Devils 2020-21 team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - part VIII

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Judging by how Shero was and assuming that Fitzgerald will follow suit, it a seems like with veteran or respected players they always try to find to a quality fit.

I would have to imagine a team that was a legitimate Stanley Cup contender had a deal on the table and Fitzgerald came to Zajac to see if there was any interest. I don’t think the Devils we’re shopping him as he seems to be one of those veterans that comes in, works hard, and won’t fuss about roles.

The source of the story is Zajacs agent. He clearly told Friedman that the Devils discussed a trade to a specific team. Zajac blocked it with his NTC. Not sure why posters seem so hung up on semantics. We know the Devils would have traded Zajac last year at the deadline.

 

[Zippy316]

The source of the story is Zajacs agent. He clearly told Friedman that the Devils discussed a trade to a specific team. Zajac blocked it with his NTC. Not sure why posters seem so hung up on semantics. We know the Devils would have traded Zajac last year at the deadline.

You have to go to the source of Friedman's 31 thoughts and not the articles that take his thoughts and try to amp them up for hits:

7. MSG’s Steve Cangialosi reported last Saturday that Travis Zajac told him, “I’ve thought about the situation a lot. (New Jersey) is where I want to be.”
Reached out to Kurt Overhardt, who represents Zajac. He said, “We were presented with something, but Travis was not willing to waive at this time. We’ll see about the future after the season.”
He’s got one more year at $5.75 million, and a no-trade clause. Overhardt would not discuss the scenario, but I’d bet all of our mortgages it was the Islanders.

Keep in mind this was post-Hall trade, the impending sell off of all of the Devils UFAs in Greene, Simmonds, and Vatanen, and also the Devils trading Coleman and floating Palmieri out there to see if there was any bait. Teams were likely lining up and trying to poach whatever they wanted off the Devils and outside of the core Devils were listening. If there's a good enough offer, Devils probably ran it past Zajac to see if there was any interest.

We don't know the Devils were going to deal him. We know they were listening and obviously ran at least one by Zajac. Friedman also had that "Rumblings around the league Lou would love to bring Zajac to Toronto" that sparked trade rumors when there were likely no discussions.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

As a GM, you’d barely end up making any moves if you tried to bleed every deal for maximum value. If a team think Johnson on his contract is valuable and helpful to their team then they should have claimed him; otherwise they’re more likely to end up with nothing than getting the help.

This is not every deal, it’s a well known fact around the hockey world that Tampa is screwed. If a team had any interest in Johnson, or any of their players on the block, you would think that someone would’ve picked up the phone to see if they can get him for a future 7th round pick.

That wasn’t the case and nobody picked him off waivers because everyone knows that they can milk this situation like crazy because Tampa is stuck in a corner, behind a brick wall.

If they weren’t in cap hell, I can almost guarantee you that someone would’ve picked up Johnson or better yet, he wouldn’t even of went on waivers in the first place.

 

[JimEIV]

I wouldn't mind Killorn for a lot of reasons.

I know Killorn's prep school coach. He went to highschool with my wife, same class. He was also drafted by the LA Kings in the supplemental draft in 1991. So I have been keeping tabs on Alex since he scored 28 goals in 24 games at Deerfield Academy.

 

[Billdo]

The source of the story is Zajacs agent. He clearly told Friedman that the Devils discussed a trade to a specific team. Zajac blocked it with his NTC. Not sure why posters seem so hung up on semantics. We know the Devils would have traded Zajac last year at the deadline.

Because there is a difference between entertaining a phone call and asking Zajacs agent and the team actively trying to move him.

 

[Devils731]

This is not every deal, it’s a well known fact around the hockey world that Tampa is screwed. If a team had any interest in Johnson, or any of their players on the block, you would think that someone would’ve picked up the phone to see if they can get him for a future 7th round pick.

That wasn’t the case and nobody picked him off waivers because everyone knows that they can milk this situation like crazy because Tampa is stuck in a corner, behind a brick wall.

If they weren’t in cap hell, I can almost guarantee you that someone would’ve picked up Johnson or better yet, he wouldn’t even of went on waivers in the first place.

Everyone can’t milk TB for this situation, 1 or maybe 2 teams can. GMs manage for 1 team; their goal is to make their own team as good as possible not to maximize TB’s pain.

No GM will later be thinking, “Boy, I wish I had taken Johnson for free, since I think he’s good, but it was worth losing out on him because my division rival made out like bandits trading with TB and made TB pay.”

Nobody is not picking up Johnson because TB is in cap hell; they didn’t pick him up because he and his contract have negative value currently.

 

[Nubmer6]

In a normal market you're not getting Cernak for taking on Johnson's contract.

We may need to keep in mind one other factor. Tampa's most likely going to lose a good defenseman in the expansion draft. I presume they leave McDoughnut unprotected, but Hedman, Sergachev, Cernak, and Coburn need to be protected. They could very possibly lose one unless they go 4-4 protection, in which case they'll probably lose a good forward.

 

[Nubmer6]

Nobody is not picking up Johnson because TB is in cap hell; they didn’t pick him up because he and his contract have negative value currently.

Agreed.

If you want Johnson, why would you risk not getting him by presuming every other team will want to "punish" Tampa?

 

[TrufleShufle]

Agreed.

If you want Johnson, why would you risk not getting him by presuming every other team will want to "punish" Tampa?

It's only a risk if you are actually just presuming.... Let's not act like there isn't a 30 person group text with all but one GM plotting.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

We may need to keep in mind one other factor. Tampa's most likely going to lose a good defenseman in the expansion draft. I presume they leave McDoughnut unprotected, but Hedman, Sergachev, Cernak, and Coburn need to be protected. They could very possibly lose one unless they go 4-4 protection, in which case they'll probably lose a good forward.

Why would Coburn need to be protected?

 

[Nubmer6]

It's only a risk if you are actually just presuming.... Let's not act like there isn't a 30 person group text with all but one GM plotting.

So you think the other 30 teams colluded to put the screws to Tampa? I would find that unwise if I wanted him. That's a lot of teams that could go back on their word. Also, it's not like you're guaranteed to get him if everyone holds true to their word. I think if a team actually wanted him, they would have just taken him.

 

[Nubmer6]

Why would Coburn need to be protected?

Hmm. Good point.

 

[NJDevs26]

If they weren’t in cap hell, I can almost guarantee you that someone would’ve picked up Johnson or better yet, he wouldn’t even of went on waivers in the first place.

The bolded is absolutely not true.

There's a huge difference between trying to leverage a situation and screwing yourself out of spite. If Tampa put Brayden Point on waivers, would people not claim him just to punish the Lightning?

 

[Blackjack]

It's only a risk if you are actually just presuming.... Let's not act like there isn't a 30 person group text with all but one GM plotting.

That would be uncovered in a heartbeat and Tampa would be making every selection in the first round of the 2021 draft except for Seattle's.

 

[Guttersniped]

The bolded is absolutely not true.

There's a huge difference between trying to leverage a situation and screwing yourself out of spite. If Tampa put Brayden Point on waivers, would people not claim him just to punish the Lightning?

The caps is frozen for at least two years and the unknown future increases will start off muted. The only long term contracts given out outside of AP and Krug (the AP replacement) and the early Brodin extension were mostly Canadian teams signing goalies and defenseman and whatever Bergevin was doing.

And it was mostly all Canadian, outside of big deals to Pietrangelo, Krug and Brodin only Lehner (5 years/5m), Grzelcyk (4 years/3.69m), Faska (5 years/3.25m), Dillon (4 year/3.9m) and Walker (4 years/2.65m) got more than 3 year deals from US teams.

The economic realities have changed and GMs don’t want any new longterm deals added to the ones they are already trying to make work budget wise. Every ELC and RFA will need raises during Johnson’s four deal and he’s not worth sacrificing that valuable cap space for.

There’s also the salary aspect, posters on the main board love to point out Johnson only makes 3.75m this season but he makes 5.5m next season. GMs care about their own team. They don’t sabotage each other, but no one is interested in picking up a 4 year nonessential forward contract. Vegas was lucky that defensemen are more valuable and that Vancouver lost Tanev and Stecher and is in a hot bed market that expects moves. No one wants Johnson.

 

[glenwo2]

I'd love to have Zajac as a Devil for life. Do the 1 year at a time thing until his game truly falls off and he's no longer able to center a 4th line. But I'm not expecting that to happen. I could see him as the 4c deadline acquisition for a lot of teams.

He'd be one hell of a signing for any team.

But I just don't want him to go.

 

[glenwo2]

I must admit I'm a little less excited about Merkley after watching him struggle a bit in Liiga. I don't think the skill level in Liiga is even AHL level right now. He's a weird guy, when he's on he's really on, looks like a first liner. Great hands, amazing passing, tough physical play. But then for the next few games he does absolutely nothing.

So you're saying he's like Michael Ryder.

 

[glenwo2]

Is the flame ice surface scorcher an option like traction control or a panoramic sunroof or is that standard on ice resurfacing vehicles now like airbags and tire pressure monitoring?

You know.....

I think Ben LoveJoy has his very own personal Ice Surfacer (bah....easier to call it a Zamboni) as a HOF going away gift.

 

[TrufleShufle]

So you think the other 30 teams colluded to put the screws to Tampa? I would find that unwise if I wanted him. That's a lot of teams that could go back on their word. Also, it's not like you're guaranteed to get him if everyone holds true to their word. I think if a team actually wanted him, they would have just taken him.

That would be uncovered in a heartbeat and Tampa would be making every selection in the first round of the 2021 draft except for Seattle's.

Sorry I dropped this, "/s."

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

You have to go to the source of Friedman's 31 thoughts and not the articles that take his thoughts and try to amp them up for hits:

7. MSG’s Steve Cangialosi reported last Saturday that Travis Zajac told him, “I’ve thought about the situation a lot. (New Jersey) is where I want to be.”
Reached out to Kurt Overhardt, who represents Zajac. He said, “We were presented with something, but Travis was not willing to waive at this time. We’ll see about the future after the season.”
He’s got one more year at $5.75 million, and a no-trade clause. Overhardt would not discuss the scenario, but I’d bet all of our mortgages it was the Islanders.

Keep in mind this was post-Hall trade, the impending sell off of all of the Devils UFAs in Greene, Simmonds, and Vatanen, and also the Devils trading Coleman and floating Palmieri out there to see if there was any bait. Teams were likely lining up and trying to poach whatever they wanted off the Devils and outside of the core Devils were listening. If there's a good enough offer, Devils probably ran it past Zajac to see if there was any interest.

We don't know the Devils were going to deal him. We know they were listening and obviously ran at least one by Zajac. Friedman also had that "Rumblings around the league Lou would love to bring Zajac to Toronto" that sparked trade rumors when there were likely no discussions.

The part you highlighted I already posted in #247. Zajacs agent likely would not know how it came about that the Devils were discussing Zajac with a specific team. I never ventured a guess because IMO it is not relevant. I simply told another poster that Zajac was presented a chance to go to another team and he used his NTC to block. Your post confirms what I wrote since it contains the same quote. I have no interest in guessing if the Devils were actively shopping him or not, I leave that up to you guys.

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Because there is a difference between entertaining a phone call and asking Zajacs agent and the team actively trying to move him.

When did I say the Devils were actively trying to move him?

 

[Devils731]

Ranking the best NHL players under 23: Corey Pronman's top 155

Pronman ranks the best 155 under 23 players with NHL organizations. “Best” is some combination of current and potential.

Devils feature 9 players on the list, tied for tops with the Rangers.

I won’t share the whole article since it’s a pay site but the Devils order of prospects is:

Hughes - 8th spot
Nico
Holtz
Smith
Mercer
Bratt
Foote
Bahl
Shakir - 125 spot

There is a blurb on each player as well.

 

[Nicomo Cosca]

Ranking the best NHL players under 23: Corey Pronman's top 155

Pronman ranks the best 155 under 23 players with NHL organizations. “Best” is some combination of current and potential.

Devils feature 9 players on the list, tied for tops with the Rangers.

I won’t share the whole article since it’s a pay site but the Devils order of prospects is:

Hughes - 9th spot
Nico
Holtz
Smith
Mercer
Bratt
Foote
Bahl
Shakir - 125 spot

There is a blurb on each player as well.

Jack is actually #8.

 

[HischierSeDgewOrk]

where is the man of men Kakko ranked?

 

[FooteBahl]

where is the man of men Kakko ranked?

He was 9 right after jack. Alexis Gretzky was #4