The Athletic Hockey Show - End of an era for Patrick Kane in Chicago and Jonathan Quick in LA, Tom Fitzgerald's NJ Devils acquire the top deadline prize in Timo Meier

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

This week on the Wednesday roundtable, Rob, Jesse and Russo discuss the flurry of activity leading up to the trade deadline, including Patrick Kane officially becoming a Ranger, Jonathan Quick being dealt to Columbus, Mattias Ekholm landing in Edmonton and the Maple Leafs making three trades in an hour on Tuesday.Tom Fitzgerald, the General Manager of the New Jersey Devils joins the show to discuss the many moving parts when his team acquired the prized piece of the NHL trade deadline in Timo Meier and how he would love it if the trade deadline was moved up byu at least a month. Plus the guys stick tap Linus Ullmark, Patrick Marleau and Mark Giordano. Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowTry Peloton risk-free with a 30-Day Home Trial, New Members only. Not available in remote locations. See additional terms at http://onepeloton.ca/home-trial Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the athletic hockey show, the deadline wrap-up show. Because I think almost everything is done. And yes, it's still a couple days away. I am Rob Pizzo from CBC Sports, joined by my linemates, Jesse Granger and Mike Russo, both in Vegas. Deadline day is dead, isn't it, guys?

It's now just a period of time before the deadline. and GMs are just not waiting. It's been a busy few days. We'll break it down, boys. But just, is this the last time we're really going to put so much hype into deadline day? Because it just doesn't happen anymore. Russo? Well, I was texting with Elliot Friedman that I can't wait to watch him tap dance on Friday for like eight hours live on TV.

Just imagine what both TSN and Sportsnet are thinking right now in a HL network for having to, you know, sit there and like, hey, this guy was traded for futures. This guy was traded for an eighth round. I mean, it's going to be, it's going to be, I don't know. I mean, everybody's getting ahead of it. And, and, you know, you're still waiting now. If, you know, is Chikrin going, is Bester going? There's still some names out there, but not a lot of them. They have to look forward to the Jacob Chikrin trade talk for the next three trade deadline days. Actually, they've already scheduled that programming out because he's never getting traded. Yeah, yeah, lots of big stuff going on this week. And I know that the biggest thing that happened that

you guys can't wait to talk about is the goalie goal. So I'm glad we're going to get to that later. So much so that we put it in rapid fire at the end of the show just for you, Jesse. But in case you haven't been following along, since the last time the three of us spoke, moves came fast and furious. Dmitra Orloff became a brew and Nino Niederriderider is in Winnipeg. The big one, in my opinion, Tim O'Meier, went to New Jersey in a deal that saw nine players and four picks.

By the way, their general manager, Tom Fitzgerald, going to be joining us. in the second half of the show. And then two other ones that obviously we're going to talk about the Oilers. We don't got defenseman Matthias Ekholm from Nashville. Patrick Kane finally is no longer a Black Hawk, is now a ranger. In the middle of the night, we had a big one between the Kings and the Blue Jackets that saw Vladislav Gavagrebov and goaltender Jonas Carpicello heading to the Kings and going the other way, a couple of picks and Jonathan Quick.

So a couple of eras coming to an end. We'll talk about that in a minute. But guys, no one was busy. than the Leafs. I mean, we had Ryan O'Reilly last week. Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty, Eric Gustafson, Luke Shen, all now Leifes on the way out. Rasmund Sandine, Pierre Engval, two first, two seconds, and a third. Just to name a few.

There's actually more moving pieces. But I just tried recapping that all in about a minute and a half. I didn't. Biggest one that jumps out to you, maybe the biggest trade that jumped out to you or the biggest, you know, GM move that made you raise your eyebrows. We'll start with you on this one, Jesse. Yeah, I mean, to me, the obvious one is Meyer, just because not just the current what he brings to the devils, but the fact that he's the youngest of this group of guys that was getting moved during the deadline. But I think aside from that, I'm pumped to see what the Rangers look like in the playoffs, because I, like, I remember

the day they traded for Teresenko. Everyone kind of thought, well, that jury's kind of getting the fans off his back. Like, stop asking for Patrick Kane. We got you, Tara. Senko, be happy with that. It's a great addition. And then Patrick Kane also coming to New York. That team is loaded. And you could say that about what feels like half of the entire Eastern Conference right now. But that, I mean, Gerard Gallant, I covered him here in Vegas. They place, he coaches such an exciting brand of hockey, never a dull game. And you've got a team that was already really talented offensively. You add Teresenko and Patrick Kane, two veteran snipers. They've got maybe the best goalie. the world back there. I really, really like just the makeup of the Rangers. I have no idea if it's going to click and if it's going to all work together. And they've got a brutal stretch to get through. So I don't know necessarily if they're a cup contender, but they are going to be fun to watch. I can't wait to watch the Rangers and how this all fits. Yeah, I mean, especially when, you know, Patrick Kane a couple of weeks ago after the Tarasanko deal, you know, openly voiced

his disappointment. And it was almost like, hear a bat signal to Chris Dury like, hey, I'm still here. He could, you know, try to get me too. And somehow he did make it work. It's just amazing how teams are able to do that. You know, the other big one that jumped out to me this week is Tim O' Meyer. And, you know, we're going to have Tom Fitzgerald on in a bit here. And, and man, just what a great pickup for them. To go already with an incredible core that just looks like they are an exciting team that's on, that's got many, many years of, you know, brightness in front of them. I think that was one that jumped out to me. And look, I mean, there were some, you know, I know, that Mike Greer and the sharks have gotten some criticism that maybe they didn't get a lot.

But, you know, look, I mean, Tom Fitzgerald figured out a way to get him over a lot of teams that wanted him, including the Carolina Hurricanes, who I'm actually around here in Vegas right now. And I do wonder what Mike Greer thought about, you know, 20 minutes after he made that trade when all of a sudden the Tanner-Juno deal happened with the Tampa Bay Lightning. And they gave up a first, a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, and Calfoot. But it was fascinating. Listen to Julian Breezebaud really justify it. And the stuff that he said made sense for the window that the lightning are in.

You know, to me, I think the Timor Meyer deal, excuse me, is one of the reasons why we were joking about there's no longer trade deadline day. You know, it used to be you could wait till 245 Eastern time and say, okay, give us your best offer. You've been holding back. Come on. That deal looks so frigging complicated. as far as how many moving pieces, how many picks, the conditional picks, what's the condition, what, that there's just no way GMs are able to throw things like that together at the last minute. That Meyer deal, of course, all we really look at is Timel Meyer is now a New Jersey Devil,

but the moving parts insane. For me, the Echholm deal is. Also, just to just the butt in, Rob, I mean, just to write the press release. That's it. I mean, that press release, I mean, was like an alphabet suit. Some of those last names of some of those players, I wouldn't be able to ever write if I was a deadline writer. So prospects, that's what I always, you learn as a broadcaster when you got to fit it all in. It's like for three prospects and two picks, if you're like, you can't pronounce their names.

For me, at Colm was the big one because you'll look at the trade deadline. Some teams are making moves because they're sellers. Some teams are making moves to maybe quiet down a fan base. The Edmonton Oilers had a need. They needed a defenseman who could contribute and eat up big minutes. They went out and got a defenseman who could contribute offensively and eat up big minutes. It's almost like, hey, honey, we need eggs. Okay, you go to the grocery store, you get eggs.

Like, that's what I felt like that was. And I've been saying this for a while. Jesse alluded to this. The East is just so hard to get through. Whoever comes out of the East is going to be battered and bruised. And is that when the Edmonton Oilers slip in there and go, all right, we finally can counter his Stanley Cup. I think that's a huge piece.

And I think that's a piece that could maybe be the difference that they needed. I absolutely love that trade for the oil. Yeah. They were in on Chickren. It sounded like. And everyone was kind of talking about that. And then I feel like some people were maybe a little let down that they went and got Ekholm rather than Chickren.

And while long term, Chickren's the younger player. He's probably the better player moving forward over the next five years. But for this specific Stanley Cup run, this playoff run right here for the Oilers, I think at home is the perfect piece. I think he's ready to do exactly what they need. I think he's more physical defensive presence than like a chickering is. And that's what they need. Like this team has plenty of skill and speed.

Like there's no lack of skill and speed. They're going to score five goals a night. It doesn't matter who you have on the back end. You need somebody in the playoffs to be tough to play against being for, can't, get to the front of their net because he's there. I think at home, I really like that fit for the Oilers. Yeah, couldn't agree more. I mean, I agree with you. Hey, I think everybody knows that listens to me on the show how much I like Chickren and think he's a great, great player. But from a fit standpoint, they don't need a puck mover and a shot blaster right now

from the point. They need a defender. Did you guys watch them lose the other night, six, five to the Columbus Blue Jackets? I mean, they needed a defenseman like this. As I mentioned, the Leafs and Kyle Dubus busy over the last couple of days. We use the acronym of UFA a lot at this time of year. Kyle Dubus is in the last year of his contract. Is this just him grabbing all his chips, pushing him in the middle and saying, I'm all in. And if this doesn't work, I've done literally everything I can.

He's not leaving anything in the tank. If they don't get out of the first round now, dubus is going to say, well, I did it all. Yeah, and I like the strategy too. Rather than maybe sending all those assets to get one piece, the Leafs have the big core pieces that you need to win by all accounts. I mean, they haven't done it yet, but they have the talent to do it.

Their top pieces, I think sometimes maybe adding two, three, four depth pieces that you know you're going to get in the playoffs, guys are going to get dinged up. rather than having like an AHL call-up filling that role, now suddenly you've built that depth. You have a veteran NHLer who's coming in to play. I just, it seems like that's kind of what the Leafs need. We'll obviously see if it pans out.

They are almost guaranteed to have an impossibly tough first round matchup with the lightning. But I like the strategy of let's gather four, three, four, five usable pieces for this run, rather than just going all in for like a Patrick Kane or whoever. Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, it's been 56 years since it won a Stanley Cup. And at some point, you got to go for it. You owe it to the fan base. You owe it to the players in that locker room that have had a, you know, a good season.

The guys that are in their core and the meat of their careers here. And, you know, I'm pretty impressed that he just keeps on adding there. And I'm going to be interested to see how it all comes together, right? I mean, you know, you reinvent your blue line, half your blue line the way that he has. It is going to take a little while to get used to systems, get used to playing together, and to maybe not have a growing pains. But, you know, what, he gave himself six weeks here to get them together and get them, you know, meshing and go into a playoff series that we all know against the lightning. It's going to be must see TV.

And it is. It's a shame. Like you look at all these teams that made, I joked on Twitter the other day with, you know, Boston adding and all these teams adding, the Rangers and New Jersey. in New Jersey and Toronto, and I still think Carolina is going to do something. There's only one Stanley Cup that's going out, and it could actually come from the Western Conference, by the way. But, you know, it's really a shame when you think of it, that how many teams, you are going to have great teams that don't even get out of round one, and everybody's going to be second-guessing

everything that they did. But look, these teams went for it. And, you know, covering a franchise in Minnesota that always sees to be that little, you know, little moves, little moves, little moves and never quite goes for it. I respect it. I'm impressed by it and I'm excited by it. I mean, when you look at these possible matchups, we're going to be sitting, I mean, almost guaranteed we're going to be sitting here first round of the playoffs with Devils, Rangers and Leafs, bolts. Oh my goodness. I can't wait.

Yeah, but I would rather see them later in the playoffs. I mean, we're not going to go into the one versus eight thing again. We've done it. I think we're on a point streak of like 10 shows of saying one versus eight is better, but I want to go back to Kane just for one second because it wasn't a shock that he went to the New York Rangers, maybe a bit after the Teresanko deal was done. But the return, guys, we haven't really talked about winners or losers here. I look at the return, a conditional second round pick in 2023. It becomes a first rounder in 24, 25 if the Rangers make the conference final, and then they threw in a fourth rounder as well. For Patrick Kane, to me, that doesn't seem like the return you should get for Patrick

Kane, but was that Patrick Kane's fault for waiting as long as he did to officially waive that thing? I mean, I don't know. This, this to me seems like a pretty big steal for the New York Rangers. Well, it's definitely a steel. But, you know, Chicago, I'm sure is looking at it and saying, well, we were going to lose him for nothing anyways, you know, assuming that he's not coming back there on some sort of haircut deal. But I don't think it's that he waited so long. It's that he gave them a team of one. You know, he's like, this is where I'm going or you're keeping me. It's that simple. This wasn't like Tim O'Meier, where you had four or five teams trying to make their best offers to Mike Greer. This was, uh, them just like Giroux last year where Chuck Fletcher had to basically, I think,

sell on, you know, 50 cents on the dollar rather than maybe getting what he could have gotten for close Juru if he had like seven or eight teams after him. And I think that definitely impacts the price. That being said, though, Rousse, like, you're right. But if he gives them three, four teams, then you've got a situation where it could be negotiated. It can be played against each other. That's where the price goes up. You're right. It's a team of one. And he waited forever to say, no, there's, I'm not going to extend. We really thought the Teresenko deal would force him to say, either I'm staying or here are three other teams I will accept a trade to. He didn't.

And he kept saying no, no, no to the New York Rangers. And the Blackhawks were completely handcuffed at that point and end up getting for a three-time Stanley Cup champion, a guy who's won a heart and Art Ross to Calder. It just seems like a nothing return to me. Patrick Kane's got a great resume, but he is no Tanner-Janeau. Come on. A pick per goal, I think is what you said to be off the air. Yes, yes.

Yeah, the Tampa Bay Lightning gave up a draft pick per goal that Tanner Genoa has scored this season. Five draft picks, five goals. To see the two returns on those trades. And I think they were made the same day. I don't know. Things have been happening so fast. It might have been. The Meyer one and, yeah, the Meyer one and Juneau are like within minutes of each other. To see that the lightning gave up a first, a second, a third, a fourth. And then Patrick Kane got a conditional second round pick. I'm like, wait a minute, what that? Like, did did the insiders accidentally flip these two returns? And We actually got them opposite. Very, very, very odd. The Patrick Kane one, you guys have already said all the reasons why the return was so low. But if the Lightning are willing to give up all that for Ginole, like what? There was nobody else that wanted Patrick Kane. Very odd.

Yeah. Well, but again, it's, I mean, teams did want Patrick Kane. Lots of teams. But he wouldn't go right. Yeah. And that impacts the price. There's no doubt. End of eras, as I mentioned earlier.

You got Patrick Kane 16 years in Chicago. three cups, Calder, Hart, Ross, consmite. And Jonathan Quick, 16 years, two cups and a consmite. And he was obviously a huge piece of that team. It's going to be weird seeing these guys in New Jersey's, isn't it? I mean, when you've got a player who's playing for their fifth or sixth team, it doesn't hit you as hard. But seeing Patrick Kane and Jonathan Quick in different jerseys is going to be weird.

Especially considering that they were like such centerpieces of like the last, like, I don't know, generation, whatever you want to call it, of hockey. 16 years, yeah. Yeah, those two, I mean, what, five Stanley Cups between the two? And it just felt like every year it was going to be one or the other that was going to win it. Yeah, it's definitely odd. I'm going to be interested to see what happens with Jonathan Quick now because I cannot imagine that the blue jackets are keeping them. I got to think they're going to flip.

You know, there are teams that are out there that might need goalies, you know, maybe Vegas, maybe, you know, maybe New Jersey. you know, maybe Buffalo. There are definitely teams that are going to be interested in trying to maybe get him from the blue jackets. And I would think that they're going to try to flip them in the next couple days. Yeah, but does a team that needs a goalie want Jonathan Quick? I mean, one of the teams that needed a goalie was Jonathan Quick's team. No, that's a good point. He's obviously not having, you know, his game is deteriorated.

But I've got to think that, you know, somebody's going to want some insurance. And, you know, but to your point, I mean, He's a veteran. I mean, yeah, but like as a backup, I agree with you. If you're looking for some assurance, hey, if our guy goes down, we don't want to go to this guy who has eight career NHL games. Like, Jonathan Quicks, a good plan B. Believe it or not, guys, some things happened that had nothing to do with trades. So let's quickly go through those before we go to break and talk to Tom Fitzgerald.

David Poyle announced he's retiring in June. And Barry Trott's going to take over the reins. as general manager, your thoughts when you saw this. Russo, start with you. Yeah, I mean, first of all, you know, this has been rumored for a long, long time. I think a lot of people really felt that the reason why Barry Trouts was not jumping at many, many opportunities that he could have had to coach was that he was, that the plan was set for him to eventually take over for David Poil. I think he's had his eyes on trying to go to management for a long, long time. But to Poil, you know, what a career.

What a career. You know, starting in the early 80s. He's a GM that almost never, ever fired a coach. It's happened like a handful of times in his entire career. Ultra patient, built a great, great franchise there in Nashville. Yeah, yeah, they never got over the hump. They got to the Stanley Cup final once. But he built a class organization after coming from the capitals.

And he is somebody that I think that is, you know, pretty much respected by every single general manager in this league and media and just an incredible career, Hall of Fame career. And, you know, I just wish him well. He was in Minnesota last week. I had a chance to talk to him, but it would have been nice if he dropped tape, by the way. Got a little scoop for you, but he didn't do that. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the respect level for everyone in hockey that has towards him. He's a guy that is in a profession that gets fired like that.

Like, we're talking, it's so easy to get fired. And he never gets fired. That kind of speaks to the respect level. And like you said, he never won a Stanley Cup. It's not like he won three Stanley Cups and, okay, you got this job until you're like until you don't want it anymore. This is a guy who hadn't won a Stanley Cup and still there was no thought from Nashville ownership to fire him just because of, like you said, the respect level and the job he does.

I was still a year away from graduating high school when David Poyle took over that job. And I'm not young. I didn't just get out eyes, but this is 1997. Wow. I covered the first ever freaking, first of all, F you, because I covered the first ever National Predators Home Game. Wow. So I don't need to hear that you were a year coming out of high school,

and I don't even want to know how old Jesse is. Wait until Jesse chimes in right now. Jesse's, how old were you in 1997? I was six. There you go. Yeah. So I covered the first two Predators exhibition games and the first Predators home game. They were all against Florida.

But what I was going to say is, what a swan song to go out too. Like, holy crap. I mean, the deal he makes for Geno and then the deal he makes for Echo home. Like, it's like here, Mr. Trots, I'm going to set you up here for the next like five years of just like all sorts of capital. Maybe that's, that explains the Tanner Geno, the ridiculous return. It was like a retirement gift from. Julian Breezebaugh. No, they don't want gold watches.

You want picks, right? And one more, guys. I don't know how to transition from that to this, but Kandre Miller. By the way, do you want me to tell you all about that first ever Predators Panthers game because it would have last one second.

It was the most boring game I think I've ever covered in my life. The lead of my story, the lead, you could look this up. People could Google this. Go to the Sunscental, 1998, October, whatever, and I guarantee you the lead of my story, Dateline Nashville. If that doesn't kill hockey and Nashville, nothing will.

That was the lead of my gamer. Panthers won one nothing on a Ray Whitney breakaway there in the third period. Kandre Miller, spits on Drew Dowdy. We've all probably seen it a million times and we've all debated whether or not it was on purpose. He got suspended for three games. He said it was an accident and said he immediately went to Drew Dowdy to tell him that. Doughty seemed to kind of say, yeah, that sort of thing happens. I'll flat out ask both you.

You've seen it. Do you think he did it on purpose? Jesse. I've never accidentally spit in someone's face. So in my whole life. I mean, 32 years, I have never,

not one time accidentally spinning someone's face. It's just so not on brand for him, though. That's the only thing that's really his saving grace, isn't it? Russo, did he do it on purpose? It's Drew Dowdy.

Drew Dowdy could get any opponent to spit in their face. Better point. Yeah. like that drew doubt he figures out a way to get under the skin of pretty much every single opponent so i think he did it on purpose i think he did regret it immediately um you know and he's going to pay the piper here um you know i i i don't know kiann j miller he's from minnesota i don't know him really at all um but you know when he says it's an accident i you know you want to believe him i think he made a mistake whatever whatever the reason accident or intentional it was a

mistake as rob said um from what we see i think it's out of his character and i think that just That's the way that Drew Dowdy goads he into things. Usually he goes he into a, you know, punching him in the face, not that. Drew Dowdy, when they started micing up players, and it's such a ridiculous chirp, but I remember on HBO 24-7, he just kept looking at a guy saying, I don't even remember who was, he kept going, you're so bad at hockey. You are so bad at hockey. He said it like 10 times.

And I remember thinking, he's not swearing. He's not anything. And I'm just like, how bad would you feel if Drew Dowdy just keep saying, you're so bad at hockey? I'd spit his face too. No, I wouldn't do it. But, yeah, when we were down in Florida, when we were down in Florida, we were asking the players, like, who's the best trash talker, who talks the most trash? And UC Soros was saying, like, he's like, I don't know if it's like the best trash talk, because it's not really mean. But Drew Dowdy talks the most and everyone on the ice enjoys it.

Like, everyone is having a good time when, when Drew Dowdy won't shut up because it's hilarious. Yeah, yeah. Not spit hilarious, but hilarious. Yeah, while we're in LA earlier the season and talk about out of character as well, he was mugging Carol Capri Soff behind the net and Caprizzav just turned and just gave him the lumber right to the face. And I can't remember if even Capriestov got fined. He didn't get suspended. But it was freaking, talk about out of character. I think Capriac got a major.

And it was just like, but that's what doubt he does to you. He just, you know, both physically and talking. It's just, it's his brand of hockey. It's been that way forever. Top pool, as the old Iron Sheik used to say. After the break, the GM of the New Jersey Devils, Tom Fitzgerald, to talk about the big trade to get Tim O'Meyer. So don't go anywhere. Well, guys, we've obviously been talking about the big moves that happened not only over the last couple days, but over the last week or so.

And one of the biggest, both in terms of the name involved and sheer volume of things going back and forth, was pulled off by our next guest, Tom Fitzgerald, GM of the new. Jersey Devils joining us on the athletic hockey show. Thanks so much for doing this at a crazy time for you, Tom. Thanks so much. I appreciate you. No problem, guys. It is crazy busy. The war room is heating up.

A lot of arguments, a lot of debates, a lot of what do we need, and what about this guy, and what are you willing to give up? You all have no draft picks if we keep doing this. And so, you know, it's fun. It's fun in times being around. the staff, because it's easy for them, just not giving everything away to be good. But, you know, our staff's passionate about where we're at.

It's fun. And, you know, they haven't had much impact the last few years because all we did was sell off. And here we are. We're potential buyers moving forward as well. Well, we're obviously going to talk about the Meyer deal and everything else. But I got to ask you the same question. We asked Jim Nell a couple weeks ago.

We asked Ben Hankinson, the player agent, last week. Is 2020- going to be the year we look at when deadline day and I emphasize day officially is just erased

from our lexicon and it is deadline weeks or month because it used to be you know, 255 Eastern Time all these trades come in. It seems as though

so much has happened in the last couple weeks what's deadline day going to be this year? And if it is dead, what do you think is the main reason for it? Well, I think

what I mean, I mean, definitely in favor of moving the deadline up. You know, you look at the NBA and where their deadlines at. I think the public and maybe the media and people who aren't coaches or players might not understand really what it takes to understand a new system. You know, being dropped into the deep end with a new team. And you can ask NHL coach start a camp.

Teams are learning a new system or you're teaching that. system, it takes 20 games for really clicks. So that's why when people say, let's evaluate our team after 20 games, it's because, you know, everybody's up running on the same page. So when you talk about dropping, you know, new players into, you know, new systems, for us anyway, our D-home coverage is different than a lot of the majority of teams. It takes time. I've got, I've got guys that we brought in the summer that it's just finally clicking, you know.

But with that being said, I do. I think that's part of why teams get ahead of the day. You know, people always say you probably can get your best offer, your best acquisition on the 11th hour. You know what? Sometimes you may, you might roll the dice and you may not. So maybe you get your best deal done a week ahead or plus.

But I do think, again, I'd be very interested in moving the deadline up. Even a month would be great for me personally. Fancy, let's talk about Timo Meyer. What made him the guy that you focused on in this deadline? And how tough were those negotiations? Because obviously you weren't the only team going after him. Yeah. Well, Timo, I think his resume speaks for itself.

You know, he's a presence out there. He's a big body. You can skate real good hand, shoots the puck. He's a goal sport. You know, he gets to the net. He's tough to move out from the net. holding on the puck's in the corners, the dirtier as he gets to. So the player itself is one thing, but when you look at the age, the control,

and then you think about adding that to your current group, it just made too much sense not to do this. So negotiations were long, and they were lasting hours, and just tire-kicking and then framing of a deal, and then tighten up that framework, and then trying to hit, He kept the competition, you know, who we read through the media and try to figure out, you know, we do have a good chance at something like this because of our prospect pool. And I told Mike, you know, Greer for this, I'm not going to apologize for a really strong prospect pool. So whether it's player A or E, we may consider those A players and they're important pieces to our organization moving forward.

So Mike Greer was great to work with. He just is very, very thorough. He did his due diligence, listened to his team. And then obviously, like any good manager, you play, he play one offer up against the other and he just keeps squeezing. You mentioned the age and the control. I guess how big of a factor was that? Because you look at a lot of the top guys that are available at the deadline

and they're over 30 and they're pending UFAs. And you mentioned you're kind of just starting your window of winning with this team. How important was it to add someone not just for this run, but for the next few runs? Very important. If you're going to give up those type of assets, you want to at least control him a couple years. And we do with team O. But the goal here is to extend him. The goal is for him to fall in love with New Jersey, you know, the on ice product, the players, the age group, the living.

I've said this over and over again. If you don't live here, you don't understand it. You don't know it, but it's a hidden gem. It really is. You know, somebody from the West Coast comes in. I mean, we're in our bed every night. Anytime we play in East Coast, in the Eastern Conference team, one in the morning,

at the very least, you know, the airport's 10 minutes away with one-stop shopping with practice facility, game facility. There's a lot to like, a couple bus trips for games. It's just we travel the leaf out of every NHL team other than the neighbors here. So it's just a lot to sell.

And that's our goal is when he comes here, he's going to fall in a phone level than to understand it. You know what? Newark to Zurich is nonstop, you know, five and a half hours. So more family over and more. So a lot of good. Tom, the East is an absolute train wreck to get through.

I mean, you've got so many teams that easily could find themselves one of the last two teams standing. And Tim O'Meier, to me, was the big fish in this deadline period. All that being said, what does this say to your team? I mean, obviously, any team would love a Tim O'Meyer, but what does this say to your team that their GM went out and got the biggest name available to gear up for such a tough road ahead as far as the playoffs go?

Well, first, yeah, the East is going to be a gauntlet. You know, you look at the potential matchups now, the additions that every team in the East is going, we're adding. So we know that, but our window isn't just one year. It's not just this year. We believe we've got a 10-year run. And again, that's what we're trying to sell team along. He can be part of something for a long, long time,

especially with the prospects that we do have come, you know, to add to this already core, our pillars, and having team will be part of those pillars. So, but what it says to our team, I think it tells them, you know, this is a reward for them, but more of we believe in them. We believe that, you know, hey, why not us? Like, why can't we be a team that goes and has a Cinderella run? Because we do have the talent.

We don't have the experience. That's why I brought in guys like Pilate and Dougie Hamilton and Smith and Hala. These guys have experience in the playoffs. So Kimo does too as well. So we're, we think it's, it's an applaud to them, but also our fan base deserves us. They deserve to continue to see us add to get excited, not just for this spring, of many springs ahead. Fitsy, the conditions on the draft picks in your, in your trades, I probably read it about 10 times and I still didn't really totally understand it. How the heck do you negotiate those conditions?

Who does it? How do you even broach that? And do you know them by heart? well you know what when you're when you're framing a deal and i won't get into specifics in certain players are asked and then you you weigh the well would this player be more valuable let's say a drapick you know um so then you introduce the draft pick piece versus another prospect um but maybe a roster player instead and then a set you know a draft pick piece that has the chance to move up the total pool with our success um that's always an

attraction to teams, you know, the what-ifs. And I think that was really attractive to Mike. And then you start working on those, okay, the conditions of this and that. The other day, we wanted Tim O'Mire. And I'll go back to what I said earlier. We believe we can sell Pimo Meyer to sign here long term. And that's our goal. So giving up an extra first to go to, you know, a conference final.

I think those are small peanuts if you're, you know, because again, the big fish is playing with you. Tom, just along those lines, before you jumped on the line with us, we were joking about the times where, when it was very much the norm, the coach slash GM, who did both jobs. And I look at this deal you pulled out to get Tim O'Mire and Mike just alluded to it, like it's, he's read it 10 times and it's still crazy. how many people are involved in a trade this big? How many people did you talk to before that final, you know, the deal is pulled off and sent to the league because it is just so complicated that I couldn't imagine someone doing this and then saying, well, I got to go to practice downstairs at the same time.

Yeah, it's, you know, all in. You know, when you're a manager versus let me have my assistant take over the administrative stuff and I'm going to go to a little whistle. I kind of feel like I'm a hybrid too, because I'm always down in the coach's room and going through strategy with them. But it is. It's difficult. So my team, obviously, David Blitzer and Tad Brown, our CEO, David, are one of our owners with Josh Harris. You know, they've given me, you know, Kaplan's to get deals done.

I'm very transparent. We keep them up to speed with, you know, where things are going. My team consists of my assistant managers, my personnel guys, my, Cap guy, Marty Bredor, the VP of hockey up. So I've got a team of five or six that are in my core of, listen, every Monday started in January, every Monday on a call or in person,

and that went to a couple times a week, just to keep everybody afloat on what was going on. And then you start going into the pieces and really what the values are, and how you can, And not to, you know, the most important thing to us was, you know, protecting certain players in our, in our organization. But like I said earlier, we feel we felt we have many assets. I can't keep them all.

But we dropped them. They're dropped them. Their assets. They're going to play here or they're going to be moved on from people who are going to kind of play here. And that's what we do. You've obviously put in a lot of work over the last few years to build up that prospect pool. And that's kind of the meeting. of the management and the scouts and everything.

But how much, just on a personal level, how much fun is it to get to this point in where the franchise is that now you're buying at the deadline and you're trying to win, just kind of transitioning from that acquiring assets and building to now we're trying to win. To be honest with it, my mentor Ray Chiro brought me here and sold me on that, sold me on, you know, the fun of building. But at first, we've got to do this to gain those assets to help us move forward. So his strategy and his plan from the get-go was bang on.

And I was, I'm fortunate enough to continue on with that. But, yeah, it's a fun place to be at. You know, now really we're managing expectations versus, okay, what else do we need? And what are we going to give? You just said it. We feel we've got a strong, you know, prospect pool. And I'm not talking about like the first tier. You know, there's good players in the second tier.

even in the third tier, you know, can those players get us, you know, something that gives us some depth on the back end or depth up front? You know, that's what we're going through right now. But you're trying to utilize those pieces to improve is my job. Fitsy, I still remember being out of pay phone in South Florida with you in the late 90s when you became the first captain of the National Predators. David Poyle announced the other day that he's retiring. your coach, Barry Trots, is now going to be the next GM. What did David Poyle mean, one to the sport, but to that organization?

And similarly, how do you think Barry Trots will do now that is leaving the whistle behind? Well, first, both Barry and David hold a strong place in my heart. We're linked forever, you know, the first team of the Predators, first coach of the Predators and the first captain of the Predators. So all the mentors of mine, you know, David, more so on the management side. And Barry was great to me and kind of probably was the guy who allowed me to be an extension of the coaching staff as the captain to really think about his coaching in my future. David, David's a Hall of Famer, in my opinion, I think in a lot of people's opinion.

You can't stay in this business for as long as he has if you're not successful. And people want to define success as winning a cup. And that's wrong. You know, every year he's had a competitor, he built up the national predators. He built up that brand, you know, for the league and for that city. He means everything to the national predators. So I do think he's a Hall of Famer. We talked the other day, maybe I could be his last ever trade.

I'm going to give him a call and see if that's awesome. But with Barry, too, like, I'm actually lucky, you know, as a young, young manager, I go to these GM meetings. I've got Lou Amarillo, who's also a mentor, who's a province with me, who's my AD on the right, and I had David Poyle, my mentor from Nashville on my left. But Barry will be next to me, and maybe I can help him along with some experience. Yeah. By the way, you keep on saying, you know, you're trying to determine what you need.

What do the devil still need to, you know, keep up with all these other teams? in the East that are just making move after move after move. I think anybody would say you continue to create some depth in the organization, whether it's on the back end, whether it's up front, the different styles of depth. You know, you want to be able to play any type of game for any type of matchup, but you can never have enough depth. And, you know, we'll talk about maybe there's a goalie piece out there that we should consider too, just in case, you know, especially after what we went through last year with using seven

goalies. You just don't know. So that's all. Listen, I firmly believe you build your team in the summer and they grow together through training camp, grow through a system, like they said, you kind of evaluate where you're up to 20 games. They get comfortable. Adding pieces is a necessity as well to win.

But really, how much should you have? that, you know. Like I said, I'm not getting caught up with the whole, we got team all. We're the third best team in the league at this point. Oh, this isn't our window. Oh, it is a window. It's just starting. It's not the, it's a pretty big window. So, you know what? I trust the players that we have. I trust that what we've done this year is not a coincidence. And I believe in the coaches to continue to drive, you know, our team to play the right

each and every night. Last one before we let you go, Tom. I know you said you love the build. It is fun. You love tinkering. But at 301 Eastern time, when you're done, how much of an exhale is that? What do you do for one day just to say, okay, this is there a beverage of choice? Do you go out for dinner?

Do you kind of go, okay, now this is the team. I get to watch for the rest of the year? Great question. Because it's really, it's a different feeling. I'll be honest with. I'd be fine not doing anything. I trust my team. You know,

in the past, you know, to get to where out today, you have the sell players for assets. To get it, that's stressful. You know, that's stressful when you get to,

you know, 2.30 on deadline day. You know, it's something that you're just like, oh, man, I want to get written. This will be nowhere near that. I'll be,

leaving on Friday night to head to the Midwest to watch my participate, my son's parents weekend out in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Be a dad for Friday and Saturday night. And like I said, enjoy watching my team play and just supporting them. Start working on employee contracts, the draft, college free agents, go maybe watch some college games,

get out and do some scouting. that's where you can just finally take a breath and kind of enjoy the moment. We'll enjoy it and enjoy being a dad. Fitsy, let me ask you about your other son. Last night I'm watching TV and there on the bench is Casey Fitzgerald in a Florida Panthers uniform where you had such a great career, got them to the Stanley Cup final with a huge goal in game seven in Pittsburgh. How proud are you to see this come full circle where Casey, who's down in Florida, is a little, little baby is now playing for the Panthers.

It's unique. You know that. I actually thought we were the first proud of this time who did it, but I was wrong, the Stillman's work. Yeah. It's just an incredible feeling to, you know, just to say we've done that. And he gets to, he gets to feel what hockey's like in South Florida for however long it is. But, no, it's really cool.

I'm proud of all my boys, you know, Casey's gone to a tough time this year, too. You know, at every, he might say, why he's in the high job. It's easy. it's not. When you haven't played a game in two months, it's tough. And he's a good player. Like, he knows what kind of player he is. He can help a team. That's tough. You just need your chance. Whether he played four minutes or a 24, it doesn't matter last night. I told him, it's like, be proud of this. You know, you've done something that not many ex-anthers can say their kids did. And it's just special. You could imagine it. If your son dressed up for a team that you played for,

it's pretty cool yeah well tom we pulled you out of the war room I have a feeling as soon as you're done with us you're going right back in there but thanks for taking some time out to chat with us enjoy the rest of the week and enjoy enjoy the weekend with your son always a pleasure guys anytime take care

yep see you fitzy Tom Fitzgerald the general manager of the New Jersey Devils coming up after the break rapid rapid fire all right boys my favorite time of the show and yours rapid this means rapid he's not going to be rapid We're going to start with a goaltending topic.

As soon as I saw it, this is how you get in my head, Jesse. I saw it. I saw it. I'm like, Linus Hallmark just scored a goal. Jesse's going to want to talk about this. I mean, it is a big enough topic that you talk about. The rich get richer. I mean, he's one of the main reasons this team has been so good this year.

And then he scores a goal. How happy were you to see that? First time in the history of the sport that the Vezina Troph, was locked up with a goal. With a goal? You'll never be able to, like, I don't know if you'll ever be able to say it again. Like, he won the Vezina Trophy with that goal. He was already probably going to win it, but that just seals it.

That's the icing on the cake. And just so you know, I'm very proud that my brand is as strong as it is with the goalies, because you're not alone. I'm sitting in the T-Mobile arena in the press box, and it's still like an hour, hour and a half before the Golden Knights game starts. And Olmark scores the goal. and like six different people came up to me and were like, hey, did you see it? It's like, yes, I did.

Everyone came over to talk to me about the goalie goal. It was so awesome. Not just because a goal he scored and that's rare, but the way he scored that was so awesome. I mean, we're talking. It was a snipe. He lofted that thing, an absolute moonshot over the entire rank. Like it landed five feet in front of the net. And there were four checkers coming right at it, like in his face.

And it's a one goal game. want to be on the ice when that happens. I remember covering Mark Andre Fleury, like he wants to score one so bad. Like every goal he does, but I don't know if anyone wants it more than Flurry. And he would, he would always say, like, yeah, it was only a one goal game. I couldn't really go for it there. Like he would wait for a two goal game. That way, if I screw this up, we still win the game. One goal game, Allmark, four checkers in his face, lofts it up. He almost hit the scoreboard and sniped it. What a play. I just, you know what I loved is the reaction of the bench, but also his sidekick, Jeremy Swayman. I mean, Swayman just loved it.

You know, a bunch of bear hugs. It was just really, really neat. Rapid fire topic number two, Patrick Marlowe had his number 12 retired in San Jose. Not a big shocker. The all-time leader in games played. You think Patrick Marlowe, what do you think, Rousseau? How about Joe Thornton, just bawling

crying during the pregame ceremony too as well? Yeah, the thing about Marlowe is fast, offensive, and he just, to me, was a San Jose shark, and then you hear about all the stories about the, you know, him going to Toronto and mentoring guys like Marner. You know, he just

seems like a tremendous guy and a fascinating guy too. I did that intermission story a month ago or so and, you know, the guy took freaking ice cold, you know, cold tubs between periods for basically his entire career. You know, which, as

Pete DeBore would say, you know, pretty much shows you that, nobody's going to question that if somebody that plays the most games in NHL history is doing something like that. Yeah, when I, I'll Honestly, when I think San Jose Sharks, I think Patrick Marlowe, like, he is the San Jose Sharks for as long as they've been in the league. So, no surprise and very deserving of Jersey.

Rapid Fire topic number three. Craig Barube was not happy after his team blew a two-nothing lead and lost three to and overtime to Vancouver. Quote, our best players don't play with any passion, no emotion, no inspiration at all. They don't play inspired hockey. You cannot play in this league without emotion, grit, and being inspired. They're getting paid lots of money and they're not doing their job. End of story. That's it.

That's what it boils down to. End quote. Jesse. Whole lot of honesty happening in that sentence. Wow. My goodness. I'm sure this is, it's kind of a window into, I'm sure, some conversations between GMs and the players. Usually we don't get to see that or hear that.

be a part of that, but it was kind of cool that we finally were able to. Yeah, a lot, very, a lot of honesty and, like I said, a window into maybe how some GM's view when they, when they feel like they've built a talented team that's not performing. Yeah. And now, Burube, I don't know if you watched it. I mean, he was so calm about it, guys. I mean, he was sitting at the podium after the game, just like, you know, just like saying it. And I'm sure, like, the beatwriters in Jeremy, Jeremy Rutherford's, they're, you know, jaws dropped. There's no walk in that back. I mean, you walk into the room now as the coach. and you've got to look these guys in the eyes after they read this and hear about it and all that stuff.

And a couple of the guys actually pushed back on it. Very, very interesting. Kind of reminded me of the playoffs. And was it 97? I think 97 or not. It would have been 98 or 99, Philadelphia and Detroit when they were in the Stanley Cup finals. So it would have been 98. And 97.

And Terry Murray, Terry, Terry, basically said, you know, he's like, we're in a choking situation. It was like, whoa. And so, yeah, I mean, you know, obviously I think Craig Barubi is feeling the pressure now of the coach of that team. I can't imagine he would lose his job. But look, I mean, there's a lot of pressure there, right? I know they won a couple couple years ago, but you got a goalie that's not had a great year. You have a couple guys that got dueling contracts in Cairo and Thomas, who are now the core of that team, that he clearly, I think, is talking about.

It's just they've got to figure it out. And, you know, between Toga Armstrong and Craig Ruby, I think they will. Final topic, guys. Art Gordano became the all-time blocked shots leader in the NHL. 2045 blocked shots. It's a stat that just started being tracked in 2005-2006. So it's not like he's up there with, you know, some of the all-time grades. but is this a stat that maybe 20, 30, 50 years from now,

people are going to care about? Because to me, any stat that hasn't only been around for, you know, since 2005, is not something I'm necessarily going to be following that closely. Rousseau? Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't shock me, actually, if he does have the record, though. I mean, you know, it's not like back in the day, obviously, I know that I'm trying to age myself during the show a lot, but I didn't cover the league in the 80s and the 70s and the 60s,

but it definitely felt like a different brand of hockey when I watch all those old-time clips. So he might be the number one guy. Who knows? I mean, it's an impressive stat. I mean, look, you know, you're putting your body in harm's way, you know,

in front of 100 mile per hour slap shots and somehow stay healthy enough to get that record. I think it's pretty impressive. I think Mark Giordano is one heck of a pro. And, you know, all the power to him. It's a cool little, you know, feather in his cap. I'm not saying 2,000 block shots is not impressive.

I'm just saying became the all-time leader. Like, I love the way they tried making it a bigger story that it is. I agree with Rob that it's kind of like it takes away from the prestige of it because they weren't counting. But to Michael's point, not only is it a different brand of hockey, they're shooting pucks a lot harder since Marchionato started doing this and and elevating them. Like, I mean, it wasn't that long ago that the puck, like most of the shots were two feet and under. if you go back to like the 60s, 70s. So even if you were to count those blocks, what? They were blocking them with their skate blade.

This guy's eaten 100 mile an hour slap shots in the chest. I think it's a, and I agree with what you said, Rob, that maybe 50 years from now, that is a, because that's such a hockey guy stat, right? Like goals and assists, but like hockey players respect guys laying in front of shots. It's winning hockey. It helps you win. It's maybe the hardest thing to do to lay in, to sacrifice. your body in front of a shot like that.

So I think down the road, that is a stat that will hold importance. And Giordano's done it a long time. It's probably going to take a while for someone to break it. And yeah, the style of hockey, you're right. Like, if you really want to start going back, I didn't cover the game back then either, Russo, but there was that old adage. One, your superstars don't block shots. And two, if you're not going to block the shot, get the hell out of the way so the goalie can see it.

now you'll see games where there's four or five block shots on a powerpoint you know what i mean it just it just happens so so much more often so congratulations mark gerrano you're on the mount olympus of uh blocked shots all right boys a couple days left what do we working on this week before you know that Cinderella turns back into a pumpkin at 3 p.m eastern time russo um i'm on the run with the hurricanes uh so i'll be doing a story on there uh the way that they pivoted obviously they went for team of Meyer, took some swings at a couple other things. I still think they're going to be active

and it's just going to be interesting how they pivot here going into Friday's deadline. So that story will probably be in Monday's athletic. And I go to Arizona tonight after the Vegas Golden Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes play. So I'll be in Arizona

on Thursday and Friday. So hopefully I'm there during the Chickren resolution. One way or the other it could do is live story there on that. I was hoping to get a one-on-one with Pooley-RV being traded to Carolina, but because he needs to fly to Ottawa or Calgary to get his work visa, it doesn't look like that he'll be on this road trip and he'll probably meet the team of Carolina, so that's not going to happen. And then I got the GM's meetings March 12th to the 15th,

so I'll be down in South Florida. Yeah, if you book an interview with chicken three years from now, you'll have that live trade story. Poor guy. Just get them out of there. I am going to be working this week. I'm covering a team that is psychotic around the trade deadline. So I will be, I'm sure, have at least one more trade to cover before the clock strikes midnight on the NHL trade deadline should be fun. Be sure to look out for that because yes, the trade deadline is this Friday. And this Friday, Ian Mendez and Haley's and Alvian are going to host a live and interactive trade deadline recap show starting at 2.30 Eastern Time on the Athletic Hockey Show, YouTube channel, Facebook, and on Twitter. 2.30. See, that's how you do it when no trades are happy. You don't have to start at 10 a.m. 7 a.m.

2.30. Get past the deadline and recap on what happened. Subscribe. Remember to the Athletics NHL YouTube channel at YouTube.com slash the athletic hockey show. And the Athletic Hockey Show returns Thursday with Ian Mendez. And down goes Brown. Big thanks to Tom Fitzgerald. Peruso for Jesse. I'm Pizzo. We'll see you next week.