The Greg Hill Show: Mike Millbury joins the show

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00:00Mike Milbury is brought to you by Shaw's and Star market perfecting the art of fresh by fine mass money gov

00:06By John sewer and drain cleaning the name to know when your drains don't flow and by timeout market timeout market

00:12Boston showcases the best of the city under one roof and

00:16Mike Milbury joins us on the phone because apparently he is traveling somewhere Michael. Good morning

00:22Good morning. Yeah, I'm fresh back from Florida. I'm at the Seaport Hotel in your neighborhood and

00:28Doing a little function here this evening, but

00:31The chat and I'm glad you're on to the greasy pole adventure. Well, we're working on it

00:36you weren't able to get it done, so I will step in and fix things like

00:40Many of the owners had to do when you were a general manager in in the NHL

00:46but I could

00:48Things about that, but none of them were really air worthy

00:52Well, what is the event are you doing some kind of motivational speaking engagement tonight, so

01:01Yeah right here at the Seaport Hotel, so I'm looking forward to that and then I'm heading home afterwards

01:06But I was in Florida was beautiful there except I paid a lot of money to

01:11Go to the one South Hotel or one hotel in South Beach. And all I could hear all day long was

01:18Techno music I had my body was vibrating more than it has in a long time. We must have just missed each other

01:24I was there last weekend

01:27Really where did you stay at the one? Oh

01:31Really? You stayed at the one as well. Did you like it? I loved it

01:34But yeah, there was a lot of it was a lot of like vibey music. They love the techno down. Yeah. All right. Well

01:40Listen, we talked a little bit about the March and bump which lasted for a couple games

01:47And then they're back to

01:50the ways of old

01:52I you know, I know we're I we're we can't hope about this season any longer, but

01:58you look at this team going forward and and Don Sweeney and cam Neely and

02:04When it comes to looking toward the offseason, what do you think primarily they have got to focus on?

02:10Well before they get to

02:13Anything they have to make sure that their drafting is as good as it's been in a long time

02:18I mean, they've they accumulated a few picks and and they have a chance to start to

02:24Pile up a few prospects and but that

02:27That doesn't mean you're going to get better right away

02:31That means you're going to get better in two three four years

02:34And so then

02:37Free agency comes into play and I don't know what the pool of talent is or how much they can spend

02:42They took a swing and missed last summer

02:45But they got a swing again if they want this to be a short rebuild

02:49It's going to have to take place not only in the draft, but certainly in free agency

02:54They're going to have to find some gems along the way right now. It's it's an audition time

02:59They got to find whether this kid Lysell is a prospect or not

03:02I mean, I don't know if Patra has one goal in 33 games

03:06That's not very encouraging and Laura. He looks like he's got some talent is minus 24. That's that's embarrassing

03:13I mean, they've got a they've got a corral these kids and find out which which are keepers and which are our

03:21AHL players and that's what the rest of the season is all about. I mean, they're on the road for five games now

03:27Most of the time teams are happy when they come back with a

03:30500 record on the road if there have any kind of a glimmer of a chance and I don't think there is one

03:36They're gonna have to win four out of five

03:38Mike is it possible in the NHL and I don't know how it works for a team like the Bruins because you said they swung

03:45And missed on free agency last year. Is it possible to move out some of those guys whether it's a

03:50An Elias Lindholm as a door off a Hampus Lindholm and say, all right, even though we just signed these guys we miss

03:58We're moving on and we're now gonna bring in new free agents

04:03It's hard to do I mean

04:04especially given what in particularly with Lindholm of the amount of money that they gave him and in their

04:10Expectations that he would be a top six forward and now it looks like he's a you know

04:15He's a replacement for Charlie Coyle as a third line good face-off guy reliable defensively, but not very

04:22Gifted offensively and that's you know for them to try to move him is going to be tough and it's a long-term contract

04:30I I think they're going to have to just eat it and

04:33So Doroff is a little more tolerable in terms of finances

04:36but he's a four or five guy and they thought he was going to be at least a three or four guy and

04:42he's not and so

04:44You know what you swallow your mistakes and you move on and you you know, try it again if ownership lets you

04:51Mike do you think that Joe Sacco might be the biggest loser to come out of this season to be with an organization for 11

04:57Seasons then be put in a situation where you're the interim head coach

05:00With a team that just doesn't seem to be meshing like is he getting screwed in all of this?

05:07Yeah, losers the wrong term. There's nothing a loser about Joe Sacco even though his team's not winning right now

05:14He's put in an impossible position

05:19He's doing the best he can with it and I you know, it's hard to judge him as a coach under these circumstances

05:25I I've been there in a situation on Long Island where we just didn't have talent and it's just it's frustrating but

05:34There's not much you can do except just put your nose to the grindstone and try to work with younger players and try to get

05:39them in a better situation, but it's it's a

05:43It's bleak now and I as a player, I never missed the playoffs and it was you know, I'm proud of that

05:48But these guys I know when they're in this situation and I coach the team that didn't make it

05:54It's tough to keep them motivated

05:56It's tough to keep their spirits up and you know

05:58that's a job that Joe Sacco has to address and try to keep them in a place where at least you're getting effort and

06:06Not easy to do to do it really isn't but you know

06:10I hope for his sake that some of the young blood that's coming into the lineup will stay with it

06:16Realizing that they have a chance to make a lot of money and make an impact on this particular

06:22Organization Mike Simon, I kind of go back and forth on this one. I guess what your expertise expertise

06:29Do you feel like this team has talent other than really pasta in?

06:35McAvoy

06:37Do you feel it? Yeah, it's Wayman, but I mean like forwards defenseman forward wise do you feel like they have

06:45talented players

06:48They're clearly they have role players and they have some guys that can be effective in the

06:54Bottom six of the lineup and geeky looks like he's having a heck of a year

06:58Looks like he could be a top six forward along with pasta

07:02There's a void in the high-end talent positions and that's where you you need to fill that void in order to become competitive

07:10you can't go with role players and you guys that are game changers, and they don't have enough of them and

07:16Particularly as we've talked about many times at the center position at one two if if you can't fill those voids

07:23Successfully you're going to struggle and and they're struggling because of that right now

07:28And so their focus has to be on fulfilling that

07:32Void of high-end talent with high-end talent through the draft and if they're lucky in free agency

07:39Something a little less depressing Bobby or his birthday today. Do you have a favorite Bobby or story?

07:45You know

07:47in my first training camp I

07:51Was the VA group, you know, the oars and Esposito's were on at 10 o'clock

07:56But I was so excited to get there

07:58I was there before the eight o'clock group went on and it was Don Cherry's first year and

08:04I was kind of I walked into the locker room

08:06I was trying to find some sticks and the only guy in the locker room was Esposito and it was just a tick before eight

08:12o'clock and

08:14in walked Bobby or until I sort of slinked back towards the

08:19Bathrooms to get out of the way and he started yelling at Phil. He said Phil we didn't win the cup last year

08:24What's the matter with you training care training camps about to start?

08:28This is the first day with a new coach get your ass on the ice get your ass on the ice right now

08:33I mean, whoo. Wow, what a way to start training camp. I mean, I knew who was running the show at that particular moment

08:39He was his intensity was palpable and you know, Phil with a big Italian face. Well, Bobby Bobby

08:46The new coach is out there

08:47He's waiting for his guys to come out and you're not out there get your ass out there

08:51It was it was eye-opening and his intensity and his you know

08:56dedication to finding a way to win and realizing when he said we didn't win the cup last year was like

09:02You know, that was his goal and and he was not gonna tolerate even a guy like Phil Esposito

09:08One of his buddies and a great player being late for practice on opening day

09:12I'll be used to always talk about he was fond of a tall tale. So I used to talk about Wayne Cashman and those guys

09:20Drinking beers and smoking butts between periods. Was that is that was that accurate?

09:26There are a few guys that did that

09:28You know, they went off to the side of the room and I don't remember anybody drinking beers between periods

09:33That was that's not something I saw and not something I'd ever

09:39expect to see in the locker room

09:40but there were a couple of guys that you know moved to the skate sharpening room and and had a weed once in a while, but

09:47Most of the time the guys were pretty dedicated to it and

09:51nobody more than or and my other or stories when I was coaching in Maine and

09:55The team was really we're my second year

09:58We we were struggling a little bit and I called him and I wasn't that close with him and I asked him to

10:04He possibly could come up and talk to the team the guy drove up from Boston

10:09Spent a practice with the guys didn't try to coach anybody. He was just there and he's his presence is so

10:16Palpable that you know, the guys were just in la la land and it was a it was a big

10:22Ask and and he came through and that's sort of what a lot of people will tell you about him

10:28He if you ask him, he'll do it. He'll do you a solid

10:32Nicest guy in the world Curtis always talks about flying with him to down to Florida. He's just

10:39Golf tournament wise. He's just the nicest man and and for his stature and unbelievably nice

10:45I have I have the best

10:48To Bobby or stories of all time one. I'm sending this terp

10:53I don't know if I don't even have Terps number

10:54I'll send it later

10:55but there's a photo of me standing in front of a private jet where Bobby or waited on the tarmac for over an hour and a

11:01Half because my drunk ass got there late

11:05he was the nicest guy alive couldn't have been kinder signed like

11:093,000 autographs for these Jimmy fun patients

11:11and then we get down there and we had a dinner night with all these with a couple of pairs of

11:17Listeners that had bid a bunch of money for the right to go down and have dinner with the show and with Bobby or

11:24John Dennis tells us all that he's gonna get Bobby and he's gonna get him to Carrabba's because God knows what a budget big

11:30night out in Miami or Florida

11:33Bobby or is not at dinner. John Dennis is seated at the dinner table

11:37Where's Bobby in the lobby of the Courtyard Marriott for another 90 minutes

11:43Did he say one complaint the greatest hockey player who ever lived was the nicest most?

11:49Magnanimous guy on the face of the earth couldn't have been kinder. There is nobody on the planet that would have behaved that way

11:56Mike thank you as always and we will enjoy your

12:00Speaking moment this evening and the seaport and we will we will talk to you again next week

12:05Well a fun scheme, all right, thank you

12:08We are headed to watch use a mountain for the snow show tomorrow. So it's literally my childhood

12:13It was probably my fondest memories at watch you sit mountain from grades

12:18third to eight hmm, I

12:22Did enrage Bobby or probably rightly so on the old show?

12:26because he locked himself out of his vehicle and while playing golf at the International and

12:32Asked if he could you know the on star asked if he could use my on star to get back in

12:37Yes

12:38and I shared that story because I thought it was of interest and he was very upset that I oh well felt it made him

12:43Look like an old man because he locked his

12:46Locked himself out of his vehicle. That's fair. I mean that happens. Oh, yes, it could happen at any age. Yeah

12:51Yeah, I mean

12:53It's a lot harder to do it nowadays because the keys all you need to do is just

12:57Have them in your pocket and and open the door. So I

13:01Mean that's what's happening then to

13:04Like having the keys. No, no, it's up. Also what his keys on his belt. Yeah, but he said

13:10No, no

13:12He's saying he locked him in some cars if the keys still in it

13:15Like you can't lock the door or you just as long as the keys near you or in the car the door

13:20Well, I see what you're saying

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