Devils 2021 offseason (news, notes and speculation) - part VIII

[PKs Broken Stick]

I prefer Tarasenko to Meier, to be honest. I feel Meier will cost more, and although there is certainly injury risk with Tarasenko, there is no doubt he is the far superior player and offensive weapon when healthy.

The fact is that the Devils can afford Tarasenko's full contract with absolute ease -- and this must be a factor for St. Louis. Sure, the Blues can get a first and a prospect for him if they retain 50% of his contract, but the Devils can offer less in return while taking on the full deal. Now that Hughes is in the fold at an already-deep LD position, I wonder if Mukhamadullin and either Butcher or Siegenthaler plus lesser futures might be enough to get Tarasenko in New Jersey.

With Meier, you're probably talking about a 2022 first-round pick, and this is worth far more than Meier in my opinion. If things go south for a still-building Devils team, you could be talking about a lottery shot for Shane Wright, who is probably the most talented draft-eligible player since Auston Matthews. It's also a very talented top 4 and a top 15 littered with high-end RD, which the Devils sorely need. Meier is a good player who offers size for the Devils top 6, no doubt, but he's not an elite player -- I'd consider him a "good second liner", and this is not enough to overpay for when you're not prepared to contend for a Stanley Cup, which the Devils are not.

I'm not trading anything higher than a back of pucks for Tarasenko. I really like the idea of a conditional draft pick. Maybe throw in a lower tier prospect. Something like 4th round pick as a base. If he gets 20+ goals, upgrade to 3rd round, if he gets 30+ upgrade to 2nd round. Obviously Tarasenko as a player himself is worth way more than that but the risk is also very high so they have to be willing to settle for lower than what he's worth too. And from the devils perspective, that's a slam dunk in terms of value. I'm not sure if that's something that would happen but that's the only thing I'd personally be comfortable with.

 

[Hisch13r]

Here's Dougie's 19-20 card

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

lets do itttttttt

 

[HyperX]

Graves-Hamilton
Smith-Severson
Bahl-Subban

please?

 

[My3Sons]

I prefer Tarasenko to Meier, to be honest. I feel Meier will cost more, and although there is certainly injury risk with Tarasenko, there is no doubt he is the far superior player and offensive weapon when healthy.

The fact is that the Devils can afford Tarasenko's full contract with absolute ease -- and this must be a factor for St. Louis. Sure, the Blues can get a first and a prospect for him if they retain 50% of his contract, but the Devils can offer less in return while taking on the full deal. Now that Hughes is in the fold at an already-deep LD position, I wonder if Mukhamadullin and either Butcher or Siegenthaler plus lesser futures might be enough to get Tarasenko in New Jersey.

With Meier, you're probably talking about a 2022 first-round pick, and this is worth far more than Meier in my opinion. If things go south for a still-building Devils team, you could be talking about a lottery shot for Shane Wright, who is probably the most talented draft-eligible player since Auston Matthews. It's also a very talented top 4 and a top 15 littered with high-end RD, which the Devils sorely need. Meier is a good player who offers size for the Devils top 6, no doubt, but he's not an elite player -- I'd consider him a "good second liner", and this is not enough to overpay for when you're not prepared to contend for a Stanley Cup, which the Devils are not.

If you are NJ, a trade for Meier would basically result in one of Bratt or Zacha going the other way. My guess is they would want Zacha since he is bigger and more of a goal scorer (recently) than Bratt. I can't see surrendering more than Zacha and a mid round pick or B prospect in that trade since Zacha is arguably on the way up and Meier is arguably on the way down. For Tarasenko, you have to peg any return on how many games and goals he scores and I cannot see StL waiting that long for a return. He's not worth a major investment like a first round pick in either of the next two drafts in my view. Plus if he's only saying ok to a trade to NJ to get out of StL it doesn't mean he will happy with the team.

 

[Derps]

Here's Dougie's 19-20 card

 

[Better Call Sal]

Would definitely take Bernier as a 1B. He's played pretty damn well for an atrocious Detroit team the last few years. Feel he'd be a great complement to Mac.

 

[ScottyK]

lets do itttttttt

Just double nut punch the Canes

 

[Triumph]

I prefer Tarasenko to Meier, to be honest. I feel Meier will cost more, and although there is certainly injury risk with Tarasenko, there is no doubt he is the far superior player and offensive weapon when healthy.

The fact is that the Devils can afford Tarasenko's full contract with absolute ease -- and this must be a factor for St. Louis. Sure, the Blues can get a first and a prospect for him if they retain 50% of his contract, but the Devils can offer less in return while taking on the full deal. Now that Hughes is in the fold at an already-deep LD position, I wonder if Mukhamadullin and either Butcher or Siegenthaler plus lesser futures might be enough to get Tarasenko in New Jersey.

With Meier, you're probably talking about a 2022 first-round pick, and this is worth far more than Meier in my opinion. If things go south for a still-building Devils team, you could be talking about a lottery shot for Shane Wright, who is probably the most talented draft-eligible player since Auston Matthews. It's also a very talented top 4 and a top 15 littered with high-end RD, which the Devils sorely need. Meier is a good player who offers size for the Devils top 6, no doubt, but he's not an elite player -- I'd consider him a "good second liner", and this is not enough to overpay for when you're not prepared to contend for a Stanley Cup, which the Devils are not.

This market has the reigning Vezina winning goalie being traded for nothing because of his cap hit. Tarasenko's full cap hit for Mukhamadullin and Butcher 'plus lesser futures' is an absolute slam-dunk steal for the Blues even if they don't rate Mukhamadullin, and would totally upend the current market where players with very high AAVs and any question about their game at all are basically worthless.

 

[ScottyK]

Fitzy right now

Are you feeling nervous? Are you having fun?
It's almost over, it's just begun
Don't overthink this, look in my eye
Don't be scared, don't be shy
Come on in, the water's fine

All Eyes On Me -- Bo Burnham (from "Inside" - album out now) - YouTube

 

[Cheddabombs]

Here's Dougie's 19-20 card

Wonder what happened to cause such a drop in his PK stat

 

[StevenToddIves]

I'm not trading anything higher than a back of pucks for Tarasenko. I really like the idea of a conditional draft pick. Maybe throw in a lower tier prospect.

Tarasenko is indeed risky, and I concede that. But the idea of a healthy Tarasenko on Jack Hughes' RW next year at a lower cost is tantalizing to me. I'm still suffering from PTSD from watching 4th line talents botch beautiful Hughes feeds all last season. And again, there were people here clamoring for names like Garland and Meier, who aren't even in the league of a healthy Tarasenko. But again, I concede that a healthy Tarasenko is no guarantee -- so I would limit what I would be willing to trade back to the Blues.

 

[RangerDoggo]

lets do itttttttt

Pillage the Canes and hear the lamentations of their women

 

[FooteBahl]

Just double nut punch the Canes

 

[StevenToddIves]

If you are NJ, a trade for Meier would basically result in one of Bratt or Zacha going the other way. My guess is they would want Zacha since he is bigger and more of a goal scorer (recently) than Bratt. I can't see surrendering more than Zacha and a mid round pick or B prospect in that trade since Zacha is arguably on the way up and Meier is arguably on the way down. For Tarasenko, you have to peg any return on how many games and goals he scores and I cannot see StL waiting that long for a return. He's not worth a major investment like a first round pick in either of the next two drafts in my view. Plus if he's only saying ok to a trade to NJ to get out of StL it doesn't mean he will happy with the team.

I would say Zacha or Bratt are every bit as good as Meier, so I'd have to nix those ideas. And again, I'm not trading the 2022 Devils first round pick for pretty much anything. For Tarasenko, I'd be willing to trade one of the Devils LD prospects, simply because with the selection of Luke Hughes there is simply no room for all of them. Ideally, I'd love to see something like Misyul, Butcher and a 4th round pick or something like that, which could be enough for St. Louis if the Devils were taking on the entire Tarasenko contract.

 

[Andre Palot]

lets do itttttttt

lol Carolina

 

[The Wumpus]

Wonder what happened to cause such a drop in his PK stat

Variation like that looks like small sample size. I'm guessing Douglas doesn't PK much.

 

[Hisch13r]

Variation like that looks like small sample size. I'm guessing Douglas doesn't PK much.

1:27 a game last year and just under 80 minutes total. 2:18 a game and just over 108 total in 19-20.

 

[regulahbread]

Fitzy right now

Are you feeling nervous? Are you having fun?
It's almost over, it's just begun
Don't overthink this, look in my eye
Don't be scared, don't be shy
Come on in, the water's fine

All Eyes On Me -- Bo Burnham (from "Inside" - album out now) - YouTube

You say the cap's not rising, like I give a shit
You say the rebuild's ending, honey it already did

 

[ScottyK]

You say the cap's not rising, like I give a shit
You say the rebuild's ending, honey it already did

Brilliant

 

[Derps]

Variation like that looks like small sample size. I'm guessing Douglas doesn't PK much.

Not sure what all goes into their percentile calculations, but he went from over 2 minutes/gm PK in 2019-2020 to just over 1 minute/gm in 2020-2021.

 

[Ds88]

I would happily deal Mukh and a pick for Meier. If San Jose isn’t looking for a roster player.

 

[MadDevil]

So how many people have gifs of people doing the Dougie loaded and ready to go?

 

[StevenToddIves]

This market has the reigning Vezina winning goalie being traded for nothing because of his cap hit. Tarasenko's full cap hit for Mukhamadullin and Butcher 'plus lesser futures' is an absolute slam-dunk steal for the Blues even if they don't rate Mukhamadullin, and would totally upend the current market where players with very high AAVs and any question about their game at all are basically worthless.

You're probably right that Mukhamadullin would be too much to give up given the cap hit return. I rescind the offer.

 

[The 29th Pick]

God willing he’ll come here and do what Scott Stevens wasn't allowed to do.

Scott was number 5 in the league in 94, 18 g 60 a, not too bad, 1 point behind Brian Leetch, Scott was overlooked in many ways, mainly because he wasnt on a Big name team