The Devisl got a much needed 2 points in Motown. This show the "Puckers" discuss the good and the bad of the game. Are Jack & Bratt the best overtime cheat code in the NHL? A look ahead at the next two divisional matchups, starting with the surprising Rangers @ The Rock.
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[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! Hey, welcome to The Uncle Puckers, New Jersey Devil Podcast. I am Chris along with Captain Sixpears tonight, Tim Wood. So I don't have to say it later or in case I forget, subscribe, like,
[00:00:35] alert bell. Thank you. We don't care. Beer for breakfast. What's up, man? Beer for breakfast, even though it's 7.33 in the evening. Time is a construct, Chris. This is true. I'm with you on that. Made up. Drink, baby. Oh, Johnny Devil. Johnny Devil going to the game tomorrow. Oh yeah, crushing victory drinks. Johnny, I have a feeling that you're going to be crushing victory drinks
[00:01:01] tomorrow. So we'll give people a few minutes to come on in, you know, the last two of you that listen to us. But... I just snap-bubbled. Gross. That was weird. Good to get out of that 4K camera. Seriously. Yeah, my fucking 2015 HP laptop that is so much porn. Way too much porn. Fucking... Thing is slower than Anthony Manta now.
[00:01:30] Hey, but he found some buddies that are just as slow as him. And... Yeah. Okay. So let's start. Let's start there. All right. We're going to start. Do we know that the Devil's coming off their first back-to-back? They blew the game against Ottawa and then last night just didn't want to take... just wanted to make it interesting all night. If I take the Devils playing in last night's game away and being
[00:01:52] the diehard Devil fan... I enjoyed that game. That was a fun game last night. You know, looking at it as, you know, being the Devil fan, it's like, oh man, there was a few too many defensive mistakes and this and that. But one thing that Devil fans for the next however many games there are, what, the 79, right? 78 games, whatever is left. Know this one thing. That when it comes to overtime,
[00:02:18] the Devils have the best cheat code in the NHL because Jack and Jesper Bratt on three on three are just so much fun to watch. Like, if they get the puck, it's pretty much over. Well, and it's funny because like, it's like some awful plays right before that. It's like, they just like, they almost like don't care anymore. They're just kind of like, yeah, fuck it. We'll just do it later. You know, like Jack took like a shitty shot and was like,
[00:02:46] all right, fuck it. I'll just back up and caught the puck up in the offensive zone. And then, but yeah, it's like, all right, as long as we get it back and beautiful pass from Bratt. Jack was, you know, puck was bouncing a little on him, got the control off. Beautiful shot. And the Devils go home with the two points. Yeah. Jack's going to be unbelievable in that three ice league in two years. Dude, I was thinking about that today. Like if Danico, especially with Danico coaching them, forget it. Championships galore. 14. I'll get some Saudi Arabian money in there.
[00:03:16] It'd be like making like $20 million. Fuck yeah. They'll live golf of hockey. Exactly. These guys, are they making money? I don't know if they are. Oh, they're making lots of Saudi Arabian blood money. So yeah. So that game was fun from a outside observer. People must be like, oh my God, like that was a lot of fun for us. Kind of like what the fuck, but they pulled it out. They got a win.
[00:03:40] They're three and three. Like it's, it's going to be okay. I think. And there's a lot of things I think actually going right. Like I know a lot of people are like, oh, same old team. They can't do this. They can't do that. There's a lot different about this team happening right now that may or may not like come to fruition in terms of mostly the process, like mostly how they're playing.
[00:04:06] Like they kicked the fucking shit out of Detroit during the first period last game. Like, and I get the Detroit's not that great, but it's just like that process. They're number one in expected goals. Number one in course, number one in Fenwick. And the one thing when, when you look at stuff like that is you have to account for the quality of the chances. And then number one in high
[00:04:31] danger chances for two as well. You're not just stacking fucking point shots and stuff. These motherfuckers just can't finish. And like, well, that could, that may or may not be a continued continuation of a problem. I get that. But I think what we saw last night was they made changes like credit to Keefe for like, not continuing to just run something back. And he made some changes,
[00:04:54] like lineup changes, like moving Gritzok up. Like, I think we're close to landing on the mix and like the, the deployment that we need to land on. I agree. And I'll say this, like if you listen to any devil stuff over the course of this week, and even our show earlier in a week, a lot of doom and gloom, right? I mean, there's a lot of, and I, we completely understand it, right? We get it as devil fans. We're in it with you and we feel
[00:05:23] the same way, but this show tonight, we are going to stay on the positive side. So, well, well, I might have some negative stuff to say. We're going to, we're going to, we're going to be like Dougie's, Dougie's chart after the game where it's like 80% positive and like 60% negative. But you know, the things that you say are, yeah, yeah, that's only 70%. No, that's a hundred. You said 60 and 10,
[00:05:50] didn't you? I said, I said 80 and 60. Oh, 80 and 60. Yeah. That doesn't fucking die. It's fine. Move on. Move on. All right. Anyway, Matt is in our strong suit. So actually it's my strong suit. What are you talking about? It wasn't there. He's fucking, come on. His name's Captain Sixfears. How fucking focused do you think he's going to be? So a lot of good stuff from last. There was some ugly shit last night, like the defensive breakdowns and stuff. We could talk about that
[00:06:18] and you're going to get burned every fucking time. If you play like that, like they have too many, there's too many skilled shooters in this league and too good of players. You have defensive breakdowns like that throughout the game. They're, they're going to end up in the back of your net. The first couple like Jake Allen had no shot on, but a lot of good last night. All right. Like you mentioned the lineup changes. I think Gritsuk, Jack and Bratt, that can be a really, really dangerous
[00:06:46] line. And I am expecting them to go off tomorrow night against the Rangers. I mean, Jack owns the Rangers. We have a, we have a first line and a fourth line right now. I kind of like that third line. And you know, I think, you know, they were kind of playing at their own pace, but like, I think you insert a guy like Connor Brown in there for Stefan Nason, where it's like
[00:07:09] Mantha Erod Nason or Brown. Yeah. Well, Tim froze. I don't know what happened to him. All of a sudden he just froze up. Oh, you froze. Am I there? Oh yeah. I got your back. You're back. But we, I think we missed what you said. I think we have a first line and a fourth line. Yeah. We were talking about first line and a fourth line. This fourth line we've hit on something there. Untouchable. Jack, Jack Brack, Gritsuk. Don't think that needs to be touched. That's going
[00:07:39] to work. The rest of it. I'm a little, you know, I think there's still some things that need to be worked out like Evangelista, you know, coming back with Nico and Timo. I like that line. I do too. I just like last night, like, and I'll flat out say it, like if people continue to, to drum, to hit the, like the drums for Nico Heischer for Selke, they need to stop. He has played very bad defensively. He's been fucking terrible defensively. Terrible. Like
[00:08:09] I think three, three goals against his line had last night and two of them were directly his fault. Yep. Like two of them were directly his fault. Like just poor back checking on that two on one and then letting the Brink can't. The Swiss guys, they get paid and they don't want to play hockey anymore. What the fuck? No, it's just like Nico's going to be fine. He will, he will come around. I'm sure, you know, like I'm not, he's a guy that I'm not entirely
[00:08:38] worried about. Yes. And, and Engel probably says that, you know, like he wasn't walking right because he blocked a shot off his foot, whatever guys block shots all the time and they get back out there and they fucking buck up and like, don't complain about it. And Nico doesn't complain about it, but I was not impressed with this game last night. He had a pretty terrible game. Timo Meyer. What does he have? One assist on the season. It deserves so much more.
[00:09:01] He, he, he, he, he does things where you're like, God damn it, man. Like, can you just do this every game? But like a lot of it just is, he will barrel through the neutral zone, barrel into the zone and then just lose the puck. Yeah. There you get one. When he gets behind the net and he just turned it over. Absolute fucking mashed potatoes for brains too. He's honestly kind of like a little Cotterist
[00:09:29] except better than Paul Cotter. Well, I mean, he, he plays a much, much more complete game than Paul Cotter does. And, and I like the way Timo has been playing, but yeah, one guy not playing up to speed does tend to slow everything down the line. We need Timo, we need Timo to score goals too. Like he needs to do that. Like I get he's this wrecking ball, but like we need him, we need him to step up in that regard. And I think he will, because he's has played well at the beginning of this season.
[00:09:59] And then I, you know, we all know Timo, right? He said, he's a streaky goal scorer. One goes in, they're going to come in bunches and we'll be bitching and moaning a month and a half from now that he hasn't scored in five, six games. You know, that's just how it's going to be with him. But, um, you know, having Mercer on the line, I understand absolutely putting them there, like the familiarity you have to, you know, but like that's Lombardi spot and Lombardi is much better than Mercer in that spot. And I think that he will be the fuse that gets that line going.
[00:10:27] You think they're going to move Lombardi up to that spot eventually? I meant Evangelista. My goodness. I was reading something on the chatter about, uh, about, um, yeah, right. Sorry. I meant Evangelista. Jesus Christ. Smoke a little more weed, Chris. I have not smoked anything yet. My friend, I usually wait until either if I'm smoking, if I'm going to actually smoke, I don't do it until the show's over. If I'm going to eat a
[00:10:55] fucking dissertation on this, well, you're going to get one. So shut the fuck up and listen. If I eat a gummy, it's going to be like 30 minutes before the show. And so I'm not like overly fucking high on the show, which I have, I don't know. I just constantly been fucked up, but with Timo, like I'm just kind of constantly wanting a little more out of him and more, like, I love some of the stuff that he does. I just, I, I, I just, there's just that little bit. He's just like,
[00:11:22] come on, man. Like, like when he's barreling into the zone and then he takes it behind the net and wheels and just shoots a blind shot. And it's just kind of like, Oh, come on. Like I know you had a moment in Detroit where he just trucked through the neutral zone, came barreling in, had an opportunity to just pull it back between the D and just, just rip a shot from the high slot and just lost the pocket. And it's just kind of like, he's right there. Like, I feel like he's
[00:11:49] right there and you're right. He's a streaky score. He needs to get that feel. Just, he, he's a guy that we need to put the pocket in the net. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'll say this, putting Manta down to Evan Rodriguez's line, very smart move to have three dudes that just dump and chase can play the old fashioned way. We'll go get it. We'll, you know, strong on the boards, find the open man. Uh, they've done it. They played great last night. Then Mason impressed
[00:12:18] me last night, played a very good game. I thought Mason a very good game last night. Yeah. Now here's a little bit of a dilemma because you watch Mason play last night and I understand he's probably the guy out. And I did read somebody saying here that Brown should step in for, um, Amadeus Lombardi because he's been taking a lot of penalties. Yeah. He has been taking a bunch of penalties, but I don't think you take him out of the lineup. Like the kid, you can see.
[00:12:45] I, I, yeah, I could, I could see him. I could see, I could see the, the hockey coach, the old hockey coach with like the respective veteran, you know, taking Lombardi out and inserting Brown in. However, they sat Dylan last night, healthy scratch Dylan, which I was absolutely floored that they did that. That's just not something that happens. And that is a very like smart, progressive move because look, Dylan, Dylan has been playing terribly, like, you know,
[00:13:15] call a spade a spade, love the guy, love the energy, love the grit, love the toughness that he brings. But that guy like is terrible at hockey right now. So I, I, I appreciate that they recognize what part of the problem was. And to be honest, moving Declan Chisholm back over to his strong side, I thought him and Kovacevic were pretty good last night. Like not crazy, but like as a third pair, if your third pairing isn't being mentioned a whole lot, they're doing a good job. And you know,
[00:13:45] Kovacevic, I thought for his first game back, very good game. Very good game. Excuse me. But I want to get back to the point I was making about Manta on that line. I want to keep him there. And you saw with the production of a veteran like Mason and kind of, you know, doing the little things, a little bit more attention to detail being stronger on the puck,
[00:14:11] you saw what he was able to bring that Mercer hasn't on that line. Now Connor Brown comes back. Well, you said it, right? You're not touching Jack's line. You're not touching Glass's line. You're not touching Heischer's line. The only spot for him is Dawson Mercer slash Stephen Mason's spot. And you have three guys now that I think on this team are fighting for the 13th forward.
[00:14:37] And specifically that spot on Manta and Rodriguez's line. And that, that's going to be interesting to see how that plays out. Because like you just said, they set Brendan Dillon. And that was Sheldon Keefe, like having control of this roster to do whatever he wants and whatever he sees fit. That was a Jacques Lemaire type of fucking move. That's a Pat Burns type of move. Like don't care what you've done right now. You are not doing it for us. Like you're, you have a great resume, dude. Your career has been great.
[00:15:08] You need to sit the fuck down. And it comes down to them looking at, you know, how did Mercer do with Nico and Timo? I think Evangelista is the better option there, clearly. And Mercer has been basically invisible until last night, until he was moved up to that line. Like his assist on Manta's goal was like Dawson Mercer four years ago. Like just, just like, like a nice little chip out wide, goes wide, beats the guy wide and just slides right through the crease.
[00:15:37] Don't know what Gibson was doing. Like that was the most obvious thing in the world. But maybe he didn't see Manta coming. It only took about 35 minutes to get there. He's like Spider-Man. Okay. So I don't think like Manta from a speed perspective, isn't that slow? He's another one of these big guys. Yeah. He's, yeah, he's, he's, we get it. Yeah. Like, you know, like Mario Lemieux visually looks slow, but you're like, holy shit. It took him three strides to go two zones.
[00:16:05] But when you see him trying to catch up to a, a, a breakaway pass to, to free him and he's, it's like anybody else in this lineup would have been alone with Gibson. That was so tough to watch. Although that was a nasty play by Maurice Sider. Like, I give him credit on that. Jack would have been three steps ahead of Mo Sider on that one. And plug in, no man. So Nason, Nason, Brown for Nason, I think is the obvious sit. That's obvious. But, but then, A, when is Brown coming back?
[00:16:34] So, you know, they put him on retroactive IR until nine from 928. So I don't know when he's allowed to come back, but I think he'd continue to give Evangelista, Nico, Timo, that run. You've got Jack Brackerts, Matthew Erod, Brown. So, yeah. So it's like, do you, you know, do you pull Mercer off? You know, do you pull Mercer off the ice? I don't know. And then you're losing a great penalty killer.
[00:17:04] He's been fantastic on the PK. Yeah. He's better than Nico Hecher at the PK. Like, it's just, you know, I love Nico. I think he's a very important person. But, like, he's been, except for one game, he's been pretty disappointing so far this season. I agree. He has been disappointing, but I don't worry about it. You know, Nico Hecher is going to figure it out, and he'll be fine.
[00:17:33] That line will be fine. And I think, like we say, Evangelista, I think, is that missing element. Kind of that stir that, the straw that stirs the drink as much as I hate that fucking saying. God damn me for even just saying it. But it was. Go think about what you said. Go outside. What's wrong with you? I was kidding. Chris, Chris, come back. I don't know how to do this alone. Stop it. I was in timeout.
[00:18:01] So, yeah, I just, I think Evangelista is going to, I think it will work on that line. And I think, like, what you got last night, like, exactly like you said earlier, right, was a team that was pretty close to figuring it out. And I think they're only going to get better. And I'm expecting a huge game tomorrow against the Rangers for that jack line. Yeah, look, I know a lot of people are down on this team. And honestly, like, you know, things happen. Results happen.
[00:18:30] It, there's no, there's no question about it. But, like, I think we're feeling this as a fan base because of that Islanders game. Because we got the shit kicked out of us by the Islanders. Like, if that game is closer to 1-3-2, something like that, you know, we lose kind of last minute or something like that. I think this season feels a little better, even though we're still 3-3.
[00:18:56] You know, like, we win one of those games, 4-2 feels a lot different than 3-2. And that's 3-3. And that's early season nonsense, you know, in terms of where we are. You also look at the standings. And the Rangers have played eight games in their 5-2 or something or whatever the fuck they are. Yeah, I think they've won five. I think they lost two, however many they've fucking played. Yeah, so it's like the gap in sport, in points. Jesus Christ.
[00:19:25] Six beers are kicking in. The gap in points looks massive. You know, and look, we can't let this season get away from us. You know, you look at the next week and a half of schedule, it's a fucking gauntlet. You know, like, particularly, like, you know, the Rangers are actually a very good team right now. These next two games are so important for this team. I mean, don't leave exactly where you're going, right? Rangers are not who we thought they were going to be. Washington always plays us tough.
[00:19:55] Two divisional games. We won seven fucking games in the Metropolitan Division last year. Yeah, you have to win these next two. It sucks that games, you know, seven and eight, in my opinion, are must-wins, but they are. You come 0-2, zero points out of these next two games, then I will have a discussion about whether or not I believe Sheldon Keefe makes it to Monday. But you've got to get points out of these next two. Like, is it Keefe?
[00:20:25] I mean, I continue and will continue to say this. Bradshaw, what the fuck does that guy do? Because there's, like, our defensive structure and defensive game has gotten noticeably worse under his watch. Our penalty kill is atrocious, and he's making the personnel decisions as well as the structural decisions. And the penalty kill is not that hard to coach.
[00:20:48] Like, I coach special team stuff down here in Maryland, like, for a couple of AAA teams and a local college team. Well, that's nice and definitively correct. What's that? We don't call them the R word. Just special. Go ahead. Is he my coach? Yeah, I mean, generally speaking, Maryland hockey is not all that great. So it's fine. So, yes, they are a hard R. I want to talk about these lines that Sinji brings up after you make your point. But go ahead.
[00:21:20] Penalty kill is, like, you need to have a good stick, good speed, good agility, be able to bounce back and forth, good head, like, good head on your shoulders. You need to understand passing lanes. And you need to have a set of balls because you need to be able to sit in front of, like, 100 mile an hour one-timer. Exactly. Other than that, like, what the coach does is personal decisions. And I have no fucking idea why Dougie Hamilton is on the penalty kill. You know I'm a Dougie guy. Like, I love Dougie. And, like, he's a high event player.
[00:21:48] But he's still – his high events offensively still outweigh significantly his high events defensively. Well, it's just – He'll be Minnesota's problem by trade deadline. But – But – So, there were two combinations that Sinji put up here that I actually wanted your opinion on. One was the Timo Erod Manta and moving Mercer with Evangelista and Nico Heischer. The –
[00:22:17] I'm much more interested in the Timo Erod Manta line than I am of Mercer playing with Luke and Nico. But – I kind of like those. And, like, sure. You know, like, I'm all for finding a mix of forwards that works. Like, I'm less concerned about the forward group because, like, I think regardless of who we kind of put out there, we are absolutely speed-bagging teams offensively. You know, it's just, like, we need to put a couple of these home.
[00:22:45] And this is, you know, to all the people that are like, oh, it's the same team as last year. Like, not really. Like, we're number one across the board in almost every single offensive metric. We are coming out of the gates actually ready to play. That is different. The games where we've gone down and have needed to show up in the third period, yeah, called score effects. But, like, they've actually, like, shown up in third period. How many times last year did we sit through third periods where they just didn't fucking do anything?
[00:23:15] I'll tell you this. I absolutely thought four minutes left in that game last night, we're going to lose this thing in overtime. I mean, in regulation. Like, we're not going to make it to overtime. Like, it was so ingrained in my head that when there was a point to be had, we found a way to freaking blow it over the last couple of years. They held on for the point. And at that point, that's all you give a shit about. Like, yeah, it'd be nice to get the second one in regulation. But, you know, you got those fucking two secret weapons sitting on the bench ready to come out three on three.
[00:23:44] We're the best three on three player in the world. It's crazy to me that Jack doesn't start. Well, so an interesting thing is Glass has been the FOGO on three on three and often on the penalty kill, too. I don't know if you saw that or not. Yes, I have seen that. And again, does it come down to, is Nico Heischer hurt? And we don't know it. And he's just nursing something. And all right, we're not going to give you the tough defensive assignments right now.
[00:24:15] Cody Glass can do it. But we have three guys that can handle those assignments. Yeah, maybe. Sure. Like, I know Keith alluded to it. Like, Nico was having trouble walking around. But it's like, if you're hurt, man, like, and you're, like, being kind of lazy about backtracking or not, you know, locking down to Brinkett. Or not being able to get that. Or not being able to get back. Like, you're hurting the team. So, again, I am a massive Nico guy.
[00:24:44] But, like, he has not been good defensively by any stretch of the imagination. And I think he's been getting kind of crushed on face-offs when it matters. He has. A lot of the offensive zone face-offs, yeah. Maybe that's a reason why Glass is in there, too. But, like, Glass, Evan Rodriguez, they're capable. Yeah. I think Evan Rodriguez has the best face-off numbers on the team right now. I haven't looked. You know I don't have to talk about face-off numbers. I know you don't, but they are important. And Nico needs to be better at them.
[00:25:13] They're, like, three important face-offs this game. You are. So, I'm going to count how many important face-offs there are in the Ranger game tomorrow. And if we come on after the show, we're going to have a discussion. Tell me. Tell me how many. Let's set parameters. All right? Every face-off. Is an important face-off. So, anything in the offensive zone? No. No. Okay. So, anything on the power play. I don't consider those important. Anything on the power play?
[00:25:40] I think late game, five minutes left, D-zone face-offs. Late game or late period? Late game. D-zone face-offs when you're up. When you're down. D-zone face-offs when you're up. When you're down, offensive face-offs. Correct. Nutri-zone face-offs, do not give a fuck about. Okay. So, there's zero other important face-offs. Yeah. Power play, offensive zone. PK, defensive zone. All right. You're down two.
[00:26:10] It's five minutes left in the second period. Four different situations. I'm going to write down all the important ones. We're going to see which ones are actually important and see if you stand. There's only three a game, which is what you said. And we'll see how many there really are. You're holding me to the three a game. Oh, yeah. You said three. I was being hyperbolic, Chris. Well, you kind of got stuck there. So, let's see. Within that situation. There are three at the time. Okay. Hang on. Let me backtrack a little bit.
[00:26:41] I understand what you said. It's fine. But, like, how many times, like, you know, Jack Hughes is, like, a terrible face-off percentage. But, like, have you noticed a big issue when, like, he takes a face-off and you're like, oh, that fucking, like, really killed us because Jack Hughes lost that one face-off. No. Never. Never. Because he doesn't take consequential face-offs because when he has consequential face-offs, he's on the power play when Nico Heischer takes him. Exactly.
[00:27:07] So, when he takes face-offs, it's, like, in the neutral zone. He's going to get the punch back anyway. And what happens is, in the neutral zone in particular, like, in offsides, those face-off dots, right? You let the guy win the draw. You let the guy win the draw again because it goes back to the D. He crosses the red line, dumps it in. You get possession back. Like, it's just, like, not to make this about face-offs, but. There is a ton that this team has to clean up.
[00:27:34] But I also think that we've seen enough through six games that you can say they are close to being something, right? Like, they're almost there. Like, if it, you can't pepper that many shots, lead the league in high quality, high danger chances, and this goes on forever and you only, you know, can't score. That's not going to happen. Eventually, things are going to start falling. And when they do, this team is going to fucking light other teams up.
[00:28:04] They literally should have been up four to one after the first yesterday. Yeah, and that's the thing. Like, that's, I know a lot of people are, yeah, woulda, shoulda, coulda, right? But, like, it will come. You know, like, this is a thing that is real is that there are new people learning how to play with new people. You have to, like, change the lines around and deal with it. I get that. There's Jason now.
[00:28:34] No, I looked at this one. And I said there's still a lot that we need to clean up. He said there's a lot that this podcast needs to clean up. Yeah, that's part of our charm, Singsy, is that, you know, we're like homebrewed, basically. Yeah, basically. It's an acquired taste. Yeah. Yeah, sure. What were you saying? I don't know. Fuck it. Who cares? Yeah, I'm with you. All right. But I will stand by this.
[00:29:04] These next two games are hugely, hugely important for this team. They are. And not even, like, Rangers caps, yes, divisional games need to, like, show up for these. But after that, what do we have? Colorado and then Vegas. It's like we've gotten through kind of the softer part of the schedule and only one of three and three. Like, this could get very bad or it could be good. Like, it could kind of click.
[00:29:32] You know, I don't know. But, like, I'm seeing some positive things. I'm seeing some negative things. Like, every single goal that we give up seems to be some sort of egregious chance against. You know, like, I don't even really, like, I've seen people blaming the goalies. It's kind of like, can you really blame the goalies for some of these things? Like, some of the shit that we're giving up, you're like, holy. Yeah. I mean, I can put much more on Dawes than I can on Allen.
[00:30:01] Like, you know. But, like, even Dawes was pretty good against Ottawa. Like, he made some great stops. Like, we gave up some terrible shit. You're right. But we need, we still need better. I want to ask you a question about the goaltending real quick. Like, we didn't discuss the, like, we automatically, our whole concern was with Nico Dawes, right? And rightfully so, as we have not seen a whole lot from him. But, like, we didn't even have a conversation.
[00:30:28] Like, we're hoping Jake Allen's good. Like, what happens if Jake Allen ends up falling off this fucking cliff, too? Like, that does, the goaltending scares the shit out of me with this team. Why? Like, Jake Allen is fine if you don't give up stupid shit. Like, don't let a 40-goal scorer sit backdoor for a long time. I agree. Look. Like, that's dumb hockey. Don't let a 40-goal scorer, like, turn and shoot one from the point through his screen.
[00:30:58] Like, there's a reason that guy scores 40 goals. Yeah. Either to bring it, like, it plays and, like, shits his pants and nobody wants to go near him. But, like, to leave him that wide open on those chances is, like, yes, this is egregious. Like, the defensive breakdowns are fucking terrible. I'm just – I'm worried about the goaltending only because I'm – like, just give us the big save. I want to see a big win.
[00:31:25] I want to see a complete game from everybody where I can walk away and be like – And that's – and, yes, you just hit on something there because that is exactly it. Like, we speed back Detroit in the first, but it was 1-1 because we gave up a stupid mistake. And Emmett Finney, which I cannot believe is not a name from, like, 1867 frontier shit, actually sniped one. Like, people – I've seen people blame Allen for that. Like, are you kidding? Allen had no chance at that. Like, that is an outrageous shot.
[00:31:55] People need to better understand how good some of these shooters are with the stick technology and their ability to understand and place the puck. That's a preposterous shot. Would love for some of that finishing ability and that shooting ability to finally make its way to the devils. I guess, like, their new sticks are in the mail or whatever it is.
[00:32:14] But I just cannot continue – I cannot blame the goalies for things when I see so much egregious defensive play against them. I just can't do it. You know, that – we let up an alley-oop two-on-one. Like, you cannot let up a fucking alley-oop. And that was lazy shit from Nico Heischer on that. I'm sorry. Like, that motherfucker needs to get it back together because I know he's injured. I'm frozen. I'll be back.
[00:32:45] I'll be back. So, I'm going to ask Tim when he comes back if somebody wrote, you know, who's in that tomorrow. I would put Remy in. I would absolutely put Remy in. I'm real curious to see what Tim thinks. But I say give him a fucking chance. Absolutely. So, Tim, who do you start tomorrow? No. Does Remy a real person? Do we know this? We're going to find out tomorrow. Does he exist as a person?
[00:33:13] Because I was thinking about this. Actually, two things I was thinking about. I wanted to give you a football analogy. I had it written down, and I totally forgot about it. Well, try again. We are unbelievable. The best team in the league between the 20s. When you get to the red zone, we have serious fucking problems. Yeah. We can't punch it in from the red zone. We can't punch it in from the red zone. But between the 20s, nobody can touch us. So, anyway. Great analogy.
[00:33:43] I don't know what is happening with this Remy situation. Like, this guy, they're not even putting him on the ice for practice. Like, I feel like it's a Billy Bean, Art Howe thing. Where it's like, this is not. Like, Sonny's like, hey, I got you this awesome French-Canadian goalie. This fan base likes those types. You know, talk to your buddy down the hall about it. And Keefe is just kind of like, eh, I'm going to make the line the way I want. Like, these are my guys. It kind of does seem like that.
[00:34:13] Which is interesting. I mean, most likely, it's probably not. But it's still fun to think that they are having that little discussion inside. Sonny really wants Remy. I want to see Remy. I want to see him tomorrow. Yes. And Jason, I stole that from Mike Rupp. So, Remy will start against the Ducks. Oh, did you? You stole that thing? Yeah, absolutely. Word for word, almost. Stole it from Mike Rupp. Sorry. Hey, Rapper. What's up? I know you're going to steal it. Remy will start against the Ducks or Kings next week.
[00:34:41] Allen and Dawes get the five games each. It's probably right. But, like, I don't agree with it. Like, just put Remy in there. What David Chimes just wrote is adorable. What D structure are you referring to? And this is my biggest problem with this team. It's like, I saw this PK play where, and it wasn't a goal, but Raymond got a beautiful backdoor one-timer. Yeah, it whiffed off.
[00:35:09] And, like, Dougie Hamilton, who's playing the penalty kill for some reason, was on the left hash marks when he should be the bottom corner of the box where that one-timer took place. It's like, where are you going, man? Like, what are you doing? You know, like, I don't understand. Did they have Kogusevich on the PK last night? Yeah, I think so. Okay. Because maybe if they were, like, just limiting his ice time, maybe that's why Dougie was out
[00:35:39] there, because Dylan wasn't on the lineup. I'm just trying to think that maybe that wasn't, isn't going to be a common occurrence, because, yeah, I'm with you. What the fuck is he doing on the penalty kill? And the thing about Dougie is, and actually seeing Jonas Siegenthaler's kind of numbers from last night is sort of reinforced this about him, is everybody looks at, there are two different things.
[00:36:05] There are individual, like, plays and expected goals and then shots and shot attempts and stuff like that. Then there's on ice, expected goals, shots, all that stuff. When you're just kind of there, and Jonas Siegenthaler was our second best defenseman in terms of offensive on ice expected goals last night. Okay. And it's... Was he our second best offensive defenseman last night? I mean, I'm guessing... Can't really think of...
[00:36:34] No, Luke was by far the best offensive defenseman last night. Yeah, Luke has been our best offensive defenseman this entire season. And one of the 10 best in the league. But Jonas is just kind of... He's, like, happy to be there. He's getting, like, very happy to be there kind of numbers because he's on the ice with Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton and Jester Bratt. So he's just standing at their left point, like, hey, guys. All I have to do is move the puck up to one of those guys. That's it. Just move the puck up to one of those guys without fucking that up. That's all he has to do.
[00:37:05] Yeah. And he fucks that up still. Yeah. The defense has left a lot to be desired this year. Yeah. You know, and it's... I said this on Twitter, but it's, like... Like, everything kind of... We were a little worried about this team being wrong with this team has reared its head immediately for this team. The defensive group and the goaltending. Forward group, I think, like, we're kicking the shit out of people. We're steamrolling people. The goals will come. They will. I promise. Everyone.
[00:37:35] Well, Jay Snow writes, our core doesn't have one pure shooter. Now... We have a guy in our core that has a 40-goal season, two guys with 30-goal seasons. And we have a Russian that, I'm telling you, is a pure goal scorer. So... When he gets going. I'm going to wait until Thursday, but I'm going to look for... A, I see Arsenio Gricek on the waiver wire of my fantasy hockey league, and I have Timo Meier on my team,
[00:38:03] and I'm going to drop Timo Meier for Arsenio Gricek if he gets... As well you should. If he gets Thursday on that line again. If he gets through it. But I'm going to start looking through some shot props and goal props, because sometimes... Sometimes, like, the sports books are a little behind on what some of the props should be. So, like, if Ritzoks get, like, a two-and-a-half shot prop, I'm going to bet my fucking mortgage on that shit.
[00:38:33] That's a good bet. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. Yeah, no, I... Gambling rant's over. Don't gamble, kids. It's terrible for you. But we do have an extremely... Like, we do have a lack of pure goal scorers on this team. We don't have enough. Like, that is true. To Brinkitt last night is a perfect example of a guy that just finds open eyes, finds soft spots, and just scores. He just scores fucking goals.
[00:39:00] There are rumors now already of guys being traded and who's going to go where. And Stephen Stamkos is rumored to the Devils being a team that is asking questions about him. Like, that's the reason you go out and get a guy like that, because we don't have anybody that can do that. He would be the best shooter on this team. How dare you? I dare you insult Arseny Gritzek like that. The second best shooter on this team. Fair. I already said that. I stuck up for Gritz before.
[00:39:29] I dare you. I'll Dougie Hamilton like that. I will continue to do so. He'll leave Dougie alone. He looks very... He's very, very into museums. Gritzek. Gritzek just better play for the Devils for his entire career. That's all. If he... Yeah. I'm kind of... I'm with you, but I... I'm not into Stamkos. But I get the logic behind it. That's what I'm saying. But, like, honestly, there's a guy that's sitting out there, I think, that's still unsigned. No.
[00:39:59] Who I think is a younger potential version. If you want to sign Stamkos, I don't think... I don't want to sign either of them. Who? Patrick Laine? That's... I know that's who you're talking about. Yeah. I don't want to sign either of them. But I'm saying the rumor is of the Devils being a team asking questions about Stamkos. That's the reason. But, like, you bring in Stamkos and send Timo to the fucking moon. Where are you getting... Where are you getting... Where are you putting him? Where are you putting anybody on a forward group on this team right now?
[00:40:27] You put Stamkos in the bumper where Evangelista is supposed to be. And then you put him on that first line with Nico and Evangelista. But who's out of the lineup now? Permanently. Timo Mayer takes his scarves and goes back to Europe. And his turtlenecks. All right. So you're willing to give up on Timo if Stamkos comes here. Before you don't want him, now you're willing to ship Timo back to Switzerland so you can have Stamkos playing on the power play. No. I don't know. You know, it's just like if you want Stamkos,
[00:40:56] there's a guy that's like a version of Stamkos sitting out there. If we had space for a guy, like if this was last year, I'd say absolutely. Absolutely go get Stephen Stamkos. Not because of Stamkos. Stamkos could still shoot the puck. Like he's still a great player. And he would help any team that he goes to. I absolutely believe that. The problem I have is who comes out of this lineup? Who do you send the other way that is a permanent dude in this lineup? I don't know.
[00:41:25] I mean, Mercer is going to have trouble. I mean, they're going forward with no trade protection. And I don't know. Like that's part of the problem is we have two guys. We don't have a lot of tradable pieces that are going to want. I'm going to be like, yeah, sure. I'll waive my no trade clause. Nope. Like we're kind of like everyone that was tradable kind of got traded with the exception of Mercer. That's kind of the only guy that's left. Except for Jack and Luke who neither of them have trade out.
[00:41:54] And like if you – we could talk about trading them. I think it would be fucking retarded if we wanted to talk about trading them. Could you trade – would you trade for let's say Stamkos, a guy like Stamkos if you can think of other guys, Manta and Mercer? Yeah, sure. But like Stamkos and Chimes brings up a good point. He also has four more years or so or three more years. I thought he was done after this year.
[00:42:23] No, I don't think he is at all. I think he has a couple more years. Okay. Then I'm definitely – And that's why it's kind of like you look at Patrick Lyon. And one thing – remember, I keep harping on this. We have a handedness and balance in our top six. Yeah. And that's what like the Evangelista bumper thing. Like I'm not really interested in that continuing to happen because I don't think that is – he's not the guy that should be in the bumper.
[00:42:53] He doesn't have the quick twitch shooting capability that we need in that spot because if – I don't know if you noticed, but they've totally rearranged the power play. Yeah. Jack is on the right flank, Bratz on the left flank, and they're trying to feed those little bumper moves, which I'm fine with. That's great. But it's like if Jack is going to be feeding that right-handed bumper one-timer,
[00:43:22] I just don't know if Evangelista has that in him. Well, I mean we haven't seen enough of it. No, we haven't. I'd like to see how it goes. Stammer has this year and next year left on his contract. So like if we're going to get a defenseman, you know, to come in who wears number 43 and his siblings on the team. It would be interesting. And Stamkos makes that a difficult proposition.
[00:43:48] I kind of really want to see this team as is for a little bit longer. You know, I really want to see these guys because I feel like they can turn it around and they could start playing much better hockey and the goals are going to come. So other than some line tweaks, like I wouldn't be in any kind of rush to get anybody new on this line, even Patrick Laine. Again, Patrick Laine is a guy you're signing as a UFA.
[00:44:14] And then you have actually – so Brown, Nason, Mercer, Laine, who's sitting? I mean if you want to look at more trade capital for a bigger move down the road, yeah. But like I don't know. I want to see this team cook for a little bit. Like it's only six games. Yes. And I get it. It looks bad. It has looked like not great in places. But it's also looked amazing in places. This is true. And it's only six games.
[00:44:43] We're 3-3. And I don't want to do this. It's just like 94 shit that the Rangers do. But like we were 3-3 in 22-23. Oh, so we're winning. But like look, if they lose against the Rangers, we might have a very different tone. And the Rangers have been a great team. Capitals are 500 right now. They're still kind of figuring their shit out too. Again, two teams that have a lot of new guys on it. Yeah. We've got a lot of new guys. Also the Rangers though. Like limited preseason.
[00:45:14] And there's a lot of moving parts going on. And then Keith said that they made some system tweaks, which is pretty clear in the defensive zone. Yeah, they definitely tweaked it. But like, you know, the Rangers, the way that they've been playing, and I've watched a little bit of them. If the Devils aren't on their game, and goaltending is what it's kind of been over the last couple of years, this thing is going to get ugly quick. They have some fast kids on this team. They're playing hungry.
[00:45:43] They can score goals, which I didn't, you know, where are the goals going to come from? They're going to come from pretty much everybody. Who are the Rangers? Yeah, they're playing really good hockey right now. Yeah, Lafreniere. Seven goals. Leading goalscorer in the league. Sure. And then their best player gets hurt, and they get a guy in there who looks like, you know, he could be the fucking real deal. I'm telling you, the Rangers with goalies are the Packers with quarterbacks. They just can't miss.
[00:46:10] I wanted to pick up Karan when he was on waivers. Imagine how fucked they'd be if someone claimed him. I cannot believe. Once again, the Rangers get away with something that they shouldn't have gotten away with. I don't know this story. Dylan Garan, the goalie that's playing right now, because Korpisalo and Shesterkin are hurt. He was put on waivers. We could have claimed him, but we claimed Remy Poirier. Oh, shit. I didn't know that. Yeah. He was put on waivers.
[00:46:38] And now that everybody's dead on the Rangers' goal, they called him back up, and he's starting now. And he's 3-0 now, and it's like a 9.56 percentage. Yeah, but Remy Poirier is so much better. Is he? We're good. I don't know. I don't know if he is. That's what I want to see. I want to see rookie versus rookie tomorrow. Put Poirier in the line. Look, the Rangers' decor, the top four are fine. Like, Gavrikov-Fox is great. Dersey is probably playing a little bit above his skis, but Pedersen's good.
[00:47:04] The third pair is the pair that we need to eat alive. Yeah. Smits and Schneider. Like, we need to take advantage of that. And I think the place where we take advantage of that is Lombardi and Boquist. Yeah. I mean, the Rangers are playing, like, you know, they're playing hungry every game. They don't want to end up in the basement again.
[00:47:31] I'm telling you, the Devils, they fuck around. They don't start on time. This game's going to get ugly. But I think that we're going to win. I think it's going to go the opposite way. But that's also something in the broadcast pulled us up, and it's like, it's hard to poke holes in this. Like, the fact that we're just not scoring first. First. Like, and it's not like, it's not like years past where there's one nothing then where we didn't start on time. We are coming out of the gates fucking firing. This team is coming out of the gates firing.
[00:48:00] We've hit a post or a crossbar in the first minute in the past three games. Like, they're, they're, they're, it's going to happen. I promise everyone, it's going to happen. You want my hot take? Yes. Devils score on their first shot on goal tomorrow. Why not? What's that? What's the gambling on that? Oh, yeah. That's probably a, I'd probably pay a couple dollars. Do it. Do it. So, you know, whenever I bet on the Devils, they lose.
[00:48:30] I do not bet on them anymore. Nope. I've, I've come now to, if I sit in a certain spot on the couch and gamble or one or the other, they lose. So, I have another seat I have to sit at, which I can't see the TV as clearly, but I sacrifice that. Because if I sit in the other seat, they're going to lose. Jay Snow just wants a big tip. Hmm. Weird. Hmm. Hmm. Just a tipper right in front. What are you, what are you expecting tomorrow?
[00:49:00] Um, Devils win three to two. Segenthaler scores on Devils first shot on goal. Honestly, do you know what's funny is Segenthaler and like this shit kills me, man. It's just like, for whatever reason. And, and again, I think this goes back to the, and like, this is my own little conspiracy theory. Is the handedness and balance we have in our top six is where we have so many lefties and they come around the net on, on their strong side where they come around.
[00:49:30] Then they feed Dougie at the right point who then feeds it to Segenthaler who is the one who takes the shot. And we cannot let, have that be our offensive system where Segenthaler is the one taking the shot. We cannot let that fucking happen. And it's just, I think it is because most of our forwards like going strong side and going around the net that way and, and going high to low to high.
[00:49:59] And then it goes D to D and it's just like every single time. And it's Segenthaler and it was Dylan for a while. So like if Chisholm's up there, I actually kind of liked Chisholm's game. I have so far, I have no issues with him. Yeah. Like he had a little bit of a dicey, it's a dicey preseason. And I think some of his early returns playing on his offside with Dylan weren't great. But now that he's moved over to a strong side, I'm a huge advocate of that Segenthaler-Covid-Savage shutdown pair.
[00:50:29] I think we should do that. And I think we should put Chisholm with Dougie. Hmm. You know, we haven't talked about it, but Luke, I mean, Brett Pesci hasn't looked stellar either yet. You know, we have, you know, he always seems to kind of get, you know, avoided any kind of scrutiny. But I mean, Luke really has been the best player on this team. Luke has been the best player on this team. And the fourth line has been the fourth line. Kind of, we don't want either of those things to actually happen. No.
[00:50:59] Yeah, Grisham. Jesus Christ, man. Yeah. Yeah, we did. We texted about that. Can we get fucking Bill back? Like, I know people don't like it, but like. What was I not to like about Bill? That was a treasure. I don't know. There are people out there that are like, I hated Bill. All right. I don't know. Don McGarca is remarkably worse. Oh, yeah. But I've noticed Pesci. Do you know what I noticed Pesci? When he ate shit on the second Ottawa goal. Yeah.
[00:51:28] And toe picked. And it's just like, oh, boy. And he also, on the first goal, he fumbled the puck at the blue line. And that's what gave them the opportunity on the zone entry. And everybody was just watching. We're like, we didn't really talk a lot about the Ottawa game. But like, Nico, he sure, again. Nico and Timo just watching Pinto just walk right in. And nobody's getting back. Nobody's like, when your defenseman makes a mistake or something happens like that, the Fords need to cover for them.
[00:51:58] Yeah. Like, you need to cover for your defenseman. They are exposed sometimes. And you need to cover for them. We talked about this with, I think it was the goal against Utah, where Siegenthaler made a mistake. It's the slot. Lombardi didn't backtrack. It's like, you need to cover for your defenseman. And a lot of that was always one of my issues. And we talked about it last time with the puck management stuff with Luke, like having bad puck management.
[00:52:28] But it's like, there's no forward component to that. The Fords need to present yourself for passes and be available for passes and actually catch the fucking pass. Like, don't let it just bounce off your stick. Pissing me off. You're a thousand percent right. Jason, no, nobody said Nico was injured. We said he was hurt. Are you hurt or are you injured? Exactly. And yeah, that nine second goal on the start of the second period, that's on him. You know, we talked about it. He has not played very well. There's a lot of guys that haven't played well on this team. All right.
[00:52:58] First of all, nine seconds is a long time, guys. All right. Let's just make that clear. Yeah. You tell yourself that. You get it done twice. Your wife told me that. Oh, shit. You went with the fucking wife joke. Jesus Christ. I would do that, but you live alone. Oh, shit. Yeah. Ex-wife. Yeah. She was more of a four second girl. Sorry. All right. So what was the score you said for the Rangers? Three to devils win. Jack Hughes.
[00:53:28] Body bags him somehow. I'm going big. Oh, all right. I shouldn't do this. Every time I fucking do this, they get skilled. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. I just think the Gritsip line is going to wake up. I think they're going to have a really good game. You know what? I'm going to say high scoring. Devils win. Same score as last night, five to four. All right. But they win in regulation. Just get a win. Like that. Like we. That's like right now. Like.
[00:53:57] Like I said, like I've enjoyed the process. I think it's good. I think it needs some cleaning up. But. But the results need to also start start coming and start being there. And like. I'm sorry, but like I'd much rather results with a shitty process than great process and a shitty result. Yeah. Like we just don't have time to fuck around with that stuff.
[00:54:18] And if they end up shitting the bed this weekend and losing both games, we are going to have a very fun conversation on the next show about whether or not I think we need to make a change in coaching. But right now. Yes. If the Ranger. If we. If we beat the Rangers. I can commit to a postgame show. Okay. We'll do that. Okay. So we'll see you guys tomorrow after the devil's victory. Yes. Against New York. Thanks for hanging out. You'll never hear from us again.
[00:54:46] Who the hell are Chris and Captain Sixbears? Sound ridiculous. I think I remember that. It was fucking weird. See you guys later. We're the Uncle Fuckers. Chris, Tim. See you when we see you. Laters. Sorry to make the web joke. I apologize. Why? It was funny.