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

[Bleedred]

Bastian
Cotter
Hamilton (because of the cap hit)
Haula
Lazar
Mercer
Tatar

And every player I have not heard of before this season like Dowling.

Don't care to see any of them next year. Though I'm not exactly sure what Fitz can do. It's not like build a bottom 6 is some easy task else every team in the league would have one. But I do feel like ours might be one of the worst...

I'm gonna say right now, all of Bastian, Lazar and Dowling have likely played their last games here effective whenever this season ends.

I don't think we'll see any of them. None of them are signed beyond this year, if I'm not mistaken.

I think we'll still see ONE of Haula or Palat gone for next year. MAYBE Hamilton, but I still think we got another year of him.

 

[dgibb10]

I'm gonna say right now, all of Bastian, Lazar and Dowling have likely played their last games here effective whenever this season ends.

I don't think we'll see any of them. None of them are signed beyond this year, if I'm not mistaken.

I think we'll still see ONE of Haula or Palat gone for next year. MAYBE Hamilton, but I still think we got another year of him.

They will very likely bring back at least one.

I expect there will be a LOT less turnover than you think

 

[Bleedred]

They will very likely bring back at least one.

I expect there will be a LOT less turnover than you think

Tell me the last time we re-signed a 4th liner. I could be wrong and maybe we've done it, but we've not brought back guys like this often, if ever in the post-Lou era.

As a matter of fact, I could see Dowling back more than anybody else, but if that happens I highly doubt he's playing NHL games next year for us. It will be for the AHL. Like how they re-signed Willman last year, who played no NHL games this year after playing 18 last year and 69 in the AHL this season.

I don't think any of the others are back.

Maybe I'm wrong, but who was the last 4th liner we've re-signed since Lou was last GM? And not for the AHL?

MacDermid is the only one I can think of. And we know what that was about.

 

[Patrik26]

Why is everyone trading for Quinn? Wait two seasons when he becomes a UFA. Just need to free up cap space by then.

If we can get him for a package of scrap heap guys, then do it. But Nemec should NOT be in any deal. Otherwise, agree wait until UFA. He's not going anywhere else.

 

[None Shall Pass]

Tell me the last time we re-signed a 4th liner. I could be wrong and maybe we've done it, but we've not brought back guys like this often, if ever in the post-Lou era.

Bastian

 

[Bleedred]

Bastian

I should have been more specific.

When I say ''We haven't re-signed 4th liners since the Lou era'' I actually meant when they become UFA. I've specified this in the past, but I didn't do that in this thread. That was my fault.

When was the last time we re-signed a pending UFA 4th liner? We almost always retain 4th line RFA guys, though there has been a few times we haven't. Boqvist comes to mind.

All of the pending 4th line free agents are to be UFA after this year.

Bastian was an RFA the last time his contract was up. He'll be UFA this time, at least I think he will be? He's 27 now, so he should be UFA.

Again, there was MacDermid, but we all know the purpose of that.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Honestly relieved this season is coming to a close soon. This was by far the most miserable playoff-qualifying season I have ever experienced in 30 years of fandom; and I’ve never disliked a playoff-qualifying squad like I have this one. No fire, they looked as miserable playing games as I felt watching them. It’s crazy. Thank goodness Nemec played hero to ensure we didn’t have a first ever sweep, that’s basically the only positively memorable thing about this whole year. They had like what, one multi-goal comeback win all year? And then they had that little streak of allowing <20 shots per game. That’s basically the only other somewhat notable positive team accomplishment.

 

[NjDevsRR]

No fire

Not these last three games. They just don’t have the horses to execute properly

 

[Devils Trap]

I seriously hope some of the stuff im seeing about Dillon on Twitter / X isnt true. Some murmurs of potentially a career ending injury.

I know he has his faults but never want someone to be hurt like that.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I seriously hope some of the stuff im seeing about Dillon on Twitter / X isnt true. Some murmurs of potentially a career ending injury.

I know he has his faults but never want someone to be hurt like that.

Holy hell, awful if true

Edit: who is murmuring

 

[Devils Trap]

Holy hell, awful if true

Edit: who is murmuring

Apparently a couple fan accounts tweeted it (nothing confirmed or anything) but then Dan Amola (sp !??) told them to delete it to respect the family's privacy or something like that

One was to that Bratt Pack kid, and then there was a 2nd one that came up in my feed

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Apparently a couple fan accounts tweeted it (nothing confirmed or anything) but then Dan Amola (sp !??) told them to delete it to respect the family's privacy or something like that

One was to that Bratt Pack kid, and then there was a 2nd one that came up in my feed

I haven’t heard any of that about Dillon. I thought that guy said it was Luke who was having surgery and done for the season.

 

[Devils Trap]

I haven’t heard any of that about Dillon. I thought that guy said it was Luke who was having surgery and done for the season.

Its been since deleted by everyone after Dan asked for them to delete it, which kinda worries me that it may be true

 

[Emperoreddy]

I haven’t heard any of that about Dillon. I thought that guy said it was Luke who was having surgery and done for the season.

He had something about Dillion too but deleted it.

Its been floating around for a while that Luke was not coming back, but this is the first ive read about Dillion.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Not these last three games. They just don’t have the horses to execute properly

Meh…game 3 was better and certainly in the OT with the win. But it still looks like a few degrees cooler than normal playoff emotion. All season their skating and decision making has been slow, and they simply didn’t really look like they enjoyed playing hockey for the most part. All business, very little passion, while not really taking care of said business.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Dillon having an injury like that wouldn't be surprising with how it happened/the reaction he had on the ice. If that was a concussion, he's 100% better off retiring. Game isn't worth it. Hopefully he's good though and it was just a hoax tweet

 

[NJDevs26]

If Dillon is actually about to be Ryan Clowed, might as well resign Dumoulin then although I share the skepticism about another long term 30+ deal, at least it would make the cost of trading for him easier to swallow

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Meh…game 3 was better and certainly in the OT with the win. But it still looks like a few degrees cooler than normal playoff emotion. All season their skating and decision making has been slow, and they simply didn’t really look like they enjoyed playing hockey for the most part. All business, very little passion, while not really taking care of said business.

This is nonsense man. It's okay to say "you know what, the top guys are playing really well, let's get them some help this summer". You don't need to double down on it.

The core is NOT why we're losing this series. That needs to stop.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Meh…game 3 was better and certainly in the OT with the win. But it still looks like a few degrees cooler than normal playoff emotion. All season their skating and decision making has been slow, and they simply didn’t really look like they enjoyed playing hockey for the most part. All business, very little passion, while not really taking care of said business.

??????

Their skating and decision making have been slow because I'd say 25% are AHL players and our AHL squad has been liquid ass the past few years. Noesen is also useless if he's not scoring, his game is molasses

 

[guitarguyvic]

??????

Their skating and decision making have been slow because I'd say 25% are AHL players and our AHL squad has been liquid ass the past few years. Noesen is also useless if he's not scoring, his game is molasses

They’ve been slow all year. The team speed is atrocious, and it’s not just the physical skating it’s the decision making. Nico, Bratt, and Jack, those are your three forwards that enter the zone with speed and that’s the end of the list. Timo does occasionally but even he too often can’t seem to get behind defenders and loves to do the turn back after gaining the zone, which of course usually turns into nothing because we have no one other than Luke who jumps into the rush.

Collectively this squad all season has been a half step slow on decisions in the offensive zone.

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[guitarguyvic]

This is nonsense man. It's okay to say "you know what, the top guys are playing really well, let's get them some help this summer". You don't need to double down on it.

The core is NOT why we're losing this series. That needs to stop.

What are you going on about? I’m talking about the team collectively all season.

Yeah we need help…one of the aspects we need a lot of help in is team speed. Which is a f***ing travesty considering we were the fastest team in the league just two years ago.

 

[MadDevil]

Yeah, if there's one thing I'm not going to criticize this team for in this series is effort/caring. If you want to say they haven't played smart or executed well at times (particularly on special teams), that's more than fair. But they could have easily just folded after the asskicking in the first game. They didn't. Just because they're not yelling or getting into scrums after every whistle doesn't mean they don't care or don't have passion or whatever other nebulous term you want to use.

 

[NJDevs26]

Yeah, if there's one thing I'm not going to criticize this team for in this series is effort/caring. If you want to say they haven't played smart or executed well at times (particularly on special teams), that's more than fair. But they could have easily just folded after the asskicking in the first game. They didn't. Just because they're not yelling or getting into scrums after every whistle doesn't mean they don't care or don't have passion or whatever other nebulous term you want to use.

This whole series has been a microcosm of what this team is…give zero effort in Game 1, play a little better in Game 2 but screw themselves on special teams, give a back to the wall effort for the ages in Game 3 then come out ridiculously flat today until they gave themselves a mountain to climb

 

[guitarguyvic]

Yeah, if there's one thing I'm not going to criticize this team for in this series is effort/caring. If you want to say they haven't played smart or executed well at times (particularly on special teams), that's more than fair. But they could have easily just folded after the asskicking in the first game. They didn't. Just because they're not yelling or getting into scrums after every whistle doesn't mean they don't care or don't have passion or whatever other nebulous term you want to use.

Yelling or getting into scrums? These guys have barely looked like they are enjoying themselves even when they score or in the games they’ve won all season, dramatic playoff game 3 aside. Something has been amiss emotionally with this group all year, the enthusiasm for the game simply hasn’t been there for longer than a few moments here and there.