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

[Forge]

No interest in bringing henrique back

 

[Bleedred]

Get Henrique back. He will be cheap and reliable.

I wouldn’t be opposed to this. Scored a career high in points and has been pretty consistent overall for his career. What do you think cheap is for him?

Will he be cheap though?

Bringing Henrique back gives me bringing Arnott vibes back. Not interested

I'm fine with it as long as it's reasonable. Sometimes I forget he's 34. Probably because he hasn't fallen off a cliff yet or seen much of a decline. I was afraid this would happen for him around 30, yet he still scores goals while shooting 15% well into his 30s. Then again, he debuted here in the season finale in 2010-2011. 34 sounds about right. There's not another player on that team that's still active in the NHL after Parise announced his retirement. I'm not even sure how many of those guys are even playing in Europe. Tedenby? Maybe Zharkov? Maybe? He's not much older than Henrique. I know Urbom isn't. I know Jacob Josefson isn't. Everybody else was already an old(er) fart and have been retired for years and years.

Oh, I forgot. Kovalchuk made a KHL comeback this year after not playing for 2.5 years?

I'd like to see 3x4 mil. 3.5 would be a steal.

If we could get him that cheap then sign me up.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Will he be cheap though?

I'm fine with it as long as it's reasonable. Sometimes I forget he's 34. Probably because he hasn't fallen off a cliff yet or seen much of a decline. I was afraid this would happen for him around 30, yet he still scores goals while shooting 15% well into his 30s. Then again, he debuted here in the season finale in 2010-2011. 34 sounds about right. There's not another player on that team that's still active in the NHL after Parise announced his retirement. I'm not even sure how many of those guys are even playing in Europe. Tedenby? Maybe Zharkov? Maybe? He's not much older than Henrique. I know Urbom isn't. I know Jacob Josefson isn't. Everybody else was already an old(er) fart and have been retired for years and years.

Oh, I forgot. Kovalchuk made a KHL comeback this year after not playing for 2.5 years?

If we could get him that cheap then sign me up.

Not so sure he would be cheap. He’s still producing to his norm and the Cap has gone up since his last contract. If it’s a 2 year deal we could do much worse or stay pat and play AHLers out of place.

 

[Bleedred]

When I looked up Alex Urbom (he hasn't played hockey since 20-21) I saw that he was born in 1985. I knew that Urbom wasn't that old. I knew we didn't draft him when he was older like his fellow countryman from approximately a decade before in Andreas Solomonsson.

And I knew he wasn't from Lincoln, Nebraska of all places.

Apparently there's an actor named Alex Urbom lol. What are the chances? I never heard of him until today.

Alex Urbom | Actor

Known for: Westworld, Killer Weekend, The Guardian

www.imdb.com

What are the chances Alex Urbom is this guy's stage name, named after his favorite hockey player? And his real name is John Smith or Eric Johnson and he gave himself this name because it was much less common?

Maybe he was one of the people posting in the team thread when Urbom was claimed by Washington on waivers and rioting over it?

 

[Guadana]

Henrique is fine. We need him as a bottom line player. And Trenin. Of course if Fitz will find better winger for Jack, we can send Haula back to the third line and not worry about it anymore.

I would say finding top 4 defenseman and two forwards like Trenin and DeBrusk (for example) will be more important than goalie. Skjei(for example), Trenin, Debrusk and Kahkonen/Lankinen/DeSmith(is he available?) Will make millions times better job for this team than Saros with third pair defenseman and cheap 4th line winger.

 

[Zippy316]

I do wonder what Henrique’s plan is after this year.

Feels like he should go cup chasing, but I wonder if he would be willing to sign something similar to Haula to get both the stability and chance to win. He already made enough money, maybe he takes a pay cut to win.

Yes, he had a career high in points, but he has to realize a lot of that had to do with playing offensive minutes in Anaheim. On a contending team, he’s probably a complimentary forward moving up and down from lines 1-3.

I’d love to get both him and Mercer to sign 3x3.5 deals. Feel like that would set us up to build extremely deep teams the next 2-3 years.

 

[Andre Palot]

When I looked up Alex Urbom (he hasn't played hockey since 20-21) I saw that he was born in 1985. I knew that Urbom wasn't that old. I knew we didn't draft him when he was older like his fellow countryman from approximately a decade before in Andreas Solomonsson.

And I knew he wasn't from Lincoln, Nebraska of all places.

Apparently there's an actor named Alex Urbom lol. What are the chances? I never heard of him until today.

Alex Urbom | Actor

Known for: Westworld, Killer Weekend, The Guardian

www.imdb.com

What are the chances Alex Urbom is this guy's stage name, named after his favorite hockey player? And his real name is John Smith or Eric Johnson and he gave himself this name because it was much less common?

Maybe he was one of the people posting in the team thread when Urbom was claimed by Washington on waivers and rioting over it?

lesser known was the riot people had when we lost Merrill

 

[Forge]

Until we actually do something else at the goalie position, I'm simply going to assume that we are going to add 5-6 million there. Between that and the Mercer deal, I think we get one swing at a "good" skater. Cap goes up, salaries go up. A guy like Zadorov may get 6 million. 9-10 million in space doesn't go far.

I dunno if I want that swing to be on a guy like Henrique. I need a guy I can reasonably trust to be top 6 complimentary piece or top 4 type guy.

AFP has Henrique's aav expectation at 4.3. Between he and Trenin (2.5), that's 7 million dollars and leaves very little for anything else....and I Just don't know how much those two guys are moving the needle. Especially given Henrique's age and potential implosion.

If we go in another direction at goalie (trading for Gustavsson, or get retention on Ullmark), then I think that opens it up to be a little more flexible.

But who knows...maybe the top 6 complimentary piece I want isn't really out there at a level I would want to sign them for anyway.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Henrique is fine. We need him as a bottom line player. And Trenin. Of course if Fitz will find better winger for Jack, we can send Haula back to the third line and not worry about it anymore.

I would say finding top 4 defenseman and two forwards like Trenin and DeBrusk (for example) will be more important than goalie. Skjei(for example), Trenin, Debrusk and Kahkonen/Lankinen/DeSmith(is he available?) Will make millions times better job for this team than Saros with third pair defenseman and cheap 4th line winger.

Strongly disagree.
Goalie is the number one priority, even more than re-signing Mercer.
Once we sort this out, it will determine how much we can spend on filling the other team needs.
We have to get the best option available. Fitz can’t cheap out on this position. If Saros at $6m and Markstrom at $3m retained both present itself, then I want the better option in Saros, even if it means will need to go cheap and miss out on a $5m forward we may have earmarked for top 6.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

Would rather have a guy with speed as opposed to henrique for the type of middle six role he would conceivably be brought in to play.

 

[ndkjr70]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1801662206842458373

anyone getting excited about this hasn't followed a Fitzy offseason. Just last year we were going to bring in a stud goalie. The year before it was an elite winger.

 

[Alex NJD]

I like Zucker a lot as a potential 3rd line addition.

For top 6 I like DeBrusk but no one else really jumps out at me as a guy I'd like to add

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Lindholm should sign a 1 year deal here and rebuild his value by playing with Jack Hughes. The cap will move up for the foreseeable future so he probably wouldn’t even leave any money on the table if he has a big year. Who is lining up to give him 7x7 at the moment?

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

anyone getting excited about this hasn't followed a Fitzy offseason. Just last year we were going to bring in a stud goalie. The year before it was an elite winger.

The Calgary Head Of Goaltending Advisor told me Fitzgerald called them earlier in the season and tried to get Markstrom 100%. He said he was pushing hard to get Hellebuyck as well in the offseason.

Idk about you but I certainly am okay with trying to sign a veteran goalie on the cheap to play with Allen than to burn that 10th overall pick on a player who might not push the needle as much as we want/expect.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

anyone getting excited about this hasn't followed a Fitzy offseason. Just last year we were going to bring in a stud goalie. The year before it was an elite winger.

what "stud goalies" got traded last year? Must have missed that.

Fitz was hard after Gaudreau. Apparently NJ even offered more money than CBJ. He chose to go elsewhere. It happens. He signed Palat and then traded for Meier and then traded for Toffoli.

 

[Bleedred]

lesser known was the riot people had when we lost Merrill

Really? I didn't think it was that bad.

The Urbom one was hilarious.

 

[Billdo]

Really? I didn't think it was that bad.

The Urbom one was hilarious.

The Merrill one wasn't nearly as bad as Urboms.

what "stud goalies" got traded last year? Must have missed that.

Fitz was hard after Gaudreau. Apparently NJ even offered more money than CBJ. He chose to go elsewhere. It happens. He signed Palat and then traded for Meier and then traded for Toffoli.

He's probably talking about the Hellebuyck pipe dream.

 

[MadDevil]

Damn Fitz for not conjuring a stud goalie trade out of thin air last summer!

As I fully expect the same people to bitch about what we give up in a goalie trade this summer.

 

[Bleedred]

anyone getting excited about this hasn't followed a Fitzy offseason. Just last year we were going to bring in a stud goalie. The year before it was an elite winger.

I honestly don't remember anyone seriously thinking we were going to bring in a stud goalie or any goalie other than a Keith Kinkaid/3rd string level goalie that's for the AHL. And that's exactly what we did. All I remember was him saying he'd like to upgrade the goaltending or something like that, but I think we all expected it would be Vanecek and Schmid as the goalies going into the season and nothing more.

The Calgary Head Of Goaltending Advisor told me Fitzgerald called them earlier in the season and tried to get Markstrom 100%. He said he was pushing hard to get Hellebuyck as well in the offseason.

Idk about you but I certainly am okay with trying to sign a veteran goalie on the cheap to play with Allen than to burn that 10th overall pick on a player who might not push the needle as much as we want/expect.

I remember you posting about talking to him at an NCAA game if I recall?

I still think it'll be Markstrom, unless Calgary holds out long enough that Fitz tells them to go f*** themselves and finds something else first.

I don't think he'll trade the 10th overall for him.

 

[MasterofGrond]

I want Dakota Joshua

 

[Goptor]

Have you guys been watching the playoffs this year?

Henrique has no speed. He won't work on this team.

 

[BigDevs93]

This been awhile so here are my thoughts on what Fitzy should be doing

1) I would only focus on Markstrom, Saros and Ullmark. Markstrom would be the cheapest and potentially the best for our situation. Saros would be ideal but I don't think we get him. Markstrom at 50% retained would be the goal. TRADE - Markstrom at 50% and ideally Pick 28 but probably 41 or 62 for Pick 10.
(+3 million to cap)

Goalies -
Markstrom
Allen
Daws
Schmid
Brennan
Malek

2) Pick-up a depth d-man as a better replacement for B.Smith. Sign Brenden Dillon for 3 years x4 million. He could probably get more elsewhere but he's exactly what he need on the back-end. 6'4 225lbs, plays the PK and brings alot of physicality to the backend. Veteran presence.
(+4million to cap)

Hughes - Hamilton
Dillon - Marino
Siegenthaler - Nemec
Bahl

3) Re-sign Mercer at 2 x 3.75 million. Could get in the 4's but you align him with either Palat (3) or Haula (2) end of contracts.
(+~4million to cap)

4) Sign a third line winger. Williams Carrier / Jake Debrusk / Warren Foegele / Max Domi / Dakota Joshua / James Van Riemsdyk (meh)

Bratt - Hughes - Holtz
Palat - Hischier - Meier
X - Haula - Mercer
Foote - Lazar - Bastian
MacDermid

 

[glenwo2]

what "stud goalies" got traded last year? Must have missed that.

Fitz was hard after Gaudreau. Apparently NJ even offered more money than CBJ. He chose to go elsewhere. It happens. He signed Palat and then traded for Meier and then traded for Toffoli.

I'm glad it happened that way because it might have ended up with Bratt not being re-signed.

 

[Forge]

Lindholm should sign a 1 year deal here and rebuild his value by playing with Jack Hughes. The cap will move up for the foreseeable future so he probably wouldn’t even leave any money on the table if he has a big year. Who is lining up to give him 7x7 at the moment?

I thought of this earlier in the year, but then I thought there was a report that said he was still projected to get something like 7x7?

 

[ndkjr70]

what "stud goalies" got traded last year? Must have missed that.

Fitz was hard after Gaudreau. Apparently NJ even offered more money than CBJ. He chose to go elsewhere. It happens. He signed Palat and then traded for Meier and then traded for Toffoli.

not being moved doesn’t mean they weren’t available. Hellebyuk is the obvious answer, where most reporter-type podcasts had that as a formality until the Devils balked at the Winnepeg price and the Jets decided to give him a zillion dollars.