Confirmed with Link: (G) J. Markstrom (30% retention) traded to NJ for (D) Kevin Bahl, 2025 1st rd pick (Top 10 protected)

[PKs Broken Stick]

I feel most of the people complaining about this move would be the same people complaining if Fitz didn't make a move this offseason.

Actually the opposite. The people happy now are probably the ones who'd be complaining if he didn't make a move.

Couple of good posts about Markstrom:





Quite a few analytics guys that put his goaltending performance last year as top five in the league. Micah McCurdy even goes out of his way to say that Markstrom is a goaltender where SV% unfairly paints him in a bad light.

Goaltending is a particular position where it’s really hard to judge based on a lot of factors. Analytics there seem to be particularly useful.

Another goalie who has poor starts? Why is this a trend lol

 

[Zippy316]

Actually the opposite. The people happy now are probably the ones who'd be complaining if he didn't make a move.



Another goalie who has poor starts? Why is this a trend lol

I believe it’s the opposite.

He’s in the 91st percentile for bad starts in that he doesn’t have many bad starts compared to other goalies. His excellent starts are in the 28th percentile so he has less excellent starts than most goalies.

The way I read that is he’s not going to be stealing games frequently, but he’s not going to losing you many games either.

 

[JimEIV]

Depending on who Fitzgerald gets to address the defense, it makes a bit of sense to move on from Bahl though. It would continue to be rough goings trying to develop Bahl at the same time as Luke/Nemec
Given the make up of our D, I’d much rather swap Bahl for a guy like Dillon. Would give you four veterans, Luke, and Nemec as your main D core. A passable Smith type as #7 would be even better.

Makes sense logistically and I agree having 4 vets with with Luke and Nemec is the best scenario...

But I still can't wrap my head around giving up a 1st and Bahl for a 35 year old.

And it really is all just an admission that moving on from Graves was a huge mistake.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Couple of good posts about Markstrom:





Quite a few analytics guys that put his goaltending performance last year as top five in the league. Micah McCurdy even goes out of his way to say that Markstrom is a goaltender where SV% unfairly paints him in a bad light.

Goaltending is a particular position where it’s really hard to judge based on a lot of factors. Analytics there seem to be particularly useful.

Thank you for sharing these, these were the posts that I based my point around.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Makes sense logistically and I agree having 4 vets with with Luke and Nemec is the best scenario...

But I still can't wrap my head around giving up a 1st and Bahl for a 35 year old.

And it really ot is all just an admission that moving on from Graves was a huge mistake.

Good bait. But Pittsburgh would very happily give us Graves back in a millisecond. They want out of that blunder.

 

[JimEIV]

Good bait. But Pittsburgh would very happily give us Graves back in a millisecond. They want out of that blunder.

Id take him back.

 

[Saugus]

Makes sense logistically and I agree having 4 vets with with Luke and Nemec is the best scenario...

But I still can't wrap my head around giving up a 1st and Bahl for a 35 year old.

And it really ot is all just an admission that moving on from Graves was a huge mistake.

I don’t understand the fixation on Graves. We couldn’t realistically fit his new contract, and Pens fans damn near want to run him out of town because he’s sucked so bad there.

There might be something to be said for keeping continuity on defense and not throwing rookies straight into the lineup. And Graves was reasonably good in his role here.

But I don’t think letting him walk was some catastrophic mistake like you seem to.

 

[tailfins]

Makes sense logistically and I agree having 4 vets with with Luke and Nemec is the best scenario...

But I still can't wrap my head around giving up a 1st and Bahl for a 35 year old.

And it really ot is all just an admission that moving on from Graves was a huge mistake.

Moving on from Graves isn’t the problem. The problem is finding the upgrade.

The Devils need someone better than Graves. Ideally, Luke is 3rd pair D this year, and eventually he gets good enough to push Siegenthaler to third pair.

If we end up with a slow, 32+ year old signed for 3-4 years and too much money, then I’ll agree that losing Graves was a mistake.

 

[Zippy316]

Makes sense logistically and I agree having 4 vets with with Luke and Nemec is the best scenario...

But I still can't wrap my head around giving up a 1st and Bahl for a 35 year old.

And it really ot is all just an admission that moving on from Graves was a huge mistake.

A reliable, consistent goalie was an absolute must this off-season. I still am of the belief it’s a little high of a price, but a necessary one. Ideally with Markstrom that first round pick should be in the 20s.

To me, Saros and Ullmark would’ve costed too much and only one year left means an ugly extension coming afterwards. Markstrom is the cheaper option and his term for 2 years is the perfect bridge to run Markstrom/Allen and Markstrom/Schmid or Daws the next two years. The only other goalie that might’ve been available I would prefer to Markstrom would be Binnington, but I don’t believe he was ever on the table.

 

[JimEIV]

I don’t understand the fixation on Graves. We couldn’t realistically fit his new contract, and Pens fans damn near want to run him out of town because he’s sucked so bad there.

There might be something to be said for keeping continuity on defense and not throwing rookies straight into the lineup. And Graves was reasonably good in his role here.

But I don’t think letting him walk was some catastrophic mistake like you seem to.

What kind of vet defender are we going to get that can play top 4 minutes and top pair PK minutes for less than Graves current 4.5 cap hit? If we go FA we will pay more

 

[Saugus]

What kind of vet defender are we going to get that can play top 4 minutes and top pair PK minutes for less than Graves current 4.5 cap hit? If we go FA we will pay more

I’m not sure that is needed. Nemec will mature into that role long term.

In the short term, we might be looking at another Marino or Siegenthaler or Miller type trade, bringing in a middle pairing defender who is undervalued by his current team.

 

[Normal Devil]

I'm yet to come across any media source or podcast that thinks this was a bad deal for the Devils. The only people that hate it seem to be on this board.

 

[NJDevs26]

The term premium asset is getting thrown around way too liberally today lol

 

[Triumph]

I'm yet to come across any media source or podcast that thinks this was a bad deal for the Devils. The only people that hate it seem to be on this board.

To be fair, part of this is the natural contrarianism that builds up on a message board. People have convinced themselves that 6 games of Kahkonen is worth betting the season on, for some reason.

 

[Saugus]

The term premium asset is getting thrown around way too liberally today lol

Listen, I stand by my evaluation of Curtis Lazar as a premium asset and I will tolerate no arguments to the contrary!

 

[JimEIV]

I'm yet to come across any media source or podcast that thinks this was a bad deal for the Devils. The only people that hate it seem to be on this board.

Those are all the same people that had us winning our division last year.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

It's not this guy?

View attachment 884626

Zelepukin if anyone else.

 

[Moist ReadOnly]

Moving on from Graves isn’t the problem. The problem is finding the upgrade.

The Devils need someone better than Graves. Ideally, Luke is 3rd pair D this year, and eventually he gets good enough to push Siegenthaler to third pair.

If we end up with a slow, 32+ year old signed for 3-4 years and too much money, then I’ll agree that losing Graves was a mistake.

Injuries were the main reason but Luke leading the team in time played by a decent margin I think shows he can be a stable 2nd pair defender next year

Siegenthaler on the third pair with Nemec and a fun, fresh top-4 dman to pair with Dougie would be ideal to me; let Luke and Marino work together like they did some last year

 

[JimEIV]

Injuries were the main reason but Luke leading the team in time played by a decent margin I think shows he can be a stable 2nd pair defender next year

Siegenthaler on the third pair with Nemec and a fun, fresh top-4 dman to pair with Dougie would be ideal to me; let Luke and Marino work together like they did some last year

Luke 2nd pair, Siegenthaler 3rd pair...so you want to add a top pair LHD that can kill penalties?

 

[Triumph]

Moving on from Graves isn’t the problem. The problem is finding the upgrade.

The Devils need someone better than Graves. Ideally, Luke is 3rd pair D this year, and eventually he gets good enough to push Siegenthaler to third pair.

If we end up with a slow, 32+ year old signed for 3-4 years and too much money, then I’ll agree that losing Graves was a mistake.

Luke isn't going to be a 3rd pair defenseman for another 15 years. He will be playing 23 minutes a game this season.

 

[NjDevsRR]

The term premium asset is getting thrown around way too liberally today lol

Dano is a premium asset

 

[tailfins]

Luke isn't going to be a 3rd pair defenseman for another 15 years. He will be playing 23 minutes a game this season.

I don’t know about averaging 23 min for the year - but it’s really about situations.

If he keeps his role on PP1, he’ll get a bunch of time just from that. But, he’s not doing heavy lifting against top lines at this point, and he won’t be on PK.

Either Siegenthaler keeps those minutes or they find someone else.

My preference is they find someone else.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Holy shit, not Ryan Graves again for the umpteenth time. He was f***ing garbage in the playoffs for us and the Devils had a top 5 pick on that side who outplayed in the last little action leading up to his UFA status. Graves is that guy bounces from team to team to solidify your defensive core for the time being while you find a replacement, he's not the guy you win Cups or make long runs with it. He was borderline atrocious for Colorado too when they were making yearly runs right before we traded for him. Every Avs fan said such in the trade thread when we got him, he's good for a team trying to build towards something but once you get there, he's going to be a massive deterrent and we saw that in the 2023 playoffs.

I'm yet to come across any media source or podcast that thinks this was a bad deal for the Devils. The only people that hate it seem to be on this board.

It's not a bad deal because what's the other option? You overpay for Ullmark or Saros and give them a bloated deal for them to end up like Bob to nuke your window. You can hate Markstrom all you want but he still allows for a cautious out within 2 years and he's only making 4.2M. He won't be the issue if the Devils don't do anything within the next 2 years.

 

[Triumph]

I don’t know about averaging 23 min for the year - but it’s really about situations.

If he keeps his role on PP1, he’ll get a bunch of time just from that. But, he’s not doing heavy lifting against top lines at this point, and he won’t be on PK.

Either Siegenthaler keeps those minutes or they find someone else.

My preference is they find someone else.

Luke will be top 4 in ES ice time. In no world will he be on any sort of 3rd pair. Maybe, maybe he will get limited ice time when the Devils have a lead, but that's not how last season ended.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Betting the season on Allen and Kahkonen being good enough would have been a legit insane thing to do.