Biggest SURPRISES from Bruins Training Camp | Poke the Bear

Biggest SURPRISES from Bruins Training Camp | Poke the Bear

Poke the Bear is brought to you by Prize Pick and the Game Time app. And welcome in to Poke the Bear, episode 365, presented by Prize Pix. Go use that promo code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. And we’re presented by Game Time. Go use that promo code CLNS to get $20 off your first purchase. And of course, we’re always presented by CLNS Media. Make sure to go check out Bruins Ringside on YouTube. Subscribe. We’re near 10,000 subs. If we could hit 10,000 subs in the next couple weeks, Connor, we’re gonna have to cook something up. We’re gonna have to do something big. Like, I don’t know what the big thing is, but we’re gonna have to cook it up. So, we got that. I already talked to I already I already talked to Canopy Lake Park. Uh I’m not sure if we’re able to film the live show uh during the the Mine of Lost Souls show, but uh we might be able to finagle. we can get a peacock down here just to be in the background as we so it’s a little bit we’re bringing can be like pac to the listeners like it’ll be us talking like yeah you know Laura probably is better on first power play and you’re going to hear like in the background as the peacock just is yelling the entire time so or you’ll get to hear like the the the ricketiness of the Boston cannonball where it’s like you know like I think I was trying to see if we could get the peacock and like the old prospector from the mind of lost souls too like just him like just like in the background. But no, we couldn’t I I don’t think I think we’d probably put the whole ride in disarray if we we pluck that guy out of there. So, we’re working on it. But again, this won’t even be a a feasible tangible conversation if we don’t get 10k subscribers. So, that’s what I mean. Like, you gota you got to subscribe and so this then this happens. Then we’re forced to do this and then we’ll deal with that. Then we’ll deal with that. Um lots of other great stuff. Obviously, Patriots Press Pass, Celtics All Access on YouTube as well. Then obviously make sure if you don’t like watching us, subscribe wherever you get your podcast from. Apple, Spotify, Podbean, wherever it is. I’m Evan Marinos. That’s Conor Ryan. Uh Connor, what is going on? Evan, I’m doing well. How you doing? Doing great. Doing great. It’s a stressful time. Red Sox are we’re recording the same time as we did. Maybe it’s good. Tuesday, we recorded Bruins beat like around three o’clock, right? You know, three hours before first pitch. We’re doing the same thing on Wednesday. Hopefully, we called it last, you know, we called it in Bruins beat. Hopefully, we can do it right here, too. Big win for the Red Sox in game two. Huge bats were flying. Who could have predicted a three home run game for Kalis Nvayas, right? I mean, you saw in game one, you had SOAD, you had Yoshida, everyone always believed in him, comes through clutch, and then what do you know, game two, three dingas for Kos Nvayas. You love to see it, right? After three walks. After three really good walks in game one. So hopefully he’s going to have three grand slams in game one against Toronto. So it’s like the 2021 Red Sox when they couldn’t stop hitting grand slams. That was what it was like in game two. Um yeah, interesting times with the Red Sox. CLNS, by the way, has been doing postgame shows. So make sure to go check that out on the main CLNS media YouTube page. They’ve been doing a good job at least through one game. Bobby Bobby Banning’s all over the place, man. I shout out to Bobby for literally being at every single thing going on in Boston sports. Bobby has like clones. Bobby’s at like a bazillion different things. who what is the real Bobby? We don’t know. Um but we are a week away. We’re a week away from regular season hockey for the Bruins, which is an exciting time. I am so done with camp and preseason games. I just want these games to matter. Um and the Bruins play the Caps in a week, a week from today. At least when we’re recording this, a week from um today. And kind of looking back with a week left in camp, I’m curious like what’s been your big surprise? What’s been something that came across your radar that you didn’t expect? I I will say, Evan, you look ahead a year from now, how thankful we’re going to be that the pretty much the the regular season is going to start at the end of September. Like, we’d already be in the thick of things right now. Um, next year is only going to be full preseason games. So, thank God because I’m in the same boat. Uh, I’m ready just for this team to to get rolling, for the games to actually matter and kind of work through thing work through things as we get to the start of the regular season because I think probably my biggest surprise is the lack of clarity right now because honestly I still don’t know what to make of this team and where the pieces really fit and you’ve had what two weeks of training camp, you’ve had four preseason games. Yeah, you’re you’re hoping to at least see, you know, a few guys stand out or you start seeing some cohesion. You know, we we mentioned early on during camp Makostorm wanted to get, you know, identify payers up front of guys that could work together, whether it’s, you know, Zaka and Bluml or um Middlestad and Aidson, right? And you saw kind of the thought process there as for a team that has so much in flux, especially with that middle six grouping, you saw like I think what their line of thinking was of what they’re trying to see, where the chemistry was going to be, what guys fit where. But now you get through a couple of weeks of of training camp, a couple of preseason games, feels like they’re kind of still in the same spot. Like you kind of know who the players are going to be. Like out of like those six spots in the middle six, I think it’s safe to assume that four of them are going to be Zaka, Avidson, Middlestat, and probably Jano. But where do they fit? What are the actual lines? Like if you to tell me right now like how confident I’d be of like let’s say the second line being Zaka, Middlestad, Ardson be like 5050, right? Because we were just talking last week about like maybe they opt for um you know Zaka and Middlestead both centering their own lines which then the domino effect of what does that mean for Fraser Minton? Like we have all It’s almost like the Bruins are still in like the middle of like the those choose your own adventure books, but they can’t like they’re still like they don’t know which one to pick yet. It’s like do you go It’s like goosebumps. Do you go down the cellar and punch the goblin or do you call the police? And they never on that book ever call the police like like people should. And so it never happened. Yeah. It’s like no, there’s a there’s a there’s a coven of witches downstairs like that book that book that book would have been 20 pages if that happened. Yeah. It’s like, “No, we got a coven of witches downstairs.” It’s like, “We should call the authorities.” Like, “No, I’m going to get I’m going to bring a shoe downstairs and try to fight them with a shodfoot.” It it never works that way. Doesn’t never ends well for them. No. And so I feel like the Bruins are in the same spot. It’s like you have like some solutions here, but they don’t know what to do yet. And so Fargo starts going into the basement with a shoe. Exactly. It’s a very long- winded way to say that. I just feel like the Bruins still have a lot of options in place, but they haven’t, I think, made a definitive path forward yet. And it’s not saying whichever path they choose, whether it’s let’s say it’s Zaka and middle side on different lines or you put them on one line together, I don’t know for sure what the right option is yet, but I think you you’d hope to see them at least not show some conviction because it feels like they’re just kind of sitting on their hands here, but like at least be more definitive right now of what they want to see because again, they’ve got two preseason games, but you don’t really have a lot of runway before you start getting to the regular season. It just feels like we’re kind of waiting for that shoe to drop. whether it’s roster cuts, whether it’s, you know, guys getting an extended run with a certain line me or two. Um, just feels like the whole team’s kind of stuck in neutral and it’s like you can’t go fight the witches yourself. Just call the cops. Call I like the idea of Sturm running into the basement with 28 28 witches just rolling in with an Adidas sneaker on. No, can’t do it. Can’t do it. No, it’s impossible. Um I I can’t hold the shoe for the whole show. Um I don’t like it’s interesting because I just I maybe everybody’s been so good that every the level of play is so high like oh my god there’s so many good players here and I don’t think that’s been the case. Um yeah I I I’m I’m as shocked as you are. Um and and I don’t know if shocked is the right word. Yeah. I think I’m disappointed. I’m somewhat surprised because you want to see some some clarity, right? Yes. See some clarity, see some guys playing together a lot. Now, Middlestat was out on uh Wednesday with a lower body thing that Sterm says is nothing major. So, Zaka centered his own line, but even Sturm talked about this uh at camp on Wednesday of like we can’t like I like to have guys be together for a long time and Zaka’s been on the wing, down the middle, on the wing, down the middle. Who is he playing with? I don’t know. Sterm had a shoe in his his press conference holding it up. We’re going in. So I don’t like that’s my thing is like what is it looking like for opening night? Are they going to go the conservative veteran route of Arvidson with Zaka and Middlestat or do you see them uh go with Zaka and Middlestat centering their own lines? I think like you know I feel like Zaka Middlestad Arvidson is a very like relatively highish floor but a very low ceiling like I Arvidson has not been super impressive through four game through his games and through camp and like what you know it’s fine you kind of shrug your shoulders but then this is another thing the young guys haven’t separated themselves enough. I mean, we’re we’re four games in. We’re deep into this thing. And it’s like, you know, Mitten makes sense. Potra’s been okay at times. Blumel is sort of up and down. They have him high in the lineup. Steves, they have him, they had him replacing him on line rushes on Wednesday um on the second line with Zaka and Houston Dean off like it’s just a lot of guys, a lot of just guys and I don’t and no one separated themselves. And I think that’s the thing where it makes it tough for Sturm where it’s like what are my lines going to be? And that’s why I almost wonder I know that he wants um uh continuity down the middle. I know he wants kind of veteran guys who’ve been in the NHL for quite a bit playing down the middle. But I do wonder if he sort of just starts the season with the second line of Zaka, Middlestat, Arvdson just to sort of like wait for something to come together on that third line. Yeah. And I almost feel like where there is so much uncertainty with this group, you do wonder if it is going to be just like a trial by error and you like feeling out process once you get to the regular season. That’s not ideal. And as much as we say like we came in for preseason to be over, what happens if like this same roster was in place next season, we only had four preseason games. They’d literally going into the season being like, h I don’t know. We’ll figure out as it as the games go on. Um, so I do think that, listen, I think everyone wants to have like some like definitiveness with training camp and preseason of an idea of what your team’s going to be. And I think everyone expected that this is going to be a group that is going to be a work in progress, right? Whether it’s the systems in place, the younger players and what their roles are going to be, um, all that stuff. like this is a team that even though we’ve talked about like what their ceiling is and could they be a potential wild card team if they are that like if they exceed those expectations and they are like a wild card team and hit like the ceiling of what we think they are I’m not expecting this team to also open up the year like eight one and one right like I feel like it it’s going to be like you you take the growing pains and you you start jelling as like the second half goes on I think is what we’d imagine would be the scenario if this team is better than we expect So there are going to be a lot of uh growing pains along the way, but it does feel like yeah, maybe is the best bet is just go with a second line where you have at least three NHLers and you see kind of how they fit and you adjust from there. And if that means Blue Mel with Minton and Jano or what have you, Patra, you figure that out as it comes along. But to your point, I think one thing that further kind of complicates matters is there is like some opportunity here for younger players to really seize a spot to kick the door down and, you know, make it so the Bruins can’t send it down to Providence. And there haven’t been a lot of guys that have like performed so far during the preseason where you’re like, “All right, that guy’s got a spot locked up.” And you see like across the NHL, like a lot of other uh teams like Vancouver’s got that 2025 first round pick, Coats, whatever his name is, who’s like been really good that now they’re having a legitimate argument kind of like Potra few years ago of like, is this guy ready? That that player on Philly who had that that second goal, uh, Rodrigo, the the the the Latian center, kind of came out of nowhere. And I remember like when he scored that goal, all the Philly beat riders are like, “Yeah, he’s earned a spot.” like you’re seeing across the NHL, there are these guys that are either bubble players, fringe guys, guys you didn’t know going to the year that are playing so well that it’s taking the decision out of the team’s hands of like, all right, he’s he’s going to be on the NHL roster on October 7th or eth. And the Bruins have a few guys in the mix, right? Blue Mill, maybe Minton off of just like him playing a two a solid two-way game, but no one has kicked the door down yet. And I don’t know if that was unrealistic expectations for the Bruins to expect. I got to make a push amongst this group that is still in the lower tier of a prospect pool, but you did just wish you’d see a little bit more tangible production, I think, from from guys, especially with all the opportunities out there uh this camp. Yeah, I want to get more into that with especially the young guys. 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So download the app today and use code cls to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup prize picks. It’s good to be right. It’s good to be right over at prize pick. So the young the young kids thing I think it’s interesting because like we’ve talked about Mitten Potra’s been sort of wonky at times fine sometimes not so great or noticeable other times um uh Blumel you have Steves one guy that we haven’t really mentioned in this episode’s Fabian Lysel and you know Sturm was asked on uh Tuesday about or excuse me Wednesday about Fabian Lysel about what they he needs to see more out of him and he said you know I need to see you know he says you know Lysel feels he’s a high offensive end guy. I need to see him at both ends of the ice. And it feels like sort of in keeping with how the Bruins have felt about Lel for years now of like the two-way game isn’t there. Playing his own zone isn’t there. I don’t know. I’ve said this before, it just doesn’t feel like this is the place for him. It doesn’t whether or not he’s good or not to play in the NHL, whoever’s fault it is, this just does not feel like the spot. Yeah. Yeah. And I think kind of even going off of Sturm’s comments on Wednesday, he mentioned like what these younger players have to do is like do something special out on the ice. So, it’s almost like I do agree that it does feel like the ship has maybe sailed in terms of like the Bruins and their evaluation of Lifestyle or what they need to see from him. But also, I think one way you can kind of change that approach or narrative or whatever it may be, and maybe this is falling on deaf ears, right, as far as what Lysel can do, um, considering he’s been in this group B part of the roster for like a week now, but let’s say he draws in the lineup on Thursday, like you got to score a goal or do something, set up a guy, right? It’s almost like, you know, Matte Blum who we’ve mentioned like he’s getting a lot of run with like the second power play unit. He’s playing in the top six. Has it been like a unreal preseason run for him? No. Right. Like he scores like he’s had some times where it’s tough to notice him. Like I I don’t think he was all that great on Monday against Philly. Was a touch slow I thought with like moving the puck. Kind of processing at NHL speed, which to be expected, right? But he’s not a a perfect guy that he’s got, you know, three goals in three preseason games. Looks like he’s ready to be a 20 goal player in the NHL. But I think the Bruins, kind of what we’ve talked about of how they evaluate him for a team that desperately needs scoring and skill, you’re seeing it on display. You’re seeing the upside. You’re seeing him play to his strengths. And I think the Bruins are like, “All right, keep on doing that. We’ll work with you on the rest of your game, but keep on doing what you’re good at, and we will carve out an opportunity for you.” I think the same thing with like Cell and like regardless of how they view his his skill set or his progression or his two-way game for a team that needs scoring help. If he goes out there on Thursday against the Capitals, right, I think is who they’re playing. And he scores two goals and it looks like a beast out there, sets up someone on 211, yeah, maybe he gets another look on Saturday, right? Like I think it’s all about, you know, baby steps for a guy like Gel at this part at this point of his development and this point of the preseason that play to your strengths, make something happen and maybe they re-evaluate things because you just need to see some sort of flash with a guy like that. Um especially where you probably got roster cuts coming down the line. So very curious to see if Lysel draws into the lineup on Thursday and if so got to do something and I feel like it’s got to be in the offensive side of things. Yeah, it’d be great if he has a a back check or something that probably earns you brownie points. If it’s NHL, be a player. The backing always helps you. You know, you can score five goals, but you miss an assignment, you get sent to the OHL. But, um, I do think that Lysol needs to pot a goal or two here to maybe change some of that sentiment about him. I always love in NHL Be a Pro when the coach like it’ll do be a cut scene and the coach comes down off his perch behind the bench to like the front just to talk to you. When have you ever seen a coach do that? Let alone regularly. I thought I always find that hilarious. I don’t know if they do it in 26, but I know 25 and before that was what they did. I I agree with you. Lysel needs to produce. I mean, again, 12 games last year, three points in Boston, 34 points in 52 AHL games, 50 points in 56 the year before, 37 and 54 games uh the year before that. Like, you just he hasn’t beaten the door down with offensive production. And I I there was an interesting uh play uh on u in Monday’s game. David Posterno is skating into the offensive zone. It was towards the offensive zone and he it’s a one-on- four and he can see it like it you’re not getting through that. Curls around backhand dumps it into the other corner board goes right in and gets it right. That’s an example I think what they want to show Lysel of hey you don’t need to skate through everybody. You can manage the game. You can make it easier. And I think Lysel at times struggles with that. Struggles with like, you know, make the smart play here, make the more efficient play. Um, and again, the production hasn’t been there. So, it’s like, yeah, this guy has great skill, should be scoring when they drafted him, high offensive upside. You just haven’t seen it. You haven’t seen it in in the last bunch of preseasons, including this one. I think that’s one of the things that’s so frustrating is like, oh, the tools are there, you know, like he’s a good skater, good hands, like all those things. It’s just that that next thing. Um, and I they haven’t seen it. They have not seen it because, you know, again, in group B on on Wednesday, uh, he seems disappointed by it, but that’s that’s what they have. And I think to your point, Connor, like if he could start producing every time, you know, if every game he was a threat for a point, he’d be in the lineup. like you’d kill for they don’t have anybody outside of David Posterno like that. So again like I think they’re they’re they would rather obviously have him uh in the lineup. U before we get into some more surprises. Guess who’s back? 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Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download the Game Time app today. Download it today. Um, in terms of other surprises, I mean, again, Clarity in the Middle Six is a problem. Um, pretty der uh dow episode so far. The vibes are vibes are taking a little bit of a hit. I’m going to bring the vibes up a little bit. I’m gonna pump it up. Pump it up a little bit. Um, one’s This is minor. This is not a huge thing. Uh, lot of battles, a lot of battle drills in this training camp. And it’s funny because on Wednesday, Lorai was going uh against Jano in a certain one-on-one drill. And I think one of the positives, and I’m not saying that I’m not justifying the signing or the signings of all these vets, but one of the positives is like a guy like Lori who has, you know, the height and the size, but uh, you know, needs to improve defensively, needs to improve uh, with physicality and those types of things to get to go up against a guy like Tanner Jano or Mikey Acont or Shawn Cari is a good thing for a kid like him and I think is going to be beneficial. you know, does that mean he’s going to be a plus 20 this year? No, it doesn’t. But if we’re looking for minor positive things, I think one of the positives uh positive surprise is, you know, not that they’re doing battle drills, but that like some of these vets will have a good impact on young guys. I think the same can be said for Matt Potra as well. Yeah. And I also think like even going off of that, the the way that the camp has been run so far. And I think what Michael Sturman and his coaching staff have been doing has been encouraging. And you know, maybe it’s more of like the personnel issue, right? Or the fact that I think it is going to be an ongoing process, but I do at least feel like the Bruins have a pretty clear vision of one like what they what they want to do, what they need to do, even if like again, I don’t think it’s remotely going to be uh things are going to be set in stone or the power players going to be humming on October 8th, right? Like it does feel like at least they have a pretty good plan of what they’re trying to get out of this group, what they’re trying to instill. Um, and I think you see it with, you know, bring in the guys like Jano and AC Martin and those types of players. Um, Corali by that same kind of um that same kind of player profile, but like just the way they’ve been running camp as far as like a lot of skating drills, a lot of conditioning work, a lot of, you know, board work, board battles, um, a lot of emphasis on the power play, working on not just, you know, ozone work, but like coming up the ice as a unit, which I think was something that plagued them. Like I’m not saying that, you know, and maybe this is just looking at it through the rose, you know, colored lenses, but it does feel like even if this team has a lot of work to do, a lot of question marks, a lot of uncertainty, and maybe that’s more again of just a byproduct of the roster as opposed to what Sturman and his staff are doing. It does feel like they’re at least trying to put in the work now to to get something out of this group. Maybe it’s something that leads to better results in January onward. Maybe it leads to better results next season, but it it’s at least encouraging that it feels like there’s more of a purpose uh to this camp as opposed to last year where it just feels like it was a disaster. So, and I think like bringing in those guys like Jano and Cari and you got a very valid argument of like bringing in those guys, how much they move the needle in terms of production on the ice, the contracts, all that stuff. But you’re at least seeing, I think, purpose as far as how the Bruins want to, you know, what they want the identity identity of this team to be and what they’re trying to get out of this group uh during camp, which I at least appreciate that part of like it feels like it’s pretty transparent and clear what they’re what they’re focusing in on. And it’s been clear since day one. They’re going to grind you down. Like that’s the thing. They’re a defensive team who’s going to grind out goals in the offensive zone. That’s what they’re going to And I think when you look like I assume next week we’re going to do like an expectations or a predictions episode or whatever we do and one of mine is going to be they’re probably going to start slow. Your offense is probably mainly going to come from your first line for the first couple weeks especially as that middle six takes times takes time to get going. But over the course of the season I think you’re going to see improvement. be it, you know, be more physical, better defensively, better in net. Some other guys may be popping uh in the top nine. So, I think there is that element of it. Um, but it’s going to take time. It’s going to take time. You know, Mason Lauri is not going to be putting guys to the glass on night one. Who knows? Maybe he will. Maybe he will. And then he’ll try to use the glass to play with like the the broken stick. Yeah. Um, fun reminder, make sure to subscribe to Bruins Ringside on YouTube. Again, 10K subscribers would be awesome. uh podcast all the time. Goosebump books for all if Yeah, there it is. That’s a great idea. Or we’ll do a reading of Goosebumps. We’ll do like a an epic uh we’ll do like a choose your own adventure, but we’ll have like the group chat like decide which which page we turn to. All the comments will be like this sucks. Like talk more about the Bruins. I hate this. Shut up. Please shut up. Like no, we got to go. This is RL Stein. Did you just put RL Stein one person jumping in be like they they [ __ ] up the 2015 draft? I’m like, it’s not worth doing right now. Talk about a That’s a Goosebumps book in and of its own. It is. Yes. Um podcast all the time. Make sure to subscribe there. And then uh do do you do you go down do you call the authorities or do you draft uh do you draft Jacob Zaboral was a third? Yeah, exactly. I’m drafting Jacob Zaboral. No cops here. Don Sween is not not calling the cops. That is hilarious. It’s like it’s like the Matthew McConnA in um in uh in uh what’s the movie? The Lincoln Lawyer. No, not The Lincoln Lawyer. Thunder. No, the big one. Billion with Christopher Nolan. Um Interstellar. Interstellar. And he’s like looking at his old self. He’s like, “No.” Yes. Oh, it’s like call the police, Don. Call the police. Don sweetie, please call the cops. Um this is the Goosebumps episode. Subscribe to CLS. That’s all I got to say. I’m not going to try to keep doing that one. Getting derailed. Um, what else is there? Surprises. Um, no drama. No drama this year. Not that, you know, we expected there to be drama, but there was quite a lot of drama last year. I’ll give him credit. Drama free. Uh, a little bit of a surprise after last year. I think Sterm’s run a pretty tight ship as you said. Um, and you know, I think that’s a good thing. I don’t think that’s bad. I think I do think one thing that is an encouraging uh surprise not I don’t know if surprise is the right word but it’s good to see is that I think Lindome Hampus Lind I guess Lindomes but especially His Lindome has looked awesome I thought uh his two preseason games looked like he hasn’t lost a step uh and I think you just see like when he’s out there how much even if it’s not like he’s a guy that’s going to be a 50point defenseman how much he just impacts the game in all three areas whether it’s just you know playing heavy minutes uh recover covering pucks, getting it out of the D zone with the first pass or just taking the puck himself, getting through the neutral zone, clean entries, activating when needed. Like he had a couple of really good plays in transition where he was uh jumping up into the play. Um he’s a guy that like even if it doesn’t lead to like a a goal or something, like the the quality chances he generates, the the headaches that he eliminates in the D zone, it makes life easier for guys like uh Jeremy Swayman or even like his D partner. um he just steadies so much of uh the game when he’s out there. And that was a big question mark like coming off of a fractured kneecap. That’s an injury that invites a lot of risk for, you know, recurring injuries or you come back and not like it’s like a Achilles injury, but you run the risk of like, all right, maybe he’s back, but how much of his game has taken a hit, right? And again, it’s the preseason. You’ll see how he is once the regular season grind gets started, but I think he’s looked awesome so far. And again, as we’ve talked about on multiple occasions about this team and how they can exceed expectations, a lot of it comes to the defense tightening up. And I think you’ve seen both him and Makavoy the way they’ve played so far. You can see that vision playing out, right? Like it’s not like we’re asking that you need both Makavoy and Lindome to be top five Norris guys for them to have any shot to make in the playoffs. They play their game and they’re healthy and they’re contributing like we’ve seen them do in the past. the defense is going to be much better than they were last year. So, I think that’s encouraging to see. I mean, what an upgrade you would get. I mean, they would be like we’ve talked about the things they need to go right for them to be even in remote contention, just being better defensively. He adds so much. I think you look at like the downfall of the last couple months of last season where it’s like you got Zidor off out there in big minutes and low and peak and it’s like that’s because you know Makavoy was down but Lindholm was down as well and I don’t think they’re going to be playing together at least it doesn’t seem like that through camp so far. So you’re going to have two you know His Lindol will be a number one defenseman on a lot of teams. So you have two number one guys on different pairings eating up a lot of minutes. I mean, again, if Charlie Makavoy and Hampus Lynome are on the ice for 40 of the 60 minutes, sometimes even more, like that is a huge boost, not just to your power play, but your penalty kill. Uh, five on five. As you said, the transition game looked really strong on Monday. Lindol adds so much and again takes away tougher minutes for a guy like Mason Lorai. Um, or who, you know, maybe is probably on that top unit. So, he takes away tougher minutes for a guy like Zadorov as well. So I think Lindholm is Hampus Lindolm uh being up to speed. That was something I was a little bit worried about coming in. Fact that he’s been okay I think is is definitely a bright spot. Any other big surprises? I mean again I think one of the surprises like that we would love to be able to talk about is like young player X is like nasty. Oh my god. That’s what you hope for, right? But it hasn’t happened. So I think we’ve kind of looks good. I do think they’re gonna have I actually do think they’re gonna have a pretty good fourth line. That’s not get the duck boats ready, but I I do think they’ve got a lot of guys in the fourth line. And I also think they’ve got a lot of guys that probably aren’t going to make the team, but are waiting in the wings that if like called up, they’re going to I think have pretty good depth there. Um I think like the depth has been good. It’s just the who are the guys in the middle six that have raised the questions. I like the fourth line guys. I think uh Jordan Harris has been really good as a seventh D. Yep. um you’ll like some of the ancillary pieces just who are the guys that are going to be really driving play and you’re waiting for them to kind of step up and that’s an ongoing process with regular season starting a week from now. I think the lack of true talent is showing. Yeah, you have depth but do you have game-breaking play driving talent? You really don’t. And I think you’re starting to see that now. Conor, what can the people look forward to from you over the globe and boston.com? Yeah, you can read my stuff over the globe and boston.com. You’ve covered every step of the way this Bruins season with recaps, features, columns, analysis, all that good stuff. If you want to follow me on Twitter, X, whatever it’s called these days, you can. Connor Ryan_93. Go do all that. That’s Connor Ryan. I’m Evan Marinowski. Poke the Bear listeners. Just have a great rest of your week. [Music]

In this episode of Poke The Bear, Conor and Evan discuss the top surprises that we’ve seen so far from Bruins camp and preseason action. 

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