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

[njdevil26]

Hall’s Hart year is the best single Devils season ever.

If we aren't counting cups...

The win streak to end the season in 05/06 and win the division then sweep the Rangers in the first round...

Then the crazy run in 10/11 when Kovy put the team on his back and they almost made the playoffs after starting something like 10-29-2.

The 13 game win streak this past season...

Some of the most fun times I've ever had as a fan.

 

[Hisch13r]

If we aren't counting cups...

The win streak to end the season in 05/06 and win the division then sweep the Rangers in the first round...

Then the crazy run in 10/11 when Kovy put the team on his back and they almost made the playoffs after starting something like 10-29-2.

The 13 game win streak this past season...

Some of the most fun times I've ever had as a fan.

I’m talking for an individual player it’s the best season a Devil has ever had. On a team level 17-18 was fun but definitely not at the top.

 

[Devils731]

Hall’s Hart year is the best single Devils season ever.

Agreed, I’ve never seen a single player will a team into winning like he did. Usually there is more of a supporting cast than 1 or 2 guys.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Agreed, I’ve never seen a single player will a team into winning like he did. Usually there is more of a supporting cast than 1 or 2 guys.

Definitely in hockey. Only comparison I can think of was Carl Yastrzemski carrying the Red Sox on his back to the AL pennant in 1967 and still that was only completely Yaz during the last half dozen games or so, he had help - while Hall, from the time we had about 20 games left and went on a west coast trip as I think I recall, just wouldn’t let us lose. Kinkaid stepped up in net and I think we finished the season like 12 and 3 or something.

 

[forceten]

What about taking a... erm... ehh... (sigh)... flyer on Jay O'Brien? 1st rounder, a center, for Philly in 2018, played out college and has to be signed by 8/15 or is an UFA. Decent stats at BU, 6'0", could at least be a solid player for Utica and potential depth for us?

 

[Bleedred]

Hall’s Hart year is the best single Devils season ever.

Yeah, that season was more impressive than anything Kovalchuk ever did here with the Devils.

Don't get me wrong, Kovalchuk will definitely go down as the better player of the two, as that was a clear outlier season for Hall. He clearly wasn't as good in his career as he was that year.

But we didn't really get the best of Kovalchuk either. He wasn't really a 40 goal scorer anymore after the season in which he was first traded here. MAYBE he gets 40 if he didn't miss 5 games in 11-12. He scored 37 goals in 77 games that year. Maybe he scores 3 more goals in 5 more games, maybe he doesn't.

He was also being played a ridiculous amount of minutes, which he probably deserves credit for being run like a machine that year, but at the same time it was also helping him score more points.

Kovalchuk was still a pretty good player when he was here, but not a particularly dominant one anymore.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

3pm would be a great time to announce the deal

 

[Brodeur]

What about taking a... erm... ehh... (sigh)... flyer on Jay O'Brien? 1st rounder, a center, for Philly in 2018, played out college and has to be signed by 8/15 or is an UFA. Decent stats at BU, 6'0", could at least be a solid player for Utica and potential depth for us?

Imagine a few teams will kick the tires. He'll be required to sign a 2 year ELC so he'll probably look for a team lacking in RWs, albeit he looks like an NHL long shot at this point. I figured the Penguins would be a natural fit given their lack of prospects (especially when Hextall/Pryor were there since they drafted him in Philly originally), but maybe also O'Brien's hometown Bruins.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Hall’s Hart year is the best single Devils season ever.

great choice!

id have Hall's 17 season and Muller's 87 season 2-3

for me best season alltime is Marty!

2006 he almost started every single game while having his 2nd best season for stats and trophies

 

[Bleedred]

great choice!

id have Hall's 17 season and Muller's 87 season 2-3

for me best season alltime is Marty!

2006 he almost started every single game while having his 2nd best season for stats and trophies

Those two seasons from Marty in 06-07 and 07-08 were probably his best seasons in his career. He could have won the Hart Trophy in either year. He probably should have in 07-08.

He racked up a lot of shutouts in 06-07, but in 07-08 he still was really dominant and wasn't even racking up shutouts left and right like he was the year before, which is a testament to how out of his mind he was playing in 07-08. He only had 4 shutouts that year, but basically played as well as he did the season before with I think 12 shutouts?

Not to mention he was playing behind quite a cast of defensemen. No Stevens or Niedermayer to be found on any of those teams.

But hey! We did have Colin White, Mike Mottau (07-08), Karel Rachunek (07-08), Vitaly Vishnevskiy (07-08) and a bunch of other......Yeah. Rafalski was still here for 06-07 lol.

His 05-06 was almost as good as those next two seasons, but he started the 05-06 season fresh off the lockout very rusty and quite a bit above his playing weight.

Marty from probably like December of 2005 through April of 2008 may have been his most dominant stretch of hockey in his career, but it was also a stretch in which he didn't have much playoff success either. In April of 2008 he had a very forgettable Rangers series, then got hurt less than a month into the next season and that was maybe the end of him being the best in world. He was still pretty good for another 1.5 years after that, but the start of the 2010 calendar year was probably the start of his decline.

 

[Devs3cups]

Marty’s 06-07 season with 48 wins (to set the record for most W’s in a season at the time) and 12 shutouts was pretty sick.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Hall 17-18
Kovy 11-12
Jack 22-23
Parise 08-09

Only seasons I've seen as a fan (became a fan in 2007-2008) that I can argue for being the best forward year in their own right. I'm sure I missed a few of Patty's elite years in that too. Would list them exactly like I did above as well.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Hall 17-18
Kovy 11-12
Jack 22-23
Parise 08-09

Only seasons I've seen as a fan (became a fan in 2007-2008) that I can argue for being the best forward year in their own right. I'm sure I missed a few of Patty's elite years in that too. Would list them exactly like I did above as well.

oh man you missed some great seasons!

Elias in... er.. 2001? was crazy good!

covid has caused me to lose track of time

also Gomez rookie season, Giontas career year

even Stevens (lol) 60 assists!

check out old footage sometime!

 

[Bleedred]

Hall 17-18
Kovy 11-12
Jack 22-23
Parise 08-09

Only seasons I've seen as a fan (became a fan in 2007-2008) that I can argue for being the best forward year in their own right. I'm sure I missed a few of Patty's elite years in that too. Would list them exactly like I did above as well.

I'm arguing Jack's last season here was more impressive than Kovalchuk's 11-12.

I know it was a higher scoring year/era, but he average about 4.5 fewer minutes per game. Kovalchuk's points per minute that year probably doesn't look as impressive as his points per game does.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I'm arguing Jack's last season here was more impressive than Kovalchuk's 11-12.

I know it was a higher scoring year/era, but he average about 4.5 fewer minutes per game. Kovalchuk's points per minute that year probably doesn't look as impressive as his points per game does.

Yeah, only reason I'd put Kovy above Jack is how DeBoer literally used him as a dman for some f***ing reason even though it eventually led to his back issues. Jack was definitely more efficient.

 

[Bleedred]

tedenby good lord what a freaking bum that guy was

I couldn't stand this player one bit. He was one of my most unfavorite Devils forward prospects (that actually played over 100 NHL games) ever.

Like most people, I wanted Carlson over him in the 2008 draft, but I got over that and gave him a chance. He looked very impressive upon his first NHL call up as a 20 year old first year North American, who had only played a few AHL games at the time he was first called up.

He came on strong and looked like he was going to be pretty good. He was maybe one of the best players on the team under MacLoser, which may or may not be an accomplishment.

He progressively dropped off as the year went on. He didn't produce as much under Lemaire, and he didn't produce hardly anything under DeBoer. He got worse and worse the more games he played in the NHL. He got A LOT of breakaways, but rarely scored on them. He was able to impressively dangle through guys, but had not much finish, save for his first 20 or 30 games in the league. I think a huge percentage of his total NHL points scored came in his first 30 games (he played 120) in the league. I went through this before, I just forget my actual findings.

I took a TON of shit for not believing in this player, maybe as much as I did over the Schneider bounce back that I guaranteed would never happen, as well as the Blackwood stuff.

There were a lot of people that thought he was a sure-fire NHL player, even as of 11-12 and that he just needed some more time in the minors and needed to play with good players.

The problem with him was that he was an offensive player that just wasn't good at scoring/producing offense beyond his first 30-ish games in the league. His AHL production wasn't bad, but certainly wasn't anything worth bragging about either. It's easy to see why he took his stick and went back home to Europe for good at age 24 and hasn't been heard from since.

I looked up the Tedenby splits again just for clarification. He had 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 120 career NHL games. He had 14 points and 7 goals in his first 31 games. So he had only 3 goals and 16 points in his final 89 games in the league. So almost half of his total points came in his first 31 games and 70% of his total goals came in his first 31 games in the league.

 

[Cheddabombs]

What I love about this place in the offseason is you never know what you'll get when you open this thread

 

[Xirik]

What I love about this place in the offseason is you never know what you'll get when you open this thread

If a Devils players were a sandwich what kind of sandwich would they be?

 

[CalamityX23]

3pm would be a great time to announce the deal

apologies as I may miss the subject, what deal is this?

 

[Bleedred]

Was hoping that by July 12th that Fitz would do something to bolster this team and make it better from last year, but all I see is Connor Clifton and Fitz signing a bunch of guys that were already here last year like Meier and Bratt. And we've also lost a bunch of guys like Sevo and Gravy, who were key pieces to our team last year, as well as hiring VAN reject Travis Green to replace that drunk driving alcoholic. Shara for Toffoli is a backwards trade, as Toffo can't skate at all anymore and is too slow for the fast team Fitz seemed as if he were trying to assemble. I for one am glad we didn't sign Woody to that contract that COL gave him, but we also did nothing to replace what he brings. We're a worse team without Woody.

Then I look over across the river at the Rags and see they aren't playing around this summer. They've brought in a gutsy veteran and leader with a ton of heart in Blake Wheeler, as well as a 2 time cup winner and Conn Smythe winner in Jon Quick. When young guys look around the room and see real winners like Jon Quick and true heart in Wheels, this just makes them more motivated to win. I think Gallant is a great HC and wish the NJD would have hired him, but credit Drury for bringing in Lavi. Did you know the NJD could have had either Gallant or Lavi, but Harris and Fitz decided to go with the cheap option in Ruff? Costly penny pinching decision from ownership on down.

And it doesn't just stop there. Rawly has made some very strong moves this offseason as well. Good luck on ever getting past them. And they'll even have Svech back this time around.

And I have to credit DET and Stevie Y for the offseason he's had. DET looks poised to take the playoff spot that will no doubt be vacated by the NJD next spring. I expect the Senzzzz to also be better after signing a better netminder this offseason than the NJD have in their entire organization in Korpisalo. Dorion has also had a better summer than Fitz.

Fitz has worked this offseason like a guy that's just content to have gotten a playoff berth for once in his GM career. Fitz's lackadaisical offseason reminds me of Ray's 2018 offseason, where he was content after making the playoffs. We all saw the miserable season that followed.

And that draft was a gigantic bust. Can we trade Castron back to C-bus for one of their many guys that actually know how to properly scout prospects?

Thanks Fitz.

 

[Ripshot 43]

What I love about this place in the offseason is you never know what you'll get when you open this thread

John Vanbiesbrouck… top 3 NJ backup goaltender of all time?

 

[Whaddagoal]

Yeah, only reason I'd put Kovy above Jack is how DeBoer literally used him as a dman for some f***ing reason even though it eventually led to his back issues. Jack was definitely more efficient.

PDB was only following precedent set by ATL coaches. All of them worked his minutes. Hartley, Anderson...They realized he is a horse and worked him like one. I always remember that TGulitti fireice blog post commenting about how everyone was amazed Kovy barely broke a sweat from some crazy drill session and he was off the ice like nothing happened. Either PBD had commented or his teammates commented everyone was dead but Kovy walked off like nothing happened.

Wish I could find the old post on some archive.

 

[Eggtimer]

apologies as I may miss the subject, what deal is this?

Hellebuyck getting traded to us . Lol it’s just speculation at this point but I’m trying to will it into happening . Just like I willed Hamilton signing and us winning the last lotto for pick #2 overall . I have magical powers by the way .

 

[Billdo]

John Vanbiesbrouck… top 3 NJ backup goaltender of all time?

That's another one we can do a deep dive into.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

apologies as I may miss the subject, what deal is this?

He’s coming home