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[00:01:23] 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 New Jersey Devils podcast. Let's go Devils!

[00:01:37] That's awesome.

[00:01:38] That's cool, right?

[00:01:40] I love it. Very cool.

[00:01:41] Yeah, Bobby did a good job with that.

[00:01:43] He did. Bobby's like master editor now.

[00:01:46] He's cock master editor.

[00:01:48] That's right.

[00:01:48] I thought that would be like chopped and sound weird, but it sounded good.

[00:01:51] You like the what?

[00:01:52] The flame sound in my ear.

[00:01:54] It's fired up.

[00:01:55] Yeah.

[00:01:56] You're like ready to go fucking top gun on this shit.

[00:01:59] I think if I turned that on in a car, I'd be like, I'm having an aneurysm or this is going to be the best show ever.

[00:02:04] I gotta go faster, man.

[00:02:07] But Chris listened to Ranger's podcast just dancing in his car by himself.

[00:02:11] I do. I listen to Ranger podcasts all the time.

[00:02:14] They're so much fun to listen to.

[00:02:15] I just love...

[00:02:16] It's like a hate listen?

[00:02:17] Yeah, it's exactly what it is.

[00:02:19] It's just the meltdown that every single one of these guys are having.

[00:02:24] There are a couple that are like kind of no hockey and they kind of are like, yeah, yeah, we thought this was going to happen.

[00:02:32] You know, I guess this was a year early in his prediction of the Ranger demise.

[00:02:39] Right.

[00:02:40] And he said that they're frauds and they're fan bases frauds and they're going to shove it and all they did was win the president's trophy.

[00:02:47] So he was just a year off.

[00:02:49] It's true.

[00:02:50] It's true.

[00:02:50] Yeah.

[00:02:51] So it's this is now the definition of schadenfreude.

[00:02:53] Are you sitting there listening, laughing your ass off?

[00:02:57] It is.

[00:02:57] It's so much fun.

[00:02:58] And they played the Dallas Stars tonight.

[00:03:01] They're coming off of a win, right?

[00:03:03] They won.

[00:03:04] Did they win their last game or did they?

[00:03:06] No, they lost their last game.

[00:03:07] I think the Rangers.

[00:03:08] I think they have.

[00:03:09] I think they've had a couple of moral victories where they played well, but they lost Florida and then someone else who's good, too.

[00:03:16] How many points do you get in the NHL for the moral victories?

[00:03:20] Absolutely nothing.

[00:03:22] That's right.

[00:03:23] That's right.

[00:03:24] The one.

[00:03:26] Divide by two.

[00:03:28] It's zero.

[00:03:28] What are their playoff chances right now?

[00:03:31] Slim the nun and Slim just left town.

[00:03:34] Yeah, they're not mathematically eliminated, but they're quite a ways back, right?

[00:03:39] Oh, they're eliminated.

[00:03:40] I don't think there's a chance in hell that they make the playoffs.

[00:03:44] Wow.

[00:03:45] It's so hard to make up points when you're out of it.

[00:03:50] They lost the Capitals.

[00:03:53] That's right.

[00:03:53] Yeah, that's right.

[00:03:55] And not just the making up points.

[00:03:57] You have to jump teams.

[00:03:59] Like, it's one thing if you are, you know, right outside the last wildcard spot, four points, and Tampa or Ottawa is sitting in that last wildcard spot.

[00:04:08] And you can look at that one team and say, that's the team we have to catch.

[00:04:12] We keep our eyes on them and we can catch them.

[00:04:14] But they don't have to do that.

[00:04:16] They have to jump.

[00:04:17] Like, I think everybody in the Metropolitan, maybe with the exception of the Islanders.

[00:04:22] Maybe the Islanders, yeah.

[00:04:23] And essentially everybody in the Atlantic with the exception of, I don't know, Montreal maybe.

[00:04:29] I didn't think Montreal is right around the same points that they have.

[00:04:33] Yeah, I'm looking at it right now.

[00:04:35] So, Tampa and Montreal by points sit in those two wildcard spots.

[00:04:39] Montreal is tied with the Penguins.

[00:04:41] No, Montreal.

[00:04:42] Montreal has the second wildcard spot?

[00:04:44] By points, by points.

[00:04:45] Ottawa has five points percentage.

[00:04:49] Yeah, Montreal's been on a little tear recently.

[00:04:51] Yeah, they have been playing well.

[00:04:53] They had a great holiday break, you know.

[00:04:56] Five-foot-four Bobby Orr had three points the other night.

[00:04:59] I just, I can't.

[00:05:01] Is that the behind-the-bench guys, too?

[00:05:03] Like, you can't be more than five-foot-four to be playing or coaching for the Habs now?

[00:05:08] I read.

[00:05:09] I read enough of the short jokes.

[00:05:10] You brought it up.

[00:05:12] So, all right.

[00:05:13] So, yeah.

[00:05:13] So, how many teams are, how many points do the Rangers have?

[00:05:17] They have 37.

[00:05:19] Tampa or Montreal has.

[00:05:22] That was such an evil laugh.

[00:05:24] It is very silly.

[00:05:25] Montreal is 41.

[00:05:27] I mean, so, like, there's four points separating.

[00:05:29] But those are a lot of, like, those four points are always hard.

[00:05:32] Like, we found this out last year.

[00:05:33] Sure, yeah.

[00:05:34] Well, how many teams do they have to jump?

[00:05:35] We were right there.

[00:05:36] Like, I was up there to the end.

[00:05:37] I was like, I'm doing the math on a napkin.

[00:05:39] Like, we can still do this.

[00:05:41] Yeah, that was Bobby.

[00:05:42] That was poor Bobby who was just, he was hopeful right up until he wasn't.

[00:05:47] And it was, I felt bad for him.

[00:05:49] Because I said in November, I think me and Dan, November, beginning of December, were like, they're not making the playoffs, Bob.

[00:05:54] And, nope, they –

[00:05:56] It would have to be a different team, you know?

[00:05:58] Yeah.

[00:05:59] But this year, we are making the playoffs.

[00:06:02] Yeah, it's hard to see a scenario where they don't go into the playoffs looking like, you know, a favorite.

[00:06:08] Well, so you said that the Habs have that second wild card, right?

[00:06:12] So they're at 40 points.

[00:06:13] So, like, Ottawa technically is better based on their points percentage.

[00:06:17] Right.

[00:06:17] Because the game is played.

[00:06:19] But they're basically even.

[00:06:21] Like, it's 40 points and 41 points.

[00:06:23] But yet they would still have to jump the Senators, the Red Wings, the Penguins, the Blue Jackets, and the Flyers.

[00:06:31] Correct.

[00:06:32] So, you know, I get it.

[00:06:34] It's only four points or whatever.

[00:06:36] But you have to jump all those teams.

[00:06:38] Right.

[00:06:39] You know, that's where it becomes an almost impossibility.

[00:06:44] Right.

[00:06:44] Chris Kreider's on IR, so there's no hope of them trading him, which is what they apparently wanted to do.

[00:06:51] Tim, you had sent something over that apparently they wanted JT Miller for Mika Zibanejad straight up.

[00:06:57] And Vancouver was like, don't be drawing your shit-ass problems up our way.

[00:07:02] Okay.

[00:07:02] We got enough of our fucking own shit.

[00:07:04] We don't need Mika Zibanejad here.

[00:07:06] I don't know how that stuff gets public, but, like, that's fucking embarrassing.

[00:07:10] If Fury's offering just one-for-one Mika Zibanejad for JT Miller.

[00:07:14] And I don't know if he was just trying to take advantage of Vancouver and, you know, the salary differentials.

[00:07:19] Actually, I don't even know if they're that different.

[00:07:21] There's not much.

[00:07:22] I think that...

[00:07:24] That's insane.

[00:07:25] That's like the fantasy football trades that I try to make with my team, and they're like, fuck you, Tim.

[00:07:29] Go away.

[00:07:29] But, you see, that's not why they tell you that, Tim.

[00:07:32] It's not because of your trades.

[00:07:35] Don't be mean to me, Chris.

[00:07:36] The one-for-one, maybe you get away with that last year during the summer.

[00:07:43] I think maybe.

[00:07:45] But it's just Mika Zibanejad is a shell of himself.

[00:07:48] And I think the reason that Drury's trying to make that move is because JT Miller once had said that he has a no-trade clause.

[00:07:57] He would go...

[00:07:59] He would waive that to go to New York.

[00:08:01] So, I'm guessing they were kind of just hoping that if they could just push him hard enough, maybe they can get that deal done.

[00:08:08] But if I'm Vancouver, I don't move off of either of these guys until it becomes an unattainable situation.

[00:08:14] You know, if you just have to.

[00:08:16] I don't think they've gotten there yet.

[00:08:18] I mean, JT Miller had two goals last night.

[00:08:20] So, the problems between him and Pedersen haven't destroyed this locker room to the point where they're not winning.

[00:08:25] There's a video of them hugging on the bench yesterday.

[00:08:27] I think a lot of this is largely media narrative bullshit because they're two guys with two different personalities that it's getting spun out of control.

[00:08:36] I saw the video where they were 69ing each other in the sauna.

[00:08:39] I was like, well, that's not showing friendship.

[00:08:42] I don't know what is.

[00:08:43] By the way, you never shared the password for that site where you got that video?

[00:08:48] I can use that.

[00:08:49] Uncle Puckers.

[00:08:50] Password for everything.

[00:08:51] Uncle Puckers.

[00:08:54] So, off of the shitty-ass Rangers, we have broken our four-game losing streak, boys.

[00:09:00] Yeah.

[00:09:01] And, you know.

[00:09:02] What a great way to do it.

[00:09:03] I mean, we talked about it.

[00:09:04] How do you get out of these slumps?

[00:09:06] And sometimes it's, you know, a great individual effort.

[00:09:09] Sometimes it's just the team remembering who they are and getting back to playing the way that they want to play and they can play.

[00:09:16] Sometimes it's just an inferior team that you just can't help but beat.

[00:09:21] Other times, your goalie just straight-up steals shit.

[00:09:24] And that's what happened last night in that third period.

[00:09:28] I mean, Jacob Markstrom was unbelievable last night.

[00:09:32] Yeah.

[00:09:32] He was so good.

[00:09:34] One of the best goaltending displays that the Devils have had since you've had Brodeur on the, you know.

[00:09:41] I mean, it really was.

[00:09:42] He stole that game.

[00:09:43] He played so well.

[00:09:44] He stole some crazy saves, circus saves.

[00:09:47] And he was just so good in that game.

[00:09:49] There's no way they win that with a lesser performance.

[00:09:52] You know, Seattle wasn't going to make it easy for them at all.

[00:09:58] And I was just super impressed.

[00:10:00] I mean, those saves were incredible.

[00:10:04] I ended up watching the recap because it was unfortunately too late for me.

[00:10:08] And I got the Seattle feed.

[00:10:10] And that, you know, glove save early in the third where he scoops it off the ice on what is a nice backdoor stuff it in play.

[00:10:20] You know, that guy's calling it the save of the game, maybe the save of the year.

[00:10:24] And then he comes up with that crazy combination.

[00:10:28] Right pad and rebounds comes out and he catches it with his blade right around the heel area.

[00:10:34] And like this stick windmill from right to left.

[00:10:37] It was just a thing of beauty.

[00:10:39] He looked so sharp.

[00:10:41] As the resident goalie, which one was, were you like, I can't believe he just fucking did that?

[00:10:46] But like, I mean, they were all pretty sick, but which one do you like?

[00:10:49] Or like, I have no idea how he even fucking managed to do that.

[00:10:53] You know, if you're going to save a shot, you know, from your side with the heel of your stick, you know, coming across like that, that probably wins it there.

[00:11:04] But that scoop off the ice was fantastic as well.

[00:11:06] I mean, they're two different kinds of saves.

[00:11:08] And you know what, too?

[00:11:09] It wasn't just a couple of those grandiose circus saves.

[00:11:11] He had breakaways.

[00:11:13] He had, you know, really good passing plays thrown at him that he was just equal to the task.

[00:11:18] He looked fantastic.

[00:11:19] And, you know, Seattle Grubauer played a great game.

[00:11:23] You know, I guess you could knock him for the five-hole goal, but not really.

[00:11:26] It was such a sneaky play.

[00:11:28] And he made some tremendous saves.

[00:11:30] So you were like locked in for some great goaltending in that game.

[00:11:33] It was, that was definitely one to watch if you want to see great goaltending.

[00:11:36] I don't know.

[00:11:37] Yeah, I agree.

[00:11:39] I mean, I think.

[00:11:40] I agree.

[00:11:41] I mean, that was incredible.

[00:11:42] And, you know, we don't want our goalie to have to make saves like that.

[00:11:48] But if he has.

[00:11:48] But if we're going to put him in that position, I mean, it's pretty amazing that he has.

[00:11:52] You know, that game is 7-1, you know, last year.

[00:11:56] Yeah.

[00:11:56] And over the course of a season, if you're going to be a top team, your goalie's going to come up with saves like that.

[00:12:03] It's going to happen.

[00:12:05] Yeah, you don't rely on it every night.

[00:12:06] But, you know, this is, there was no doubt.

[00:12:09] Like, okay, you definitely have a money goaltender here.

[00:12:12] You know?

[00:12:12] Makes you super excited what he could do.

[00:12:14] I mean, when you win a game like that with those kind of saves, that is such a huge thing in a playoff scenario.

[00:12:21] So, it makes you so, like, ready for the playoffs.

[00:12:24] And, wow, we got a guy we can run with.

[00:12:27] We feel really comfortable with the goaltending we're getting.

[00:12:30] You know?

[00:12:31] You know, is he the best goaltender ever played a game?

[00:12:35] No.

[00:12:36] Could he be the best goaltender in this playoff series this year?

[00:12:40] Yeah, he could.

[00:12:41] You know?

[00:12:41] And that's exciting.

[00:12:42] I don't think we could have said that, honestly, about anybody we've had since Brodeur.

[00:12:48] So, I mean, what an amazing time for goaltending in New Jersey again.

[00:12:52] And this is part of, like, you know, when he came over, when we were super excited about it.

[00:12:56] And the one thing that I kept going back to is, and I didn't think the Rangers were going to be this.

[00:13:01] I honestly said it a million times.

[00:13:02] I thought the Metropolitan was a two-team race.

[00:13:05] I thought it was just going to be New York and New Jersey.

[00:13:07] Sure.

[00:13:07] Right up until the end, and it would be a matter of two or three-point swing for whoever was going to get it.

[00:13:14] It was going to be one win against the other, something that was going to kind of be the thing that put one over the other.

[00:13:21] And that's not the case.

[00:13:22] But a lot of what I was going with, because you hear it all the time from Ranger fans.

[00:13:26] Yes, but we have Shesterkin.

[00:13:28] He can steal a series.

[00:13:29] He can steal this.

[00:13:30] Well, now the Devils have a guy that can steal a series.

[00:13:33] It's not just the Rangers.

[00:13:34] It's not just Jeremy Swainman.

[00:13:36] It's not just Bobrovsky in Florida anymore.

[00:13:38] Now the Devils have that guy, and that makes us an extremely dangerous team if we can figure out everything else.

[00:13:45] Right.

[00:13:46] And, you know, last night, I also think it was huge when you see where the goals came from, right?

[00:13:52] Right.

[00:13:52] They came from Mercer, Potter, and Blot.

[00:13:55] Yep, exactly.

[00:13:56] You know, these are the guys that we need to start scoring some goals.

[00:14:00] I thought the Mercer goal was just a really patient, beautiful goal.

[00:14:04] Took his time.

[00:14:05] He didn't rush it.

[00:14:06] Yeah, backhand beforehand.

[00:14:07] Yep.

[00:14:08] And he was able to beat Grubauer.

[00:14:10] You talked a little bit about that five-hole goal from Cotter, which was just a sneaky little goal.

[00:14:14] Right.

[00:14:14] And the big assist from Mercer.

[00:14:16] Yeah, exactly.

[00:14:17] It was kind of like a pass shot that he didn't really mean to pass, and it just ended up, you know, he lost track of the puck, but it ended up going in.

[00:14:25] An accidental dangle.

[00:14:26] Yeah.

[00:14:27] Yeah.

[00:14:28] And then the plot goal was just a beautiful pass from Hughes, and Palat was able to bury it, which is something that we've seen him flub more times than not recently.

[00:14:37] Right.

[00:14:38] So I was really happy that he actually buried one, and you could see the relief in his face.

[00:14:42] Like, he knows, like, you know, I'm going to be fucking released.

[00:14:46] I'm going to be fucking just cut this year.

[00:14:48] It bought out at the end of this year if I don't start doing something.

[00:14:52] And I kind of did like that, you know, Capo, he got a goal against the Devils, but not with the Rangers.

[00:15:00] Yeah, exactly.

[00:15:01] He looked pretty good in that game.

[00:15:03] He looks a lot better as a Kraken than he did as a Ranger, so good for him.

[00:15:07] It's amazing what happens when, you know, the bust that was stuck on the third line actually gets power play time and first-line minutes.

[00:15:16] But, yeah, he had a post, too.

[00:15:17] Yeah, Capo had a nice little assist on Shane Wright's power play goal.

[00:15:22] Nice little saucer pass from behind the net and caught us kind of napping in front.

[00:15:28] You know, one of the things about Markstrom when he came over was everything we pointed to was that high danger save percentage.

[00:15:35] Sorry, Scott.

[00:15:36] That was like his calling card.

[00:15:39] Yeah, I mean, he occasionally will let in one that he probably wants back, but the high danger save percentage was the thing that brought him here.

[00:15:47] And, frankly, if we're going to keep running Dougie and Dylan out who just bleed two-on-ones and high danger chances, I don't know what happened to our D-Core.

[00:15:57] Like, last night wasn't perfect by any means.

[00:15:59] It was not, yeah.

[00:16:00] And we were bleeding chances left and right.

[00:16:03] They went through stretches where they were very good.

[00:16:06] The second and third period were much better than the first.

[00:16:09] After they scored their first goal, they just fucking fell asleep.

[00:16:11] I don't know what happened to them.

[00:16:12] And you could see that first Kraken goal coming as our fourth line got stuck out there, pinned, and just like, all right, it's a matter of time.

[00:16:21] And, of course, it was Adam Larson that scored, you know, former Devil.

[00:16:24] I'm glad I put money on that.

[00:16:26] They do.

[00:16:27] Yeah.

[00:16:27] The former Devils do.

[00:16:28] And I'll tell you, though, I think this game goes the other way if Potter doesn't score when he scores.

[00:16:34] Like, coming up with that goal huge late in the period like that, that was exactly what they needed because of exactly what you just said, Tim.

[00:16:42] They fell asleep at the wheel and they were letting Seattle crawl back into this game.

[00:16:46] And the first period, after the Devils scored, it was all Seattle.

[00:16:51] I mean, they were taking it, too.

[00:16:52] The Devils didn't have any answers for them.

[00:16:54] And when the Pouters scored that last goal, the second goal, rather, that was, I think, a nice, all right, guys, we're not, this hasn't gotten out of hand yet.

[00:17:02] We're still in control.

[00:17:04] Let's go out and do it.

[00:17:05] Now, I don't know what's going on with our defensive core and Dougie and Dylan because they.

[00:17:10] They have been so good up until this last stretch.

[00:17:13] Yeah.

[00:17:13] A seven, eight game stretch where they were lights out.

[00:17:16] And now this last five games, they've been, it's been a little rough.

[00:17:20] Is this like a communication thing?

[00:17:22] Is it one guy's trying to do too much?

[00:17:24] Are they both trying to do too much?

[00:17:26] What do you see from the eye test?

[00:17:28] Tim, what do you think?

[00:17:30] I think it's what you just said.

[00:17:31] Like the last thing you said is they're trying to do too much.

[00:17:34] You know, we talked about this the last part, too.

[00:17:36] It's they're they're pressing for offense.

[00:17:38] And when you press for offense and you're pinching too aggressively and a team like Seattle that is really good team speed and can kind of reverse it, reverse course on you pretty quickly.

[00:17:47] If you miss a pinch or if you miss kind of play something in the neutral zone, that's coming right back the other way.

[00:17:54] So when they're pressing too much, that's when we get into these odd man rushes.

[00:17:59] They also seem to have had some pretty rough breakdowns in the defensive zone.

[00:18:05] On one of those, on one of Markstrom's incredible saves, it was a two-on-one.

[00:18:10] It was the three-on-one save that he had.

[00:18:13] That was my favorite one of the night.

[00:18:15] Yeah, it was largely a two-on-one to start.

[00:18:18] Off the glove.

[00:18:18] Yeah, the third guy trailer coming in was the one that actually got the shot.

[00:18:22] Yeah, right in the slot.

[00:18:23] Yeah, right in the slot.

[00:18:24] And Dougie is tracking with Tolvanen, who was the one who got the shot where he reached back and made the glove suit.

[00:18:32] Dougie's tracking with that guy, peels off of him, and then just lies down on the ground.

[00:18:37] And the guy gets the shot off over him.

[00:18:39] And then Tolvanen's wide open in front of the net.

[00:18:41] I don't know why he didn't just stay with Tolvanen because there's a back checker right on that guy.

[00:18:45] He makes some seriously questionable decisions in the defensive zone and defensively.

[00:18:50] And all we're asking of this guy is just fucking keep it together, man.

[00:18:54] That's all we ask.

[00:18:56] We appreciate the offense.

[00:18:57] I'd like to see that come back.

[00:18:59] But if you're not contributing offensively, you're brutal defensively.

[00:19:02] And that makes you a net negative.

[00:19:05] So we need you to do one or the other.

[00:19:07] There's a little blame that's slightly different for both of them to go around.

[00:19:10] I think that when they're pressing in the offensive zone or even in the neutral zone,

[00:19:17] sometimes I feel like that's what you expect of Hamilton.

[00:19:19] So he's got to be there to cover him.

[00:19:22] That's more his job than the other way around.

[00:19:25] They're both going to press sometimes.

[00:19:27] But then on the defensive end, especially when you're penned in, you're right.

[00:19:30] That's where it's like between the two of them, I feel like Dougie's making more mistakes.

[00:19:36] You know, and together it's it's there are two different, you know, failure types.

[00:19:42] But like maybe it is just like communication or basically just knowing your role better.

[00:19:48] I don't know.

[00:19:48] But yeah, you're right with those kind of mistakes that Hamilton was making defensively in our end.

[00:19:54] And that's, you know, hurting us every bit as much as when they get caught pressing too hard offensively.

[00:20:00] Yeah.

[00:20:01] Yeah.

[00:20:01] I kind of boiled it down to two things like and it actually kind of applies to both Dougie and Dylan.

[00:20:07] When when they have the puck on their stick, they're fine.

[00:20:10] They're actually good.

[00:20:11] And when they and this is for the whole ice surface and when they don't have the puck on the stick,

[00:20:16] fucking grab on your butts because it's going to be a roller coaster.

[00:20:18] Like that's really kind of what happens.

[00:20:20] And, you know, they tend to overcommit like on the power play goal.

[00:20:24] The Kako's little saucer pass to Shane Wright.

[00:20:27] I think Dylan went a little too hard at Kako when he didn't have when he didn't have the amount of time to get.

[00:20:36] He went too hard at the cock, left his ass exposed.

[00:20:40] And Lazar couldn't couldn't fill in that hole quick enough.

[00:20:43] And Kako had enough time.

[00:20:44] I'm I know I try I tried to kind of run with that analogy the best I could.

[00:20:48] No, it actually works really well.

[00:20:50] Yeah, it does.

[00:20:52] So, you know, getting back to understanding the time and space that they have and maybe they need to just take a step back and be a little more conservative.

[00:20:58] But I don't think that's going to happen.

[00:21:01] And Luke and Luke and Pesci have had a tough couple of games to defensively.

[00:21:06] Like actually Dougie and Dylan graded out is probably our best defensive pair from like an analytics perspective.

[00:21:14] But that's kind of where where, yeah, that's kind of where some of the analytics numbers fall apart.

[00:21:18] You know, they they 70 to 70 something percent expected goals.

[00:21:22] But that's the expected goals against are just like an accumulation based on the shot locations.

[00:21:29] And it doesn't really take a lot of context into into factor.

[00:21:33] Right. Yeah. And like, you know, the breakdown, if it's in a big situation, that counts a lot more than a few other breakdowns that work.

[00:21:41] Right. You give up you give up four breakaways or four point blank chances where Markstrom has to, you know, fucking do some Simone Biles type of shit like to make a save.

[00:21:50] You know, that's that's going to grade out just like, you know, a regular shot from the slot.

[00:21:54] So there's a little it's a little misleading. And actually, it's funny because Markstrom's goal save above expected last night were just point four or five.

[00:22:02] So that doesn't make any sense either. No, especially with those saves.

[00:22:07] They were, you know, they look like they're going to make way above expected average, you know?

[00:22:12] Yeah. But all in all, they kind of kept it together.

[00:22:15] They locked it down there at the end.

[00:22:17] Nason made like one of one of the kind of more unheralded plays is Nason beating out that icing at the end of the game.

[00:22:23] Right.

[00:22:24] To negate that icing, because that if that faceoff came back, I was like, fuck, we're going to get scored on if that icing came back.

[00:22:30] Yeah. Yeah. And the Kraken never let up. They were they were a tough team to play.

[00:22:33] They really were. But you're right.

[00:22:36] The lead every time and they kept going, you know, and they never they never really fell apart, which is a nice change after four losses.

[00:22:44] And we're going to go over the upcoming schedule.

[00:22:48] And it is super important that the Devils were able to get out of this funk when they did, because it's not going to get any easier.

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[00:24:01] The crown is yours.

[00:24:04] So, boys, we got the Rangers Thursday.

[00:24:08] Now, listen to this gauntlet over the course of probably the next month.

[00:24:13] Right.

[00:24:13] It's the Rangers in MSG and then the Devils come home for two.

[00:24:18] And that is against the Lightning and against the Panthers.

[00:24:23] Then they go on the road for only trip up to Toronto and we got to play the Leafs.

[00:24:27] Now, keep in mind, Tampa and Toronto have whooped us each time we played them.

[00:24:33] Yep.

[00:24:33] And Florida is looking for payback because we went into there and took two games on them back in November.

[00:24:41] So they're definitely not going to be too happy about that.

[00:24:43] Then we haven't played the Flyers yet and we get them at home and then we get the Senators at home.

[00:24:48] So Senators are a damn good team right now.

[00:24:50] And the Flyers, you know, are going to play you hard.

[00:24:53] They're going to play the right way.

[00:24:54] They're doing, you know, they're not a great team as far as their talent, but they're a very good team as far as their discipline and their structure.

[00:25:03] And that can hurt you.

[00:25:04] And if you're lazy at all, they're going to beat you.

[00:25:06] Then we go and we play our first game at home against the Bruins.

[00:25:10] Then we have the Canadians who you might say would be an easy one, but it's not because they're now a playoff spot.

[00:25:17] And then back with the Flyers and we have a home and home against to finish out January against the Flyers.

[00:25:23] So this month of January is brutal.

[00:25:26] Yeah.

[00:25:28] You know, they don't turn their shit around and really start playing the way they did in December.

[00:25:33] This month can really fuck these guys.

[00:25:36] So I hope that they are back.

[00:25:38] I mean, I think that a game at MSG on Thursday night would be the cure for what hails you, right?

[00:25:45] I mean, they're always going to.

[00:25:46] Yeah, they seem to do well with those high energy games, you know, the rivalry games.

[00:25:50] So they've been playing the Rangers very well this year.

[00:25:52] So I'm looking for a boost there.

[00:25:54] I really hope they all are like, you know, on the right page of building here and keeping it together.

[00:26:00] I expect that.

[00:26:00] Yeah, and they have two, three days between games too.

[00:26:05] So they have time to get over some jet lag, you know, get back to them.

[00:26:08] And Keith brought this up.

[00:26:10] All the games over this Christmas break.

[00:26:12] And I don't want to lean on this too much as an excuse, but like they're all really weird times.

[00:26:18] You know, like the New Year's Eve game was, you know, four o'clock or six o'clock or whatever it was.

[00:26:24] Then the New Year's Day game was at another weird time.

[00:26:27] And then the Saturday game was at another weird time.

[00:26:30] Yeah, exactly.

[00:26:32] So they're all kind of a weird time.

[00:26:33] It's getting back to regular 7 p.m. games and also having that three-day break to kind of get back and get your legs together.

[00:26:40] And a lot of time to kind of work things out, do some video and just be like, Doug, you stop fucking doing what you're doing.

[00:26:46] And I'm pretty confident that they'll be able to get out of there against the Rangers.

[00:26:52] Those next three games are just brutal.

[00:26:55] You know, Toronto, for whatever reason, has our number.

[00:26:57] Tampa has our number.

[00:26:59] But, you know, different teams.

[00:27:02] You know, we'll see what happens.

[00:27:05] So what did you guys think about our third and fourth line last night?

[00:27:11] You know, with Holla out and Dowling taking over that third center slot.

[00:27:16] What did you guys think of how he played there?

[00:27:20] Don't everybody answer at once.

[00:27:22] It wasn't horrible.

[00:27:24] It wasn't horrible, I don't think.

[00:27:26] You know.

[00:27:28] Tim, do you guys think it was that much better than having Holla in?

[00:27:30] I did.

[00:27:31] I thought it was a lot better than having Holla in.

[00:27:33] I thought he generated offense.

[00:27:35] He's, you know, he was great on the faceoff dot.

[00:27:38] I thought that, you know, that's – I kind of like him there a little bit better than Eric Holla.

[00:27:43] Wow.

[00:27:43] Yeah.

[00:27:44] Yeah, he was good.

[00:27:45] But he's a career AHL-er.

[00:27:49] You know, let's – you know, I like him.

[00:27:51] I think, you know, for a couple of games he'll be an admirable fill-in.

[00:27:56] And he has been.

[00:27:57] He's actually a very good four-checker.

[00:27:58] And he's noticeable.

[00:27:59] You know, the most noticeable number 37 I think we've ever had in our history.

[00:28:03] I don't remember anybody else wearing that number.

[00:28:05] Not a single player.

[00:28:07] I can't think of a 37.

[00:28:09] Yeah, definitely not.

[00:28:10] I was at some goaltender.

[00:28:12] No, definitely not a guy named Pavel Saka.

[00:28:15] Was he 37?

[00:28:16] Yeah, he was.

[00:28:17] He was.

[00:28:18] That was my joke.

[00:28:19] I thought you guys were picking up on it.

[00:28:21] No.

[00:28:22] I totally forgot that he was 37.

[00:28:25] Yeah, see?

[00:28:26] I forgot he existed.

[00:28:28] Until he scores on us when we play Boston.

[00:28:33] Where is it gone?

[00:28:34] Oh, yeah.

[00:28:34] He's a good four-checker.

[00:28:35] Good in the dot.

[00:28:36] Pretty low event game.

[00:28:37] You know, I put a little money on him to score a goal because I thought that was kind of the natural way things happen.

[00:28:42] But he didn't do that.

[00:28:44] But both his linemen scored a goal.

[00:28:46] I know the Mercer goal was on a line change.

[00:28:50] And it was a team with a Nico to Mercer.

[00:28:51] Yeah.

[00:28:51] But, you know, that's all you can ask of the guy.

[00:28:55] If he can just be that good four-checker, be good in the dot, and just be responsible defensively.

[00:29:01] The fourth line, man, like, they fucking suck.

[00:29:05] Like, Tatar and Bastion are just – they're absolutely fucking useless.

[00:29:10] I mean, Tatar, I really thought he was going to have a – okay, we got a slow start.

[00:29:15] But I thought by now he'd be picking it up more.

[00:29:18] Yeah.

[00:29:18] And I get –

[00:29:19] He's been really spotty for him this year.

[00:29:20] And I get that we have him on the fourth line where that's probably not really what his skill set is.

[00:29:26] But I just don't – I think he's washed.

[00:29:29] Where else are you going to put him?

[00:29:31] Well, that's exactly my point.

[00:29:32] It's like, you know, he was brought in originally to probably try and recreate the magic with that Nico Mercer line.

[00:29:39] And that didn't stick.

[00:29:41] That's extremely short-sighted if that's where they were – if that's really what Fitz wanted.

[00:29:46] Like, to me, I thought they brought him back as an extra dude.

[00:29:49] The fourth liner, utility guy.

[00:29:52] Look at the lineups.

[00:29:53] Look at the lineups the first couple games.

[00:29:55] Right.

[00:29:55] They had him with Nico and Brad, and then they tried to run out Timo, Timo, Brad, and Jack.

[00:29:59] And that shit didn't fucking work at all either.

[00:30:01] I just – I thought that that was short-sighted from the beginning.

[00:30:04] I know a lot of Devil fans were saying that.

[00:30:07] Oh, they're going to recreate that magic.

[00:30:08] Like, Tim, you've said it a million times about Andre Plata, how hard it is to play with players like Jack and Nico.

[00:30:15] I mean, Jack and Brad because of their skill level and their speed and all that.

[00:30:19] And for an older player to kind of – it takes a little while for them to figure that out.

[00:30:25] I thought that you have a guy that's now two years older, two years more wear and tear on his tires from when he was here before,

[00:30:32] playing with a guy like Nico who's two years better, two years faster, two years more mature.

[00:30:38] I just didn't see where that was going to match.

[00:30:41] And to me, I didn't understand the Tatar deal from the beginning.

[00:30:45] Like, I just was like, why are we bringing him back?

[00:30:47] Like, it just didn't make any sense.

[00:30:49] And now – he's now but not – I mean, I shouldn't say that the guy is useless, but like you said, he's on the fourth line.

[00:30:57] He's not tradable.

[00:30:58] Like, you're not going to move him.

[00:31:00] So, I mean, he's a guy that's just going to end up getting released from this team.

[00:31:03] Like, it was just kind of all for nothing.

[00:31:05] Like, Bastion maybe I think gives you a little bit of value.

[00:31:09] Maybe you can trade him even if it's for like a late pick or something like that.

[00:31:12] But I don't think Tatar has any value on this team.

[00:31:16] Yeah, I agree.

[00:31:19] I think it was a little bit of a last minute – I don't want to say desperate move, but bringing him in to try and recreate some magic from two years ago.

[00:31:28] I thought that was a little bit disguided, like you said.

[00:31:30] But they did try it.

[00:31:31] It didn't work.

[00:31:33] Keith clearly doesn't like him.

[00:31:34] That's why he's buried on the fourth line.

[00:31:36] He's getting less than 10 minutes a game.

[00:31:39] So, Bastion, on the other hand, like, I know – like, this guy's constantly hurt.

[00:31:44] You know, he just got the shit kicked out of him by – what's his name on Calgary that he's still wearing the bubble for?

[00:31:51] And, you know, he's 6'4", like 210.

[00:31:54] Like, he's supposed to be the big guy that, like, sits in front of the net.

[00:31:57] And it's just like – it's like –

[00:31:58] When Ryan Lomberg bucks you up like that, yeah, there's an issue there.

[00:32:03] I mean, I remember that fight.

[00:32:04] He couldn't get his hands out.

[00:32:06] And he was pinned up against the boards.

[00:32:08] And Lomberg should have gotten a penalty on that.

[00:32:10] But regardless, you're right.

[00:32:12] You're 6'4", you're a big body.

[00:32:15] You do have some decent hands.

[00:32:17] We've seen this dude.

[00:32:18] He can score some goals.

[00:32:20] But when it's all out there, when you put it all out there on the ice, he cannot put it together.

[00:32:26] He's either on the ice or he gets fucking absolutely pasted like three, four times a game.

[00:32:31] You know, he goes into four –

[00:32:32] It's like Kevin Ball in that sense.

[00:32:33] Yeah, he like goes –

[00:32:35] Just a guy that couldn't put it all together, that's all.

[00:32:38] Yeah, like you'll watch him.

[00:32:40] He'll go in for a four check and he'll try and hit a guy.

[00:32:42] He'll completely miss.

[00:32:43] He'll fall.

[00:32:43] And the defenseman will get away with the puck.

[00:32:45] It's like, what is – what are you doing?

[00:32:48] You know, like Billy Bean.

[00:32:49] Like, you know, if you say he's a good-sized guy, what is any size good?

[00:32:54] Yeah, well, that's like Miles Wood when he didn't have it all together.

[00:32:58] He would play a lot in that same style, you know, when he was missing more than –

[00:33:02] you know, when things came together, he had a little extra speed that Bastion never did.

[00:33:06] Yeah.

[00:33:07] But, you know, like at his worst, he kind of reminds me a little bit of Miles Wood.

[00:33:12] But what are you going to do on that fourth line then?

[00:33:16] I don't know, man.

[00:33:17] Bring up Laguerre and Hallinan and see if that works

[00:33:20] and then free up money to shore up the top six because then, you know, that's –

[00:33:26] Tatar makes 1.8, I think.

[00:33:31] And Bastion makes 1.35.

[00:33:36] So you free that up.

[00:33:38] That's three and change.

[00:33:39] Plus we'll already have roughly the equivalent of a $5 million –

[00:33:44] actually, I'm looking at Puck PD right now.

[00:33:47] And like I don't understand how the kind of deadline space versus current cap space.

[00:33:51] But we have basically about $3 million for the current cap space.

[00:33:54] So you add those two together, suddenly now we can bring in a top six guy

[00:33:58] to move Slot Palat down and then Cotter can slide down.

[00:34:03] And then we have like that full top six that we wanted.

[00:34:06] The third line is regulated or is a little better with Palat.

[00:34:10] And, you know, maybe we keep Hallin or if we upgrade Hallin.

[00:34:13] But then you move Lazar over to the wing, slide Hallin down to the 4C.

[00:34:17] And then that fourth line is then Cotter, Halla, Lazar.

[00:34:20] Maybe the third line is Palat, fill in new guy, and Mercer.

[00:34:25] So I don't know.

[00:34:26] That's kind of how I'm seeing it potentially play out.

[00:34:29] But I do think Fitz kind of hangs on to his guys a little bit too much.

[00:34:34] And, you know, he's not as ruthless as like the Vegas GM or some other GMs

[00:34:41] that just, you know, just will fucking send a guy off for no reason.

[00:34:45] Yeah, and especially this year when the team's doing overall so well,

[00:34:49] I wonder how big of a concern it is for Fitzgerald to fix the bottom lines, you know?

[00:34:56] Yeah.

[00:34:56] I think if something's not fixed, whether, you know, regardless,

[00:35:01] I think if you went into the playoffs right now with our lineup the way it is

[00:35:06] and no moves getting done, I don't think we make it out of the Eastern Conference.

[00:35:10] I just don't.

[00:35:11] I think you've got to get that secondary scoring.

[00:35:14] We've said it a million fucking times.

[00:35:16] Oh, 100% in the playoffs because you know what's going to happen.

[00:35:19] You're going to take away views.

[00:35:20] You're going to take away Brad.

[00:35:22] Yep.

[00:35:22] And even to a large extent, Heischer, you know?

[00:35:26] And then we're using Heischer to go up against teams' first lines,

[00:35:31] and that's not really the best spot for his line, even though they're so good at it.

[00:35:36] It does hinder their offense.

[00:35:38] So you need a third line, like we talked about a million times,

[00:35:41] that can check the opposing team's best lines,

[00:35:46] that can get you some solid goals when you need them, timely goals.

[00:35:51] And the same from your fourth line.

[00:35:52] That fourth line's got to be physical.

[00:35:53] They have to, you know, just hit everything.

[00:35:56] That fucking, when you have that time on the ice,

[00:35:58] you go and make the best of it.

[00:36:00] You know, we brought up Ryan Lumberg.

[00:36:02] I loved Ryan Lumberg last year in Florida.

[00:36:04] Like that's the type of energy fourth line guy that I would love to see on this team.

[00:36:09] Well, so how do you want to explain what was Lizar?

[00:36:11] What was that then?

[00:36:13] Tim was just kind of talking about going after maybe top six guys and shuffling down.

[00:36:19] I mean, there's an argument that, look, your top lines are looking great.

[00:36:23] So maybe you don't want to upset that apple cart, you know, three quarters of the way through the season

[00:36:29] or whatever it's going to be.

[00:36:31] And, you know, you go after strong third and fourth line guys directly and just leave your top lines alone.

[00:36:38] I mean, what would you prefer?

[00:36:39] I'm just asking the question.

[00:36:40] I don't know.

[00:36:41] I think it's a definite possibility that Fitz can do if he decides that, you know what,

[00:36:45] the top six we're going to keep the way they are.

[00:36:47] He likes the way that they're playing.

[00:36:48] And then you do tinker around with that third and fourth line.

[00:36:52] I would say then if that's the case, you have to make an upgrade, like a legitimate upgrade for Marikala.

[00:36:59] Like you have to go and let me run this just by you reckless, reckless speculation here.

[00:37:05] Yes.

[00:37:07] So somebody wrote an article.

[00:37:08] This is something that Dan and I talked about for years.

[00:37:11] Bobby was, you know, we talked about it all of us together for a long time.

[00:37:15] And I always bring this guy's name up.

[00:37:17] But there was an article out that Jonathan Taves is looking to possibly sign with the team.

[00:37:25] What about Jonathan Taves as the devil's third line center?

[00:37:30] Like, are you guys against that?

[00:37:32] I mean, I understand he's been sitting on his couch for the last couple of years, but it's still Jonathan Taves.

[00:37:37] Or do you go and try and secure the, you know, a guy like Green, what the fuck's his name?

[00:37:47] Grandlin from San Jose or a guy like that?

[00:37:51] Or do you, what do you guys think about Jonathan Taves?

[00:37:55] Hmm.

[00:37:55] That is interesting.

[00:37:56] I don't know.

[00:37:58] Something kind of reeks a little bit of something like the Rangers might do, you know, more than what we would do.

[00:38:04] But I do find it interesting.

[00:38:07] I don't know.

[00:38:07] You know, it also makes me think about, is it a strong move to leave Palat where he's at, you know?

[00:38:14] Or so maybe that would be a position where you'd want to move him down to that third and, you know, get.

[00:38:22] Well, what about a third line of Palat, Jonathan Taves and Dawson Mercer?

[00:38:28] That's your third line.

[00:38:30] Yeah.

[00:38:31] Yeah.

[00:38:31] Then you go and you make a move for that top six.

[00:38:34] I don't think Taves will be.

[00:38:38] Taves will be what?

[00:38:41] What did you say, Tim?

[00:38:42] I don't know if you guys just froze or not.

[00:38:44] I thought.

[00:38:44] No.

[00:38:44] Did you guys freeze or am I still?

[00:38:46] No, you just stopped talking.

[00:38:47] I froze?

[00:38:48] No, you're good.

[00:38:49] You're fine.

[00:38:52] You guys are just both so.

[00:38:54] You're so perfectly motionless.

[00:38:56] I was like, did I freeze?

[00:38:57] What just happened?

[00:38:57] No.

[00:38:58] I was really lazy.

[00:38:59] A couple of things on Taves.

[00:39:02] Well, A, he hasn't been on the ice in two years and he's 37 years old.

[00:39:06] So there's that.

[00:39:07] The on ice stuff.

[00:39:09] 37 years old is another one.

[00:39:12] Who knows what he actually would look like in reality?

[00:39:16] I don't know if he would even be up to speed by the time we would have to have him on the roster for this year.

[00:39:23] Like, I think he may be looking more for like next year.

[00:39:26] So that's thing one.

[00:39:28] Thing two is all the issues that Chicago had in their locker room with the sexual assault stuff that happened there.

[00:39:40] Apparently Taves wasn't exactly fighting against it and was pretty bad in the locker room, you know, with this kid that got harassed.

[00:39:51] I didn't say that very well.

[00:39:52] But you get the drift of what I'm saying.

[00:39:55] Like, I think there will be it's kind of there's a little bit of a stigma connecting him to that because it was he was the captain of the team when that happened.

[00:40:08] And I don't know.

[00:40:09] You know, I don't I don't know if the Devils can touch something like that, particularly with what they just they just dealt with.

[00:40:14] Yeah, we just that McLeod just departed.

[00:40:17] So, yeah, so hockey wise, it'd be very interesting.

[00:40:20] I just don't you know, I just don't know if I could deal with my team doing something like that and kind of I didn't know that.

[00:40:28] Yeah, I didn't really either when we brought it up when you brought up before, but I've been reading about it recently.

[00:40:34] Just kind of rehashing it.

[00:40:35] But there's some pretty, pretty bad shit going on in there.

[00:40:38] Oh, no, I don't want them.

[00:40:40] Yeah, I don't want them.

[00:40:41] No, you can stay on your couch.

[00:40:44] Jonathan Taves.

[00:40:44] I'm fine with that.

[00:40:45] It was such a distraction last year to go through that shit with McLeod.

[00:40:48] I know it's not fun.

[00:40:50] And yeah, it's bad.

[00:40:51] It's bad.

[00:40:52] Honestly, hockey wise, if we could get someone like fucking Mike McLeod.

[00:40:58] Yeah, that doesn't name Mike McLeod and didn't lead a fucking awful.

[00:41:03] Whatever he did.

[00:41:05] I don't need to bring it up, but like that's kind of the perfect guy to slot into this fucking.

[00:41:10] Absolutely.

[00:41:11] That is the kind of player we want.

[00:41:12] I mean, base offs, third, fourth line play.

[00:41:15] This awesome guy.

[00:41:17] Yeah.

[00:41:18] Yeah.

[00:41:18] I mean, God damn you, Michael, and your deviant behavior.

[00:41:23] Fucking gang bang motherfucker.

[00:41:25] Yeah.

[00:41:26] He hurt this team big time.

[00:41:28] He did.

[00:41:30] But, you know, I know Fitz kind of has his, like me in a perfect world, I want to see two moves made.

[00:41:37] I want to see a third line center made, like a guy like we talk about, Grandlin maybe, or, and a winger for Jack and Brad, like a guy like Alex Tuff.

[00:41:47] That's, that's the moves that I would make, uh, that I would love to see made.

[00:41:52] I don't know if we have the salary cap.

[00:41:54] I don't know what we have, but you know, we do have a couple of contracts that unfortunately are going to be aging very, very poorly after this year.

[00:42:02] And the main one is, is Andre Palat.

[00:42:05] Like, I don't know what we're going to do with Andre Palat after this year, especially if we go into the playoffs and he's not what we all hope he's going to be.

[00:42:14] You know, he was brought here because of that, what he does in the playoffs and he has that switch and he can just turn it on.

[00:42:21] Come make game 83.

[00:42:22] If he doesn't do that this year, then there's like, to me, what the fuck is he doing on this team?

[00:42:27] Oh, a hundred percent.

[00:42:28] Cause you know, there is reason to be hopeful two years ago.

[00:42:32] He was really a key in that playoff series win.

[00:42:36] He really was, uh, in many ways, the devil's most consistently hard nosed player, uh, in that series.

[00:42:42] And, um, I don't think they win that series against the Rangers without Palat coming on half as good as he did.

[00:42:49] Yeah.

[00:42:50] So, you know, does he have it in the tank two years later?

[00:42:54] Nothing you've seen this year makes you feel very confident about that.

[00:42:57] And, um, I'm not going to be horribly surprised where no, that's, he was not able to regain that form.

[00:43:04] If he does, man, it does make it all worth it.

[00:43:07] Doesn't it?

[00:43:08] I mean, if he comes up looking great, he also has a different role this time around.

[00:43:12] And I don't know.

[00:43:13] Um, I do wonder if it's just too much to play with those guys, you know, and that, like that, I don't think you just turn that switch on.

[00:43:21] Cause it's playoff time that the, the functioning of, you know, feeding skilled players like, like those guys.

[00:43:28] Um, I don't know though.

[00:43:29] He's, he surprised me.

[00:43:30] He's, he's come along pretty well through December a little bit better than he had been doing.

[00:43:35] Yeah.

[00:43:36] I think he's suddenly on pace for 18 goals, which would be his second highest of his career.

[00:43:40] So he's, he's finding it out, you know, and, and that's why, you know, if he doesn't produce or perform in the, um, in the playoffs, then yeah, then, then we'll have to have that conversation.

[00:43:53] But if he does show out in the playoffs again, then we'll be like, all right, then we could deal with regular season plot, having ups and downs and be fine with it.

[00:44:01] Same with Hala.

[00:44:02] Remember, remember when we went to those playoffs, Hala, he's been, he was in and out of the lineup.

[00:44:08] Went on a fucking tear in March, right before the playoffs and then carried it through, um, in the plastic.

[00:44:13] He scored what the, the third goal in Rangers game seven, that beautiful one timer.

[00:44:18] Yeah.

[00:44:18] Just like, I just shot off my couch and like, just kicked over like six glasses of wine doing it, but, um,

[00:44:25] Ripped your pants off and ripped my pants off.

[00:44:28] Just got the Juergens going.

[00:44:30] Yeah.

[00:44:30] It was that good.

[00:44:31] Have they come here to ask you to sponsor them at all?

[00:44:35] No, I know.

[00:44:36] Uh, they don't respond to any of my DMs.

[00:44:38] I think he has his own little side deal.

[00:44:39] Cause he brings them up a lot.

[00:44:41] You know?

[00:44:42] That's what I'm saying.

[00:44:43] Go to juergens.com for 10% off.

[00:44:46] Keyword Tim.

[00:44:47] Tim.

[00:44:49] Oh, I'm, I'm trading on your name.

[00:44:51] Oh yeah.

[00:44:51] So like, you know, they've been coming on, like ideally Mercer and Cotter continue to start

[00:44:56] scoring because I think that alleviates some of that, that secondary scoring issues.

[00:45:00] I do think Hala still is a little bit of an issue.

[00:45:05] Um, and I think realistically that's kind of that, that position that is generally going

[00:45:10] to be upgraded.

[00:45:11] That sort of high end bottom six guy, I mean, like a third line type of player that we're going

[00:45:17] to wind up getting in a sort of center wing versatile, like Fitz has already said it.

[00:45:20] And the one thing that, that he always does is he fucking tells you what he's going to

[00:45:24] do.

[00:45:24] It's pretty funny.

[00:45:26] Well, it makes sense.

[00:45:27] You know, I mean, he's not, you know, he's not this, one of these general managers that

[00:45:33] like Dan brought up with the Rangers that are just going to go after the shiny new toy that's

[00:45:38] out there.

[00:45:39] Like these are needs.

[00:45:40] These are people that I want.

[00:45:41] And he's also doing it to let other general managers know that, you know, there might be

[00:45:46] guys that aren't necessarily on the radar, but if they know, wait a second, Fitz is looking

[00:45:50] for a guy like this, let's, you know, let's call New Jersey and see if they're interested.

[00:45:55] I think that's the way to do it.

[00:45:56] Be just upfront with what it is you're looking for, what you think your team needs.

[00:46:02] It's not a fucking secret.

[00:46:03] I like it.

[00:46:03] Yeah.

[00:46:04] Yeah.

[00:46:04] I mean, I, I, a long time ago, I did an internship with the Rangers and, and one of my, I know

[00:46:16] I lived in New York.

[00:46:17] It was a job in sports.

[00:46:20] Fine.

[00:46:21] Fine.

[00:46:21] I got that.

[00:46:22] That was about your, but I shadowed Neil Smith for a day.

[00:46:25] Who was the GM at the time.

[00:46:27] And that motherfucker was on the phone more than like my 15 year old daughter.

[00:46:32] Like he's just chattering away.

[00:46:34] Like talking to GMs, like just, and they, what, what the, the iterations of what they

[00:46:39] set up, they're constantly telling what I'm needing, what I need to give up.

[00:46:43] What I need, what I'm willing to give up, what I need, what I'm willing to give up.

[00:46:47] I like this guy.

[00:46:48] I like that guy.

[00:46:49] So, and they have a pretty good stable of, and sense of what's generally kind of available

[00:46:57] and what generally those guys are kind of looking for.

[00:47:00] Like you look at that Timo deal, like, you know, that wasn't just a one for one swap.

[00:47:06] They're like 13 guys in that deal.

[00:47:08] So it's, you know, it's a negotiation.

[00:47:11] It's like, I want this guy.

[00:47:12] And they're like, I want this guy.

[00:47:13] And you're like, no, you can't have that guy.

[00:47:14] I want that guy.

[00:47:15] And then it's like, all right, well, what else do you need?

[00:47:17] Can I help your AHL farm team?

[00:47:18] You know, do you need me to restock your soda machine?

[00:47:21] Do you need me to get you a new Zamboni?

[00:47:23] You know, like all, like all kinds of interesting experience, Tim.

[00:47:26] Now I wonder, like, I don't know how much shadowing you got to do, but it would be interesting

[00:47:30] to me, like the average GM or Neil Smith in particular, like how much are they talking

[00:47:35] to not just other GMs?

[00:47:37] But, you know, people on their own, in their own organization or trusted people that maybe

[00:47:43] are outside the organization about, you know, where do they get all their opinions from?

[00:47:48] You know what I mean?

[00:47:48] I mean, they're watching everything.

[00:47:49] They got their own opinions.

[00:47:50] But I would think like, if this is my job, man, I got to, I got to look for, you know,

[00:47:55] the, the diamond in the rough and like, you know, you're not going to find that on your

[00:47:59] own as one person as easily as if you have a network there.

[00:48:03] Like, yeah.

[00:48:04] I mean, there's out there, they're, they're hiring their own scouts.

[00:48:07] So I'm just really curious what a day in a life is like, how much are they reaching

[00:48:10] out to their scouts, to, you know, other guys that, you know, they used to work with

[00:48:15] that work somewhere else, everything else, you know?

[00:48:16] Yeah.

[00:48:17] So like, you know, they had meetings, they had meetings with the in-office scouting staff.

[00:48:20] A couple of people called in, you know, and they're just kind of generally reporting,

[00:48:24] you know, kind of updating on guys that they had in the system as well as, you know,

[00:48:30] kind of prepping for the upcoming draft.

[00:48:32] And there are also, you know, pro scouting, you know, that go around all the, all the

[00:48:35] pro teams.

[00:48:36] And then there are also AHL scouts, but then there's like a head guy in Europe that, that

[00:48:41] oversees all that shit.

[00:48:42] But then there's like, you know, some guy who probably smokes like a pack of Marlboro's

[00:48:46] a day that, you know, finds Jesper Brad on like the plains of Sweden.

[00:48:49] Right.

[00:48:50] And he calls the, calls like the head guy in, in Europe.

[00:48:53] And it's like, holy shit, I found this guy.

[00:48:55] Like we should get him.

[00:48:56] And it's just like the layers of trust that you need to get.

[00:48:59] And Fitz, you know, probably is like, that guy has found like three great players.

[00:49:04] Like I'm going to trust his opinion or even like that guy's a fucking idiot.

[00:49:08] And that's why I sent him to the Swedes, plains of Sweden.

[00:49:10] And now I'm not going to trust that motherfucker for one thing.

[00:49:13] I said, one thing he says.

[00:49:14] So they're talking to everybody all the time.

[00:49:16] I was talking to reporters.

[00:49:17] I'm sure they get a ton of information from Frank Cervelli and Elliot Friedman and all

[00:49:22] the kind of insiders.

[00:49:23] Like, what are you doing?

[00:49:24] Yeah.

[00:49:25] Yeah.

[00:49:25] Yeah.

[00:49:25] They're listening to podcasts.

[00:49:28] Yeah.

[00:49:29] Fitz, I would like to come work for you.

[00:49:33] So hire me.

[00:49:34] I mean, basically are already.

[00:49:35] I know he's listening.

[00:49:38] I, I, before we, we wrap it up for the night, um, a couple other quick questions, um, I

[00:49:44] want to run by you, but first Tim, you had, uh, some information about our, our goaltending

[00:49:50] stud who is here.

[00:49:52] So our boy, yeah.

[00:49:54] Our boy, um, this year, right.

[00:49:56] There was, yeah, there was a lot of, um, where did I send this to you?

[00:50:02] Uh, Chris and Bobby one.

[00:50:03] All right.

[00:50:03] Yeah.

[00:50:05] So yeah.

[00:50:06] Uh, Mikhail Yegorev, Yegorev.

[00:50:08] I don't know how, how you actually say that.

[00:50:11] He's the guy that we got with one of the picks back from Marino.

[00:50:15] Yeah.

[00:50:15] Um, in the second round last year.

[00:50:17] And you know, the big, big deal was Salaev.

[00:50:20] Um, was like our big pick, you know, that was our 10th overall pick first rounder.

[00:50:23] That's obviously gonna be the bigger deal, but you know, this guy being a goalie, we had

[00:50:26] number one on the list.

[00:50:27] So he plays for the Omaha Lancers in the USHL.

[00:50:32] Um, fun fact, I almost got kicked out of the boarding school I went to and was lined up

[00:50:36] to go play for the Omaha Lancers at one point, but I didn't get kicked out.

[00:50:39] So anyway, side story.

[00:50:42] So fucking type of guy that went to a fricking boarding school.

[00:50:46] Oh, really?

[00:50:48] Uh huh.

[00:50:49] I went to Lawrenceville.

[00:50:50] Public school kids here.

[00:50:52] Sorry.

[00:50:53] It's hard to believe, right?

[00:50:54] I went there to play hockey.

[00:50:56] Yeah.

[00:50:56] And you're going to make fun of Steve Veloquette because he's got that.

[00:50:59] My dad owns the dealership kind of vibe and you went to a boarding school.

[00:51:03] I was a day student and my mom drove a Volvo.

[00:51:07] Nice.

[00:51:08] That's cute.

[00:51:09] There she did.

[00:51:10] All right.

[00:51:10] Let's talk about the Omaha Lancers.

[00:51:14] Yeah.

[00:51:14] So, uh, Yegorov, he, uh, Yegorov, he said a new, he got my answers.

[00:51:22] Now I can play a little while Chris, I sent this to you, so we can't play a little game

[00:51:25] of you, but Dan, I'll give you a guess.

[00:51:27] I didn't read it.

[00:51:28] So on, Oh, on the, give you a guess on the number of saves he made school and all, um,

[00:51:32] they lost, they lost four to one in Omaha Lancers and Omaha Lancers are one of the worst

[00:51:37] teams, um, in the USHL.

[00:51:39] So they lost four to one, but he said a new franchise record for saves.

[00:51:43] What do you think that number is?

[00:51:45] Well, franchise record is going to be really high.

[00:51:47] I would assume.

[00:51:48] Um, I got to guess.

[00:51:50] I'm going to put it in the sixties somewhere, maybe 65.

[00:51:55] I was going to go 72.

[00:51:58] Uh, Dan wins prices, right.

[00:52:00] Rules.

[00:52:00] It was 66, 66.

[00:52:02] Oh, wow.

[00:52:04] Fucking say 69, 70 shots on goal.

[00:52:08] 70 shots on goal.

[00:52:08] That's how bad my men's leagues games.

[00:52:11] So, um, right.

[00:52:12] Well, the guy that does the play by play for the Lancers, he said, uh, yeah, grab is an

[00:52:17] elite USHL goaltender.

[00:52:19] I'm privileged to call saves and repeated larcenies on a nightly basis.

[00:52:23] The New Jersey devils may have the air to Martin Brodeur on their hands.

[00:52:26] Look out.

[00:52:26] Terrier hockey and hockeys.

[00:52:28] Terrier hockey is B.

[00:52:29] That's where he's going next year.

[00:52:30] Yeah.

[00:52:31] Um, I think I pumped the brakes on the air to Martin Brodeur, but, um, but it's pretty

[00:52:36] good.

[00:52:36] Yeah.

[00:52:37] Which is like, you know, that's if anything, maybe he's the air to like Curtis Joseph,

[00:52:41] right?

[00:52:41] Cause it's, we've talked about this before.

[00:52:43] It's, it's one thing to be a great goaltender on a team that's going down in flames, giving

[00:52:48] you, you know, 60 or 69 shots on goal.

[00:52:52] That's not a good team there.

[00:52:54] Um, you know, and it's, it's great to put on a goaltending clinic and be the star of the

[00:52:59] show, but that is not the same thing as being like the man who can hold it down in a one

[00:53:04] goal game.

[00:53:04] You know, it's, it's totally different skillset, uh, not to knock Curtis Joseph, but it seemed

[00:53:10] like he had more success being on lesser teams and being with really good teams.

[00:53:15] Yes.

[00:53:15] That's actually a really good.

[00:53:17] You want to get this guy on their T on their team and in their system and see what he can

[00:53:21] do with a good team.

[00:53:22] Right.

[00:53:23] So that doesn't say he can't do that.

[00:53:24] That's true.

[00:53:25] And it'll be good for him to go to BU and there's, you know, a lot more structure and,

[00:53:29] you know, we'll be playing for Pandolfo.

[00:53:32] So we'll have a pretty good pipeline to check on him, but that was have a nice, nice little

[00:53:36] goalie pipeline kind of arranged here, you know, and with Dawes and Poulter, um, and then

[00:53:43] Malik, who's playing over in Finland, who's been doing great in Finland.

[00:53:46] And now this kid, so, you know, we never wish that one of these young guys was in Allen's

[00:53:51] bot just to get the experience of being Markstrom's backup.

[00:53:56] Yes.

[00:53:57] I mean, cause I like what we got coming up the pipeline, but I would, I would hate for

[00:54:00] them to not get a chance to benefit being underneath Markstrom, who's been such a, you know, a number

[00:54:06] one professional and what that might do to them to work with him.

[00:54:09] You know, this is the question that I I'm curious about.

[00:54:12] So we know we have Markstrom this year and next year.

[00:54:15] We also know that Jake Allen is done after this year.

[00:54:18] We're not going to resign him.

[00:54:19] So next year's goaltending duo really does look like Nico Dawes backing up Jacob Markstrom.

[00:54:25] Right.

[00:54:26] Like, I think we can all kind of assume that.

[00:54:27] Sounds like it makes sense.

[00:54:28] Right.

[00:54:29] And that's kind of what Dan was talking about.

[00:54:31] Right.

[00:54:31] So, so we got Dawes, but then after next season, you do have a decision to make, you know,

[00:54:41] I mean, is it, do you then decide, and I know it's all going to stem from, you know,

[00:54:46] how the Markstrom plays next year and every day, but just speculating here recklessly.

[00:54:52] If Jacob Markstrom, you don't sign him after next year.

[00:54:55] Now this team's window, Stanley Cup window is now officially open.

[00:54:58] Like, I believe this year is going to be the last year of kind of those trials and tribulation.

[00:55:03] What kind of team is the devil's?

[00:55:05] I think after our playoff run this year, it'll be like, all right, we know who they are.

[00:55:11] And now that window's open and they can win cups for the next four or five years.

[00:55:16] If we take care of that problem.

[00:55:19] Like, we do have a goaltending problem in two years.

[00:55:22] Is it going to be Nico Dawes?

[00:55:24] Is Jägermeister going to do one year, you know, playing for sexual harassment and no,

[00:55:31] and then come back and play.

[00:55:32] Did you just call him Jägermeister?

[00:55:35] Yeah, he's the Jägermeister.

[00:55:36] It's a lot easier.

[00:55:37] Okay, there we go.

[00:55:39] We're setting up deals for this kid already.

[00:55:41] Yeah, so Jägermeister.

[00:55:42] When he turns 21.

[00:55:44] What do you think?

[00:55:44] Two years or is he going to, you know, and then he'd come into the system

[00:55:48] and then another two or three in Utica.

[00:55:52] Next thing you know, we have this heir to Martin Brodeur who's ready to play

[00:55:56] when this team's window closes.

[00:55:59] Like, that's what frustrates me.

[00:56:00] That's one way it could play out.

[00:56:02] It's too far to say, you know, it is very possible, too.

[00:56:06] Like, during next year's Markstrom's last deal, there might be other goaltenders

[00:56:11] already out there that, you know, are going to be coming up for possibility

[00:56:16] of getting them that you're going to be tempted by.

[00:56:18] Okay.

[00:56:19] But I, you know, so you can't rule that out.

[00:56:21] And I don't even know.

[00:56:23] I'm sure we could probably look at the contracts and see right now.

[00:56:25] But boy, I don't know.

[00:56:26] And but I think it really is something I want to do now more than later.

[00:56:33] Like, like you said, the devil's window is officially opening and you don't want to

[00:56:39] wait before you have that, you know, good homegrown goaltender unless unless you have

[00:56:43] real doubts about being able to produce them, you know.

[00:56:45] And there's really only one way you're going to find out.

[00:56:47] That's what led me to think this, you know, that we really as much as I liked having this

[00:56:52] duo of Alan and Markstrom right now, I feel like.

[00:56:56] Yeah.

[00:56:57] But the downside is clearly not getting these guys, you know, working with Markstrom now

[00:57:03] preparing for, you know, to see if we can keep one of them when he's he's gone.

[00:57:08] If they are primetime ready, because it's an important window.

[00:57:12] Right.

[00:57:12] And you definitely don't want to backslide after Markstrom.

[00:57:14] You know, you paid for the great goaltender for two years and then said, oh, well, you

[00:57:18] can try Dawes.

[00:57:20] And if he doesn't work out, maybe Poulter.

[00:57:21] Now we're looking at, like, you know, what the scenario was last year.

[00:57:25] Yeah, that's it.

[00:57:28] And honestly, both Dawes, Malik, Brennan and Poulter's deal is actually he's an RFA next

[00:57:36] year.

[00:57:36] Yeah.

[00:57:37] And then Dawes, Malik and Brennan are RFA's a year after that.

[00:57:41] So we will literally have no goalies under contract in two years.

[00:57:45] Good point.

[00:57:45] So, you know, I suspect like I liked the flashes that Dawes showed particularly, you

[00:57:52] know, like he, you know, he came back after getting the two new hips and, you know, then

[00:57:56] he just got thrown into the fire and what Lindy just ran him out there for like 10

[00:58:00] straight games or something fucking ridiculous like that and just ran him into the

[00:58:03] ground.

[00:58:03] But I think he showed some great flashes.

[00:58:06] There's Malik who's playing, playing really well.

[00:58:09] He's only 22.

[00:58:11] Brennan is also another guy who's pretty good as is Poulter.

[00:58:14] They're all, you know, early 20s.

[00:58:15] But there's also the goalie development, you know, has always kind of had this traditional

[00:58:20] model of you have to go to the AHL and play, you know, two, three years and then you have

[00:58:25] to do this and have to do that.

[00:58:26] Now, I think we're kind of breaking that down a little bit like Dustin Wolf, who's in Calgary,

[00:58:31] jumped that a little bit.

[00:58:33] That kid that we just played in Anaheim.

[00:58:35] I think he's only like 23.

[00:58:38] So...

[00:58:38] And Askarov, another guy, he's young and we just played him.

[00:58:41] Yeah.

[00:58:42] And, you know, so that sort of traditional model of you need a certain amount of time in each

[00:58:46] league to develop, I think is kind of isn't necessarily like the right way to do things.

[00:58:55] It all depends on the individual.

[00:58:56] So...

[00:58:57] Well, it's funny that you...

[00:58:58] Yeah.

[00:58:59] Sorry, go ahead.

[00:59:00] I was on...

[00:59:00] I went on to the Undrafted Hockey Fan podcast yesterday with Brad and I was, you know, we

[00:59:06] were talking, he's a Red Wing fan and we were bullshitting and stuff.

[00:59:09] And I was asking him some questions about the Red Wings and it kind of, he believes like

[00:59:14] this whole Steve Iserman plan is not even, like you haven't even seen the fruits of this

[00:59:19] thing yet.

[00:59:20] Like all the guys that they've drafted and everything, they have such a plethora of talent in the minors.

[00:59:26] That like Iserman overcooks these guys.

[00:59:29] Like he believes that they should get as much time as possible down there and major club,

[00:59:37] main club be damned.

[00:59:38] These guys are going to marinate down in the minors before.

[00:59:42] So we know that they're ready when they come up.

[00:59:44] Now, I don't know enough about Detroit Red Wings and their farm system to really know how

[00:59:49] that stacks up.

[00:59:50] But I'm of the belief too, like I think Buffalo is so bad because they didn't put any of their

[00:59:55] big studs down there.

[00:59:57] Like they had everybody that they drafted, all their main guys, you know, Darlene and

[01:00:02] Powers and all these guys, they just went right back into playing in the NHL and they didn't

[01:00:06] have time.

[01:00:07] So there's got to be that happy medium.

[01:00:08] I don't believe that every goalie has to fucking stay down in the minors until they're 27,

[01:00:14] 28 years old.

[01:00:15] And that seems to be what teams were doing for a lot over the last, you know, bunch of

[01:00:20] years.

[01:00:21] If Redor came up when he was what, 23, he won the Calder at 22 or 23.

[01:00:26] Yeah.

[01:00:27] Yeah.

[01:00:27] I mean, he just turned out to be amazing for his whole fucking career.

[01:00:32] Like that can happen.

[01:00:34] So I'm not against, you know, I think Nico Dawes is going to get more from backing up

[01:00:42] Jacob Markstrom next year than he ever will playing in Utica.

[01:00:46] I really believe that he will get more from being Markstrom's backup next year.

[01:00:50] And I think we'll have a good idea of where Dawes is.

[01:00:53] Hi, hon.

[01:00:55] What are you doing?

[01:00:55] Getting firewood?

[01:00:58] Yeah, no, I agree with that.

[01:01:00] You know, it's like Dan said, like I don't like the uncertainty, but it also opens up a

[01:01:05] world of possibilities.

[01:01:07] Yeah.

[01:01:07] We have no idea what, you know, if a goalie emerges, that's going to be a free agent or

[01:01:12] available for a trade, you know, on a guy on a team that's falling apart, like the

[01:01:17] Rangers.

[01:01:18] And if Shesterkin something becomes available, then maybe we can flip, you know, we could

[01:01:22] flip Dawes and Yegorov.

[01:01:25] You know, the main reason I wouldn't watch Shesterkin is I don't want the Maven mad at

[01:01:29] me.

[01:01:29] Stan Fitchler fucking hates Shesterkin.

[01:01:33] And I love every minute of it.

[01:01:34] I love reading anything and everything he ever writes about Shesterkin.

[01:01:38] I can't.

[01:01:39] I mean, this guy, he's, you know, Stan's been around forever.

[01:01:43] The years are on him.

[01:01:45] And he's like this one old man who's got this one thing he hates.

[01:01:48] He will not shut up about.

[01:01:50] And it's just Shesterkin.

[01:01:51] He loves it.

[01:01:52] It totally is.

[01:01:54] It's fantastic.

[01:01:55] I mean, Shesterkin, unfortunately, I don't know what Stan's doing because now he's on

[01:01:59] IR.

[01:02:00] What Stan is probably probably got some extra time out of this.

[01:02:04] Like he's not about to have a fucking heart attack with his angry tweets about Shesterkin.

[01:02:08] He's just sitting in a cryo chamber.

[01:02:11] Yeah.

[01:02:11] I wonder if he's got some cold war.

[01:02:14] Yeah.

[01:02:14] I wonder if he's got a little cold war, like hate that he's like bringing back or something,

[01:02:19] you know?

[01:02:19] It could be.

[01:02:19] You think it's a Russian thing?

[01:02:20] You think that's what it is?

[01:02:21] Maybe.

[01:02:21] It seems a little extra hostile.

[01:02:24] You know, I mean, to some extent, like, I mean, Stan loved Lundquist, you know?

[01:02:30] Yeah.

[01:02:30] And he had, you know, Lundquist was similar in some ways.

[01:02:33] He wanted to be well-paid and New York guy.

[01:02:35] And that was, you know, I mean, was Shesterkin that much more greedy?

[01:02:39] You know, the most high, somebody's going to be the highest paid person, Stan.

[01:02:43] Somebody has to.

[01:02:44] I mean, Shesterkin really has a horrible argument for being, you know, if not the, but one of

[01:02:49] the top three paid goaltenders out there.

[01:02:51] I don't think he does.

[01:02:52] It's not that I think that he has a argument and doesn't have an argument to be the highest

[01:02:57] paid goalie.

[01:02:58] Yeah.

[01:02:58] I just think when you look at some of the goalies under him, I've just, and I've said

[01:03:03] this forever now, I just find it fucking mind boggling that this dude got paid more.

[01:03:09] I agree.

[01:03:10] Iggy, piggy.

[01:03:11] I mean, he's getting really fucking personal.

[01:03:14] It's hilarious.

[01:03:15] He is.

[01:03:15] I love it.

[01:03:16] It's so right.

[01:03:17] It's like, you know, it's very Gran Torino of him.

[01:03:19] He's just like, you know, it's just like, like just this old guy latches onto the one

[01:03:23] thing.

[01:03:23] I remember my grandfather got so mad about the price of peas and would not let it fucking

[01:03:28] go for like three months.

[01:03:31] This is like 15 years ago.

[01:03:32] Listen to this anymore.

[01:03:33] I'm not saying you're wrong.

[01:03:34] Just another.

[01:03:35] I know.

[01:03:36] 99 cents for peas.

[01:03:38] I'm like, grandpa, you know, that's how it works.

[01:03:40] But you get so mad.

[01:03:42] I remember this to this day.

[01:03:43] So my grandfather was the biggest racist in the world.

[01:03:48] So yeah, the things that he used to get angry about.

[01:03:50] Yeah.

[01:03:51] I can't really repeat that.

[01:03:52] I don't know.

[01:03:53] My grandfather was from Texas.

[01:03:54] He would give him a rung for his money.

[01:03:56] This was in Texas.

[01:03:57] Yeah.

[01:03:58] Mine was a horrible human being.

[01:04:00] Yeah.

[01:04:00] Mine was from, mine was from Alabama.

[01:04:02] So I think we're, I think we're all in that generation where we're.

[01:04:05] Mine was from fucking Brooklyn.

[01:04:06] Explain that shit.

[01:04:07] No, Brooklyn is very, my father's from Brooklyn.

[01:04:09] Yeah.

[01:04:10] Yeah.

[01:04:10] You know how Brooklyn is.

[01:04:11] At least back in those generations.

[01:04:14] Oh, yeah.

[01:04:14] Don't come, you know, it was all like, what's that movie?

[01:04:18] Broxdale, you know, stay out of the neighborhoods and shit.

[01:04:20] But we just watched that the other night.

[01:04:23] Yeah.

[01:04:23] My son wanted to watch it.

[01:04:25] He had a couple of movies that he wanted to, he wanted to watch with us.

[01:04:30] And, you know, so he's like, dad, you know, let's.

[01:04:32] So I'm like, well, what do you want to see?

[01:04:34] What have you heard?

[01:04:35] You know?

[01:04:36] So he mentioned Bronx Tale.

[01:04:37] So we watched that.

[01:04:38] He loved it.

[01:04:39] He's like, well, what should we watch next?

[01:04:41] So I'm like, all right, this is my choice now.

[01:04:43] I get to kind of, I get to kind of now introduce you into, you know, some.

[01:04:48] So we watched True Romance.

[01:04:50] And he loved it because it's a fucking great movie.

[01:04:54] Oh, that's a great movie.

[01:04:55] Speaking of racism, one of the best racist dialogues I've ever written.

[01:05:00] Ever written.

[01:05:00] Ever written.

[01:05:01] Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper scene is fucking incredible.

[01:05:05] He's watching it, my son.

[01:05:07] And he's just like looking at me like doesn't know if it's okay to laugh at that.

[01:05:11] You know?

[01:05:12] And I'm like, it's a movie, dude.

[01:05:14] It's funny.

[01:05:14] Just go with it, okay?

[01:05:16] Yeah, you're loving it.

[01:05:16] Not everything has to be fucking politically correct.

[01:05:19] You can laugh at certain things, even if it is off color.

[01:05:22] So, yeah, he was a little uncomfortable at first.

[01:05:24] And then, you know, of course, fucking loved it.

[01:05:27] Have you done a real litmus test with him with Blazing Saddles?

[01:05:31] Is he right for that?

[01:05:32] Yeah.

[01:05:32] That's a tough one for my kids to get their heads around.

[01:05:35] They're like, oh, this is just awful.

[01:05:37] Yeah.

[01:05:37] It's like it's satire.

[01:05:39] It's satire.

[01:05:39] Yeah, exactly.

[01:05:41] It's making fun of the racist.

[01:05:42] What should we watch next?

[01:05:45] Well, did he like, was he like in the sort of gangster genre?

[01:05:49] Or you're kind of bouncing all over?

[01:05:51] I think he liked True Romance more.

[01:05:55] I think he liked a little bit more of the kind of.

[01:05:57] Well, then go with the Tarantino's.

[01:05:59] You know, did he see all of it?

[01:06:00] Yeah.

[01:06:01] No, we haven't.

[01:06:01] We just started with his first, even though he didn't direct it.

[01:06:04] I know.

[01:06:05] But so we start with True Romance.

[01:06:07] And then I didn't, you know, don't have to necessarily go in order.

[01:06:10] No, but, you know, to get him hooked on Tarantino,

[01:06:13] I don't think you'd jump right into Jackie Brown next.

[01:06:16] No, no, no.

[01:06:16] I think instead you're going to show him maybe Pulp Fiction,

[01:06:20] then Reservoir Dogs.

[01:06:21] I would go that order.

[01:06:22] Or, oh, Django.

[01:06:24] Django.

[01:06:24] He would probably dig Django.

[01:06:26] It's a little bit more modern, too.

[01:06:27] Like, you know, as far as.

[01:06:29] See, I was.

[01:06:29] Cinematography is a little more modern.

[01:06:31] Yeah, you kind of got to grab him.

[01:06:33] I think you got to hook him in with Pulp Fiction.

[01:06:35] I was leaning towards Kill Bills for the next one.

[01:06:40] Yeah, it's great.

[01:06:42] I don't think you're going to go wrong with Kill Bills.

[01:06:44] You know, you're investing in two movies.

[01:06:46] And, you know, I don't know.

[01:06:49] Is he into that type of shit?

[01:06:50] Like, what's the kind of comic bookie thing?

[01:06:53] Yeah.

[01:06:54] Yeah, like the, you know, the kind of old samurai movies.

[01:06:59] Yeah.

[01:07:00] All right.

[01:07:00] That's a good one.

[01:07:02] I do like Kill Bill a lot.

[01:07:04] And then I was thinking maybe, like, I know Pulp Fiction has to be in there.

[01:07:08] It's just I've seen that movie so many fucking times.

[01:07:10] Like, I don't want to watch it again.

[01:07:11] But I know I'm going to have to take one for the team.

[01:07:13] You know what?

[01:07:13] I feel the same way.

[01:07:14] But every time I watch it, I'm like, fuck, this is a fucking good movie.

[01:07:17] Like, you almost forget how good it is.

[01:07:20] And everybody in it is so strong.

[01:07:23] Stinking and glorious bastards.

[01:07:25] Oh, that's a good one.

[01:07:26] That's a fucking phenomenal movie.

[01:07:28] That's actually one of my favorite movies all the time.

[01:07:29] And even, you know, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

[01:07:32] Like, it's another fucking great one.

[01:07:35] Yeah.

[01:07:36] Yeah.

[01:07:36] I don't know if he's, does he, like, is he aware of the Manson murders and shit?

[01:07:41] Yes.

[01:07:42] Okay.

[01:07:42] Then he might dig that.

[01:07:44] Because even though it was more recent, you know, it has, like, that historical context

[01:07:49] that I don't know if every kid his age gets.

[01:07:52] Well, I kind of explained to him, like, he knew who Charles Manson was.

[01:07:55] And then I told him, like, we were talking about movies.

[01:07:57] And because I mentioned Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and he's like, what is it about?

[01:08:00] So I kind of give him the quick backstory.

[01:08:02] And I'm like, and then Tarantino in a few of his movies has this awesome way of just

[01:08:07] retelling history.

[01:08:08] So he retells the Manson murders through, you know, Rick Dalton and his character or whatever.

[01:08:14] And so I explained to him who Sharon Tate was and all that.

[01:08:17] So he knows about that.

[01:08:19] And then I also told him, too, like, the end of World War II was Inglourious Bastards.

[01:08:23] Like, that's absolutely how the fucking war should end it.

[01:08:25] That's brilliant.

[01:08:26] You know?

[01:08:27] But, you know, I just...

[01:08:29] It was amazing watching that.

[01:08:30] Definitely.

[01:08:30] Yeah.

[01:08:31] So I was thinking Kill Bills and then maybe Inglourious Bastards, maybe Once Upon a Time

[01:08:37] in Hollywood, and then kind of go back to Pulp Fiction.

[01:08:39] But you guys think you got to kind of go with Pulp Fiction right off the bat?

[01:08:41] I don't know, man.

[01:08:42] You make a good argument.

[01:08:43] I mean, I don't think you can go wrong going that way.

[01:08:45] I probably would just leave Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown to the end.

[01:08:49] Because I think you got to kind of already, like...

[01:08:52] I've never seen Jackie Brown.

[01:08:53] Yeah.

[01:08:54] Jackie Brown's fantastic.

[01:08:55] I love it.

[01:08:56] Yeah.

[01:08:57] It's just...

[01:08:59] It's not...

[01:09:00] It's kind of a different...

[01:09:02] It is different.

[01:09:03] You know, it's not like...

[01:09:04] If you didn't know it was Tarantino, then you wouldn't necessarily immediately suspect.

[01:09:09] Like, he has kind of a certain vibe, particularly with that genre or that generation

[01:09:13] of movies that he was making.

[01:09:14] Like, Django's a little...

[01:09:15] Obviously a little different and more kind of modern in terms of cinematography.

[01:09:19] And everything's less over the top, too.

[01:09:21] The Hateful Eight is actually one of my sneaky favorites.

[01:09:24] Oh, that's another one.

[01:09:25] It's fantastic.

[01:09:26] Yeah.

[01:09:27] They're just all fantastic.

[01:09:28] It really is.

[01:09:30] I go to Pulp Fiction Reservoir Dogs.

[01:09:31] I was...

[01:09:32] I like Dan's Order.

[01:09:33] I like Pulp Fiction Reservoir Dogs.

[01:09:35] You show them those two.

[01:09:35] Then jump to Django.

[01:09:37] But then you can go back to the gangster area, show them, like, Casino and Donnie Brasco.

[01:09:42] And then jump back.

[01:09:43] No?

[01:09:44] No?

[01:09:44] I fucking hate Casino.

[01:09:47] Oh, you don't like Casino?

[01:09:48] I liked it.

[01:09:49] It's all right.

[01:09:50] It was pretty good.

[01:09:50] It has some good stuff in it.

[01:09:52] I liked it better.

[01:09:53] What part did you hate?

[01:09:54] I liked it better when it was called Goodfellas.

[01:09:57] There was a little bit of, you know, trying to remake Goodfellas.

[01:10:00] But, I mean, I gotta say, the principal guys, they were fun.

[01:10:04] I mean, look, Goodfellas is a great movie.

[01:10:06] Casino is okay.

[01:10:09] I'll say that.

[01:10:10] I don't fucking hate it.

[01:10:11] It's okay.

[01:10:13] I think Sharon Stone plays crazy great in that movie.

[01:10:16] I'll give her that.

[01:10:18] I don't know.

[01:10:19] Even her husband slash pimp.

[01:10:21] What was his name again?

[01:10:22] James Woods, right?

[01:10:23] James Woods.

[01:10:24] I mean, he was pretty good in that.

[01:10:25] I think he might be my favorite James Woods movie.

[01:10:27] Might be.

[01:10:29] James Woods did a movie called True Believer back in the 80s.

[01:10:33] He played, like, this burnt-out lawyer.

[01:10:37] Robert Downey Jr.'s in it.

[01:10:39] And Robert Downey, he, like, had a famous case, James Woods or whatever.

[01:10:44] But, you know, after he had that case, he just turned into kind of, you know,

[01:10:48] just taking up bullshit cases for enough money to buy weed and bullshit like that.

[01:10:53] And Robert Downey Jr. comes on, and he's a big fan of his.

[01:10:57] And he ends up working with them.

[01:10:59] And, of course, a case comes up.

[01:11:01] And it's the unsolvable case, you know.

[01:11:03] Can you free my son?

[01:11:04] He didn't murder all these people.

[01:11:06] And, you know, of course, then he gets dug in, and he solves the case.

[01:11:09] That's a fantastic movie where Robert Downey and James Woods.

[01:11:14] I don't think I've ever seen that.

[01:11:15] Yeah.

[01:11:16] I thought you were trying to describe the Falcon and the Snowman at first.

[01:11:19] I didn't see that.

[01:11:21] That's a good one.

[01:11:22] Isn't that about, like, Cold War or spy shit?

[01:11:25] Yeah, kind of.

[01:11:26] They kind of get sucked up into that and lawyers involved and Sean Penn's in it.

[01:11:31] It's pretty good.

[01:11:33] I've got to write both these movies down.

[01:11:35] I don't want to watch them.

[01:11:36] Yeah.

[01:11:36] I mean, they're older, but I have not seen True Believers.

[01:11:40] I should check that out.

[01:11:41] You could also tell them, speaking of Robert Downey Jr., the 80s comedic sidekick arc that

[01:11:48] Robert Downey Jr. went on with Back to School and Johnny B. Goode.

[01:11:53] Yeah, definitely.

[01:11:54] Johnny B. Goode.

[01:11:54] Holy shit.

[01:11:55] I forgot about that movie.

[01:11:57] Yeah, me too.

[01:11:58] I mean, Back to School, I never forget about it.

[01:12:00] I love that.

[01:12:00] Back to School, he was Derek, the fucking roommate, was one of the best parts ever.

[01:12:07] He was awesome in that.

[01:12:08] And then he went with Less Than Zero, which is another movie that I didn't like.

[01:12:13] I know everybody loves that movie.

[01:12:14] I can't stand Less Than Zero.

[01:12:16] I don't know.

[01:12:17] I don't even remember it.

[01:12:19] He annoys me.

[01:12:20] And yeah, not a fan.

[01:12:23] You could also go through the Nicolas Cage universe, too, and do Con Air and all that stupid shit.

[01:12:30] Snake Eyes.

[01:12:31] I watched Snake Eyes the other day, or maybe a couple months ago.

[01:12:35] I think the only good thing about that movie is that it takes place in Atlantic City.

[01:12:40] It's a pretty bad movie.

[01:12:41] Yeah, it's so bad.

[01:12:43] I enjoy Nicolas Cage.

[01:12:45] I think he's such a ridiculous person that it's just hard not to enjoy him.

[01:12:49] He will go over the top hard for you.

[01:12:51] He definitely throws everything into it.

[01:12:54] Bad Lieutenant.

[01:12:54] What the hell was the name of the movie?

[01:12:56] My wife and I watched it, and it suits Nicolas Cage great because this whole character.

[01:13:00] He plays Dracula, and I can't remember the freaking name of it.

[01:13:03] Oh.

[01:13:04] Oh, shit.

[01:13:06] Oh.

[01:13:06] Who's Dracula's fucking...

[01:13:08] Yes.

[01:13:09] ...guy that...

[01:13:10] Oh, my God.

[01:13:11] It starts with an R.

[01:13:12] Renfield?

[01:13:13] Renfield.

[01:13:14] Renfield.

[01:13:14] Yes.

[01:13:14] Yeah, it's Renfield.

[01:13:15] So this is, yeah, the movie Renfield.

[01:13:17] And that's actually...

[01:13:19] Because he gets to play as overacting Nicolas Cage as possible to fit the role.

[01:13:27] It's fantastic.

[01:13:28] Yeah.

[01:13:28] That's the reason it's wheelhouse.

[01:13:30] Did you, by the way, did you see Nosferatu at all?

[01:13:32] Did you see that one?

[01:13:33] No, I haven't seen it.

[01:13:34] Did you see it?

[01:13:35] We saw it.

[01:13:35] Yeah, we saw it, and I...

[01:13:37] Yeah, you know what?

[01:13:38] I don't know.

[01:13:40] I'm on the fence.

[01:13:41] It was, like, beautifully shot.

[01:13:42] There was a lot of good things about it.

[01:13:44] There was a lot of things I did not like.

[01:13:46] I'll wait till you guys see it.

[01:13:48] Is it better than Bram Stoker's Dracula?

[01:13:50] I'll tell you what.

[01:13:51] In a way, no.

[01:13:53] I mean, in some ways, yes.

[01:13:55] You know, I love Keanu Reeves for being Keanu Reeves, but come on, dude.

[01:13:59] Him doing that accent, that whole movie, was kind of painful.

[01:14:02] I love the fucking movie.

[01:14:04] It's one of my favorite movies.

[01:14:06] Gary Oldman's amazing.

[01:14:07] I do love it.

[01:14:08] And it still remains my favorite Dracula movie, because I wanted to like Nosferatu more.

[01:14:13] I thought, like, it was maybe had potential to be a little less cheesy, but there was just

[01:14:19] some things that, you know, they removed some of the cheesy elements and put in really annoying

[01:14:24] elements instead that I just did not like.

[01:14:28] So it's kind of a mixed bag for me on that movie.

[01:14:30] I just didn't like it as much as the Bram Stokers.

[01:14:33] And I just thought, like, everybody was giving what's-his-name, the Skarsgård guy a lot of credit.

[01:14:39] I found his portrayal of Dracula.

[01:14:41] Like, I could not get into it at all.

[01:14:43] Okay.

[01:14:44] And I'm like, I'm not trying to compare you to Gary Oldman, but Gary Oldman, he was awesome in that.

[01:14:49] He's no Nicolas Cage.

[01:14:51] Yeah, exactly.

[01:14:52] It was almost like kind of over the top like that, but in a more subtle way where basically

[01:14:57] you just listen to him garble through what sounds like he's got blood in his throat the whole movie.

[01:15:02] Like, you just couldn't.

[01:15:04] It was just rough.

[01:15:06] Yeah, it was rough.

[01:15:07] Yeah.

[01:15:07] All right.

[01:15:07] Bram Stoker's Dracula.

[01:15:08] I do want to see that.

[01:15:10] I love that.

[01:15:11] I saw that in the movie theater when that came out, like 92 or whatever.

[01:15:14] And I thought the cinematography, the filming of that movie was fantastic.

[01:15:18] And I watched it recently.

[01:15:21] I hadn't seen it in years.

[01:15:22] And okay, I can get past Keanu Reeves attempting to do an English accent.

[01:15:27] He's terrible at it.

[01:15:28] But the movie's so fucking good.

[01:15:30] The movie's so good, man.

[01:15:32] And I smirched Keanu Reeves like that.

[01:15:35] Have you ever seen the Bram Stoker Dracula?

[01:15:37] Yeah.

[01:15:37] Yeah.

[01:15:38] And, you know, you think that Willem Dafoe as like the Van Helsing kind of character?

[01:15:43] Yeah.

[01:15:44] He was Van Helsing.

[01:15:44] He's good.

[01:15:45] Yeah.

[01:15:45] Well, I think they had a different name for him.

[01:15:47] And Nosferatu has a bunch of different names.

[01:15:49] Oh, and Nosferatu.

[01:15:50] Yeah.

[01:15:51] He's Count Orlok and stuff instead of Count Dracula.

[01:15:53] It was a whole legal thing and why they did that back in the, I don't know, teens.

[01:15:57] Who played Van Helsing in Bram Stoker's Dracula?

[01:15:59] So that's what I was going to say.

[01:16:00] Like that was, even though we all love Willem Dafoe, he was great.

[01:16:05] Anthony Hopkins.

[01:16:06] Anthony Hopkins is tough to beat, man.

[01:16:07] Yeah.

[01:16:08] You're right.

[01:16:08] He's no pushover.

[01:16:09] He was great.

[01:16:10] So, yeah, I don't know.

[01:16:11] I still kind of prefer Bram Stoker.

[01:16:13] I don't know.

[01:16:13] I'll probably have to re-watch Nosferatu someday to feel set on that one.

[01:16:17] I have like hours of movie homework now.

[01:16:21] Yeah.

[01:16:21] You do.

[01:16:22] That's it.

[01:16:22] All right.

[01:16:22] Well, we're going to wrap it up anyway.

[01:16:24] So.

[01:16:25] By the way, yeah.

[01:16:26] Go USA.

[01:16:27] We won World Juniors.

[01:16:29] Woo-hoo.

[01:16:29] That's hockey country.

[01:16:30] Yeah.

[01:16:31] Tim is sporting the Team USA Juniors Luke Hughes captain jersey, which is pretty cool.

[01:16:38] Indeed.

[01:16:39] That is awesome.

[01:16:40] I think we're going to try and be back after the Ranger game on Thursday if everybody's available.

[01:16:46] I think that would be fun.

[01:16:48] After we go and whoop up on them, 7-0.

[01:16:52] Why not?

[01:16:53] Why not?

[01:16:54] Why not?

[01:16:54] That'd be great.

[01:16:55] Any quick picks for that game, guys?

[01:16:57] What do you think?

[01:16:58] I'll go a little more conservative.

[01:16:59] I'll take a 4-1 win.

[01:17:00] I'll be very happy with that.

[01:17:02] 4-1 win.

[01:17:02] Yeah, Rangers have been playing a little better.

[01:17:04] I think 5-2 with an empty netter.

[01:17:06] Rangers have been playing better.

[01:17:07] I'm going to say it's an overtime win for the Devs.

[01:17:09] This is a 4-3 win.

[01:17:11] Jack gets the overtime winner in Madison Square Garden to send the fans home happy.

[01:17:16] I thought it was a fucking dagger.

[01:17:19] That's what I'm going with.

[01:17:20] So listen, wherever you are listening to us, like a five-star review, positive comment,

[01:17:25] download a subscription.

[01:17:26] It helps a little podcast that could.

[01:17:27] And let us know what movies do we need to watch.

[01:17:30] We have impressionable teenage children now, all of us, between ages of 15 to 18.

[01:17:38] And we need to kind of get them in on some true culture, which is our movies.

[01:17:43] So what do you guys recommend?

[01:17:45] And you can, you know, reach us on social.

[01:17:47] You can reach us at Uncle Puckers.

[01:17:48] Next time we got to review the Dylan movie, too.

[01:17:51] I don't know if you guys saw that.

[01:17:52] Maybe we'll get into that.

[01:17:52] No, I didn't see it.

[01:17:53] We were going to go see it on Halloween.

[01:17:55] I mean, on Christmas.

[01:17:56] And we ended up not seeing it.

[01:17:58] How was that?

[01:17:59] Well, we'll go into more.

[01:18:00] But I was prepared to hate it.

[01:18:02] And I did not hate it.

[01:18:03] So that's all I'll say for now.

[01:18:05] All right.

[01:18:06] Okay.

[01:18:06] And we'll definitely dive into that on the next show.

[01:18:09] So again, thanks a lot for checking us out, guys.

[01:18:12] This is for Tim and Dan.

[01:18:13] I'm Chris.

[01:18:13] We're the Uncle Puckers.

[01:18:14] And we'll see you when we see you.

[01:18:16] Puggies out.