For three years...Ehh there was a time for it. It didn't hurt us at all and we had plenty of space for it. Now that he's not needed, he can go back into the cupboard.
Yeah, he's like that old Tupperware that you have in the back of the cupboard for years because it's useless until you need something to put grease in or something for a minute.Ehh there was a time for it. It didn't hurt us at all and we had plenty of space for it. Now that he's not needed, he can go back into the cupboard.
There was likely a market for Tartar which is why they signed him now for 1.8 mil.... They needed to sign someone that would take a deal for under 2 mil to afford our RFA's. Again, there was a market so no PTO for TatarI don't like that Fitz signed this deal on July 2. I'd rather he kept some flexibility. Bring Tatar in on a PTO. Sign him when you feel he's truly the best option. Doing this now feels like a lack of imagination.
But, I definitely get the feels part of this. Given all the changes in personnel, it's nice to have someone back with the team. And how can you not be happy for Tatar - he seems genuinely be excited to come back.
So, I guess the deal is a little like like junk food. It makes me feel good even though I know it's not the right thing.
We had enough money for top-6 player.Not a fan of rounding out top 9 with him, I think that with Markstrom and new defence this team is playoff-bound even without Tatar so I don't see the value of this addition. I think that our forward depth is obviously the biggest weakness now, however this is very hard to fix in UFA, since we can't add lots of expensive contracts, however this is a bit self-inflicted because we prioritized other areas:
a) we didn't draft enough top 9 forwards recently,
b) we committed to Palat and Meier making us top heavy,
c) we gave up Zetterlund for the latter,
d) this will be controversial but we didn't play 'innocent until proven guilty' card with McLeod.
e) we committed resources (high draft picks, UFA contracts) to defense.
You: “I’d rather Tatar than Tarasenko”Whoa who pissed in your cheerios? I'm more interested in getting to the playoffs first. Also, are we assuming Fitz just chose Tatar over Tarasenko? For all we know the latter wasn't available at terms suitable for the team.
Learned from the best GM we ever had.
They've done such a good job drafting all sorts of defenders but they cannot figure out forwards. The weird thing is the group is probably somewhat similar to the Shero group that found Shara, Bratt, Gritsyuk, Zetterlund, Talvitie (he was an NHL player to be before that knee went), and probably one or two others in mid to late rounds.We had enough money for top-6 player.
Noesen, McDermid, DeSimone, Tatar deals. You have more than enough.
The problem was drafting forwards, letting boqvist go, sending Zetterlund and Sharangovich in trades. If we would let Holtz go for Meier and saved Zetterlund, may be we would save Yegor too, played nice third line year ago, ib the same time Yegor would score 20 in more limited role.
If we are not playing this "if this and if that" games - the problem is forwards drafting.
With drafting role players Devils didnt hit at any foward in the last 4 drafts. Outside Mercer the best forwards pick was Bardakov- defensive forward from seventh round, who was traded because he isnt ready to travel(most likely) because of his limited offensive potential. Outside Mercer draft for forwards was purely bad.
Holtz was bad pick(in those days people didnt listen to me), thanks God Fitz learned his lesson and we didnt draft Eiserman.
Stillmans pick was very bad - you dont draft role players in the first round. Half of this lesson was learned by Fitz - he traded a couple of times in this draft to make a couple of steps back and draft role players he wanted.
He drafted Salminen - some kind of Holtz type of player - bad skating, lack of effort, goal scoring potential.
He drafted a lot of bodies for roles. A lot. If he would make more "high ceiling" picks, he could hit one of may be even few times. We could have even if not NHL players now, but good trade assets at least. Now our prospect pool looks like Gritsyuk + 10 defensemen and Lenny.
Fitz just rolling through his old contacts list.
Hopefully Keefe or someone will light a fire under his assWhatev's. Hopefully he has something left in the tank.
I’ll be very happy if Tatar turns in a great season. Odds of that happening are low though - and I’m not sure they’re much better than whoever we could have gotten on a PTO.There was likely a market for Tartar which is why they signed him now for 1.8 mil.... They needed to sign someone that would take a deal for under 2 mil to afford our RFA's. Again, there was a market so no PTO for Tatar
They changed head scout. Dennehy is now head scout, he started in 2022.They've done such a good job drafting all sorts of defenders but they cannot figure out forwards. The weird thing is the group is probably somewhat similar to the Shero group that found Shara, Bratt, Gritsyuk, Zetterlund, Talvitie (he was an NHL player to be before that knee went), and probably one or two others in mid to late rounds.
A little? It’s like they’ve been on Santa’s naughty list for the last few years.NJ needs to have some good development years from the forward prospects. Cupboards are looking a little bare.