Indefensible (SOTFA EP368)

WEBVTT
1
00:00:14.039 --> 00:00:17.859
Happy Devils Wednesday. This is a State of the Fan Address,
2
00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:27.559
episode 368, titled Indefensible. I'm your host, Sam Wu, here
3
00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:33.500
with PucksandPitchforks.com, editor-in-chief Nick Villano, as we're streaming live on
4
00:00:33.859 --> 00:00:39.200
Facebook Live, YouTube Live, X Live, Twitch, and now on
5
00:00:39.270 --> 00:00:43.189
Instagram Live on... The Let's Go Devils Network coming to
6
00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.689
you live, live from the Primetime Radio Studios inside the
7
00:00:46.829 --> 00:00:52.369
bunkers of both North and South Jersey, covering the Garden State,
8
00:00:53.009 --> 00:00:58.770
talking Devils hockey. Lots of people filing in YouTube Live
9
00:00:58.810 --> 00:01:02.869
right now at Let's Go Devils. Nick, we got a lot,
10
00:01:03.729 --> 00:01:09.200
lots to talk about, about this team, some shenanigans, and
11
00:01:09.239 --> 00:01:11.790
all that stuff. How are you, my friend?
12
00:01:11.810 --> 00:01:15.209
Oh, I think you can tell the people I'm pretty
13
00:01:15.250 --> 00:01:18.629
spicy tonight. And obviously we're a little later than usual
14
00:01:18.670 --> 00:01:21.650
because we had some technical difficulties, which is adding to
15
00:01:21.689 --> 00:01:22.909
the spice of the night.
16
00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:26.230
Yeah. And you know what? Just to add to the
17
00:01:26.290 --> 00:01:33.340
spice of the night, thanks to Cellular Therapy's comment, I
18
00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:36.239
added some juice to your microphone so we can match.
19
00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:36.719
Wow. Yeah.
20
00:01:37.299 --> 00:01:38.260
Yeah. You sound loud.
21
00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:41.069
Yeah, we got to be listening. I got juice tonight.
22
00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:46.890
I got juice tonight, Sam. I'm going to breakfast solve
23
00:01:46.950 --> 00:01:53.040
this by saying I am still... I still have a
24
00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:56.480
lot of faith in this team. I still think they're
25
00:01:56.700 --> 00:02:07.700
pretty good. But my goodness, this defense stinks. And.
26
00:02:09.349 --> 00:02:15.009
The problem with this defense stinking is Luke Hughes has
27
00:02:15.090 --> 00:02:22.620
been incredible. That's an issue because the, the only way
28
00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:26.979
you could see this defense stinking entirely is if you
29
00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:30.560
got last year's Luke Hughes and last year's Brad passion. Like, okay,
30
00:02:30.759 --> 00:02:33.379
well then your bones, you got to go get somebody,
31
00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:38.520
but you have two years ago, Luke Hughes. He's had
32
00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:41.629
a full training camp. He looks like a superstar. He's
33
00:02:41.949 --> 00:02:45.229
one of the better players out there every night, every shift.
34
00:02:46.289 --> 00:02:49.689
He made that one mistake, but with guys like Luke Hughes,
35
00:02:49.909 --> 00:02:52.569
you're going to get more than he gets. And you
36
00:02:52.590 --> 00:02:55.240
weren't getting that last year, which was the issue. But now,
37
00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:59.060
he does so much offensively. He does so much in transition.
38
00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.400
He does so much for zone exits and zone entries.
39
00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:06.659
He's become a legit guy. And Brett Pesci has been
40
00:03:07.219 --> 00:03:17.669
Dougie Hamilton it's been high and low variance with Hamilton
41
00:03:17.750 --> 00:03:19.469
I need him to play a little bit more in
42
00:03:19.490 --> 00:03:22.150
the middle but I still think his output is more
43
00:03:22.169 --> 00:03:29.659
than his input and that's saying something because he has
44
00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:33.000
been on the ice for I think 7 goals against
45
00:03:33.639 --> 00:03:37.770
which is bad that's really bad But the results aren't
46
00:03:37.849 --> 00:03:44.310
matching the output. Here's the problem. Is that you put
47
00:03:44.349 --> 00:03:46.969
yourself in a position where your goalies need good defense
48
00:03:47.009 --> 00:03:50.379
and you don't have a good defense. That's the issue, right?
49
00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.659
Nico Dawes had a terrible night on Saturday night. Jay
50
00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:58.469
Gallen was average at best last night, but probably below average.
51
00:03:59.810 --> 00:04:02.770
And Jay Gallen was great on Thursday night for the
52
00:04:02.789 --> 00:04:11.789
home opener. So... vis-a-vis to say you i i think
53
00:04:11.830 --> 00:04:14.009
the people jumping off the cliff you need to come
54
00:04:14.050 --> 00:04:19.050
back let's let's calm down a little bit because the
55
00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:22.819
results that you needed outside of the standings are there
56
00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:28.639
luke hughes great that's what you needed um luke evangelista
57
00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:34.110
great really needed that um I've liked what I've seen
58
00:04:34.149 --> 00:04:36.050
from the fourth line. They've looked really good. They look
59
00:04:36.089 --> 00:04:38.750
even better with Bocas last night. One of the better
60
00:04:38.810 --> 00:04:47.649
lines out there. There's a couple things that are just
61
00:04:48.410 --> 00:04:53.069
not clicking. Gritsik isn't working with Rodriguez for some reason.
62
00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:59.439
That's not working. I think I would recommend putting Rodriguez
63
00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:02.199
on the fourth line and putting Glass on the third line.
64
00:05:03.189 --> 00:05:13.009
And going Glass-Mercer. Honestly... I might even flip Lombardi and Gritsik.
65
00:05:13.509 --> 00:05:19.779
And then just make Glass... Boquist... Gritsik your third line.
66
00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:24.100
And make Lombardi, Rodriguez, Mercer your fourth line. I don't...
67
00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:30.079
Love what I see from Mercer so far. I thought
68
00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:37.329
he had some moments... I think it was last night. But, like,
69
00:05:37.370 --> 00:05:40.209
that line isn't clicking. And I don't want to overreact
70
00:05:40.250 --> 00:05:43.610
to lines. Because, like, obviously, Anthony Manta's not clicking with
71
00:05:43.629 --> 00:05:47.310
Jack Hughes and just for Brett. But I knew that
72
00:05:47.350 --> 00:05:50.029
was going to happen. And I said that before the season,
73
00:05:50.050 --> 00:05:53.269
that you have to give the Manta thing time. Because
74
00:05:53.629 --> 00:05:57.339
Hughes and Brett have so much chemistry. And Manta's going
75
00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.620
to play a very specific role that they're not used
76
00:06:00.660 --> 00:06:05.720
to having on that. Right? Like, he's the shooter. He's
77
00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:11.379
the high leverage shooter. And so far, they've really only
78
00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:12.920
put him in the front of the net to clean
79
00:06:12.980 --> 00:06:15.180
up rebounds. And that's not.
80
00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:19.220
There's value in that, but I don't think it's on
81
00:06:19.259 --> 00:06:22.779
that line. So you really have to change his perspective.
82
00:06:22.819 --> 00:06:25.439
You want him to play like Ovechkin. And I'm not
83
00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:28.879
saying he's not nearly as good as Ovechkin even today.
84
00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:33.009
But you want him to be... a guy in his office,
85
00:06:33.110 --> 00:06:34.509
you don't want him to stand in front of the
86
00:06:34.529 --> 00:06:37.910
net and just like block the goalie. You know, maybe
87
00:06:37.949 --> 00:06:40.629
that happens sometimes, but it can't be the design of
88
00:06:40.689 --> 00:06:45.459
his function. He has to rip. He has to be
89
00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:47.600
in a spot to rip at all times. And it's just,
90
00:06:47.899 --> 00:06:50.040
when you stick them in front of the goalie, you're
91
00:06:50.060 --> 00:06:54.689
essentially playing five on four until a rebound happens because
92
00:06:55.029 --> 00:06:57.290
he can't like, you're not going to pass to him
93
00:06:57.769 --> 00:07:01.420
when you're, when you're, When Jack Hughes is skating up
94
00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:04.100
near the blue line, he's not going to pass to
95
00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:07.019
the guy right underneath the goal. So you're basically playing
96
00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:09.879
five on four. You have to put him in a
97
00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:14.589
shooting position. And they'll get there, right? I have faith
98
00:07:14.649 --> 00:07:16.689
in Sheldon Keefe. And you got to remember, Ted Donato's
99
00:07:17.009 --> 00:07:20.170
first year here too, right? He spent all these years
100
00:07:20.230 --> 00:07:22.449
as a head coach. There's a lot of growing pains
101
00:07:22.470 --> 00:07:24.769
that are going to happen here. And I know nobody
102
00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:27.519
wants to hear that. Nobody wants to hear about growing pains.
103
00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:32.850
But it's the reality of the situation. Right? You have to...
104
00:07:34.370 --> 00:07:41.470
Your biggest issue is, is Jack Hughes bought in? I
105
00:07:41.509 --> 00:07:43.379
think his brother's bought in. So that would make me
106
00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:49.379
think he's bought in. Because you can't lose Hughes. Right? Like,
107
00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:52.060
he was so bought into New Jersey all last year,
108
00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:54.579
even through all the pain. He's so bought into New
109
00:07:54.620 --> 00:07:58.500
Jersey throughout the offseason. You have to get them bought
110
00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:03.079
into what Sonny Meda is doing. And I don't think
111
00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:05.120
you're going to have a lost season. So I get
112
00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.600
the stress, right? There's a lot of stress that's coming
113
00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:10.199
with this season. There's a lot of pressure early on
114
00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:12.480
to show what you can do. But you also have
115
00:08:12.500 --> 00:08:15.680
a lot of people saying, remember what happened last year?
116
00:08:15.699 --> 00:08:19.850
I think it was 7-1 or 8-1. Maybe it was 8-1.
117
00:08:19.870 --> 00:08:22.689
The only one 8-1 to start the season? That meant nothing.
118
00:08:23.730 --> 00:08:26.629
Because they missed the playoffs by more than 10 points.
119
00:08:30.810 --> 00:08:35.490
The season's long, guys. Like, we're like 3%, 4% into
120
00:08:35.789 --> 00:08:39.620
the season. They were 4% into the season. 5, maybe
121
00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:42.519
we're 5% into the season. And here's the thing, they
122
00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:47.320
got a win! They have a win. And you may
123
00:08:47.340 --> 00:08:52.350
not realize this, but every single team in the Eastern
124
00:08:52.389 --> 00:08:58.049
Conference has lost a game. I think what's... I just
125
00:08:58.070 --> 00:09:00.389
think there's a lot of pressure on the season. And
126
00:09:00.490 --> 00:09:04.830
maybe we just need to... Have a down notch. I
127
00:09:04.870 --> 00:09:06.629
really think this team's like third in the Metro.
128
00:09:08.370 --> 00:09:08.649
And.
129
00:09:09.929 --> 00:09:12.009
That's going to get you like... You're going to get
130
00:09:12.049 --> 00:09:14.460
time to lose games when you're third in the Metro.
131
00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:18.500
You need like 98 points. And.
132
00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:19.220
You know.
133
00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:23.440
There's some... You're going to lose two games in a
134
00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:26.639
row sometimes. And... You know, there's a lot of stress...
135
00:09:27.549 --> 00:09:33.980
Also because you're 6-0. It was just Dawes. And I
136
00:09:34.019 --> 00:09:37.980
hate to say that because I've got a lot of
137
00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.580
people who are going to be in my mentions with
138
00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:44.470
I told you so's if Dawes is bad. Because I
139
00:09:44.509 --> 00:09:47.509
put a lot of chips in that basket. I have
140
00:09:47.549 --> 00:09:54.289
a lot of stock in Dawes. But I'll tell you this.
141
00:09:58.899 --> 00:10:01.539
I wouldn't say I'd rather. be the Devils than the Rangers.
142
00:10:03.379 --> 00:10:07.590
But the Devils outside of the net have been playing
143
00:10:07.610 --> 00:10:11.169
better than the Rangers. And the Rangers are 4-1. And
144
00:10:11.210 --> 00:10:13.009
I know people hate to hear that. And I kind
145
00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:15.970
of hate saying it, just to be frank. But the
146
00:10:16.049 --> 00:10:21.750
Rangers are doing it on impossibly good goaltending. And they
147
00:10:21.789 --> 00:10:23.259
have one of the best in the world, Mr. Sarkin,
148
00:10:23.620 --> 00:10:29.059
and Garand is a great player. Obviously, the Devils probably
149
00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:33.679
should have claimed Garand over Poirier, but timing just didn't
150
00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:36.340
work out for that, and that's okay. Timing doesn't always
151
00:10:36.379 --> 00:10:42.779
work out in sports. But, you know, the Rangers, everything's
152
00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:47.360
going in for the Rangers, and nothing has gone in
153
00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:50.919
for the Devils. You know, they finally broke out last
154
00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:57.240
night with three goals in regulation. They really had four.
155
00:10:57.259 --> 00:10:59.820
I want to talk about the intent to blow the
156
00:10:59.860 --> 00:11:02.500
whistle because I wrote about it last night. They had
157
00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:06.720
four goals. Still, that's not enough to win. I like
158
00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:08.480
the fight at the end of the game. They really
159
00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:11.659
pushed hard. I kind of think if that intent to
160
00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:14.820
blow the whistle wouldn't have counted. I like their chances
161
00:11:15.179 --> 00:11:17.379
to score again because.
162
00:11:21.049 --> 00:11:23.470
There was just something, there was a fire that I
163
00:11:23.509 --> 00:11:27.610
haven't seen so far this season in those last two minutes. Um,
164
00:11:30.190 --> 00:11:35.039
it's good. It's good to have that fire at that moment. They,
165
00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:40.639
they need to figure out. I mean, I was a
166
00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:43.220
big man. A lot of guys. I put, put my
167
00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:46.019
stock into this off season. It's not looking good for me.
168
00:11:46.059 --> 00:11:51.960
Cause the Bradshaw system's looking real bad. Um, guys were
169
00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:59.029
open all the time yesterday. And that's what was most frustrating. Like, yeah,
170
00:11:59.049 --> 00:12:01.590
the 5-3 loss, I think the Allen should have been better.
171
00:12:03.009 --> 00:12:06.500
But my big issue is that the way they played
172
00:12:06.509 --> 00:12:11.539
in their own zone was narcissistic. That's probably not the
173
00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:15.879
right word, but like, it just, it was disgusting. There
174
00:12:15.899 --> 00:12:18.990
was always a guy open with a passing lane to
175
00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:23.250
get it to him. You can't have both. You can
176
00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:28.750
have decoys, right? Where it's meant to intercept a pass.
177
00:12:30.750 --> 00:12:33.850
Penalty kill was bad. And I get that Utah has
178
00:12:33.889 --> 00:12:37.210
the best power play in the National Hockey League right now.
179
00:12:38.169 --> 00:12:41.909
I get it. Penalty kill wasn't good. There was always
180
00:12:41.929 --> 00:12:44.049
a guy open. There was always a passing lane. There
181
00:12:44.100 --> 00:12:47.600
was always movement. There was always... It was a struggle
182
00:12:47.659 --> 00:12:51.500
for the Devils the whole time. I wrote about Brandon
183
00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:59.080
Dillon today. Bad performance. And here's the thing. I feel
184
00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:05.970
like this happened last year. He just doesn't have sexual
185
00:13:06.090 --> 00:13:14.490
awareness when it comes to fighting. To fight when you
186
00:13:14.570 --> 00:13:19.590
just lost your other left-handed defenseman. taking yourself off the
187
00:13:19.669 --> 00:13:22.009
ice for more than five minutes in the most crucial
188
00:13:22.049 --> 00:13:28.659
part of the game. The veteran. And, like, the extra
189
00:13:28.700 --> 00:13:31.559
two-minute roughing or whatever, instigator or whatever the heck they
190
00:13:31.580 --> 00:13:35.779
wanted to call it. Notwithstanding. Also stupid. And they're going
191
00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:39.750
to call that sometimes, even if it's not fair. So
192
00:13:39.769 --> 00:13:47.429
you got... It was a stupid fight. For him. If
193
00:13:47.470 --> 00:13:53.970
you wanted to send even Rodriguez. Like, if you wanted
194
00:13:53.990 --> 00:13:58.570
to send Rodriguez out there to fight him, sure. Because
195
00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:01.850
Cody Glass could play that third line. You could double-duty
196
00:14:01.889 --> 00:14:06.289
Jack Hughes. You could double-duty Nico Ischer. Honestly, probably better, right?
197
00:14:06.309 --> 00:14:09.710
Because you're getting offensive guys out there in those big moments.
198
00:14:11.809 --> 00:14:14.299
But, yeah, I....
199
00:14:16.490 --> 00:14:21.659
I don't understand his thought process there outside of just
200
00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:27.039
being very singular minded. Again, I'm not somebody who minds fighting.
201
00:14:27.080 --> 00:14:30.440
I understand his place in the game. The moment made
202
00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:36.289
no sense. The moment was ridiculous and made it harder
203
00:14:36.330 --> 00:14:40.590
for the Devils to play. But Sam, you're back.
204
00:14:41.169 --> 00:14:45.159
I'm back. I had a little emergency. Had to leave. unexpectedly,
205
00:14:45.179 --> 00:14:50.419
I apologize to everybody. Didn't catch what you were talking
206
00:14:50.460 --> 00:14:52.100
about before, Nick, but.
207
00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:55.700
Well, right now we're talking about Brendan Dillon. Yeah. And
208
00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:58.899
I don't think he's played well, but I thought it was...
209
00:14:59.990 --> 00:15:04.929
Last night was the exclamation point because he fought somebody
210
00:15:06.230 --> 00:15:09.429
when Jonas Siegenthaler was hurt, meaning that the Devils were
211
00:15:09.450 --> 00:15:13.669
down to one left-handed defenseman. I don't mind the fight
212
00:15:13.950 --> 00:15:18.590
on the surface there. Yeah. But you need Evan Rodriguez
213
00:15:18.629 --> 00:15:18.960
to do it.
214
00:15:20.110 --> 00:15:21.149
Agreed. Agreed.
215
00:15:21.450 --> 00:15:24.889
Anyone else who's not playing the position you're now down on.
216
00:15:25.389 --> 00:15:28.129
You know what I mean? So he just needs situational
217
00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:31.649
awareness that now you're, you know, you could be gone
218
00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:34.580
for as much as like seven or eight minutes. There's
219
00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:36.299
12 minutes left in the game at that point. And
220
00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:39.120
you're down by two. So you just put your whole
221
00:15:39.179 --> 00:15:42.480
team in a bind with a I get it. You're
222
00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:45.559
trying to get your team ramped up, but I don't
223
00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:47.200
want to say it's a selfish decision, but it's a
224
00:15:47.259 --> 00:15:48.039
stupid decision.
225
00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:59.090
I see both sides of the coin. Number one, nobody
226
00:15:59.149 --> 00:15:59.590
was really.
227
00:16:01.509 --> 00:16:04.529
Nobody was really jump-starting the team at that point in
228
00:16:04.570 --> 00:16:07.809
the game. And I think he took it upon himself
229
00:16:07.850 --> 00:16:11.179
to do... I thought it was a stupid decision in
230
00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:16.120
terms of strategy, in terms of I commend him on
231
00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:20.750
sticking up for your teammate. That I do. But you're right.
232
00:16:20.870 --> 00:16:24.769
I mean, how many times have we seen this last
233
00:16:24.809 --> 00:16:28.929
season and the season before and the season before where, okay,
234
00:16:29.730 --> 00:16:32.269
two of your top T guys get in a fight
235
00:16:32.309 --> 00:16:39.230
and then suddenly... you're short a pairing, and now you've
236
00:16:39.289 --> 00:16:44.009
got to rotate efficiently throughout the rest of the game.
237
00:16:44.389 --> 00:16:46.169
Back in the day, there used to be that seventh
238
00:16:46.210 --> 00:16:50.289
defenseman that would be on the fourth line, Brendan Smith,
239
00:16:50.470 --> 00:16:53.750
that you would rotate. You don't have that luxury with
240
00:16:53.769 --> 00:16:54.210
this team.
241
00:16:54.529 --> 00:16:57.399
On top of that, you're putting yourself on a penalty kill.
242
00:16:57.980 --> 00:16:58.259
Yeah.
243
00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:02.360
One of your top penalty killers. He wasn't very good
244
00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:06.269
on the penalty kill yesterday. They killed the penalty. So
245
00:17:07.849 --> 00:17:12.859
it was a bad decision. I don't like what I
246
00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:15.079
see from Chisholm. I didn't like it on the preseason.
247
00:17:15.380 --> 00:17:17.440
I don't know what Sonny made a season this guy.
248
00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:20.759
I think it was a bad trade. I think they
249
00:17:20.779 --> 00:17:25.650
made a mistake. And I think his cap hit isn't
250
00:17:25.950 --> 00:17:28.910
as paltry as it looks on the surface because you
251
00:17:28.950 --> 00:17:33.869
can save 1.22 million, I think it is. By just
252
00:17:33.890 --> 00:17:38.680
sending him to the AHL. On the salary cap. So whatever.
253
00:17:38.859 --> 00:17:46.079
I think he's making like 1.5 maybe. So whatever. It's
254
00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:49.500
a paltry hit. Compared to everything else. That you're doing
255
00:17:49.539 --> 00:17:54.809
with the salary cap. I gotta tell you Sam. And
256
00:17:54.829 --> 00:17:57.509
people say I'm crazy. And I live and die on
257
00:17:57.549 --> 00:18:00.890
some of these things. And I get it. This is
258
00:18:00.910 --> 00:18:06.970
where you want it Seamus Casey. just just to change
259
00:18:07.049 --> 00:18:10.500
it up and I think we saw it with Nemitz
260
00:18:10.619 --> 00:18:13.319
and Dylan and I think I think Nemitz drove Dylan
261
00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:18.660
crazy but I think Casey brings that ying to his
262
00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:25.319
yang but without the mistakes and kind of the overconfidence
263
00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:30.059
and just the leaving him out to dry right same
264
00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:34.490
as Casey's offensive defensive nobody's gonna nobody's uh, mistaking him
265
00:18:34.549 --> 00:18:38.410
for Nick Lindstrom, right? Like he's an offensive defense, but
266
00:18:38.849 --> 00:18:41.599
he's smart. And, and I'm not like, this isn't, I'm
267
00:18:41.619 --> 00:18:44.579
not trying to disparage Nemitz. Nemitz just had an overconfidence
268
00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:48.880
thing that Casey just, Casey still tries to play his
269
00:18:48.940 --> 00:18:52.619
role just with an offensive flair, especially in the NHL.
270
00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.099
He does a little bit differently in the NHL, but
271
00:18:54.140 --> 00:18:57.740
in the NHL, every time I've seen him, he's definitely
272
00:18:58.460 --> 00:19:00.720
trying to make a play. He knows he's got a
273
00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:05.589
good shot. Um, But he still tries to play the
274
00:19:05.630 --> 00:19:09.269
positioning game on his side and doesn't always look for offense.
275
00:19:09.710 --> 00:19:13.019
I think Brendan Dillon would love that. He would respect that.
276
00:19:13.450 --> 00:19:15.299
And I think you'd get a much better Brendan Dillon
277
00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:20.420
out of that. Right now, him and Chisholm is just
278
00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:26.960
not working. And, Sam, if you lose– so there's good
279
00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.559
news and bad news. Well, there's mostly bad news with
280
00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:34.650
Jonas Siegenthaler, who I think is hurt-hurt. I think he's hurt.
281
00:19:36.150 --> 00:19:39.279
Maybe not forever hurt, but a couple weeks at least.
282
00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:48.890
If you lose Siegenthaler, I think you have two choices.
283
00:19:52.359 --> 00:20:02.190
I think you can... I'm like playing around with everything
284
00:20:02.210 --> 00:20:04.789
in my head. Alright, so I think you have to
285
00:20:04.829 --> 00:20:08.829
do Dylan and Hamilton. And then you keep Pesci and
286
00:20:08.890 --> 00:20:18.619
Luke together. And I think they're going to give Koya Chinak. Chinak,
287
00:20:18.859 --> 00:20:21.059
I think that's how you say it. Probably not, but
288
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:23.099
I think he'd probably get the first shot. But I'd
289
00:20:23.140 --> 00:20:28.980
even be open to the end. Because it kind of... Wait.
290
00:20:30.140 --> 00:20:32.809
Yeah.
291
00:20:34.349 --> 00:20:37.490
It's a bad spot to be in. Because there's no
292
00:20:37.549 --> 00:20:43.390
good third line. That you can make. Without Casey. Without Kovacevic. Like.
293
00:20:44.329 --> 00:20:49.750
Without Siegenthaler. You lost all your depth.
294
00:20:49.789 --> 00:20:50.490
Like immediately.
295
00:20:50.809 --> 00:20:54.210
With this defense. And like this is where the Nemitz
296
00:20:54.269 --> 00:20:58.980
trade hurts. I think the Nemitz trade was necessary. I'll
297
00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:08.819
just say that. But. You're in a bad spot.
298
00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:14.140
A troll would tell you this is the time to
299
00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:18.789
pull a move for Quinn Hughes. But I don't think
300
00:21:19.250 --> 00:21:22.529
Bill Guerin would even.
301
00:21:21.289 --> 00:21:25.529
Take that call. Again, I don't think you should go
302
00:21:25.569 --> 00:21:27.210
for Quinn Hughes. I think you should trade for somebody
303
00:21:27.230 --> 00:21:29.789
that you could trade for Quinn Hughes. Who do you
304
00:21:29.809 --> 00:21:30.450
think that would be?
305
00:21:35.109 --> 00:21:35.690
Dylan Larkin?
306
00:21:38.069 --> 00:21:40.269
Nope. Same team, though.
307
00:21:43.690 --> 00:21:43.890
Who?
308
00:21:45.470 --> 00:21:53.200
Simone Edmondson. Talented, young, left-handed defenseman from the Detroit Red
309
00:21:53.240 --> 00:22:01.430
Wings who is currently unsigned. Here's the difference between him and, say,
310
00:22:01.509 --> 00:22:03.710
Luke Hughes. Luke Hughes who missed training camp last year.
311
00:22:04.630 --> 00:22:09.369
Edmondson went to training camp without a contract. And they
312
00:22:09.470 --> 00:22:14.039
still didn't pay this man. This man, I think, is just.
313
00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:22.579
He is the product of an incompetent ownership group. Chris
314
00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:28.789
Illich in Detroit is just incompetent. You don't have to
315
00:22:28.829 --> 00:22:34.710
worry about the no trade clause. Like with Dylan Larkin
316
00:22:34.750 --> 00:22:37.569
or whoever. You do have to give him a contract
317
00:22:37.630 --> 00:22:46.430
and ramp him up. But you immediately upgrade that position
318
00:22:47.410 --> 00:22:50.990
to a degree you didn't think possible. And then if
319
00:22:52.089 --> 00:22:54.079
he plays well, which he should because he's a good player,
320
00:22:55.220 --> 00:22:57.279
then you have that blue chip player that you'd send
321
00:22:57.319 --> 00:23:04.400
to Minnesota for Quinn Hughes if that time comes. You're
322
00:23:04.420 --> 00:23:06.529
going to lose pieces and you have to make the
323
00:23:06.569 --> 00:23:08.809
contract work. So let's say he makes $ 8 million. You
324
00:23:08.829 --> 00:23:23.019
have to make $ 8 million up here. And that's Mercer. Dylan.
325
00:23:27.460 --> 00:23:30.900
Think Detroit would take that? You'd have to add.
326
00:23:30.819 --> 00:23:39.049
Something to it. Would I do Mercer, Dylan, and Stiljev?
327
00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:51.700
If I don't have to put the first round pick,
328
00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:57.599
then yes. If I do, I'd have trouble doing it
329
00:23:57.700 --> 00:24:02.950
with the first round pick. Because Evanston's good. He's not like,
330
00:24:03.170 --> 00:24:05.849
he's not Quinn. He's not, he's never going to be Quinn.
331
00:24:06.309 --> 00:24:12.190
He's not like a Jake Sanderson or like a, I'm
332
00:24:12.210 --> 00:24:14.450
trying to think of like a Jackson Lacombe. Like he's
333
00:24:14.470 --> 00:24:18.279
not in that level. He's like a tier below them.
334
00:24:19.779 --> 00:24:24.420
So you don't want to pay that level of top
335
00:24:24.460 --> 00:24:28.339
of the league compensation for that. But you also have
336
00:24:28.359 --> 00:24:33.309
to make the contracts work. And there's rumors out there
337
00:24:34.769 --> 00:24:39.670
that Detroit's hoping the Ed Vinson return is going to
338
00:24:40.150 --> 00:24:46.190
make a bad Dylan Larkin return hurt less. I don't
339
00:24:46.210 --> 00:24:49.789
know if that's true or not. I don't think you're
340
00:24:49.809 --> 00:24:53.599
going to sit here and you finally pull the trigger
341
00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:58.259
on Dylan Larkin and the return is centered around Danilo Yurov.
342
00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:05.849
I don't think that they're down for that. But if
343
00:25:05.900 --> 00:25:10.190
I'm the Devils, I call Illich and Sean Horkoff every day.
344
00:25:10.210 --> 00:25:16.849
I say, what are you doing, guys? What do you
345
00:25:16.869 --> 00:25:21.259
need for this guy? Mercer, you get this unicorn defenseman
346
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:28.119
in Siliev. You get a veteran D in Dillon who
347
00:25:28.140 --> 00:25:33.630
could play today. The contracts match if Evanston signs long-term
348
00:25:33.650 --> 00:25:37.430
for $ 8 million. And if you sign him long-term, that's even,
349
00:25:37.710 --> 00:25:44.759
you know, that's very attractive to the wild deadline. I
350
00:25:44.859 --> 00:25:47.400
think it's... I'm probably going to write about it tonight.
351
00:25:47.869 --> 00:25:51.470
because it talked about it on Twitter. I have a
352
00:25:51.509 --> 00:25:53.359
couple articles I want to write tonight, but I think
353
00:25:53.380 --> 00:25:59.119
I might add this one to the roster because I
354
00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:01.220
think this makes sense. Does this not make sense? Is
355
00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:02.099
this making sense to you?
356
00:26:03.059 --> 00:26:07.839
It's making sense to me, but I don't exactly agree
357
00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:11.440
with it.
358
00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:14.109
You don't want to make the trade or you don't
359
00:26:14.119 --> 00:26:14.990
want to make a trade?
360
00:26:15.809 --> 00:26:17.089
I don't want to make a trade.
361
00:26:19.799 --> 00:26:23.259
I just don't like this defense. And I'm willing to
362
00:26:23.299 --> 00:26:26.839
give it a shot when... But here's the thing. Kovacevic
363
00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:30.319
comes back, and if Siegenthaler's gone, you're in the same spot.
364
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:34.359
I just can't watch Chisholm anymore. He's just not good.
365
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.519
I don't know what Sonny Maeda saw in him. I don't.
366
00:26:38.700 --> 00:26:42.740
I don't see it. I trust Maeda. He made such
367
00:26:42.759 --> 00:26:45.490
a great move in Evangelista. Evangelista, I said this. I
368
00:26:45.490 --> 00:26:46.910
don't know if it was on the podcast, on the blog,
369
00:26:46.950 --> 00:26:48.849
or on Twitter. It's hard to tell what I say where.
370
00:26:49.329 --> 00:26:57.299
But Vangelista can score goals. He doesn't, but he can.
371
00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:00.759
I'm not talking about 40, but I think he could
372
00:27:00.779 --> 00:27:03.579
score 25. He has 25 in him in the right situation,
373
00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:05.079
and I think he's in the right situation right now
374
00:27:05.099 --> 00:27:10.380
with Hesher and Meyer. That line is buzzing. I like
375
00:27:10.420 --> 00:27:13.359
that line. The Jack line hasn't gotten going at all,
376
00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:17.970
but you know it's going to. All these things that
377
00:27:17.990 --> 00:27:22.400
like the forward thing. I wrote this before the season starts.
378
00:27:22.779 --> 00:27:25.900
We have to give it a month. Don't touch the
379
00:27:25.940 --> 00:27:28.180
lines for a month. And again, I know Sid put
380
00:27:28.220 --> 00:27:33.000
Rodriguez down. You don't have to. There's new players on
381
00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:37.059
every line. Every single line has new pieces. And you
382
00:27:37.099 --> 00:27:40.099
had a shortened training camp and a shortened preseason. They
383
00:27:40.140 --> 00:27:42.509
got to play two preseason games together to get that
384
00:27:42.549 --> 00:27:46.279
chemistry down. And they like. The Devils didn't try in
385
00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:49.269
the preseason this year. They just didn't. I don't know
386
00:27:49.289 --> 00:27:50.970
if anybody tried because they won their game. So I
387
00:27:50.970 --> 00:27:58.930
don't think anybody tried. So to wrap this story up,
388
00:28:00.710 --> 00:28:04.579
we need patience, Sam. It's not like the defense is bad.
389
00:28:04.980 --> 00:28:06.779
I would make a trade or I would attempt to
390
00:28:06.819 --> 00:28:10.200
make a trade. I'm not going further than, you know,
391
00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:14.289
still you have a first and Mercer. plus, you know,
392
00:28:14.309 --> 00:28:16.549
a cap dump at Brennan Dillon. I'm not going more
393
00:28:16.569 --> 00:28:19.779
than that for Edmondson or for any defenseman not named
394
00:28:19.819 --> 00:28:24.759
Quinn Hughes. And I don't think there's anybody better available.
395
00:28:26.019 --> 00:28:26.240
Yeah.
396
00:28:26.660 --> 00:28:31.619
I'm trying to think, like, I don't want anybody in Chicago.
397
00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:34.779
But just remember, I see where you're going with this,
398
00:28:35.299 --> 00:28:38.890
but keep in mind, you're just three games in.
399
00:28:40.410 --> 00:28:43.470
I understand. I But I just don't like Chisholm as
400
00:28:43.509 --> 00:28:43.829
a player.
401
00:28:43.849 --> 00:28:45.990
I don't think anybody did.
402
00:28:46.009 --> 00:28:51.200
You know what I mean? So the fact that he's
403
00:28:51.259 --> 00:28:53.559
now an everyday guy, and it sounds like he's going
404
00:28:53.579 --> 00:29:00.460
to continue to be, and your depth is gone, right?
405
00:29:00.819 --> 00:29:04.849
And nobody expected three defensive injuries to start the season
406
00:29:05.509 --> 00:29:08.869
to guys who are like your NHL capacity. Is it
407
00:29:08.910 --> 00:29:13.329
three or four? Is there another one? No, it was
408
00:29:13.349 --> 00:29:19.150
just Casey, Kovacevic, Bustad. Right? And then now Siegenthaler. Those
409
00:29:19.190 --> 00:29:19.710
were the injuries.
410
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:20.279
Yeah.
411
00:29:20.539 --> 00:29:25.920
Am I missing anybody? Yeah. So, I don't love the spot.
412
00:29:26.220 --> 00:29:28.000
I don't love the spot the Devils are in. But,
413
00:29:29.980 --> 00:29:34.549
they beat Vancouver on Saturday. They're 2-2. And if they
414
00:29:34.569 --> 00:29:37.450
win and the Penguins lose, they're in a playoff spot.
415
00:29:38.450 --> 00:29:40.259
It's too early to care about any of this that much.
416
00:29:40.700 --> 00:29:41.660
Yep.
417
00:29:44.019 --> 00:29:48.579
But we need a little bit more of a better
418
00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:52.980
defensive process. We can't have this many guys open. And
419
00:29:53.019 --> 00:29:55.849
you have four days to practice or three days to
420
00:29:55.880 --> 00:30:00.900
practice to drill this out of you. I also, and
421
00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:02.660
this is, you know, I know we have one other
422
00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:04.859
thing to talk about. Last thing I'll say, did they
423
00:30:04.900 --> 00:30:05.740
have off again today?
424
00:30:10.980 --> 00:30:11.700
I think they did.
425
00:30:13.380 --> 00:30:16.769
Stop doing this. After you have a bad performance, stop
426
00:30:16.809 --> 00:30:20.990
giving them the day off. Give them Thursday off or Friday. Like,
427
00:30:21.910 --> 00:30:24.829
get right back in there. Let's fresh your mind.
428
00:30:25.509 --> 00:30:25.750
Yeah.
429
00:30:27.109 --> 00:30:28.910
I have my reasons why I think they do it.
430
00:30:29.779 --> 00:30:30.980
I'm not going to reveal them here because I get
431
00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:35.000
in trouble every time I do. But I don't think
432
00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:38.119
it has anything to do with the game. And I
433
00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:46.490
don't like it. Speaking of things we don't like... We
434
00:30:46.509 --> 00:30:51.009
don't like when the big stage gets ruined.
435
00:30:52.289 --> 00:31:00.759
Gets shut down by the alcohol... What is it? Alcohol beverage... control.
436
00:31:00.039 --> 00:31:03.759
Were you drinking again sam.
437
00:31:04.359 --> 00:31:07.619
No no no no let me explain myself game day
438
00:31:07.740 --> 00:31:11.220
live uh before the devils were going to take on
439
00:31:11.700 --> 00:31:16.519
um the utah mammoth we i waited a few years
440
00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:19.380
for this to get katherine bogart on when she was
441
00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:23.000
with the devils but couldn't make the scheduling work strictly
442
00:31:23.059 --> 00:31:27.140
because she's on air when we're on air so there's
443
00:31:27.180 --> 00:31:29.849
no way we can make that work right But when
444
00:31:29.869 --> 00:31:33.769
she made the move to Utah, I thought, okay, here's
445
00:31:33.829 --> 00:31:38.829
a chance. Now you've got the big stage. You've got
446
00:31:38.910 --> 00:31:47.099
the legal permits. You've got everything going for you. And
447
00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:51.720
last night was just, I felt like I was in
448
00:31:51.740 --> 00:31:56.410
the twilight zone. Going to the game, overturned car on
449
00:31:56.450 --> 00:32:03.799
Route 78 East. Traffic stopped. Okay? As everybody knows about
450
00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:08.539
the big stage, it's the fastest setup in sports because
451
00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:11.700
you only have a certain amount of time to set
452
00:32:11.980 --> 00:32:17.279
up once they close down the street. But got by
453
00:32:17.960 --> 00:32:22.369
that car accident. I pray for the person that was
454
00:32:22.619 --> 00:32:27.490
in that car. Hopefully they're okay. Got to Prudential Center.
455
00:32:28.859 --> 00:32:33.640
Got my parking. Frank the Tank of American Whiskey said,
456
00:32:33.720 --> 00:32:37.559
all right, boys, bring it all out. So we brought
457
00:32:37.619 --> 00:32:43.210
it out. The fastest setup in all sports. Everything was perfect.
458
00:32:43.410 --> 00:32:46.390
It was a clean setup. I've got pictures. All that.
459
00:32:47.069 --> 00:32:50.509
Did the sound check. And then we were supposed to
460
00:32:50.549 --> 00:32:53.309
have Catherine Bogart at 5.45 p.m.
461
00:32:53.329 --> 00:32:53.690
Eastern.
462
00:32:56.329 --> 00:33:06.339
And at 5.25 p.m., the alcohol beverage control brass were
463
00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:11.460
walking around Edison. Mind you, there was a water main
464
00:33:11.559 --> 00:33:16.430
break near Red's, which is just further up the street.
465
00:33:17.190 --> 00:33:20.210
And there was a, I don't know, front end loader,
466
00:33:20.549 --> 00:33:29.849
an excavator, dump truck, big construction zone. Well, suddenly the police, again,
467
00:33:29.950 --> 00:33:33.529
the police are not involved. They're just really carrying the message.
468
00:33:35.410 --> 00:33:41.000
You cannot have this stage. This was not in your
469
00:33:41.019 --> 00:33:44.900
drawing in your permit or something like that. And they
470
00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:47.000
started to reveal, you're not allowed to have this, not
471
00:33:47.019 --> 00:33:51.099
allowed to have that. And believe it or not, they didn't,
472
00:33:52.380 --> 00:33:56.339
it's kind of, Mind-boggling. I don't think the alcohol beverage
473
00:33:56.380 --> 00:33:59.700
control people even knew what was in the permit because
474
00:34:00.140 --> 00:34:03.180
most of the things they said was wrong. But anyway,
475
00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:08.440
the podcast was canceled for no reason because I wasn't drinking.
476
00:34:08.460 --> 00:34:13.969
It has nothing to do with alcohol. And me personally,
477
00:34:14.110 --> 00:34:16.989
and this is just my opinion, and legal arguments can
478
00:34:17.010 --> 00:34:19.909
be made, I thought my First Amendment rights were violated
479
00:34:19.949 --> 00:34:23.940
there because I did absolutely nothing. But whatever. So I
480
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:30.480
moved the equipment to American Whiskey. Unfortunately, it was so
481
00:34:30.579 --> 00:34:33.480
fast that I unplugged things a little too quickly, and
482
00:34:33.559 --> 00:34:38.860
one of my pieces of equipment got zapped and had
483
00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:42.340
to cancel. Unfortunately, Catherine was there. She was very, very,
484
00:34:42.420 --> 00:34:48.349
very understanding. Yeah, and I bet you she felt bad.
485
00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:54.210
because she could see all the hard work that you
486
00:34:54.230 --> 00:35:00.130
put into the podcast, production-wise. And this isn't good, because
487
00:35:00.210 --> 00:35:04.389
I have some opinions. I put out a couple posts
488
00:35:04.829 --> 00:35:13.400
on X earlier today, and my opinion is this is
489
00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:17.619
what happened. We have a Karen, a resident of Newark,
490
00:35:18.940 --> 00:35:22.420
for whatever reason, all last season, would just constantly call
491
00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:26.880
the police over music that's playing at, I don't know,
492
00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:30.179
3 p.m., 4 p.m. during the day, during the time that,
493
00:35:30.460 --> 00:35:35.340
you know, games are happening. You move into an apartment
494
00:35:35.920 --> 00:35:40.309
across the street from Prudential Center, and you expect privacy
495
00:35:40.570 --> 00:35:43.110
and it to be quiet. That's not going to happen.
496
00:35:44.369 --> 00:35:48.659
And then... Eventually, this Karen not only called the police
497
00:35:48.940 --> 00:35:55.340
like about 100, 200 times, but then proceeded to call ABC,
498
00:35:55.400 --> 00:36:00.840
the Alcohol Beverage Control Group. And what happened here, and
499
00:36:00.860 --> 00:36:05.400
this is my opinion of how I see it, the
500
00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:09.570
Alcohol Beverage Control Group, they're cool people. For all this time,
501
00:36:10.409 --> 00:36:13.010
they looked the other way, they looked the other way,
502
00:36:13.329 --> 00:36:16.179
they looked the other way. But now this Karen has
503
00:36:16.280 --> 00:36:20.610
stirred up the pot. Now they can't look away. So
504
00:36:20.650 --> 00:36:25.070
they have to do their jobs, unfortunately. But the way
505
00:36:25.130 --> 00:36:28.789
they did their jobs was just like a little pathetic.
506
00:36:29.090 --> 00:36:34.929
You've got construction near Reds. In the terms of public safety, okay,
507
00:36:35.489 --> 00:36:39.480
they didn't really put barricades there. They barricaded around the
508
00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:44.659
big stage. Which made no sense or whatever. So if
509
00:36:44.699 --> 00:36:47.019
you're a pedestrian, you can actually walk through that construction
510
00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:50.940
zone uncontested, like not even stopped, which is stupid.
511
00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:53.760
They took the barricades away to put it around the stage.
512
00:36:54.179 --> 00:36:57.360
Around the stage, pretty much. Pretty much. And I'm not
513
00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:00.559
faulting the police officers. They're doing what they're told. It
514
00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:04.320
has nothing to do with the police. And then on
515
00:37:04.360 --> 00:37:09.550
top of that, on top of everything else, it's like,
516
00:37:12.369 --> 00:37:16.650
This is not going away. And the same thing happened
517
00:37:17.530 --> 00:37:22.039
in 2012 during the Devils Rangers playoff series when the
518
00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:27.719
city shut down the arena bar for other reasons. And
519
00:37:27.739 --> 00:37:31.119
I don't want to get into that because it is
520
00:37:31.340 --> 00:37:35.360
corruption at its best. And I know the story. And
521
00:37:35.400 --> 00:37:38.130
I know the fake stories that came out of it,
522
00:37:38.449 --> 00:37:42.480
which is completely untrue, which there's camera evidence of it
523
00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:47.449
that can verify what I'm saying. This is not a
524
00:37:47.489 --> 00:37:50.369
good look for the city of Newark at all. I'm
525
00:37:50.650 --> 00:37:54.809
leaving politics out of it because you have Prudential Center
526
00:37:54.889 --> 00:37:59.030
brings people all over New Jersey, New York, all over
527
00:37:59.090 --> 00:38:04.360
the country to see events like the Devils. You know,
528
00:38:04.619 --> 00:38:08.099
even people from Canada, if you're a Vancouver Canucks fan,
529
00:38:08.300 --> 00:38:11.150
you go see the Devils at Prudential Center. You bring
530
00:38:11.190 --> 00:38:14.769
people all over practically the world to go see the
531
00:38:14.829 --> 00:38:19.760
New Jersey Devils or a concert, whatever. And this is
532
00:38:19.820 --> 00:38:24.739
the stuff you pull when everybody has this perception, Newark,
533
00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:27.500
of being a dump. And this entire time, Devils fans
534
00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:31.059
the last 20 years have been saying, no, it's not. Yeah,
535
00:38:31.079 --> 00:38:33.849
it has its moments, but what they did with the
536
00:38:33.869 --> 00:38:37.630
Prudential Center is a success story. Remember the late Barry
537
00:38:37.670 --> 00:38:41.340
Melrose that came to Newark to see it for himself.
538
00:38:43.480 --> 00:38:45.380
And now this is what you're going to be doing.
539
00:38:46.940 --> 00:38:50.599
I understand the laws, Nick, and they should be followed,
540
00:38:51.599 --> 00:38:54.559
but there's gotta be collaboration with the bars, the New
541
00:38:54.579 --> 00:38:59.780
Jersey devils, the city of Newark, the alcohol beverage control group.
542
00:39:00.539 --> 00:39:05.019
You got to work together because every hockey fan that
543
00:39:05.099 --> 00:39:08.599
I've talked to that, that, that, you know, are from
544
00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:13.010
the opposing team, even New York Rangers fans, they didn't
545
00:39:13.190 --> 00:39:17.610
have what we had up until now. And they always
546
00:39:17.789 --> 00:39:24.579
talked about it. And that's my spiel. I have no
547
00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:27.159
solutions to this other than get all parties to the
548
00:39:27.219 --> 00:39:28.960
table and figure it out, but I don't think that's
549
00:39:28.980 --> 00:39:29.449
going to happen.
550
00:39:31.940 --> 00:39:32.940
With enough pressure, it will.
551
00:39:33.940 --> 00:39:36.840
Yeah. I don't know what your thoughts are.
552
00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:47.130
Yeah, I mean... In their mind, they're already meeting halfway.
553
00:39:48.650 --> 00:39:49.510
When in reality.
554
00:39:52.869 --> 00:39:55.670
They just gave us, they gave people half of what
555
00:39:55.690 --> 00:39:56.230
they already had.
556
00:39:57.389 --> 00:39:57.639
Right.
557
00:39:57.719 --> 00:40:03.000
Like they, from what I understand, if you, if you
558
00:40:03.039 --> 00:40:06.420
have a drink from American whiskey, you can't walk across
559
00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:10.360
a certain part of the street, right? Like you got
560
00:40:10.380 --> 00:40:13.719
to stay in the American whiskey section. If you buy
561
00:40:13.800 --> 00:40:16.960
one for reds, you got to stay in the red section. It,
562
00:40:17.219 --> 00:40:23.949
it seems like, It seems like the type of thing
563
00:40:23.989 --> 00:40:28.360
that a person making $ 150, 000 of taxpayer dollars is paid
564
00:40:28.420 --> 00:40:34.940
to think when they're just trying to make their job
565
00:40:34.980 --> 00:40:35.679
sound worth it.
566
00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:41.969
I will add to that, okay, because there are people's
567
00:40:42.010 --> 00:40:44.690
jobs on the line that everybody wants their heads right now.
568
00:40:46.599 --> 00:40:48.940
When you're in that position, you don't want any problems.
569
00:40:48.960 --> 00:40:51.300
Angering your residents isn't the smart thing to do. It's
570
00:40:51.340 --> 00:40:52.139
an election season.
571
00:40:52.599 --> 00:41:00.239
Yeah. Well, let's put it this way. It was one person. Now, again,
572
00:41:00.380 --> 00:41:05.900
it was never a problem until this person came. Yeah.
573
00:41:06.119 --> 00:41:10.579
In some respects, I feel bad for the alcohol beverage
574
00:41:10.639 --> 00:41:15.530
control people because now the microscope is on them. There's
575
00:41:15.590 --> 00:41:20.130
public pressure now. And in front of their bosses, they
576
00:41:20.170 --> 00:41:26.969
have to do something. There's just really a no-win. But
577
00:41:27.409 --> 00:41:32.829
I wish common sense would prevail here because it's going
578
00:41:32.849 --> 00:41:36.469
to ruin such a good thing. And I think Newark's
579
00:41:36.670 --> 00:41:40.690
image is on the line here because, you know, again,
580
00:41:40.710 --> 00:41:43.610
I get about the alcohol thing. I get about, you know,
581
00:41:44.809 --> 00:41:48.320
All that stuff. But at the same time, did you
582
00:41:48.380 --> 00:41:52.280
really need to kick a podcast off the stage? What
583
00:41:52.300 --> 00:41:56.840
jurisdiction did you even have for that? And now it
584
00:41:56.880 --> 00:41:59.340
involves me, which pisses me off because I was trying
585
00:41:59.420 --> 00:42:04.039
to skirt it, believe it or not. Now it involves me.
586
00:42:04.969 --> 00:42:07.050
And I'm actually kind of pissed off. I actually was
587
00:42:07.090 --> 00:42:10.250
yelling that I'm running for mayor in 2028 in Newark
588
00:42:10.969 --> 00:42:13.550
just to make light of it. Because you look like
589
00:42:13.610 --> 00:42:16.960
a moron with the stage that you're not even playing
590
00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:20.639
music or having a podcast or whatever. You know, this
591
00:42:20.679 --> 00:42:25.170
was an event gathering. Everybody's doing everything in good faith.
592
00:42:26.010 --> 00:42:31.010
It's just one person. Can ruin everything. I mean, if
593
00:42:31.050 --> 00:42:33.789
you want me to be a jerk, okay, because I
594
00:42:33.829 --> 00:42:37.269
have this experience, I found two OSHA violations with that
595
00:42:37.309 --> 00:42:41.170
construction going on to fix that water main break. And
596
00:42:41.210 --> 00:42:43.570
I have pictures. Should I send it and make a
597
00:42:43.590 --> 00:42:47.349
big deal of it? No. Don't be a rat. But,
598
00:42:47.849 --> 00:42:51.139
you know, that's all I have to say. Like, it
599
00:42:51.179 --> 00:42:54.519
is just so petty that you're ruining. Can we think
600
00:42:54.579 --> 00:42:57.400
about the big picture here? Could we come to an
601
00:42:57.440 --> 00:43:01.780
agreement with the bar, like a workable agreement so everybody's happy,
602
00:43:02.099 --> 00:43:05.179
that it checks off the legal stuff, it checks off
603
00:43:05.219 --> 00:43:07.190
the money, because there's always money involved when you get
604
00:43:07.210 --> 00:43:12.849
these permits, check off everything. I don't have a solution,
605
00:43:12.989 --> 00:43:16.010
and that's frustrating. But now it involves me because my
606
00:43:16.050 --> 00:43:20.010
podcast or our podcast got shut down, and we had
607
00:43:20.070 --> 00:43:24.099
nothing to do with the alcohol. Nothing. Nothing about that.
608
00:43:26.579 --> 00:43:30.559
And to me, that's a First Amendment right issue. It's
609
00:43:30.599 --> 00:43:35.019
a gray area, but now I'm offended. Because I wanted
610
00:43:35.059 --> 00:43:39.340
to talk to Catherine Bogart and her homecoming, coming back
611
00:43:39.400 --> 00:43:43.269
to beautiful Newark, New Jersey, and Newark, you screwed it up.
612
00:43:45.309 --> 00:43:46.090
That's all I have to say.
613
00:43:50.949 --> 00:43:52.750
Yeah, I mean, I don't have anything better to add.
614
00:43:53.230 --> 00:43:54.639
I think that's a great way to call it.
615
00:43:55.349 --> 00:43:58.960
Thank you, Nick. Normally you pick apart my arguments, but
616
00:43:59.019 --> 00:44:00.780
maybe I got it this time.
617
00:44:02.440 --> 00:44:06.179
Listen, you get me up against city government, and I'll
618
00:44:06.260 --> 00:44:08.139
fight with you like Jon Snow in the Battle of
619
00:44:08.159 --> 00:44:08.760
the Bastards.
620
00:44:09.159 --> 00:44:10.920
I got to talk to Mrs. Wu of getting an
621
00:44:10.940 --> 00:44:15.760
apartment above Red's or at American Whiskey, and then I
622
00:44:15.780 --> 00:44:18.619
can get my Newark residency. I'll run for mayor, and
623
00:44:18.820 --> 00:44:20.880
I only have one thing on my platform.
624
00:44:22.219 --> 00:44:23.360
I don't think she's going to go for that.
625
00:44:24.440 --> 00:44:24.940
No.
626
00:44:24.980 --> 00:44:28.280
You're asking for like four favors of a wife right there.
627
00:44:28.440 --> 00:44:28.860
Yeah.
628
00:44:28.980 --> 00:44:29.300
Yeah.
629
00:44:29.420 --> 00:44:32.880
Yeah. It's not going to happen unless she just says, oh, no,
630
00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:34.760
I'll leave you in Newark. You just do your thing.
631
00:44:34.800 --> 00:44:35.920
Just never come back.
632
00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:39.980
I'll enjoy this nice big house all by myself. Yeah.
633
00:44:40.039 --> 00:44:40.760
Yeah. Exactly.
634
00:44:41.110 --> 00:44:45.190
So. Yeah. Well, I'm ready for plugs. Yeah.
635
00:44:45.230 --> 00:44:46.869
Go right ahead. Go right ahead.
636
00:44:47.750 --> 00:44:50.690
I am going to write about the Evansons. Because I'm curious.
637
00:44:50.750 --> 00:44:52.469
I want to talk it out. I want to be
638
00:44:52.489 --> 00:44:55.170
therapeutic about it. But I also have a story on
639
00:44:55.230 --> 00:44:57.349
Anthony Mantha coming out tonight. And I also have a
640
00:44:57.349 --> 00:45:03.219
story on... I had another one. I lost it. It's there.
641
00:45:03.239 --> 00:45:05.400
I'm going to write about it. I wrote the title already.
642
00:45:06.320 --> 00:45:10.619
But yeah, Edmondson and Mantha are coming out tonight. We
643
00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:14.239
have stories on Brennan Dillon. We have stories on the
644
00:45:14.280 --> 00:45:21.269
power play. We have stories on... JP Gambatis talked to
645
00:45:21.309 --> 00:45:29.110
Sonny Maeda this week. So he wrote a story about that.
646
00:45:29.489 --> 00:45:31.010
Well, when are we going to talk to Sonny?
647
00:45:32.630 --> 00:45:36.880
You know, probably never now. He's probably going to stop
648
00:45:36.900 --> 00:45:40.820
doing interviews because they stink. But we'll see.
649
00:45:41.480 --> 00:45:43.039
Yep. All right.
650
00:45:43.460 --> 00:45:43.659
All right.
651
00:45:44.619 --> 00:45:47.980
Well, For me to plug, you know, we got a
652
00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:50.679
couple days off. I'll try to do a morning woo.
653
00:45:51.110 --> 00:45:55.710
I'm actually going to Max's wedding up in Boston. Invited.
654
00:45:56.869 --> 00:46:00.170
So be there. It's not every day that a podcaster
655
00:46:00.210 --> 00:46:06.159
gets invited to a fan's wedding. Also, Saturday. So I'm
656
00:46:06.179 --> 00:46:11.500
going from Boston back. Saturday. Devils take on the Vancouver Canucks.
657
00:46:11.579 --> 00:46:15.889
I believe it's 3.30 p.m. Eastern start. We'll be in
658
00:46:15.929 --> 00:46:20.809
the attic, the big attic, upstairs, American Whiskey. There won't
659
00:46:20.849 --> 00:46:27.690
be anything outdoors for Saturday or Monday because this legal
660
00:46:27.809 --> 00:46:31.510
issues need to be figured out right now. We're shooting
661
00:46:31.550 --> 00:46:37.260
for Devils Rangers on that Thursday next week. Also, October 13th,
662
00:46:38.579 --> 00:46:43.019
it's the Stanley Cup Champion Podcast Game Day Live. We'll
663
00:46:43.039 --> 00:46:46.719
be at Miller's Ale House October 13th in beautiful Rockaway,
664
00:46:46.800 --> 00:46:52.920
New Jersey. Ken Danico, Jim Dowd, Bruce Driver, Grant Marshall
665
00:46:52.960 --> 00:46:58.380
will all be there. Be there or be square. So
666
00:46:58.420 --> 00:47:02.719
that's happening on October 13th. So we've got a lot
667
00:47:02.760 --> 00:47:07.710
of events in the next, I don't know how many days,
668
00:47:08.309 --> 00:47:14.039
eight days, Nick. And the podcast continues, but don't let
669
00:47:14.079 --> 00:47:18.119
that thing that happened the other day with the, you know,
670
00:47:18.460 --> 00:47:20.449
I think we're the only podcast that's ever been shut
671
00:47:20.489 --> 00:47:25.349
down by the alcohol beverage control people in the state.
672
00:47:26.210 --> 00:47:28.630
I think it's actually like a badge of honor, to
673
00:47:28.670 --> 00:47:36.219
be honest. But yeah, October 13th. Yep. We'll be there.
674
00:47:36.429 --> 00:47:38.679
Be there every square. So anyway.
675
00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:39.440
Good.
676
00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:45.500
Go to pucksandpitchforks.com. Nick's writing those articles. He's already got
677
00:47:45.579 --> 00:47:51.429
the title ready. I can't wait to read. Also, J.P. Gambatis,
678
00:47:51.639 --> 00:47:57.210
read his stuff as well. Great stuff. Nick's stuff. Everybody's stuff.
679
00:47:57.230 --> 00:48:00.869
Vinny Parisi as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
680
00:48:00.889 --> 00:48:05.559
Dropping the podcast in about 20 minutes. See you soon.
681
00:48:05.579 --> 00:48:13.300
Until next time, let's go Devils. Thank you.