Is Markstrom Long For NJ?

[00:00:02] All of our shit is gone. We have no intro anymore. We have no outro anymore. I need Bobby to resend them so I can post them because I don't have them on my computer. So hi guys. How is everybody? We're the Uncle Puckers, Chris and Tim. Hopefully Tony will be joining us if you didn't fall asleep.

[00:00:17] So we were just discussing how we get into the studio here and none of the stuff that we have saved because we shared a studio with everybody from the Hockey Podcast Network. So there's only limited space for everybody to load all their graphics and their intros and their outros. So I've done it too. I've been guilty of it. Like if ours isn't on there, I'll delete somebody else's and I'll put ours in because there's not enough room.

[00:00:43] So somebody must have done that with ours and I don't know where the hell it went. So I can't find it. We saw that Danico recording somewhere, right? Yeah, I have everything. I have the new one I had made too. Yeah, well you were going to put that over. Yeah. I mean, I could just put that over our logo and we have that to start, you know? I like it. Cold opening. Let's just go. Let's just get into it. Let's go, man. Raw dog. That's it. No foreplay. Just we're fucking.

[00:01:13] It's just going right in there. It's going to get right in there. I get to be on bottom. Yeah, a long weekend. A long day Saturday and then Sunday mornings during the summers, me and like 30 guys, 30 to 40 guys. How the fuck do you find 30 to 40 guys in Amish country? I live like 40 minutes from my rink. So they're mostly guys that are closer to the rink, but they're also coming from like.

[00:01:42] They're also guys that come from 40 minutes the other way that are, you know, that much further away. So we do a skate Sunday mornings, 8 a.m. to 930. You know, just basically divvied up two teams. You know, we use this app called Bench App, which is kind of a great organization tool for Beer League. And, you know, you sign in, get assigned a team. Darks versus whites, you know, just like God intended.

[00:02:12] Kind of racist. That was kind of leading the horse to water there on that one. You can lead them to water, but you can't make them. Speaking of raw dogging. So, yeah, so it's fun. And then afterwards, like one of the dudes has like a smoker that he sets up. He actually doesn't play. The guy that organized it doesn't play. He like sets up his smoker while we're playing. And we just sit outside and just rip beers all day.

[00:02:41] The only problem is, is I had like 12 beers afterwards and a couple of sandwiches. I had to sober up and then drive home. And then I had to go right back there for a game at 6 o'clock last night. So I played twice yesterday. And then 12 more beers after the game. 12 more beers after that game. The storms ripped through here. So I had to have 12 more beers while I waited for the rain to move. What else are you going to do? I mean. So. I'm dragging acid at Chris. I understand.

[00:03:09] I'm trying to rehab our pool. A lot of algae. Looks worse than the reflecting pool in D.C. That looks pretty fucking bad. I'm like waiting for Shrek to pop out of this fucking thing. Not as bad as, you know, a cage match set up in front of our people's house. But we're not going to talk about that. No. Let's. Now, I have. I redid my stairs this weekend. That was my big Saturday. Yeah. I don't know if you noticed. Or. Like. I.

[00:03:38] Well, I ripped all the carpet off a while ago. And it was like, you know. So there was just some decent wood down as far as the stairs. But like the risers and everything. They were all fucking staples everywhere. Nails everywhere. So like I had to pull them all out. So I sanded them all down. I painted the risers. And then I. We bought like these stick on little carpet things for each step. You know. So I just. I put those on and stuff. So that was my Saturday. Yesterday, I kind of worked in the morning. I got home like around one or two. And then.

[00:04:08] Dicked around. I watched that fucking game. Actually, I'm lying. I turned the game off after. It was two nothing. Two nothing. I was. All right. I'm done. I was not going to sit there. And watch the canes. Hoist the fucking cup. And skate around. Because I absolutely despise Jared Stahl. And I hate that fucking team. But. I will say this. They're a really good fucking team, man.

[00:04:38] Like. I know. Like. There's some sour grapes with me. Where I'm like. Fucking. This is the easiest path I've ever seen. Anybody get to a cup. And. You know. They really did have. But. You know what? They. Had no obstacles in their way. There was no Florida. No Tampa. None of these teams. They have given them fits. The last bunch of years. And they did what. You know. They were supposed to do. They were the best team in the east. And. You know. They won the cup. So. Good on them. There are a couple lessons. I think. You know. That.

[00:05:08] That people can take away. From this. I think. One is. You know. Don't be so quick. To just go blow something up. If it doesn't work. After like. A couple years. Because. It took the canes. A long time. To get here. And find the right mix of players. And I think. The devils are kind of in that. Similar boat. Where they need to find the right mix of players. They haven't hit on it yet. You know. They kind of. I like. I continue to use like. This pendulum analogy. Where they. They went too far one way. And they went too far the other way.

[00:05:38] And they need to kind of find. Find the happy medium in the middle. And I think Sonny's going to do that. The other thing. On young. Undervalued players. And I think that. It continues to be. The story of Carolina. It's like. You know. You look at that team. How they're set up. They're very deep. They'll. Very good players. No like. Real high end. Super. They have some very.

[00:06:08] Very good players. You know. Stahl rose to the occasion. Stankham and rose to the occasion. Oh. And Sebastian Koff. Were kind of hit or miss. Throughout the playoffs. But. Tyler Hall was a fucking. Tyler Hall was a beast. You know. Like. Keandre Miller. Was an absolute fucking stud for them. And Slavin. Was a stud for them. Especially last night. He had a hell of a game. Yeah. He did. He did. Miller. I think was their best defenseman. These. These whole playoffs. And they. They've. And I think. I. I would really like to see. Sonny. Take this route. Where.

[00:06:37] They got Miller. Because they called. He called. Chris Drury. And was like. I'm going to offer. She'd conjure Miller. So why don't we. Come up with a trade proposal. Why don't you. Come back to me. With. What you want from me. And we'll do a trade instead. And I want to see Sonny. Do. Do something like that. Whoever. Whoever that can possibly be. Yeah. There's a lot of options. The other issue with Carolina. Is. We've gone through. Maybe five years. Of teams.

[00:07:07] Taking advantage. Of the LTIR loophole. You look at like. The last five teams. Back to Tampa. Even back into. Like. The Chicago days. Of winning the cup. You know. A lot of those teams. Were. You know. 10. 12. 15 million dollars. Over the cap. If. If you look at all in. Carolina. They're 12 million dollars. Under the cap. They have all their draft picks. They have two first rounders. Next year. I think. Like. No. Listen. They're a well run organization. They have been for. A handful of years. And you know. I don't agree with. What dubs wrote.

[00:07:37] We'll get to that. In a second. But like. We were just texting with Ace. And he had written. Like. I'm sure. I wonder how Pesci and Nathan feel. You know. They're wishing they took a little less. To stay there. The two guys that I think of. Is like. How's Rantan and Getzel feeling right now. Like. They were brought there. They want. You know what I mean. This team wanted them. And now. You know. But anyway. It happens all the time. Rantan didn't fit. And Stankov and Din. And yeah. Getzel. Don't know what happened with him. Mitch Marner vetoed a trade to Carolina too. Yeah. Let's not forget that.

[00:08:07] So. I think Carolina realized. We have to build a team a different way. That isn't. Isn't. Orchestrated around superstars. They're. Not fun to watch. I don't find them exciting. There's nobody on that team. That I like. Look forward to. But there's one guy. Who I. Who stood out to me. Stood out to me all year. And. It's Brandon Bussey. I mean. If they really now have a fucking goalie too. Because that was always their Achilles heel. Every postseason. They're going to be dangerous for the next couple of years. Unless Stahl retires.

[00:08:37] I think that would be a huge hit for them. Does he have more time on his contract? Or is he. He's 39 years old. Or whatever the fuck he is. The guy should wrap it up. You won your cup. Go out. In style. Go hate homosexuals on your own time. And leave us alone. So. Yeah. I don't know about Bussey being a one hit wonder Mike. I can't. You know. Mike and I were talking about it. I think he's a one hit wonder. He's only making 1.9 million. They're going to be able to ship him off pretty easily. Yeah. But. I don't. You know. This guy just won you a cup.

[00:09:06] I think he is. Because if Freddie doesn't. If Bussey doesn't play well. They're not winning that series. I think Bussey was great for them all year. Like. To have a guy just step in. And be able to give you that kind of performance. That's something the Devils haven't never had. In the last five or six years. Like. Just somebody coming in. Whether it's off waivers. Or down from Utica. And step in. And be a difference maker. And Bussey was. And I. I give the guy some credit man. Yeah. He was a legit. He was a. You know.

[00:09:36] A legit. AHLer. And that was. Who he was. But. When you're 27 years old. And you've kind of paid your dues. And you've been around the leagues. And you've been. Tossed out of a couple of NHL teams. You know. These guys sometimes just find themselves. They get put into the right situation. And they click. You know. Bussey could be the goalie for the next 10 years. In Carolina. He might be the next Jim Carrey. And win five fucking games next year. Who knows. But. If they got a goalie. They're going to be dangerous. And Carolina's a team that.

[00:10:05] That can kind of survive. I think with a bit of a faceless goalie. You know. And somewhat of a revolving goalie. They tried. They tried. But this is the first year. They kind of. They needed the goalie to step up. And make really big saves for them. They've always been the type of team. That was like. It's. Goalie play is random. And we are willing to just be happy with. An average. League average goalie. And it was. It never got the job done. But they got a guy that stepped in. Even Freddie. This postseason. He played great. Until he got hurt.

[00:10:34] Or tired. Or who knows what happened. So you know. You get that solid goaltending. It does increase your chances. To go deep into the playoffs. A lot better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see what happens. And you know. Goaltending wise. That leads us to. The little nugget. That snuck out. From Kevin Weese the other day. We're going to get to that now. In one second. I just want to. The. The. I think it was Devil Heaven. That said. Or Jason. Snow. That said. The Devils are closer to. A rebuild. Than they are.

[00:11:04] A you know. Perennial. I think this year. Is going to answer that question. I still think the jury's out. And you know. We owe it. As fans. Of this team. To give. Sonny the benefit of the doubt. To see what this team. Really does look like next year. So yeah. Marky to Uranus. I'm with you. Mike. I'm with you. Ship them to Uranus. Alright. So. You want to talk about. The Kevin Weeks. A little. Yeah. So I'm actually. It's. It's interesting. Because we.

[00:11:35] I don't think we ever really. Talked about this. Like how. Like Devils fans. Were going to get. Kind of. Insider leaks. You know. That LeBron was like Fitz's guy. And that's why he was. Kind of had the. The insider track. Now I'm kind of thinking about it. And it's like. LeBron's French Canadian. And Weeks. Played. With Brodeur. And so I'm kind of thinking that. Like Marty may be. The. The kind of guy that. Marty's the leak.

[00:12:04] Marty's. Marty's the leaker. Marty's the rat. But like. But like. Strategically. I think that may be what. What. You know. His role may be. Is to strategically seed stuff out. You know. Like. He and Weeks. You know. Played together. You know. They're in the goalie union together. And he and LeBron. Can have conversations. In French. In French. And nobody can fucking understand. What they're saying. In New Jersey. So. That's really. Like. So. That's kind of. Could potentially be. And you know. Credit to Devils Insider. For pointing that out. But. I. I think that actually.

[00:12:34] May be. May be the case. But. It is kind of interesting. That. Weeks would. And if you think about it that way. It's kind of interesting that. That. Marks from being. Being shopped around. Would go through weeks. Via Brodeur. Because. Marky was kind of. By. Sort of connection. Brodeur's guy. That he brought in. And so. So. Marky. Telling weeks. Or sorry. Marty telling weeks. Like hey. We're shopping. Marky.

[00:13:04] Kind of interesting. So. I think there may be some. Some credence to that. That would be. That'd be. Fucking great. Like. Build the fucking statue. If that happens. I don't. Marty already has a statue. We can't put one. It's good. We're going to put like. A little fucking rat. No. No. Just. Just put him in a suit. Next to the one of him. In the gold. Get to. Fuck that guy. Yeah. Crazy. Remember when Lindros. Fucked your wife.

[00:13:34] And that's why you had to leave. Ah. And they shipped you off. To fucking Carolina. To Carolina. Changing the entire trajectory. Of the NHL. Yeah. Fuck you Eric Lindros. It's your fault. It is your fault. There was a portion of time. In my life. Where I blamed everything. On Eric Lindros. So. I'm okay with that. Like everything. Like it's fucking raining. Like fuck you. Like. Like. You know. Like everything is Obama's fault. Everything was Eric. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah. That was. But I. I can't stand Eric Lindros.

[00:14:04] And I actually liked Rob Brennamore. When he played. You know. I liked him as a player. I like him as a coach. I think he's a great coach. I think he's a great coach. And he. He's great at motivating. And getting guys. To buy into things. And he's great at. There's a story. That was kind of floating around. Again. About Ranton. And how Ranton. Did something out of practice. And Rod was just like. No. We don't do that around here. And that was kind of the first. First sort of. Domino. And the sort of. We got it. Brandon's not going to be the guy. To stick around here. And you know.

[00:14:33] It's going to be interesting. Like these battleship teams. Teams that have been. At that. Kind of. Top of the NHL. For the last. Handful of years. You know. The Colorados. The Vegases. The Carolinas. Florida's. Tampa's. Dallas. You know. All those really good. Battleship teams. Well. Carolina. Has probably been. Chasing this. And getting the furthest. Without getting that. Big reward at the end. Longer than probably anybody else. How's that affect them next year?

[00:15:04] Like. Like are they going to be still that hungry team? I'm curious. Like now. Now. Brenda Moore. You got to really coach. Because your team won the. Now everybody's gunning for you. It's going to be interesting. I hope that they fall off a cliff. Does Stahl still. They won't fall off a cliff. No. I don't. They won't. But. Because. Because like they still. Like next year. Hang on. Yeah. Pretty much everybody's still there. You know. I don't know. What Stahl's contract is. But like I said.

[00:15:33] He should retire. This year. Why would you not. After captaining. You know. It's teamed finally to a cup. Go out in style. That's what I say. Let's talk about. Here's one more year on this deal. Look at. Look at some of these fucking deals that they have. Like Logan Stankovan makes six million. Seth Jarvis makes seven point four. You know. That's a steal. He makes eight point five. That's a little much. Taylor Hall makes three. Yep. He signed for two more years.

[00:16:03] I think after this. Yeah. Yeah. So it's going to be interesting to see if there is any. Takers or any interest at all in Jacob Markstrom. And I would assume there is. He still. I think there is. I think there will be. I know we may need to attach some assets to him or a minimum retain. Retain some. Yeah. Which is. Who cares? You know. If it's going to. The thing is this, though. If Sonny Mehta is actively shopping Jacob Markstrom.

[00:16:32] Do you think he already has in mind the heir apparent? Who he wants to go after? Is it somebody in the club already? Is it a name that he's already looking at and just saying, I just got to dump this guy and I can make the move on him? I don't think it would be. You know. I don't think it would be beneficial to say we're shopping our number one goalie without a backup plan or with Jake Allen being the backup plan. So, you know, Kosa. I mean, that's what I hear a lot.

[00:17:02] I know nothing about the guy or Levi. You know, I mean. There's Kosa, Levi. There's DiPietro in Boston. Those are kind of like the young guys. DiPietro still fucking playing. Huh? This guy was. He's like our age now. Good for Rick. No, that's another guy. But the interesting thing about DiPietro is we still need a goalie coach. And you know who his goalie coach is? Chuck Sharon. No. Mike Dunham. He's not alive anymore. Mike Dunham. No shit. Yeah. And he's been.

[00:17:32] How come Marty's not a fucking goaltender coach? Like all of our former goalies are goaltending coaches in the league. Sean Burke's out in Vegas. You got Mike Dunham. Although Schneider. Schneider's in. I think Schneider got hoodwinked. I think. I think he took the eight. That HL goalie coach before they moved to. Or because they're moving to Hamilton, Ontario next year. Yeah. And he's. He lives in Greenwich. So I think when they were in Bridgeport, he's like, hell yeah. This is like 10 minutes from my house. I'll take this job. So I think Corey may be.

[00:18:02] Maybe an option next year for the Devils. I think he may just tell them to go fuck themselves. You know. Yeah. You bring DiPietro and Mike Dunham over. Why not? We're getting an ECHL team here next year. The Trenton Ironhawks will be in play next year. I cannot wait to go check them out. That'll be fun. Great name. It's about time Trenton had like a pro team. We had an ECHL team way back in the day. We had the. Was it the Trenton Titans? I think that was the name of it. Some like that.

[00:18:32] Yeah. Thunder. No, I think it was the Titans. The Thunder was the baseball team. Yeah. Thunder was. I used to go to those baseball games all the time. It was awesome. It was like five bucks to get in the door. Like. Yeah. I like baseball. It's just such like a fun thing to go do. Like you'd go there on Friday nights. Drink like 10 beers. Have the time of your life. They do all kinds of stupid shit during the game. We were. We used to. We're all. About. Maybe 20 minutes from my house is the Jersey Shore Blue Claws. Yeah. And. So when the kids were little. We would go all the time.

[00:19:02] And. You know. We get lawn seats for like you say. Like five bucks. They'd give you like a voucher. For the kids to get like hot dog and soda and stuff. They'd play. And you know. Run around. You watch the game. And then afterwards. They. Like a couple of nights a week. They would do fireworks. Or you just hang out. And watch the fireworks at the end. So much fun. You walk out. You just. Had a great night out with the whole family. You spent 40. $50. Yeah. And you're outside. And the kids are on the phone. And they're like. You know. We're getting ice cream. Cotton candy and shit. Yeah. I'm down with. I'm down with Coase. I'd be.

[00:19:31] I don't know why Detroit would trade them. I guess they think better of Augustine. But. We'll see. But your point. You know. It's like. Is. Is that his target? That group of. Guys that have been successful at the AHL. That are probably blocked long term. Or is it a guy in a situation like Stolarz. Or. Who's the. You know. Merz Lincolens. Or. Aiden Hill. Duke of Pekka Lukonen. I don't. No one Aiden Hill. Like. He's just.

[00:20:01] He just strikes me as like. We're replacing Markstrom with Markstrom. Yeah. I mean. I like the idea of going with one of the younger guys. Just to have in the system. Like. Maybe. I mean. Is. Is Malik any good? Like. Is this dude. Like. Can he. Does he have a shot at making this team? You know. The big club. I think. You know. I don't know. I don't know. If he has a shot. Like. You just froze. But I. Oh. Fuck me.

[00:20:31] I like Malik. I like Yegorov. I think they both have. Have some juice. Most goalies. If they are going to be studs. Don't. And. And I've posted this graphic. On. On Twitter. It's. It's like. There were. Vasilevsky. Knight. Ottinger. And then one other. It's like. All the. The top drafted goalies. Over the past. Two or three. Or ten years. Or so. I think. Through like. Since like. 2010. 2010.

[00:21:00] So the best of the best. By the draft. Plus four years. Are the guys. That. That actually become. Stars in the league. And some others. It takes a few. Extra years. To. To become something. No idea. What happened to Chris. So I'll keep talking. King. So yeah. So it's going to be kind of annoying. That we kind of. Constantly have to deal with Carolina. Year over year. Over year. They're a really good. Fucking team. And. Yeah. I don't know.

[00:21:30] If it's necessarily age. Mike. I think it's mostly. Where they are. In their development. From drafting. To. To there. Some guys. Yeah. Maybe like. They're. They're. You know. Plus six years. It's also team situation. Team environment. How. You know. How good the team is. In front of them. So there. There's a lot of. Kind of nuance in there. And obviously. Some goalies are going to. Going to develop. Better than others. But what's interesting is. You know. Does. Does Sonny look at.

[00:22:01] Those. That young group. As his target. Or does he. Want to swing for the fences. For a guy like Hellebuck. You know. And then. What is that. What happens from there. I'm. I'm not entirely convinced. That. We have. I think we need. To use the. The tradable assets. That we have. To trade for skaters. More than a goalie. I think. You know. Our biggest issues. Still to this day. Was goal scoring last year. If he's looking at Bobrowski.

[00:22:31] I'm going to fucking kill somebody. Like. That's just. Like. That's just replacing someone. Like. Marsham. Placing. Replacing Marsham. With Bobrowski. So. What I was saying. Chris. Is like. I don't know if. The young group of guys. Is what his target would be. Or if he's looking at. Swinging for the fences. For like. Hellebuck. That's. I mean. That would be amazing. I would love the. You know. I don't know. If we have the assets. To get Hellebuck here. But that would be great. Yeah. And I kind of agree. With TJK here. It's like.

[00:23:01] I actually. I hate to say it. Like. I think. I have a little bit of pause. On. On Hellebuck. And. I. I think. We need to spend our assets. Wise. And we have very. Few. Very few. Tradeable assets. You know. I've gone over this before. We need to improve. The skater group. More. I think. Than we need to improve. The goaltending. I just love. That we're starting. To get that. You know. Those little drips. And drabs. Of information. Coming out now. And you know.

[00:23:30] What is Sonny. Going to do. It's going to be exciting. And I cannot wait. For the off season. I'm so glad. That this cup run. Is over. And we can actually. Get back to. What we care about. And that's. You know. Making this team better. But. You know. You just. Now you just got to build yourself. To be able to compete. With Carolina. I mean. That's. That's it. You got to. There's no reason. That next year. If the devils. If Sonny does the things. That we talk about. And what he knows. You know. That probably should be done. And this team stays healthy.

[00:23:59] There's no reason. That at the end. It's not Carolina. New Jersey. Fighting for the. The metro. That there's no reason. There's no other team. That if we. Play up to the ability. And we are not. You know. We don't have another. Inconsistent. Injury. Plague. Shit. Of a season. Who's better than Carolina. New Jersey. In the metro. I don't know. If there's. I mean. I could think of five. Five teams in the Atlantic. But. Not so much in the metro. Yeah. Nobody is. I agree with you.

[00:24:29] I look. I know. It hasn't been great. For the Devils. For the past couple of years. But. We are much better. Than what we've shown. Over the past couple of years. Exactly. On paper. I get. I get it. Like the results. Haven't been there. But we are much better. Than. What they've shown. I do think. This is kind of the last year. That we should really give this group. Any. Any kind of leeway. You know. Before. Changes really start. Need. Need to start happening. But. We need Timo. To fucking. Be Timo. Yeah.

[00:25:00] One of the biggest things. That needs to happen. I don't know why. You know. A lot of the smoke. Has been around Nico. Because he's extension eligible. And hence. Tradeable. Oh. If Timo. Was up for an extension. Next year. I get it. Yeah. Everybody would be. Yeah. Like he's been. He's been. The biggest problem. On this team. Is because our biggest problem. Is goal scoring. And the guy. That we brought in. To be that 30 to 35. 40 goal scorer. Isn't even coming close. To that. No. You're right. I mean. But. It goes all the way around. Like Timo.

[00:25:29] Timo's got to play up to his. You know. Contract. And his ability. Luke. Is a lot of next year. Is going to depend on Luke. I think Luke has. Has a big bounce back here. Next year. I do too. But there is a lot on him. And I hope. Like he's. You know. Mentally okay. And ready to do it. Jack's got to stay healthy. You know. You're healthy. Heshy has to stay healthy. And you got to fix the problem in that. And you got to revamp this decor. A little bit. So. There's a lot of shit to do. And we've talked about it. It's probably not a one year deal.

[00:25:59] Now look. If this team is. Playing great all year. And Sonny feels like maybe we do have a shot. I could see him pulling some triggers. At the trade deadline. That maybe he was holding off for next summer. To kind of see where it's at. So I think a lot will be. Could be done this year. But it all going to depend on this team. Because. If we go in as sellers. At the trade deadline. Nobody's safe. Nobody's safe. Everybody's going to. I agree. I agree with that. And we're going to. I think. We're going to rebuild. You know. One thing. You know.

[00:26:29] Everybody talks about Sonny. Being an analytical. Analytical. Guy. But one thing. That doesn't get mentioned. Within that is. Is. Cap discipline. Within. And finding undervalued guys. That are. You're getting more value. Out of what you're actually paying. Guys. You know. Right now. I think we're probably. Underwater. In terms of what we're paying guys. Versus the value. That we're getting from them. And like. You look at. Carolina again. You look at the value. That they're getting out of. Some of the. Some of these players. Like. Like I just said. Like.

[00:26:59] They're fucking $12 million. Under the cap. And they just won the cup. It's crazy. So now. Just. Just. I'll reiterate this. You know. Again. Like. Wingside for team. It doesn't matter. Five on five. This biggest issue. Is power play time. Now. I. Yes. I agree with that. That team. I don't think he sucks. But I think he. I've said this on the show. I think he absolutely got his payday. And. He just started phoning it in. And there was no accountability. There was nobody. You know. Benching him. Or.

[00:27:29] You know. Anything. He was. You know. You get. You got all his minutes. He got all his ice time. And. You know. He'd scored the occasional goal. And. Kind of just skated through. The season. He was not a leader. He wasn't a guy that. You know. Said. All right. Jack's out. I'm making nine million dollars a year. I can carry this team. He didn't do it. Brat didn't do it. You know. Nico did it the best he could. But. It. This team needs to be built around Nico and Jack. And that's it. Like. That. Those are the two guys that. Right.

[00:27:58] The complimentary pieces around him to me. Did not matter as much as those two dudes. No. That's because he's playing fucking Estonia. And a bunch of plumbers from like third rate European countries. In the world. So that's. The reason. It's nothing to do with right wing. Left wing. I like. I hate to tell people this. But it's just true. But. At five on five. At five on five. They play positionless hockey. Like. Like. There's. F1. F2. F3. Systems. Ozone. And D zone. They're not.

[00:28:28] You know. It's not peewees anymore. There's not. Right wing. Left wing. Stay on your side. It just doesn't work that way. But if. You look at the numbers. And he. Career wise. Has been better on the right side. As far as his numbers go. Why not put him on the right side. Like. I don't. I mean. I don't care. It's just. But I just don't. That's why I don't put much credence in it. Credence in it. Credence in it either. Because I believe that if it was actually something that Timo gave a shit about. We would see him on the right side.

[00:28:58] You know. Right. Like if it mattered. It would matter. Yeah. Like that. Yeah. It's power play. Tom. That's why he put up the numbers that he did at San Jose. He was a primary trigger guy in that. That right wing flank. And that's what people see. And that's why they say. You should play right wing. Because they see so many of his highlights and his goals. Or power play goals from that spot. But if you look at his shot maps of five on five on NHL edge. He's actually shooting from the right side more now than he is. From the left side. When his past couple years before.

[00:29:28] That is one thing I will bang the table for. Like Timo should be on power play one. Like I don't like him on power play two. It doesn't make sense. I think it should be Timo there. And this power play. If Luke is the guy. And he does have. The bounce back year that we're all expecting. This power play should be deadly. You know. But I think Timo's got to get that ice time. And I mean. I'm curious. Because Markstrom has no movement clause. Right?

[00:29:58] I think Markstrom is fully protected. No. Markstrom turns to 20 teams. July 1st. July 1st turns to 20 teams. Okay. That's good. That's good. Yeah. 20 teams. And then in two years. I think it's six teams. So look. We may wind up with Markstrom for one more year. Maybe this is a longer term. Gauging the shop. The access to him. Maybe we rehab his image a little bit. But. You know. I'm a little hesitant to run Allen and Dawes out.

[00:30:27] I wouldn't mind it. But I think there needs to be a better solution. Because like we've been chasing this. Over and over and over again for years. Is this. Yeah. Since number 30 wrapped it up. But yeah. And it's just like. You know. We went from Marty to Corey. To like just like a fucking. You know. Line of just trash. You know. We thought Akira was going to be the guy. And he wound up being shitty goal. But again. It's like.

[00:30:56] It's so much connected to how the play is in front of him. That. That we need that to improve as well. So. Yeah. I don't. I don't believe in Nico Dawes either. And I. I wouldn't be surprised if Sonny Mehta doesn't believe in Nico Dawes either. I think he. He has to have his eye on a few guys. If. Nico Dawes. Nico Dawes will top out as a career backup slash AHL starter. Yeah. That's fine. That's a good hockey career. Absolutely. He'll make some money. He'll. You know. Probably get into coaching. Doing something down the road.

[00:31:25] He'll be fine. You know. Yeah. He doesn't need to be our number one goalie. I'm curious though. Who's going to take more. I said it. From. You know. Months ago. I think Edmonton is the place to send them. I do. Now. I don't know. We just got to be careful. We got to be careful. We get back. And that's it. I don't want anything back at that point. You know. Just get rid of them. Just take the whole thing. You know. Send Sonny a gift card for. You know. Chick-fil-A. And let's. Let's. Let's just move off of this. No.

[00:31:54] But there's some young guys that I'm sure on Edmonton. That. You know. Sonny might have his eye on. Just not Darnell Nurse. Whatever. Not Darnell Nurse. You're frozen. Am I frozen? Shit. You are frozen. I'm going to do my ad read. I'm right back to that. And come back in. So. All right. Hockey fans. The Stanley Cup playoffs are here in DraftKings Sportsbook. An official sports betting partner of the NHL has a new customer offer. When the ice gets coldest, the best players in the world show you exactly who they are. All right.

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[00:33:23] The crown is yours. Okie dokie. Smokey? Well, that's weird. I just saw this whole text chain with you with Ace. Sorry, I missed that. Yeah, I was wondering where you were. Yeah, apologies. So, but yeah, I'm excited now to finally get rolling here. And let's see what this summer's going to be because I cannot wait for a season to start. I'm so excited.

[00:33:49] It looks like kind of got a new, a little tiny news drop today that there's a, one of our scouts is no longer on the, on the active personnel listing on their website. So. Okay. I forget his name. It was Andre something or other. All right. Big deal. Yeah. But it's like, you know, it's, it's, it's, yeah. Oh, there it is. Yeah. Mike Ruff said before, Andre Savard. No idea what he did, where it was, who he scouted, but.

[00:34:19] So. Andre, thanks for your service, I guess. I don't know. I guess, you know, the statue will be erected momentarily. You know, what's the draft like? Like 11 days away or something? A week and a half, something like that. Something like that. Yeah. So. I thought you didn't want to talk about this. I just, I don't want to talk about prospects. I do want to talk because I think that'll be the day that all hell begins to break loose. You know, I think you're going to start seeing a lot of trades.

[00:34:47] You're going to start seeing a lot of movement from a lot of teams on draft day. So I think that's the, and what day is it? Do you know? Like the actual date of it? I don't know. I think it's just. I'm wondering if it's before or after July 1st, if it's before or after the league year. I think it's before. It's right before. Yeah. Okay. So that would make some sense then. Yeah. And Mike Ruff, I know you don't want to talk about it, but I'm going to talk about the two guys.

[00:35:14] The first guy, I don't think he's going to be available is Viggo Bjork. I don't think he's going to be available. It's me, Viggo. Yeah. And then we can use the Ghostbusters 2 memes all the time. Where are you from, Viggo? Is he up on the best side? Do I? Sorry. Go ahead. Viggo the Carpathian. Yes. If he's not available, then Wyatt Cullen is my guy. I'm not a big fan of this Ethan Belchez guy. He skates like a dog. Fuck that shit, man.

[00:35:43] But then there's also Oscar Humming, who I kind of liked. Not as much. Suvanto is pretty good. There are a bunch of other guys. Again, I can't get excited about guys that we're going to draft and they're going to go play in Utica for three years. We didn't make the playoffs, so we got to fucking get excited about draft picks. Like, that's kind of what we're into here. So Wyatt Cullen, Viggo Bjork, those are the two guys. You think Sonny keeps it? I don't know.

[00:36:12] That's actually a very good question. I put it like purely straight up 50-50. Yeah, I agree. I think it is a point flip. It's, you know, my preference is to use it for more now help. But if that's not there or if, like, you know, like we're not going to trade him for, like, one year of, like, if he uses it to trade for, like, Boone Jenner, I'm going to fucking stab somebody. I like Boone Jenner. I do not care.

[00:36:41] I'm just saying, I do like Boone Jenner. I don't want to give her 12th pickup for him. I don't want him on the Devils, but I do like Boone Jenner. There's this kid that I, because I'm doing prospect write-ups still for All About the Jersey, and I wrote up the left side D, so it was Carson Carrolls, who's probably going to wind up in the Rangers, so get used to that name. And this kid, Xavier Villeneuve, I don't know how you pronounce it in French, but this kid, his highlight reel is disgusting.

[00:37:09] It's like he's like a little Quinn Hughes, Lane Hudson. He's like 5'11", 170, so he's tiny, and it's a QMJHL, so kind of take that with a little bit of a grain of salt. He's so nasty. I watch, because when I do these prospect write-ups, I watch a highlight package, then I watch a couple of shift-by-shifts, which is basically his entire game. Every single fucking shift in this shift-by-shift, he did something disgusting, abused somebody on the other team, and set up a chance for one of his teammates.

[00:37:38] I was like, that's little Quinn Hughes. I was like, this kid is fucking nasty. Problem is, he's tiny, and it's probably going to take a couple years, but he's going to be you next year to play for Panda. We don't need defensemen, and he's a defenseman. And now we know that Yagorov is going back, right? He's going back to Boston? Yes, I believe Yagorov is going back. Okay, so he's out of the mix. We know Salayev is coming here. He'll probably end up in EA, but it'd be fun to see how he does at training camp and preseason.

[00:38:06] Get some eyes on this dude, because I'm very excited about him, regardless of all the fucking shade that was thrown at him last year that we heard from across the river that, you know, oh, he's not developing, and he's not getting ice time, and he basically sucks, and he can't skate. I want to see this kid with my own eyes. I mean, if he works out, he could be a fucking big-time answer. Yeah, and he's fallen off a lot of the various pundits' lists of promising prospects.

[00:38:35] But honestly, because Russia's not involved in any of the international tournaments, he's getting no play at World Juniors or the Gretzky-Hlinka. So, like, he's not represented at these international tournaments, so all we have is this 10 minutes of ice time that he's been getting because Igor Larianov left us as coach. But Igor Larianov said this kid is fucking really good. I'm going to go ahead and trust that guy's opinion. Yeah, I think I run with Igor's opinion more so than whoever else is coaching him now.

[00:39:04] But, like, I expected Gretzkyuk to be a bit of a mess, especially in the defensive zone. Like, I really was like, you know, in Russia, they don't really teach that. You know, we know he can skate. He can shoot. Is he just going to look for offense and not be that, you know, this dude came in ready to fucking – he knew North American hockey like that. He's a very, very mature two-way game. Yeah. It'll be very nice. I wouldn't mind – are they doing that prospect tournament up in Buffalo again? Yeah, they always do it.

[00:39:34] Yeah, they do the – every summer. Maybe investigate a little Pucker Road Trip. Hey, I would definitely go. I mean, we know we play some games up there. They play out in Boston. They have a bunch of different spots where they do it. But usually we are up in Buffalo. I would absolutely go. If we can pull that off and go up there for one or two of the games, I totally would. Yeah, me, you, and Bob will go fucking hop in the Bobby van. The Bobby van with no windows and boxes of puppies in the chocolate bars. Put you in the kid's seat.

[00:40:04] Yeah, all right. I don't care as long as I'm not driving. Actually, I like driving. I prefer driving. I always end up driving. But, yeah, I mean – so, you know, that's about as excited as I get about prospects. You know, that tournament, I'll watch the games online. But after that, I'm done. I'll watch them in training camp. That's it. The sort of bell curve of excitement for, you know, this upcoming season. I'm, like, down here right now, and as stuff ramps up, I'll come up here. Exactly.

[00:40:32] My attitude and, like, oh, this year is going to be great. There's no reason to think it'll be different. That's what I'm going to be like. Well, yeah, I mean, I'm not falling for it again this year. I'm not. I'm going to be – I'm going to try my best to be, like, I don't care that we got Connor Hollabuck and Connor McDavid and a few other Conners on the team. They're going to suck until they don't suck.

[00:40:59] That's, like, my mentality right now is I need to see it because I get burned. I've gotten burned, same as everybody else, right? We get burned, and then they open up the season. They go on an eight-game win streak, and we're so fucking dumb. We think the season's over after eight games. This is it, right? This fucking team is going all the way. And then the bottom completely falls out, and we're stuck looking like the biggest assholes.

[00:41:20] And the only saving grace from last year to not really make us want to fucking hang ourselves is that our – well, I mean, you take our fucking second rival, second biggest rival. They go on to win the cup, but at least our first rival was worse than us. Our biggest rival actually was worse than us. That was the only good thing that we can take away from this year is, eh, we weren't as bad as the Rangers. That's it. Yeah.

[00:41:41] I just hope that Sonny is smart enough to take all of the right lessons from Carolina and not the wrong ones because I can see the wrong lessons being taken being like, we need a 30-plus veteran captain type to lead us, and that's how you win. No, he's going to take more of those lessons from Florida than he is from Carolina because if you're Sonny, you're like, yeah, Carolina won the cup,

[00:42:09] but who's the guys that knocked them out the two years before that? It was Florida. So, you know. Yeah, and Florida will be right back there again. Anybody that thinks like this is the new playoff run in the East, like no. You're going to have, I think, Tampa – well, Tampa made the playoffs, but like Florida will definitely be back. I think the Devils are going to make the playoffs next year. They have to make the fucking playoffs next year. If they don't, I'm going to go to jail for what I'm going to do.

[00:42:36] I think I might join Bobby and actually seriously stop fucking podcasting about this fucking team if they do. If they do, like, yeah. But they're going to make the playoffs. They're going to make the playoffs. I think because even if things go horribly wrong, I do think that Sonny is smart enough to make the moves on the fly to get this team better. So I don't – I wish I knew what all the – I wish I knew what it was like in that dressing room last summer.

[00:43:04] And I wish I knew what it was like for Sheldon Keefe dealing with Fitz. And apparently the dressing room was a bit of a mess. And that's something that gives me caution about, well, we brought Keefe back. I understand there was probably not a better upgrade as far as an NHL coach out there. You could argue there probably could have been. But at the same time, this is a guy that oversaw this team completely fucking implode. So why are we bringing him back?

[00:43:34] And, you know, okay, you hear that Fitz had a lot to do, a lot of micromanaging with this team last year. And I understand Sheldon Keefe doesn't – you know, isn't going to go and bite the hand that feeds him. But at the same time, how much was it on Fitz? How much was it on you, Keefe? And that's a big concern for me is your job was to make sure that this team was ready each and every night. They were not ready each and every night.

[00:44:00] And you hear – now you hear stories about guys that were not happy in the dressing room. And there was tension and no one happy with ice time. And there was a lot of shit going on. Maybe it's old Nemo. I don't know. But I don't think so. I think there were other dudes too. So that's the one thing that does give me pause about Keefe coming back. Other than that, I'm fine with Keefe as a coach. I like his style. I like how this team plays under him for the most part when all the pieces are there. But that worries me a little bit.

[00:44:28] I mean, well, that's the problem is, you know, we need all the pieces to be there. And when they're not, we need the replacement pieces to be good enough to kind of tread water. Yeah. You know, not drown. And that's on Fitz is to not – he didn't build this team to withstand what happened. And look, we had a whole – like, Jack got hurt. But there were a lot of other guys that were hurt at that time. Like, you know, we were running out of pretty fucking slapdick lineup at that point. We were.

[00:44:55] But I also remember the day of the Chicago cut incident or, like, you know, shortly thereafter when we found out that Jack was going to be out for a significant amount of time. And we said on this show, you have to make a move now. Okay. It's November. Who gives a fuck? You have to make a move now. And you have to get somebody in here that can take and eat some of those numbers and at least be able to try and keep this team treading water until he's back.

[00:45:20] And for too many years – and I don't want to go back and relitigate Fitz and how fucking terrible he was. But there's nothing more frustrating as a fan when you are all shouting from the rooftops to do something and our general manager is nowhere to be found. This guy wouldn't even put a fucking post out on Twitter like, you know, that he gets it. He's working on shit. Whatever. I understand. Because he wasn't doing anything. And, oh, he called on this guy. He called on that guy. He called – dude. He was terrible.

[00:45:50] I kind of feel like the other GMs didn't like Fitz. Because, you know, they're like – he's like, remember two deadlines ago? He was like, he's like, I don't know. I've checked to see if my phone worked. And it's like, are you the fucking loser that nobody wants at the lunch table? Like, is that – Yes. Yes, I think he is. Do they think you're a fucking dork and they just don't want to talk to you? Well, you think about it. Like, he mainly did deals with, like, just a few teams, right? Yeah, with, like, his buddies. Yeah, San Jose. I don't know who else.

[00:46:20] But, yeah, I'm with you. Calgary. Bunch of Calgary. Yeah, it was like his guys. It's the old boys Boston club guys, you know. Yeah. But – all right, so my question. Here's another one. Vegas. They bringing torts back? That's a very good question. Speaking of coaches that may or may not be eventually available, I'd actually kick the can on him. He'd be interesting.

[00:46:46] Like, but I don't – they should. It would be insane if they didn't. Yeah, but Vegas is the only team that does things completely out of character of what most teams do. I mean, the fact that they were, like – I mean, look, I think you'd be crazy to get rid of them. You're on the verge of not making the playoffs. You fire your coach with eight games left, and Fitz comes in and gets you to game five of the finals. That's – or six of the finals, rather. That's pretty impressive. So, I think they bring them back.

[00:47:16] But then again, it's Vegas. So, who the fuck knows? Yeah, I have no idea. I have no idea. They might go higher Cassidy back. Like, who knows? He's still fucked up. What if that's their plan? Right? And that's a swap. You're going to coach for, you know, whatever, 75 games, and then we're going to bring torts in, and he'll coach for a rain. And, you know, it's a bullet in Sonny's chamber, you know, like with Keefe. It's just like, all right, well, I'm going to keep the guy that was here already as kind of a bridge

[00:47:45] and sort of the institutional knowledge of the players and, you know, maintaining the same systems year over year, which is important, I think. You know, there gets to a point where you have a new coach with new systems, with new ways of communicating. You've got to relearn stuff. You know, and you've got to think about guys like Lenny and Gritzek who, you know, kind of thrived a little bit under Keefe. You know, and Jack himself had said, Sheldon's a good coach for me. You know, Nico seems to like him too. So it's like, you've got to kind of keep that around.

[00:48:14] But also, if it's not working, then Sonny's, you know, not burning one of his fucking coaches already. Because GMs usually get, what, like three or four coaches before they get fired. Yeah, it's true. And who knows, you know, if – I don't want another coach. Like, I want this to work out, of course. But the type of coach – like, Tort's coming in. Let's just use him as an example. Like, that is kind of what this team needs. They need that type of coach.

[00:48:43] Craig Berube, Tortorella, a guy that – No, Berube's awful. He's a terrible coach. This game has passed him by. They're different – yeah. Yeah, I get what you're saying. I'm not talking about the style. I'm talking about – Yeah, you're talking about – You're not talking about the individual people. You're talking about the style. Yeah. Well, I'm talking about, like, how he runs the team. The accountability, the no excuses, that kind of shit. That's what I want. And maybe that's Keith. I don't know.

[00:49:11] Keith is supposedly a bit of a hard ass on these guys. Well, then it's going to be interesting to see. Because I think a lot of questions are going to be answered next year. Like, if this team really does turn a corner and they become a really fucking big-time player and a cup contender, I think you could look at Fitz as being the fucking anchor that held this team down for so fucking long. Yeah. I mean, look what happened to Buffalo. They got rid of their GM. Like, they didn't make any personal moves and they just turned it around. Like, there's something to be said for, like,

[00:49:41] players being upset with the general manager because he's not helping them at all. And, like, that is something that we just talked about that happened. Yeah. Is they were not happy with the general manager for not bringing in help when they needed it the most. You know, then the Quinn stuff was a distraction the whole time. And then all the injuries were an issue the whole time. And God knows what happened to Jack, but I'm sure that was potentially a little bit traumatic. Imagine being Gritzok and it's your rookie dinner.

[00:50:09] You don't even speak fucking English. And the star player is doing whatever the fuck he does, not knowing how to use stemware, and cuts himself open at your rookie dinner in a foreign city. And then all the players have to, like, cover it up and be like, oh, he wasn't doing – he wasn't playing the knife game. He was, you know, cut his hand on a glass. It was broken on the table. It's like, all right. So we got – wait for Mark to get trade, and he becomes disgruntled, and then he'll tell us –

[00:50:39] Then he airs that all. He airs the laundry. Let's do it. All right. So before we wrap up, I think there's one pressing issue, something very important that we haven't discussed. And I think that not only does Devil Nation want to know our opinion on this, I think that the whole world wants to know our opinion on this. It looks like Jack and Tate McRae have broken up. No, they didn't. That's just what I've heard. No. Are you sure? That was a fake website. Thank God. Oh, my God. I'll tell you. I was so worried.

[00:51:08] I was so sad for both of those beautiful little children that I wasn't sure I could handle the fact that – I hate the fact that our fucking superstar player is that guy, that he's in all the fucking tabloid shit, and people are fucking monitoring his social life. I hate it. I like it. I like that our guys – I don't even know who Tate McRae is. She's, like, the hottest fucking pop star out there. I don't even know how that little – I don't even know how that little pussy Jacky is fucking deals with her. Absolutely no chance he can handle that. I don't know. Watch it. Watch it.

[00:51:37] Look up Tate McRae dancing on stage. You'd be like, this guy? This fucking guy? She's no fucking Shakira, brother. All right. Yeah. Go on. Yeah. She's, you know. Now we just get to see how many – 10% off Juergens at juergens.com. Oh, she's so sexy. Goddamn on Shakira. I don't even like her music, but I listen to it because of her. Just because those hips don't lie, Tim. That's it. So, Mike Ruff just threw out all the free agents. We'll talk about this.

[00:52:05] I think they should largely avoid free agency. You know, Marchman's all right. Like, Bobby McMahon, maybe. But, like, no on Alex Tuck. No on Radish. Unless they trade everybody on the right side, then maybe Radish. The only guy I'd fucking give a deal to is if they trade Dougie and Nemich and bring in Carlson on, like, a one-year veteran. I'd be fine with Carlson on a one-year deal over Radish. I just don't know. Like, I don't know. Like, Radish had his big breakout year. That kind of scares me.

[00:52:34] Like, the one breakout year. Radish – Radish can get overpaid by someone. But he had that breakout year because Victor Hedman was hurt, and he got the power play one time and got fed one-timers from Kucherov. Which, same thing with Timo. Same thing with everyone who gets fucking power play one time and gets an opportunity to thrive in a power play one role.

[00:53:01] You know, because they're going to get a minute and a half of every power play, and the power play two is going to get 30 seconds of trash time. What about – what's this fuck from Pittsburgh? Oh, my God. Big guy. No. I think he's a UFA. No, he just – Malkin. I think he only played – No, not Malkin. He played with him, I think, just last year. That was it. He was with – Sidney Crosby. Who's that? Sidney Crosby. I've never heard of him. Who's – no. He fucking – he was with Columbus, I think, like, the year before. Oh, Chinnikov? The Russian?

[00:53:31] No. No. He's a big dude. Like, six fucking four. Oh, Anthony. Anthony. Yes, Anthony Manta. Yeah, no fucking thanks on him. I mean, he had a decent year. So, I'm sure somebody will end up overpaying for him as well. We're going to see some generationally bad contracts handed out this summer. Yeah, just don't be the guy handing them out. No, he won't. I think Sonny's going to at least be cap-disciplined. You know, no more retirement home contracts.

[00:54:00] No more five-by-fives for a plus-30-year-old guys. No more fucking bad contracts. I think he's going to be cap-disciplined. And if he said it, he said he thinks about it all the time. And I think he wants to have a cleaner sheet going into the season so he can make a move in season. Right. Which is something that Fitz did not keep himself open for. Like, only in the last year. Fitz got fucked by a lot of the injuries.

[00:54:22] Because, like, when Jack got hurt, like, Nason was hurt and Pesci was hurt and Kovacevic was still hurt and he was on LTIR but might be coming back. They had to do so much with, like, the shenanigans with LTIR and IR. And, like, what that fucking, you know, what that does to your cap and how much space you actually have. I completely lost track of it.

[00:54:44] But last year, last summer, if I was Fitz, I'm setting myself up 100% to pull the trigger on Quinn Hughes if it comes. Because you know it's probably coming. You know? And once he has the okay from Vancouver that he wants out, you want to be able to pull the trigger. And I understand that maybe he tried that with the San Jose deal and Hamilton. Hamilton didn't want to wave anything. He didn't want to go there. So, whatever.

[00:55:10] But you got the call and you were fumbling in your fucking pocket for your phone and you missed it. And that's what bothered me so much about last year, too. Like, you, that should have been the one thing that you should have been like, when it comes, I'm fucking prepared to do it. Because I'm going to be the guy to bring all three of these dudes to Jersey. And, yeah, we might not win a cup right now. But we're going to be the most watched team, the most talked about team. You know, we're going to make the most money.

[00:55:38] We're going to sell out everywhere we go, home and away. Like, that's – we're going to get all our primetime shit. We're going to get outside games, stadium games, which they're going to get now anyway because of Jack. But, like, think about all three of them. The first Hughes-to-Hughes goal is going to be electric. Right? How about a Hughes-to-Hughes-to-Hughes Stanley Cup winning goal? That'd be awesome. Yeah. That'd be awesome. Do they just, like, Quinn gives the cup to Jack and then Jack gives it to someone else before Luke?

[00:56:05] I think Nico gets it and then just leaves and doesn't let anyone else touch it. He's just like, fuck you guys. He's like, it's fine. He just takes off Timo's clothes and puts them inside it and just starts bathing him, giving him a big sponge bath in the cup. All right. All right. Yeah, I think we're done. Anything else you want to discuss? Can we go back to talk about Shakira? No. I don't know. Congratulations, Carolina. Eat a fucking fat dick, you fucking losers. Congratulations, Carolina. Oh, can I say something?

[00:56:35] These motherfuckers. Does Rod Brindamore participate in the local delicacy of North Carolina? Because he is always tweaked. Local delicacy. So you're saying, is he a meth head? Is he a meth head? Because he's always fucking tweaked. I'm going to say yes. Absolutely. 100%. He's just like a jittery fucking weird guy, man. Old crazy eyes. He's like, yeah. Yeah, he's fucking huffing meth in a trailer outside of Raleigh. Definitely.

[00:57:04] Speaking of Rods, did you hear about Rod Stewart? No. So Rod Stewart had a show, I believe it was last night. Might have been the night before at the Art Center, which is here in Jersey. You know where the Art Center is, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So about 40 minutes before the show, he canceled, saying that he was sick, and he couldn't do the show. An hour later, he's in some suite at a fucking Scotland World Cup game, watching soccer,

[00:57:32] and just fucking blew off all of his fucking fans to go to a soccer match. Oh, that's not good. What a dick. Like, dude, what a dick. Like, I get you, Rod Stewart, but fuck you, dude. There's a funny... That's fucked up. Yes. I assume he's Scottish. Is he Scottish? No, I thought he was English, but he might be Scottish. They're all the same. Yeah, they all sound the same.

[00:57:59] One of the funnier things that I've seen going on in these sort of social media... London universe. He's from London. Yeah. Oh, but his father was Scotch. Oh, there you go. There you go. Is all the sort of World Cup tourists enjoying America? But because, like, if you think about, like, where a lot of these teams are, like, the Algerian team is in, like, Kansas City. And their teams are just in these very random places, like Portugal's in, like, West Palm Beach or something like that.

[00:58:29] Like, the England team is in Atlanta or something, and, like, they can't even deal with the heat. It's just very funny stuff, but there are all these tourists posting, like, they're going to, like, Waffle House and, like, Buckees and stuff. And it's like... Cameroon team is at the fucking Waffle House. The fucking gas station. Fucking 120 fucking pumps. It's like, I went in, the gentleman was yelling, who wants brisket? All right. It's just very funny. Although I do kind of think it is a little bit of a psyop from the government.

[00:58:58] That's how fucking conspiracy-brained I am these days. Oh. Rod Stewart identifies with Scotland because his father, Robert Stewart, was born in Edinburgh. Nice. Though Rod was born and raised in London, he has a deep connection to his Scottish heritage and often refers to Scotland as his spiritual home. So, apparently, he had to cancel a concert of, like, 15,000 people. What a piece of fucking shit. Right? That is, like, the dickiest dick move you can do.

[00:59:26] The fact that Rod Stewart is awesome. People are actually going to the Garda State Arts Center. That's what I was thinking, too. To see Rod Stewart. Who wants to see fucking Rod Stewart? Right. Like, isn't he, like, at, like, Stone Pony level now? Or, like, little club level now? No, I would think he's, like, fucking Vegas now. Like, he should be doing a fucking... Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, that's... Yeah, he should be doing a residency at the Tropicana, and he comes out with his stupid fucking rooster haircut. He sings forever young. Don't you think I'm... If you think I'm sexy and fucking... Yeah. Downtown train.

[00:59:56] And he's off. Yeah. You know? Oh, he's got Maggie Mae, too. So, all right. You celebrate his entire catalog, huh? Oh, my God. They used to play Rod Stewart all the time. My old bar I worked at. Like, it was... Like, Rod Stewart's Greatest Hits was always fucking on. And I just... I don't get it. I didn't get it then. I don't get it now. That, like... That he actually was the front man... Well, the front runner to be... Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin.

[01:00:25] Like, he was supposed to be the singer of Zeppelin. Really? Yes. You never knew that? No. Yeah. And then I don't know what happened. He ended up going solo, whatever. But they brought Plant in, and thank God for that. It really was. Yeah. Because I just... Hearing Led Zeppelin sing fucking... Downtown Train or whatever stupid songs. I can't see it. Yeah. Just picture... Like, all Rod Stewart songs being Zeppelin songs. Think about that. You... Speaking of World Cup, have you watched any of it at all? No. No.

[01:00:54] Soccer actually makes me visible. Makes me actually... I tried watching a couple of the NBA final games. I was just like... I just have no fucking interest in this. Like, I'm trying. Also, like... Ever since, like, I got orphaned by the Nets, like, I have no interest in basketball really at all. Like, good for the Knicks. Like, my old office would overlook where their parade is. But, whatever. Look. I have a ton of friends that are Knicks fans. So, because of that, I'm happy for them. I'm happy that my friends got to experience it.

[01:01:23] Personally, I didn't give a shit. My nephew, who lives in Atlanta, is a diehard Knicks fan. So, I was super happy for him. You know, he's 30. He never saw a championship. So, like, that's awesome. But, no. I don't care. Like, I don't give a shit. Yeah. I don't care either. But the U.S. soccer team had a really good win against Uruguay or Paraguay or one of the Uruguays. One of the Guays. One of the Guays. So, I may try and catch their next game just to see what all the hubbub's about. Did I tell you?

[01:01:51] Like, so, my wife works in the city. And, you know, so she works with a bunch of people from South America. And they had – she brought home two – you know, like, the boxes that you do during the playoffs, the Super Bowl and stuff. Right? Like, this was a whole page of, I guess, every first – like, all the divisions or the groups, whatever. Right? So, there's, like, 20 groups and five or six teams per group. And so, all the games were laid out. So, you had, like, probably about, like, 100 games of this first round. And it was 20 bucks a page.

[01:02:20] And you just picked the teams that you think are going to win. 70% of these countries I didn't fucking even know existed. So, like, it got to the point where I'm just making designs, you know, like when you used to fucking take tests in school. And you're just like, I'm going to make a Christmas tree. You know, that kind of shit. See. See. See. See. Pencils down. You know, that's it. I was like Chainsaw and Dave. Scan trial. Yeah. Thank you for getting that. Appreciate it. Of course I got that.

[01:02:46] I don't see anybody in the comment section gets the Chainsaw and Dave reference. Yeah. What a great fucking movie. That is such a great movie. I saw that in a movie theater. Did you really? Yes, I did. I fucking love it. All right. We're going to wrap this thing up. I can't see the comments. Did anybody get it? No. No. TJK is talking about being a Nets fan. Nets? Nets. The Brooklyn Nets now. Owned by. So what?

[01:03:15] Just because they left the state? That's why? Yeah. Just like in the way they left and kind of were like sort of trash in New Jersey when they left. And they just. They've been an awful fucking team since they moved to Brooklyn too. They tried to do some sort of like dream team-ish type of type of thing with three over the hill guys. Like a couple of guys that are on the Knicks now. They Nets traded to them. So I think one of them is one of the Villanova guys that was played with Jalen Brunson. So whatever. I couldn't give a shit about that.

[01:03:45] I'm absolutely with you. Like if the Devils packed up and moved to Cleveland, right? And became the Cleveland Devils. Like I don't know if I'd root for them. Like I don't know if I could do that at this point in my life. Like I just think I'd probably stop watching. I'd watch hockey, but I'd stop rooting for a fucking team. Yeah. Yeah. I just feel like I want both teams to have fun. Because it's crazy. Because like the fandom in me, like being a Devil fan, a Viking fan.

[01:04:13] Like I can watch any football game, any hockey game. And I stay level, even keel. I watch. I enjoy. You know, I go, yeah, that's a great play. It's a great play. Whatever. Bah, bah, bah. But when my teams are on, my fucking stress level is through the roof. Like I can't focus on anything other than what's happening. I'm like biting my fucking nails. When I smoked, I'd be like fucking chain smoking, watching a Viking game. Whatever. Like I can't ever get that from another team.

[01:04:42] And I think even if the Devils went and left, I don't think I'd be able to still be like, I'm still a Cleveland Devil fan. Like part of the Devil being a Devil fan and loving this team is because we are like, you know, New Jersey's little, I mean, New York's little jerk off stepbrother that nobody likes. And all that special sports team that actually represents New Jersey. That's true. That is true. And yeah. So anyway. All right. Anything else, my friend? No, I'm good.

[01:05:13] The movie was summer school. Go check it out, boys and girls. We'll watch summer school. Hilarious fucking movie. Although there's some questionable shit in there that like the girls staying at the teacher's house. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Maybe that doesn't age well. Courtney Thomas. I love her. Courtney Thomas. Yeah. Shit. She was peak fucking 80s. Like. Yeah. She was beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Kirstie Alley was gorgeous in that too. Kirstie Alley was good in that too. But my favorite was Wonder Mutt. I love Wonder Mutt. And Chainsaw and Dave.

[01:05:42] Let me remind you, Mr. Shoup, you're up for tenure. But the best role in that is the guy that spent six weeks in the bathroom. That dude, hands down, should have won an Oscar for that fucking role. All right. The computer made an error. I forgot about that. That's incredible. We're going to go watch it. Go watch summer school, everybody. The girl's name that couldn't drive. What the heck was her name? Oh, Donna. I can't remember it. Was it Donna? I think it was Donna. Yeah. It might have been. All right, boys and girls. We're going to wrap this thing up.

[01:06:12] Thanks for hanging out with us. And hit the like, the alert bell, subscribe, comment, all the other good stuff that goes along with it. Tell a friend. And I'm Chris. He's Tim. We're the Uncle Puckers. We'll be back on Friday. All four of us. We'll post it when we're coming on. So you all can come and join us. Thanks a lot, guys. And happy end of hockey season. Later, skaters. And... And...