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Happy Doubles Wednesday.
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This is the State of the Fan Address episode.
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I think it's 373 now.
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Wow.
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I'm your host, Sam Wu, here with PucksandPitchforks.com, Editor-in-Chief Nick Villano,
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as we're streaming live on Facebook Live, YouTube Live, X Live, Twitch,
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and now on Instagram Live on the Let's Go Devils Network,
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coming to you live, live from the Primetime Radio Studios,
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both North and South Jersey, covering the Garden.
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State, talking about Devils hockey today. Wait a second. Do
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we actually have a hockey team in New Jersey? Who
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are these people?
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I don't know who this Hellebuck guy is.
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Help me find my hockey team because I don't know
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how to find the hockey team. Where do I go
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to find the hockey team? I need a Canadian to
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help me find my hockey team.
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I need 15 or more media members in the locker
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room before I would consider my team a professional hockey team.
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By the way, Sid, right? Sid's his name?
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El Sid.
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I'm calling him El Sid. He obviously travels with the team,
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just like every other media member. So he must have
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been following Winnipeg today.
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I guess I think we should probably intro to the law.
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They follow the team, right? That's the big thing. And
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he did that. Right. Did, did he go to Dallas
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to talk to Connor? Hello, Buck. Get a question. Sid,
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did you get one? Sid?
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No, Sid.
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No, no.
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You're fat ass. That's what you want to be.
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Yeah.
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This bill is want to be this, this no name,
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Steve Simmons, this, this, you know, are you Canadian? Stephen A. Smith?
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Like what?
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Like again, But all those guys make money. Like, you're
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doing this for a Winnipeg radio station, talking CRAP on
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New Jersey and on the Devils and on Devils fans
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and Devils media members. And again, we reached out. We
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said we'd love to... When he was just talking about
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New Jersey, I wanted to have a conversation with the guy.
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Because I was like, you know, we get this a lot.
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And I wrote about this in PucksPitchforks.com this week. We
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get the... Parking lot parades. The armpit of America. You
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play in Newark, bro. Where are you going to live?
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Murder capital of the world. Like, we get all of
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the insults. I get it. It's fine. Was that me
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or was that you?
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What's that? I was sending you a text. Okay.
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And then you went through... Okay. So, for those who
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don't know what I'm referencing, there's a... Radio host up in,
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I think he's in Winnipeg, but maybe he's in Vancouver.
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He's somewhere. Maybe he's in Toronto. I don't know. He
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doesn't matter. But his name is Sid. He's up in,
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I think he's for, is it the Sportsnet radio station?
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I don't even know.
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Because, you know, again, I don't really know this guy.
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So here's the thing. Since the Devils traded for Connor Hellebuy,
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there's been a lot of hate towards the Media members
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who do a good job covering this team. Again, if
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you want to make fun of us when all of
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our media members left six years ago, cool. But Nichols
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has been covering the team for a while. Christy Flannery
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has been covering the team for a while. The Hockey
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Writers has had a credentialed journalist there for years now.
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It's different people and they keep moving. But Danielle Moy
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has been there for a couple of years. There's guys there.
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And Pucks and Pitchforks has guys there. Yeah. I'm there.
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J.B.
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Gambates is there. There's, you know, Trey Matthews has been
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there before. Dan Rice.
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Dan Rice.
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You know, he doesn't work for me anymore, but Dan
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Rice has done in the past. We've had people represent us. We've,
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you know, I have 20 writers who work for me
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for fans. Guess who doesn't have 20 writers who works
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for them? The Winnipeg blog. Are there 20 people in
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the world who write about Winnipeg Jets hockey? As like
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a daily driver? And guess what, Sam? I had two
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people apply to write for me today. Because guess what?
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We got a lot of fans and they're excited, Sam.
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Because we got Connor Hellebuck. And here's the thing, Sam.
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I said, you know what? This is too big a risk.
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Too big a risk. But now that it's happened... Let's
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go now. But now now the pressure's on. You got
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to win now. This is the time you because. I
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hated the Connor Hobart. No, we should.
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OK, I was just asking.
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He doesn't get he doesn't get my publicity. He doesn't
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because he's a low rent. Steve Simmons. That's what he is.
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He's OK. I want to be. clickbait nonsense artists. That's
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what he is.
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So the audience are just going to have to go by.
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You don't get to talk crap on my state. You
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don't get to talk crap for my state from Canada.
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And I like Canada, but you don't get to talk
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crap about my state. If you want to make this
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a USA versus Canada thing, that's fine. You do that.
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There's so many more reasons for that. New Jersey didn't
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do it. New Jersey's New Jersey, my wonderful country of
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New Jersey is, No, we will not be doing that.
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I will fight to the death for New Jersey. So, no.
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He doesn't get my publicity. He doesn't get... He gets Sid.
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Sid vicious over there. Trying to be all cool and
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coy and flavor of the week. Cool. You're nothing, bro.
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You're like in your 50s, too. Like, what are you doing?
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You're talking like a 22-year-old doesn't know how to do this.
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But, Nick.
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there's a lot of things I don't like about it.
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And I can't believe we're still in that. First off, we,
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I want to preface by saying this because we kind
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of gave a little bit of appetizer on game day live, uh, yesterday,
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Danielle McCartan, not because she knows as well. And with
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WFAN and all that, like she, she knows as well
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about like the insults coming from Canada. Number one, I
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want to preface by saying this. We have a lot
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of Canadian listeners on this podcast. This is not about you.
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It's about certain Canadian media members that there's a culture
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there where they just love bashing American hockey fans, the
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way America looks at hockey, and specifically New Jersey Devils,
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their media, their.
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Fans, for whatever reason. They feel the need to do that.
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We even talked about it with Chico Resch on Sunday
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as well. And this is what I have to say,
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because in Canada, you know, hockey's big. But if you
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want to grow the sport, you've got to stop being
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on this elitist high horse, a bashing... what you think
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is quote-unquote non-traditional markets and telling us how to be
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hockey fans, fandom. I mean, there's lots to go over, Nick.
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You know, I didn't want to, but I just want
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to let the fans know that this is, it's gone
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on too long and, you know, it's at the point
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right now that it's not only comical, but there's a
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reason why The country of Canada has not won the
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Cup in 33 years. There's a reason why Canada got
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their asses kicked in the Olympics, both men, women, and Paralympic,
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all in one year.
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And I hate to say it.
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Well, the reason was, I mean, the reason is only
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because we had a better team. Like, it's... America, we've
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been circling that Olympics for a while. Because that was when,
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you know, Austin Matthews was going to be in his prime.
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Matthew Kachuk was going to be in his prime. Brady
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Kachuk was going to be in his prime. Like, we
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were circling that one. You know, we thought Jack Hughes
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would be there. We knew we had the goalies. And
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now we have the starting goalie, Connor Halibooks and the Devils.
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I don't mean to cut you off, but it's not... Because, again,
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you're right. We have a lot of Canadian listeners. I
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love our Canadian fans. Like, I have so many Canadian fans.
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I've had Canadian writers. I... appreciate the level of passion
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they bring to hockey. But, you know, we've talked about this. It's,
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you know, Jack Dawkins, who is a big fan of
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the podcast, big fan of Pucks and Pitchforks, brought to me,
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he's like, are the Devils villains now? And it made
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me think because, you know, you always have to kind
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of look at it like, are we the bad guy?
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We're not. You know, Vegas is the bad guy, but
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I look at it and I'm trying to be like, okay,
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where are we in our villain era? And truly, we
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don't win enough to be villains. But if we start
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winning with this team, then yeah, I think that we
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will become villains pretty quickly. But at the same time, I.
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It's been an interesting year with the Minnesota stuff. There's
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just been a lot of fan bases who hate us
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that are random. And it's interesting because... The Devils-Rangers rivalry
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has never looked this weak. The Devils-Hurricanes rivalry has gotten weak.
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And we immediately replaced it with the Devils versus all
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of Canada, apparently. We've always had this little beef with
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Toronto ever since the Ty Domi series. What was it,
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2001 or 2000? I can't remember. Well, yeah.
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I mean, again.
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There's always been some hatred. In that, right? Like, ever since,
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even when they were bad and we were bad, those
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games are a little rougher. But this Minnesota thing, I'm
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curious what's going to happen when they come to Newark
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and when we go to St. Paul, I think. And
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I'm interested to see this Winnipeg thing. You know, all
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the other guys they added, like, Luca Evangelista, like, Nashville
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seems to be sad that he's gone, but nobody's really
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mad Um, Anthony Manta hasn't been on a team long
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enough to, to have like a real rivalry. Um, and
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all the other guys like Dougie Hamlet's in the same thing.
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Like he never really had a rivalry. Like there's a
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little thing with the hurricanes, but it was something like
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Eric Holla. Eric Holla was like the big rival of
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the hurricanes when he was here. Um, I'm just thinking
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like all the new pieces, um, And none of them, like,
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Evan Rodriguez, same thing. He's just been on a couple teams.
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Florida is just happy that he had such a big
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role in winning a Stanley Cup. And same thing with Boquist. Like,
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so this is the one move that's full of hatred,
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and Quinn Hughes would be the other. Right? Like, Minnesota
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fans would hate Quinn Hughes, just like we hated Zach
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Barisi if he left and came here. Winnipeg fans hate
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Connor Hellebuck. They hate him. I think that's clear, and
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that's fine. We've had our spew with Ilya Kovachuk, with
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Zach Parisi, with Scott Gomez, a little bit with Bobby O'League.
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I feel like Bobby O'League is the exception because we
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didn't want to pay him $ 9 million a year in 2000.
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So I think everybody was like, go get your money, dude.
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It's fine. But John McClain, I remember John McClain got
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a lot of hate back in the day with the
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way he left the Devils. I feel like Claude Lemieux
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got a little bit of a pass. I don't know
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if you, maybe I'm misremembering that. I don't feel like
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we ever had hatred towards Claude Lemieux. Like we had
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for McLean or some of the other guys who left.
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Well, he went to Colorado. Okay, McLean, you know, went
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to the Rangers.
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He left for San Jose and the Rangers.
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Yeah, so that's a big difference. Eventually, Claude came back.
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It was more, and at the time, Lou had a reputation, real,
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you know, reputation of, being a hard ass when it
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came to contracts.
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So, right. We kind of, I feel like there was
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no hate.
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So I was like Ralston or even Garen, you know,
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or Andrew Chuck, like all these guys who just like,
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you know, it didn't work out or McGill me, you know,
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McGill me left for a contract with Toronto, you know?
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So there was only, there was only very specific instances
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where there was hatred. And I think it was Gomez, McLean,
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Parisi and Kovalchuk. I feel like those were like the
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main four. Am I right there?
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What, Kovalchuk?
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Kovalchuk, Parisi, McClain, and Gomez were the guys who got
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the hatred for leaving the Devils.
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Well, Bobby Holik was big. Bobby Holik was bigger than Gomez.
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Did you think we hated him, though? I didn't feel
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that way.
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Yeah, because he was the first to really be the villain.
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Yeah, I remember it very, very well. I mean, he
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left for the money, and he let.
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Everybody know about it. He was, you know, Bobby Holic.
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He was very, very vocal. Scott Gomez was more of a,
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you know, he kind of trolled you about it a
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little bit, but no, Bobby Holic, that was a big, big.
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Big deal. Do you think they hated Holic more than McClain? No.
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No, yes.
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McLean, really? No, I disagree. But you were older at
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the time, not to call you out, but I was around.
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McLean was like an original devil. You know, he was
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an original.
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There was some depreciation there.
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Yeah, but holy, the way it went down, like when
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he was on that one-year contract year, you know, again.
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Kind of similar to Parisey.
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Yeah, Parisi just couldn't make up his mind. And I
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think his dad eventually, you know, got to him. But,
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you know, with this whole thing with Minnesota, I mean,
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I'm so fed up with Minnesota Wild fans to the
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point where I almost think that Minnesota is basically like Canada.
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Just our attitude, you know, that elitist hockey attitude. And,
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you know, when I'm trolling, I'm getting all these questions
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all the time. have you ever put on skates? And
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it's like, how many times have I have to repeat
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to all of you? The first time I put on
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ice skates was probably three years old and it was
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on a pond.
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Yeah. I've been, I've been skating for a long time.
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They, they, these elitist hockey fans up North and even
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Minnesota have think like new jersey is like we've never
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even like put on ice skates before or we don't
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even have ice a sheet of ice to skate on
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like it's really like they don't like my my alma
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mater my high school if you go through the hallways
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there are pictures from the late 1800s of that ice
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hockey team you know that that skated on ponds and
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there was actually organized hockey in new jersey and in
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the late 1800s, Thomas Edison, the first thing he filmed,
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the first video camera, whatever you want to call it,
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was an ice hockey game, I believe, in New Jersey.
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I mean, you know, I lived in the town next
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to Jim Dowd, and Jim Dowd was, what, high school,
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like the 80s?
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Yeah.
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Probably, you know, when you.
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Yeah, but, you know, again... With all this hellebuck, let's
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get back to the topic. With all this hellebuck, you know,
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it makes for great storylines, Nick. But, you know, I
283
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think what's fueling it is just jealous envy around the
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National Hockey League with a lot of these media members.
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It's a big storm. It's that plus getting clicks, obviously,
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getting eyeballs. Trying to be bold. But the act is
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really getting old.
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It's really getting old.
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I'll give them this. Players do like how the media
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functions here. They do. They like being close to New
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York and having New Jersey media. They do. I know
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that that's how they feel.
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And.
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There have been times... where our media has taken rightful criticism,
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I feel like that's no longer the case. I don't
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know how it is with Novo not there anymore. I
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00:18:08.109 --> 00:18:10.569
haven't been in that room since he's gone to cover
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the Eagles. But I've seen James ask tough questions. I've
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00:18:15.329 --> 00:18:17.730
seen other guys ask tough questions. Of course Amanda's not
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going to ask a tough question. She works for the team,
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00:18:19.869 --> 00:18:22.029
and that's fine. And she always gets the first couple
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00:18:22.049 --> 00:18:26.180
of questions. That's fine. to Amanda's credit, she asks interesting questions,
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00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:30.779
you know, but they're not tough, right? The tough questions
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are going to come from James when I'm there, you know, Daniel, Daniel's,
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00:18:36.990 --> 00:18:41.430
you know, getting comfortable with that too. Christie's not afraid to,
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to ask any questions. She usually has a story in
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mind and she's a great storyteller. So like, you know, I,
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00:18:49.109 --> 00:18:51.269
I think she's kind of coming in from a different
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00:18:51.309 --> 00:18:58.319
angle and I appreciate that, but, Keefe doesn't get off
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the hook. Is it Toronto? No. Is it even half
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00:19:02.130 --> 00:19:05.890
of Toronto? No. But Toronto's a different beast. You know
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00:19:05.910 --> 00:19:09.529
what I mean? It's similar, like, but even like Rangers media.
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00:19:11.230 --> 00:19:19.380
I feel like since, you know, the unfortunate passing of
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00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:24.240
Larry Brooks. Larry Brooks. You know, there's not a ton
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00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:26.759
of it. Right? There's not a ton of people getting
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00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:35.690
called out. And... I think that's media today in America.
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00:19:36.390 --> 00:19:38.569
I don't see a lot of Aaron Boone getting called out.
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00:19:40.069 --> 00:19:42.029
You know what I mean? Like, he goes on John Boy.
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00:19:43.930 --> 00:19:49.390
You know what I mean? Like, media's different today. And Canada...
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00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:55.319
is kind of stuck in the past a little bit
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with their media.
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00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:57.880
Well, before I was.
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I wanted to say that in the beginning when I
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00:20:00.900 --> 00:20:03.230
was going on my rant about Canada getting their asses
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00:20:03.269 --> 00:20:08.230
kicked in the Olympics. Canada is, like, 15 years behind
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00:20:08.509 --> 00:20:11.640
the times in... the Canadian media, they've always been 15
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00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:17.200
years behind the times. You know, they always have. And they,
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00:20:18.920 --> 00:20:22.599
it's like hockey in Canada has plateaued, in my opinion.
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00:20:23.180 --> 00:20:27.789
It's totally plateaued. It's not going to grow anymore. It's
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00:20:27.849 --> 00:20:31.829
not going to decline, but it's just not, it's hit its.
331
00:20:33.509 --> 00:20:33.890
Ceiling.
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00:20:36.450 --> 00:20:38.730
And it has for a while now.
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00:20:39.859 --> 00:20:40.920
We only got a couple minutes left.
334
00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:41.380
Oh, sorry.
335
00:20:42.019 --> 00:20:44.720
No, just one thing, because there was this other thing.
336
00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:50.799
I forgot which show it was, which was Overdrive 1050,
337
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:55.579
or it was saying that all the money's in Canada. Like,
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00:20:56.359 --> 00:21:00.140
Edmonton's the number one team. Well, first off, there's reasons
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00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:04.269
for it. Edmonton has two things, oil, and they have
340
00:21:04.309 --> 00:21:06.529
Conor McDavid. Of course they're going to be.
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00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:07.599
Oilers. Yeah.
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00:21:08.059 --> 00:21:12.440
So that's the reason why. But I also want to
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point out, back in the late 90s, all these Canadian
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00:21:15.869 --> 00:21:18.609
teams were in deep, deep, deep, deep trouble.
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00:21:19.269 --> 00:21:19.569
Why?
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00:21:19.990 --> 00:21:24.470
Because the currency, the difference between the United States and Canada,
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plus the expansion.
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00:21:27.019 --> 00:21:27.500
It's hurting them now.
349
00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:28.440
What's that?
350
00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:31.420
Well, yeah. The currency difference is hurting them now. Yeah.
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00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:35.289
But back in those days, it was... It was a
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lot different. But the league, the league itself, I mean,
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00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:44.759
they had to move the Winnipeg Jets to Arizona. The
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00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:50.640
first Winnipeg Jets, you know, and Quebec went to Colorado.
355
00:21:51.450 --> 00:21:53.289
There was a reason for it because the league was
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about to go under because of the Canadian teams.
357
00:21:56.150 --> 00:21:57.150
People forget about that.
358
00:21:57.769 --> 00:22:02.650
Yeah, they have fans. Yeah, they love hockey. But economics matters. So,
359
00:22:02.910 --> 00:22:05.089
you know, you can make fun of the United States
360
00:22:05.309 --> 00:22:08.529
all you want, like in Florida or Tampa and all that,
361
00:22:09.049 --> 00:22:14.009
but the reason why the United States beat you badly
362
00:22:14.349 --> 00:22:17.670
in the Olympics is because you're on this elitist high
363
00:22:17.730 --> 00:22:21.000
horse and you think everything's going to be handed to
364
00:22:21.019 --> 00:22:24.599
you because you're Canadian, but the Americans have been working
365
00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:29.200
so hard since 1980 to get to that point. That's
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00:22:29.259 --> 00:22:30.599
why you got your asses kicked.
367
00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:31.680
And.
368
00:22:33.859 --> 00:22:36.549
I'm just telling how I see it. That's all.
369
00:22:41.089 --> 00:22:42.710
I'm going to pivot because I've only got a couple
370
00:22:42.730 --> 00:22:46.049
minutes left. How did you feel about their performance yesterday?
371
00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:51.470
It felt like the late 90s and early 2000.
372
00:22:51.460 --> 00:22:56.200
This might be... Go ahead.
373
00:22:57.380 --> 00:23:01.869
The fundamentals are finally there. Under the Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment...
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00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:05.809
since they bought the team, I have yet to see
375
00:23:05.890 --> 00:23:09.130
the fundamentals up until the last three or four games.
376
00:23:10.289 --> 00:23:14.470
And I'm talking about defensive fundamentals. I'm talking about when
377
00:23:14.529 --> 00:23:18.359
things go wrong, you have a player that slides from
378
00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:25.019
their position to help. It was very, very a pleasure
379
00:23:25.059 --> 00:23:25.519
to watch.
380
00:23:25.859 --> 00:23:28.779
I love defense. I've said this on this podcast so
381
00:23:28.819 --> 00:23:30.509
many times. I love defense.
382
00:23:31.259 --> 00:23:35.539
And watching Luke Hughes protect the puck and stay in
383
00:23:35.640 --> 00:23:40.420
his own lane, so to speak, and knowing when to
384
00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:46.579
pinch in and when not to, he's blossoming. And this
385
00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.819
is less than a year from getting booed on January 4th.
386
00:23:52.099 --> 00:23:57.809
Yeah, I think back to how people were calling for
387
00:23:57.849 --> 00:24:01.130
Sheldon Keefe's job like two weeks ago. Maybe less than that.
388
00:24:01.990 --> 00:24:06.210
People were talking about breaking up the core. 10 days ago.
389
00:24:08.170 --> 00:24:11.559
People were talking about trading Jesper Brat. People were legitimately
390
00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:18.180
talking about trading Nico Heischer. People were saying the mistakes
391
00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:23.579
that were made. And again, I've said this then. I'll
392
00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:26.940
say it now. Don't get too high. Don't get too low.
393
00:24:29.900 --> 00:24:36.019
But Sam, I really think... I think the Devils are
394
00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:40.400
the clear number two in the Metro with Hellebuck. That's
395
00:24:40.420 --> 00:24:44.079
where they sit right now. I think Washington's going to
396
00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:47.140
bounce back. They're going to get back into it. I
397
00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:56.109
think they're fourth right now. The Rangers... Their defense hasn't
398
00:24:56.119 --> 00:24:57.619
been nearly as good as I thought it would be.
399
00:24:58.569 --> 00:25:00.930
So I don't know about them. But the Devils are
400
00:25:00.950 --> 00:25:05.079
the clear second best team in this division. Carolina's clearly
401
00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:08.099
the best. I don't think New Jersey's as good as Carolina.
402
00:25:08.539 --> 00:25:12.720
But when you have Hellebuck and they have Brandon Boosie,
403
00:25:14.380 --> 00:25:18.940
that's a clear win for you. And this is how
404
00:25:18.980 --> 00:25:22.359
I broke it down in my head. Seven game series.
405
00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:28.380
You need four wins against Carolina. We've shown that we
406
00:25:28.420 --> 00:25:34.279
can out-duel them through an overtime game. So you need
407
00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:37.440
that one. You need Kyle Hellebuck to steal one. You
408
00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:41.759
need your offense to steal one. And you could beat
409
00:25:41.819 --> 00:25:45.210
a team like Carolina. The one thing you can't have
410
00:25:45.250 --> 00:25:50.609
happen is the special teams disaster that they had the
411
00:25:50.630 --> 00:25:53.849
last time they played Carolina. Did they score zero power
412
00:25:53.869 --> 00:25:55.250
play goals or did they get one in the last game?
413
00:25:55.289 --> 00:25:59.630
I forget. Who's this? When they played Carolina in 2025.
414
00:25:59.630 --> 00:26:00.390
I think it.
415
00:26:04.450 --> 00:26:05.009
Was zero.
416
00:26:05.910 --> 00:26:08.900
Yeah. We didn't talk about it because Carolina was clearly
417
00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:12.920
the better team. We didn't have Jack Hughes. We lost
418
00:26:12.980 --> 00:26:15.000
Luke Hughes in game one. We had so many injuries.
419
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.069
Even with all that, the Devils lost because of special teams.
420
00:26:20.309 --> 00:26:23.609
Because I think they gave up a shorthanded goal or two.
421
00:26:24.230 --> 00:26:27.240
They gave up. multiple goals in the penalty kill, and
422
00:26:27.259 --> 00:26:28.819
they scored zero power play goals. And they had a
423
00:26:28.839 --> 00:26:31.000
ton of power plays. They were getting guys in the
424
00:26:31.059 --> 00:26:33.599
box and not taking advantage of it, and they lost
425
00:26:33.660 --> 00:26:38.279
all momentum. It was a disaster class. And Mark Shaw
426
00:26:38.299 --> 00:26:40.549
was really good in that series. So if you get
427
00:26:40.589 --> 00:26:43.769
that version, all you need from Connor Hellebuck is a
428
00:26:43.809 --> 00:26:47.309
guy who's going to make three saves more than the
429
00:26:47.349 --> 00:26:52.289
last guy. And that sounds like a lot, but truly
430
00:26:52.329 --> 00:27:00.529
it's not. You know, he's going to... He's going to
431
00:27:00.549 --> 00:27:03.289
make all the easy saves. Like, that's the thing about
432
00:27:03.329 --> 00:27:06.630
Hellebuck is you don't get a softie. The Elves haven't
433
00:27:06.650 --> 00:27:09.049
had it in a long time. You know, that was
434
00:27:09.069 --> 00:27:10.930
the thing about Schneider. Schneider would make these big saves
435
00:27:10.990 --> 00:27:13.450
and let in a softie. Nico Dawes would make these
436
00:27:13.490 --> 00:27:15.430
big saves and let in a softie. Jake Allen this
437
00:27:15.470 --> 00:27:18.630
year has been letting in softies. Connor Hellebuck doesn't let
438
00:27:18.690 --> 00:27:20.470
in softies. It never happens.
439
00:27:21.470 --> 00:27:21.690
So.
440
00:27:22.460 --> 00:27:26.599
I think it's a difference. I think this team is legitimately...
441
00:27:26.109 --> 00:27:32.170
It's top 10, no doubt. No doubt. I think you're
442
00:27:32.289 --> 00:27:34.230
really going to have to start having a conversation about
443
00:27:34.269 --> 00:27:40.099
top five around Thanksgiving time. If they're still playing this well.
444
00:27:40.210 --> 00:27:41.819
They don't have to win every game, obviously. But if
445
00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:46.720
they're playing 700 hockey from now until then, I think
446
00:27:46.759 --> 00:27:48.000
you've got to put them in the top five.
447
00:27:48.299 --> 00:27:50.539
I don't care how they play offensively, to be honest
448
00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:55.930
with you. Tonight, I'm going to be focused on the defense. Defense, defense, defense.
449
00:27:56.369 --> 00:28:02.990
Because they're blocking a lot of shots. The lanes are
450
00:28:03.029 --> 00:28:07.059
almost impossible to pass. And they're keeping the opponent to
451
00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:12.079
the outside. So you do that with Connor Hellebuck in net.
452
00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:18.380
And Hellebuck did not give up juicy rebounds. He gobbled
453
00:28:18.420 --> 00:28:21.769
it up like Marty Berdour. That was the big difference.
454
00:28:23.990 --> 00:28:26.430
Did you hear what Kovacevic said? I think it was
455
00:28:26.450 --> 00:28:27.329
today or yesterday.
456
00:28:28.089 --> 00:28:30.630
He said that Hellebuck told him what he needed. He said,
457
00:28:30.650 --> 00:28:34.039
I need you to cover the right side of my net.
458
00:28:34.890 --> 00:28:37.299
Because everything else I got. And if you move too
459
00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:39.500
close to the left, you're going to block me. And
460
00:28:39.539 --> 00:28:41.240
I like a guy who's going to be... Brodeur was
461
00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:44.160
like that. He's like, move, Stevens. He didn't care. He
462
00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:47.119
needed everybody to know exactly what he needed. And that
463
00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:48.950
was the part of Brodeur that people didn't... They were
464
00:28:48.990 --> 00:28:53.109
just so... playing for so long, Stevens and Niedermeyer and
465
00:28:53.150 --> 00:28:58.500
Rafalski and all those guys, Danico, knew exactly what Brodeur
466
00:28:58.539 --> 00:29:02.619
needed from them, and it wasn't a ton. And Hellebuck
467
00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:05.539
is this, like, he's at, like, I thought Schneider was
468
00:29:05.579 --> 00:29:09.619
a great goalie before the injury. He wasn't as athletic
469
00:29:10.519 --> 00:29:13.700
as these guys are. Hellebuck is hella athletic. Brodeur was
470
00:29:13.789 --> 00:29:16.289
probably the most athletic goalie we maybe have ever seen.
471
00:29:18.589 --> 00:29:21.130
Which is saying something, because, you know, called fat, which
472
00:29:21.190 --> 00:29:29.019
is crazy. But yeah. So, uh, I'm ready for plugs though. Yeah.
473
00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:33.259
Let's, let's, uh, let's do some blogs right now. Okay.
474
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Pucks at pitchworks.com. Uh, we have a ton already. Uh,
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00:29:36.910 --> 00:29:39.529
JP Gambit. He's talked about how Luke Hughes is playing
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00:29:39.549 --> 00:29:41.579
like a number one defenseman is exactly what we needed.
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We needed a number one defenseman. Luke Hughes has jumped
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into that role. He's played exactly like it. I'm going
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to be writing about Sheldon Keefe tonight during the game,
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and then we'll have a lot of fallout from the,
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from the game. Also, there was a story that came
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00:29:54.349 --> 00:29:57.390
out from Peter Bob, the athletic and, Apparently Cody Glass
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00:29:57.410 --> 00:30:00.170
thought he was in the Connor Hellebuck trade. So we're
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going to talk about that too. Wow.
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That is, wow.
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All right, I'm going to plug, and this is going
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00:30:05.970 --> 00:30:07.940
to be a very quick plug because we're going to
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have game day live in about five minutes. So what
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00:30:11.460 --> 00:30:13.900
we're going to do, folks, the stream is not going
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00:30:13.940 --> 00:30:18.240
to stop. Actually, we're going to end this podcast and
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00:30:18.339 --> 00:30:18.900
we are.
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Going to switch over.
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00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:21.599
We're going to play two songs for you. I feel
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00:30:21.619 --> 00:30:25.839
like a DJ. Go Johnny Mac, go. from last season
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00:30:25.940 --> 00:30:28.519
when he was honored the ring of honor. And also
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00:30:28.539 --> 00:30:31.519
we're going to play Nico Nico and then Vinnie Parisi,
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00:30:31.559 --> 00:30:35.279
a pucks and pitchforks.com USA today. And the hockey news
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00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:38.079
will be on with me for game day live, uh,
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00:30:38.220 --> 00:30:42.259
before the devils take on the Colorado avalanche. So Nick,
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00:30:42.460 --> 00:30:47.039
thank you. I'm going to hit the music and, uh,
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00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:50.089
stay on with us. We're not going anywhere. Just give
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00:30:50.140 --> 00:30:55.660
us about five minutes to do the turnaround and, I'll
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00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:57.480
see you on the other side for Game Day Live.
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00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:56.369
Till next time, let's go Devils. Great job, Nick.
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00:31:58.329 --> 00:31:58.650
Thanks, bud.
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00:31:59.130 --> 00:32:01.819
All right, so I'm going to switch it over. Okay?
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00:32:02.299 --> 00:32:03.309
Okay, sounds good. Thanks, bud.
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Happy Doubles Wednesday.
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This is the State of the Fan Address episode.
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I think it's 373 now.
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Wow.
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I'm your host, Sam Wu, here with PucksandPitchforks.com, Editor-in-Chief Nick Villano,
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00:00:27.699 --> 00:00:32.520
as we're streaming live on Facebook Live, YouTube Live, X Live, Twitch,
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and now on Instagram Live on the Let's Go Devils Network,
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coming to you live, live from the Primetime Radio Studios,
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both North and South Jersey, covering the Garden.
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State, talking about Devils hockey today. Wait a second. Do
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we actually have a hockey team in New Jersey? Who
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are these people?
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I don't know who this Hellebuck guy is.
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Help me find my hockey team because I don't know
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how to find the hockey team. Where do I go
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to find the hockey team? I need a Canadian to
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help me find my hockey team.
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I need 15 or more media members in the locker
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room before I would consider my team a professional hockey team.
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By the way, Sid, right? Sid's his name?
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El Sid.
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I'm calling him El Sid. He obviously travels with the team,
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just like every other media member. So he must have
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been following Winnipeg today.
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I guess I think we should probably intro to the law.
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They follow the team, right? That's the big thing. And
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he did that. Right. Did, did he go to Dallas
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to talk to Connor? Hello, Buck. Get a question. Sid,
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did you get one? Sid?
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No, Sid.
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No, no.
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You're fat ass. That's what you want to be.
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Yeah.
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This bill is want to be this, this no name,
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Steve Simmons, this, this, you know, are you Canadian? Stephen A. Smith?
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Like what?
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Like again, But all those guys make money. Like, you're
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doing this for a Winnipeg radio station, talking CRAP on
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New Jersey and on the Devils and on Devils fans
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and Devils media members. And again, we reached out. We
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said we'd love to... When he was just talking about
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New Jersey, I wanted to have a conversation with the guy.
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Because I was like, you know, we get this a lot.
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And I wrote about this in PucksPitchforks.com this week. We
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get the... Parking lot parades. The armpit of America. You
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play in Newark, bro. Where are you going to live?
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Murder capital of the world. Like, we get all of
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the insults. I get it. It's fine. Was that me
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or was that you?
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What's that? I was sending you a text. Okay.
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And then you went through... Okay. So, for those who
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don't know what I'm referencing, there's a... Radio host up in,
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I think he's in Winnipeg, but maybe he's in Vancouver.
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He's somewhere. Maybe he's in Toronto. I don't know. He
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doesn't matter. But his name is Sid. He's up in,
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I think he's for, is it the Sportsnet radio station?
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I don't even know.
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Because, you know, again, I don't really know this guy.
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So here's the thing. Since the Devils traded for Connor Hellebuy,
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there's been a lot of hate towards the Media members
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who do a good job covering this team. Again, if
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you want to make fun of us when all of
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our media members left six years ago, cool. But Nichols
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has been covering the team for a while. Christy Flannery
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has been covering the team for a while. The Hockey
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Writers has had a credentialed journalist there for years now.
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It's different people and they keep moving. But Danielle Moy
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has been there for a couple of years. There's guys there.
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And Pucks and Pitchforks has guys there. Yeah. I'm there.
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J.B.
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Gambates is there. There's, you know, Trey Matthews has been
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there before. Dan Rice.
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Dan Rice.
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You know, he doesn't work for me anymore, but Dan
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Rice has done in the past. We've had people represent us. We've,
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you know, I have 20 writers who work for me
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for fans. Guess who doesn't have 20 writers who works
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for them? The Winnipeg blog. Are there 20 people in
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the world who write about Winnipeg Jets hockey? As like
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a daily driver? And guess what, Sam? I had two
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people apply to write for me today. Because guess what?
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We got a lot of fans and they're excited, Sam.
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Because we got Connor Hellebuck. And here's the thing, Sam.
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I said, you know what? This is too big a risk.
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Too big a risk. But now that it's happened... Let's
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go now. But now now the pressure's on. You got
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to win now. This is the time you because. I
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hated the Connor Hobart. No, we should.
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OK, I was just asking.
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He doesn't get he doesn't get my publicity. He doesn't
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because he's a low rent. Steve Simmons. That's what he is.
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He's OK. I want to be. clickbait nonsense artists. That's
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what he is.
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So the audience are just going to have to go by.
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You don't get to talk crap on my state. You
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don't get to talk crap for my state from Canada.
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And I like Canada, but you don't get to talk
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crap about my state. If you want to make this
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a USA versus Canada thing, that's fine. You do that.
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There's so many more reasons for that. New Jersey didn't
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do it. New Jersey's New Jersey, my wonderful country of
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New Jersey is, No, we will not be doing that.
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I will fight to the death for New Jersey. So, no.
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He doesn't get my publicity. He doesn't get... He gets Sid.
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Sid vicious over there. Trying to be all cool and
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coy and flavor of the week. Cool. You're nothing, bro.
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You're like in your 50s, too. Like, what are you doing?
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You're talking like a 22-year-old doesn't know how to do this.
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But, Nick.
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there's a lot of things I don't like about it.
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And I can't believe we're still in that. First off, we,
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I want to preface by saying this because we kind
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of gave a little bit of appetizer on game day live, uh, yesterday,
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Danielle McCartan, not because she knows as well. And with
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WFAN and all that, like she, she knows as well
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about like the insults coming from Canada. Number one, I
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want to preface by saying this. We have a lot
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of Canadian listeners on this podcast. This is not about you.
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It's about certain Canadian media members that there's a culture
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there where they just love bashing American hockey fans, the
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way America looks at hockey, and specifically New Jersey Devils,
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their media, their.
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Fans, for whatever reason. They feel the need to do that.
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We even talked about it with Chico Resch on Sunday
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as well. And this is what I have to say,
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because in Canada, you know, hockey's big. But if you
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want to grow the sport, you've got to stop being
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on this elitist high horse, a bashing... what you think
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is quote-unquote non-traditional markets and telling us how to be
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hockey fans, fandom. I mean, there's lots to go over, Nick.
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You know, I didn't want to, but I just want
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to let the fans know that this is, it's gone
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on too long and, you know, it's at the point
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right now that it's not only comical, but there's a
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reason why The country of Canada has not won the
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Cup in 33 years. There's a reason why Canada got
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their asses kicked in the Olympics, both men, women, and Paralympic,
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all in one year.
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And I hate to say it.
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Well, the reason was, I mean, the reason is only
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because we had a better team. Like, it's... America, we've
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been circling that Olympics for a while. Because that was when,
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you know, Austin Matthews was going to be in his prime.
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Matthew Kachuk was going to be in his prime. Brady
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Kachuk was going to be in his prime. Like, we
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were circling that one. You know, we thought Jack Hughes
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would be there. We knew we had the goalies. And
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now we have the starting goalie, Connor Halibooks and the Devils.
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I don't mean to cut you off, but it's not... Because, again,
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you're right. We have a lot of Canadian listeners. I
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love our Canadian fans. Like, I have so many Canadian fans.
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I've had Canadian writers. I... appreciate the level of passion
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they bring to hockey. But, you know, we've talked about this. It's,
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you know, Jack Dawkins, who is a big fan of
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the podcast, big fan of Pucks and Pitchforks, brought to me,
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he's like, are the Devils villains now? And it made
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me think because, you know, you always have to kind
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of look at it like, are we the bad guy?
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We're not. You know, Vegas is the bad guy, but
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I look at it and I'm trying to be like, okay,
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where are we in our villain era? And truly, we
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don't win enough to be villains. But if we start
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winning with this team, then yeah, I think that we
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will become villains pretty quickly. But at the same time, I.
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It's been an interesting year with the Minnesota stuff. There's
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just been a lot of fan bases who hate us
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that are random. And it's interesting because... The Devils-Rangers rivalry
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has never looked this weak. The Devils-Hurricanes rivalry has gotten weak.
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And we immediately replaced it with the Devils versus all
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of Canada, apparently. We've always had this little beef with
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Toronto ever since the Ty Domi series. What was it,
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2001 or 2000? I can't remember. Well, yeah.
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I mean, again.
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There's always been some hatred. In that, right? Like, ever since,
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even when they were bad and we were bad, those
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games are a little rougher. But this Minnesota thing, I'm
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curious what's going to happen when they come to Newark
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and when we go to St. Paul, I think. And
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I'm interested to see this Winnipeg thing. You know, all
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the other guys they added, like, Luca Evangelista, like, Nashville
181
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seems to be sad that he's gone, but nobody's really
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mad Um, Anthony Manta hasn't been on a team long
183
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enough to, to have like a real rivalry. Um, and
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all the other guys like Dougie Hamlet's in the same thing.
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Like he never really had a rivalry. Like there's a
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little thing with the hurricanes, but it was something like
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Eric Holla. Eric Holla was like the big rival of
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the hurricanes when he was here. Um, I'm just thinking
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like all the new pieces, um, And none of them, like,
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Evan Rodriguez, same thing. He's just been on a couple teams.
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Florida is just happy that he had such a big
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role in winning a Stanley Cup. And same thing with Boquist. Like,
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so this is the one move that's full of hatred,
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and Quinn Hughes would be the other. Right? Like, Minnesota
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fans would hate Quinn Hughes, just like we hated Zach
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Barisi if he left and came here. Winnipeg fans hate
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Connor Hellebuck. They hate him. I think that's clear, and
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that's fine. We've had our spew with Ilya Kovachuk, with
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Zach Parisi, with Scott Gomez, a little bit with Bobby O'League.
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I feel like Bobby O'League is the exception because we
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didn't want to pay him $ 9 million a year in 2000.
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So I think everybody was like, go get your money, dude.
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It's fine. But John McClain, I remember John McClain got
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a lot of hate back in the day with the
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way he left the Devils. I feel like Claude Lemieux
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got a little bit of a pass. I don't know
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if you, maybe I'm misremembering that. I don't feel like
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we ever had hatred towards Claude Lemieux. Like we had
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for McLean or some of the other guys who left.
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Well, he went to Colorado. Okay, McLean, you know, went
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to the Rangers.
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He left for San Jose and the Rangers.
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Yeah, so that's a big difference. Eventually, Claude came back.
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It was more, and at the time, Lou had a reputation, real,
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you know, reputation of, being a hard ass when it
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came to contracts.
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So, right. We kind of, I feel like there was
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no hate.
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So I was like Ralston or even Garen, you know,
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or Andrew Chuck, like all these guys who just like,
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you know, it didn't work out or McGill me, you know,
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McGill me left for a contract with Toronto, you know?
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So there was only, there was only very specific instances
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where there was hatred. And I think it was Gomez, McLean,
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Parisi and Kovalchuk. I feel like those were like the
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main four. Am I right there?
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What, Kovalchuk?
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Kovalchuk, Parisi, McClain, and Gomez were the guys who got
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the hatred for leaving the Devils.
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Well, Bobby Holik was big. Bobby Holik was bigger than Gomez.
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Did you think we hated him, though? I didn't feel
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that way.
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Yeah, because he was the first to really be the villain.
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Yeah, I remember it very, very well. I mean, he
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left for the money, and he let.
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Everybody know about it. He was, you know, Bobby Holic.
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He was very, very vocal. Scott Gomez was more of a,
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you know, he kind of trolled you about it a
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little bit, but no, Bobby Holic, that was a big, big.
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Big deal. Do you think they hated Holic more than McClain? No.
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No, yes.
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McLean, really? No, I disagree. But you were older at
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the time, not to call you out, but I was around.
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McLean was like an original devil. You know, he was
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an original.
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There was some depreciation there.
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Yeah, but holy, the way it went down, like when
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he was on that one-year contract year, you know, again.
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Kind of similar to Parisey.
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Yeah, Parisi just couldn't make up his mind. And I
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think his dad eventually, you know, got to him. But,
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you know, with this whole thing with Minnesota, I mean,
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I'm so fed up with Minnesota Wild fans to the
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point where I almost think that Minnesota is basically like Canada.
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Just our attitude, you know, that elitist hockey attitude. And,
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you know, when I'm trolling, I'm getting all these questions
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all the time. have you ever put on skates? And
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it's like, how many times have I have to repeat
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to all of you? The first time I put on
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ice skates was probably three years old and it was
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on a pond.
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Yeah. I've been, I've been skating for a long time.
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They, they, these elitist hockey fans up North and even
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Minnesota have think like new jersey is like we've never
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even like put on ice skates before or we don't
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even have ice a sheet of ice to skate on
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like it's really like they don't like my my alma
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mater my high school if you go through the hallways
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there are pictures from the late 1800s of that ice
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hockey team you know that that skated on ponds and
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there was actually organized hockey in new jersey and in
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the late 1800s, Thomas Edison, the first thing he filmed,
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the first video camera, whatever you want to call it,
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was an ice hockey game, I believe, in New Jersey.
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I mean, you know, I lived in the town next
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to Jim Dowd, and Jim Dowd was, what, high school,
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like the 80s?
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Yeah.
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Probably, you know, when you.
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Yeah, but, you know, again... With all this hellebuck, let's
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get back to the topic. With all this hellebuck, you know,
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it makes for great storylines, Nick. But, you know, I
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think what's fueling it is just jealous envy around the
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National Hockey League with a lot of these media members.
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It's a big storm. It's that plus getting clicks, obviously,
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getting eyeballs. Trying to be bold. But the act is
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really getting old.
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It's really getting old.
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I'll give them this. Players do like how the media
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functions here. They do. They like being close to New
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York and having New Jersey media. They do. I know
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that that's how they feel.
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And.
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There have been times... where our media has taken rightful criticism,
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I feel like that's no longer the case. I don't
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know how it is with Novo not there anymore. I
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haven't been in that room since he's gone to cover
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the Eagles. But I've seen James ask tough questions. I've
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seen other guys ask tough questions. Of course Amanda's not
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going to ask a tough question. She works for the team,
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and that's fine. And she always gets the first couple
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of questions. That's fine. to Amanda's credit, she asks interesting questions,
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you know, but they're not tough, right? The tough questions
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are going to come from James when I'm there, you know, Daniel, Daniel's,
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you know, getting comfortable with that too. Christie's not afraid to,
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to ask any questions. She usually has a story in
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mind and she's a great storyteller. So like, you know, I,
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I think she's kind of coming in from a different
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angle and I appreciate that, but, Keefe doesn't get off
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the hook. Is it Toronto? No. Is it even half
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of Toronto? No. But Toronto's a different beast. You know
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what I mean? It's similar, like, but even like Rangers media.
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I feel like since, you know, the unfortunate passing of
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Larry Brooks. Larry Brooks. You know, there's not a ton
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00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:26.759
of it. Right? There's not a ton of people getting
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called out. And... I think that's media today in America.
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I don't see a lot of Aaron Boone getting called out.
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You know what I mean? Like, he goes on John Boy.
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You know what I mean? Like, media's different today. And Canada...
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is kind of stuck in the past a little bit
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with their media.
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Well, before I was.
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I wanted to say that in the beginning when I
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was going on my rant about Canada getting their asses
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kicked in the Olympics. Canada is, like, 15 years behind
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the times in... the Canadian media, they've always been 15
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years behind the times. You know, they always have. And they,
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it's like hockey in Canada has plateaued, in my opinion.
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It's totally plateaued. It's not going to grow anymore. It's
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not going to decline, but it's just not, it's hit its.
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Ceiling.
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And it has for a while now.
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We only got a couple minutes left.
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Oh, sorry.
335
00:20:42.019 --> 00:20:44.720
No, just one thing, because there was this other thing.
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I forgot which show it was, which was Overdrive 1050,
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or it was saying that all the money's in Canada. Like,
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Edmonton's the number one team. Well, first off, there's reasons
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for it. Edmonton has two things, oil, and they have
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Conor McDavid. Of course they're going to be.
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Oilers. Yeah.
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So that's the reason why. But I also want to
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point out, back in the late 90s, all these Canadian
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teams were in deep, deep, deep, deep trouble.
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Why?
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Because the currency, the difference between the United States and Canada,
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plus the expansion.
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It's hurting them now.
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What's that?
350
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Well, yeah. The currency difference is hurting them now. Yeah.
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00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:35.289
But back in those days, it was... It was a
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lot different. But the league, the league itself, I mean,
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they had to move the Winnipeg Jets to Arizona. The
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first Winnipeg Jets, you know, and Quebec went to Colorado.
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There was a reason for it because the league was
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about to go under because of the Canadian teams.
357
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People forget about that.
358
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Yeah, they have fans. Yeah, they love hockey. But economics matters. So,
359
00:22:02.910 --> 00:22:05.089
you know, you can make fun of the United States
360
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all you want, like in Florida or Tampa and all that,
361
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but the reason why the United States beat you badly
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in the Olympics is because you're on this elitist high
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horse and you think everything's going to be handed to
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00:22:21.019 --> 00:22:24.599
you because you're Canadian, but the Americans have been working
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so hard since 1980 to get to that point. That's
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why you got your asses kicked.
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And.
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I'm just telling how I see it. That's all.
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I'm going to pivot because I've only got a couple
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minutes left. How did you feel about their performance yesterday?
371
00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:51.470
It felt like the late 90s and early 2000.
372
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This might be... Go ahead.
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The fundamentals are finally there. Under the Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment...
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since they bought the team, I have yet to see
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the fundamentals up until the last three or four games.
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And I'm talking about defensive fundamentals. I'm talking about when
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00:23:14.529 --> 00:23:18.359
things go wrong, you have a player that slides from
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their position to help. It was very, very a pleasure
379
00:23:25.059 --> 00:23:25.519
to watch.
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00:23:25.859 --> 00:23:28.779
I love defense. I've said this on this podcast so
381
00:23:28.819 --> 00:23:30.509
many times. I love defense.
382
00:23:31.259 --> 00:23:35.539
And watching Luke Hughes protect the puck and stay in
383
00:23:35.640 --> 00:23:40.420
his own lane, so to speak, and knowing when to
384
00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:46.579
pinch in and when not to, he's blossoming. And this
385
00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.819
is less than a year from getting booed on January 4th.
386
00:23:52.099 --> 00:23:57.809
Yeah, I think back to how people were calling for
387
00:23:57.849 --> 00:24:01.130
Sheldon Keefe's job like two weeks ago. Maybe less than that.
388
00:24:01.990 --> 00:24:06.210
People were talking about breaking up the core. 10 days ago.
389
00:24:08.170 --> 00:24:11.559
People were talking about trading Jesper Brat. People were legitimately
390
00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:18.180
talking about trading Nico Heischer. People were saying the mistakes
391
00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:23.579
that were made. And again, I've said this then. I'll
392
00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:26.940
say it now. Don't get too high. Don't get too low.
393
00:24:29.900 --> 00:24:36.019
But Sam, I really think... I think the Devils are
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00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:40.400
the clear number two in the Metro with Hellebuck. That's
395
00:24:40.420 --> 00:24:44.079
where they sit right now. I think Washington's going to
396
00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:47.140
bounce back. They're going to get back into it. I
397
00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:56.109
think they're fourth right now. The Rangers... Their defense hasn't
398
00:24:56.119 --> 00:24:57.619
been nearly as good as I thought it would be.
399
00:24:58.569 --> 00:25:00.930
So I don't know about them. But the Devils are
400
00:25:00.950 --> 00:25:05.079
the clear second best team in this division. Carolina's clearly
401
00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:08.099
the best. I don't think New Jersey's as good as Carolina.
402
00:25:08.539 --> 00:25:12.720
But when you have Hellebuck and they have Brandon Boosie,
403
00:25:14.380 --> 00:25:18.940
that's a clear win for you. And this is how
404
00:25:18.980 --> 00:25:22.359
I broke it down in my head. Seven game series.
405
00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:28.380
You need four wins against Carolina. We've shown that we
406
00:25:28.420 --> 00:25:34.279
can out-duel them through an overtime game. So you need
407
00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:37.440
that one. You need Kyle Hellebuck to steal one. You
408
00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:41.759
need your offense to steal one. And you could beat
409
00:25:41.819 --> 00:25:45.210
a team like Carolina. The one thing you can't have
410
00:25:45.250 --> 00:25:50.609
happen is the special teams disaster that they had the
411
00:25:50.630 --> 00:25:53.849
last time they played Carolina. Did they score zero power
412
00:25:53.869 --> 00:25:55.250
play goals or did they get one in the last game?
413
00:25:55.289 --> 00:25:59.630
I forget. Who's this? When they played Carolina in 2025.
414
00:25:59.630 --> 00:26:00.390
I think it.
415
00:26:04.450 --> 00:26:05.009
Was zero.
416
00:26:05.910 --> 00:26:08.900
Yeah. We didn't talk about it because Carolina was clearly
417
00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:12.920
the better team. We didn't have Jack Hughes. We lost
418
00:26:12.980 --> 00:26:15.000
Luke Hughes in game one. We had so many injuries.
419
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.069
Even with all that, the Devils lost because of special teams.
420
00:26:20.309 --> 00:26:23.609
Because I think they gave up a shorthanded goal or two.
421
00:26:24.230 --> 00:26:27.240
They gave up. multiple goals in the penalty kill, and
422
00:26:27.259 --> 00:26:28.819
they scored zero power play goals. And they had a
423
00:26:28.839 --> 00:26:31.000
ton of power plays. They were getting guys in the
424
00:26:31.059 --> 00:26:33.599
box and not taking advantage of it, and they lost
425
00:26:33.660 --> 00:26:38.279
all momentum. It was a disaster class. And Mark Shaw
426
00:26:38.299 --> 00:26:40.549
was really good in that series. So if you get
427
00:26:40.589 --> 00:26:43.769
that version, all you need from Connor Hellebuck is a
428
00:26:43.809 --> 00:26:47.309
guy who's going to make three saves more than the
429
00:26:47.349 --> 00:26:52.289
last guy. And that sounds like a lot, but truly
430
00:26:52.329 --> 00:27:00.529
it's not. You know, he's going to... He's going to
431
00:27:00.549 --> 00:27:03.289
make all the easy saves. Like, that's the thing about
432
00:27:03.329 --> 00:27:06.630
Hellebuck is you don't get a softie. The Elves haven't
433
00:27:06.650 --> 00:27:09.049
had it in a long time. You know, that was
434
00:27:09.069 --> 00:27:10.930
the thing about Schneider. Schneider would make these big saves
435
00:27:10.990 --> 00:27:13.450
and let in a softie. Nico Dawes would make these
436
00:27:13.490 --> 00:27:15.430
big saves and let in a softie. Jake Allen this
437
00:27:15.470 --> 00:27:18.630
year has been letting in softies. Connor Hellebuck doesn't let
438
00:27:18.690 --> 00:27:20.470
in softies. It never happens.
439
00:27:21.470 --> 00:27:21.690
So.
440
00:27:22.460 --> 00:27:26.599
I think it's a difference. I think this team is legitimately...
441
00:27:26.109 --> 00:27:32.170
It's top 10, no doubt. No doubt. I think you're
442
00:27:32.289 --> 00:27:34.230
really going to have to start having a conversation about
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00:27:34.269 --> 00:27:40.099
top five around Thanksgiving time. If they're still playing this well.
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00:27:40.210 --> 00:27:41.819
They don't have to win every game, obviously. But if
445
00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:46.720
they're playing 700 hockey from now until then, I think
446
00:27:46.759 --> 00:27:48.000
you've got to put them in the top five.
447
00:27:48.299 --> 00:27:50.539
I don't care how they play offensively, to be honest
448
00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:55.930
with you. Tonight, I'm going to be focused on the defense. Defense, defense, defense.
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00:27:56.369 --> 00:28:02.990
Because they're blocking a lot of shots. The lanes are
450
00:28:03.029 --> 00:28:07.059
almost impossible to pass. And they're keeping the opponent to
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00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:12.079
the outside. So you do that with Connor Hellebuck in net.
452
00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:18.380
And Hellebuck did not give up juicy rebounds. He gobbled
453
00:28:18.420 --> 00:28:21.769
it up like Marty Berdour. That was the big difference.
454
00:28:23.990 --> 00:28:26.430
Did you hear what Kovacevic said? I think it was
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00:28:26.450 --> 00:28:27.329
today or yesterday.
456
00:28:28.089 --> 00:28:30.630
He said that Hellebuck told him what he needed. He said,
457
00:28:30.650 --> 00:28:34.039
I need you to cover the right side of my net.
458
00:28:34.890 --> 00:28:37.299
Because everything else I got. And if you move too
459
00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:39.500
close to the left, you're going to block me. And
460
00:28:39.539 --> 00:28:41.240
I like a guy who's going to be... Brodeur was
461
00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:44.160
like that. He's like, move, Stevens. He didn't care. He
462
00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:47.119
needed everybody to know exactly what he needed. And that
463
00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:48.950
was the part of Brodeur that people didn't... They were
464
00:28:48.990 --> 00:28:53.109
just so... playing for so long, Stevens and Niedermeyer and
465
00:28:53.150 --> 00:28:58.500
Rafalski and all those guys, Danico, knew exactly what Brodeur
466
00:28:58.539 --> 00:29:02.619
needed from them, and it wasn't a ton. And Hellebuck
467
00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:05.539
is this, like, he's at, like, I thought Schneider was
468
00:29:05.579 --> 00:29:09.619
a great goalie before the injury. He wasn't as athletic
469
00:29:10.519 --> 00:29:13.700
as these guys are. Hellebuck is hella athletic. Brodeur was
470
00:29:13.789 --> 00:29:16.289
probably the most athletic goalie we maybe have ever seen.
471
00:29:18.589 --> 00:29:21.130
Which is saying something, because, you know, called fat, which
472
00:29:21.190 --> 00:29:29.019
is crazy. But yeah. So, uh, I'm ready for plugs though. Yeah.
473
00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:33.259
Let's, let's, uh, let's do some blogs right now. Okay.
474
00:29:33.339 --> 00:29:36.490
Pucks at pitchworks.com. Uh, we have a ton already. Uh,
475
00:29:36.910 --> 00:29:39.529
JP Gambit. He's talked about how Luke Hughes is playing
476
00:29:39.549 --> 00:29:41.579
like a number one defenseman is exactly what we needed.
477
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:43.869
We needed a number one defenseman. Luke Hughes has jumped
478
00:29:43.910 --> 00:29:46.210
into that role. He's played exactly like it. I'm going
479
00:29:46.230 --> 00:29:48.990
to be writing about Sheldon Keefe tonight during the game,
480
00:29:49.450 --> 00:29:51.769
and then we'll have a lot of fallout from the,
481
00:29:51.930 --> 00:29:54.329
from the game. Also, there was a story that came
482
00:29:54.349 --> 00:29:57.390
out from Peter Bob, the athletic and, Apparently Cody Glass
483
00:29:57.410 --> 00:30:00.170
thought he was in the Connor Hellebuck trade. So we're
484
00:30:00.190 --> 00:30:02.009
going to talk about that too. Wow.
485
00:30:02.630 --> 00:30:03.690
That is, wow.
486
00:30:03.710 --> 00:30:05.950
All right, I'm going to plug, and this is going
487
00:30:05.970 --> 00:30:07.940
to be a very quick plug because we're going to
488
00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:11.440
have game day live in about five minutes. So what
489
00:30:11.460 --> 00:30:13.900
we're going to do, folks, the stream is not going
490
00:30:13.940 --> 00:30:18.240
to stop. Actually, we're going to end this podcast and
491
00:30:18.339 --> 00:30:18.900
we are.
492
00:30:18.819 --> 00:30:19.359
Going to switch over.
493
00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:21.599
We're going to play two songs for you. I feel
494
00:30:21.619 --> 00:30:25.839
like a DJ. Go Johnny Mac, go. from last season
495
00:30:25.940 --> 00:30:28.519
when he was honored the ring of honor. And also
496
00:30:28.539 --> 00:30:31.519
we're going to play Nico Nico and then Vinnie Parisi,
497
00:30:31.559 --> 00:30:35.279
a pucks and pitchforks.com USA today. And the hockey news
498
00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:38.079
will be on with me for game day live, uh,
499
00:30:38.220 --> 00:30:42.259
before the devils take on the Colorado avalanche. So Nick,
500
00:30:42.460 --> 00:30:47.039
thank you. I'm going to hit the music and, uh,
501
00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:50.089
stay on with us. We're not going anywhere. Just give
502
00:30:50.140 --> 00:30:55.660
us about five minutes to do the turnaround and, I'll
503
00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:57.480
see you on the other side for Game Day Live.
504
00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:56.369
Till next time, let's go Devils. Great job, Nick.
505
00:31:58.329 --> 00:31:58.650
Thanks, bud.
506
00:31:59.130 --> 00:32:01.819
All right, so I'm going to switch it over. Okay?
507
00:32:02.299 --> 00:32:03.309
Okay, sounds good. Thanks, bud.
