Let The Reckless Speculation Begin

[00:00:05] Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three-time Stanley Cup champion of the New Jersey Devils, and you're listening to the Uncle Puckers NJD Podcast. Let's go Devils! Hi Tim. Hi Chris. So I had a question, like so far two games into the final, what's your excitement level on this series?

[00:00:33] I mean, dude, we talked about this via text message, like I'm not sure I can say what I really want to happen without the FBI coming to my door, but This is true. You know, take that for what you will, everyone. For legal reasons, everything I'm about to say is a joke. I just wish there's like, you know, a fucking explosion and just everything. We get it, but what do you think of this series?

[00:00:59] He's, hockey-wise, fucking awesome games. Like just back and forth, exciting action, tons of goals, just great hockey. Like really, really good final. Like good for these guys. Fuck them both, but good for these guys. Okay, so your excitement level for the actual product on the ice is high. Your excitement level for the outcome of this is zero. Yeah, basically.

[00:01:25] Yeah, I got you. Yeah, I just, I can't get myself excited about this. You know, the games are great. I'm with you, you know, but would rather it was Vegas coming back from a 2-0 lead in the third last night. You know, I do not want to see Carolina win a cup. There's just so many guys on that team. I can't, I can't stand him, dude. Oh my God. Like just fuck these guys.

[00:01:48] I will say one thing and Devils fans, you take me to task on this. I find it very difficult to dislike Seth Jarvis. Yeah, I know. As a person, he seems, he's just like a funny doofy little fuck and I kind of enjoy that. And like, it's pretty endearing that he has this group of unemployed loser friends that just follow him around. That would kind of be us, right? Yeah, exactly.

[00:02:15] I get that. But, you know, I just, this series, like I want to get to the good stuff now, right? I want to get to the off season. I want to get to all the juicy shit. And now it's starting to kind of pick up. It's starting to get fun. A lot of shit going around now. This is exciting. I like when we're in the thick of it. Yeah, we are in the middle of silly season. Obviously a huge bomb. There are a couple other things I wanted to talk about.

[00:02:40] So just, just to box it off. Quickly first, a bunch of awards got listed. Those are always fun. You know, Wierenski won the Norris, which is great. Love Zach Wierenski. Probably got a little bit of that golden gold juice, even though it's for the NHL. Cooper won Jack Adams. Well deserved for him. Been a long time coming.

[00:02:58] Suzuki won the Selkie, which is good. Good for him. Still convinced that he and Nico Hischer are basically the same player, except for like what they have on their wings. It's preposterous. They have like the same goal totals, basically. I actually did the math on this. Hang on. Yeah. One second. This is a side-by-side comparison. This is a side-by-side comparison. He and Suzuki.

[00:03:22] So the last four years, Suzuki has 118 goals. Nico has 121. Call it a wash. They both average about 130. That's about 130 goals. Assists, Suzuki has 215 and Nico has 161.

[00:03:38] Okay. And points, um, Suzuki's points went from 66 to 77 to 89 to 101. And Nico's went from 88 to 67 to 69 to 66. And Nico's, two of those seasons, Nico missed a decent chunk of time.

[00:03:54] Um, but you can also see the, it's not a coincidence that his assist totals went down and, um, his point totals went down when he was stapled to fucking Timu Meyer, um, in 22, 23. That's when his assist totals went down. And if you look at the difference, there's a 40 point difference last season and Caulfield and sorry, and Suzuki has 80 goals on his wings and Nico has 40.

[00:04:21] 80 minus 40 is 40. So anyway, that's it. All right. So wait, it's math. I promise it makes sense. I got you. But do you think Nico, he sure, even with guys on his wing can be a hundred point guy? Yeah. Yeah. If he, if like, like so many of Suzuki's assists or secondary assists and power places, it's just like if he had a fucking sniper, like Caulfield sitting on the left wing dash on the power boy.

[00:04:49] Yeah, he would. It's just all, it's a lot of, it's so circumstantial. I'm probably exaggerating with a hundred, but he would easily be 85 to 90. If he had actual, like not two of the worst goal scorers in the league on his wings. So you want Timo off of he's your line. Yeah. I think I've been pretty clear about that. I just want him gone. I mean, no, he's not. Nobody is. And we're just going to do it again. But I, you know, it's not. He may be gone. Yeah. Nemo may be gone.

[00:05:20] Nico, you sure may be gone. There's, yeah, I'm starting to get a little nervous. I will say this. Mike, I think you just, your audio just went bye-bye. Can you hear me? My concern level went from a zero to a three. I'm going to be honest with you. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I just don't like when anybody talks, just get it done. I don't like it. I just don't like any interviews. I don't want to hear, you know, yes, he loves it here.

[00:05:47] You know, they haven't had any time to talk yet, but you know, we're going to get it done. But it's what, and when he said, you know, I'm sure he's not going to want to be something to the effect of, you know, Sonny Mita is not going to want to start the season without Nico. He's sure unsigned. Like who you talked about his agents. Yeah. His agents. Yeah. Okay. And, and I'm, you know, in my head, I'm like, you know, I always think that everybody's out to screw everybody, you know, just, I guess that's the Jersey in me, you know? Yeah. It basically is like, yeah.

[00:06:16] Right. So it's like, you know, is the agent just setting it up that like, if this doesn't get done soon, we will like ask for a trade. If we start getting closer to training camp and it's not getting done. I just look at everything, you know, crazy with Dylan Larkin asking for a trade today. And it's just, so now everybody starts going crazy and everybody's doing podcasts on their, whatever team they're doing a podcast for about what it's going to look like to get Dylan Larkin or what can we do to get? He sure. And all this stuff.

[00:06:44] So would you trade Nico for Larkin one for one? No, I don't think I would either. I would not. And I think mainly, hi, Bob. Gentlemen. Yeah. Great. No, good looking ones here. I'm going to fucking turn the lights off. Bob, Bob, would you trade Nico? He's your for Dylan Larkin one for one. No. Yeah. I don't think either. Any of us would. What if, what if Nico says, no,

[00:07:13] I'm not signing an extension. Well then. Sure. I mean, at that point, you almost have to, at that point you have to get the best deal that's out there, you know? And then, yeah, that's probably Dylan Larkin right now, but like if it wasn't a, I'm not signing here, trade me somewhere conversation. The only person I would want to trade or would be cool with trading Nico. He sure for us. Quinn Hughes. Right now, like in my head, that's it. I mean, I still think we need to,

[00:07:43] we would need to find a replacement up the middle because we're looking at Cody glass to see Cody glass soon to be one C when Jack does whatever Jack does. You're a thousand percent right. You got it. That's the only problem getting rid of Nico. He sure you have to replace him and, you know, trading Nico. He sure would get you a lot back for this team. You know, do you think any of it's an upgrade? I don't know. Dylan Larkin's an upgrade. I don't think he is. It's, it's,

[00:08:12] it's lateral in the short term and a downgrade in the long term. Right. And how old is he? Perfect. He's 30. So he's, he's older. He's got a good contract. It's 8.7 million for the next five years, which is a good deal, but that's through his 35 years. And he's shown some wear and tear. Like he, he kind of does a lot of the same shit Nico does where he disappears at kind of bad times. Like he was, do you remember? He was leading the league in scoring. I think at one point in the fall,

[00:08:41] I just went on a awful scoring drought. Detroit was firmly in the playoffs and absolutely fell apart after the Olympic break. So I think Minnesota is going to make a big play for him. I do too. I don't know what assets Minnesota has. And like for us, I would love to try and find a way to get Larkin sans Nico, but it just doesn't work. I don't think with, because like our best trade asset is probably Nemech aside from the first overall for the 12th overall.

[00:09:09] So like they have actual Sandin Pelica and cider on their right side. All right. So they're just going to, they're just going to take, they're just going to take Nemech for sure. You know, ASP, Axel Sandin Pelica, and they have another guy too. So it's like, what, you know, are you, is Nemech going to slide in and be your third pair guy and be just as disgruntled in Detroit as he was in New Jersey? You know, I don't know.

[00:09:39] I don't know, man. I think the Nemech thing is, I don't think he's any chance he's signing here. I have no idea. It's wild. Like, I don't know. So he's an offer sheet target too, which is interesting, which I'm curious if someone offers him like a fucking bag, I'd kind of, I'm kind of inclined to be like, yeah, sure. Take it. And then we can take all the draft pick capital that we get out of that and flip that for even more picks or for even more assets.

[00:10:09] Yeah. It was almost like whoever does it. Sorry, Bob. Cool, man. I can leave. No, it's fine. I wasn't here last time. So he's like, Oh, that's fine. I got to be quiet for a second. Kind of a natural pause where other people speak. I could be wrong. You know me. I'm like a fucking windup doll. It's all good, dude. All right, Bobby, go ahead. I forget. No, Bob,

[00:10:39] I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I think the new guard has Nemech in, in the future. And I think that Nemech signing with us is something that he might be convinced to do based on analytics and everything else that meta wants to do. And we'll find other ways to move out other demon. That's just, if I could just my prediction that going into the fall, Nemech's got a full-time spot. And barring an amazing trade, of course,

[00:11:08] it's got a full-time spot and some other pieces somehow miraculously get moved. what, what's his contract look like? Like, I don't know what you pay this dude. That's the sticking point, right? Cause I'm like two by five or something like that. Yeah. He's going to want more. You go anywhere near Hughes's money, which you shouldn't get. Hughes shouldn't have got it. So it is going to be a problem, but I think, I think they can work them through. Don't, don't me. I know long range. It's good value. No,

[00:11:38] I, here's my thing. You want to take that risk though. Do you want to take that risk on two defensemen? No, you know what I mean? Like that you're hoping to hell that they pan out to be number one D guys. And I just think you cannot go anywhere close to what I think you're paying Luke Hughes. And I think that's going to be Nemech is going to say, then get me out of here. That's very possible too. Yeah. I think under, under a Fitz regime, Fitz is like, Oh, he scored 11 goals. Like five of those were against the black Hawks. Um,

[00:12:08] you know, and, and it's like, yeah, he had some good clutch moments, but like, so like, he's got a clutch gene and there's some, there's a lot of good to Nemech, you know? Also, I'd be fucking awesome in overtime too. If I got to go on the ice with Jack Hughes and stand in front of the net. Awesome's a stretch, but I get where you're going. But you should have seen me in overtime two nights ago in beer league. Fucking standing at the blue line and nobody passed to me.

[00:12:36] I love how close beer league has gotten to the NHL now too. It's like, it's honestly, I'm just, I'm just waiting for a scout to show him like, Holy shit. This old guy still got it. This whole league is just my wife with killer players. One of my, one of my teammates. I don't play in it. One of my teammates calls me Patrick Kane. Love it. Not for you. That's no, no, no. Like, I'm like, yeah, kind of, that's fucking because I have good hands and I'm fat. You know, it kind of makes sense.

[00:13:07] Yeah. It's good. It's, it's fucking, it's a good nickname. I, I, I'm like, I couldn't argue with that one. That's fucking great. What's the name of your team? The couch potatoes. So it all kind of fits together. It's all fitting. Yeah. I'm with you. Yeah. Like, I don't know what the heck you pay an image. Like, like you said to him, do you do a two year deal? Like, is he going to really sign short term? Like I'm, this dude was drafted number two overall. It's not a secret that he feels like he's been jerked around since he got here one way or another. Uh,

[00:13:36] and rightful or not right. Right. Justified or not. You know, he, I don't think he's going to be happy unless he, unless they give him Luke's contract. I really don't. I, I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but I think that that's all the kind of signs have kind of led that way. And I just don't know if they're going to be able to make a deal with him. Cause I honestly don't know what he's worth either. Like I would do two by five. It probably does have to be in a bridge for that, but I'm going to take the money out of it.

[00:14:06] Cause that's just not, that's like above my pay grade, right? You want him on this team. I want, I just feel like he's never been let loose. And I think that perhaps, um, this management team can see the value in letting him loose. And it doesn't mean he's going to pan out to be like this perfect, you know, top pairing defenseman or anything like that. I just, honestly, we've seen glimpses of great. We've seen glimpses of shit.

[00:14:35] He's got a little bit of both in them, but he's never really just been tasked with being able to go. So that's why I think he's in the plans. I think he's manageable. I think he's an asset that you can afford. And I just think they're going to find clever ways to shed some salary elsewhere and rely on him. You know, this place, AP analytics, sorry, just to, just to reiterate, like, so they do like contract projections for NHL guys. Cause they have two options.

[00:15:02] They have seven by eight and change or two by, basically 4.5. So those are the two terms. I think seven by eight is just, you think that's too much for him? That's too much for him. Like I get it. Like young defenseman. I think he got to bridge him. I think he got to give him two or three years, but to Bobby's point, you know, he, we were, we had, he was our number one defense in the playoffs last year. We were so fucking depleted. He played fucking great.

[00:15:32] So, you know, maybe there is some truth to that, Bob, that if you do kind of give this kid, he has the capability. I mean, we were all talking about, he was our best defenseman. And we've seen it. He's really good. He's got like a lot of kind of Adam Fox in him where he's not, doesn't blazing speed. He doesn't have like any one trait that is like outrageously elite, you know, not a stick handling, not his passing, not his skating, but his intelligence and vision.

[00:16:02] And just understanding of the game is what's elite about him. Like his brain is elite about him offensively. I mean, if man, definitely nothing is elite about him. No, but no, he's terrible. Yeah. Like he's, he's awful, but you know, if management likes him, I mean, I would be okay with the, you know, five or seven by eight, you know, I don't think because in a couple of years, that's actually probably going to be a decent contract. If he does live up to what he wants, you know, what we all think he is, but it's the sunny thing. He's going to be it.

[00:16:30] And do you want to take a risk on him or you want something? Or do you have a more pressing concern and he's your main guy that you have to move? Like, is that, you know, we'll see what happens with that. I think he also needs to be like, you're here, you're going to play every day and you're going to get a good amount of minutes. Like, I feel like there's a comfortability that he has with knowing that he has a role on the team, you know, like kind of being that third, fourth, yeah. Like a second parent guy, like he's, I don't know, or throw him with Luke on the first pair. I don't know,

[00:17:00] but it's like, something's got to give on that, on that right side. Obviously we've been saying this for fucking two years. Yeah. You know, GM would, I think balls enough to try to actually figure it out and not just status quo this year. Like I got no more clauses. I get it, but something's got to happen. This, this team can't come back the way it is. Yeah. And if, if Nemec is signed and Nemec and Luke to take that next step, this defense could be scary. I mean, they have all the skill, just,

[00:17:29] they have not been able to put it together yet. And you know, that's a, that I think is going to change, you know, that I think it really does come down to, yeah, the injuries, all that other shit, but there's a culture problem in this team right now. And if they don't do anything big and make a big move somehow, I think it's going to be hard to change that culture. I think you have to make a big move to kind of just set this team in the direction that you want to go in and not just tinker around the edges. So I do think something big is going to happen this summer. I mean, you know,

[00:17:59] I wrote about it already. Like it's gotta be one of Dougie or Nemec goes. Like it could even be a world where both of them do, you know, if the opportunity presents itself. And I think there are actually some decent right side veteran defensemen that you could sign for a year or two. That might actually be pretty interesting. Another weird thing that I, I've been meaning to mention this, but I kind of liked the look of, of Luke and Kovacevic at the end of the year. Like they were like,

[00:18:28] like we kind of stopped bitching about Kovacevic once he got put with Luke. And that's not a coincidence. Like, you know, he shouldn't have been signed. I get that, but he's here now. He's probably not going anywhere because of his contract issues. So I kind of liked that as a pair. I know Luke and Pesci has always been a thing, but Pesci is kind of slowing down. He's constantly hurt. So I'm kind of thinking you keep Luke and Kovacevic together. You have windows in your house? I'm, I'm,

[00:18:55] I'm literally 25 feet away from the street. You're playing, you're playing Excitebike. Yeah, basically fucking crazy in the summertime, man. And when I have the windows open and the air's not on, I mean, you can't, you don't rest for five minutes in my house. You know, something goes by barks, you know, cars popping and the dog's freaking out sucks. Yeah. At least, at least Rigby doesn't lose his fucking mind every time like a car goes by or does it? So fucking stressed out. No, he does.

[00:19:24] He was more concerned of barking at you that he didn't worry about what was going on around him. He's so mean to me. The dog is mean to everybody. I told you he's a grumpy old dog. He's, you know, he's just, he's old, but, um, you know, no matter that, I think this, it's going to be, it's gotta be, I'm doing with Markstrom. Right. Like, I just, I always go back to that. Like when I really think about the problems of this team, I'm like, Oh fuck, man, we got a lot of problems. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:54] So would you, um, so Bob, we were talking about this before you got on, but a little bit. What do you think about Dylan? I'm just going to interrupt you real quick. I like the, I like that you're growing out the bushy beard. I am. Yeah. It looks, it looks like it's longer. I mean, not, it's not really, it's, I thought it was, it's not by design. It's not by design. You were just going to let it go and get a big old burly beard. Um, I could do that. I could. All right. Yeah. All right. So yeah, what was Bobby's story? Speaking of job, I just went, went and hit golf balls.

[00:20:23] So it sent me a video last night of him at work. He's just hit a golf ball through a simulator. Mike, man, you got it rough. Yeah. It's nice, man. So anyway, Bob, sir. I assume, did you see the rumors that Dylan Mark and his ass for a trade? Yes, sir. What do you think? He jumped on right when we were talking about it. I know. I know. But we were kind of in the, in the heat of the moment. What do you mean? What do I think about it? Like he's got a right to do that. Do I think about it as it implies to the devils? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:52] I think he'd be a fine fit, but not a replacement. Like we said, not swapping out one for another, but if we got him for some center death, that'd be cool with that. Yeah. I mean, he'd have to be three C the three C. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Last and four. Put them on, put them on Jackson. Let him just take the draws. I mean, they played positionless hockey in the zone. So it's just kind of like, that's fine. Yeah. Two thirds of the line will be on the shelf for most of the year, but you know, let's do it. Just one little. No,

[00:21:21] I did not know in the past. It's just brat by himself. What am I supposed to do? Guys always give me shit that I don't do enough. Well, it's funny because I wonder how many of these U S Olympic guys, it's going to come out that they're all requesting trades. Like, I wonder if not. They want to go to Florida. Yeah. Yeah. Did he say why he wants a trade? And they haven't made the playoffs in 10 years. You know,

[00:21:51] so he's not coming to the devils then. So didn't really move the needle on that one. Did you? No, it's just like, I, you know, but they've been just professionally futile. Like we've been unlucky more than anything. I think, but I think that's the narrative. I think that is the overall narrative of like the experts and stuff. When they talk about it, you know, they do always say with the injuries to Jack and everything. I think us, us devil fans, we know it's really more fucked up than that. Yeah.

[00:22:21] I mean, but like the injury to Jack causes a lot of things. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. All these back to us fucking tar and feathering fits. And we're not, there's also definitely, there's definitely some usage resentment in that room too. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Dylan, Dylan laid that out. I'm talking about the devil. Yeah. Yes. And David Chavez said that correctly. It's like Larkin and Osmond have taken public shots at each other. That's a,

[00:22:49] I think it was two trade line trade deadlines ago. It has. So yeah, Dylan Larkin has always, he's been rumored pretty much the last two years of a, could he, couldn't, you know, will he, won he kind of guy be traded. And now that he's asking for it, but Tim's kind of right. He's going to, Oh, I mean, I think we all know that lobby said it. We're going to, he's going to want to go to a contender. You know, I mean, I don't know if he has any kind of protection. If he has a 10 team, I don't know what his situation is. But I'm sure,

[00:23:19] I'm sure he would want to go to, if he does have the 10 team, it's going to pick a contender to make the move with. But yeah. You know, Larkin does have all the levers right now. Jay, you're right. Yeah. Like having, yeah. Like having, well, I don't know because Eisenman could just tell him to go fuck himself. Like if Larkin's like, I want to go to Minnesota and only Minnesota. And Garen's like, okay, here's a bag of pucks in exchange. Eisenman's like, no, fuck you. Like we're not sure. But yeah, like, like, yeah, sure. I'll,

[00:23:49] yeah. Thank you. Like Eisenman's actually like, yeah, sure. I'll take a shitty deal just to get rid of you. No, of course not. You know, doing Larkin's a pretty big piece to dangle, you know, we end up helping Detroit. Right. I don't think the devils have assets that line up very well with them. Well, you still have Mercer hanging around, you know, the forgotten guy. Can you put something together with him and bring Larkin in? That wouldn't be terrible. I like if Larkin's like, there are five teams that go to,

[00:24:19] and the best offer he gets is a 12th overall and Mercer. Yeah, maybe who else was just brought up about possibly wanting to trade or talking about, Oh, Maddie Bazeer, Barzell rather. Oh yeah. The Islanders like that came out that like, he, not, he has a requested one, but no, no, no, but it's now. Yeah. I guess that's the case. Um, because Darce doing getting rid of his best offensive player. Right. I mean, I love, I like Marty, Maddie Barzell.

[00:24:48] I would love him on the devils. I take him over Larkin any day. Like I would absolutely do that deal, except that how much I hate doing deals against with division rivals, especially an up and coming team, like the Islanders. Can I say something about Barzell? Yeah. Let Bobby talk first. No, I don't. I'm sorry. I'm the worst, Bob. I'm the worst. I'm sorry. And where they're going to make it or don't now. And then, but maybe that's what there's feels too.

[00:25:18] Maybe that's why he is quietly shopping him, you know, get a better return on it. You know, if he thinks that, you know, maybe they're not quite there yet. You know, they have, they have two guys. Well, three, but they're going to trade one of them. And, uh, Richie's pretty good. They have two. They're two. First round draft picks. Like this. And it's like, it's like, you need more than that. Yeah. And that could be what he's thinking. It's like, let's bottom out with a bunch of old bums. You know, like we had this magical season with Maddie Schaefer and, and Sorokin played out of his mind.

[00:25:48] I can get all our money off the books and let's start building around Schaefer and, uh, Sorokin. I mean, if they're trading people, I'll take Schaefer. Yeah. All right. Well, I'll give up Nemo for Schaefer. Sure. Yeah. Trade is one for one, but that would probably be the ask for Islanders. That's what they're talking. You know, the, the, the trade proposition would be Barzell for Nemo. You know, and, and with like, we just talked about Simone Nemich and how it's.

[00:26:19] Right. Thank you. Three times. You just went full. As a year. So I have to face him four times a year, rather. I have to. And he'll be there. And you're getting max headroom. Yeah. Okay. Me too. Yeah. So it like Barzell for Nemo, like Nemo strikes me as a guy that could be just a vindictive player to play against. Like for whatever reason, like if we played against him, he'd have like four goals game. Well, first of all,

[00:26:48] it's in every hockey player's DNA to blow up on us. Once they leave the devil, no matter what your skill level is, you're going to get your first goal against us. You're going to get a hatcher against us when you never scored before. You're going to get all that weird shit. But Nemo. Yeah. It does kind of seem like a guy that would do that. Yeah. So, but like what you're, you brought it up for about like all those Dylan comments. I know we haven't, we've talked about it independently on different shows, but I mean, that was pretty clearly about Nemo complaining about his usage in his ice time. Yes.

[00:27:18] Yeah. Like pretty clearly. So like that leads me again. It's like, we either get rid of Dougie or Nemo. Like one of the two, like, do we get rid of the guy complaining about it? Or do we get rid of the guy that's in the way that either way, the log jam is causing the problem and it needs to be solved for. He can't go into the season with that same problem. The whole, like we like given Coe's extension just continues to bear fruit from this fucking idiot. It's like what I cannot believe how dumb that motherfucker was. Yeah.

[00:27:48] It was just, it was just not needed. Yeah. So what's up with you? How's your kid? How's hockey? You in limbo still? Well, yeah, we're just doing a bunch of clinics. Finishing up three and three. We got the championship game tomorrow. That's fun. He's just kind of growing in confidence this year. You know, again, he's a second year, 12 you. So a lot of 10 you players came up. So he's actually on the bigger side. Really? That's a first. Not, not tremendously. There's certainly kids bigger than them.

[00:28:18] And again, talent wise, top third, top half, which is just a whole new world for him. So that's what I told him. I said, you know, you don't last year. We had arguably not arguably. We had a players on a B team, which most teams do. You always get one or two kids to kind of pluck in that are just above the rest. We don't have that this year. Like the, the team we're going into, these are full on. Every one of them is a B player. You know what I mean?

[00:28:47] So I told him, I said, there's no heroes here. There's no 50 goal scorer. Like we had, like step up, be the man. Like do it, do it. You know? So the clinics are helping. The defensive clinics are helping. You know, we talk about this kind of stuff all the time. We just kind of casually watch from the sidelines and, you know, he's always skating backwards. Listen, then you realize like how effortlessly he's doing backwards crossovers. like you don't even, you know, the kind of progression just kind of happens.

[00:29:15] He just sits there while the coach is talking and he's just twirling his feet, crossed it over left and right. Like I'd be tripping all over myself. No, that's, that's good. That's, that's a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. John just brought it up, but it's very funny that Nashville announced their new GM team. They, it was Rob Blake and Chris McFarland. So fits midst out on that job too, which just makes me laugh. This guy came in second again.

[00:29:45] Well, yeah, he's got a lot to atone for. So it does. Yeah. I like, I would have loved to have been a fly in the wall and have them just ask him like, explain yourself what you did with the doubles. Like watch him just be like, you know, I don't want to hear about the hometown discounts. Everybody gets that. Explain the rest. Yeah. Yeah. Explain the rest. Explain those decisions. Explain all the retirement home contracts you gave. Explain all the movement contracts of New Jersey. Such a hidden gem.

[00:30:14] Why did you have to staple guys to this place? So many fucking questions for that guy. Great point. It will be very funny. If he winds up somewhere this year, I don't think he will though. I think he is realizing that he's going to have to take a step back. Yeah, I would think so. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if Chris, apparently logging issues. Gremlins. All the motorcycles driving through his front yard. Yeah.

[00:30:43] I had the same thing over my house, Fisher Boulevard, right to the bridge. Same thing, man. Just loud as hell. All those stupid mufflers, loud bikes, all times. Yeah. Yeah. I don't really have that here. If something actually is making noise by me, like I've actually, I'm like, Oh, what is that? Cause it's usually like just a massive fucking like farm vehicle, like a combine or something, or the Amish guy is doing something crazy over there. Fun. Fun times. So did you guys talk about the finals at all then?

[00:31:12] A little bit. Yeah. What do you think? Like this? I mean, I wish I would call it a bomb threat, but you know, like other than that, like the hockey has been just fucking outstanding. Yeah. It's fun. Like I certainly don't want Carolina having any success, but I also don't mind this going as long as possible because more hockey to watch. The only benefit to this getting over quicker is, well, actually there's no benefit because you still can't do anything until July anyway. Right. So that's not going to change anything, but it's been fun to watch. Derek, my buddy,

[00:31:42] Derek was talking yesterday. It's like an interesting, right? How like Carolina came out like guns and blazes and then lost first game. And then Vegas comes out, gun plays and lose the second game. It's like, maybe that's the recipe. I'm like, well, it's probably not the way you want to draw it up, but no, no, no, no, it seems to be working, but no, it's just the, the trading chances and trading goals. And like, there's the third periods have been exciting. And I'd said this before you came on, but I have a hard time disliking Seth Jarvis. As much as I like hate everything about Carolina,

[00:32:11] I have a really hard time disliking Seth Jarvis. Yeah. I mean, it's okay to like different players, but what I love about this time of year is when you see these kind of like cons might players emerge, you know, like, was it, it's howden, right? Howden. Yeah. Well, 12 goals in the regular season. Yeah. Something like that. I think he's shooting 40% or something. It's just, that's just shit. Like that's just legends. You know, it's so cool to see. It just kind of takes off.

[00:32:40] It just starts off. you get that confidence. You never look back and Jesus Christ, man. Every time I watch these games, I'm just so blown away by like, I get, I get his shooting percentage, like 40%. Like I said, that's not sustainable longterm, but it's just that fucking, that. Like that shoot mentality. Like, like just get it to the net. Like you're falling, you're being manhandled. Like, it doesn't matter. It's get it to the net. Heart shots, soft shots. It's just, it's just another level. And it's just fun to watch.

[00:33:10] Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, and Vegas is just so deep. Like when they have a guy like Calvin, they could just step up and that, and that's what you need in the playoffs was you need a, like a random third, fourth liner to step up. Mark Nuke for the Canes, like every year killed us in the playoffs, you know, and it was Robinson for the Canes. And it's just, you know, the, the depth they have is insane. Like when the, you know, Mark Stone was injured for a lot of the year again, and you know, then he slides into the fucking third line. It's just like, Holy shit. I love that guy.

[00:33:40] Mark Stone. My internet. Can you guys hear me? Okay. You're good now. Yeah. Okay, cool. Cause it's going a little wonky. I might disappear again. Don't do that. I'm sweating. I'm trying to carry the show with that. It was awful. We had no idea what that hurts. Yes. At least you don't have to carry around. Patrick Kane. Well, I kind of did. What are you talking about? No, you didn't. I asked you how your kid was doing just to fucking, the guy give a shit. How your kid's doing.

[00:34:13] Jesus. I mean, speaking of me being a windup doll, I know what gets Bobby going. I care. Well, my, well, my time back. I don't know what you guys are talking about, but I'm reading the chat. I guess you guys are going and talking about the game last night. We were talking about the game last night. Yeah. Just talk about the depth and, you know, guys kind of coming out of nowhere, like how to just suddenly just shooting lights out. And that's what you need. You know, you need, we used to have guys. You need a guy. Yeah. We used to have reasons and Sergei, Sergei Breelins and.

[00:34:43] Yeah. Jim Dowd. Mike rough. Rupps. Not rough. Rupps. I'm sure he could do it too. But what'd you guys think of the, the challenge? I know you guys must've talked about it. We did not actually get there. Oh, you didn't know. Now I'm frozen. Great. Did you think that he should have challenged that? I'm going to need a refresher on this. It was the goal. The third,

[00:35:10] I think it was the go ahead goal right before Carolina scored the third goal. And towards challenge at first, they, it was very convoluted because they first came out and said that. you good, Tim. They came out and they waved the goal off. And they said, I guess everybody thought they waved the goal off because they thought that the. Bowley had covered it, but the puck then squirts through, but he really waved the goal off. I think because of goaltender interference.

[00:35:40] So Tim, is that right? Cause it was kind of convoluted that. Yeah. And, and it was very funny because I have a distaste for Dave Jackson, but hearing him basically explain things like Mark Messier sucks at this job. I don't watch any of the interview reports so much, but like, yeah, he, I guess he called goalie interference and that was why it got waved off. Not the, not that he like, not that the whistle was blown. And then they got the penalty for,

[00:36:10] for the delay again, because it got overturned. What's wrong? I think. Yes, exactly. All right. Stop. Thank you. That was our way of saying, please stop tapping the table, Tim. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Stop saying you're sorry. What am I supposed to do with my fucking head? Oh my God. You guys are so mean. Bob's like carrying me. Idle hands. Spend time at the genitals. Do what you will. Maybe that's where I should put them on the table. That was,

[00:36:39] that's what I was getting at. And so anyway, they called it a goaltender interference, right? Well, what did, what were you saying about Messier? Oh, well, Dave Jackson explaining the messy and what happened in message. He was like, well, why did you do this? Why did you do that? And Dave Jackson was like, this is why they did it. You stupid. So what was, what was his explanation? It was like the goal interference was why it got right. Wave off. So everybody got the penalty for the delay game. Right. But everybody assumed calling the game to all of us,

[00:37:08] that it was waved off because the puck was frozen. Yes. Okay. Cause that, that when you're watching it, I mean, to be fair, like that's what messy. I thought too. I just like calling him stupid. Cause he is. Yeah. But I mean, did you think it was goaltender interference? I don't know, man. Does anybody know what goaltender interference is? Yeah. Like I, I, I, that looked like a good goal to me. I don't know what the, like, I get it. They, you know, the challenge. And I mean,

[00:37:37] some people are saying that it was a terrible challenge. I don't, I don't, how was that not a goal? It didn't look like he interfered with them at all to me. And especially it being the playoffs too. It's one of those things where it's a gay, you kind of let that slide. Yeah. I mean, if anything, like I, I them originally, I just thought that the puck was covered. I thought that that's why they blew the whistle. And apparently not. So yeah, exactly. Jay, I'm with you. So, yeah, but it was just a weird thing, but those teams, both of those fucking teams are so freaking good.

[00:38:07] And you just think of it. Do you just watch them? And you're just like, man, it's going to be a little bit until we get back to that point. Yeah. I just want, I want that kind of hockey. I want that. Shit. My pants watching the game. I'm kind of feeling it. Yeah. It sucks. It's not literal though. No, but I know what you're saying. Like I'm watching last night's game and I was like, this would be awesome. If I cared at all about either one of these, is like, I just, I don't, I do get happy when Vegas scores just because it causes Carolina and it's fans pain.

[00:38:36] And I'll do that in any way possible and be happy about it. So, but other than that, Tim, what are you doing over there? So, look at his hands. Try not to like interrupt and talk. Please jump in. I didn't finish hearing what you guys were saying about Barzell. Are we doing it or not? So, okay. Go ahead. No, I was going to say you, that whole time you were talking, we didn't hear a word of what you said. So we did not continue that conversation about Barzell.

[00:39:05] I don't remember what the hell I said. Okay. It's very max headroom. Yeah. Sorry about that. But no, the, um, I actually was just asking like the same thing when I was signing off, when I was trying to get out, I heard Bobby say that it's in our DNA that old devils come back to eat the shit out of us, you know? So, and that was, that's probably the only reason why I would be hesitant about making that trade because, you know, you probably have, you know, Jack Hughes, New York Rangers kind of numbers against us. So,

[00:39:35] but I think Matt Barzell is a good fit for this team. I would make room for him for sure. Yeah. I'm sorry. I mean, yes, he's, he's a really good player. I, I think Barzell seems better than he is because he skates really well and he, and he has a lot of puck possession, but I think a lot of his decision-making in the offensive zone isn't very good. And I don't know if that's a product of like his teammates and his line mates

[00:40:05] not being very good or just him. Like he, he will do laps and laps and laps in the ozone, great skating, great puck possession, and then just toss it to the fucking slot. Like, I don't know if he's just like, fuck it. I don't care anymore. If these idiots can't get open, it's fine. I'll just fucking wing it a prayer in there. Or if like, he's just poor decision-making, you can see that in his point totals. Like he's really doesn't put up a lot of points for a guy that should put up more points. So I think he's a good player. And I,

[00:40:35] I just don't know if it's more of that same kind of puck dominant type of guys that, that we have in like Jack and Brad already, because, and it's also like, look, I wouldn't kick him out of bed. He's also very handsome, but like, I don't know. I, I, I take pause about it, but you know, I, I think, sure. It went on short. Would you, uh,

[00:41:03] would you swap them straight up for Brett? No, no, no, Brad's, Brad's a much better player. Yeah. I'm going to, Brad's got to be in something big. That's like Brady could Chuck come in here and we're getting rid of Brad and some, some other, I was just referencing it because of the kind of skillset. Like you talked about just kind of, what we got. Whoa. What's up Tony? Hey, I came. I wanted to hear Tim smack the microphone a little bit.

[00:41:33] I want to show up for a few minutes. What's up guys. Did you hear his stop, please? Have you, did you hear his nickname? No. One of my, one of my beer league teammates calls me Patrick Kane. It's awful. It's nuts. It's good. Cause I'm fat. I have really good hands. Cause yeah. Tony, do you want to answer the question that Jason over has? Just read the question and answer it, please.

[00:42:03] So everybody can finally know. Cause Lithuania has some of the fastest internet in the world. And it is a fact. That's how, and he loves every time we freeze and get out. Now sometimes it fails, but it's pretty damn good. So now tone, I don't remember what we were talking about. So you guys show up and say hello. So sorry guys. Since you guys are here, you want to play W. You know? Sure. Awesome.

[00:42:33] Got this one ready. Couldn't have, you couldn't have started this game before Tony showed up. Just, just saying. I'm half. I'm so B. I ain't, I'm not going to get shit. I'm gonna get a pen though. So he's never, Matt Barzell's never had a hundred point season. No. Right. He had 85, he had 85 his rookie year, but that's it. Like everything else, 20 and 30, 80 and 80, 51 and 58, 59 and 73. Like he's, he's not even a point per game player. He's good. But like,

[00:43:03] I don't know. He's also never, he's only had over 20 goals twice. So like, he's just playing a game. All right. All right. I'm just, and with stats, God damn it. I was like, well, I wanted to fucking look that up because I didn't, it didn't sound right. You put him in his place. Okay. We get it. Please. You fucking midget. With his hand. You told him top knock on the table. Now he's got to search. You guys are fucking being mean to me and yelling to me. I don't like this one. But can't find a pen that works. I feel like I'm getting bullied here. Man,

[00:43:32] you're a driver of the show. Oh, come on, man. Oh, really? Cause when Chris left, you said you were fucking carrying me. So much dead air. Hey Bob, how's your kid doing? No, should I have a kid? Fuck that. Fuck that kid. Took all my money. Chris, can I pull up the video? Oh, that's right. The intro.

[00:44:07] I internet again. All right. So do you want to just replicate the fart? We'll move on. Tony, what's up, man? What's going on guys? How are you guys doing? Yeah. How's this been happening to Chris all day? Freezing up. Yeah. It's a sign. Which wouldn't be a problem if we took any time to edit after the fact, but that's not going to happen.

[00:44:36] So people are just going to have to deal with this. Nope. We just let it fly. Who gives a fuck? This is the way it goes. How are you doing Bobby too, by the way, I'm doing well. I was thinking of you earlier because, um, Chris had, we were talking about the text message with the under siege. Right. And then Chris had mentioned, when are we going on tonight for our Baywatch special on the show, this pod. And I realized that you should be getting Baywatch anytime soon. Now in Lithuania, it's coming to us. Yes.

[00:45:05] It's coming to us. It's still waiting for Hasselhoff comes on as his music tour. That's when Baywatch will come. I have to say after mash, we threw it on the other day, like just for like an episode and a half. Like my kid was watching it. And that shit does not hold up, man. That is an awful, awful show. I don't know how that ever stayed on the air. It is terrible. That and saved by the bell. And some of that stuff would save by the bell. Do we have a problem here?

[00:45:38] Kelly Kapowski. Kelly was top five for me. Definitely one of your earlier crushes. Kelly Kapowski and Nicole Eggert. Hated that show. My sister loved it. And Nicole Eggert. She was what? Who was, who was the one in that? What was the show with? Not who's the boss, but Charles and charts. Who was that? The two daughters. That was Nicole Eggert. I think. Was it also? Yeah. Yeah. And she was also in Baywatch.

[00:46:07] That's right. Yeah. There were some hotties for sure, but dear God, but dear God, that was just awful. The storylines were awful. The acting was awful. So what was the plot line of the one that you watched? Uh, so I forget which character. Well, I think it was Carmen Electra. She has a dream, right? That she's like hog tied in the back of a boat that's speeding to the, towards the pier and is going to explode underneath the pier and kill everybody on the pier.

[00:46:37] She wakes up from the dream. All hot and sweaty. That part was nice. And then as it turns out, like the evil villain, the evil villain throughout the show, his plan was to remote control one of the Baywatch boats and blow up the pier to kill like a governor or mayor or something. So it turned out to be like, just for this one episode, she had a premonition. She's got premonition powers. Cause there she is at the end of the episode,

[00:47:05] hot tied in a boat and it's heading towards the pier and it's trying to blow up. So I'd be very passionate about this episode. Let's clean it off. I only remember it so vividly because it was horrible. Ask me the other episode. Right. I don't recall a thing about it, which is just fall guy. Yeah. That was the girl in the fall guys. She was, uh, it's with Daisy Duke when we were a kid. We were kind of lucky. Every show kind of had one at least, you know, and it's true.

[00:47:35] I don't think Chris is coming back. Is he? Chris was the devil. You know, Chris close. Yeah. Yeah. Chris is doing our game. All right. Well, I think, uh, I think we said, we need to say, good to see you, Tony. It's great. Are you? It is funny how much we fall apart without Chris. we can't even leave the show without him. Technically. We can all leave. The show is just going to go on. This is going to go on and forever and ever. All right. So I'll just keep talking. Um,

[00:48:05] Tony, what do you think, um, about Dylan Larkin? You saw he requested a trade out of Detroit. I did see that. I saw it today. Actually. I would not like him, you know, Chris said he's trying to come back. I'm afraid it's going to keep happening. I think if we get Chris back, we should probably all four of us should be the devil, you know, and take off, you know, because I think he's, he's saying it is I'm afraid it's going to have. Yeah. So just log off and not tell him.

[00:48:39] Should we debate further? If anybody has any questions in the chat, go ahead and ask Bobby. It's the time. Yeah. Yeah. Feel free to ask us anything. Fire Bobby some questions here. Anything you two, right? Matt's 1980s. Cause I'm on the wealth of knowledge that you want to tap into right now. Let's go. Fucking judges hurt, man. That sucks. So Jason, I'll ask the question. So I was unsuccessful during my high school reunion. I'll put it that way. The, there was a, there was a,

[00:49:09] a mystery boyfriend that was brought up. That, that wasn't there on the Friday night. And then on Saturday night, he showed up and he was like 65 years old. That's too old. Too old. Yes. Tony, that's too old for me. but he also had like five houses. So I kind of pieced together. What her story was talking about the reunion. Yeah. What year did you graduate? Tim? 1996.

[00:49:38] So I was 30th. And like the school I went to, like reunions are big deals. Like, you know, one dude in my class, he's a, he's a astronaut. Another guy's the head of the jet propulsion lab, which basically makes all the rockets for, for NASA. Another guy's a Senator. Another guy's just got appointed to the federal bench in North Carolina. I'm not hearing a single podcaster in there. So no,

[00:50:07] there's a New Jersey devils podcaster and blogger. There you go. So I'm worried that my internet's going to fucking shit the bed again. So let's, let's try and just bang out this W, you know, and we'll see how it goes, but I am not playing the fucking, the intro. So can somebody fart real quick? I'm sorry. I cannot. All right. Anyway. All right. This is the W. You know,

[00:50:34] I'm going to give the clues today for a former New Jersey devil player, Tony, Bobby, and Tim have to guess. They got three incorrect guesses before they are eliminated. They can ask me any question about the player. I can and cannot answer. It's up to me. All right. This former New Jersey devil was born on December 14th, 1996. That's when Tim graduated. So he's 30. Former devil, right? Former devil.

[00:51:03] Born in Quebec. Six foot three, 205 pounds. Same point as me. Lefty. He has played for five NHL teams in his career. Still playing. He is still playing. How many years with the devils?

[00:51:32] This is a thing. He only played 10 games for the devils. It's not a lot. No. So you think about the clues because you might get them from some of the other clues. Brian Dumoulin. No, that would have been a good one. He was selected second round, 39th overall in 2015. Played for Kimball Union Academy of New Hampshire. And he became the captain of the team his second year and led the team in

[00:52:02] scoring with 24 goals, 63 points in 34 games. And then he committed to play at Boston university. And he began his collegiate career on acceleration into the 2014, 15 season. The Kimball union. Huh? In 2016, he signed a three year ELC. With the Colorado Avalanche.

[00:52:32] And he was assigned to their AHL team, San Antonio rampage. In 10 games with the devils. Yeah. I mean, can I just say, is he, is it ultimately a notable name? He's a notable guy. Really small. Let's see. That five teams he played for play for Colorado, play for us, play for Bruins, the flames and the Florida Panthers.

[00:53:03] AJ Greer. The answer is AJ Greer. Good job. Nice. He was born in Quebec. Yeah. That's what the internet told me. Well, if you only play 10 games, only play 10 games for the devils. Crazy. What's that? You forgot his 16, which is going to be the New Jersey devils. That's right. I think that's like a foregone conclusion, right? He's coming here. Yeah. I think, although his contract projections are a little high for a fourth liner,

[00:53:31] but how much, how much are they projecting? Like three, 4 million. I think that's a lot. He's coming off of like two pretty good seasons. Like points wise is like career highs points wise. Oh, but I think it's because he got like an elevated role this past year at Florida. Cause everybody got so hurt. And then two years ago, obviously they won the cops. Everybody was good. Um, Kimball union Academy. I used to play against them in high school. They,

[00:54:00] they had this sort of post Christmas tournament. Um, that'd go up to him play. That's where I played against that dude, Travis Roy. Ever tell you about him? He's the guy who broke, he broke, who broke his neck playing for BU. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They did tell us that story. Yeah. He's, he was nasty, man. Like I'm, it's kind of just a shame what happened to him, but, um, I think he would have been an unbelievable professional hockey player. That really sucks. But you know what? I'm, I'm going to actually,

[00:54:29] we're going to have to cut this thing short because, uh, I know we can keep going. I'm sorry, Tony. I didn't get the chance to hang out too much tonight. And I'm sorry to you guys, my internet. And you got stuck with just Tim and, and Bobby and my apologies. Um, we were like, we're like Elaine Kramer and George hanging out. I'm going to get this all fixed up, but I apologize. It's just a really shitty way for me to spend my last show. Like, I'm probably going to have to do one more and just kind of make sure I go off.

[00:54:57] this will be my ones. It's over, Johnny. It's over. What the fuck?