R.I.P. Claude Lemieux

[00:00:00] Here we go. 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!

[00:00:24] Hello everybody, welcome to The Uncle Puckers. I'm Chris along with Mr. Tim Wood and yeah, we're kind of doing this little bit of an emergency episode with some terrible news that I'm sure all Devil fans, Canadian fans, Avalanche fan and NHL fans in general heard today. This one hurts. The Devils first ever playoff hero, first ever Con Smythe trophy winner, Claude Lemieux has passed away

[00:00:53] today and we're going to talk a little bit about him, what he meant for this organization, what he meant for the NHL in general and his style of play, how he at the time was probably one of the most controversial figures in the NHL. You either loved him or you hated him, you wanted him on your team or you wanted him kicked out of the league. It was basically that when it comes to Claude Lemieux. Timmy, how are you, buddy?

[00:01:19] I'm all right, yeah, you know, like we were planning to do this show and then this news hit, you know, like I think you said it pretty well, kind of this is, this one stings a little bit, you know, like, like everything you just said. He was, he was the guy that really kind of carried us. What do you have? Like 13 goals in those 20 games ish? I think so. I think so. Out of nowhere and, and he was the sort of prototype of what,

[00:01:46] what I think this devil's team kind of needs right now. We need a fucking asshole. Oh, and he was a giant fucking asshole. And I think it was, I was listening to NHL radio this afternoon, just kind of driving around and Marty Buron said it pretty well. He was like, he's like, you know, everyone in the league fucking hated him unless he was on your team. And that's, that's the exact kind of, kind of player I always loved. He has soft spots in my

[00:02:13] heart. Like you said, 1995 hero. This sucks. It's fucking crazy that, you know, just a couple of days ago, he, he was the torchbearer in Montreal, you know, he was leaving a pretty good life, six years old, four kids. Don't want to really get into the circumstances because it was reported how it happened. You know, I don't really feel like you need to get into that necessarily. It's just kind of enjoy the memory of call them. Yeah. And to unhinged devil's fan.

[00:02:41] Yes. Ace is coming on at some point. He is experiencing some little bit of technical difficulties. We have some storms rolling through Jersey right now. So I think he's stuck in that, but he's going to, so me freezing isn't going to be my fault this time. No, no, it might not be. It might just be the, uh, the weather, but, uh, Ace, Ace should hop on if he can get his stuff straightened out, but either way, Ace will be joining us actually probably quite a bit more now

[00:03:08] with his new endeavors. So, uh, we, we, before we even get going when it comes to Ace, congratulations to your brother. If you don't make it on this show today and you're listening, we're super proud of you. It's a great gig you picked up and, uh, running with the devils will absolutely be missed because, uh, it was by far the best devil podcast out there. So thank you. Thank you for everything

[00:03:30] you did. Ace. I love Ace. I like Ace. Hey man, it's the truth. No, it's great. He built like a, a great community and, you know, it's sort of, and that's, it's an interesting step, you know, because NJ.com is kind of legacy New Jersey media, you know, star ledger. Um, and you know,

[00:03:51] from newspaper to digital to now, obviously they have and are prioritizing what he does as, um, as an important part of the media ecosystem. You know, I think, I don't think they're going to abandon print, um, uh, all the art print as in, you know, basically putting it on their website. Um, but it, but it's an interesting, interesting time. And I know Ace has been trying to kind of

[00:04:17] get into sort of the media world using his channel as kind of the, the, um, entry point for that. So it's an interesting transition for him and, and, you know, wish him all the luck. I think he's going to crush it. I think he will too. He parlayed that show into something good for him. So, you know, best of luck, but we, you know, we'll be talking to Ace down the road if not today, but let's we'll be talking to credentialed, credentialed. That's right. Order Ace. That's, that's right. Oh man. We're going to have to keep it together. No more fucking

[00:04:46] incest jokes. Well, he's not going to be on every show. We'll get him when we, we'll be on our best behavior occasionally, but look, you go to Ace when you want like the in-depth, passionate devil's news. And you kind of come to us when, you know, you're like, I want to listen to a few fucking degenerates talk about my favorite team. It's basically that. When you got a guy from Lithuania taking bong rips in the middle of, uh,

[00:05:10] exactly. Where else can you get that? But yeah, I mean, uh, when it came to Claude, I had no idea. I didn't have the NHL network on at all today because I was still steaming about my Habs just fucking blowing it, but we'll get into playoffs time. So I didn't want to hear everyone go on and on about how great the hurricanes are. So, um, got the news from you guys, you and Tony texting, texting it to our group thread. And then I quick went on to see if they were

[00:05:40] talking about it, which they weren't at the time, but this is terrible. I mean, we all saw him. What was it? Tuesday night, you know, three days ago, two days ago. And I'm, I'm watching the pregame and I see Claude there. And I said it to my wife. I'm like, Hey, Claude's there. I'm like, I love this. They all peppy going home and holding the torch and, and, you know, whatever happened. And for whatever reason, it's not really like you said, that's not important. What's important

[00:06:07] is the legacy he leaves. And I mean, is there a guy in the nineties and early two thousands who had more of an impact on playoff hockey than Claude Lemieux? I mean, probably not like, you know, he, he, he was a very definitional player for that era. You know, he wasn't, you know, outrageously skilled. He was, he was a good player. He was a very good player, but he wasn't, you know, one of

[00:06:33] the top skilled guys, but he was so perfect for his time, his place in the playoffs and just rose to the occasion every time. And even after us, it was with Colorado. Yeah. You're after. Yeah. You know, he goes, yeah. Crazy thing is he's, this is what I don't understand is, is he was he's an agent, like a pretty big agent. Like he's Timo Meyers agent. Yeah. So I don't, um, yeah, that's

[00:07:00] actually Zach's actually a great, great analogy. It's a great comparison. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's perfect. Like just get under your skin, you know, like just being at such an important element in the playoffs is being able to antagonize and get people off their game because if you can, and actually, I think Matt Kachuk said it on his podcast, which I don't really listen to. Like I find those guys be a little insufferable, but he said, he said, you find the head of the snake and you fucking cut it

[00:07:27] off. And that's what he was known for. He found the fucking best player on the other team and just antagonize the shit out of them. And it wasn't just the physicality, right? It wasn't just the borderline dirty play because he was absolutely playing on the edge every single playoff game. It was, you go back to 95, you go back to that Eastern conference finals against the Flyers, the clutch goals, you know, the, the slappers from the top of the circle, five hole on Hextall.

[00:07:56] And, you know, he raises the con Smythe, you go with them in 1993, they win the cup in Montreal. He gets traded to New Jersey, wins the cup in 95. Then he leaves, he goes to Colorado, wins the cup in 96. And he's back with us in 2000 for a second cup with New Jersey is fourth overall, but you go to that Colorado series. Um, I don't think it was that year. I think it was like one of the 97, 98 is the Detroit's, um, Colorado Western conference final, the Chris Draper hit

[00:08:25] that he just fucking destroyed Draper on the, on the dasher. And I mean, he was the most hated man in the NHL. And then there were like people like myself that was like, God damn, I wish he was still on our team. I wish he was still on our team and the battles he had with Detroit when he was in Colorado. And then to come back in 2000, a little bit later in his career, take guys like Scott

[00:08:51] Gomez and, you know, under his wing, um, like Morrison was on his line too, for a long time, uh, in 2000 and, you know, playing more of a third line checking role, but you know, again, the clutch goals and, um, he was just a fantastic playoff guy. He was a dude that, well, for me, when we got Timo Meyer, that was the only comparison that I was using was like, he can be a

[00:09:18] Claude Lemieux type player in the playoffs. It's not going to give you a hundred points in the regular season. It's going to be a 50 point, 60 point guy, but come game 83 on, he was on a different level. And, um, he was a fantastic playoff performer. And, you know, even the outside of the devil's tenure, like he was the instant primary instigator in those outrageous Colorado Detroit battles. You

[00:09:43] know, there's that famous image of him turtling, like after he started all that shit, like he was a, I kind of agree with that, the ring of honor thing. Like, um, I would love to see him that this posthumously, like they should, they should have a special ceremony for him. Like, but there's just, there's just absolutely no reason not to. I agree. Montreal should and Colorado should. He was that important to all three of those teams and all three of those teams, Stanley

[00:10:11] cups. I always forget he was on that 93 Montreal team. Yeah. Yeah. He was on with Riche and Patrick Waugh. And then he wins the cup in 96 with Waugh. Nobody takes those. Um, we don't really see that much anymore. That sort of downhill top of the circle slapper. Nobody fucking does that anymore. No, you're right. They don't. Well, goalies play so far out of their nets. They're so much bigger than they are now. Yeah. I mean, you don't have, you don't have a lot of, you know, Darren

[00:10:38] Pang isn't standing back. Exactly. Not even Ron Hextall. It was only like six foot, you know? Um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, uh, all right. So we're going to talk about this, Robbie. Uh, God, I hate the cane so much. The fact that fucking Montreal last night's game was so frustrating, you know, you can't fall asleep for even two and a half minutes against that team

[00:11:04] because you're just not coming back and they missed their opportunities in games two and three. And they should have a three to one lead right now or three to two lead, whatever the fuck it is. But, um, you know, I don't even know if they're going to pull out game five. I said that they were going to take it in six. You said a gentleman's sweep for Carolina and that's looking more and more likely. So kudos to you. I mean, I know I don't want those kudos for that. I just kind of, I mean,

[00:11:31] I got the other series completely wrong. Holy shit, man. I got that one. Right. I said seven though, not four Jesus. I, I mean, look, I get that McCarr was hurt for a couple of games. Then something happened to McKinnon, but my God, like, I don't, I don't know what happened to Colorado, like goaltending kind of fell apart a little bit, but to just to, to not be able to withstand like, and not stand up with losing, losing those two guys is pretty wild.

[00:11:58] Do you remember back before the playoffs started and we were talking to Colorado came up and I said, the one thing about Colorado that concerns me is how easy this season was for them. They didn't have any adversity and I, and what happens when they hit some adversity in the playoffs. Apparently they crumble like blue cheese and they lose in four. Like, yeah, McCarr was out and McKinnon was out. You couldn't pull out one game. I mean, we went into Carolina two years ago with no Jack, no Luke,

[00:12:26] no defensive core whatsoever. And Markstrom in net, we still got a fucking one game out of it. Yeah. Seriously. Yeah. Fuck you, Colorado. But is anybody going to beat Vegas? I mean, that just, they just look like a battleship team right now. What, what Jay Snow said, like their decor is just these giant fucking mobile trees, trees. Like I'm looking at a massive tree out my window right now. And I'm like,

[00:12:52] that's Alex Petrangelo right there. Like they're just, and that's, and that's what they value. And it's kind of funny to see, you know, every year they're the sort of the copycat ish league stuff where, where people try to replicate what the, the last year's cup winner did. So I'd be curious to see, and this is kind of a couple of years running now where Vegas is decor when it matters the most. Right. Really kind of becomes the defining element of, of Vegas's game. And like, they were, they were a really good team this year.

[00:13:20] Like they, they, they went to overtime a lot and lost in overtime a lot. I think we had actually more wins than them, but they were getting very bad gold. And you remember that chart I showed, I pulled up the other day, the expected goals against versus the goals against, they were sitting over there with Ottawa where they were like one of the best defensive teams in the league. They're just goaltending sucks. And now, um, no Carter

[00:13:44] McGann gang is, is, um, fucking, you know, he's, he's stepped up to being average, you know, and, and that's all they kind of needed was, was someone to be average for them. Um, it's fascinating case study. Ladies and gentlemen, hang on. It is, where is he? Look who it is. There he is. What's up, that was quick. What's up fellas? I'm on a remote setup here while I'm just getting used to this. I'm, I'm a fish out of water guys. Bear with me. Put

[00:14:14] this up on my phone. Yeah, I got it on. All right. What's going on boys? Some people in the chat were a little upset that you weren't on yet. Yeah. You got like nice curtains back there. What is this? What are you, what are you not in a basement somewhere? Listen, I'm not, I'm not here. I'm not here to, uh, deal with your chirps, Tim. Number one, this guy, Chris, I'm trying to make, do you post this? What do you do? And he's like, I don't know. We really don't do all that stuff. And I'm like, maybe you should, you should start. I was like, so

[00:14:41] you put it out there on the thing and then I'll repost it. Um, so first and foremost, man, congratulations on the new gig. Absolutely. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. It's like, you know, it's kind of like, uh, that scene in, um, Wolf of Wallshire. It's like one of us, one of us, one of us. Right. You're right. We sang your praises earlier in the show. So you can go back and listen to that. We, uh, we, I appreciate that. Make sure you send me the right Zelle address

[00:15:09] so I can send you the guys that 10 bucks each. Let me know where to send that to. You got it. But no, man, you, it's deserved. You, you did, you busted your ass doing a great show for three years and, you know, parlay that into something good. And we're super happy for you, man. No, I really appreciate that, man. Thank you. It means a lot. First, first question is going to be, so Jack, how much should we trade for Brady? Can Chuck? Well, now listen, I, I caught a minute, uh, before Tim, I mean, I listened to all the other stuff

[00:15:37] aside that how can you not love their, their pod, man? There's never been that level of just kind of, and I guess they're not for everybody, but just free flowing thoughts of, of current players and high profile players that really kind of give you the peak. I don't know how you can't love it. I absolutely love it. I hear you. I just, I have my, I'm setting my way. No, I get it. There's a lot going on there, but in terms of just a straight look right into just how these guys think and the things that go on, I mean, it's pretty cool. I'm, I'm honestly surprised that they've been given the,

[00:16:05] the leeway that they've had so far, to be honest. I hope it never changes. What are you talking about? The, the Kachuk brothers, wingmen. Oh, okay. I do have a feeling that, uh, that big Walt might, um, might not get a lot of invites back on. Yeah. He's definitely, he's definitely not helping them stay off the, uh, you know, the principal list maybe. Well, I saw a report today that Florida now is back in the mix for Brady. Um, so yeah,

[00:16:33] I mean, I mean, Brady has, Brady has a no movement clause. So I, you know, there's very few places that I think if, if he does, I, I know, Ace, you think that he is going to, going to go somewhere. At some point, at some point, how is it not, man? He's not resigning in Ottawa. Let's be real. Right. So at that point, maybe not like he, there's no chance. There's zero chance. Zero. It's literally zero. He he's, he's so far gone and he's trying to do the right thing

[00:17:02] along the way, you know, because everyone's looking into it and it's obvious, right? But he's not saying it, but it's obvious and they keep needling them. And it's just, it's come to the point where it's like, it's clear. He's not staying there deal on whether it's this summer at some point next season, the deadline, whatever it is, but they're not going to just lose them for nothing. And so it's going to be a monumental talking point distraction until they do it. So no better time than to do it now and no better place. But Ottawa is, Ottawa is a really good team. That's, that's the thing that's, and that's

[00:17:31] kind of the distinction I draw his situation. Yeah, they are very good. I think I'm with you, Chris. Very good is strong. Very good is strong. They're one of the best teams in the league, but their goaltending let them down. So if, if their goaltending can play there like Ace, hold your ears for a second. They're expected goals against us in the league. All right. So let them down. Hey, I want to backtrack real quick. Ace, you said if you're

[00:17:57] going to trade him, trade him now and where better to trade him. And then Tim interrupted you because he does that a lot, but where were you thinking? What team were you going to say? Obviously I was going to say the devils, but you know, to Tim's point, no matter how good they are and listen, they did something the devils haven't done in a while, right? They made the playoffs back to back years. So to their credit, but are you really going to put them on like a true contender list, Tim right now? Like, I don't think you would

[00:18:24] go that far. Right. So like, are they maybe in the mix? Cool. But there's a lot of teams that are in the mix and you could go somewhere. That's not Ottawa. I mean, he's an American kid. I don't know. It just seems like they've reached the crossroads where it's, it seems inevitable to me that at some point he's going to go somewhere and Florida, you'd imagine would be towards the top of the list. But I would think in the little tier right below that would be the devils because of where they are in projected hopes and dreams of what they're going to be able to do. Um, you know, and all of his ties to New Jersey to me,

[00:18:53] it would be like Florida would probably be his number one destination. And I would have to believe the devils are right there under them. I'll put the devils in Vegas kind of in a sort of secondary tier. That's cool. But you're, you're that next, you know, next best option to going to Florida to play with Matthew. So to be even at that high on the list is not a terrible place to be. No, no, no. I agree. I just, I don't know. I don't guys tend to stay where they are. Like, like, I think the Quinn situation really kind of

[00:19:19] blew up this, like requesting a trade out of certain circumstances. Like I think the Canada U S stuff is going to be blown over, over the next couple of years. And if Ottawa completely, they did and get good goaltending, they will be a very good team. All right. So the only way I see Brady sticking around in Ottawa is if they do a Montreal Canadians next year, right? They go on a great playoff run and you leave, however, the season ends

[00:19:45] feeling really good about your year, really good about your playoff run and coming back next year with something to prove if they just make it in on a wild card next year, or they'd miss the playoffs or even get bounced again in the first round. Yeah. I mean, how much longer is he want to stay there to deal with that when he's it's cause all this noise is just going to get louder. He's either gonna, if he resigned and gets an extension, all right, you quell those voices. But other than that,

[00:20:12] this dude is going to get it all year. And if Nico's not signed by game one, he's going to get it all year. If Quinn's not signed an extension by game one, he's going to get it all year. You got to lock these guys up. Otherwise it causes such a stress and fracture of a locker room that nobody wants to deal with it. And Brady's probably the biggest one. I agree with you, Ace, his wife's from Jersey. He's got ties here. You know, he's friends with the Hughes boys. This

[00:20:36] would easily think I would think be a, a one B behind Florida for him to, to come here. And I'm all for it. Yeah. We've been definitely advocating for it, but like, you know, I'm more moderate than, than you guys are on it. Like, I don't think we have a package that lines up well for them unless we're giving up Nico. And I don't think that makes us better. I think that kind of triggers us into even further down the fucking well of where we already are.

[00:21:05] Well, I think Nico doesn't get, well, look, I mean, we don't know what they're going to do. I think Nico's going to have, I think he's going to sign the extension. I think it's going to be a fair extension. And, um, I don't think we're going to be talking about Nico. He's sure too much past, you know, the middle of July, I think they will lock them up, but I can see the only person I could see Nico getting traded for is Quinn. That's the only thing that I can see happening. And I don't think that either team, I think both the guys are going to sign where they are. I think Quinn stays

[00:21:35] there and Nico stays here. I think so too. I told everybody after the first press conference, Quinn did there, I was like that, that ship has sailed. That's going to be the, the fits fail that the lingering effects are felt of for years, but like, you know, you can't obsess over that, right? Like it sucks. It didn't happen. What can you do now? Revisit. Revisit it when the time comes, I do think he signs at least that where everyone's saying, Oh, he's going to do the three years. Like, okay, probably, but you know, what are you going to

[00:22:02] do until then? Like, obviously I think every team in the league would love to have Quinn, but it didn't happen. And here we are. So what did we, you know, what's the steps for this summer? The big, the big, the big, big summer for Sonny Mato, what is he going to do this summer? And Brady would be a big one who even knows if, you know, Ottawa's considering really moving him, but I feel like you could kind of force their hand. I would love to see something like that happen, obviously. I agree with you. And, and I mean, look, I think a Quinn's decision is going to

[00:22:33] depend a lot on also like what team is closer to actually winning a cup. Is it the Minnesota wild or is it going to be the devils after this summer? And we see how the season goes. Minnesota has a brutal division to go through. Um, and then you still have to deal with the Colorado's to Dallas's. I don't think that they are better than either one of those teams. Um, so ACE is only on what audio. Yeah. I'm sorry. I texted him a question about something. So

[00:23:00] sorry, that's, that's, that's my fault. Um, hold on. He's back. You screwed me up, Tim. Sorry. My bad. That's a, I didn't realize it was going to do that. I'll tell you later. I forgot your own your phone. I apologize. Yeah. Yeah. We have a, sorry. I missed the last part of that. What better you're something, something with Quinn. Oh, I was saying who, who, who's going to be better? Uh, team wise, like who's going to be closer to it. I mean, listen, I mean, I think most

[00:23:28] devils fans would like to believe the answer is the devils, but you know, if you're asking completely objective parties, I believe you're probably going to get 80. How are you going to argue with the wild? They just want to play off round. The devils were playing golf. So, I mean, yeah, obviously a lot changes to next year, but if you're just looking at recent, the most recent history, you're like, the devils are, you know, to, to people that aren't believers, a little bit of a train wreck, you know, miss, miss the playoffs to the last three seasons. Like how are you going to argue

[00:23:55] with that against what the wild just did with their regular season, with the guys that are going to have for next year? I think on paper, you would have to say the wild are closer now in a world with, could the devils be closer? Sure. And especially when you consider the other teams in the past to get there, but you know, as it stands right now today, I have to believe the honest answer is the wild with a lot to follow up, obviously after that. I agree. I agree. I think, you know, if any way that

[00:24:23] any of these guys want out Quinn or Brady is if they ask for it and if their teams are good and their teams are successful, they're probably not going to ask for it because why on earth, to your point, why on earth would Quinn be with the wild and they're tearing it up and he'd be like, no, let me go to fucking 15th place. Well, but, but to that point, Tim, maybe short of not

[00:24:47] necessarily asking for it, I think failing to sign the extension at the appropriate time could be seen as inadvertently or, you know, low key kind of asking for it, right? They might not be straight up saying trade me, but if you don't sign the extension, like, well now that's kind of a door we're going to have to explore. If you know, you're a GM, not looking to get caught with your pants down kind of situation and lose somebody for, for nothing or a lesser return by waiting longer. Yeah. You don't

[00:25:13] want to end up like Toronto. And the longer you go on the worse of return. And you know, it's, it'd be interesting. Exactly what you said, Ace, right? Like you can kind of read the tea leaves with what goes on this summer. If Meta starts making moves and the devils early in July start, Oh shit. Look, you know, they got picked up this guy, whatever. And he starts securing some of the pieces that were missing and Quinn's not locked up in Minnesota yet. Is there a world where Quinn's just kind of sitting back and I want to see what some of these other teams are doing right now,

[00:25:41] especially in New Jersey. I, I am a big time Minnesota Viking fan. So I am on, I listen to a lot of Viking podcasts and stuff, and there's a lot of overlap between twins and wild. So I, I trolled the wild fans a lot and Tim, keep it under the table. I trolled the wild fans a lot. It is insane how many wild fans believe that we are trading Jack Hughes to Minnesota because they want to play together. And I'm like, you guys forget there's a third brother who is here for another

[00:26:10] seven years. Like this, it's not just a Jack and Quinn world. That's, that's to me, the, the, the pinnacle of insane fan. Listen, I, I go down the road of playing pipe dream stuff, but I always preface it with like pipe dream stuff, you know, crazy out there ideas, but realizing that's exactly what it is. I do believe a lot of those fans. Yeah. I do think a lot of the wild fans think that stuff. And like, even before the Olympics, I believe that the ownership group, it would have

[00:26:37] taken something completely ridiculous for them to even consider trading Jack pre-Olympics after the Olympics. They're not even considered, like honestly, as crazy as it sounds, if they called up and offered McDavid, I think that they would might be like, we're not interested. Just that is now the, the stratosphere of, you know, marketing power and whatever else you want to call it that Jack Hughes has, he has, he has a level of cachet that, you know, especially right now coming off of

[00:27:05] it. Yeah. Who else has scored a golden goal? Sid. Okay. Who else? He's in the club of two. Oh, the thing. Well, yeah. And it's for America and you're an American team. Like it's just, you know, it is what it is. He's, he's the franchise for sure going forward. And he's also dating like one of the hottest pop stars on the fucking planet. Like he's spending all this time in New Jersey at the Jersey shore as is Quinn. We should actually, Chris, we should actually start

[00:27:31] putting graphics up on our Twitter page with like days that Quinn has spent in New Jersey versus days that he spent in Minnesota. Well, that was, that was one of the, uh, the things I got into with a wild fan and he's like, you know, why would anyone want to play in New Jersey? I'm like, you know what? You're right. A 20 something year old, good looking millionaire dating a hot pop star doesn't want to live 10 minutes away from New York city and 20 minutes away from every nightclub along the Jersey shore. Why the fuck would he want to do that? I want to go freeze his ass off in

[00:27:57] Minneapolis all fucking winter. I, I, I feel so bad for them though. Like back in the day, you, you know, guys would get, especially the young guys, you go to bars and things and like, it was normal. Now everywhere they go, you know, you see these weird photos look like someone taking it from a tree stand from 300 yards out. Like they literally can't go anywhere without, you know, the sniper phone video camera and it sucks. And I feel bad for them. I don't even know if I was them

[00:28:24] that I'd even want to do it. Like it seems to the point where it'd probably be somewhat unenjoyable, honestly. Like why would you even want to go deal with that? Like I'd be chilling. That's the other thing about like being a hockey player in New Jersey, New York and that in this area is like, he could literally for the most part wander around New York and never, nobody gives a fuck who he is. They're like, Oh, there's the little five foot 10 guy and a tall girlfriend who's

[00:28:48] taller than him. Oh wait, before I forget it, I got to do the shameless plug. Everybody go sign up for a subscribe rather. Speaking of the devils, the new YouTube home. I got to get that out there before I forget and getting all. Yeah. So when, when does this all officially lost your audio? Hang on. We lost his audio. You guys hear me? We got you. We got, I got a call. You can hear me now. Sorry. Yep.

[00:29:12] Speaking of the devils and I'm, I'm thinking my first show on there is going to be a call to me tribute. I'm already talking to some people and I'm going to try to have some of his former teammates and, you know, other people from the hockey world, uh, come on and talk about Claude Tarot. Just devastating news of all the similar stories over the years. This one probably messed me up the most, honestly. Love, love the pet. Yeah, for sure. Well, you know, please take the floor. We already,

[00:29:39] we discussed it a little bit, but you know, please, I mean, listen, I'm still, it's still so super fresh. Um, you know, the details of it, I don't, you know, until we see something more than TMZ, I don't want to really go too much into that sort of thing, but yeah, yeah. But just in terms of the player that he was, man, uh, he's a guy that I have put, you know, obviously I'm an old school, old school guy. So I like all the throwback stuff. And, you know, for the past couple of years or so,

[00:30:06] I've constantly had him at the top of my list for players, at least, you know, because of all the illustrious guys we've had over the years in coaching and management, uh, ring of honor, we have tons of guys that should be put in immediately, but in terms of just player outside of, you know, the coach and, and, and Lou obviously, and doc and those types of guys, players, Pep has been at the top of my list. One of only two consmite winners in devil's history. Obviously Stevens being the other one in 2000. And then the great Marty, uh, hosing as Sonny made it called

[00:30:34] their vote three, but one of two devils consmite winners, a two-time cup champ one in 95. He goes to Colorado wins again in 96 with the abs eventually finds his way back earlier in 2000. And another, another one of those super, you know, finger on the pulse of the team. Lou moves, brings Claude back in trades out Ralston, a promising young guy who went on to have a pretty good career for himself. Another USA hockey guy enroll. He went out to Colorado. Claude comes back

[00:30:58] and they went again. I mean, yeah, just super, super, uh, important guy in devil's history, throwback warrior, the type of guy you wish you saw more of across the league. Honestly, it's all, it's almost like a dying breed, but I think I caught it a little bit before if you guys talk, just talking about what a, what a playoff warrior and the type of guy that he was. And it's definitely, the exact element that I've thought this devil's team has been missing for quite some time now.

[00:31:24] Yeah. He's never been replaced. And I don't know if he ever could replace a guy like Claude, but what he did for every team that he won cups on is it just to be such an integral part of that playoff run for all three teams. And like you said, that having Lou, having the pulse on the league and knowing what that team needed and bringing him back to just do it all over again. Like Claude is Tony. Well, Tony, who's not here right now, his that's his all time favorite player. I mean,

[00:31:52] not just devil, I'm talking all time favorite player is Claude Lemieux. And you can't really argue with it, right? Well, like for all the new live guys, you guys are going to get a kick out of Tony. If he comes back, he's the best. He's, he's out there. But when you know, Tony and you listen to him, you're like, all right, I could totally see why Claude was his all time favorite player. You know, they, it kind of fits. And that run he went on 95, 96, 2000, like that kind of solidified that you absolutely need that

[00:32:22] kind of piece of shit on your team. Like in peace, I say piece of shit, like in the best possible way, like you need that type of piece of shit on your team to, to win cups. Like you absolutely do. And you look at Florida last year, they cornered the market on that type of guy. Yeah, they did. Yeah, they did. I mean, it, Marshawn, Sam Bennett, you know, those guys play 70% of what Claude brought, you know, in the playoffs and those guys are amazing, but I mean,

[00:32:50] maybe I'm biased, but I just, this, this one hurts, man. This sucks. Especially just seeing them a couple of nights ago with the torch in Montreal. This is rough, man. Sucks. Yeah. I definitely wasn't expecting it or the, the, again, the unconfirmed secondary kind of portion of it that came out a little while after. Yeah. After seeing him with the torch, it is just, it's crazy. It's crazy. And he's a guy I've wanted to talk to for a while. I had texted him a couple of times and he, he would say, you know, I'm busy, blah, blah, blah,

[00:33:20] the whole, the whole thing. But yeah, it's a, he was a guy definitely, you know, because of who he is in history. He was a guy I really, really wanted to talk to, but. And you know, Ace, you, you get some of his old teammates in and talking like the stories that I've heard from other teammates about Claude. Yeah. The guy was a fucking animal on every level and absolutely just a ball buster. Got everybody loved him. And I mean, the stories that he,

[00:33:49] that I've heard about him, I mean, that would make one of the best shows just listening to guys sitting there telling stories about Pepe. For sure. So, for sure. So what are you thinking about the, the final so far? Well, well, you know, what's your thoughts on the Habs in Carolina? Are you brokenhearted like me? Just, you know, watching Carolina, they've been good forever, but just owning the devils for so long, you don't want to, or, you know, most people don't want to

[00:34:16] see them win a cup, obviously. And so now I guess the last line of defense, assuming they close out that series, which I think they will, is going to be the golden Knights. And what a story, you know, unrelated to the devils, the Mitch Marner redemption arc, right? I mean, I'm happy for him. He's taken so many arrows over the years. And I do think Toronto is just completely cursed if I'm being honest, which is another reason why I think if Matthews got out of there, you'd see a different Matthews, but man, Mitch Marner, it's got to feel so good to be him. There's been some interesting

[00:34:42] quotes from him, you know, kind of throughout the playoffs, but my God, what a story that would be. And I'd imagine Leafs fans will be in absolute shambles watching him skate the cup and possibly the con smite as well. What a story for that guy. I do not hate that at all, that he knows that he's like, it was just such so fucking delicious because he was, he was like such a good player with Toronto. I get people have their playoff narratives and yeah, sure. Maybe he made some mistakes and didn't

[00:35:11] necessarily produce and in the playoffs, he still was like a point of game guy in the playoffs, like giving up on him and not replacing him or trying to replace them in the aggregate. Like they did with like Michelli and some other fucking bag of trash. That was so dumb. And just right now he should be the con smite front runner on the Western conference side, the Eastern conference side. This hurts my soul to watch this happen. Like I want nothing more. Like I really

[00:35:37] hope this call the muse stuff now gives, gives Montreal some juice that that's what I hope because they need to get back in this, but they've been getting their asses kicked in every series and somehow winning. And I think it's just kind of, it's over baby. It's over. Shane Gossespierre and over on, on 32 thoughts, Elliot Friedman quoted Shane Gossespierre was great quote. He said, we dragged people out into the deep water. Oh, and there I go. I froze. Yeah. I'll be right back.

[00:36:04] You know, they, the Carolina to me is like, okay, they finally have some guys that can score some goals. Like that was always their Achilles heel in the playoffs. Right. They just couldn't get the big time goals from people, but now they have, you know, Jackson Blake stank oven Taylor hall. Um, and I will call Taylor hall. It's another one, man. Right. Taylor hall. Speaking of call them,

[00:36:31] you like, he's taking a third line role. He's fucking, I, every, every clip I see of him is him kind of like putting someone through the boards and sort of borderline hit. Like I definitely gotten a little nastier. It's yeah. And again, I think that that happens as part of culture, right? You're surrounded by guys that are doing all this, doing anything to win. You're like, you know what? I'm going to, I'm going to muck it up a little bit more too. I'm going to get a little more smart crafty vet. Um, I guess that'd be the only, you know, I'm not that near nearly as

[00:36:59] invested in seeing him win, but you know, if they did win, the one thing would be like as much as it pains to say like Taylor hall, man, no, not even a little bit. He's our only hard trophy winner. I mean, that means something that team was never getting to the playoffs. He literally dragged them there. Like again, I don't want to see it, but I completely agree. But at the same time, if he was on any other team, since Carolina flyers, definitely the Rangers

[00:37:26] Islanders, maybe, um, I can probably stomach it, but I can't stomach it with Carolina. Oh, the kids are fighting in the chat. It's fun. Um, but, uh, girls, what the fuck is happening in this? Oh no, I don't even want to know. I can't see the chat. I mean, I'm better for it. I know you're, you're free now for now. Yeah. Uh, feels good not to have to do that stuff, by the way. When do you, um, so when do you like officially start? Like when, when do you speak

[00:37:56] of the devils next week, speaking of the devils, go subscribe if you're not already. And I, yeah, I'm thinking the first thing is going to be, I didn't want it to be obviously, but I think I was thinking about doing it sooner, but I want to do it right. I'm going to try to get a bunch of guys on the call to me tribute show, man. It's just wow. And I hope that those details that came out or end up not being true, but I feel like more times than not, they end up being true. TMZ kind of nails, nails. Usually, usually they don't, they don't get that stuff wrong. I don't think.

[00:38:26] I don't know what those details are. It's just fine. Like, I know that they're talking that it's a possible suicide. I don't know anything else, but, but that, but, um, you know, mental illness is no fucking joke and it's horrifying. It's absolutely horrifying that, uh, you know, the pain that somebody has to be in to actually get to that point, no matter who you are. And I, I, my heart breaks for him, his family. It's terrible. It's absolutely terrible. Look at that. You got a link right there for speaking to devil show. Thank you, Zach. You're right up there.

[00:38:57] Appreciate you, Zach. Appreciate you. I have no capabilities right now. I'm going to keep it up for the rest. So are you, um, so you're going to be writing and everything for them too. I'm going to be doing everything right. And everything video writing. It's a, it's very exciting. Very, very exciting. I have a lot of ideas. If I could execute even a quarter of them, I think, um, people will be happy. I'm going to have a CG of all kinds of like bullshit trade ideas and stuff like that too. Yeah. I mean, you're going

[00:39:24] to have access to everybody, right? Well, I mean, as much as a, as much as that goes. Yeah. Which is, you know, that's pretty awesome. No softballs, man. No softball. I'm not a softball guy. I'm not a softball guy, but listen, I will say people, you know, I do think people like to see people rough, ruffle feathers and like, listen, I'm not going to back down from asking tough questions, but I'm also never going to, I don't know how to frame this, but like

[00:39:52] for the sake of being a dick. Right. Thank you. I think that's a great, yeah. Like the guy in Toronto. Um, did you see that? Oh my God, dude. With when they hired Shaka dude, that was ridiculous. I thought that was, I thought that was legitimate line of questions. He came across as a snarky smug prick, but what was the call? Didn't he say like this guy, like he, it was, it was, he was asking the owner while Shaka sitting there. As if

[00:40:18] he wasn't there. Yeah. But he's asking the owner, but, but the 19 or 20 people that I talked to have called this guy a fraud and a con artist and it's like, holy shit, man, what are you doing? And then that was just, yeah, man. That's yeah. That's to me. I don't have a problem with the line of questioning. I think, okay. Oh, but Chris, if you're going to let that fly,

[00:40:43] right. Okay. You're saying cool. And like, was it the most horrible thing ever? No, there's probably worse things. And you could make the argument that it's fair and whatever. Right. But then on the flip side of that, okay. You said it was cool. Can Shaka then be like, this guy is a jerk and I'm never talking to him again. What would you say after that? That's his right. Okay. So then fair game then, but you have the right to maybe ask the question, but then live with the repercussions of your question. No doubt. And if he would have come

[00:41:11] out and said, you know, look, I spoke to a lot of people in management positions, your reputation is, you know, whatever, however you want to word it, right. Your reputation is of, of, you know, somebody that can't be trusted, somebody that always, whatever it is, like, how do you answer to that now? What do you have to say? How have you grown from that? What's different now that, you know, you've learned from your time in Arizona and he probably would have gotten away with,

[00:41:38] you know, actually having a decent exchange and get to the bottom of some of those things. But he came across as just a smug prick who was just waiting for his second to go up there and, and be a viral clip. And he was, and everybody was talking about. Absolutely. So it's like, and at that point, it already frames it as somewhat disingenuous to me, right? Cause you said he was trying to do the viral clip and the, to me, yeah, the whole thing is like, it was a look at me moment,

[00:42:04] shock value kind of thing. And I think that's kind of lame. Yeah. Um, and I'm curious to see what kind of becomes of that guy. Just yesterday, he wrote something about like Mitch Marner again. And it's a buddy, like, give it up. Like he's not Toronto anymore. You write for the Toronto sun. Like, calm down. You fucking cry, baby. Leave it alone. Um, do you know what you need to ask Sonny though? If you ever get the opportunity that nobody asked in his press conference, nobody asked him

[00:42:29] about music. Like, is he going to pop up at like a fucking coffee shop in North Jersey with like just playing guitar, like, like open mic night. Maybe we can get them together for a poker game. Let's do that. I want to play cards with Sonny Maeda. He would, um, eat your lunch. This is actually a good point in here. Somebody wrote, I would have wanted to watch a Fitz presser with media credential ACE. I'm with you. I would have loved to have seen you go, go with a Fitz, especially at the end.

[00:42:57] No, but again, I would, had that had ever happened, I wouldn't have been a jerk about it. I would have asked, you know, legitimate questions that people wanted to know, but you know, like, Hey man, what are you doing? What aren't you doing? Hey man. Um, what the fuck? I have to do a quick super ad read guys and we will hop back on. Well, you guys will stay here, but just, you know, sorry guys. Got to do this. Got to pay the bills. The Stanley cup playoffs are

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[00:43:52] and use code THPN. So you're ready for the moment. That's code THPN turn five bucks into $100 in bonus bets instantly in partnership with draft Kings. The crown is yours. Okay. Now that was good time. We'll get it. That was a, that was a pretty good pace there. That was a real good pace. Like to pop them off quick. Wait, is this a new, is those new headphones for you, Chris, by the way, or is it the combo of the white on white? I don't know. There's something

[00:44:18] different. It just looks a little, I don't know. They are. Okay. I was like, there's something different. There's something different. He's got the, he's got the white on white. I like it. I like it. I'm the only one that wears a head buds. My, my stupid earbuds, only one ear works and then it'll just, all of a sudden it'll go quiet and I got to fuck around with the wire and I'm constantly like trying to hold it in place. So I got these. I've contemplated going headphones many a times. I'm still, I'm still not sure. I got to figure it

[00:44:46] out because there is, there is benefits to it, but I'm also like, I don't know. I don't like being tethered in any way and I'm just kind of all over the place and it's another thing to rip out or break or, you know, something else, but you're bulky. You got to kind of, there's a lot of stuff. I like to be free. I like to be free, but I don't know. I might embrace it. We'll have to see. I've tested a couple. Well, when you do your show, most of the time you do it running what you were doing, running with the devil by yourself. So you really didn't need the headphones. Right. So

[00:45:13] like, what do you, do you wear anything when you have other people on or do you just listen to do your computer speakers? I have it through the, through the speaker. Yeah. But there's been, there's been times where I'm like, yeah, the headphones would be good, but I don't know. We'll see. I'll test it out. Maybe I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to do something cool to them though. You know, I'm gonna get like a goalie mask type paint job on the cops. I'll get some obnoxiously big ones. I've had, I've almost got them just for that alone, but the tech benefits are there as well. That's actually a really good idea. You just retrofit

[00:45:41] one of those old Marty masks that you have with like headphones. That'd be awesome. Wearing that rink side as you're doing. I got a lot of ideas. I got a lot of ideas for, you know, some art. I cannot wait to check out the new show, man. I can't wait to see what you do next. It's super exciting. We're very happy for you. It's like local boy done good, right? Appreciate it. Jim Dowd of podcasting. Buy silver. Buy silver.

[00:46:09] Jim Dowd, he would try to, every time I talk to him, he tells you to go out and buy silver when he was on the show. Like as a commodity? Yeah. Like, oh, the world economy is about to collapse. And as long as you have silver, you're going to be okay. When we're done doing this show, I'm driving to Delaware. I'm meeting a guy. I'm like, you're a silver guy? Yeah. A silver guy. And he's going down. He's buying silver. All right. It's interesting. Yeah. It's the best. New Jersey legend. But he's all kooky. Yeah. Well, he's from Jersey.

[00:46:38] That's a guy you can get on your, to talk Claude. He played with him in 95. I got a big list. I got a big list. Yeah. It really sucks, man. It's still. Yeah. It hurts. And, um, you know, I'm curious now, like, uh, when he was, cause he, you know, we talked a little bit about him being an agent. Did he actually have an agency or was he just a guy that had a few clients in the NHL or in other sports? Like what happens now to guys like team?

[00:47:08] I believe I don't quote me on this. I forget. I looked into this a while ago. I believe he's an agent in some sort of like agency group or whatever. I don't think it was like him on his own. I think he was like, you know, under the umbrella of someone else. Wasn't Jerry Maguire-ing the shit? Yeah. No, I think he was part of four sports hockey. So not like, not like a CIA or anything like that, that covers everything, but like kind of a

[00:47:33] niche hockey agency, you know, uh, Ace, I want to get your opinion on, um, Sheldon Keefe, uh, pretty much sticking around. I mean, that's what it seems like. What's your feelings on that? I, I think, listen, uh, the guy who I would assign most of the blame for the shortcomings of the New Jersey Devils over the past couple of seasons, he, he, whether, you know, he resigned, whatever you

[00:47:58] want to call it. He was no longer the Devils general manager for a couple months now, month and a half. I think it'd be, um, short-sighted to make Sheldon fall on that sword as well. I, obviously the injuries and everything else played a big part, but in the end, when you had the track record of, of boosting the roster, what it was with fits for those Sheldon Keefe two years, I think it'd be unfair to not at least give them this season coming up with, I'm not saying to give them the longest

[00:48:26] leash ever, but I think with a guy like Sonny made it at the helm, I'm expecting the team to look a little, a little different, at least going into next season, how much different we'll find out over the course of the summer, but with a slightly tweaked or improved team going into next year, hopefully relative health and a guy like Sonny that hopefully can adjust on the fly. Something we had not seen from fits during the season. It was basically inactivity for in season and deadlines, but just small nothingness. Right. Yeah. Uh, and tried to do his, his heavy lifting in the summers.

[00:48:56] I think Sonny is going to be way more proactive. And if there's something that's a glaring need, you know, he's not going to do the, what the hope and wish or hope and wait, whatever it was and hope that it just fixes itself and he'll go out there and do something to actually improve the roster. And I think Keefe deserves that chance. I mean, I was kind of, uh, on the boat before the season ended that when it was kind of in the cards that we knew fits was going to be gone, or at least we were all kind of hoping, uh, I was of the mindset of, you got to get rid of Keefe too.

[00:49:25] You got to get rid of anybody that's associated with this stank on this team right now. And then, um, I kind of came around and was like, plus there, there's really no other option out there. Um, you know, I can't think of anybody that I would rather have than Keefe. Um, one thing that does give me a little pause is the Brendan Dillon comments that just came out with him talking about

[00:49:48] some, some locker room turmoil and shit like that. Like if that's part of Keefe's job, like where was the, um, I would love to know. And maybe you'll get actually some answers down the road, uh, you know, this coming season, but that's, uh, something that worries me a little bit about Keefe or was it all just kind of that country club attitude that fits was portraying everybody. And it all kind of just,

[00:50:14] you know, you, he was the fucking ringleader of everything. And, uh, you know, he was telling Keefe kind of, you know, style to play things like that. And you know, no, it's gotta be defense. It's gotta be this, gotta be that plus couple with the injuries. I'm not a hundred percent sure how I feel about it. I agree with you. I think he absolutely deserves the right to come back. Uh, this is not on him. Um, you said, I, you just, you, did you use the word stench or stank?

[00:50:42] You mentioned, you said, and I understand the thought process of like cleansing everybody associated with that. I can totally get where you're coming from with that. But with this particularly, I will say that that stench was there well before Sheldon Keefe came. That is not a Sheldon Keefe. That is not a Sheldon Keefe induced stench. That was lingering well before he got here. And I cannot put that on him. I cannot, that was here before he got here. Maybe he didn't

[00:51:08] completely the elevator. Yeah, that was, he caught, he caught some backwinds of whatever was going on before. So I can't, I can't fault him for that. And I also can't blame him for not being able to reel it all in back to the Dylan comments and all these things. Yeah. Would you ideally like a coach to be able to navigate some of these things better? Probably. But in the end, I do think that's more of a top-down culture thing. And I'm blaming, unfortunately, the guy that told us there was

[00:51:37] a country club atmosphere and the one that started the stench. Yeah. And we all should have just had our red flags up when the no dickhead comment came out. Like we all, that shit, we all should have seen that writing on the wall. Like this is going to fail and blow up in his face. So fucking bad to have a kumbaya attitude and everybody, you know, loving each other and getting along and all that other stuff does not work in the NHL. And the no dickhead comment should have been,

[00:52:04] but that's a great point. You know, you're right. The stench was there before Keith. So, I mean, again, I'm curious how much, how much runway he'll get. And I think, you know, a couple of dickheads. We, well, we need some still. Like, do we even have any dickheads? Yeah. That would have been a question. That would have been a question I would have asked. I would, I would have said, are you referring to on ice play or like locker room? I agree. You don't want those guys in the locker room, but on ice, I want four of them. Yeah. Give me four.

[00:52:33] You always hear about like, you know, like Marsh and like these guys who are real fucking pricks on the ice. Nicest people off the ice. Brendan Dillon, great example. Yeah. Yeah. Just nicest guys in the world. And you know, George Peros was like that. So that's pretty funny. And you know, with the keep thing, the way I always look at it and like, you know, I just finished a blog that's publishing on Saturday about goalies. And it's like, is there a window to get

[00:53:00] out of the Marstrom deal? And it's kind of, you can, you need to look at like, what is the alternative going to be? It's not like, Hey, we just need to get rid of this guy. It's like, what's going to fill that void? And I know there's a lot of people that think we should trade Nico, but the biggest problem with trading Nico was what's going to fill that void. And there isn't anything out there that's going to fill that void. So you always need to look at the alternatives. And I don't really like

[00:53:26] coach wise, like what the alternatives are that are out there. No, I mean, I can think of a few guys I would prefer over Markstrom, but not, not with the coach right now. And if the devils do trade Nico, he sure I trust Sonny meta, uh, in anything he does, I absolutely has the benefit of the doubt. In my opinion, that will break my heart. I love Nico, but at the same time, you know, it's for the team and I care more about them. So that'll be interesting to see what happens,

[00:53:55] you know, this summer. Is there any goalies I ace that you would like to kind of see an upgrade with, or, you know, are you kind of like us where we've kind of reserved our right, that it's going to be Markstrom and Allen and there's really nothing that we're going to do about it. Yeah. You know, look, you gotta, uh, as unlikely as it may be, I think everyone's hoping for the big marquee, somewhat of a bounce back year, despite how unlikely it may be given his age and the injuries

[00:54:22] and all that stuff, you know, in a, in an ideal world, what would be a great devil's scenario for a goalie? Obviously those hellebuck rumors that he might be out, but you know, the devils only have so many assets. Right. And so to Tim's point earlier, like once you do something big that affects everything going forward. So I don't know, I have no idea what the price on hellebuck would be. I'd imagine it's not cheap, but that was a guy that when those supposedly credible rumors came out was, I think a few summers ago now, two years where the devils were the first playoff run. It

[00:54:51] was three years ago. Yeah. When I heard that I was jacked, you know, to get a guy, I'm, I'm, I'm a Lou guy, right? You build from the net out. We saw all the years with Marty, get that stud guy. I thought Akira at the time could have been the guy, but going into that next season into 23, 24 with Akira and Vanacek, I was like, I'm not sold on that whatsoever. Go get hellebuck. I would have loved to have seen a hellebuck Akira Schmidt tandem. Yeah. And,

[00:55:19] you know, it all fizzled out, whatever happened. And at the time people were like, how are you going to pay hellebuck $8 million? That's crazy. And it's like, who wouldn't, who wouldn't kill right now to have hellebuck for 8 million bucks? I mean, it's just, it's yeah. Yeah. And if you listen to the show, the night that we were eliminated from by Carolina in the second round three years ago, I said, we need to get rid of, we need to upgrade goaltending. We are going nowhere with this. And

[00:55:46] then all of a sudden the hellebuck stuff came out. We were so on that hellebuck bandwagon. We wanted him here so bad. And then it just fizzled away. Right. Shifley ended up signing the extension of Winnipeg. He ended up signing the extension of Winnipeg and now, you know, everybody wants out of Winnipeg. So I I'm curious what that would look like to get Connor Hallibuck here. I mean, I just think there's too many other pressing needs to prioritize it. If somehow it materialized,

[00:56:11] I would, it'd be phenomenal, but I just feel like you really got to address that top six hole. And that's gotta be primary. Like you cannot keep pushing that off. It's been put off for years now since Toffoli was never really replaced and all the answers are in the room and maybe it's going to be Dawson and maybe grits and you know, no more like there, there needs to be a legitimate top six guy added stat and then figure everything else out in my opinion. Yep. I think the defense needs to be reworked too, but yeah, Tim, what were you saying?

[00:56:39] Yeah. It's just about trade assets. We have very few viable trade assets, you know, and, and from, in terms of guys on our roster, like that are NHL players, like Nemech and Mercer are probably the only two guys that are viable players in the NHL right now that are, they're really tradable. Maybe Haminaho, if, if it gets to that, then you'd start looking at our draft picks, you know, it's like our first overall this year and then whatever else we have. So.

[00:57:08] And you have the core guys. Yeah. But like what I'm talking about protected though, or a, for a trade. So like for Hellebuck, you would probably need a pretty massive trade that's centered around a plus prospect, a good roster player and multiple picks, you know, like Quinn being the generational player and look at what he got. And that's a pretty good barometer of packages for the best player at his position type of players.

[00:57:35] Um, so someone will pay that much for Hellebuck probably a little bit less. I would think goalies are a little bit more, he, the hell bucks older probably doesn't have as much runway as Quinn does. And, um, and goalies for whatever reason are really undervalued. Like you look at like Logan Thompson got two third round picks and that's what he was traded for. So it really kind of, kind of depends, but like, I mean, if we do get rid of Marshall, there's that second bio window,

[00:58:02] but, um, the, the UFA class, like the best goalie in the UFA class is probably Stu Skinner and Freddie Anderson. And Freddie Anderson is almost as old as we are. Um, the, the, you know, RFAs were getting into offer sheet territory, which we don't have the assets that we can give up for an offer sheet. And then you're looking to start looking at trades and it's like, do we have enough assets in like enough bullets in the chamber to make a trade for a goalie and bring in that top

[00:58:32] the way I said, like top six wing is absolutely what needs to happen. Like Timo just hasn't been the idea of Timo. Isn't what the reality of Timo has worked out. And I liked the idea that ACE has brought up on his show of pairing Timo with a guy like Brady to kind of unlock it. Cause the two of those together would be like a fucking bash brothers, just killing people. It's simple. What happened to Timo. This is not a, I don't think this is a, a, a knock on him as far

[00:59:00] as play wise, his, he doesn't give a shit anymore. Timo Meyer came in, right? Played great for us in the playoffs against the Rangers. He signed his big contract and we have not seen Timo play that way consistently since that big contract. You have to get them back just fucking playing like a frigging dog. Like they're talking right now and they're right in the, in the chat about how he's playing at worlds right now. Like that's what the Timo we need. Timo got lax and you know, he got comfortable

[00:59:27] and I honestly believe that. And I think a guy like Sonny Mata can actually get that out of him because I don't think that Sonny will be putting up with any bullshit. I think if you are not on board with the direction that he wants to take this team, he's going to get rid of you. Can't wait for all of Aces viewers to, to hear the Tim Wood. Are you going to slander Timo right now? No. Are you about to do Timo slander? I'm just going to tell people that wingside doesn't matter at the NHL level.

[00:59:53] I just, for, for this particular case, man, I just, what, what harm, if it doesn't matter, what harm is trying it? He came from that. That's what he was doing in Santa Fe. Let's just try it. Let's just try it. Why the hell not? Maybe it's silly, but maybe it's not. Let's just try it. I know it doesn't matter, and I know face-offs don't matter, Tim. Well, look. Okay. I misspoke when I said face-offs don't matter. Situational face-offs matter.

[01:00:18] Aggregated face-off percentage doesn't matter. I have no idea what you, is you reading chat stuff? No. So, so, so Timo needs power play time. It needs to be the focal trigger man on the power play. Yes. The problem then that becomes is we have five. Let's just, let's just start with power play time, right? I don't even think he needs to be the focal guy. Just get him out there. Just get him out there. Put him on the first unit. The problem is we have five forwards for four forward spots on power play one,

[01:00:45] and that's kind of the problem. So, like, we either need him to produce more at five on five or get more power play one time. Like, that's kind of the simplest part of it. I didn't say face-offs matter. I said situational face-offs. I am not on the trading Timo bin at all. I, I, I think that you need a guy like Timo. We just have to get him back to fucking playing like he gives a shit, and I think that this year we're going to see a different Timo.

[01:01:14] I really do believe that. And the one guy on that top six that I'm worried about, other than, of course, Jack staying healthy, is Brad. Like, he's the other guy. Like, me, Brad's got to get more consistent. He's got to stop being, you know, go on these 12-game, 13-game scoreless streaks. And I get it. He's an assist, you know, machine. But look, you don't win. You know, you got to put the puck behind the, behind the goalie. And he's good at it. He just doesn't do it enough. He disappears for time.

[01:01:41] So, that's my, those are my major concerns. But a guy like, you mentioned Brady. I know we've talked a lot about guys like Matthew Nyes. We talked about guys like Kairu and, you know, Thomas and things like that. Those are guys I would love, any one of them I'd love to see on the team. I'd love to see if Rob Thomas came here, if Jack, he would play with Jack, if Jack would just go to the wing then, you think? I mean, that would, you know. Yeah. I mean, Jack is, Jack is a Patrick Kane prototype. You know, put him on the wing.

[01:02:09] And, you know, they would shine. And that also insulates us from, from a Jack injury. The other only issue with putting Jack on the boards, basically on a wing side is, is that puts him more in vulnerable positions for him. At risk. Yeah. At risk. Yes. It puts him more at risk. Although I think he's gotten better at avoiding and escaping contact. He's very, he's very elusive, but you're not going to be able to dodge them all. No, no. And come playoff time.

[01:02:35] He got, he got fucking killed by some, oh, it was Pacioretty against Toronto. He got fucking leveled by him. Um, like this past season and then he popped right back up. So it's just that awkward angle with his shoulder. Like every time he goes to the boards, I'm going to cringe. I'm going to be like, please get up. But we got them and Minnesota doesn't. So fuck you wild fans. Um, Tasha's right. Luke puts himself in some, Luke puts himself in bad situations, but you know, and then, and that decor is going to run through him this year. Like he's got to be, he's got to be

[01:03:05] the main guy. I believe in Luke Hughes. I believe that Luke's going to take it up a notch. Ace, I have a question for you to ask, uh, to ask him. Um, so if, um, we're so adamant about getting Quinn here, does Luke still sit at the kids table at Thanksgiving when, uh, during the Hughes family Thanksgiving? Man, that must've been so brutal for him to watch that whole Olympics. And hopefully it just fuels them to try to make the 2030 team. But man, that was just, and both,

[01:03:33] you know, Quinn scores the overtime goal against Sweden in the quarters. And then Jack scores the golden goal. Like my God, do you think he's sitting in like a super dark room? Just like eating popcorn and yeah. Yeah. I could do that too. No, it's, it's, um, that left side of the USD D depth chart, like Wierenski Quinn Slavin. Then you have a comb now lane Hudson. It's pretty bad. Luke's like probably seventh or eighth on that depth chart. Keandre Miller now is playing

[01:04:03] great in these playoffs. Like he's unlocked a whole, a whole new level. So sorry, Luke, probably not competition. Yeah. All right, boys. I think we're going to wrap this thing up tonight. Unless there's any final thoughts that you guys want to discuss. No, good doubles. RIP Pepe. It's tough. Um, tough news today. That's that sucks. I cannot believe, cannot believe that happened.

[01:04:27] It's just, uh, I can't believe I'm planning a, a pep reunion, uh, reunion, a pep tribute show in 2026. I mean, did not anticipate that whatsoever. 60 years old. Um, but you know, mental illness is no fucking joke and it's awful. You say he's almost as old as Bobby. That's fantastic. And, uh, for the new people that hopped on today, just because Ace was on the show, I hope, you know, you, you join us.

[01:04:56] And, uh, we thank you guys and Ace again, congratulations on everything, man. And, uh, we're going to have, we're going to try and get you on a lot this summer. So yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Until, until they tell you like, Hey, you can't go on those guys anymore. They make too many incest and like dick jokes. Yeah. There was one incest joke, dude. And it was a line from a movie. It wasn't even like a movie quotes might be different. I don't know how they look at those

[01:05:21] sort of things. Yeah. It was a movie quote from, uh, from hot shots. Remember Charlie, Charlie Sheen. That's such a great movie. My cousin was the bad guy in hot shots too. Really? Yeah. That's your cousin. Yeah. Mark Arnott. Yeah. He was my cousin. Awesome. Related to Jason. No, not related to Jason. Another devil hero. Yeah. So like, you know, go to, you know, listen to Ace speaking of the devils. We're going to do our best to try and kind of fill, fill the void on the irreverent side. So we'll

[01:05:51] tag team. Yeah. I think it might be time uncle puckers get their shit together and start taking, you know, things a little seriously, like, like a schedule that might be good. Right. Schedules are tough, but at least start, start small, start posting it on the, uh, the, um, promote ourselves on social media. Yeah. Just a little bit. Just a little, just a little bit. Wait, real quick. Yeah. You got to do that. But before I forget, yes, it sucks. They didn't put Pepe in the ring. He definitely is the top of the players list. I'm just circling back on that.

[01:06:19] And then the other thing was does, I don't, for me, this one's not as automatic, but you, at some point are not belongs in there too. Right. Yeah. And I think the moment is just so big, the moment, the moment needed player and executive and player executive coach kind of every, every other year, but they have to honor Pepe. All right. So yes, Claude, absolutely are not,

[01:06:45] I think because the moment, I mean, to score a cup of winning overtime goal is, you know, you dream about that, you know, he wasn't with the devils that long, but still, I think the impact is there to put 25 in the rafters or not in the rafters, but in the ring of honor, or, or do you just do the, you just do the A line, which I've talked about this as well. Do you just put them in as a line? That's a great idea. And just put the ring up there. Because the core deserves it a little bit too. Obviously neither one's going to get their Jersey retired. Patty's already in the rafters,

[01:07:14] put in the A line as a line in the ring of honor. I think that would be extremely interesting. Yeah. I like that. What about guys like, like Rafalski? Like, does he deserve it? Like, I mean, he's a great player for the devils, you know, wins the cups. I mean, he was, I'm, I'm for me, you know, there's obviously limitations, but for me, a guy like that, I almost have almost every

[01:07:39] two cup guy would be worthy to me personally. And Rafalski is one of the, I would even put Whitey in to be honest. I know people said, Colin White was a mainstay, played, played a great role for all those years and was just kind of a forgotten about guy with the star power and all the other guys we had, but Whitey was a huge piece of two cup teams. And he's in my ring of honor too. Awesome guy too. I met him a couple of summers ago. Whitey's a riot, complete riot.

[01:08:06] And, um, all right. So, so Whitey, Rafalski, we talked about. Bobby Holik, Randy McKay. I put all those guys in. Gomez. Future devils coach Scott Gomez. Gomer has to go into rookie of the year in 2000, win the cup 03. Yeah. He's the, he's two time cup winner and, and personal hardware. He's got to go. I like, I like the way you frame that where we have like the, you know, our three, three cup guys are all basically either retired or, or, you know, ring of honor with Breeland. Then you kind of move

[01:08:36] on to the two cup guys and kind of work your way around. I kind of like that, that benchmarking. Yeah. Yeah. And, and outside of the players, um, you know, Larry Robinson, I think deserves it. A thousand percent. Um, Pat Burns absolutely deserves it. Yeah. I believe that they need to like double zero doc Emrick and put him in the fucking rafters. Like, that's just how amazing he was. They should have a microphone logo or something. Doc, doc is just talk about just iconic.

[01:09:05] Like, and it went beyond devils, right? I mean, there, there's fans of other teams that are like, Oh, you had doc for all those years, like doc Emrick. And I've talked to him a bunch of times over the years when I was younger and like one, one that I'll never forget. It was before I forget which game it was one of the games against Carolina. I think I'd have to check my photos, but I think it must've been Oh nine. And they had like some cheap tickets the day of you could wait in line.

[01:09:31] And he came walking out and he had like some food or something in his hand. He came walking and people like, Oh, Hey doc. And obviously I'm not going to do a Hey doc. I'm going for like, you know, the whole, the whole shebang. I'm a talker. He comes down. I said something to him. Two second pause. He looks at me and he just goes into like one of those pregame monologues where I had, I had instant goosebumps. It's like just boom. And he was like, it was a cold day on, and I'm like, and it was like one of those things

[01:10:01] in real life. It was, it was insane. I was like, that is awesome. I think it took me a couple of seconds to even be able to respond. It was like a, like a minute long thing, a minute and a half. And I was just like, it was insane. I loved him, man. And when he, when he left the devils and was just doing the national stuff, it was like, yeah, I guess we can share him with everybody, but he's, he's ours. He's ours for so many years, man. I love him. He absolutely deserves to be there. And, uh, and Lou, you gotta get Lou in there. You gotta get Lou in there.

[01:10:31] How old is Lou now? He's like 82. Yeah. He's old. That's, he's old. So, um, it's funny. I spent, again, this is just me speculating. I don't know that they had, uh, decided on Johnny Mac for the ring. Like, I think when they announced it was a ring night, I fully believe they didn't know who it was because, because why, why wouldn't you think, what is the benefit of keeping it secret? Number one, but number two, I think there's a chance.

[01:11:01] And again, this is speculation that they may have asked Lou and he like, wasn't, you know, Lou is a very interesting dude with a light up. So he's like still kind of in the business. And he was like, no, no, no. You know, he's not about himself. So I could see a world where they may have approached him and he was like, I don't want to do it. And then they kind of went down the list. But with all these things, it's always, and, and Pep is different. He was much younger. But when you start looking at some of these elderly people and elderly, you know, you never know, man, right? Like life is short.

[01:11:29] They should definitely prioritize people that are a little bit older and make sure they get their flowers at all these different levels while they're still here. You know, Pat Burns with the hall of fame was absolutely tragic. Like what, what the hell was that? You know, to put them in afterwards. So like, you know, all these things are kind of lingering out there. You never know when someone's day is their last day. And so, you know, celebrate them while they're here. And I think all these things should be kind of prioritized with that in mind. And today's news should make a, that, you know, sobering fact. I mean, it's true.

[01:11:57] And somebody did put in the chat that doc is overrated. We've never banned anybody on this show. You might be. Someone said doc is overrated. Somebody said doc is overrated. That's who said it. That's who said it. You know that I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. Doc is overrated. And anybody. No, doc Emmerich is the greatest play-by-play hockey guy that has ever lived. And not since his retirement, nobody has even come close.

[01:12:24] Not even close to what doc could do. There'll never be another doc. You know, I always go back to the fucking commercial they used to play on MSG. A guy gets up and he's watching TV. He gets up and he goes and gets a beer out of the fridge. And Emmerich is in the room and he's doing the play-by-play of the guy getting up and getting the beer. And the whole thing is like doc Emmerich can make getting up and getting a beer exciting. And it's true. He could. But it doesn't matter what it was. He was fantastic. He was fantastic. There's a couple of really good videos on him. I forget who did them.

[01:12:54] But like they show his notes and his preparation and just like what went into it. Like you don't become that good by accident. And his preparation was thorough. And yeah, there was they used like all the different adjectives. He've used, you know, waffle boarded and jackknifed. And he would just come up with these things. You're like, what? Just insane. Just just. Yeah. Well, a once in a lifetime kind of announcer. I mean, if you didn't live through it, it's, you know, go watch some of the clips and see it from over the years. But it was phenomenal stuff. We should send them to LaGreca.

[01:13:24] Tell them this is what good good play-by-play guys do. You guys are rough, man. Listen, he's going to get better. Tom's a good guy. I'm sure he's a great guy. Because we could just talk shit about everybody. Well, this is nothing personal against Don LaGreca. I'm sure he's a wonderful dude. I'd love to sit down, have a beer with him and talk devils. My point is your job is to be the play-by-play guy. Just get the names right. That's all I'm asking. All right. Just get the names right. That's fair. You know, and get the team right. All right.

[01:13:53] He's called us the Rangers twice. That's rough. That's muscle memory, bro. Come on. I get it. I get it. But the names. I can't wait. I'm looking for those mistakes, Chris. Don't you worry. If you mess up one time, I'm coming with the clips. Look, if I was the play-by-play guy for the Devils, you absolutely could. But, you know, the 30 people that watch us, I don't give a shit what I mess up. We mess up names all the time. No, it's hard, man. Listen, talking – and another thing I wanted to say real quick.

[01:14:24] Yeah, anyone who puts any sort of effort – and I hate to say it, but if I'm being real, your guys' effort bar is pretty low. There's a lot of people really busting their ass out there. You guys are barely posting it and stuff. But I enjoy it all. But for the people, you know, the peanut – We can do YouTube shorts and some clips and shit like that. We got to do a fucking TikTok. We don't do them anymore. The peanut gallery that likes to chirp people that put stuff out. Like, listen, there's people I had disagreements with. And I would say, from my perspective, I have beef with nobody.

[01:14:49] I'm sure there's people out there that believe there's some – I have beef with nobody, especially in the Devils community. I think it would be nice at some point if people could stop being so, I guess, combative, if you will. And I want no problems with anybody. I think I'm a fairly nice individual and fair to everyone and try to help people and, you know, build some sort of community amongst other creators and stuff. But for the people that like to chirp all these people, even if they're people that I don't agree with, it's like this isn't easy. To the point about Don making the mistakes.

[01:15:18] Like, anytime you put out anything, and especially video and you're talking and all this stuff, you know, I just think in terms of this overall thing, whatever you want to call it, for the people talking smack, like, where's your product? You know? What are you doing? Yeah. Yeah, and honestly, like, yeah, our little community should be no dickheads. Although I'm kind of a – I'm actually a fucking dickhead. You might be a big one, Tim. I'm a real fucking dick. I know more than everybody, too, so it's kind of frustrating to hear these morons talk. What's the difference with us and to a lot of other people?

[01:15:48] First of all, we do not take things very seriously. We don't have a giant audience where we are getting it from a million people. You know, we have our group that comes in and they watch our show and we bullshit with them and it's fun. I can see where if we did get bigger to your audience size, I think that me and Tim might have to stay off of, like, the comment sections because I could see us, like, starting to get annoyed about shit.

[01:16:15] And it's not like that because all we're trying to do – and I used to say this the first shows that I was doing in my garage. Like, all we're trying to do is build a community of like-minded Devil fans, just people that can just talk shit and have a good time and enjoy the team, you know, that we all love. Like, that's the one thing we all have in common. We love this hockey team. Sure, we might, you know, differ from how we think this team could get better or moves that need to get done, but it never has to get mean. It never has to get nasty.

[01:16:41] And there's a lot of that and that's – you know, you have dealt with a lot of that. No, I completely agree. Like, I could disagree with you about something and it doesn't have to get personal and get to – you know, I don't know. Like I said, I personally have no beef with anyone. You know, other people may believe. It's in a cogent argument. Don't be a dickhead. Don't be – don't make it bad. Right. Just have a normal conversation. Like, it's not that serious. Yeah, that's kind of –

[01:17:06] When we break Don's balls, like, when he makes a mistake on the game and stuff, like, we don't come out on this show and, like, we make fun of it. Like, we joke around. Like, we have fun with it. You know, if he was here, he'd probably laugh at some of the shit that we do because we're just breaking balls. We're not – you know, it's not like this guy should be fucking fired immediately. I might have said that. But – no, I'm just kidding. But that's just my point. Like, you do it in good fun. Like, yeah, LaGreca's great.

[01:17:35] Like, I did make a comment like, oh, apparently all you have to be is a fucking devil Uber fan to get the play-by-play job. And I know he's paid his dues. I know this guy's on radio. He's been doing it for years. And he's good at what he does. But at the same time, you are at a position that you get a lot of eyeballs on you and, you know, you're going to get criticism. And the criticism from us is just more ball-busting. That's where we keep it. So –

[01:18:01] We even had, like, a fun little lighthearted segment of, like, what did Don fuck up today? Yeah, what did Don fuck up today? And we'll just go through it. Let me tell you guys, this all sounds like good nature ribbing. No, but it's like – but to your point, like, if I – We don't care about it. I'd fuck it up even blue. No, I get this. I put MSG out of business with the amount of FCC violations I'd probably have to – an FCC fines they'd have to pay out of my job. It's not even the names of the players and all that.

[01:18:31] It's the pace of the game. Like, it is – you can sit there and call baseball. You can call NFL football, whatever. It is the pace of hockey in the NHL that – that's why guys like Doc Emmerich to me are unicorns. To be able to keep up with that pace and be able to, at the same time, tell a story and get you excited about whatever it is that's happening on that ice. It's something that not a lot of people have.

[01:19:00] Emmerich was great at it. LaGreca's learning. I preferred Bill Spaulding. I liked Bill. I thought he was really good. I don't know what went down with that. But the team that we have now, I like Rachel. It took me a little bit. Like, Erica was gone. Bill was gone. So, right away, like, I had my guard up again. Bobby really likes Rachel. Yeah, Bobby loves Rachel. I had my guard up, though, like, when it came to, like, LaGreca. Because, like, I felt like Bill was our guy. Like, he was coming in right when this team was starting to turn a corner. And, you know, I thought, okay, we're going to do this thing with Spaulding.

[01:19:30] And then we get LaGreca. So, to your point with that, I do think hockey play-by-play is probably one of the hardest things to do, period. Never mind perfect. But I do believe there is probably a pretty hefty adjustment kind of arc going from radio to TV. Because radio, I don't know. Yeah. Is more like... It's a little bit more... It's not as intense. It's a little bright. So, when you're doing TV now, that, I think, is a big adjustment.

[01:20:00] And to your point... Sorry. Can you hear me? Yep. I can't call. I think, yeah, it's just an adjustment. You know, going from radio to TV can't be easy. So, I think he's trying to find his footing there. And there was something else I had about him. And now I just spaced out. Oh, Bill. Bill was very good.

[01:20:24] And I think Bill is the kind of, like, prototype technical play-by-play guy, right? Like, very good. You know, he went to the Olympics. He did other events. Like, he's always going to kill it in that capacity. I do think... And this could be slightly biased. But I do think there's something to be said for someone. And over time, this happened with Bill a little bit. But you know, like, Don is a little vested, right? And not that that's necessary.

[01:20:53] But I feel like... I don't know. When you're watching it, it feels a little different with him. At least for me. Bill was the polished Syracuse media school trained. You know, have your kind of fundamentals play-by-play guy. To your point. And like, you know, he wasn't a homegrown devil's guy. He was a guy from that background that got the devil's job. And Don is a devil's guy that now inherited this job.

[01:21:21] And coming from radio to TV is a totally different animal. You know? Yeah. You have to paint a different picture on the radio. You know? You have to do it differently. The audience is smaller. So you got to get away with shit. I was listening to a lot of the SiriusXM games. You know, they get like the local feeds from wherever the market is. Kind of hilarious sometimes. Because you get like the local like law firm commercials. Yeah. What the fuck is this? I don't go to the other side of St. Paul and buy a Cadillac. Yeah.

[01:21:49] Have these out-of-town play-by-play guys sound like they are absolutely annihilated on air. They're like... Well, you know, back to... Like I hope... I know Don's going to get better. And he is our guy. So, you know, of course I'm going to support him. But at the same time, there will be shots fired when we feel the need. And, you know, and that's just kind of what we do. Now, if I met him and like you interviewed him and stuff like that.

[01:22:18] Like if I had him on the show and we had a great report, I'd probably just keep my mouth totally shut. Because then, all right. What a punk. What a punk. No, no, no. Not like that. Not like that. Like you're more of a friend. I'm not going to fucking, you know, I'll make fun. But I'm not going to like be brutal on you. You know what I mean at that point? So, that's all I'm trying to say. The other nuance to this is if the Devils actually had a successful season, I don't think we would be on his case as much about it.

[01:22:45] Because when we started the season, you know, 8-0 and we're like first place. We're like, oh, that's just our Don with his adorable little grandpa quirks. When we were mired in the shit in the middle of the season, the shit was going awful. Just every single thing we nitpicked about him. Because it was just another thing that was just terrible that was going on with the Devils. But if we were a good team, suddenly it's back to being like, oh, it's just like our funny little grandpa. Winning cares all, man. Might be true. Winning cares all. Yeah.

[01:23:14] Winning changes everything. Winning changes culture. Winning changes just how we feel about everything. Winning changes whether I fucking get the – well, actually, I won't say that. Winning changes whether I decide to go outside or not. But look, I mean even you go to our Uncle Kenny, right? I love Danico. One of my all-time favorite players. Chris, please. You've already lost so many points today. Please don't say something bad about Dano. Oh, I would never say anything bad about Danico.

[01:23:39] But like, you know, even Danico who's been doing this for a long time, like he has complete brain farts on air. You know, and it's just – it's a difficult job, difficult thing to do. So – and look, I think I was very – I think I was very pissed when Bill left. Like, I did not want Spaulding to leave. I was like, we finally have a guy that's a good play-by-play guy. Like, I hated Cangellosi. I'm sorry. I will not say anything nice about Steve Cangellosi and his play-by-play. I thought he was terrible.

[01:24:09] So when Spaulding stepped in, it was like a nice breath of fresh air. So it just took me a little bit to get used to, you know, LaGreca. You know, hopefully he gets better. And just stop calling everybody when the last name starts with an S, Siegenthaler. No matter what team they're on, Siegenthaler. Quick side note. Quick side note. They're both very nice dudes. Bill Spaulding, I'd never talked to – I randomly ran into him at the Olympics. And I talked to him for a couple minutes.

[01:24:39] Yeah, actually the one game – I went to a ton of games outside of USA games. But only one of them was at, like, the not main arena. Right. And that was the one he was at. I forget the name of it. But it was the – what the hell game was that? It may have been Italy. I think it was Italy versus Slovakia. It was at the smaller arena, which was like a trek to get to, the cab driver. It was a whole situation for me to even get there. But I saw him there. And I talked to him for a couple minutes. Yeah, I don't know.

[01:25:05] I got some – you know, obviously he hasn't appeared pretty much anywhere outside of his job functions. He hasn't appeared pretty much anywhere outside of his job. You know, so like when I brought it up, you could tell he was like a little whatever. But super nice guy. And Don is great. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Like I feel like once you have like – you could have like 100 beers with Don. And then after that night, he'd like come help you bury a body. Help you bury the body. He just seemed like somebody that's fun to drink with. So what happened?

[01:25:34] Somebody here in the chat got fucking bent that they thought we banned him? What happened? Yeah, SSTs. I don't know who this guy is. He said he's all bent out of shape because he got banned from Ace's channel. Now he's saying we banned him. I don't know. I told him we didn't. Whatever. Don't be a fucking asshole in the chat and don't be a prick and we won't ban you. It's fine. And if you are – The golden rule. The golden rule. Do unto others as you want them to do unto you. And I try to – oh, lastly. Then I have to go because I could talk to you guys for 10 hours. I thought about this. What do you guys think about this?

[01:26:01] I was thinking about it and I'm still on the fence about it because there's so many negative possibilities with this. But I am going to do as the last stream on my channel like a farewell show and I'm going to give away tons of memorabilia and merchandise and all that. And obviously tell everyone about the new channel because there's – people don't watch every single thing. So there's people that still don't know. So go subscribe to Speaking of the Devils obviously and subscribe to NJ.com. But I thought about – I don't know what I would call it. Almost like an open floor for people deserving, but I don't know. Okay.

[01:26:31] So what? Just to have them pop on? You just send your StreamYard link out into the wild? Well, I'm not going to just send it to completely into the wild. But like if there are other creators or anyone that there's any reason why it would make sense. I don't know. It was something I was thinking about. But there is a lot of – there's a lot there. If you – go ahead, Tim. No, I mean I was – You can do what you want, but that seems a little insane. Although I think like half these people that are like in your comments wouldn't have the balls to come off.

[01:27:01] No, they wouldn't. And like to me like if you did like – because I guess you can have people like phone in or however, right? Like you got to screen them one way or another. Some way you're going to have – How are you screening them? I don't know. I'm not the one that wants to do it. Don't show your dick on my show, please. I mean that would be – I mean that's a – yeah, no. Not to give people ideas, but – What did you say? No. We definitely don't want that. Don't show your dick on my show. Yeah, no.

[01:27:30] That's definitely – that's definitely no-no. That's what you have to worry about, right? That's kind of like top three to five rule. I mean I'm not going to lie, Tim. That didn't even cross my mind as a top 100 possibility. So I don't know what you're thinking about, but – Seriously, have you ever listened to this show? We'll see. I don't know. I'm still thinking about it, but – I mean being accessible is awesome. Like you have a big fan base. You have people that like you. They listen. They watch your show. Like to let them get involved in the show I think could be a good idea.

[01:27:59] Not something you want to do every show. But like if you did like a once-a-month thing or something, if you can figure it out, I don't think it's a terrible idea. I do think most of the people would be – come on and actually talk legitimate hockey questions. For this particular one, I was thinking more of like podcasts or things more of that in that realm. Well, you know, I think – You can have people in a lobby and you can choose who you have to come on. So even if you send out – Tim, you didn't –

[01:28:27] I had to explain to you to post it on Twitter. You're going to tell me about how the lobby works? Thank you, Tim. I had no idea. Send me a tutorial. I'm just busting your chops, Tim. Don't get all sensitive on me, bro. Oh, he gets very sensitive. He gets very sensitive. No, but it's just something to think about. I don't know. That was good. I think it could be good. I have no response to that except – You want to be – like I said, you want to be accessible to your listeners.

[01:28:54] You know, they come to you for their devil's, you know, news basically and your opinion on stuff. But unfortunately, too many opinions could end up being a bad thing. But as far as like other podcasters, I think it's great for the simple fact that we have a very small group of devil podcasters compared to other teams and especially other sports. For sure.

[01:29:19] So anytime that you can get more eyes on the content and the product and eventually the team is what we want, and I think it's fantastic. And you have the platform to do it. So, I mean, you're not going to be slumming it on the Uncle Puckers much longer. Just let the record be shown. Let the record reflect. I've invited a good amount of people on my show over the past couple years. I do believe this might be the first time I've ever been invited on someone's show. I'm just putting that out there. I think this might be the first time ever. It was really?

[01:29:49] On any show? I told Chris – I think so. I think so. When we were texting, I was like – It's okay. I'm not offended. I was like, listen. Can we come on the last stream? He was like, oh, you never really invited me on your show. I was like – That's actually true. We haven't, and I apologize for that. But that's because – I'm just busting chops, man. No. I don't know how to invite people on the show, Ace. I thought you would know that. Yeah. You send them to the lobby, and then you put them on the stage from the lobby. It's on the internet, Ace.

[01:30:18] All right? But with our show, it's hard to even schedule anybody because we don't know when we're going on. So that's – Not tough. It's an issue. But you – We've been on your show, and you and Tim especially talk. Like, I kind of felt like Tim would have invited you, that Tim probably should have invited you. This is mostly on Tim that you haven't been invited. Like, that's kind of where I'm going with this. Chris just two-handed people under the bus. He's like, blame him.

[01:30:48] I know, but then I feel like I have to ask Chris's permission because you're the primary host and the – Not the primary host. I have a fucking button that starts the show and a button that stops the show. That's where my primary host is. I think it's come pretty clear that I wouldn't be able to handle that. That button makes you king, Chris. That one button. Consider this, Ace, an open invite for any time that you want to come on the show. And listen, I'm not even – like, I'm not bullshitting.

[01:31:15] If you see, like, oh, shit, they're doing a show, like, you have the link now. Hop the fuck on. If you have time, you want to. I think the link changes every time. It's not like a master link to just – No, it should be. I can send you an email from here. I will send it to you, and you'll have it any time for this. That link works every time. I have it bookmarked. That's how I get on here. I'd be lucky. What's the final vote on the open forum, bad idea, good idea? You could do it another way, and Zach brought this up, like the Tri-State Hockey Pod.

[01:31:44] I don't know how they manage it on the back end, but they have – they use this speak pipe website that people call in and leave voicemails. But I think you kind of have to sift through a shitload of voicemails. Like, I think they have a producer that does that. So, I don't know. Like, send the link out and have people in the lobby, and if you want them to come on, you want them to come on. And if you don't, tell them the fuck off. This I'm trying to plan a little – I'm not trying to completely wing this, so I'm trying to get a grasp on this beforehand, but we'll see.

[01:32:14] What you don't want is, like, 1,000 people at once. No, of course. That was the point of – Or have rules, you know, where it's like if there are 15 people on, stay on mute. Keep your camera on if you want to come on the show and talk. Otherwise, stay on mute and shut up. And you have a good relationship with most other devil shows, right? I mean, you – Yeah. You have, like, Neil and Zach and the DI guys and who else is out there. There's Luz for Hughes.

[01:32:43] Like, you know, you have a good relationship with those guys and stuff. Like, getting other shows on, I think, is a good idea. Opening, you know, have an open forum for the troglodytes that follow. I don't know. That might not be a good idea. This one was more creator-based. You know, shows and whatever else. Yeah. I'll see. Yeah, you can open it up. I'm confident that – I think you guys have probably convinced me it's a bad idea now. It's a bad idea. I think it's a great idea to actually try at least once, right? What the fuck?

[01:33:11] If it's a complete disaster, you don't do it again. At least you know. And it could be something – you never know when something's going to hit. And it could be something that nobody else is doing, that people like, and could end up being your thing. Like, I absolutely say try it. Don't ever – I would never say no to anything. Just give it a shot. It blows up in your face and looks like shit. You got something to laugh about. That's all. You know? Fair enough. Don't let it affect your new gig. No, man. Like, you've earned the right – So this is the farewell show. So this is it. This is it. This is it. This is it.

[01:33:41] I'm going to try to text you, and I'm going to be blocked after this. Oh, boy. All right, fellas. Listen, I got to run. Yeah, I got to run. This has been fun. I'm losing his schedule. Absolutely. Appreciate you guys. Thanks. Sign up. Subscribe. Here, that's Jax behind me. Say hi. Yeah, he can't hear you. He's curled up. Subscribe to the new channel. Rest in peace, Claude. Devastating news, and yeah, wow. I just – yeah, I'm still figuring this all out. Thanks for coming on. Again, open invite. So anytime you use that same link, you hop in, man.

[01:34:11] Amazing. All right. You guys have a good night. Thanks a lot, boys. Let's see you. Take care. Later, Ace. Later, Ace. That is Ace, formerly of Running With The Devils, now of NJ.com. Speaking of the Devils show, what is all this craziness going on here in the fucking – We inherited a lot of Ace's guys. Yeah, so – So let me just talk to the people on the chat right now. First of all, like, Devil Heaven – I believe it was Devil Heaven that said it. He's right.

[01:34:41] Like, you've got to really be fucked up to get banned from us. Like, we're not going to ban you. We're pretty fucked up people. Yeah, like, if you talk shit – it might have been Jason. No, I don't know who it was. But one of the guys said, you've got to be really bad to get banned from here. And you're right. Like, we just ask that, like, you keep shit normal and decent to each other. Like, if you want to shit talk us, whatever, that's fine. Well, we can take it. But the other guys on there, just show respect.

[01:35:11] We're all here for the same reason, right? We love the team. We want to talk to other people, better fans. So, like, that's all we ask. If anybody's new and you decide you want to come back, that's the only really rules we have. Other than that, you know, be yourselves and have fun. Yeah, like we said earlier, you know, we'll do our best to kind of fill a little bit of a void that Ace is leaving behind. You know, our schedule's a little erratic.

[01:35:34] The two other guys on our show, Tony lives in Lithuania, which can be a scheduling challenge. And Bobby has a kid in youth hockey, so all the youth hockey parents understand what that can mean and challenge. Although I think he's at a kid's concert right now, which fucking prayers for him, man. That should be Ace's new name for his show. That's a good name. Ace up your sleeve. I like that. Ace up your sleeve. I like that. I think that's good. I think that's pretty good. So, anyway, I got to run.

[01:36:04] I got to feed these fucking dogs because they're losing their goddamn minds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks for hanging on, guys. Hanging out with us tonight. It's always fun. And please hit the like, hit the subscribe button, become a fan. Join us when we do our shows. We're going to try and get onto a more regular schedule at some point, more shows. And we do post shows all summer long. So, especially if there's any big devil news, we usually do an emergency episode. And to all of our regulars that we're on today, we love you guys. Thanks for everything.

[01:36:34] And we'll see you next time. Later, skaters. Suck a dick, Val. It's over, Johnny. It's over. So, the thing was in his ass?