DEVILS ACQUIRE PATRICK MAROON

[MB3]

20 minutes ago, CarpathianForest said:

I imagine he might wear 91?  I've always liked Patrick Maroon. He plays in the muck real well. Too bad we still have turds for defense and goaltending. There was nothing there or the other teams wanted too much.

He’s wearing 17

[Antiquated Colorado Rockie]

Speaking of Bratt, I think the Devils adding two forwards will mean the odd healthy scratch for him between now and the end of the season and that might help him. 

[mfitz804]

1 hour ago, Martyisth3b3st said:

He’s wearing 17

And fans at the rock have already started drawing new nameplates to tape to their Kovalchuk jerseys. 

[mikepeluso8]

7 hours ago, Aznjsn said:

I like this. Adds some grit and can hopefully continue to be a contributor points-wise. 

GRIT.  Exactly what we need. GRIT.  I love it.

[Devilsfan118]

 

[mikepeluso8]

This guy is not afraid to drop the gloves, make a big hit and he scores a couple goals.  Been calling for this for quite some time.

[mikepeluso8]

And he had 27 goals last year and 14 goals so far this year...this is a fvcking STEAL! Shero strikes again!

[Satans Hockey]

7 minutes ago, mikepeluso8 said:

And he had 27 goals last year and 14 goals so far this year...this is a fvcking STEAL! Shero strikes again!

DON'T FIRE SHERO! 

[mikepeluso8]

3 minutes ago, Satans Hockey said:

DON'T FIRE SHERO! 

No sir, ohhhhhhh no sir!

[mikepeluso8]

Interesting:

 

https://www.nhl.com/ducks/news/q-a-maroon-on-growing-up-in-roller-hockey/c-675145

[SterioDesign]

6 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

Great thing to say for your new fan base. 

[Antiquated Colorado Rockie]

apparently Maroon's mom is from Jersey

[mfitz804]

8 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

Yes, he was a d!ck at first also. Almost refused to report. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, mfitz804 said:

Yes, he was a d!ck at first also. Almost refused to report. 

In fairness, I can understand why Stevens was so upset/furious initially...through no absolutely fault of his own, he was ripped away from the team that he really wanted to play for, had CHOSEN to play for, just one year after signing there, and he'd also just built or bought (I forget which) his dream house in St. Louis.  You can argue that Stevens should've mentally prepared for his going to the Devils once Lou asked for him as compensation for Shanahan, but arbiter Edward Houston pretty much shocked everyone when he chose Stevens over the Blues' package (which was actually very fair:  Rod Brind'Amour, Curtis Joseph, and a pair of picks)...damn near no one ever thought that was going to happen, and I will always believe that the NHL wanted to punish the Blues for driving up salaries...credit to Lou & Co for presenting a flawless case, but at the same time, it's not like the Devils would've been jobbed had Houston awarded the Blues' compensation package to the Devils instead...both Brind'Amour and Joseph had terrific careers. 

To Stevens' credit, he did get over it pretty quickly (seemingly overnight...once he fully accepted the decision, he had a complete change of heart), and as has been discussed a number of times, Lou deftly handled both telling other GMs who thought the Devils weren't good enough to have nice things to go fvck themselves, and the near mutiny that Stevens' arrival threatened to trigger.  I've always considered navigating through that mess Lou's finest hours as the Devils' GM.  It really was ugly.

Edited February 27, 2018 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[NJDfan1711]

16 hours ago, Triumph said:

I also think just having more forwards in general will let them rest Bratt and Zacha and perhaps even Hischier down the stretch.  They really do not have anything past the NHL roster besides Quenneville and maybe if you squint, Lappin, and to me Hayes and Stafford are pretty much unplayable outside of an emergency.  I'm hoping to see something like this moving forward:

Hall-Hischier-Palmieri

Wood-Zacha-Bratt

Maroon-Zajac-Grabner

Gibbons-Boyle-Noesen

with Coleman as a pretty good extra.  

I like those lines with the glaring exception being that I think you absolutely move Grabner to the 2nd and Bratt to the 3rd.  Bratt is a 19 year old who has clearly struggled massively over the last 2-3 months.  He should not be getting 2nd line minutes over a veteran who still has a scoring touch.  

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

18 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

I like those lines with the glaring exception being that I think you absolutely move Grabner to the 2nd and Bratt to the 3rd.  Bratt is a 19 year old who has clearly struggled massively over the last 2-3 months.  He should not be getting 2nd line minutes over a veteran who still has a scoring touch.  

I think Bratt might actually start hitting healthy-scratch territory soon.  Just 3 assists in his last 17 games, but more importantly, I rarely notice him out there these days, and it's been like that for a while.  I'm not worried about him being some flash-in-the-pan just yet, but I do think he might simply have ran out of gas in his first NHL season, and may not be able to find his game.  It's great that Shero was able to bring in two more forwards.

[mfitz804]

35 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

In fairness, I can understand why Stevens was so upset/furious initially...through no absolutely fault of his own, he was ripped away from the team that he really wanted to play for, had CHOSEN to play for, just one year after signing there, and he'd also just built or bought (I forget which) his dream house in St. Louis.  You can argue that Stevens should've mentally prepared for his going to the Devils once Lou asked for him as compensation for Shanahan, but arbiter Edward Houston pretty much shocked everyone when he chose Stevens over the Blues' package (which was actually very fair:  Rod Brind'Amour, Curtis Joseph, and a pair of picks)...damn near no one ever thought that was going to happen, and I will always believe that the NHL wanted to punish the Blues for driving up salaries...credit to Lou & Co for presenting a flawless case, but at the same time, it's not like the Devils would've been jobbed had Houston awarded the Blues' compensation package to the Devils instead...both Brind'Amour and Joseph had terrific careers. 

To Stevens' credit, he did get over it pretty quickly (seemingly overnight...once he fully accepted the decision, he had a complete change of heart), and as has been discussed a number of times, Lou deftly handled both telling other GMs who thought the Devils weren't good enough to have nice things to go fvck themselves, and the near mutiny that Stevens' arrival threatened to trigger.  I've always considered navigating through that mess Lou's finest hours as the Devils' GM.  It really was ugly.

Yeah, you're right. But my original point remains the same. Its not cool for the first thing you say after being traded to be "I really want to go back there", because it basically says to your new team's fans "I don't want to be here".

And you are also right about that being one of Lou's greatest moments. Imagine being badass enough that you turn down Brind'Amour, a 450 goal scorer and Joseph, a 450 win goalie with a 2.79 GAA back when a 2.79 GAA was elite.

You can argue that it was luck, and that nobody knew Brind'Amour and Joseph would have such great careers, but I honestly think back then, Lou knew hockey better than anyone on the planet, he knew he had his goalie, and he knew he needed a strong defenseman. 

Reviewing some of the articles on the Shanahan/Stevens deal, I recalled how royally screwed St. Louis was. Not only did they lose Stevens after one year, they had given up five first round draft picks to the Capitals in order to get him.

Also interesting about the whole deal was the quality of the players involved. Two Hall of Famers, and at least one borderline guy in Joseph, possibly Brind'Amour in that category as well. And with the picks they had gotten, Washington drafted Sergei Gonchar, another borderline HOF player. 

[mfitz804]

32 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

I like those lines with the glaring exception being that I think you absolutely move Grabner to the 2nd and Bratt to the 3rd.  Bratt is a 19 year old who has clearly struggled massively over the last 2-3 months.  He should not be getting 2nd line minutes over a veteran who still has a scoring touch.  

I also don't know if I like Zajac and Maroon together, but I don't see a much better option. Slow plus slow equals really slow. I'd almost like to swap Wood and Maroon, but I want Wood getting more minutes on the 2nd rather than less on the 3rd. 

[Jerrydevil]

14 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

I think Bratt might actually start hitting healthy-scratch territory soon.

I think you're right.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

14 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Yeah, you're right. But my original point remains the same. Its not cool for the first thing you say after being traded to be "I really want to go back there", because it basically says to your new team's fans "I don't want to be here".

And you are also right about that being one of Lou's greatest moments. Imagine being badass enough that you turn down Brind'Amour, a 450 goal scorer and Joseph, a 450 win goalie with a 2.79 GAA back when a 2.79 GAA was elite.

You can argue that it was luck, and that nobody knew Brind'Amour and Joseph would have such great careers, but I honestly think back then, Lou knew hockey better than anyone on the planet, he knew he had his goalie, and he knew he needed a strong defenseman. 

Reviewing some of the articles on the Shanahan/Stevens deal, I recalled how royally screwed St. Louis was. Not only did they lose Stevens after one year, they had given up five first round draft picks to the Capitals in order to get him.

Also interesting about the whole deal was the quality of the players involved. Two Hall of Famers, and at least one borderline guy in Joseph, possibly Brind'Amour in that category as well. And with the picks they had gotten, Washington drafted Sergei Gonchar, another borderline HOF player. 

Re:  the bolded, I was more defending Stevens seeming to be a d!ck initially, than disputing your point about Maroon.  Sure, it would be nice if he or other new arrivals didn't say things like that, but at the same time it's not like they have any time in with their new clubs...for all we know, Maroon can fit in wonderfully, re-sign, and we forget all about what he said just after he was moved.  At the same time, in Maroon's case, this feels like a pure rental/try to solidify the Devils playoff position for 2018 kind of move.  The fact that Shero damned near got him for nothing (a 2019 3rd-rounder that no matter who is picked is probably years away from making an impact here, and a former 6th-round borderline non-prospect) made it that much easier to grab him without worrying about whether or not he sticks around.

Re:  Brind'Amour and Joseph, Brind'Amour was coming off a not-good sophomore campaign, and Joseph had a rep of possibly being too fragile to handle NHL starter minutes (sounds pretty funny now).  There were question marks with both players...Stevens was far more of a sure thing.  Joseph really was better than often given credit for...he played on some pretty rotten defensive teams, but just about always put up solid numbers.  The Devils actually brought up every goalie OTHER than Brodeur when stating their case to the arbiter, somewhat ironically...they mentioned guys like Chad Erickson, among others.

Re:  the five first-round picks, IIRC the only one the Caps really hit on was Gonchar.  Brendan Witt did play a lot of games for the Caps (626 games in just under 10 seasons), but I think the other three guys the Caps took with the other picks did next to nothing.   

[Daniel]

1 minute ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Re:  the bolded, I was more defending Stevens seeming to be a d!ck initially, than disputing your point about Maroon.  Sure, it would be nice if he or other new arrivals didn't say things like that, but at the same time it's not like they have any time in with their new clubs...for all we know, Maroon can fit in wonderfully, re-sign, and we forget all about what he said just after he was moved.  At the same time, in Maroon's case, this feels like a pure rental/try to solidify the Devils playoff position for 2018 kind of move.  The fact that Shero damned near got him for nothing (a 2019 3rd-rounder that no matter who is picked is probably years away from making an impact here, and a former 6th-round borderline non-prospect) made it that much easier to grab him without worrying about whether or not he sticks around.

Re:  Brind'Amour and Joseph, Brind'Amour was coming off a not-good sophomore campaign, and Joseph had a rep of possibly being too fragile to handle NHL starter minutes (sounds pretty funny now).  There were question marks with both players...Stevens was far more of a sure thing.  Joseph really was better than often given credit for...he played on some pretty rotten defensive teams, but just about always put up solid numbers.  The Devils actually brought up every goalie OTHER than Brodeur when stating their case to the arbiter, somewhat ironically...they mentioned guys like Chad Erickson, among others.

Re:  the five first-round picks, IIRC the only one the Caps really hit on was Gonchar.  Brendan Witt did play a lot of games for the Caps (626 games in just under 10 seasons), but I think the other three guys the Caps took with the other picks did next to nothing.   

Re the draft picks not turning into much.  I wonder whether drafting has gotten a lot better in the past ten years or so to the point that first round picks are much more valuable than they used to be.

[NJDfan1711]

31 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I also don't know if I like Zajac and Maroon together, but I don't see a much better option. Slow plus slow equals really slow. I'd almost like to swap Wood and Maroon, but I want Wood getting more minutes on the 2nd rather than less on the 3rd. 

Yeah I'm not generally a fan of that either, I usually like to keep the lines pretty balanced, with a mix of speed and grit on each, but in this case I think Wood has earned and deserved 2nd line minutes, and it would be interesting to see how he does paired with Grabner on the other side...that would really make other teams have to compensate for their speed on both wings.  Plus I also think Wood has developed some good chemistry with Zacha.  Zacha's game has been elevated a little, in part because I think he has slowed it down a little (to be fair he was never the fastest guy, but more of a smarter/shifty type guy), but I think playing with Wood, who is naturally fast, has taken the pressure off of himself to also be fast, so he can concentrate on doing other things.  I see Zacha as a better set up man, but also a guy who can finish, if he's set up properly and in the right place at the right time.

[Marshall]

I guess this thread is proof you can't please everyone.

[mfitz804]

15 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Re:  the five first-round picks, IIRC the only one the Caps really hit on was Gonchar.  Brendan Witt did play a lot of games for the Caps (626 games in just under 10 seasons), but I think the other three guys the Caps took with the other picks did next to nothing.   

That is correct, only Gonchar was a real star. Witt was a guy that hung around for a number of years, never put up numbers, but he was a nice player. But not necessarily what you are hoping for out of your first round pick. 

[MadDog2020]

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