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

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Triumph said:
That's what's so frustrating, though. Some guys just never really look like NHLers - and I'd argue that Holtz was one of these. Nemec was solid last season, he made his share of mistakes, but he also made some excellent reads and did so consistently.

I have absolutely no idea what Nemec was doing out there on Saturday, to me it was one of the worst games I've seen someone play. His strength is his ability to read the play, but that was absent, as was pretty much everything else. Players have turned it around from this point for sure, but it is concerning.
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Could it have something to do with not knowing the new systems versus when he played under Ruff?
 
WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
If Nemec could skate like Reilly he'd be in the lineup IMO. I think some of his skating issues were overlooked by a lot of scouts. He always looked pretty sluggish to me.

A guy with mediocre skating, poor positioning, and questionable judgment on pinches shouldn't have been drafted so high. A great skater can mask those issues, but that'll never be Simon unfortunately.
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I think he looks pretty fluid to me. His problem is between the ears.
 
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None Shall Pass said:
Nemec has only played 3 games in the NHL this year where he had a functional shoulder. One of them he was very good in. I'd need to see a lot more than that before proclaiming he's good/ not good/bust/whatever.
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The problem is he hasn't looked good in any of the games since his callup. I still think he can be a good NHL player but he's had 3 awful games so far, with honestly the worst one probably coming on Saturday. No urgency, bad positioning, behind the play mentally and physically - it was ugly.

If they don't think he's on the roster to open next season, they have to think about moving him before the deadline.
 
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How do you feel your kids have developed this year? Carolina has quite a few potentially very good prospects in our pipeline, obviously nothing like your kids, but I think the Devils are a good team to watch to learn how you mesh a lot of new faces in a hurry and still be successful.
 
I think the Nemec discourse is largely clouded by what happened with Holtz. Totally fair to include as a data point but I think there’s a significant overreaction here off his NHL games this season, most of which were injury recovery.

I’m totally fine trading him because Casey and Silayev in the system is high end.

We have seen him be a serviceable NHLer at a younger age and the last few months in the AHL have been strong too. Obviously his development hasn’t been great the last year and some of the issues are really concerning but they’re also not shipping a freshly 21yo off for spare parts when the team needs cost controlled assets to contribute.

Like I said, I’m fine trading him but it has to be a player with term and makes sense $ wise. Pendulum has swung way too far in the other direction.
 
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NJDevils17 said:
I think the Nemec discourse is largely clouded by what happened with Holtz. Totally fair to include as a data point but I think there’s a significant overreaction here off his NHL games this season, most of which were injury recovery.

I’m totally fine trading him because Casey and Silayev in the system is high end.

We have seen him be a serviceable NHLer at a younger age and the last few months in the AHL have been strong too. Obviously his development hasn’t been great the last year and some of the issues are really concerning but they’re also not shipping a freshly 21yo off for spare parts when the team needs cost controlled assets to contribute.

Like I said, I’m fine trading him but it has to be a player with term and makes sense $ wise. Pendulum has swung way too far in the other direction.
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I think he needs to be traded. Dougie isn't going anywhere. There's no real room for Nemec.

Having said that, I think a Nemec trade is way better in the off-season - perhaps around the draft. I think there's a lot more that might shake out then vs at the trade deadline.
 
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Looking deeper beyond the big name acquisitions, what does everyone think about some of the depth pieces. Feels like if Fitzgerald can’t fit in any of the big names, there’s a couple of options that they could add to try to get a working third line or even see if they can find a guy that gels well with Hughes, Bratt, Hischier, or Meier:

Beauvillier
Suter
Bjugstad
Nyquist
Fabbri
Kerfoot
Armia
R. Smith
Mantha
Greenway
C.Smith
 
Zippy316 said:
Looking deeper beyond the big name acquisitions, what does everyone think about some of the depth pieces. Feels like if Fitzgerald can’t fit in any of the big names, there’s a couple of options that they could add to try to get a working third line or even see if they can find a guy that gels well with Hughes, Bratt, Hischier, or Meier:

Beauvillier
Suter
Bjugstad
Nyquist
Fabbri
Kerfoot
Armia
R. Smith
Mantha
Greenway
C.Smith
Click to expand...

I like Pius Suter a lot (grab all the Swiss) and have always been a fan of Nyquist, but he seems to be having a real down year after his career year last season. Might be a nice low-risk gamble to get some more skill in the middle six.
 
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Zippy316 said:
Looking deeper beyond the big name acquisitions, what does everyone think about some of the depth pieces. Feels like if Fitzgerald can’t fit in any of the big names, there’s a couple of options that they could add to try to get a working third line or even see if they can find a guy that gels well with Hughes, Bratt, Hischier, or Meier:

Beauvillier
Suter
Bjugstad
Nyquist
Fabbri
Kerfoot
Armia
R. Smith
Mantha
Greenway
C.Smith
Click to expand...
I like this list.

IMO, we're looking for a center who can kill penalties and win faceoffs. I think that limits to Suter, Kerfoot and maybe Bjugstad.

If Suter or Kerfoot are available at a reasonable price, I think they'd be fantastic upgrades for us. I think either could be re-signed if things work out, so that's also useful.

Bjugstad is bigger, but isn't really a PK guy. You could talk me into him, but I'd prefer the other two.

Low end forwards who are more heavily deployed toward offense (including material PP time) don't interest me that much. We'd be paying for their usage in situations that won't arise when they get here. Not worth it IMO.
 
Better Call Sal said:
I like Pius Suter a lot (grab all the Swiss) and have always been a fan of Nyquist, but he seems to be having a real down year after his career year last season. Might be a nice low-risk gamble to get some more skill in the middle six.
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I will say my one concern with Suter is out center group is already on the lighter side as it is. I like him as a player but I’m weary based on that, but I suppose it’s not much different than what we have now.


tailfins said:
I like this list.

IMO, we're looking for a center who can kill penalties and win faceoffs. I think that limits to Suter, Kerfoot and maybe Bjugstad.

If Suter or Kerfoot are available at a reasonable price, I think they'd be fantastic upgrades for us. I think either could be re-signed if things work out, so that's also useful.

Bjugstad is bigger, but isn't really a PK guy. You could talk me into him, but I'd prefer the other two.

Low end forwards who are more heavily deployed toward offense (including material PP time) don't interest me that much. We'd be paying for their usage in situations that won't arise when they get here. Not worth it IMO.
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I would love a McCann/Bjorkstrand type addition, but I just don’t see how we fit them in with the cap without retention.

Because of that I’m leaning toward this year not being an all-in year. Feels like this team needs to shed some deadweight in the off-season and revamp the bottom six of this roster.

I think a couple of low-cost acquisitions that could be huge additions if they find chemistry or mesh well may be the better play. Who knows maybe a Bjugstad - Hughes - Bratt line finds a way to work super well or someone like Beauvillier is the speedy energy guy that can fit in well next to Haula-Mercer, etc.
 
Slow news day item: Markstrom's mask that was painted by iPad is now in NHL 25. So that's cool!

1740431455022.png
 
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bossram said:
Nemec's defensive IQ was a weakness for him going back to his draft year. I remember reading a lot scouting reports taking issue with when/how he lunges at attackers at the wrong times, or defers to sagging too huge of a gap. Comparable I heard was Morgan Rielly (great skater, some offensive pop, terrible defensively).

I wanted Wright at the draft. Not that he was the correct pick in hindsight (Cooley), but Wright would fill a major need for the club right now.
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Then you really have to question the logic of picking him cause he was never projected to be anything great offensively
 
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