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

[Better Call Sal]

By all accounts Hischier seems like a good kid and patient with fans. I hope they got a picture and your buddy got to spend a minute to chat with him and wish him well.

He sure did, he's in the middle of fanboying about it to me right now

My buddy is German as well, so he said they spoke German for some of their conversation. I'm sure that was entertaining for him, too.

 

[My3Sons]

He sure did, he's in the middle of fanboying about it to me right now

My buddy is German as well, so he said they spoke German for some of their conversation. I'm sure that was entertaining for him, too.

That's fun. I'm sure Nico is fired up for next season.

 

[Bcap88]

If the rumor of 8 x 8.5 is true this would be a phenomenal summer for fitz.

The devils would benefit the most for the post Covid cap explosion

 

[My3Sons]

If the rumor of 8 x 8.5 is true this would be a phenomenal summer for fitz.

The devils would benefit the most for the post Covid cap explosion

The team would be in a great spot if they could get Mercer done before next season so they can have all the big extensions available to them now squared away before the cap goes up.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

If Kovy is a hall of famer, I wonder what jersey Ilya Kovalchuk will be wearing / what team he'd be representing.

Majority of his career is Atlanta, but they don't exist (maybe that doesn't matter?). Most NHL fans remember him as a Devil, despite only playing a few years there.

Can you enter the HHoF representing a KHL team, lol? If so, it's probably SKA?

He should wear a Thrasher jersey. Those would be cool retro jerseys by the time he gets inducted. They kind of already are.

 

[Emperoreddy]

If the rumor of 8 x 8.5 is true this would be a phenomenal summer for fitz.

The devils would benefit the most for the post Covid cap explosion

This is where Weekes gets annoying. Is he just joking and throwing numbers around or has he heard something

 

[Emperoreddy]

Does any of the guys that want out of Calgary make sense for us?

 

[Nico Hischier]

I don’t enjoy that Weekes tweets this and then all the actual news we get is haula resigning. Don’t play with me!!

 

[Oneiro]

Does any of the guys that want out of Calgary make sense for us?

Toffoli next to Jack makes sense. Backlund for a run at 3C with some retention would intrigue me as well. I think the price to acquire them is going to be dumb, though.

 

[Nico Hischier]

The team would be in a great spot if they could get Mercer done before next season so they can have all the big extensions available to them now squared away before the cap goes up.

If mercer is willing to sign long term anything less than 7.5 aav would be sweet. the devils might be better off bridging him in the 4.5-5.5 range. It will get complicated when Luke and simons elcs are up

 

[devilsblood]

If mercer is willing to sign long term anything less than 7.5 aav would be sweet. the devils might be better off bridging him in the 4.5-5.5 range. It will get complicated when Luke and simons elcs are up

Given what Bratt just got, $7.5 sounds rich for Mercer.

 

[Forge]

Does any of the guys that want out of Calgary make sense for us?

Some people like Taffoli, some people think he would be a bad foot for the system.

I also think that he's going to have a decent amount of demand and I don't have interest in him long term and I'm not sure how much I want to invest in a rental winger.

Tanev could be a really interesting get, but same problem. Rental and I think there would be a lot of demand.

I'm just not sure how much I want to get into bidding wars for rentals.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

there is no shot in hell Mercer gets $7.5 on a longterm deal right now

 

[Nico Hischier]

Given what Bratt just got, $7.5 sounds rich for Mercer.

It really depends what he does this upcoming season but he could definitely be worth that if he has a great year

BTW I did say “anything less” than 7.5

 

[Forge]

Given what Bratt just got, $7.5 sounds rich for Mercer.

Buying out 3-4 UFA years with a 7-8 year deal and those are going to be pretty high cap years.

It's just the new thing. Lock up your young guys you believe in. Power may have a new 8x8 type deal before this upcoming season even starts.

Not that I think he's going to be Stutzle, but Ottawa signed that dude to his deal last year at the beginning of september. At that point he had 87 points in 132 gp. Mercer is 98 in 164.

It's a risk for both parties. Mercer may level off and you get a 50-55 point guy making 7.5 from ages 23-29/30. But if he's a 65-70 point guy by year 3 of that new deal, he's probably considerably underpaid.

 

[Nico Hischier]

there is no shot in hell Mercer gets $7.5 on a longterm deal right now

I did say less than 7.5. I mean would you sign mercer right now to a 8x6.5 deal? I think he will be worth more than that if he builds on the last 2 years.

I think Dylan Cozens is a good comparable even though he is a strict center whereas mercer can play wing or center. I’m pretty sure Cozens got a 7x7 extension during this season which was his first breakout year scoring over 40 points. He didn’t even hit 40 points his first 2 seasons but mercer hit it his first season and then 50 points his second.

Overall cozens has 119 points in 201 games and mercer has 98 points in 164 games

 

[Mgd31]

I think Mercer would definitely get under 7 on a long term deal

 

[MasterofGrond]

I don't think you're gonna get Mercer to sign 8 years right now. I bet he'd want 5 or 6, allow him to get a big contract at 27-28 instead of 30.

Which, fine with me I think. I'd do 6x6.

 

[Forge]

I think Mercer would definitely get under 7 on a long term deal

I think if the offer is under 7 for long term (anything more than 4 years), he's not signing a long term deal.

I could see us bridge him for 2 years to see where his career goes, but obviously you're running a risk either way.

 

[Mgd31]

I think if the offer is under 7 for long term (anything more than 4 years), he's not signing a long term deal.

I could see us bridge him for 2 years to see where his career goes, but obviously you're running a risk either way.

I could see him signing a 6 year deal to get to 28

 

[Forge]

I don't think you're gonna get Mercer to sign 8 years right now. I bet he'd want 5 or 6, allow him to get a big contract at 27-28 instead of 30.

Which, fine with me I think. I'd do 6x6.

I'd do 6x6 pretty happily. Not sure what the cost is of those 2 UFA years in that scenario. I think I'd do 5x6 as well. That's just buying out 1 ufa year and I think that works for both parties.

 

[MasterofGrond]

I'd do 6x6 pretty happily. Not sure what the cost is of those 2 UFA years in that scenario. I think I'd do 5x6 as well. That's just buying out 1 ufa year and I think that works for both parties.

Yeah maybe if you want 6 you gotta up the AAV to 6.5 or something. Frankly any deal in that range works for me. Gives him more cash early in return for giving us future cost certainty.

I think he's proven enough I'd want to avoid a bridge, just in case he really does go full Parise.

 

[Forge]

I could see him signing a 6 year deal to get to 28

yeah, I hadn't really thought about a 6 year deal until I saw Master of Grond's post. I could see like a 6x6 or 6x6.5 or something like that.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Mercer DEFINITELY seems like the kind of guy to sign a team friendly deal with the intention of helping the team win.

 

[MB3]

If you play the "lock him up long term" game with Mercer you have to think it's close to 7m on a 7+ year deal. Nico and Jack are centers but they were both "gambles" buying out UFA years.

At the time of their signings:

Nico had 135 points in 209 career games (0.65 points per game) and got 7y 50.8m (7.25 AAV)
Jack had 108 points in 166 games (0.65 points per game) and got 8y 64m (8.0 AAV)

Mercer currently has 98 points in 164 games (0.60 points per game). If he'd sign it, I'd give him 8/52 right now (6.5 AAV) but I don't think that gets it done.