The Quinn Hughes Saga has become EXHAUSTING

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1:02Crypto is offered by Fidelity Digital Assets NA is not insured by FDIC or SIPC and includes risk of significant loss. Securities are offered by Fidelity brokerage services LLC member NYSC SIPC. There is so much I would rather be talking about today than this. But I guess we don't have a choice, do we? You're locked on Devils. Your daily podcast on the New Jersey Devils. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. I'm senior. This is Locked On Devils. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network in the world today's episode is brought to you by Fandall Get 350 in bonus beds guaranteed when you bet $5 every day for seven days. Join on the action at Fandall.com.

2:02My name is Zach Berman and I am tired. I am so tired. I don't want to have to keep talking about Quinn Hughes. But apparently this is a make or break week because we're going to walk through this entire saga up until this very point here on Wednesday September 9th. Because a lot has happened yesterday. Yesterday there were some things that came out again. And today is just going to be a talk about all of that. I will say I did not know that Quinn Hughes's full name is Quentin Jerome Hughes. I thought it was just Quinn.

3:04But we're going to start I guess in chronological order. And we're going to start here. Chris Johnston on first up yesterday just said my understanding of this situation throughout the summer is that I think he was having trouble making up his mind about what he wants to do for his future. I'm sure he has been doing some degree of soul searching. Remember when this was supposedly getting done on July 1st. Like this was a done deal. This was happening July 1st at the latest. Like we were going to wake up on July 1st and boom. He was going to be extended. I'm sure he has been doing some soul searching and leaning on conversations with the people he trusts around. But he's going to have to make a call on what's best.

4:05I think the posture of Minnesota is that they're here. There are no restrictions on their end in terms of making him a very wealthy man. But he has to be willing to sign it. There is a desire that we've known for years to one day play with his brothers. It's almost as if we've known that the whole time that he wants to play with his brothers. Wow. Like I am so unbelievably shocked by this revelation. Quinn Hughes is reporting to St. Paul like now today. And if he walks into that locker room, gets in front of the podium. Obviously he's going to say, oh, I love it here. I think we can win a Stanley Cup here this year. He's going to beat around the bush. I feel like it's become very obvious that he's not going to commit to anything verbally.

5:06That's probably what everybody in his corner is telling him. I'm sure that's what Pat Prason is telling him or his family. I don't. There, like every time I get into this conversation, there is a caveat. And I will just say flat out. There is a good chance that we could wake up tomorrow morning and we could see. I think any chance of Quinn Hughes signing a long term in Minnesota. I was going to say many apples. They play in St. Paul. That's out the window. I think that's happening in any way, shape or form. At least this off season. Could he sign three years? Yes. Has that been what I thought he's going to do for the longest time? Yes. Has my opinion now changed?

6:10Yes it has. I'm afraid I'm going to wield the thing I don't want into existence. But I believe that Quinn Hughes will be hitting free agency next summer. I've been told things which if you're looking at this from the point of view of a viewer, I'm sure you're not at all surprised. I don't think anything I've been told is necessarily going to surprise you. But he does not intend on signing in Minnesota. At least that is what I have been told. That creates a really, really difficult conundrum for the Minnesota wild because on one hand, your good team, your playoff team, health, notwithstanding, is Quinn Hughes worth

7:13keeping as a pure rental and risking losing him for nothing next off season. For the Minnesota wild, I'm not so sure he is. But if you're a New Jersey Devils fan who's now probably salivating over the idea of getting Quinn Hughes soon, I'm going to pump the brakes on that too. I believe the earliest we could see Quinn Hughes reunited with his brothers in New Jersey is next summer because I do not believe and I think Bill Garen will keep Quinn Hughes at least until around the time he was traded last year. But based on what I have been told, I have been told there is a distinct possibility that Quinn Hughes could be dealt somewhere else, maybe even in the Metropolitan Division, just to spite the New Jersey Devils and to say, hey, we were never pressured by this team to deal them here.

8:14That is not a knock on sunny made of the Devils can match just about any offer that anybody sends Minnesota's way for Quinn. Bill Garen might just be a petty little, you know what, and not even give the Devils the chance to match. So could a team like Philly, Washington potentially go in and try and make a play for Quinn Hughes? Who is desperate for Quinn Hughes right now other than New Jersey, obviously? If you look around the league, what teams right now that can afford him are in like the biggest cup or bust situations possible? Who is one Quinn Hughes away from potentially winning a Stanley Cup this year? I think about it, I look at it, and there is one team that comes to mind, and that team is the Edmonton

9:18White Warriors who just signed Alex Formington, which I'm, that's terrible. Yeah, go sign one of the guys from the London Knights, part of that group. This dude, A, should be nowhere near a professional hockey team, and B, he only had 23 points overseas last year. Why are you signing him to the NHL, just to ruffle feathers? Probably. I don't get it. But the Oilers have a finite amount of time with Connor McDavid. They might have a finite time with Leon Drysidle. That whole thing is a ticking time bomb, especially with Mike Batcock at the helm. But you put Connor McDavid Leon Drysidle, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard, T.A. Second, they have a better goalie tandem now. You have Devon Levi and Freddie Anderson. Maybe he can stay healthy, who knows? Knowing the Oilers' luck with health and with

10:23goal tending, and Freddie's luck with health, I don't think that happens, but I guess you can say crazy or things have happened. I think there's a real chance that also, I mean, you got to remember Stan Bowman, Darrell Katz. Tend to just make moves to ruffle feathers, especially if it's going to ruffle the feathers of a rival, which this would in the Vancouver canox, of course, the team that had to deal away Quinn Hughes to begin with. That started this whole thing. I think the Oilers could go with one run of Quinn Hughes and sell the farm for him, and maybe that could put them over the top first family cup. Philly, Washington, maybe, Tampa, maybe, I don't know.

11:23I'm not so sure that Devils are going to get a chance to trade for Quinn. And if they're doing it, they might have to pay exorbitantly more than other teams to do so just out of spite. So while it would guarantee you have him for this here and beyond, I think the most realistic timeline for Quinn Hughes becoming a New Jersey Devil is next off season. But wait, pump the brakes for a second. I think that's a good idea. I think that's a good idea. The most realistic thing for Quinn Hughes is that he's going to be a new Jersey Devil next off season. But wait, pump the brakes for a second. I thought Quinn Hughes was a guaranteed assigned with Minnesota this summer. I thought that Michael Russo said that Bill Garrett has met with him twice. And David Pagnata is saying that they've never negotiated. And he's going to ramp the other side of this break because this is less about the Devils.

12:23And to some extent, even about Quinn Hughes, and more just about the way sports journalism has gone in this direction in this year. And it just pisses me off to no avail. So we'll talk about that in the other side of the break. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandall, the NFL season kicks back off tonight. Pat's and Seahawks, a rematch of a Super Bowl blowout from a few months ago, is on your television. 820 PM tonight. And that is awesome. But welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fandall. How rewarding are we talking more rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring their rewarding than an 18 point comeback? Maybe even more rewarding than an O lineman catching a touchdown. This season Fandall is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new Fandall rewards club featuring exclusive offers, surprises and more. This season Fandall is making the excitement go beyond

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14:26Everything you need to stay on top of every game every week. Unbelievable. And now NFL network is on the ESPN app. More football, more coverage, more ways to watch. Football's on. All season long on ESPN and streaming on the ESPN app. All right. So welcome back to Locked On Devils. Time for me to grind my axe a little bit. Bill Garren has said reportedly that he is met with Quinn Hughes twice this summer. Twice. And he has said that to the media. And now you have David Pagnata who back on June 22nd.

15:28I'd be pretty surprised that the extension doesn't come down whether it's on July 1st. I'm expecting something around that time. Now he's saying that Quinn Hughes has not negotiated with Bill Garren at all. So why there has just been this really weird narrative of putting words in the mouths of players and especially Quinn Hughes saying this is what he wants. This is what he owes the Minnesota wild to do. This is what he owes Bill Garren to do. Michael Russo has said for three months every beatwriter radio personality blogger podcaster and wow nameless faceless fan account on X hello.

16:32And even this article that he posted yesterday after a summer of speculation it's his turn to talk. I was expecting an interview he made it seem like there was going to be an interview here. And there was Quinn Hughes today will join his current wild teammate Matt Boldy as part of the NHL media tour in Las Vegas. We know where the questions are going to go. Why would Quinn Hughes give a straightforward answer to do you plan in signing on do you plan on signing in Minnesota. In God's name. Would any player with an ounce of leverage. Just throw that away. You remember what Zach Parise said during his final season in New Jersey.

17:34Oh well I you know how much I love playing in New Jersey. I love being a devil. I could see myself in New Jersey long term. He didn't sign in New Jersey long term he signed in the so to long term and in many ways you could say the devil's even dodge the bullet there. But just the narratives that are being created by all these reporters saying that this player owes. His team his general manager he doesn't owe anybody anything. It is the dumbest thing I've ever heard like will I be. Obsessed if Quinn Hughes extends in Minnesota. Not at Quinn Hughes I'll be I'll be upset at Tom Fitzgerald that he wasn't able to get Quinn Hughes to begin with. But I'm not going to be like oh he owed the devil's he owed his brothers a chance to play with it. No it's not all this works.

18:39We're talking about maybe the best offensive defenseman maybe the best defenseman in the National Ocky league. And all of these people just want to put words in his mouth. We know he wants to play with his brothers. He has said that verbatim. And if he chooses to sign in Minnesota whether it be short term long term whatever so be it. It would suck would suck for the devil's suck for us. And I know Minnesota fans are trying to cope by saying that well Carl Capriceov didn't negotiate with the wild at all until he came back in the middle of September. Listen up. Carl Capriceov did not have two brothers on another team in the National Ocky league this time last year.

19:43Carl Capriceov is an amazing player. Carl Capriceov was what sunny made a said the devil's needed to get in return if Quinn Hughes or excuse me. Oh I didn't tell you guys this sunny made a receipt to call from Bill Garrett in the summer. And Bill Garrett said hey would you consider sending Jack to Minnesota and sunny made a said response start with Carl Capriceov that's a conversation which is what you should say. And that was the end of that conversation. This has just become a big stupid staring contest. I think it's going to go any which way. I think the fact that it is taken this long is pretty obvious where it's going.

20:44But I'm not going to put words in the mouth of Quinn Hughes. Let the man make his decision so be it. And let's move on with our lives. I can't be talking about something else. But I can't. This is what is going on right now. And I would be ignorant if I didn't bring it up. I would be ignorant of this episode was not about it. So where do we go from here? Where do we go from here? I don't know. This week is going to tell us everything. And I'll be right here to react if when we do find out. So any other sign of this break? Some devil's housekeeping stuff ahead of Brookies reporting this weekend. We'll get to that next on Walk Done. There is so much NFL on ESPN right now. Monday night football plus pregame and postgame.

21:45NFL live NFL prime time. Everything you need to stay on top of every game every week. And now NFL network is on the ESPN app. More football, more coverage, more ways to watch footballs on all season long on ESPN and streaming on the ESPN app. Close. Welcome back here locked on Devils. Like I've said, Brookies report this week. And I think we should wrap up with some four questions that our friends over at all about the Jersey have asked about what will define the New Jersey devil season. Shout out Jared Moore. This is a great question that does need to be asked.

22:47Number one, how long of a leash does Sheldon Keif have as head coach of the New Jersey Devils? I think at any given moment, Sheldon Keif has four games, a four game losing streak away from this fan base calling for his head. And maybe another two losses after that. From probably being fired. It's just the fact of the matter. Did not hire Sheldon Keif. He did not. I mean, he retained him. But one of the big reasons why he retained him was because a player or excuse me, a coach that. Sonny made a really wanted in Chris noblock told him that he needed a little time. Maybe Bruce Cassidy. Oh, yeah, Bruce Cassidy is still out there. He's still controlled by Vegas, but I don't think Vegas would shut an Eastern conference team out from hiring him.

23:48Jay Woodcroft is out there. John Torturella who after what he did with Vegas, like, dude, I am all in on torts potentially being the coach of this team. Maybe even Ted Denado was brought in to be an assistant coach. He's effectively taken away. He's taken over for Jeremy Colitan as the power play coach. Maybe we'll see Brad Shaw some experience. So that is a question I think, like I said, Sheldon Keif's got a short leash. Maybe the shortest leash out of any coach in the national hockey league this season. That's going to have to be answered. And look, teams go through slumps. You were going to go through a losing streak at some point in the season, whether you are actually good or not. It happens to everybody. Will Sonny Mata roll up the punches? Or is he going to pull the trigger? He only has this card that he can play one time. Yeah, this guy was not my coach. Blame the last regime.

24:49Like you can only do that one time. So how soon into the season could that card be pulled? Here's a great question. Things are going well. How aggressive will Sonny Mata be to fix it? We saw time and time again. Things go down the drain. Tom Fitzgerald Fiddles while Newark Burns. That has been his calling card. That was his calling card as New Jersey Devils GM. That's a big reason why he lost his job. Remember a couple of years ago when the avalanche had like the goalie tandem from hell. The back kick went out and swung deals for both Scott Wedgewood and McKenzie Blackwood and fixed their goalie tandem in one month in the middle of the season. That's the kind of urgency I would like to see the New Jersey Devils work with under Sonny Mata. If they are starting to spiral. Get in there and fire the coach. Get in there and make a trade.

25:49Get in there and work the waiver wire. See what you can bring in. I just assume that everything is going to fix itself because things have proven in the past. This organization has proven in the past as group of guys has proven in the past that they are capable of letting things go down the drain. I don't want to be rash. I don't want to be like re bad losses in a row when everybody is every team in the league is going to lose three games in a row. I don't want to be blow it all up. Hit the reset button. But there's got to be some sort of a way to get in there. Some sort of middle ground here because Sonny Mata has come out and said like the goal is to bring a Stanley Cup back to New Jersey. And if you want to do that, you can't just go into the season assuming that everything is going to be all hunky-dory for the entire season. And when we have seen that if things if they start losing sometimes they don't they don't get out of that spiral until it's way too late.

26:59So Sonny Mata has to be prepared to make those difficult decisions if or when the team starts to slide because we've seen what happens when those difficult decisions aren't made. Will the devil's get a healthy season out of Jack Hughes? I don't think so. Can he play 75 out of 84? I don't think he's going to play all 84. I think that's crazy. But could he potentially stay healthy? I mean we can't predict if or when or how. And last year he would have stayed healthy if it weren't for something that happened completely off the ice. Will the devils forwards actually finish their chances this season? Timo was snake bitten. We know that Anthony Mata is a big addition to their he is a finisher first and foremost.

28:02And we've had so many conversations about oh this team's expected goal count is so high their actual goal count is so low they can't finish they can't finish at some point in time that luck has to change. Or maybe it's not looking or maybe it's just who they are bringing in a guy like Anthony Mata is a big solution. Hopefully on paper. I'd love to see that change. Will Luke Hughes take that next step in his development? I think he will. I have said it I am a Luke Hughes believer. I truly think he will find a way to take that next step. And I think that is one of the biggest priorities in this entire organization is how can we get Luke Hughes to be a $9 million player? I think we can get there. I absolutely think we can get there. And I think the New Jersey devils think they can get there too.

29:03So let's hold our breaths there. And can the devils get an expected boost elsewhere in the lineup? Hmm. I think Luke Evangelista comes into play. I think he is the unexpected boost. I think he's going to be a big contributor. Oh and goal tending. The goal tending thing is going to be the question until the devils get saves and when they get saves it's going to be can they keep getting saves? When you have a franchise goalie for however many years in Marta Amber and you can't figure out the position after him that's going to be the question that it gets us time and time and time and time and time again until I'm blue in the face. So I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful that Jake Allen can stabilize things as the number one. I'm hopeful that Nico does can take his next step. I'm hopeful that David Riddick can come in and give a little bit of consistency in a position where consistency is maybe the last way to describe what happens in between the pipes anywhere in the league.

30:23But this is all hope. And out of all the questions that Jared asks, I think the biggest question is what happens when the thing you're hoping for doesn't plan doesn't go as planned doesn't pan out because in activity has been it that has been the thing that sunk the New Jersey Devils more than anything else. And I just need to see that change. I'm praying it changes. I think there is deep down a true belief in this crew to win this year and beyond. But it has to start with urgency from lineup from coaching staff from the entire front office. And we'll see where it goes from there. That's all I got for today as we get closer to the start of the season. Talk more about where the Devils could and should go.

31:32So for your next lesson, good NHL game night, lock the NHL on or excuse me, oh my gosh, wow. Go to locked on sports today 24 7 on YouTube and on audio check that check out locked on fantasy hockey for your second lesson. So yeah, that should be a fun lesson as we get closer to the start of the 26 27 season. Until then, let's go Devils. Every game day you show up for your team now it's your time. Ask your prescriber about we gov some agglatide injection 2.4 milligrams a GLP 1 call 18334 we gov or visit we gov.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about we gov. Why wait?

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