Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - season begins!

[Triumph]

Bratt took the biggest jump of any player I remember following. I think I objected to his presence in the top 20 prospects here in the summer of 2017 and then he was on the roster 2 months later. And then he's gotten better every single year. Really remarkable player.

I'll never find the source on this but I remember it was reported at some point that the Devils were set to take Bratt in the 5th round but Shero wanted a D.

 

[devilsblood]

From Hockey Prospect’s 2016 Black Book, he was seen as very boom/bust.


IMO, Bratt’s come across as very driven from the start. He’s pushed himself to improve with a lot of outside coaching (he’s mentioned skating coaches, shooting coaches, his sports psychologist, etc)

No doubt, right out of the gate in his initial preseason. I remember a pk vs the Rag's that was out of this world tenacious. And of course he was great through the first half of the regular season and it was very much a player seizing an opportunity by the throat.

I always go back to his use of a sports psychiatrist as a possible jump start to his career. Still evident in how even keeled he tries to be, I'd even say he takes it too far, would love to see more enthusiasm, but evident just the same.

 

[devilsblood]

‪Bratt’s DY and D-1 production was super similar to Filip Forsberg. Both were super young for their class too‬.

‪D-1 in Swedish J20‬
‪Forsberg-21 goals 19 assists in 36‬
‪Bratt-17 goals 23 assists in 39‬

‪DY in Allsvenskan‬
‪Forsberg-8 goals 9 assists in 43‬
‪Bratt-8 goals 9 assists in 48‬



“his drafting team will need to be patient” well so much for that lol

As a 16 year old, his numbers were basically the exact same(actually a tad better for Bratt) as then team mate Alex Nylander. After a strong draft year in the OHL Nylander would go 8th OA. Bratt of course had a fairly non descript season in the AIK.


I assume Nylander was already high up on the draft radar, but Bratt should have been as well, or at least significantly higher up then where he was drafted.

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[Saugus]

I'll never find the source on this but I remember it was reported at some point that the Devils were set to take Bratt in the 5th round but Shero wanted a D.

For those curious, I’ll save you the trip to Google. The defenseman we took in the fifth round of the 2016 draft was Yegor Rykov.

If Bratt had been taken by another team and broken out there, that could have been a pick we would ritualistically regret for years, just like Tedenby/Carlson or Zacha/any of like 5 guys picked after him.

Glad we have him instead.

 

[TheBeerNerd]

He commented on Jack's recent IG post as well. I have to imagine he was a great mentor. Maybe if Jack writes a memoir one day, we'll find out just how important PK was to his development.

For those curious, I’ll save you the trip to Google. The defenseman we took in the fifth round of the 2016 draft was Yegor Rykov.

If Bratt had been taken by another team and broken out there, that could have been a pick we would ritualistically regret for years, just like Tedenby/Carlson or Zacha/any of like 5 guys picked after him.

Glad we have him instead.

Ah yes, the guy we traded for Grabner.

 

[devilsblood]

For those curious, I’ll save you the trip to Google. The defenseman we took in the fifth round of the 2016 draft was Yegor Rykov.

If Bratt had been taken by another team and broken out there, that could have been a pick we would ritualistically regret for years, just like Tedenby/Carlson or Zacha/any of like 5 guys picked after him.

Glad we have him instead.

Just checked Rykov's stats, expected to see that he was now a high end KHL'r, but he's pretty much a journeyman player even in that league.

His best season was probably his 20 year old season back in 17-18. Was never able to build upon some early career promise.

 

[Whaddagoal]

Bratt took the biggest jump of any player I remember following. I think I objected to his presence in the top 20 prospects here in the summer of 2017 and then he was on the roster 2 months later. And then he's gotten better every single year. Really remarkable player.

I'll never find the source on this but I remember it was reported at some point that the Devils were set to take Bratt in the 5th round but Shero wanted a D.

I am with you 100%!

I think Bratt is the most consistently improving player, year on year since his rookie year in overall areas of the game, on this team.

Growth in physical/technical skill, and growth in the hockey IQ/tactical areas of the game. Overall refinement year to year of different areas of his game. All the core have grown since their rookie years (Nico and Jack), but Bratt stands out more thoroughly in that way across the whole horizon of the game. Nico was a bit more of a refined product from day 1 in terms of the cerebral aspect of the game, positional/system IQ, with a little less technical skill (skating, hands) all around in comparison to those two. Nico been growing those skills more slowly (his shot finally coming through more consistently the last two seasons for example), maybe his skating power improved since mid last season. The rest has been consistent

Jack has oodles of skill talent that didn't need a lot of growth outright (perhaps his shot and faceoffs the only glaring weakness since original rookie year) but mostly it was more how to put that talent to use in an NHL structure game, and learn how to adjust with the NHL playing against him, how to be better defensively. The physical demands which is an ongoing thing too.

This team would be so much worse if someone else had picked Bratt instead of NJ. I still can't believe a guy like this wasn't picked up till 6th round. Teams must have been really focusing too much on his size to cast him aside.

Our team is fortunate and I think also Bratt (I can't find the quote now, but it was in an article or video clip within the last few seasons) was very thankful that the NJD put so much faith into him that camp to team the rookie year, and feels a strong honor/bond with the team because of that, that they took a risk/chance and he wanted to pay it forward. (My words but the essence of the message was that)

Maybe the article was from his recent contract signing, his thoughts on the new contract.

 

[MasterofGrond]

This one of my favorite stats of the season so far. Unfortunately for some reason JFresh didn't have this for last season but considering we did a great job of limiting quantity but a very poor job of limiting quality I can't imagine it'd look great lol

View attachment 936220

 

[devilsblood]

I still can't believe a guy like this wasn't picked up till 6th round. Teams must have been really focusing too much on his size to cast him aside.

Our team is fortunate and I think also Bratt (I can't find the quote now, but it was in an article or video clip within the last few seasons) was very thankful that the NJD put so much faith into him that camp to team the rookie year, and feels a strong honor/bond with the team because of that, that they took a risk/chance and he wanted to pay it forward. (My words but the essence of the message was that)

Maybe the article was from his recent contract signing, his thoughts on the new contract.

I wonder about this, and I think this probably played some role, but we've seen plenty of little guys drafted way up the board. Keller is pretty much the same size and he went 7th OA that season.

Tedenby was smaller then Bratt and we took him in the 1st round.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Looks like Jesper took note of where he needed to improve after the playoff run in 22-23. Averaging over a hit per game now and is clearly much more sturdy. Excited to see him in the playoffs again.

 

[Whaddagoal]

I wonder about this, and I think this probably played some role, but we've seen plenty of little guys drafted way up the board. Keller is pretty much the same size and he went 7th OA that season.

Tedenby was smaller then Bratt and we took him in the 1st round.

It's just hard to understand a guy who skates like he did from day 1 with those hands is drafted in such a late round. I kinda can only think size.

Was he really that unknown to scouts to miss on him?

 

[Oneiro]

I still cannot believe how many doubters there were even up until 2023. Did they know what they were watching in training camp during 2017? Kid was brilliant from day one and has kept adding to his game.

It's one of those things that just shows you how much draft position and narratives color fan perception.

 

[devilsblood]

It's just hard to understand a guy who skates like he did from day 1 with those hands is drafted in such a late round. I kinda can only think size.

Was he really that unknown to scouts to miss on him?

US scouts are probably just not watching much Swedish Juniors, or AIK games.

His international numbers didn't stand out, but Nylander's weren't significantly bette). Bratt was also on the same U-17 squad and put up the exact stat line as Lias Andersson who was drafted a year later but was only a couple months younger then Bratt.

Both Nylander and Andersson(as well as Elias Petterson who like Andersson was an old 2017 1st rounder) had stronger U-18 WJC's stat lines. So there was some seperation. Bratt had the same U-18 WJC stat line as Jonsson Fjallby who was a 5th round pick and is currently a nondescript AHL player, so yeah, not easy to predict.

I just have to believe that the Bratt that we saw burst on the scene in the 2017 preseason was significantly better then any previous version. Because I don't see that guy flying under any radar.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

Whaaaaat? I played at Inman...

I was on the Young Guns

Keeping stats in beer league.......... (I had a pretty sweet assist last night, at least one other shot assist, I think +2 on the night, 3 sog's).

In-line skaters then?

 

[devilsblood]

View attachment 936352
In-line skaters then?

Nah, ice. Didnt realize Inman was roller.

I do have roller gear but haven't used it much in the past 5 or so years.

 

[Rhodes 81]

It's just hard to understand a guy who skates like he did from day 1 with those hands is drafted in such a late round. I kinda can only think size.

Was he really that unknown to scouts to miss on him?

I think it has more to do with Bratt evolving to a more complete game than he displayed pre-draft. Scouts probably saw the classic soft, flashy scoring winger until he decided to be more than that. Once he flipped that switch mentally, his natural talent carried a lot

 

[Zippy316]

If I remember correctly, Bratt played on a U-18 team with Alexander Nylander the year before his draft year. There was a Devils scout that said that Bratt looked just as good, if not better than Nylander on the same team.

It seems like his draft year wasn’t as strong as Nylander. Nylander went 8th or 9th and Bratt dropped all the way to the 6th round.

Just goes to show you the amount of time that scouts put in even before the draft year. A guy like Bratt falls in the draft but a scout remembers the pre-draft year and takes a shot in the dark.

 

[DerekDevils30]

Loving the Bratt discussion. Good thing we didn’t trade him for Laine…

 

[devilsblood]

If I remember correctly, Bratt played on a U-18 team with Alexander Nylander the year before his draft year. There was a Devils scout that said that Bratt looked just as good, if not better than Nylander on the same team.

It seems like his draft year wasn’t as strong as Nylander. Nylander went 8th or 9th and Bratt dropped all the way to the 6th round.

Just goes to show you the amount of time that scouts put in even before the draft year. A guy like Bratt falls in the draft but a scout remembers the pre-draft year and takes a shot in the dark.

Posted above. Swedish Juniors.

As a 16 year old, his numbers were basically the exact same(actually a tad better for Bratt) as then team mate Alex Nylander. After a strong draft year in the OHL Nylander would go 8th OA. Bratt of course had a fairly non descript season in the AIK.


I assume Nylander was already high up on the draft radar, but Bratt should have been as well, or at least significantly higher up then where he was drafted.

Nylander was better on the Int'l scene. At least in terms of points, and that may have been merely PP usage.

 

[britdevil]

Thank god Bratt was our #1 selection in 2016. Whewwww, thank the lordy. Nope, nothing else happened that draft.

 

[Brodeur]

I'll never find the source on this but I remember it was reported at some point that the Devils were set to take Bratt in the 5th round but Shero wanted a D.

I think Shero was the source, I'll see if I can dig up the post-draft article/interview. As I remember it, Shero just got antsy since we kept taking forwards. In 2015 he was mostly hands off as the new GM and the incumbent scouts took three forwards (Zacha/Speers/Seney), a goalie (Blackwood), and a D (White). Then the scouts used the first six picks in 2016 on five forwards (McLeod/Bastian/Anderson/Gignac/Maltsev) and a goalie (Cormier). Shero chimed in with something like "Are you guys going to take a D at some point?" I don't recall if the scouts wanted Bratt in round 5 though.

-----------------

One horror story from another team is LA in 2006. They had just hired Dean Lombardi several weeks before the draft and he wasn't really involved in the draft discussions while working for the Flyers that season. Lombardi mostly let the scouts do their thing but he inherited a Kings roster that had a ton of young forwards but were thin on the blue line. In the first round they drafted Jonathan Bernier and Trevor Lewis. In the second round, the Kings scouts wanted Milan Lucic at #48 but allegedly Lombardi stepped in and said to take a D instead. They'd draft a guy named Joe Ryan who didn't pan out and Lucic would go #50 to Boston.

Fast forward to 2009 and Lucic has a breakout season. Lombardi is steadfast on the Kings drafting a Lucic-esque prospect Kyle Clifford with pick #35. As the first round wraps up, the Kings scouts are astounded that Ryan O'Reilly slipped and implore Lombardi to trade up. He gets a couple nibbles but teams naturally wanted #35 and Lombardi refused to risk losing Clifford for O'Reilly (who'd go #33 to Colorado).

And then in 2015, Lombardi gets the chance to trade for Lucic. They'd give up Martin Jones, Colin Miller, and pick #13. Lucic did well-enough for LA but bolted for Edmonton after the season. Former Kings assistant GM Mike Futa said later that Matt Barzal would have been their pick if the trade wasn't made.

I'm sure Lombardi isn't losing too much sleep over it, but it interesting to see how one innocuous 2nd round decision could compound into other mistakes over the next decade.

 

[devilsfan950003]

leaving aside the shot part (it’s a good shot), yes? Big, slow skating forwards with decent offensive skill often take time to figure out how to play at an NHL pace. There’s not a great hit rate, but the upside is worth it should the player work out.

I'd give Foote a chance. Have Downling center that 4th line with Foote and Bowers as his wings. Promote Tatar up to Nico's line (or Cotter).

I want to give Foote a chance because now is the time to find out if he can be an NHL player. Can he give us 10 minutes on that fourth line? He's a UFA after this season.

 

[Devs3cups]

Detroit (confused Dano face)

Avatar change??? We’re screwed.

 

[Oneiro]

All in all, I think the rebuild was quite well done. There's been a lot of luck, but from having only Greene, Zajac, Lars, Sevo, Wood and Coleman to where we are now, I doubt you could've played it that much better.

I don't know of any rebuild that didn't have ugly bits. I don't know if I'd like to be a CHI fan during the early 00s and Wirtz. Maybe you can say Tampa had a better process, transitioning from St. Louis to Hedman, Kuch and Stamkos fairly quickly, but, from the ground-up? Looking at Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit and Montreal, it's too easy to f*** it all up.