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"They are exactly where they should be." What was a reasonable expectation for this team heading into the season? Bruins/NESN PBP Judd Sirott joins!
What can we expect from James Hagens during the NHL Playoffs?
What can we expect from James Hagens during the NHL Playoffs?
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00:00Joined by Judd Surratt, the voice and as Shime said, the face of the Boston Bruins on Nesson.
00:07Good morning.
00:08Morning.
00:08What's happening?
00:09Well, I'll tell you what's happening.
00:11The playoffs are happening and it's the Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres.
00:15But first, I believe Wiggy has a leftover question from weeks ago for Judd Surratt.
00:22ChatDBT had something extra?
00:23This was not a ChatGPT special.
00:26This was...
00:27Which one was this by...
00:29Which question?
00:30The origin of his name.
00:31Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:34I think I asked him.
00:36I wasn't sure if it was on air.
00:38What's his first name?
00:39Judd.
00:40So I said, where did the Judd come from?
00:44Because everybody's first name, there's an origin story.
00:47And I'm like, I'm Jermaine because my mother loved the Jackson 5 and she always thought Jermaine was the finest
00:53of the bunch.
00:53So she decided to name me Jermaine, which I'm happy she didn't name me Tito.
00:57So I'm always wondering where, because I don't know, I know one Judd, Judd Nelson, that's from New Jack City.
01:05Where's the Judd come from?
01:06So I think that we had mentioned this on the way out the last time I was in here.
01:11Where we had a family friend, my mom really liked the name, and there's not much more to it than
01:15that.
01:17So that's what we went with.
01:18But I answer to anything close.
01:19All right.
01:20So named you after a male family friend.
01:24I see where you're going.
01:26No.
01:27That's very interesting.
01:28Where you're going?
01:29No.
01:29That's very interesting.
01:31All right.
01:33What was a reasonable, we've been arguing this morning, because Meggo thinks that the Bruins get a pass around here.
01:40Just this year.
01:41You may have heard.
01:41No.
01:42Maybe several other years.
01:44Now you're moving goalposts.
01:46Okay.
01:46Just like Bruins fans.
01:47In general, you think that they get a pass.
01:50What was a reasonable expectation for this team heading into the season?
01:55Well, I have no idea, you know, the way the other teams are talked about and what the expectations are
02:00for the other teams.
02:00So let's just deal with the Boston Bruins.
02:02I think that one of the things that we talked about from the very first show that we did here,
02:06or I had the opportunity to come on and do the show,
02:08was I think the reasonable expectation is that they could be in the mix for the playoffs.
02:12And here they are.
02:14They're exactly where they should be at this point.
02:16And if you look at the eight teams that made it in the Eastern Conference, the Bruins have wins against
02:21all of them except one team,
02:23and that's the Tampa Bay Lightning.
02:25And they've beaten all the top teams in the Western Conference as well.
02:27So I think their expectations internally were to make the playoffs.
02:32They're here.
02:33And the other thing that we kind of talked about, give us this maybe, is we've been battling back and
02:39forth.
02:41If they push Buffalo to a good series and lose, are people satisfied with that?
02:49Boy, that's a really good question.
02:51You know, it's difficult to say because, again, we're talking about the expectations from outside of the Boston Bruins.
02:56What about inside the building?
02:58Inside the building?
02:59I don't see any reason why they feel like they can't give the Buffalo Sabres a run in advance in
03:04this series.
03:05You know, we'll have some more conversations about that.
03:07I think the general manager, Don Sweeney, is going to speak here later today at Warrior.
03:11The Bruins are stepping on the ice here at 11 o'clock.
03:13We haven't seen the schedule, by the way, for the first round of the playoffs.
03:17But if I had to guess, the Bruins are going to start on Sunday in Buffalo.
03:21But we'll wait because the league actually finishes up today with a bunch of teams out in the Western Conference.
03:28So I would expect that the Bruins believe they can beat the Buffalo Sabres.
03:32And to go back to the point that we were talking about before, based on the way that they played
03:37against some of the top teams in the Eastern Conference,
03:40why can't they be a team that comes out of this conference?
03:42How much of an impact do you expect Higgins to have on this series in particular?
03:48His first playoff series, he just got called up a little while ago.
03:52Well, first, Mago, he has to be in the lineup.
03:54I think that's one of the things that we're going to watch here.
03:58And I don't know how much is going to be disclosed.
04:00I mean, when it comes to the National Hockey League, even during the regular season,
04:04a lot of coaches, a lot of teams play it pretty close to the vest.
04:06And it's even more so when the playoffs hit.
04:08But if you look at the two games, and it's a small sample size, if you look at the two
04:13games that Higgins played for the Bruins,
04:16he made a really compelling case to state in the lineup.
04:19And obviously, that's not because he scored.
04:21He had only one assist.
04:23He averaged maybe close to 14 and a half minutes playing in those two games.
04:27But what coaches like is, can they trust you?
04:30Are you a reliable player?
04:32Can you do some of those little details?
04:34What was the play that he made to set up his first career NHL point?
04:38He goes in on the four check.
04:40He's got two guys on him.
04:41He kicks the puck to Sean Corrales.
04:43Corrales with a centering pass to Kaslich goal.
04:46When he's had the puck and had opportunities, getting pucks in deep, getting pucks out.
04:51There have been little details that I think there's a lot to like.
04:55So he's made a compelling case to stay in.
04:58That said, I love the story that Brick told the other night when he and Razor and I were doing
05:04the game.
05:04That when he first saw playoff hockey, because it took a couple of years.
05:08He was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers.
05:10I think he saw his first playoff action against the New Jersey Devils.
05:14And his reaction was, what is this?
05:16Yes, because it is so different from what everybody's accustomed to during the regular season.
05:22So he'll have to adjust to that, like a lot of guys.
05:25If the Bruins want to win this series, what do you think the number one thing they're going to have
05:29to do to beat the Buffalo Savers?
05:31Check.
05:32Check.
05:32Impose your will.
05:33I think when it comes to playoff series, it's about styles.
05:39It's a battle of styles.
05:41It's a battle of wills.
05:42The Bruins are a grinding, sturdy, stingy, nasty team.
05:48That's the way you want to play.
05:50Listen, the Buffalo Sabres are a really good team.
05:52I want to say that they are top five in offense and close to that in defense.
05:56They played really well five on five.
05:58The Bruins will have a distinct advantage in net.
06:01I think they've got the better goaltender and they have the more experienced goaltender.
06:06The Sabres at times have been accused of playing river hockey.
06:10They like to get up and go.
06:11They've got a lot of skill guys on their team.
06:13But that said, they have played a much more structured brand of hockey.
06:17And since January 1st, I want to say that they are one of the top two teams in the league
06:23points percentage wise.
06:24The Bruins are fifth.
06:26How much of an, if any, how much of an advantage is the playoff experience?
06:31We've also been talking about that.
06:33The Bruins have it.
06:33The Sabres do not.
06:34I do think it's an advantage because you're going to be dealing with a style of play that
06:39is very different.
06:41And you're, I think for a lot of players, their ability to do whatever they want, whether
06:46that's a defenseman trying to exit the puck or trying to generate chances offensively,
06:51those are going to change because every single inch of the ice across the 200 by 85 will
06:58be contested.
06:59Plus you're going to have, there is going to be an aspect of physical play that just isn't
07:05in there on an everyday basis in the regular season of the National Hockey League.
07:09That'll be different.
07:10And the crowds and the emotion, they're going to be different, both home and road.
07:14So go ahead.
07:15No, I was going to ask how big of a test is it for Marco Sturm in terms of his
07:19first
07:20playoffs?
07:20You talked about from the player perspective that it's like, oh, this is a totally different
07:24game here in the playoffs.
07:26What about from a coach's perspective?
07:27I think that will be a test.
07:29And I'm sure that there are a lot of people who are thinking about the Buffalo Sabres.
07:32And you had a guy in Lindy Ruff who's one of the, who has, I want to say in NHL
07:37history,
07:38he is like top five all time.
07:40He's in wins.
07:41He's been to the playoffs for a long time.
07:44He's taken that Buffalo Sabres team going all the way back to 1999 into the Stanley Cup
07:49final and going deep against the Dallas Stars.
07:51So I think there will be a little bit of a learning curve when it comes to the playoffs
07:56and Marco Sturm.
07:57Even Donnie Sweeney had mentioned when it comes to being a first year head coach coaching
08:01regular season games, there's a lot to learn.
08:03That's part of the reason that the Bruins brought on a veteran assistant in Steve's spot.
08:09So he was charged with number one, fix the power play, which he was able to do.
08:14But two, give, give Marco a seasoned veteran guy on the bench who's been through it for
08:21a long time in a lot of different spots, whether that's Dallas, Vegas, San Jose, I might be missing
08:27something right there who can be a sounding board and help Marco for these times.
08:33Judd, in all of sports, you know, we used to do it in football.
08:36When you get from the regular season to the playoffs, it's about turning it up another
08:40notch.
08:40And even every round that you go through, you turn it up even to a different level.
08:45Remove the goalie from this.
08:47Who's the one player that you will be focused on in this series that you want to maybe see
08:52them obviously turn that, turn their game up to another notch?
08:56Charlie McAvoy, I think he has the ability to control the pace, the tempo, the nature of a game.
09:04And the Buffalo Sabres have guys like that on their side of the ice.
09:08By the end of this playoff series, if you haven't seen a lot of Rasmus Dahlin,
09:12there will be a special hatred for Bruins fans for Rasmus Dahlin.
09:17He's one of the best players in the world.
09:19And he's a really good player.
09:21I think that's one of the dynamic differences in the Sabres versus the Bruins.
09:25They get a ton of production from the back end.
09:28Rasmus Dahlin, Matias Samuelsson, Bo Byram, who's one of the few guys.
09:32I think he's the only guy on the team who has won a Stanley Cup in the past.
09:36He's a really good player.
09:38And Owen Power, I think you got to throw into that mix.
09:40But I think if there were one player in particular, how does Charlie McAvoy set the tempo for the
09:46Bruins throughout this series?
09:47So during the Mego instigated kerfuffle.
09:50I am sorry.
09:51I'm very sorry.
09:52That unfortunately happened.
09:54Charlie McAvoy was brought up.
09:57David Pasternak was brought up.
10:01Are we not fairly criticizing both of those guys when it comes to what they have achieved here?
10:09When it comes to what they've done this year or in their total body of work?
10:14Well, I don't know exactly.
10:15Their careers here as Boston Bruins.
10:18But what's the, you know, so I've got to go further.
10:20So what's, what's the analysis?
10:22What's the critique?
10:22Because I might not, I'm not necessarily aware.
10:25The critique is that in the form of Pasternak, you have a top 10 offensive player in the NHL.
10:32In the form of Charlie McAvoy, you're paying him a lot of money.
10:36He has looked great when he's played for Team USA.
10:39Have those guys.
10:41Should the Bruins have won more with those guys?
10:45Well, I think when it comes to the National Hockey League, and I thought I heard you guys coming in,
10:48you know, when it, when it comes to, to winning Stanley Cups, it's not, it's not one pair player based.
10:54And I'm not diving into the NBA.
10:56Okay.
10:57I am not diving into the NBA conversation where, where the NBA is a little bit more star driven than
11:06the National Hockey League when it comes to teams.
11:08You know, and I think when I was walking in here, you were talking about the big three for the
11:13Celtics as I was, I think, driving in.
11:16And so I think the National Hockey League is a little bit different in that aspect.
11:20But when it comes to what Charlie McAvoy and David Pasternak have done this year, and you mentioned top 10
11:24player in the National Hockey League, that's where both of them finished.
11:28And for a guy like David Pasternak, his fourth consecutive 100 point season, and he's played on different combinations.
11:36He's been asked to play a different style.
11:38He's been asked to, to change his game a little bit.
11:41That's pretty impressive.
11:42And for a guy like Charlie McAvoy, you can make an argument this is maybe his best season as a
11:48Boston Bruin.
11:49He's got a career high in points overall.
11:52He was one short of matching his career high in goals.
11:55I think he would probably have eclipsed those numbers had he been healthy and not taken a puck to the
12:01jaw in Montreal.
12:05He's had a really good season and then heaped on top of that for both of those players.
12:10More was asked.
12:11I think one of the things that was a big conversation before we started the season, what would the Bruins
12:16look like not having a guy wearing the seat for the first time in 25 years?
12:21More leadership responsibility was heaped on both of those guys.
12:25And I think the leadership and the culture both responded well this year.
12:29Well, if neither of those guys win a Stanley Cup here, is that an underachievement?
12:35And so it took – my first thought is it took Raymond Bork going to the Colorado Avalanche to win
12:44a Stanley Cup.
12:45So had that trade not been made –
12:47It's because Harry Sinden is cheap.
12:48Had that trade not been made, does that take away from what Ray Bork did here as a Boston Bruin?
12:54No, I think in that era of hockey, that was an indictment on the people that ran the Bruins because
12:58that was before there was a salary cap that they implemented so that they didn't have to spend money.
13:03Well, be that as it may, I don't think it necessarily took away from how good Raymond Bork was as
13:11a National Hockey League player.
13:13So I guess I have a hard time – listen, Charlie McAvoy and David Posh and I still have a
13:20lot of years left here to play.
13:22Yeah, that's what I'm asking in the future.
13:24And you talk about this in such a nuanced, smart way.
13:28We're dum-dums.
13:29We're like, well, it'd be an underachievement or an overachievement or an overachievement or is it an achievement?
13:35Are they ahead of schedule, behind schedule?
13:37I think the biggest conversation, Judd, that we had where Shyam and I disagreed back and forth was I looked
13:44at this team.
13:45This team had talent because of, like Greg said, Pasternak, McAvoy, a goalie that we've seen in the postseason before
13:54in Swayman perform well.
13:56Then you factor in Zdorov, both of the Lindholmes where you go, they have a good core of talented people
14:04that they're paying a lot of money to.
14:07So this is not a team that should be like, oh, no one expected them to do anything and they
14:14stumbled into the postseason.
14:15But nobody did expect them to do anything.
14:17Well, but for that very reason that Wiggy mentioned, that's why I think at the start of the season there
14:22was a lot of belief, certainly internally,
14:24that they could make their way back to the playoffs because they had some of those pieces currently on the
14:30roster.
14:31You know, I think one of the interesting things, since you bring up all those guys, and we'll have to
14:36watch during this series, and you brought up Marco Sturm,
14:39how do the Bruins deploy that?
14:40Because if you look at the way that they spread out the defense, so you have McAvoy on one pair,
14:46you got Lindholm on another pair, you got Zdorov on another pair.
14:48Now, granted, they may change situationally during a course of a game, but for the most part, they play separately.
14:54Up front, they kept a lot of those top-end guys separate.
14:59Pasternak on one line, you had the Zaka line, which has been the team's most consistent, and the one combination
15:05that they've kept together all season long.
15:07They've been really good. That's one combination.
15:10They've been really dangerous, five-on-five at both ends of the ice.
15:13And then, you know, you had on your third line for a time, and this is what I think we'll
15:20watch against the Sabres,
15:21you had Lindholm, Geeky, and I think it's to be determined.
15:26Let's say if James Higgins is in the lineup, that could be James Higgins right there.
15:30And the fourth line, the Chaos brothers, they're going to have a decided advantage in this series against the Buffalo
15:36Sabres.
15:36They're going to run wild against that team.
15:39So I think that that's what makes the Bruins so dangerous is their ability to sort of spread the wealth.
15:46Because in the playoffs, especially because you're starting on the road, so you don't have the benefit of the matchup,
15:52a lot of the top-end guys early in the playoffs have a hard time scoring.
15:56Because the top D, the top checkers, they're always up against them.
15:59So what can you get from your bottom six forwards?
16:02What can you get from that last pair of D?
16:05And I think when it comes to defense, that's another area where the Bruins should have an advantage.
16:10Lindy Ruff is a guy who likes to load up, doesn't have a whole lot of confidence in his fifth
16:14and sixth defenseman.
16:16That's not the same case here with the Bruins.
16:18All right.
16:19And you think Sunday?
16:21That's my guess.
16:22Okay.
16:23Is Sunday that the Bruins would start.
16:26Okay.
16:26All right, Judd.
16:28Meggo would like to apologize for the DMs last night.
16:32And we'll...
16:33What were you sending out?
16:35Fucky DMs.
16:37Wow, you guys had quite a session last night.
16:39What kind of shift was this?
16:41Overachievement, underachievement.
16:42Answer the question.
16:44Right.
16:44I thought playoff boobs was a little much, but...
16:47Jeez.
16:49Oh, my gosh.
16:50My in-laws listen to this program.
16:52Okay.
16:52That's a mistake on your part.
16:54All right.
16:55It's great to see you.
16:56Go get them.
16:57Great to see you guys.
16:58All right.
16:58Go Bs.
16:59Go Bs.
16:59Go Bs.
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