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

[Hisch13r]

I mean I also saw a good point the other day about Holtz being apart of the Devils package. If the Devils were really putting him in a package, wouldn't they be playing him in the AHL to show him off and not in the press box scoffing down chicken tenders and fries? The Devils package could be a lot weaker from Fitz's side that we're thinking. Rangers add one of their kids and they probably have us beat especially if it's Chytil or Kakko considering we shouldn't add Nemec or Hughes or in the theory's case a prospect of Holtz's caliber.

I don't think Holtz really needs to be showcased. I mean he put up a PPG year at 19/20. They'd know what they're getting.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I don't think Holtz really needs to be showcased. I mean he put up a PPG year at 19/20. They'd know what they're getting.

Probably better he's not being showcased in the NHL in the bottom 6 but the very slightest you'd want him in the AHL ripping it up if you were trying to trade for a team's best forward and he was the main prize at the moment coming back for the Sharks.

 

[Guttersniped]

Lou kept those players because he wanted to win and the Devils were a win now team for two decades. Should he have flipped Gomez and Holik coming off division titles and multiple Finals runs or Elias and Parise coming off injuries? You keep doing that you become the Milwaukee Brewers, a team that keeps nut shotting itself prioritizing asset management over winning.

If the Devils were merely a borderline playoff team, the decision to keep Bratt on an expiring deal is a lot simpler, but once you get into legit Cup contender world then it’s what do you want, asset management or winning?

Well we did receive compensation for Holik as the 1995 NHL CBA provided compensatory picks to teams who lost Group 3 UFAs.

1996 4th (#101) for losing UFA Bruce Driver
1998 5th (#143) UFA Dave Ellett
1999 2nd (#42) UFA Doug Gilmour
1999 4th (#100) UFA Steve Thomas
2000 5th (#135) UFA Dave Andreychuk
2001 3rd (#67) UFA Claude Lemieux
2002 2nd (#51) UFA Alex Mogilny
2002 7th (#218) UFA Ken Sutton
2003 2nd (#42) UFA Bobby Holik
2004 7th (#217) UFA Jim McKenzie

If Lou really wanted to keep a player he should have locked him up on a longterm deal before he became a UFA.

That wasn’t always feasible and in hindsight, in some cases that wouldn’t have even been desirable. I’m not trying to re-hash Lou history.

My original point was Bratt is a RFA, and not a UFA, so this is a different situation right now.

And yes, I think moving Bratt for assets and then trying to get players with more long term player control would make sense.

It’s not like next season is some magical apex of our “contending window”. You do manage for the future, even if by “future” you mean the next 3-4 years vs just next year.

 

[Guttersniped]

The only solace I got from the decade of garbage was that Parise never made it past the 2nd round in Minnesota

Parise going to the Island did help the NYI get over the hump and back out of the Playoffs.

 

[Triumph]

Lou kept those players because he wanted to win and the Devils were a win now team for two decades. Should he have flipped Gomez and Holik coming off division titles and multiple Finals runs or Elias and Parise coming off injuries? You keep doing that you become the Milwaukee Brewers, a team that keeps nut shotting itself prioritizing asset management over winning.

If the Devils were merely a borderline playoff team, the decision to keep Bratt on an expiring deal is a lot simpler, but once you get into legit Cup contender world then it’s what do you want, asset management or winning?

The environment was just totally different back then - almost nobody signed a year early. It was remarkable when Stevens and Brodeur re-signed in season in 2002. Players didn't want to lock themselves in too early because salaries were continually going up and GMs didn't want to negotiate deals in-season. It's only in the last ten years after the next CBA where players locking themselves in early has become the standard, and even Lou does it pretty routinely now. Both the way in which Elias got to UFA and how he stayed a Devil (because the Rangers didn't give him an NTC) would just not happen - Barclay Goodrow has an NTC now.

 

[glenwo2]

He’s like the bouncer around these parts.
Don’t worry @glenwo2, it’s cool. He’s with me.

May I see your ID?

 

[My3Sons]

May I see your ID?

You are supposed to look to see if his hairdo is in order.

 

[Cheddabombs]

bad part of SJ is that grier is already familiar with our roster to an extent :|

Could be a good thing too. Coaches always have weird favourites, maybe we can get Meier for Wood one for one

 

[Guttersniped]

Well...you do you then. I think he was the biggest loss in franchise history, but I don't blame him 100% for leaving. As much as I admire Lou, that was a major fault of his was that he too often let major UFA's walk. Niedermayer was a HOFer, franchise player and maybe Lou shouldn't have gone so balls-to-the-wall in his contract negotiations with him. That's ultimately what drove him away. Lou was also rumored to have tried to trade for Rob Niedermayer while Scott was still on the team, but that ultimately fell short. I'm glad #27 is hanging from the rafters and was at the Prudential Center that night cheering him on.

Yeah, not giving a Norris Trophy winner a long term deal never made any sense to me. At worst you could trade it.

The lock-out cancelling out the 1 year deal and giving Nieds a year away from the team made it much easier for him to walk away though.

In the end Lou saw players as replaceable though.

This is a Brodeur’s contract history:

This is our goalie draft history, Lou didn’t draft goalies in the 1997 & 1999 1st rounds to shore up our back-up depth.

 

[My3Sons]

Yeah, not giving a Norris Trophy winner a long term deal never made any sense to me. At worst you could trade it.

The lock-out cancelling out the 1 year deal and giving Nieds a year away from the team made it much easier for him to walk away though.

In the end Lou saw players as replaceable though.

This is a Brodeur’s contract history:
View attachment 645461

This is our goalie draft history, Lou didn’t draft goalies in the 1997 & 1999 1st rounds to shore up our back-up depth.
View attachment 645462
View attachment 645463

If you had worked at the IRS half the US taxpayers would be incarcerated .

 

[Devs3cups]

For info, apparently Bratt posted on IG, some pics with some of the boys (Haula, Tatar, Bernier). Didn’t expect to see Bernier in there.

 

[My3Sons]

For info, apparently Bratt posted on IG, some pics with some of the boys (Haula, Tatar, Bernier). Didn’t expect to see Bernier in there.

It’s not like Bernier has anything better to do.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

For info, apparently Bratt posted on IG, some pics with some of the boys (Haula, Tatar, Bernier). Didn’t expect to see Bernier in there.

at least we know Bernier is alive!

 

[Guttersniped]

Lou flew to Cranford BC and offered him a max deal before he left...what more could he have done?

Lou was certainly a hard ass in earlier negotiations but before Yankee/Net owned the Devils, the Devils were a mom and pop organization running on a shoestring budget. He had to run the team the way he did to achieve what he wanted.

McMullen sold the team in 2000.

What more could Lou have done? Given Niedermayer a long term deal in 2004 instead of taking him to arbitration to get a cheaper 1 year deal like he did with everyone?

Congrats Lou, you got him on a 1 year/ 7m deal for a season that never existed instead of signing him to 5 year/ 9m deal.

A 5 year/ 9m deal that would have turned into a 4 year deal with a 24% salary rollback.

So Lou could have had Niedermayer on the 2005-06 roster with a 4 year/6.94m.

Lou did offer him 5 year/7.8m deal when he was a UFA.

Surprise the player you took to arbitration doesn’t re-sign as a UFA!

Instead Nieds signed with the Ducks for 4 years/6.75m, not far of what we could have had him with a salary rollback.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Haula should be waived for his shoes alone

 

[severian]

It’s not like Bernier has anything better to do.

I see him a lot. He’s at all his son’s mites games and practices.

 

[jkrdevil]

No one signed long term contracts in the summer of 2004. No one knew what the system would be moving forward. The salary rollback was something that came out of no where in December 2004.

 

[Mgd31]

at least we know Bernier is alive!

Jesus Christ Huala what are those shoes

 

[Nocashstyle]

You are supposed to look to see if his hairdo is in order.

 

[glenwo2]

at least we know Bernier is alive!

That place looks swank-as-F.

I prefer the Anime Pompadour.

 

[Billdo]

Haula should be waived for his shoes alone

$300 slides.. dumb purchase but who am I to question how a millionaire spends his money

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

NHL rumors: Sharks want add goalie prospect depth at trade deadline

The Sharks need to add talent in the minors, and one position they reportedly are focused on is goaltender.

sports.yahoo.com

Well….unfortunately, Blackwood is not a prospect. Could the Sharks be interested in Schmid, Daws or Brennan?

I'll give them Daws or Brennan. Don't want to give up Schmid. He's been excellent this season and legit backup option for next season if we walk away from Blackwood.

 

[Nubmer6]

I'll give them Daws or Brennan. Don't want to give up Schmid. He's been excellent this season and legit backup option for next season if we walk away from Blackwood.

Plus I want to accumulate as many Swiss players as possible

 

[tailfins]

Buffalo has both Levi and Portillo in college but who knows how eager they are to move either since UP Luukkonen is still shaky.

They drafted Topias Leinonen at #41 in the last draft but he’s as much a work in progress as Brennan.

Buffalo doesn’t need to include a goalie to blow us out of the water, they have a better and deeper Prospect Pool. (Wheeler hasn’t gotten to Buffalo yet but in September Elite Prospects had Levi at 5, Portillo at 9, UPL at 10 and Leinonen at 15.)

Carolina has drafted what can be only described as a ridiculous number of goalies. Sure we’ve drafted a goalie every year starting in 2015 for a total of 8.

But the Canes drafted 3, yes 3, in 2019, and a total of 10 goalies in the last 8 drafts. Most aren’t good or a ?

They just signed the best one, Kochetkov, to a 4 year deal. They actually don’t have any other drafted goalie prospects signed. Not sure any of their 5 unsigned guys are particularly tantalizing but there are 5 of them to choose from. (There are no goalies, other than Kochetkov at 4, on Wheeler’s list of 15 Carolina top prospects or among his 13 (!) HM shout outs. Elite Prospects also had Kochetkov at 4 as the only goalie.)

The Rangers’ top goalie prospect, Dylan Garland (2020 Rd 4 #103), is having a rough rookie season in Hartford. (Garland is 7th on Wheeler’s list and was 5th on Elite Prospects list.)

Wheeler has Merrimack College’s Hugo Ollas (2020 Rd 7 #197) at 9.

Elite Prospects had Olof Lindbom (2018 Rd 2 #39) at 12, but they mentioned he had failed recently to meet expectations in Sweden but could bounce-back in NA. His unimpressive numbers in the ECHL this season suggest that didn’t happen.

Detroit has Sebastian Cossa, but despite his struggles, I don’t know if they trade a guy they just drafted at #15 in 2021 (and if they do it’s not a great sign because they don’t have much else). 2020 Rd 4 #104 Jan Bednar has upside but is a work in progress.

Not sure what goalie San Jose is getting that would be exciting.

I don't see Buffalo trading Levi or Detroit trading Cossa (or Nashville trading Askarov or Minny trading Wallstedt).

Portillo and Garland to me are similar to what the Devils have in Daws and Brennan. It seems that Portillo may not sign with Buffalo, so I think he's most likely to move.

 

[MadDevil]

Yeah, not giving a Norris Trophy winner a long term deal never made any sense to me. At worst you could trade it.

The lock-out cancelling out the 1 year deal and giving Nieds a year away from the team made it much easier for him to walk away though.

In the end Lou saw players as replaceable though.

This is a Brodeur’s contract history:
View attachment 645461

This is our goalie draft history, Lou didn’t draft goalies in the 1997 & 1999 1st rounds to shore up our back-up depth.
View attachment 645462
View attachment 645463

Kind of crazy that they drafted over 1800 games worth of NHL goaltending (not all with us obviously) out of one draft in 1990.