Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2022-23 season thread part I

[Guttersniped]

This second tweet explains Nemec being here more. If we use LTIR then Nemec’s cap hit includes his performance bonus (so it’s millions more now).

If you use LTIR on the first day then you want to push the amount you’re over up so it matches the salary of player you put on LTIR as much as possible. That’s what sets a limit of how much you can actually go over the cap limit (not Bernier’s salary).

That’s why they would want Johnsson and ELCs with the highest performance bonuses on the roster now.

If Nemec wasn’t on the roster on the 1st day then he couldn’t be called up later even if Bernier was still on the LTIR, we wouldn’t be able to afford his big cap hit.

Don’t ask me to explain it further because I hate this shit.

 

[Guttersniped]

Anyone surprised Nico is on IR, where have you been lol. This was more obvious than Hughes making the opening night lineup.

Again, we needed all the salary we could get today so having Nico on the IR helps here. That might be a reason to do it.

 

[Bleedred]

I still remember when Tomas Harant "made" the opening night roster in 2006 and everybody was like "Who is Tomas Harant?" But it was just a placeholder for cap reasons and he never played a regular season game for us.

I still don’t remember him haha.

 

[Triumph]

I still don’t remember him haha.

When Lou was desperate for cheap defense and a lot of the guys from the 2000-2003 era drafts busted, he needed bodies for the NHL roster and so he signed Johnny Oduya, Olli Malmivaara, and Tomas Harant in the same offseason, they were all well-established pros overseas. Malmivaara got into 2 games and Harant never made it.

 

[Cheddabombs]

What is the frigging injury is the question that comes to mind. Hamstring strain was mentioned but gosh he’s been rested all camp now.

Query: can he go on IR backdated so that he comes up soon or does this mean he’s now out of action for a definite period of time or number of games?

He can come back for Thursday no problem. I can see a world where he does to be honest, him being on the IR right now doesn't mean much. But I could also see a world where he's still out the rest of October. I have no faith in this team when it comes to injuries

 

[Nubmer6]

Good point and absolutely one I've made and pointed out numerous times since Vanecek was re-signed to a new, multi year deal, for a higher cap hit than Blackwood.

One of these two guys is signed for next year, one of them isn't. One of them we traded a 2nd round pick for about 3 months ago, one of them we drafted with a 2nd round pick SEVEN years ago. One of them has been an okay goalie the last two years, one of them has been one of the absolute worst in the league over that same time period.

One of them was pretty solid in the NHL 3 and 4 years ago now, while the other wasn't in the NHL yet, but that's all I got.

If we're gonna favor Blackwood because of what he was 3-4 years ago, then I have no idea why we signed this guy for over $3 million a year for the next 3 years.

They really should be favoring Vanecek, unless Blackwood outplays him and he really didn't in the preseason, nor has he in the last 2 NHL seasons. We traded a 2nd rounder for this guy (I know we just traded 2nd rounders and didn't really just give up a 2nd rounder for him), we re-signed him for 3 years.

I remember one year in the last decade where we traded a first round pick for a 27 year old goalie, but only gave him about a handful more games than we gave the 41 year old who had already been showing signs of decline for some time and we missed the playoffs by just a handful of points in no small part because of it.

I don't understand the panic of starting Blackwood over Vanacek in the opener (if it happens)

It's really not unusual to start the backup goalie against a team projected to be one of the worst in the league. It just happens to be the season opener.

I also fully expect Vitek to start in the home opener.

 

[Japam]

Oh Nico. You fragile fragile man. Just rub Bengay on your hamstring and play the f***ing game.

 

[Camille the Eel]

It was backdated. He can still come off and play Thursday if he can

well then all the freaking out and injury prone stuff is premature. Once he did tweak something there was no reason to risk him in camp.

 

[Bleedred]

When Lou was desperate for cheap defense and a lot of the guys from the 2000-2003 era drafts busted, he needed bodies for the NHL roster and so he signed Johnny Oduya, Olli Malmivaara, and Tomas Harant in the same offseason, they were all well-established pros overseas. Malmivaara got into 2 games and Harant never made it.

I remember Olli for sure. He had one of the best names ever for a Devil. Oduya would go on to play for 12 years or so in the NHL.

I think we signed Mike Mottau around the same time, who was mostly a career AHL guy, but got into some games with the Rangers over a half a decade earlier. I’m pretty sure he played an entire year in the AHL for us the year before he was on the NHL team.

 

[Triumph]

Nico's not playing Thursday, we've heard nothing about him skating and he's missed two weeks of practices. He's at least a week away IMO.

 

[My3Sons]

What I'm referring to was a point in time where each of his injuries were justified. When a player is always getting hurt, which I think it's fair to say Nico is at this point, he's injury prone.

Ok. To me there is a difference between off ice weird things and say getting covid and the sort of nagging injuries he’s also had. He’s had both. Fingers crossed he doesn’t miss many games but it is what it is.

 

[Bleedred]

I don't understand the panic of starting Blackwood over Vanacek in the opener (if it happens)

It's really not unusual to start the backup goalie against a team projected to be one of the worst in the league. It just happens to be the season opener.

I also fully expect Vitek to start in the home opener.

I want Vitek to start BOTH.

#Vanecek

However, if he gets blown up in game 1 then I think it’s worth it to play Blackwood in the home opener.

I think we may see the same guy in net for both the first two games, unless Philly blows our goalie up in the opener.

 

[My3Sons]

I want Vitek to start BOTH.

#Vanecek

However, if he gets blown up in game 1 then I think it’s worth it to play Blackwood in the home opener.

I think we may see the same guy in net for both the first two games, unless Philly blows our goalie up in the opener.

Don’t worry. I’m sure Blackwood will outplay Vanacek so you can launch your extend Blackwood campaign of daily relentless phone calls to the team offices and follow up emails.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Again, we needed all the salary we could get today so having Nico on the IR helps here. That might be a reason to do it.

Wishful thinking, but I sincerely hope you are correct.

 

[Guttersniped]

I want Vitek to start BOTH.

#Vanecek

However, if he gets blown up in game 1 then I think it’s worth it to play Blackwood in the home opener.

I think we may see the same guy in net for both the first two games, unless Philly blows our goalie up in the opener.

I don’t see Blackwood playing in the home opener (I mean, maybe, but I would bet on Vanacek.)

He could play in Philly though because of his record against them even though his last game there was so bad that the team traded for Gillies the next day. That might have been his first loss to them unless they beat him in a squeaker.

 

[NJDevs26]

Again, we needed all the salary we could get today so having Nico on the IR helps here. That might be a reason to do it.

Eh I agree with Triumph, if this was a paper move they’d have been more positive about Nico playing Thursday by now

 

[Guttersniped]

Wishful thinking, but I sincerely hope you are correct.

I’m not wildly optimistic or anything (no news is not the most comforting news) but there’s definitely a big cap benefit to putting any injured guys on IR today.

 

[Bleedred]

I don’t see Blackwood playing in the home opener (I mean, maybe, but I would bet on Vanacek.)

He could play in Philly though because of his record against them even though his last game there was so bad that the team traded for Gillies the next day. That might have been his first loss to them unless they beat him in a squeaker.

I remember a late season loss in 2020-2021 (I don’t remember too much from that season, I was living in a fog, especially late in the season and then the entire offseason) in Philly (I think it was in Philly, it might have been at home, but I don’t think so) where we allowed two goals with their goalie pulled late in the game. I can’t remember if they won it in the shootout or OT though.

Is it possible we won that game? I know they scored two goals with their goalie pulled. Maybe we pulled out the OT or shootout win though? I know Blackwood was in net, either way.

 

[SKNJD9]

Did they annonunce a definite starter ? Imo its Blackwood until they say it isnt

 

[Guttersniped]

I remember a late season loss in 2020-2021 (I don’t remember too much from that season, I was living in a fog, especially late in the season and then the entire offseason) in Philly (I think it was in Philly, it might have been at home, but I don’t think so) where we allowed two goals with their goalie pulled late in the game. I can’t remember if they won it in the shootout or OT though.

Is it possible we won that game? I know they scored two goals with their goalie pulled. Maybe we pulled out the OT or shootout win though? I know Blackwood was in net, either way.

We probably lost, I don’t have the interest to look it up lol.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I had not heard about that LTIR/cap rule when it comes to Nemec's contract...that certainly is interesting.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

What’s a reasonable hope/expectation over the first couple weeks (say 8 games) of the season?

With the schedule we have I’d love if we could start strong with 5 or even 6 wins out of 8. Minimum 4.

Would also love if Jack could get to 10 or more points quickly.

 

[Saugus]

I'm surprised (but pleased) that Nemec made the opening roster, but I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up if it's likely a cap move.

Still pretty cool that he will get a couple games to see if he can light it on fire. Then after that he can be sent down to work on whatever weaknesses crop up.

 

[njdevils1982]

i spend the afternoon raking leaves, have a nice dinner and see andreas is on the roster (ya, nico).....this screams of stafford making the team that season bratt was hurt....the only way on the team is because on injury....

blegh

 

[Bleedred]

What’s a reasonable hope/expectation over the first couple weeks (say 8 games) of the season?

With the schedule we have I’d love if we could start strong with 5 or even 6 wins out of 8. Minimum 4.

Would also love if Jack could get to 10 or more points quickly.

I don’t know, but poor starts have certainly not been a trademark of ours and the hot starts haven’t seemed to help us.

We’ve started out a majority of these seasons (since 12-13) with a pretty good start. Sometimes that was only the first 4 games (like 4-0-0) and sometimes we were even in or close to a playoff spot at Thanksgiving.

12-13 was a 3-0-0 start

13-14 was a very rare horrendous start. Winless in our first 7 and just 1 win in our first 10 games. Our record for the remainder of that season was probably pretty good, considering we had 88 points and finished just 5 points out of a playoff spot.

14-15 was another 3-0-0 start.

15-16 we did start out 0-3-1 but quickly got over NHL .500 and stayed above NHL .500 for the remainder of the season. We were in a playoff spot on Valentine’s Day and had the fewest goals allowed in the league as of that time. That was probably the high point though. We sputtered the rest of the season and then Cory got injured and didn’t play for almost a month, so we lost a lot more and allowed a lot more goals.

16-17 we were 9-3-3 at one point just before Thanksgiving, before really crashing and that was the high point of that season. Hall was injured right around that time and missed a few weeks and after that 9-3-3 was the beginning of the end for Cory Schneider when you look at when his play dropped off. It was from mid to late November of 2016 onward.

17-18 we started 9-2-0 and that was really needed when we squeaked into the playoffs but just a point or two.

18-19 we started out 4-0-0 and before you knew it we were 6-8-1.

19-20 was another rare bad start. Winless in our first 6 and just 2 wins in our first 11 games.

20-21 we started 3-1-1 and fell off after 6-3-2.

21-22 we started out 2-0-0 and 4-2-0 and after 7-3-2 it was pretty downhill.

Obviously, a hot start is better than a terrible start, but it’s not been a trend among our poor years. As much as it didn’t do anything for us outside of 17-18, a poor start could really doom a team.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some changes if we underwhelm through those first 9 games. Especially after the 5-2-0 preseason and the pretty soft-ish strength of schedule.