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

[Bleedred]

Ugh. You're bringing back bad memories. I actually worked on that video for Rev Atlantic to distribute it on a hybrid CD.

Cool band, but cringy song and video. I believe this was directed by Marcos Siega, who was an unknown at the time, but blew up and directed lots of huge music videos after this and even branched out into TV and movies. I remember Civ giving an interview at the time right before the video was made saying they were making a video tomorrow and it’s being done by a friend who owes them a favor. That was before Atlantic/Lava signed them.

Walter Schreifels is the writer of the song and the entire first album, but not an official band member. He was under contract with Polydor/Island because he was a member of Quicksand and couldn’t be credited. He does play that guitar solo in that song though. And he had played with most of them in Gorilla Biscuits.

He flat out said he wrote that song (as well a couple of others on that record) with the purpose of it being a song he could see being played at MSG during Knicks and Rangers games. He did accomplish that, as it was kind of a hit at sporting events in the mid 90’s. Then it appeared in a Nissan commercial 10 years later around 2005.

From everything I know, this song was recorded before they signed with Atlantic/Lava, as were a few of the other songs on this album, which were originally meant to be released on an EP on Revelation. Somehow Mike Gitter (who was working for Atlantic) knew them from the Gorilla Biscuits days and he’s a guy that came from the Hardcore scene and signed them to Atlantic.

Mike Gitter also famously signed Bad Religion to Atlantic, as well as Samiam and Jawbox. If I’m remembering correctly, Gitter passed on signing Green Day to Atlantic in favor of Jawbox. Green Day would soon sign with Reprise instead. I believe he’s said that was the biggest mistake he made in the business.

For as cringy as that song was from Civ, things got a whole lot worse on their second record, which Walter had nothing to do with. Their follow up was a really terrible album and that was the end of the band. It was so bad, I’m not even sure what to compare it to? It didn’t really sound like the radio pop punk of the time. I’m not sure what it was, but it was just really bad.

 

[Nubmer6]

Cool band, but cringy song and video. I believe this was directed by Marcos Siega, who was an unknown at the time, but blew up and directed lots of huge music videos after this and even branched out into TV and movies. I remember Civ giving an interview at the time right before the video was made saying they were making a video tomorrow and it’s being done by a friend who owes them a favor. That was before Atlantic/Lava signed them.

Walter Schreifels is the writer of the song and the entire first album, but not an official band member. He was under contract with Polydor/Island because he was a member of Quicksand and couldn’t be credited. He does play that guitar solo in that song though. And he had played with most of them in Gorilla Biscuits.

He flat out said he wrote that song (as well a couple of others on that record) with the purpose of it being a song he could see being played at MSG during Knicks and Rangers games. He did accomplish that, as it was kind of a hit at sporting events in the mid 90’s. Then it appeared in a Nissan commercial 10 years later around 2005.

From everything I know, this song was recorded before they signed with Atlantic/Lava, as were a few of the other songs on this album, which were originally meant to be released on an EP on Revelation. Somehow Mike Gitter (who was working for Atlantic) knew them from the Gorilla Biscuits days and he’s a guy that came from the Hardcore scene and signed them to Atlantic.

Mike Gitter also famously signed Bad Religion to Atlantic, as well as Samiam and Jawbox. If I’m remembering correctly, Gitter passed on signing Green Day to Atlantic in favor of Jawbox. Green Day would soon sign with Reprise instead. I believe he’s said that was the biggest mistake he made in the business.

For as cringy as that song was from Civ, things got a whole lot worse on their second record, which Walter had nothing to do with. Their follow up was a really terrible album and that was the end of the band. It was so bad, I’m not even sure what to compare it to? It didn’t really sound like the radio pop punk of the time. I’m not sure what it was, but it was just really bad.

I actually know nothing about the band, and this is the only song I've heard of theirs... although I think I was invited to see one of their shows.

Actually, I remember now. I think I saw them open for White Zombie at some small venue, and i remember virtually nothing of their set, other than the lead singer whining that they're not punk or rock, but they're Hardcore (which I don't consider them as that)

 

[Bleedred]

I actually know nothing about the band, and this is the only song I've heard of theirs... although I think I was invited to see one of their shows.

Actually, I remember now. I think I saw them open for White Zombie at some small venue, and i remember virtually nothing of their set, other than the lead singer whining that they're not punk or rock, but they're Hardcore (which I don't consider them as that)

There were definitely a few hardcore songs on that album (the first one) that could easily be Gorilla Biscuits songs, but there’s also quite a few poppy rock songs like that one.

The second album is really poppy, but in a much different way than their first album. That almost sounds like bubblegum rock or something. The second album. I think they did throw in one random hardcore song on that album too, but I haven’t heard it since not long after it came out.

They had some stupid song mocking grunge on there. I think it was even called what happened to grunge or something? Where they even mock Layne Staley’s “Yeeeaahhhh” at one point. The song is clearly a joke and I’m not at all offended they’re making fun of grunge on it, but I’d definitely rather listen to almost any grunge album over the second Civ LP.

 

[Guttersniped]

- Jason Arnott
- Petr Sykora
- Scott Gomez
- Bobby Holik
- Brendan Shanahan
- Tommy Albelin
- Steve Sullivan
- Alexi Ponikarovsky
- Claude Lemieux
- Stephan Richer
- Mike Rupp
- Nathan Bastian
- Scott Wedgewood
- Scott Clemmensen (3 stints)
- Brian Rolston
- Anssi Salmela
- Alexander Mogilny
- Cam Janssen
- Chris Terreri
- Jim Dowd
- Vladimir Malakhov
- Krzysztof Oliwa
- Jay Leach
- Mark Fraser


That's a huge list! I would bet there is no other franchise that has a list this long from 1982 - now.

Sadly your innocent musings today ruined my life because my brain took this as gauntlet being thrown down. (Sometimes I’m more just along for the ride.)

Anyway this took way too much actual research, which mostly felt like drudgery, and now I hate the NHL and anything related to it.

But hey, I found 34 35 recycled players for the Flyers and 35 36 for Pens, starting in 1982-83. What did I win? (A: Just some hard questions about my life choices.)

I started with Boston, then jumped shipped to Philly who were infamous for recycling players. Their goalie history gave them a good base to outpace us.

Brian Boucher G (3 times)
Sean Burke G
Ray Emery G
Ron Hextall G
Michael Leighton G
Steve Duchesne D
Karl Dykhuis D
Ed Hospodar D
Kerry Huffman D
Darren Rumble D
Kjell Samuelsson D
Danny Syvret D
Chris Therien D
Jim Vandermeer D
Dmitry Yushkevich D
Jesse Boulerice RW
Dave Brown RW
Eric Chouinard LW
Steve Downie RW
Todd Fedoruk LW
Simon Gagne LW
Josh Gratton LW
Boyd Kane LW
Mike Knuble RW
Ken Linseman C
Mike Maneluk LW
Vinny Prospal C
Dan Quinn C
Mark Recchi RW
Mikael Renberg RW
Nate Thompson C
Rick Tocchet RW
RJ Umberger C
James van Riemsdyk LW
Peter White C

I ended up doing Pittsburgh because a bunch of names popped up while I was doing Philly. I do enjoy the random name generator feel to some of these.

Roberto Romano G
Dany Sabourin G
Wendell Young G
Drake Berehowsky D
Marc Bergevin D
Rod Buskas D
Bobby Dollas D
Mark Eaton D
Chris Joseph D
Ben Lovejoy D
Peter Taglianetti D
Josh Archibald RW
Kris Beech C
Josef Beránek LW/C
Nick Bonino C
Rob Brown RW
Chris Conner RW
John Cullen C
Matt Cullen C
J.S. Dea C
Dave Hannan C
Alex Kovalev RW
Shawn McEachern RW
Steve McKenna LW
Dave McLlwain C/RW
Marty McSorley D/RW
Kip Miller C
Joe Mullen RW
Richard Park RW
Dan Quinn C
Mark Recchi RW
Conor Sheary LW
Dominik Simon C
Kevin Stevens LW
Martin Straka C
Warren Young C

A: Roberto Romano (Laura, you know this!)

A: Wendell Young
(You don't remember that night we listened to the whole album Cafeteria Jangle? It's the night you gave me that Fitbit and I said I would get wrist cancer from it.)

A: Peter Taglianetti
(It was the night I told you that you would never be a good writer because you don’t have a curious mind.)

A: Rod Buskas
(Buskas was no Roy Donk though.)

 

[njdevils1982]

Ugh. You're bringing back bad memories. I actually worked on that video for Rev Atlantic to distribute it on a hybrid CD.

Cool band, but cringy song and video. I believe this was directed by Marcos Siega, who was an unknown at the time, but blew up and directed lots of huge music videos after this and even branched out into TV and movies. I remember Civ giving an interview at the time right before the video was made saying they were making a video tomorrow and it’s being done by a friend who owes them a favor. That was before Atlantic/Lava signed them.

Walter Schreifels is the writer of the song and the entire first album, but not an official band member. He was under contract with Polydor/Island because he was a member of Quicksand and couldn’t be credited. He does play that guitar solo in that song though. And he had played with most of them in Gorilla Biscuits.

He flat out said he wrote that song (as well a couple of others on that record) with the purpose of it being a song he could see being played at MSG during Knicks and Rangers games. He did accomplish that, as it was kind of a hit at sporting events in the mid 90’s. Then it appeared in a Nissan commercial 10 years later around 2005.

From everything I know, this song was recorded before they signed with Atlantic/Lava, as were a few of the other songs on this album, which were originally meant to be released on an EP on Revelation. Somehow Mike Gitter (who was working for Atlantic) knew them from the Gorilla Biscuits days and he’s a guy that came from the Hardcore scene and signed them to Atlantic.

Mike Gitter also famously signed Bad Religion to Atlantic, as well as Samiam and Jawbox. If I’m remembering correctly, Gitter passed on signing Green Day to Atlantic in favor of Jawbox. Green Day would soon sign with Reprise instead. I believe he’s said that was the biggest mistake he made in the business.

For as cringy as that song was from Civ, things got a whole lot worse on their second record, which Walter had nothing to do with. Their follow up was a really terrible album and that was the end of the band. It was so bad, I’m not even sure what to compare it to? It didn’t really sound like the radio pop punk of the time. I’m not sure what it was, but it was just really bad.

shall we convene in the TAN? i can tell a good 90s story of a deal gone great.

 

[Nubmer6]

shall we convene in the TAN? i can tell a good 90s story of a deal gone great.

Meh. Too lazy to unignore the TAN.

 

[njdevils1982]

Sadly your innocent musings today ruined my life because my brain took this as gauntlet being thrown down. (Sometimes I’m more just along for the ride.)

Anyway this took way too much actual research, which mostly felt like drudgery, and now I hate the NHL and anything related to it.

But hey, I found 33 recycled players for the Flyers and 35 for Pens, starting in 1982-83. What did I win? (A: Just some hard questions about my life choices.)

I started with Boston, then jumped shipped to Philly who were infamous for recycling players. Their goalie history gave them a good base to outpace us.

Brian Boucher G (3 times)
Sean Burke G
Ray Emery G
Ron Hextall G
Michael Leighton G
Steve Duchesne D
Karl Dykhuis D
Ed Hospodar D
Kerry Huffman D
Darren Rumble D
Kjell Samuelsson D
Danny Syvret D
Chris Therien D
Jim Vandermeer D
Dmitry Yushkevich D
Jesse Boulerice RW
Dave Brown RW
Eric Chouinard LW
Steve Downie RW
Todd Fedoruk LW
Josh Gratton LW
Boyd Kane LW
Mike Knuble RW
Mike Maneluk LW
Vinny Prospal C
Dan Quinn C
Mark Recchi RW
Mikael Renberg RW
Nate Thompson C
Rick Tocchet RW
RJ Umberger C
James van Riemsdyk LW
Peter White C

I ended up doing Pittsburgh because a bunch of names popped up while I was doing Philly. I do enjoy the random name generator feel to some of these.

Roberto Romano G
Dany Sabourin G
Wendell Young G
Drake Berehowsky D
Marc Bergevin D
Rod Buskas D
Bobby Dollas D
Mark Eaton D
Chris Joseph D
Ben Lovejoy D
Peter Taglianetti D
Josh Archibald RW
Kris Beech C
Josef Beránek LW/C
Nick Bonino C
Rob Brown RW
Chris Conner RW
John Cullen C
Matt Cullen C
J.S. Dea C
Dave Hannan C
Alex Kovalev RW
Steve McKenna LW
Dave McLlwain C/RW
Marty McSorley D/RW
Kip Miller C
Joe Mullen RW
Richard Park RW
Dan Quinn C
Mark Recchi RW
Conor Sheary LW
Dominik Simon C
Kevin Stevens LW
Martin Straka C
Warren Young C

Sadly your innocent musings today ruined my life because my brain took this as gauntlet being thrown down. (Sometimes I’m more just along for the ride.)

Anyway this took way too much actual research, which mostly felt like drudgery, and now I hate the NHL and anything related to it.

But hey, I found 33 recycled players for the Flyers and 35 for Pens, starting in 1982-83. What did I win? (A: Just some hard questions about my life choices.)

I started with Boston, then jumped shipped to Philly who were infamous for recycling players. Their goalie history gave them a good base to outpace us.

Brian Boucher G (3 times)
Sean Burke G
Ray Emery G
Ron Hextall G
Michael Leighton G
Steve Duchesne D
Karl Dykhuis D
Ed Hospodar D
Kerry Huffman D
Darren Rumble D
Kjell Samuelsson D
Danny Syvret D
Chris Therien D
Jim Vandermeer D
Dmitry Yushkevich D
Jesse Boulerice RW
Dave Brown RW
Eric Chouinard LW
Steve Downie RW
Todd Fedoruk LW
Josh Gratton LW
Boyd Kane LW
Mike Knuble RW
Mike Maneluk LW
Vinny Prospal C
Dan Quinn C
Mark Recchi RW
Mikael Renberg RW
Nate Thompson C
Rick Tocchet RW
RJ Umberger C
James van Riemsdyk LW
Peter White C

I ended up doing Pittsburgh because a bunch of names popped up while I was doing Philly. I do enjoy the random name generator feel to some of these.

Roberto Romano G
Dany Sabourin G
Wendell Young G
Drake Berehowsky D
Marc Bergevin D
Rod Buskas D
Bobby Dollas D
Mark Eaton D
Chris Joseph D
Ben Lovejoy D
Peter Taglianetti D
Josh Archibald RW
Kris Beech C
Josef Beránek LW/C
Nick Bonino C
Rob Brown RW
Chris Conner RW
John Cullen C
Matt Cullen C
J.S. Dea C
Dave Hannan C
Alex Kovalev RW
Steve McKenna LW
Dave McLlwain C/RW
Marty McSorley D/RW
Kip Miller C
Joe Mullen RW
Richard Park RW
Dan Quinn C
Mark Recchi RW
Conor Sheary LW
Dominik Simon C
Kevin Stevens LW
Martin Straka C
Warren Young C

View attachment 741658

A: Roberto Romano (Laura, you know this!)

View attachment 741661

A: Wendell Young
(You don't remember that night we listened to the whole album Cafeteria Jangle? It's the night you gave me that Fitbit and I said I would get wrist cancer from it.)


View attachment 741659

A: Peter Taglianetti
(It was the night I told you that you would never be a good writer because you don’t have a curious mind.)


View attachment 741660

A: Rod Buskas
(Buskas was no Roy Donk though.)

sean burke.....the mike sillinger of goalies.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

@Bleedred @Nubmer6 @njdevils1982

Geez, all I wanted was to express how I can’t wait until the season to start. Here, please kick my cat too while you’re at it.

Help me @Cheddabombs , you’re my only hope.


Ok fine @njdevils1982, I’ll see you in the TAN but bring chips.

 

[glenwo2]

@Bleedred @Nubmer6 @njdevils1982

Geez, all I wanted was to express how I can’t wait until the season to start. Here, please kick my cat too while you’re at it.

Help me @Cheddabombs , you’re my only hope.


Ok fine @njdevils1982, I’ll see you in the TAN but bring chips.

make sure he brings only chips and not "dip" as we don't know what type he'll bring....

 

[Nubmer6]

 

[Blackjack]

When reached for a response, Langenbrunner just pouted and scowled.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Ya to what Jim says above, he wasn't "scratched for the smallest things". He was scratched because he couldn't keep up with the game. It's a big picture issue for Holtz, not a specific play issue.

I think skating is the biggest issue, others (including the athletic just recently) want to say it's also about the speed at which he mentally processes the game, but all in all, he wasn't good enough.

And I don't want to hear about preseason play. That's very much akin to minor league play. Both of which are against lower competition playing at a slower tempo.

He kept getting scratched after scoring a goal...

probably cuz Ruff wasn't happy about his play outside of that, but like i said, he needs to get chances to actually improve in game. If he's not gunna get that chance this season, just trade him.

And like some have mentioned here, "getting chances" isn't getting one game in then get scratched for 20 and then given another opportunity, repeat. He needs to just play in a lot of games.

 

[Stephen Gionta]

Wow. Some really great calls on some of these.... And those Philly and Pittsburgh lists are INSANE!

- Jason Arnott
- Petr Sykora
- Scott Gomez
- Bobby Holik
- Brendan Shanahan
- Tommy Albelin
- Steve Sullivan
- Alexi Ponikarovsky
- Claude Lemieux
- Stephan Richer
- Mike Rupp
- Nathan Bastian
- Scott Wedgewood
- Scott Clemmensen (3 stints)
- Brian Rolston
- Anssi Salmela
- Alexander Mogilny
- Cam Janssen
- Chris Terreri
- Jim Dowd
- Vladimir Malakhov
- Krzysztof Oliwa
- Jay Leach
- Mark Fraser
- Pascal Rheume (3 stints)
- Sami Vatanen

Sadly your innocent musings today ruined my life because my brain took this as gauntlet being thrown down. (Sometimes I’m more just along for the ride.)

Anyway this took way too much actual research, which mostly felt like drudgery, and now I hate the NHL and anything related to it.

But hey, I found 34 recycled players for the Flyers and 35 for Pens, starting in 1982-83. What did I win? (A: Just some hard questions about my life choices.)

I started with Boston, then jumped shipped to Philly who were infamous for recycling players. Their goalie history gave them a good base to outpace us.

Brian Boucher G (3 times)
Sean Burke G
Ray Emery G
Ron Hextall G
Michael Leighton G
Steve Duchesne D
Karl Dykhuis D
Ed Hospodar D
Kerry Huffman D
Darren Rumble D
Kjell Samuelsson D
Danny Syvret D
Chris Therien D
Jim Vandermeer D
Dmitry Yushkevich D
Jesse Boulerice RW
Dave Brown RW
Eric Chouinard LW
Steve Downie RW
Todd Fedoruk LW
Josh Gratton LW
Boyd Kane LW
Mike Knuble RW
Ken Linseman C
Mike Maneluk LW
Vinny Prospal C
Dan Quinn C
Mark Recchi RW
Mikael Renberg RW
Nate Thompson C
Rick Tocchet RW
RJ Umberger C
James van Riemsdyk LW
Peter White C

I ended up doing Pittsburgh because a bunch of names popped up while I was doing Philly. I do enjoy the random name generator feel to some of these.

Roberto Romano G
Dany Sabourin G
Wendell Young G
Drake Berehowsky D
Marc Bergevin D
Rod Buskas D
Bobby Dollas D
Mark Eaton D
Chris Joseph D
Ben Lovejoy D
Peter Taglianetti D
Josh Archibald RW
Kris Beech C
Josef Beránek LW/C
Nick Bonino C
Rob Brown RW
Chris Conner RW
John Cullen C
Matt Cullen C
J.S. Dea C
Dave Hannan C
Alex Kovalev RW
Steve McKenna LW
Dave McLlwain C/RW
Marty McSorley D/RW
Kip Miller C
Joe Mullen RW
Richard Park RW
Dan Quinn C
Mark Recchi RW
Conor Sheary LW
Dominik Simon C
Kevin Stevens LW
Martin Straka C
Warren Young C

How did you find these lists? Our Devils list is just from thinking off the mind. Was this all done from your brain?????

 

[Brodeur]

Mike Gitter also famously signed Bad Religion to Atlantic, as well as Samiam and Jawbox.

I can't hear Bad Religion without chuckling now. ~20 years ago I couldn't find a +1 to take to my company holiday party and my college buddy set me up with his friend. That same night she had won free tickets for a concert nearby where Bad Religion was the headliner. So we had dinner and took in the show.

I had a fun night but thought it was a one off. She was expecting a call back. Months later she'd ping me out of the blue on AOL Instant Messenger and mentioned she had a boyfriend now. At which point the proverbial light bulb went off and I realized she was interested. Whoops.

----------

My high school locker partner introduced me to Bad Religion and Civ (among other bands). He'd spend his summers in Seattle with his dad and would come back with a bunch of CDs. I felt super hip when I heard Presidents of the United States of America before they hit it big on MTV.

But we took different classes so we had grown apart by the end of high school. Presidents did a random reunion tour in 2013 and I was going to use that as an excuse to reconnect with him on Facebook after I saw the show. Sadly he got in a car accident and passed away a month before that show.

I still regret not messaging him beforehand. Even though we hadn't talked in 15 years, he was still indirectly influencing my taste in music.

Edit: Today I learned the Presidents did a Pokemon song



-----------

Congrats to Langs. I was absolutely gutted when we traded Arnott and I kinda disliked Langenbrunner even after we won in 2003. He eventually won me over.

 

[JimEIV]

He kept getting scratched after scoring a goal...

probably cuz Ruff wasn't happy about his play outside of that, but like i said, he needs to get chances to actually improve in game. If he's not gunna get that chance this season, just trade him.

And like some have mentioned here, "getting chances" isn't getting one game in then get scratched for 20 and then given another opportunity, repeat. He needs to just play in a lot of games.

Holtz got the first 3 games of the season. Then he was scratched for the next 3 games. Came back for the next 2 games then sat out for the next 14 games during the winning streak.

Then he got his real shot.

From 11/28 to January 7th Holtz played in 14 of the 18 games on the schedule.

In those 14 games he averaged 10:13 of ice time during 179 shifts.

He had 14 shots. 2 goals, 1 pp goal, 1 even strength goal and 1 even strength assist. He was a -6.

He wasn't good at all. That was a real opportunity with real playing time and he showed he didn't really belong.

 

[Blackjack]

Holtz got the first 3 games of the season. Then he was scratched for the next 3 games. Came back for the next 2 games then sat out for the next 14 games during the winning streak.

Then he got his real shot.

From 11/28 to January 7th Holtz played in 14 of the 18 games on the schedule.

In those 14 games he averaged 10:13 of ice time during 179 shifts.

He had 14 shots. 2 goals, 1 pp goal, 1 even strength goal and 1 even strength assist. He was a -6.

He wasn't good at all. That was a real opportunity with real playing time and he showed he didn't really belong.

He was playing on checking lines after a very successful preseason playing with Hughes.

 

[JimEIV]

He was playing on checking lines after a very successful preseason playing with Hughes.

Ok? He was good in practice playing with one of the best producers in the league? And your point is?

The fact was he wasn't good enough to be anywhere near Hughes or the top 6 in general. He was given an opportunity and did nothing with it.

What more can be done for him? Move a better out of the top 6 so he doesn't look so bad? That's a bit crazy.

 

[Guttersniped]

Wow. Some really great calls on some of these.... And those Philly and Pittsburgh lists are INSANE!

- Jason Arnott
- Petr Sykora
- Scott Gomez
- Bobby Holik
- Brendan Shanahan
- Tommy Albelin
- Steve Sullivan
- Alexi Ponikarovsky
- Claude Lemieux
- Stephan Richer
- Mike Rupp
- Nathan Bastian
- Scott Wedgewood
- Scott Clemmensen (3 stints)
- Brian Rolston
- Anssi Salmela
- Alexander Mogilny
- Cam Janssen
- Chris Terreri
- Jim Dowd
- Vladimir Malakhov
- Krzysztof Oliwa
- Jay Leach
- Mark Fraser
- Pascal Rheume (3 stints)
- Sami Vatanen



How did you find these lists? Our Devils list is just from thinking off the mind. Was this all done from your brain?????

Worse, I spent too much time looking many of them up lol. I do post a lot of jersey photos on the main board thread but I did spend a dumb amount of time on this.

I became curious if some teams had more than us. I’d bet real money the Rangers don’t, without looking that up, they don’t recycle a lot of players. And the Puckdoku has made this sort of thing a topic. I wish to god there was a master list for this, I looked. (Google sucks now and no one blogs, so there’s that.)

Very few stars return, Messier probably only did because he needed to flee Vancouver lol. It’s a few enigmatic Euros (Nedved, Kovalev), Ron Duguay and Esa Tikkanen 5-8 times for some reason. (Ok 3 times.) And some random nobodies.

Washington did it more but not a ton.

I thought the Bruins might, they have some notable ones (Murray, Rolston, Stumpel, etc) but less than you think. Even if you count Lucic and Heinen I don’t think they match us. (It’s hard to prove a negative though.) I actually looked at Boston.

The Flyers love bringing back old players and hiring old players, it’s their brand. But I don’t even know who “Darren Rumble”, though cool name.

The Pens list came out of doing the Flyers, I was shocked how many they had. I guess being competitive for so long helps.

The Leafs have a bunch but I don’t think as many, but my curiosity was more than satisfied at that point. So we will be left wondering. (But I think we beat them.)

Sean “Down Goes Brown” McIndoe wrote a 2021 article about player/team reunions

The Devils got their own section:

Unfinished Business, except it’s the Devils​

Yeah, they get their own category. I don’t fully know what the deal is, but the Devils love bringing back ex-players. Every team does, sure, but the Devils made it an art form during the two decades when they were perennial contenders.

Notable examples: Brendan Shanahan, Bobby Holik, Claude Lemieux, Jason Arnott, Brian Rolston, Petr Sykora, Stephane Richer and lots more

Seriously, that’s nowhere near the full list. We’re talking nearly two dozen guys. It’s weird, right? Lou Lamoriello, weepy sentimentalist. Who knew?

How it usually ends: Lemieux won a Cup with the 1999-2000 team, and Sykora went to the final in 2012. Other than that, it usually ends with a second-round exit, at which point I’m assuming Lou pushes the player into the backseat of an old car with a brick on the gas pedal and they’re never seen again.

The 10 types of NHL reunions, and how often they work

Let's look back through NHL history at some of the times that a star player has returned to familiar territory.

theathletic.com

Also,

Dead on comment from the article.

Also,

Marty McSorley, for some reason​

Every time McSorley thought he could settle down, his GM would throw him a curve. Probably an illegal one.

Notable examples: Marty McSorley in Pittsburgh, Marty McSorley in Los Angeles, Marty McSorley in Edmonton

Is McSorley the only guy to pull double-duty with three teams? I feel like he can’t be, but I can’t find any other examples, so help me out in the comments.

How it usually ends: With somebody getting punched a lot.

He asks: “Is McSorley the only guy to pull double-duty with three teams?”

I actually found:
Dan Quinn played for PIT, PHI and OTT twice.
Marc Bergevin played for TBL, STL and PIT twice.
Matt Cullen played for CAR, MIN and PIT twice.

 

[JimEIV]

Hey I just noticed both Dawson Mercer and Jon Merrill are both 2 points away from 100.

I know I'll be celebrating this year!

 

[Blackjack]

Ok? He was good in practice playing with one of the best producers in the league? And your point is?

The fact was he wasn't good enough to be anywhere near Hughes or the top 6 in general. He was given an opportunity and did nothing with it.

What more can be done for him? Move a better out of the top 6 so he doesn't look so bad? That's a bit crazy.

Holtz isn’t a play driver, putting him on a checking line is setting him up to fail. You can diminish what he did in the preseason or what he’s done in the AHL all you want, I don’t deny that he needs to be better. But was his deployment stupid? Also yes.

 

[Billdo]

Hey I just noticed both Dawson Mercer and Jon Merrill are both 2 points away from 100.

I know I'll be celebrating this year!

I'm happy that Merrill carved out a pretty nice little career. Always liked him.

 

[NjDevsRR]

He may have been a goof sometimes but he was our goof

Do we know of any other goofs around?

 

[JimEIV]

Holtz isn’t a play driver, putting him on a checking line is setting him up to fail. You can diminish what he did in the preseason or what he’s done in the AHL all you want, I don’t deny that he needs to be better. But was his deployment stupid? Also yes.

Let's agree that Holtz isn't a play driver... doesn't that fact make his play away from the puck even more critical?

If this is what the coaching staff is looking for, and I do believe they have even said as much regarding his play away from the puck, a player can gain the trust of the staff from any line in regards to play away from the puck.

Granted Holtz was never going to pile up points playing 10 minutes a game in the bottom 6. But I don't think they are looking for him to score to move up and get more opportunities, they are looking for him to play better away from the puck, win battles, be overall smarter at both ends of the ice....they already trust his shooting abilities by the fact that he was getting PP time. Basically what they want to see from him can be achieved from any line with any linemates and he has fallen short. His shot alone isn't going to earn him an NHL spot.

 

[My3Sons]

Let's agree that Holtz isn't a play driver... doesn't that fact make his play away from the puck even more critical?

If this is what the coaching staff is looking for, and I do believe they have even said as much regarding his play away from the puck, a player can gain the trust of the staff from any line in regards to play away from the puck.

Granted Holtz was never going to pile up points playing 10 minutes a game in the bottom 6. But I don't think they are looking for him to score to move up and get more opportunities, they are looking for him to play better away from the puck, win battles, be overall smarter at both ends of the ice....they already trust his shooting abilities by the fact that he was getting PP time. Basically what they want to see from him can be achieved from any line with any linemates and he has fallen short. His shot alone is going to earn him an NHL spot.

If the video shared over the summer is to be believed, it looks like he actually improved his skating a fair bit compared to last offseason when a similar video looked sort of clunky. He's no Bratt but if he's really gotten quicker and more agile it will help him with his off puck play. I'm sure some of it is lack of experience and until getting to the NHL he didn't really have to pay attention to off puck play. Even in the AHL he's a top producer. Hopefully he can produce enough to stick while he learns some of the NHL nuance.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Do we know of any other goofs around?

View attachment 741740

Oh my, partner!!!