Lateralous

Now we're doing better than the Rangers. They're down 6-1. They really blow goats!

Going off memory but Zibenejad didn’t really “blossom” until about that age either. Next year is where we really need to see improvement. This season has been an abortion with the limited camp, compressed season, injuries and Covid stoppage. Long term, I think we’ll be happy we bombed to another top 5 pick while also seeing guys like Jack Hughes, Ty Smith and Pavel Zacha show significant development. At least that’s what I’m going with at this point.

Yeah, we have a terrible record of absolutely decimating minor league franchises for like 2 decades now. From personal experience, Trenton titans games used to be a lot of fun and then the Devils got involved...and I say that as a Devils fan.

I think we’ve reached that part of the season again where I just can’t do it anymore, especially on a relatively nice Saturday afternoon. Hopefully Nico and Hughes can at least get on the scoresheet today.

How about 4 times in a row?

I was just making a general statement. Tracking Pavelpoints was one of the more enjoyable aspects of this season.

Once again, no Pavel, no points

It saved you 30 minutes of your life you would never get back.

These analogies don’t make any sense in this situation. Again, why does the salary matter in a cap world where we have a top and bottom limit and struggle to hit the latter? Whether or not he was a Devil, everyone in the league knew it was a bad contract during most of his tenure in NAS, hence why we got him for nothing. If PK Subban was playing anywhere close to his salary at any time in the last half decade, he’s probably not a New Jersey Devil in the first place. If you know you’re buying a lemon in advance and still buy that lemon, that’s on you. It’s a simple concep

The most maddening example was that article last week about how bad Zacha’s advanced stats were. It tried to make the point that he was a drag on line mates and proceeded to use Palmieri’s points when paired with PZ and then when he was moved away. I swear that if Kyle could execute a simple tap in this year, he would have had 6-8 more goals with Zacha getting the primary assist. I think there were like three of these in OTs alone, yet Zacha was somehow the boat anchor. Hell, one of the few goals Palmieri did actually score for us was Zacha banking it off him.

I don’t think that analogy works in this case because we acquired PK for pennies on the dollar from Nashville specifically because it had become obvious he was wildly overpaid. He was pretty clearly their 4th best defenseman at best his last season there and they wanted out. I know you’re not a fan of him but if there was anyone that was under the impression we were ever getting a player that justified the salary in that deal, that’s on them. What we gave up in the trade made that pretty clear. That being said, its possible for him to have both a terrible contract and still be a big

http://www.mynhldraft.com/NHL-Mock-Draft/ Brandt Clarke it is!

I don't understand bringing up his salary when we are nowhere near the cap and you're not the one cutting the checks. As fans, what difference does it make? He's expensive filler preventing young guys from being tasked with more than they can handle early on in their career.

Admittedly I did not watch tonight's game since I'm still at work but I think PK has been fine this year. He's settled into quietly eating the tough minutes and while he's being severely overpaid, his contract ends after next year long before we need the cap space. Why let a rookie get absolutely destroyed with tough minutes and possibly hurt his development curve when you can overpay PK to be the guy to get caved in on with the heavy lifting?

Vatanen clearing waivers in theory would have increased his value in that a team acquiring him could stash him on the taxi squad as insurance. I’m sure Fitz thought he could get him through and then the Sekera injury screwed up that plan.