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

[Comparison Ford]

former first round pick and nepo baby Kiefer Bellows on waivers today, can’t be worse than foote

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

1. Someone said the Devils couldn't win a trade of Nico, Bratt, or Jack. I was responding to that idea.

2. Nico is a sub PPG center who takes on a lot of the defensive match ups. He does well with this, but not he's not great at it (Barkov is great). If you could trade him for someone you think could be great, it could work out.

He stuffed the Zibanejad and Aho lines in 2023 in the playoffs at ES, they got mauled by the Canes secondary and depth, Canes literally won the series because our depth got caved by Jordan Martinook and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. How is that on Nico? He's all world defensively.

 

[Bleedred]

It's not the pre-lockout days anymore, like when we made all of those deals and shipped those guys out. Teams don't trade players like Nico unless they're ready to blow it up or simply because the player wants out.

The fact that this team can't contend or even be a playoff lock in the prime years of Nico, Bratt and Jack is the fault of the people running the team and constructing the roster.

 

[devilsblood]

I love your research and determination.
I think board consensus was that flukey season was a fluke.

Hall dragged an inspired but mediocre team into the playoffs.

Vatanen was the definition of high-risk mid reward defender from the second he arrived... not someone to be counted on. I liked Kincaid but no one thought he was ever a #1 goalie.

Sure we were optimistic bc of Nico, Bratt, Wood and Zacha, but I didn't think we were at all anything more than cautiously optimistic we would squeak into the playoffs the next year.

Honestly, despite all the angst, we are a much stronger team top to bottom on paper than we've been since 2012... Although our Dcorps with Sevs as a bottom pairing luxury was better for that one year.

Oh I like this team more then that team.

And as you say cautiously optimistic about playoffs the next year. That was board consensus. Instead we were one of the worst teams in the league. I guarantee no one was predicted anywhere near the level of crap we saw.

 

[My3Sons]

He stuffed the Zibanejad and Aho lines in 2023 in the playoffs at ES, they got mauled by the Canes secondary and depth, Canes literally won the series because our depth got caved by Jordan Martinook and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. How is that on Nico? He's all world defensively.

Hischier is being asked to do virtually all the heavy lifting. Saying he's a "sub-ppg" center is technically correct, but in the last two years before this one he had 147 points in 152 games, so pretty close to PPG. He also had a 30 goal season and paced for one last season and again has one this season. The assists are a bit fluky as you rely on others to cash in. Give NJ a reliable defensive third line center like Lundell and I bet it's a different world for him with more offensive zone starts and less brutal matchups. Barkov is a tremendous player but he's also not going to score 30 this season and didn't pace for 30 in either of the past two years. He plays for a better team so telling me he gets more assists doesn't resolve the issue in my view. Both are tremendous players. If Barkov had Tatar and Haula on his wing I don't see him doing any better than Hischier. I'm not sure even McDavid could do all that much with Tatar and Haula on the wing.

 

[JimEIV]

Hischier is being asked to do virtually all the heavy lifting. Saying he's a "sub-ppg" center is technically correct, but in the last two years before this one he had 147 points in 152 games, so pretty close to PPG. He also had a 30 goal season and paced for one last season and again has one this season. The assists are a bit fluky as you rely on others to cash in. Give NJ a reliable defensive third line center like Lundell and I bet it's a different world for him with more offensive zone starts and less brutal matchups. Barkov is a tremendous player but he's also not going to score 30 this season and didn't pace for 30 in either of the past two years. He plays for a better team so telling me he gets more assists doesn't resolve the issue in my view. Both are tremendous players. If Barkov had Tatar and Haula on his wing I don't see him doing any better than Hischier. I'm not sure even McDavid could do all that much with Tatar and Haula on the wing.

Barkov is a beast. I don't think it's a reasonable comparison. Besides his size and willingness to use it, he has been pretty much been a PPG player for the last 8 years. The 2022 season he had 88 points in 67....on a per game basis, we've never had a 1.31 PPG player like Barkov.

I also have a hard time with the "linemate" thing. Nico has had Timo stapled to his hip for pretty much the entirety of the last two years with a few exceptions. I mean if Meier isn't enough of a quality linemate to hit his pinnacle I don't know what else we can do?

 

[mouser]

former first round pick and nepo baby Kiefer Bellows on waivers today, can’t be worse than foote

Bellows wouldn’t be eligible for play for the Devils this season if claimed.