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

[MasterofGrond]

Thank god we got Bratt signed. That contract is gonna age like wine.

Just need somebody to teach him to shoot the f***ING puck

 

[NJDevs26]

Well I think that was Lemaire's choice that time. He was still under contract for the next year, which he later came back and honored, but he decided to retire in 2010.

It was 1998 where Lou ushered him out the door, and he kind of pretended to step down and I think claimed it was a mutual decision. Lou would have fired him if he hadn't stepped down that time. I don't think he would have in 2010. Not judging by the way he ran back to him about 30 games into the next season.

Eh they collapsed down the stretch in 2010, there was that infamous jelly jar throwing incident after Game 4 of the playoffs and then just days after Lemaire said he was looking forward to returning and loved coaching he 'resigned'. I don't really think that was his choice either unless you think he had a faster about-face than Brett Favre.

 

[Bleedred]

Eh they collapsed down the stretch in 2010, there was that infamous jelly jar throwing incident after Game 4 of the playoffs and then just days after Lemaire said he was looking forward to returning and loved coaching he 'resigned'. I don't really think that was his choice either unless you think he had a faster about-face than Brett Favre.

I don't know. I wonder if he was just bluffing about returning in 2010? That playoff series may have also just changed his mind.

I do wonder if his souring relationship with some of the players also made him walk away or if Lou saw that and thought it would be better if he went into retirement a year earlier?

Those players were still there upon his return, although the biggest one (Langs) was shipped out a couple weeks later.

 

[JimEIV]

Eh they collapsed down the stretch in 2010, there was that infamous jelly jar throwing incident after Game 4 of the playoffs and then just days after Lemaire said he was looking forward to returning and loved coaching he 'resigned'. I don't really think that was his choice either unless you think he had a faster about-face than Brett Favre.

I could've sworn I remembered him saying that he wanted to retire in 2010 to spend more time with his grandchildren in Florida....and that he came out of retirement from Florida in 2011 just as a favor to Lou and it was always going to be short term.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I could've sworn I remembered him saying that he wanted to retire in 2010 to spend more time with his grandchildren in Florida....and that he came out of retirement from Florida in 2011 just as a favor to Lou and it was always going to be short term.

That’s also how I remember it.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Lemaire told Ruff and Babcock at the 2010 Olympics that he was seriously considering retirement. I think our collapse down the stretch and his evolving feud with Langenbrunner helped make up his mind.

 

[Bleedred]

I could've sworn I remembered him saying that he wanted to retire in 2010 to spend more time with his grandchildren in Florida....and that he came out of retirement from Florida in 2011 just as a favor to Lou and it was always going to be short term.

I do remember him saying that, but I'm not sure if he said that after he came back in December of 2010 or if he was saying that in April of 2010 when he initially left.

I seem to remember him being very emotional in his first ''Retirement'' in 2010. I don't remember watching it, I think that was before we got youtube videos of every presser, though I do remember the reports were that he was crying.

He clearly wasn't crying in his last post game presser in 2011 when he said he wasn't coming back.

I think he may have even retired in 2009 from the Wild. I think he ''Stepped down'' from that job as well but he had been there for so long. Then Lou picked him to be head coach here about 2 months later, which wasn't a popular decision among the fanbase at the time, To say it wasn't a popular decision would be an understatement. Many were worried he would stifle Parise's production. He wound up scoring even more that year under Lemaire than he did the year before.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

I could've sworn I remembered him saying that he wanted to retire in 2010 to spend more time with his grandchildren in Florida....and that he came out of retirement from Florida in 2011 just as a favor to Lou and it was always going to be short term.

“Buddy Lou!” I’ll never forget that press conference.

 

[BurntToast]

You would think Pittsburg would realize after years of struggles, they may actually need a defenseman that can play defense.

Trying to fit Graves or Smith with riverboat gamblers Letang and Karlsson is wild.

 

[Bleedred]

You would think Pittsburg would realize after years of struggles, they may actually need a defenseman that can play defense.

Trying to fit Graves or Smith with riverboat gamblers Letang and Karlsson is wild.

Ty Smith didn’t even play one game in the NHL this year and he only played 9 last year. His only 9 since being acquired.

 

[BurntToast]

Ty Smith didn’t even play one game in the NHL this year and he only played 9 last year. His only 9 since being acquired.

I understand that but their belief was, he still had upside and would be a cheaper option to fill out their defense.



Let the coaching search begin..

For me Fitz’s seat is all ready hot.

 

[JimEIV]

For me Fitz’s seat is all ready hot.

May I ask why?

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Ty Smith didn’t even play one game in the NHL this year and he only played 9 last year. His only 9 since being acquired.

Nothing was funnier than the game against the Devils he played and their powerplay went 0/9 in 22-23, LMAO

 

[JimEIV]

Ty Smith didn’t even play one game in the NHL this year and he only played 9 last year. His only 9 since being acquired.

You look at all the Dmen that were regulars here just a few years ago that are out of the league and it's mind boggling.

PK Subban
Ryan Murray
Sami Vatanen
Yohan Auvitu
John Moore
Will Butcher
Ty Smith
Micro Mueller

I like to think of them as the guys that Jon Merrill out lasted.

 

[Guttersniped]

Oh I don't know...I don't want to get into an argument about it....but I just don't think Dougie's season was all that great....at least in terms of All Time Devils.

Yeah, it was no Severson 2022-23, right folks? Now that was season for the ages.

 

[Bleedred]

I understand that but their belief was, he still had upside and would be a cheaper option to fill out their defense.



Let the coaching search begin..

For me Fitz’s seat is all ready hot.

I don't know if his seat is quite hot yet, but if we miss the playoffs again next year then it's gotta be scorching. Shero was fired before he could complete his fourth playoff-less season in five years. Both GM's made the playoffs in their third season as GM. Both followed that up by missing the playoffs in their fourth season. Shero's playoff season appeared to be much more of a mirage than the Fitz playoff berth, as well as being a one man show with Hall and going right down to the wire to even make it in. So the 18-19 season being a bust had to be much more expected and much less shocking than the 23-24 season being a bust.

Shero was canned around the halfway point of his fifth season which was going pretty badly. The team was also in worse shape when he arrived than what Fitz inherited.

I'm not trying to start a Shero vs Fitzgerald debate again (I know this will though), I'm just saying that Shero got fired in the midst of his fourth playoff-less year out of five seasons. We've just went three playoff-less years out of four since the GM change.

The owners may like him more than they liked Shero, as they just made him president of hockey ops. We haven't had a president of hockey ops since Lou was the GM.

I don't think he's on the hot seat yet, though I do think he will be if next year goes bad. And rightfully so.

Maybe dangerously close to being fired. They may give him one more crack in 2025-2026 if we miss the playoffs next year, depending on him they feel about him. I think they're (ownership/the people even higher up than Fitz) writing this last year off to injuries and terrible goaltending (though somehow the goalie coach lives), as the team was competitive for the better part of the year. Even with the terrible goaltending. At least until the last couple of weeks of Lindy, before falling apart in his last 2 weeks and then completely bottoming out under coach bull frog.

 

[JimEIV]

Yeah, it was no Severson 2022-23, right folks? Now that was season for the ages.

I don't remember Severson's name ever coming up in an All Time Devils great defenseman season....but you do you.

 

[Guttersniped]

I don't remember Severson's name ever coming up in an All Time Devils great defenseman season....but you do you.

It was a joke, if you don’t get it that’s fine.

 

[Bleedred]

Severson got a lot of shit when he was here, particularly during the Hynes years. He was by far our best defenseman for several of those years.

We were also right not to keep him. We'll be better off for it in a year or two. There's been several players we couldn't keep since the salary cap was put in place (Gionta, Gomez, Rafalski) and even some players we didn't keep before that (Mogilny, Claude Lemieux in 2000) for financial reasons or whatever.

I think we should have kept Rafalski, since we only went and used that money to sign Rolston the next year, who was the same age, despite the fact that he was a forward and Rafalski was a defenseman. I don't think Gomez wanted to stay anyway. Rafalski and Gionta did.

But I'm not gonna sit here and debate a non-signing from 17 years ago, even if we've got nothing but time for it over the next 5 months or so.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

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I don’t know about the rest of you but I totally deserve to have hockey players on the New Jersey Devils. Not to sound too entitled but I feel like it’s a requirement.

 

[Devs3cups]

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Incredible and understandable when Brooks says it, horrible when Fitz says it lmao!

 

[ZYXWVUT]

Apparently there is a possibility Filip Gustavsson could be on the block in minnesota? Any time for him as a trade option this summer?

If he really could be potentially available, I think I can get onboard with that. Age would fit. Plus he is still RFA after next season, so team controlled. Would be giving it a go that he can rebound. A suddenly intriguing option for me if realistically out there.

 

[Forge]

Apparently there is a possibility Filip Gustavsson could be on the block in minnesota? Any time for him as a trade option this summer?

If he really could be potentially available, I think I can get onboard with that. Age would fit. Plus he is still RFA after next season, so team controlled. Would be giving it a go that he can rebound. A suddenly intriguing option for me if realistically out there.

They'd be selling low on him I think. His career is one of inconsistency so far. Unless they really need the money (and I don't think they do, though I could be wrong), I think they hold him and see if he rebounds and consider trading his rights after next year if they don't want to move forward with him.

I don't know that they are in any hurry to move to wallstedt

 

[Bleedred]

Apparently there is a possibility Filip Gustavsson could be on the block in minnesota? Any time for him as a trade option this summer?

If he really could be potentially available, I think I can get onboard with that. Age would fit. Plus he is still RFA after next season, so team controlled. Would be giving it a go that he can rebound. A suddenly intriguing option for me if realistically out there.

I think he overachieved last year.

He may have underachieved this year, but he didn't look so great for some of his time in Ottawa, though it wasn't a very large sample size.

He wasn't really TERRIBLE this year. He actually wasn't even as bad as Fleury. Which isn't really saying much, as Fleury is old and not good anymore.

I'm not sure. Seems like another roll of the dice.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

I think he overachieved last year.

He may have underachieved this year, but he didn't look so great for some of his time in Ottawa, though it wasn't a very large sample size.

He wasn't really TERRIBLE this year. He actually wasn't even as bad as Fleury. Which isn't really saying much, as Fleury is old and not good anymore.

I'm not sure. Seems like another roll of the dice.

Yeah prob has potential to go really good or really bad. And rolling the dice on which season he is closer to, this past one or the previous. Much like the devils team hahaha. Find out together??