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

[devilsblood]

What forwards are out there that we should be in on? Ive seen the name Trent Frederic from Boston a few times, but other than that nothing

I'm into Vatrano as a possible option. After a big goal scoring year last year, he's having a low goal scoring year so far this season. But he still get's sog's at a good rate, and he plays a physical game. Only making $3.65.

I think he'd be more about bolstering the 3rd line then the top 6, but given he's having a bit of an off year, I think he could be had on the relative cheap.

 

[Lou is God]

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Caption This Photo lol

You're Shero's destiny

 

[Bleedred]

I forgot Mirco Muller existed…..and I had experience with him as a Shark even before we had him.

I bet if you asked Hall if he remembered saying that about Muller he’d be like “who the f*** is that? I played with him? In New Jersey? Really?”.

 

[Oneiro]

Muller was a grenade handler. Not excusing Hall if he did say that but the fact remains. Such a bad trade.

 

[Lou is God]

I forgot Mirco Muller existed…..and I had experience with him as a Shark even before we had him.

I bet if you asked Hall if he remembered saying that about Muller he’d be like “who the f*** is that? I played with him? In New Jersey? Really?”.

When you look at our blue line for the 2017-18 season, I have no idea how we made the playoffs, even with Hall's MVP year.

And Shero going with the same unit the next year without upgrading buried him.

 

[Bleedred]

Muller was a grenade handler. Not excusing Hall if he did say that but the fact remains. Such a bad trade.

I defended the trade at the time and think that was probably just the market at the time. There were a lot of mediocre or question mark defensemen going for overpayment. Even Larsson for Hall, which may have started that type of market for a couple of years there. Not that Larsson is mediocre or was a question mark, he was just worth less than Hall.

So I understand why we gave up what we did for Muller at the time, and I still do. Muller just wasn’t any good.

I totally could see Hall not wanting to be on the ice with certain players. I think there probably was a time where he demanded that kind of pull, but surely I don’t think he’d have that kind of power on any team at this point in his career.

 

[Oneiro]

I defended the trade at the time and think that was probably just the market at the time. There were a lot of mediocre or question mark defensemen going for overpayment. Even Larsson for Hall, which may have started that type of market for a couple of years there. Not that Larsson is mediocre or was a question mark, he was just worth less than Hall.

So I understand why we gave up what we did for Muller at the time, and I still do. Muller just wasn’t any good.

I totally could see Hall not wanting to be on the ice with certain players. I think there probably was a time where he demanded that kind of pull, but surely I don’t think he’d have that kind of power on any team at this point in his career.

It's a red flag when a team like the Sharks, that was desperately trying to keep its window open, gives up on a kid that fast. I remember there was a lot of annoyance at that one here.

Nils Lundqvist isn't lighting it up. Ditto for Adam Boqvist. Insert Ty Smith joke. While it's easy to dunk on hockey ops people for a lot of dumb decisions over the years, I think the league is sometimes quick to recognize guys who don't have it.

I don't know what to make of Forsling, Stralman and those kind of outliers but my guess is there's probably some soul searching for those players and they make a conscious jump.

 

[Lou is God]

Hall is an enigma, how does someone have a MVP season like he did and then see his level of play drop off the next season and never even come close to replicating it.

Since the 2018 season he's only topped 20 goals once and 50 points twice.

Btw when I was an Admin here, someone posted along a rumor that he had a serious drug problem that was deleted because of liability concerns. Most of us believed the poster but it was still squashed. I believe the problem existed before he came here.

 

[Bleedred]

Hall is an enigma, how does someone have a MVP season like he did and then see his level of play drop off the next season and never even come close to replicating it.

Since the 2018 season he's only topped 20 goals once and 50 points twice.

Btw when I was an Admin here, someone posted along a rumor that he had a serious drug problem that was deleted because of liability concerns. Most of us believed the poster but it was still squashed. I believe the problem existed before he came here.

George Laraque famously reported he heard Hall had an alcohol problem in Edmonton and may have even said that’s what got him shopped out of town.

But he walked that back about a day later and said he was given wrong information. That was the only time I ever heard anything regarding substance abuse of any kind.

Some Oilers players spoke out about him after he was shipped out. Ben Scrivens was one of them. I don’t remember how specific they got, but basically stuff like you can’t win with him or whatever.

He will go down as one of the most random Hart winners of this century (so far) other then Jose Theodore.

I’m pretty sure almost every Hart winner from the last 60 years is either already in the HOF or they’re already a lock for the HOF, other than 3 guys that stick out.

Theodore, Hall and Perry. Hall and Perry are very similar, but Perry was probably better for longer and Perry is still playing at 39. It’s hard to see Hall still playing at any point into next decade.

Out of guys that aren’t in yet, Thornton, Sid, Ovy, Geno, Kane, McDavid and Kucherov are all locks for the HOF even if they never played again. Draisaitl and Matthews and MacKinnon are probably also. I still think Price probably goes in with the 2025 class and so will Thornton.

Theodore and Hall won’t get in and Perry probably won’t or at least he shouldn’t IMO.

 

[Bleedred]

Didn’t Muller almost challenge David Hale for most games without a goal as a Devil?

Well he didn’t come anywhere near that close. Not quite 70 games. I forgot he only played 28 games his first year here.

He missed over two months from November 12th to January 30th that first year.

Then he missed another month between February 22nd and March 24th.

 

[Brodeur]

It's a red flag when a team like the Sharks, that was desperately trying to keep its window open, gives up on a kid that fast. I remember there was a lot of annoyance at that one here.

I think San Jose had their hand forced because of the Vegas expansion draft. They chose to protect Burns/Vlasic plus Justin Braun (I wouldn't have guessed that) and they'd end up losing Devils legend David Schlemko. Vegas traded Schlemko to Montreal for a 5th rounder. San Jose probably figured Vegas would have taken Mueller, so they might as well cut out the middle man. Granted San Jose might have known Mueller was a stiff by 2017.

 

[MadDevil]

 

[Brodeur]

Granlund in SJ is a PPG player right now and 10 pts on the PP. UFA making 5 mill this year. Can play anywhere but decent at center.

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I feel like there'll be some other teams more motivated to get Granlund than we would. Winnipeg is still using Vlad Namestnikov as their de facto #2 center and they haven't been shy about trading 1sts for rental centers (Sean Monahan, Kevin Hayes, Paul Statstny).

 

[Better Call Sal]

It’s disheartening to hear that kind of stuff on Hall during his time here, though what a hill to die on during a playoff series. I thought his immature days stemmed more from his time in Edmonton, though I know it took him pretty much the whole first year to shake off being traded.

Me personally, I never cared about how he reacted to the booing and the infamous cupping of the ear celebration after scoring a goal at home. I actually found it funny more than anything given how disappointing that team had been that season and that being such a primary focus. I’ve never been an advocate for booing your own team, so that probably played a factor too.

I’ll always remember 17-18 fondly, it was one of the most dominant seasons I’ve ever witnessed from a player. Unfortunately, his knees have dealt with so much that his game has certainly taken a hit as a result. We really lucked out organizationally that we didn’t lock him down to a long term deal. Imagine if we had committed to the double digit AAV that was being kicked around?

 

[NJDevs26]

I’m not saying I doubt it but the Mueller stuff sounds like hyperbole…why would Hall care about Mueller being in the lineup to that degree unless he ****ed his woman or something? Obviously he wouldn’t want him to play his shifts but to demand he be a scratch outright sounds like cartoonish villain stuff, albeit they clearly played better in the home games

 

[TheBeerNerd]

I saw an excerpt of an article about Shero's time in NJ about how not all of his moves worked out. The funniest part was that the trade for Mueller hurt them because San Jose used the pick that got to draft their "superstar defenseman" Mario Ferraro.