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

[Better Call Sal]

Yes, be ready for tough decisions like this to be made if LHughes, Nemec, and Mercer all take large next steps and want a payday. Unless the team can wiggle out of the Palat and Hamilton contracts.

This is not a bad problem to have if you’ve got your main core locked in. Money comes off the books each year, teams find ways to move contracts off the books every year when they want to move on from a player.

I’m not worried at all based on how Fitz has played his hands so far. He seems to know what he’s doing.

 

[AfroThunder396]

The Brunner deal was worth it simply for this one goal:



Sens fans on the main board were salty about it for like a week.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Confession, I found and bought a Brunner player t-shirt off Amazon.

I was a believer. A Brunniever, even.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Confession, I found and bought a Brunner player t-shirt off Amazon.

I was a believer. A Brunniever, even.

 

[Billdo]

This is not a bad problem to have if you’ve got your main core locked in. Money comes off the books each year, teams find ways to move contracts off the books every year when they want to move on from a player.

I’m not worried at all based on how Fitz has played his hands so far. He seems to know what he’s doing.

If Hughes and Nemec are looking for huge pay days, their play will warrant it, and I'm moving Hamilton to accommodate.

 

[Guttersniped]

oh thats Butler, I was talking about Damien Brunner

Whoops, got swept up with all the exciting Bobby Butler talk.

Went with the hot hand in the shoot out and Brunner went first!

No one scoring until the Moulson really

Spoiler: sets the tone early for our 0-13 SO record.

Yikes.

 

[RememberTheName]

I remember being pumped about signing Rostislav Olesz as a depth piece because he was a former first round pick

Was it Olesz that had the three fights against the Islanders during a preseason game? I was at that game and I cannot remember if it was him or not.

 

[Whaddagoal]

A Clowe box score sighting. It's almost as if he never played for us.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

This is not a bad problem to have if you’ve got your main core locked in. Money comes off the books each year, teams find ways to move contracts off the books every year when they want to move on from a player.

I’m not worried at all based on how Fitz has played his hands so far. He seems to know what he’s doing.

True. I think Palat will be easy to trade in his last year, maybe with an attached 2nd or something. He has a bit of a no-trade clause to make it a little harder to send him to Arizona, but still doable even if he is broken by then.

Hamilton I dunno. Getting paid 9mil/year will probably make this an albatross from like 2026-28. I dont know the conditions of his modified no-trade as well.

This all won't be an issue until 2-3 years from now but it's a message board and it's the summer so I figured I'd bring it up just to talk about something.

 

[Bleedred]

It sucked that he bailed but looking back at it was really a franchise altering decision in a good way.

If kovalchuk never leaves l, Lou is more than likely still here. New ownership probably doesn’t take on that large of a debt and your still looking at a softball sized recapture on kovalchuk contract

I highly doubt Lou is still here in 2023 either way, but maybe he stays on a couple of years longer.

Harris probably would have been done with him anyway shortly after 2015, if not 2015 anyway, barring the team actually being competitive. I doubt the team would have been much more competitive with Kovalchuk.

Jagr did a pretty good job for replacing him, at least for the first year he was here, and we still couldn't score much at all.

 

[My3Sons]

No, he got his only two points (in 14 GP) in the the 3rd period of the 4th game of the season.

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You bring flair to this board like no one else. Great job on the gif.

 

[Bleedred]

I don't think Clowe was a bad signing, though the argument was that we shouldn't have been signing Clowe and should have been blowing it up when Kovalchuk left and not signing guys like Clowe for 5 or 6 years, not trading a first for Cory, which after the fact, it seemed to be known that Lou knew Kovalchuk was already gone by the day of the Cory day at that draft, even though we didn't find out/it wasn't announced for another 3 weeks.

But I thought Clowe was an upgrade to Clarkson. We pretty much knew Clowe was gonna be an eventual LTIR throwaway the day that contract was signed, after already having multiple concussions before that. It was just a matter of when. I thought he played well for us when he actually did play.

Ryder was only a 2 year deal, so it was whatever, but he completely fell off in the second half of the 13-14 season (his first season here) and never recovered. He very quietly left the league/pro hockey without a whimper after the 14-15 season, with no retirement announcement and no rumors of any teams having any interest whatsoever lol.

For all the things you could criticize Lou for at the end, one thing he took unnecessary heat for was not getting anything back for Ryder and Havlat at the 2015 deadline lol. He didn't get anything back for them at the 2015 deadline because nobody wanted those two trash heap piles lol. Two 35-ish year old has-been's, one that was an overly-chronic injury case and the other was a sniper/goal scorer that stopped being able to snipe/score goals probably over a year before that. There was no demand for these guys. There may have been even less demand for them at the 2015 deadline than frickin Steve Bernier or Jordin Tootoo lol.

Gomez probably had value at that deadline, but I'm 100% positive that Lou had planned to re-sign Gomez to play here again the next year. Lou was publicly removed from power about 3 weeks after our season ended, and almost definitely removed privately/behind the scenes even earlier than that. Though not before he could re-sign Jordin Tootoo, which was announced maybe the day Shero took over, but later revealed to be a Lou signing.

And speaking of last minute Lou signings, Sergey Kalinin was one of his final finds, but that was apparently a Shero signing, but Shero credited Lou for this Trash---I mean treasure of a find.

 

[Bleedred]

He also was coming off of a fairly decent season with Detroit.

Barch was a whatever Janssen like tough guy signing. I wasn't annoyed that much but Butler actively annoyed me. Lets also not forget Tom Kostopoulos with his single goal in 15 games.

I was at that game where he scored his only goal as a Devil. On a penalty shot against Mathieu Garon of Tampa.

We lost that game in the shootout, after having a 4-3 lead and Tampa tying it with like 15 seconds left in regulation with the goalie pulled.

The very next night we played in Sunrise, where I was also in attendance, and I'm pretty sure they also tied it with the goalie pulled. We lost that one in OT on a horrible stinker on Marty.

And I'm pretty sure everyone's FAVORITE Devils bottom pairing defenseman of the last 10 years (who just recently signed back in Florida) scored the game winning goal for Florida that night. I'm also positive he scored another OT winner against us a couple of seasons before us in Sunrise, though I was still living in Jersey and did not attend that game.

 

[My3Sons]

I don't think Clowe was a bad signing, though the argument was that we shouldn't have been signing Clowe and should have been blowing it up when Kovalchuk left and not signing guys like Clowe for 5 or 6 years, not trading a first for Cory, which after the fact, it seemed to be known that Lou knew Kovalchuk was already gone by the day of the Cory day at that draft, even though we didn't find out/it wasn't announced for another 3 weeks.

But I thought Clowe was an upgrade to Clarkson. We pretty much knew Clowe was gonna be an eventual LTIR throwaway the day that contract was signed, after already having multiple concussions before that. It was just a matter of when. I thought he played well for us when he actually did play.

Ryder was only a 2 year deal, so it was whatever, but he completely fell off in the second half of the 13-14 season (his first season here) and never recovered. He very quietly left the league/pro hockey without a whimper after the 14-15 season, with no retirement announcement and no rumors of any teams having any interest whatsoever lol.

For all the things you could criticize Lou for at the end, one thing he took unnecessary heat for was not getting anything back for Ryder and Havlat at the 2015 deadline lol. He didn't get anything back for them at the 2015 deadline because nobody wanted those two trash heap piles lol. Two 35-ish year old has-been's, one that was an overly-chronic injury case and the other was a sniper/goal scorer that stopped being able to snipe/score goals probably over a year before that. There was no demand for these guys. There may have been even less demand for them at the 2015 deadline than frickin Steve Bernier or Jordin Tootoo lol.

Gomez probably had value at that deadline, but I'm 100% positive that Lou had planned to re-sign Gomez to play here again the next year. Lou was publicly removed from power about 3 weeks after our season ended, and almost definitely removed privately/behind the scenes even earlier than that. Though not before he could re-sign Jordin Tootoo, which was announced maybe the day Shero took over, but later revealed to be a Lou signing.

And speaking of last minute Lou signings, Sergey Kalinin was one of his final finds, but that was apparently a Shero signing, but Shero credited Lou for this Trash---I mean treasure of a find.

Teams don’t easily give in to blowing it up. They are usually forced into it when retooling fails or some other organic change takes place like a new owner. It’s easy enough to create a mushy middle team since players who are good but not worth their cap hit are sent out from cap strapped teams with some regularity. You won’t have a cup contending team but you will probably vie for a wildcard if you stay healthy and get decent goaltending.

 

[Bleedred]

I thought Brunner could be a Parise-lite lol. I turned on him at some point by 14-15 and the organization certainly did as well. But to be honest, we had worse players on that 14-15 team, like the current versions of Ryder, Havlat and Zubrus, but Brunner took the bullet because those guys were vets, who were once good and useful players.

I also was VERY mad when Bobby Butler was waived, but we started the season with Cam Janssen on the roster, despite signing Barch to a 2 year deal after buying out the second year of Boulton's deal (and the second year of Andrew Peters deal 2 years before that) and also having Tedenby (I was the biggest Tedenby atheist there was) start the year on the roster.

Both Tedenby and Janssen were sent back within a week of the start of that regular season and I guess that's when Butler came up.

Speaking of making the opening night roster that year, I took a lot of heat for bitching about why in the stupid f*** did Stefan Matteau even make the NHL roster to start that year? Someone (and it wasn't even me) joked that it almost felt like we were keeping him up so Lou could justify keeping that pick by showing him off as NHL ready at 18-19 and in his first year as a pro lol.

 

[MasterofGrond]

its funny that people still called lou at the time of these pickups a great gm not just here but in general hockey world. has lou done anything good since he drafted zajac in the first round?

Kovalchuk trade was straight good.

 

[Clam Jensen]

The Brunner deal was worth it simply for this one goal:



Sens fans on the main board were salty about it for like a week.

I was at this game! Jumped out of my seat.

 

[Bleedred]

Oh. and one last thing I need to say before the Kovy topic dies out. Though this should probably keep it going even longer.

Since it's been 10 years now and we all still expect the day to come, is this finally the year we bring back Kovy? He's quite experienced at 40 years old and apparently has been training for yet another NHL comeback. Imagine Kovy on Jack's line? No doubt in my mind he can pot at least 25 goals with Jack.

AND..... Since Pete and Oates are no longer here, he'll be able to play LW!

Though, Bratt-Hughes-Kovalchuk could be a pretty sweet line if Kovy would play RW, wouldn't it? Amirite?

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Oh. and one last thing I need to say before the Kovy topic dies out. Though this should probably keep it going even longer.

Since it's been 10 years now and we all still expect the day to come, is this finally the year we bring back Kovy? He's quite experienced at 40 years old and apparently has been training for yet another NHL comeback. Imagine Kovy on Jack's line? No doubt in my mind he can pot at least 25 goals with Jack.

AND..... Since Pete and Oates are no longer here, he'll be able to play LW!

Though, Bratt-Hughes-Kovalchuk could be a pretty sweet line if Kovy would play RW, wouldn't it? Amirite?

Loktionov-Hughes-Kovalchuk

 

[bossram]

If Hughes and Nemec are looking for huge pay days, their play will warrant it, and I'm moving Hamilton to accommodate.

True. I think Palat will be easy to trade in his last year, maybe with an attached 2nd or something. He has a bit of a no-trade clause to make it a little harder to send him to Arizona, but still doable even if he is broken by then.

Hamilton I dunno. Getting paid 9mil/year will probably make this an albatross from like 2026-28. I dont know the conditions of his modified no-trade as well.

This all won't be an issue until 2-3 years from now but it's a message board and it's the summer so I figured I'd bring it up just to talk about something.

Dougie aging into his contract really poorly is something I've mentioned before, and something I think Fitz should really try to address proactively.

Dougie really is not the most fleet-of-foot skater as is. He already is liable to get turned on the rush and his lack of first-step footspeed is really what limits his defensive ability in-zone (can't close on attackers fast enough). Obviously his offensive instincts, puck-moving, and shooting ability more than make up for his deficiencies right now.

But he really can't afford to lose another half-step. And if he does, I see him becoming almost unplayable, similar to the very rapid declines of guys like Seabrook and OEL. Once they got too slow for the league, they were cooked.

 

[NjDevsRR]

What in tarnation is happening here

 

[Guttersniped]

You bring flair to this board like no one else. Great job on the gif.

Thanks! That means a lot because I’ve gotten complaints about a lack of flair before.

 

[Guttersniped]

Oh. and one last thing I need to say before the Kovy topic dies out. Though this should probably keep it going even longer.

Since it's been 10 years now and we all still expect the day to come, is this finally the year we bring back Kovy? He's quite experienced at 40 years old and apparently has been training for yet another NHL comeback. Imagine Kovy on Jack's line? No doubt in my mind he can pot at least 25 goals with Jack.

AND..... Since Pete and Oates are no longer here, he'll be able to play LW!

Though, Bratt-Hughes-Kovalchuk could be a pretty sweet line if Kovy would play RW, wouldn't it? Amirite?

apparently has been training for yet another NHL comeback

 

[Bleedred]

It just wouldn't be a Devils offseason without calls for bringing back Kovalchuk.

Then again, I don't think there's really been any serious calls to bring him back since he signed with the Kings in the 2018 offseason, which was a 3 year deal and quickly became a problem for LA and was terminated not even halfway through year 2.

There was one poster who was very adamant about Kovy still ''Being able to pot 30'' as of 2017 or 2018.

I do remember the build up to him coming back in 2018, which started out with heavy rumors of him wanting to go the Rangers, before it culminated with him signing that 3 year deal with the Kings.

But there were some crazy ideas of what he could do with fresh off the MVP year Taylor Hall, before he signed with LA.

 

[Bleedred]

apparently has been training for yet another NHL comeback

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I've been saying this since the 2012 playoffs, but I always thought bearded Kovalchuk in the 2012 playoffs looked a lot like bearded Stallone training in Russia (which was really filmed in Wyoming) in Rocky IV.

Kind of funny that Kovalchuk was a Russian, while Rocky goes to Russia to fight another Russian, who was played by a Swede, but that's just trivia and besides the point.