Bruins Mailbag: Bruins at Breaking Point, Team USA & Offseason | Pucks with Haggs

Bruins Mailbag: Bruins at Breaking Point, Team USA & Offseason | Pucks with Haggs

Welcome to another edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast. I believe this is the 192nd episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast. The Pucks with Hags podcast is brought to you uh by the CLNS media network with the show brought to you by Prize Picks as well, the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America. Download the pri prize pix app today and use the code cls and get $50 instantly when you play $5. That’s code CLNS on prize picks to get 50 bucks instantly when you play $5. You don’t even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It’s guaranteed. Prize picks run your game. Uh for those of you listening to this episode of the Pucks with Pucks with Hags podcast, we ask that you subscribe to the podcast, like and leave a review, even if I stutter over the first sentence of this uh ad read. And for those watching the show on CLNS and enjoying all this hockey talk, go ahead and hit that like button and subscribe to the Bruins Rinkside YouTube channel where you can find our show and a lot of other great Bruins content with fellow Bruins talkers like Connor Ryan and Evan Marinowski. There’s also the CLNS Media Network and Patriots Press Pass YouTube channels as well. And please, please, please make sure you turn on your notifications so you know the instant a new Pucks with Hags podcast video drops on the interwebs. Who doesn’t love that? Uh, as I said, this is the 192nd episode of the Pucks withhag 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. Uh, I also write columns three times a week for the Boston Sports Journal as well as doing a weekly Q&A with the subscribers over there. So, give that a subscription as well for great content across all four Brewing Sports. Um, I think today we’re going to just do a mailbag hag, uh, episode. We’re going to answer some fan questions. Uh, talk about some things that are going on right now, uh, with the Bruins and the NHL in general, the playoffs, the World Championships. Still plenty of hockey going on, some, you know, uh, youth hockey stuff going on as well. Boston Showdown going on this weekend in Malro. My son Finn is playing on the Young Guns team, uh, with a bunch of elite junior Eagles kids, some Top Gun kids. uh Crimson Kids. One of his buddies came up, Adam Salet, from Florida to play with him as well. Um so pretty fun. Uh and I got to say, um kids are doing great. Uh we played a team from Sweden that uh brought their fan base, has other teams in the tournament singing, chanting, banging drums, huge Swedish flag, uh draped in the arena while they’re playing the game. Awesome atmosphere for kids 11, 12 years old to be a part of. And it’s pretty fun to watch the Swedish team do their thing. Um, doing team calisthenics and warm-ups outside, which is always a great thing at tournaments. Uh, you know, we always encourage as coaches, all our kids to do that, but also walking around the arena everywhere they go in the team jumpsuit, carrying the Swedish flag with them, the whole team, like walking around the arena with one kid in the back holding a big speaker and blasting like Swedish music. So they are basically announcing their presence in Malbor at the New England Sports Center with authority, this Swedish team. Uh they kicked our butts. Very good, talented team. Um and they beat uh pretty handily the second team that they played too. So very impressed with the Swedes that came over here um and are playing in that tournament. But a great tournament in general, Boston Showdown. It’s put on by the the Junior Bruins team, the brick team out of Malber. Uh they do a really good job running the tournament. Uh a lot of fun. So that’s uh the youth uh side of things. Uh on the other side, um great win for Team USA on Saturday over Sweden in Stockholm. Uh I think a 6-2 final, 5-2, 6-2 maybe with an empty net. Um but pretty solid win that puts them in the gold medal game. They have a chance to win their first gold medal at the World Championships in a like what is it 70 80 years almost. Um which is very impressive. I think it’s another show of also uh the growing dominance for USA hockey at all international hockey events. We’re starting to see this more and more even in a tournament like the World Championships where typically it’s the you know the players that aren’t in the playoffs. It’s kind of like a it’s not a coveted uh international championship. I think from an American perspective because a lot of it is just the the players that aren’t playing anymore anywhere else go over there and and suit up for team USA. But I mean it’s still no joke uh the teams that you’re playing. David Posnak is in that tournament. Nathan McKinnon and Sydney Crosby were in it for team Canada who got eliminated. Um Swedish team was loaded. Very good Swedish team playing on their home ice. Elias Lindholm who scored a goal in that game against team USA that helped get Sweden back in the third period. Uh has had a great tournament as one of the leading scorers was the leading scoreer at one point. I’m not sure if he is or not. I’d have to check. But he’s he’s among the leading scorers in the tournament. And it was just up and down the lineup. The Swedish lineup was was stacked. I would say even more talented than the Team USA lineup who had some good very good players obviously uh but skewed a little bit towards the younger side. Um with the players that were on that roster. Jeremy Swayman played excellent in net. Um a number of Bruins players have played extremely well in this tournament and should be able to use this as a springboard uh to next year which is encouraging. uh Swayman I think has played well in net and it speaks to his role on the team and and you know how he’s played and how they view him that he was playing in the game that got them to the gold medal game in Sweden against Sweden. You know that’s that’s where you start your a goalie. That’s where you start your number one guy. The guy that you think is your best goalie uh and he played really well. Uh Andrew Peak has been excellent for team USA um and has been a constant in the lineup. Mason Lorai has not played lately. uh was strong early, had some good offensive games. I have not seen him in the lineup lately. I have not heard that he’s injured. Uh I have not heard that he’s like left the team or anything. So, I think he’s with them and he’s, you know, not playing in these games. He’s been a scratch uh these last few games. Uh but still a great learning experience for him regardless if he’s playing now or if he just got the taste at the beginning of the tournament. Um but and he played well when he was in there. Uh David Pernneck, one of the leading scorers, uh Czech’s best player, really I think the dominant player in the entire tournament. Uh Elias Lynholm played really well for Sweden as well. Um Jacob Loco getting international experience playing for the Czech team with uh David Posternneck. So a lot of really good things going on at the World Championships and I watched the the USA win uh over Sweden. Very strong game all around. just really really strong uh performance by a team that looks like they want to win gold. They look like they’re not there to just like have a European vacation and and have some fun in in Sweden. They look like they’re they’re, you know, they’re going for it. uh which is something that I think in the past Americans have gone over there and and you know maybe like tried to get into the medal round and tried to you know have a deep run but it seems like they’ve also gone over there kind of like looking at it as almost like a vacation after the uh NHL season is over as well uh where they get to play hockey. Um and I think that has colored a lot of the the outcomes and the ones and losses that they’ve had over the years. So it looks like they’re taking this one seriously and that’s great. And like I said before, uh even though it’s not looked at like the Olympics or even the four nations, it’s certainly not the absolute best on best, but these are still really good players. And like I said, that Swedish game, win over Sweden in Sweden against that kind of a lineup is a quality win. That is impressive no matter what way you look at it. So a lot of positives uh out of that World Championships. Um playoffs going on right now. Uh Florida’s up a couple games on Carolina, men against boys. Carolina doesn’t even look like they have a clue of what to do against uh Florida. It looks like the Panthers uh the and I talked about this a little bit before. Um the Panthers have this habit. It’s that a lot of great teams do of just absolutely breaking teams. You know, they’re leaving broken hockey teams in their wake. um they did it to the Bruins a couple years in a row and really were the I think the team that finally pushed them over the edge, over the cliff um to not being a contender anymore and really pushed them into the retooling that you’re seeing now. I think that a lot of that was the Florida Panthers like first round um win uh where they you beat that wagon of a team one year, do it again the next year, and then absolutely outclassed and embarrassed the Bruins on opening night this past season. and really I think started that psyche breaking opening 20 games of the season for this team that like finally snapped this team and kind of broke them spiritually it seemed like to me um and pushed them into what we’re seeing now which was selling off the veterans uh retooling and and kind of rebuilding for for the next couple of years. So they’ve done that to the Bruins, no question about it. Um, and that adds to the sort of like uh knife twisting or whatever you want to call it. Although I don’t I don’t think a lot of Bruins fans view it that way, seeing Marian in Florida Panthers gear. I don’t think they that it’s a heartbreaking thing or a knife twisting thing for them. I think they’re genuinely happy for number 63, happy for the former Bruins captain that he’s with a team that he absolutely should be with. He’s playing a huge role and he’s become the respected leader and and and you know the the the player uh playing a big role and having a big role sort of in the the personality of that team and the identity of that team like he should uh like he deserves to have. So I I think most people are kind of now watching Florida and maybe even rooting for them a little bit. watch or at least rooting for Marshand within Florida if they can’t bring themselves to root for Matthew Kachchuck and Sam Bennett, which I don’t blame them one bit if they can’t do that. Um, but at least rooting for Marshand individually uh to do well. Uh, but they broke the Bruins. They’ve broken the Maple Leafs who have abs they’ve beaten them the last two years in the playoffs and and the Maple Leafs are absolutely headed towards that same reckoning uh that the Bruins went through this past season uh with Mitch Mart going to free agency with the core four just never getting it done in the playoffs and just you know does not have what it takes to win in my eyes uh with the current combination. Now you see Brendan Shanahan has left uh the Maple Leafs. Um, that’s what you call a breaking of a franchise right there too for Florida. So, they’ve done that to Boston. They’ve done that to Toronto, who is now at a crossroads, and they’re in the middle of doing that to Carolina, who uh the the the happy golucky um NASCAR uh NASCAR uh uh parking lot partying, like they treat it like it’s NASCAR and college football when they’re outside tailgating uh before Hurricanes games in that parking lot. I’ve witnessed it many, many times when I’ve been down there in Carolina, and I love it. I say that as a in true admiration of how they treat it. They treat it like it’s a NASCAR race, like it’s a a college football game, like it’s something like that. When they go to the NHL games, they bring Carolina to the NHL in their own sort of flavor. There are not a lot of places in the NHL where you see fans tailgating in the parking lot before the game starts. You do absolutely see that in Carolina. Kind of part of it’s the setup uh there where there’s a huge parking lot that surrounds the arena. So, it allows for that kind of thing. perfect uh for that where so many NHL ranks don’t have that kind of setup. But usually they are super supportive of their team. Uh never a discouraging word. You don’t hear a lot of booing. They’re the ones that, you know, had the the celebration uh after the game. Um you know, all that stuff. They love that team and that team has been successful for a while under Rob Bindore. You heard at the end of that second game with Florida just taking it to them on their ice. You heard the unrest, the shoot the puck, the booze, the you know the the the fans s turning on that Hurricanes, that beloved Hurricanes team of theirs, which you have not seen before as well. And they’re really at a crossroads as well, the Carolina Hurricanes, where they’ve been close for a while and they have players that are passing through their prime now. and if they can’t get over the hump and figure out a way to get to the Stanley Cup final, pretty sure with this core group, it’s going to get broken up. Uh same as the other teams we talked about. So, this could be an unprecedented, you know, three teams that the the the Eastern Conference legit teams that the the Panthers have broken with their physical play, with their attitude, with their swagger, with the way that they just physically dominate you. um the three teams that they’ve broken in in the wake of their path of destruction on the way to the Stanley Cup finals and it looks like they’re doing it to Carolina as well. I really maybe Carolina wins a game in this series, but I don’t give them much of a chance of doing anything. I think Florida’s going all the way. Um and give them a ton of credit. The other series I think is a little more interesting. I think it’ll end up being Edmonton, who has been the better team for most of the periods of those two games that they’ve played, even though it’s an even series. Um, I think Edmonton’s going to end up winning that one as well. Um, you know, that that blown third period, that that nightmare third period might end up being um sort of an asterisk in that series, even though I think Dallas is really good uh and a quality opponent, but I could very easily see um Edmonton and Florida in the Stanley Cup final again. And really, the star power of Conor McDavid, I think, is one of the few things that could could be an answer to what Florida does. like just some of the offensive firepower that they bring in the way that they play, you saw they gave them a decent series last year. I I think it could be the same again this year. And that really of the four teams that are left and the three teams that could face uh Florida, including um Carolina, I think Edmonton’s the only one that could give them a real competitive series. So uh and even then, I think Florida’s going to win again. Um I think adding Marshant was perfect. Adding Schmidt was a good ad. the the veterans that they’ve tacked on to this team that already won were perfect additions. And the Bill Zto showing a blueprint of how to build a winner, how to build a team that can win in the playoffs with the way that they play and how to add every single year and and turning Florida into a destination spot. Like who would have thought 10 years ago uh when they were barely an NHL franchise and so much of what they did was kind of like minor league level um that it would turn into this. You know, it it’s really impressive what they’ve done. the ownership down there, uh, the management, they’ve turned it into a a model NHL operation. And it’s something really that Florida needed, you know, they they needed something like that to sort of bring them out of, uh, teetering on the brink of always, you know, moving somewhere else, not being able to, you know, uh, find stable ownership and and cement themselves as this is where we’re going to be, and we’re not going anywhere. I think that’s changed now, and they’re absolutely that. Uh, and they’ve matched Tampa Bay as far as like how they’re run, how they do business, how they’re viewed as an NHL team, like all that stuff. So, full credit to them. Um, but that’s your sort of update on the NHL playoffs. Um, uh, pretty interesting stuff all around. Uh, for World Championships, the playoffs, everything that’s going on. We have the drafts still coming up next month. Um, NHL free agency still a while away. um Bruins. Uh the only thing really going on with the Boston Bruins right now is the head coaching search and the Don Sweeney contract extension that we talked about. Um still some interesting names uh circulating. I think it was Elliot Freriedman had reported that, you know, they talked to like 15 people. Um Don Sweeney said they’re not waiting on anybody to for the playoffs to be over to talk to any prospective candidates. So that would uh that would eliminate anybody that’s on the Dallas Star staff uh from being uh Donskcov uh in particular from being a candidate um to interview and and for a candidate for the Bruins job. So uh they were on to second interviews. It looks like in the next week 10 days we should find out who the Bruins coach is going to be. Um, we I think the leaders in the clubhouse as far as people I’ve talked to in the what I gather u Jay Woodcraftoft has been a guy consistently that we’ve heard his name and he’s got past NHL experience and I think he would be a good fit as far as you know coming in uh having some credentials having dealt with like really high-end players uh should have the respect factor of everybody in there. Um so that’s a good experience name. Uh I would think um Marco Sturm is definitely a name that’s going to be under consideration. I’ve heard Mitch Love a lot uh the the assistant with Washington um as as a candidate as well. So I I think you know in in addition to Joe Sako I think is a name that is absolutely still in the mix and being considered. It’ll be interesting to see if he stays on maybe as an associate head coach if uh depending on who they bring in as the head guy. Um Jay Leech has been interviewed and is absolutely under consideration as well uh from the Bruins staff. So that’s a handful of names right there um that I think are strong strong contenders um for the job. Uh of those I think they’re all interesting. I think they all bring different strengths and weaknesses. I would not I would not go with um the anybody that came from the Bruins staff like Jay Leech. I just wouldn’t do that this time around just based on the season they had. He was coaching the defenseman, the defenseman did not have a good year. Like I think when you put all of that stuff into the mix, I just don’t think it’s the right time to to push him into a situation where maybe you’d have him as the head coach and maybe you’d even have uh you know see if Josaco could be an experienced guy uh to be on the bench with him since he doesn’t have any NHL head coaching experience. Um, Marco Sturm has not won at the NHL level, like has not um, won a championship or anything like that, but I think his ties to the Bruins, I think his ties to the the the influential Bruins that won the cup, his ties to Don Sweeney Cam Neely being, you know, a member of that team when they were in the organization. I think all of that stuff in addition to Marco being being an awesome uh person and individual just a really like energetic positive uh force that I think would be really good and and I think somebody that would knows the landscape, knows the media, knows what it’s about to be a brewin and all that stuff like I think all that is is invaluable as far as experience goes. I would love to see him as the head coach. I think he would be really good. Um, and I think it would be really the right kind of decision outside the box uh to bring him in at this point. Um, just based on everything uh that you’re you’re taking into account. Uh, you know, but Woodcraft, I think, is a guy that you have to seriously consider based on his credentials and based on his resume and everything else. Um, and I you know, I think in Mitch Love, though, I’ve I’ve also heard those would be the the the ones that I think it would be down to if I were to guess as far as finalists go. Uh, and we’ll see who they pick. Uh Mitch Love, from what I’ve heard, an intense guy, a guy that’s good, all about defensive structure, uh would get the Bruins back to their defensive structure that they got away from under Jim Montgomery. Uh that I think is an important part of their success. Um and that Joe Sako tried to get them back to. Um, so I, you know, I think any of them could be the choice and it’ll be based on probably the interviews and and fit and, you know, whatever um, those coaches kind of want as far as picking their own staff, as far as even salary, like all these different things uh, will certainly come into account. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes. Uh let’s take a break in the podcast uh to let you know about Prize Picks, the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America and the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Join over 10 million users and get started today. 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Uh this is from SMCB17 obvious on uh Twitter. Obviously wasn’t even close to our A squad, but that Sweden team was pretty legit. Really impressive win for that group, especially in Sweden. Love the timeout and the response after Sweden got too quick in the third period. Yeah, I I would give um I think it’s is it Ryan Marinowski? Uh Ryan Worovski I think that’s the coach. Um I always get them mixed up because I think it was David that was on the Bruins and then I covered at BEu. Um yeah, a great coaching move by Warsovski there. Um after a couple of goals had made I think it was four to two in the third and if he let it go uh if they scored another really would have turned into a dangerous territory. uh p pulled the perfect call in the third period, perfect timing to call a timeout, get everybody collected, get everybody on the same page, sort of calm everybody down and get them back to business. And then they went out and extended the lead. Um Lakeome uh scored a great goal from the back end. Nice rush and then uh they got an empty neter and that was it. Game over. Um, so great coaching there from Warsovski, who I’ve heard nothing but great things about as a coach, um, over the years as he was working his way up the system and, uh, you know, really talented crew both coaching and player-wise on that Team USA, uh, squad over in Sweden that’s playing for the gold medal right now. So, absolutely good call there. And, you know, like I said before, that’s a quality win. Like, I don’t care what tournament you’re in. I don’t care what’s going on. if you’re playing a Swedish team full of NHL guys like that in their home country, like you got to bring it to beat them, and they did. Um, all right. This is from Steve 82329621. I can’t see the Oilers or Stars having a chance against the Panthers. Uh, we talked about this a little bit earlier. I’m not sure the Stars have a chance, even though they got a talented team. I I think they’re good. They’ve got good goalending. They’ve got a good defenseman. Uh, they’ve got a quality uh group of forwards that are talented. They play a dynamic, fast, skilled game. Uh they can score a lot of run up a lot of goals on you, but I just don’t see them being able to beat Florida, especially with their defenseman crew. I’m not sure that they’re talented enough to be able to handle that for check. The Oilers are the only ones I give a chance. And I think it’s because just they have generational players that can be difference makers and can just take over games. You need something like that. You need something different uh some kind of different factor uh to add to the mix if you’re going to beat the Florida Panthers. If you’re just a standard team, I I don’t think you hold much of a chance against their depth, against their toughness, against their will to win, against their physicality, against Sergey Babski behind all of that. Um, and the coaching staff as well, first class, uh, Paul Maurice, like that is a combination that is like almost impossible to beat. Uh, and the margin for error is super thin. You know, that’s something Rob Brenda talked about where like it’s always thin margins against that team where if you’re going to beat them, it’s going to be a thin margin and if you make any mistakes at all, you’re dead. And Carolina just came out and didn’t even play their game. And you do that, you’re you’re cooked. And if you do that because you’re kind of adjusting to what you saw in game one, you’re super cooked. Like you don’t even have a shot. Like you’re have an identity crisis that this team has made you uh succumb to uh because of the way that they play in the middle of a playoff series. you’re like you are freaking done at that point. Um so yeah, I Edmonton’s the only team I would give a chance to have a good series against Florida in the Stanley Cup final. I’m already fast forwarding to that point. Uh because I think certainly the Eastern Conference Finals is over. Um all right, this is from J Long Jr. Monty’s team made the playoffs. Is there a good argument that the Bees had a have had a coaching and not a management problem? Um he’s talking about the St. Louis Blues making the playoffs there. I don’t think it’s been a coaching problem, per se. Um, like I I’ve gone over this before. I think the I think Don Sweeney being maligned for firing Jack Adams winning coaches is bull crap. I think it’s a madeup narrative. Um, it sounds good because you can say that it like rings as some sort of like uh, you know, negative against him, some sort of uh, con on the list of pros and cons. Like, oh, he can’t he can’t manage his coaches. He fires all these great coaches. Like I sure, I guess you could say that, but like let’s break them all down again. And I’ve done this a few times. K Julian, he came on. Klo Julian was at the end of his run with the Bruins. It was time. It was time to make a coaching change when Klo Julian was fired. Like he had a great run with the team. He’s the winningest coach of all time. Um he did won them a cup. Great coach, great guy. Love Clo Julian. But like there’s only so long you can coach hockey teams in the same players before the message gets old, before it doesn’t, you know, ring through like it used to. But like the the tricks that you use don’t work anymore. Like frankly sometimes individuals get just tired of each other like whatever whatever the case may be. Hockey is very unique in this dynamic that like the same coach doesn’t always get the same message through for a long period of time. Like there’s an expiration date on every coach when they’re hired and it was closed time. It was time to make a change when they fired him. So that is one I do not hold against Don Sweeney in the light the slightest. He moved on to to Bruce Cassidy who excellent coach. Immediately they started winning. Got them to a Stanley Cup final in 2019. Had a very a great record with this team. Um you know made the playoffs every year. Was an exacting coach. Was hard on his players. Was was at times I think tough to play for for some of these guys. And I think there were veterans that really had issues with him in the way he treated some veteran players. I think there was some legitimacy to all of that. But I also think he’s a damn good hockey coach and he got the best out of those players more often than not and that’s his job. And I think the Bruins did make a mistake there in firing Bruce Cassidy when they did which stunned everybody. And I am not sure if Don Sweeney was ultimately the, you know, the the one with the smoking gun on that one. I think he had to serve out the the walking papers and I think he, you know, ultimately had to, you know, come to that side before that decision was made, but I’m not sure he was the guy driving the bus on that one. Um, so I, you know, I’m going to blame him because he’s the GM for that one. There was a mistake and for him not saying if you’re going to fire him, you got to fire me. Something like that. Um, but that one, yes, mistake. And and I think of the three, that one was the biggest mistake. Jim Montgomery. Um, I think we can see now they got way away from the defensive structure they used to play with. They are became much more of a risk-taking offensive-minded team. They became much softer team trying to hold leads at the end of games, getting scored on a ton in sixon five situations when the other team pulled the goalie. And they also were a team that soft mentally that like collapsed in the playoffs. We saw it two years in a row where the wideeyed coach uh influenced the players and they played uh you know scared to hold a lead late in games and blew game sevens um in in playoffs. And isn’t that exactly what we saw from the St. Louis Blues blowing a game seven epic proportions there um to lose that first round series with the goalie pull. He gave up two goals six on five. This is exact same problem that Jim Montgomery had with the Bruins, he now has with the St. Louis Blues. I think Jim Montgomery is a pretty good coach. I think he is a great college hockey coach. I think he probably should have stayed in college. Um, I think in the NHL he’s having a much harder time uh because there are flaws to his coaching. There’s a little chaos on the bench going on at times. Um, I think there’s a lack of composure at times where, you know, in the big moments in the playoffs, there’s a wideeyed nature to him that I think the players pick up on and and so many times the players pick up on what’s going on with the coach. We saw a zillion too many men in the ice penalties with Montgomery and Boston that to the point he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. And if you’re the coach, you kind of have to talk about it and he would like shrug it off. But like these are issues. Like if you can’t fix it, you can’t shrug it off and say, “Oh, it’s, you know, somebody else’s fault.” Or insinuate that it’s somebody else’s or put it on the players. Like no, you’re the coach. If it’s too many in the ice penalties all over the place, you got to find some way to straighten that out. Um there’s too many things like that that I think are issues that crop up with him that kill you in the playoffs. He’s been out coached in almost every playoff series he’s been in, whether it’s with the Bruins or somebody else. I don’t think Jim Montgomery is one of the great NHL coaches of all time. I think the amount of crap that Sweeney gets for firing Montgomery when he didn’t sign an extension, didn’t have the Bruins ready to play in training camp coming out of this year, choked in the playoffs each of the last two years, and was out coached in the playoffs last of the two years, had serious issues that never got corrected. Um, you know, there’s too much going on and too many negatives to give that guy the five-year contract that the St. Louis Blues did. I think they’re going to come to regret that. And I say this knowing that Jim Montgomery is motivated by hearing this stuff, motivated by failing, motivated by everything. And I think he’s a pretty good motivator. I think players like him. I think they enjoy playing for him. Um, you know, all that stuff. But I just think there’s things I look at with him and say he’s never going to be a great coach at the NHL level. Like, it’s never going to be there. There’s too many things that problems with his system, problems with the teams he coach coaches, problems in the big moments in the playoffs. It’s like you can’t be a great coach if all that stuff is going on. And it’s consistently been there. It’s not just with the Bruins. The same thing that happened with the Blues was happening with the Bruins when he was here. So, I actually think they did the right thing, moving on from Jim Montgomery and not tying themselves up to a long-term deal with a coach that had flaws they couldn’t overcome. Um, so when I look at it right now, I see uh Don Sweeney, two of those three moves removing those coaches, even though they won Jack Adams awards, I agree with. Like, let’s be honest. Jim Montgomery won the Jack Adams with a wagon of a hockey team that set the NHL record in the regular season, right? Anybody could have coached that team with the talent that they had. Anybody could have gotten a maybe not a record-breaking season, but anybody could have gotten a great season out of that team. Patrice Berseron was basically a coach on that team. Like, you’re not going to convince me that Jim Montgomery is one of the best coaches of all time because he was guiding a freaking wagon of a team that set records during the regular season, then choked in the first round of the playoffs. I’m sorry. I just don’t buy into that. Like, I’m going to continue to be the voice of reason when it comes to the the Bruins getting uh heranged for the coaching decisions that they’ve made because I think they were right on with two out of the three. I don’t agree with the Cassidy move. I still don’t, but I think they probably learned something from that. Uh, and learned that you can’t always let the players sort of cater uh you can’t cater to their whims and let them drive the bus if a coach is being really hard on them and let them kind of make the decision to go with a softer touch. Um, you know, I I I I just think I’m there’s certain things you can get on the Bruins for the draft, uh, some of the free agent signings, you know, some of the decisions they’ve made. I think the coaching is not one of them, and I it bothers me to no end whenever I hear that one get brought up. Um, all right. What do we got here? Uh, Boston Brewi on Twitter. Brui. Donniey’s guys are scattered around the four teams left. Noskick, Greer, Marshian, and Boquist on the Panthers. Holland Orlov on the Canes. Sean on the Stars. Frederick on the Oilers. That’s almost three lines. I mean, this is a really good point. Um, you know, there are ex Bruins all over the place. and uh you know they must be doing something right if they have talent from that have that’s come through the Bruins playing on all these other playoff teams and serving good roles and and you know uh doing well on these other teams that are still left in the final four of the playoffs and you know you can’t always keep these role player types like the Boquist types Dmitri Olive they were not going to be able to uh afford especially where he’s kind of a a real riverboat gambler when it comes to defenseman um Taylor Hall obviously they had to trade way uh because they couldn’t afford him either with the salary cap stuff. So, um you know, some of that is inevitable, but I think it also is a great point that it tells you that the Bruins know what they’re looking at, know talent, know how to bring in talent. Sure, they’ve run into salary cap issues at times where they had to part with some of this talent. But I really don’t quibble too much with their ability to recognize talent in NHL players, the free agent signings, especially the bargain ones, the trades that they make. If there’s one thing they need to get better at, I think it’s drafting, especially in the first round. Uh, but I think so many other areas they do well. I would like to see them um go for maybe offensive players a little bit more than they do at times rather than uh seemingly load up on third line forwards and guys that they project are going to be better than they’ve actually shown in the NHL. They sometimes you need a star player that can score goals. Like you need a few of those. You can’t rely on poster neck to score all the time for you. And that’s going to go even more having lost to Brusk and Marshian in uh consecutive years on the wing. They need to continue to keep finding players that can put the puck in the net. Uh and they also can’t rely on Morgan Geeki to be a 30 goal scorer every year even though he’s probably going to hit 20. Like they need to bring somebody else in like a legit goalcoring wing uh this off season. But uh beyond that, like I I think it’s well documented they do a really good job uh recognizing talent. So, um, you know, this was a fairly positive, uh, mailbag, I’m going to say, for the Boston Bruins. So, uh, the management, Bruins management, you may want to listen to this Pucks with a podcast because this was one for you. I was giving your your flowers and your credit. Uh, which is, I think, justly deserved in the amount of criticism that you get from um, you know, people that know hockey, people that are casual about hockey, like uh, you know, it comes from all over. Um, but that’s this edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast. Thank you very much for listening. For those of you listening to this episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast, we ask that you subscribe to the podcast, like and leave a review. And for those watching the show on CLNS and enjoying all this hockey talk, go ahead and hit that like button and subscribe to the Bruins Ringside YouTube channel where you can find our show and a lot of other great Bruins content with fellow Bruins talkers like Connor Ryan and Evan Marinowski. There’s also the CLS Media Network and the Patriots Presass 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. That is it for this edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast. Uh we’ll also tell you to download Prize Pix app today and use code CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play five bucks. Code CLNS on prize picks to get $50 instantly when you play $5. You don’t even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It’s guaranteed. Prize picks run your game. We’ll see everybody at the rink. We’ll see some of you in Malber. I’ll be there on Saturday as part of this Boston Showdown tournament put on by Chris Masters in the Junior Bruins brick uh organization. Um, otherwise I will see you at other rinks all around New England. Have yourself a great Memorial Day weekend. We’ll see you at the rink.

Pucks with Haggs host Joe Haggerty answers your Bruins questions in a Hagg Bag mailbag episode of the Pucks with Haggs podcast.

0:00 Mailbag episode
3:57 – Team USA win
9:53 – Bruins’ breaking point
12:16 – Hurricanes at crossroads
14:01 – Florida’s playoff dominance
16:09 – Bruins coaching candidates
18:54 – Marco potential
21:35 – Bruins content sources
24:21 – Edmonton’s playoff chance
26:37 – Coaching vs management debate
28:40 – Montgomery’s playoff issues
31:09 – Sweeney’s coaching decisions
34:20 – Bruins’ talent recognition
36:30 – closing remarks

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