- 2 years ago
Conor Ryan is joined by Evan Marinofsky for this edition of Poke the Bear, today, Conor and Evan take a look back at the predictions they made before the start of the season and see just how accurate their takes were, and who completely missed the mark. That, and much more!
Topics:
- Conor and Evan kind of nailed their Matt Poitras predictions
- The Bruins DID start off hot
- The guys revisit their point predictions
- Jeremy Swayman vs. Linus Ullmark
- Jake DeBrusk…
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Topics:
- Conor and Evan kind of nailed their Matt Poitras predictions
- The Bruins DID start off hot
- The guys revisit their point predictions
- Jeremy Swayman vs. Linus Ullmark
- Jake DeBrusk…
SeatGeek! Use code DREAMERSPRO for $20 off your first SeatGeek order! Visit SeatGeek.com when you checkout! With NFL, NBA and NHL seasons in full swing, you don’t want to miss out - SeatGeek has your tickets to every game!
FanDuel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering parter of the CLNS Media NetworkRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, Official Partner of the NFL. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First onlinereal money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. 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.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 It's like we're looking at polls right before Rutherford B. Hayes gets elected.
00:04 And we're like, "Alright, Rutherford, he's doing okay, he's beating whoever, you know,
00:08 other guys are relevant, I don't even know who he is."
00:10 Not a goddamn chance.
00:12 Probably some oil baron I've never fucking heard of in my life.
00:15 But anyway, not to misdemeanor Rutherford B. Hayes' triumph in the election, but I digress.
00:23 [intro music]
00:32 And welcome to Poke the Bear, episode 183.
00:37 I am Evan Maronofsky, that is Connor Ryan.
00:40 Connor, what is up?
00:43 Evan, I'm doing well. How you doing?
00:46 Doing great. Doing great.
00:49 You know, it's funny, we're at 183.
00:51 It's been a lot of episodes we've done together, a lot of Brewingsbeat episodes we've done together.
00:55 I think by the time GTA 6 comes out, we'll be at like 500 episodes when it comes out.
01:03 I think so.
01:04 In 2025. GTA 6. Did you see the trailer for that?
01:10 I mean, of course. I think everyone has seen it at this point.
01:13 I mean, how can you not be hyped?
01:14 Again, it's not going to be, what did they say, 2025?
01:17 It'll be like January 25, and then it'll be December 25, and you'll tell yourself,
01:22 "Oh, okay, we'll get it for the holidays."
01:24 It's coming out in like 2028 or something like that.
01:27 It's going to be like McAvoy's last year of his contract, and then GTA 6 will drop.
01:31 Yes, exactly. I agree with you.
01:34 It's funny, it's weird because GTA 5 came out in 2013.
01:39 I was a freshman in high school, so it's weird now that it's like--
01:42 Shut up. I don't like it at all.
01:43 No, but you were in college.
01:46 Okay, it's not that far off, but still, I mean, lots of time has passed between the then and now.
01:53 So it's very interesting to look back and be like, "Damn."
01:55 And you know what? It's a quality game, though.
01:58 I'll say it. Call of Duty comes out every year with basically the same game.
02:02 The NHL franchise and most of those sports franchises come out with a game every year.
02:07 And it's the last game re-skinned.
02:09 So it is nice to see a developer actually give a shit about the game and make a cool game.
02:15 So I'm excited to hop on GTA 6 with the lads.
02:18 2025, what will the world look like?
02:21 Maybe I'll be married with five kids by then. Who knows?
02:24 You never know. You'll be married by then.
02:28 I will be. I'm trying to do the math on your pod, but that's why we don't get paid to do the math.
02:33 Exactly. That's all we do. We get paid to write and opine and talk and give the people our takes.
02:39 Speaking of giving people takes, we're recording at a weird time.
02:43 I think this is the second week in a row they don't really play in the middle of the week.
02:47 So we're recording between games.
02:50 We did a lot of current stuff on Bruins Beat on Monday.
02:54 So you had the bright idea of let's look back at our predictions.
02:58 We're two months into the season.
03:00 I feel like that's a good barometer of sort of where we're at in terms of our predictions.
03:07 So we're going to give a couple each that we had, and we're going to revisit them
03:10 and either pat ourselves on the back or give excuses as to why they didn't work out.
03:15 So, Connor, I will let you go first. What was the prediction that you nailed from the jump?
03:20 Yeah, the one I'm leading off with is Matthew Potra plays the whole season with the Bruins.
03:26 I think when I first dropped this prediction, it was still like he didn't really know what exactly it was going to be.
03:32 I think it was still midway through the preseason.
03:35 He looked good. You don't know if he's going to stay there the whole year.
03:39 I think so far he's a guy that's going to be up here the entire season.
03:43 I mean, they committed to him there, and he's proven it.
03:46 I think that, again, you go through the ups and downs, as is the case with every young player who's 19 years old,
03:51 of how they adjust to the NHL.
03:53 But I think what stood out to me about Potra, beyond the fact that he's still producing,
03:58 he's still on pace for, I think, 38, 39 points, which I think he'll take for a 19-year-old.
04:03 Every time he hits a bump in the road.
04:05 Yeah, exactly. Every time he hits a bump in the road, or you think he's hit a wall,
04:09 and there's three or four games where he's not impacting the game maybe as much as you'd like,
04:13 he bounces back, which is really impressive for a guy that age, of how he's handled that level of competition.
04:19 So yeah, that's the one I'm going with right now.
04:21 That one seems like it's panning out pretty well right now.
04:25 So yeah, Matthew Potra, I think he's staying here for the long term.
04:29 Agreed there. I think you're right.
04:31 So I had a Potra prediction that went a little further than that.
04:34 I said not only does Potra stay past nine games, but he replaces Coyle in the top six.
04:39 That has aged well.
04:42 I think it's been better than I'd say. I'll give myself some credit there.
04:47 But Coyle right now, is he second or third on the team in points?
04:51 I have the thing in front of me.
04:53 He is third on the team in points with 20 points in four games.
04:56 He's sort of slowed down production-wise the last couple,
04:59 but for a while there he was second on the team in points.
05:02 Potra's kind of been the third line center, so to speak.
05:06 But again, he's spent time in the top six, and he's produced at times up there.
05:12 So again, I don't think that's fully wrong.
05:14 But I think my expectation was he was going to completely replace Coyle,
05:17 and that has not happened.
05:19 So I think that's one for mine.
05:22 One that I got right, I said that started off hot, and boy did they.
05:27 They started off pretty damn hot.
05:29 Which again, I even said it back in October.
05:32 I think we recorded October 10th.
05:35 Easy schedule to start. They're going to start hot with that.
05:38 Now, to their credit, they continued that.
05:40 It was not just one stretch.
05:44 It wasn't just the games against Chicago and San Jose and Anaheim.
05:47 They actually started off hot for a long time, up until literally last week.
05:52 So they proved me right there, and again, they're kind of catching fire right now.
05:58 So maybe that hot streak will continue into a full season of just one big hot streak.
06:04 But again, I will pat myself on the back.
06:07 I identified bad teams and said they'd beat them.
06:10 So I'll give myself credit there.
06:12 All you can ask for.
06:14 Of course.
06:15 I think that was something that was so important for this team,
06:17 where there was so much turnover, so many question marks about how they're going to generate offense up front.
06:23 The new players, rookie players in critical spots of the lineup.
06:27 You needed to get on a roll there.
06:28 And again, some of those teams seem like they have improved a little bit.
06:32 But I would give even you to go on the West Coast early on.
06:35 They go play the LA Kings on the road, which they look like one of the best teams in the Western Conference.
06:41 Having those games against teams like the Blackhawks or the San Jose Sharks or something like that,
06:47 getting on a roll, getting into good habits, especially, I think, really has paid dividends.
06:51 I think you make the same argument last year where you had a few guys in critical spots of the lineup early on
06:57 and you wanted to see how they were going to pan out.
06:59 How is David Krejci going to go back and getting back to NHL competition?
07:03 People forget that there was a lot of question marks about that team in terms of how legit they were going to be.
07:09 You start off hot and all of a sudden you start having that momentum and those good habits roll with you throughout the year.
07:14 And it seems like it's been the case so far this season as well.
07:17 And I will also say last season you and I were on the train early in the season and early in the preseason and end of summer
07:24 being like, "No, this team is good." I don't know why people are saying they're not good.
07:27 And we were 100% correct on that.
07:30 Where we did kind of take some fish to the face was in the playoffs.
07:35 That was one area where maybe that wasn't our best, but that was nobody's best
07:39 because everybody had them going deep in the playoffs.
07:42 I don't care what anybody says, especially around here.
07:44 Everybody had the Bruins going deep.
07:46 I can't think of a single person who didn't have them going deep.
07:49 So again, maybe I'm in denial about our predictions.
07:52 Maybe I just can't accept that I was wrong, but that's okay.
07:55 So what's another prediction you would like to revisit?
07:59 Yeah, I mean, I think one that's looking pretty good so far.
08:03 Again, I don't think there's any that have been completely proven yet, but it's all about how they're trending, right?
08:09 Yeah. It's like we're looking at polls right before Rutherford B. Hayes gets elected.
08:16 And we're like, "All right, Rutherford, he's doing okay. He's beating whoever."
08:21 Other guys are relevant. I don't even know who he cares.
08:24 Not a goddamn chance. Probably some oil baron I've never fucking heard of in my life.
08:28 But anyway, not to best emerge Rutherford B. Hayes' triumph in the election, but I digress.
08:36 You know what's interesting? Us talking about this, on HBO Max, or excuse me, just Max now,
08:44 there is a series done by CNN on these different important elections and interesting elections, presidential elections, in America's history.
08:55 So they got Lincoln versus, I think it was Douglas or someone, and they got the guys acting.
09:00 They've got an actor portraying Lincoln with everybody like it was in the 1800s.
09:06 It's actually interesting. They're like 43 minutes long because they're for TV, so they have to be commercial.
09:12 They don't have commercials on them, but they're built for it to have commercials on them.
09:16 It's actually interesting stuff. I've liked it so far.
09:19 Before I go to bed, if I have time before every night, I try to watch one because I'm like, "Oh, this is –"
09:23 I've been inspired by you and your love for presidents.
09:26 Yes. Well-informed, Evan. This was our Rutherford B. Hayes minute.
09:32 They don't have one on Rutherford B. Hayes, unfortunately.
09:37 I'm shocked. I'm shocked.
09:38 That's crap.
09:39 I have absolutely no idea what that man did. Anyway, I digress.
09:42 If we're looking at another prediction, one other thing is looking pretty good right now.
09:46 I had Pavel Zaka surpassing 65 points. I think he's on pace right now for 65, if I'm not mistaken.
09:54 I think when you look at this team and the question marks they had, a lot of it had to do with how Pavel Zaka and Charlie Coyle were going to do in key roles further up in the lineup.
10:05 I think that's been one of their fewer concerns so far this year.
10:11 I think we mentioned – I think it was last week that when they were in that rut, a lot of the concerns about the offense or the wing or the talent up front had to do with guys on the wing not contributing.
10:22 Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zaka have been pretty steady in terms of what they provided this year.
10:26 Again, it helps that they've got a supporting cast of guys like Pasternak and Marcian and Dabrusk and these guys that can elevate them further.
10:34 But it was another thing to have them replicate that night in, night out.
10:40 Again, are they Berger and Kritschie? No, of course not.
10:42 No one should be asking them to do that in terms of how good they are as two-way players night in and night out.
10:48 But so far, I think, especially when you look at just what those guys have provided, they've been far from a weak link.
10:54 I think Zaka making the most of being maybe that top line, the guy like Pasternak, has been pretty impressive so far.
11:01 It has. It absolutely has.
11:03 I want to dive into more and more of these predictions.
11:05 It's interesting, Connor, is so far we're getting a lot of things right.
11:09 People should be taking our advice more, especially with going over to our good friends over at FanDuel.
11:13 Because I think we could really help you guys out with in-game predictions and bets and things like that.
11:21 But before we get into the rest of revisiting our predictions, first, a quick word from our sponsor.
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12:07 So, you know what's interesting? Connor, did you see the preliminary roster for USA, for the World Juniors team? Did you see that at all?
12:16 I did. I saw that BU legend Cole Iserin did make the USA team.
12:21 I was pissed. I was pissed about that. Very interesting move.
12:25 I, like, I think it's stupid. I think he deserves to be on the team, obviously.
12:30 But I think they looked at it and said, here's a guy who really should only be in the top six or, you know, there's really no reason to have him in the bottom six.
12:39 He's just such a scorer. I think they felt that they were older guys, but I still think, come on, a BU legend, a career like that.
12:47 Are you kidding me? But I think they were there. There was one BU guy on it, Lane Hudson.
12:53 There were many from Chesnut College, but there was one BU guy in Lane Hudson.
12:57 So, yeah, you got to set you guys to step it up a little bit. No UMass, though.
13:02 I was I was unfortunate. There should have been UMass. But anyway, it's a preliminary roster.
13:08 Doesn't mean that all the BC kids are going to make it. They got to make the team first.
13:12 Predictions wise for the Bruins, you mentioned Zaka with 65.
13:17 I had him at 70. Or you said you had him surpassing 65.
13:22 I had him at 70 points this year. And again, he's not quite on pace for 70, but he's right there.
13:28 I wouldn't say that I was wrong and that I think that a quick little spurt of points could knock him back on track to be 70.
13:36 And again, I think just in general, just to echo what you said, he's still been producing a bunch.
13:41 He's still pulling his weight. He's still there's been no, you know, hey, they need to move Zaka out of the top six.
13:48 It's worked out so far and he's been a stable center. So again, I wouldn't put that under one that's wrong.
13:53 I think probably going to be right long term, hopefully for Bruins sake.
13:59 What was another one I had? I had David Pasternak at 55 goals.
14:03 Now he has 14 in 24 games, I think right now.
14:09 So and he's been producing like crazy points wise. He's way over a point per game.
14:14 It's been a lot of assists, actually. So that's a good thing.
14:18 But 55 goals might have been a bit of a stretch. But I mean, honest to God with him, like a crazy stretch where he starts just rattling off goal after goal after goal.
14:28 I don't know if that gets him to 55, but I do think that something over 40 is probably in the cards.
14:36 I think you had a Pasternak goal prediction too.
14:39 I think I had him at 45, which maybe is more realistic. But I think honestly, this year has been almost as impressive in that he's making a concerted approach.
14:49 You know, he's not a one trick pony in terms of he's just relying on the one timer.
14:53 Again, he generates goals off of more than just that. You know, he's so creative with the puck.
14:57 He's got a really good wrist shot and all those things. But I think he's making more of an effort to be a playmaker,
15:02 especially on the power play when guys are, you know, devising their whole game plan around taking away that shot on the power play,
15:10 whether it's that on the man advantage or that's a five on five play.
15:14 He's being more involved, I think, in getting other guys involved, getting other guys going.
15:18 And that's a sign of not just a great offensive player, a great guy that can really kind of change his overall approach and still do damage on the score.
15:26 It doesn't matter if it's a one timer goal or if it's a three assist night. Like he's night in, night out.
15:31 He's making things happen when his team really needs it, especially early on this season.
15:35 So again, maybe he's not going to finish with another 60 goal season.
15:39 And he still has another 100 points off of, you know, 40 goals and 60 plus assists. Pretty damn good for what he provides to this team.
15:47 I would say you take that every single time.
15:51 Connor, what's a prediction that you have that looks right or wrong from the beginning of the year?
15:57 One that I'm starting to get a little hesitant looking at it is I had the Bruins trading a defenseman at some point this season.
16:04 I think it's something where we all look at the log jam of defensemen they have here.
16:10 You look at guys like Mason Laurie, maybe other guys that are making a push further down the lineup.
16:14 It's like, all right, well, again, we looked at how solid Laurie was during the preseason, during training camp.
16:21 And like, all right, well, if he's ready in January, February, yeah, move on from a guy like Forver to Grislach or what have you.
16:27 And I think, you know, this isn't this revised prediction isn't a result of just Laurie needing more time because hell,
16:34 he could be really good once we get to January, February, more seasoning down there.
16:38 But I think if any team learned its lesson, I feel like this is the case for every team in the playoffs.
16:44 Save all your defensemen, you're going to need all of them in the playoffs.
16:47 It's not like guys are really being a weak link out there.
16:50 So whether it's you know, you get to the playoffs and you're going to rely on a guy like Laurie or a guy like Shattenkirk or a guy like Ian Mitchell or a guy like Forver or Grislach, all these guys.
17:00 Whoever your top six are, you're going to have to rely on the seventh, eighth, ninth guy maybe to get through a long playoff run.
17:07 So I understand the numbers game, how it works.
17:10 But as much as the defense looks like an area that you could easily subtract from if you're trying to inject more youth into the lineup,
17:17 I wouldn't be so hesitant to do it, especially now from what we've seen from that overall unit so far.
17:22 No, I agree with you. I mean, you look at what Zdorov got in that trade, a third and a fifth.
17:26 It's like you're a trade Grislach and you're getting a third and a fifth.
17:29 I'm all set. I like draft picks, but go a little higher, do a little something more.
17:35 So I agree with you. I think you need defensemen down the stretch. We've talked about this a lot.
17:40 You need every option. You need all hands on deck.
17:43 My guess is come playoff time, like if I'm making a prediction now, my guess is they use more than just the six defensemen that start game one.
17:51 Ooh, isn't that crazy? But I wouldn't be surprised to see Laurie in the mix there either.
17:56 Like I think they're going to need him and potentially guys like Ian Mitchell.
18:00 You want to throw in like a Parker Wartherspoon. You never know like whether injuries hit or not.
18:05 So I agree with you. I'm not in a rush to trade to any defensemen, but keeping in the Bruins zone zone, I had Olmark regressing.
18:14 I guess this is one that has not looked good so far.
18:16 I said Linus Olmark will regress more than we expect him to regress, which has not been the case.
18:21 He's been pretty strong. I mean, his numbers are solid, you know, picking up where he left off last year, basically.
18:28 But the second half, the second half of that prediction was that Jeremy Swainman takes a step forward and is a little bit better than Olmark.
18:36 And that's been the case. Swainman has been the better goalie.
18:39 Swainman has, I mean, not by a ton. It's again, it's two very elite goalies.
18:44 I don't think it's been like, you know, one way over the other, but he's gotten some harder games and he's been very solid.
18:52 I wish for the sake of my prediction, I wish Jeremy Swainman had a better game at Columbus last Monday, because that would have been a real, that was a good spot for him to kind of take that, not take the job, but assert himself a little bit, pull the Bruins out of a slump.
19:07 It didn't really happen. I know he was pulled before he had the chance to really kind of rebound mid game, but still the two goals he let up were kind of soft and he was ultimately pulled.
19:19 But again, I go back to Olmark's looked really good, so that's been wrong, but Swainman's looked really good.
19:25 I mean, I think Swainman, this is the best hockey Swainman's ever played, I think.
19:29 I mean, I watched him a fair amount at Maine. Obviously, we've seen his NHL career so far.
19:34 I think this is the best he's ever looked. He looks locked in.
19:37 So I will give myself like half credit for that, for that take. I don't think that that's, it's like, yeah, it's like, yeah, here you go.
19:45 So I'll give myself that. I will, maybe we deduct a little bit because last year I did say Swainman would be better than Olmark.
19:52 So it's kind of like I'm picking up where I left off on a prediction last year that was very wrong.
19:56 So maybe it's like 40%. Maybe I get 40% credit for that.
20:00 Yeah, I think that's fair. Yeah, I think one of mine I had for the goalies was that Swainman was going to play more than Olmark.
20:06 And I think, not to say that it was going to be like 65, like a split like that or what have you, but I thought, you know, 55% maybe.
20:14 It does seem like whether it's just the routine or maybe just the way the vibes are, just keep going back and forth.
20:21 Keep the rotation going every time they divert even a little bit, barring an injury or what have you.
20:26 Just keep on trading stats back and forth and keep it going for the entire playoffs.
20:31 I think when you look at just what's been working for this team, I don't know what it is,
20:35 but whenever they keep on trading off these stats and having a 50/50 allocation of reps, it just works.
20:43 So keep going at it. It just works.
20:45 I'm talking to someone on Bruinsbeat this week, I think, who would disagree with that heavily.
20:49 So that should be that should be interesting. I'm not going to say who it is yet, but it's an interesting take.
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22:19 Now, back to the show.
22:22 What's it? Do you have any others that you felt that you've been up and down on?
22:26 Because I went through that episode we did back in October and you had one.
22:30 I don't know if you're going to say this now, but...
22:34 What is it? I'm very curious to see what it was.
22:38 It was an interesting one and I haven't looked at the stats to see if it's right or wrong.
22:41 So get ready to Google search something.
22:44 You said the Bruins would lead the league in penalty minutes, which they were, you know,
22:50 first couple games seemed that like that was gonna be the case.
22:53 Then Luchich got hurt. Then Luchich got arrested.
22:56 And that probably isn't going to happen.
22:59 I don't know where they rank in terms of penalty minutes.
23:02 So I don't know if that's right or wrong, but I would guess that they're in the top 15.
23:07 I would think.
23:09 It was an outside the box prediction, though. So I like that.
23:12 I consider that a win, whether that's right or wrong.
23:15 Because that's outside of the sphere of what we would normally do.
23:19 Yes. I'm curious to see where they're at.
23:21 They're definitely in the top 10. They got 248 penalty minutes.
23:24 They're not... They're still a ways away.
23:27 There's some goony teams, a lot of like really bad teams that, you know,
23:31 that's kind of their MO in terms of just mucking things up.
23:34 So, yeah, I did think that this team was going to be a lot more, I think,
23:39 punishing in terms of their play offensively that, you know,
23:42 they're not going to have the same high powered offense.
23:45 It's going to be a lot more grinding things out, what have you,
23:48 generating chances that way. Hasn't really been the case.
23:51 I think they're still at their best when they're playing a really strong four checking game
23:55 and then letting the skill take over. But it's not been like ground and pound.
23:59 We thought maybe like, you know, the 2010, 2011 kind of era or just, you know,
24:04 or even like what you saw maybe last year from the Panthers of just relentless pressure,
24:08 knocking guys around and then capitalizing late. You really haven't seen that so far.
24:12 So, yeah, that one has not panned out all that well right now,
24:15 barring maybe they'll have like 10 straight games with line brawls or something like that.
24:21 But I think the other one that sticks out to me that, you know,
24:24 is trending maybe in the wrong direction.
24:26 I had DeBrusque signing a contract extension before the new year.
24:30 And again, that can change hell.
24:31 Like, you just finally put pen to paper on a new deal.
24:34 But I think in terms of looking at DeBrusque,
24:37 I think we both expected this was going to be another breakthrough year for him of
24:41 he finally gets over 30 goals. You know, he's driving play by himself.
24:45 Hasn't really been the case. I think he's on pace right now for 13 goals and 34 points.
24:50 I think he's starting to heat up a little bit, which is good.
24:55 And I think like Montgomery really hasn't been down on his overall game.
24:58 He's still impacting the game beyond, you know, the scoring.
25:03 But that's what he's going to get paid for.
25:04 That's still his bread and butter of why he when he's at his best is especially even strength scoring.
25:09 So I think for the Bruins, it's, you know,
25:12 you're more of a waiting game as to what exactly we're getting from this year.
25:17 I think they'd like to keep him here long term. I think he wants to be here long term.
25:20 But if he was in the midst of another 30 goal season or something like that,
25:24 maybe the urgency is more there for the Bruins in terms of signing him now where he's in a bit of a slow start to the year.
25:30 Maybe it's let's play things out and see what exactly that final number ends up being.
25:34 It's like right now, Sweeney and the Bruins like Jake, we really like your two way game.
25:38 It's really keep it up. And then they get to the contract negotiating table and they're like, you know, it's great.
25:42 You have the two way game, but that's exactly why we're going to be giving you the same contract we gave you two years ago.
25:49 I agree with you. I had the same prediction.
25:51 I don't know if I said before New Year's, but I said they're going to hash something out.
25:54 They'll get a contract done again, could still happen. But the production has not been there.
25:59 I think it's sort of been a worst case scenario, as I've illustrated before, and that, you know, the production's not there.
26:07 And if it was, you could a sign him and know that, hey, he's really starting to heat up.
26:12 But B, if the production was there, you could also say, well, we can trade him and he's going to get a lot in return.
26:16 I don't know if Jake Dubrask is getting you all that you thought he would get you before.
26:21 And again, you don't want him leaving in free agency because the cap now, I think they had it at like 87 million for next season.
26:28 So it will go up. But the question is, you know, is someone going to offer him the bag?
26:33 I don't know if they're going to do that now after this season.
26:37 So interesting stuff. I'm out of predictions that I tracked. Do you have any others that you that you have?
26:43 I mean, we had playoff predictions, but I don't think we're there yet.
26:46 Yeah, I'll say, you know, this is the first quarter of the year.
26:49 Maybe once we get to the halfway point, we get to the all-star break.
26:52 Maybe we revisit it again with more looking at the standings wise, stuff like that.
26:56 But I think we did a pretty good encapsulation of that.
26:59 We've hit on a few. Some maybe aren't turning the right way.
27:02 But again, it's like the Dubrask one or the not trading a defensive and that can change like that.
27:06 So, yes. Yeah, I don't think we're way off on any of these.
27:11 I think we had a pretty good idea of what this team would be.
27:15 I think overall, I think we're just we're Einstein.
27:18 That's exactly where it's Einstein and Oppenheimer.
27:21 We're talking by the way, right now.
27:23 What I think what's interesting, though, is that like I said, that start off hot.
27:28 But I didn't expect, you know, 14, 1 and 3 through their first 18 games.
27:33 You know, I didn't predict that.
27:36 And I don't think many saw that coming. So I think they did surprise people there.
27:41 But I mean, like, you know, we'll probably do another episode on like big surprises this year.
27:46 But I think our predictions were pretty, pretty spot on.
27:49 Pretty, pretty good.
27:51 Pretty, pretty good is right.
27:54 Connor, now people are reminded of how smart you are and how good you are at predictions.
28:01 And all of the hockey IQ is just so off the charts.
28:05 What can people look forward to from you from your coverage over at Boston.com and the Boston Globe?
28:11 Yes, you can read all of my brilliant musings about the Bruins and hockey over at Boston.com.
28:16 We'll have game recaps, features, columns, breakdowns, all that good stuff over there.
28:22 And if you want to follow me on Twitter, you can at Connor Ryan underscore 93.
28:26 Go do all that. That's Connor Ryan.
28:29 I'm Evan Marinovsky. Poke the Bear listeners.
28:31 Have a great rest of your week.
28:33 [Music]
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