Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - offseason part III
- Thread starter NJDevs26
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- May 8, 2010
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I get it, I tend to think that the fact it was even a possibility that he'd be available for that game is a positive. Also nothing broken or separated is a plus. Anyways, the season is a month plus away. There's time.
- May 1, 2011
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How come there's no slot for best shootout player?! Jacob Josefson is very sad!
- May 1, 2011
- 131,970
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And in other news, I think I'm finally over the offseason. I've finally had it with the offseason. The death of the Gaudreau brothers is still something that's got me really bummed out, so I'm fine that there's no hockey for the next 7 or 10 nights.
But it's getting to be time. And I went a while this offseason being fine with it. More than most offseasons, just because of how draining and disappointing last year was.
But I'm just about ready. We need some hockey and the calm before the storm of training camp is still firmly part of the most boring stretch of the offseason, which goes from the second week of July though just days before camp opens.
If not for the recent tragedy, I'd be fired up for some hockey tomorrow night.
But it's getting to be time. And I went a while this offseason being fine with it. More than most offseasons, just because of how draining and disappointing last year was.
But I'm just about ready. We need some hockey and the calm before the storm of training camp is still firmly part of the most boring stretch of the offseason, which goes from the second week of July though just days before camp opens.
If not for the recent tragedy, I'd be fired up for some hockey tomorrow night.
NJDevs26
Once upon a time...
- Mar 21, 2007
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I’m old enough to remember Viktor KozlovHow come there's no slot for best shootout player?! Jacob Josefson is very sad!
Well I think Rico, as much as I love him, holds down the worst shootout player title.How come there's no slot for best shootout player?! Jacob Josefson is very sad!
glenwo2
LINDY RUFF NEEDS VIAGRA!!
Also underrated for being basically the "Dad" of the group in his latter years.
Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
Underrated = Zubrus. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone off the top of my head, but he was probably one of the best UFAs Lou ever signed in terms of what he provided for the length of his deal. Pretty much Brylin on steroids. Miss having him around.
Overrated = This is so hard to answer because I don’t think guys really get overrated since I value the different strengths they offer. You could make cases for certain offensive players who don’t bring enough if they’re not producing, or more defensive oriented players who rarely show offensive potential. If you had to make me pick a name, as much as it pains me as he is one of my favorite Devils from growing up, Alexander Mogilny. God bless him for what he did offensively, but I remember his two playoffs being very underwhelming. If he were just a little bit better, I feel we win again in 2001.
Best = Marty. My favorite Devil ever.
Worst = Eric Boulton, since brit took my Andrew Peters answer.
Funniest = Gomez, don’t think it’s close. Guy is a riot.
Underappreciated = Langenbrunner. I think his exit is remembered by far too many and overlooks everything he did in his tenure here. He really was an awesome player for us for a long period of time.
Most Potential = Jack Hughes
Biggest bust = Of my time as a fan, I’ll throw out the name Matt Corrente. Maybe the potential was never really there, but he was the first in a long line of players who’d begin to disappoint in the first round. Lou’s draft record after Parise/Zajac in back to back years was some kind of awful.
Best Playmaker = Patty
Best Goalscorer = This might fall into underrated goal scorer, but Sykora. His shot was something to behold. He could get it off in a hurry, and when he did, it was a missile.
Best Defenseman = Stevens, nothing more to say.
Best Goalie = Marty.
Best Penalty Killer= Mad Dog. One of the best two way forwards I’ve ever seen. Love and miss that man.
Best shot blocker = Dano gets his shout out here. The tuba player in Lou’s orchestra metaphor for a reason.
Best Coach = Lemaire
Best GM = Lou
Overrated = This is so hard to answer because I don’t think guys really get overrated since I value the different strengths they offer. You could make cases for certain offensive players who don’t bring enough if they’re not producing, or more defensive oriented players who rarely show offensive potential. If you had to make me pick a name, as much as it pains me as he is one of my favorite Devils from growing up, Alexander Mogilny. God bless him for what he did offensively, but I remember his two playoffs being very underwhelming. If he were just a little bit better, I feel we win again in 2001.
Best = Marty. My favorite Devil ever.
Worst = Eric Boulton, since brit took my Andrew Peters answer.
Funniest = Gomez, don’t think it’s close. Guy is a riot.
Underappreciated = Langenbrunner. I think his exit is remembered by far too many and overlooks everything he did in his tenure here. He really was an awesome player for us for a long period of time.
Most Potential = Jack Hughes
Biggest bust = Of my time as a fan, I’ll throw out the name Matt Corrente. Maybe the potential was never really there, but he was the first in a long line of players who’d begin to disappoint in the first round. Lou’s draft record after Parise/Zajac in back to back years was some kind of awful.
Best Playmaker = Patty
Best Goalscorer = This might fall into underrated goal scorer, but Sykora. His shot was something to behold. He could get it off in a hurry, and when he did, it was a missile.
Best Defenseman = Stevens, nothing more to say.
Best Goalie = Marty.
Best Penalty Killer= Mad Dog. One of the best two way forwards I’ve ever seen. Love and miss that man.
Best shot blocker = Dano gets his shout out here. The tuba player in Lou’s orchestra metaphor for a reason.
Best Coach = Lemaire
Best GM = Lou
glenwo2
LINDY RUFF NEEDS VIAGRA!!
I've been around the Devils probably as long (maybe longer?) and my Biggest Bust is Stefan Matteau.
Yes, I know Lou f'ed up back then with his decision not to give up the very late draft pick but he was still a first-rounder and if you look at his stats, he is the quintessential equivalent of a AAAA-level Baseball player who plays at a high-level in the minor-leagues but can't do shiznit in the Big Leagues.
Even Matt Corrente had a season in the NHL where he had 6 assists.
Whereas Matteau had 2 Goals and ZERO assists in 27 games (throughout his only 2 seasons in NJ).
Even when he went to other NHL teams like the Avs, Blowjackets, Golden Knights, and Habs, he underperformed.
In fact his "best" year was when he scored a whopping TWO goals and ONE assist in 9 games for the Blowjackets and followed that up the next season with them with one goal and zero assists in 18 games for them.
Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
Yeah that’s a pretty good call. That pick always felt like it was Lou taking a jab at all the “Matteau! Matteau!” bullshit we still have to hear. I still can’t believe he made the team in his rookie year and was playing beside Zajac and Kovy for a bit.
glenwo2
LINDY RUFF NEEDS VIAGRA!!
I think Volchenkov has to get some love for best shot blocker. That (and the big hitting ability) was basically the guys entire rep before he signed here, and when he wasn’t injured he lived up to it pretty well.
glenwo2
LINDY RUFF NEEDS VIAGRA!!
Yeah he's underrated in that aspect.
But man...if you looked up "Grenade Handler" in terms of handling the puck, you'll more than likely find his picture.
JimEIV
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2003
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No way Corrente #30 OA, Mattaeau #29 OA or someone like Quenneville #30 OA or even recently Stillman #29 OA are bigger bust than Holtz #7 OA, McLeod #11 OA...and going way back Lance Ward #10 OA, Corey Foster #12 OA, Neil Brady #3 OA.
Just silly talk...to think a bottom of the 1st round pick in some not so great draft years is the franchises biggest bust makes no sense whatsoever.
As it stands Holtz is in contention for the biggest bust of all time...he still has time to right his career but he doesn't look like he has the tools to do it...scary bad pick in not seeing the deficiencies in his game in my opinion.
Edit: shit, even Ty Smith is a worse pick than any of the likes of Corrente, Matteau, or Stillman.
Just silly talk...to think a bottom of the 1st round pick in some not so great draft years is the franchises biggest bust makes no sense whatsoever.
As it stands Holtz is in contention for the biggest bust of all time...he still has time to right his career but he doesn't look like he has the tools to do it...scary bad pick in not seeing the deficiencies in his game in my opinion.
Edit: shit, even Ty Smith is a worse pick than any of the likes of Corrente, Matteau, or Stillman.
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JK3
Go Easy-Step Lightly-Stay Free
Poppy Whoa Sonnet
J'Accuse!
- Jan 24, 2007
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Biggest Devils bust I assume? I admit I didn't know who Neil Brady was:
Neil Brady - Wikipedia
3rd overall traded for future considerations 6 years later, that's probably who it is unless someone has another name.
Holtz idk maybe it will be the bigger bust if Jack Quinn becomes a star, Jarvis is already there, but that seems like a stretch to me.
Cheddabombs
Status Quo
- Mar 13, 2012
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I recall Max McNabb (Peter’s dad) saying that Brady was a good checking center. Even then it was obvious that you don’t draft a guy who had no offense. Of course pre-Lou thr team was on ongoing tire fire. Even worse than Rocky Trottier was trading thr first round pick that turned out to be Pat Lafontaine for Bob Lorimer. Sort of a that era equivalent of a John Marino type. There is a reason thr really old fans see Lou in near mystical terms. He actually took chicken poop and made chicken salad.Biggest Devils bust I assume? I admit I didn't know who Neil Brady was:
Neil Brady - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
3rd overall traded for future considerations 6 years later, that's probably who it is unless someone has another name.
Holtz idk maybe it will be the bigger bust if Jack Quinn becomes a star, Jarvis is already there, but that seems like a stretch to me.
NJDevils#4
Since 2002, bishes
NJDevs26
Once upon a time...
- Mar 21, 2007
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Admittedly most Devils fans weren't around when Neil Brady was a draft pick so no he's not going to get mentioned as biggest bust. Even given that, scouting in the 1980's was a LOT less refined than scouting now (and a lot more insular since at least 98% of draftees were North American, and most of them Canadian), busts were a heck of a lot more common then.
And re: Holtz if he somehow starts lighting it up in Vegas (which granted I don't see happening), can we really call him a bust or someone who our development team and coaching staff just screwed up?
And re: Holtz if he somehow starts lighting it up in Vegas (which granted I don't see happening), can we really call him a bust or someone who our development team and coaching staff just screwed up?
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Trottier would have been my vote cause I COMPLETELY forgot about Brady.
ndkjr70
Registered User
- Jan 30, 2023
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Matteau was drafted 29th overall. 29th. He's not even the biggest bust of that draft class (The Islanders took Griffin Reinhart 4th overall, ahead of Lindholm who was a consensus top-5 pick. Matteau played more NHL games than Subban (24th overall), Schmaltz (25th overall), Samuelsson (27th overall).
If you look at the 5 players selected before him, only 1 can be considered a legitimate NHLer (Skjei). And when you look at the 7 players taken after him, once again it's just 1 guy (Pearson). If you want to consider a late-round guy a bust, look at Chase Stillman who's about to enter his D+4 season and is barely hanging on to a 3rd line checking role in the minors. He was drafted earlier than Matteau was, too.
When I think of "busts", I think of missed opportunities based on where he was drafted. You can't say "ahhh I wish the Devils took Oscar Dansk, Mitchell Moroz, Sebastian Collberg, Ville Pokka, Matt Finn, or Nicolas Kerdiles" Those are all real names, and they're the players that went immediately after Matteau.
There are 0 universes where Matteau is a bigger bust than Holtz. Holtz was sandwiched between guys like Raymond, Sanderson, Drysdale, Perfetti, Askarov, Lundell, Jarvis. The Devils are fortunate that kind of draft selection didn't sink the franchise.
If you look at the 5 players selected before him, only 1 can be considered a legitimate NHLer (Skjei). And when you look at the 7 players taken after him, once again it's just 1 guy (Pearson). If you want to consider a late-round guy a bust, look at Chase Stillman who's about to enter his D+4 season and is barely hanging on to a 3rd line checking role in the minors. He was drafted earlier than Matteau was, too.
When I think of "busts", I think of missed opportunities based on where he was drafted. You can't say "ahhh I wish the Devils took Oscar Dansk, Mitchell Moroz, Sebastian Collberg, Ville Pokka, Matt Finn, or Nicolas Kerdiles" Those are all real names, and they're the players that went immediately after Matteau.
There are 0 universes where Matteau is a bigger bust than Holtz. Holtz was sandwiched between guys like Raymond, Sanderson, Drysdale, Perfetti, Askarov, Lundell, Jarvis. The Devils are fortunate that kind of draft selection didn't sink the franchise.
Guadana
Registered User
Yeah, for now Holtz and Smith are looking like much bigger busts. Is it surprising. No and yes and no. Still I have hope Holtz will develop his game and will be competent enough bo be at least secondary scorer in NHL. Ty Smith has problems. Those 25+ picks could not be named as biggest busts. Or lets add Stillman to this list, at least in potential.
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