BRUINS MEDIA DAY PRESS CONFERENCE OWNER , CEO CHARLIE JACOBS, PRESIDENT CAM NEELY, GENERAL MANAGER DON SWEENEY, HEAD COACH BRUCE CASSIDY Monday, October 3, 2017

BOSTON BRUINS MEDIA DAY PRESS CONFERENCE On expectations for the season… JJ (Jeremy Jacobs): How many times you guys have asked that. How many times have I been right? I think they are a very exciting team, a very young team. I think we have a real – we’ll see change since the end of last year, versus when Butchy [Bruce Cassidy] took over. I think it’s going to be a continuation and maybe an improvement on that. That’s what I’m looking forward to. Again, how many times have I been asked that? How many times have I been right? It’s another answer. Hope springs eternal as far as this guy is concerned.

On Zdeno Chara… JJ: Zee [Zdeno Chara] has been a real killer here. His physicality and his endurance, the time he spends on the ice. He’s been a tremendous investment, but his personality and his character goes a long way to establish what this team is. I think he’s done a great job with it. And his captaincy is very much earned.

BC (Bruce Cassidy): As far as a mentor on the ice, Brandon Carlo could best answer that. But clearly he has been paired with him and both Charlie McAvoy, two young guys. Because he accepts that role, he relishes it. He wants to work with younger guys, while still taking care of business on the ice. He embodies the hard to play against identity we are trying to create and continue to build on. He just pulls guys along. It’s what you want out of leadership, take care of own, your own game, and then pull some guys along in the mean time. Continue to build on that identity and culture. It goes beyond just on the ice. Off-ice, one of the most professional people I’ve ever been around. Again, the culture and identity of fitness trickles down to the rest of the guys as well.

On the synergy in the organization… CN (Cam Neely): Communication has always been there, and that’s key. Everybody understanding what the process may be and what you have to go through to get to where you want to be. We talk a lot about everybody pulling on the same rope. Its really, I think it’s been as strong as it’s been in a long time. I think everybody, especially up here, understands what we are looking to do, what we are trying to accomplish, and how we need to do that to get to where we want to be.

On expectations for the season… CN: Right now it’s exciting. It’s been a few years in the making, to see some of the young kids being able to push for jobs. It looks like a couple have done that. Once you – you have to give credit to drafting properly. Then once you draft them, you have to do a good job developing them. It starts with our development camp, and having these younger players understand what our expectations are of them, where they need to work on their game to get to the NHL level. I think we can really build off what we did last year. I saw a little different style of play, and the league has gotten faster. Our coaching staff has helped us become faster with the way we practice and how Butch [Bruce Cassidy] wants us to play. I think, even though we lost in the first round, it was a close series. I think it was the first time for some of our players to play in the playoffs. They haven’t – understanding what its like to play in the playoffs, and they got a taste of it. I hope they are hungry for more.

On upcoming roster decisions…

DS (Don Sweeney): We’ll have at least one more roster decision to make before we submit it tomorrow. Just going through the last decisions sometimes, they are the hardest. Some of the players have made life difficult for what this lineup looks like Thursday night, and that’s a good thing.

On the youthful excitement… CN: I think it certainly feeds off in the locker room for some of the other players. I know a couple of our veteran players made comments early in preseason, that they were excited about getting them into the lineup, when they weren’t playing. It’s exciting to hear that. These guys are, they are new and they’re fresh, and they’re learning. But they have all this energy, and it does certainly permeate through the locker room, and guys do feed off it, there’s no question.

On Patrice Bergeron’s injury… BC: He left early today. We’ll classify it as day-to-day for now. I think that’s accurate, and we’ll see where he’s at tomorrow. We’ll have a much better update then. I mean, I don’t want to speculate. It’s a lower body injury, and from there, I guess I’d say I don’t expect it to be long term. I honestly can’t tell you, we’ll see how he is in the morning.

On David Pastrnak’s contract… JJ: I think the investment was in a proven player. The investment was not – throughout the league, this is what that demanded and what he was worth. It was not an imprudent move, it was one with calculated based on all sorts of scales. They bring the yes or no to me at the very end, and I go along with their thinking, so really, it wasn’t a decision necessarily I made. It was a giving of support from my standpoint. They made the right decision. I’ve always – I said early on with Harry [Sinden] – If it’s right, it was my decision. If it’s wrong it was yours. That has not changed.

On leverage for players with arbitration rights, and its impact on the potential 2020 lockout… JJ: I think I’m going to defer that to these guys as to the first end of that decision, and I think the 2020 lockout, I don’t know if that is going to happen. I think it’s way too much in the future right now. I don’t see, necessarily, a lockout. It will not be constructive to the game, and it won’t be constructive to the players, and definitely not constructive to us here at the Bruins.

CN: I think what you see over the years, when players come in on entry-level deals, if someone gets a good deal for their player, then that becomes a comp. Don [Sweeney] and the hockey ops staff did a very good job looking at the various comps for a player like David Pastrnak. There was a number of them. It’s becoming – if you’re showing you’ve played two, three years coming out of your entry- level deal, and you’ve shown a progression like David has, you’re going to see the jump going from entry-level to where David went to.

On how Anders Bjork has developed… DS: Obviously, Anders has taken a real leap in his own development. Last year, had a tremendous year. We really feel like he’s going to bring a lot to our hockey team, with the speed and skill that he has. Back when he was drafted, he was in a development program that was really playing in a third line role, and not really playing with the upper echelon players, and killing and power play situations. You’ve seen him evolve over the course of time. His first two years playing under a demanding coach, and really doing a lot of things away from the puck as an extension of what he does in the development program. Last year, taking an enormous leap offensively, and playing with a tremendous amount of confidence and speed, going to a World Championships and acclimating himself there. We sat down, had long discussions about what he felt. He felt he was ready to take the next step and play against the best players. I think the results have been pretty good so far, and

hopefully they continue. It’s hard to jump into this league, but he’s playing with two pretty good players and hopefully we can take advantage of the skills that he brings to the table.

On the core group of Bruins… CJ (Charlie Jacobs): You know it’s funny, I’ve seen Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] come in as an 18-year old and make our team, and progress. It’s kind of hard to imagine, he’s almost 30. Now he’s taken on the role of being the leader. I remember when he first came to Boston, he roomed with Martine Lapointe, lived with the family, and kind of acclimated to learning the English language and becoming the hockey player that he is now, with four Selke trophies. He certainly is one of the leaders in that room, a quiet one at that. Between him and Zdeno [Chara] and March [Brad Marchand], we have a real strong identity in that core. I wouldn’t exclude David Krejci from that as well. I think, we spoke a lot this morning about a lot of the younger players that have been recent additions to our roster, but I’d like to think ourselves as a good mix of youth and veteran leadership at this point, which is a really good story in terms of what I hope to be a great 2017-2018 season.

On if Brandon Carlo’s past rookie experience impacts the three rookies this year… BC: I think every individual is a little different. Brandon was a very mature 19-year old when he came in. I assume you’re speaking of Charlie [McAvoy] as well. One thing about Charlie, he knows the city well, that helps. He’s coming into a new NHL environment, but not a new living or city environment. Obviously, some of these young kids, we’ll pair off with an older guy. I don’t know how that’s going to play out right now. Other guys will be on their own. I just think again, Charlie [Jacobs] referred to the leadership group in here. We’ll make sure to look after, it looks like [Anders] Bjork, [Jake] DeBrusk, and they’ll take them under their wing. Whether that means housing them or not, I don’t want to speculate on that. But they’ll make sure that they’re learning the professional ways of being on time, both at home and on the road, how to conduct yourself. And then the rest will fall on the individual. That’s part of being a pro. You have to use your eyes and ears, and learn from the best, and we got some of the best to learn from.

On David Krejci… CN: I think he’s excited. I know he’s excited. He still feels that he is a player that can contribute on this team, and we feel the same way. He came into camp in phenomenal shape. He knows the game’s gotten quicker, he’s worked on it in the off-season. I think he had some idea that he was going to play with some wingers that maybe have some speed. He’s put the time in this offseason. I know he’s excited. He’s excited to get regular season going. He’s excited to play with these two younger players and see what kind of chemistry they can create. He knows the expectations for him are high, both personally and from the team’s perspective, so I expect good things from David this year.

On Zdeno Chara’s future… DS: I had discussions with Zdeno and he’s made it well known that he would like to continue to play. I think he’s earned the right to determine that and when his career will end. I’m not going to ask him whether or not he wants to stop playing, until an appropriate time. As long as his game aligns with the pride and preparations that he wants to put forth to keep it at the level he’s accustomed to having it to, then we are going to explore having him as part of our group. He’s an impactful player. We are trying to manage his minutes accordingly. Obviously, we’ve had a lot of discussions along those lines because we, if we are going to be the team that we hope to be, we need to be better around Zee [Zdeno Chara]. We know what he can do individually, and what he means as a leader to our hockey club. I think you saw that in the playoffs last year, being able to play the minutes he did, because we managed him effectively during the course of the season.

On the North Station construction… CJ: The timeline for completion is October ’18, so that’s generous and that may be a little aspirational, in terms of when you look at North Station and you see the cranes out front and it looks pretty barren. The truth of the matter is we’ve been in the ground for over a year and we’re over five stories deep and now, if you were to look at it, you’d see there’s floors installed for the new parking and the subterranean grocery store, so we’re hoping to be operational. When I say operational, that doesn’t mean we’re going to have finishes, but the ability to actually enter North Station from Causeway Street and not necessarily from Legends Way, by October ’18, and full completion a year after that. So when I say full completion, I’m meaning finishes, actual tenants inside, and operational businesses inside. North Station is undergoing a major transformation. Commuters are experiencing it. Our event-goers are experiencing it. It is going to be an inconvenience, but it’s a temporary one and ultimately a much better event experience for event-goers and commuters alike.

On the security of TD Garden, and if measures will be increased because of recent events… CJ: We’ve never taken security lightly. We constantly evaluate and then re-evaluate our security protocols. Both the NBA and the have a set of standards that we abide by and then frankly we go a step further. It really frankly isn’t about security within TD Garden. It’s more about the periphery, as you saw with the issues in Manchester and how you can handle your marshaling areas for both egress and exits. We continually look at this. It’s not something that is ever written in stone, it’s a very fluid process from date to date and from concert to concert, but of course, our is to make sure our patrons are as safe as possible, and they should feel safe, and we invested a significant amount of time and resources in making sure that door to door, their experience is an entertaining one, and most importantly, a safe one.

On Don Sweeney’s ability to block out the noise… CN: In markets like these, you better learn how to block out the noise. We have a very passionate fan base. Fortunately we’ve got a lot of great coverage of the team and there are going to be opinions, either way, so you have to be able to find a way to block it out and Don has done that. He’s got a plan in place that he’s sticking to and we constantly talk about, is this what we’re continuing to do? And the answer is yes, so I think it’s really just being confident in what you think we need to do to be successful, and that’s where Don’s at.

On if they have mapped out rest for Tuukka Rask… BC: Well, we’ve mapped out starts for our backup, where Tuukka needs a rest. We’ll keep that in- house but we have a good number where we feel Tuukka with analytics in years past, where he performs at his best. We’d like to stick to that, adhere to it as much as possible. There are always factors that can take you away from that plan — injuries, the play of both goaltenders — but ideally, we know where Tuukka plays his best hockey, and that’s where we need good production from Anton [Khudobin]. That would be paramount in our success, to get those quality starts from him and I thought we did at the end of last year and we have so far in preseason, so we feel pretty good about our tandem right now. Knock on wood they stay healthy and give us those performances.

On being rookies and if there were players that helped them through the process … CN: Well, I can speak, when I broke in at Vancouver at 18, there were a few guys that really — whether it was Harold Snepsts, Stan Smyl, Kevin McCarthy — guys that have been around a while, first and foremost, what they really preached was respecting the training staff, pick up after yourself, take care of yourself, make sure you respect the veterans. I don’t know if I said four words that year, so — and we talk about our leadership group, and it’s similar in a sense where you understand how hard it is for our training staff and what they have to do and the hours they put in, so they actually

talked to the group this year when training camp started about taking care of the trainers, taking care of yourself, and that’s something that you want to see from your veteran group, but as a young player coming in, it’s really best for the most part is mouth shut, and ears open.

DS: Yeah obviously I remember it well. You know, Raymond [Bourque] was the obvious person you had the chance to play with and pass the puck to so you didn’t make as many mistakes, but the leadership group, you know Cam was an emerging impact player at that time coming in, so he wasn’t really considered a young player, a player like myself who was just trying to survive. But I can go back through the years. Reggie [Lemelin] and Andy [Moog] were goaltenders and defense is a very difficult position to learn on the fly at the NHL level and having those guys as netminders and the veteran presence for them. For me, hockey wasn’t the hardest part, to tell you the truth. You’re learning on the fly, but I think off the ice just absorbing everything you can. Coming from a college environment and thrown into a pro environment, you really have to — if you’re going to be looking up stargazing at these guys, they’re going to be Hall of Fame players, in a town that’s so passionate, and that’s what our players are going to go through. And we have a tremendous core group to be able to help them through that. It’s one thing to have an opportunity; it’s another thing to take advantage of it and grow and learn while you’re going through it, but you’re better served to be listening, rather than speaking at that point in time. Doesn’t mean you have to take a backseat. We want players walking thorough the door and greeting people with respect and knowing everybody on the staff, becoming a family environment, and we try to preach that from day one of our development camp, and making players realized don’t walk through the door staring at your toes. Walk through the door acknowledging people and shaking hands and knowing people and doing a job.

On if Malcolm Subban clear waivers… DS: No he did not. He’s headed to Vegas.

On the NHL expansion in Las Vegas… JJ: Ownership up there has done a tremendous job. It had some very high expectations, and I think they really exceeded them. I think their presale of tickets, or their season ticket sales is tremendous right now, and those were not necessarily to corporate, but to individuals. To that extent, I’m very impressed. And I’m very impressed with the leadership they’ve shown there in their development of the team. I think they are going to be quite successful. Honestly, I was skeptical at the beginning, but I’m converted now to believe that that is going to be a successful experience.

On Frank Vatrano… DS: I think versatility is an important factor in every hockey player. Regardless of where the coach decides to play you in a lineup, you have to bring what you bring to the table, do it well, but chances are, if you have just one thing to fall back on, if it’s not happening, then you are exposed. We’ve tried to do that. Last year we addressed a penalty killing area. We thought we needed to continue to expand. The year before, we felt we used our top players too much in some of those areas, ran them into the ground towards the end of the season. We corrected that. I think we benefited from that. We’ve had all of our players in Providence, all the skill guys that you call-in that were playing in power play and top-6 roles in their previous clubs, playing penalty kill and in all different situations to make them realize that they have to find a way to get in the lineup. They are not going to just land in a spot that they think where their one or two attributes are going to parlay themselves into an NHL career. I think that’s very important. I think Frank is going through some of that at this point in time. He has to continue to evolve as a player as everybody does. And make yourself more indispensible.

On Malcolm Subban being claimed…

DS: Am I surprised? I think Malcolm has taken a step, and I’m not surprised in the situation. Vegas is doing what they’re trying to build. Obviously Zane [McIntyre] had experience last year, had a very good run. Daniel [Vladar] probably, if Malcolm does stay there, will get an opportunity to back up in Providence and get the exposure there at the next level. It’s disappointing. We’ve had a lot of time invested in Malcolm, and we are seeing him grow as a person on and off the ice. It’s a loss for our hockey club. The system is in place for a reason.

#10/03/17#