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

[JimEIV]

I have to go for an MRI soon so the morning should be clear

 

[Whaddagoal]

I have to go for an MRI soon so the morning should be clear

Good luck, and we will be able to get some work done.....in the meantime.

 

[Whaddagoal]

It is beautiful to see basically the entirety of the board come to together and agree on something

And in the middle of it all, we had a member re-branding with Mr. Palot. Times are getting exciting again.

I figure the Tatar top 6 debate would be a much hotter topic than the mercer one. Although they could be very much intertwined this season.

 

[Clam Jensen]

I have to go for an MRI soon so the morning should be clear

Take this time to rest your thumbs and brain and come back with scorching hot takes, the board will try to forge a path forward in your absence.

 

[JimEIV]

Good luck, and we will be able to get some work done.....in the meantime.

I give you access to my calendar so you know the best times when I'm not here... maybe you can publish it and it gets it stickied?

All right I'm going to get in the shower and head out now...have fun with the riveting Daniel Sprong conversations!

 

[Whaddagoal]

On Tatar, not sure how many caught it, in the media availability from his re-sign, found it that Tomas referred to some lessons learned from the last time he left the devils, when asked about dealing with Free Agency.

Which seems to imply him learning from some missteps from his negotiations after the last stint which probably led to the path now.

I do think Tatar will still help the top 6 if he still has some wheels after the last year gap. His offense should be better than Palat in theory. Very keen to see how the motivation factor kicks in early season and he will be competing for the middle 6 like mercer. Palat did have an also (admittedly by him) bad offensive output season so also curious to see if he rebounds this season as well.

 

[Better Call Sal]

All the Mercer talk. I have a question one I currently don’t have an opinion on.

If both team agreed would you do it?

Mercer for Zegras

No, I wouldn't do it personally. Might just be me, but I think Zegras is somewhat overrated. No doubt he’s talented, but I don’t know that he gives us what we need.

I feel strongly that Mercer has the ability to provide a much stronger and more complete game, and I hope Keefe can unlock that.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

All the Mercer talk. I have a question one I currently don’t have an opinion on.

If both team agreed would you do it?

Mercer for Zegras

as one of Mercer's biggest "detractors" in this thread, no thanks. Zegras has injury concerns and we have enough of his skillset already IMO.

 

[Triumph]

After actual signings of Peshe and Dillon im not worry about defense at all. I think Luke and Simon are potentially great to elite, Silyaev should develop into the great defensive defenseman at least, he has very good transitional potential too. I think Casey is NHLer, I think at least one defenseman from Misyul-Vilen-Orlov-Karpovich group has real potential to be NHLer, and I think there are more nhlers in this group. So now they should just develop their game naturally. All four are good to very good skaters, some of them are having two way potential, all of them, even on different levels, are good or very good in D zone for their level and stage. May be we have even more than just third pair defenseman there.
It should help to have so much talented defensive line for all this years. I think Devils are already Cup contender, may be not top 4 but top 6-8 team. Because we have 6 players who would play top 4 role for the majority of teams.

The Devils should not have to trade for a D or sign a significant free agent D for the next 5 years. Forwards are another story.

 

[Hisch13r]

And in the middle of it all, we had a member re-branding with Mr. Palot. Times are getting exciting again.

I figure the Tatar top 6 debate would be a much hotter topic than the mercer one. Although they could be very much intertwined this season.

I don’t even think there’s an actual debate on Mercer as being in the top 6. It’s more just most people saying Mercer played himself out of the top 6 with godawful play and one person saying that no matter what he belongs in the top 6. I imagine most would agree you start Mercer in the top 6 this year. The “debate” would be more Tatar/Palat as the 6th guy. That one I don’t even see how you could have a real debate at this point. They feel interchangeable.

 

[My3Sons]

I don’t even think there’s an actual debate on Mercer as being in the top 6. It’s more just most people saying Mercer played himself out of the top 6 with godawful play and one person saying that no matter what he belongs in the top 6. I imagine most would agree you start Mercer in the top 6 this year. The “debate” would be more Tatar/Palat as the 6th guy. That one I don’t even see how you could have a real debate at this point. They feel interchangeable.

The actual games shoukd make all this obvious. Guys will play themselves into or out of the roles they are assigned and I’m guesssing thr lineup will be pretty fluid for thr first month or so while the new staff figures it out. Hopefully enough guys get out of thr gate with success that there is actual competition for spots.

 

[dgibb10]

All the Mercer talk. I have a question one I currently don’t have an opinion on.

If both team agreed would you do it?

Mercer for Zegras

Don't like Zegras contract in the slightest for an RFA value.

 

[Whaddagoal]

No, I wouldn't do it personally. Might just be me, but I think Zegras is somewhat overrated. No doubt he’s talented, but I don’t know that he gives us what we need.

I feel strongly that Mercer has the ability to provide a much stronger and more complete game, and I hope Keefe can unlock that.

I wouldn't either. I agree with your points. Maybe I also overrate mercer but I'd keep him vsm Zegras as of right now.

 

[Triumph]

I don’t even think there’s an actual debate on Mercer as being in the top 6. It’s more just most people saying Mercer played himself out of the top 6 with godawful play and one person saying that no matter what he belongs in the top 6. I imagine most would agree you start Mercer in the top 6 this year. The “debate” would be more Tatar/Palat as the 6th guy. That one I don’t even see how you could have a real debate at this point. They feel interchangeable.

As a committed Meier third-line guy (and Meier never with Hughes guy), I think it would be fine to have both Tatar and Palat in the top 6 with Meier-Haula-Noesen as a very dangerous 3rd line. Tatar-Hischier-Mercer, Palat-Hughes-Bratt being the other two lines. I guess there's almost no way they start the season that way, though (and of course leaving aside injuries).

 

[BahlDeep]

What are you guys debating about? Mercer?

Dude hasn't delivered anywhere close to his hype.
He is very streaky.
Maybe this changes this year... but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Can I ask why there is a faction of the Devils fanbase that is obsessed with acquiring Brady Tkachuk? Just read on twitter that we should trade Nemec, Gritsyuk and two 1sts for him? Why do some people think this guy is some top 5 player?

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Can I ask why there is a faction of the Devils fanbase that is obsessed with acquiring Brady Tkachuk? Just read on twitter that we should trade Nemec, Gritsyuk and two 1sts for him? Why do some people think this guy is some top 5 player?

I just don't get it. I can't figure it out. He's just a good player. He's not McDavid or even his brother. I can't comprehend why some folks want to gut the team for him.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Twitter is a cesspool

 

[Zippy316]

I’m quite surprised Vrana or Kubalik haven’t gotten minimum deals somewhere as a low-risk high-reward option.

Those are two guys I would love the Devils to target as PTOs if they don’t stick somewhere. Granted both have been on a bit of a downward trajectory, but their skill sets could be put to use on this team.

 

[Rhodes 81]

The Brady stuff isn't surprising when you remember that 95% of hockey fans are less knowledgeable then literally anyone on here. That gap between hardcore and casual fan has narrowed a bit over the last decade as so much info gets disseminated through social media, but most of those fans are probably still viewing hits as a defensive metric. In their minds, Brady is a copy of his brother and adding him will guarantee a cup because he'll score 50 goals with Hughes and magically fix everything wrong with us.

And sure, if he was available at a reasonable price and we had the contract situation to support it I wouldn't say no. But neither of those are true.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Can I ask why there is a faction of the Devils fanbase that is obsessed with acquiring Brady Tkachuk? Just read on twitter that we should trade Nemec, Gritsyuk and two 1sts for him? Why do some people think this guy is some top 5 player?

Basically every fan associates Brady with his brother and thinks he's on a similar level to Matthew.

 

[MartyOwns]

i'm pretty confident we'll make the playoffs, but i'm very surprised to see our cup odds so high. i'm guessing it's mostly due to traditional favorites falling, along with our team making some key improvements from last year?

 

[HoliksGhost]

I’m looking forward to the “new coach” bump… we should come out smoking to start the season

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

Can I ask why there is a faction of the Devils fanbase that is obsessed with acquiring Brady Tkachuk? Just read on twitter that we should trade Nemec, Gritsyuk and two 1sts for him? Why do some people think this guy is some top 5 player?

Because he's a top-5-ranked fantasy hockey player if you include hits and PIMs

 

[Lou is God]

i'm pretty confident we'll make the playoffs, but i'm very surprised to see our cup odds so high. i'm guessing it's mostly due to traditional favorites falling, along with our team making some key improvements from last year?

Same here, thought we might be middle of the pack when it comes to the odds to win the cup.