Bruins legend Mike Milbury Joins!

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Bruins legend Mike Milbury Joins!  Are you disappointed in this team so far? Did the B's make the right off-season additions?

Transcript

00:00Good morning and welcome back, Mr. Milbury.

00:02Hello, everybody. How are we?

00:04How was the off season?

00:06It was good. It was a great summer on the Cape. It was a perfect weather. In fact,

00:10it's still beautiful today. It's been awesome. But I want to talk about the pigs.

00:15Where was this pig pet from?

00:18Metro West.

00:19Somewhere in Metro West.

00:20Metro West. Well, I mean, if they have a big farm or something, I guess you can keep a pig, but...

00:24Are you looking to adopt?

00:25No, I was just going to advise people who live next to the WEI area, they could come in. They

00:30have their pick of pigs to pet. Pick of pigs to pet.

00:34I thought you wanted some bacon, like me.

00:37Do you have a pet? Do you have a dog?

00:40No, I don't have a dog. I don't believe in those pets. Sorry.

00:45We have neighbors down here in New Seabury who walk their dogs in carriages.

00:49That's going a little too far for me.

00:51Well, if they're a little older, then you got to get them around.

00:53I'm talking about the dogs? No, the dogs are fine.

00:55It's the people that are older.

00:57Oh, I see.

00:59That is a lot when you're walking your pet around in a carriage.

01:03They get tired.

01:05I understand, but...

01:06All right. Well, listen, this team, as we sit here this morning, about 500.

01:12Are you disappointed so far?

01:14No, I'm not disappointed. I'm not surprised either. There's a ton of changes.

01:19They needed a talented center, so they go out and get Lindholm.

01:22They need a big thumper and the blue line that gets the door off.

01:25Probably the two best guys at that position available, but they focused on size.

01:32We brought in a host of other guys.

01:34I don't know if that was a reaction to their losses to Florida the last couple of years,

01:39where they got beat up a little bit physically.

01:42But so far, the group, which is huge, looks a little slow, looks a little out of sync,

01:50and it looks a little undisciplined.

01:52If you recall the last couple of years, there were a puck possession team.

01:55I mean, they own the puck.

01:56They move the puck brilliantly around the ice,

01:58but they're still feeling the after effects of no Bergeron and no, you know, no Crecce.

02:05If they've gone to a more dump and chase style,

02:08that's sort of a throwback kind of approach, and hence the size.

02:11But the size is no good if there's not any speed.

02:14You know, if you've got size and no speed, it's a recipe for disaster.

02:19Checking requires that you've got to have a lot of hard work.

02:22You've got to have foot speed and anticipation.

02:24You've got to be able to get there, even if you don't bang.

02:26That's why the game has mostly been transferred to skating people.

02:31And if you get in the face of a defenseman trying to move the puck out of zone,

02:35it doesn't matter if you thump him, but you get in his line of vision,

02:39you can impair it and you can disrupt it.

02:42And, you know, the thump is great.

02:44I mean, that's what the Bruins did under Don Cherry,

02:47what the Bruins did under Harry Sinden.

02:49They were the big bad Bruins.

02:50But I don't know if there's time for that right now.

02:53And the last two games, even against, you know, against Utah in particular,

02:59but against Nashville too, for the most part, they were definitely a slower team.

03:03Mike, one of the other things that we've kind of seen pop up again this season,

03:07and we talked about it last year, is obviously defensively turning the puck over

03:12and then defensively losing track of guys, especially in front of the net.

03:17How can they clean up some of those issues?

03:20That should be easy.

03:21That really should be easy.

03:22I mean, McAvoy should be a dominant player on the blue line.

03:25He's been inconsistent and he's got to get over that inconsistency and earn his paycheck.

03:30I'm a little tired of Hampus Lindholm.

03:32It looks like he just blase out there.

03:34I mean, this guy was incredible in his first full season.

03:37And I don't know.

03:38It just looks like he's collecting a paycheck and not doing what he should.

03:42There's no passion to his game.

03:44And the game is passionate.

03:46You've got to have gumption.

03:47You've got to have some fire in the belly, for lack of a better phrase.

03:51But this guy just seems to be, you know, OK.

03:54Against Nashville, he throws a backhand pass up the middle of the ice that just goes through.

03:58Luckily, he got through everybody and went to the other end of the ice.

04:01But you don't do that when you're a veteran like that.

04:05You don't make that kind of silly play.

04:07He just seems careless and really not very committed.

04:11And that's not a good thing for a player of that skill level.

04:15Are you concerned about the lack of production from Brad Marchand?

04:19You know what?

04:21Three offseason surgeries.

04:23He's 36 years old.

04:25He's put on the second line.

04:27And, you know, I think he'll you can only hope that he's going to come around.

04:31And I'm sure he will.

04:32He's too hard a competitor not to have some better production than this.

04:36But, you know, they have a lot of players still not playing in the right position.

04:41And I happen to think Lindholm is a second line center, not a top line center.

04:45I don't think Zaka is a top line forward.

04:47I think Charlie Coyle, he's a favorite of mine.

04:49But every time I say that, I get in trouble because I say he's a favorite of mine on the

04:53third line.

04:54He's a beast there.

04:55That's where he's comfortable.

04:56That's where he should be comfortable.

04:57Give him credit for sort of stepping up a little bit when he was asked to play second

05:01line.

05:01But his position should be third line player.

05:05And so should Zaka.

05:06But that gives you holes somewhere else.

05:08No team's perfect.

05:09And the Bruins are trying to patch holes where, you know, it's really not the right

05:14spot for certain guys.

05:15But that's what every team has to do.

05:17And we'll see how it works out.

05:18But what does concern me is the lack of discipline.

05:21I mean, you know, against Utah, you know, Marshan turned the puck over and Utah scored.

05:26It got turned over because it was offside.

05:28But Montgomery went down there and smacked him on the shoulder pad.

05:31Didn't hurt him or anything.

05:32It was not child abuse.

05:33But, I mean, you could see the coach's anger.

05:37Zdorov has a penalty in every game.

05:39Lots of stick infractions.

05:40That means you're not getting there in time.

05:42You got to reach out and pull somebody back or trip somebody because you're there a day

05:46late and a dollar short.

05:48And that's not a good thing.

05:49Well, it seems to me like your fourth line has really been your best line so far.

05:52It's not even a question, Mark.

05:54I mean, everybody had Kostelik as a, you know, fourth line player.

05:59But he looks more like, and I know Montgomery said this, we were playing him 12 minutes.

06:03Maybe we should be playing him 17.

06:05He's probably right based on what the other lines have done.

06:08But, you know, you're not going to go far in the playoffs if you're relying on your fourth line,

06:13who's, you know, going to play that 12 minutes a game.

06:16It's just not going to happen.

06:17You've got to have better production, better and better performance.

06:20He talked about, and Montgomery talked about the process.

06:23What's the process?

06:25The process is everybody working together to get in on the four check with some speed.

06:30And if that's the process, you wonder whether they followed the right recipe in getting to that end.

06:37Mike, you talk about how many surgeries Marchand's had.

06:40That's going to be coming to an end pretty soon, that career.

06:43And there will be a changing of the guard.

06:45Obviously, it'll be Posta, Coyle, McAvoy, those guys.

06:48But when you look at the offseason acquisitions, who's the future of this team?

06:52Who do you think can actually make an impact and stay with the Bruins for the long term?

06:56Well, they have to be betting on Lindholm and Zdorov.

07:00They gave them long-term contracts and put a lot of investment into them.

07:06So they have to be there.

07:07I don't know about some of the other guys.

07:09What is Frederick going to be in the end?

07:11Can he push himself to a second line position?

07:13You'd like to hope that he could do that.

07:16Poitras, he looks a little, he's smart and he's cagey.

07:20I'm a little worried about his foot speed.

07:22And he's agile, but not very fast going from point A to point B.

07:27Lots of question marks for me as to who's going to be there.

07:30But they certainly need another centerman with good skill and good speed

07:34and can deliver pucks to the wingers that should be able to put it away.

07:38Mike, sensitive topic, I know.

07:40But what do you think of the big long-term extension for the young goalie in the Bruins?

07:44I thought they should have given it to him two months earlier.

07:47I think he's going to be a bargain in five years.

07:50He's their best player by far.

07:52I'm worried about the second goaltender that was kind of a salary dump from Ottawa.

07:56I think it was a salary dump.

07:58I don't think the Bruins were in the market for a goaltender.

08:01They've got some other options in the minor leagues right now.

08:03But Swayman is, you know, he's their best player.

08:08He's going to be their best player for a while.

08:10And I just don't know how many games he can stick under his belt and be as effective.

08:14He's not a very, I mean, he's a really skinny kid.

08:17But he's a competitor and he works efficiently.

08:20So I think he's going to get 60 games,

08:22which is what the old-time goaltenders used to get, or at least in the last 25 years.

08:27Talking a lot lately about job security as it relates to Gerard Mayo.

08:31But how about Jim Montgomery?

08:34You know, it's really hard to pin it on him.

08:39He's had such, well, but he's had great regular season success.

08:43And that's not what counts, right?

08:45I mean, what counts is going deep into the playoffs.

08:47But I don't know that you could argue against the position

08:52that he's taken them as far as they could go.

08:55And, you know, Florida beat them the last two years.

08:58And they've lost to them twice already.

09:00Once without Tuchuk and Barkov in the lineup, which is not a good sign.

09:04But again, it's early.

09:05But I think probably he maxed them out.

09:09I mean, you could argue the first year that they lost to Florida,

09:11he should have made a goaltending change and that might have made a difference.

09:14I would agree with that, but we'll never know.

09:18But, you know, if this thing falls apart,

09:20then they may want to make a change because they've made investments in a lot of people

09:24like Lindholm and Zdorov for the long term.

09:27And they expected better results from them.

09:29But it's early.

09:31Let's wait and see how it goes the rest of the way.

09:33They need some time to come together as a group.

09:35But there are definite concerns.

09:38I mean, the questions about their speed, about Lindholm and players out of position.

09:46So and Marcian, he's going to find his mojo.

09:48I think he will to a certain extent.

09:50But, you know, Courtney's right.

09:51It's 36 years old and the end is closer than the beginning.

09:56Mike, we've kind of had this conversation here.

09:58Obviously, you are the expert.

10:00You know a lot better than us.

10:01I think a lot of our expectations, you know, here,

10:05we believe that the Bruins should be able to get to the Eastern Conference Finals.

10:09And if they don't, then there's a good chance that Montgomery gets fired.

10:14What is your expectations with this team?

10:17Is it Eastern Conference Finals?

10:20I'd say that would be my expectation.

10:24I don't see them being better than that.

10:27You have one center who's a bona fide top six center and not another one.

10:33Until you find another one, there's a major hole in your lineup.

10:37And it's not easy to find them.

10:39But as again, I refer to Krejci and Bergeron, that was such a great tandem for so long.

10:46And they left such a big hole.

10:48And now they've patched it a little bit with Lindholm.

10:51And they need to find some magic in another center position

10:54because it all drives through that center position as far as I'm concerned.

10:59Mike Milbury, so great to have you back on Bruins Thursday.

11:02All right, guys.

11:02Good to see you.

11:04I enjoy walking the pets or whatever you're going to do.

11:06And I enjoyed Wiggy's theory on beers or I don't know.

11:10You can't go wrong Googling anything.

11:13Everything's good on Google.

11:14It's 100% true, isn't it?

11:15I mean, that's what it is.

11:16I appear he is way off.

11:19Google it.

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