Grading The Devils Top 6

[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! What is up everybody? How are you guys doing today? Doing good. How are you? We're doing good. I mean, I'm okay. Same old, same old.

[00:00:32] But we are live on the Uncle Pucker YouTube channel. Me, Bob, and Mr. Tim. We got kind of some fun stuff to talk about today. I figured since we have a two-week break in the NHL action, I mean, we are going to talk a lot about the Four Nations coming up and stuff. But kind of want to go over just some of the players that are on this team right now, over-performing, under-performing, and kind of give our grades of how we feel

[00:01:00] as far as their production this year. So, you know, we're going to start in on that. But anything, any news, anything you guys want to touch on before we dive into that shit? Yeah, we got to talk about our future goalie before we go anywhere. Watched the Beanpot Challenge last night, tournament? Tim, I know you were watching it, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were going back and forth. Man, this kid looks good, huh? He had, what, 43 saves out of 44. His previous high was 25.

[00:01:27] He's got a .951 save percentage in his five college games to upset number one BC. It was the whole tournament, right? He saved 69 to 71 shots. Yeah, .972, I think, was his tournament save percentage. Unbelievable. And BC is fucking loaded. Like, you know, they have that Ryan Leonard kid. They have James Higgins, who's going to be first overall or top five now. He's kind of slipping a little bit. I watched the third period.

[00:01:55] Because I told you guys I was getting sucked in on Ryan Reynolds movies. So, I watched the third period. Did Jack Hughes decide to help BU out for a little bit before he headed up to Montreal? Or who's this Jack Hughes kid? I don't like that there's another kid playing hockey named Jack Hughes. Like, there's only one. And he's ours. And you can't have him BU. It's very odd to hear them saying, Jack Hughes. Like, I texted you guys. I'm already in my mind looking at this guy. This is our next goalie. Like, our next big goalie.

[00:02:25] I'm just convinced of it. Watching him play and his size. And then they mentioned Jack Hughes. And I forgot for a second that I was not actually watching any Devils. I was just watching some college kids. Yeah, this is like, you know. I had this name before that no-talent-ass clown started winning Grammys. Michael Bolton. All right. Fuck you guys. You got to go watch Office Space. Okay. It was an Office Space joke. Okay. Gotcha. Sorry. I do have a question.

[00:02:51] I have a question about college hockey in general. I don't follow college hockey. In all fairness, the only hockey I follow is the NHL. So, Yagorev is in BU now. Does he have, like, can he opt to go play in Utica at any time? Does he have to? Is he committed for a certain amount of time in Boston? How does that work? Because I don't know. Yeah. I mean, he can leave whenever he wants. Okay.

[00:03:20] That's what I was curious. But, I mean, I don't think he's going to. But, yeah. He'd have to sign, like, a pro contract and all that stuff. But, yeah. I'm pretty sure he could just leave whenever he wants. What were you going to say, Bob? I was going to say this is a Tim question. Okay. Oh. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I've been a huge BU fan forever since, like, February. Yes. First or so.

[00:03:50] So, as the college hockey expert here. Right. Yes. 11 days in here. His visa process was crazy. Like, there was an interview with him after the game where he went from Omaha. He went to the Bahamas to get his student visa. I don't know why he had to go to the Bahamas to do that. And then he went from the Bahamas to Boston. Pretty wild. I mean, if you're going to go to Boston, the best way, I guess, is via the Bahamas. I don't see why not. No. Absolutely.

[00:04:20] So, okay. So, what do you guys think? Like, when can we realistically see this kid in the Devils organization? Because he does look like the future. And it is exciting to see. I'd say two years of college. Three years. Five years of college. So, this year and next year is what you would think he would play in college. I think so. And it depends on how he progresses. I mean, look. He's come out of the gates hot.

[00:04:47] You know, I can't expect him to continue to just play like this. He'll probably have a little bit of a dip. His class schedule is insane. And he has said that education is a huge priority for him. So, shit, he may stay there all four years. I don't know. But I do see this year, next year, and then probably going to Utica after next year. The other thing to consider is he is only 18 years old. Like, we've got a pretty rare specimen on our hands here. How's his English?

[00:05:17] Good? Good? It's pretty good, yeah. I mean, he's been in Omaha for a couple years. It's still, you know, Russian accent. I'm a little concerned that he's taking a homeland security course at BU. So, are you thinking that maybe he's an agent? He's working. I think Putin got him young. And he's learned everything you can about these Tom Fitzgerald characters. I don't know. I mean, if he wins just a cup, though, I'm kind of, eh.

[00:05:46] Oh, we've got Mike Rupps in the chat. Economics major. Mike Rupps in the chat? Awesome. We're going to do that again? Okay. Never mind. All right. So, how about we dive into some topics here? Because we've been doing a lot of talking about our bottom six. I think everybody has been talking a lot about our bottom six. And we kind of have a little bit of data here to look at.

[00:06:12] We're going to start, though, with the top six, which I think how they're projected and stuff look pretty good. So, if you see here, we have this graph for anybody listening to us and not watching us. So, we have a graph of the Devils' top six players. These are the guys who have been playing the majority of the time on the top six. It's Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Heischer, Timo Meyers, Stephan Nason, and Andre Palat.

[00:06:39] We have their stats from the 23-24 abysmal season. We have where they are in the second graph here in the middle, where they are this year through 57 games. We have their games. As I say that, games played, goals, assists, points, M plus, minus. And then for ESPN.com, we have their projected stats from before this season started.

[00:07:01] And then way on the far right over here, you can see this is if they keep up the pace that they're at, this is where they probably will end up. So, we can kind of juxtapose that with what was projected and where they are right now. So, as you guys can see, our top six has, you know, for the most part done what was expected of them and some of the guys even more. So, Jack and Bratt have played all 57 games this year.

[00:07:29] Jack has 24 goals, 41 assists, 65 points. He's a plus 11. I still like the plus and minus. I know a lot of people don't. I still like that stat, especially over the course of 50, 60, 82 games. You can kind of really get a feel of a person's, in my opinion, their defensive liability. It tells a story, and then when you couple that with, you know, talk, what kind of forward is it? How many minutes does he get? How much game time is he playing?

[00:07:58] You know, it does start to stack up. When you've got people who are up there and like, you know, plus 10 and above and all that, it does tell a little bit of the story for sure. So, you know, Jack has 65 points right now this year. Bratt has 64. Nico Heischer has 43. He's only played 51 games. He's missed the six so far. Hopefully, he'll be back and won't miss any more. Which is actually kind of weird when you think about it, right?

[00:08:24] These projections from ESPN, they were made before the season started. They projected Nico Heischer to play 76 games. He's played 51 with 25 games left. If he plays the rest of the games, he plays exactly 76 games. It's a little weird. That's some Chris Voodoo shit right there. Right? The wizard shit. Wizard shit. They really crushed Timo on his plus minus projection. Yeah, they did.

[00:08:49] Well, if you go back to before the season started, Timo Meyer was a minus 28 last year. So, those are the numbers that they're going off of. Okay. So, yeah, I can kind of see where they kind of projected him to be a minus 21. So, you know, Jack Hughes is projected at 88 points. Right now, he has 65. He keeps on the current pace. He can very well crack 100.

[00:09:15] Jesper Bratt can be right under there at 95, you know, 90 to 95 points the way he's going. I mean, he already has 49 assists. I'm sorry. That's the wrong one. He has 47 assists. So, Timo Meyer. Now, Bobby had him at like 56 points. I had him at 63 of what he would, you know, most likely end up with. He's only projected at 57 points this year. Now, they did project him playing 72 games only.

[00:09:43] He's played, only missed the one game that he was suspended for. So, he's been healthy this year. So, hopefully those numbers are more in the higher 60s than they are in the high 50s. Stephen Nason's been a really nice surprise, right? So, he's played 55 games. He missed the two when he had explosive diarrhea. He's got 18 goals, 13 assists, 31 points. He was only projected to have 36 points this year with 13 goals and 23 assists.

[00:10:11] He's on pace for a 46-point season, which is a heck of a lot better than what he was projected at. And I think he can even do more than that when Nico Heischer gets back. Now, we bitch and moan about Andre Palat. And this is dead on, I think, where we always say that he probably shouldn't be playing with Jack and Brad. And he probably is more of a bottom three player. Well, he played in the bottom six player.

[00:10:40] He played in the bottom six most of last year, where he only played 71 games. He had the 11 goals, 20 assists, and 31 points. They had him playing projected at 74 games, 13 goals, 19 assists, 32 points. If he keeps up this pace, where he's only missed two games, he already has 12 goals, 10 assists, 22 points. He's going to probably end up with 35 points. He's projected for 32.

[00:11:08] So Andre Palat's pretty much right on. But the question comes, should he be playing with Jack and Brad? He has been knew before the season that he sucks too. Right. So projecting those points, fine. Projecting 32 to 35 points from a top six forward. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. I'm with you. I'm with you. Like, everyone else is either above or right on.

[00:11:37] Like, even Nico's a little bit below. If you look at his average, right? Like, he should, if he plays the next 25 games, he should, you know, if he keeps up this pace, he's only going to have about 65 points. He's projected at 72. Yeah, but he's so good two-way now. And he's all the defensive responsibilities. You know, anything you get with him is, like, extra. And we saw him get hot. He can get really hot for a while, too. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with the 70-something points. Also, like, if you look at, like, the ratio of goals to assists, like, he's, you know,

[00:12:06] 24-19 is where he's at now. Right. 24-19. Like, yeah, relative to where they projected him out at only 30 goals. So that those two could potentially be flipped where he might be at a 40-goal, 30-assist guy. The way he's scoring this year, yeah. And it's like, and Brad's kind of the opposite way, where he's piling up the assists, but he hasn't been scoring goals as much as we would like, like we talked about last one. Timo's interesting, man.

[00:12:34] Like, he's doing everything, like, we want him to do from his play style. But he's just not producing. And, like, I was looking at his kind of career stats and his usage and stuff like that. And, like, if you look at, like, his career kind of averages, A, he's never really topped out a lot of points. Like, that's, you know, we talked about that. But a large chunk of his good numbers, like, have come when he's on the power play. And in San Jose, he was, like, that number one guy.

[00:13:03] He's getting about two minutes less of ice time a game relative to his peak years in San Jose. And that's probably largely power play time that he's not getting here, being on that first power play. So I still – we still need to see more from Timo. Like, we need to see more production from him. I'm going to dive in a little deeper. Sure. You want – well, let's do that then. We'll get off of here. You want to do the grades first and then we'll dive into Timo? Yeah, we can do that. Let's grade our guys. You want me to make this big again?

[00:13:34] Or are you guys good? What's that? It's good. Okay. So, I mean, if you go with Jack Hughes, right, I mean, for me, he's been in solid A all the way around. I mean, he can take some of his little lapses here and there, the turnover here and there, which sometimes, you know, ends up in the back of the net. But all those things, in my opinion, that comes with the territory. Every year, this kid has gotten better. And you see his raw talent and you just say, wow, three, four, five years.

[00:14:04] He's one of the best in the league. I give Jack Hughes an absolute solid A. What about you guys? What about you guys? What are we going? We'll go with me, Bobby, and then you, Tim. Yeah, I agree. Solid A. All the points you mentioned. You're going to have a little bit of risk with Jack and the way he plays, but I'll take that any day of the week. He's dynamic, drives our team, and he's doing just fine. So, yeah. Easy A. Oh, is it? Yeah.

[00:14:35] I know people. The contrary, I'm about to speak, so everybody buckle up. I give Jack an A-. Simply because he has very specifically cost us a couple of games. This is true. Very, very specifically cost us a couple of games, too, though. That would be seven game-winning goals to date. He's supposed to be winning games. He's not supposed to be losing us games. So that's why I'm giving him an A-.

[00:15:02] I may be a little bit harsh on him, but honestly, I love Jack, but we've seen him at his peak at the beginning of last year when he was leading the league in scoring. He had, like, what, 20 points in, like, nine games or something like that. We still haven't seen that yet, I don't think. It comes and goes. It was, like, in January, he had a stretch where he had a three-point game and then was, like, minus four for, like, three straight games. And then at a three-point game and then had a couple of brutal games.

[00:15:31] So I think that kind of little bit of inconsistency, some of the turnover has been pretty egregious. He's still, like, learning, you know, and he's still kind of coming into his own. I still don't think we've seen the best of this kid yet, but that's why I'm being probably a little harsh on him. Did you have some tough parents that you got to justify an A-minus that much, man? I mean, A-minus is freaking good. Yeah, I'll take the A-minus. I'm not going to fight you on that. I mean, that's a good one.

[00:15:58] All right, Jesper Bratt, through 57 games, he has 17 goals, 47 assists, 64 points, second behind Jack Hughes by one freaking point. He's also a plus nine, a lot more time this year on the penalty kill. Jesper Bratt is dynamic. He is a fantastic skater, fantastic stick hand, the puck handler. I mean, he just makes guys look stupid sometimes.

[00:16:22] My biggest concern with Jesper Bratt, and this was our discussion the last show, is, you know, I want to see him pot a few more goals than what he's doing. He can definitely be up there in the Jack Hughes territory, mid-20s right now, if he finished a little bit more. So, for that, I'm just, I mean, if we're going to go plus and minuses, I'm cool with that. Jesper Bratt gets a B-plus to me.

[00:16:47] He's, you know, the dynamic guy that drives play just as much as Jack. He's, if Jesper Bratt goes out for a couple of games, I know that Jack Hughes will pick up the slack. I kind of don't feel that way when Jack is out and Jesper Bratt's got to pick up the slack. I feel like there's times that he's had to do that, and he doesn't. Whether or not he is a big game clutch player remains to be seen. So, that I'm kind of worried about.

[00:17:15] But as far as his play, right now, through 57 games, B-plus, second best player on the team, forward-wise. Like, generating offense-wise, I should say. My opinion, not the second all-around best player, but B-plus. Yeah, I got to go just above you on that. I mean, he's one point behind Jack. He is dynamic. You know, sure, I'd like to see him pot a couple more here, but he's definitely an A-. I don't see how I couldn't give him an A- when he's only one point behind our leader.

[00:17:43] So, you know, I think Bratt's got all the tools. He's got everything you need. He's so much fun to watch. We've talked about it just a few years now in a row. He'll always pull off this great move coming down the wing, sneak through the forward, and then it just wasn't a goal. But in saying that, he still has 17 goals and 47 assists. So, yeah, I'm not down on the guy at all, despite me starting a fight last week. So, A-. All right. Yeah. I like how Chris was like, our discussion last week. It was a discussion.

[00:18:13] I was tossing and turning my bed all night, like, I should sit this. And then, there you are. A-plus. The jerk store called, and they're looking for you. I just, that's a good one. I would have had nothing to say to that one. I didn't think about it one second after we end recording. That's all. I've been staring off into the distance just thinking about it. No, I'm kidding. You should have said that. God damn it.

[00:18:42] What do you got for Mr. Bratt now, Tim? I'm a B-plus. Same thing. You know, like, we've seen him take a step. You know, like, he has been, the finishing could be a little better, but he's making up for that with his playmaking, I think. But he needs to score more goals. And when this team goes cold, we need him to step up. And I don't think he's fully, fully, fully stepped up to what we need him to be. And maybe, like, our expectations are a little bit too high for that. I know he does make a lot of money.

[00:19:11] But relative to other guys that kind of make his money, the type of money that he makes, like, he's doing pretty well. And relative to the guys that, like, are close to him in points-wise, he's well under that. Add in the penalty killing. Add in the plus playing. Add in his defensive game. But I still think there's a little bit of inconsistency in this game. Just for Brett, you want to talk about his contract and how good his contract?

[00:19:40] Like, he can legitimately get 100 points this year. I mean, that is not out of the, that is completely not out of the realm of possibilities. And if he does, you know, if he even gets into the 90s, you're talking about a guy under $8 million that gives you 90 points? That's a fucking deal. It'd be the quietest 100-point season ever. Yeah, you're right. And it... Because he got 85 assists. I had a very salient point, and I forgot what I was going to say. Anyway, we can move on.

[00:20:09] Bobby said, yeah, say what you said before. Maybe you can trigger something he can remember. No? Yeah. Nothing? All right. We're moving on. Oh, yes. Okay. I remember. I remember. I remember. I remember. With Brad. Yeah.

[00:20:47] I remember. I remember. He dropped. And that was his issue, is that he was up all night playing fucking Call of Duty. Ever since his... I don't know if that's his issue. I've seen this dude without his helmet on and his visor. Like, I don't know. Meth might be his issue. Like, I mean... Well, the joke is that since that new Call of Duty launch, he has zero goals and zero points. That's the Kyler Murray effect. All right, let's dive into Mr. Heeshire, our captain,

[00:21:16] our injured captain who hopefully will be back after the Four Nations. He played 51 games. He's only sat out the most recent six. 24 goals, leads the team, will tie the league, the team in goals with Jack, 19 assists, 43 points, plus 11. Look, it's Nico Heeshire. I mean, this guy has turned into, between last year and especially this year, one of the top two or three best defensive forwards in the NHL,

[00:21:44] and he's only going to get better. He's fantastic on the dot. He drives play. He finishes. One of the few finishers I think we have on this team. I love Nico Heeshire. I hope he's a devil forever. I give him a solid A. I mean, him and Jack, they are the pillars of this franchise now, and moving forward, Nico Heeshire has done nothing to deserve anything less than that for me. Bob? Yeah, dude.

[00:22:13] I mean, I actually, for all he does for being the captain, for the captain he became, for the points he's able to put up when he needs to, and just his all-around game, I actually really wanted to have this be my A+, but I just can't in good conscience give him an A+, at 22-something points lower than Jack, despite the fact that he plays a different role. So I'll give him a solid A as well. He's everything we need him to be, and like you, I think, I really hope he's here for a very long time,

[00:22:43] and I think for my money, if only one of the two were to spend their whole career here, I feel like it's going to be Heeshire. I could be wrong, but I feel like he's the guy that would retire a devil. Not that Jack won't, too. It's just if I had to pick, you know? But I love his game, so he's definitely an A. Can I ask? Yeah, I don't. It's the easiest A there is. I mean, just his usage, his first penalty kill, first power play, first guy to take face-offs in every zone, every major face-off, he's out there.

[00:23:13] Just does everything for this team. He takes the hard match-ups. You know, I was thinking about giving him an A+, because, you know, he got hurt. You know, that knocks him down to an A. Yeah, I was actually thinking, do I give him the A+, too? So I think we're all saying he's absolutely deserving of it, and he's just an anchor of this team. I love him, and I think that these last six games, Devils would have been a lot more consistent if he was in the lineup. So they need to get him back. Yeah.

[00:23:43] All right. Yeah, I mean, we've seen how this team more or less crumbled when, like, they've been actually playing like dog shit since he's been out. Yeah. So, I mean, it looks like he's skating again. It looks like he should be back after these two-week breaks, so that would be awesome because I think we open up again with Dallas, right? And I think we have a back-to-back Dallas and Nashville. So, yeah, it would be nice to have him in the lineup for those. All right. Player number four of our top six here, Timo Meier.

[00:24:14] All right, guys. Timo has played all but the one game he was suspended. Like I said before, 56 games. He's had 15 goals, 23 assists for 38 points. He's a plus 12, 38 points through 56 games. Now, according to ESPN, they say that Timo Meier is projected to hit 57 points this year at the rate he's going. You know, maybe. So, anyway,

[00:24:43] Timo for me, I like Timo Meier. I do. I like it. He's one of those dudes like you don't see him giving up on plays. I feel like he always plays hard. He's always trying to do the right thing. He's just, he's a pretty smart hockey player. He's got a great shot. It just seems like this year he's been like the unluckiest dude in the NHL. Like he's had golden opportunities and he can't bury them, which happens to just kind of be a theme with this team. So, his production is off.

[00:25:13] He gets paid a lot of money. I said before, I'll say it again, I'm really hoping that Timo Meier can redeem himself come playoff time and be the type of player like we all think he can be. And a lot of talk about him and we saw it for a short time against the Rangers. New to this team, but he was fantastic in that series. He got under Shesterkin's skin. He didn't produce offensively, but he produced in a lot of other ways, ways that were really visible. Like you just saw

[00:25:43] when Timo Meier got on the ice, he turned that series in some of these games. Devils had no business going seven and winning it. And Timo was a big part of that. So that's what I'm hoping. And I hope come playoff time, he can, you know, turn that physical play, that annoying kind of style and turn it to actually making some positive goals and, you know, helping this team. Right now, Timo, I got to give Timo Meier right now a C-. That's where I am with him.

[00:26:12] I really wish it could be higher, but I can't right now. He's just, you know, we need more from you. Like so far, you have been, you know, and I get what, Tim, you made excellent points before about that time that is taken away from him and not just the time being on PP2 and not playing with the best guys for a minute and a half, a couple of times a night. And yeah, we've argued that he should be there, but look, coaches know more than we do.

[00:26:42] They tried them there. Two coaches, three coaches, they didn't like them there. You know, we saw it, you know, Ruff and Keefe and that, I mean, Ruff and Green and now Keefe. So again, now he's down the third line and just Timo has never fit in, in my opinion, so far with this team and he needs to. Something's got to change with that because I think he's the player that we, he can be the player that we all want him to be. Right now though, he's a C minus. It's going to be a little surprising

[00:27:12] because I have a lot to say about Timo Meyer, but this is my biggest swing so far. I'm the only one who's all in the A's. Change my mind, please. Listen, Timo Meyer does have a kind of a raw deal in a way. I feel like he's a little bit mismanaged because I've also pointed out a million times there's something about the fit in him on this devil's team that isn't seeming to work. My initial instinct was to probably give him something in the C plus range, but when I really look deep at what he's doing, the style that he brings,

[00:27:43] how unlucky he's been, his plus minus to me tells a story for a guy in his role, plus 12 is pretty positive. He's still the power forward that we need him to be. There's just, there's a clutch gene that's missing right now or, or whatever. I'm going to go B minus because I do understand intangibles in hockey and I do understand different looks and what the guy brings other than the scoreboard. I'm also basing that a little bit on what I think Timo Meier can bring.

[00:28:13] I just can't bring myself to put him in the C category yet, so I'll make him a B minus. Fair enough. All right. I thought Bobby, I thought you were going to kill him. I did too. I have a feeling you might though, Tim. Would you give him a C? I mean, it's all great. It's all well good. He's, he's playing, he's playing the way we want him to play, right? And you look under the hood a little bit, like he's,

[00:28:43] his shooting's the same, his play style's the same. He's actually leading, I think, the NHL. I thought his shooting was way off. His volume, like the amount he's shooting is up or is just about the same as it is. His shooting percentage has dropped from about 12, 13 from what it has been like in his peak years. Even last year, it's at 13%. It's down below 10 now. So, this guy needs to finish, man.

[00:29:12] And it's the same story with Jesper Bratt. When this team was struggling in January, we needed guys like him to step up and start putting the puck in the net. Like I, you know, and it's great. Timo's a great player. He's doing everything we want him to do. But that finishing has got to start happening. Like we're, we are struggling to score goals. And I think there is a little bit of unluckiness to, to what's going on with him. Like, I mean, he, it's like a post a game probably,

[00:29:42] but again, the amount of money that he makes, like he needs to, needs to be finishing. We're obviously paying him to do more than just score goals. Obviously, like he's never been like a hundred point guy or anything like that. And he didn't have a single point, I don't think, in that entire Rangers series and was probably our best forward. And I think that is a necessary element that we need from him. But like what Chris was saying, his role, like, like what is his role? Where does he fit in this lineup? Right now,

[00:30:11] he sits fourth among forwards in ice, or sorry, fifth amongst forwards in ice time. Jack, Jack and Nico are above 20 minutes. Then it's Bratt and Dawson and Timo all around 17 minutes a game. So, we'll get into Dawson. But, I just, I just want to see more production-wise from Timo. And I, I did this little analysis, I don't know, a couple months ago when Timo was still struggling to score. And it did look like historically, he scored about 30% of his goals

[00:30:41] in the month of March and April for whatever reason. There was a couple games in April. Well, and no other month. He was higher than 18%. So, I think it's coming and I think that may be part of his kind of stick. Like, he's a good shooter but he's also a volume shooter. He just throws the puck at the net a lot and kind of hopes for the best. And that, I think, is kind of a bit of a luck thing. Once they start going in for him, I think they're going to come in in bunches. And this happened last year too. Remember, he finally came back, was finally healthy, finally had his own line where he's kind of

[00:31:11] driving the play. Yeah. And he scored 13 goals in March last year. So, I'm hoping that comes for him. Like, he's one of the guys that I just really want to succeed. You know, he's not going to be put on the power play one like I think he should be. Like, I think he should be in that spot that Brat's in. I just don't think Brat's the trigger guy that should be in that spot. And I think Timo is. But, like you said, I'm not the coach. But, for all intents and purposes,

[00:31:41] his defensive game has dramatically improved. Bobby pointed out as plus minus. I'm not a huge plus minus guy. I think it leaves out some kind of critical information and is largely a team in on ice that. But, it does tell a story over the course of the season. Like, if you're a bad negative, like, that's a problem. Like, if you're a good positive, that's a good thing. And it kind of, over the course of a season, I think it does tell a little bit of that story. Yeah, I mean, and just the fact that sometimes you need it over two seasons. I mean, minus 28 last year,

[00:32:11] plus 12 this year. So, that's a big improvement gap right there. Right. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And DJ and Mike are agreeing with us in the YouTube chat about Timo, so. Okay, that's great. I also think we might have to put the bottom six on hold because you mentioned Dawson Mercer and I honestly think I left him off of these charts. I'm sorry, we'll just get through Nason. Do I have Mercer on here? F fucking minus. You had to pick six people, so. I have to check that target. Yeah, I mean,

[00:32:40] I have to check that next. But, I mean, we can do it anyway. I'm gassing up the car to drive him to Buffalo for Alex Tucker. I'm with you. We're going to talk about, okay, so let's leave Dawson Mercer as a separate entity because he might not be on this team come two weeks time. So then, yeah, just to wrap up, Timo, yeah, dude, I like everything about him. But again, if Jack and Nico were injured and luckily this year we haven't had them both out, but we have in the past.

[00:33:10] When you're putting a team on the ice and you have Jesper Bratt, Timo Meyer, and Dawson Mercer, Andre Palat, like we have last year in stuff, like these guys should be driving play. These guys should be winning us games and they didn't. Like that was the most disappointing thing about last year. Like, you know, I know Meyer was hurt a lot of the year, but like that's back to Bratt, but like these are guys that have to pick up the slack when certain dudes are out and Meyer, yeah, I mean, I don't know if it's luck, if it's just like Bobby said,

[00:33:39] it's just not a fit, but something's got to change because he is better than this and I love the guy. I want to see him tear it up. Want him to see that big bull that we all know he can be and just piss people off, but for whatever reason, it's not fitting here. I still feel like in the grand scheme of things, he should be on Jack's wing. Like, I know it didn't work. I get it, but like it just still feels like that's the right fit for me when you look at like Jack and Bratt and their size and their style of play and you throw in Timo, like I still don't understand how that's not working. I'm with you. I'm totally with you.

[00:34:09] It's the kind of there's only one puck theory, I think, you know, they all like to carry the puck and I think it works with Jack and Bratt because they put off each other so well and a very puck dominant guy and I think that's why it kind of works with Mercer every now and then because Timo's a puck dominant guy and Mercer's not great at driving play but is good at finding the soft areas. Do you guys

[00:34:38] see the chat on the YouTube? No, I don't. No, I don't have it up. Why? What are they writing? Just DJs. Like Timo and Jake Evans are going to tear it up. You know, I agree. I mean, if you had Jake Evans centering, was he being sarcastic? I think Jake Evans is a great add. Yeah, I mean, if he's playing in the middle of let's say Meyer and Cotter, I love that idea of a line that's Cotter, Meyer, and Evans. I think that they can beat pains in the asses, they can piss off, they can score goals, they can get under

[00:35:08] a team's skin. I like that but let's jump up to Stephan Nason. I think everybody will say a very pleasant surprise this year. Again, missed only the two games, 18 goals, 13 assists, 31 points. Now, Stephan Nason was only projected to have 13 goals and 23 assists for 36 points. He's already, he's only five points away. He's on pace for a 46-point season, give or take.

[00:35:38] 45? I can't read that. It doesn't matter. Dude, I love what Stephan Nason's brought to this team. I love him. I thought that the move of moving him to power play one was brilliant. He's completely, he's fit in there. He's a great, he's great in front of the net. One of the best guys in the league when it comes to just parking there and having beautiful soft hands when the puck gets to him. I mean, it seems to me though, I said it before, he has been non-existence

[00:36:08] at Niko. He sure has gone out. Like, he needs Niko for some reason. Like, they work great together. Stephan Nason needs him back. But as far as a get, a guy coming in that we all liked in the offseason, you know, not only was he with us, so, we knew what kind of player he was. But then to have a couple of years under Brindamore, like, you just knew you were getting a really, a much better Stephan Nason. And we did. And we, like, we are. I, shit, man, for his play,

[00:36:37] for what he's done, and what he's done is every season before to what he is now, he's a solid A for me. I don't really have anything bad to say about Stephan Nason. Other than the fact that the last six or seven games he's been invisible, I'm okay with that. I'm willing, you know, he sure will be back. So, I give him an A. I love him. And I think he's the type of dude, just to wrap up what I'm going to say, he's the type of dude that is going to give you clutch playoff goals. Like, come playoff time, you know Stephan Nason's going to be a dude

[00:37:06] that's going to contribute for this team. So, A for me. Bob? I'm all about Nason. I was about him when he was here the first time. Knew he'd be even better the second time. He's better than advertised. And I think it's going to be consistent for us too. I think he fits with us. So, I don't think this point production is something that we're not going to see in the next year or two. He's just brilliant in front of the net. He's got a little quiet lately, but I think that he's everything this team needs, that type of guy. I agree with you completely.

[00:37:36] This is the type of guy that's going to get big goals in the playoffs, maybe even steal you a whole round. But just for the way he's played right now, I almost brought him down to a B just because he's been quite of late without Nico, but I can't do that. For what he gets paid, for what he's here to do, he's a solid B+. Okay. Another B+. Yeah, are we grading on a curve? Like, relative to, like, in terms of, you know, Yes,

[00:38:06] I know what you're saying. What do you do? What do you do? The player and the part that they're playing, what they were brought in for and what they're doing. Is that what you're saying? Yes. Because, like, you know, you can say, yeah, Stephan Nason only has 31 points. Like, you know, that's a C. You need to score, but he's not here to score more. You know, so I get what you did. I think that's what you're trying to say, Yeah, yeah. All right, so I'll give him a B+. I think he was A+, until December. And then starting in January, probably B-. So, somewhere between.

[00:38:35] That's why I give him a B+. Yeah, that switch with Timo and the power play. Again, you know, like, sacrifice Timo, but then you come up with Nason and just the way he and Nico play off each other in the bumper net front, like, depending on what side of the ice the puck's on, it's just, they do that so well. And when he's in that net front, like, his ability to just operate in such tight spaces in, like, a little phone booth, with the puck, is pretty remarkable. And I totally agree with you about,

[00:39:04] he's gonna be that grindy playoff guy that's just gonna show up. And you saw it in his comments that he made the other day, you know, about caring and needing to step up. You know, like, he, I feel like there's, there's a leadership role that he has. And that goes beyond the ice and the rink and everything. Like, every single guy, like, I saw, I don't know, one of those cutie little TikToks they do. It's like, who throws the best parties on the team? And to a guy,

[00:39:34] they all said Nathan. Because he's the guy, the second he came back to New Jersey, they're all going over to his house for, like, team parties and team barbecues and stuff like that and hanging out. I wanna go to step in Nathan's house. Chill a little. He just, I see you just, like, peeking over the fence. Right. I bought deviled eggs. Hey. Hey guys. Let's just come in like a stepper mom. I got a keg of rolling rock. Who wants in? I got a party ball in my trunk. Come on, let's go drink it. All right. The next guy, Andre Widenow, pull up.

[00:40:05] He's played 55 games. Now, keep in mind, he has spent the majority of this season playing with Jack and Brad. He started in the third line, but it was quick that he was moved up. So, 12 goals, 10 assists, 22 points. Andre Palat was projected to have 13 goals, so he's right there. 19 assists, he's nine off the base, and 32 points, he's 10 off. I have him at around 35 points for the year.

[00:40:35] Look, Andre Palat's been a fucking disappointment since he's been here. You know, he was the big get, you know, Johnny Goudreau, RIP Johnny, didn't sign, and, like, two hours later, we had Palat. It was the, I don't know if it was a desperate signing, if it was, I got, you know, have to do something, have to do it quick, but Andre Palat, when he came over, we were expecting the guy that, you know, won two Stanley Cups with Tampa Bay. We expected the guy that scored clutch-ass goals. We expected the guy

[00:41:05] that teams didn't like to play against because he was just a hard four checker. He was a badass. He'd hit you. He'd do whatever, and he was a guy for Tampa Bay that without him, they don't win those Cups. Kind of like what we're saying Stefan Nason can be for our team. But Palat's also on this fucking team and hasn't done any of those things. Andre Palat seems like a decent enough guy. I mean, it seems like he's got the personality of fucking grass, but

[00:41:34] I'm giving Andre Palat a D. I mean, he gets paid a lot of money and he has not done shit. He gets a fucking D. he has got to become a lot more clear. Look, he had played good in the Rangers series. I'll completely give you that. But there are, you know, he's got to do more. The position that he's in, guys in the NHL go their whole careers without ever playing with talents like them that say and crave that they, oh my God,

[00:42:03] if I can just play with, you know, a guy like Jesper Bratt or a guy like Jack Hughes, he's playing with fucking both of them and he doesn't do shit. D. Wow. All right. Now, as the official pucker from day one that said this contract's not going to age well. Boy, I'm not even that. I gave it. I went as long as I fucking could defending a man. Like we said, we're grading on a curve.

[00:42:33] Yeah. Listen, you bring up great reasons why he should be a disappointing grade. I mean, he has primarily played with the top line and he has roughly one third the points of those two guys. So there's a big story to tell there. He still has kind of been an anchor on that, on that line. I firmly believe he's out of his role. He should be our third line left wing. But overall,

[00:43:03] there's been a general disappointment with him. I'm going to give him a C minus. Okay. All right. You're right there. Tim, tell us why we're both wrong and we should all love Andre Palat and his 12 points or whatever fuck he's got. I give him a C plus. This is the hardest grade, I think, out of everybody because a lot of a lot of what he does

[00:43:32] doesn't show up on the score sheet. Right. You know, that's the kind thing. So they tell us. But like, I kind of think those are the guys being like, yeah, I feel like that's a lot of the guys being like, oh, yeah, I can't really see that from my Timo grade. That's my B minus. Yeah. Like they can't be like, yeah, well, he fucking sucks unless she wasn't here. Like, I guess, you know, give him the wrong address to Stefan's house or something. I don't know. Okay. But he does, you know, yes, it's not like he's not out there working.

[00:44:02] I'm not saying that. Right. And that's the thing is he, he puts on his hard hat and comes to work every day. You can see the work there. He's not coasting. He's still working hard in the corners. I'm frozen on screen. So you have been for about a half hour now. It's a real good just freeze right up on you like. Great. Thanks, Bob. Appreciate that. I'm going to go cry in my soup now. Damn it. Totally derailed me.

[00:44:35] Playing with Jack and Brad is very difficult. And I think he needs to, there was a period there of about 10 games where he, you know, was scoring goals and was doing kind of a simplified game. And I feel like he's got away from that a little bit. Now he's, now he's, he's fumbling the puck on rushes again. The plays go to die on his stick again. He's still digging around in corners and getting pucks out, but like their ozone time has not been good. And if he's going to be that guy

[00:45:05] to go in and get the puck, I just don't see it happening right now. It's, it's the whole team. The whole team has, hasn't been playing very well, but, but another guy that we probably could use a little bit more from and his numbers have fallen off. He's been playing from Tampa. You know, he was, he was playing with Point Kucherov in Tampa, I think. And, you know, there's really no, no difference between playing with Jack and Brad. So he should know how to

[00:45:34] play that game and adapt that game. The other interesting thing is he's no longer killing penalties. Like, I don't think he gets any penalty kill time anymore. If he does, maybe it's like 15, 20 seconds. So the value that he brought there just doesn't exist anymore. So. All right. We're going to do a quick little commercial for DraftKings from the Hockey Podcast Network and then we're going to wrap this conversation up and we're going to actually do the bottom six on the next show and then we'll do the defense. We got two

[00:46:04] weeks, no game. So we'll fix, we'll fit these grading things in in between other shows and the Four Nations and all the other fun shit. So we'll be back in about a minute or so. This NHL season has been as predictable as a puck rolling on its edge. No one knows where it's going, but that just means that there's time for your favorite team to figure things out. Unless, of course, your favorite team is the Rangers, then we don't want them to figure it out. And there's games left for

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[00:48:34] marks are the property of the NHL and its teams. NHL 2025 all rights reserved. Once again, DraftKings Sportsbook with code THPN. The crown is yours. Did you restart, Timmy? I'm still frozen. I did not restart. All right. Comments there making sure that you've got the authentic jersey and it's the lighting that's making it look flyer orange. Oh, it's the lighting.

[00:49:04] It's the lighting. No, no, no. Flyer orange. Come on, man. I got it at the flea market and this guy named Pedro said it was real. I paid $35 for it. So, all right. So, yeah, we wrap it up with a lot and I'm kind of with you. Yeah, whatever. He just doesn't have it anymore. I mean, he fell off

[00:49:34] a cliff. So, I'm fine with him being relegated to the third line. I totally get what you're saying. You know, he should. It's hard to play with those dudes, but, yeah, he played with point and point Kucharov. He should be able to play with them. Don't think for one second that Alex Tuck isn't sitting in Buffalo going, motherfuckers, let me play with him. I swear I will do better than him. You know, I mean, you got to get somebody for him. Yeah, and I saw, so, you know, we'll do the kind of bottom six and the D later, right? Yeah, we'll do that

[00:50:04] in other shows. let's just kind of finish up with trades or whatever you want to talk about. officially on the block. So, he's another one of these guys that would kind of push Palat down the lineup, I think. And I think really it's Tuck, Raquel, McCann, or Besser. I don't know if, I think Vancouver hangs on to Besser because they're kind of back in the playoff picture now.

[00:50:36] the McCann rumors obviously came out today, even though I wrote it in my blog, like, I don't know, like a month ago that he would be a guy we should look at. And Raquel, like, we've talked about him before, I think he'd be great. I think the only issue with Raquel is he's been a little bit fragile and has had some injury history, but I think with the season he's having now, you kind of swoop in and take that risk. So, those would be the kind of top guys that I think need to look at and going the other

[00:51:06] way. I don't see any other way around it that it's got to be Mercer just to make the type of money work. Like, Puckpedia reports right now that we have like five and change million in available deadline day cap space. So, we can make one of those guys probably work, you know, with like, I don't know, some kind of retention or some sort of shenanigans on it, but I just think it's got to be Mercer going the other way because we still, I think,

[00:51:36] should bring in Evans to play 3C. And I'd even like to see them take a run at Trent Frederick too for even more depth. I mean, you got to dump quite a few guys in the bottom six. And when you see the numbers when we do the bottom six on the next show, holy shit, like, talk about not performing. I mean, they have been almost invisible. So, yeah, we basically haven't been playing with the bottom six at all, other than Paul Cotter, who has been more than we expect.

[00:52:06] And Paul Cotter is the kind of dude that can play anywhere. But I would like to see Paul Cotter. Like, if you went and got Jake Evans, who we all saw in Montreal, you know, they were shut out. He played a great game. Jake Evans centering Paul Cotter. Like, I like the idea of that. I think that can be a really good line. And, you know, the fourth line, on the other hand, that's a mess. I don't know what we're going to do unless you do get a guy like Frederick, and then you can move Cotter down to the fourth line, and you keep bashing Lazar

[00:52:36] and get rid of Tatar. But, you know, it's a mess down there. But, I agree with you. You have to get one of those three dudes. Which one would you guys want and in what order? So, you're saying Jared McCann, Ricard Raquel, or Alex Tuck. Now, I haven't heard anything about Alex Tuck getting traded or that we were even interested in him. There was one of those click baity trade rumor dot Denmark

[00:53:06] put it out there. That, yeah, that someone somewhere reported that it maybe could, should, maybe, sort of, could be I love the idea of it. I do too. And we've been talking about it for a couple months, man. Like, he is that guy that we should get. I've been banging this drum that we need another right-handed sniper for Jack. He's big. He plays hard, but he

[00:53:36] has a no-movement clause or no-trade clause, I think, and is from Western New York. So, it would, I don't know if the Devils is on his team or what. So, I think close enough. You know what? Not fucking Anaheim, you know, but six hours, man, that's not that bad. Yeah, I mean, we have Utica affiliations who drive right by. So, who would you like in order?

[00:54:08] Tuck, McCann, Raquel, Besser. Besser last? I wasn't even putting Besser in the conversation because I agree with you. I don't think they move him either. Well, yeah, I'm factoring that in, too. All right. Yeah, I'm factoring him in, but also like, I understand. Also put him last because I don't think it's going to happen. But I think, you know. Okay, so if Besser was legitimately on the table, how would you rate him?

[00:54:38] Probably ahead of Raquel, to be honest. Oh, I don't know, man. How about you? I can't honestly talk number one talks like one and then the other three are like one day. Okay, all right. I'll buy that. Well, I didn't think we were going to include Besser, like you said, but he's my pick right now. He's just a guy I think would fit. So I would go Besser, McCann, I guess Tuck, then Raquel. I mean, what he's doing is just amazing. I don't think we have a snowball's chance in hell of getting

[00:55:08] him. Who, Raquel? Yeah. I don't know. I mean, Pittsburgh's probably going to move him. But, you know, they might not. I mean, they're basically trading contracts if it's Mercer. It doesn't make a ton of sense for Pittsburgh to do that trade, I don't think. I think they just get younger. They just get younger. they get younger and they kick in a late round pick or something. Maybe a little bit faster. They pick a guy with, yeah, exactly. Someone put out there that would be like

[00:55:38] Casey in a second and a third. I think it was J.P. Gambetti put out and it would be like Casey in a second and a third for Raquel. I get there's term on his deal, but he's 32. Mercer and those draft picks I'm okay with, but not Casey. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I think A, we need to free up money and B, without Mercer, then that kind of allows the lineup slotting

[00:56:07] to work a lot better. What do you guys think, though? Because in all honesty, we have outrageous depth on defense in Utica and we have a lot of guys with a ton of potential and I understand, like the way I feel is like I know that it's probably one of those guys like Nemich or Casey or whoever else, they're really those two, but like that one of those pieces are probably going to have to be moved at some point.

[00:56:37] Like I maybe not have to, but it's likely that I think one of those pieces will go. What is the type of player, in my opinion, you want to go after a guy like I don't know what kind of term Alex Tuck has, but if he has term, I would consider a player like that for Alex Tuck or for Brock Besser would turn. I don't know. What do you guys think? Would you move a guy like that for one of

[00:57:07] these guys or does it have to be a much bigger name than these guys to move an amateur Casey? I mean, impact NHL are for sure. And like you said, with some term, one of those two, because you're probably talking package anyway, so it's not going to be the only thing that goes over. I think it's got to be a fairly significant impact player. Now, I know you love Besser. Let's say Besser had three more years left on his contract after this year, and they wanted Seamus Casey. Do you do that deal? Yes, I do that

[00:57:37] deal. I do do that deal. We've got depth. You've got to go from a position of strength once in a while, and if you're truly going to go for Stanley Cups, you've got to make moves like that. You've got to have faith that your system will replenish, and that you can scout well and do all those things, but you've got to get the right return, too. No one's looking to get fleeced, but I would definitely do that deal. Yeah, and I think Fitz is going to resign Kovacevich, which I think is going to

[00:58:07] having two right-handed Ds in the AHL. Could that be a reason why they brought Nemich up over anybody else? Are we shopping? Maybe. I don't know, and Kovacevich hasn't been all that great since he got separated from Siegenthaler. He has still been very good, though. He's been good, but he hasn't been perfect. I don't know, man. There's a lot of moving pieces there, and honestly, we still own

[00:58:37] the rights to Nemich and Casey, they could want out, but we could tell them to go fuck themselves. Do you think that they are shopping him at all? I think people are probably asking about them, especially after his comments that he made. I don't see why they wouldn't. I don't think we know enough about what Nemich is going to be for them to start shopping him already. I think he earned his spot from the way he's been playing recently, and he's their number

[00:59:07] one depth prospect. I figured, here you go, kid, show us what you got. He played very well against Montreal. He played much better. He seemed much more comfortable. That was awesome to see because he was a mess against Vegas. Vegas will do that to you. They just chewed this young guy up. He was up. That's a rough welcome back to the NHL game. I want to meet the shrink to talk to him between those two games. Especially when you make those comments. There are people that are like, dude, you wanted this.

[00:59:37] You said you were ready. Look at you. You're shitting all over yourself. It was nice to see him bounce back. We have to give to get. If we want to be one of these guys, I think it's going to be a bit of a seller's market because of the way the Eastern Conference is shaping up with all those Atlantic teams that are still in it and might still be buyers. I think it's like Columbus is now going to be a buyer. They have

[01:00:07] a shit ton of cap space. I don't know. Some of the prices that are coming out, like Evans for a second, I don't know if that's worth it, but I think you got to pull the trigger on it. We have three seconds. This is what I'm nervous about. I'm nervous about the whole shitter get off the pot thing. It's just, oh, devil's traded for

[01:00:38] shit. Go get real help to really make this team legit. If I had to pick in order of trades with the guys that we just mentioned before, I'd have Besser won. Besser's won only because of his playoffs last year. He was so fucking clutch, man. I just go back to that first round against Nashville. Vancouver doesn't get out of that round without him. He was fantastic. Besser won, tough,

[01:01:08] two, Raquel, three, McCann, four. That's what I would go with. No, that's fair. And again, this is even if Besser's available. We talked about it last time. It's a good situation regardless of whether he resigns with us. I think if he stays with Vancouver and plays his out until he's a free agent, we should definitely go after him. Thanks, Mike Ruff. That's for you. But if we trade for him and he doesn't resign with us, then that gives us financial flexibility

[01:01:38] to then add the piece that we want. Maybe then we can work out a trade for Alex Tuck. You can turn that into a positive. I agree with you, dude. I think there's going to be some action over these four nations. That's been the word on the street that all the insiders are talking about. I don't know. We're excited. I can see the comments. You haven't been watching that all time? We've

[01:02:07] been ripping on you the whole time about your shiny bald head. I'm wearing a hat. Oh, my God. The fucking ad? My God. I would definitely go and piss if I had to stare at that fucking mug for two and a

[01:02:40] I mean, when you're coming in and really respectable dudes are comparing you and calling you the next Dana Charo, that's exciting, man. Yeah. And you think about what our decor plus now if you go or of pans out, which we think he is. Mike and I, we chat sometimes outside of this. I cheat on you guys with him. He's called him if we cared. I'm

[01:03:10] so hurt by you guys. You're so mean to me. You know what? Fucking jerk store called and they want you back. Hey, are you guys getting any snow? I don't mean to interrupt, but I'm just curious. Did you guys get any of this storm? I got a little dusting. My internet's not working again. It's snowing now. It's getting not really there. It's like back in COVID when they used to put in the stands just a picture of you. This is the

[01:04:04] I just do not want Jack or Brad to get hurt. If Hollow goes down it'll suck too. Honestly, Hollow looked okay his last couple games back. You can see how much better he is than Dowling. I really like the Dowling story, but we need to upgrade over him. Lazar, we could talk about him in the bottom six stuff. Lazar is an awful center. When you

[01:04:31] When you look at the bottom six and you get to Justin Dowling and he gets a projected, there's no projection of hell. Like, they don't have their, like, who? He's not even in one of the projections. Oh, that's like, yeah, that's the Finnish defenseman. Because they're all getting hurt. Yeah. So they're calling out these guys that are just word salad last names or like letter salad last names. It's just too many A's and U's and where they shouldn't belong. It's just fucking crazy.

[01:05:00] Things in their stupid settings. You got a prediction for the Four Nations? Who's going to win? All right. Four Nation prediction, I'm going to say that, you know what? I'm going to go with the U.S. The goalie situation, I think, is really good. I think Conor Holabuch has a fantastic series. He's the MVP. The United States beats Sweden. Bob? USA all the way.

[01:05:30] Simple as that. Who they beat in the finals? Canada. Okay. Tim? I think the U.S. is going to beat Finland. Even though I just dogged Finland. They just play this style of hockey that is just hard, hard to play against. And in a four-game limited series, that would be an absolute disaster for the NHL. An absolute disaster. They basically set this up so it would be U.S.-Canada. Yeah. Finland just plays this style of hockey man.

[01:06:00] And they're all just kind of these defensive hockey robots. And if you look at Finland's center depth, their center depth is outrageous. Like, you forget that Barkov is their number one center. That's true. They have him. Bobby looks like he's falling asleep. What do you got to add, Bob? I know you had something you wanted to talk about. Well, we've been teasing. We're going to do a little bit of a deeper dive into Timo. I don't know if we have time for that. But I just have some numbers here that I just put an interesting spin on it. And we know how much Timmy loves numbers.

[01:06:29] Oh, God. I got Timo's salary and points for his nine contracts that we've had so far. Right? So, starting in 16-17 through this year, his salary was $925,000, $925,000, $832,000, $4,000,000, $4,000,000, $6,000,000, and then $10,000,000, $12,000,000, and $11.1,000.

[01:06:55] I think because of his current contract averaging 8.8, this is just how it literally breaks down for the years. What we're looking at here is that when Timo Meier was at his most valuable point cost, so per point it cost in 2018-2019 for when he made $832,000, he had 66 points,

[01:07:21] which means that each point cost just over $12,600. $12,600. $12,600 per point. This isn't everything, right? Right. Then you go down to his worst statistical year, 23-24, where he's technically getting $12,000,000 on the financial books at 52 points. That cost $231,000 a point. Drastic difference from some of his younger years.

[01:07:50] So let's throw out real quick the $12,000,000, $11,000,000 a year that he makes. Let's just use his cap hit. Okay. Right. So in the last two years, he's making $8.8 million. At 52 points last year and on pace for 56 this year, the cost per point is $169,000 and $157,000.

[01:08:15] I bring this up because Mercer, another guy who's got quite the contention with us as far as his value with the team. Timo's value the last couple of years, Mercer would save you $87,000 a point. He's $87,000 a point cheaper. So Mercer comes in a lot of points. Right.

[01:08:40] So like this year alone, Timo Meyer is just about $200,000 for a point. And Meyer is $111,000 for a point. But again, if we want to use the $8.8 million, it's $87,000 per point versus $46,000 per point. I just found that interesting. It's not like this isn't the whole story. Timo plays a different game,

[01:09:07] but we shit on Mercer so much lately for his production and production value. And he's actually a more affordable asset for what you're getting, looking at strictly points alone. Now there's games played in this and there's injuries. So I didn't take all that into account. But the bottom line is Timo Meyer started his career with six points, then 36, 66, 49, 31. He had a 76 point campaign in 21, 22,

[01:09:32] a 79 point campaign in 22, 23 when he got traded and 52 and 56 since then. This guy is not a point machine. This guy is not the next coming of anything. This guy is just a fleecer. Like everybody just knew projection wise. That's why he earned these contracts. He didn't earn it on what he did. He earned it on a good year. And then the production of what he should be able to do.

[01:10:03] And he's never even sniffed it. 52 points and 56 points versus 79 is very different. He's not even a point of player since 22, 23. I know Bob is in cost saving mode. So that's where he came up with it. The telly management. Yeah. He's like, wait a second. Budgets. Fucking budget. Budget cuts.

[01:10:28] So guess who is third in the entire NHL in expected goals? This includes Leon Dreisaitl at five on five. This includes Leon Dreisaitl, Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, Jack Hughes. The NHL. We got it. The all the entirety of the NHL. Guess who's third? Third in what was the expected goal? Expected goals at five and five. Is it Timo? It is Timo Meyer. Really?

[01:10:56] So that means by that metric, he's the third most effective forward in the entire. Those are expected goals, but they haven't gone in. So how does that work? Exactly. So Timo is also the second worst forward at expected goal differential, meaning his real goals versus expected goal. He could be the best at something and the worst at something. Yes. Which basically means that he's fucking hitting the post all the time. And the volume shooter is going to come around. So that means one of two things.

[01:11:25] The Bobby's numbers mean one of two things about Timo Meyer. And the first thing is either that he had one really good year and he's been kind of living off that. Now, he did play really well for San Jose in the playoffs. He does have, you know, so he is, again, I always refer to that, but you're talking regular season. So he's either just that guy to have one good year and that's not him and you're never going to see that again. Or he's a guy that knows how to show up on contract years.

[01:11:51] Because even if you look at the contract year and what he did in the playoffs against the Rangers, I would have definitely resigned him too. So which one is it? And then relative to Dawson Mercer. So I actually, I think Dawson Mercer's production is kind of fine. Like that's where it should be, especially for what he makes. Kind of my underlying point here was how we gave him. My problem with Mercer though, isn't production though. My problem with Mercer is his inability to clear the puck. Weak as play.

[01:12:21] His weakness along the boards. Like the guy is light as a feather, bounces off people. Like he's very good on the penalty kill and I wish he was that good at five on five. But he's not a very good center and he's not a very good wing. So it's kind of like what does it just say you do around here? I agree. All right. We're going to wrap this thing up. Even the six listeners now dwindled to three. Well, that was after your Drop Kings read. They all just got jump scared the fuck out of here. Yeah.

[01:12:51] And I'm just going to have to wear a different jersey and redo this because that just now is going to give me nightmares that somebody thought it was flyer orange. But anyway. You have to get all new lighting in your house. Right. No, that's too fluorescent. I fucking told you. All right, guys. For you guys checking us out and listening on the YouTube channel, this was fun. Thank you so much for chilling with us. Want to start a nice little fun devil community where we basically just, you know, talk about the team we love and shit on the Rangers.

[01:13:21] I mean, that's really all their. That's hockey. Right. So, um. Read the last comment. That's a good one. Actually, his stats on Saturday nights on the Lower East Side, he probably shreds women down there. Yeah, I'm sure of it. I'm sure of it. Those stats are definitely better than his right now playing for the Devils. So we're going to bounce now, guys.

[01:13:49] Again, thank you so much for checking us out. Subscribe to the channel. And, I don't know, tell a friend. Let us know if you want a sticker. You can find us at UnclePuckers.com. Give us your address in the contact info. And we'll send that little beauty out to you free of charge because we're nice like that. We're the Uncle Puckers for Bob and Tim and Chris. Thanks, guys. We'll see you later. See you when we see you. Bye-bye. You probably get no pussy on the Lower East Side, Bellicare.

[01:14:19] It's over, Johnny. It's over.