I doubt Gritsyuk comes over to be a fourth liner in the NHL; would he even make more than he could in Russia? And why would we want him on our fourth line?
Who said he will play fourth line? Fitz? I dont think he will sell him fourth line spot. After sign his deal he will be in the same situations as others - better player will play in better line. If Gritsyuk isnt better he will start to adapt on fourth line and 2nd pp unit. But dont forget that other players will be in the same spot - if Gritsyuk will be better than other players - some other player will go down in the line up.
Mercer played North American hockey his whole life so the adjustment period was much shorter for him; in fact, were currently experiencing this adjustment with Holtz
NA hockey? If you think that QMJHL is closer to "NA hockey" in NHL than "Russian hockey" in KHL, than you should be surprised, Im not. its clear from the debate.
We experiencing this adjustment with Holtz because Holtz is Holtz, SHL hockey has nothing with it, Bratt started to play in NHL as 19 yo, Holtz was nearly PPG player in AHL as 19 yo.
Him being 23 and not coming over yet is an issue because it lowers his value, since with every passing year he has that much less of a chance to improve far beyond what he is now.
Lower his value for whom? For you or for Fitz or for other gms? Do you have value meter? How good it is working, based on your opinion? Your development chances understanding is very abstract. He developed his game before somehow. Like some other players who joined NHL as 23/24/25 yo player.
Kaprizov and Panarin came over later but were as guaranteed as a prospect can be; we, as Devils fans, also saw what happened with Nikita Gusev
May be there were something with Nikita Gusev's game? Btw even he produced 44 points in 66 games in his first season. If we will have 44 points out from Gritsyuk - it will not be the end of the world, we dont have a lot of depth players who can produce 44 points. May be some better aspects of Gritsyuk's game will help to adapt if we compare him with Gusev. You can study the game of Gritsyuk and the game of Gusev by yourself to learn something from it.
The longer Gritsyuk takes the higher the odds he doesnt put on a Devils uniform - and itll probably be a trade scenario in the next year or so
May be if he will not join the Devils the next year and sign his next KHL deal his NHL rights will be traded, but it will be some kind change of scenario you could know if you would keep an eye on situations.
This is why Russian prospects (even greats like Matvei and Kaprizov) fall in drafts; its a real issue that sometimes they decide or are convinced to stay longer than they should. Teams arent usually spending tons of assets on an unproven 25+ year old
Yeah, its a real issue with prospects like Matvey and Kaprisov. GMs who see the situation and treat players this way. It is their decision to do so. I believe we dont have same kind of issue with any other players. Typical Russian players like Gauthierov, Foxin, McGroartin is a fresh body, its so sad to not see Kerfootenko in our roster and its look like McCarthin will never play for Devils too, looks like Edwardtsev is close too.
Some gms are drafting and signing Russian players and develop them, some dont. Who is more succesfull and who is not I dont know. I believe teams like Tampa who spent some of assets for Kucherov, Sergachyov and Vasilevsky are really stupid and badly managed, I agree.