Are #Bruins actually a better team since dealing Brad Marchand?

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Are #Bruins actually a better team since dealing Brad Marchand? Bruins legend Mike Milbury joins! How much $ was Marchand looking for?

Transcript

00:00Uh, obviously exciting to, uh, to see the, the end of that game the other night.

00:06And somebody finally on this team, uh, giving Sam Bennett what he deserves.

00:11I maybe, maybe finally getting back at him for what happened to Brad

00:14Marchand, uh, in the playoffs last year.

00:17Um, are you, what is it about us as humans that loves that?

00:21I just love it.

00:22It's like, I know, I mean, I like it too, and I miss it because it

00:25can't, we don't see it enough anymore.

00:27And with helmets and visors and all sorts of other stuff, it, but

00:32if there's something about it, like some bad guy does something

00:36and we want it to be rectified with the, you know, somebody

00:39beating the crap out of them.

00:41From, from my, from my perspective, it's way too early, but there are

00:45some suggesting like they did.

00:48We, you brought this up earlier.

00:49Like they did when Jim Montgomery was fired, that getting rid of Brad

00:53Marchand may have been the best thing for this hockey team.

00:56Do you, do you agree with that?

00:58Because they want a couple here.

01:01That's just bull crap.

01:02I don't believe that.

01:03If in the, you know, first of all, his reputation is as a good guy is, is long.

01:09And, and people have told me that all over the place.

01:13I've met him a couple of times myself.

01:14He seems like a really good hockey player type guy.

01:18Uh, he plays his butt off and, and there's no possible way that he

01:24could have been the reasons for this.

01:25And I, anybody who suggests that to me, I think is barking up the wrong tree,

01:29but listen, whatever happened, they, they, they rattled the cages and.

01:36They got a group of guys that look like they're quicker as a group

01:39collectively, and they're, you know, they're fresher collectively.

01:42None of these guys were like the go-to people on their team.

01:46And now they're having the opportunity to play a little bit more and get a

01:51different role and with a different group of guys and try to make an

01:53impression on a new organization.

01:56And that has turned out to be collectively a good thing.

02:01Will it last?

02:03You know, I'll be shocked if they make the playoffs with this group and that

02:07it continues to go like that, but it will be a, it'll be a, you know, pin

02:11a rose on Don Sweeney for, for doing that and, and making them a group that looks

02:17like it's going to stay in it till the end, they still have a lot of teams to

02:21climb over and I'm, I'm suspect that it will happen, but Hey, listen,

02:27let's enjoy the light while it lasts.

02:30Were you surprised by the reporting this week that, that Brad Martian was

02:35looking for seven and a half million dollars, uh, that's a million and a

02:40half bump on the six he was making.

02:44Uh, I, that to me is, was unrealistic thinking if that's what it was,

02:49if that's what he was looking for.

02:50I mean, they got him on a good deal, um, a long time ago, but the reality is that

02:56he's in the twilight of his career and he's not going to get any better.

03:01He's been dinged up consistently.

03:04And historically you can look at guys like, you know, Crutchy and Bergeron

03:10who, who gave the team a hometown discount.

03:13I don't even call it a hometown discount.

03:15They took a contract that was realistic based on where they were age-wise

03:19and their contributions being less than they had been at one time.

03:23So if he really loved Boston and wanted to stay, I'm sure they could have come

03:27around to, uh, you know, a deal that's three or $4 million a year or whatever.

03:31It might be that salary caps going up.

03:33So they have more room to play with, but it was, I think seven and a half

03:38million is a huge number and not realistic.

03:42Mike, when you see that type of number and you kind of just talked

03:46about it for a minute, does then that, does that tell you that maybe he wanted

03:52out of here because, you know, they probably could come to a closer number

03:57to what he was making this year annually in the 6 million, does that tell you that

04:03maybe the player used the higher number for his way to maybe get up out of here?

04:08I, I don't think so.

04:10I mean, you know, he's got a bunch of kids.

04:12They're all in school.

04:13They're ready to be here.

04:14He's been here forever for 16 years.

04:17I think he probably just misplayed his hand and I don't

04:19think his agent did him any favors.

04:21I mean, that's what an agent's there for is to get, get a sense of

04:24realism and what you can actually get.

04:26Not, you know, pie in the sky.

04:28I I'm surprised that that, if that's an accurate depiction of what

04:33happened, that he was looking for that kind of money, but it's, it's, you

04:37know, for me, that would have been easy to resolve as a general manager.

04:41I would have traded him on his way.

04:42What surprised me actually is they, they didn't get a little better, uh, call for,

04:48for his services because it was just, you know, I mean, if they get a second

04:53and a third that could, could possibly happen three years from now is really

04:57kind of head shaking and I think they probably did themselves, did him a

05:03favor by putting him in a position where he could win another cup and saying to

05:07themselves, we gave him a good chance here and let's see what he does with it.

05:11We didn't maximize our haul is that that's, but that's what your

05:14role is as a general manager.

05:16And I, I have no idea if they had better offers, but if they did, and they

05:20gave him a chance to go to a contender, you know, God bless their intentions,

05:23but condemn their, their, their way to go.

05:28They should've, I thought they would've got a better haul.

05:31Mike, I think, you know, Don Sweetie's made certainly a bunch of mistakes

05:35and the team isn't, you know, at all living up to what we expected this year.

05:38But given where he was given the, the reported demands of Marshawn, I feel

05:44like he did about as well as you could in that he knew the second the trade

05:49deadline expired, all leverage the organization had over Marshawn to keep

05:54him, went out the window and he was going to be an unrestricted free

05:56agent and leave for nothing.

05:58Considering what we know now, I don't know how you could've done it much

06:00different.

06:01I, you couldn't have said it much better.

06:03I really think that that's exactly right.

06:06As well as he could under the circumstances and, and, um,

06:10deserve some credit for this.

06:12I mean, I think he recognized his, some of his mistakes and now he's, he's

06:16trying to, you know, correct them.

06:19And I, I believe that they got as much as they could for coil.

06:23They got as much as they could for Carlo.

06:25And you got good value on the, on, on the Charlie coil deal.

06:29Yeah.

06:29So, so let's see what happens with it.

06:31I give him credit for saying, listen, they were going down the path to nowhere.

06:36It was going to be mediocre at best.

06:39I mean, middling, just barely get into the playoffs kind of team.

06:43And that's not what you're shooting for as a general manager,

06:46not what you want as a fan.

06:48Uh, on, on another note, is it accurate that you were on the

06:54faithful conference call where the founding fathers of Gloucester

07:00berated this show for daring to think that we could get chime on

07:05the greasy pole, uh, at road show time?

07:09Well, you know, it's a, it's kind of a, uh, interesting group

07:15up there in Gloucester.

07:16They have, uh, they have some mafioso like tendencies, but we'll continue to work it.

07:23I mean, but what happened?

07:24Like you guys just got on the call thinking, Hey, this is, this might be great.

07:28And then they were outraged that we had dared to even, well, there

07:31were some other issues like the tide was going to be in the wrong

07:34situation at the, at the time that we're going to be there.

07:37But, you know, I mean, chime going in the water was going to create, uh,

07:40yeah, he might've just fallen into mud instead of water, which would

07:45have been interesting too, right?

07:47Uh, but I, I don't know, we'll try again.

07:50I had a conversation with the board and I'm going to work on it again,

07:53but, um, it was still going to be a very good time looking forward

07:58to being at the boat part of looking forward to being part of the

08:00Fiesta and, and having a meal at my place by the sea.

08:03Okay.

08:03So you're saying that negotiations continue.

08:06I should stop talking about it now, but I, I now we're a best, maybe it's

08:10the, maybe it's the sit down of the five families of Boston might be

08:14the five families of Gloucester.

08:15I mean, they take it very seriously.

08:17I, I, for one, I probably underestimated how serious they take it in Gloucester.

08:23I didn't realize there was a five year waiting.

08:25I didn't know there was a huge.

08:26Did you watch the documentary?

08:28Somebody locally did a documentary called love and grease.

08:32It's on YouTube.

08:33I heard it's really good.

08:34It's very good.

08:35I enjoyed, I enjoyed watching it.

08:37I didn't realize it costs five grand a pop to load the grease on there.

08:42Yeah, I know.

08:42We've got to be environmentally conscious though.

08:45Right.

08:46Mike Scheim and I, we've kind of been going back and forth a little bit on

08:51as far as the rebuild process, um, with the Bruins, now that they've

08:56kind of unload everything, they kind of, they're on this whole rebuild.

09:00He thinks that it'll be a, maybe a year or two.

09:04I just think that they don't have a lot of talent other than really

09:07pasta knock and might take a lot longer than that, because I feel like

09:12rebuilding hockey is a lot different than other sports.

09:15How long do you think before this team is back to actually be in a real contender?

09:21It's a great question, Wiggy, and I'm sure that they're, you know, they're

09:24trying to figure it out themselves, but I, there won't be a rebuild

09:28without a rebuild at center and, and whether middle stat is going to be

09:33a second line center could live up to his potential will be interesting.

09:37If they could have filled that hole with this guy, then they need to find somebody

09:41else through their multiple draft picks now.

09:44Um, but I think it's a longer process than a year or two.

09:49I think it's a much longer process.

09:50So they do have three or four bona fide, legitimate stars, corner

09:56pieces that they can lean on, but it's, it's 20 guys on a hockey team and

10:02they've got some guys at the backend that should be okay, but it's the core players.

10:06And until the core pieces are filled with, with adequate, not adequate, really

10:12good players, then they won't be very good.

10:15And I think they have a ways to go.

10:18They're going to have to be lucky and good in the draft or maybe

10:22lucky and free agency to get it done.

10:24But I I'd say it's three years.

10:27All right, Mike Melbury.

10:28As always, I said, I'm in the bum's rush here.

10:31See ya.

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