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

[Zippy316]

So do we LTIR him through the trade deadline? That would be just about 6 weeks?

I’m pretty sure it would hurt more having him on LTIR if he’s returning in six weeks.

In very basic terms, teams accrue cap space by the day based on how far under the cap ceiling they are. So it actually benefits you to have the lowest possible cap hit every day (which is why we’ve been seeing the paper transactions with guys like Dowling on off days).

The second you go into LTIR, you can exceed the cap hit by that amount, but you can’t accrue cap space. If a player is out long term, it makes sense to bank that extra money if you get more out of it versus the daily accrual. In the short term, it’s not beneficial. You lose out on all those days of accrual.

This is why if you’ve noticed Haula has been on IR not LTIR, even if the Devils have carried 23 players + Haula’s cap hit at times. It still makes sense to accrue that space.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Man, the two week break is a huge gift. He’ll probably miss 2-3 weeks of games. That’s not that bad.

It's about as well timed as it can be. Plus the schedule isn't too tough leading into it so in theory Allen should be able to handle things.

Obviously no game is guaranteed, but I rather be playing the Habs and Flyers twice in this stretch then multiple Carolina or Rangers games.

 

[HoliksGhost]

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Haula and Palat both are practicing

 

[britdevil]

Man, that blows for Sweden in the 4 Nations but for the Devils that's AMAZING news.

Deeply unserious and silly tournament anyway...

 

[HoliksGhost]

View attachment 966420

UPDATE: The Devils released an update on Jacob Markstrom’s injury, saying he will be out for at least a month. They recalled goalie Isaac Poulter from their AHL team.

Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom underwent imaging on Thursday, which indicated an MCL sprain. He will be out approximately four to six weeks.

 

[Better Call Sal]

 

[njdevils1982]

My list, I left off McLeod cause he's a shit bag off the ice and it's an obvious slot to take up a spot and I already added a few more than I was supposed to so it's like 2 and almost a half of my most hated...

Forwards
Rod Pelley
Eric Boulton
Jacob Josefson
Michael Ryder
Stephen Gionta
Steve Bernier
Stefan Mattaeu

Defense
Peter Harrold
Matt Corrente
Anssi Salmela
Mason Geertsen
David Hale

Goalies
Blackwood
Louis Domingue
Jean-Francois Damphousse

Definitely got some good names there. Other names for consideration:

Reid Boucher
Damien Brunner
Ryane Clowe
Michael Grabner

all the bolded above (ryder, matteau, corrente, boucher, brunner, grabner) plus:

andreas johnsson
drew stafford
mike cammalleri
joseph blandisi
juri tlusty
beau bennett
will butcher

 

[HBK27]

Excited to see what Poulter can bring.

Obviously sucks to see Markstrom go down, but this does help us evaluate the goaltending position moving forward. I think Fitz was hoping that one of Poulter or Daws would be able to step up and grab the backup spot next season. Poulter will be 24 at the start of next season, while Daws just turned 24 a month ago - time for these guys to perform if they're ever going to stick in this league.

I still think Malek and Yegorov have higher upsides, but Malek is at least another 2-3 seasons away and Yegorov certainly longer. Devils could always resign Allen after this season, but I doubt they want to give him much term or have a $3.85M cap hit for a backup (his current full AAV - no idea what he'd get on a new deal).

Looking at Utica's last few games, seems that Poulter is on a roll - getting the past 3 games in 5 days and putting up a .963 SV% while giving up just 1 goal per game:

29/30 saves in 7-1 win on Jan 22nd
26/27 saves in 2-1 win on Jan 20th
24/25 saves in 3-1 win on Jan 18th

Prior to that, Daws was in net for two games with not great results:

Daws 25/28 saves in 3-2 loss on Jan 17th
Daws 25/28 saves in 7-3 win on Jan 15th

Three games before that were Poulter & Brodeur:

Brodeur 27/28 saves in 4-1 win on Jan 11th
Poulter 32/37 saves in 5-1 loss on Jan 10th
Poulter 20/21 saves in 5-1 win on Jan 8th

Poulter had a rough outing the one before that and that's where I stopped. Still, giving up one goal in 4 of 5 past games is a nice streak - seems Poulter is peaking at the perfect time for a callup.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Haula skating and practicing is good news IMO. He is still a better 3C option then Mercer or Dowling

 

[HBK27]

Deeply unserious and silly tournament anyway...

Yeah, and frustrating that it's happening late in the season when an injury to a player in the tournament can have a major impact.
It was talked about on 32 Thoughts podcast that this would usually be done at the beginning of the season, but they didn't want to compete with football and MLB, so it was scheduled around when it would have the most views/biggest impact, which is after the SuperBowl. I'll watch it, but my main rooting interest will be in not seeing any Devils get injured.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Markstrom is 4-6, so it requires the Shoresy 4-6 conversation.

 

[guitarguyvic]

8 to 14 games…could definitely be worse.

 

[Whaddagoal]

My list, I left off McLeod cause he's a shit bag off the ice and it's an obvious slot to take up a spot and I already added a few more than I was supposed to so it's like 2 and almost a half of my most hated...

Forwards
Rod Pelley
Eric Boulton
Jacob Josefson
Michael Ryder
Stephen Gionta
Steve Bernier
Stefan Mattaeu

Defense
Peter Harrold
Matt Corrente
Anssi Salmela
Mason Geertsen
David Hale

Goalies
Blackwood
Louis Domingue
Jean-Francois Damphousse

Anssi Salmela?? YAYO? are HFB legends. I thought they were fine for what they were. I guess YAYO will get heat for the draft position. Thought little gio Stephen Gionta was generally well like here, so tell me more! I remember at the end we all were complaining but the team roster was legit toilet paper.

I am not sure I am that strongly disliking blackwood either. He was a pretty good goalie when he was on.

I agree with most of the rest of the list, though!

I'm not one to hate on players, so it probably makes up the worst of the bunch. But here's mine:

Team 1:
Andrew Peters-Tim Sestito-Stefan Matteau
Niclas Havelid-Martin Skoula
Jon Gillies

Tuomo Ruutu-Jiri Tlusty-Eric Boulton
Andrei Zyuzin-David Hale
Louis Domingue

My type was basically if you were a really bad goon, or a bandaid Lou acquisition that provided nothing, I wasn't a fan. And god, take your pick of the slew of goalies we've trotted out in the past few years. Both Gillies and Domingue were equivalent to Hector the Rejector back there.

Totally forgot about Nicolas Havelid. Forgot why it was bad, but he was a pretty good Duck and Thrasher, I get we just got him on the way out?

 

[SJinNewJersey]

Waiting for the "Dawes is unhappy with NJ" thread on the main board.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Anssi Salmela?? YAYO? are HFB legends. I thought they were fine for what they were. I guess YAYO will get heat for the draft position. Thought little gio Stephen Gionta was generally well like here, so tell me more!

I am not sure I am that strongly disliking blackwood either. He was a pretty good goalie when he was on.

I agree with most of the rest of the list, though!



Totally forgot about Nicolas Havelid. Forgot why it was bad, but he was a pretty good Duck and Thrasher, I get we just got him on the way out?

Him and Skoula were just back-to-back trade deadline acquisitions in years that we flamed out in the first round. They weren't necessarily bad, but they brought nothing to the table. Easy cop out for me to list them.

 

[MasterofGrond]

I will NOT accept anssi slander in this topic

For a guy who was free, and was trade for Kovalchuk, how are you gonna be mad at him

Wait I f***ed that up, he came back with kovalchuk

Either way, free, traded for scrap, came back in a fun and cool trade, was our lord and savior, and the bowed out to return home

I love and miss him

 

[Better Call Sal]

I will NOT accept anssi slander in this topic

For a guy who was free, and was trade for Kovalchuk, how are you gonna be mad at him

Wait I f***ed that up, he came back with kovalchuk

Either way, free, traded for scrap, came back in a fun and cool trade, was our lord and savior, and the bowed out to return home

I love and miss him

Never forget:

 

[Smitty426]

Any thoughts on what Fitz should do come TDL? Who or what is going the other way. I see 3 or 4 good ones below:

CENTERS
Ryan Donato
Mikael Granlund
Trent Frederic
Ross Colton
Brock Nelson
Ryan OReilly
Jake Evans

WINGERS
Matheiu Olivier
Brandon Tanev
Drew Occonor
Yanni Gourde
JP Pageau
Scott Laughton
Taylor Hall
Nick Bjugstad
Kyle Palmieri

 

[Camille the Eel]

Haula skating and practicing is good news IMO. He is still a better 3C option then Mercer or Dowling

Yours is the rational take. But for the sake of my alternative reaction and my having given up on Nate Bastian, how about this alternative:

You don’t sit Dowling after what he and Timo and Mercer just brought. Continue that line.

If we are going to let Jack drive his own line with supporting cast wingers, go:
Jack, Haula and Palat.

Send Bastian to the press box or if we’ve got to play him demote someone else on line 4.

In sum, play Haula with Jack - they’ve been good together before.

Keep Dowling at center with Timo.

 

[bossram]

I love Dougie. I’ll be upset when we move on from him. But from a roster and asset management perspective, it’s difficult to see anyone but him being the one to try and move first this offseason. The risk is whether Kovacevic’s season this year is a fluke or not. There’s always the chance we simply let him walk. It’s a very interesting decision to be made.

Nemec and Casey warrant looks based on their play. Kovacevic getting extended Is certainly on the table given how he has performed. Eventually the numbers game will boil down to the oldest, most expensive defender and trying to move on from him while he has value around the league.

It will hurt me though, Dougie rules.

100%. I have been one of the biggest Dougie boosters here.

But his game is declining, his footspeed is slowing to a worrying degree, and they need to be ahead of that.

Dougie in 2 years might be unplayable at 5v5.

 

[Better Call Sal]

 

[dgibb10]

Yours is the rational take. But for the sake of my alternative reaction and my having given up on Nate Bastian, how about this alternative:

You don’t sit Dowling after what he and Timo and Mercer just brought. Continue that line.

If we are going to let Jack drive his own line with supporting cast wingers, go:
Jack, Haula and Palat.

Send Bastian to the press box or if we’ve got to play him demote someone else on line 4.

In sum, play Haula with Jack - they’ve been good together before.

Keep Dowling at center with Timo.

Take MacDermid out of the lineup before bastian I beg

 

[RNCDevil]

Haula skating and practicing is good news IMO. He is still a better 3C option then Mercer or Dowling

It was one data point, but I thought Dowling had a good game. I hope he doesn't get bumped out. Dowling thinks the game pretty quickly and doesn't seem like a defensive liability at all. If he was a bit larger, I would be more excited about him.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Anssi Salmela?? YAYO? are HFB legends. I thought they were fine for what they were. I guess YAYO will get heat for the draft position. Thought little gio Stephen Gionta was generally well like here, so tell me more! I remember at the end we all were complaining but the team roster was legit toilet paper.

I am not sure I am that strongly disliking blackwood either. He was a pretty good goalie when he was on.

I agree with most of the rest of the list, though!



Totally forgot about Nicolas Havelid. Forgot why it was bad, but he was a pretty good Duck and Thrasher, I get we just got him on the way out?

I simply can't stand Blackwood. He ruined so many games for us numerous times that I hope he eventually flounders in Colorado as well.

Salmela was garbage, sucked defensively and was on the ice for so many goals for that 2010-11 season. That OT goal vs the Islanders was great but that's all he had.

Stephen Gionta represents everything wrong with those garbage teams post 2012. He got way too much credit for helping during that run that it gave him way too long of a leash for all the season after where we had to watch him skate around and do f*** all offensively no matter how much the coaches tried to make him into something he wasn't.

Jacob definitely gets heat for being a #1 for me and cause he sucked. He represents so much of the bad drafting we had in the later years post all the playoff runs. So many better players were drafted after him too.