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

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I hate that we stuck all these years with Boqvist and when he's finally starting to show something we let him go. I get that we have a ton of depth and have to give other guys a chance too, but he'll no doubt do better next season in Boston than few of our bottom6 guys here.
 
ninetyeight said:
I hate that we stuck all these years with Boqvist and when he's finally starting to show something we let him go. I get that we have a ton of depth and have to give other guys a chance too, but he'll no doubt do better next season in Boston than few of our bottom6 guys here.
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Idk, he definitely could go on to be a contributing factor with another team but I think we've seen this before too many times and don't really need to hold onto the idea of "progression" anymore the way we use to.

The Yayos and Tedenby's who showed "something" year after year like they were on the cusp of breaking out while more and more people gave up on them only to be let go right before "breaking out" (claimed by a few, me being one of them,) and then go on somewhere else to show everyone that that was it. They showed and brought everything they had to offer right from the start, but because of their age, there seemingly was no where to go but up. But that was it, what you saw was what you got.

I'm not saying that is what happened or will happen with Jesper, but it's nice to have enough pieces not to feel tooooo bad about cutting ties "early."

If he goes on to be amazing, good for him, probably wouldn't be able to afford him anyways. If he goes on to be middle of the road playing the same style he plays now just a little better, still good for him, but we have enough of what he would bring to the table already on the team or waiting to join it.
 
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Mgd31 said:
Elias had just as good a year. There were so many contributors on offense that year. The defense by committee and Hedberg were low key great too
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I'd call Elias' 2000-01 campaign the best season of any forward in New Jersey Devils history, and I'd say that with great confidence.

Goal scoring was far lower in the "dead puck" era, but Elias still managed a 40-56-96 line, good for 3rd in the league behind absolute legends Jaromir Jagr and Joe Sakic. More impressive still is that Jagr was largely an all-offensive player while Sakic could be described as "defensively adequate". Elias was certainly one of the top 5 defensive forwards in the league that year, and still managed a stat-line which could only be described as "gaudy" considering the era he was playing in.

More impressive still was that Elias was the only forward in the top 10 scoring leaders who was deployed at all 3 forward positions with regularity. His versatility was astounding -- he could plug into any line in any situation, he was out there late up or down one goal, he was a fixture on both the PP and PK.

My personal opinion -- and maybe it's biased but I would argue against it -- is that Patrik Elias is the current most glaring omission in the NHL Hall of Fame. The guy was one of the top two-way forwards -- probably only behind the great Peter Forsberg -- over a 10+ year span, was as versatile as any NHL forward over the same span, had one of the best hockey IQs this century, piled up points despite playing on a defense-first team, made one of the greatest assists in NHL playoff history in overtime to win the 2000 Stanley Cup, and added a second cup ring in 2003.

What else could Patrik Elias have done? He's truly an all-time great.

#FreePatty
 
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It's nice to have a good team where you can't keep everyone. The Devils had a few years there where basically the ex-Devils in the league were like, Fayne, Henrique, and Merrill. I wish Boqvist had signed out West where I could root for him and his team but I think he'll do fine in Boston.
 
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StevenToddIves said:
I'd call Elias' 2000-01 campaign the best season of any forward in New Jersey Devils history, and I'd say that with great confidence.

Goal scoring was far lower in the "dead puck" era, but Elias still managed a 40-56-96 line, good for 3rd in the league behind absolute legends Jaromir Jagr and Joe Sakic. More impressive still is that Jagr was largely an all-offensive player while Sakic could be described as "defensively adequate". Elias was certainly one of the top 5 defensive forwards in the league that year, and still managed a stat-line which could only be described as "gaudy" considering the era he was playing in.

More impressive still was that Elias was the only forward in the top 10 scoring leaders who was deployed at all 3 forward positions with regularity. His versatility was astounding -- he could plug into any line in any situation, he was out there late up or down one goal, he was a fixture on both the PP and PK.

My personal opinion -- and maybe it's biased but I would argue against it -- is that Patrik Elias is the current most glaring omission in the NHL Hall of Fame. The guy was one of the top two-way forwards -- probably only behind the great Peter Forsberg -- over a 10+ year span, was as versatile as any NHL forward over the same span, had one of the best hockey IQs this century, piled up points despite playing on a defense-first team, made one of the greatest assists in NHL playoff history in overtime to win the 2000 Stanley Cup, and added a second cup ring in 2003.

What else could Patrik Elias have done? He's truly an all-time great.

#FreePatty
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Elias was not really used at center at that time and played on a absolutely loaded Devils team - yes, his offense was remarkable, but he was playing mostly with two excellent linemates in front of a phenomenal defense, and on a fantastic power play with all sorts of options. Great player, great season, but I will still take Taylor Hall's 17-18 over it (and probably Jack Hughes's 22-23 though that gets more complicated).
 
Oneiro said:
I don’t think Kovy ever did anything close to Hall’s MVP season. People want to inflate the story but that was a team if there ever was one.
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Yeah, calling it like I see it here, he's pretty overrated by some Devils fans. I mean the guy was really good, but we didn't have him at his best either. His best was before he got to the Devils. Maybe the first year he was here (where he was only here for about half-ish of the year) was his last really dominant year. Gilmour and Nieuwendyk were amazing players too, but we didn't have them at their best either. Yeah, they were quite a bit older when we had them than Kovalchuk was, but I do think Kovalchuk gets overrated by some Devils fans. There's people that act like he's the greatest, most explosive player we ever saw here. Maybe the Atlanta version probably would have been, but we never really had the Atlanta version here. He was scoring more points/goals in Atlanta before he ever even got here and in less time on ice.

Yes, I think he was a better player than Hall. Hall's MVP season was an outlier in his career, but it was definitely the more dominant season.

I think the fact that Kovalchuk was probably one of the most high profile players we ever acquired, especially at the age he was at the time we got him, probably shines him up a lot more. The fact that we made a Stanley Cup Finals with him helps as well. He was still in his 20's when we got him and not 33 or 36, like the other high profile names we acquired.
Mgd31 said:
Elias had just as good a year. There were so many contributors on offense that year. The defense by committee and Hedberg were low key great too
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Elias was 10th in points that year, if I recall correctly, while Kovalchuk was 5th. Elias had a lower PPG than Kovalchuk that year, but he also had a higher PP60 than Kovalchuk that year. And he was 35 years old to Kovalchuk's 28.
 
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StevenToddIves said:
I'd call Elias' 2000-01 campaign the best season of any forward in New Jersey Devils history, and I'd say that with great confidence.

Goal scoring was far lower in the "dead puck" era, but Elias still managed a 40-56-96 line, good for 3rd in the league behind absolute legends Jaromir Jagr and Joe Sakic. More impressive still is that Jagr was largely an all-offensive player while Sakic could be described as "defensively adequate". Elias was certainly one of the top 5 defensive forwards in the league that year, and still managed a stat-line which could only be described as "gaudy" considering the era he was playing in.

More impressive still was that Elias was the only forward in the top 10 scoring leaders who was deployed at all 3 forward positions with regularity. His versatility was astounding -- he could plug into any line in any situation, he was out there late up or down one goal, he was a fixture on both the PP and PK.

My personal opinion -- and maybe it's biased but I would argue against it -- is that Patrik Elias is the current most glaring omission in the NHL Hall of Fame. The guy was one of the top two-way forwards -- probably only behind the great Peter Forsberg -- over a 10+ year span, was as versatile as any NHL forward over the same span, had one of the best hockey IQs this century, piled up points despite playing on a defense-first team, made one of the greatest assists in NHL playoff history in overtime to win the 2000 Stanley Cup, and added a second cup ring in 2003.

What else could Patrik Elias have done? He's truly an all-time great.

#FreePatty
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Yea I was talking about 2011-2012. That’s why I don’t think Kovalchuk’s year was that noteworthy. Not like Hall’s, Parise’s best year or this past Hughes ones.
 
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MadDevil said:
I still think Zidlicky's handlebar mustache he wore for like one or two games was the best playoff beard that year. I thought I had a pic of it saved somewhere but it must have been on my old dead laptop.
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Best i could find, you sure it was him with that?

One from series vs. Philly, and the SCF.
292120_10150859452119583_581890233_n.jpg



uspw_6294850.jpg



Random old blog post:
thehockeywriters.com

Marek Zidlicky: High Risk, High Reward - The Hockey Writers Latest News, Analysis & More

Through 9 games Marek Zidlicky has a team-high seven points/assists for the New Jersey Devils & has been one of their best players so far...
thehockeywriters.com thehockeywriters.com
 
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ninetyeight said:
I hate that we stuck all these years with Boqvist and when he's finally starting to show something we let him go. I get that we have a ton of depth and have to give other guys a chance too, but he'll no doubt do better next season in Boston than few of our bottom6 guys here.
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The Devils are good again, you guys don't need to have stockholm syndrome with dime a dozen nothing players anymore
 
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Esa Tikkanen could be a pretty sweet number retirement. Just saying.

If I could remember what number he even wore here.
 
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