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

[devsfan8]

Only thing I'm going to disagree with is Gaudreau. Fitz offered him a massive contract similar to Calgary, he just ended up going to Columbus for less money. I don't think his heart was ever with us, the Flames, or one of the more established division rivals of his boyhood favorite Flyers.

Everything else is correct. We don't know if Hellebuyck was ever seriously offered by the Jets, but it wouldn't have hurt to ask.

This is fair. But if Fitz wanted to he could have gone to 10 mill or made a counter offer that Johnny Hockey (RIP) could not refuse. Needless to say he didnt and it worked out.

 

[RANDOMH3RO]

I’m floored that mogilny gets in this year of all years. As a hater of the Price overhype I’m happy to see him have to wait his turn to let Mogilny in.

 

[Devil X]

Fitz is not perfect. I question several decisions. How long it took to fire Ruff. THe Coleman trade (that still made no sense to me at the time). Losing the Toffoli trade since he jetted. Im not afraid to criticize Fitz, but it has to be warranted. He also decided NOT to make some moves that were the correct decison like Hellybuyck, Geadreau etc. But facts are facts, the guy is the last one to be called hesitant or that he sits on his hands in the summer.

Well to be fair he didn't change his mind on Gaudreau, Johnny choose to get another team involved.

Another case in point for Fitz, just like with Gaudreau, rumors were going wild last off season we were signing one of the two top forwards until the decided to team up and go to the Preds.

He's out there and if you wanna criticize him that fine but he's clearly been trying to make things happen with what resources he has. Every single GM signs guys for to much, extends a guy for to much, loses a trade and wins trades. Fitz is no different then anyone else in the NHL, just like when he does leave, we will love the new guy for a season or 2 and then we will start the cycle over again.

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

hell yeah!

FINALLY

 

[Better Call Sal]

Almo! f*** yeah!

One of my favorite players from back in the day. Here's Dano talking about how he tried to convince Lou to bring him over in 1989.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

I’m floored that mogilny gets in this year of all years. As a hater of the Price overhype I’m happy to see him have to wait his turn to let Mogilny in.

I assume some of the newer guys like Larionov, Olczyk, and Iginla finally convinced the rest of the voters to stop listening to Brian Burke and finally let Mogilny in?

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Shoutout to whomever changed Alex's wikipedia picture. Up till now it was a blurry shot of him in the Albany RR jersey. (I'll still never forgive Lou for doing him dirty like he did).

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

Shoutout to whomever changed Alex's wikipedia picture. Up till now it was a blurry shot of him in the Albany RR jersey. (I'll still never forgive Lou for doing him dirty like he did).

Him, McGillis, and Malakhov were the first cap casualties. People didn't even know you could do that, it was just assumed the Devils had to trade someone to fit in Elias.

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Him, McGillis, and Malakhov were the first cap casualties. People didn't even know you could do that, it was just assumed the Devils had to trade someone to fit in Elias.

At least put him on LTIR or something; everyone knew his hip was pretty much shot. Asking him to play in the minors was insulting.

 

[thebeernerd]

This is fair. But if Fitz wanted to he could have gone to 10 mill or made a counter offer that Johnny Hockey (RIP) could not refuse. Needless to say he didnt and it worked out.

I think he actually went higher than 10mil AAV, with a deal that was similar to Calgary's that was also higher than what he ultimately signed for. I think Johnny was mulling it over until Columbus swooped in with their offer.

 

[Edmonton East]

Worse. He's a stupid person that thinks he's really smart. Give people like that power.....not great. Just another USA Hockey nepo baby that's done jackshit, but gets a long leash anyway. A brief history lesson:

Tommy Fitz moved from a brief stint in player dev with the Pens to AGM in 2009. The Penguins were coming off back to back Cup appearances and a Cup win. From 2009 onward, the Pens shockingly underperformed in the playoffs despite often being the preseason Cup favorite. During Fitz' tenure as AGM 09-15, the Penguins only got out of the 2nd round ONCE and never made a Finals appearance. Fitz leaves in 2015. Penguins win Cup again in 2016....the very next season.

2007, 2008 - Penguins win 1/2 Cup appearances
2009 - Fitz enters AGM. Penguins underperform for entire tenure
2015 - Fitz leaves and Penguins win Cup again....

WHY DOES THIS MAN HAVE A LONG LEASH?!

I'm just gonna keep quoting this every time I see people doing backflips to defend or promote Tommy Fitzgerald. Between the Pens era and now likely wasting the Devs' window, at what point can we just say he sucks? Objectively, based on core age and contract structure, the Devs most likely window to contend with this core was 2023-2027. Clock is ticking. Can't always be next year is the year. Cup windows are tight in the NHL for 90% of teams.

 

[RobertCalifornia]

I continue to see folks comfortable with Gritsyuk in the top 6 to start the season. That is a recipe for disaster. I hope he re-breaks out here of course, but too many folks don't realize he hasn't improved much since his original breakout 3 years ago. Hopefully he just got complacent in the KHL, who knows. They need enough top 6 talent that he can start on the 3rd and hopefully work his way up. Before someone that's never watched him play or even follows the KHL and cherry picks some bs worthless statistic claiming he's gonna be a top 6 guy, don't bother. You have to actually watch his tape and how he was used. Reid Boucher dominates the KHL ffs. Anyway, hope I'm wrong, but if I had to answer is Grits more likely to be a good top 6 player on a competitive NHL team or an NHL flameout that'll be back in Russia in a few years....I'd take the latter at this point. Didn't feel that way back in 21-22ish though.

Agreed.

Gritsyuk should be penciled in as a scratch - along with MacDermid - to start the season.

If he forces his way into the lineup, that's great. But I would hope this management group isn't navigating their offseason plans with the projection of him being in the lineup.

Trade Palat, sign Glass (~$1,5M), and you're looking at this forward group:

X - Hughes - Mercer
X - Nico - Bratt
Meier - X - Noesen
Cotter - Glass - X

MacDermid, Glass, Sprong, Lazar/Bastian?

Hence why its insane we didn't trade for Marchment...

Missing out on Mason Marchment is such a nothing burger. Would I have been mad if Devils made that trade? No. But keeping that salary cap space open for a potential bigger move is the much better choice IMO. Mason Marchment would be a good add to Devils lineup, but he is not a needle mover. I'd much rather keep that newfound cap space from the Haula deal open to land potentially a bigger fish, than allocate all that cap to Marchment.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Someone made a point about Marchment being traded to a team with no tax and that was a favor done to him by Nill since Marchment signed the deal in Dallas, it's evident that the Stars would've traded him to the East if they could but maybe that slight thing about honoring the contract to the fullest extent monetary wise landed him in Seattle.

 

[RobertCalifornia]

Someone made a point about Marchment being traded to a team with no tax and that was a favor done to him by Nill since Marchment signed the deal in Dallas, it's evident that the Stars would've traded him to the East if they could but maybe that slight thing about honoring the contract to the fullest extent monetary wise landed him in Seattle.

This too ^

Even still, I don't think the Devils would've offered much for Marchment. He'd be nice to have, but until Palat and/or Dougie are moved, he's not a guy Devils should be seriously pursuing

 

[thebeernerd]

Someone made a point about Marchment being traded to a team with no tax and that was a favor done to him by Nill since Marchment signed the deal in Dallas, it's evident that the Stars would've traded him to the East if they could but maybe that slight thing about honoring the contract to the fullest extent monetary wise landed him in Seattle.

God I hope this isn't true. The copium huffing hockey media will never let us hear the end of it. I feel like the only guy that this ended up playing a major factor with was Bobrovsky, and even then I think I might have heard that as a result of a game of telephone.

Marchment would have been nice to have, though.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Gritsyuk is not going to be "penciled in as a scratch" and if he is, something went REALLY wrong.

 

[Dylan9z9]

Well to be fair he didn't change his mind on Gaudreau, Johnny choose to get another team involved.

Another case in point for Fitz, just like with Gaudreau, rumors were going wild last off season we were signing one of the two top forwards until the decided to team up and go to the Preds.

He's out there and if you wanna criticize him that fine but he's clearly been trying to make things happen with what resources he has. Every single GM signs guys for to much, extends a guy for to much, loses a trade and wins trades. Fitz is no different then anyone else in the NHL, just like when he does leave, we will love the new guy for a season or 2 and then we will start the cycle over again.

ass on 's

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

God I hope this isn't true. The copium huffing hockey media will never let us hear the end of it. I feel like the only guy that this ended up playing a major factor with was Bobrovsky, and even then I think I might have heard that as a result of a game of telephone.

Marchment would have been nice to have, though.

I mean who cares at the end of the day? It's a GM doing right by his former player, players around the league take notice when GM's do small things like that. The outside hockey media shouldn't be cared about when making decisions like this

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I'm just gonna keep quoting this every time I see people doing backflips to defend or promote Tommy Fitzgerald. Between the Pens era and now likely wasting the Devs' window, at what point can we just say he sucks? Objectively, based on core age and contract structure, the Devs most likely window to contend with this core was 2023-2027. Clock is ticking. Can't always be next year is the year. Cup windows are tight in the NHL for 90% of teams.

Capitals won the Cup when Ovechkin was 32

Barkov won his first cup at 28

The Devils best player is currently 24

Stop with the consistent hyperbole, the Devils are set up to win whenever with this core if the right moves are made. There's no set finite window.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Quoting our own posts now to try and make a point?



For the record, I don't think there is anyone that believes Fitz will still be here if they fail to take a step forward this season. He's very likely done if they bow out in the first round again. He has to be done if they somehow miss.

 

[NJDevils17]

Mogilny was an outrageous sub. Most deserving omission is now Elias.

 

[NJDevs26]

I mean at least like 70-80% of the posts here are critical of Fitz to the point where I’m tired of rehashing past offseasons when we’re on the brink of another one and a chance to hopefully fix some of those mistakes. But this idea that anyone would think they’re the only one calling out Fitz here is just not based in reality.

 

[MB3]

Shoutout to whomever changed Alex's wikipedia picture. Up till now it was a blurry shot of him in the Albany RR jersey. (I'll still never forgive Lou for doing him dirty like he did).

Gomez told Spittin Chiclets one of my favorite stories. Ftorek was the coach of the River Rats in 2005, and was getting on Almo about his effort in practice. An AHL practice for a future HHoFer.

So Mogilny said "fine, I won't practice". Ftorek said "f*** you, I'll fine you the max I'm allowed every practice you miss." The next day Mogilny walked into Ftorek's office with a checkbook and a calculator and said "sounds good, how many practices are left?"

Legend.

 

[thebeernerd]

A trade involving us would be pretty cool, though! My gut instinct is that it’s going to probably be before or during the draft, not today or tomorrow. Come on Fitz, throw us some meat!

 

[Better Call Sal]

Gomez told Spittin Chiclets one of my favorite stories. Ftorek was the coach of the River Rats in 2005, and was getting on Almo about his effort in practice. An AHL practice for a future HHoFer.

So Mogilny said "fine, I won't practice". Ftorek said "f*** you, I'll fine you the max I'm allowed every practice you miss." The next day Mogilny walked into Ftorek's office with a checkbook and a calculator and said "sounds good, how many practices are left?"

Legend.

His infamous response to Mike Keenan is legendary as well.



Adrian Aucoin also verified the story too.