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

[My3Sons]

There's a historical debate that started Nico's first year that his game is more of a third line center on a championship team than a first OA draft pick. So, along with Lovejoy references, it is a large part of @My3Sons 's sardonic charm that he will forever be a third line center on our depth chart.

Others get angry. @My3Sons goes delicate belly pokes instead

You forgot the age related stuff and the my family thinks I’m an idiot stuff. Both really round out my repertoire

 

[Hisch13r]

Time for me to rev back up the Pius Suter train. Over the 2 years he was in Vancouver that he should’ve been here instead he was T145 in 5v5 P/60 with 1.7. Just below his fellow Swiss Timo at 1.72. He was T48 in 5v5 G/60 at 0.95. A bit above fellow Swiss Timo and Fiala both at 0.85 (McDavid also coincidentally lol).

Suter’s pretty picture perfect 3C for us to me. He’s elite defensively and on the PK. He produces well for a 3C. He scores goals and finishes very well for a 3C. Also the added bonus of Swiss camaraderie. If we were to add a top 6 guy as well to pair with Jack and ran a 3rd line of Bratt-Suter-Mercer I think they’d absolutely feast.

The only drawback to Suter I could see is maybe he’s priced himself away from us because of how good he was last year.

 

[JimEIV]

Has there been any recent injury updates for Dillon?

Edit:

I just found this.

‘Never Had Anything That Bad’ -- Devils’ Brenden Dillon Shares Emotional Update After Scary Neck Injury Ends Postseason | PFSN

New Jersey Devils' defenseman Brenden Dillon opened up about his scary postseason neck injury against the Carolina Hurricanes.

www.profootballnetwork.com

 

[forceten]

Haula as a third line winger isn’t a problem if he can score 40 points when not injured. What a mess this season was health wise. But we still could use a better center and that third line with Mercer and Haula would have nobody digging pucks out …

 

[edevils]

Time for me to rev back up the Pius Suter train. Over the 2 years he was in Vancouver that he should’ve been here instead he was T145 in 5v5 P/60 with 1.7. Just below his fellow Swiss Timo at 1.72. He was T48 in 5v5 G/60 at 0.95. A bit above fellow Swiss Timo and Fiala both at 0.85 (McDavid also coincidentally lol).

Suter’s pretty picture perfect 3C for us to me. He’s elite defensively and on the PK. He produces well for a 3C. He scores goals and finishes very well for a 3C. Also the added bonus of Swiss camaraderie. If we were to add a top 6 guy as well to pair with Jack and ran a 3rd line of Bratt-Suter-Mercer I think they’d absolutely feast.

The only drawback to Suter I could see is maybe he’s priced himself away from us because of how good he was last year.

View attachment 1028750

The limited time I watched him, he was noticeable. He would be a welcomed addition as a 3c and then resign Glass as 4c.

 

[Zippy316]

If you move out Haula, you still have to replace him with another center option that odds are will make more than Haula.

I just don’t see it happening since Haula brings good special teams utility and chemistry with Hughes and Bratt on top of it.

The more I think about it, the same goes for Palat. You either take back another terrible contract for him, have a buyout hit for three years, or retain 50% to move him out.

The only options I could see him maybe accepting is retaining 50% and sending him to Tampa as a swan song, possible re-union with Yzerman in Detroit,

 

[devilsblood]

If you move out Haula, you still have to replace him with another center option that odds are will make more than Haula.

I just don’t see it happening since Haula brings good special teams utility and chemistry with Hughes and Bratt on top of it.

The more I think about it, the same goes for Palat. You either take back another terrible contract for him, have a buyout hit for three years, or retain 50% to move him out.

The only options I could see him maybe accepting is retaining 50% and sending him to Tampa as a swan song, possible re-union with Yzerman in Detroit,

But we stopped using Haula as a center. At best he’s a winger/5th center.

 

[Zippy316]

But we stopped using Haula as a center. At best he’s a winger/5th center.

He might be playing wing but he’s been taking a lot of faceoffs while doing so. That’s valuable on this team where guys like Mercer and Hughes struggle at times.

 

[Ekiru]

If you move out Haula, you still have to replace him with another center option that odds are will make more than Haula.

I just don’t see it happening since Haula brings good special teams utility and chemistry with Hughes and Bratt on top of it.

The more I think about it, the same goes for Palat. You either take back another terrible contract for him, have a buyout hit for three years, or retain 50% to move him out.

The only options I could see him maybe accepting is retaining 50% and sending him to Tampa as a swan song, possible re-union with Yzerman in Detroit,

Chemistry with Bratt and Hughes should be a net negative; hes a fourth liner. Why do we care if he has chemistry with guys he shouldnt ever be playing with?

And why is it every other team can get out from under 2-3-4-5-6-7 year contracts, but us Devils cant move off a one year rental in Haula? I seriously doubt any money is needed to come back; not to mention buying him out is almost certainly better than him playing anymore

Injury excuses are just that for him, now. Its every year; hes just broken. And as you say we cant likely move Palat, so you basically have to move Haula

Either that or we add Gritsyuk and a middling 3rd line winger and thats it. Wont be pretty for the Devils or its fans if that happens

 

[Camille the Eel]

Haula was much better and more useful at wing. He can take face offs if he’s with center who does not excel at that but his effectiveness for us greatly involves going into the corners on the offensive end where he’s one of our stronger, more physical and aggressive forwards.

 

[Bleedred]

Time for me to rev back up the Pius Suter train. Over the 2 years he was in Vancouver that he should’ve been here instead he was T145 in 5v5 P/60 with 1.7. Just below his fellow Swiss Timo at 1.72. He was T48 in 5v5 G/60 at 0.95. A bit above fellow Swiss Timo and Fiala both at 0.85 (McDavid also coincidentally lol).

Suter’s pretty picture perfect 3C for us to me. He’s elite defensively and on the PK. He produces well for a 3C. He scores goals and finishes very well for a 3C. Also the added bonus of Swiss camaraderie. If we were to add a top 6 guy as well to pair with Jack and ran a 3rd line of Bratt-Suter-Mercer I think they’d absolutely feast.

The only drawback to Suter I could see is maybe he’s priced himself away from us because of how good he was last year.

View attachment 1028750

Maybe I'm just being negative, but he strikes me as a guy that will get scooped up pretty quickly on July 1st. And we'll wonder why we didn't do it and hope that it was because someone else gave him a 5 year deal. And then once the numbers come out it won't be a 5 year deal and we'll wonder why we couldn't have done that. And then Fitz signs Bastian's replacement or some shit and we're left shaking our heads.

Maybe I just have such low morale and faith in Fitz right now.

If we go into next year with largely this same team, only with new 4th liners brought in to replace the UFA 4th liners (probably a slight upgrade) and Daws as backup (Clear downgrade) I have no idea how he could view this team as a contender.

Especially when some of these guys who are already older will be a year older and likely a year worse. And I'm talking Palat, Haula, Dougie. Dillon. Probably even Markstrom.

 

[Eggtimer]

Haula was much better and more useful at wing. He can take face offs if he’s with center who does not excel at that but his effectiveness for us greatly involves going into the corners on the offensive end where he’s one of our stronger, more physical and aggressive forwards.

What ? Haula is one of our more physical and aggressive forwards ? I didn’t see that this year at all . He wernt pointless for almost 3 months . He is cooked . I want no part of Haula on this team next season . If there is no possible way to move him , then bury him in the minors or use him as a 13th forward . 4 th line if an absolute must . Nothing more . He provided nothing for far too many games

How much cap room do we have ?
We need to somehow add a good 3c and a winger for Jack plus revamp the bottom 6 . Nothing sure how we do that but it’s a must we fix the forward depth .
Having Dowling or Haula or Mercer as our 2C for stretches of games is not an option. It’s disastrous and terrible depth .

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Haula was much better and more useful at wing. He can take face offs if he’s with center who does not excel at that but his effectiveness for us greatly involves going into the corners on the offensive end where he’s one of our stronger, more physical and aggressive forwards.

There is nothing strong, physical or aggressive about Haula. Not sure who you’ve been watching. He doesn’t mind going into the corners and getting in battles but he’s not notably effective at it in any way.

 

[Hisch13r]

Maybe I'm just being negative, but he strikes me as a guy that will get scooped up pretty quickly on July 1st. And we'll wonder why we didn't do it and hope that it was because someone else gave him a 5 year deal. And then once the numbers come out it won't be a 5 year deal and we'll wonder why we couldn't have done that. And then Fitz signs Bastian's replacement or some shit and we're left shaking our heads.

Maybe I just have such low morale and faith in Fitz right now.

If we go into next year with largely this same team, only with new 4th liners brought in to replace the UFA 4th liners (probably a slight upgrade) and Daws as backup (Clear downgrade) I have no idea how he could view this team as a contender.

Especially when some of these guys who are already older will be a year older and likely a year worse. And I'm talking Palat, Haula, Dougie. Dillon. Probably even Markstrom.

As things currently stand we don’t even have cap space to replace the Tatar/Lazar/Nate contingent after getting Luke onto his new deal, bringing back Glass, and bringing over Gritsyuk. We’ll likely have less cap room than a league min contract and that’s even with only a 22 man roster. Soooooooo until we see the cap clearing moves I honestly have no clue where their heads are at and what they’ll do.

 

[Hisch13r]

Chemistry with Bratt and Hughes should be a net negative; hes a fourth liner. Why do we care if he has chemistry with guys he shouldnt ever be playing with?

And why is it every other team can get out from under 2-3-4-5-6-7 year contracts, but us Devils cant move off a one year rental in Haula? I seriously doubt any money is needed to come back; not to mention buying him out is almost certainly better than him playing anymore

Injury excuses are just that for him, now. Its every year; hes just broken. And as you say we cant likely move Palat, so you basically have to move Haula

Either that or we add Gritsyuk and a middling 3rd line winger and thats it. Wont be pretty for the Devils or its fans if that happens

Injury excuses for Haula every year? Those literally weren’t a thing in either of his first 2 years and he was good.

 

[Hisch13r]

If you move out Haula, you still have to replace him with another center option that odds are will make more than Haula.

I just don’t see it happening since Haula brings good special teams utility and chemistry with Hughes and Bratt on top of it.

The more I think about it, the same goes for Palat. You either take back another terrible contract for him, have a buyout hit for three years, or retain 50% to move him out.

The only options I could see him maybe accepting is retaining 50% and sending him to Tampa as a swan song, possible re-union with Yzerman in Detroit,

Buying out Palat wouldn’t even make any sense at all. It’s 4 years of paying for him and you’re only saving 2.5 this year and 3.5 next. Then another 2 years of 1.5 after his deal would be up. If anything it’s 50% retained. If you can pay someone else to retain on him that’s probably the ideal outcome for moving him. With 2 years left though idk if that’d come cheap. I think we might be forced to eat another year of him. Then next year you pay someone to retain on that last year to dump him.

 

[Bleedred]

Injury excuses for Haula every year? Those literally weren’t a thing in either of his first 2 years and he was good.

Better chance he's just old and bad. Injuries may be why he went 28 straight games without a point, but I think a lot of was because he's BAD now. And he'll probably be bad next year.

Yeah, there's some luck involved in 28 games without a point for a player like him, but I think a lot of what we're seeing is just 34 year old player problems. Same with Palat.

34/35 is OLD in this league. I wouldn't expect much of anything from players that age or older not named Crosby or Ovechkin.

Even good ole Taylor Hall is about that age (Almost) and not as good anymore. And somehow he makes about half of Palat next year and about the same as Haula lol.

Giving Haula a 3 year deal was probably a mistake from the start.

 

[RNCDevil]

Sorry if I missed this but has there been any news on Luke Hughes's shoulder? Surgery?

 

[Hisch13r]

Better chance he's just old and bad. Injuries may be why he went 28 straight games without a point, but I think a lot of was because he's BAD now. And he'll probably be bad next year.

Yeah, there's some luck involved in 28 games without a point for a player like him, but I think a lot of what we're seeing is just 34 year old player problems. Same with Palat.

34/35 is OLD in this league. I wouldn't expect much of anything from players that age or older not named Crosby or Ovechkin.

Even good ole Taylor Hall is about that age (Almost) and not as good anymore. And somehow he makes about half of Palat next year and about the same as Haula lol.

I think Haula’s hard to evaluate because he started the regular season and finished the regular season producing at his usual half a PPG. I’m not convinced he’s cooked. Now it’d probably be a good idea to move on and replace him rather than taking the risk but if we did keep him I don’t think it’s the end of the world and it wouldn’t be surprising if he ended up being worth the 3.15. If we did replace him though it might end up turning out worse considering Fitz might end up signing a bad player we’re saddled with for multiple years instead of just riding out Haula’s last year lol

Ugh don’t mention Hall to me. Back in 2023 I wished we were the team Boston dumped him to instead of Chicago. Palat made that basically impossible though. Then I also really wanted Hall back this year and I wanted to sign him this summer. He’s still quite good and Carolina got him for a f***ing bargain. Having a depth creator like him could’ve gone a long way for us. Dumping Dougie for 3C and top 6 cap and dumping Haula’s cap for Hall would’ve been soooo good for us. Being able to go something like Hall-Jack-Top 6W, Timo-Nico-Grits, and Bratt-3C-Mercer for the top 9 with a 4th line of Palat-Glass-Noesen with Cotter as the extra looks unreal to me.

 

[Bleedred]

As one of the most ill posters here from the Fitz Flu, I do think we'll see one of Palat, Haula or Dougie not here next year.

Probably just one.

I think he'll do something to get rid of one of them.

Haula would be a cap dump, but doesn't free up a whole lot, so I think they'd prefer to dump Palat and keep Haula the one more year on his deal and then see what to do about Dougie next offseason.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Haula has to be gone and at least one of Hamilton or Palat have to be gone

I don't care how, get it done

 

[devsfan8]

I'd entertain Haula for 1 last season of his contract. But I would use him as a LW explicitly. And obviously the bottom 6 mostly and on our top penalty kill as it was in the top 5 all year. He only has 1 season left contract wise. That's why someone else is more likely to go.

I cannot think of one reason not to go with Jack/Nico top 6 centers and Glass the 4C. Go after a 3rd line C and RW good enough to play in the top 6.

 

[devsfan8]

Haula has to be gone and at least one of Hamilton or Palat have to be gone

I don't care how, get it done

Of those 3, I'd go with Dougie being sent packing. Even with 2 mill retention it clears off 7 mill.

 

[edevils]

I'd entertain Haula for 1 last season of his contract. But I would use him as a LW explicitly. And obviously the bottom 6 mostly and on our top penalty kill as it was in the top 5 all year. He only has 1 season left contract wise. That's why someone else is more likely to go.

I cannot think of one reason not to go with Jack/Nico top 6 centers and Glass the 4C. Go after a 3rd line C and RW good enough to play in the top 6.

I'm on board. Good ideas. Now we need to decide who can be had for 3c. I don't think the UFA class is too promising. We'd most likely need to make a trade.

 

[Hisch13r]

As one of the most ill posters here from the Fitz Flu, I do think we'll see one of Palat, Haula or Dougie not here next year.

Probably just one.

I think he'll do something to get rid of one of them.

Haula would be a cap dump, but doesn't free up a whole lot, so I think they'd prefer to dump Palat and keep Haula the one more year on his deal and then see what to do about Dougie next offseason.

I don’t think dumping just Palat does enough for us. At that point you only have 9 forwards between Jack, Bratt, Nico, Timo, Grits, Noesen, Mercer, Haula, Cotter with only 9 mil in cap room. Dump Haula as well and you have just over 12 mil while really still needing at least a top 6 wing, 3C, and 2 4th liners. Maybe you can skimp out on the 4th line and run a full league min line with Cotter and the 2 adds. That gives you 10.5 to get the top 6 wing and 3C which is definitely possible but then again you’re in a spot where your depth is so thin and can fall apart at a moments notice.

That’s why I think you at least have to do Dougie because you already have 2 replacements on ELCs for him. You don’t have the replacements for Haula and/or Palat. Whatever you save from dumping them you have to put back into finding and spending on their replacements. Whereas with getting rid of Dougie you plug Casey/Nemec into his spot for less than a mil and you have the full 9 mil to spend upgrading the forwards and you still have Palat and Haula on the team which helps with the forward depth.

Now I’m all for somehow getting rid of all 3 of them but at a bare minimum Dougie has to go if you’re to build an elite forward group.

Of those 3, I'd go with Dougie being sent packing. Even with 2 mill retention it clears off 7 mill.

Yup he’s the one necessity. Not opposed to moving Haula too since it’s likely easy to do. I’ve wanted to get rid of Palat’s contract since July 13 2022 but I think we might have to eat another year. It’s likely a very tough one to move on from rn

I'm on board. Good ideas. Now we need to decide who can be had for 3c. I don't think the UFA class is too promising. We'd most likely need to make a trade.