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

[devilsblood]

Right. He won't be signed because we drafted Nemec , and have to give up an elite 2nd pairing rhd because we need to make room for Nemec. Who may or may not ever be as good as Severson. While we have a glaring hole at 3C for the long term. Our RHD would have been all under 30, so wouldn't really need anything major in the pipeline there. Outside of Nemec, we drafted a few RHD anyways. I just think we would of been way better off selecting Wright 2nd overall, then continue the draft the way it went.


If you roll with Mercer as your 3C, we have a big hole on the wing to fill in the top 6 now.

I think it's more along the lines of acquiring Marino and drafting Nemec has made Sev's expendable. Marino is likely going to be significantly cheaper then Sev's once Sev's signs his next deal(though the Klingberg contract has me 2nd guessing that).

But even this past year, when it looked like we were very solid at RHD, Hamilton's injury had a pretty significant negative impact. So like your concerns about losing Hughes or Nico, losing Hamilton at RHD is also a concern. When good players get hurt, that is not easy to overcome.

Also consider that Hamilton just turned 29. Sev's turns 28 next week. Signing Sev's means we have 2 d-men fast approaching 30, and then nothing of note in the pipeline. Conversely all our centers, this side of Haula are 24 or younger. There was value to getting younger at RHD. If anything we need more maturity at center.

Yeah maybe Wright sucks, but he was the widely consensus #1/#2 pick

By media types who were still going off a scouting book that was 2 years old.


Clearly not #1/#2 consensus by NHL teams at the time of the draft.

 

[Guttersniped]

What is going through someone’s mind when they say our center depth is bad? What exactly is your frame of reference? It can’t be the last 25 years of Devils hockey. When have we ever had better centers? Who in the league has better centers? I’m so confused.

We don’t have any center depth in Utica, it’s bleak there. I assume Thompson is playing down there because he’s waiver exempt and needs the ice time, even though he was coming in hot already in development camp. There’s not much of anything else you could even call up.

People discussed ditching McLeod because we now had Haula this season on cheap 1 year deal. I don’t see how adding him makes Boqvist or McLeod expendable.

If you notice that’s about our bottom six. The top two lines have centers (duh), a back-up (Mercer) and desperation fill-in (Haula).

Every almost every team either has 3C problems or questions (just go look) or are working their way towards that after a guy prices his way off their team like Trocheck.

We do need to draft centers, I mean, they usually can play wing too and are more useful/valuable. We found some useful bigger centers with later picks that developed in the AHL under Shero. I feel like they tried to do that with Pytlik and Shlaine and… yeah.

 

[glenwo2]

the senior PGA tour?

Not for nothing but 5:08 shows how much of a troll Alice is.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Come on now. Don’t compare Wood to a tremendous two-way player like Lehktonen. Lekhonen would be an amazing addition. Woody is a volume shooter goal scorer and an agent of chaos.

I actually like Woody a lot but we shouldn’t have qualified him if the plan was to drag him to arbitration and overpay for one iffy season before UFA. (3m goes a long way in this market.) Has there been an injury updates?

And his ask is for more than his qualifying offer lol. I don’t know how they plan to make an argument for that.

His lost season absolutely tanked his Evolving Hockey estimate, they have 1 year at 1.29m, but if you set it for last season it was at 2.7m. That still is very far from 3.85m though.

This is obviously an attempt to negotiate it up from 2.975m but it seems to me that it only goes up if the team wants to be nice about it.

If he signs a one year deal and has a solid season then he does become an interesting piece/decision at the TDL. (There’s so many hypotheticals at work I don’t want to guess there.)

I like both players. Was just using Lehkonen as an example of a pricey left winger who will be on the fourth line probably by year 3 of his 5-year contract

Different players with very different outcomes on contracts, that much is evident. Whatever is best for the Devils.

Though Id be lying if I didnt mention Im glad Wood will get paid this year; he was a soldier for us during rough rebuilding times and its startling to look as if he wont be here to see it through.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Two bonafide first line centers and with Mercer who can easily develop into a good second line center if we needed him.

“No center depth”, LOL, I’m still chuckling.

 

[My3Sons]

What is going through someone’s mind when they say our center depth is bad? What exactly is your frame of reference? It can’t be the last 25 years of Devils hockey. When have we ever had better centers? Who in the league has better centers? I’m so confused.

I know how you feel. Some days I just don't know whose depends I'm wearing.

 

[McDuffz88]

If one of Nico/Hughes goes down we are in big big trouble, and have nothing in the pipelines. While we have an elite RHD 1-2-3 in the NHL currently

Yeah us along with the rest of the league. If any team loses a top 6 center it will hurt. We are no different. Even if we lose a top 6 center we are still fine. Worst case scenario if we get struck by lightning & both Nico/Hughes goes down at the same time. We would just roll with Mercer, Haula (played 2nd line minutes last year), Boqvist then Mcleod. Also are you aware that the draft happened before the Marino trade right?

Right. He won't be signed because we drafted Nemec , and have to give up an elite 2nd pairing rhd because we need to make room for Nemec. Who may or may not ever be as good as Severson. While we have a glaring hole at 3C for the long term. Our RHD would have been all under 30, so wouldn't really need anything major in the pipeline there. Outside of Nemec, we drafted a few RHD anyways. I just think we would of been way better off selecting Wright 2nd overall, then continue the draft the way it went.
If you roll with Mercer as your 3C, we have a big hole on the wing to fill in the top 6 now.

Oh no we having a glaring 3c problem long term so we should of used our 2nd OA pick to draft a 3rd line center instead of a top pairing RD (we have 0 RD prospects). Good luck finding a top RD prospect over a 3rd line center.

Yeah maybe Wright sucks, but he was the widely consensus #1/#2 pick

Yeah he was such a consensus #1/#2 pick that he didn't get drafted until #4... dude wasn't even picked as the best center in the draft.

 

[Triumph]

I like both players. Was just using Lehkonen as an example of a pricey left winger who will be on the fourth line probably by year 3 of his 5-year contract

Different players with very different outcomes on contracts, that much is evident. Whatever is best for the Devils.

Though Id be lying if I didnt mention Im glad Wood will get paid this year; he was a soldier for us during rough rebuilding times and its startling to look as if he wont be here to see it through.

Lehkonen on the fourth line by year 3 - LOL. Then I was like who would make this comparison and then it clicked.

Do you show up with a different name every day? It's uncanny, dude. Something is telling you to get a new hobby.

 

[glenwo2]

Yeah he was such a consensus #1/#2 pick that he didn't get drafted until #4... dude wasn't even picked as the best center in the draft.

Still not convinced that Logan Cooley is better than Wright, though.

Yeah he was selected over him by Arizona....but it's Arizona.

Their management doesn't exactly have a sparkling history of making wise decisions, to say the least.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Lehkonen on the fourth line by year 3 - LOL. Then I was like who would make this comparison and then it clicked.

Do you show up with a different name every day? It's uncanny, dude. Something is telling you to get a new hobby.

Alex Newhook is an incredible prospect, whats so hard to believe about him passing up Lehkonen on the depth chart? He would still get defensive usage and PK time.

And I just found this website a month ago. Its not exactly as popular as Reddit

 

[Devs3cups]

Still not convinced that Logan Cooley is better than Wright, though.

Yeah he was selected over him by Arizona....but it's Arizona.

Their management doesn't exactly have a sparkling history of making wise decisions, to say the least.

To be fair, it's new management in Arizona. They didn't have a 1st in 2020, but I really like their pick in Guenther in 2021 (as well as Doan in the 2nd). Cooley, Geekie and Lamoureux is also quite the 1st round this year.

 

[Diehard Devil]

So after trading for Marino from Pittsburgh, what does that mean we do with Severson?

Wanted to sign him but that isnt happening anymore. When will we trade him?

 

[Classic Devil]

So after trading for Marino from Pittsburgh, what does that mean we do with Severson?

Wanted to sign him but that isnt happening anymore. When will we trade him?

Depends on where we are in the standings at the deadline.

 

[SKNJD9]

So after trading for Marino from Pittsburgh, what does that mean we do with Severson?

Wanted to sign him but that isnt happening anymore. When will we trade him?

At the deadline unless we're solidly in a playoff spot then we'll keep him as Fitz wont want to undercut the kids legit shot at a playoff spot. If we're a bubble team he's gone

 

[Classic Devil]

What team isn't in trouble if they lose one of their two top-6 centers for an extended period? Come on.

 

[MadDevil]

What team isn't in trouble if they lose one of their two top-6 centers for an extended period? Come on.

Teams that have 3 top 6 centers, duh.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

 

[SKNJD9]

To everyone who said our owners won't spend.

We have zero cap room

Shut up

 

[Mgd31]

Lol I called the "Woody's Back" headline. Blech.

 

[Alex NJD]

At the cap and only guy left to sign is Zetterlund. I'm sure Fitz will manage something

 

[MadDevil]

Lol I called the "Woody's Back" headline. Blech.

Sounds like a catchphrase for a little blue pill...

 

[britdevil]

I hope the guy can stay healthy. I like Wood, we missed his presence this past season.

Cap team. Where the f*** did that come from lol

 

[Billdo]

Johnsson for future considerations...

 

[Bleedred]

Thank god it’s just one year.

We’re a cap team alright, but we still have a lot of money tied up in useless junk.

Thankfully, I think the entirety of that useless junk comes off the books after this year.

 

[Bleedred]

Normally I would say something like Johnsson getting waived is wishful thinking that only exists in the minds of fans on this forum, but I could definitely see it and waiving him frees up about a million dollars or so?