Let The Re-Tool Begin

[00:00:06] Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three-time Stanley Cup champion of the New Jersey Devils and you're listening to The Uncle Puckers NJD Podcast. Let's go Devils! Hello everybody, welcome to The Uncle Puckers. I'm Chris with Tim Wood today. We figured we'd hop on, got a little devil action, little devil news we can talk about, a little bit of playoffs.

[00:00:34] Just hit you with a nice little Friday evening episode, a little bit, just to bullshit for a few minutes. Tim, how the hell are you, buddy? Because you look great. Thanks, stop, don't keep going. You handsome son of a bitch. Tell me more. And your eyes spark, okay, I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, it's alright. Yeah, damn dude, the bags under my eyes are fucking like holes. I'm good, tired, long week.

[00:01:03] Yeah, you know, just a little nugget. Looks like Sonny's getting into his housekeeping a little bit. Let go McKinnon and or the way they're phrasing stuff, their contracts were not renewed. It's very funny the way things are being phrased these days. You know, like Jessica Campbell, the woman who's a coach of the Kraken. Yeah. She's a coach of the Kraken.

[00:01:27] And they phrased that in the most like, you know, like I'm a pretty liberal guy, but like it was just like, like fucking woke way possible. It was fucking hilarious. Why did they get rid of her? They said like, we're not renewing her contract so she could pursue other opportunities in the NHL. She's very well thought of, but she's pursuing other opportunities. It's like, hey, look, she stands behind the bench. I got a ton of respect for her.

[00:01:57] She's behind the bench. She's doing what she needs to do. If the bitch gets fired and the bitch gets fired, same as everybody else. That's the way it's. It's yeah, it's you know, it's a tough job. It's just she's she is not hard to look at either. So, yeah, so McKinnon is gone and Fletcher is gone. Those were kind of fits his guys. Like, I don't even know what the fuck Fletcher even did.

[00:02:20] But it's interesting because Fletcher was the Flyers, the Flyers GM when they lost out on Gaudreau. And now he's advising the Devils and Tom Fitzgerald when we lost out on Quinn. And now Elliot Freeman this morning said he thinks he is predicting that Quinn signs a three year extension in Minnesota. So I have thoughts about Quinn.

[00:02:49] I think that if Dallas would have won the series. I think then there's a very good chance he would have. Maybe asked for a trade or at least told him he's not going to resign. Right. And we'll play out next year or whatever. And I also think if they win the cup. He might say, you know what? I've been there, done this. Now I want to do it with my brothers or something like that. And I'm not going to extend.

[00:03:14] And if they lose in the second or third round where there's that quote unquote unfinished business, then I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's. Go ahead. And I think he might he might sign back with Minnesota. But we can't sit around just hoping that things are going to happen. Like, you know, you got to go after guys that are available that you think can help this team right off the bat. And I don't think I honestly. Sonny Sonny was on Jeff Merrick show.

[00:03:44] The whatever the fuck is called. The sheet. Merrick's show. Like, it sucks. Like, he's gone way downhill since. Since he got let go. Yeah, let go from 32 thoughts. He's just like. I don't know. It's just a tough listen. He's just so. He's just so. I saw someone call him a esoteric fart sniffer. And I think it's just like he's just so into hearing himself.

[00:04:14] And like he could hear it in some of the questions he asked Sonny. It's like these like five minute questions with multiple parts and like a preamble. And even one of Sonny's answers, one of his questions, like not even sure what you mean. Like, it was just really funny. So Sonny, you know, Sonny was like, I'm going to be worried about the process. He's like, you know, I know they need results. So I'm kind of inserting that into.

[00:04:40] He didn't say that, but I'm inserting that in there because he kind of implied that. But the making sure that the process is sound and the process is right. So he's going to be a lot more methodical. So in that vein, I'm not entirely sure that that he does any sort of big swinging for the fences type of move. You know, like there's a lot of stuff that that still needs to sort out. I mean, it's May 1st, for God's sakes. The playoffs are still on. You know, maybe John Cooper gets fired after tonight.

[00:05:10] Yeah, that's what happened. Yeah, that'd be awesome. I'd fucking I'd fucking. Oh, my God. So anyway, that's what I got. And I will say this, that devil fans, I believe we should maybe get off the Quinn Hughes. He's trained for a little while, but let's stay in Minnesota. And everybody who's on the Hughes train needs to maybe jump on the Gus bus because that's the guy I want.

[00:05:41] If we can get him out of Minnesota where he's clearly not happy, they don't need him. They have a number one. And I think that might be again, it comes down to Marky. It comes down to a lot of, you know, what Sonny Mehta thinks. I think we after a few years, we kind of knew what was going on in Tom Fitzgerald's little head. It was usually ping pong ball. Just just a monkey with two. Exactly.

[00:06:11] That's basically. Yes, it's Homer. He's yeah, exactly. And so, yeah. But we have no idea what Sonny Mehta. He's much he's much smarter. He's much more methodical. But he also I feel like he's also a guy that's not going to settle for second place. He's not going to be, you know, like Tom Fitzgerald had so much cover between, you know, just, you know, he was never in the.

[00:06:40] The only time he spoke was when he was like really pushed and the fans were freaking out. And then he would just kind of come out and be like, yeah, we were close. You know, we tried, but we just couldn't do it. And that was OK. Whatever. Like Sonny Mehta is not going to settle for that shit. He's going to make this team better. And I have no doubt in my mind. I would love to get Gustafson out of Minnesota, though, whatever that would take. I don't have no idea, but I would love to try that. I'd be interested.

[00:07:09] I was looking at who they're because they only have the two goalies. And I was looking at who's in their system. And I don't know who any of the fuck any of these guys are. Like they don't have any kind of like of the high end up and coming goalies. I guess Wallstead is that guy. Actually, Riley Mercer is is in the ECHL or AHL. Mark Dawson's brother. Oh, he's a goalie? He's a goalie. Yeah, Mercer system. This kid, Chase Wetski, who's 19. Samuel Holabajah, I have to remember that something, who's 24.

[00:07:38] And Cal Peterson, who's 31. So, yeah, I mean, I think there would be a Markstrom deal. Markstrom for Gustafson kind of lines up pretty well money-wise. Gus makes 6.8. I just don't know, like, is Markstrom, like, even movable? Like, is he, like, would Guerin be like, yeah, we can kind of resurrect him and shelter him a little bit and he could mentor Wallstead?

[00:08:05] Or it's like, is he just so toxic because he's so bad that people would be like, no, we're not taking that shit? Well, I don't. Like, if you're Billy Guerin, you're running the wild right now and you have Wallstead and Gustafson, you know that one of them has to go. Like, at this point, you know, the writing's on the wall. You can't keep them both. And like you just said, they paid Gustafson as a number one. It's obvious he's not anymore.

[00:08:32] You're not going to take another $6 million contract for a backup or something like that. Like, I don't have a clue what you do with Jacob Markstrom. I really don't. I mean, other than just really going to bed at night with your underwear on backwards, praying that he retires, you know, like, maybe. Yeah, well, no, but like, but so what kind of what I'm getting at is, is because to spend assets to get Gustafson after, like, you would have to buy out Markstrom.

[00:09:01] Like, so there's sort of multiple paths to doing this, right? It's one, you buy out Markstrom when you open up the second buyout window by taking an RFA to arbitration. So that's what you do to get rid of Markstrom. And then, then you have to spend assets to get Gustafson. And what do those assets look like? 6.8 is a pretty big contract for a couple of years. And so is that a couple of picks? Is that Mercer?

[00:09:30] Is that something like that, that gets you Gustafson? Like, like, are we looking at another Markstrom deal where we have to give up another first round pick and like a prospect to get him? I don't know. Like, goalie trades are so weird, man. Like, they're, they're always like, so we're, you know, like, I don't know if there's any kind of baseline comp for that type of deal. You know, I think maybe the Markstrom deal is actually probably the closest one.

[00:09:57] Because like, if you look at, look at other goalie deals, like Logan Thompson was for a third, but like, you know, that was it. I don't know what Blackwood, Blackwood and Wedgwood were for other, other picks. Bag of pups. You know, and then, you know, look at Jari for Skinner. So like, I don't know. It's just, it's very difficult to figure out what, what that, that trade would look like from a comp. You brought up Edmonton.

[00:10:22] Like, I don't know if you necessarily have to be like, hey, we're going to send Markstrom to Minnesota for Gustafson. Like, well, where can't we maybe make a deal with another team to trade Markstrom? And maybe you can do a Mercer for Gustafson, a Mercer and a pick for Gustafson, something of that nature. I don't know. Yeah, send Markstrom to Edmonton and send Jari to Minnesota to be, be, be, do a three-way trade.

[00:10:46] I mean, you, there are ways to work it because I'll tell you right now, Edmonton, like, I said it before the playoffs started. Like, if they lose their, you know, I think that might be a place that you might be able to get Markstrom sent to. I didn't realize they were going to lose as badly as they did. I mean, their goaltending was freaking atrocious in this series. Their goaltending and defense are awful, man. Ken Holland, or not Ken Holland, who's their fucking GM?

[00:11:16] Greta's. Holland's in Edmonton. Yeah, who's the Edmonton GM? Bowman. Stan Bowman. Stan Bowman. He drove that team into the ground. He took their biggest liability, which is goaltending. And somehow, some way, made it fucking worse. You know what we call that? Like, their decor. Like, they traded all kinds of firsts for to build this decor that just fucking sucks. Yeah. He fits it all up. Yeah.

[00:11:43] And then today, he said, I don't think I did anything wrong. It's like, you know, it's like he's standing in front of a burning house with a can of gas and matches. Exactly. I didn't do it. Exactly. Yeah. Or like the Tim Robinson show. It's like, we're all trying to find the guy that did this. Yeah. And I think maybe there are some other teams you might be able to work something out with Markstrom. Because, yeah, Edmonton was, I mean, this is as disappointing as a year of a year that you could imagine.

[00:12:12] I mean, this was it, right? McDavid has one more year left, right? And he's, I think he's a UFA. I think he has next year and the year after. Hang on. You're right. Because this would have put him to free agency. So his two-year deal that he signed kicks in July 1st. Kicks in this coming year, yeah. Right. Yeah. So, like, if you fall like this again next year, like Connor McDavid, there's a good chance he asks to be traded that he wants out.

[00:12:42] Yeah, he's through 27-28. Okay. So you've got to do something in that. They've got to do something in that. But they have, like, next season, like, Henrique's a free agent. Jason Dickinson, who they traded our first for, is a free agent. Rozovich is a free agent. Kapanen's a free agent. Like, they have so many free agents. Their whole decor is locked up, though, except for Connor Murphy. They have Wallman at 7. Bouchard at 10.5. Nurse at 9.25. Ekholm at 4.

[00:13:11] I think our decor is expensive. Like, holy fucking shit. They're paying Darnell Nurse $9 million? 9.25. And guess how many more years he has? So starting in 26-27, guess how many more years Darnell Nurse has? Four. All right. Well, yeah, he has four years. All right. That game wasn't this long. You're supposed to be, like, two. And I was supposed to be, like, no. I went high, because the way you said it, of course. I figured it wasn't, too. It's four years. Him and Wallman are signed through 2930. Man, he fucking drove.

[00:13:40] And that's why I'm glad that, because, like, Bowman is another one of these Fitzgerald guys. And same with Holland. You know, it's just, like, these guys that... And I don't intend this. And, like, I've been kind of shitting on, like, the old hockey man type of thing. I think there is value in that experience and understanding, you know, and having played the game and stuff like that. And having played at a high level and knowing what it takes, all that kind of language.

[00:14:06] But I think that inherently gives them bias to value players that have... That are like that. Like, Holland bringing in Dumoulin and CeCe. When it's just, like, man, those guys should be, like, playing golf in Florida. Like, they should not be making... You know, should not get three-year fucking contracts. You know, giving a guy just because he's your guy a contract.

[00:14:30] Like, that's why I really like having probably an autistic guy who's, like, got no emotions and is just going to, like, fucking see a problem and fix a problem. You know, like, that's what I appreciate. There's still plenty of ex-players that are running successful teams right now. Billy Guerin we were just talking about. Pat Verbeek, you know, Danny Breer. These guys, you know... I don't know if the Flyers are going to be all that successful, to be honest. I feel like they just... I don't know.

[00:14:58] I mean, I cannot wait to watch that Flyer of Carolina series. I'm really looking forward to it. I just hate them both so much. I hate them both so much. It's like, can they both... I don't want to make a terroristic threat, but, like, can they both just get, like, flat tires on the way to the fucking building and just not get there? Like, maybe an earthquake during the game. Yeah, something. Yeah. Like, you know, rat infestation in the Lenovo Center. Right. Explosive diarrhea for, like, three weeks. Perfect. Perfect.

[00:15:28] But, yeah. Exactly. But, like, yeah. I'm going to definitely watch that series. Just sit on my couch with this. But I'll tell you, though. The other series, like, this has been so much fun. And to see some of these teams that are not... Have not been playoff regulars, you know? In Utah and Montreal. Even the Flyers I'll put in there. Buffalo. Anaheim. And to see how good they're doing. Like, these teams have arrived. And that makes Sonny Mehta's job a lot harder.

[00:15:57] Because, like, yeah, we're going to get better. But so... You think the Florida Panthers aren't making the playoffs next year? You know, like... Yeah. And Florida's going to get up. Florida's getting a top 10 pick, too. Yeah. Like, it's fucking ridiculous. They're going to be back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They will be back. You think Toronto's not making it again? Like, I don't see it. Yeah. Yeah. If they keep the guy at the core that they have, they're going to be fine. You know? They'll be okay. You got Columbus.

[00:16:27] They're going to be good. Columbus is going to... You know, the way that bonus... The way bonus ended that, these players are going to come in and play a lot fucking harder for them. Yeah, maybe. I'm not believing in Detroit. But go ahead. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. No, I don't believe in Detroit. It just... There's... You know, we ran into this coming into last offseason. You know, A, there's too much money in the system now. So, like, teams don't have to trade people for cap reasons. You know, that day and age is gone.

[00:16:55] You know, the LTIR loophole in the playoffs, that's gone. So, it's making things more... It's creating more parity, but it's also creating an environment where the mushy middle, I think, might be getting bigger. Where, if you look at, like, this particular season, like, there were four or five teams that could win the playoffs, win the Stanley Cup. And, like, I think Tampa's maybe about to get eliminated.

[00:17:25] And Dallas is already done. So, it's like, you know, who's left? Well, I mean, in the West... Yeah. So, sorry. Just to continue my point, because I got sidetracked. But I think that mushy middle might get a lot bigger, because teams just have money to keep their guys. It makes sense. And GMs, generally, I think, are risk-averse. And don't want to make those type of moves. And they're just like, I'm better off just signing this guy to an extension as opposed

[00:17:55] to trading him. But kind of one of the reasons why I kind of think, like, Nico's deal is probably basically done. Like, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't renew him. I know people clamor for trades and want change and want, you know, teams that were unsuccessful to want change. I get it. I do, too. But I just think change might be hard to come by coming up. Yeah. It makes... That does make perfect sense.

[00:18:22] And you look at, like, a lot of these teams that, like, I guess maybe we expected to pop a little earlier. And we kind of thought, you know, is Buffalo ever going to be good? Are the Ducks ever going to turn it around? Like, they just kind of bloomed a year or two later than they should have. I have a question for you about Buffalo, right? So Kevin Adams built this team. Like, this team that is playing tonight is absolutely Kevin Adams' team.

[00:18:52] I don't think, like... Did they add anybody? Hang on. I think they added... Because they wanted Pareko or whatever from St. Louis, but he refuses... There was one guy, I think, that came in that the new general manager took over. But my question is... Yes, go ahead. So Kevin Adams gets fired. The team goes on a 20-game win streak. I don't know if those are...

[00:19:20] I'm not 100% sold that these things are, you know, tied up. Like, I think they could very well be mutually exclusive. Like, I think that that 20-game win streak was probably going to happen no matter what. But they fired Kevin Adams. No big deal. Who cares? Sorry. So they got Logan Stanley and Luke Shen. Okay. That's what they did. So my question is... And Sam Carrick. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, go ahead. In January or December, whenever they fired Kevin Adams, he was a pariah, right?

[00:19:50] Like, this fucking guy had years to build a team, and they aren't doing... Now, there's another year they're not going to make the playoffs. They suck. Why can't this team work? He's a fucking pariah. They throw him out. And then they, of course, are doing what they do now. Is Kevin Adams redeemed, in a sense? Like, if you're looking for a GM, do you maybe then go back and look at Kevin Adams? Like, he's not going to reap any of these rewards or benefits. Not at all is he going to see these weeds blossom into flowers.

[00:20:19] But he did build it. I think it redeems him to an extent. I think part of the problem, though, is that people will look at it and be like, well, the team clearly had no faith in you, and that's why you went on a run or why they went on a run after you were fired, because they were energized by new blood in the front office. So almost by accident, you built this team, and it just kind of was successful because

[00:20:49] in spite of you. I don't know. I kind of agree with that. Like, there's so many, like, listen to 32 Thoughts on my drive home today. Like, just there's so much fucking smoke around a variety of different GM jobs. You know, it sounds like Fitz is going to get this Nashville job. The Toronto job sounds like it's going to be an insane combination. Like, it's just the most Mad Libs combination you could even think of.

[00:21:16] Well, Matt Sundin as Poho and John Chica as GM. That was the last recording I heard. He was that wunderkind 26-year-old GM, the Arizona Coyotes, like 10 years ago, that cheated at the draft combine and got fucking suspended from the league, and then he just fucking quit on the team, basically. So I do remember that, but I don't remember all the details of it. But I remember the cheating thing in Arizona.

[00:21:47] There's – so his name has been floated around by a lot of people. And his big thing was he founded a company called Statletes that's the – piece together it's a data analytics company with his sister Megan Chica, who's a fucking smokeshow of an NHL analyst. Yeah. She's no Diana Rossini. Well, the Patriots fucking fans gave him a standing ovation. It's scumbags.

[00:22:16] They really are scumbags. The standards I have – we've talked about this before. The standards I have for my favorite football team and for my favorite hockey team are very, very different. I agree. So – Go ahead. I don't want to get – Anyway, so this guy, John Chica, is like supposedly, according to Elliot Friedman, like going to be the GM and he's a data-centric guy and that's – the rage nowadays is data-centric, data-centric. We need an nerd type of thing.

[00:22:45] So the funny thing though is like now people are interviewing people that worked with him in like Arizona. And I was listening to this show called What Chaos that had this guy, Steve Peters, who was like a video coach under him in Arizona, who just ripped him to shreds. It was so fucking funny. Apparently, he had a display on his desk that had like eight monitors on it. But when he left and they went to take the monitors down, they realized only one of the

[00:23:15] monitors was hooked up to anything. So it was just like fucking fake that he had this like set up where you think he's like trading like oil features or something like that. It's just one monitor was like that. It's like that's so cheap. It's like he's watching Family Guy most of the time. It's just like on TBS. The other way to look at it though is like he was severely handcuffed by a shitty Arizona owner. Yeah. So that did not want to spend money. They did not want to spend money.

[00:23:44] So he stewarded them through the cap dump era where remember he took on like I think I think Pavel Datsuk is still being paid by what's being paid by them. It was like his Datsuk. I think Pronger's contract wound up there and a few other kind of like retired guys. Chuck's still getting paid from them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he was significantly handicapped by that. So I kind of the draft combine thing.

[00:24:14] So he held his private combine for draftees. I almost kind of look at it as like he was so handcuffed by his ownership that he had to cheat and had to find any sort of advantage. And I kind of like the idea of someone to be like fuck them rules. I'm going to do it myself. So I don't know. It's but like this guy's been in the NHL or around hockey for 10 years. So it's like why is he suddenly a front runner? But like Langenbrenner's name's still out there. Some of those other guys I wrote about are still out there.

[00:24:43] I think Fitz is a good national job. You know, if you're Jamie Langenbrenner or you're anybody who is in the conversation for the Toronto Maple Leaf general manager and you are a this will be your first GM job. You are literally out of your freaking mind if you take your first job in Toronto. 100% agree. 100% agree. That's fucking crazy. And all Toronto media is like why nobody want us. And it's like because you suck. Because you suck as people.

[00:25:11] And you're fucking so like because you're so critical of every single goddamn thing. Like nobody wants to fucking work there. No. It sucks. I mean, that was why Martin left. Yeah. It's like you got to deal with, you know, you got to deal with MLSC too, which, you know, is like corporate overlords. And I don't know. It's very funny. So hang on. You got a bounce duck out. Is he gone?

[00:25:42] He's leaving. All right. So now all by myself. So I heard a I'm going to talk to you dubs and Robbie and Zach and all you guys that are on right now. And actually Tim's back. So I'll throw this to him. I'm going to throw it to you guys too. I was talking to the guys in the chat. So I were they talking back or no, no, they're probably not even there. Yeah. They're like, what are these idiots talking about? We're leaving. I saw a trade proposal.

[00:26:11] It's funny because we were talking about like, remember, like a week or so ago when I had said like, yeah, Connor Hollabuck, like, let's do this now. Well, now that Gus is available, I'm not interested in Connor Hollabuck. But I saw an article about Connor Hollabuck and the possible trade for him. And they put together a proposal and it was a first round pick. It was Silyev and Yagorov for Connor Hollabuck.

[00:26:35] So to the guys in the chat hanging out and you, Mr. Wood, do you do that deal? Hang on one second. I think on the surface, yes, you do. I think on the surface, you also have to buy out Markstrom. I assume that kind of comes along with it. Yeah. Markstrom wasn't mentioned in this proposal at all. So I guess we can kind of categorize it as reckless speculation.

[00:26:59] Personally, I don't do that deal only because I do believe that at some point this team within the next two to three years has to find their absolute replacement in net. And if it's not going to be Gustafsson and they're not going to be goalie X, and it's definitely not going to be Markstrom or Allen or Dawes or what's the other kid's name? Malik. Malik. Malik.

[00:27:30] It's, you know, Yagorov is our best chance at that. So I don't want to get rid of that for a year or two of Connor Hollabuck because I do think that Yagorov can be back. It'll be five years of Hollabuck. And how old is he now? Hang on. One, two, three, four, five. Wait, oh, wait. Sorry. No, no, no. One, two, three, four. It'll be four years of Hollabuck. So that's the thing. He'll be 33 starting next season.

[00:27:56] So he's getting to that age and he had a pretty rough season last season. He's getting to that age. Although goalie aging curves are a little later, I think. I mean, because of Flurry and, you know, I don't know. I still like it. Like Markstrom, we saw his projections. Like, you know, Freddie Anderson's 38, you know. Yes. Yeah, but how? He's played 12 games in the last five years. The guy's always fucking hurt.

[00:28:26] I ran. I ran. Fucking don't yell at me. I don't know. Yeah, I'd much rather get younger at the position. And I'd much rather just get this team get younger in general. But I do like the idea of, you know, obviously drafting and developing a goalie and having him be a long-term goalie. Like that's, you know, was the backbone of our success historically as a franchise, you know, was Brodeur. You know, it would be great if we did the same exact thing.

[00:28:56] But although goalies nowadays are very – they're just so random, man. Like it's just like it's so hard to project who's going to be good year over year except for like a handful of guys. And that's – Even Swayman, even Swayman, who's a Vezina Trophy winner this year or a Vezina Trophy candidate. Like he's one of the finalists. It's Sorokin, Swayman, and Vasilevsky.

[00:29:23] He had an awful year last year just because he missed training camp and never really got into the flow of things. Like Vasilevsky's been kind of awful in the playoffs right now too. So it's like goaltending is so random. If Dan were here, I can tell you what he would say about this. He would say very similar to what you're saying, that there are – you can say out of the 32 teams, we can say 10 goalies. So 10 teams have goalies that are the guys that we're talking about,

[00:29:52] that upper tier. Let's list them all. Let's do it. But my point – And then he would say that everybody else is the same person. Everybody else is the same size. They play the same style. That's what they look for now. That's just plug and play. You're 6'4", 6'6". Okay, you're going to play goalie. Big robot, go down to the butterfly. Exactly. RVH. Back when we were in our heyday, you had guys that looked like Brodeur

[00:30:21] and played a certain way. A guy who looked like Hasek and played a completely different way. And Curtis Joseph and Archer Cerbe and Eddie Belfort, all of them. And they all had their own style, and it's not that way anymore. So I think that Dan, being the goalie guy, would say, if you have the opportunity because of what we just talked about, there's no guarantee your garb is going to be anything more than, you know, a middle-of-the-road goalie, a Freddie Anderson.

[00:30:49] But Connor Hollabuck is an MVP, is a multiple-time. The trophy winner, like, you don't turn away a guy in that position that is so much better than everybody else. Yeah, too many times we have – you want to cling to your guys. You know, it's kind of your natural instinct. The same thing I was just talking about with general managers, you know, being hesitant to move guys in and out.

[00:31:19] But, like, when's Yegorov going to actually play for the Devils? I mean, I'm hoping he's going to be on training camp this year. I have no idea. We have no idea if he's going back to BU. I kind of almost want him to go to the AHL. Like, I think a lot of it depends on what happens with Dawes. Like, if we re-sign Dawes, because if we don't, then that'll be Malik and Yegorov in the AHL,

[00:31:47] which I really kind of like the idea of that. Yeah, I do too. And, like, for instance, so, like, if we knew – we knew for a fact that Fitz is still GM, Dawes is going to get signed. Like, that's done. Like, Yegorov will take another backseat, Dawes is his guy, and he'd get signed again. I don't think there's a chance that Dawes will be back. And only because of that pipeline. No, no, you never – Or – but I just don't think so. I think that he's actually a valuable piece.

[00:32:17] You know, he's got – I think he's definitely very valuable to have. What's that? I want to see – I don't know if he's a UFA or an RFA. Who? Dawes. I think he's an RFA. I can't get – I think he might be right. I want to see – I think he is right. Yeah, I think he – and I think he is arbitration eligible too. Yes, he is. All right. So I don't need to look it up? No, he absolutely is.

[00:32:45] He's an RFA who's arbitration eligible. Good job, Chris. Yes. Actually, so is Malik. And yeah, we actually don't have any goalies signed for next year in the AHL. So we definitely got to retain – we got to retain Malik, I think. I'd see that. And then have – send Marky down to the AHL. And then – That's one way to get rid of him, man. It's just like, look, man, you suck. You just go – Just make him miserable.

[00:33:10] But I think with the skaters, I just don't know what, if anything, is doable. The biggest problems exist on the wings in our top six. Timo's not near the production that we need out of him. Mercer's not a top six guy. Brat disappears on long stretches. And Connor Brown isn't a top six guy. You know, I think Brat – yeah, Brat's kind of a Jack merchant sort.

[00:33:40] I've been thinking about writing an article exposing Brat for things, for how bad he is. Do it. Do it. Brat is going to be pissed at you, though. I don't give a fuck. He probably doesn't read what I say. I don't give a fuck what anybody thinks. But, like, it's so clear, like, the biggest problems, like, and why even Nico had a down season production-wise, is because of the wings on his fucking line.

[00:34:04] Like, if you look at, like, Nick Suzuki, who is a pretty good, comparable player to Nico, Suzuki might be a little bit better. But he has 80 goals on his wings. And Nico has 45. And you're wondering why Nico only has 66 points. Well, if you look at, like, Timo and Mercer's combined goals under expected, it's about 30 combined. So, it's like, yeah, well, Nico probably has 20 assists on those, and he's an 86-point player.

[00:34:33] So, it's just like, like, that's the problem that we have. Unfortunately, Timo's a fucking boat anchor and probably isn't going anywhere. Mercer's tradable and upgradable, but he's – But I believe in Timo. And I think this new management is going to light a little fire under Timo. Because I think – and I've said it on this show. I honestly believe that Timo just stopped fucking playing hard when he got paid. He just didn't give a shit. Yeah, I agree with that.

[00:35:00] When you can – when you know full well I have no movement. I have fucking – I make a nine million a year. I'm locked up for the next eight. They can't fucking trade me. The GM loves me. I'm fine. And I honestly think that that was a big part of it. Like, he – and I don't think that – well, not that I don't think. I know Sonny Meta is probably going to talk to every single one of these guys and let them know, too. Like, you're not safe here. Like, nobody.

[00:35:27] Yeah, and if you look at, like, Timo – all of Timo's underlying numbers, you know, all of his kind of advanced analytics, like, are all very, very good. But they have been for a couple years now. Like, all of his metrics have been good. Same with Brett. But if you – at some point, we can't go through another year of Timo not matching those underlying numbers with production. I feel like that still kind of shows the gap in certain analytics.

[00:35:56] And I feel like Timo is actually, like, the perfect guy that exposes kind of the gap in analytics versus reality in the sense that everything's good because he shoots so much. Right. The amount he shoots, he sucks at. Like, I'm begging someone on an analytics site to create a strike zone. Like, or, you know, a heat map of the goal of where guys shoot to. Because I guarantee Timo's fucking right here. That's it. Like, is, like, 90% of his fucking shots.

[00:36:25] Or up over here. And, you know, you talk about Jesper Bratt, too. Like, you cannot just not score a goal for 20 games. Like, that's fucking crazy. Like, he – He still had, like, 18, 19 assists. But it's – so goals are getting scored that he's contributing to. But it's like, he can't not score goals, man. We need you to fucking score goals. No. Especially when Jack's out. Yeah, especially when that's our biggest problem. That is – everybody can talk about – you can talk about toughness and stuff.

[00:36:55] Sure, whatever. But, like, goal scoring is about far and away the biggest need that this team has. And it's because we need to add to that top six. Well, you heard what Metis said about that, right? Yeah. Yeah. That was the Jeff Merrick show. Yeah. He's like, I want guys that contribute to outscoring our opponents. Yeah. Very simple. Very direct. And that's a pretty – I mean, it's obvious.

[00:37:19] But he has a way about his words of saying, like, the most obvious thing – yeah. Sorry, go ahead. No, I also took it that he was letting people know, like, I'm not trying to recreate the Florida Panthers. That's a different team. Yeah. That's a different skill set. They won Stanley Cup, you know, the way that they did. Yeah, you can win them playing defense and just, you know, being tight as hell and win games, you know, three to one, three to two. Or you can just outscore the other teams and win games five, three, six, three.

[00:37:49] That's the team I believe he's going to try and put together. Because I think, you know, it's got to be – like, working in Florida is great. Florida has a full fucking roster of really good players. But there is – I mean, maybe, would you say Matthew Kachuk is this quote-unquote superstar? Yeah, I think so. In name, not to me so much of play. You know what I mean? I think he is play-wise. Like, Kachuk, he's still a 100-point guy.

[00:38:18] Like, he – multiple 100-point seasons. I think that's a pretty good demarcation for superstar. Yes. He just does it in a different way. Yeah, that's true. You're right. And I think he really wants to be able to put the guys around. Because he wants to be the guy that, you know, unlocks Jack Hughes, right? Like, because we all see it. Jack's got it. Can he put it together? Can he put it together in a full year? Can he put it together in the playoffs? Personally, I believe he can.

[00:38:45] I have no doubt that Jack Hughes is going to come back and do everything he can. And I think be top five in the NHL next year. I absolutely believe that. Yeah, I think so too. 120 points. Like, that's what I want to say. That's what I want to see. You know, like, I think it's there. You know, just saying it every year. Stay healthy, man. And the other thing with our team is our back end. Like, Luke Hughes has got to take the next step.

[00:39:14] That is the biggest thing when it comes to our back end. And I really hope he does. I'm hoping that this surgery or whatever he ended up getting at the end of the season isn't going to hinder him all summer and he's not going to be in 100% shape come training camp. Yeah, I mean, and we've seen it over and over again is missing training camp really just affects guys. It's crazy how just behind they get. And it seems crazy to me that that happens. But it does. When training camp is essentially.

[00:39:44] Yeah. Post Olympics, though, he was great. Right. You know, and at the end of last year, he was great. Right before he signed his deal. We were fully on board with that. We talked about what his deal looked like. And, you know, we landed at that $9 million-ish deal because we thought he was worth it. And that's kind of what his comps were. And it just, he wasn't good for a couple of months. But we need Seminimich to get better. We need Siegenthaler to bounce back.

[00:40:14] You know, like, don't know if they're going to get rid of Dougie. Dougie's numbers, Dougie's underlying numbers were fucking best of his career this season, including his defensive numbers. So it's interesting what he's going to do. I have no idea. But I got to go eat dinner. I'm hungry. Sounds good. Guys, it was fun hanging out. We will, I want to go watch some hockey. We will be back probably on Monday. And we'll probably have three or four. Are you starting the games from the beginning? Yeah, I record them all.

[00:40:43] And I don't watch them all in order. You said you tape them. I used to picture Chris putting a VHS tape in there. It's like, secret to my success. It's 12 o'clock, blinking, blinking, blinking. Yeah, the old wedding video has like a random game. And then it like flips over to old 70s porn. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh, is that Tony? No, I, exactly. I record all the games and I record them with long extensions. So I don't have to watch any commercials or any intermission. So I'll start with the seven o'clock game.

[00:41:13] I'll watch the first period. And then when that ends, I probably have a good three quarters of the first period of the 730 game already in being taped, recorded. So I pause the one. I go to the other and I watch that first period. And I do that throughout the night. The way these games line up, it's going to be a little hard. I'm going to have like a half hour gap if they all end in regulation. So, but I'll do what I can. At this point, I've been going to bed at like nine o'clock at night anyway. I've been falling asleep.

[00:41:43] I haven't even watched all the games. The first I've watched of any of the Edmonton Anaheim series, I woke up at like 130 in the morning and I couldn't sleep. And I went downstairs and I put the game on and I watched it at 130 this morning. That was the first I've seen of that series. That Anaheim team, like they're my new favorite West Coast team. Dude, they're so much fun to watch. They're so much fun to watch. And I love, I just, I really like all those players too.

[00:42:11] Their power play is hilarious to me. It's 25-year-old Jackson Lacombe, 23-year-old Mason McTavish, 20-year-old... Troy Terry. No, no, no. Troy Terry's not on the first unit. Oh, he's not. It's Gauthier and then Seneke. So Seneke's 20, Gauthier's 21, 22, 23. The fifth guy, 36-year-old Alex Killorn. Fucking kills me. It's so fucking funny.

[00:42:39] Yeah, 38-year-old Chris Kreider. Yeah, yeah, exactly. All right, so last thing, and then you can go in. I don't care about who you think's going to be in the Cup final or whatever. Who out of the teams remaining, what is the Stanley Cup final Tim Wood wants to see more than anything else? The final I want to see? Yeah. The most fun final, I think, would be Buffalo.

[00:43:09] Buffalo and Utah. Because those fan bases would be fucking electric. I think those buildings would be electric. That's the exact series that I was going to say, and if I couldn't have that, I'd take Buffalo-Anaheim. If I couldn't take that? Well, if I couldn't take either of those teams, it would be Montreal-Anaheim. Yeah, I'll go that. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, guys, let us know. That's actually going to be fun to actually do a little thing on X. Yeah, it's nice to see new blood.

[00:43:38] I just would like maybe one of the new bloods to fall out so the Devils can get back in that year. That would be super. Thanks. Let's do that here. Hey, Devils are going to have to fucking earn it. It's that simple. Yeah, you should. You know? All right, guys. Thanks for hanging out with us. You guys know what to do. We're the Uncle Puckers. I'm Chris. He's Tim. We'll see you when we see you. It's over, Johnny. It's over.

[00:44:10] So, Tony was in the 70s porn star, right? He was the guy with the mustache. Yeah.