Nate Bastian: The Chatterbox | STALL MATES 

This past summer Nathan Bastian put on his full Devils gear and stepped onto the ice with some young hockey players. Bastian was participating in a hockey clinic, and it was a chance to give back, and help young kids learn the game from some pros who have made it. It's always a big deal for little kids who get that up close and personal time with NHL players, a thrill for any young kid.

And kids just sometimes don't have filters, which is something Bastian learned first hand this summer.

"One kid asked me who I sit next to in the locker room," he said setting up the punchline, "and it sounds like I'm giving him the answer he wants to hear, but it's true.

"I was like 'I sit right between Jack and Timo', and he looked at me and goes 'Sure you do.'"

The little boy was mocking Bastian.

How could he possibly sit next to Jack Hughes and Timo Meier in an NHL locker room?

Well, the joke is on the kid, because Bastian was telling the truth. He is indeed the middleman between Hughes and Meier and he keeps it an animated corner of the room.

Bastian fancies himself as a talker as a stall mate. He doesn't have any real quirks about his routine, he's just, well, a talker.

"I talk a lot," he laughed, "I like to think that's not a bad thing. I sit between Jack and Timo, but I try on game days, maybe to talk a little less, because you know they've got their own stuff. But we have a pretty active corner, I know that Johnny (Marino) is always trying to migrate over and hang with us. And we have to send him back to his area."

He's never officially been told to stop talking by either Hughes or Meier, but then again, he hasn't quite tested the limits he said with a huge smirk.

"I haven't really tested the waters," he joked, "I kind of stay in my lane. Like Jack and I have never had a problem sitting beside each other but I'm sure I could find a way to \bleep\ him off if I really wanted to. He's got a lot of stuff going on."

Neither Hughes nor Meier, Bastian said, have any weird quirks that force him to be extra aware of when it comes to their space. But what he does have to stay mindful of is the type of day it is. Is it practice? Is it a morning skate? Is it before warmups? Depending on the situation, Bastian might have to self-regulate and keep control of his talkative nature.

"If you see Jack on gameday and on a practice day, it's like two different people. Sitting beside Jack (on a practice day) versus 10 minutes before warmup is like night and day.

"Literally, I can talk to (Jack) about whatever I want to talk about, it could be about anything," Bastian said of a practice day. "And then like before a game, I just sometimes have to catch myself and be like maybe it's not the right time."

Even though he hasn't been overtly told to be quiet, there was a brief moment that did give him some pause. Does he actually talk too much?

"It's kind of funny because I saw something on Instagram and I was voted the loudest guy," he said, "But I don't think I'm like loud! I'm always kind always just involved. If there's a group of people talking around me, of course, I'm going to be involved!"