Johnathan Kovacevic

What teams do miss, though, in, in sort of waiving players sometimes is the defensemen that can really play.

And so you've seen guys like Jonathan Kovacevic, right, who's in New Jersey now, but he went through waivers as a wem- member of the Winnipeg Jets, was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens.

The Montreal Canadiens let him log big minutes for them during a rebuild, traded him for a mid-round pick, I think it was a third-round pick-

Mm

The guy that was prioritized over Declan Chisholm.

The guy that was prioritized over Jonathan Kovacevic.

The guy that was prioritized over 19 overall, Billy Hainala, who had to see early free agency and got picked up day one by Vegas this year.

Currently without a contract.

I, I, now I know that, you know, there's a, there's a few, few injuries to start, but when you, you look at New Jersey like that, they're obviously Nemec got moved in the off-season.

They still have a, have a fair amount of defenders in, in, in Dougie Hamilton, of course, and Luke Hughes, and Brett Pesce, and Brennan Dillon, Jonathan Kovacevic, Jonas Siegenthaler, uh, Siegenthaler.

Now, is everybody-- Are all those blue liners expected to be ready to start the season?

Yes.

But when you look at New Jersey like that, they're obviously Nemec got moved in the off-season.

They still have a, have a fair amount of defenders in, in, in Dougie Hamilton, of course, and Luke Hughes, and Brett Pesce, and Brendan Dillon, Jonathan Kovacevic, Jonas Siegenthaler, uh, Siegenthaler.

Now, is everybody-- Are all those blue liners expected to be ready to start the season?

Yes.

So what's that going to look like? We all expect Luke Hughes to take a step forward.

We expect – Jonathan Kovacevic to potentially return to form.

Is he and Siegenthal going to be that shutdown pair from two years ago? Brendan Dillon's not going anywhere unless there's some unforeseen trade.

Dougie Hamilton's back, and I don't think he's going anywhere either, right? Brett Pesci, can he stay healthy? If he does, where is the room to play on this team? Well, Ethan Edwards, I mean, again, we'll see what he looks like next week among the veterans, among the men.

We love Jay.

The rest of the defense, like Luke Hughes, Brett Pesci, Jonathan Kovacevic.

This is a good hockey team.

I think the one Achilles heel might be in net.

Yeah, yeah, Monday night.

Jonathan Kovacevic is our GM, and he's already taken assault in, and there hasn't been one pick made, so-

[laughing]

It's always fun.

I jokingly said, and I have, I mean, here it is.

Kovacevic for Evangelista, one for one.

Now, would I have liked to give up Jonathan Kovacevic as opposed to DraftKap? Yeah, sure.

Why not? But who cares? The New Jersey Devils today acquired a 24-year-old winger who last year had 56 points.

56, 44 assists, and 12 goals.