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

[Mgd31]

Might be worth a late first in a shitty draft.

 

[dgibb10]

Might be worth a late first in a shitty draft.

The cap savings alone at 4 mill looks to be worth it.

I will admit I misjudged what goalie contracts are going to look like

 

[MB3]

If you had to make a top-10 list of the devils assets (including picks, players, contract status, etc) what does it look like?

1. Jack Hughes
2. Luke Hughes
3. Nico Hischier
4. Jesper Bratt
(tier drop)
5. Nemec
6. Meier
7. Saliyev
(tier drop)
8. Casey
9. Mercer
10. Markstrom? 2026 1st? Pesce? Siegenthaler?

 

[TheBeerNerd]

So at 21 years old Luke Hughes is already one of the best defenseman in the league, huh?

If not now then very soon. Maybe I'm crazy but he seems even better at zone entries than Jack right now. That extra height combined with the patented Ellen-taught skating skills is going to be a sight to behold.

 

[dgibb10]

If you had to make a top-10 list of the devils assets (including picks, players, contract status, etc) what does it look like?

1. Jack Hughes
2. Luke Hughes
3. Nico Hischier
4. Jesper Bratt
(tier drop)
5. Nemec
6. Meier
7. Saliyev
(tier drop)
8. Casey
9. Mercer
10. Markstrom? 2026 1st? Pesce? Siegenthaler?

Jack
Luke
Bratt
Nico (just bc of term)
Nemec
Silayev
Meier
Siegs
Mercer
Pesce

 

[DerekDevils30]

Just an amazing turnaround from last season. Fitz, Keefe, the players all deserve credit.

 

[My3Sons]

Just want to brag that Timo and my son are besties now View attachment 952293

That’s adorable. Thanks for sharing that with us.

 

[NJDevils17]

If you had to make a top-10 list of the devils assets (including picks, players, contract status, etc) what does it look like?

1. Jack Hughes
2. Luke Hughes
3. Nico Hischier
4. Jesper Bratt
(tier drop)
5. Nemec
6. Meier
7. Saliyev
(tier drop)
8. Casey
9. Mercer
10. Markstrom? 2026 1st? Pesce? Siegenthaler?

I don’t really have an issue except I’d swap Timo and Nemec. Meier hasn’t lit up the scoreboard but he’s playing really good hockey and is bound to go on a hot streak. Really happy with him.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

though I would not want to give someone in their 30s term in free agency.

Are you talking about Kovacevic? He's not in his 30s yet

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

For this season- I just won't entertain any ideas of splitting up Dillon and Hamilton. If they are somehow our "worst" D pair

As bad as I think they are, I don't think the issue is they're awful, more that they have certain weaknesses that probably can be fixed but is an issue atm. Dougie is slow af so against teams that are fast or play a heavy forecheck game, he needs to just be more conservative, especially with Dillon as his partner.

As for Dillon...well he just needs to be smarter. Idk, the guy seems really dumb. The number of times he jumps into the play offensively (and I'm not talking about pinching, like going in deep like a forward), the number of times he jumps up to try to lay a hit, miss, and leave Dougie as the last man back...just all kinds of stuff. He needs to stop all of it.

We could do much worse than Dillon-Dougie as a "3rd" pair, but they need to clean things up come playoffs, and I'm sure they will. They are not bad players or rookies.

The Siegenthalar-Kovacevic pair plays pretty conservatively tbh, but if you look at the Luke-Pesce pair, they play pretty aggressively and the difference I see is they cover for each other really well. I just don't see that happening ever with Dillon-Dougie. Honestly, I don't expect Dougie to be able to cover for Dillon, that's just not his job. The other way though? It's literally Dillon's job to cover for Dougie.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Ondrej Palat - 9pts in last 12 gms
@Andre Palot - 6pts in first 25 gms

 

[Captain3rdLine]

for some reason in all of this trade talk i never considered the devils could be sending Haula the other way in a cap dump. Feels like a huge reason the bottom six is struggling is because he’s lost all ability to be an even remotely useful hockey player

I don’t think they’ll do this unless it’s for a very significant upgrade. They like Haula, Haula loves being here and they won’t want to ship him out unless as I said it’s for a major upgrade.

Have to take into account the human element and the locker room dynamics

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

I started the Devils thread on the main board and I had 0% idea that it would become full of Leafs fans bashing Keefe

 

[NjDevsRR]

I started the Devils thread on the main board and I had 0% idea that it would become full of Leafs fans bashing Keefe

That thread should have originally been about the record 7 game streak of 20 or less shots allowed. That was problem number 1. The way that thread was posted gave fodder to the crazies on this site.

Problem number 2, you posted on the main boards.

 

[Lou is God]

Wording that thread the way you did only invites trolls and haters, if you had just made it about the shot record it would have gone over so much better.

 

[glenwo2]

View attachment 952359

Just an amazing turnaround from last season. Fitz, Keefe, the players all deserve credit.

Your avy is the most appropriate reaction to this :

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Ya you were asking for trouble with that thread title. Kind of makes all of us Devils fans look bad.

 

[Clam Jensen]

I started the Devils thread on the main board and I had 0% idea that it would become full of Leafs fans bashing Keefe

Putting the word “scary” in a main board thread is devious work lol

 

[Guttersniped]

We’re #1 (also the Rags lol)

 

[Bleedred]

Might be worth a late first in a shitty draft.

After seeing how much Blackwood, Daccord, Swayman and Oettinger got paid, I think paying a first that you expect to be a later round pick for Markstrom is definitely more than reasonable.

By the way, is anyone else glad we didn't take on Spencer Knight? Another guy that's doing shit all and gets paid too much. They probably should have bought him out this offseason. That's like $15 million in goalies. Bob has definitely played like a 36 year old this season and Knight has played more like a third string goalie the last two seasons (he didn't play a second in the NHL last season) he's played in the league.

 

[Blender]

We’re #1 (also the Rags lol)

View attachment 952428

OH MY

 

[Bleedred]

We’re #1 (also the Rags lol)

View attachment 952428

Hey they're above San Jose and I was told San Jose isn't that bad, let alone the worst team in the league!

 

[Emperoreddy]

After seeing how much Blackwood, Daccord, Swayman and Oettinger got paid, I think paying a first that you expect to be a later round pick for Markstrom is definitely more than reasonable.

By the way, is anyone else glad we didn't take on Spencer Knight? Another guy that's doing shit all and gets paid too much. They probably should have bought him out this offseason. That's like $15 million in goalies. Bob has definitely played like a 36 year old this season and Knight has played more like a third string goalie the last two seasons (he didn't play a second in the NHL last season) he's played in the league.

It's exactly why Fitz went this way instead of Ullmark. Get someone that maybe isn't a world beater but proven he can do his job, at a cheap cap hit thanks to retention and with some term but not too much so we can get out of it easy if it doesn't work out.

Anything else would have cost us closer to $5 million on longer term, and I'm not sure i wanted to do that with anyone that was available

 

[Captain3rdLine]

The Big question is what we do next year and especially after Markstrom is gone. I’m not sure we want to continuously be plugging in at the goalie position but I’m also not sure we want to pay a big price and/or throw a big contract at someone. Would be nice if the solution came internally but I wouldn’t count on that and there’s some risk to hoping for that. Maybe Daws gets his chance alongside Markstrom next year and runs with it? Not sure he’s an elite level talent or anything though.

 

[Emperoreddy]

He’s probably the best skater I’ve ever seen, and I think the Niedermayer comparison is accurate in that regard.

His defensive play has taken great leaps this season. Pairing him with Pesce is the best thing we could have done for his development. Truly incredible how much he has improved something that had been a weakness and turned it into a strength.

If he gets PP1 time and some more confidence in his shot, he could easily put up huge point totals.

I think he’s already a solid #2 defenseman, maybe even a clear #1 on many teams. Within a couple years, we’ll be talking about him as an elite #1 and a perennial Norris contender.

We need to pay that man his money now, before it gets too expensive.

It's his stride. It's so efficient. He can close gaps so fast and he makes it look effortless. His edge work is also obviously amazing, but his stride is what is helping him become so excellent defensively while still being aggressive on offense.

He can be pinching and still not out of a play if it goes the other way