Draft Lottery, 2nd Rd Action & More

[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 NJD Podcast. Let's go Devils! Hello everybody, welcome to the Uncle Pucker NJD Podcast, Devil fans. I'm Chris, along with Tim Wood and Bobby Tuhati, Pennsylvania.

[00:00:33] How is everybody doing today? You guys feeling good? It's a beautiful day. Playoff hockey's in full swing. It's great, isn't it? And we get a big social media post from the Devils talking about how great it's going to be to be in the draft lottery. I don't think they quite understand their priorities here, but you know, we're excited to possibly go up to number two, right? Yeah, I mean that's why we're here, so we wanted to kind of do this thing live.

[00:00:58] So, alright, we have seven minutes, well nine minutes until the lottery kicks off. I'm sure they're going to do all kinds of good shows. Yeah, there's all kinds of pomp and circumstance beforehand. Show fucking McKenna and Stenberg highlights and stuff like that. So my question to you is, out of all the teams eligible to get the number one pick, who do you want to see get it least? Who will piss you off if they get it? You can get more than one answer. The New York Rangers.

[00:01:27] And is there anyone else? No. The New York Rangers. Put them in twice or three times. That would be the worst. Yeah, if... There's two for me. So the Rangers most definitely, and the other ones the Florida Panthers. Like, if you just stumble, not make the playoffs because of injuries and everything else, and you end up getting the fucking number one pick, like... After back-to-back championships? Yeah, exactly. That would really be unfair. How are you guys doing?

[00:01:55] It's going to be interesting with how, you know, the Islanders moved up like 10 spots or something crazy last year. Yeah, they'd moved up 10. I'd be surprised if something similar happened. So I wouldn't be surprised if stuff just kind of stayed the way it is. There's some weird stipulations. So let me read you something that I just stumbled across on the old Twitter box. Um, that's about Toronto's pick. It's really weird.

[00:02:24] I want to talk about Toronto in general at some point tonight. Dude, they're in, they're in one with this GM hire. I'm not sure if you saw this shit. I'll saw it all, and I am still trying to process exactly why these things happened. And I have whoever that reporter was that asked that question. Um, I don't know if you, you saw the whole thing, right? Yeah, it's Steve, Steve, it's Steve Simmons. He's from the sun. He's a big piece of shit.

[00:02:53] Well, I mean, he gets up there, Bob. I don't know if you saw this and he says, you know, I, and I'm paraphrasing, but the gist of it was, you know, I spoke over the last three times. I've been in the last three days with 20 higher ups in the NHL people that if I mentioned their names, you would know who they are. Okay. Not 19 out of 20 think that this is a horrible idea.

[00:03:22] Uh, you know, and just fucking like, I appreciate any reporter. The weird part, the weird part though. It was what? Sorry. The weird part is he asked Pelly this question and check it was sitting right next to him. So he's asking Rob Pelly is like, why did you hire this fucking con man? Liar. Think I see right next to him. And they both just sit there with like plastic smiles on their faces. Like what?

[00:03:48] And, and like when you're sitting here having a cut, so they were asked to like, okay, so Matt Sundin is brought in, which apparently Matt Sundin had no idea he was actually going to be management. Like I, it seems to me like he thought this was like a ceremonial position. And then he got a contract and it was like some made up, uh, job title that he had, which essentially is like assistant GM or, you know, whatever. Senior advisor of operations. Sure.

[00:04:15] So when they were asked, well, if, uh, John, what's his name? Chikra, whatever. Yeah. Whatever chakra, whatever. I don't know. Whatever. Whoever he is. So they asked Chaka Khan. Um, well, they asked, I think it was, uh, Keith, whatever. Fuck his name is. Keith. Yeah. Keith Pelley. They asked him like, if a decision is going to be made by Chaka Khan, but Matt Sundin doesn't agree with it, what happens?

[00:04:44] And they go, they don't do it then. So who's in charge of this team other than Keith Pelley. Apparently it's such a disaster, man. Like what they're just off on all the wrong feet. Like, you know, look for their sake, hopefully like this guy's kind of learned the error of his ways. I guess a lot of the issues that he had was that when he first got hired, he was 26 and tried way too hard to prove that he belonged there.

[00:05:15] But it was seen and felt, and he came off as kind of arrogant and smarter than everybody or thought he was smarter than everybody. And he's obviously probably a very bright person, you know, and he's, he's well off. Um, you know, I guess he, uh, Yeah, he loves talking about how much money his staff lead or whatever fucking website is. Well, hundreds of millions of dollars a year. But he's also, I think the largest Wendy's franchisee in, uh, in Canada. Okay. And Brad tree living.

[00:05:45] I love it. I didn't realize cheese. Tree living's dad founded Boston pizza, which is like the biggest pizza chain in Canada. Actually, Boston's is from, uh, they're there. They are big in Canada, but they're, they're from the United States actually. Um, yeah, Boston pizza is headquarters there. So Boston pizza is headquartered in Texas and most of their restaurants are in Canada. And we had one in Tom's river and it is no longer open.

[00:06:15] Oh yeah. Yeah. We have my buddy owned it. Of all of the, these cities that you could attach to pizza to, to imply it's quality pizza. Boston isn't really at the top of that list. No, that's right. Okay. And the thing is my, my, my friend who opened it, um, he had the opportunity to open any franchise he wanted there.

[00:06:39] Like originally, like it was supposed to be a Buffalo wild wing and all of a sudden he came into my pizzeria and he's like, check out what we're going with. And it was Boston gourmet pizza and grill or whatever. The food was so fricking bad. Bobby, you've eaten there, right? You've been there. Boston's is it? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Oh, it's the same place. That's it. Yeah. It's definitely the same place. Oh, it's definitely the same place. The corner of death for businesses, but yeah. Well, not anymore. They're open.

[00:07:08] They're turning it into that whole area, turning into like big sport complex. Yeah. I saw that. They're going to have driving range. I think like a shooting gallery and bars and restaurants and stuff. I don't know. So shooting gallery can line up people you don't like. Yeah. Should be open about nine, 10 years. Oh, that'll go. That'll go over great in town. Sure. Yeah. Right. But like, I just, I'm watching this press conference and I'm just like, first of all, like, yeah, Tim, you're right.

[00:07:33] I, he did, I think, try way too hard in Arizona, but like, if you're going to try really hard in Arizona, like with a team, like you do it in Arizona, right? Like it's, it is the, it makes New Jersey sport market look huge. You know, I'm not talking about New York media. I'm talking about just Jersey, right? Like it's Arizona. Then you step in, you get in all kinds of shit. And then you take this job.

[00:07:57] Like the most unforgiving, thankless job in professional sports has got to be general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah. And yeah. So like, I don't know. I think I, I'm hoping he's a dipshit. Maybe we can fucking please them for like, you know, no Austin Matthews and stole ours for, I don't know. So the Boston pizza thing. So I guess tree livings dad founded Boston pizza. Okay. It's a connection. They went from pizza boy to Wendy's boy. Good for him. Okay.

[00:08:27] So there's some confusion going on with Toronto's actual pick today because it's not their pick, right? Isn't it? Not necessarily. It's, it's top five protected. I believe. Okay. So according. So, but then this is another layer, but it may not be Boston's pick because flat, the flyers have supposedly a claim on this now too. So listen to this. And this is from Kevin curse.

[00:08:55] Who's a long time NHL reporter for the, for the flyers. I believe reminder for tonight's draft lottery. According to multiple team sources, the flyers believe that if Toronto ends up in the top five, they get the 2027 first rounder, which is originally property of the Maple Leafs unprotected and not top 10 protected. They believe that Toronto essentially already traded its 2028 first round pick in the brand.

[00:09:24] Don Carlo deal in that situation. So they're saying that this, the conditions of Toronto trading the first round pick for Brandon Carlo have already sat been satisfied and they have the 2028 pick. So this is next year's pick. So this is next year's pick. Like this is, this evolves next year's pick because of its slides. So, but they're also not completely sure if the league agrees with them. If Toronto ends up outside the top five tonight, the point is move. Right.

[00:09:53] Um, otherwise except the flyers has to lead to clarify. And then Chris Johnson is another NHL reporter was like further this. It sounds like there's a good chance the NHL would rule in Philadelphia's favorite. This scenario plays out. Meaning if Toronto retains its 2026 first after tonight's lottery, expect 2027 first to go to flyers in 2028 to the Bruins both unprotected. So the, basically the Leafs wouldn't have a first next year or the year after.

[00:10:20] So the only way that Toronto gets a pick this year is if their lottery gets them in the top five. Correct. Okay. Otherwise it goes to the flyers. I thought it was Boston, but one of them. It's very confusing. I'm not, I didn't even know the flyers were involved in this fucking quagmire here. I didn't either. Imagine walking into that absolute shit show. Like what a, what a mess. So, so two things. Like we, we think, we think the devils are bad. Sorry about that. Yeah.

[00:10:48] We think the devils are bad, but like Toronto is a disaster. Yeah, they are. That's one of my two things. So first there, there's a lot of, they believe we believe situation. Shouldn't somebody simply in the NHL say, this is exactly what's going to happen. Not you believe, or you're entitled. Like I don't understand why there's not a hundred percent clarity on that. Well, all trades and compensation have to be approved by the league office. How is there, how is this confusing? Like somebody dropped a map. This is exactly what's going to happen. Yeah. There, there, there, yes.

[00:11:15] There should be paperwork that leads back to if this happens, that's the, that's true. And if that happens, that's true. I agree. The teams might have not have a full understanding of how these things are. But also there, there is, it's weird how sometimes there are paperwork issues. Like Dadnov was involved in paperwork issues that lost Ottawa their first round pick this year. I think.

[00:11:40] I think it was either this year or last year where remember the new Ottawa owner came in and was like, I had nothing to fucking do with that. Like, and now you're penalizing me with a first round pick. That was because that was, that was a data. That was a data. That was a data off trade because like they didn't disclose his, his no trade list or something. That's right. And trading him to a team on his no trade list. That guy just brings bad juju to every team. Doesn't he? Everywhere, man. Oh God. So is it on now, Tim? What time is it? Are they, are they out there talking?

[00:12:10] Oh, the other fucking thing that happened today. One of my, one of the biggest, uh, yeah, seven o'clock means seven o'clock ESPN. Is it on ESPN or an NHL network? It's on, I have, I only have ESPN plus out here cause I'm not connected to my cable. So I do it through my Roku box. I, um, I'll tell you this though. I, by watching all these playoff games and they're, they, I've watched other than the late

[00:12:39] games, I've pretty much watched all of them. Mm-hmm and the one thing that I gleaned out of watching this playoff as a, you know, dealing with the devil's part of it is more than ever. Jacob Markstrom has to go like, we are going nowhere. I don't give a shit what they do without goaltending. We're not going anywhere. Montreal won that fucking serious, serious because of Dovech.

[00:13:07] Like that's nine shots on goal and they still fucking won the game. Like that's what we need. I'm not saying we need it, but we have to improve in that position. Markstrom is not the answer. We've got to figure something out there. I'll tell you what I like first is that it's, this is like a refreshing playoff. There's a couple of teams in there that are new that have moved around. You know what I mean? Let me turn the volume down a little bit on the TV. Sorry. Go ahead. But what's that Bobby? I'm sorry.

[00:13:36] There's some new teams that are in there. That was exciting to see that have moved on. It's just nice to see new teams moving. I mean, some big, some big guns been knocked out already. We like Dallas and Edmonton, Tampa Bay. This is actually a very cute bit. Montreal move up. Buffalo move up. Anaheim move up. Who am I missing? Minnesota. You know, these are great stories and it's just fun to watch different teams. And just to know we're going to get a different final, let alone a different champion. I know. You know, that's been really exciting. And again, I'm, I'm still impressed too.

[00:14:05] Like you said that just that level, look at like Bladar and the flyers, just looking like the saves he's making. It's just like, this guy wasn't world-class come into. He's having a good year, but it's like, this shit's just phenomenal. And then me, my biggest takeaway though, after all this is I am getting oddly more and more mad about not getting Quinn Hughes. It's dear Lord, man. Like it is going to be, I think the albatross that is going to be around this team until

[00:14:35] they make a long playoff run, the devils and definitely around Tom Fitzgerald's neck from here on out. Like there was no reason for that trade not to happen. And for whatever reason he managed to fuck it up and look at him now. I mean, the guy, could you imagine him on this team? Rock star dude. Like playing with his brothers. I mean, he's out playing my car. He's just, he's just top. He's a top dog right now. He's a top dog. Crazy. I don't think they get out of this series because I just think for some reason it is

[00:15:04] destined to be Colorado Carolina. Cause like those, they're just, I would love to see Buffalo breakthrough. I'd love to see the wild breakthrough, even Vegas or Anaheim. I'd love to see breakthrough Montreal, but I just, I'm watched those two teams and there's just, everyone is playing at such a high level. And then there's just a little bit better than everybody else. I just got Minnesota is my dark horse pick, you know, that, that team that could kind of thing and, and get through. Do I honestly think they're going to be Colorado?

[00:15:31] No, I don't, but this is kind of who I'm rooting for at this level. Wouldn't a Buffalo Minnesota final be fucking amazing to watch two teams that have never won a Stanley cup. That would mean that Carolina doesn't go any further. So yes, Buffalo can beat Carolina. I think Buffalo can beat them. We'll see. I got a question for you too. I just talking, you know, a lot of hockey with different hockey dads like this last week and stuff.

[00:15:58] And they all kind of came to a general consensus about Colorado. Cause they were saying, yeah, you know, the West is soft. This and that. I'm like, what do you think about Colorado? You don't think they can do it. They basically said Colorado is great because of the West and pretty much whoever gets in from the East can beat them. I think I disagree. You have a take, but I just curious what you guys think of that. Not at all. I think they're the best team. I mean, look, they won the president's trophy.

[00:16:25] It's essentially the same team with the exception of a few pieces that won a Stanley cup three years ago, four years ago, whatever it was. They're a battleship fucking team. They've been for the last five or six years. Like, I don't think it has anything to do with being in the West or I think they could beat anybody. I really do now. You know, the, yes, I think the stronger teams are in the East, but as a whole, yeah, the East has better teams, but the elite teams in the West are fucking elite.

[00:16:55] The Vegas is the Dallas is the Colorado's they're all. And if for Tim answers your second part of this, who do you think would give them the biggest fits from the East? Who would give them the biggest challenge? Carolina. Yeah. Carolina and Buffalo. I think. How about you, Tim? Tim, you're muted or something. Sorry.

[00:17:21] I just ate a couple of tums and was like chewing really hard on them. Okay. I don't know, man. Carolina, they're six and oh, they look fucking unstoppable. I work with a Flyers fan and he's just like, I just saw them this morning. It was like, welcome to fucking Carolina playoffs. Man. It's like, you think you're playing great. You're winning. It's two, nothing. You're fucking cruising along. Like, this is awesome. We're going to finally be Carolina. You'd be who? Then suddenly it's two, two.

[00:17:50] Then you lose an overtime. You don't know what the fuck just happened. I mean, it took two games. They did not have the lead. They just relentlessly, relentlessly fucking come after you and come after you and come after you. But however, getting back to the Colorado thing. I mean, the NHL schedule isn't totally like, like weighted. So they play, everybody plays everybody. Yeah. And you know, it's not. And the only thing that they play more of is the teams in their division, which includes Minnesota and Dallas.

[00:18:20] So I don't know if that's, that's totally true. Like that. Like we played, I think the Western teams as much as they did. Like the Pacific was dog shit. Um, the Atlantic was really good and the Metro was really good and the central was good. So like, well, actually the Metro wasn't even that good. But, um, I, I do think the standings with the way they shook out, I think like the top like 10 or 12 teams, like only three of them were those three teams from the central and, and everything right below that.

[00:18:49] But they don't like, they might have an easier path. Maybe that's kind of the language that they were, they're talking about, but they still had to go through one of Minnesota or, or Dallas. They, you know, there's no way around that. And now Anaheim, like they're picking up steam. Like that is not a joke of a fucking team. Leo Carson's probably been the best forward in the fucking playoffs. And you look at all the teams that have moved forward and they all have way above average goaltending and the teams that are out.

[00:19:17] A lot of it is, yes, there are weaknesses and things, but goaltending is a big reason why Pittsburgh and Edmonton and you know, all those teams are out because they're guys like that would have been us. If we got in, that would have been us. I do think Markstrom in him and not saying he has a capability anymore, but as recently as the Olympics has shown an ability to elevate his game when it matters. I do. I do think that that is true.

[00:19:48] He also has shown an ability to absolutely shit the bed when it matters. So, you know, there, there's that. So I, I, I agree with you. So in that vein, I did come up with a question for you guys. Yes. What are three non-negotiables for the devils to accomplish this off season? Non-negotiables, three of them. It could be signing, resigning a specific player, cutting a specific, getting rid of a specific player, bringing in a certain type of position. We're not concerned about reshaping something.

[00:20:17] The reality of what it takes to get it. We don't care. It's just, these are the three things I want. These are the three things I want. And, and I obviously since they're non-negotiables, they should be within the realm of possibility. Well, to me, I like, like trade trading for Austin Matthews or Conor McDavid, probably not going to happen. Gotcha. So, so I wouldn't say that would be a non-negotiable.

[00:20:39] Like for me, it's, it's, unless you have something up your sleeve to improve this team by getting rid of Nico Heischer, which I don't think it's sign Nico Heischer's number one. Extend him number one. It's got to get done. The second thing is you've got to figure out how you're getting out of this Markstrom extension and shoring up the net.

[00:21:03] We can't go into another fucking year with our two 40 year old goaltenders and expect to make a strong, a deep Stanley Cup run. It just, it's not going to happen. Um, that would be number two, number three, Bob, you want to take a couple while I think of my third? Um, first of all, Nico's got another year, right? Like, yes. Yeah. You just don't want to negotiate during the year.

[00:21:32] He's eligible for extension July. Yeah. And, and the longer, the longer kind of goes without him having a contract, a, the louder it gets, but also the less value that you would potentially get back in a trade. And if he's not signed while the season starts, and if he does say once training camp kicks in, like we're not negotiating right now during the season, we'll talk at the end of the year. Chances are, he's going to end up getting traded then because I'm not going to let him walk out.

[00:22:02] I'm not going to use that one. Cause I just think that's so much of a no brainer. If it goes the other way, I'm just going to stop podcasting and stop being a, every time you say that the shit you say happens. So don't fucking say that when it comes to Nico. Well, God damn it. Um, I'm going back to my roots and old school and I don't care that it was a different error with a different team and a different goalie. I want a new goalie. That's my first non-negotiable. This team doesn't go anywhere without a new goalie.

[00:22:29] I don't care that there is a chance that marks from returns to form. Even that return to form, as we discussed will still be two years later than the last time he was at that form. I don't want it anymore. Maybe a goaltender is not going to win us a shitload of more regular season games. Maybe only factors into a few that he actually stole quote unquote. Right. I want that security and goal for the year that I expect the devils to have. Number two, absolutely need somebody.

[00:22:58] I want to score on Jack's wing and more importantly, who can score when Jack is in there. So I want a sniper of some kind. And then number three. I want Gritzuk signed. Okay. I want him signed a good, a good five years plus right now while you can do that for a little bit less. All right. So they've drawn two ping pong balls and the Rangers have jumped up. And the devils have fallen.

[00:23:27] But Vancouver still is the best overall. So I kind of agree with all of you. I wasn't going to go individual person specific. I do agree with the goaltending. I think that that needs to be fixed. Like, and we talked about this last episode, unfortunately, because Wallsted gave up fucking nine goals last game. Gustafson's apparently coming back in. So hopefully that that isn't just a short lived dream.

[00:23:54] But fixing it somehow, like you mentioned Vladar, like they, like he was Markstrom's backup. Like, you don't know who is actually available. Like, like I was listening to the devils insiders podcast. They went through a whole bunch of guys, but it's like every time Florida signs somebody here, like, what does Florida know over the last couple years? Remember, you know, like we've talked about that. Like, even though they signed Vitek Vanacek. No thanks on that.

[00:24:24] But like Tarasov, like, is that a I think he might be a UFA. Like, is he a guy that you could kick $2 million to and sign off the scrap heap and buy out Markstrom? Who was that? We also talked about Tarasov. Okay. But it's. Hang on. So, yeah, I mean, the, the, the goaltending thing with what we were talking about Gustafson, and I guess if he's coming in, who the hell knows, but maybe one of the things that I'm going to do. One of those guys is available.

[00:24:53] I still think, you know, that there's a move to be made for Connor Hollebuck if he really wants out. Um, and then, yeah, there are a few guys. I mean, there really are, but there were guys available and it's just Markstrom extension. I understand why we traded for him. I cannot wrap my head around why this guy was extended so fucking soon. We'd have a clean goalie room moving into. Yeah, it's just fucking so dumb.

[00:25:20] Um, but the other room I'd look at, you know, and I'm going to actually write a blog about this. I've been kind of struggling with what blog I wanted to write, but looking at goalie situations around the league and who could potentially fall out. Um, so I think, you know, the main guys that I've thought of just off the top of my head, a would be a Buffalo because they have lying and, and, and, and Pekka Lukonen.

[00:25:45] Um, and Pekka Lukonen is getting signed paid like number one guy and lines. Not lying could be a great, great stopgap guy until Malik is matured and you go or I'll come here. That's what I would like to see is a guy that can step in for a couple of years until big Mike is ready. Yeah. Unless, unless we're going to trade you go off for somebody that's already established. Yeah. Another guy we've talked about is still Lars.

[00:26:12] Um, in Toronto, Toronto decides to blow it up. They have Joe wall. I think he should probably be there. Number one moving forward, bring still Lars home. Talked about gossip. And Detroit, I don't know what they're going to do because they have two of the best goalie prospects in the league in like sitting in the minors and they have two goalies there already. Um, so I don't know what Talbot. Like, I don't know. Yeah. Both of those guys are super fucking old. Yeah. Um, so I don't know if I'm going to fuck this up even more and like, is willing to trade.

[00:26:42] One of COSA or, um, you know, there's also Alex Nadelkovich who's in San Jose, I think, who is ask Carl's backup and San Jose just drafted this kid Ravensburger. I think. Hang on. They're doing the, they're doing the last ball. I think to see who gets number one. All right. So the number one pick in this year's lot of draft NHL draft is. Fuck the Rangers have the second best odds. This is so awkward.

[00:27:11] Oh, fucking Bouchergross, by the way, today posted a picture of the draft lottery thing. And it was presented by Chase. Here comes the ball. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Get the fuck out of here. Rangers got it. Toronto. Oh my God. Yeah, maybe you'll be able to do some trades.

[00:27:44] Well, yeah. I mean, I don't know. That doesn't bother me at all. That doesn't scare me. For a long time, that franchise is just a disaster. Right. At least it's not the Rangers. So. Well, who. Yeah, where do we ultimately fall? We don't know that yet. Oh, remember you were, we were talking about who's running Toronto. Matt Sundin was the guy representing Toronto at the draft, by the way, not Chica. So who, what's the top five? I don't know. They're interviewing Sundin right now.

[00:28:14] All right. So we know. I love it. Steven Engel rigged. Fucking rigged. Yes. So. So John Buccigrass posted a picture of like ESPN draft lottery presented by Chase with the New York Rangers logo on it. Of course. He's like, he's the guy in the room right there posting it. And it's just like, he stole the graphic from the Rangers and used it. But it's like, you stupid fucking asshole. Like this month, that motherfucker should not have a job, by the way, in hockey, because

[00:28:43] he's already fucking had to pay money, pay people off for sexual harassment. But scumbag. You know, there was a time when those sort of things would ruin your life. Yeah. Yeah. Like now it's just like, okay, I'm going to go. It's like, hey, you could go play goalie for Vegas. A few hundred grand a year. And yeah. Fuck off. Yeah. I think he makes more than that. They don't have any other. I'm looking online. I can't find any of the order or anything yet. So. Sorry.

[00:29:13] So we know that Toronto definitely has the number one pick. Yes. Poor Vancouver, by the way. So where did they move? Like where they moved to? I can't. I don't know. They're interviewing Sandin. I don't know if they like redo the lottery polls for number two. I think that they usually, usually just they pull them like the top five. Cause I remember when we did it, which with the Connor Bedard one, it was like, they took

[00:29:41] they, they, they, they changed the way they do it though. Oh, okay. Now they, now like everybody gets a certain number of ball combinations and those ball combinations like. Right. You hit on one of those ball combinations, then, then it's yours. Yeah. Um, yeah. Where were we originally picking? Was it like 12th? I think we were 12th. So are we in the spot where we can get worse or we're protected being that low, but we can

[00:30:11] only get that any lower than 12, but we can get as high as two. So you can move up 10 spots. Right. But if you're in the top 10 or 11 or whatever it is, like you could like, wasn't it, this is a deep class from my herd. Yeah. But wasn't there somebody who like last year, I think that was like favored number one and they ended up like dropping to number eight or something like you can get screwed the other way. But I think if you're out of that first overall, you can't, we can't drop down.

[00:30:41] So, but if you're in that lottery for the number one pick, you could move anywhere around where you are. So like Vancouver was the worst in the league. They had the best odds to get them. They might pick eight, you know, when this is all said and done, which kind of isn't fair, but we got Jack Hughes and Nico. So he's right. I'm not complaining. You're right. If, if we couldn't go down because we were starting at 12, but Oh, wait, wait, wait. Robbie, Robbie's bench toss says we can go lower than 12. It's just very unlikely.

[00:31:10] We can go to 13th with Toronto winning the drawing. So we could drop to 13. Okay. So, yeah. So thank you, Robbie. Appreciate it. Yeah. So, I mean, it's supposed to be a deep draft. I really hope that they get a center. That's what I don't know much about the prospects, but as far as like devil's needs right now, you have first traffic, just get the best center. I really hope that I don't care to hear this person's name for at least four or five years. How about that?

[00:31:40] I think it's a good winning product on the ice. That would be nice. So, yeah. And I think it's, it's complicated because here's what I think we should do. I think we should use the pick and take the draft pick because I think a lot of the guys in that general vicinity probably are either, you know, going to go back to juniors or college. Very unlikely that they will be on the NHL team next year. Right.

[00:32:10] I think it's going to be a two year rebuilding process for Sonny to get out of all the fucking disaster that the key that sorry, not keep the Fitzgerald left them. There's money coming off the books after this upcoming season. Like I think they're going to get back to being competitive this upcoming season, but I think it's going to be two years until Sonny can really put a stamp on things at least until next off season because that's when Dylan's money comes off the books.

[00:32:40] I think Nason's money comes off the books. A few other guys from money comes off the books. Hopefully Nico's resigned. Such a fucking contract. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, we talked about it with the goalie stuff because if you go down the route of buying out Markstrom, then you have to spend assets to get a new goalie in place if it's going to go via a trade.

[00:33:06] Like and if you're going to get a premier guy via trade and those assets are the only we have very few that we have that we also need a top six forward like my top three things that I was going to do need another top six forward get out of the goal tending and change a little bit of the defensive mix. I'm frozen. I'll be right back. But that's you know, that that's it. It's got to be the goal tending is huge.

[00:33:32] And I'm if I had one question right now to ask like to get answered in devil world, it would be it is you are going to be at training camp this year. Like there's been nothing. We don't know like is he going to go back to Boston or is he going to play go to this go to the age of my realistic question for you guys because I don't follow it that closely right now. But like, is he absolutely not an option or could this kid come in and just frickin own the net like he can come in and on the net.

[00:34:01] I mean, I keep talking about let's get a stopgap for another two years. I'm just saying doesn't need it probably does. I don't know how old he was but bro door was 19. Like it's a that's a great point. It's like, you know, there's it's this sort of thinking that goalies need time to develop. And it's kind of like, all right, well, why? Like, why does it depend on 2425 wasting a lot of years? Yeah. Like why why can't you're burning through burning through his ELC and you know, like we just treat these goalies with kid gloves.

[00:34:31] I think that like if I if if I was in charge of running this team right now and I knew that you garb was coming to training camp and I had very high hopes for him and okay, I'm going to send them to Utica for a little while. Maybe I'd be a little more prone to keep marks from around just for the fact that like I have somebody that I can put in if I got to dump them or he gets hurt or whatever bullshit happens. I don't want to do that, but I see what you're saying.

[00:35:00] Like if you garb is going to be ready in a year or two. What do you do in the meantime? You're not going to go trade for Connor Hollabuck. You know what I mean? You're not going to bring some established guy in to get you over that hump. How about 33? We've talked about that. That's where like an Alex Lyon could be perfect because him and Jake Allen can run shit for a year or so until big Mike's ready. Or like you said, maybe this dude rolls into training camp and just answers everybody's questions and he's the guy.

[00:35:27] Yeah, it's not out of the realm of possibility man. Like these skills translate. I know any tell. Some of the Leafs. They did two first round picks. I have no idea. Why they get one into. No, they said the high Mike Greer. The Sharks got the second pick. All right. This is chaos man. All right. So Toronto San Jose. Toronto San Jose are one to Jesus Christ. San Jose is going to get one of them.

[00:35:58] They're going to get another. Yeah. Well, actually, this is now this is now makes things interesting because San Jose is all of these fucking high end forwards. Yeah. And they have like no Jack and Luke for Mac for Maclin Celebrini and and ask her off ask her off and Sam Dickinson. Remember that was that was the me me and Mike the car are going to die on this. Actually, I did think of a potential trade Jack and Luke for fucking Jack Luke and Markstrom for McDavid.

[00:36:28] Oh, shit. I got a little zipper burn on that one. It moved a bit. I think it jumped Luke. Luke, Jack and Markstrom for Connor McDavid. I have one question. Okay. No, it's a serious question. I'm not going to be a dick about this. Do are we getting him with he's going to extend with us? Right. We're going to we're going to get them long term. Yes. Yeah, I would.

[00:36:55] I would ideally make that part of the condition because yes, I do. And giving up Jack and Luke for two years. I do it. Yeah, I kind of think so. First of all, Rangers Rangers move down. There is some addition by subtraction in that trade. First of all. So I do like that getting rid of Markstrom. Yeah, that's I think throwing in Markstrom. We probably have to add more to it to just get out of him.

[00:37:22] Although Edmonton's so desperate for their goalie situation that that maybe they'd be like, yes, fucking anybody. But maybe we'd have to take Jari back or something. We can buy Jari out or bury him in the minors. What I was getting to with San Jose, though, was so with this this particular draft is really interesting because there's a clear number one and two. It's it's Gavin McKenna and Ivan Stenberg. Right. And they're both forwards.

[00:37:46] Then there's about, I think, five or six defensemen that are all in San Jose might trade out of this San Jose might trade out of it or might take one of these defensemen. It's Keaton Verhoff from North Dakota. There's Chase Reed who's in the OHL. There's Carson Carroll's who's in the WHL. I think there's this guy, Albert Smith, who's European from somewhere. There's another guy, Jeremy. Somewhere in Europe. His name is.

[00:38:15] And there's a lot of right handed D2, which are like premium fucking defensemen relative to all defense. And so San Jose, that's interesting. That makes it really fucking interesting. If so, who's third? And what that does? Well, I don't know. I think we I think we're still in the mix for third. So we don't know yet, Steven. And so the blue skirts, it's a we don't know. Just fuck the blue skirts. So let's say Vancouver can fall.

[00:38:43] Robbie Ben Shaw said that San Jose was ninth before moving up to number two. So they had a nice, nice jump today. But I mean, it's San Jose would be foolish, I think, to take a forward. I mean, they I don't know what their pipeline looks like with defensemen, but they need D. They've they had nobody. They have nobody. They have Sam Dickinson and that's it. Yeah, but you take the best player and then you figure something else out with a trade.

[00:39:08] If this guy is that much elite over number three, you go with one of the top two forwards. But it's the opposite. You trade out. It's you grab a couple of first. You got one more first rounder or another second rounder. If you think you can bolster it that way you can get. Yeah, you can get to first a little bit later. You can just a few spots. That's that's how much. Because that means if the Rangers, let's say, well, I don't know if the Rangers get the fifth pick. Right. And San Jose is the second. And they want one of those guys. Steinberg.

[00:39:38] Is it Steinberg? Is that was it? Stenberg. Stenberg. Stenberg or McGavin. McKenna rather. McGavin. Shooter McGavin. Let's say the Rangers number five and San Jose. They say they say we're picking 12. We're picking 12. OK. Yeah. So let's say San Jose throws it out there and says, you know, just let's it known that they're looking for a defenseman. They're not taking this guy.

[00:40:03] But you're the Rangers and you want you want shooter McGavin or Steinberger. So you make the trade. You know, you call San Jose, say, we'll move to two. We'll give you four or five, whatever we have. And we'll, you know, throw in another, you know, a second rounder this year and next year's first or something like that. That's a steal. You're probably still going to get your guy at four or five. Like, that's what I would do if I was San Jose, if that was the case. So I guess it is over, Steven.

[00:40:32] It looks like we are picking 12. Where do the Rangers? Is it over or not? Wait, you shut the TV off. This thing shouldn't be so complicated. It really shouldn't. Like, you know what? They actually did a really cute bit. You know, Matthew Schaefer lives with the Martin family. Yes. And they have like two little girls. Yes. So they did this bit. Yeah, I guess it's over because PK Subban's on with a weird outfit.

[00:40:58] They did this really cute bit where Matthew Schaefer FaceTime the Martin girls and like they talked about how easy it was to figure out the draft lottery. And that was pretty cute. I really like Schaefer. He's fucking a really hard kid. Not the like. I have to agree. All right. So it looks like Toronto's number one. San Jose is number two. Vancouver is number three. I mean, that's all they have up here. So I don't know what else is for.

[00:41:27] So my biggest problem with this draft lottery system since it started is not the bottom for getting it all getting a chance to kind of win that number one. That's actually how we got it. I believe for Jack. And he should we didn't come from 10th to second or something like that. I don't. We are the hard way. Yeah, I don't like that aspect of it.

[00:41:49] I don't like that a team like San Jose, who was ninth and that's a nice middle of the pack area is now potentially getting another generational talent at number two. Like I just think this should be for the first. And then a little bit of juggling. Like I don't like how teams can move up that far. I think what was the year we got he sure and Philly. I think I think I think I think yeah, I think Jason knows right. I think we did jump up like one or two spots, but not like 10 spots. No, I'm fine with the one or two. I like that there's a lot of reality. You were one of the worst four or five teams.

[00:42:18] You get a chance at the lottery. Good. This is the don't like people getting a second when they were nine. I don't. I agree. Well, this is the first round order for this coming draft.

[00:42:29] Toronto, San Jose, Vancouver, Chicago, Rangers, Calgary, Seattle, Winnipeg, Florida, Nashville, St. Louis, New Jersey, the Islanders, Columbus, St. Louis from Detroit.

[00:42:49] So they're getting they have two first rounders, Washington, L.A., Washington again from Anaheim, Utah, San Jose from their pick from Edmonton. I haven't seen Edmonton's name on this. I don't think they have a first rounder this year. No, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, Vancouver, Montreal, Seattle.

[00:43:10] The Rangers get a second pick at 27, Calgary, Buffalo, Carolina, St. Louis from Colorado and Ottawa. So it looks like Carol, Colorado. The Oilers, maybe Tampa Bay and Dallas, I don't think have first round picks this year. I think they traded them away. Um, Rangers sitting at two picks. I wouldn't be shocked. I'm going to call it right now. The Rangers trade with the San Jose Sharks.

[00:43:40] San Jose moves to five Rangers move to two and the Rangers give them the 27th pick. Fourth and the 27th or whatever. Yeah. Fourth and fourth and fifth and 27. And then in the second. If the devil's also leveraged 12 to put in the package then, because I don't know. I mean, I know it's deep draft, but that's another reason why you would get some value at 12. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. 44. Uh, is that we only have one second round pick right now?

[00:44:11] Let's see. Wow. The Rangers have a ton of draft picks. They have two first, a second, a third on, they might have two thirds. I'm looking through St. Louis has a ton of picks. The Rangers have two third round picks for third round picks. And fuck them all up though. Don't worry. Five, five third round picks for the Rangers. Holy shit. And I don't think we have a third rounder. So we only have a first and a second.

[00:44:41] Yeah. What were the stats though? Of like making the NHL for the average third round pick. It's what's even low. It's very low out of, um, yeah. So you can get five and maybe get one in each other. You could possibly get two or three as well. But I mean, yeah. I mean, the other way to, that they can do things. It's like any of these teams are going to blow it up. You know, like if St. Louis is going to blow it up or, or Seattle who are the two top.

[00:45:11] Now that Toronto is the first pick, like those are the two guys I'd put on blow it up watch. Um, like if we could package, you know, Mercer Nemich in the first for like one of like Kyru or Thomas, or, you know, a combination of like Jared McCann and, um, uh, like Bobby McMahon or someone else from Seattle. So see, that's what I'm talking. It's a, it's a slight overpay. Right.

[00:45:40] But it's not from a position of like, you know, they're not, they don't have us by the ball. NFL picks. Right. Yeah. No, they're not, you know, but the odds of a third round NHL draft pick becoming a regular in the league is roughly 12 to 17%. So we're just going to run five, 15%, which means the Rangers are going to get a starter at their third round. If you go by the odds, at least one. Sure.

[00:46:06] Um, the odds of a third round player playing one or more NHL games is a coin flip. 51% of third round picks will play one or more NHL games. 17% of them play 300 or more NHL games. And to be an impact player coming from the third round with 300 or more points in your career is less than 13%.

[00:46:33] So 14% or 12%. So yeah, there's only a 2% chance of that too. Right. We're fucked. So yeah, there are a couple of interesting guys in the draft around that could fall around there and it's okay. So there are hang on.

[00:46:53] So there are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven defensemen, probably in that top 15 ish range. Then you take the two Gavin McKenna Stenberg off the table. So that's nine guys that we're probably not going to pick. Then Caleb Mojotra, who's really good. He's probably going to get picked in the top 10.

[00:47:17] So there are going to be some really actually some of the best forwards in this draft available by virtue of all of the defensemen that are going to probably get picked for us. Right. So like there's this kid Vigo Bjork, who's like a fucking dog. He's like a combination of Marchand and Jesper Bratt. But, you know, he's kind of like a he's smaller. He's like 5'10", 5'11".

[00:47:44] But like he's just a absolute piece of shit to play against. Then there's a guy Ethan Belchez, who's a big fucking wing. This other Finnish kid Oliver Subitano is a center. JP Holbert, who's a wing Oscar Hemming, who's a really good wing. This kid Klippoff. Yeager Shiloff, who's a kind of a Russian kid with like a whole shitload of talent.

[00:48:11] Yeah, I think I'd ideally it'd be interesting. It was like Bjork, Belchez, Hemming or like Holbert are kind of my initial thoughts on who we should draft. I might look into it a little bit more. The Penguins have one first round pick, Jay. I don't know about the second or third. I'm not going to go through those, but they only have the first rounder. So, I'm just I'm kind of impartial to where the devils are with this pick. Like, I kind of just don't give a shit.

[00:48:41] I think that we have enough assets to move to make the right hockey trades to at least get us pointing north again. Probably not anything earth shattering. I don't know if that's coming down the pipe, but like, I don't want to talk prospects. No, I just want to talk like I want to I want a good product on the ice. I want to kaboom. I get it. I don't disagree.

[00:49:03] And I think, you know, it's it's it's hard because it's a very difficult decision because we have we have an absolutely barren fucking farm system, you know, so. Where do you get the tumbleweeds? You know, do we use the pick this year because it's going to be a couple years to dig out of this mess that fits had or do we trade it? Trade it. Make immediate changes now that is going to make us worse in the future.

[00:49:32] I agree a thousand percent with Bobby on that one. It's a it's a valuable pick. I loved, you know, I was kind of listening while I was checking that for Jason. But, you know, the Cairo Thomas thing like those are guys McCann. You mentioned Matthew Nyes. Those are guys that are immediate impact help this team. And if you can give up less on ice capital for that 12th pick, I'm with you. I don't give a shit. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe that choice. Well, good. A good guy.

[00:50:01] That's in Utica that we have. Maybe that keeps Ethan Edwards in the in the organization so we can see him. Yeah. Something like that. We keep Casey around. Right. Right. I mean, if yeah, that is really going to need two years to put his stamp on this thing. Right. Then you're just going to sit here and say, OK, let's just add two more years to Nico and Jack and the rest of the core before. That's the problem. Yes. Point where he can say, now I can go out and tweak this thing. Get some real players. No way. We got to start doing it now. Or there's just no point in having this team wait is.

[00:50:31] They can do it now. Excuse me. All right. So those are my those are my two draft predictions. Right. The Rangers in San Jose make a trade and the Devils trade out of the number 12 pick. I'm with you. I agree. I think it makes sense. No, it's awesome. I feel like there's a kind of you look at like the package that Quinn got. Right. It was it was like a high end defenseman, a high end center, another kind of lower floor

[00:50:58] player and in a first overall pick like that gets you one of the best players in the league. Right. So something a little bit lesser than that can get you a very, very good. Yeah. Very, very good player. Yeah. This is because six, five to 27 just is a fucking free train. Is he a forward? He's a forward. Yeah, he's a left wing, too, which is, you know, you know, I don't really think wingside matter. Is he like projected to drop into the, you know, high teens, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:51:28] Well, that's what I'm saying. It's like there's going to be, I think. So Belchez, Hemming, Bjork. Now, Hocha is not going to be there. There might be a couple of guys. Okay. But our solar stuff stopped. What? Sorry. Sorry. You done? Yeah, I'm done. Okay. I, uh, I am done. Go ahead. Go ahead. Belcher. Speak. Belchez and Hemming are the big wings.

[00:51:57] They're like big boys. Six, four, six, five. Hemming plays for BC. I think it could be you. BC, I think. But they still need to cook down in minors, you're saying though, right? Or you think these guys would be NHL ready? I don't know. Belchez would be a guy that would probably be in camp. Okay. And we'd have to make a, um, make a decision. That's a preposterous package for Thomas, by the way, they said that they wanted the equivalent of four first round texts. Like go fuck yourself. Like that. That's insane. Quinn Hughes didn't even get that.

[00:52:27] And he's the best fucking defenseman in the league. They're just desperate. Of course, they're going to do whatever they can. And as far as Jason, I just got to say real quick, that no way we're, they're moving nice. Guys, what did you watch that press conference? Don't put anything past what Toronto might do. I mean, they might end up, you know, I have no fucking idea, you know, picking somebody not even on the board with this number one pick. I don't trust this GM, but go ahead. Finish what you're saying. I don't know. Nines has a pretty rough analytical profile.

[00:52:55] So I don't know if, um, I don't know. I like, I like Robert Thomas on this team. I think he'd be fantastic on this. That's kind of the guy that I think we really kind of need is someone that can also fucking play center. Yeah. And can score fucking goals. Like we just need a pure goal scorer on this team. Yeah. We need all of our guys are shooters, but they have no idea how to put it in the back of the net. They suck at it. We need 50. We need 45 to 50 more goals next year. Yeah. That's a lot.

[00:53:26] Yeah. I mean, unfortunately, if you just looked at the math of what each player was capable of doing, if they all maybe play to that, you probably have them, but we already know that's not going to happen. There's no reason to believe this whole crew comes back and all of a sudden everybody's lightened up. You know, like that's Timo and Mercer and a team and Mercer shoot to their capability combined. They were like 20 or so goals under expected. Then Nico has probably 15 more assists.

[00:53:52] And is it 80 points when people aren't, you know, what trying to fucking send him to the moon? You know, it's just, uh, yeah, we need to Jason knows, right. We need guys that are good on the walls. If we're going to be Carolina, we also need to keep our speed up. Those are like physical, fast teams are the way that you're going to be Carolina. Carolina also wins via psychological warfare. Yes.

[00:54:15] Because you know, crazy eyes, what's a fucking, what's a fucking, you know, you're going into a house of horror, you know, I out from behind that bench. Where do you want me to put them? Put them in the bathroom, put them in the fucking bathroom. Crazy. I don't know if it's every wall battle. Like Nico is one of the best in the league on the walls, but whatever. I think we're pretty good on the walls. We got a lot better this year. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, we, yeah, we need to, you know, improve for check cycling.

[00:54:43] Like we are still rush, rush, heavy rush dependent. And it's very easy to play against us when, when you clog the middle. So we need to figure out how to get around. And that's one thing that was interesting that stuck out to me. The way Sonny described Florida as being idiosyncratic. He kept using that word. Yeah. I was on his work calendar. And it's kind of interesting because I'm going to use fiduciary half a dozen times yet. I'm sorry. The what's the, what's the comic book in.

[00:55:12] No, in chasing Amy. It's called idiosyncratic routine or something like that, where it's like, yes, I don't remember. I only remember blunt man and chronic. Of course you do. You fucking stoner. Read a book. Read a book, Chris. I'm in books. I read blunt man and chronic. Actually in the middle of. It's kind of an interesting way to, because you know, you talk about, you know, a team

[00:55:42] plays a certain way. It's like, they don't necessarily have to, you know, like, like why can't Nico's line, you know, if it's like Nico, nice and Timo, like that's a line that you can dump and chase and beat the shit out of someone and cycle and get the score score goals. Then Jack, Brad and Brown come out and they're just beat you off the Russian with pace. And then glass comes out and he's shadowing your best player, locking him the fuck down. And Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris, beating you on the walls and because Chris looks fucking great

[00:56:12] on the walls and Chris. And the walls, he's beating you off the rush in a cycle. And then we have a fourth line. Of TBD guys, AJ Greer, it is the odds of AJ Greer signing to your like, like, yeah, like negative. Yeah, I'm with you. He's coming. You know, the end. And he's fantastic. I'll take him. All right. So I got a question for you guys way too early. Yeah, New Jersey double question.

[00:56:40] But who right now, in your opinion, has the most one player that has the I don't want to say the most to prove, but you want to see like they got to play better. They have to take it to the next level. Let's say that. All right. To prove or lose your job or just to know just because they have to. I think that's a good one too, because the team absolutely isn't going to go anywhere. And if they don't, this is.

[00:57:08] I have two guys and they share a last name. Yeah, I have one of those. I was just thinking this is tough because easy wants to go with Jack for obvious reasons. And then Luke popped into my head to Luke is my guy. Luke. I and look at Markstrom still around. It's Markstrom and Timo as Jason said, like, like, I think this is the last year of Timo. Like if he's if we get the same fucking guy again, it's just like we got to get in the fuck out of here. Like, I don't think he's going anywhere next year.

[00:57:37] Like I would love to trade him. I just. I also think management is probably like us in a lot of ways. Like we got to see this guy on a play in the playoffs. Like I just you've got to give them that opportunity. Right. If it's going to be 25 goals showing up for, you know, a quarter of the games really as far as playing his style. But in the playoffs, he's a difference maker. Then I keep him around as long as he wants.

[00:58:03] Yeah, I'm going to remove Jack from this equation because although he's got a higher ceiling, if all we got out of Jack was what he did two years ago, have a 98 point, you know, close to 100 point season all the time. I'd actually be really fine with that. He doesn't need to break the bank and 130s and 40 points for me to. I would love to see it. I think he can definitely get up closer, but we don't need that. Who jacks? Yeah, I'm going to go with a guy like Luke.

[00:58:31] Like look at your two brothers, man. I think honestly, and we've talked about this a lot. It's like one of our biggest issues was offensive play generation from the defensive end and not having a true number one defenseman. And if he's going to be gone, Luke needs to fill that void in spades and live up to his contract. Like we saw what we all know how good Jack uses. We all know how good Jack use and the idea of him playing an 82 game season or something.

[00:59:01] Close to it. Yeah, it's a hundred points probably comes easy to this guy down the road. You know, in the next few years, we know that he's going to give us that if he stays healthy. Luke's got if this team is going to get to the next level in the next couple of years, like in the playoffs and stuff, Luke has got to be spoken about in the same breath as his brother and and McCarr and those great puck handling. I don't think he ever. I don't think he ever. I don't know, man. I don't know.

[00:59:30] He's just there's something. Yeah, I don't know. That's what we're saying. You know, Jackson. I don't know. Even Noah Dobson. You see what he's doing. Lane Hudson's doing like Luke's got to get up there. So we've seen him. We've seen it in bursts like post Olympics this past year. Like Luke was great. I think he was in that not not the McCarr Quinn territory, but the Lane Hudson territory

[00:59:56] in Hudson, Lacombe, that kind of young up and coming defenseman territory. And he was that at the end of last season, too. I do think for whatever reason, the contract negotiations, missing training camp and, you know, the constant shoulder injuries over the over the off seasons like he needs to have a full good off season in the Quinn Hughes lab in Michigan. Yeah. To kind of kind of get there. Like, that's what I need.

[01:00:23] I think we need we need Minnesota to get eliminated. So Quinn can go teach Luke shit. We need like, I don't know, dude. He's like, we've seen it in in glimpses for sure. And the talent is there. There just seems to be like a chain around our players next where they just don't fucking let loose and go. And I think he can.

[01:00:52] I think he could be like a top 10 defenseman in this league. I mean, they got to learn. I don't know if it's confidence or what. It's just something that's just missing. Like, yes. And what do you know? I think confidence is part of it. He does seem to be a different player when Jack's playing with him. And, you know, he's on the bench. But I also I think there is confidence. I think Luke gets rattled very easily.

[01:01:17] And one mistake he's when he makes one he's prone to then just kind of continue and snowball. Yeah. And, you know, that's that's being young, not being in the situations. It could be an issue, you know, with uncertainty in a lot of ways with like, am I on the first power play? Am I this or am I that? What do they expect me to be? And all this other shit. And, you know, I think it's a lot for him. And I think Jay Snow with the post put up there. Maybe he's a little maybe he's right. I don't know. There's what that was.

[01:01:44] That was always the knock on Lucas at his decision making was a little. Yeah, it was a little retarded. You get a little touch of the tism. Exactly. Yeah. Listen to this. I talked to 20 ping pong balls and 19 said the Leafs wouldn't win the draft lottery. That was what was that? I talked to 20 ping pong balls and 19 said the Leafs wouldn't win the draft lottery.

[01:02:11] 19 of them said that those draft lottery is a sham. It's a con. It's a liar. Oh, it's a lot. It's you know, I mean, the devil's got it right, but it's a lot of the Chicago's and Toronto's and whatever. Hey, you know what? We were there once. It would have been nice to be just a little bit worse. And then maybe this tonight could have been a little more fun for us. Oh, here's the cool thing about it. You still got to do something with it. Yeah, just saying. Let's not. It doesn't prove anything.

[01:02:41] You're I agree with you on the trading of the 12th pick. But my question to you is how high of a pick before you stop thinking about. Well, that's a good question, because I still understand that these things are situational, because like Tim mentioned, like there are certain types of players that certain teams are going to want. If the devil is in a position where they steadfastly believe this guy is a number six on their list and they fall to 12 or seven, like, you know, because they some defense were taking the middle.

[01:03:06] Then I get it because now you're not talking about the devil's 12th pick where they assume they're going to land. You're talking about, oh, my God, we got this guy pegged as a number five, number six. So I get why you would take it. But otherwise, I just trade him for whatever makes this team go. Yeah. It's like, do we think this guy can come in and make an impact? And if not, do we have something? And it's it's you know, and this is what Sonny is going to be methodical about. It's he's going to look at those odds.

[01:03:34] Like, what are the what are the odds that a person in this position? Right. Stop banging on the desk. What's that? I said stop banging on the desk. It's loud. Sorry. Yes, that's exactly it. All right. It's I'm very emphatic with my hands. Yes, I know. I don't know what to do with them. Just for sure. Well, it's good because I don't hand spend time at the genitals. Yeah, I know. I got to stop. I got to stop.

[01:04:04] All right. Come on. Stop being gross. Just too busy calling Jason over retard. All right. I know. Finish your thought or wrap this thing up. I don't know. I want to watch a hockey game. I thought it's like he's going to look at the the probabilities that they pick at number 12 helps this term the team for X amount of years and has, you know, certain amount of production. And then there's going to be, you know, he's going to build something into that type of model.

[01:04:31] And it's more valuable to trade that pick for proven commodity, which it might possibly be. Someone posted a chart that I saw the other day. That was like the last five cup winners or something and how the players on those teams were acquired, whether it's draft or free agency or RFA or be a trade. And each one of those teams was was wildly different. You know, like Florida was a lot of trades. Tampa was a lot of the draft.

[01:04:58] You know, it's just there's no one way to build a team necessarily. And I like that that Sonny is Sonny's kind of going to think about the best way to do that and the best way to kind of apply it and apply, you know, what I have to say, though. Yeah. For the first time in many years. I'm I'm confident that the decisions are going to be the right ones, like even if they're like he does something when we're on this show going, I can't fucking believe he did it.

[01:05:28] In the long run, I'm going to kind of take the side that this guy knows what he's doing a hell of a lot more than I do. So I'm excited to see what he thinks of this team. And I guess we'll know that with the moves he makes. And yes, I am like the dad of the podcast, Jay. I think the whole team needs to adjust their mentality, get away from number one, like handholding and developing. And then also this idea of taking the core and wanting to like spread the wealth.

[01:05:58] Like I'm done with that kind of shit. Like you take Luke and you say, Luke, you're the guy you have to do this. Like this is your next step. You take Timo and say Timo for whatever. He's got to be on power play one to get the points that we normally want. And which one of our other guys can actually shift the power play to and then give us, you know, some some strength on the side. I just think the whole thing ever, you ever have a job where like there's always somebody you can kind of ask. There's always something. Oh, there's always some kind of help. This guy knows more or whatever.

[01:06:25] And you'll sit in that forever until one day, like, oh my God, there's nobody else that can do this. Like I have to figure this out. I think that's where they need to be with their main guys. Like just got to go figure it out. Like no more. There's no room for underachieving or for saying, oh, he's getting better. Just give him the ball. I'd rather say Luke's the number one defenseman. You're on power play one. You got, I'd rather see that happen and the team still fail.

[01:06:52] Then have him be this kind of, well, you're behind Dougie or you're on power play to like just, you know what I mean? Should I get off the pot? That's what I'm thinking about with some of these guys and Timo to you. He's just got to grab him by the neck and be like, I'll put Brad there. Like, you know, you, you're, you're a fucking one of the best skaters on the planet. You're an amazing hockey player, but yet whenever Jack is not around, you just fucking disappear. And when this team needs you the most, you disappear. That shit cannot happen anymore.

[01:07:22] I'm with you. I'm with you. It's a shit or get off the pot for every one of these fucking guys. It's like the other day when we were doing our little peewee tournament, like the kids had a couple of breakaways that the coach's kid passed the puck on a breakaway. Okay. I see now there's being unselfish, right? And trying to be a team player. And then there's no one where to just bear down and like bury it and like be aggressive and be selfish. So, you know, I don't want to see anybody passing the puck on a breakaway. That's my point. So York's probably closer to me, Jason, than Bobby.

[01:07:52] The next question is like, is Keith going to be, is Keith the right guy? I mean, we have all summer to talk about. We'll see. I don't know. There is one other guy that I might consider. And I wasn't a fan of him in Edmonton, but Jay Woodcroft. I don't know if I hate that as much as I maybe did two years ago. So. Yeah, I don't know.

[01:08:21] You know, I, I, I'm at this point, a, you know, got to kind of see how stuff shakes out. Like Tampa just got eliminated. There's a coach there that I would absolutely fucking. I drive keep to the fucking airport. Timeout though. Timeout. What? Yeah. The only way that the only way that John Cooper would be gone from Tampa is if, you know, they actually did sit down and say, look, you know, this is four years in a row.

[01:08:51] We've been bouncing the first round. What's going on? You know, maybe John Cooper says, you know, maybe I've run my course with the team. I need, you know, new set of eyes, kind of like Paul Maurice did in Winnipeg. That's the only way you're getting John Cooper. He's going to have that job in Tampa as long as he wants. But I don't know what, how that, that situation I just said, I don't know how unlikely that is if this continues, you know, kind of like Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, that kind of thing.

[01:09:18] Like I get concerned about how many more coaches would say like keeps lying with the, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to play with the core over the devil's like, because it hasn't yielded any results, you know, like I get it. You see the names and I get why, but I don't think that would pull like a Cooper. Like, I think he's just too good to realize that. Like, you think there's a guy like John Cooper looks at us and goes, they suck. So today do not like, you know, it's not like making it up.

[01:09:48] Like you could say anything you want about paper. The actual execution is crap. So pussies over there. I'm not going and fuck that shit. I guess they suck right now. Tim. So today or after they got eliminated, Cooper said, you know, the hockey gods weren't on our side or something like that. Right.

[01:10:13] And Vasilevsky took, um, took issue with those comments and we're like, we just kind of need to man up kind of not in the same vein as Connor McDavid and Leon throwing the rest of their team under the bus. Did you read their comments? Like, Oh yeah. Oh boy. Like those guys are not happy. Um, and that was a direct shot at fucking who I always read his name, the GM Bowman. Um, but I don't know.

[01:10:42] Well, we'll, we'll see. But that's also, he was not happy with his comments. We could find a home for him. Why though? Like what, what, what's so bad about saying that, that pissed them off so much? I don't know. It's like, you know, it's like a, like overreacting to a cliche, but, um, yeah, I mean, the hockey gods weren't on our side. Like you're the media. You're only going to get what John Cooper feeds you. Just shut up. Like, why would you take it? I mean, the devils have more playoff series wins than, um, Tampa does in the last four years. Yeah.

[01:11:12] And that's a problem because when you look at the guys that they have signed long-term they had the graphic on the screen, I think on game seven, right? They're all over 30. And you got a guy in Kucherov who's played, I think seven game sevens and he has no points like that's fucked up, man. And then, but Brodsky has more game seven points than he does. We would. Oh my God. We would be absolutely crucifying Jack Hughes. If those, that was his stat line, you know, after four years of the playoffs or whatever. Yep. For sure.

[01:11:43] All right. So we're getting John Cooper and Vasilevsky. Cooper and Vasilevsky and McDavid. March from the last season. March from for Vasilevsky. The trade is one for one. So now Quinn still comes to us. Rock this whole thing out. Oh God. I think the good dream is that. Well, I, I like, I'm standing by what I said on the last show. I'll say it real quick because Bobby, see what he thinks. I think the chance of Quinn Hughes coming to New Jersey gets likely in two situations.

[01:12:11] One, they lose in the first round of the playoffs, which didn't happen, or they win the Stanley Cup by winning the Stanley Cup. Maybe he says, you know what, Billy, I came here and won a cup. Now I want to do it with my brothers, but losing in the second, which they're going to or the third round, I think that's that whole unfinished business. I'm coming back. And that's so we're probably losing Quinn Hughes. I had the same conversation with my son about that before the playoffs started. And that's why we both landed on let's, let's give them the cup so that he could say, been there, done that.

[01:12:40] I want to play with my brothers. Exactly. Exactly. My official pick. Speaking of which, let's go watch that game. I got dinner. Right now. All right. Over, under 15 goals. What do you guys think? Under. Slightly. We're going to get a bit the under on that one. It's going to be fun. Guys, thanks for hanging out with us again tonight. Leave a like, hit the subscribe button. Mike Ruff, be safe in Vancouver. Hopefully they don't burn the city down. Oh my God. Right. Because they had the first, now they're fourth, I think, or something.

[01:13:11] Or Vancouver. Vancouver. Jesus Christ. Happy to have you guys. Now, in the years. Hopefully for Vancouver's sake, San Jose picks Chase Reed. So one of Stenberg or McKenna falls to them. That's what I think might actually happen. At least your city is absolutely beautiful. I'll give you that. So, all right guys, we're out of here. I'm Chris for Bob and Tim. We're the puckers. We'll see you when we see you boys and girls. Ah, bye-bye. Suck a dick back.

[01:13:42] It's over, Johnny. It's over. You got nothing, Tim? You got nothing, Tim? Uh...