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

[NjDevsRR]

Marty never played for St. Louis. I didn't realize NJ.com started writing fiction pieces. Odd choice.

The worst of the worst are those folks who wear Brodeur Blues, Henrique Ducks and Parise Wild jerseys at the Rock. Barf.

 

[HBK27]

This is a false dichotomy - the Athletic may see more value in covering the WNBA as a league. I'm confident there are far fewer Athletic writers writing about the WNBA than the NHL.

You are underestimating how much time went into his pieces. Masisak attended most practices as well. He also did much longer pieces on Nico Hischier and Blake Coleman that involved him traveling. The Athletic was founded with the idea that there was a certain class of sports fan that was not being served by the traditional sportswriting model of game recaps and the occasional feature/opinion piece. I'm hoping they're still right.

I wasn't making a comparison between the amount of writers between the two leagues. I was comparing the WNBA to teams that no longer have a beat writer. I highly doubt the WNBA is bringing in more subscribers than the Devils, Brewers, Kraken or any other host of teams that no longer have a beat writer for their team.

As to what went into Masisak's articles, I understand that he did have some very good longer pieces that took a lot of time and I factored in travel. Often though, there would be no articles after games or he'd default to a mailbag. To me, it didn't seem like a lot of content for a full-time writer covering the team, especially compared to what you would see for the Rangers or Islanders. All a moot point now.

 

[Bleedred]

Mine is too, but that’s because I went to cancel when Corey M left the Devils beat and the Athletic asked if $1 a month would change my mind. It definitely did lol.

I wonder if they'll re-up me for a dollar a month when it my subscription runs out at the end of the year? Even if it's a slight increase I'd still be very happy with that.

I don't read it enough, which is my own fault. I've probably missed a lot of good stuff over the summer too.

I should really look for some stuff right now. Despite camp being only a little over a week away, this is literally one of the most boring weeks in hockey, outside of the anticipation of camp starting in a little over a week and the prospect tournament in a few days.

 

[Bleedred]

The worst of the worst are those folks who wear Brodeur Blues, Henrique Ducks and Parise Wild jerseys at the Rock. Barf.

I don't care much about Henrique or Parise. Different class of player to the importance of the franchise or game overall when compared to Brodeur. And they also played a lengthy part of their careers with those other teams.

But I can't understand why anyone would have a Brodeur Blues jersey, Unless you collected ALL of his jerseys, like from his different Team Canada jerseys to maybe even his Utica and St. Hyacinthe jerseys. I know there's some jersey nuts and collectors out there that will collect as many jerseys from a player as they can and I appreciate those people.

But to wear a Blues Brodeur jersey to a Devils game? Unless they're Blues fans, but I'd have to figure you wouldn't have a Blues Brodeur jersey if you're a Blues fan, unless you were just a Brodeur superfan that was very stoked to see him with the Blues in the short time he was there.

I'm sure they sold quite a few of them in his very short tenure there. I feel like Devils fans probably remember that he was a Blue more than most people do.

If the person doesn't have a Devils Brodeur and they are a Devils fan, I might even donate an old Devils Brodeur jersey to them lol.

 

[Triumph]

I hope so too, but it's also abundantly clear that there's no money in that. Insofar as the current online ad model works (it doesn't), it makes recaps and agitating opinion pieces the most viable model.

It's not abundantly clear to me. No one's going to get rich off the model I described, but I think it could've worked.

I wasn't making a comparison between the amount of writers between the two leagues. I was comparing the WNBA to teams that no longer have a beat writer. I highly doubt the WNBA is bringing in more subscribers than the Devils, Brewers, Kraken or any other host of teams that no longer have a beat writer for their team.

The difference here is that I think a lot of people who are Devils and Brewers fans are fans of other teams, while that may not necessarily be the case for the WNBA, and again, I'm saying that having WNBA coverage is sort of a loss leader - if the sport is becoming more popular, it makes sense to keep coverage of it going. You can't compare an entire sport to one team - the WNBA as a whole is more popular than the Devils.

As to what went into Masisak's articles, I understand that he did have some very good longer pieces that took a lot of time and I factored in travel. Often though, there would be no articles after games or he'd default to a mailbag. To me, it didn't seem like a lot of content for a full-time writer covering the team, especially compared to what you would see for the Rangers or Islanders. All a moot point now.

Yes, because articles after games are not what The Athletic was seeking to do. It did seem like Corey had time off, whether those were furloughs or what, I don't know.

 

[My3Sons]

I really hope NJ can move past PTOs and retirement contracts soon. At this point, they don't need overpaid guys like Tatar and Bernier to play mediocre to incapable of playing in important roles (Bernier was to be a 1B goalie and Tatar was supposed to be a second line wing). Palat probably hits this status in the latter part of his deal.

 

[Billdo]

I wonder if they'll re-up me for a dollar a month when it my subscription runs out at the end of the year? Even if it's a slight increase I'd still be very happy with that.

I don't read it enough, which is my own fault. I've probably missed a lot of good stuff over the summer too.

I should really look for some stuff right now. Despite camp being only a little over a week away, this is literally one of the most boring weeks in hockey, outside of the anticipation of camp starting in a little over a week and the prospect tournament in a few days.

I re-upped, accidentally, at $70 for last year. When Masiask or however it was spelled was here I didn't have a problem doing so bc I also read the other sports teams I'm a fan of writers. When he left the main reason I got, Devils coverage, took a massive hit. I let it expire and haven't looked back although I do miss it. Maybe I'll stop being so frugal and pay for NJ.com although i really don't want to.

 

[Bleedred]

I really hope NJ can move past PTOs and retirement contracts soon. At this point, they don't need overpaid guys like Tatar and Bernier to play mediocre to incapable of playing in important roles (Bernier was to be a 1B goalie and Tatar was supposed to be a second line wing). Palat probably hits this status in the latter part of his deal.

Bernier was signed to be a 1b because Mr. Softy was already showing some serious question marks and doubts that he could be trusted after the 20-21 season. Between that and the fact that we had a lot of goalie problems the year before with a cast of Wedgewood, Dell and Comrie in the backup spot at different points.

That's why if he sucks then he needs to GTFO after this year. Who cares if he's still an RFA for one more year? If we're paying a Blackwood/Vanecek tandem $6.5 million (or possibly even more) in 23-24 then it needs to be a better than mediocre tandem. We can't afford to pay a tandem of Blackwood/Vanecek $6.5 million or more going forward if it's going to be mediocre or worse because we are now a cap team.

And guess what goalie is signed already for next year and guess which one isn't?

The Blackwood plug needs to be pulled after this year if he's anything less than average and if he is average then he gets a one year deal for his qualifying offer and not a day or cent more.

I actually liked the Corey Crawford signing a lot. I remember wondering how sold they were on Blackwood after they signed him for 2 years. The odds weren't strong on him not having problems with injury (he already had vertigo and concussion issues not too many years before we signed him) these last two years if he didn't up and retire, but I really did love that signing.

I like the Vanecek move and think it was safer than signing Husso to the deal he got, but he needs to be able to outplay Blackwood and if he does then the organization needs to just f***ing let it happen. He's the guy signed beyond this year. And if Ruff gets in the way of that then he'll be sitting home watching the rest of the season in his rocking chair. I don't give a f*** about what Blackwood did 2-3 years ago anymore.

The only thing I don't like about Vanecek is that his goals saves above expected is not really good. It's in the negative both years. It's not nearly as bad as Blackwood's or any of the goalies that saw regular time here over the last 2 years though, other than Bernier and his small sample size.

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[My3Sons]

Bernier was signed to be a 1b because Mr. Softy was already showing some serious question marks and doubts that he could be trusted after the 20-21 season. Between that and the fact that we had a lot of goalie problems the year before with a cast of Wedgewood, Dell and Comrie in the backup spot at different points.

That's why if he sucks then he needs to GTFO after this year. Who cares if he's still an RFA for one more year? If we're paying a Blackwood/Vanecek tandem $6.5 million (or possibly even more) in 23-24 then it needs to be a better than mediocre tandem. We can't afford to pay a tandem of Blackwood/Vanecek $6.5 million or more going forward if it's going to be mediocre or worse because we are now a cap team.

And guess what goalie is signed already for next year and guess which one isn't?

The Blackwood plug needs to be pulled after this year if he's anything less than average and if he is average then he gets a one year deal for his qualifying offer and not a day or cent more.

I actually liked the Corey Crawford signing a lot. I remember wondering how sold they were on Blackwood after they signed him for 2 years. The odds weren't strong on him not having problems with injury (he already had vertigo and concussion issues not too many years before we signed him) these last two years if he didn't up and retire, but I really did love that signing.

I like the Vanecek move and think it was safer than signing Husso to the deal he got, but he needs to be able to outplay Blackwood and if he does then the organization needs to just f***ing let it happen. He's the guy signed beyond this year. And if Ruff gets in the way of that then he'll be sitting home watching the rest of the season in his rocking chair. I don't give a f*** about what Blackwood did 2-3 years ago anymore.

The only thing I don't like about Vanecek is that his goals saves above expected is not really good. It's in the negative both years. It's not nearly as bad as Blackwood's or any of the goalies that saw regular time here over the last 2 years though, other than Bernier and his small sample size.

I can see the Bernier signing as making more sene but Tatar was signed as a stop gap and now he's a $4 million dollar bottom six guy with no future and who may cost the team a Zetterlund. Bernier at least got injured. Tatar is just getting old. He'd better have a solid season or he will be on a PTO next season. The lesson to me for these sorts of players is one year deal or pass. Let some other team overpay. I'm tired of having to do that from a NJ standpoint. If they just want to use NJ for an overpayment no thanks. I'd rather lose with a young player who might improve and might try hard if nothing else.

 

[glenwo2]

Marty never played for St. Louis. I didn't realize NJ.com started writing fiction pieces. Odd choice.

Wait wat?

He played 7 forgettable games for them.

.....OH WAIT!!

I get what this is now.

Jedi-Mind Trick S--t.

*waves hand in face* "Marty never played for St. Louis. He was always a Devil and never left"

 

[glenwo2]

BTW, a blurb from that article :

Sean Avery was Brodeur’s most detested career foe. The two publicly feuded during Avery’s six seasons with the New York Rangers, with one incident forcing the NHL to implement the”Avery rule.” But as he gets older, Avery may soon be ready to squash their beef — even teasing a future apology. Sort of.



“Your ideas of relationships change over time,” Avery said. “I’m a dad now and he’s a dad. Everything just changes, your perspective on everything. If I ever run into him in an airport, I’d like to think that I’d apologize without apologizing.”

Sorry but I hope if they ever meet, Marty either ignores him, or tells him to go F himself.

 

[NJDevs26]

I like Ryan but was that little blurb really necessary? Only mongo Ranger fans would give two craps what a turd like Avery has to say about Marty.

 

[Bleedred]

I can see the Bernier signing as making more sene but Tatar was signed as a stop gap and now he's a $4 million dollar bottom six guy with no future and who may cost the team a Zetterlund. Bernier at least got injured. Tatar is just getting old. He'd better have a solid season or he will be on a PTO next season. The lesson to me for these sorts of players is one year deal or pass. Let some other team overpay. I'm tired of having to do that from a NJ standpoint. If they just want to use NJ for an overpayment no thanks. I'd rather lose with a young player who might improve and might try hard if nothing else.

I don't at all regret the Tatar signing in the least, but I think with where we're at with the cap right now, we probably shouldn't be signing guys like that going forward.

I do think there's a good chance this is Tatar's last year in the NHL and if not this year then probably next year.

He may get a one year deal or PTO after this year (not from us), but he's likely on his last legs in the league.

 

[captainscott12]

when does training camp start?... is that a dumb question? thanks for your time

 

[Bleedred]

I like Ryan but was that little blurb really necessary? Only mongo Ranger fans would give two craps what a turd like Avery has to say about Marty.

There was actually one other part I thought was unnecessary in that article from Ryan.

I still think the guy is amazing, but there was one other part where I was like ''Wait.... What?''.

''Fans were actually begging general manager Lou Lamoriello Brodeur. 'Marty's better! Marty's better!' they chanted, a reference to goalie Cory Schneider, whom Lamoriello was betting on to replace Brodeur after 21 years''

Come on now lol. Fans were not chanting ''Marty's better!'' at Cory. That's just super troll levels of silly. Of course there was a small contingent of people that really felt that way (we always ran/run into them over here), but that chant predated Cory Schneider's pro hockey career by over a decade. Come on now. That chant was not implying that Marty's better than Cory. That chant had nothing to do with Cory at all. And that chant was not begging for Lou to sign Marty. It was respecting a legend that played here for over 20 years on his way out and in his last game here. If you're not reading carefully here or paying a whole lot of attention while reading, you might be led to believe fans were chanting this in the opening months of the next season when Cory was here and Marty wasn't and still hadn't signed anywhere yet.

And it's funny that Marty is still a bit salty, if not delusional saying ''I felt I was having a good season, but playing time got diminished, so you're not happy about the situation'' and he was ''Still .500 and Cory Schneider was under .500 my last year I played''. I swear he was hacking into people's accounts over here that year every time someone cited wins.

He felt he was having a good season? Compared to what? Last year's Devils goalies? Good god. Let's hope as a ''Mangement'' person he doesn't really find that to be ''Good'' goaltending.

And then the part Ryan wrote in there about how he ''Looked old and lost'' in his brief stint as a Blue, as if he looked anything other than old and lost his last year here?

Parts of that article were very cringy, but maybe I'm just picking it apart because it's about a goaltender?

when does training camp start?... is that a dumb question? thanks for your time

Vets report next Wednesday and first official on-ice practices are usually the day after.

Rookies and prospects are supposed to report tomorrow and their first official on-ice practices are probably the day after. And then there's the rookie tournament which I think starts either Friday or Saturday?

 

[Bleedred]

BTW, a blurb from that article :



Sorry but I hope if they ever meet, Marty either ignores him, or tells him to go F himself.

I wouldn't really care, maybe he wants to forgive him? I have a feeling Sean Avery doesn't wanna apologize or he wouldn't have said he would apologize without apologizing lol. He still seems like a scumbag.

But you get over things. Like Ken Daneyko and Tie Domi.

 

[HBK27]

There was actually one other part I thought was unnecessary in that article from Ryan.

I still think the guy is amazing, but there was one other part where I was like ''Wait.... What?''.

''Fans were actually begging general manager Lou Lamoriello Brodeur. 'Marty's better! Marty's better!' they chanted, a reference to goalie Cory Schneider, whom Lamoriello was betting on to replace Brodeur after 21 years''

Come on now lol. Fans were not chanting ''Marty's better!'' at Cory. That's just super troll levels of silly. Of course there was a small contingent of people that really felt that way (we always ran/run into them over here), but that chant predated Cory Schneider's pro hockey career by over a decade. Come on now. That chant was not implying that Marty's better than Cory. That chant had nothing to do with Cory at all. And that chant was not begging for Lou to sign Marty. It was respecting a legend that played here for over 20 years on his way out and in his last game here. If you're not reading carefully here or paying a whole lot of attention while reading, you might be led to believe fans were chanting this in the opening months of the next season when Cory was here and Marty wasn't and still hadn't signed anywhere yet.

Glad you brought this up. I meant to comment on this as well as it was so off-base. Maybe I can cut Ryan some slack for not knowing the origins/use of the "Marty's Better" chant, but claiming it was in any way a reference to Schneider was completely incorrect.

 

[VoidCreature]

Ryan's new guys, cut him some slack. He's still produced more quality content about the team before the season even starts than Abbey Mastracco put out in her whole time as our beat.

 

[My3Sons]

I don't at all regret the Tatar signing in the least, but I think with where we're at with the cap right now, we probably shouldn't be signing guys like that going forward.

I do think there's a good chance this is Tatar's last year in the NHL and if not this year then probably next year.

He may get a one year deal or PTO after this year (not from us), but he's likely on his last legs in the league.

Regret isn't the word I'd use because in a vacuum you could say a 45 point player on a second line is worth $4 mil but in Tatar's case the metrics may support him but my eye test just doesn't, at least on this NJ team. He's a perimeter player who should have success off the rush but he's just not helping enough in a corner or along the wall or in puck battles in open ice. With time and space he can pass and shoot somewhat but he's just limited at this point and I think in today's game the aging curve hits the undersized guys hard if they lose even a quarter step and a little fast twitch reflex. Then layer in that NJ stunk and Tatar was supposed to carry some of the water and he didn't. I've always maintained that subpar vets can't be counted on for important roles and don't insulate the young players. That's how it worked with Lovejoy and Santini had to play first pair as a rookie. The Devils got lucky that Mercer was ready to play a top six role or it would have been Tatar in a top six role all season, maybe even a top line role. Just bad thought process. I'm only giving stop gap guys one year deals but that is just my way of thinking. These vets were jettisoned for a reason and can play a supporting role but should be paid accordingly on a year to year basis.

 

[Bleedred]

Glad you brought this up. I meant to comment on this as well as it was so off-base. Maybe I can cut Ryan some slack for not knowing the origins/use of the "Marty's Better" chant, but claiming it was in any way a reference to Schneider was completely incorrect.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I always assumed he was a fan of the Devils as well as a local kid and that he was in all likelihood following the team at that point. I still think he knows the origins and use of that chant, but I wonder if he was just trying to put his own journalistic spin and context on it with that one?

Ryan's new guys, cut him some slack. He's still produced more quality content about the team before the season even starts than Abbey Mastracco put out in her whole time as our beat.

You're right. I've loved everything he's done so far, but I just thought that article had some cringeworthy moments, including one from Marty himself on his assessment of his play that year.

 

[MadDevil]

The worst of the worst are those folks who wear Brodeur Blues, Henrique Ducks and Parise Wild jerseys at the Rock. Barf.

The latter two at least played long enough with those teams that I could understand it (I used to live next to a guy who I swear wore his Parise Wild shirt just to annoy me). But a Brodeur Blues jersey is just somebody being a dick.

 

[NjDevsRR]

The latter two at least played long enough with those teams that I could understand it (I used to live next to a guy who I swear wore his Parise Wild shirt just to annoy me). But a Brodeur Blues jersey is just somebody being a dick.

I just don’t get it. I will never dawn another teams jersey. It’s sacrilege.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

I wonder if they'll re-up me for a dollar a month when it my subscription runs out at the end of the year? Even if it's a slight increase I'd still be very happy with that.

I don't read it enough, which is my own fault. I've probably missed a lot of good stuff over the summer too.

I should really look for some stuff right now. Despite camp being only a little over a week away, this is literally one of the most boring weeks in hockey, outside of the anticipation of camp starting in a little over a week and the prospect tournament in a few days.

 

[Guttersniped]

I really hope NJ can move past PTOs and retirement contracts soon. At this point, they don't need overpaid guys like Tatar and Bernier to play mediocre to incapable of playing in important roles (Bernier was to be a 1B goalie and Tatar was supposed to be a second line wing). Palat probably hits this status in the latter part of his deal.

There is no Too Good for PTOs Stage.

If you go to Cap Friendly’s PTO page you’ll see Florida, Toronto, Carolina, Calgary, etc already have PTOs lined up.

Jack Johnson was a PTO for the reigning Stanley Cup Champions.

The need to manage cheap depth only will only grow now that our cap tightened.

Not sure why everyone hates veteran depth.

Tatar was us spending short term, in August, to pick up some offense. The opposite of PTOs.

Most teams sign goalies, producing two home grown goalies is a big ask, we just need our supernatural goalie curse lifted so we can have a functional starter for a whole season. (I’m a crazy dreamer, I know.)

All NHL rosters have ugly parts, Tatar and Bernier are one season problems. Fitz might have underestimated how brutally dead the trade market would be, that seemed to have caught GMs by surprise. Arizona and Detroit aren’t taking on more dumps and no new teams have shown their enthusiasm for that role. (People might have thought Chicago would have, but nope.)

Both the Palat and Hamilton deal will likely get rough, pretty much all UFA deals end in tears.