Bruins Mailbag Heading into All-Star Break | Pucks With Haggs

Bruins Mailbag Heading into All-Star Break | Pucks With Haggs

You know Le Sark I don’t think is going to get moved but who knows if a team wants to severely overpay for a goalie maybe he could do that too uh although I think that’s something the Bruins definitely don’t want to mess with and don’t want to do but I’m just saying

That you know there’s a lot of great options for them if they avoid the temptation of chasing after the Big Shiny object and they just get the smaller items uh in the clearance rack that are actually going to help this team and that’s a good position to be in if you’re Don Swing welcome to another episode of the pucks with hags podcast as always I’m your host Joe Hagerty uh you can find my work at Joe hager. substack domcom uh sign up for a premium membership and you’ll get all of my Bruins and NHL content sent straight directly to your inbox via the pucks

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Uh this is the 59th episode of the pucks with hags podcast I am flying solo today we are going to do a mailbag episode um I will get you quickly up to dat with the uh latest and greatest news uh the Bruins won 6-2 over the Flyers on Saturday afternoon they go

Into the All-Star break 319 and9 they are the first team in the NHL uh to hit the 70 point mark this season they did that on Saturday afternoon with the win um really impressive uh they kind of slept walk through the first seven or eight minutes and then all a sudden

Pasta scored a goal in the first period and they just went nuts uh they ended up going up 5 nothing kind of hit Coast uh after that ended up winning six to2 uh 71 and2 in their last 10 games going into the break uh well ahead in the

Atlantic division well ahead in the Eastern Conference battling with Team uh teams like uh Vancouver um and Winnipeg for Supremacy as far as the number one seed in the entire NHL goes and really since uh the holiday break since Christmas I think the Bruins have been playing their best hockey of

The Season uh hit a higher gear offensively where they’re getting more uh depth and more scoring from more different places um obviously had a couple of goals today but you know Vin Reams DJ scores uh Danton Heinen scores you saw a few other players get involved

Hampus linon was a plus five in the game today um you know he bounced back from a couple games ago when he had a bad pinch in the third period that helped cost them a game um and overall in the month of January I think huslin home has been

His best month this season so his game is is turning in the right direction uh lenus alark was outstanding early in the game when the Bruins just didn’t have it before they started scoring uh so he goes into the break feeling good about his game as well Jeremy Swan obviously his play speaks

For itself uh going to the uh NHL Allstar Weekend along with David posternack and Jim Montgomery so hard to find a lot of fault with what’s going on with the Boston Bruins right now they’re kind of in that uh everything is awesome sort of uh mode uh

With the way that they’re playing right now just winning piling up points uh basically sustaining the lead that they had and improving on it I mean they they are you know they were what 141 and three um back in November um and I think everybody agreed that they weren’t

Playing like a team that had that goty of a record uh they’re actually playing at the level where they could have a record like that and they’re playing at a level that befits a team that could win the president’s trophy wouldn’t that be amazing if that happens two years in

A row uh for this Boston Bruins team and they do it uh the year after Patrice berson and David Cree retired so just uh a lot of positives with the way they finished up strong going into that Allstar uh weekend All-Star break weekend uh with winds over Ottawa and

Philly on the road uh to finish it off and the way that they they closed it out today was impressive to me you know a Saturday afternoon mat in Philly uh that could have been the kind of game that a team that is in a prime spot as

Far as the playoffs go they could have written it off and started thinking about their uh catching their flights to the Bahamas or wherever else they’re going or past that could have started thinking about about you know what he’s going to do in Toronto at NHL all-star

Weekend and it could have really been uh one of those instances where they just weren’t thinking at all about what was happening on the ice and staying in the present instead postern neck leads the way everybody else follows Pavo zaka was outstanding in that game as well zaka

Jvr and uh posternack were all playing together and they were excellent as a line um so you know a lot of really impressive things that you really can’t be too critical of what’s going on there uh the only interesting notes and maybe down notes uh coming out

Of that game or just uh the players that couldn’t play in that game Jake debrusk uh just generally banged up uh nothing specific uh probably you know he’s played a lot so he probably needed uh you know give him an extra day uh before the NHL All-Star

Break it would it would help him uh so he didn’t play uh Matt potra was scratched that was you know paranormal right now I think he’s gonna sit and play and sort of be back and forth and they’re not going to over tax him uh physically but the one that’s really a

Concern is Derek forbort um did not play uh Saturday against Philly may have aggravated what was bothering him and what caused him to miss like a couple of months um in an injury they were trying to rest and let calm down so he could play again

And play at a high level the fact that he’s battling with an injury like this in the middle of the season and it’s not really getting better and it’s getting aggra is is a warning sign and it’s trouble and it continues to make me believe that they need another

Defenseman they need another big strong nasty defenseman uh to add to the mix of what they already have and I say this with full acknowledgement the Brenan Carlos playing a little nastier on defense he’s playing with a little more of an attitude he’s playing a little more

Surly uh he’s really playing along with his size and his shutdown role he’s playing with the the kind of style and the kind of nastiness that can make him uh go to the next level uh being a shutdown D being a stay-at-home D being a guy that you know Prides himself on

Blocking shots killing penalties uh stopping plays all that stuff if he adds a little mean at 6 fo5 220 pounds or whatever he is around the net um that makes him even more valuable to the Boston Bruins and you know who he is in that team the role that he plays and and

His role and his importance in the playoffs it lessens a little bit their need to go out and get a guy like that but I think given forbo’s General uh question marks physically right now with his health I think uh that just adds to you having to

Add another player like that can kill penalties block shots be a 6’4 6 foot5 uh deterrent maybe the guy that drops the gloves a little bit certainly a guy that the other team’s going to have to worry about uh when they try to go to your net I think they need another

Defensive element like that you know Jacob Middleton’s a name that I know has been thrown around a lot and he got moved moved a couple years ago and he would have been a nice fit for the Bruins rad kudas is another name you’ve heard a little bit it’s going to be

Interesting to see what Anaheim does uh as far as trades go and as far as potentially moving anybody um but I somebody in that mold I think when push comes to Chev of the trade deadline they’re going to have to find somebody like that but that’s uh that’s about it

As as to what’s going on right now the Bruins are scattering to the four corners of the uh the worlds uh most of them going on break um Patrick Brown got the lucky winning lottery ticket he got called up because of the injuries right before the NHL All-Star break so I

Believe he does not have to go to Providence um as with the NHL Allstar break and he’ll get to enjoy his vacation along with everybody else um but they’re going away uh the Bruins will not be uh practicing for you know the next uh the next short term while

They get ready for the NHL All-Star Game and um everybody’s going to start focusing on Toronto and the NHL all-star weekend and the new skills Challenge and you know it’ll it’ll it’ll be fun because I think David Pock and Jeremy Swan are very charismatic likable like fun-loving players I think that’s

Something the uh the media will pick up on while they’re there and this really could be maybe Jeremy Swan’s coming out party uh as far as the entire league goes as to you know what kind of a marketable player he can be what kind of

A star player he can be how much he’s a guy that I think uh his profile is going to get raised nationally as as a really like fun-loving goalie that’s good and is is a kind of a good sound bite and certainly an interesting story coming from Alaskan and I think this really

Could be uh one of those uh weekends that we look back on as uh people view Jeremy Swan a little bit differently coming out of NHL Allstar Weekend as they did going in you know he has the potential I think to to sort of uh ride

That hype train a little bit and now NHL All-Star weekends are never built for goalies it’s never a goalie showcase uh they kind of take a backseat to every everything and just hanging on for dear life for the most part but I I think

He’s the kind of guy that uh may be able to you know uh maximize this uh experience as he does with everything the NFL season is wrapping up and there’s still time to get in on the action with fanuel America’s number one sports book right now new customers get

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Your questions uh as always hit my Twitter account hacks with hags and use the hashtag HCK with hags if you ever want to ask me a question or have it in the mailbag um because I do these maybe once a month or so I want to answer all your

Questions uh sometimes I grab Facebook comments that I think would be cool questions I certainly get plenty of Facebook on my Facebook fan page which is also pucks with hags I get longer form questions uh that I’ll also include in here so uh let’s start off with the first

One this is from Ryan J 7800 on Twitter could you see Sweeney Trading ptra for Elias Lindholm Swan is obviously going to get a massive contract 6.5 plus aav this off season will it be with the Bruins or another team Swan’s not going to go to another team uh he is still a

Restricted free agent I think he is going to get signed I think he is going to get paid and he’s going to get the money that he’s looking for and I think somewhere in the five to six range I think is is definitely realistic and I think it’s definitely uh somewhere in

That neighborhood maybe a a little bit more I don’t know if it’s going to be too much more than that given this is just you know this is one season that he’s having right now and there’s still a limit as to how many games he’s gonna play with lenus elar around you know

He’s not GNA hit 60 plus games uh that he’s gonna play this season so uh there’s still going to be some things I think he’s going to have to prove as far as sustaining it over a long period of time proving that he can do it with everything on his shoulders which it

Would be much more on his shoulders if he had a guy like Brandon busy backing up instead of Lena elmark sharing the workload with him so I think all these things uh will play into it being a little less um than you would expect he’s not going to get paid like a you

Know A vzna Trophy winning franchise goalie that’s been playing 65 games a season that’s just not going to happen because he doesn’t have that resume yet but he will obviously is gonna get as much as he can and he should I think he realized it’s now a business after going

Through arbitration and um that he should get what his worth is and I think he will get it and I think it’s going to be with the Bruins I don’t think they want him to go anywhere and I don’t think he wants to go anywhere just

Listen to how much he loves being a part of the team as much as he knows it’s a business as well I think they’ll figure it out um when push comes to shove uh could I see twe Sweeney trading potra for Elias Lindholm no I don’t think they need Elias

Lindholm watch this team right now do you really feel like they need a center Charlie Coyle’s on a pace for like 30 goals 65 points um they put it this way I do I think they need a Topline Center no I don’t think they need a number one

C um because of the way Charlie Coy has played the way he stepped in uh he’s putting up berson ask numbers offensively in a number one Center role he’s playing in all situations he’s doing it a little differently than P Tre berson did uh but he’s doing it in a

Much more consistent way than he ever had before uh and is a huge factor in every everything that’s gone down for the Bruins this season how good they’ve been and I I you know I’m beginning to get tired of hearing Elias ly Holmes name because I think we we might have a

Better player in Charlie Coyle here right now uh the way that he’s playing and I I just don’t think that’s a need I I think one thing they do need um and we’ll get to it a little bit later on is they M they certainly might

Need a center maybe some kind of a bottom six center fourth line Center type guy uh that can win faceoffs they need somebody that can come in here and you know be a be a guy that can go in and get defensive Zone draws when you

Need to win the puck and get it out of the Zone win an offensive zone faceof when when it’s it’s desperation time and you’re trying to score a goal at the end of games uh somebody you know the Patrice berser on taking 28 faceoffs a game out there to take draws in all

Situations then they would go hop off the boards when he got a chance and and the other Center would go on that kind of a specialist sort of thing uh they need that kind of a guy um and I I don’t necessarily think that means it’s a number one center it’s Elias

Lindholm I think they can find somebody else that’s a lot cheaper than that um to play that kind of role and be that kind of guy um but I just at this point and I’ve been very consistent about this this year I don’t see Elias Lindholm as a

Big- Time need on this team as much as I thought he was at the beginning of the year I don’t see uh needing a number one Center given the way that Charlie Coyle is played I I just don’t think it’s it’s necessary I don’t think it’s something

They have to have um I don’t think it’s you know they prove they can win without it I I and obviously it’s a different animal come playoff time but I think what you see is a team that needs another defenseman that needs another Frontline guy that needs another guy

That uh could be a mean nasty shutdown guy and play top four minutes and um you know be somebody that other teams have to worry about in the dzone come playoff time and are afraid to you know uh go into a dark alley with that kind of a

Guy I think the Bruins could use one of those um and Demetri olov was kind of one of those guys while also having the puck moving aspect of it last year but he you know I remember him taking out Kevin Miller in the playoffs a few years

Back when the Bruins and capitals played uh with a massive uh hit in the neutral zone clean open Ice hit where he just demolished Kevin Miller you need somebody like that you know you need somebody that’s going to put the fear in the other team and is a

Good enough defenseman that they can play 20 plus minutes a night uh that’s kind of a tall order as far as checking all those boxes but I think it’s also a more doable trade uh from an asset perspective from an execution pers perspective of actually getting the

Player than trying to get a guy like Elias Lindholm that is going to be probably the top Center on the market um the most expensive uh piece you could go out and get from a seller like Calgary uh and somebody that uh some other um team is going to massively overpay for

I’m just not sure also that Elias Lindholm would factor into Bruin’s future plans Beyond this season and I think if they’re going to bring somebody in and they’re going to give up good assets for him I think it’s somebody that they’re going to want beyond this current season it’s

Just not going to be a stop Gap thing so um I know I don’t I I’m not going to trade a a future top six top nine Center in Matt ptra that’s going to be able to do the job for for a long time and be an

Affordable asset and be a very good player for you that you draft and developed for a guy like Lind Holm that you don’t necessarily need I just I’m I don’t think the Bruin the Bruins are in such a good place right now don’t trade future assets anymore especially this

Season uh to try to go all in continuously every single year you got to replenish sometimes and I think this is a year that even though they’re in the number one spot even though it looks like the East is kind of wide open I think they need to avoid that temptation

To trade their top prospects to tr trade future first round pick second round picks um for assets they don’t necessarily need you went overall in last year didn’t work I think you should ride the the team that you have fix a couple of areas uh specific spots that

Aren’t going to be huge cost uh additions fourth line guy uh top four defenseman that’s more of a stay-at-home guy uh that’s going to help you in the playoffs those kind of things aren’t going to cost you as much as as Elias Lindholm would all right uh let’s get to

The next one and this is a good this is a throwback one I like this in the Bruins Centennial year I like us walking down memory lane a little bit here Joe Thornton having and this is a little bit uh dated this came out of my Facebook inbox so this might have been

Sent a few weeks ago uh Joe Thornton having his number of retired by San Jose brings back memories of what I thought was the stupidest trades in NHL history as I recall Miche o Connell was the GM yes you recall correctly I remember the G the bees giving up their young

Superstar it was an out of nowhere trade I recall how absurd the minimal value of the bees got back was as one League GM put it when you trade a young Talent like that you might want to let the rest of the league know and see who gives you

The best trade package Michael Connell was an absolute disaster as a general manager and that’s from Kevin Cassidy uh via the Facebook fan page first of all I like the old school uh rant uh it it brings me back to my early days covering the team when everybody was just like

Going after Harrison and Michael O Connell and you know killing them for for being too cheap at times to to get the players that the Bruins uh needed and even after that wasn’t the case anymore and they were spending to the cap the Bruins still had that reputation

Um so it takes you back to your younger days as as somebody around the Bruins even before I covered the team sort of what the typical fan gripe was uh for that team so thank you Kevin thank you for walking us down memory lane um

I agree I think uh first of all I think in hindsight it was the right move trading joe Thornton they decided when they traded Joe Thornton that they were going to build around Patrice berson as their franchise Center as their number one guy they believed in him as a young

Player they felt like he was the guy that they wanted to build around uh that they could win a Stanley Cup with him as their franchise Center as it turns out they were correct now neither one was here in a you know in their uh supervisory managerial role uh

Obviously Harry sindon is still an adviser um but neither one of them was in their front office role when they won the cup and when they finally uh that decision bore fruit uh but it was the right decision and Joe Thornton never won a cup with anybody so they were

Proven right as far as that goes the problem is and I had the same problem with the Tyler San trade problem is when you trade a high first round pick star type player that is you know got a a an All-Star reputation in the league or

Better not only do you need to shop him around a little bit to get the best offer you need to get first second round picks you need to get high draft picks where you can draft your own players decide who you want Target those players and bring them in and they didn’t do

That with the Joe Thornton trade they didn’t do that with the Tyler Sean trade instead they got um prospects or NHL players that were already in the organization that they traded with no Futures as far as draft picks go and as much as I love Marco

Sturm and I cherish the Marco Sturm face while it was going on here in Boston they didn’t get enough from San Jose they should have shopped around to a few teams saw what they could get for Joe Thornton a guy that ended up winning the heart trophy that year and as a Hall

Of Fame player uh they could have gotten more and they should have gotten at least a first round pick or two for Joe Thornton same thing absolutely 100% without question for Tyler Sean yes they got a decent player in Riley Smith that they ended up trading um you know and

They they got some prospects even though they didn’t get the prospects they really wanted they got some prospects in that deal uh didn’t necessarily pan out um and that’s why I think you’ve got to get your first round pick so you can get your Scouts in there and you can make

Your own selections rather than picking players from another organization uh especially if you’re holding on for certain players that you want like Alex Jason was a guy they really wanted from the Dallas Stars and they didn’t get him in that trade I think Matt Fraser was his name I think

Was the guy they got instead who was a a good AHL talent but didn’t translate to the NHL so uh you make a trade like that a you gotta make it known around the league uh and that can make it Troublesome if the word gets out that

You’re shopping a player so I understand sometimes why you want to do it quickly but you got to at least shop them a little bit to make sure you getting the best offer and you also got to get first round picks when it’s like franchise type players like

That what happened to Johnny beer I thought he was doing pretty good as 4C that’s from Peter larly on Twitter um this is an interesting one so um Johnny beer got sent down uh a week ago or so 10 days ago two weeks ago Jesper boquist got brought up um it kind

Of raised eyebrows uh that boquist stuck around and he’s been you know doing the job lately uh while beer went down to Providence because beer had shown like he’s pretty good Faceoff guy he would shown that he could kill penalties you know he he popped in a couple of goals

He’d been decent but I think the problem became well it’s twofold I Jim Montgomery mentioned uh a few weeks ago how he wasn’t playing the fourth line much because there were players that uh he the according to their numbers according to their you know everything that they

Have with their entire staff they keep track of you know when players uh their play starts to drop off when they get up to certain amounts of minutes and I’ve got to believe that Johnny beer was one of those players when the minutes went up the play uh the

Level of play went down and the endurance just wasn’t there the cardio ability to to maintain performance wasn’t there uh when they got above 10 minutes when they got into the 11 12 13 minute range and this is probably part of the reason that Jacob loo was always

Stuck at eight or nine minutes and oscarine was always stuck at eight or nine minutes because they had them with beer and the three of them were not getting over 10 minutes of ice time and it was really starting to put a strain uh as far as the ice time goes on all

The other players you know postern neck is playing sometimes 23 24 minutes a night Brad Martian at 35 years old going over 20 minutes of ice time at night um a vaka coil players like that really uh putting in a taxing amount of ice time especially in these Dog Days of January

And February where if you’re riding your horses too hard now that’s going to take juice out of their tank come playoff time in April May June uh so I think you got to be care very careful about how hard um you’re you’re riding some players as far as ice time goes right

Now uh and as we’ve seen since boquist came up and they’ve sort of mixed around the third and fourth line and taken p and mixed and matched and gotten really good results actually um you’ve seen Loco go over 10 minutes uh like in that game against uh the game against Philly

They he was well over 10 minutes and Oscar steam was well over 10 minutes and boquist was well over 10 minutes and like all those guys Dan Heinen uh Trent Frederick so I I I think what you’re seeing now is there’s a little more balance and there’s a little more of a

Trust to play the fourth line more that you’re getting um good performance out of it and I don’t know that that was there with berron I think it really started to affect them and I think that probably factored in to him going down to Providence is he wasn’t quite ready to

Play 12 minutes A Night at the NHL level with the speed intensity and everything else and they need to work him up to get to that point um and you know that’s me reading into the situation that’s me reading from what Jim Montgomery said and that’s me reading the Bruins actions

Of what they’ve done nobody word for word told me Johnny Beacher was sent down because X Y and Z I’m just connecting all the Dots here and uh you know coming up with the picture um based on the information that we had and I I

You know I I think it it would may have been the right move I fourth line Center is a really tough thing to be a rookie in the NHL and be a fourth line Center I think you’ve got to be a smart player you got to be a player that the team’s

Going to trust in key situations you’ve got to be an experienced player uh to be able to deal with certain things when you’re killing penalties and taking faceoffs and I’m just not sure that trust is there this speaks in this plays into them I think needing to trade for a

Fourth line Veteran Center that can win faceoffs and is a little more comfortable in all these things and experience in all these areas and maybe that’s going to be a need come trade deadline um based on this move uh you know I I I think still think Johnny

Beer’s got a good future in front of him I think he could even be a third line Center more than a fourth line Center just if he can up the offense a little bit but just based on you know his athleticism based on his speed and size

And the way he plays the game I think he could project to eventually be in the top nine but I think he needs to still work on some things in Providence and a half a year in the NHL and Boston I think they kind of figured that out so there’s

No shame in him going down I don’t think people should be upset about it I think it’s just part of his development track and they’re getting better play let’s face it out of boquist right now and and I think it’s helped strengthen the third and the fourth line making that move as

We’ve seen uh them be able to play those lines more since they sent beer down and since the boquist is kind of taken over so um um I understand fans love the prospects and you’re going to ask questions you think a guy was playing well why is he sent down I just think

There was some real reasons behind why they did it we do have Factor meals uh to help us out America’s number one ready to eat meal kit when it does get busy when it does get crazy when we do need a quick meal uh they fuel you up

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Won’t be sorry if you go to factor meals it gets The Hags thumbs up seal of approval all right uh remember when Bruins fans hated uh and this is Brandon Carlo they were referencing when his biggest issue was his defensive partner I like Krug and Grizz but both are kind

Of bad in their own end Grizz has slowed the last couple of years his skating was his biggest attribute now that it’s starting to dis disappear Krug was unbelievably talented offensively but was never super fast and would get bodied easily I’d love to see Carlo get

A guy like Jacob middlton as a d partner um I agree I I I first of all I sung I sang the Praises of Brandon Carlo earlier I think he’s playing More Physical he’s playing nastier he took a nasty Puck to the face his cheek was all

Swollen after the game was over he had a big cut but he finished off his shift and he came back and finished the game uh after he done checking to make sure all the Chicklets were there and they got whatever uh bleeding was going on

Inside his mouth taken care of um but I I like him I like brenon Carlo a lot I think he is a huge part of this team I think he’s a huge leader in that room I think he’s really evolved into who in what he is and I think he’s more

Comfortable with who he is as an NHL player now than he’s ever been in his career I think he’s kind of reached that point of maturity and in in as an NHL player where he realizes he belongs and he realizes that you know he he adds a lot of value and

And he can have a lot of impact in games when he plays a certain way and I think he’s starting to understand the way the Bruins need him to play u as far as being a little bit nastier a customer uh in the dzone and Around the Net and he’s

He gets that and I think he understands that they’re going to need that come playoff time I would love to see him uh play with a guy like Jacob Middleton I think there’s a bunch of defenseman that I would love to see him play with where

They could just go out there and be a shutdown pair that just kick the crap out of the other team skill players and just wear them down around the net and just bang bodies and get them out and I know you can’t play uh the way Darien

Hatcher used to killing people in front of the net and just being this massive dude that was just mean and nasty uh but I still think you have to play that way to a degree it’s still hockey uh if you’re going to play defenseman you

Still have to have a lot of that element and I think that helps them close out teams in the third period that helps them win one goal games that’s going to help them win in the playoffs uh is not only having and Brandon Carlo be more of

That guy but bringing in somebody else especially if Derek forward is a is a physical uh question mark so I I do think yes uh you’re on the right track with the defenseman that you like I do think at times maybe Brennan Carlo has taken criticism that’s probably been

More appropriately aimed at the the partners he was with because they would always put him with a smaller defenseman that moved the puck and a lot of the defensive stuff would fall on his shoulders and he would also kind of leave the offense to them and not really

Fill in as much and be uh you know the fifth attacker uh in that trailer and and you know a guy that was looking to create offense he does that a little bit more now and I think it’s a nice balance that he has um so they should keep that

Going I I you know it’s tough uh Mt grizzli is a tough um it’s a tough example right now of where do you put him I’ve never been a fan of of makoy and grizzli as a pairing I just don’t want to see grizzli uh if makavo is

Going to get paired up against the other team’s top players and paired up in in tough defensive situations Matt griz’s not a guy I want to see in those kind of situations um I I think Carlo would be more effective if you put him with a bigger stronger guy that was kind of

Mobile too um but you know in in in a third pairing uh do you put Matt grizzli with uh Derek forbort uh potentially but I I think also you know um Weatherspoon I think factors into all this now I think Parker Weatherspoon has played himself into a role on this team could

Parker Weatherspoon be the guy that plays with Brandon Carlo and they become some kind of shutdown D maybe you know I I it’s going to be interesting to see how this whole thing develops and I think they’re going to need some more time with Weatherspoon to see what they

Really have and it’s a good thing they’ve got a few weeks before the trade deadline because they can Factor all this stuff in uh but I do think regardless of how well weather spoon plays and what’s going on here they need another defenseman and they’re going to

Make that move at the deadline to get one uh Bruins need a center that can win a Faceoff late in the game they are horrible late in games that’s from happy hour Healey we kind of uh already covered this one I think we have seen times where the Bruins have lost big

Faceoffs late in Games part of the issue when they were uh giving up goals late in the third period to go to overtime was they were losing uh face off in the dzone that Patrice berson would win over the years and if Patrice berson won the

Faceof and they got the puck out of the zone that would like automatically already avoid the situation that they found themselves in uh because they lost the face off and because the puck was in their Zone um and that compounded you know the the lack of personnel lack of

Experienced Personnel that they had protecting those one-goal leads um so I agree I I I think that you know there are like several guys out there you could go after like that um that are you know fourth line types that are really good on faceoffs um it’s just a matter

Of targeting who you like who’s a good fit you know who’s on the market and going out and getting them but I think that you know I my opinion I think the Bruins actually have an easy Todo list at this trade deadline I don’t think this is going to be difficult for them

They don’t have to chase after Big Ticket items they’re not going to have to give up a ton of stuff if they don’t want to they can even trade some players if they want to and get some assets back whether it’s Matt grizzli maybe Jake debrusk um you know Al Sark I don’t

Think is going to get moved but who knows if a team wants to severely overpay for a goalie maybe he could do that too uh although I think that’s something the Bruins definitely don’t want to mess with and don’t want to do but I’m just saying that you know

There’s a lot of great options for them if they avoid the temptation of chasing after the Big Shiny object and they just get the smaller items uh in the clearance rack that are actually going to help this team and that’s a good position to be in if you’re Don Sweeny

All right last question they should have sold high on omark in the offseason now he’s regressed like most of us expected and has a a much lower value and that’s from Joseph isidoro on the Facebook fan page do you really think elar has a much lower value than he did before played a

Great game in Philly today um they don’t win that game if he’s not on his game and outstanding early in the game his numbers are fine I think what it’s a safe percentage like 918 9917 uh his goals against like 2.8 range um he’s not playing at the vzna level he did last

Year but he’s still like well above average and and you know the highest uh quarter percentile of goalies around the NHL and once you win the vzna trophy that’s always on your resume it’s not like it goes away he’s still an All-Star vzna Trophy winning goenda elmar is the the playoff thing

Now there there two problems the playoff reputation is growing that can’t do it in the playoffs uh after the way he’s performed the last couple of years and that’s not going to change until he actually does it in the playoffs and and you know proves people wrong and uh the endurance theend

Durability thing uh the ability to you know play more than 50 games in a year and be effective I think there are question marks about him physically and mentally being able to you know carry a load that’s more than 45 to 55 games or

Not even 55 45 to 50 games um you know for him to be able to have to you know get up could he get up into the 6065 game range in a regular season and be a goalie that you know that a team is going to Pace five million a year for

That’s going to be the number one guys and have all that stuff be on their shoulders um that’s the stuff that’s going to affect his value not his performance this year I think it’s been perfectly fine um if they decided to trade him I’m sure they would find

Takers I think what the problem is is the goalie trade market is Never As Good As you think it’s going to be you never get big value for goalies around the League because everybody thinks they can pick up a goal off you know in their organization if you put them in the

Right um spot at the right time they’re going to perform for you the kind of the Aiden Hill phenomenon and everybody thinks they have an Aiden Hill or they can get an Aiden Hill pretty cheaply that could come in and do that if push came to shove rather than overpay for a

Guy like lenus elar even though he’s obviously got the credentials um so I I I I differ and I disagree with the overall not of this email uh and of this question I still think uh they’re going to look to trade him in the summer time I think

They’ll you know they they should get decent value for him but I think if they want to sign Jeremy Swan if they want to give Brandon busy a shot if they want to do a lot of these different things it starts with Lena somar getting traded

And them getting some value back they do need to get trade some players away and bring back some assets Prospect and draft pickwise to replenish some of what they’ve traded over the last couple years and it it’s going to be painful to trade some of these players away because

Uh a lot of them have been fun over the years uh the if the Bruins trade all Mark the goalie hug is gone um and that’s become such a marketable fun thing and it gives it gets the biggest pop from the crowd at the Garden when

They win at home it really does people love it um so that stuff is TR is tough to trade away same with Jake dbras if you traded him away or Matt grizzli or you know a lot of these players um you know if they’ve been here a long time

Fans are connected to them and they don’t want to see them go and I totally understand that they’re good people you know nobody wants to see them go um but I do think um you know you have to look long and hard at it if you want to recoup some of your

Assets all right uh that is another edition of the pucks with hags podcast in the books let me thank my sponsors real quick uh Factor meals America’s number one ready to eat meal kit Elevate you’re eating at home with their upscale surf and turf and Surf and surf meal

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And there’s a a lot of wide range of betting options like spreads player props over under so much more so visit fanduel.com Boston and get her going all right thanks a lot for sending in all your mailbag questions this week uh we’ll be back next week with a guest uh for the

Pucks with haags podcast where we’ll break down the pre uh Allstar break uh NHL season and the Bruin season and and talk about what’s to come as always thanks for listening to the pucks with hags podcast we’ll see you at the Rank

In today’s episode of Pucks With Haggs, Joe Haggerty hosts a solo Bruins Mailbag show as the team heads into the All-Star break. The Bruins, boasting an impressive run with six victories in their last eight games, lead the league with a stellar record of 31-9-9.

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