nessus

His numbers haven't been great since that one season where he scored over 50 points. But he has been on some garbage Sharks rosters that whole time. Honestly, I could see him making a push to make the team.

This looks amazing. I'll have to go if they do another show on a boat like that. Are they still putting on a good live show?

I really hope SKA wins the Gagarin cup this season so that Gritsyuk has absolutely nothing to gain by staying in the KHL any longer. Or if they get bounced from the playoffs early on, maybe there's a chance Grits can join the Devils' playoffs run.

A line of Grits-Jack-Bratt would be insane. Probably wouldn't happen because they'll want to use someone with size with Bratt and Jack, but the thought of that is amazing.

3 points in that KHL season opener. I can't say it's too soon to start calling him Wayne Gritsky.

This is all completely valid. I like watching Olympic hockey a lot, but I understand the importance of an NHL team protecting its players. A long term injury to someone like Nemec or Meier, and I (and I'm sure many other Devils fans) will be 100% anti-Olympics for NHL players.

I do think Dawson will find a groove some time soon, maybe as early as this season. But he really was not so good last season. I can't imagine he has a ton of leverage here, but at the same time, I'm not sure what he's even looking for.

It's kind of sad thinking this way about Dougie, but it does make a ton of sense. Timing is just a touch off, and I'm not sure how they could make it work any other way.

Laine to MTL sounds like a disaster. I’m glad the Devils avoided him.

Bummer, back to Amanda's weak questions now... "Tom, you seem to have constructed a really strong roster for the season ahead. How excited are you about what this team can do this season?"

The Devils defense for next season looks something like: Siegs-Hamilton Luke-Pesce Dillon-Nemec I really like Hatakka, but I wonder how he gets any time with the Devils with Kovacevic in the mix now.

One of the things about Dougie that I think will work in our favor, trade or not, is that he seems like the type of player to age well. Despite his injuries, he isn't overly physical, so he hopefully doesn't have that chronic wear and tear that would make a lot of guys slow down quicker. And he was never someone who depended on his speed to create offense. I could definitely see him being one of those guys who remains effective at age 35 just based on how smart he is with generating offense.

I think this is Fitz's strategy too. See how Casey does this year in the AHL, and then decide whether he wants to try to move on from Dougie starting that following season. This assumes Nemec continues on his current trajectory. Presumably the Devils get closer to contending for a Cup with each of the next couple of seasons, and then Fitz can decide whether a right side of Nemec-Hamilton-Pesce vs. Nemec-Pesce-Casey is worth the extra millions of dollars that could be spent on a top 6 winger. I do think that the fan base is a bit down on Dougie as a whole lately. With how much time he has spent injured, hard to blame anyone for that. But I have a feeling that he's going to make it really tough for us to want him traded after this season. He may not be super fast, and he certainly isn't physical for his size. But man, is he dangerous with the puck on his stick. A huge difference maker for this team, which really can't be emphasized enough, considering how awful last season was without him.

Alexander Nikishin's draft year KHL production: 29GP 0G 3A 3P Nikishin D+1 KHL season: 20GP 1G 4A 5P Nikishin D+2 KHL season: 46GP 8G 4A 12P Nikishin D+3 KHL season: 65GP 11G 44A 55P And he followed that up with another high scoring season, being the top producer on his team as a defenseman. He is one of the top prospects outside North America now, and likely one of the top defense prospects in the world. Silayev's draft year KHL production: 63GP 3G 8A 11P Not saying all players follow a similar trajectory, but it is completely possible that Silayev's offense takes off after a couple more KHL seasons, just like Nikishin's did. I will admit that Nikishin produced better in their respective D-1 seasons, but Nikishin was one of the older prospects in his draft year, while Silayev was on the younger end for his. That age gap makes a difference at those earlier development stages. And also it's worth mentioning that Silayev was putting up points at a crazy rate early in the KHL season - enough to make many people feel that he was looking like the 2OA in the draft early on, and could potentially challenge Celebrini if he kept it up. His offense then completely dried up. Which makes you wonder, was it good puck luck followed by bad puck luck? Or is the offense there, but he was coached to focus on the defensive side of his game? I feel like the sky is the limit for Silayev.

This is extremely unlikely to happen, but the Devils could theoretically have one of the best D groups in the league in a few years made up of only home grown players: Luke-Nemec Silayev-Casey Orlov/Misyul/Karpovich/Vilen (some combination) Among that third pairing, I really think Orlov has a good chance of a solid NHL career. Karpovich has a ton of potential, but lots of developing still to do. But Misyul is big and mobile, and just had a pretty good first season in North America. And that's not to mention Vilen who was the top scoring regular Comets defenseman (in points/game) at age 21. Almost scary to think about all the talent we have in the system. It would be tough to part with any of these guys, but if a trade could be made to get a winger to play next to Jack, the assets are definitely there. I know the Devils already do not have their 1st in next year's draft, but if they want to go light on drafting defense next time around, I think that will be just fine for them.