with a depleted lineup the Devils gave a valiant effort in game 2 but still came up short. What needs to be done to get back into this series? Do the Canes just have the better team? Why oh why can't we buy a goal?
[00:00:06] Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three-time Stanley Cup champion of the New Jersey Devils, and you're listening to the Uncle Puckers, New Jersey Devils Podcast. Let's go Devils! What's up everybody, we are the Uncle Puckers, Timmy, Bob, I'm Chris, so yeah, we waited, you know, two years to get back to the playoffs, and this is how it's gone.
[00:00:34] We're down 2-0 against the Hurricanes, lost both games on the road, which is something that we, and pretty much everybody said, you cannot do if you even want to have a little bit of a chance to win this thing. You can't go back home down 2-0, and that's exactly what they did. And, you know, I mean, there's two games to talk about, boys, so, you know, I'll just, we'll start with you, Bob. You know, whatever you want to go with, it's fair game. Thoughts?
[00:01:05] I don't know. I can just start with this game. I mean, I was traveling and doing shit for game one. I got to listen to it on the radio, and then with family, I wasn't really that engaged in the game. And then after seeing the outcome and understanding how they played, I was not going to rewatch it. I wasn't putting myself through that. So I went into this game with complete optimism and knowing the team that could show up. And I think for the most part, they did.
[00:01:30] They showed up in terms of heart and just going forward and playing physical and upping their game to like a playoff type of, you know, style. Well, I scored first. Things were going good. But like when the momentum switches against this team, it like switches fucking hard. Like it seems like right away after that first goal, it just seemed like the rest was going to be insurmountable.
[00:01:58] And almost what they scored three minutes after they tied it. Right. But they almost scored like 10 seconds after they tied it with that goal line, you know, dropping the goal line. And I mean, I was mostly enjoying their play. Kovacevic hits in the open ice. Like it had the feeling that this was going the right way. Just too many chances missed. You know, you come up with a lot of excuses. Too many chances missed.
[00:02:27] You know, Markstrom's been playing his ass off these last two games. But the first goal in game one, the second goal in this one, I know it's a shorthanded breakaway or two on one. But man, you got to make that safe. You know, it's not like that was an impossible save. You got to make that safe. Not that I'm blaming him. I'm just, you know, kind of angry. Just trying to throw it out there. You know, the things that happened tonight for Carolina is what I think we all said that we needed New Jersey to do. Right.
[00:02:54] Like we need one of our guys not named Heischer Meyer or Bratt to score. They got it in Martin Nook, who seems to like Kenny Evans said. He looks like Leon Drysaddle against us. And then we need Markstrom to steal a game. Tonight could have been that. But Freddie Anderson stole it. He stole that game for him. There's and then, you know, also the referees. The referees. Like I'm just, I don't like, are they completely in the fucking Cane's bag here? Like what the frick, man?
[00:03:23] They got every call going for him. And I feel like, how do you miss a headbutt when you're standing right there? You're in between these two guys. How do you miss a fucking headbutt? But anyway, Timmy, floor is yours. Oh, this went dark. You did. Oh, there you go. I made a little ring light. Yeah. I mean, just to rewind to the first game. I mean, there's a pathetic effort. You know, they just didn't look like their hearts. There's no energy.
[00:03:53] And tonight was the opposite. How does that happen, too, though? Like, how does that happen? I don't know. How do you go into a playoff game knowing full well, you know, there was no surprises. We knew we were playing Carolina. You should have been up for this game since January. And you came out that way on Sunday. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it was the afternoon. Nobody gives a fuck about this serious time slot. You know, they struggled in these afternoon games.
[00:04:20] You know, the inbreds in North Carolina were just rolling out of, you know, church, you know, being fake Christian. So, that game sucked. Mark kept us in it. You know, would have loved to have that first goal. But other than that, you know, I don't really think there's much more he could have done. In this game, like, I just like the energy, the effort was there. That first period was great. You know, we came out of the gates hot the first 10 minutes or so. Leveled off a little bit after there.
[00:04:48] But then they just came out in the second and were flat. And got, you know, they kind of, I just don't know. You know, it was like Carolina was getting their push in. And, you know, I wrote this in my recap. It's just like, I didn't like the philosophy that they went in with this. Of like, of this, let's just kind of let them do their thing in the offensive zone. And spam shots and spam chances. And just keep them to the outside.
[00:05:15] Because we're getting, it's exhausting chasing guys around in the defensive zone. And it's wearing them down. But, you know, Markstrom was, again, great. We just don't, we don't have the players, man. We don't have good enough players. And the same issues that plagued us all season plagued us again. You know, we can't score when we need to. The power play suddenly has dried up. I guess we see that the number one penalty kill is better than the number one power play.
[00:05:41] Like, that's the one thing that's really kind of frustrating me is, is, you know, what you're up against. And you just can't, their zone entries on the power play are terrible. They can't get anything set up. The second the puck even kind of remotely pops free or they lose a faceoff, the puck's going the other way. You know, that's what Carolina does. And they, you know, that's how they scored, scored that shorthanded goal. I mean, that was just an absolute backbreaker. Timo cannot.
[00:06:10] Timo had the worst game on the ice, I think. Like, he's, I've defended that guy over and over and over again. But on that power play, he, for whatever reason, decides he's going to pinch from the open ice over to the far boards and leave Martinuk wide open in the open ice. And Martinuk all day to kind of come on in on Markstrom and pick a spot. Like, you know, I'm not going to blame Markstrom for that. I mean, that's a pretty ridiculous shot.
[00:06:40] That guy, like, turns into primal Vecchkin against us. It's fucking ridiculous. They put up a good effort, though. You know, that's all we ask, you know, is that they, at least they showed up and they played. You know, they just can't score. But Timo needs to, that one time around the power play that Timo had, like, I was pitching about this a couple months ago, like, when he was in a scoring drought. Like, it's on the ice right in the center of the net.
[00:07:08] Like, you've got to get that up and you've got to get that hard. You've got to get that towards one of the corners. Like, Anderson slid across and made a great save. But it's a pretty easy pad save when you put the puck on the ice right there. And they pre-scouted Timo on that. And the Bastion chance. I mean, you have half the net and he shoots it back into Freddie. Like, bro, you have half the net, man. Bastion is such a... Take the second and just fucking look. I mean, anybody else on this team, not on the fourth line, well, Cotter would have buried it.
[00:07:38] But that thing gets buried. And, you know, Mike Ruff just write, sorry the Canes aren't the mountain of a team. He says, we can win the two games at home. Their road record is trash because they can't line match. There is a lot of truth to that. And when Sheldon Keefe split up after, you know, game one, putting Brad over on line two, it did tend to cause a little bit more trouble.
[00:08:04] And when you can get Heischer away from Stahl, you know, Stahl's in the penalty box. We have great opportunities on that power play. This, I do think, though, this is a game that New Jersey can head back to the bus and feel pretty good about. You know, you know Luke, no Jack, no Seigs, no Dylan. And you went out there and, you know, for all intents and purposes, I thought you played just as well as Carolina.
[00:08:33] We had a couple of miscues that ended up in the back of our net. And Freddie Anderson bailed them out when they had their miscues. And, you know, the issue we thought with the lineup going in, like, I actually thought Nemitz and Chalowski were actually pretty good. Nemitz played great. Nemitz had one issue in the first period where Robinson got behind him and Marky stopped at break. But beside that, like, I thought he had a great game. Like, if anything, that'll be a confidence boost for him.
[00:09:01] He seemed to have, you know, give that extra inch, you know, just when you think he's maybe just out of reach of the play. He was able to just find that extra inch in his stretch and, you know, move a puck. Just disrupt the play just enough. You know, it wasn't anything earth-shattering. But, you know, it put him back, you know, on their back foot a little bit when he did do that. So, yeah, he was very impressive. And, you know, what Mike Ruff said, I like that, too, because I was thinking the same thing. I mean, if we have this effort and we bring this back home, I think that this game translates to a win for us.
[00:09:31] And I think that the five or six, like, insane saves that Anderson made, you can't count on him doing that all the time. You know, I think if we replay this game again on Friday, we'd probably win this game, is my point. Like, a lot of things went wrong. And a lot of things were bouncy and fluky. Yeah, look at Timo's chance to redeem himself at the end of the third. And that knuckle puck is just bouncing right over his stick. Yeah, just bouncing. Yeah, you've seen those go in before, you know, with the whole hand, I think.
[00:10:01] But you've got to be pretty lucky to time that bounce right. Yeah, I get it. I just – it's just – it was, you know, Timo just – you know, he had a rough game. Like, he wasn't the guy we needed him to be. You know, we needed him to putt that one goal. I texted this a little bit to you guys earlier, but in 2018, Devils made the playoffs on the back of Taylor Hall. We lost in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Two years ago, we beat the Rangers in round one, lost to Carolina in round two.
[00:10:31] And now this series, we're two games in the books. What is that old now?
[00:11:00] What is that old now? But it doesn't look good. So, yeah. Yeah. Did you see the graphic on ESPN's feed? Chris, I don't know if you were watching MSG or ESPN. ESPN flashed a graphic that Carolina was 19-0, I think, against the Devils. I'm not sure if it was against the Devils or just permanently against everyone.
[00:11:26] But they were 19-0 when they've had the lead at any point in the game. Was it against us? I remember they're commentating after about the fact that what we've said, like a lot of these teams, team to team, have nothing to do with each other. But it just becomes this like, we have a problem with Carolina. Like going all the way back to like 06. Like we have a problem with Carolina. Nobody's on those teams. Just get rid of these. Weird. It's fucking Stahlberg. And I hate to say I told you so, right?
[00:11:54] But going back to like the middle of the season, I was like, this is the team I want to avoid. I don't care how good we were. Even when we were throwing up points and we looked like world beaters for a while, I still didn't want to play Carolina. Just hate them. If Luke comes back the next game and, you know, we still don't know what's going on with Siegs, but it doesn't look like he's going to be back at all. But, you know, I don't know anymore, man. I really don't. I just feel like right now we just don't have the horses that can really run with these guys.
[00:12:24] You know, if we were healthy, different story. But we're not. And, you know. It's a seven-game series and it's only two games. Yeah, I know. We've been here before. We looked. We were dead in the water two years ago. Yeah. Yeah. We also knew. I mean, we lost both our games to Carolina in their barn. We won both of the games in our barn. I mean, it wouldn't be unheard of for us to come out of this thing tied after the two games in New Jersey.
[00:12:50] But then you're still going back to the fact that they got a steal one down there and hopefully not have to win four in a row. But if you take the next two, and that's big. I mean, it's going to be difficult. But if you can get the next two, then you kind of are kind of playing with house money going back into Carolina. Now they're the ones that are second-guessing. They're the ones that are maybe on their heels a little bit. You turn the pressure over to them and maybe you can do something.
[00:13:16] Yeah, I just feel like, you know, Friday, yeah, is an absolute must win. But it's, you know, I feel like if Freddie Anderson was just a little bit like any other goalie tonight, we scored four or five. You know? He was incredible. Yeah, we did our thing where we missed a shitload of nets. You know, Dougie missed the net maybe eight times, nine times tonight. He always does. He didn't look sharp. I mean, and that's understandable. Yeah.
[00:13:46] I mean, it sucks. You guys didn't know what this is. It's a third game back. I mean, we didn't have any, like, real terrible defensive breakdowns or, like, you know, I mean, they had a couple of sequences where they were in the zone and we were staying in our structure. You know, Dumoulin made that great play on a, I think it was Jarvis on a, who had a little semi-break away. Like I said, Nemich and Chalowski were great. Brett Pesci was a fucking animal tonight.
[00:14:11] He was eating pucks and, yeah, and he saved the goal, I think, was in the second where he swept it out. Yeah. Beautiful play. So, he and Kovac Savage, man, like, they played, like, a nice little reel during the first and second intermission of his hits in the first. Like, he ate Jackson Blake for lunch. That was awesome. Like, I love that. Like, and that's the thing. Like, every single time we've had a game where there's been, like, a nice big hit in the first, it just kind of energizes these guys.
[00:14:39] And I want to see more of that. You know, go ahead and admire your past, Jackson Blake, because Kovac is coming. But all those things you just mentioned, each one, you know, a particular hit, I mean, a clearing of a puck that's about to go in the crease. That's mighty bigger than a little thing. But it did seem like, in the beginning, like, to a man, everybody was doing that little bit more. It made it seem like this is a game they're going to take control of. Yeah. And then it just freaking flipped. Yeah. Like, quickly. They can't get that second one.
[00:15:09] It looked like they were just hanging on. It looked like they were hanging on the whole second half of the game. It's really frustrating. Yeah, so I don't know. Yeah, I don't know what the deal is with Luke or Dylan, to be honest. I mean, I could live without Dylan right now. All they said was one thing that Keith refused to answer if he's under concussion protocol. And if you refuse to answer that question, it kind of feels like you're under concussion protocol. That means yes. That means yes. Oh, and Dylan is under concussion protocol?
[00:15:38] Yeah, and I think that's why. I'm stating that yes. I think he is, yeah. Luke, I don't know what his deal is. This is like the third time he's held that shoulder exactly that same way and then magically appeared in the game again. Like, I don't know if he's getting some, like, Bud Kilmer shots in the locker room. Milk does the body good. Get a little Russian gas. Come on, man. And these guys and their fucking magic legs and their spaghetti arms.
[00:16:08] Spaghetti shoulders. It's like, fuck. Varsity Blues? Varsity Blues, Bud Kilmer. Okay, thank you. I'm thinking, what the fucking movie is that from? Okay, yeah, I caught it. I caught it. Yeah, where he's putting the needle in the running backs. Yeah. Yeah, give him the shot. So, you know, I don't know where we go from here. I'm happy with their – I'm okay with their performance. It sucks they lost, but I didn't – I had the lowest of low expectations going into this, and they surprised me with their play. They did.
[00:16:36] They just need – they just didn't score, you know, and that's been our problem all season, right? Like, we'd probably 115-point team if we scored, like, the opportunities that we were getting set up. I don't know if we just have a whole collection of terrible shooters, bad shooting luck all season, or what. But – I just hope that this time next week our season isn't over. That's all. I just really hope that they salvage this thing and push it a little bit. And, you know, just leave it all out there, man.
[00:17:06] It doesn't matter at this point. Just fucking go out there and play your best frigging hockey. And, I don't know. I mean, we definitely got two more. They're going to be very frustrating. But there is something I do want to talk about. But first – Well, I wanted to bring up one quick – Yeah, go ahead. Since it's speaking of seasons over, apparently JT Miller is trying to qualify for the U.S. Golf Open, which is hilarious. Yeah, I saw that. I saw that. I mean – The jokes write themselves on that one. Just – that team is such a goddamn clusterfuck.
[00:17:33] And, yeah, it's going to be fun to watch them go and shit the bed. So, I – so, we'll do a little housekeeping. And I do want to touch on this Vancouver thing going around because it's a little interesting. But first, the NBA 82 game grind is done, and now the real fun begins. The NBA playoffs are here, and it's time to – or time for all the high-stakes drama, clutch moments, and jaw-dropping plays.
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[00:18:29] All right. We're moving on. That's it. So – Did we agree? Yeah, well, I don't want to take up another fucking five minutes reading the disclaimers. So everybody knows what they are. So, okay. Tim, do you want to say what the GM of Vancouver said? Do you want to tell everybody what's going on with this? Yeah, sure. Let's talk about this. So this fucking guy, man, like they cannot – This fucking guy. This fucking guy.
[00:18:59] You cannot fucking believe what this fucking guy said. Hang on a second. This fucking guy. All right. So he effectively said, like, in his many words, I don't know the exact quote, but he was like, we're going to do our best to try and get Jack and Luke to Vancouver. That's out of our control. But what's also out of our control is that Quinn wants to play with his brothers too. He said that Quinn has mentioned that he does want to play with his brothers.
[00:19:26] And then the GM said that's only partially within our ability, you know. And then he kind of led to getting Jack and Luke here as opposed to him wanting to ship Quinn out. We all know at some point all three of them are playing together on the same team. And the math tells me that means one's coming over to the place where there's two. It's going to be much easier for him to come here. Because the only one that I would trade Jack and Luke for is Quinn.
[00:19:54] And I think the only one that Quinn is worth on the Devils or vice versa would be Jack and Luke. So trade them for each other. But it's – I mean I personally thought he's not getting looked into for tampering or anything like that. But that sent Canucks Twitter and Canucks fans into a tizzy putting together the most outrageous trade proposals on the – They don't have enough. No, they don't.
[00:20:23] They don't have enough. No, I mean – That's ridiculous. The best comparison – and talking about Quinn coming to New Jersey, the best comparison would be the Eric Carlson from – to Pittsburgh trade. Hang on one second. You know – go ahead. No, no, go ahead. I'm going to look up what that – what that – Yeah, like – all right. So Vancouver then – well, I don't understand how this isn't tampering.
[00:20:51] You're coming out in public saying that you are interested in bringing two guys who are under contract with another NHL team over to your team. That – okay. But – all right. It's whatever. It's not tampering. Okay. And it wasn't a headbutt. And yeah, I get it. My thing is like if you're Vancouver, you don't have enough assets to get – in my opinion, you don't have enough assets to get one of our guys out of here, let alone both of them.
[00:21:18] And we don't have to do shit because all Luke Quinn has to do is not re-up. That's it. He's up in two years. He's got next year and – is he a UFA next year? I think he – that's a good question. I think it's the 26th season or it might be 27th. Didn't he sign when we drafted Luke? I think so. It seemed like he was absolutely fine with being, you know, his own person.
[00:21:41] Yeah, but it's just so funny how like all the drama that came out of Vancouver all year this year and now this shit with Quinn comes directly out of the mouth of their management. Like these guys just need to shut the fuck up. So basically – So Carlson, when he was traded to San Jose from Ottawa, he had two Norris trophies already and finished runner-up. So he's a pretty good comp for Quinn.
[00:22:09] So they got an unprotected first rounder, a second rounder, top prospect Josh Norris, and a top four defenseman and two depth forwards. I can see that. So we have those assets. We have a first rounder, second rounder, a top prospect, maybe Gritzuk or Lenny. Or maybe we'd have to go a little deeper on that. A top four defenseman, Dylan DeMello. I don't know what we would come up with that. Maybe we could talk him into Nemich.
[00:22:38] Talk him into Nemich, you know, and maybe Nemich and Salayev or something like that and then fucking give him bash him. No Salayev. I'm just telling you what it would cost to get him back here. I don't want to give up Salayev, but you got to get the get. So it would be like Casey and Nemich or Nemich and Salayev or Salayev and Casey. It's fine. Go. Yeah, I mean, it would be. Look, I want Tom Fitzgerald's head on a fucking platter. I do not want this guy running this team anymore, but he's going to.
[00:23:08] They made the playoffs. He's got his, you know, injury crutch to go to. So that's what he's going to do. And he'll keep his job. But if Quinn Hughes was to come out publicly and say he wanted out of Vancouver and wanted to come to Jersey, then yeah. I mean, you move heaven and earth. You do whatever the fuck you have to do and you get him in here. I mean, it would completely. Could you imagine Luke and Quinn playing together or even better splitting them up?
[00:23:36] Now you have these, you know, each, each Hughes guy on a line. Like, oh, my God. The left side of our D would be Quinn, Luke and Salayev. You know, that's insane. That would be insane. We're going to have to punt Dylan into the sun at some point. There's not so many bad contracts that we're going to be fucking straddled with over the next four years. It's like, man. It kills me about this. And now that there's precedent about guys getting out from underneath no trade clauses.
[00:24:04] Like, I'm a little bit hopeful that we can get rid of some of the bad and bad contracts on the books. Like, Plot and Holla both need to go. Like, they just both need to go. That's $9 million in change that will free up next year. Like, I've already run the numbers on it. Like, I've shown you guys about what our contract status is next year. If we give Glass a deal and give Luke a deal. And now I'm not so certain Glass is a guy that we should give a deal to.
[00:24:34] I'm kind of torn on that. He's been okay. But here's the thing. Like, what kind of deal are we talking about for Cody Glass? What would Cody Glass even be up there? Three and a half? Four million? Three and a half by three or something like that. Yeah. So, I mean, like, something like that. The guys... Like, Jay just brought up... Yeah. I would trade Dougie at the end of this year. And shit your mouth. I would trade Dougie at the end of this year. I know. You've got to get some help.
[00:25:07] But, again, we don't need him right now is what I'm saying. Like, just we have too many guys. And if you were serious... Like, I don't think that Fitz would be serious about making a play for Quinn. No, and I think with Dougie... Dougie may be an option to go the other way with Quinn. To maybe offset some money. And I think right now with Dougie, he actually still has value as number one defenseman in this league. Maybe we'd have to keep a little bit of the money on our books. But... I think that's why you traded him now.
[00:25:37] Yeah. I think after next year, he would need to be, like, pawned off as opposed to actually traded. Right. And that's the thing. Like, you know, Lou Lamorello was great at that. Getting rid of a guy maybe a year earlier. Okay. Maybe they'll go to the island or they'll go to Ottawa. They'll have an okay year. But then they kind of fall off a cliff. He was really good at that. And that's what Fitz has to do with this. To get more years in return, too. Right. So, yeah. Maybe you miss a good year of the person.
[00:26:07] Maybe you get three of the person you brought in. And you feel like, you know, at least the other teams don't feel like you just, you know, fucking schooled them all. At least they're going to get some good play. You know, you're getting a guy who's not completely off the age cliff. Like you said, Dougie Hamilton after this year will have a lot to give another team. But he's a great trade piece. And might be our biggest trade piece we have to a team really looking for a guy that can play number one minutes. Can play quarterback, the first unit power play.
[00:26:35] Like these are all things Dougie does really good. And that's why I think he should be a guy looking into making some trades. I mean, there's all the talk about Brock Besser leaving Vancouver. But they're already saying he's pretty much signing with Minnesota. They're going to have a shitload of cap space next year, the Wild. And he's from there. So he wants to go there. But we got to do, we've got to get more help. I mean, this team just offensively, they don't have it. They don't have it.
[00:27:03] I mean, I feel like it's going to be a very active offseason. I feel like a lot of pieces have to go. Maybe some quality guys too. Just, you know what I mean? More than not. Because I think if you can't trade Palat, you buy them out. I think we already talked about hollow. We've got most of the guys in the fourth line you could do with or do without. You know what I mean? Especially if you sign a glass to a nice contract. I mean, I just think we need to kind of mix up what's going on.
[00:27:32] Yeah, I don't trust Fitz either, Jay. But I do. I mean, I'm okay with signing Cody Glass. If you want to shore up that 3C, you're going to move off a hollow. I'm fine with that. I think that a whole year with Cody Glass playing that third line center, he's fine. No problem. Listen, maybe even better. You know, I could see a role with Cody Glass in the fourth line. Because I've said it before during the year. I do like Mercer in the middle. I like Mercer in the middle in like a third line role. Look what he's been doing now that he's had to. But I don't know.
[00:28:02] The idea of him there, and maybe, you know, hockey players will tell me why that's not going to work. But it's been working a little bit this last half of the year. And I do like him in the middle in like a third-season role. Now, I mean, I could live with that. If our middle is going to be Heischer, Hughes, Mercer, and Glass, I can live with that. I have it right here to pull up the Excel chart I just shared.
[00:28:26] Now, you know, Jay is – yeah, Jay, we were saying the whole time since like probably January that Sam Bennett needs to be the guy that they could try and go after. We're not going to be able to afford him, and he's re-signing. And he's probably signing with Florida. All right. What do you got here, Derek? So these are all the forwards that we have under contract, right? Can you guys read this? So – No. A wee bit small. That's all right. Hang on. Better?
[00:28:57] Yes. Yes. Much better. Okay. So, yeah, these are all the forwards. We have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. So these are 13 forwards under contract. That includes Holla. That includes Palat. This includes Glass at 3, Sprong at a million, and Gritzuk at a million. I didn't know what Gritzuk's ELC came in at. And we'll probably have Lenny Jaminijo fighting for a spot too.
[00:29:22] So with all that in place and Luke, I pegged in at 8.5. So basically this is our – this will be our D-core next year. You know, I don't know what – you know, I'd have to put Nemich and Casey in here. I don't know what's going to go on with them. And then Marky and Dawes. So with all of that right here, this 1.4 million, if they were not to do anything and just sign Glass, Sprong, Gritzuk, and Extend W, we'd have $1.4 million. Right. Yeah, Luke, yes. Keep – you know, run back that same D-core, run back the same forward core
[00:29:52] with this couple additions. Like, we have no cap space at all. See, now, I don't like a world where we have another year of both Nemich and Casey not on the main roster. I think you've got to figure out either they come in, one or two of them comes in, or somebody goes out. Yeah, so this is what I want to do. Delete that. Delete that. Delete that. And I think Nemich makes a million.
[00:30:19] So suddenly, with those three guys off, we have – Who did you take off? Dougie, Palat, and Holla. Okay. That leaves us $18.5 million. Well, now you can play. Now you can play. Yeah. And that's what you've got to do. And honestly, on the Palat – I'm sorry. Hang on one second. These are the buyouts for these guys too.
[00:30:49] So we'll actually save $4.5 million and $2.3 million next year on buyouts if we buy out Holla and Palat, if we can't find any takers for them. I do think – and McDermott too. We need to get rid of this fucking guy. He's worth it. Jay, real quick. Jay, he has Luke in at $8.5 million. So $8 million by $8 million is what we were – we're basically saying that it's pretty much going to be it. So we have him in there already. So he's already – Yeah. And then Nate Lazar, Dowling, Tatar.
[00:31:18] Gone, gone, gone. Bash and gone. Bash and gone. Tatar gone. Dowling, Lazar. So that's really kind of where we sit. I'm going to close this before my computer dies. Let me ask you guys a question. How do you feel about Paul Cotter? I expected more from Paul Cotter. And I don't know how I feel about him. I'm curious how you guys feel about him. I think he's an interesting case study that we've brought up all year.
[00:31:46] And I'm with you because I wrote a piece about – almost specifically about him. It felt like in the beginning of the year about how much I thought he was going to be like a fan favorite just with his energy, his drive, his hands, likes to hit things. And like we've said, his hands are there. When a guy scores, it's amazing looking. But I don't really – I don't know what's – where the disconnect is with him. I don't see him profiling as a typical one or two line. And then as a third and fourth, it's like is that just what you're going to get then?
[00:32:16] You're just going to get the odd really pretty goal because – I don't know. I think we got some decent bonus value out of him. Like he's a fourth liner. I think that's what his role is, just a banger fourth liner that's going to give you maybe ten goals. And I think that that's okay. Like that's – you know, we shouldn't have higher expectations. It sucks that we gave up our seventh overall pick for him. That's too bad. But, you know, Holtz has four goals all year and spent most of the time in the NHL. And it's probably going to be going back to –
[00:32:44] Yeah, he's probably going to be going back to Sweden pretty soon. It's definitely an asset to have a guy like that. He's also still like 24, 25. My problem with Cotter, he finds me a little bit of Timo to be honest. Kind of a big – when he's on, he's on. But he lacks a lot of kind of hockey IQ, hockey sense. Like Timo does some dumb shit on the ice.
[00:33:09] And Cotter has absolute fucking one retarded gerbil for running his brain. Like it's just – some of the shit he does is so frustrating. But like you said, you know, like his highlight reel is outrageous. So it's just – is he going to progress more to his highlight reel or is this kind of what he's going to be? And we're only paying him like 900 grand or something like that. So it's kind of like – I think it's even less than that. Yeah, it might even be less than that. So I think he's a good, solid, young fourth-line addition.
[00:33:38] He's also got some good wheels too, which we desperately need. Like we lost so much speed over the past two years. That's been part of our problem like is just these slow plotting guys. You know, like Lazar has no juice. Bastion has no juice. Dowling has been an absolutely admirable fill-in, but he shouldn't be on an NHL roster. Yeah, Chris brought this up a ton of times. You know, Fitzgerald's ability to overcompensate for each of the weaknesses that he has at the end of the year.
[00:34:06] And then he totally kind of overdoes it instead of just – so now what? Now are we going to find that happy middle kind of in between the – I hope so. If you look at it like a pendulum, right? Two years ago we were predicated on speed and we just – and transitioned and could blow the doors off of people with speed. This year he swung the pendulum way over the other way with toughness and grittiness. Some of it worked. Some of it didn't. Like Nason tonight, where the fuck was that guy? I have no idea. Like he wasn't around.
[00:34:34] Like, you know, he's a good kind of locker room leader guy. And I think, you know, everybody likes him as a person. But, you know, the only time I saw him was when he was standing up for Dougie in front of the net and dragged Orloff over the boards. Or when Timo got headbutted. By the way, we'll get to that quickly. Like, I cannot believe the explanation that they gave us for that headbutt. So it should have been a five-minute major. Yeah. It should have been a five-minute major.
[00:35:04] And instead the referee who – now in the referee's defense, he was two, maybe three inches away from this. So it's possible he didn't get a chance to see it all. But holy shit. He completely – he didn't miss it. He just didn't fucking call it. And, all right, so now my thing is can Toronto look at this and now suspend Burns for a game or two? I kind of don't love that because Burns sucks.
[00:35:35] He's like – he's slow and old. Yeah. And then we'll have to see Niketian, who I've been making fun of Canes fans for thinking that guy's actually going to play. So I don't need any rag in my face. So I texted you guys on that because when they came back from break, one of the first things they said was something to the tune of they can ignore it or give it a five-minute major. And I wrote to you guys, I'm like, did I hear that right?
[00:36:03] Did he just arbitrarily pick like, no, that's not going to be a penalty today. And the intent also, if there was an intent to headbutt, and I guess if you miss, that could be a double minor and a headbutt's five. But then they felt that this wasn't drastic enough. On the MSG network, they didn't mention the five. That was what you guys said that ESPN mentioned. They had mentioned a double minor, that it should have been a double minor, which case, okay, that's fine too. I would have, you know, take either one.
[00:36:33] And so we got nothing. And, yeah, I just – I don't know. Just so much disappointment in this team. And that's the thing. Like, I don't trust Fitz to do the things in the offseason that we talk about that are going to be the right things. I just don't know if he knows what he's doing to build a team. I really don't. This kind of plays into what happened to this team during the course of this game. I don't remember who it was who was standing right behind Burns and watched him hit by Timo Meier.
[00:37:02] But the fact that no devil did anything pissed me off. Now, upon review, it was pretty gentle. I mean, let's be honest. Yeah. Timo definitely flailed a little bit. It was not a vicious headbutt. And it was helmet to helmet. But in that moment, you tackle this guy. You take him out as a team. And, like, you just show that can't happen. And that's where I started to feel like they're just – they're not pulling together the way they were in the first 20. Because you just don't – you don't let that go.
[00:37:30] I mean, I can't shit too much on their game tonight just to miss the opportunities. But I know what you're saying. I'm not shitting on their overall games. Maybe because it's Brent Burns. He's been around forever. He has that respect level. Maybe it's just – That's against Timo, who's a prick too. So, maybe – I don't know. You know what I mean? I don't know. I need more Timo prick and more Timo goal scoring. And, yes, I agree. I can't – we can't shit on this.
[00:37:57] Like, the team that they iced tonight is not really a competitive NHL team, I don't think, in my estimation. But, you know, our – Brat had a hell of a game. You know, Nemich played well. I thought Mercer was actually pretty good. He won a decent amount of battles. I thought he sure played good. I thought he sure was good. He lost a bunch of draws. Kind of winds up on his ass after draws. And, you know, he didn't lose the draw at the end there.
[00:38:24] Like, Mercer got beat to the puck right after. So, Nico won it right back to Mercer. But, like, they spent all this time out to draw up a play. And it looks like they executed the faceoff play. Mercer just didn't win the puck, you know. And they were off to the races. That's so anticlimactic, right? When you got this long time out, you're pushing, you're pushing, and it's like – Lose the faceoff and go any other way. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That sucks. Yeah, this whole game was just frustrating.
[00:38:53] And just – I don't know. I mean, I hope we get one. I mean, I don't think we're going past five games. I really don't. I don't think we can beat this team four out of the next five. I really don't. I don't know. I didn't think that against the Rangers. Or next five. We did. You know, you just got to take one game at a time, Chris. One game at a time. I know. I know. Getting back on home ice, show that same effort. I don't know if maybe they have some lineup choices now. If Nemich and Chilowski come out. I mean, I assume they come out. If Luke and Dylan are –
[00:39:23] And not having to match up Stahl with Heischer every shift. I think that should open up Heischer a little bit more at home. Yeah, but we just can't score goals. They spread those guys out across three lines, Timo, Nico, and Bratt. And that seems to be kind of a bit of a trick that worked. You know, like we were on top for the first ten minutes. That first shift was great.
[00:39:50] Four series, two games, each of the first – last four series, we were outscored 39 to 10. What the frick? Like what the frick? Like Jason, I just said, we can't score fucking goals. I know we're not winning the series, but like – Does it feel like weird to anybody else, though, that we get into this playoff matchup that you've known for months, right? And then as soon as we get into the playoff matchup, it's like, oh, shit, all this isn't working. They're piling up on our big guys.
[00:40:17] Now, all of a sudden, we've got to change all of our lines and everything we've been doing for the last couple months because they beat us and we didn't see that coming. It just feels weird to me. Like I know you made changes in the playoffs, but it's like everything is out of whack. Plot's back on the first line. Kill me now. You know what I mean? Like – He's so bad. Where are you going to put them? I get it, but not there. I don't know. I said that Tatar will just stick handle his way into the zone, stop, and then just turn the puck over high in the zone, and it'll be like a three-way.
[00:40:48] I don't want to see Tatar or Hala. Hala I can actually deal with a little bit, but Tatar and Bastion, I don't want to see these fucking guys in double uniforms ever again. If Hala's on this team next year, I won't hate it. Like – but if Palat's on this team again next year, like I will absolutely hate that with the fires of 10,000 Suns. Yeah. I just don't trust anything that Fitz is going to do in the offseason.
[00:41:15] I don't know if this – you know, again, how many years – we talk about Hamilton, right? Four years he's been in Jersey, he's been healthy one. Like I get it. I don't care how much good the guy can bring. I don't want a guy that I can't keep healthy unless he's number 86. Deal with his injuries because he's so freaking good. But there's no reason to deal with it. I mean the injuries to our top guys over and over and over again. Like what is going on with that?
[00:41:43] And even Tatar, he has missed huge chunks of the last couple seasons too. Yeah. Yeah, he has. And that's another guy that – I mean if you can't be on the ice for 82 games or close to it every year, I don't want you on the team anymore. I really don't. We cannot keep doing this where every fucking year everything's in disarray because our top guys are out.
[00:42:08] I don't know if it's a training thing, if this is something that's going on inside their locker room, that they're more prone to injuries than others, and I really don't think that's it. Or it's the fact that they're just soft and small and whatever. I mean Dougie's not small and neither Siegenthaler. I don't know. It doesn't – like – you know, and I saw this argument kind of raging on Twitter. It's just like – like I don't give a shit how – what size you are.
[00:42:37] You know, like yeah, maybe littler guys can be thrown around a little bit, but like you look at Bratt versus Dougie. Bratt. Bratt actually plays like through hits in like a little tank. And Dougie, like if he hits something, like you're like, what the hell? Can't believe that just happened. He did actually make a couple of decent defensive plays tonight, Dougie did actually. A couple of good two-on-one breakups and stuff like that. He didn't make any glaring defensive issues. But you're right. Like if he can't make it through a full season, like he's not worth his money.
[00:43:07] Like that money is better spent elsewhere. You know, and we need help. My other issue is, you know, and I've kind of been talking about this a little bit, is I'm wondering if Keith's systems are the answer. You know, and Bobby was just talking about it. Like we've known about that this was going to be our matchup for months and like you act surprised that this stuff happens to you. Like they didn't look at the penalty kill once. Like we can't even get in the fucking zone on the power play.
[00:43:36] It looks like an absolute disaster. You know, like we knew that they have a high-pressure penalty kill. So like why aren't we scheming around that? You know, like I don't understand that at all. Like all of our offensive mojo is gone. It's absolutely gone. Like Nico did something in the first period that drove me fucking crazy where he was carrying the puck up about to break out. And then he circled and went all the way back behind the net. And he lost the puck.
[00:44:06] Tim, we do that all the time. Our guys always roll back into the zone. After we've just spent like 45 seconds not able to get the puck out. And then when we finally get possession, if there's not a clean pass, they fucking peel back off and they come back. And so many times against the Canes 4-check, you can't do that. They're on top of you. And then what happens? You cough the puck up and you spend another 45 seconds in your zone not getting it out. I do not understand.
[00:44:35] I watch every other hockey team. And it's boom. It's up the boards. It's out. Quick, quick, quick. Like us, we're dicking around all the fucking time going backwards. Like I don't understand half the shit we do sometimes. And it's extremely frustrating. And I do attribute a lot of it in this series to it just being Carolina. But we do it all year. And we do it to everybody. It doesn't matter. It's San Jose. Okay, let's give them easy fucking ops. That's just – I feel like we make life so much easier for some of these teams than it really needs to be.
[00:45:05] Like I don't know. I don't know. You brought up like we have been able to get opportunities off of the rush. Like once you get past that first layer, that F1, F2, 4 check, once you get through there, there's a ton of space from the defensive high slot to their blue line. Their D are backing off. Like we have tons of room to exploit that. They're doing that high flip shit too much. And that worked a little better this game than it did the first game. But there's got to be a better way.
[00:45:35] And our passes aren't crisp. Like passes up to the forwards in the new zone. Relative to what the Canes are doing, like they're on the tape every single time. And ours just aren't. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. What do you guys expect for Friday night? 7-2. Big win. Oh, yeah? His back has a bionic arm. All right. So if I find out tomorrow that Jack Hughes is skating, I will feel differently about this series going forward.
[00:46:05] But that's not going to happen. It's funny. The last two minutes or whatever, when the goalie was pulled and they were just trying to get down the ice, I just said, oh, my God, this is where we really need Jack and his wheels, man. They were trying to like skate through and it just wasn't happening. And, you know, woulda, coulda, shoulda. I know. And listen. And then Dougie's the one that does it. He's like, do-ba-do, po-do, po-do, po-do. And I know you can't say like injuries are an excuse and all that.
[00:46:33] I mean, they kind of are for this team. I mean, they really are. It's some best defensive shutdown guy, best offensive player. We've lost some other guys for a long period of time. We don't know if we get Luke back now. Can you imagine where we would have been, by the way, if Luke didn't become what he became so quickly when Dougie was out? Like to maintain that power play and still be number one power play? In the league and all. I mean, thank God. I also look at him back. We need a lot of guys back. Like how good this team would have been when they brought glass and sprung in if Jack was still on the team too, you know?
[00:47:03] And then he would have been able to, the guys would be able to slot in the right spots. And yeah, I mean, it sucks. It sucks. If you look at our season, and I'll write all this up kind of in the season post-mortem, but like if you look at like our five-on-five scoring numbers, they're really bad. Like they're 20, 25th in the league, something like that. Like we were completely carried by an electric power play and a good penalty kill and goaltending.
[00:47:29] So next year we're going to be an average five-on-five scoring team, and our power play is going to be shit because Fitzgerald is going to overcompensate. Well, I think maybe. Honestly, I don't know, man. Like, look, you slot Gritzik in. Great. I have an idea of a trade. I don't know if it's even remotely viable, but I was thinking we send Nemich and attach Palat to him for Jared McCann. I'm okay with that. I have no problem with that.
[00:47:57] I have no idea if Seattle tells us to go fuck ourselves or not. I also think that this is going to be the type of year, which I'm totally cool, a big hockey trade. Like it's going to come time. If you don't believe that the guys that we have on this team right now, the core guys are the guys that can win a Stanley Cup. We know that he sure and Jack and Brat. That's it. I'm talking forwards, not talking anything on defense right now. That's your three core.
[00:48:25] I'm not even going to put Timo in there right now. I like Timo Meyer. But again, Timo Meyer has not seemed like he fits in with this team as much as as well as he should have. I mean, why not think about it? At least entertain. I mean, if you can get something big for a guy like Timo, guys like Dougie, if you can put something together for something big. That can really help this team. I'm not against it. I'm not against it. The guys just mentioned Brad.
[00:48:53] Like I just I wouldn't I wouldn't move Brad. Like I just don't think it's tough to move off a guy like Brad for the simple reason that. Brad has done everything and more that you have asked for him every single year. When you can look at a guy over the course of his six or seven, eight year career, however long Brad's been in this league and every single season, he's better than the season before.
[00:49:20] I just don't know how you can get rid of a guy like that, especially when he plays with Jack. And when those two are together and they're clicking, I mean, is there a more fun tandem to watch in the NHL? I don't think so. I just seriously think they are the most fun to watch. So I'm I get it. I get what he's saying. Like, you know, the big hockey trade does take you are going to lose somebody that you love. I'd rather it be Timo Meyer than Brad.
[00:49:45] I just think we can fill Timo's role for what he's been on this team since he's been here easier than we can fill Bratz role. That's that's just me. We were always in love with the role that Timo was supposed to bring and for good reason. But I don't know how many times I've said it's nothing against Timo. I'd love having Timo. How he doesn't fit in, just like you just said, there's something there's something about the mix of the core more than the core. Like people always say, can this core get it done?
[00:50:16] Is it the core individually or is it the mix? And I think that's more of the question. Can you imagine if like all that energy and effort, say, went to like a Matthew Kachuk instead of a Timo? Right. Like then do we see a different, you know, different fruits of our labor from that and Timo? And it's not like I don't want to knock on Timo because like he's a great hockey player. Just it's just a disconnect. And I don't know what it is. I just it's just a feel thing.
[00:50:42] There's only so many years we can go on with, you know, with a guy like Timo was saying, well, he's not getting power play one time. That's why he's not scoring or, you know, his left wing, right wing or he's not fitting with Jack. So we need to put him on the third line. And, you know, it's just like where does he slot in? Like, where's he going to play? Like, who's going to be his guy? You know, like we've pretty much figured out that you can move Jack or move Brad back and forth with Jack and Nico pretty seamlessly.
[00:51:11] And Timo can play with Nico and Timo, Nico and Brad can play together. But Timo can't play with Jack for whatever reason, because they're too puck dominant. Timo and Mercer looked OK together for a little bit. And then they looked like absolute fucking dog shit together. So then you go and then you go to the narrative that everyone says that Timo can run his own line. Great. Now you've got a nine million dollar player on your third line. And it just it just doesn't line up to me. Traditionally, it doesn't line up to me. Yeah. Jason, I brought up. I forgot about the left wing, right wing thing. I know there's no truth. There's no truth to that.
[00:51:41] I know people have brought bullshit. I've been a big fan of that. I'm not going to lie. There's no like they don't. I know there's not. Once again, it's a puck's job. I know. I know. There's no there's no issue. When you take a guy like that, that had so much promise and then you give him that giant contract, it's just easy to look back and say, well, what worked for a little while over here? And it was just a little while. Like, it's not like every time he did that, he was this better version of Timo. It's just kind of the highlight reel stuff that you saw. Again, it's not always about going out and getting the best player.
[00:52:10] I mean, you go and look at the devil teams that won Stanley Cups. We didn't have who are forwards. I mean, other than Patrick Elias, who was there for two of the three. Like we never had the star players. We never had the guys that were 50 goal scorers, 100 point guys. I mean, this franchise been around for 50 years. We've never had 100 goals, 100 point guy. So we never had that. So it's not always about just going out and getting the best piece. Yeah, we've been.
[00:52:37] Tom Fitzgerald's problem with my opinion is that he doesn't go out to find the right pieces. It's like, you know, Jay saying like, yeah, Jack needs a big winger. We said that last summer. Yeah. Last summer. That's where Timo was going to be. Timo was supposed to be that guy. For whatever reason. And I don't know if it's just because now we've seen three different coaches have not gone with that. Right. Lindy Ruff, Travis Green, Sheldon Keefe. They've all tried it and they all went away from it.
[00:53:07] Now, is that because they. Was it something said like Jack saying? I don't really like playing with them. Just they're not seeing the connection. Whatever. They're seeing better when he's playing with when Timo's with Nico. Whatever. It doesn't matter. But you have got to get that should have been job one. In November, when you saw that this team had a few flaws. And that's the thing that I can't stand about Tom Fitzgerald. And this is what worries me the most. If he overcorrects over the summer.
[00:53:34] Well, buckle in, boys, because that's the team we got because he ain't going to do shit during the regular year this season. He's not going to go and make a big trade. He's not going to do it. He'll sit on his freaking hands and keep his fingers crossed, hoping to beyond all hope that his team works out, that his plan works. No, what's going to happen is he's going to do something that we're going to love because he fucking wins the fucking offseason. And he's a two-time offseason champ.
[00:54:02] And we're going to be like, hell yeah, we're going into the season. Then like two months in, we'll be like, oh, this doesn't work at all. Uh-oh. This guy has no movement clause. And he's 37 years old. Oh, shit. And when you look at the great managers, they're the ones that are willing and able to move off any mistake quickly. Okay? We tried it. It doesn't work. Hey, Los Angeles Kings, I picked them to win the Stanley Cup this year. And I think they have a damn good chance.
[00:54:27] And everybody talks shit about Rob Blake moving or getting PLD from Winnipeg and moving. I was like, oh, I have Brady. A bunch of guys, right? And Winnipeg is good. And so he gets this guy in. And after a season, he's paid too much, doesn't give a shit, barely skates. Fourth line guy. 10, 11 million, whatever he makes a year. And they have a play in the fourth line for the playoffs last year against Edmonton.
[00:54:56] What does Rob Blake do? Right off the bat. Move off that fucking contract. It doesn't matter. This is a mistake and we're getting rid of it. I don't trust Tom Fitzgerald to be able to make those decisions or have the, I guess, mental clarity to say, I fucked up and this is a mistake. This is something I shouldn't have done. Let's try and fix this problem. It doesn't matter. And to realize that even if eating some money in that, it's not like, oh, that becomes a lose transaction.
[00:55:25] It could still be a positive transaction for what it does for the team, even if it means you got to retain some money or buy out. Like he's got, I feel like he can't get past that. Well, like you said, I screwed up kind of mentality. Now I need the best way out. Sometimes the best way out is just out. You know, we've all bought something really stupid at the store. And we're like, why the hell did I spend money on that? I'll never get my money back. Fuck it. It's over. That's a lot. I have a 1948 Jeep sitting in my barn that says just that. That's not a stupid purchase.
[00:55:54] That is an excellent purchase. Don't ever do that to yourself. But the blood is a stupid purchase. You know, Fitz drafts aren't all misses. I mean, you know, I don't think Nemich is a miss just yet. I mean, Holtz was a major whiff, but. Well, I mean, when you could have gotten Stankoven and we got Stillman. That's fucking true. Yeah, there's a lot of shit that we can bash it. Yeah. Yeah. Again, it's, you know, and and without looking at it comparatively against other GMs and how their drafts have all have all worked.
[00:56:24] You know, and the bottom line is this when we're feeling angst towards Tom Fitzgerald and we're nervous about the moves that he is going to make or moves that he already made. And we get ourselves a little bit worked up. Just stop and say, at least we don't have Chris fucking jury. That's all. That's it. That's all we need. At least we don't have Chris jury. I want to see Katlin Madigan take the job.
[00:56:52] I want her to be the first GM, female GM in the league. And I want her to go win us a Stanley Cup. That's what I want. My worry about that is, and it would be great, but my worry about it is, is she still part of this Fitz regime, which was still part of the Shiro regime. And it's still kind of that same line of thinking. And it's still like, these are our guys type of thing. I almost want someone with a fresh perspective and a fresh view that doesn't have any emotional ties to these guys.
[00:57:22] So that's the other thing with Fitz does. He's like, you know, Mr. Favor. And it's just like, give us some. And there is some truth to that, that yes, that is. But I also think when you, if you were the first ever female GM, you better blaze your own trail. You know, you better not take shit from anybody and you better blaze your own trail. And I would just like to see it kind of happen. I know it's not going to, we're stuck with Fitz. We're stuck with them for the, he's, he's going to bail out for, because of injuries.
[00:57:49] Like, it's just, and look, I think that we can, I feel like this team, even with its warts and all they, they're a perennial playoff team. Like we know they're going to be a lot better next year. And if they stay healthy, they're going to make the playoffs again, whatever happens happens. But like the only way I think we get rid of Fitz at this point is like, if the bottom really does fall out next year. And it's like, we're fucking, then we draft Gavin McKenna. Yeah. Problem, problem.
[00:58:19] But no, like we, so, you know, another year of two way monster Jack, another year of two way monster Brad, another year of two way monster Nico, another year development for Luke. Like, you know, hopefully Nemich takes that next step. If he's even still around Casey takes that next step. If he's a really still around for six steps in and becomes the guy that he needs to be. Mercer takes going to the gym fucking seriously. Um, Jack, you know, same with, same with Jack, Jack takes some steroids and gets a bionic arm.
[00:58:48] He just needs to go to Sweden for the summer with Jesper and just do whatever the fuck Brad does eat whatever Brad eats. Fuck whatever Brad fucks, do whatever Brad does and do it. That's it. I think, you know, look, and we'll have Markstrom next year. He's been, he's been as advertised for the most part. He had a couple of rough games after he got back hurt, but these two playoff games have
[00:59:15] solidified my belief in him and the way Dawes looked earlier in the year. Like he was, he was great. He'll be a good backup. And then we got the, you know, you go off and Malik come in. Like, you know, I can see the vision on the goaltending pipeline, which is coming into shape. Salive will be coming, coming here when Dylan's contracts up. So the piece is coming in and out work. I hope we have a ton of success over the next three years. Of course, like we can win three Stanley Cups. That's great.
[00:59:41] But I am salivating at this team in like three years, dude. I really am with some of our young guys. Yeah. And I just don't want to see them up. It may take that long, you know, like, like Ovi didn't win his first cup until his like 10th year. And that's his only cup, you know, like it's parodies a thing. You know, there aren't teams like, like the dynasties that we grew up with anymore. Yeah. And nowadays, yeah, it's just one. I mean, Jamie Benn hasn't won one. Connor McDavid hasn't won one.
[01:00:09] You know, I mean, he bounced by the Kings. Yeah, he is. So I, I, I don't, Jay, I think you're at a great, I think you're crazy with that one. That's the second time you wrote there that Nico could leave. Nico's not leaving. He's the captain of this team. He wants to win a cup in Jersey. I think Nico and, and I don't know if there's a deal out there. I mean, if he's in it just for the money, it's going to make just as much money with New Jersey than it is anywhere else. The man's going to get paid.
[01:00:40] Yeah, I get it. But where is he going to, you know, there's no problem. There's no place that you can go, Jay. That is an absolute, we're going to go to the playoffs every year. Like now, this is why he, now is where he should want to stay here. Now he sees his team and okay, I paid my dues. Now we're going to be in the playoffs every year. And I think he'd like to do it in Jersey. I get what you're saying. I just, I can't see it happening. I really can't. But you know, things, stranger things have happened. So, all right.
[01:01:09] So, look, we're going to wrap this thing up for tonight. Everybody would want him, Jay. That's it. Everybody would want him. 32 teams, 32 teams will put an offer on Nico Heischer if he was ever available. I believe that 100%. So, you know, but he's a devil. Let's keep him there. Yeah. All right. Lock him up for whatever it takes without fear of who that means you can't sign after. That's the way we have to approach Nico Heischer. He's the team.
[01:01:37] And he'll give you probably a little bit of a team-friendly deal, too, on account that, you know, he understands this deal. He understands what goes into it. He's also in his eighth year, but he's only 26 years old. He's a guy that's going to play until he's 35. Yeah, I could easily. Yeah, he's got nine, ten years left. Yeah. I didn't even get my first salary job until I was 26 years old. I got like four degrees. This is fucking weird. All right. So let's wrap this. You have to start paying your student loans back.
[01:02:08] Let's wrap this thing up. So Friday night is an 8 o'clock start. Unfortunately, I'm working, so I'm going to be watching everything on delay, like 930. I'm going to start it. All right. Well, Jay, like, okay, so what if the Devils miss the playoffs again next year? Then we have more bigger problems, bigger problems than just are we possibly going to lose Nico Heischer down the road? Then we're trading. If the Devils miss the playoffs next year, then everybody's got to go. And I mean management. Everybody's got to go.
[01:02:38] GM, coaching, everyone. You've got to start over. Tear it all down. Tear it down. Tear it down. And we'll talk then. But we're still right now in the playoffs. At least tickets will be cheaper again. Yeah. Look, we're down 2-0 again. We've been here before. I don't have any confidence that they're going to come back and win four games in this year. We're going to do what we haven't done all year. We're winning the next four. We're winning the next four. March 5. Boom. That's it. Four game win streak. Four straight. I mean, all right, Bob. What's going to happen?
[01:03:07] In all reality, what's going to happen Friday night? We're going down 3-0. Honestly, Friday night is going to be a tight game. It's going to be like a 2-1 game with an empty netter to steal it. Devils win 3-1 Friday night. Tim? I got the Devils exploding for some goals. I'm going to say 5-2. I really like that because I can see that happening. I'm going to go. Power play converting a couple times and some of the scrubs popping them in.
[01:03:37] Jay, we're going to kick you out of here if you keep on calling saying sweep. We might have to block you permanently. We can't block him. He's the only guy in here. I know. We have nobody. I think even Mike Ruff left. I'm going to say 2-0. We pull it off. 2-0. Marky gets to shut out. Nothing?
[01:04:06] I'm not going to say what was going to happen Sunday because I have no idea. Let's just stick with that. They got to win one, right? Gentlemen sweep. First one is home. Sunday is my kid's birthday party. Got to win for him. So there's our first two. Then it's just two more. And then we're tied. And then we're on our way. You scheduled a fucking kid's birthday party? You allowed that to be scheduled? Yeah. Well, you see, it's a go-kart. It's called to be the clown on skates. It's a thing.
[01:04:36] And the weather gods decided that Saturday is going to rain. And you cannot do that. So it was moved to Sunday. All right. At exactly the same time as fuck it off. Slick track his kids. Come on. Hey, it's on my rules, man. I like the slick track, kids. I think that'd be awesome. All right, Jay. What do you got for Saturday, buddy? Before we – for Friday, rather. Before we wrap up. I don't think he has an optimistic perspective on it. No, no, no. Feeling no. He's angry. Look at his last three.
[01:05:05] How are we scoring five goals? You think I like watching this shit? They can't score goals. And just see him yelling into his computer. Angrily. I can't type as quick as I'm yelling. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Just remember, go outside. It was very nice out today. Exactly. And there is. We're two devils. All right. No sweep. Yeah. I mean, look. Nico Heischer, Timo Meyer, Jesper Brad. They don't pay our mortgages. They don't pay our fucking bills.
[01:05:34] We still got lives and shit to do. So, you know, enjoy the games when we can. I'm paying fucking Fubo to watch them 100%. Well, yeah, that's true. We're going to be back on – hopefully on Thursday. We're going to have a new devil you know. We're going to have a year of the devil. And we're going to do – what else do we have to do? Wasn't there something else? Oh, what's our new game? Oh, Snake Draft of the Week. Oh, yeah. That's the other one. So, we'll be at a hockey banquet for my kids. You'll be on your own.
[01:06:04] What, on Thursday? Yeah. Oh, you fucking blow, dude. Dude, I got a life. It's weird. I know. It's very weird. Man, fuck them kids. Sprung with the hat trick. Now it's not only Sprung – Now he's getting in the lineup. Now you're just fucking trolling us, Jay. Curses are four goals. Yeah, you go. Now we're going to win eight straight. Straight into the final. We're going to wrap this thing up. We will be back Thursday without Bobby.
[01:06:33] So, wherever you're listening to us, they like a five-star review, a positive comment. Let us know what you think about the series so far. Jay, Mike, you guys, thanks for hanging out with us again. This is always fun. And everybody have a wonderful couple of days before we get rolling on game three. For Bobby and Tim, I'm Chris. We're the Uncle Puckers. We'll see you when we see you. Bye-bye. It's over, Johnny.
[01:07:03] It's over. The negative bastards. Yeah.