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

[JrFischer54]

I don't have any interest in giving any goalie a longterm contract. No matter who they are. Not in today's climate.

Saros just turned 28 and has 2 years left, so he'll be 30 on his next deal, not 31.

If he’s 31 during the contract year that’s 31 to me but again splitting hairs on age like I said lol

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Cal Foote?

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Im flabbergasted

I knew Jeremy Swayman was good but I just checked.. he has never had a season below .900 or above 3.00 (including juniors+minors)

That is remarkable - Im not sure Ive ever seen that before

Check out Dustin Wolf's stats

 

[My3Sons]

Check out Dustin Wolf's stats

How about Levi with Buffalo?

 

[Unknown Caller]

They've always sucked? Really? Schmid has always sucked in the NHL?

The goaltending in general has always sucked and been a blind spot for the years you mentioned. Schmid is still unproven.

Your favorite player Mackenzie Blackwood was also lights out when he first came into the league.

 

[MWagg72]

It is funny people being critical of Palat when he was great in the playoffs for us. I have no concerns with him outside of injuries

Future LTIR and back for the playoffs without a real cap hit kind of player for us in the future.

 

[Normal Devil]

I want Helle on a rental and then hope that he loves the place so much that he wants to stay around and compete for titles at a somewhat reasonable discount.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

I want Helle on a rental and then hope that he loves the place so much that he wants to stay around and compete for titles at a somewhat reasonable discount.

Wayyy to risky IMO even if he loves it here

 

[Bleedred]

The goaltending in general has always sucked and been a blind spot for the years you mentioned. Schmid is still unproven.

Your favorite player Mackenzie Blackwood was also lights out when he first came into the league.

Fair enough.

Schmid is unproven, I don't disagree. He could be bad next year, but I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt, just like I think Blackwood deserved the benefit of the doubt coming into the 19-20 season. It was an old and broken down/washed up/bad hip Schneider that really didn't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

In that case, our goaltending has definitely been a blind spot for us coming into the season for the better part of the time since probably 2011. Maybe even 2010, as we saw Brodeur crater in the 2010 part of the 09-10 season (that was basically the start of his significant decline) and he had played 77 games the year before at 37 years old. I was worried that might have to happen again and knew he wouldn't hold up if that were the case. Instead, he had a bunch of injuries and had a pretty poor year and a shot glove hand and wasn't able to hit even 60 games.

2011-2013 it was an old and declining Brodeur and old Hedberg (who probably had a career year in 11-12 at age 38) combo. 2013 we got Schneider, but we knew Brodeur was probably gonna get more starts than he should have..... And he did. That's exactly what happened.

2014-2016 I don't think goaltending was a question mark those years for us coming into the season, because we had a still elite Schneider, who was yet to have a bad season in the league. We kind of knew or at least expected he would play 60+ games, even if someone like Clemmensen or Kinkaid were the backups.

2017 to present have been question marks. Schneider was coming off his first down season in 2017 and I don't think many expected Keith Kinkaid to be able to be a league average goalie as basically the starter/1a goalie that year, like he did, other than that one Bobilly poster that thought he could be the starter and was very confident and adamant about this for years.

2018 was yet again a question mark, I would say even more than the year before because now we have TWO consecutive down years from Schneider, who is now 32 and coming straight off a hip surgery and I don't think many people (other than Bobilly, who thought KK was a starter and thought Cam Johnson had a better NHL future/more upside than Blackwood) thought Kinkaid was gonna replicate that season, if he had to be the starter/1a again.....And he didn't.

2019 we're 3 years into 33 year old Schneider's decline, but his market correction smoke and mirror ending to 2018-2019 fooled too many people, including Shero. I knew he was toast.....And he was. Blackwood came off a promising rookie season, though sparsely used because we had to give starts to Schneider still and Kinkaid before he was traded away. He definitely wound up not being a problem in 19-20.

2020 was not much of a question mark in October-December, other than Corey Crawford's health and having vertigo/concussions 2 years before this. But then in January it became a real question with Scott Wedgewood being the next man up beyond Blackwood.

2021 was again a question mark, because of Bernier's age and Blackwood having a below average/poor year the season before. We didn't know he had hip problems yet, but it's to be expected at his age.

2022 was a question mark because Blackwood had back to back bad years/injury years and Vanecek was just okay in Washington as a platoon-ish goalie.

So yeah, it's been a question mark for the better part of 12 or 13 years, outside of the few Schneider (not the Brodeur-Schneider year) years when he was still elite. I think this year is still a question mark, but seems more promising, as we're not betting on a goalie that's been bad for however many consecutive years now, like the Schneider decline years and last year with Blackwood.

 

[MadDevil]

I want Helle on a rental and then hope that he loves the place so much that he wants to stay around and compete for titles at a somewhat reasonable discount.

I'm torn on the idea of him as a rental. On the one hand I like being aggressive and taking a shot at a Cup, but on the other I'm just not sure I want to give up the assets it'll likely take to get him just for one shot. Although Fitz seems to have the magical touch in trades lately so who knows, maybe we could get him for not as much as people think.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I'm torn on the idea of him as a rental. On the one hand I like being aggressive and taking a shot at a Cup, but on the other I'm just not sure I want to give up the assets it'll likely take to get him just for one shot. Although Fitz seems to have the magical touch in trades lately so who knows, maybe we could get him for not as much as people think.

It totally depends on what the price ends up being.

 

[JrFischer54]

So I'd be curious to see if Fitz would change anything about signing Palat and trading for Vanacek last year. We have some reporting that his mindset was to try to compete for a wild card spot and maybe he didn't even expect to make the playoffs beyond that. Palat and Vanacek were both moves designed to help stabilize a young franchise where league average goaltending was a big improvement. Other moves had that same goal in mind like Tatar and Graves and even Siegs when they traded for him. Just a bunch of middle of the pack trying to get the team to be respectable moves. Granted you could tell he saw the future when he signed Hamilton to the big deal and to be fair he probably had to overpay a bit because NJ just wasn't good at the time. Now, the team doesn't really need Palat at that price to play on a third line. Vanacek is probably going to be a bit above average during the regular season again for Nj but the team has higher aspirations now. Vanacek is signed for a short deal and I doubt the team would hesitate to move him if they could upgrade the goaltending. I do think that Palat stays with NJ for at least two more years and we will fuss about his deal at the end of those two years but he can still make a difference in two or three playoff runs if he can stay healthy. Fingers crossed. Just amazing how things have changed in essentially one season. Albeit the folks saying NJ just needed league average goaltending were correct.

Palat value is only going to grow the deeper this team goes into the playoffs. The hate this guy gets is unreal. Vitek was a solid move that helped make the playoffs. He imploded in the Playoffs which is a huge concern.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Palat value is only going to grow the deeper this team goes into the playoffs. The hate this guy gets is unreal. Vitek was a solid move that helped make the playoffs. He imploded in the Playoffs which is a huge concern.

We don't get past the Rags without him, that alone was worth it

 

[My3Sons]

Palat value is only going to grow the deeper this team goes into the playoffs. The hate this guy gets is unreal. Vitek was a solid move that helped make the playoffs. He imploded in the Playoffs which is a huge concern.

Fair enough with Palat and especially because even if he isn't the core piece going forward he appeared to be last season the team has nobody waiting to replace him right now. Vitek was a big part of last season and despite his playoff failure his book isn't completely written. If they don't get a big name goalie I'd expect them to happily roll him out to start the regular season.

 

[Saugus]

Satan making his comeback too

Maybe we should see if he wants to join our coaching staff. Who better than Satan himself to lead the Devils and Hell?

 

[devilsblood]

We don't get past the Rags without him, that alone was worth it

I think that play made this year worth it.

And as I've noted his underlyings were actually very good this year.

But need more from him next year, which wouldn't be that crazy given he was hurt this year.

 

[devilsblood]

So I'd be curious to see if Fitz would change anything about signing Palat and trading for Vanacek last year. We have some reporting that his mindset was to try to compete for a wild card spot and maybe he didn't even expect to make the playoffs beyond that. Palat and Vanacek were both moves designed to help stabilize a young franchise where league average goaltending was a big improvement. Other moves had that same goal in mind like Tatar and Graves and even Siegs when they traded for him. Just a bunch of middle of the pack trying to get the team to be respectable moves. Granted you could tell he saw the future when he signed Hamilton to the big deal and to be fair he probably had to overpay a bit because NJ just wasn't good at the time. Now, the team doesn't really need Palat at that price to play on a third line. Vanacek is probably going to be a bit above average during the regular season again for Nj but the team has higher aspirations now. Vanacek is signed for a short deal and I doubt the team would hesitate to move him if they could upgrade the goaltending. I do think that Palat stays with NJ for at least two more years and we will fuss about his deal at the end of those two years but he can still make a difference in two or three playoff runs if he can stay healthy. Fingers crossed. Just amazing how things have changed in essentially one season. Albeit the folks saying NJ just needed league average goaltending were correct

Early in the season when Palat was out, and the team was flying, I definitely thought that Palat was looking pretty unnecessary. The young guys were stepping up, Hamilton was playing well, Marino was proving himself a very good addition. I was for the signing in the offseason, but at that point I would have cut that contract.

But then the playoffs happen, and Palat makes that play, while a reg season analytics darling like Tatar is coming up very small, (and a lot of other guys were struggling to put points on the board as well) it was a reminder as to why each of those players got the contract they got.

Now we do need more from Palat going fwd, better regular seasons, and him contributing to a good run or two in the playoffs are mandatory. Getting less, say if he continues to get hurt or just ages and becomes ineffective, then we will be regretting it.

Vitek is definitely a deal we do again. Take him out of the mix and we are forced to throw AHL level guys out there like we did in prior seasons, and I do think it could have tanked the season.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Ridiculous

 

[NJDevs26]

I like Fitz's story about his draft jersey lol

 

[Lou Bloom]

Cal Foote?

Would make a ton of sense considering Nolan's here and the Devils' could use cheap depth on defense.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Fitz says it's cup time

 

[MauDevils]

Ridiculous

Dubas in 8th

 

[Team Concept]

Which teams would be our chief competitors in trying to get Hellebuyck? Just looking at the goalie depth charts throughout the league I think it would be Ottawa and Pittsburgh. There are a few others, but they don't have the cap space.

It sucks that we can't make this happen now, but I think we are going to have to wait till the trade deadline to acquire him. We simply do not have the space. I know we would send Vanecek's 3.4 contract the other way, but we probably need another 3-4 million dollars. That Schneider 2 million buyout counting against the cap right now hurts.

 

[JrFischer54]

Which teams would be our chief competitors in trying to get Hellebuyck? Just looking at the goalie depth charts throughout the league I think it would be Ottawa and Pittsburgh. There are a few others, but they don't have the cap space.

It sucks that we can't make this happen now, but I think we are going to have to wait till the trade deadline to acquire him. We simply do not have the space. I know we would send Vanecek's 3.4 contract the other way, but we probably need another 3-4 million dollars. That Schneider 2 million buyout counting against the cap right now hurts.

I really doubt if the team is humming along like last year that they would bring in a goalie at the deadline. Regular season Vitek schmid I have confidence in to an extent. Playoff not so much

 

[Emperoreddy]

Which teams would be our chief competitors in trying to get Hellebuyck? Just looking at the goalie depth charts throughout the league I think it would be Ottawa and Pittsburgh. There are a few others, but they don't have the cap space.

It sucks that we can't make this happen now, but I think we are going to have to wait till the trade deadline to acquire him. We simply do not have the space. I know we would send Vanecek's 3.4 contract the other way, but we probably need another 3-4 million dollars. That Schneider 2 million buyout counting against the cap right now hurts.

Huh? We can fit him