All About Defense & Jake DeBrusk Taking Charge | Poke the Bear - video Dailymotion

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Conor Ryan of Boston.com and Evan Marinofsky of New England Hockey Journal discuss which Bruins prospect has the most pressure going into camp. The guys also dive into the biggest strength this Bruins team has and Jake DeBrusk’s goals for the 2023-24 season.  Poke The Bear with Conor Ryan Ep. 164  0:00 - Any omissions in the Top 100 players?  6:00 - What we want in the new Bruins jerseys  9:00 - Which Bruins prospect has the most pressure going into camp?  16:00 - The biggest strength on this Bruins team  22:00 - Jake DeBrusk looking to be more of a threat  This episode of the Poke the Bear podcast is brought to you by Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network. NEW customers can bet $5  and get $200 in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Plus, all customers who bet $5 will get $100 OFF NFL SUNDAY TICKET from YouTube and YouTube TV. Now is the best time to join FanDuel! The app is easy to use and you can be on everything from spreads to player props and more! So, visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season with an offer you won’t wanna miss.  21+ and present in MA. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at fanduel.com/sportsbook. Hope is here. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234. NFL Sunday Ticket Offer ends 9/18/23. No refunds. Terms and embargoes apply. $100 off NFL Sunday Ticket, not YouTube TV. YouTube TV base plan required to watch YouTube TV. Redemption requires a Google account and current form of payment. Commercial Use Excluded. Subscription renews; cancel anytime.

Transcript

00:00 Poke the Bear is brought to you by FanDuel, the exclusive wagering partner of the CL&S

00:04 Media Network.

00:05 And welcome in to Poke the Bear, episode 164.

00:11 That's Connor Ryan.

00:12 I'm Evan Marinovsky.

00:13 Connor, what is up?

00:14 Evan, doing well.

00:15 How are you doing?

00:16 Doing great.

00:17 Doing great.

00:18 I know that on Thursday you were at the Bruins golf event.

00:24 Did they let you take a swing?

00:25 I saw they had the longest drive with the wooden driver.

00:30 Did they let the media members take a big swing with it?

00:33 No, thankfully they did not, Evan.

00:35 I can't think of a worse way to start the season on the wrong foot than to golf and

00:42 just get mocked by everyone before the season even starts.

00:45 So thankfully, I think the media used to be able to take part in some capacity in the

00:50 golf tournament.

00:51 They have done away with that, which again, for me and my game, I appreciate.

00:57 So crisis avoided there.

00:59 Yeah, I'm with you there.

01:01 I don't think I would be doing so hot out there.

01:03 My golfing thing is always if I have like five good shots in an 18 hole game, I'm like,

01:11 all right, there you go.

01:13 I remember the good stuff.

01:14 The bad stuff, though, I just can't stand.

01:17 It kills me to go through that.

01:19 But anyways, we'll get to some of that stuff in a second.

01:22 First, though, I came out on Tuesday, the Bruins top 100 players for significance, for

01:30 importance.

01:31 I know you were a part of that.

01:33 Were there any surprising omissions for you guys?

01:35 You felt strongly bang the table over, said Casper's dog events should be on that list.

01:42 Was there anyone that you were super passionate about that didn't make them the group?

01:46 Yeah, I think it's probably more nitpicky than anything.

01:49 I think people did a pretty good job of encompassing a lot of different areas.

01:52 They always run the risk of players who may be from an older generation, especially like

01:57 the 20s and 30s, 40s, maybe people who didn't watch them play.

02:02 We're both those guys getting omitted, but there was a good job by all involved about

02:09 encompassing all those different areas, making sure they're all represented pretty well.

02:12 For me, guys, it's sick out that I put down Brian Rawlston, I think was a really good

02:18 player for this team for a pretty solid stretch out of 30 goals season, a couple of 55, 60

02:24 point seasons.

02:25 A key piece to some of those maybe forgettable late 90s, early 2000s teams.

02:30 So I would have liked to see him get a little credit.

02:33 And then it's probably a bit of a stretch, but I gave a vote further down the list to

02:39 Greg Gamble, who I thought, again, part of that 2011 team was really important in his

02:45 role.

02:46 But I think you also look at the historic 100.

02:48 They view it as not even the best player, but also the most legendary.

02:52 And I think you look at obviously his contributions in 2011, but also in 2013, playing on the

02:59 PK with the broken leg, you look back at that 2013 cup run, and obviously people look at

03:06 game seven against Toronto, that one sticks out the most.

03:09 But I feel like that's another iconic moment from that sequence.

03:12 It's kind of in that hall of moments, like the Krug hit or what have you, where the Krug

03:17 probably could have gotten some credit beyond the fact that he was just a great player.

03:21 Like those are moments I think stick with a lot of Bruins fans.

03:23 So I wanted to give Gregory Campbell a good foot soldier for what he was on the fourth

03:27 line, some credit as well, but no glaring omissions, not anything that made me flip

03:32 a table or anything like that.

03:33 Well, that's good.

03:34 That's definitely a good thing.

03:36 And you didn't even mention Campbell's most important contribution to the Bruins, which

03:39 was his performance in the 2011 Zoom call.

03:42 Yes, of course.

03:43 I think that I think that deserves a spot in the top 100 on its own.

03:47 But yeah, I didn't looking at that list.

03:49 I mean, again, I'm I you know, I wasn't a part of it.

03:51 I'm not super up on the 20s, 30s and 40s Bruins.

03:55 So maybe there were people that were admitted from there.

03:57 But there was no one that I was like, Oh, how, how did they get on the list?

04:01 Or how weren't they on the list?

04:03 I'm curious to see the full team, which comes out this upcoming week, right next week, the

04:09 full team until October.

04:11 Oh, October.

04:12 After the first, not until the first.

04:14 That's when the discourse will start.

04:15 Well, we'll dive into that a little bit more when that happens.

04:18 We'll save that for another time when it gets to the all centennial team.

04:22 What's funny is we would kill for that kind of content like midsummer, you know, we kill

04:25 for that stuff.

04:26 And then we'll get it in October when it's the day, the day after the season opener.

04:31 So yeah, like we'll have more than enough to discuss and we'll discuss that.

04:35 One other thing I remember this is not on our show planning, but Saturday today is the

04:39 day this drops.

04:40 The Brewers will be having a fashion show at Logan Airport to showcase the new jerseys.

04:48 There have been like, you know, people have kind of projected what they might think.

04:51 I know I saw, you know, in their, their kind of teaser video, there was some gold and you

04:58 know, it's interesting.

04:59 People have asked me, what do you think about it?

05:01 You know, what are you hoping it is?

05:04 I trust them to get it right.

05:06 I know that's a really annoying take, but they typically don't go super over the top.

05:11 They're an original six team.

05:13 They have creativity.

05:14 You know, this isn't the Canadians where they stick with pretty much what they've got.

05:17 You know, they like to go outside the box, but they don't go too far.

05:19 You know, this isn't, this isn't Arizona or like Vancouver or one of those places.

05:24 So I trust them.

05:26 There's a chance that if, you know, the jersey's covered in gold, like the Vegas ones, it might

05:30 look not so great on a runway, but then it gets on the ice.

05:33 It looks okay.

05:34 So I mean, what do you think?

05:35 What are you hoping for?

05:36 Is there anything that you want?

05:37 Yeah.

05:38 What are your thoughts going on?

05:39 I mean, I'm curious to see what the alternate is.

05:43 I think people also forget it's like three new jerseys.

05:45 It's not like this one specialty one that they wear on Saturday night.

05:49 It's not like the red socks, red jersey or anything like that.

05:52 There's like the yellow jersey.

05:53 Yeah.

05:54 This is a complete overall this year.

05:56 I imagine the home and away probably evokes some of the 80s style.

06:01 I hope to see some gold socks.

06:03 That would be a nice welcome return.

06:05 But yeah, again, I don't think they're going to deviate too much from kind of the hallmark

06:10 of what they've done.

06:11 They've been creative while also sticking with the tradition of the team and all that

06:16 stuff.

06:17 I imagine you're looking at probably something that harkens back to that 80s style.

06:24 But as you said, I think it'd also be something where you see it on the runway, you see photos

06:28 of it, people are like, "Meh."

06:30 And what happens every year?

06:32 Everyone's unveiling a new one.

06:33 It gets some mixed reaction here and there.

06:35 Then you see it on the ice and you're like, "All right, I'm going to buy five of these

06:37 at the pro show."

06:38 Yeah, that's how it usually works.

06:41 So I'm very curious to see what they kind of determine for this.

06:45 Because again, if you don't like them, you're in trouble because you're going to see them

06:48 the whole year.

06:49 So let's see.

06:50 It's going to be an eyesore if you don't like them.

06:53 I'm with you.

06:54 I think 80s, 90s look is the best in terms of that.

06:57 Also I remember the '06, '07 season, their alternate was sort of like a harken back to

07:01 the '70s style jersey.

07:03 I would love that too.

07:04 Anything from that era, that kind of be, that kind of jersey, I love.

07:09 I think that's terrific.

07:10 And if they go that route, which I feel like they will, I think it'll be a good pick.

07:17 You're right though.

07:18 And I will say, and I remember saying this during COVID when we were struggling for topics,

07:22 they'd had those home and aways for a long time.

07:24 And they were great.

07:25 A lot of success with those.

07:27 I think those are awesome home and away jerseys.

07:31 But it's time.

07:32 It's time to sort of do something different.

07:34 And this is the perfect season to switch it up.

07:36 So I like that idea.

07:38 So we'll see what it ends up looking like.

07:39 I know we're recording this Friday, so we don't have a breakdown of the jerseys.

07:43 We're sorry.

07:44 You'll see our tweets about them.

07:46 And we can go from there.

07:49 Training camp's coming.

07:50 And prospects challenge is this weekend up in Buffalo.

07:53 Bruins sending all their top prospects up there to compete.

07:57 And it begs the question, which Bruins prospect has the most pressure opening camp?

08:02 What is your pick, Connor?

08:04 Yeah, I look at, you know, you can look at guys like Laurie and Marky Love and Lysel,

08:08 but I think we've already talked about the fact that these are guys that I don't think

08:12 the onus is on them to make, again, they'd love to break camp with the Bruins, but I

08:17 think we're all expecting them to probably need some more time to marinate down in Providence.

08:21 You know, they've already got a tough hill to climb in terms of leapfrogging, especially

08:24 like Marky Love and Lysel, you're looking at not fourth line roles.

08:28 You're looking at them beating guys like PTO, like Heinen and Cheasson, but also like, you

08:34 know, Frederick or, you know, Geeky, James and Reamsdyke, what have you.

08:38 So that's a tough ask for them.

08:40 I look at one guy that I think has a potential to fight for role is Johnny Beecher, because

08:46 I think you look at as much as that bottom six is in so much state of flux, and there's

08:50 so many different ways you can kind of roll out the best six man unit there.

08:54 4C still seems to be a spot where there's not like a set proven option there.

08:58 Like you look at like third line wing, Frederick, all the guys we mentioned, a lot of pieces

09:03 in place.

09:04 4C is it, you know, Patrick Brown is the only kind of veteran incumbent there.

09:07 So I think there is a spot for a guy like Beecher to fight for it.

09:12 But again, we've talked about Beecher, I really like his style of play.

09:16 I think he can be a really impactful guy at 6'3", his skating ability can make an impact

09:21 at the NHL level, even if the offense maybe isn't there.

09:25 He could be a really dependable 4C.

09:27 So I think there's an opportunity for him especially to carve out a set role.

09:30 But again, it's going to come down to him and what he can prove because you need to

09:34 keep taking another step forward in terms of being more consistent.

09:37 Again, I don't think anyone's expecting 20 goals from the guy, but if he can pot a goal

09:42 here or there or show some offensive capabilities, I think that can also go a long way towards

09:48 him fighting for a spot.

09:49 So I think he's a guy that has a lot at stake going into this training camp.

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10:55 Yeah, I would agree with you on Beacher.

10:58 Again, first round pick a guy that, you know, I know we have always said bottom six and

11:04 I know the consensus is bottom six, but like that's a first round pick.

11:08 You know, you expect him to, like Frederick, contribute at the NHL level and, you know,

11:14 has the has the skating, defensive abilities.

11:16 I know the hockey sense is something people kind of get on him for here and there and

11:21 the offensive abilities.

11:22 But again, I'm really curious to see what he can, you know, if he can kind of carve

11:25 out a role in this season.

11:28 Doesn't have to be this season, but I think with there being an opening on the fourth

11:32 line as 4C, it makes some sense if he can make it this year.

11:37 Again, a guy that Montgomery has to trust.

11:40 They have a lot of veterans down there that can be trustworthy.

11:43 So I think Beacher has to kind of prove it there.

11:45 I'll go with a different one, though.

11:46 Mark McLaughlin.

11:47 McLaughlin's kind of been banging on the door just like for a while.

11:50 It's only been, I mean, he came up in the twenty, the twenty one, twenty two season.

11:56 Everybody thought he'd make the team last fall.

11:58 Didn't.

11:59 He's a guy who will contribute at the NHL level.

12:01 I think there is an NHL spot for him somewhere.

12:04 I just think for his own sake, he's a hometown guy, B.C. guy to like.

12:10 You want to make this team at some point or else are you going somewhere?

12:14 You know, are they are they dealing you for like a sixth or seventh round pick because

12:19 you know that he can contribute on a fourth line somewhere or in a bottom six role somewhere?

12:25 So I think for his own good, I'm not saying they're going to trade him, but I think at

12:28 some point, like if there's just too much of a log jam down there and you have Loco

12:31 and Beecher and Merkuloff, all three of those guys have higher ceilings.

12:35 McLaughlin, you know what you're going to get, I think for the most part, I don't think

12:38 there's a ton more there in terms of, you know, offensive ceiling.

12:43 You know, he's going to be a he's going to be a second line right winger soon.

12:46 Like I think he's just he's a very, very, very solid bottom six right winger center.

12:51 And I'm just curious, you know, if he doesn't make the team this year, is the team calling

12:55 and saying, hey, we need kind of a reliable young piece that maybe we can develop into

12:59 something.

13:00 And that's a guy that maybe, you know, goes somewhere else.

13:04 I'm not saying that's going to happen, but just in terms of pressure on him, you know,

13:08 I think, you know, he's reliable.

13:11 That's the other thing.

13:12 It's like he's a guy that I think could fit in the Bruins fourth line this year and make

13:17 some sort of consistent, reliable impact.

13:19 So yeah, I mean, those two seem like the main two.

13:23 I don't sense a lot of pressure on low riots.

13:26 His first camp, Lysel, I, you know, I think the upside is there, but the top six is pretty

13:33 full for right now.

13:34 I feel like you don't need to rush him unless I mean in a, you know, and we'll get into

13:38 this more in coming weeks.

13:40 But like if he's kicking ass at training camp and he's kicking ass in the preseason, you

13:45 know, maybe you consider him for the third line right wing spot.

13:50 But even then it's like, I don't know, extra season doesn't hurt anybody.

13:53 Yeah, I think like the best case scenario for a guy like Merkel, ever Lysel or even

13:58 Laura is going on Providence really improve your overall game.

14:02 And then if either they're stagging play up at the NHL, these guys are pushing hard enough.

14:08 If you want to spot and all of a sudden you're in the equation by January or February or

14:13 you know, I think Laura needs a lot of time in Providence.

14:15 But if he's a guy that get too much and you're getting ready for a playoff run and he's in

14:19 place to kind of give you an added boost there, I think that's what you're more looking at

14:24 as opposed to him breaking camp again.

14:25 They'd love to be surprised and have a guy look like a Carlo or someone else like that

14:30 that kind of exceed expectations.

14:32 But if you're able to find that spot, a guy like Merkel of midseason becomes a guy that

14:37 maybe gives you a bit more scoring punch in that third line spot.

14:40 I think that's how you kind of view it as opposed to the onus is on them.

14:44 This is my last chance to break camp with the team.

14:47 I don't think that's the case for any of those guys.

14:49 Yeah, I don't think it is either.

14:51 And I don't think there's any rush.

14:52 I know that people are going to see, you know, a Lysell highlight at camp and be like, Oh

14:55 my God, he's ready for the NHL level.

14:56 And it's like, no, it's fine.

14:58 You can take time.

14:59 Nothing wrong with that.

15:00 And we've always, we're a pro getting the bag podcast, your player.

15:04 And we were a pro take more time to develop podcast in the minors.

15:09 We've always said that.

15:10 I think we've always been consistent on those two things.

15:13 Everything else has been a little inconsistent on, but those two things were very consistent.

15:16 Nothing else.

15:17 Nothing else.

15:18 So just those things.

15:19 So back to the golf tournament on, on, on Thursday, Montgomery acknowledge the defense

15:27 is this team's biggest strength.

15:28 I think it hits on a thing that we've kind of been discussing is like, are you going

15:32 to outscore a team like Toronto or Tampa or even like a Florida or a Buffalo?

15:38 Probably not.

15:40 But where you do have the advantage on those teams is on your backend.

15:44 Yeah.

15:45 I think it's something where Jim Montgomery more or less mapped out.

15:49 Listen, we all know the forward grouping is going to be really, you know, overall this

15:54 year as much as you have talent on the wings, you still have to figure out what you have

15:58 with guys like coil and Zaka.

16:00 And again, as we've said, bottom six, who the hell knows what it's going to look like.

16:04 Even when we open the season in October 11th, it's going to look very different.

16:08 I think that third and fourth line throughout the year, it's going to change week to week.

16:12 If you're the Bruins, it's all going to come down to their defensive capabilities.

16:17 And Montgomery more or less said, you look at their goaltending, look at their defense,

16:21 they're still two of the top units in their respective fields in the NHL.

16:25 So you have to rely heavily on them.

16:27 And I think Montgomery made a good point that it's not just the, the, you know, the D zone

16:32 play and how important that is, but they're going to rely on them a lot more in terms

16:37 of killing plays beyond the D zone.

16:39 Like I think one thing people look at with guys like crazy and Bergeron, obviously, but

16:43 even a guy like Thomas Nostick is how much plays died off of them killing plays earlier

16:48 on and before we got to the D zone.

16:50 And by doing that, not only is it make life easier for the defense, the defenseman also

16:54 freed him up to be a little bit more engaged offensively.

16:57 A lot more is now going to fall on them to be, you know, not do their jobs, but a lot

17:02 of it's going to fall on them now to be that last line for it gets to the goal, the goaltending.

17:06 So yeah, it's something you look at this team defensively, McAvoy, Lintone.

17:13 I think McAvoy also, we've talked about that before another year removed from major surgery,

17:17 I think should probably do wonders for him, but you know, Grizzly, Carlo forward, most

17:23 likely saw some there.

17:24 And again, you'll lose Clifton, but I think Kevin Shattenkirk can be a very solid replacement

17:28 in more of a lesser role in that third, that third pairing.

17:31 You have the ingredients in place for very stout defense once again, but how they either

17:36 run with it, they, you know, keep up that level of play.

17:40 Because if they dip, then you're all of a sudden running into some issues because you

17:43 don't have the same firepower to alleviate from the faults that you expect on the defensive

17:49 side of things.

17:50 Or if injuries hit, I think that's the other thing.

17:52 Yeah, that is.

17:53 Yeah.

17:54 I mean, but that goes for everything.

17:55 That's not just defense.

17:56 But I mean, like I'm like, I wrote down like Grizzic McAvoy, Lintone, Carlo, forward Shattenkirk.

18:00 It's a damn good six back there.

18:03 I mean, that's fine.

18:04 Like, you know, yes, you're missing Orloff, but, and you're missing Clifton.

18:08 But as you said, Shattenkirk's a solid replacement for Clifton and Orloff you couldn't keep.

18:13 And Grizzic McAvoy, you know, as a pairing works very well together.

18:16 So like to me, you know, and then you have Swainman and Olmark at the back end and that's

18:20 why like they're not going to suck.

18:23 This is going to be a competitive team.

18:24 I know we've said this a lot and we'll say it more going forward unless things change,

18:29 but like that is the, that is the key.

18:32 That is, that is the backbone of this team.

18:34 And I think, you know, I think the Bruins are fortunate that defense has been a premium

18:38 thing for them over the past bunch of, you know, the last two decades, really since Char

18:43 and Bergeron kind of came to, it's like they, that was their thing.

18:47 They were very set on the back end.

18:49 The only thing that not scares me, but like you think about last year, you know, Montgomery

18:54 was fine with them trading chances.

18:56 He felt like, Hey, you know, we, we can, you know, capitalize on more of our chances than

19:00 the other team.

19:01 But that like, you know, the Zaka, Crecce, Poshnok line, that was not the most defensively

19:06 responsible line in the world.

19:10 And you could outscore teams like that.

19:11 You got to change up a little bit.

19:12 I think that's where, you know, you mentioned, you know, you don't have guys like Crecce,

19:15 Bergeron, Nosek anymore who can break those plays up in the neutral zone.

19:21 Maybe you do need to, and you're going to sacrifice scoring because you don't have Crecce

19:25 and Bergeron this year and Hall and Bertuzzi.

19:28 But I do think you also have to maybe change, tweak some things, maybe a little stylistically

19:34 just to put an emphasis more on defense and things like that.

19:39 So, you know, I think that can potentially work out for them down the road.

19:44 It'll be interesting to see who they pick as their next assistant coach.

19:47 Montgomery saying on Thursday that they will be hiring someone in that role.

19:51 And John Gruden was in charge of the D so it'll be someone most likely, but we'll take

19:58 that over.

19:59 So actually, Tim Montgomery speaking to Steve Conroy, the Boston Herald, they're switching

20:04 things.

20:05 So now apparently it's going to be Joe Sacco's running D.

20:08 Oh, that's right.

20:09 Oh my God.

20:10 Good catch on that.

20:11 I'm glad you brought it.

20:12 Everyone else is switching differently.

20:14 I think Chris Kelly is now helping to run the power plays.

20:16 So yes, a lot of stuff changing around.

20:18 So it'll be curious to see, one, obviously who they hire, but also what exactly their

20:21 role is, whether it's, you know, is it PK work?

20:25 Is it, you know, there's so many different ways they can kind of carve out different

20:28 assignments for their coaching staff.

20:30 So that should hopefully be in the pipeline for next week.

20:33 And Matt, Patricia and Joe Judge will run the offense and the defense too.

20:38 So I believe so.

20:39 Yes.

20:40 I believe they confirm that.

20:41 So we'll follow up.

20:42 But yeah, per source.

20:44 By the way, Chris Kelly, it's an interesting thing because Chris Kelly was never on a power

20:47 play ever.

20:49 And you know, people are kind of like, oh, why is he in a power play?

20:53 Think about it.

20:54 He's a guy who was a outstanding penalty killer.

20:57 He knows the ins and outs of how to beat good power plays.

21:00 So now he's jumping on the other side.

21:01 All right.

21:02 What was something I couldn't really cover as a penalty killer?

21:04 Things like that.

21:05 So I actually think the Kelly thing is interesting on the power play.

21:07 I'm curious to see how that works out, just given his expertise on the other side of things

21:11 and how, you know, he's almost like he's trying to like beat himself like, oh, as a penalty

21:16 killer, I was doing this and power play will be doing that.

21:18 So anyways, an interesting guy in the top six.

21:21 Speaking of guy who's not a power play, Jake Dubrask.

21:24 Rusk is an interesting one this year.

21:26 Obviously going into a contract year.

21:28 So you can expect 45 goals.

21:31 But he's obviously on a different line this year.

21:34 Won't have Bergeron in the middle.

21:35 Most likely will have coil.

21:37 And speaking on Thursday mentioned how he's a guy who wants to get more into driving play.

21:41 And I think, you know, when you look at Bergeron, Martian and Dubrask on the left side in the

21:46 past years, you know, Dubrask has, you know, certainly carried the puck quite a bit, but

21:52 was sort of a passenger sometimes just because you're playing with Patrice Bergeron.

21:56 Now, though, it feels like he's going to be a guy who takes a little bit more of an onus

21:59 carry the puck into the Ozone.

22:01 Yeah, that's something that the press touched on on Thursday.

22:04 I was on Jim Montgomery mentioned that, you know, they wanted to be a go to player on

22:08 whatever line he's on.

22:09 And it's going to be a key part of what they're trying to do.

22:11 Right.

22:12 And you look at this Bruins offense and what you want to get more out of them.

22:16 A lot of it's going to rely on their wings generating offense and generating play and

22:21 kind of pulling along.

22:22 Not to say that they expect or know that Coyle and Zaka are just going to be passengers.

22:28 But as you put those guys in high pressure roles, it'll do them some good if you have

22:32 guys like Pasternak with Zaka, you know, being that conduit of, you know, Charlie Coyle is

22:37 a very solid possession center with really good defensive game.

22:41 But you want to unlock more offense, sticking him with a guy like Martian makes a lot of

22:45 sense.

22:46 And if the Brush can take another step forward and be not just a guy that, you know, if you

22:49 feed the puck down low, you can generate some offense, a guy that can drive, play, drive

22:53 to the net, capitalize on rush chances, impact the game in a number of ways.

22:58 And you kind of saw that last year, you know, as much as he was maybe the third guy on that

23:03 line with Martian and Bergeron made a lot happen, like was moving his feet, could impact

23:07 the play on the four check, obviously became a really trusted penalty killer as well.

23:12 And I think his ability to continue to impact the game and be a line driver is going to

23:17 be huge for this team, because I think there's a lot to like about what that top line of

23:23 Coyle, Martian and the brush can bring in terms of a two way kind of style of play.

23:28 Like you carve out a lot of ozone time for the Zaka Pasternak grouping as expected.

23:34 That's kind of your, your home run hitters right there.

23:37 But if you have a line like Coyle, the brush and Martian, I can be studying their own and

23:41 negate the other team, especially.

23:44 We're also chipping in that can go a long way as well.

23:48 And I think it all comes down to whether or not the brush was kind of your quick strike

23:52 offensive conduit on that line to take another step forward.

23:55 So it's something that's good that, you know, Montgomery obviously wants more of that.

23:58 It makes a lot of sense.

23:59 But also the brush is very cognizant.

24:00 I think the last couple of years of being with Bergeron not only builds that confidence,

24:05 but I think for him, he's shown himself and for everyone else that he can be a guy that

24:10 even if it's not, you know, a patented, you know, stretch of games, or he's got five goals

24:16 in six games, he can still impact well beyond just however many goals he kind of puts in

24:22 the back of the net.

24:23 And guys who drive play more typically make a little more money.

24:27 So I think that's another part of it.

24:29 People forget people forget that if you are driving play and a guy that you can be relied

24:34 on on your on your line in the top six, you should get paid.

24:38 And I think to brush I realized that.

24:39 And by the way, he's taken steps in the past couple years, especially last year to get

24:42 to that point.

24:43 So I'm not saying it's gonna like, come out of thin air this year.

24:46 Another thing with the brush I've always liked is just the nose for the net to compete.

24:50 I just think that that is something that you can't teach, you know, you don't see a lot

24:55 of, it's not every day that you get a first round pick, kind of a goal scoring guy who

25:01 that's how he gets all his goals, you know, just driving to the net finding spots or,

25:06 you know, usually it's guys who can snipe, or guys who can dangle.

25:10 He's a guy who just freakin puts his head down and just goes straight to the net, which

25:16 I think is a valuable thing.

25:18 We've talked about it a lot in terms of him getting paid and sort of where they head in

25:23 that direction.

25:24 So should be interesting as it always is.

25:26 Connor, what people look forward to from you over at Boston comm and the Boston Globe?

25:31 Yeah, we'll obviously have more tangible news to report on this weekend and going into this

25:37 upcoming week with training camp right around the corner.

25:40 So lineup projections roster battles, obviously the new sweaters, we'll have a whole bunch

25:46 of stuff throughout the upcoming days, looking at the Bruins upcoming season.

25:50 So you can read all that stuff over at boston.com.

25:52 I'll be at the Patriots game on Sunday as well.

25:55 So we have everything else related to Boston sports over on boston.com.

26:01 You can read all of our stuff there.

26:02 You can follow me on Twitter.

26:03 You can @ConnorRyan_93.

26:06 Go do all that.

26:08 And remember to go subscribe to New England Hockey Journal.

26:11 That's Connor Ryan.

26:12 I'm Evan Maranovsky.

26:13 Poke the bear listeners.

26:14 Have a great rest of your week.

26:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]

All About Defense & Jake DeBrusk Taking Charge | Poke the Bear

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