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

[Hisch13r]

Gibson has been pretty bad for three straight years and has a 6.4M cap hit for the next FIVE seasons. Enormous risk with bringing in a guy like him. I would need them to give up a significant sweetener in order for the deal to work.

Something like Gibson + Comtois + Perreault/Pastujov for Blackwood + Zacha, even then I still don't think that's enough value. I like Blackwood's chances to rebound more than I like Gibson's.

Damn I'm looking over their assets and they don't really have many good ones. I can't believe people think their rebuild is going better than ours.

Lacrosse goal man go brrrrr

 

[Guttersniped]

Yeah well explain this then nerd

Explain how “Michael, Michael Motorcycle” became Lange’s weird catchphrase while you’re at it.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Gibson has been pretty bad for three straight years and has a 6.4M cap hit for the next FIVE seasons. Enormous risk with bringing in a guy like him. I would need them to give up a significant sweetener in order for the deal to work.

Something like Gibson + Comtois + Perreault/Pastujov for Blackwood + Zacha, even then I still don't think that's enough value. I like Blackwood's chances to rebound more than I like Gibson's.

I also think it's going to be really hard to convince ANA to retain given how much term he has left, they don't want 5 years of dead cap.

Damn I'm looking over their assets and they don't really have many good ones. I can't believe people think their rebuild is going better than ours.

Yeah I'd need something back from Anaheim to feel better about eating Gibson's contract. Also Zellweger is a pretty good prospect for them, should've been the pick over Stillman. Either him or Stankoven, still salty to this day about it, lol. But yeah I'd take our rebuild over theirs anyway for the most part.

 

[youryeah]

this off-season is going to be fascinating

- #2 overall pick
- free agency craziness
- bratt extension
- new powerplay/pk/defense coaches
- new msg play-by-play announcer :'(

who knows whatever else

 

[Forge]

John Gibson sucks now, not sure why anyone wants the player + insane contract

I'm sure nobody on here would want him. I've fought that fight on the main boards a few times. I think his play & contract just kills any value.

But do I think that Fitz is going to kick the tires on this given how bad the goaltender situation is? Yeah, I do. Gibson still has fans.

 

[Goptor]

Anaheim does have a player in the Stanley Cup finals. Its more successful than the Devils have been.

 

[Whaddagoal]

Speaking of our beat writer :



Love this beat writer...giving us SOMETHING instead of just "dead silence" like the other non-existent beat writers.

When did we get a beat writer back... I must have missed this.

Interesting times!

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I'm sure nobody on here would want him. I've fought that fight on the main boards a few times. I think his play & contract just kills any value.

But do I think that Fitz is going to kick the tires on this given how bad the goaltender situation is? Yeah, I do.

If they go goalie the trade route then there's plenty of other guys who should come first. I'd take Varlamov before I take Gibson honestly. Someone like Swayman if Boston decides to tear their entire thing to the ground. Gibson makes more sense for a team like the Leafs who are possibly losing their main starter in Campbell and need to stay competitive in some fashion. I loved Gibson as a player ever since his WJC days but I just don't think it makes sense for us to make a deal for him. I just don't trust him bouncing back here + that contract is abysmal.

 

[Forge]

If they go goalie the trade route then there's plenty of other guys who should come first. I'd take Varlamov before I take Gibson honestly. Someone like Swagman if Boston decides to tear their entire thing to the ground. Gibson makes more sense for a team like the Leafs who are possibly their main starter in Campbell and need to stay competitive in some fashion. I loved Gibson as a player ever since his WJC days but I just don't think it makes sense for us to make a deal for him. I just don't trust him bouncing back here + that contract is abysmal.

I'm sure that he will kick the tires on any goalie that may be available, as he should.

There are so many guys I could see them making a move for. Lehner's time in LV appears to be over and we were reportedly interested in him before. That cost should be very negligible, so I could see that happening. Varlamov isn't really a long term solution, but for a stopgap year I could see it. A Blackwood / Samsonov change of scenery trade could happen, etc.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

just throw 3 x $5 at Campbell and be done with it.

 

[Hisch13r]

just throw 3 x $5 at Campbell and be done with it.

I'd go after Kuemper first. If that doesn't work then yeah Campbell

 

[Triumph]

Anaheim didn't really start rebuilding until this season. They bought out Perry but that's not a rebuild move, that was just a 'he costs way too much' move.

 

[Stephen Gionta]

I'd much rather have Campbell than Kuemper - cost being equal

 

[OmNomNom]

do not want gibson, no thnx

 

[Forge]

I'd go after Kuemper first. If that doesn't work then yeah Campbell

Kuemper scares me given the age and injury history. Undoubtedly the best we could sign, but 32 with a pretty extensive injury history over the years is scary.

 

[Hisch13r]

I'd much rather have Campbell than Kuemper - cost being equal

Why? Aside from Kuemper being 2 years older it'd make no sense. Kuemper's consistently been the better goalie. He's handled 50+ games twice in his career compared to Campbell only having this one 49 game season. Both of Kuemper's seasons are also better than Campbell's one season. Campbell was a bit better these playoffs but neither were good and if we're making decisions off of 7 or 10 games then that's sure something

Kuemper scares me given the age and injury history. Undoubtedly the best we could sign, but 32 with a pretty extensive injury history over the years is scary.

I mean it's not like Campbell is young either. I don't know his injury history but I don't believe it's clean either. I know he was out this year for a bit of time. He's 30 and has handled a starting workload once and even that was only 49 games. There's next to no such thing as a "risk free" goalie and there's certainly no available risk free goalies. They both carry risk but Kuemper is better and more proven.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I like this guy

 

[Cheddabombs]

I like this guy

Damn this guy seems too good almost... like we might lose him before the season even starts with our luck

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Edit: oops double post

 

[JimEIV]

Yeah I'd need something back from Anaheim to feel better about eating Gibson's contract. Also Zellweger is a pretty good prospect for them, should've been the pick over Stillman. Either him or Stankoven, still salty to this day about it, lol. But yeah I'd take our rebuild over theirs anyway for the most part.

Their rebuild didn't really begin until 2019 when we got our 2nd #1 overall. From 2011 to 2018 they made the playoffs 7 out of 8 years and got to the Western Conference Finals twice during that time...The missed for the last 4 years and here is what they did:

2019 They picked up Zegras and Braden Tracey with their 1st and second pick
2020 they picked up Drysdale and Perreault with their 1st and 2nd pick
2021 McTavish and Zellweger with their 1st and 2nd pick

That is phenomenal if you ask me. I guarantee you the Ducks won't toil in the muck as long as we have.

 

[Bleedred]

Gibson is currently one of the most overrated goaltenders on this entire website (not the Devils forum) right now.

All I see are proposals about sending him to the Leafs and how he's gonna be MUCH better there than Campbell was there or Andersen in his last couple years there and better than he is on Anaheim. And how ''If you want him, you better send something f***in good! We won't just get rid of him! ARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!''.

I mean, Gibson is merely where Cory Schneider was by about the 2019 offseason, outside the fact that he's over 5 years younger in actual age than Cory was by then, but I'm pretty sure he's already played more games in the NHL at age 28 than Cory Schneider had at age 33. He's so 30's Schneider-esque at this point, he even had a HOT start to this season with a .922% after like 32 games played like Schneider had a .920% up until like the start of the 2018 calendar year, before plummeting to a finish in the .90-something% percentile. Schneider's .907% in 17-18 is probably just about identical to Gibson's .904%, with the drop in the league average save percentage by several points since that year.

And I've been going around mistakenly citing his $6 million cap hit, which is identical to what Schneider had, only his cap hit is ACTUALLY $6.4 million not just just $6.0!

OUCH.

He's a cap dump at this point. They should be happy to get rid of him. I feel the odds of his current contract ending in either a buyout or an LTIR are about 90% at this point. At least 85%. We'd be looking to buy him out just in time for Cory Schneider's buyout cap hit coming off the books. And it'll be a NEW GM that does it, as Fitz won't survive taking on a contract like that, unless he really does morph back into the pre 2019 John Gibson or WE get several sweeteners out of it.

And then there's all this smoke about how he doesn't wanna play for a rebuilding team anymore. Yeah, because what good contender has any need for a guy that's been a .904% goalie over the last 3 combined seasons/140 game sample? Not to mention the guy was so brittle and in and out with injuries (usually nothing major) earlier in his career, which is probably why the guy is a no count goalie at this point.

He actually WAS one of the best in the league up until 2019. Maybe he just needs Randy Carlyle back, he played better under him lol.

 

[Bleedred]

I don't think Gibson makes sense for us at all to be honest

Honestly, I think the only teams he does make sense for are either teams that don't expect to be good or teams struggling to get to the cap ceiling.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Their rebuild didn't really begin until 2019 when we got our 2nd #1 overall. From 2011 to 2018 they made the playoffs 7 out of 8 years and got to the Western Conference Finals twice during that time...The missed for the last 4 years and here is what they did:

2019 They picked up Zegras and Braden Tracey with their 1st and second pick
2020 they picked up Drysdale and Perreault with their 1st and 2nd pick
2021 McTavish and Zellweger with their 1st and 2nd pick

That is phenomenal if you ask me. I guarantee you the Ducks won't toil in the muck as long as we have.

I disagree, Bob Murray nuked that team to pieces. The Henrique + Gibson extensions were not something a "rebuilder" would've done. And yes, they got all those picks because of their roster being similar to the Rangers when they decided to rebuild and trade the pieces that were playoff performers for them for about a decade. Stop confusing how the Devils started their rebuild with a team like the Ducks/Rangers, we were basically expansion level when we started. Also, Bob Murray literally gave a divisional rival a 1D in Shea Theadore because he was so scared to lose Sami Vatanen who he wound up trading like 4 months later to us. The Ducks roster got imploded by an awful GM who outsmarted himself that they had no choice other than to rebuild. If the Devils did that, this board would have a cataclysmic meltdown and for good reason.

 

[FinnishDevil]

Kuemper scares me given the age and injury history. Undoubtedly the best we could sign, but 32 with a pretty extensive injury history over the years is scary.

So we sign Kuemper and he shows up to training camp with a pirate patch and retires before pre season. Can see it already.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

So we sign Kuemper and he shows up to training camp with a pirate patch and retires before pre season. Can see it already.

Yeah I wouldn't touch Kuemper with the eye injury stuff, he's the best goalie out there if it makes but it gives me pause for sure. I'd probably need to see him look good in the Cup Final to be more on board because his rounds 2 + 3 weren't that great.