The Devils went to O.T. for the 4th time in 4 games and once again the odds weren't in our favor. What's the deal with Nemec? Can someone not names Hischier or Hughes score a freaking goal please.
[00:00:05] Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three-time Stanley Cup champion of the New Jersey Devils And you're listening to The Uncle Puckers, New Jersey Devils Podcast Let's go Devils! The Uncle Puckers, Chris and Tim with you Just for, you know, just to make everyone aware We just finished watching the Devils get beat in overtime
[00:00:33] Seems like, again, by the Maple Leafs So this is raw, so yeah, this might not be the happiest show ever But what's up? Wait, what's your, please get some better F What is it, forwards? Forwards That's what I thought And I'm just Something, like, just what the fuck We got fucking absolutely caved in Like, I, like It was bad That was exactly what we did to them in game two
[00:01:01] Except we weren't able to score in overtime Yeah, it was just an absolute fucking miracle that we were somehow in that game Look, they were Marner's and Marner Matthews I felt like they were on the ice the entire fucking game By the way, for Toronto Like, every time they're just out there again It's like, what are these guys, like, drinking on the bench? But They're elite players I get that But We just let them do whatever they want Like, I don't know if it's intentional But
[00:01:31] They're just Walking around the zone Doing whatever they want Maybe it's kind of stylistic choice To Keep them on the outside And just let them do whatever they want On the outside And I guess there's a little bit of it But We have No, we can't get the puck out I mean, like you said They do manage to keep a lot of the stuff to the outside And not a lot of high danger stuff But it doesn't change the fact that You know, when you get buried back there
[00:02:00] And you're on the ice a minute A minute and a half You know, minute 45 It's only a matter of time You know, that you're going to get scored on There was just so much about this game Like, I mean I'm tired of just seeing Jack and Nico On the freaking scoreboard Like, where is our depth? I mean, I'm not going to I can give a pass to a lot of the guys in the top six I will most definitely give a pass to Timo Meyer
[00:02:27] Who does so much when he doesn't have the puck on his stick And they talk about it a ton They talk about it a ton on these broadcasts all the time And they're 100% right Timo's, you know, doing everything right You know, Brat is a fantastic player I love watching him But he's got to start burying the puck more I know he's a streaky scorer But I kind of feel like we haven't Like, it's all assists And, you know, where's the streak? I want to see the streak now
[00:02:55] Nason not being in the lineup is absolutely hurting But again, nothing from Palat Nothing from Cotter Nothing from Tatar Nothing, you know Bastion actually had a decent look today I thought Bastion I thought that the fourth line played pretty good I thought Bastion has been okay I mean, they're Like, I'm looking at Natural stat check right now Just kind of the game report on Chances for and chances against And, you know, the course in the goals For, goals against Expect the goals Like, it's just a fucking disaster Numbers-wise
[00:03:24] There isn't a single player That didn't just get their Actual fucking shit pumped in And honestly, like We need to We need to change up some lines I think And change up some of the deep hairs Like, Dougie and Dylan Are fucking awful together now Like, they You know Their Their course Was 13% And their expected goals Both of them Were less than 10% That's fucking awful They were just getting Dummy Not many Yeah, they're not You can't make any excuses for tonight I mean
[00:03:54] Jacob Markstrom Stood on his freaking head again 40 saves Or 39 saves You know We're leaving him Hanging out to dry And I feel bad that You know He gets Nylander on a fucking Breakaway in the overtime And, you know I don't care who you are Nylander's a fantastic player He's burying that 90% of the time Yeah And, you know Right off of where we come in And Luke hits the fucking post And, you know Timo just misses On a Short side shot A far side shot, rather And, you know Then they come back the other way
[00:04:24] And they score Yeah And You know Bad change And Marner's Gonna hit that Hit that stretch pass Every time It was a good read by Nylander To see them changing And And kind of hang like that But you gotta be aware of that In overtime I don't know what happened to us In overtime Like, we're just not We used to be We were so good Two years ago In overtime We were We were so good Two years ago That Last year When we were not a good team You noticed When we got into overtime Teams When they got the puck
[00:04:54] They would just play Keep away They just did Whatever they could To make sure We didn't get our hands On the puck This year We What do we have One win in overtime? Yeah, I think so I think Yeah, I think The Islanders game Where Jack cut across the middle And beat Was that this season Or was that last season? That was last season But I think It might have been The Islanders Still that we did Win in overtime But Or Or was it No, it was I think the Islanders But yeah I mean It's just Every time we get On the three on three We seem to make
[00:05:23] Like a stupid mistake And You know Just We never should have You know The fact that We even got to overtime Is a miracle But I'm sorry When it was two to one That fucking call On Siegenthaler Is complete bullshit Yeah, that was a bad call The second goal Yeah, there's You're calling I mean That was a bullshit call And I'm I don't I know I don't I don't want to sound Like conspiracy theorists But I'm like Every time that I'm like
[00:05:53] That doesn't get called And if it's not in Toronto You know But I'm probably Just being crazy Yeah I You know Look I I've said this before I think You know Like we can't Mistake You know Incompetence for bias Or Or something like that It's just It's just a bad call But like And that's the problem Of course They're gonna score You know On a bad call Like that In the third It just It just happens Like we But then you come right back And you get the lead again You know And it's like And I'm watching
[00:06:22] And we get the lead And you know He sure scores again And I'm like Man This is This team Just even though They have no business Being in this game And they keep fighting back And they get And then they fucking Give it up again It's Come on Yeah Yeah And that was Dougie Dillon And Dillon So Marner had the puck On the boards And there's There's no reason For Dillon To try and ride him Off the boards And I don't know Who the forward was Coming back Behind Matthews But
[00:06:52] Like he kind of Nico kind of got caught Flat footed there And You know I You know We talked about this With Dan a little bit Being the goalie But But Martian dropped Into the reverse VH And Matthews is Matthews is a sniper man He's Like that That I mean That was That was a filthy shot Like I give him credit But I don't know why Martian Martian's down On that He's the best Best He's the best Ball scorer In the league You know
[00:07:20] He can put the puck In anywhere on the ice So I mean Yeah I know what you're saying But to me It's like He'll score If you give him You know If Martian's up He's gonna shoot low You know There's nothing There's nothing You can do about it Like And I don't even know Why I'm bringing up Martian Like he was a fucking god Again in this game Like He just needs to go around The locker room And just slap everyone In the fucking face Like It's The lack of our scoring Like And you know I told you before
[00:07:49] Like I've been Kind of Looking at some numbers Trying to figure out What the fuck is going on With this And Most of our Like play driving numbers Are actually really good You know Like And I think you can Kind of see that Like We're good off the rush We have some good cycle chances You know It's been a little bit off Recently But We've primarily Been Been controlling Most games From a metric perspective You know Maybe sometimes It doesn't totally line up With the eye test But Expected goals
[00:08:19] Goal differential Corsi Fenwick You know Even the amount of rebounds That we create The amount of high danger chances That we create We're all First Or Fifth Or sixth In all of those In all situations And we're like Third across the board In five on five So we're creating So what's the problem So many chances Finishing The problem The problem Is finishing We don't have We don't have any snipers So like You know You saw that That chart That we put out That shows
[00:08:48] The goal differential Above expected Basically our finishing Falling off a cliff But In terms of league ranks We're 19th In shooting percentage On shots on goal We're 20th In shooting percentage On all shot attempts We're 20th In getting our shots blocked And we're 19th In shot attempts That missed the net So our shooting Is Is bad Like It's
[00:09:17] Or non-existent You know I mean They're not If you're The bottom You know Third of the Of shots on goal And getting shots Through Stuff like that To me That's That's you Trying to Always make The pretty play Trying to You know Instead of like The Carolina Hurricane Mantra of just Shoot it from everywhere Like you know Sheldon Keefe said it In the last game Against them Right They'll shoot it From the parking lot That's what they'll do We don't do that
[00:09:47] Right I mean That's kind of It's It's A little It's a little Of that Yeah It's Trying to Trying to Make A Maybe make that One extra pass But Shooting wide And shooting high You know Like Bratt had a great Chance in the third Shoot high You know Meyer You know Had a couple He had a couple Good chances And he ate some Pucks in the Offense In the defensive zone You know Had a really good Defensive game He worked his ass Off tonight Yeah he worked His ass off But man Like it would Really Really be great If he would Start putting
[00:10:17] The puck In the net Like you know I know we had One callback Against the Kings But we really Need him to Actually start Producing I know he's He tends to Score in bunches And that's kind of What volume Shooters do But he We need more From him We need more From so many People Like Dawson Mercer is so Fucking weak Like he had Did you see that I didn't know The fucking play You're gonna talk About The clearing Attempt Where he had No one Fucking around Him And he just Like passes It right to the Point And Palat did
[00:10:47] The same Fucking thing Palat did it From the neutral From the Offensive zone And Spalding's Like puck was Intercepted I'm like he Didn't intercept And he passed It to him He's like Here Right to him The Mercer Played Drows you nuts Man And like I saw this In the first Period Like first Shift of the Period Mercer got Pinned on the Boards The guy had Him Like pinned On the Boards Mercer's feet Weren't even On the ground Like it was Like he was Like a little Kid Just like With his feet Like dangling There There was Another
[00:11:18] Well no I was just Going to say There was Another play Late in the Third Where It was In our Zone It was Behind Markstrom A Maple Leaf Had the puck I don't know Who the forward Was And he was Coming in Behind Markstrom And Mercer's On his Shoulder Right Mercer's On his Hip You ride Ride that Guy into The fucking Boards Right there And take The puck Away And he skated Right around And made The pass Mercer Barely Like you Are on This guy's Hip You have The position Right Why are You not Ramming him Into the Boards
[00:11:47] You know Take the Get him Out of The play And no He just Let him Make the Play And it's Like dude You know Go to the Gym Learn how To play A little Bit tougher Because Really I'm sorry But Dawson Mercer Has done Dick All for This team This year He was bad Lazar was Bad Pesci And Palat was Bad Palat was Bad I mean We don't even Need to talk About McDermott I mean Bash and His numbers Were bad I thought He was Better But That's Saying a lot Like when Him and Palat
[00:12:17] Came in On a Two on One I Laughed Myself I was Like This is Like Literally The worst Two people Aside from McDermott Tatar Was bad You know Nico Like got Caved in But Like At least You know He put in Two power Play goals And his First goal Was a Gorgeous Snipe And Jack Obrat Did Some really Good work Behind The net To get That puck Out to Him I'm just Going to Say Like Jack And Nico Are Never Going To Be The reason This team Loses
[00:12:47] You know Like Okay You can Blame Jack Hughes On a Bad Play In that Ranger Game But At The same Time Without Jack Hughes In
[00:13:37] Pull the jack move and go in front, you know, and make the cut and just get a shot on net. Instead, you try to me, Jesper Bratt epitomizes what you had just said earlier about, you know, trying to make the extra pass all the time. He is on this team very he's probably the most prolific guy instead of, you know, his one timer on the power play from the right circle.
[00:14:04] Like he when that puck comes to him now, if you know, nine, nine times out of 10, he's passing it again. He's not passing or he's whipping. I think he's I think he's I think he's in his head about that about that shot. Like that that little seam pass from that Jack used to do to him on the power play was was automatic. And now now we can't hit it for a slave. Honestly, I think we might might be time to switch him and Timo on power play one. I don't know.
[00:14:33] Like, I think they need to switch up some deep pairs. Dougie and Dylan's not working. I think, you know, you maybe you put Luke and Dougie together and Dylan. Do not separate Luke and Pesci. I don't know what you can do because Dougie and Dylan, like we can't keep running them out. We can't we just can't like we need we need to figure something out. We need to change something up. I love Luke and Pesci together, and I think maybe it's kind of like, you know, let Luke go fly with someone else. But I agree with you. It sucks.
[00:15:02] But like, I think the only pair we can't break up is Sikathaler and Kovacavich. Like they're the only viable defensive pair that we have right now. Pesci and Luke haven't haven't been great recently either. I mean, if you split them up, it'd have to be Pesci and Hamilton. Right. And it'd have to be Luke and Dylan. I put Luke, I put Luke and Dougie together because I think you could just put the gas pedal down with them the whole shift. You know, I like having that more defensive guy with one of them.
[00:15:31] I hear you. I hear you. But like, look, it's just a suggestion. I could see it the other way around. But I think they just need to make a change just to make changes. Same with the four lines that I was talking about a couple couple weeks ago. Move Brad up with Nico and Meyer. You know, give Jack a couple of wingers. I have no fucking idea. But I think I'm now back.
[00:15:55] Well, I was going to say Jack with Nason and I wouldn't mind seeing Jack with Nason and Cotter. Yeah, sure. Honestly, Cotter, man, he made some fucking terrible decisions. I think he may struggle in like third grade math. Like he may be one of the dumbest people on the fucking planet. Sorry if you listen to this, Paul. I love you. You're handsome. But you got a fucking rock. You got one rock in your head and it's not rolling downhill. He's not listening.
[00:16:27] So, yeah, I'll just start there. So, yeah, this was a frustrating game. It really was. And they have two tough games coming up over the weekend. I mean, this is – there's no rest for the weary here. I mean, they have a Philadelphia Flyer team that is going to work their asses off on Saturday. That they're going to be – if you even take half a shift off, they're going to make you pay. Like you better come to play and you better take them serious because they'll beat you. So, Flyers don't fuck around, especially against us.
[00:16:56] Oh, the other thing about scoring that I did a little math because that's what I do. Unlike Cotter apparently, right? Yeah. Jesus Christ. He wouldn't get past the third grade spelling bee. He'd be putting Rarudo up on the board. So, when I title the show, Cotter is a dumb fuck, then maybe he'll listen. Please don't. Sorry, Paul. You're very good and handsome and larger than me.
[00:17:25] The Devils have 17 goals in total from their defensemen, right? Not bad. That's kind of a little bit middle of the pack on the lower end. Three of those are from Seamus Casey. So, actually, our current D pairs only have 14 goals, which is one, two, three, fourth from last. So, we are getting fucking zero production goal-wise from our D core. I'm so happy you brought this up because I think on the last show, or maybe it was a show that I did with you,
[00:17:55] and I said it, I was like, you know, everyone talks about our depth scoring and nobody is talking about our lack of defensive scoring. Like, it is – these guys have been invisible all year. It's not just three of them, you know, aren't ever scoring goals. Siegenthaler, Kovacevic, and Pesci. But, you know, and that goes to Dougie. Yeah. It really just is Dougie and Luke is where you're looking for your offense. Yeah.
[00:18:21] And Dougie, man, like – so, Dougie, I was kind of digging into his numbers as well. I told you I did some research. Yeah. So, really, it's actually pretty wild. Like, a lot of his play driving and metrics are almost identical to what they were in 22-23 when he had his 22-goal season. His expected goals, his goals, even his assists, his shots on goal, his shot attempts,
[00:18:50] all elite levels within, you know, if not first, he's second or third. Assists, he was ninth. If you're not first, you're last. Yeah. I kind of ignored the giveaway numbers because they're a little weird and not necessarily the best to track externally. Like, some of these sites have pretty rough giveaway numbers. All those numbers are almost identical to what they are this year. Even – do you know what's even funnier? Like, I was like, all right, well, has he lost a step?
[00:19:20] He's actually, by that NHL Edge tracking data, he's actually faster than he was in 22-23. Like, so – So, what is it? And then – yeah, then he was like, you know, his overall speed, highest speed, and speed burst, he was like below the 50th percentile in all those in 22-23. Now, he's top skating speed, 75th percentile. Speed burst over 20 miles per hour, below the 50th percentile.
[00:19:49] But if you look at 18 to 20 mile per hour burst, he's pretty low. But if you look at – or actually, he's in the 85th percentile, sorry. But over 22 miles per hour, he's in the 70th, 70th. He's not even slow. So, the only number that is dramatically different is his actual shooting percentage. So, when he scored 22 goals, he had an 8% shooting percentage. The shooting percentage now is 3.7. So, it's basically less than half of what it was.
[00:20:19] And I think that's his torn titty. So, that's kind of, you know, I think what's really driving Dougie's goal scoring issues. You know, he's just not – he's just not scoring. And I don't know – I don't have any information other than that. You know, if he's shooting wide too much or if he's, you know, passing up chances. I do – it does seem like on the power play, his shot has totally been de-emphasized. But otherwise – He doesn't have it. It just doesn't have it.
[00:20:48] Well, even his shot, like, is the same. He hasn't lost any power on his shot. But why is he not shooting it then? I don't think he's getting the puck. Like, I think, like, they're concentrating on the power play, on working the puck down low a lot more and getting those net front goals from Nason on quick little passes and, you know, or sort of working that little triangle game with Brad, Nico, and Nason or Jack, Nico, and Nason down low
[00:21:16] as opposed to working it around up high in the umbrella, which is what they kind of did in 22-23. That's the only thing I could think of. You know, goal-tending or goalie goals – or, sorry, defenseman goals can be a little fluky. But he's just – I just don't know what it is. I don't know if it's the injury is affecting his shot accuracy, if he's getting robbed. I don't know. Like, I just don't know. But he's shooting half of what he was. And that's killing us.
[00:21:46] Well, you know, we're going to get probably – what's his name? Brian Hallinan in on Saturday and Sunday. Why the fuck do you call this guy up, make him get his passport, get in his fucking car? He probably had to drive from Utica to Toronto. Why the fuck do you do that to this guy just to have him sit in the press box then come back? Because he played yesterday and they made him drive up from Utica to Toronto.
[00:22:13] So they said, okay, you just sit tonight and you're going to be in on Saturday and Sunday. And that's exactly what happened. It was just because of the timeframe. I don't know if he got in late or whatever, but they – that's why he sat and McDermott was in. But McDermott is the worst hockey player I've ever seen wear a professional jersey. He is so fucking bad at hockey. Yeah, he is. And he's had, what, one fight all year?
[00:22:42] I mean, he is essentially, you know, a cheerleader. I don't know what he – it's like, you know, the office space. It's like, what is it you say you do around here? Yeah. You know, look, great. He's there for protection. But do the protecting. Go beat the shit out of Pacioretty. Like you were supposed to after he fucking – you know, he'd probably kill Pacioretty. But I'm ranting a little bit. No, but it's understandable. And here's the thing.
[00:23:09] You know, this team is going to make the playoffs. Yes. And I was doing a lot of thinking about a conversation that we had on the last show where I had asked you guys, if you're Tom Fitzgerald, do you go all in this year? Or do you actually take a more of a measured approach and say, let me tinker around the edges. I know we're going to make the playoffs, but I don't think this team, even if I swing for defenses,
[00:23:34] I don't know if this team is a Stanley Cup winning team right now. And then I'm going to get a good feel. And next year, make the moves that I got to make. And we're going to make a run for it. And you and Bobby both said, you got to swing for defenses. You have to go all in. And because this team does have the core together to make a run. And you don't know what's going to happen with goaltending in another year or two.
[00:24:01] Like everything kind of seems to be working out for you to make the moves that you have to make and go for it. And I was unsure about it. Yes. And then I was doing some thinking about it over the last couple of days. And I, now I do agree with you. I do think that you have to, you have to go after this, this trade deadline this year, as if you are going all in to win the Stanley Cup, because I, yeah. No, no, sorry. Sorry. I interrupted you. I'm,
[00:24:30] I'm thinking too quickly. Um, I look at teams like Vancouver and the Rangers last year, who had a lot of good things. And us two years ago, you had a lot of good. You have to have a lot of things line up. Well, to be a team that, that goes, that goes the distance. You have to have luck. You have to have health. You have to have a lot of things working out for you. You have to have the goaltending. You know, we have,
[00:24:56] we have a guy that would probably be top two or three Vezina candidate. If it wasn't for Hellebuck. Okay. Just make sure people understand, understand what I'm saying. I know Connor Hellebuck is going to win that award, but Markstrom is being fucking lights out. You have to take advantage of that. And I think at this point, I think I kind of know where you were going with this, but, um, I still don't think we have to give up some of our best assets to get the
[00:25:26] pieces that we need. No, no, I wasn't going to go there. We are going to talk about that though, but I wasn't going there. And I was just more curious about like, with the issues that we see right now, because we, even though our defense has been subpar lately and they have been invisible as far as the score sheet go, I don't think anybody says that we need to go and get a defenseman. Um, right. So, and Bobby made, Bobby made a very good point about that. It's like,
[00:25:55] and defensemen are, are guys that are usually pretty highly coveted around the trade deadline, particularly depth guys. And I don't think we necessarily need that. I saw a report and week said it on the, um, on the ESPN broadcast that like, we might be looking at a depth day. I don't know why we would. Uh, I saw a report today on the Toronto defenseman. That was like, I forget who it was. Two guys from the Maple Leafs. Uh, one was a depth forward and the other guy was, uh, a defenseman. I'm like, what are they, what, who fucking writes this shit?
[00:26:24] I don't know. Yeah. I've seen, I mean, I've seen some crazy speculation out there. Oh yeah. Um, tons of it. Well, so, so I'm back to now thinking, you know what? I, I think we do need a top six, four to play with Jack and Brad. I'm, I'm kind of getting back into that camp where we can slide, pull out down to the third line, get a new third line center and another wing. Um, to replace either Tatar or Bastion on the fourth line. Like, I think that's,
[00:26:53] that's really kind of where I'm starting to lean. Brian Hellman can be one of those guys. I mean, like, can we play him and we find out? Cause I, I think he can be, I mean, they were talking about his numbers in music and I do not follow the AHL or at all. And he basically, like, I think it was like basically a goal every other game, 60 something goals. And yeah, I think he had, I think he has 30, 30 strike. Yeah. 33 goals. And strike that reverse it.
[00:27:21] 33 goals in 66 games. I saw like, yeah, he's, he's light. He's lighting it up. Like he could be like, like the fucking capitals, man. Like they keep finding these guys. They just called up a guy named Ethan Frank. Never heard of this motherfucker in my life. Apparently he was undrafted out of like, you know, Western Michigan university or something to games. He has two goals and an assist. It's like, what the fuck? Why can't we find a fucking Ethan Frank? Right. Well, I, we had Seamus Casey. He was kind of doing that early in the year. And I know his,
[00:27:51] his words were showing later on. I understand that. But like, we have a lot of talent down there. Like, I think it might be time to really start giving some people a chance. I mean, what forwards do we have down there that maybe you can bring up to bring up with, with Jack and, and Brett. It could, it could be Houndan, but I think they would do the, the sort of old school development model where you call up the guy and you put them on the fourth line.
[00:28:20] But fine, you know, he plays a heavier game too. And, you know, can scrap, you know, fine. Replace Bastion for a game. I don't know. Replace the tar for a game. I don't know why the tar still on this fucking team, man. Like just wait. I didn't know why the tar came back to this team. I don't know. We like, yeah, I, just another black hole of money. Like I, I think Fitz overall does a very good job, but I have looked and thought about some of the more questionable decisions he's made. You know,
[00:28:49] I wrote about in our, you know, that, that nobody reads, about Boquist, you know, scoring against us, you know, like he might actually be like a guy that, that could be the one that got away. You know, like, I don't know. He scored on us the last time we played him too. Yeah. You know, I realized he's built like a popsicle stick, but like, yeah, maybe he could be a guy that would have, would have slid in with Jack and Brett. You know, he put two Swedes together. Who knows? You're fucking speaking their language together on the ice. I, I,
[00:29:18] I always liked Jesper the lesser when he was with us. I did. You know, unfortunate though, that it didn't work. I, I, I, all right. So let me throw just a couple of names at you and let me pick one. Okay. And all right. So we keep on hearing Jonathan Tabe's name being thrown about. Now I did see that the three teams that are most likely to get him.
[00:29:47] If he decides to come back where Toronto, Winnipeg, and Colorado, then I saw a whole article, how he would fit in great with the Rangers. And all I kept thinking is, yeah, he's going to come out of retirement and not make the playoffs. Sure. So I know that's not going to happen, but let's say, okay, Jonathan Tabe's, Alex Tuck, Pavel Zaka, Taylor Hall, Brock Nelson. Those are the five. Okay.
[00:30:17] Am I picking one? Am I picking one? Picking one. Alex Tuck. One. And where do you put them? Alex Tuck, put them with Jack and Brett. Yeah. What do you think you have to give up for Alex Tuck? Hang on. Let me look at his, let me look at his deal. I'd like, is he even available though? Or is this just a name of a guy that we like? I haven't read much about him being in trade rumors. I think, I think I, Oh, he's actually got a pretty attractive deal to be honest.
[00:30:47] What is it? He's got like two years left, right? At like five. Yeah. It's, it's this year, next year. He's the right age, 4.75 million. That's a good deal. Like, six, six, four to 16. He's got some term. He's got some pop. Like, I mean, I'm, I'm like unbuttoning my pants. Just thinking about this guy. He put, you know, 36 goals two years ago. He had 22 last year, but you know, Buffalo's Buffalo. Um,
[00:31:16] Buffalo has to really decide which direction they're going to go in. Like, are they going to really just try and roll it back with the same fucking dudes every single year? Or are they going to say, Hey, you know, we might have to make a hockey trade. And, uh, let me just say, if Jesper Boquist lighting it up in Florida is the worst that we have to deal with as far as a guy that got away. Could you just imagine how Buffalo looks? The fans just watching Jack Eichel and Sam. Oh my God.
[00:31:46] The amount of guys that they've given up. It's unbelievable. Bad management. Maybe we can get Alex Tuck. Yeah, maybe, maybe. All right. So since Alex Tuck, I agree with you. He would be my guy. And that's exactly where I would put him. And I think, I didn't realize for some reason I get him and cousins confused. I think cousins is the guy that has been more out there and sort of the, the trade circles. Um, but cousins, his cap, it scares me. They'd have to retain on that.
[00:32:14] Another interesting guy is Zucker on, um, on Buffalo, uh, as well. Jason Zucker. Cousins is also the guy that almost decapitated. He sure. So. Yeah. Sorry. No dickheads. Yeah. No dickheads. And there you go. I mean, that's why, and that's why I still say no on Taze. Hmm. Taze is a dickhead. Jonathan. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause, uh,
[00:32:44] I always forget about that. Yeah. Rapey, rapey stuff. All right. So caves is out. Um, how about Taylor Hall? I, I, I, I, I find that I'm getting more attracted to that by the day. Hang on. I don't know why I haven't. And Taylor Hall, I think you could probably get, get for like a bag of pucks. I, yeah, I kind of agree with that. Like the, you know, the,
[00:33:13] the rental sniper type of deal. I kind of look at, uh, what we, what we got for, uh, to Foley as somewhat of a benchmark ish type of what we'd have to give up. What was the second and the third? I think, uh, I don't even know. Hang on. I'm looking at the one thing, because what I've heard and what I've kind of seen in sort of peripheral in my peripheral, you know,
[00:33:40] you kind of scrolling through bullshit and you, you sort of something absorbs is that his knees kind of fucked after the surgery and he's lost a step. Um, last year, last year, his skating was brutal. I bet you he's still faster than Andre Palat. It's probably faster than all of us. Um, hang on. Let me take a look at this year. I'm just looking to see if there's been any trend year over year. While you look at that.
[00:34:10] It's bounced back a little bit. He's not what he wants was. Um, I'll put it that way, but you know, speed bursts over 20 miles an hour is in the 87th percentile. Um, yeah, his top skating speed is in the 71st percentile. So he's still got some, he's still got some wheels. Um, he's got the familiarity with it, with us. Um, I just, I, I don't know. For some reason I, I just haven't, I'm, I'm averse to, um, to bringing guys back in. I am too.
[00:34:40] I am too. Absolutely. I, you know, I feel like it's just such an easy default to be like, let's bring Hall and Paul Mary back. And, you know, because we know who those guys are and there is something to that, you know, there is the familiarity of it. You know, they know where to go. You know, they know how to get to the fucking rink. They know the staff, they know some of the players that were here. You know, there's, there is something to that, but I just don't know. And based on, I don't know, maybe Tara Hall. Sure. Like I wouldn't,
[00:35:07] if we traded for Taylor Hall and gave up like a third and a fourth or something like that, I'd be like, all right, cool. Fine. I think that's good. That's not the guy that I want though. Like Alex talk. Yeah. I have a hard on for Alex talk. Alex talk is a game changer. Jared. Jared McCann in Seattle is another guy that, that I really like. I like Jake Evans in Montreal too. I like Jake Evans. Jake Evans would be that depth third. So like switching gears a little bit.
[00:35:37] So kind of that, that top line, top six winger, you know, I, if it would like tuck McCann Hall, maybe if I were to prioritize, right. I don't know what other kinds of guys are out there. Third line center. Brian O'Reilly is interesting to me. You know, he, because Nashville's so fucking terrible. But there's some word that like,
[00:36:02] they're treating it like he had a no movement clause of kind of respecting him to trade him where he wants to go. Okay. But he'd be the perfect kind of third line center. I think for what, for what we're looking for. It's also, there are two different philosophies of what you do with that third line center. It's, are we bringing in a guy to try and help unlock Mercer and Cotter a little bit more offensively? Like then we, then that's Grandland. Or do we bring in a guy that can be a lockdown playoff lockdown center? Like our,
[00:36:31] you know, next gen John Madden. Right, man. That's like that. So, so Nico doesn't have to take that responsibility as much. His shoulders and, and can be opened up a little bit. So I don't know. So I think those are the two schools of thought. So Grandland and O'Reilly are still my, my third line. The guy that I've locked in that I hope we get is a Trent Frederick for that, for that bottom six winger. Okay. I like that. And I have one more question for you,
[00:37:01] and then we're going to dive into the little bit of a controversy. But first, first playoffs, we're talking about playoffs. You bet we are. Get in on the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Scoring touchdowns is key to winning in the playoffs, and you can score big by betting them at DraftKings, the number one place to bet touchdowns.
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[00:38:15] All right. That's DraftKings Sportsbook with code THPN. The crown is yours. All right, Joe Boo. Oh, you fucking sped read that. That was good. That was – yeah, that was a fine print. All right. There were three guys on free agent frenzy that were all rumored to at one point be coming to New Jersey. Okay. And all three of them ended up signing other places.
[00:38:45] And my question to you is I'm going to give you these three guys, and is there one of those three guys that you wish, knowing what you know about this team now, that you wish did sign? All right. So the first one was Stephen Stamkos, who ended up going to Nashville. The second one was Jonathan Marcheseau, which ended up going to Nashville. And the third one that we were rumored to get was Jake DeBrusque,
[00:39:13] who ended up going from Boston to Vancouver. Out of those three guys, is there one that you wish would have signed here at all? Oof. Definitely not Stamkos. No, I agree. I think he – and I think we talked about it a little bit, but I just think some of – so there are some concerns about him being kind of on the steady, steady decline,
[00:39:42] particularly from a production perspective. I think most of his points are on the power play. Tampa Bay decided that they wanted to go in a different direction with Jake Getzel. I think that kind of tells you all you need to know about where they thought his production was headed. So, yeah, I agree on that. Honestly, I still – I bet if you put Marcheseau on Jack and Brad's line, they fucking cook people all day long. Dude, all day long.
[00:40:08] Like – and I'm – I think there is something there with handedness and Jack needing a right-handed sniper to play with, a right-shot sniper. If you look at kind of – he had Cole Caulfield when he was at the program. They just fucking lit it up together. Realized they were playing against kids and they were, like, just toying with him. But then you look at Jack's probably – not his most successful season,
[00:40:36] but he had a lot of success and was absolutely fucking shredding this league when he had Toffoli on his wing. Yeah. Yeah. think there's something to be said for that. I think Marceau would have slid in so nicely there, and he's, you know, after hearing several interviews with him, he just seems like he has the right kind of attitude for them. He's not a huge guy, but he plays just like a little prick, which I love. DeBrusque is good, but I think, you know, if I were to rank them, it's like Marceau, DeBrusque, Stamkos.
[00:41:04] Yeah, that's where I am. And DeBrusque I think would fit in good there, too. I think it would, too. I think DeBrusque is good, and I think he's actually having a very good season in Vancouver. Yeah, another streaky goal scorer, though, being with Brat. You know, that's the only thing, you know, is Jack doing everything, or are they just not that streaky? Yeah, we need a guy like you see like a slow-mo video of Patrick Lane just fucking picking corners. Like, we need that guy. Like, we have good goal scorers, but we have like...
[00:41:33] And look, we have eight guys that have over double-digit goals, and we're leading the league in that, but like, we don't have a guy that can just fucking snipe. And we have... Yeah. No, go ahead. I just... And we just... And they're few and far between. I will say that. But don't you feel like we kind of do have that guy in Timo Meier, but why doesn't it work with Jack Hughes? Like, Timo can be that guy. Timo is...
[00:42:02] Timo isn't a sniper, per se. Like, what Timo does... He's got a great shot, but what he does is he's a volume shooter, so he just fucking peppers the net. He's like the Carolina Hurricanes as one person. Yeah. So he just shoots and shoots and shoots and shoots and shoots and shoots. And he drives a lot of play doing that. You know, and he's a beast through the neutral zone. As you see, he's a menace in the forecheck. You know, that's kind of... He gets most of his goals
[00:42:31] kind of in tight a little bit. But, you know, like he had the puck, you know, he had the game on a stick two games ago at the end of the third period and shot it right into... Who the fuck did we play two games ago? That was the Tampa game? The Tampa game, yeah. Shot it right... Was it Tampa? Yeah. Shot it right... Was it Tampa? I'm thinking about it now because we just played... No, Florida. It was Florida, yes. It was Florida. End of the third.
[00:43:02] Nico feeds him right in the slot. Team was walking right downhill and just kind of a pretty easy blocker save for Spencer Knight. Spencer Knight. But, like, you know, I feel like a sniper, like Nylander tonight, you know, fucking... Buried that. All right. Okay, fair enough. So that's kind of the distinction I think I'm trying to make between, like, the kind of shooting talent that we have. We have good shooters. We have guys, a couple of guys that could touch 40,
[00:43:32] but we don't have anyone, you know, that is a lock to get over 40, touch 50 every year. Or someone that can just, like, pick corners left and right. You know, Jack's a decent shooter, but he doesn't have, like, a rocket. Nico's a good shooter. You know, that power play goal he scored today. It's good. Brat can be a good shooter when he's feeling it. You know, Plot's not. And Dougie can be a great shooter, too, when he's healthy. Yeah, when he's healthy. Yeah, you know. But, like, look, you know, and Luke, you know, Luke hit the post in overtime.
[00:44:02] So this could have been a totally different conversation. Absolutely. And I think, you know, Luke, I'm not going to put a lot of blame on. You know, this is his second year. I mean, he's already improved leaps and bounds in just his second year. Like, the future of Luke Hughes on this team is... And I see a world where Luke Hughes is the backbone of this team well, well into the future. And, you know, as much as I... Like, in my weird head where I project
[00:44:32] what the Devils are going to look like, you know, seven, eight years, like, Jack might not be on the team, but Luke will be. Like, in my opinion, like, they will build around everything around Luke and Nico in the forward... You know, going forward as far as, like, those permanent pieces on the team where Jack is just amazing. And at some point, I worry that there's going to be a few franchises come free agency that are just going to throw a shitload of money at him and he might have to say, yeah, you know what? I have to go to Colorado or I have to go to Edmonton.
[00:45:02] And that makes me nervous because I don't ever want him to leave. But at the same time, when you're that good and you have... But for some reason, those two guys, I think, will get whatever the hell they want and be here for a super long time. Yeah. I mean, we still... We are still on the upswing. I'm kind of over my anger of the game, you know? And looking at standings right now, we're still third in the Eastern Conference by points percentage. Oh, no. I'm not worried about us at all. I'm not worried about making the playoffs.
[00:45:32] What I hope to see happen, and I think I said this the last time, is we're understanding what our issues are right now. And honestly, we're getting through a pretty rough time for this team. They still haven't... lost the game in regulation in the last four or five games. And everybody, every good team, if you notice, that have long playoff runs, most of those teams, I shouldn't have said every, but a lot of those teams fall into a little bit of a valley
[00:46:01] come, you know, game 40 to 60, you know? It's like, it's a long season. And that's kind of where we are right now. And you're getting close to getting over the holidays and you're kind of getting back into it, but you still have like the, you know, all-star break slash, you know, the fantasy four-way thing going on and whatever the fuck it's called. The four nations face off, you know, coming up and then the trade deadline coming up and stuff. And then after the trade deadline, those last, you know,
[00:46:31] 20 games, you see those teams really kick it up to get into playoff form. This is exactly what you just said. This is a good thing as far as looking at the totality of your team and identifying weaknesses and you give yourself plenty of time until March 7th where you might have, you know, you're going to look at a dozen different guys that you might think, hey, how are they going to work out? And this gives you plenty of time to filter out the ones and make the deal. And I think Tom Fitzgerald is going to make
[00:47:01] some big deals at the trade deadline. So the other thing that the other kind of because our schedule has been pretty weird this year, right? Yes. And looking at the top six teams in the Eastern Conference, we're now done with Toronto. We're done with Florida. We're done with Tampa. We're done with Washington. So we're done with four of those teams and the fifth team is Carolina. Are we done with Carolina or do we have one more? Yeah, no, we're done with Carolina. Four games, yeah.
[00:47:29] So the other top five teams in the Eastern Conference, we don't play them again for the rest of the season. Like, the rest of our schedule really kind of lengthens out. We don't have as many back-to-backs. We don't have as many kind of, you know, consecutive games against tough teams. We should really, really like ramp up. And I don't think we're going to get the president's trophy that Bobby still thinks. But, but I think we should,
[00:47:58] we should be able to dig ourselves out of this, figure out what our identity is, pick up the pieces at the trade deadline that we need and really be a force by the time the playoff comes around. I feel like you're, yeah, I feel like we have done nothing this first half of the season than play the top teams. Like, it seems like it's always Carolina, Florida, Tampa, you know, that's a fucking gauntlet. Yeah. Yeah. Like how many, how many weeks we walked in and be like, oh God, this could go really badly for us. You know,
[00:48:28] yeah, you're right. We do. And, you know, now it's like we haven't even played Boston yet. We haven't played the Flyers yet. We, I think only played the Islanders twice. I think we have two more against them. We have one more against the Rangers. We have, you know, a lot of the West Coast teams that haven't been to Arbonne yet. You know, we haven't seen Vegas yet. You know, you know, I'm, I'm really excited to see how we match up against a lot of these teams. Colorado. We only, they only came here. We didn't go out there yet. Did we? Oh,
[00:48:58] fuck. I don't remember. I don't remember either. Do we have one more kind of central-ish road trip to do where it's like St. Louis, Colorado, Dallas, maybe Nashville, like those, like those kind of. Yeah. Like we haven't been to Nashville. I don't think. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of, a lot of games, a lot of teams that we haven't seen yet. Have we gone to Winnipeg? Have we had our scheduled loss in Winnipeg yet? No, we played them once in our barn. We haven't gone up there yet. Yeah, we may, yeah, we may do that because I don't think
[00:49:27] we played in Minnesota yet. So we haven't played at all yet. Yeah. So we have a couple of those central teams that we still need to play and that's a bit of a gauntlet too. But in terms of the four-point games and the Eastern Conference, like we're done with them. Yeah. And we really should be able to build this up and I think this Four Nations, we only have four guys on our team going to Four Nations. That two-week break is going to be huge for the rest of the team. The only problem is one of our guys going is our fucking amazing
[00:49:56] starting goalie right now. Our number one center. Yeah, but is our amazing, I guess, is our amazing starting goalie going to be the starter though? I mean. I think the way he's playing he should be. Gustafson's kind of fallen off a little bit recently, but I don't know. And you know, there's also Olmark in there too. Who knows what, they may just, they may just rotate. Hala? Yeah, he's hurt. Oh yeah, he's hurt. He's hurt. We don't know if he's going to be playing. I doubt he'll play in it. I can keep him, man.
[00:50:26] Jesus Christ. Can we just send him to Finland? No, what's going to happen? This fucking guy, Hala, he's going to, he's had his nagging injuries every goddamn year. He's going to come back and he's scored like 10 goals in March and April. And we're going to be like, oh, he's going to light it up. If he plays, he'll light it up in the fantasy fuck four way. And then he'll won't do shit again when he comes back to New Jersey. It's like, he's the MVP. Fucking Finland won the fucking that's going to be the most frustrating thing. I, you know, I think this, I think this tournament is dumb and contrived
[00:50:56] that the way they're doing it, but I am excited to watch this, this iteration of Team USA play together. I am too. I like, I, I'm a big fan of international hockey. Like I, I enjoy, I enjoy this. I just hate that Jack Hughes has to share the ice with those mouth breathing Kachuk brothers. Go USA. I love it. All right. Well, before we finish up and we didn't even talk about the fucking Kachuk hit and stuff, but it's getting late. So did you want to talk about, um, Simone? Yeah,
[00:51:26] I wanted to end with that. So why don't you, uh, lay the story out to the, uh, audience and most of them are sure know exactly what we're talking about, but did some, maybe some discontent in Utica. Yeah. So I, and I think, you know, this whole, uh, a few things kind of came all together today is a little bit of a funny day. Um, but I guess there was an interview with a, a Slovak reporter, um, named Thomas Tomas Prokop. I think his name is, um,
[00:51:56] who basically, Tom, Tommy boy, he asked, uh, Nemich. He's like, Hey, you know, it's kind of like he, he's sort of Nemich's guy. I think he, he's primary, like one of the primary reporters in Slovakia, but he basically asked Nemich was like, do you foresee yourself, um, requesting a trade because of the log jam, um, in Utica in New Jersey? And Nemich said, no, not yet, but I do think, um, you know,
[00:52:25] I'm an NHL player and, you know, we'll see how that goes in the future. So this guy kind of, if it's like this, something, yeah, something akin to that, he didn't say, yes, I'm requesting a trade. Some people interpreted it like, yes, I'm requesting a trade. The Montreal Canadian fans are like fucking jackals that they are. They're already offering us Josh Anderson again for Simon Nemich, which those motherfuckers are some of the, there's some of the dumbest fucking people on the planet. Some of those fans, but
[00:52:56] so I'm of the personal opinion that we absolutely need to hang on to Simon Nemich, um, and let him, let him cook. And if we don't necessarily need the pieces that we need this season, I don't think what Nemich would fetch in a trade, um, we can a four or would even be really available because I've really did the type of person I see Nemich getting is like a Brady could chuck
[00:53:26] if the Ottawa senators were, we're doing terribly or, you know, if one of these, you know, Patterson or Miller are actually available. I think it's, there's a lot of smoke around that. That's not necessarily all that true. Um, I just, I don't like this chatter and I, and spitting chicklets actually put out a graphic, putting two of his quotes together in the opposite order. The, um, the other quote was, is like, there aren't a lot of second overall picks that are,
[00:53:55] that are still in the AHL, which is true, but there's a, there's a log jam there. The other news that came out to, to compound this issue was, uh, the news that, um, and this has already been kind of reported. It's just sort of being reiterated that Tom Fitzgerald is now talking to Koba Savage's agent about, um, an extension for, for him, which will further delay. In the case, Shimon Nemitz's rise into the New Jersey Devils.
[00:54:25] And it does kind of, for all intents and purposes, seem like he's stuck there. And in, in, in, unless there's an injury, he's stuck there. Um, this is not going to end well. And I mean, for all of our years that we've followed sports and you know, this is how it starts. He's already disgruntled. He already mentioned that there's
[00:54:54] not many second round picks that are playing in the NHL. I don't know if he's disgruntled though. So that's the thing about this interview is it was written. So we don't know what his tone was. We don't know how quickly he responded and was, and was like, no, no, no, I'm not requesting a trade yet. Right. But that's, we don't know, but he, he made it clear. He was like, I think I'm an NHL player. And I like that confidence in him. I do too, but we have to be realistic.
[00:55:24] How is Shimon Nemitz cracking this lineup in the next three years? How many full seasons has Dougie Hamilton played for us? Okay. I'm not talking about injury. You're right. Of course, anybody can get injured. There's one, there's six guys that could possibly go down and open up a spot at any given moment for him. I'm completely agree with you, but if you're looking at a healthy team and Kovacevic gets an extension, I just, and Seamus Casey's still down in the
[00:55:53] wings and silly of still in, you know, down there, where does Shimon Nemitz fit in this team? I like Shimon Nemitz. I want to see Shimon Nemitz on with the big club. I mean, the kid had five points last night. He's starting to come into his own. He was more highly touted than Luke Hughes. It would be a mistake to trade Shimon Nemitz unless it was for somebody like you just said. I mean,
[00:56:21] if it is a big fucking name, then yeah, maybe you have to make that move, but I just see this ending badly because I honestly don't see what Tom Fitzgerald can say to him to just kind of put his mind at ease that, yeah, you're next in line, man. You're going to be up here. Just continue working at some point. If he keeps on producing the way he's been the last couple of weeks down there, what do you need me to work on? That's all you want me to work on.
[00:56:51] You want me to get eight points in a night? Like where, at what point am I, can I, am I good enough? Am I, you know, and that's what it's going to come down to. And I don't know what Fitz can say to him to make him at ease where eventually I do think it does come out. You know what? I need to get out of here because his agent is probably going to try and force somebody's hand soon because there's not many second round picks that are sitting in the AHL that are
[00:57:20] producing that aren't busts, not second round number two overall. I mean, this kid is, I get it. I just, um, I don't see anything wrong. We own his ass. Like we don't have to fucking train him anywhere. Yeah. Yeah. But you don't want that in the dressing. So many times when a player finally comes out and says, I want out 90% of the time they get shipped out. Yeah. That's, that's my only thing.
[00:57:50] But again, we don't have to, and if he wants to devalue himself, um, you know, that, that he doesn't give a shit what comes back in return, as long as he's going to get a chance to play. Yeah. I kind of said that wrong. If he wants to appear to have an attitude issue that nobody wants to get, you know, whatever. I think that's, I, I think what we should do. Um,
[00:58:19] and I hate to say this, but I think we should let go of a savage walk in, in free agency. And, and this, this will still play out over the next couple of months. You know, I don't see either of them in this situation necessarily needing to be, dealt with now. Um, I realized there's that, there's a sort of trade deadline there that, that is a bit of a, a,
[00:58:45] a kind of a demarcation point because there is a third option where if Nemech keeps putting up five points a night, then there is a third option where, okay, he's ready. We can, we can actually trade Kovacevich at the deadline and bring in the, the kind of assets that we need. And Kovacevich will be a fucking incredible, like piece that people would love and slide Nemech into the spot.
[00:59:13] That is a ballsy move. Yes, I agree. That's insane. Ballsy fucking move. That's the kind of move that if it blows up in Fitzgerald's face, uh, that's a fireable, that's a fireable offense. I agree. Fucking fired. Yeah, I agree. I, I, you know, like, you're right. Segenthaler makes 3.4 million through 27, 28. Right. Right. And I think Kovacevich is probably going to be around there, maybe pushing for, you know,
[00:59:43] tack on a little inflation. I think he's earned that kind of deal. Plus being a right shot, which is a pretty, pretty valuable commodity. So if you sign Kovacevich to three more years through 27, 28, yeah, that's a roadblock. Yeah. But then I think honestly with the way, if Dougie shooting percentage doesn't get any better and the way he's playing right now, Dougie's 10 team, no trade clause kicks in next year.
[01:00:08] And that seems like more of the natural place for Nemech to replace Dougie. Luke takes power play one and you keep Kovacevich and Seenthal together. I hate to say that. I love Dougie. I will defend the fucking wall for Dougie. I know he gets a raft of shit from our fan base. Fuck all of you. You don't know what you're talking about, but I love, I love Dougie, but that is kind of the natural thing. Then we also have $9 million to play with on top of that.
[01:00:37] That can just go to Luke's extension. And then all of our salary cap can be spent on filling the holes that we probably need. That is the most reasonable, in my opinion, way to go as far as keeping Simone Nemech in, you know, in this organization. And then you can just tell him, look, you know, next year you're going to get, you know, you're not going to be down there for the whole year. One way or another, if that is like something that's in the back of the head, like, okay, no 10 team, no trade clause kicks in.
[01:01:07] We dumped that 9 million. We replaced him with Nemech. Hey, why not? I had no problem with that. Nemech will be up for the playoffs. He'll be, he'll be a black case on the playoff roster. He, he will be, he will be up there. Um, and like I said, like, you know, knock on wood, one of these guys could get hurt tomorrow. Right. You never know. My whole thing is when you're 20, whatever years old, 21 years old, like he is, uh,
[01:01:37] you, in my opinion, you haven't earned your right to start saying shit like that. That's the one thing. And you're right. We don't know how the context that was taken in. And it was probably somewhere in the translation. It got fucked up to, you know, us all of a sudden being like, all right, he's disgruntled where he could have just been like, no, I'm not at that point yet. No. You know, I mean, if things stay like this forever, I mean, yeah, sure. I'm here five years, you know, it could have been how he meant it.
[01:02:07] so yeah, I think we're looking way too much into this. I, I, I took it, I took it differently than a lot of people did. And if you ever watch, um, a lot of European soccer players kind of have a, have a sort of frankness and stupid sport. I understand that. I'm not following this. Whatever. I've read other people justify it. And I've heard people. I want to think is that there's a certain frankness about the back and forth between soccer reporters. There's less rah,
[01:02:37] rah team. And a little bit more like, like, yes, this is what I want to do individually type of thing. Okay. Um, and I took it as, as yeah, I'm aware of the situation. I think I should be in the NHL because I have confidence and I'm good, but I understand the situation and I'm not asking for a trade. No, I'm not, not doing that yet. I'm with you. I mean, until we hear him say, I want out of here, then, you know, yeah, there's, there's a certain,
[01:03:06] there's a certain objectiveness about the way he answered it. Kind of almost like he was talking to the third person, like, like, yes, this guy is blocked right now. I understand that. And, but he still needs to go. He's had a 10 game good run. Like he, he, he looked like objective, like, like he looked fucking like shit at the beginning of this year. Now I think we're starting to understand that, that, that was probably kind of due to that, that injury in the Olympic qualifier.
[01:03:34] He was also playing on his offside with another rookie and they were just getting absolutely fucking buried. I don't know. It's a very difficult decision. This is why we are fan podcasters and not general managers of pocket. Cause no, this all up. You know, it it's so, so much easier when you really do just deplete the coffers to the point where you have nothing down in the minors and you can just, you know, refill.
[01:04:03] But when you have a loaded futures, like we do, it does make things difficult. And, you know, at some point, those older guys are going to be moved off of, and it is going to be mostly on defense. Like I want to see a world where Cillia, Hughes, Nemich and Casey are, you know, that's our top four. That's our top four. Like, that's what I want. I want to see a world where that happens. And that's, that's the balance, you know, that being a general manager needs to do, you know,
[01:04:32] his job fits got us to a good point where we are in our competitive window, right? He needs to put us over the top each year, but I think we're, we're seeing teams now, not necessarily fully mortgage their future and, and kind of needing to stay in sort of a perpetual window and doing so, you know, with that decor, you know, right now we have, we have the really high end forwards with Nico and Jack and Brad and, you know, and Timo. And that's,
[01:05:01] that's really a driving force. Now we have a really good defense, but that defense is definitely going to turn over. Dougie's going to age out of this deal unless he's suddenly, unless he suddenly figures out how to start scoring goals again. You know, because that is really making him barely a net positive these days. Yeah. Yeah. It's a very good, it's going to be very interesting to follow over the course of the next year and what Tom Fitzgerald decides to do in the next six weeks is going to be
[01:05:29] extremely exciting and going to be a lot of fun to watch because there are a whole lot of, not a whole lot, the entire Eastern conference right now is basically in a playoff spot, which is insane. So you have, it's really fucking crazy. So you have, what, like, is it eight? What is it? Like a 10 teams now that are going to be buying for two spots, essentially. Like, so, you know,
[01:05:57] and it depends on kind of like right now looking at this, right? Columbus, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, Detroit are all 46 to 50 points, right? mostly 44 to 46 games played kind of in that, that low to mid 500% winning percentage. The Rangers aren't directly at 500. Um, they're the Rangers are barely, barely keeping it together. Although the rest of the four flyers, penguins, Allen is Buffalo. I think write those guys off.
[01:06:27] So that's, yeah, go ahead. No, I was just going to say, yeah, everybody though, you know, the problem with when it is this jumbled is, is everybody going to be a buyer? Does everybody think they can make it in and do some damage? And it's like, you know, is that going to devalue some of the bigger guys out there, make them more difficult to get? Um, that's something that's going to be kind of interesting to watch over the next couple of weeks to see what teams really decide. You know what? We're not, um,
[01:06:57] we're not, you know, going to make, even if we did make the playoffs, you know, we can't go and sell off. Like you said, our future right now, the Rangers are losing to the Utah hockey club at the end of the second, two to three. They'd see it. Poor guy. The there are two. So Detroit's been on a tear recently. They're yes, too. Right. Yeah. Montreal has been on a tear and Columbus has been on a tear. Ottawa's kind of a little middling in Boston. Boston, I think is starting to fall. They're hitting rock bottom. Um,
[01:07:26] Detroit's power play from what I read somewhere was like clicking at almost 50%. Yeah. They've been playing really well under Tom McClellan. And they have more power play goals in this winning streak than like a few teams, including the Islanders too, in the entire season. The Islanders have a, what's 11? They're so bad. Power play goals. Or 17. It's something like that. The, the, the Red Wings have 17. I think the Islanders have 11, 11 power play goal. They're, they're special teams.
[01:07:56] The Islanders special teams are historically bad. You want to hear a crazy stat? And then we're going to wrap it up because it's already getting late. The New York Islanders have 11 power play goals. Sam Reinhardt has five shorthanded goals. Now that's just crazy to me. I have actually a funnier step than I saw yesterday. That happened yesterday. The Buffalo Sabres are the first team in the era of keeping track of shots.
[01:08:27] So I think it was at 1959, 1960 to score a goal in a period without registering an actual shot. I saw that. I saw that with the Ryan McLeod. Ryan McLeod. Getting his, it's an empty net and he's getting his stick shattered. Somebody was like, I don't, I don't remember who the defenseman was, but you're not, you're not getting that. You're not getting, getting me a fucking negative on this. No. Brent Burns went full fucking caveman on him.
[01:08:56] So yeah, we're going to wrap this thing up. This was a fun, fun show. I liked talking about a lot of the trades and stuff. And also now we are officially going to have all the, this stuff posted up on our YouTube channel. So if you didn't want to actually watch this, please hit the subscribe button. And if you're interested in getting a sticker that looks exactly like our logo there, you know, you can find that on the uncle puckers.com, go to the contact info and we will send that out to you free of charge. Just like the one that Mr.
[01:09:26] Tim has there. And wherever you are listening to us or watching us alike, a five-star review, positive comment, keep this nice fun community of devil fans together. Cause you know what? Everything around the outside world sucks. So it's nice that we have this one little thing of, that we can all find joy in our lives, even though we find it extremely frustrating on nights like tonight. So we appreciate extremely.
[01:09:54] We appreciate you guys hanging out with us for Tim. I'm Chris. We are the uncle puckers and we'll see you when we see you. See you guys. Fuck you. I'm going to be fell cat. Yeah. Thank you. Bye.