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

[Richer's Ghost]

I don't see Dougie waiving his NMC to go to Vancouver.

100x this

 

[NJDevs26]

I don't think Fitz is silly enough to jeopardize the future for the present... yet.

You could argue he did that with the Meier and Markstrom trades, but a hopefully low first and Kevin Bahl shouldn't be franchise changing.

 

[Mgd31]

Nemec 2 more assists already. Are there museums in Vancouver?

 

[Devs3cups]

Kinda sucks the relationship seems a bit soured already with Nemec. Kid is gonna be a stud.

Maybe he feels bad about how his comments were perceived.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Why would Dougie waive off a contender mid-season? Why would the Devils move him before they have to pay Luke? Why would the Devils break up this defense core mid-season?

The Dillon-Hamilton pairing can be broken up into something new. Its clearly our weakest pairing. The other two pairings, you don't touch.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I mean Nemec can complain all he wants, he f***ed his shoulder playing for Slovakia in games the Devils could've told him not to play in and then he got outplayed in camp/preseason/regular season. Not sure why he's mad at the organization, Casey's down there too and he outplayed Nemec. Come back stronger with an angry mentality and he's going to be a regular next year. Simple as that

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

I hope he plays tomorrow. I’d like the Devils to rotate through the “maybe” 4th line guys, give bunches of them a shot, and hope to find some unexpected chemistry between some of them at the NHL level.

Me too. Take MacDermid out of the lineup.

 

[JrFischer54]

If we move Hamilton I think we lose a big voice in the locker room

Idk if we want to jeopardize it during a soon to be playoff run

Exactly why I think he won’t be moved at any point during the rest of his contract. Team is still super young you don’t go and trade your veteran leader esp during the middle of the season in a playoff run when he hasn’t done anything to warrant being trade except he might in the future not live up to his contract. That’s some minority report shit

 

[Devs3cups]

Moving on from Dougie after the season just makes too much sense. It's also sort of necessary in the long run. I love the dude and he's an overall good player but I'm not losing out on Nemec/Kovacevic for the future in order to keep a declining Dougie for 2-3 more years.

The core will be fine without Dougie's voice. Veterans have gone to other teams in the last few years, including Severson after 2022-2023.

 

[SansaStark]

Nemec isn’t going anywhere, JT Miller is not coming here. If anyone gets moved it’s probably Mercer at this point. Or Leni and picks or something.

The team needs to get their heads out of their ass and start playing better. The answer is in the room, as they say.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Exactly why I think he won’t be moved at any point during the rest of his contract. Team is still super young you don’t go and trade your veteran leader esp during the middle of the season in a playoff run when he hasn’t done anything to warrant being trade except he might in the future not live up to his contract. That’s some minority report shit

With how this core talks about losing, they wouldn't care about moving on from Hamliton

 

[Triumph]

3 year deal is partially to waiver-proof him. Otherwise a team can claim him for emergency toughness the way we did last year. But I do agree they keep him and play him for certain games. He seemed useful to have around in the last game vs Rempe.

It is not to waiver proof him. Please stop inventing reasons why a team might sign a player for 3 years. It's because they want him for 3 years. Ross Johnston, one of the only similar players left in the NHL, was claimed on waivers with 3 years left on his deal. The Devils traded for MacDermid, they did not claim him on waivers (they did claim Mason Geertsen on waivers, which is what you might be thinking of).

 

[Guttersniped]

We played this game so many times it's nauseating.

Holtz is a sniper and Ty Smith is a great defenseman too. Joey Anderson et all is the deepest our forward prospect group has been in 20 years... it's tiring

Joey Anderson:
73rd Pick in 2016 Draft
37th in Goals in 2016 Draft, 7 players drafted after him with more, including Bratt.
44th in Points in 2016 Draft, 9 players drafted after him with more, including Bratt.
45th in Games Played in 2016 Draft, 9 players drafted after him with more, including Bratt.

Not sure what you’re going on about lol.

 

[HersheyBob27]

If we move Hamilton I think we lose a big voice in the locker room

Idk if we want to jeopardize it during a soon to be playoff run

Nothing could be further from the truth

 

[MadDevil]

I think people are reading too much into the Nemec stuff. Of course he's frustrated that he's not in the NHL right now. Any player in his position would be. I don't think that means the relationship between him and the organization has soured.

Unfortunately for him there's just no spot open right now. I think Kovacevic was probably looked at as being more of a depth guy when they brought him in, but then he and Siegs became one of the best shutdown pairings in the league. They have 3 set pairings that all work (although Dillon/Dougie can be an adventure sometimes) and they've all been healthy since Luke and Pesce came back.

They do have a tough decision to make this offseason though. I don't think moving Dougie is as easy or likely as people seem to be assuming it is, and Fitz is obsessed with tall defensemen so I think between Kovacevic and Nemec, he might choose Kovacevic. Which for the next couple years might be fine, but with Dougie only getting worse from here, you might end up needing another top 4 righty in a year or two anyway, which would presumably be Casey I guess.

On the other hand, Nemec has pretty good trade value, so if you are going to make a big move, he might be the piece for it.

It is nice to have this kind of "problem" though when you consider some of the bluelines we've iced in the last decade.