Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:23):
Happy Devils Wednesday. This is the State of the Fan Address,
episode three ten titled Tough Them Up, Yeah, Tough Them Up?
Yeah Baby. Hello Max and the YouTube live as are
streaming on multiple platforms, YouTube Live, x LI, which Facebook
(00:49):
Live on the Let's Go Devil's Network. I'm your host,
Sam wooh here with Nick Bellano pucksipitchworks dot Com. As
a summer roll continues. I know I'm going on a
mini mini vacation. I know Nick's going somewhere. College football
(01:15):
is upon us, NFL football is upon us.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
College hasn't storry yet though, right, No, No, it's about to.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I was just getting ready for my Penn State Nitney Lions,
who are ranked number two in the country, two in
the country. AI has picked Penn State to win the
national championship. This could be my year, finally, Nick, finally
my dreams of a national title.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I have nothing nice about Penn State to say, so
I'm happy that you're happy.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Okay, I will say the same thing about West Virginia,
but I say good luck to you in West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Listen, we'll see there's the start of the rich Rout
experience has been middling. We'll say there's talent on this team,
but it's you know, the Big twelve is a weird
place too.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Oh, by the way, Steve Engele, he's listening in right now.
Send me an email Steve Engel at Sam at Let's
Go Devils dot com. Again, Sam at Let's Go Devils
dot com. I need to talk to you about some
postal questions. So send me an email Steve Sam at com.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Is there a Nick at Let's Go Doubles dot com?
Because that that email inbox is full? I would check that. Well.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
It cost seven ninety nine per mailbox if you.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Want one to know them to rip off. Yeah, all right.
So there's two big topics I want to talk about
and they're just been part of the conversation. And this
is this is very much. We've had the most boring
offseason just across hockey with nothing to talk about to
(03:10):
let's manufacture some topics. Okay, and that's fine. The first
and just to tease the two topics, The first one
is going to be where does the Devil's defense rank?
Where's it deserved rank? And with that ranking, should that be?
Should that have us looking at Tom Fitzgerald differently? The
(03:34):
second one is did the Devils make the right decision
moving to Nork. And this is based off an article
I wrote and I want to get into that later
in the podcast. There's three distinct choices for where in
New Jersey the Devils could could have put their arena,
and they ended up with Nork after selling the team.
(03:54):
It was it was, you know, kind of a Bengo
Bango kind of situation. Sam, you remember probably prom but
how that all came about back in the two thousands.
But I want to get to that later. I do
want to talk about the defense first. So there was
an argument this week because Travis Yost of TSN put
(04:15):
out his defense rankings for twenty twenty five twenty six.
There were only two teams that were in a tier
worse than the Devils, and that's the Anaheim Ducks and
the San Jose Sharks thirty. You know, the Devils were
in a tier with basically some lottery teams. Like let
(04:39):
me just pull it up just because I don't want
to misquote this. I know the Devil's gonna tea with
La they were the other team that's like pseudo contender
that you could put here. They're in a tea with
the Flyers with the Penguins, with the Seattle Kraken with
the Saint Louis Blues, the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings.
(05:02):
Basically saying the Devils have one of the worst defensive
course going into the season. We're not talking about last
year where you had a Luke Ques who at times
look really good but definitely struggle with the system slightly.
You had a Simone Nemetz who was not good. It's bad.
It was the same as Casey was offensive minded completely,
you had a litany of injuries. I can understand saying
(05:26):
the Devils performed not well last year. Just you know,
if you look at it statistically and not with any context,
looking at this defense as a bottom tier unit going
into the season, I think is psychotic. I just think
it's crazy. What's your initial reaction, Sam seeing seeing there
(05:52):
the Devils are in the bottom tier defense.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I think it's a little harsh. I wouldn't say bottom tier.
I would I would rank him like right in the
middle at best. At best. Yeah, they showed potential last season, Nick,
but I'm not satisfied because when I think of defense,
(06:20):
I'm thinking stud It's really the consistency. Just realize one
thing on defense. Uh, they had to really lean on
Nemas in the end there, and some of their guys
went down during the playoffs. Uh. You know, I thought
(06:42):
Peschi had great moments last season, but there were moments
where he didn't look that good. Sure, and it's the consistency.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Now.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Do they have potential to be a top ten Absolutely? Absolutely.
They did well there at the beginning of the season,
so uh, but they were They were the best defense in.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
The league in December, the whole month.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, the league, and then Marty Natchius and his acting
job and then what happened there. So I don't trust
this defense, but I do trust the goaltending. So and
I think the goaltending did bail them out quite a
few times in January, February, March, April and on and
(07:27):
and so. But to say the bottom of the barrel, no, no,
there's San Jose is about bottom of the barrel. You know,
there aren't The Devils are nowhere near there.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So so the top top tier is Colorado, Dallas, Carolina, Edmonton,
and Ottawa. Colorado, Dallas and Carolina i'd have in their
own tier. I think they're all incredible defenses. I think
they're all fantastic. Yeah, I think that they're the best
(08:03):
of the best. Edmonton, I mean, Bouchard is fantastic. I'm
not that convinced about the rest of it. I just don't.
I think you're, you know whatever, Ottawa. I don't understand
at all. I think Jake. I think Jake Sanderson is.
(08:24):
I thought he was an overrated prospect. I think he's
incredibly overrated as a player. I just think people are
just like we liked him as a prospect, so he's
a good player because he got an eight by eight contract. No,
I don't think he's that good, but whatever. Ignoring that,
most people say that Tomas Shabbat has fallen off since
he signed his contract. And then there's a couple of
(08:46):
anchors there. Don't understand that Tier two is Buffalo, Florida, Toronto, Vancouver, Vegas, Winnipeg,
and Washington. Buffalo is all projection. Dallan's great, but the
rest of them is again, they got drafted high, so
(09:09):
you're just gonna assume they're good. Own Power. Lucus is
better than No. One Power right now. I'm just gonna
say it. Lucas is a better defenseman today than No.
One power is defenseman today straight up up boem byrom
is a guy who hasn't lived up to the hype.
But apparently they're they're giving them the benefit of doubt.
(09:30):
Florida is fine. I think Florida's a better defense than
the Devil's and that's pretty direct. I don't think there's
any I would actually put Florida. I think Florida has
an argument being in the top tier over Edmonton in Ottawa.
Definitely Ottawa if you want to put Edmonton in the
top tier for how they put in the playoffs, ship uh,
Vancouver is Quinn Hughes. I don't really understand when Quinn
(09:54):
Hughes went down. The defense is terrible. I don't. I don't.
I like Marcus Peterson. He's really good as well. They
got him in the JT. Miller trade, so sure like
they got two really good players there. Tier two, you
know whatever, it's I would rather have the defense, the
Devil's defense as a hole than the Vancouver defense as
(10:16):
a whole. It's close, though, it's close, so like semantics,
it's probably preference there. Do you want two of the
best guys in the league and then four question marks?
Or do you want six or seven guys who you
can rely on. Vegas is going without paet Angelo for
the whole year, so there's a lot of concern there
with that defense. I like Washington's defense, so that's fair. Toronto,
(10:43):
like I don't. I don't get it. I feel like,
because he works for TSN, he just puts Toronto there.
I don't like their defense at all. Like, you know,
Morgan Riley is their number one? Would you rather have
Morgan Riley or Dougie Hamilton? Douga Hamilton so like their
best asset, Like, I don't know. That seems insane to me.
(11:07):
I don't need to go into all the other tiers,
but like some of the the teams and tiers three
that I think is just cuckoo that are above the
devils is Nashville, the Rangers, the Islanders, Montreal, Montreal is
Lane Hudson. Like people are so excited about this kid.
I get it. He had a very electric first year,
(11:28):
but he was pretty terrible defensively for the first four months.
Got better at the end. Give him that. He got
better at the end than Montreal started to play better,
but he was horrendous first four months. And if we're
playing that game. Luke Hughes was incredible that last month
of the season. He was almost a point per game,
(11:49):
Like he really turned it on and really like something
clicked in him in that last month. So we're giving
people credit in this list without giving the Devil's credit.
In Travis Hosts Ride Up, the entire thing is about
Luke Hues and how he's make or break for this defense.
And I know he's still not signed yet. I know
people are starting to really sweat about that. I don't
(12:12):
think Tom Fitzgerald is sweating until September first. There's no
need for him to be in I get listen. It
should have been done by now. I'm not giving him
a pass. It seems like the easiest contract to get done.
You know, if if Luke es is asking for something psychotic,
(12:32):
then that's where you're like, okay this, but that you
have to almost like ask what's going on that you
would ask for eleven million dollars. That's what I'm talking
about with psychotic. If Luke Hughes gets nine million dollars,
I'm not going to like cry about it. I'm gonna
be like, that's too much for a guy based on
what he's done. But you're paying, you know, just like
(12:54):
the right like in the draft, like you drafted in
because he has the PA degree, and you know, there's
there's a certain gravitas to getting brothers together that you know,
if the Devils don't draft Luke Hughes in twenty twenty one,
(13:15):
we're not talking about this Quinn Hughes thing like the
done deal. We're barely talking about it at all, you know,
So it's there's something there. They did it. He probably
was probably like the seventh or eighth overall pick. He
picked him forth and honestly, he's the best guy in
that draft in my opinion. So going on Tom Fitzgerald,
it's his biggest draft win. But it was a little
(13:37):
bit of an obvious one. Besides that, I look at
this defense as a whole. I don't know anyone who
has four NHL quality right handed defenseman like truly like
can play anywhere in the lines. Govi Savitch can play
in the top line in certain situations if him and
(13:58):
Seginal are clicking like they're the best defensive defensive defensive
defenseman pair in the league. Dougie Hamilton is still a
number one. You know, He's played like a number one,
a lower end number one, still number one. Brett Peshi.
I really analyze this game in June and I'm gonna
(14:19):
turn this into an article, but it's just I've had
trouble formulating the direction. But the general consensus is that
first month of the season or he was out, he
came in and like I'm telling you, the Sheldon Keefs
system is complicated, especially for defensemen. For forwards, it's a
(14:39):
little bit more cut and dry. He just wants you
to play a certain type of defense and he does
a really good job of integrating it within the offensive game.
It's it's a little bit more complicated for the defenseman.
So Luke Hughes and Brett Peschi missing that first month
I think really hurt them. You could tell that Brett
(15:00):
Peschi was tentative at times, and I think that's what like,
I don't know, maybe it's just been too long, but
like if you remember, the biggest scrap we had with
this New Jersey Devil's teams was they couldn't exit the zone.
They couldn't exit the defensive zone, and that was Pesci
a lot. There was a lot of turnovers to the
defensive zone and it was due to its Again from
(15:25):
my covering this team for a long time, looking at
defensive hockey for so long, opinion, it looked like it's
because it wasn't clear where the puck was supposed to
go for that first breakout and whether people were supposed
to take it out themselves or pass it out or
like what went into those decisions, and that it only
felt like how many times did the Devils hold the puck? Well,
(15:49):
everybody was breaking up the ice and then they'd pass
it when a guy was pressuring them, right. It was
just there's a lot of that. I think that gets
cleaned up this year, whether it's for from Sheldon Keith
simplifying a system a little bit so that doesn't happen
as much, like that's really hard to do. In the
middle of the season, we talked about this, was it
(16:10):
twenty three to twenty four with the defense went down
the tubes and we're like, change the system, And I said,
like Ryan McGill changed the system. It's the worst defensive
system I've ever seen. But you can't change the defensive
system a lot of the season, it'll just get worse.
So I think those tweaks are gonna happen this this offseason.
I think that's gonna make them better. And you got
some some nemets. Nemets is. If he's the guy in
(16:37):
the playoffs, you can't take him out of the lineup.
He's that good. If he's the guy at the beginning
of the season, you know, then you have a problem.
Then I could understand the consternation. But you're looking at
a guy who looked incredible in the playoffs. Just he
just did he just did. He just looked good. And
you got the left side, which is Luke Cues. You'll
just secret Aller is gonna come back fully healthy. And
(16:59):
Brendan Dillon, who I you know, he didn't have a
good season. I'm not gonna say it, but if he's
your sixth defenseman, I don't think that that's that bad.
You're overpaying, Hi'm sure. But if he's laying the wood
on people, if he's drilling people, then I'm fine with it.
(17:24):
He's got to go back because he was doing that
at the end of the year. He was drilling people
and he kind of got away from from what he
was good at and that's when the flaws started to get.
The magnifying glass over but if he's drilling people again,
if he's putting the wood on some guys, I think
that then you have six guys who do very different things,
(17:46):
but they all mesh really well together, and I think
you can get like Sam. I think if if Luke
hughes because what I think he could become, and Simone
Nemetz comes what I think he become, and that's just
a second line guy. If Nebts is good enough to
be a top fifteen second line guy, right, so like
a top forty five to fifty defenseman in the league,
(18:09):
and Luke Cues becomes a number one guy, like a
top twenty to twenty five guy, I think this could
be a top five defense I think that's your ceiling.
It's really like everything has to go right. Nobody can
get injured for that to happen, but it's there. So
to put that defense on the bottom and not say
(18:30):
it's because of injuries, which if you said that, I
think everybody's gonna get injured. I'd be like, at least
that makes sense. But just to say like it's just
it's either it's a make or break on Lucius, this
is not true.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Well, going back to before you're talking about Ryan.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
McGill who's gone.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Now they've replaced this what makes it much better The
problem I had, Like when the Devils were it was
like Jackal and Hyde. One minute, they're doing the basics.
They were wonderful with their breakouts. It was quick, it
was short, it was boom boom, boom boom, and carrying
(19:17):
the puck into the offensive zone, you know, the forwards
like it was as smooth as it can be. And
then and then there's times where I feel like you
ever see like in football, when the quarterback is like
back to pass and there's nobody open and the d
guy is just like waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting until somebody
(19:40):
pressures and then they just you know, you know, in
the NFL, the quarterback may just like you know, scramble
aside and just throw the ball away. Sometimes they finally,
like the Devil's d they just ice a puck just
you know.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
It's it's like it's weird. There's a lot of time, yeah,
and the crowd is booming when they're behind the net
and they're trying to figure things out and all that,
and you know it just doesn't look uh it doesn't
flow really well.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
No, I don't disagree. I don't disagree. There were definitely
flaws that need to be fixed. But I trust Shelton
keep as a head coach. I really like the Brandshaw hiring.
I think that that those two are going to put
together a system that works really well. I think the
tweaks that that children keep me during the season really
were too. You know, the Devils were never giving up
(20:36):
a ton of goals. There are very few stretches where
there was a game here and there, but every every
team bases those games. But there were very few stretches
where the team was letting up a ton of goals.
And like you've mentioned, part of that is is the goalten.
The gold ten was really good last year. But you
(20:56):
know there there was just I I don't remember it
ever looking as bad as some of those Lindy Rough
years and Lindy Ruff it was just a running gun system.
That is just part of it. There's gonna be be
automan rushes in a running gun system. But I just
(21:16):
I don't understand why people are so down. Are they
anybody who'll be down this defense? I don't I think
their floor barring four injuries, I think their floor is
a top twenty unit.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
I would agree. I would agree thirty two teams right
now top twenty. I put them in the top twenty.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I think the worst you're gonna get is like the
eighteenth best defense, but like the best you can get
if everything, and again, there's always extremes to this. It's
very rare that you get the extreme. Like, here's the thing.
I look back at the twenty two to twenty three season.
(22:03):
That was the extreme for an offense under Lindy Rough,
Like everything clicked. There was Dawston Mercer his best season,
Jack Hughes at his best season was scorn. Yeah, like
everybody up and down the lineup, urk Halla had a
great season.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
It was just just some years, it just clicks and
you hit that ceiling. And they hit the ceiling in
twenty two twenty three, and they hit the floor in
twenty three twenty four. Everything went wrong in twenty three
twenty four. I remember one of my favorite articles I
ever wrote, and this is terrible. It just shows you
what the devils have been like since I took over
pucks and pitchforks. But one of my favorite articles I
(22:45):
ever wrote was I was I power ranked everything that
went wrong in twenty twenty three, twenty four, and I
listed ten things, and there's more I could have went on.
I could have went to twenty, but there's ten things
that were like this is like, you know, the narrative
of a season if this is all that happens. But
there was ten of them that just derailed everything. So
(23:10):
you got a ceiling season and then you got a
floord season. And last year was about where I think
the Devil should have been as far as where they
ended up in the standings, But of course the injuries
made them an afterthought in the playoffs. I think they
were the third best team in the Metropolitan as far
(23:31):
as roster goes, as far as situational, as far as
the coaching staff, as far as everything that you take
from it. But you know, they just looked like they
weren't after thought in the playoffs, just because the entire
team was injured by the time they got there. And
then more people got injured in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
So dropping like flies, like games one and two and three.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
It was just like, yeah, it was Savage, it was Luke.
You know, I can't remember what order they went in,
but they all got hurt in that series, so you
basically I remember there was one game we were legitimately talking
about to Pius v N getting into a game because
(24:14):
you already had Tilawski in the game, you already had
n EMUs in the game. You already had because this
is when Peshi. We didn't know if Peschi was gonna play.
It was game four, right, it was Game four, the
one where it was just catastrophic, Like nobody practiced the
day before, so we just had no idea, Like we
(24:37):
just thought everybody was out.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
You know they were coming back in that game four,
you know they were down three nothing if you remember that.
Then I got in the costume. I went in late
when it was three, and then suddenly three to two, right,
and they had the momentum. It was just it was
just one bad play and then it collapsed after.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
And that's that's something that they have to fix too.
There's just a little bit of mental fortitude that I
just want a little bit more, and I kind of
expected a little bit more from a Shelton Keep team.
I think a lot of it comes back to Sheldon Keep.
I think Sheldon keeps a really good coach. I think
it was the right hire at the right time. I
just look at it. It's almost like remember when when
(25:23):
Florida let let Uh Andrew burnetto and then they hired
Paul Moraser, Like that was a terrible decision, but you're insane.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Like what were you wrong?
Speaker 2 (25:38):
It's almost like it's the same though, I have because
like the other guy that that was were looking at
was Jarry Woodcroft, and Woodcroft, you know, gets let go
by Edmonton and they get over the hump. Chrisn a Block,
Chris now Block, Is that is that the guy? Yep, okay,
Chris now Block has them in the finals two years
(25:59):
in a row. Has this team looking as good as
it's ever been since those you know, the Wayne Gretzky
and Mark Messy eight teams you know sometimes So anyway,
the point is that I I you know, when you
were looking at it's like, well, we could have had Woodcraft.
Anybody could have woodcraft sincident, nobody's tired Woodcraft. I think
(26:21):
there's a reason for that. So I think Keith was
absolutely the right hire. I think he's gonna get this
team to a really good place. What I need, I
just need. I need. I have the utmost confidence in
this defense. I think it's gonna be a really good unit.
The fact that people think it's the bottom of a
(26:42):
barrel unit, it's psychotic to me. But I want to
talk about the arena. Do you have anything else to
say on the on the defense? Do we have any
comments to go over?
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I think John Sumner and I agree with him their
top ten unit when healthy. Yeah, I would agree with that.
I you know, it maybe not number ten, maybe twelve,
I mean close enough, but I would agree with that statement.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, I think it's fair. And again, injuries weren't mentioned
in the from what I remember, weren't mentioned in the
write up. I would accept being like, I think everybody's
gonna get injured again, Okay, then you got to just
prove you're not going to get injured, you know. Yeah,
that's fine. There were like again, we forget because of
how many injuries up in the end of the season.
We forgot that they came in down Luke Hues and
(27:36):
Brett Pesci for a month to start the year. You know,
it was not a healthy unit. The only time was
healthy was in December. It was the top unit in
the league. Yeah, but let's talk about the Orange in
for a second, because I say, we're getting a lot
of a lot of chatter about this. I wrote an
(28:00):
article this week talking about you know, it was it
was Arena week at fan side of last week. You know,
we're doing some some some theme weeks throughout the summer
just to get it get some extra you know, articles
up about some different things. And I was like, you
know what, I've been holding onto this Hoboken story for months,
(28:24):
waiting for the right time to do it. It was like,
Arena week makes the most sense. So I wrote the
story about you know, it was almost like a felt
like a book report or it felt like a a
what are those called? We had to like talk about
a topic in school, I don't know, whatever, like a
(28:44):
everybody knows what I'm talking about. But I went back
I read a bunch of New York Times articles which
reminded me that the New York Times used to cover
the Devils. That was that was That was an interesting realization.
But you know, the New York Times had a lot
to say. And if you remember, that was that was
(29:05):
the end of the doctor. John McMullen tenure, Like, this
guy loved this team, he loved the devils. He hated
being at the Meadowlands because a they weren't filling the
arena because of the location. The location was even worse
than this today. It's still bad today, but it was
even worse. There was no way to get there. One
(29:27):
lane in, one lane out kind of situation, and you
got people coming from all different directions. So it was
just traffic nightmare coming in, traffic nightmark getting out every
single time.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You forgot about the death merge. Do you remember the
death Merge?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I relic, Yeah, I think I know.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
You got to go over like I think you only
have like one hundred yards or.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Where is that where the Jersey Slide terminology came from.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I don't know, but I remember. Remember I had to
be in I'm in the left lane and then I'm
coming on a ramp and I've only got like five
seconds to get over four or five lanes into that
lane to get to the metal Lands parking lot. And
if you pass it, then then you know, I cut
(30:20):
off a lot of people back in my day.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
You just gotta do what you gotta do. Yeah. But anyway,
so this is around ninety somewhere between ninety seven and
ninety nine. Mcmallan is sick of the I think it's
called the Metal Lands Sports Commission. Maybe it kind of
slightly adjust the name, but that was the general content.
This the Medal Lands Sports Commission. It was a commission
to cover the Medal Lands. They were giving them the
(30:45):
run round, probably charged them too much. So he put
together a plan to move the team to Hoboka. And
this wasn't Sam you probably remember this. This wasn't just
like floating a name. This was like there was renderings.
Then there were really concrete plants. They were working with
(31:06):
the city of Hoboken how to make this work. They
were trying to get public money from the state in
the city to get an arena on the I think
it was on the Hudson.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
On the HUDs It was actually waterfront property if I
remember correctly. And you had the New Jersey I'm sorry,
the New York Skyline, and you could literally work in
Lower Manhattan and take a ferry to the game.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
Mm hmm. It made very attractive. It was very attractive
from a public transit opportunity. There was probably about four
or five different public ways that you can get to
the game from New York City and from from some
of the you know from the Nowarks, from the New
Jersey cities, some of the major hubs in New Jersey.
(31:52):
There was a lot of there was there was an
uprising from the city from a lot of the residents.
They didn't want the arena. They didn't want the traffic
that came with the arena. There were some local politicians
who were really against it, and it just became a
headache for McMullen. He d up selling the team because
(32:15):
he didn't want to go to Noyark. Because the Nets
were going to York, that seemed like a done deal.
It took longer than most people expected, but the the
Nets were going to York, and the Nets wanted the
(32:35):
Doubles to come too. They were already sharing arena. Getting
two tenants really lowers the risk of moving to a
city with no sports. It's two very different fan bases,
basketball and hockey, so you get the best of both worlds.
You get a lot of different brands, and maybe you
could build both fan bases at the same time, like
(32:55):
you did with the Continental Airlines Arena. But McMullen was
against it at first. He didn't want He thought it
would be the Nets Arena and the Devils would feel
like a tenant, which I understand because that's kind of
how the Nets felt like. Ironically, when the Devils moved
in York and the Nets eventually followed them there, I
felt like the Nets felt like a tenant, you know
(33:17):
what I mean? And then it was the Devil's Arena.
So I think that was the concern. But McMullan ended
up selling the team in two thousand and four two
three two, somewhere in that range O three to the
to the no no.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I think it was after two thousand. I think I
think yank Nets. Yeah, I think yank Nets were the owners. Fo.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, so that's two thousand, right, Yeah. I was thinking
actually maybe they agreed to it before the Stanley Cup went.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, because I remember we knew that was mcmullin's last
raw at the parade. So because the first parade, the
first parade he was kind of like getting the shaft
because of the Nashville controversy, and then the second one
was kind of like, you know, we forgive you you're
you're the best. Now we know you're who you really are,
(34:13):
you know, which, Yeah, he loved the team.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Was he part of that Nashville thing or was that
just I thought that was just like a Gary Bettman.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
He was basically I mean Bruce Driver said this on
one of our podcasts that he was just basically using
them as for leverage. There was no way New Jersey
was gonna move. It was a bad arena deal with
the NJA SA. I even remember as a fan when
the Devils announced that they were moving, not renewing their lease,
(34:45):
not wanting to have anything to do with the Metal Lands.
We were the bastard step child in that divorce between
the NJASCA and the New New Jersey Devils, and I'm
glad it did not continue during the outdoor game, but
I remember security used to like, you know, if if
(35:07):
they you know, if a kid is going through the
turnstile you can't bring food in, they would literally make
them spit out their gum like it was that bad. Yeah,
it was. It was a really bad situation. Or somebody
has a hat trick. If someone throws a hat on
the ice, they would actually take actually book that guy
(35:29):
or a woman for throwing objects on the ice. It
was it was really really bad. You know when John Madden,
I believe John Madden had a hat trick against the Rangers.
I think maybe in the playoffs. I remember, yeah, yeah,
yeah it was. It was in two thousand and six,
and they literally were Yankee fans from the seats for
(35:50):
throwing their hats on the ice for a hat trick.
So you know, only a real fan would remember that stuff.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
That's crazy. Yeah, I kind of want to look at that.
I'm going to look into that because that's that's an
article idea, if if, if I can get the right information.
But what what's the use sam going back to two
thousand and seven, when the when the Devils moved to Nork.
If someone, if I I give you a crystal ball,
(36:20):
I say, you could go back there and you can
convince the Devils to do to either stay at the
Meadal Lands and grow with what the you know what
the Medal Lands become. You could go to Hoboken, give
that a shot, be you know, be the the main
place in town, have that that look of the New
York City skyline, or or keep things the way that
(36:43):
they are and go to Noyark. What do you what
are you choosing?
Speaker 1 (36:50):
You know that Newark deal is so team friendly because
it's basically technically speaking, the city of Newark owns the arena.
But I think the Devils pay like two million dollars,
which is nothing to have the benefits of one ownership
(37:12):
of everything that goes on inside that arena. And I
mean there's no revenue share. I mean it is, there's
no three it's just two million dollars. And okay, you
have the rolling stones there. It's all coming to me. Me, me, me, me,
you know it is. It's they make more money off
(37:36):
of other events. The Devils are and they have full
control of their destiny. They don't have to go to anybody.
It's not like you have to go to like the
n g SCA to oh can we rent it out
for this week. No, you don't have to do any
of that. You know, you're not a tenant. You know,
(37:56):
you have to market.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
That's like, I think that is part of the reason
why it's part of it. There's other reasons, but I
think that's part of the reason why Harris Splitzer are
so adamant about getting their own Sixers Arena that is
that is solo, not a Flyers arena, because they see
the benefits of owning the arena rights, right, They see
(38:21):
the benefits of you know, yeah, we have a team.
The team is the anchor here. But you know, I
want to I want to book everybody from Billie Eilish
to Showel Crow to to Toby or sorry he'd passed
away to to I don't know, country singers. Give me somebody,
(38:41):
George Straight, George Straight, Garth Brooks too, you know, to
you know, so I think that they to get this
diversified audience as well to also see six Ers paraphernalia
and Sixers advertising. You know, I'm sure, I without a doubt.
(39:04):
I think somebody went there for the Who concert and
probably bout Devil's tickets because they're like the doubles you
when I go to a game, do you know what?
You know?
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Final, especially when they're promoting the jersey jersey at every
freaking concert. You know, it's like you're trying too hard.
You're trying too hard. Let me let me get it,
let me let's go further. With the seventy six or thing.
They had this whole thing, which I was against and
I don't want to get into that, taking that arena
(39:35):
to Center City Philadelphia, and they were really working. I mean,
they went deep, deep with the city. But I think
and do you know, why I think they bailed.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
I mean there's public pressure.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Now, well besides that, it wasn't worth their time. When
you've got an NFL team in the Nation's capital, that
is the mega with the political arena, the money, the
Nation's capital football, and then priorities changed.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Now they're trying to get the stadium in DC.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Yeah, the old RFK Stadium site. So so you know,
here's Harrison Blitzer with this conglomerate. They figured, you know what,
let's not extend our resources even because remember Harris, they
had to kind of bend some rules. Harris had to
(40:37):
bring in multiple partners on that Washington Football.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Does like he has a ton of partners, Like it's
only forty or something.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, it was very creative, let's put it that way.
But here's a man that's living the dream. Kid from
I don't know, was it Chase Maryland or grew up
in Maryland and really you know, built up a world
renowned founder of Appoll Global, you know, hedge fund, and
(41:16):
then with his play money, he started to buy professional
sports franchises around the world, no less, and then but
he's got.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
Like he made so much of his worth. Yea from
these aspets is growing, but the seventy six ers.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
The valuation is so high. But really, you know what
I gotta put my money where it counts. Is that
new stadium. Hey, Flyers, we're in the same boat here.
Let's do something. Let's kind of deal, right, Yeah, I
have time for this.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Own the arena, right, the Fires own the arena. They
owned the Wells Fargo Center.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
I don't think so. No, That's how I would like
to say. It's Comcast?
Speaker 2 (42:14):
Is it Comcast owns a whole conglomerate because they own
they have it Twinity Live, which is like the big
party area in the middle.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
Yeah, it's you know, that's a good question. That's a
good Or is it? Does a city own it? You know?
I don't even know, don't think question.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
I don't think the city owns it, like like Nork.
But again, like you said, it's so, but again I don't.
Did you answer my question? Or would you rather be?
Speaker 1 (42:47):
If I had my choice, that waterfront Hoboken would be
my first choice. I'm not gonna lie to you. And
that takes nothing of what's going on when ark, because
number one, you've got New York City watching you, All
(43:08):
eyes are on you, with all these LED displays. Now
that could be one heck of a marketing, you know.
But Newark has its advantages. You're near the airport right
when you fly in for Newark, you to see the
Prudential Center upon landing. But at the same time, no
(43:31):
one's really looking when you're on the plane when you're landing.
But you've got New York City and just think of
Devil's Rangers and you got these LED displays like they
have like you know out in Vegas, and if you
beat the Rangers, like that Game seven, and it was
supposed to be a barn, so the whole side was flat,
(43:52):
it was red the rendering. Now you replace that with
LED displays. Think about the watch parties from a boat
in the.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Pier right because there was going to be a marina
right outside there.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
And you could take the path. You could take the
path right to Hope.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
It felt like certain college experiences, you know, there's a
few like I think of Arizona State, I think of Washington.
There's a couple others where there's just these unique details
about where their stadiums are that like, because I think
(44:35):
Washington's the one where you could you could drive your
boat up to the stadium and then walk to the stadium.
Arizona State has some some features, like that beautiful campus
by the way, Arizona State.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Yeah, when we went to the mullet where Beer Barron
after the game went on a temper tantrum through campus. Yeah,
we still have We still have that ideo by the way,
it's hidden in the archives. It's actually set to private.
Doves is like Doves like he's donating five dollars via
(45:12):
super chat for the plot jersey Jersey fund. Yeah, because
anytime I buy a jersey, the guy leaves before I
receive it, so okay, yeah, or or or even a
little bit after I receive it. And a lot of
fans don't want palot so and I don't like the
jersey jersey, so we want both. It's kind of double whammy.
Both would go away. It's just a little inside joke
(45:34):
here on the Let's Go Devil's podcasts.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
So but yeah, I I.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
If I bought the team right now, no one and
there's a lot of I'd be burning a lot of bridges.
But in my fantasy world, if if doge coin goes
to like, you know, two million dollars per coin, and
I've got all this money, I would consider relocating from
Newark to Hoboken and fulfill that dream. I would just
(46:07):
because the water, the laser light shows the big led
screen on the side of the barn. I can smell
the beer right now from Hoboken.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Every two. Yeah, Like, there's a lot more places to
go to dinner before the games. There's a lot more
places to have a drink. There's a lot more places
to party after the game. You know, I love American whiskey,
but it's it's that's the only game in town. Is
that little strip right there.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
Nobody's going anywhere outside of there, you know, unless you
go to Hobbies Delhi. But that's not a game time thing,
you know what I mean. Like, there's very little in
York to go to and and if you look, if
you go from the train station to to the to
(47:04):
the to the arena, it's about what four blocks.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Train station to the arena. Well, I don't really know
the blockage because you go through a building to get there,
So say a few blocks away.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
It's anywhere between three and six blocks.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
I can't think of one food place. He said that
that was a chicken that's on the other side of
American whiskey.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
Yeah, I mean there's reds obviously, you know, sure.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
But I'm saying before, like the on the walk to
the arena. Yeah, I can't think of one restaurant.
Speaker 1 (47:47):
Yeah, I mean there used to be awesome. It was
the best sushi I've ever had. There used to be
one the way, but the pandemic, you know, they moved on.
But they actually have the Metal Lands contract. They they're
the provider's sushi in the club.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Yeah, George love George. His sushi is the best. I
mean his was Sabbi is actually chopped up from the
plant itself. It's not that green peace stuff.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
Yeah yeah, yeah. Oh well all right, so I think
I go back and forth. So so to continue a conversation,
I ran a poll Sam with five hundred votes.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
East Rutherford actually won, but the vote was we find
the exact numbers. It was thirty three percent East Rutherford,
thirty percent Hoboken, and twenty nine percent North. You know,
(48:59):
I think I'm with Nork just because it's the devil,
I know, and you know our podcast is there, the
train goes right there. But again Hoboken, like we would
have figured it out right, you know, or you would
have figured it out more more.
Speaker 1 (49:13):
Oh, I would have figured I mean, and also I
would have had a park where you can actually tailgate
as well. So you know, I think the Metal Lands
team because of that outdoor game. God only knows what
that poll would have been before the Outdoor game, you know,
because the outdoor game was such a success, like just
off the chart success. I missed the tailgates. I'm not
(49:39):
going to lie. I I loved the tailgates back to
the old Metal Arry.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
It was so fun for the for the State of
series game, it was just so fun. It's just like
I was thinking, like we talked about it after the
Stadium Series game, and I was like, we need to
set up a tailgate for the Devil's games, and it's
just finding location, Like all those parking lots won't allow it,
(50:03):
that are right outside the arena, you know, it's and
once you get outside of Championship Plaza, you know it's
you'd have to eat your own permit. You it's just
not feasible.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
I'm gonna interject here. My buddy Fred, like ten years ago,
maybe fifteen years ago, was very close getting a deal
with one of the lots near near the arena for
one night we could tailgate.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Yeah, he again, I don't know if this is like
flying to the radar with the city or whatever, but
he had a plan.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
I'll have to ask you.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
I haven't talked to him many years, but there was
a plan where we'd front the money to sell out
the park lot and invite our own people and then
we charge our own people whatever, just for that one Yeah.
So again, this is I believe it's during the Vanderbeek
(51:15):
years when he planned this. So again, again, it went
pretty far though, it went really far from what I remember,
But that would have been awesome. Just how like you
have a one tailgate day. I would love to do
that if we can find a parking lot that'd be
(51:35):
willing to take that risk with us, you know, and
you know the amount of planning and thinking, because what
do you do with the garbage? You know? Right now,
it's actually I was having a talk with missus Wu
about this, Like, you know, when you go to a
Penn State game years ago, like people were good about,
you know, keeping the parking lot clean from tailgate. Now
(51:59):
the younger generation, I hate to call it, yeah, but
you're all a bunch of slops just crap all over
the place.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
Yeah, yeah, it's a shame.
Speaker 2 (52:10):
That's why a lot of these things get banned, because
you know it's always the uh.
Speaker 1 (52:15):
Well, you wonder why parking is so expensive for till
getting now, I mean, why do you think the metal
lands only allow you to go four hours prior? I
mean it takes me two hours to set up my gear.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
You know, yeah, I mean I listen, like West Virginia
is a huge tail getting thing and where people literally
park their RVs the night before, but there's still a
lot of rules. And colleges are a little differently because
you know, you have the problem with underage drinking, and
I'm sure tailgates in professional sports of that issue too.
But college is literally like eighteen to twenty two years old,
(52:50):
so more than half of that is underage. But you know,
I will tell you this, it's the I don't know,
it's you know, we're way over time now, so I'll
wrap this up. But I wish, because we have the
proof of concept right with East Featherford, we have the
(53:10):
proof of concept with Norc. I wish we had a
proof of concept with Hoboken just to see it. I
wish there was like an outdoor game or a specialty
matchup that we can play in Hoboken. See what it
would look like.
Speaker 1 (53:23):
Boa, here's an idea for an outdoor game. You want
to hear it true aircraft carrier in the middle of
the Hudson Devil's Rangers and put the rink on the runway.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
Instead of bleachers on both sides of the Hudson.
Speaker 1 (53:46):
Yeah, or maybe they'll get maybe they maybe it's more
feasible at the Intrepid.
Speaker 2 (53:54):
That comes up a lot.
Speaker 1 (53:56):
Oh, that's just an idea. I mean they've done well,
haven't they They have?
Speaker 2 (54:02):
Yeah, yeah, but it's college I think it's college basketball,
so you're you're not losing as much of the revenue.
And I think I don't know if it's public, but
I would imagine the Army is paying for that advertisement, right,
it's part of their marketing budget. Yeah, or maybe it's
maybe it's a rite off. Maybe maybe the team is
(54:23):
saying it's a charity event, and it's like, you know,
you're writing off whatever your ticket sales will be six
hundred thousand dollars, you know, against your your revenues. Listen,
there's the teams aren't doing it for free, even though
if even if they are doing it for free, they're
not doing it for free.
Speaker 1 (54:42):
Or woman rink. I mean, the Devils have control over that,
you know, Devil's Rangers outdoor. That'd be great. If they
can bring it to a Rockefeller Center. It will never happen,
but it would be freaking.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
Like Central Park, Like Central Park will be dope, and
that's big enough to like fit. It's just, you know,
I don't know, because Shakespeare the park gets a couple
thousand people, doesn't it. I think so? So anyway, all right,
that's that's all I got to say.
Speaker 1 (55:12):
Oh, do you have anything to plug?
Speaker 2 (55:15):
Yeah, but listen, we make a promise and we just
keep it. Puckspitchworks dot com is still publishing articles every
single day right now. We have we've talked about both
of these issues. I'm going to go into depth on
the poll I ran and the three options, but we
(55:37):
also talked about what uh uh. New writer Damien Flory
has wrote about the Devil's most impactful off season or
off season acquisition reasons why the Devil should still be
considered Stanley Cup champion or Stanley Cup contenders. I wrote
about the defense. We just talked about that. I wrote
about a Possi spol Division re alignment with the eighty
(56:02):
four game schedule and how it would end Devil's rivalries.
That's on pucksinfittorks dot com. I wrote about how the
Devils are seeing it's harder to replace Eric Halla than
they probably thought it would be. John Bailey wrote about
an X Devil's coach that's getting a new opportunity. Vinny
(56:25):
Perezy came back to to puckspatricks dot com. He wrote
about three Devils who could still be traded before training camp.
Andre Plot is on that list, so you better go
get that Jersey. Sam I wrote about three star forwards
who could become available before the UH before the start
of the season. Yeah, we we We got stuff on prospects.
(56:47):
We got stuff on Jack Hughes's health. I wrote about
Nate Bastian signing with the Dallas Stars. We wrote about
the Hudson River rivalry. We talked about Keith Kinkaids try
to make it back to the NHL. We talked about
Dustin Mercer. We talked about this article about which players
(57:08):
are going to be the best players in the league
at twenty thirty and all three Hughes brothers in the
top twenties. We talked about that. We talked about Jess
for Bratt making the top winger rankings. Sam. We are
doing it. We are doing the thing. There's there's articles
upon articles, there are topics upon topics. We're talking about it.
There's plenty of Devil stuff to talk about and all
(57:28):
at pucksinpittricks dot Com.
Speaker 1 (57:30):
Awesome. Awesome. Also, I don't really have much to plug
other than this upcoming season. We are planning for it
here on the Let's Go to Olds podcast. There's several
dates that we're working on right now. Obviously, we are
back at American Whiskey at fifty one, some place across
the street from Financial Center, next Championship Plaza. We're gearing
(57:53):
up Game Day Live and Devil's After Dark Game Day Live.
We actually are scheduled at a wedding. We are actually
scheduled at a wedding for Game Day Live before the
Devils take on I believe the Vegas Golden Nights at home,
so we will have somebody at American Whiskey. You're probably
(58:15):
gonna have beer bar in American Whiskey, but uh, we'll
be at a wedding and uh Game Day live and
then let's go to Delve's podcasts are open for business.
Anybody wanting us to broadcast from their cocktail hour, We're available.
(58:36):
We're available, And if you need a DJ as well,
we have a partner in DJ Shelley who has done
our live events. Hey, do you want us to stream
your wedding on the Let's go to Delve's podcast Things
can be done. Things can be done.
Speaker 2 (58:56):
If you pay.
Speaker 1 (58:58):
Yeah, just let me know. You need a couple of
players there during your cocktail hour.
Speaker 2 (59:04):
Let us know.
Speaker 1 (59:05):
It's just gonna cost you an arm and a leg,
but hey, just let us know see what we can do.
Speaker 2 (59:11):
You know.
Speaker 1 (59:12):
So we're doing weddings now, sooner or later. We're gonna
do bar and bat mitzpazz. We're gonna do uh, you know,
graduation parties. We're gonna do divorce parties. Yeah, birthday parties,
divorce parties, yeah, promotions, you know.
Speaker 2 (59:29):
Yeah, it's it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (59:31):
Yeah. Also, big shout out to David Decker, Town Toyota
and beautiful Ledgwood, New Jersey. Yes, Town Toyota, Toyotas that's
where let's get all his podcasts get their toyotas. That's
where let's go to allse podcasts. Fans get their toyotas.
David Decker has probably sold probably more toyotas through this
podcast than any other medium out there where they advertise.
(59:54):
He just says, the people keep on coming, and I
think he's gonna close a deals in the next few days.
David Decker Town told you had and beautiful leegement New Jersey.
Tell him that Nick and Sam Wu sent you, all right,
and uh, also, yes we do. I do cameos as well.
Bachelor of Rep parties, yes as well.
Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Yeah, anyway, we'll do your vasectomy party. I don't it
doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
Yeah, you know what, look, all money is green. We
like money.
Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
Well, yeah, this is what I told people. Some people
asked me, like, it's like a are you gonna get one?
I was like yeah, because my wife said that I
could get a second bachelor party for my vasectomy party.
So if you want the Let's go down With's.
Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
Podcast at your a sector Me party, can we broadcast
from your vaseectimy party? Sure?
Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
You're I mean you're gonna be invited. I gotta figure
out I gotta schedule it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
Yeah, and then we can post on social media all
the snippets if you know what I mean. All right,
it's not that we're being funny there. Yeah, all righty well,
we're out of here, dropping the podcast at midnight. Keep
it here, keep it real. Well, let's go to this
podcast and puts to pitchforks dot com until next time.
(01:01:10):
Let's go out