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Around the NHL: Part XVI - Born on the First of July

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n8 said:
Imagine if you were pleb HF poster who only looks at stats and you had a prospect on your team whose production in his last 3 seasons in juniors was 96, 100, and 94 points, with his last playoff performance producing 42 points in 28 playoff games. Would you not get hyped about that?
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Seriously. Lot to like about the kid. Wish something could happen with something around Kreider for Suzuki.
 
haveandare said:
Hard to say. They added nice names but they all have some sketchiness about them. That's true of most teams' adds to an extent but there's are pretty heavy with it.

Is Subban declining heavily or just had a bad year? Is Simmonds cooked or can he rebound? Is Gusev an NHL player worth that money? Will Hughes' size be an issue at all or will he jump right in and rise above it?

And behind all of that, is Hall going to re-sign or did they do all of this just to have him walk? If he walks of course and the questions above are answered negatively, they're in a very tight spot quickly.
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Oh I hear you on all fronts in that department, but as was mentioned they are all fairly short in term and at least they are making a push to keep Hall. I think their biggest question is still in goal though.
 
haveandare said:
Hard to say. They added nice names but they all have some sketchiness about them. That's true of most teams' adds to an extent but there's are pretty heavy with it.

Is Subban declining heavily or just had a bad year? Is Simmonds cooked or can he rebound? Is Gusev an NHL player worth that money? Will Hughes' size be an issue at all or will he jump right in and rise above it?

And behind all of that, is Hall going to re-sign or did they do all of this just to have him walk? If he walks of course and the questions above are answered negatively, they're in a very tight spot quickly.
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Simmonds is almost definitely cooked. He's 30 and the type of player that declines rapidly. He probably can still pop in some goals on the PP by standing in front of the net, but he's likely more a PP specialist at this point.

Subban, hard to tell but he is also 30 and if he's not declining now he could start to. I think he will be a good player for him but he's not going to be the level of player he has been in the past.

Devils have done a good job but tough to see yet how it all works out. Could be some "growing pains" putting the pieces together, some guys might not be as good as they hoped, and Hall could still leave after next season.
 
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Levitate said:
Simmonds is almost definitely cooked. He's 30 and the type of player that declines rapidly. He probably can still pop in some goals on the PP by standing in front of the net, but he's likely more a PP specialist at this point.

Subban, hard to tell but he is also 30 and if he's not declining now he could start to. I think he will be a good player for him but he's not going to be the level of player he has been in the past.

Devils have done a good job but tough to see yet how it all works out. Could be some "growing pains" putting the pieces together, some guys might not be as good as they hoped, and Hall could still leave after next season.
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Agreed as Hall is the big on for them. Hughes is so young while Subban disappears for long periods and Simmons wheels reminds me Lucic.

They kinda look like many Rangers teams with the aging players
 
NYSPORTS said:
Agreed as Hall is the big on for them. Hughes is so young while Subban disappears for long periods and Simmons wheels reminds me Lucic.

They kinda look like many Rangers teams with the aging players
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Honestly the question is kind of "where do they go from here in 3 years"?

They have good young players like Hischier and Hughes and some of their defense but in 3 years time all of these guys they're signing now will be gone along with most if not all of their vets in general, if Hall sticks around he's gonna be 30 and who knows how he'll handle hitting that age mark...
I guess my ignorance of their prospect system limits me from making a great guess on how they'll look 3+ years from now since I don't know what they have in goal (huge question mark for them) and not a ton about their prospects other than Ty Smith is highly regarded and they seem to like Boqvist a lot.
So, highly unlikely they're cup competitive during this 3 years, then how are things looking after that? Guess we'll find out but again while it looks like they did some interesting and good things this offseason they all seem more geared at just being competitive and interesting in the short term rather than building a cup contender in the long term. I could be wrong though.
 
Krams said:
This is huge for Arizona and I'm happy for them. Meruelo has deep pockets and is definitely going to try to get them a new arena in a better location. Most stability that franchise has had in several years.
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I’d count myself as cautiously optimistic. Every new owner who has come into town has allegedly had “deep pockets”. The way this franchise bleeds money has the ability to beat down a lot of that optimism. The Vegas entry fee helped cover part of the losses one year and Seattle will help cover another year but with an increased payroll, they are still looking at very substantial losses (well over eight figures)

Getting a new arena will be very tough. The two best options — downtown and Tempe — are apparently off the table and the chances of getting any help through the state are very slim.

I hope Mr. Meruelo has very deep pockets. He will need them.
 
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MrAlmost said:
I have to say, I think the devils have had one of the best, arguably the best, offseason of all the teams in the league. Of course, the games are still played on the ice, but I like their stuff.
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It bodes well for this upcomming season but the organization finds itself in a precarious situation regarding Hall... If he's intent on testing the UFA waters - then they could find themselves in a rather difficult position come the trade deadline... With no extension in place, if the team is having a successful/competitive season leading up to the deadline - they will feel inclined to hold onto Hall and risk losing him in the summer with no return...

If the team is performing below expectations and with no contract in place - they could move him for a return with the understanding that it doesn't bode well for him signing with the team again...

If he ends up signing with another team next summer then clearly it's a set back for the Devils organization in terms of their overall progress in developing a more competitive/successful team...
 
wolfgaze said:
It bodes well for this upcomming season but the organization finds itself in a precarious situation regarding Hall... If he's intent on testing the UFA waters - then they could find themselves in a rather difficult position come the trade deadline... With no extension in place, if the team is having a successful/competitive season leading up to the deadline - they will feel inclined to hold onto Hall and risk losing him in the summer with no return...

If the team is performing below expectations and with no contract in place - they could move him for a return with the understanding that it doesn't bode well for him signing with the team again...

If he ends up signing with another team next summer then clearly it's a set back for the Devils organization in terms of their overall progress in developing a more competitive/successful team...
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Yeah for sure. Boils down to if they are bad then the deals are crap and they lose hall and if they are good, it’s a risk to continue without having a deal in place for Hall cause he might walk. I get it, but I like the effort. They are pushing for a better on ice product to keep their best player. They have picked a course of action and are following through.

Also, I enjoy when our rivals are better teams. It makes the season more fun. Of course, we need to be better too.
 
bobbop said:
I’d count myself as cautiously optimistic. Every new owner who has come into town has allegedly had “deep pockets”. The way this franchise bleeds money has the ability to beat down a lot of that optimism. The Vegas entry fee helped cover part of the losses one year and Seattle will help cover another year but with an increased payroll, they are still looking at very substantial losses (well over eight figures)

Getting a new arena will be very tough. The two best options — downtown and Tempe — are apparently off the table and the chances of getting any help through the state are very slim.

I hope Mr. Meruelo has very deep pockets. He will need them.
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Thanks for the insight, I know you're pretty on-point with all things Arizona. Obviously the organization has still has a steep uphill battle to return to solvency, but this one feels different than the rest. I read that aside from the team, Barroway had something like a $50 million net worth? I've seen an estimate of up to $14 billion for Meruelo. If anybody has the clout to make a serious push for a new arena, it's him.

The other thing that's encouraging is he's noted for his ability to market to Hispanics, and in that region of the country that demographic has a lot of purchasing power.

We'll see, but this is the first really positive piece of news to come out of that organization in a long time. Would be cool to see a turnaround and for hockey to thrive in the 'desert', both Vegas and Arizona.
 
I hate Ottawa so much for what they are doing at the moment, they are destroying the function of the cap system just because of that cheap owner.
 
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New Jersey has a pretty good forward group IMO. I get that Simmonds is not the player he was but I'm kind of wondering if he can do a David Andreychuk act for them. He's got very good hands and he's hard to move away from the net. You put him with skill guys on a power play he could put in a lot of goals even if his 5v5 is subpar. He also has that fighting dimension. He knows how to use his arm length to advantage and he's an accurate puncher with pretty decent power.

I expect Gusev to be at least a pretty good player. Palmieri's another guy who needs to rebound a bit. If Bratt and Anderson have good years they should be four lines deep.

They also have good puck moving defensemen. It's not a big D though and not going to be the greatest in their own end. It's kind of like a makeover where the Devils always had great defense and goaltending--not it's the forwards that I would expect are going to lead them. To me their Achille's heel could be a somewhat leaky defense combined with less than average goaltending unless Blackwood steps it up. I don't think Schneider's that good anymore. The question of how fast Hughes can come out of the gate might make or break them too.
 
I'll also mention the Islanders--after Barzal it's a kind of so/so lineup. I guess they're going to hope that Varlamov can do the same for them that Lehner did--and maybe.....or maybe not. If he can't I don't think they're a playoff team.
 
Kallio said:
Real money vs insurance money. Ottawa are hoarding litr player and front loaded contracts in order to reach the cap floor while not having to pay any real dollars. A shame.
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$15.3-million from players on LTIR with Callahan, Gaborik and MacArthur.
 
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