broke the story. Who the hell knows? But Duran to the Padres’s who have been flirting with him for years for Dylan CE and we saw Dylan CE in the postseason. He pitched pretty well. They’re at Cancun right now not because of Dylan CE. Okay. So I of course hindsight being what it is, you make that deal, you may still be playing right now because you have Crochet and a Dylan CE, right? You had that one-two punch. But needless to say, I think the Socks gambled because Durant was an emotional leader in the clubhouse. He was a spark plug and I understood it. But when we got to the postseason, Gordo, I think his performance or lack thereof against the Yankees, if they move on from him, I personally believe the playoff performance did him in. Do you? Well, his his his performance in that series wasn’t good. It was it was a really just it was a bad series for Jiren Durant. I don’t think he would tell you otherwise. At the time the the talk of that deal made some sense but in the end with Roman going down and Abrau going down it it was probably for the best that they didn’t make that trade and in the end like they they had some arms come up and contribute like Connelly early ended up contributing. I don’t know where they would have been had they traded him then. Even though he was playing his best ball of the season at that point and his value certainly was higher then than it’s going to be this off season. But at the same time, I just don’t know where they would have been without him. Even though once they got there, he just wasn’t very good. Yeah. Um Craig Brzlo mentioned no guarantee to pick up where we left off. That can be a little nerve-wracking considering what I just mentioned. But what’s probably the most pivotal point that they do need to pick up from where they left off within the entire encompassing of like their game and what they brought this season. Yeah, I think where they definitely need to pick up where they left off is with the pitching and and Alex Cor talked about it as well, the pitching pipeline that Craig Brezlo talked about wanting to build and this is going to be his third year on the job. And when the second he got here, that was what he said that the Red Sox needed to do. We got to build out a pitching pipeline. We got to have pitchers. We got to have a depth of pitchers in TripleA that can contribute. And we need to be able to produce and develop stud pitchers at the big league level. And I think this year they showed the beginnings of that with guys like Payton Tolley, Connelly Early, Hunter Dobbins. Like you had guys coming up and contributing that fans hadn’t heard of before the season. And again, this is this is the beginnings of that. Like we we haven’t seen what these guys are going to be capable of once they start hitting their prime years, once they start pitching full seasons at the big league level. I mean, I do think that this offseason they need to increase the ceiling of that unit, but they have enough depth to get through a full season with pitchers that can keep you in games and win you games. It’s just going to be a matter of when you get to the postseason, are they going to have enough guys that can go out there and win a game on their own like Crochet did in game one. Remember too, they drafted a s ton of pitchers as well. And nowadays with this Red Sox team, it’s not like the old days where you develop these guys for years. We see these guys coming up in five minutes. So to your point about depth, it’s definitely there in terms of the youth movement. I also heard them talk a lot about adding a number two starter. So I’m hearing all this and and we’re kind of connecting the dots here as we talk. Okay. So youth pipeline is filled with young arms, right? You’re talking about going out and signing or trading for a number two stud to go with Garrick Crochet. So, I’m hearing all this and I’m thinking, I mean, Lucas Glo couldn’t finish the season for you because of health. He’s in a situation where you can retain him. You can bring him back. You got to pay for it. I didn’t hear a lot of mention of Glo. Do you think he’s out of here or do you think they’ll work something out with him? It wouldn’t surprise me if if he wasn’t back next year just because they have so many arms. Like you can fill that number three, four, five and beyond spots in that in that rotation. He pitched well though, Gordo, didn’t he for you? He was. He was terrific this year, but there’s so much uncertainty with his elbow. I mean, this is now the second straight season he’s had an elbow issue, right? And let’s be honest with ourselves, like they need a guy that they that they can trust to go out there and win you a playoff game. And even before the injury, you know, Gilito, I mean, probably due to the injury, but he had he had kind of an up and down September. You look at guys around the league that they could trade for like a Joe Ryan who they obviously were after at the deadline, Mackenzie Gore, who they talked about as well, Sandy Alcantra, who they talked about, or even free agents like Dylan, your guy Dylan CE, like these are these are guys that as as good as Lucas Gilito was for the Red Sox this year, those guys would increase the ceiling of the team. Doesn’t mean they can’t bring back Gilito as well, but to me, I just think with the amount of pitching they have, you’re kind of looking at let’s get one really good dude. Yeah. To increase the ceiling and everyone else can kind of help us. I’ll be honest, if I’m GO or I’m like on his team, like his his peeps, his posi, I’d be like, “Bro, do a one-year like kind of hometown discount deal. Stay with the socks and finish.” Like I I if I was him, I would want to show I could stay healthy, right? And I can finish the season. and I can pitch for you in the playoffs. I only bring that up because if Lucas Gilito is your fourth or fifth starter, you’re in great shape. You’re in great shape. That’s all. Yeah. And with with him, he could potentially get the qualifying offer this year too from the Red Sox. A one-year 20some million dollar deal. If Yeah. And if if his elbows barking at all or if he’s concerned at all that teams might think he can’t stay healthy, then he’s going to have trouble getting a contract. That’s right. after rejecting that deal, he could take that deal and be back on a one-year, which let’s be honest with ourselves, the Red Sox should be thrilled if he takes it. I would think so. Would you want to see Gil stick around or is there somebody else on the market that you feel like they need to be able to pull in? And then also maybe some of the youth being able to shine up early, more specifically, does that change the conversation of how aggressive or less aggressive this team needs to be offseason wise with situating this pitching staff with a lot more confidence going into next year? Yeah, I really think what what Earlyie did this year does change the conversation because I think had you not seen what he can do, you’d be sitting here saying I think maybe they need to get two guys like bring Gito back and get another guy to increase the ceiling. Sure. Now, I mean, you can still do that. I It would be great. Like, I’d love to see them pay Lucas Gileo or him take the qualifying offer and then them go out and get a guy to to raise the bar a little bit. Get a Joe Ryan. Like I I love I love the idea of trading for Joe Ryan or McKenzie signing Dylan CE like like Dylan he led the league in K per this year and you know the RA was a little bit higher but you just see the stuff and how much better he could be get him in with this group and see what he can do. You you could have a dude for years to come if you go that route. Yo dog I’m writing this down. Rocher Ryan writing it down or manifesting cease beo and then whoever at five early fine like whatever that’s a that’s a nice rotation Gordo and then you talk about guys like like you’re not even talking about Dobbins cutter Crawford you’ve got so many options which is which is why I really do think I mean I they’re going to have to address the offensive side of the ball too so they’ve they’ve got a couple of holes to plug here. Okay, let’s go offense. Let’s do it. Trevor Story can opt out. Bregman’s opting out. I mean, what are we doing with these guys? I I understand the business. Opt out, you hit the market, your numbers go up, but are you staying with the Red Sox? That’s my question for both. Yeah. And you saw with Brezlo yesterday, it was it was very they were non-answers when he was asked specifically about Alex Bregman, which understandably right now the decisions in Bregman’s hand as well as Story like those guys can opt out of their deals. I think Bregman probably a little bit more likely than Story, but both definitely on the table. Okay. When you you get those reports saying that Bregman is is for certain opting out, which surprised me a little bit. Me, too. A little bit. Well, it’s just it’s just numbers. Like I don’t necessarily think that he wants to leave. No. But I think he’s saying, “Yeah, I’ll stay, but you’re going to pay me at market value.” Yeah. Which I I get, I guess. And And he’s definitely built up some leverage. I mean, he proved this year with the Red Sox just how important he is. Yeah. talk to every single player on both sides of the ball. Like we talk about Lucas Gileo, like Bregman caught a pitch tipping issue with Gelito against the Yankees and it and it helped him make it through the next month. Uh he stayed on Raphaela when he was on his heater. He credited Alex Bregman for going on that heater. So like this guy obviously what he does on the field is super important, but it’s what he does off the field for his teammates, the leader he is in that locker room, in that clubhouse that makes him so important. And I think for him, he wants to be in a place that’s going to that can win. He wants to be in a ballpark he can hit in. It’s a perfect fit for both sides. It’s just going to be how can they get there? How much money? He can age well here. I I mean, I guess my only concern if I’m the socks and I ain’t writing the check, so what do I care? But my only concern would be the length of the contract cuz he’s not getting any younger, but he can age well here with the youth movement here. He’s a leader. He’s clutch as all hell. Like that’s really what you need. I I think he he’s set up to age well here. It’s just the length of the contract. I would have a little bit of concern. Part of it too is the fact that I mean he made a statement leaving his old team to come here and like I’m sorry the walk out song has a lot to do with it. If you’re not going to appreciate him, he’s going to walk on and so I feel like he’s got to continue to hold on to that. But you don’t want to when you talk about makeup, which was a lot of the conversation around Duran and why he didn’t go at the trade deadline, this is a guy who really did become a makeup of this Red Sox team. So, I would hope that they would find a way to connect here and make sure that he sticks around and ages well in Boston, which leads me to another conversation that took place a lot throughout the season. First base, uh, we don’t know we what we don’t know with Tristan Cases. Then there was all this, we need to get a first baseman in here, then they bring in Nate Low, then there there’s just so much up and down. Is this going to be another conversation that we’re having in the offseason when it comes to solidifying some money that might have to get shued out? Yeah, definitely. I I I think Brelo being non-committal to Tristan Cauus yesterday, although expected uh definitely spoke volumes. They’re they’re going to explore any way they can to get a 30 plus home run bat into this lineup, which they desperately need because Trevor Story led the team with 25 homers this year. And even though they’ve got a fair amount of guys that you think, yeah, they could be 20 plus homer guys, you don’t have that 30 plus to 40 home run bat that Raphael Devers was and they traded Devers and and by all means for the reasons they they had to do that, I get it. But you do have to replace that caliber of bat, that home run power in the lineup. And with Tristan Cases’s injury history missing the more the majority of the last two years, you can’t count on him to be that guy either. So you need certainty. Okay. Okay. Gordo, you talking around all this. Let’s put some names on it because I’ve been saying this team needs a big burly lumberjack of a man with a bat in this lineup. And there’s two names right now. One of them should have never left. Kyle Schwarber. The other one’s Pete Alonzo. Who are the socks getting it? Cuz it’s got to be one of them. Well, I would I would go I would be head over heels for Kyle Schwarber. I don’t think the Phillies are letting him get away. Okay. I I I’m telling you that would be prime number one option. Just Kyle Schwarber on this team would be such a perfect fit. And you’re right. Should have never let him laugh. That to me like call me crazy like that that one was even even more inexplicable than Mookie Betts. Yes. But I digress. Like him Pete Alonzo felt like you were describing Pete Lonzo. They need a big burly guy. He’s going to get in here. Hit 30 plus B lumberjack. Choose rocks type. Exactly. You’ve got you got a couple others maybe. Maybe two frogs type like you don’t need teeth. We just need you to have a hot bath. Exactly. Yeah. Totally fine. But Auaneo Suarez is a free agent 34 going to be 35 in July. He hit 49 home runs this year. Josh Naylor also a Mariner. Could be a middle of the order guy. All these people were available at the deadline. And man, I know. And the and the socks were up to them, too. I know. The Mariners get both. uh Marcelo Zuna, a free agent. And then another guy out of Japan that people have been talking about for a couple years, Munitaka Murakami. They call him the Japanese Babe Ruth. Whoa. I don’t I don’t know if the Red Sox should be taking shots on unproven commodities, but if there was an unproven commodity to take a shot on. Maybe it’s the Japanese Babe Ruth. Wow. Tell me more about this guy. I know he’s going to be expensive. Is he young, old? What is he? He’s young. I young. He’s He’s 25 or 26 years old. uh he he kind of made his mark in the World Baseball Classic. That’s when he kind of like him and Roi Sasaki and Yoshi Nou Yamamoto kind of became household names at least on in the in the US at that time. But yeah, that’s a guy he has some swing and miss in his game, but he can hit the ball out of the ballpark. That’s for sure. There’s one thing that you that you’re going to get there. He’s going to hit home runs. All right. Hey, we learned that the Red Sox are going to get a big burly man with a bat at some point with no teeth and shoes. Yeah, we don’t know who, but we know he’s coming to the Red Sox. That’s all that matters. Gordo, thanks for getting up with us, man. You know, we love when you come here, whether it’s on Zoom or in studio. We appreciate you, man. Thank you. We love having you here, actually. Yeah. Well, we prefer here, no doubt. All right. When we come back, hey, the Patriots are like the new flavor of the moment right now in the NFL, but all of us are like, “Duh, no Shaq, Sherlock. We tried to tell you this team would be good.” We’ll talk about it next. State of the Pats here on Boston has entered the chat. Come with us. you know, just trying to show them, I think, what they’re capable of doing when we can do it um together in all three phases and and play up up to our identity because it wasn’t great. I thought we played really hard. I thought we I thought we flew around on defense. I thought we tried to hammer the football out. Um sometimes we did, sometimes we didn’t. They made some plays, but I thought we have even offensively a lot of room to grow special teams wise. we didn’t have the impact that we maybe or were used to the the previous weeks or some of the phases. So I think that uh you know we continue to show them those things and what we need to improve the things that we do well. I do think that they are trying to uphold the style of play that we want to play with. Um and then we’ll just it’s every week is a challenge and then we’ll move on and you know we’ll prepare to go down and and play the Saints that coming off a huge win at home and um you know that’s where we’re at you know so I’m happy for the players. I’m always happy for the players. They’re the ones that that go out and do it. I appreciate the coach’s efforts but uh you know we we expect you know a good week of practice. We expected to go in and and and play well and and give ourselves a chance to win and that’s what we did. Are you happy? Are you happy, Mike? As we come back into the Salem 5 studios here on Boston has entered the chat. I mean, damn, coach. Y’all won. I’ve never I’ve never seen a coach, unless it’s a championship. I’ve never seen a coach celebrate ever. This is the biggest win of the season. He just couldn’t see with all the shadows on his face. I saw the smirk. I I saw that little we’re getting better. I I saw it. I actually felt it. It is dark as hell. It’s like what are we Patriots man? Call me. Somebody is from there. Call me. Can we put some light on the coach? Every week we talking light on his mouth. Just one. Just one. We’re talking to a silhouette every week. All right, let’s get into this cuz there’s a couple line items here. We’ll get into the big discussion of if this team is a playoff team or not, but I want to start with Antonio Gibson cuz he’s out. Here’s a tweet from Sheffy. So, Gibson has torn his ACL. He’s out for the season. We know this now. We feared this at the moment it happened. We saw his reaction. He was crying and everything. Well, now we know it is a season ending torn ACL according to Sheffer and all the powers that be the doctors and the geniuses. So, no Antonio Gibson moving forward, right? Does that change your perception big picture of what the Patriots can do losing him? Uh, no. It doesn’t change much for me because you just have to look at how they were using him in a functional role per se. And like last year, I think he was sitting at roughly an average of like four and a half carries per game. This year it kind of graduated a little bit to six. But more importantly, whenever this running back group is not having success and one guy tends to punch through, it’s been Roman Stevenson or it’s been Trayvon Henderson. So like it’s not particularly lost. It brings some concern in terms of depth because we’re seeing this team make some gradual growth. And we just heard Braves there say like, “Hey, we need to see a little bit more progression out of our offense, but we’re getting there basically.” So, like that’s where you get concerned of like not having that third guy to kind of come in and change things up for you. But it’s an unfortunate situation. You don’t want to see this for any athlete, especially early in a season and upon a new team that’s trying to make a difference early on. But, um, yeah, I don’t think it’s going to shake things up too much for the Patriots. I’m in a next man up mentality when it comes to Antonio Gibson. Not that his loss isn’t going to be felt. Of course it is. And you spoke to what you spoke to really was versatility, right? Um but I’m like, go sign Zack Moss off the street. It doesn’t matter. Like just get a running back in here who will not fumble the football. That’s a key. If anything, I also think about how much the running back room has either been used or been effective in games. They just pulled off this massive win. you don’t have any guys in the running back room that had more than what 30 40 rushing yards. This team has found a way to pass the ball. So, I feel like that’s another way that kind of alleviates them for what this situation could have meant. Sure. But I I tell you what, and there’s no silver lining when someone gets hurt, right? But if there was, I think now you’re forced to play Trayvon Henderson more and give him more touches. The same way, and I brought up how you spoke about versatility for Antonio Gibson. I’m going there with Trayvon Henderson because that is the same back. Yeah, he can catch, he can run, he can do all the things and we don’t think we don’t think that he has fumbilitis. Okay, I love Antonio Gibson. He has fumbilitis. I do not love Raandre Stevenson. We know damn well he has fumbilitis. So give Tayvon an opportunity. I feel like every week all of us sit here and we’re like, can we get more of the kid? I think now because of this injury, we will. Let’s go big picture here. with this win over Buffalo. You know, I talked about this yesterday. Sometimes there are wins that can carry over. I think we overuse it in the media, right? We’re like, “Oh, they they came back from 10 down. This can carry over.” No, it was just a great comeback win. When you beat a team of the caliber of the Buffalo Bills and your young secondyear quarterback outplays the league NBA, zero turnovers, cleanest performance by the way, on the road in their building. Yeah, that win can carry over with the win over the Bills. Do you believe that this team is a playoff team moving forward? I don’t know if I want to jump to playoffs quite yet. Um, but then being able to beat the Bills is extremely promising to say like, “Hey, we danced on the seven to N line. We can maybe get a little bit closer and more confident to that nine wins possibility and potential because coming up they have what? Saints, Titans, Browns, Falcons. Four beatable teams realistically. And if they are in a trajectory where they’re getting better and making the right adjustments and Drake May is getting confident and settling down so much in a sense to where he’s not turning over the ball and oh by the way that passing game that we were a little concerned about is coming to fruition. A big part of that being Will Campbell success zero pressures allowed zero sacks 97.2% efficiency when it comes to pass blocking. We didn’t expect this kind of stuff to materialize at this point of the season. So, this puts them in a great position to knock out four more wins and can and be in a really comfortable spot. And as we talked about, perfect timing for their by-week when that comes into play also. So, yeah, I feel like we can dance on that line, but I get a little nervous. Lord, he look it is the NFL. I don’t know if you’re winning all four, but if you do, Casey, which is what you just laid out, this team would be seven and two going to Tampa Bay. That is a damn good record. And that is a playoff team. If you have seven wins at that point of the season with so much season left, you at least got to get two more along the way. I I don’t know if they’re going to win all four. I tell you what though, I like I think they can definitely win three. Three out of the four. Yes. I mean, I like their chances this week. Obviously, you’re in New Orleans taking on the Saints. One thing I’ll say though, so you go to New Orleans, you play the Saints. You go to Tennessee, you play the Titans. You’re home against the Browns, home against Atlanta. Those are the four games, right? All four of those teams, A stink. B, they all play you tough, though. Yeah, they all play you tough. You know, I’m quick not to underestimate anyone. Yeah, I’m the disrespectful one in in this tandem. But, but I will acknowledge all those teams cuz I’ve been burn betting against some of those teams, right? And all of them cover spreads are in these games. But, but you’re right. I mean, look, even if they win three out of four, you had to beat New Or I the the next two I think you had to win. you have to go on the road and beat New Orleans and beat Tennessee because th those teams are putrid. The Browns do have a really good roster. They’re just a mess at quarterback. And the Falcons, you don’t know what you got at quarterback. So, I I could see maybe a mixup there, but you’re home for those teams. Yeah. But again, a young team learning how to win. Drake May being young, you got to go on the road and get the wins. That’s a learning process in itself case. A big a big one. And that’s where they have the opportunity to build off what they did so well with the bell with the with the bells with the Bills. But more importantly, just to lock in on one of the other things that Mike Rael said is that getting special teams to pull through a little bit cleaner for them more importantly some of these games that are going to be very tight. That’s where special teams are going to give you some of those points that you’re really going to have to hang on to to clinch those leads. But I think that they’re going to be able to utilize a Hunter Henry Moore and they’re going to be able to open things up differently week by week because they’re all collectively starting to find more confidence as a group. No doubt. Okay, let’s do this. Call us 617-7900928. Get in here. We’re done on Ness and we’re here Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. But at 9:00 a.m. the party continues on Ness Nation. Come join us there. We continue to party, baby, and we need you with us. Boston has entered the chat. Deuces.
The Boston Bruins 2025-2026 season begins TOMORROW! Today, we hear from Don Sweeney, Cam Neely, & Charlie Jacobs who spoke to the media ahead of the Bruins season opener. Travis Thomas & Kasey Hudson share their thoughts and takeaways as well as look a head to the Bruins season opener. Nato Gordon also joins the show to talk Red Sox offseason and what they team could do, and later discuss Patriots RB Antonio Gibson’s season ending einjury and the Patriots as a serious playoff contender.
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0:00 Intro
2:34 Boston Bruins 2025-2026 Season Primer
18:00 What’s Trending
24:56 Red Sox Offseason with Nat Gordon
42:55 Patriots Ceiling Post Bills Win
51:35 Outro
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