July 16, 2025 • 40 mins
The 2025-26 NHL Season Schedule is finally out! We'll go over some important dates and some grievances about this schedule!
By Sam Woo and Nick Villano
http://JoinOurCrew.com
https://pucksandpitchforks.com
https://www.LetsGoDevils.com
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By Sam Woo and Nick Villano
http://JoinOurCrew.com
https://pucksandpitchforks.com
https://www.LetsGoDevils.com
RATE, REVIEW, AND SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-go-devils-podcast/id1371371669 #NJDevils #NHL #LetsGoDevils #LGD #Devils #NewJersey #NCAA #AHL
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/let-s-go-devils-podcast--2862943/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Happy Devils Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
This is a State of the Fan Address.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Episode.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I think it's three zero six Nick, with a lot
of episodes streaming live on Facebook Live, YouTube Live, x Live,
and Twitch on the Let's Go Double's network. I'm your host,
Sambo here with fuckson pitchforks dot com Editor in chief
Nick Volano. Sorry for the late start technical difficulties. I'm
(00:57):
back from my vacation Nick, after that free agent non frenzy.
But the NHL schedule has come out. We got lots
to catch up on news from last week and the
week before. Nick, how are you, my friend?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I'm mad. I'm mad about the schedule. I am. I
am flabbergasted that not only do the Devils only have
three games against the Rangers, with only one at the
Prudential Center, and that game is at three pm. The
one Rangers Deviles game at the Rock this season is
(01:39):
at three pm, they also only have three games against
the Flyers. What what? What logic is there? The two
games that are the easiest to get to, you make
happen the least amount of times of the year fans.
The fans are going to travel to Philly, fans are
(01:59):
gonna travel to to the Rangers. This is what this is.
This is this is what I'm mad at AI. I'm
mad at our our, our artificial intelligence overlords for ruining
this hockey schedule. This is like so like I'm I
(02:22):
am at a loss for words for how terrible it is.
Like it's almost like, did you ever have something where
where you know, you worked in corporate America you sent
a project out or you sent you know, an assignment
or whatever you want to call it out, and you're like,
all right, I would like my boss to put a
second set of eyes on this. It's like, Okay, you
(02:45):
checked it. It's like yeah, yeaheah, And you know they
didn't check it. They just sent it up the chain
and then there was a mistake in it and you
fall on your sword and you're like, oh, it's like,
well Sam did it. That's why I feel like there's
a person here who was supposed to check the work
of the Ai'm like, no, no, just send it, and
they hit sent on it and we have three Rangers
(03:05):
games with one of a three pm start for the Devils.
Like I feel bad, mostly honestly for the season ticket holders,
because you're paying the same price for all these games.
Think you're gonna get two Rangers games, you know, and
I don't even get mad at people sell the games
because you can make a third of your seasons one
of those two Rangers games. But now you're not gonna
(03:25):
make that money, right, and a lot of people already
locked into their tickets. Also, we can get an extra
Columbus Blue Jackets game. Also you get another you know, truly,
it's so you can get you know, you can get
another game against the Detroit Red Wings of the Montreal Canadians.
That truly you're doing it. They took two games from
(03:45):
the the the Metro, so you can hand you know,
those extra games to have extra games against the Atlantic
And I don't care. I like, you know, I like
playing Florida and Boston and Montreal is so you know
in Toronto is those benchmark games. But not not to
sacrifice the Rangers game or even like I know the
(04:08):
Flyers are gonna sink this year, I still want to
play the Flyers. I want to beat the Flyers.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Who doesn't I'm mad too. I'm trying to look for
solutions to this problem. And number one, that's.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
All you gotta do. Come on, Gary, oh is this there,
taking victory lapse over the terrible decentralized draft that you're
signed on for. Again and check the work of your
schedule makers, which is just an AI bot.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Tell you truth. This is all about costs. It's quite obvious,
you know again, this is what AI is thinking, what
the schedule should be. You got three games against the
New York Rangers. No logic to it. They're gonna go
to an eighty four game schedule very soon. Are they
(05:02):
gonna fit those games in that eighty four game schedule?
And you're gonna hold the next what couple seasons hostage
with this eighty two game schedule. There is no logic
in it. Nick. The only thing I can think of is,
let's make the games at Massive Square, guard in a
(05:25):
Devil's Home game and go into enemy territory.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I know, but you gotta pay like two to sit
in the nosebleets there.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Well, I guess we can't be cheap. Then we're gonna
have to figure it out. We're gonna have to figure
it out. Nick.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Maybe I'll just apply for a media pass and just
sit in the seats. Probably get in trouble for that, but.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
You know what, you gotta do what you gotta do.
You gotta do what you gotta do.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So here here's where I'm at, all right, I I
this is the last let's in the rangesting because I'm
really mad about it. But the NHL continues the show.
It's incompetence. These are little things that matter, huge rivalry games.
They're big like And here's the thing, Sam, I don't
(06:18):
think we're gonna hear Donald Grecor's voice, the former Rangers
voice who's now the Devil's voice, probably won't get to
call these games because the national tele televised are probably
gonna take all three. Maybe not, maybe it'll be a
little negative, but I would imagine that Donald Grecor's beautiful
(06:39):
voice is not gonna be on any of these games.
I think that between ESPN and T and T, well, huh,
guy didn't get the other part. Do you know why
that might not be true? Sam? Why is that because
all three of these games are in the same fricking month.
They put them all in and not not even are
(07:00):
the in the same freaking month, They're in the last
full month of the season. How how stupid is this league?
If one of these teams is out of the race,
you basically just you took one of your most profitable matchups.
(07:23):
I have to imagine outside of Canada, Devil's Rangers tickets
as far as just the general regular season game are
some of the most expensive the league. I have to
just seeing how much they go for just a regular
season game, like you know, take out, like you know
(07:44):
the Like I said, outside of Canada, outside of Toronto,
especially Devil's Rangers has to be one of the most
profitable regular season games on the schedule, and you put
them all in March, Sam, like we we have to
wait with nine months to see a Devil's Rangers game. No,
(08:12):
eight months. But still, this is psychotic. It's psychotic. It's
truly psychotic. It's insane. It's I have no understanding how
stupid this league is. And I'll probably like Sam, I'm
probably gonna get an email, probably gonna get an email.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Well I'll go, I'll further the stupidity, all right, And
I hate to break it to the NHL. They did
some good things last season, but at the end of
the day, you know, maybe this doesn't is not worth
as much, do you Nick? But the season opener is
(08:55):
on the same day as Giants Eagles at Metal Life. Yeah,
you know it's like, could you could you make it
like a Friday or a Wednesday? But I had to
be on that day.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So now that just presents Yeah, why are you opening
like just skip Sunday for openers? Like what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
So again, the season should open for every Like the
first game should be a Wednesday. You should have one game,
maybe two maybe if you want, like a night game
instant like Sam, they start the season at five o'clock
they're raising the banner at five pm in Florida. And
that isn't the matchup against something insane? Isn't it Chicago
(09:42):
or something? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I believe it's against the is it the Blackhawks? I
think it is the Blackhawks?
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Though, Yeah, you couldn't make a Toronto. You couldn't make
a Boston. You couldn't make it. Like there's certain things
you just have to do with a human brain.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That would have been great if they did it against Edmonton, right.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Like there's a like there's literally fifteen matchups. I'd be like, great,
do Tampa have a rivalry game off the top? Do
if you do Boston? You know Boston has to watch
Brad marshand get his ring and lift the banner right
in front of them, you know, like they like you said, Edmonton,
(10:25):
there's Dallas. You know, there's so many much, much much
better matchups in Chicago. What are you doing? And then
they leave it so that the nightcap can be the
Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers, two teams that
missed the playoffs last year. The Penguins have Crosby and
that's it. They're selling And I don't, truly, I don't
(10:48):
remember what the night game is because I just couldn't
get I don't understand what the NHL is doing. And
then I, you know, I do you want to talk
about October? Devils have a scary October. They start off
with three games on the road, their first games against Carolina,
(11:10):
then they go to Tampa, then they go to Columbus,
who probably is going to start this season off confident
that you come home for Florida, You're you're opening game October?
Was it the sixteenth? October sixteenth? This first game of
the Rockets against the Florida Panthers and then you play Edmonton.
Get your first two home games are against the two
(11:33):
teams in the Stanley Cup. Last year two of the
best teams in the league by far, and then I
think you play Minnesota. I think I think that's it.
This dip could be Owen six. I think they should
be Columbus. Honestly, they they should come out of it
(11:56):
three and three. Realistically, they should come out of it
three and three. That you should be someone happy with that.
But that's like if you're starting off like if Sheldon
Keith squad starts off one and five one five and oh,
I don't know what you're gonna do. Are you gonna
(12:17):
hit the panic button? I look. I wrote about this
today on pucksinpitchforks dot com. Theoretically three and eight to
start the season kind not. It's not just on the table.
It's almost like fifty to fifty that's what you start.
And I don't say that because the Devils aren't a
(12:38):
good team even at a three and eighth start. I
think they make the playoffs because you gotta think, like
cause again they got they got back to back matchups
with the Avalanche as well later in the month, so
you know, the the month doesn't get much easier. My
worry with the Devils is that if you start off slow,
(13:02):
and you're in the second half of the month and
you have two games against the Sharks. But if you're
playing bad hockey, or if you're not confident in yourself
in this team, you might blow one of those Sharks games.
You saw what happened last year. They blew a Sharks game.
If you're two and nine coming out of October, you
(13:23):
might see a panic button hit. And here's the thing, Sam,
when I look at this roster, this isn't like a
Cup contender like they wanted to be. I like the
moves that they made, but they're none of those moves
added even one win to their margin. Now. Jack Hughes
(13:48):
being healthy adds like five wins. Jacob Markstrom staying healthy
probably adds a couple wins, the defense staying intact, Luke
Hughes taking a step up, Simone Nemets being much better
than he was last year, and starting the season healthy.
Like all these things, if they work out, makes this
(14:09):
a really good team. But you're asking a lot. And
when your schedule starts that way, like, you gotta remember, Sam,
Like I need to take you back to October of
last year. This team started without Luke Hughes, without Brett
Peshi and an injured Somon Nemetz trying to make things work.
(14:32):
They had Seamus Casey as a rookie in the lineup,
just knowing that the best thing you can do is
to score goals. Like the defense was in shambles. Yeah,
Dougie Hamilton coming off a major pictoral injury and he
was healthy at the end of last season, so he
had plenty of time to have a full workout. So
(14:54):
that's our excuse. But again you gotta remember, like those
offseason injuries, the Devils have a lot of them. Jack
Hughes could face a step back and miss the start
of the season. We know Johnny Kovi Savitch isn't gonna
start the season. We know that. You know, Brett Peshi
had surgery, Jesper Bratt had surgery, Luke Hughes head surgery,
(15:16):
like all these things, they could all face setbacks. And
that's not including like lou Somemone. Nemet's got hurt in
an Olympic qualifier. Like all those things are happening. I
think the Olympic qualifiers over. But you know, players can
get hurt in the preseason. So when a lot can happen,
a lot of guys are coming off injuries and surgeries
and and I'm not talking about Brendan Dillon, who I
(15:36):
have no idea what to expect that of him after
the injury that he suffered in the playoffs. So having
that schedule at the time that they do is truly
a scary proposition. A scary proposition, it is. But at
(16:02):
the end of the day, I still think they'd make
the play even if they started one and nine. But
this is that.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
But here's where I'm going to counter. I don't disagree
with you, though, I'm just playing devil's advocate here. No
pun intend is last season. I truly believe that if
they didn't get to that hot start in October, November
and December m they I don't think they would have
(16:31):
made the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Probably not. And it's mostly December, right, December is when
they were really good. October they were, right, I think
they were like mid.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
November to December twenty seventh. That's what we we pinpointed at.
But you know, they had a decent start, I mean,
you know, and they were there, you know, like you
said they were. They had some guys out, but they
figured it out. Yeah, once Luke and Peshi came back.
They were they were really good. So you know again,
(17:04):
you know, it has not been a very sexy free
agent frenzy. Are there going to be other moves remains
to be seen. There's tremendous amount of rumors going around.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I'll say this, Sam Oh, go ahead, finish your point.
Then I'll make a point.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I think it all boils down to I forgot it's
a for guy's name for whatever reason. The new assistant
coach that they brought in. Wow, yeah, from the Flyers.
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
It's just a shot.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Ye. If their defense is air tight and their goaltending
was stellar like it was last season, I think the
month of October they can they can get out of
it five hundred.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, And I think that's and again nobody wants to
hear that, but I think that should be considered not
a win, but like satisfying. Yeah, like you got out
of five hundred, because then you don't have Colorado for
the rest of the season. Then you don't have you know,
you've gotten one of your Edmonton's out of the way,
you got one of your Florida's out of the way,
(18:17):
you got one of your you know your Minnesota's out
of the way. You know, you got some of these
really good Western Conference teams off the schedule.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
But it's also a good way to build your confidence,
say you know, because what you're saying is correct, just
based on what happened this offseason and last last year.
Sometimes these teams are sleeping in October and November, these
elite teams, and maybe you can catch some some easy
points that way because they're still sleepwalking. You know, some
(18:47):
teams don't turn it on till like January for whatever reason.
So Florida's usually one of those teams.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Yeah, yeah, and also probably you know, they might not
have the legs after all the three Stanley Cup runs
in the row.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I think they're a playoff team easily, but you know,
you gotta you gotta look at all I might.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I'll have to talk to missus Woo about it. We
just came back from vacation. But I'm thinking, hey, instead
of going to that Giants Eagles game, let's go to
Devil's Carolina home opener. Well though it would be expensive
because it's home opener right season opener down in Carolina,
and then drive from Raleigh down to Tampa it's a
(19:33):
Saturday game. We can hang out at Omili Arena again.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Do you love that Tampa trip? I do? I do?
I love I understand, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
But I'm not motivated to drive to Columbus. That's a
kind of a long trip. I mean I passed by
I passed by oh I don't know, but I passed
by Columbus. I wouldn't know. But you know, going to
the biggest championship game. I went through Columbus and I'm like,
(20:08):
there's nothing special about this dump. I mean, there's only
Ohio State that's there. It's not from the Blue Jackets.
But you know, again, you know, I tended to go
to the first two games and make a road trip
out of it. Take the podcast on the road, shooting
from the hip.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Right now, I feel like I drive too much as
it is. Let's just too I'm a flyer now, the
not the Philadelphia one.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
But let me let me give you a little secret.
I tell you a little secret. Get Clear. It's the
most amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, yeah, I have I have pre checked because it
comes with my credit card.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So yeah, but you got to get clear though. That's
where it makes it even better. You literally cut the
line it's the best thing ever.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You know. One thing I want to say is I
think that you know, we've been hearing all these insiders say,
gonna have a ton of trades, Gotta have a ton
of trades, Give me so many trades, and we've seen
really no trades. Like people were up in arms that
Chase Stillman got traded for Arthur Sioff and Arthur ziov
(21:23):
had like an eight to sixty say percent last year.
But people were talking themselves into it, like, oh yeah,
this is a great He's gonna be great. We got
trade for Chase Stillman. Guys, the fourth round pick, Chase
them in is terrible. Chase them in if I'd be
surprised to play ten NHL.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Games, And that's on, that's.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
On fitz terrible. That might be his worst decision. I
think that's his worst decision. The Devils should have had
Logan stan Covien. This isn't just like a revisionist history thing.
We were all calling for fitz Gerald to draft Logan
stan Covin when they had that twenty ninth overall pick.
I want to go back to the video our draft
(22:08):
that night. We're gonna what we're gonna have what we
were saying, because I remember I was pissed. Sorry, I
was mad. I was livid that he drafted Stillman and
I we you know, I was like, this is this
is a disgrace. He took a fourth round pick in
(22:30):
the first round. It was terrible, and with stan Covin
there and again I thought stan covid like people were
mocking stan Covin early in the second round, but everybody
said he was a first round talent. They just talked
to scouts. They said, no, he's gonna go in the
second round. Hey, no, you have go ahead, you have
(22:52):
you have this extra pick, and he's a talent. Take
the talent. And now he's on Carolina because you're because
she just made a stupid decision. I I I defend
Fitzgerald a lot because I think he's I think at
his best day, he's a top ten GM. I don't
think he's Ziito. I don't think he's Nail. I don't
(23:12):
think he's the Kriman. I don't think he's any of
those guys. And I don't think he's close, particularly because
I think he's too loyal. I think he he I
think he's overconfident in a way one thing I'll say
is he he he writes off his mistakes and tries
(23:33):
to get something for them. You know, he got he
got Paul Cotter for for Holtz, he got he got
uh John Marino for Ty Smith, he got Cody Glass
for I mean, there was a lot in that Cody
then that Cody Glass and Chase domitred, but you know
(23:54):
that was the top prospect. I think Max Graham was
in it. Again, Neither of those guys I think are
of me anything. Yeah, so I I commend him for
actually knowing when to call it a loss. But it's
a big loss. But anyway, but the point I was
trying to make Sam is that I think there is
(24:19):
some actual fire to this smoke. And here's the thing.
Gms don't want to work in August. They don't want
to work in August. Fitzgerald has probably been home, you know,
in his office this entire time, with no time off
because he's trying to get the Lacus deal, Dons. He's
calling all these gms, he's making all these moves. I
(24:44):
had a lot of people telling me like look out
for Dawson, Mercer's getting moved and there's there's nothing on
that front. I had people tell me, you know, we've
seen all the Rumorsbou Dougie Hamill in Talkie Hamilton was
all over the social media video. Yeah, the schedule video.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I was like, wow, hopefully that age is well. That's
the first thing.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I can't see them trading him. I can't see them
trading right now. It's just the timing is not right
with COVID savitch out. I don't think you don't want
to put yourself a position where because they don't really
have a depth on defense this year. You know, they lost,
they lost Ataka, they lost miss Yole, they lost they
(25:32):
lost a couple of young guys that that could step up.
You know. Obviously Jumelin signed in.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Well except for Doma, but all the other guys didn't
mount anything last season.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Taka got hurt. That wasn't you know.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I know, but he didn't mount to anything. That's the
point I'm trying to make.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I know, But he's he's an NHL defenseman. If he
asked me, he just got hurt. I think that that happens.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
But sorry, I been I've been waiting to tell you this.
Did you look at the back to back games? Because
Max put put it in the Division Metro Division back
to back games.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Just who he has the least the Rangers.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Look at the Flyers fourteen, I know it's one. Fifteen, Yeah, fifteen.
Pittsburgh and Washington have sixteen. Yeah, the BJS have fifteen.
But why is it the Rangers always have the least amount,
Just like in the ninety four.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
They have a ridiculously low amount. They're like nine, No,
they have thirteen, the Rangers. But year we had sixteen
and they had nine and that was ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Well, but yeah, it's always because ninety three ninety four season,
the Devil's had seventeen back to backs. The Rangers only
had eight.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
It was rigged.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I tell you.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
And the Devils great year by the way, you know seven.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I'm gonna write about this, damn and before we go,
I have to talk about Jack Hughes. But I'm gonna
write about it. And I've talked about this so many times,
but it just bears repeating because they don't listen to me.
Keep Nico Dawes as your third goalie on the NHL
roster because on these back to backs you play him
(27:21):
as the backup. So if you have to pull your starter.
You don't pull tomorrow's starter. It is like the easiest
movie can make. I get that they want to do this.
Caps are convention and all these you know, crazy movements.
(27:42):
Don't lose DAWs for nothing by putting him on waivers.
Let him, you know, he's gonna make his NHL salary
whether he's on the NHL team or the HL team
this year anyway, So let him be on the NHL team,
let them travel with the team, Let him be an
NHL player. Let him, you know, if someone gets hurt
(28:03):
into him right and he's ready to go, and then
you can play him as the backup on the back.
The back gets his dress sixteen times or thirty two
times this year. It's great, it's great, and it's just simple.
But Sam, before we go, well, we talked a lot
(28:26):
about the schedule, kick, can we talk about this this
fan base turning on Jack Hughes. They are, yeah, we
got we got terrible articles being written about the Devil's
will be better off trading Jack Hughes.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Sounds like click to me.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
But these people think this like there's a contingent of
this fan base that is so on the edges. I
almost think, Sam, that They root for them to lose
just so they could be right. They'd rather be right
than their team win. Like I truly think that because
they manifested, they do everything they can to talk themselves
(29:10):
into this team being terrible. And you know, the last
year they were slightly above average. But if you ask
these people, no, this worst team, worst general manager, the
fire Fitzgerald and everybody's terrible. Like we need to calm down.
These are the people that you know, if you're not
(29:31):
in the Stanley Cup Finals, you're the worst team in
the world. I have to just remind people that we
are lucky to have Jack Hughes on this team. He
is the most talented player that's ever played for this franchise.
I'm including defense and goalie. He's the most talented player,
(29:55):
barely etching out Scott Niedermeyer, Mark Tamborder, most talented player
that's ever played for this franchise. He has signed a
long term, he has bought into the franchise. He is
everything that we've been searching for from an offensive superstar,
except he gets hurt. I get it. It's frustrating. It
(30:16):
is frustrating to have your start continuing continuing to get hurt.
He's played two full seasons in his career in his
seven year career. I get that that's frustrating. The last
two injuries were kind of fluky. They just happened to
(30:37):
go on the same body part. You know. There's the
the Jack eiceal trip that didn't get called somehow that
sent them to the boards. And then there was the
part where he just kind of slipped landed on his
shoulder that was less fluky. He had to be better
about that. But you need superman Jack Hughes this year,
(31:05):
like he has to hit. I want one hundred and
twenty point Jack Hughes. He just needs to shut people up.
Like they said that Tim Stutzell Stutzel of the Ottawa Senators,
the NHL said that Tim Sutzel is a better under
twenty five player and Jack Hughes. I need Jack Hughes
to shut these people up. I need to shut the
(31:27):
fan base up that says that they should trade him,
Like for what what could you possibly trade Jack Hughes
for that that makes you better? Can you think of
anything like that's like realistic? Like would you trade Jack
Hughes for Sidney Crosby right now? Absolutely not would you
(31:50):
trade him for Like it was on the table a
couple of years ago that you could have traded Jack
Hughes for Jack Heikel. Would you have done that?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
I this guy has top three player in the league. Ceiling.
It doesn't come ever. Teams don't get that very often,
you know. And and we see what like like look
at Connor Berdard, Like we thought Badar was gonna be
that guy. And he's had a slow start, just like
Hughes has. But there's no end in sight for Badard.
(32:25):
Like Jack Hughes, that second year there was like it
really started to gel and he's one of He is
the best puckandler in the world. Nobody handles the puck
like Jack Hughes. I will put that up against anybody.
And he's very fast, he's incredibly skilled. He's he's a
(32:47):
top ten player when healthy. He's a top five player
right now when he hits a ceiling, when he's like that,
when he plays like he did in twenty two twenty three,
he's a top five player in the league.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Just remember one thing what I saw because I went
to that Four Nations tournament. I felt that that finals game,
you know, Jack Hughes didn't score, but when he came back,
he was a different type of Jack Hughes. Upon unfortunately
he got hurt, he learned how to kick him up
(33:26):
a couple levels. Yeah, and that experience from that Four
Nations tournament, I think is going to benefit the New
Jersey Devils. It's just unfortunately we got a small sample
size when when you know, when the play resumed and
all that nick he was, he seemed like he was like,
you know, three strides ahead of everybody because that that
(33:49):
tournament was so fast. I can't tell you that's so skilled,
so tough, but he got to be a part of it.
And and I think, you know, again, hopefully recovers from
his injury. Hopefully he's been lifting some weights and you know,
hopefully he's gonna be healthy. I want to healthy Jackues.
I want to eighty two game Jackues, and I want
(34:11):
to productive Jack Cues. That's my expectations for him. I
don't know why these fans want to trade him, because
if you're gonna trade him, you might as well trade.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Luke as well, Like, why would you want to do that?
Doesn't make sense, It's not good. Listen, the Vancouver fans
are gonna start having meat sweats over that possible. Yes,
let's not even talk about that. Like, like, guys, let
the guy like just be happy that you have the
Hughes brothers here.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Plus you got him at eight million right now and
some of these contracts are given out and then the
new CBA. I mean, he's gonna be making a lot more.
He could have made a lot more, but he you
know again, I think he understands the vision in New Jersey.
You know, unfortunately with the injuries, but all even at
(34:58):
that that, let let the naysayers talk. Jack Hughes is
gonna be just fun. Just just no more turnovers, Jack,
That's all I ask.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
His style play. There's gonna be turnovers, He's I I
one last thing I'll say, excuse me. I I think
this team had a lot of trouble providing offense in
the Keith system, and I don't think that's a product
(35:33):
of Keith system. I think Keith system is really hard,
it's really it's really it's demanding. I think now that
they're used to that system and playing another training camp
under that system, I I think Sheldon Keith's coaching is
gonna shine this year. I think that you're going to
(35:55):
see a really good offensive season from Luke Hues as
long as he's healthy, as long as it's like this
contract negotiations going well, But you're gonna see a really
good uh season on Jack Hughes now that he again
one thing like you before that four Nation's face off,
he was played so well defensively. Jack Hughes was the
(36:17):
best penalty kill in the league. I don't remember if
they ended up getting on towards the end of season,
but at one point he had like he was on
the ice for like two or three shorthanded goals and
none against. He was on the ice for zero power
play goals against. You know, so he was. He was
playing so incredibly well on the on the penalty kill,
(36:40):
he was, he was doing so much well. This player
is a gem. So happy he's here. Yeah, let's all,
let's all just celebrate Jack Hughes. Nothing else.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Let's celebrate pucks and pitchforks dot com, what do you
have to plug?
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Yeah, we got. I wrote about the Rangers schedule quirk.
I wrote about the October schedule. I wrote, Sam I
finally did it. I wrote about the role that ruined
the Devil's chances to get Wayne Gretzky. That is up
on pucks at pitchworks dot com. I'm going now, I'm
(37:21):
going to read that because interesting because.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
In the you know, but without reading, and I'll just
say this since I have nothing to plug, is that
the Devil's had a real chance in the in the
mid nineties towards the late nineties when he was a
free agent to grab the headlines from the Rangers and
(37:47):
you had a team that was budding, you know, a
Stanley Cup contender.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Was when I left Saint Louis. Saint Louis, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
You could. You could have sold out the Metal Lands
every night if he was there. It could have rebranded
the Devils a little bit. But you know, it would
have buried the whole Mickey Mouse comment. It would have
it just because even to this day, I still haven't
forgiven them with that Mickey Mouse comment, even though Deniko
(38:20):
we've had him on saying, you guys, get to forget
about it, like no, because That's what I'm holding on
to us against the world.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Including Wayne Gretzky. You know, do you know what the
irony of all this is? In that same draft, the
Devils probably should have taken Mark Messier. That's interesting, but
he had a rough season in the WHA and he
(38:49):
fell to the third round. The talent was there, but yeah, yeah,
stories of pucks, pitchforks, there's a lot of a lot
of webs went over, the rule went over, kind of
what happened and how we ended up on Edmonton and
how most importantly, why the NHL allowed him to stay
(39:14):
on Edmonton. That's the interesting part because they Yeah, that's
the interesting part. Go to Buckspittricks dot com. Check that
story out. And we have a million things on Luke
Hu'es coming up. We have a million things that Dougie
Hamilton coming up. We have a million things on Dawston Mercer.
We're gonna talk. Oh and it's what if week at
(39:36):
fan Sided, so there's gonna be I'm gonna do three
more what if articles before Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
What if we were Ranger fans man.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Might be even sadder.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Yeah, I know, I I'd probably I'd be a big loser.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Writing about trying to talk myself to Alexis Lafroner.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Yeah, yeah, we remember ninety four, you know, Mark Messier,
best captain ever. One last thing, Happy birthday to Ted
his birthdays tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Happy birthday, Ted, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Happy birthday Ted. Alrighty getting out of here. Go to
bucksopitchforks dot com, dropping the podcast at midnight. Till next time.
Let's go Devils,
Happy Devils Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
This is a State of the Fan Address.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Episode.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I think it's three zero six Nick, with a lot
of episodes streaming live on Facebook Live, YouTube Live, x Live,
and Twitch on the Let's Go Double's network. I'm your host,
Sambo here with fuckson pitchforks dot com Editor in chief
Nick Volano. Sorry for the late start technical difficulties. I'm
(00:57):
back from my vacation Nick, after that free agent non frenzy.
But the NHL schedule has come out. We got lots
to catch up on news from last week and the
week before. Nick, how are you, my friend?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I'm mad. I'm mad about the schedule. I am. I
am flabbergasted that not only do the Devils only have
three games against the Rangers, with only one at the
Prudential Center, and that game is at three pm. The
one Rangers Deviles game at the Rock this season is
(01:39):
at three pm, they also only have three games against
the Flyers. What what? What logic is there? The two
games that are the easiest to get to, you make
happen the least amount of times of the year fans.
The fans are going to travel to Philly, fans are
(01:59):
gonna travel to to the Rangers. This is what this is.
This is this is what I'm mad at AI. I'm
mad at our our, our artificial intelligence overlords for ruining
this hockey schedule. This is like so like I'm I
(02:22):
am at a loss for words for how terrible it is.
Like it's almost like, did you ever have something where
where you know, you worked in corporate America you sent
a project out or you sent you know, an assignment
or whatever you want to call it out, and you're like,
all right, I would like my boss to put a
second set of eyes on this. It's like, Okay, you
(02:45):
checked it. It's like yeah, yeaheah, And you know they
didn't check it. They just sent it up the chain
and then there was a mistake in it and you
fall on your sword and you're like, oh, it's like,
well Sam did it. That's why I feel like there's
a person here who was supposed to check the work
of the Ai'm like, no, no, just send it, and
they hit sent on it and we have three Rangers
(03:05):
games with one of a three pm start for the Devils.
Like I feel bad, mostly honestly for the season ticket holders,
because you're paying the same price for all these games.
Think you're gonna get two Rangers games, you know, and
I don't even get mad at people sell the games
because you can make a third of your seasons one
of those two Rangers games. But now you're not gonna
(03:25):
make that money, right, and a lot of people already
locked into their tickets. Also, we can get an extra
Columbus Blue Jackets game. Also you get another you know, truly,
it's so you can get you know, you can get
another game against the Detroit Red Wings of the Montreal Canadians.
That truly you're doing it. They took two games from
(03:45):
the the the Metro, so you can hand you know,
those extra games to have extra games against the Atlantic
And I don't care. I like, you know, I like
playing Florida and Boston and Montreal is so you know
in Toronto is those benchmark games. But not not to
sacrifice the Rangers game or even like I know the
(04:08):
Flyers are gonna sink this year, I still want to
play the Flyers. I want to beat the Flyers.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Who doesn't I'm mad too. I'm trying to look for
solutions to this problem. And number one, that's.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
All you gotta do. Come on, Gary, oh is this there,
taking victory lapse over the terrible decentralized draft that you're
signed on for. Again and check the work of your
schedule makers, which is just an AI bot.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Tell you truth. This is all about costs. It's quite obvious,
you know again, this is what AI is thinking, what
the schedule should be. You got three games against the
New York Rangers. No logic to it. They're gonna go
to an eighty four game schedule very soon. Are they
(05:02):
gonna fit those games in that eighty four game schedule?
And you're gonna hold the next what couple seasons hostage
with this eighty two game schedule. There is no logic
in it. Nick. The only thing I can think of is,
let's make the games at Massive Square, guard in a
(05:25):
Devil's Home game and go into enemy territory.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I know, but you gotta pay like two to sit
in the nosebleets there.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Well, I guess we can't be cheap. Then we're gonna
have to figure it out. We're gonna have to figure
it out. Nick.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Maybe I'll just apply for a media pass and just
sit in the seats. Probably get in trouble for that, but.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
You know what, you gotta do what you gotta do.
You gotta do what you gotta do.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So here here's where I'm at, all right, I I
this is the last let's in the rangesting because I'm
really mad about it. But the NHL continues the show.
It's incompetence. These are little things that matter, huge rivalry games.
They're big like And here's the thing, Sam, I don't
(06:18):
think we're gonna hear Donald Grecor's voice, the former Rangers
voice who's now the Devil's voice, probably won't get to
call these games because the national tele televised are probably
gonna take all three. Maybe not, maybe it'll be a
little negative, but I would imagine that Donald Grecor's beautiful
(06:39):
voice is not gonna be on any of these games.
I think that between ESPN and T and T, well, huh,
guy didn't get the other part. Do you know why
that might not be true? Sam? Why is that because
all three of these games are in the same fricking month.
They put them all in and not not even are
(07:00):
the in the same freaking month, They're in the last
full month of the season. How how stupid is this league?
If one of these teams is out of the race,
you basically just you took one of your most profitable matchups.
(07:23):
I have to imagine outside of Canada, Devil's Rangers tickets
as far as just the general regular season game are
some of the most expensive the league. I have to
just seeing how much they go for just a regular
season game, like you know, take out, like you know
(07:44):
the Like I said, outside of Canada, outside of Toronto,
especially Devil's Rangers has to be one of the most
profitable regular season games on the schedule, and you put
them all in March, Sam, like we we have to
wait with nine months to see a Devil's Rangers game. No,
(08:12):
eight months. But still, this is psychotic. It's psychotic. It's
truly psychotic. It's insane. It's I have no understanding how
stupid this league is. And I'll probably like Sam, I'm
probably gonna get an email, probably gonna get an email.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Well I'll go, I'll further the stupidity, all right, And
I hate to break it to the NHL. They did
some good things last season, but at the end of
the day, you know, maybe this doesn't is not worth
as much, do you Nick? But the season opener is
(08:55):
on the same day as Giants Eagles at Metal Life. Yeah,
you know it's like, could you could you make it
like a Friday or a Wednesday? But I had to
be on that day.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So now that just presents Yeah, why are you opening
like just skip Sunday for openers? Like what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
So again, the season should open for every Like the
first game should be a Wednesday. You should have one game,
maybe two maybe if you want, like a night game
instant like Sam, they start the season at five o'clock
they're raising the banner at five pm in Florida. And
that isn't the matchup against something insane? Isn't it Chicago
(09:42):
or something? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I believe it's against the is it the Blackhawks? I
think it is the Blackhawks?
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Though, Yeah, you couldn't make a Toronto. You couldn't make
a Boston. You couldn't make it. Like there's certain things
you just have to do with a human brain.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That would have been great if they did it against Edmonton, right.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Like there's a like there's literally fifteen matchups. I'd be like, great,
do Tampa have a rivalry game off the top? Do
if you do Boston? You know Boston has to watch
Brad marshand get his ring and lift the banner right
in front of them, you know, like they like you said, Edmonton,
(10:25):
there's Dallas. You know, there's so many much, much much
better matchups in Chicago. What are you doing? And then
they leave it so that the nightcap can be the
Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers, two teams that
missed the playoffs last year. The Penguins have Crosby and
that's it. They're selling And I don't, truly, I don't
(10:48):
remember what the night game is because I just couldn't
get I don't understand what the NHL is doing. And
then I, you know, I do you want to talk
about October? Devils have a scary October. They start off
with three games on the road, their first games against Carolina,
(11:10):
then they go to Tampa, then they go to Columbus,
who probably is going to start this season off confident
that you come home for Florida, You're you're opening game October?
Was it the sixteenth? October sixteenth? This first game of
the Rockets against the Florida Panthers and then you play Edmonton.
Get your first two home games are against the two
(11:33):
teams in the Stanley Cup. Last year two of the
best teams in the league by far, and then I
think you play Minnesota. I think I think that's it.
This dip could be Owen six. I think they should
be Columbus. Honestly, they they should come out of it
(11:56):
three and three. Realistically, they should come out of it
three and three. That you should be someone happy with that.
But that's like if you're starting off like if Sheldon
Keith squad starts off one and five one five and oh,
I don't know what you're gonna do. Are you gonna
(12:17):
hit the panic button? I look. I wrote about this
today on pucksinpitchforks dot com. Theoretically three and eight to
start the season kind not. It's not just on the table.
It's almost like fifty to fifty that's what you start.
And I don't say that because the Devils aren't a
(12:38):
good team even at a three and eighth start. I
think they make the playoffs because you gotta think, like
cause again they got they got back to back matchups
with the Avalanche as well later in the month, so
you know, the the month doesn't get much easier. My
worry with the Devils is that if you start off slow,
(13:02):
and you're in the second half of the month and
you have two games against the Sharks. But if you're
playing bad hockey, or if you're not confident in yourself
in this team, you might blow one of those Sharks games.
You saw what happened last year. They blew a Sharks game.
If you're two and nine coming out of October, you
(13:23):
might see a panic button hit. And here's the thing, Sam,
when I look at this roster, this isn't like a
Cup contender like they wanted to be. I like the
moves that they made, but they're none of those moves
added even one win to their margin. Now. Jack Hughes
(13:48):
being healthy adds like five wins. Jacob Markstrom staying healthy
probably adds a couple wins, the defense staying intact, Luke
Hughes taking a step up, Simone Nemets being much better
than he was last year, and starting the season healthy.
Like all these things, if they work out, makes this
(14:09):
a really good team. But you're asking a lot. And
when your schedule starts that way, like, you gotta remember, Sam,
Like I need to take you back to October of
last year. This team started without Luke Hughes, without Brett
Peshi and an injured Somon Nemetz trying to make things work.
(14:32):
They had Seamus Casey as a rookie in the lineup,
just knowing that the best thing you can do is
to score goals. Like the defense was in shambles. Yeah,
Dougie Hamilton coming off a major pictoral injury and he
was healthy at the end of last season, so he
had plenty of time to have a full workout. So
(14:54):
that's our excuse. But again you gotta remember, like those
offseason injuries, the Devils have a lot of them. Jack
Hughes could face a step back and miss the start
of the season. We know Johnny Kovi Savitch isn't gonna
start the season. We know that. You know, Brett Peshi
had surgery, Jesper Bratt had surgery, Luke Hughes head surgery,
(15:16):
like all these things, they could all face setbacks. And
that's not including like lou Somemone. Nemet's got hurt in
an Olympic qualifier. Like all those things are happening. I
think the Olympic qualifiers over. But you know, players can
get hurt in the preseason. So when a lot can happen,
a lot of guys are coming off injuries and surgeries
and and I'm not talking about Brendan Dillon, who I
(15:36):
have no idea what to expect that of him after
the injury that he suffered in the playoffs. So having
that schedule at the time that they do is truly
a scary proposition. A scary proposition, it is. But at
(16:02):
the end of the day, I still think they'd make
the play even if they started one and nine. But
this is that.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
But here's where I'm going to counter. I don't disagree
with you, though, I'm just playing devil's advocate here. No
pun intend is last season. I truly believe that if
they didn't get to that hot start in October, November
and December m they I don't think they would have
(16:31):
made the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Probably not. And it's mostly December, right, December is when
they were really good. October they were, right, I think
they were like mid.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
November to December twenty seventh. That's what we we pinpointed at.
But you know, they had a decent start, I mean,
you know, and they were there, you know, like you
said they were. They had some guys out, but they
figured it out. Yeah, once Luke and Peshi came back.
They were they were really good. So you know again,
(17:04):
you know, it has not been a very sexy free
agent frenzy. Are there going to be other moves remains
to be seen. There's tremendous amount of rumors going around.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I'll say this, Sam Oh, go ahead, finish your point.
Then I'll make a point.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I think it all boils down to I forgot it's
a for guy's name for whatever reason. The new assistant
coach that they brought in. Wow, yeah, from the Flyers.
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
It's just a shot.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Ye. If their defense is air tight and their goaltending
was stellar like it was last season, I think the
month of October they can they can get out of
it five hundred.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, And I think that's and again nobody wants to
hear that, but I think that should be considered not
a win, but like satisfying. Yeah, like you got out
of five hundred, because then you don't have Colorado for
the rest of the season. Then you don't have you know,
you've gotten one of your Edmonton's out of the way,
you got one of your Florida's out of the way,
(18:17):
you got one of your you know your Minnesota's out
of the way. You know, you got some of these
really good Western Conference teams off the schedule.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
But it's also a good way to build your confidence,
say you know, because what you're saying is correct, just
based on what happened this offseason and last last year.
Sometimes these teams are sleeping in October and November, these
elite teams, and maybe you can catch some some easy
points that way because they're still sleepwalking. You know, some
(18:47):
teams don't turn it on till like January for whatever reason.
So Florida's usually one of those teams.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Yeah, yeah, and also probably you know, they might not
have the legs after all the three Stanley Cup runs
in the row.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I think they're a playoff team easily, but you know,
you gotta you gotta look at all I might.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I'll have to talk to missus Woo about it. We
just came back from vacation. But I'm thinking, hey, instead
of going to that Giants Eagles game, let's go to
Devil's Carolina home opener. Well though it would be expensive
because it's home opener right season opener down in Carolina,
and then drive from Raleigh down to Tampa it's a
(19:33):
Saturday game. We can hang out at Omili Arena again.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Do you love that Tampa trip? I do? I do?
I love I understand, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
But I'm not motivated to drive to Columbus. That's a
kind of a long trip. I mean I passed by
I passed by oh I don't know, but I passed
by Columbus. I wouldn't know. But you know, going to
the biggest championship game. I went through Columbus and I'm like,
(20:08):
there's nothing special about this dump. I mean, there's only
Ohio State that's there. It's not from the Blue Jackets.
But you know, again, you know, I tended to go
to the first two games and make a road trip
out of it. Take the podcast on the road, shooting
from the hip.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Right now, I feel like I drive too much as
it is. Let's just too I'm a flyer now, the
not the Philadelphia one.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
But let me let me give you a little secret.
I tell you a little secret. Get Clear. It's the
most amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, yeah, I have I have pre checked because it
comes with my credit card.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So yeah, but you got to get clear though. That's
where it makes it even better. You literally cut the
line it's the best thing ever.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You know. One thing I want to say is I
think that you know, we've been hearing all these insiders say,
gonna have a ton of trades, Gotta have a ton
of trades, Give me so many trades, and we've seen
really no trades. Like people were up in arms that
Chase Stillman got traded for Arthur Sioff and Arthur ziov
(21:23):
had like an eight to sixty say percent last year.
But people were talking themselves into it, like, oh yeah,
this is a great He's gonna be great. We got
trade for Chase Stillman. Guys, the fourth round pick, Chase
them in is terrible. Chase them in if I'd be
surprised to play ten NHL.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Games, And that's on, that's.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
On fitz terrible. That might be his worst decision. I
think that's his worst decision. The Devils should have had
Logan stan Covien. This isn't just like a revisionist history thing.
We were all calling for fitz Gerald to draft Logan
stan Covin when they had that twenty ninth overall pick.
I want to go back to the video our draft
(22:08):
that night. We're gonna what we're gonna have what we
were saying, because I remember I was pissed. Sorry, I
was mad. I was livid that he drafted Stillman and
I we you know, I was like, this is this
is a disgrace. He took a fourth round pick in
(22:30):
the first round. It was terrible, and with stan Covin
there and again I thought stan covid like people were
mocking stan Covin early in the second round, but everybody
said he was a first round talent. They just talked
to scouts. They said, no, he's gonna go in the
second round. Hey, no, you have go ahead, you have
(22:52):
you have this extra pick, and he's a talent. Take
the talent. And now he's on Carolina because you're because
she just made a stupid decision. I I I defend
Fitzgerald a lot because I think he's I think at
his best day, he's a top ten GM. I don't
think he's Ziito. I don't think he's Nail. I don't
(23:12):
think he's the Kriman. I don't think he's any of
those guys. And I don't think he's close, particularly because
I think he's too loyal. I think he he I
think he's overconfident in a way one thing I'll say
is he he he writes off his mistakes and tries
(23:33):
to get something for them. You know, he got he
got Paul Cotter for for Holtz, he got he got
uh John Marino for Ty Smith, he got Cody Glass
for I mean, there was a lot in that Cody
then that Cody Glass and Chase domitred, but you know
(23:54):
that was the top prospect. I think Max Graham was
in it. Again, Neither of those guys I think are
of me anything. Yeah, so I I commend him for
actually knowing when to call it a loss. But it's
a big loss. But anyway, but the point I was
trying to make Sam is that I think there is
(24:19):
some actual fire to this smoke. And here's the thing.
Gms don't want to work in August. They don't want
to work in August. Fitzgerald has probably been home, you know,
in his office this entire time, with no time off
because he's trying to get the Lacus deal, Dons. He's
calling all these gms, he's making all these moves. I
(24:44):
had a lot of people telling me like look out
for Dawson, Mercer's getting moved and there's there's nothing on
that front. I had people tell me, you know, we've
seen all the Rumorsbou Dougie Hamill in Talkie Hamilton was
all over the social media video. Yeah, the schedule video.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I was like, wow, hopefully that age is well. That's
the first thing.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I can't see them trading him. I can't see them
trading right now. It's just the timing is not right
with COVID savitch out. I don't think you don't want
to put yourself a position where because they don't really
have a depth on defense this year. You know, they lost,
they lost Ataka, they lost miss Yole, they lost they
(25:32):
lost a couple of young guys that that could step up.
You know. Obviously Jumelin signed in.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Well except for Doma, but all the other guys didn't
mount anything last season.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Taka got hurt. That wasn't you know.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I know, but he didn't mount to anything. That's the
point I'm trying to make.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I know, But he's he's an NHL defenseman. If he
asked me, he just got hurt. I think that that happens.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
But sorry, I been I've been waiting to tell you this.
Did you look at the back to back games? Because
Max put put it in the Division Metro Division back
to back games.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Just who he has the least the Rangers.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Look at the Flyers fourteen, I know it's one. Fifteen, Yeah, fifteen.
Pittsburgh and Washington have sixteen. Yeah, the BJS have fifteen.
But why is it the Rangers always have the least amount,
Just like in the ninety four.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
They have a ridiculously low amount. They're like nine, No,
they have thirteen, the Rangers. But year we had sixteen
and they had nine and that was ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Well, but yeah, it's always because ninety three ninety four season,
the Devil's had seventeen back to backs. The Rangers only
had eight.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
It was rigged.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I tell you.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
And the Devils great year by the way, you know seven.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I'm gonna write about this, damn and before we go,
I have to talk about Jack Hughes. But I'm gonna
write about it. And I've talked about this so many times,
but it just bears repeating because they don't listen to me.
Keep Nico Dawes as your third goalie on the NHL
roster because on these back to backs you play him
(27:21):
as the backup. So if you have to pull your starter.
You don't pull tomorrow's starter. It is like the easiest
movie can make. I get that they want to do this.
Caps are convention and all these you know, crazy movements.
(27:42):
Don't lose DAWs for nothing by putting him on waivers.
Let him, you know, he's gonna make his NHL salary
whether he's on the NHL team or the HL team
this year anyway, So let him be on the NHL team,
let them travel with the team, Let him be an
NHL player. Let him, you know, if someone gets hurt
(28:03):
into him right and he's ready to go, and then
you can play him as the backup on the back.
The back gets his dress sixteen times or thirty two
times this year. It's great, it's great, and it's just simple.
But Sam, before we go, well, we talked a lot
(28:26):
about the schedule, kick, can we talk about this this
fan base turning on Jack Hughes. They are, yeah, we
got we got terrible articles being written about the Devil's
will be better off trading Jack Hughes.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Sounds like click to me.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
But these people think this like there's a contingent of
this fan base that is so on the edges. I
almost think, Sam, that They root for them to lose
just so they could be right. They'd rather be right
than their team win. Like I truly think that because
they manifested, they do everything they can to talk themselves
(29:10):
into this team being terrible. And you know, the last
year they were slightly above average. But if you ask
these people, no, this worst team, worst general manager, the
fire Fitzgerald and everybody's terrible. Like we need to calm down.
These are the people that you know, if you're not
(29:31):
in the Stanley Cup Finals, you're the worst team in
the world. I have to just remind people that we
are lucky to have Jack Hughes on this team. He
is the most talented player that's ever played for this franchise.
I'm including defense and goalie. He's the most talented player,
(29:55):
barely etching out Scott Niedermeyer, Mark Tamborder, most talented player
that's ever played for this franchise. He has signed a
long term, he has bought into the franchise. He is
everything that we've been searching for from an offensive superstar,
except he gets hurt. I get it. It's frustrating. It
(30:16):
is frustrating to have your start continuing continuing to get hurt.
He's played two full seasons in his career in his
seven year career. I get that that's frustrating. The last
two injuries were kind of fluky. They just happened to
(30:37):
go on the same body part. You know. There's the
the Jack eiceal trip that didn't get called somehow that
sent them to the boards. And then there was the
part where he just kind of slipped landed on his
shoulder that was less fluky. He had to be better
about that. But you need superman Jack Hughes this year,
(31:05):
like he has to hit. I want one hundred and
twenty point Jack Hughes. He just needs to shut people up.
Like they said that Tim Stutzell Stutzel of the Ottawa Senators,
the NHL said that Tim Sutzel is a better under
twenty five player and Jack Hughes. I need Jack Hughes
to shut these people up. I need to shut the
(31:27):
fan base up that says that they should trade him,
Like for what what could you possibly trade Jack Hughes
for that that makes you better? Can you think of
anything like that's like realistic? Like would you trade Jack
Hughes for Sidney Crosby right now? Absolutely not would you
(31:50):
trade him for Like it was on the table a
couple of years ago that you could have traded Jack
Hughes for Jack Heikel. Would you have done that?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
I this guy has top three player in the league. Ceiling.
It doesn't come ever. Teams don't get that very often,
you know. And and we see what like like look
at Connor Berdard, Like we thought Badar was gonna be
that guy. And he's had a slow start, just like
Hughes has. But there's no end in sight for Badard.
(32:25):
Like Jack Hughes, that second year there was like it
really started to gel and he's one of He is
the best puckandler in the world. Nobody handles the puck
like Jack Hughes. I will put that up against anybody.
And he's very fast, he's incredibly skilled. He's he's a
(32:47):
top ten player when healthy. He's a top five player
right now when he hits a ceiling, when he's like that,
when he plays like he did in twenty two twenty three,
he's a top five player in the league.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Just remember one thing what I saw because I went
to that Four Nations tournament. I felt that that finals game,
you know, Jack Hughes didn't score, but when he came back,
he was a different type of Jack Hughes. Upon unfortunately
he got hurt, he learned how to kick him up
(33:26):
a couple levels. Yeah, and that experience from that Four
Nations tournament, I think is going to benefit the New
Jersey Devils. It's just unfortunately we got a small sample
size when when you know, when the play resumed and
all that nick he was, he seemed like he was like,
you know, three strides ahead of everybody because that that
(33:49):
tournament was so fast. I can't tell you that's so skilled,
so tough, but he got to be a part of it.
And and I think, you know, again, hopefully recovers from
his injury. Hopefully he's been lifting some weights and you know,
hopefully he's gonna be healthy. I want to healthy Jackues.
I want to eighty two game Jackues, and I want
(34:11):
to productive Jack Cues. That's my expectations for him. I
don't know why these fans want to trade him, because
if you're gonna trade him, you might as well trade.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Luke as well, Like, why would you want to do that?
Doesn't make sense, It's not good. Listen, the Vancouver fans
are gonna start having meat sweats over that possible. Yes,
let's not even talk about that. Like, like, guys, let
the guy like just be happy that you have the
Hughes brothers here.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Plus you got him at eight million right now and
some of these contracts are given out and then the
new CBA. I mean, he's gonna be making a lot more.
He could have made a lot more, but he you
know again, I think he understands the vision in New Jersey.
You know, unfortunately with the injuries, but all even at
(34:58):
that that, let let the naysayers talk. Jack Hughes is
gonna be just fun. Just just no more turnovers, Jack,
That's all I ask.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
His style play. There's gonna be turnovers, He's I I
one last thing I'll say, excuse me. I I think
this team had a lot of trouble providing offense in
the Keith system, and I don't think that's a product
(35:33):
of Keith system. I think Keith system is really hard,
it's really it's really it's demanding. I think now that
they're used to that system and playing another training camp
under that system, I I think Sheldon Keith's coaching is
gonna shine this year. I think that you're going to
(35:55):
see a really good offensive season from Luke Hues as
long as he's healthy, as long as it's like this
contract negotiations going well, But you're gonna see a really
good uh season on Jack Hughes now that he again
one thing like you before that four Nation's face off,
he was played so well defensively. Jack Hughes was the
(36:17):
best penalty kill in the league. I don't remember if
they ended up getting on towards the end of season,
but at one point he had like he was on
the ice for like two or three shorthanded goals and
none against. He was on the ice for zero power
play goals against. You know, so he was. He was
playing so incredibly well on the on the penalty kill,
(36:40):
he was, he was doing so much well. This player
is a gem. So happy he's here. Yeah, let's all,
let's all just celebrate Jack Hughes. Nothing else.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Let's celebrate pucks and pitchforks dot com, what do you
have to plug?
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Yeah, we got. I wrote about the Rangers schedule quirk.
I wrote about the October schedule. I wrote, Sam I
finally did it. I wrote about the role that ruined
the Devil's chances to get Wayne Gretzky. That is up
on pucks at pitchworks dot com. I'm going now, I'm
(37:21):
going to read that because interesting because.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
In the you know, but without reading, and I'll just
say this since I have nothing to plug, is that
the Devil's had a real chance in the in the
mid nineties towards the late nineties when he was a
free agent to grab the headlines from the Rangers and
(37:47):
you had a team that was budding, you know, a
Stanley Cup contender.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Was when I left Saint Louis. Saint Louis, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
You could. You could have sold out the Metal Lands
every night if he was there. It could have rebranded
the Devils a little bit. But you know, it would
have buried the whole Mickey Mouse comment. It would have
it just because even to this day, I still haven't
forgiven them with that Mickey Mouse comment, even though Deniko
(38:20):
we've had him on saying, you guys, get to forget
about it, like no, because That's what I'm holding on
to us against the world.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Including Wayne Gretzky. You know, do you know what the
irony of all this is? In that same draft, the
Devils probably should have taken Mark Messier. That's interesting, but
he had a rough season in the WHA and he
(38:49):
fell to the third round. The talent was there, but yeah, yeah,
stories of pucks, pitchforks, there's a lot of a lot
of webs went over, the rule went over, kind of
what happened and how we ended up on Edmonton and
how most importantly, why the NHL allowed him to stay
(39:14):
on Edmonton. That's the interesting part because they Yeah, that's
the interesting part. Go to Buckspittricks dot com. Check that
story out. And we have a million things on Luke
Hu'es coming up. We have a million things that Dougie
Hamilton coming up. We have a million things on Dawston Mercer.
We're gonna talk. Oh and it's what if week at
(39:36):
fan Sided, so there's gonna be I'm gonna do three
more what if articles before Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
What if we were Ranger fans man.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Might be even sadder.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Yeah, I know, I I'd probably I'd be a big loser.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Writing about trying to talk myself to Alexis Lafroner.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Yeah, yeah, we remember ninety four, you know, Mark Messier,
best captain ever. One last thing, Happy birthday to Ted
his birthdays tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Happy birthday, Ted, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Happy birthday Ted. Alrighty getting out of here. Go to
bucksopitchforks dot com, dropping the podcast at midnight. Till next time.
Let's go Devils,
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