Ray Shero Appreciation Thread

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I don't kid myself...the Devils won't go 82-0-0 this season (maybe just 81-0-1).  There will be slumps and growing pains.  We have no idea how the kids will perform as the season wears on...if they will hit a wall as they try to grind through the 82-game marathon that is the NHL season.  We still don't know about these young defensemen.   

But this team has given us reasons for genuine hope, and not just blind optimism...and doing it in an exciting and entertaining fashion that we never could've fathomed could happen as quickly as it has. 

Though it's not fair to look at this exactly this way, somehow Shero has brought in three Top 6 forwards for Adam Larsson and two second round and two third round picks...never mind how creative he got to even nab some of those picks to begin with (taking on Marc Savard's cap hit, etc)...but we never could've dreamed that he would've been able to find three players like that so quickly, without having to give up too much (sure, losing Larsson stung, but like we've all said many times, that's a trade you have to make every time...you have to take that chance).  

And how he ever got a third-rounder (which wound up being top of the round no less) for Eric Friggin' Gelinas...

Also gotta love that he holds players accountable and doesn't dole out endless chances (for a direct contrast, take a look at the zilch that is the Mets GM...and that guy inherited a hell of a lot more to work with than Shero did).  No letting DPS hang around for another year based on a fluke garbage-time run.  Deciding that he'd seen enough of Josefson and letting him move on.  Getting rid of Gelinas.  And I get the impression that if Killjoy doesn't show much very soon, even with a lack of depth on D, he might not last too much longer around here. 

I was more than willing to strap in and be patient, given the mess that Shero inherited (some people unfairly lumped the beginning of his tenure here in with the end of Lou's)...I've heard many GMs promise they're going to do this and that, only to see them come up woefully short, but this guy has managed to completely change the feel and identity of what felt like a going-nowhere stuck-in-reverse team in the course of three offseasons...I'm just amazed by what he's been able to do in what feels like such a short period of time.  And on top of that, now getting the huge break in getting to pick Hischier...things felt so bleak here in June of 2015...I can't believe what I'm seeing out there now.  I don't know who could've come in here under the same circumstances and accomplished as much.   

[mfitz804]

Quite a few of his moves have been genius. Even ones that didn't appear like much. Palmieri was a nice player in Anaheim, he immediately became part of our backbone. 6th round picks frequently don't make it to the NHL, this Bratt guy looks good through 2 games. 

In fact, as you alluded to above, there hasn't been a whole lot of negative. Losing Adam Larsson was not something I liked, but in order to bring back Hall, I think that was a great move.

He did not "Fire Hynes" despite some horrible seasons, none of which I believe were Hynes' fault. 

I don't really count getting the 1st round pick as that was simply luck, and only time will tell if Hischier was the right move. I feel like  it was, he looks good even though he's been shown up by the other rookies in two consecutive games  

And then there's Lovejoy. Much as I assumed was the situation with Lou Lamoriello and Stephen Gionta, I think its pretty clear that Lovejoy has named pictures of Shero and the only reason he is still secure in his job is the threat of releasing them. Its really the only feasible explanation. 

Other than that, he's doing an admirable job. 

 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Oh I agree, first overall pick was definitely luck and I said that Shero got a huge break there, and we won't know for a long time who will work out the best, but even then Shero seems to have done a LOT of homework in making sure he felt 110% right about who he took with that pick.   

re:  Killjoy, no GM ever bats 1.000.  As far as transitioning through lean years go, Shero did a solid job...signed some stopgap guys to low-risk low-cost (some up decent upside) deals to get through.  He was hoping KJ could be a stabilizing vet, and I think he was willing to give KJ a pass for last season, as long as he bounced back this season.  As it doesn't appear to be happening (some guys just get old quickly), I don't think Shero will give KJ an endless leash to figure it out.  Just have to hope the D stays healthy (and that Moore doesn't play badly enough to give KJ more chances). 

[Neb00rs]

The D are a question mark but I think most of us accept that we needed to build a team that could skate fast and score goals and D would need to be sacrificed to do it. It wasn't too long ago we were the oldest team in the league and even up through last year we didn't put pucks in the net. I give Shero a lot of credit, he put this team together fast. The missing link is indeed a Shattenkirk and unfortunately, I think we will be a lot better than Rasmus Dahlin-level bad. I'll reserve judgment on Butcher. 

[Marshall]

I'll wait until we see how the D pans out...but he's got a record of a lot of good moves and no disastrous ones. But those usually don't happen until a team needs to dip into free agency or add someone to get over the hump.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

12 minutes ago, Marshall said:

I'll wait until we see how the D pans out...but he's got a record of a lot of good moves and no disastrous ones. But those usually don't happen until a team needs to dip into free agency or add someone to get over the hump.

Did you think he was going to be able to address EVERYTHING this quickly?  He was clearly trying to address the (lack of) forwards first.  I think he's still done a terrific job regardless...and he's upped the ante a bit on the D front by bringing in Mueller (former 1st-round pick) who's still pretty young (22), and was able to snag another 22-year-old D in Butcher.  The only D-man who's currently an every-game player that's over 30 is Greene...Moore will be 27 next month, and the other four (Muller, Santini, Severson, and Butcher) are all 23 or less.  As we saw with Gelinas, if one or more of them don't pan out, he'll move them...but at least it's not a bunch of slowing declining vets. 

He can also dip into his stash of young forwards to make a deal for a solid vet D down the line if he wants to.  It's like a MLB team chock full of young intriguing pitching arms...as much as there's a part of you that would love to keep them all (and worry that one might go onto be very successful somewhere else), you can't possibly keep everyone.  You can deal some of those pieces for another need. 

[CHIP72]

I’m not as hardcore a Devils fan as most people on here, but the Devils’ start, built on the young guys’ contributions and on the heels of a strong preseason, has me very, very encouraged about what this season might hold.


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[Triumph]

1 hour ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Did you think he was going to be able to address EVERYTHING this quickly?  He was clearly trying to address the (lack of) forwards first.  I think he's still done a terrific job regardless...and he's upped the ante a bit on the D front by bringing in Mueller (former 1st-round pick) who's still pretty young (22), and was able to snag another 22-year-old D in Butcher.  The only D-man who's currently an every-game player that's over 30 is Greene...Moore will be 27 next month, and the other four (Muller, Santini, Severson, and Butcher) are all 23 or less.  As we saw with Gelinas, if one or more of them don't pan out, he'll move them...but at least it's not a bunch of slowing declining vets. 

He can also dip into his stash of young forwards to make a deal for a solid vet D down the line if he wants to.  It's like a MLB team chock full of young intriguing pitching arms...as much as there's a part of you that would love to keep them all (and worry that one might go onto be very successful somewhere else), you can't possibly keep everyone.  You can deal some of those pieces for another need. 

The point is that he hasn't made those kinds of moves yet besides Larsson for Hall.  I agree with Marshall and you that Shero's done a great job so far, even though there's definitely some hiccups in there.  But this is the easy part.  The hardest thing he'll have to do is build a defense, because there really isn't a lot in the system right now that could help.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Really depends on how the kid D develops...two of them Shero inherited (he did take a plunge in wrapping up Severson for six years), and two of them he brought in.  Depending on how those guys develop, he may not have to go too crazy in bringing in outside help via UFA or trade (but hard to think that he won't have to add a D-man or two through that route at some point in the next couple of years...just not sure what tier level they'll be). 

[Marshall]

2 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Did you think he was going to be able to address EVERYTHING this quickly? 

No. As for the rest, what Tri said.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

6 minutes ago, Marshall said:

No. As for the rest, what Tri said.

That's cool...I would disagree that this has been easy in any way for Shero, in getting to this point.  It was interesting to see that he was willing to sign Shattenkirk to considerable coin if he was willing to come here.  Not sure what other higher-profile D-men will be available in the next couple of seasons...or if Shero would pursue any of them.   

[mfitz804]

5 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

 Not sure what other higher-profile D-men will be available in the next couple of seasons...or if Shero would pursue any of them.   

Me either...but I am sure he SHOULD. 

[Marshall]

6 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

That's cool...I would disagree that this has been easy in any way for Shero, in getting to this point.   

It's easy relative to what come next.

[Daniel]

Maybe it never could have happened, but I wish Shero overpaid for Shattenkirk, which perhaps would have freed up the picks that were used to get Mueller for something else, although, yes, I understand the Mueller trade happened before (you could have taken a chance on not being outbid for Shattenkirk).  By my math anyway, you could have given Shattenkirk something like a six or seven year deal with a very big but not obscene cap hit, and it would not affect what the Devils would otherwise do, accept perhaps make another free agent splash.  Or, the only way it would have been a problem is if the Devils had to pay a lot of their own guys a lot of money in three or four years, which is not a bad problem to have.  Although, at the same time, Butcher probably doesn't sign here if he's competing with Shattenkirk for PP time.

Or, maybe the big free agent splash is coming this offseason. 

Although I tend to get hotheaded at times, what I've said above is pretty much nitpicking.  Very little to complain about with Shero thus far.  And the Palmieri and Johannsen trades took some foresight and ingenuity that even Lou probably wouldn't have had. 

[mfitz804]

 From what I heard, we were not outbid on Shattenkirk, he just wanted to play for the Rangers. If it was simply a matter of overpaying, he’d be a Devil right now.

Edited October 10, 2017 by mfitz804

[LittleBallofHate]

I am amazed at what Ray   Shero has been able to do in such a short amount of time - it really is incredible. 

Minus Jagr (who was traded before the deadline), this is the team that he inherited: https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/NJD/2015.html

[Aitchmack]

24 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

 From what I heard, we were not outbid on Shattenkirk, he just wanted to play for the Rangers. If it was simply a matter of overpaying, he’d be a Devil right now.

That was definitely the impression I got of it.

As far as Shero is concerned, from what I can see, he's moving the team forward in a positive fashion.  He's not sitting on his hands waiting for things to happen he's out there being proactive. Most of his moves seem to have had a positive effect and those that haven't he seems willing to correct. So, he gets a massive thumbs up from me.

[Satans Hockey]

Definitely not easy to come in and replace Lou, who could do no wrong to some of the fans of this team.

I've also really liked that we haven't gone back to signing old former Devils for a second tour that Lou loved to do. 

[pattyelias]

4 minutes ago, Satans Hockey said:

Definitely not easy to come in and replace Lou, who could do no wrong to some of the fans of this team.

I've also really liked that we haven't gone back to signing old former Devils for a second tour that Lou loved to do. 

Shero has done a bit of that with old Penguins like bringing in Hynes and signing Lovejoy and Bennett.

[Satans Hockey]

7 minutes ago, pattyelias said:

Shero has done a bit of that with old Penguins like bringing in Hynes and signing Lovejoy and Bennett.

While that is true it still hasn't been anywhere near consistent as it was with Lou, I still could have done without ever seeing Holik or Gomez in a Devils jersey again. Rupp, Dowd, Richer, Oliwa,  Arnott, Mogilny, Rolston, Sykora etc etc etc I'm sure there were a bunch I missed but the majority of them really sucked on their second tour. I'm just happy that's finally done with. 

[eldon]

Being younger and faster.  Trading dead wood for draft picks.  Getting lucky with the #1 by tanking without being too obvious.  Love it.  Thanks Ray, keep it up Devils!

[mfitz804]

1 hour ago, LittleBallofHate said:

I am amazed at what Ray   Shero has been able to do in such a short amount of time - it really is incredible. 

Minus Jagr (who was traded before the deadline), this is the team that he inherited: https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/NJD/2015.html

I think I see 20 out of 35 that don’t have an NHL job today. 

[Daniel]

3 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

 From what I heard, we were not outbid on Shattenkirk, he just wanted to play for the Rangers. If it was simply a matter of overpaying, he’d be a Devil right now.

From what Shero and Shattenkirk said at the time, had the Devils offered something like 7 years $49 million, he’d probably have signed with the Devils.  Shero, if I recall, said he offered more years than the Rangers, but not much more in AAV, or it might have been the other way around.  

[mfitz804]

That’s not what I recall, but if so, a ball was dropped. 

[LittleBallofHate]

I'm going to post some quotes here from Ray just to (hopefully) put this to rest since it's a Shero Appreciation thread - not a 'why didn't he get Shatty' thread 

From this article: http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2017/07/how_the_devils_pursued_kevin_shattenkirk_and_what.html

"There was a certain point we would do with Kevin, and I give Kevin a lot of credit," Shero said. "He was very sincere in what he was looking for, and not so much in money or term."

Shattenkirk's free agency and lading spot was the subject of debate for more than a year, and Shero said the defenseman ended up staying true to his word and playing for his home-town team, the Rangers. 

Shero said the meeting and talks with Shattenkirk went well, and it never came down to term or money.

"What intrigued me about Kevin, aside from being a good player, he was interested in shorter term, which says a lot about him," Shero said. "It was never, 'I'll come to Jersey if you give six or seven years.' There was never anything like that."

"In the end, he grew up a Ranger fan. And I'm pretty sure if the Rangers were capped out or the Rangers weren't interested, he'd probably be here, on the right type of contract for the right reasons," Shero continued. "But you know what? I respect the process, I like Kevin as a person, he's a good player, and that's where it goes."