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

[Bleedred]

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).

I still super strongly believe that one of Palat or Haula won't be here in 25-26. I'm not gonna say which one, but I think this is the last year here for one of them. 25-26 will be the last year for the other. That's the last year Haula is signed for anyway and he'll be 35 when it ends, and Palat probably won't see year 5 here.

If it's not the last year of Palat then I think 25-26 will be and then he's bought out.

That said, I don't think he'll be bought out next summer if he is indeed sent out of here next summer.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

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.

Eh, I wouldn't past a player playing through a horrid injury to save face with teammates/management. We know how hockey players are, they're some of the dumbest bravest idiots we know in sports. That being said, the 2023 playoffs were basically his end like you said but I still think the thinking was just make it to the deadline this year and maybe Fitz strikes on a goalie this time as opposed to the premium for Helly last summer after Vanecek's dreadful playoffs. We had Dougie's LTIR this year as well, mind you, so the Devils could've gotten any goalie but the team imploded insanely bad this year.

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.

Would've been on board with those guys back in the bottom 6, I assume some selfish pride from Fitz blocked that from happening and he moved to other guys lol

 

[Bleedred]

Eh, I wouldn't past a player playing through a horrid injury to save face with teammates/management. We know how hockey players are, they're some of the dumbest bravest idiots we know in sports. That being said, the 2023 playoffs were basically his end like you said but I still think the thinking was just make it to the deadline this year and maybe Fitz strikes on a goalie this time as opposed to the premium for Helly last summer after Vanecek's dreadful playoffs. We had Dougie's LTIR this year as well, mind you, so the Devils could've gotten any goalie but the team imploded insanely bad this year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming team or management for not recognizing that he was past the point of no return with the playoffs in 2023. There was no proof of that, but I think that did prove after the fact to be the case.

I still have a bad taste in my mouth over that guy for no-showing post game interviews, I don't think he spoke on practice days either. Maybe he did at the beginning of the year, but we didn't see him with a microphone in his face at all after the first month or so of the season. And I think that pissed guys off. Everybody else had to answer questions about him every night. Whether it was Ruff, Jack, other players.

I still think that's what caused the ''We can win when we get saves'' shots that Jack fired in that on-ice post game interview. He was only gonna have to answer questions about the goaltending the next night they lost, so he answered them when we won.

 

[Triumph]

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.

Logan Morrison was not eligible to be drafted last year. He was 21 years old for the purposes of the draft, and so was ineligible according to 8.4.iv that states players who are 21 who have been eligible for 2 previous drafts and played in North America at all during that time cannot be selected.

 

[Guttersniped]

I still super strongly believe that one of Palat or Haula won't be here in 25-26. I'm not gonna say which one, but I think this is the last year here for one of them. 25-26 will be the last year for the other. That's the last year Haula is signed for anyway and he'll be 35 when it ends, and Palat probably won't see year 5 here.

If it's not the last year of Palat then I think 25-26 will be and then he's bought out.

That said, I don't think he'll be bought out next summer if he is indeed sent out of here next summer.

I don’t see how we dump Palat with two years on his deal unless the team gets lucky with the 10 team trade list.

And Haula is too useful, I doubt the team wants to get rid of him.

 

[Hisch13r]

I don’t see how we dump Palat with two years on his deal unless the team gets lucky with the 10 team trade list.

And Haula is too useful, I doubt the team wants to get rid of him.

Haula’s also got a decent deal. He’s not the one causing any issues

 

[SKNJD9]

Think Fitzy navigated a minefield of horrible deals about as good as he could today.

Sucks ( or maybe it doesn't) Marchessault decided to pull a Suter/Parise and follow Stammer and shun us but oh well.

 

[Bleedred]

There seems to be a lot of remorse and one that got away stuff over the most marginal of players.

Kahkonen is just the latest. Last year it was Tatar and to a lesser extent Boqvist. A couple of years before that it was Dmitry Kulikov. I can't remember who it was in 2022. I don't think it was really Zacha. Although Zacha really wasn't as marginal/inconsequential as the other guys, if not just for the fact that he was a higher first round pick and had been here for years. So I get why people would be more attached to him than some of the other names.

 

[Edmonton East]

Well Mercer counts as a top-6 addition coming in as I suspect hes up there permanently from now on

So really Palat doesnt have to be replaced; one spot in your top-6 to a third line guy is normal and also leaves us space

Unless, of course, its Henrique Tarasenko or Sprong on a short deal; otherwise I keep my assets until the deadline or next offseason (if its not Casey for McGroarty)

So I'm open to a lot of different viewpoints regarding what remaining moves the Devs have to make before opening night. However, not making any more additions is not one of them. That isn't acceptable. It'd be batshit insane to go into the season banking on a rebound+ breakout from Mercer AND 100% perfect forward health.

Especially when you just added a 35 year old goalie with 2 years left and have no 1st round pick next year. Rolling into the season with 1-2 holes in your top 6 and no C depth isn't acceptable considering the circumstances. Contradictory moves are how organizations end up in purgatory for a decade+.

I'd be very surprised if there isn't an addition prior to opening night. Wouldn't be the first time though.

 

[Hisch13r]

Think Fitzy navigated a minefield of horrible deals about as good as he could today.

Sucks ( or maybe it doesn't) Marchessault decided to pull a Suter/Parise and follow Stammer and shun us but oh well.

I think people are letting 4 mil for a 3rd pair D slide way too easily.

 

[Edmonton East]

There seems to be a lot of remorse and one that got away stuff over the most marginal of players.

Kahkonen is just the latest. Last year it was Tatar and to a lesser extent Boqvist. A couple of years before that it was Dmitry Kulikov. I can't remember who it was in 2022. I don't think it was really Zacha. Although Zacha really wasn't as marginal/inconsequential as the other guys, if not just for the fact that he was a higher first round pick and had been here for years. So I get why people would be more attached to him than some of the other names.

There is not a single poster saying Kahk is the one that got away. What hyperbolic nonsense.

 

[Emperoreddy]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807903004991091114

 

[Hisch13r]

There seems to be a lot of remorse and one that got away stuff over the most marginal of players.

Kahkonen is just the latest. Last year it was Tatar and to a lesser extent Boqvist. A couple of years before that it was Dmitry Kulikov. I can't remember who it was in 2022. I don't think it was really Zacha. Although Zacha really wasn't as marginal/inconsequential as the other guys, if not just for the fact that he was a higher first round pick and had been here for years. So I get why people would be more attached to him than some of the other names.

Tatar wasn’t an inconsequential piece of the 22-23 team.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I think people are letting 4 mil for a 3rd pair D slide way too easily.

He’ll probably be in the top 4 when Siegenthaler poos his pants again

 

[HoliksGhost]

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.

Who ?

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

It'd be batshit insane to go into the season banking on a rebound+ breakout from Mercer AND 100% perfect forward health.

It's crazy how people are fine with this with how every season has been failed by relying on shit like this. From the goalie collapse to the injury disaster, we really want to go into next season relying on a super thin forward lineup at 100% health? People are on some kind of high

 

[Bleedred]

Just saw Joel Edmundson got a 4 year deal and was like ''Whaaatt?''. Thought I was reading threads from 2021.

I didn't even think he was good enough to get a 4 year deal anymore. I actually forgot he was still in the NHL. He was someone people here wanted back in 2020 or 2021. Whatever year he was UFA last.

Looking at his game log he misses a decent amount of games every year. Missed almost half the games last year. Did play 61 the year before, but only 24 games the year before that.

And even in his early days his games played totals were consistently in the 60s. He did manage to play 55 of 56 in the covid year though.

 

[HoliksGhost]

Tatar wasn’t an inconsequential piece of the 22-23 team.

Until the playoffs….

 

[Bleedred]

Tatar wasn’t an inconsequential piece of the 22-23 team.

He sure would have been if he were last year. I don't think his 30-ish points would have helped much.

He was older, it was time to say goodbye.

And I would have been fine with bringing him back on the deal he got, but he clearly wasn't going to repeat 22-23 if he was here last year.

 

[Hisch13r]

Until the playoffs….

Good thing we didn’t need him to get there last year!

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

It's crazy how people are fine with this with how every season has been failed by relying on shit like this. From the goalie collapse to the injury disaster, we really want to go into next season relying on a super thin forward lineup at 100% health? People are on some kind of high

the season doesn't start for 3 months.

 

[Nico Hischier]

I think people are letting 4 mil for a 3rd pair D slide way too easily.

Maybe seigenthaler gets traded eventually and Dillion moves up to second pair?

I think he’s overpaid by 1M it’s not the end of the world

I don’t think mercer and Luke’s extensions will be that high

 

[Emperoreddy]

It's crazy how people are fine with this with how every season has been failed by relying on shit like this. From the goalie collapse to the injury disaster, we really want to go into next season relying on a super thin forward lineup at 100% health? People are on some kind of high

I don't think people are fine with it, it's facing the reality that there is very little left out there and we are really tight cap wise now.

If Fitz can work some magic and get another middle 6 forward in here, I don't think anyone is going to object much

 

[Bleedred]

There is not a single poster saying Kahk is the one that got away. What hyperbolic nonsense.

Nobody has ever used that terminology until I did.

But people aren't very happy about a career replacement level goalie not being retained by a team that has had nothing but replacement level goalies since Cory Schneider was in his 20s.

 

[Hisch13r]

Maybe seigenthaler gets traded eventually and Dillion moves up to second pair?

I think he’s overpaid by 1M it’s not the end of the world

I don’t think mercer and Luke’s extensions will be that high

Mercer’s won’t since he’s up coming up off a disaster year but Luke’s starting with an 8.