Devils discussion (news, notes and speculation) - draft and FA edition

[My3Sons]

sure yeah, the Devils were great for 3 months. Until they weren't.

And no, winning 2 November games IS meaningless in the long-run. Would I rather win than lose? Again, yes of course. But Florida didn't have Marchand or Seth Jones, etc at that point. It was 7 months ago. It is nowhere near the same team.

I have seen plenty of Devils fans acting like we should feel good about ourselves because we beat them two times 7 months ago. I don't really care about that kind of stuff. If you want to hang the banner, I guess by all means.

That's sort of a straw man. There is quite a gap from it means "something" to "hang the banner". After watching Hischier get dragged around the ice two years ago by Tkachuk it was refreshing that Florida did not try any shenanigans in what were two not great losses for them. Frankly I would have hoped Tkachuk tried something but he knew enough that this year's version of the Devils could push back and MacDermid played in those games. Of course Florida is a much better team now. Heck, they are a better team now than they were at the beginning of the playoffs. They peaked at precisely the right time and they took advatage of the LTIR which multiple recent cup winners have done. I don't think the issue is how you are framing it. Maybe it is to you which is your choice but I think most folks here see it differently albeit some do see it your way no question.

 

[Better Call Sal]

If Danault is realistically available, that'd be a home run pick up in my view.

 

[NJDevs26]

We were also 3-0 against Tampa the year they smoked us in the first round fwiw

 

[NJDevs26]

An odd take considering they made the playoffs for only the third time in the last 13 seasons.

Yes, the lack of consistency and injuries were very frustrating. Even with that, it was still fun to watch hockey this year. The same cannot be said for most of the past decade +

Meh I put this season right along with 2009-10 (and to a different extent the following year)...great for half a season, miserable af underachievement for the other half. Although at least this year - unlike 2009-10 - they went out on their shield in the playoffs, even if it wound up being the same number of games for the exit, that team gave zero effort against the Flyers in the last couple games.

This team - belatedly - at least showed passion and gave effort again in the postseason. I would have been a lot more worried about the 'core' and the room if they hadn't (along with the coach) off the back of 1.5 underachieving seasons, now I'm mostly just worried about Fitz and his player development team.

 

[Nocashstyle]

Meh I put this season along with 2009-10 (and to a different extent the following year)...great for half a season, miserable af for the other half. Although at least this year unlike 2009-10 they at least went out on their shield in the playoffs, even if it wound up being the same number of games for the exit that team gave zero effort against the Flyers in the last couple games. This team - belatedly - finally gave effort again in the postseason.

It was still a better season than 10 of the past 13 years.

 

[fire Fitzgerald]

If Danault is realistically available, that'd be a home run pick up in my view.

Too short for Fitz.

 

[Devs3cups]

It was still a better season than 10 of the past 13 years.

True. But still unfortunate the team hasn’t truly taken off after the historic 2022-2023 regular season. I guess they’ve taken a step after 2023-2024. Let’s see how they do next year.

 

[RANDOMH3RO]

I much prefer the unfounded confidence in the team than the chicken little attitude that some have. Devils showed glimpses this year and then fell apart and the injuries made it impossible to right the ship. I have confidence a couple adds this summer and the devils can be metro division winners next year. Don’t know if that translates to much success overall still but I think they take another step next season.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

True. But still unfortunate the team hasn’t truly taken off after the historic 2022-2023 regular season. I guess they’ve taken a step after 2023-2024. Let’s see how they do next year.

Success is not linear at all in this league, people here need to understand that.

 

[Devs3cups]

Success is not linear at all in this league, people here need to understand that.

I understand it, I’m not losing my mind over it or nothing. Can it still be disappointing? I think it’s fine to acknowledge that.

 

[None Shall Pass]

Just an FYI, the draft isn't for another 9 days, and free agency isn't until July 1, so do try to keep the endless moaning in check until then.

 

[Triumph]

Success is not linear at all in this league, people here need to understand that.

Even for the all the reasons this is true, it's also just not linear because points are so fake. 3v3 overtime and the shootout and even tied games late in regulation in the regular season are just not part of playoff hockey and say nothing at all about who would have success there.

 

[Nocashstyle]

True. But still unfortunate the team hasn’t truly taken off after the historic 2022-2023 regular season. I guess they’ve taken a step after 2023-2024. Let’s see how they do next year.

They had incredible injury luck that year and certainly over achieved. I think their better stretch of hockey this past year is more in line with what this core can bring. Injuries were just a bitch and the bottom 6 depth got completely exposed.

 

[Forge]

I'm not sure where I'd put the percentages, but there's definitely a not too small part of me that thinks Mercer isn't back next year. I have a weird feeling that they move him for an older player who is still locked in as a top 6 player in their view. Thinking of a guy like Rust. In a perfect world, maybe they nab Peterka for a package headlined by Mercer (Peterka bridge deal is estimated to be under 5M per AFP).

 

[Derps]

Meh I put this season right along with 2009-10 (and to a different extent the following year)...great for half a season, miserable af underachievement for the other half. Although at least this year - unlike 2009-10 - they went out on their shield in the playoffs, even if it wound up being the same number of games for the exit, that team gave zero effort against the Flyers in the last couple games.

This team - belatedly - at least showed passion and gave effort again in the postseason. I would have been a lot more worried about the 'core' and the room if they hadn't (along with the coach) off the back of 1.5 underachieving seasons, now I'm mostly just worried about Fitz and his player development team.

My GOD the bar is low for these guys. I don't know why we are patting them on the back for literally doing the minimum that any professional sports team should do -- which is to try in the f'in playoffs.

 

[Comparison Ford]

I have a feeling Haula is gonna get unloaded to a team like Nashville or San Jose before the draft. I think Tom has a good relationship with both teams, I think Nashville could actually use him well.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Just an FYI, the draft isn't for another 9 days, and free agency isn't until July 1, so do try to keep the endless moaning in check until then.

 

[Ripshot 43]

I have a feeling Haula is gonna get unloaded to a team like Nashville or San Jose before the draft. I think Tom has a good relationship with both teams, I think Nashville could actually use him well.

Nashville asked for Tom’s 2nd born child for O’Reilly so I don’t think they are doing us any favors.

 

[My3Sons]

Nashville asked for Tom’s 2nd born child for O’Reilly so I don’t think they are doing us any favors.

If they had asked for mine we’d have a basis to continue negotiations.

 

[Better Call Sal]

My GOD the bar is low for these guys. I don't know why we are patting them on the back for literally doing the minimum that any professional sports team should do -- which is to try in the f'in playoffs.

I mean, you're welcome to feel the way you want to feel, but what were your reasonable expectations for the team in that series? Missing Jack, winding up missing three regular defensemen by Game 3 while playing with a bottom 6 that was allergic to driving offense let alone producing any to speak of?

If you had told me we'd have outscored Carolina at 5-on-5 knowing all that, even just by 1 goal, I would have been shocked. Just as equally, I would've been shocked to know our special teams that flourished all year on both ends, even with missing Jack on the PP, cratered completely.

I thought that in spite of all this, we gave Carolina as much as we could have. I don't think anyone is saying that is the bar. More is expected going forward. But within the perspective of the past 13 years, we've been through far worse seasons than this one.

 

[thebeernerd]

Nashville asked for Tom’s 2nd born child for O’Reilly so I don’t think they are doing us any favors.

Trotz seems massively delusional. Preds are going to be awful for a while yet until he gets fired. There was a good video about how being good as a coach doesn't necessarily translate into being good in the front office and Trotz manifests that perfectly.

 

[devilsblood]

I mean, you're welcome to feel the way you want to feel, but what were your reasonable expectations for the team in that series? Missing Jack, winding up missing three regular defensemen by Game 3 while playing with a bottom 6 that was allergic to driving offense let alone producing any to speak of?

If you had told me we'd have outscored Carolina at 5-on-5 knowing all that, even just by 1 goal, I would have been shocked. Just as equally, I would've been shocked to know our special teams that flourished all year on both ends, even with missing Jack on the PP, cratered completely.

I thought that in spite of all this, we gave Carolina as much as we could have. I don't think anyone is saying that is the bar. More is expected going forward. But within the perspective of the past 13 years, we've been through far worse seasons than this one.

Ya it's all about the bold.

Yes we need to improve the 3rd line, and Kova and Dillon getting hurt at the same time as Luke was terrible timing.

But if the Hughes brothers are in slings next April we are just not going far in the playoffs.

That's the main concern by far.

 

[NJDevs26]

My GOD the bar is low for these guys. I don't know why we are patting them on the back for literally doing the minimum that any professional sports team should do -- which is to try in the f'in playoffs.

I get that but otoh what did the second half really cost us in the end? At most home ice in the first round which clearly didn't matter against the Canes anyway. It wasn't like two seasons ago where the underachieving was so bad we missed the playoffs and got two coaches fired. Granted they came stupidly close to actually missing the playoffs considering where they were but you also can't expect playoff effort when you're fifteen points up in January every game.

If I'm worried about anything with the players it's how they handle expectations...which wasn't very well for most of the last two seasons. They had no expectations three years ago and something to prove early in this season after what happened two years ago, but then crapped out when they had a cushion and people started talking about deep playoff runs. It's only when they had no expectations left that they reset - after it was too late to expect anything with the injuries - and got back on the beam in the playoffs.

 

[Derps]

I mean, you're welcome to feel the way you want to feel, but what were your reasonable expectations for the team in that series? Missing Jack, winding up missing three regular defensemen by Game 3 while playing with a bottom 6 that was allergic to driving offense let alone producing any to speak of?

If you had told me we'd have outscored Carolina at 5-on-5 knowing all that, even just by 1 goal, I would have been shocked. Just as equally, I would've been shocked to know our special teams that flourished all year on both ends, even with missing Jack on the PP, cratered completely.

I thought that in spite of all this, we gave Carolina as much as we could have. I don't think anyone is saying that is the bar. More is expected going forward. But within the perspective of the past 13 years, we've been through far worse seasons than this one.

I didn't really have any expectations to win once Jack got hurt. I just think the bending over backwards to give them credit for "giving effort" is a ridiculous thing to do at this point. This is sort of the thing we talk about at the end of each season. "Yeah. it didnt end well, but X, Y, Z got hurt and they gave it their all!" And quite frankly, it's even hit or miss whether they do that. They very frequently fold at the first sign of trouble.

Last year should be incredibly concerning for everyone, not because our players aren't good enough, but because it's yet another year of our most important players showing an incapability of staying healthy throughout the entire season and not being available when we need them most. Whether it's their fault, bad luck, etc. I don't even care, quite frankly. It's just starting to feel like Embiid with the Sixers.

EDIT: Not that we need to relitigate the entire injury issue. Just tying it back to my initial comment.

 

[Guadana]

I didn't really have any expectations to win once Jack got hurt. I just think the bending over backwards to give them credit for "giving effort" is a ridiculous thing to do at this point. This is sort of the thing we talk about at the end of each season. "Yeah. it didnt end well, but X, Y, Z got hurt and they gave it their all!" And quite frankly, it's even hit or miss whether they do that. They very frequently fold at the first sign of trouble.

Last year should be incredibly concerning for everyone, not because our players aren't good enough, but because it's yet another year of our most important players showing an incapability of staying healthy throughout the entire season and not being available when we need them most. Whether it's their fault, bad luck, etc. I don't even care, quite frankly. It's just starting to feel like Embiid with the Sixers.

EDIT: Not that we need to relitigate the entire injury issue. Just tying it back to my initial comment.

What kind of a job you have?