One Pre-Season Game To Go. Are You Ready?

[00:00:05] Hey everyone, Mr. Devil here, Kenny Danico, three-time Stanley Cup Champion of the New Jersey Devils and you're listening to the Uncle Puckers NJD Podcast. Let's go Devils! Hello everyone, we're the Uncle Puckers. Chris and Tim with you before this final pre-season game with Steven Engel just drive by before we even start, right? Jesus Christ.

[00:00:33] There's all three of them, Bells Heaven, Zach, and Engel. They all went to Long Island to watch the game. No one's going to be on the show. Why would you want to go to that fucking hole? I don't. But tonight's the last game. Are you excited for this one? I mean, as far as pre-season games go? I mean, yeah, as far as pre-season goes, sure.

[00:01:00] You know, like I just, yeah, like I get to watch my favorite hockey team play hockey. You know, that's great. You know, I am looking for a couple things. You know, I don't think Chisholm was particularly good. The first game that he played in, he had some pretty rough moments. So I'm interested to see if he bounces back. Like, other than that, seeing if Evangelista and Mantha get a little better in their deployment.

[00:01:28] Like, I don't think either of them were all that noticeable. Like, both of them had, like, good moments. But, like, just, like, the chemistry wasn't right totally there with those guys. I also kind of feel like that Ranger game that most of our starters were in the second game. I feel like the guys were kind of at, like, 70% speed. You know, like, I expect more tonight. That's exactly right.

[00:01:54] And it's hard to get a gauge of, like, saying, like, you know, you can't make, like, a blank scene. Like, oh, there's no, you know, chemistry between these guys. Because, like, A, you know, the returning guys are 60%. The new guys, you know, God knows. So I'd just like to get to the first so we can fucking move past all this shit. Do you think with these new guys and with the shortened preseason and shortened training camp and all this,

[00:02:23] do you think it'll be maybe a little bit until things really start clicking for this team? It could be. You know, I think it'll be, I think the first, and I think it'll be like this across the league. Like, I think the first week or two might be some pretty sloppy hockey. Because, I mean, yes, everybody is in the same boat. So nobody has an advantage here. Yeah, and, you know, we have new guys basically on every single forward line.

[00:02:50] You know, like, the nice thing is our defense is pretty much intact. So they've at least played together before. Well, except for Chisholm. Sorry, excuse me. But apparently they've also, Keefe has also added some new wrinkles. I actually texted Ace and was like, hey, man, can you ask Keefe if, like, he, you know, they mentioned some wrinkles in the system. Can you ask him what he's actually done? Trying to get some info. And Keefe basically told him.

[00:03:20] He was like, he's like, we've made some changes. Am I going to tell you what they are? No. It's pretty funny. So. Well, maybe we'll see some of those tonight. Yeah. I just think generally it looked like they were moving the puck up quicker. You know, that was something I was yelling and screaming and hollering about all last year. It's like, just move the puck up quicker. Stop. Stop waiting for the forwards to completely run their routes. You know, like, just don't fucking worry about it.

[00:03:47] I do want to jump into something that Dubs for Life is saying. So, Hero, I got to tell you, the goaltending scares the absolute shit out of me. The marquee contract is gone, but technically the goaltending wasn't addressed. Okay. Dawes has looked a little shaky. I think everybody has to, you know, it is what it is. But it's also, I also refuse to get myself worried about preseason games. This is what it's for.

[00:04:16] This is the time to kind of work out any rust. And I think Nico Dawes will be fine. Fucking he better be. We need him to be. But I'm not. I know that that's been a little bit of a common gripe right now or a common worry amongst Devil fans because Nico Dawes hasn't looked amazing in preseason.

[00:04:42] Again, if we're two, three a month into the season and Nico Dawes looks terrible, well, yeah, then we have an issue. But I'm not worried about that right now. What about you? The only thing, real quick, before you talk, like the only thing I want to see, the main thing I want to see tonight is to end this game with no injuries going into Thursday. That is the main thing I want to see. But, God. Well, yeah. Please, God, nobody get hurt. Like, fuck that.

[00:05:11] I mean, I'm not really all that worried about the goaltending. You know, like, I think of all of the goals that Dawes has given up, one was probably bad. That first one against the Rangers, that low glove side where, like, unscreen above the circle. Like, he's got to stop that. Even the second one in that game, like, that's a high glove snipe. Like, Dawes goes down a little too quickly. So, you know, whatever. And then the last game where he, you know, they coughed up the lead.

[00:05:40] Like, that's more on the team than anything. And a couple of those were just pinballs. So, it's just like, you know, I don't really think he's going to be a problem. I know people, like, we're going into the season with a guy who is being given an opportunity. But everybody seems to be looking at it as, like, it's some sort of problematic arrangement. If he doesn't seize the opportunity, that's on him. You know? So, like, I have no attachment to Nico Dawes.

[00:06:08] Like, if he fails, get the fuck out of here and find somebody else. You know, I think that's what Rich is here for and Allen. But, you know, Sonny basically said it's like goaltending is so volatile now. We've talked about it a lot. Goaltending is so volatile now that it's hard to invest money in the position when you don't know what you're going to get. So, it's just like, honestly, invest that money in the skater group, which will be better this year.

[00:06:37] But on both sides of the puck. And then that should solve a lot of the problems that you have. Well, I think that's the game plan, right? I mean, you know, everybody's in the chats talking about something about a jerseys or logo or something. Was anything released? Like those remix jerseys that I missed or something? Or am I just not catching what these guys are talking about? So, all right. It doesn't matter. But, yeah, I agree with you. That's the plan, right? I mean, you draft a guy.

[00:07:05] You develop him for as many years as we did with Nico Dawes. You have to give him the chance. Like you finally have a road to make it to the NHL. Now it's up to him to stay there. And, you know, we're going to know. We're going to know, I think, you know, by the end of October, whether or not this goaltending trio or tandem. And I'm sorry, my dogs are – I have the whole house to myself for the weekend. And it's raining all day, so they've just been stuck in the house. Yeah, so they're going a little nuts, so I apologize.

[00:07:36] What are you guys talking about with this hoodie? The lace-up hoodie? This jersey. I don't know what they're talking about. I guess there was a new lace-up hoodie sweatshirt or something that came out. And people are saying that that's going to be what the remix jersey is. But then other people are saying, no, it's not. And people need to remember, like, there are going to be two new jerseys over the next two years. Yeah. Like, this hometown remix is just like a one-off type of thing. Well, that's league-wide, yeah. We're getting a new third jersey as well.

[00:08:05] Because I saw that the remix jerseys – Yeah, just to wrap up the Dawes conversation. Oh, yeah. Go ahead. I think maybe 20 games. I don't know. It depends on the starting splits. But also, like, if the team is playing, like, shit in front of them and it's really sloppy and – It doesn't matter who's in net then. Yeah, and he's getting those pinball goals against him. Like, none of those were his fault at all. Like, so it's – I don't know. It's hard to see.

[00:08:34] You know, like, very rarely do goaltenders steal things. Now, you know, they're just – You know, they play the percentages and they get big and hope the puck hits them. Now, so what's your – Are you still on a scale of one to ten confidence of Dawes? Like, are you still high up? Or, you know, has anything in the preseason lowered that at all? I think – I think – So, two things. So, I listened to –

[00:09:02] The last records, I think, just got completely, like, thrown under the bus here. I think all the guys started ganging up on them. Jesus Christ. Sorry, dude. Animals. All right, go ahead. So, two things. So, I listened to the PDO cast with Kevin Woodley who's, like, one of the foremost goalie experts and analysts out there. Right. And he touched on Dawes a little bit. And, you know, one of the things with Dawes was he gives up a stinker every now and then.

[00:09:28] And that was a couple of years ago and he's been able to kind of clean that up in his game a lot. And one thing he mentioned a few times is that the AHL is a little more chaotic than the NHL. So, it makes it harder for goalies to read. And that's – and with how bad Utica was, it makes it difficult to kind of get a real accurate projection on what Dawes actually is. Right.

[00:09:56] Like, there are guys – there are guys like Dylan Garand of the Rangers who had, like, a 930 save percentage. Like, I don't know where the Wolfpack were, but Dawes didn't know that. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how he does, you know. But, like, I think Sonny's put himself in a position to be able to pull the trigger on something pretty quickly. And now another guy that we've heard a lot about since Sonny took over and they made the trade from Detroit for him is Amadeus Lombardi. It does look like he's going to get a shot at this team.

[00:10:24] I do see Stefan Nason probably going to be that guy, odd man out here. And I think that's probably the right move. You know, Lombardi and – whatchamacallit? You traded for both those guys, Lombardi and Jesper. Oh, I was thinking of Boquist. No, I'm saying, like, that you traded for both these guys for that last spot. Nason's been here. Nason's older. Nason costs more. You, you know, want these guys to stick around and be part of the future of this team.

[00:10:54] I don't think Nason's on this roster. But what has Lombardi showed you? I mean, we've only seen him in a couple of circumstances. But, you know, he's got good speed, good hands. He's a good transition player. He's got a little bit of a pain in the ass play in him. Like, he had a nice goal to tie it up against a Ranger. So, I don't know. I'm encouraged by it. You know, he didn't get a chance with Detroit. But, you know, he's getting a chance here, too. And he could just as easily get that chance taken away from him.

[00:11:24] You know, I think he is the best of the three. But, you know, like, Boquist has looked pretty good. You know, and Nason has actually looked pretty decent. Like, you know, he had one of his sort of patented net front power play goals. So, you know, unfortunately for Nason, he's not going to sniff power play one anymore. You know, like, that's the thing. So, it's like, to your point, it's like, are we going to carry a $3 million guy as a 13th or 14th forward?

[00:11:54] You know, I don't know. I would think not because of the way Sonny talks about the salary cap. But I think Nason would be a valuable person to continue to have on this roster. It's just we have a roster crunch. And now, because Casey got hurt, he has to start the season up on the NHL roster. So, he's probably going to go on season opening IR. We don't know what Kovacavich's deal is. And Bukestad's probably going to go on LTIR or regular IR.

[00:12:23] It depends on how Sonny kind of wants to manage the cap. Because if he puts Bukestad on LTIR, then you can't accrue space towards the deadline. So, there are some things that they have to figure out. But he and Burch are pretty good at this, from what I understand. So, we'll see how that all works out. But really, then that leaves, I think, the last guy to get waived is either going to be Nason or Riddich.

[00:12:52] So, like, if they're keeping this third three-goalie rotation, then it's going to be Nason. But if they're not, and they want to keep Nason on the roster, then it's going to be Riddich. And they'll keep Dawes and Allen. I think they're going to run with the three goalies because of the uncertainty of Dawes right now. I think that they're going to start the season with the three guys. I kind of agree with you. And also, like, if one of Dawes or Allen gets hurt suddenly and you waive Riddich and he gets picked up. And now it's Malik and Dawes. Yeah, then what are you doing?

[00:13:22] Yeah. So, it is a little bit of a dicey scenario. But, like, honestly, like, everybody keeps talking about Dawes. But Allen's going to start, you know, half the season. You know, maybe 30, 35 games. Dawes, if he plays well, is probably going to get another 30, 35 games. And then Riddich is probably going to get, like, 10 or 15. You know, if that split is what it ends up being, I'm fine with that. You know, everybody's fresh.

[00:13:47] And if you get league average out of all three of these guys, you know, the once in a while stinker isn't going to hurt you. So, yeah, I think. Allen was the 20th roughly best goalie in the league based on. I just worry about. I don't understand why everybody's, like, so up in arms about it. I guess because we keep talking about Dawes, but everybody seems to forget Allen is right there.

[00:14:10] Well, I think because most people, like myself, the idea of Allen getting a full starter 1A workload makes me nervous. If this is a playoff team and they're looking to make some noise in April, that makes me a little nervous. Because of his age, because it's been a long time since he's been in that position. Dawes, I mean, Allen as your number two getting, you know, like you say, 30 starts a year. That's ideal.

[00:14:39] That's where you want him to be. And he's not going, like, there is no starter. There is no backup. No number one. We've got to stop using those words because there is no starter. There is no backup. If they're all going to get equal amounts of starts and pretty much divvy it evenly, yeah, I agree with you. I agree with you. We don't have Igor Shostakovich in goal. You know, we don't have a true number one dude. Yeah, I mean, Allen's going to start his games. Dawes is going to start his games.

[00:15:07] And if one of them falters or gets hurt, then Rittich is going to step in. Otherwise, Rittich may spell these guys occasionally. I don't know how they're going to do that, how they've communicated it to these goalies. Because Allen was pretty pointed about not liking the three-goalie rotation. But primarily what he didn't like about it was the lack of communication. Was that, like, they didn't know who was going to start when.

[00:15:34] And they're like, why are all three of us around? I don't get it. So, you know, and to Zach's point, like, I don't even know if it's 1A, 1B. It's just we have three goalies. You know? Yeah. And I kind of see it as sort of a bit of an open competition for maybe someone to become the 1A, 1B. It absolutely is. It absolutely is. And, look, I mean, tonight it's Allen. And that'll be, you know, he'll be in that on Thursday.

[00:16:02] And, look, I know what we're going to get from Allen. Like I say, you know, you give him his 30, 35 starts, you know what you're going to get. You're going to get really solid, above-average goaltending from a veteran who's seen it all and done it all. It's when, you know, like you say, you start talking into the 40s and maybe 50s, you know, starts a year. That makes me nervous. Yeah, yeah. Like over his last three or four seasons, and I did this research when I was writing a goalie blog over the summer.

[00:16:31] Over the last three or four seasons, at about 25 games, Allen is an above, is a positive goal save, above-expected starter. Basically puts about 25 quality starts together. Once he starts getting into the 30s, like that's when, that's when it's not necessarily bad. It's about average to maybe slightly below average, and then the wheels start falling off when you start pushing 40 games. Right.

[00:16:59] And that's been his, doesn't matter when the starts happen, where they happen, how they happen, but that's just every single time that's been kind of his cliff. So, yeah, so I think they have pretty smart people. Yeah, if you know that, Sonny knows that. Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't know. Hopefully, Jesus. Hey, Sonny, you want to hire me? Can I teach your fucking players how to take shootouts for fuck's sake? I would love for Sonny to hire you, because then we could probably do the podcast at The Rock, which would be awesome.

[00:17:29] If Sonny hires me, I'm pretty certain I wouldn't be on the fucking podcast anymore. You better be on the fucking podcast. You would never have that job if it wasn't for the podcast. Hey guys, I appreciate the offer, but one quick thing. Can I just keep doing my dumb podcast? Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what you say. You put it in your contract, you dumbass. Oh, man, I had a thought, and I completely fucking forgot it. Look at you, you fuck. I don't remember. Seamus Casey. I'm not tired at all. Seamus Casey, dead again.

[00:17:57] Do we know anything about this injury? The clip of it doesn't look good. It's a knee, and you got the Keefism, understanding how Keef talks. He's going to miss some time. That could mean we're never going to see him again. Yeah, that's long term. You're going to see him selling fucking camel lights at the Sunoco on Route 22. Is he destined to just play in Europe for the rest of his life? I mean, it does seem like he's... I like him, but I don't know how much longer you can hold on to a kid that can't stay on the ice. You know?

[00:18:26] Yeah, I just... I don't know. I'm not here. You know, I was encouraged. Like, he looked great in, you know, the preseason games he was in. You know, he was dancing all over the ice. He even looked a lot better in the defensive zone. It's just... Kid's a midget and can't stay healthy. Like, and it's just... And it was his own dumbass fault. He tried to throw, like, a hip check and kind of got knee-to-knee. And, you know, you can't do that when you're 5'9", 160.

[00:18:53] So, I think his perfect role is to settle and find someone, and maybe it is, like, someone like a Carolina, where he settles into that Gossespierre type of role, where he's the power play quarterback, but also basically five-on-five play shelter, third pair minutes. Like, that's ideal. That's an ideal scenario for him. I agree. But if this is another injury that's going to keep him out for this season, yeah, I don't know where the hell his career goes after that, you know?

[00:19:24] Yeah, I mean, he's good enough to play in this league, I think. But... I agree. You know, but again, if you... I mean, now, I mean, this is your first preseason game. I mean, come on. You can't... You know, you were supposed to be... Yeah, the injuries keep getting earlier and earlier. Right. You're a big part of Utica this year, you know? This team is looking into the future, and Seamus Casey was a part of that. And I just don't know if you can pencil him in right now as... No, you can't. You can't. We need to trade him,

[00:19:53] or he just needs to go find his place. It's not on the Devils. I don't think he's ever going to play for the Devils. It sucks. I like the kid, but, like, it's never going to happen. I'll tell you who I do like a lot. And, you know, maybe another year or two, he gets a legit shot is Ethan Edwards. Mm-hmm. I like Edwards. I like his play style. You know, I'm real curious to see how his career goes over the next couple of seasons. Yeah, he... Nope.

[00:20:22] Ticker stays, Steven. He's... Until Thursday. I really... I really like Edwards' game. I just, you know... The problem with D is that, like, where's he going to play? You know, like... Like, once Dylan's done at the end of the season, you assume Salayev steps into that role. Then you have Siegenthaler, Luke, and Salayev. Luke Hughes is still out there. Then what? You have... That's true. Because Edwards is a lefty.

[00:20:51] So, you know, Luke, Salayev, Edwards. I'd rather have Luke Quinn, Edwards. Luke Quinn is... Well, Edwards shows you, you know... Edwards shows you that maybe there is some... Some trade capital to be worked there and something. You know, he's a promising young player. So, I mean... Whether or not that's here or it's a part of a package to get better, you know, whatever. I'm fine with it. But I like the kid. Minnesota? He'd do fucking great in Minnesota. I mean, these idiots still think that he's signed. They keep moving the goalposts. It's the funniest fucking thing. It's like...

[00:21:20] You remember, like, in July? If he doesn't sign by August, I'm going to be worried. And if he doesn't sign by September. Right. The Cal McCarr deal. Now it's not training camp. I've even heard now, if he's not signed by Christmas, I'll get worried. Yeah, it's like... Be worried, dude. He's not signing. Fucking clown show. He fucking flat out said, like, I've earned the right to go to free agency. Yeah. What more else do you guys need to fucking hear from him that he's going to fucking free agency? Yeah, he might... I think it behooves the devils to be good because I think that may be something that he's...

[00:21:51] Oh, yeah. He could... Like... And this is my devil-centric take on it is that he could be waiting to see if we actually have the goods. Because if we're good, then he waits for free agency and joins us. And if we're not, then he's like, yeah, fuck it. I'll just stay in Minnesota. Yeah. Or pick one of 32 teams. He's going to have... You know, he's going to... Any team is going to want him. And if he walks to free agency, he's going to get offers all over the place. He can pick where he wants to go. But I absolutely think it's not just him seeing how the devils are. It's...

[00:22:20] I want to see how just everything plays out. No, Chris. Everything revolves around us. It's him seeing... Right. I forgot. You did say devil-centric. So you're right. Yes, that was the point of my advice. I mean, I wasn't being totally serious. But like, you know, I think that may be a little bit in there. Oh, absolutely. If we go and miss the fucking playoffs again and, you know, all these changes still seem like this isn't getting better. We have bigger problems than whether or not Luke Hughes is going to come here in July. That's the least of our fucking issues.

[00:22:49] And he's probably won't at that point. And this team has big problems. Quinn would solve a lot of problems. Do you know what else would? And another guy that... I'm curious to see how he looks tonight because I thought he looked fucking great is Luke. He did look great. He looked great. Like, his skating looked great. He looked confident, poised with the puck. Like, he had some great opportunities. Like, he looked really good. Like, I was impressed by him. And he looked a lot better in the D zone. He looked a lot firmer, a lot stronger. He was a lot harder on the puck.

[00:23:19] So, like, I'm... You know, we need him to take that step. You know, we need him to... And I think finally coming in, being healthy, having a defined role, being the power play one guy. And... Fuck Quinn. Luke's our guy. Yeah, absolutely. When it comes to that, absolutely. Luke's our fucking guy. But we talked about it. One guy that nobody has talked about to probably have the biggest fucking chip on his shoulder this year is Luke Hughes. He spent all summer

[00:23:47] listening to how his two older brothers want to play together and where they want to play and everything they want to do together. He was a fucking afterthought. Outright made fun of by other people in Minnesota when talking about this deal. Like, this dude should come in with a giant chip on his shoulder. And I hope he fucking proves everybody wrong and they fucking actually recognize who Luke Hughes is after this year. Yeah. I 100% agree. And, you know,

[00:24:15] I put up the special teams preview on Friday. Yes, very good. And, you know, the most common refrain that people are like is, you know, Dougie should be over Luke on the power play. And it's like, all right. You know, it's like, I don't particularly care. It's like, you know, right now it's Luke. Like, I just want the power play to produce and score a shitload of goals. Absolutely. Absolutely. And like we said, like, I know you probably lean a little bit more on the Dougie thing, but you've said, I don't give a shit. As long as the power play is good.

[00:24:44] Exactly what you said. I lean more towards on Luke just for the simple fact that he's our guy. He's here for another six years. We have him locked up long term. Like, get him in there. Let's start seeing what some of our guys can do. The one thing I've been thinking about a little bit more, one thing I didn't include that I probably should have is when they are attacking from Bratt's side, Dougie is a little bit more. Bratt's on the right flank. Yeah. Right. Um, so Dougie is a little bit more valuable

[00:25:13] because he will draw more attention from the, from the forwards and the, on the penalty kill. Like he'll draw that forward up opening evangelist up for that one timer in the, in the bumper spot. So that's kind of the only thing I could think of. Um, and you kind of alluded to it saying, you know, like Dougie shot, even if he's not taking it is still a threat. Right. Um, so. Yeah. It's just, I just want to get things rolling. I'm real curious to see how they look tonight. Just come out.

[00:25:43] I don't give a shit what the score is. I just want to come out healthy. Everybody feeling good. Get a little bit of that chemistry going. That's it. I don't care about anything else. Um, healthy. It, um, we didn't really get much of that storm here. Um, I'm a little worried. Uh, my, my beach house in Delaware's, um, there's like a lot of flooding, um, in that area. Like Dewey beach down to ocean city, Maryland. So we're right in the middle of that. I don't know how seaside and point pleasant

[00:26:12] and Manilowkin and stuff are the, you know, by me, but I know LBI a little further South is fucking underwater. There were my, some, sent me pictures of like actual full size 10 yard restaurant dumpsters floating down the road. So they're, they're getting flooded out bad. Yeah. So, yeah. So I'm sure surf city, I think surf city was bad too. So I'm sure seaside and point pleasant are flooded too. So I haven't been, I'm not going over the bridge today.

[00:26:43] Well, half of the bridge was closed. So if you got on the Island, you weren't getting off and without driving and, you know, 50 minutes out of the way too. So, yeah. Yeah. So Dubzilla just said LBI is getting crushed. Yeah. I saw some videos, man. There's some pictures. It looks fucking nuts. Yeah. Timmy with the beach house. Yeah. He never, ever invited us to. I've invited you to every fucking, what are you talking about? Not to your beach house. Yes. Never to your beach house. I've invited you.

[00:27:10] I don't even know when you've ever been to your beach house. I said you and Karen can go down to the beach house whenever you want. I know. Well, we want to go hang out with you. You're never there. Fair. Well, I know I haven't been there in like two years. Do you rent it out? Yeah. We rent it out. Oh, okay. Yeah. The, um, yeah, we, we had a minor emergency. Our, our, uh, deck almost collapsed. Like the, the, the joist below it kind of started to separate. So, so we had to get our guy. We got a guy down there. So,

[00:27:40] got a guy, got a guy. Schneider. You always got to get a guy, but that's what that 1948 Jeep that we've been, that we bought. Our intention was to restore, put an electric motor in it and have it be like our little beach Jeep down there. And is that no longer part of the plan? It's not going great, Chris. It's not going great at all. Like every, every goddamn bolt takes like four hours to get off that fucking thing. Do you ever notice this is off the subject, but like,

[00:28:08] like we listened to a lot of podcasts, a lot of, you know, whatever. And I have noticed something more and more that people say, and it's been driving me absolutely crazy. And now since I've noticed it, like I cannot stop noticing it. Like people on ESPN, people, any like mostly sports stuff, the term, guess what? People, I, I, I fucking hate it. So I'll just give you a quick example. Right. Like, um, you know, tonight, you know,

[00:28:38] the Islanders, you know, they think, you know, their penalty kills good, but guess what? Devil's power play is so much better that way that they say, guess what? And like a stupid rhetorical format drives me fucking crazy. And you would be shocked at how many, how much it happens. Everybody does it. And I was thinking about it long. I was like, none of us do it on the show. So I can bring it up because I don't want to insult anybody. I would tell you privately, stop fucking doing it. It's driving me crazy,

[00:29:06] but you're going to very, very small hill to die on. You are going to now notice it. And everything that you watch, everything that you listen to, it is so fucking annoying. And guess what? I hate it. Guess what? I don't know what you're talking about. You will. You will. I knew I was going to sound crazy when I brought this up. I absolutely knew it, but I also, was this the, this is my pet peeve. Yes. All right. All right. And, and, but I,

[00:29:35] I also feel confident enough that you're going to be like, holy shit. I can't believe I never fucking noticed it before. Cause it's everywhere. Okay. Really? Okay. I have a phrase that I get, that annoys me. Yes. And it's, and it's actually like very much hockey centric is when people are like, Oh yeah. The, the eye test does this. It's like, like, like, shut up. Like, who's eye test yours? Mine? Yeah. That guy, that fucking homeless guy in the corner, like the blind guy,

[00:30:03] that motherfucker has any idea what his eyes are telling him. Like, it's just such a stupid, stupid phrase. Well, I'll tell you why. And I, I do it and I have been guilty of doing it, but I'm going to come clean here. It's usually because like, you don't have the actual facts to back up what it is that you're saying. Right? Like you don't have numbers to support what you're saying. So you fall back to the eye test. Cause nobody's going to turn around and be like, your eyes are fucking stupid. I just think the phrase,

[00:30:32] I think the phrase, the eye test is just dumb. That's what I agree. It's just, I just, I did. It's like, sure. I watched the games too. You know, it's like, and I saw something totally different than you. So, and I'm not saying you, you, I'm saying the Royal you, but it's like, I get it. You know, like when people are arguing, like, you know, I saw this. I'm like, well, that's because you don't know what the fuck you're watching. And guess what? They don't. I hate it. I hate it so much. What else? What else can we hate?

[00:31:03] It was like one of those things, like, you know how like you're, you're in the market for a new car or something. Right. And so, and then once you decide on what kind of car you want, you see those cars everywhere. It's like, holy shit. I didn't realize how many fucking people drove a Saturn aura, but it happens. It does. So there's, there's a decent amount of crime around here. Every time, like we see like a crime, the person always has like a,

[00:31:30] like a black on black Nissan Altima every fucking time. Right. And now, and now every time, like, like I see a video of a crime. I'm like, I'm like, well, there it is. Black Nissan Altima. Always. I noticed whenever there's an Amber alert, it's always a white Nissan Sentra. Yeah. Yeah. Like for some reason, like every child was last seen in a white Nissan Sentra. Yeah. Same fucking car. Every kidnapper uses. Maybe we should find the guy that has that fucking car and make him. Yeah.

[00:31:59] Just take the car out of circulation. Maybe you stop all the kidnappings. It's always his fucking Nissan driver. Always dude. Oh man. So, all right. What else do you want to talk about before our last preseason game? I don't know. I think, so we've got Alan tonight. Again, like want to see, I want to see what all the, this, what Sonny sees in Chisholm because I haven't seen much of anything and I froze. So I'll be right back. All right.

[00:32:30] It's always a fucking white Nissan Sentra guys. All right. Waiting on Tim to come back. What about you guys? Like, what are you guys most interested in the chat of seeing tonight? Just like a player. Like, who are you most interested in seeing tonight on the ice? Just asking the chat, who they are more most interested in watching tonight. Oh, um, I want to see mantha score on a nice player from Jack of Brad. I'd like to see.

[00:32:59] So the, the, the first game that, you know, evangelista, it looked a little disconnected from Nico and Timo. I think that'll change. He's a smart player, but he did make two really good plays. Like, like Nico's goal basically happened because of a good, um, for check and battle win by him. And then Timo's goal, he tied up the guy behind the net. So Timo could come through and grab it. Um, and then Jack's game winning goal,

[00:33:26] mantha basically planted his fucking giant ass in front. Like he's a fucking huge guy. He has good pop protection ability. He can just like ward guys off. Like I, I think that's, he could be a really interesting fit on that line. If, if, if it works in the chat, we got, we got gritsy. We got la, la, la, la Lombardi, baby. We got defensive structure, mantha with the boys and Luke and Timo. Yep. I, uh, Lombardi, Boquist, Evo. Um,

[00:33:56] I'm, uh, that Evan Rodriguez line. I'm real curious to see tonight. Cause, they did not look very good. I think that there's a lot more to be had on that line. And I kind of want to see them a little bit more tonight. Yeah, I agree. I also need to, um, I, I don't know what our penalty kill units are going to look like. Um, you know, from what I understand, because I think they only had one, one power play last game. Yeah, they did. So, or maybe two. Oh,

[00:34:26] the last game was only one. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, isn't on any of the special teams units, which is kind of, kind of an interesting move, but you know, cause he definitely has some, some good utility. Like he's one of our best penalty killers. I'm surprised. He's not on the PK. I not, I'm not surprised. He's not on the second unit. Yeah, exactly. But the penalty kill is a, he's a very good penalty killer. You know, and is that just go to show the depth that was brought in? I'm guessing Evan Rodriguez is taking his place. So. Yeah.

[00:34:56] It could just be fine. It could be fine. It was a guy's minutes. You know, Keith has kind of mentioned that particularly when talking about Lombardi, because Lombardi his whole, you know, life. And in the AHL, he was first, second line, first power play guy. And to get some minutes, he's going to have to find different, different ways to, to get himself some minutes. So he may see some PK rotations. I'm always been a big believer for, you know, putting like high end offensive players on the penalty kill. Just because like, yeah,

[00:35:25] they have good instincts for how the puck gets moved around, how to get in lanes. Like, I think Sheldon Keefe agrees with you. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like, I mean, Lindy Ruff never had Jack Hughes on the power. And, or Brad on the power play. And well, maybe Lindy had Brad on the power play, but definitely not Jack. Penalty kill. I meant, I'm sorry. That's what I meant. Yeah. So let me see. The Mercer blows stuff.

[00:35:54] Like I'll say this about Dawson Mercer. He gets a ton of hate. We don't hate him on this show. We actually, I liked Dawson Mercer. And I also think like, let's save all of our judgment for Dawson Mercer until we see how he plays in this role where I think he's much better slotting. Slotted for this team, you know, again, not on power play. Who cares? Not on the penalty kill. As long as the penalty kill is good. I don't give a shit, but being on that third line, not having the responsibility of playing in those top six minutes,

[00:36:24] I think Dawson Mercer could be very valuable. Slotted where he's at. So yeah, maybe it was just a, the last couple of seasons that were a little down for him. Maybe we're just because he was not slotted. Right. We've talked about it a bunch on this show. Maybe just a little too much on his plate. Yeah. He's just like, you know, he's, he's a good passenger, you know, and he doesn't create enough on his own to really be like as effective as he, as he could be with Timo and Nico. Like that was like, kind of like the biggest line. I think that some of that,

[00:36:53] we saw some of that in, in Timo's numbers, you know, most of Nico's goal production, like comes on the power play. So it's not really like anything dependent on Mercer or Timo. So there's just a lot to like about this group. But again, I'm, you know, I'm kind of cautiously optimistic, you know, like I, you know, we've been burned by this team before, you know, like, but I've, I've sneak, I've been sneaking some Kool-Aid shots. Like I'm, I'm in on this team until they, until they show me that there's no reason to be.

[00:37:23] That's exactly it. Like there really is no reason for this team not to be good. If they stay healthy, they, they should be in a top three in the Metro. I firmly stand by that. But at the same time, exactly like you, how many times do we have to fucking go into a season thinking we've got one of the best rosters and we're going to compete or go on a deep playoff run only to be cursing our fucking this team to death and by

[00:37:50] Christmas time and that we're not making the playoffs and the whole rest of the year just becomes us bitching and moaning about everything that they're doing wrong. Like, I just don't want that this year. Yeah. I don't like selfish. Whoa. Everybody. All right. That was one of my dogs. I know. He just, he just, he's the one who goes like on like little adventures by himself and he always fucking hurts himself out there and comes back. And then like, like he's like biting his foot and like scratching his foot. And then he like,

[00:38:19] then he hurts himself and he's like, so yeah, sounds like a car slamming on its brakes. Um, Tim. Um, So I, I think, I think we'll be good. I hope we'll be good. I don't want to fucking be sitting here January with minus two degrees outside, fucking complaining about how bad my favorite hockey team is. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I mean, again, we, on paper, we look great. Like the guys are talking in the chat about when we've been this deep. Dubzilla says 2012.

[00:38:47] I actually think it's probably like 2003. I think this team, this team is, is the deepest team we've seen in 20 years. Um, that, and you know, a buck and a quarter will buy you a cup of coffee and it doesn't matter. Um, how good they are on paper. It's gotta be, you know, the work's gotta be put in and they have to stay healthy. So yeah, they look great on paper. Go win some fucking games. They'll get through, get through October. Like, you know,

[00:39:17] looking like a, a, a real team, and not, you know, losing other thing for this year. Like we gotta get more games into overtime or these close games, like losing that participation point fucking kills you. You've got, if you have a chance to get to game to an overtime, you have got to get the game to overtime because so many times, probably the best. Oh, we have the best overtime player, fucking the best three on three. I agree. Player in the fucking league. Yes. Teams just play, keep away against us on the three on three.

[00:39:47] They, they don't even want to give us the puck. Absolutely. But every time we pull our fucking goalie, every time it's an empty nickel, like they've got to get better at stealing a point here and there this year. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of that. Yeah. I think all of that coming together, just not having these slow slog of dismal third periods where they're not generating fuck all, you know, like I, we need, we need more out of this team.

[00:40:16] And that's another thing I'll be looking for tonight is to see, like, I think I said this before is see if I can glean anything about what they're doing systems wise, like moving the puck up, moving the puck, move the puck up quicker. And if they're doing anything different in the, in the offensive zone, I think, I think their transition game looks better and they're going to try to play a faster, more rush based game. Um, but, uh, but we'll see. I don't know.

[00:40:45] If goaltending is shaky, Miller time 1101 writes trade Hamilton for sorrows. I don't want sorrows. I still think if goaltending is shaky and I'm going to get a lot of heat for this, uh, I'm still saying go get Jordan. I'm telling you out of here. No, I don't know. All right. No, all right. No, all right. Nope. I disagree. I think he's a competent goalie who can win.

[00:41:15] And I'm telling you, I'm not a huge fan of the guy. Like personally don't like him. He's a fucking lunatic, but for what we need, he is absolutely capable of it. And if St. Louis has, if our goalies are bad, 90% of the problem is going to be our skater group. Well, if that is indeed the case, then yes, it doesn't matter who you get, but if it's just Dawes is a sieve, you know, um, yeah, or whatever, or if he lets, yeah, like if he's letting in shots,

[00:41:45] he's letting in clean wrist shots from above the circle, the guy that, that go fucking talk to Calgary about Devin Cooley. I find with that. I'm fine with that. I like that. But you know, I also, I look at Binnington as a guy who's like, maybe give you like two years of a stop gap to kind of see how some of our other prospects develop. And, you know, maybe we can go back to a big Mike or Malik in a couple of years. Um, that's why I think of a guy like that. And that Cooley would be,

[00:42:14] I think a little bit more longer term you would think, but I'm fine with Cooley. I'm fine with, I like Soros too. I don't, I think Soros is a good goal. Yeah. It's just, um, like goalies are, are semi interchangeable, you know, like I don't think we're, I mean, Hofer's the guy of the future from St. Louis. That's why Bennington is going to be, right. That's why you think Bennington will be available. I mean, obviously Hellebuck is still out there too. Like, I don't know. Like suddenly, you know, suddenly, you know, is,

[00:42:43] is shovel day off going to accept retention on that? Because that changes the story a little bit. Like if he's willing to, willing to eat some of that salary, I'd be in on Hellebuck too. At a cheaper number. Yes. At a cheaper number, I would be too. I think he's going to end up going to St. Jose. I still think so. And I think they're going to send ask her out the other way. Um, and I think that puts San Jose, that makes everybody in the Pacific nervous now. Um, and you know,

[00:43:13] I could, then I could see like a Jordan Biddington ending up at some point, like an Edmonton at the trade deadline or something. Um, I think Edmonton is going to be sneaky better than people think defensively. And go to have Freddie Anderson. And who else? Freddie Anderson, Devin, Devin Levi and, and Jari, Jari stinks, but yeah, Levi and Anderson. Well, Anderson's already hurt. And Levi is an unknown, but I think, you know, they, they, they still have Bouchard. If they put him with Shea, like, I think that's a really good first D pairing.

[00:43:43] They also have Babcock who, who as fucked up a person as he is, and shouldn't even be in the league is a good defensive structure. Um, and I think that will, that will benefit them. So I don't know if, if they would be in the market for goal. And also like, and you know, not to say, not to like put this out in the universe, but like goals get hurt. So, you know, that, that this whole paradigm about who's going, where, what could change. Absolutely.

[00:44:13] Absolutely. You know, but it does look like, before we start wish casting, getting another goalie, like let's, let's see how, let's see how our group does, you know, everybody wants to punt Dawes to the moon based on one bad goal in a preseason game. Like let's fucking relax here. No, it's just the unknown. And it's worth talking about until the season starts. And hopefully we don't have to talk about it at all during the season. And the guy just goes out there and he's steady Eddie. And you know, the devils are cruising. That's what we want. Don't give up a goal in the first three shots,

[00:44:43] you know, don't fucking get, you know, give up nine goals to the fucking Islanders, you know, don't, don't do stupid shit. Robbie's bench toss heard a crazy theory about Larkin, maybe retiring to get his contract with Detroit voided by sitting out a full calendar year. Thought it was an interesting play in theory, even though it won't happen. If he does that seriously, he would have, of course there would be teams that would still sign him,

[00:45:11] but I think the vast majority of general managers would end locker rooms would want nothing to fucking do with this guy. And, and I've never seen a player sit out an entire year, whether it's contract negotiations, whatever it is. And, and willingly sit out an entire year that ever ended up better off for it. It never fucking works. You end up losing a shitload of money. You end up losing credibility. It's, it's never worth it,

[00:45:41] but Dylan Larkin, it's just fucking dumb enough to do it. Well, no, no, the story is that his trade list was always eight teams, but it's, no, it wasn't. yeah, I agree. But it's like, what, like, what are we doing? Like, and it's always, and it's all these teams that don't, I still hold my conspiracy theory. It makes sense. Tell everybody what it is. Or to people that don't know. Like that, that Larkin game,

[00:46:07] the system or Larkin basically ran a coup to get rid of Eisman because he and Eisman, there was no love lost between those two. And Larkin being a Michigan guy playing for the Detroit Red Wings, being the captain of the Red Wings, I get they've been a bit of a directionless franchise, but my theory was that he demanded a trade to get fucking rid of Eisman, but didn't really foresee the Detroit organization being so fucking incompetent that, that they wouldn't have a GM coming into the season. So, so yeah,

[00:46:37] so I think they're going to have a miraculous, a miraculous reconciliation at some point. I mean, that's probably the best thing. It's, it's kind of fucked up though, that like Larkin is still going with this. Like I, I would have thought by now it's okay. I tried, I took my shot. I lost. I'm just going to go back with my tail between my legs and, and, you know, try and try and get myself back into good graces with the team and with the fans and everything else.

[00:47:07] And I'll work my dick off to try and do it. Getting the C stripped is, is kind of a problematic little part of my, my little conspiracy theory. But one team that showed up on his list that makes me nervous is the capitals because they have the prospects, some of the assets, it can probably make the cap work. They'd have to do some finagling, but they could probably make that work. Um, so I don't know that, that makes me a little bit nervous because that's the one kind of flaw I see in the, in the roster that the caps build, you know, down the middle.

[00:47:37] Yeah. I, I see Hellebuck getting traded, um, probably within the next week or so. I, I, I don't think that he'll, he'll, he's going to be sitting out on the suspension too much longer. I didn't see the UPL was hurt. Yeah. They both are UPL and lion. So yeah. Hellebuck. yeah, maybe he will be a saver soon. Zach W says, you know, very possible. I know they were big on getting them in, in April, but apparently they turned down a godfather offer from Buffalo. Um, at this point though,

[00:48:06] I think you kind of just got to take whatever the hell you can get and move on because, uh, that's not helping anybody. I would make Larkin play. Fuck them. Yeah. Yeah. They're going to boo the fuck out of him. I cannot wait to see the, the Red Wings first game because yeah, when at first home game, he steps on the ice. No, he's going to get fucking destroyed and he's going to deserve every single boo he gets. And, um, maybe look, yeah, he put himself in this position. He thought,

[00:48:36] all I got to do is ask, right? They got to do it. Look what a Brady did. Yeah. Brady was on his last year of his contract. You dumb ass. You don't do it when you have five years left. Um, and I know how Buck essentially doing the same thing, but that's different. We talked about an audible could also absorb. Like taking draft picks and not getting like actual real players back. Right. You know, I think, you know, like they're going to have to play a little differently, but they went out and flip some of those picks for, for Eklund. So they're,

[00:49:05] they're kind of are replacing most of the production that Brady's given them. Obviously from, from a, a sandpaper grit toughness level, you know, it's going to be a little different for Ottawa, but also like the, the headache and the distraction of this looming over them could, that's the change things. So that's why I continue to say, I think Ottawa is going to surprise people. Well, when they were, you know, there was drama around them all year between, uh, all Mark and, you know,

[00:49:35] big wall on the fucking podcasts and, you know, all the finger pointing and stuff that was going on in Ottawa. And a lot of that was directly revolved around Brady could Chuck. So if you're the senators and this guy wants out, there might've been a part of, of Senator ownership that was like, yeah, maybe this is the best thing here. Let's move on and put this drama behind us. He's only has one year left. He's not resigning. What are we doing here? The Larkin thing, like if Larkin would have turned up to, to even Iserman back in April, May,

[00:50:05] whenever, and said, I don't want to be here anymore. I'm requesting a trade. I'll waive my no trade clause. He'd be gone, but you can't go in and just have to dominate every aspect of, uh, the negotiations. Like you can't go. I know I have five years left, but I want to be traded. And I only want to be traded to these teams. And if you don't, I'm just going to, you know, I'm just going to sit here and pout and be a big baby. Fucking petulant little bitch about it. Right? Like, dude,

[00:50:35] if that was Nico Heischer acting like this, I'd want to add it. I wouldn't want to ever see him on the fucking ice. And I wouldn't pay a nickel to go see him. Our captain stepped the fuck up and said, I want to be here. I'm resigning. I want to win. I want to be part of the solution. Larkin's like, no, I want to leave. I mean, I can't be part of the solution. A thousand percent. A thousand fucking percent. Like, I get it. You hadn't made the playoffs in, in nine. I think he played five playoff games his rookie year. So is this going?

[00:51:02] So nine years straight that he hasn't made the playoffs or hasn't played in the play. Dude, you were on that team for nine fucking years too. Like, you're just going to sit around and point the number one, the number one center. Like, right. They, they were, they were in first place in the league. Like what? Like November, December. Yeah. Something like that. Epic collapses. And he went on a serious scoring drought that happened to coincide with their, their collapse. Yeah. You know, play better. You fucking bitch. Right.

[00:51:32] And, and instead of being wanting to be part of the solution, you just want to fucking bail with tail between your legs. Like at least Hollabuck can say, dude, I've won you fucking Veznas. I've won hearts. I've done everything I can to be the best possible goalie for this team. I understand, you know, playoff successes or lack thereof or whatever, but I still would take Connor Hollabuck over 95% of the goaltenders right now going into the playoffs. I think, I mean, there,

[00:52:02] I don't know. Would you, what goalies would you take over Hollabuck right now? I'd probably take Logan Thompson, Swayman, uh, Sterkin, Sorokin, Swayman. Maybe that's it for me. I wouldn't even take, I wouldn't even take Vasilevsky. I don't even know if I'd take Shisterkin over him. I would take Shisterkin. Shisterkin, Soros, and, and, and, uh, and Swayman, maybe the three that I would take, but I wouldn't take Soros over him. No,

[00:52:31] I wouldn't take Soros over him. Like two or three bad years in a row. I wouldn't take Vasilevsky over him. I wouldn't, I mean, who else really is there of mentioned, you know, guys that are Jake Allen. I'd take over him. Jake Allen over Connor. Yeah. I mean, you know what? I don't even think I would take Connor Hollabuck over Jeremy Swayman as much as I fucking love Jeremy Swayman. I'd probably go with the, the two Russians and Hunter and, and Hollabuck.

[00:52:59] I think that those are the only two maybe I'd take over. Those are, those are, I think generally universally for the past five years have been within that top five goalie conversation. Those guys in some way, shape or form. Vasilevsky's popped in and out. Swayman's popped in and out. Logan Thompson, though, low key has been one of the best goalie in the league for the past couple of years. Very good for Washington.

[00:53:23] I wonder what system he came up in and was playing in the fucking ECHL for and who just let him go. Who was it? Was it us? Yes. I didn't know that. Yeah. Really? Yep. Hmm. Well, that happens a lot, you know? Oh, I know. I know. Yeah. That's, but yeah, I mean, I'm excited for, Oh, wow. We got a game in a half an hour. I'm just excited to see this game. Why is this game at 730? Cause it's the fucking Islanders. Why the fuck are Islanders games at 730?

[00:53:52] Do you remember when devil games were 730? Yeah, I know. Yeah. Uh, but everybody switched it to seven except the fucking Islanders. I think they're the only team in the East that plays at 730. Why? Seven o'clock. Do we know why that is? I don't know. They never changed it. Cause I remember back the Rangers always played at seven way back in the day, but us, the Islanders, like every other game was 730. And then we switched to seven, but they stayed 730.

[00:54:18] Cause all their fucking Guido fans need to like take the train home from New York city. And the LIE is jam fucking pack, man. It takes me an extra 30 minutes to get there. The transfer, the transfer at fucking Jamaica station. Exactly. Oh, fucking bunch of Guidos. All right. We're going to wrap it up. I'm not. Yeah. I was also told that I was allowed to, for a guy, I can't even tell this story on the, they're like, they're like all your, your fucking retarded cousins.

[00:54:48] Yes. I'll tell you something when we wrap it up. I got to go cook dinner beforehand. All right. Yeah. I'm going to go make a frozen pizza and then watch our, watch our devils. So I'm doing a rigatoni pasta bake. Hmm. Very nice. That sounds good. Meat sauce. Fresh months. You love meat sauce. I'll show you my meat sauce. All right. On that note, we're going to wrap it up guys. Please hit the, like the alert bell subscription comment helps a little podcast. That could,

[00:55:18] if you're listening on Apple, Spotify, please five-star review, positive comment really does help out the uncle puckers. He's Tim. I'm Chris. Let's go devils. We'll see you when we see you. Fuck you. Melcott. that.