Earlier this year, Joe MacDonald was laid off from ESPN during their massive restructuring firings. Prior to that, he has shifted from local coverage of the Boston Bruins to national coverage of the NHL when ESPN had shortened their bench of NHL writers. If you’re a listener of Puck Soup, Greg Wyshynski and Dave Lozo’s hockey podcast on the Nerdist Network, you would have heard just how much other hockey writers felt about Joey Mac and how he had gotten a bad deal. Wysh had detailed how MacDonald was great at getting honest answers and reactions from players because he really listened to them and that that is what makes him special. Other ESPN NHL reporters landed gigs quickly, or at least relatively soon after the layoffs, but not Joey Mac. It may have been that he was looking for the right fit, something close to his home in New England. Well, he found it and Joey Mac is back.
About six weeks ago, former Boston Globe columnist Greg Bedard and former CSNNE baseball insider Sean McAdams founded Boston Sports Journal, a susbscription-based blog covered the four major sports teams in Boston. Both writers had recently been caught in a round of layoffs from their most recent gigs (SI’s MMQB and CSNNE, respectively) and Bedard decided to follow a model that is gaining ground in other cities. Bedard had hinted that a new hockey writer would join within 3 weeks because Bedard, while trying his best, had posted a pretty lame, football-centric gaze on the David Pastrnak situation. Intentionally Widenberg and I had discussed this article, as we’re wont to do most evenings, and had guessed that the new hockey guy might be Joe MacDonald. Thankfully, it is.
“So, what does that have to do with today?,” you might ask. Well, Joey Mac has a short article that might interest all of you: Should the Bruins retire rick Middleton’s No. 16? Today, I will not propose any arguments for or against because it is not in my knowledge base (combining defenseman to make MEGA DEFENSEMEN, knives, recipes for various pies, Venture Bros trivia) so it’s all up to you. I can’t wait to see what you say.
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Shane Doan retired:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/report-shane-doan-retires-21-year-nhl-career/
It seemed like it was time.
Recch!
This is kinda fun to look at:
https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BOS/numbers.html
From 1972 to 2004, someone wore #29 every season. _26_ players in total.
FFS it was funny like two weeks ago but seriously, guys, put something together for Pastrnak. I mean we’re probably looking at 7×7 or 7×8, but if he sails I will seriously wonder what this management is smoking.
I remember reading something a while ago where Pasta said he was focusing on getting ready for next season & leaving all the contract stuff to his agent, JP Barry. Maybe Barry’s paying less attention to getting a good contract for his client than he his to safeguarding his reputation as a negotiator (i.e., being deliberately unreasonable because he thinks than anything short of a Draisatl-esque deal will hurt his ability to get new clients)? If that’s the case, then Pasta needs to step in and take a more active role in his own future. Or cut Barry loose and get a new agent.
Main training camp opens on September 14, so I think we’re gonna be waiting at least two more weeks for a Pasta signing.
Yeah. Yep. Ugh.
Nifty’s a great guy, he was an excellent player, and he was a core part of the Bruins when I was a kid, but he doesn’t have that “all-time great” feel that makes me think he’s number-retirement-worthy. Consider that the following players wore #16 after Middleton:
If you’re the kind of player who’s gonna get your number retired, your number isn’t gonna get handed out to the likes of Peter Douris or Randy Robitaille.
I don’t know why, but I have a soft spot for Daugavins.
When he was on the Sens he went after Rinaldo after another dirty hit, so that’s worth something.