Confirmed with Link: Devils acquire Vitek Vanecek and 46th Overall pick from WSH for 37th Overall pick and 70th Overall pick

[Bleedred]

If I did have to say something negative here it's that I don't trust Ruff to allow him to be the starter. I could see a 93-94 Brodeur/Terreri split early on unless someone really runs away with it or the other guy is stinking up the joint.

He should be given EVERY opportunity and bit of rope to be the starter here. And I just don't trust Lindy Ruff to do it. I think if we had acquired Hellebuyck or Vasilevskiy, maybe even Robin Lehner, Ruff is probably able to keep it soft for Blackwood.

If we had gotten Campbell or Kuemper, I think he probably still keeps it soft for Blackwood.

Husso? Yeah, he probably would have been in the same category as Vitek for Lindy Ruff. He would have had to probably run through a wall to stay starter over Blackwood.

Vitek just went through a similar situation where his play dropped a bit at the end of the season and Laviolette decided to play Samsonov A LOT down the stretch. If you search some of my posts you can see how much I blasted Laviolette for that late in the season. They were winning games still, but all were IN SPITE of Samsonov's horrid play.

I actually was very confident Laviolette was gonna start the playoffs with Samsonov, but he did start Vanecek the first 2 games (he gave up a really bad 1980's softy of the night goal in I think it was game 1 or 2?) and then went to Samsonov the rest of the round. Samsonov played fine in the playoffs, but he was horrible late in the season and Laviolette was really punishing Vitek for it.

I really hope the next coach doesn't do the same to him, unless of course he's being outplayed by Blackwood. Which COULD happen, but I wouldn't bet a whole lot on it.

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[NjDevsRR]

Actually I confused vanacek and Samsonov. My fault, I’m actually good with this trade. Vanacek is good.

Thats a Dano moment

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Don’t mind this, you’re splitting hairs with this goalie market.

I’d still make a run at Kuemper/Campbell.

 

[Guttersniped]

Copy and pasted from the draft GDT thread

Hmmm

I actually only found out about it 90 seconds ago, as I was too busy typing up another one of my anti-Blackwood posts and how the suggested Allen-Blackwood tandem ensures a non-playoff finish, barring a top-5 best offense in the league.

Honestly? I like it better than Husso, ESPECIALLY at the price Husso just got.

He needs to be given a chance to be the starter. In fact, he NEEDS to be given the FIRST CRACK at starter this year. Blackwood has done nothing in the last two seasons to get first dibs. Right from his last game of the season, which was an embarrassment and one of his worst games of the entire season.

This could go either way, but guys are gonna start getting in trouble (I'm really looking at the goalie coach Dave Rogalski here too, Melanson did not need to be fired and Blackwood has performed worse since he's been gone and has his only good NHL seasons under him) and losing jobs if this doesn't work out.

And Ruff needs to pour some cold water on his lap when it comes to Blackwood. I could easily see him going with Blackwood if Vanecek has a bad game or two. If Ruff favors Blackwood then just f***ing BLAST him because it's only gonna happen soon enough anyway. What are they gonna send Kate Madigan down to the bench to babysit him like Shero did by sending Fitzy down there in a desperate attempt at keeping Hynes on life support?

I'm MUCH more happy with Vanecek than Samsonov too. Samsonov has been worse than Blackwood in their careers and hasn't even had a season as good as Blackwood's 19-20. His only good season was 19-20 and that was in a backup role like Blackwood's 18-19 season.

For what it's worth Vanecek fared very well in my percentage of goals stoppable the two years he's been in the league. MUCH better than Samsonov (who was among the worst last year and came close to the stoppable goal Vezina with his late season surge when Laviolette benched Vanecek to play him more) and infinitely better than Blackwood (him, Daws, Gillies, Hammond, all missed out on the stoppable goal Vezina due to not enough games played, so it went to Koskinen instead) and EVERY Devils goalie not named Bernier to play here last year.

Yeah, I saw this and knew you would be happy that the Caps stuck with Samsonov and we traded for the other guy considering Samsonov was one your whipping boys/ nightmare potential trade target.

 

[Hisch13r]

Don’t mind this, you’re splitting hairs with this goalie market.

I’d still make a run at Kuemper/Campbell.

Campbell's contract is probably going to be a lot more than I'd like. Kuemper has always come down to how we feel about the eye (and term of course)

 

[Bleedred]

I wonder who Washington gets now? By all means they only kept Samsonov over him because he's a first round pick and still has the higher ceiling, but it's looking more and more unlikely he hits that higher ceiling. He was outplayed by Vanecek both seasons.

And that's actually one thing to consider for some of the people who think goalie is a team stat and I know there's several over here that are still flabbergasted at how a goalie like Jon Gillies or Andrew Hammond could perform so badly on an NHL team.

He didn't perform leaps and bounds better than Samsonov, but it was still significant.

 

[pman25]

caps fan, i liked Vitek over Samsonov. He's composed, perhaps a bit limited, but consistent. He's a good pickup for what is essentially a 3rd rd pick.

He got torched at 3v3, but he's otherwise a good enough, consistent netminder

 

[BurntToast]

The best thing about a new goalie, new goalie mask.

Just Saying..

 

[Bleedred]

Yeah, I saw this and knew you would be happy that the Caps stuck with Samsonov and we traded for the other guy considering Samsonov was one your whipping boys/ nightmare potential trade target.

Like I said, they probably feel he has the higher ceiling.

I think he has the higher ceiling, but it's now looking more and more unlikely that he hits it.

He hasn't even been as good as Blackwood has in his career.

 

[Oneiro]

At first I was mad. Then I actually bothered to read the trade and inform myself about what Vanacek has done. Actually kind of like the somewhat left field approach here. Not a sure thing but beyond a healthy Kuemper at a crazy price, that's true of the UFA options.

 

[NjDevsRR]

caps fan, i liked Vitek over Samsonov. He's composed, perhaps a bit limited, but consistent. He's a good pickup for what is essentially a 3rd rd pick.

He got torched at 3v3, but he's otherwise a good enough, consistent netminder

Thanks fir the feedback!

And I feel like 3 v 3 numbers is just a lottery haha. Its more indicative of the chances the teams give up.

 

[Hisch13r]

At first I was mad. Then I actually bothered to read the trade and inform myself about what Vanacek has done. Actually kind of like the somewhat left field approach here. Not a sure thing but beyond a healthy Kuemper at a crazy price, that's true of the UFA options.

Thing is Kuemper isn't even a sure thing anymore with that eye injury

 

[BurntToast]

Thing is Kuemper isn't even a sure thing anymore with that eye injury

He isn’t a sure thing because he is 32 and the Avs know this.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Really happy with this move especially with Blackwood being too much of a question mark.

 

[Guttersniped]

Campbell's contract is probably going to be a lot more than I'd like. Kuemper has always come down to how we feel about the eye (and term of course)

We aren’t getting Kuemper, it’s a silly wish. He’s the top goalie (by far) who might stay on his current team unless we offered him an insane deal.

Kuemper has been a injury report in human form for years too.

 

[Hisch13r]

He isn’t a sure thing because he is 32 and the Avs know this.

Sure the age is a thing but he's been consistently really good for year. Without the eye injury he'd be a pretty sure bet to be a good for at least a couple years

 

[DerekDevils30]

Don’t think this necessarily takes Fitz out of the Kuemper sweepstakes.

 

[Devil made me do it]

Better this than overpaying for Campbell or Keumper.

 

[Azathoth]

I dig it. I know cap space isn't too much of a problem, but if this allows them to save some real dollars on trying to sign a Cambell/Kuemper, maybe that gives Fitz the green light to make it rain on Gaudreau.

 

[Nicomo Cosca]

Dude this feels like a demon hellride. Did the Devils really just trade the 37th pick for a goalie with a .908 save %?

You’re right, we should have definitely traded a 2025 5th round pick for Shesterkin or Vasilevskiy instead…

Anyway…Vanecek is 6-0 against us, and has always impressed me when we played him. Nice move.

 

[longislanddevil]

Does this signify us being out on Kuemper?

I wonder if Beck or Chesley was their guy and they made this deal as a contingency plan.

Now go get Perevelov!!

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

This is not year nine of “the” rebuild, it’s like year 4 of sort of a rebuild but also the Devils were trying to stay competitive and made the playoffs in 2018 and were hoping to do the same in 2019 yadda yadda yadda.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

Does this signify us being out on Kuemper?

I wonder if Beck or Chesley was their guy and they made this deal as a contingency plan.

Now go get Perevelov!!

Probably yes, but i also think there’s a lot of smoke around those earlier reports that the Devils had really soured on how Blackwood handled this past season and were hoping to move on from him. Maybe they’ve had a change of heart since then. Or maybe they fully plan to run 4 potential starters this season to prevent last year from repeating itself