GDT: 2024 Free Agency - July 1st - 12 P.M.

[Whaddagoal]

Noooo. J. Boqvist signed by Florida. The dream is crushed again...

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Yeah, exactly Gritsyuk can easily be that guy for Jack in the top 6. If they can get a Swiss knife player, like Colton, I'm not holding onto Lenni for dear life.

I'm not just talking about top 6, just nhl players period. Lenni could be useful as a 3rd liner too. We needed to draft better to recycle young players on elcs to supplement the core when they become too expensive but that doesn't really look promising right now. All these other guys are garbage, sounds harsh but yea...

 

[britdevil]

Like I said, I'm not as sold on Gritsyuk as others. I hope he proves me wrong.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I don't think Brady Tkachuk and Jack would work well similarly to why Meier and Hughes haven't clicked well. Tkachuk shoots the puck a SHITLOAD. He has 700 shots the last 2 years which is kind of absurd.

 

[Hisch13r]

I probably wouldn't this unless he specifically said he wouldn't play in NJ but even then it's not for Ross Colton



It's clearly what they're looking for him

I mean they were after Stamkos and Marchessault.

 

[Zacha37]

I want Colton badly, but have we ever even been rumored to be interested in him?

 

[Edmonton East]

Except they traded for Allen and Kahk at the same point. It’s total hindsight to say they should have only traded for Kahk AND trusted him with the starting spot last year and backup now when he was awful in San Jose and they basically got him for negative trade value

Well, no, it's not. I said the same thing when it happened. Just because it's hindsight for some of you and, apparently, Devs management, doesn't mean it wasn't reasonably foreseeable.

I probably have a dozen posts on here pre Markstrom trade slamming the Allen acquisition because the value made no sense, the timing made no sense, and it ensured Kahk wouldn't be here because it was obvious they'd pursue another goalie in the offseason. I said at the time, the season was lost when they finally added a goalie. So why in the world give up assets for a goalie that doesn't fix your problem for next season??? They legit overpaid for another goalie a few months later!

That's just bad management. I don't really see how this is debatable. It isn't like they acquired Allen in November and he didn't live up to expectations. He was acquired late in a lost season, performed as expected (even better than what I expected tbh), and they STILL immediately got another goalie. So what was the point?

TL;DR: At time of Allen trade, I said it didn't make any sense with the season already lost and Allen obviously not being the answer for next season. The Devs management apparently agreed with him obviously not being the answer, yet decided to light picks on fire anyway. Dumb.

Not addressing this anymore because there's no point. Hopefully Markstrom and Allen workout and it only ends up being a 3rd.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I don't think Brady Tkachuk and Jack would work well similarly to why Meier and Hughes haven't clicked well. Tkachuk shoots the puck a SHITLOAD. He has 700 shots the last 2 years which is kind of absurd.

Very valid point

I mean they were after Stamkos and Marchessault.

And maybe net front/guys who digs them pucks is a better description of a winger they're looking for, I associate that with a power forward build so maybe that's the lost in translation here. Mercer would've went with Jack/Bratt had they gotten Stamkos and Marchessault would've went with Jack/Bratt if they had gotten him, I think

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

its very weird that a small faction of our fanbase has this hard-on for Kahkonen, a guy who played all of 263 minutes here and who the GM basically said he didn't care about.

 

[NJDevs26]

its very weird that a small faction of our fanbase has this hard-on for Kahkonen, a guy who played all of 263 minutes here and who the GM basically said he didn't care about.

What’s annoying is he probably is going to do well enough in Winnipeg in a short sample size on a good team, if Allen spits the bit here we go again lol

 

[Triumph]

Well, no, it's not. I said the same thing when it happened. Just because it's hindsight for some of you and, apparently, Devs management, doesn't mean it wasn't reasonably foreseeable.

I probably have a dozen posts on here pre Markstrom trade slamming the Allen acquisition because the value made no sense, the timing made no sense, and it ensured Kahk wouldn't be here because it was obvious they'd pursue another goalie in the offseason. I said at the time, the season was lost when they finally added a goalie. So why in the world give up assets for a goalie that doesn't fix your problem for next season??? They legit overpaid for another goalie a few months later!

That's just bad management. I don't really see how this is debatable. It isn't like they acquired Allen in November and he didn't live up to expectations. He was acquired late in a lost season, performed as expected (even better than what I expected tbh), and they STILL immediately got another goalie. So what was the point?

TL;DR: At time of Allen trade, I said it didn't make any sense with the season already lost and Allen obviously not being the answer for next season. The Devs management apparently agreed with him obviously not being the answer, yet decided to light picks on fire anyway. Dumb.

They did it to lock up a goalie for next year, while also potentially having a goalie to trade if that team wanted a backup goalie. Remember, Korpisalo went to Boston in the Ullmark deal. The Devils didn't have a quasi-reliable goalie they could send in a goalie deal so if for some reason Markstrom to NJ fell through, and indeed it could have for any number of reasons, they still had a goalie they could move if that team wanted a veteran goalie back.

Kahkonen was acquired to get him off San Jose's books and roster, that was all. The Devils never had him in their plans, nor did they ever indicate that they did. He was just to even up the dollars and also potentially, push Daws or Schmid into the minors where they belonged. Obviously he was acquired after Allen - if the deal orders had been reversed, you'd have more of a point here.

Is it a slight overpay for that assurance, of course, does it make sense in light of Crawford and Bernier and all of the disasters that have befallen Fitzgerald with goalies in the past few years, sure.

 

[Bleedred]

Kahkonen was just a body for us to take back after we dumped the remaining year of the Vitek albatross off on San Jose.

Vitek really needed to be dumped after the playoffs last year, not that I blame them for not doing it. Nobody knew yet that he was FUBAR'd here. I didn't expect anyone to know, and I wasn't even sure that he'd be unsalvageable here after that. And we already had to exile Blackwood, so we weren't exiling two guys in one offseason and going with Schmid and some rando UFA guy from last year. Can you imagine if we started last season with Schmid and one of Alex Lyon/James Reimer/Cam Talbot/David Rittich?

Be glad San Jose took the terminally ill Vitek off our hands. I was already wondering right before that if we were gonna have to buy out the last year of that deal.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

its very weird that a small faction of our fanbase has this hard-on for Kahkonen, a guy who played all of 263 minutes here and who the GM basically said he didn't care about.

I wouldn't have minded keeping him but him landing in Winnipeg is pretty damn good after the year he just had. Guy got smoked into oblivion on one of the worst teams in NHL history + we exactly didn't play stellar defense in front of the guy either when he started.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I dont have anything against the guy and wish him well, and I am sure he'll be a competent backup in Winnipeg. But my original point remains...I dont get why he matters one way or the other for NJ

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Kahkonen was just a body for us to take back after we dumped the remaining year of the Vitek albatross off on San Jose.

Vitek really needed to be dumped after the playoffs last year, not that I blame them for not doing it. Nobody knew yet that he was FUBAR'd here. I didn't expect anyone to know, and I wasn't even sure that he'd be unsalvageable here after that. And we already had to exile Blackwood, so we weren't exiling two guys in on offseason and going with Schmid and some rando UFA guy from last year.

Be glad San Jose took the terminally ill Vitek off our hands. I was already wondering right before that if we were gonna have to buy out the last year of that deal.

Not absolving him but that injury he had seemed like no joke and I wouldn't have past him to play through regardless how bad it was to maybe save his career with how bad his 23-24 was and this medical staff has shown they're absurdly inept with injuries in the past.

 

[Normal Devil]

I want Colton badly, but have we ever even been rumored to be interested in him?

Not that I've heard. I've heard Nashville has been sniffing around.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I dont have anything against the guy and wish him well, and I am sure he'll be a competent backup in Winnipeg. But my original point remains...I dont get why he matters one way or the other for NJ

Only argument I can see is being worried about Allen's age with an already older Markstrom but other than that I'm not sure either lol

 

[beekay414]

Nobody fawns over mid players quite like Devils HF

 

[Emperoreddy]

I think Taresenko is the only other forward where we were linked rumor wise besides March and Stammer.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I think Taresenko is the only other forward where we were linked rumor wise besides March and Stammer.

Tarasenko wasn't a link, it was just them playing a guessing game on TSN and someone on twitter ran with it lol

 

[Guttersniped]

not a 10 team no trade though. It’s a 10 team trade. Hopefully his ass is dumped but it’s also possible none of the 10 teams he puts on the list want to trade for him.

There’s almost no chance we trade Palat and a very good chance we buy his last year out.

So two more years (including this one).

 

[Hisch13r]

Nobody fawns over mid players quite like Devils HF

We could really use mid forwards.

 

[StevenToddIves]

You forgot to put Graham in there, or is he so NHL ready you don't consider him a prospect anymore?

I forgot Beckman, who we just traded for. He's probably in somewhere around 7 or 8. I guess Salminen would be #12. That would bey list of any NJ forward prospects I'd see as having even a vague NHL hope.

It's amazing how different that group would have looked had the Devils drafted C Logan Morrison instead of Cole Brown with that 6th round pick last year, which would have been an easy call considering they were teammates in Hamilton and anyone who has ever scouted hockey at all could see in any one sitting that Morrison had light years more ability and potential. This is why late round picks are important. Right now I would probably rank Morrison as NJ's #2 forward prospect after only Gritsyuk, and he's a center.

 

[Bleedred]

Not absolving him but that injury he had seemed like no joke and I wouldn't have past him to play through regardless how bad it was to maybe save his career with how bad his 23-24 was and this medical staff has shown they're absurdly inept with injuries in the past.

I think the injury was after all of that, wasn't it? I have a hard time believing he was injured the entire year. Maybe at the end, before he was shut down for good.

I think he was mentally shot here after those playoffs. I don't think he's completely irredeemable in the NHL. I just think he was irredeemable here after those playoffs.

If you look goalies that have a meltdown like that in the playoffs, they historically get run out of town. Happened to Cechmanek in Philadelphia, and his numbers in the playoffs weren't nearly as bad as Vitek's, but he was run out of town after some really funny blooper reel goals in Philly in the playoffs. Same thing with Roman Turek. I know I'm going back to cases from 20+ years ago now.

I'm trying to think of something a little more recently, and I know there are some and I should be able to think of someone.

 

[Billdo]

Lol cup champs signed Jesper Boqvist, but I was told he was off to Europe and wasn't an NHLer on a meaningful team

They also signed AJ Greer who I was told "Greer sucks IMO. Had a decent run but he’s slow, not very skilled and isn’t a good NHL player in my opinion. Think we can find better bottom 6 help." after suggesting him being in our bottom 6.