Devils Need Finish

[00:00:05] Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three times Stanley Cup champion of the New Jersey Devils and you're listening to The Uncle Puckers, New Jersey Devils Podcast. Let's go Devils! We waited two fucking weeks for this shit. That's how I wanted to open it. Two weeks. Two weeks. Two weeks.

[00:00:29] We waited two weeks. Two weeks for this shit. Oh my god. I have a lot to say. I'm angry. I'm angry guys, but I'll let you guys start. Maybe you can calm me down a little. So I guess Bobby, since you were not tardy and you were here on time, we'll start with you. All right. You want to talk about Four Nations or do you want to talk about...

[00:00:56] Oh no, Four Nations is over. That's in the back burner. We are not talking Four Nations ever again. We're not addressing the bullshit about how many people think that, you know, Jack shouldn't play in the NHL anymore. We're just going to let all that go? Well, yeah, because I think it's obvious that people are fucking stupid. So the people that bring that stuff up, no, that's all bullshit. Jack's 23 years old. This is the first tournament that he's played best on best. And, you know, when it comes to regular NHL games, I mean, if it wasn't for Jack,

[00:01:26] the Devils probably won't even be in a playoff spot. So don't be shitting on Mr. Hughes. All right, good. I did just connect with him on LinkedIn, though, because it looks like he's looking for a new job. Who was that? Jack? Jack, yeah. He wants out of Jersey already? Yeah, yeah. I'd want out of this fucking team after that. I have a couple of guys I want off the team, but we'll get to that. So, yeah, Bob, what was...

[00:01:58] Listen, I don't know where the finish went. There's absolutely none. Like, your little scroll here is joking. Like, if it isn't Jack scoring, I don't know who is. Timo Meier, I don't know how many posts he can hit before he gets a goal. Some of the other guys that completely disappear, like close-in chances, just options to make this thing tight. I wonder how much of their new commitment to defense is kind of hindering their offense in general. I just don't really understand what's happening. I don't understand why no one could find the back of the net.

[00:02:27] I thought the effort was pretty much there. I thought it started off well. Characterally, they were doing well for a while, but, you know, a bullshit call on a penalty that I can't understand. You know, hey, don't touch my shoulder. That's a two-minute penalty. Yeah, I don't know. But that aside, so they got a quick power play goal, and it's two-nothing. But it's just, yeah, I don't know who's going to score on this team, and I don't know why that's a problem. I don't know why we're sitting here talking about a guy like Timo Meier

[00:02:54] and actually justifying his pace in point production because, you know, he's a power forward that plays the game well and is doing well. And he is. He's totally unlucky. Like, I completely get it. But for God's sakes, man, like, let's score a goal. Let's start there. Let's score a goal. We're going to start there and then see what happens. One of my predictions, we're starting this prediction thing, right? And one of them I texted before this game, and it was before I knew that he sure was back bad on me. I should have known that.

[00:03:21] And I said that Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer will connect on the same goal today. Yeah. We're not going to hold that one. We're not going to hold that one. You can change that. I can change that one. All right. But Dub Dub's just commented. He wrote, Timo Meier can play without a stick at this point, and we get the same results. He's so fucking right. It is absolutely right. I mean, yeah. He could literally be out there with no stick,

[00:03:49] just swinging dick, and he'd still be hitting posts. Yeah. I didn't realize we're live on YouTube. I didn't realize we were doing that. We're live on YouTube. So, Tim? You know, like moral victory. I did that. You know, like great. Yeah. Honestly, they played great. They actually played a very good game. Like they did objectively.

[00:04:18] But honestly, we don't have fucking time for moral victories now. Like we don't. CBJ's objects in here are closer than we appear. You know, Wierenski is playing at a third level. Like, you know, we don't have time to mess around. I think Carolina lost, right? Yeah. Carolina lost. Rangers pounded into oblivion by Buffalo. But like we can't just keep losing when, you know, I hate to bring up last year because this is a different team than last year.

[00:04:47] But when we were trying to catch those last couple of wild cards, we kept losing when everyone else lost. And like we can't seem to be making up ground. The finishing is a major problem. Like Bobby said, love Timo. Like he's doing everything he can to put the puck in the net. He's not lazy. He's not soft. He's not backing off the play. He's driving the net. He had one great drive where he drew a penalty.

[00:05:17] I think in the second or third, where he just split the D right down the middle. He's constantly like playing hard. But like this guy, like he can't shoot. Like his shooting sucks. Like he just takes a lot of shots. He's the worst volume shooter I've ever seen. And I think so that one one-time effort where he got robbed by DeSmith, right? DeSmith came across, made a toe save on him.

[00:05:45] Timo has to elevate that puck and get it closer to the near post. Like you put that right back into the middle of the net, like on the ice. That's the one spot you can't shoot that puck. Like he needs to bury that just like Jack did. Jack said, fuck it. I'm going to rip this one-timer top shelf to Smith is going to have no chance on it. Now it's, it's, it's frustrating. You know, like, like I said, we have no time for moral victories, but they played great.

[00:06:13] And Jack said as much in their, in their, in the post game, you know, Nemitz with a brain fart, you know, he went a little walkabout on that first goal. And that penalty was one of the, one of the most ridiculous penalties against I've ever seen in my life. So you knew that was happening. You knew they were going to score on that because it was such a silly penalty, but they say something like they'd killed off like 19 straight penalties before that. It's all a mile away. Our power play didn't hurt and we couldn't score until the third period. Like it's got to stop.

[00:06:42] We got to, we're not getting early leads. Every time we get an early lead, there's just like a weight off of these guys' shoulders. Now they're, they're tightening up. They can't score. You know, Dougie, how many shots did he have? He 12, 12 shot attempts. That's on goal. You know, he clipped miss glove on that one in close, you know, the Smith makes a great blocker save on him. He almost picks one up short side and then Palat, get this fucking guy off my team, man.

[00:07:11] Like I, I, like he first period, beautiful, beautiful opportunity in close. Yeah. Puts it right into the Smith. Yeah. The third period where he had eight feet out deer in headlights, just like, I don't know what to do with my hands. Like Ricky Bobby, just like, uh, what do I do? Goes to his backhand, hits it off the back of the net. It's like, what are you doing? What are you doing? We need someone in that spot that can actually score. Yes.

[00:07:39] You know, we've had a lot of quote unquote being goalied this year. I'm not buying any of that shit anymore because it comes down to just, we don't have anybody. You guys said it and I'll reiterate it. We don't have finishers on this team and everybody. I mean, the guys, when they are getting opportunities and they've had, they have glorious opportunities all night.

[00:08:02] I mean, if we had guys on this team that can bury the puck, we would have been up four to two, five to two at the end of the second easily. And, um, yeah, it, this is, you know, tomorrow night is not going to be an easy game again. It's Nashville. Dub just wrote that he'll be at the game. I hope you have fun. I hope the devils win dude. And, but they just beat the abs tonight. So, you know, they're, they're probably feeling pretty freaking good. Um, no game's going to be easy from here on out. The schedule is tough.

[00:08:32] I have a few guys though, that I am just done with. I'm done with Dawson Mercer. I don't, you said what a lot, get them off your fucking team. Get Dawson Mercer off my fucking team. Yeah. So I'm sure. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. No, I was just good. Like, I am so tired of this guy. Every shot attempt he has is over the net. It's shot wide. If he, you know, gets pushed around like a child out there, like this is the big leagues.

[00:09:01] Dawson Mercer just needs to bulk up and get better. But again, you said it. We don't have time for this shit. We don't have time to go and develop Dawson Mercer into a better player. He's got to go. And I'm done. I don't like Nemec. I told you guys this. I don't like him. I don't think he's a very good player. And I don't know what it is with him, but I don't like him. And I want to see Seamus Casey in that spot tomorrow. I think, I think we see Seamus Casey. So just to piggyback on the Mercer thing.

[00:09:30] So you remember the shift in the second where they got pinned in the zone for about two and a half minutes. This guy's funny. Are you reading the comments? That one's funny. It's exactly, it's exactly. That is actually, Doves, that is a perfect, perfect comment. Like, that's exactly what he is. That shift where they got pinned in the zone for like two minutes, two and a half minutes. And I was like, oh boy. Anyway, Mercer got hit at the blue line. Didn't get the puck out. Went right back in.

[00:09:58] He had a second opportunity where he just lazily one-handed at the puck. Right to their point. We waited two weeks for this. Two weeks. Two weeks. We waited. And this was what we got. Yeah. Casey, Rick and DeSmith. Fucking mosquito. Casey DeSmith. Flick him off. Casey DeSmith. Not Dominic Hasek. Not Patrick Waugh. Not Carey Price. Casey motherfucking DeSmith. But it's like you said, it's not Casey DeSmith.

[00:10:26] It's our team not bearing opportunities. You just mentioned that we probably could have won this game 4-2, 5-2. And then the narrative would have been, oh, except for a little six-week blip early in the game, we dominated the game. But because they didn't score, none of that happened. Nope. Yeah, you're right. All this talk about us getting goalied. And I've said it a lot during the year. I'm starting to look back on it. Like, did we? Did we really? Did we really get goalied? Yeah. I don't think we did. Like, he made some good saves. But we hit him. We hit him. A lot.

[00:10:55] Just threw the puck right to him. And that's a sign of a good goal. Like, Casey DeSmith is probably the best backup in the league. Oh, he's one of them. I think we probably have the best backup in the league. Yeah. I mean, Alan DeSmith. There are a couple others. But, you know, we've run into so many of these backups that just turn into prime Hasek against us. And I'm starting to think it's not the goalies. It's just us. These guys can't shoot. We have a collection of volume shooters that are inaccurate.

[00:11:23] It either goes wide, hits them right in the chest, or gets blocked. Or they do what Palat did and just sit there and don't know what to do. So then... Go ahead, Bob. Okay. So if that's the case, right? We've been talking about we need an actual pure scorer, like with Jack. But if we have a collection of volume shooters, like, what's the real plan? Because that sounds to me like we're not talking about getting a scoring winger and another, you know, 3C.

[00:11:49] We're talking about potentially, like, seriously considering moving out some people that just can't perform up to what they're supposed to do. Well, the way I see it is if you were to get somebody that, on Jack's line, that gets the opportunities that Palat gets being in that position, but can bury the puck, that line will be a lot. Yeah, I wish. I mean, go back to Alex Tuck. Go back to, you know, Brock Besser, Ricard Raquel.

[00:12:15] Well, the way Jack and Bratt can set guys up, you have to be able to bury the puck. And Andre Palat's not him. So you get somebody in that position. I think that that can open up the scoring for that line. And then you go with 3C. If you're going to... Maybe... I mean, I don't know what we're going to do with Timo Mayer.

[00:12:36] Like, I don't know if, you know, Timo Mayer needs to just be on a third line with, let's say, a Jake Evans and a Paul Cotter or something. And, you know, maybe. I don't know. I don't know what we have to do to unlock him. Because, yeah, there's something definitely... It's a big problem. This is the third year we're saying this. And everybody to a man loves Timo Mayer, loves his skill set, his potential. Even what he brings to games when he's not scoring.

[00:13:06] But for three seasons now, we've been saying there's something missing. It could just frankly be this guy doesn't work on this team. If they can't figure out who he will. And it's not about him. Like, they got to figure this out. But, you know, then again, like, do you trade Timo Mayer? Like, if you were going to move Timo Mayer, you're talking about a big return back the other way. I mean, is there, you know, a chance that you can... I don't know if Ottawa falls out of this thing and say, you know,

[00:13:36] Dawson Mercer and Timo Mayer for Brady Kachuk? It'll never... Oh, yeah, because Ottawa's going to be like, yeah, give me two guys that can't score. And you can say you're our best guy. Yeah. There you go. That's great. I know. And that's the problem. It's like, let's... You know, what are we going to do? Like, the one thing... The one shining light I see is... And this is why I keep coming back to Ryan O'Reilly. Because I know for a fact that Brunette loved Mercer.

[00:13:59] So, if we can pry O'Reilly out of Nashville in a Mercer Plus package, you know, I see that working. But, you know, it's also our depth, man. Like, Lazar, like, he seems like the nicest guy in the world, but he stinks. He stinks at hockey. Bastion, what is he... What is he doing? I mean, I thought... Did Tatar even play tonight? I have no idea. Yeah, he did. I know.

[00:14:27] But, like, I think our fourth line had a little bit of energy early on, and then they disappeared. But then again, you're down two goals. You're trying to get, you know, back to even. These guys are not going to get a ton of ice time. So, they did, though, create some offensive pressure. No great scoring chances. But, you know, Holla had another couple of good opportunities today that he whipped on. Like, I just... I don't know what's wrong with the team right now. I don't know what has to be...

[00:14:56] You know, and they could very well go into Nashville tomorrow and light them up. You know? And I don't think any of us would be shocked. But it comes down to the consistency. Putting it together night in and night out. And we cannot just rely on 86 and 13 every single night. Because guess what happens in the playoffs? They're coming in. You're playing Carolina, most likely. 90% you're going to play Carolina. You don't think that Rod Brindamore, his whole game plan is going to be, we got to take Nico and Jack out of the equation.

[00:15:26] So, okay. That leaves everybody else that we have that can't score. So, what happens then? We lose in the first round. We're done in five fucking games again. That's what's going to happen. Unless some serious moves are made. And Tom Fitzgerald needs to start making some shit. We have five games left until the trade deadline. Get it done. Like, now this is it. It's crunch time, man. You got two weeks until the trade deadline. Pull the fucking trigger.

[00:15:57] So, Dubbs writes, Timo doesn't fit. He was on a bottom-feeding Sharks team and looked better because he was getting B efforts from opponents and backup goalies. I'm done with this guy. No more excuses for him. Well, I have to say, when Carlson won the Norris Trophy with San Jose, was that two years ago? Whatever, I think, right? When he won the – so, before he got traded to Pittsburgh. And he had 100 points. He won the Norris Trophy. And everybody was going on.

[00:16:25] And I said the exact same thing about him that Dubbs is saying about Timo. I said, this is one of the best offensive players, even though he's a defenseman, on a really bad Sharks team. So, he's out there for every single opportunity to score a goal. And he's going to put up points because he's the only one on the team that can. And he's getting every opportunity to. And he's going up against lesser goalies. And teams, like you said, might not be giving their A effort when playing against the Sharks. Is that it?

[00:16:55] Is Timo Meier just overrated and had bloated stats and this is who he is? I don't know. I mean, a lot of it's usage. You know, I mean, he's – you know, I think his ice time is down two to three minutes from what it was in San Jose. He's not getting first power play time, which, you know, contributes a lot. Anyone who puts up, you know, anywhere from 70 to 100 points is on a first power play. And he's not – he's just not getting that time.

[00:17:24] You know, I don't know if there's a fix for that. But – Well, we also went through season by season what he's done. And it looked like seriously he got this contract based on potential because he only had really one stellar year. So, it was kind of like they looked at that. They looked at his body. They looked at the way he plays. You're forecasting the player he's supposed to be. But he's never really been it. He's had a couple of good years. He's not a 100-point player.

[00:17:54] I think he wasn't even a point-a-game player if I recall all the years I looked at. Maybe one year he was close. I mean, what is he? It's crazy to think because he should be great. And we wanted him so bad and for good reason at the time. But it still never came to fruition. He was supposed to be the guy with Jack. Now I understand why that doesn't work. So, with all this talking about and how good he was on San Jose and maybe he can't be on this team, it kind of keeps going back to Chris's point.

[00:18:22] Like, commit to this guy being a third-line guy. Timo, it's your line. Go. You know? Because we're not going to get rid of him. No one's going to take him. No, and I don't want to get rid of him either. Because I do believe that he will pay off in the playoffs. I believe that. Now, until I'm proven wrong, I'm sticking by that. Now, DJ Campbell says, does this team deserve a big deadline move? Don't feel like Keith is coaching to Timo. Now, a couple of things.

[00:18:50] Yes, to answer that question, I absolutely do think this team deserves a big deadline move. Because a lot of the pieces are in place. And we saw them the first half of the season up until, you know, December, really. Well, right up through 2024, I thought they played some fantastic lights-out hockey. So, it's there. Right? We know the capability is there. As far as Keith not coaching to Timo, like, I don't know, man.

[00:19:20] He's had three coaches now since he's been here. I mean, is it – what's the common denominator? It's Timo. Like, maybe – I don't know. He just needs to – yeah, you're right, dude. He needs to watch Brady Kachuk because he can play like that. Like, why isn't he playing the way that Brady Kachuk plays? What's the difference here? You know, I don't know. I mean, he kind of does. Like, he four-checks hard. He hit, like I said, you mentioned, like, that one drive down the middle that he had tonight.

[00:19:49] Like, it's there. His play is there. He just does the score. It's unbelievable. I'm not exaggerating here. It literally – I feel like he hit a post like the last 10 games. Yeah. That's probably an exaggeration, but I literally feel like it's been a post a game. Yeah. Which is crazy. Yeah. I'm with you. Yeah, and it's like how much – like, is it – like, there's a certain point where it stops becoming luck and becoming what your skill set is. And, you know, I think we're at that point.

[00:20:19] I've also brought this up a couple times in my impassioned defenses of him is that he scores the bulk of his goals for whatever reason in March and April. He scored over 30% of his goals in March and April in his entire career. Next week he should be setting it off then. Yeah, that's – God, is it already almost March? It is. What the hell? It's almost March. What the hell? I mean, yeah, he had 28 goals last year.

[00:20:45] You know, that's – I want Timo Meier to work on this team so badly. I want him to, like you say, like a Brady Kachuk type of player. Like, that's what we were getting, right? A power forward who was going to cause havoc out there, who was just going to make – be a line disruptor every single time he's on the ice. And we just haven't seen enough of it. And I don't – I mean, I was kind of surprised today that he was back up with Heischer and Nason.

[00:21:12] I thought maybe on that third line with maybe Holla and Mercer, maybe they would get something going. But I just think we need a little bit more talent on this team. We need a little bit more, especially in our forwards, a little more toughness on our team. I'm so tired, like I said before, of seeing Dawson Mercer just get bull rushed every single time he has the puck. But, like, dude, my frigging 18-year-old daughter can knock this guy off the puck. Like, seriously.

[00:21:42] Like, you've got to get tough. What happened, though, is we did get tougher, but we got slower. Like, you know, we referenced two years ago. Last year was a loss season. Two years ago, you know, up and down the lineup, we had elite speed. You know, we lost a certain someone that was really a good player because, you know, he participates and gangbangs like a weirdo. But losing Boquist, you know, losing, you know, Bastion slowed down. Miles would.

[00:22:11] You know, we lost so much speed, and we replaced it with kind of, well, Czar isn't very fast. You know, Tatar's lost a step. Bastion is lost without his B and his W. I think maybe that's more. I think, I think, I know that we, we shit on, Nick, we're hard on Timo, and I think, because Timo's supposed to be one of those guys, right? He's supposed to be one of, it's supposed to be Timo and Nico and Jack and Brad, and those are the guys that are going to, you know, push all our offense.

[00:22:41] And Timo's struggling. And, again, we've said it, it is true. He has hit a ton of posts. He is extremely unlucky. He, I just, I don't know. I will do everything if I was in charge of the Devils right now to make sure that, like, to just do whatever it takes to get him going. Like, he is that important. We have to get him going one way or another. He's healthy this year. There's no excuses. I don't know.

[00:23:09] I'd like to see him with his own line, you know, put him with Evans and Cotter, trade for Evans, trade for a nice winger that can bury the frickin' puck, and put him with Jack, and let's see. I mean, I think this team, defense, I like our defense. It sucks not having Seags, and once we fix that by getting rid of Nemitz, we'll be fine. But I like our defense. I think that they, again, tonight, I thought they played very well.

[00:23:36] I thought that they, you know, this is a really good Dallas team, and you gave them a few looks after the first six minutes. Other than that, Devils dominated. Again, it wasn't Casey DeSmith. It was a lack of finish. To the point about the defense, they were actually great tonight. Like, all of them to a man except for Nemitz. Nemitz, he looks like he doesn't want to play in anyone's sort of system.

[00:24:05] Like, he, and I brought this up before, but he goes walkabout, you know, to use the term from Crocodile Dundee in the D zone. And that's what happened on the first goal is the puck came in the corner, and Jack's there, and he's there. And Bryce did a good job kind of telestrating this during the intermission, where Nemitz followed the guy all the way up the boards. But he wasn't following him hard. He was just kind of trailing him like a puppy.

[00:24:30] And Bork had all kinds of time to throw it up to the defenseman, who got a nice little shot pass in that Dodonov finished off. Like, that should be Jack falling up. Nemitz should peel off and stick with Dodonov. We know who you meant. And DJ, I don't know if you came in late, but we did say that. Yeah, we all agree that Casey should be in tomorrow night. Yeah, absolutely. We're done with Nemitz.

[00:24:55] He needs to be packaged up and sent somewhere very cold. So we can – I'm thinking like a Pacific Northwest. Let's pull Chris back a little bit. Let's pull the red stars. Okay, first of all, did you hear what he said about their line? Whose line? About Hughes and Nemitz, or the pairing being together. Just two words. He said not good, right? Which is obvious. Like, those two aren't working as a unit.

[00:25:23] But Chris, to Chris's point, who's really so dumb with Nemitz. Listen, I'm not there yet. I don't think you just chip him off for a bag of fucks or anything. I think he's still got probably tremendous upside. But I will say this about the young man. This is where humility comes in. Like, shut your fucking mouth. Right? You went off. You had all that shit to say about why you're sitting in the AHL. You got to back that up. And I'm not saying you got to be perfect. He came in the first game. He looked scared as hell or whatever it was, right? Rebounded, had a much better second game. But he's been non-sequential since then.

[00:25:53] Like, there's nothing really going on. Like, you can't – this is where humility comes in and, like, earning your time. Right? They were properly, you know, seasoning you the way they're supposed to. And you still had something to say. And then you come up here, and this is the performance you give. So, he needs to look in the mirror and realize this is a humbling experience. But, yeah, because for right now, your seat just got moved. Like, Casey's going to be in now, and he might take it and run with it. I like what they're doing, keeping Casey up. Like, that is a clear, like, you two are fighting for this right now.

[00:26:23] Look over your shoulder. Look over your shoulder. Casey's here. I said that on the little bit of the preview video I did of this game. I said the exact same thing. Like, Casey being up there is definitely telling Simone Nemitz, like, we don't trust you. We want another look at this kid and see how he does. Because it's very big shoes to fill. You know, Siegenthaler was our best defenseman. And now, you know, we don't know if he's coming back. So, these are big shoes to fill.

[00:26:49] And I totally understand wanting to go in the system to find that replacement. Like, you do not want to give up any kind of, you know, draft capital, any kind of trade pieces for a defenseman right now. We need to do this in-house. We need to make that. And I think Seamus Casey can do the job. I think if you pair him right, not with Luke, but you pair him correctly, maybe with Pesce. What do you guys think of that? Would you put him with Pesce?

[00:27:18] Or would you put him with who else? Kovacevic? What would you do? Who would you pair him with? I'd want him probably paired with the steadiest person I could think of. So, on the surface, that would be Pesce. But maybe it is better for it to be Kovacevic. I like your point about doing that in-house because, theoretically speaking, we have the defensive depth and futures that we want in place.

[00:27:43] So, you really don't want to overpay for a defenseman now for one year, although we want to take our shot. You don't want to overpay. So, yeah, I do hope that would come from in-house. I mean, that doesn't really fit Casey's game, though. I mean, skill set to skill set, he's no Siegenthaler. You said, I think he could do the job. No. He's going to do it in a totally different way. Nobody's going to do the job. Siegenthaler was playing fantastic this year. He's a huge loss.

[00:28:07] It's a matter of just, you know, I guess, quarterizing the wound enough so we can, you know, make a playoff run. And, again, I think Seamus Casey – all right, here's my question. Do you guys think Seamus Casey is going to be more of a defensive liability right now than Nemec? I think it's probably going to be a toss-up, but we'll have to see. Like, I don't – like, I'd have to see Casey back up at the NHL level.

[00:28:35] I've only seen highlights of him in Utica, but Nemec ain't it right now. So, could it be worse? To the part, you'd say it's probably safe to say that he's not going to be any worse than Nemec, right? If anything, he might be better, and we're hoping he is. But offensively, you know you're getting a better, more skilled player in Seamus Casey than Nemec.

[00:28:59] This is why I said that I wanted – I would take Casey over Nemec right now any day of the week. But – And to that point, like, our best defensive pair on the ice tonight was when they put Luke and Dougie together. Right. So, I think, you know, you have – we can't score right now, so having more offense helps. And I think that's actually a very good point. Yeah, so, I mean, I'm big on – yeah, let's maybe see if anybody is willing to take Nemec off our hands.

[00:29:29] I mean, I think that him and Mercer right now are the two biggest trade candidates if something comes up. Yeah. It does look like Vancouver is willing to listen to offers for Brock Besser. Again, do you give up Nemec for a rental, even if it is Brock Besser? I don't know about that. Like, I would want somebody to turn – if I'm going to lose Nemec for a guy like that, I want it to be – If too many controllable years, it's got to factor in.

[00:29:59] Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I agree. The only person I'd flip for Besser would be Mercer. Because I think both of them would be upgradable, like, in free agency. You mentioned that. Yeah. If you lose that scenario in the end, you can go find another $4 million. Yeah, I think losing Nemec and then losing Besser, like, I feel like that's a little bit more problematic for me. Yeah. Like, I just don't see that. But I don't also, like – I don't know.

[00:30:26] I didn't see any reports of what Besser was looking for, but I did read, you know, that he and Vancouver were pretty far apart. But, I don't know, like, circling back to McCann. And there are also other attractive pieces on Seattle, too. Like, what about Mahura, who's a good, steady lefty? You know, if Seeks is going to be on LTIR, you know, does that change our calculus of who we were looking?

[00:30:51] Like, are we going to ride Nemec and Casey, or is that suddenly a priority for us for the rest of the season? Well, that's what we just said. I think they're really hoping they can ride Nemec or Casey. And that's why you have to look at Casey tomorrow. You have to get a look at him. And if he plays well, maybe gets you a goal, maybe, you know, drives some offense, I don't know if Nemec gets back in this lineup. Yeah, a little luck of the Irish.

[00:31:16] I think the question for Casey's spot, because I'm still thinking about your question, Chris, is like, what are you more comfortable with? Are you more comfortable with taking, like, a Kovacevic and putting him on his offside so that Casey can come in and play his right side? And in that case, you can move, like, Hughes back up with Pesci? Or are you more comfortable saying, no, no, no, I want Casey to stand his right side so he's going to play with, like, a Pesci and then keep Luke on the left? Luke did good today.

[00:31:43] Anyway, stripped the guy once or twice there, looked really good. I mean, which option are you more comfortable with? The play in the third. The play in the third was unbelievable. Dougie had a great one-on-one play, too, by the way, from Dougie haters out there. Good for Dougie to play some defense. We like that. We didn't mention Dylan. And DJ Campbell just said about Pesci or Dylan for Casey. I mean, possibly Dylan. Possibly Dylan. I feel like it's got to be – it's got to be – I think not Luke.

[00:32:12] I think you put – Yeah, not Luke. I think you put Luke with Kovacevic. You put Pesci on his offside with Casey because Pesci is our most responsible, reliable defenseman. And honestly, I think Pesci can do a lot with Casey just sitting there, chattering with him on the bench, teaching him shit, like teaching him the little tricks and tactician stuff that Pesci knows. And you keep doing the Hamilton together. They both be on their proper side if you put Casey with them. I'm going to put Casey with Pesci, though. Pesci would be on his offside. Oh, well, he's playing that now. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[00:32:42] Because he's playing that now, and he seems to be perfectly – I mean, Pesci's been awesome on the left side. Yeah, he's comfortable there. He can play anywhere. He's a versatile guy. Pesci kicks ass, man. Like, he's been a good signing. I know some people are giving him shit. Like, the Chirpoys are giving him shit. No complaints about him. The internet's going to shit all over everybody. Yeah, yeah. Just like Jack had a terrible Four Nations, right? Yeah, and he probably shouldn't play in the NHL, and Shisterkin's the greatest goalie in the world. Definitely shouldn't go play in the Olympics on bigger ice surface. Yeah.

[00:33:12] Definitely not. Russia would have definitely won the Four Nations if they were in it because they have Shisterkin, and he's the greatest goalie ever. Five goals on 16 shots, buddy. Yeah, what time was it? Yeah, five past Igor. Again, it's always five past fucking Igor every time I look at my watch. He stinks. Oh, God. The whole team stinks. I love it. And a loss like that to Buffalo. What was the final, Bobby? Eight to two? Eight to two. Eight to freaking two. So even Quick let in three of them.

[00:33:41] Means they were six goals away from a point. Right. I mean, you let Buffalo score a touchdown and a two-point conversion on you. I mean, really. Think about that. Yeah, I'm just – I love that. It eases the pain. I don't know if Columbus won. I didn't check. Are you looking? Buffalo went to New York and must have eight today. Buffalo is always a major, buddy. Oh, oh. Oh, shit. Oh, he said Igor wouldn't talk to the media today, huh?

[00:34:11] He just went back. Did he pull his I don't speak English bullshit and walk away? He likes to do that. Oh, God. The Capitals kicked the shit out of the Penguins, too. Jesus. So I was watching that game today at work, and it was three to two Washington in the second. And Pittsburgh was playing pretty good. Letang scored, and Crosby had a filthy backhand goal. Yeah, I saw that. Got them back into it. It was tied up 2-2. And then – oh, so DJ says the Blue Jackets mopped Chicago.

[00:34:40] So I don't know why that's one. Okay. Yeah. So, you know, Washington comes back, scores. It's three to two. But Pittsburgh was playing pretty good. And I'm rooting for Pittsburgh, you know. I mean, I know that it's highly unlikely that we're going to catch Washington. But it's always nice to see the guys in front of you lose. And all of a sudden, in like three minutes, it was fucking five to two. And they just – so they ended up – I turned it off after the third.

[00:35:08] It was like two minutes left, and they just scored three quick goals. Boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom. I was like, oh, my God, poor Pittsburgh. And they pulled the Delcovich and put some other kid in the first shot that he saw went between his legs. And then, yeah. So, I mean, Pittsburgh's got some problems. There's our 3C right there. There's our 3C. Sidney Crosby. Come on down. Sidney Crosby and Raquel for Mercer and Nemich. Okay. I'll do it.

[00:35:37] I'll do it tomorrow. All right. So, you know, since we started this thing late, we are going to start our new portion of the show. So, we have our predictions and how this is going to work, guys. And I'll kind of explain it to everybody listening as well. So, every week we are going to give three predictions. They have to be NHL, Devils, or Uncle Pucker podcast related. All right.

[00:36:06] It can be anything for a prediction for tomorrow's game right up until who's going to win the Contsmite trophy. All right. Our season goes from the Stanley Cup being one to the Stanley Cup being one. That's our season. So, right now, since we're starting it late, we only have until the beginning of June when the winner is announced. But we're going to make three predictions. We're going to keep score throughout the season.

[00:36:33] We'll do an accountability session every week if certain predictions come off the board. And we get one point for a correct prediction. If you make a parlay, right, a two or three leg parlay, and that all hits, that's a hat trick. You'll get three points for that. So, is there any questions about our predictions? No. No. All right. So, we'll start. We're going to go Tim, Bobby, me.

[00:37:03] The prediction is for this week, right? No. No. For anything you want. For as long as the – I just explained. Were you not listening to the – Dude, you're on the show. You got to listen. Write these up. You can say – Because. Okay. All right. Because I had three predictions for the season. But you can do them in any order you want. Never mind. All right. Yeah. All right. So, am I going first? Is that what's happening here?

[00:37:32] Yes. Yes. You're going first. All right. So, Tim, your first prediction. And I'll type these all up and put them on. So, next time we'll have them up on the screen for everybody so they can see them. So, go ahead. Jack Hughes hits – Jack Hughes hits 100 points. Oh. Oh. I think he's going to go out of terror. Jack is going to get 100 points. Oh, he's going to blow up. All right. Yeah. Bobby, what's your first prediction?

[00:38:00] My first prediction is that Timo Meyer will score a goal by the end of the year. No. Sorry, Timo. I love you, dude. I really do. He will actually score a goal tomorrow. Timo will score against the press. Yep. Just tomorrow. That's it. That's it. There's one goal. That's okay. All right.

[00:38:30] My first prediction, so the Devils have a five-game road trip. They are now on their way to Nashville where they play tomorrow. Then it's followed by the Avalanche, the Snow Gladiators or Utah, whatever they're called, the Vegas Golden Knights, and then Dallas again. So, out of those five games possible 10 points,

[00:38:55] the Devils will get no less than seven out of the 10 points on this five-game road trip. Okay. All right. Okay. This is bringing me back to year one, dude. I see him frozen again. Are you? Oh, yeah, you are. It's a very gallant pose, though. It's kind of like chins up. Yeah. Right? Regal. Kind of stoic. Regal.

[00:39:20] I'm just looking out in the distance, considering how many goals I should say Timo's about to score. All right, King Tim, you're up. All right. Timo Meyer scores 15 goals in the next 24 games. Timo will score 15 goals in the next 24 games. So, basically, 15 goals for the rest of the season. Yeah, I got you. So, you're saying he has 30 goals this year.

[00:39:49] That's your point. Yep. As you should. Would that put him directly at 30 with 15? Yes, it would. All right. So, let's just make that, you know, Timo will have 30 goals instead of 15 goals in the next 24 games. Tim likes math. You don't know this. I hate math. All right. I like it. Roberto. Classic Tim Breeze. He wrote on the bottom. Classic Tim Breeze. Classic Tim. It's one of our production value. I know. We got here.

[00:40:19] It's frozen Tim. My fucking internet run by a rubber band over here broke. It's good, man. Okay. So, number two. Currently, Jake Allen has four shutouts and Markstrom has three. By the end of the year, Jake Allen will still have more shutouts than Markstrom. Okay. More shutouts. All right.

[00:40:48] Give me one second. I'm going to duck out and duck back in. Okay. All right. So, I have a couple here. I'm not sure which one I want to go with. I was the one I told you about earlier that the Rangers would miss the playoffs by one point. I just feel like that's too easy right now. So, I'm not going to put that one on there. Should we let Tim back in? Yeah, we should let him in. Hi, Tim. Let me back in. Hi, see. Oh. All right.

[00:41:17] So, Tim, I was saying, did you hear my other prediction? I did not know. Well, I'm not going to use this one. My original one was that the Rangers would miss the playoffs by one point. But now I think that might be a playoff. Yeah. So, I'm going to skip that one. All right. The three finalists for the Selkie Trophy this year will be Alexander Barkov,

[00:41:44] Nico Heischer, and Joel Eriksson-Eck. That will be the three finalists for the Selkie Trophy. That would be a hat trick potential right there? Yes. That would be a hat trick. Mm-hmm. So, what did I say? Eriksson-Eck, Heischer, and Barkov. Selkie finalists. Okay.

[00:42:13] Tim, your third and final prediction. All right. I am going to say that the Devils are going to jump Carolina and will finish the season in second place in the Metro. Okay. And. And? And. And? That only three Metro teams make the playoffs.

[00:42:44] So, that's a two point. You might just want to save that for another prediction on its own. No. Well, I mean, do we think that's enough to garner a hat trick, Bob? I'll save it. That's not enough. Or do you want to add something else to it? You can add an element. No, you know what? I'll save that for another prediction. I'll save it. I mean, I wouldn't mind if he has a two-part prediction that that could be worth two points. That wouldn't bother me either. But I just think it's better to save it. Yeah.

[00:43:14] You're going to run out of shit in a couple weeks. You're going to keep it that the Devils will end up jumping Carolina and that the top three will be the only Metropolitan teams to make the playoffs. I'm just. The Devils will jump Carolina. We're not going to keep the second leg. Okay. I got you. I got you. I think I'll reserve for later. All right. I got you. Bobby, your third and final prediction. I was originally going to do this specifically for the playoffs, but forgive me if I'm having just a few doubts.

[00:43:41] So just in case, I'm going to say that Mr. Jack Hughes will be assessed a five-minute major by the end of the year, whenever that end is. What? I'm going to have to put a hat trick on that one. Basically, I'm saying he might throw or at least try to. I don't know, man. I don't know. He's going to be frustrated. He's going to get a five-minute major. It's like serious undercard flyweight. We don't have any other.

[00:44:10] We're not playing at Carolina anymore until the playoffs. I mean, he only throws when I thought about the playoffs. He was going to come in the playoffs. He was going to be a pissed off little man. And he was going to get a five-minute major. So I'm just extending it to the whole season. He's angry, Roel. Just in case. All right. My third and final prediction. I have a couple here. I don't know which one I want to go with. All right. The winner of the Atlantic Division will lose in the first round of the playoffs.

[00:44:41] That's my third. Okay. I wanted to do something for the game tomorrow, but I figured I have the road trip one. So that's kind of close. So we'll see. I mean, if they drop the next two before we do predictions, I'm already a loser. So we'll lose. You're not a loser, Chris. All right. So what do you guys...

[00:45:09] I mean, is there anything else you guys want to talk about with this game? Anything else on your mind? No. No. No. I mean, it's just frustrating. You know, they're right back out of tomorrow. So... Which I like. Win tomorrow's goals a lot. Yep. Yeah. You rinse this. You keep that playing. You know, they played very well. Just fucking score some goals, guys. Like, come on. Put it... Tomorrow, I think they will. I think they come out. I think they're pissed.

[00:45:37] I think they come out tomorrow and they beat the living snot out of the Nashville Predators. I think this road trip can be a good thing for these guys, right? Everybody was just gone for two weeks doing their own thing. Now they're back. All right. They had the quick game. A few practices at home. The game at home. But now they're going to be on the road for, what, 10, 12 days? So almost two weeks. For these five games. This is a good time to bond. It's a good time to figure your shit out.

[00:46:06] I'm hoping that one of my predictions I was going to make today, and I probably should have, but was that this would be the last home game Dawson Mercer plays. But so DJ asks here, do you guys think Allen plays back-to-back or do you think Dawes is in tomorrow? I think they put Dawes in for Nashville. I honestly, at this point, Dawes was fine when he started the last game.

[00:46:35] I didn't see any real issues with him. He played pretty well. His only issue really is moving post-to-post on wraparounds. What's that, like three or four that he's given up on those? There's probably a book out on that. But other than that, like our goaltending and our defense, it's like kind of refreshing to not have to talk about that. But it's just like I really wish that we didn't have like a major glaring issue every goddamn year. Right? I was thinking the exact same thing today.

[00:47:04] Like this was supposed to be our strong suit. Yeah. We got everything else fixed and now, oh shit, we have enough. But this is a problem right now that I think, first of all, a lot of it is, I think, guys get into slumps. Guys, you know, just in general throughout a season. It's the first game back after a break. Like Nico is going to net his. Brat will get his. We're really hoping that, and we know Jack's going to do Jack's shit.

[00:47:32] We're hoping Timo gets, you know, to another level and kind of be what we all want him to be. But now's the time. Like we can still fix this. One thing I wanted to bring up, I think Bobby mentioned earlier about the defensive system and the defensive structures and concentration on that affecting the offense. I think there is something to that. And one thing that was actually pretty encouraging tonight is they got through the neutral zone really well tonight.

[00:48:02] Dallas is a very good structured team. You know, they have the good ability to clog that neutral zone. They have good mobile defense. They're missing Heiskanen, which is obviously a massive thing. But Harley's Harley in and of himself is nasty. But I think with the focus on the defensive side of the puck, they do tend to slow things down. Like when we were two years ago when we were at our best offensively, we were so quick in transition. We just surprised the shit out of teams and we got right on top of them.

[00:48:30] Now you could see it's a lot more deliberate. The neutral zone regroups are a lot more deliberate. They'll pass back to the D. You'll see they'll kind of sit back. They'll sit behind the net, wait for things to kind of evolve in front of them. And I feel like that does kind of cause some problems when they're not connected as well as they could be. Their routes aren't as good. There probably is a little bit too much space between the D and the forwards in terms of kind of making those outlet passes. So I think there is sometimes that problem.

[00:48:59] That's where their game can go south. And I feel like something that was contributing to that was obviously the kind of drag of the season and getting tired. You know, you kind of don't you don't get as deep in your in your routes back into the defensive zone as a forward. You're kind of shallowing out a little bit. So I it was really encouraging to see them get through the neutral zone really well. And they actually did sustain some good ozone pressure. The fourth line actually did a lot. The only line that was really, really bad tonight was the third line.

[00:49:28] Like that line sucks. Cotter and Holla is a combination that should never see the light of day again. And and, you know, we've talked enough about pressure, but I was encouraged about their ability to get through Dallas. Like Dallas is not a joke of a team. No. So anyway, and the one one thing about this, I mean, another good thing about this team, too, is I mean, we saw it all year. And that's why I expect to win tomorrow.

[00:49:51] They have a tough game and whether I mean, a lot of times it's because they played like crap and then they come out and they just play a great game. You know, they play the way they're supposed to play. They get the win. And OK, everything's right in the world. Today, it was frustrating because they did play the way they were supposed to play. They played a good game. So I just hope that they don't get frustrated with it, that they can say, hey, look, man, you know, we put ourselves in a bad position. Six minutes. And otherwise you take those six minutes out. Devils win this game.

[00:50:21] And so I think there's a lot of good they can take. I know they bounce back very strongly after a loss. I expect that tomorrow. But my thinking is not just, oh, we have Nashville and then Colorado. Like my thinking is game 83. Like we're going to the playoffs. It's a matter of how long we're going to fucking stick around. And if changes don't get made, we're not we're not going to be sticking around very long. Yeah. But if you like if you look at Carolina, like they're they're kind of a mess.

[00:50:50] Like this Rantanen deal really seems to have backfired on them. Let's let's talk about that before we wrap it up tonight, because I know it's a little bit late. So you're right. This Rantanen deal is a fucking mess. I mean, he doesn't want to be there. And now it sounds like they don't really want him there.

[00:51:13] He made it known before the trade that he was not going to discuss contract extension with Colorado. So I don't understand why you know the guy wanted to go into free agency. He said, I want to I want to explore. I want to see what I can get out there. Why would you go and give up one of your best offensive players to bring a guy in who made it known?

[00:51:38] Like at least when we traded with Timo, when he was a UFA, he said, I'm willing to sign an extension in New Jersey. If it works out, I'd like to stay there. Rantanen had said no such thing. Like to me, that's just mismanaging the shit out of your assets and just thinking it doesn't matter because as long as we have him for this year, we can win the cup with him. But now he's not happy. He doesn't want to be there. And I don't know what the hell they now they're talking already about trading the guy again. I don't know, man.

[00:52:07] And like, I don't know how that's good for anybody on that team. You're right. They're a fucking mess. What do you do in that situation right now? I don't know. Like it's and it's honestly, I'd say, hell yeah, let's go get him. But, you know, I don't think Carolina trades in New Jersey. That would be nuts on their part. But now it's kind of like, yeah, like he only has a couple of points, if that, since he's been there.

[00:52:35] I did see Elliot Friedman said on his little Saturday night sports net hit that there is like a pretty sizable offer on the table. But if he hasn't signed it immediately, like I just don't think he wants to stay there. You know, he wants to test for agency. Yeah, that's the goal. Even if he loves it there, I think he's committed to seeing that. And it's really weird because we talked about this before. Like this is not the type of organization you expect this from. It's like they were sitting around a table and everyone's like, hey, here's something we never do.

[00:53:05] Let's just fucking do it. When Luke got fucking crap, this backfire. Like when Luke got Kovalchuk, it was kind of like that, right? Yeah. Because we often compare the Hurricanes to lose devils. And you're right. Even the way they're run. Like this was at a left field. Like, holy fuck, they got Miko Rantanen? It was real like Riverboat Gambler type of shit. Like a very surprising move from them. And, you know, people shit on Fitz. And, you know, I kind of sometimes appreciate his patience.

[00:53:36] You know, we put it's time. I'm very much testing my patience right now. But none of us know better than the GM. None of us know what conversations he's having. None of us know who is really available, who's on the table. There's except for like, you know, the speculation that's out there. You know, and we've talked about it before. Like the biggest issue is this log jam, you know, at the bottom of the Eastern Conference of who's in and who's out. Like, you know, there could be six buyers. There could be six sellers down there. You never know.

[00:54:05] You know, like right now they're probably only what? Like four legitimate like sellers in the entire NHL right now? I mean, in the East, yeah. I mean, I think that the wild card, I think, is pretty much set. I don't know if Detroit or Ottawa are going to get off of that spot. I just think that they play really well. I like the teams. I'd like to see them both make it. So that's kind of why I'm like, you know, hoping they do. So, yeah, I mean, who's Buffalo?

[00:54:34] Are they going to move anybody? Are they going to actually go and trade Alex Tuck? I mean, if that can be done, make a call. Give me Alex Tuck. Did you see? Tim probably saw it because he's on social media like a lot. But there was a quote. I'm talking to my therapist about my fucking phone addiction, all right? Yeah. A quote about, I guess it was probably the owner, I guess, of Buffalo. But it was like, you know, basically enough's enough. Now it's all about winning Stanley Cups. And it was dated like 2011.

[00:55:04] Oh, Jesus. It was like, oh, shit. What? It's so bad. They've been turning it on lately. I mean, the one thing about Buffalo is they can score goals. If they can get their shit together, I love their defense. I mean, they're built very big, strong defense, big, strong guys on D. I like that team. They just can't put it together. They're just young and inconsistent, make dumb mistakes. Oh, maybe Lindy Ruff is what this team needs.

[00:55:33] Maybe next year it'll be like the Devils of two years ago. The Athletic does an anonymous player poll every year. And one of the questions was, it was something like, what coach don't you want to play for? And someone, one of the third or fourth ranked guy was Lindy Ruff. And the quote about him from an anonymous player was, I don't know, he just seems old and has lost his fastball. He just seems like he doesn't know what the fuck's going on anymore.

[00:56:01] We've said that a lot last year, that he definitely lost his fastball. Yeah, we know. Who was number one, Mike Babcock? No, yeah. No, it wasn't Babcock. It was Torts, actually. I mean, the more I hear about Babcock, just what a piece of shit. I didn't, now maybe I was living under a rock, but I didn't know about the Mike Madano thing. I just found out about it. Yeah, that's a fucking shitty thing that he did to Madano.

[00:56:30] When I found that out, are you fucking kidding me? Like, what was it? His thousandth game or something? 2000th game? It was his thousandth game, I think, yeah. And you sat him. Sat him. Fucking sat him. And then he was playing head games with Marner. And that's the difference. Like, Torts is tough, but he's like honest. $14.99. Thanks, TJ. It was his $1500 game. Yeah, thank you, TJ.

[00:57:00] Torts is like tough, but he's forthright and honest, you know, and he doesn't fuck with you. Babcock actually actively fucks with people. Like, plays like little head power games. I think we've talked about this before. Like, when the Columbus stuff came out. Torts is a great coach, and he's great in small doses. Torts is great for two to three years, but I think his style and his persona, his attitude, it just wears thin after a while.

[00:57:27] And it's like, okay, that's why he's got to move on every four or five years because after a while you're just not teaching anymore. Now your voice just becomes grating and annoying, and the guys are not going to respond to you. And, you know, so I think he's great in small doses. So I think Philadelphia is doing exactly what they – Torts is not going to be the coach to get Philly over the hump and into the playoffs and stuff like that. Yeah, and the other guy that got a lot of shit was Cronin in Anaheim.

[00:57:56] I guess the players just fucking hate that guy. Really? Who the fuck is Cronin? Yeah. Making up names against him? Yeah. I swear, that guy's real. But to do that to Mike McDonald, the goddamn American treasure for Christ's sake. You know what? That's like the best shit how big my dick is kind of shit. I can do this to him on the precipice of his 1500th game, and it's Mike McDonald. Like, you want to, you know, make an example of him, you pick another time.

[00:58:25] That wasn't the time. So, yeah, that's a really dick thing to do. Mike freaking McDonald. Greatest American ball player. Yes. Yes, he is. You think? You don't think so? One of, for sure. No, Tim made it. I agree with you. I think Mike McDonald is the best American ball player. I have an unpopular opinion in Devil's Land about this. It's unpopular in Devil's Land? Yes. Look, if it's Mike Richter, I can get behind that. It's not Mike Richter. I can get behind that. Brian Leach.

[00:58:56] Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Right. Brian Leach was nasty. Okay. Just go put on your Rangers jersey and hang up, dude. Before we wrap up. Best American forward ever. Mike Madonna. Yeah. Mike Madonna. Mike Madonna, then Patty Kane. Best American defenseman ever. Leach and then Chelios.

[00:59:27] I'm putting Chelios about that. Yeah, I might go Chelios first. I think Chelios gets. There's some bias in there. I'll admit it. That's fine. I think he gets more credit for longevity, but. Brian Leach was so good. Or longevity. Longevity. Okay. All right. Mike, this is Mike Motto, Eraser. Sorry.

[00:59:56] Best American-born goaltender ever. Hellebuck. Richter. Quick. That's our three, huh? Hellebuck, Richter, and – Maybe Miller's in there too. Yeah, I mean, I'm going Hellebuck. He's not even done yet, so – Yeah. How many bets is this guy going to win? No cups. He's got to win a cup. That's what he's got to do. Yeah, well, we'll see if that happens. Well, before we wrap it up, I don't know if you guys watched a little preview that I did.

[01:00:26] When I was doing the research on this game, Jake Ottinger's never beaten the Devils. Yeah, I did hear that. Chris Terreri. Famous American goaltender. Little Chris Terreri. I like it. I closed the YouTube because that's what freezes my computer, I figured out. Oh, okay. When I have, like, other shit open, so. Yeah, that's great. Chris Terreri. I loved Chris Terreri, though. He was awesome. How did he not? Of course. You know, he was a devil through and through.

[01:00:56] So, all right. What was I just saying? Were we watching your preview, Ottinger? Yeah. Never beat the Devils. Yeah. He never beat the Devils. I was really surprised on that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, but. He didn't beat us against him. Still hasn't beaten us. That's why we got the backup. Yay for us. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. That's like the sixth or seventh backup that we lost to this year. And, like. I would really. We have to go through and look at that. I think we got to figure that out. Yeah.

[01:01:25] And we've even been shut out a few times by backup. I was literally excited when they announced that to you. I'm like, oh, great. Advantage us. Yeah. I'm a fool. That's never advantage us. And DJ, Tim hates everybody. Don't take it personally. I don't hate everybody. I know. You don't hate anybody. I'm just teasing. I don't hate anybody. I'm just teasing. All right. Actually, there is one person I hate. We'll get there. Yeah. Have to finish up with him, right? Yeah. I want. Oh, God. I can't.

[01:01:52] Does anyone know what the hell he was saying in between intermissions? I would have loved to have seen Valaket after fucking Igor let five in after the first. I would have just loved to have seen how he blamed. I don't know. You know, Paige Thompson for trying to embarrass him or whatever. That's great. I did have a big question I wanted to ask you guys, but it's late. So we're going to put it off to the next show. All right. Bob, anything you want to.

[01:02:21] I do just want to say that I am. I'm very excited because my kid's tryout came through for his first club team. We were on the wait list. So he's officially going on the tryout in March, which is great because this was the club he wanted. There was a second club that has a little more room. But we're going to do that. And then for any of the young parents out there or anyone who's going to have kids maybe going into hockey, I just wanted to share this with you because we all know it's a dangerous sport. Right. That's a given.

[01:02:50] But here's an example of the waiver that you have to sign to play hockey. I just want to read you real quick. Just the first couple of things here. Number one, the risk of injury from the activities involved in this program is significant, including the potential for permanent paralysis and death.

[01:03:09] I knowingly and freely assume all such risks, both known and unknown, even if arising from the negligence of the releasee or others and assume full responsibility for my participation. This is what you have to sign for your children to play USA hockey. I'm just pointing it out there because I got to stone up, man. It's not easy to sign this shit. No matter what happens, he died. Not my fault. You ever get a tooth pulled?

[01:03:39] Like, you ever go to a dentist to get a tooth actually pulled? No, I haven't. No. I've never had problems with my teeth like you fucking British idiots. Fuck you. I'd been into an enchilada. Hello. I haven't seen a dentist since I was full. These things happen. When you get a tooth pulled at the dentist, they give you a waiver and it has, if you have to, of course, you know, they won't touch your mouth unless you sign it.

[01:04:06] And it basically says that you're not going to hold them accountable if you, if you're basically, if your jaw never works again, if you become disfigured, if like it leads to a ton of bone loss. Like I'm like, and I have pliers. I'm like, does this happen? Like, are you going to pull my, my fucking tooth and it's going to look like I have felt palsy? Like, what are we doing here? But yeah, dude, like crazy shit like that. So.

[01:04:31] Well, I got to tell you the one quick story then about the root canal that I had, because if anyone's ever gotten one, it's very similar to a cavity. Like there's, there's no pain once you're done. But unlike a cavity where you maybe get like one numbing shot, they do several because it's a different type of procedure. So it's fine. After the first break, you don't feel any of the numbing shots. But at one point he's kind of, uh, the needle is like in the roof of my mouth and I'm sitting there and they give you like little sunglasses when you get a root canal. It's different than a cavity. I guess your spit goes everywhere or whatever. So they're like, you can put these on to kind of protect your eyes. So, you know, you do, you feel kind of cool.

[01:05:01] You put them on, but he goes to put this needle and he's in the roof of my mouth and he's plunging it. And then all of a sudden I just hear snap. And it's like, it's like fucking like shit on my feet. Oh my God. I swear to God. The needle broke. I don't know where, I don't know if it was in like the valve or what happened. I didn't say a word. He played it off cool. He like played it off cool. He's just like, Oh, like this happens all the time. Oh, fuck that. I would have laughed. This was like the fifth needle in my mouth. I didn't care at that point. But yeah, it was kind of freaky. Like something definitely broke.

[01:05:30] I absolutely hate novocaine. Imagine when my eye, I go to sleep for like two days. Right. I hate novocaine, man. It was like, just like snorting it up all over your face. Did they do the whole, the whole root canal in one shot? But you have to go back. I got to go back for a cap. They did the whole fucking thing. Sure, dude. It was simple. I've actually had cavities filled that hurt more than the root canal. Yeah. The two weeks doing shows with you guys, that's just shit that hurt. Once I got there. Physically and mentally. And mentally.

[01:06:00] Mental out of your eating. Jesus Christ. I have to go Tuesday to get the, I guess they have to measure or whatever, make the form for it. Sounds like my ex-girlfriend. Five needles in her mouth. I don't know what to make of that. I'm not sure. All right. Keep watching us. That's cool. 11.15 on a Saturday night. We're getting weird in the chat. We're going to wrap this thing up. For you guys, it was fun with, you know, you guys hanging out with us today. This was cool.

[01:06:30] Well, really DJ and who was the other guy? Where is he? Dubs. Dubs. Yeah. Hey, look. Jake jumped in too. So that's nice. It's nice having some people in. This is fun. Anyway, subscribe to the YouTube channel. Whatever other bullshit you guys got to do. Like. Subscribe. Download. Watch. Listen. Throw us a line. UnclePuckers at gmail.com. Or you can go to the Uncle Puckers website. Especially if you guys want a kick-ass cool sticker like that.

[01:07:00] You did not kill the vibe. You made it awesome, DJ. So definitely hop in for any other live streams that we do. Tim kills the fucking vibe. Catching strays over here. Not the one talking about. Thanks for hanging out. My girlfriend's getting needles in the mouth. I don't know what that's about. I don't know either. Find out. Tune in next time. She likes to party, I guess. It's over, Johnny.

[01:07:30] It's over.