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

[JimEIV]

Where is this idea that Mercer is on the table even coming from?

I think it stems from Carolina potentially upping their offer to include Jarvis...which would make us have to consider Mercer to be in that same ballpark...all just speculation but I think that's it in a nutshell.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

No thanks

Can't wait when they trade Severson and trade for that hunk of garbage to appease the grit crowd then Schenn gets dog walked in round 1

 

[HBK27]

Where is this idea that Mercer is on the table even coming from?

Shark fans coming to terms that Hughes/Nemec were never an option & pivoting to the next best possible home run asset.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I think it stems from Carolina potentially upping their offer to include Jarvis...which would make us have to consider Mercer to be in that same ballpark...all just speculation but I think that's it in a nutshell.

Carolina is going to give up a really good center prospect for a winger when their biggest need is center? Seems like a risky move that's outside the norm for Carolina.

 

[JimEIV]

Can't wait when they trade Severson and trade for that hunk of garbage to appease the grit crowd then Schenn gets dog walked in round 1

If they trade Severson I would take that as they're not serious about a playoff run.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Lawson Crouse would be one of mine, but not sure everyone's thoughts on him here. But Arizona would want a haul also so not sure.

Completely agree. Fits our needs And timeline.

 

[Camille the Eel]

They know NJ isn’t going away. They can take the NJ offer close to thr deadline if they want so they can try to get another team to offer more in thr meantime. I’m skeptical that Carolina or Buffalo want to pay Meier market price. That may be NJ’s advantage.

If he wants to come here to little Switzerland he can also just not extend. The market will be different if he’s a pure rental. As a free agent someone will pay him big time and not give up assets. Meier himself has a huge say, the last word, on where he plays next year. That’s the big thing anyway. This years playoffs by themselves not worth mortgaging the farm for.

 

[Normal Devil]

Shark fans coming to terms that Hughes/Nemec were never an option & pivoting to the next best possible home run asset.

I'd say no to Mercer as well. He's a 21 year old that looks like he has an extremely bright future ... nope, not dealing him. He's off the table.

 

[JimEIV]

Carolina is going to give up a really good center prospect for a winger when their biggest need is center? Seems like a risky move that's outside the norm for Carolina.

I honestly don't know what Carolina's needs are but I don't think it's a good to be trading those kind of pieces in general (Mercer or Jarvis).

Personally if San Jose came to me and said, Carolina is offering Jarvis you need to pony up Mercer to get a deal done... I'd walk away.

 

[guitarguyvic]

So many nervous nellies on this board constantly chicken littling about everything. Fitz has been GM long enough now for everyone to have a pretty good idea of how he operates. Trading Severson in the middle of a playoff season while our RD depth is not that good...or Mercer for Meier...these are the kind of moves that would seem very obviously out of character for him.

 

[HBK27]

Carolina is going to give up a really good center prospect for a winger when their biggest need is center? Seems like a risky move that's outside the norm for Carolina.

Good point. And just like with us and Mercer, it's a move that take away a key roster player (CapFriendly lists Jarvis as being the RW on the top line with Aho & Teravienen) for a team trying to make a Cup run. I can't see them offering up Jarvis in any Meier deal.

Fitz needs to hold firm on his offer - maybe adding another pick or lesser prospect if necessary.

 

[Normal Devil]

I honestly don't know what Carolina's needs are but I don't think it's a good to be trading those kind of pieces in general (Mercer or Jarvis).

Personally if San Jose came to and said, Carolina is offering Jarvis you need to pony up Mercer to get a deal done... I'd walk away.

Agreed .. pivot to Boeser, or someone else.

Good point. And just like with us and Mercer, it's a move that take away a key roster player (CapFriendly lists Jarvis as being the RW on the top line with Aho & Teravienen) for a team trying to make a Cup run. I can't see them offering up Jarvis in any Meier deal.

Fitz needs to hold firm on his offer - maybe adding another pick or lesser prospect if necessary.

If the ask is crazy then Fitz needs to bow out .. maybe the price drops a little closer to the deadline?

 

[OmNomNom]

with hamilton and marino on the RD, i wonder if we can trade severson for a lesser d-man (maybe a defensive actual bottom pairing guy) + assets, and then flip said assets in a trade for meier. said dman could in theory have a smaller cap hit too?

i mean aside from the schenn rumor

 

[billingtons ghost]

yeah how dare us care about ages of players? the HORROR!

There's a happy medium between Lou's win now no future approach and just continually kicking the can down the road and ensuring second round exits for ten years but never winning the cup.

Fitz has the luxury of knowing Hughes and Hischier will be around and it's hard to imagine that this year for whatever reason 'IS THE CLOSEST WE EVER GOT' but it's possible. Unlikely but possible.

You never know with injuries. You never know if the next big UFA is garbage or goalies are awful.

We've got a really good team here and there are definitely tweaks out there that put us in the cup conversation.

That's why I agree with most that I would prefer not to give up Sevs or Mercer unless a spectacular cup winning piece is coming back, and I don't really give that much care to losing futures.

The team we can win with is here now, minutes three or four pieces.

 

[NJDevs26]

So many nervous nellies on this board constantly chicken littling about everything. Fitz has been GM long enough now for everyone to have a pretty good idea of how he operates. Trading Severson in the middle of a playoff season while our RD depth is not that good...or Mercer for Meier...these are the kind of moves that would seem very obviously out of character for him.

All true but we are in a different position this year than we’ve been in any other year of Fitz’s tenure so we can’t compare this deadline to other deadlines.

 

[guitarguyvic]

with hamilton and marino on the RD, i wonder if we can trade severson for a lesser d-man (maybe a defensive actual bottom pairing guy) + assets, and then flip said assets in a trade for meier. said dman could in theory have a smaller cap hit too?

i mean aside from the schenn rumor

The problem is if Hamilton or Marino gets injured, now you've got the bottom pairing guy playing 2nd line minutes. I doubt whoever that is would be a better option in that spot than Severson. Even worse than that...you have one of our D prospects who haven't really been playing all that great paired with Smith on the bottom line...they would likely get torched in the playoffs.

Basically you would need two competent, NHL proven bottom pairing RD's in exchange for Severson - one to replace him in the regular lineup, the second as the seventh man in case of injury. If Fitz could miraculously pull that off...

 

[MadDevil]

No thanks

The thought of him playing with Graves or Smith is the stuff of nightmares. And I don't mean for the opposition.

 

[Guttersniped]

Zach Hyman is my exact comparable for Mercer.

I think he's going to be Hyman 2.0

And yeah I'll agree with the posters above - you do not trade Dawson Mercer.

I wouldn't do Mercer for Meier 1 for 1.

Mercer is absolutely going to be a essential glue guy, future core piece on this team.

All this “middle six” shit is from outer space lol.

This is such a weird thought exercise. You don’t get players like Mercer for unsigned RFAs a year away from UFA.

They can get futures. Florida swapped UFAs they weren’t re-signing.

I can’t think of any comparable RFA on the roster recently moved in a trade like this, so no, this isn’t “you got to give to get”.

Vancouver got “a young NHL player”, it’s a guy with one year left on his deal and then he’s a UFA. Same with the Rangers and Blais.

When RFAs get moved it’s because they’re problematic in some way, unless it’s a trade for another comparable RFA with an equal amount of team control.

You don’t improve your current line-up by removing a guy you desperately want to keep and can keep.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Mercer is absolutely going to be a essential glue guy, future core piece on this team.

All this “middle six” shit is from outer space lol.

This is such a weird thought exercise. You don’t get players like Mercer for unsigned RFAs a year away from UFA.

They can get futures. Florida swapped UFAs they weren’t re-signing.

I can’t think of any comparable RFA on the roster recently moved in a trade like this, so no, this isn’t “you got to give to get”.

Vancouver got “a young NHL player”, it’s a guy with one year left on his deal and then he’s a UFA. Same with the Rangers and Blais.

When RFAs get moved it’s because they’re problematic in some way, unless it’s a trade for another comparable RFA with an equal amount of team control.

You don’t improve your current line-up by removing a guy you desperately want to keep and can keep.

This is exactly why it's neurotic to even worry about this. Fitz has made it clear that he's not the type of GM that would make a trade of this kind. Why would he suddenly do something that 95% of the GM's in league - some of whom are clearly bad at their jobs - wouldn't do?

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Can't wait when they trade Severson and trade for that hunk of garbage to appease the grit crowd then Schenn gets dog walked in round 1

If they got a good return for Severson, Luke Schenn as your third pairing right defenseman for the playoffs would be fine, especially if we end up trading for Meier.

 

[Stephen Gionta]

Mercer is absolutely going to be a essential glue guy, future core piece on this team.

All this “middle six” shit is from outer space lol.

This is such a weird thought exercise. You don’t get players like Mercer for unsigned RFAs a year away from UFA.

They can get futures. Florida swapped UFAs they weren’t re-signing.

I can’t think of any comparable RFA on the roster recently moved in a trade like this, so no, this isn’t “you got to give to get”.

Vancouver got “a young NHL player”, it’s a guy with one year left on his deal and then he’s a UFA. Same with the Rangers and Blais.

When RFAs get moved it’s because they’re problematic in some way, unless it’s a trade for another comparable RFA with an equal amount of team control.

You don’t improve your current line-up by removing a guy you desperately want to keep and can keep.

Yeah. Mercer is a non-starter in any Meier trade talk. And I assume Grier knows that.

Agreed that Mercer is also not a "middle six" guy. Right now? Sure. But he is absolutely going to be a top 6, possibly a top line, forward in his age 23-29 seasons. He is going nowhere. He's a New Jersey Devil.

 

[JrFischer54]

Where is this idea that Mercer is on the table even coming from?


The ones that can be picked up are going to be vets that are going to command more money and term than a 20 year old team/cost controlled player. Acquiring Meier and assuming we pay Bratt means we might not have the cap space to sign this type of player. That's the issue, not whether or not they are easy to find.

All I know is this there are fewer 35-80 guys then there are 20-40 guys that with the fact from what I’ve been told on here we have a deep prospect pool is enough reason to pull the trigger. Everyone keeps mentioning the team control that’s great but still haven’t seen anyone say what his next contract would be like if everyone says and he takes another step next year in a contract year. 3 million? 3.5? 4?

 

[Whaddagoal]

Can't wait when they trade Severson and trade for that hunk of garbage to appease the grit crowd then Schenn gets dog walked in round 1

I'd definitely rather keep Severson!

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

The thought of him playing with Graves or Smith is the stuff of nightmares. And I don't mean for the opposition.

One of our biggest issues has been getting the puck out of the zone. That would be so bad going from Severson to Schenn. Though I guess Hughes-Schenn could be okay.

 

[MadDevil]

All I know is this there are fewer 35-80 guys then there are 20-40 guys that with the fact from what I’ve been told on here we have a deep prospect pool is enough reason to pull the trigger. Everyone keeps mentioning the team control that’s great but still haven’t seen anyone say what his next contract would be like if everyone says and he takes another step next year in a contract year. 3 million? 3.5? 4?

The cap doesn't matter.