None Shall Pass
Dano moisturizes
Good call on the Korpisalo of it all, but I'll say that Lindholm being an actual center is probably better for them than DeBrusk + having Zacha and Coyle be their top 2 centers.
Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - offseason part III
- Thread starter NJDevs26
- Start date
Good call on the Korpisalo of it all, but I'll say that Lindholm being an actual center is probably better for them than DeBrusk + having Zacha and Coyle be their top 2 centers.
- May 1, 2011
- 131,749
- 60,053
Them taking on 4 years of Korpisalo is almost as bad as Pierre Dorion signing him for 5 years in the first place.
$3 million for the next 4 years is way too much for Korpisalo. They could probably throw their AHL goalies out there and get better results, while saving over $2 million in cap space.
What a disaster.
FinnishDevil
Registered User
Takes me back to some Finnish analyst being asked about Jack Hughes and saying something along the lines of "he's skilled but Kuokkanen is making him good/doing all the work"
Finnish Jim?Takes me back to some Finnish analyst being asked about Jack Hughes and saying something along the lines of "he's skilled but Kuokkanen is making him good/doing all the work"
JimEIV
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2003
- 67,281
- 30,059
That would be Jaakko to you.
Last edited:
Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
BostonDevil
Registered User
- Jun 28, 2019
- 4,405
- 5,010
Agree that it will be an upgrade positionally but, points-wise, I think it will be a wash. Maybe he does get the Calgary treatment and goes off being on the only line that Boston has.
Still think the team will be worse. They are one Pasta injury from being a, less potent, Islanders
- May 8, 2010
- 20,542
- 36,024
Mercer is a long-term piece for this team.
*Points and laughs at Jim*
Moist ReadOnly
Registered User
- Jun 7, 2024
- 427
- 278
We're kind of too capped out to do that right now.
Dump Nate and going like 5.25 on a long deal makes sense. 6 does not make sense given Lundell and we don’t even have it
dzubrus8
Registered User
- Jun 15, 2014
- 411
- 247
Strongly agreed with this. On that note, can someone (maybe @Bleedred) explain why Markstrom is still rated so highly? Seems to have good high danger sv% and was >.905+ on a bad Flames team last year but he’s struggled 2 of the last 3 years and I’m not sure if his low save percentage in the last 1-2 months was age and use related breakdown or the team becoming worse. What are people expecting from his this year? Is VV 22-23 realistic?
Also, completely separate note, which poster used to have the Phil Hartman in jingle all the way as their pic? I can’t remember but deeply appreciated the ref
Not on a max term deal.
On 6 years after a rough season? I don’t think he would definitely turn down 31.5 guaranteed.
He didn’t struggle last year. I know the .905 looks mediocre, but the advanced stats were still strong for him last year even as he swooned a bit down the stretch. Same ballpark as Ullmark and Bob and Binnington on a per game basis, all of whom I think most people would agree were pretty good.
The Flames were just a mess defensively. Then you factor in the rumored but understandable “didn’t want to be there anymore” and I think that’s the argument for him.
I think he can be better than Vitek 2022-23 pretty comfortably and I’m not even a huge believer.
Which is exactly why a long term deal doesn't make sense for either parties. There's enough risk after he was dog shit last year that you he definitely does not deserve 6+. If you're Mercer you'll probably want to bet on himself
JimEIV
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2003
- 67,281
- 30,059
The Flames were never in as bad of a mess defensively as we were all season.
Even after losing half their defense they we weren't as bad as we were defensively.
It's going to be interesting to see how much Keefe can get out of our forwards defensively... Pesce and Dillon along with Dougie coming back should no doubt make big a difference...but defenders need forward support and I don't think our defense has really ever seen much if any forward support.
Billdo
Registered User
JimEIV
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2003
- 67,281
- 30,059
I don't know? Maybe...I personally think it's much more difficult to get directional shifts from bottom 6 players alone. You want to be tougher, faster, more responsible... whatever it is, it has to start at the top in my opinion.
Then again I have no idea how these players will be used...so maybe?
Correct, the Flames were a little better than us at preventing chances. But Markstrom had MUCH better results than our goalies.
And we ended up sending away the defenseman with the worst defensive results last year, another guy who dragged down every pair he was on (who has sucked for YEARS), we’re getting back the best possession d-man, we replaced another mediocre guy with a pretty good one. There’s turnover and Keefe will have to navigate that, but I don’t think improved forward defense is the only thing that’s going to drive a markedly improved defense next year.
