Final Heaven

Chris (00:05.111)
Hello and welcome to the Uncle Pucker's New Jersey Devil Podcast. We got a full crew today. It's Bobby, Dan, me, Chris and Tony all the way from Lithuania. So what's up boys? How's everybody on this fine Tuesday afternoon?

Dan (00:19.695)
What's going on guys? So nice to be all together. It's been quite a while since the four of us were together.

Tony (00:20.934)
Sup.

The last time, yeah, you guys were together at the, what is it? Jane's Addiction Show, then they beat the shit out of each other like two days later.

Bobby (00:24.411)
Yeah.

Chris (00:30.935)
I guess we caught them at a really, you we got lucky, right? We caught them at a good show.

Dan (00:31.051)
Yeah, we missed the final show.

Bobby (00:31.259)
Yeah, we pissed them off.

Bobby (00:35.345)
You

Dan (00:36.953)
Well, there's gonna be no more shows. They're done now, right? They canceled the tour. Perry's gonna go to rehab, come out clean. Sure he will. No, I don't know what he's doing.

Tony (00:36.966)
That was second to last show, right?

Chris (00:39.775)
Yeah, they're done.

Chris (00:47.233)
Whatever he does, just, seriously do hope the man gets some help because like we saw him probably at his best and we walked away going, he's not well. So, you know, imagining him, you know, how he was that night. I saw some clips in Boston and, know, I don't know, he just lost his mind. and,

Bobby (00:56.377)
Right. It was obvious. Yeah.

Dan (00:56.483)
Yeah, yeah.

Dan (01:08.077)
Yeah, yeah. I blame the fentanyl. Remember, he warned everybody, gave a public service announcement. Guys, be careful out there. They're putting fentanyl in your crack. You think you're just buying crack, and it's fentanyl crack. So, you you think it's good old safe crack, but it's not.

Chris (01:13.911)
He did. I said test your crack.

Chris (01:21.275)
And apparently there's that you can buy or use that tests your drugs for fentanyl before you use them. well, I mean, I guess if you're gonna do it, you wanna, you know, not die, I suppose. I suppose.

Tony (01:29.926)
That's nice.

Bobby (01:30.159)
What a world, Jesus.

Dan (01:30.263)
okay.

Tony (01:36.39)
If you're gonna do it, do it right.

Dan (01:36.409)
Yeah, yeah.

Bobby (01:38.309)
I guess, at least short term.

Chris (01:42.423)
But, yeah, anyway, we did get to see him. It was a good show. It was fun.

Tony (01:46.937)
Is voice sounding good?

Dan (01:48.735)
Yes, but he was like off, you know, like he was singing like sometimes coming in very late or early and drifting off and he has this little voice like effects machine that he got, I think, distracted by. He's playing with it too much. But like sometimes like, you know, it was like, wow, that's Perry. Only one guy sounds like him. So he still has it somewhere in there. I think he's just really fucked up.

Chris (01:49.179)
Mmm... Yeah.

Tony (02:11.634)
They're a great band, Ritual De La Vitual was great. The thing with them is they actually gave a song I heard today, or was yesterday, to Howard Stern, a new song to play on his show. And I guess they broke up right before he played it, and he still played it, I think, though. But yeah, exactly. But he looked, mean, Dan, wasn't he on Palooza back in the day? What year was that? What year was that when they played though? That was the Chili Peppers?

Bobby (02:24.943)
Hoo hoo, Howard broke them up.

Chris (02:26.819)
Robin it's James addiction

Dan (02:29.304)
I'm ripping them off.

Chris (02:35.829)
He started it. He's the founder of Lollapalooza.

Dan (02:37.199)
He's the founder. So I feel like it's 92 maybe 91, 92. I can't remember which year was their first, but they played the first show and he started that whole tour and was like instrumental in getting all the bands and at least the subsequent years for a while. I he stayed with it forever. That was, I think the second one I want to say. No, wait, that might've been the first. I feel like that was the first. I'd have to look it up. Yeah, that was, that was pretty amazing. That was like the best thing he ever did. Now.

Tony (02:52.442)
Which one was body count on?

Tony (02:59.696)
think it was the first one. Yeah.

Dan (03:05.859)
You can find Iced Tea on Law and Order SVU or whichever Law and Order it is, is Henry runs. And he's also selling car warranties, I think. It's pretty amazing.

Tony (03:12.912)
Well, when that wreck.

Chris (03:15.555)
The first Lollapalooza was held in 1991. was the first one ever was in Chandler, Arizona at Compton Terrace. The headliners were Jane's Addiction, Suzy and the Banshees, Living Color, Nine Inch Nails, Ice T, Budhole Surfers, and the Rawlins Band.

Dan (03:22.063)
91.

Dan (03:35.981)
Yes, Rollins band, that was awesome.

Chris (03:38.219)
Yeah, that was the first one.

Tony (03:40.314)
think Ice -T hit our friend Troy Dan or something like that on the stage. Something happened. I think he decked Troy. Yes. Like he got up on stage and Ice -T was something like, motherfucker, bam, that was it.

Dan (03:43.959)
Yes, I do remember that story. I don't know how he ended up on the stage and I see him. I remember that. Yes. Yes.

Chris (03:49.749)
Really? That's awesome!

Bobby (03:55.472)
You

Dan (03:55.769)
Yeah.

Chris (03:56.717)
That's awesome. So, still nothing with Dawson Mercer, huh? We don't know what's going on with him yet. I really thought that he was going to be signed by this time.

Dan (04:04.335)
Quiet.

Bobby (04:06.617)
All I'm seeing is other Devil's fans saying sources are saying that the bridge deals close and getting done. But I don't know what the sources are because it's literally just been our fans saying it. And not our fans as an Uncle Pucker fans, know, Devil's

Chris (04:13.441)
Okay.

Dan (04:21.496)
Right.

Chris (04:21.559)
Well, at least they're close and that's being, I'd much rather that be the rumor out there as opposed to what Boston is rumored that them and Jeremy Swainman are miles apart and that

Dan (04:32.237)
Yeah, it sounds like there's bad blood there and everything, I don't know.

Chris (04:34.781)
starting it seems like it's starting to get that way yeah and

Dan (04:37.901)
Getting excited at maybe somehow we could get him. doubt it, but all right. I mean, we're set for this year, but he's got a long career ahead of him.

Chris (04:42.678)
I mean...

Chris (04:46.539)
Yeah, but okay, so let's just play, you know, let's recklessly speculate here and play this game. So let's say that Jeremy Swainman is now available. Okay. Let's say that Boston says, all right, we can't come to a long -term deal. He's going to be a UFA after this season. Let's just trade them. If you're New Jersey.

Dan (04:50.872)
Okay.

Chris (05:09.687)
Do you try and make a move for a long -term goalie like him, even though we have Mark Sherman Allen, and if you do, what do you move to try and get him?

Dan (05:20.121)
guess you got to move Allen. know, Markstrom was clear your number one going in and you know, you're going to you got same Swamen who didn't mind being part of a duo. So he probably wouldn't mind that transition for a couple years. I think the thing that's going to keep that from happening is the money. I mean, I don't think we're going to want to pay whatever he's holding out for from Boston and maybe that's a good move on Boston's part and would be a good move on us to not pay him bank when he has not won anything yet. He just looks very promising like a lot of guys. I don't know.

Chris (05:51.169)
Bye you, Bobby.

Bobby (05:52.389)
I think I'd just stay away from it at this point. I don't understand how the transaction would work. He's already a UFA. We'd have to have a deal in place before he comes over. To me, you're probably thinking, Boston's going to want a Markstrom so they have something solid between the pipes. Then another one of our guys, if we had a guy like Mercer signed, maybe he's the guy who goes in it, but we're so worried about just getting him signed to stay here. I just wouldn't touch this. As much as he's a great goalie and I ultimately did want him, it's not a transaction that would work out right now. You're better off.

Dan (06:04.782)
Right?

Bobby (06:20.741)
go in our next couple years and then look at what the market has.

Chris (06:24.707)
You a great Tony? 24? 25?

Dan (06:25.016)
He was.

Tony (06:26.128)
How old Swannman? Chris.

I think you go for swimming. I think you find a way to do it. Yeah, I think you find a way to do it. Yeah.

Chris (06:32.983)
You go for soya -man.

Dan (06:33.059)
Yeah. You want to get that young goalie.

Bobby (06:35.761)
You're give him $10 million a year, we only have $6 million left and we haven't signed Mercer, so what are you giving away?

Tony (06:40.998)
That I don't know. I would need to think about that. Yeah, but I just, I would love it.

Dan (06:41.103)
So that was worth it.

Chris (06:43.779)
Yeah. I mean, look, if you, if I understand these salary constraints and everything else that goes with it, but if that, if those were not in play and it was, let's say Markstrom going first, like who would I rather? I'd rather have Swamen, Swamen, you know, and Markstrom I think is going to be great, but Markstrom is only here for two years. He's 34 years old. You're talking about eight to 10 years that you can get with Jeremy Swamen to lock him up. And even if it was at

Tony (06:59.046)
24, yeah.

Chris (07:13.109)
eight and a half, nine and a half million dollars for eight years. I would do that because the salary cap's gonna go up and you know that you are set in goal for the next seven or eight years. For however long this window stays open, you have Jeremy Swainman in there. And yeah, I know he hasn't won anything and he's been a part of a tandem and it's gonna be harder for him to be the number one and we don't know exactly how he's gonna be.

I still, what I saw him in the playoffs, man, he showed me enough. I would be all right with that, but.

Bobby (07:45.531)
I would still take my chances on straight UFA, try to outbid other teams, knowing there's a long shot to that, then doing the transaction to get them here first and the pieces we'd have to move. So I would wait till next year and just run a play for them.

Chris (07:59.255)
Yeah, that's possible too. You know, who knows what's going to happen. But I can't see Boston not getting this thing done at some point. Like you have to. You can't. You're going to you have you have hopes of winning the Stanley Cup. You have a pretty decent lineup. Your team is, you know, always kind of in the mix and you're going to run it with Corpus Sala. I don't know.

Bobby (08:06.159)
I have to.

Bobby (08:20.657)
That's what saying, like how sketchy is the agent behind the scenes here now sitting there going, paid themselves in a corner, they got rid of Almark, you're all they got, hold out, you know?

Chris (08:28.951)
That's it. by them trading all marks so soon, that's exactly what they painted themselves right into a corner. They have no leverage now.

Dan (08:39.459)
Yeah, I can't see him holding out if somehow Olmert was still in the picture. He probably...

Chris (08:43.125)
No, I think it's done. Yeah, I agree with you. I think it's done. But so you guys want to dive in? Yeah.

Tony (08:47.762)
And you guys talking about Mercer, Bobby are you here in the room? I'm seeing this thing here, it's talking about a short term contract, two to three year deal on the table.

Bobby (08:57.785)
It's basically what everybody's been saying. It's just, haven't seen anybody point to an actual source yet. It's all the assumptive we've talked about in this show too. Two to three years, you it's got to be a bridge. It just fits with the devil's right now. Mercer's got to be willing to accept it.

Chris (09:16.459)
I can't see why you wouldn't, you know?

Alright, you guys wanna jump into the final two games of our last Stanley Cup run 21 years ago?

Bobby (09:29.041)
Let's do it. 21 years ago. So this was right before my birthday in June. So just for the younger people out there, I was 28 when they last won. I had no visions of seeing them winning it all the time, but I certainly didn't think I was going to wake up at 50 and still not have another championship. It goes really quick. So hopefully this team, it did.

Tony (09:29.222)
sure.

Chris (09:30.211)
Alright.

Dan (09:41.955)
God, you're sold.

Dan (09:49.805)
It did seem like it was never gonna end, right? It seemed like you might take a couple years off, but we had three in a fairly short amount of time.

Bobby (09:57.169)
I mean, I'm a totally different person now. It's been a long time and hopefully this new team can get us a few because you know, you get stuck. It's a long time between championships for some teams. You look at someone like the other, like the Cubs went 90 something years, Boston Red Sox, like whole generations of never seeing a championship. And it can happen to us for as good as this team is, maybe our young fans are going to see a cup, maybe two, maybe not. Maybe we're just going to be a great team that can't get over the hump in the next decade. I don't think that's the case, but it's still hard to win.

Chris (10:13.547)
Yeah, sure.

Dan (10:24.847)
Hush.

Bobby (10:26.821)
The cups, you just don't know.

Chris (10:29.059)
It is very hard to win and you're right, but you don't know, but you gotta, we look like we are set up to at least do something and that's what we need. And do it without Luke from the beginning, which sucks, but hopefully we get Mercer signed and whoever has to step in for Luke can keep his head above water. But I will, let's go back to June 7th, 2003.

Bobby (10:37.361)
Of

Tony (10:43.526)
Yeah.

Chris (10:57.193)
Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. Devils are leading the series three games to two. Remember two years earlier, we were leading the Colorado Avalanche three games to two. We went back to Colorado. I mean, no, it was home actually. We lost game six at home and then we flew out to Colorado and we ended up losing game seven and our chance at back -to -back cups. Devils are in the exact same situation now, except game six is being played in Anaheim.

Attendance is 17 ,174. Neither team has lost in the playoffs when scoring first. Brodor's home record at the time is 10 -1 going into this game with a 0 .82 goals against average. His road record is 4 -6 with a 2 -3 -3 goals against. We get into the first period. Steve Ruchin scores his sixth of the playoffs.

from Korea and Sakura at 426. Let's see. This was, okay, this was the goal where Korea skated it in, he dumped it in, the puck ended up, it hit Madden and it starts to go out of the zone, but Ruchin stepped into, over the blue line and hit a slap shot and the puck deflects off of Scott Stephens and passed Brodor. Stephens is right in front of Brodor and the puck goes past him.

It's nothing Brodor could do about it. There was nothing Stevens could do about it. It was a good shot and it had eyes.

Dan (12:31.949)
It feels like the game's over because like you said, whoever scores first so far has won. But yeah, more game left.

Chris (12:37.185)
Yeah, this is true.

And then that's 1 -0 Anaheim. And then at 13 .42 of the first period, Steve Ruchin strikes again for his seventh of the playoffs from LeClaire and Niedermeyer. This was just a hard work and goal. They were battling behind the net. Niedermeyer got it off to LeClaire. Ruchin was open out in front. He threw a pass right in front, passed Marty, 2 -0 Anna.

Bobby (13:05.103)
Yeah, this is just one of those classically great goals. know, it was, was perfectly set up. They worked really hard. It beat Brodor clean, far side high. And, know, you just tip your cap at that. Cause it was just a great goal.

Chris (13:17.219)
Yeah, it was. So now it's two -nothing Anaheim, but they weren't done. Anaheim was laying it on here. Devils just stood his first period and most of the game they were they were sleepwalking. And they had a lot of odd man rushes throughout this game, but they just couldn't really connect. This was Jaguer at a really good game. And then at 1559 of the first, Steve Thomas gets his fourth. This is from Korea and Carney. This is a power play goal. This was a centering pass to Korea.

who shoots a laser, he hits the post, it fluttered over to Thomas, Colin White was on him but he couldn't tie up his stick, and Steve Thomas taps it in, it's three nothing Anaheim. So we roll into the second period now, down three. Things aren't looking good.

Dan (14:02.393)
I mean, that's bad even in today's game to be down three nothing in that series with, you know, winning teams always the one that scores first. It's so tightly scoring except for maybe one game previously. That's like looks like an insurmountable amount.

Chris (14:05.56)
Sure.

Chris (14:18.755)
Well, as we learn, it was. Jay Pandolfo in the second period gets his sixth at 2 .18, gets the Devils on the board early in the second. This is from Madden and Gianta. This was just John Madden doing what John Madden did. He was just battling for the puck behind the net. Him and Gianta, Gianta got it over to Madden. Madden just made a beautiful pass to Pandolfo in front and from behind the net and Pandolfo scores.

Bobby (14:46.907)
Yeah, it just describes everything about Mad Dog because like the scrum kind of started in the corner and then it got loose kind of thrown behind the net and he won that mini foot race from the corner to behind the net to get the puck out. And that's just how that guy played. And at this point, three to one. Hey, we got some hope, didn't we?

Chris (15:02.595)
Devils have some life until 1715 of the second period where Paul Korea gets his first of these finals, his sixth of the playoffs. This is from Peter Secor and Adam Oates. This was just a beautiful pass into the neutral zone. Sprung Korea who just fired a laser up and passed Brodor from basically the top of the circle, 4 -1 Anaheim. Brodor just, you know, didn't have...

Bobby (15:26.513)
Yeah. Let's dive into the story behind the story on this particular goal though, because at 1344, that's when Stevens absolutely laid out Korea and he was down on the ice and it looked very, very bad. And as he's sitting there, seconds went by, 30, whatever it was, and he just kind of puffed out. His visor got full from his breath coming out and he disappeared down the tunnel for a while. Nobody thought they were going to see him.

Chris (15:39.841)
Bad. Yeah.

Bobby (15:52.709)
When he does come back, the way he scored, was just a clean beat. just Brodora, I just beat you clean, streaking down the left wing. And you got to think, right? Like, you know, spoiler alert, we know we won the cup. If Anaheim wins that cup and Korea did that after coming back from that hit, nobody else who got hit by Stevens like that came back. He was like the first one to do it and then score and put it in your face. Definitely buried. I mean, that's a story. You know, that's one of those magical things. Fortunately for us, they did not win the cup, but you knew at that point.

Chris (16:19.939)
This is true.

Bobby (16:22.914)
God, this is over. How can he clobber this guy and he just comes back and rubs it on our face with a gold clean?

Chris (16:27.863)
That was a great hit.

Tony (16:28.026)
Think about how many younger people never saw Korea play that listens to the show maybe because I think he's the guy that when you watched him play, I've seen him play live a lot too. He was an awesome player, man, just watching him on the ice. I think he doesn't get enough credit now because obviously the injuries cost him. That was pretty much did him in. But to watch him play back then, man, he was a hell of a player.

Chris (16:46.2)
Mm -hmm.

Dan (16:49.805)
And he'd be great in today's game too. His style of play, was very skilled. He'd do great in today's game.

Chris (16:49.858)
Yes he was.

Tony (16:51.781)
Yeah.

Chris (16:55.459)
There was a play, didn't amount to anything, but it was with 30 seconds left in the second period of this game, and the Ducks are on a power play. And Paul Korea shoots the puck basically the same spot he scored on, right? Except this time, Marty's kinda coming out a little bit, and he takes away the angle, he just beautiful glove save, drops the puck,

And then just shoots it down the ice and I'm just like, man, that was, I forgot how great he was at that. He was at third defenseman all the time. And with 30 seconds left in that period, he it's like, I'm watching the game and I'm just like, that's the shit that I miss so much. And it, and it was, it was done in like one fluid motion. Like he bang and it was a beautiful save. And if that save was on its own, it would have been a beautiful save.

Bobby (17:29.183)
yeah.

Dan (17:38.627)
Nobody does that anymore, not like that.

Chris (17:49.549)
But not only that, he has the wherewithal to just drop it, bang it right out and up and over and down the zone to clear the puck. It was just gorgeous.

Bobby (17:57.333)
It's been some of the most fun I've had watching all these goals because how many times Brodor is involved in it. So today, like when I'm prepping for this, kind of, got the time of the goals and then I'm watching those, you know, kind of condensed games and I'm kind of flipping through to get to the goal and I'll stop, you know, 30 seconds before a minute before so can see how the whole play is being set up. And every time I started my notes with, there he goes, Brodor starting to play behind the net. And I'm like, this has got to be the goal. And then it wasn't, but then it was like, it's just, it's so many times he started the breakout.

And like I said, as I'm watching this, it's just time after time. He was just magical.

Chris (18:31.041)
Yeah, he was. And now we roll into the third period. And the ducks aren't done. Peter Cicora, his fourth of the playoffs. This is from Kristof and Havlid, a power play goal. This was, I don't think I'm saying his name right, Kristof. I don't know who he was. But Cicora passed over to him. He shot wide. So he shoots it wide, it hits the boards, but it banks to the other side, it comes out in front. So it basically, know, pinballs.

and then Sikora is there to just rip one home. goal, know, Marty's not having his best night, but neither are the devils in general. It's five to one Anaheim. And...

Bobby (19:10.831)
Yeah. And it's kind of inconsequential here because of the score already, but this is another one of those hockey plays where moments before, Pandolfo and Madden were down on a two on one and he just, the pass was just a little too deep for Pando. I think he couldn't really get a shot off of it. And then they just go back the other way and score. see it all the time.

Chris (19:19.747)
Was it 2 -1 -1? Yep.

Chris (19:27.843)
Yep, and then Grant Marshall gets his six of the playoffs at 1046. This is also a power play goal. This is from Rafalski and Elias. This was just Rafalski shooting a rocket from the point and Marshall tipped it in. Passed Shiger. It's 5 -2 Anaheim. That's how the game ends. Anaheim does what they needed to do. They force the game seven. It's 3 -3 series tied coming back to New Jersey for the pivotal game seven on Monday, June 9th.

2003 at the IZOD Center.

Bobby (19:59.003)
Such mixed emotions at this point because it wasn't supposed to be this hard, right? You look at how it started with Brodor's shutout. You look at the record. That's the only thing that gave us like a little bit of confidence is the record on home ice. But I remember being like flat out nervous. I didn't see it shaping up this way.

Chris (20:17.283)
Especially when you see like you're talking about the early games, right? But then game five the Devils have this huge offensive explosion on Jaguer and then game six the Ducks have this explosion on Brodor and it's what are we gonna get? Is this gonna be a 5 -6 overtime game or are we gonna actually start playing some defense on both sides and goals are gonna be hard to come by? Yeah, it could have gone either way but We had one huge advantage and that was number 30 in the pipes

So we're in the East Rutherford attendance is 19 ,040. First period, no goals. 7 -5 shot advantage for New Jersey and we roll into the second period. Yeah.

Bobby (20:59.915)
and let's, let's remind everybody. This was the first time Danico is coming back in the lineup. Trevor Daski had played like 15 straight and Burns decided to put Danico back in, whatever it worked.

Chris (21:12.291)
It did. I have audio on all these goals. Not the best, but we will play them. So the first goal comes at 222 of the second period. This is Mike Rupp, the rookie Mike Rupp on this team from Scott Niedermeyer and Colin White. This was a Niedermeyer wrist shot from the point. Ruff just deflected through the five hole of Jaguerre, one -nothing New Jersey. Bob, you have anything to add before I play the audio on that?

Bobby (21:38.551)
Again, this is one of those goals. There's a very important sequence before which, like I just mentioned, started with Marten Brodor in a play at the net. He played it and started to go up ice and then the rest I think we're going to get from here. Just keep in mind, this is only Rupp's fourth playoff game and like 15th game in the NHL at this

Chris (21:53.037)
That's right.

And also keep in mind that this audio is 21 years old.

Dan (22:26.243)
Nice.

Chris (22:56.707)
And that's Mike Rupp's first goal. And then we get to 12 -18 of the second period. Jeff Friesen is back with his ninth of the playoffs. This is from Langenbrunner and Niedermeyer. This was just a nice play. The puck was kind of pinballing in the bumper position over there. Rupp tried to whack at it. The puck gets over to Friesen, who just put it past Jigair. It was just a nice little, you know, devil's hard working in front of the net, crashing.

and freezing ends up with the goal. Two nothing devils. now when you hear the audio on this freezing goal, they start talking about, the rupt goal before. So I think it's Darren Pang shows a clip of Jamie Langenbruner skating past Jaeger and he kind of hit his stick, the nub of his stick and, and Jaeger

Bobby (23:47.867)
The knob of the stick, the top of the stick, yep.

Chris (23:51.393)
you know got back in the position and rup scored on him but of course panger brings it up like that could have been goaltender interference so there's a little bit of clement and and engblom not engblom yeah clement and who's the other one big harry thorn yeah busting his balls a little bit about it but this is freeson's first goal of game seven

Bobby (24:01.029)
Yeah, it's pretty funny actually the way they used to talk to each other.

Dan (24:06.639)
Thor?

Bobby (24:07.827)
Yeah, they're.

Dan (24:08.985)
So, yeah.

Dan (24:41.506)
Beautiful.

Chris (24:45.409)
No he doesn't. There you go.

Dan (25:04.942)
Yeah.

Chris (25:07.575)
Yep, that.

Dan (25:07.735)
My house, the game has changed that it would even bring up like that kind of incidental contact. I mean, the guys were kind of getting on paying for you bring it up. Remember, goaltender interference used to be way more liberally called today. You have to basically kill the goalie to get goaltender interference. They don't call it that much.

Chris (25:19.843)
yeah.

Chris (25:25.056)
There's so much activity that you see nowadays like with the goalie and I love I like though that they have you look if you have time to reset regardless of you were just getting mugged like in the ref's mind if you have time to reset and make the save they're not gonna call it but then I've also seen it where you know two guys skate blades will clink you know for a second and they call it goaltender interference like

Dan (25:37.806)
Yeah.

I don't mind that.

Dan (25:46.445)
Yeah, I don't like that. I remember back in this era, if you had the tip of your skate in the blue of the crease completely away from the goaltender, that they're going to disallow the goal. I mean, some of these rule changes have been for the best. They were kind of silly.

Chris (25:57.655)
Yeah.

Bobby (25:57.851)
was a maddening time period. Yeah.

Chris (26:02.295)
But what was not for the best is the trapezoid. I'm still against the trapezoid. It's the worst. Tony's muted. Okay, you're good now. Was that Dan? I'm sorry.

Bobby (26:06.041)
I still hate that.

Dan (26:06.159)
100%. I think it was a beautiful thing to watch. You know, I think it was a beautiful thing to watch the goaltenders play the puck too, you know? And sometimes people would get burned on it. So it's not like there was a hundred percent. And sometimes like in the case of Boudoir, you got somebody who's good at it, he would lead to an offensive play at the other end. So you get that end to end action. Their idea was like,

Tony (26:07.194)
Yeah, that sucks, definitely.

Bobby (26:20.241)
Of

Chris (26:27.085)
That's right.

Dan (26:30.415)
Well, this is stopping forwards from scoring goals. And I don't think they had the right call then or now. I mean, I think they should get rid of it to this day.

Chris (26:38.083)
I agree. I completely agree. I think it's ridiculous that the goaltenders can't wander a little bit and play the puck. So now it is two nothing devils after two. So the Ducks have 20 minutes to get to pass Brodor and hopefully force overtime. And in the third period at 16 -16, Jeff Reeson strikes again his 10th of the playoffs. Do you remember

Tony (26:39.024)
I agree.

Chris (27:08.131)
A goal, think it was two years ago, it was during the Devils big 112 point season. We were in overtime against the Islanders and Jack had the puck and he had one defender in front of him and he kind of just made that quick little move and shot a wrist shot right past whatever his name is, Sirokan, and won the game.

Dan (27:28.163)
Yes. It's broken, yeah.

Chris (27:33.557)
In overtime, this is what this goal reminded me of from Friesen. He gets in over to blue line, he has one defender in front, he starts kind of cutting a little bit into the middle of the ice and just a quick wrist shot. And he got it past the defender, surprise Jaguer, three nothing New Jersey.

Bobby (27:49.809)
The quick cut to the left on the ice was as quick as the wrist shot. It's like they happened simultaneously. Made that big cut, took the great wrist shot. Beautiful goal that, know, Jogair just had no choice, no chance on the meat.

Chris (27:55.703)
Right?

Chris (28:02.571)
And with this goal, Jeff Friesen became only the seventh player in NHL history to score two goals in a game seven of the finals. So, yeah. And here it is.

Dan (28:11.735)
Right, wow.

Chris (28:18.712)
Maybe.

Chris (29:00.545)
They're gonna talk about it all?

Chris (29:22.261)
And that's

Dan (29:22.424)
Okay, Bill.

Bobby (29:22.449)
You know, this one reminded me of a 95 goal because the clogging in the neutral zone right before this goal was like just a total team effort. It just looked like dejection on the side of the devil or the ducks. And the next thing you know, freezes up the wall and it's three nothing and this thing's over.

Dan (29:38.919)
It's got to burn too to let that one line that you've largely been really good at keeping off the board just come alive and they had no answer for them.

Chris (29:47.843)
No, they had no answers for him and now you're up three. It's about 345 left in game seven and

Tony (29:56.666)
that Goal song, you never hear that anymore because Gary Glitter got himself arrested. You remember that Goal song? That was a big thing back then.

Chris (30:01.121)
Yeah, that's right. But.

Dan (30:01.443)
Yeah, I don't really like the new one any better than I really like that one. They always kind of annoy me, but this one had to go, I guess.

Chris (30:10.059)
Yeah, this one had to go. And then

Tony (30:11.334)
Yeah, how'd go?

Bobby (30:11.601)
Think about this, I Rupp had himself a knight, right? He's got the first goal, he factored in them both of the next two goals. He's got two goals and assists in a game seven Stanley Cup final of which he's played a total of like 15 NHL games. That's just an incredible knight.

Chris (30:27.221)
You're not kidding. And this was the last minute or so of that game so we can enjoy.

Chris (31:48.011)
And that was good for Brodor's seventh shutout of the playoffs. Am I right about that, Bob? Seven, right? Okay.

Bobby (31:54.779)
Yeah, Three in the finals, four up to the finals,

Chris (31:59.107)
Shots on goal for that game Anaheim 24, New Jersey 25. The three stars of the game were Scott Niedermeyer, the third star Jeff Reason was the second and Marty Brodor was the first. Do we really need to bitch a moan about Joggerget and the Kahn Smythe anymore or are we going to just move past that bullshit?

Dan (31:59.427)
That's crazy.

Dan (32:16.769)
I think we all said what needed to be said along the way.

Chris (32:20.106)
Yeah, we did. Yeah, we did. And if you go ahead, Bob.

Bobby (32:20.273)
Yeah, we know who should have won that. I was going say, we always talk about where we were with some of these really impressive games. This one, I remember too, because in 95, it was kind of a cheer effort in your basement apartment there. 2000 was the shock of overtime. This one, we were sitting in your seaside apartment, and to a man, we were just kind of grinning.

We were just watching silent. weren't standing up freaking out. We were all just like had this great expression of complete joy for that last couple of minutes. We knew we were going to win it much like we did in 95 too, but that was, you know, four games. was, were just a little more excited there, but this, was a stoic kind of, I don't know. It was just so enjoyable. the way, the way we celebrated.

Chris (33:06.435)
Well yeah, once you get into the third period of that game, you know it's kind of, you know, this is over, you know, they're not gonna come back. The way the Devils were playing in that game, they got right back to what they did the first few games of this series and what they had been doing the whole playoffs up till then. And it was a thing of beauty to go into your home building in game seven and pitch a shutout, a 25 save shutout, against a really good team.

Dan (33:11.287)
You know, you know.

Chris (33:34.839)
that lit you up for six goals two nights earlier is really impressive. And that's just another thing that goes to Brodor. We always say how he's able to shake off bad goals. He was even better at shaking off bad games. This was not even a question of nobody ever, well, Marty played a crap game the night before, let's see what we're gonna get. He never thought like that because he never put together, Bobby, we talking about this. Do you remember?

Dan (33:41.378)
Absolutely.

Chris (34:03.775)
ever saying, you know, the devils, the devils will be all right as long as Marty can kind of get back to playing Marty hockey. Like you never.

Dan (34:04.193)
A slump, a Marty slump.

Dan (34:10.115)
I mean, that happens all the time and we just never experienced that with Martin Bordour. He never had some extended period of he just doesn't have his mojo. He's got to get it back. He's suffering with this and that. And it happens to almost everybody but him. He was always at a super high level.

Tony (34:24.432)
Yeah, those one playoffs though against the Hurricanes that killed me that one year. That broke my heart. That was a rough one. That was like a...

Chris (34:30.015)
Yeah, I mean, there were there were a few rough ones in there, know, absolutely. The team.

Tony (34:35.898)
He was great though.

Dan (34:36.431)
But it's hard to find two, three games in a row where Marty's not Marty. He had those games, they would come up. And they lost some series where, boy, if he just had been his best self on this game, could have been a different series. He's not superhuman. But it's hard to find him do bad games twice in a row, really hard.

Chris (34:40.919)
Right.

Tony (34:51.344)
He was fun to watch too. I Marty was, he was.

Chris (35:00.051)
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Bobby (35:18.01)
Never heard it.

Tony (35:19.714)
I never heard that in my life. That's the only time I've ever heard

Dan (35:20.825)
Hot toddy.

Okay.

Chris (35:23.811)
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Bobby (36:28.689)
The show is sponsored by BetterHelp and BetterHelp wants to remind us that we have curiosity and that we should continue to try new things. We don't want to look back as we get older and realize that there were things we wanted to do that we just decided we didn't have time for. That sounded a lot like Dan, Tony. As adults, we lose some of that curiosity,

Dan (36:43.278)
like anal.

Tony (36:44.676)
No.

Dan (36:54.475)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Bobby (36:58.225)
We don't often know how to get back on track. Thankfully, it's not a chief. Dude. therapy. I'm trying now. Listen, therapy is not just for traumatic events or for dealing with Tony. It can actually help you get back in touch with your inner curiosity and remember what truly makes you happy. If you ever thought about giving therapy a try, give BetterHelp a try.

Tony (37:00.826)
Bobby, what's your thing that you could never achieve?

Tony (37:05.786)
You

Chris (37:12.203)
Yeah, Bob. Come on, finish that read.

Bobby (37:27.953)
Just fill out a brief questionnaire and get matched with a licensed therapist. Now you can change anytime for no additional charge. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp .com slash THPN today to get 10 % off your first month. That's BetterHelpHTLP .com slash THPN.

Chris (37:45.793)
Very good. It's back guys. The devil you know is back. We have not done this in months and we're gonna play a game.

Dan (37:46.723)
All right, that was very good.

Dan (37:51.95)
Woohoo!

I'm so ready to play a game.

Chris (38:17.195)
All right, it is time for the Devil You Know. Tonight, Tony will be giving us clues to a former New Jersey Devil player. Myself, Bobby, and Dan get three incorrect guesses before we are eliminated. We can ask Tony any question we want. He can or cannot answer it. It is completely up to him. And we haven't done this in a long time, so I don't even remember who we were using. Tony, you're up, buddy.

Tony (38:38.75)
Bobby, think you're gonna get I'm gonna pick Bobby on this one. I have a feeling you're gonna nab this one I'll give you a little confidence there. Yeah, this former devil was born in Minnesota

Bobby (38:42.235)
Ooh, all right.

Tony (38:51.846)
This former devil was born March 28th, 1977.

Tony (38:59.834)
This former devil played for three NHL teams.

Tony (39:07.462)
This former devil used to shoot left when he played. Former devil, let see here, was 6 '1 and 215 pounds during his playing days.

Chris (39:20.579)
Okay.

Tony (39:22.054)
This former devil played a total of 545 games in that period. He would score eight game winning goals.

Dan (39:22.413)
Did you say who he was drafted by?

Tony (39:38.79)
This former devil played 207 games with the devils. 207.

Chris (39:42.723)
207

Chris (39:47.521)
Okay. Alright, he was a winger. American winger from left wing. Okay.

Tony (39:49.54)
He played left wing, center. Yep.

Tony (39:57.36)
former devil also played for the Buffalo Sabres.

Chris (40:02.317)
What was his third team?

Tony (40:04.474)
I'll get to, I have that down the list.

Tony (40:09.456)
former devil played two years for the University of Minnesota before going pro.

Chris (40:18.039)
Hmm.

Dan (40:18.275)
where he was born.

Tony (40:19.846)
Yes. He also won the Mr. Hockey Award in 1995, a trophy that goes to the best high school hockey player in Minnesota.

Dan (40:29.569)
Okay. Did you say?

Chris (40:30.563)
So in 1995, he was in high school.

Tony (40:33.432)
Yes.

Dan (40:33.711)
Right. And he was born in 77. So yeah, he. Yeah, exactly.

Chris (40:37.251)
like 46 now.

Tony (40:41.638)
This former devil was drafted in 1996.

Chris (40:46.455)
Who was he drafted by?

Tony (40:49.115)
Buffalo.

Chris (40:50.435)
in 1996. Okay. Sixth overall.

Tony (40:52.528)
Yep. Sixth overall.

Dan (40:56.953)
Wow.

Bobby (41:00.251)
Did we say how many years he played with the Devils?

Tony (41:02.296)
Not yet. This former devil played pro. Yeah. Yeah. This former devil played pro 97 through 2009.

Chris (41:04.547)
That's 207 games, at least two and a half, over two years.

Chris (41:15.427)
1997 to 2009, he retired in 2009? Alright.

Tony (41:18.02)
Yep. Yep.

Chris (41:24.759)
I don't have any questions. I want to know when he played for New Jersey.

Tony (41:28.998)
This former devil fought Trevor Daly on October 7th, 2006 against the Stars after he injured Zuboff.

Chris (41:40.001)
Hmm. What was the date of that?

Tony (41:43.11)
2006.

Chris (41:47.523)
2006.

Tony (41:47.59)
So I'll tell you the dates, I'll jump ahead for a second and tell you the dates that he played with New Jersey, the Deers. It was 2003, 2004 season he played 69 games, 2005, 2006 season he played 67 games, 2006, 2007 season he played 71 games for the Devils.

Chris (41:51.746)
Okay.

Bobby (42:04.357)
So he was not on the cup team. He came in the next year, the next fall. Okay.

Tony (42:10.662)
So this former devil scored 52 goals and 76 assists, 128 points, was a plus five and had 305 penalty minutes during his career.

Chris (42:11.011)
Okay.

Chris (42:23.277)
Minnesota left winger, sixth overall, huh?

Bobby (42:31.259)
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tony, but I'm not getting anywhere with this one.

Dan (42:32.279)
What was his what was his draft year? What was his draft year again? Ninety six, you said.

Chris (42:32.629)
Yeah, I don't have anything.

Tony (42:32.838)
Okay, this 96

Chris (42:37.571)
draft year was 96.

Tony (42:42.374)
Okay, so this former devil, had 15 goals and 18 assists in his three years with the devils.

Bobby (42:50.865)
That's not great.

Chris (42:52.171)
No, not at all.

Tony (42:54.662)
This former devil would play in a total of 25 playoff games with the Devils and 52 playoff games in his career. He had two goals and seven assists. He had two points in the 0304 playoffs with New Jersey.

Dan (43:11.715)
Did you, did you, sorry, say it again.

Chris (43:11.97)
How many goals?

Tony (43:15.27)
two assists in the playoffs that year.

Chris (43:17.826)
Mmm.

Tony (43:20.23)
but he played a total of 25 playoff games with the Devils.

Chris (43:25.123)
Okay.

Tony (43:27.078)
I ain't got much left here, I see.

Chris (43:29.003)
I gotta actually stop and think about this for a second here. An American left winger.

back in 2003 to 2007.

Tony (43:41.126)
Yeah, and played over 60 games on all those seasons. So he had regular ice time.

Chris (43:44.077)
who was an extremely high pick. So he was definitely well scouted, right? I mean, like...

Tony (43:53.126)
played with Buffalo.

He played with, I think it was the Kings was the other team he played with.

Dan (43:59.373)
Okay, he was drafted by Buffalo, not the Devils.

Tony (44:01.07)
Yes, drafted by Buffalo. The Kings. Yeah.

Chris (44:01.473)
Yeah, who was his third team? The Kings. And so he went with Buffalo and then he played with the Kings and then he came to us last.

Tony (44:10.97)
Devils if he had finished his career in New Jersey.

Bobby (44:16.923)
can only even recall a couple names from Buffalo from that era.

Dan (44:21.293)
I know, I was thinking of like older guys like Andrew Chuck and

Tony (44:27.097)
One more here.

Chris (44:27.521)
Yeah, that's who I was thinking, Andrew Chuck. But I can't think of anybody else that came from Minnesota.

Tony (44:36.646)
This former devil would play for the 1996 and 97 United States World Champion Junior Team and the 2002 US Men's Championship Team. World Championship Team.

Dan (44:46.935)
You're sure this is a winger? He was a center too.

Tony (44:49.22)
Yeah, plate center wing, left wing. Yep, yep.

Chris (44:53.405)
okay.

Hmm.

Dan (44:57.079)
And he was definitely American because I'm thinking of.

Tony (44:59.418)
Yep, from Minnesota.

Chris (45:05.717)
I'm thinking like Zach Parisi, but he wasn't he's from Minnesota, but he's not that big. And he was drafted by New Jersey.

Dan (45:09.763)
No, no, and he was a double drought. Yeah, everything. Yeah.

Tony (45:10.555)
No.

Dan (45:15.737)
What about Rasmussen? Rasmussen? can't, Eric Rasmussen, okay? I totally forgot his first name. Yeah, that's why I was thinking, are you sure this guy's American? Cause I'm thinking of like, I remember we got, I thought he was like a Swede or maybe a Finnish. I didn't even realize he was an American player.

Tony (45:17.242)
Yep. Yep. Eric Rasmussen. Yep. Yep.

Bobby (45:19.432)
Eric Rasmussen. Yeah. I didn't even know he was American. He was from Minnesota.

Chris (45:20.513)
Is that in?

Tony (45:34.501)
Yeah.

Bobby (45:34.693)
Yeah, that's tough. That's good, man.

Chris (45:35.319)
That's a good one. Eric Rasmussen. No, I never would have remembered him either.

Dan (45:38.596)
Wow.

Bobby (45:39.119)
That name just does not sound like it's from Minnesota to me.

Dan (45:41.591)
And he still doesn't... When I hear his name, I always forget that he was a devil. He's one of those guys that I don't even...

Tony (45:47.142)
And he was there for three years. played over 60 games on all, know, 71 games in one season.

Dan (45:49.677)
Yeah, I was actually kind of surprised at those stats.

Chris (45:50.463)
I have an article, you guys wanna go over it? Or does anyone have anything they wanna do first?

Dan (45:58.126)
Yeah.

Bobby (46:02.993)
You know what we did just kind of glance over the kind of conclusion to 2003 and the championship I got one more chapter here with you know reading with Bob and then we'll start then we'll put this away. We'll put this away for a little bit

Chris (46:10.146)
Yeah.

Storytime with Bobby!

Dan (46:14.881)
I love it. I like it. He takes the book out and the bookmark. feel like I'm back in like second grade. The teacher's going to read to me. It's great. Yeah.

Chris (46:22.795)
I know, isn't nap time.

Bobby (46:23.289)
Isn't it great? Just trying to, you know, all different avenues of entertainment here.

Dan (46:27.992)
It's great.

Chris (46:28.327)
Let me ask you a quick question before you read this. So when the Devils win the Cup this year, how long do we have to go before we do a recap of that?

Bobby (46:37.329)
Like if they want it say like June 10th, think like June 11th, it's probably good.

Chris (46:40.695)
Yeah, June 11th, that's what I was thinking. All right.

Dan (46:43.247)
I was gonna say, because if we wait the same amount of time, we might be like 80 years old.

Chris (46:46.563)
Right? I'm not saying 21 years. I'm just saying.

Bobby (46:47.683)
In fact, we could have a monthly anniversary of the cup clenching game and just keep doing it all through the summer. Yeah.

Dan (46:49.433)
Yeah.

Chris (46:53.581)
Wow, it's gonna happen. Maybe not this year, but it's gonna happen. All right, go ahead, Bobby.

Dan (46:56.175)
Okay, I like it. Optimism.

Bobby (46:59.089)
This chapter is called Happily Ever After. Did your heart jump when they announced the scratches for Game 7 of 2003 Stanley Cup Finals and Ken Danico wasn't one of them? Devils coach Pat Burns had scratched Kenny during the first six games of that series as New Jersey and the Ducks battled all the way to a seventh game. The night before Game 7, Burns called Kenny over and told him he was putting him in for Game 7. I thought I should have been playing anyway, Danico said.

I think 99 % of the people did too. But I'm a believer it happened for a reason. The Devils won Game 7 3 -0 while the crowd chanted Dan -O -Dan -O every time he got his stick on the puck. He'd won two other cups in New Jersey, but this one had an entirely different feel to it. For me, Danico said, it was kind of the perfect ending. He would retire from the game about a month later at a farewell press conference that was emotional as the night, that was as emotional as the night in Game 7. I had a couple of calls, Danico said.

Token calls from teams, possible signings, coming to camp. I really didn't entertain the idea. I wasn't coming back to New Jersey. It was just the way I wanted it to end. He loved labeling himself as Lunchpale Guy, the New Jersey Devils fans could relate to. Kenny insisted he probably knew about two thirds of the fans who attended Game 7. I think that's probably accurate. Kenny seems to know everybody. The arena sits 19 ,040 for hockey games.

Chris (48:19.234)
Yeah.

Bobby (48:24.465)
By Kenny's estimate, he knew 12 ,693 of those fans. Seems high, but Kenny does know a lot of people. Maybe that's why the cheers resonated so loudly that final night of his career. Some people have storybook endings, Danico said. Mine ended up the old Cinderella happily ever after as far as my career went. The great Kenny Danico.

Chris (48:27.745)
You

Chris (48:45.835)
It is every athlete's dream. When they're kids and they think about winning a championship no matter what the sport and whatever, there's always, how do you want to end it? You want to end it by winning the big one and stepping down. And not a lot of guys get to do that. And to be honest with you, really Peyton Manning and Ken Danico are like the only two that come to mind.

Dan (48:46.479)
Yeah, that is a hell of an end to your career.

Dan (49:05.849)
Right?

Chris (49:14.401)
walked away when they won the cup. mean, so it's awesome.

Dan (49:16.717)
Yeah. And it was extra sweet that he hadn't played in that series and he comes back and I'm not saying like his play was amazing. It was good, but they also played that brand of devil's hockey that is synonymous with Danico being super tight in your own end. And, you know, that what a way to close it out, you know, even a little extra twist on the end. He's out. He may never come back and play again. And he gets pulled back for that last game.

Chris (49:22.134)
Right.

Dan (49:46.051)
makes the most of it. great.

Bobby (49:47.055)
You know, how hard it must be to like, complicate the decision even more by coming off of a championship team, where maybe you feel like you got a little bit left in a tank and you feel like this team can win again, but you're also trying to be realistic with yourself and your age and your ability. It's got to be really awful. And for most people, like Kenny had a long career. Most athletes don't have that long of career. mean, the average athletic shelf life is probably five years, six. It doesn't seem like it because the names you know.

Chris (50:10.242)
Right?

Bobby (50:16.527)
You know them because they're around for decade plus, but most athletes have a very small shelf life, a contract or two at best. So you want to stay as long as possible.

Chris (50:25.635)
Yeah, and to win it with the team that drafted you, the team that you've been there, you know, like, I know everybody loves to talk about Ray Bork in 96, but he had to leave fucking Boston to win a cup. know, Danico never had to do that. Like, and then I'm not comparing Danico to Ray Bork. They're completely different players. Don't get me wrong. But yeah, I mean, Dano has more cups. So yeah, I think Ray Bork retired after that too, right? So he might be another one. He never played again after that.

Dan (50:38.104)
Yep.

Dan (50:43.811)
Yeah, I liked Dan and it was played a lot better.

Tony (50:44.666)
you

Dan (50:49.41)
He sure does.

Tony (50:53.157)
Yeah.

Bobby (50:53.489)
Yeah, Borks was 2000. 2001, mean, not 96. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because again, that's another year that's all everybody cared about was Borks Cup.

Chris (50:56.707)
No. Yeah, 2001. Yeah. I'm sorry. I said 96. You're right. That was the other year that Colorado won.

Dan (50:59.362)
Yeah.

Dan (51:04.495)
And that was more that year. And 96 was more about wah doing the same thing, but you know, he did stay on for a little longer.

Chris (51:09.067)
Yeah. Yeah, he won a few cups with them. So, Lyle Fitzsimmons from Bleacher Report wrote, So, thought this would be kind of fun. So, let's see. Let's see right here. Let me just...

Dan (51:21.539)
Mmm.

Chris (51:31.031)
You're right, so Bleacher Report hockey team already in giddy anticipation seized on the expectations narrative to come up with a list of the half dozen teams most likely to disappoint this year, whether by failing to chase a title, failing to chase a postseason berth, or failing to keep people's attention past the opening few weeks. Take a look of what we came up with and drop a thought in the comments. Or we'll just talk about it, Lyle. Number one team he has is Buffalo Sabres. I mean...

Dan (51:57.944)
Okay.

Chris (51:58.687)
is anybody really expecting much from buffalo but he

Dan (52:00.847)
Well, that's you said the key word with this still thing. I think in order to be disappointed and let down, you have to have expectations, right? You said expect who's expecting this. I don't know.

Chris (52:12.363)
Well, mean, it seems like this time every year we're expecting Buffalo to take that next step. You know, they have a lot of pieces, man. They really do. Like their blue line is pretty good. They have young, good goaltending, but I don't know, man. There's just, this year I think it's going to fall on the coach. I hate to shit talk Lindy, but so he writes as Floyd.

Dan (52:33.741)
I do wonder if like a young group favors his style, like a super young group, and we had just kind of aged out of that, and maybe he'll find success with Buffalo. I mean, I wish him well, but I wouldn't bet on it, yeah.

Chris (52:42.307)
Eh, maybe. I doubt it, though. No. He writes as Floyd Mayweather Jr. used to tell nearly every opponent after schooling them across 12 intermittently violent rounds in the boxing ring, there's levels to this. And no, precisely no one outside the pugilist household, and probably not even in it, is expecting a Stanley Cup parade through downtown Buffalo come mid to late June. But there is an expectation of improvement, and given the sturdiness of the rest of the Eastern Conference and the marked improvement of

few teams who didn't reach the playoffs last spring. It seems a tough ask for the Sabres to end a 13 -year postseason drought. Buffalo was 12th in the conference and 22nd in the league last season and fell seven points short of the final wild card spot captured by the Caps.

been the stuff to ensure another may not have the stuff to ensure another birth but it's pretty certain that two teams behind the Sabres, New Jersey and Ottawa will have a significant bump from their 81 and 78 points respectively which could vault them past Buffalo and either instantly into the 18 field or at least in better position to reach it than the Sabres. The good news for Western New York fans at least the Buffalo Bills are a pretty good football team. So I agree with that Buffalo Bills are very good football team.

And I don't think the Buffalo Sabres are making the playoffs. I think you can just pencil that in for 14 years without a postseason berth. What do you guys think?

Dan (54:09.677)
Yeah, in that sense, guess I'd agree it's disappointing, put that way.

Tony (54:13.009)
you

Chris (54:15.081)
And the second team he has is a team that Dan is, I guess I could say, high on being low on. And that's the Carolina Hurricanes. Remember what we were saying about levels. The Carolina Hurricanes are a perfect example. Coach Rod Brindemore and company have been a playoff fixture in recent years, making the tournament and winning at least one series for six straight years.

Dan (54:20.963)
Yes.

Yeah.

Chris (54:37.027)
They were second in the Metropolitan and third overall in the league with 111 points last season, and there's little reason to believe they won't still be among the top tier when the play begins next month. I disagree with that, but it won't look quite the same, and that's likely to matter in the end. Carolina will be in rebuilding mode on the blue line after the departures of Brady Shea, Brett Pesci, respectively, and it's an ability to entice trade deadline acquisitions like Jake Getzell to stay. He instead took the money and ran to Tampa.

leaves a familiar hole when it comes to proven offense in the top six. It's certainly no time to shed tears for a Hurricanes team that'll probably still be quite successful, but it wouldn't be hyperbolic to suggest that the preseason calls for another championship parade in Raleigh are just a little less loud than they've been in recent years. I completely agree. I do not think that the Carolina Hurricanes have what it takes to do any kind of damage this year, especially now what Anti -Ronta just left the NHL, too. Like, they have players leaving left and right.

I have no faith in what that team can do.

Bobby (55:40.113)
This team kind of reminds me of the Devils post the 2003 Cup, where they're just going to hang around and be tough to play. And you might always have that fear that if they got rolling in the playoffs, they could pop a long run out, kind of like we did in 2012, but that they're never really going to accomplish their goal. And the difference being the Devils just come off winning three cups in like eight years and they haven't, what was it? six was their last? it? Yeah, that was the only one.

Chris (56:07.171)
That was it, 06.

Bobby (56:09.349)
So that's what they remind me of. Like, I think they missed their window. Again, a shocking run could happen, but it just doesn't feel like that anymore.

Dan (56:17.431)
And worse off, at least during the broduriers of that section, you always had that worried to worry about if you're to play him. They have not addressed the big thing that held them back from climbing to the mountaintop, which was goaltending. They didn't get any better there. And that in a year where they got worse defensively, I think it's going to hurt them.

Chris (56:37.173)
I can see a team like Carolina starting off pretty good. Friday Anderson's healthy in the beginning of the year. I think he'll, they'll play. Okay. I think they'll get some points, but I think once the season starts wearing on, you're going to start seeing them dip. I just think they don't have enough talent on that team to sustain. think Freddie Anderson is not going to be your long -term answer there in, in net. So yeah, I.

I'd see them making the playoffs, but I don't necessarily want to pencil them in for top three in the Metro yet. I think if they make it, it's going to be a wild card. I do think there are some other teams in the Metro that are better. What do you think, Tone?

Tony (57:15.84)
Yeah, I think they're gonna make the playoffs again this year actually. And I do think they're gonna, I think it's like you guys said, I don't think they're as good as they were last year. But I think for them to get in the playoffs, they're gonna need Anderson to kinda really have a good season. I mean, that's gonna be a big thing with them. Don't know, just, they've been good for the last few years, like a solid team that I can't, I think they'll get in next year. But like you guys have said, I think it's gonna be not as powerful.

Chris (57:44.707)
The third team he has, like I said, I never really read these. I have no idea what he's going to say about this team, but I find it hard to believe that this team is even going to take a step back. I have them for winning the Atlantic division. Bobby has them winning the Atlantic division. This is the Florida Panthers, the defending Stanley Cup champions and two time defending Eastern Conference champs.

So he writes,

But high achievement bring high expectations, and unless the Panthers can work through the Eastern Conference gauntlet yet again, it's going to feel like a letdown. And at least in mid -September, the forecast is to expect one. General Manager Bill Zito accomplished his top priority in resigning forward Sam Reinhart for eight years, but the Florida Hull took broadside hits when the exits of defensemen Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman -Larson to Seattle and Toronto respectively.

forward Ryan Lumberg to Calgary and veteran sniper Vladimir Teresenko to Detroit. It doesn't mean instant doom and gloom for the champs, but the mass exodus is bound to mean something both on the ice and in the locker room, which sets the Panthers up for failure in relative terms when compared to what they've grown accustomed to. alright.

Add of the guys that left, I think the guy that leaves the biggest hole is Brandon Montour. He was quarterback in your first power play unit. You know, I think you get by without OEL, you get by without LeBriain Lombard, and you get by without Vladimir Teresenko. I do not think these guys are big difference makers, but I do think Montour can, that can be a problem area. But at the same time, Paul Maurice just plugs guys in and they seem to play great, right? Like Forsling was

Dan (59:22.51)
Yeah.

Chris (59:47.107)
picked up off fucking waivers and he was the best defenseman in the final, in the playoffs last year so...

Dan (59:51.543)
And I know we're going with the rosters we have now for this discussion, but they got it's hole that can be filled very easily and free agency and trade deadline things. It's going to make them a hell of a dangerous team. They don't have a lot of weaknesses. I think he's kind of overstating how much they're going to, you know, not meet expectations. I mean, if you're expecting another cup, that's always a dangerous game to play. But who is expecting them not to make the playoffs between them and Carolina? I mean, it.

Clearly it's Carolina who has a better chance. Neither one of them have a great chance of missing the playoffs. Going deep in them? Yeah, I mean, I guess if I'm a Panthers fan, I'm going to be disappointed without another cup and for sure without a conference final appearance. But you know what? I mean, it's a tough playoffs. I don't think it's, say, they're a disappointing team if they made it maybe past the first round and stumbled a little bit. I don't know.

Chris (01:00:22.019)
Was this?

Chris (01:00:45.911)
And that's what I see happening to Florida. I see Florida getting bounced in the second round. That's what I see.

Dan (01:00:51.353)
Quite possible. There's still going to be dangerous uptell that that, you know, all three of playoffs, nobody's going to want to pull them.

Chris (01:00:57.005)
But then again, I could also see him winning the cup again, so.

Dan (01:00:59.97)
Yeah, exactly.

Tony (01:01:00.504)
Yeah, they're an interesting team. know, with them, gotta, first of all, if Bob, if he can stand on his head again this year, that will be a big thing for them. But I think Montor is the biggest loss because you can like, like Tarasenko, you can find someone to plug into that, someone in a free agency to plug into that, you know, get the same numbers that he gave you. But I think, yeah, yeah, you can plug that in.

Chris (01:01:19.073)
Yeah, Teresenko played on the third line for them all playoffs. You can find a third -liner that can chip in with some goals.

Tony (01:01:26.448)
Florida's good though and I think they're a greedy team and I think they'll still be good but I mean, they're definitely going to the playoffs. I can't picture them not making it.

Chris (01:01:37.121)
The only way that happens is if guys like Bennett, Reinhardt, and like Kachak go out for long periods of time and get injured a lot and stuff like shit that happened to us that doesn't happen a lot. You know, it happens to New Jersey and it happens to apparently the Los Angeles Rams if you're a football team. Bobby, what do you think about?

Tony (01:01:43.365)
Yeah.

Dan (01:01:44.334)
Right.

Tony (01:01:53.158)
You

Dan (01:01:54.445)
Yeah, I don't care how good the team is, but at that many ends.

Bobby (01:01:54.991)
Yeah. Listen, I get why he's got a team like this on the list. You got to have kind of one of those big teams and say there's a step down if, you know, if they don't win because they just won the cup. There's only one other place to go that's equal to it that's winning another cup, but it really is all relative. I mean, this could be a completely solid team and they could lose a round or two and still.

to me that's not that they didn't meet expectations. They're not a cup or bust team. It's not like they're about to, you know, this is their window and it's slam and shut. They just won the cup. They went to the finals the year before. They're a great team. I just think this is one of those, you know, this is like article magic here. They just want to get people interested.

Chris (01:02:32.961)
Yeah, seven other teams are going to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference and all seven of them are not going to want to play Florida, period. Whether in the first round, the second round, the third round, nobody wants to play them.

Dan (01:02:35.299)
Yeah.

Dan (01:02:41.441)
Absolutely. It's going to be the worst poll to get. Nobody wants to play it. Definitely not.

Bobby (01:02:43.033)
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Tony (01:02:44.59)
And there's a lot of teams that just sit down and take a look at how they played last year and take some notes because Florida really they were all around. had everything going on in those playoffs.

Dan (01:02:54.191)
Yeah, I think they might lead to a kind of a sea change in the ways coaches approach their team defense. They really did a great job kind of bringing back a good defense first system when we've had, you know, with few exceptions, largely offensive focused teams, you know, getting the rewards over the last 10, 15 years.

Chris (01:03:16.397)
You're right. The fourth team on this list is a team that we all, consensus agree, is definitely going to dip down a lot. I have them not making the playoffs this year, and that's the Los Angeles Kings. So he writes, the aforementioned Panthers were able to overcome the Edmonton Oilers, but the Kings are still trying to find a way. The most successful of the league's Southern California teams has been sent home by the Oilers after three straight

consecutive first -round playoff matchups, including a five -game squash last spring after the Kings had seized home ice advantage with a game -two win in Edmonton. It was a disappointing end to yet another season in LA, and it feels even more impactful given what occurred in the subsequent months with the departures of goaltenders Cam Talbot, along with key pieces Matt Roy, Victor Arbitz and Blake Lazotte, in addition to trades that sent away Carl Grunström and Pierre -Luc Dubois. The Dubois deal made a positive difference

in that it unloaded one of the league's worst contracts, but the addition of Darcy Kemper from Washington to take the number one goaltender duties doesn't seem like the move likely to ensure a deep playoff run. Anzai Kopitar is still a star at age 37, and Drew Doughty is back for another pursuit at 34, but unless the unproven players on the younger side of the aisle assert themselves in a big way, even another first round fold might be asking too much this time around. I agree with that 100%.

I don't see him making the playoffs. It's Kopitar, it's Doughty, it's Quentin Bifold, and basically that's it. And Bifold's young, we don't know what he has. The other guys are old, we don't know what they have left. And Darcy Kemper does absolutely nothing for me.

Bobby (01:04:56.721)
This is probably the one I agree with the most on his list considering the topic that he's actually trying to do because the perception I think out there in general is that the Kings are still the Kings. So for that reason, I think it squarely fits on this list. I don't, I agree with you. I just think that, you know, I don't know where this team is. I don't think I had him going into the playoffs either.

Chris (01:05:16.959)
Anything to add on LA?

Tony (01:05:18.713)
I'm with you guys.

Dan (01:05:19.043)
No, I mean it sounds very plausible.

Chris (01:05:21.293)
You Bobby, you just made a good point like there are certain teams that you look at that you're like, you know, we did this with the Buffalo in the first one. Like what are we really expecting from them? And this fifth team, I completely agree. We've talked about these guys as just, we have no idea what's going on with them and they're extremely forgettable. And that's St. Louis Blues. And yeah, you literally forgot them.

Dan (01:05:43.811)
Right.

Bobby (01:05:44.239)
I literally forgot them when we were picking our things. I literally forgot them.

Chris (01:05:48.471)
You're like, I only have seven teams in this division. What am I doing? I forgot the blues because they are so freaking forgettable. And he writes, nothing else, the St. Louis blues made some noise this summer. GM Doug Archeron took advantage of an off discussed, but little utilized means of roster building when he tendered offer sheets to restricted free agents, Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, and ultimately wrestled them away from the Edmonton Oilers.

Bobby (01:05:52.763)
Yep, they are very forgettable.

Chris (01:06:13.155)
The former first round picks gained experience during the Oilers run to the Cup final and Armstrong bet big on them to continue that trajectory, signing Broberg to two years at better than $4 .5 million apiece and Holloway just shy of $2 .3 million per. Snatching the pair from Alberta and holding on the forward Pavel Bukbusnevich

was with a six -year, $48 million extension, where Armstrong's only headline grabbing transactions, which was fine for attracting short -term attention, but not exactly ground -shaking when it comes to boosting the fortunes of a team that missed the playoffs by six points last spring. The Blues were 24th in the league and just

which has 2 .85 goals per game in 23 -24 and won't experience much of a change even with Broberg and Holloway who have combined for precisely 11 goals and 31 points across 170 career regular season games. Could they find their way into the mix for an eighth seed come springtime? Sure, but it's more likely Armstrong is answering questions about a third straight playoff miss while Broberg and Holloway are watching former teammates on television.

I agree with that 100%. I have no place in my life for the St. Louis Blues. I don't like them as a team. I don't like Missouri as a state. And blue is probably my least favorite color. So where are we going?

Tony (01:07:29.39)
You

Bobby (01:07:29.873)
All right, we're good.

Dan (01:07:32.985)
There you go. Suck it, Missouri.

Tony (01:07:33.764)
the

Chris (01:07:34.977)
And the final one on this one, curious what he's going to say about this because I think this team can win the cup. Vegas.

He says, the Florida Panthers before them, don't waste tears on the Golden Knights. The desert -based organization has made the playoffs in all but one of its seven NHL seasons. I know, right? The furthest Southern California team, the team that plays in the desert, the southernmost team. Ugh. Such a douche.

Bobby (01:07:54.107)
So overly descriptive. Writing.

Bobby (01:08:02.435)
The silver shiny chalice of sports.

Dan (01:08:08.407)
You flowery asshole.

Chris (01:08:13.379)
Alright, let's see. Injuries in collective aging began to take their toll in 23 -24 when the Knights managed to sneak into the playoffs at the number 8 seed and were quickly dispatched in seven games by the Stars. And then leaving Las Vegas became a theme for the summer.

Franchise stalwart Jonathan Marchesol was the highest profile departure when he went to Nashville with the lucrative free agency deal and was followed out the door by fellow forwards William Carrier, Chandler Stephenson, Michael Amadio, and Anthony Mountain, not to mention veteran defensa Alex Martinez. Goalie Logan Thompson was offloaded to Washington and though GM Kelly McCrimmon did welcome the likes of Iulia Samsonoff and Victor Olufsen on one -year deals, it's got to be recorded as a net loss both of skill and depth, but they have

Dan (01:08:30.009)
Mm -hmm

Chris (01:08:58.979)
They have Alex Holtz now. Like, this is done. These guys are winning the cup. The team has top end talent with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, but little safety net if they again deal with injuries, and of course they will. Like, Mark Stone can't stay healthy. Eichel hasn't played more than 67 games in two full seasons, with Vegas and Stone hasn't played as many as 70 since 2018 -19, which is split between the Knights and Ottawa, meaning any expectations that they'll be near 82 this time is a prop

Dan (01:09:01.069)
So no problem.

Bobby (01:09:02.219)
Chris (01:09:28.479)
appropriately a gamble. What do you guys think? Is that? Yeah, exactly. Do you think that that list is? Do you think there's any other teams that you could think of off the top of your head that you maybe would have put on this list? A team with some high hopes that you think are just not going to be the team that you think they are.

Dan (01:09:31.693)
I was waiting for him to get the gambling reference in there. It came at the end.

Bobby (01:09:50.821)
Well, mean, high hopes, I don't know. We've talked about Washington and how there's so much talk about how they got better and maybe they're ready for another push. I don't see it, but are there expectations there that if they didn't, that they fit this list of disappointment? I don't know. I see the Rangers, for example, collecting a lot of regular season points again and going nowhere in the playoffs. That's a disappointment to me. They should be on the list.

Dan (01:10:15.137)
I the same thing. Yeah, and I know other little blips, maybe not as big as those. Philadelphia had a great year last year. Yeah, they made a lot of improvement. Nobody was picking them to be some massively huge playoff team. So you could say expectations are low, but to them and their fans, I don't think they want to step back. And I think that's very possible. So we'll see.

Chris (01:10:38.349)
Yeah, I mean, I think the Flyers are going to be okay this year. I don't see them doing anything major. And I have Washington dead last in the Metropolitan Division. I do think that they will be dead last. I think Columbus will take them in points and take that seventh spot. I don't know. The Rangers, I guess we can put in there, but it's so hard to gauge that. Like, their team was so freaking good last year. And if their main guys show up in that final, they're probably playing for the cup.

You know, how much of that was the guys were injured on the Rangers, how much of that was the guys on the Rangers are not big time players, and how much of that was Florida just saying, no, no, no, you're not doing this. I think there's a little bit of all those things. So, but I think that they're aging and their windows getting smaller and smaller. And a lot of times when your window starts to shrink and you're not doing it, the noise gets louder.

Dan (01:11:13.359)
The narrating going away, yeah. Right.

Chris (01:11:34.869)
And sometimes that has adverse effects on you, especially in New York. If this team struggles a little bit, whether through injury or just whether through poor play, I see the fans in New York completely having a fucking conniption over this and calling for everybody's head. And that sometimes does force management in the Rangers to make stupid moves at trade deadlines and stuff like that. you can't take that out of the.

Dan (01:11:59.74)
absolutely.

Chris (01:12:01.461)
Equation because they've been known to do shit like that before so I still think the Metropolitan division comes down to the Rangers and the Devils. I don't know what the Rangers are gonna do in the playoffs I don't know what anybody's gonna do in the playoffs, but I could see them They're not gonna make it to the Eastern Conference final again You know preferably a second round defeat to us would be what I would like so I guess that would be a disappointment

Dan (01:12:26.767)
So, know, is it, it, yeah, to them and their fans, mean, that usually the team's fans are the last ones to believe that their team's gonna drop the ball or take a step back. And I think it's very likely that'll happen for them. It'd be a disappointment. I don't know. I see them as likely to make the playoffs and, know, a long shot to go as deep as they went last year. I totally agree that you're right to say.

Chris (01:12:52.246)
Yeah, I agree.

Dan (01:12:55.115)
one or two rounds is probably the most likely thing you get out of them.

Chris (01:12:59.253)
Anything else you guys want to add on this before we wrap it up for tonight?

Bobby (01:12:59.555)
And I mean, just again, it didn't feel like some of the teams were slotted. Like Florida, I would replace Florida with like maybe a Dallas stars because the Dallas stars have been so good for so long. It is starting to be like shit or get off the pot with them. Like people pick them every year to win. So that is to me where there's a disappointment if you don't, because you are literally expected your next in line. Like it's your turn. The statistics of repeating as a Stanley Cup champion are enough to say it's not a disappointment.

Dan (01:13:14.959)
point.

Bobby (01:13:28.771)
If you don't win it, it's a only cut back to back.

Dan (01:13:29.069)
Right. And then you got those teams that are perennial disappointments too, like, you know, Toronto, whatever. I'm sorry, Tony.

Tony (01:13:30.832)
But Dallas?

No, that's cool. Dallas will probably be good this year, but I think when I see this article, it kind of feels like what teams you think are basically are going to be so bad that they don't make the playoffs. That's the kind of vibe I got from it.

Bobby (01:13:47.045)
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I can, I'm not really sure which exact route he was going with disappointment. Like what about the Islanders? Like are they not disappointed because nobody knows who the hell they are? Like where are they going to be? Are they just a middling team?

Dan (01:13:55.692)
Right.

Chris (01:13:55.875)
And also you can look at it like, you know, I would have Edmonton on this Everybody thinks Edmonton is winning the cup this year. I don't think so So if they don't win the cup, that's a step back, right? If they don't make the Western Conference final That's a step back if LA figures them out, but they're not gonna but let's say Dallas does You know, there are good teams in the West Vancouver Dallas Vegas

Dan (01:14:02.84)
Yeah.

Bobby (01:14:05.327)
Right, so foregone conclusion.

Dan (01:14:05.528)
Yup.

Dan (01:14:16.591)
Right.

Chris (01:14:22.691)
I think there are a couple upstart teams that you gotta look out for like the Yetis, the Snow Globes or whatever they're called.

Dan (01:14:29.407)
I forget about the Yetis. I don't know how I could do it, but I forgot about the Yetis.

Tony (01:14:31.056)
Hahaha

Bobby (01:14:33.967)
Yunis are nice though by the way. They look good.

Chris (01:14:34.017)
So they are nice. They are nice. It's I think Yeti. Yeti Thai.

Dan (01:14:37.135)
Can we say Yetis or Yeti? What's the plural?

Bobby (01:14:40.047)
Yeti!

Dan (01:14:42.073)
I'm gonna have a hard time with this, do ya tie? Alright.

Chris (01:14:44.707)
but we don't know what their name is officially yet, but I think they did pretty much confirm it's Yeti. But no one's supposed to know that.

Tony (01:14:52.42)
Not yeti. Not yeti.

Dan (01:14:52.569)
Mormon crickets.

Bobby (01:14:54.651)
Nah, dude.

Chris (01:14:57.599)
On that note, man, I gotta get quicker on the buttons, because that should have been a drum roll. you know, that should have been... Yeah, wait, I can do it.

Dan (01:14:59.033)
Tony's lying today.

Tony (01:15:00.198)
Yeah

Tony (01:15:04.902)
Dun, dun, ja!

Bobby (01:15:06.011)
Bop bop bop bop

Dan (01:15:09.135)
How's it going?

Chris (01:15:11.597)
Or maybe not.

Dan (01:15:12.721)
wow. There we go.

Tony (01:15:14.067)
There you go.

Chris (01:15:14.199)
There we go. Alright, that was for you, Tone. That's what happens when I get... We have all four of us, I gotta start using the soundboard. Usually I just ignore it. So, alright, we're gonna wrap this thing up for tonight. Thanks for hanging out with us and reliving the last time the Devils won the Stanley Cup. Hopefully we can do this all again next spring and summer because that's what we wanna see. We're just here, four guys for a fourth cup. Wherever you're watching us, I'd like a five -star review, a positive download.

Bobby (01:15:14.769)
Production value is skyrocketing for season three folks. Stay tuned.

Tony (01:15:40.833)
guys in one go.

Chris (01:15:42.285)
Positive comment, download, subscription helps a little podcast that could. We are the Uncle Puckers. We'll see you when we see you.

Dan (01:15:48.237)
is out.

Tony (01:15:49.136)
base.