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

[megajake]

yeah i don’t think Lazar should be our 4th line center. would be awesome to see someone like Bowers step up and snag that role but i would really love to bring someone in.

i hope this is how we see our bottom 6 right now

Palat-Haula-Lazar/Bastian
Cotter-Free Agent/Trade-Bastian/Lazar

Lazar/Bastian on our 3rd line is major yikes. Theyre both at best 4th liners. Would prefer not to have Bastian on the team at all. Lazar is ok on the 4th line

 

[Captain3rdLine]

They worked well together when our team and system were unknown by the league, getting the puck out of the zone faster than any other team because of the swarm, all while letting up under 20 shots a game for almost half the season

That wont be replicated again and Siegenthalers advanced stats were thrown off by such; hes never been that good and thats why hes paid what he is paid

Huh that’s why he’s paid what he’s paid? What does that even mean? He’s paid pretty decently for a purely defensive defensemen.

And so what do you want exactly?

 

[Comparison Ford]

Yeesh that's a rough 3rd line. Lazar was really great last year but he belongs on the 4th line with a healthy lineup. Going into the year with him on the 3rd line is disastrous. My hope is Bastian's pushed to 13F

i’m with you, looking at it is kind of an eyesore lmao

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Getting Markstrom for the price we did when Thompson was had for so little really really sucks. Do not give a shit about Sergachev or Hayes.

I dont really understand this comparison. Markstrom is the much better and more proven goalie.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Dillon has proven great defense over larger sample sizes before; Siegenthaler had great stats for one year that ended up a perfect storm and we dont even use that system anymore

No ones suggesting Dillon isn’t better than Siegenthaler. It’s more of the pairing fits. I don’t think Nemec does well with Siegenthaler. I really like to have Dillon alongside him.

 

[Hisch13r]

i’m with you, looking at it is kind of an eyesore lmao

I like Nate a lot but I think we should probably look to dump him and open up some extra money. Rather try Halonen as the extra and open up another 575k to spend on the bottom 6

 

[Ripshot 43]

It's a great defense. I think it's probably better than the forwards. I don't think it's materially different than if that's Marino there instead of Pesce and we'd be able to use that extra cap to have been able to spend more on adding a better player up front than we'll be able to and the depth up front really really needs the help.



Keefe played Reaves 49 games soooooo yeah... We escaped Mason Geertsen for a year and a half but "Somehow Mason Geertsen returned"

I think the swap out of Marino for Pesce tells us something else was wanted from that position that Marino wasn’t bringing.

 

[Hisch13r]

I think the swap out of Marino for Pesce tells us something else was wanted from that position that Marino wasn’t bringing.

I agree that's what they're saying with it. I do not agree with them though.

 

[Moist ReadOnly]

Huh that’s why he’s paid what he’s paid? What does that even mean? He’s paid pretty decently for a purely defensive defensemen.

And so what do you want exactly?

So thats what you latch onto instead of the evidence of why he is and never was a top pair defenseman...

 

[Devils Army]

Would really prefer going into the year with Lazar on the wing and have him come inside if/when injuries happen. He's far more effective at RW

 

[NJDevs26]

I dont really understand this comparison. Markstrom is the much better and more proven goalie.

More proven yes, but much better remains to be seen - especially at this point in their careers

Markstrom 2.73 GAA, .909 save percentage (career)
Thompson 2.67 GAA, .912 save percentage (career)

 

[Hisch13r]

More proven yes, but much better remains to be seen - especially at this point in their careers

Markstrom 2.73 GAA, .909 save percentage (career)
Thompson 2.67 GAA, .912 save percentage (career)

And saving an extra ~3.5 mil and a first

 

[JK3]

I think the swap out of Marino for Pesce tells us something else was wanted from that position that Marino wasn’t bringing.

There were a few posts with the colorful playing cards sighting Marino had good numbers aside from allowing cross ice passes or something followed by how good Pesce is at shutting those down.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

So thats what you latch onto instead of the evidence of why he is and never was a top pair defenseman...

What are you on about? I didn’t latch onto anything or even make a point there.

I simply asked what you meant by that statement?

 

[Hisch13r]

There were a few posts with the colorful playing cards sighting Marino had good numbers aside from allowing cross ice passes or something followed by how good Pesce is at shutting those down.

Yes that was true of last season but then JFresh also said that that was never previously an issue for Marino and he was good at stopping those plays. I think it's Fitz being too reactionary to a down year in a disaster season

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Lazar/Bastian on our 3rd line is major yikes. Theyre both at best 4th liners. Would prefer not to have Bastian on the team at all. Lazar is ok on the 4th line

Lazar is a high end 4th liner now. I wouldn’t count on him being a 3rd liner because it’s almost a given that he’ll block a shot that will make him gimpy and lose a step during the year. But when fully healthy he probably is a fine 3rd line shut down wing.

 

[Bleedred]

100%. Macdermid plays at least 40 games next year, I think

I think he was only a healthy scratch once after we traded for him. Possibly twice, but I think it was just once.

From what I remember there was one more game where I was like ''Oh wow! He's a healthy scratch for this game?'' and it came out later that he was an injury scratch for that game. I do remember one healthy scratch though, I just can't remember who it was against.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

More proven yes, but much better remains to be seen - especially at this point in their careers

Markstrom 2.73 GAA, .909 save percentage (career)
Thompson 2.67 GAA, .912 save percentage (career)

I posted the numbers earlier. Markstrom has saved like 3x as many goals above expected as Thompson the last 3 years, while playing on a much worse team.

 

[Bleedred]

I have a feeling Bastian is on the outs. I've been feeling that since the first half of last season.

I mean, he could be on the opening night roster, but I don't think he's anywhere near an automatic to be in the nightly lineup.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Pesce gives Luke a stable partner so he can do Luke stuff. Dillion ideally does the same for Nemec and you hope that Siegs returns to form when he is back next to Dougie

 

[Hisch13r]

I have a feeling Bastian is on the outs. I've been feeling that since the first half of last season.

I mean, he could be on the opening night roster, but I don't think he's anywhere near an automatic to be in the nightly lineup.

He should be on the move. The 1.35 is just a bit much for him when at this point he's best suited as the 13F. Bastian and MacDermid being replaced with min players would've opened up another nearly a mil in room. Unfortunately only one of those guys could be on the move

Pesce gives Luke a stable partner so he can do Luke stuff. Dillion ideally does the same for Nemec and you hope that Siegs returns to form when he is back next to Dougie

I mean Luke and Nemec don't need that considering the shit they did together last year with each other. They were each others best partners.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Bastian will probably be in opening night roster. I could see him being part of a deadline trade if a bit of salary and a body have to go the other way.

 

[Hisch13r]

Bastian will probably be in opening night roster. I could see him being part of a deadline trade if a bit of salary and a body have to go the other way.

Assuming healthy lineup I'm not sure he would be. We've got Jack, Bratt, Nico, Timo, Mercer, Haula, Palat, Lazar, Cotter. That's 9 guys. Seems like we're adding a top 6er and I have to imagine a bottom 6er too. That leaves one spot. I mean he should be over MacDermid but I think they'd put MacDermid in over Bastian. Keefe played Reaves in their opener last year.

 

[Bleedred]

More proven yes, but much better remains to be seen - especially at this point in their careers

Markstrom 2.73 GAA, .909 save percentage (career)
Thompson 2.67 GAA, .912 save percentage (career)

I'm highly skeptical Thompson isn't a product of Vegas.

Thompson is already 27, despite seeming only 24-25. He was in the ECHL for quite a while. Many forget he was property of us in the ECHL, but nobody even seemed to be aware of him at the time he played for us in the ECHL. Cam Johnson had a larger fanbase lol.

But I'm highly skeptical he's not just a product of Vegas. Vegas made Adin Hill (who was an okay goalie before there, but nothing great) a cup champion and he's performed considerably better than than he did on the Coyotes and Sharks.

Thompson is the kind of goalie I could see coming here and being bad, and then people asking why we yet again acquired this nobody goalie, who has no prior starting goalie experience in the league and was just in the ECHL not too many years ago, and why did we get another bandaid goalie when we could have just gotten Markstrom, albeit for more money on the cap?

And then the major red flag with Logan Thompson is he's an injury case. That's a major reason why he hasn't had the opportunity for a larger workload.

 

[Forge]

More proven yes, but much better remains to be seen - especially at this point in their careers

Markstrom 2.73 GAA, .909 save percentage (career)
Thompson 2.67 GAA, .912 save percentage (career)

I would have definitely had some interest in Thompson at that cost for sure (if for no other reason than the costs are so wildly different), but I will say that over the last 3 years, Thompson has saved 3 goals above expected at 5 on 5. Markstrom is at 14 and had a bit of an outlier season where he was an .890 goaltender and had a -11 saves above expected.

GSAX isn't everything, but Vegas skaters seem to do a pretty good job in this situation. The expected save percentage for those two is very different. And it's not like this is unusual. MAF was a .917 from ages 33-36 and won a Vezina with VGK at age 36 with a .928. They dumped him for future considerations because they were pretty sure they weren't going to miss a beat with Lehner.

Hill has been a .912 guy in Vegas and it's been even better in the playoffs (where he's a .930+).

So far, this has been a team that has shown an ability to prop up it's goalies.