MadDog2020

Florida wins to take a 3-1 lead on Boston

1. New Jersey Devils Pros Highly talented, ascending roster Good cap structure $20M in cap space Savvy front office Wealthy ownership Cons Poor goaltending Palat's contract The Devils job contains very little downside and a whole lot of upside. In fact, many had the club pegged as a Stanley Cup contender entering 2023-24 before goaltending and injury woes torpedoed its season. Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and several other cornerstone pieces are locked up with team-friendly, long-term deals. Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, a pair of 20-year-old defensemen, have star potential. The Devils' blue line is set. The forward nucleus is strong, though some depth pieces are needed. The three years remaining at $6 million per season for 33-year-old Ondrej Palat is less than ideal, but one bad contract is tolerable considering all the other bargains on the roster. Palat is still a solid third-line checker, too. But the biggest question mark is in goal, as New Jersey ranked 30th in the league in save percentage this past season. However, Jake Allen was acquired at the deadline and is under contract for another season as a veteran backup. A starter is needed, but GM Tom Fitzgerald has already vowed to go big-game hunting for a goalie. If he could land Jacob Markstrom, as he tried to at the deadline, New Jersey could be a Cup contender next year if everything goes right. There are also no off-ice concerns with the organization. The team's arena, the Prudential Center, is relatively new, and the ownership group, led by Josh Harris and David Blitzer, is both wealthy and passionate about sports. (They also own the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, and Harris recently purchased the NFL's Washington Commanders.) If Fitzgerald can adequately address the goaltending, there will be very little downside to this job. https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2907840

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Canes stay alive

When they’re playing the Rags they’ll be plenty easy to root for 🤣

Florida up 3-0. Keep it up Cats.

Best thing you could’ve done 🤣

Yeah I don’t disagree. It’s a good prospect pool, but definitely not ‘fantastic’.

Have you been living under a rock for the last two weeks or something?

https://newjerseyhockeynow.com/2024/05/10/devils-trade-board-3-defenseman-worth-trading-the-10th-overall-pick-for-mattias-samuelsson-shea-theodore-jakob-chychrun-tom-fitzgerald/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3oDzj75MVO6hEVV1VpexU_igMffH0z_ZeqEaurOr7W95p0qXo2ZCcBofk_aem_AXZNUDIKvQsBA_YOBImlmuW7OeS-EGqSkTNBaORvuRWtAgSUI-M-_q7nr9eb6COMvGfozHdyQe74gF9CLPHBCZru#lw1038xm6cfjq3dqrto

https://thehockeynews.com/news/which-non-playoff-nhl-teams-could-consider-trading-their-first-round-pick-sabres-devils?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0b_VtgcV9fssoj5iAlz08EdM4H8klvBERWmplVRbUjOc_7tMx5l3B4M98_aem_AXZg4wSHrl3lbpMM6lLJ1pCQ1sAbGjqoTCsMye3l0C8svGP-Du7ZPcBsknAvwWmMKma8aP47ZxV_KVwsjFIShJIG

He’s not my first choice, but I would take him over Woodcroft or McLellan. Berube and Sullivan are still my top two.

I would love to hear Fitz say something like this, but this is why Toronto will probably hire Berube and we’ll be stuck with an analytics geek.

So who would you rather hire?