Confirmed with Link: Kovacevic Traded to the Devils for 2026 4th Round pick (Highest of the three 4th Rounders the Devils own)

[LaP]

Damn, Huston ain't really part of the rebuild cause he's not a Top-10 pick. Damn it. Sorry Lane, move over!

It's a very disingenuous argument and you know it. You know what i meant. I'm puzzled we are still arguing about when the rebuild started cause it should be crystal clear for everyone when it did.

 

[LaP]

Yeah it's odd, we've been seeing that sentiment more lately (that we need to compete NOW or the team will start getting too old) and I don't really get it. I totally understand why people are bored of sitting through bad seasons but it's not like we're really on the clock here. 3 years from now Slafkovsky and Hutson will be 22-23, Demidov will be 21-22, Dach/Caufield/Guhle 25-26, not like these guys are gonna be old and washed up any time soon.

In an ideal world you'd like to be competing right now with Suzuki at 25, but you can't min-max every single player in your system at all times and everything is a compromise. Suzuki/Laine at 25/26 are the only core players on the team over 23 years old and Matheson is the only guy older than 26 that has any real impact.

You could argue Florida started to compete when Barkov turned 27. They made the playoffs once from 2013 to 2019 so not competing. They were eliminated in the first round in 2020 and 2021. Reached the 2nd round in 2022 but were only one Pens wins against Chicago away from missing the playoffs again the next year. It really stared to gel for them in the playoffs on 2023 when Barkov was 27. They still have a relatively young team.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Only in Montreal would 2 games into a season make people pine for a 7th defenseman and want to throw a 1st round right shot defenseman in his early 20s on waivers instead.

 

[Max2]

Two Hughe's trades that I never loved were the Lehkonen trade and Kovacevic as well.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

You could rather do it, but during a rebuild they aren't gonna fold early on a big piece from one of their trades.

That’s probably what they did but it doesn’t make it the right decision

It stinks of refusal to accept that they made a mistake and are holding onto a problem for fear of looking stupid.

 

[26Mats]

Two Hughe's trades that I never loved were the Lehkonen trade and Kovacevic as well.

I like the Lehkonen trade in hindshight because it helped us get Slaf, Reinbacher, and Demidov. Not sure we get those 3 if Lehkonen wasn't traded. And the immediate return in the trade is secondary to getting those three.

 

[Archijerej]

Ah, the legendary Kovacevic...

I'm going to miss his hand grena...I mean puck handling skills.

 

[JoelWarlord]

That’s probably what they did but it doesn’t make it the right decision

It stinks of refusal to accept that they made a mistake and are holding onto a problem for fear of looking stupid.

Idk man I liked Kovacevic but we're talking about 27 year old 3rd pair RD, it's not like they traded Caufield to put Mesar on the first line or something.

Matheson, Guhle, Hutson, and Savard had the top 4 spots pretty much locked in on paper so they wanted to have Xhekaj, Struble, and Barron as the third pair rotation. I don't think that points to a "refusal to accept they made a mistake". It's just as much about Xhekaj and Struble as it is about Barron, keeping Kovacevic would have meant two of Xhekaj, Struble, or Barron sitting every time Kovacevic played.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Two Hughe's trades that I never loved were the Lehkonen trade and Kovacevic as well.

The Lehkonen trade are trades you make when you are rebuilding. Especially when your predecessors hamstrings you from a cap perspective.

That’s probably what they did but it doesn’t make it the right decision

It stinks of refusal to accept that they made a mistake and are holding onto a problem for fear of looking stupid.

It doesn't stink of that at all. What it shows is that the front office, development staff et al have more patience than a fan and know that defenseman take a longer time to develop and they'd rather hold on to a guy and have him turn into nothing of note, then give up too soon on a young defenseman and watch him blossom elsewhere.

 

[Archijerej]

Matheson, Guhle, Hutson, and Savard had the top 4 spots pretty much locked in on paper so they wanted to have Xhekaj, Struble, and Barron as the third pair rotation. I don't think that points to a "refusal to accept they made a mistake". It's just as much about Xhekaj and Struble as it is about Barron, keeping Kovacevic would have meant two of Xhekaj, Struble, or Barron sitting every time Kovacevic played.

Plus they still had Harris on the roster, their top 5 pick in Reinbacher was coming over from Europe and they had Mailloux pushing for a roster spot after a strong AHL season.

This is truly one of the hall of fame bizzare arguments I've seen on this board.

Thank God we've signed Gustav Lindstrom, so all is not lost.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Plus they still had Harris on the roster, their top 5 pick in Reinbacher was coming over from Europe and they had Mailloux pushing for a roster spot after a strong AHL season.

This is truly one of the hall of fame bizzare arguments I've seen on this board.

And they are (correctly) very high on Engstrom as well.

 

[Archijerej]

And they are (correctly) very high on Engstrom as well.

Yeah, there's that as well.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Yeah, there's that as well.

and if we didn't trade Kovacevic, I can only imagine the bitching and moaning every time Arber and Struble sat for him to play.

 

[Archijerej]

and if we didn't trade Kovacevic, I can only imagine the bitching and moaning every time Arber and Struble sat for him to play.

It's a game you cannot win. I think I'm just going to refrain from participating in any discussions, until at least 10 games into the season. I'm getting old for this shit.

 

[Adam Michaels]

You mean the dude logging over 20 minutes a night for a better team, with more points then anyone on our roster, who was one of the only 'plus' players here the last couple of years while we have people like Justin Barron dressing for games?

Yeah.

There's a reason teams like Toronto don't win cups. The supporting cast is trash. Kovacevic was the perfect example of a moderately paid but solid piece.

If you really think Kovacevic is going to keep this pace up in New Jersey, you are vastly over valuing him. I hope you're not drawing any conclusions after he played 3 games and Montreal has played 2.

 

[Natey]

I wasn't basing myself off 8 games but more so what he showed in his 2 seasons here.

An ability to get some points with no PP time? An ability to keep the puck out of our net when he's on the ice?

exactly my point. More interested in getting into personal attacks than discussing the issues. It's what you do.

You sent out personal shots too... don't try and sit all high and mighty.

If you really think Kovacevic is going to keep this pace up in New Jersey, you are vastly over valuing him. I hope you're not drawing any conclusions after he played 3 games and Montreal has played 2.

Keep up what pace? The pace that he can log minutes, keep the puck out of his net, and score a few points? Nah thanks bro, I'm quite confident he can keep that up.

 

[Natey]

It's a very disingenuous argument and you know it. You know what i meant. I'm puzzled we are still arguing about when the rebuild started cause it should be crystal clear for everyone when it did.

I never argued with you about when the rebuild started. I know when the rebuild started. It started when we hired Hughes and Gorton. Pretty simple.

 

[26Mats]

You sent out personal shots too... don't try and sit all high and mighty.

What was my personal attack?

 

[Natey]

I expect he'll do well on the bottom pairing, and I won't be too surprised if he moves up.

Early in the season, but he's 2nd pairing right now and playing as the #3 at even strength. And he's logging the most minutes on their PK so far which hasn't been scored on.

The guy has just not been scored on at the professional level.

Over the past two seasons ... we had 9 of 47 players finish with a positive +/- and only 2 of those 9 players played more than 24 games. Kovacevic almost tripled the next closest guy as he was +14 in 139 games. This on a team that had a -128 goal differential over those two seasons.

 

[Natey]

What was my personal attack?

Read your own posts and I'm sure you'll find it.

Regardless, I literally quoted you, told you how many names you wrote and you decided that I was wrong and said nah, only wrote 8 bro.

As for answering your question - I did. You wrote 4 people who aren't even on the team. Those players, at this point, have absolutely nothing to do with it.

If we had got an overpayment for him? This wouldn't be a conversation. But we didn't. We traded him before we needed too. If that was Hughes' style - to make his moves early... fine. But Josh Anderson is still here 37 years after his expiry date, so it's clearly not.

Two games. Repeat after me all TWO GAMES. Do you remember the time Josh Gorges had 2 goals in 2 games one of them being a generational player type of goal? I DO!

Then again maybe I just don't know how to count anymore. Maybe there's a new numbering system.

 

[26Mats]

Read your own posts and I'm sure you'll find it.

Regardless, I literally quoted you, told you how many names you wrote and you decided that I was wrong and said nah, only wrote 8 bro.

As for answering your question - I did. You wrote 4 people who aren't even on the team. Those players, at this point, have absolutely nothing to do with it.

If we had got an overpayment for him? This wouldn't be a conversation. But we didn't. We traded him before we needed too. If that was Hughes' style - to make his moves early... fine. But Josh Anderson is still here 37 years after his expiry date, so it's clearly not.

- Hughes was shopping Anderson in the media, he just never found a taker.
- Sure we could have used Kovacevic as the 7th dman instead of Barron - or 8th dman at the time because Harris was there. But right now there are 6 dmen ahead of Kovacevic, Barron, and Harris. We got a 4th for Kovacevic, and used Harris in the deal that brought in Laine and a 2nd (looking to be really early 2nd). We'll see what we eventually get for Barron and whether it was good asset managment to move Kovacevic rather than Barron. But I'm liking the return we've gotten so far for 2 of the 3 surplus D.

- Hughes seems to me to balance betting on what return he'll get for his assets with what he sacrifices as far as players go. For example, in picking up Laine he hedged his bets in that if Laine doesn't work out (the player personnel) he still made sure to get an asset (early 2nd) in the deal. By trading Kovacevic instead of Barron, he gets an asset for Kovacevic and still gives himself time to see if Barron can develop. If Barron doesn't develop, at least he got an asset for Kovacevic. If Barron does develop, that's even better.

- There were no personal attacks. Either your pulling stuff out of your rear end or are seeing figments of your imagination.

 

[OldCraig71]

I liked Kovacevic when he was here, he wasn't flashy or a superstar by any means but he was a steady bottom-pairing guy who got the job done, I wish him all the best in New Jersey.

 

[26Mats]

I liked Kovacevic when he was here, he wasn't flashy or a superstar by any means but he was a steady bottom-pairing guy who got the job done, I wish him all the best in New Jersey.

He got the job done as a bottom pair guy. Which means he wasn't perfect and would get turnstyled his fair share of times.

 

[OldCraig71]

He got the job done as a bottom pair guy. Which means he wasn't perfect and would get turnstyled his fair share of times.

That may be so but our 1st and second pairings are getting turnstyled as well and that guy was on a league minimum contract and he was solid. I am not the poster to argue back and forth about players but he brought more than enough for what he was paid and on a better team he will be more valuable.

 

[Andy]

That may be so but our 1st and second pairings are getting turnstyled as well and that guy was on a league minimum contract and he was solid. I am not the poster to argue back and forth about players but he brought more than enough for what he was paid and on a better team he will be more valuable.

I would argue that Kovacevic had the same amount of brain farts as Guhle, Arber, Struble and the rest of the young D. The difference is fans expectations.

No one expects Kovacevic to be more than a bottom pairing D man. So his errors are glossed over as it being part of his capability.

The young crew doesnt get the same rope because fans expect a high potential, and expect them to reach it fairly quickly.

I am not sure how many times it needs to be said, but it's not very common for D men to be completely reliable in their very early 20s.