Devils Seek Revenge In Philly

[00:00:00] Disemboweled to Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three-time Stanley Cup champion of the New Jersey Devils And you're listening to the Uncle Puckers NJD Podcast. Let's go Devils!

[00:00:21] Hey, what is up everybody? We're the Uncle Puckers. I'm Chris with Tim, Bobby, and we think Tony sounds like Tony, smells like Tony, but we can't see Tony. So is that you, Tony? Yes, it is. What's up, guys? How you doing, dude? Good, good, good. So Bob, dealing with a lot of vomit lately, huh? That's the thing, yeah. Do you want to talk about it? I mean, listen, I just feel horrible for my boy, man. It's been since Friday, picked him up at 1 o'clock.

[00:00:51] He just can't hold anything down right now, so he's starting to get a little discouraged, wants to eat. But it's getting better. Hasn't had any issues for the last few hours, and we just gave him some food. So now there's real tests, as we'll see, you know, how he is in the next couple hours. I mean, I heard that that stomach thing that's been going around is absolutely brutal. Yeah, norovirus, I guess. That's what he has. What's it? Norovirus? Yeah, something like that.

[00:01:17] Is it the same thing that a couple of devils had, I assume? I think so. There's a lot of shit that's going around right now, but this seems to be the one that... That is going, yeah. I went and bought a 60-pack of eggs from Walmart a week ago, because I saw this coming. A 60-pack? A 60-pack. What did that cost you? So a 60-pack of eggs, so not 60 dozen eggs. 60 eggs. 60 eggs.

[00:01:47] That's 20-pack. That's it? Yeah. Yeah, now it's probably 45, but yeah, that's not bad. They're killing all the birds. It's been really weird here, because I buy a lot of eggs, and lately, like, the eggs would be ridiculous, like an 18-pack for like 10 bucks or whatever, and then, like, Eglin's Best right next to them is like six. I don't know why they're still so much cheaper than, like, our shitty local store brands, but I'll just take that. You know what's odd over here is, because in Jersey, right, all the...

[00:02:15] All the eggs are kept in refrigerators, right? In the stores and everything. Yeah. Here, they're just... There's like... Every store, they put them on regular shelves, like in the aisles. They're not refrigerated, and nothing's wrong with them. Use them all the time. No, I mean, when they come out of a chicken's butt, they don't go in a refrigerator. You know what I mean? Yeah. Makes sense. But I never knew, though. I never thought about it. And then, you know, when I came, so I moved here. I was like, it's just normal here. Did you guys ever have, like, this is gonna...

[00:02:43] It's gonna be probably tough to answer, but like, anything like you were a kid that you thought was kind of normal in your life, and then when you kind of grew up and either went to college or moved out on your own and lived with other people, and you realized, wow, that was really stupid the way my mom used to do that or whatever. My mother, for some reason, God rest her soul, used to put the maple syrup in the refrigerator. Well, I always thought that that's where it was supposed to go, and never thinking that,

[00:03:11] you know, you put that over pancakes, and your fucking pancakes are ice cold now because you just put ice cold maple syrup on it. But my mom used to freaking do that all the time, and I remember, like, the first time I was, like, living out on my own with you guys, with you, Bobby, and stuff, and there was syrup in the cabinet, and I remember saying, like, doesn't that supposed to go in the refrigerator? Because you don't know shit when you move out. You think you do, but you don't. And, yeah, so my mother used to put syrup in the fucking refrigerator. How stupid is that?

[00:03:41] It's done here. So did mine, actually. Really? Yeah. She did. Wait, hang on. Tony, go ahead. Tell your mother's syrup story. No, same as you. She kept it in the refrigerator. And I remember when I got older and I moved out, I remember, like, thinking, why am I pouring? Like, you know, you pour it. It's, like, almost, like, thick. Thicker when it comes out of the refrigerator. And it kind of holds up breakfast, or whatever you want to call it. I'm with you. All right, Bobby, what's your story? It's in the fridge right now. I don't know why.

[00:04:11] I brought it up before. I think maybe because it's organic, or I don't think that's a reason why. I'm not really sure. But, yeah, I'm not going to fight. I'm not going to die on that hill. It's just not going to. Yeah, I just, I just. I was thinking about it. Once I found out that it doesn't need to be in there, I stopped putting it in there. I'm with you. I tend to put, like, all of my sauce type of stuff in the fridge. Like, I just put the, you know, even maple syrup, now that I think about it.

[00:04:40] But I'll just throw it in the microwave for, like, 30 seconds and warm it up. I guess you could do that. You know, there is that whole microwave option. There is a couple of things that I do want to start with. And the first thing, hockey-wise, if you guys are cool with it, I would like to discuss this big trade that happened over the weekend. This is a big deal. And I'm curious what you guys all think about it. So, it was a three-team trade. I don't have the parameters around, like, right here.

[00:05:09] But the gist of it is Miko Rantanen from Colorado. What? Just the main guys, yeah. Yeah. Miko Rantanen goes from Colorado to Carolina. Taylor Hall goes from Chicago to Carolina. Marty Natchez and Jack Drury go from Colorado, or Carolina to Colorado. And there's some money being held and blah, blah, blah. So, Miko Rantanen is a UFA after this year. And Marty Natchez has this year and next year left on their contracts.

[00:05:39] This deal is confusing to me. As far as, like, when I put my general manager hat on and we're playing that little game, this deal is confusing to me. As far as it being a straight-up hockey trade, I think that Carolina got considerably better. I think, I guess we'll know down the road. But, you know, you have a dude who's, I mean, I would say that Miko Rantanen is one of the top ten players in the world. And now Carolina has him.

[00:06:11] But I'm curious, what do you guys think? Tone, I'll start with you. What do you think about this trade? I think it's a good trade for Carolina. I think it was a third round, right? It's pretty much the main thing that got moved for, I mean, we talked about it. And Marty Natchez and Jack Drury. Yeah, but I think, I mean, how do you not take Taylor Hall? You know, I mean, with those two guys, I think it's a good, this is the kind of moves I think that can help you. It just kind of shows that Carolina's really trying to make a push.

[00:06:39] I don't think it's a bad move, you know, personally. Well, I mean, I think it's a great move if they win the Cup this year. And that's about it. I mean, other than that, it's not. If they don't win the Stanley Cup, it's not a great move. If they don't sign Mikko Rantanen, and I can't for the life of me see why Rantanen would sign. He's about to be a UFA. He's about to get seriously paid. Why would he sign with Carolina? Before testing the market, at least.

[00:07:06] So, I just, I'm kind of just confused by the whole thing. Like, it's, I don't know. I'm just maybe not used to Carolina making moves like this. So, I don't know. Tim, what do you think? I think just a bunch of circumstances sort of worked out for both teams circumstantially to make this work.

[00:07:26] The word on the street was that Rantanen was really pushing for $14 million plus contract-wise and wasn't really budging off of that. I think now some things are coming out where that may not necessarily be true. And if you look at, on the Carolina side, you know, Natchez has been in trade rumors all last year. Like, we were talking about, like, taking a run at him as well.

[00:07:54] He only signed a small kind of couple-year prove-it type of deal. I think he had some disagreements with how he fit in within Brendan Moore's system. And actually, Jack Drury and Natchez both took Carolina to arbitration, player-elected arbitration, to kind of get their contracts settled out. So, that always kind of leaves a little bit of a bad taste, I think, in a team in management's mouth.

[00:08:20] And with Rantanen looking for what he was looking for, Colorado realizing that we don't want to go over Nate's cap hit and they have a Makar extension on the horizon. They already have those two guys.

[00:08:33] And getting Natchez back, who is a good complimentary piece for Colorado, I realize they're not winning this trade, but kind of getting and recouping what they could for Rantanen without losing him in free agency. And it's Carolina putting their nuts on the table and saying, this is our year. We're finally going kind of all in. Like, they haven't had – they have very good players. Ajo's good.

[00:09:03] Sveshnikov is good. But they don't have, like, a 100-point top 10 guy and never really have. And now they do. And this guy, like, Rantanen, he's a fucking horse, man. Like, he's big. He's good. He's got great hands. So, Carolina got better. But if they can't sign him in the offseason or don't sign him in the offseason, it was a pretty big swing. And if they don't win the cup. I mean, that's what – if they win the cup, it doesn't matter.

[00:09:32] If they are Stanley Cup champions and it doesn't matter if Mikko Rantanen leaves and goes to San Jose next year, it doesn't matter. They got what they want. But I can't wrap my head around where this makes sense for the Avalanche. You – I don't care. I would take Mikko Rantanen for what's left of this year over Marty Natchez for this year and next any day of the week. Like, to me, that just didn't make any sense. The guys only played for the abs.

[00:10:02] He only knows playing with McKinnon and McCarr and all those guys. They won a cup together. You're right. I heard the same thing. That he was looking for over $14 million. At first, Colorado was saying that, well, we're not going to pay anybody more than we paid Nate. And that's another thing that I think we have to kind of get into with that. Like, it shouldn't be a number. It shouldn't be an AAV. It should be a percentage of the salary cap on account that it goes up all the way.

[00:10:28] Like, if, you know, Nate McKinnon is getting 13% of the salary cap and he's making $10 million this year. But next year, let's just, I'm using arbitrary numbers, Mikko Rantanen is making 8% of that salary cap, but the cap went up and he's making $12 million. You know what I mean? Like, you're, okay, you're making more in the dollar amount, but it should be relative to your cap situation. That's how I feel. I think teams think like that, particularly from a positional basis.

[00:10:57] Like, we shouldn't allocate more than X percent of our cap to goalies or to the D core. Or, you know, depending on where it falls out. I just think with Makar, an extension for Makar coming up where he's. And Tim Froese. I think he makes like 12 and a half or something like that. Suddenly you have, what, 30% locked up in two guys. You just can't build around that. Then adding another 15 million on top of that. They're like, we already have two generational superstars. Do we need a third? I don't know.

[00:11:27] I'm trying to think about how it works out. But also, like, Colorado is probably thinking, like, we can rent him in for the rest of the year and let him go. And then we get nothing back. Or we can get something back now. I get that. For the next couple years. So, I don't know. But I think Colorado lost in the short term. Jack Jerry's not something to sneeze at either. No, he's a good power play. A good face-off guy. He's a good on the PK. He'll help them.

[00:11:57] Yeah, it's just, it was kind of, I mean, we're going to talk about the Carolina aspect of this next. But, Bob, what is your initial reaction on this? Initial reaction was Carolina indeed got better. I think from their standpoint, what's important to note is that they're never going to sign a guy like that. So, this is their one chance to have this guy affordable for the last half of the year and to make a run.

[00:12:22] I don't think that they realistically think they're going to be ponying out the dough that carries him on. So, they don't make splashy moves like this often. So, why not do it now? Get a top 10 player, as you say. Give themselves a chance. Then you supplement that with Taylor Hall. Some more offensive for Carolina. I totally get it. I don't think, I don't think they're going to get any worse if they don't win the cup and he moves on. I don't think it was tremendously worse. Colorado, I'm with you.

[00:12:49] I don't know really where they're going, but the money is probably the big part. Tim's probably right. It's probably, you know, they look at the forecast of what they can afford. At least they got another year out of a player or two. Rantan told a Finnish newspaper that he was willing to take considerable under market value to stay in Colorado. So, I don't know who's telling the truth. You know, is it the abs? Is it Rantan? And is it somewhere in between?

[00:13:17] I mean, but yes, to go back to what all of you guys have said, and I completely agree. The Carolina Hurricanes in one trade became the team to beat in the East. I mean, if this works out. I mean, Miko Rantan never played under, you know, Rob Brendamore's system. It's a completely different system than what they do in Colorado. Will it, you know, he's good friends with Ajo. Great players like that are going to make it work. I get that. But there's always the – Plus, way before the trade deadline too, right?

[00:13:47] I mean, they're already starting to make moves. Yeah, I think that's a smart move to do it now. Because the trade deadline, you only really get a few games after it to really acclimate. Like, we saw that with Timo where he kind of didn't totally fit in. But, yeah, I don't know. I mean, look, we don't – Colorado is regularly thought of as one of the more intelligent front offices. But they also give Miles Wood a six-year deal.

[00:14:16] So how intelligent actually is that front office? And, I mean, for me personally, I think that Carolina – every year we say they should be winning the Cup. And every year we have them winning it in the East. They're coming out of the East. Their best team, this and that. And every year their goaltenders fail them. And this is still a problem that they have not addressed. I don't think they're going to address it again. They're going to roll with who they have.

[00:14:43] And I think that that can end up being their Achilles heel once again in the playoffs. Because, Tim, you've been saying it. I agree with you 100%. I think Tony agrees. Bobby has delusions of grandeur that the Devils are winning the Metro. But we are on a collision course with the Hurricanes for round one. I mean, it is how it's going to work. Well, yeah. We're playing them in round one. There's no way around that. Yeah. Unless we fall for Cliff where they do. Well, I don't think that's going to happen for either team. I really don't.

[00:15:10] I think that this is going to be two and three. However it pans out with home ice, I don't know. But it's going to be two and three. I mean, this is a legitimate chance that the Devils and everything that we've talked about this year. And what we're going to talk about moving forward. And all the moves that are going to get made or not made. This can all just come to a fucking big, giant, flat halt in the second week of April.

[00:15:38] If we go up against these guys and they just route us. Because right now on paper, they're much better. So my question to you guys is... I don't know if I totally agree with that. Okay. On paper, you don't agree with that? Nah. I don't know. I'm not saying that it is in practice. Because we haven't seen what they look like yet. With Taylor Hall and Miko Ranton in the lineup and stuff like that. I'm just saying. You don't think so?

[00:16:07] I don't know if it's as big. I think forwards, you know, they probably have a bit of an advantage. But we have a pretty good forward group. Like, you know, I mean, our depth is just starting to kind of emerge from whatever the fuck was going on with them earlier in the year. I think the D cores are pretty comparable. I think ours is a little better. And we have a distinct advantage in goaltending. I like your optimism. I mean, we're not winning the Metro. Sorry, Bobby.

[00:16:36] First of all, I haven't been on any shows to redefend my stance on that. First, you were laughing at me for the President's Trophy and now just winning the Metro. Yeah, obviously, things have changed. It's not looking like we're going that route anymore. But I'm going to side with you, Tim, even though you're mean to me. And say, like, I don't know how I would be. I would look at this like, wow, we're so separated on paper now. We've showed that we can play them. We're right with them in the standings. Yeah, they just brought in kind of a stud.

[00:17:04] But stud doesn't mean anything until you see how they all play. And not that he's not going to play well. He's a great player. He's not the great player he was two years ago. Probably not be that again. But I don't think we're that far apart from him. But all that aside, I wouldn't want to play Carolina anyway. I didn't want to play them when they lost all their players and we thought they were shit. I don't want to play them now. I don't want to be anywhere near them in the playoffs. I hate them in the playoffs. Tony, do you think?

[00:17:31] I think one thing you see with this move, though, is that the difference between us and them right now is I feel like Carolina is willing to – I mean, they're already making these moves. And like I said earlier, these are the moves that teams make before they try to really make a run in the playoffs. And I'm not convinced yet that we're going to make those moves. Just because from last year, we didn't make the moves when we should have. We kind of tried – we held on to things last year and tried to see what happened. There's a big difference between this double team and last year's double team. Yeah, but there's still some things the same.

[00:18:01] Like what, when our goalie went down a couple weeks ago, Markstrom. Like, I don't know. No, again, as I always say, I'm always beating the drama. I probably saw – it's always the same thing I have about it. But, again, I was disappointed in that game because I felt like we should have been slaughtering their dudes after that when they hurt your goalie. Other teams, if you hurt a goalie, here's our mark. I mean, there are certain things we need to do, and I think we need to address it now instead of waiting until right before the trade deadline when we're going to get raped for everything. And that's one thing Carolina did.

[00:18:30] Like we said, they did it – what is it, six weeks until the trade deadline, too? Yeah, it's about six weeks. I mean, they're getting aggressive already, and that move they made is a pretty aggressive move. It's a very big trade. It's a big hockey trade. But they're not – you know, I don't think they're going to do anything else. I really don't. Carolina? Tim, why did – what the fuck just happened here? I think Tim froze, and he's going out and jumping out. Ah, okay. All right, Tim, I think you're back. Yeah, I think my gerbil that runs my internet is really cold, so.

[00:19:00] Get him a blanket. Take it out of the tube. Please. That gerbil needs to go to work. I'm not getting him a blanket. Take him out of your ass and put him to work. Put the ladder down. Get two gerbils. I don't know. Jesus Christ. So, Tim, did you hear – Sorry, I kind of missed a little bit of that. It was kind of like – Well, Tony thinks that essentially, again, that the devils aren't –

[00:19:28] that we should have stood up for Markstrom a lot more after he got hurt, that somebody should have gotten an ass whooping for that. I mean, I don't necessarily know how I feel in the middle of a 1-1 game. Your goalie goes down. He got injured. It wasn't like it was Rajol's intention to hurt him. He was, you know, kind of – when you see like – I mean, Dylan had a little something to do with him going down as well. I get your point though, Tony. I completely agree.

[00:19:56] I mean, you're banging the drum that this team needs to be tougher. I'm not there yet as far as I'm happy with how they respond to shit for the most part. Do you think they're tough enough to go through the playoffs though? Do you think that they can actually physically – because this is what I do not think at all. I don't think we can physically – We're talking about Carolina first round, right? Well, I think maybe on paper I wouldn't say their lineup is better, but I think that is one area that concerns me highly with our team.

[00:20:25] I think that we have guys that come playoff time will tick it up a notch. I think that Timo Meier will become a fucking beast once the first playoff game comes. I think Cotter will become a beast. I think Palat can bring something extra with all his playoff experience. I will agree with what you're saying right now with the caveat that I do think that come playoff time this team will be a lot tougher than they are.

[00:20:54] You can't play that way for 82 games. Nobody does. The Panthers don't. The Knights don't. Nobody does. But they turn it on when the big games are either during the regular season or come playoff time. And we've seen this in the regular season when the Devils have had some big games. Not often in their big games throughout this course of 50 games already this year have they shit the bed. Have they just not shown up? They seem to turn it up physically and they seem to play a much better, tighter defensive game.

[00:21:24] And I think that that is an element of what our playoff is going to look like. Like you go back to the two games against the Panthers when we went and played them back to back in Florida. That was a physical team that basically beat Florida at its own game. And I do. So, yeah, I think we can play that way. I don't know if I would be going out like I would if I'm going to go out and get a forward to play with Jack. Yes, I do want him to be bigger. I do want him to be a little bit more physical.

[00:21:53] But I'm not just looking at that. I mean, I think that I mean, I'm curious also about Miko Rant and like he's only played with McKinnon. Like, how is he going to be the same guy in Colorado and Carolina? I don't know. I mean, Tim, what do you think? Funny you ask, Chris. OK, I have the numbers for you. And I've been this is the coping mechanism that I look at. Are we sharing them with the audience or no? It's on my phone. No, I don't. I don't have them.

[00:22:22] But so looking at so natural stat trick, which is a fun website that I enjoy going to because I'm a fucking dork, you can build out like how players play with each other and what their kind of numbers look like with and without those guys. So I picked Kale McCarr, Miko Rant and Nathan McKinnon, how they look with all three of them, with two of them, with each other, with and without.

[00:22:48] So all three of them together, their expected goals percentage is 62 percent. That's really good. Anything over 60 percent is like really, really good. Kale McCarr and Miko Rant and without Nathan McKinnon, their expected goals is 32 percent. So it drops off a cliff without McKinnon. Now, who's that without McKinnon? That's without McKinnon. That's McCarr and Rant and without McKinnon.

[00:23:16] I just like that I could I could score with McKinnon. Yeah, I think you part park me in front. You know, yeah. McCarr, McKinnon without Rant and 61 percent. So with and without Rant and it's about the same without McKinnon. It drops off a cliff. Miko Rant and McKinnon together without McCarr. It's at 43 percent.

[00:23:45] And Miko Rant and without McKinnon is at 38 percent. So that's the number. Those are that is kind of his individual contributions. I get like there's a lot more that goes in. You can't look at stuff like this in isolation. He's an incredible player and is going to play well with Ajo. Like they're two Finns. They're going to speak Finnish together on the ice. But that passed me in front. But there is some to be said. Yeah, yeah.

[00:24:14] All the Finnish listeners. You can translate what I just said. They appreciate your interpretation of their. Yeah. That, that, that, that. Score gold. So look, there is some numerical evidence that that as a standalone player, he's not as good as his hundred point player. And could be construed as a McKinnon merchant. I don't think that's true. Put him with Ajo. I think you'll get another good, good player.

[00:24:42] But to Tony's point about toughness. Like, yeah, I would have loved to see McDermott just beat the shit out of Brazzo. Just, you know, you heard our goalie. You get your ass kicked. Like that. Yeah, that's the way it should go. That's the way it should go. I just circumstantially, I don't know if it ever came up. And honestly, McDermott, I don't think was even got, got much of the ice time. And it was kind of a laugher of a game. Like maybe 10 minutes after he got hurt. You know, it was our stuff. Power play started. Yeah. And that's, that's another thing. Like we scored on the power play. Like we made them pay.

[00:25:13] For the goalie interference. And we scored on the power play and just didn't look back. And I think at that point, are you going to go and get revenge? Or are you just going to whoop them five to one? Which is what we did. Right. You know what I mean? Five to one when it's four to one. That's when you start. That's when you go take a shot. That's when you go do it. And that's what you would have done 20 years ago or 15 years ago. And, you know, fuck it. Let's send someone out and, you know, send a message. I definitely wouldn't have minded seeing that. Of course, you know, I fucking love a good, good hockey play.

[00:25:41] Like there's an awesome Reeves and Olivia on Columbus. That was a fucking two big boys going at each other. But yeah, I mean, just, and where we are in the season, like we couldn't afford, I think at the time. And this may be why it didn't happen to get an instigator, go on the penalty kill. And, you know, with our backup goalie in now, you know, like just a bunch of circumstances kind of all pointing to maybe wasn't the right time. But yeah, I would have loved to see him get his ass kicked.

[00:26:10] Like you heard our goalie. Take notes. Maybe it'll happen the next game. In terms of toughness going into the playoffs, you know, fighting falls off a cliff in the playoffs. So it's a, it's a matter of ramping it up. And like all the guys, I think that we brought in were brought in specifically for that purpose. You know, you look at Dylan and actually, do you know, who it's been like one of my favorite, favorite little silent assassins is, is Siegenthaler, man. And he's been in the middle of every single scrum that's come up and he's kind of a big boy.

[00:26:40] He has personality. Yeah. He's like six, two, six, three, two 20. He's like, he's not a small boy. So, so I like it. He's got that like B movie, like, like Ninja assassin goatee just cracks me up. What do you think Bobby about the devil's toughness? And, and, in, in essence, and do you think that somebody should have taken Rajoy to the woodshed? First of all, I think they respond pretty much the way they should for most of the year.

[00:27:09] Like you said, we've talked about the goaltender interference call. And if you put it in a microscope, it's one thing, but when you look at the context of the game, you'll get the context of the season. At that point, we hadn't won shit for what seemed like two, three weeks. There's a ton of reasons why you don't go to blows for that. We all like it to protect the goaltender, of course. But, you know, for the most part, I think that this team is doing what they have to do. And I do believe that most of the, not most of the guys, that a lot of the guys do have a different game in mind come playoff time.

[00:27:36] It's a lot of the guys you just mentioned, like Dylan, Mason, Timu, hell, even Jack changed his game, you know, last year in the playoffs or year before in the playoffs. Went out of Wadajo two years ago. That was awesome. I'm actually, I'm actually very confident in the style of game they're going to play once they get in the playoffs. I mean, listen, when you're playing a series, it's a different game, right? There's a psychological game that goes with everything else too. I mean, look at just the way Timo was acting against the Rangers in that series. Didn't get anything on the board, but his shenanigans were enough to literally throw them off.

[00:28:06] And we can get that plus goals. Yeah. And, you know, there's just hard-nosed guys here that I think won't take any of the crap in the playoffs, but they'll, you know, do it within the rules. And I'm really looking forward to it because I think that's the next step that this team needs to take. Right. And what, and what Carolina does, and this is how they like beat the shit out of us out of their own building during the playoffs two years ago is, is a really hard on the forecheck, you know, and they just pounded, pounded our day.

[00:28:34] Like I remember, uh, was it, uh, Jesper Foss, like sent Ryan Graves to the shadow realm, like in, in one game, you know, it was like, he's like, you know, and, and Graves was like a foot and a half taller than him and had like 60 pounds on him. And, you know, I was like, that moment I was like, Oh man, it's like, we just can't, I think we just cannot, cannot keep up with these guys physically.

[00:28:58] And, and I don't know if you watched the Amazon, um, the Amazon series, there's a clip of Paul Maurice. Amazon like giant women. No, no, no. We're not talking about Lithuania anymore. Um, uh, Tony lives in Lithuania, everybody. Um, no, it was, uh, the, the Amazon behind the scenes series that they did. Yeah. The center. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:23] Um, there is a clip of Paul Maurice behind the bench saying, stop trying to make plays and just pound their day, pound their day. It's seven game series. Their day are going to be exhausted. You could just go after their day, pound them on the forecheck. And you know, with like a maniac, like Cotter and Mason, I think we have guys that can do that. I think we might need one more piece though. All right. Commercial time. So if anybody's got a P you got a minute and a half to do it.

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[00:32:08] Guys. Minute and a half. We lost our heart. We lost our soul. We lost our captain. This is extremely worrisome to me. I had said when Markstrom went down that, yeah, it sucks, but I think we're going to be all right and we'll get through it. I understand this is only day-to-day, so I'm really hoping it is strictly just a couple of games, but if this is something long-term, this team is in big, big trouble.

[00:32:35] What are your thoughts on the Nico Heischer injury and how it went down? Bobby, we'll start with you. I'm honestly not too concerned about it right now. Right now, I'm taking the information I know. It's day-to-day. I don't know that it's any worse than that. If it becomes worse than that, it's a serious problem, obviously. But I don't know how far it's going to be. I think we can hang around a couple of games without them. If it's anything more than that, we're screwed.

[00:33:03] But honestly, unless you guys got more information than me, I don't know of it being any more serious than just a game or two. I don't have any more information. Tony, what do you think? No, I'm the same as Bobby because I'm hearing the same thing, that it's only going to be for a few games. Of course, if it's not, it is a big problem. But even I was watching, what was it, some kind of preview earlier and it was the same thing. It's just day-to-day. So, you know, I mean, hopefully that's it. I'm kind of on the same stance as Bobby. Yeah.

[00:33:33] Timmy? Yeah. You know, I mean, day-to-day is day-to-day. You know, I mean, we have these two Flyer games and a long window until Buffalo. Three days off, yeah. Three, four games. Yeah. Flyers aren't a good team. Like, you know, but they play kind of tough. So, does Nico miss these two games? We run out this patchwork lineup and kind of pray for the best. My bigger worry, you know, maybe what's going on with Jack's hand. Like, you know. When I saw Luke. Yeah, they were skating him today.

[00:34:02] Les, I heard they didn't skate him this morning. Yeah, the two of those things together. The two of those things together. Like, I mean, you saw in overtime. Yeah, when Luke took that face off. I mean, I was laughing at it. I was laughing my ass off when he stepped in the dot. I was like, buddy. I was like, that's just. He literally did the Ricky Bobby thing. He was like, I don't know what to do with my hands. Just push the puck forward. That's all he did. Just threw it forward. And if we lost it over time, I would have been like, fuck, that was bad.

[00:34:30] But now in retrospect, we get to chuckle about it. But our center depth is pretty thin. And this just lays it bare. Hopefully. And an interesting. Sorry to kind of ramble a little bit. But Alex Piandrillo. He and Pietro, whatever. You know who I'm talking about. Just announced that he's skipping four nations. And he was in Canada.

[00:34:57] But he also played in Vegas' game last night. So are players going to start really starting to drop out of this? And I'm looking at Jack. I'm like, buddy, if your hand isn't 100%, don't you dare go play in four nations. I'm with you. I'm with you. I mean, no, he can't. I mean, it was the same thing last year, right, when he was injured and the All-Star game was coming. And, you know, all that talk, like, oh, Jack's going to go in there. And we were saying, like, if this dude plays in the fucking All-Star game

[00:35:26] before he comes back for the Devils, like, there's an issue there. So, like, if your hand is that bad where you can't even take a face off, you know, yeah, I don't know. But we're running up Mercer as our 2C, which, honestly, I don't know if I'm talking myself into it, but I may like to see him get a little bit of run at center. You know, I think his biggest issue is along the boards where he just gets pounded into oblivion

[00:35:55] and just loses every board battle that he has. So I don't know. I wanted him to get that run at center, too, back when it was forecasted that he was our 3C a couple years ago. Like, I don't know if I want him as my 2C. Well, what are the lines? Do we know? We can look. We can put out our lineup card yet. Another interesting – I should go over all the websites that I use so you guys could – I did see –

[00:36:24] Okay, we're going to Daily Faceoff. Yeah. I did see something about Ryan O'Reilly. There was a little – I don't know what it was on, but I was reading that the Devils are very interested, but it's just the ask of what Barry Trotz is going to ask for just might be way too much. Like, Barry Trotz thinks every player deserves, you know, four first-round picks and a star player. So I don't know if you can do business with him. You know what I mean?

[00:36:54] Like, I don't know if we're going to be able to do business with him. I love the idea of Ryan O'Reilly being on this team. If he would want to and if it – like they're saying it would be Shimon Nemich. Like, there's no way that you're going to give Nemich for Ryan O'Reilly. It's just not going to happen. So I don't know what Fitzgerald's going to do, but I'm in a total agreement with Tony. Like, if there's a move to be made now, do it. Do it. Let's get it done before the Four Nations. That's the thing.

[00:37:24] That whole break, that's a blessing right there. That's a ton of practice time. You get the team together. Jack's probably not going to be there, honestly. So, yeah, I would love to do that. I would love to see what this team is going to do. And just listen, Carolina's got a track record of being a winning team, right? They haven't gone over the hump yet, right? Won the cup. But to see them do this, you know, with all the stuff that was said about them, where they lost everybody in the offseason and they're still good and right there, and to be putting the pedal down right now, I think the Devils have to be as aggressive.

[00:37:53] Yeah, honestly, 2026 first rounder. Give it for O'Reilly. Like, what's that pick going to be? You know, like 25 or higher? Like, I've said this before. It's like we're in our win now window, and it just kind of opened up this year. And in this year in particular, we have – that's for our last show. We had health, and we had goaltending. It may have changed a little bit.

[00:38:21] Goaltending seem to be on a rickety face right now. Wait a second. Wait, is this my fault? Did I do this? It's possible. Well, here's something that might get you excited, or at least it gets me excited when I think about it, right? We can agree that – all of us can pretty much agree that we are on a – we are probably going to be facing the Canes in the first round, right? The Canes have made a trade unlike anything that we're used to the Carolina Hurricanes making, right?

[00:38:51] This is a big boy trade that Don Waddell, I don't think, would ever make. So the fact that they have gotten considerably better, the fact that we are going to probably play them in the first round, and the fact that Rod Brindamore, since he has been the head coach, has never not made it to a second round. So this guy has won every first round series since he's been coach, which is, what, six, seven years now?

[00:39:19] So every year they've made the playoffs, they've at least advanced past round one. How great would it be if this team that just pulled off a trade unlike that they've ever seen down there, and they go up against these young bunch of jerk-offs from New Jersey, and we do something that nobody has ever done since Rod Brindamore's been coach, and bounced those fuckers in the first round? That would make me feel so freaking happy. Oh, dude. Absolutely.

[00:39:47] I mean, I want nothing better than to finally beat these guys in the playoffs. Like I said, my hatred goes all the way back to 06. I've been carrying that a long time. You can tell me to let it go, but I can't let it go, because then they just destroyed us again two years ago when I was feeling all good about the team. We're done with them, right, this year? We played all four. I think we're done completely, not one more. Yeah, we're done completely with Florida, Tampa, Toronto, Washington, and Carolina.

[00:40:15] Basically, there are six good teams in the East. It's those five and us, and we're done with those five, which is huge. But it's going to be weird because we're not going to see them. Look, I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves. Hopefully, we wind up in the playoffs and we don't fall off a cliff. I don't think we are. The team that might actually fall off a cliff is the Capitals. They've been playing like absolute shit and somehow winning. That's got to come home to roost.

[00:40:43] And they just signed Logan Thompson today, too, to a pretty big extension. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think Washington's a very good team. I think there's a lot of good teams in the East, but the Devils definitely have to do a move or two. They have to bring in a guy or two, I think, to get this team really ready for the playoffs. Because, you know, if Markstrom comes back healthy, if Nico's not anything serious or long-term

[00:41:10] and you can just get those guys in and Jack's little hand gets better, I think we're in good shape. Tonight, though, let's talk a little bit about tonight's game. I mean, Philly made us look fucking stupid last week, guys. They made us look stupid in our own barn. What did we have? Three shots on goal the whole game? I mean, I'm exaggerating, but it was not a lot. I mean, was that just a fluke? Was that just Devils not on their game?

[00:41:37] Was that just we don't – our styles don't mesh well and we don't play well against them? What do you guys think? I don't really know, man. We're still coming off it. I knew Philly was going to play as hard. I still don't like this two coming up with them. I'm thinking we might even split it. Just a matchup type of thing. They were pumped up. Maybe we'll take this one from them. It's in Philly tonight, right? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we'll take this one from them tonight. But it's going to be tough. Like you said, no he's sure.

[00:42:07] Then again, they won't have anybody to run at. They wanted to run at he's here. It's not there. Yeah. Tom, what do you expect from tonight? Right. It's going to be tough. I think when you play Philly, you know, Taurus is going to have them ready. I mean, I think – I agree with the split. I can picture us doing one and one. You know, I mean, I think we're definitely a better team. But just when you play the Flyers, anything in our divisions, never a gimme. I think it was a fluke last week. And I'm going to be serious about that.

[00:42:36] The way we played. I don't – I attribute that loss a lot more to the way the Devils played than the way the Flyers played. Jesus Christ. The way the Flyers played. I think we just played a really flat game, especially after the first period where we just kind of, you know, I think gave up and had no heart in that one. I don't – now they're feeling good, you know. I mean, giving up two goal leads against the Canadians isn't great.

[00:43:02] But it's a much better feeling when you net the overtime winner as opposed to losing your second point after you give up those two goals. That's still a great psychological win, too, because the Habs were beating like everybody. Dude, that Cole Caulfield goal was – We stopped another streak. That Cole Caulfield goal was fucking filthy, man. What a beautiful freaking goal, man. I mean, they're fun to watch that team. They really are. I kind of saw a scene in the playoffs.

[00:43:30] It was like the Devils were the first team in the NHL history to win, what was it, nine games in a row in Montreal. In Montreal, yeah. I saw that, yeah. Those are fluky. It's over like so many seasons. I know, but NHL history. Like, that's wild. I mean, yeah. I mean, you know, nine games in Montreal, you know, like might as well throw in like on a Tuesday, you know, whatever. But it is a pretty wild stat. It's cool. But, yeah.

[00:43:58] So, our lines, it looks like they're doing Palat, Hughes, Brat, Timo, Mercer, Nason. This is on Daily Phase Off. Connor Gowd. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. It was Brat, Hughes. Brat, Hughes, Palat. So, putting that line back together. Okay, so that line's back together. Great. Tony, there he is. Hey. What did it happen? See me? I don't know. This happened. All right. Now, turn it off. Finally warmed up. The old kicker. Yeah. Timo, Mercer, Nason. Kind of interested to see how that went.

[00:44:27] I'm interested in that line now, actually. Cotter, Dallin, Hallinan, Tatara, Lazar, Bastion. I like it. So, I don't mind it. You know, the fourth line has been light years better the past couple of games. Yeah. The last time we played Philly, I kind of agree with you, Chris. I think it was just an anomaly. Like, Philly did a really good job keeping us to the outside. They blocked a ton of shots. What was it? 33? I think they blocked. Yeah, it was a lot.

[00:44:56] And, you know, they just kind of pushed us to the exterior. And it was a 1 p.m. Saturday game. You know, it was the most afternoon effort of afternoon efforts on our part. I think you just flush it. And I think you got to respond today. I hopefully, I hope they come out flying. You know, we're up 2-3-0 after the first. I would love to see that for once. But I want kind of a laugher of a game here. And I think with Nico out and some of the guys get an opportunity,

[00:45:23] like Hallinan moving Mercer to center, that fourth line, the way it's playing, we'll see a lot more effort and a lot more kind of grindy type of goals. And hasn't Philadelphia fans had enough to fucking cheer for her after yesterday? Like, fuck you guys. I mean, seriously. I saw the referee got the game ball. I mean, you're talking about the Chiefs. What a – yeah, I mean, how do you not hate that? Fuck you. I always say this.

[00:45:50] I mean, man, Bobby, your house must be happy over there flying. Yeah, they're doing good. But I'm honestly – I was so disappointed watching the end of that Buffalo KC game. I really wanted Buffalo to pull it out. Spot. I mean, what the – there's so many questions. Everybody wanted Buffalo. So many questions. That dude – it's a bad day for a bad day for white tight ends or a bad couple of weeks for white tight ends. Oh, man. It's just – I mean, Chris was saying I'm not watching the Super Bowl. I'm not going to watch the Super Bowl this year. It's funny you say that, too, because I've said for years

[00:46:18] that the championship games are always better than the Super Bowl. Every now and then you'll get a really good Super Bowl, but I'm always a big fan of the championship games. I have zero desire to see those two teams play another game. I really don't against each other. I have to go for the Eagles, though, Chris. I hate to say it, man. I have to. As long as I can't stand them, I have to go for the Eagles. I think it's a real Sophie's Choice we've got going on here. It really is. Can we pull the plug on both of them? Nah. Doesn't work like that.

[00:46:47] Can we root for something else that's not like Legos on the field and bare feet or something? You'll know that the Chiefs are winning this, right? I mean, there's no doubt in my mind that the Chiefs are going to get the third in a row. And at this point, maybe even next year. I think all the other 31 teams might as well not even fucking show up next year. This is getting ridiculous. I can't stand Kelsey. I mean, does this guy – how does he not drive you nuts? Yeah, two catches yesterday. I get it. Everyone loves him.

[00:47:16] He doesn't bother me. Oh, can't stand him. You guys can't stand the whole team. I mean, there's guys that are – I don't know. Kelsey – I don't like that Jason Kelsey is everywhere. I mean, he's fucking everywhere. Travis isn't so bad. It's like David Grohl. To me, Pat McAfee annoys the shit out of me. He's the one that I just – yeah. He's just a douche. I have a hard time getting behind him. But, yeah, I mean, the Super Bowl is what it is. But the point is that the Philadelphia fans are probably super hungover,

[00:47:46] still celebrating. Maybe the team was too. You know, maybe they're all partying with Eagle fans last night and playing with Eagle players, and they're going to come in and, you know, play a little bit like we played last Saturday. Chris, one more question for you, though, about that, though. Do you think it's – About the football game? On the football game, do you guys think that people like – Do you think there's going to be shitloads of viewers or do you think it's going to be low-ass ratings? Because I think – It's a Super Bowl, dude. It's going to be fun. Yeah, well, this has to watch. This has to be the most –

[00:48:16] But one of the worst Super Bowls I could think of, like – It doesn't matter. The average football fan like us, me and you, Tony, right, that love football, we watch every week. We're going to watch because we're football fans. The people that are – you know, you're going to have a whole contingency of Taylor Swift fans that are going to watch just for the simple fact they're Taylor Swift fans. Just to me, it doesn't matter who's in the game. It's a Super Bowl. You're going to get 7 billion people watching. It's going to be –

[00:48:44] Non-Super Bowl fans have been throwing Super Bowl parties forever. Sure. It's a thing. It's a thing. It'll be – No. That'd be this guy. But that's kind of what I do or did for a living for 20 years. Super Bowl parties? Sports media and sports marketing. I think so. So, no, like I'd negotiate like all the advertising time, you know, all the commercials for advertisers in the game. But it'll probably be around 110 million U.S. viewers.

[00:49:15] You know, that's the TV and streaming. But I'm with Bobby. Like I like the champ game so much better. Oh, yeah. It's just the beginning of Super Bowl games are kind of boring. Kendrick Lamar's the halftime, which it's kind of funny. The ratings for the halftime show have actually been the highest, like 30-second increments that you can get like kind of real-time ratings now. In the past, like three or four Super Bowls are pretty funny.

[00:49:43] But I don't know. I would love to say I'm not going to watch it. I'm going to sit there and I'm going to watch that game. I'm such a door. The halftime show, they're awful. We used to rage so hard at these football games, these Super Bowl parties that like we were in advertising. At least I was in advertising. So, we would discuss the ads up the next day. Like I would, you know, instead of like being during a commercial break, I would be during the games and just watch all the commercials running. Yeah, that's what I did too.

[00:50:11] You know, a couple of years ago we did a really cool – do you remember the Tide Stick commercial where it was like a commercial and then it came into like the live actual broadcast where he still had a stain on his shirt. Yeah. So, I put that deal together. No shit. Yeah. Yeah, I was the one that stained his shirt. Stick bastard. It's loads of fun. That's awesome. That is awesome.

[00:50:40] No, but like I have a good friend that's doing this Kick of Destiny deal with FanDuel and the Manning brothers. We've seen that. And Rob Gronkowski did it. So, I don't know. That's fun to talk about when you get a free trip to the Super Bowl. Well, that's something I would definitely love to do. I do have a bucket list and the Super Bowl is one. WrestleMania is one. Watching the Devils play in every arena in the NHL is one. We're going to work on that in our retirement years.

[00:51:09] That's what I plan on doing in my retirement. Yes. Speaking of that, the Bell Center, man. Like that place seemed electric during that game. Holy shit. Those fans are ridiculous, man. They are just such huge hockey fans. And now that they actually have a product on the ice that's worth watching, they show up. Yeah. I mean, we went there when Marty was still playing back in the day. We lost that game. But, man, those fans were – and that was the Molson Center. I think it's a different arena. Is it?

[00:51:39] Or is it just a different name? I don't know. It might just be. I don't know. But it was a cool-ass place. Just, you know, the people were awesome. They were fucking electric. The building was packed. They love Marty because he's, you know, from there. So, as much as they root for the Canadians, they root for Marty. It was awesome. It was a lot of fun. They're going to be a good team in probably two to three years. I mean – You think they're going to make the playoffs this year? Oh, no. I don't think so.

[00:52:07] I think the Rangers get it together and make it. And I think – Did you see what happened to them last night in yesterday's game? Yeah. Did you guys watch that? Did I send you the picture? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tone, did you see that? No, I did not. They played the ass. I don't have Tone Summer. Yeah. We got to get Tone into the other group chat. Whatchamacallit. They played the ass. Tone, you shaved your mustache. Just realized that. Yeah. Yeah. That looked nice. So, abs got up quick. Go back. Go back now.

[00:52:38] Abs got up quick two to nothing in the first. And then the Rangers came roaring back, tied it up 2-2 after one. And then Colorado scored two more. So, they're up 4-2. I think the Rangers got their third in the second period. And then, like, middle of the third, late in the third. They tied it up. It's 4-4. Looks like we're going to overtime. And 14.7 seconds left. They give up an odd man rush.

[00:53:07] And Makar feeds Lankanen. And he scores on Shesterkin for the win. I saw the score. I didn't see the highlights, though. Not even a point. For all your effort, you got Fungatz. Not at all. It was beautiful. So, I don't know. I don't know if the Rangers are going to do it. And if I'm Chris Drury, I don't know what I'm going to do. Do I sell? Do I stand pat? Do I buy? You don't know where the hell you're going. You know? I don't envy that man and any of those teams that are on the bubble.

[00:53:37] Because you really, you know, at least the Rangers, you know you have the team, right? Like, you have the team. If you're going to go all in, it kind of makes a little bit of sense. Like, as opposed to, I don't know, like Columbus. Like, are you going to go make a big move if you're Columbus when you, it might not be real? You know what I mean? Like, it just, I don't know. No, that's interesting. I think for the Rangers, like, they have to. They have to go buy something. Like, I don't, they can't waste any more of these guys' years.

[00:54:06] Like, they can't just, unless they just say, fuck it, and sell Panera and sell Crider. Like, and Portia Serkins can be like, what the hell, man? I just signed this deal. Like, that's why I don't think they could do it. Plus, they're the Rangers. If Dolan catches wind of Drury trying to sell pieces off to rebuild, he's going to lose his mind. But my favorite part of that last goal that the Avs scored was the defenseman on the two-on-one was Will Borgen,

[00:54:33] who just had an awful play on it, who just signed a $20 million extension. So, they have a $5 million third pair day that played five games for them. I don't understand that move at all. I thought it was kind of, look at Kako. He's over there in Seattle now, and he actually left the Rangers. And I don't know how he did this week, but the first week, I think he had, like, six or seven points. He's playing well. He's thriving. He's thriving. That was good. That was the move.

[00:55:01] I would have loved for the Devils to pick up Kako. That would have been just. I thought if you get them for nothing, I kind of thought that if you got them for, like, nothing, basically. Yeah. You know, the guy's got skill. I mean, it's just the best is when they play that video of, you know, all the fans, Ranger fans chanting, you know, at the draft. So, I mean, that's. That'll never get old. I don't know. Never get old. But it hurts Rangers fans' feelings when you make fun of them. All right? They're a very sensitive crowd. I'm just saying. So, all right, guys. Before we wrap it up, Bobby, you have a game.

[00:55:31] We have a quick game. We're going to do this game twice. We're going to do it now where you just have to kind of react to it. And then we'll do it again. That's my surprise reaction. And then we'll do it again before the actual playoffs start. Okay. So, in this scenario, the Devils have won the Stanley Cup. For each round, give me your MVP of the round and then end with a con smite total. Chris, go first. Oh, Jesus Christ. Do I have to pick who we're playing in the first room?

[00:56:00] Do we have to pick a different person? Yes. Oh, it's got to be four different people. Except for the con smite, that could be a repeat of one of your guys. Four different people. Each stars in a round is your MVP. It doesn't matter who they're playing, right? It doesn't matter who they're playing. We don't know that yet. I'm just putting it out there. Okay. I like this. So, I'm going to say in round one, Timo Meyer will be our MVP. Okay. In round two, Nico Heischer will be our MVP.

[00:56:30] Feel free to elaborate if there's any particular reason why you think the player and the round match up. Okay. I do have kind of reasons in my head. I didn't know you wanted me to go that in depth. Okay. So, I'm figuring round one, you're going to set the tone, right? Everybody's got to kick it up a notch. I think only because we saw Timo do it two years ago. I'm going with Timo to be the guy to kind of set that tone and just lead the charge in round one. They get through the round and it's because Timo's kind of like, guys, follow me.

[00:57:00] Play how I play. We're going to be all right. And the second round is going to come to, you know, just that good two-way play from Nico. Big face-off wins, things like that. He's just going to be involved in everything. Round three in the conference final, it's all in the back of Jacob Markstrom. And he comes through with flying colors. And the Devils make it to the Stanley Cup final. Okay.

[00:57:30] You got Markstrom playing great. You got Timo playing great. You got a lot of other guys on this team, Nico, playing great. But in the finals, with all the lights and Connor McDavid sitting on the other side of the ice, little 86 is going to show up. And he's going to show the world that a little cut on his hand isn't going to stop him. And he is going to have this series. But in the end, the New Jersey Devils will lift the Stanley Cup.

[00:57:58] And Jacob Markstrom will lift the Conn Smythe Trophy. Because he will be amazing in every one of these four rounds. Love it. Tony. Well, it's going to be much shorter because I have to be up in four hours. I got Nico first round. I got you second round. Mason third round. And Markstrom fourth.

[00:58:28] And I'm Smythe Markstrom. All right. I got to pick one of those guys that you don't expect to make that impact. So it's been great all year. What about you, Tim? All right. So first, Markstrom is going to be outstanding all playoffs. That's why he's getting the Conn Smythe according to me and Tony. I will circle back to him. First round against Carolina. Timo is going to be the answer. He's going to be the guy that pounds the shit out of their day.

[00:58:58] Second round. When we play. Who are we going to play in the second round? Let's take a look. Probably going to be Florida. Do we have to stay in the Metro still? Or does it matter? I don't think so. All right. Second round. I'll say. Maybe Washington. In the second round. We're going to play Washington. And that's when Dougie. Dougie?

[00:59:28] Is he going to? Dougie? All right. Hamilton. He's going to score a goal every game. From the cap to leadership. He's going to get us through that third round against Toronto. Wait. We're still in the second round. Wait. So wait. Dougie's your guy for the second round? Dougie's my guy in the second round. He's going to take over when we play the Caps. Guy in the third. Nico. He's going to put us on his back. Leadership. Eastern Conference Final. Against Toronto. Oh. You're on board with the Toronto, New Jersey. Eastern Conference Final now. I think it's going to happen. And then when the lights are brightest.

[00:59:58] Jack. He's going to go on a tear. He's going to put Connor McDavid in his back pocket. Just like you said. But. The undercurrent through that whole thing. Markstrom is going to be standing on his head. And he's our con spot. Now we all got Marky for the con. And Bobby. This is. It's funny. So I honestly am going to go with the same ones I thought of. The minute I. Thought to do this a couple weeks ago. I'm thinking first round. Starting off. Setting the tone. That's Nico Heischer. That's our captain. Right. Second round is a real tough one to get through. You get through that.

[01:00:28] You start getting some momentum. I think that's where Markstrom really steals that round horse. Gets us going. Jack. With all the opportunity to get us to the Stanley Cup. Lights it up in the third round. And in the finals. When things get pretty tough. And you're looking for goals. For contributions. From all over the place. Jason is our MVP of the final round. And I also have Markstrom. As our. Wow. Look at that. We did not discuss this at all. That's awesome.

[01:00:57] It's hard to envision it happening a different way without. I mean we need Markstrom to be Markstrom. The way he's been all year. And that's why I think that this. Little six to eight week break. Or however long it's going to be. Is a blessing in disguise. Because I think we're going to be fine up until the two week break. And then you have that break. And hopefully he comes back right after. Maybe a game or two after. And I think he's going to be refreshed. He's going to feel good. He's going to have a nice little break in the middle of the year. And he's going to be ready for the home stretch.

[01:01:28] So. Anything else you boys want to add for tonight. Before we wrap it up. Let's get a W. Yeah. Any. All right. Quick predictions. Tone. Tonight. Devils in Philly. Devils 5-3. Tim. 4-2. Devils. Bob. 4-2 Devils. Two Timo Meier goals. Yeah. 5-1. 5-1 Devils. And they get the shutout broken late in the third. That's what I'm going.

[01:01:57] It'll be a route. So. Hopefully. Hopefully that's it. So wherever you guys are watching us or listening to us. A like. A subscription. A download. A five-star review. A positive comment. Reach out to us wherever you wish. You can find us on Blue Sky. On X. At UnclePuckers. At Gmail. Dot com. Check out all of Tim's recaps at TheUnclePuckers. Dot com. They're fantastic. They're funny. And they're pretty goddamn educational. So I think it is a must read for anybody who considers himself a New Jersey Devil fan.

[01:02:27] For Bobby, Tony, and Tim. Oh. Shucks. Oh. Stop it. We're TheUnclePuckers. And we'll see you when we see you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. That avalanche game, Battle Cap. It's over, Johnny. It's over. It's over. It's over. It's over.