GDT: Panthers @ Devils - 7:00 PM - MSG

[glenwo2]

They can't Bataan Death March their way to another season end. Bratt, Nico, and Jack have done that far too many times.

They need to find some pride and end strong. It absolutely doesn't matter if it hurts our draft position or raises Green's coinage.

Then trade Holtz to Calgary for Markstrom and be done with it.

Otherwise, Bataan Death March it is.

 

[Guadana]

I'm not at all at fire Fitz, but he was a little too smug with ''Goaltending has not been good enough this year'' in his presser earlier today. f***in fire somebody besides just Ruff. Like Rogalski, the guy who coaches these goalies.

''I might piss Marty off if I fire his boy''.

f*** that shit. Gethimouttahere.

I believe he will fire most of the stuff. Taylor should be fired too. New coach should have an opportunity to hire new guys or at least talk about candidates.
Its not like organisation should hire new specialists now, its not that easy when the hockey year is going on.

 

[Unknown Caller]

I really think it’s going to be hard to stay above .500 with this schedule and goaltending. Every one they have is unplayable at the moment. We’ll see what happens.

The goaltending makes basically every game losable. It's just mind blowing that it's gotten to this point. Absolute malpractice that nothing was done.

If you didn't want to pay the prices to acquire a goalie on the trade market, you could have at least claimed someone like Raanta or Samsonov on waivers with an expiring deal for free just to change things up. They had $9M in LTIR all season.

It's simply inexcusabe.

 

[Bcap88]

Everyone took a step back this year though. Nobody is playing as well as last year with the exception of Bratt.

Yea you can usually weather 1/2 players taking a step back but when the majority of the team takes a step back it’s an issue and now compound that with injuries and youth on the backend and you get an inconsisten .500 team

However, all things considered it’s not like the team hit a cliff due to age or skill. It very likely comes down to adapting to the league as the league adapts to you when they take away your best strengths

 

[Emperoreddy]

Mercer took like two giant leaps backwards. It's alarming

That's another big ass hole if he isn't going to be any good going forward.

 

[JimEIV]

Finally!!!
I have been saying this since forever. He will be a FA. Fitz should be as aggressive as possible to get him. He's a rental in Dallas and will be free to sign anywhere at the free agent date. If I'm Fitz, I'm sleeping on his doorstep.

If it means you move Marino, so be it. Chris will be worth his weight in gold for Luke.

You absolutely have been saying this.

I initially balked at the idea of changing the right side. But after thinking about it really does make sense to get Luke the most stable partner possible.

 

[Devs3cups]

As desperate I am for a goalie, I really don't like the idea of giving Saros his big pay day. I don't have faith the really big goalie contracts work out.

What would be your ideal solution? Do you want Markstrom for 2 years?

 

[Unknown Caller]

Mercer took like two giant leaps backwards. It's alarming

He had a nice run starting around the trade deadline last season, but he looked the same way a lot of last season as well. It's why I was comfortable making him the key piece in the Meier deal if that's what was necessary to get it done.

Looking back now, would you rather have Mukhamadullin and Zetterlund or Mercer? I think most of us would say Mercer, but it's not a no brainer answer.

 

[RNCDevil]

Everyone took a step back this year though. Nobody is playing as well as last year with the exception of Bratt.

...and Voldemort, of course... the only other over performer...also, Miller was better than expected but low bar.

 

[Emperoreddy]

What would be your ideal solution? Do you want Markstrom for 2 years?

Don't know if it's ideal, but probably the best option available when considering both trade cost and term.

Ullmark could work too, but I'm still not convinced how available he is and I feel like the trade price would be uncomfortably expensive considering he would be a rental next year

 

[Bad Goalie]

You absolutely have been saying this.

I initially balked at the idea of changing the right side. But after thinking about it really does make sense to get Luke the most stable partner possible.

I can't believe you have come around. I don't think I have ever seen you change your tune.

Thanks.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

You absolutely have been saying this.

I initially balked at the idea of changing the right side. But after thinking about it really does make sense to get Luke the most stable partner possible.

The thing with Marino is the same thing with Siegs, they're both good players and have done more good than bad but if you can improve either of them, go for it imo, but if a new coach comes in and they still suck we're in the mud in regards with them. I have way more faith in Marino than I do Siegs though. But yes, I'd also love Tanev as well for Luke

 

[Lou Bloom]

Whoever we draft with that top 9 pick isn't going to help us anytime soon.

If you think the team should start seriously trying to compete next year, it needs to be on the table for potential trades

That is short term thinking. Look at how impactful players like Thomas Harley (2019 1st round pick), Wyatt Johnston (2021 1st round pick) and Logan Stankoven (2021 2nd round pick) are looking to be for the Dallas Stars, all players selected after they made the playoffs in 2019. That's three good pieces that are bringing good production on ELCs.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I like the Markstrom route because it has an out in two years. Will allow our kids to develop properly and when Markstrom is gone maybe one of them is serviceable, which is all we need by then as that should be our peak years and it would save us cap for other moves. We 100% need a vet goalie during our growing pains years.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Whoever we draft with that top 9 pick isn't going to help us anytime soon.

If you think the team should start seriously trying to compete next year, it needs to be on the table for potential trades

The Devils are gonna need ELC's + good players in general when the cap blows up and our good contracts start to fizzle out.

 

[Emperoreddy]

He had a nice run starting around the trade deadline last season, but he looked the same way a lot of last season as well. It's why I was comfortable making him the key piece in the Meier deal if that's what was necessary to get it done.

Looking back now, would you rather have Mukhamadullin and Zetterlund or Mercer? I think most of us would say Mercer, but it's not a no brainer answer.

I know the idea of those two over Mercer sounds better, but I'm not sure the reality is better.

A good sandpaper switch army knife bottom 6er along with a young LD with top 4 potential are things we badly need.

 

[Guadana]

J. Hughes and Meier were the only two guys that

I would try to trade Palat if we could somehow. He is another aging and slowing used car like Toffoli.

No, thanks. This team is soft, can't play defense, can't play on the boards. And we should save the players who is actually doing it.

 

[Emperoreddy]

View attachment 830224View attachment 830225View attachment 830226


No, thanks. This team is soft, can't play defense, can't play on the boards. And we should save the players who is actually doing it.

We should probably keep Toffoli too then based off these images

 

[Zippy316]

He had a nice run starting around the trade deadline last season, but he looked the same way a lot of last season as well. It's why I was comfortable making him the key piece in the Meier deal if that's what was necessary to get it done.

Looking back now, would you rather have Mukhamadullin and Zetterlund or Mercer? I think most of us would say Mercer, but it's not a no brainer answer.

Trading Mukhmadullin was a smart decision. Ditto for Okhotiuk.

We see how rough it is trying to acclimate Bahl, Luke, and Nemec into the team. I can’t imagine trying to acclimate another 21/22 year old to the NHL.

I’d rather have Mercer than both in all honesty. Let’s not forget Zetterlund regressed hard last year after a strong first couple months.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I like the Markstrom route because it has an out in two years. Will allow our kids to develop properly and when Markstrom is gone maybe one of them is serviceable, which is all we need by then as that should be our peak years and it would save us cap for other moves. We 100% need a vet goalie during our growing pains years.

What does growing pain years mean though? Are we actually 3 years out then?

 

[NjDevsRR]

What does growing pain years mean though? Are we actually 3 years out then?

I simply mean during the time Luke and Simon are still learning the game…

Dont read further into it, which you are on every single post at the moment. They should be an easy playoff team next season with a new coach and goalie alone, plus being healthy. Thats not even adding in necessary moves for the bottom 6 and on D for a vet.

Calm down on the doom and gloom. It’s not as severe as you are making it out to be

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

He had a nice run starting around the trade deadline last season, but he looked the same way a lot of last season as well. It's why I was comfortable making him the key piece in the Meier deal if that's what was necessary to get it done.

Looking back now, would you rather have Mukhamadullin and Zetterlund or Mercer? I think most of us would say Mercer, but it's not a no brainer answer.

Why would they have traded a player off their best line going into at the deadline? Granted, he was the third best player on it with Nico/Tatar being better but he was scoring in bunches for us leading into the deadline. His value was at max and it's as low as it'll ever be right now. New coach will help Mercer the most imo. Say if it's someone like Sullivan, there's no reason he can't mold Mercer into a Rust 2.0 type.

 

[JimEIV]

What does growing pain years mean though? Are we actually 3 years out then?

I think we can mitigate some of it with better partners for Luke and Nemec.

 

[Guadana]

We should probably keep Toffoli too then based off these images

On one image. Not on all. If you will break down defensive metrics like amount of chances against us per min and will use context(who us playing against harder competition) you will figure it out too that Palat is doing fine.
Its not a great deal, but for now he is doing fine and it would be better if our forwards could learn something from him.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Trading Mukhmadullin was a smart decision. Ditto for Okhotiuk.

We see how rough it is trying to acclimate Bahl, Luke, and Nemec into the team. I can’t imagine trying to acclimate another 21/22 year old to the NHL.

I’d rather have Mercer than both in all honesty. Let’s not forget Zetterlund regressed hard last year after a strong first couple months.

Okhotiuk and Mukhamadullin are not equivalent though. The growing pains would have been there with Mukhamadullin, but he almost certainly would have been in Utica for a couple years.

He's very likely to be a big rangy middle pairing defenseman as his floor. And cost controlled at that. That's very valuable.