It feels like they've never been committed to him nor really he to them - he's been rumored to be on the trade block, I also think he's requested a trade - so while they will sign someone for that spot, I doubt it will be him.
Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - offseason part I
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It feels like they've never been committed to him nor really he to them - he's been rumored to be on the trade block, I also think he's requested a trade - so while they will sign someone for that spot, I doubt it will be him.
Lou Bloom
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The team had a so called Toffoli sized hole on their roster when they finished with 112 points. The team should be focused on adding solid middle 6/bottom 6 pieces that can contribute to winning hockey, not adding more offense on a team that has the Hughes brothers, Hischier, Bratt, Meier, Nemec and Hamilton on it.
And I keep pointing back to what was a clear strength of the team last year, speed amongst the fwd group. Why we've gone away from it so early in the process is a head scratcher to me.
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Palat won’t be thrilled if you take his contract away from him.
Emperoreddy
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Guadana
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We are trying to ask too much from him. Just put him on the fourth line and he will bright like a diamond.
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Lou Bloom
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Draisaitl played with Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele for a considerable amount of minutes.
Mackinnon played a ton of minutes with Drouin.
Matthews played with Matthew Knies a ton.
Pasta played a sizeable portion of his minutes with Pavel Zacha or Danton Heinen.
Pettersson played with Mikheyev, Lafferty.
Barkov played with Evan Rodrigues.
Expecting to have a top 6 full of 60+ point players is unrealstic. Adding a couple middle six players that can contribute to winning hockey is all the team needs, after all the team just had 112 points when the best forwards other than Jack, Nico and Bratt was Tatar, Mercer, Sharangovich and Haula.
Emperoreddy
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So who is going to play next to Jack?
Lou Bloom
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Some combination of Meier, Bratt, Mercer, Palat, Haula, UFA/Trade acquisitions?
SteveCangialosi123
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I’m fine with Haula-Hughes-Bratt if we add a center. Any combination that includes a healthy Jack and Bratt will be very good.
On the free agent market he’ll probably get that, but I’m not sure we can afford two inflated contracts.
We need forwards who will be cheap but effective depth. Not easy to identify those guys without other teams also knowing it, but that’s presumably what we have an analytics department for.
I actually really want to try Palat on Jacks wing. I feel like he has the kind of grit that would benefit him, and I don't really remember them playing together this last season.
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meh, we have like $20m in space with only Mercer to sign. We have plenty of room to bring in another player of that value.
They didn’t play together really at all this last season. But in terms of EXG % in terms of the past two years, it’s been strong when together I think based on moneypuck #s IIRC. Beyond that, I have wondered if it would fit or not based on Jack liking the rush game and that maybe not being the forte for Palat.
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Can't lose sight of the incoming Luke and Nemec deals. These two are pillars for the future and will require quite a good chunk of the cap, they'll be a priority for the org for sure.
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Billdo
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You can bridge them until Siegenthaler and Hamilton are off the books. They're both UFA in 4 years.
This would likely be foolish unless the bottom falls out of either of their games - even still, bridging Luke seems almost impossible at this stage. Also it is not like bridging players is easy, that's rarely what players want and also in the case of Nemec risks an offer sheet.
The cap is going to the moon unless there's a work stoppage/CBA change or the economy falls apart. There is a ton of room for it to grow given where the cap should be based on present revenues, and the NHL has just lost its lowest revenue club and is almost certainly replacing it with a top-half revenue club. The cap should be $100 million by the earliest time that can happen.
EDIT: SBD reported last month that NHL revenues this season are estimated at $6.2B, that means that the cap should be at ~$104 million already. Let's say Utah brings in $50 million more a season than Arizona, that's an increase of ~$800,000 in the cap also.
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PizzaAndPucks
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This needs to be the season where Jack doesn't have to play with 3rd line players on the 1st line. A healthy Jack to go with a healthy Meier is something that I hope is utilized next season. Mercer would be a good player to put on a line with them but I'm not sure of it would with Meier wanting to be played as a RW.
Guadana
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Jack and Timo didn't look well together. I think they will continue to play Nico with Timo.
Can we flip Holtz to Minnesota for the 13th overall and draft both Helenius and Nygard?
Jason MacIsaac
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We couldn’t even do that in NHL 24 beginner mode. Holtz will be traded for another reclamation project or they hope he has an all time offseason with his skating coach.
Not making Team Sweden might end up being the shock to his his system he needed. That is an embarrassment even if he thought he didn’t get a fair shake in NJ.
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