Devils discussion (news, notes and speculation) - offseason part II

[OmNomNom]

i hope fitz has some goodwill remaining w trotz and bruno

 

[Lou Bloom]

Holtz has proven he play at the NHL level. Like it or not 10OA is a crapshoot. No gurantee the player you pick ever cracks the NHL. People are overvauling #10 so much. It's not a top 5 pick.

1. By that logic would you have taken Holtz over Bedard last season because "Holtz has proven he can play that the NHL level."

2. 10th overall is not a crapshoot, There's a clear difference in value between the 10th overall pick and the 28th overall pick or the 75th overall pick, just lumping in a draft pick as "crapshoot" is a complete misunderstanding of how these picks are valued. The likelihood at drafting a good player at 10th overall is much higher than drafting a good player at 28th overall, not to mention that added benefit of having team control with ELC and RFA years that makes drafted players extremely valuable.

3. If 10th overall is being overvalued then why are top 10 picks being traded for players such a rare occurrence? If you were right and 10th overall is a crapshoot or not that valuable then why has there been so few times where top 10 picks have been moved over the years?

 

[longislanddevil]

kaapo kaako

Alexander Daigle.

 

[britdevil]

This only works for them if Askarov is cool with it. Is he really cool sitting on the bench only getting ~25 starts a year and not earning any real money?

With Rinne, the end was clearly in sight for him. Saros just turned 29 and there's no obvious reason he can't start at least 4-6 more years. I don't have an answer, but just assuming that your goalie is fine with getting Ahonen'd for years is quite the assumption.

Has he got any choice? Can he refuse?

At the end of the day, Nashville has his rights and is his employer.

 

[JK3]

Glad to see some posts mentioning Kahkonen, I thought he was really solid during his short stint with us. You guys are gonna lose your minds and I’m cheap as hell but it wouldn’t be the worst thing running him and Allen with Schmid and Daws as call ups.

You guys got goalie fever bad, holy shit. We don’t need to mortgage everything for a mid tier guy when we might have that in house. We don’t have to compete next year, let’s make the playoffs first lol. By then the goalie landscape gets a little clearer for us. If anything I’m for Markstrom.

 

[devilsblood]

Yeah I can't see a world where Nashville keeps both, why wouldn't they also use Saros to get more offensive help while assuming that Askarov can play just as well as Saros did? Trotz has been burned for the past 5-7 years as a coach/GM where his teams have had tremendous goaltending but no one can put the puck in the net on the skater side, it's probably wearing thin on him now

Longer term yes, but I'm not sure he'll be available this summer.

 

[devilsblood]

Glad to see some posts mentioning Kahkonen, I thought he was really solid during his short stint with us. You guys are gonna lose your minds and I’m cheap as hell but it wouldn’t be the worst thing running him and Allen with Schmid and Daws as call ups.

You guys got goalie fever bad, holy shit. We don’t need to mortgage everything for a mid tier guy when we might have that in house. We don’t have to compete next year, let’s make the playoffs first lol. By then the goalie landscape gets a little clearer for us. If anything I’m for Markstrom.

I've been pro Kahk since Dec.

Problem here though, is that despite trading for him, they barely played him so as to get a better look.

Kind of like Shara and Boq, I see this as a signal of offseason plans.

Now maybe in Kahk's case, if no better goalie option becomes available, Fitz falls back to Kahk(fingers crossed Kahk would still be available), but I think it's pretty clear he will be on the hunt.

 

[JK3]

I've been pro Kahk since Dec.

Problem here though, is that despite trading for him, they barely played him so as to get a better look.

Kind of like Shara and Boq, I see this as a signal of offseason plans.

Now maybe in Kahk's case, if no better goalie option becomes available, Fitz falls back to Kahk(fingers crossed Kahk would still be available), but I think it's pretty clear he will be on the hunt.

Like someone said before, Fitz has a big mouth with the big game hunting crap. It doesn’t help when he all but said Kahk is just here to finish the season, basically kicked to the curb already. Pretty dumb on his part, you just can’t say that shit.

I have a feeling we’re gonna regret this whole situation and throw away assets to make a splash.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Glad to see some posts mentioning Kahkonen, I thought he was really solid during his short stint with us. You guys are gonna lose your minds and I’m cheap as hell but it wouldn’t be the worst thing running him and Allen with Schmid and Daws as call ups.

You guys got goalie fever bad, holy shit. We don’t need to mortgage everything for a mid tier guy when we might have that in house. We don’t have to compete next year, let’s make the playoffs first lol. By then the goalie landscape gets a little clearer for us. If anything I’m for Markstrom.

I don’t know what you are talking about

 

[Forge]

Yeah I can't see a world where Nashville keeps both, why wouldn't they also use Saros to get more offensive help while assuming that Askarov can play just as well as Saros did? Trotz has been burned for the past 5-7 years as a coach/GM where his teams have had tremendous goaltending but no one can put the puck in the net on the skater side, it's probably wearing thin on him now

I think they'll keep both temporarily. They likely are going to have 3 years of cheap play from askarov. They don't have to put the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The risk is Saros imploding, of course

 

[NJDevs26]

Saw an interesting post from a Preds fan about keeping both Saros and Askarov.

They likened the situation to when they had Rinne and brought along Saros.

Lucky f***ers. We've been spinning plates since Marty retired. Poor Cory too, guy was ELITE behind some horrible rosters.

By the same token though, hoarding those goalies has never won them anything significant. One Western Conference and that's it in twenty plus years of being competitive just about every year.

 

[My3Sons]

Sure, but if we didn't lump everyone into polarized viewpoints and strawmans, what fun would this place be?

For instance, I can say that the officiating was largely fair in the 2019 NFC Championship game and you could take that to mean I think every call was justified (which of course I do), but my statement leaves a lot of room for disagreeing with individual calls.

That was an excellent comeback. Good work.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Like someone said before, Fitz has a big mouth with the big game hunting crap. It doesn’t help when he all but said Kahk is just here to finish the season, basically kicked to the curb already. Pretty dumb on his part, you just can’t say that shit.

I have a feeling we’re gonna regret this whole situation and throw away assets to make a splash.

I'm very nervous of this. Kahk looked like the better of the two goalies between him and Allen honestly. The fact that Fitz all but said he's a goner was just bizarre to me. We do seem hell bent on getting a goalie and giving up real assets to do so. Part of me is wondering if this is just to save face.

 

[MadDevil]

I'm very nervous of this. Kahk looked like the better of the two goalies between him and Allen honestly. The fact that Fitz all but said he's a goner was just bizarre to me. We do seem hell bent on getting a goalie and giving up real assets to do so. Part of me is wondering if this is just to save face.

What's the alternative? Roll the dice on cheap goaltending again and hope it works this time? Everybody and their uncle has known for months that we need goaltending. Fitz being obvious about it doesn't change that fact. We're probably going to overpay regardless.

 

[Devils731]

What's the alternative? Roll the dice on cheap goaltending again and hope it works this time? Everybody and their uncle has known for months that we need goaltending. Fitz being obvious about it doesn't change that fact. We're probably going to overpay regardless.

Depending on the cost of things, yes.

A guy like Markstrom I consider basically just as much of a gamble as going with one of the plethora of journeyman in the league. So would I pay more than a little to take a slightly better gamble? I would not.

If I have to gamble on cheaper goaltending like Allen and someone then so be it. I’m not going to be gouged only to find out I didn’t actually make the goaltending better, or only marginally better.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

What's the alternative? Roll the dice on cheap goaltending again and hope it works this time? Everybody and their uncle has known for months that we need goaltending. Fitz being obvious about it doesn't change that fact. We're probably going to overpay regardless.

Actually yeah. That is the alternative. Given the absurd amount of injuries last year, I think a healthy team with Allen and Kahk is a playoff team. Not necessarily a contender, but they wouldn't be one with Markstrom, Ullmark or Saros either, IMO. I get why we are hunting for a goalie, but it's a massive gamble that historically rarely pays off. We are very likely going to "lose" whatever deal is made.

 

[None Shall Pass]

Yeah I wouldn't mind keeping Kahk for no assets and letting him and Allen platoon it. They're both decent goalies and if one starts stinking just ride the other for a while; Daws and / or Schmid as decent call up options if one gets hurt.

Fitz has basically dismissed Kahk as an option since he got here, though.

Paying any 1st round pick, let alone 10th overall, for a goalie outside the Sorokin/Swayman/Shesterkin tier is just plain dumb.

 

[Rhodes 81]

Like someone said before, Fitz has a big mouth with the big game hunting crap. It doesn’t help when he all but said Kahk is just here to finish the season, basically kicked to the curb already. Pretty dumb on his part, you just can’t say that shit.

I have a feeling we’re gonna regret this whole situation and throw away assets to make a splash.

I was thinking that from the day it happened. The way he was talking I would have been pissed if I were Kahkonen. If he had come in here an pitched 5 shutouts and saved the season you look like an imbecile, and even if he doesn't it's still just weird. Bringing back Kahkonen for cheap, utilizing the cap space to improve the forward corps, and then trading for whoever mid season is a totally valid way of approaching this season, but they really can't do anything like that now.

 

[Bad Goalie]

is Vladar signed for next year? I’d also guess it’s either these two or some other guy with Wolf.

Maybe Calgary is the team that brings in Gibson (if anyone does) or Elvis? Or they go with Kahkonen/Wolf.

Apparently Vladar is signed for next year.

Maybe. JUST maybe. Schmid becomes the guy going back to Calgary for Marky with a player not named Casey and Fitz is going to go with Daws as the guy 2 yrs down the road.

Poulter may be ready to back up in 2 more years. If Schmid is gone, they become the duo in Utica for 2 seasons. Malek is in the background. If this is how it goes, they need to get his ass over here as the Devils will be using Daws/Poulter for injury call-ups and Malek can be #1 in Adirondack.

Who knows how things work out, but the Devils seem to have a strong goalie pool to work with leading to an in house replacement for Allen in 25-26 and another after Markstrom's contract runs out in 26-27. That's the same time that Helenius or Nygard just may be ready if you put any faith in Toddlves's assessments as I do and the 10th buys one of them for an ELC.

 

[njdevils1982]

Alexander Daigle.

we sure do love to joke and mock around here thats for sure...

i still haven't seen the daigle documentary but he had a sort of? decent career in the end..(not a 1st overall level by any means whatsoever) but he did play 10 years and the story looks like his love of the game dried up.

his page is interesting... two years off '01 and '02 season.... comes back, plays two seasons ....then the lockout.....and he plays one more and done

Alexandre Daigle Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Salary, Title | Hockey-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats of Alexandre Daigle. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, trade, draft, salary and more on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

as for kaako. who know's.... he's still only 23

 

[MadDevil]

Depending on the cost of things, yes.

A guy like Markstrom I consider basically just as much of a gamble as going with one of the plethora of journeyman in the league. So would I pay more than a little to take a slightly better gamble? I would not.

If I have to gamble on cheaper goaltending like Allen and someone then so be it. I’m not going to be gouged only to find out I didn’t actually make the goaltending better, or only marginally better.

Fair enough. I just don't want to hear complaints about Fitz not doing anything if we go that route and it blows up again. And I'm not even a fan of spending a bunch of money or assets on goaltending. I just don't know how many times you want to gamble on "well maybe our questionable goalies won't suck this year". Hell, maybe Poulter ends up being the guy and going cheap on goaltending now ends up being the right move. I'm just kind of tired of waiting for the eventual meltdown in goal that we've seen 2 of the last 3 years.

 

[Guttersniped]

Them and the Rangers have been blessed by the hockey gods in that regard. And we got hockey karma for destroying Cory, lol.

If by hockey gods you the best goalie coaches in the NHL, then sure, the hockey gods blessed Nashville and the Rags. (Ian Clark in Vancouver is the other blessed one.)

 

[Guttersniped]

I'm very nervous of this. Kahk looked like the better of the two goalies between him and Allen honestly. The fact that Fitz all but said he's a goner was just bizarre to me. We do seem hell bent on getting a goalie and giving up real assets to do so. Part of me is wondering if this is just to save face.

Eh, one guy is signed for another year at 1 year/ 1.925m and another is a UFA.

It’s not like a 6 game stint will likely get us much extra consideration as a landing spot.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

If by hockey gods you the best goalie coaches in the NHL, then sure, the hockey gods blessed Nashville and the Rags. (Ian Clark in Vancouver is the other blessed one.)

Fair, lol. Mitch Korn did wonders too with the Caps, Isles and now he's in Nashville so Askarov will be the next GOAT from his teachings.

 

[Forge]

Alexander Daigle.

Side note. Just watched the doc about him. He is an insanely likeable dude.