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

[MasterofGrond]

ehhh. He said Markstrom might be the best goalie in the division, second to only Shesterkin? Sorokin is better too.

he sure is, but people seem REALLY down on him after last season. Recency bias, I suppose.

 

[NJDevs26]

Sorokin lost his job last season, he’ll certainly get the chance to bounce back this year with his contract and I think he will but yeah can’t exactly put him in a top five atm

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

Sorokin lost his job last season, he’ll certainly get the chance to bounce back this year with his contract and I think he will but yeah can’t exactly put him in a top five atm

he had 3 months of bad hockey vs. the rest of his career.

If you want to say he's not top 5 in the league? That's a fair debate. But in the Metro?

 

[MasterofGrond]

he wasn't even that bad tbh. Well below how good he was the year before, but I would have killed for that performance from a Devils goalie last year.

 

[theoptimist]

Pretty good take on us from one of our rivals writers:

Penguins vs. the Changing Metro: Uh Oh, the Devils are Back

The Metropolitan Division has long been the best or at least produced some of the best teams in the NHL. However, the salary cap and age are catching up with the lions of the Eastern Conference, and change is coming, and it might be coming in the form of the New Jersey Devils. As president […]

pittsburghhockeynow.com

fading prospect Alexander Holtz

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

fading prospect Alexander Holtz

former future 30-goal scorer is how I refer to Marko Dano. I thought he was going to be a stud when he went to Chicago.

 

[Devils731]

Pretty good take on us from one of our rivals writers:

Penguins vs. the Changing Metro: Uh Oh, the Devils are Back

The Metropolitan Division has long been the best or at least produced some of the best teams in the NHL. However, the salary cap and age are catching up with the lions of the Eastern Conference, and change is coming, and it might be coming in the form of the New Jersey Devils. As president […]

pittsburghhockeynow.com

I did get a chuckle out of this observation:

“Keefe will turn loose the fast and talented New Jersey team in ways that the more buttoned-up Lindsey Ruff wouldn’t dare.”

———————-

I actually think the opposite, Keefe is going to put more limits on what players can do and it will end up getting better defense and offense out of the players.

Being too loose was dragging the team down everywhere, I think.

 

[swiiscompos]

I'm moving very soon from the UK to Boston to join my wife (we've been doing almost 7 years of long distance). Looking forward to be able to go to a Devils game in person for the first time! Won't be my first time in Bruins-land as I studied there, but I wasn't into hockey at the time and thought it was cool they had just won the Stanley Cup...

 

[Nubmer6]

I'm moving very soon from the UK to Boston to join my wife (we've been doing almost 7 years of long distance). Looking forward to be able to go to a Devils game in person for the first time! Won't be my first time in Bruins-land as I studied there, but I wasn't into hockey at the time and thought it was cool they had just won the Stanley Cup...

The train from Boston stops just a couple blocks from the arena. You could get season tickets!!!

 

[My3Sons]

he had 3 months of bad hockey vs. the rest of his career.

If you want to say he's not top 5 in the league? That's a fair debate. But in the Metro?

He's not even the best drummer on the Islanders.

 

[Guttersniped]

Hear Ye! HEar Ye! HEAR ye! H--E--A.--R Y--E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does this man need to have a speaker implanted in his brain?????????????

Another F++ CKING LEFT D-MAN??????

A God D---ed. Center. A Center. A Center. Does it have to transmitted from the moon for this man to understand that the farm is desperate for 2 centers?

My head is swelling up to half again it's size from banging it on the wall. My kingdom for a top level #1 CENTER after which we'll settle for anything better than Filip Engaras. Let him serve the role he served last season, a competent #4 when 1 or more of the others are either injured or recalled. Right now he is one of only 4 signed centers.

If ya fill up the other end with super tall defenders the other team can’t score. *nods sagely*

 

[Guttersniped]

I did get a chuckle out of this observation:

“Keefe will turn loose the fast and talented New Jersey team in ways that the more buttoned-up Lindsey Ruff wouldn’t dare.”

———————-

I actually think the opposite, Keefe is going to put more limits on what players can do and it will end up getting better defense and offense out of the players.

Being too loose was dragging the team down everywhere, I think.

He said that? Yeah, that’s legit hilarious.

 

[theoptimist]

former future 30-goal scorer is how I refer to Marko Dano. I thought he was going to be a stud when he went to Chicago.

We sent ours to San Jose. I think Zetterlund gets to 30 goals before Holtz.

 

[Brodeur]

We sent ours to San Jose. I think Zetterlund gets to 30 goals before Holtz.

I'm curious to see if Zetterlund loses ice time (especially PP1) with them adding Toffoli, Celebrini, and possibly Smith onto the roster this season plus a returning Logan Couture.

I don't think he'll fall off a cliff like Alexander Barabanov, but I could see Zetterlund (18:51/game last season) losing a couple minutes.

Eklund (18:40) - Granlund (20:58) - Zetterlund (18:40)
Barabanov (15:52) - Hertl (20:54) - Duclair (16:10)

PP1: Eklund (2:42) - Granlund (2:58) - Hertl (2:56) - Zetterlund (2:29) - Addison (2:03)

If I had to guess, Sharks could roll with something like:

Granlund-Couture-Toffoli
Eklund-Wennberg-Zetterlund
Kostin-Celebrini-Dellandrea

PP1: Toffoli-Couture-Granlund-Celebrini-(insert PPQB here)

 

[BostonDevil]

I'm moving very soon from the UK to Boston to join my wife (we've been doing almost 7 years of long distance). Looking forward to be able to go to a Devils game in person for the first time! Won't be my first time in Bruins-land as I studied there, but I wasn't into hockey at the time and thought it was cool they had just won the Stanley Cup...

I'm sorry

 

[Bleedred]

Remember the days of the annual ''Is this the year Kovy finally comes back'' talk every single offseason? That was always a hot topic around this time of year between 2014 and 2018.

Maybe this is the year he finally comes back though, and maybe he'll score 40 goals again? If he hadn't had his contract terminated in 2013 he'd still be under contract for this coming season before it ended at the conclusion of the year. So he was going to be on the team this coming year anyway, if he hadn't asked for a termination 11 years ago. Maybe we could use him? Dat veteran leadership? Also isn't afraid to drop the gloves and stick up for teammates.

Maybe all he needed was to take 2 years off from hockey to heal his back issues that have been plaguing him for over a decade?

 

[MartyOwns]

Remember the days of the annual ''Is this the year Kovy finally comes back'' talk every single offseason? That was always a hot topic around this time of year between 2014 and 2018.

Maybe this is the year he finally comes back though, and maybe he'll score 40 goals again? If he hadn't had his contract terminated in 2013 he'd still be under contract for this coming season before it ended at the conclusion of the year. So he was going to be on the team this coming year anyway, if he hadn't asked for a termination 11 years ago. Maybe we could use him? Dat veteran leadership? Also isn't afraid to drop the gloves and stick up for teammates.

Maybe all he needed was to take 2 years off from hockey to heal his back issues that have been plaguing him for over a decade?

i can't believe you posted that. i was literally just skimming the 'kovalchuk retires' parts 1-4 threads ten minutes ago.

 

[Bleedred]

i can't believe you posted that. i was literally just skimming the 'kovalchuk retires' parts 1-4 threads ten minutes ago.

I might have to take a spin through those. I remember being pretty pissed.

My recollection of that day on this forum right before it was announced and the thread was posted was that we had a poster who was mad over something and made a thread calling out the mods or something (I think?) for deleting one of his threads. I think he may have even listed the specific mod in his title. I can't remember who it was, but I'm pretty sure it was someone who is no longer a mod/no longer a poster here. I'm pretty sure the poster was immediately banned.

And then when that was posted, it made a few people think that guy had made a new account and was making troll threads again.

I was here at work, where I still work today. Sitting probably in the same spot that I'm sitting right now.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

If he hadn't had his contract terminated in 2013 he'd still be under contract for this coming season

damn that is so crazy to think about. I don’t think the league handled the cap recapture stuff well, and i don’t even mean that in a Devils-centric way, but i’m glad they put year limits on NHL contracts. Someone needed to save GMs from themselves.

 

[DVision44]

I'm curious to see if Zetterlund loses ice time (especially PP1) with them adding Toffoli, Celebrini, and possibly Smith onto the roster this season plus a returning Logan Couture.

I don't think he'll fall off a cliff like Alexander Barabanov, but I could see Zetterlund (18:51/game last season) losing a couple minutes.

Eklund (18:40) - Granlund (20:58) - Zetterlund (18:40)
Barabanov (15:52) - Hertl (20:54) - Duclair (16:10)

PP1: Eklund (2:42) - Granlund (2:58) - Hertl (2:56) - Zetterlund (2:29) - Addison (2:03)

If I had to guess, Sharks could roll with something like:

Granlund-Couture-Toffoli
Eklund-Wennberg-Zetterlund
Kostin-Celebrini-Dellandrea

PP1: Toffoli-Couture-Granlund-Celebrini-(insert PPQB here)

Do you know who he played with last season? He had a good year. A shame if he's stuck with Wennberg centering his line

 

[OlfactoryHughes]

I'm moving very soon from the UK to Boston to join my wife (we've been doing almost 7 years of long distance). Looking forward to be able to go to a Devils game in person for the first time! Won't be my first time in Bruins-land as I studied there, but I wasn't into hockey at the time and thought it was cool they had just won the Stanley Cup...

You thought wrong!

((And congrats on moving over to be with your wife))

 

[Brodeur]

Do you know who he played with last season? He had a good year. A shame if he's stuck with Wennberg centering his line

Line Combinations - Frozen Tools

NHL line combinations, NHL lineups from dobberhockey.com

frozenpool.dobbersports.com

Perfect timing as I just saw a link to this tool on a main board thread. Looks like he was mostly centered by Mikael Granlund for most of the season with a rotating LW. Maybe he ends up with Celebrini, I just defaulted to an all Swede line since I'm a sucker for gimmicks.

Couture feared career could be over while rehabbing lower-body injury

San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture worried about the future of his playing career while rehabbing a lower-body injury that's kept him out of the entire 2023-24 season.Couture met with the media for the first time in months on Tuesday and opened up about the struggles of being sidelined for an...

www.thescore.com

San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture worried about the future of his playing career while rehabbing a lower-body injury that's kept him out of the entire 2023-24 season.

Couture met with the media for the first time in months on Tuesday and opened up about the struggles of being sidelined for an extended period.

"I can honestly say two months ago, I would wake up and didn't know if I was ever going to play in the NHL again," he said

We'll see if Logan Couture ends up being healthy enough for the start of the season. They could probably slide in Will Smith if Couture is out.

Granlund-Celebrini-Toffoli
Eklund-Wennberg-Zetterlund
Kostin-W.Smith-Dellandrea
Goodrow-Sturm-Kunin
G.Smith-Grundstrom

 

[theoptimist]

Granlund-Couture-Toffoli
Eklund-Wennberg-Zetterlund
Kostin-Celebrini-Dellandrea

PP1: Toffoli-Couture-Granlund-Celebrini-(insert PPQB here)

I think Toffoli is a jinx, but this is 'toilet paper lineup' worthy

 

[MartyOwns]

I might have to take a spin through those. I remember being pretty pissed.

My recollection of that day on this forum right before it was announced and the thread was posted was that we had a poster who was mad over something and made a thread calling out the mods or something (I think?) for deleting one of his threads. I think he may have even listed the specific mod in his title. I can't remember who it was, but I'm pretty sure it was someone who is no longer a mod/no longer a poster here. I'm pretty sure the poster was immediately banned.

And then when that was posted, it made a few people think that guy had made a new account and was making troll threads again.

I was here at work, where I still work today. Sitting probably in the same spot that I'm sitting right now.

some of my takes in that thread (and that era in general) were pretty bad lol. i fully trusted lou to turn things around and sign jagr, brunner and some other clown whose name escapes me. ah, to be young again

 

[My3Sons]

some of my takes in that thread (and that era in general) were pretty bad lol. i fully trusted lou to turn things around and sign jagr, brunner and some other clown whose name escapes me. ah, to be young again

the trick to being young again is to not get old in the first place.