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

[Camille the Eel]

Our lines are so hard to predict, even harder when Ruff consistently goes to the line blender.

I’d personally like to see Hughes - Mercer stay together, but the second Haula moves up to pseudo LW alongside Hughes, Mercer is the first candidate for 3C unless McLeod/Nosek step up.

I’d have to guess this is how the Devils start:

Meier - Hughes - Mercer
Bratt - Hischier - Toffoli
Palat - Haula - Holtz
Nosek - McLeod - Bastian
Foote - Lazar

What changed last year was using Jack as a goalscorer to drive line scoring primarily himself. A volume shooter instead of a set up guy. Out there with Haula and Tatar quite often with the wingers digging in the corners and Jack free lancing out high and cutting to the net too. That freed up the other scorers to stock other lines. It may well be that usage continues.

 

[Triumph]

Our lines are so hard to predict, even harder when Ruff consistently goes to the line blender.

I’d personally like to see Hughes - Mercer stay together, but the second Haula moves up to pseudo LW alongside Hughes, Mercer is the first candidate for 3C unless McLeod/Nosek step up.

I’d have to guess this is how the Devils start:

Meier - Hughes - Mercer
Bratt - Hischier - Toffoli
Palat - Haula - Holtz
Nosek - McLeod - Bastian
Foote - Lazar

I don't think Meier with Hughes is the direction they are going to go - those two really did not find a ton of chemistry together.

I think it's more likely we see:

Meier-Hischier-Mercer
Bratt-Hughes-Toffoli
Palat-Haula-Holtz
Foote-Nosek-Bastian

ex. Tierney, Lazar

at least to start the season.

 

[Camille the Eel]

I don't think Meier with Hughes is the direction they are going to go - those two really did not find a ton of chemistry together.

I think it's more likely we see:

Meier-Hischier-Mercer
Bratt-Hughes-Toffoli
Palat-Haula-Holtz
Foote-Nosek-Bastian

ex. Tierney, Lazar

at least to start the season.

Hughes Haula Mercer
But at least Hughes and Haula together, generally, to judge by this year.

 

[Guttersniped]

Bratt can easily afford a hair transplant with his new contract now. He can even splurge for the top surgeons in the US! Then, he gets a prescription of finasteride to halt further hair loss and he's good to go.

Fun fact: Jose Theodore once got caught by an anti doping agency for taking finasteride. Apparently it can help mask steroid use. Who would have figured?

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

I don't think Meier with Hughes is the direction they are going to go - those two really did not find a ton of chemistry together.

I think it's more likely we see:

Meier-Hischier-Mercer
Bratt-Hughes-Toffoli
Palat-Haula-Holtz
Foote-Nosek-Bastian

ex. Tierney, Lazar

at least to start the season.

a buddy of mine out West saw more SJ games than i ever will

before the trade he said Meier loves to have the puck on his stick, shoots a lot

i has guessed he was a triggerman, set up away from the puck

but if true i agree - best to keep them separated

id love to have two 40+ goal scorers!

 

[glenwo2]

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

theyre growing up!!

id say i feel old but thatd be rude to older folk

 

[Xirik]

I think the top of the lineup will be

Meier-Hischier-Toffoli
Bratt-Hughes-Mercer

Meier doesn't seem to have the instincts to know where Hughes wants him to be at certain times and sometimes just seems lost. Toffoli and Mercer could switch but I think Mercer already is on the same wave length with Hughes.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I think the top of the lineup will be

Meier-Hischier-Toffoli
Bratt-Hughes-Mercer

Meier doesn't seem to have the instincts to know where Hughes wants him to be at certain times and sometimes just seems lost. Toffoli and Mercer could switch but I think Mercer already is on the same wave length with Hughes.

Swap Toff and Mercer and it’s Genucelicious

 

[Nubmer6]

I actually wouldn't mind one of Bratt or Meier (or even both!) driving the third line as long as we rotate 3 or 4 lines pretty equally.

 

[Guttersniped]

Rafalski may have still had that much hair when he just turned 25, which Bratt will turn 25 in 2 days.

None of us really knew what Rafalski looked like at 25 because he wasn't playing over here in North America. We didn't see Rafalski for the first time until right around his 26th birthday. I've tried really hard to look for helmetless pictures of him from his days playing in Europe and I can't find any. The only picture they have of him on his hockeydb profile is with the Wings. I was hoping maybe there was one from Finland in the 90's or even a college shot from Wisconsin. His hair was extremely fine from as far back as I can remember. Obviously, this isn't a rule, but unfortunately many men with that really lighter blonde hair like Bratter and Raffi have are cursed with baldness and sometimes very premature baldness.

I'm glad the darker/black hair is the more dominant trait and I inherited that from my mom's side. If I had my old man's hair, I would have had less than Bratt at 24, just like he did lol.

Challenge accepted!

Rafalski as a Badger (up to age 21 season)

Spoiler: So 1991-95/ age 18-21

Also check out his 1991-92 Upper Deck Czech World Juniors card for fun!

First to Sweden.

Spoiler: That’s 1995-96/ age 22

Only found the one little photo on the back of this Swedish hockey card.

1995-96 Leaf Elit Set (Swedish) #172 Brian Rafalski

Next it’s off Finland to blow up Liiga and win a medal.

Spoiler: 1996-99/ age 23-25

The top photo is from a Finnish site where you can watch a short doc about Rafalski on HIFK. It’s in Finnish, with no subtitles unfortunately, but some nice clips.

I couldn’t find any of his earliest Devils team portraits on Getty.

Spoiler: Disappointing photos from 1999-00 Hockey cards

Not happy about it, but that’s what you get.

Getty had them starting in 2001.

Spoiler: So here ya go

Bonus portrait!

[2004 photo shoot canceled by owners]

And also the always slightly odd USA Hockey portraits.

Spoiler: USA! USA! USA! ETC!

Boo!

Spoiler: Extra photo fun because we deserve it.

A

Not sure if this helps at all with your hair theories, I just used that as an excuse to post a bunch of Rafalski photos.

 

[McDuffz88]

The lineup is interesting because it can go in a few directions. Our top 9 is decided by Toffoli/Mcleod (hear me out). With Tof he is slow skating so my gut says he needs to have Bratt or Hughes to carry play to give Tof time to get in position to snipe. But if we bury him to the 3rd line we can roll in deep. Don't forget Ruff's obsession with Haula paired with Hughes (I don't agree with it but I'm realistic). Biggest question of them all is has McLeod reached a new level after the last playoffs? He looked like a new player & if he continuously played at that level he would actually make a good 3rd line center. If he could pull that off (call me delusional) it would fix our roster to have 3 sick lines & one shut down line. Without that scenario we have a gaping hole at 3RW if Holtz doesn't work out. If he busts then we have no one at all to fill that spot. So here's my solution

Meier-Nico-Mercer/Bratt
Haula-Hughes-Bratt/Mercer
Palat-McLeod-Toffoli
Foote/Lazar-Nosek-Bastian

Or we take out my pipedream of McLeod turning the corner & putting Haula where he belongs, our lines probably look like

Meier/Bratt-Nico-Toffoli/Mercer
Bratt/Meier-Hughes-Mercer/Toffoli
Palat-Haula-Holtz??????
Nosek-Mcleod-Bastian
Foote, Lazar

 

[Billdo]

The lineup is interesting because it can go in a few directions. Our top 9 is decided by Toffoli/Mcleod (hear me out). With Tof he is slow skating so my gut says he needs to have Bratt or Hughes to carry play to give Tof time to get in position to snipe. But if we bury him to the 3rd line we can roll in deep. Don't forget Ruff's obsession with Haula paired with Hughes (I don't agree with it but I'm realistic). Biggest question of them all is has McLeod reached a new level after the last playoffs? He looked like a new player & if he continuously played at that level he would actually make a good 3rd line center. If he could pull that off (call me delusional) it would fix our roster to have 3 sick lines & one shut down line. Without that scenario we have a gaping hole at 3RW if Holtz doesn't work out. If he busts then we have no one at all to fill that spot. So here's my solution

Meier-Nico-Mercer/Bratt
Haula-Hughes-Bratt/Mercer
Palat-McLeod-Toffoli
Foote/Lazar-Nosek-Bastian

Or we take out my pipedream of McLeod turning the corner & putting Haula where he belongs, our lines probably look like

Meier/Bratt-Nico-Toffoli/Mercer
Bratt/Meier-Hughes-Mercer/Toffoli
Palat-Haula-Holtz??????
Nosek-Mcleod-Bastian
Foote, Lazar

I think this is what we will see....

Meier-Hischier-Mercer
Bratt-Hughes-Toffoli
Palat-Haula-Holtz
Foote/Nosek-Nosek/McLeod-Bastian/Lazar

To me the fourth line is pretty interchangeable depending on if Mikey gets suspended or not. The top 9 thought to me will be what I wrote.

 

[Whaddagoal]

Bratt got some serious airtime with that backflip.
Those leg workouts must be doing something.

 

[MartyOwns]

some no-name publication graded every team’s offseason. nothing we don’t already know already but it’s nice to get our due. f***, i’m excited for the season ahead.

New Jersey Devils: A+

Additions: C Tomáš Nosek (1 year, $1 million), G Erik Källgren (1 year, $775k), C Chris Tierney (1 year, $775k), RW Tyler Toffoli (trade; 1 year left on contract at $4.25 million AAV), RD Colin Miller (trade; 1 year left on contract at $1.85 million AAV)

Keeps: LW Timo Meier (8 years, $70.4 million w/ no-move clause for final 7 years & 15-team no-trade list for final 3 years), RW Jesper Bratt (8 years, $63 million w/ no-move clause for final 7 years & 15-team no-trade list for final 3 years), C Erik Haula (3 years, $9.45 million w/ no-trade clause for first 2 years & 6-team no-trade list for final year), RW Nathan Bastian (2 years, $2.7 million), C Michael McLeod (1 year, $1.4 million)

Subtractions: G Jonathan Bernier (UFA), G Mackenzie Blackwood (SJS; trade), C Jesper Boqvist (BOS), LD Ryan Graves (PIT), RD Damon Severson (CBJ; sign-and-trade), LW Yegor Sharangovich (CGY; trade), LW Miles Wood (COL)

Tom Fitzgerald has done his homework. While he didn’t get any big-name free agents from a relatively shallow class, he prioritized locking up his top RFAs to eight-year extensions. Both Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier, the Devils’ two best wingers on the team, are getting paid big money, deservedly so. Despite a disappointing playoff outing where the only goal he scored was an empty net goal, Bratt is coming off consecutive 73-point seasons, finding his chemistry on the top six with either Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier. Him fitting in with either one of them makes complete sense. While Meier didn’t quite live up to expectations with the points pace that he produced with the San Jose Sharks in his final two seasons there, it can be argued that he needed more time to adjust to the Devils’ system.

Not only is he a scorer, but he can also get to the dirty areas of the ice for rebounds and deflections, and also impose his will physically to wear his opponents down. The work didn’t stop there. Fitzgerald kept depth forwards Erik Haula, Michael McLeod, and Nathan Bastian to reasonable contracts, with Haula continuing to win faceoffs for them and generate offense while McLeod and Bastian being key centerpieces to the team’s penalty kill. While they lost Miles Wood, Jesper Boqvist, and Yegor Sharangovich, they sought out and acquired Tyler Toffoli from the Calgary Flames, making their already formidable top six forward core even more fearsome, as Toffoli led the Flames in goals and points this past season. While he’s not expected to have another 73-point season, if he can get 60 points for them, the Devils will be in good hands.

They filled in the loss of Wood with Tomáš Nosek, a solid fourth liner who can play at the left wing or center, and can clamp opponents down defensively and win faceoffs. And with Damon Severson gone, they got themselves a nice offensive stopgap in Colin Miller to be on the third pairing. The losses of Wood, Boqvist, and Ryan Graves may hurt, but it can allow for some of the younger guys to step in a more prominent role, especially Luke Hughes, who is getting set for his first full NHL season after getting his first taste at the tail end of the 2022-23 regular season and three playoff games. In those five games, he recorded four points, and him being the team’s top defensive prospect could suggest that those four points may be a sign of things to come. While Alex Holtz has seen just 28 games of NHL action in his young career, he is in line to get an extended look at it this coming season. He tore up the AHL with the Utica Comets, so it will be interesting to see how he fares in the NHL. Nonetheless, the Devils are set up for success in both the short and the long term.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

I actually wouldn't mind one of Bratt or Meier (or even both!) driving the third line as long as we rotate 3 or 4 lines pretty equally.

if we do that id prefer Bratt there

only because Meier can get more goals with better talent!

Jesper makes something out of nothing quite often

 

[Nubmer6]

some no-name publication graded every team’s offseason. nothing we don’t already know already but it’s nice to get our due. f***, i’m excited for the season ahead.

That's actually a very accurate assessment. Probably better than many of the "KNOWN" publications out there.

 

[glenwo2]

The lineup is interesting because it can go in a few directions. Our top 9 is decided by Toffoli/Mcleod (hear me out). With Tof he is slow skating so my gut says he needs to have Bratt or Hughes to carry play to give Tof time to get in position to snipe. But if we bury him to the 3rd line we can roll in deep. Don't forget Ruff's obsession with Haula paired with Hughes (I don't agree with it but I'm realistic). Biggest question of them all is has McLeod reached a new level after the last playoffs? He looked like a new player & if he continuously played at that level he would actually make a good 3rd line center. If he could pull that off (call me delusional) it would fix our roster to have 3 sick lines & one shut down line. Without that scenario we have a gaping hole at 3RW if Holtz doesn't work out. If he busts then we have no one at all to fill that spot. So here's my solution

Meier-Nico-Mercer/Bratt
Haula-Hughes-Bratt/Mercer
Palat-McLeod-Toffoli
Foote/Lazar-Nosek-Bastian

Or we take out my pipedream of McLeod turning the corner & putting Haula where he belongs, our lines probably look like

Meier/Bratt-Nico-Toffoli/Mercer
Bratt/Meier-Hughes-Mercer/Toffoli
Palat-Haula-Holtz??????
Nosek-Mcleod-Bastian
Foote, Lazar

I'm sure @Bleedred would agree with me here but each time you post, I have to ALWAYS look at your name to make sure RangerDoggo didn't return. lol

 

[Bleedred]

I'm sure @Bleedred would agree with me here but each time you post, I have to ALWAYS look at your name to make sure RangerDoggo didn't return. lol

I’m used to it now, but after the first couple of times I did get trolled into thinking it was the return of RangerDoggo.

 

[Guttersniped]

some no-name publication graded every team’s offseason. nothing we don’t already know already but it’s nice to get our due. f***, i’m excited for the season ahead.

So no-name that you will not name it or provide a link lol.

 

[Bleedred]

The hockey guy just did his middle of the off-season power rankings and had us second, behind only Vegas



This dude is another YouTuber. Young guy, but doesn’t quite have the following THG has yet.

He does an entire prediction with the standings for every division and then every round of the playoffs and has us winning in the finals over Edmonton. He’s got nothing but great things to say about us and is really high on us.

He had a top 5 best and top 5 worst UFA signings of this year video earlier in the month. To the surprise of no one he had Miles Wood as the worst contract of this year’s UFA. Funny enough, he had two different goalie contracts in the top-5 worst (Jarry and Varlamov), but somehow did not have what I think is not only the worst goalie contract of this UFA, but a close second behind Wood for worst contract period this UFA and that’s Korpisalo.

I first watched one of his videos last off-season where he ranked every team’s goalie tandem from 32 to 1 and he had the Blackwood-Vanecek tandem very low and was pretty damn low on Blackwood for a guy that’s not a Devils fan. I wanted to buy him a meal and beverage of his choice for that one.

 

[Guadana]

The hockey guy just did his middle of the off-season power rankings and had us second, behind only Vegas



This dude is another YouTuber. Young guy, but doesn’t quite have the following THG has yet.

He does an entire prediction with the standings for every division and then every round of the playoffs and has us winning in the finals over Edmonton. He’s got nothing but great things to say about us and is really high on us.

He had a top 5 best and top 5 worst UFA signings of this year video earlier in the month. To the surprise of no one he had Miles Wood as the worst contract of this year’s UFA. Funny enough, he had two different goalie contracts in the top-5 worst (Jarry and Varlamov), but somehow did not have what I think is not only the worst goalie contract of this UFA, but a close second behind Wood for worst contract period this UFA and that’s Korpisalo.

I first watched one of his videos last off-season where he ranked every team’s goalie tandem from 32 to 1 and he had the Blackwood-Vanecek tandem very low and was pretty damn low on Blackwood for a guy that’s not a Devils fan. I wanted to buy him a meal and beverage of his choice for that one.

Yeah, Bleedred, its not you, we understand it. He doesn't have Korpisalo as a bad contract. Definitely not you.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

I don't think Meier with Hughes is the direction they are going to go - those two really did not find a ton of chemistry together.

I think it's more likely we see:

Meier-Hischier-Mercer
Bratt-Hughes-Toffoli
Palat-Haula-Holtz
Foote-Nosek-Bastian

ex. Tierney, Lazar

at least to start the season.

I disagree, you have 7+ years to figure out some chemistry with a full training camp this year. How many practices do you think Meier even had with the Devils? 7?

 

[Clam Jensen]

The hockey guy just did his middle of the off-season power rankings and had us second, behind only Vegas



This dude is another YouTuber. Young guy, but doesn’t quite have the following THG has yet.

He does an entire prediction with the standings for every division and then every round of the playoffs and has us winning in the finals over Edmonton. He’s got nothing but great things to say about us and is really high on us.

He had a top 5 best and top 5 worst UFA signings of this year video earlier in the month. To the surprise of no one he had Miles Wood as the worst contract of this year’s UFA. Funny enough, he had two different goalie contracts in the top-5 worst (Jarry and Varlamov), but somehow did not have what I think is not only the worst goalie contract of this UFA, but a close second behind Wood for worst contract period this UFA and that’s Korpisalo.

I first watched one of his videos last off-season where he ranked every team’s goalie tandem from 32 to 1 and he had the Blackwood-Vanecek tandem very low and was pretty damn low on Blackwood for a guy that’s not a Devils fan. I wanted to buy him a meal and beverage of his choice for that one.

BUF finishing below DET and OTT would be funny

 

[Andre Palot]

The hockey guy just did his middle of the off-season power rankings and had us second, behind only Vegas



This dude is another YouTuber. Young guy, but doesn’t quite have the following THG has yet.

He does an entire prediction with the standings for every division and then every round of the playoffs and has us winning in the finals over Edmonton. He’s got nothing but great things to say about us and is really high on us.

He had a top 5 best and top 5 worst UFA signings of this year video earlier in the month. To the surprise of no one he had Miles Wood as the worst contract of this year’s UFA. Funny enough, he had two different goalie contracts in the top-5 worst (Jarry and Varlamov), but somehow did not have what I think is not only the worst goalie contract of this UFA, but a close second behind Wood for worst contract period this UFA and that’s Korpisalo.

I first watched one of his videos last off-season where he ranked every team’s goalie tandem from 32 to 1 and he had the Blackwood-Vanecek tandem very low and was pretty damn low on Blackwood for a guy that’s not a Devils fan. I wanted to buy him a meal and beverage of his choice for that one.

Isn't/wasn't Sportsnet working with this guy? Makes sense, Shannon puts out arguably better videos in terms of information but Shannon isn't exactly captain charisma.

Although his dig at the Canucks during the power rankings video was pretty good. Something along the lines of

'if the Devils winning a Stanley cup this year seems fast, it does happen, which goes over really well for fans of teams that have been swimming in mediocrity for the past couple decades. Not that I could name one off the top of my head'

> points at Canucks logo on the board

'There it is'