Bruins-Panthers pre-season crossover!

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Your Lockdown Bruins, your daily podcast on the Boston Bruins, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What is up Bruins fans and welcome back to Lockdown Boston Bruins, I'm your host Ian McLaren and this is a daily show where we discuss all things spoke to be. Today is Tuesday, September 5th, happy back to school for everyone up here in Canada anyways in Ontario, sent our three boys off this morning and more importantly for the purposes of this podcast, black and gold, back on the ice with a very sweet spoke to be a center ice at Warrior Ice Arena for the captain's practice, no captain of course, but a lot of Bruins are gathered and we're ramping things up towards training camp. Today on the podcast I'm joined by Armando Valese of Lockdown Panthers to discuss a whole bunch of topics in terms of both teams where they've been since the playoffs, the outlook for this coming season, quick reminder that we're still on three shows per week until September 18th and that's when we'll be back to daily podcasts, you're going to want to subscribe to Lockdown Boston Bruins on your favorite podcast app as well as on YouTube so that you don't miss a thing this coming season, become an everydayer and catch all the latest on the black and gold here on Lockdown Boston Bruins. Quick reminder the podcast available on social media at Lockdown NHL Bruins, you can find me at E&C McLaren and without further ado let's get to this special Bruins Panthers crossover edition featuring Armando Valese of Lockdown Florida Panthers. All right well I guess it's fitting to kick off a new season here by getting together with Armando seeing as his Florida Panthers ended the Boston Bruins season back in April. Oh man Armando you've had a much shorter off season than I have and I guess I'll start just by asking are the expectations in Florida this year a bit higher than they were going into the last season or yeah was the playoff run kind of what's to be expected for the Panthers coming into 2023-24. Yeah when it comes to just the overall season as a whole off season and everything that the Florida Panthers went through with hiring a new head coach bringing in Matthew Kachak. I mean I mean this was the let's not forget that this Florida Panthers team was a Pittsburgh Penguins win away against Chicago for I think about that all the time and also Pittsburgh beating Columbus too as well in the last game of the season they were wins those wins from other teams away from not even qualifying for the Stanley Cup playoffs and it's crazy what the discussion points this off season would have been had they not made it. I mean I think Palm Reese would his seat would definitely be hot coming into this one but crazy what has happened since April 30th of 2023 when the Florida Panthers did go into the TD Garden and when gave seven on the road but yeah as far as that the Florida Panthers have quite a few injuries going into this upcoming season I mean with Aaron Eckladh broke his fractured his leg in game two in the Boston series and played through it he didn't know it was broken until in between the Leafs and the Hurricane series still kept on playing even scored a goal in game five of the Stanley Cup final even crazy to think. Montor was going to be missing some time as well had was was offensively in brand Montor carrying it on from the Boston series the Toronto series I mean fell off a little bit offensively until the Stanley Cup final but he's going to miss some time as well but the Florida Panthers have guys coming in including defenseman Mike Riley who the Boston Bruins ball out. I saw that the dead cap hit was going to be 333K and then 1.3 next year so good good cap savings for the B's this upcoming season but not only Mike Riley all right from Larsen who got bought out by the Vancouver Connux as well of Niko Mikaela who has a cat friendly and team friendly deal for the Florida Panthers and my favorite signing of of this off season for the Florida Panthers Evan Rodriguez who's played with Nathan McKinnon and Sydney Crosby in the last two seasons a late bloomer when it comes to his success in the NHL and he's likely going to be playing on that top line with Alexander Barkoff that's a good track after that broken sternum he's expected to start the season at Illustrated who broke his left of who fractured his tibia in the Carolina series is expected to start as the season as well so there's a little bit of up and ups and downs when it comes to injury front for the Florida Panthers but as far as what's in place the course still in place the coaching staff is still in place for the Florida Panthers so you know it's really going to be telling these first 10-ish 15-ish games for the Panthers on what's what's it going to be I mean the Panthers started 4-1 and 1 last year and then went on and then the wheels kind of fell off in the beginning of the season last year so are we expecting necessarily that this upcoming season I think the Panthers are going to find a way to stay afloat I mean coming off the 1996 playoff run to the Stanley Cup final which they got swept by Colorado they got a better start of the season in that one of Bill Lindsay was talking about it on on territory talk the the official Florida Panthers podcast so there's really a chance especially like I said a lot of guys has something to prove as the guys I mean the Panthers had to work with what they got as far as the cap crunch they were not going to get a a Demetri Arloff especially with what Carolina paid them so they were they were going to they're going to have to navigate a lot of you know short-term signings as we saw all throughout the NHL 1 to 2 year signings none of these 7-8 year deals yeah yeah yeah yeah and the Bruins we'll talk about that I'm sure later but the Bruins certainly had their fill of value signings this this off season there's a couple guys I wanted to ask you about specifically one or kind of the goal-tending situation you have Babrovsky who had this amazing playoff run to lead the cats to the Stanley Cup final you have Anthony Stolars who they signed but you also have Spencer Knight who's out of the player assistance program has a pretty good-sized contract even more than what Jeremy Swaman was awarded in arbitration this past summer you know 4.5 million over the next three years what's the outlook on him coming into the season will it kind of be a split with Babrovsky where the Stolars fit in has the goal-tending situation in a shakeout I think it's really going to be telling from the first week of camp of just depending on who's going to work with which group as well and the fact that Stolars has some experience being in the NHL for a few for a few seasons I mean doesn't have even a full seasons worth of games under his belt but neither to Spencer Knight as well he's only is he's only going into his fourth season in the NHL I mean if you include the four games that he played in the regular season back in 2021 they thankfully the Panthers were able to burn that year off his entry-level deal they match the contract terms for when Babrovsky's contract expired it's the highest paid goal goalie tandem in the entire league I mean this was a conversation that was spoken out even last season before Spencer Knight signed his deal but it's gonna it's a fluid it's a very very fluid situation for the cats and thankfully with with Spencer Knight he is waivers exempt for for the for the Florida Panthers he's likely going to make the original 23 man roster but after waiver claims and all that stuff which the Florida Panthers are really are are are a team that's really aggressive when it comes to that I mean we see Gus Foresling Josh Mahara as soon as that as soon as the 23 man roster is announced maybe we could see an opportunity a a chance that after a waiver claim that Spencer Knight will be sent down to a general star that chances are just to just to see what you have in Stolars as far as this the splits I think it's going to be somewhere between 70 30 somewhere around there Babrovsky to to Stolars to start the year maybe in 60 40 yeah but we are going to see Serger Babrovsky come out with Moses starts I mean right and and listen coming off a playoff run where where Serger Babrovsky I mean think about this he gave up seven goals in game two against the against the again well he he was pulled he was pulled um in in in game two but the Panthers gave up seven goals and then nine in game five and and and still his say percentage for the entire postseason was still 915 just goes to show how great the second and third round was for Serger Babrovsky and and you know you want to you want to you want to give give him the the 10 million dollar man two times as the trophy winner an opportunity to get a good amount of those starts in the season especially because every single time the there was a threat of Serger Babrovsky's crease being taken away he's always he's always came up big and and and prove and prove and prove into the organization why he he's gotten that contract has it really worked out has it really worked out to as as well as we've wanted it to not necessarily that some of the regular seasons especially if you look at the numbers hasn't been is a is a little head scratching when you look at it but yeah this this most recent playoff run you see okay you see why the Dale Town originally signed them to that seven year seven dollar deal and one of the guy wanted to ask you about is highly touted prospectus I think entering the last year of his entry level deal Anton Lindell I look at the panther he seems like a guy who could kind of step up and break out and kind of help help them carry things offensively especially with some guys leaving like Anthony DeClaire is he primed for a for a breakout the season you think Lindell that's the hope especially especially with how he's performed him in that right and on him with the same line as Sam Reinhardt especially in the Leaf series where where you saw that that how much Anton Lindell's game has grown and this is something that I've spoken about all offseason is Bill Zito needs to find a way to extend Lindell before game one of the regular season because the panthers they're going to have a whole bunch of expiring contracts going into next season and the average amount of AAV that you can to to fill in the open roster spots will be around $2 million per player so it's not a lot of room to work with so you got to you got to make sure you got to if you do extend Anton Lindell that you you do it before he does break out and I mean you look at an example of Taste Thompson and Buffalo the the the value that they're getting there co-coffin and Nick Suzuki with the Montreal Canadiens that's going to be great value contracts there so I'm hoping that for for the Florida panthers sake that it's done before before the season starts because he's if you see that he he definitely breaks out and you see like 2025 goals for Lindell you know he's going to go back to the negotiating table to say hey I just heard more money yeah yeah for sure I I actually traded for him in a keeper league this past summer so I'm hoping that he gets that 20 to 25 goals that would be that would be really great for me personally coming up after the break Armando's going to ask some questions about the Boston Bruins and everything they've been through since that disappointing loss in the opening round as well as the outlook for this season but first a quick word from today's sponsor our friends over at AG1 a foundational nutrition supplement 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Florida Panthers podcast and Lockdown Boston Bruins podcast thank you once again for making both of our podcasts your first listen of the day so Ian as far as these two teams I see a lot of I tried I wrote down a little bit of a Venn diagram here as far as the differences and similarities based on both of these teams coming off a present trophy season I mean the Panthers lost a defenseman as far as a rental in Ben Sharat the season prior just like how the Boston Bruins lost to meet you or a lot Tyler Boutuzzi as far as a forward Claude Giroux for the Panthers differences your your staying consistent with the coach Goli tandem is returning a gen the Jennings trophy tandem and as well as the Vesna winner in Lena Linus Allmark however and also another similarity dead cap on the roster coming into the next season yeah four four point four point five million in bonuses from Patrice Bergeron and David Crachey even though they're not on the team anymore and retired but and also and also like like I said in the last sentence the top two centers for the Boston Bruins no longer being there in Bergeron and Crachey so in for the Boston Bruins say Pavel Zaka is the number one center Charlie Coyle was expected to be the the two C as far as when we look at daily face off what's your confidence level in the center depth because you know in order to really make make a difference as far as wins and losses and especially zone time it starts it starts up the middle for more each each NHL team yeah I mean that's obviously the the biggest weakness for the Boston Bruins coming into the season you look pretty much everywhere else in the lineup and they have all world players in net like you said Vesna trophy winner Jennings tandem in Lena Salmark Jeremy Swamin you have two guys who were in the Norris conversation last year in Hampus Lindom and Charlie McAvoy on the Wings David Posternock was a heart trophy finalist Radmarshaun still up there Jake DeBrusk looking to kind of build on his successful season last year but that center position if you looked just at and I'll probably do this at some point go heading into the season kind of ranking center depth among eastern conference teams the Bruins are you know would be a lottery team just based on their center position I always like to say you you kind of look at the lineup training camp heading in opening night then you look at the lineup after the trade deadline and then finally hopefully ideally heading into the playoffs and seeing who's healthy who's all there um whether or not the Bruins can add something down the middle during the season this is probably more likely next off season that they'll really try to to fill that position but it's possible that they could try to uh to add something mid season although they're pretty limited in terms of uh assets that they can give up we did see in that series against the Panthers that Charlie Coil and Radmarshaun had some chemistry there uh uh Pavel Zaka has played with David Posternock pretty extensively last season so they're kind of hoping that those duos will keep going and don't forget the Bruins because without Pudry's Bruinshaun they built a three-one lead on the Panthers in the playoffs uh so there is a sense that they can kind of get by for the time being with those two guys Zaka there's a lot of expectations that he will build on his career year from last year but at the end of the day yeah it's it's not a great situation and hopefully they have some long term targets there there's not really anything internally that they can count on it in a year or two Morgan Geeky's a nice ad as their third line center and and hopefully he'll uh find a bit more success with greater opportunity but yeah if you're matching up against a Barkhoff you're not gonna you're not gonna come out on top with Zaka or Charlie Coil as for sure yeah and Barkhoff spoke with L.A. Freeman of 32 thoughts saying that with Bruinshaun retiring his eight-stop percentage will go up like like Sasha Barkhoff he's a low-key pretty funny guy yeah that that was for sure that's what a lot of players definitely say about him and I mean these two teams what they haven't common I mean two of the top wingers in the in the NHL and Kachak and David Posternock I mean we could also include Mitch Martyr there as far as top wingers in the NHL but also one thing that I think of when it comes to this Bruins team going into the regular season is the possibly the need to stay afloat about half a million in cat space that they have at this moment in time but also the need to bring some veteran presence in the locker room as well you James Van Rienzdijk is part of the coming from the Philadelphia Flyers Kevin Schattenkirk coming from the from the Anheim Ducks and bringing back Mila Luchich who was on their 2011 and 2013 Stanley Cup runs yeah but you know looking at their ages 34 34 and 35 as well you know it's a little bit of a it's a little bit of that that was definitely that stood out to me the the ages there and you know with the Florida Panthers coming off their presence trophy season I was saying all year that this was considered their gap year go go before the before the next season when things open up luckily for the Bruins there's expected to be a four million dollar salary cap prize when the Panthers came off their presence trophy winning season it was only a one million dollar rise as far as the salary cap space so is that like a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel as far as how you're viewing it I think so yeah I mean you mentioned the the bonus overges for Bergeron and Crachy that's like 4.5 million in dead cap space that's a pretty good winner or a center that you could have added right there now you combine that coming off the books with the cap going up and hopefully they could have you know eight million dollars available there to add now they will have some guys looking for extensions Jake to brusque specifically can be an unrestricted for agent next summer and he came out last week and said he wants to be a Bruin for the foreseeable future that's a couple years after making a public trade request but yeah signing some of these guys to one year one million dollar contracts it will free up a lot of space for next offseason Derek forebore will come off the books as well Matt Grizzlyk will be an unrestricted for agent there's a lot of money available for next offseason and still some pretty prominent unrestricted for agents I know they have their their eyes on Elias Lindholm and Calgary has been talking about Mark Shifley from Winnipeg um we'll see what they're able to attract in the open market if these guys do go there but certainly between some younger guys you might be able to step up and you know they still have a pretty solid core in McAvoy pasta knock the two goalies um Lindholm Lindholm yeah for sure these guys are all signed long-term Zaka signed for four years so they have some pieces in place that center position the glaring weakness and and hopefully those other guys on the wings and net on defense can entice some guys to to make the jump over to Boston um I mean speak you mentioned Elliott Freeman on their podcast the two thoughts they've always talked about how the Bruins just always seem to find a way to to get the pieces together obviously they've sacrificed a lot of the future a lot of in terms of draft picks but Boston remains a destination and there's a good core in place there and a good um culture in place there that the guys want to want to be a part of so hopefully that will serve them in infraragency next summer yeah one thing one thing that these two teams uh as well having common is is when whenever you're going for it and just goes to show that necessary selling the farm to try to win I mean it's not only the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers from two seasons two seasons apart but the New York Rangers as a recent as well I mean Colorado avalanche they they were able to win the cup as well with selling the farm but it's not always uh it's not always a success whenever you do sell the farm for that moment but hey um this is what it's all about trying to win a Stanley Cup as well so can't can't blame GM's uh for that for sure so uh we're going to transition over to our third and final segment where we're going to discuss our our both are we expecting both of these teams to be played outbound are we expecting one to miss or are we expecting and the possible postseason finishes as well for these two franchises we're going to discuss that more here on this crossover edition of the Lockdown Florida Panthers podcast and Lockdown Boston Bruins if you're a business owner listen up your company could be mentioned right here with the NHL season right around the corner Lockdown has a special local's only NHL kickoff package two local businesses yes only two local businesses can sponsor this podcast for the upcoming NHL season find out how you can get this exclusive sponsorship and hear your business on this podcast text the word advertising to 33777 or visit lockdownpodcast.com slash advertising and let us know who you are our team will assist you to achieve advertising success with Lockdown once again text the word advertising to 33777 or visit lockdownpodcast.com slash advertising we look forward to hearing from you welcome back to this crossover edition of the Lockdown Florida Panthers podcast and Lockdown Boston Bruins thank you once again for making Lockdown Panthers and Lockdown Bruins your first listen of the day and it centered up like we spoke about with Boston Bruins as far as it being a concern yeah light at the end of the tunnel but here's the thing I had a gambling show last year with Jack from Paramount Sports and there was one over under last year that I said that I was not going to touch as far as that and it was the Boston Bruins over under as far as points I believe it was 95 yeah it was pretty low headed in the last season yeah I'm very interested to see what the over under is going to be this year I haven't seen anything as a as a recent but again I think this is another year where you can't where I advise people I would advise people not to touch it and we spoke about two number one defenseman on two different pairs that's such a luxury that the Boston Bruins have a Jennings trophy tandem there as well a 60 goal score as far as Winger in David Posternock and like I said in Brad Martian as well who was a pain in the butt against the Florida Panthers as always I mean let's we didn't even mention this on the show the the Panthers were a Brad Martian breakaway from from being eliminated in five games you know let's not forget that yeah but I can't I can't I can't say with certainty that the Boston Bruins are going to miss the playoffs I just can't even without Bergeron and and and Kreechi what says you I mean yeah I'm just looking at fan duo now the Bruins over under is 101.5 so I mean obviously they're going to take a huge tumble from where they were last season they're not going to replicate the best regular season of all time but in prioritizing keeping the leagues best defense core together minus Carter Clifton you bring in Kevin Chatton Kirk maybe E and Mitchell gets in there but it's still the top five is still intact you still have Swamin and Omerkin Net they're clearly prioritized team defense and trying to scrape together some goals the offense won't be as prolific but I still think yeah they have the pieces in place to be a playoff team you mentioned the President's trophy earlier and I talked about this a couple times throughout the summer that kind of President's trophy plus one year where you get I think you had the capitals recently the avalanche the lightning they all won the President's trophy flamed out in the playoffs and then the next season and the Panthers included in this they went to the sale like a final and in a few of these teams what is that in the cards for the Bruins I mean that may be a bit of a stretch but get in you never know obviously in the Atlantic there's some up and coming teams like the Buffalo Sabers who are I think they finished what like a point behind the Panthers last year senators I don't know I don't think Detroit is quite there yet I don't Montreal definitely not Ottawa is debatable but I think Buffalo's of any of those Atlantic teams right there in terms of challenging for a playoff spot you could argue Tampa and Toronto maybe not as good as last season I mean it's it's a real craptured in the Atlantic division and then you take into account whether teams from the Metro can come in and steal one of those wild card spots this time last year I was thinking the Bruins probably a wild card team I mean I'll probably say the same thing again I don't want to guarantee you the playoffs because of that center depth issue but I think they will still find a way people are going to underestimate them coming into the season I think and that core of McAvoy Pasternak the goalies I think it's there's still enough there to be a playoff team for sure I think yeah I don't know yeah Panthers you think in there they're pretty much a lock can they sneak into the top three you think it's crazy it's crazy because when there's there's that possibility of a hangover not gonna lie when it comes to losing in the Stanley Cup final I mean crazy to think that the Panthers they got nine days off in between the Eastern Conference final and Stanley Cup final and still they were battered with injuries when it came to the final round not that it's an excuse I mean I think even if they were fully healthy I don't think they were beating the Vegas Golden Knights I mean you saw how the Panthers they as far as more physical as far as the Vegas Golden Knights being more physical and all and basically stealing their lunch money in that in that final final round and and here's the thing with with this team again with now this franchise it's crazy in the 30 year history of the Panthers 30th anniversary for the Florida Panthers that with now this this is the fourth straight season that they've made the postseason longest streak ever and and they were and prior to that they had a 10 plus 10 plus year drought of not making the postseason which was recently broken by the Buffalo Sabers and really when it comes to the Kachak factor bar golf is still in the mix still questions with Aaron Eckblatt and Brandon Montor on their health George Richards of Florida hockey now did point out that Montor is likely expected to be the first one of the two to return especially because there's online videos of his rehab as well as far as that's what's been posted but you know I I don't see a reason why they can't make it back to the to the postseason and at this point you know I've never seen I've never seen a long postseason run from them and the fact that he did they did it as an Aveseed and we've even seen it in their state rival in the Tampa Bay lightning that just get through the season don't overexert yourself make sure and like I said both of these teams the Boston Bruins and the Panthers in their present trophy winning season what did they have in common they they were not challenged throughout the regular season they did not face a lot of adversity so flamed out in the in the postseason and I think the fact that the Panthers went through their fair share of adversity to get there really helped them this this time around I think you could be the the same thing again knowing that there's nothing that's guaranteed every single night in the NHL and anyone could be anyone and the fact that for the Panthers that experience of playing a month and a half to two more more months of hockey and the traveling the media coverage as well I think it's gonna really it's really gonna I'm not guaranteeing a Stanley Cup final appearance again I don't even know what to predict as far as finish but I am expecting the Florida Panthers to at least challenge for another first round win at least because this is the building box I mean Colorado went through their fair share of heartbreak as well before when when in the cup being unable to get to round two I mean Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Lightning Day went to Stanley Cup final in 2015 they went to an Eastern Conference final in 2018 before losing to the capitals I mean you know this is this they have experience under them now and I think I think that's really good for this core moving forward and the experience of the head coach in Palm Race who's been to to multiple Stanley Cup finals I know it's been 20 years apart between the two but I think that's very valuable that you have a coach that's consistently at least for the most part even killed you'll see him go off on his players from time to time in that game in Toronto but you you'll know that you'll you'll you'll have a coach that's that knows how to stay the course mm-hmm yeah it's being a coach is hopefully Jim Montgomery has learned I think you could argue that yeah Paul Maurice outcoached you could easily argue this that Maurice outcoached Montgomery in that series made the goalie change when necessary and push some different buttons and hopefully Montgomery has learned some stuff and can apply those into the playoffs as well I think I don't know I think Toronto is probably the best team in the Atlantic and then after that it's pretty wide open that's gonna be interesting to see how things play out and I don't know about the Panthers but the Bruins practicing today gathering for their captains practice without a captain and we're getting close to some preseason action opening night I'm pretty excited and I'm sure we'll connect at some point again during the regular season Armando revived everybody before we log off where where they can find locked on Panthers and where they can find you on on social media they can find me on x at bonderman 12 follow show on twitter at x and instagram at l.o underscore fla Panthers how about you Ian podcast is at locked NHL Bruins and I am at Ian see McLaren still not used to calling it x but they're good call good call with that and yeah Armando it's gonna be a great season and all the best I'm sure we will connect probably previewing some of these Bruins Panthers games in the regular season looking forward to it my friend all right take care if you're a business owner listen up your company could be mentioned right here with the NHL season right around the corner locked on has a special locals only NHL kickoff package two local businesses yes only two local businesses can sponsor this podcast for the upcoming NHL season find out how you can get this exclusive sponsorship and hear your business on this podcast text the word advertising to three three seven seven seven or visit locked on podcast dot com slash advertising and let us 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