The Struggle Is Real

[00:00:06] 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! And hello everybody, welcome to The Uncle Puckers. I'm Chris, along with my friend Tim and Bobby, Pennsylvania will be joining us shortly.

[00:00:30] And Tony Zamboni, we're not sure where he's at. I just texted him, but it is also like midnight there. So, and here's Bobby. Hi, Bob. We just started. Nice jersey. Hey Mike, how are you? What's that? Nice shirt. Thanks, man. Yeah, I figured I'd rock the old school Brodeur one. Loving it. I hated the fucking green when I first became a Devils fan.

[00:00:57] Oh, I love it. It was never around. And then as I progressed in my fandom, I was like, dude, those fucking awesome. I love the green. And I love that other people hate the green now. So I'm like, suck it, dude. That's ours. I love it. I'm actually really looking forward to, hopefully we get that, you know, third jersey. The one that was been rumored now for about 40 years. The all black, real all black one, not jersey jersey. So hopefully this season we can have better, yeah, better loft. Bring back the bottom stripe. No more pajamas.

[00:01:27] I like the not bottom stripe. I like that though. You like the stripe? No, on the bottom. I like the look without it. Okay. See, my jerseys are still the ones with the stripes, so I just want something fresh and new. It's from like 1995. I think the only non-stripe one I have is the Stadium Series. Stadium. Jack one, right? Because I'd like to actually see that in black with just the logo. And that's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:01:56] Yeah, there's a stripe on the bottom. I'm fine with that. The opposite of it, right? Yeah. Or better yet, like just make the Stadium Series jersey, like with that whole uniform, our home shit. Because that looked awesome. It's awesome, dude. You know, the pants, the gloves, everything that went with it, it looked really nice. I'd like to see the new black be an inverse of that with like white outline around the logo and the numbers.

[00:02:26] Like that? The white outline? Yeah. But just like I like that no circle solid block logo. Yes, I do too. Like the Stadium Series. You're still into that? You're still into the no circle one? I would like that. I would like that as an alt for our home jerseys. I mean, I like it. I like it. I've got the hat, the t-shirt, the jersey. Like I really dug it for a while, but I don't want to ever like not like the full logo too. But for me, it still works. It's still new and I like it.

[00:02:55] How many like percentage wise you think of our listeners? Because we're older and I think most of them are, you know, younger. I wonder how many of them actually remember when road was color and home was white. Dude, you really make it. If we don't have fans that know that, dude, we are really old. Like that was like yesterday, wasn't it? That was it. Seems like it. That was like the 2000s, wasn't it? I thought it got switched like before 2000. I thought they did that.

[00:03:24] It was after the 05-06 lockout or whatever that lockout. No, it was before that. It's not like it happened circa 1900s. It was before that. No, so let me just check. 2003. I think it was like 2000. I think Bob's right about the lockout. Yeah. Whenever that was. It was the 07 or 08. I don't remember. There was like two, right? Oh, shit.

[00:03:46] So the NHL officially switched to wearing colored jerseys at home starting with the 03-04 season. So yeah, it was the year after we won our third cup. It still trips me up because I just assumed that the NHL sets the standard. Yeah. And that everything else will then follow. So every time we're like in the locker room for like peewee hockey, like we're home. Okay, kids, we're dark. I'm like, shit. No, we're not. Every other level is still white at home.

[00:04:16] So, and I just thought NHL sets it that way. Everyone should follow. They don't. Yeah. My beer league, we actually had two jerseys. I'm like, why? Why do we do that? Like we wear red. That other team wears black. One team wears white. Like we don't need two jerseys. Because it's when we play Carolina that, you know, stupid people get confused, you know, shit like that. Chris, I'm making this about me. Not about beer league. Then when we play Carolina, Tim gets confused.

[00:04:42] And what would be so bad about a bunch of drunk over the hill beer leaguers wearing the same color and just not knowing where to pass to and shit? Half the teams we play like is guys in like mismatched jerseys. I'd love to see like color on color. Like, you know, like, like, uh, you know, uh, us playing, you know, the penguins in their black or something like that. Like in our red, like that would be, I think there was, uh, I think a Rangers had a game. Maybe the stadium series is what I'm thinking of.

[00:05:09] Like those outdoor games where they make the specialized ones and they're all colorful. So I don't know, but I enjoy it. So nobody wants us to talk about Quinn Hughes here in the chat. No Quinn, no robo talk. Let's talk about Quinn Hughes then. I don't know, man. Um, We going to let our four listeners tell us what to do. Really went that clutch time goal against the Leafs with two seconds left. Remember that game, Bob? Oh, of course I do. What's the matter? With whom? I can't hear you.

[00:05:38] It's probably your fault again. It's mine. I got it. Gotcha. Gotcha. All right. So, so let's talk some Quinn Hughes. No, I'm just kidding. I don't, I don't want to talk. I don't want to talk about that either. It's, it's going to get beat to death. So let's talk. I do want to talk some, some playoffs. Let's start with that and get that out of the way. And then we'll talk some devils. Playoffs. Playoffs. Playoffs. Can I? So Quinn Hughes in the playoffs. Yeah. You know what's become. They're asking us not to talk about Quinn.

[00:06:07] And then they're going on and on in the comments about fucking Quinn and Minnesota. Do as I say, not as I do. Yeah. Let's just, let's just fucking leave that. And we're going to talk about the playoffs. So shut the fuck up, everyone. Let's talk about the playoffs. All right. So go ahead, Bob, you were saying. It had become abundantly clear to me watching these mostly very exciting playoffs that we did not belong anywhere near this window anyway, like at all.

[00:06:35] We are just watching some fun hockey with just amazing intent and desire and all this shit. I did not see most of the year. So good on these teams for doing it and putting on a show. Devil's man. You hope you're paying attention because that's how you got to play. And I, I, as I watch like every game, I think the exact same thing. Like, man, we're a little bit further away than I think most people think. Especially as these teams are progressing now. Like. All right. So we have five teams.

[00:07:04] We would have, I mean, we would have beaten the Flyers. We would have beaten the Penguins. We would have beaten Ottawa. We would have given a series maybe to Tampa. They might've beaten the shit out of us a little bit. But Carolina is obviously Carolina. I think we could have competed with Montreal and. Well, we win all the games up there. That's for sure. We, they, they cannot beat us in their home building. It's, it's always hard to say when you're not in the playoffs, like how we would have competed against because.

[00:07:30] Like the level of intensity rises and there's no reason to think our guys can't like race. But that's the soapbox I've been on for a couple months now is I don't know that we have that level of intensity. I know it just naturally seems to ratchet up in the playoffs, but for a franchise that never seems to get to their goal, not the ultimate goal, the goal of just making the playoffs. If you can't show me some of that gear when there's desperation times during the year, like, I don't know. It just, it doesn't feel right. I'll reset.

[00:07:59] I'll be very happy with next year going forward. I'll be back to optimistic. But at this point, yeah, we might've won a phantom round or two, but here we would go getting our asses kicked. Yeah. I don't think we make it to the conference finals, let alone. I don't even know if we would have like, yeah, we probably, you know, could have beaten old ass Pittsburgh and, and maybe Ottawa. But like, you go back to this year, like the devil's played horrible hockey most of the fucking year.

[00:08:27] Like they're uninspired, uh, you know, inconsistent crap when they look good. If they could have kept that up, there were a few points this year where they were like, holy shit, they, this team playing like this can compete, but it just wasn't enough of it. Like, I mean, maybe, maybe we win a game against Carolina, you know, like we've done the last two times we were in the playoffs, but we're nowhere near, I think even what I will say

[00:08:56] is we have been the best team that Carolina has faced in the first two rounds. Out of the Metro. In the last few years. Yes. In the Metro. Out of the Metro. In the Metro. In the first two rounds. Yes. Yes. Where we, we've accumulated a total of two wins in 10 games against them. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. A feat nobody else has been able to accomplish. So can you imagine like before, before Colorado lost their one game and they, they were like they were going to go eight and O as well.

[00:09:24] Like I started thinking, can you imagine two teams going to the finals? Just sweeping 12 and O. Yeah. The first game would be the biggest game ever because finally someone will get a W or an L. And then how do they react? How did they come back after a loss after winning 12 in a row? Sick. And it still could be a team with one loss. It's none by the time they get there. So. Well, I think Carol, I'm sorry. I'm going, I think the Habs can beat the hurricanes and I am going a Habs Colorado final. And I'm not even a hundred.

[00:09:54] Like I still think Vegas is good. That series should be really good. I think Vegas can give them a run. That Montreal team. There's something special there and you can kind of feel it. And they have the best goalie in the playoffs right now. So I'm riding the Habs. I think they can beat Carolina. And I think this is going to be another year where Carolina falls short of their goals. And I'm going to sit back and enjoy it. Interesting. I'm still riding.

[00:10:23] I just, I disagree. Of course you do. I think like, I thought Ottawa was going to win that series. I thought Ottawa presented a challenge. All they needed was goaltending. Then reality slapped them in the face. And I think that's going to happen to Montreal. Carolina is just on another planet. They're on a fucking mission right now. I just don't, I just don't see anybody putting up a fight. They haven't been tested. That's my thing. Like they really haven't been tested.

[00:10:53] And I think that they had an easier. I'm not taking anything away from them, but they did have the easier path to get to this point. I'm not taking anything away. They're a great team, but I'm, and you know, their games are boring. So maybe this is why I'm like, fuck them. I'm, I'm, I'm, I watched this Habs team and they're so much fun and they're so exciting. And I like so many dudes on that team. I, I think they can do it. They play fast. I would like them to.

[00:11:23] I just don't think they will. You think they can. And you're rooting for them. Is this your order now? Okay. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm well, okay. So, so the Habs are my number one team right now. I'd say Buffalo is probably my number two. And then if I really had to parse it out, it goes Vegas, Colorado, Carolina. So, uh, the West, and I really don't care much about Vegas.

[00:11:46] Um, I don't want to see, uh, Carter Hart get anywhere close to a cup, but you know, no, I'm torn on that because I agree with you on that, but I kind of want to see Marner win a cup. He's also leading the league and leading the playoffs in scoring. It would really be great. Yes. Fucking disgusting. I mean, and again, you're right. Anytime you can throw more shit on top of the Toronto, uh, media and, and that whole fucking

[00:12:16] ecosystem up there, Marner winning a cup would be fucking great. It would be great. Him, him leading the playoffs in scoring, getting a con smite and leading them to, to the cup that kind of, I think counter washes the Carter Hart. So I w I would, I would argue that he has already accomplished rubbing this whole thing in the face of that whole Toronto system with the fact that this is the furthest that he

[00:12:42] has ever been in the playoffs, you know, so he's already shown them, you know what? It wasn't me assholes. You know, maybe there were bigger problems. The fact that they ran him out of town is just so stupid. So, uh, I, I, I know that we're not going to talk the Luke thing, but I, I'm, I am reading some comments here. Like, is there like, was there some report or rumor that Luke was almost traded to the wild?

[00:13:10] Like I've no, where's this shit coming from? So, so I will, I will set the stage for you. So Michael Russo, who is a beat reporter for the wild put out a report coincidentally today, the day after Minnesota was eliminated, the day Quinn Hughes gave his media availability, that Bill Guerin, after he traded for Quinn, put together a pitch for Luke to trade for Luke. Okay.

[00:13:39] Which I don't fucking believe that that was even remotely serious. I kind of see it as Garen and Fitz on their way to fucking Milan on the plane, like having a few beers and Garen's like, Hey, what if I, what if you traded me Luke? And Fitz is like, go fuck yourself. Um, that's kind of how I see it clang out. But what I think it's going to happen is what I'm saying here, take him in his $9 million shelf.

[00:14:08] We'll take him back when he learns how to play hockey. Sorry. I just got off work. I love Luke. What am I doing? Don't be mean. It's that contract. You're watching guys like, you know, Lane Hudson and, uh, you know, McCarr and Quinn and these, uh, great defensemen that are, you know, Dobson and all these guys, uh, even Bo Bynum Byram, like these guys are making less than a hockey. It's like, we can just get that from Luke.

[00:14:37] We don't need to relitigate. Okay. I know. So anyway, so the long, so the end of the story is that I think that this is a wild beat reporter that is basically Garen's PR mouthpiece that is seeding the thought that Garen is going to try to do everything in his power to try and get Jack and Luke to Minnesota. And by trading for Luke, like he, that makes it easier to lure Jack once Jack hits free agency.

[00:15:03] I think that's kind of the, the sort of end game of it all. Um, and then also on sports net, the sports center, TSM, I don't know, one of those, one of the two, um, someone was saying, and it's the same dumb thing that someone has said, um, that Quinn wouldn't come to New Jersey because that would stifle Luke's growth. Yeah. Yeah. None of that. That's the biggest bunch of horse shit I've ever heard. Yeah. It's so dumb. Yeah.

[00:15:32] And then Nichols, who's a fucking clown jumped on it. And Nichols has also jumped on Johnny Lazarus is, um, Nico for an Austin Matthews package. Nichols. Nichols is like one of the biggest clowns in our media ecosystem. Like he just fucking, he's the classic, like, Oh, I heard that too. You didn't hear anything, man. You don't talk to anybody. You don't have any sources. Nobody likes you. Like you don't, you just regurgitate bullshit that other people have. I listened to a lot of Minnesota Viking podcasts.

[00:16:01] And of course there's a lot of overlap with the wild. Right. So I get a lot of the, you know, kind of the, the, the vibe of what everyone up there is feeling about, you know, and first of all, like most of them are, are morons. Like the fact that so many of these people are just going on about how the wild just didn't show up. There's no way that Colorado is that much better. Like going into this, like Colorado was far, far superior team.

[00:16:31] I think over everybody, like to me, I'm not shocked that they only, that they, they lost in five, but this whole, like nobody's talking about, and me and Mike DeCaro were actually talking about this. Like, does anybody know how much, like, wouldn't Quinn like to actually have some help? You know, 30 plus minutes in Vancouver every night. You look at the stats. He was like 30 plus, he playing over half the games in these playoffs for Minnesota. Like he comes here.

[00:16:59] He actually can have, you know, a little bit less on his plate, especially if his brother kicks it up a notch. And I, I just think all this talk about, and even biz came out saying that Jack will be a Minnesota wild before Quinn is a New Jersey devil. I think chances are these guys are going to stay where they are. That's the most likely Quinn resigns, you know, something longer term in Minnesota. And we got Jack for five years and we'll discuss Jack four years from now of what's going on with his contract.

[00:17:28] I think that's easily. And I love how everybody forgets about Luke. Like, oh, Jack's going to be in Minnesota or maybe they're both going to, you know, go somewhere. Luke Quinn's going to sign a three-year deal. So he hits free agency the same as, or whatever, five, four-year, five-year deal. He hits free agency the same as Jack. So they go, it's like, there's another brother everybody's forgetting about. Like, what's up for Luke? Can we ship him along too? No, it just makes a lot more sense if Quinn was actually going to be a devil. Like, that's the one that makes sense.

[00:17:57] I don't know if it's ever going to happen, but. Yeah, mathematically, because he's the one outlier. It's easier to move one person than two. But what happened with Quinn this year? And sorry, everybody, we're talking about him. Like, it just goes to show you that there's more. The chat did this to us, by the way. They forced us upon us. They said, don't talk about it until we're going to talk about it. The whole move to Minnesota proved there's more to this than just. I'm going to go play with my brothers. There's other things to consider. What team am I going to? Where do I want to be?

[00:18:26] Like, when he's up for a contract, if somebody throws him a 10-year deal, like there's all these things that can come in. He's not going to be like, I'm not taking your 10-year 120 million. I want a three-year deal so I could play with maybe, maybe play with Jack in a couple of years. Shit ain't going to happen. If it lines up, it lines up. Like, let's say Quinn doesn't sign long-term. Let's say he tells Garen, look, we'll talk about it at the end of the year, right? And they decide, we got him for one more year. We're going to run with it, right?

[00:18:53] They lose to Dallas next year in the first round. And we go to the Eastern Conference Final. And now he's a free. Well, that's a pretty attractive team to come to. So, you know, there's so many different ways that this can go. It's crazy to even discuss it. It really is. Because Quinn is under contract for one more year. Jack is under contract for five or four. I'm not sure what it is. One of those. And Luke is under contract for seven. So, like, what are we doing?

[00:19:23] Why does everyone have to fucking, I don't know. I know we're talking about it. Yeah, I'm. One last thing I'll say about it is Minnesota is going to be kind of fucked cap wise. Yeah. Like, they can't afford to do that. So, whatever. If it happens, great. Like, otherwise, Luke and Jack get to play together long term. And then Quinn and Jack get to play together at the Olympics.

[00:19:50] And then Luke gets to, like, watch the Olympics. And then Luke becomes the captain of the Devils and wins a few cups as the captain while his brothers are off doing whatever in Anaheim or wherever the fuck they are. So, speaking of Luke, I do think he will have a much better season next year. I think he is primed to kind of get it out.

[00:20:11] And one of the benefits, I think, of Quinn and Minnesota getting knocked out this early is Luke gets to go to Quinn school for longer this summer. Where he, you know, learning to get his shot through, learning to kind of pick his spots a little better, learning, you know. Yeah. Just learning everything from Quinn. Because he really hasn't had that the past couple summers because he's done surgery.

[00:20:35] And, you know, it's crazy because Quinn became over the last three years this dominant, you know, defenseman. And, you know, being talked about in the... You went from great to, like... Yeah. Yeah. Like, this is only Luke's third year, you know. Like, let's just... And like you said, it's been a lot of fucking dysfunction, especially on the blue line when it comes to the Devils. So, I agree with you. I think Luke's going to be fine.

[00:21:03] I think Luke is going to take it to another level this year and be that number one defenseman that we need. So, you know, talk about the Wild and their cap trouble. I mean, next year, Kaprizov is making, what, $17 million a year? I was not impressed with him at all. Would you be impressed by? His no points? Yeah. He was... I don't know. I think... I mean, everybody's...

[00:21:30] Like, I think Guerin's a good GM, but everybody talks about how he's this sort of super GM untouchable guy. And like, I don't know, man. Like, he kind of built a little bit of a flawed team. Like, they had... You know, when Erickson got hurt, basically, Daniil Uroff was their 1C. And it's just... And McCarron was their 2C. Like, McCarron whiffed on a one-timer in overtime right before Colorado scored.

[00:21:57] It's just like, you have a better player on the ice for that. But... I don't know. Can we just stop for a second and just appreciate that fucking goal that McKinnon scored? That game-tying goal? I mean, that was just a thing of freaking beauty. And to just note, like, he had... A pass never went through his head. It was, I have this much room. I'm going to fucking score. It was so beautiful.

[00:22:25] They need to stop going down into the RPH. They need to stop that. Because you give a guy like McKinnon that space... Yeah. There's not many guys, though, that can do that on purpose. I mean, I can do it. It's really not that difficult. All right, never mind. It's easy. Everyone can do it. Let's forget about the McKinnon goal. It was dog shit. They don't even deserve to be here. Oh, what's funny... Yeah, Mike Ruff just mentioned it.

[00:22:50] The funniest picture I saw was the side-by-side of him in the gold medal game with a wide-open net. And him with the goalie squared up to him and no one in front of him. It was like, guess which one of these he scored on? Yeah. Well, you know, you got them to the final. I think that is a heck of a team, though, man. They are impressive to watch the Avalanche. I fucking... Wow, they are so good. Another one of those teams where it's like... It's hard... It's always hard not to pick the President's Trophy winners to go really far, right?

[00:23:20] Just because of how good they did during the regular season. But then you get all... How often does the President's Trophy winner actually win the Stanley Cup? And that plays into your mind as to where you would put them, just mathematically. But no, they really look like a team that, like, legit can run straight through to the Stanley Cup. Yeah. No issues are goals in there, suddenly. I thought that they were going to run in some trouble in the playoffs. I thought their season was so easy. And like you just said, right?

[00:23:45] Like, when you don't have any adversity and things look good and you get in the first time you get punched in the mouth, you know, maybe you're not ready for it. Maybe you don't know how to recover from it. So, not only was I, like, dead wrong about that. Like, they just... They kept rolling. I mean, even in one law... They just don't lose any games and therefore they don't feel that pressure. That's it. Yeah. We don't have... As long as we don't get punched in the mouth, we don't have to deal with how it feels to get punched in the mouth. But, yeah. I mean, Buffalo looks like they're in trouble.

[00:24:14] I mean, big time. They just... Montreal is overwhelming them and they're making stupid mistakes and kind of looks like a Lindy Ruff team. But, yeah. I just... I feel bad because I really wanted to kind of... I was really kind of pushing for them when this thing started. But now, I'm on the Montreal bandwagon. So, I still want Buffalo just from the heart. Right? But as I watch this, not only do I think that Montreal does have it now, I think that Montreal actually does pose the better challenge to Carolina.

[00:24:44] And that's my number one thing right now is to not let Carolina go any further. Which is still going to be hard. Because I also think, though, that Carolina might be the... I think Carolina could beat the West and win the Cup. So, I don't want them to get there. I don't know that Montreal can do that. But maybe they can. No. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I think they could beat Carolina.

[00:25:13] And I saw somebody had Freddie Anderson's numbers up there in the chat to how great he's been. I don't believe in Freddie Anderson. I just feel like, you know, he hasn't been tested yet this year. Like, I'm not going to give Carolina any credit. It's just how... It's not going to happen. No, I hope they lose in the conference finals again. That would be a delightful fucking story for me. What would... Like, at some point... If they don't make it to a Cup Final... Like, at some point...

[00:25:42] Like, even this great team that's always there and always picked to win the Cup. Like, at some point... You actually have to stop and think about, like, why can we not get there? Why can we not get there to win this thing? For a small market team, like, there's a ton of success. You know how hard it is to actually win the whole thing. I mean, are you going to argue with a team that keeps making it to the conference finals? I mean... Well, this is the first time they made it to the conference final in a few years, right? Well, sure. But... But... But, I mean... You look at Tampa, and we were all talking.

[00:26:12] Everybody was talking after they got bounced in the first round. Like, yeah, they're a great team. And they have a great coach and great players. But at some point... You got to take it to the next level. It's the whole shit or get off the pot. Well, I know. I'm with you. But there's not a one major open flaw right now. You'd always point to goaltending and say they don't have the goaltending to get them over the hump. But as of this moment, there's no, like, stats to back that up for this argument this year. Like, they're playing fine as a team. For me...

[00:26:40] So it's not like they're missing a giant piece. For me, it was always with them that they just... They didn't have the goal scorers. They couldn't keep up. But now they do. I mean, you look at... What the fuck's his name? Stankoven. And, you know, these guys are guys that hadn't been on this team. Who's the other guy? Healers, right? He's new. Haven't been on this team. So I think that they're... That's huge for them. Like, to be able to actually get scoring in the playoffs and some depth scoring as well. But fuck them.

[00:27:09] Montreal's going to fucking pounce them. Yeah, Montreal does have rest of trust. And Montreal just comes in and takes all their momentum and just... All right. I mean, if this thing goes seven, they're not going to start the Eastern Conference Finals until Thursday night. Yeah. If the Buffalo Series goes seven. I mean, what is that? Like, 10, 11 days off? That's a long rest. Yeah, but I think that's good for Freddie Anderson because he's 37. Yeah. Like, you know, he showed up in the playoffs again. You know, that's...

[00:27:39] The goaltending has been their Achilles heel and no, you know, number one. And superstar type. But they roll four lines and have 60 that are good. And Freddie Anderson playing like this. You know, like, they have something to prove. But, you know, hopefully someone gives them a challenge. I'd hate to watch them just waltz their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. So it sucks. Well, I mean, even if they waltz their way to the Stanley Cup Final... I'm sorry. The two teams in the West, I think, are going to give them a battle, whoever that is.

[00:28:08] I mean, this should be really good. But I'm looking forward to the Western Conference Final. That should be a heck of a series. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. So I just, you know, hope that... Well, they'll start those games at 8, right? So they won't be going on at 9 or 10. So since it's only one game a night now moving forward. You've got to envy Carolina for really having that structure of next man up, right? Because we talk so many times about, like, we plucked pieces from them. Like, every year it's like, oh, they lost this and that.

[00:28:37] They're going to go down a peg. Not only do they not go down a peg, they're arguably going up. And, like, we watch a franchise where one person goes down in the season shot. You know what I mean? These guys lose player after player year after year. And it really... You wouldn't even know it. Like, I don't know half the names on that. Could you name... It just looks like the same team over and over again. You know, we talked about it. You know, everybody did ad nauseum when Matthew Kachuk headed over to Florida, right? And that whole team just kind of changed.

[00:29:05] And they all kind of became, like, you know, they took over, like, the way he played and his persona. And that whole team kind of took it. I've never, ever seen it where the coach was that guy. But in Carolina, it's Rod Brindamore. I think he's the most important piece in that entire team. I think if you took Rod Brindamore out of that, I don't know if Carolina is even close to being as good as they are. It's fair to say.

[00:29:34] Because if you're going to sign a team, like, an ego, it looks just like his. It just really does. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, every player on that team has a little bit of that Rod Brindamore element in them. You know, the sort of puck battle winning, you know, kind of not elite, but very good players. You know, they have good depth. They also, Carolina and Colorado, are fast. They play with speed.

[00:30:01] And that's what the Devils need to get back to is playing with speed and have speed up and down the lineup. Especially Colorado. Speed and size. Like, they're so fucking big, too. Did they only play, like, mean necessarily? No. No, but they can, you know, when they play physical and they take the ball, it wears you down. It's just that simple. By the third period, you know. Yeah. And Carolina's best player is 5'8". Yes. And I'm sorry, man.

[00:30:30] Having, like, going out to Colorado four or five times a year, man, they are still an advantage when it comes to playing at that altitude. I don't care what anybody says. I know these are conditioned athletes and they go out there early and they take their skates and try to get used to it. What the devil happened? You. I'm sorry. No, I played in a tournament in Colorado once and was fucking dying after the first shift. I was like, this is awful. When I was out in Utah, we were snowboarding at the canyons and we were doing, like, some backcountry.

[00:31:00] And at one point, it was, like, knee-deep snow. And at one point, I unbuckled to go meet some, you know, walk over to where the other guys were and stuff. And it was maybe 50 yards. I was so fucking winded walking through that snow at that altitude. I seriously, I was like, and I was in shape back then. And I was even thinking like that, like, damn, can you imagine playing fucking football in Denver or, you know, hockey or whatever? Like, yeah, it's crazy.

[00:31:27] And, you know, devil heaven, you bring up no Florida around this season to slap Carolina around. Carolina has not had an opportunity like this. Like, it is all open for them. There is, you know, all the ghosts from their past are gone, Tampa, Florida. Like, this is the clearest path. Well, it's two years of Tampa and two years of Florida, right? Yeah. This is the clearest path that they have had to a Stanley Cup final. So if they don't do it, it's on them. Yeah. Yes.

[00:31:57] So to your point about poaching players from Carolina and the sort of next man up, the Devils did hire a new AGM that we haven't talked about yet. A very, very large ginger named Braden Burch. Six foot four, 220. Fucking huge redhead. I don't know if that's a little terrifying to me. But played for Cornell, played a couple games.

[00:32:25] The NHL is mostly an ECHL guy. So poached him from Florida. So it's that type of thing that we've talked about is finding guys in front offices that – no, you're not, Mike Rowe. Gingers have no soul. I'll be right back. Okay. Midthought. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I saw this hire. And, you know, I like it.

[00:32:50] I mean, if you're going to – anybody that you're going to poach, poach them from those types of teams, the Floridas, the winning teams, you know? I'm big on it. You know, I shouldn't be this excited about, like, office moves. But the reality is I think that's a huge part of this team and the problems. And just – we talked about it for years, right? Just – you've got to make hard decisions that you don't need the approval of the fans. And you've just got to, like, got to do what has to be done. And I just think they're putting a team together that's got the right mentality to do what has to be done.

[00:33:19] But nobody's going to remember shit about their favorite player if you're hoisting a banner in a year or two. Like, that shit goes away, man. You just – Yeah. Our favorite player might not even be here right now. That's right. Who is your favorite devil? Mine? Yeah. Hmm. Like, right now, this roster, who is your favorite devil? Probably Jack. How about you, Bobby?

[00:33:49] Grits, baby. No, it would have to be Jack. Like I said, I've never put a name on the back of the jersey before that I've worn personally, so that's got to mean something. So, I would say Jack when he's firing, you know. Yeah. And I – like, I agree with Bob, but it's like, you know, I like all of our players that we have. You know, I think there's a decent winning team in there somewhere. They just need some tweaks around the edges, and, you know, we'll see what Sonny does.

[00:34:13] But I completely trust him to kind of make over and do what he sees fit, to Bobby's point. It's like, you know, like everybody should be on the table. There's nobody – nobody's safe. Like, if Jack and Luke need to get traded for Connor McDavid, do it. You know, like if Nico's in a deal for Austin Matthews, I think that makes sense. So, you know, we'll see what happens.

[00:34:39] I am a believer that I don't – I think you kind of said this before, and I was going to respond, but how Quinn just signs in Minnesota. We keep all our guys. Teams just kind of keep their guys, and pretty much every team runs it back. You know, like the free agent class blows. I just don't think we're going to see a lot of player movement, unless they're like two teams that decide to blow it up. But I don't think anybody's really on the blow it up watch, besides maybe St. Louis and Seattle. I don't know.

[00:35:08] I mean, you mentioned Austin Matthews. That might be a team ready to blow it up. Right, but they're not going to trade him for nothing and can like rebuild. That's going to be a big player for big player situation. But if he's your Matthews trade straight up, I do it. I don't know that Toronto does that. I really don't know. I think we'd probably have to add a little bit to that. But my concerns about Matthews are, is he healthy? That's the thing. The injuries are a problem.

[00:35:35] Yeah, his back has got two limp noodles for wrists these days. And we already have that problem. Yeah, seriously. Is he ever going to be the – Cody Glass, 1C, step on down. Is he ever going to get back to that 50-goal scorer? I don't know. I don't know. But, I mean, as far as when the guy is healthy, top two or three best pure goal scorers on the planet. So, I'd take him. I'd take him too. Yeah. I'd do it.

[00:36:04] And I don't think that he's going to be too long in Toronto. I really don't. I think Toronto is such a mess right now. So, it's going to be really curious to see what they even do with that first pick. So, normally it would just be chalk, right? It's McKenna. And that's it. Like with this GM and that fan base or that media base and everything, I don't know what the hell they're going to do. I can't wait.

[00:36:29] I'm curious to see whether he does the same thing he did in Arizona where he tries to prove that he belongs and tries to swing some stupid-ass fucking trade. Yeah. It would be very interesting to see that. So, you had mentioned – I agree with Jason. No, I think if anything, Matthews goes to like L.A. or Utah. Utah's an interesting team to watch. I'll talk about San Jose too. Yeah, San Jose as well.

[00:36:54] You know, which would just put them, I think, on the fast track to a Stanley Cup if they added a guy like Matthews. Yeah. Well, they have two defensemen signed next year, so. Okay, well, Matthews is good on D. They play with just two, right? No. They need a couple more at least. I think that's why I keep going back to like that seems like such a good home for Dougie. Imagine putting him on that power play. He could have been there last summer. I know. I know.

[00:37:24] Like it just feels like such a good home for him. But meta being so analytically driven, he's going to look at Dougie's on ice results and say like we're better when he's on the ice. Not wrong. We're better when he's on the ice as long as he stays healthy and he plays like Dougie's another guy that just, you know, doesn't give it 100% every night. Yeah. And there's something missing about him. Yeah.

[00:37:51] And like I put him and Timo in kind of the same kind of bin there. It's like it's all there, right? Like we've all seen it. How good these guys can be. It's just, you know, you watch Nico. He's your play and he plays his ass off every frigging shit. We need Dougie to be the bonus and not the go-to. We need like Hughes to step up next level shit, which I think he's going to do. Even I've been busting his balls. Like I really do think he's about to blow it up.

[00:38:18] Take everything from the first, you know, first pairing defenseman role. Maybe somebody else steps up too and just get all that bonus stuff from Dougie. That would be fantastic because he still lines up for that slap shot. People move. Yeah. You know, and Jay Snow is 100% right. I felt the same way. Like watching these teams that rebuilt, started rebuilding like after us and everything that are now there, Montreal, Anaheim, even Utah, you know, Buffalo.

[00:38:45] Well, they seem like they've been rebuilding for like 20 years, but my point still stands like everybody passed us by. Like that's the thing. We talked about the curve last time. People pass us by. Well, they're getting more experienced than us. Right. Right. And that's important. That's a frustrating thing for me. Like I think that I do think the Devils are going to bounce back next year. I do too.

[00:39:09] But watching these young teams get this experience that we should have been getting for the past two years has been most frustrating because we're almost reset. If we make the playoffs next year, we're almost like rookies in the playoffs again. Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, you had some draft guys, some prospects you wanted to discuss a little? No, because you were mean about it. Oh, no. I love talking about guys that we're not going to see play hockey for four or five years. I think it's fantastic. Let's do it. There's no doubt. Okay.

[00:39:38] Let's talk about it in a different context then because I know you are team trade the pick, right? I'm team trade the pick unless it's a player that you have your eye on that can or you believe at least can start immediately. Yeah. That's where I'm at. Yeah. And I think there may be a couple guys like, like I think Vigo, like, so there are one, two, three, four, five, six guys.

[00:40:06] So there are six guys that I think the devil should be eyeballing for the draft. And the way the draft, I think is going to work itself out. We're actually going to wind up being able to pick up one of like the top five or six forwards in the draft because there are a chunk of defensemen that are kind of interchangeable, not necessarily interchangeable, but different people may value them differently.

[00:40:31] There's Carson Carell's Keaton Vierhoff, Justin Lim, and then two other guys that I, oh, Albert Smith's and then two other guys that I forget. So after McKenna Stenberg, then you have these six defensemen. That's eight picks that are going to get taken for us. So then, okay. So then there are guys Vigo Bjork. I love it. I kind of, I love this guy. He's like a little pain in the ass. He's like got a little gesture, Brad and a little Brad Marchand in him. He's a winger.

[00:41:00] He's a center. Okay. The problem is he's 5'10", I think. So he's going to get overlooked for being small. Right at home. Like he beat the shit out of, he beat the shit out of Riley, Morgan Riley at the Worlds. He's on Sweden's World Cup team right now. There's another guy, Oscar Hemming, who's a big six foot four winger at BC. He's going to go back to BC though. So we won't see him for a couple of years.

[00:41:28] There's another guy, there's another guy named Ethan Belchez, who's also a big winger, six for five, plays like a menace. Tyne and Lawrence, who's at BU. He's a center there. A little bit of an underwhelming year this past year production wise. But he, one of his comps has been Matt Boldy, which is a little extreme, but he's a bit of a, a, yeah.

[00:41:58] Belchez can't skate for shit. That's his take. And I think we need guys. And that's, that's Vigo. That's Tyne and Lawrence. Let's get JP Holbert and Wyatt Cullen. Wyatt Cullen is, yeah. Mike Ruff just said it. Wyatt Cullen is Matt Cullen's kid. Apparently he has three kids that are going to be like the next Hughes brothers basically. So he's nasty. He does some fucking unbelievable shit. He's fast as hell. But he's kind of slight again, you know, so it depends on, on what you're looking for.

[00:42:26] I don't want them to draft size for size to see. Well, that's also something you got to think about size. You're dealing with kids now that are, you know, 17, 18, 19 years old. Like if they're six foot and 160 pounds, I'm fine with that. Six foot 100 because they're going to bulk up. But if they're five foot six and they're 19 years old, well, yeah, I don't want them. So, so, but I get what you're saying. You know, yeah, it's, it's, it's a tough choice.

[00:42:51] But then, you know, on the other hand, there is trading the pick and I'm all for trading the pick. If it's in a package to bring back like Brady, Jason Robertson, Robbie Thomas, or like Austin Matthews. So like, they're only like four guys. I think we can get someone like a Cairo or McCann without having to give up the first. I agree with that. So they're like kind of tiers of guys that don't trade for like, you know, like one of those

[00:43:18] guys that I just brought it off, we would need to put together sort of a Nemitz Mercer pick package, like first round pick. Cause that's what Quinn's deal was. Z. Boehm, Ogren, Rossi and their first round pick. So two good prospects, one sort of B plus prospect and a first round pick. So I'm thinking that like one good roster player, a good prospects slash roster player, Nemitz and a first round pick should be able to get us kind of the pick of the litter in terms of forwards. Yeah.

[00:43:48] I mean, depending on, like you said, like they have to be like St. Louis, are they going to blow it up? You know, and they're going to want the picks, you know? So yeah, it depends on who you're doing business with. Absolutely. But yeah, I'm all for it. And I, Jason, like I, again, with the Quinn, 100% resigning. I don't know, but that's true. I mean, nobody does like he said in his exit. Yes. I'm interviewed. I'm, I'm, I'm open to signing an extension. That didn't seem like a, you know, full throated, uh, you know, commitment there.

[00:44:17] We had our, we had our own guy who left for Minnesota who said the same things, you know, that it's just bottled, you know, it's just, you know, it's just pre-packaged PR. Yeah. I mean, he's not going to cause a, he's not going to cause a kerfluffle on his way out for the summer, you know, and say, yeah, you know, of course not. He's going to say all the right things. And, and, and, and yeah, cause you never know when they're going to offer you $17 million a year. Like they already did it for one player. Why wouldn't they do it for the best defenseman? And then you're going to say no. Right.

[00:44:47] And like my brother's who, and, and he, and, and you need to think like, you're crazy. If you don't think that Quinn's sitting back, seeing what Sonny meta does this off season and going to keep it a side eye to see what his brothers are doing and how this team looks going forward. And, you know, things like that. Cause I honestly think regardless of where he wants to play with them. And I don't know if he's going, he signs an extension. He knows that that's probably not going to happen.

[00:45:15] At least with all three of them said that they literally have all basically said, of course, we'd love to have that opportunity, but I don't think they're going to let business stand in a way of getting their own personal best deals, especially with a lot of career left. We're not talking like I got a year or two left. I've won some cups. I'm just going to go right over there and skate with my brother, Alex, Scott Niedermeyer. You know what I mean? We brought them a cup too, but still like they've got a lot of career left and they had their own paths. So yeah, I don't know. Yeah. That's what I said before.

[00:45:42] Jack and Jack and Quinn can play together in the Olympics while Luke watches and Luke and Jack can play together in New Jersey and they can watch each other's games, skate together over the summer. And that's that. Yeah. I don't think Quinn, I'd like, I don't think Minnesota is any better built than New Jersey is. They are so bad down the middle. Their defense isn't great. And they're going to have to make a goaltending decision. It's going to be hard for them to repeat what they did, especially then you look at that fucking central division too.

[00:46:12] I mean, it's brutal. It's a juggernaut to get through there. And, um, you know, next year you could end up, you know, second or third and then have to face Colorado or Dallas in the first round and get bounced again. So does Quinn look at that path and say, I have a better path in New Jersey or a better path in Minnesota? How did we say, how did we get back here to talking about Quinn? Oh, uh, Quinn, 100% re-signing from Jay Snow. He started it. We weren't even talking about him anymore.

[00:46:39] And then Jay came in and just again, again with the fucking Quinn Hughes stuff. Fuck this guy. Bobby hates Quinn Hughes. We established that years ago. Who's this? A Minnesota podcast? For God's sakes. Let's go. So Tim, what are your parameters for keeping or trading that, that pick? Sorry. I had to eat some tums. Um, if one of these, if one of those guys that I mentioned becomes available, you trade for him, you use the pick for it.

[00:47:08] But if it doesn't, I'm not trading, I'm not trading it for Braden Shen. I'm not trading it for, you know, some like Ryan O'Reilly. I, I, I don't think that makes sense. Like, I think we, we have a barren prospect pool and having a, and look, it's, it's partially Fitz's fault, partially our development team is fault, but drafting.

[00:47:33] Drafting, um, no, no. Um, drafting so many fucking defensemen between Mook Madulan, Nemich, Hughes, and Salayev with our top 10 picks or for, in our first round picks, Stillman busting out and Holtz busting out. We've had one forward over our last, what, 10 drafts, eight drafts that has panned out and become a viable NHL forward. You mean not a number one pick, right? Yeah. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're talking about Mercer, yeah.

[00:48:02] Well, I'm talking about, I'm talking about Fitz's tenure as GM. Gotcha. Because you have to all fucking defensemen basically with our, with our, with our top 10 picks, it's been all defensemen except for Holtz. Yeah. And look how that wound up. So you can't score either. So yeah, I mean, he's, he's going to go play in Sweden next year probably because he fucking stinks. Yeah. So it's like, because he drafted so many defense in this, we have no high end forward prospects like none. Yeah.

[00:48:30] I mean, the Barons are definitely, I mean, the covers are definitely bare. So yeah. I mean, like you said, I'm with you. If you could trade it for a player that can come in right now, I'm taking it. Or if you have a guy, like you said this, you know, you named a bunch of guys. If one of those dudes can step in and play this year, even if it's a fourth line kind of role, I'm all for it. I want to see development. And I, it sucks that like, there's other than you said, some defensemen, like there's not

[00:48:57] really too many forwards down in Utica that we look at and say, yeah, he should be moving up this year and take a spot on this team. And who's there. Yeah. We have a bunch of like, like quadruple A guys, like that are injury fillings. Seamus Casey's dead. We have no idea what happened to him. Which kind of sucks because if he can come back healthy, I like Seamus Casey on this team. Um, I would love to see him make it next year.

[00:49:27] Bob, any thoughts on Seamus Casey? I would love to see a role for Seamus Casey. If we can figure out kind of the log jam and what our defense really should look like. And I don't think it, that puts him in the team next year, but on the draft, I want to say too, like, or on the, on the pick, like they're actually in a position of a good position with this pick too, because they they're in a spot, that kind of nice spot where it could be. Okay. Our guy's really ready to go and just move up a spot or two, or even just sell it just

[00:49:57] to move back to the spot or two. Cause it's deep enough where you can maybe still get an impact player, especially one that's on your radar. Right. And you could go, I'll just go from 12th to 14th. Cause I know my guy's going to be there and pick up another second or whatever. So I wouldn't trade it for trading sake either. Not much to add what, but what you guys said, obviously, if that's a missing piece in a big package for real NHL impact player, you do it. No brainer. It wouldn't come down to the few minutes before, like their pick, there'd be trade talks.

[00:50:27] They're on the floor and I could just see it going either way. I'd love to see these teams draft boards. I would just love to see who they're, who they have up there. Who are their guys? You know, just in any sport, any, you know, I just would love to be in and see a fucking draft board. Hasn't a pro team actually accidentally put a picture of their draft board on the internet before. Oh, remember when, when Chris, the Rangers leaked their phone number on their phone for the draft. I don't remember that. I remember that.

[00:50:56] It was very funny. People were a fucking prank calling him. There is a scenario and glad, Bob, glad you brought that up where if we do trade back, there are these twins, the rock twins. Fantastic name. One of them's they're kind of like they're WHL guys and they are basically like one and two and scoring either on their team or in the league. I forget which one. And what? And they're kind of like the city and where one's the passer and one's the finisher. But if you draft one, you get them both, right? Like that's a pass. No.

[00:51:24] Well, if we trade back, we'd have to trade back to get two first round picks because they're going to go like 19, 20th and maybe 25th, 26, 27, something like that. So if you could draft both of them, that would be fun. Imagine we draft them and then we ship the other two brothers off and then we have, now we have our other two brothers and we don't have to deal with a third one that fucks everything up. I didn't even look to see if there was a third Ruck brothers. Oh, yeah. It's probably four.

[00:51:52] We have probably fucking Western Canada farm kids. I know that we usually save this for when there's four of us, but I did put together a devil, you know, because Tony thought was going to be here, but he is. I told him. I told him. Yeah. He said he got later than he was expected. He thought he'd be home by now. So you guys want to do that with just the three of us? Sure. Let's go. All right. Shall we play a game?

[00:52:25] Buckle up, boys and girls. It is time for the devil you know on the Uncle Pucker New Jersey Devil Podcast. It's time for the most fun interactive game in New Jersey Devil Podcast history. And it's better off for you guys that Tony's not here because maybe one of you guys will get a chance at actually. It's going to take all.

[00:52:52] Because I would say this devil was born and Tony would be like, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. How the fuck did you know that? So anyway, today I will be the clue giver. I'm going to give Tim and Bobby clues to a former New Jersey Devil player. It is up to them to answer a correct answer. They can ask me any question that they want. I can or cannot answer. It is completely up to me. And they get three incorrect guesses before they are eliminated.

[00:53:15] If you have any guesses in the chat, keep it to yourself until I'm going to we're going to do this. So don't blurt out the answer. If you have an answer, just say, wait, I have a guess. And then we'll go to it. And then I'll see if these guys are even close to, you know, I'll ask them to put some answers in, see if we're close. Anyway, this former devil was born February 6th, 1990 in Brantford, Ontario.

[00:53:45] Six foot tall, 195 pounds. This former New Jersey Devil has played for three NHL teams in his career, a career that has seen him play 1058 games, 278 goals, 294 assists for 572 points.

[00:54:19] He speaks Portuguese and Polish as well as English. He made his NHL debut on April 11th, 2011 against the Boston Bruins. And the following year, he scored his first goal on November 3rd against Sergey Bobrovsky and the Philadelphia Flyers.

[00:54:44] And two nights later, he scored on two breakaways against the Winnipeg Jets. He was drafted in the third round, number 82 overall in the 2008 entry draft. Any guesses out there in the comments? See if anybody's even close.

[00:55:15] In 2000, I'm not going to give you that one. Is he still playing? Yes. I think so. He was the second... Okay, so this guy was the second rookie in league history to score a Game 7 overtime winner. Game 7 overtime winner? For us?

[00:55:46] He's... I can't give you the three teams because you're going to get it right away. So, I'm going to... I mean, this is the dark area for us. On October 29th, 2016, he scored his 100th goal against Vasilevsky in a 3-1 win against Tampa Bay. I don't know who this is yet, but the clues you are giving, like, they are jogging like a memory. They should. I... It's not a... You got to guess, Jason?

[00:56:15] I know who it is. Or... Hang on. Bob, like, there's a name at the tip of my tongue because I always knew there was a devil that was born in the same town as Wayne Gretzky. It's Brantford, Ontario. Now, real quick, I'm the only one that can see the comments now, guys. So, if you have any guesses, throw them in there. You guys can't see the comments, right? Anymore? I took it away? Okay. So, um... Give me more. All right. All right. Was he drafted by the Devils?

[00:56:45] Yes. He was drafted by the Devils. 2008? He played for the Windsor Spitfires, major juniors at OHL. He played four seasons. And in 2009-2010, he had 38 goals and 39 assists in just 54 games played. Jason, what's your guess? Come on. I'll... What? Oh. He's not going to say. No, no, no. I know. I'm going to wait and see if they got it. I'm going to guess.

[00:57:15] This is the dude that I said to. Fine. We're going to replace you anyway, Parisi. And that would be Henrik. Adam Henrik. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Bobby's got it. His parents had a week for him. His Adam Henrik. Because the one that I was going to say, of course, was in 2012 quarterfinals, he scored two goals in game seven against Florida. And the second was an overtime winner, second overtime winner. And then, of course, the overtime game winner against the Rangers to send him to the finals.

[00:57:45] So... He's pretty... It's a pretty big impact player. I like Chris comes in with, like, somebody we actually should know, Tony. And if I would have said he played for New Jersey, Anaheim, and Edmonton, like, you guys would get Henrik like that. You'd be surprised how the brain works. Might not connect those thoughts. I'm feeling... I don't know. I felt very slow thinking about that. I had to do the math on 2026 minus 1990 to figure out how old he was. I just couldn't get over... I'm thinking, like, who were some of our, like, hero game winners?

[00:58:14] Because when Chris said he couldn't answer it, I'm like, okay, so it was against... It was for the Devils. Right. And I just... You know, there's only so many guys that can pull it off. His parents own a tobacco farm. A tobacco farm. Yep. Yeah. Yep. His father is Portuguese and his mother's Polish. And that's what they see. I should have got a Portuguese comment, too. Bad on me. I'm very mad at myself. So if I said the tobacco farm, you would have gotten it, huh? Yes. Okay. I didn't even put that in my clues because I was like, nobody's going to know that.

[00:58:43] I like random obscure shit like that. I always put those in mind. Is he still playing? Yeah. I think he was hurt, like, basically all season. Okay. Wasn't there talk last year about getting him? Or at the end of the year before? People love him. He's old and washed up. Yeah. Yeah. I know. But you want your heroes back. You know. You've got to stop with the retread thing. The only retread that seems like it would have been worth it is Taylor Hall. Okay. So we'll finish the show on this question.

[00:59:12] Out of all active former Devils still playing today, which one would you want back? I know it's like, it's hard because you got to stop and think of it. Think about somebody? Left. Alex Holtz? No. For one game. I want him for that one game where I nailed the playoff or the power play prediction. I tell you, you were bigger. You were higher on fucking Holtz than I think Tom Fitzgerald was when he drafted him, Bob.

[00:59:42] You were big. He had the skills. He really did. He just, it just didn't come together. I don't know if he has to slow, but. Yeah. His, I just feel like that year. And look, he was in that consensus range. So it wasn't like an off the board pick. Logan Thompson is what I was going to say. But that's a little bit cheating because he was like an ECHL goalie.

[01:00:07] I think I just wanted Holtz to come into the league and plant his little ass on the left circle and just fire it in. Like, you know. Yeah. That's all I wanted from him. And I figured we can feed him and he can do that. And he still couldn't do that. Unfortunately, everything else that goes along with being a professional hockey player, it's fucking kid couldn't do. You know, that was the problem. Rocks for brains. Rocks for brains. Speaking of rocks for brains. Brains. Paul Cotter. Yeah. Sorry.

[01:00:35] Paul Cotter's on Team USA. Connor Brown. Nobody else wants to fucking play on Team USA. Paul Cotter. Paul Cotter was was the 3C in the first in the exhibition games. Now he's on the fourth line on the way. Yeah. He got moved down a lot of pretty quickly. So when's that start? Tomorrow or this weekend, I think? I think today was the first game. There's Sweden. Sweden, Canada. Canada beat Sweden.

[01:00:59] So I know that our Swiss contingency is playing without Sieg's. I know Timo and Nico. But are they the only ones? Because Brad's not going. Jack's not going. Jack's not going. Luke's not going. It's Brown, Dawson. Brown, that's right. Sega thought it would be there if he wasn't hurt. And Mercer's there? Mercer's there. Mercer and Connor Brown. That's cool. I knew Connor Brown went. I didn't know Mercer played. Okay, that's cool.

[01:01:28] It's a good opportunity for Mercer. Yeah. But like Barkov's playing for Finland, which is interesting. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So it's good. That's the other thing. Go ahead, Tim. I'm sorry. No, no, no. I had some other news in those, but you can finish it. No, go ahead. Let's finish them up. Oh, so Brendan Dillon was on Sportsnet on the panel. He's a fucking rock star. That guy's a man rock guy. I saw him on there. He was great. Yeah. Grit's got a haircut. Very disappointed. Hopefully it goes back.

[01:01:57] Yegorov, they did confirm he was going back to BU. Fuck him. So one of the analytics sites that JFresh guy on Twitter put out a graphic, it was kind of interesting, was where goalies drafted from 2010 and on in the first two rounds when they started playing in the NHL or when they established themselves in the NHL as an actual NHL goalie. Okay.

[01:02:23] And in their draft plus four years, there's only four guys. It was Vasilevsky, Gibson, Spencer Knight, and Ottinger who were basically permanent NHL fixtures by their draft plus four years. The amount of guys that didn't even sniff the NHL was fucking terrifying. Really? Based on drafting an early goalie.

[01:02:50] So I'm still in the process of writing my goalie blog. I spent far too much time shitting all over Markstrom. Um, there's just a lot of bad to write about. You didn't even do that enough this year? Nah. He is going back to beat you. I mean, that's a whole different, that's the one thing I'm really hoping that it changes on this team. Here's the problem though. I don't want him.

[01:03:16] What I'm trying to do is not only am I a person that identifies the problems, I like to try and come up with solutions. Bob, I imagine you do this when you manage people. You're like, don't come to me with problems. Come to me with a solution as well. I don't manage anybody right now and I love it. So what's that? I don't manage anybody right now and I love it. Oh, that's the best. We're taking a break from that bullshit. Nice. Thank you. So what's your solution? There isn't one. The UFA list, the RFA lists are fucking awful.

[01:03:47] Like the best goalie on the UFA list is Stu Skinner, who is actually better than Markstrom. But there's just so much baggage. You got to trade for one. So we got to trade for one. And trading for one spends assets that we don't have and that we need to. Because and so it's kind of tied into the Yegorov thing, because. If he we can't we can't just assume he's going to pan out based on that chart that I that I had.

[01:04:16] I should have had it to show you guys. We can't assume he's going to pan out. So I have no problems picking up like a Gustafson or someone like that. Or even I saw a rumor that Sebastian Kosa from Detroit was going to be made available, because if we pick up a guy like that, that can be more established and can be a long term solution. Then that makes Yegorov Malik trade bait, too. And they would get a hell of a lot of value out of that.

[01:04:42] So that's kind of my thesis on goalies is we're going to have to trade for one. But do we want a stopgap guy again? Do we want someone who's going to be a long term partner for Yegorov or Malik? Or do we want to still find the guy in the future now and trade one of those guys? Stop banging on your table. All right. Sorry. I don't care. Be honest with you. Like, I don't care. I just don't want it to be Markstrom.

[01:05:10] And I hope that Markstrom, you know, he's going to probably be our goalie going into next year. I just, you know, I hope that he can turn it around for whatever the reason was, because his play this year was so fucking putrid. And I just we can't do that another year. And the good thing is, I don't think and I shouldn't say that I this is complete assumption on my part, but I honestly assume Sonny Mehta is not going to put up with it.

[01:05:35] If Markstrom comes out and he's having a fucking dog shit year and he's, you know, his goals against average is, you know, a and his save percentage is 500. You know, of course, I'm being hyperbolic. I think the man is going to make a change. He's going to do something. He's not going to just sit around and, you know, Tom Fitzgerald sitting in a dark closet with his fingers crossed going, oh, man, I hope he can make a save because I don't know what to do if this doesn't work out. At least Sonny Mehta is going to hopefully know what to do.

[01:06:06] Anything else you guys want to add? No, the rest of it. Yeah, don't. There was that confusion about the saliva contract where. Yeah, I heard he signed the ELC. Who's a fucking clown of an insider reported. He signed Daniel Moya, who's actually has connections with the Devils and asked the Devils. They said, no, he did not. I would imagine. We're seeing kind of a methodical trickle down.

[01:06:32] You know, they got the office stuff taken care of with Meta and Birch. And then we'll start getting into player personnel moves because I think Gritz is they can sign his contract at any time he wants. Nico has to wait till July 1st. And some of the other stuff, you know, obviously, like if we do buyout Marsham, that's the second buyout window, which we have to open up, et cetera, et cetera. I know we're running over. We've got to wrap it up. But like real quick, guys, like Keith is going to probably stick around, huh? Yeah.

[01:07:00] I mean, how do you guys feel about that? Bob, how about you? I think I think it's the right move for now. I think that that's something that Sonny Meadow wants to check out on his own. I mean, he guy does have a good track record. I don't think you could put it all on him. I don't know that you can't put some of it on him, though. But no, I think it's fair to say he could probably still coach this team. Yeah. I mean, I've been kind of wishy-washy on it.

[01:07:29] You know, I wrote a blog where I think he should probably get let go just because we can't keep any of the stench from this team hanging around. It's similar to the Marsham conversation that was like, what's the alternative? You know, is there David Carl? What's the available alternative? There's actually a rumor that he's still there. I'd be good. David Carl? I said if DeBorah was still available, I would say, hey, we can let him go for him. DeBorah's the only one. Like, I don't want Cassidy. Cassidy's a dump and chase coach. He would be a horrible fit. I don't want Cassidy.

[01:07:59] I don't really want Woodcroft. David Carl has no chin. I don't like the way that guy looks. Yeah. You know, guys that just can't take a fucking punch. I'm with you, man. Fuck that. Chris Knobloch. Jesus. I mean, oh, I do not want Chris Knobloch. I don't want Chris Knobloch. He looks like he's lost in the woods. And so I'm sure that when the thing that I like about it is that Sheldon Keefe apparently impressed Sonny Meta.

[01:08:26] Apparently, he had a lot to say that Meta feels okay with moving forward on this. So, like, how much of this team last year was being controlled by Fitz? And was Keefe just playing puppet master? And all these questions I don't know the answers to. But if this team is not... If the team that we saw last year is not the team that... The way the team wanted... Keefe wanted this team to play, then I'm all for keeping him on. Then I'm all for...

[01:08:53] Because if Keefe can then just put his system in however he wants to do it with the guys we have, I'd be on board for another year. Unless David Carl decides he wants to come and leave college and come to Jersey, then I say we got it. No, too many gingers. That's Connor Brown, Birch, and David Carl. Too many gingers. It's kind of ginger. We can't have that many soulless people. We're already built on an Indian burial ground. Soulless people. I worry about you and this ginger thing. Did somebody with red hair hurt you? No, no, no. I just make fun of my hair. Oh, okay. All right. All right. So, anything else, boys?

[01:09:24] Nope. That's it. I'm frozen. Any big plans this weekend, guys? This beautiful weekend? Oh, yes. I'm going to NASCAR All-Star Race. Wow. I mean, I'm not a huge fan, but my kid is. So, yeah. We're going to do that. So, Sunday. Okay. So, that's something. Dover's a lot of fun. I've been there for funny cars. That's what they're called with little weird spoilers in the back. But never NASCAR. All right.

[01:09:52] I got a graduation party to go to tomorrow. That's my fun day. I have my high school reunion coming up in a couple weeks. High school reunion? Yeah. When you go to boarding school, they're a little more. Well, I mean, did anyone ever reach out to you for any of our reunions? Yeah. I think there was an email maybe for the 10th one or the 20th one, whatever. God knows how long we've been out of high school. Well, yeah. Not anymore.

[01:10:21] Now you just read about people in the obituaries. It's just like, Jesus Christ. They do like, they like nominate someone to the Athletic Hall of Fame. So, it's like that you were classmates with. One of my friends is getting inducted. And then you see a bunch of people. There's a, I won't say what. Yeah. Actually, Jay Snow kind of nailed it. It's Tim Schell trying to bang the problem. There's a, yeah.

[01:10:50] Via some social media snooping, there's an opportunity for me. All right. Well, good for you. And I wish you well. You and your penis. I hope get the job done. We're going to wrap this thing up. And we'll be back next week. Hopefully, we get Tony Zamboni on. Guys, thanks a lot for hanging out with us. Always fun. Sorry we haven't been around this last week and a half. But, you know, life and whatnot. And not to mention that, you know, we're a devil's podcast. Hasn't been anything going on with us for a long time. We're not allowed to talk about Quinn. So, it's like. No. What are we doing here?

[01:11:20] All right. Well, thanks for his brother. Thanks for hanging out with us and all our Quinn Hughes talk. I'm just going to change the name to the podcast. The Quinn Hughes Pucker Podcast. All right. That's a wrap, boys and girls. We're the Uncle Puckers. I'm Chris. He's Bobby. He's Tim. We'll see you when we see you. Later, skaters. Bye-bye. It's over, Johnny. It's over.

[01:11:48] This dog just keeps barking and barking.