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

[NJDfan86]

Have no interest in Brady Tkachuk - what the Devils need, ideally, is Ondrej Palat from 5 years ago and maybe an upgrade for the 3rd line somewhere.

The only trade for the Devils that realistically would make sense from a player/roster/cap perspective is Timo for Brady but Meier has an NMC - and I don’t see him waiving to go to Ottawa.

 

[theoptimist]

Palat from 5 years ago and McLeod if he wasn't a rapist

Thank you for acknowledging

 

[Hisch13r]

The only trade for the Devils that realistically would make sense from a player/roster/cap perspective is Timo for Brady but Meier has an NMC - and I don’t see him waiving to go to Ottawa.

The thing about that move is while yeah sure it's an upgrade I'd do. It's a pretty marginal upgrade. I was generally against the Brady stuff but with Kovacevic in the mix now and being so good combined with Nemec sucking I'm open to a Brady move now. Kind of feels like Nemec is burning a hole in our pocket. I'm more than open to the idea of swapping him for a comparable forward prospect rather than adding another star and instead go with a complimentary top 6er rather than breaking the bank on a star and also overloading on depth up front.

 

[My3Sons]

The thing about that move is while yeah sure it's an upgrade I'd do. It's a pretty marginal upgrade. I was generally against the Brady stuff but with Kovacevic in the mix now and being so good combined with Nemec sucking I'm open to a Brady move now. Kind of feels like Nemec is burning a hole in our pocket. I'm more than open to the idea of swapping him for a comparable forward prospect rather than adding another star and instead go with a complimentary top 6er rather than breaking the bank on a star and also overloading on depth up front.

If NJ sent out Palat and Hamilton in the offseason they’d probably extend Luke and Kovacevic for something like $13-14 mil combined. That’s most of what they’d save without Hamilton and Palat. I’m skeptical they have that much roster flexibility.

 

[Hisch13r]

If NJ sent out Palat and Hamilton in the offseason they’d probably extend Luke and Kovacevic for something like $13-14 mil combined. That’s most of what they’d save without Hamilton and Palat. I’m skeptical they have that much roster flexibility.

Running the numbers of Luke at 9 mil and Kovy at 4.5 mil we'd actually be in in a wayyyy better spot than I figured and I thought we'd be fine. The D would be set assuming Casey is an NHLer and I think he would be. Up front your top 6 would be full Bratt/Timo/Brady/Noesen as the wingers. Jack/Nico up the middle. Then the bottom 6 you have Haula/Mercer/Cotter. Gritsyuk coming in and even if that's not on an ELC and instead is like 2ish mil you should be fine. Even if the cap only jumps up to like 92.5 which is the low end that leaves you with 5-5.5 mil and the only holes being a 4C, bottom 6 wing and a backup goalie.

We'd have a decent amount of flexibility and we wouldn't even need as much as we have since there'd be basically nothing else big that needs to be fixed. Some people seem to be really over Haula so maybe you move out his 3.15 and replace him with a 3C at like 4ish mil or something. You're still in a great spot to be able to do that. I wanted Pius Suter in a bad way in the 2023 summer. His contract is up after this year. I'll probably be banging the drum hard for him again

 

[dgibb10]

If NJ sent out Palat and Hamilton in the offseason they’d probably extend Luke and Kovacevic for something like $13-14 mil combined. That’s most of what they’d save without Hamilton and Palat. I’m skeptical they have that much roster flexibility.

I don't think Kovy can justify getting towards 6 mill based on 1 year, regardless of how good it is.

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[dgibb10]

If NJ sent out Palat and Hamilton in the offseason they’d probably extend Luke and Kovacevic for something like $13-14 mil combined. That’s most of what they’d save without Hamilton and Palat. I’m skeptical they have that much roster flexibility.

If NJD sends out hamilton and Palat and signs luke at 8.6 mill they will have 19 million dollars on a 92 mill cap. (with 3 scratches filled in already)

They will need to sign

4th line
Backup goalie
Kovacevic

with 19 million dollars.

There is no need to move Hamilton out. Even if you keep Hamilton AND want to keep Kovy you still have more than enough cap to do so. You'd have 11 mill (someone sent down) to sign

4th line (3-6 mill)
Backup goalie (1-3 mill)
Kovacevic (3-5 mill)

Unless someone wants to give us a quality offer for him AND Brady Tkachuk or some other star demands to come here, no need to move him out.

Something I may consider is something around Dougie and Spencer knight. Try and get that long term goalie, protect us from wasting it on an aging winger.

 

[jkrdevil]

Realistically the cap is going to be closer to $95-96 million if they get a new CBA done by the Cup Final (which is the stated goal).

Opening up a long term roster spot may be a bigger driver of a trade than cap.

 

[dgibb10]

This squad with a 94 mill cap and a dougie-knight swap

If you want to move palat, go ahead (especially if you aren't sold on grits), just don't spend it on anything stupid (do not bring in another palat) Nothing longer than 2 years if it's above 5 mill

I think I'd hope for a giroux or marchand on a 1-2 year deal

 

[jkrdevil]

Penning in Gritsyuk in the top six next year is a mistake.

Also, Bobrovsky’s contract is up after next season and Knight is still and RFA. Why would Florida trade him?

 

[MB3]

If Cozens was on a reasonable contract like maybe you take a flyer on him but the guy has 5 more years after this at 7.1 mil. HELL NOOOOOOOO

The fact that you compared him to Mercer makes me wonder if you thought I said Nick Cousins and not Dylan Cozens.

He is an actual NHL center. He drives play. He’s solid defensively. He’s got a 30-goal season under his belt (and unlike Mercer’s, it didn’t come solely and directly from Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier passes).

7.2m for a 23 year old 30-goal center is the very definition of a “reasonable” contract. It’s probably quite a bit better.