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

[NJDevs26]

They're literally going to add someone to said pool in 10 days, hop off the ledge. Anyone else they got was going to be a worse deal + having a contract have to be given to for the 25/26 year like Saros or Ullmark. If Markstrom is good, you have a starter for at 4.5M for that year versus 8-9M Saros/Ullmark will probably get.

Not to mention they still have guys like Casey and the Finnish dude who was tearing it up overseas last year who aren't even part of the near term outlook.

 

[Forge]

I'd rather have a stocked prospect pool with solid depth on the NHL level vs selling the farm for a depreciating asset like Jacob f***ing Markstrom.

LOL

"selling the farm for Markstrom"

Dear lord.

 

[NJDevs26]

He's not an elite goaltender and the non-elite guys bounce up and down constantly. That's why the correct approach to goaltending is to get cheap vets and throw mid round picks at them in the draft. I know that this is exactly what the Devils have done and it hasn't worked out so far, but it worked for lots of other team, they just need to stop sucking at it.




Yeah, how'd they get there? By winning trades on value and being patient with young players or tossing 1st round picks at 34 year olds?

You want another ten years to 'build up the prospect pool' and hope we get another lotto win or can win when Jack and Nico are in their mid-30's? At some point it's **** or get off the pot time.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Get 1 or 2 D upgrades

A top 6 winger if possible

And some size and speed in bottom 6


Then this team is pretty much complete

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

He's not an elite goaltender and the non-elite guys bounce up and down constantly. That's why the correct approach to goaltending is to get cheap vets and throw mid round picks at them in the draft. I know that this is exactly what the Devils have done and it hasn't worked out so far, but it worked for lots of other team, they just need to stop sucking at it.




Yeah, how'd they get there? By winning trades on value and being patient with young players or tossing 1st round picks at 34 year olds?

what good is a player they pick in the mid to late teens (in your eyes) NEXT YEAR that won't make the big leagues until our stars are at or approaching 30 years old?

this team needs to figure out if this core has the goods now. They can't wait anymore.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

I think I predicted this last week....any player we trade will immediately suck and any pick we give up will be irrelevant...

So damn predictable.

I mean I could’ve said the completely opposite for you.
Any player we trade will be an important one and any pick we trade will be too valuable.

So damn predictable.

 

[Forge]

I don't expect everyone to be on board with it, I totally get why there were other options that were more appealing. For me personally, I really liked the idea of targeting Gustavsson given the age, salary, potential upside. @Lou Bloom I think really liked the idea of Knight.

But can we at least have an honest discourse?

A top 10 protected future first is not "selling the farm".

 

[devilsblood]

LOL

"selling the farm for Markstrom"

Dear lord.

Ha, I missed that one, we literally didn't trade a single piece of the farm.

 

[Andre Palot]

LOL

"selling the farm for Markstrom"

Dear lord.

Giving first round picks out is something I'd classify as selling the farm, yes.

Is a player like Kevin Bahl replaceable? In theory, sure. But again, this was a move that wasn't needed considering Kahkonen was more than acceptable at the position.

Ask yourself this. Is Markstrom that much of an upgrade on Kahkonen that we had to give up any tangible assets at all?

I'd argue no time and time again.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Fitz is the Tony Khan of GMs. Shiny toy syndrome.

This isn't a good deal in a vacuum, it isn't on paper but because it's an apparent 'name' we should be thrilled.


I'd rather have a stocked prospect pool with solid depth on the NHL level vs selling the farm for a depreciating asset like Jacob f***ing Markstrom.

Selling the farm by giving up a late 1st over a year from now and a depth defenseman that I had penciled in as the #7 after free agency.

 

[Blackjack]

You want another ten years to 'build up the prospect pool' and hope we get another lotto win or can win when Jack and Nico are in their mid-30's? At some point it's **** or get off the pot time.

You don't need another 10 years. Malek looks good, maybe Daws or Schmid figure it out. Meanwhile you keep stocking prospects and when it all hits you have a solid foundation.

Where is our center depth going to come from now? Even if we draft Helenius or another C at 10OA it's still shallow.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

This is the PK Subban trade of goalies.

If he's good then you just got a really good deal out of a player who fits a need on your roster and helps you contend ASAP. Granted the PK deal was trying to help decide whether we should sign Taylor Hall long term as well.

If he sucks, you cut bait and try again in a year or two. Fitz is probably closer to get firing though.

The alternative is if you trade for Ullmark/Saros with more pieces and give them those huge contracts and they implode, well, you just nuked your entire contending window in one swoop.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Giving first round picks out is something I'd classify as selling the farm, yes.

Is a player like Kevin Bahl replaceable? In theory, sure. But again, this was a move that wasn't needed considering Kahkonen was more than acceptable at the position.

Ask yourself this. Is Markstrom that much of an upgrade on Kahkonen that we had to give up any tangible assets at all?

I'd argue no time and time again.

if you think the Devils were going to into the season with Allen and Kahkonen as their 2 goalies, thats on you. That was NEVER going to happen if you listened to literally anything the GM said.

 

[NJDevs26]

This is the PK Subban trade of goalies.

If he's good then you just got a really good deal out of a player who fits a need on your roster and helps you contend ASAP.

If he sucks, you cut bait and try again in a year or two. Fitz is probably closer to get firing though.

The alternative is if you trade for Ullmark/Saros with more pieces and give them those huge contracts and they implode, well, you just nuked your entire contending window in one swoop.

That's sadly a really good comparison lol...and we know with hindsight how close Shero was to getting fired considering he got the sack a few months later when it didn't work out.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

You don't need another 10 years. Malek looks good, maybe Daws or Schmid figure it out. Meanwhile you keep stocking prospects and when it all hits you have a solid foundation.

Where is our center depth going to come from now? Even if we draft Helenius or another C at 10OA it's still shallow.

how many NHL teams would kill for the top 2 centers the Devils have?

Probably at least 20, I would imagine more.

 

[Andre Palot]

if you think the Devils were going to into the season with Allen and Kahkonen as their 2 goalies, thats on you. That was NEVER going to happen if you listened to literally anything the GM said.

Doesn't make it any less of a wrong decision.

 

[Blackjack]

what good is a player they pick in the mid to late teens (in your eyes) NEXT YEAR that won't make the big leagues until our stars are at or approaching 30 years old?

this team needs to figure out if this core has the goods now. They can't wait anymore.

Alex Barkov is 28, I'll bet he's glad that he has Lundell on the team.

 

[JimEIV]

I mean, it's Kevin Bahl.....who is fine. Third pairing guy. But it's not like you can't find those guys if you need them. He caught some flack he shouldn't have at times because he was playing above his skill level and that's not his fault, but that also means that his skill level is what it is.

I've been saying the return would be a 25 first for a while now and have been fully prepared to pay it without too much care.

This mantra of "easy to find" is really not true....

We've been talking about about adding bottom gritty bottom 6 players, a bottom 6 center, a winger for Jack every off season since 2020...

Big Dmen that can skate well enough to not be a hindrance to your team aren't all that easy to find. We lost two in a row in Graves and Bahl in consecutive years and there is really nothing in the pipeline remotely close to them...

we are in a situation now that they "have to" be replaced with whatever is available. I don't think that is a good situation.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I just can't understand getting that up in arms about trading the pick for a guy who is currently junior in high school when the team is ready to compete NOW.

and if the team sucks again next year? Guess what, the pick is top 10 protected, and the GM will likely be fired anyways....

 

[Forge]

Every single goalie they could target was going to have questions attached to them.

Think Ullmark is better? Cool, wouldn't disagree. But you're going to have to give up a pretty good asset in trade most likely + long term contract for a guy that breaks down 50 games.

Gustavsson could be a one year wonder. Knight may never be the guy people projected him to be as a prospect.
Saros? Big assets, big money. As a rental alone he'd cost more than a first.

Or maybe we wanted John Gibson or Elvis. Could have been super cheap. People would have loved that, I have no doubt.

 

[Oneiro]

This period of time is also one of max leverage for teams selling goalies. The market could be a bit different two years from now.

Functionally, don't think there's too much difference between Bahl and Hatakka. It'd be different if Bahl was Wrecking Bahl, but if he ever is that guy, it's probably a long time from now.

 

[Blackjack]

This mantra of "easy to find" is really not true....

We've been talking about about adding bottom gritty bottom 6 players, a bottom 6 center, a winger for Jack every off season since 2020...

Big Dmen that can skate well enough to not be a hindrance to your team aren't all that easy to find. We lost two in a row in Graves and Bahl in consecutive years and there is really nothing in the pipeline remotely close to them...

we are in a situation now that they "have to" be replaced with whatever is available. I don't think that is a good situation.

Bahl was worse than Hatakka and probably Misyul

 

[devilsblood]

I think they're a bit of a win now/desperate team after what happened last year. You can't just keep wasting years off of this guy's supposed good deals and now try to be a contender in front of them

Ya, the goalie melt down last year put us in bad spot, we needed a significant upgrade. And it's a very difficult position to upgrade. So we had to overpay.

It's not terrible though. Like I said earlier, let's just make this a late 1st rnd pick.

I liked Bahl, but we were probably going, or at least looking, to upgrade the LHD's anyway, I was leaning a little bit more to upgraded Sieg's but I don't think Bahl is or will be clearly better.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Alex Barkov is 28, I'll bet he's glad that he has Lundell on the team.

I don't even know what you're talking about dude. Lundell was drafted 5 drafts ago when Barkov was 23.

 

[NJDevs26]

People just get ridiculously protective of both draft picks and cap space, every deal is literally the worst that'll ever happen and nuke our window forever.