Devils Hockey Is Here

Chris (00:03.548)
Welcome to the Uncle Pucker New Jersey Devil Podcast. Chris and Bob with you tonight. What's up, B? I'm tired. It was a long day, but I'm glad to be here and I'm super glad that we finally got this fucking albatross off the boat. And yeah, the Dawson Mercer.

Bobby (00:09.719)
Hey man, how you doing?

Bobby (00:21.242)
Yeah.

I'm definitely in a mood and it is a good one, that's for sure. listen, we had a lot of fun this summer talking about championships. It's always great to look back, right? It's always the goal. But we've got real hockey to talk about now. A lot good, some not so good, but temporarily not so good. It's just really exciting to know that this has started. It's here now.

Chris (00:38.792)
Yeah, that's...

Chris (00:45.776)
Yeah, and Sunday night will be our first preseason game against the Islanders. And we will be on Monday where we'll talk about that and what we see from that game. you know, the one piece of piece of business that has been hanging here like all friggin summer long was finally taken care of. Dawson Mercer is signed. He will be a New Jersey double for three more years at a total of 12 million dollars. Year one is three million.

Bobby (01:04.674)
Yes.

Chris (01:13.854)
Year two he gets 4 .75 and year three 4 .25 to give us basically a $12 million contract, $3 million cap hit this year. And Mercer's got his bridge deal. What do you think of that?

Bobby (01:15.928)
Mm -hmm.

Bobby (01:30.158)
I think it's perfectly fitting. think that we were very close, always just saying something. We were in the upper threes and had maybe one of the three years cap out into the four, 4 .1 for a similar total value of 12 million. So like we've said, it wasn't that we were Nostradamus or anything. It was just kind of where it seemed like it fit, not just for the player, but for the team.

So I think it's an appropriately good contract for him because the more this was going on, the more I was looking at our team and I'm just convinced to where this kid's going to play this year and how that's going to affect all the other lines. Doesn't mean it won't be a failure, but it doesn't mean he will wind up being in the top six all year. Who knows? But that's really where I felt that he belonged for what his skill set brings. So I think it's a great contract.

Chris (02:25.778)
Well, I think it's a great contract for the Devils. As far as Mercer goes, this afternoon I had the power play on XM just for a few minutes and I just hopped on, they started talking about the Mercer contract and it was Steve Coolius and Peter Berg, I think. I'm not sure who else was on with them. But anyway.

And Coolius was saying that he thought that the Mercer contract would be more comparable to Seth Jarvis' contract in Carolina. they talked a little bit about it. They didn't get into too many details. So I went and I started looking. So Seth Jarvis is 24 years old and Dawson Mercer is 22. They're both listed as centers. Jarvis is more of a, you know, steady center. know, Mercer plays the wing, plays the center.

Bobby (03:16.28)
You're right. I'm surprised he's actually still even listed as a center, because realistically, he just does not play that much anymore.

Chris (03:23.742)
Seth Jarvis has played 231 NHL games. Dawson Mercer has played 246 NHL games. Seth Jarvis has 64 career goals. Dawson Mercer has 64 career goals. Seth Jarvis has 82 career assists. Mercer's to Mercer's 67 career assists. Points for Jarvis is 146. Dawson Mercer's points are 131.

Seth Jarvis just signed 8 year $59 .36 million contract with an AAV at $7 .42 per.

So did Dawson Mercer get a little bit rolled on this deal?

Bobby (04:14.638)
Well, in a vacuum, if this is the only comparable, you can certainly see that he's burned a little bit here. However, Jarvis is now locked in five more years past Mercer. And I think the prevailing theory here is that once we get past the 12 he's already made, Mercer's next contract, if he projects the way he is, will likely eclipse his.

So all things being said, it might just wind up kind of being even at the end. again, dealing from position of power as the devils were, this is what would fit. They had to leave some room, albeit very little now.

Chris (04:59.986)
I do think there are a couple of things that as far as this contract goes, I think if Mercer would have played more hardball, he maybe would have gotten a little bit more money. Definitely on the back end. It seems like I originally thought that this was a term problem and not so much a money problem. now that I see that what he's getting, I think it was a money issue why he wasn't signing. I think he wanted more. And I think that this was all that the team could do at this point or that they were willing to do.

Bobby (05:24.622)
Sure.

Chris (05:29.214)
I like the deal because it's only three years. Let's see what he can do. My main concern on this deal is a lot of times when players feel like they got, right now he's happy. Right now he's guaranteed $12 million. He's a happy guy. But then he goes out this year and he lights it up and he scores 37 goals and he's got 85 points and he's going on making $3 million this year.

Bobby (05:48.066)
Right, right.

Chris (05:59.43)
And this is where, you know, then they start getting that, you know, resentment building. And then once the deal is done, they pull a miles wood and they flee and they get the hell out of town. So that's my only concern on this.

Bobby (06:11.501)
You're, you're, yeah, you're bringing up a very human element of this. mean, the reality is these, you know, these athletes, they're in a different class their entire lives. They didn't just wake up one day at 20 years old and say, you know, I'm to be a professional hockey player. They've been through the gamut. They've been groomed. They know how to say the right things. You would think that they truly, truly understand.

This is the contract you're signing. This is what it means. You can score 200 goals next year. It doesn't matter. However, I do understand the human element has to creep in. It's some year two, three, like Jesus, I am underpaid. I'm sure that happens. I don't think Mercer's that type of character. I think that he's, you know, signs a deal. It's the deal for him. And if anything, in this little scenario we're talking about, could be that Jarvis was overpaid.

Chris (06:40.008)
Doesn't matter, you signed the contract.

Chris (07:03.698)
Well, again, when you look at the term eight years to the three years, you're you're a hundred percent right. Because if Mercer's next deal is a five year deal at let's say, you know, eight and a half, eight and seven, five, you know, he's going to be right there, right around there. so, you know, it really doesn't matter. And I think another reason why Mercer jumped on this deal and just wanted to get it done was, know, he wants to get in camp. He wants to be on this team. He wants to, knows this team is, you know,

Bobby (07:04.334)
That's part of it too.

Chris (07:33.096)
trajectory is going in the right way. wants to be on this team and does, know, last thing you want to do is, you know, clear this thing up in November and you come and join the team and then you kind of relegate it to third line minutes and shit like that. No, he wants to get himself in the lineup.

Bobby (07:47.682)
Especially with all the changes coming in the new coach, you know a lot of new players All the hype and rightfully so that in and the expectations are on this team You want to be there from day one and and Jarvis to him? So we might be doing the inverse of this at year seven eight for him He might be looking back on on seven four. I'm underpaid. I'm still I should be at nine five Again, that's why I think it kind of I think for the most part it comes out in

Chris (07:59.954)
Yeah. And I'm sup.

Chris (08:11.25)
That's true.

Bobby (08:15.33)
in the wash, like in the long term. really do. If you're a good player, I think that the money eventually comes to you and it settles the way it should for the most part. Some people absolutely get screwed. Others absolutely get overpaid. We talked about like the market aspect of it, right? Jack Hughes today versus Jack Hughes three years ago was signing a different contract, but that's just, know, how the economies were in play when it was going on. But that's why I think kind of long term.

Chris (08:22.365)
It

Bobby (08:41.774)
It is good like everybody knows we every I heard it again this morning on NHL radio right. we're already year three into that awesome contract for Jack Hughes you know. Okay I get it so now everybody knows his next contract is going to have be pay me or boss like it I'm not taking as much of a discount maybe you know he's going to be a 12 million dollar player I guess or whatever it is we don't know. But those. Come true. Yeah.

Chris (09:02.494)
Let's hope he's a $12 million player, because if he's not a $12 million player, that means that shit went really wrong for these final few years of his contract, whether it be at injury or whatever. I was completely amazed at how close the comp on Jarvis and Mercer are. mean, it's crazy. Now these guys are right there with each other. You took out 64 goals, both of them? That's nuts.

Bobby (09:20.76)
Yeah. Yeah.

Bobby (09:29.538)
They start the same year, I assume.

Chris (09:32.222)
Yeah, I guess so. Jarvis played 231 games, Mercer played 246. Three full seasons. Yeah, so Jarvis probably started that year too.

Bobby (09:37.806)
because he hasn't missed a game,

Yeah, I'm a little surprised at Jarvis's contract. I will be honest with you because I don't really pay attention to that on the other team, but yeah, it is what it is. know, it's done deal now. And you know, we were talking probably a good year ago, kind of foreseeing a little bit about what's going on and contracts that had to be up our phase. And we knew also that we were going to have to bring in some people this summer. We didn't know exactly how bad the season was going.

while we were in it last year, but we knew changes need to be made. Some players were going to be brought in by trade or free agency, and we have our own players assigned. And we said back then, like, there's going to be a point where that's it. This is your team. No one's coming to save you. This is literally where they are right now. One point something million, wherever it is left in cap space is a minor trade tweak before a playoff push. Unless there's a money deal move, a bigger contract for a smaller contract.

Literally, we are looking at our team for the foreseeable future. So to a man, they just need to own up to what they saw.

Chris (10:43.271)
and

Well, I agree. Now you're 100 % right. This is the team. So what are your initial reaction to the team? also let's bring up too, let's talk about the problems. Well, first tell me what you think of this team right now. As constructed, are you super excited? you going to scale of one to 10? Where would you say that you were as far as excitement for this team?

Bobby (11:15.214)
Not dealing with injury concerns right now, just dealing with the team at large, right? I am still extremely excited for this team. From what I've seen early in camp, no surprise, a lot of the lines are pulling out exactly like we discussed. They are giving a long look. I can't say a long look, it's only been a day and a half, two days or whatever, of the Meyer Hughes -Bratt line. We did see Heescher with Tatar. Obviously Mercer wasn't there yet, but that's got the makings of that.

Chris (11:18.887)
Yes.

Chris (11:34.994)
Mm -hmm.

Bobby (11:43.918)
They're looking to see if that's going to gel again like it did a couple years ago. The fourth line as predicted is exactly like we were talking about with Connor Lazar Bastion. guess McDermott is also skating on a different line. But like we said, he's going to be that sub in. He's going to be, McDermott is going to get his 20 games or whatever. Which leads me to, and I haven't seen it in full yet, the third line that we said, Pallott, Halle, Knowsit. So it just seems to me like it's laying out perfectly.

Defense, now we're in a flux. It's hard to really tell what's going to happen there, but I maintain my complete excitement. I'll say it for the fifth time on record. I believe Dawson Mercer is going to score 30 goals this year. And the top six are great at what they're supposed to do offensive wise, and the bottom six is going to be even better at what they're supposed to do. So I'm excited.

Chris (12:15.656)
Now...

Chris (12:37.764)
My... my... my... first of all, I had no idea that there was a chance that Brett Pesci wasn't gonna be healthy for the start of this year. Did you?

Bobby (12:47.724)
Right. Now that the news came out, do remember hearing that we signed him and he's still injured. But of course I'm thinking, well, yeah, it's summertime. I don't care. I did not know that there was a chance he wouldn't be on the opening day roster. No, I had no clue.

Chris (12:55.388)
Right, he's gonna get healthy and...

Chris (13:01.864)
So now we're going to roll into opening day, which is what three weeks away, essentially two and a half weeks away against Buffalo. Basically without our second, second defensive pairing.

Bobby (13:14.422)
Right. And let's take a deeper look at what that actually means. On paper, this is a second defensive pairing because it makes sense to put Pesci with Luke. They can compliment each other. Good place for Luke to be with a guy like that. But realistically, this is our best defenseman who has got our best defensive defense. Like this is not our second pairing defensive defenseman. This is literally our best defenseman. It's just, it probably will work out. The Hamilton Seigenthaler thing worked before.

And again, for reasons I already said, you want to put Pesci with Luke. So it's beyond just the second pairing. It's our best defensive defenseman and Luke Hughes, who, as we all know, has got all the upside in the world and basically took on Hamilton's role last year. So this is still a huge loss.

Chris (14:00.72)
And now, correct me if I'm wrong, but looks like Luke will be out basically the month of October is what I'm hearing. Like he should be back in early November where Pesci is just week to week at this point, which could be two, could be six, who the hell knows. But it does look like neither, well, we know Luke will not be starting the season on the team.

Bobby (14:07.864)
Yeah.

Chris (14:24.782)
Is there a chance you think that Pesci is ready for maybe the home opener October 8th? Or you think that's just too much to ask for?

Bobby (14:33.24)
think it's possible. think I read one little clip from Fitzgerald saying it's more of a feels thing for him. Like he's out there and he's moving around, know, full time, full power drills, contact and all that. So it's possible, probably not likely though.

Chris (14:39.997)
Okay.

Chris (14:47.568)
And right, and you also have to look at it too that we have this guy locked up, know, what's the six years we have Brett Pesci. So if we don't see Brett Pesci for the first month of the season, it's okay. He's ours.

Bobby (15:01.452)
You don't want to start this way, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a blip.

Chris (15:04.774)
And you, but here's the thing, one month, you've got to keep your head above water. That's what it comes down to until we get, like, this is the problem already. Last year we started healthy and completely got decimated by Thanksgiving. Now we're starting behind the eight ball. and this sucks. And that's the only thing that it just, I wanted to start this season healthy and really get a feel right off jump street of what this team is going to be. And we're not going to see that for a while.

Bobby (15:20.748)
Yeah. Yeah.

Bobby (15:31.746)
Yeah. Yeah. And the big picture for me is how does this truly disrupt the entire defensive system? So now if you're bringing Kova Sevik in or Hataka, like they have a completely different game. So now do we not, I don't know, do you not pair Seagothal or Hamilton or, you know, where, where's the mixture now? And are you doing it in such a way that all three lines or all three pairings will be

changed once the other two are back and then they all got to learn again. I think I'm over worrying about it but that's where my head's going because I really love the idea of the three potential pairings and what each brought and now there's going to be so much mixture in there I'm a little concerned.

Chris (16:17.348)
But does it have to be that way? You do have enough time before puck drop to get a good pairing together to say, okay, it's going to be Kordasovic, if I'm murdering his name, I'm sorry, Kovacevic and Hataka. All right, that's going to be our, let's say, third pairing and we're going to push, you know, Dylan and Nemec up for a few more minutes on the second pairing and keep that first pairing of Hamilton and Sigandall together. That actually does make the most sense.

Bobby (16:29.198)
Covicevic, yeah. Yeah.

Chris (16:46.494)
Because if it's going to be a month without these two guys, the last thing you want to do is now a month into the season. And now you're flipping everything around where Hamilton just started getting comfortable playing with, you know, Nick DeSimone or Hataka. And now you're going to get them out of the lineup, replace those two guys, keep them on the line together. And let's see what we have with the other two pairings. Let them carry the majority of the minutes. And let's see. I mean, I think that.

That's not a terrible pairing, Kovacevich and Hataka. I like both of them, and I haven't seen much of the kids from Montreal, but I liked everything I saw from Hataka.

Bobby (17:25.11)
Yeah, and that actually does seem like a reasonable pairing just by style of play. It seems like that would work out. And Koba Savaki's just big.

Chris (17:30.653)
Right.

Chris (17:34.846)
He's a big boy and that's what you need. He's a stay at home dude. Just play smart and use your body. Kevin Ball unfortunately didn't do that enough, didn't use his size to his advantage as much as he should. Maybe he'll learn how to do that more this year but this guy's, what's he, 6 '5, 6 '6? He's a big boy.

Bobby (17:59.884)
Yeah, he's up there. Yep.

Chris (18:03.59)
like to see those two just pair them up and then when Luka and Pesci are back these guys can you know be your seventh defenseman whatever you want to do send Hataka back down whatever but that's what I would do and then the fourth line how are they being paired up now in in the two days of camp

Bobby (18:25.966)
The fourth offensive line? Yeah, it's exactly as average. Well, here's the extra two pairing. It's Cotter, Lazar, Bastion. I got a little thing here. got a couple of clips on, not clips on Cotter, but just some stuff that's been floating around since camp started and all the reason that we're going to absolutely love this guy. There's just a few things like...

Chris (18:27.014)
Yes, the fourth offensive line, because we don't have a fourth defensive line.

Okay, I would a goalie Markstrom we could just say him

Cotterlazar Bastion.

Bobby (18:54.53)
The first couple were from James Nichols who was tweeting that Cotter has been commanding the puck and relentless when in pursuit of it and that he looked pretty smooth scoring on Alan on a particular play. He went on to say, he quoted Cotter on playing with Lazar and Bastion as quote, that's a meat line right there. And Amanda Stein chimed in with a quote from him that he said, it's not cool.

to not try regarding the mentality coming into camp. This guy is already like everything as advertised.

Chris (19:32.442)
If this fourth line generates offense, is responsible defensively, sees actual legit minutes throughout a game, you know, of course we all know depending on how games going, but we can kind of assume that Devils are going to be in most of these games, you know, and if not leading, and if they are leading going into, you know, late in the second into the third, these guys are going to log normal amount of minutes, which is awesome. If this line allows us to roll four lines,

and keep our top six fresh. That is a recipe for success. That's how you win in this league. A fourth line that can chip in and you look at this fourth line, this fourth line might be better than most teams third. This line can score and this line is tough and yep.

Bobby (20:16.654)
This line can score. Flat out, this line can score. And they're heavy, and they're going to tire you down. This is an excellent fourth line. This is not just throwing them out for five minutes a game. Absolutely not.

Chris (20:29.594)
And know, this is, and now where was Brendan Dillon playing? Brendan Dillon's with Nemitz, right? Right now? I'm sorry, that's right. And you said that Nason was with Pilat and Hala. That's where I got screwed up there, sorry.

Bobby (20:36.118)
Yeah, he's, I believe, yeah, I haven't gotten too much on that.

Bobby (20:43.286)
I said that's the only line I actually haven't seen yet. But considering where I'm seeing the other three lines slotted, somebody else may have already seen them together. I just haven't seen any reports of it. But I think part of that had to do with Mercer not being here yet too.

Chris (20:47.174)
Okay.

Chris (20:57.992)
Well, that's I was just going to say. Probably Palat was up in his spot during the first two days. And I did hear these guys talking a little bit, some of the post -camp post -practice interviews and stuff and a lot of good stuff about Sheldon Keefe that I heard from these players. Basically, like he's running a tough camp, you know, this is no joke. He wants these guys to play fast. He wants them to play physical, wants them to be responsible defensively.

Bobby (21:15.746)
Yeah. Yeah.

Chris (21:26.258)
but there is a system here and you have to go by the system. And it's a system that I think that with the personalities on this team, it's going to be something that they buy in and that's key. Who said it? was, I believe it was Jesper Bratt. I'm really starting to love Jesper Bratt's interviews. Like he's just, he's thoughtful, he's honest. know, Jack looks like he'd rather be anywhere else but talking to you and answering your stupid questions.

Bobby (21:49.347)
Mm -hmm.

Chris (21:55.432)
Jesper Brett is very good at this. And he had mentioned something and it was something along the lines of last year, we basically packed it up and didn't give a shit if something didn't go our way. You know, and we talked about that a ton last year. Yeah. You know, if somebody got injured or something just didn't go your way, they scored a couple of quick, this team just checked out. And that is something that

Bobby (22:12.13)
We saw that, yeah.

Chris (22:23.45)
I don't think not only Sheldon Keefe would allow, I think there are some players in this lineup now that would not put up with that. The new guys, the Pesces, the Codders, the Dillons, like these guys are, yeah, hard working, tough dudes that do not take a shift off. And the only thing that that can do is trickle down to the rest of this lineup because they have all the skill in the world. That top six, all the skill in the world. They can hang with anyone in the league.

Bobby (22:35.776)
No, no, back. Yep. Those guys. Yep.

Chris (22:52.136)
but it's those intangibles. Can you win when your back's against the wall? Can you make that play when the play needs to be made? And that's something that we haven't seen from these guys. I think they're fully capable, but I think a lot of these guys that they brought in fill those roles nicely to kind of say, no guys, this is how you win. And I think that we don't know what that's like. We have so many guys in this, especially our top six. Our top six is number one shit.

So long playoff runs, all these stuff is all gonna be new to them and they're gonna go through it. And I just think that Fitzgerald did a masterful job of putting the right pieces in place for when this team does get there to make sure they're not overwhelmed, to make sure that they are not looking too far ahead or dwelling too much in the past. Focus on where you are, make the smart right play and hopefully this team could be very successful.

Bobby (23:47.642)
If you're sitting in the middle six, lines two, three, quote unquote, and you're looking down at Cotter, and he's absolutely outplaying you, outworking you, outproducing you, that has to push you on the other lines. I'm not saying this to slight like a fourth line. That's where the rest of the team goes. I don't mean that at all. I'm just saying when you are saying offensive forward, you understand that the higher up

the more ice time and that's what everybody wants. They want to play more. Everybody wants to play more. So you should see a guy like that or whoever it is as a threat to take your minutes and it should push you and it should push the whole team. So yeah, it's exactly the type of mentality that we've needed on this team.

Chris (24:30.768)
Now, what about, who's this guy that they brought in for the PTO? LeBlanc? Jean LeBlanc? Is that his name?

Bobby (24:37.58)
Yeah, I don't know much about him. was hoping you did. didn't have time to research it. I know that Timo's happy to have him. I did see some people saying that this is a really exciting kind of PTO and this, you know, this guy can make the team. This isn't just a handout.

Chris (24:53.488)
What's his name? Let me see here. It's not John LeBlanc. It's not Kevin LeBlanc. He's a tattoo artist. Let me just get to find out who this guy is. I heard what you'll call a TMO talking about him because they played together in San Jose and he was a

Bobby (24:57.486)
It's not Matt LeBlanc.

Bobby (25:15.628)
While you're pulling that up, I'm going to read this quote from Sheldon Keefe by Mike Morale. There you go. Because there is a lot of talk. There's a lot of talk about Keefe and his style and is he going to change anything to Toronto? And people are like, if he can win the regular season but not in the playoffs in Toronto, how's it going to work for the Devils? He kind of addressed a little bit about his philosophy here with this quote. He says, I see a lot of similarities, things that we can do here.

Chris (25:17.021)
Yeah.

Chris (25:20.806)
It is Kevin LeBlanc, holy shit. He is a tattoo artist too. Go ahead, I'm sorry.

Bobby (25:44.386)
and a lot of our structures are very similar. Obviously, I had those in place for a reason because I believe in them. And I think the skill sets and makeup with this group is similar enough in the sense that I don't think we need dramatic change. I think the structure works for that. But we've gone through some things. I've worked with the rest of the coaching staff, and each of them has brought their own flavor to it. To be able to speak something or change some language, those kinds of things. But for the most part,

the things that I believe in, I'm going to reinforce here as well. So, kind of like we've said, sure, he knows how to work with this type of offensive talent. He's going to do that. He's also going to lean on his coaches for strengths in other areas. He's got the best defense that he's ever had. I have no problem with his foot on the gas mentality. In fact, there's one other quote by Bill Spalding. He quoted Keith as saying, well, he started a practice with sprints, with a sprint drill.

And he said that was a reminder to the players that, quote, we need to sprint. We need to be relentless. Now we've heard that before, right? A little bit of lip service, but this is literally this guy's plan. This is how he wants to play.

Chris (26:58.27)
And we saw them two years ago and that's exactly how they played. They were relentless on the puck and their defense was so damn good because we always had the fricking puck. if we didn't have it, we were going to get it. They've got to get a little bit better on their, like, I'm real curious to see how are we going to work our entries? Are we going to be a dump and chase team? Are we going to be a rush team?

Bobby (27:10.52)
Yeah.

Chris (27:26.578)
Now I would think that our bottom six will probably be a dump and chase kind of offensive system and, you know, trying to do our top six to get everything off of the rush. But, that's another thing I think that you can set this team up to where you have an overall philosophy and an overall team style. But at the same time, every line can kind of do a little bit different and play different ways. absolutely. And, but this guy, Kevin LeBanc,

Bobby (27:51.131)
and you want that. You want different looks.

Chris (27:56.03)
He is a right wing, he's 5 '11", 185 pounds. Where is he from? He's 28 years old, he's from Brooklyn. He was drafted in the sixth round by the Sharks, 171st overall in 2014. His career, he's played 478 games, he's scored 82 goals, 143 assists for 225 points and a minus 88 in that time.

Now last year he played 46 games with the Sharks, two goals, seven assists for nine points and a minus 27. But on the Sharks, guess a minus 27 is probably not bad. The best season that he had as a pro, he played all 82 games for San Jose in the 18 -19 season when he was 23 years old. He scored 17 goals, 56 points. So he had 39 assists on that.

So that was his best offensive year. I don't know anything really else about him, but was he kind of brought in as that emergency break glass, you know, if needed, if Mercer doesn't sign?

Bobby (29:05.278)
Yeah, it's maybe a little bit of that and a little bit of a final push, a little more competition. There's really only barring trade, like one spot for him. And that's a spot that about what eight guys might be going for. And that's kind of that fourth line right wing, know, Basch and McDermid kind of hybrid right now. So whoever it is, you're going to have to bring a lot to kind of upset that, you know, to move it out.

Chris (29:33.79)
Barring injury, this is a hard ass line up to crack. There's no doubt. McDermott has the easiest chance of course, because we already know what he can do and he is going to be put in situationally, which is...

Bobby (29:37.972)
Yeah, yeah, so

Bobby (29:50.04)
So he's on the roster, he'll be on the roster. Definitely. Right, he's the swing guy for the most part.

Chris (29:56.122)
So that leaves one more offensive and one more defensive spot available? Okay, yeah, is, so hopefully LeBron can make the team. Like I said, Timo was speaking very highly of him, says he has a rocket of a shot. So it'd be interesting.

Bobby (30:00.247)
Yeah. Yeah.

Bobby (30:12.854)
Listen, change the scenery. We've seen it work. It is a thing. And you never know. You can come in here with a different role, different expectations, develop again. I have no idea. I'm at this point, like we've talked about, within a few exceptions of the team, I'm all for just simply putting on the ice the best players. That's it. mean, you're not.

Chris (30:16.071)
Yeah.

Chris (30:34.877)
No doubt.

Bobby (30:38.136)
We're not talking about possibly moving a brat or a Hughes or anything. He's here anyway. We're talking about, some of the other players. So whoever gives the best chance to win on game.

Chris (30:47.334)
Absolutely. All right, I'm gonna some housekeeping. Touchdown, Tuddy. What? Housekeeping? Let me check you off? What kind of hotel is this?

Bobby (30:50.978)
Housekeeping housekeeping you want podcast

Chris (30:59.294)
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Bobby (32:21.678)
The show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Why is it we always have things we want to learn but didn't? I was thinking about this question again today and I realized that I really want to learn how to skate better, like for real better, like put in the time. Yeah, I skate. But as an adult, I don't think I really have the time to do that. I've lost kind of the wonder to actually get it done. And that's something we shouldn't have to do. BetterHelp reminds us that sometimes you just need to speak to somebody.

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Chris (33:28.882)
So who do you that it's going to be kind of a limited lineup as far as our starting guys on Sunday?

Bobby (33:39.086)
Yeah, yeah, I have no bead yet on what they're doing. Like I said, I've just been excited to see some of the lines they're putting together and some of the presumptive lines based on that. But I mean, true to form, you don't really see much, you know, especially the first game. Again, we're in a little bit of a different situation, though, because they're not going to have those last two games because they're actually going to be preparing. So, I mean, I would expect maybe after this one, a You know, 70 percent might be starters.

Chris (33:40.871)
Yeah.

Chris (33:59.09)
RISIN

Chris (34:07.794)
Yeah, I would think so too because of the shortened camp. It was very interesting. Pilat was talking about when he was with Tampa and they lost, they got swept by the Blue Jackets. that, I know, right? That the Blue Jackets could sweep anybody, especially, you let alone the Tampa Bay Lightning. But so they started out the following season after that first round loss.

Bobby (34:23.534)
That just sounds brutal.

Yeah.

Chris (34:37.2)
Not so, not good doing so good. And they were playing, I believe out in Sweden in November. And he said that that trip is what really galvanized them as a team, that they were, you know, all together for the week and everything like that. And that was the year they went on to win the first of back to back cups. So he was talking about how, you know, they mentioned something about Prague to him and stuff. And he does that and told that story and said, you know, that's what I'm looking for. We have a lot of new guys on this team. I like that we're doing this first.

where we can kind of get there and hang out and get to know each other. And then we start the hockey season. I didn't even think about that. And it's an excellent point. And I hope that that's exactly what happens. I'm so excited for this season. I think that, again, these guys can do some really awesome stuff. They've got to stay healthy, though. So what else on your mind, Bobby?

Bobby (35:32.108)
Listen, I mean, I don't have much more as far as what I'm seeing from the team. I did have a hypothetical question I wanted to pose to you.

Chris (35:41.553)
I like hypothetical questions.

Bobby (35:43.392)
Okay, so you are an athlete. All things being equal, you are equally as good in football, baseball, and hockey. You can be a paid professional in one of those sports and your tier of whatever that is, the equivalent

Chris (35:48.403)
Yeah

Chris (35:52.414)
True.

Bobby (36:11.352)
for all the sports. So you're like a middle of the road kind of guy. You're looking at six, seven, eight years max. So you're not a superstar, you're not a dud, but you're a three sport athlete.

Chris (36:12.626)
Okay.

Chris (36:21.842)
Now, is there any specific position I play? Especially in football, because that kind of does matter.

Bobby (36:26.9)
Now, my

Whatever it is, it would be the equivalent in the other sports. if football, if it's a quarterback, you're a pitcher and a goalie. You know what I mean? All that being equal, I I want to know where you think you would go and why, which sport you would pick. And the only reason I do this, because I was just watching the Mets pregame and there was, actually it was a Dodger who did it, but was a, he was a two sport athlete and he had to choose between football and baseball. And it got me, it happens a lot and it got me thinking, what would I do?

Chris (36:37.277)
Okay.

Chris (36:54.085)
happens a lot.

Bobby (36:58.508)
So I thought maybe we'd have a few more of us on the show today. So I'm curious, you could take into consideration the number of games, know, the salaries will vary for those sports. So this is where I'm going. Where would you go?

Chris (37:09.062)
Absolutely, and that's where I would go. I mean if you're saying okay, I have six or seven years to make my money I'm not I'm not I'm not Tom Brady. I'm not Connor McDavid. I'm not Shohei Atano, Tony Whatever his name is now now real quick before we get back to this you're a big baseball guy was That the greatest baseball game ever played by a player

Bobby (37:31.598)
I think so. anyone who's listening, that's Shohei Otani. He went 6 for 6 with 3 home runs and 2 soloing bases. He's the first ever to do the 50 -50 club. So for anyone not familiar with that, 30 -30 is 30 steals and 30 homers. That's slightly more attainable than the 40 -40, which is very tough. No one's ever done a 50 -50, mostly because whoever has the power to hit 50 home runs generally cannot steal you.

Chris (37:42.718)
50 home runs, yeah. 50 stolen bases.

Bobby (38:00.366)
They're usually bigger guys that just can't do it. This guy's a phenom and I don't think baseball's prepared for what he's capable of doing.

Chris (38:08.499)
I heard those numbers, they were talking about the game. said, that's gotta be the greatest baseball game anyone's ever played. Like I've never heard anybody else play that awesome. Like that's ridiculous what that guy did. Now.

Bobby (38:14.189)
Sick.

Bobby (38:19.918)
Yeah. I still believe that I don't like his contract. I still believe it's not good for sports. think it's $250 million is crushingly above what the rest can do. But the guy is definitely the best. He'll probably go down as being the best baseball player ever in our generation. He's going to surpass everybody we've known to be the best.

Chris (38:41.79)
It does look that way. So I take baseball out because it not because I dislike the sport, but because playing 162 games over the fricking summer sounds absolutely miserable to me. So that's gone. Now, as far as schedules go, well, NFL and NHL are both. I like the schedules. mean, NFL, even though, okay, you're only playing 16 games, 17 games now.

Bobby (38:55.278)
Yeah.

Bobby (39:08.162)
You're still four on three off. Or three on four off with practices and stuff, Right.

Chris (39:10.206)
But you have one day off a week and then the rest of the time you are getting game planning and practicing and all the other stuff. You're spending 12, 14 hours a day in the facility figuring everything out. That's a lot of work. But again, it's only for a fraction of the year.

Hockey I would love because it's my favorite sport. I never played football, I never played baseball to play hockey. I would love to play hockey.

Bobby (39:39.52)
it's the other thing I want to take out of this was your emotional connection to the sport.

Chris (39:43.663)
my emotional connection is gone, then football because that's where I'm going to make the most money. It's an easy one then.

Bobby (39:49.464)
Okay, and if your emotional connections end.

Chris (39:51.984)
It would be between hockey and football because the idea of, love the hockey schedule, right? It's just basically the school schedule, right? So if you have a family and the kids are in school, like, okay, you're working, you have your summers together, whatever, but you're working. You get to go to, you travel a ton, get to see amazing cities and meet just like -minded awesome hockey fans throughout the entire world. The brotherhood of hockey players to me, it just seems something that's much tighter knit.

than a lot of the other sports. You know, it kind of, if you're, you you meet these guys and they stay close no matter where they play, no matter what teams they play. Hockey players have the best stories. It's the greatest championship to win. But if you are a middling hockey player, third liner, and you're playing six years in the league, you are gonna make...

better money than most people, you're not going to be able to, you know what I mean? Like just, you're not going to be killing a generational wealth that your great grandchildren aren't going to have to worry about money. But in football, if you're that guy, you probably can make that kind of money. So I'd say football, definitely without the emotional attachment. And it would be a really tough one, but I probably would go with hockey without the emotion. Regardless of the money, it would just be a much better life.

Bobby (41:17.64)
strictly business strictly business you go football because most bang for your buck contract wise in and out

Chris (41:20.7)
No doubt.

Chris (41:24.206)
Absolutely. Absolutely. How about you?

Bobby (41:27.534)
I a tougher time than I thought about. think for me right away, I ruled out football. don't know, just looking at the logistics of it and the injury potential or whatever, don't know. I ruled out football and I thought about baseball, which is the sport I grew up playing. I've always loved baseball, but just like you, the thought of comparing 162 games in the heat with long sleeves and all these shit, I think...

Chris (41:53.884)
It's terrible! Like -

Bobby (41:54.986)
Yeah. And that's in the tiers, right? Football's most money, baseball's the second, hockey's the third. And I think I kind of settled in the same kind of spot with you. I like the kind of cadence of the hockey season. You you're looking at two, three days a week of games versus six in baseball versus one in football. There's something about hockey and being in that group. Like you said, I think

If I were a three sport athlete and I had my choice, think I would probably go hockey. Yeah.

Chris (42:27.486)
I'm with you. I'm with you. But that's a good question.

Bobby (42:31.682)
Yeah, I'll ask the guys too when they come back on. Speaking of hockey, I just want to say, so my kid had his middle school evaluations. You can call them tryouts, but really, he's going to make A -18. They're going to have like an A and a B. Now remember, he's a fifth grader who has to play up to middle school. And in Pennsylvania, middle school starts in sixth. I think New Jersey's like that now too, right? So sixth, seventh, and eighth graders.

Chris (42:33.904)
Yeah, that's pretty good. All right.

Chris (42:55.452)
Right. Yeah, it is now. We were the last grade to start middle school, seventh grade. We were. Because if you remember, in eighth grade, they closed off all of G -Wing and Intermediate East because sixth graders were coming in. So they started moving the sixth graders to the middle school when we were finished with seventh grade. Yeah. But go ahead. I'm sorry.

Bobby (43:04.972)
We were, way back then.

Bobby (43:20.44)
did not remember that. But so, he was understandably nervous going in. He's been the, one of the smaller kids, his entire short hockey career, which is just going on two and a half years now, as far as from learned to skate through clinics and elementary school. And we had the notion of playing him down, quote unquote, to keep him in the elementary league as an elementary school student should, to finally be maybe one of the bigger.

Chris (43:26.947)
sure.

Bobby (43:49.528)
kids still wouldn't be one of the most skilled, but at least have that confidence on his shoulder. We were told by the guy who runs the Icelandic clinic here that basically unless you're a first year hockey, you know, of any type and you're that under skilled, it's the only way you could play down. And since Kaden had done three summer camps with him, he knows he's like, he's too skilled. He has to go up. But the difference here between fifth and eighth graders, eighth graders prepping for high school and fifth graders just coming in.

Chris (44:04.039)
Okay.

Chris (44:15.262)
So that's... They're putting fifth graders playing with eighth graders?

Bobby (44:20.11)
Well, it's the whole middle school team. again, there'll be an A and a B and then anybody who's on and the better people on the B team will be swing for the A team. Cause there's like 20 something kids altogether. So if you want to field at least three lines, at least four defense and a goalie and a backup goalie, you're going to need some swing players in there. But overall, listen, he did really good. You know, we just told him, go out there, do your best, skate as fast as you can skate.

Chris (44:24.912)
Okay, I got you now.

Chris (44:30.48)
Right. I got you.

Bobby (44:47.758)
at this level that's a lot of what they're looking for. You gotta be able to skate, it's fucking ice hockey. It's what you do, it's 99 % skating. So I was just super proud of him. We had to go to get his new jerseys, he got that 86 jersey from last year which is the full Viking logo. Well now it's big time, now there's road and away. We got a white and a red, he's got the full color set, had get the socks and everything. So, Vikings. So we don't know what they look like yet.

Chris (44:51.986)
Right?

Chris (44:56.988)
That's fantastic.

Chris (45:01.947)
Yeah

Chris (45:10.174)
Still Vikings? Nice, nice. That better be purple.

Bobby (45:14.67)
He was going to trade down to 43. Preference number, he was like, I'm going to go 43 preference, 86 as my backup. But 43 was not available. So he stuck with 86 through his high school career. At this point, it's his number. It's that kind of locked in. Yeah.

Chris (45:32.338)
That's awesome, man. That is awesome. And that'll be his number when he gets drafted to the NHL, which should be awesome.

Bobby (45:38.956)
Yeah, I'm thinking I'm thinking I got to take his original jersey and have it framed up.

Chris (45:44.028)
Yeah, if you want that, let me know. know somebody who's really got an in with the whole Freeman thing. So, yeah, if you need it. But all right, we're going to wrap this thing up for tonight. Give you kind of a little bit of a shorter episode, but I think we went over everything that there is to go over so far of what's going on with the Devils. And then we have some, I guess, practice tomorrow and getting ready for the first preseason game, seven o 'clock Sunday night against the Islanders. I believe that's actually on TV or it's at least streaming. I'm not sure.

Bobby (45:46.296)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Bobby (46:12.366)
Check it out. Time to renew that ESPN package.

Chris (46:13.776)
on the MSG app, so.

Yeah, I'm kind of bummed actually because I took off on Sunday because my daughter came down from college so I'm hanging out on Sunday with her. But the Vikings are playing the Texans at one o 'clock and I usually watch it on like the webcast at work on my phone, you the illegal webcast, but my fucking TV doesn't have a browser. Like no Roku TVs have browsers. I had no idea. So I cannot watch it on my TV.

Bobby (46:47.435)
right all my TV's are Roku sticks and yet there's no browser

Chris (46:48.317)
Now...

And they don't have browsers. And mine's an actual Roku TV, and they don't have them either.

Bobby (46:55.05)
I have an actual Roku TV that I plugged in a Roku stick because the TV was pissing me off and it works way better. I swear to God, the technology within the TV was older than a brand new stick, so I just bought a stick. I got them all over the place. Right.

Chris (47:00.272)
Thanks.

talk about it.

talk about a hat on a hat. But I had my, so in my house, I my fireplace and I have a mantle and I had like a 57 inch Samsung TV that I still have, it's up in my bedroom. But I put that up on the mantle, but it was like kissing the ceiling and I was, it took, like I couldn't put anything else on the mantle, it was all TV. So I bought a 50 inch TV.

and I put that in there in the living room and it looks a little bit nicer, you know, and then I moved the Samsung up into the bedroom. So we have like this long dresser and it's all TV, which I'm fine with, but that has a browser. I think I'm going to be swapping TVs out on Sunday. So I think the big monster, the big, it's not a monster, it's 57 inches, but it's considerably bigger than the other one. So I think I'm going to be swapping them out on Sunday. So yeah.

Bobby (47:56.206)
Very cool. Yeah, you you go ahead and enjoy your football. I'm deep in the Mets pennant racer at least wild card race right now. It's been very exciting. They're getting beat down tonight, but otherwise they've been holding court man. They scored 10 runs three games in a row. 30 runs first time in their history at this court 10 or more in three straight games. Yeah, so it's it's been it's been really cool and we have did it all without our best pitcher this year who still isn't back.

Chris (48:07.506)
Yeah, I

Chris (48:13.21)
That's awesome!

Chris (48:18.62)
Who's it looking like you're gonna get in the first round?

Bobby (48:22.254)
Let it be if playoffs started today would be San Diego and I Don't know I don't I don't follow the American League until things get closer You know, it's hard enough to keep up with baseball because you know, it's just it's tough to watch baseball all the time Yeah 17 years, I believe

Chris (48:24.936)
Okay. All right. Who would the Yankees have?

Chris (48:31.07)
Fair enough. Fair enough.

Chris (48:36.06)
And you have an anniversary coming up, right? That's awesome.

Chris (48:42.45)
Seventeen? You were married before me?

Bobby (48:43.502)
Yeah. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me 16 more times.

Chris (48:48.434)
Yeah, that's your own fucking problem now. All right, we're gonna we're gonna bounce for the evening Thanks so much for checking us out and listening Let's get ready guys. We are a couple weeks away till hockey that actually matters But we will have something to watch all next week, which is awesome Super excited give us a like a five -star review a positive comment download a subscription helps a little podcast that good We are the uncle puckers. See you when we see you

Bobby (49:12.632)
Can't wait to see it arrive.