Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2023 offseason part II

[Bleedred]

Anaheim had the worst team defense… ever?

Seriously, what is happening?

View attachment 726095

Spoiler: Here’s the Top 10 worst in 2022-23

Ducks run away with xGA/60 at EV
View attachment 726100View attachment 726099

They don’t have the worst GA/60 at EV because lol Blue Jackets.

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Spoiler: Ducks are also worst ever since 2007-08

Yep.
Again this is EV.
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Make a nice showing at 3rd here.
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Again, I can’t stress this enough, lol Blue Jackets.
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We’re also 9th here in 2021-22 while coming in 173rd in CA/60 and 240th in xG/60, but it wasn’t the goaltending. (Good times, fun debate.)

No one would have a hard time convincing me that Gibson isn't actually one of the worst goalies in the league and he's not as bad as his numbers would suggest. And they also wouldn't have a hard time convincing me that he's an average goalie.

It's when people (like last offseason) get on the mainboard and start trying to convince everyone that he's really good, if not possibly even elite still and that a team like the Leafs or Devils (I saw the Devils mention the other day from a Pittsburgh fan, but the thread was locked before I saw it lol) should be interested in acquiring him and not only acquiring him, but giving up something off their rosters of value for him, all the while taking his entire cap hit on, because he is in fact still a really good, if not elite goalie.

And I'd also have a very hard time being convinced that Dallas Eakins is not one of the worst long term head coaches of all time. John MacLean is the WOAT, Doug Weight is pretty close, but neither of these guys head coached parts of 6 NHL seasons and for 2 different teams as head coach.

Bob Murray's last two coaching hires were beyond suspect and he was starting to venture into rich man's Dale Tallon territory there at the end. And to think he wasn't even fired for efficiency reasons, but personal reasons involving alcohol abuse (and there were claims of verbally abusing players) is really something else.

Brought back Randy the Retread Carlyle not even 5 years after firing him, which pretty much killed off their last few contending years/the years Gibson was elite. Then hires Dallas Eakins after the embarrassing Edmonton experiment, while grooming him the entire time in San Diego of the AHL to be Retread Randy's eventual heir.

Was Bob even showing up to work at all the last several years he was the general manager there?

 

[Bcap88]

“Alright, before you get in a tizzy, New Jersey Devils fans, I’m excited,” Daneyko said on NHL Network. “I like what they’ve done, no question about it, it’s going to be harder. Are they going to be in the playoffs? Absolutely. And do I hope they make a great playoff run and win it all? That’s what it’s about! But I’m still going to go with the Carolina Hurricanes, strictly from the standpoint they’ve been pretty consistent in the regular season for a long time here.

“(Andrei) Svechnikov’s going to be healthy. They’ve made some real good acquisitions as well, they’ve got Dmitry Orlov off on the back end and it’s just a good efficient team, well coached. Michael Bunting as well is going to bring some grit and some offense along the way. I think they’ve added some pieces they need. Again, Svechnikov’s a beast. Maybe they go further if he was in the playoffs. They didn’t make any excuses – I will for them. He’s that good of a player. I think he’s going to be hungry and really lead the charge for the Carolina Hurricanes.”


“I still think (the Hurricanes are) the team to beat in the Metro,” Daneyko added. “Do I think the Devils can? Well, we’ll wait and see – and I’m hoping (so)! I’m going to be brutally honest, of course.

“I’m just keeping things in perspective, Devils fans. We’re going to be good!”

Ex-Devils great Ken Daneyko makes surprising Metropolitan Division winner prediction on NHL Network

Mr. Devil himself is picking against the Devils in the division race next season.

www.nj.com

Predicting Carolina is the team to beat in the East still is fair.

Until the Devils defeat them, that will be the case.

 

[Devs3cups]

Surprised Fitz still hasn't done his press conference.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Surprised Fitz still hasn't done his press conference.

He didn't do it last year till like July 15th if I remember correctly

Someone's gonna get a steal

 

[Deleted member 339941]

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Anyone with a code for bluesky they could spare, please send it this way. Hoping this is a viable substitute to twitter.

 

[Guttersniped]

He didn't do it last year till like July 15th if I remember correctly

He did it July 15th but free agency started started on July 13th.

We traded Zacha on July 13th, signed Palat on July 14th and hired Brunette right before the presser.

The Marino trade was on July 16th.

 

[njdevils1982]

nooooooooooooooo!

 

[None Shall Pass]

Anyone with a code for bluesky they could spare, please send it this way. Hoping this is a viable substitute to twitter.

SAME ugh.

 

[Zippy316]

Feels like there’s still something in the works. Devils are sitting on way too much cap space for a contending team.

Obvious answer is a potentially Hellebucyk trade which would be a net increase of around 3 million if Vanecek goes the other way.

Even if that falls through, it feels like we have at least one open spot up front at forward, assuming we keep two spots open for Holtz, Clarke, Foote, PTO, etc. Wonder if the Devils circle back on Tatar, Boqvist, or one of the other UFA forwards.

 

[Guttersniped]

Our depth in general sucks, with Bahl we only have 39 total contracts.

The only team with as few or less (counting their RFAs) is Carolina with 37 and that’s more understandable considering they don’t have a AHL this season.

Contacts (including RFAs)
49 (PIT, NYR)
48 (VAN)
47 (ARI, FLA, SEA, STL)
46 (BUF, CBJ, SJS, TBL, TOR, WSH, WPG)
45 (BOS, DAL, DET, MTL, PHI)
44 (EDM, LAK, MIN, OTT)
43 (CGY, COL, NSH)
42 (NYI)
41 (ANA, CHI)
39 (NJD)
37 (CAR)

Maybe we get something from PTOs but then your choices are limited, to say the least.

 

[My3Sons]

Our depth in general sucks, with Bahl we only have 39 total contracts.

The only team with as few or less (counting their RFAs) is Carolina with 37 and that’s more understandable considering they don’t have a AHL this season.

Contacts (including RFAs)
49 (PIT, NYR)
48 (VAN)
47 (ARI, FLA, SEA, STL)
46 (BUF, CBJ, SJS, TBL, TOR, WSH, WPG)
45 (BOS, DAL, DET, MTL, PHI)
44 (EDM, LAK, MIN, OTT)
43 (CGY, COL, NSH)
42 (NYI)
41 (ANA, CHI)
39 (NJD)
37 (CAR)

Maybe we get something from PTOs but then your choices are limited, to say the least.

They’ve had a fair number of picks in the KHL/VHL/MHL and that may be catching up with them. Then layer in letting guys like McCarthy and Moynihan stay in college and it leaves a shortfall of young minor league and sliding contracts.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Anyone with a code for bluesky they could spare, please send it this way. Hoping this is a viable substitute to twitter.

SAME ugh.

Just wait for Meta's version of Twitter coming out later this week

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Feels like there’s still something in the works. Devils are sitting on way too much cap space for a contending team.

Obvious answer is a potentially Hellebucyk trade which would be a net increase of around 3 million if Vanecek goes the other way.

Even if that falls through, it feels like we have at least one open spot up front at forward, assuming we keep two spots open for Holtz, Clarke, Foote, PTO, etc. Wonder if the Devils circle back on Tatar, Boqvist, or one of the other UFA forwards.

If NJ just promotes Clarke, Foote, and Holtz, and then signs Bahl to about 1 m AAV I count about 2 million in cap space and 23 contracts. That's not a ton of space but I agree they should add something in front of those guys and not just give them spots.

No more signings - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Create your own team. Trade, sign, recall, reassign, and buyout players as though you were your favourite teams general manager.

www.capfriendly.com

 

[Zippy316]

Our depth in general sucks, with Bahl we only have 39 total contracts.

The only team with as few or less (counting their RFAs) is Carolina with 37 and that’s more understandable considering they don’t have a AHL this season.

Contacts (including RFAs)
49 (PIT, NYR)
48 (VAN)
47 (ARI, FLA, SEA, STL)
46 (BUF, CBJ, SJS, TBL, TOR, WSH, WPG)
45 (BOS, DAL, DET, MTL, PHI)
44 (EDM, LAK, MIN, OTT)
43 (CGY, COL, NSH)
42 (NYI)
41 (ANA, CHI)
39 (NJD)
37 (CAR)

Maybe we get something from PTOs but then your choices are limited, to say the least.

This is the other interesting thing too. There has been a lot of guys signing AHL contracts lately for the Devils.

But feels like there’s another wave of 3-4 signings the Devils should have soon.

Puljujarvi is an interesting idea for someone to give a contract too and stash away until he’s healthy. His finishing is putrid but other than that he’s a quality bottom six forward

If NJ just promotes Clarke, Foote, and Holtz, and then signs Bahl to about 1 m AAV I count about 2 million in cap space and 23 contracts. That's not a ton of space but I agree they should add something in front of those guys and not just give them spots.

No more signings - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Create your own team. Trade, sign, recall, reassign, and buyout players as though you were your favourite teams general manager.

www.capfriendly.com

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There’s still room in there to add a ~2 million forward and have a safe cushion to work with. Again, it really does seem like Fitz is waiting on something that will potentially take up some space.

That cap space we have left is almost the exact amount Hellebuyck would cost.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

nooooooooooooooo!

He doesn't look just drunk. I wonder what else he's on.

 

[MartyOwns]

“too bad jazzy jeff here didn’t concentrate more on training this summer” -jim, when hughes goes goalless in 2 straight games this season.

 

[Guttersniped]

They’ve had a fair number of picks in the KHL/VHL/MHL and that may be catching up with them. Then layer in letting guys like McCarthy and Moynihan stay in college and it leaves a shortfall of young minor league and sliding contracts.

Those guys don’t matter this year though and the lack of depth I’m talking about is for 2023-24.

I’m more just talking about guys on 1 year deals, maybe 2 years. We aren’t getting an influx of prospects at any point.

This year we came away with very little in the early FA (college/minors) period so we didn’t fill the minors with AHL signings either.

We signed two of our UFAs (Russo, Gambardella) and one RFA (Ibragimov) to AHL deals, so that helped.

There were two NCAA additions (Middendorf, Friedman) but I’m not sure both/either play in the AHL next season.

Some center help came: Bowers, Dowling, Criscuolo.

It’s going to be real thin down there though, particularly if/when injuries and/or trades starts taking guys out. The rest of the team is going to be garbage if they fill a lot of it out of available minor league guys later in the summer.

We seem to be allergic to having depth and we’re bad at getting undrafted FAs. Both are negatives to me, but I’m always holding out hope for improvements. (I can’t do anything else lol.)

 

[njdevils1982]

He doesn't look just drunk. I wonder what else he's on.

E

 

[RyGuy]

Has nobody noticed the SIX kids with SEVEN women portion of the comment yet lol

I pondered this for quite a while, and the only explanation I can come up with is that he knocked up a pair of siamese twins once.

 

[njdevils1982]

I pondered this for quite a while, and the only explanation I can come up with is that he knocked up a pair of siamese twins once.

so, he got his standpipe involved in a siamese connection?

 

[My3Sons]

Those guys don’t matter this year though and the lack of depth I’m talking about is for 2023-24.

I’m more just talking about guys on 1 year deals, maybe 2 years. We aren’t getting an influx of prospects at any point.

This year we came away with very little in the early FA (college/minors) period so we didn’t fill the minors with AHL signings either.

We signed two of our UFAs (Russo, Gambardella) and one RFA (Ibragimov) to AHL deals, so that helped.

There were two NCAA additions (Middendorf, Friedman) but I’m not sure both/either play in the AHL next season.

Some center help came: Bowers, Dowling, Criscuolo.

It’s going to be real thin down there though, particularly if/when injuries and/or trades starts taking guys out. The rest of the team is going to be garbage if they fill a lot of it out of available minor league guys later in the summer.

We seem to be allergic to having depth and we’re bad at getting undrafted FAs. Both are negatives to me, but I’m always holding out hope for improvements. (I can’t do anything else lol.)

It’s tough to get guys who have a KHL development path to play in the AHL. I’m surprised Misyul is giving it a go. Gritsyuk apparently wants to come to North America with the premise of immediately playing for NJ rather than spending a season of apprenticeship in the AHL. It’s their right to choose their own path but maybe NJ needs to stop giving away an extra secjbd or third with every trade and start actually drafting some extra players.

 

[Guttersniped]

It’s tough to get guys who have a KHL development path to play in the AHL. I’m surprised Misyul is giving it a go. Gritsyuk apparently wants to come to North America with the premise of immediately playing for NJ rather than spending a season of apprenticeship in the AHL. It’s their right to choose their own path but maybe NJ needs to stop giving away an extra secjbd or third with every trade and start actually drafting some extra players.

Yeah, again, I was talking about UFAs.

Plenty of guys available for two way deals. We had the contract spots for them and arguably the need.

 

[RyGuy]

so, he got his standpipe involved in a siamese connection?


View attachment 726229

I would imagine his pipe was standing. At least at the end part.

 

[My3Sons]

Yeah, again, I was talking about UFAs.

Plenty of guys available for two way deals. We had the contract spots for them and arguably the need.

Sure. The team has just not really made a good enough effort with AHL level good UFAs as the Utica regulars remind us. From an organizational standpoint I understand that the prospects are the priority and the team has focused on those since 2015 but I agree with your premise completely.