What are the #Bruins trade deadline plans?

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What are the #Bruins trade deadline plans? Are Don Sweeney and Cam Neely's jobs in jeopardy? #NHL Bruins legend Mike Milbury joins!

Transcript

00:00You know, I, I played in the, in the original Canada cup was like a half a century ago.

00:06And it was the great thing about it for the players is you put on a sweater that has your

00:11country's logo on it and all of a sudden it's a, there's a gleam in your eye.

00:16It really is kind of special.

00:19It was different when, when I played for team USA, because we had about, I'm going to guess

00:25like two and a half weeks or three weeks of, of training camp.

00:29These guys get two practices and they get thrown together.

00:32It doesn't, it doesn't diminish the feeling that each player has playing for your country,

00:37but there is, there's something extraordinary about how you feel when you put the Jersey

00:43on and you're playing against another, another nation.

00:47It's, it's just the, for whatever reason, it's, it's particularly exhilarating.

00:53Mike, we've been spending the last, I would say a couple weeks dissecting everything that

00:59Marsh and does or doesn't do on and off the ice.

01:02Do you think that there is any chance that he is going to be out of Boston by March 7th,

01:07the trade deadline?

01:10I think that it should be explored.

01:13I mean, I think they have to take a realistic look at where they are, which is out of the

01:18playoffs right now, although they're, you know, just fractionally out.

01:21They could make it back in.

01:23I don't think there's a realistic expectation of advancement deep into the playoff situation.

01:30It's just, it's just not going to happen.

01:32You've seen the way they've blown leads and they, their defenses, they should be a defense

01:37first organization because they don't have enough offensive firepower to, to try it the

01:42other way.

01:44And that's where their, their goal should be for going forward.

01:47But it doesn't look like they've got it all together and you've got to certainly point

01:53to the personnel first, and then you have to start thinking about who's doing the coaching

01:58and who's, who's disciplining who in certain situations, but they don't have it figured

02:03out.

02:04So to get back to your question, I think it has to be explored and I think it has to be

02:08done with some level of diplomacy.

02:11If they're going to explore it, they have to discuss it with Marsh and if he says no,

02:16then they have a tough call, but there are a lot of teams that have kept players well

02:20past their prime because of previous accomplishments with the team and they get nothing for them

02:27at the end.

02:28When, when I think two things could be accomplished, the player could get a chance to win another

02:32Stanley cup, maybe extend his career and you get an asset that will help you in the future.

02:38But it seems to be something that a lot of teams are reluctant to try it.

02:42I don't think they should be.

02:44And for this team, he's the second best with points this season.

02:47Like how are they going to fill that void if they said, no, no, they're not going to

02:50fill the void.

02:51They're going to, what they're going to do is they're going to, they're going to gamble

02:54on the future.

02:55They're going to gamble this guy who's such a competitor and a guy, a guy that I have

02:59told you, I think is the, you know, the, the premium left wing of all time and the Bruins

03:04organization and that says something.

03:07But that the organization has to face obstacles that the organization faces, not just be sentimental

03:16about the fact that Brad Marchand has been a great player here and they could do him

03:20a favor.

03:21They could extend his career potentially, and they could do something that they desperately

03:26need to do, which is gather assets going forward to make their team a better team and a competitive

03:32team and a team that could win a Stanley cup because they're not composed right now to

03:36be in that position.

03:37Mike, how hard is it for those conversations when you had them and you were at the Islanders

03:42and the owner would be saying, Hey, you know, we'd be better off with one series and the

03:46home gate in terms of the financial stability of the club, whereas you're looking at three

03:51to four years down the road.

03:52How do you balance that?

03:54And how real are those kinds of conversations to those that actually happen?

03:58Like is Don Sweeney hypothetically speaking now with the Jacobs about what their plans

04:04are at the deadline and what they have to get to?

04:07I would think that he would be talking to them.

04:09Yeah, I think that he and Kim would, would have to be facing, you know, some reality

04:16here that their jobs are maybe in jeopardy.

04:20I don't know the relationship between Charlie Jacobs, who's running the show now here.

04:25But I know that at times when, when I was a manager that the ownership got overly involved

04:32and that was a, that was a giant pain in the ass, but I don't think that's happening here.

04:38I think that, but I do think there's an obligation for the manager, the president in this case

04:45to continually be in contact with ownership because you know, they're, it's, they're in

04:51choppy waters right now and you want to be able to explain what you're doing and why

04:56you're doing it and, and give, give people that sign the paycheck a reason to continue

05:01to sign it for you.

05:03So I think there's gotta be, at this point there has to be fairly constant communication

05:08between those three guys.

05:10The rebuild or the retool, uh, however cam referred to it is how long does that take?

05:17And it's without significant, you know, high draft picks, it's, it's gotta be a while.

05:25There's no answer to that question because you don't know how you're going to work, how

05:33things are going to work out with these draft picks, but you've got to, you've, you've got

05:37to take the chance.

05:38I mean, I mean, you can't throw all your chips into a free agent basket.

05:43It's in this sport, especially even though the cap is going up, there's only so much

05:47you can spend in free agency and they went out and spend in free agency and they made

05:51mistakes this past off season.

05:53So, but the better way to do it, I think right now is to find ways to gather draft

05:59collateral and start putting the pressure on your scouts to, to, to look at things in

06:05a hard way and to fill some spots and their spots need to be filled or certainly in the

06:11top two center positions.

06:14And that's what, it's going to be a gamble.

06:16The whole thing is a game, it's a crapshoot trying to draft kids at 18 and figure out

06:21exactly where, what they're going to be like at 25 is a, nobody's perfect at that game,

06:27but you've got to play it.

06:29Mike, when they get back, they'll have about two weeks before the actual trade deadline.

06:37Has their mind kind of been made up in the direction that they want to go front office

06:42wise or will the two weeks play a major factor in the direction that they want to go into

06:52you're, you're talking about ownership wanting to go, I, I would think that they would mean

07:00two weeks is a long two weeks heading into the deadline.

07:03I think how the, how management handles this, um, is yes, going to be impactful on how they,

07:12they think about the future, how ownership thinks about the future, because unless does

07:17anybody on this radio station think that this team is going to go past the first round

07:22of the NHL playoffs?

07:24I don't think so.

07:26And so if we're thinking this and they have to be thinking that at this point, this is

07:31not two years ago when they were brilliant for most of the season.

07:35So you have to, you have to then take advantage of an opportunity to make things happen.

07:41By the way, did you see Kevin DuPont's?

07:43And I thought this was a really interesting idea.

07:45He tried to declare that there should be a trade week, like during the season, I don't

07:50know if it was a week or two weeks, but, but it would be such a great idea.

07:54First of all, it'd be great for the players.

07:55They don't have to sit around every day, worrying about when the team's playing well, where

07:58they're going to be traded or not.

08:00There'd be a two week window and that would be, it would cause people to have a flurry

08:04of conversations around the league and then they could finish the season.

08:08I thought it was a really interesting idea, but only two weeks, two weeks, and then the

08:13off season, of course you could make deals, but I thought it was, you know, would sort

08:17of, I don't know, compress the pressure and, and make sure that everybody was, you

08:22know, feeling good about themselves after the deadline was over.

08:26But anyway, this deadline comes up and I would think that there will be activity here.

08:31And if there's not activity and if I were the owner of the team, I would be disappointed.

08:36I think they need to realize the position they're at.

08:39I think they, I think ownership also has to recognize the fact that this, these two

08:43guys, Neely and Sweeney, did some really interesting things and looked like they

08:47were trying to get the team over the finish line for our championship.

08:51And sadly and surprisingly, it didn't really come close, but I thought, and I think

08:57most people thought the things they did two years ago in particular were, were really

09:03good and really savvy and looked like they positioned themselves to be, you know, in

09:07the Stanley cup final, but crap happens.

09:11It does.

09:12And it will be interesting over the next few weeks.

09:15And we certainly appreciate you taking the time.

09:17We will talk to you again next Thursday, Mike Milbury.

09:19You got it.

09:20All right.

09:21There he is.

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