Colorado Rockies 1976

Back to .500 for a night, and coming back from 3-0. Alonso actually showed a pulse.

Why is she even a thing? Because her last name is Hextall?

Yeah we gotta see what Fitz is able to land. He’s talked the “big fish” talk, now we’ll see where that leads. But I don’t think Fitz envisions Allen as his #1.

Re: Allen, he’s here as the vet backup. C’mon, every NHL goalie should be able to start 50 games or they’re not NHL-worthy? There’s plenty of room in the NHL for solid backups who are expected to start 20-30 games in any given season.

Kelenic has gone fully back to showing that he may never figure out how to hit in the majors with anything resembling consistency: Last 18 games (15 starts): 58 PA, 8 hits, 4 BB, 23 K, .148/.207/.167 slash, .374 OPS (yikes). When even the Braves can't find a way to get something out of you...

Yeah, suddenly the Sabres and the Sens are the teams that know what the hell they're doing? Since WHEN?!

Not like Berube doesn't have any say in this. If he has his heart set on the Leafs job (should it become available) and the Leafs want him, not much Fitz is going to be able to do about it.

Jack Dawkins is a freelance scout, analyst and avid watcher of "way too much hockey." He has joined The Hockey Writers team to cover all things Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild, Los Angeles Kings, Arizona Coyotes and Florida Panthers. He's an absolute data hound and loves using stats and analytics to calculate and extrapolate data for analysis. Jack Dawkins (thehockeywriters.com) In the end, just another ubermetrics dude with an opinion. I had never heard of him either.

What this tells you, regarding Fitz and Green: Fitz was saying and doing just enough not to burn a bridge in case he felt like his other options weren't going to work out, but Green was NOT his man. Like I said in an earlier post, Fitz absolutely had all of the time in the world to ditch the interim tag and commit to Green, if he felt that strongly about him. Glad this most brief coaching moment in Devils history has officially become just that: a brief moment. Still hoping for Berube when all is said and done. If nothing else, Fitz scored some points today. A number of fans were concerned about him almost blindly sticking with Green, and that's a concern we can joyfully put behind us. Not sure WTF Ottawa is thinking.

I would have been ALL for Lindy being canned earlier and Berube being brought aboard, but we know the deal…Fitz wanted it to work with Ruff. Sadly when Fitz finally saw the damned light, I don’t think he had any real Plan B; hence, the pivot to Green. Speaking of Green, Dreger reporting that Ottawa hiring him is just about done, and a press conference will follow on Wed. And the response from Sens fans that I’ve read…well, let‘s just say that they ain’t happy.

Yeah certain NHLers are "regular season players". That's why I think in spite of how good his regular season numbers are overall, he's not fetching a big return. Feels like a lot of people are simply onto him, and what he really is. Said it elsewhere, but he's the kind of guy a team like the BJs or Flyers sign to long term and big money and feel like they won the offseason. And then are shocked when sure, he puts up some nice glamour numbers, but somehow the team doesn't drastically improve. That being said, I think the buy price will be just low enough in asset cost that it will be too tempting for some team to turn down...as long as that team realizes what it's getting, OK.

I definitely think if Marner's moved, people are going to be surprised at the lack of a big return. But like you said, it's not about trading a star for a star, as much as it changing the team, and not allocating so much money to four players who sure don't appear to be the right mix.

I lean towards no. The guy can obviously play and does put up numbers, and sometimes guys just need a change of scenery. But only so much money to go around and the Devils are already paying their share of forwards and will be paying good money for Luke and Nemec before we know it. And they may have to pay up for a goalie, if they're able to land an established vet. I touched on it before, but I don't think he's going to command the kind of return the Leafs would like, because his cap hit for 2024-25 isn't light, he's a UFA at the end of the year, and he's getting tagged with the "loser" label.

Yeah Marner’s basically going to be able to pick a team to go to, if he’s willing to be moved. He has all the leverage here. Of course Toronto can just keep him and try to sign him for less money on this deal, but Marner would have to be willing to take less…and of course, exactly how many more chances do you want to give these guys if you’re the Leafs?

The thing that’s funny about Green is that even though in-season coaching changes don’t always work long-term, they can often lead to a temporary early surge…say, an 8-2 run or something like that. Green didn’t even give the Devils THAT.