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

[Capt Nico Poo]

An article on Haula in the Finnish media. Google translate if you're interested. Mostly about what it's like to get traded (trade to NJ was the 6th trade in Haula's career).

Erik Haula kuuli dramaattiset uutiset ja soitti heti vaimolleen â tällainen on NHL-elämän raju inhimillinen puoli

New Jersey Devilsin Erik Haula on kaupattu NHL:ssä useamman kerran. Kauppa ja muuttaminen uuteen kaupunkiin on pelaajalle aina shokki, vaikka siitä voi seurata paljon hyvääkin.

yle.fi

 

[FinnishDevil]

An article on Haula in the Finnish media. Google translate if you're interested. Mostly about what it's like to get traded (trade to NJ was the 6th trade in Haula's career).

Erik Haula kuuli dramaattiset uutiset ja soitti heti vaimolleen â tällainen on NHL-elämän raju inhimillinen puoli

New Jersey Devilsin Erik Haula on kaupattu NHL:ssä useamman kerran. Kauppa ja muuttaminen uuteen kaupunkiin on pelaajalle aina shokki, vaikka siitä voi seurata paljon hyvääkin.

yle.fi

Read this earlier and was surprised to find out that he is the oldest Finnish skater playing in the league. Long gone are the days of Finland only having 35+ guys in the league.

 

[Bleedred]

Read this earlier and was surprised to find out that he is the oldest Finnish skater playing in the league. Long gone are the days of Finland only having 35+ guys in the league.

There were a couple of older Finnish goalies I could think of that had a few years on him, but both have retired the last two seasons.

One guy had closer to 10 years on him.

 

[My3Sons]

oh! I didn't even realize this :



wicked.

Don't you mean diabolical?

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

oh! I didn't even realize this :



wicked.

Didnt the Devils have a chance at breaking the NHL away wins record this year? Are we still on track?

 

[Zippy316]

I don't see any reason to rush Timo. He'll probably play his first game Tuesday at home.

I imagine he plays Sunday. No practice today. He gets in a morning skate tomorrow.

You give Clarke a game tomorrow night after his strong season.

Meier gets a practice on Saturday between the Knights and Coyotes game and then he’s ready to go.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Didnt the Devils have a chance at breaking the NHL away wins record this year? Are we still on track?

I believe the record is 31 and we currently have 22. Would need 10 wins out of I think 11 remaining road games

 

[Guttersniped]

oh! I didn't even realize this :



wicked.

You wouldn’t have because that “win percentage” counts the OT games as losses.

It’s .666 if you calculate it with 40 wins and 20 losses.

 

[glenwo2]

View attachment 661560

You wouldn’t have because that “win percentage” counts the OT games as losses.

It’s .666 if you calculate it with 40 wins and 20 losses.

Math is hard.

 

[McDuffz88]

Is Timo playing tmrw? Any updates?

 

[Emperoreddy]

Is Timo playing tmrw? Any updates?

We don't know. Team was off today

 

[Bleedred]

If Schmid hasn't done enough to make this team full time next year, I would feel so deflated and hopeless if I were him.

If Blackwood did enough in 18-19 to be penciled in for a full time NHL slot in 19-20 (and he definitely did, I'm not saying he didn't) then Schmid should have this year.

It's pretty crazy how he's come up huge with 2 wins to end a close game, either tied or up by one goal. Last night and Ottawa game we won in OT, where he had to kill a penalty. That was his first action of the year.

And I know he didn't get the win last night.

 

[Devs3cups]

These guys have already shattered all our expectations this year and more young talent is coming.

Future is bright people.

 

[Oneiro]

Sharangovich, Zetterlund, Bastian, McLeod, Boqvist - debate the quality of these guys all you want, but they're all going to have 400+ NHL GP at minimum vs. Josefson, Tedenby, Corrente, Santini, Urbom, etc. And then you have Anderson, Maltsev, Okhotiuk, etc. who are most likely nothing but were tradable enough in D+2/3/4 years. You can bitch about McLeod, Smith or Stillman and I won't hold it against you. I think that's the nature of the mid/late first round - you can miss sometimes, but not all the time.

Castron and co. aren't godlike (i.e. prime Red Wings or ANA/NSH re: d-men) but they've done well enough that hitting at a similar rate over the next five years is going to be huge for the team. If the process gets better and they improve? Or grab even just one more Bratt-type impact player? f***, man.

 

[Nubmer6]

Sharangovich, Zetterlund, Bastian, McLeod, Boqvist - debate the quality of these guys all you want, but they're all going to have 400+ NHL GP at minimum vs. Josefson, Tedenby, Corrente, Santini, Urbom, etc. And then you have Anderson, Maltsev, Okhotiuk, etc. who are most likely nothing but were tradable enough in D+2/3/4 years. You can bitch about McLeod, Smith or Stillman and I won't hold it against you. I think that's the nature of the mid/late first round - you can miss sometimes, but not all the time.

Castron and co. aren't godlike (i.e. prime Red Wings or ANA/NSH re: d-men) but they've done well enough that hitting at a similar rate over the next five years is going to be huge for the team. If the process gets better and they improve? Or grab even just one more Bratt-type impact player? f***, man.

I'm all for trading away our 1st rounders for 5th / 6th round picks! They've done well for us in the past! Maybe even get some good players to go with the picks!

 

[Emperoreddy]

These guys have already shattered all our expectations this year and more young talent is coming.

Future is bright people.

I'm at the point asking why not us this year? Experience and the goaltending holding up are big question marks, but we absolutely have the talent to make a lot of noise this post season

 

[Triumph]

If Schmid hasn't done enough to make this team full time next year, I would feel so deflated and hopeless if I were him.

If Blackwood did enough in 18-19 to be penciled in for a full time NHL slot in 19-20 (and he definitely did, I'm not saying he didn't) then Schmid should have this year.

It's pretty crazy how he's come up huge with 2 wins to end a close game, either tied or up by one goal. Last night and Ottawa game we won in OT, where he had to kill a penalty. That was his first action of the year.

And I know he didn't get the win last night.

Blackwood in 2019-20 played for a shitty team that was going to have a hard time finding a goalie because of the other goalie they had. I really like how Schmid is playing - I would not feel comfortable going into the season with him as the backup goalie.

Sharangovich, Zetterlund, Bastian, McLeod, Boqvist - debate the quality of these guys all you want, but they're all going to have 400+ NHL GP at minimum vs. Josefson, Tedenby, Corrente, Santini, Urbom, etc. And then you have Anderson, Maltsev, Okhotiuk, etc. who are most likely nothing but were tradable enough in D+2/3/4 years. You can bitch about McLeod, Smith or Stillman and I won't hold it against you. I think that's the nature of the mid/late first round - you can miss sometimes, but not all the time.

I wouldn't go this far - Sharangovich is going to be a quality player for the next 5+ years most likely, Zetterlund should have a long career but if his scoring touch dries up, it may not last, and Boqvist is really in between even though I like the strides he's taken this year, he could easily be back in Europe in a year+.

Don't sleep on the pick from Gelinas leading to Zetterlund, either. The real killer years for the franchise were 2005-2010.

Castron and co. aren't godlike (i.e. prime Red Wings or ANA/NSH re: d-men) but they've done well enough that hitting at a similar rate over the next five years is going to be huge for the team. If the process gets better and they improve? Or grab even just one more Bratt-type impact player? f***, man.

They need to move away from drafting defensemen.

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[Oneiro]

I wouldn't go this far - Sharangovich is going to be a quality player for the next 5+ years most likely, Zetterlund should have a long career but if his scoring touch dries up, it may not last, and Boqvist is really in between even though I like the strides he's taken this year, he could easily be back in Europe in a year+.

Don't sleep on the pick from Gelinas leading to Zetterlund, either. The real killer years for the franchise were 2005-2010.

They need to move away from drafting defensemen.

Boqvist is an aggressive call but the others I don't think are so bold. Zetterlund is going to get his chance with less competition for ice time and a GM that wants some vindication. Sharangovich, McLeod and Bastian have clear attributes / resumes at the NHL level.

Naturally, I think they're going to lean towards replenishing center depth in the pool.

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[Nubmer6]

I guess he's been a good announcer. Whenever I read his tweets, I hear them in his voice

 

[guitarguyvic]

I guess he's been a good announcer. Whenever I read his tweets, I hear them in his voice

Steve had more passionate calls, but Bill is less annoying. If that makes sense.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I also don’t buy the lack of playoff experience cop out. I see a lot of experience here.

Playoff Experience (multiple postseasons):

Palat
Meier
Haula
Hamilton
Tatar
Graves
Marino
Siegenthaler
Smith
Vanacek

Playoff Experience (one postseason):

Severson
Wood
Hischier
Bratt

No Playoff Experience:

Hughes
Mercer
Bahl
Sharangovich
Boqvist
Bastian
Blackwood/Schmid

 

[Eggtimer]

I just wanted to say this about Dawson Mercer -- because it's also the most important thing I want to leave you all with when I hang it up as a draft writer: hockey IQ and compete level are more important than statistics. Repeat these words 10,000 times. Hockey IQ and compete level are more important than statistics. You fill a team with Dawson Mercers and you'll compete for a Stanley Cup. You fill a team with guys who have fancy JFresh or Byron Bader charts and you'll miss the playoffs.

Dawson Mercer has been dominant for nearly a month. He was the best player tonight against the defending Staley Cup champions. He's barely old enough to drink. Let's give this kid the credit he deserves. He's a core member of what looks to be the best team in hockey for the next 5-8 years.

I agree 100% . There is a reason why the Leafs can’t be out of the first round regardless of how much talemt they have. I just dont see their core pieces willing to do enough to win in the playoffs. Matthews is talented as hell, but when the game is on the line, I just dont think him and Marner have the killer mentality it takes to win a cup.
Guys like Nico , Mercer etc ,I believe they do.

 

[Eggtimer]

This has been 3 mediocre/bad games in a row for VV. That is concerning.

The schedule is compressed the rest of the way. At some point it might be good to give Schmid consecutive games and let VV rest.

This is why I would like to add Vejmelka . We have way too much $ on goaltenders right now but that goes away mostly in the off-season .
I think Vejmelka is enough of an upgrade on MB to warrant trading for him.
Im pretty much alone on this one but I’d like Fitz to inquire about a possible Holtz for Demko trade.
Only thing is going from MB to Demko is adding 1.5 - 2 mil I think.
That and Brodeur has said that they do not want to waste cap room by paying UFA or inflated prices on goalies and want to develop ours to be eventual starters.
5 mil on Demko is not that bad for a goalie that can be a top 5 goalie. Key word “can” be. A little risky that he doesn’t bounce back from being crap this season . I wonder how much of his shit play was due to a injury?