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

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Boqvist absolutely does not deserve to sit. Him and Zajac have been a force defensively.

 

[Blackjack]

Can't wait to see this again :

This guy is so f'n money. People are going to find out this year.

 

[Devil X]

Why is everyone trying to sit Blackwood. Its the 4th game of the season i dont care if he faced 100 shots. We dont play till Sunday after tomorrow. Let him play today then Sunday then if you want to rest him do it next Tues.

It also wouldnt surprise me one bit if he plays every game until our first back-to-back.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I am taking Kuokkanen out before any of them.

 

[Devils Army]

This may sound crazy but what do we think of a Wood-Hughes-Bratt line? All can fly and it goes with Lindy's skill guys with a north south guy

 

[Hisch13r]

Why is everyone trying to sit Blackwood. Its the 4th game of the season i dont care if he faced 100 shots. We dont play till Sunday after tomorrow. Let him play today then Sunday then if you want to rest him do it next Tues.

It also wouldnt surprise me one bit if he plays every game until our first back-to-back.

Playing against the Isles is a basically an "active rest day" for a goalie too

 

[Blackjack]

Boqvist absolutely does not deserve to sit. Him and Zajac have been a force defensively.

For me it's Jonsson, even if he's not getting waived. They have a chance to reassemble a line that was very successful last year and the other lines are working too well to take them apart.

 

[Hisch13r]

This may sound crazy but what do we think of a Wood-Hughes-Bratt line? All can fly and it goes with Lindy's skill guys with a north south guy

Not a fan of separating Wood from Zajac. I also don't think Wood has the puck skills for that line to be effective enough. I think all 3 would suffer

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

It’s way too early to say anyone will definitely be sitting. They have a few more games to make their case. So far it’s Kuokkanen that looks like the odd man out but that can change.

 

[Hisch13r]

For me it's Jonsson, even if he's not getting waived. They have a chance to reassemble a line that was very successful last year and the other lines are working too well to take them apart.

We still have at least 3 games before Bratt is back. I think it makes sense to reestablish the Euro line. I think it depends on how Kuokannen, Sharangovich, and Johnsson play. I could see Johnsson taking their spots when Bratt comes back if things go poorly for them and Johnsson looks like he can look

 

[Emperoreddy]

Why is everyone trying to sit Blackwood. Its the 4th game of the season i dont care if he faced 100 shots. We dont play till Sunday after tomorrow. Let him play today then Sunday then if you want to rest him do it next Tues.

It also wouldnt surprise me one bit if he plays every game until our first back-to-back.

He isn't sitting until next weekend for the first back to back.

 

[Emperoreddy]

They are going to give Johnsson plenty of rope to settle in. He isn't getting benched anytime soon.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Blackwood has had like 10 months off and we haven't had a back to back yet or have one for another 10 more days

this dude is 24 years old, he can handle it...especially since this isn't a full 82 game schedule

 

[Camille the Eel]

I'm taking out Bastian before Boqvist. The Zajac line has been really good and Boqvist has been a responsible defensive forward who has been doing the little things right

Agree but I am probably taking out Kuokk before either. But maybe with Bratt returning I am not considering righty vs. lefty.

 

[Billdo]

Maybe just sit Kuokkanen and Bastian when Nico and Bratt are back. Seems relatively simple. Move Zacha to 4th line LW (I previously put him above Wood which I admit shouldn't happen for now) and go with

Govy-Hughes-Palmieri
Bratt-Hischier-Gusev
Wood-Zajac-Boqvist
Zacha-McLeod-Johnsson

 

[Better Call Sal]

Maybe just sit Kuokkanen and Bastian when Nico and Bratt are back. Seems relatively simple. Move Zacha to 4th line LW (I previously put him above Wood which I admit shouldn't happen for now) and go with

Govy-Hughes-Palmieri
Bratt-Hischier-Gusev
Wood-Zajac-Boqvist
Zacha-McLeod-Johnsson

Im good with this minus the Govy nickname

 

[EXTRAS]

Who is a better hockey player - Andreas johnsson or Damon severson?

 

[billingtons ghost]

The one benefit of having Nico and Bratt out is that it may help us out when it comes to the expansion draft by getting Bastian, Kuokkanen and McLeod into games.

All 3 players came into this season needing to play 27 games in order to qualify as the 2 forwards NJ has to leave unexposed.

If the expansion draft were held today, the Devils would theoretically protect Nico, Bratt, Johnsson, Zacha, Wood, Sharangovich and Palmieri but wouldn't have any forwards with the games played requirements available to expose. If Palmieri gets traded that could open up a spot for McLeod - but we'd still need at least Kuokkanen and Bastian hit the 27 games played mark this season or risk exposing a player they'd rather protect.

Injuries throughout the season should make this easy enough for those players to hit, but will be worth watching if the team stays healthy for a long stretch. Of course there may also be a trade option to get some plug that meets the requirement right before the expansion draft, but may not want to have to rely on that and waste an asset in the process. This is probably why the Rangers signed Kevin Rooney to a 2-year deal. He only needs 5 NHL games this season to qualify as one of their exposed forwards.

If it came down to it, I also wonder if Zajac would sign a one-year extension and be one of the exposed forwards knowing there's little chance he actually gets claimed.

I think as a first/second year player: Sharangovish is exempt, and doesn't need to be protected, right?
Palms is a UFA and unless we extend him, there's not point in protecting him.

I see what you mean - all of our kids are 24-7 games away. Capfriendly's tool is pretty cool for this. We don't seem to have any problems about protecting anyone - most of the important guys are exempt; and: 7F: Nico, Bratt, Wood, Zacha, Johnsson, X, X, 3D: Severson, Butcher, Murray (if extended?) 1G: Blackwood leaves us 3 forward slots to protect - all others being exempt unless, as you say, the kids make games or we extend Palms, Goose or Zajac to not let them go UFA (but would we? I think they all want to go UFA anyway).

I think it is a no brainer that Subban fulfills our D requirement. We could resign Dell to a 1-year and have him fulfill our goalie requirement, but the 2Fs are tough to figure.

I think what we *could* do, depending on how the season goes - is take on a cap dump albatross or two with the hopes that they are claimed, since we don't have immediate cap issues - and maybe have some guy who could help but we wouldn't care about losing. James Neal, Mats Zuccarello, Parise, Okposo, Pavelski, Dustin Brown, Kessel, Panik? Guys with outsized contracts like Oshie and Jordan Staal or M Backlund or Hornqvist probably are still too valuable to be dumped - but if a team is looking for some cap relief?

I think it is likely a done deal, however, that at least two or three of:
Bastian, Merkely, McLeod, Kuokkanen
are going to hit the games played and need to be protected, or will meet requirements.

 

[HenriquesJawLine]

It becomes a numbers game at some point but I've liked Bastian a lot minus the late penalty last night, even though we never really saw where the penalty was. His skating even looks surprisingly good, saw him race down the ice to win the puck late in the game and has gotten open for some one timers from McLeod. Against Boston he showed nice puck protection behind the net and set up a nice chance for McLeod as well. Obviously throws the body around too.

 

[Hisch13r]

Maybe just sit Kuokkanen and Bastian when Nico and Bratt are back. Seems relatively simple. Move Zacha to 4th line LW (I previously put him above Wood which I admit shouldn't happen for now) and go with

Govy-Hughes-Palmieri
Bratt-Hischier-Gusev
Wood-Zajac-Boqvist
Zacha-McLeod-Johnsson

That's my lineup

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Who is a better hockey player - Andreas johnsson or Damon severson?

Severson quite easily

 

[NJDevils17]

Still need a better nickname for Sharangovich. Shary, Shaggy, idc, just something besides Govy

 

[Guttersniped]

He will definitely need to practice some. New system and what not. My only issue is how much are they practicing now? With such a tight schedule Im sure they arent out there running long in depth practices.

He might have to learn some of the system from tape and meetings.

There going to throw Bratt as soon as he’s good to go, the only reason to hold back on playing him is to prevent injury. And preventing injury is a real concern here, I can’t imagine coaching system stuff would hold him.

 

[OmNomNom]

Still need a better nickname for Sharangovich. Shary, Shaggy, idc, just something besides Govy

bing called him Shara, gotta go w that

 

[Triumph]

I think as a first/second year player: Sharangovish is exempt, and doesn't need to be protected, right?
Palms is a UFA and unless we extend him, there's not point in protecting him.

I see what you mean - all of our kids are 24-7 games away. Capfriendly's tool is pretty cool for this. We don't seem to have any problems about protecting anyone - most of the important guys are exempt; and: 7F: Nico, Bratt, Wood, Zacha, Johnsson, X, X, 3D: Severson, Butcher, Murray (if extended?) 1G: Blackwood leaves us 3 forward slots to protect - all others being exempt unless, as you say, the kids make games or we extend Palms, Goose or Zajac to not let them go UFA (but would we? I think they all want to go UFA anyway).

I think it is a no brainer that Subban fulfills our D requirement. We could resign Dell to a 1-year and have him fulfill our goalie requirement, but the 2Fs are tough to figure.

I think what we *could* do, depending on how the season goes - is take on a cap dump albatross or two with the hopes that they are claimed, since we don't have immediate cap issues - and maybe have some guy who could help but we wouldn't care about losing. James Neal, Mats Zuccarello, Parise, Okposo, Pavelski, Dustin Brown, Kessel, Panik? Guys with outsized contracts like Oshie and Jordan Staal or M Backlund or Hornqvist probably are still too valuable to be dumped - but if a team is looking for some cap relief?

I think it is likely a done deal, however, that at least two or three of:
Bastian, Merkely, McLeod, Kuokkanen
are going to hit the games played and need to be protected, or will meet requirements.

Sharangovich is not exempt, he's a 3rd year North American pro. The Devils would just have to tender Cormier (NOT Comrie, Cormier) an RFA tender to fulfill the goalie requirement.

I have no idea why people want to lose Subban in expansion, the guy is playing huge minutes for the Devils right now, a team which is presently using Matt Tennyson as its 3rd pair D. Butcher is the obvious guy to go there.

But yeah, at forward there's not a ton of obvious options and I think it's quite unlikely either Kuokkanen or Bastian fulfills that requirement.