Devils or Rangers: Who has the better future?

Zacha37

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Dec 8, 2016
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Just want to see some opinions. As a devils fan, I’m really optimistic about the teams future and want to see how others think we line up with our rivals say 3-5 years from now.
 

HBK27

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Up until a few weeks ago I might've said Rangers, but seeing Drury in action as GM has me feeling pretty good about NJ's chances.

Having a top defenseman to match up against Fox was a glaring hole for NJ which they've seemingly solved with Hamilton. Having Luke Hughes in the mix also helps a ton. Rangers still need to find a long-term solution for their issues at center. I give NJ a slight advantage.
 

OgeeOgelthorpe

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I think the Devils are looking to be built better for the long haul 5+ years from now, but the Rangers have some fairly young and high performing core pieces. I just worry that the Goodrow, Kreider and Trouba deals will make Drury's job difficult next season and beyond when resigning some young guys.

They have cap space NOW, but in 2022 they have to re-sign Strome, Zibanijad, Georgiev, Kakko, and Fox in a flat cap world. Then in 2023 they have to re-sign Lafreniere, Jones, Chytil and Miller. They'll be up against the cap pretty quick.
 

Ginger Papa

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I really like the moves that the Devils have made this off-season & think they have pulled themselves closer to the Rangers (who have done a great job rebuilding their team).

As a fan of the Game I’m really happy to see each of them getting competitive again. They both have fun, very active Boards here so I’m looking forward to seeing them square off as well.

C4E80ACB-FDA1-4298-B6D1-C518A012102A.jpeg


ps. Thank you for the Thread @Zacha37
 

Zacha37

Registered User
Dec 8, 2016
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I really like the moves that the Devils have made this off-season & think they have pulled themselves closer to the Rangers (who have done a great job rebuilding their team).

As a fan of the Game I’m really happy to see each of them getting competitive again. They both have fun, very active Boards here so I’m looking forward to seeing them square off as well.

View attachment 458764

ps. Thank you for the Thread @Zacha37
haha, also looking forward to some more responses, definitely can get interesting. both teams definitely looking towards some competitive hockey very soon.
 

CasusBelli

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Would have said NYR
Up until a few weeks ago I might've said Rangers, but seeing Drury in action as GM has me feeling pretty good about NJ's chances.

Having a top defenseman to match up against Fox was a glaring hole for NJ which they've seemingly solved with Hamilton. Having Luke Hughes in the mix also helps a ton. Rangers still need to find a long-term solution for their issues at center. I give NJ a slight advantage.
As a NYR fan, I wholeheartedly agree with this and expect the Rangers to finish only ahead of Philly next season. Devils improved. Penguins won’t suddenly suck. Isles and Caps are still solid. Rangers got tough without addressing their glaring weakness in LD (Nemeth? Seriously?) and soon to be weak C.
 

BPD

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Jul 7, 2009
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Honestly? Hard to say. I really like what the Devils did this offseason. I also really like what the Rangers did, even if Buchnevich being traded is very unpopular.

The Rangers have levels of talent on the Wing and on Defense that are just nuts. Like...Hartford's defense is going to be something like Jones, Schneider, Robertson, Skinner, Reunanen, Hajek - in almost any other system, three of those guys are like...top prospects and definitely making the team. They can't cut the big club. Shit, they had two key young D pieces blow up in their faces (DeAngelo and Hajek) and it's like "ok, whatever". They're stupid deep at goalie too. They just don't have a center worth a damn beyond Zib or Strome - and they probably can't keep both.

The Devils have center figured out with Hischier and Hughes. They've done a lot of good to move their defense in the right direction. They have the goalie. They need the finishers, the leaders, and the depth - which comes with time.

I don't know, but it'll be fun to see it play out.
 

KirkAlbuquerque

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Mar 12, 2014
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Unfortunately I gotta say the Devils. The young talent on both sides makes it close but tie breaker is the team with the huge potential at center.
Funny how the Rangers have the 2 best centers between the two teams. Yeah NJs centers are young and were drafted high but you can’t just assume they will become so great that they tip the scales so drastically. Esp considering the Rangers are better at every other position.

young talent on both sides is close? The Rangers have a 23 year old player who just won the freaking Norris. The Devils have a bunch of what if’s.
 

Zacha37

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Dec 8, 2016
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Funny how the Rangers have the 2 best centers between the two teams. Yeah NJs centers are young and were drafted high but you can’t just assume they will become so great that they tip the scales so drastically. Esp considering the Rangers are better at every other position.

young talent on both sides is close? The Rangers have a 23 year old player who just won the freaking Norris. The Devils have a bunch of what if’s.
give it a year or two and hischier/hughes will both pass strome by a fairly large margin. both, especially hughes, have real star potential.
 

Doctyl

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The hysteria around Drury’s moves is hilariously overblown. We had good offensive talent for the past few years and the defense took tremendous steps forward last year. One of the biggest issues were that our 3rd line with all our kids didn’t play much and our 4th line got absolutely demolished when they were on the ice.

Drury dumped one of the worst players in the league in Howden. He added a lot of good, gritty bottom 6 guys who can play slot up into middle 6 if needed. He’s not filling this team up with John Scotts, even Reaves is an NHL caliber player. So we threw away Buch, we were going to lose him eventually anyway. If Lafreniere and Kakko can’t make up for Buch’s production, this rebuild is doomed to fail anyway. If the Rangers manage to get into the playoffs this year, which is a possibility, I think the roster as currently constructed will be tougher to knock out than last year’s roster.
 

Guttersniped

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As much as it pains me, the Rangers are in a very enviable position in terms of young defense. Fox, drafted in 2016 and falling in their laps in 2019 is obvious stroke of good luck but the 2018 draft gave them Miller and Lundkvist and then they got Schneider in 2020. They got Lindgren, drafted in 2016, in the Nash TDL deal from Boston. Fox, again obviously, has won the Norris and Lindgren and Miller are already in Rangers line-up. Lundkvist is 21 and has played in the SHL for three years, he’s not that far off. They have very strong prospects depth on LD with Jones and others in AHL.

For the Devils, Hamilton is huge addition but if we’re looking prospects, then the Luke Hughes is the top defensive prospect but he’s still 17 years old and a couple years away. Mukhamadullin, no matter what you think of him as a prospect, is 19 and a couple years away. There’s other promising depth in the AHL and elsewhere (mostly LD) beyond those two but outside of Smith, who’s already arrived in the NHL, and it’s unclear who else is a NHL defenseman and to what degree.

The whole will>skill is amusing because
the reason the Rags lacked vets last year, they were literally just a few big contracts, key RFAs, ELCs and few bargain UFAs, was because they were missing about ~25m of spending money with both the dead cap space and the need to leave cap space open for performance bonus overages. (I forget the exact amount and don’t care enough to check.)

Last season the Rangers’ flaw was a lack of cap space not grit. That is partly Gorton’s fault so he can be blamed there to certain extent but it’s hilarious that some people are complimenting Drury for simply being able to spend money Gorton didn’t have on gritty vet jam (and he’s arguably not spending it particularly well).

Acting like you shit high end skill guys out every day after breakfast and that grit guys are the rare gems you must seek at any price is a weird, if not nonsensical, approach but so far it’s only resulted in a questionable trade of Buchnevich, overspending on 6 years of Goodrow and randomly giving a 34 year old Reaves an extension. The three year Nemeth deal is pretty bracing but I guess someone has to kill penalties. I got think there’s a more savvy way to shop than picking up guys with massive Stanley Cup surcharges but then again I’m not a NHL GM.

The Rangers’ future also now depends on what Drury is going to do at center. Not only are Strome and Zibanejad both UFAs next season, 2022 is UFA center Armageddon as Barkov, Bergeron, Malkin, Hertl, and Couturier will also be UFAs as well.

The Rangers have more established players at forward, and Hart nominee in Panarin (who’s only 29), they’re much more win now so if they don’t do better than the Devils in the next few years then that’s a fail on their part. I could see Drury screwing up their cap (which already has some issues), even losing some guys or doing more dumb trades, but if he focuses on his core and realizes non-core pieces like Goodrow come and go then the Rangers could be pretty formidable.

The Devils are just farther out, you ask about five years from now but that’s very difficult to say. I’m optimistic as a fan but I don’t have a solid prediction.
 

Zeeker

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Feb 15, 2016
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Posting in here to get more traction, or not familiar with the Poll sub forum?
 

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