The PuckUps Podcast with Brian DeFelice, Ep. 51: Could the Bruins make another BIG trade? | Draft REACTION

Brian reacts to the Bruins acquisition of JJ Peterka, the trading away of Fabian Lysell, Boston's curious draft strategy, the future of Zach Werenski, and much more!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You're listening to the Puck Ups Podcast. It's time to hit the ice with Brian D Felice. Welcome into episode 51 of the Puckups Podcast. I am Brian D. Felice and thank you all for joining me. On today's show, we're going to react to the Boston Bruins draft weekend, including trading for JJ Peterka, trading away Fabian Lyselle, and a very curious draft strategy. Also, could the Boston Bruins really be on a short list for this very high impact defenseman? All of that and much more. But first things first, if you haven't done so already, please go ahead and subscribe to the puck ups on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else that you get your podcast. And to get in touch with me or be a part of the show, you can email me, infothepuckups.com. You can tweet at me on X at Brian D Fleece underscore. You can tweet at the show at the Puck Ups or leave a comment on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, anywhere the show has a social media account and post content. Now, starting off with the biggest news of the weekend in terms of the Boston Bruins, it was the trade for JJ Peterka. Boston sent their own 23rd overall first round draft pick in 2026, along with the 2028 first-round draft pick they acquired from Florida in the Brad Marshan trade, top 10 protected to the Utah Mammoth for J.J. Petrka. Paterka is a 24-year-old left-winger who previously spent his career with the Buffalo Sabres, where he was drafted in the second round back in 2020. Now, Peterka is somebody that if you're the Boston Bruins, you're putting a lot of faith in when you're talking about relinquishing two first-round draft picks. Now, how do I feel about the trade? Well, I think it was a good trade for the Bruins, and I'll explain why as we go along here. But first things first, let's hear from Don Sweeney, who was asked about what the Bruins were thinking in acquiring JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth.

SPEAKER_06 2:08

Don, when did you realize that or know that uh he was a player of that ilk was going to be available? And why do you think you know a young player that talented would be available just a year after he signed a deal?

SPEAKER_08 2:22

Uh I mean, I I think you guys are well aware there's been a lot of a lot, maybe even more trade chatter in the last you know three weeks. Um certainly starts in and around the combine, but it it's carried over. Uh so you just felt there was going to be some turnover amongst uh teams that were loaded with picks and or teams that wanted to be aggressive um in adding players. Now you never know what players are actually going to move, but you have to make the calls and uh and that one you know materialized for us uh and amongst uh many of the other calls, and um you know we just kept pushing forward and and uh and Billy was good about about keeping us uh you know looped in that that it may be available. So eventually we just you know they made a decision and it lined up for us.

SPEAKER_07 3:08

How did how do you see him fitting in and what specifically about his skill set um really appealed to you in terms of how he fits in?

SPEAKER_08 3:16

Uh speed and skill. He's got an elite shot, um, you know, probably gives us another look on uh on the elbows in a power play situation. He his power play minutes uh dipped a little bit last year. His five on five production has been really good. Uh plays both wings, you know, can probably play with a couple different types of uh uh centers, uh dry help drive a line, but also compliment the better guys uh you know in situations that we're you know we're certainly trying to to improve, as we said repeatedly. We've acknowledged that we're we're a competitive group and and our guys did a really, really good job last year, but we are trying to get uh deeper and uh add speed. You know, Marcos talked about the four check side of things, and adding speed is an element that uh we felt we needed to continue to address internally with with some of the younger players um and and externally if if we could identify them.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

I like this deal for many reasons. First and foremost, his age. He's only 24 years old. I was petrified that the Boston Bruins are going to go out there and try to find somebody who is along the same age range as Pashtenak and McAvoy and both of Linholms and Zodorov, etc. But Praturka is 24 years old, freshly turned 24 years old, which means he's really closer to the Higgins era than he is the Paschinak era. But the beauty of it is that he helps the Pashtenak era right now. Preturka kind of hits that sweet spot of a trade acquisition that checks off all of those boxes. This is not a win-now move. It helps the present, but it's not solely focused on the current core, like a Vinny Trochek acquisition would have been, or Besser or Alex Tuck, right? Like that's why I like this acquisition, even though it comes at a pretty steep cost, which is two first round picks. However, when you peel back the curtain and you look at those draft picks, how valuable are they really? Right, especially in terms of Pasternak and McAvoy and their top players right now. Like, we all know I've been consistent on here how important I feel drafting and developing is for the Bruins. However, they have started that process with Higgins, with Laterno. They acquire Will Zellers from Colorado, they acquire Fraser Minton from Toronto, they acquire Marat Husendino from Minnesota, they draft Cooper Simpson, who's a pretty promising prospect, same with Vashek Blenar on the on the blue line. Like the Bruins have started to stockpile, and there's there's others too, some some decent prospects, from decent to very good prospects that they did not have up until a couple of years ago. So they have started that process. But the thing about Petrka is that if he was 29 or 30 plus, and they traded for him, I'd be pissed. But he's young enough where he's still part of the future core. Like he's not just part of the Pashnak era, he's part of the Higgins era, to my point earlier. I would say more so because Petrka's 24, Minton's 21, going on 22, Husadinoff's 23, Higgins is 19, Laterno's 20, Zellers is 19 or 20. So Peterka is four years to one year older than the Bruins young core right now, and he's four to six years younger than their current top players. So I look at Peterka as a ready now top six forward with top line upside, and he's young at 24 years old. The 23rd overall pick this year. If there was no trade for Peterka, I would have been happy for them to take it, of course. And hopefully that would have been a maybe a either defenseman like a Tommy Belial or something along those lines who was available till 30 overall, or some other defensive prospect, or maybe it's one of the forwards that we talked about, too, that were available. So, you know, picking 23rd overall would have been fine, of course. But when you bring in a Peterka, you bring in a player that you hope somebody you drafted 23 overall could potentially be one day because Petrka already has a 68-point season to his name at 24 years old. Now, of course, he's coming off a bit of a down year with Utah, and I'll elaborate on that in a short time here. But Peterka has three consecutive 25 goal seasons. He has a career high 68 points in 77 games with Buffalo two years ago. And in 320 career games, he has 92 goals, 105 assists, 197 points. So that's a pretty good pedigree for somebody who's only 24 years old because the ceiling for him is yet to be reached, and thought that it could be. So you bring him in. I don't think you're getting a better player at 23 one day necessarily than JJ Peterka, and that player is years away, and Praturka's right now and young enough to also be part of the next core, too. So I like that. And as far as the 2028 first round pick being relinquished that the Bruins got uh from Florida in the Marshan trade, which by the way, this kind of makes the Marshan trade easier to stomach. I know people are still gonna hate, still gonna hate that trade, but the return for Marshan being a late 28 first would have been probably nothing. To get that for your captain and and uh and uh and a franchise greats not not a lot, but now you look at the pick they got for Marshand and how that was half the package for Peterka. All right, well, the Marshand trade, you turned into a legit top six forward now with potentially top line upside for how many years to come? He's only 24 years old, so so you have to feel like the Marshand return, oddly enough, has just improved, which none of us expected because we all thought that they were gonna probably take that pick or maybe trade it at some point in another package. But in any event, it makes you look at that trade a little bit differently. But Preturka has four years left at a 7.7 million dollar cap hit. And when we talk about this Bruins team and what he can do for the Bruins versus what he can do or what he did for Utah, I believe that with the Mammoth, he was one of many. And sometimes when you're one of many, somebody ends up falling behind or not getting their touches or or being used properly. And when I say one of many, Utah has a lot of speed and skill between Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, Dylan Gunther, you know, even um, you know, uh Schmaltz, Nick Schmaltz is a pretty good player for that, but there's others out there too. And I just feel like Petrka got lost in the shuffle there. Whereas if he comes to Boston, a team that could really use his skill set, he's kind of now he's like one of one. He's he's a unique player for a Bruins lineup that could use him. So I think that with an accelerated role or I should say an enhanced role with the Bruins, Preturka should be able to give the Bruins easily 60 plus points in his first year. I I think that this past year was probably more of a anomaly for him in terms of down production. I do think Peterka's skill set, he's got a hell of a shot, great hands, great speed. He's a powerful player. I think he's only six feet tall, maybe just shy of 200 pounds, but he's he's stocky. Like he he's he's got a powerful stride. And so when it's when it comes to the Bruins, can he be assuming he gets a lot of power play time with David Pashnach, which you know he will, and maybe even some five on five time, especially if they're uh running mates on the wing, can Petrka give the Bruins at his peak, you know, 35 goals, 35, 40 assists? Can he can he give you 70, 75 points? I don't think it's out of the question. So you give up a 23rd overall pick this year, which hurts a little bit, but if Praturka was 30, it'd be a much different story. He's so young at just 24 years old that it's not that big of a deal. And then the 2028 first-round pick from Florida, I just think you're hard pressed to believe that that would have turned into anything because the Panthers probably will be a top 10 team in the league for ensuing years here, and it would probably be a low first-round pick. Now, do you feel like the Bruins could have used those picks to package them for something bigger down the line? Maybe, maybe, but Petrka is, I think, a very, very good acquisition because he's not just for the win now crowd. He's not just for Pasternach and McAvoy, he's also just as much for Hagens and Minton beyond the prime years of Pashtiak and McAvoy. So that's what I like about the deal. And let's go right now to JJ Paterka and hear what he has to say about what he expects to bring to the Boston Bruins.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

What parts of your game are you is in particular working on, say, this summer to get maybe get back to there?

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Um, I think scoring. I think uh when I'm when I'm at the best, I can uh score basically from everywhere and making a lot of plays and uh yeah, taking the game over. I think uh that's uh that's one thing that uh when I'm really playing at my size level, that's one thing I can provide for sure. Um I think just getting my confidence back, um is the main focus right now. And uh yeah, getting getting my game back and uh better where it's where it was.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

And have you thought about the chance to potentially play with uh with a David Posterdock, for example?

SPEAKER_01 14:01

That'll be a huge honor. I think um yeah, playing against him uh always was pretty tough. Uh watching him was awesome. So um yeah, but uh with the opportunity to uh yeah to play with him, that'll be uh that'll be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

So does this move alone put the Boston Bruins over the top? No, absolutely not, right? But it is a good player. He's a good player, he's a young player, and as I said, he could be part of your present and your future. So you need players like him to get to where you want to go. So we know he's not the sole answer, but can he be part of the solution? Yes, I think he can be. I absolutely think that JJ Petrka can be. So I like the addition. As far as where he can play for the Bruins, again, I think you could put him with Pashenak or you could put him with a Hagens or a Minton. You know, we'll see how the roster shakes out, um, especially over the next week or two between possibly more trades and certainly free agency if the Bruins are involved there. We'll see what happens. Obviously, Victor Arvidson is not under contract for the Bruins right now. He was in their top six last year, so we'll see. Do they try to trade Casey Middlestad? I don't know. We'll see here. But what what does this also mean for the Boston Bruins? Well, the JJ Peterka acquisition tells me that we can probably kiss the uh Pavel Zaka summer trade uh goodbye. I don't see that happening anymore. Could I have seen it happening at the trade uh at the at the draft? Possibly. Could he still be part of a package for a bigger, huge trade? Maybe. But unless it's some type of blockbuster where Zocca is just a small or medium part of a bigger, bigger package, then I don't think you're trading him anymore. And you know, to be fair to the Bruins, they never said they wanted to trade him. In fact, they said the opposite. Don Sweeney said that it's their goal to extend Zaka and that they think he's a big part of their team, which we all understand he he is, and any conversation surrounding trading him, at least from from my perspective, is never predicated on me thinking he's not a good player. I think he's a really good player for the Bruins with some non-optimal playoff production, but he's a clearly a very important player for the Bruins. It's more about asset management. And if the Bruins aren't sure that they're gonna extend him because they don't see eye to eye with with Zakis Camp, then I felt as though the Bruins should heavily look into trading him this summer in what has been a seller's market. Because while yes, you can trade him at the deadline next year if the team flounders and they're selling, that's kind of not what their plan is. So again, if Zaka's on the Bruins through next trade deadline for whatever reason, then at that point, if he's not extended, he needs to be because now you're now you're gonna lose him for nothing or or very little. But I think the Peterka signing tells me that they're gonna at the very least not trade Zaka. Like they might not extend them right now, they might not extend him until later next year or whatever. He's not eligible to be uh extended until July 1 anyway, so we'll see if they do that. But that's one thing the Paterka trade tells me is that Zaka, I don't think, is going anywhere this summer. If he does now, I'll be surprised. But again, to be fair to any conversations I've had on here, I didn't foresee them trading for JJ Paturka. His name wasn't even mentioned in terms of rumored players to be traded heading into this summer. Like, so I mean, maybe maybe he was in smaller circles, but it wasn't talked about really. So I talked about the Bruins maybe trying to trade for Kent Johnson or Mason McTavish. McTavish, by the way, goes to the St. Louis Blues. Olin Zellweger goes to the Buffalo Sabres, Pavel Dorofiev to the New York Rangers. There's there's other trades out there too that happened, but I talked about the Kent Johnson moves and the McTavish moves because I didn't know that JJ Paterka was available by Utah. Wow. He they just traded for him last year and they signed him to a to like a five-year deal. So I just I didn't think he was available. So you add a player like that with that skill set to and his youth to this Bruins roster, okay, that's a good that's a good solid addition. And the Zaka situation can play itself out over time, but I just don't think he's going anywhere as we currently speak. But then again, I could be very surprised. Uh I'm oftentimes wrong, so we'll see. As far as other trades the Bruins made over draft weekend, the Fabian Lysel era in Boston is mercifully over for the players' sake. He was drafted in 2021, and I remember on the skate podcast we had Chris Peters. We've been having Chris Peters on that podcast for some years now. Um, but heading into the 2021 draft, we talked about who the Bruins may select. And Chris Peters mentioned that there's a kid named Fabian Lysel who has the skill set to pop to possibly be a top 10, 12 draft pick, but maybe for different reasons could be available to the Bruins. Uh, I want to say it was Lysel a 23rd pick or 20, whatever he was. I think it was in the 20s somewhere. And long story short, so I remember, you know, when the Bruins drafted Lysel and it was a gamble on a on a skill player. Didn't work out. Didn't work out. I think the team is to blame in in in large part. And I think the blade, uh, the player is to blame in in large part as well. Ultimately, I think the biggest failure here is the mismanagement of a first round asset. And when I say that, I don't mean Fabian Lyselle specifically as a as a human or I just mean generally speaking, first round draft picks, assets, they can even if they aren't a part of your future, can they like directly, can they somehow indirectly still help your future? So what I mean by that is could the Bruins done, could the Bruins have done a better job of giving Lysel opportunities to showcase himself and maybe fly, maybe sink, but maybe he does somewhere in between, and somebody around the league looks at Lysel and maybe would trade something of somewhat value for him. The Bruins just allowed his stock to plummet. And to me, that's the unforgivable part of the situation in terms of the Bruins go, because there were also times where the Bruins had opportunities to see what the kid could do for them. Like, you know, the the year the Bruins sold a bunch of pieces, they sold off Marshan, they they traded Carlo and Coyle and Frederick, Razzo, like all they traded all these pieces away, and they were en route to a lottery finish. And they just, you know, they gave him a couple of games towards the end. Looked okay. And, you know, they they just he came back to camp this past summer and he didn't really do anything. But I also was at training camp and he was always part of like the extra, the you know, the non-varsity sessions. I don't think he got his first preseason game until the Bruins' third or fourth game, which blew my mind that a first-round prospect of theirs wasn't getting a preseason game until three games in and a five-game schedule. So listen, if the Bruins didn't like the player for themselves, they should have at least tried to see what he could do on teams in situations that weren't going anywhere, if for no other reason than to try to help his his stock and and maybe flip him for something at some point. But instead, they hold on to him, his value plummet, and they end up trading him for somebody called Ivan Ivan, who's a let's call it for what it is, a depth player fringe AHL, NHL guy from Colorado system. So it's a shame that it came to this. And I just feel like the Bruins, and they're starting to recognize it, but they got to change their ways. They have to change their ways. Moujanel's gone. Jamie Langenbrenner is gone. Uh, not that he was part of Providence's development, but you know, you have a lot of the problem with the Providence Bruins is that they had a bunch of journeyman over the years that were that were taking up a ton of ice time. And so because of that, the Providence Bruins were winning games because they're full of professionals that have ridden the bus for 10 years. And so, you know, they're out maturing, outphysicling young prospects of other teams, but that gets them regulation wins in the regular season, but they weren't developing any true prospects through from Providence to Boston. I mean, the Bruins have one of the younger rosters in the NHL right now. I think they have like a top 10 roster in terms of youth. And how many of those players were even you know drafted by the Bruins? Charlie McAvoy, David Pasternak, Jeremy Swayman, and I want to say and Mason Lorry. Those four players were the only Boston Bruins draft picks to play more than six games for the Boston Bruins last year. And Pasternak was drafted 12 years ago. McAvoy 10. Swayman, what was it, eight? Laura seven or something, like whatever it is. Obviously, Minton and Husadinoff are younger players, but they were drafted from other organizations. Hagens, yes, Bruins draft pick, but he's a blue chip and he got a couple games towards the end. But generally speaking, over the last 10 years or so, there just haven't been a lot of players, especially under Mujinel's watch, that have gone from Providence to Boston and been key players. So, you know, Lysel is just the latest and greatest example of just you know failed development by the Boston Bruins, call it a combination of player and team, but it didn't work out, and that's one thing, but to let his value just plummet the way that it did as a first as a former first-round pick, that's just inexcusable. So let's hear what Don Sweeney had to say about trading Fabian Lysel.

SPEAKER_07 25:10

Don, um, why do you think it ultimately didn't work out with Fabian Lysel? And in retrospect, are there things you wish you guys had done differently in terms of his development?

SPEAKER_08 25:19

Yeah, well, I I spoke to Fabian today, and uh, you know, we want to wish Fabian well. I mean, obviously he's he's been a very productive player at the American Hockey League level. He hasn't uh fully grasped at the NHL level what it what it probably requires to play each and every night. He took ownership of that today. We took ownership that, you know, could we have done more and better in supporting him? Probably. You know, he just you know he was he was he was really good in the fact that that you know the grind and and making the jump to the pro game is is a lot. And he did it at an early age, he came over here at an early age, and uh you know again, we're we're providing an opportunity for Fabian, and I think it's uh it's the right thing to do for him personally um and hopefully professionally. We're excited about Ivan uh Ivan Ivan, obviously, and and uh but I'll refer to his first name and Ivan um because he's played games, he's got experience, he's got versatility to his game. Uh here's a player that's worked his his way from an undrafted player to a tryout, to an AHL deal, to playing you know the amount of games now he has it on a really good team. Uh so we think there's some versatility there, and and the change of scenery for him will be welcome and uh and he'll come and compete for a job here.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

So good luck to Fabian Lyselle in Colorado. I'm very curious to see what he can make of himself there because I guarantee you guys he's gonna get more opportunity probably with their organization. Uh they're win they're a winning team, they're a win now team, and there's a lot demanded of those of those players, especially from their captain and Nathan McKinnon. So if Fabian Lyselle does indeed end up cracking the NHL roster at some point for them, he'll have he'll have Nate Dog on his ass. And uh, but for right now, it it's it's it's a lesson learned by the Boston Bruins. Frankly, I don't know why it's taken them so long. You know, they've been they've been a stubborn organization, I think, in terms of their their own draft picks. They give more opportunity to players from outside their organization that come in, even when they're younger, than they do their own draft picks. They're just so hard on them. And I just feel like, yes, the players have to become, they have to give the coaches and the management a reason not to play them, right? You have to kind of, yes, you have to dominate to an extent. But I just feel like the league is changing, it's been changing, and I just feel like there's too many old school minds in that Bruins organization that I think the Bruins are recognizing that and they're trying to fix that. I think the Providence Bruins going forward are gonna be a much younger team where hopefully their priority is developing, truly developing these prospects to one day be Boston Bruins instead of just dishing out a ton of ice time to a bunch of tweener AHL NHL veterans to rack up regulation wins and Lord knows what that does. Here's the thing it's like I know that for players and coaches of the of the AHL, their goal is to obviously win a championship. Like I get that. But if you're the Boston Bruins, right? What matters to you more in terms of the Providence Bruins? Turning minor league players and prospects into NHL players for you or winning Calder Cups but not promoting players to the to the to the NHL. You see what I'm saying? Like, if you were to ask Don Sweeney, Don, would you rather the Providence Bruins not make the playoffs every single year, but every couple of years they're feeding you prospects that have now become NHL ready for the Boston Bruins? Or would you rather three Calder Cups in five years, right uh regular season uh you know trophies, and but you're never graduating players to the NHL level? Like what what matters most? What's the job ultimately of any minor league team? Is it to win championships at that level, or should it be to graduate players to the next level? It's the latter, or it should be at least. So we'll see if the Bruins can get with the times a little bit and start to have more of a new age mentality with some of these younger players. Okay, speaking of younger players, now let's talk about the Boston Bruins draft strategy this past uh weekend because as I mentioned off the top, they traded away 23 overall for JJ Peterka. Now, I want to give the the scouting staff some recognition here in the sense that up until a month ago, they thought that there was a possibility that they were drafting in the top 10 and at 23 overall, potentially. So they probably did a lot of homework, right? And then Toronto wins the draft lottery. So there goes Boston's opportunity to draft in the top 10. And then on draft night, Don Sweeney trades the 23rd overall pick for JJ Peterka, along with a 2028 first round pick from Florida that's top 10 protected. So they kind of had the rug uh ripped out from under them a little bit. Okay. So what are you gonna do now with your first draft pick at 56 overall? You're gonna draft a defenseman? You're gonna draft a forward? Nope. They draft a goalie. Now, listen, I want to have a legit conversation about this because you say something online, and you know, you got the fans who the Bruins can never do anything wrong, and then you got the fans who the Bruins can never do anything right, all going at each other in my mentions, and it's like, listen, guys, like can we just have a conversation about this and call it for what it is? It was a silly choice. It was a it was a draft choice that, in my opinion, was poor prioritizing. I'm not doubting that the Boston Bruins liked Yuri Ivanoff the most at that spot. He may have been the best player available in their opinion, but I can promise you that no other lists, no other rankings had Yuri Ivanoff as the best player available at 56 overall. So you can't even tell me that argument because what I'm about to talk about is the fact that the Boston Bruins have a strong need for right-handed shot prospects, and there are people out there who say, well, you're not supposed to draft for need, Brian. Best available, right? Okay, you're telling me that Yuri Ivanov was best available at 56 in the second round. Really? Miss me with that argument. So clearly, if you're not going for best available, and and if he's best available in the Bruins' eyes, then you know, again, we have some serious questions for this Bruins organization, in my opinion. Now, I don't want to overreact to this, okay? But let's just talk about the fact that the Bruins drafted a goalie in the second round with their first pick in this draft because they traded away their first round pick. If the Boston Bruins needed goaltending, that's one thing. If the Boston Bruins were fine with prospects at other positions, that's one thing. It's literally the opposite. It's quite literally the opposite. So indulge me for a second here. Because I have people out there telling me, oh, who cares? It's this guy is gonna be, don't you know this guy's gonna be your goalie of the 2030s? By the time Swayman's retired, this kid's ready. It's like, excuse me, first of all, I understand how development timelines work. I do. Why are you worried about who the goalie could potentially be in the mid-2030s or early 2030s? Which again, Swayman's 27. It's 2026. He could be your goalie for the next eight years. Why are you why are you worried about who the succession plan is for Jeremy Swayman in the 2030s, probably the early to mid-2030s at least, instead of somebody you could draft that could potentially be on your blue line in the 2020s? Like, like why don't tell me that this pick is for the for that far into the future. What about the blue line in the more immediate future? Now I know that not all draft picks, especially in the second round, hit. But why are we not taking flyers? Because your your right side pipeline is completely bare beyond Charlie McAvoy, and it has been for a long time. So, first and foremost, let's talk about the position of strength organizationally that is goaltending for the Boston Bruins. And I guys, honestly, I I was losing brain cells. I had people questioning me about the fact that the Boston Bruins goaltending wasn't even an organizational strength. I mean, what what what are you talking about? What are you talking about? What is their organizational strength if not goaltending? Is it right side defense? No. Is it left side defense? Better, but no. Is it center ice? Well, yes, at least actually you have some some center prospects and Minton and Haggins and Laterno. So you have depth there and promise, but you don't know if there's necessarily a true 1C there. But at least that's that that's definitely a position that you're getting stronger at for sure. And at the wing, the Bruins are getting better too. The Petrca editions really helps that too. Because Pashnak is one of the best right wingers in hockey, and I I personally feel like because Gigi plays both sides, I feel and so can Paturka, but I feel like Paturka is a step above whatever whatever they've had in Boston recently at left wing. So I like that that acquisition in terms of wingers. But goaltending, you have at the NHL level, let's talk organizationally here. Let's start at the NHL level. You have a Vesna finalist in his prime, still in his mid-20s in Jeremy Swayman, mid to late 20s in Jeremy Swayman. You have an above-average backup NHL goalie in Jonas Corposolo. You have the two-time defending AHL goalie of the year in Michael D. Pietro. You have Max Lundgren, who propelled Merrimack College to their first ever Hockey East championship in school history, winning Hockey East tournament MVP honors in the process. He was outstanding. He tore up hockey east. Simon Zahaichek's a decent AHL goalie. Okay, and and and there's others too. So why did you feel the need to draft this kid right now over potentially a right shot defenseman? Because right now, organizationally, the Boston Bruins depth chart in terms of right shot defensemen, beyond Charlie McAvoy, is Henry Yoki Haryu and Billy Sweezy. Why are we not trying to replenish that? Like it I understand with the goaltending, because people are like, well, maybe they'll trade Corpusala or DPHR. It's like, no, I get that. I get that. But only so many players can play goalie. Jeremy Swayman is not going anywhere anytime soon. And I can appreciate the fact that this kid could be a goalie of the future. He's only 17 years old. And maybe in the in the early to mid-2030s, he's he's your guy or at least a backup. Fine. But that's so far away, and you're fine at that position. Why why are we not targeting the blue line? And if if your response is because you draft best available, I'm with you on that. But you can't sell me on the fact that Yuri Ivanov was best available. The reality is the Bruins picked him at 56. Their next pick, I think, was 88. And so, you know, they just thought that somebody else may have taken him. Okay, fine. Fine. But let me let me give you some some uh some facts here. Dating back to 2021, the Bruins have selected 36 players in the NHL draft. Three of them, three of the 36 were right shot defensemen. And one of those three was pick 36. The last pick in this year's draft was a right shot defenseman in the seventh round. Let me give you another fact. Dating back to 2022, so over five drafts, the Boston Bruins drafted three goalies before they even drafted a right shot defenseman. Sedback in 2022, and then these two kids this year were all drafted before finally they drafted a right-handed shot defenseman at seventh in the seventh round this year. So, you know, I might be projecting my my confusion on this specific draft pick because it's been so long. The Bruins just don't draft right shot defensemen, and it's it's it's like it's annoying because it's their clear organizational weak spot. It's where they have the least amount of depth. So anyway, uh I find it interesting. Let's hear what Ryan Nado, who is the uh director of amateur scuding for the Boston Bruins, let's hear what he had to say about the Boston Bruins uh defensive pipeline.

SPEAKER_04 40:02

Ryan, where where do you view or how do you view rather your defensive pipeline and where things stand on the defensive end uh after today and these last few drafts here?

SPEAKER_05 40:13

Yeah, you know, it it's as you watch the draft go, you know, without having uh a first round pick, this was a real deep defensive draft with a with a lot of defensemen who went early. Um, you know, we're we were looking, thinking maybe depending on how things went, second, third round. Um, again, the way we valued some of the players, you know, it ended up going goalie forward for us there. Uh, and then we we sort of had a bit of a drop-off in in D. We're thinking we've got some guys that we're gonna target a little bit later on that we figured we could get. We ended up you know being able to draft two of them later. Um yeah, there's times we're cognizant and would say, yeah, maybe we could could really use a D here, but again, we don't want to overvalue it just to hit a positional thing that you know there's different ways of filling that, you know, whether it's it's through free agency, whether it's college European free agency or just pro-free agency, where we might be able to backfill some of that.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

All right, so I like the last thing that NATO said there, which is listen, there's more avenues to add players for positions of need outside of the draft. And I and I I agree with that and I understand that he mentions you know uh undrafted free agents for you know whether it's players that are in Europe or in college hockey in the in the states or wherever, right? And also the draft can be a bit of a anybody's guess because these kids are so young, right? They're 17, 18 years old when they're drafted, and you don't really know how their development's gonna go and who could be late bloomers, who could have peaked early, stuff like that. So if you can take some time, if you can take an extra year or two to try to identify some players that are now 19 or 20, that are you know undrafted or their rights are not owned by any team, and you can identify some help on the right side, sure. And the other thing is here is clearly the Bruins are probably gonna try to add some some help on the blue line this summer, whether it's free agency or via trade still. So I'm not sitting here saying, oh my god, the Bruins, they should have drafted the right shot defenseman at 23 overall to be on their blue line this year. Of course not. Like I know that's not the case. But when you have a position of strength organizationally in goaltending, and by the way, like we've seen time and time again the Bruins can develop goalies, and most of the time they go somewhere else. And in some situations, like Bussy, they win, they win a championship. So um we know goaltending is not their problem, so why are you drafting for it? You can find goalies, you don't need to draft two. They drafted two goalies in this draft, two goalies. Like you meanwhile, they haven't they hadn't up until the seventh round, the Boston Bruins had not drafted a right shot defenseman in since 2021. 2021! And you have people telling me to to chill out and and and oh no, this this gets the goalie of the future. It's like okay, fine, but why why I'm I'm taking crazy pills. The Bruins' weakest organizational position depth wise is right shot defense, and they hadn't drafted one in five or six years until round seven. They drafted three effing goalies since 2022 before drafting a right shot defense prospect. So listen, it's just a conversation, but don't act like I'm an asshole for questioning it. It's like if we're gonna have a conversation about the Bruins, it's not always gonna be Sunshine and Rainbows. Thought it was going to be, you know, clouds and thunderstorms. You have to be able to ask questions about what they're doing. It was objectively weird to me that they drafted a goalie, two goalies. When they have a Vesna finalist, a legit backup in Corpusalo, two-time AHL reigning goalie of the year in DPH row, hockey East best goalie of the year in Max Lundgren, Zahay Czech. How many goalies do you need? I mean, I'm being told that this gives a goalie in the future in twenty in ten years. And I'm trying to focus on the blue line right now. Like, what are we doing here? So it's small, it's I know I've rambled on it a little bit longer than I probably was going to, and it's it probably doesn't deserve the air time that I'm giving it because it is relatively small potatoes. It's less about the specific pick for Ivanov than it is the fact that they just they just don't draft right shot defensemen. They just don't. Now, something else that NATO said was that they they only felt like players that were available at 56 were defensemen that may have been potentially best case, maybe a top four defensemen of the future, but all likelihood a bottom pair guy, or if it was a forward, maybe at most a middle six forward of the future. It's like, well, yeah, that's that's the second round. You can still you can still take a swing on somebody and see see if they become something. You'll never know if you don't draft any. So like I can appreciate the fact that the Bruins didn't think that maybe there was anybody good available, so they just went with a goalie because their goalie guys were high on them, but but that doesn't explain away the last five drafts where they just haven't drafted a right shot guy. Now, obviously, of those 36 picks, obviously there were a lot of those picks that I probably wouldn't have wanted them taking a defenseman because they needed forward help too, right? Like I didn't want them drafting a D-man over James Higgins, right? Like I'm glad they took a forward there. But even when they draft D, they're always left shot defense. Now, maybe that's because those are harder to find at the NHL level. I get that. But in any event, when you're when you're looking at a depth chart of McAvoy, Yoki Haryu, and Billy Sweezy, and we just keep punting on potential in-house prospects at right shot D. And I know that you can play your offside, so you could be a lefty and play the right side. I get that, but I just find it curious, that's all. So those are my final thoughts on uh on the Bruins draft picks. I mean, obviously, they took seven guys, they took two goalies, two defensemen, and three forwards, and we'll slightly we'll circle back on these players. I'm not gonna waste too much time because none of us have really watched them extensively outside of maybe a few highlights. So if it's a non-first rounder, I generally like to wait a year and see who pops in their first post-draft season, and then kind of go from there. Right now, it's a needle and a haystack. So uh all you need to know is the Bruins drafted two goalies, um, two defensemen, a left shot and a right shot finally in round seven. Cullen McCraight was the guy of choice, and then three forwards, um, all of whom I believe were wingers. So um we'll circle back on this on the 2026 draft in the future and and see what happens. The the in all likelihood, the biggest acquisition to help the Boston Bruins in the 2026 draft was acquiring JJ Peterka um in large part because you give up your 23rd pick. So we'll keep an eye on all that. All right, now let's move on finally to something I saw online. It was an article by somebody named Aaron Portsline. He writes for the athletic and he covers the Columbus Blue Jackets, and he wrote an article about eight teams that could be a fit for Zach Werensky, who very much appears to be um soon to be traded this summer. Ports line mentions the Philadelphia Flyers, the Dallas Stars, the Carolina Hurricanes, the San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs, the Anaheim Ducks, the Detroit Red Wings, and the Boston Bruins. So interesting. I am not sure if the Bruins are a realistic landing spot for Rowensky. I mean, maybe the Bruins could send a pretty good package to Columbus, but A, are the Bruins willing to do that? But B, I also think uh a lot of these teams could probably give Columbus a better package right now, whether it be more NHL ready proven players or some high prospects or pick, whatever the case may be. I don't see the Bruins going to be able to be the landing spot for Rorensky, but it's interesting that a beat writer for Columbus who's in the know has Boston among teams that could be a landing spot for Zach Rorensky. What would you be willing to give up for him? What would that trade package look like? I have to imagine you're gonna have to send out a couple of legit roster players because I think Columbus wants to get better now, too. So maybe it's uh maybe it's a Laura and a Minton and a first and Laterno or something like that. I really don't know. Obviously, anybody's gonna want James Higgins and a big time blockbuster trade with the Bruins, but at the same time, Rorensky, you know, he wants out and he he had the the balls are in his court. So these are the situations where if you're Columbus, you might not be able to get the best return if Zach says I only want to go to Boston. And I'm not saying that that's the case because I don't think that is, but hypothetically, these are the situations where you'd have to give up a King's ransom for him for sure, but maybe a more selective one if you're the buyer here, right? Maybe the Bruins can get away with, like I said, a Laura, a first, you know, and then like maybe one of Hagan's or Laterno and a Minton or something. I don't I don't really know. I'm I'm not great at mock-ups, but um interesting to follow. Zach Werenski is definitely gonna go on the move somewhere. I I don't I don't know where. Maybe one of these teams, I could of these teams, could he go to Toronto? That'd be interesting because obviously they just drafted Gavin McKenna, but he would be going there to play with Austin Matthews for sure. But Toronto just also got Darren Radish. So if Toronto in one offseason brings in Darren Radish, Zach Oransky, and Gavin McKenna, that's a pretty good offseason. Now, what would they have to give up? Probably Matthew Nice in the process, and maybe Easton Collin and you know a couple first rounders, whatever Toronto has. But that would be an interesting spot. Dallas, Dallas might try to flip, you know, Jason Robertson for something and then bring in Rowensky. I don't know. But in any event, I found it interesting Boston was on his list. Why would he want to come to the Bruins? Because I know there's going to be some out there say, why the hell would he want to go to Boston? Well, there's a couple of reasons. First of all, to play with David Pasternak is a lot more uh attractive than people may give it credit because he is one of the best players in the NHL. Charlie McAvoy was Worensky's deep partner at times in the Olympics. Very good friends with him. Probably good friends with Jeremy Swayman, Olympic teammates. So, you know, you never know. Never say never. If it's not Zach Rorensky, where else could the Bruins possibly upgrade their blue line? Because it's not going to be through the draft. We all know that right now. Uh via trade, maybe. I mean, Olin Zellweger, as I said, went to Buffalo. Um, you know, Brant Clark stayed put as expected in Los Angeles. Uh, you know, Rasmus Anderson clearly seems to be the easiest choice for the Bruins in terms of availability. He's gonna be on the UFA market on Wednesday, and you know, he's not costing you assets, he's only costing you money. So we'll see if that's what the Bruins try to do. Darren Radish obviously is in Toronto, John Carlson had his rights traded to Carolina. I'm sure he'll probably stay with maybe the Hurricanes, or maybe they I don't know. We'll see. But there's not a ton of options. Jacob Truba, not really loving that. So the other thing, too, is the Bruins only have $7.7 million in cap space right now. So they're gonna have to move some money around over the coming days here. I'm looking at a Middle Stad, a Corpusalo, a Yoki Haryu, Corale, AC Mont. Can they move some guys like that? Um, you know, can they bring back Victor Arvinson? All these things still have to be ironed out. But with JJ Peterka in the mix, it definitely, you know, between Peterka and the Bruins, the acquisition of him and the Bruins only having 7 million in cap space, if they are able to get rid of some cap space, will Arvindson be their first priority or will it be a defenseman? Right? So, very curious times ahead here. We'll see how it all plays out. Um as I mentioned, free agency is on Wednesday. So be sure to keep it here. I will be reacting to it with an episode on Thursday morning. So this week's second episode will be on Thursday instead of Friday, unless there's some other breaking trade happen on Friday or something. Um, with all that said, um enjoy the start to your work week. Enjoy the the buzz and the chaos of free agency on Wednesday, and I'll talk to you on Thursday.