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

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

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They just arrived.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Completely forgot tomorrow is the battle of the Hugheses. Not enough to keep me up at that hour though.

Unless...

 

[Ripshot 43]

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Pour me a Cup, I’m in damnit!

10 Minutes later:

 

[devilsblood]

Oh, I’ve been banned from 108 / 109. Something about three cans of Truly, a t-shirt gun, and a hip replacement is all can say.

Did you say 3 cans? Damn son!!

I don't even want to know about this hip replacement business.

 

[devilsblood]

Cozens is the interesting pickup. He's a victim of Buffalo's constant management failures. Put into a leadership role at a young age when there is no vet leadership on the team. Then has pressure to produce because they handed him a ridiculous $7m/yr contract so quickly. Its Sam Reinhart all over again. Only problem is you have to deal with an albatross $7m cap hit while he builds his confidence up again.

I was kind of into the Cozens idea. Despite the zero goals, he actually has a good shot rate this year, he has size, plays fairly physical, and can take faceoffs(not especially good but he can take them). But $7mil a year? That has to end the discussion.......unless we are trading them Palat.

 

[devilsblood]

Why do they need to switch the pairings? The Nemec-Casey pairing was the one getting caved
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Also, if you are going to switch a pairing, it should be towards a longer term option, not moving 2 guys to their off side.

So if you want to break up Hamilton-Dillon

Siegs-Hamilton (Proven to work)
Hughes-Pesce (Almost certainly the exact partner pesce was meant to come in for)
Dillon-Kovacevic (shutdown 3rd pairing)

Which makes it nice and easy to bring Nemec back in when/if Kovacevic's heater stops.

Don't make pairing decisions on the assumption that Kovacevic suddenly became an elite dman at age 27. If he actually has become one, he should be able to handle playing with Dillon just fine. If not, you want to get the long term pairings as much time as possible

Dillon is down to 13:39 of 5v5 toi since Hughes Pesce arrived, lowest on the team. Hamilton is at 15:49, 2nd lowest.

Only a 3 game sample and definitely skewed a bit by special teams, but I expect Hughes and Pesce to play more as they get up to speed.

In all situations Dillon is again 6th in TOI at 16:28. Hughes is 5th at 17:45, while the other 4 are in that 20-21 minute range.

So Dillon is already playing "bottom pair minutes" and again, I expect Hughes's minutes to go up. Though not quite sure where, 5v5 or eventually PP1.

Also, and again, super small sample, but does Pesce not look like the perfect partner for Luke thus far? Even in theory it makes great sense. So if you can play them fairly big minutes, but not the heavy defensive minutes that Sieg's and Kova play, that puts Hughes Pesce in a great spot. And then we roll out Hamilton on the "3rd pair"? Seems a little unfair really.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Devils franchise value increased 47% over last year. Top 5 increase in the NHL.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1851608121065500918

 

[MartyOwns]

Devils franchise value increased 47% over last year. Top 5 increase in the NHL.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1851608121065500918

it's early so maybe i'm reading this wrong but it seems like almost every team increased a ridiculous amount YOY. the bruins for example increased their value by 1.3 BILLION dollars in a year? that can't be right.

 

[dzubrus8]

I also notice a lot of really old ones. Obviously I always see a Stevens, but he was on all 3 cup teams and captain and played more with the Devils than the other two teams he played for before that.

But I still see a surprising amount of Claude Lemieux jerseys. They're almost always Reebok or Adidas jerseys and not CCM/Starter/etc from way back then, but they're still fairly popular.

They sell Pepe jerseys in the team shop at the Rock. I think you should wear whatever jersey you have for whatever player you like as long as that jersey or player was on one of the two teams playing that night

I don’t understand a Patty Kane jersey at a Devils Ducks game for example

 

[devilsblood]

Devils franchise value increased 47% over last year. Top 5 increase in the NHL.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1851608121065500918

Do they have specifics as to the why?

 

[devilsblood]

it's early so maybe i'm reading this wrong but it seems like almost every team increased a ridiculous amount YOY. the bruins for example increased their value by 1.3 BILLION dollars in a year? that can't be right.

Could be inflation has finally seeped into these valuations?

But sports teams in general are continuing to ratchet up in value. Financial news talking sports franchises as their own asset class. Competition from big streaming platforms certainly helping.

 

[My3Sons]

They sell Pepe jerseys in the team shop at the Rock. I think you should wear whatever jersey you have for whatever player you like as long as that jersey or player was on one of the two teams playing that night

I don’t understand a Patty Kane jersey at a Devils Ducks game for example

I’ll never understand what some people wear to games in terms of random sports stuff. I’ve seen Pittsburgh Pirates stuff at a Saints game and they weren’t playing the Steelers or another Pennsylvania team. I’ve seen Cubs stuff at a Dallas Stars game and again it wasn’t directly or indirectly related to the teams playing. Just weird. It’s a joke in our family that when I go to a sporting event with one or more of the boys I’ll wear something Devils related that has nothing to do with who is playing.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Do they have specifics as to the why?

I don’t subscribe so I can’t read the whole article. Normally a huge part of teams evaluations is based on their arena and the value it brings outside of the actual NHL games.

 

[Deviled]

A few days ago I commented on Nemec's playing time, which has now got me to thinking.. how do we plan on fitting him in without a massive jump in TOI in one offseason over the next two seasons?

Dougie wont play-out his entire deal here; but he also wont play bottom-pair minutes before then, right?

 

[devilsfan950003]

I don’t subscribe so I can’t read the whole article. Normally a huge part of teams evaluations is based on their arena and the value it brings outside of the actual NHL games

Absolutely been rock solid. Him and Siegs have been an excellent shut down pair all season.

Should they re-sign him?

They sell Pepe jerseys in the team shop at the Rock. I think you should wear whatever jersey you have for whatever player you like as long as that jersey or player was on one of the two teams playing that night

I don’t understand a Patty Kane jersey at a Devils Ducks game for example

I want to buy a Pepe or Mogilny jersey. Still stuck deciding.

 

[devilsblood]

I don’t subscribe so I can’t read the whole article. Normally a huge part of teams evaluations is based on their arena and the value it brings outside of the actual NHL games.

ya, for sure.

Wonder if urban real estate values, which tanked during covid, are now jumping back.

The area of Newark around Prudential is, I'm assuming, receiving one of the biggest face lifts in sports. Which would help the real estate value.

Concerts have been bumping in recent years as well.

 

[devilsblood]

A few days ago I commented on Nemec's playing time, which has now got me to thinking.. how do we plan on fitting him in without a massive jump in TOI in one offseason over the next two seasons?

Dougie wont play-out his entire deal here; but he also wont play bottom-pair minutes before then, right?

Letting Kova walk is an obvious one.

Interestingly Kova's play(at a very cheap salary) will likely save us money on Nemec's deal, at least in the short term.

Similar to Cotter and Holtz. Though that being a little more cloudy as Holtz's play was hurting his contract value as well.

Still cheap vet's playing well is enabling Fitz to not over spend on the young guys.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

A few days ago I commented on Nemec's playing time, which has now got me to thinking.. how do we plan on fitting him in without a massive jump in TOI in one offseason over the next two seasons?

Dougie wont play-out his entire deal here; but he also wont play bottom-pair minutes before then, right?

He played almost 20 minutes a game last year. He’ll be fine.

 

[devilsblood]

Should they re-sign him?

A very interesting decision. Too early to say I think.

Would require trading either Hamilton or Nemec.

 

[Deviled]

He played almost 20 minutes a game last year. He’ll be fine.

Youre probably right.. just nervous that this is one of the few ways you can kick a kids confidence down. To go from playing here and there, bottom-pair minutes, to expecting consistent near top-pair minutes after Dougie is gone

Letting Kova walk is an obvious one.

Interestingly Kova's play(at a very cheap salary) will likely save us money on Nemec's deal, at least in the short term.

Similar to Cotter and Holtz. Though that being a little more cloudy as Holtz's play was hurting his contract value as well.

Still cheap vet's playing well is enabling Fitz to not over spend on the young guys.

Oddly enough, I wasn't even including Kovacevic past this season when typing that lol. I was thinking about Dougie, Pesce, and Nemec.

If you are to assume, this season, Nemec stays on the third pair splitting-time (or goes down for most of the year) then that'd mean he remains there until Dougie is moved or bought out. Then he would likely jump to the top-4 playing almost or above 20ATOI, as Im not sure Pesce has the foot speed anymore to play 22+

Like @SteveCangialosi123 said, Nemec has played that much before; just dont want to be juggling him around without some sort of consistency.

 

[devilsblood]

Youre probably right.. just nervous that this is one of the few ways you can kick a kids confidence down. To go from playing here and there, bottom-pair minutes to expecting consistent near top-pair minutes after Dougie is gone

Oddly enough, I wasn't even including Kovacevic past this season when typing that lol. I was thinking about Dougie, Pesce, and Nemec.

If you are to assume, this season, Nemec stays on the third pair splitting-time (or goes down for most of the year) then that'd mean he remains there until Dougie is moved or bought out. Then he would likely jump to the top-4 playing almost or above 20ATOI

Like @SteveCangialosi123 said, he has played that much before; just dont want to be juggling him around without some sort of consistency.

As I mention somewhere above. Hamilton, since the return of Pesce, is playing the least 5v5 minutes amongst RHD.

Yes he makes up for that with PP1 minutes, but how long does that last?

In short, I think Hamilton getting big minutes is not likely moving fwd.

So they could do a pretty even 20 mpg split amongst the 3. Nemec would need to play a fair amount of PK though.

Still I don't rule out the Devils wanting to keep Kova. He plays a role the other guys don't really excel at. He fits the makeup that Fitz is wanting to surround our stars with, ie big physical and tough. And even if he gets a pay bump, he will likely be cheap.

 

[Zippy316]

A few days ago I commented on Nemec's playing time, which has now got me to thinking.. how do we plan on fitting him in without a massive jump in TOI in one offseason over the next two seasons?

Dougie wont play-out his entire deal here; but he also wont play bottom-pair minutes before then, right?

If Kovacevic keeps his play through Western Canada, I would not be surprised to see Nemec get swapped out with DeSimone when the Devils get back to NJ.

Kovacevic walks at the end of this year. Hamilton - Pesce - Nemec down the right side with Casey as injury call up #1 in 2025-26.

After that, you have to make the hard decision based on where Hamilton, Nemec, and Casey are all at. Easy thing to say now is trade Hamilton. Hard truth is it could be Nemec or Casey dealt too.

 

[theoptimist]

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