00:00Good morning, Judd. Good morning. How is everybody? Listen, quite a road trip and
00:0410 games into the season and the Boston Bruins sit in first place in the Atlantic Division. So
00:11I don't know that we were talking about this earlier. I don't know that many of us expected
00:16that is where they would be at this point. I don't know if you expected them that they would
00:20be at the top of the division, but I certainly expected that they would be in the mix in the
00:25division, but that was a phenomenal road trip to go 3-0-1, not an easy trip to sweep your
00:30way
00:30through California. You got a tough game to end it in Dallas. You definitely had an opportunity to
00:35take the two points out of there. If you could just have gotten a power play goal, maybe late in
00:39the
00:39second period, early in the third, I think that would have made the difference. But to be 7-2-1
00:44at this point, to go through that schedule, to play the first six games without your number one
00:50defenseman, you're in a good spot. Go ahead, Courtney. When it comes to that overtime loss,
00:54we were talking about it yesterday, to sit Patra and Higgins at the end of that game,
00:59like the last 10 minutes, when you've got hot guys on the ice, and I understand Sturm saying
01:03they're young, they still got to learn. Is that the right call? I didn't necessarily notice that
01:09in the rotation. You got to remember with a guy like Matt Patra in particular, you're playing
01:13the fourth line center. So you're probably going to get 10 minutes of ice time. Plus you don't have
01:18the benefit of the last change. And every time that I saw, and maybe I saw this a little bit
01:23more
01:23with the defense than I saw it with the forwards, but every time that the Bruins would put out Mason
01:28Lorai and Frederick Brunet, all of a sudden, Mikko Rantanen hops onto the ice, or Jason Robertson
01:34hops onto the ice. So I think they tried to take advantage of that. So I didn't necessarily notice
01:39that they weren't a regular part of the rotation. Remember, you're playing in the bottom six. It's
01:44very situational. So I didn't see anything that was very different in the way that the Bruins
01:51would normally play their players. One of the things that we've been talking about is just
01:56like, not so much expectations. Kendrick Perkins said that the Celtics weren't a team that is a
02:02championship contender. And then we got in the conversation about, all right, how long before
02:08we go, all right, this Bruins team based on like where in the season on whether or not they could
02:15be a
02:15championship contender type team, a team that has enough to get to a Stanley cup finals and possibly
02:22win it. Well, it's hard to cross sports. I think a lot of times, but, but certainly in the national
02:26hockey league, there are plenty of examples of teams that just make it in that are then contenders,
02:32you know, before Florida, when they're back-to-back titles, they got in as the eighth seed, went all
02:37the way to the Stanley cup finals. Uh, the LA Kings won it as an eighth seed. Uh, I remember
02:42the
02:42Philadelphia flyers going to the Stanley cup championship, uh, and losing to the Blackhawks
02:47back in 2010, they made it on the very last day of the season. So I think as long as
02:51you're in
02:52that you have an opportunity. And I heard you guys coming in and you were talking about Jeremy
02:55Swayman. He is off to a phenomenal start here this season and the way that the Bruins have played
03:00here. And again, we are still very early. What are we in a 10 game segment at this point, but
03:05to get
03:06the contributions that you've gotten up and down the lineup and the way they've played, they're going
03:10to be a threat in the East. Uh, Chris Johnson and in the athletic, uh, yesterday going around the
03:16league and looking at who teams might trade and was suggesting that perhaps it is Pavel Zaka here
03:22with the Bruins. Where are you on that? I think that the Bruins have come out publicly, whether it
03:27was the end of, uh, the season last year or the start of the season this year, that I think
03:31Don Sweeney
03:32and the, and the Bruins would like to try and sign him. The problem is trying to find what the
03:37number
03:37in the term is. I think in, in some conversations, uh, with some personnel people and general managers
03:43around the league with the salary cap going up the way it is, it's hard to find a comp. So
03:49what's a
03:49comp for a guy like Pavel Zaka in the era that we're now in where the salary cap has gone
03:54up a
03:55significant amount and the deals are benefiting the players. Well, it depends. Um, you know, I think
04:02if you look at it right now, that Fraser Minton deal that the Bruins have signed, uh, that seven year,
04:07what, $50 million deals to it was a 52 different. You're talking about young guys, different
04:11situation. Right. But I, I think it's difficult for these GMs to try and find, okay, what's a
04:18realistic number? Because the agents, listen, they're going to ask for the stars in the moon
04:22and all they're hearing, whether it's from the commissioner of the national hockey league or,
04:26or the, the news that's coming out of the NHL board of governors is that the salary cap is going
04:31to go up and up and up. Okay. So how do I get a number that fits? Because these teams
04:37are not only
04:38trying to fit it in based on the salary cap, but all of them have an internal budget. The one
04:42thing
04:42with the Bruins is that they have spent to the cap, um, you know, what the cap is going to
04:48be here
04:48down the road. That's something that's trying to be determined. But, but I think that they are trying
04:53to find a number where they can sign him. I think Zaka has really liked his situation here in Boston.
04:59Um, on the road trip, he had mentioned to us that he's played his best hockey since coming here.
05:04He had a 30 goal season last year. His wife is from here. Um, so I think that they're both
05:10parties
05:11are trying to find a number in a term that makes sense. What we've been talking to Courtney has been
05:15a hockey expert and she had a, it was a good lead. I don't remember if it was your lead,
05:21but it was
05:21about the door off and the healthy scratch. And, and I felt like as somebody, as a former player
05:28and somebody who has been a veteran, like him being in the league a long time and they bring
05:34him in to kind of be that guy that pushes that line of physicality, but then to scratch him
05:40because they feel like he might, you know, be getting dumb penalties. How do you think that
05:45plays in the dressing room, not just for the team, but for him in general of him being a healthy
05:53scratch when he was asked to maybe do a specific role? Well, I think it's a really good question.
05:59You know, I think in the room, one of the things that Zdorov had said was that he's gotten a
06:02tremendous amount of support around this. Listen, the Bruins, they love what he can bring to the
06:07table, his physicality, the way he can defend, the way he can move the puck and transition pucks.
06:12He's a valuable component, but at some point, uh, if you're not on the ice or if you're taking
06:18penalties that can be a detriment to your team. And I think the Anaheim game is the one that you're
06:22talking about where he took the double minor, like late in the second period where the Bruins,
06:26if they don't kill off that double minor, they don't have an opportunity to rally at that point,
06:30but they need him on the ice. But this goes back, Wiggy, to last season because Marco Sturm was on
06:35Nikita Zdorov about the penalties he was taking, the types of penalties. I think there are good
06:40penalties and I think there are bad penalties. There are penalties that, that teams look at and
06:44they're like, we're going to kill that one off. So, uh, and if you look at his splits from last
06:50year,
06:50because Marco was on him after the Olympics, the penalties were way down. So I think that this
06:56just served as a reminder. Uh, and for him, I think one of the things that he likes and a
07:02lot
07:02of players like, they like direct communication. If you talk to Zdorov, one of his favorite coaches
07:07of all time was Daryl Sutter, uh, who he had in Calgary. Well, Marco is a Daryl disciple. So I
07:13think
07:13he appreciated the straightforward communication, put him right back on the ice, played him 20 and a half
07:19minutes, one assist plus one couple of block shots. He was terrific. We were talking, you probably
07:25heard because you were referencing the discussion earlier, but talking about Morgan geeky a little
07:29bit, one goal, but me, but does he have double digit assists or whatever? Is he, but is, is that
07:36a
07:36strategy more of a distributor? Uh, is he, what are you seeing when you see him playing? I think he's
07:42been fine. I think he's gotten off to a decent start, but I think that whether it's him or a
07:47lot of guys
07:48in this team, I think they have to shoot the puck a little bit more often. And so much of
07:52his
07:52production last year came via the man advantage power plays kind of gotten off to a spotty start.
07:57You had two games essentially where they've scored three times. Now that still puts them in the middle
08:03of the pack as far as the power play. But, um, I think if he can get some more opportunities
08:08to fire
08:09that shot and maybe try and be a little bit more selfish when those opportunities come, you could see
08:15the advantage. His shot is look at the game winner, uh, in Los Angeles. He drills a puck from the
08:20far
08:20circle. Anton Forsberg can't handle it. Morosko Spadinov able to come in, scoop it up, tap it in.
08:27You got your game winner right there. So I think if he's able to get more opportunities to shoot,
08:31if that power play can start to click, I think you'll see those goal numbers come up. All right.
08:36Nashville in town tonight. And I believe the Bruins split with them last season. They did. You know,
08:41I always think that the first game back after a long road trip can be very difficult for most
08:46teams in the national hockey league because you get home, you had a successful trip and you exhale,
08:52you take it easy, you relax. You cannot against this Nashville team. If they, if the predators want
08:57to be in the mix, well, this is a difficult start to the trip for them. So the Bruins, can
09:02they take
09:03advantage, uh, and sort of work their way back into the game, uh, and get off to a good start
09:08here? I think
09:08that'd be important because after these two games at home, Nashville and San Jose, you're going to
09:12head on the road for a couple of tough ones in Carolina and in St. Louis. All right, Judd.
09:17Well, Patriots came tonight, but Wiggy will most likely DP you, uh, as he says. Well, no, uh,
09:24unfortunately I'll be at a Kings and Southeast. So first half, I won't be able to DP, but second half
09:31two screens, baby. Let's go. Yeah. They'll have them on there. He's got double screen. Yeah. And how are
09:36you feeling? And cause aren't you from Chicago? I am. So aren't you like, how you feel? Is this
09:41your Bears team? I, how you like it? I haven't had a chance to watch them a whole lot. I
09:44certainly
09:45feel a lot better than Caleb Williams. All right, Judd. Great to see you. Great to see you guys. We
09:51will talk to you again next week. And I believe we're going to get to the big dog of the
09:55week.
