Rogalski & Sarge Out... Keefe Survives

[00:00:00] Don't even do Chris's intro. Oh, the intro's coming. 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! So you didn't even give him a reach around? Oops. It's all you, Tom.

[00:00:27] What's up, guys? Oh, you want me to start the show? So, okay. We were talking before we pressed record tonight or go live, whatever we were doing. Both. We talk about some shit before we come on here. We do both, yeah. We talk about some shit that we don't want to maybe say on here or we do want to say on here. And so I was going to tell Chris and Tim a story, and so I'll just tell it here live in the beginning of this show. But yeah, so yesterday, you know, I'm at the gym here, and we have on our phones here, it happens a lot.

[00:00:56] We get a lot of, of course, I live in Lithuania, whoever doesn't know. We get a lot of tests, like this is what we would do. And you know how you see it in America when you're a kid, you're like, this is a warning for this. Yeah, it's a test. The broadcast system. I'm serious because, you know, we're in a kind of a war zone area. So, so for a couple years now, I remember when I first moved here, my wife didn't tell me that we live by a place where they make ammunition here.

[00:01:23] So like they actually make like weapons and so we're like, it's like kind of really close to me. And they go underground, they test everything. It's crazy. So they have a big speaker above it, you know, like an announcer, like red on file. And so my wife doesn't remember Chris, North Carolina. Remember that fucking horn that went off? Yes. So one day I'm at home here. You know, I know the war is going on a couple of countries over. I know what's going on. All of a sudden I hear, what?

[00:01:51] My wife doesn't tell me that every time of this month they do this test. Right. So this happens that star will be a couple months ago. But, uh, so yesterday we all get texts and it's, uh, it was red, red alert, like take cover. Not even like, this is a test. Like, so there was a fucking drone that flew over here and we actually had the jets in the sky. People were going, like, it was time to cover up, go to your fucking places. They were pulling kids out of school. It's crazy shit.

[00:02:21] I was like driving home from the gym and I'm just like, and remember I see like tanks all the time. Um, I live in a beautiful, like, so people know, like I've been a beautiful country. Lithuania is gorgeous. Like, you know, it's not like, but it's very, they're always doing military shit here because we've had aggressors. You know, this country was occupied for 50 years, you know, between Soviets and the Nazis. Um, so yeah, that was the first time I saw one of those and it was the real deal. And then I put on the news. I went, I was like, well, my wife, my wife called me.

[00:02:51] She's like, oh yeah, there's some drone. They're chasing it around with the jets. So I was like, holy shit, you know? So I go, I go into the house and I'm like, well, I'm not going to put on Lithuanian news because of course they're going to be talking about this. Let me see if this is like a bigger fucking story than like put on sky news, breaking news. Lithuania closes down the airports. I was like, holy shit, dude. I was like, I'm not smoking any. I'm like, I'm not smoking nothing right now. I'm just staring at the fucking window, me and my cat like this, because our cat is a rescue. Our cat, I told you guys this story.

[00:03:21] Our cat's family was killed by Russians in Ukraine. Your cat's Ukrainian. Yes. My cat is Ukrainian. We actually have papers for it, which the pets here get paid travel papers. But, uh, so not only was the family killed. Or is it a, like a cat port? Yeah, it's a cat port. Um, but my cat has that. Yeah. So the family gets murdered in one bombing and then they moved the cat to a shelter and that shelter gets bombed. And then they brought it here and then we rescued it from the rescue. The fucking cat's bad luck. That's been seeing some shit. So me and the cat are out the window.

[00:03:49] Like I'm like, this is what happens, you know, cause the cat knows. But, uh, yeah, it was fucking, that was a, dude, that was a pretty real moment. So I was going to tell you guys this off the show, but yeah, that was like intense. That's a little crazy and very unsettling. Um, that's like really the last thing that we need. And, and it's funny because I just started learning about these drones because of the Ukraine war and stuff. And now they're using them in Iran and, and wherever.

[00:04:14] And I started thinking back to last summer when we were having all those drone sightings over Jersey shore and all over New Jersey. Yeah. And I was just like, I wonder, and I don't know, like if there's any correlation to that. Like, was that our military just testing things to see like, you know, cause you know, Trump flying in five year olds, you know, you just don't tell what's going on. Don't even have that fucking guy unreal. But yeah.

[00:04:41] So I'm glad that, you know, it wasn't a attack drone. I'm glad you're still here. I'm glad you're still here. We've had like, yeah, we had a drone explode here like two months ago, but it came over. It was actually from Ukraine going, it went the wrong direction. You know, we have all the borders by us, you know? So like we're at, we're NATO. Like we have a lot of like German soldiers over here and stuff, but, uh, coming from Jersey, you know, or fleet, you know, I used to see in this shit. When I first moved here, it took me like three years. Like I'll be, you sit at a traffic light and there's 12 tanks next to you. Yeah.

[00:05:10] I grew up in fucking on the beach in New Jersey. It's a, it's a very different, uh, world, you know, but other than that, wonderful story. Uh, Zach, we'll tell that off the air, but we figured, Hey, let's open the show with, you know, uh, I'm really much happier to know that your cat is doing well. I do. So it's doing well. What's his name? Medusa. Medusa. That's a good cat. That's a great cat name. Yeah.

[00:05:39] Do you have any other pets? No, no, that was, that's the only one that I have. I have a cat Medusa. Tim. Yeah. I know you have the two dogs. Do you have any other pets? Nothing I'm aware of. Um, there's like a, a groundhog that lives in the garage. Oh, did you name them? Um, no, but I think Marshall's going to probably kill him at one point. Marshall's a fucking vicious animal. And you know, we have the usual wildlife around a couple of deer. There's some barn swallows.

[00:06:06] We have some vultures that laid eggs in the upstairs of our barn. So we had to like board up the sides of our barn because they would perch the male would perch over here and the female would perch over here while we're working up there. And it's kind of intimidating. And these are big fucking birds and vultures. Turkey vultures. They're huge. They're yeah, they're, they're pretty fucking big. And then waiting for you to die and then pick. Yeah. Just to pick us clean.

[00:06:32] And then we have, um, we have bats up there in our, uh, we've got a lot of, a lot of animals around. And that's kind of what I know about. I have a lot of animals in my house. Yeah, no. Yeah. It was way too many. Five. I have two dogs, turbo and Rigby, and I have three cats, Kirby, BMO and Marcy. Oh, fuck. Fuck. Fuck Rigby. Chris's arc over there. Don't say that. Rigby's awesome.

[00:07:02] Rigby was very mean to me. He's old and grumpy. He's not mean. He just doesn't. He just likes what he, he barks at me when I walk in the house. Tim comes lathered up in peanut butter. Come here. Exactly. Well, maybe you stop trying to figure his butthole. He wouldn't have been barking at you the whole time. You just need to, you need to kick my sister in the head. Um, Oh shit. David chimes with breaking news or I should change this breaking reckless speculation. You were I've had my notes here. We got a lot to actually talk about.

[00:07:32] Devils. Thank you, Zach. Turbo is a good name for the dog. I wasn't a fan of turbo at first as a name, but then like now that I have this dog and he's like, you know, seven months old, he is absolutely a fucking turbo. He just goes full bore collect records and message for you, Tony. Um, Oh yeah, we booked Andy the rock off. Tell Chris about that for sure. That's awesome. I'm excited. Yeah. So yeah, we do have a lot of devil stuff and we'll get to it.

[00:07:59] I'm just, uh, I do want to just touch upon, uh, the final four here. Um, you know, tonight starts the, uh, Eastern conference final Carolina and Montreal and just some thoughts on that series guys. Like we're going to do mostly devils. I just want to get the other shitty teams out of the way. You know, the ones that are still playing hockey. Fuck them. Um, so like thoughts on that, Tim, you want to, you have any thoughts on the game last night or that series or this series coming up tonight?

[00:08:25] Um, I missed a lot of the game last night because I was at work, but, um, I didn't go the way I thought it would. I thought Colorado, Colorado was going to kind of steamroll. So it'd be kind of interesting to see, particularly at home. Um, but you know, Vegas was very opportunistic and they really clogged up the neutral zone. And that's kind of been Vegas's thing is, is Colorado is a team that's dependent on speed and Vegas just does not let you get to the inside and the offensive zone.

[00:08:53] Carter Hart really wasn't challenged at all. And Vegas was, was opportunistic in their power plays. Um, Mitch Marner continues to dominate with Dora Faev. Um, I would love to find a way to get Dora Faev on this team. I know it's a fucking pipe dream. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't resign. Um, and tonight, I don't know. I I've said before, I don't think Montreal stands a chance, but I thought the same thing about Vegas. So, so we'll see what happens.

[00:09:20] You know, we'll see if with Montreal is the same thing that happened to the devils is they need to stay disciplined because Carolina will wait and they will pounce on mistakes. And, um, that's very curious to see what happens in that regard. Give me your predictions for both series. I think Carolina gentlemen sweep for one. Um, and based on last night, I think that this one may go the distance. Who are you taking? Colorado, Carolina. Okay. All right. Yeah.

[00:09:49] So I don't think, I don't think that changed. I think over the longterm, Colorado was also without Kale McCarr. Um, last night was noticeable, which was, which was certainly noticeable. Um, so I'd be curious to see if he comes back. I don't know if they're like, Hey, we've been steamrolling everybody. We could give up a game, but you know, now they may be like, Oh shit, we kind of need him. Yeah. It's dangerous thought. If that, if that is your process to think, ah, we can just let it, but it's like, I, who knows how severely he is, but you know, guys in the playoffs, like I've read something

[00:10:17] about cutter go to a, I think it was that a two fractured vertebrae in his back. Yeah. I was just like, I don't think like, I get like the hockey tough guy, like, you know, they play with all kinds of injuries and stuff. I was like, I don't think he should be playing with that. Hopefully, you know, it wasn't like real broken back type of shit. Cause like, you know, one false move and it's like paralyzed. Um, yeah. And tone. Well, I'm going to go.

[00:10:45] I had the same prediction as Tim, but I'm saying seven and seven, they both seven and seven. Yeah, I really do. Um, it's a, there's a couple of you think about like, are we going to see Blackwood and uh, Wedgwood hold the cup up? Are we going to see towards hold the cup up? It's gonna be some interesting shit that can happen at the end of the season that you just didn't expect, you know, by the, when the season started. Um, it's like to think how things change, man. You know, it's weird with Colorado.

[00:11:13] I think I know what'd you say? Four to one, two. Yeah. I think Colorado Vegas goes seven. Yeah. I think it has to go. All right. Um, as far as last night's game, Vegas impressed me. They look like the Vegas that won the cup three years ago. Um, they, they looked really good disciplined. Like you said, up to opportunistic. Um, I think not having a car really does hurt that team.

[00:11:40] Um, and depending on whether or not he comes back, I'm going seven. I'm taking VGK. I think they're going to win this thing. And I am absolutely sticking to my guns and Montreal will beat Carolina. It'll go six. That's it. Montreal is going to win this thing.

[00:12:00] Um, and, uh, yeah, I, I believe that there's just, there's something, and this is not like, uh, at all based in my knowledge of the sport. This is more based on a feeling they have a little bit of that, you know, Oh, what's the word I'm looking for? Kind of that, that lay off kind of, uh, like just that luck thing.

[00:12:27] I just think that there, there's something about this team. They're special. They're there. I love the way they play. I think Freddie Anderson has yet to be tested in these playoffs. He will be tested against Montreal. Um, and if Montreal's top line wakes up, they're a super dangerous team. They have been getting them, especially the last series, a lion's share of their goal scoring was from their depth guys. And, um, other than the power play.

[00:12:54] So I think that, yeah, I'm with David Chimes go Habs go. I want to see them. I want to see Mitch Marner hoist a Stanley cup in Canada. Um, no, I, I, I want to see Montreal win this whole thing, but, um, so that's who I'm going with. Yeah. It's funny.

[00:13:17] You bring up luck because, um, for like the third or fourth straight year, since they've kind of been tracking this type of stuff, the top three of the top four teams in the cup finals were, um, three of the top four teams in expected goals for percentage. This has happened every single year. So a pretty good indicator that you're going to make the conference finals is if you're one of the top teams in expected goals for. That's interesting.

[00:13:41] The one team that wasn't is Montreal and they are actually pretty far down the list. I think they're like 11th or 12th of all the teams that made the playoffs. Right. And it's because of kind of luck quote unquote, but it's, I think they just have a very interesting collection of really good shooters.

[00:14:01] Um, you know, between, and that's not even counting their, their top line, but you know, you look at like Texas and bold, Luke, um, you know, Hudson, um, Anderson. Um, they, they just have a bunch of really good shooters that have been super optimistic new hook and Dobish has been lights out. Right. Like if Montreal, if Montreal wins the cup, he's gotta be the, the cons might.

[00:14:24] But I don't see how he would because they're, they're getting outplayed in every single series by far, unless like, unless new hook, you know, scores the game winner in the clinching games. Right. The series and next series, then maybe it goes to him, but no, I'm with you that, that the do Dobish has been fantastic. Um, and I do think that they have the advantage in net because as well as you look at Freddie Anderson's numbers, they're fucking ridiculous.

[00:14:47] But I kind of feel like this is that, that the, the Canes had, uh, the first and second round buys to get here. Like they, they have not been tested. I want to see how they play when they're fucking tested. But I have to say though, I do think that like Freddie Anderson has, or I think Tim might've said it a couple episodes. I haven't been on a while, but he has, he has gained my respect though. I think the guy's a damn good goalie. Like I kind of didn't believe in him for a while, but I do think he's a solid goalie.

[00:15:16] I have to say, man, like he's kind of proven it, you know, he's been consistent, you know, he elevates in the playoffs and it's interesting. Cause you know, they rode basically bussy all season. Yep. Um, you know, with, and Anderson's had his health problems, you know, with blood clots and like that type of health problem, you just don't want to see. Um, you know, like if I had to choose, I'd almost rather a guy get injured versus have that kind of, yeah, you know, nothing, something, something non medical hockey related. Right.

[00:15:45] Injury is one thing. Medical issues are totally different. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, what's going to be, be interesting to see is, is if, you know, Carolina's thing is that they're kind of this, this nameless faceless machine. And it'd be kind of interesting to see if they can keep that up with the layoff that they had. Um, you know, if they had any, you know, and there's one guy you said it before, Chris is like Britain, if Britain Moore can get them, can get them together for, um, for this run,

[00:16:13] for this series, you know, that's, um, he's probably the most important guy in the room right now. Yeah. 12 days off is serious. It could have gone to Cancun and back. Yeah. I mean, that's crazy. For a fucking week. Yeah. That, that is crazy. Um, I mean, them and the Philadelphia flyers have now had the same amount of time off and Philadelphia has been eliminated for almost two weeks. So, uh, Jack Hughes already did an interview on McAfee.

[00:16:38] He's been to fucking like a tropical Island and he got new teeth. I don't know if you saw him on McAfee. He looked like fucking fire Marshall bill. Like his teeth, his teeth were just so fucking right. He's like, ah, let me show you something. Big phosphorescent Matt Dillon from something about Mary. Exactly. Exactly. Great. A great podcast. I said, let's do called the rewatchables. It's about like basically like classic movies and they kind of break them down.

[00:17:06] And this guy's done great movies recently. There's something about Mary and ghostbusters. I was fucking dying laughing at it. I got to check that out. Yeah. It's, it's, it's Bill Simmons in the ringer. It's, um, it's a great podcast. Do you guys see the, uh, not to discuss. Did you guys see the picture they had out speaking smiling? It was like a picture of all the draft guys, you know, but everyone looked all serious and hardcore. And then there's like Mendoza with this big. Like shit eating grin on his face. Like he's five years old. You saw it as great. Wasn't it? Everyone else is all like, hug it out.

[00:17:35] And he's just like, there's no way to make him look tough. Before we go into hockey and the devils. I have to say that the Raiders schedule release video was fucking great. They did such an awesome job with that. It's awful. That we're going to get off with such a hard schedule this year. Do you think like if you, uh, this might be a fun game to do, uh, down the road, but like we should like pick, uh, NFL teams and they're correlating NHL team.

[00:18:04] Like for me, the Baltimore Ravens and the hurricanes are the same team in different sports. Like they're always good. They're never there. They're always well. Now with the new coach, I have a better, I think I have a better comparison. Yeah. Which one? Edmonton. Edmonton's like Baltimore. Yeah. A high end superstar. One of the best in the league. Probably the best quarterback in the league. Just make best quarterback in the fucking league. You shut your mouth.

[00:18:32] You know that you know it to be true. No, I do not. Running back. You're saying Lamar Jackson's the best quarterback in the league. Fuck you, Tony. You're racist. Yeah. Running back. Is that because he's black? You're calling him a running back? Is that what it is? It's what he does. I mean, hey. What was the last time you saw a black guy in Lithuania? I think. I've seen several. I think the best quarterback. I've seen several. I think the best quarterback in the league is still Patrick Mahomes. And last time I checked, he wasn't. I ran. Or a running back. All right. Another running back. Right, Tony?

[00:19:01] Josh Allen's more of a running back than Mahomes is. I thought about that with Randall Cunningham. Anyway. I just thought Randall Cunningham would be a great tight end. Anyway. High end talent. Good positional skill players. But lack a little bit of depth and can never get over the hump. That's why I think they're the Edmonton Oilers. Yeah. Okay. All right. I'm not going to argue that. I can live with that. Or Buffalo is the Edmonton Oilers. Buffalo. Yeah. Buffalo.

[00:19:30] Well, Buffalo's got to get there a few more years and not make it. Like, you know what I mean? They got to make it to the second round a few more times before and get bounced. All right. The Bills used to do. I was wearing this hat in a little deli in a Royal Farms down the street. And the guy making my little breakfast sandwich was like, was like, oh, see you week three in Rio. And I was like, what are you fucking Cowboys fan in Maryland? Get the fuck out of here. Go back to Texas. Zach, he's just mad because he has that jersey. Yeah, I know. I know. Tony's a Raider fan.

[00:19:59] But at least being a Cowboys fan basically means you grew up with a father. Yeah. Yeah. If a Cowboy fan means that you're just an automatic douchebag. Yeah. I'm like, oh, yeah. How'd the Lakers and Yankees do this year? But I think that being a Raider fan is absolute misery. I have to be honest. Zach, you shook me out the best quarterback in the league. If I reflect my life of being a Raider fan, you know, like since a little kid, it's been a life of misery. I mean, it really has been. It's disappointment.

[00:20:26] And it's choking at like just the moments, you know. I always say it's like the Jersey Shore, the old TV show of the NFL. There's always like things are going. I went to the Super Bowl. The center takes off when they go there. It was missing. You know, Barrett Robbins, who just passed away, actually. Fucking they go to the Super Bowl against the Bucs. They just traded. Who trades their coach? You know, and he comes and whoops our ass over the field. And then doesn't change their game plan when they're playing him. Then the talk. Oh, come on now.

[00:20:56] I'm so tired of hearing about the fucking top rule. Anybody in that chat knows that tuck was bullshit. Did you see Crosby's song? Yeah, it's awful. The Crosby rules, though. Yeah. Kyler Murray's going to shut you all up this year. My little. I think Kyle Murray's going to have a good year. It's going to be a small year, but I think it's going to be a good year. It's going to be a very small year. Kyler's going to have a good year. I agree. I think he's going to. That offense. You're going to have to get him.

[00:21:26] You might have needed a change. You got to get. Dude. I think the most. One of the most underrated signings has been Jawan Jennings to Minnesota. I think that was fucking huge. Bringing him in for the three. The third wide receiver. I love Jawan Jennings. One of the best passing wide receivers in the league. I mean, best blocking wide receivers in the league. I think this is going to be a heck of an offense. Week four, me and Chris. We're not going to talk about football. We're fucking out of it.

[00:21:53] So, um, uh, football side show that went lasted like three weeks. Yeah, I know. It's older. Like, fuck you. Nobody listened. Conrad, one of our listeners sent an email today with a link to, um, I think it was Puckpedia did an interview with Rachel Herzog. Um, it's only like a 20, 25 minute interview. I just really recommend everybody to check it out. I'll put the link into the YouTube channel and on the podcast form if you guys want.

[00:22:24] Don't fall for it. It's not porn. It's a, it's a really, it's a really kind of a cool interview, a little bit into her life and how she got to where she is. She talks a little bit about the team and stuff. It was pretty fun. So. It's not going to be two girls, one cup, is it? No, it's not two girls, one cup. It's a Puckpedia interview. Come on. Get your fucking heads out of the gutter. I listened today. Ace had Christy Flannery on, which is a great interview. Christy's Christy's the best.

[00:22:51] She's probably our best beat reporter, but she's great. It has some good insights on the team and sort of different players. I like kind of the, the angle that she takes with a lot of her writing, which actually I'm going to text Ace to try to get her contact info to see if she wants to come on our little shit show. That would be fun. All right. So speaking of our little shit show, what's going on in devil world? Well, we have some, we have some news, right? I mean, I know that there's been some, some changes at the top. So Tim, if you want to go over that and we can discuss it. Okay. Yeah.

[00:23:21] So it's kind of sunny methodically going through everything. So, you know, he changed the front office. So he's kind of looks like he's doing kind of a top down sweep. So he got kind of the front office cleaned up, brought in his guy. That seems to be, um, that seems to be kind of the front office is sort of set. I don't think any other changes are going to happen there. You know, it's held on to a lot of the development people. I don't know what's going on with scouts. Like, it's kind of like, I don't really care, you know, if he keeps them or doesn't keep

[00:23:49] them, but I care, but it's like, I don't know enough about like who would be a good scout to replace them with. So it's like, all right, you know, whatever. I trust Sonny. Um, we got, they got rid of Rogowski, which is something we've been calling for. I personally don't think a goalie coach would really move the needle all that much for two goalies that are in their mid thirties and have been around for 15 years, but kind of with

[00:24:18] a scalpel, just kind of cutting out all this dead wave from the former regime, I think is a good thing that, that he's doing. You know, everybody's getting a fair shake, um, at, uh, at kind of keeping or keeping their job or, or getting fired, giving their perspective on things. They're going to reassign Sarge. Don't know what that means, um, where he's going to go, but we are also, I think still in the market for a Utica head coach. I think parents gone too.

[00:24:46] So don't know how that's all going to shake out. If, if, um, uh, if Birch is going to be the guy to pick the head coach, I would assume he is. Cause he's kind of the Utica GM. Yeah. So that's really where we are with the coaching staff and then kind of the bigger news. I don't know if you guys have any thoughts on, on the coaching staff. Well, yeah, I kind of do. And only the first of all, I think it's very interesting that I would love to have been a fly on the wall for the Keefe and Sonny Mehta discussions.

[00:25:15] Um, because with Keefe sticking around, what was it really like coaching under Tom Fitzgerald? And was he actually being handcuffed in any way? Did he have ideas to, that he wanted to bring forward to this team that he were, he was being held back with it. Just me speculating on stuff. I would have loved to have listened to that, but for whatever it is, Sonny believes that Keefe is going to be the guy.

[00:25:40] Now I think who is the assistant coach is going to kind of determine, in my opinion, how much leash Keefe gets. Is it a guy that made us going to bring in that can take the reins if this starts falling apart early under Keefe? Because I do think that Keefe will probably have a much shorter leash this time around. So I'm interested, very interested in that.

[00:26:07] As far as Rogalski being gone, like we were all screaming for that for three freaking years. Um, and that also brings up now that's Marty's guy. Is that going to, you know, cause any type of rift with Marty? Personally, I don't give a shit. If you like your ceremonial position in, in management, then keep it. If not, you know, you're the best goalie that ever played this game. I have all the respect in the world for you, but I don't need you in 2026 to help win a cup. So that's just where I'm at on the stuff.

[00:26:35] So what about, what about you, Tone? Yeah, I'm pretty much the same as you, Chris. I like the, the goal thing change, you know, but, uh, I mean, Keefe, I kind of thought you should just change everything up top, you know, but, uh, like, but I don't know. I mean, I don't really have much, I'm not surprised he's still here. I didn't think he was going to be gone, to be honest. I thought, you know, I remember we talked about this maybe a month ago, like some of us are like, he's probably definitely gone, but I don't think I thought that. So I'm not shocked.

[00:27:05] So we'll see. Yeah. I think with Keefe and sorry, that is the one thing I didn't mention is, is him, Colton and Shaw all sticking around kind of gives us sort of a transitional institutional knowledge of, you know, the players and the team and the organization, how things go. And, you know, Keefe has demonstrated that he could work pretty closely and pretty well with a analytical, analytically kind of inclined GM. So, um, as he did with, with Dubas, it also gives Sonny a bullet in the chamber.

[00:27:35] You know, it's, he's not spending everything in his first year because his clock starts ticking if he starts with a brand new coach. So he gets kind of one, you know, a, that option to get rid of Keefe and kind of keeps Keefe on, Keefe on a short leash, like you said. Um, if things start to go South next year, which I don't think they will. I think culture was a big issue with this team. And I think getting rid of Fitz and bring in Sonny.

[00:28:03] And I think that will do wonders for the general culture of this team to begin with. I agree with that. I absolutely do. Um, I still like, I, I, I don't have any faith in these guys anymore. Like that's, I, I have been beaten down like every other devil fan over the course of the last couple of years that I refused. And I absolutely, I refuse to jump on that bandwagon until I actually see the product on

[00:28:32] the ice next year. And that product looks distinctly different than what we've seen these last few years. I am going to keep my guard up and I'm going to be cautiously optimistic that the right moves were made, whatever they may be. But for the time being, yes, I believe this team, if Sonny pulls the right strings can end up in a position like Buffalo or Montreal this year, you know, next season.

[00:28:59] But I'm, I'm, I'm not saying anything. I'm sitting back. I want to see this. I'm so tired. I get so excited all summer long. And I talk myself into like, this is the year, right? We're going to do this. We're going to do that. We're going to, and then it's like, I just stick my fucking cheese grater down my pants. Like, that's how I feel. This year, this year stopped.

[00:29:25] This year was like a, it almost felt like it was just a, yeah, it was never really a high, you know, it was just like, just a fucking bunch of bombers. And I remember like towards the end of the season, I was, I mean, I still watched, but I was done. I was like, this is just, cause it was the same, it was the same effort. Like, you know, there wasn't much hope, you know, and it just felt, you know, I think, I don't know. It just got really depressing basically. But yeah. Yeah. I mean, I can't be excited going to next year really.

[00:29:54] Cause I'm afraid it's going to be the same shit show. Look, he makes a move and we get a guy like Quinn, you know, or some, I'm just saying him. I know nobody, we can't speak to the he who must not be named until after July 1st for whatever reason. I don't know, but you know what I mean? Like, yes, that will get me super excited, but it's like, Hey, AJ Greer's here. Ooh, we're winning a cup. Like I'm not there yet. Right. Our expectation bars is lowered. Yes.

[00:30:21] I think, I think at a minimum, this team needs to be competitive in the second round. And it's sad that that's kind of where, where the bar is, but you know, I said it last year, I'm going to say it again. Like this is absolutely the last year for this, this core players. If they can't get it done, then just fucking drop a bomb in there and fuck off. Curious. Go ahead, Tony. I was just going to say the good news is we do. There has been changes now, like, you know, getting rid of Fitzgerald.

[00:30:47] So I just have to think there has to be, there's no way they're bringing someone else in to run the same pony show that they had for the last couple of seasons. There's no way because they would have just, you know, I mean, there's gotta be, there's gotta be a change coming. But under Fitz, it was literally the definition of insanity. We kept doing the exact same thing and seeing the exact same results and not changing anything. It was like, I'm so glad this fucking guy's done.

[00:31:15] He tinkered around the edges and shopped at the fucking, you know, the $1.99 bin at Walmart for replacements. We, like, we went into last season, like, understanding this, we were optimistic. You know, we tried to put the positive spin on it. You know, it's like, look, this team has, has a certain ceiling and it has a very low floor and they hit that floor. Like Tony said, you know, like I went from like making cocktails and getting home and being excited to like sit on the couch.

[00:31:45] Lights were actually on when I was watching games. My dog was sitting next to me. It was the best. All excited. And like by the middle of the season, the lights were off. I was drinking from the fucking straight from the bottle of like, you know, a plastic bottle of fucking pop off. You know, putting together a noose with a rope. Be like, well, that's it boys. We're done. So, you know, though, did you guys have like this season? I didn't have the hope.

[00:32:09] Like when it came to like when the trades had to be made from the last two seasons prior to that, I actually, I know I said this on the show several times. I was like, why not? We're not going to do anything. Like you just felt like when we needed a goalie, what was it two seasons ago? Right. Yeah. You know, we just didn't go do it. So you just kind of felt like it wasn't going to get done. And teams that are teams were acting early this year to the trade deadline. And we just, you know, just knew. So what was there to be excited about?

[00:32:37] And I think it rubs off into the players because I'm sure the guys on the team are like, again, as we always say, you're you were playing with the Panthers. You kind of knew they were going to make some moves to get to bolster you up, even when you don't even need it. The devils, we need it. And you just know you're not going to get it. That's what it felt like. Yeah. And it's only had the ability to operate in those traditional windows of the offseason and the deadline. And I think a lot of that is like like the players looking to the GM like, hey, man, we need some fucking help. And well, that's not getting it done.

[00:33:07] And then that becomes a cultural problem. It's GM related. It's deflating. You know, you're out there if you're a guy like, you know, Nico or whatever, you're breaking your ass, you know, every single night. And it's like there's nobody coming to help. And, you know, you need it. It's seriously it's deflating. It's demoralizing. And it took its toll this last season. And it showed. I mean, they looked miserable out there.

[00:33:31] And out of all my years watching this team, the last year was the most I actually turned the games off. I mean, by the end of the first period, most nights I was on to something else. And just like I'll record the games. I'll go back and like fast watch it on like double speed and just see how bad did we lose. And I'll watch all the goals and stuff. But like I could not sit there through 60 minutes of watching us play atrocious hockey.

[00:34:00] And the thing is, it's not like you had a super young team and you're like, OK, I can see where this is going. I can see these guys are going to get better. And I'm super excited for it. OK, we lost four to one today, but, you know, they played hard or whatever. It was just uninspired, really terrible hockey with a group of guys that are high end dudes. And they were just nobody was showing up. And I just agree with Tim a thousand percent.

[00:34:26] I do attribute ninety nine point nine percent of that on the culture and the culture that was started from the front office and on down. And I think it already changed just with Fitz being fired and made a bringing in. I think there's a whole new excitement level around this team and especially the guys, the core guys who I think are really. Excited to get back at it and show everybody that this is not last year was the anomaly. Like, so let's do it.

[00:34:55] I cannot wait for the start of next season. You just in. Oh, I'm just not going to say that they're winning the cup. I'm not going to. I'm probably not even putting them in the play. I was going to make funny because it's like 10 minutes. He just went from like, I'm not optimistic. Fuck this. They do it to me. Now you're like, I can't wait. Yeah, I was kind of thinking about this. Right. The playoffs even next year, like if you don't get into the top three in the Metro, it's going to be tough to get in. And, and, you know, that's where they have to be.

[00:35:25] So they have to be right there with Carolina next year. You know, I don't think that Philadelphia has. I don't think Philadelphia is going to be able to repeat what they did last year. I certainly don't think Pittsburgh is going to be around, but now you got Montreal. You got Buffalo. They're coming back. Is Detroit going to finally get over the hump? Does anyone think Florida is going to sit out next year? I mean, no Columbus. They were really good.

[00:35:54] Are the Rangers going to be a lot better? Are they going to spend a shitload of money and try and revamp this thing on the fly? I don't know. But I'm just saying you've got the top three in the Metro. Otherwise, you are really in danger of missing the playoffs. And that's scary. I agree with that. Like, yeah, I think the Atlantic is going to be an absolute war zone next year. The Metro, I think the Flyers won't be as good as they were. I just don't think they will be.

[00:36:21] Pittsburgh, I think, will finally be that team that's like, okay, we need to finally kind of blow it up. You know, with Sid and Geno finally kind of aging out. Tim, it's keeping pace with Carolina. Carolina, the Devils should finish second in the Metro. And if they're running lower than that, it'll be a disappointing season. And then, like I said, like they need to actually – and I'm just going to make the assumption that they'll be playing Carolina in the second round of the playoffs. And they need to make that a competitive series.

[00:36:49] That's like the lowest bar that I've sent for them. Anything beyond that, I will be happy with. Anything below that, I won't be. I think that's fair. I really do. I always said, like last year, I think I said the goal was further than game five of the second round because that's how far this core has ever gotten. And they didn't even make the playoffs. Now, no, go win the second round. Like, fuck Carolina. I'm so tired of them. Like, how many – like, I know how good they are.

[00:37:17] But, like, it's like kissing your goddamn sister. Sure, it's a great piece of tail and a blouse full of goodies. But it's just illegal. No, I'm sorry. What I meant to say was it's like they give you all this, but they never finish the job, right? And I'm just – We've had a lot of incest conversations. And to see more of that link that came from earlier. It's not an incest video. And if Bobby were here, he would know exactly what movie that comes from.

[00:37:46] So – but he's not. But anyway. Bobby's favorite movie, isn't it like Titanic? Titanic. Well, he does love Titanic. Really anything with – Titanic is a very heartwarming story. I hate that movie. I hate that movie so much. I saw that on – It's because it's an old woman making up a story. I saw that on a date. And we were leaving the theater. And she was crying her eyes out. And I – what are you – you seriously? What?

[00:38:15] Do you not know the ship fucking sank? Like what are you upset about? Like this is just dumb as fuck. It's more like a passion of the Christ than being like, oh my God, they're going to crucify him. Right. I had no idea he dies at the end. Jesus dies at the end? This is cool. He comes back. Well, I know. Yeah, you got to wait for the second one when he's resurrected. Yes. But okay. So like they're always there and they're never ever getting the job done. And if they don't get the job done this year, I don't think that they're – I think they're – fuck them. They're done. Then the Devils are going to take that spot.

[00:38:45] If not us, it's going to be the Habs. I want a Eastern Conference Final of New Jersey-Montreal next year. That's what I want. All right. So what else is new in Devil Land? The other piece of news was a Slovak reporter argument of sorts. One came out and said – and it's all in Slovakia, so I have no fucking idea what it actually says. But I'm counting on people who are like reposting and were able to translate.

[00:39:15] But one reporter said Nemec has requested a trade. The reporter that said last year that Nemec has requested a trade came out and said, no, Nemec did not request a trade. And then something came out that said Meta and his camp have not talked to Nemec. And yet they have a meeting set up after Nemec gets back from vacation, which implies to me that they have indeed spoken because they've set up a meeting, which is –

[00:39:45] you can't set up a meeting without speaking. Sonny's just sitting there going, where the fuck is this guy? Oh, nobody told? Yeah. Yeah. So it's just the dumbest cycle that like – I don't know what it is about these Slovakian reporters that are interested in drumming shit up with like making drama for Nemec. I don't know if there's any truth to it or not.

[00:40:12] But, you know, look, we've all firmly been in the maybe Nemec's needs – we need to move on from him. But on the other hand, he has no rights. Like we own everything about this guy. We own that motherfucker. So it's like we could do what we want with him. We could tell him to go sit on his fucking ass for six months if we want. That would be bad business. Yeah, probably.

[00:40:32] But look, he's probably our most valuable trade asset, and I don't think he's progressed to where, you know, there is necessarily a spot for him. And if we're going to go make a swing for a top six wing, which I think is the position that we need to fill the most, like in terms of holes that the Devils have, not replacements, we can get to that. But in terms of the holes that we have, Nemec is our best trade asset.

[00:41:00] I think that Nemec is – if there's any truth that he is requesting a trade, then get rid of him. Then make a deal. He traded him last year when he was hot. Look, I mean, the thing is what Nemec is – I don't – he's – the regression is what bothers me. You know, coming out two years ago, playing as well as he did in that playoff series against Carolina when our defense was so decimated, he ended up becoming our number one D. And he played fantastic.

[00:41:29] It's the game-winning goal in game three. I mean, the guy played really, really well. And then just doesn't follow it up. It's the regression and waiting for him to kind of get back to that point, which took half a season. So I don't know what it is about Nemec and Luke to not being able to figure it all out yet. But I have a hell of a lot more faith in Luke Hughes figuring it out and being the guy than I do with Nemec.

[00:41:58] Yeah, and well, I think with Nemec, he's a weird player because you give him third pair of sheltered minutes and he doesn't fucking know where the fuck he is. You give him 25, 30 minutes in a top pair role and suddenly he's like the best defenseman in the league. You know, that happened for Slovakia at the Olympics. It's happened for Slovakia at the World Championship. It happened last year in the playoffs, like you said. When he gets big minutes, he thrives.

[00:42:28] The problem is in the comparison with him and Luke. And I saw someone – I saw someone make this comparison today. It's like, why does Nemec, you know, get such a short leash but Luke doesn't? It's because Luke makes mistakes but they're not effort mistakes. Nemec's issues look like they're effort issues where it looks like he just doesn't give a fuck. Stop banging the table, please. I'm not. Am I banging the table? You are, yeah. Sorry. Thank you. I don't know what to do with my hands. Put them in your pocket. I know.

[00:42:58] Just kidding. Don't really put them in your pocket. But that's actually a great point, what you said. Nemec's issues are effort issues. And Luke's aren't. Luke is at least trying. He's fucking up. He makes mistakes. He was a lot better towards the end of the year. But when Nemec gets pushed down the line up into that third pair role, it seems like he just kind of doesn't give a fuck and makes a ton of mistakes. The amount of times that he and Dylan got scored on where Dylan's looking at him like, what the fuck are you doing, man? Yeah.

[00:43:27] Like, it's problematic. So that's why Nemec has a short leash. So I wonder, is that a mental problem? Or like, in other words, not so much a mental problem, but is that a, I believe I deserve those number one minutes and I'm not going to give a rip if I don't have that and fuck this team. Fuck that. Fuck Sheldon Keefe.

[00:43:49] Like, I'm just curious if that, if that's what goes through his head or if it's just, I don't know, something like just he has to play 30 minutes to be able to. Tim, are you frozen or are you just really still? Okay. Did I just disappear for a second? No, you just were like staring off into space for a while. No, what I was saying is I think Nemec is a flow player. Like, he just, he needs to get into the flow of the game to kind of feel it and vibe in it because like he's a bit of a rover.

[00:44:20] You know, he's not a defensive defenseman. He's not purely an offensive defenseman. He's almost like a midfielder in soccer where like, you know, his game is predicated on feeling the vibe and yeah, and he's confidence driven. So if he, this actually happens to me in beer league. Like if I make a great play in the first shift of the game, like I'm going to have a pretty good game. If I fuck something up in the first shift of the game, I'm a mental midget out there. I'm going to fuck everything up for the rest of the game.

[00:44:45] Hey, look, I like Shimon Nemec, but I'm also, hey, we have a new GM, whatever he sees fit. He's got my endorsement and he deserves the benefit of the doubt. So if that's straight him, then I know we'll be all right because he'll do something good with it. I actually have an idea. Is it Nemec, Mercer and Heischer for Quinn Hughes and Eric Zeneck? No, but that's one of them. But this is more broadly. I think we should trade both Dougie and Nemec. I do too.

[00:45:15] We trade both of them. We signed John Carlson for two years. Hmm. Played good with that Anaheim. Yeah. He's a UFA. Okay. All right. What's his, what's his contract like looking like? I don't know, but I think he's like 36. He can give him a veteran lead and deal with bonus, with a bonus structure. I don't know. Just a thought. But there are going to be guys out there like Truba's a free agent. Oh, could you imagine bringing Truba to New Jersey?

[00:45:44] It would be fucking fun, wouldn't it? I mean, he's not, he's not nearly good enough of a puck moving defenseman that we need, you know, and they're guys. No, but it would be fun, like, watching him take out a fucking, you know, Zibanejad in the middle of, like, you know, sometime in December. That'd be fun to watch. And his whole issue was, like, his wife's doctor residency. So, he came back to New York. You know who I was impressed with during this playoffs? I know they're not in the playoffs. It was Coulorn. I was actually impressed with his play, man.

[00:46:14] I watched him play at Tampa for a few years. Yeah, he was actually, I got to say, man, he's, I don't, that guy's a solid player, man. I've seen him play a lot. He's, he's on the, I think he's like 36 or 37. Yeah, he's got to be like 36 or something. Their, their, Anaheim's power play was hilarious. It was, like, Jackson Lacombe, who's like 21. Carter Gauthier, who's like 20. Leo Carlson, who's like 21. And, like, Alex Coulorn is 37.

[00:46:41] It was like Uncle and the Kids, basically, going to, like, see, like, an R-rated movie. It was very funny. We never should have got rid of John Marino. No. Yeah, but John Marino got us this goalie of the future that's coming at some point. I don't know. So, in terms of, I don't, I don't think Sonny's going to be able to fix everything in one year. No, I don't either. It's going to be a two-year process, which sucks because our core and these guys aren't getting any younger

[00:47:09] and we're continuing to age out of, out of, like, their contention window. I saw something the other day. It was, like, Gretzky won his last cup at 27. Lemieux's last cup was, like, 26. Crosby's last cup was, like, 26 or 27. Yager's last cup was, like, he was, like, 21 or something like that. It was something about, like, a bunch of stars and, like, the last cup they won. It was a little alarming. But, look, I mean, the bottom line is, like, winning the Stanley Cup is very, very hard. Okay?

[00:47:39] I mean, like, you just watch the playoffs. It's brutal. If you managed one out of the next five years when these guys are in their prime, that's it. Like, you know, three, four deep runs, one Stanley Cup win, that's, I'd be so happy with that. I'm okay with that. I don't need, you know, two and three years like we did in 2000, 2003, three in a row. But, whatever. I mean, oh, three and four years. I'm sorry.

[00:48:06] But my, like, I get it a lot of it. But Ray Bork didn't win his first cup until he was 172. So, you know, you have to think like that. Yeah, I was talking about kind of the primary core star on those teams. I get what you're saying. And it's, you know, the new economics of, like, the salary cap era and stuff like that. There aren't, like, three, four-year dynasties anymore.

[00:48:32] The dynasties now are, like, teams that make the Eastern Conference finals every year. Florida is cemented as a dynasty. I mean, to me, three in a row, three cup finals in a row. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, like, that's what I mean. It's like, I just don't think a team's ever going to win four cups in a row like the Islanders did. No, I agree. Something like that. They just can't do it anymore.

[00:48:53] Do you guys, I shouldn't say believe, but are you comfortable with rolling it back with Markstrom with the knowledge now that, you know, he was injured and this was a nagging thing? And are we going to just kind of absolve him of the play over the last year and just be okay with him being our number one going into next year? Because I, that is the biggest worry for me. The Devils are going to be okay with that.

[00:49:22] So, I think that's what we're going to have. I think that's, now that that narrative's out there, I think he's going to, you know, going to be the starter for us next year. Yeah, I mean, he fucking stinks. Like, I don't want him on this team. I just don't see any solution to get out of him without opening up that second buyout window and buying him out. Or. Yeah, and we've talked about it. Like, I don't think there's a trade on the table for him or we don't, or we can get out of him. Well, that's it.

[00:49:50] That's the only way I think that you do that makes sense is he agrees to be traded and you move him. That's it. You know, but even the. The Kunlun Red Stars. Well, that's it. I mean, if you were the Edmonton Oilers, you were absolutely in need of a goaltender, but I'm look around and I'm like, you know what? If I can get Jordan Binnington, I'm taking him over, you know, Markstrom.

[00:50:11] And, you know, I just don't know how many people, how many teams have an appetite for a 36-year-old goalie who had the worst year of his career and two more years left on a no-move contract at $6 million a year. It's tough. Yeah. Hopefully he has a bounce back. I mean, you know. Yes. That's all we can really hope for, right? It'd be great. You know, you hate to think that Markstrom, I mean, he's a great goalie, you know.

[00:50:38] It's just you hate to think that we got the expired milk. But we kind of see his way of putting it. Maybe we didn't. Hopefully. Yeah. You look at his best years, and they were Vancouver, you know, 10 years ago. It's like I was awesome 10 years ago, too. You guys probably were awesome. So, I mean, would you take Bobrovsky over Markstrom? I saw a list of trade targets, and I wrote down all the goalies.

[00:51:08] Okay. So, let me run off the cue. Would you take this guy over Markstrom? Okay, so this is what we're playing. This guy over Markstrom. Okay. Aiden Hill. Yes. Elvis Merz-Lincoln. Wait, wait, tell him. Oh, Tony. Aiden Hill. Yeah. I mean, I would love it, but I would do it. Elvis Merz-Lincoln's. No. I like Elvis.

[00:51:37] He's good. Defense in front of him. I think he could be really good. I mean, we have never seen him in the playoffs, but then again, you know, Markstrom, we've never really seen in the playoffs either. Yeah. I take Elvis over him. Tony? Sam Montembeau. No. No. No, no, Montembeau. Okay. So those are the three kind of veteran guys, and Mike Ruff spoiled the surprise fucking dickhead. There are two young goalies that I absolutely would trade for.

[00:52:06] One is Sebastian Kosa in Detroit, and I saw a report that Detroit's looking for a second round pick. It's like I would ship that off in a fucking heartbeat for Sebastian Kosa. So I don't know anything about this guy. He tore it up in the AHL. He's blocked. He's in the Detroit system. He's blocked by kind of their quagmire goalies that they have, and I think it's either Kosa or

[00:52:34] Trey Augustine who are their kind of AHL goalies, and I think they're kind of choosing between one of the two. But he was... Is Trey Augustine with Detroit as well? Yeah. I saw him play at the under-18s, the Worlds. He was pretty good. He was good. He was on that team. I thought he was on that team for like four years. It was crazy. I was like, why is this fucking guy still here? Isn't he like 25 now? He has like a wife and kids and a mortgage, and he's still playing World Juniors? But it's Sebastian Kosa or Devin Levi.

[00:53:03] So that's what I've started to do in this goalie blog that I got carried away again is, yes, getting rid of Markstrom should be a priority, but it's like, what's the alternative? So I'm like finding like what the alternatives are. All right. So if you made a trade, let's say for a guy like Kosa, right? And I don't know. I've never seen him. Tony, are you familiar with him at all? Yes. No? Tony, you are? Where'd you go? Why did your video do that?

[00:53:33] Do something illegal. I'll be there in a second. Oh, Jesus Christ, Tony. It's not illegal in New Jersey. Seriously, we can hear the fucking light. You can smoke pot on air. It's a New Jersey devil podcast, which automatically puts you in Jersey where it's legal. Yeah. All right. All right. Fair enough. He did announce where he is. But he didn't inhale, I swear. No. Tony's taking his blood pressure medication. Yeah. The Devin Levi thing, I'm kind of with Mike on this one.

[00:54:00] Like, I liked what I saw when he first came in and then he kind of just fell off. Yeah. You can't beat out Alex Lyon to even get that backup role right now. I'm kind of done with him. I mean, Kosa, I don't know anything about. But because everybody is kind of high on him, if he is the guy and you get him for a second rounder and now you can kind of partner him with the sagey, you know, cagey veteran in Allen.

[00:54:30] Well, then maybe Markstrom, you don't really need a whole lot back. Maybe you just kind of look for somebody to take the contract off and you could dump them somewhere. And then, you know, then it's maybe a little bit more to easier to swallow, easier to make that deal. Yeah. He has a 22 or 20 team list next season and he can be buried in the minors too. Like, we'd still be paying his salary, but they can just be like, fuck you, we're waving you to send you to the minors until you accept the trade.

[00:54:59] But they're not going to do that though. No, probably not. But, but it's like, but with, with Kosa, it's, it's, it's what we need is an NHL caliber starting goalie that can start 50 plus because Jake Allen probably tops out maybe 35 is where he's sort of best. So is that a guy that was an AHL starter last year and we're going to take a flyer on him and bring him up and give him 50 plus starts?

[00:55:27] Like that's, that's kind of the other element of this equation or, or, you know, do we just tell the defense to just fucking be better in front of him and, you know, don't, don't fuck up in front of him. I don't know. It's, it's a really tough choice I think to make. And that's why I think I agree with Tony is that we are going to be running it back with Markstrom and Allen because in two years, his deal converts to, I think a five team or

[00:55:55] 16, no trade list, which is much more movable. So last year, let's see. So the 24, 25 season in the AHL for the grand Rapids Griffins. Let's see. Kosa played 41 games. He was 21, 15 and five. He had a, what the fuck?

[00:56:23] Coles against average of two, four, five, a state percentage of nine 11. And that's the AHL. It was really hard to be a good goalie in the AHL. Those were his number. Then for the red wings, he did play two games. He played one game. He won it. He had an eight 57 save percentage. And that might be, no, he had, he's been since he's been, uh, he's with the ECHL 2022,

[00:56:49] 23 with the Toledo wall eyes where he played 46 games. He had a safe percentage of a nine 13 goals against a two five six and two years with the Griffins 40 games and 41 games goals against of two 41, two 45 and say percentage of nine 13, nine 11. And he's consistent every year. You look at where he was, whether it was the W a H L W H L E C H L a H L his safe percentage. He had one bad.

[00:57:18] Well, no, he only played three games that year and his safe percentage was dog. But for the years that he played the second lowest total of games was 19. So he's played. This is through all the leagues, right? 33 games, 19 games, 46 games, three games, 46, 40, 41. These are his safe percentages. Nine 21, nine 41, nine 13, seven 83. That's the three games season year. Nine 13, nine 13, nine 11. That's fucking impressive.

[00:57:49] And that's a consistent dude. All right. I'll take them. Let's do it. Load him up in the station way. That's it. Let's go pack his shit up and move him to Jersey. But I would love to like, just, you know, watching these teams that had these rookie or really young goaltenders shine in these playoffs was one of the, to me, even with Montreal still, it's that, that to me is the most fun to watch.

[00:58:16] These young guys just stepping up, playing awesome hockey. And I, then I get depressed. Cause I'm like, we have Jacob Marks room. The last time we had that was, uh, Marty. No, the last time we had that excitement though, like actually, even if it's for a moment was Blackwood against the Rangers and that, and that those finals, that was the last time I felt excitement. Like, Oh, you know, fuck. Like we can, maybe can do something. And ever since then, it's just never been the same.

[00:58:46] What do you got here? One thing I do want to point out and I just, this is going in my goalie blog. So I just pull it up for a second. So this is, I put this green line in it's expected goals against versus goals against just overall as a team. And basically expected goals against is a pretty good barometer for how good a team is defensively. And there's a pretty straight correlation between how good your team is defensively and how well

[00:59:15] your goalies play with a few different, with a few kind of outliers. Like you can see Ottawa and Vegas had really bad goaltending. You could see Sorokin, Logan Thompson, Swayman on the top had really good goaltending. And we're kind of right on that line. Like our overall goaltending was generally average. I know people fucking like to kill Markstrom, but statistically we are generally average. Okay.

[00:59:45] So yeah. All right. I'm not going to fight that too much. I mean, the numbers are the numbers. Look, and there's, there's some nuance in there that, that is missing. I think, oh, this is also five on five. So it's doesn't include the power play, which is a whole other element. I don't think you can like kill goalies for power play goals. I'm with you. I believe it. So David chimes and Ruff are talking a little bit here and I'm, I'm agreeing with Ruff on this one.

[01:00:13] Like, I don't think Markstrom's bouncing. I don't think so either. Because hang on. You want to, you want to, you can take this down. I got another, I got another fun picture. Okay. Yeah. It just, I just don't think that Markstrom's the guy. I mean, like you said, these long shots he lets in just, you know, he's, he doesn't give the team a chance to frigging win. Problem, you know, like all of a sudden, you know, you're down to nothing on four shots

[01:00:42] and it's like the team's just ready to fucking go home. All right. What do you got here? So this is, um, I think I pulled this up before. So you look at the top, right. Is what I would like to everybody to pay attention to the war, war per 60. Look at that trend line. Like, and we have that guy for two. We're supposed to read it from left to right or right to left. So you'll see it's 23, 24, 24, 25 and 25, 26. I know. So it goes down every single year.

[01:01:12] Yes. That's called a cliff. And Mark just fell all the way off of it. Falling off a cliff. And then some of these other numbers, like his quality starts. That's like when, um, you're, um, I believe it was above zero, uh, goal saved above expected. The bad starts is a little misleading. Um, or actually no, his bad starts are really bad. The excellent starts is what's misleading because that's when you have give up two goals saved above

[01:01:41] expected above zero or so like your two goals above what you should have given up. Right. In a start, he only had two of those games. So even though he's in the 82nd percentile, that really kind of fluctuates by like one or two games per goalie. So generally he's a pretty bad fucking goalie. Well, the numbers, unfortunately do not lie. Jacob Markstrom will either be, you know, look, I just think for this team to really

[01:02:09] take a turn, that is a position that needs to be fixed. It's gotta be fixed. You gotta do something. And, you know, nobody's saying we should get rid of Jake Allen. Like Jake Allen's great at his job as a one B or backup goalie. Like that's everybody's happy with him. Um, but Markstrom, look, if you really do have deep playoff run aspirations, what's the furthest that Jacob Markstrom has ever played in the playoffs was round two at Calgary, right?

[01:02:40] Yeah, probably. I think so. Yeah. I don't think he's gotten any further than that. I don't think he went anywhere with Vancouver. I mean, he was good in the, I look, and look, I'm not trying to defend Markstrom here, but, but trying to isolate goaltending, you know, the one thing I hope a goalie coach, a new goalie coach can come in and do with Markstrom is be like, buddy, he's like, you are fucking swimming out there. Like you're all over the place. You're over sliding.

[01:03:05] You're over committing, like just calm down and use your size. Like you're not athletic enough to be an athletic goalie anymore. You're too old for that shit. You're six foot six fucking Viking. Be, use your size and let the puck hit you. You don't need to make some fucking whirlwind glove save. Like just, just stay in the fucking goal. Jacob Markstrom has made the second round of the playoffs twice in 2020 and 2022. In 2020, he did it. It was Vancouver.

[01:03:35] He lost in seven to Vegas and in 2022, he lost to seven. We was with Calgary. He lost to seven in seven to Edmonton. So the first is he's been his game seven second round and he lost on both. Yeah. And David Chimes brings this up that he was great in the, in the fall of last two seasons ago. I think that was more defensively driven than anything.

[01:04:00] Going back to your defensive environment really is important to dictate how good your statistics are going to be as a number, as a goalie. Sure. Like we, we did, you know, like I was just saying about him being all over the place. We need him to, to reign that shit in. I don't think he's going anywhere. I really don't. And that's what I was just going to say to David Chimes. He writes injuries, messed up Marky. If he gets his health back, he might still work out.

[01:04:23] He's going to, David, we're all going to have the opportunity to see that because he's 90% going to be our goalie moving forward. So I really hope so that you and the hockey gods that you're right, because we need him to. And I like Jacob Markstrom. I like his energy. I like the fire he brings. I think that, I mean, I don't want everyone to see him get his ass kicked by Igor Shostakovich again, but I like everything about his attitude.

[01:04:49] And, you know, I, I think that that's a, not many goalies can be like locker room leaders. I think Jacob Markstrom can be just figure it the fuck out. Tony said it perfectly, like prove to us all that we didn't just buy the expired milk. Like, yeah, stop the fucking puck. I'm tired of hearing like Markstrom battled. It's like, I don't want him to battle. I want him to stop the puck. Battling implies that he's having a fucking hard time back there. Like, stop that shit.

[01:05:17] Well, we're going to wrap it up. And I will say this when we wrap it up, the Herzog interview, she actually talked about how like her and Sal, like every intermission, they'd be like, we can't just keep on saying like they're doing everything right. The process is right. The process is right. Like we can't keep saying process. You know, they've gone 15 games with scoring one goal, like, you know, at some point.

[01:05:42] But it's just it was cool and interesting to hear the people on the kind of outside and how they dealt with last season that weren't on the ice and from that point of view. So check it out. Anything you guys want to add? No. Make sure you're 18 if you go to that link. Tony, what are you plugging? Tampa Morgue. Andy LaRock next week. Very nice. Yeah.

[01:06:10] Did you already do the interview? No, we're doing it on the 28th. Was that Wednesday? I think or Thursday. Very cool. Yes. Yes. I'm surprised someone knew about that records collect because I must have seen the Instagram page. We just put it up there today. Yeah. So I'm very excited about that. We had Scott Burns on two weeks ago. Anybody knows who Scott Burns is? He did all the records in the 90s from the Tampa Metal Scene, like Obituary, Deicide, Malevolent Creation, Cannibal Corpse, all those bands. So it's a really killer episode.

[01:06:41] So check out Tampa Morgue anywhere you guys get your podcasts. And thank you for checking out the Uncle Puckers. Give us a listen. On YouTube, hit the like, subscribe, the alert bells. And what else? Right? Podcasts, things, things like that. Follow us on socials. We'll try to be more active. I know we would kind of vanish from there, but whatever. Yeah. I'm going to text out this time of year, though, on X when it comes to like when the devils are done. I notice this every season, a lot of people go away.

[01:07:08] Well, we're going to come back strong for the start of next season. We have a few things that are planning kind of in the hopper. We'll be back to three shows a week, and hopefully we're going to ride this thing right up to an Eastern Conference final. That's what I'm hoping for. Fred, all about the jersey. We're doing prospect write-ups, if that's your bag. I did Tynan Lawrence, published last week.

[01:07:33] I'm in the middle of Oscar Hemming, but Belchez has already been written up, Vigo Bjork. So we'll be going through that kind of group of maybe eight to ten guys that are right in the devils wheelhouse in terms of drafting, if we do go that route. Very cool. Oh, I have a goalie coach suggestion, speaking of signing off. Oh, you're going to wait? Okay. Real quick, around the horn, Carolina-Montreal tonight. Tony, go. Carolina. Score.

[01:08:04] Five to two. Okay. Timmy. Carolina, four to one. Okay. I'm going to go four to three, Habs in overtime. Alex Newhook with the game winner. All right. There you go. All right. We are the Uncle Puckers, and thanks for checking us out, guys. We'll see you when we see you. Later. Valaket for goalie coach. It's over, Johnny. It's over.

[01:08:39] I would never want Valaket to be ever. I'm going to go. I'm going to go for it.