Early takeaways from Bruins camp w/ Evan Marinofsky | Pucks with Haggs - video Dailymotion

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Welcome to another episode of Pucks with Haggs, Joe Haggerty is joined once again by Evan Marinfosky from the New England Hockey Journal. Together, they delve into their initial takeaways from the Boston Bruins training camp. Which players are making a mark early on? How do the team members feel about Brad Marchand taking the helm as captain? What are the key narratives to watch? Dive in as Evan and Joe break it down.  Fanduel Sportsbook is the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5  and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything from spreads to player props and more! So, visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season with an offer you won’t wanna miss.  21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.

Transcript

00:00 with Hags is brought to you by FanDuel, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNX Media Network.

00:04 And welcome to another edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast. As always, I'm your host,

00:10 Joe Hagerty. You can find my stuff on joehagerty.substack.com. Please feel free to take a

00:16 premium membership on my Substack account so you can get all of my stuff, all of my Bruins content

00:20 and NHL content sent directly to your inbox and you can read it fully with me today as he's been a

00:27 few times, Evan Marinoski from the New England Hockey Journal, also the host of the Bruins Beat

00:31 here on the CLNX Network. We're extremely happy to have him. First though, let's give some love

00:36 to the sponsors. First of all, Factor Meals, America's number one ready-to-eat meal kit.

00:42 I love it. Meals in two minutes, healthy, delicious. And also FanDuel Sportsbook. As always,

00:48 we got to give them plenty of love. Right now, $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. When you place a

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00:59 the Patriots to win, then you might be able to beat that. But that's a story for another day.

01:03 Evan, welcome to the show again. Training camp has started. Maybe some of your thoughts off the top

01:09 from just the first couple of days of Boston Bruins training camp. Well, first of all, I saw

01:13 you talking to McAvoy one-on-one yesterday, so I'm excited to see that on the Substack. That should be

01:19 it. It's on there now, Evan. Okay, perfect. That's a great little segue into going to Substack. And

01:25 if you want to know what Charlie McAvoy thinks, and we'll get into this a little bit in the

01:29 podcast, if you want to know what Charlie McAvoy thinks about Brad Marsh and being captain,

01:33 instead of maybe a guy like Charlie McAvoy being captain, I asked him that yesterday,

01:37 and you can find out. So thank you for that plug. That was fantastic, Evan. But what kinds of things

01:42 are you looking at here at training camp the first few days? Well, it's funny. I was on with Connor

01:46 yesterday on Poke the Bear, and I was saying how in training camp, and you've a lot more experience

01:53 than me in this, but I don't really care about the guys that are officially on the roster,

01:58 the Marshands, the McAvoys, the Posternoks. If they look good, great. If they don't,

02:03 I'm thinking they'll figure out at some point. I'm more focused on those prospects,

02:07 the guys on the bubble, the Lysels of the world, the Merkulofs, the Low Rys.

02:13 Deeper, you can go into a Danton Heinen. I think that's a really interesting case of on Friday,

02:19 I thought he looked pretty good. He's a Montgomery guy, and that's a guy who

02:22 wouldn't shock me if he's on the third line to start the year. So it's guys like that. That's

02:29 what I'm most focused on. And I think we'll get our best look at a lot of those guys on Sunday

02:35 against the Rangers. So I think that's the biggest thing that I look for. And I think it's also,

02:42 it's tough because, I was saying this to Patrick Donnelly yesterday in the press box. I was like,

02:46 it's tough because you see a guy look good in a drill and you see the tweets like,

02:50 oh, he looks outstanding. And it's like, let's all simmer down. Like a guy has a good drill or

02:57 a good three on three battle drill or your favorite, the pass for the breakaway type drill,

03:02 which you said you're going to institute for your son's youth hockey team, which I think is a great

03:07 idea. No, there's a lot of drills I'm going to steal. I told Ryan Mugenel the other day that

03:11 I'm going to steal. They do this drill where they do a three man breakout at one end, and it goes

03:16 into a three on three with the guys on the other side. Like they have both guys on both sides doing

03:21 three man breakouts with one four checker. And then as soon as they break out of the zone,

03:26 they give the puck back to the coach and they race down to the other end of the ice for a three on

03:30 three small area game at the other end. And then it's like transitioning from one to the, I think

03:36 it's an awesome drill. I told Mugenel that yesterday. He's like, good, name it after me.

03:39 When you introduce it to the kids and do it in practice, I was like, I'm definitely going to do,

03:42 I'm going to call it the Muge. So shout out to the Providence Bruins coach. I don't know if he's,

03:47 that's his drill. I don't know if he stole it from somebody. I don't care where he got it from.

03:50 Awesome drill that I'm definitely going to use. But to your point, you can't read too much into

03:56 the drills, some of the battle drills and some of the one-on-one drills you can read a little bit

04:02 into and you'll get a little insight from those. But like, look, bottom line, Jim Montgomery had

04:09 the second day had to go with the forward lines wearing different colored jerseys to make sure

04:14 the drill drills were running. Right. Because there was, everybody was in black and white

04:18 jerseys with their names on the back the first day. And there was too much confusion with the

04:22 young guys and the newcomers as to what drills they were running and what was going on. So like,

04:27 they're even still trying to work that stuff out and make sure everybody's on the same page,

04:30 as far as the crispness of the drills, executing them correctly, like all that stuff. And there's

04:35 the nerves with the young guys. So there's not a lot. And there's also the fact that a lot of the

04:39 veteran guys are kind of working on things rather than trying to show their best self every single

04:44 second of every single drill during those training camps. So, you know, there's early in the pre

04:50 season, I don't read anything into the line combinations. I don't read anything into,

04:53 you know, pretty much anything I see until we get a little later in camp. The one thing to

04:58 your point that I really like and I'm interested by is when they pair the veterans with the young

05:03 guys in the line combos and the defenseman pairings, and you start to see what they're

05:07 thinking a little bit as to what those players might be long-term, what their roles might be,

05:12 how they're going to look with veteran guys like Fabian Lysel skated with Charlie Coyle and Brad

05:16 Marshy in the first couple of days. Matthew Pottra was with David Posternak, which, you know,

05:23 he was on cloud nine after that first practice session, getting skating around with number 88.

05:27 Mason Lowry was in a pairing with Brandon Carlo. You know, stuff like that. Georgie Murkalov was

05:34 centering to Danton Heine, who you mentioned looked really good and Jake DeBrusque. So,

05:38 that's a real nice premium center look for him with those two guys. So, like, those are the

05:44 things I'm looking at and I'm interested by the first few days of training camp, but like,

05:49 you know, when you've covered 20 training camps, you realize what happens. The young guys look

05:53 really good at the beginning, really hungry. You know, they might even have a good first preseason

05:57 game or two right out of the gate. And then you steadily see as preseason and training camp goes

06:03 on, the veterans just look better and better and better. And then when it comes like time to win

06:08 the actual spot towards the end of preseason and beat somebody out for a job, all of a sudden,

06:13 the veterans come out of nowhere and have these great performances. And it's like, okay, they're

06:17 starting to turn it on now and get it ready for the regular season. So, like, you know, that's

06:22 basically sort of the ebb and flow or the narrative of training camp when you're watching it for long

06:27 periods of time. And, you know, what I think is going to be interesting, like you, I thought Dan

06:31 Hynan looked really good. I haven't really noticed Alex Chasen much in the first couple of days,

06:35 but training camp drills, I really aren't his thing. You know, I'm interested to see what he's

06:39 going to look like net front on the power play during some of these preseason games, when he

06:43 gets those looks and stuff like that. Now, another line I was interested by too, was the Johnny

06:48 Beecher centered, Jacob Lauko and Milan Lucic. I thought that was a really good look for him

06:54 too, on a, in a potential fourth line role. So, you know, that that's the kind of stuff I'm looking

06:59 at. Any, any of those young guys in your mind flashed for you these first couple of days?

07:04 - Yeah. You know, it's funny. I won't say flashed. One guy that, you know, and it's funny,

07:09 again, you have to take these drills with a grain of salt. You have to kind of look, as you said,

07:13 you have to look at them with, you know, it's, it's beginning of training camp. It's a drill.

07:17 Everybody has bad drills. Everybody has good drills. It's hard to judge a lot off it, but

07:20 there was a three on two net front drill on the side of the ice that I was on yesterday and

07:26 Heinen, Dubrask and Merkuloff kept getting looks. And it's interesting because as I was watching,

07:32 you know, Heinen and Dubrask, they looked natural together and they were, you know,

07:35 finding each other. They were finding smart routes to get open around the two defenders.

07:39 And Merkuloff was having a tough time doing that. He wasn't, you know, I know hockey sense has

07:43 always been kind of a, an issue with him. And that's, you know, a little bit of a red flag

07:47 going forward, but he was having a tough time. And I saw the coaches pull them aside a couple

07:52 of times to be like, Hey, you know, and I don't know what they were saying, but my guess is

07:55 they were, you know, they sick was out showing him, you know, different ways to get open. And

07:59 I think stuff like that, you can sort of note and say, okay, the hot, you know, the, the, you know,

08:06 looking natural with two NHL players not quite there yet. Like Fabian Lysell is always someone

08:13 that I haven't, I've never loved his game away from the puck, which I think, you know, as time

08:18 goes on, hopefully changes. I know they hopefully think it changes. And Jim Montgomery noted that

08:23 when he talked to us after the first day that he, he said, he didn't think he'd played particularly

08:27 well defensively, like in the drills. So like that, that tells you something too, like bottom

08:33 line with all those young guys, I think every single one of them is going to end up in Providence to

08:37 start the year, you know, unless agreed, unless somebody like beach or all of a sudden, like

08:43 shows that he can handle a fourth line center role. And I don't even know if I consider Mark

08:48 McLaughlin, one of those guys at this point, I think he's a little above them as far as development,

08:52 where he's pretty close to ready. If he's going to be an NHL guy in a fourth line center kind of

08:57 role or a wing kind of role, but like, you know, aside from one of those young guys ending up as

09:02 the fourth line center or on the fourth line, that's really the only place I could see any of

09:06 them winning a spot out of camp, unless, you know, Mason low ride blows everybody out of the water

09:11 and they decide they can trade a defenseman and, you know, get some cap space. But like, I, I don't

09:16 know that they want to do that with any of them. I think they'd be much more well-served and much

09:20 happier if they just play like half a season in Providence and then revisit, you know, midway

09:24 through the year. Yeah. I think that's, and you know, we, you and I have kind of said this all

09:29 off season. Like I don't, there's no reason to rush it, you know, like you look at the top six,

09:34 you have guys there, your third line, Frederick geeky, potentially a Heinen, you know, you've got,

09:41 you've got guys there. You can, you know and then on the fourth line, that's really the only area.

09:47 And I don't think you want to throw Merkel off up into the NHL as a fourth line or just right out of

09:52 the gate. You don't want to see that with Lysel. Yeah. Lysel, you don't want to do that with Beecher

09:56 as you mentioned, it's kind of the only guy at least off the top of my head that could kind of

10:01 fill that if he continues to progress, you know, can you be fast and hard on the four check? Can

10:07 you be at least somewhat defensively responsible again with, with Beecher? It's always, you know,

10:12 if the scoring comes it's gravy, you know, like that's, it's an added bit to it. But if you can

10:18 be sort of, you know, a big fast presence and, you know, I know hockey sense has always been

10:24 something, you know, that they've noted, you know, not been super impressed with, with him.

10:28 But again, I think, you know, if you're, if you're on that fourth line, hard four check,

10:32 being responsible enough in your own zone you know, that's one guy I could see potentially

10:37 making the roster. But again, it's far out. A lot has to go right in the next two weeks for that to

10:41 be the case, but that's really the only guy I think, or, you know, Lauco, I would put in that

10:45 McLaughlin category of, you know, just a little bit above and a little more ready, but yeah,

10:52 as you said, Beecher is really the only one. You mentioned Lowry too. Lowry is a fascinating one,

10:56 because you know, he's progressed so much in the last two years at Ohio state and, you know,

11:03 spent some time at Providence last year, but I still think adjusting to the speed of the pro

11:07 game, there's nothing wrong with Providence for, you know, as long as he needs, there's nothing

11:12 wrong with that. So I think keeping up with the speed of, of the professional level, the elite

11:18 professional level is always going to be a challenge for Lowry a little bit. He's not the

11:21 fastest skater in the world. So like, I think that's something he's always going to have to

11:25 work really hard to, to keep pace with everybody else as good as his offensive skills and his ice

11:31 vision and his ability to pass and shoot are like the skating for a big guy is I think the one thing

11:36 that's always going to be, he's going to have to work hard to keep up with everybody else and keep

11:40 pace. And I think allowing him to do that for a while in the AHL level before he gets to the NHL,

11:46 where it's super fast forward, like fastest guys in the world is probably the right move.

11:52 Like, oh, I think is already on the roster. I think they already view him as an NHL player,

11:55 unless he like has a complete, like a meltdown setback, step back kind of performance and

12:02 training camp. I think a fourth line winger role is his to lose based on how he played last year

12:07 and based on how kind of they view him. And that's why I thought putting Beecher between

12:12 Luchich and Lauco was really interesting. Cause I think they're going to give him,

12:14 if he stays there, a legit look to see what he can do. And, you know, with all those guys,

12:19 their first round picks like Beecher, like Trent Frederick, some of those guys that

12:24 are first round picks, but don't, you know, they're, they're third, fourth line players.

12:27 They're, you know, not going to be premium offensive players. They kind of more role

12:31 players than anything else. I think it takes a while. Yeah. I think it takes a while for them

12:36 to transition, you know, from thinking to themselves, I'm a first round pick, I'm a star

12:40 player. You know, I'm one of the, I'm the best player on the team to all of a sudden, okay,

12:44 I have to play a certain kind of role and play a certain kind of way in order to be effective at

12:48 the professional level. And I think that's something that Beecher is still going through.

12:51 Sounded from the, the, the way Ryan Mugenel spoke of him, that he kind of passed through that and

12:57 figured it out towards the end of last year in Providence, which is great. But like, it's the,

13:01 to your point, it's the little things in the fourth line, you have to be able to win faceoffs.

13:04 You have to kill penalties. You have to be a really smart player, realize what your role is,

13:09 which is going to be more, you know, offensive possession in the, in the offensive zone,

13:14 puck possession, cycling the puck, like killing time, basically with puck possession and keeping

13:20 it in their zone. So the other lines can get on the ice that are going to give you your,

13:23 you know, offensive performances, your goals, all those kinds of things. Those are the guys,

13:27 the kind of things that when you're a fourth line guy, you sort of have to come to grips with and

13:30 hockey sense in hands are always going to be an issue with Johnny Beecher. He's never going to

13:35 be a big goal scorer in the NHL level. He's kind of, he reminds me a lot. I don't know if I mentioned

13:39 this to you or somebody else, but he, to me is like Danny Daniel Pia, who was also a first round

13:44 pick former first round pick speed and the tenacity he plays with. We'll always put him

13:48 in good offensive positions. He's going to get breakaways. He's going to get all kinds

13:52 of really good chances based on the speed and the way he plays the game, the tenacious way he plays

13:57 the game, but he just doesn't have the hands to finish those chances that he gets often enough to

14:01 really allow him to sort of elevate his game to higher levels. So like, once he comes to grips

14:05 with that, I think he's going to be a force as a fourth line, bottom six kind of center

14:10 because the skating, he looks like Jack Ico when he skates on the ice, just the big, long strides,

14:15 covers the ice and shoes it up. Uh, the fast, the, the speed and the physicality and being six

14:20 to 210 pounds. Like he looks like an NHL player when he's skating around out there, you know,

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14:58 season. Fan duel official partner of the NFL. So it's, you know, what's interesting

15:10 Beecher's development path is really interesting because he was a guy who was at Salisbury really

15:14 good, went right to the NTP. And I've never talked to Beecher about this. And, and, you know,

15:19 obviously an invite to the NTP is, is the biggest thing in the world. You have to go. Um, I only

15:24 know of one person that in my knowledge that ever declined the invitation. Um, well, like my cousin

15:30 actually did too way back in the day. Oh, he did. Okay. All right. Yes. Adam Garagosian a long time

15:36 ago, uh, inside baseball story, because apparently, uh, he didn't want to leave his girlfriend at the

15:42 time, uh, to go out to the US NDP. Yes. But that's good. No, that's a great. And we, and we crush him

15:48 for it now. Cause he's not married to that girl these days. So, Hey, you know what? He made a

15:52 short term decision. He made a short term decision, but, but Beecher's an interesting case. Cause he

15:56 went to the NTP was, you know, in their bottom six, uh, you know, went to Michigan was in their

16:01 bottom six and, you know, he's always been amongst the most talented, but you know, at a role that

16:08 was a third or fourth line role, uh, to the best of my knowledge. And I'm always curious, you know,

16:13 if he didn't go to the NTP and went, stayed at Salisbury and then went to the USHL or, uh, what,

16:18 you know, went to a school that wasn't Michigan and was in a top six role, like would those skills

16:23 have developed, but he have envisioned himself more as a top six guy. And it's an interesting

16:28 conundrum with a lot of these NTP kids that are on the bottom six, because those kids at,

16:33 you know, prep schools, junior programs would be top six players, but they're on the national team.

16:39 And Trent Frederick was the same thing. He was the bottom six center for the NDPP before he went to

16:44 Wisconsin, same thing. And, you know, it, it kinda that always stuck there, but like some guys

16:49 that's just, you know, I remember when Frederick got drafted, uh, he same draft as Charlie McAvoy.

16:55 And I still, to this day, crush the Bruins for not taking Alex to Brinkett instead of Trent

16:59 Frederick, as good as Trent Frederick has turned out to be like, but you know, Alex to Brinkett,

17:03 I think was score had like back-to-back 60 goal seasons in the OHL, uh, going into that draft

17:08 year. And Lee, he was a little small, but like today's NHL, small, fast players that are skilled

17:13 like that, that are goal scorers, they play and they are effective as we've seen with the Brinkett.

17:18 Um, but that's a story for another day. Bottom line is like when he was drafted,

17:23 I remember Keith Gretzky, who was the head of scouting at that point for the Bruins,

17:26 basically calling him projecting him as a third line center someday. And it was like

17:30 controversial because like, I don't think you should be drafting guys. You project as third

17:35 line centers with first round picks, even if you need big bodied centers, physical players,

17:40 like all that you were projecting him to be, especially with knowing that Milan Lucic was

17:44 either moving on or was going to be moving on soon. And you wanted a power forward type to

17:48 replace him. Uh, but I just don't think you pick those kinds of guys in the first round. And I

17:53 think even back then they saw, even though he was at the NDP, wherever he was going to be,

17:57 that that's kind of what his lot in life was eventually going to be. It just wasn't as

18:01 dynamic offensively as some of these other forwards that are out there, but you can't teach

18:05 six foot three, 215, 220 pounds, you know, with Frederick size and the physicality that he plays

18:11 with and everything else. So, uh, but to your point, I think that's a really interesting point

18:15 as far as pathways. And, you know, it, it, I can't imagine if I was a player at a 17, 18,

18:22 and I was invited to go to the national team development program and play there for a year,

18:26 that regardless of what my role was going to be, I was going to turn it down because I know,

18:29 I mean, I don't blame those guys get drafted. It's an interesting, you know,

18:32 pretty much all those guys get drafted. Uh, your, your future is really set as long as you go there

18:38 and you're not, you know, a problem on or off the ice. Like, you know, that that's a hard one to

18:42 turn down or turn away from. That's exactly it. And I think, you know, again, it's worked out for

18:46 him, right? I mean, NTDP, Michigan, first round pick, uh, you know, a guy that Bruins are looking

18:50 towards in lineup. I'm not, you know, but it's always a curious what if with some of those

18:54 bottom six NTP kids of what, you know, what if you did something different, obviously you wouldn't

18:59 NTDP is a huge prestigious honor and I'm not like knocking it. I think it's a great thing,

19:04 but it is an interesting thing always with those bottom six guys. Cause sometimes you'll,

19:08 you'll see a guy on the U 17 team who is in the bottom six or isn't playing much.

19:12 And then they transition to the USHL and say, I'm going to, you know, do my own thing. And,

19:17 and he was not like that. I mean, he played, that was not the issue with him, but it's always

19:21 interesting thing, you know, cause it, it's that mindset. It's a big difference. You know,

19:24 this between the bottom six and the top six and how you envision yourself. Um, again,

19:28 I've never talked to him about it. You know, I've always been kind of curious. Um, but again,

19:32 the path has worked out. He got to the NHL. I think that's the biggest thing, but yeah, I mean,

19:37 again, with him, you, you, you nailed it with like, if you can just be a force and annoying

19:42 to play against, uh, as a fourth liner, uh, this season, at least like he has a spot,

19:47 if that's the case and have good details, you know, exactly. That's it. That's as long as you

19:52 can do all those things. And, you know, for that particular role, I wonder if Mark Roloflin's got

19:57 a leg up on him because he's done a lot of that in the HL for a couple of years. And I think he's

20:01 details wise is a little bit at a higher level than, um, as far as polish goes for the NHL level

20:08 than Beecher. But like, I think they're also looking at McLaughlin on the wing and they may

20:11 move him off centrally entirely. So it'll be interesting to watch how that goes. Um, the big

20:16 news this week, obviously Brad Marchand named a 27th captain in Boston Bruins history and a full,

20:23 full credit to the Bruins for really going into the archives and making sure they know exactly

20:28 how many captains there are. Cause there was some uncertainty as to what number captain this was

20:33 until they actually went back and researched it before they named Brad Marchand the captain.

20:37 So he's the 27th captain in Boston Bruins history, uh, 27 captains in a hundred years. That is a very

20:43 select club. They put out a pretty cool video, uh, on their Twitter account. Uh, yesterday,

20:49 I think it was that had a bunch of the living captains, uh, congratulating him and welcoming

20:54 to the club guys like Ed Sanford, um, Johnny Bucic, Ray Bork, Zdeno Charaburgi. It was pretty

21:00 cool to see that. Um, but I just think, you know, we've done a lot of talk about who the captain's

21:07 going to be. I think it's agreed, uh, generally that it was probably between Brad Marchand and

21:12 Charlie McAvoy as to who was going to be captain of this team. Um, there was some people that

21:17 thought it should be McAvoy because he's got the longer term deal. He's going to be there for a

21:22 long time at 25 years old. He could be your captain for the next 10 years. Uh, if he was

21:27 named now, he's obviously going to be on the ice more than Brad Marchand as a defenseman.

21:31 That's the number one guy that's out there 23 minutes a game. You know, that's part of it too.

21:36 Uh, and maybe even, um, to a degree temperament wise, uh, or playing style wise, he might be the

21:41 more traditional fit than a guy that's got the most suspensions in NHL history and has signed

21:46 over a million dollars in game checks to Gary Bettman in the NHL, uh, for suspensions and

21:51 penalties. Um, but like, I just think in my mind, I've said Brad Marchand all along. I think he's

21:57 the only choice. I think he's the right choice at 35 years old. And he's the guy that's the last

22:04 remaining Stanley cup champion on this team. Um, the link back to 2011, he's been here throughout.

22:10 He was Patrice Bergeron's assistant through his run as captain. Let's see her. So he knows

22:16 everything about this team, um, how to deal with situations, you know, how to deal with other

22:21 players, how to lead, like he's got the experience to do all those things. Uh, and I think he's also

22:28 got the component where he's not afraid to challenge guys when they need to be challenged,

22:32 which I think is part of it too. So I, you know, for, for all that and more, I think it was the

22:38 right choice. He's the perfect time he's given his time. He's going to have it for a couple of

22:43 years and Charlie McEvoy will get his time after Brad Marchand is captain for a year or two. So

22:48 like, I think this was the right way to do it. I'm glad the Bruins made the choice that they made.

22:52 I felt like it was a no brainer, but I think it was the right thing to do for the team in the

22:56 transition it's in right now. You need somebody that's going to be able, um, to carry on the

23:02 stable, uh, excellent leadership that's, you know, char and Patrice Bergeron have built over the last

23:07 15 years. I think Brad Marchand is the guy to do that because he takes pride in it. I think he

23:12 wants to do that. And I think he takes it very seriously to keep the legacy going of those other

23:17 two players and what they've built here over the last couple of decades. So for all those reasons

23:21 and more, I was really glad to see him as captain. Yeah, I, they nailed it. I mean, I, I, I completely

23:27 agree with you on this. Like, you know, McEvoy's time will come. I think it's good to let him

23:31 continue to grow as a leader and to grow, uh, kind of into that role in the locker room, whether it's

23:37 him or posture knock down the road. Um, and again, there were, you know, there were other options,

23:43 obviously the Martian, but I just think how weird would have been if they didn't pick him, you know,

23:48 how weird would it have been if, if, you know, you saw how much it meant to him in that press

23:51 conference, right. Where he's saying they go out to dinner and, you know, he's like, are they letting

23:54 me down easy, by the way, a shout out to Sorolina, the restaurant that they went to dinner to in

23:59 Boston that apparently is going to Cam Neely's favorites. That is a fantastic restaurant. Your,

24:04 your wallet will take an extreme dent. If you start ordering bottles of wine, uh, from the, uh,

24:10 from the, the, the wine list that they give you. Like, I think I'm still paying off the last time

24:14 I went there like three or four years ago, but excellent choice by the Bruins and Cam Neely to

24:19 take Brad Marciano to dinner Sorolina in the back bay. Fantastic. I've never been, thankfully I'm a

24:24 beer guy, I guess. So the wine won't be, I don't know if you can afford it yet. You might still

24:28 have to work up to that level, buddy. I'm telling you the dinner bill was in a thousands when we

24:32 left. It was a lot. Oh, geez. Okay. I've never, I've never been, there's clearly a reason I've

24:35 never been. And I think that's the exact reason. Um, but yeah, I mean, again, how weird would it

24:40 have been if they didn't pick him? You know, how weird would it have been if he was an assistant

24:43 and McAvoy was the captain and it's like, you know, Marshan kind of is the leader of this team.

24:49 And, uh, you know, I said all off season, like if you're not going to make him captain the way

24:52 that this team is transitioning, why are you keeping them around? You know, he's the only

24:58 piece on this roster that has legitimate trade value, a good contract, all those things. You

25:02 don't trade a Brad Marsh. I'm not saying you do because the leadership component's too strong,

25:06 but you know, older there, you know, a team would give up a first, a prospect for him.

25:12 So again, if you're not going to make him captain, what is he here for? Um, that was my,

25:17 you know, kind of thing all off season, meaning you should make him captain. He has to be captain

25:22 and he is. And you even see in the, you know, these, the first few days of training camp,

25:25 you know, nobody has, uh, played harder with a higher compete than him. I mean, he has,

25:30 there was a great, I mentioned, nobody will all year. No, no one will. And there was a great,

25:35 there was a great play in front of the net. Uh, Lysell tried to dangle around Marshan.

25:39 Marshan takes a stick, just right down on him, puts his hand on his shoulder, pushes him down.

25:44 And it's kind of like, Hey, you know, keeping the young guys in line. So I think he has no,

25:48 he pulls no punches with that. And again, like, I think he's captain as long as he's still here.

25:53 Um, and he's earned it. He's earned it. And I think that's the biggest thing. And as you

25:58 mentioned, they're in a, they're in a transitional phase, maybe a little bit of a retool going

26:02 forward. Um, although I still project them to be a playoff team this year, uh, despite, you know,

26:07 the retool, um, I don't know if it's fully underway yet. Uh, but Marshan again,

26:12 right choice. There really wasn't another, um, great choice at this time. It felt like,

26:17 all right. So because I've been to Sorolina in the last few years, and I'm still paying

26:21 off that bill, we've got to have a sponsors for this show here, uh, to pay those bills.

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27:47 All right, let's get back into it. Um, and we're going to stick with the Marchand topic, Evan,

27:53 uh, your favorite in mind, Mike Felger had some thoughts on Brad Marchand being named captain

27:59 as he has thoughts on everything. Crazy how that works. Yes. Here's, here's a Felger's take,

28:05 which is always, is kind of sitting on the fence where he wouldn't say that Marchand was a bad

28:09 pick. He would just say he wasn't my number one choice. Uh, so like, I'd like for Felger to

28:14 actually feel a little more strongly about these things rather than like sit on the fence and,

28:18 and try to go for it, just try to play it both ways. Cause he's afraid to get,

28:21 he's afraid to get criticized. He's afraid. He's afraid for the hockey people to expose him and

28:25 criticize him for the somewhat fraudulent hockey takes that Felger has from time to time. So,

28:30 uh, here's what Felger had to say about Marchand being captain. I would have not have chosen

28:34 Marchand because well, one, it doesn't change the DNA of your team. It's really just status quo.

28:39 And I'd like to see the team evolve and shake up that status quo a little bit. And I think having

28:43 a younger guy and a newer guy like McAvoy helps do that. Marchand really is just more of Char and

28:48 Bergeron, which is certainly not horrible, but it's not what I would want. I want some evolution.

28:53 So he wants evolution from a team that's won the division a ton, made the playoffs every year,

28:57 been to the Stanley cup finals three times. Okay. So this isn't an evolution that's one. And two,

29:02 if things go bad for the Bruins and I don't think they will, that's not what I'm predicting, but,

29:06 you know, I'm often wrong. Yes, that's true. Felger. You are often wrong. You were, that is

29:10 the best point you made in this entire quote. Uh, but if they do stink and they were out of the

29:14 playoffs, I want them to trade Brad Marchand as Murray said, he's 35 years old and he's got two

29:18 years left on his contract. So I don't know what his long-term future is here, especially if you're

29:22 not a playoff team. Well, let me answer that for you, Felger. If you name a guy captain of the

29:26 team, you're not trading him. Okay. So that's not happening. He's not getting traded. He should not

29:32 get traded. He is one of the greats like, uh, uh, Patrice Bergeron, that's going to be a lifetime

29:38 brew. And I think that is a no brainer at this point that the 63 is going to be up in the rafters

29:43 where the 37 is going to go in the next couple of seasons. He's going to end up in the hockey

29:46 hall of fame as one of the most iconic players of his generation and the best left winger,

29:51 or one of the best left wingers of his generation. Um, you know, and the numbers speak for themselves

29:56 with Brad Marshall and they will definitely be there two or three years from now, if he continues

30:00 to play at the level that he is right now. So, um, you know, he should have been the captain.

30:04 I don't think Charlie McAvoy or any of these players that have been here throughout their

30:08 career, uh, radically changes the DNA of this team, which is, there is really not a problem

30:13 with in the first place. Um, so like, you know, I, I have a lot of problems with this argument,

30:18 but I just think he's wrong to begin with to say that like somebody that's played with

30:22 Chara and Bergeron, like McAvoy has, and Marcian has is going to be radically different from

30:27 Marcian as captain. They all have the same DNA, which is like what you, when you talk to players

30:32 around the NHL, it's one of the best cultures in the entire NHL. One of the most respected rooms

30:36 and cultures in the entire league. There's really not much you should run away from or wanting to

30:41 be changing. And by the way, if McAvoy and Poshnack, if one of the two became captain,

30:45 they would just be trying to do what Marcian or Bergeron or Chara would have done as before.

30:50 They're not like, there's no reason to change. The reason they say these things is, oh, cause

30:54 they choke in the playoffs. Well, it's like, well, they can just only get to the playoffs

30:57 and the playoffs are a crapshoot. You saw that in 2011, 13, 19 last year, like it happens.

31:02 It's a crapshoot. It is a complete crapshoot. And, uh, they have the right culture to sort

31:07 of embrace that crapshoot. Um, the other thing is they don't, you know, the roster itself,

31:12 uh, is in, as we said, sort of a transitional phase. And, you know, I don't think you want

31:17 to put more on McAvoy and, and, uh, Poshnack's plate in terms of, Hey, you know, we might have

31:23 a couple of relatively down years here. Now, why don't you be the captain through all that?

31:28 Uh, why not take a little bit more time with those guys? Now, the one thing I will say now,

31:32 I disagree with this point. Cause I said it earlier, you know, if you're not going to name

31:36 him captain, you could, if you really wanted to make him tradable. And the only reason I don't

31:41 think they should trade him, I'm not going to like sit on the fence here. Cause now he's captain,

31:44 as you said, they're not trading the captain. That is a commitment to at least the rest of

31:49 the contract this year and next year. And I would suspect that he'd be back on a one year deal the

31:55 year after that, as long as he wants to keep playing with incentives, similar to what Bergeron

31:59 was had at the end of his career. Exactly. Now, my only thing with the trading him is if you look

32:04 at this roster, right, they need firsts. They need first round picks in future years. You do

32:10 need to bolster the prospect pool a little bit. Now you look at this roster. Who has value. Let's

32:17 say they do stink this year. Let's say they just stink. Right. And you get to the deadline and you

32:22 say, all right, what's realistic here. Right. Like Olmark would be an easy one. Feels like, right.

32:26 That'd be a guy that you could peel off, get a first and a prospect or whatever it is for him.

32:31 If the DeBrus contract negotiations go south, right. And you don't have a deal lined up by then

32:37 that could be another guy that you do get something legitimate for. That would be a guy

32:41 I would look at very intently as a guy that that might happen to this year. Cause I've

32:48 I, and we've taught, we talked about it last week, like the Bruins MO with guys like DeBrus

32:55 in their walk years, if they're not going to sign them as there's not a lot of discussion

33:00 about contracts and DeBrus came in. And the first thing he said at the golf tournament was it takes

33:04 two to tango, meaning the Bruins have not really had any conversations with his camp. And I know

33:08 Don Sweeney said they will happen. And, you know, I'm going to give them the rest of training camp

33:13 to figure it out, have some conversations, find common ground, figure out where both sides are.

33:18 But like, I just think that bears watching a lot. Cause the Bruins do not really play

33:22 poker with these. And you can tell pretty clearly like Torrey Krug, where if there's zero talk and

33:27 it's crickets chirping, as far as negotiations going on in their last year, their deal,

33:31 they're probably not coming back. And the Bruins have decided that that player is just going to

33:35 be too expensive for them. And an extension is not going to happen. And, you know, it becomes

33:40 dicey trading players like that. If you're in contention and you're going to be a playoff team,

33:44 you're not going to sell off players like that, but to your crew,

33:47 Krug was never going to be traded in that season in 1920. It was the president's trophy team.

33:51 Right. But to your point, exactly. But to your point, if things do go sideways this year,

33:56 DeBrus would be a guy I would definitely look at as, as, as a trade value or rental,

34:00 that would definitely get you a first round pick back. If you're looking to recoup some of those

34:04 draft picks that you've traded away. Now, let me ask you this, because this is, again, this is

34:08 hypothetical because I guess it's not really going to happen because Marchant's captain,

34:11 but would you rather have, and this is a, this is a sports radio question. So I gotta try,

34:15 you know, what are we doing here? No, that's fine. But would you rather have DeBrus for the rest of

34:20 his career as a top six guy, right. You know, around a 30 goal score, 50, 60 points. Or would

34:28 you, or would you rather have Marchant for the rest of his career, which might be three or four

34:32 more years. He's older, just came off double hip surgery. He's going to produce more in that amount

34:37 of time. Obviously brings a lot more leadership, but you're going to have for less amount of time.

34:42 I think it's a legit question, but again, he's captain, like he's the captain. He's not getting

34:47 dealt, but I'm curious what you think. It's an illegitimate question, but I'd rather have

34:50 Marchant just because he plays with more emotion. He's going to drag you into the fight much more

34:55 than DeBrus is going to do. And to be honest with you, like I, I was impressed with Jake DeBrus last

35:01 year. There was no question about it. I thought he had his best season. He would have hit 30 goals

35:05 if he didn't break his leg in the winter classic. He played through injuries as we saw in the winter

35:10 classic. He's played tougher around the front of the net. I think he was better away from the puck

35:14 than he's ever been before. Much less flybys on the four check. And he actually took the body.

35:19 I think he actually registered some body checks in games, which is something that didn't really

35:23 happen in previous years. There were long stretches. He would go without zero registered hits

35:29 at all. Those are always fun. Yeah. So like, you know, I was impressed with the way he played last

35:35 year, but my question is, and I would, if I were the Bruins, I would, and maybe this is part of the

35:39 reason he hasn't been signed yet, or there hasn't been a lot of very tangible discussions. I would

35:44 want to see what he's going to look like without him skating with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchant

35:48 to see how effective he's going to be, how much he would be able to drive a line.

35:53 If he's not put in a plum position on a top line where he's going to get tons of chances,

35:58 where the other guys are doing a lot of heavy duty lifting with two-way play and where he's

36:03 definitely not asked to do as much as, as if he was playing with, you know, Pavel Zaka and,

36:09 and you know, somebody at James Van Riemsdyk, let's say, or something like that. So like,

36:14 I think they want it. I'd want to see a lot more of what he can do away from hall of fame players

36:19 playing on his line. And if he could drive a line before I would shell out, you know,

36:24 six and a half million over eight years or whatever he's going to be able to get on the

36:28 open market. But bottom line to answer your question, Marchant's a special player. He's

36:33 a hall of fame player. I think you always pick those guys, even if they're aging and they've

36:36 only got a few years left over players like DeBrusque who are good, but, and obviously

36:41 tremendously skilled fast, like all of the above, but I feel like there's, there's that guy can be

36:46 replaced. Marchant can't be replaced in my mind. It's also just, you know, you nailed it just

36:51 there. Like it is easier to replace a guy like DeBrusque, a 30, you know, it's not hard. I mean,

36:56 it's not easy. It's not, you know, 30 goal, you know, he's a guy that gets to dirty areas. Like

37:02 you don't see a lot of scoring wingers like that, but you know, Marchant's, you know, the guy,

37:10 you know, that's a guy who's a 63, he'll be up in the rafters and, and his compete, his leadership,

37:15 all those things. And again, that's why, like, if you do like Marchant's not getting dealt,

37:20 that's a B if DeBrusque does sign, right. If you do resign DeBrusque, whether it's in training camp

37:26 or beginning of the year, what do you have to trade away? Cause you don't have a first or a

37:32 second in the 24 draft. And you're going to do this all over again, like the last draft where

37:38 you didn't have a lot like there, you know, again, down the middle. And we, you know,

37:43 we say this all the time, like, you know, people, the soft season, like free agency next year is

37:47 going to be crazy. Cause the cap might go up and it's like, well, what players are hitting free

37:52 agency? Like you're not finding a franchise cornerstone center in free agency anymore.

37:57 It just doesn't happen enough to rely on it. If it falls in your lap, terrific. If Elias Lindholm

38:02 is there next year, great. Like, awesome. Yep. Buying them to the most money. But you know,

38:07 if you want to get creative and trade who, you know, you're not outbidding anybody for anybody,

38:13 unless, unless it's a Taylor Hall situation in Buffalo, where he says, I only want to go to

38:17 Boston. You know, I'm only moving the, the no movement thing for Boston. So I just, you know,

38:23 to get a set, to get a future number one center, I don't know how they do that. And again, Sweeney's

38:28 crafty. He can be crafty. You know, he's, he's had his moments in the past, but I don't know

38:33 how you do that without getting a first round pick or a top prospect or something like that.

38:39 You have, I think you have to get back in the first round where they're headed. You look back

38:44 at, you know, Luche is back now, but you look back in the, in, in 2015, obviously that 15 draft,

38:49 those, you know, that, that the three straight first round picks are, you know, memed on all

38:53 the time. But to get those first round picks, they actually did a pretty good job. You know,

38:58 sell off a guy like Luche, Dougie Hamilton, I think at the time was a different situation.

39:02 I was not covering the team then. So I don't remember the exact specifics. Yeah.

39:06 You got three first round picks out of it. Yeah. Two when you already had the one.

39:09 I think he didn't want to stay in Boston. And I think there was kind of mutual. I think they

39:13 had decided they didn't want to pay him that kind of money for kind of a softer defenseman. That

39:19 wasn't going to be a shutdown, true shutdown guy. Never really a Bruin. No, no, no, definitely not.

39:26 And you know, there, there were times where like Chara and Claude, when you talk to them about like

39:32 how his play wasn't the D zone, they were just not tremendously impressed. It seemed like he

39:37 wanted to be more of a power play guy and, you know, rack up the points, which he's to his credit

39:41 has done. And he's actually turned himself into a pretty good two way defenseman who's garnered

39:46 Norris consideration the last couple of years. So full credit to him. Here's another quote.

39:53 This one is from my piece at Joe Haggerty.substack.com. When I talked to McAvoy yesterday,

39:59 I talked about a bunch of things. I talked about his wedding this summer. I talked about,

40:02 you know, what he worked on, which was shooting the puck more. He, he, he, and the Bruin staff

40:08 have identified areas, specific areas in the, in the offensive zone where his percentages are

40:14 really high as far as when he creates offense, whether it's, you know, shots to create rebounds,

40:19 whether it's shots that score from the point, whatever it is. But one of the things he focused

40:24 on again this summer, and it's been a work in progress the last few years and shooting the

40:27 puck more and shooting the puck for more from the areas that they want him to shoot the puck from

40:32 that create more offense for the team. He only had seven goals last year, his career

40:36 highs 10 a couple of years ago. And I think for his ability offensively, he should be scoring

40:40 double digits every single year from the defenseman position. So that's definitely

40:45 something that he's worked on. But one of the other things that I really wanted to talk to him

40:49 about was just how he felt about Brad Marcian being named captain when McAvoy was likely the

40:54 other guy that was discussed quite a bit by the Bruins when they were going back and forth about

40:59 who it should be. And here's what McAvoy had to say. It wasn't until after Marcian was named

41:05 captain that you sort of think more about it because the captaincy really wasn't on my mind.

41:10 I had no idea what the conversations were or when they were going to make a decision or anything.

41:13 And Marcian is a guy who has played his entire life, right? And he's built himself up as a player

41:18 and as a person and he and how much he's grown. I've got to see it since I've been here. He's

41:23 changed and for him to dedicate himself with 15 years to this organization and to bettering himself

41:27 on and off the ice every day, he's somebody that's waited for his turn and he was due.

41:31 I couldn't be more happy for him and it's extremely well deserved. And I think that's

41:35 the right way to answer it for Charlie McAvoy. And I think it tells you just how much he respects

41:39 Marcian too. And I think he realizes that he's probably going to serve as the lieutenant to

41:44 Marcian now as Marcian did to Bergeron the last couple of years. And that is going to make him

41:49 even more ready to be the captain at 28, 29 years old, closer to his late twenties than he is right

41:56 now as a 25 year old guy that's still a handful of years out of college, just got married and

42:01 still has a lot of life to live. I think life experience wise, before he's really ready to cap,

42:06 take on all the responsibilities of the captaincy that come with an original six captain, like the

42:11 Boston Bruins. It goes back to what we're saying about those prospects, right? Like there's no

42:16 problem with letting them season a little, get seasoned a little more in Providence. There's no

42:20 problem with letting McAvoy, you know, take some more time before he's potentially the future

42:26 captain. Again, does a posture knock emerge? Does, you know, does someone else, it could happen in

42:30 the next couple of years, but as you said, right now, McAvoy seems like the second pick, but there's

42:35 nothing wrong with letting him sort of season a bit, you know, let him see, learn under Marcian.

42:41 There's nothing wrong with that. He's going to be here, hopefully his whole career. He's got a long

42:47 career ahead of him. And I just, I don't see that there's any issue with that. I think it was the,

42:52 you know, again, it's the rational take, you know, obviously there's the failures of the world who

42:58 think, you know, that somehow McAvoy would be this drastic change from Marcian, which I think is

43:03 very false because as you said, McAvoy has been here, you know, his entire career, he's been here

43:08 now what started in 17, 18. So that's, you know, six, seven years now, which is crazy. That's been

43:14 six seasons. Here's a quick lesson from Mike Feller. Guess what? The guy that's been here for

43:18 five or six years and learned leadership from Zdeno Char, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marcian

43:23 is going to lead just like Zdeno Char, Brad Marcian and Patrice Bergeron. If you want a

43:27 different kind of leader, you're going to have to trade for some star player for some other team,

43:32 bring them in here and slap the sea on him. Kind of like what you did with Zdeno Char when you

43:36 wanted to change the culture in 2006, when you threw a ton of money at him, got him from Ottawa,

43:41 kind of guaranteed him that he was going to be the captain and selling him on coming to the Bruins

43:45 and then stuck him here for 15 years and turn things around. That's how you change the culture.

43:49 You're not going to change the culture by taking players that you already have and naming one

43:53 captain instead of the other. That's it's ridiculous. It's ludicrous theory and take

43:57 from him. And it just, you know, it's just something to talk about for him to get people

44:02 going. Well, I also think like in 2006, you needed to change the culture. You don't need

44:08 to change this culture. You have a good thing going here. And I think it's a big thing for

44:12 this team to sort of, okay. You know, from their perspective, we have had all of this success the

44:17 last, you know, since 2007, all that time up until now, 2023, how do you continue that? Marchand is

44:24 a smart guy to continue that, let McAvoy learn under Marchand for the next three to four years.

44:29 Then McAvoy is the guy and it's, it just continues. And I think they need that more than anything.

44:34 And I think, you know, Felger's, as I said, Felger's thing, I think is the playoffs.

44:38 And it's like, you got to get to the playoffs first. That's the biggest thing you've got to

44:41 actually get in. And, but yeah, I mean, again, from McAvoy's perspective, I think some extra

44:48 time as an assistant, I don't think it's going to hurt him. I obviously didn't hurt him long-term

44:53 here. I don't think he's going to say, I got to leave. I want to go be a captain right now,

44:56 trade me to St. Louis or, or, or somewhere else. But yeah, again, I just think, you know,

45:01 and the other thing you mentioned about McAvoy is, you know, finding smart areas in the offensive

45:06 zone to produce offense, I think is really interesting because again, he's a guy that

45:11 I remember Fluto wrote a story about him was either last year or the year before.

45:15 And it was saying how McAvoy might never win a Norris because how good Kale McCarr is Adam Fox,

45:21 Deline, like it's just, it's so dynamic offensively. Those guys are, yeah, he's not,

45:26 but he's, he's a two-way force and, you know, you can argue that he's better defensively than

45:30 some of those guys. And if he's right up there with them, I know the athletic just did a thing,

45:34 ranking him basically like in amongst them, lower than some higher than others. And,

45:39 but it's interesting because, you know, obviously you want to produce more offense to

45:43 produce more wins, but I think in terms of, you know, where he ranks in the NHL and his sort of

45:47 standing getting some more goals would help. Not that's everything, obviously, but I just think in

45:53 terms of Norris attention and things like that, I think, you know, fight unlocking that offense,

45:59 cause it's there. I think it is there, whether that's on the power play, whether that's a five

46:04 on five, I think there is opportunity for him. And I think it's, it's a smart move by the team,

46:09 obviously to sort of figure out, okay, where in the offensive zone is he most potent from?

46:14 Where are the most chances coming from? Cause again, I think that's sort of the last

46:19 thing he needs to conquer in terms of his own game, obviously a Stanley cup and things like

46:24 that for the team, but for himself, I think it's, it's those goals. And it's going to be

46:29 interesting because I think maybe part of it is that he needs to be pushed to be a little more

46:32 aggressive offensively too. And you know, part of the reason they brought in Kevin Shattenkirk is

46:37 because he's very good on the point of the power play and it may turn into if the power and the

46:42 Bruins know that, you know, without Patrice Bergeron in the bumper, the power play is going

46:46 to be radically different this year. And they may have to have a stronger point, stronger power play

46:51 quarterback. That's a little more dominant offensively. That's a little better. And I think

46:56 Shattenkirk is going to provide that kind of competition and either push McAvoy to be more

47:00 productive offensively and more aggressive shooting the puck or replace him on the first power play

47:04 unit. I think that's something that definitely could happen over the course of the year,

47:08 just given the way Shattenkirk, his experience and what he's been able to do when he's been on

47:13 the power play before and running the point there. So, and I think that was a big selling point on

47:17 him coming here because he's certainly not a Connor Clifton type defenseman. So, they were

47:21 going in a different direction, waving goodbye to Connor Clifton and bringing in Kevin Shattenkirk.

47:25 And I think the power play had a lot to do with it. One last thing here, last segment, and it's

47:32 the Twitter question of the week and it's not sponsored yet. So, if you're listening right now

47:36 and you want to sponsor the Twitter question of the week, hit up CLNS, hit up Guy Neer,

47:40 get in contact with him and the rest of the boys there at CLNS and you can sponsor this if you

47:46 want. But it's from mhall333 and it says, is Luchich too old slow to be a top nine forward?

47:53 Everyone, everyone's got him as a lock on the fourth line. I don't think he's too old or slow

48:00 to be on a third line. It depends on what your third, want your third line to be.

48:04 I think if you want your third line to be like a kind of checking line, maybe you're not going to

48:08 put him on that line because you want guys that are really going to be able to keep pace with the

48:12 other team's best offensive players. And I don't know that you want Luchich constantly out there

48:17 against the other team's best offensive forwards. I think, you know, looking at him with

48:22 Jacob Lauko and with Johnny Beecher or Patrick Brown at center or Boquist or like there's a

48:30 bunch, Mark McLaughlin, whoever. I think he's, he, at this point in his career, just the way he

48:35 plays crash and bang hockey, we'll drop the gloves, all the stuff that he does now.

48:40 He's, he's not the player that he was when he was with the Bruins, you know, six, seven years ago,

48:45 he's a more of a crash and bang fourth line kind of player now. And that's how he's evolved into

48:51 the role that he's in now. And that's where he is at this point in his career in his mid thirties.

48:56 So I think that's the right place for him, but do I see him having the ability at times to play on

49:02 the third line if they wanted to play their play even higher than that, if they want a guy that's

49:06 going to create space for some of the other top six wingers, absolutely. And I think that's one

49:10 of the benefits of him is that he's done it before he scored 30 goals in the league before,

49:14 like you can put them up and down a little bit, uh, as needed, or as you know, if Monty, which

49:20 he does a lot, we'll switch around the forwards, put them in a blender and take a look at different

49:23 combinations. But I think over the course of time, 10, 11 minutes a night, uh, scaring the

49:29 daylights out of defensemen going back into the corners for pucks when he's coming in on the four

49:33 check, defending guys, uh, defending guys like Marcian and Pasternak when players on the other

49:38 team try to take cheap shots at them and take runs at them. These are the thing and his leadership,

49:43 obviously, these are all the things that they brought him in for. So put them in a position

49:46 where he's going to be at his best and a position to succeed. And it's going to be, I think fourth

49:51 line wing on the Boston Bruins most nights. Yeah. I, you nailed it with the, put him in the best

49:55 position to succeed. That's not the top nine, uh, for him right now, I think, you know, fourth line

50:00 minutes are the right thing. Um, you know, could, as you said, could he move up into the third line

50:05 if there's an injury? Yes, of course. I also just think there's a lot of other options that might be

50:10 a little more quicker, a little more offensive, uh, that would warrant those third line looks

50:14 before him. But look, he's Luchich been around. He's a fan favorite. Uh, it's a hundredth season.

50:20 I don't see him moving off the fourth line much like I, you know, healthy scratching him might

50:27 happen at some point. I mean, there's other guys, there's guys like Greer that we haven't even

50:30 mentioned, like who could slot in and be a little bit quicker, but I just fourth line is the right

50:37 spot for him. Um, and I think they want him in the lineup. They have him in every promo. He was at

50:41 the jet blue fashion show. Like he's going to be a part of this team. And I think if he wants to

50:48 stay in the lineup and I think they want you with the jet blue fashion show, Evan, I was not, I was

50:52 at new sports center watching, uh, the beast to fall classic. That's where I was. Um, so I was

50:58 not at the fashion show, keeping it real with the kids playing hockey. I love it. That's my job.

51:02 So I was, I was there watching the next generation of, of young talent coming from this region,

51:07 which by the way, there's a lot of, um, no, I've heard about that. When we talked about this

51:11 yesterday, that junior Eagles, you 14 team with, uh, Jim Montgomery's son, uh, J Pandolfo son and

51:18 Freddie Meyer's son sounds like they're pretty legit. Yeah. There's a Yandle. There's a Warsaw

51:22 ski. I mean, that's a team that like, they just have every NHL connection in the book on that

51:27 team. Um, but you know, again, just, you know, back to Lucia, just think like, again, if you

51:32 want them in the lineup, fourth line makes the most sense. I also think just mentoring guy,

51:36 let's say, let's say Lucia, Beacher and Loco is how they start the season. Right. I think that's

51:41 pretty good for Beacher and Loco to have a mentor on their line, like a Lucia, right? Like Beacher

51:46 still adjusting to the pro game. Um, even though he was in Providence all year, last year, guy

51:51 tries to mess with them. You got Lucia right there. Um, so again, I just think that, you know,

51:56 that's the best spot to put them in. Would I love to see Lucia, uh, you know, next to

52:01 Posterock or something just for fun for a game. Of course, you know, that'd be, that'd be,

52:04 that'd be a blast, but I think for the good of the team and for the good of Lucia and his ability to

52:08 stay in the lineup, um, I think fourth line minutes make the most sense. You know, just be

52:13 happy. He's back. He's back. That's all. Just be happy. Period. Bruins fans just go out and

52:18 have a smile. Just be happy. I'm happy that Evan Marinovsky joined me this week, new England hockey

52:23 journal, host of the Bruins beat. Thank you very much. Uh, let's give a quick thanks to our

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53:00 Marinovsky. Thanks. I'll see you at the rink and to all of you guys out there. Thanks for listening

53:04 to the pucks with hags podcast. We'll see you at the rink. The CLNS media network is powered by

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Early takeaways from Bruins camp w/ Evan Marinofsky | Pucks with Haggs

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