A pair of pro scribes joined the Toucher & Hardy show today to tackle two big topics: the James Hagens situation and NBA Expansion.
The show had a different vibe this morning, as Fred Toucher is off for the start of the week. Fred’s in Florida, taking in some spring training games as his son plays a bit of baseball. In his place? Michael Holley. Or, shall we say, Professor Holley. Michael was good enough to take a morning off from shaping young minds at Boston University to speak his mind on the sports topics of the day with Hardy and Jon Wallach. If you missed out, no worries. You can pull the podcast here, or just listen live on Wednesday morning when Michael joins us again.
The James Hagens Situation
We’ll start with your Boston Bruins, who are now winners of their last two games. They returned to TD Garden at the end of last week and blasted the Winnipeg Jets 6-1, then followed that up with a sensational win over the Red Wings in Detroit over the weekend. Jeremy Swayman was a big part of both of those wins, and McBride wrote about how Bruins coach Marco Sturm is touting the goalie as the team’s best player this season. If the Bruins are going to mount any kind of playoff run, Swayman’s stellar play is going to have to lead the way.
Another factor is Boston College’s own James Hagens. With BC taking a loss in the Hockey East semifinals on Friday night, Hagens’ dance card is now clear. The Bruins could use a third-line center right about now. And that’s where Hagens will likely slot in with the team if they call him up to Boston. But is it worth burning a year of service to have him on the roster for the tail end of the season? That was Wallach’s question to McBride. And that’s the tail end of the discussion you’ll see in the clip up top.
NBA Expansion
We weren’t expecting to have a Celtics loss to discuss on the show this morning, but we did. Boston allowed sixteen unanswered points to Minnesota late Sunday night as the Timberwolves went on to beat the Celtics 102-92. As Jay King wrote in The Athletic, the Celtics were outclassed. That was the point he was making to Hardy, Holley, and Wallach, too. The Celtics came across as unprepared, and lost a game they should have one. Speaking of winning and losing, King had a quite a lot to say about teams tanking late in the season.
He tied those thoughts into this overall take: NBA expansion is a bad idea right now. Sure, it would be exciting to have an NBA team in Las Vegas. And long-time fans could see a return of the Seattle Supersonics. But Jay’s argument is that the league already has a huge problem with superstars sitting out important games and late-in-the-season tankapaloozas from teams that are out of the playoff race. Having two more teams potentially indulging in this behavior is bad for the product overall. Watch King’s clip for more.