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

[AfroThunder396]

The Kovacevic thing is funny, MTL called him out of the blue and said "hey do you want this guy?"

 

[JimEIV]

Yeah because Hynes being an idiot and scratching Bratt meant he sucked rather than Hynes being an idiot... Bratt was a great playdriver starting with his 2nd year and had the better scoring rates. Bratt was a guy that drove offense while Mercer's been a complimentary guy.

While scoring 20 fewer goals...

 

[Devs3cups]

Any idea if the 3v3 will be on YouTube?

 

[ndkjr70]

So this Lundell contract makes it seem like Tarasenko will sign elsewhere.

Can the Devils squeeze him in after this Tatar signing? Probably not, but it's closer than capfriendly makes it look. Capfriendly currently gives the Devils $5m in cap space with Mercer to sign, but they also have the Devils carrying 13F, 9D, and 2G. That seems unlikely.

Assuming Bastian and DeSimone waived + MacDermid buried in the minors, that leaves the Devils with 8.275 to sign Mercer, Tarasenko, and 750k for a warm body healthy scratch.

Mercer could play on a very short 1/3.5 if the Devils want to kick that down the road, giving them room to give Tarasenko 1/4.

TL;DR - Now that Tatar is here, that pretty much takes Tarasenko's spot. Sad trombone noises.

 

[Mgd31]

The Kovacevic thing is funny, MTL called him out of the blue and said "hey do you want this guy?"

And once he saw that he was 6.5 and was a harder D, he couldn't resist

 

[Jersey Fresh]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808511398508433722

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808509442117308885

Sucks that injury essentially robbed Jack from an entire summer of building some upper body strength.

 

[JimEIV]

Sucks that injury essentially robbed Jack from an entire summer of building some upper body strength.

Jack is going to need 5 months to recover? Wow.

Edit:
Jack had surgery on April 10. It's already been 3 months.

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

Right, I just find it unlikely that Allen is going to play 40+ games and trigger that condition now that we have Markstrom. Injuries could obviously change that and I believe relief appearances also count not just starts, but I'd still be surprised if we see Allen in literally half of our games.

don't put that out into the universe

 

[OmNomNom]

don't put that out into the universe

 

[ndkjr70]

Okay hear me out,

Ducks are struggling to reach the cap floor. What if the Devils sent Palat, a B-tier prospect and 2 2nds for Vatrano 50% retained? 37 goals last season, hit everything that moved. Do the Ducks ask for more?

Tatar-Hischier-Meier
Bratt-Hughes-Vatrano
Mercer-Haula-Noesen

That's a top-6 I'm ready to f*** around with, plus it gets us out of the Palat contract before his NMC kicks in.

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

Jack is going to need 5 months to recover? Wow.

Edit:
Jack had surgery on April 10. It's already been 3 months.

I THINK he means that... while Jack will be ready to play in September... he maybe won't be stronger than he was prior to injury. He'll be able to workout and get back to normal.... but he won't have enough time to bulk up.

 

[JimEIV]

The Kovacevic thing is funny, MTL called him out of the blue and said "hey do you want this guy?"

Some of his numbers look decent...one of a handful of Montreal players with a positive relCF% and his PK numbers look good too while averaging over 2 minutes a game shorthanded.

He's had a bunch of 20+ minute games this season.

Seems like a really good cheap 7th option to me

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Okay hear me out,

Ducks are struggling to reach the cap floor. What if the Devils sent Palat, a B-tier prospect and 2 2nds for Vatrano 50% retained? 37 goals last season, hit everything that moved. Do the Ducks ask for more?

Tatar-Hischier-Meier
Bratt-Hughes-Vatrano
Mercer-Haula-Noesen

That's a top-6 I'm ready to f*** around with, plus it gets us out of the Palat contract before his NMC kicks in.

I mean it’s not gonna happen.

 

[Bleedred]

“The American hockey league is a tough league Ryan. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been down there and watched a game” lol.

That brought back flashbacks of Lindy telling Ryan something similar last season. Not sure if that was on purpose to bust his balls or just a complete accident. Had to be on purpose.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

I kinda feel like our forward group doesn’t look that special anymore. Any combo of those bottom six lines PLUS still having to rely on Tatar or Palat to produce in the top-6 role feels like folly.

A lot of my old optimism relied on some mystery box thinking with Holtz and Mercer (and Sharangovich to a lesser extent), but without either of them potentially adding some higher-end offense on the edges of the lineup, we’re starting to look a little Leaf-y.

 

[JrFischer54]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808509664356696387

then give him a long term deal now while his value is low if hes crazy enough to sign one

 

[youryeah]

I kinda feel like our forward group doesn’t look that special anymore. Any combo of those bottom six lines PLUS still having to rely on Tatar or Palat to produce in the top-6 role feels like folly.

A lot of my old optimism relied on some mystery box thinking with Holtz and Mercer (and Sharangovich to a lesser extent), but without either of them potentially adding some higher-end offense on the edges of the lineup, we’re starting to look a little Leaf-y.

i think mercer will be better than he showed last year. expecting a nice rebound season

 

[JrFischer54]

Im not a fan of it. Still good they drafted their number 1 defenseman on their list.

This is how Holtz was drafted. As Stillman. I believe as Nemec. Great that Nemec was so talented. Intersting how Fitz would act if we would win 1OA that year.

if he had 1 they would've taken slaf. if he was there at 2 they would've easily taken him imo at least



i say high draft picks top 10 you pick bpa because you are a bad team and need good players everywhere. the deeper you go in a draft should in theory mean your a better team and have less serious needs and at that point you just draft the biggest potential guy you can regardless of position

 

[Mgd31]

Some of his numbers look decent...one of a handful of Montreal players with a positive relCF% and his PK numbers look good too while averaging over 2 minutes a game shorthanded.

He's had a bunch of 20+ minute games this season.

Seems like a really good cheap 7th option to me

I read that Montreal had high hopes for him to turn into a top 4 workhouse/defensive Dman after his strong 22-23. I guess he didn't take that next step last year but still seems like he had a very solid season. He definitely has the ability to fill-in dependably if there are injuries.

I really really like this move.

 

[Guadana]

if he had 1 they would've taken slaf. if he was there at 2 they would've easily taken him imo at least



i say high draft picks top 10 you pick bpa because you are a bad team and need good players everywhere. the deeper you go in a draft should in theory mean your a better team and have less serious needs and at that point you just draft the biggest potential guy you can regardless of position

I think we were lucky enough to draft better player this year for needs like we did in 2022.
Im not against Helenius but I wanted to see this pick as a pick of believe in higher ceiling, not a pick of the need in third line center. Of course we are away from that discussion.

 

[Triumph]

Okay hear me out,

Ducks are struggling to reach the cap floor. What if the Devils sent Palat, a B-tier prospect and 2 2nds for Vatrano 50% retained? 37 goals last season, hit everything that moved. Do the Ducks ask for more?

Tatar-Hischier-Meier
Bratt-Hughes-Vatrano
Mercer-Haula-Noesen

That's a top-6 I'm ready to f*** around with, plus it gets us out of the Palat contract before his NMC kicks in.

The Ducks will have no trouble at all reaching the cap floor. They can trade for Weber from Utah. They can trade for Backstrom from Washington. That's beyond the actual contracts they can trade for to get there.

Vatrano is a bad fit with Hughes. He is another guy who rarely passes and only shoots. We just don't want that sort of player with Hughes - Hughes is both the best setup man and best shooter on his line, he needs players who complement that, and I don't think Vatrano does.

Still won't understand the obsession some have with ditching Palat.

 

[CalamityX23]

I'm not a fan of what I'm seeing on paper for our bottom 6 and overall team speed/scoring depth....

early now but I don't see it IMO.

 

[TrufleShufle]

I kinda feel like our forward group doesn’t look that special anymore. Any combo of those bottom six lines PLUS still having to rely on Tatar or Palat to produce in the top-6 role feels like folly.

A lot of my old optimism relied on some mystery box thinking with Holtz and Mercer (and Sharangovich to a lesser extent), but without either of them potentially adding some higher-end offense on the edges of the lineup, we’re starting to look a little Leaf-y.

I disagree, people want to keep adding talent to the top, which yea makes sense. But at the same time most cup teams have a couple stars and then the line up is just filled with guys all rolling together to get shit done. If they can make 4 solid lines out of what's here, none of them being a drag on the ice, we are in a great spot. The team we are playing against never having "a break" where they can take the foot of the gas a bit is huge. It's what wins cups.

Is this current roster it? Idk, will have to see what lines gel together and what Keefe does with them, but I see what Fitz is trying to do by adding to the bottom/middle6.

Plus the defense being in a much better spot can't be forgotten when thinking about what the offense will now be able to do more freely.

 

[Mike27Devils]

Anyone go to the 3 v 3 tournament at development camp today?

 

[Triumph]

I kinda feel like our forward group doesn’t look that special anymore. Any combo of those bottom six lines PLUS still having to rely on Tatar or Palat to produce in the top-6 role feels like folly.

A lot of my old optimism relied on some mystery box thinking with Holtz and Mercer (and Sharangovich to a lesser extent), but without either of them potentially adding some higher-end offense on the edges of the lineup, we’re starting to look a little Leaf-y.

The difference is that the Devils backend has two star offensive D and consists of 3 solid pairs. If they can trade Hamilton next offseason, they can maybe use that money to upgrade the offense.