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

[NJDevs26]

trading Nemec to "address center depth" is insane talk.

There are about 25 or more NHL teams who would kill to have our center depth.

If you want to trade a couple of 2nds or another prospect? okay fine. Nemec is an extremely valuable piece. There aren't any realistic centers I am trading him for.

Thing is we don’t have depth…having two great players and fourth liner/AHL dross after them doesn’t = depth

 

[MB3]

trading Nemec to "address center depth" is insane talk.

There are about 25 or more NHL teams who would kill to have our center depth.

If you want to trade a couple of 2nds or another prospect? okay fine. Nemec is an extremely valuable piece. There aren't any realistic centers I am trading him for.

That isn't depth. Jack hughes and nico hischier aren't depth. They're elite, top-end players. The 2023 Yankees didn't have a "deep lineup" just because Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were at the top.

Depth is whatever you have after them. And the answer to that question is disgusting.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

TLDR?

I lost patience.

 

[dgibb10]

That isn't depth. Jack hughes and nico hischier aren't depth. They're elite, top-end players. The 2023 Yankees didn't have a "deep lineup" just because Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were at the top.

Depth is whatever you have after them. And the answer to that question is disgusting.

Haula is a fine 3C.

So your issue is at 4C. Which you don't trade Nemec for. You trade a 3rd round pick for like WSH did for eller

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

Haula is a fine 3C.

So your issue is at 4C. Which you don't trade Nemec for. You trade a 3rd round pick for like WSH did for eller

I wonder what Yanni Gourde would take. or Joel Armia

 

[dgibb10]

I wonder what Yanni Gourde would take. or Joel Armia

Joel Armia is a winger and not a very good one

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

Joel Armia is a winger and not a very good one

You are correct. I confused him with Danault who is a center - back when they used to play together. WHy do I do that? Nobody knows

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

That isn't depth. Jack hughes and nico hischier aren't depth. They're elite, top-end players. The 2023 Yankees didn't have a "deep lineup" just because Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were at the top.

Depth is whatever you have after them. And the answer to that question is disgusting.

And that’s true of the vast majority of teams in the league. Who doesn’t have disgusting looking centers if they lose a top guy? I wish Fitz did more to get some legit Cs for Utica, but very few teams have actual depth that is much more than “try Dawson Mercer at C” level. Jack-Nico-Haula-Lazar is good NHL depth.

Carolina: Aho-Drury-87 year old Staal-KK
Florida: Barkov-Bennett-Lundell-Nosek
WSH: Strome-Dubois-Eller-Dowd
Tampa: Point-Cirelli-Geekie-Glendening

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

That isn't depth. Jack hughes and nico hischier aren't depth. They're elite, top-end players. The 2023 Yankees didn't have a "deep lineup" just because Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were at the top.

Depth is whatever you have after them. And the answer to that question is disgusting.

the elite 1-2 combo counts in the depth lol

again, we definitely could use another center. Trading one of the best prospects in the sport to get a 3C seems insane to me.

 

[MasterofGrond]

Is there an underpaid fringe 1C available? I'd trade Nemec for one of those, and add if they also take Palat.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

yeah I mean for example if you want to say get another good young center and that way you can have Jack play wing more, okay sure?

problem is, how many of those guys are there? And, Jack has sucked when he has played wing for the most part.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Is there an underpaid fringe 1C available? I'd trade Nemec for one of those, and add if they also take Palat.

No.

You don't "shop" Nemec -- the kid has legit NHL 1RD upside. And no one "shops" underpaid top 6 centers for the same reason. They're too valuable.

The best center available in a trade now is likely Mika Zibanejad. And as much as I like Zibanejad as a player, I don't think that, watching him this year, this is a player you'd want to pay $8.5 million for the next three seasons after this one.

At the deadline, you might see a couple of better 3C options come on the market, like Gourde or Dickinson. But they're not available now.

The two centers I'd like to take a swing at both play in California. Getting Marco Sturm from San Jose would be a cheap and relatively low-cost depth move and we could fit him in under the cap. Sure he's not a difference maker, but he's a guy who could hold down a 4C role competently in the NHL.

The guy I'd really like is Alex Turcotte from Los Angeles. He's not only a good friend of Jack Hughes, but he's also a very adequate defender with tremendous speed whom I still feel has some untapped offensive upside. While there would certainly be some cost involved here, it might prove a savvy deal down the line. Not sure if it's possible to provide him from a very competitive LA team but it's certainly worth the phone call. The Kings are thin on the blueline and the Devils could afford to dangle an NHL-ready guy like Misyul or Hatakka plus a prospect or two outside of the star-level top guys like Nemec or Casey.

 

[Emperoreddy]

You don't trade a first pairing prospect for a 4C.

Literal insane talk

 

[None Shall Pass]

Literally no one is saying to trade Nemec for a 4C, what

As much as I do love our top 2 centers, we are one injury away from Haula having to play top-6, and those boys do tend to get injured. Haula's a perfectly competent 3C, but if we could figure out a way to bump him down to the 4th line, we'd be a truly deep team.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

how many teams do you think have better 4C's than Haula?

you can play the "if XXXX gets injured, our depth sucks!" for pretty much every team in the league.

 

[None Shall Pass]

Not many, which is why it'd be such a sick advantage. Plus Haula is aged and we have nothing in the system to replace him.

Our top-2 centers have a history of getting injured. We need to manage that risk. Having another middle-6 center would be great! But even if not that we have, quite literally, no centers of note anywhere in the pipeline. Utica famously has no centers. It's objectively an organization-wide issue!

 

[Comparison Ford]

Do we think what we do with Kovacevic will have a lot of bearing on Nemec's future with us?

Genuine question, dont know if Hamilton will fall off enough to need to move him either if Kovy stays with us.

 

[Oneiro]

Moving Nemec just feels like it shortens the window. I have a hard time believing he won’t surpass Kovacevic soon enough.

 

[New Jerseys Devil]

I wonder if you could add screened shots as a player stat; would help some guys get paid a bit more!

 

[TrufleShufle]

how many teams do you think have better 4C's than Haula?

you can play the "if XXXX gets injured, our depth sucks!" for pretty much every team in the league.

Two things, since when is Haula our 4c, and yea single injuries to certain positions not crippling your team is something to strive for.

You don't want to trade Nemac for a depth C, just say that, it's reasonable. Backing yourself into a corner by saying a bunch of other untrue stuff to defend a random throw in comment has never worked for anyone.

 

[Triumph]

The Devils could use a winger who can also play C. Mercer isn't that, and no one else is. They need someone who functioned like Zubrus, who mostly played wing but could step in at C and be okay.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Do we think what we do with Kovacevic will have a lot of bearing on Nemec's future with us?

Genuine question, dont know if Hamilton will fall off enough to need to move him either if Kovy stays with us.

Don't think it should because the team absolutely should be looking to move Dougie out before his contract ends.

And there is zero need or reason to rush Nemec or Casey

 

[Emperoreddy]

Literally no one is saying to trade Nemec for a 4C, what

As much as I do love our top 2 centers, we are one injury away from Haula having to play top-6, and those boys do tend to get injured. Haula's a perfectly competent 3C, but if we could figure out a way to bump him down to the 4th line, we'd be a truly deep team.

You don't trade him for a 3C either.

 

[dgibb10]

You don't trade him for a 3C either.

The only scenario where I could see it is where you are getting a guy who's really more of a 2C (like a Danault), signed long term, and the other team eats money on the contract so it becomes a bargain contract.

like Phillip Danault (heading into the 22-23 season) retained down to like 3 mill.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Literally no one is saying to trade Nemec for a 4C, what

As much as I do love our top 2 centers, we are one injury away from Haula having to play top-6, and those boys do tend to get injured. Haula's a perfectly competent 3C, but if we could figure out a way to bump him down to the 4th line, we'd be a truly deep team.

Two things, since when is Haula our 4c, and yea single injuries to certain positions not crippling your team is something to strive for.

You don't want to trade Nemac for a depth C, just say that, it's reasonable. Backing yourself into a corner by saying a bunch of other untrue stuff to defend a random throw in comment has never worked for anyone.

happy to help!