Devils discussion (news, notes and speculation) - playoff edition

[Better Call Sal]

Basically said in his season ender that Quinn has outwardly said he wants to play with Luke/Jack at some point and that's out of their control if he ends up walking to NJ. But what's under their control is that maybe they can trade for Jack/Luke (LOL), someone mentioned an offer sheet but the Devils would match anything I would assume for Luke

Truly can't believe this was spoken. Canuck fans have to be in shambles

 

[Bleedred]

He shot at like 8-9% for majority of the year, some of that is on Timo but that's just dumb to think it'll continue over the course the contract. He needs to have better starts to the season because he clearly picks it up in March for whatever reason. But dumping a player because he's slightly overpaid maybe by a 1M when this team is putting 12-13M in legitimate bums is f***ing funny. I can name 3-4 worse contracts than Timo currently on this roster when there was a grand total of 0 a few years ago.

My thoughts exactly.

It’s funny we’re even talking about moving on from Timo when Palat’s awful contract to not have one 40 point or even 40 point pace of a season still haunts our books for two more years and at not even $3 million less than Timo per. As well as Dillon and Haula (though expiring deal after next year) probably getting one year too many on his last deal.

And there’s also Dougie, but due to the less mobile and low scoring defense of which Dougie is one of two guys you can’t say that about, he’s absolutely needed at least through next year.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Meier is the root of the issue. Fitz and co missed the mark when evaluating him. Our depth went to get him - we lost a mid pair LD (Mukh), 3RW (Zetterlund), and a first round pick (Musty). You give that up for player who dictates play when they're on the ice, not someone who fills in the gaps.

Carolina was running into the same issue with Rantanen, but dumped him for what's seeming like a way better fit in Stankoven + picks.

IMO, Fitz needs to consider cutting bait with Meier. He's not part of the core and eats up cap. I'd look at dealing him as part of a package for a high end forward - or just dump him for futures to free up space for Marner.

wanting to trade Timo Meier to pay Mitch Marner has got to be one of the funnier things said on this board in recent memory....yesh.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

I think we've seen enought to know they can't. It's not like they've been together for 2 years. there's enough of a track record to show they can't win with them.

I disagree with that. They've hardly played in the playoffs.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

this notion that this core "can't fight through adversity" is kind of funny considering what they did 2 years ago in the playoffs vs the Rangers. Its like people just choose to ignore that series and how it transpired.

 

[theoptimist]

Ryan McLeod is a RFA. Buffalo continues to struggle. He’s a guy I’d love to have as 3C for now and years to come. Good play driver and plays the PK. A Gritsyuk-McLeod-Noesen line could be very effective and worlds better than whatever the hell we’ve put out there this season. Would love for Fitz to explore a trade possibility there but knowing him he’ll go the “grittier” route

We will never see McLeod written on any Devils jersey. That family has been banned from NJD.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

In general I agree with this take. The core is safe this summer, and when we talk about the forwards this summer, we’re talking about the bottom six. Gritsyuk coming in hopefully addressed one of those.

Through some combination of trade and FA, I don’t think it’s insurmountable at all to address that without putting next year’s first on the table. Mercer and Nemec have enough cache to get good role players. Sure, maybe you lose the trades on pure “value”, but that’s where we’re at. It is what it is.

The drafting has really been a killer. Just going after size has been absurd. And then when one of those guys shows a promising D+1 like Traff, he just moves him for a middling rental like Dumoulin lol. Terrible.

Yea I'm still really angry at that trade. It's not even about the prospect we gave up, it's the thought process. Fitz just doesn't seem to care to build up a forward lineup from within. Isn't even trying, isn't even concerned. Remember the Bardakov trade? geez, another one I can't get over.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

Truly can't believe this was spoken. Canuck fans have to be in shambles

aaaaand the first domino falls.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Knowing Fitz he would refuse to sign Quinn because he's too fast and skilled.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

It starts with Fitz only drafting defensemen in the first round and not targeting skilled forwards with elite offensive upside.

I would absolutely move Casey in the right deal because it's way too late to try to just build depth from the draft when a large part of our core only has another 5ish years in their prime contending window.

That doesn't mean not to build the forward group through the draft for the future, but for Nico's contending years they're going to have to have other ways to get guys who can make an immediate impact.

Not gunna bother discussing whether they should move Casey or not. What I will say though, is those are the type of moves that destroy teams.

 

[Bleedred]

RutherFOOL is really out of his mind saying that publicly. Just made the entire organization look weak and like a joke. He’s been doing that his entire time there with cringy remark and comment after cringy remark and comment.


I get really weird Drago manager/translator vibes from Rutherford ever since Allvin has been the GM there. He’s the big mouth real life version of Drago’s manager and translator. Wouldn’t even let Drago’s trainer answer questions from the media about his training regiment because he wanted to answer the question himself. Allvin has the same stone faced look during these press conferences as Dolph Lundgren did during the press conference scenes in that movie when someone asked him something.

 

[NJDevs26]

We will never see McLeod written on any Devils jersey. That family has been banned from NJD.

That literally wasn’t true with Nolan Foote

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Also they probably need to move Dougie this summer. Who is filling that offensive void? That leaves you with Hughes and maybe a Nemec or Casey.

I don't know, I am just astounded what this team has become since the spring of 23.

Yep, another circus show. They most likely will have to move Dougie to make improvements elsewhere (both cap reasons and maybe as an asset to get some forwards back), when a good gm wouldn't be in this position.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

The roster needs a shake up. We can't keep the core four. I wouldn't trade Hughes, Hischier, or Bratt because there's zero hope of getting value anywhere approximating those three. They're elite, non-generational stars. Meier is the one of the core four I think we whiffed on. He might flourish elsewhere - he did have his 40 goal season spent almost entirely with San Joe.

I agree, long-term I don't think Meier is the answer.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

I'm not as down on Fitz as some of you are, but after this series I think it's fair to question his job security. No, Jack wouldn't have made this any less lopsided. I know that's not the prevailing wisdom here, but you know enough dumb fans think it is.

If you look back on his history, you absolutely should be. His work has been incredibly mediocre at best. I feel like some people on here are not really that mad at him because he made big fa moves and that's "exciting", but that's not how you build a winning team

 

[thebeernerd]

Basically said in his season ender that Quinn has outwardly said he wants to play with Luke/Jack at some point and that's out of their control if he ends up walking to NJ. But what's under their control is that maybe they can trade for Jack/Luke (LOL), someone mentioned an offer sheet but the Devils would match anything I would assume for Luke

Luke is not offer sheet eligible.

I listen to a Canucks podcast and their view on next year is to make it more convincing to re-sign Quinn. With these comments, next episode is going to be a must-listen.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

2027-28 Devils D:

Siegs - Q Hughes
L Hughes - Pesce
Silayev - Casey
Kovacevic

Move on from Dougie, Nemec, Dillon

That could be a crazy elite D core. Size, speed, offensive ability...

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Fitz has a really good sense of what the strengths and weaknesses are of his team

He really doesn't

 

[britdevil]

Timo + for Quinn at the draft.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Timo + for Quinn at the draft.

why are we giving them any piece of value after what that idiot said today?

 

[longislanddevil]

Just wait for Quinn Hughes to become a UFA and sign him without having to give up assets. It’s as simple as that for me.

 

[britdevil]

why are we giving them any piece of value after what that idiot said today?

I'm just extra salty with Timo today. Don't mind me.

 

[Aurinko]

I am not sure how anyone could have watched that game and blamed Markstrom? If it weren't for him, maybe its 8-1. He saved 93% of the shots.

and no, Allen is not more experienced.

Jake Allen - 29 playoff games, Save Percentage (SV%): .924
Jacob Markström - 26 playoff games, Save Percentage (SV%): .911

Allen has played more and with better %. I've seen the same mistake tens of years, when teams stay with the losing goalie and never even trying the alternative.

Markström played well, it wasn't his fault, but loss is a loss. I just feel like it's wrong to go 0-4 without ever giving your other goalie a chance.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Why are we on Meier? He, Nico, Bratt and maybe Dawson were the only ones actually creating something in yesterday’s game. They did good against Canes top 6. Devils bottom 6 got eaten alive

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Truly can't believe this was spoken. Canuck fans have to be in shambles

There's 0 chance Fitz trades Jack/Luke. He will offer Luke max cap salary if he has to.