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

[guitarguyvic]

No, he’s not fitting that bill.

But assuming the thing about Dillon is true, then he come back and occupy that spot.

I do worry about a 3 year deal though. I still think he’ll get paid closer to $3 million than $4 million per.

That’s the thing. If Dillon isn’t coming back, his replacement should be a more versatile, mobile player. I can totally see Dumo being Dillion 2.0 which is exactly what we should be avoiding.

 

[Triumph]

I mean you answered your own question. He plays on the third line.

Look, if Fitz can pull it off AND somehow find a way to upgrade all those other spots, including the third line spot that Mercer would otherwise be occupying, then more power to him. I’m highly skeptical.

I just laid out the fact that the Devils have 2 3rd line RWs (Noesen, Gritsyuk) and two guys above him. There's plenty of RWs on the team already. Mercer is not an LW. He is not a C. He's an RW, and we have enough of those.

'Don't get rid of the underachiever, what if we somehow do worse without him' is just doomerism. You're just using one issue (the rest of the forwards) to justify not upgrading a forward spot in need of upgrading. It's very funny.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

He isnt center. He doesnt play the game this way. But I believe with better depth he will be more productive player. He is doing better with less attention. I dont think he is untouchable at all, but still he is useful as 20g scorer if he isnt our 5th best forward.

I just don't see Mercer for a 3C trade as one NJ wins. Zacha for Haula is kind of the blueprint there and that's been a wash, and done largely cause Zacha had wore out his welcome and the team wanted to move on. Teams don't trade away centers unless there's a good reason, and I don't think other teams are clamoring for Mercer, unless they see him as a Center.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

They handled adversity fine in this series, it's prosperity they handled like shit (blowing a two-goal lead in Game 3, and a three goal-lead/two leads last night, playing poorly in Game 4 at home with momentum).

Semantics I think. I'd call it adversity when you give up a goal while up 3 and the other team starts pressing with the home crowd behind them and the refs doing them favors.

 

[JrFischer54]

people also have to chill on the fitz hate.

Markstrom was absolutely a main reason they lost game 4 and a big reason they lost game 5.

I don't care about all the OT saves. If he didn't shit himself in the 2nd period, we would be talking about game 6 on Friday night right now.

sure lets just discount the big saves he made in the game to keep it tied. i get he gave up two shit goals but he stopped great chances if your blaming markstrom blame your boy bratt for no showing last night

 

[Billdo]

What part of being completely useless did you like to want to bring sprong back? Just curious

I think with some consistent time he could provide some offense. I'd rather him than the others tbh.

 

[jkrdevil]

Not to be grim, but playing around with Puckpedia…if that is a career ender for Dillion that would be big from a cap perspective. You could trade away Mercer and Haula and bring in a 3C making upwards $8.6 million on the cap and still not have to buy out Palat or Dougie (which saves money down the road).

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

people also have to chill on the fitz hate.

sure lets just discount the big saves he made in the game to keep it tied. i get he gave up two shit goals but he stopped great chances if your blaming markstrom blame your boy bratt for no showing last night

He makes the easy saves in the second period and there's no OT, lol. What is so hard to understand about that? The team was clearly shell shocked when their goalie was giving up pea shooter shots from Jackson Blake and Andrei Svechnikov

 

[JrFischer54]

yeah, I can't really say they didn't handle adversity well in the series

in game 3, they had the lead but then Carolina tied it late. From that point on, they dominated and ended up winning.

in game 4, they went down 3-0 but fought back to make it a game

in game 5, they had the lead and Carolina tied it (twice) but they still gutted it out to OT before running out of gas

that is not to mention all the injuries to the DMen that they were hit with seemingly every game

i agree with this to an extent they no showed game 1 when they "rested" the final game of the season. then they no show the third period of game 4 with an injury backup in net. i can overlook the game 1 but that third period was a disgrace in game 4

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Not to be grim, but playing around with Puckpedia…if that is a career ender for Dillion that would be big from a cap perspective. You could trade away Mercer and Haula and bring in a 3C making upwards $8.6 million on the cap and still not have to buy out Palat or Dougie (which saves money down the road).

I mean, it's a catch-22. Yes, the Devils would be getting out of that term but their PK was butt with him out in this series which was pretty f***ing good with Dillon all year long

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

people also have to chill on the fitz hate.

sure lets just discount the big saves he made in the game to keep it tied. i get he gave up two shit goals but he stopped great chances if your blaming markstrom blame your boy bratt for no showing last night

correct, I am going to blame the goalie when he let in 2 shit goals. The team scored 4 goals, that should be plenty enough to win.

He also sucked in game 4.

 

[JrFischer54]

He makes the easy saves in the second period and there's no OT, lol. What is so hard to understand about that? The team was clearly shell shocked when their goalie was giving up pea shooter shots from Jackson Blake and Andrei Svechnikov

again i can overlook the bad goals if he makes big stops that should've been goals which he did. then he stands on his head in overtime and the team takes a stupid 4min penalty!

 

[JrFischer54]

correct, I am going to blame the goalie when he let in 2 shit goals. The team scored 4 goals, that should be plenty enough to win.

He also sucked in game 4.

so did bratt and majority of them

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Whether Gritsyuk is actually good or not will be a decent sized factor in how the early part of next season goes. I still expect there to be a hole that needs patching at the deadline, but it would be sweet if he’s an instant 20 goal guy that can help the PP.

Chances are they're a patchwork team till the deadline, hopefully they're elite enough to where Fitz can get a legitimate rental. I wonder if the first is out of question next year but we shall see where they are at the deadline come next year

 

[guitarguyvic]

I just laid out the fact that the Devils have 2 3rd line RWs (Noesen, Gritsyuk) and two guys above him. There's plenty of RWs on the team already. Mercer is not an LW. He is not a C. He's an RW, and we have enough of those.

'Don't get rid of the underachiever, what if we somehow do worse without him' is just doomerism. You're just using one issue (the rest of the forwards) to justify not upgrading a forward spot in need of upgrading. It's very funny.

It’s doomerism to not work under the assumption that Fitz can pull off upgrading Mercer and numerous other forward spots at the same time? What a ridiculous thing to say.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Mercer is fine depth and the kind of guy you want in your bottom 6. The issue is he's being forced way too high in the lineup. You can trade him but I definitely agree with the notion that he is not going to return a piece that is any more valuable to us.

That said I get why people think the grass is greener. Just like we thought Cotter was some stud we stole from Vegas.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

again i can overlook the bad goals if he makes big stops that should've been goals which he did. then he stands on his head in overtime and the team takes a stupid 4min penalty!

I can't because there's a game 6 on Friday night if he doesn't become a turd in game 5 in the second period. He was also ass in game 4. Call a spade a spade. He was the reason why we thought we had a leg up on Carolina and he wound up being our downfall in 2/5 games.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Mercer is fine depth and the kind of guy you want in your bottom 6. The issue is he's being forced way too high in the lineup. You can trade him but I definitely agree with the notion that he is not going to return a piece that is any more valuable to us.

That said I get why people think the grass is greener. Just like we thought Cotter was some stud we stole from Vegas.

I think he absolutely could, because I think that teams around the league are stupid and may think he has more value than he actually does.

Taking the Quinn situation off the table, I would absolutely package Mercer for an upgrade at center or another legitimate goal scoring threat. Or ideally both.

 

[JrFischer54]

I can't because there's a game 6 on Friday night if he doesn't become a turd in game 5 in the second period. He was also ass in game 4. Call a spade a spade. He was the reason why we thought we had a leg up on Carolina and he wound up being our downfall in 2/5 games.

lol thats just comical but par for this board so i get it.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Mercer is fine depth and the kind of guy you want in your bottom 6. The issue is he's being forced way too high in the lineup. You can trade him but I definitely agree with the notion that he is not going to return a piece that is any more valuable to us.

That said I get why people think the grass is greener. Just like we thought Cotter was some stud we stole from Vegas.

Mercer is meh, him being forced way too high in the lineup is gonna happen regardless in future seasons because of injuries and such.

Cutting bait with him would be fine if they used the money on a proper trade or a player of better quality but trusting Fitz on that side of the puck is gonna be an adventure lol

 

[youryeah]

I'm still geeked at nemec having a strong showing in this series. really showed me something

really feared the way things were headed with him

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

lol thats just comical but par for this board so i get it.

Great rebuttal, lol.

Markstrom wasn't good in this series after game 3, not sure how anyone can see otherwise

 

[Guadana]

I just don't see Mercer for a 3C trade as one NJ wins. Zacha for Haula is kind of the blueprint there and that's been a wash, and done largely cause Zacha had wore out his welcome and the team wanted to move on. Teams don't trade away centers unless there's a good reason, and I don't think other teams are clamoring for Mercer, unless they see him as a Center.

May be as a part of the package. And yeah - its a problem. I think about Suter. Im not sure, I think he will be overpaid, but he is mobile, good positionally and he is in okay age.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I think he absolutely could, because I think that teams around the league are stupid and may think he has more value than he actually does.

Taking the Quinn situation off the table, I would absolutely package Mercer for an upgrade at center or another legitimate goal scoring threat. Or ideally both.

If Fitz can pull this off then great.

I think the issue here is that some of us don’t feel like that’s a realistic scenario. What seems more likely is we get someone similar to Mercer, which seems pretty pointless and wouldn’t move the needle for the other like four spots that need upgrading.

 

[JrFischer54]

Great rebuttal, lol.

Markstrom wasn't good in this series after game 3, not sure how anyone can see otherwise

lol theres no changing your mind so why bother. you have your blinders on its cool to each their own