Young Talent IMPRESS at Bruins Development Camp | Pucks with Haggs

Young Talent IMPRESS at Bruins Development Camp | Pucks with Haggs

Welcome to the Pucks with Hacks podcast, a proud member of the CLNS media network. Make sure to hit that subscribe uh button to the Rigside YouTube channel and turn on notifications for when a new video drops right on the channel. The 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 CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play five bucks. That’s code cls on prize pick 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 into 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 Bruin my Bruins and NHL writing sent straight directly to your inbox. I also write columns three times a week for the Boston Sports Journal. Go to bostonportsjournal.com, get yourself a subscription there as well. Some great stuff uh to read there. And I also do a weekly Q&A with the subscribers over there. So, subscribe to that one as well. Uh and you get all kinds of great coverage for all the four sports. Uh this is the 204th episode of the Pucks with Hacks podcast. So, welcome in. Thank you for listening. Thank you for interacting. Thank you for commenting. Thank you for being involved. Uh appreciate it. Um always fun, too. Uh today we’re going to do a a mailbag uh Fourth of July holiday weekend episode where I’m going to answer some fan questions. Just go over a couple of uh things really quick as well. Um but mostly just talk about the uh development camp wrapping up. Uh any last uh morsels left over from July 1 free agency uh and kind of where the Bruins sit at this point. So um you know that there’s plenty of questions uh to be asked. I think the the one thing the latest thing I will mention today is um the sad passing of Lynon Buyers as well. Um I think he was 61 years old. Uh word uh last night uh Friday night um word filtered around that uh that he had passed away. Um it was out there this morning. I think his uh his wife had confirmed it on Facebook. um really sad. Um obviously sad passing for any of the Boston Bruins former players. Uh for me, he’s a guy that played when I was kind of younger when I was growing up. So he, you know, those teams definitely uh held a place in my heart and obviously he uh stuck around Boston as so many other Bruins do and he became a radio personality on AAF with Greg Hill and was a big part of that show for a long time. Uh, so, you know, and and was a larger than-l life figure both uh when he played for the Bruins and then afterwards. I remember always seeing u you’d see his giant chopper at uh at at the 99 in Wubberg and he’d always be there uh at the bar uh having a good time like he always did. He was one of those guys that was a lot of fun to be around. Uh had a big personality. Uh was kind of the life of the party type guy. Uh very gregarious and all that boisterous. Uh, and I remember you’d always see it there. If you were going by, uh, at night a lot of times you’d see his, uh, his big motorcycle out there in front. You knew LB was in the building. Um, so, you know, sad uh, sad news. Um, you know, that we’re not going to hear his voice anymore. I know his health had not been great in recent years, so that’s really too bad. Um, and my my thoughts and sympathies go out to uh his family, his friends, and all of his former teammates because uh LB was was one of those guys that always put a smile on your face and certainly he was one of the tough guys uh when he was on the Boston Bruins and he was a fighter basically um and an enforcer type uh on those Bruins teams. So, uh thoughts and prayers go out to to everybody that knew him and loved him. Um, but as far as on the ice stuff uh goes, we are just gonna talk uh mostly about dev camp uh I wish I had been able to go to more um of the days of dev camp, but it coincided with uh my vacation to Maine with my family. So, I came down uh for the one dev camp practice on I think it was Tuesday on July 1st when free agency was going on and I watched uh the the D and the forwards. Got to see everybody. Um, but I did not see the scrimmage. I did not see the threeon-ree tournament, which is always like my favorite thing to watch because I think you see so much of the skill of the way the players think the game of uh the mistakes that they make and the limitations that they have. It reveals a lot when you watch uh players play threeon-ree small area. I I think it tells you a lot about players. Sometimes more than full ice when they can get away with certain things because they they can just skate faster than everybody else or, you know, they’re bigger and stronger than everybody else or whatever. Um, but I think when you see them in that setting, it really gives you something to sort of dig into and really look at the strengths and weaknesses of players. I did see some footage on social media from some players. Uh, you know, it it sounds like there was some some very good players. Uh, a lot of the players that got drafted uh uh a week ago um definitely flashed and looked good and uh acquitted themselves really well. James Hagens obviously I think was head and shoulders above everybody else. Um the edgework, the skating, the shot too. Um the stick handling too. He’s got one he’s one of those guys that uh and I think I mentioned this to Mick the other day. Um his lower hand on the stick is really low when he’s uh handling the puck. And it gives him great stick control, great ability to turn really fast and be elusive uh and just lose uh defenders with quick changes of direction. And it also allows him to really get off uh a shot really quick, too. Um, and that makes him a dangerous offensive guy when he can move the puck that fast, when he can skate that fast, and when he’s got a lethal shot, too. You can see why. And he’s got the vision, too, because it seems like his head is always up and he’s looking to make plays as well. Um, so you’re talking about a really, really high-end good player um that uh the where the Bruins were lucky to get at number seven. He kind of fell to them. Very fortunate. But like that that is the kind of player that they have not had at Dev Camp in recent memory. they have not had those star type players that really flash that that provide some electricity for for development camp and and really get uh fans excited about the future and what’s to come and and it wasn’t just him. Um there were other players too. Most of the players that got drafted uh this uh this past draft 2025 looked good. Um whether it was Will Moore uh whether it was uh Cooper Simpson I think looked really good as well. um the defenseman uh Vet was it Vette Richards? Uh but that wasn’t the Blenar I think was the name um that they used when they drafted him and and what he’s going to be using moving forward. Um he looked outstanding as well. Looked very skilled for a defenseman and that looks like a real diamond in the rough kind of pick. Um, so you’re talking about, you know, a bunch of players that get selected with those picks that I think look really good and have some high-end talent, uh, and look like they’re going to be, uh, you know, generating offense and, you know, could be heard from a few years from now, at least have a good sort of chance uh, to to develop and turn into something. So, a and the Bruins were also getting like A’s and they were getting high marks across the board for the draft that they had. And I think, you know, that’s good. I I whether it was uh you know, the position that they were drafting in, whether it was the pressure to really like hit home runs now um because they have uh missed in past drafts and they’ve also traded away picks. um whether it was a combination of all those things and and really needing after the season that they had to hit on these draft picks and make it worth sort of steering the ship into the iceberg like they did at the trade deadline by trading all the veterans and really sinking to the bottom. Um it’s it it has worked out. It it definitely became worth it for them this year to have that sort of reprieve and to take uh a bunch of high-end players and high ceiling players that um they hope are going to develop but also just showed their skill level and their ability in camp in development camp. Um and some other players look good too. I think team Dean Lerno looked better than he did last year. uh looks like he’s ready to take a step at BC and and it looks much more ready for what’s to come in Hockey East and the NCAA’s for him last as opposed to last year where it just he did not look when I saw him at camp like he was, you know, ready for any of that. Um so that’s good news. Um and a lot of the other players, the Boston College players look really good. Andre Gassau looked good. Um Oscar Jelvic was not there. Um but so many of the other players did and um you know the bottom line I think now is that they’ve the Bruins have really replenished their farm system and their draft and development pipeline and I think you know you’re not going to see them being uh at the very bottom of the league anymore uh after the draft that they had and frankly after some of the players that they’ve developed in the last couple of years. But I also think uh you know it it could be a year or two at least, maybe more for some of these players before you’re actually going to really see them hit and develop and pay dividends. So you also have to be patient thinking this is a two to threeyear process, this retooling where uh they’re not going to see these players right away. Um at the NHL level and it’s going to be a little while. So there’s going to be some patience involved as well. Um, as far as free agency goes, I think there’s just continues to be a lot of criticism about uh Tanner Jano um and the 5-year deal, 3.4 million uh that he was given. Uh people scratching their head saying they don’t think it makes sense, think it was a massive overpay. And and in some ways it like it is an overpay, but all of free agency is an overpay. You’re always paying premium rates in free agency for players. like if you’re going to go the free agent route, you’re going to overpay. That’s part of free agency. That’s part of why you try to avoid that at all costs. Um, and really I think what it came down to for the Bruins is a couple of things. A lot of the players re-uped with their teams because the teams had salary cap room because salary cap is going up significantly each of the next few years and they have the ability and the wherewithal to resign these players. So a lot of players like Brock Besser and others they re-uped right before uh free agency opened. Brad Marshian with Florida, Sam Bennett with Florida. Um so there were not a lot of really good players in the market. It was kind of a weak free agent class. Um there was Nikolai Eelers of course and he ended up signing in in Carolina. Um but it seemed like either he did not want to come to Boston and or maybe there wasn’t a ton of interest in him at the price tag that they were going to have to pay. It seems instead the Bruins wanted to get a handful of players for that amount of money instead of sinking it all into one player. Um so you know that that I I do think there is something to waiting um another next year uh when it seems like there’s going to be potentially much bigger names on the free agent market. Obviously Mitch Mner was the big name here but he never got to free agency either. it was a sign and trade with Vegas. But I think next year there’s going to be those type players that may end up hitting the free agent market with Jack Eel being the biggest name and the biggest one I think potentially linked to the Boston Bruins are potentially being a big sort of target that they could go after. So I think all of that is going to be interesting. Um, and and I think it in some ways makes sense for them to go short range small money with the contracts they’re doing now and save some money if they want to make a bigger splash uh next summer in free agency or if they want to make some trades uh ahead of the deadline to augment uh this year’s team. for instance, the offense becomes as big an issue as some of us think it’s going to be where they’re going to need to add a top six winger still or at least somebody that can put the puck in the net. But um I think we’ll also see how Victor Arbertson uh does. I think there is more skill there than people are giving him credit for. Yes, he I think he only had like 15 goals or whatever it was with Edmonton last year as a 32 year old, but like he’s a guy that’s had a couple of 30 goal two, three 30 goal seasons, a bunch of 20 goal seasons, has scored a lot of goals in the league, has been a pretty consistently a top six guy, and he wasn’t a top six guy with Edmonton last year because Edmonton is stacked and has a has a a ton of forwards and he probably played down lower in the lineup there than he usually does with other teams and maybe wasn’t on power play as much and that had an impact. Um, he’s going to get a lot more reps top six. He’s going to get a lot more power play time. They’re talking about him being the netfront guy as he was in LA when Marco Sturm was a coach there. So, I think you’re going to see a lot more production from a guy like Arvdson um this year for the Boston Bruins. Uh, and I think he’s going to fit in really nicely here whether he plays with uh Elias Lynholm or not. But I think he you could consider him a legit top six winger, you know, a top six forward. I think they at least brought in one. It would be nice if they brought in two, but you know, they’ve also brought in some players um AHL players that are looking for a top six opportunity, some young guys that might fit into the top six and have kind of left it open to see if anybody really seizes that uh role at a lower money rate and and uh any of the guys that they took a flyer on ends up seizing that job instead of them going out and paying a premium at the trade deadline and maybe giving away a first round pick that they don’t want to give up or, you know, draft picks in general or some kind of asset or making that big splash in free agency next year. So, uh, I get why they did what they did. Um, and I think they’re being bashed a little too much for what they did in free agency. I think they made some smart moves, some small moves. They brought in veteran leaders, uh, because they knew that they wanted to do that and that was something they didn’t do last year and it kind of didn’t, it backfired on them a little bit. Um, and I think they also wanted to get tougher to play against. Uh, Mike Yamont is, uh, a punk, a pain in the ass, a guy that gets under your skin and a rat and all that stuff stuff. Uh, he’s going to be somebody Bruins fans love and he’s going to be a fan favorite, I think, immediately. Uh, he’s somebody that other teams don’t want to play and and think he’s a pain and that’s going to be a great acquisition for them. as far as dragging them into the fight and and getting games emotionally charged up that might not be otherwise. And I you know it takes some of the weight off a guy like Marcus Stellic as uh Tanner Jano’s arrival does as well that he doesn’t have to be the guy constantly stirring it up, constantly fighting, especially with the concussion stuff that he had last year. I think, you know, you’re not going to want to throw him into that immediately uh and let him sort of ease in back into that kind of stuff because he’s obviously that kind of player and I think when he’s feeling good and he’s feeling right, he’s going to dive into that as well, but he’s not you don’t want him doing that at the very start of next year as he comes back into full health and just wants to string together, you know, a few weeks and months of of playing healthy and and playing feeling good and and and you know, staying in the lineup and and serving his role as a bottom six center. Um, but Jano like they needed a player like that and if that’s the kind of money they had earmarked for Trent Frederick and that’s what they were going to pay him. Uh, and but he didn’t want it. He ends up getting the eight-year deal with Edmonton or they didn’t want to pay him that money and decided he’s not worth that kind of money because he was always somewhat inconsistent trying to play that role. Let’s go out and get a legit NHL heavyweight. A legit guy that has been good offensively in the league, has been fairly productive, but yes, has had injury problems, but can fill the same kind of role Trent Frederick did, but maybe is a little more willing to fight, a little more willing to defend his teammates, a little more willing to just play that role and be that guy instead of having designs or thoughts that he’s a top six guy and he doesn’t really want to do, you know, it’s a halfhearted sort of like commitment to what he is. uh because he thinks he’s something else. Whereas, Jano, I think, is under no illusions of what he is and what his role is and what he’s going to be doing and comes in with a lot more sort of gusto and uh a lot more willingness to just be that guy and doesn’t have any reservations about it. So, is it it it feels like to me in some ways it’s that that that is worth it to bring in a guy like that, especially where 3.4 million is not going to be a huge cap hit uh with the salary cap going up as much as it is. Sure. He’s what, 28 now? It’s a 5-year deal. 32, 33 years old. He’s probably going to slow down significantly. Probably going to be more limited as far as the role that he plays and the minutes that he plays. And, you know, you put him out there and fight in situations where he wanted to fight somebody or, you know, run around and throw a few hits and and, you know, get the energy up, but it’s probably going to be an even less of a featured role then than he might be for the next few years. But like, you know, you’re gonna want to have a player like that when Higgins comes in to make sure that somebody’s got his back and and protects him a little bit. Uh, and some of the other skilled guys that they’ve got coming online and some of the younger guys they’ve got coming online and just frankly posternack for that idea. Um, you know, you’re going to want somebody that is willing to to defend those guys and be a deterrent. And I think Jano is going to be that kind will be that guy. Um, you know, do I think he’s going to score 27 goals like he did his first year in Nashville in the NHL? No, I do not think he’s going to. But like even if if he can get to double digits and gives you a little bit of offensive pop along with the physicality and uh the willingness to defend his teammates, the energy, I think you’re talking about a really effective player. Like if he gives you 10 goals, 25 points, and gives you over 100 penalty minutes, 150 penalty minutes, let’s say, in 10 fights, I I think that’s well worth the investment. It’s well worth three four $3.4 million uh to get that kind of a player in your lineup on a consistent basis. and add him to Castellic, add him to Ismut, add him to Zidorov, and you’re starting to add up uh the physical nature of the team and um you know the the toughness to play against them and sort of that uh physicality is back a little bit where they’re not going to be pushed around anymore and they’re not going to sort of you know give up in games and break and give up like they did last year. I think that that would that’s important to see that and I I think Jano is going to play a role in that and I think it’s well worth uh the investment uh to do that. All right, uh let’s take a break in the action. 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Uh, this is from Mike from Stonem, my longtime buddy, uh, who gave me this question on the Boston Sports Journal Q&A. Hey Joe, happy fourth. Be sure acknowledged he played most of the year with a hand injury that needed surgery. Letoro played half the NCA season with a broken hand and then had it repaired over the winter break and played through the healing process. Why wouldn’t these guys just go on ILIR and get these things fixed ASAP and not let it ruin their season rather than playing through and playing poorly? Well, I mean, that’s a good question. And I think the answer is they clearly feel the pressure to to keep their spot to stay in the lineup by playing rather than, you know, missing time with an injury where all of a sudden if you’re out of sight and out of mind for a few months, maybe you fall to the back of the line and they you you risk being forgotten with neither one of them like firmly entrenched in their role. Uh I think you you try to play through it and and be as tough as you can. And you know, hockey players want to play anyway. Like that’s the bottom line. Like you know, even kids my son’s age, the 11, 12 year olds, they want to play through anything and they will play through anything. And I was actually explaining this um to one of the other coaches that I’m coaching summer baseball with who is a football guy from Michigan. Uh did not play hockey, was not around hockey at all really. uh but played uh big-time division one football and is from Michigan and was explaining to him that um hockey players just will play through anything and it’s just a cultural thing and even kids that young try to play through anything. There’s obviously limits to that. You’re never going to have them play through a concussion, a head injury, anything serious. Uh but they will try to play through anything else if they don’t think that it’s going to hurt any worse and it’s some other part of their body besides their head. they’re going to try to play through it. Um, I had a kid, uh, one of Finn’s longtime se teammates, great kid, plays for the Bach Blazers, um, spring hockey, not this year, the year before. He broke a bone in his hand or wrist. Um, in a game, we’re playing against Andover, kid threw a vicious body check on him, got penalized for it because they’re still peewes and they’re too young to body check. and uh ended up breaking a bone in his hand and Luca was is his name. Ended up coming back and playing and played a couple more shifts and then finally came to the bench and said, “Coach, it hurts too much to shoot. I can’t shoot. I can’t play anymore.” But I’m going to say played two or three shifts at least with a broken bone in his hand and tried to play through it before he finally gave up. And you know, I’m glad uh he didn’t hurt it any worse. I’m glad that he got it fixed and he’s fine now and he’s been good ever since. But um you know, there’s also a level of just uh pride and and amazement at at kids that age that will play through pain and will play through anything because they want to play hockey and they know that you there’s a level of toughness to hockey players that it goes above and beyond the other sports. Now, like I said, as a coach, you need to watch and you need to make sure that uh they’re not playing through something serious that you know, like concussion type stuff. And as soon as there’s any symptoms or issues or anything like that or even suspect that there’s a hit like that at that age, they’re going to sit and they’re not going to play. Um, but like you also see a ton of banged up bang bruises, uh, you know, banged up knees, banged up hands, uh, slashes in the back of the legs or the back, like uh, all kinds of stuff you’ll see, uh, that kids will play through, uh, because they’re it’s a point of pride for them because they will love to play. Um, and that’s just hockey players in general. Um, but I will also say in these particular two cases, Johnny Beecher, a hand injury, not a hand injury, do we really feel like that’s going to change anything as far as him finishing off offensive plays? Um, you know, he went what, like 40 games without a goal. Um, does did do we really feel like he was still winning faceoffs with a hand injury, you know, when he was taking them? And I maybe they moved him to wing a little bit more. Um, and maybe that’s why he was playing wing because he had a hand injury, but he was still winning faceoffs. He still seemed very effective in most roles that he was playing in. He just didn’t score. And he’s never scored. And I just really don’t feel like there’s a close association between the season he had last year and the injury. I just think he’s a very limited player. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong this year and be totally different, but like he’s never scored really at any level of uh big high level hockey that he’s played and I just don’t think that the the injury had much to do with it. Dean Letoro, um I watched him play a bunch. I’m not sure that hand injury with him had a big uh effect on like the season that he had either. Um he just didn’t have the puck much. He had a hard time getting to spots where the puck was going to be where he could get the puck in space where he could uh move with it and and do much of anything. And that wasn’t about his hand. It wasn’t like pucks were bouncing off his stick. It wasn’t like he was having a hard time getting shots off uh when he had the puck. he just was not getting the puck anywhere and making space for himself and really just getting um a lot of uh puck touches at the level of play and the speed he was playing at and the intensity he was playing at. And again, I don’t think that had much to do with any kind of hand injury he might have had. I think he just wasn’t ready to play in hockey east. He wasn’t ready to division for division one hockey at the NCA level. Uh, and that bore out in in his playing. Like, was he a liability? No, I don’t think he was. Um, I think he was like sort of a he was fine on a checking line kind of thing, but like you expect more obviously from a first round pick and you expect offensive production and them to be able to make some plays and and all that stuff. And I think he just like struggled to do that because it was a transitional year for him where he wasn’t quite ready to to to be that sort of player. Now, do I think he’s going to be a better player this year uh for having gone through that experience and being more prepared for now? Absolutely. I think he he looked better in development camp to me. Looked much more in line with all the other guys there, much more ready to compete in all the drills and um much sort of uh more well-rounded in all the different areas. Uh he he flashed just as much if not I think he flashed more at this development camp than he did the previous one. But there were flashes at the other one too. He just didn’t seem like he was at the same level as most of the other kids at development camp a year ago where this year he definitely seemed like he was at the same level and you know he was having no problem keeping up and and excelling and and being one of the better players and looking a lot more comfortable. Uh so I think that’s going to translate into a much better year at Boston College as well. But long story short, uh, hockey players are tough and I don’t know that those injuries had much of anything to do with either of the down seasons that either one of them have. Seems like feels like more of an excuse to me to be honest with you than anything else. Um, you know, uh, a big year for Beecher. Like I think he’s a guy that I’m not even sure he’s back with the Bruins if he wasn’t a first round pick, but he comes back for 900,000 uh, for a cap hit for the coming year. a ton of players, forwards that are coming into a very competitive situation in training camp, not going to get anything handed to him. Um, so he’s going to have to earn everything. And I think he’s one of those players that’s on notice right now that if he doesn’t absolutely bring it from day one of camp and all through the season, he’s he’s not going to play. And I think when Don Sweeney was talking about that with players, that might have been a guy he was referencing. Uh, it’s sort of challenging, but we’ll see how that goes. Um, all right. Uh here’s one from the real_mj84. They might actually have some bonafide young talent. Zeers, Minton, Hagens, just to name a few. Yeah, I mean they do and they still have Merkel and Lysel around and uh they they Patra is the guy you’re not mentioning who I think is uh more talented than uh short of Oh, and we’ll see with Zeer. Zealers looks good. Uh but you know, he’s still going to be a little bit away because he’s in college. Um but like of of the young guys that might be on the Bruins to start this year, I think Potra is a guy that you got to look at as the biggest potential impact guy. Um you know, could be a center on a on a in a top nine role. Certainly will generate offense. Uh looked better and better at the AHL level as the year went on. sort of like found that groove developmentwise developmentally um that he was missing kind of getting rushed uh before that point to the NHL. And I think last year was a big year for him to sort of regain his confidence in the AHL and get that playoff experience in the AHL down the stretch to make him ready to compete now uh for a job. And I think he’s gonna be a guy that’s gonna push hard because I think he’s got more skill than a lot of these other players and he’s got the ability to generate offense and he’s competitive and he wins puck battles. Like if he can get a little bit more speed and and work on the power skating and get a little bit faster, I think everything else is going to fall into place for him. Um, and he’s even going to, I think, be able to avoid some of those hits that he, you know, as an an exper inexperienced guy, he kind of walked into a little bit more or opened himself up for a little bit more at the NHL level. And, uh, I think he’ll be a guy that I’m looking forward to watching in training camp because I think he could be uh, you know, he could be one of those guys that ends up making the team. Um, but yeah, uh, just in general, bonafide young talent at the development camp. uh bonafide talent that was playing in the NHL playoffs last year. Bonafide talent that’s gonna uh compete for jobs uh NHL jobs in training camp in the fall. I I think you’re right on and it’s uh it’s exciting times uh for the Boston Bruins. Uh they’ve taken a step up as far as the young guys go. And you know, some people complain that they signed veteran players to block those young guys, but like if the young guys are good enough, they’re going to hop over the veteran players. like they I continue to like that the Bruins do that and force them to like push another guy out in order to win the job and don’t just hand it to them because that’s how you end up with guys like Merkel and Lysel at the NHL level if they’re not quite ready to go yet that can really hurt you and not even be productive enough to to justify it either. Um, so you want to wait until they’re really ready by like, you know, able to displace a veteran guy and outshine them and and earn um their spot, which I think the Bruins will give it to them if they earn it. They’ve they’ve shown that. Um, I just don’t think in the past the the Bruins have always had the talent uh enough talent in those guys to to be able to displace NHL established NHL veterans. All right. Uh, this is from Duncan Su Insuk. um the lack of any support on the right hand side of the defense coming through the draft. Do you see the bees shelling out for uh a free agent defenseman? Obviously, this is before they resigned Yokoharu. I think they have a little bit more between that and some of the other guys they brought in. They’ve got a little more more right side depth and certainly Yokaharu I think is going to be a you know frontline top four kind of guy. Um side note but also related question. Does drafting Hagens address the offensive question sufficiently given he’s closer to being ready than the other potential prospects were? Will Sweeney and company shift their free agency focus to address that hole and lack of depth on the blue line? No. Uh they’ve resigned Yokaharu uh which gives them I think pretty good depth right now. And I think they have pretty good talent level as long as everybody stays healthy and you know that that you’ve got to always hope that your highest paid defenseman stay healthy. Um, but I think Hagens is more a guy that might come into play after the season is or towards the end of the season, after the college hockey season is over. If he’s a dominant force at BC, I think he becomes a real potential uh guy that the Bruins could add on. And it’ll be interesting to see if they want to burn a year uh of his entry level contract and and throw him on for what, you know, might not be a team that’s ready to do much in the postseason. um or if they would just wait for next year and put him down in Providence. But like they had wanted to do that with Makavoy and then they had a bunch of injuries when they made the playoffs and they kind of had to bring him up and Megan maybe something like that uh happens with Hagens as well. But I think all of that is way in the future and and crystal ball sort of u stuff. But maybe Hagens and the fact that he might be with in Boston as soon as the end of this season kept them too from really shelling out for a top six kind of guy because they know he’s going to be ready much sooner uh than later and could be, you know, basically a year away or less. Um, so yeah, I I think that definitely forecasts into some of it. And they also left some room um to to dip into that free agency for forwards next year because Arvidson’s in the last year of his deal. They traded he had signed a two-year deal with Edmonton. They trade him for the last year of the deal uh and they get him uh for this coming season and that’s it. So, it’ll be interesting to see how that all shapes up, too. But they’ve got plenty of cap space for next year if they want to go after anybody in free agency. uh depending on what which way the wind blows uh with Hagens. All right, one more here from DC79. At this current m moment, addition by subtraction is probably the best route for the goalending situation. Remove Corposalo. Let DPHO be goalie too. The next thing for me would be trying to move middle stat for a second liner. That’s probably the two moves I’d want to see most. And that’s from DC_79. Yeah, I mean, you’d love to be able to trade your overpaid uh veteran players that have underperformed for the contracts uh and were kind of, you know, dumped on you by the other teams. Um, I’m I’m still going to let Middlestat see. I’m going to see what Middlestat looks like in camp and next year after having some time to acclimate to the Bruins and sort of getting um the second half of last year after the deadline to to be his sort of orientation uh for the Bruins. I was not super impressed by what I saw. Uh but I think you need to at least give it a little time before you start to try to flip him for somebody else. And I just think there’s not going to be a lot of interest in him out there at this point either, you know, going on on what will be his fourth team uh and and third within the last like couple of years. I I just I we’ve got to see what kind of offensive upside he can have, especially for a Bruins team that needs the offense, right? Like they recognize that that’s why they brought him in in the first place. So, we’ll see what he can do on the power play and what he can do as a third line center if he’s just put in that spot for a little while. Corposalo, it would make some sense to move him, but I I really think DPro is not a good choice for goalie too right now because I think to get the best out of Swayman, you need a situation where he’s got a legitimate threat for playing time and somebody that’s going to push him. And I think Corposalo is that guy uh of of the goalies that they have right now. I think that’s the guy that could potentially light a fire under him, especially if you start playing him more if he’s playing well and if it turns into not quite All Mark and Swayman, but like uh something akin to that. Um where Corposalo can can push him and can motivate him and can keep it a very competitive situation. Um you know, there should be no lack of motivation for Jeremy Swayman next year anyway. uh just to prove that this past year was an aberration and an outlier and had more to do with the training camp hold out and the contract stuff and everything else. Uh but I just think he seems to thrive and be better in a situation where he’s got somebody pushing him, an NHL veteran, an established guy. And right now that’s Corposalo Mike Dietro as good he was the goalie of the year, but that’s not gonna that’s not going to put put a lot of fear of competition I think into into Jeremy Swayman’s mind. uh much less than it would Corposalo who’s got well over 300 starts was vocal about wanting to play more at the end of last year and there were times probably he should have played more last season and I’m sure that would play out again this year if he’s there as backup. So, uh he’s another one that the cap hit for him I think is going to be much less of a problem as time goes on and the cap goes up and it’s not going to seem like the albatross it might have seemed like when they first traded for him. Um, but I think he’s the right guy right now and I don’t think it makes sense to move him unless somebody was going to like overpay um because they were desperate for goalending. But I just don’t think he had the kind of year last year where anybody’s going to overpay for him. You know, I think you just have to hold on to that asset, hope that he really plays well one year and then maybe you can flip him if you’re confident you could replace him with somebody else that could be the good partner that you’re looking for for Jeremy Swayman. But in a vacuum, maybe those moves make sense. But I think right now patience would be the right um thing for Corp Corpalo and Middlestat unless somebody was going to blow you away in a trade and offer you some great assets which is like let’s be realistic that’s not happening. Okay, that’s like fantasy hockey stuff. Um so yeah, that we’ll we’ll leave that one right there. All right. Um I think that’s it for this week. Uh thank you everybody for listening. Uh thanks for the questions. Happy 4th of July belated. Hope everybody had a fun and uh and happy Fourth of July and saw some great fireworks somewhere. Um I want to thank our sponsors. Uh the show is 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 $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 this is the Pucks with Hags podcast, a proud member of the CLNS media network. Make sure to hit the subscribe button uh to the Bruins Ringside YouTube channel and turn on notifications for when a new video drops on the channel. Please do that and leave a comment, leave a review, leave a like, do all of that good stuff. All right, everybody else out there. Thank you for listening. Uh we’ll be back next week with two uh brand new episodes. See you at the Heat. Heat. [Music]

Pucks with Haggs host Joe Haggerty goes over the week that was at Bruins development camp and hits a few final scraps from NHL free agency. 

0:00 ⏰EPISODE TIMELINE⏰
1:16 4th of July mailbag!
1:47 RIP Lyndon Byers
3:56 Takeaways from Bruins development camp
9:57 Thoughts on Bruins free agency signings
19:30 Subscribe to Bruins Rinkside on YouTube!
20:06 PrizePicks
21:03 Joe on John Beecher and Dean Letourneau playing through injuries
29:14 Thoughts on B’s young talent
32:28 Does Hagens solve offensive issues?
35:03 Could B’s trade Mittelstadt? + Goaltending situation
38:56 Thanks for watching!

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