Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Buds Catch the Injury Bug

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with a look ahead at the Leafs' first encounter with the Devils this season. They get status updates on Marner, Samsonov, Rielly and Edmundson - the pair quietly dealing with tweaks. How careful should the Leafs be with their injuries down the stretch? Then, what the team needs to focus on ahead of the playoffs - the battle in net, staying motivated, solidifying lineup combinations and Matthews' hunt for 70. Finally, Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald (29:57) sets the stage for their critical game against the Leafs tonight, underlying reasons for New Jersey's disappointing season, long-term plans in goal and Timo Meier finally starting to settle in.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

all right let's get her going i can't even like get the next sentence out without saying did you guys have to wear green today like me did you have me belatedated St. Paddy's Day, pal. What is happening here? It happens all the time. Wow, they are. Like me and Bourne, they're a very similar color. They are.

Okay, for the record, you did mention that you were willing to change your shirt. I have a blue golf shirt. And I said, don't you dare. Do not change it. We're going to air looking like this. Unified today, boys. Same wavelength. Green's the color of money.

And Shohei's been in the news recently. Oh, thank you. It's her money, not a deep cut. Well, we're glad everybody's with us. Green with envy for our show. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, James Wilson. All together on Sportsnet 590,

Sportsnet 360, and Sportsnet Plus. You can always download us if you can't catch us live and text us at 590-590 as we get closer to the week. Sammy, we'll start reading a few more out. Nice to have Blair and Barker on before us now

It was interesting to come in here And it was a little bit of a different feel On the changeover After talking to the sad Raptors guys We got the hopeful Jays guys now We did We'd come in and relieve the Raptor guys How'd it go last night?

Oh they lost Really? By 40 They gotta be put out of their misery soon We just kept saying like And relieve the Raptor guys. How'd it go last night? Oh, they lost. Really? By 40. They got to be put out of their misery soon. He just kept saying, like, the show's got to end. So it was nice to see those guys. And, yeah, so just a reminder, we are not here Thursday. Thursday we are off for the Blue Jays opener of the season.

They play the Rays at 4.10 p.m., so we will not be on. Blue Jays. Blue Jays baseball, baby. Here we go. Let's go. Let play the Rays at 4.10 p.m., so we will not be on. Blue Jays. Blue Jays baseball, baby. Here we go. Let's go. Let's go. Just like that. In the meantime, the Toronto Maple Leafs

will see the New Jersey Devils tonight for their first meeting of the season. I know. And they've got three in total to go, including tonight, to round out their dozen games left to go here quick way to pack them all in nhl schedule maker very strange 25 of the remaining games are against the new jersey devils i don't know if that's good or bad i don't know what to make of this but it's strange but either

way we're going to talk to the gm coaching staff likes it yeah a lot less work in terms of prep that's nice also they well i shouldn't say this for sure, but they may be eliminated from playoffs by the next time they play them. New Jersey needs to win just about all its games or at least 10 of 12. In about 30 minutes or so, we're going to welcome in Tom Fitzgerald,

general manager of the New Jersey Devils, to give us a bit of an update and maybe talk about not meeting expectations with his core group. Of course, they've got some great young talent on the hockey club that just might not be ready for prime time. But we'll let Fitzy, Tommy Fitzgerald,

speak of that in about 30 minutes. In the meantime, the Toronto Maple Leafs, day off yesterday. Coming back tonight, Mitch Marner perhaps getting closer. We'll not see action tonight. Got a lot of updates today. There's a lot of updates. It's update o'clock. We can fill the people in on what's going on with the Leafers.

All right, let's go to Sheldon Keefe for the first update of the day on Kippers Clippers on Mitch Marner. Mitch is no longer day-to-day from day-to-day. He's just day-to-day. He's progressing very well. Not available today. But as far as his plan for the rest of the week, I think that'll be determined

tomorrow. I haven't got the full report on how it went today. So status for practice is undetermined right now, but he's doing well. Official word from the coach. No longer day-to-day from being day-to-day, but instead is day-to-day. If you can follow that.

Status undetermined for practice tomorrow. So, in summation, you can find him almost any timeined for practice so in summation you find him almost any time he's day today he's dead he's dead today yeah i i don't know if he'll play on thursday or not but he's close it's been a while though has like today's uh the eighth game yeah but like so i guess when we talked about it, it was like not a huge deal, mild sprain or whatever, but I've never heard of anyone with a high ankle sprain coming back within two weeks ever.

Yeah. But again, it's not your typical, and it may not be a high ankle sprain. It could just be an ankle sprain. That would be better. Medium ankle sprain. But we are also an ankle sprain. Yeah, it would be better. Medium ankle sprain. But we are also talking about a guy that tweaked something and finished the game in Boston.

How often do you hear of a high ankle sprain? Right. So probably not a high ankle sprain. That plays out the way this one's played out. Thursday, March 7th is the last game he played. And we're heading into. Yeah, so 20 days ago. Yeah.

So, better safe than sorry. Yeah, this time of year, for sure. I wouldn't be playing him in really a whole lot, I don't think. No. I don't think there's much point. I guess you want to get him playing hockey again before it starts.

Can I tell you why you might want to play him again? Third line tonight is Nyes Holmberg Robertson. Mm. That makes me want someone back yeah maybe mario you come back tonight then let's see if you can find your way in uh okay yeah not great but all guys that you would expect at some point to see duty yes when the games are possibly game one i think two of them will play and robertson's just on the outside looking in yeah so give them give them give them experience give them yeah moments to feel a lot more calmer in game one or game two or game three than in these instances i i like it and you

know kip to your point it's the no passengers line it's like you don't nize doesn't have to look for matthews or marner or whatever it's like no one's deferring to anyone it's you guys go ahead and shoot it if you get a look go ahead and be the guy to take it to the net maybe there's some personal responsibility handed over there. So we shall see. Not playing Reeves in the game with Curtis McDermott on the other side. Maybe Curtis McDermott not playing or something, but it's an interesting one. It's also just interesting because not playing Reeves.

Yeah. So we have another update on the very injured Samsonov, if you'd like to hear an update on that. Would love to hear an update. Samsonov, if you'd like to hear an update on that. Would love to hear an update. Key clip two, please, Derek. Samsonov, I'd say very same. Obviously, he hadn't skated in the last couple of days, so today was just a, he wasn't going to play tonight regardless.

So today is a chance for him to just sort of work his way back into the mix. And at this point, based on how things went today, we're expecting him in practice tomorrow and take it from there. Is he going to work his way back into the mix? I don't know. He's at ICU, is he? That's good.

Just jokes. He doesn't sound like a guy. That sound is all about pulling our collar. He doesn't sound like a guy that's... I don't know. Looks like he's going to be fine. He's got a lot of enthusiasm.

Yeah. I mean, if you're Sheldon Keefe, you're waiting for the medical staff to say that he can play. If you're the medical staff, you're being careful of the player. The player was hurt. Very hurt. Very legitimately. Yes.

And so he will be back when he's back. Sounds like he's very close. And the last and final update. Okay. This one is a more interesting one than the last ones, I promise. This one I don't like the name of. We'll go to clip three from Keefe, please. Derek.

Riley's day-to-day actually not ruled out for tonight at this point, but we'll see how he is later today. If he doesn't go today, it would be a day-to-day type of situation for him. Not an illness. Same with Edmondson, though he I would say is not available tonight, and I wouldn't expect him this week. Wow.

I know. What is happening here? I know. Our pets have been falling off. I didn't know all that was on the table for tonight. Hadn't heard anything about Edmondson having anything. He didn't show a tweak. They didn't mention it, nothing. And now he's not even available this week i know we said it yesterday we said okay we got a guy that

they traded for that you like that 23 minutes is not is uh is huge yes can be a second pair guy or even a front line guy in certain instances right on a on a pair with riley but can he sustain 22 23 minutes at that high level of physicality and no keep it together no he can't well i mean how's he gonna go every other day in the playoffs i don't know maybe he won't know but look with the answers maybe he won't you've been helpful maybe he won't you know maybe it's a thing where you're gonna see more you're gonna see timmons or whoever's the first guy out benoit you're gonna see timmons you're gonna see guys because yeah we talked about availability with him being a career-long bugaboo. I will say, looking at the lines for tonight and looking at the decor,

I think you have to give Tree some credit. You do. And, you know, there's not, we talked about how maybe there wasn't the showstopper at the deadline, but him acquiring Labushkin and Edmondson as sort of, quote-unquote, depth pieces. You know know being able to bring in Timmons we can have a conversation about bringing Benoit in off the out of the press box it's like this still looks passable for the rest of the regular season it's not awful McCabe Lilligren Brody Labushkin Benoit Timmons it's not no it's a lot of teams third pair and

you know what Timmons isn't no disrespect to this guy, but he's not le joie. He's not a guy who's, you know, he's played a lot of NHL games at this point. So, yeah, I'm with you. It's passable. Well, the Riley thing too, though, like not an illness, not sure if he's going to be available tonight,

doesn't even add up to me because, like, if something's going to get better by tonight i don't know well just leave them out just leave them out we're talking hours of between availability they just don't plan don't need them they just ran the field when he was out they're gonna be okay we're gonna push him hard or take a chance on him making it worse to stay in third place in the Atlantic. 100%. Yeah. Stupid.

All right. Where do you want to go? Joseph Wall? Yeah, we'll go Joe Wall. Just go through the whole lineup here. He's getting to start again tonight, so we'll go to that. All right. Good four.

Well, I think if last game was any indication, you know, he's building momentum and kind of getting back into a groove i think that's why it was important to get him back into that tonight uh he's had some tough tough starts here right you know he's he's had he's been on the tail end of back-to-backs he's been you know uh played some tough opponents all those kind of things so uh getting him in this one here tonight I thought was important for lots of reasons, not just the way he played last game, but just getting him a little extra start and Samsonov having a little bump in the road with an injury that allows that opportunity

and just makes it fall into place or makes the decision somewhat easier in that sense. So yeah, I think he's building momentum and look great the other night. All right. Don't love that clip of I'm Samson off. No. Well,

just connect the dots. His, his tone talking about Samson off and then a little spring in his step talking about Joseph Wall. There is like a little bit of pixie dust that comes out. There's a little skip there. They want him to work out. You know, they want him to run a good hockey here

and make their decision easy. I think they'd be happy with either guy making their decision easy. But Samsonov, this is undeniably part of the pros and cons ledger with making him your goalie is that there's just not the confidence that can continue without i don't know injury yeah that's i mean that's the biggest worry for wall for sure is that i think over the whole season when he's played, he's been really good. I don't know what, I actually haven't looked at his numbers recently, but I'm sure they're pretty good.

And he's just above league average goalie when he's playing. But I think the thing that really worries you is him missing 80 days on a floater from the half boards. Yeah. Right? Like, that's what really worries you. So, and your other guy leaving the game with mystery injuries. Mystery injuries.

Can you leave it to the last weekend to be undecided? Well, it's funny because everyone, like Jason Buchel has an article on Sportsnet today, and it says the conclusion about which goalie should start. And the conclusion is similar to what you and i said on tv the other night which was just you know you kind of alternate these guys and wait for one guy to run with it but that is the conclusion that people are are saying right is that leaving it to the very end and then i just don't know though and I've never played the position obviously you guys haven't either I went in one game last year did you how'd you do horrific I don't know why anyone chooses to do

that it's the worst thing in the world but how do they feel about going into game one if they've alternated the last three weeks is that enough for them to feel you're worried that they wouldn't feel as well do they go okay well you want me to run with this and if i don't i have a good excuse you never let me get it you never gave me a chance to kind of build it up or roll with it here and samsonov as we, has to feel really good about himself to get to a certain point, which many thought that he was getting to up until Saturday night in the third period.

That's true. And, yes, specifically the third period because it looked like, boy, shutting out the Oilers through two periods, could this guy suddenly grab a hold of this position? And I thought looking really good in that game. Like there was a few times like he's playing with swagger, that big windmill save that he made.

Like he looked the best version of himself. Yeah. There's no question that when he's, when Samsonov's good, he's limiting his body. Yeah. It's when he's quieter, he'll never get to the level of calmness in his game like Joseph Wall has.

Right. And not to be dramatic, and this is not my comparison, but like Max Domi compared Wall when he's playing well to Carey Price in that it's very use your big body, be in the way, and block style. And that's just not who Samsonov is. The one thing I see in the schedule, guys, is the season ends April 16th and 17th for the Leafs. Back-to-back games at Florida at Tampa Bay.

Like, I wonder if Martin Jones is in those games. So, you know, you play whoever's going to start your, you know, or I guess one of them could play as a backup or something like that. But, you know, the Devils, Devils, Red Wings that week, let's say if you're going to start Wohl, game one of playoffs, his last game's the 13th, give him a week off before playoffs. Would you like to see the starter have a run of games and then some rest before playoffs?

Joseph Wohl, to me, is in a different bracket than other goalies that might want to take a week off because he hasn't played enough yes yeah and he's a rookie it's all just still new to him and i'm sure last year once he saw samsonov get carried off the ice against florida his head was spinning and had to deal with that those those nerves that we've all had and what am i doing how did i get here can i do this yeah i just don't know at this point how much maturity has come into his game to now go into the last week of the season and feel like okay am i the guy am i not the guy do i need a break you probably do want to play because he is young so i want i want repetition in practice i want game scenarios i don't want don't tell me to stay home and rest i went back to last season uh

the monday april 10th the Leafs played the Florida Panthers. They won in overtime. That was Samsonov's last start. And the first game of the playoffs was Tuesday, April 18th. So he had eight days off and he obviously started game one. Yeah. So that's a long time off. Yeah, that's interesting to know that that's what they did previously.

Yeah. Yeah. Should we get to Sheldon keep on uh the urgency he feels in the next 12 games starting tonight he got asked about playing teams this week that are sort of playing for their lives like i mean i think buffalo is a bit of a stretch on that one on saturday night but for example tonight devils then you go to the caps again well they come here right so you gotta ask about that and give a pretty good answer. We had this discussion after we finished our game in Philadelphia before we prepared for that Washington game.

A, we haven't clinched anything. Nothing's secure at this point in time. And we need to approach it that way. Every day, every shift, every practice we get, we've got to have a level of urgency to everything that we're doing here. You know, we're approaching it with the mindset that we're going to be able to find a way to clinch a spot and all those sort of things, but you've got to do it.

You've got to maximize each day in order to do that. And that's obviously very important, to secure those points and secure our spot. And the other part of it is to have our game in good order. So, you know, you're sort of fighting all those sorts of things. And, you know, you pile on the injury stuff and guys in and out of the lineup that we've had and creating a little bit of adversity within the group just because of that situation. You know, the Leafs have been very healthy this year, have they not? Like they're talking, we mentioned injuries.

It just feels like they haven't been injured. Until the last two or three weeks, until Marner got hurt, basically it feels like it's kind of been a, since that happened, it feels like it's really kind of turned. They have avoided like the big one. Yeah. Yeah. I was just looking it up.

And I tend to agree with Sheldon just listening to his comments about, like, you're so close to the first round. If you think you're going to pick and choose when you go hard or when you don't go hard or you want to take your foot off the gas pedal, that's when you really start getting in trouble, I think. I mean, just play every game play hard play to win relatively speaking here not like life or death scenarios like you don't have to grind anybody into the ground here but yeah play the right way play the right way i have i wonder

though how as a coach who's been through this exact same situation before, with players who have all been through this exact same situation before, and, you know, management, like, how do you all lie to each other to pretend it matters? Like, you know, to me, I've never played hockey at any high level. It's just, how do you stay motivated? I know you're getting paid handsomely or whatever, but to me, it's got to be impossible. I don't think it's a problem.

I don't think it's a problem. You're a hockey player, right? The puck drops when you play hockey. Just first of all, if you did a quick list of the things that you'd like to accomplish in the next 12 games, give me two right now off the top of your head. Establish your lines. Thank you.

Improve the penalty kill by 2%, 3%. Yeah, absolutely. Power play, maybe. Who's stepping up as deep pair that want to play with each other and are comfortable? We all know every time we went to the rink who our wish list would be. I'd want this guy as a center man. I want to play with you.

I want to play with you. And it's like, go and show in the next 12 games that this is who you're supposed to be paired with, that you guys are the best at what we can do to win in the first round. So, Austin, I know that so much in the media has been built up of 70 goals, and I'm not suggesting he's going to bust his hump to get to 70 goals, but you don't want to exactly turn it off either because, you know, as a goal scorer, you don't want to exactly turn it off either because you don't as a goal

scorer you just you don't know when you're going to get hot or when it's going to kind of dry up a little bit for you you don't get the bounces so he's got a lot to kind of still play for to make sure he's in a good a headspace moving forward on when to shoot a puck or when not to shoot a puck to dish it off and i've really really been pleased watching Austin and Tavares is getting some points now again. You know how much he struggled in the last few months to put points up? Yeah. And now it's starting to roll a little bit.

He's getting a few more bounces. He doesn't want to mess with that either. No. So there's a lot to play for in 12 games here. Yeah, individually you have the things that you're after, right? Like, you know, play well enough to be on the power play if you're Max Domi or play well or even Tyler Bertuzzi. So, yeah, individually guys are playing for things still.

There's still that motivation. I think Matthew's got to get on a real heater here now to get 70. I think, you know, if he beats McDavid's 64 from last year, I think it's a heck of an accomplishment and, you know, a viable let's get that number. But 70 is, he's got to score basically every game from here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And he does. Yeah. And he's going to have to. 12 and 12 games. Yeah. And he's, it doesn't just, it won't, it won't jive with the team concept of getting ready for a first round. For a guy to go and now get to 70

goals here he's gonna have to be awfully selfish on shooting the puck if they were out of playoffs and he were like ov chasing the record or something i understand the caps have made push recently yeah i understand but you know were the team out of playoffs maybe that would be a thing they worked on but you're right get him the puck get him the puck and you you don't want to go down that path and i don't think austin's going down that path sheldon's not going down that path and i don't think the team's going down that path he's not gonna he's not gonna take away the good looks that he gets to to shoot it in the net that's how he's wired but he's not he's not Chasing it. He's not pushing the flow towards it. It would be cool to see him get 60 against Ovechkin on Thursday.

That'd be good. Right? That's a fun little in-season storyline there. Ovi gets 30. He gets 60. Same game. How many does Ovi have? 26.

No, he doesn't. Yeah, he does. Oh, my God. I know. Wow. That happened fast. He had a goal per game for the past month and a half. Yeah. Boy, that all-star break really did him wonders yeah that rest he got way better yeah time to rest um

last on how he'll handle his decor would you like to talk about the defense well we were talking about this a little bit about mixing guys in and out right and he got asked about how he's gonna handle that so we can listen let's talk about it. We've been approaching him more with the eight guys, but I would like definitely to keep guys involved, and you've seen that, you know, with how we've handled some of the back-to-backs and making sure guys stayed in.

We need everybody. That's all that's on forward or defense. Guys need to stay ready. We need to, when you bring in, you know, in our case, two new defensemen. That sort of changes the mix a little bit of our group. Those guys, they need reps, and others need reps playing with them. Timmons is coming off of long injuries and illness and hasn't played a lot this season, so we need him involved.

And then Geo has fought the same kind of things. And then we've been talking about Brody's situation too. So we're managing all these things as best we can. But the good news is that no matter what we've done and how we've moved things, the group has responded well to it. So I think our intention would be to continue to utilize all of our guys, but at the same time try to find some rhythm and consistency inside of it. So he hasn't, like right now, Edmondson's hurt,

so that kind of manages it for him. But if we're looking ahead to game one, what is the six guys? Is it Ben Wilde is the real question, right? That's it, I think. And yes, it is Ben Wilde. Because Edmondson, they love that he's a little heavier, meaner, bigger. Yeah. More experienced. And where do you get TJ Brody's game at?

Yeah. That's actually still one of the remaining questions here down the stretches. Can he get back to something where you're like, all right, we trust him to do. He's like Justin Hall of yore for them at this point kill penalties break the puck out don't play in the top pair a different role for him is how i see it yeah i i liked riley mccabe when they did that for was that a couple games when uhdy was out. Thought that looked passable. I'm not sure if it's going to work as a top playoff pairing. But I didn't mind it. So maybe you could move him down a little bit.

Lighten the load. It is interesting to me that we don't even hear Mark Giordano's name. Like no updates on his timeline. He's eligible to come back now. Oh, is he? Yeah, he's eligible to play. Well, Keefe talked about it this morning. But he kind of like said to play his parent well keith talked about it this morning but he kind of like said something early and then he got asked about it again then

he's like i think i'm right about that one like he wasn't sure of it so i think but i think he's eligible to play arrested giordano over timmons in playoffs yes please okay he's he he's the eighth D now? The ninth D? Do you think he's what? No, I'm just wondering. 12 games to go here. Yeah. You do want to get him in once or twice. Yeah, absolutely.

No question. I get why they want to give Timmons a few games. It doesn't sound like he's close to being an option for them right now. Certainly is talking about Timmons, the fact that he's even mentioning Timmons without really concerning himself with the Giordano update, does say something about where their mindset, who would be first in,

which I don't know how you guys feel about it. I guess tough to know what version of Giordano you're going to get. It's been a long time since he's played, too. You love his heart and soul, but there were instances this year where you watched him and it's like the legs aren't there, the speed's not there, and you're just too slow. You know, in playoffs last year, I wrote an article,

just breaking down clips where it was like he just, but I thought he was overused last year, and this year i thought a rested version of him might have more to offer and limited no question that if he's got a chance to to come in and and plug a hole or just fill in he has to he has to be very well rested yeah well he should be by now let's hit a break okay come back we'll hit a break. Okay. Come back for 15. We'll hit a break, and we're going to find the general manager

of the New Jersey Devils. Tom Fitzgerald will join us when we return to Real Kipper and Born. with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download Jay's Talk on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Game day is a welcome in. New Jersey Devils tonight for the first meeting of the season. They've got three to go gonna be interesting in the next uh 12 with three of them coming against the same team kind of look they'll have by game three in this short period two things are happen they'll either like hate each other beyond belief or we'll just see a lot

of deals get cut i think on the ice one of the two one of the two it's very possible but yeah i am excited to see it the uh haven't had a good look at the devils yet this year so okay let's welcome in tom fitzgerald general manager of the new jersey devils and uh tom thanks for joining us really appreciate it we just mentioning it's uh kind of rare uh you'd see so many games uh piled on to such a short period of time but that's the case with you and the toronto maple leaf so what are you looking for out of the next 10 games of the remaining of the season i know the playoffs aren't uh completely out of the realm if you guys go on a a heater as uh your number one centerman often is mentioned.

But what are you looking in the big picture of these next 10 games and three of them coming against the Toronto Maple Leafs? Well, first off, thanks for having me on, guys. Really appreciate it. I love your show. Thanks. Big fan. So, yeah, I mean, listen, this is the season we thought we were going to have,

but it is what it is, and we're still in a fight here, and that's the most important thing. I think the one area that this team, my team, has shown that inconsistency was pretty consistent this year. So trying to get on the track of consistency right now and playing the right way. And we've shown out of three of the last four games anyways that when we do play the right way, we manage the out of three of the last four games anyways that when we do play the right way we manage the puck uh we clock manage um we play we check we defend uh first and foremost then

offense will come um and it gives us a chance to win hockey games and and that's where we were uh last we played the penguins a couple games ago um you know really strong showing against winnipeg a dud against Ottawa and played really well against New York Islanders less than 24 hours later. So we know we know we're in a dogfight tonight with a great team, but really it's about us and how we're going to come out, how we're going to manage the game and how we're going to, you know, just take what's given to us. Tom, you were quoted as knowing that you were going to take a step back in certain areas.

Is that particularly your blue line? I know we know you lost Dougie Hamilton, but taking on the likes of Luke Hughes and Simon Nemech here, not having Hamilton there, was that the step back that you were talking about? Yeah, yeah. That's no shot at our decor by any means. It's reality.

Put Kevin Ball in that situation too. You know, 6'7", defenseman who was in and out of our lineup last year, you know, needing him to take a step, which we believe he has, to replace Orion Graves, you know, was part of it. With Luke, you know, we knew what we had upside-wise. We knew Luke was going to, any young defenseman, it's a tough league to break into, to not make mistakes. But we were committed to living with those mistakes,

knowing that taking that step back would take us two steps forward. And with Simon Nemech, to be quite honest, I wasn't expecting him on my team this year. But the Dougie Hamilton thing, injury, kind of pushed him forward. Now, I give Simon all the credit in the world. He probably wouldn't have gotten his

10th game. But we could not take him out of the lineup, how good he was early. But like any young defenseman, they start going through the ups and downs um but we believe we've got especially in those two we've got two pillars on the back end that uh we're excited for and know that this experience this year will will really propel them forward to being the players we projected to be when we drafted them tom tell us a little bit about the roller coaster that's been trying to get your

goaltending position where you wanted it to be you know i look at a lot of the numbers and you guys are a pretty darn good team by a lot of them but bottom three in the league and uh save percentage um it's been been sort of an adventure at times for you guys is it not are you talking about my my career in new jersey talking about are you just talking this year? Talking about this year, Tom. Well, yeah. Well, Corey Crawford retires on us. Jonathan Bernier plays eight games in two years because of injuries,

things that were out of our control. But this year, you know what? We looked at last year in our goaltending with Mackenzie Blackwood had some injuries, but really felt he was going to be the goalie of our future, you know, adding V tech and having that one, a one B you know, you look at the numbers he took put up last year, you know, wins and losses, you know, there's only one other goalie in our organization and history of it that had

more wins in a single season. So we felt that, you know, the blip on the radar was the first couple games in the playoffs with p-tech um but for sure had confidence in him coming back and and what we saw in young schmidt um we really liked um we played really well last year in front of him and and he proved that you know just you know giving us a chance to stop pucks to give us a chance to win, it did with his record last year. Again, a young goaltender that saw his ups and downs early. Yeah, and it turned out bringing up Dawes was something that was inevitable

after he got back from his hip surgery. But the reality is that Dawes and Schmidt are two young goaltenders that we really like down the road. But here we are right now making a move to bring veterans like I did and giving us a situation in the offseason, if goaltenders are on the market, to be able to be in that market because of cap space in the net. Tom, we know what analytics means to a lot of hockey clubs, yours included, in terms of the crunching of the numbers and how it can pertain to ultimately making decisions.

When it comes to the go of a big-name goalie and how good goalies have to be now to win championships compared to years prior here? And, you know, are you at the point where they need to be very good, but they don't necessarily have to be great? And does that factor in ultimately your decision on a long-term goalie? That's a great question, Nick. First and foremost, yes, we are an analytic company, but we use it as a tool.

We also use the eye test and our hockey intuition as well. It's great when they all match up, but we're trying to hedge bets on players, whether it's contracts, whether it's the term of a contract whether it's a trade um you know that does play into our decision making but as well as as the reports that we have you know an abundance of pro scouts and abundance of amateur scouts so um you, we're a collaborative organization, really process-driven to make the best bets we possibly can make on every transaction that we make. So with that being said, you know,

goaltending is probably the most important position in the game of hockey. And if you're not getting the saves at appropriate time to give your team a chance to win, because you are going to have mistakes in front of your goaltender, and that's all we're looking for, is someone who can give us a chance to be in every game. We've had that for the last five or six games. We've been in every single game, and our goaltenders have given us that chance. But that by no means, Nick, and you've played a long time, is taking anybody else off the hook.

You know, we probably give up a lot, a handful more prime aid chances than a lot of teams. Well, we did. And that's correctable. But that's also choices, you know. And we've got to, as a group, you know, try to kind of go down a path where you're making the right decisions with the puck.

And we're seeing that, you know, right now. We're seeing that. And we saw it at times before. But like I said earlier, it's the inconsistencies of that were really shooting us in the foot. One of the big decisions that you guys did make was to, you know, acquire and sign Timo Meyer.

He's had a good run of hockey games in the last stretch here. You guys won three or last four over that time. I think he's got about seven points and a lot of shot attempts, a lot of shots, period. You know, are you starting to see more of what you were expecting from him? Maybe tell us a bit about his season with you guys.

Well, I think Timo would tell you, first and foremost, it's been inconsistent. This is a Timo I'm sure Timo likes. Yeah. The Timo I like. He's been that power forward that we've envisioned. You know, he's playing with authority. He's playing with confidence. He's getting to the front of the net. You're seeing goals

in the blue paint. He's got a great shot, but you're not necessarily seeing him standing on the outside waiting for the one-timer. He's just been playing the right way, both ends of the ice. His ice time has shown

that. Even in critical moments of the game, defensive zone starts, last minute of a game, he's hearing his name get called. And I think that's important. We need this Timo to do what we want to do long term. So, no, we're excited where he's at. And like I said, we're not looking back. We're looking forward.

And this is exactly the player we felt we traded for. We're talking to Tom Fitzgerald, general manager of the New Jersey Devils. Tom, I don't really have a question on Curtis McDermott, except I really liked it when you got him. Me too. It made it a lot more interesting especially when you guys play the new york rangers but all kidding aside what can you tell us about uh the pickup and and curtis so far i think you guys

have them listed as day-to-day right now and i i don't think we'll see him tonight, but what can you tell us about just the mindset? And, hey, Rangers, here he is. Well, you know, yeah, he's banged up right now. We don't believe it's long-term. It's day-to-day. You know, after tonight, we play again Friday. We don't play again until Tuesday. So there's some time here to get him right.

You know, Nick, it's a great – it's not a question you said. It's kind of a statement. And you're right. There's a place on my roster for a player like this because, one, of the character. He's a fantastic kid. He's got great character. He's a fantastic kid. He's got great character. He's a leader. You know, the short time that I've seen and witnessed how he acts in the locker room,

in the weight room, he's like the Pied Piper. He goes in the weight room, they all follow. That's the value he brings to the table. Not to mention, he can help players feel two or three inches taller or maybe 10 to 15 pounds heavier too when he's in the lineup. There's also value there. He can play. He can skate. He can jump down the ice. He knows who he is as a player. Like I said, the most important thing for us

was the character, the teammate, the work ethic, just the passion for the game. And we're thrilled and would love to keep him around longer. Tell us a little bit about Luke Hughes' season. I mean, for myself, really just impressed. He's one of those guys that when you're flipping through channels, it's like, I'm going to watch the Devils because I can see what Luke Hughes is going to look like tonight.

Is he ahead of where you thought he would be or were your expectations always as high as this performance? I would say, honestly, looking back and watching him in college, he's ahead of where I thought he would be. And really where I got excited was not only the last game of the year he played, or he might have played the last two games, it was when he was thrown into the second round of the playoffs and he just popped and it was like, wow, look what he's doing here now. We know we have a great young offensive puck-moving defenseman

where he is improving as his player away from the puck, his defending. He's using his size, his reach, his legs to defend. But like every young player, they're going to make mistakes, and we knew this, and we were okay with it because of what we believe this young player will be going through this experience. No different than his brother, you know, Jack's first year in the league. I mean, it wasn't an easy time for him, you know, but we felt having him on our team and being a young 18-year-old and understanding where this league's at and where he needed to be, I think really, really helped him become the player that he became and still becoming.

The sky's the limit for him as well. But the experience that these kids are getting is invaluable because of where we think they'll go with that. Well, Tom, we're looking forward to the game tonight. We so appreciate stopping by on our show, and thanks for the kind words on being a fan. We really

appreciate it, man. All the best down the stretch. Appreciate it, guys. Thanks, Tom. Appreciate it. Tom Fitzgerald, general manager of New Jersey Devils, or should I say, Sammy, on your behalf, good luck seven of the next ten games. Yeah yeah i don't care these games you're good yeah you're good i just love time for trading from the pride of uh

supple beach ontario curtis mcdermott so i played with curtis's dad it was like built like a brick you know what house yeah much himself. And just like this. I bought him two. Guy almost, like, took out my voice box. Punched me right in the throat. Really? Couldn't talk for, like, two weeks. That's a funny place to get punched to me.

It's never not funny. No. It hurt. Yeah, I'm sure. Luke Hughes leads them. And my singing career was over. Wow, you still have that nice baritone. Maybe it helped. Yeah, maybe I should take one of the throat thank you um luke hughes leads them in time on ice per game 21 15 per game it is the hardest position for a

20 21 year old to come in and play national Hockey League. He said all the right things, Tom did, but you could tell that they're working with him. There's D-zone errors and coverages and stuff that you don't want to come on here and say, well, actually, Justin, we need him to defend better, but it's a process for a young defenseman. He obviously has the tools. The decision to go out and get Jake Allen,

he's not Markstrom, but it had a lot to do with protecting Luke Hughes. Yeah, so that every error doesn't end up in your net. And they don't feel bad about themselves for the next 15, 17 games at the time of the trade. Yeah. He's there to protect them to finish off the season and add some stability and some professionalism from a true veteran. So, you know, I questioned it.

Like, come on, just lose as many games as you can and get the highest pick you can. But that's not they're not there they had 112 points last year the bigger picture is is protect some of your assets yeah like a luke hughes so i get it yeah um yeah so jake allen makes 1.9 well they retained some money on that one right oh yeah i think he made four yeah so it's on the books for them it's 1.9 this year and next like that i mean they got that uh kakkanen but he can he's done after this year so they could still trade for markstrom and you're spending seven or eight million bucks he has to go get markstrom this

summer that's a tough spot to be in when the team knows you know i should have asked him about this but he made a comment in the media about calgary about teams trying to extort you at the deadline and i i got the sense he felt like calgary's ass got a little out of hand because calgary knows they want to do that how can you not come to that conclusion that is 100 in my opinion yeah directed to the calgary flames calgary got a little big for their britches knowing that they're trying to, yeah. So everybody, all the reports were

that the deal was all but done. Yeah. And then somebody changed something somewhere. Someone says, you know what? I want the partridge and the pear tree. And they said, I thought it was just for the partridge. And then you had, I think, a ticked off Markstrom, too. Yeah.

Well, he came out and buried the front office immediately. Remember? Oh, yeah. And the team's not been exactly on fire since. God, they stink. Yeah, well, they traded everyone. That's what sucks for the Flames fans when they were like, hey, we're actually kind of fun and plucky.

Now we suck. Yeah, they traded fun. So as much as New Jersey can feel like they have different options, I mean, they got to get this team back into the playoffs. Like I said, they were a 112-point team last year. They were, you know get this team back into the playoffs like i said they were 112 point team last year they were you know i think going into the season people had them in the stanley cup picture and so yeah it's a significant drop off and then how do you get back there next year i tell you what you look at their group of forwards like they got work to do

they need to make some additions i like love he's here, obviously an all-star, and Meyer, and Hughes, but I like Palat. Beyond that, it's... Do you remember the last game that New Jersey played here in Toronto and how fast they looked? Well, they're fast, right? I mean, even...

They were off the charts. They were off the charts. I can't recall what the score was, but I do recall going, that's the fastest team in the league. You remember that all last year yeah i don't remember anything you're the guy who remembers everything yeah you are but i don't remember like the devils were fast last no i remember it i was like i also i was in wow mode yeah yeah and i think once your confidence is a little shook you know you hesitate a little bit and you just lose that jump that edge to to look that fast so everything that could go wrong

went wrong for them this year but the end of the day you get a i think i was looking while he was talking their save percentage on the season third last in the nhl uh 88.67 percent on the year that ain't gonna cut it okay the first of three to finish off this regular season for the toronto maple leafs against the new jersey devils and yeah that's too many okay we're gonna take a quick break when we return chris osgood former nhl goaltender 13 winningest goalie in NHL history will join us. We'll tee up the Detroit Red Wings, Washington Capitals. Who gets the last spot? We'll find out after these words.