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

[njdevils1982]

So many guys you'd hear were out for concussions and for a long time, and it was just kind of confusing. Why? Out from a big hit? No broken bones or muscle tears? Adam Deadmarsh's career ending due to concussions was kind of the wake up call for me I remember. Also once Scott Stevens's career ended suddenly without fanfare due to concussions it was really clear this stuff was not a joke.

That was 20 years ago, nothing really changed though until the summer of 2011 when Belak, Boogaard, and Rypien all died. Everything though really is downstream from the NFL and Chris Benoit and the shit storms there.

stevens was already 39 in his last season in '04...then the lockout lost season happened....it was inevitable

 

[Guttersniped]

I guess to me the team was actually trying to find guys to play meaningful minutes with PTOs. Stafford comes to mind. Was Gibbons a PTO? To me it was a sign of a team without enough talent and depth. With NJ having both now it's a step forward to me. I'm not against one as a backup type of player - as I noted, I could see one being helpful as a goalie - but the lack of need for a PTO at forward or defense - even if just for one year - is a nice thing in my view.

Sure we have depth now, but PTOs are pretty normal. Some teams use them more than others.

The biggest complaint you can make is that better players were available as UFAs but if they don’t sign with you then you do this.

It’s also a way to pick up tweeners for the AHL. Again, better guys are signed in July but if you don’t pick them up then, this is the time cheap stragglers are available. Cup contenders and winners have recently sign PTOs, it’s not a bad thing. People need to get over Drew Stafford.

You can look up PTOs on Cap Friendly.

A PTO ends up being one of our best players and gets us a 2nd & 4th Rd pick at the TDL.

Spoiler: PTOs 2015

All signed PTOs (Devils 2)

Those two were the only Devils PTOs

No one signs with the big club, Gibbons signs with Albany. He signed a two way deal for 2017-18 after nice year for our farm team.

Spoiler: PTOs 2016

All signed PTOs (Devils zero)

All Devils PTOs

Pelley was the Captain of the Albany Devils, his last season there was 2016-17.
Gibbons signed with our AHL team in 2016-17, he signed with the Devils after a big season in Albany.
Ben Sexton signed with the Albany Devils.
Max Novak was already playing with the Albany Devils, his last season there was 2016-17.
Lindback played with Onterio Reign (AHL) and in Sweden in 2016-17.

Jimmy Hayes.

Spoiler: 2017 PTOs

All signed PTOs (Devils 1)

Erixson and Mandat signed with the Binghamton Devils.

Mandat already played for the Binghamton Devils and Erixon signs with Bing.

The infamous Drew Stafford season.

Spoiler: 2018 PTOs

All signed PTOs (Devils 1)

That was the only Devils PTO.
Also, I’m not sure what was going on here.

Devils had no PTOs, we have “we’re beyond PTOs” comments in the off-season.

Spoiler: 2019 PTOs

Fun Fact: We get Claesson from Carolina in the Vats trade.

Again, no PTOs and “we’re beyond them”

Spoiler: 2020 PTOs

We need a PK forward and center depth, so we have PTOs. Anti-PTO crowd up in arms. (I kid!)

Spoiler: 2021 PTOs

Signed PTOs (Devils 2)

Devils PTOs

Jankowski signs with Buffalo on Nov 28th after playing in Rochester.
Wotherspoon signs with Utica for a year then signs a 2 year two-way deal w/ NJ in July 2022.

Two try-outs, no signings.

Spoiler: 2022 PTOs

Signed PTOs

Devils PTOs

Hickey retires.
Senyshyn signs with Utica (and sucks).

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

stevens was already 39 in his last season in '04...then the lockout lost season happened....it was inevitable

Yes but how the greatest devil of all time ended his career was a wake up call for me. Puck to the ear on a dump in leading to an “upper body injury.” Never seen again.

edit: Forgot he played a some games past that. Oh well I shall remember the more poetic version.

 

[BurntToast]

The Devils don’t need PTO’s. There may be some on defense but I can see the Devils giving the prospects more of an opportunity. They can give Foot or Holtz a shot and Lazar rides the pines. Same with Nemec, Miller and Smith.

 

[JrFischer54]

worthless...got lucky with the bratt injury...brett seney put up the exact same stat line as him in 6 less games....... 5-8-13

and stafford never played another nhl game after that season....a warm body for the roster indeed

LOL that is how bad louis left this franchise that stafford actually got playing time. but yeah shero was horrible lol.

 

[Aurinko]

Jack's amazing year might have had great effect on the group, and he might have had even more competitive stats playing with Hischier, but what goes to last year's season he was not alone the one who tipped the scale.

With the goals for vs. goals against, I put the gold standard to MacKinnon and especially his playoff stats.

 

[njdevils1982]

Yes but how the greatest devil of all time ended his career was a wake up call for me. Puck to the ear on a dump in leading to an “upper body injury.” Never seen again.

f***ing kubina.....

and i'm confused about "Never seen again"

he still played after the incident

 

[Bleedred]

f***ing kubina.....

and i'm confused about "Never seen again"

he still played after the incident

The way I remember it was that he got sick in January of 2004 and while he was out sick, they diagnosed him with post-concussion syndrome, which was presumably from the Kubina incident that happened in the second round of the 2003 playoffs. So he was obviously playing with a concussion during those 2003 playoffs. I think the game after that was when he scored that really weak muffin goal on Khabibulin (game 4), which got John Grahame the start for the game 5 elimination game, which Torts just said it was a ''Personal decision'' or ''My decision'' or something like that. That Stevens goal had to have done it, as that was the only thing he really did wrong in that game.

I remember endlessly hearing that was gonna be back and then it was he's coming back for the playoffs, but he never did. He was ready for the 2004-2005 season by all accounts and would have played had there been a season. He was under contract for that year, but not the next. It was pretty apparent as we got into August and after the lockout had ended, as well as with Lou signing guys like McGillis and Malakhov (Matvichuk was signed the year before the lockout), that Stevens was not going to play that year and would retire. I don't think he announced his retirement until September, and I remember him saying the year he spent away from hockey made him content with no longer playing hockey and he was already 41 at that time.

I vaguely remember Stevens saying he wanted to play into his 40's and him talking like he intended to play several more years. I think maybe it was in 2002 when he signed what would be his last contract, he said something like it wouldn't be his last contract.

 

[Guttersniped]

The Devils don’t need PTO’s. There may be some on defense but I can see the Devils giving the prospects more of an opportunity. They can give Foot or Holtz a shot and Lazar rides the pines. Same with Nemec, Miller and Smith.

It’s definitely unlikely this season since Utica already has a bunch of vets, it likely wouldn’t be workable to send any more down to them.

Add up the depth we already signed, plus two 2 way deals, plus the 4 guys coming off of NHL deals Utica signed to AHL deals… there’s a lot of rando vets in play.

Chris Tierney is very PTO-esque, it’s just that we picked him up in July instead of trolling the docks looking for UFA trade in September to potentially sign.

 

[Brodeur]

The Devils don’t need PTO’s. There may be some on defense but I can see the Devils giving the prospects more of an opportunity. They can give Foot or Holtz a shot and Lazar rides the pines. Same with Nemec, Miller and Smith.

Sometimes a PTO can be helpful since there's a CBA rule about dressing eight veterans in every preseason game. Granted the Devils' road preseason games don't require too much travel aside from whoever we send for that opening split squad at Montreal. And we have a couple guys like Tierney/C.Foote on two way deals who meet the veteran requirement.

Veterans: F/D: 100+ career NHL games or 30+ games in 2021-22. Goalies dressed in 50+ games or played in 30+. Or was a first round pick in the most recent draft.

Devils 2-1 Canadiens (Sep 26, 2022) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the New Jersey Devils vs. Montreal Canadiens NHL game from September 26, 2022 on ESPN. Includes all goals, assists and penalty minutes stats.

www.espn.com

Last preseason we sent this squad to Montreal (veterans in bold):

LW: Tatar-Foote-Johnsson-Laberge
C: Hischier-Boqvist-Thompson-Talvitie
RW: Bratt-Clarke-Halonen-Senyshyn
LD: Graves-Bahl-Vilen-Okhotiuk
RD: Severson-Walsh
G: Blackwood-Daws

Devils 4-1 Islanders (Sep 27, 2022) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the New Jersey Devils vs. New York Islanders NHL game from September 27, 2022 on ESPN. Includes all goals, assists and penalty minutes stats.

www.espn.com

Then the next day we had this squad at home.

LW: Palat-Wood-Sharangovich-Geertsen
C: Hughes-Haula-McLeod-Pinho
RW: Holtz-Mercer-Zetterlund-Bastian
LD: Siegenthaler-Smith-Hickey
RD: Hamilton-Marino-Nemec
G: Vanecek-Schmid

Not unusual if a team sends the minimum 8 vets early on a preseason road trip. A veteran PTO could save somebody a round trip to Montreal. Current contracts:

LW (7): Meier-Bratt-Palat-Nosek-Foote-(Filmon)-Dowling
C (8): Hughes-Hischier-Haula-McLeod-Lazar-Tierney-Bowers-Criscuolo
RW (8): Toffoli-Mercer-Holtz-Bastian-Clarke-Thompson-Halonen-Stillman
LD (9): Siegenthaler-Hughes-Bahl-Smith-Hatakka-Vilen-Vukojevic-Wotherspoon-Misyul
RD (5): Hamilton-Marino-Miller-Foote-Nemec
G (4): Vanecek-Schmid-Kallgren-Brennan-Daws (injured)

Maybe a PTO LW would make sense since we start with a split squad (at MON, PHI). CapFriendly has the following guys still on the scrap heap: Nick Ritchie, Adam Erne, Maxime Comtois (rumored to be getting a PTO with Vegas), Tyler Motte, Danton Heinen, Kieffer Bellows, Zach Aston-Reese, Jujhar Khaira.

PTO goalie could make sense too since Daws is hurt. Not much left there though: Jaroslav Halak, Brian Elliott, Michael Hutchinson, Anton Khudobin, Devils legend Jon Gillies.

 

[njdevils1982]

Sometimes a PTO can be helpful since there's a CBA rule about dressing eight veterans in every preseason game. Granted the Devils' road preseason games don't require too much travel aside from whoever we send for that opening split squad at Montreal. And we have a couple guys like Tierney/C.Foote on two way deals who meet the veteran requirement.

Veterans: F/D: 100+ career NHL games or 30+ games in 2021-22. Goalies dressed in 50+ games or played in 30+. Or was a first round pick in the most recent draft.

Devils 2-1 Canadiens (Sep 26, 2022) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the New Jersey Devils vs. Montreal Canadiens NHL game from September 26, 2022 on ESPN. Includes all goals, assists and penalty minutes stats.

www.espn.com

Last preseason we sent this squad to Montreal (veterans in bold):

LW: Tatar-Foote-Johnsson-Laberge
C: Hischier-Boqvist-Thompson-Talvitie
RW: Bratt-Clarke-Halonen-Senyshyn
LD: Graves-Bahl-Vilen-Okhotiuk
RD: Severson-Walsh
G: Blackwood-Daws

Devils 4-1 Islanders (Sep 27, 2022) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the New Jersey Devils vs. New York Islanders NHL game from September 27, 2022 on ESPN. Includes all goals, assists and penalty minutes stats.

www.espn.com

Then the next day we had this squad at home.

LW: Palat-Wood-Sharangovich-Geertsen
C: Hughes-Haula-McLeod-Pinho
RW: Holtz-Mercer-Zetterlund-Bastian
LD: Siegenthaler-Smith-Hickey
RD: Hamilton-Marino-Nemec
G: Vanecek-Schmid

Not unusual if a team sends the minimum 8 vets early on a preseason road trip. A veteran PTO could save somebody a round trip to Montreal. Current contracts:

LW (7): Meier-Bratt-Palat-Nosek-Foote-(Filmon)-Dowling
C (8): Hughes-Hischier-Haula-McLeod-Lazar-Tierney-Bowers-Criscuolo
RW (8): Toffoli-Mercer-Holtz-Bastian-Clarke-Thompson-Halonen-Stillman
LD (9): Siegenthaler-Hughes-Bahl-Smith-Hatakka-Vilen-Vukojevic-Wotherspoon-Misyul
RD (5): Hamilton-Marino-Miller-Foote-Nemec
G (4): Vanecek-Schmid-Kallgren-Brennan-Daws (injured)

Maybe a PTO LW would make sense since we start with a split squad (at MON, PHI). CapFriendly has the following guys still on the scrap heap: Nick Ritchie, Adam Erne, Maxime Comtois (rumored to be getting a PTO with Vegas), Tyler Motte, Danton Heinen, Kieffer Bellows, Zach Aston-Reese, Jujhar Khaira.

PTO goalie could make sense too since Daws is hurt. Not much left there though: Jaroslav Halak, Brian Elliott, Michael Hutchinson, Anton Khudobin, Devils legend Jon Gillies.

bellows.... i can't ever see or hear that name without thinking of brian trottier and kevin stevens

 

[Brodeur]

Slow Friday, just taking a guess at the opening night preseason rosters. Veterans in bold:

at Montreal (9/25)
Meier-Hischier-Mercer [QMJHL alums]
Filmon-Lazar-Thompson
Dowling-Bowers-Halonen
PTO-Criscuolo-Stillman

Bahl-Miller
Hatakka-Smith
Vilen-Foote

Vanecek-Brennan

vs. Philadelphia (9/25)
Bratt-Hughes-Toffoli
Palat-Haula-Holtz
Nosek-McLeod-Bastian
Foote-Tierney-Clarke

Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Hughes-Marino
Vukojevic-Nemec

Schmid-Kallgren

Edit: Looks like we sent Samuel Laberge in the Montreal game last year and he was on an AHL only deal. So maybe he could go again this year?

 

[glenwo2]

worthless...got lucky with the bratt injury...brett seney put up the exact same stat line as him in 6 less games....... 5-8-13

and stafford never played another nhl game after that season....a warm body for the roster indeed

Wasn't he the one the direct cause of that injury?

I heard it was a ricochet off a shot from him that injured Bratt (broken jaw) or was that some other injury we're talking about?

 

[My3Sons]

f***ing kubina.....

and i'm confused about "Never seen again"

he still played after the incident

What does Pavel Kubina have to do with Ben Lovejoy?

 

[Guttersniped]

Wasn't he the one the direct cause of that injury?

I heard it was a ricochet off a shot from him that injured Bratt (broken jaw) or was that some other injury we're talking about?

I’m pretty sure Bratt was hit by ricochet of a Subban slapshot.

 

[guitarguyvic]

It was a lot closer than you think.

2023 team had 39 registration wins
2018 team had 33 regulation wins.

You can argue that 6 games is a lot, and it is but that margin is only two bad weeks....or Corey shitting the bed in 2018.

And Jack was Huge in OT. He had points in 8 OT games in 2023. That alone is worth 16 points.

So in essence you’re inferring that Jack Hughes alone in 2023 was worth 6 more regulation wins than 2017 MVP Taylor Hall…which is completely and utterly ridiculous.

The Edmonton Oilers have possibly the two best players on the planet, and they couldn’t even put together a better season than the devils last year. But somehow Jack all by himself can turn the devils from a non-playoff team to a near division winner.

Just a couple of years ago you were calling this same player a disgrace. Moving from one extreme to the other based on shoddy reasoning is not going to build much credibility for you.

 

[glenwo2]

I’m pretty sure Bratt was hit by ricochet of a Subban slapshot.

Thanks.

I wasn't sure if it was Staff or something else.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Is hockey back yet?

 

[Bcap88]

When do vets report to camp ?

 

[RSeen]

So in essence you’re inferring that Jack Hughes alone in 2023 was worth 6 more regulation wins than 2017 MVP Taylor Hall…which is completely and utterly ridiculous.

The Edmonton Oilers have possibly the two best players on the planet, and they couldn’t even put together a better season than the devils last year. But somehow Jack all by himself can turn the devils from a non-playoff team to a near division winner.

Just a couple of years ago you were calling this same player a disgrace. Moving from one extreme to the other based on shoddy reasoning is not going to build much credibility for you.

Hall's MVP season is still the best season by a Devils forward IMO. He was unbelievable down the stretch and had a lot less talent to work with.

 

[glenwo2]

oh that's right. Bratt broke the record that was held by a NON-Devils player.

Forgot about that.

Glad a Devils player now holds that record.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

 

[Devils731]

Bratt said he works his hardest on a 1 year deal and a long term deal would make him too comfortable! 35 point season incoming!

 

[Devs3cups]

Great watch!

 

[Devils731]

If you don’t want to listen to the whole thing and just want hockey talk, skip to the end to hear Bratt extol the virtues of Nico and Hughes.