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

[ZYXWVUT]

A few names that leapt out at me

• Skjei (prob too pricey)
• Zadorov (scary bidding war potential)
• Kulikov (The Return of the King)
• Henrique (The Return of the King Part 2)
• Trenin (he will be coveted and get a contract that likely looks dumb but NJ needs his skillset badly)
• Stenlund and/or Lorentz (bottom 6 jam that can play C)
• Stolarz (the only UFA goalie that is even mildly interesting)

The Zadorov thing is interesting. There will prob be quite a few teams after him, so he likely gets something similar to Graves? Maybe like 5x$4-4.5 range? So it becomes, do you think he can take on more if you are a team that has less depth in terms of D who roll out in tough matchups? Or is he a guy who does need sheltering? No doubt he would be an awesome stylistic fit in NJ, and if you bring him in, he would prob replace Siegenthaler, who you would move out. So you would essentially be doing a trade off of $1 million-ish with similar term between the two. Age-wise, I don't think a 4-5 year term is too scary with him. The names I have perked up on too are Michael Amadio and a Tatar reunion (I might get killed for this one, but I'd revisit it in a lesser role than his previous stint - think L3 minutes).

 

[Nocashstyle]

Timo having that MCL injury was so evident, he looked like Cam Janssen skating the first half of the year.

Unrelated, but every time I think of Janssen, it cracks me up that the dude had 6 total goals over a 9 year NHL career, and his first goal was an absolute snipe lol. It looked like Yzerman’s famous double OT snipe vs the Blues with the behind the net camera angle

 

[Devils731]

Green probably could have used all those games as assistant coach to build relationships.

 

[Forge]

Filip Gustavsson? Minnesota is rumored to looking to move him. 25 years old. Posted a .931 in 2022-23!

I don't really know what to do with him. I'm not giving up 10 for him. His career has been too short and too inconsistent at this juncture and he's only been a platoon guy

 

[TrufleShufle]

Excuses.

You didn't have 12-24 hours.... you had 20 games. And what about the PP that was putting up record breaking bad numbers? "I like it, not going to change it."

I didn't care about him being back to assistant until this comment right here. Now I'm on the "get away from the team" train. Still not on the public wedgie train though. Just let him go and move on.

 

[devilsblood]

Are people seriously questioning if rest helps recover from injuries?

You can't force a player to get surgery but you can force them to sit their ass in the press box. Players don't decide who dresses, the coaches do. Either the staff were unwilling/unable to bench Timo until he got healthy, or they were specifically told to ply him through it by Fitzgerald and management. The more I hear about it, the more I think it's the later.

Players play through injuries all the time.

 

[TrufleShufle]

Green probably could have used all those games as assistant coach to build relationships.

Yea, it is so strange, he is talking like a coach that was plucked out of the AHL hours before a game started to be head coach of team for an organization he never worked for.

 

[Nocashstyle]

Excuses.

In his defense, that is valid. Any HC change mid season is going to cause a scramble. That said, the scrambling is not the reason why he was not successful. He’s just not a good coach and I truly hope he doesn’t even have a prayer at the full time gig next season.

 

[NJDevs26]

Players play through injuries all the time.

Injuries to ‘both’ legs? While playing their off wing on top of it? They managed Timo shabbily from pillar to post and got what they deserved for it.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

Doubt Minny moves Gustavsson. At least not yet. No reason to do it - assume the Swedish kid will spend another year in the AHL. Then Fleury will be retired. If anything, they would look at it a year from now I assume.

 

[NJDevs26]

Yea, it is so strange, he is talking like a coach that was plucked out of the AHL hours before a game started to be head coach of team for an organization he never worked for.

Which is why you don’t get many in-season HC changes with guys not already on the staff or at least in the organization

 

[Guttersniped]

He's also from Madison, NJ.

Not a Ranger fan at least.

 

[devilsblood]

Injuries to ‘both’ legs? While playing their off wing on top of it? They managed Timo shabbily from pillar to post and got what they deserved for it.

Haven't we already established he played his "off wing" last year in SJ?

Yes he was banged up, he wanted to play through, and even while playing through he got healthy.

The alternative was something along the lines of Wilman.

We saw guys get hurt and were not able to play through it. Timo was. As was Jack. Timo was able to get healthy playing through it. Jack wasn't. Every injury is different.

 

[TrufleShufle]

Which is why you don’t get many in-season HC changes with guys not already on the staff or at least in the organization

Fitz "for the remainder of the season, to at least keep some semblance of organization and structure, let's stick with someone who is close with the team and structure and knows it inside and out for now."

Green:

 

[AfroThunder396]

Players play through injuries all the time.

Perhaps he should have played in a wheel chair.

This conversation is f***ing stupid and you know it, just stop. Guys with two bum legs should not be on the ice.

 

[NJDevs26]

Haven't we already established he played his "off wing" last year in SJ?

Yes he was banged up, he wanted to play through, and even while playing through he got healthy.

The alternative was something along the lines of Wilman.

We saw guys get hurt and were not able to play through it. Timo was. As was Jack. Timo was able to get healthy playing through it. Jack wasn't. Every injury is different.

He very heavily intimated he hated playing the off wing post Lindy. I wasn’t even crazy about how much he alluded to it as being a factor in his surge down the stretch after admitting he only got healthy a few weeks before but clearly he was never comfortable with it

 

[Satans Hockey]

R.I.P...

 

[devilsblood]

Perhaps he should have played in a wheel chair.

This conversation is f***ing stupid and you know it, just stop. Guys with two bum legs should not be on the ice.

Saying he should be in a wheel chair is stupid.

 

[JK3]

Looking for a new coach who is collaborative with players, management, organization, etc. Will he be able to pick his own assistants?

 

[devilsblood]

This board loves the "had his leg amputated" meme, but I always thought it was a joke.

Maybe we've told the joke so many times we think it's real?

 

[HBK27]

Saying he should be in a wheel chair is stupid.

Clearly.

Meier should've played in a sledge.

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[HBK27]

Not sure if this was already posted...but dayum...

 

[NJDevs26]

Looking for a new coach who is collaborative with players, management, organization, etc. Will he be able to pick his own assistants?

Looks like it’ll be the same shit it was with Lindy, let him have one member on the staff and pick everyone else including the associate

 

[tailfins]

But what were the options if we shut Meier down?

More games for Bowers? More Laberge? Willmon? More minutes for Tierney? Meier battling through was not a liability vs's the alternatives.

I can see the "medical staff sucks" is the narrative du jour, and will probably run all summer and into next year, but it already looks over inflated.

Are people seriously questioning if rest helps recover from injuries?

You can't force a player to get surgery but you can force them to sit their ass in the press box. Players don't decide who dresses, the coaches do. Either the staff were unwilling/unable to bench Timo until he got healthy, or they were specifically told to ply him through it by Fitzgerald and management. The more I hear about it, the more I think it's the later.

The issue with soft tissue injuries is that they don't always show up on MRIs. If you can see the damage, you still may not be able to understand the extent of the injury.

It seems to me that the relative severity a soft tissue injury is often identified by asking the patient when something hurts and how much. If the patient says it doesn't really hurt, or that the pain is manageable, what then?

Or, if an injury is such that it won't heal without significant rest and rehab or potentially surgery, but it also is something that could be played through - but the player will need to learn how to adjust to the injury...what then? Do you shut just shut the player down for a significant amount of time? Or do you take them at 50% today hoping they can learn to get to 80% in a couple of weeks?

People act like these decisions are simple. And they are when there's nothing on the line. But, when there's millions of dollars in salary, revenue on the line and you've got hypercompetitive players involved, it's seems way more complex.