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Sportsnet Elliotte Friedman " 32 Thoughts " Column ( Updated March 20 - 2025 )

BostonBob

BostonBob

4 Ever The Greatest
Jan 26, 2004
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Vancouver, BC
Of course the only Bruin news is about the Swayman contract situation.

5. Otherwise, not a ton from the weekend on the RFAs. Quiet around Jeremy Swayman as everyone tries to bridge the philosophical differences. I stick to my prediction Dawson Mercer builds a bridge deal. The most stress-free negotiation so far is Thomas Harley’s, but we’ll see what happens this week.

6. One thing that’s definitely happened with Swayman: it has reminded teams why you should move mountains before taking cornerstone players to arbitration. Every few years there’s a case — Tommy Salo, P.K. Subban, Shea Weber — leaving lasting bitterness on someone’s part. (I always admired Brendan Morrison for not losing his mind when the NHL’s lawyer called him the mouse to Todd Bertuzzi’s elephant.) The best news for the Bruins is their No. 1 goalie still wants to sign long-term.



Full column: www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/32-thoughts-where-remaining-rfas-stand-as-training-camps-near/
 
Nothing major but Friedman squeezed in a bit of Bruin news in this week's column:

6. I watch a lot of Boston (shoutout Sophia Jurksztowicz, hope to see you back on-air soon). The eye-test isn’t pretty, the underlying numbers are unusually poor. Theory from 900 km away: the Bruins' two games with Florida messed them up. The playoffs are for “taking numbers” and dealing with things next season. The Bruins desired that, it was a pointed topic of discussion. But the Panthers beat them twice, while not allowing Boston to gain any satisfying measure of physical payback.

There’s been a lot early: Jeremy Swayman’s lengthy contract stalemate; Jim Montgomery going hard at captain Brad Marchand on the bench in Utah. That yelling wouldn’t bother me, as long as it was a rare occurrence. I’d be more worried if it happened often, that’s a sign of things coming unglued. A couple sources pointed out that they don’t like coaches who only make examples of young players or fourth-liners, and Montgomery isn’t afraid to criticize his stars. (The tap to Marchand was the only thing that concerned me, but didn’t cross a line and surely won't happen again.)

They don’t look like themselves, but repeatedly made us look like fools for anticipating their demise. High-IQ team that isn’t itself right now and needs a re-start. Again, personal opinion, but I thought those Florida games really threw them (and reminded us the Panthers are still a force).


 
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BostonBob said:
Nothing major but Friedman squeezed in a bit of Bruin news in this week's column:

6. I watch a lot of Boston (shoutout Sophia Jurksztowicz, hope to see you back on-air soon). The eye-test isn’t pretty, the underlying numbers are unusually poor. Theory from 900 km away: the Bruins' two games with Florida messed them up. The playoffs are for “taking numbers” and dealing with things next season. The Bruins desired that, it was a pointed topic of discussion. But the Panthers beat them twice, while not allowing Boston to gain any satisfying measure of physical payback.

There’s been a lot early: Jeremy Swayman’s lengthy contract stalemate; Jim Montgomery going hard at captain Brad Marchand on the bench in Utah. That yelling wouldn’t bother me, as long as it was a rare occurrence. I’d be more worried if it happened often, that’s a sign of things coming unglued. A couple sources pointed out that they don’t like coaches who only make examples of young players or fourth-liners, and Montgomery isn’t afraid to criticize his stars. (The tap to Marchand was the only thing that concerned me, but didn’t cross a line and surely won't happen again.)

They don’t look like themselves, but repeatedly made us look like fools for anticipating their demise. High-IQ team that isn’t itself right now and needs a re-start. Again, personal opinion, but I thought those Florida games really threw them (and reminded us the Panthers are still a force).


Click to expand...
That’s a reasonable take by EF. This team will be fine. They’ll make the playoffs, maybe win a round if we are lucky.
 
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BostonBob said:
Nothing major but Friedman squeezed in a bit of Bruin news in this week's column:

6. I watch a lot of Boston (shoutout Sophia Jurksztowicz, hope to see you back on-air soon). The eye-test isn’t pretty, the underlying numbers are unusually poor. Theory from 900 km away: the Bruins' two games with Florida messed them up. The playoffs are for “taking numbers” and dealing with things next season. The Bruins desired that, it was a pointed topic of discussion. But the Panthers beat them twice, while not allowing Boston to gain any satisfying measure of physical payback.

There’s been a lot early: Jeremy Swayman’s lengthy contract stalemate; Jim Montgomery going hard at captain Brad Marchand on the bench in Utah. That yelling wouldn’t bother me, as long as it was a rare occurrence. I’d be more worried if it happened often, that’s a sign of things coming unglued. A couple sources pointed out that they don’t like coaches who only make examples of young players or fourth-liners, and Montgomery isn’t afraid to criticize his stars. (The tap to Marchand was the only thing that concerned me, but didn’t cross a line and surely won't happen again.)

They don’t look like themselves, but repeatedly made us look like fools for anticipating their demise. High-IQ team that isn’t itself right now and needs a re-start. Again, personal opinion, but I thought those Florida games really threw them (and reminded us the Panthers are still a force).


Click to expand...
That's on Montgomery.He should have been marking days as soon as schedule came out.I am not a big Friedman fan but he nailed this.
 
I guess not much was happening in Leafland this week because Friedman actually had time to mention the Bruins:

8. Boston is a little tougher to figure. They’ve looked around, as you would expect, but they’ve tried to be patient. They indicated it was important to see how last weekend went, and the answer was “perfect,” with back-to-back shutouts. So, things cooled down. For 48 hours. They went off the rails in Toronto before grabbing a roller-coaster win against Calgary. They are really trying to let this group work out its problems.

 
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As expected lots of talk about the Montgomery firing in this week's column but also a bit of other Bruins stuff too:

2. It’s not a surprise, but we’re already hearing that forwards with “an edge” will be coveted by contenders. So, when the Bruins are being scouted, that’s Trent Frederic. Obviously, his as-yet-undetermined contract status looms large. There was some Morgan Geekie talk, but that may have been when he was out of the lineup. Teams generally understand that if someone in the final season of his contract is not in their plans, they should find that player another situation.

3. Weird idea that may only make sense to me: Nikita Zadorov back to Vancouver. No idea if even possible, or if anyone would want it, but he was a good fit and the Canucks miss him.


 
BostonBob said:
As expected lots of talk about the Montgomery firing in this week's column but also a bit of other Bruins stuff too:

2. It’s not a surprise, but we’re already hearing that forwards with “an edge” will be coveted by contenders. So, when the Bruins are being scouted, that’s Trent Frederic. Obviously, his as-yet-undetermined contract status looms large. There was some Morgan Geekie talk, but that may have been when he was out of the lineup. Teams generally understand that if someone in the final season of his contract is not in their plans, they should find that player another situation.

3. Weird idea that may only make sense to me: Nikita Zadorov back to Vancouver. No idea if even possible, or if anyone would want it, but he was a good fit and the Canucks miss him.


Click to expand...
Freidman's #3 is, I'll have what he is smoking.
 
Well this hurts:

23. After Connor McDavid's overtime winner, cameras caught a great shot of Cooper pulling Jordan Billington out of the celebration to deliver a message. From what I understand, this gist of it was: “I knew you could do it. You’re our guy. We wouldn’t be standing here without you. This is your building.” Awesome stuff.

 
BostonBob said:
Well this hurts:

23. After Connor McDavid's overtime winner, cameras caught a great shot of Cooper pulling Jordan Billington out of the celebration to deliver a message. From what I understand, this gist of it was: “I knew you could do it. You’re our guy. We wouldn’t be standing here without you. This is your building.” Awesome stuff.

Click to expand...
Yeah, it hurts, but it's true though. Jon Cooper does have a way with words. Could you imagine Joe Sacco ever saying anything remotely inspiring?
 
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