Bruins offseason moves begin | Pucks with Haggs

Bruins offseason moves begin | Pucks with Haggs

[Music] welcome to another edition of the pucks with hags podcast powered by prize pick the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the clns media Network I do believe this is the 100th episode of the pucks with hags podcast so this is a very special big uh big time show here Mick a centennial show so to speak uh just like the Boston Bruins have the Centennial year so just like them let’s let’s get it going that’s why I brought mck kagio in my good friend and colleague today Mick please tell everybody where they can find your work uh I write a weekly uh Sunday calling for Boston hockey now uh.com and I’m in the seasonal issues of the hockey news thanks for reminding me all of a deadline coming up right after free agency and um and then the future watch and then uh let’s see what else I got my rink WP blog I link to it on X and uh I go on radio with Pete Shepard in Florida and um and I come here with you I I ride I ride shotgun with Hags frequently there you go absolutely it’s in a pleasure every time Mick um and I’m your host Joe Hagerty uh you can find my work at Joe hager. substack doccom uh sign up for a premium membership get all of my NHL and hockey writing sent straight directly to your inbox I also write uh a few times a week for the Boston Sports Journal go to Boston Sports journal.com and check out all my Bruins coverage there as well let’s also thank our sponsors prize picks is the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America and the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy St Sports instead of battling thousands of other players that could be Pros or sharks you simply pick more or less than in two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll right in like if you picked Conor McDavid to go ballistic offensively the last couple of days in the Stanley Cup Final goals assists jaw-dropping plays uh crazy TW minute and 28 second shifts that end with him slicing and dicing the entire Panthers team and setting up Cory Perry for a goal stuff uh you would be a big winner right now but uh if you do want to go to prize picks let me tell you they are the place to go you could turn $10 into ,000 doar in a single game watching your favorite sports this summer you can make a prize picks lineup in as little as 60 seconds you just need to pick more or less than on two to six player stat projections and you’re locked in um what when the finals are over like they are right now uh and the Celtics are winners the hoop action doesn’t stop on prize picks women’s basketball is just getting started with young stars like Clark and Angel Reese just killing each other out there in the court and everybody’s talking about it looking to make names for themselves um you could win up to a 100 times your cash watching them ball out wonder if anybody made money on the Red Sox stealing nine bases on the Yankees there you go see Mick’s into it Mick’s going for stolen bases with the Red Sox which when Mick and I were growing up absolutely never happened that was that was a cardinal sin to try to steal a base for the B you might go for nine home runs but you’re not going for nine stolen bags no it was like uh Tom Tommy Harper Ellis Burks Mike Greenwell had a few stolen bases I think uh was there anybody else I can’t even think had some smart speed at that time but I mean I I mean I go I go way back my favorite player was Tony kigo Dustin Pedro is definitely smart smart speed he would uh situationally steal bases for you when it was a smart play to do uh but either way it’s a fun fun and pretty simple system at prize picks download the prize picks app today and use the code clns for a first deposit match of up to $100 pick more pick less it’s that easy and let’s also thank game time game time’s an awesome app the NBA finals are over so you can’t get NBA Finals tickets anymore but uh the Stanley Cup finals are still going on the Boston Red Sox are still going on so um head over to game time last minute deals save up to 60% off buying last minute for sports concerts comedy theater Zone deals save even more when you choose a section and let game time choose the seats for you lowest price guaranteed or game time will credit you 110% of the difference so take the guess work out of buying uh any kind of tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code clns clns for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply but again download the game time app uh create an account use the code clns for f $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right Mick um let’s get into it a little bit of news some some things some dribs and drabs coming out with the Boston Bruins so um Swedish a Swedish outlet with was uh quoting Oscar steen’s agent that he uh is moving on the Bruins and Oscar Steen are parting ways uh he’s a group six free agent he had one goal in 34 games before getting waved and sent down to Providence last year he’s got like 60 games I think at the NHL level uh four goals eight eight points overall um obviously I think he’s done well as a sixth round pick a former sixth round pick of the Bruins I think if you can get a player that can hit the NHL at all with you as a sixth round pick I think you’re doing pretty well um as far as selecting that guy but I think this makes sense like he Jacob loo is a better option as a as a homegrown draft and developed fourth line kind of player um I think he just couldn’t get over the hump offensively and really even sporadically create offense in the fourth line role he was perfectly fine when he was there but not enough to to stick at the NHL level maybe he can find a fresh start somewhere else you also got the distinct impression that when Stein finally did get a chance a glittering chance it was no way that thing was going in no and so uh and and then I think the thing that where I kind of made my own decision that he’s not a a plugin for the Bruins in the bottom six was when he started getting knocked off the puck uh late in the season might have been the playoffs I’m having trouble parsing it all out right now but I do remember there was scenarios where Steen was trying so hard to keep up with the frenetic pace of the late season hockey that he would be off balance trying to initiate and that’s when somebody would say here’s a big chance chance to hit this fire hydrant because he’s put himself off balance and that’s when he get knocked off the puck or knocked down or whatever because he was trying so hard to make something happen offensively that he made himself uh took himself a little off balance and and uh made himself vulnerable to timely hits and I think that that’s when it became apparent that Steen as a guy who could plant and good luck trying to knock him over um with those with those truncated uh not truncated but tree trunk thighs of his uh quad muscles unbelievable physique on that kid yeah and and uh uh really terrific character terrific for the peep Bruins uh you know just it’s time you know guys age out of the process and you know group six says it all you know I mean uh they’ve had the leverage the whole time and now he’s a free bird and he’s going to fly and good for him I hope it works out wherever he goes yeah be back home yeah yeah could go back to S Sweden definitely I would think though if he’s loged some NHL time he’ll be a depth player somewhere to start and maybe you know he can find um you know lightning in a bottle somewhere or he can find that next level offensively that he couldn’t get here but for my analysis my like watching him my seeing him over the years I think he’s just one of those classic players that can accept sell at the AHL can be a very good AHL player but just wasn’t big enough fast enough strong enough all these things combined that you have to be at the NHL level to be really effective and it was tough because like he was put in a fourth line role where they wanted him to bang bodies four check uh check the other team you know not maybe not look as much uh for the offense and like loo kind of struggled this year offensively as well you say all that I think Chris bour you well and um you know the the name that we were trying to think of the other Alex kachev that’s another one C Coco is a good example of that yeah who was a very good AHL player that just when he came up to NHL I do wonder if the Bruins blew it with um well I don’t want to say blow it because they have a process and this kid didn’t want to engage it but the guy the other Russian that was there prior to Coco and another generation beforehand I’m having trouble coming up with it his name right now but he went on to become a general manager in the KHL and had a very good KHL career but in Boston he didn’t want he didn’t have the patience for the process and you know my league at home’s better than this league what am I doing here and he kind of shot his way out of town and but too bad that it worked out that way because I think uh Zenovia maybe no is he the is he yeah I might have been yeah Serge Zenovia I think he one guy yeah yeah and but and there’s no shame in that like there’s the NHL is the hardest league in the world and there are some players that just don’t have that sort of uh that thing that’s going to allow them to excel against the fastest biggest most skilled strongest guys hockey players in the world and and they can do it at the HL level but they just you know for whatever reason and some of it is like opportunity and you know where they’re playing with a team and if you’re playing fourth line role every single time you go up to another team maybe you’re not going to be able to show everything you do especially if you’re not a fourth line player like I’m not sure Oscar Steen is really a fourth line player um at when he’s at his best or he’s in the right role so maybe he gets you know some top six minutes with somebody else and he can or a third line even with somebody else and can show a little bit more offensively but yeah guys in the NHL were in those roles tend to have extraordinary size strength or speed y Steen Steen I think it can argue has a strength but he doesn’t have the size vertically at least and he doesn’t have uh extraordinary speed no and the skill to finish too when he did get chances like you said you knew it wasn’t going in when he had he knew it wasn’t going like the end of kend Ron’s great book the game that he wrote about the 7879 Canadians which was the last of their four straight Stanley Cup runs um in in that decade in the end of his career um he chronicled their season and all the personalities involved on the team bus and all of that and um the Steve shut B’s hilarious uh but he talks about you know he starts out with a talking about a player that you know is never going to score he finishes the book with an anecdotal Breakaway he didn’t he didn’t score uh goalie the goalies always know prize picks is the largest daily 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code CNS for a first deposit match of up to $100 that’s download the prize pick app today super easy to use easy to download and use the code clns for a first deposit match of up to $100 pick more pick less it’s that easy uh let’s talk a little bit about the Stanley Cup Final Mick um outstanding outstanding game five last night very entertaining from beginning to end uh you knew Florida was going to come back and they did and they almost almost pulled it off it’s it was one of those games where I think time ran out on the Panthers if they’d gotten enough chances they were going to tie that game and it just didn’t happen before they had to pull the goalie um but just a great game both ways that sequence at the end where kachuck is laying out saves the empty net goal from going in and then it ends up going right to McDavid and he he bangs it in for the empty net goal and you know all the action that was going on uh leading up to that that was a true Stanley Cup final game uh where you felt like it was the two best teams playing against each other Conor McDavid pulled off another absolute Superstar best hockey player in the world kind of performance that’s two in a row for him and honestly I feel like the only way Edmonton’s gonna win games from this point forward in this series is if Conor McDavid is that good in every single game and that productive because dry Sidle just doesn’t look like himself looks like he’s having issues uh out there so Conor mcdavid’s gonna have to be that good uh but really interested to see um what’s going to happen in game six in Edmonton I’m sure it’s going to be absolutely crazy out there I couldn’t get of the middle-aged woman that was in the crowd in Edmonton watching the game on the big screen somewhere last night and she was dressed up like the Stanley Cup and had like silver all over her with the like dish on her head I didn’t I didn’t see that oh my God the people out in Edmonton are just nuts and you can see now the other viral video that I saw yes yeah yeah exactly which we’ll never speak of no but but in general the Oilers uh fans are nuts so it’s GNA be a great atmosphere game for game six and I’m glad that a it’s been extended this long so it’s been an actual hockey series series to watch with with dramatic games and B that we’ve been able to see Conor McDavid Excel and shine as much as he have on this big stage to show everybody in the world just how good he is if they have don’t watch enough Edmonton games like that play last night the end of a two and a half minute shift where he goes through everybody goes right through the heart of the the Florida uh Diamond the defense and then feeds it to Perry and knows Perry’s coming even though Perry just jumped off the bench and was trailing the play like that is just like an amazing play if you haven’t if you if you’re not old enough like some of us who got to hang from the rafters one foot on the last row of the second balcony at Boston Garden one foot on the railing in front of it as those balconies had rails in front of every row and then you were high enough up to hold on to the IE beam of the ceiling girds and look over the five rows in front of you and all the way down and watch Bobby or yeah and McDavid had a play like this against the Rangers a few years ago where y he regrouped in the middle of the rink it looked like his shift was going to be over instead of regrouping dumping the puck he identified a situation where he’s going to surprise them with acceleration sudden acceleration and this is something I haven’t seen since bobor yeah uh there have been great players even in or’s Era that I just marveled at watching them carry the Pucket Top Flight skills at Top Flight Jil perau almost unparalleled and but what McDavid does and changing gears and going into sudden acceleration M at the identification of an opportunity and then suddenly you got four bowling pins and there’s this guy who’s going through them like it’s a skills contest if you if you didn’t get a chance to see Barbie or play this is this is you know the same way Don Cherry was calling cam Ney a direct descendant to Gordy how in 88 when he was running over the Montreal Canadians on the four check this this this is this is Bobby or as a sentiment this is what you’re looking at here um it wasn’t it isn’t the whole game it isn’t the whole game he played but it it it in that aspect of the attack and what made or a unique attacking defenseman this is that element that acceleration identification and then the execution ability and the fierceness of his competitive fire that just is is what the offensive element of Bobby or’s game was and seeing MCD being around to see McDavid is a thrill because he is a very exciting exciting player to watch um the quickness is incredible uh that he does it at like you said at the end of a lengthy shift like that there just just really unheard of in today’s game yep I mean uh and it’s not it’s not even just the stick handling and the speed right it’s the shot it’s the playmaking it’s the hockey IQ he has everything like he has the whole package of everything you know he he decided he wanted to get a 100 assists this season and he was just gonna make plays for everybody else and he went and he was gonna scale back the goals that he scored and he did it he can do whatever he wants to do on the ice he has those kind of gifts and those kind of hard-earned skills because you know that he’s a guy that just goes out there and works his ass off to be the best hockey player in the world but even the the goal that he scored earlier where he like finds a little opening where he can shoot it off uh the skate and in kovsky skate and get it into the net as he’s moving full speed and going through people and all that chaos is going around and he’s picking a spot yeah where to shoot like all of those gifts were on display last night and for me watching hockey there’s nothing more exciting than when you watch a player that is on for an entire game and you know that every time he gets the puck he’s goingon to be absolute danger and the other team is going to be worried about what he’s gonna do yeah and he’s gonna enforce his will and he’s gonna show that skill every time he has the puck McDavid was that last night he was that the game before as well and like I said he’s gonna need to be that in game six and seven if Edmonton’s gonna have a chance uh to win against Florida because Florida I thought even though they fell behind with the short-handed goal they fell behind by a like three goals when it was five on five they were doing their four check thing I thought they were controlling play they just made a few mistakes that ended up losing them the game so it’s going to be great to watch game six and seven well one thing that I mean the turnover that led to the the brown shorty I think that Florida likes to play at a high Pace in the attacking Zone after they set up they like to move the puck quickly and try to get the defense to say hey this is getting chaotic we’re gonna go out of our we’re going to go out of our structure and we need to stop and then once they get that then they get what they want and I think what Edmonton has done here is leverage Florida and play in it faster than they want to yeah and I think that’s increased Florida’s uh sloppiness and uh so for noblock and that group of athletes to have a competitive answer to the Florida Panthers in this series that is turned what was a potential sweep into a nailbiter is it’s awesome it’s amazing that they’ve managed to do this um and and uh whatever happens from here on in I can’t wait to see it it’s but it’s but it’s it’s amazing what’s going on right now and how Florida suddenly has a real grind on their hands and uh that’s that’s that’s what makes this series really something and I’m glad we have it it’s a it’s going to be a great finish whatever it is absolutely I hope we have two more games like last night um because that was great I was watching it with Finn uh he was into it the whole game and just watching everything that was happening and and recognized just how high level the hockey was and how everybody was just going going all out every shift Matthew kachuck great game for him last night best game of the finals as well yeah that was so such a quick turnaround for him to get that fcking top corner it like that um yep that that that really just turned the game and made you know a situation that was falling apart for them turn into a all right here we go plenty of time and that’s what you would expect by any team that’s in the Stanley Cup Final right they can turn a three nothing deficit into them coming back and and pushing uh hard like they did are you excited for the NBA Finals with the Boston Celtics you should be Jason Tatum Jaylen Brown all kinds of stars how cool would it be to actually go to one of the games at TD Garden and watch the Celtics my friends we’ve got an option for you game time will help you get those tickets game time makes getting NBA Finals tickets even faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to tip off with killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee game time takes the guess workor out of buying NBA tickets you pick out any specific games or matchups that you love to attend and you get good deals uh for those tickets save up to 60% off buying last minute for sports concerts comedy theater save even more with exclusive inapp deals and on select seats ahead of the game or event the all-in pricing feature shows you the total upfront with no surprise fees at the checkout and don’t you hate the surprise fees props to game time for no surprise fees all right so take the guest work out of buying NBA Finals tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account use the code clns for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply but again create an account redeem the code clns for $20 off your first purchase download the game time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed let’s we’ve got a couple of emails or tweets or whatever Mick so let’s answer those while we’re here and this one is about a little news too that you and I haven’t discussed yet uh this is from Roger Perry hi Joe I heard the re’s recently made some coaching changes can you please give your thoughts on what is changing for the coaching staff this year and what those changes mean for Jim Montgomery and Bob asen’s future I don’t know why what Bob asza has to do with any of the changes that they made but it’s a thank you love the podcast Roger Perry um I kind of went over my thoughts on this last week but uh Mick your thoughts on Jay leech being added to the coaching staff on Joe Sako being bumped up to associate coach and you know some changes happening with the Bruins John McLean obviously going back to uh skating and skills which is more his background anyway than being assistant coach on the bench just what you make of of all those changes well leech’s availability and the Bruins willing uh interest in bringing him back into the fold where they developed him um he was a p ruins coach that’s where he where he uh his head coach yes yeah and and and so uh and he was terrific and in that role and and his NHL opportunities U came elsewhere and uh necessarily the way things go in this business so for the Bruins to say hey we can get this guy back then they want him um yep should Jim Montgomery be worried no I think that they should be thrilled that they have capable people uh assisting and they have a very team oriented approach about what they do and I think that any of these guys you know I don’t I believe the cliche that the pressure is there from within is greater than anything going on without and the highly competitive people who really Excell in this business and they so thoughtful and every little thing that they do they’re thrilled to have any help now yeah sure Bruce Cassie gets promoted works with Claude Julian replaces Claude Julian we see it over and over again knows one thing hold on the one thing I would interject and you’re you’re walking down this path is that I think the Bruins view Jay leech as an NHL head coach in the making you know I think they definitely view him in that light same way they did Cassidy yes he was considered for the job when Montgomery ended up getting it after he had left for Seattle he was one of the candidates uh that got mentioned along with Dave Quinn and a few other people um so I do think he is kind of the very logical sort of ready-made replacement if anything did happen with Jim Montgomery during the season but to your point if you’ve had the success that Jim Montgomery’s had the last two regular seasons if you made a a progressive step in the playoffs like you did last spring I think you’re feeling pretty good and secure about the job that you’re doing but they’re always gonna there’s you know as a coach there’s always going to be you know potential Replacements or whatever absolutely because the worst thing a guy can do in this business is we’ve seen over and over again San Jose had a great example of this back I don’t know maybe 15 years ago but you get better you get better you get better you get better and you’re getting close and then you back off one step you may be this much higher than when the guy took the job but the fact that you took one step back after being all the way up here they say oh think we got to make a change happens all the time so that’s the business they chose they know I once asked Peter lolette uh full disclosure he married my cousin’s daughter so we see each other at weddings funerals and cookouts so uh charity golf tournaments so I asked him once about the whole deal with Paul Maurice you know he Paul Maurice got canned by the Hurricanes uh right before the lockout year before the season end Ed lvet becomes a coach come back after a lockout year they win the Stanley Cup in Carolina by the 0809 season Lavette struggling gets fired who do they hire back Paul Maurice goes to the conference final beat the Bruins in that famous seven game overtime and um and so I asked him I said what is it like between you and Palmer he goes oh no we we we get along well we have a lot of respect for each other I said do you guys just trade houses then when you back goes oh no we’re not that tight that’s funny uh but like bottom line with this is Jay leech is a good coach I think he he’s very good working with defenseman I think he could be really good with Mason lowai working with him this year hell yeah and I look I I feel like also they needed to make some kind of change after all those too many men in the ice penalties whether it was somebody’s fault or not I I felt like some kind of change was needed or some kind of accountability some clean’s a scapegoat well I don’t even think that though because I know like he’s he’s like he’s back in the role that he’s I think best at now you know and he’s great as a skating skills guy guy running practices a guy working with the rehab players a guy working with your young players I think he in the the Kim branvold kind of uh role I think is where he’s best served and I think he’s going to do that now which was what he was you know hired for in the first place so um you know may maybe uh you know I I think the year of assistant coaching experience at the NHL was great for him and you know maybe he pursues that even more in the future after getting like a taste of that but um well Jo sacko gets a little bump here and and a title and and uh but it also makes me wonder what’s the end game for Joe sacko yeah yeah been it was had a brief NHL experience coaching the Colorado Avalanche similar to Bruce Cassidy when he had the caps and it didn’t work out for him for reasons that are obviously where the team was at and teams just keep on making changes till they get what works and usually has a lot more to do with a player Personnel than anything else and uh and he never got back to where Cassidy got back to so his rout route has been to be an assistant in Boston and um maybe he’s this generation’s Doug Huda I don’t know I you know you know he’s there through multiple coaching administrations and he sticks around as an assistant coach and is you know an important piece maybe life is good and he doesn’t want to ride that Carousel Maybe from here you know maybe he just enjoys being home and having an NHL job it’s a little more like a college coaching career if you if you can weather the storm of the the only thing that wouldn’t the the one thing that cats everybody kicked out is if Don Sweeney’s tenure Finds Its end and we’re not there yet but I do think that this off seon and what he does with omark and and the cap space and it’s highly competitive when you see that Philip ronic there just got seven and change on a long-term deal to stay with the Canucks he’s a really good player but it was he on your radar for seven plus no okay so that’s how kind to me that’s an opening Salvo of July one and how competitive it’s going to be to get the players that you have at the top of your list which probably means that the Bruins are going to have to be very careful about what they do yep oh no of course I mean they they they need to be careful Mick but they also need to be bold I think they need to you know make big moves like they can’t they can’t be doing what they did they’ve done the last couple years which is acquiring middle class uh NHL players and thinking that all they need is another third line forward and you know uh a center that we want to add to our depth quote unquote yeah a center that’s been a third line guy that they think can be a first like no you need to get legit Elite NHL Talent with the the salary cap space that they have that you think is going to elevate everybody else and they need I frankly have said this a bunch they need another primary scorer they need another guy that drives the the action when he’s on the ice uh among their forward grou so does that put a guy like marchas so on their radar because he’s a he’s he’s a line driving Winger IA Maran IA Pastak maybe I mean I I I think anybody that is that kind of talent I think is what they should be looking at and considering whether it’s Reinhardt whether it’s marcheso if they really like I feel as much as Reinhardt had a career year I look at him and I think the Panthers Elevate him I don’t feel like he’s I don’t feel like he elevates the Panthers as much as he is the byproduct of how they play and the opportunities to come his way now granted can’t can’t sneeze at a guy who has the capability of turning those situations into gold 57 times yeah here’s the thing Mick you need that that team in particular that Bruins team needs people that Drive the action but also needs people that are willing to shoot the puck and score Well’s he’s willing to shoot the puck and score they do not have enough players score the hockey puck as do not have enough players that have the tunnel vision about like shooting the puck and scoring and being a little selfish sometimes in order to get the puck in the back of the net and I think he’s that kind of player and I think that’s where could help a lot of other players that are more than happy to just move the puck along I feel like he’s G to get a price tag though that that that is not that I don’t think he’ll hold up to but they but you know what though Mick you’re gonna have to overpay to get a guy that can put the puck in the net like whether it’s him or somebody else they’re G to have to overpay a little bit they’re probably going to have to give more money than they’re comfortable with and it’s G to like change their salary structure a little bit but you know what they have the money to spend they need to go out and spend it on somebody now there there’s some you know we can like talk about fantasy scenarios too with the Brady kachuck of the world or you can talk about Martin HS as a trade and you know there’s a lot of different ways they can go so I’m just we’re just talking mostly about free agent guys but I think there’s going to be a whole world of possibilities given the salary cap space that they have and given some of the assets they have to potentially move around I wonder if they’ve cooled on Elias lyol yeah I know because because you know or or do they thinking more opportunistically about him because they’re thinking hey we might be able to get him at a lower price than what people thought six months ago yeah I see but that this is what I’m talking about like I don’t want Don Sweeney to pretend he’s shopping at building 19 and a half for the best bargains this summer this that that is not the mentality that he should have that is not was that the one in your area we had Building 19 and three4 the one was the Burlington Building 19 and a half okay were you near Building 19 and 78 is that I was no I was three quarters um but like that is I do not want him to be clipping the Sunday paper coupons on July 1 when he’s tracking down free agents because they have freaking $20 million they might have like 25 26 million if Lena elmark is is uh finds a new home like this is no time to be bargain hunting and bargain shopping for players they need to get players that can be difference makers that’s what they need to go out and do yeah he he was an Allstar bottom feeder last summer out of necessity yeah just a tremendous job that he did in that situation this one comes this comes with more pressure yeah is very but he’s very good at that too Mick that’s like one of his strengths I think and that management strengths is finding those players though Diamonds in the Rough or those guys that are sort of underutilized other places that come in here and for a good price tag come in and really perform well like they’re very good at that but they need to stretch what they’re able to do maybe get a little uncomfortable this summer and spend that money on players and take risks where you can come in and somebody’s gonna pay off big time and be a huge performer for you and you’re gonna have to probably overpay for a player or two like that um you think that they’re GNA prioritize the center position yeah they have to I mean they have to get I think they have to get somebody in um especially if they think Zach is a Winger and they can move Charlie Coyle down to Second Line Center bring somebody in that can be that like front and then you’re develop in ptra the whole time yes absolutely and and that’s the best way to do it is have two front line guys like that maybe have him slide down to third line Center as he’s learning on the job and he’s healing and whatever um but I think he’s got the talent that eventually he’ll be up there too but I don’t think he’s quite there yet um JJ Lal as says as close to seeing and this Mick you C you touched on this earlier but this reinforces it he said as close to seeing Bobby or split D or being a dman was the difference but McDavid is easily the greatest on o his dominance in controlling the last two games as or likee and I never put anyone in that category remember Gretzky’s teams were loaded Gretzky is the best player I’ve ever seen at using the other four skaters on the ice yep I I’ve you know a lot of players have been great at that Gretzky is not the first centerman to pull up at the top of the circle and curl back and look for the trailer yep he he might be the first player I’ve ever seen run a Power Play From Below the goal line but uh just his Innovative creative mindset not being hampered by traditional ways of thinking and you know that is really where his Superstar him was athletically he was good yep it was it was up here where he was all world and um and you know I think the has become more and more difficult to transcend with all of the coaching and video and thinking and thoughtfulness that goes into playing I also think that stifles creativity so Boston has a wonderful talent and David poock who invents hockey everyone every time he goes down the ice is a little like Mark sard in that regard um they just have a original thoughts and do it their way and it’s fun to watch him really just combobulate opponents the way you pick the part in’s manto man one night was hilarious you know he just goes toward a guy and they shift him what they do he goes to the other guy he gets them confused and next thing you know he’s Roofing the puck and it’s like they’re like what just happened I mean the special players come along once in a blue moon it’s fun to watch them play because they kind of take all the thinking that goes on behind the bench and turn it on its ear and McDavid does this uh with a combination of of unprecedented explosive speed on his skates and um I mean I remember seeing great skaters and when as was a kid vion K blowing his way down the ice I mentioned perau AOL turn one of the most powerful skaters I’ve ever seen um or obviously with his ability to change speeds and never be caught um and uh but McDavid makes hockey fun in the traditional sense of um just seeing a guy who just goes out there with pure joy and just and just complet completely loves the game and has the ability to make special things happen because of his extraordinary Talent um and his confidence to use it it that’s just hilarious and fun to watch so glad we have him around so glad I’m around to watch him play and and to stir the drink of the series that that that I love no this was the this it people were talking about how this was like a disaster scenario for the NHL because Florida’s a non-traditional sunb team like you know not a huge Market down there and um Edmonton obviously is in the Hinterlands of Alberta and a Canadian team and that you know media wise it wasn’t going to be as big a draw as some other things and I there’s no way that’s true because they got Conor McDavid the face of the entire league into the biggest showcase uh that the NHL has you know the the Stanley Cup Final and he’s doing his thing he is showing off for everybody he’s showing how good he is and Casual hockey fans watch the Stanley Cup Final and a lot of them are probably getting introduced to this greatness because they don’t watch many Edmond T oers games for one of the first times so I I and it brings out the best in a player like that when he’s playing for a cup and he’s this close so it’s been fun to watch and I’m glad he’s there as well and and hopefully like I said the last game or two of that series lives up to what we saw in game five because that was just awesome playoff hockey uh Mick thank you very much for joining us prize picks is the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America and the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy Sports it’s fun and really simple download the prize picks app today and use the code clns for a first deposit match of up to $100 that’s download the prize picks app today and use the code clns for a first deposit match of up to $100 pick more pick less it’s that easy don’t also forget about game time great place to get all of your tickets uh you get uh baseball tickets you can still get Stanley Cup Final tickets if you want to Wing your way out to Edmonton uh in a couple of days to watch that last game uh take the guest work out of buying any tickets with game time download the game time app create an account use the code clns for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply but again create an account uh and use the code clns for $20 off your first time using Game Time download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed Mick thank you very much for joining us everybody else out there thanks for listening we’ll see you at the r [Music] w

On this episode of Pucks with Haggs, Joe Haggerty and Mick Colageo discuss the first few moves of the Bruins offseason as they’ve begun telling some players they won’t be returning.

00:00 Celebrating the 100th Episode of the Pucks with Haggs Podcast

04:45 Oskar Steen’s Departure from the Bruins

11:31 Connor McDavid’s Stellar Performance in the Stanley Cup Final

20:03 Coaching Staff Changes and Jay Leach’s Potential

26:53 Bold Moves Needed in the Offseason

30:46 Prioritizing the Center Position

Pucks with Haggs is presented by:

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