Did Bruins Make Right Moves in Free Agency? | Pucks with Haggs

Did Bruins Make Right Moves in Free Agency? | Pucks with Haggs

Welcome to the Pucks with Hags podcast, a proud member of the CLNS Media Network. Make sure to hit that subscribe button to the Bruins Ringside YouTube channel and turn on notifications for when a new video drops on the channel. This show is also brought to you by Prize Pix, the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America. Download the Prize Pix app today and use the code cls and get $50 instantly when you play five bucks. That’s 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. Uh, welcome on in, like I said, to the Pucks with Hags podcast. Thank you for listening. Thank you for interacting. Thank you for your comments, uh, for your likes and subscribes and all that good stuff. Thank you so much, uh, just just for listening and and taking us in. This is the 205th episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast. I’m your host, Joe Hagerty. You can find my work at joehagerty.substack.com. Subscribe and get yourself a premium membership. Get all of my Bruins and NHL writing sent straight directly to your inbox. I also write columns three times a week for the Boston Sports Journal. Uh so go to bostonportsjournal do.com and check out all the great work, not only by me, but Greg Baddard, Mike Gardy, a cast of thousands there. Great coverage of all four major Boston Pro sports teams. Uh we’re going to answer some questions today as part of this and some of those questions came from uh my Q&A weekly Q&A session with uh the subscribers there. Uh with me today, longtime friend and colleague Mick Collagio. Mick, welcome in and please tell everybody where they can find your work, my friend. Yeah, I blog on uh called Rinkap and I linked to it on X and Facebook. And I also just filed my Bruins chapter for the hockey news’s in uh annual yearbook issue that will come out before the season. Awesome. Uh check all of that stuff out. Um Mick, we’ve got some questions to answer later on. Um but I I just wanted to open up with uh any thoughts you had about um development camp about uh leftover the free agency period any sort of now that it’s been marinating for a while um any observations or takes or anything that uh you wanted to put out there that you hadn’t yet uh talked about? Um well, having finally made it there on Thursday morning for the uh scrimmaging portion of the program, um I was just amazed at how small Dalton Bankra first and Andre Gasso second um looked. And not that they’re small, they’re big guys, especially Gasso, but in that group of players, they were very average size. I was amazed at how big some of Rangy some of these guys are out there on that ice. Uh that that uh I was gonna say the Bruins are not getting smaller. Gasso looks like one of the biggest uh players in that looked like one of the bigger players in that camp when they’re in the locker room uh after uh you know getting their stuff. Just maybe a little lower than I realized. Maybe maybe they he didn’t by the way they skate they slotted him in left wing in the scrimmage. the full length scrimmage u rather than center which is where he could wind up playing at BC again. Yeah, for a loaded team too. Um I missed uh the the scrimmage and the I the scrimmage has become okay for me. Um the full ice scrimmage I am much bigger fan of the threeon-ree tournament that they do before that. Um, I feel like that really shows you a lot of good and bad. Um, you know, the positives and the negatives with each of these players, the strengths and the weaknesses. They really come out in that format. I think you can’t hide when you’re playing three on three small area. Um, with other with good players. Um, the playmaking, uh, the ability to move without the puck. um you know, the ability to think away from the puck and and make smart reads away from the puck and to make smart decisions with the puck and to work uh with players that maybe you haven’t even played that much with. Um all of that stuff I I think becomes very obvious and obviously there’s still a lot of room for like the great one-on-one skill in that kind of format too if they have great stick handling, skating, uh you know, ability to to create one-on-one. um and draw defenses and you know get it to the open guy, all that stuff. Uh and also like some guys that you know and then you notice this from the youngest levels all the way up into that, the guys that play defenseman sometimes almost look like they just want to hang back and stay stay out of the fray and play defense in front of the net or closer to the net. Um and and sort of be the last man back um uh and sort of waiting for pucks to come to them. Uh all that stuff I think is in play. I I wish I had seen that this year. Um, from what I noticed, I was there earlier in the week. Uh, Hagens obviously I thought uh stood out from skating, stick handling, overall skill, the shot that he has, the ability to quickly generate a lot of power on that shot. Um, I think all that stuff was very apparent and you can tell why he’s he is drafted where he was and and why the expectations are so high for him. Um, Dean Lroo I thought looked better, Mick. Uh, I don’t know how he looked in the scrimmages, but I thought he looked better when I watched him. He looked much more like a guy that’s probably ready for Hockey East and for the NCAA’s. Uh, a guy that knows what’s expected out of him now and knows exactly where he needs to be, who was much higher up among his peers in in the development camp than he was a year before where there were flashes, but he also struggled at times. um you know that there was some other guy the a lot of the guys that got drafted um the defenseman from from uh Czech Republic I thought was really good. Uh Blar uh showed some really good skill uh given we didn’t know a ton about him. Um uh you know Will Moore I thought looked pretty good. Um definitely looked like he had skill and speed and good hands and um you know there were good reasons behind where he was picked as well. Uh, in general for me, I thought the development camp Mick backed up that the Bruins had a good draft, that they brought in a lot of talent. Some of the guys that they brought in were some of the best players and some of the people you noticed the most uh from a skill perspective and just overall as solid players. Um, what did you think of in particular of the draft class after watching them in the scrimmage? Yeah, Hagen’s um the zone entries. He’s got the hands, he’s got the feet, he’s got the eyes, and he’s got the courage. and seeing a guy get through over the blue line so comfortably with a variety of methods of scaring with speed or doing it with a move or or doing it with smarts. This kid’s got it. And it’s incredible that he fell to the Bruins. Now, I’m not saying anything about the players who were chosen before him. Maybe if I got to see them all uh as much, I would realize that why is everybody talking about what this is such a so- so draft? I mean, to get him at number seven, this kid’s legit and he’s got incredible talent and um and and and he’s got it inside him to use it. And it’s so hard and in the bigger the level of the game to to get good zone entries. So I get a real Craig Janney kind of a vibe out of this kid. Um you know that he’s got that ability to have put his instincts out there and and make things happen. I’m I’m excited about that. I think the Bruins got themselves a center here that they’ve been trying so hard for so long to identify somebody who can play in the top six for them for a long time. And uh this kid looks like the real deal. That’s what it looks like today. And uh no reason to not be optimistic and excited about it going forward. Uh beyond that um yeah, I agree on LNO. Um and uh and I just was overall impressed with how well everyone passed the puck and played with each other. I really liked what I saw from that standpoint. Um there weren’t too many of those moments where somebody was saying, “Oh, here’s my big chance to shine, so I’m going to beat 21 guys and score.” You know, it wasn’t like that at all. It’s like it’s like they all were part of the same program and seem to like being in it. And there that alone was exciting. It’s um really Pelosi’s a rangier player than I realized. Um, uh, Grunwald really smooth, passes the puck really well, uh, met him after I think the kid is still like 12 and he’s and he’s huge and strong and gonna be stronger quite obviously. Um, he baby and his family um, older brothers by, you know, a gap, so they were working on him when he was young and he’s a manchild. Um, I think he’s an NHL player. So, this is this is a really good development camp for the Bruins, not only from the whole view, the panorama, but also um just looking at the talent that Hagens has. Uh, that alone is exciting. So, so yeah, this is this was pretty cool, this whole thing. Yeah. And as far as Grunwald goes, I really liked him last year and that was his first development camp right after he was drafted. And to to see a player play like that, perform that way, handle himself that way as a kid just coming out of the draft. Um I was thinking the same thing that you’re saying right now that, you know, I’m going to keep an eye on this kid because he looks like an NHL player. He looks like he’s, you know, in in the future, a few years down the road when he continues to physically mature, develop his game at the college level, he’s at Quinnipic, which is a good program. Um, you know, he’s somebody that I think you that you’re going to see play in Boston a bit at the very least um a few years down the road, but you could already see it like the talent level’s there. There’s no doubt about it. Um, and and it’s gonna and he looks like he’s going to be a kind of defenseman that can do a lot of things pretty well. like he’s going to be a good all-around defenseman. Uh at least he looks that way to me. I think the Bruins are looking at him the way they used to look at Hannifan. Yeah. Except in this case, they got the guy. Yeah. Yeah. And Yeah. He’s not a first round pick obviously. And Hannah was was, you know, a much more finished product at a younger age. That’s why those get guys get taken in the first round and taken as early as they do. But like he definitely gives off vibes of of somebody that’s that could be a really solid defenseman with some offensive upside uh moving forward um as long as his development goes well which it seems like he’s on track with that because he looked good at this camp as well uh even better than uh last year. Um little bit of news. Um just uh got this sent this a few minutes ago from the Providence Bruins that uh Ryan Bourke, the youngest son of Ray Bourke, um has been added to the Providence Bruins coaching staff, which I I think is interesting and great. And um I remember it was funny. I remember the last one of the the well, not the last time, but previous to this year, I think the last time I had covered the AHL playoffs with the Providence Bruins, Ryan was playing uh for the Hartford Wolfpack and was playing against the Providence Bruins in the playoffs. And I remember seeing Ry uh at the game. Um so he may end up being uh you know, a much more of a presence at Providence Bruins games moving forward. Uh but um awesome to see the Bourke family um and and Ryan Bourke as a part of the Bruins organization and and helping guys down in Providence. And you know, it’s definitely not one of those um nepotism type hires. Uh Ryan Bours put together an impressive coaching uh body of work already for a young guy that was playing only a few years ago. Was the head coach at Cushing uh this past season, was at the US national development program the year before that. Uh and was working with Will Moore and um and Hagens when he was there. Um and now joins uh Ryan Mujinell and Trent Whitfields uh at at the the Providence level um to work with the young guys there. I I you know, anytime you see Bourke and the Bruins, it feels right, Mick. But this seems like a a great addition to the Providence. Um I think it’s I think it’s uh great that the that this um this family continues to spawn great hockey minds. And um I mean Chris was was a real quite the tweener. Ryan people thought might be the more prolific player. As it turns out, neither guy was able to make the the permanent leap to the NHL with I mean, you know, partly became like 4 foot nothing and so uh you know, but great hockey players, great hockey minds, great big hockey hearts and and so to to get him with the Bruins I think can only be awesome and the potential is enormous and I’m excited to see what he brings because if they are anything like the old man then they have an aggressive explosive attitude toward how to play the game and that’s whether they have the puck or the opponent has the puck. Um, I think Ray Bourke when you play as long as he did, 22 years and you end it on a sentimental note, then his legacy as a player gets lost. when Ray Bourke was in his prime, late 80s till say 91 before he really played too many long years in a row and it kind of took a little edge off his his uh speed. Uh he was one of the greatest players I’ve ever seen. Yep. And all situations. uh he could go in the corner, three Hartford Whalers go down like bowling pins and he comes out with a puck and and his kids are forwards. So, I’m excited to see what that brings out of their minds and creativity, but with that aggressive attitude and what he could what that’s going to translate into for uh player development with the Boston Bruins going forward, that plain old excites me just because they’re coming from him and they had great careers and uh Ryan was a very talented uh player. So, this is awesome that he’s doing this and he’s doing it well and that the Bruins have him. Yeah, no doubt. And it’s great to have guys that aren’t too far from their playing career um especially at the AHL level on the coaching staff. Uh Ryan is certainly qualifies in that regard and had worked with young guys at the US national development program. So, you know, you need somebody like that, I think, on a developmental coaching staff at the AHL level. Um, that’s used to coaching with the younger guys that uh is is not too far from playing, can still speak the language with those guys and sort of connect with them on a different level than maybe some of the other coaches can um that have other things to worry about and are sort of, you know, um are a little bit more uh from their playing days. So, I think that’s a great addition for all those reasons and more. Um, let’s take a break right now, Mick, and talk about our friends at Prize Pix. Prize Pix is 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. Instead of battling thousands of other players, it could be pros or sharks. Simply pick more or less than on two to six player stat projections and you watch the winnings roll right in. It’s fun and it’s super simple. On prize picks, you can mix and match player projections from different sports. Combine your favorite hockey players with players from baseball, basketball, esports, and so much more. You can now win up to 2,000 times your money on prize picks. Prize Pix also offers Venmo, Mastercard, and Apple Pay for quick and easy deposits into your account this sports season. Download the Prize Pix app today and use the code CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play $5. That’s code CLNS on Prize Pix to get $50 instantly when you play five bucks. You don’t even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It’s guaranteed. Prize picks run your game. Uh, and for those of you listening to this episode of the Bucks with Hacks 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 CLNS Media Network and Celtics All Access on CLNS, the NBA History Channel, Patriots Press Pass, and Bruins Ringside YouTube channels as well. Also, please make sure to turn on your notifications so you know the instant a new Pucks with Hags podcast video drops on the interwebs. All right, we got some questions here, Mick. Um, let’s start with this one right out of the shoot. This is from Louden Swain 234. I love the Vision Quest reference uh from that from Louden Swain. And um this was a question on the Q&A at the Boston Sports Journal, one of them anyway. Um Joe, what’s the most optimistic pred prediction you can muster for where the bees will place in their division in 202526? And is that number higher or lower than the number of years we’re all going to have to wait before they’re stock to beat any of Florida, Tampa, Toronto, and possibly others like Montreal who are progressing along in their rebuild. And that’s from Loud and Swain 234. Uh Mick, I’ll open this up to you before I uh give my opinion. I’m completely distracted now. I’m trying to remember the name of the cougar actress that that was uh that was in the relationship in that movie. Um but um in Foot Loose, too. The what? Wasn’t the same girl that was in Foot Loose? Um am I wrong on that? I saw Foot Loose in a theater. You You answer first of many Kevin Bacon movies. Mick, you answer and I’m going to look it up. Okay, go ahead. Um, I’m not going to answer. My brain’s fried. I was busy filing the Hockey News Bruins chapter two days ago. All right. Well, I mean, just give me your give me your um best guess. Where do you think they’re going to finish in the uh in the Atlantic division? Where where do you have them responded right now? Um, first, no, I’m I’m thinking probably um I’m I’m not ruling out a top three, but I think a wild card is most likely. Wow. Really? That’s That’s That’s pretty Oh. Uh, Linda Florentino. There you go. That’s who it was. That’s who it was. That’s who it was. No, the podcast isn’t doing that. That’s me. Um, so decades gone by, you think the Bruins uh you you real like Okay, that’s your optimistic prediction. I’m not ruling out top three. I think wild card is most likely. Okay. More likely than missing the playoffs. You think the wild card is more likely than missing the playoffs? Yes. Okay. That I mean that’s pretty optimistic. I do not I think realistic I think optimistic for me would be wild card. Uh I don’t think they’re going to finish top three. I don’t think there’s any shot that they finish top three. I really don’t. Um I I think finishing in the top five fifth team is probably as as optimistic as I would get. I mean maybe they could get the fourth, you know, the higher wild card slot, maybe. But I feel like sixth is more realistic. Like just out of the playoffs might be where I expect them to fall. Um I don’t have them finishing higher than Florida. I don’t have them finishing higher than Tampa Bay. I do not have them finishing higher than Toronto. Although if I was going to look at the the three of them, I think Toronto is the one I would look at and say has the best chance of sort of falling out of things a little bit. Um, but I just think they have too much firepower and too much talent in the regular season that they’re going to score goals and they’re going to win games and pile points. Um, but like there’s other teams. Uh, Ottawa, I think I have a hard time believing the Bruins are going to pass Ottawa. I think Ottawa is a team on the rise and I think they’re going to get in the playoffs. Uh, Montreal certainly uh continues to get better and better and I think that might be a team that’s ahead of the Bruins. Um, realistically, I think Buffalo are the two teams that maybe you could finish ahead of. Um, and I think that’s, you know, they’re going to be fighting it out with uh like one of those teams that’s above them and maybe those two teams to try to get in the wild card. My question to you is who’s who’s fallen out of it if um of Florida, Tampa Bay, and Toronto if the Bruins are going to finish top three? And do you really think the Bruins are gonna finish higher than the Ottawa Senators next year, Mick? I think in the long run, Ottawa’s got a more reliable plan for long range improvement and taking steps forward. But these things are never linear. There’s always plateaus, problems, setbacks, and then the larger journey continues if they stay the course. So I think within the nooks and crannies of hey we made a big step now we feel good about ourselves. Well when they hit adversary and adver adversity in the coming season then they might be hey we to we were supposed to be and then sometimes you fall back a little bit. So I mean I’ve seen this many times over many decades. The Buffalo Sabres were like everyone’s darling in 1973, third year of their existence, and they made uh they took the Montreal Canadians to six games and one of the greater better seasons any team’s ever had. And then the 1974 Perau breaks his leg, they missed the playoffs. 1975, they’re tied for the best record in the league and they make the final. Um, so there’s there’s just many examples I could think of along the way like this where I think that the thing is the Bruins I think are coming together and galvanizing and I think there’s a lot of guys with a lot of different kind of motivation and they and there so there’s a little bit of that first year Vegas Golden Knights thing going on with some of their middling players. I think there’s a lot there to pull together the new coaches and energy thing. Swayman’s resolve has to be important to us. The defense is locked down. It looks really good. Uh so everything, everybody’s got X factors. Everything’s about injuries. Um but yeah, you could look at the Bruins and say, “Yeah, top nine, top line, bottom nine.” But um I do think that a lot of guys are going to be motivated to prove something. And I do think that they got an interesting group of players with some snarl there. And um so while I think the Bruins have a longer range toward letting their their their prospect pool affect their their future, they got a longer wait for that than some of these other teams that have been out of it for a while and are now suddenly on the cusp. Um, I do think that um that this could be a year where the Bruins pop a little bit back and that a team like the Lightning uh that’s still trying to play for yesterday, they’re still trying to be yesterday’s team. I think that that that last year, that loss to Florida is probably going to haunt them every time anything bad happens in this coming season. So, I look at them and wonder if they’re the ones who might take a step back. Okay. I mean, that’s interesting and I think one of these years, you know, that that may happen for Tampa. Um, I also think it’s great. I love Mick that we’re talking about next year’s Atlantic Division and you’re pulling a Buffalo Sabres 1973 reference. I love that. I absolutely love that. Who else would do that? Some Somebody’s got to step up. I think that’s the best. Um, all right. Uh, here’s another question. This is from Sham D. Hey Joe, what do you expect out of Hagens next year? How will we know if he’s progressing well enough to be playing against grown men in the near future? Um, I think like Hagen’s the expectation is I think what they need to see out of him at Boston College is him dominate as a player and probably be the the guy that most expected he would be right off the bat at BC, but probably wasn’t because uh of guys like Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perau and and that there’s such a stacked group of players at Boston College and established high, you know, first round picks and and uh NHL prospects that were on that team that were older than him that there was a little bit I think of um sort of like following their lead going on. Uh uh first starting out as a freshman there and as a true freshman that was like an 18-year-old kid. I think he was 17 when he first got on campus at the Heights this past season. There’s uh maybe some difference going on to those guys and I think that’s totally understandable and and I get it. Uh, but at the same time, he was still a point- per game player. Um, and had a very good freshman year, especially for a guy that was a true freshman, uh, in a league where there’s not that many of them anymore. College hockey does not have many true freshmen. The Hawk East Hawk East does not have that many true freshmen. Um, and for him to go out and play the way he did with uh, so many guys that had wanted offensive touches and could demand them and uh, you know, they were older guys that you’re going to defer to. for him to still play the way that he did um was great. But I think the expectation for this year is he’s the focal point of the offense. Things generate around him. Scores like a ton of points, more like two points per game than one point per game. Scores a lot more goals than he did last year. Even though I think passing and playmaking is a big part of of his uh repertoire, but but just to be a dominant force at that level. I’m a firm believer in hockey, whether you’re talking about youth players, whether you’re talking about a guy like Hagens, when they’re on the development path, for a lot of these guys, you don’t move them to the next more difficult level until they can dominate at that level. And it doesn’t necessarily mean posting a huge amount of points. I mean, dominate in terms of winning physical battles, of having the puck, of like standing out in in whatever ways that they are as a player and who they are as a player. Standing out in those ways to the point that it’s like, “All right, you need a newer challenge because you’re just like really controlling things uh at this level.” And I think that’s what you want to see out of Hagens at Boston College is a guy that’s really controlling the tempo, controlling the flow with the puck on his stick, making things happen. and and that’s when you’ll say, “Okay, you know, if he does that this year at BC, I think the Bruins are going to be firmly convinced he’s ready for the NHL and probably ready to start playing some pro games at the end of this season once his college hockey season is over and then you can start that clock uh for when he’s going to force he’s going to be like start getting excited about all that stuff.” But I think I think it it it’s it’s a smart move to have him go back to Boston College since he wasn’t a dominant force there last year. have him do that this year and as long as he does that, that’s going to kickstart his clock for uh getting ready for the Bruins. Mick, your your thoughts just on what the expectations out of Hagens are for next year or this coming year, I should say, and how we’ll know if he’s progressing well enough to play against grown men in the year. I want to see him be sturdy. Yeah, I want to see him play sturdy hockey and stay on his feet in battle. I want to see the top uh the oldest, strongest, gnarliest players not be able to knock him off the puck. Um I wanted him to show me that he can play against men. And um and so there is some of that in the NCAA. There are some teams that play a very NHL game and you usually see that in the NCA tournament in the latter rounds. Um, you know, so, uh, there’ll there’ll be opportunities to get little snapshots of where he’s at in his development as a player. Of course, you want him to have a good season. You want to see some dazzling play. You want to see some points. You want to see him facilitating other guys on his line to score. You want to see that. So, um, but as far as, uh, progress points toward the NHL go, the first thing I’m looking at is whether or not he can stand up to the physicality that pro hockey will bring. And we get to see that in small little context in NCAA. And it doesn’t prove it, but it those indicators. So, um, that’s what I’ll be looking for. Yeah, I think that’s great. And hopefully he won’t be a distracted player. Hopefully hopefully he won’t be like feeling pressure now or too much optimism or feeling like he has to entertain now that he’s a seventh overall that all that’s if if he plays distracted hockey then it needs to change at the end by the end of the season in order for the plan that you just outlined to still be in place. But I think that you just outlined what Boston’s looking at here with him. Yeah, I think so. Um and like that’s all part of it though, right? like um the expectations being put on him I think is a good healthy developmental sort of pressure too. He’s a guy that’s going to have to deal with that and and know that that people are watching him and expecting more and and that you know things have been raised and that you know he’s got a real challenge and the bar has been uh elevated for him uh going into next season. I think that’s all good stuff like for a player that talented. Um, that’s those are all the the heightened expectations, the heightened awareness, the the you know, maybe the whispers that uh people weren’t totally overwhelmed with what he did last season, even though I think it was a solid first season. It wasn’t like, you know, blow you away, uh, this guy’s ready for the show right now kind of a season. And I think that’s good. I I think that that is going to pull a little bit more out of him and let him know that, you know, you need to be a little bit better uh than you were last year. And I I I don’t think any of that’s bad. I think that’s all good stuff that’s going to help him develop into what he’s going to be. Um, you know, I I I there’s adversity is a great thing for young prospects, especially guys where things they’ve worked hard obviously, but things have seemed to come a little easy for them at at every level they’ve been at. But we’ll see. We’ll we’ll see how he adjusts in what he does. But it’s it’s it’s clear to me after watching development camp that the skill is there. Like the ability is there. There’s no question about it. It’s just a matter of like applying that into uh production and and great shifts and consistent play and and all that stuff um as a sophomore uh at BC. Um all right, this is from Joe Spence, 22. So, I’ve been a Bruins faithful since the late 60s. I’ve been through it all. I want to be excited for some of their young talent, but I have just lost faith in their development system. I wish it were different, but I’ve been disappointed too often. Um, like I understand that to a degree, but like I also think you’re listening to like the hottake haters a little too much if you feel that way because honestly a development system is only as good as the talent that’s in it. you know, a development system is you can only ek so much, NHL players, you know, whatever you want to call it as finished products out of a system where you’re not putting in enough talent and you’re not putting in enough players that you’re going to be able to coach them into being NHL players or have the the the the bottom line talent skating wise, offense wise, defense-wise, sizewise, uh speedwise, all that stuff to be NHL players. players to begin with and and to even more difficult than that be impact NHL players. Um, and there was a few years there where the Bruins were not drafting enough talent that was going to be able to develop into NHL players no matter what they did, no matter what was going on in in the draft and development system. But Mick, my I think what we’re saying here and what we’ve been saying is that what what you’re seeing over the last two, three years, maybe four, is that they’re starting to draft much better players. And you’re starting to see the fruits of that, you know, with with Potra, with Lori, um, with guys that are now starting to filter through the college system with a really good draft that they had, uh, you know, a couple weeks ago, um, and brought in a real influx of great talent with the draft picks they have moving forward. It’s I think it’s going to be a while, Mick, before we see the Bruins ranked, you know, 32nd in the NHL and dra in and the draft in the talent pipeline like had been going on for a few years with the athletic. And I think it’s time for maybe some of the people that have lost faith in the development system to go to development camp and see what they have there. They’ve got real talent now and things are going to get a lot better in the near future as they’ve been trending that way. Anyway, this is uh a new era and some people’s patience wears out right before the bus arrives. That happens in life in many ways. It happens with relationships. It happens. So, yeah, I mean, if he’s been following it since the 60s, he’s seen way worse than this. This has actually been an excellent amazing era of Bruins hockey that has finally finally burnt itself out and management is finally stopped trying to keep the machine running and is u ironically Sean Carelli’s part of this is they’re trying to reconstitute and re-engineer the machine and recreate the machine. That’s what is going on with this this situation. And I think the Bruins have gotten themselves uh set up here, not only through the picks they’ve made uh but the ones that are yet to come that they can cash in on over the next couple of years because of deals that were just made and on March 7th. So I think the Bruins are suddenly a team of the future. So the question is is how much will they get out of the past winning window, the Makavoy winning window with this group before those kids are ready to help them? And will they still have wheels? Well, they still have good knees and good shoulders uh left on their bodies when this wave of prospect and picks are ready to augment that core uh is that and Jeremy Swimman being part of it. Um that’s the hard part. And so you’re always trying to serve two masters masters, your present and your future. The Bruins majored for years on trying to serve the present because the whole reason you do a future is to cash in on the opportunities that present themselves, not to trade them necessarily, maybe to integrate them, but in any case, you’re playing for now. You’re trying to win. Well, when winning is no longer possible, then you then you have to prioritize the future. And now the Bruins are doing that. They are um prior to prioritizing the future. But it feels like to me also trying to do whatever they can to stay in the mix for like the playoffs and to be relevant while also building to the future. It, you know, it feels like they’re trying to do both without jeopardizing the future, without um, you know, without compromising their vision long term for what they want to do. And it feels to me like they they had some really good steps in that regard with the draft and then free agency. You know, some people were not wowed by what they did in free agency, but like I liked it. Um I I I liked that they didn’t spend too much money on players they weren’t sure about. And you know, some some of them maybe didn’t want to come here anyway, and that’s fine, too. But like if you really are high on next year’s free agents, like why would you spend a ton of money on this year’s free agents, which was not a great free agent class, especially with a bunch of the players re-upping right before July 1. um and maybe save a few of those bullets for uh a year down the road when there could be some much bigger names available in free agency if they get that far while also doing what you did a few years ago that was so successful which is handpicking some veteran players and some guys that you like on a short to bring in on a short-term basis to stabilize the leadership group um to stabilize the lineup and um to to really make sure you’re going to have a good you know steady product on the ice next year where you’re not going to be like throwing in the towel as much as you did last year, which like frankly is one of the things that Bruins fans will find unacceptable and why they really couldn’t stand last year’s team. But like I I Mick, there were some people that were critical of LA of the what they did in free agency, but I you know, I’d give Don Sweeney somewhere in the like the B minus range. I thought it was pretty good based on what was not a strong free agent class to begin with. Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel about it yet other than from a philosophical standpoint. Um I don’t know the I don’t sure I understand the advantage of spending to within two million of the cap on many depth players over against and this is totally hypothetical had they been able to compete say for healers I don’t know what advantage comes with that uh to do it the way they’re doing it as opposed to if you did eers and then you did fewer guys and then play more play more tweeners instead of um guys like Isammont Jano. Uh obviously he dipped into the American Hockey League and and is wants to create more internal competition in camp. So that’s where Blue Mel and Steves come in. So, it’s going to be a crowded house and it’s really hard to tell where the Bruins are going to slot once you get past the obvious candidates for second line, which would be Zaka, Middlestat, and Arvidson. And from there down, you only know for sure that Carales, you know, and Isammont are going to be in the lineup, but you don’t know where. And and so the bottom six, there’s three every night positions. And I think an awful lot of it depends on what they decide about young players and if any of these AHLers will pop and or will it be more about uh guys that have something to prove like Johnny Beecher. Uh there’s just an awful lot there that has yet to sort itself out. Um would they how much better would they be if they had really gone after one guy? Uh, I don’t know if they could have gotten that guy even if they wanted to or what they decided here. I I’m I’m you know, but I I will say this. I’m looking forward to being entertained by the fact that and I don’t think it’s smart to have, you know, take some fights off uh Mark Castelick’s card. That’s important with the concussions he had last season, particularly after the Lill Lilligrin incident. Lillberg. Um, I get my little grins and my Lillbergs, uh, mixed up. Yeah, I think it was. Yep. So, uh, so there’s that. Um, you know, I am Mont Don Sweeney says he’s a pain in the ass. I want him to be our pain in the ass. Um, and so, uh, I I think that’s good that the Bruins are he says they’re not going to be an easy out. Well, okay. Well, I to me that can go one or two ways. If it goes the way Donnie wants, it means there’s going to be a competitive team and they’re going to be in games. They’re not going to collapse. They’re not going to fall out of games. We’re not going to see all these last minute period endame goals. They’re going to turn wins in a potential wins into losses. We’re not going to see that. We’re going to see a better sway and we’ll see a healthier D presumably. And because the deep personnel is very good, especially after he resigned Henrioki Haru three times three, better than I would have thought. Um uh so so there’s all of that too and and so they got a foundation of of goals against should be low and then they’re thinking okay uh uh the new coach can we assume he’s going to keep the top line together and and think of it from a sense of I need to establish stability and I have I have so many players here to sift through and decide what my my my second, third, and fourth lines are going to look like that at least I can settle my I know what my first is or will he just be thinking openly and trying to reinventing the wheel. We don’t really know yet. Yeah. So, there’s just a lot of questions I have about how this is going to gel on the forward lines. Yeah, it’ll be interesting for sure. Um I I would lean towards they’re going to keep the the top line together at least to start, but like we’ll see uh what everything looks like once we start going uh into the season. Um I the one thing I would say Mick is uh if you gave me a choice and said you can have Nikolai Eers this year or you can have Jack Eel next year uh I would take Jack Eel 10 out of 10 times. So that’s my point about like you know saving some of your bullets for next year and and you know opening the bank for players you much would rather have like if you target if you see a player you like and you say okay this is what we want as long as this guy hits there he’s worth the money. I’m not we’re not going to spend some money on somebody that we’re okay with but not as you know as exuberant about as as we might be a guy that’s going to be available next year. I think it makes sense to wait for your guy if you really think he’s going to be available or if you know you think he got a shot. Um so we’ll see how it all plays out. Maybe that doesn’t work out. Maybe nobody great becomes available next summer and they’re still looking. Like who knows? But like it well the bigger program for them is to to draft develop and get some of these prospects that are baking in college. And when they’re ready to come out of the oven, then you then you put them in play and they’re the ones who in the long term are going to supersede this shortterm splash of uh veteran signings. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Um, I would I would you would hope, but uh you know they they will have cap space to to also make a big move if they want to, which is a great position to be in. Um, all right. Uh, every team we cherish has one or two guys that personifies all we love about the sport, the team, and the city we hold sacred. Lyndon Buyers was a legend amongst legends when measuring the immeasurables, heart, soul, fight, grit, the bluecollar fighter that personified Boston. That’s from SP Brooklyn on Twitter. Mick, your thoughts just on the passing of Lyndon Buyers. Uh, a guy that was, you know, larger than life in a lot of ways. The way he lived his life, the way he played on the ice. Um, you know, the the courage and the the toughness that he showed and and kind of the way he played definitely personified uh Boston Bruins hockey, especially in that era where where he played. um and then obviously became a radio personality afterwards and and stayed here in Boston and was one of those many many Bruins that stick around here and become, you know, a Bostononian as much as the rest of us uh having come from someplace in Canada to come here to play hockey. Um your thoughts on on the passing of him like two way too young at 61 years old. Yeah. Yeah. I always felt bad that Lyndon had such a health challenges in retirement from hockey and I think of it too as you know a guy who in his career his hands were broken so often. Yeah. Because he gravitated toward the enforcer role whereas I thought he was a better hockey player than that and I felt like I just loved his instincts for the game. I thought he was a really good player and I felt like when when his group came in in the 83 84 season suddenly had these four young forwards Jeff Corninol, Doug Castinski, terrific centerman, knee injury canceled what would have been a very good career. um uh Greg Johnston and Lyndon Buyers and um I do remember I think it was the Globe and it might have been I don’t know if the timing was right that it would have been Kevin Dupont but this would be his sense of humor maybe it was Nancy uh Marrapees uh but there was a during a training camp I think in the 8485 training camp it said Lynen Buyers looks a little like Greg Johnston who looks a little like Jeff Cartau who looks a little like Doug Costes Doug Costinsky who looks nothing like Lynon Buyers. And it was it was true. It was so funny because it was so true. Um and and they uh they all look like they could be one cousin to a cousin to a cousin cousin. The other guy looks like from the other side of the world and um but but yeah, to me, Lyndon was a good player and and um and but he always was getting banged up um because he was playing for his teammates, spilling his guts, bleeding black and gold. Um I always wish for more from him. Um not because he wasn’t willing to give it because of the toll his role took on him. His 8788 he epitomized the 8788 Bruins which I always have have a bone to pick with Cam Neely because he’s made references on multiple occasions that and buyers by the way was on both teams. 8990 thought we were a better team. We really thought we had a shot and I think a big part of that was because Gretzky wasn’t in Edmonton anymore. So he figured this is the team. This is the one. We’re gonna win it in 88. I think it was like a long time coming for them to turn the tables on Montreal, 45 years uh of losing to them in the playoffs and then finally they beat them and that’s like their Stanley Cup. So I get that part. Um and but the 87 88 was a more rugged team. If you look at the penalty minutes, the playoff penalty minutes, twice as many penalty minutes by the 88 Bruins than the 90 Bruins. the O’Reilly coach Bruins versus the Milbury coach Bruins which were much more well the team changed too. You had Dave Puland instead of Kenny Lindman. It was much more take the two minutes rather than wind up in the box. And so uh but but Buyers was just uh an incredible uh piece of that 87 88 team which was one of the most important Bruins teams of of of the modern era. uh maybe the most important that didn’t win the Stanley Cup because of ending and turning the tables in the Montreal playoff rivalry. From that point forward, and buyers was part of this, the Bruins beat Montreal in uh five out of six playoff series over the next seven years. So, that’s an incredible stretch. The only stretch of dominance the Bruins have ever had in that rivalry was in Lynden Buyers era. There you go. It’s true. Um, and those are the like those are the teams that I grew up watching. That’s when I was a kid. Uh, and really, uh, you know, getting hooked on hockey and and loving the sport and and the intensity of the playoffs and all that and the way the Bruins played. Um, and it’s just, you know, it’s part of the fabric of being a hockey fan that that grew up in this area. um that you feel that way about the Boston Bruins, about the way they should play and and Lyndon Buyers was just one of those guys that when uh during his era personified what it means to be a Boston Bruin and frankly that’s kind of the the spirit of of what they’re going back to when they bring in guys like Tanner Jano and and Isont and and players like that because they want to play more to the identity traditional identity of the team and what has always had success and what fans expect and what you know has success in the playoffs and and what makes you hard to play against and all that stuff. Um so that’s you know Lynen Buyers was a big piece of that and uh you know the fact that he stuck around here and became such a beloved figure afterwards and and all the testimonials from Bruins fans about his generosity and you know bumping into him and him being great to them and all that stuff is just such a tribute to him and and the legacy he created for himself here in Boston both during his career and afterwards. So, uh, condolences to the buyer’s family. It’s a sad loss. He was gone too soon. Uh, but lots of people have great memories about him, which is which is fantastic. Um, if you want if you want to support their family financially at all, then the Boston Bruins Foundation is involved in the fundraising effort, as is the Greg Hill Foundation, um, who he before EI EI, he worked with buyers on the FM. Awesome. Thanks for adding that, Mick. Appreciate it. Um, thank you everybody else out there for listening. This show is brought to you by uh uh this show is a proud member of the CLNS Media Network. Make sure to hit subscribe on the Bruins Ringside YouTube channel and turn on notifications for when a new video drops on the channel. The show is also brought to you by Prize Pix, the largest daily sports platform in North America. Download the Prize Pix app today and use the code CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play $5. That’s code CLNS on Prize Pics to get $50 instantly when you play five bucks. You don’t even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It’s guaranteed. Prize picks run your game. Mick, thank you very much for joining us today, my friend. Thanks for having me, Joe. Everybody else out there, thank you for listening. We will see you at the ring. [Music]

Pucks with Haggs host Joe Haggerty and Mick Colageo give their impressions of Bruins development camp, debate whether the right moves were made in free agency, and predict where the team will finish next season! 

0:00 ⏰EPISODE TIMELINE⏰
2:01 Thoughts on development camp
7:00 How did 2025 draft class fare in development camp?
11:51 Ryan Bourque, son of Bruins legend Ray Bourque, named P-Bruins assistant coach
17:03 PrizePicks
18:03 Subscribe to Bruins Rinkside on YouTube!
18:42 Predictions for next season!
26:28 Expectations for James Hagens next year
33:24 Evaluating Bruins development system
38:23 Did the Bruins make the right moves in free agency?
45:19 Lyndon Byers dies at 61
51:46 Thanks for watching! Subscribe to Bruins Rinkside!

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