Tootoo signed to one year deal (825K)

[sundstrom]

chere also tweeting that this was a lou deal and not a shero deal. so can't blame it on ray on this one.

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Toots was one of my highlights of the season. Glad he is back.

[coldply123]

Ha, the New Jersey Devils have one of the better bottom 6 forward groups in the league.

 

Haha.  I needed a good laugh.  They really aren't that good.  A few useful individuals, but largely ineffective the last two years.  Time for a turnover there.  

[BostonNala370]

1 years good but too much money could have signed him for $675. This was a Lou signing, Ray not involved.

[2ELIAS6]

I'd bring Bernier back for my 4th line without question.

theres already too many 4th line players on this team thats part of our problem.. they start playing on other lines when they have no business being on the 2nd line where a much higher quality player should be

[Triumph]

Jesus Christ. I think you're a hired troll. No exaggeration.

Hes a heart and soul player that at times last year was our best player on the lineup. No denying that. It's a great signing for one year and under 1 mil. I can name 15 other players on this team less deserving of a contract than this guy.

 

Heart and soul is literally the cheapest commodity there is in hockey.  You want a guy who will play his ass off every night?  Give an AHL lifer a league minimum contract and put him on the NHL roster.  Mark Fraser tried hard every night.

 

I enjoyed watching Tootoo play last year and probably will again this year, but that doesn't mean he's good - there's no way he was ever the best player in the lineup.  Now yeah, you might want to reward Tootoo just as a sign to other players that if you work hard,  you'll get treated right, but in a vacuum it's not really a good signing.

 

Anyway now that it's out that this is a Lou move, not a Shero move, I can walk back some of my comments.  We'll see about what's next.

Edited May 10, 2015 by Triumph

[Vic Rattlehead18]

Lous legacy ends with a Tootoo signing lol.

[thecoffeecake]

theres already too many 4th line players on this team thats part of our problem.. they start playing on other lines when they have no business being on the 2nd line where a much higher quality player should be

Yea, the problem is too many fourth liners clogging up the lineup, like there are handfuls of top six guys trying to crack the Devils roster. Signing or not signing bernier isn't the difference between a fourth line guy playing on the second line or a second line guy playing on the second line. If bernier isn't re-signed, you're either giving more time and expanded roles to other fourth line players on the roster, bringing up some useless AHL lifer, or signing a similar player to a close to identical deal. No top six talent isn't getting signed because bernier inked another one year/<1 million contract

[mfitz804]

theres already too many 4th line players on this team thats part of our problem.. they start playing on other lines when they have no business being on the 2nd line where a much higher quality player should be

Bernier was 2nd in goals, 4th in points on the team, and he missed what, 18 or so games? So if you were choosing between our excess of 4th liners, he wouldn't be one of them? Especially at the less than $1m you'd have to pay him???

If that's what you meant, I am glad you aren't the GM.

[slasher72]

Or, maybe it's a case of seeing Tootoo had a better season than a lot of people expected, and there's no downside to it.

Now, a Fraser signing as anything more than needing a body at some point close to the start or at the beginning of the season would be an actual indication that Shero doesn't get it. Keeping Salvador would be an immediate sign of awful things to come.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If that happens it would mean Lou has retained more power than we'd hope he would. And this team would be headed for bottom-feeder status.

[Triumph]

Yea, the problem is too many fourth liners clogging up the lineup, like there are handfuls of top six guys trying to crack the Devils roster. Signing or not signing bernier isn't the difference between a fourth line guy playing on the second line or a second line guy playing on the second line. If bernier isn't re-signed, you're either giving more time and expanded roles to other fourth line players on the roster, bringing up some useless AHL lifer, or signing a similar player to a close to identical deal. No top six talent isn't getting signed because bernier inked another one year/<1 million contract

 

While this isn't wrong, there's a few problems with this - you don't get to have the same 12 guys out there every night unless you are the Rangers.  Injuries happen.  When you sign a 4th line guy who should only be a 4th line guy, you limit your roster flexibility.  The Devils think Tootoo is better than a 4th line guy, which is probably even worse.  Regardless, the Devils should be giving some spot or spots on their RW to a player from the KHL or some other overseas league - Bernier's 30 years old, he's not getting better, and he won't be here when the Devils are any good.  The more people they sign who are 30+ and going nowhere, the fewer spots they have to take a chance with someone.  In an ideal world, Bernier is your 4th line RW who moves up when there's injuries.  I don't think that's how it will play out, though.

[mfitz804]

If that happens it would mean Lou has retained more power than we'd hope he would. And this team would be headed for bottom-feeder status.

Headed for??

[DJ Eco]

How many other players had their names chanted after a big shift and bringing some juice to this dead team last year? I mean my god if you're saying this is a bad signing than I don't think you tuned in last year.

 

Janssen gets a standing ovation everytime he's called up for a Devils game, that doesn't means he's very good. Tootoo's not that good, but regardless I don't mind the signing as much as others do, really.

[NJDfan1711]

I don't ming this signing at all. It's near league minimum (or is it actually minimum?) for a guy who showed he has some speed and isn't afraid to throw his body around.  He's an engery guy that is perfect for the 3rd or 4th line if you ask me. 

 

Now, seeing him on the 2nd or even 1st line this past sesason did send a sickening feeling into my stomach, yes, but if we use him correctly I am fine with this.

[titans04]

Janssen gets a standing ovation everytime he's called up for a Devils game, that doesn't means he's very good. Tootoo's not that good, but regardless I don't mind the signing as much as others do, really.

 

 

Great stuff and dead on.

[BostonNala370]

While this isn't wrong, there's a few problems with this - you don't get to have the same 12 guys out there every night unless you are the Rangers.  Injuries happen.  When you sign a 4th line guy who should only be a 4th line guy, you limit your roster flexibility.  The Devils think Tootoo is better than a 4th line guy, which is probably even worse.  Regardless, the Devils should be giving some spot or spots on their RW to a player from the KHL or some other overseas league - Bernier's 30 years old, he's not getting better, and he won't be here when the Devils are any good.  The more people they sign who are 30+ and going nowhere, the fewer spots they have to take a chance with someone.  In an ideal world, Bernier is your 4th line RW who moves up when there's injuries.  I don't think that's how it will play out, though.

 

Again, how right you are. This is a Lams signing hopefully his last, while Shero knew it was hapening before he cam aboard, probably not a Shero signing.

[Marshall]

It's really unimportant to me in the short term (look, a RW on the depth chart!) but I fully understand the worry for The Ray Shero Era if this is a sign of things to come. You don't become an elite team by having 4th liners in 4th line roles, you become that by having 3rd-liners on your 4th line and top 4 defensemen on your bottom pair and so on. You don't beat the system and the other teams by following the system. This isn't something I can be bothered to really worry about right here, right now, but when (if?) the Devils sort out their depth (ie acquire it) it's a legitimate discussion. Based on Shero's history...eeeh I'm not too optimistic.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Marshall

[Devil Dan 56]

If that happens it would mean Lou has retained more power than we'd hope he would. And this team would be headed for bottom-feeder status.

Headed for?? This team has been one Cory Schneider injury away from dead last for nearly 2 years.

[EdgeControl]

I would have signed bernier instead. a bit more versatile

[DJ Eco]

I would have signed bernier instead. a bit more versatile

 

On one hand I agree, but on the other hand, I liked more what I saw out of Tootoo this season than what I've seen out of Bernier if you were to average out his general performance over the 4 seasons we've had him. He's been pretty useless for 3 of them. It's hard to really evaluate Bernier's worth because of his strong numbers this contract year despite being vastly ineffective for most of the last 4 years.

 

Bernier was the most useless of the 3 members of CBGB in my opinion. 1, 8, and 3 goals in his first 3 years and then magically he gets 16 this year. Tootoo got 10 this year. And I think he'll get 10 next year. I think we know what we're getting with Tootoo.

 

Is Bernier on the upswing finally, or was this an anomaly that'll result in him getting overpaid or an extra year on his contract? People who score 16 goals make $2-3 million at least in today's NHL now. Hell, he scored only 3 points less than Antoine Vermette, who everyone will suddenly want this offseason. Michael Frolik will probably get $3.75-4m in UFA and Bernier wasn't too far behind him either.

 

So, what are we comfortable with offering Steve Bernier?

Edited May 12, 2015 by DJ Eco

[DevsMan84]

On one hand I agree, but on the other hand, I liked more what I saw out of Tootoo this season than what I've seen out of Bernier if you were to average out his general performance over the 4 seasons we've had him. He's been pretty useless for 3 of them. It's hard to really evaluate Bernier's worth because of his strong numbers this contract year despite being vastly ineffective for most of the last 4 years.

 

Bernier was the most useless of the 3 members of CBGB in my opinion. 1, 8, and 3 goals in his first 3 years and then magically he gets 16 this year. Tootoo got 10 this year. And I think he'll get 10 next year. I think we know what we're getting with Tootoo.

 

Is Bernier on the upswing finally, or was this an anomaly that'll result in him getting overpaid or an extra year on his contract? People who score 16 goals make $2-3 million at least in today's NHL now. Hell, he scored only 3 points less than Antoine Vermette, who everyone will suddenly want this offseason. Michael Frolik will probably get $3.75-4m in UFA and Bernier wasn't too far behind him either.

 

So, what are we comfortable with offering Steve Bernier?

 

I actually thought and still do think Bernier was the most useful of the CBGB line.  Don't forget that 8-goal year was a 48-game season and he was probably on-track for about 13-15 goals.  He did get 16 goals this year which is great, but I also have to remember he got more minutes and played with better line mates this year, so I would think his norm would be around 5-10 goals a season.  That's pretty much what I expect a 4th liner to do, he is decent defensively and he was alright on the PP and not sure if he was on the PK this year.

 

I always thought Gionta was the most useless out of the 3.  Yeah he plays on the PK, but he really shouldn't.  He isn't a complete train wreck but I think a mix of being a good soldier and the fact that we don't have any better got him his spot pretty much sealed here.

 

In regards to Tootoo, I am still not really thrilled about this signing, but I am not going to crazy over it either.  It's a 1 year deal for less than a million.  That's about what he should be making and the term makes it next to no risk.  If he is signed after this coming year, then I will be pissed no matter what the term is.  However this year I can live with it.

[mfitz804]

"So, what are we comfortable with offering Steve Bernier?

We aren't up against the cap so for a 1 year deal its kind of irrelevant, but I would be ok with $1m-$1.3m. You reward a guy for having a good year, and he had a good year. Since it's still incredibly low and there's no issue with the cap and he's not exactly taking the roster spot of a better player, I'd be fine with that.

I don't think I want to go two years, but I'd consider it at a discount ($1.9 for two?).

[DJ Eco]

We aren't up against the cap so for a 1 year deal its kind of irrelevant, but I would be ok with $1m-$1.3m. You reward a guy for having a good year, and he had a good year. Since it's still incredibly low and there's no issue with the cap and he's not exactly taking the roster spot of a better player, I'd be fine with that.

I don't think I want to go two years, but I'd consider it at a discount ($1.9 for two?).

 

True, I agree with you there.