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

[dgibb10]

That's not security. That's just a bad strategic decision.

Mercer had a 33 point season and was awful overall last year. Assuming he can play himself into an 8 mill payday is no guarantee.

He takes a 2x3 and he is absolutely not assured to get 6 mill AAV on his next deal.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

Hi Devils Fans
Broke a tooth yesterday,

Was it because Dawson's contract was so sweet?

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1836783075600085354

This, plus Nico’s bingo video, I think Nemo is fine.

 

[MasterofGrond]

That's not security. That's just a bad strategic decision.

Only if you care about absolutely maximizing career earnings in a risk-free environment and not balancing the risk and reward as any good agent should.

He took 4x3, so what else was on the table as a two year deal? 3x2? 3.25x2? There's a meaningful difference in lifetime NHL earnings between 6 or 6.5 and 12 million, if he were to never play again.

So let me sketch out for you 3 different outcomes. He's had his ELC everywhere so that money is banked, let's ignore it because it's less than $3M and I'm sure a chunk of it is spent.

1. His knee explodes tomorrow. He can never skate again.
Current contract: 12M
2 year: 6.5M
Net result: $-5.5M but a pretty important 5.5M since he'll have only made ~9M in career earnings.

2. He gets back to his old self over the next 3 years, cap goes up, but he never takes the next step. Signs a max length 7M contract as his next. Plays until age 36 but he's washed after the 8 year so he makes 4M per season.
Current contract: 12M + 56M + 8M = $76M in additional earnings
2 year: 6.5M + 56M + 12M = $74.5M
Net: Basically a wash

3. He goes nuts. Sticks on Hughes or Hischier's wing and totally elevates his game, becomes a PPG plus player this year and puts up 95 in his contract year. His defense elevates. He signs for 12M a season ion his next deal. Plays til 36, signing for an average of 10M until then because salaries are way up but father time catches up with us all.
Current: 12M + 96M + 20M = 128M
2 year: 6.5M + 96M + 30M = 132.5
net result: again, who cares? Yeah, he gave up 4.5M but that's in the world where he's had 9 figures of career earnings. That 5.5 in case his leg explodes is worth orders of magnitude more than the 4.5M he'd make in the perfect world.

So, if you think his agent really f***ed it, you're saying it's not about the actual money in year 3 (since that doesn't really matter that much), but about the timing of signing the next contract. And I think I can credibly argue that the extra year there (and the 1 year less RFA time being bought) probably actually increases the average contract Mercer signs for next time around. 25 year olds aren't hit nearly as hard as the 27 through 30 year olds when it comes to teams aggressively discounting aging curves these days and he'll have an extra year to showcase his peak performance.

 

[Ripshot 43]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1837164323266773448

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[njdevils1982]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1836783075600085354

View attachment 908243
This, plus Nico’s bingo video, I think Nemo is fine.

take down that f***ing hawks jersey in the corner

 

[Emperoreddy]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1837129774369575400

See how Siegs was sitting? He is hiding an injury and may in fact be dead

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1837164323266773448

This is gunna be such a great 4th line, until Cotter inevitably gets moved up lol

 

[HBK27]

Assuming that Luke and Pesce are both injured to start the season, seems the Devils will either have to dip into LTIR to start the year or field a roster of 22 players.

A 23-man roster with Luke and Pesce on the shelf, Foote ($825K) as the 14th forward and Hattaka/Simone ($775K each) as the 6th/7th defensemen puts them $624K over the cap.

Would prefer to see them go the LTIR route so we don't have to immediately put one or more of them through waivers right away (depending on if we since Lebanc or Zboril), but not sure the team would want to go that route and would probably prefer to start accumulating cap space.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

 

[Guttersniped]

Hey guys, I loath to talk about my personal life but I’ve been absent because my Mom recently passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. (And for those who remember Jerry Gigantic, he’s my older brother, so he’s also lost her.)

She had a heart attack in mid-April, had a MRI a week later because she had water in her lungs, and that’s how they discovered she had Stage 4 cancer.

And then she died 4 months later, so as you can imagine it was a very shitty whirlwind of medical catastrophes and struggles with our terrible medical system.

My mom was a pistol, just the best and we were very close, so this the biggest loss I’ve ever experienced.

She did get to attend her 60th Wedding Anniversary party in June while still pretty healthy, so that was good.

Anyway, not saying the Devils owe my family a winning season now, but it would be nice gesture on their part.

Also, I just got home, after spending months at my parents, and immediately got COVID. So that’s nice.

 

[TrufleShufle]

Hey guys, I loath to talk about my personal life but I’ve been absent because my Mom recently passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. (And for those who remember Jerry Gigantic, he’s my older brother, so he’s also lost her.)

She had a heart attack in mid-April, had a MRI a week later because she had water in her lungs, and that’s how they discovered she had Stage 4 cancer.

And then she died 4 months later, so as you can imagine it was a very shitty whirlwind of medical catastrophes and struggles with our terrible medical system.

My mom was a pistol, just the best and we were very close, so this the biggest loss I’ve ever experienced.

She did get to attend her 60th Wedding Anniversary party in June while still pretty healthy, so that was good.

Anyway, not saying the Devils owe my family a winning season now, but it would be nice gesture on their part.

Also, I just got home, after spending months at my parents, and immediately got COVID. So that’s nice.

So so sorry for you loss that's terrible.

 

[Comparison Ford]

Hey guys, I loath to talk about my personal life but I’ve been absent because my Mom recently passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. (And for those who remember Jerry Gigantic, he’s my older brother, so he’s also lost her.)

She had a heart attack in mid-April, had a MRI a week later because she had water in her lungs, and that’s how they discovered she had Stage 4 cancer.

And then she died 4 months later, so as you can imagine it was a very shitty whirlwind of medical catastrophes and struggles with our terrible medical system.

My mom was a pistol, just the best and we were very close, so this the biggest loss I’ve ever experienced.

She did get to attend her 60th Wedding Anniversary party in June while still pretty healthy, so that was good.

Anyway, not saying the Devils owe my family a winning season now, but it would be nice gesture on their part.

Also, I just got home, after spending months at my parents, and immediately got COVID. So that’s nice.

thinking of you in this time!

 

[DerekDevils30]

Hey guys, I loath to talk about my personal life but I’ve been absent because my Mom recently passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. (And for those who remember Jerry Gigantic, he’s my older brother, so he’s also lost her.)

She had a heart attack in mid-April, had a MRI a week later because she had water in her lungs, and that’s how they discovered she had Stage 4 cancer.

And then she died 4 months later, so as you can imagine it was a very shitty whirlwind of medical catastrophes and struggles with our terrible medical system.

My mom was a pistol, just the best and we were very close, so this the biggest loss I’ve ever experienced.

She did get to attend her 60th Wedding Anniversary party in June while still pretty healthy, so that was good.

Anyway, not saying the Devils owe my family a winning season now, but it would be nice gesture on their part.

Also, I just got home, after spending months at my parents, and immediately got COVID. So that’s nice.

Very sorry for your loss. I hope you and your family are doing alright and fondly remember all the good times.

And here’s hoping the Devils give you a nice little boost as well. When I lost my grandfather who was basically a father to me the Devils went on their 2012 run to the final. That run helped a lot. I hope you get something similar