The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 251: Atlantic Division Arms Race

Episode Date: September 13, 2018

Sara Civian joins the show to discuss the Boston Bruins, their relatively inactive offseason, the looming slugfest atop the Atlantic Division that awaits them, and how they can better pace themselves through the regular season to avoid wearing down coming the playoffs. 9:30 Bruins bet on in-house options developing 13:00 Wearing down toward the end of the season 16:00 Prolonging Zdeno Chara's career 27:30 The good and bad of Brad Marchand 31:15 The rest of the competition in the Atlantic Sponsoring today’s show is SeatGeek, which is making it easier than ever before to buy and sell sports and concert tickets. They’re giving our listeners a $20 rebate off of their first purchase. All you have to do is download the free SeatGeek app and enter the promo code PDO to get started. Every episode of the podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Google Play, and Stitcher. Make sure to subscribe to the show so that you don’t miss out on any new episodes as they’re released. All ratings and reviews are also greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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he's my good buddy Sarah Sivian. Sarah, what's going on? Not much. How are you? I'm good. I'm excited. It's approaching mid-September. You know, training camps are starting. Pre-season's going to start soon. There's hockey's on the horizon. Best shape of his life seasons right around the corner. It is. Do you think, I mean, generally it's a forest when we hear that. But I feel like if like Alex Webetschkin comes in and he says it with a straight face,

then I feel like we're really going to. have to recalibrate our expectations for it. Yeah, I don't know about that. Yeah, we've seen the videos. I mean, he was doing those push-ups in the fountain, so I mean, I guess he was getting a bit of physical exercise. Lifting the cup all summer must have been a good workout for his biceps. That's true.

No days off. Now he's a kid, too, so a lot going on for him. Yeah, a lot of early mornings. Okay, so we are, actually, introduce yourself a little bit. Tell everyone what you do. I know whenever I have people on and I get right into the podcast, sometimes they get irritated because they don't know, they might not be familiar with the guests or their work. So kind of tee it up for a bit.

What are you doing this summer? What are you doing this season? Sorry, I should say. Okay. Tell the class one fun fact about myself. Yes, yes. Introduce yourself. Well, I am Sarah.

I'm from Boston. I am a Bruins reporter for WEI, which is a radio station in Boston. But I do the dot-com side of it. So it's basically like I'm on a website. That's pretty much it right now, getting geared up for the season. I thought we were talking Celtics today. Oh, yeah.

Well, they do call me civi buckets because since I work for the dot-com side, I dabble in Celtics. Usually playoffs when or if the Bruins end early, I will dabble in the Celtics coverage, but I don't really know what I'm talking about. Well, let's, uh, we're a pot-y guy here. Yes, that's right. Well, let's get into the Bruins then. Yeah, I feel like last year, I, didn't really talk about them much on this podcast and not necessarily snuck up on us,

but I was looking back at their numbers and, you know, the fact that they went like, what, they were like 44, 13 and 8 in their final 65 games the regular season. They were just dominating teams. And it felt like the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning were getting most of the headlines out of that division and, you know, rightfully so. But now heading into this year, kind of trying to figure out how the top of that Atlantic division is going to shake out and where the Bruins are going to fit into the, the top of that Eastern Conference hierarchy is going to be one of the more interesting exercises

as we kind of get ready for the season. Yeah, that was wild. At one point they were on an 18-game point streak, our first one since 1969. And it was just so many players were injured too, and everybody was just kind of scraping winds together through their broken limbs and stuff. And it was wild to see the depth there, and it actually gave you a glimpse into things. thinking they could go pretty far. And I mean, nobody had them making the second round the beginning of the season.

So it kind of felt like a disappointment at the end because you felt like they were capable of more. But I think that might be a preview for this season. But now with all the depth other teams in the division have, I really don't know. Well, it seems like people are pretty optimistic on the Bruins. Like I've looked at some of the projection models people have put out. and I know Vegas had them as one of, I think, only five or six teams, you know, with their over under set at over 100 points. And I should say that Tampa Bay and Toronto were both ahead of them. But, I mean, 102.5 is what their line is, I believe.

And that's pretty optimistic. I mean, I guess last year they finished with like 112 points. So Vegas is baking in a bit of regression. But at the same time, it seems like people are generally believers that that team that we saw in the final 65 games is a better representation of what they are than. kind of how they look towards the end of that series against Tampa Bay and how they look at the start of the regular season. Yeah, yeah. I pretty much agree with that.

I think there's so much youth on the team, and I think that they got some playoff experience under their belt that they didn't have before, and they're coming back a little stronger, a little older, and it's just so what-if, kind of. I think the Maple Leafs know what they're getting in Tavares, the lightning know what they're getting. they're getting in general and it could go.

I think the Bruins are going to be really good, but I also think there's a lot of prospects with like high upsides, but also you never know. Like Donato, I think he's going to have a great season. Honestly, he came back. He looks stronger. He looks really good.

But then there's questions at third line center and basically the bottom two lines in general and second line right wing. There's just a lot of questions, but it will really show if Bruce Cassidy is as good as he's hyped up to be, and I think he is. Yeah, yeah, he's got a bit of work ahead of him. I mean, it's tough balancing those two visuals in your head, right? Because obviously they looked so good for so long, but then the most recent one we have in our head is, and it might be an unfair one to them, just because Tampa Bay is so good.

And the Bruins themselves were really worn down with injuries towards the end of that series. but that lasting image you have of them is just Tampa Bay kind of skating laps around them and them being unable to really get any traction and really get out of their own zone with possession of the puck. And it's like now you look at how high some of these models are on them. And it's like, oh, it's just tough balancing those two things at the same time. Yeah, especially when you think, I don't know, I think the loss of Riley Nash at third line center is way bigger of a deal than people are making it.

And it's going to be a really tough. decision to see who gets that spot. I think that's a huge question there that could make or break a team when it's facing a team like Tampa Bay in the playoffs. You know what I mean? Like, you need that depth when all the best players are worn down. And I mean, that showed through the playoffs too. And that's why I think the Bruins might move posture knock down to the second line because

when the first line was dominating, they won. It was crazy. It was like, and they'd have 20 points and the Bruins would win. But then when they were completely off the board, the Bruins would not win at all. I think that was most evident in round one with Toronto. It just, if they didn't score, they lost the game. And that just shows like that was basically their whole team. Where are you at with that?

I mean, if you were putting yourself in Bruce Cassidy's shoes and you were setting the lineup, would you go with a more balanced approach and maybe split those guys up or not necessarily go with three guys with marsha and burszran and pasternak on their own lines but maybe pair of two of them together or would you load them up because i'm generally i think people listen to show know that i'm generally an advocate of going for more of a depth approach especially in the regular season um but at the same time with those three they're so particularly dominant i believe last year they were like controlling i don't know north of 48% of the shots and 60% of the goals and it's just all these figures that are so astronomically laughably high

that maybe at some point it's like, you know what, just don't mess with a good thing. Just keep those guys together and hope that some of those younger players and David Creachie and so on and so forth can, they don't even have to, you know, do well necessarily. They just need to not get completely caved in and just hold the fort a little bit until those guys get a breather so they can get back on the ice. Yeah, you know, that's exactly how they played. And it really, I mean, it works well enough to get to the second round of the playoffs against pretty tough teams. but it's not, you just need more depth if you're going to win, if you're going for the cup, you know.

I think I would probably, after seeing how dominant that line is, but how the others weren't bad, but couldn't necessarily break through on the other teams, I would move posture knock down because, I mean, Anders Bjork is coming back from an injury. He played, he kind of surprised everybody last season when he right out the gates got the role in the first line, next to Bergeron and Marchand,

but I think he could come back and do it again. He had some really tough roadblocks, like right when he was, he went through his freshman slump or whatever, and then he immediately, like, broke a bone, and he was out for the season. And I think how he comes back from that will show just if he is resilient as a player or not, obviously.

And if he comes back, fine. I think he could play on the first line fine. And then there's also Donato. and a few options, Hinen, there's a few options you can put at the first line. And I mean, the Bergeron effect. You're going to be fine if you're playing next to Bergeron, but then you wonder if it's optimal.

And the good thing is there's 82 games in the regular season, and nothing has to be set in stone. So I would say try it out. If it doesn't work, just you can put Klauspernog back. That's true. Yeah, no, they've got a lot of options, that's for sure. It's interesting. What do you make other summer?

I thought, you know, generally speaking, it was a pretty quiet one on their part. It feels like they added John Moore, I guess, was their big upgrade. And they kind of replaced Anton Houdobin as a backup with Yarlalak. And I think that's ultimately a bit of a wash. But it seems like for the most part, they're kind of betting on their internal options, especially some of those young guys up front that you listed, to step up and improve. And it's not necessarily the wrong strategy.

It's just during this time where they are going up against the Tampa Bayes and Toronto's of the world then you see, I mean, Tampa Bay didn't add much this summer, but they kind of handled all their, all their in-house business, and they obviously added McDonagh-Lasters trade deadline, and Toronto obviously adds a jaunt of air as it seems like there's a bit of an arm race happening there, and for Boston to kind of just sit tight. And, you know, maybe they're biting their time, and maybe there's going to be an in-season trade. Maybe they'll, you know, go after a Rick Nash type again towards a trade-ed line, and that's certainly possible. But for game one to start the season, and they're kind of bringing the same team back together that fell short last year.

And I'm not sure how I feel about that strategy ultimately. Yeah. I mean, before I say anything, they traded Adam McQuade yesterday. And I think that has to be clearing. It's not has to be. But I think it might be clearing up cap space for another trade to make their big trade. But I'm not because now they have $5 million in cap space. If they, assuming that they move who they got down to it.

A HL, but we shall see. But that said, if they did nothing else, in a vacuum, it doesn't seem like a big deal. And it's just like, okay, yeah, these players are supposed to be developing. It's not, there's no reason to think the team would decline that much. It would just be like a slight improvement, I think, over last year. But knowing that teams in the division pulled out the big guns, kind of, it's just a little, it's a lot of confidence in the youth and I mean I think Bruce Cassidy's the guy to do that he coached some of them in the HL and stuff and I think he really gets um development in players and I

don't think he would or he and the rest of the management I don't think they would put such a vote of confidence in the youth if it wasn't actually going to work out so I don't it's it's tough being up in the air like this but I I think it'll be a Okay. Yeah, I think so too. I mean, I think if you're betting on any young players, and obviously there's like a certain level of unpredictability with how young guys are going to develop, but just what we saw last year, especially towards the end of the season from a Jake DeBrusk. And obviously Ryan Donato, the sort of special year he had bouncing around from one level to another and producing every step of the way. Like those are the types of guys that if you do have to be investing in young and youth,

those are the types of guys you do want to be making calculated risks on. And it seems like both guys, I'm fairly confident on projecting forward that they're going to be able to produce quite a bit, obviously especially if they get bumped up towards the lineup and get to potentially crack that top line and play alongside Bergeron. That would help. But even if they're on a more secondary scoring line

alongside of David Creachie, I think that they're going to be perfectly serviceable secondary scoring options. And right now for this team, that's really all they need. Yeah, yeah, it is all they need. Okay, so here's a big question for me for the Bruins. The second year scoring is obviously one thing

I think the second thing though is And we've seen this I don't know if this is necessarily Kind of an unfair thing to characterize It's just a Bruins thing Because it feels like it's probably a full league-wide Sort of deal But it feels like for whatever reason

They've kind of worn down Towards the end of each of the past two years With injuries and being banged up And you know their top guys were still playing But it seems like they were really playing at way less than 100%. And I think that preparing, because they obviously have higher aspirations than just making the playoffs and winning one round and getting smoked in the second round, it seems like the regular season is going to be a bit of an exercise for them to obviously not only win a bunch of games and qualify for the playoffs, but prepare themselves better to succeed when they get into those later stages. And that's where that secondary, those secondary contributions, but also especially on the blue line and we haven't talked much there, is going to,

really be a kind of pivotal factor for them to try and find guys who are more than just warm bodies that can log some heavy minutes and ease up on the charas and the burserons of the world yeah for sure i mean i think the more that i cover hockey the more i realize how much it actually is about depth um you obviously need your stars to win but anything could happen to them and people need to be waiting in the wings who can do it do a job you know yeah Yeah, I mean, okay, I do want to talk a bit about it was Den Ocharra here, and we'll talk about his Instagram feed, but also some other stuff. But let's take a quick break here to hear from a sponsor, and we'll pick it up on the other things. Let's take a minute to chat about today's sponsor for the HockeyPedioCast, Seekek.

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All you have to do to claim that is download the CKKK app and enter the promo code PDO today. That's promo code PDO for $20 off your first CKKK purchase. geek purchase. Now, let's get back to Sarah Sivian and the Hockey Pediocast. Okay. Charra. So, I'm very fascinated about his shelf life. He's turning 42 the season. This is year 21 for him, I believe. Obviously, if anyone is going to stretch the limits of what, you know, the human body can handle and what we can reasonably expect from a guy, it's going to be him. but, you know, I do think we need to start kind of looking ahead and wondering how much he has left and how the Bruins can optimize these later stages of his career by extending it.

And I know this is a very non-hockey guy thing to say, but I wonder if, you know, adopting what we've seen kind of NBA teams in the San Antonio Spurs in particular do in recent years with their older players where, you know, they're strategically resting them through the season and they're not necessarily playing them in all the back-to-backs. And they're picking and choosing where they're adding those miles to their body. I feel like that would be something that, you know, we haven't really seen much in hockey. And I understand part of the bravado and sort of the toughness that goes along with the players and them not wanting to do so.

And you want to reward the fans that paid good money to come to the games to watch those guys. You want to give them an opportunity to do so. But, you know, we just talked about the Bruins and how they have higher aspirations and a bigger picture to consider. and I wonder if putting Zadino Charha on that type of a blueprint or that type of a workout plan might be better for both him and the team moving forward. Well, we've already kind of seen him wane down a little bit. This was the first season and forever. He didn't have most minutes.

It was McAvoy. And I know this is kind of horrible, but to me, McAvoy is like Chachara when your childhood dog is kind of, fading away and then you buy a little puppy to make it last a few years longer. That's how I would describe that relationship. And it works out perfectly because Chara basically, he never makes, sometimes, but basically never makes a mistake. So he can tell Charlie go up there and cheat a line and do whatever. It's fine.

I got you if you tend to mess up or something. And that makes, like Charlie flourish as a rookie. And that makes Chara not have to skate. up and down, up and down forever. And I think that has already shown. And he put Charlie in the power play. And it's the first season in his career. I think Charra didn't have a goal in the power play

because they just had him on the penalty kill. And he could just, they're kind of specializing him in that way. And I think that's obviously a great thing. And a little more of it. Everybody generally in Boston would understand that, I think, and they'd be sympathetic to that they just want Charter to last as long as he possibly can. Actually, Bruce Cassidy came on our station two weeks ago and said he thinks Char has been the last four or five more years and nobody, clearly nobody trains harder than him. But it's just about that.

It's also about how he's keeping current with all his skills. I don't know, Bruce Cassidy was saying he behind the scenes, not what you see when he's like climbing ropes and Instagramming. Are you sleeping while I'm doing this? I love that little chirp. He said he also works really hard in his skills and everything that needs to be. done to stay current in this league. And everybody, I mean, Ray Bork came in our station a few weeks ago, too, and said pretty much the same thing.

I mean, I would listen to these people over me speculating how long he can last. I think he has a few more years in him. Yeah, I believe. I mean, it's crazy. He's coming up on 1,600 cumulative games between the regular season and the playoffs. And I was looking at it, you know, like, I guess last year he played 73 games and that's trending in the right direction. But 2014, 15, when he played only 63 is really the only.

time he wasn't sort of in that mid-70s range. So it'll be, it'll be fascinating to see. And it's, it's not even about the game necessarily as much it is, is about the sort of types of minutes he's playing. But you're right. I mean, the total volume dropped a bit last year. And I wonder, you know, generally you'd say for a player that those penalty kill minutes are pretty kind of grueling because there's a lot of movement there and you really have to be zoned in and, and you're doing a lot of the heavy lifting. But for him, with his reach, it just feels like he's out there on that penalty kill. And, you know, not to knock his effort or but he can he can just kind of cover two guys by just standing there and and using his wingspan

which is just remarkable to watch exactly i mean there was one they were playing the penguins it was such a crazy game it was like i think they got 10 points i don't remember exactly correctly but i remember achar was out there for two full minutes didn't i didn't even look like it was outfaring and popping at all and then he fought um scott scott what's his name he's i don't know he's on the penguins Scott Wilson. No. No. Northeastern grad.

Scott, it begins with an Olexiac. Okay. No, Stephen Olexiac. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, he just fought him after two minutes on the penalty kill. And when I saw that, I was like, all right, Charo's going to be okay for a few more he hurts. Yeah. Yeah.

And, yeah, his, I alluded to his Instagram, but I had Alex Pruitt on earlier last season, and he had gotten, he had the good fortune. of hanging out with Dan O'Chara a bit for a profile he was doing on him for Sports Illustrated. And his stories about his Instagram were hilarious. I recommend everyone goes back and listens to that podcast. He was talking about how, like, you know, he's doing it himself, but he also has this, like, team where they, like, strategize his, how he's going to operate his Instagram and what he's going to post. And it's hilarious. I mean, it makes sense for a guy like him, how meticulous he'd be, even with such a simple thing that most people don't really think about.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's really wholesome. He's feeding gyms and he's playing with his children and so inspiring about nature and stuff. It's cool to see a side of somebody like that that you might not have seen before. I mean, people are pretty boring on Instagram, but he's actually insightful. He is. He is.

Okay, let's talk a bit about two Keras. We're like 21 minutes into the show and we haven't even mentioned him yet, which I feel like. The blessing. Bruins fans are like, talk about Tugarask. I feel like this is probably true for most fan bases, but, you know, I follow a fair number of Bruins fans on Twitter, and I'm sort of, I feel like I'm generally in tune with the dialogue going on around the team. And I don't know, it feels like more so than with most fan bases. People get really, really, really high and then really, really low with him, you know, pretty much from one performance to the next.

Do you think that's a fair way to characterize the relationship of Bruins fans with the goalie? Yeah, it's like a visceral reaction when you hear Tuka asks name. People are either, I think it started with people unfairly criticizing him and then people responding to that with unfair praise. And now I think there are some people that are kind of in the middle. And it's like, yeah, he's top 10 in the league probably, but he's not the best goalie in the entire world or the worst, but that's how if you just searched his name on Twitter,

that's probably exactly what you find. I think I like the Halak signing. I think that's going to push Tuka and also give him the confidence. I mean, I like, yeah, it's going to, he's not going to

steal his job, I don't think, and I think that's ridiculous that there are articles about that. But I think it'll give him a good push. Hey, so we were talking about Jamie Alexiak, right? Oh, Jamie, why did I say such a shot? Yeah, it was driving crazy.

I was thinking of Stephen Alexi, who I think also played for the Penguins. But yeah, it's Jamie Alexi. I know there's, there was someone yelling at their, uh, yelling at their phone or whatever device they used to listen to this podcast for us to say Jamie Alexiak. So I wanted to, uh, to fix that before we get yelled at, and I'm sure it's already happened. Um, yeah, with your, with Yarrow Halak, it's, it's, it's tough to, I feel like we got to, have to throw out his numbers from especially last year just because that islanders team was such a mess

in front of him yeah it was it was such a mess in front of him and it was like i don't even think it's impossible to judge how much he has left in the tank or how good he's going to be because of that mess in front of him and obviously the bruins are hopefully um health permitting going to only ask for him to play 25-ish or 30 games tops so that's what they said that's exactly their plan they just want to give teakis and rest and that's perfect. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that switch, I do like Anna Hudobin. I feel like he's kind of like a prototypical backup goalie in today's league. But yeah, that was kind of shocking. It was shocking at the Brinson's sign in, but they were pretty firm and they didn't want to pay more than they thought that they should. So he was gone. He really seen. I know players always say, I love Boston, whatever, but he just flat out is like, I'm sick of the free agency market. I love Boston. It's my favorite city in the world. world, even if I don't sign here, I love the city forever. And it was just kind of like, Jesus. I can't believe they didn't re-sign him, but I guess that's just the way it is.

Yeah. I mean, I guess knowing what the price they're willing to pay for them and then drawing a hard line there is a good way to describe it, because I believe at the time, you know, there were reports over the, you know, the gap between the two sides and how much Houdobin was asking for it was, but how much the boons were willing to pay and sort of what the holdup was in potentially reaching an extension. And in the grand scheme of things, those are pretty comically low amount but i guess you know if you're going to be a cap team like the bruin's and you're going to have to count you're going to have to use your money wisely to really fit everyone in and try to add pieces especially as the season goes along um every every dollar counts and if you're

able to get a guy like calack who should for the most part be i i called it a wash and i really think it's going to be sort of there's not going to be much difference between the two in the terms of performance then it's not that big of a deal that's pretty much how i described bruin's offseason as a whole it's just like it's a wash um and that could be okay it's just all depends on the youth and there's a huge vote of confidence in the youth right now yeah and well and and we should say there's also a huge vote of confidence in in house options that are hopefully going to get healthy right like towards the end of that Tampa base series they basically didn't have their second defense pairing in carlo and kroog and both guys got banged up at different times but

if both them come back healthy and are able to stay in the lineup, that's basically, you know, you're adding some pretty useful pieces there to the grand scheme of things. So there's a lot of that. And obviously, you know, I mentioned earlier about how they kind of wore down. But, you know, you heard that Marchand was at a very depleted version of himself and so on and so forth. So I guess they're just hoping that they're able to have a smooth irregular season in terms of the miles they put on those guys. and hopefully once they do reach a second round series against one of those Atlantic Division rivals

that they are going to be in better fighting shape than they were last year. Yeah, I agree with that. I think Marchand's going to have a career year. I was just going to say that there. I just think he is. He seems like... In terms of suspensions or...

In terms of not being suspended. I don't know how many times I wrote a lead last season. Marchand's current suspension, but I think, the team seemed really like Bergeron and Charre gave him a stern talking to about that type of stuff and they understand that he's going to play on that edge and stuff

but they seemed very serious like this isn't just antics anymore you have to stop and it seemed like he was actually willing to do that yeah well we haven't really talked about him yet and I guess there's nothing necessarily profound we can say about it it feels like

it's already been analyzed and dissected and we're not going to add anything new to the conversation. But I do want to point out, like, I think that's part of the disappointing thing, and I really don't want to get holier than now and look down upon him and his shenanigans because it's silly when people do that. But it's like he's transcended the point of being sort of that frisky player that stirs it up and occasionally contributes offensively to being genuinely one of the league's handful of best, most talented players and what he's able to do out in the ice when he's, you know,

when he's firing on all cylinders and when he's just kind of a low, wrecking ball out there with the puck, it's remarkable to watch. I guess that's kind of like, as a casual observer, that's the disappointing part of it, where you just want to see that all the time because it's such a beautiful thing to watch. And when we have to spend all this other time and energy discussing stupid stuff, like who he's licking or who he's throwing an elbow at, that's the frustration. And I understand that maybe for him, you know, different person, types, maybe you need to play on that edge to kind of get yourself going and really be your best,

best most effective self. But at the same time, you know, when you're scoring 35-ish goals and genuinely being a dominant two-way force, it feels like we should be talking about more than just some of that stupid kind of peripheral stuff. Yeah, it's like he genuinely doesn't know that he's elite and he looks like he's playing like he could be sent down to Providence. every week when he needs to obviously understand how good he is and how that's not going to happen just keeps scoring but he just it seems to him like he has to play that way yeah yeah it's he doesn't really know how good he is yet so it's it's um yeah hopefully we uh we spend the year talking about how awesome he is and and not um the kind of dumb thing he's done most recently um

is there anything is there anything else uh we need to cover with this team we've talked about the top guys, talk about secondary scoring, we talked about the defense. Is there anything else to add? No. How do you feel, okay, so let's actually kind of take a step back into a bigger picture of you of the three teams there are atop the Atlantic Division. And then it really seems like, you know, the NHL is pretty unpredictable in the grand scheme of things, especially compared to other leagues and anything can happen over the 82 game season. and I know there's a bunch of buzz for the Florida Panthers as being a frisky fourth team in that division.

But for the most part, if there is a sure thing in the NHL, it's that in some order, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Boston are going to finish 1, 2, 3 in the Atlantic Division. Do you think we should be just kind of writing that in with a Sharpie right now, or do you think we should be giving a team like Florida a bit more credit? Because it feels like, I feel very confident saying Detroit, Montreal and Ottawa are right-offs for this season and we do not need to worry about them messing up that top three. I don't know, man.

I don't know how you could see that Ottawa Senator's video and not think that they're going to be number one. Okay, let's talk about that for a second. I wasn't going to get into it, but I feel like this is a good opportunity. You really segue us into that. What the hell was that video? I honestly, I watched it three times in the Twilight Zone theme started playing in my head. I just don't understand who thought that was a good idea.

who decided to run with it, had to go through a few people for sure, and it was just all across the board, the silliest thing I've seen on Twitter in a month. Yeah, how I think it went, when without any inside knowledge, is Eugene Melanick thought this was a good idea, and then I'm sure a couple of people,

because there's certainly some smart people in that marketing department and working with the team from a PR perspective, they were probably like, uh, Eugene, I think this might not be the best idea. And he was just so crazy with mad with power that he just pushed it through anyways. But yeah, it was, it was shocking. I mean, just like getting a guy like Mark Boriazki to sort of double as the face of the franchise, I guess, in that video. And, and then some of the questions, it was like so weirdly forced and

scripted and like the fireside chat. Yeah. But the dialogue was like, it was just so unnatural. And then Oriets, he's asking Melnik questions. And Melnick's like, ooh, I'm glad you asked. Like, it was, like, acting like it was spontaneous. And some of the stuff was just like the outlandish claims about how they're going to have 10 new players this year, but then 15 new players the year after and how they're loaded with draft picks in the next four to six years. All of it was like, I mean, we can fact check this stuff. We have the internet.

And it seems like that's not based in reality. I don't know what you're talking about. So based on that video We're not high on the Ottawa senators this year. No, no, no, no, based on that and several other factors. But yeah, I think I hate making predictions that are set in stone, but I do feel totally confident that the Tampa Bay, Toronto, and Boston are top three. But I would put Buffalo before the Panthers.

I think Buffalo, I mean, so many prospects, and I know they need a few years, but I think Ikel and the prospects, and I think it's coming together for them this year. Yeah, I guess I didn't even mention them amongst the list of the teams. Yeah, they certainly... It's hard to because you say that every year, but I think for sure this year. It's true, yeah, because I did like the summer they had last year, and I was like, I don't think they're necessarily going to be great or maybe make the playoffs,

but they're going to be respectable, and then they had, like, one of their worst seasons, and I guess it got them, Rosmas Dali, and so it worked out. But, yeah, I mean, with Dali, and Casey Middlestad and, you know, hoping that getting guys like Skinner and Connor Sherry to play alongside of Jack Eichol is going to elevate his game even another level. Like, there's a lot to like there. So I like that call. But, okay, so if you are projecting this stuff, where do you have Boston with the Tampa Bayes

and the Toronto's of the world then if you had to rank those three? Well, I think Toronto's defense is a serious issue. honestly, I think Tampa Bay's first. Boston and Toronto are just neck and neck. Maybe even tie. No, I was kidding. I think Boston's number two. Yeah, it's, I think that, you know, Toronto's obviously,

it's going to be tough for people to remain rational when discussing them. And there's obviously a lot of excitement around the team, and it feels like they are going to get a bit overhyped and overvalued. I understand your your defensive concerns. I think that if we do see them, they're going to be in the playoffs. Like I think in the regular season, they're going to be such an overwhelming offensive force

that I feel like there's going to be so many nights where they just kind of steamroll teams and put a five or six spot on them on the goal chart and the other team's just not going to know what hit them. So I feel like they're going to bank a lot of wins that way and it ultimately won't matter what's going on on the blue line. But yeah, I mean, all three of those teams. I'm hit to win games 10 to 9.

strategy. I love that. That's so much fun. I think they're going to be so fun to watch, but I think Bruins core might just be a little more, I don't know. I guess this will actually show us the value of defense, like, in this current league and how people should be playing defense, you know? Yeah, and the right sort of the optimal, you know, game strategy and systems and how to, uh, what works in today's league yeah and i'm i'm excited to watch it i think there's gonna be a lot of fun this season in general having such a tight race for um atlantic division just watching what small tweaks might send a different team over the edge you know yeah and i was a big uh you know i i love to knock the league for some of the silly decisions they make and i really don't like the uh the playoff

structure that they have in terms of uh not rewarding teams for the regular season and at the same time if you just do your job and win games and win that Atlantic Division, at least you won't have to play the other really, really good team there in the first round. And for Boston, both them and Toronto kind of had a tough draw last year in that first round round where they had that seven-game slug fest. But ultimately, if Boston wins that final game of the regular season against Florida, they get the New Jersey Devils in round one, and they're probably healthier and better suited to play in round two against whoever

comes out of that other matchups. So it's tough to feel too bad for them because they did ultimately control their own destiny. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Let's, I think that's it. Let's get out of here. Plug some stuff.

What are you working on these days? I know you're following the preseason action pretty closely, but you're not going to China with the team. No, and I actually thought my first thought. I walked into the rink yesterday and found out McQuayet's getting traded. My first thought was, oh, God, if I'm him, I'm so happy. I don't have to take a 30-hour round-trip flight to attend precisely two preseason games. I mean, I think it's really cool what they're doing, but do I think they need to play two

pre-season games in China? No, I think that's just kind of ridiculous. But, yeah, I'm not going. Needless to say, also, I would go if I could afford it, but I can't. I mean, okay, we'll counterpoint. I believe the Canucks and the Flames went last year. And I mean, obviously there's the whole growing in the game thing in different parts of the world, which is, I don't mean to dismiss it and kind of just to hand wave it, but that's obviously a very useful thing. But I do think, you know, for the players, I imagine, it's probably a pretty cool experience.

I mean, the preseason, especially if you're an established veteran player, is such a slog where you're just like, I don't really want to be doing this right now. I mean, most these guys, and I feel like it's not like back in the 90s or even before then when guys. would spend the summer just smoking and drinking and not training and then they'd come to preseason and they'd actually need to start working out and getting in shape. I feel like for the most part of these guys have all been actively getting better throughout the offseason. So for them, the preseason is kind of just a bit of a slog. So maybe a little trip like that might not actually be the worst thing in the world. And then you get into the whole bonding and chemistry and team component side of things that I'm sure help as well. So I don't know. Maybe it might be good thing.

The team's not going. Yeah. No, I totally. see that side, but also it's just kind of, for me, this is why I'm not an HL player, because I would think I'm too lazy to even think about going to China. Would you say that's the biggest reason why you're not an HL player?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, give me your disdain for a trip to China. Yeah. Okay, so plug some stuff. What are you working on these days? Thinking a lot about prospects. I love prospect work, so I'm glad that they're all here.

I'm going to probably do a top 10 ranking. That's how I'm going to spend camp. I am working on just getting ready for the season, trying to find new fun ways to cover the team. If anybody has any suggestions, let me know. Where can people let you know? Oh, Sarah Sivian on Twitter. Pretty simple.

There we go. I'm a broadcasting professional for her reason, Sarah. What are you working on? I'm working on a lot of stuff. I mean, it's, I don't know, how do you feel about, I mean, obviously, you're located in Boston, so it helps a lot, like, geographically, but how do you feel about the idea of covering one team just that intensely versus covering the full league? Because I know, you know, when I started off in the industry, I was covering the Canucks full time. And I do feel, like, obviously, if the team is really good and exciting and they have a bunch of different personalities and characters and great players, there's a lot of stuff you can write about. but otherwise it feels like when you get to like game 50 and you've sort of talked about everything

there is to say already four times you're just like I don't know how to do my job in a fun creative way and it gets really stale whereas when you're covering the full league there's always various things to talk about so for me I mean it's I guess trying to get a grasp of everything that's happening and trying to follow all 31 teams is it's a bit more challenging and straining in terms of where your attention is directed but it does feel like it's, I personally, I feel like it's more for me than just really dialing into one team like you are with the Bruins. I mean, I go back and forth, but I'm a pretty obsessive person. So when I know something, I really know it and I want to know all about that one thing. So I

really, I think being on a beat is perfect for me. And I love to know, I love to be the go-to person. Like if somebody has a question, I can answer it like that. And other than just having, general knowledge. So I think this works out for me. It does get a little tedious, but that's when you got to get creative and it's fun to try to think of spicy, spicy, spicy content and find ways to make people care. I love that because I used to cover Penn State hockey and nobody cared. And then it was just a lot of fun to feel like you're part of something and also try to convince people why they should care. Well, for all your spicy comment content and Bruins coverage, please go follow Sarah Sivian on Twitter.

And Sarah, it was a lot of fun. I'm glad we finally got to do this. And hopefully, if the Atlantic Division race up top plays out the way we're expecting it to, there's going to be plenty more stuff for us to talk about the Bruins as the season goes along. And I'm sure we're going to have you back on. Yeah, I'd be happy to join you again. Thanks. All right, have a good one.

See ya. The Hockey P.Ocast with Dmitri Filipovich. Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovich and on SoundCloud at SoundCloud. cloud.com slash Hockeypedocast.