Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2023 training camp edition

[Bleedred]

And I'll stop talking about the post-Brodeur era goalies here once other Devils fans swear to stop posting about Kovalchuk.

I'm watching that prospects challenge and see mentions of Kovalchuk in the comments on there. The guy was a great player (and an even better one before he got to New Jersey), but we've had way better players here, even if not many better at the forward positions. Even 35 year old 11-12 Elias had a greater points per 60 than Kovalchuk did that year. Taylor Hall's 17-18 blows out anything Devils Kovalchuk did.

And yes, I realize I'm pretty much throwing the first molotov right now that starts up one last Kovalchuk riot.... I mean conversation before training camp starts.

 

[njdevils1982]

And I'll stop talking about the post-Brodeur era goalies here once other Devils fans swear to stop posting about Kovalchuk.

I'm watching that prospects challenge and see mentions of Kovalchuk in the comments on there. The guy was a great player (and an even better one before he got to New Jersey), but we've had way better players here, even if not many better at the forward positions. Even 35 year old 11-12 Elias had a greater points per 60 than Kovalchuk did that year. Taylor Hall's 17-18 blows out anything Devils Kovalchuk did.

And yes, I realize I'm pretty much throwing the first molotov right now that starts up one last Kovalchuk riot.... I mean conversation before training camp starts.

waddell and the atlanta group running that franchise were f***ing morons

*crosby penalty box point*

*oilers "how do you like my stick now?"*

 

[NJDevs26]

And I'll stop talking about the post-Brodeur era goalies here once other Devils fans swear to stop posting about Kovalchuk.

I'm watching that prospects challenge and see mentions of Kovalchuk in the comments on there. The guy was a great player (and an even better one before he got to New Jersey), but we've had way better players here, even if not many better at the forward positions. Even 35 year old 11-12 Elias had a greater points per 60 than Kovalchuk did that year. Taylor Hall's 17-18 blows out anything Devils Kovalchuk did.

And yes, I realize I'm pretty much throwing the first molotov right now that starts up one last Kovalchuk riot.... I mean conversation before training camp starts.

Yeah you would think people would stop pining for that player after Hughes' 2022-23. It was one thing when Kovalchuk was 'the most exciting player in franchise history' but that title was clearly earned by Jack this year.

And you could still make an argument Elias's 2000-01 was the best season by a forward in Devils history even including Jack, but of course the fans always wanted more 'entertainment' from that team.

 

[njdevils1982]

Yeah you would think people would stop pining for that player after Hughes' 2022-23. It was one thing when Kovalchuk was 'the most exciting player in franchise history' but that title was clearly earned by Jack this year.

And you could still make an argument Elias's 2000-01 was the best season by a forward in Devils history even including Jack, but of course the fans always wanted more 'entertainment' from that team.

honorable mention to patty post hep half season....incredible


edit; adding this to make the point of how incredible it was..... and i encourage the read for all

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/elias-a-determined-devil-1.576078

 

[Guttersniped]

Kink hadn’t played an AHL game since 14-15. And played more NHL game then AHL games that season.

In the 16-17 season he played 26 NHL games and posted a .916. He then followed that up with 41 games in 17-18 in which he posted a .913.

He was fully established as a good backup who might be on the verge of being a starter in his own right.

But then he posted a .891 and his career went down the tubes.

Not buying people foresaw that drop off.

Kinkaid was an unsigned FA out of Union College.

Spoiler: All the NHL players from Union College?

3 goalies

9 skaters

Kinkaid was 27 in 2016-17, and he was 29 in 2018-19, so he wasn’t on the verge of anything.

He played vaguely well enough to be a short term solution at goal for us, until he didn’t. A random back-up playing well for parts of seasons more often than not doesn’t lead to a starter career.

Kinkaid was actually a real success story for an undrafted NCAA goalie.

These are the one’s with most NHL GP since 93/94:

Spoiler: Undrafted NCAA Goalies w/ >1 NHL GP since 93-94

Yes it’s tiny. Elite Prospects LINK

Only Talbot and Hutton have more GP. Granted Kinkaid didn’t exactly deserve games in 2018-19, but hey, it got us Jack.

But getting a back-up that way was nice work.

 

[Bleedred]

Kinkaid was an unsigned FA out of Union College.

Spoiler: All the NHL players from Union College?

3 goalies
View attachment 743626
9 skaters
View attachment 743625

Kinkaid was 27 in 2016-17, and he was 29 in 2018-19, so he wasn’t on the verge of anything.

He played vaguely well enough to be a short term solution at goal for us, until he didn’t. A random back-up playing well for parts of seasons more often than not doesn’t lead to a starter career.

Kinkaid was actually a real success story for an undrafted NCAA goalie.

These are the one’s with most NHL GP since 93/94:

Spoiler: Undrafted NCAA Goalies w/ >1 NHL GP since 93-94

Yes it’s tiny.
View attachment 743632View attachment 743633View attachment 743634View attachment 743635

Only Talbot and Hutton have more GP. Granted Kinkaid didn’t exactly deserve games in 2018-19, but hey, it got us Jack.

But getting a back-up that way was nice work.

There's a couple of those limited shelf life goalies in there that I talk about. Aaron Dell is certainly one of them. He's a shorter goalie though.

DeSmith is sort of a Kinkaid-like goalie, but seems like he's a bit better than Kinkaid was. He's 32 and still in the league (feels like he should be younger than that), but he actually went his age 28 season in the AHL and was very under the radar waived, if I recall correctly. I remember throwing his name out there as a possibility in 19-20 when Cory was crapping out for the final time, but we wound up getting Domingue instead lol. DeSmith didn't even get a cup of coffee in the league until he was 26 and his first full season in the league was at 27, with that year spent in the minors (0 games played in the NHL that year) in 19-20.

Copley is a weird one. He's already 31 and played more than half of his career NHL games to this point just last season at 30-31. He was the backup for Washington for one season at age 26-27, after 2 games with St. Louis (one relief appearance) prior to that and 2 games with Washington after that season. He only got into as many games as he did with LA last year because he was bad. Yup, he got into the 37 games with LA last year just because he was BAD. Because BAD on LA last year was still EONS better than the Quick/Petersen combo. I remember Washington signed him to a 2 or 3 year extension after that, where he only would play 2 NHL games on it and the rest of the time was spent in Hershey. It felt like they did that as a cap saving move, and Holtby was a workhorse. Samsonov turned pro the next year and that was the end of Copley for NHL Washington, other than 2 games three seasons later. I'm pretty sure Washington did the same thing with Justin Peters (it may have only been a two year deal though) around 2014 or so. I remember not understanding why they did that. Peters was horrible and Grubauer would come up to the NHL full time early on in that deal, while Peters was banished to the AHL. I would BET it's only a matter of time before they do the same thing with Lindgren.

Lindgren is on there too. He's almost like Copley 2.0, except that he actually played 29 NHL games over 7 years before signing with Washington. So maybe he's Justin Peters 2.0? I think last year was his first NHL deal at 28 years old. I think it was a 3 year deal for a little over a million, in what felt like a real cap saving move. I wouldn't be surprised to see him usurped by someone else in their system as early as this preseason.

 

[Bcap88]

This has to be one of the quicker off seasons in recent memory.

Probably because every piece of major business was wrapped up by the draft

 

[NjDevsRR]

This has to be one of the quicker off seasons in recent memory.

Probably because every piece of major business was wrapped up by the draft

Plus, we made it to May!

 

[Billdo]

Bratt should be on his left and Toffoli on his right. Toffoli should score a ton playing with those 2. Mercer works better with Nico. Palat’s a 3rd liner and unless we’re trying to spread the talent out both he and Haula should stay down there

I think having two slower, defensively responsible guys, could make sense with Holtz. If his foot speed and skating is an issue as far as playing with Hughes, put him with those two and let him try and get to spots to utilize his shot.

 

[devilsblood]

Kinkaid was an unsigned FA out of Union College.

Spoiler: All the NHL players from Union College?

3 goalies
View attachment 743626
9 skaters
View attachment 743625

Kinkaid was 27 in 2016-17, and he was 29 in 2018-19, so he wasn’t on the verge of anything.

He played vaguely well enough to be a short term solution at goal for us, until he didn’t. A random back-up playing well for parts of seasons more often than not doesn’t lead to a starter career.

Kinkaid was actually a real success story for an undrafted NCAA goalie.

These are the one’s with most NHL GP since 93/94:

Spoiler: Undrafted NCAA Goalies w/ >1 NHL GP since 93-94

Yes it’s tiny. Elite Prospects LINK
View attachment 743632View attachment 743633View attachment 743634View attachment 743635

Only Talbot and Hutton have more GP. Granted Kinkaid didn’t exactly deserve games in 2018-19, but hey, it got us Jack.

But getting a back-up that way was nice work.

Kink being undrafted is irrelevant.

The previous 2 seasons he played 67 games and played to a .914 save %.

 

[theoptimist]

My view of Palat was that his style of player was badly needed. He was always one of my favorite non Devils so I’m still sort of thrilled to see him in our uniform but strategically, I think we can agree you don’t sign 31 year olds who play a heavy game to 5 year deals and that cap percentage.

At times, the drafting under Fitz feels like he’s trying to fish for Palat type players and I’m not sure it’s such a wise approach.

It's an employment contract and lucky for him there are 30 other similar institutions. I can see him being moved if Holtz becomes something.

 

[GeNeXt]

I think having two slower, defensively responsible guys, could make sense with Holtz. If his foot speed and skating is an issue as far as playing with Hughes, put him with those two and let him try and get to spots to utilize his shot.

Zetterlund had some success playing with Nico, and plays a role offensively similar to Holtz as a finisher.



On display in this video, Nico set him up with a drop pass that gave him time and space to rip it. Nico started to really hone that ability towards the end of 2021-22, where he drives the middle taking a defender or two with him and giving the trailer a great shooting lane from the high slot. If there’s anyone you could pick, other than Dougie, to be on the receiving end of that play it’s Holtz.

 

[Hisch13r]

I think having two slower, defensively responsible guys, could make sense with Holtz. If his foot speed and skating is an issue as far as playing with Hughes, put him with those two and let him try and get to spots to utilize his shot.

His footspeed obviously isn’t great or anything but I do think it’s good enough to work with. The processing speed is probably the bigger issue. I think that going with the more defensively responsible guys to start who still have enough talent to work with Holtz on a 3rd line while he gets his feet under him works.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Where, oh where do I hang this glorious piece of work?

 

[Patrik26]

Where, oh where do I hang this glorious piece of work?

View attachment 743772

Awesome!

 

[Nubmer6]

Where, oh where do I hang this glorious piece of work?

View attachment 743772

On Shesterkin's locker.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Zetterlund had some success playing with Nico, and plays a role offensively similar to Holtz as a finisher.



On display in this video, Nico set him up with a drop pass that gave him time and space to rip it. Nico started to really hone that ability towards the end of 2021-22, where he drives the middle taking a defender or two with him and giving the trailer a great shooting lane from the high slot. If there’s anyone you could pick, other than Dougie, to be on the receiving end of that play it’s Holtz.

I would love Zetterlund back

 

[RyGuy]

Confirmed: Nemec has a Shakira poster in his room.

I used to as well. But....something happened to it....

 

[Better Call Sal]

 

[My3Sons]

Best third line player in thr NHL bar none.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I used to as well. But....something happened to it....

 

[njdevils1982]

nico is better than eichel ... some people out there just can't accept it yet

 

[Satans Hockey]

Anyone see anything about a jersey ad being put on our jerseys this season? The placement of the 40th anniversary logo on the shoulder last season still comes across to me as they just couldn't get a deal done with anyone last season in terms of money or whatever.

With the team playing as well as they did last year it seems inevitable.

Would love nothing more to be wrong!

 

[Better Call Sal]

Anyone see anything about a jersey ad being put on our jerseys this season? The placement of the 40th anniversary logo on the shoulder last season still comes across to me as they just couldn't get a deal done with anyone last season in terms of money or whatever.

With the team playing as well as they did last year it seems inevitable.

Would love nothing more to be wrong!

Haven’t seen anything of note. If it happens, I hope it’s at least something of the same color scheme.

Wawa or bust.

 

[Call Me Al]

i wouldn’t be surprised. we have 16 national games too our jersey advertising space is going to get much more valuable