Bruins Prospect Prioritizing Mental Health Over Hockey

Bruins Prospect Prioritizing Mental Health Over Hockey

a Boston Bruins Prospect is hitting paws on his career reminding us of the importance of mental health your locked on Bruins your daily podcast on the Boston Bruins part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what is up Bruins fans and welcome back to the locked on Boston Bruins podcast I’m your host and McLaren and this is a Daily Show where we discuss all things spoked be today is Monday July 15th and I want to thank you so much for making locked on Bruins part of your daily routine free and available on your favorite podcast app and on YouTube part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and today’s episode is brought to you by indeed still searching for a great candidate for your company well don’t search just match with indeed start hiring now with a $75 sponsor job credit to upgrade your job post at indeed.com lockon terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed before we get into it today a quick reminder you can find the podcast on social media at locked NHL Bruins and you can find me my hockey thoughts and dad jokes ATC McLaren to begin today’s episode we’re talking about Cole Spicer he is a Boston Bruins draft pick 2022 fourth round pick to be exact and he’s a native of Grand Forks North Dakota and he has made it known that he will not be coming back to UMD for his Junior season Spicer said he has done playing hockey for the foreseeable future he said I need to figure out some personal and mental stuff first right now I need to take a step away and figure a couple things out uh he was enrolled in classes this summer at UMD uh he had five goals and four assists in 17 games as a sophomore before being ruled academically ineligible in December before the Bulldogs participated in a holiday faceof in Milwaukee this is all according to the duth News Tribune instead of leaving the team to play Junior Hockey remained enrolled at UMD in hopes of regaining his eligibility uh he was allowed to practice but not play while still taking classes and he was also at Bruins development Camp just a couple weeks ago uh and he sounded like a player who would be returning to UMD at the fall he said I love duth with my entire heart they have such a great staff we have the best teammates there truly I just love the spot I don’t want to leave it I feel like it’s my second home to be able to go back and play there really does mean something special to me um so Cole Spicer a fourth round pick in 2022 deciding to take some space away from hockey and focus on on his mental health and that is a very uh Brave step for for a young man who just turned uh just turned uh 20 he’s a left shot Center he was drafted again fourth round just a couple years ago 49 games at the University of Minnesota duth nine points in 17 games this past season before being ruled uh academically ineligible if he does want to play hockey it will likely not be at the NCAA uh he would have to enter the transfer portal and he still has to become academically eligible so kind of some uncertainty here for Cole Spicer who the Bruins again invested a fourth round pick in but let’s talk about the realities here mental health is just as crucial as physical health an athletes are under immense pressure to perform often leading to stress anxiety other mental health challenges if you add on the academic stress on top of that it can all become a bit much and by stepping back Spicer is prior prioritizing his well-being which I think is pretty commendable uh mental health of course can affect anyone regardless of their status or profession in sports it’s coming around but the stigma around mental health can still be particularly strong with many athletes feeling the need to tough it out rather than seek help and this decision challenges that stigma showing it’s okay to take a step back and focus on oneself even if it means putting your career and Jeopardy there’s bigger things in life than the game and he’s prioritizing his long-term mental health now from A team’s perspective I would hope the Bruins will be supporting Spicer in his mental health Journey um a mentally healthy athlete is more likely to perform better have a longer career contribute positively to the team’s Dynamics and maybe most importantly this move sets a positive example for other players who might be struggling in silence this decision isn’t just about Spicer it has a ripple effect by taking this step Spicer is encouraging fans teammates young athletes to prioritize their mental health and it’s a reminder that seeking help is a sign of strength and not weakness uh the Brewing support for this decision is crucial and it sends a powerful message that the team’s commitment to their players goes beyond the ice it’s about their overall well-being which is essential for building strong resilient team and for helping these guys become better people it’s always tough to see a player step away from the game but I’m choosing to applaud his bravery for prioritizing his mental health uh this decision might Inspire others to take their mental health seriously and seek the help they need uh so C comments on social media whatever let’s continue to um try to lift up Cole Spicer and commend him for this decision now there’s still the opportunity for Spicer to sign a contract with the Bruins uh he would likely you know be starting down in the main Mariners maybe Providence depends how long he is going to be off the ice um I’m not quite sure who has his is uh junior rights the debuk Fighting Saints of the USHL drafted him in the sixth round of that League’s uh draft this past spring now hold his rights perhaps he could go to the the OHL but don’t quote me on that I’m not quite sure who holds his rights anyways uh we applaud Cole Spicer for making this decision uh we wish him all all the best and hope that he can resume his hockey career down the road but at the end of the day uh his mental health is the most important thing now speaking of some other Boston Bruins players uh some rfas made some decisions to sign to leave and we’ll discuss the latest with respect to Boston’s restrictive free agents here as the podcast continues we’re driven by the search for better but when it comes to hiring the best way to search for a candidate isn’t to search at all don’t search match with indeed if you need to hire you need indeed indeed your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million monthly visitors according to indeed data and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast ditch the busy work use indeed for scheduling screening and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster and inde doesn’t just help you hire faster 93% of employers agree indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com lockon just go to indeed.com lockon right now and support our show by saying you heard about it on indeed on this podcast nd.com lockon terms and conditions apply but if you need to hire you need indeed I briefly touched on this on uh Friday but we have a couple signings to announce before we get to that I want to thank you so much once again for making lockd on Bruins part of your daily routine free and available on your favorite podcast app and on YouTube speaking of YouTube check out lockon sports today 247 streaming Channel with all the latest news analysis and opinions from AC Ross the locked on Universe free on YouTube and the Amazon Fire TV channels app all right so Boston announced the signings of two defensemen on Friday uh Michael Callahan and Alec regula each to one-year two-way contracts with an NHL cap hit of $775,000 both of these guys are expected to begin the season in the AHL and could be called upon to play with the big Club in the event of injury again Boston’s top six top seven pretty well set on the NHL roster uh for reference Callan he’s 24 appeared in 70 games with Providence last season four goals 13 assists for 17 points he was originally selected in the fifth round of the 2018 NHL entry draft and was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes uh ruled number 23 oh sorry he’s aged 23 appeared in 55 games for Providence with four goals and 22 assists for 22 points he uh was acquired at the beginning uh or last summer from the Chicago Blackhawks in the Taylor Hall deal he was originally drafted in the third round of the 2018 NHL entry draft so again those will be dep defenseman who will be called upon perhaps in a pinch if uh the Bruins need them and you know pretty productive down at the AHL level last year and if you’re looking for a cap friendly alternative uh cap wages was lost over the weekend and it looks pretty much exactly like cap friendly and they’ll tell you the Bruins have currently have eight defensemen assigned to Providence at the moment Drew Bavaro Frederick brune Edward Jackson sorry Jackson Edward Ryan Mast Ian Mitchell Jordan osterle Billy Sweezy who they signed as free agents back on July 1 Michael Callahan and Alec regula so pretty packed blue line down there in Providence and that is all the restricted free agents at that position uh taken care of so barring an addition to the NHL roster or uh a surprise move signing trade looks like Boston’s blue line is pretty much set at both the uh AHL and NHL levels one RFA forward that we know will not be back is Oscar Steen there were Rumblings that he was going to be signing uh in Sweden and that indeed has happened the Bruins gave Steen permission to talk to other teams about trying to secure a a contract in the NHL uh but a deal didn’t come to fruition and the forward has decided to return home to shl farstad to a fiveyear contract he’s 26 years old a sixth the round pick by Boston back in 2016 uh he spent three seasons with far that before coming to North America uh limited NHL action 20 games with the big Club um but didn’t really catch on with the Boston Bruins to be to be generous I guess there he wasn’t really able to secure a spot 20 sorry he played in 60 games for the Bruins four goals four assists 20 games in his rookie season two goals four assists and then 37 games uh including 34 this past season where he recorded only one goal uh which isn’t really going to cut it at the NHL level one goal in 34 games um more productive in Providence this season with 12 goals four assists in 25 games but um doesn’t look like he’s going to be coming back to the NHL anytime soon he’ll be 31 when his contract uh expires in the shl and uh looks as though this is the end of the road for him in terms of uh the NHL and his pro career over here in North America we wish steer all the best wish he could have caught on here with the Bruins uh but just wasn’t able to translate that success You could argue whether or not he got a fair shot but 34 games to me seems uh not insignificant another guy who’s signing overseas is Kyle ker a uh goenda and the ECHL over the past five seasons uh he has signed with uh loon red star of the KHL ker was um Bruins no he was unsigned as a free agent uh play for the oswa generals bounced between Providence and Maine over the the past several years and never got a taste of NHL action he will continue his career over in the KHL that leaves us with two remaining restriced free agents on the Boston Bruins and we’ll touch on those two guys here as the podcast continues now according to cap wages the Bruins have a roster size of 24 at the moment 46 contracts signed a cap space availability of 9.24 five million and two restricted free agents remaining on the roster that is with Brandon busy uh activated as well as some guys that we expect to be sent down including Vin leeri perhaps also Patrick Brown the remaining restrictive free agents there’s one at the AHL level a forward Mark mlin uh who is 24 years old he played in uh let’s see 68 games for Providence last season taking a bit of a step back only eight goals and six assists for 14 points that’s coming off a 13 goal 30o performance for Providence a season ago he played in only one game for the Bruins in 20 23 24 although he did have one goal so perhaps some uncertainty about whether or not they see mlin as a guy who will continue to get better or a guy who um may have peaked and perhaps want to give an opportunity elsewhere the other restrictive free agent of course is a big one that would be Jeremy San and we continue to wait for a resol solution here with that contract situation uh swayan is a restrictive free agent it’s been about 60 days almost since the end of the um regular or sorry the playoff run and the Bruins neither the Bruins nor Swan decided to uh file for um arbitration meaning it appears as the so they are believing that they can reach a um a resolution to this on their own um so what’s the hold up we don’t really know it would be nice if they could get things worked out sooner than later again according to cap wages they have 9 point um 9. what 425 in 9.24 five in available cap space if you look at puckpedia uh cap wages of course just getting things going if you look at puckpedia they have 8.36 8.63 6667 in available cap space so enough room to get swiming done you would think and hopefully again a resolution will come for this situation sooner than later there’s no real updates on sing um he’s been active on social media over the summer he is one of the favorites to win the vzna trophy next season according to FanDuel uh they have him as yeah the same odds as eigor shurkin and Connor heluk to win the vzna trophy in 20242 uh that Demco ilas sokin Jacob markstrom and Andre vasileski uh are next in the line with lenus Omar at plus 1500 Swan’s at plus 600 tied with heluk and shesterkin a lot of that is based on the fact that of course he’s one of the top goalies in the NHL as he proved in the playoffs but also carrying a heavier load now Omar won a couple years ago with more of an even split but his numbers were just too good good to ignore uh San with the heavier workload should indeed uh be one of the favorites if he continues that trajectory and shows the same performance that he did in uh the postseason so let’s get it going I don’t know what the holdup is let’s get him signed Don Sweeney it will be a great day to have Jeremy Swan back in the fold all right that’s it for today’s episode my friends again all uh respect to Cole Spicer for deciding to um take a step back to prioritize his mental health farewell Oscar Steen good luck in Sweden welcome back Ian Mitchell Alec regula and fingers crossed something happens on swayan sometime soon that’s it for today’s episode my friends thank you so much for taking the time to listen please do subscribe if you haven’t already we’ll be back tomorrow with fresh locked on brost and Bruins content part of the locked on PO podcast Network your favorite team every single day we got a case of the Mondays over here but uh thanks for the support love you friends

In this episode of Locked on Bruins, we delve into the impactful decision made by Bruins prospect Cole Spicer to pause his hockey career and focus on his mental health.

Host Ian McLaren discusses the significance of this courageous move, the importance of mental health in sports, and how Spicer’s decision challenges the stigma surrounding mental well-being.

Plus, some updates on RFAs like Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula, Oskar Steen, Marc McLaughlin, and the biggie Jeremy Swayman.

Subscribe to Locked on Bruins for all the latest on the black and gold. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, don’t hesitate to reach out for support.

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