NJ Devils Night Before Free Agency Opens With The Uncle Puckers
uh testing testing and we are live welcome back Devils fans it is your host Ace here on Running with the Devils where we are talking New Jersey Devils hockey all year long please hit that subscribe button smash the like oh I got to echo hold on i always got to have a problem uh there we go killed it uh you know hit the like share with a friend thank you very much and we are here the night before NHL free agency is set to begin in roughly 17 and a half hours 12:00 p.m eastern right tomorrow free agency frenzy begins will the New Jersey Devils have their hands in their pockets playing pocket pool will we get anybody i am here with some special guests chris and Tim from the Uncle Puckers podcast have been meaning to reach out to these guys for a while i enjoy their show and said “Why don’t you guys come on the night before?” I’m looking at the comments here night before free agency and we’ll just talk some New Jersey Devils hockey pipe dreams hopes shattered dreams etc and how are you guys doing
good man thanks for having us Ace this is awesome um you know yeah we’re big fans of you too you’re very enthusiastic in that opening man our show starts runs on Duncan man i’m all There you go but uh yeah man this is very awesome thank you so much for having us
of course
yeah yeah we’re excited to be here you know make sure you leave your uh milk and cookies out for Ellie Freeman so I guess we’ll start i guess Tim uh we were talking a little bit before we came on here
uh kind of not going to expect a lot especially from the Devils but in terms of free agents it seems like guys are slowly going off the board kind of what are your What are your thoughts at this moment as in the past few hours we’ve seen uh Eblad and Marartian resign in Florida on super teamfriendly deals and obviously that sign and trade facilitated with Toronto and Vegas where Mitch Mner is is heading out to Vegas another tax-free state by the way it’s a whole topic maybe we’ll touch on but what do you what do you what are your kind of thoughts as we stand right now even across the league
yeah I you know I I’ve been of the mind this whole time that like I really feel like we should tap into the free agent market pretty lightly like I I don’t I don’t think we need any of these bigname guys like we got to find some undervalued guys you know we’re already talking about dumping two of our biggest free agent acquisitions over the past five years and I I just feel like the UFA deals never work out um in terms of all all the guys getting retained like man like Ben like Florida’s going to win again also so it’s like what what’s the point like what are we doing like let’s just pack it up for a year [ __ ] it let’s just go to the beach um you know bringing Bennett back Marshian until he’s 43 years old the guy’s going to be on Medicaid by the time he retires there eblad’s back so um it’s looking like a pretty grim free agent market so I I don’t know i don’t know what Fitz has got up his sleeve i
I think we kind of knew that though right like going in that the free a like if any moves were going to be made when Fitz is out there saying that this team is going to look completely different next year and stuff we all kind of at least I know on the show our show Tim like we assumed most of this was going to come tradewise so that’s kind of what I’m excited about tomorrow is is Tom Fitzgerald going to have the balls to make some big trades because uh you know you talked about Palot and Hamilton tomorrow at noon they’re 10 teams you know uh no trade or no move clause gets uh into 10 teams that they can get traded to is he going to move anybody and who does he have in mind like that’s what the other thing like we have no idea what Tom Fitzgerald’s freaking thinking um I’m guessing most likely he’s like in some darkness retreat right now and we’ll hear from him in like September and uh but oh Marty signed Cody Glass again good job Marty you know I just I don’t know i don’t know
he’s just taking or whatever it is
yeah he’s hanging out
he’s got a Steelers uh season tickets ready for next year so so what do you guys make of you know people are killing him for it i’ve not relented on complaining about the many transgressions I believe Fitzgerald has been kind of guilty of over the years people are kind of making a big deal out of the Cody Glass thing i mean is there really I don’t know to me it’s kind of much a do about nothing you know they didn’t give him the qualifying offer then he comes to find out however he does whether it’s you know planted from Glass’s agent or whatever that oh there is in fact interest in Cody Glass maybe I have to send him a qualifying offer i guess they did that you know a couple hours ago as as well as Luke um yeah what are your thoughts on I guess Glass in general and what do you anticipate Yeah I guess him him getting in terms of a contract yeah I Glass Glass is a perfect 4C for us like you know the center market is so thin trades and UFAs like we we got to I mean we got to keep them we we you know we like the market’s so thin we signed some guy that nobody’s ever [ __ ] heard of pardon my French from the Swiss league this Jua LMO guy like like is that guy going to play for us i’ve never heard of a one-way deal he’s got to play he’s he’s definitely playing and honestly it to me it reeks of one of these like somebody was in you know the analytics room like we found a diamond in the rough and it’s like you know to me it just very reminiscent of like sprung and glass at the deadline which I freaked out about like that to me was just an underwhelm underwhelming deadline for a team that despite all the injuries wasn’t a playoff position and I think even with the guys that were still healthy could have made a better push than they did it seemed like a complete abandonment to the team in my opinion for those to be your big ads and this one kind of reeks of the same thing i mean how excited can you get for a guy that hasn’t been in the league in three years like I don’t care what you know charts and whatever they’re looking at where they think he’s going to be a contributor i I don’t believe they’re going to go out and sign a guy like that for Udica i have to believe that they believe he’s going to be in the bottom six come opening night yeah and you know and my issues with Fitz isn’t necessarily the deadline it’s it’s that he he can’t seem to operate outside of the traditional windows you know like he only did something at the deadline meanwhile we had clear problems throughout the entire year for two years in a row you know so it’s fool me one shame on shame on you fool me fool me twice shame on me you know it’s goalending two years we’re screaming from Yeah no yeah i just invented I just invented
you never heard that Chris [ __ ] with I was like I don’t think this Chris go get a haircut um hang on sorry um made me lose my train of thought two years ago two years ago goalending like that was a our biggest concern and he waited until like the last minute of the deadline i get you know there’s some vagaries with the marketplace and what you have to deal with but make something happened colorado was able to flip their entire goalending tandem in October November this year to to change things around this whole year our five-on-ive offense has been really bad like we’ve been mediocre we were propped up by good defense decent goalending and a good power play and the five on-5 offense was really bad and then it just fell off a cliff in um after uh after New Year’s and he did nothing to address that we screaming about it the whole year we got nothing out of our bottom six nothing and I I also feel Hey I’m curious do you think like I felt like once Jack went out for the season that Tom Fitzgerald gave up on this team like I seriously feel like he felt there was no chance without Jack and he just sat on his hands and when he got to the trade deadline that was all desperation moves that was the fan base is freaking out they’re ready to come into my office and string me up on my ankles here i need to do something so you go out and get Cody Glass and Daniel Strong like you said big whoop like they Strong played what two playoff games for us I think um you know one maybe i don’t even know how how much he was even in that lineup so like I I just I don’t He loves like you said he loves to do everything in the summer likes to do the free agency come trade deadline you can have a million problems he’s not going to make in season moves and I don’t understand that logic i like general managers that are aggressive that identify a problem and then go and fix it it might not always work but you have to take chances um and you know Florida doesn’t get to this position without taking chances any team that wins Vegas two years ago took chances they’re not all going to pay off but you have to do something
no I I 100% agree i feel like you know he was once Jack went down he was like “Uh that’s our season pack it up.” And it’s like what kind of loser mentality [ __ ] is that like if your team is built on the back of one guy in hockey I mean maybe in basketball it could be different or like football your quarterback totally different but in hockey if your best player or any player goes down and you’re like “Oh there’s our chances we’re done pack it up try again next year i think is complete loser mentality stuff it drives me absolutely crazy and furthermore uh my biggest issue with it is I do believe it’s a slap in the face to the guys on the roster that are playing including veterans like Marky who got sold a bill of goods to come here to try to win a cup in the twilight of his career and you’re like “Oh Jack’s out so [ __ ] us.” I mean I don’t know furthermore Nico he sure he’s a free agent in two years people assume that no matter what he’s going to resign here and I’m not of that mindset i believe that guys now want to win he will get paid from plenty of other teams including contenders including teams that are in tax-free states and so if you’re him what what are you so desperate to resign with the Devils even he’s a captain I’m sure he likes it here but what has he been shown in the past couple of years to make him truly believe that this organization is trying to win a cup like you guys have said nothing in season despite glaring needs and 23 24 drowning with horrific goalending and I’m sorry I will never buy the excuse that you couldn’t just get any average NHL goalender i’m not buying it whatsoever and then miraculously on deadline day you get Kacin and Allen when it’s completely too late ridiculous and then last season again like you said the problem started creeping up in January and I think for me I personally hit I think I put out a video like hit the panic button or something i feel like it was in January I want to say when they played like crap in a home and home it was uh it was the Flyers in Ottawa
it was like a Saturday Sunday weekend
that Flyers that Flyers game was one of the worst games i I remember that so
those two games I was like that’s it this is more than a little skid this is not a bump in the road like this team is flawed go fix it and then once again the hope and wish more injuries hit and then it’s like you said oh Jack’s down what are we going to do and the crazy thing is you see on the internet there’s fans that are like “Well Jack was hurt we shouldn’t have given up assets or done anything to add guys.” And meanwhile I’m like I’m not saying to go get pure rentals there was tons of guys names floating out there with term left i’m like these needs are going to exist beyond the season what are we talking about so I do think
you know more so than just burning another year of a core and old guys you know like Marky that it just sends the wrong message to the team and again my biggest concern kind of looming in the background of the whole thing is you know what does a guy like Nico Heir think this means for his future and then I’m not and he didn’t even get to the not using the LTIR money two times in a row while it was still there and now that’s closed
yeah i think you can look at all that stuff and it just is all just bad bad grades for Tom Fitzgerald and if he doesn’t do something tomorrow especially tomorrow tomorrow’s that’s any big moves that are going to be done are most likely going to be done tomorrow if he is not a player in that consider to make this team considerably better without because right now it just seems to me like he’s depending on our kids now some of these draft picks coming in um you know the Russian kid Gritslick and Hamo whatever chris has problems chris has problems with names um and and and I
Tim Kim knows I do it mostly on purpose because we happen to have a listener that loves to correct me all the time so I do it the best of
any knows who he is
and uh yeah yeah I’m sure he does but um yeah like uh is that your game plan or we just going to roll with rooks and fix the bottom six that way like he’s got it and and if he does not fix this team and this because there’s no look you don’t make the playoffs next year or you have a first round exit again Tom Fitzgerald should not have this job he obviously cannot do it um and uh you know it just to me he has no balls and that’s the biggest thing
go take a freaking chance he loves this locker room that everybody gets along and it’s all a big happy family and because of that he doesn’t like to move guys and this and he’s willing to give anybody a no movement clause willing to give everybody a big contract right away look I get it you love Douggee Hamilton he was our first big um you know free agent acquisition in this kind of new regime of the Devils that we see now him and Palot were the first two big names but when you get to a certain point it might be time to move off of Douggee Hamilton and I’m not saying move off of Douggee Hamilton i know that that’s what everybody’s talking about now possibly i don’t his $9 million yeah sure we can use it that’s not My biggest problem with Douggee Hamilton is the injuries the guy can’t stay healthy so I don’t if you can get something for him now because his value is just going to keep going down he has another injury plague season for New Jersey you’re not moving him ever so for me that’s why I would move them i would say “Okay Luke is ready put some trust in Neich and these kids to come in that can take over that job and go get something with a big or I think our biggest asset that we have on the team for me Douge would definitely be on the block 120 games this guy’s been injured since he’s been a Devil like that’s too much he’s got to go
tim what do you think about all this Douggee slander we talked about it a little bit
douggee Timmy loves Douggee and look it’s I think this is probably it’s a harder problem I think than than people are giving it credit for because yeah Douggee has been hurt most of three seasons that he’s been here he’s had one good season right but when he’s on the ice he’s actually probably one of our most important offensive pieces you know when he got hurt he was 12th in defenseman in scoring for defenseman across the entire league 12th so but that’s the problem is he got hurt and then Fitz doesn’t have the nuts to to fill that in the other issue is now that Kova Savage is getting knee surgery it’s not just you know Kova Savage is going to be there so he can let Neich slide in and take Douggee spot now we have to rely on Casey as well sliding in and probably taking a decent amount of time and I do not think Casey is ready for a full-time NHL load and if Savage I’m a big I’m a big lefty righty guy especially on defense
you use both hands i understand
well you got to keep the forearm strong
i know i know you can’t be on one arm and
he’s just went to the gym yeah
i didn’t touch weights it’s just strictly treadmill and sauna
i just I just used I just used the conditioner in the shower um so that’s my that’s my problem is like I think we’re going to need we would need if we move DGE ne slides in Luke takes power play one but are we relying on Casey to be a third pair the third pair D for an extended period of time it’s going to be three four five months of the season because if it’s a ligament injury we never even really kind of heard what it was with Kovich i’m assuming it’s a ligament that’s kind of what his timeline’s going to be looking like and how long is that going to be and is he gonna come back like he was um so I think that’s another kind of knock on Fitz is like Kovich he turned out great going to love to have him but the timing of that contract was totally unnecessary you know that’s was one of Lou’s first principles was if you have time use it there’s absolutely no reason to sign Kova Savage that extension at the deadline
i agree i have no problem with the contract at all it’s just when you did it like let’s wait until we get done with the playoffs let’s see how you know then you can weigh everything but regard what do you think of Douggee Ace i have no idea what you feel about that
i’m kind of I’m I’m definitely more on on Tim ship with this one i I understand why everyone targets him it’s the 9 million bucks but in the end to just assume at this stage that Luke is just going to pick up the slack and and and furthermore you know then rely on Casey as an everyday defenseman uh young defenseman definitely scared the [ __ ] out of me we saw it with Luke and Nemitz uh two years ago like you know having and I think I for for a chunk were they played as a pair during that season or was that only last year i can’t even remember
they were they were a little bit but you know our our decor was was a mess too that
No for sure but even having them split up it’s like to have young inexperienced guys like that it’s just a risky proposition for me you’re talking you’re talking twothirds of the game you’re running out a rookie basically
and again
Oh go ahead i’m sorry
no it’s it’s definitely a calculated gamble uh I think that you know maybe it’s something you kind of keep an eye on with the kids if if Casey gets some games or see how Kovich revisit possibly moving off of Douggee at the deadline or something or potentially next off season but I do think it would be a pretty hefty gamble to do it now and just assume that we’re gonna seamlessly move on as a as a decor without him but I mean listen if there’s a deal in place that makes the team better I’m all for it but I I would say that I am you know kind of very reluctant because I just think people are just like “Oh Luke’s the man he’s going to do it.” And it’s like dude you know Douge’s been been playing at this level for years now granted with all the injuries and stuff but just to assume that it’s just going to be like this well we’re not going to feel his absence at all i think
I do think and you know obviously one of Douggee’s biggest values is on the power play
and I do think Colton’s power play suits Luke better than it does Douggee so so I do think that probably is a little bit better of a fit but if if we do move off Douggee I will be fine with it if we either use the cap space or in a trade we get back a good 3C and you know I said this before we came on i think the getting a getting a good 3C is really probably our biggest priority like that that is easily the devil’s biggest need look Lucas is going to get a contract most likely 9 million and over all right so he’s you’re going to lock them up if it’s not a bridge deal it’s going to end up being eight by nine or eight and a half nine round there he better be able to step in and do what Douggee does with that kind of money it’s time for you know you you invested in Luke he’s been on the team now this was going into what his third year um like it’s time now for him to play in those big boy roles which he’s done and I believe in him the Sheamus Casey thing I completely agree with you guys my issue with Hamilton is like I said it’s not the money it’s not the production i like Douggee Hamilton and when he’s on offensively he makes us a lot better but if you have and I just don’t think you’re ever going to have him have be more valuable than you are than he is right now and you have glaring needs how are you going to go out and take care of those needs douggee Hamilton’s a great chip to have i do think there could be some issues you know running Sheamus Casey out there like you said on that third pairing um for however long it takes for Kovich to get back but I’d be willing to do it like a said if it makes this team better and I just don’t want to go through another year we’re 25 games in douggee Hamilton’s out for the next four or five weeks and we have to do this [ __ ] anyway and we don’t have anything in return for it and that’s what makes I’m more nervous about him not staying healthy than I am about Sheamus Casey stepping in and doing an okay job any other seventh or eighth defense sixth or seventh defenseman rather that’s totally fair i think I’m frozen
yeah you probably are
still here yeah
yeah my my internet sucks i gota I’m gonna refresh i’m gonna duck out and back in really quickly
all right
now I mean I know other people too talking like Mercer uh what do you think about that would you want to trade off Mercer ace or you think that that he should be our 3C uh I listen I like Mercer but I just like any other I’m not opposed to playing uh playing opposed to trading any player if it represents an upgrade and I think the team will be better i think Mercer has said pretty recent maybe it was the exit interviews that he prefers to play wing than center
so I think the team will probably you know you would imagine that the guy wherever he feels most comfortable is where he’s gonna be most productive we have seen him play both wing and center i think if he is on this team to start the season that he’s gonna get a crack again in a top six winger role uh but if the right deal presented itself I certainly would be willing to trade Mercer now again I’ve defended him all year i think after the 22 23 season he had 50 whatever points 556 points people just thought like oh he’s going to be a 60 70 point guy and I think it’s a little unrealistic a lot of people overachieve that season doggy included right i mean if we ever see that doggy back I’m sure you would love to keep him at that point 70 points whatever he had but I just think people had unrealistic expectations for for Mercer going forward and he’s kind of been like a whipping boy for the fan base ever since i appreciate what he brings i do think he has a value to this team but in the same token I do think that you know he is a little bit of a redundant player in terms of these undersized forwards that at some point we you know with his deal two more years at 4 million bucks he would have value to other teams i would not be opposed to trying to put him in a package for for a bull i think we need another bull in our top six teemo to me is not enough and I would love to see I just did a video about this earlier today you know they’re probably pipe dreams but maybe not for Tuck but Tuck or Thompson from the Sabres I think on Jack’s wing would be absolutely phenomenal gamechanging stuff
we’ve been pounding the table for Alex Tuck uh all all last year um love Alex Tuck that’s a great guy to have on Jack’s wing whether I heard
Damn I forgot I had to click the button so uh I
I heard that
I wanted I wanted to jump in about the Mercer but that’s all well I heard that Buffalo is uh looking to re uh re-up uh Tuck so I don’t know if that’s happening or not or if they are going to put him but you wanted to say something about Mercer mike my thing with Mercer um real quick Tim um I liked Dawson Mercer i do not like Dawson Mercer in the top six uh if you’re going to put him on the if he wants to play wing on that third line then that dude needs a LA Fitness membership and he needs to bulk up and not to cut you off but did you like Palot in the top six or something like God no
it’s it’s at the point where it’s like out of necessity you’re like is Mercer an ideal top six guy no but it’s like who who else you put there if we do not
neither Stephan Nason like none of them are
No yeah none of them there’s nobody on the team other than Teemo Nico Brat and Jack that I want to see in the top six that are on this roster already we have a top We have a top four
we have a top four
we have a top four and like a bottom 12 so yeah there’s a lot of freaking work to do um
yeah you know my my show and and look the best availability is ability the best ability is availability right mercer shows up he does and I appreciate that about him he’s versatile he bounced up and down the lineup center wing back and forth play a lot of different positions that’s important he plays power play penalty kills the guy is built like a [ __ ] mosquito like every he he bounces off people he every time he goes into the corner he loses a puck battle the amount of failed clears that that guy’s responsible for i could count on my fingers if I had a lot more fingers like he’s just he he he needs to be stronger on a stick don’t forget he spent he was in the box at the end of our last season too um it’s just again like if I I’m not tied to any player i will trade Jack Hughes if it makes this team better
i’m I’m I’m worried about the excellence of the Devils and I feel like we’re going down the wrong path i feel like we all feel this with with Tom Fitzgerald at the helm no argument for me
yeah i mean Mercer to me Mercer and and uh and and Hamilton have your two best value guys right there but you know you have to then go out and identify guys that are going to fix the problems that we’re talking about and I don’t necessarily have any faith that Tom Fitzgerald’s going to do that i really don’t and then the issue then with with Hamilton and Palot you know that we have to wait till tomorrow if they even move because of their no trade clauses like he’s given no trade clauses to everyone
like I was hoping in the new CBA that was just announced that they’d have like a no trade no move clause threshold for dollar amounts so Fitz couldn’t give them out to people it’s like there should be like $4 billion you can’t get one
why did K Savage get one like why would you give Kov Savage a no trade clause why would you not give yourself an out on a guy that you know you don’t really know where his
because Fitz thinks he’s [ __ ] Dom Tretto and he’s like family yeah I guess one way of looking at it
um but you’re right he does think like that it’s all about you know the the culture in the locker room and everybody getting along hey I mean I I want there to be a little different i want guys to hold other guys accountable and I want badasses on this team i want mean dudes on this team i want snarl and grit i watched Florida the last two years and all I could do watching that team is think how the hell do we get there that’s where we need to be and we’re so far from it you know how did we get there
we have to wait eight years for Sam Bennett’s contract to end i mean back back to the uh the Kovac Savvich thing i did like Kovich super early i just you know basically he forced his way into the lineup everyone thought he was like a seventh D when we picked him up obviously and then the injuries and it’s like all right this guy’s here
i liked him a lot i I think you know unfortunate injury obviously in the timing of it but looking at it now how do you not like it with the cap announcements that came after you know four million bucks
that’s a very good point that’s a very good point paul just got signed for 5.35 and I think Noah Dobson got nine and a half obviously a different player but the salaries are about to get insane so Kovase when he comes back assuming he’s anything like he was four million bucks is going to be a steal for him
steal i love it
yeah just got six bard got 10 prov of all people just got like nine or something like that 8.59
my god what a time to be a free agent right right announcement hits
absolutely i gota I got to go get my gear out and start skating that’s funny um
thanks Chris appreciate it
i’m just messing with
I got a beer league game later tonight anyway
i mean who’s on on your radar Ace like who would you love to see them go in tomorrow and try and try and get
listen at this point I I always want the old school throwback nasty guys i just feel like you know we’ve seen the the ice capes for too long with the skill and finesse and people oh speed and all this in the end yeah you need all that stuff to win but you also need dogs and you know Fitz in a lot of people’s opinion overcorrected i don’t know that I would call it an overcorrection when he went with the heavier edger more violent i mean I think the blue line shaped up nicely with some of those greedy guys Dylan Kovvich and then getting N and Carter for the bottom six but I just think you need somebody who’s got that you know that size power and just willingness to do whatever in your top six and you look at it now you’re like “Yeah Teemo.” But is Teemo enough when you watch the playoffs when you watch the Panthers
they’re just there just the whole team is dogs they’re everywhere and they don’t give a [ __ ] they will go through run over the goalie go in the corners take a hit and it’s like when you see some of the plays I forget what game it was even Bararkov right it was behind the net someone’s draped all over and he makes that crazy pass like
he’s so good man
who do you see on the Devils doing this i I’m like do you people watch these games and think that the Devils have any guys that are going to make any of these plays or back to Bennett who was my my biggest pipe dream i would have over I would have paid that guy whatever if I don’t give a [ __ ] i would have paid him 10 million for 10 years that guy
dude he ran over two crushed two guys on that shift and scores the breakaway goal like his balls drag on the floor sam Bennett what a legendary run for him glad he got to K smite and Florida talk about Dom Toretto and family bill Zo is the godfather and back to your point Chris about making ballsy trades that’s kind of my thing with Fitz is like yeah what what what would people say is his crowning achievement at the moment right we know his drafting sucks i’m not giving you credit for drafting number one overalls right that I’m not
those were Shirro those were Shirou’s picks
both of them the the sec and Brat and Brat was Shirro’s picks too you’re talking about uh Nemitz was him right
need Listen Nemits i hope he’s a great player but in the end I I don’t think anyone would say that right now with Logan Culie or Shane Wright in that pick we’re in a better position right now i wanted to trade the pick i’m ultimate win now after 22 win now trade for win now pieces but Nemits okay that could turn out to be a very good pick but in the end I still don’t think it would be the best guy to pick in that spot and then Alex Holtz a number seven overall we turn how to turn a number seven overall and a potential okay goalie maybe into Paul Carter like I love Paul Carter but if that’s what becomes of our number seven overall pick and that’s just the drafting so it’s like what did he really do oh he brought in Teemo Meyer
that’s the only thing
i love Teemo but that wasn’t a difficult trade to make in my opinion you trade futures a couple you know Zetterland there was no sting to that trade and back to Zitto I think you’re not moving forward unless you make those trades that have some sort of like shock factor to them
yeah and and ZTO’s to me the his his thing that started the whole empire was trading Huberedo out to get Matthew Kachchuck and then what do you know three com three cup finals appearances in a row backtoback cups and then what does he do this year he gets Seth Jones in season and then gets Marshian at the deadline like what and then sells them all on the family and they’re all Eblad what did he just sign for six million six million yeah
my god how is he convincing these guys to give these discounts because they all want to play there
they want to play there they get to drive in golf carts to the to the rink with palm trees
the most important thing is regardless of that I don’t give a [ __ ] if it was in Edmonton they’re winning cups and that’s what these guys give about there
yes so I mean look the Devils you make it to three finals pull off two cups guys are going to be taking team discounts left and right to come here uh you just have to build it uh the Teemo Meer thing that was the only move that I think that he made of substance uh that I can think of and that was telegraphed a mile away like we all knew Teemo was coming to Jersey this wasn’t like a trade he pulled out of his ass and we were all “Holy [ __ ] this is awesome.” Um and that didn’t happen until the deadline either
that happened right at the deadline
talking about that for nine months
it exactly about six weeks before the trade was consummated we knew the Devils and Teemo were the Devils and Sharks were making the trade and it still took Fitz six weeks to pull the trigger on it um I just don’t have any faith i just at this point show us that you’re a good general manager show us that you know what you’re doing and that you can build a winning team
i think a good chance
go ahead
sorry go ahead no no go ahead go ahead go ahead
uh back to the thing about the difficult trades i think when you look back at most teams that win there is some sort of significant or or at least a minor tinkering of some kind during the season or at the deadline and look no further a lot of the young fans have no idea but for us old guys saw the Devils win the cups 95 Lou gets uh Neil Bratton and Shawn Chambers both played pretty decent roles in the cup run then 2000 early on in the season he break he trades Rston people like “Holy [ __ ] Rston’s a young kid he’s going to be trades Rston to bring Claude Demie back then he goes and gets Mo Gilman and then as a precursor it wasn’t the same season but as a precursor to the 03 cup the year before the year before he trades two legends and cup winners out in Arna and McKay to Dallas to bring in Langen Brunner and uh um Newandike
oh new and that’s right
and then in a separate deal trades another fan favorite Sakura out for Frieza people at the time were like “Oh my god like Lou are you sure this is going to work out?” If you don’t make trades that kind of shock people and maybe maybe send a shock wave throughout the locker room and kind of jolt the fan base into like whoa that’s kind of a gamble I don’t think you’re going anywhere because if you’re looking for just layup trades left and right they’re not going to be there all the time not every trade is going to be a no-brainer
that’s why he’s got You know what you talked me that’s why he’s got to make this doggie trade
but yeah I mean the dudes also Lou had the balls to fire your coach eight games before the playoffs started
he he loved firing a coach first place it didn’t matter you’re
didn’t you I can’t imagine Tom Fitzgerald doing any of those things and like you said the A-line got a little too big what do you do shipped him off broke him up oh and they still won another cup like it’s being able Here’s the thing it’s one thing to say “Go ahead and pull the trigger on the deal excuse me does Tom Fitzgerald have the ability or the staff there to identify the guys that we need?” That’s what I that’s what remains to be seen because the drafts you’re right he’s blown you know the drafts these we have we don’t have nearly as much um as we should as far as you know prospects and developing guys that we should if he but he didn’t draft good so what’s he going to do now does he have the ability to identify guys to put in make these moves for i don’t know maybe we’ll find out tomorrow drafting wise he’s done an awful job uh drafting forwards
you know Holtz was a major miss stillman like people are still shaking their head about why the [ __ ] did you pick Chase Stillman with that pick you know Moo Medulan who knows you know I could barely say his last name you know Mercer you know we just talked about like he has not really been able to identify fors like even Gritsuk who’s coming over now that was a Ray Shiro pick that was in the Jack Hughes draft you know Hamo I don’t know but that’s a second round that’s a second round pick he picked Casey in the second round like
his drafting record is [ __ ] awful awful it is awful every every every core piece he has inherited from Shirou and has actively made this team worse you know it’s it this man like this guy this guy is going to [ __ ] blow it and I’m I’m like really worried about what he’s going to do tomorrow
no I’m I’m with you i I feel like no one has done less with more in terms of a starting core the draft fortunes of having all these high picks it’s like if you had a good GM you should have at a minimum I think have won maybe win two cups in like a 10-year window with those sorts of fortunes and and the pieces you inherited but back to your point about having no forward depth whatsoever it’s like yeah how many games including the playoffs last year that if you looked at the roster you’re like realistically speaking there’s three or four AHL guys playing every single night because we have no organizational depth and then you herald you know and no offense to these guys but like a guy like Daniel Sprung that was on waiverss earlier in the year and cleared waiverss and it’s like that’s that’s the answer to the problem i it is pretty frustrating but I kind of want to pivot to um in terms of current guys and and the current team going forward what are your thoughts about these reports of him trying to resign Allen and the reports of Allen trying to get like five million bucks a year tammy yeah yeah i mean good for Allen you should go get $5 million from Edmonton you know happy trails pal like thank you for your service i I like I’m a big believer that we shouldn’t dump all that money into goalending like I think we we have Marshmall he’s good we’ve drafted Daws developed Daws like it’s time is Daw’s time to be the 1B because we need to figure out
like what that transition plan is going to look like to get the Yagor off
like because obviously Yagorov is the goalie of the future and the way I kind of see it in my head is Marx from Daws this year maybe we’ll run back Marshmall Daws next year we didn’t qualify Pter so I think he’s probably out so you know then Malik is the next kind of promising guy so then is it Daw Malik and then is it Malik Yagorov then Yagor off and who gives a [ __ ] so like I think that’s kind of the the transition plan I see but I I I don’t know it doesn’t seem like they have faith that Daw is going to be a good a good backer but I just
Your transition your transition plan is way too long to get your girl starting like I can’t wait five years for this guy to be our number one um
years doesn’t matter i lost count after three but still I wouldn’t mind him like maybe on the third year you know but uh I Tim I’m with you 100% it’s Nico Dos’s time i think he’s I don’t understand what the the negativity is about him he’s proven from a time he stepped in on a really bad team at 21 years old when we went through 104 goalies that year and he was the only one that actually played pretty well and looked like he actually belonged in the NHL on a team that probably didn’t belong in the NHL and then
hip surgery
yeah and then to step in all the times that he has stepped in I thought he did well i think it’s his turn as a backup uh Jake Allen five million for a backup goalie with the way that uh all the other needs we have on this team no I’m I’m I’m a I’m a hard pass i love Allen thanks for coming did his job great but I just think it’s time to move on from him
yeah I I’m a hard pass as well but I I said it last night on a live i because these these rumors have not went away i I still I don’t know what the hesitation is to trust Daws in the role and it’s like worst case if he falls on his face then try to go bring in a veteran from the outside at that point or give a guy like Malik or whoever a shot it is very interesting to me and it’s like if it’s not Daw’s chance now when will it be and furthermore to your point Tim like
yeah start grooming him to maybe be the guy for a year or two before Yagorov but I don’t want to be in a position where we have two veteran goalies for a year or two and then it’s like you start over with a new tandem from nothing like groom the kid now and I do believe Yagorov is definitely the next guy but it does seem like trying to bring in another veteran instead of giving it to Daw will make for a very choppy transition but at 5 million bucks I think it’s criminal to even be considering it and here we are i think Fitz is considering it and my biggest fear is that he finds somehow to dump off Palots’s money and then he just hands most of it right to Jake Allen and it’s like our our our offense is awesome when we’re healthy we have no problem scoring goals and that’s kind of where if that happens I think the approval rating goes from bad to worse
yeah it’s it’s like it’s almost like he’s carrying around trauma from his past mistakes you know like didn’t fix the goalending two years ago so now all of a sudden he’s going to pay I mean if if he pays Allan 5 million that’s going to be more than we’re paying Jacob Marstrom like that’s [ __ ] crazy
yeah we’re paying three million for Mark
if if he wants to bring in like a Dan Ladar like a variable $1.5 million deal as kind of a a insurance policy fine with that i’m totally fine with that but it really should be He was Marky’s backup in Calgary wasn’t he
yes exactly you know and I think one thing that’s really not talked about enough is goalies do develop chemistry with their defenseman and you know you can’t just plug a goalie in and expect him to kind of just go about his way and he’s completely separated from the team like goalies develop chemistry with their defenseman the way they talk the way they react the way they read and react to different plays like you need to be able to build that up over the course of a year and that’s part of the development of Daws is putting him in with that decor and and making sure he can run is it a little bit of a risk yeah maybe you know Marstrom you know he’s getting older he has potential to get hurt but then that’s what you have Daws for
that’s it’s the NHL this is professional sports you got to take risks it’s that simple i think that would be a fireball offense if they handed $5 million to Jake Allen for next year
if he hands contract to Jake um um we’re getting pitched what’s what’s the max that you would not want to riot let’s just let’s just pretend for a minute that somehow Jake Allen gives some some sizable discount what dollar amount would you be like I could live with you giving Allen that but anything more we’re in the we’re in the streets with the pitchforks
i got my number
do you mine’s three million but it’s also it’s also term too
i was gonna say half of the five i I can live with Allan for two and a half but even that I think is too high like I want Penny to go to forwards we cannot score goals no
I understand it is a risk if Marky goes down and Daw shits the bed cool but I mean you’re also running a risk by going “Oh we have most of the same forwards plus you know maybe a few different bottom six guys and we’re just assuming they’re going to produce at a higher rate than last year.” I think when you look at the team last year like for the most part defense and goalending was pretty damn good i am of the belief at the moment that assuming we are somewhat healthy that any competent NHL goalender should be able to perform well behind this defense i do believe that
i agree
and people have been there’s been rumors of VTEC coming back like I wouldn’t be shocked in some scenario if that happened that he would look like he did the year he did good i mean listen I don’t I don’t want to see it i don’t want to see you know
maybe he’ll get that statue ready for him after all he’ll be he’ll be able to walk around and show everybody his uh his cup ring though that’s that’s for sure
stanley Cup champion VTEC Vanich
why
here’s here’s the thing with I feel with Tom Fitzgerald or in general like when we got Marstrom and we Okay Marstrom’s on two years we have Allen like we knew what the process was going to be right the process and everybody knew this and I think everybody in Devil Land knew this in management markstrom for two years Marstrom to Allen and then it’ll be Marstrom and Daws and then like you said if Mark plays great next year I have no problem with re-uping him for another year um you know if you want to give yourself but for some reason I feel like Tom Fitzgerald doesn’t trust the process you have these guys that have played good for you you’re not giving them a chance daw deserves that daw has been a great soldier for this team and has done everything you asked him to do and has played really well what are we doing bringing back Allen for anything over two and a half million dollars I would be completely pissed even two and a half I’d be pissed um I just feel like that to me is a an example of no there’s no clear path that Tom Fitzgerald has when you’re sitting here going “Oh [ __ ] i guess I will qualify Cody Glass the day before free agency you’re still talking about what you’re going to do with a backup goalender that’s not having a plan that and that’s what makes me nervous is way too fly by the seat of my pants and you know hope that something good happens make good [ __ ] happen go out and do it i don’t know no clear path
yeah I I you’re right like and this glass thing and and to I don’t know if that was leaked by his agent or the devil’s organization but shut the [ __ ] up like just you don’t just stop talking nobody needs to talk about it just stop talking like it’s okay
nobody needs to know that
fitz does have a habit of offering way too much information
oh my god like that press conference after the trade deadline man like the like when he was like “Oh we came in second on someone.” It’s like buddy
yeah yeah
like that is absolute loser behavior
they they pushed they pushed that press conference till around I want to say it was like six o’clock i was at the it they were playing Winnipeg that night and and I had it queued up on my phone i was in one of the lounges like stuffing my face like a slob with the phone down watching it just and he he they pushed it and it I think by the time he went on it was like right before warm-ups and I was at a table i’ll never forget this and I’m like I’m I’m just inhaling food watching this just steam coming out of my ears and when he said the we we came in second stuff I wanted to smash my phone and then I was sitting with my buddy i was so negative he was like “Dude you’re the most negative person ever.” I’m like “Dude we got Cody Glass and and Sprung today.” And then they went out and got destroyed by Winnipeg that night i was like “Do you think these guys weren’t like that that was our deadline?” Like you don’t think there was an internal disappointment for these guys that were like “Bring us some help even though we’re down soldiers like we’re still trying to to make a push here and then your GM’s like the best I could do is Sprung and Glass like go get him
oh well and that’s the other thing about Sprong Glass like Sprung was on waiverss like four months before we could then
Cody Glass was on Pittsburgh that had started selling pieces off that January we could have gotten him in January you fortify the team throughout the year as opposed to waiting until the [ __ ] deadline fits like like he needs to stop operating within these traditional windows and really God we’re all about to have like a heart attack yelling yelling about this guy um
well maybe we will all have a different opinion tomorrow maybe tomorrow 12:00 we trade Dawson Mercer to Vegas and Ivan Barbashub’s on the team maybe we go out and get uh Ryan O’Reilly maybe we go out and get who else do we want um
I’ll take him too um sure
yeah like the in that 3C range you know I I my biggest priority and this is when you watch Florida play like Barov as the 1C he takes McDavid off the table and the reason why they’re successful is because after he takes McDavid off the table then you get um you get Bennett coming out and if that’s not enough for for the other team then you get Lundell Lester Rinan and Marshane coming out who gives a [ __ ] what the fourth fourth line is who by the way won all their minutes too so it’s like they just kept coming after you and coming after you coming after you and my biggest fear is that Fitz wants to get like one of these kind of big shiny names like an Eers or a Robertson those are not the types of players that we need we need like three to five million dollar dogs that can score 20 plus goals at five on five because we bring in Eers and Robertson neither of those guys are getting power play one time so they’re going to get the Teemo treatment from the fan base because they’re only going to be scoring 20 to 25 goals there’s the free agent centers Tim
oh Nick Backrom he’s dead um Granlin he’s old d’vorak oh god is he the third ranked guy well this is this is just listed by their previous contract
so Mason McTavish I know Anaheim has a ton of cap space but Mason McTavish would be a guy that that I’d be an offer sheet target um I I like him ryan Mloud um is another guy i think we should stay away from Rossy he sounds like kind of a diva uh Jack McBain I think just signed a contract pia Sudter we just talked about Mark Baron’s kind of interesting um Kevin Rooney uh no thanks um man it’s pretty bleak out there look at this look at this nick Duke’s dad maybe um he’s kind of getting old jack Rosovich no
that’s why you got to trade you’re gonna have to
Why we got This is why we got to trade i think Douggee for a 3C is is the trade that needs to happen
send Douggee
Send Douggee to Seattle for Jared McCann okay you think they do that seattle no
yeah no I I can’t see it either i I feel like was being saved for a potential Quinn deal
that’s what I think too i I agree with you that’s That’s what I was thinking as well
my thing about that is I don’t know if Vancouver would want Douggee if if they’re getting rid of Quinn that feels like they’re signaling that they’re rebuilding um
but it’s only a couple years left and we’re like “Listen we need to make money work.” and then you’re jamming all the other stuff on top of it i think they would accept it but in terms of like the attitude and the kind of dog and players that we that we need Douggee does not have that in him he’s like “Oh I played okay today.” You know took a couple slapshots from the point don’t give me an A i don’t want to wear one
quinn Hughes changes this team
you get if that was the only move you made in my opinion you made this team a lot better now I don’t want that to be the only move i’m okay with it not being a move at all i would rather see Evan Rodriguez and Ivan Barbashaw brought into this team and guys like that those are the dudes those like you said four or five million dollar dogs that are just puck hounds and they they go to the dirty areas they do all that that those are the guys I want to see but I I would be doing back flips if Quinnse was on this team
ace you didn’t look like that you were too too happy about Quinn listen anytime you could get a top player in the league I I’ll be happy if we get him but the reality is like in terms of you know on my ideal list of like guys to get I would much rather get a a big-time forward than Quinn Hughes in my opinion it’s like the defense is the last thing I’m worried about especially the offensive defenseman i understand why they want to do it it’s the whole marketing angle and whatever and yeah if we get him I’ll be happy but I don’t think that’s a move where it’s like oh everything’s fixed we’re going to the cup now like I don’t believe that i do think those pieces for a trade and the cap space would be much better used on a forward or forwards we have a top four i I can settle for a real top five with a random guy thrown in the top six but as it stands right now we have a top four with two random guys in the top six
yeah a thousand% Quinn Quinn Hughes I I agree he does make this team a lot better and I but that should not be on Fitz’s radar not now like just focus on the problems we all know we have don’t create [ __ ] issues and try and fix them like there’s no reason to bring Quinn Hughes in right now you like you said top four you’re not winning [ __ ] with a top four um you know he’s got to make some moves
yeah you mentioned a guy uh Evan Rodriguez like you know he now now that Florida has signed all those guys they’re going to be in a cap crunch and are going to need to unload some guys he makes three million I think um he’d be a perfect kind of complimentary guy he was on that second line I think with um uh with Bennett and Reinhardt or Bennett and Kentucky
yeah Reinhardt
but he was in that top six he’s a complimentary guy doesn’t need power play time then and I keep going back to this and I don’t know if I’m overthinking it or not and it’s kind of the same thing with Quinn it’s like there’s only one puck and there’s only so much production that can get distributed around and we need guys that $3 to5 million range that are 40 to 60 point guys that are complimentary to what we have already in place unless we’re going to move that but
and if you put Evan Rodriguez with Jack and Brat his numbers are going to go they’re going to skyrock he’ll have career year he’ll have a career year you will get
I fell in love with this guy in like the straightest way possible um when when they announced his name in Edmonton and they’re they’re doing the camera across from him and he had the craziest look on his face I was like I want that i want that kind of psycho or Alex Tuck is another guy throw him back and brat
tuck tuck is Tuck is the dream i think Tuck is the absolute dream and I like a guy like Ivan Barbashev if you can somehow get Barbashev and put him with Teemo and Nico I mean that dude is just an absolute puckhound i mean uh and that’s what you need you You would have three guys that kind of fit that mold on that second line or first line however you want to put it the Heer line those are the moves that this team needs I think to guys like that i’m not saying those dudes you know but guys like that that’s the guys we should be
identifying and going after
and if if um Vegas is Vegas is apparently going to put uh Petraelo on long-term IR rumors about him maybe never playing again
so they’re going to need a a top a top flight rightand D and that’s you know that’s why we keep bringing up Douggee because I think that’s kind of the perfect type of Vegas move for them you know they’re always putting on a show in Vegas and that’s kind of the way I I see them and that’s why they’re constantly kind of turnurning guys in and out or maybe Tomas Hurdle if he’s even available so someone there would have to be have to be a cap casualty
rodriguez has two more years at three million bucks what do you What do you think it would take what do you think it would take to get him in a deal
well they’re they’re over the cap right now with all the deals that they they spawn so it would be like Mar it would be like the Marchment deal so like a third and a fourth i think that would be kind of the mark for it if he if they’re going to dump him for something like that I think that’s like the realistic best deal they’re gonna make out there right
it’s perfect
it would make us so much better
and I think like the hockey media is just picking up on this and I want to tell them all to like shut up and stop talking about it so nobody else realizes it rodriguez is kind of an interesting person like shut up he was my idea he’s ours leave him alone that’s the kind of guy that Fitz should be trying to go after i mean yeah yeah he’s not he’s he scored 15 goals last year or something like that so you know he’s not going to be a 30 goal guy but I think he fits the need that we have we have our elite top end guys and our power play one guys like we need a guy like him you know quick little story like if you are hiring in a restaurant right and people are coming in and giving you your applications and this guy worked at some pizzeria this guy worked on some stand on the [ __ ] boardwalk and then somebody comes in they’ve worked three years at McDonald’s you’re probably going to hire the person that worked the three years at McDonald’s because the one thing you know is that they were trained correctly that they understand all of the safety issues and all the food preserve they they are trained the right way that’s what you’re getting when you’re getting somebody that played in Florida like you know you are not just getting that skill but you’re getting that piece of Florida into your locker room and that can only help so yeah that’s the team and Evan Rodriguez is the guy I would be hardcore going after him tomorrow if I was Tom Fitzgerald man I mean if he’s gonna get traded for some something silly like that that’s a no-brainer biff
I know somebody that can [ __ ] that up face i think I know somebody who can too
i know a guy he has the same haircut as Chris I’ve been been intrigued by Mason McTavish for sure as well
but is that a guy that they’re going to want to move off of
probably not i mean he’s much about Mason McTavish
super young
young 22 23 uh US kid um uh kind of up you know I think 20-ish goals last year you know real kind of Yeah like he’s kind of like leader type guy like like plays the right way you know
would be a beautiful 3C compliment i also like Alex Turkod in um in LA he just he’s been hurt a lot recently for the past couple years he was actually in Jack’s draft and was hurt for a couple years and just started to break out last year so I don’t know if they’d be unloading him i have no idea
is an American sorry he’s not
he’s he’s partially Swiss too which is
Swissborn Canadian
yes
so Tim you’d like you would like Rodriguez in 3C and Glass at 4C i Well I think Rodriguez would be a wing i think we’d still have to address the 3C issue like my my ideal scenario would be somehow someway we unload Douge to Vegas for Barbashev and William Carlson that’s it
um plus like
plus maybe Douggee and some other stuff and there I go freezing again sorry my internet’s run by like a couple of mice in a cage you’re like in the middle of jazz hands right there
like I I don’t think that will happen it seems like Vegas is cap cap compliant and that’s kind of they are what they are i don’t know if they’re going to make any additional moves besides Mner but you never know vegas they’re they’re crazy um if not Jared McCann has always uh been a guy that I’ve liked he has center wing versatility um and Evan Rodriguez Evan Rodriguez is kind of the number one under the radar target for like a second line wing or a third line wing um other than that I don’t know fitz always pulls out these random ass trades like picking Cotter off the scrap heap so um so I I don’t know what he’s going to do about that
i just don’t want to be pissed off tomorrow i just want to start getting some good news coming in and freshly
and and and then being able to see like okay now I can see the direction that this team’s going in and that’s all I want from tomorrow i’m not expecting much to be honest i I’ve thought for a while it would just pretty much be Luke extension and kind of patchwork fix of the bottom six um
I think that that’s probably what’s going to happen as
Yeah and and do you know what he’s going to get to say he’s going to say “Remember when I said you know it’s not going to look the same as next year?” Well it’s not and it’s just going to be you know addition addition by subtraction you know like he just let Lazar Bastion and Sprung go in in in UFA and he’s like “Oh look at the work I did.” It’s like [ __ ]
oh you can also you know he’ll say we’re going to bring the kids up and give them a shot but you know and they might they might I mean I believe in that you have to give these guys a chance to make the team and and hopefully they can fit into the lineup i mean you’ve got to start getting some of your uh draft picks to start contributing a little bit um so you know maybe I I think it’s a feudal effort trying to figure out what the [ __ ] Tom Fitzgerald’s thinking um you know we have no idea
you know last year we went into it said “Okay we know he’s going to work on the defense we know he’s going to go out and get a goalender.” Like we knew that and we pretty much knew it was going to be Marstrom
uh so there wasn’t too many surprises i don’t have a clue this year man yeah i’ve said it a couple times it’s like we know kind of the like what needs to go out and what needs to get filled and we but we have no idea the the what or the how of of the way that’s going to go down
it’s wild
what What are your realistic expectations for Gritzuk next year Tim um I I hope he gets to 20 goals if he’s like a 20 and 20 guy I think it depends a lot on his deployment i’m not ready to like pencil him in next to Jack i know a lot of people already have
i think it’s gonna
I I think that’s a little premature yeah yeah i look if he wows in camp great but I think 20 goals is ambitious for him um if he puts up like five I think we’re we’re having a problem again yeah I’m hoping for 2020 honestly I know some people were like “Oh 50 points whatever.” But again is he going to be a guy that because of unfortunate necessity is he going to have a chance to crack the top six at some point i think we’re going to see a bunch of guys get an audition like we did last year and hopefully one of them could kind of take the opportunity and run with it because last year obviously that didn’t really happen and we just saw more just sorry attempts
but you see again there’s again it comes back to no clear plan if Tom Fitzgerald’s you know we’re going to well maybe Glitz can play with Jack or maybe he’s our third no he should be set as a winger on the third line and you should go out and get somebody to play with Jack somebody who’s like you said a veteran that has um you know you know what you’re going to get that at least you know this kid let him develop the right way on the third line like I I don’t want to put any pressure on the kid i mean if he kid if that kid scored 20 goals it was 2020 or 2025 that’s huge that’s a great rookie year for a third line now you know that you know but you gota to just say “Oh he’s going to play with Jack or you going to move him up to the top six.” No get somebody that deserves to be in that top six have proven that they can play there that’s the problem that I see is like is that his Well I mean is he just crossing his fingers that that’s going to work out i mean that’s the thing i don’t understand where we’re going with this
yeah and he needs to be power play too you know at at a minimum which is largely ceremonial you know I I think what I and I keep talking about this but what what I think people really need to to realize is how hard it is to score goals when you get no power play time you know we saw that with with Teemo you know Teemo has underproduced since he’s been here but that’s largely because he’s been sh he got stuffed on on power play too and was on the left side yeah I don’t put too much stock into the left right side stuff
i do he played a ton better when he was
Come on no
when Travis Green took over and he got put on the right side that’s when the he just started tearing it up
he’s a different player on the right side i’m with you Ace you got you have to put him there yeah but like most pro systems are F1 F2 F3 and and most shift on their are I think over 50% of shifts start on the fly so like there’s no real like you know you’re not like you know there’s no like bumpers like in bowling like they’re they’re circling in in the zone a lot so no for sure but if you watch anytime he would rush up the anytime he had open ice he literally would go to the right side every single time yeah that’s fair and look I you know I I personally don’t I I I know I know a lot of guys um may have a preference but I I just don’t know if it it necessarily is that big of a thing i mean it also coincided with him
i Yeah the Travis Green bump but it you know it’s also my march but um but I think this year you know really was because he got put on power play one
i I think that was huge too but the fact that for me my frustration with that because tons of these people have smack talk Teemo for years and I’ve been defending him ever you know forever i’m I’m a Teemo guy not too many guys bring what he brings in our lineup obviously in the top six smashing guys you know running over goalies does all that stuff but you know his career in San Jose was right side power play one hammering one-times and then he comes here and they’re like you we gave up these assets to get him they gave him the big extension and it’s like let’s let’s change that like why would you not use him exactly the way he was used when he was the guy that you coveted to bring here right side power play one and then and then finally with all the injuries oh then he’s on the right side then it’s power play one and then he goes on a rampage again it’s like I feel like it’s zone
and that’s what I mean like if we bring a Robertson or an Eers over like where are they slotting into the power play one because that’s where a shitload of their production comes from like Robertson over 30% of his points came from the power play same with dealers so I you know I’m very cautious about bringing in a guy that needs power play one time like Jared McCann was like on the power play too in Seattle and cooked there so that’s why I think he he’d be a good a good fit we just need [ __ ] good players that are dogs that have balls yeah we don’t need these small skin you know small fast guys all offense and you know that’s not what the team needs we have that and the guys do that like our main guy can’t stay healthy so I don’t want anymore right now i want some
and and yeah in the tub Tim
and Ace what do you think about this man like do you think it’s fair to start having the conversation about whether Jack like is is realistic long term here like I like I’m of the mind that like this kid’s got one more season to prove that he could stay healthy for a full season and he absolutely needs to go put his nuts on the table this year and put up like 120 points i the reality is right they’re never going to trade him man the ownership group they’re just about marketing and all these little girls and selling Jack Huers listen I Jack is a phenomenal player when healthy but he’s six season six seasons in the league has never played 82 i hate to be cutthroat but I think we’re already at the point where you’re the forget on a seasontose season basis what is the outlook of his career at this point right
i I think it’s a super fair question but again I don’t think you know the organization is actively trying to bring in the third brother right this is what the media circus all you know so people talk about trading him and Luke all the time and I’m like listen I I again I’ve said a million times I’m not against trading anyone if I think it makes the team better but you just have to be realistic that you’re talking about something it’s like talking about me and you being the le the starting left and right wing Tim like it’s not going to happen so I don’t even want to waste my energy talking about in terms of trading them but absolutely play 82 games
and hit the [ __ ] gym and get big man it matters it matters if people think like you could be this dainty guy and you’re going to withstand the vigors of a season and a playoff war like no way i’m not going to say his most recent injury was because he’s not you know jacked up or whatever but it certainly doesn’t help and you see these pictures floating around of him down the shore with some kid and it’s like dude
you don’t you know you see another random kid his age in the photo and it’s like one is a professional athlete one is a a bouncer or whatever he is at a bar and that guy is substantially larger in every way so you look at the photo and it is discouraging listen I would love nothing more than for the kid to you know hit the sauce if he has to whatever serious training come back 20 pounds heavier and like you said put his nuts on the table here’s 120 points eat it give me a heart trophy but is that going to happen i don’t know and I do think a lot of it has to do with these younger current guys i don’t think they take it the off ice stuff as serious as guys back in the day did i wish we could hire Yarm to be I I think they take it seriously but they they they lift differently like they do like band work and flexibility work and you know they’re doing like an hour of yoga instead of throwing want rocky trainings i don’t I don’t want you know Pilates and and hot yoga absolutely not
if I was if I was if I was one of Jack’s handlers I tell him in the summer I want you to attached to Jesper Brat’s hip do everything in the off season that Brat has done and continues to do to get bigger to get stronger that’s what Jack does i mean every year say what you want about Jesper Brat the guy was a fifth round pick okay look at what you got from from out of him every year he gets better nobody trains their ass off on that team I think more than Jesper Brat like Jack needs to do it dawson Mercer needs to do it these dudes are just not He’s been rehabbing every year that’s the problem
you can’t get in the gym if your [ __ ] arms in a sling
it is a thousand%
it is frustrating um you know I hope that this could be the year it’s finally behind him because when when he is healthy he is lethal but it’s like you’ve never played 82 once you’ve you’ve appeared in in now what he’s he’s played
how many it was seven he’s played in what eight playoff games to uh
13 he was electric for us against New York electric like
he only he only played in that that playoff year
yeah it’s seven games against New York and five against uh
Okay yeah yeah so 12 uh
12 games i’m sorry yeah super small sample size did well like you know show show me more i I like I I don’t want to hold my breath every time that kid like comes barreling down and it’s his own fault like he you know he’s hurt himself both times like when in St louis when he got hurt he [ __ ] tripped and and went in the boards hard like against Vegas like he toepicked and like Eel is coming in right behind him and kind of just got they just got swept up together he’s hurting himself
the ceiling for Jack Hughes is is [ __ ] phenomenal i mean he can be one of the top five best players in this league but like a said you can’t can’t make the tub in the club i mean can’t make the club in a tub is what I meant to say the dude’s got to stay healthy i want and I said this this time last year next year for the Devils to be successful I said the most important stat next to Jack Hughes’s name needs to be 82 games played and once again
I’d love to see it i would love to see I’d love to see it
you could probably get crazy odds on that if you could get to Vegas to open up a thing on [ __ ] bet where your money is
if if they put the overunder Jack Hughes games played at 81.5 what would the odds have to be for you to take the over
take the over
yeah 81.5 games meaning So is he going to play all 82 or not
probably i mean it would probably be like plus plus 3,000 or something like that
you think that high i would maybe say like I was thinking like plus,500 but maybe plus 3,000 I’d do it you definitely do it with plus 3,000
i mean the under the under would be like be like the complete oppos yeah even money on the minus cuz Yeah 81 and a half oh man i
you know to piggy back off that like when he he when he is on he is ridiculous like he could beat you so many ways
last night they were playing I forget it was one of the games in Montreal he was coming in on twoonone i forget who he was with he looked at somebody and just sniped one i’m like “Oh my god.” It was on at like 2 AM on MSG like they were showing random Devils games from the season and he just had absolute snipe on a twoon-one and I’m like “Oh my god.” Like
so much because he’s been hurt and it was
I want that back
I know so do I
i want 40 and 80 i want 40 and 80 out of that kid next year but yeah I agree with Chris like like that you know I I know there’s a subset of the fan base that uh has a distaste for Jester Brat but one thing that kid has done is every single year has gotten incrementally better and it proves something about his game you know and and I realize he’s 510 probably 185 and even though he put up 80 hits he’s not killing people but like if he’s engaged physically that means he’s active that means he’s being a little bit of a water bug and being a pain in the ass and that’s important and that adds up um so yeah I you know I think the big culture changing trade does need to be Douggee getting out of here i think he’s kind of the
the the Snoopy dragging down the attitude i’m fine talk me into You talked me into it [ __ ] it why not
well because I think we could bring in a stop gap like like Pervix in Tampa Bay
yeah but you’re only gonna then tomorrow when he gets traded you’re going to be all pissed off and say “Why the hell did we trade him?” It depends on what it’s for like it needs to make the team better and I think we have we have duplicative assets on the right side and if he’s traded for a good 3C
you know like like Holtz like I didn’t like seeing him go and us giving up on him but like to get Cotter back I was like “All right let’s ride with this guy.” Do you think teams are going to be calling on Douge
yes
I think so i right-handed defenseman or Oh
hello Cat hi Cat right-handed defenseman are a a very um hot commodity um honestly I think more people are probably calling about Neich um and some people are probably calling about Casey but I think doggy’s definitely getting calls what What would be your max offer to Buffalo for Tuck if they were like “Just give me your best offer we’ll move him.” How aggressive would you get to get him because I think I would get pretty aggressive i would get pretty I get super aggressive
uh I don’t know if I would do Douggee and Mercer for Tuck um but I might yeah I think I would do that
that’s as aggressive as I would get for Alex Tuck i would be willing to part with Mercer and and uh and Hamilton how about you guys go ahead Tim i don’t think they have any interest in Douggee they could but I think that might have to be a separate gym
i I don’t know i think there’s a world where you know their coach is Lindy Ruff and Douge had his best career season under Lindy Ruff you know that’s why I think it could be an attractive thing for for a package of Douggee and Mercer because Mercer also had his best best year under Lindy Ruff put Douggee Mercer first a couple picks maybe some prospects and get Tuck and and Mloud back from Buffalo that would be an ideal scenario too
wow
mloud and Tuck
yeah the good Mloud
yeah the good Mloud i would do that in a heartbeat what about you Ace
uh I would get super aggressive i’m a guy that is definitely super win now so I don’t value first round picks whatsoever
yeah exactly
i would I would I guess it really depends on what you’re doing with the defense i I didn’t really entertain in my head when I was first talking about Tuck that Douggee would be a part of it i was thinking more like you know Mercer in a first maybe or something more along those lines but like yeah I don’t even know with one year left is that you know is that is that enough to get them to move him i don’t know but in a situation like if they’re willing to take Mercer and Douge I mean I think that’s a win at this point i do like Douge and we talked about this at length but I wouldn’t be expecting some tremendously valuable piece coming back the other way and I would just kind of look at it as even in a in a deal like that where if you are freeing up that kind of money then you better make it count in a separate deal and use that money like I don’t need the piece to be coming line you know directly for Douge but like have a plan what you will do with that money should you be able to open it up in a deal like that so if you’re talking about sending you know 9 million of Douggee four million of Mercer that’s 13 Tuck’s making a little under five so you’re talking about getting Tuck and opening up an additional 8 million in cap space i mean yeah if anything remotely close to that could be on the table then that is a grand slam for the for Fitzy Boy I think
yeah and and Adams in Buffalo seems like he doesn’t have an idea what he does what he’s doing with his life right now either so
it’s about time we in a trade right we need to get on somebody
well I and I keep saying this too it’s like you know Fitz always does these favors for guys you know he did a favor for David Pyle at the Nashville draft and did a favor for Greer and you know he takes third party retention in the TANV deal and and you know I realized we got Leance in the third party deal we did last year for um for Trent Frederick but it’s like when are these favors going to come back to fit it’s like he’s just kind of like the loser at the bar that’s like I’ll pay for the drinks if you guys hang out with me
yeah he just wants friends really that’s all it is
yeah it’s like it’s like friends is your home life that bad man like like it’s gonna be okay
yeah just calling random GMs like Yeah uh Tom’s on the phone again jesus Christ man doesn’t he
keeps calling me
hey Tom how you yeah everything’s good buddy okay i’ll talk to you later okay byebye i’m hoping Lance makes the team out of camp
i understand it’s probably a long shot but like who can you say definitively and as of right now with all the uncertainty in the bottom six like a big a big bruising guy like that i would love to see him see him force his way onto the team
yeah I saw one of the um uh one of the reporters quotes um put uh put something out said “Lance looked pretty good in his first first day at deb camp.” So he’s he’s at development camp right now um he’d be he’d be he’d be an interesting kind of wild card to to fill in in the fourth fourth line i think honestly we didn’t qualify uh Nolan Foot so there’s another trade that fits [ __ ] up but um he’d be an interesting guy to kind of fill that bastionish role with a with a lot more upside yeah 6’4 195
yeah he’s a big boy and he was mean and he just sits in front of the net and just does not does not give a [ __ ]
i already love him never seen him play but he’s 6’4 200 lb i love him i saw a little little bit of him uh in the ball i was watching Beu obviously panned off the coach and you pour off a net i watched some of those things and like you could tell he definitely has the mean streak and I feel like we have missed that and when you know Bastion a lot of people are like oh you know a couple years ago like oh he brings toughness blah blah blah and it’s like dude after he got smoked by uh what’s his face humb Lamberg
yeah the Lamborghini smashed his face and I was like and that that was actually the year after the whole Rempy thing like the Rey photo and that that’s burned into my of him sitting up oh my god that was tra after that happened i’m like dude that was like a soul snatching
sequence of events and then he dummyed Seganler i was like dude get some get some guys out here immediately that was just the most tragic shift in in Devil’s recent vintage bastion bastion’s a
Best’s a big dude he’s what 6’4 two 210 something like that
[ __ ]
I’ve never seen a guy that size get blown up as much as he does
like
no
like Lombberg Lombberg kicked the [ __ ] out of him
yeah he got I forget who what team was or what game it was where someone stepped up on him and just just [ __ ] sent him into the shadow realm um I it’s just unbelievable how much this guy gets gets murdered on a daily basis but then like he’ll go in and forche and try and throw a hit and he’ll miss the guy by about two feet
no check the defense would be like what the hell are you doing man
i wonder where he’s going to end up
bastion fourth line fourth line on the doubles
no he won’t be back
i I don’t know man there’s there’s some charts out there that you know praise his defensive abilities
take them up your ass i know you guys don’t like analytics but I I do appreciate some of the analytics but what I don’t like is the conversation and the condescending way that some analytics guys talk as if they’re the one and only thing that matters
no I don’t hate analytics i understand that they have a place but I also you know prefer to watch my sports as a fan with the eye test and I don’t want to have to go back if I think that you know hey Jasper Brad had a really good game and I like the way he played and then some dick is up there well actually if you look at his numbers he didn’t do great in the expect all the other B like that’s the stuff that ruins the game to me that doesn’t make it fun i just want to watch i want to watch i want to enjoy and I want to talk to my friends about it that’s it
so the analytics annoy me
i’m more that way Chris i mean I do think
I know some of those
but what did you what did you say uh or DM you like you can expect my nuts or something like that
yeah all this all this expected listen at some point it’s like I’m not going to get excited over expected this and that and it’s like in the end there’s actual production right and so you tell me you know a guy like spraw whatever has oh this many expected shots per 60 and this and that and I’m like I don’t care what you tell me his expected whatever is in the end the results are the results the proof is in the pudding the eye test tells me whatever I saw and it’s like he’s not moving the needle so you could pull out all the charts you want and show me and tell me all these things and like in the end I don’t care i do think it has gotten way overhmphasized in the league and I think a lot of teams have these dedicated departments that have in my opinion way too much of a say on personnel moves based on all of this stuff the team with the most the most active analytics team is Florida
yeah that’s what they say but here’s the thing what are their analytics for all we know their analytics they punch you the punch you in the face meter and they’re like that’s our analytics right so you could say analytics but what is everyone using the same analytics i’d imagine they’re not
so I would love to know
and that’s the thing is analytics is used as a catch-all term for a lot of different things and I feel like what bubbles to the surface that gets used a lot is what you’re saying is is the expected numbers and I feel like that like I actually like those numbers but I don’t look at them as like this is what should have happened which is what [ __ ] expected means but I feel like it has the dumbest name because I look at it as like did you win your minutes if you have an expected goals percentage above 50% that means you won your minutes and that should be a piece of the puzzle that looking to evaluate a player it also when I and I do writing for the uncle puckers on our blogs do like recaps and stuff it also helps kind of contextualize and explain what happened as opposed to be like hey he played good be like hey he did pretty well these were the chances that he had um and these were kind of how the how the numbers went up so he had a very good game so that’s how I feel like it it should be used and the way teams use them they they lean into a lot of um micro stats which are actual they are counting stats for but they’re not like goals and assists you know they’re like how many zone exits did he have how many zone entries did he have how many times did he you know give away the puck behind the blue line and and then they they compare that on a relative basis to the rest of the league to kind of decide whether a guy’s actually good at those little things or not and I feel like that’s kind of what Florida leans into in terms of hey we need a guy that’s good at like zone exits hey there’s Seth Jones
so that’s um that’s I think kind of a reasonable way to look at it but you can’t pass pass a PI test
like Well I also I understand that it has a place i also understand with a team you know you think about if I was owned a team or I was running a team those are those analytics are things that I would want to know because you should have a pulse on your team but when it comes to every Joe Schmo on Twitter that’s going to go out there and tell you you know that like you said like well if you look he didn’t doesn’t do as great on the zone entries or whatever but like none of that [ __ ] i’m not interested in that at all i don’t care it bores me like if that’s what the that’s one part of the game that bores me i just If you’re a manager sure that’s your [ __ ] job if you’re some dork who claims to be a giant hockey fan but all you’re going to do is sit there and ridicule or put down every little number and talk about how well if you like this guy why you shouldn’t like this guy because his analytics and say this or that i don’t want to talk to you you’re a dick like I just want to enjoy the game that’s how I feel tim what do you think about the the analytic stuff kind of deemphasizing goalending in general with like you know somehow we went from you know back in the day in the 90s of these these horses playing insane amounts of games including Marty you know 75 77 78 starts to now it’s like you know 55 starts it’s like oh my god you got they’re inhumane they’re going to drive this man into the ground how’s the era playing 55 games are you trying to blow his knees and all and it’s like I don’t and nowadays these guys 100% compared to the Marty era have way better nutritionists training programs and all this [ __ ] it’s like you know no offense to Marty my favorite player of all time he was no beacon of fitness right he drank a Sprite in between every playing I think he started 80 games one year back to backs he’s like “Nah hold my beer i got this.” worst job in the NHL for basically his whole career was to be his backup
i think that’d be an awesome job
so much so not not for want to play though but
make a million million bucks to sit there and watch the best player of all time
m is right
that poor Mike Dunham had in his deal because he wanted to play
his agent put some thing that he had to you know I I think that his agent messed up in the verb was like he had to appear in a certain amount of games and I think it was like in the 20s so Marty was such a beast playing all the games there was a game where I think they screwed Marty out of a lone shutout i want to say there was like 15 seconds left in the game in the third period
they pulled Marty and sent Dunham out and there was an appearance i was like “Oh that’s I think I want to say it was like a 97ish and that’s when I realized how cold bloodooded Lamarilla was like like really like in your face and I think Doc Emer was even like yeah well you know there’s a thing in the contract
you know that uh Mike Dude oh dude I remember watching it I was like Lou is not playing around he was like you’ll get your appearances and yeah they ling like you sure that want you want that to say appearances okay okay no problem
i I I want to kind of ask you a question like I don’t know like the the way that the goalie position has changed like you were talking about now back then were there just not as many 1A options as there are now where every team kind of has a guy that back then would be a 1A starter so because of that it makes more sense to split them and kind of give one guy you know 40 and the other guy 32 whatever um or is it that guys are just [ __ ] now and they just can’t like and other than Halabuk nobody starts
but when we watch watching the the Jets Jets in the playoffs they’re like “Oh man Halabuk started like 60 games maybe he wore wore himself out.” It’s like
what a [ __ ] like Marty Marty Marty’s started 121 season
well it’s funny because like we were talking one time like back from 95 i think the first game I ever saw Broaddor play was 94 it was against Tampa Bay it was a 2-1 Devil win and in that time from like 94 to you know mid or early 2000s we would go to probably about 20 or so games a year so probably about half of the home games we would go i honestly can count on one hand how many times I didn’t see Broadd Door play this dude was in every single night back to backs like Asa didn’t matter and come playoff time he just got better so I don’t know what it is is it that goalie
there’s just good goalies and it makes more sense to split them or is it just that you know everybody is a fancy pants and nobody else can go and start 50 games anymore i don’t know i I think it’s the analytics people driving it
you think that’s it
100% i don’t know exactly you know where where they come up with these formulas or whatever but in the end back in the day Marty was playing a ton of games all the all the main guys were Hashik and Eddie Belffor and Patrick Wah and Kujo and Nikolai Hobby Bloom like all these guys were mainstays that you saw in the net all the time so much so that on some teams you’re like I don’t even know who the hell the backup is right you’re like we don’t see him out of out of sight out of mind but I’m just looking for last year uh Vaselki played 63 games hellbluck played 63 montbo 62 sroen 61 58 this seems a little bit higher than previous seasons i think it still you’re talking about one two three four five guys at 60 games or higher
and I I I don’t think most you ask these guys they want to play you’re right about you’re right about the analytics and what it’s what it’s kind of created is the these sort of goalie robots you know like
you used to be able to look you could look at at like a the silhouette of like a goalie making a save and you’d be like that’s Brodor that’s Jav Bulan that’s Hass that’s Patrick Wah now if you did that you’d be like I have no idea who that is they’re all the same stylistically and that’s because analytics and percentages have have been like “All right well if you go into a butterfly and your pads flare out a certain amount
but what that also does is it puts a lot more strain on the hips and knees um that that these guys are are going through they’re also all 6’5 and above now they won’t even they’re they’re giants yeah they won’t even look at like
But you’re right they are all carbon copies of each other now I mean other than the couple that really do stand out right the Vasilleski the Babski the um you know Siroken uh the other jerkoff from the Rangers and uh you know Halabuk like they’re all pretty much carbon cutouts of each other you know they’re all 65 they’re all there you know and and like you said if I was watching a silhouette of Hashik making a save Poppin making a save Baddor making a save I could tell you who’s who i couldn’t do that nowadays
you’re thousand% right it’s ruining everything but no I I had a conversation with Marky um at an event and I guess it was before people realized where he was so like I kind of was talking to him for a while and like he he’s probably my favorite player on the team currently or at least one of them super old school super throwback wants to win more than anything wants to play every game just like Marty did and like I was getting him a little fired up uh I was kind of messing with him like I was like “Yeah what were all these you know these medical people?” I’m like “You you should be playing 6065.” And he was like “At least at least.” Like he was getting all all gassed up but you know he’s a guy that wants to play every night he wants to win we’ve seen him smash the sticks and [ __ ] afterwards you know give people a little shots and I I want fiery guys like that i think it’s sad that one of our most fiery guys is wearing a goalending mask and playing goal i’d like to see some guys you know upfront with that kind of uh tenacity but I love Marky i would love to see him win a cup here
but you know they got I I I like him i like the defense but I think we have some glaring needs up front and uh to Tim’s point I think 3C is a big one but I I think possibly even bigger is a is a real top six winger i mean I just Yeah
how are we going to go
equally as important
another season with just the big four like that you got to add the fifth piece
you have to you’re not it’s just going to be a carbon copy of the last couple of years if we just run it back um you know but is this the offseason that he’s going to think like you know okay I fixed the bottom six and now we’re okay no you got to kind of and it this team doesn’t need an entire facelift it needs a few smart good pieces in the right spot that’s all it needs you know I mean I think most GMs would look at our lineup right now and say I can make this team a Stanley Cup contender with the pieces that are already here
tons of GMs would love to be in Fitz’s position for sure
we’re we’re one of the best teams in the league until until something happened i don’t know if somebody [ __ ] somebody’s wife over Christmas or something but like
No that was 2000 yeah back
we were just talking about
like but we also like those games like like October through December like
like I I felt like we led with physicality like someone someone got lit up you know there’s a little bit of a scrum like guys got into got into the game and something happened kind of afterwards where they just ran out of gas i don’t know what it is
i have a conspiracy theory conspiracy theory
so I agree with you uh and I being an old school fan I love the the rough stuff i love the fist of cuffs love all of it the big hits you don’t see it nearly as much as you did back in the day but at some point I think it was maybe even in December but if not it was in November
we led the league in fighting majors
at some point
Dylan was chucking them i think Kovich may have had a couple cotter a couple other guys but we were leading the league in fighting majors and then I don’t know what happened my theory is that I I think that maybe and this might sound crazy but I I might be on to something here that maybe a message came down from above that was like that’s that’s not the brand of hockey we are trying to play cool it i I we don’t want to see any more fighting majors coup coupled with the fact that I do think the league is actively trying to crack down on fighting major aside aside from the whole [ __ ] with the helmet and you can’t take the helmet off and you know guys are breaking their hands how many times did we have fights where one of our guys got tagged with like an instigator or something that was complete [ __ ] where we ended up short-handed after a fight and it was like oh now we have an extra so I think that may have irked Keith but maybe a combination of both whatever it is we led the league in fighting majors and then I want to say it was almost three months from that point where we had zero fights until Dylan fought somebody in Utah I think it was but it was like we went from scrums physicality galore fights kind of regularly leading the league we had nothing for months total disengagement and just tuck your tail between your legs anytime you expected something to go down there was like nothing done about it and it was just like the the switch went off it was like we were this ballsy team not to say we’re playing like Florida but it was like we kind of had that gang mentality like [ __ ] was popping off scrums people fighting and then it went to nothing and then the team just went
Yeah what happened
yeah well and you remember when we played Florida I I really got to fix my internet when we I’m not even gonna bother refreshing again but um like when we played Florida early in the year Kachchuck popped Nico and like our we our guys jumped on him like a gang of jackals that would not have happened in like March or April or even Nico Nico was in there who’s a pretty reserved guy but like you know like Sethal is a menace dylan’s in there he’s a menace
they bring everybody into the fold they bring everybody into the fight that’s what we needed and you’re right they these guys were fighting all the time and then all of a sudden it dropped off and when you were a team that does drop the gloves they fight they’ll hit big you don’t have to do it every night for people to know ah [ __ ] you know I got the Devils tonight you know go back to the great teams that we talked about of the 90s early 2000 nobody wanted to play us anytime they saw New Jersey coming town or they had to come here they just knew it you know it might not be dropping the gloves and fighting but you knew it was going to be a hard freaking game and I feel like we played that way early on last year um and then that’s why I like having McDermad on the bench you know like I know McDermott isn’t a great hockey player but having that threat to be able to bring him bring him in to kill somebody like that’s great to use every once in a while it’s like hey watch yourself because you can only even if you only played him two shifts people know he’s sitting over there don’t don’t do anything don’t go after Jack don’t go after Nico cuz the big guy sitting on the bench and that’s it you know i don’t know
yeah one of my one of my favorite things was when was when Dylan was talk chirping someone and he was like he was like you want to fight him
him he’ll [ __ ] kill you i don’t remember
Dylan’s another throwback and I I like Mcder too i don’t know i think
I just think Keefe is not a big fan and so we kind of just saw him completely phased out and it seems like I I Tim you’re better with this contract stuff i think they could bury the majority of his contract in the line could they not they they could bury him in the AHL like which which look it’s fine um they you know if they need to call him up or they could do it on paper and he could be with the Devils so so it’s fine if if they need to bury him but I think you know Keith’s main issue was like he he saw this team wasn’t scoring goals and was trying to get as much offense as possible out of things but sometimes one thing leads to another i I don’t know you know I could go either way but um will forever be a legend in my book though after that that thing where the we talked about it earlier when Bastion just got completely dummy by
uh Rempy and then Stegan Thor got pummeled he went out got Mcder and then obviously the
the five on five brawl at the Garden is just legendary [ __ ] i mean we thought 2012 line brawl was nice a five on five was just man I could watch that over and over again my buddy was a Rangers fan was here and uh I was telling him I’m like Mcderman’s definitely going to crack your boy tonight and we were watching the pregame and I think it was a nationally televised game and they’re like wait well we just got this like 20 minutes before the game like we just got word uh yeah uh Matt Rempy and Curtis McDermad are in the opening lineups we were like yes we had pizza coming I felt like I was 15 I’m like let’s go baby get all the beers out going crazy but I’ll never forget that moment I like Mcdermad obviously we didn’t see a whole ton of them but you know for whatever whatever reason the fighting stopped the physical engagement stopped and the team went off a cliff i don’t know i would like to see them come back and play mad next year i think they were at their best when they had that chip on their shoulder and we’re playing that type of game but
I’m I’m forever an optimist and and I think we’re going to see a much better season next year you know hopefully Jack is fully healthy like I said you know 120 points you do that get a little bit more production out of Teemo if he doesn’t score more than 30 goals I’ll be I don’t know about that but
what’s what’s your realistic hope for Teemo next year you want to see him do what
i want to see I want to see 30 and 30 that’s So it’s funny you said that i’ve literally told people when all these people are are are chirping him non-stop and I’ve been defending him i have knife wounds everywhere from all season because there’s certain people that’ll just never let it go and I got I got stab wounds everywhere but I said for me going into the season I’m hoping for a 3030 season from team i says literally I said I’m hoping for 3030 he’s smashing guys he’s making plays he’s running over goalies he’s being a menace i said with all that into consideration 3030 for him is a great season and when you look what what the hell he finished at Yeah he finished at 26 and 27 for 53 points and back to your point that I I kept pounding the table about i know you’re not a big believer in the left verse right thing
i think I think it matters for Teemo
right side and not on power play one for 80% of the season and he came seven points off of what now we both agree is the mark 3030 seven points shy playing on his off wing and not getting power play one time the majority of the season doing all the other [ __ ] that he does the people talking smack on Teemo drive me crazy and furthermore now with the cap escalation they’re still going to talk about “Oh he makes 8.8 whatever it is.” How is that not a good contract i’m pretty sure there’s 27 other GMs in the league that would love to have Teemo for another five or six years at under N million bucks
i hate when people count other people’s [ __ ] money it drives me crazy like like to me you you look at the contracts and okay like with Douge like they that’s $9 million not I’m not saying Douggee doesn’t deserve $9 million i want to use that $9 million for another player i don’t but to go oh he’s not worth Well [ __ ] you i mean how would you like it if I went to your job and I was just like you’re doing a shitty job i think you should make $60,000 a year instead of the 75 you make and I’m going to go tell your boss
come on
ace you know what he did uh he did lead the league in though Teemo
what he led the He led the league in expected goals
i was I was about to say I knew it was going to be either expected shots or goals because he went through that cold spell where he was everywhere and just snake bit and you’re like how he could have had I feel like he could have had 40 last year
it’s like how does not
I’m telling you he could have had 50 if this guy just maybe 50% more of the pucks didn’t hit a post or whatever yes he was
he hit what like 10 post something
one luckiest player I’ve ever seen last year was team Omire it had to be me and my buddy were just baffled we’re like you couldn’t literally get this unlucky for this streak of time like if you tried posts like random goalies like getting like their their toe out and like getting a piece of it just enough to keep it out of the net i mean it was
I think they should switch him and Brat on power play one i think they should put Brad on power play two and be have Brat be the main play driver zone entry guy on power play two um that that’s uh
but like you said it’s it’s pretty ceremonial do you think they’ll ever be at a point where like they they try to give Power Play 2 some respectable amount of time as opposed to like the 25 30 seconds that they they
Yeah i mean in a double minor yeah i mean if the first power play goes cold and you need to kind of change things up a little bit like our only Well we didn’t score power play goal in the playoffs but we did score one that finished right after a power play ended and it was our second power play and that was the one um I think that was Mercer’s goal one of Mercer’s goals but I don’t know that’s just a thought and like there’s only so much power play time that goes around brandon Hegel is the first guy in 40 years that scored 30 more than 30 goals without any power play time
that’s insane
it is remarkably difficult it’s remarkably difficult to score more than 30 goals without any power play time
um I just have to say real quick unfortunately I do have to bounce out of here right now because I still have to run to the store so I just want to thank you very much Ace for having me on dude this was a ton of fun and um do I I’ll keep my everything open because I know you have to load everything so I’ll just click off and and you’ll be all set
i just I just realized we’ve been here for almost two hours pretty crazy all right Chris awesome talking to you man thanks i’ll talk to you soon and uh hopefully we all get a pleasant surprise tomorrow
yeah it’s going to be fun to talk about tomorrow so I I do appreciate this was a ton of fun man thank you awesome talk to you soon man thank you later man bye
all right i’ll see you in a bit
tim’s still frozen on there
i’m still frozen yeah i um I should probably bounce i got to eat dinner i have a beer league game at 10:45 tonight so I got to get
Yeah I’m going to go put up my uh my Andre Palot first line left wing minus three two bad penalties oh man good luck hopefully uh you hit the you hit those benchmarks and uh we’ll talk again soon for sure
yeah man this is a lot of fun man
good stuff man hopefully we’re all surprised tomorrow i’m losing my voice I think i don’t know what the hell’s going on but good luck in your game and I’ll talk to you soon yeah buddy i’ll see you thank you
take care Tim later and there you have it friends the Uncle Puckers i mean that was probably fairly negative but we all just want to win we all just want to win we all just want this team to do well i’m going to get to your comments in a minute wow lot of comments um I just I just want to win i just want our team to be good h all right guys uh oh boy the chat’s very interesting um I drank a lot of liquids today so I am going to use the facilities and I’ll be back to uh hang out with you guys for a little bit still Oh wow yeah I’m used to going on later it’s only 8:18 uh I’m going to get to some of your comments in a in a little bit here i’m just going to use the facility uh I’ll be back from the restroom in 2 minutes and then uh I’m going to be on here for a little bit i don’t know how long but a little bit uh I look forward to uh reading some of your comments it’s harder to read them when there’s people on i’m trying to you know it’s a little difficult sometimes it’s a oneman show you know i’m the the the producer engineer trying to be involved in the conversation uh I’ll be back in two minutes going to the restroom uh keep the comments coming i will I will be right back i’ll be right back two minutes two minutes oh wait i need my water be right back all right special thanks to the guests Chris and Tim from the Uncle Puckers that was a good time i’m sure you I know a lot of you guys at least like would I bring other people on because I’m sure you’re tired of just hearing me and like to hear some other people let me see some comments here oh there’s so many comments here let me scroll down to more current times here uh Pat those dudes are dope you should have them on more yeah I’m going to try going forward to bring on guests a little more frequently there’s tons of people out there I enjoy talking with uh I am going to do a um another live sometime soon probably next week i just got to schedule it scheduling with multiple people is a is a challenge in itself but uh Trey Matthews from Locked on Devils is going to come on sometime soon along with Neil from the State of Mind Devils podcast so I look forward to that so keep your eyes peeled for that i will post the day and time as soon as I have that scheduled hopefully in the next week or so and then we’ll you know that’ll be uh the flip side of this whole thing right is what the Devils ultimately did or did not do in free agency or in the trade market to look for that cuz like I said I’m sure a lot of you guys uh are you know eager to hear from other people aside from me so I I enjoy these conversations and love bringing guests on for sure john says “We all want to win.” Asa I know we want to win i I hope the organization has the same hunger um we’ll see luke being honest isn’t negative hbs and Booface have destroyed any chance at good faith i hate to agree with you on something negative like that but I mean the track record is a track record all we could do is sit back and hope that we see some improvements and that the team does improve and I’d like to think that we are close while it feels like we’re so far away and especially when you watch the playoffs you’re like are can we really compete with the Panthers i don’t think we are quite as far as many of many of you probably think but it will require a few of the right pieces being brought in and hopefully tomorrow could be the kind of the first step in doing that what’s going on Nicole that was fun i like them uh Devil Heaven says “Like to hear other fans on the podcast.” World’s worst gamer going for bio otherwise known as taking a crap off the rags john he’s done calling before one or two games this previous season yeah I’m working on uh a better technological setup for that but there was a time when I I I said for people to call in and like no one called so I I don’t know it seems like it’s hit or miss sometimes people have a lot to say sometimes they don’t but I will um at some point in the summer heading into next season try to do uh more call-ins because I do think people like that and it is another interesting kind of element like you and I know people like to hear from you know many different viewpoints and not just mine and so I do enjoy kind of that dialogue with other people and and we’ll continue to try to incorporate that uh going forward mark Ace I noticed Nico Sturm was on that list of a available centers grab him and Rodriguez from Florida did Nico did that update i could have I heard something about Nico Sturm i mean is is the P are the Panthers going to lose both of them i I don’t know bc says Fitz isn’t making any significant moves uh I’m hoping that I’m hoping for something but like I’ve said I think the Luke deal and some bottom six is going to be what we see but I I would love to be pleasantly surprised and for something substantial to happen jason know we gonna do a free agency stream tomorrow yeah that’s the plan uh I I’m planning on being on on here for a while on July 1 always love the the free agent frenzy and I think most of the news that will be rolling in unfortunately will not be you know devils moves per se but I do like seeing the leaguewide stuff and so that is the plan uh to do a live tomorrow for a good chunk of the day and you guys a lot of you guys are super super down on fits it is what it is guys i mean here we are here we are john faces Fitz isn’t going anywhere sadly jason says “Tomorrow’s going to be depressing for you.” I mean I’m not I’m not one of these people that need to see like a superstar brought in but I I think they have to be the right types of guys more so than a big name i know a lot of you are are clamoring for some some massive acquisition and I get it i I understand why but if all we see are some depth moves I I at least hope they’re guys that could move the needle i just don’t want to see a complete patchwork kind of situation where it’s just like we’re getting guys for the sake of getting guys because we have to fill the roster i It would be disappointing um for sure i’m still very curious about the whole Jake Allen thing very interesting bc Anaheim likes Miaani he’s likely headed there carolina is going to swing for the fences fitz is probably going to stand pat yeah some of you guys are just zupa maki fitz must go will never win with the putts as GM david chimes finally three people actually get how weak a GM Fitz has been and can explain why great other stuff too three of you should do a show after every game i don’t think they’re that active they do a couple maybe after some games they do i forget they do a couple a week uh no I like I like Chris and Tim and I definitely will have them on again in the future for sure devil July one here we go sst need a call-in with Yo Holmes i’m sure him and Fitzgerald or One Face uh I don’t Why are you saying that oh no we got some Oh I’ll get there john Fay what I don’t get is if the owner see that booze isn’t hungry to win or hungry to bring any more cups to Jersey the franchise what’s the point in keeping them i’ll tell you it’s because our owner that’s been a sneaking and he says doesn’t care that’s been a sneaking suspicion of mine i do think while I have my many complaints about Fitz I do think that there are some things that are out of his control i would have to believe that Fitz did want to spend at least more of the LTI our LTI money than we saw you know two years ago and this past season and we didn’t really spend any of it and I have to believe that almost any GM in that position would be pounding the table wanting to spend the money to improve the team and exploit that loophole and now they’re closing it and so we had two cracks at doing it it wasn’t done and I have to believe that is you know above fits i think the owners did not want to spend that money because while it’s uh you know a loophole for cap it’s it’s still money the owners have to spend above the cap and I don’t think that the owners of the team were too uh interested in doing so because it’s just money out of their pocket kane is off the table just signed a one-year deal what did he sign for one year 4 million bucks oh no that was his last one he signed a one-year three million yeah I mean it seemed inevitable he was going back to Detroit i enjoyed the comparison of Fitz being the guy at the bar trying to make friends by buying everyone drink uh drinks select the boy i’ll just wait and see tomorrow it’s all we could do devil Haven fitzy make the right moves sst said uh Yo Holmes says to SST “I’d be happy to call in and school you.” Wow i would love to see a little sparring session that I didn’t have to be involved in outside of just bringing the parties together uh if you if you fellas are interested in a in this I would be more than than willing to facilitate a Yo Holmes vers SST showdown right here on Running with the Devils i don’t even know exactly what they got into uh I I must have missed it there’s like a million comments like I said I I you know when there’s people on I try to get to the comments if we can but there was a lot of stuff and we were all over the place uh and so apparently Yo Holmes and SST had some sort of argument and we’re seeing challenges being thrown out and I’m here to tell you guys that I am more than happy to host the bout i am more than happy to host the bout and I’m sure lots of people would be uh interested in in hearing it um wow justin Smith says “Just signed someone.” Mark says “Well John Fe ace I think homes and SST are going to war.” Uh I I’m very interested to even know what the back uh story of this is i will at some point uh I’m trying to scroll up but I’m still trying to stay current here i’m just cur Yeah if if they want to have this dance like I said I’m more than happy to host it um Yo Holmes threw out the challenge will SST deliver will he answer yo Holmes threw the challenge out there will SST answer the challenge it’s out there pyro I don’t want to feel like how we did at the deadline i I honestly just can’t freaking take it so I will say the difference for me the big the big difference for me is that I did have much more hopes or expectations for the trade deadline than I do for free agency so it’s a little different for me for this because I I’ve said and again I I hope I would love to be wrong here i did not expect much outside of the Luke extension and some bottom six guys for free agency and so I’m not going to feel the same sort of disappointment or just kind of crushed feeling if nothing happens of of substance tomorrow because that’s kind of what I I expected i did expect much more uh I did expect much more at the trade deadline and that’s why I reacted the way I did for those of you that were around for it is it just because given the circumstances I was expecting much more and so it stung much more when we had the deadline that we did bc of course is the owners are money grubbing misers who only care about the Washington Redskins or commanders ninja says “Trade Jack before he’s permanently disabled by age 25.” They’re not going to trade Jack listen when Jack is on and healthy he’s phenomenal he’s a a top flight elite elite talent in this league and and an exciting player to watch must see television it’s just we need to we need to keep him healthy but you know for all the people talking about potentially trading him I mean it’s just never going to happen guys it’s It’s just not We’re trying to bring Quinn here to have all three Hughes brothers they’re not going to trade Jack and he’s still super young he has time to hopefully bulk up a little bit and you know develop into that hopefully 82 game player or or damn close to it yo Holmes says “Stool you every broadcast in the chat why would a call-in be different?” Dem’s fighting words are we gonna have this showdown or what pyro says “If Fitz does nothing then I don’t know love the devil so much but I just feels like watching uh I feel like watching Nordique’s highlights so hopeless.” Nicole says “Host the cage match.” Ace the the invitation’s open i am here i am here for this cage match we all like a good fight here sst says “School on what that you think modern boxing is better than 90s?” That’s a reference to something from last night I believe but I mean listen uh I’m tired of the Twitter fingers the the tough talk and the and the type are we going to get are we going to get a showdown here the door is open i’m just waiting for uh for these guys to accept bc if Fitz is the guy buying drinks at the bar then Harrison Blitzer making sure that only the only beers available are Peels Milwaukeekey’s Best and Bud on Tap televised what’s up Joe Kade 1 to 10 scale one nothing 10 Blockbuster what are you expecting tomorrow i mean if one is literally nothing I don’t expect that because I do think you’re going to see some bottom six guys so I you know we we have we have we we don’t even have a full roster so we have to make some moves so it can’t be nothing if you mean like literally nothing so I’m gonna go with like two i would say it’s like a two you’re going to see a few bottom six guys probably either traded for or signed but it’s not going to be anyone that I believe truly moves the needle and I think a lot of you are going to be disappointed again I’ll be disappointed but not fully the way some of you will because that’s what I’m expecting so when I go into it with certain expectations when they happen it will be slightly disappointing but it’s it’s expected for me and so it’s it’s different the deadline was something completely different for me john faces Joe Kid zero but I’m hoping wrong in some way yo Holmes SST you just said VTEC is more valuable than Teemo what an astonishingly dumb statement oof what up Tim thanks for having us on ace that was fun prayer circle start now awesome to have you on Tim appreciate you coming on i hope definitely definitely have you guys back at some point in the near future good luck at the beer league game and then John F says “Yo Holmes then again he compares everyone to VTEC he did it to Marstrom last January.” Mark now we have a Devils fans Civil War brewing this is Fitz’s fault sst says VTEC has a 31 season what Teemo has oh boy this is just getting double heaven do we think we have the bottom six already in the system we definitely need at least a good move well I think I think Juo Lamako is definitely going to be in the bottom six as much as some people are like “Oh maybe not.” I think he’s definitely going to be there and I think Gritsuk will be um you might see you know one of the guys from last season one or two of them brought back depending on you know how everything else shakes out but I think the other guys that the team is hope or or the other guys the team is hoping can possibly push for spots in the bottom six is probably Jame and uh and Leance i think they’re probably slight long shots at the moment but they one or both of them may have a chance to force their way onto the roster alberto with the free agent market as it is we could probably move Douge tomorrow i would think so it’s just like do is that is that the wisest move now I agreed with most of Tim’s points about Douggee and I I have said time and time again that I do think the team will feel Dougey’s absence this season if they do trade him if there’s a a deal in place to make the team better I’m all for it richard I don’t think we’ll see anything earthshattering tomorrow there’s a possibility however that we see something of substance through trades there’s just not enough money yeah but if Palot or Douggee are moved and then you’re talking about trading another guy on the roster that does make things certainly interesting and open up some possibilities at least capwise john Fe says “Yo Holmes fair enough.” But we all know and I mean this respect to him we all know SST doesn’t have the balls to call in wow wow uh Yo Holmes SST boxing what calm your ADHD and stay on topic this is This is real interesting richard Ace can I be one of the judges scoring for SST versus Yo Holmes Rumble duran Barkley i still didn’t finish it i saw most of it i got to finish it i fell asleep but you could definitely be a judge i guess we’ll take a a vote i don’t think SST is going to call in i like the aggression by Yo Holmes though certainly interesting sst just let’s make this happen right now yo Holmes and SST are we doing this or what the people want to see it we have judges in the wings i don’t even know what the argument started with but I don’t even care at this point david Chimes don’t buy it’s the owners they’ve been in the biz world enough to spend money sometimes to make money lost money missing the playoffs an excuse of using LTIR money on Douggee two seasons ago um the difference is I think this is a complex one because you could make the argument that okay the owners could go to Fitz and be like let’s just say last year they had I think it was like 13 million in LTI money if they’re like okay Fitz you want to spend 10 million of that what are we making back on that and I don’t think Fitzgerald with a straight face could could honestly tell them like if I spend this $10 million it’s gonna win us an extra round or whatever and I don’t know exactly what the revenue is per playoff game but I imagine it’s at probably at least a few million bucks but like if we spent $12 million of LTIR money then you need just just to break even on that extra expenditure you would need four more home playoff games i think they would analyze that and say there is no guarantee the risk is not worth the reward for us financially and so unless you could guarantee us that money back plus some in playoff revenue we’re not interested in doing it on a maybe yo Holmes VTech was so good he got benched in NJ in the playoffs for a kid who can’t crack a 900 save percentage in the miners david Good GM puts his ball in the line and makes a case against the accountants to convince owner to spend we don’t know what happened behind closed doors right is there a chance that he did do that i think there could be now you know was he successful in that uh attempt not for LTI money anyway but we don’t know he could have tried john Asa said this in the chat earlier but you didn’t see if we do move Douggee and Mercer I think we do it in a package deal like a two for two or a blockbuster trade deal i mean it could definitely could be interesting uh I’d imagine it would be easier to find different homes for each of them versus finding one team to take both of them but uh I think Tim brought up a potential interesting deal with uh the Sabres i think his deal was a Tuck Mloud situation would certainly be interesting select the boy we’ll see you guys tomorrow let’s go Devils sst says VTEC the Stanley Cup holmes is crying mike K says just need Quinn i mean wouldn’t I mean that I feel like that could be one that could come out of nowhere i’ve said this like we don’t know behind closed doors are the Devils and Canucks talking about getting Quinn here or is Vancouver still holding on to hope that they could convince Quinn Hughes to resign there long term at some point i it seems like he wants to play with his brothers and I don’t think that Rutherford would have came out and said what he said a few months ago if if that wasn’t the case you know I I if he thought there was any chance of him staying I don’t think he would have done that and so it was a very bizarre thing uh and if Vancouver realizes there’s no chance of keeping them you’d be you’d be wise to trade them now and get the most you can pyro do we have a comparable case for other cheapkate owners i’ve heard St louis fans say their owners are cheapkates i don’t know enough about any of the other ownership groups to to accurately um weigh in on that i’ I’d be curious to hear from knowledgeable fans of other teams if if they’ve experienced that sort of thing but I can’t say definitively jason know after tomorrow Douggee is only making a mill of actual money i guess that’s referring to the contract structure that could make him even more uh appealing to teams to take on i forgot about that while he would still have his cab hit of 9 million let me see does this break it down the way they frontload some of these deals and play with the money doesn’t break it down on Puckedia well it says a million dollar base but then it says signing bonus 10.550 so when exactly was that paid i’d have to do a little deeper dive into that jason no fitz was never qualified for this job mark Ace I think you’re on to something harrison the owners are interested in return on investment for sure i I I think you know it’s just a shrewd business kind of operation i don’t know if that is the case now I’m looking at this because there’s a signing bonus i don’t know how it doesn’t break down exactly how and when that was paid because it does say base a million but there’s a signing bonus of a signing bonus of 10.55 for the upcoming season nicole says “We’re between seasons we’re hockey deprived we’re itching for a fight devils have a bonus to pay Douggee it matters to cheap owners or teams with internal payroll I guess calls or I don’t know what that is.” M do you think Fitz is trying to stay quiet on his potential trades as a way to try and keep other teams away from his trade targets or just not to show his hand yet that’d be nice but it could also be we’re not hearing nothing because there’s nothing going on we shall find out john my thing is though if we move Douggee do we retain anything or not i think at this juncture we would not have to uh I don’t think we’d have to because there’s not a ton you know he only has three years left on his deal the 9 million bucks I do believe was a slight overpayment in the beginning and may even be a slight overpayment currently but given what he brings and what some of these other contracts are going to be like it’s not the it’s far from a horrific cap hit for a guy like Douggee given where the cap is going and like I said all these other deals with some of these guys getting crazy money and you’re going to see it tomorrow uh I I I think there is a clear path to be able to trade him without retaining if that’s what the Devils want to do mark Otto’s previous owner was kind of a miser was that that guy uh Malnik or whatever when they had all that drama with like uh Carlson and some of those other players mike Hoffman what a drama situation they had there not too long ago not too long ago joe Kate hey been reading many of our fans unhappy with the potential jonathan Duan acquisition tomorrow explain i mean our fans aren’t happy with anything what is there to explain uh again the bar is so low for improving the roster you know I is is Drewan being signed as a potential top six guy is that a bottom six guy are they going to you know give him the classic middle six type guy duan let’s see how old is Duan i think he’s like 30 or 31 duan is 30 two years ago 23-24 to ABS he had 19 goals 37 assists for 56 points and then last season in 43 games he had 11 and 26 for 37 you know 0.9 points a game I mean clearly better than many of the players we finished with on our roster uh and he seems like I mean listen would I be ecstatic with that acquisition no would I be mad about it no because where is the bar the bar is super low super super low so does he make the team better i believe so is there better options out there absolutely but are we going to be in a position to get any of them or even try david had to talk to the analytics department to figure out how to improve depth scoring jason know I’m pretty sure Douggee will get that bonus come tomorrow uh that’s interesting if that is in fact the case and while carrying a cap hit of 9 million if the team getting him only has to pay him uh that base million for next year that is quite a savings but let me just see yeah that would be super interesting if the Devils pay that 105 and then the team obtaining him only has to pay a million base then next year they would have to pay 8.4 four which is a million dollar base and a 7.4 signing bonus and then the last year 5.25 so you’re talking about a guy with a cap hit of 9 million bucks over three years is 27 million but if I’m reading this correctly if the Devils are paying that bonus then over the course of the three years the team getting him assuming someone got him this summer would pay a million next year 8.4 in 2627 so now you’re at 9.4 total and then 5.25 so you’re talking about a little under 15 million for the three years of his service that is definitely uh a valid point and something positive in terms of increasing a return or value for him to be moved nulls hey Ace is that tank top from bench clearers i’m afraid to buy white can never keep it clean yeah it is i have I I said this last night i have every single one i like them super lightweight like the quality um yeah this one actually has a stain on it somewhere it’s hard to see on the camera i get everything white dirty as well it’s why I can’t wear uh white jerseys to games and I always wear like a red jersey or a black jersey or something like that but I do like the white jerseys and I I did hear that rumor that they might go back to wearing white at home which I I think I would like it it just reminds me of the old school days when we were winners when we were winners douggee gets paid 10.55 tomorrow so yeah people have been asking Richard about PAudtor i mean I take him again the bar is so low do I think that’s a magical fix all of some kind no could he work out here and be decent for sure uh what is his contract i forget yeah he’s making 1.6 so what’s he going to get in free agency obviously a lot more than that i definitely inquire but I think something like that might be you know what tomorrow consists of i think some a guy like that is a realistic like potential now do I think that’s a true needle mover no not by itself does that improve the team yes multiple things could be true at once that is improving the team am I going to celebrate and light fireworks over it no no I’m not but yo homes ace we have a head coach who doesn’t even live in the same country as the team how committed can he be then again RGM I I listen I I I’ve said before I like I like Keith uh I get that that whole situation bothers some people but I do like Keith i thought he did a pretty good job with a less than stellar hand dealt to him last season between the injuries and not getting help at the deadline and being forced to dress you know several AHL players for a good chunk of the season i mean I I think he he may have gotten more out of the group than many other coaches would have given the scenario that he was thrust into john faces I will prefer Keef over Ruff to be fair but see to your point pyro I’d be okay with Druin uh Druin Carter Gritsuk I mean I think that that’s a on paper at least is a is a third line with some potential jeff’s bars on the floor yo Holmes Lindy should have never been fired boozeface gave him the can because Fitz was scared to ever give Lindy a legitimate goalie lindy never had a goalie over 900 in New Jersey i mean it’s a fair point but I also think again multiple things could be true at once that the team kind of hit their ceiling with Lindy and it was just like more of the same and it was just time for a change sst says “Duan spends more time in the hospital than Jack what a signing that would be.” Uh I mean yeah definitely lots of injuries in the career definitely a concern mark I’m a school teacher and I have to sign a contract every year wish I could get a signing bonus that would be nice david says “Fitz leads the league in expected trades.” Let’s get Corey Perry for uh I don’t know what that says corey Perry i’d be curious where he’s going to go i’d be interested playoff performer at the right price i’m certainly interested yeah we gave Glass and Luke Hughes a qualifying offer i want to say it was like around five o’clock today the Devils posted it 5:00 p.m so very interested to see what comes back out of that i haven’t followed up on it because I was preparing for this um yeah Patrick Kane signed for one year three million bucks in Detroit nolles they make a white with green red alternate one at bed the tank top and yeah that’d be awesome to see white jersey at home uh I would still wear the red and black ones but yeah I agree i I have the white one too the the green and red i have the green and red uh bench clearers as well yeah I have the whole collection i like I like their stuff damian says “If we trade Douggee a player like Tuck better be coming back our way.” Uh I don’t know again it depends right i think there there could be a scenario where there’s not a monster return for Douggee but it’s more so of a move to free up cap space for the Devils to use somewhere else now I’m not expecting Douge to get traded uh I like Douge i would be a little upset if he was traded i would understand why but if it was up to me I would not move off of him yet i do think he has value to this team i think we would feel his absence i’ve said it a million times but if there’s a deal in place to make the team better and it involves trading Douggee then I’m all for it likewise with any other player but uh I don’t know that a lot of people will be happy with what the return would be for Douggee because I don’t think it would be necessarily what people would be expecting but like I said opening up that $9 million in cap space could give the Devils the option or the ability I should say to bring in another impact player somewhere whether it’s in another different trade or free agency jason said Luke might get a bridge a lot of guys taking bridge deals oh uh SST would love that because he’s been saying that so you know he would come back here and tell everyone how much of a genius he is and how stupid everybody is i think uh a a bridge deal for Luke would be suicidal for the Devils as an organization because when that deal is up Luke is going to get paid monster monster money so I think it is in their best interest to try to lock him up long term but if they can’t they can’t gunner how many regular seasons would uh games would you plan for Marstrom he didn’t seem the same last year after his injury and he still ended up starting 51 yeah he may may have been lingering or something i I think for me personally in an ideal world Marky starts 55 to 58 games leaving 24 to 27 starts for whoever the backup is i would like to see it be Nico does but as long as Marky is feeling good and injury-free I think he’s very capable of starting 55 to 58 games for sure fentinel Floyd odds that fits moves out uh I don’t know i’m going to say 5050 i think 5050 i think obviously Fitz sees that as you know a potential assuming no retention again obviously $6 million of money he would be able to use elsewhere to address the many other needs of this roster i’m going to say it’s 50/50 um that he’s able to do that now if he is then like I said things get super interesting because now with that $6 million if you start looking at trading other roster players in a deal to try to do something bigger or at least on the bigger end of the spectrum you have potential even Palot and Mercer’s 4 million is 10 million bucks that that definitely gives you a pretty a pretty nice cushion of cash to try to acquire somebody john Fe says “If we do move Douggee Ace who would you expect for us to get into return?” Same thing with Mercer uh I I think it’s highly circumstantial i do like I said because of Douge’s contract I do think there are teams that would that would love to have him i don’t think you’re going to get a monster return and so I I don’t even know you know maybe a bottom six guy or or if there’s a team in a in a weird situation with maybe a Yeah I don’t know that one that one’s tough for me but I could see him potentially being moved like I said just two minutes ago in more of what looks like a salary dumpish kind of deal because then the Devils are able to use that money in a different deal to bring in something substantial and so while it wouldn’t directly be Douge for whoever in the end trading Douge in one of those types of deals could open up the money for them to then make another deal uh that is in you know that’s on the table uh in terms of Mercer I think Mercer I I like again I like Mercer i think he could be a big piece or a starting piece of a deal for an upgrade in the top six and I think that’s the most viable in my opinion the most viable path would be somehow getting rid of Palot 6 million and then you trade Mercer in a separate deal plus prospects or picks whatever it is to try to bring in a top six guy and I would love to see it with Buffalo to try to get Tuck i mean Thompson’s the crazy dream but I do think Mercer plus a piece or two if that could get you tuck I think that’s a win mark says Fitz league leads the league in coming in second samuel Fitz thinks impact player sewn in a dash demolition derby john Fay pits leads league and being able to do something because all he can do is nothing but Luke would never score more than 50 points oh my god I would love to take that bet sst if there was a way to to guarantee I would get paid on the bet I’m 100% on the over you don’t think Luke ever scores more than 50 points he’s already had 47 and 44 you don’t think Luke Hughes ever gets more than 50 points that might be your worst take ever in a long line of bad takes mason you think Vancouver pulls a tampering card on the Devils if a Quinn trade happens saw stuff about the league looking to make an example out of a team no how How are you even asking that Mason how are they going to Jim Rutherford had a press conference and was like uh told the whole world that Quinn wants to play with his brothers how in the world are you going to try to implicate the Devils in tampering when that guy went up there on the on the podium at the end of the season at their end of season press availability and was like I don’t know what we’re going to do with Quinn Hughes he wants to play with his brothers maybe I’ll try to bring them here like that was tampering by him i don’t know how on earth you could even remotely try to paint the picture of the devil’s tampering jason know Buchar just took short-term deal what do you think his next deal looks like what do he sign for like 10.5 or something four years 42 million yeah 10 and a half um it depends how much more the cap goes up by then i mean listen in four years from now the money could be silly it’s going to be like monopoly money i don’t know his next deal could be 15 million uh there’s no way to really know it’s going to be absurd could easily be 15 million mark Buffalo trade for Douge the Sabres have a lot of young Dmen and and Douggee would be a great mentor well they’re paying Dalene a ton of money as well uh and so you know do they want to invest yeah rasmus Dalene’s getting paid 11 million bucks a season my god yeah they gonna want to pay two defenseman 20 million bucks i mean I don’t know samuel Fitz needs to find a team trying to reach the salary floor basic guy are you concerned at all that if and when we trade Mercer andor Casey Nemits that we have few desirable assets to improve the team with down the line uh yes and no but I’ve said this for at least a few weeks now for sure is that that is why it is oh so important that the next move or or substantial moves are the right pieces and not just making a deal for the sake of making a deal because we don’t have unlimited assets and because there’s not unlimited cap space there’s there’s only so many of these bigger type moves that you could make right and so obviously Mercer is one of our most valuable pieces uh Casey Nemitz the next couple years first rounders and so once you do part with those pieces you you’ve shot your bullets that’s it the bullets are gone you got nothing left and you’re going to be kind of handcuffed in terms of big moves for the foreseeable future which is why I personally I’m not concerned that they’re not going to have any pieces to to improve the team down the line i’m just concerned that when they if and when they use those assets in a deal that they bring in the right type of guy or guys because you’re not going to have too many other chances to make those types of moves and that’s why I was saying with Robertson I do think Robertson obviously improves this team would be a great ad to the top six but is that the guy that I kind of want to use all of our remaining bullets on i don’t know that I would if we did get Robertson I would be happy but I will always you know ask the question was there a better usage of the assets and the cap space to improve the team than Robertson and I think there could be um and I I would love to see a guy like Tuck uh Kyu obviously but it’s just something to be cognizant of there’s not unlimited moves to be made that are that are substantial and so you have to really make sure that the next big move you make using these pieces in a trade is the the right type of fit because you’re not going to have another chance to make a bigger move probably for quite some time or at least without disrupting the core and obviously heading into next off seasonason that could be something that’s kind of at the forefront is questions surrounding the core again uh depending on how the season goes are people talking about possibly dismantling the core or moving on from any individuals within the core i’m hoping that we get the right pieces around them and they could be cup champions here would love to see this core win a cup dubs is like Fitz had succeeded has succeeded in making this a mushy middle team third in Metro or Wildcard with first round exits that’s the ceiling for this roster and Fitz doesn’t have the balls to change the roster it kind of seems like we’re stuck in sand right now a little bit um I would like to to see a real push and I think that could back to what I was talking about with um Tim and Chris Neon sometimes the the trades you have to make are tough ones and we haven’t really seen too many of them just yet in this administration and I don’t know at some point we may need to see it but as far as tomorrow goes I’m hoping just to see something to to push the team forward um it doesn’t need to be a superstar per se i’ll never be upset if that did happen but it’s got to be the right pieces m douggee Plot getting traded depends on what teams they put on their trade list if they don’t want to wave the move clause then nothing fits can do completely agree i would love to see their lists it would be great i wish they I wish they made those public that would certainly make everything way more interesting if like we if we knew uh what the lists were what teams were on them that’d be super interesting john Fay says “St you don’t think Luke will ever score 50 points points or more?” I think that’s just an insanely horrible take insanely bad samuel I fear this year will be a carbon copy of last year i just don’t see much change in the next few days again you’re going to see some change i don’t know how much it’s going to really be obviously Hall is not coming back there’ll be some other guys in the bottom six that are swapped out but they could very well be lateral lateralish type moves without a clear-cut upgrade really anywhere in the lineup but I do think and I hate to you know get high on the opium as they say but with much better uh health fortunes next year that could be a big difference maker in itself but that alone I don’t think is nearly enough whatsoever obviously I want to see the team improved outside of just hoping to stay healthy but it starts with staying relatively healthy and then it we need to add pieces m Luke with a full season of power play one in topline minutes can rack up a crazy amount of points i agree with you uh 50 points as a careerhigh for SST is I mean we gonna get this bout or what i’m tired of talking about this can we get Can we get uh SST and uh Yo Holmes on and just settle this like a like a duel uh I don’t want to talk anymore i’d love to sit back and just watch this thing yo Holmes said he was in what’s up SST you going to take the challenge congratulations on another SE just like your Lindy record season hence he should never have been fired you won the stupidity top prize lindy set the record you goof samuel I don’t see room for both Nemits and Casey there is a world where there could be especially if uh Johnny Kovase is going to be out for some time and it’s by all reports whatever his you know lower body injury or whatever i don’t you know I think they were somewhat vague about it it seems like he could easily miss a few months to start the season and that will certainly open up opportunity once again on the blue line for your New Jersey Devils and we potentially could see an opening night lineup that features both Shimon Netts and Casey love both of these guys think they’re both going to be great defenseman in the league but I I’m not going to lie I do feel a little squeamish about going into the season with both of them as full-time defenseman a little bit the one Axel Axelottle hi hello eddie says “I’d like if we get Robertson or uh Eers’s fingers crossed.” I’d much rather have Robertson but I’d much rather have Tuck and Kyu those contracts long-term signed up for very good values john Fay I’ve seen people posting that the Devils are one of the teams interested in looking at Robertson possibly yeah my I again uh I would like him here i just think that there are better usages of the assets and the cap space and after this year he’s a free agent he’s going to command a fortune you know if Robertson’s looking for 12 or 13 million bucks after this one season right and you have to pay him 12 or 13 you look at a guy like Kyru who has six years left at 8.125 i think you have to look at that and you’re like that is a massive cap savings i I think it makes Kyu much more attractive in my opinion paha no guts no glory hamilton Casey and pick for Quinn that’s Nucken Thompson heavier edgier more violent ballsy GM required though well you think they’re gonna you think they’re going to trade for Oh you’re saying trade for trade for Quinn and then trade all three of them out of here yeah that’s crazy that’s crazy talk i can’t get on board with that that’s a little wild even for me mark says Fitz has made it so that we either have assets down the line or Nico down the line nico isn’t going to be happy with having good assets win now guys win now nico has two years left show him something because as of late he hasn’t been shown much he’s been here for eight seasons a single playoff round win seven total playoff games won if that doesn’t make you want to throw up I don’t know what will that is a nauseating statistic and that goes for Brad as well they broke into the league together in 2017 18 they’ve played in the playoffs three times three playoff appearances got smacked by Tampa Bay in the first round in 1718 and we only got there because Taylor Hall had a heart trophy season for the ages and dragged us to the playoffs dusted in five by the Lightning don’t see the playoffs again till 22 23 where we obviously had our best season anytime recently a franchise record 112 points beat the Rangers in a beautiful sevengame series before getting crushed by the Hurricanes a constant thorn in our side in that second round in five games and then the Hurricanes again in uh this 24-2 season ousted us in five and so when you look at the careers thus far of Brad and Nico it’s been a lot of heartache and pain a lot of bad seasons three playoff births which resulted in a single playoff round win and seven total playoff games won that’s brutal brutal Samuel i feel like this team went down the wrong road years ago the core is wrong and they won’t change it more balls needed i think there’s a world where they could bring those types of complimentary pieces in while keeping the core intact now like I’ve said I’m not against trading anybody if it makes the team better and if that includes a piece from the core and it’s a you know a good deal that you have to do then you got to look at it but I would like to see this core if possible get one more crack at it this upcoming season but I think at that point then the hard questions are going to have to be asked but I think they deserve at least one more you know the last dance if you will is 25 26 the last dance for this court it very well could be but I do think you have to put them in the best position to succeed by getting the right depth pieces and getting another top six winger somehow someway you got to do it we have a top four i could live with a top five and kind of a throw in sixth as the top six but to have two throwins in the top six this you’re not you’re not and and the right types of guys obviously heavier edgier more violent bring the scrit we need some Warriors it’s time to make a push this these next two seasons should be the seasons where the Devils are truly trying to win a cup gunner Marks we’re 100% in purgatory we have the top end skill guys and now the goalie but compared to any proven contenders our bottom six is awful can’t agree can’t disagree there destination JD top six Hughes Nico Teimo Brat Tage and Ace how many How many points you putting up and who’s on your line oh boy uh I certainly like that top five hughes Nico Teemo Brat Ta and Ace uh I’d like to think I could put up at least 30 points in playing in any combination of that top six put me on the right wing let me go out in front and uh tip some pucks and and wreak havoc on the goalie m said he had 50 points with like a half or quarter season of power play one in topline minutes uh I don’t know who is that in reference to alberto says “Trade Douggee and Plot sign Besser sign Rosik resign Luke and Glass.” Uh I I don’t think I I I’m Besser wouldn’t really do it for me and I think he’s going to get a lot of money as well i think I think he’s projected to make like eight and a half million bucks again this is where I think because of cap space and because of what the contracts are going to be for the guys getting signed in free agency I think the best course of action if Fitz is going to do anything to shake up the team is to get somebody in trade with years left on their deal kyro is signed for six more years at 8.125 million bucks i mean that’s an insanely good deal ta Thompson I think I I talked about it in an earlier video if you haven’t seen it check it out but I think he’s his deal is like 7.1 million for five more years i mean my god what theft complete theft brett B I honestly feel if you figure out how to get the bottom six going under Keith system this team is pretty damn strong add a top six shooter with some balls and we’re out the door i like where your head’s at like I said it’s some in some ways we feel so far away but it’s not as far as people think i think we’re a couple of the right guys away from at least being a legitimate contender john Fay hit that like button you bumps thanks hit the thumbs up for your boy samuel if you were Nico and you had a chance to go to a real contender what should you do i mean you guys know where I’m at with this i obviously hope we see Nico be a lifelong devil uh have his jersey retired here hopefully raise some cup banners of teams that he’s a captain of but I certainly would not be surprised if he in fact is looking or or when the time comes potentially looks at other destinations where he thinks he could truly win i mean it is what it is jason knows if we miss the playoffs this year then you have to make some hard decisions first of all Snow that’s crazy now you’re talking about missing the playoffs if we miss the playoffs this year I have no words i don’t even know what I would do that would be just completely insane missing the playoffs would be unacceptable anything short of I think at this uh anything short of winning a playoff round and even that to me I wouldn’t feel great about it i mean obviously winning a round is is better than not making the playoffs or not winning a round but like in the next two years I feel like this team has to make the conference finals minimum or bust and really they should be trying to win a cup their best chances in these next two years in my opinion david Casey is 50% to even ever break the NHL that’s most good not top tier prospects anyone thinks he’s ready now doesn’t understand hockey another season in Udica could learn a semblance of D i will tell you uh I don’t know that he’s fully ready either but I could see a scenario where he’s in the NHL next season fulltime or at least to start the season whether it’s with the Devils or another team i do think if he was traded to another squad there’s a very good chance he gets thrust right into the lineup but I I do agree especially his Dzone play being a little undersized we saw some you know times where other teams for checks gave him a pretty hilacious time and he had difficulty kind of moving the puck uh again super young i do think he’s going to develop into a great Dman but I also think you know he’s one of probably our more valuable pieces in a potential trade to bring in some offensive help and I think it’s something that should be considered uh given where we are and the struggle to score goals next year the top six has to be nasty yeah I would love to see it add one more nasty guy to the top six and I’m feeling a lot better about it than I am today david can you produce a running with the devil’s fits dunking highlight reel i mean you guys are and the comments are getting nastier than me now i mean wow i’m trying to stay positive you guys are like dragging me down zupamaki I just want to win i saw the glory days from 94 to05 and I missed the old days just win and please get rid of Hamilton my god he sucks i have to disagree with you there uh I do think Douggee has value to this team for sure we’ve talked about it today i’ve talked about it last night i’ve talked about it plenty of times m says “Alex the expectations is Fitz does some small bottom six and depth signings tomorrow and doesn’t make trades with Douggee Plot Mercer Nemonds andor Casey.” Reaper crew Garage i think Gritsuk has the potential to play top six minutes on Jack’s line i think it’s possible assuming you know barring that no legitimate top six guys are brought in at any point before the season just because of where we are in terms of offensive depth i think that definitely could be a possibility or or if not long term I think he’ll at least get an audition and a chance to prove his worth on the top six now again in an ideal world we would have a legit top six where we don’t even have to try this experiment but as it stands today again we have a top four can he be one of the guys tried out in the top six along with a guy like Mercer and then maybe we see it again with Nason who knows but I’m just hoping Gritsuk can be a legitimate third line type player and if he warrants top six minutes and can produce there I mean that would be a great surprise a great surprise jason now says Nico should be threatening the organization if they don’t improve the team he’s out i don’t take him to be uh that type of guy but I mean listen uh I wouldn’t mind it hold their feet to the flames a little bit try to get something moving i I again I can’t picture him doing that but we don’t know behind closed doors he may have uh aired some of his frustrations or issues with the way things have been going over the past really long time i mean wow richard Cairo would be a great pickup not only as a player but long term you can’t give up assets for Robertson who would probably be a one-year rental and he’s out of here cyro deal would be ideal i don’t think they’re crazy i don’t think they would trade for Robertson unless they knew they could resign him at something they were comfortable with but it is going to be substantially more than Kairu’s deal with six years left at 8.125 after this year I think Robertson’s going to be easily 11 12 maybe even 13 million based on what we see in free agency and the cap continually going up and so I’m on record saying the best course of action trade for a guy with a lot of years left on his deal at a good cap number and that’s going to put you in the best position for success m says if we miss the playoffs Fitz is a thousand% gone uh I can’t say definitively but I would say if we miss the playoffs I’m going to say 97% he would be gone but if there’s injuries and other things that happen I could see a world where he would be safe john Fay if we missed the playoffs this year after sneaking in last year and getting in two uh two out of three years before that then Fitz 100% needs to get the boot jason know I hate to say it but we barely made the playoffs this year obviously we back the definition of backing in Khalil Ace my late Fitzgerald tendered Luke and Cody contract yes that happened at around dinner time or at least that’s when the Devils announced it double heaven what will Nico’s next contract going to be uh it’s going to be I mean obviously a lot depends on what he does the next two years but I I think at a minimum in two summers from now you’re talking about easily 12 million bucks maybe more annually add four nasty guys to the top six gunnar Ace I hope you’re right but we’ll have to beat Carolina andor Panthers headto-head to get to a cup final i think we’re a few players from truly matching up um I agree but guys are out there it’s not an impossible feat and while I don’t want to celebrate you know regular season games because obviously the playoffs is a totally different animal it was somewhat encouraging that we did go into Florida and beat the Panthers at back-to-back games in their rank in November again they turn it up to a different level uh they become a different type of machine in the playoffs but with a couple of the right tweaks to the lineup with a little more snarl brought in some of that scrit I I think the Devils could at least give the Panthers a little trouble i don’t think they would just run us over john as you said earlier Ace I think Lehance deserves a chance well we’re going to see that’s one of the guys to keep an eye on i’m going to do a video well there’s going to be a bunch of videos coming out in the next couple weeks but he’s a guy that I think could could potentially force his way onto the opening night lineup or opening night roster as a result of a good showing in training camp and a preseason mark says “This team can’t win a cup with four NHL forwards i mean they have more than four NHL forwards but they only have four top six at the moment zupamaki Nico’s next contract no more than nine A you’re out of your mind you are out of your mind he’s getting way more than $9 million way more m that’s my fear is that Fitz is going to mainly focus on bottom six and take a gamble on Gritsuk is going to be our top six forward uh I don’t think Fitz has him penciled in in a top six role at the moment i do think he has him kind of starting the season in a bottom six with the hope that he can fill in or at least earn a earn a spot i’ll say that he can earn a spot on the top six which again is flawed but desperate times call for desperate measures would love to see a legitimate top six guy brought in jason know I wonder what Pittsburgh wants for Raquel i think he’s only making 5 mil he would he would garner a hall he does have Let’s see oh I hate this website so he’s got three years left at five million bucks uh three years left at 5 million he’s 32 very uh good contract 70 points in 81 games last year yeah people we some of you guys were talking about him uh last season i would certainly be interested i I’m afraid of what they might ask for him supposedly i think last year at the deadline they were asking a ton for him but it’s a guy you should definitely make a call on it’s a guy you definitely should make a call on james I’m also late what’s going on with Luke uh he got a a qualifying offer um it’s kind of the first step in the process i’m sure it’s not an offer he’s going to take and maybe I don’t know it’s it’s part of the process i’d be so curious to know what the offer was but I think you know he’s he’s gonna probably look to get more money than whatever that qualifying offer was i wish they made that public as well alberto says Nico is going to get the Jack Eel no I think he’s going to get more than 10 million bucks too i think he’s going to get more than 10 million bucks too it’s in two years from now with an even higher cap jason know Florida flipped the switch when the playoffs started yeah they go into just completely insane war mode and they get it done winners Warriors backto back Stanley Cup champions zitto what a gangster and he gets them all back this summer eblad he signed Bennett I don’t know a few days ago and today he gets he gets Ecklad out a team friendly um gets Eblad on a team friendly and uh gets Marshand at a discount six years kind of strange but again you know age is just a number people are going to talk [ __ ] about the six years they’re going to win at least two more cups with these guys i’d have to think at least two more uh Cisco Kid nice shirt was thinking of getting one for the South Florida Heat yeah I re highly recommend highly recommend it bench clears great for the summer would you be opposed to bringing in Kousnets on a low AAV deal no no I wouldn’t it’s got to be the right price but I I’m I’m um I’d be curious what what a low AV deal would look like for him john Fay can I also say Ace I i think I saw a post saying that Boston is taking calls on Zack do you think he’d probably want to come to the Devils uh that’s an interesting one um that one I I couldn’t predict whether he would want to come back here or not john F for if anyone asking was in a devil’s group on Facebook Kyro was traded to the Habs did that happen i think that’s a rumor that’s a rumor stop stop writing fake crap sst Mark Fitz will add a couple of bottom six and BS about Gritsuk and Lachance being an upgrade for the top six i mean Leance is definitely not going to be in the top six i think he’s a he’s a hopeful for the bottom six but I would love to see a real a real top six guy brought in obviously Alberto regardless of anything Fitz needs to pick up three forwards this off season cleo so a you basically saying it’s my take some time to sign Luke that did to Mercer i think you might see a very similar scenario where it it doesn’t get hammered out until close to training camp i hope it just gets over with sooner than later but it’s possible that it could be a very similar situation we saw last summer with Dawson saw that Kousnets and Gusev want to return to the NHL oh the goose is loose the goose is loose richard says Montreal is just showing interest it is not official i’m sure there’s tons of teams showing interest the weightlifting lab what’s going on other teams have a little cap but find a way yeah when there’s a when there’s a will there’s a way teams find a way to get it done douggee for Quinn in a firstrounder there’s zero douge for Quinn yeah no I think you I think some people would be insanely surprised by you know shocked what it would take to get Quinn Hughes early and it would be a ton marty B ellers would be nice aers would be nice but I see him in Winnipeg quite a bit guy has mad skills but he’s made a glass i don’t I’m not in on him go get me Tuck would love Tuck luke needs to sign for the same as what Jack did not going to happen absolutely not going to happen the cap was totally different then uh when Jack signed that deal to now night and day night and day there’s no chance he signs for 8 million bucks he’d be a hero if he did because that’s a super super team friendly deal but I can’t see it i think I think at this point I I hate to say it i think like 9 million would be a massive victory for the Devils yeah I think even at 9 million bucks on a long-term deal that would be perceived and and in reality be a massive massive win for the Devils but I’m curious to see what it is i’m I’m still hoping it’s closer to 85 or nine i I’m a little nervous that it’s going to be more uh especially when you’re seeing some of these other deals now that aren’t going to really go you know help the Devil’s case you know Noah Dobson got nine and a half um you know uh you’re going to see defenseman get paid and so you easily as Luke’s agent you’re like whoa whoa whoa we’re willing to maybe give a little discount but we’re not trying to give a massive discount and I think at this juncture it would be justified to even ask for like 10 and a half on a long-term deal and that’s not leaving meat on the bone samuel need to know we can spend Luke will cost uh we need to know how much ASAP uh I disagree there just because um I’m sure the team has a rough idea of where it’s going to fall and so they could kind of plan accordingly knowing roughly where it’s going to be and I think that’s kind of what Fitz did last summer because he was making all those free agent signings before the Mercer contract was in place so and the Robertson train is the most reasonable dallas supposedly wants assets and futures yeah but he has no term he has one year left and then he’s going to want mega money so when you take everything into consideration you know there’s better options out there because the guys are signed long term for good for good deals mark says Habs are going to be dangerous next year weightlifting lab bro nine’s way too much uh you guys are going to be surprised you’re going to be surprised i think nine would be considered by everyone to be a great deal for the Devils ssd says “Go get your shine box homes are we are we going to have this bout or what?” I mean I’m just tired of the back and forth let’s get Let’s uh let’s get it on heard the just signed a water bottle john Fay just calling at this point if you guys are going to keep going at each other sst and Yo Holmes yo Holmes threw it out there sst is not answering the bell mark like I said last night Ace what’s the Army Joerger on up to nowadays i would love Jogger to be in the organization obviously another pipe dream but I think as like a skills coach uh maybe a special assignment training coach a guy like Joerger I think could be invaluable to a team i have no idea if he if he would have any interest but his offseason training stories are things of legend would love to see him work with some of these guys on specific like I said skill stuff training on and off the ice this guy was a specimen led the Devils in points I think at like 40 40ome whatever he was complete freak of nature uh SST doesn’t want the smoke sst is not answering the bell all right I think I’ve had enough i’ve been on here for a while anyone have anything of substance before I I shut this thing down here tomorrow is the big day guys tomorrow is the big day anyone have anything you guys are still at each other’s throats here weightlifting lab i know it’s not the times we’re in but what the hell is Luke proven douggee proved in the playoffs that he’s worth four million per year uh it’s more about you know I mean listen Luke has improved dramatically brings the offense he’s getting better defensively it’s more so on these long-term deals you’re you’re maybe overpaying them for the first year or two but you’re hoping that the majority and especially in the later years of the contract that they’re relatively good deals and if Lucas signed at 9 million bucks let’s just say for for argument sake this year you’re like “Oh that’s a slight overpayment.” you know if he pops off for you know 60 70 point season is playing shut down defense power play uh quarterback his value would be way more than the $9 million and so that’s kind of what happens now with these long-term deals you’re hoping to maybe overpay a little bit upfront in early years to have a a comparatively great deal as the as the deal gets further on into the the contract and with the cap constantly going up you could make the argument that in a few years from now Luke very well may be a $12 million a year guy and you would have him signed at nine million bucks hopefully even less but whatever it is nine nine and a half eight and a half million bucks it’s uh that’s kind of the tactic now with all of these guys yep i’ll be live tomorrow uh what time you going live probably 11:00 a.m husky great show tonight thank you sir uh yo Holmes says “ST’s life highlight is a troll devil’s podcast.” Yo Holmes great show a’s top-notch guest thank you thank you john F i thought you said something about going live as a free agency update you know I’m going to I’m going to do like a free agent uh watch kind of watch along we’re going to see richard Ace thanks for all you do shut it down and have a halls back at Yeah my throat hurts i don’t know what the hell happened but I’ll be back tomorrow i’ll post it probably in a little bit the live probably tomorrow at like it opens at 12 so I’ll probably go come on at like 11 we’ll see john F yo Holmes uh we’ll look at it this way you throw the challenge out we’ll just need to wait for SST to grow the weightlifting lab i get your brother just an old school Dez fan that would love to see another Stevens dynasty you and me both man you and me both samuel doesn’t it look smart to have some cap space now it’s always smart to have some cap space but I don’t know what is that in reference to they got to move some guys to have cap space we’re pretty tied up against it m says “Looking forward to seeing this fan base implode because Fitz sits on his hands all day or the whole day.” Uh hopefully that’s not the case i’m not expecting much i think we’re going to at least see some uh you know new bottom six blood brought in i don’t see how we wouldn’t and we’ll just kind of take it from there my expectations are pretty low i will not be gutted if we don’t get a big name i know a lot of you will but uh that’s it guys i’m shot thank Thank you to my guests Tim and Chris of the Uncle Puckers check them out the I tagged them in the description so check out Uncle Puckers i’ll be having more guests on kind of throughout the summer and into next season for sure i know you guys like that i enjoy doing it so you’ll see some more of that uh and I’ll be going live tomorrow probably at 11:00 a.m but you by the time you know I’ll be posting the the live at some point tonight so you’ll know if you’re watching or tomorrow morning at least you’ll see it there um we’ll be doing a free agency live that’s it guys thank you to my guests thank you guys for joining hopefully we’re all pleasantly surprised tomorrow and that’s it uh like comment subscribe and all that jazz until next time friends let’s go Devils
NHL Free Agency opens tomorrow.
What moves will the New Jersey Devils make?
Will we see any trades or signings that will improve this team for the 2025-26 season?
Does GM Tom Fitzgerald have some tricks up his sleeve?
I will discuss with special guests The Uncle Puckers.
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