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

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Surely, no response to these questions is fair because we know too much today. I'll play anyway:

1) If we could re-do his contract, he'd be paid $4.5M (1.5M savings)
2) Do you remember the rumors about John Marino becoming a Devil? I did not. Many things could have happened. I don't think its fair to see available LTIR money and say the team did not spend. We weren't signing UFA players, we were going to trade for a player AND commit money. Both those things had to make sense.

So, $4.5m/year. Okay fine. do you really think its worth bringing up that extra $1.5m/year (or ~1.7% of the salary cap) every other day?

$1.5m has never once prevented a team from not acquiring a player they TRULY wanted to acquire. You can always make it work.

 

[NJDevs26]

The problem with Palat is these were supposed to be his ‘best’ two years (and our best two years capwise) before we worried about contract and buyout and they’ve been injury plagued and underwhelming.

 

[guitarguyvic]

This roster desperately needs more players in Palat’s mold…if he wasn’t on the roster it would just be either another small perimeter skill player or some plug that doesn’t make a huge difference either way. His contract has not hindered management from doing anything. The bellyaching about his contract is just misplaced angst.

This team desperately needs players that are better defensively and much harder on the puck physically…Palat is one of the few players we have that address this problem, and people wish he wasn’t on the team. Crazy.

 

[theoptimist]

So, $4.5m/year. Okay fine. do you really think its worth bringing up that extra $1.5m/year (or ~1.7% of the salary cap) every other day?

$1.5m has never once prevented a team from not acquiring a player they TRULY wanted to acquire. You can always make it work.

On this discussion forum, I don't mind it, especially if it's followed up with proposals on how to improve for next season.

Siegenthaler at $3.4M is a different trade than Siegenthaler at $4.9M. Same goes with Palat.

 

[longislanddevil]

I haven’t heard too much about Josh Filmon this year. How is he progressing after last year’s excellent showing?

I’ll ask the same question about Vilen.

 

[Triumph]

Palat isn't getting traded. The idea of trading Palat is nuts.

 

[None Shall Pass]

I do worry about Fitz's attempts to upgrade the goaltending this offseason. The man has been screaming to everyone who will listen that he wants to do that. That's not going to lower the prices.

 

[Guttersniped]

I believe it. I’ve never been convinced this run would save him if it didn’t result in a playoff berth. Especially where this recent run will once again end with them being eliminated in the final 1 or 2 games of the season, just like last season.

Nashville went on a similar run last year after the deadline and Hynes was fired anyway. You can say it was because there was a GM change, but there’s been a GM change in Pittsburgh that Sullivan survived.

I’ve had a feeling for a while that the Rangers would love to have Sullivan when he becomes available. He was an assistant there at one point.

It seems unlikely Lavi gets ganked after just one year, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it happens if they go out on round one (I don’t think they will) and they immediately jump on Sullivan.

My timeline when I started connecting Sullivan to the Rangers had Gallant surviving one more season and them hiring Sullivan this summer. Gallant didn’t even make this year. I thought if Sullivan had been available last summer that maybe Gallant goes and they hire Sullivan.

Laviolette isn’t getting fired after 1 year.

Gallant was Drury’s hire, he gave him 4 years/3.5m and then fired him after 2 years.

Laviolette got 3 years/4.9m, so he has a short leash, but no GM is going to have his team potentially spend 8.4m on ex-coaches and then spend more on another big name.

A GM only gets so many coach firings (Lou was an exception).

You don’t fire a coach after you win the President’s Trophy, that’s silly. I doubt the Rags lose in the 1st round either so let’s wait until that is actually a thing.

 

[Bleedred]

Laviolette isn’t getting fired after 1 year.

Gallant was Drury’s hire, he gave him 4 years/3.5m and then fired him after 2 years.

Laviolette got 3 years/4.9m, so he has a short leash, but no GM is going to have his team potentially spend 8.4m on ex-coaches and then spend more on another big name.

A GM only gets so many coach firings (Lou was an exception).

You don’t fire a coach after you win the President’s Trophy, that’s silly. I doubt the Rags lose in the 1st round either so let’s wait until that is actually a thing.

Yeah, I don't honestly think he's getting fired this year either, I've just had this idea for a while that the Rangers and Sullivan seem like something that would happen, but they probably missed that boat by a year.

I definitely don't think they're going out in round one either. I think this board underrates the Rangers, probably out of some kind of bias.

The Bruins are a much bigger fake good team than the Rangers, that's for sure.

Don't mistake this for me getting all DD over here. I don't think the Rangers are the best team in the East, but they're considerably better than Boston, who are FAKE good this year. And they're better than all these jokers fighting for the last couple of spots.

The Bruins at 5 on 5 are significantly worse than the Rangers and unlike the Rangers fiery power play, the Bruins have a lower expected goals at 5 on 4 than our Travis Green/Chris Taylor masterpiece. Their shooting percentage is a whole 1% above the league average, a full 1% above the league average shooting percentage at 5 on 5 and their goaltending is about 1.5% greater than the league average.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

If we was bought out after next year:

If he was bought out the year after:

Doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. Not to mention he’s still actually good and useful.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I do worry about Fitz's attempts to upgrade the goaltending this offseason. The man has been screaming to everyone who will listen that he wants to do that. That's not going to lower the prices.

I feel as though the Markstrom thing is going to play itself out. I think Calgary dragged their feet and tried to make Fitz meet their price until they opted to back out, and in turn pissing the player off and missing the playoffs all together.

I feel like he's going to force their hand after they kept him and say he wants to go where he's wanted. We'll see though.

 

[dgibb10]

Ullmark should be the guy to target

 

[guitarguyvic]

People taking about Markstrom like that’s not a huge gamble itself. Trading assets for an aged goalie whose stats have been all over the place for several years already.

At the end of the day what Fitz does with the coaching and addressing the deficiencies with this team’s defense and physicality is going to be what determines how successful the goaltending is, no matter who he rolls with.

 

[dgibb10]

People taking about Markstrom like that’s not a huge gamble itself. Trading assets for an aged goalie whose stats have been all over the place for several years already.

At the end of the day what Fitz does with the coaching and addressing the deficiencies with this team’s defense and physicality is going to be what determines how successful the goaltending is, no matter who he rolls with.

On defense, thankfully there should be a ton of room for internal improvement.

Siegs, Marino, if they even get halfway back to what they were last year would massively help
Luke, Nemec will 100% improve
Hamilton healthy is a massive addition.

The dcore could become elite without doing anything.

The biggest question is. How do we replace Bahl/Smith with guys who can make accurate breakout passes while keeping the PK strong.

Some guys I love:
Marcus Pettersson
McNabb
Gavrikov (he could be a sneaky one who could be acquired for virtually nothing if LAK tries to move him for cap space to deal with their pending crunch. Obviously would have to be willing to waive)

 

[BostonDevil]

Yeah, I don't honestly think he's getting fired this year either, I've just had this idea for a while that the Rangers and Sullivan seem like something that would happen, but they probably missed that boat by a year.

I definitely don't think they're going out in round one either. I think this board underrates the Rangers, probably out of some kind of bias.

The Bruins are a much bigger fake good team than the Rangers, that's for sure.

Don't mistake this for me getting all DD over here. I don't think the Rangers are the best team in the East, but they're considerably better than Boston, who are FAKE good this year. And they're better than all these jokers fighting for the last couple of spots.

The Bruins at 5 on 5 are significantly worse than the Rangers and unlike the Rangers fiery power play, the Bruins have a lower expected goals at 5 on 4 than our Travis Green/Chris Taylor masterpiece. Their shooting percentage is a whole 1% above the league average, a full 1% above the league average shooting percentage at 5 on 5 and their goaltending is about 1.5% greater than the league average.

Bruins are a fraud team and I want no part of Ullmark because of it. It's fraudulent all around. Offense/Defense/Goaltending/Everything

 

[Bleedred]

Bruins are a fraud team and I want no part of Ullmark because of it. It's fraudulent all around. Offense/Defense/Goaltending/Everything

I'm sure he looks better there, but he wasn't all bad in Buffalo.

Other than that, they're really FAKE good and they don't really get enough press for it.

Tampa was even getting their fair share of talk and press earlier in the year when they were fairly mediocre for a lot of the year (even they have much better underlyings than Boston) and they're only even finishing in the first wild card spot because of it and Vasilevskiy just being average/losing a lot of points on Johansson while he was injured for the first 2-ish months of the season. They're still gonna finish with at least a couple of more points than Metro 3 lol.

But people have been quiet on Boston. From the pundits to the fans around the league.

Boston's numbers are actually closer to those of the pretender teams that are on the bubble right now. The Detroit's, the Washington's, the Islanders. Worse than both of the Pennsylvania teams.

 

[Better Call Sal]

People taking about Markstrom like that’s not a huge gamble itself. Trading assets for an aged goalie whose stats have been all over the place for several years already.

At the end of the day what Fitz does with the coaching and addressing the deficiencies with this team’s defense and physicality is going to be what determines how successful the goaltending is, no matter who he rolls with.

I don't think there is a goalie move to be made that isn't a gamble in some capacity. It's the nature of the position currently around the league.

I don't envy Fitz. He knows he has to make a move here. If he ends up sticking with both Allen and Kahkonen, and it blows up in his face again god forbid, the ice he's on gets even thinner.

 

[devilsblood]

I don't think there is a goalie move to be made that isn't a gamble in some capacity. It's the nature of the position currently around the league.

I don't envy Fitz. He knows he has to make a move here. If he ends up sticking with both Allen and Kahkonen, and it blows up in his face again god forbid, the ice he's on gets even thinner.

I'd be fine with Allen and Kahk. They've played really well here. The difference between these 2 and Vat's/Daws/Schmid this season is huge.

Now has Fitz "big gamed" his way out of rolling with those 2? Maybe, but as pretty much everyone notes above, while there is a risk of running these 2 back, there is a risk, and a higher cost, of making a trade for a bigger name.

 

[Saugus]

I do worry about Fitz's attempts to upgrade the goaltending this offseason. The man has been screaming to everyone who will listen that he wants to do that. That's not going to lower the prices.

True, but I don't think there was much of a different option available. Nobody would believe Fitz if he had gone the other direction and said he was totally fine standing pat with our current goaltending. They would still think they can bend him over a barrel in a goalie trade, and they'd be right.

He'd be in basically the same position he is now, except this way he gets partial credit from the fans by saying he's trying.

This move, whatever it ends up being, isn't going to be pretty. But it is necessary.

 

[devilsblood]

I haven’t heard too much about Josh Filmon this year. How is he progressing after last year’s excellent showing?

I’ll ask the same question about Vilen.

Filmon had a meh production regular season after his big goal scoring season last year. He has though posted 6 goals and 8 points in 6 playoff games so far, including 2 goals in game 1 of Swift Current's 2nd round series.

Supposedly played more center this year, so maybe more defensive responsibilities, which could explain the lack of regular season goals. More assists this year, which again maybe signals a more well rounded game, and last years goal total was certainly part heater which was never going to be replicated.

If he continues on with a strong playoffs, I'll say he had a good year, hope he puts some more weight on in the offseason, and will be very interested to see what he does in Utica next year.

All in all, for a 6th round pick, have to love what he's done in his 2 seasons post draft.

 

[NJDevs26]

I do worry about Fitz's attempts to upgrade the goaltending this offseason. The man has been screaming to everyone who will listen that he wants to do that. That's not going to lower the prices.

No but by the same token it's not like he's paid the Neiman Marcus prices yet, at least that we know of. We know nothing about the Calgary deal that got nixed by their side.

 

[Guadana]

Markstrom is below 90% in the last two month, Ullmark will be 32 with his new deal and he is fake with Boston game. Saros is the only one who is good goalie but he will be very expensive and will eat a lot of cap and money. This team isnt playing well with average goalies who playing very well, because not the goalies. Saros trade will eat depth and assets we have problem with.

So if Fitz will trade one of this goalies, especially for a lot of assets, than its a panic move.
if he will trade "big goalie" and will stay with the same defense and will not really work on offensive depth or will sign or trade for Toffoli like player - its a stupid move.

So I hope he is smart and patient. He isnt fan who wants Saros, Gaudreau and Debrinket.

 

[NjDevsRR]

The Palat hysteria is weird

Somewhat overpaid.

Not hurting the cap as of now or next year, or probably the year after.

Not a bad hockey player.


Move on

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

is the goalies are Allen/Kahkonen next year, Fitz should be fired. Immediately.

 

[britdevil]

Everybody here needs to be prepared for the cost of the new goalie.

Fitz is coming in from a shit position and has little choice.