The Devils bullied the bully's from Broadway and sent them home with a fat goose-egg. Can they gain some traction and keep this quality of play up? Are the Devils on a collision course with the Hurricanes?
[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 Uncle Puckers NJD Podcast. Let's go Devils! What's up boys? How's everybody doing today? Much better today. Today feels like a good day. Yeah, it's better than the last couple of games. I just got a message. We are live. Oh, who told us that?
[00:00:36] Yeah, so how does this work? Like where are the comments and stuff? Let me see. It's private chat. Where's our public chat? If I could, it's doing our channel right now. I don't know. How can you tell? I don't know. I'm going to YouTube to find out. Okay. Dashboard or something? I don't know where the comments are. But anyway.
[00:01:03] Anyway, so we did a show before the first Flyer game, and I think I got my show mixed up because I went on about how well I thought we were going to do on Monday night in Philly. What's the matter, Tim?
[00:01:21] No, sorry, because I had the YouTube open with you talking, and the YouTube was talking, so it was you, but it was like a split second delayed, and literally I thought I was a little schizophrenic for their first time. You don't need to hear Chris's voice twice. Stroking out of it? Just a little bit. I'm going to take my blood pressure medicine. All right.
[00:01:43] So they played, I mean, let's talk a little bit about the first game, because I thought that might have been one of the worst games I've seen them play in a very long time. Do you guys agree with that? Yeah. Yeah. It was, yeah, Bobby, go ahead. No, that's it. I mean, there's really no other comments to make. That was flat. It was awful. There was nothing fun about that at all. That game really concerned me that we have a problem going forward. Yeah, I agree. I agree. How about you, Tim?
[00:02:16] Tim. Yeah, same exact thing. That was the breaking point where I was like, I am very concerned. And like, I've been concerned this month, but like, that was the moment where I was like, shit, man, we might be really fucking bad. And like, I put that heat map in my recap of like where our shots were. And we're just generating nothing from high danger areas in the slot, nothing.
[00:02:42] And I was like, man, I was like, are we just like a weak, soft team that can't get to the interior? Because honestly, that's kind of been the larger criticism of this team is that we can't get on the inside. You know, we have some small weak forwards. But then yesterday happened. And now I'm all kinds of confused. But, you know. Yeah, they tend to do that, right? So like the first period, I was still getting like you guys, close to pushing the panic button.
[00:03:12] Like, this isn't good, man. They're doing the same shit. I mean, we're lucky that they didn't score in the first. But man, that second period. Holy shit. Where has that been for 2000? Well, I mean, really, the Boston game, I think they did that. And the Boston game, this is also another thing that was really like stressing me out. Like, we were bitching about changing the lines. The lines, everything gets changed up in Boston. And other than Markstrom getting injured, it looked so good.
[00:03:42] It was like, oh my God. Like, five goals. Timo and Dawson and Dowling's line looked fantastic. He sure was playing great. Everybody was, this is, okay, we're going to move forward like this. Even without Markstrom, like I said, I really wasn't too concerned with the injury. Four to six weeks. Allen will be fine. But then when He sure went down. And everything kind of got thrown in a blender again. That's when I started. And then you saw what you saw last Monday in the first game against Flyers. That's what really made me nervous.
[00:04:10] But man, yesterday they, I mean, Tony has been saying it for a while now, right? Like the physicality, like they're not physical enough. They're not physical enough. That hit, the Dillon hit. I want to hear what you guys have to think about, say about it. But that changed the entire complexion of the game. We bullied the Flyers to the point that they didn't want to have anything to do with us. And then that led to us just being able to open up on them and score five goals. But the physicality, that's how we have to play.
[00:04:39] That's how we have to play every single night. I don't care if it's playing up and down the ice, like against Toronto or Edmonton, or you're playing a big heavy team like Florida or the Flyers. That's how the Devils have to play. Yeah, it was quite awesome. I was actually texting with Derek during the game too. Like you guys often usually have two text threads going. He said, it looks like the Devils hit the reset button. And at the time, I remember saying, well, you know, I would have preferred this reset button maybe against a higher caliber team to feel much better.
[00:05:06] But then I realized that Philly gives us fits and it is still a very impressive win. But most importantly, that reset button was that hit for sure. That absolutely changed the game. That reminded me of like a Stevens type hit, how that would change the game. I know, I think it was already won nothing else at that point. But that sparked everything that happened after. And you're right. That's the way the team would play kind of within the boundaries, but on the edge. Of course, there was a lot of penalties in that game. You're going to get that, you know, with the Flyers and stuff like that.
[00:05:34] But if they can go to that level and then maintain it without, you know, breaking the law, then it's going to win. Yeah. Tim, what about you with the physicality? Where do you feel about that? Yeah. I mean, I agree with Bobby. Like, I think that hit kind of set the tone. And when Nico got hurt, that last Flyers game, and now kind of we can kind of look back on it,
[00:06:00] kind of really, now that we've had two games from it, kind of look at it, I think, with a different eye. It reminded me a lot of that St. Louis game after Jack went down. Do you remember the rest of that game? It was kind of like you're like in disbelief, like, oh shit, what do we do? And they were just flat and dead and just nothing happened. And that's kind of what that Flyers game was. It was just flat and dead and nothing happened. It's kind of the same thing in the first period.
[00:06:28] They switched around the D pairs, which, you know, a few people have been calling for them to do. I could have had it one way or another. I like what they wound up doing. And I think a little bit of that first period could be attributed to those D pairs getting flipped around. There was a little bit of a disjointed and, you know, there's some gap issues and kind of some communication issues. Like, but the Flyers were actually playing pretty well in that first period.
[00:06:57] And then that Dillon hit just snapped us out of something, whatever it was. You know, we realized, like, when we lead with physicality, because we have players that can be physical, that can hit. You have to, you know, going through the body. We have guys that can do that. But they just needed to realize and remember that that's the team they are now. And I think that kind of kind of snapped them into that. Like, oh, shit. Yeah, we can do that. And honestly, the second that happened and things started, the temperature raised a little bit.
[00:07:26] Things started getting a little frisky. The Flyers backed down. Like, they did. They backed down and we just walked all fucking over them. So, I completely agree. It was great to see. It really was. Because that, like you said, that hit was brutal. And it was the exact hit, you know. I'm sure, who was it? Sealer that threw that suicide pass into his fucking skates. Like, dude, you can't do that, man. And, you know, beautiful hit from Dylan.
[00:07:56] But, like, for too long, especially since after, I would say, January on. And they talked about it in the intermission a little bit. Like, Biz was even saying it. Like, they think that they're just an east-west, you know, north-south team. Like, rather. They got to play a little bit more physical. They can't just be run and gun all the time. They have the skill. But they have to play physical. And, like you said, we saw it earlier in the year. Right up until. But this was the first game, I think, all year.
[00:08:25] Because even in Boston, we just fucking outplayed them. Like, we were just a better team. We didn't have to be super physical. But moving forward. Same with Montreal. Like, Montreal. That was a skill game. There was nothing physical about that. Now, you just have to. You know, if they play this way, they're going to be a very dangerous team. And once Markstrom and Giescher come back and whatever moves. Fitz is going to make. I think they're going to be all right. But they got to do this consistently. Because we've seen it, right? How does this happen?
[00:08:54] How did they go from a team that was physically, you know, holding their own and taking over games. Being the team we saw leading up to, like, the Christmas break. To, like, slowly getting further and further away from that game. Is this just something that's going to happen, like, during a long year? Yes and no. I mean, I don't. I can't say for sure. But the one thing that I would say most. It's hard to play that way for 82 games. You know? It just gets to a point where it's like, all right.
[00:09:24] We're just going to, you know, maybe back off a little bit tonight. We're playing, you know, like you said, like Montreal. Or somebody that doesn't hit you a lot. You kind of. But you have to be that physical team. Because you can completely take teams like Montreal, like even Toronto. You can take them completely out of their game. Because we are much more physical than them. But I think it's just because it's really hard to play very disciplined hockey. Because physicality, that's all it is. I mean, it's discipline.
[00:09:53] Because you've got to make sure you don't take the stupid penalty. You don't hurt somebody. You don't put your team in a bad position. They played it very, very good yesterday. They took the penalties when they had to. No bad penalties. It was just, you know, you want to step up. We're going to step up. And we're going to go in the box for it. That's fine. And we killed them all off. But, yeah, I just think it's that. It's hard to do that for 82 games. What do you think, Tim? Yeah, it's an exhausting style of play.
[00:10:19] And, look, you know, we're just like August in baseball. You know, we're in the dog days of the season. It's cold out. You know, it's fucking January. You know, you don't want to go outside. It was like 12 last week. Just, you know, you kind of slip away from things a little bit. You know, it's monotonous. And it's going and it's going. And you can just kind of fall out of your way and your rhythm. I do think that West Coast Road Trip really, really fucked up their heads a little bit.
[00:10:49] Like, I think it really like just the disjointedness of it, the different times, everything like that just kind of got in their heads a little bit. And once they came back, they just haven't really been in sync. But I think the larger point is that it's just that is a very difficult way to play. And when you play a team like the Flyers that are structured and can be pretty physical, if you out physical them, they don't have the skill to keep up with you. That's it. So that's kind of what I think they need to maybe pick and choose their battles.
[00:11:17] But, like, when they play a team like this, where they know that they're better than skill-wise and that they have a physical advantage that they can take advantage of, nobody's going to beat them. If they can play like that. If they can do that again. I am still worried about their first periods. Jake Allen, like, that game could have gone south on us so quickly. You know, like, was it Forrester where he was juggling the puck coming in and nobody really touched him? You know, they got two or three net front scrambles.
[00:11:47] Someone almost scored from behind the goal line. I'm hoping that that was some nerves mixed with what kind of some PTSD from Monday night's game. And, like you said, like, the Dillon hit changed everything. It was like, oh, wait a second. Like, it finally, wow, wait, we are a physical team, guys. Why are we not doing this? And it just snapped them back into playing the way that they were kind of used to playing all year. So maybe it'll carry over.
[00:12:16] I mean, who do we have next, right? Buffalo on Saturday? Buffalo on Saturday or Sunday? I think they, do they play Saturday? I thought they played Saturday. One o'clock Saturday? It's definitely Buffalo as a next team. Yeah. Yeah. One o'clock Sunday. I think Bobby said this, too. Is it all until Sunday? Yeah. Yeah. I think Bobby said this before. It's not really, like, getting the first goal was great. But once they get that second goal, like, it just seems like the floodgates open.
[00:12:45] Like, going up 2-0, like, just the floodgates open. You know, it didn't, well, it didn't really happen against Montreal. Like, Montreal came back. But that's kind of, I think, a unique situation because Montreal is a very skilled team. But I don't know. Like, we're now suddenly 1-3 or 4. You know, we're on the right track. You know, I don't know what the deal is with some of these guys coming back. You know, appreciate McDermott being in the lineup every now and then. But he's just not a competent hockey player.
[00:13:16] He, you know, maybe he's... The guys get big old chest, though, when he comes out. I mean, when he's on the ice, our guys do. They puff it up a little bit. They kind of strut a little bit more on the ice when he's on the bench. Or when he's diving across the blue line to break up one of our own zone entries. He really is bad. I mean, he really is. He's kind of funny to watch. What the fuck was that? Like, you know what play I'm talking about, right? Where he was outside.
[00:13:45] He's, like, diving at Pesci. He's trying to carry the puck. And Lazar, like, almost ran him over, too. It's like, what are you doing, man? Crazy. But, you know, we're 12-4-4 with him in the lineup. Yeah, something's working. Something's working. It's working. And, honestly, if he gets five minutes a night, that means a better player is getting doubled and getting played a lot more. And he also, like, he got a lot of love last night from Panger and the broadcast guys.
[00:14:15] They were, you know, praising him a little bit, counting his minutes late in the third, you know. And he was out there for the power play. Power play time. Yeah. Power play time. But, you know, I don't expect him to be in the lineup. I guess, I mean, in the next four games. Yeah. The next four games, what do you think? Who do you think he's in for? Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Vegas, or Montreal? Those are our next four. I mean, doesn't he have to be? Like, are we out of bodies? Yeah.
[00:14:45] I don't think we have warm bodies. I mean, Hallinan was scratched, so. Right. I think against Buffalo, we don't need, like, Buffalo's a soft team. I don't think we need him in the lineup. But maybe Vegas, we might see him. That's who I was thinking. That, to me, is a, that's a game. I mean, that's the game that they've got to be up for. Especially coming out of this. Like you said, starting to turn it around. Three out of four. Got a Buffalo team. Got a Pittsburgh team.
[00:15:14] Don't give me the should be wins things yet. But, you know, Vegas is a nice measuring stick. But Vegas is also scuffling a little bit. Like, in their last 10, they're 3-5-2. Like, that's been part of the problem is, if you look at our division, and our division in particular, like, while we've been scuffling, Washington is 8-1-1. Carolina is 7-1-2. Columbus is 7-2-1. The fucking Rangers are 6-2-2. Even the Flyers are 6-3-1. Even the Islanders were 8-2.
[00:15:44] The only bad team was Pittsburgh. And then us. Yeah. And, you know, the Rangers lost two in a row. They got beat really bad last time to, whatchamacallit, Carolina. Carolina whooped them. They lost the game that really ridiculous 15 seconds left game to Colorado.
[00:16:06] So, they've now had the Natchez and Rantanen back-to-back first team to play both of them. And they both, and they beat them. They beat the Rangers. Both teams beat the Rangers. So, did you see the stat where the Rangers gave up a point to everyone involved in that trade? Is that right? Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. I still, I'm going back. They're not making the playoffs. They're not going to do it.
[00:16:36] I just think they're too far back and there's too many teams to jump. And like you just said, there are a lot of teams. The Islanders are playing really good right now. They're going to crawl back into it. You know, Detroit is playing pretty good. They're going to crawl back into it. I just don't think the Rangers right now have the skill. I watched a lot of that Carolina game against the Rangers. That was the Rangers during their 20-game slump or whatever. They look terrible. No defense. They were all out of position. I don't know what is up with Adam Fox.
[00:17:05] Like, does this guy just, I mean, he's not very good right now. He was one of their best Norse Trophy winning defensemen. And him and Miller, I think, are garbage right now. So, I just, I don't think they're doing it. Yeah, no, that's fair. I don't know. I waffle on them. Sometimes I think they are because it's the same team that won the President's Trophy. Like, I don't, it's just really, really strange. But then you look at, like, Trocek had a clean breakaway and tried to drop pass between his legs.
[00:17:35] Like, what are you doing, man? It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. It's like, why would you do that? It's absolutely insane to do that. It's a lack of confidence there. It's confidence. And I think that confidence and momentum are real things game to game for things. And I think the Devils now have that kind of confidence and swagger back, I hope, from this game. Who knows? They could lay another fucking dud. I'd like to think so, too.
[00:18:01] But I think what I want to make sure that the team goes back to is knowing how to win different ways and playing different games. Like, the game we saw yesterday doesn't have to be every game, like we said. You're going to have some north-south games. You can play a different way like they were before. So they bound different ways to win. You want to play this style? We'll play that style. So I'm hoping that they don't, A, think that they're going to play like that all the time. Or, B, forget that every now and then they have to play like that.
[00:18:26] But more importantly, I think everything we've seen this last month, and then, like what Tim was just saying, like, referencing this being like the August days of baseball. Like, I don't think the devil – I think the devils might have learned something that no matter what the standings currently are, there's an expectation on them. And I think we now get every team's best. Every game. And you've got to kind of grow into that. You've got to kind of learn how to respond to that because maybe it's a dog day for you, and you're somewhat comfortable playoff point-wise.
[00:18:56] It's not a dog day for another team that's like, these are the devils. They're top five in the league or whatever the perception is of us, and they're coming after us all the time. So you've got to adjust to that too. And you couple that with the fact that the entire Eastern Conference thinks they have a shot at the playoffs. So they're going in full board, you know. Except for the Penguins. And the Sabres. And the Sabres. Or Sabres. And the Flyers. I think we ended there. Are there any hopes or dreams that they might have had?
[00:19:22] Yeah, I mean, look, you know, these would be some really bad losses if they dropped the ball moving forward. Because I kind of hope, like, I really hope last night kind of set them back on the right path, like you said. Like, oh, wait, we are this good, and we can do this. And, you know, we don't, goal scoring hasn't completely dried. But you can't drop Buffalo or Pittsburgh. I mean, you have got to win those games. Yes. And I know they're going to be tough.
[00:19:52] I know every team is tough. It's an NHL roster. I get that. But you've got to win. Are there NHL rosters? Well, Buffaloes, maybe. But you've got to. I mean, Vegas. I mean, yeah, I think Vegas can come in and beat us. Vegas is Vegas. They're still one of the best teams in the league. They might have been a little slump now. But, you know. So if I'm hearing you right, we're going like. One, oh, and three.
[00:20:23] We're going to win. We're going to beat Vegas. Right. Everybody else. Right. And we'll lose to the Sabres, the Penguins, and the Canadians. That's a maturity thing is. Right. Is getting yourself in the right frame of mind to even play the bad teams and not looking past them. And I think we still struggle with that. You know, it was a problem last year. And it's still been a problem this year when we're losing to Anaheim and San Jose. Fucking Flyers. And, you know, I was a little frustrated in that second period.
[00:20:51] I was like, where has this been? Right. Like, I know that switch flip, but it's like, you've had this capability this whole time. And he's just suddenly decided to pick it up a notch. Just like emotion. You've got to be able to try and manufacture that. And if it's physicality, like if it's Dylan Lane a big hit, if it's McDermott playing, then do that. But I was a little annoyed. I was like, eh. But then I was kind of happy. Yeah, it was a hell of a second period.
[00:21:21] That's for sure. And who do you think had the best game last night? Or who were you at least like more impressed with? Because I thought I was extremely impressed with Mama Hughes' baby boy. Luke looked so fucking good. And that goal was gorgeous. I mean, it was just what a beautiful shot. Like you said, just looking off his brother, taking the shot, beating him clean as a whistle. And I thought Luke had a really, really good game.
[00:21:47] I mean, he is so good at getting back on guys that beat him, get in front of him to close that gap. You know, use his stick. He's getting so much better. When that offense starts to come, I'm telling you, he's going to be – him and his brother are going to be Norris Trophy finalists for the next five years. Once Luke starts. And did you guys get that chart that I included in my – You started? In my recap.
[00:22:16] You say chart. I did not see your chart yet. No, what was your chart? You always have charts in your recap. Sometimes I skim the charts. I know. I just think it's really interesting. It's not something that I have access to because it's a subscribe. I poached this from one of the chart boys on Twitter. But hang on. I can share it because we can do that. Let's do it. Let's show the audience what it is you were talking about, sir.
[00:22:50] All right. Can you see that? Yes. Yes, we can all see that. So this is – and I know a lot of people are kind of anti-analytics. This isn't really analytics. This isn't like expected goals or anything like that. These are actual like things like counting stats. But they're just different statistics that get counted basically. And they're not stuff that shows up on traditional score sheets.
[00:23:16] But it really kind of gives you this sort of fuller picture of what a player does well and what a player doesn't do well. And effectively being very blue is good. And Luke almost breaks the chart on a lot of this stuff. So the top section is his general offense, shots, assists, how much he contributes to goals, how much he contributes to chances. The only thing he's negative there is rebounds created. And you kind of see that, right?
[00:23:44] And if you go down to like the offense type, the other negative thing is his one-timers for 60s. So he doesn't take a lot of one-timers. He's not a big shooter like Dougie. And he's not creating a lot of rebounds. A lot of his shots go wide or go in. Like he really hasn't been much of a shooter to be perfectly honest. He's really, really an assist guy. And you'll see that with his passing, the second kind of chunk of stuff. Like everything in his passing is almost breaking this chart.
[00:24:13] But zone entry is the same thing. How many zone entries he gets. So these are just raw counting stats. So this controlled entry percentage, like he's getting about 1.4 controlled zone entries every game. And his percentage is off the charts relative to everyone else. Where he does struggle, and I think this is what people rightfully kind of knock him for. If you look in D zone retrievals and exits, it's the botched retrievals for 60. So he averages a little less than one of those per game.
[00:24:43] That's that orange box in the middle. And then the failed exits per 60, he also averages a little more than one of those per game. So those are the mistakes he makes. You know, he makes mistakes on sometimes not getting a puck retrieval and not getting the puck out cleanly. So that's really kind of it. So Luke is a very, very good defenseman. And all of this kind of shows that he's basically breaking the charts on everything. He's kind of...
[00:25:15] That's it. That's it. I was just going to say, like, the one thing that annoys me about him, especially on that second power play unit, is that friggin' drop pass in the neutral zone. Bring the puck in. Like, you have more skill than anybody else that's out there. Skating skill, puck handling skill than anybody else that's out there on that second power play unit. Skate the puck in. You know? And that's the thing that I wish he would do a little bit more than that drop pass,
[00:25:43] especially on the second one, because it's going to Timo or it's going to Mercer. They're not Jack. They're not Jesper. So who's the next guy that... Our next best skater to bring the puck in through transition? It's Luke. You know? Let him do it. Even if you've got to keep Timo back, at least, you know, for a few seconds until whatever offense he tries to create, he does, and then he can get back. But that's it. But let him be the one that's pressing the play on the second power play unit,
[00:26:12] because I do not like that drop pass. I hate it. And he does it every single time. Well, every... So I'm going to argue with you a little bit on this. Every team in the league does this. It's the slingshot zone entry. And the reason why they do it. So Luke... And Luke should be doing it earlier. If you watch Dougie when he does it, he's dropping the puck back to Jack at our blue line. Luke's getting, like, almost all the way to the offensive blue line and turning and being like,
[00:26:41] oh, shit, where is somebody? And then dropping it basically into someone that's there. The reason they do this slingshot zone entry is because when Luke stops and drops that puck back, he's in position where he's going to be in the power play set. And the guys that come through him, then they're getting into their position to be set where they're going to be. So it actually saves probably about 10, 15 seconds of time to set it up. I get what you're saying, though.
[00:27:06] I would love for Luke to fake that drop pass and just blow the doors off of everybody, everyone, every now and then. Because I think that will help the drop pass. Because they know it's coming. They know he hasn't... He's not going to blow into the zone. Because if he does that once or twice, then that's going to keep him honest. The other thing I'd like to see happen... And I'd like to see actually Bratt do this with Dougie. As opposed to the drop pass, Bratt's sitting up at the offensive blue line.
[00:27:33] Or actually, it's usually Nason. Bratt and Jack are kind of coming in 1-2. I'd like to see Nason just dart across the blue line and Dougie hit him. Like, catch the defenseman sleeping and you can get a little power play breakaway that way. But just vary it up a little bit. Especially when you're struggling with these zone entries. But I do understand the reason for the slingshot. Luke just fucking sucks at him.
[00:27:59] Well, I mean, the slingshot makes perfect sense when you're doing it to Jack or Bratt on the first unit. And it's Dougie at the point. I get that. But when you go to the second unit, Luke is the best skater. And at least do what you've said. Like, you know, fake it once in a while. And instead of, you know, every single time turning it back to the offensive zone and dropping it.
[00:28:24] And, you know, Luke can get back and be in position faster than anybody else. Sorry about that. Anybody else on the ice. So I would just like to see him use his skill a little bit more in the power play. Because he... And this is... Yeah. And that's why I've been saying... People... We've been talking about putting Timo back on power play 1, right? And I know Palat got that time there. And people are like, what the hell? Why are they doing that? But that's why I've actually been suggesting... Like, let's switch Timo and Bratt. You know, why...
[00:28:54] Like, do you really need Jack and Bratt to both be the zone entry guys? You know, I get why it kind of works. But, like, Bratt's such a dynamic skater and good through the neutral zone. Like, switch Timo and Bratt. Put Timo on that one-timer slot. Now his shot's a weapon there and scares out a lot of people. You have Dougie's shot. Then you can have Jack, Nico, and Nason working down low. Or Palat now. But, yeah, I don't know.
[00:29:21] I was a little puzzled when Keefe was like, no, we like Timo for the zone entry on power play 2. And I was like, they kind of suck. Like, what are you talking about? Like, I think you need to put someone who's a better skater and a better puck character. I think Timo's great. Like, in the neutral zone, it's actually one of his skill sets. But for whatever reason, it's just not working on power play 2. And to be honest, like, it's almost always Mercer carrying the puck through the neutral zone. Anything to add on that, Bob, before we do a little shout-out to our DraftKings sponsor?
[00:29:50] Well, yeah, I mean... Sorry, Bob. I just talked. I'm always all for consistency. Consistency, especially in the lines. But when it comes to things like power play, like, I'm really up for a wrinkle here and there. You know, switch it up just a little bit. Even if it's not because you're suffering. You know, just to throw a different look at it. If you're on, you know, your second or third power play of the game and maybe you did or didn't have success. And you've got the ability to switch, you know, a brat and a Timo just to throw a different look in there. Like, why not do it every now and then?
[00:30:19] I'm not saying break up the composition altogether. You know, just change it up, whether it's working or not, just every now and then. Just like you're saying with, you know, Luke coming in the zone on power play too. Once in a while, come through, you're going to catch the other team off guard because that's not what Luke does. I don't think there's any negative to trying that often, to be honest. Yeah, it's like the lines. Like, things got a little stale. So they changed stuff up and now suddenly we're winning again. Variety is the spice of life. That's true.
[00:30:48] It's spicy, Noel. No. Are you? Playoffs? We're talking about playoffs. You bet we are. And you can get in on the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Scoring touchdowns is key to winning in the playoffs. And you can score big by betting them on DraftKings, the number one place to bet touchdowns. Ready to place your first bet? Try betting on something simple like a player to score six or a Timo Meier shot prop. Usually hits.
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[00:32:09] Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance for additional terms and responsible gaming resources. Please visit dkng.co slash audio. That's DraftKings Sportsbook with code THPN. The crown is yours. All right. Man, you run fast. Ken, right? I'm wearing the same sweatshirt. I was like, have you done laundry recently, buddy?
[00:32:40] Actually, no. It has a new washing machine working out. Oh, God. Don't get me. So, yeah. Today, well, last night the part came in. I ordered it. It was $80. I did some research online. It looked like this was the part that was going to fix it. Yeah, Bobby, you're shaking your head. I already know. I know these type of stories. I had the same one recently. Yeah, so I put the part in. I closed the lid. I start the machine and it's still making the most horrific sound.
[00:33:10] I mean, it sounds like it's just about to explode. So, I did a little more research. It does look like the transmission shot in it. So, today we spent $1,500 on a new washer and dryer. That'll be here on Tuesday. And now I want to. Couldn't go the old scratch indent? What the hell? Yes. The problem is that that's what we have always done. Like anytime, you know, it's like, all right, find something. You can use $200, $300.
[00:33:41] You know, my wife was like, I really would like to just get the dryer. Like, we have to dry everything twice. Like, it does not dry well. So, it's like you put a load in and you're there for an hour and a half waiting for two hours to fucking dry. So, I was like, she's like, I just really want something new. So, you know, my wife, who doesn't ever ask for anything, we're like, all right, first off, can we pull it off? And so, it's being delivered on Tuesday. So, we got a new Samsung washer and dryer coming on Tuesday.
[00:34:11] Fancy. It is nice to have a high-end functioning washer and dryer. What drives me nuts about mine is they're ground, they're side by side. But the doors open inward. Okay. So, they smack into each other. Yeah. So, they smack into each other. So, I have to take the clothes out up over the doors and then throw them in the dryer. They're usually reversible. You do know that. You can take the doors off. You can usually switch the hinges. Almost always. Because they don't know the layout of your house.
[00:34:40] You can switch the hinges? What? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You take the hinges off. You put them on the other side. Pretty much every laundry. You should stick into that. Wait a second. I have a top-loaded washer. Wait. All right. You're going to go change your hinges? He's going to go check that right now. I will tell you that nobody likes appliances, right? Because you buy them, they're expensive, and you just hope to get them as long as possible. So, 2010 was the last time we bought all new appliances. We renovated our kitchen since. We had the same appliances in 2010.
[00:35:09] So, do the math. You already know it's getting there, right? A couple pieces have been replaced. So, the fridge, you know, nice, double-stack. We fell in love with it. He opened the doors. It, like, glows open, you know. Spent all the money. At one point, something happened, like, the plastic underneath, right? And it, like, popped off. Like, you open the freezer door, and it's always like... Yeah. Right? Bangs really hard. Gaskets bust up. Right. I'm like, no problem. That's not a big deal. Then we're sitting there. And every now and then, when you get ice out of the ice machine, you'll turn your back,
[00:35:38] go fill your cup or whatever, and then, like, another random piece of ice will fall out. Pretty normal. Not a big deal. It's been happening forever. So, the other day, I get ice. I turn to the sink, do whatever I'm doing, and I hear something, clink, clink, you know, fall out. And I'm thinking, all right, just another ice cube I got to pick up off the floor. I just moved my cup too fast. But there's no ice cube on the floor. Instead, there's, like, this giant spring and a piece of plastic. I'm like, this fucking thing fell right out of the ice maker. And I don't know what it is. So, we got crushed ice and regular ice. So, I try them both. Everything works right.
[00:36:07] My wife gets home. I'm like, this thing is just shitting parts. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this. And she looked at it. I think, like, there's a flap that, once the ice comes down, goes back up so that it's not like a straight hole right into your freezer. So, the spring keeps that flap up. But now it doesn't do that. So, you can just kind of look right up there and see the ice. I don't know that it serves any major purpose because nothing's changed in my life. But the signs are definitely there when your freezer starts scooping out electronics.
[00:36:36] When cards start falling out. Yeah. What make is your refrigerator? So, the full set was Samsung in 2010. The fridge has lasted. And the stove has lasted. The dishwasher went really quick. And the microwave went really quick. And the dishwasher, while I was laughing, your story about paying $1,500 is what drives me the most nuts. Because when we were piecing, we bought a package.
[00:37:00] But we actually upgraded the dishwasher from the one that came to, like, the one over $1,000 plus. We're like, dishwashers suck. I want a dishwasher that actually washes freaking dishes. So, we spent all this extra money and it lasted, like, four or five years. As soon as warranty runs out, it's gone. So, now that's a whirlpool. And I get whatever we got for the... Tim? It did treat us good for a while. But you're happy with the Samsungs? Because that's what I got coming. Wouldn't buy them again.
[00:37:31] Good to know. Should we... It's a piece of shit. How'd the hinges go? I don't think they're reversible. Because the door is connected to a connector that's then screwed into the actual, like... I don't think it'll work. The frame of the door. Yeah, the frame. I looked at the washer, not the dryer. Because the washer's on this side.
[00:37:57] We could, theoretically, probably just switch the two. But I don't think the water line's long enough. That could be a problem. Yeah. Or you should have just gotten a top-loaded washer and you don't have to worry about that. But it's a pretty big laundry room. So, like, we don't... I don't know. We're not poor. Sounds like poor planning. And this washing machine is bigger than the one that we have now. So, you know, my wife's happy about that. There's a whole bunch of shit in there. So, you know, I can actually wash comforters in it and get them clean and shit.
[00:38:27] So, it's coming Tuesday. I'm sure I cut you a porn every day for the past week. Grown-up shit. Yeah, it sucks. I fucking... I'm like... It's so nice when we rented. Because it just calls somebody. And so, our washing machine's broke. You need to send somebody down to fix it. Our pros. So, I thought that Justin Dowling played really well last night, too. What do you guys think about that line? Dowling, Meyer. It's nervous.
[00:38:57] Dowling, Meyer, Timo. Or... Or, I like to call them now. The DDT line. The Dowling, Dawson, Timo line. The DDT line. Can we roll with that? Yeah, we can roll with that. Sure. I think it's... I mean, it's temporary. Like, it's serviceable right now. I do like Meyer and Mercer together. That's fine. But, you know, I don't think long-term. Well, it's probably going to be hollow, right? Yeah. Yeah. And actually... No, you bring that up.
[00:39:28] Let's just look at another chart. I wonder if this one could be bigger. It's a website, so... All I saw was a series of blurry blue and orange lines on your last one. Oh, really? Okay, sorry. Well, my camera's... Can you read this? Yeah, I see sneakers, too. Yeah, that's a banner ad for Kizik Shoes. You can go full screen with it. There you go. Yeah, very good. So, we're looking at the first line here. See where it's highlighted?
[00:39:57] Yeah. So, that's Dawson, Mercer, Timo Meyer, and Eric Holla. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, this is naturalstattrick.com. I encourage you guys to fuck around on these sites. They're actually like... I don't know. I'm a real nerd, so I love this stuff, but... We don't want to be overprepared. So, we're going to let you do that. We got charts now, Bob. Well, we got a guy who reads the charts now, Chris. So, from the year 22-23 to 24-25, that's when we got Timo through last year and up to this year.
[00:40:28] 5v5. This is the double. So, what you can do is you can select three players. So, Dawson, Mercer, Timo Meyer, Eric Holla. It's kind of like a line generator. You can see how they play together. You press a button and bada-bing, bada-boom. Yeah. Fancy pivot table. Yeah. So, Dawson, Timo, Holla. I like fancy milking tables. That's good. For fuck's sake, Chris. Jesus. No, you can milk anything with nipples, Chris. Oh, God. I haven't heard that. So, does the kicker on my football team, apparently. Yeah, he's into milking tables.
[00:40:58] Oh, he's... Oh, shit. Yeah, it's Justin Tucker. Oh, man. What a disgusting human being. Not you, Justin. Not you. What are you doing? Yes, you. What a disgusting, disgusting human being. I'll say the paper... I'm not going to be an apologist. You've got to be fucking kidding me. Good. It'll give us reason to cut him because he shit the bed this year anyway. So, they played about 89 minutes. Not a lot, but... So, CF and CA is Corsi for and Corsi against.
[00:41:27] And I use this percentage a lot. So, this 50% is just 89 to 87 is expressed as a percentage. Corsi for and Corsi against is basically just all shot attempts. They go wide. They get blocked. Just all shot attempts. This FFFA is Fenwick for and Fenwick against. These are actually unblocked shot attempts, but still shots that go wide. Where'd they come up with these fancy names?
[00:41:55] Corsi, I think, was actually a goalie that was sitting on the bench and was just like, Corsi or Fenwick? I forget which one. One of them was a goalie that was sitting on the bench and was like, you know, why don't we have a stat that just tracks how many times we shoot and how many times they shoot when guys are on the ice? Yeah, I would call it like total shot attempts, but whatever. Corsi works too. Yeah, I don't. It's a good question. I can investigate that and get back to you, Bob. How's that work? I would love it. And then the shots, four shots again.
[00:42:24] So these are actually the track shots, four shots again. So you can see. That makes sense to me, right, Chris? SF, SA. That one makes sense. Yeah. It's just shots, four shots against while they're on. So they basically get 56.58% of the shots on goal when they're on the ice. They've had five goals, four, two goals against. So goals, four, goals against. So 71.43. That's five divided by seven. The expected goals, four, expected goals against is 60%.
[00:42:53] And then this number, scoring chances, four, scoring chances against. Kind of a bit of a wonky formula that they come up with to create scoring chances and high danger for scoring chances. So really, they have very good numbers together, those three as a line, right? Hollow, Timo, and Dawson. And if you look at the way the kind of numbers progress, they get a decent amount of shot volume, but they actually got pretty good looks.
[00:43:20] And the more you look at it, their chance creation is actually really good relative to the shot volume that they're creating. So the high danger chances for and high danger chances against, which is the last one that's 16 and 8. So of the scoring chances, like most, a lot of them are high danger. So that's kind of what I do messing around with all the free time that I have.
[00:43:48] So that is the set. That would be the good one when we actually get these guys, when we get Hollow back. I think he would fit in with that. Yeah, that's kind of what I'm saying. It's like I think now, and I don't really subscribe to the first line, second line, third line. I know we kind of use those as designations, but you kind of really have to look at how they're deployed and the time on ice and the kind of, you know, how the game flow goes.
[00:44:16] Like Timo, like Cotter, I think, had our most five on five ice time for all forwards last game. And that's just probably because he got a lot of shifts in the third period. Yeah. Because we were picking the crap out of them, you know. But if that works as a third line, then kind of what do we do? I still think maybe an upgrade over Holla works. But maybe then we can, if that works as a third line, maybe then we can really refocus back on a higher end wing for Jack.
[00:44:45] You know, it kind of all works together like that. And Holla's always been a second half player, same with Timo. So I don't know. There's a lot of moving parts of this, but I still think at the end of the day, an upgrade over Holla, move Holla down to the fourth line, let him concentrate on faceoffs, let him concentrate on penalty killing, find that third line center and a wing for Jack. It's still what I would look at. Well, listen, that adds to the strength of the team, too.
[00:45:15] I mean, if you are actually upgrading Holla and then you put him down the fourth, that's a really positive thing to think about. Like, if he was our fourth line center to begin with, like, that's a great fourth line center. So if you're proving on that in the third, that's great. Let's say that they go out and they get Ryan O'Reilly. I'm just using him as an example because he's a very good faceoff guy. He's a great, you know, he's a perfect third three C from what we need. And if we go into the playoffs down the middle with Hughes, Heischer, Holla, and O'Reilly,
[00:45:43] there's not many teams that have better center depth than we do. If you were to pull that off, I would take that over. If I had to pick Ryan O'Reilly or good three C's, someone like him or a winger for Jack, I think I'd go with that three C. I just think on playoff time, it's more important to have that depth down the middle. So I agree with that. I agree with that. It's hard to argue against that.
[00:46:09] And, you know, financially, I don't think they really have room. You know, like our, you know, with all the injuries now and call-ups that we've had to do, you know, that kind of has cut into what our cap situation is. You know, now our deadline cap space is looking like $4 million as of today. You know, it was 5.6 before Timo and Timo and Markstrom, or sorry, Nico and Markstrom went down. So that number fluctuates a little bit. And again, you know, there's retention opportunities that could happen, stuff like that.
[00:46:39] But, you know, O'Reilly's for three more years. I wish there was a better way than that. Like that almost seems like a crud. Like we had players go down. So that effectively is reducing the trade capital. We're going to have later in the year. It just seems kind of flawed. You know, like, okay, here's the bottom line. How much do we owe? How much are we paying in salary this year? Okay, that's what we're up against in the cap. And then this is what we got left. But when they go into all these injuries, it just, it changes everything. It just seems flawed.
[00:47:08] There's a lot smarter guys that sit in a room, pull this shit together, lawyers and such, whatever. Must make sense to them. But it just seems on the outside a little flawed. So you're saying a typologist is not in the future? That's right. And I love numbers. I get what you're saying. Like, if we're not getting their services right now, we should be able to recoup that money in year end cap, basically. The opposite of what's happening. For the amount of games that guys miss, whatever that works out, one divided by 82 of their AAB.
[00:47:36] Because, you know, like Nico's missed three games. He makes seven a million and change. Whatever that is, tack it back on to our – I'd be down with that. I'll get Bill Dilley on the phone and see what he says. Probably listen to you. Does Brendan Saad do anything for you guys? No. I'd have to look and see how he's been doing the last couple years. I mean, he was a pretty big name before, but I'm not really sure. Let's take a look. It's kind of a bold move.
[00:48:06] Yeah. So you guys know what happened, right? No. So he got waived. Not anymore. But he got waived. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He's probably not going to show up here. They put him on waivers. He's, I think, due $4.5 million, right? So if he was to clear waivers, which he did, and then go down to the AHL, he would recoup all his money, and he'll get his $4.5 million.
[00:48:36] But this dude is betting on himself, and he basically said, cut me. I don't care about, I don't want to play in the AHL. I want to play in the NHL, and I'm going to go try and find a place to fit in. And for dog shit money, he'll go and he'll, so he's basically saying, I don't care about the $5 million. I want to play in the NHL, and I will go play for the right team, and I don't really care what they pay me. So that's where he's at.
[00:49:05] So that's why I say, Brennan Saad, we don't have a lot of money. Does he do anything? First of all, is he a winger? He's a winger, right? Like, he would be a bottom six winger. I don't think he's a center, but I don't know. Yeah, he's a left wing. Okay. Just a thought. Like, I don't know much about him like you, Bob. I don't know, you know, how good he is. I mean, if St. Louis is waiving him, they're not a very good team, then, you know.
[00:49:32] Yeah, I mean, if we had the money, and we were otherwise solidified, and you're going to the playoffs, and you can get this guy for under the equivalent of a mil or whatever for the remainder of the year, chump change, essentially. You might pick him up just to have him as a little insurance, but I don't think we need him. What, he won three cups? I think he won, what, two with Chicago? At least two. One with St. Louis? At least the two. That could be wrong. Yes. I think you're right about that. Yeah, I mean, a little past his prime, right?
[00:50:02] Yeah. Yeah, I'm trying. I mean, somebody maybe worth taking a flyer on. I think somebody will. He'll make an NHL team. Yeah, I heard a rumor that Edmonton probably would look at him because his old Chicago GM who kept trading for him is now the Edmonton guy. But I don't know. I'd give him a flyer. He's got good size. We have like eight right wings and like two natural left wings.
[00:50:31] Right. You know, he scored 26 goals a couple years ago. He's got his run at kind of above average speed. I don't know if he's like particularly physical or anything like that, I guess, with his size. Nothing about him stands out to me where I remember anything about him or his runs. I mean, even like when Chicago was winning cups, I was MIA. So I wasn't following the sport too much.
[00:51:00] I feel like he's always that guy that like that everybody thought would be the one to take like a jump. And he never just kind of did. And that's why he sort of bounced around a little bit. Like now that I'm thinking about it, like, you know, he had, you know, 52 points, 53, 53 with Chicago and then Columbus. And then kind of came back down to 35 and the 40s. And it's kind of been in that 30, 40 point range. I don't know. Is he just kind of like a left-handed Mercer who's maybe a little bit stronger?
[00:51:30] I don't know. I honestly, I don't know even what his play style is like or what he's like. Just a name I wanted to throw at you guys. I do hope that something happens sooner rather than later as far as the trades go. If we're going to make a move, which I think we have to. We have to do something. And I just don't think the team, the way it is right now, I just don't know how we're. Look, you got you.
[00:51:56] There's going to come a time within the next couple of weeks, I'll even say, where if you're Tom Fitzgerald, you have to kind of laser focus. If the Devils keep going the way that they are and playing the way they are and keeping, you know, six, 650 winning percentage from now until the end of the year. You got to seriously can start looking now saying, what do I need to beat the Hurricanes? Because that is look, it's going to be the Canes. Like we pretty much know who our first round opponent is going to be.
[00:52:26] So I'm down with, you know, figuring out what do we need to get through that? And, you know, yeah, I mean, sod sod. What I would see him as is an upgrade over to tar. You know, that fourth line, fourth line left wing, maybe. I don't know. Kind of maybe the same same player, basically. But now I think a lot of devil. If we got rid of to tar, I think a lot of devil fans will be sod. But I wouldn't be.
[00:52:56] I don't. There's the dad joke for the show. Yeah, I I wouldn't care. I would be fine with getting rid of to tar stick where offense goes to die. It's just really is. Yeah, recently. Yeah, he's had it. I mean, look, when he scores, he does. Like his goals are all hardworking goals. Like you can't say the guy doesn't try. He's out there, but he just, you know, doesn't really have the skill set.
[00:53:26] He's not what he once was. Yeah. Sod would probably be an upgrade over him. You know, and I my sense of urgency in my own head kind of ebbs and flows a little bit. You know, after the Philly game earlier in the week, I was like, trade everybody. Start over. And then after last night, I'm like, oh, we don't need a thing. We're great. All's good. We'll get Hala Niko back. And that's that. So I don't know.
[00:53:55] I'm really curious to see what's going on in Fitz's mind. And, you know, I listened to a couple of a couple of different podcasts this week that actually Eric Tulski, the Carolina GM. Yeah. What a creepy looking weird dude. Dude, his background is wild. I know.
[00:54:16] And the way his voice is, it's like he's very he sounds exactly like he looks and he looks and sounds exactly like what his background is, like PhD and neuroscience or whatever it was. But he was pretty he gave some pretty interesting insight on how trades come about. Basically, he was like he was like, I have a sense and I've talked to all 31 teams and I know what options would be on the table for them.
[00:54:42] And he was like he was like Rantan was on the table as far back as last summer, potentially as an option. And you kind of keep circling back and keep circling back throughout the year. Like I've mentioned this before when I, you know, when I did my little little stint with Neil Smith, I was like, I was like, this guy's on the phone all the time. And they're always talking to each other. Now they're probably texting away. But they know basically what guys are kind of out there.
[00:55:11] They just need to be able to finalize what the sort of final deal is and have the other GM pull the trigger on it. And, you know, we got close last year with Alan, apparently, but he wouldn't wave his no movement clause. We don't really know what happened with those types of conversations, what kind of pressure Fitz put on. I kind of in retrospect, I'm happy that he didn't really mortgage too much for last year because it was I feel like it was just a lost season. You're talking Markstrom?
[00:55:39] No, when the when we originally got Alan there, it came out that we tried to get him in like December. But Alan wouldn't wave his his new movement clause to come and be in another three goalie rotation because he was in a three goalie rotation in Montreal. So I don't know what Fitz has on the table. I don't know if like the leaks are are true, you know, about Jake Evans, about, you know, other guys that he's had interest in, you know, and it's there's so many websites out there that just post bullshit.
[00:56:08] You know, I saw one another clickbaity thing today. It was like, that was interested in Kyle Palmieri. It's like, and if you're looking for the ultimate bullshit, go to the uncle puckers dot com. Whatever you want to hear. Yeah. I published a trade targets list that I came up with in my head and has no sourcing in it at all. So feel free to peruse that. But yeah, it's like a lot of it. Yeah. A lot of it's just like, like guys in the media, like be like, you know what, that guy would fit well on that team.
[00:56:38] And then, you know, that same shit happened with Brady Chuck. And then now it's happened with JT Miller, you know, where they're kind of still think we started the Brady Chuck thing. I really do think we started that. Mike, Mike, Mike Rupp definitely started it. No, I was we were saying it before rubber. We were actually talking about that about a month or so before Rupp started talking about it on NHL. This I can say is true, because I remember when he talked about it, because like, you see the shit? Oh, really? Yeah. Like we were talking about it beforehand.
[00:57:07] So but I saw somebody log on to our site, Rupp743. I'm like, I'm pretty sure it was him. He's in the chat right now. It was just an obvious need. You know, it's like you're looking at what that team needed last year, our devil team. And you're looking at a senator team that was going nowhere fast. And it's like, that's the fit. Like we were dying to have somebody play with Jack. You know, you need a good winger, somebody who's big and strong can score goals. And that to me was the perfect fit.
[00:57:36] We were even saying, like, if you had to go Timo for him, do it. Now, that's last year. You know, this year I feel differently. I like what team I feel like Timo's finally the last couple of games. Like, that's his role. That's what he needs to be doing. Like, put him on with Mercer. Let him, you know, drive all the play. Let him set up Mercer. Maybe Mercer will get better at finishing some of this shit. But that's what he can't play second fiddle to Jack or second fiddle to Nico.
[00:58:05] He's got to be his own guy. He's got to run his line. I don't care he's not a center. It's Timo Myers' line. And he's the one that has to generate the offense. And I think that he was kind of capitulating a little bit too much, especially to Nico, because they're boys. And, you know, he wants to do what's best for the team. And he's the captain. But I think that now it's like, okay, he can kind of be himself and be what he was a lot more than what he was in San Jose. So, I'm super happy with Timo since this line changed.
[00:58:34] Yeah, Timo's been good all season, I've thought. Like, he's been doing, you know, what we wanted. But he really has emerged over the past, you know, four or five games. Right. As an actual game breaker with the results. And, yeah, you're right. You know, and now in kind of thinking back about it, if we have three lines that can light it up like that, you know, like the Timo Mercer connection, if it's Hala, if it's someone else,
[00:59:00] you know, we keep Jack Bratt together, keep Nason, Nason, Nason Nico together. Like, that's really dangerous. Like, three lines that can score. Or if we need to match up Hala against someone, maybe we flip-flop Timo off his wing, put Palat there or something like that. We have so much optionality and versatility with those guys. And I think that's why Fitz is out there looking for kind of center wing versatile guys.
[00:59:31] All right. Anything else that you want to add, Bobby? Well, you know, I've been saying all along that I love Timo and I love the game he brings. But I always felt like there's something wrong with the fit. I think I've probably said that at least 50 times since we got him. And I think maybe you're right. Maybe it's as simple as saying, hey, you know what? Here you go. This is your line. You go ahead and drive. You know, let's unleash the Timo that he should be.
[00:59:57] Maybe that's the answer because there's something as good as he's been fine. But there is always something off. We've all agreed to that at one point or another. Maybe sometimes I've said it when maybe you'll disagree because underlying stats say, no, he's playing a really good game. But, I mean, high end, we would look at this and go, what's missing here? So, yeah, if he's got a chance now to be that driver and feel that he can do what he does the way he does it, then I'm all for it. And it was only just a couple shows ago. Remember, I was like, I don't know if I want him on the third line.
[01:00:27] My head gets stuck on, like, the percentage of cap and $9 million and you're not playing left wing with Jack or doing whatever. But bottom line is that he evens out the scoring. And if it gets him going specifically, then I'm game. And you go to the Montreal game, I believe. It could have been the Boston game, the one prior. But at one of those games, that Timo line led the team in ice time. So, it doesn't, like you said, it's hard to say we have a one, two, three, four lines. You know, no.
[01:00:57] It's, we have, especially if that line works, the DDT line, you know, trademark pending. If the DDT line works, then, like I said, Tim, could you imagine now three lines just, I mean, you, 90% of the NHL is not going to be able to defend that. Like, you just can't have three waves of guys. It's a matchup nightmare. Yeah. Yeah. And then the fourth line just comes and knocks you around.
[01:01:24] And eventually, and they'll get theirs too, because by the time they're out there, your defensive pairings are just shot. So, your fourth line can go in and bang around and get some ozone time and, you know, maybe pick up a couple of greasy goals. But that's the way to build this team. Add the physicality along with all the speed and the skill that we have. Have them complement each other. Goaltending's been great all year. I don't expect that to change at all, no matter who's in there, even though I do want to see Isaac Poulter.
[01:01:51] I would love to see him in net on Saturday or Sunday against Buffalo. He just got sent down. That's not going to happen. All right. I think I need to watch a Utica comic game if I'm ever going to fucking see Isaac Poulter play. By the way, they showed him on the bench, man. He looks like he's like an eight or nine years old, man. He literally looks like a little kid cosplaying in, like, his dad's goalie gear. He does look young. He's only, what, 23? Something like that. Yeah, that's wild. But, yeah, I think Dawes is coming back up.
[01:02:20] That's, Keith kind of indicated that was the plan. Yeah, he said they want... Sorry, go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, me? I was just saying that. Yeah, he had said that he wanted Dawes to play, I guess, in the weekend down there and stuff and get a couple more starts before they bring him up. But I guess it's Dawes' turn. He's next in line. I understand. I did want to see Poulter play, though. I was... Do you know what? I...
[01:02:44] And speaking of Dawes, this is very random, but I was looking at Puckpedia, which is kind of all the salaries and stuff. Dawes' contract next year, like every... All the kind of guys that go back and forth, they all have two-way contracts. His contract next year isn't two ways. So we're paying him the same amount in the AHL as in the NHL. I don't know why that is.
[01:03:11] His contract this year is two ways, so he makes a different AHL salary. So next year's just in a minor league deal? Next year? No, it's the same amount. It's $812,500. No, no, no. But it's all great. When he's playing in the AHL, he gets like 80 grand or whatever. But when he's up here, he gets that. He's saying next year that transfers to $800,000, whether he's up or down. I got you. Because next year... Yeah, so... Which means he's coming up. Right.
[01:03:40] Next year, I think it's pretty much said Allen will be gone and Dawes will be backing up Markstrom. I think we can all pretty much... Which kind of stinks, because I do like Jake Allen. And I mean, he has shown that. Well, we'll see. He keeps playing like that. You never know. Yeah, they might give him another one-year deal. You never know. I mean, we're not locked into any of these guys. You know, in talking, kind of circling back to the beginning, you know, Kovacevic and Luke didn't look all that great yesterday in the first period.
[01:04:07] Like, they kind of settled into things, and it was a blowout, so it's really hard to gauge. But their numbers were really bad. I'm really curious to see what Kovacevic looks like away from Siegenthaler, because we obviously... There is a pretty big, looming right-side defensive decision that needs to be made. So, hopefully that'll pick back up. We saw that happen. Like, we saw John Marino's game fall off a fucking cliff without Adam Graves, Ryan Graves. You know, it's just...
[01:04:37] It's certain guys, they just do bring out the best in everybody else. So, that's interesting. But at the same time... There's one game, but who knows? Yeah. And who knows what Keeve's going to do? I think Keeve has such a fucking vast improvement over having a pulse on your club, like I think Keeve does fantastically compared to Lindy Ruff. Where I felt like Lindy Ruff was just taking a shit in his hands and throwing it in the wall
[01:05:06] and going, hey, is that working? You know, like, Keeve seems to really... Generally sticks. Yeah, right? That's the one you had for dinner. Yeah, that's true. So, Keeve definitely has a very good pulse on this team. And I'm really happy that he's our coach. He made an interesting comment before last night's game. Or he said, I was thinking... He said this after the game, but he said... Before the game, I was thinking, it was like, we'll really see what this team's made of.
[01:05:35] Which I thought was kind of interesting. Yeah. He's right. Because that's what we all were thinking, right? Are we doing garbage goalie, by the way? I was just before looking for my notebook, and I don't have it in here, the one that I have everything down. So, I don't even know who won the last one. But I will be more than happy to do garbage goalie. We can just do it. Tim, you've never picked first. So, we're going to go Tim, Bobby, you. It's because he's not good at this game. What? It's because he's not good at this game.
[01:06:05] That's true. He's not going to... It's just worth it. I'm still not entirely sure I understand the rules, apparently. Okay. So, what we're going to do is each of us are going to pick a goalie that we have not picked before that is playing on Saturday and only Saturday. The goalie with the lowest save percentage is the winner. So, we here at the Uncle Pucker celebrate piss-poor garbage goalie goaltending by playing the garbage goalie of the week.
[01:06:33] So, we have a few games on Saturday. Tim, we're going to let you go first. Who is your garbage goalie? And, Bobby, if you have a pen, write this down because I can't find my notebooks. I'm like the... I got one right here. I'm like the special needs kid on the team. You are. Yeah. We're going to put you on a helmet next time we play this one. Timmy. In a helmet. The mouse. Timmy. God damn it, Bobby. All right. I'll go with Ilya Sorokin. Oh, go against the lightning.
[01:07:03] Taking Ilya Sorokin against the lightning. Okay. For reference, that was my fourth out of four possible choices. Just in case that comes back to bite you. Who you got, Bob? It will. I'm surprised at this. I'm going to go with Peter Mrazek against Panthers. Where's that? Peter Mrazek against... Okay. So, Blackhawks against the Panthers. Ew.
[01:07:32] Where am I going here? I think I like the Mrazek. Better. Hmm. All right. I'll take... Shit, man. Who the hell is the Red Wings goalie now? Is it Talbot still? Is it Talbot? They have like eight goalies. They have a very strange roster. Yeah, I know. That's why I'm saying I don't know who the hell their goalie is.
[01:08:00] I'll take whoever is the Red Wings goalie against the Calgary Flames. Talbot or Lyon? No. Against the Calgary Flames. I'm taking Detroit's goalie, not Lyon. Alex Lyon is... Oh, Alex Lyon is with Detroit. Wolf is with the Flames. I got the animals mixed up. Sorry. You know what? Let me switch that. I'm going to go with Dustin Wolf against the Red Wings. I'm going to go with Calgary. Rookie of the year, Dustin Wolf. I'm going to go with Detroit.
[01:08:30] I'm going to go with Dustin Wolf. Just like when I gamble, I'm very excited that I'm going to win this week. Right, because you're going to win big, because you're going completely off the reservation. There's a reason why there's so much money to be won when you go completely off the reservation, because you never fucking win. I know. I stopped betting Timo goals, and the motherfuckers start scoring. Yeah, they take the shot prop, like I say. Always go with the shot prop. Stop betting Luke's goals, Luke starts scoring. Okay. Anything else that you guys want to add for this evening, boys?
[01:09:00] Okay. All good. The first ever live stream that we did, which was completely spontaneous, saw. Well, there seems to be one person watching now. I think that's me. I know. I've commented. I just keep going on, because I can tell one's on, and then it's off. I know it's you guys. So literally nobody wants that. Yeah, I have a feeling we should probably tell people next time. Well, next time we will. At least we know it works, and then we'll get on. Right, that was the key, right? Just to make sure that this thing works.
[01:09:27] And also, like I said, I want to try our best to do these after every playoff game. I just think it would be a lot of fun as soon as the game's over, even if it's just for a half hour, 40 minutes, see if some people want to come on and piss and moan or celebrate, whatever. So I think that'll be a lot of fun. We can do like a little vent line for our listeners to come on and tell us what they think. All right. That's it for this evening.
[01:09:57] We are wrapping it up. Please, wherever you are listening to us, a like, a download, subscription, five-star review, positive comment. And if you are watching us on the new and improved Uncle Pucker YouTube channel, you know, the whole subscription and fucking alert bell, whatever. You guys know what to do. I don't have to tell you. So for Bobby and Tim, I'm Chris. We're the Uncle Puckers. Every other fucking show that I put on, like they're the first thing. They're like, make sure you smash that subscribe bell.
[01:10:25] It's just fucking everybody knows what to do. Like nobody subscribes to shit. Hit the like button below. Yeah. Like I know that it helps algorithms or whatever, but the bottom line, I don't fucking do it. Like I'm being honest. Like I'll watch the same shit all the time on YouTube and I don't subscribe because they're fucking telling me to. Fuck you. I'm not subscribing. What do you think? We got to work on our plugin. Chris is right out of it. We will never make money. He'll tell me what to do. And another thing, DraftKings. Do subscribe.
[01:10:54] Do subscribe to the. Jesus Christ. Do you subscribe to the Uncle Puckers on YouTube? I think I did subscribe to us. Yes, I did. I did. I don't know. I'm on the fence. Those guys are dorks. They are dorks. But, you know, sometimes they're fun and somewhat knowledgeable. Jesus Christ. I mean, you don't want to put people to sleep with giant graphs that are impossible to fucking read. But whatever. We got this. Tim. Sorry you don't know how to read, Chris. Apologies. I know how to read. Just not English.
[01:11:24] All right. We are the Uncle Puckers. We're out of here. We'll see you. Bye-bye. Okay. Go fix your dishwasher, Velika. It's over, Johnny. It's over. It's over. Bye-bye.