Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2023-24 season part III

[NjdevilfanJim]

Markstrom would be enormous for this team. Who cares if he's 34? Take an elite goalie for three playoff runs and then circle back to your goalie options after that. We don't need to find a 10 year solution here.

If he drops off a cliff we tank....

 

[JrFischer54]

goaltending sunk this team in the playoffs last year and basically all this season. i dont see an easy fix but i think you could find a holtz or casey replacement a lot easier then you can find a decent goalie. so you have to roll the dice on markstrom. i'm surprised people rather keep holtz over casey. i wonder who the flames rather have?

if they dealt holtz then that means tofolli is definitely going to come back

spittin chiclets even reporting on this stuff? def feel it could be closer to getting done then the report on saturday hinted at. i do wonder if they would wait until after the stadium series?

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

Asking Calgary to retain just seems borderline offensive to me to be honest unless NJ was willing pay a major premium to have them eat cap space/salary, there's no way he'd get a UFA deal less than $12 m total (6m x 2) if he were a FA this offseason. On a two year deal he'd want a big time salary cause he'd be getting major term given the pathetic goaltending market.

He's got a below market deal, at a comfortable term and that's why NJ is after him.

Offensive how? To me asking for a former 7th overall who has put decent numbers despite a dip of a coaches effort to crush him is offensive Markstrom comes with risk....In Calgary he has no pressure he comes here he's going to be under a lot of pressure and if he breaks down physically next year we are done especially with no retention

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

goaltending sunk this team in the playoffs last year and basically all this season. i dont see an easy fix but i think you could find a holtz or casey replacement a lot easier then you can find a decent goalie. so you have to roll the dice on markstrom. i'm surprised people rather keep holtz over casey. i wonder who the flames rather have?

if they dealt holtz then that means tofolli is definitely going to come back

spittin chiclets even reporting on this stuff? def feel it could be closer to getting done then the report on saturday hinted at. i do wonder if they would wait until after the stadium series?

You might be right I don't think it's dead either ....We have more promising youth at defense and in system we are fwd and center poor....If Holtz goes it should be for a younger goalie and go for broke make the big trade not for a 34 year old ....

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Offensive how? To me asking for a former 7th overall who has put decent numbers despite a dip of a coaches effort to crush him is offensive Markstrom comes with risk....In Calgary he has no pressure he comes here he's going to be under a lot of pressure and if he breaks down physically next year we are done especially with no retention

It's a huge ask to retain salary for 2.5 years, and usually implies the contract is negative valued / the team is trying to dump the player. I don't believe that's the case with Markstrom, although maybe they really are trying to get rid of him and his NMC makes that difficult. Seems unlikely to me though.

All goalies come with risk. All goalies available in either the trade market or in UFA will be wanting in some way. This offseason Ullmark is maybe the only one who could be available simply because he's too expensive but is relatively cheap / low risk due to term.

 

[JimEIV]

goaltending sunk this team in the playoffs last year and basically all this season. i dont see an easy fix but i think you could find a holtz or casey replacement a lot easier then you can find a decent goalie. so you have to roll the dice on markstrom. i'm surprised people rather keep holtz over casey. i wonder who the flames rather have?

if they dealt holtz then that means tofolli is definitely going to come back

Goaltending didn't sink us.... Carolina crushed us like little children.

We had no answer for their defensive system and physical play.

We scored 5 goals in the 4 games we lost

We only had 18 shots in the first 5-1 loss
29 in the second 6-1 loss
22 shots in third 6-1 loss and 29 shots in a more even 3-2 loss.

But we couldn't really score the entire series.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

what if the goalie they eventually get doesn't work out? we are right back in the same spot

Not exactly. We’d have a guy taking up twice the cap space as Vitek for multiple seasons minus the assets we gave up.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

It's a huge ask to retain salary for 2.5 years, and usually implies the contract is negative valued / the team is trying to dump the player. I don't believe that's the case with Markstrom, although maybe they really are trying to get rid of him and his NMC makes that difficult. Seems unlikely to me though.

All goalies come with risk. All goalies available in either the trade market or in UFA will be wanting in some way. This offseason Ullmark is maybe the only one who could be available simply because he's too expensive but is relatively cheap / low risk due to term.

Huge ask? Dude they couldn't give this guy away when he's bad he is bad .....Why are the Devils the only team after this great goalie?? They don't have room for his contract....Only can entertain it it because of ltir....He is a big risk if it fails we are done....Stay the course in the summer they will all be cheaper...

 

[Billdo]

Huge ask? Dude they couldn't give this guy away when he's bad he is bad .....Why are the Devils the only team after this great goalie?? They don't have room for his contract....Only can entertain it it because of ltir....He is a big risk if it fails we are done....Stay the course in the summer they will all be cheaper...

I don't think it's fair to assume we're the only ones interested.

 

[Guadana]

I don't want to give up any significant assets for goaltender right now. It makes little sense.

For what? To squeak into the playoffs and get abused in the first round? Meh.

If its Holtz Bahl 1st and 3rd for Saros and sign him after that - I think its reasonable.

 

[R8Devs]

If they trade Toffoli they could potentially have the assets for Markstrom + the cap space without the retention needed. Not sure about trading a cheap 22 year old now and in the near future would be a good use of it for a 34 year old goalie. Bahl is also someone who can be expendable in a goalie trade now with Hattaka's play and Siegenthaler signed long term along with Luke and Bahl has the profile that NHL gm's salivate over.

Trading for Markstrom has to happen immediately or it's something to revisit in the offseason tho, at the deadline there will be only be 19 games left for the Devils and who knows how long it would take for him to clear immigration.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

I don't think it's fair to assume we're the only ones interested.

who else has been rumored? Leafs are desperate for a goalie crickets same with Canes all teams further into their respective windows than us ....You could be right but so far no one has been rumored....Trading youth for 35 year old is a desperate move

 

[JK3]

Don't do it Fitz FFS.

 

[Bleedred]

i'm not saying i love it either but i'm realistic. you have to give to get and if the "get" is something that is insanely hard to find (average goaltending) and something that is totally holding us back this year then you have to give up to get it man. i rather give up casey only because holtz is nhl ready player which we need.


3 years 5.4 left for this guy who didn't they bench? talk about red flags



what if the goalie they eventually get doesn't work out? we are right back in the same spot

I think they benched Elvis to try and piss him off and get him out of town, so they could dump his contract.

Not that I’m for acquiring him, but he’s been their best goalie this year. I think they just wanna dump that contract and were trying to alienate him.

Furthermore, it’s hard to figure out what that tenth rate franchise is doing. You basically got a GM that’s a dead man walking and firing in waiting. I wonder if he’s fired around the deadline like Chuck Fletcher or if it will just wait until the season ends. It almost definitely will be no later than season’s end. The owner basically explained why he wasn’t firing him a day after Babcock resigned, which was basically a day or two before camp started.

Who knows what they’re doing over there? Between Jiricek and the Elvis thing.

 

[JrFischer54]

Goaltending didn't sink us.... Carolina crushed us like little children.

We had no answer for their defensive system and physical play.

We scored 5 goals in the 4 games we lost

We only had 18 shots in the first 5-1 loss
29 in the second 6-1 loss
22 shots in third 6-1 loss and 29 shots in a more even 3-2 loss.

But we could really score the entire series.

we lost
5-1
6-1
won 8-4 (barely btw)
lost 6-1
lost 3-2 (kinda weak overtime gwg) if i remember correctly.

so to say goaltending didn't sink us? nevermind even mentioning the hole it dug us in the rangers series come on

 

[Bleedred]

goaltending sunk this team in the playoffs last year and basically all this season.

That’s why I think Vitek is outta here after this season. Even if he has some Cory Schneider market correction .920% run (which would probably park him at a .900% by season’s end) to end the year. I think Fitz learned from Shero’s turfing not to trust that. One guy actually was elite at one time, the other guy has never been elite.

Strike one was last playoffs, strike two was this year.

And if we’re actually going to acquire another goalie for next year, we’d almost have to get rid of Vitek some way or another, as his salary is a decent amount when adding another goalie to a salary of either a decent or more than decent amount.

 

[NjDevsRR]

If they trade Toffoli they could potentially have the assets for Markstrom + the cap space without the retention needed. Not sure about trading a cheap 22 year old now and in the near future would be a good use of it for a 34 year old goalie. Bahl is also someone who can be expendable in a goalie trade now with Hattaka's play and Siegenthaler signed long term along with Luke and Bahl has the profile that NHL gm's salivate over.

Trading for Markstrom has to happen immediately or it's something to revisit in the offseason tho, at the deadline there will be only be 19 games left for the Devils and who knows how long it would take for him to clear immigration.

I feel like Toff will be re-signed. He’s been focused on lots of social media posts lately. Who knows if that’s connected though. Im just bullshitting

 

[JrFischer54]

Not exactly. We’d have a guy taking up twice the cap space as Vitek for multiple seasons minus the assets we gave up.

markstrom 2 years left 6 million vitek 1 year left 3.4 hes i'm assuming going the other way in a trade? so devils really only paying markstrom 2.6 more then what they are getting out of vitek now for next year. lets say he stinks that leaves him on the hook for 6 million the final year i can live with that risk.

or the devils can bring in a similar vitek type goalie this summer with a similar contract 3.4 for say 3 years? he stinks and then we have him for 2 more years at 3.4

who else has been rumored? Leafs are desperate for a goalie crickets same with Canes all teams further into their respective windows than us ....You could be right but so far no one has been rumored....Trading youth for 35 year old is a desperate move

i think if the leafs and canes dont make a goalie move and get bounced early because of goaltending then the market in the summer is going to be even tighter then it is now.

 

[JrFischer54]

tofolli i think is absolutely going to be resigned regardless what the devils do with holtz it sounded like he wanted to be here and they werent bringing him in to just play 1 year.

if the devils did trade for markstrom or any other goalie would it be assumed vitek is going back? or what would they do?

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

They might feel that Clarke can bring something similar to Holtz next year (offensive winger talent that has a lot to learn on the defensive side).

if the devils did trade for markstrom or any other goalie would it be assumed vitek is going back? or what would they do?

I hope so. But Calgary might want to retool to try to compete for a spot next year or their owner might be super cheap. So they might have to trade Vitek somewhere else with a pick attached. That can be done in the offseason as there is tons of cap space right now with LTIR.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

we lost
5-1
6-1
won 8-4 (barely btw)
lost 6-1
lost 3-2 (kinda weak overtime gwg) if i remember correctly.

so to say goaltending didn't sink us? nevermind even mentioning the hole it dug us in the rangers series come on

I mean, to be fair, three of those games they scored 1 goal. You are basically never going to win scoring one goal unless you are Carolina against us.

 

[R8Devs]

I feel like Toff will be re-signed. He’s been focused on lots of social media posts lately. Who knows if that’s connected though. Im just bullshitting

lol I wouldn't be surprised if they re-sign him but I don't think the social media team actually does easter eggs

 

[HBK27]

Not really reliable examples to support a perceived fear. Corey Crawford decided to retire out of the blue during a weird Covid schedule after leaving the only organization he ever played for. It's not like his play fell off.

Bernier got injured. So again, his play didn't tank due to age. Just a freak thing. Goalies have much more gentle aging curves than skaters.

Bobrovsky is 35 and led the Panthers to a cup at 34. He's also been great this year at 35 years old.

FWIW, this is why Crawford retired...had nothing to do with leaving Chicago...

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

tofolli i think is absolutely going to be resigned regardless what the devils do with holtz it sounded like he wanted to be here and they werent bringing him in to just play 1 year.

if the devils did trade for markstrom or any other goalie would it be assumed vitek is going back? or what would they do?

Would assume he would have to go back I would think....

 

[Billdo]

who else has been rumored? Leafs are desperate for a goalie crickets same with Canes all teams further into their respective windows than us ....You could be right but so far no one has been rumored....Trading youth for 35 year old is a desperate move

Oh I don't disagree with your point. I don't think giving any premium assets for Markstrom is a smart move now. November? Sure. Summer with retention AFTER we use our first round pick? Sure. Right now? Idk that we make playoffs with him so I'm not giving up the pieces to get him if it's enough to make us second guess the package.

FWIW, this is why Crawford retired...had nothing to do with leaving Chicago...

View attachment 818933

I've never seen this so thanks. Good insight on a very strange ending.