2018 Offseason Thread

[Daniel]

20 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Yeah I get that. So the answer is no, we didn’t lose a pick. So they can’t give us back something we didn’t lose. 

Maybe they should just award us Dylan Larkin? Or just re-do the entire draft for that year?

Unfortunately, the Lou Lamiorello from 1991 is no longer with us. 

[Daniel]

28 minutes ago, Triumph said:

The problem here is that where does it end?  If they go after Hossa, they have to go after Savard, Luongo, Alfredsson, and it's hard to know where it stops.  The Devils didn't have to serve them an easy case, but unfortunately they did.

 

That was the essence of the PA's argument, of course.  There was nothing in principle different from the Kovalchuk deals than other ones the league had approved, it was just a matter of degree.  The problem is when you're dealing with the law, it's the principle that matters and if it's the degree you're concerned with, you almost always need to spell it out. 

Ultimately though, it wasn't the fact that the league decided to try and draw a line in the sand.  That I get.  It was the penalty was completely unnecessary and actually against the spirit of the CBA, which, if you read it carefully, has severe penalties in mind when there's an under the table the payment, things like that.  The Devils weren't hiding anything, and even Bloch said they weren't acting in bad faith.  The fact that it was the Devils and not a more popular team made the league more willing to hand out the severe penalty that it did.  That I'm certain of.

[mfitz804]

9 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Unfortunately, the Lou Lamiorello from 1991 is no longer with us. 

Maybe we should undo all drafts back to 1991. Then just apply everyone’s stats to their new teams and see who wins all of those Stanley Cups, and then get a new Cup to engrave the names on. 

[LittleBallofHate]

1 hour ago, mfitz804 said:

We didn’t lose a draft pick in the end, did we?

I thought we lost a third rounder that first year on top of the first rounder... I'll take the third back 😁 

[Triumph]

41 minutes ago, Daniel said:

That was the essence of the PA's argument, of course.  There was nothing in principle different from the Kovalchuk deals than other ones the league had approved, it was just a matter of degree.  The problem is when you're dealing with the law, it's the principle that matters and if it's the degree you're concerned with, you almost always need to spell it out. 

Ultimately though, it wasn't the fact that the league decided to try and draw a line in the sand.  That I get.  It was the penalty was completely unnecessary and actually against the spirit of the CBA, which, if you read it carefully, has severe penalties in mind when there's an under the table the payment, things like that.  The Devils weren't hiding anything, and even Bloch said they weren't acting in bad faith.  The fact that it was the Devils and not a more popular team made the league more willing to hand out the severe penalty that it did.  That I'm certain of.

Sadly you have a sample size of 1, so you'll never know.  No one even went close to that amount of minimum salary years.  As the 15 year deal that the league was forced to accept showed, if the Devils were willing to keep the low years to $1M, they probably wouldn't've had an issue.

[Daniel]

10 minutes ago, Triumph said:

Sadly you have a sample size of 1, so you'll never know.  No one even went close to that amount of minimum salary years.  As the 15 year deal that the league was forced to accept showed, if the Devils were willing to keep the low years to $1M, they probably wouldn't've had an issue.

Well, I’m sure the league didn’t advise the Devils ahead of time as to what they would accept and never announced any guidance as to what exactly it would consider circumvention.  

And if you recall, it was pretty shocking when the league actually challenged the deal.  When it was announced everyone including sober types like TG said that approval was a formality.

[jagknife]

So I watched Highlander for the first time in a long while today and realized the opening scene is at good ol Brendan Byrne Arena, you can even see the really old Nets logos hanging over the 4x4 video screens in the corners.

Then, he magically is arrested outside of MSG.

Ah, the offseason

[NJDfan1711]

My brother moved to Raleigh a couple months ago.  I just bought tickets to the game against the Canes on Nov 18th.  Gonna go up there and go to a game with him.   Never been to that arena or even that city, excited to check it out.

[DevsMan84]

On 8/11/2018 at 9:38 PM, jagknife said:

So I watched Highlander for the first time in a long while today and realized the opening scene is at good ol Brendan Byrne Arena, you can even see the really old Nets logos hanging over the 4x4 video screens in the corners.

Then, he magically is arrested outside of MSG.

Ah, the offseason

Yeah that was supposed to be "MSG" he was at watching a wrestling event.  It was probably cheaper/easier for them to film at BBA at the time than MSG as that movie was made around 85/86.

That movie is still completely underrated.  It has a pretty interesting story and is told via a series of flashbacks as well as present day (mid 80's) concurrently.  I think the main issue with it is that it takes new viewers a couple of times to comprehend this part.  However the soundtrack by Queen (which was largely released as their It's A Kind of Magic album) adds to the awesomeness of the movie.  Shame that it was followed up with one of the biggest piles of $hit ever put out by a major movie studio in Highlander 2: The Quickening.  It was so bad that most, if not all future Highlander movies/TV shows completely ignored the events of that movie.

[Crisis]

Boyle did an interview on Spittin Chiclets Episode 102 - worth the listen (starts around 34:00)

[Devilsfan118]

1 hour ago, Crisis said:

Boyle did an interview on Spittin Chiclets Episode 102 - worth the listen (starts around 34:00)

Seems like a really good dude.

And sounds like he's in great shape and ready to go for this season.  Hoping for a better season statistically from him this year.

[mfitz804]

5th (tied) in goals from a 4th line center last season...I’ll take that all day long. 

[Devilsfan118]

6 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

5th (tied) in goals from a 4th line center last season...I’ll take that all day long. 

Sure, but I mean he scored 3 goals in 2018.  Some more consistency across the whole season would be great.

[NJDevils1214]

2 minutes ago, Devilsfan118 said:

Sure, but I mean he scored 3 goals in 2018.  Some more consistency across the whole season would be great.

I agree with you 100%. I thought he was outplayed by the other "physical" guys in the lineup too. Late in the season he had no business being on the power play. He was way too weak around the net and along the boards, and he was also slow and not getting to rebounds. Maroon made him look even worse by comparison when he arrived.

Not TRYING to make excuses, BUT... it is worth mentioning that 2017 and 2018 haven't been easy for the Boyle family.

[LittleBallofHate]

Well, we have a 12.30p game this year (and I'm not talking about Sweden with the time change factored in): 

 

[Crisis]

32 minutes ago, Kinkyisth3b3st said:

For those who don't listen, the entire podcast is worth a listen. RA is a complete ma$$hole and makes it frustrating sometimes, but I could listen to Whitney and Biznasty talk hockey for hours. 

I love RA.  He's such a character and I don't think he takes anything away from the podcast.  He seems like he knows his place and provides a good "hardcore fan" perspective.

[jagknife]

3 hours ago, DevsMan84 said:

Yeah that was supposed to be "MSG" he was at watching a wrestling event.  It was probably cheaper/easier for them to film at BBA at the time than MSG as that movie was made around 85/86.

That movie is still completely underrated.  It has a pretty interesting story and is told via a series of flashbacks as well as present day (mid 80's) concurrently.  I think the main issue with it is that it takes new viewers a couple of times to comprehend this part.  However the soundtrack by Queen (which was largely released as their It's A Kind of Magic album) adds to the awesomeness of the movie.  Shame that it was followed up with one of the biggest piles of $hit ever put out by a major movie studio in Highlander 2: The Quickening.  It was so bad that most, if not all future Highlander movies/TV shows completely ignored the events of that movie.

One thing they did bring up was there was a murder in Jersey a few days earlier. Maybe, if it was made today, they could have a deleted scene that showed the flashback split up the two murders or something, idk.

[jagknife]

36 minutes ago, Kinkyisth3b3st said:

For those who don't listen, the entire podcast is worth a listen. RA is a complete ma$$hole and makes it frustrating sometimes, but I could listen to Whitney and Biznasty talk hockey for hours. 

Biz needs to shut the fvck up in interviews lately. I haven’t listened to Friday’s, but the dude jumps in to get a one-liner in and ruins stories or trains of thought by the guests. It’s only started to happen in the last few, but it was either Luc or Edmundson that was on a roll of a good story, Biz tried to crack a sh!t joke, and the guy lost where he was going.

 

4 minutes ago, Crisis said:

I love RA.  He's such a character and I don't think he takes anything away from the podcast.  He seems like he knows his place and provides a good "hardcore fan" perspective.

I also love RA too, cause he’s the normal fan, he just gets to put his two cents to a few guys who actually have been there, and for the most part contributes rather than detracts.

[DevsMan84]

18 minutes ago, jagknife said:

One thing they did bring up was there was a murder in Jersey a few days earlier. Maybe, if it was made today, they could have a deleted scene that showed the flashback split up the two murders or something, idk.

The movie does have a rushed feel to it, especially in the scenes that take place in the "modern day."  Lots of plot holes that you could drive a semi through and parts where it feels like it is missing a scene or two. Still all an all a great, but imperfect movie.

[mfitz804]

1 hour ago, NJDevils1214 said:

I agree with you 100%. I thought he was outplayed by the other "physical" guys in the lineup.

I don’t think I’d describe Boyle as a physical guy, despite his size, which he only uses on faceoffs. 

[titans04]

17 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I don’t think I’d describe Boyle as a physical guy, despite his size, which he only uses on faceoffs. 

Beat me to it.  The guy has never even remotely been a physical presence especially for a guy his size.  That said I still like the guy and think he brings other things to the lineup.  Admittedly I'll never be critical of anybody that's battled through all that's come his way.  

[Crisis]

1 hour ago, jagknife said:

Biz needs to shut the fvck up in interviews lately. I haven’t listened to Friday’s, but the dude jumps in to get a one-liner in and ruins stories or trains of thought by the guests. It’s only started to happen in the last few, but it was either Luc or Edmundson that was on a roll of a good story, Biz tried to crack a sh!t joke, and the guy lost where he was going.

I couldn't agree with you more on this.  I was always whatever on BroNasty, but I thought he did a good job coming in and taking some of the pressure off Whitney day to day.  But my god, you get REAL hockey players on your show telling stories and answering questions and you feel the need to jump in and talk over them just to tell a story about how you banged a girl from the town where they played their junior hockey?  Like c'mon dude.

[LittleBallofHate]

 

[NJDevils1214]

2 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

I don’t think I’d describe Boyle as a physical guy, despite his size, which he only uses on faceoffs. 

2 hours ago, titans04 said:

Beat me to it.  The guy has never even remotely been a physical presence especially for a guy his size.  That said I still like the guy and think he brings other things to the lineup.  Admittedly I'll never be critical of anybody that's battled through all that's come his way.  

Okay, not physical. Call it what you want. He is used as net front presence and is relied upon to help control that hard fought area around the net and be a presence there. He was bad in that area. 

It's still okay to be critical of a guy's play. Being critical doesn't mean you're automatically unsympathetic. 

[Devilsfan118]

1 hour ago, Crisis said:

I couldn't agree with you more on this.  I was always whatever on BroNasty, but I thought he did a good job coming in and taking some of the pressure off Whitney day to day.  But my god, you get REAL hockey players on your show telling stories and answering questions and you feel the need to jump in and talk over them just to tell a story about how you banged a girl from the town where they played their junior hockey?  Like c'mon dude.

Man when he first joined "the pod" I seriously thought I'd have to stop listening.  He interrupted RA, Whitney, and their guests constantly.  Borderline unlistenable.  But I think he's definitely done a better job as he's gotten more experience with the rest of the group.  He's been a lot better lately in the recent episodes imo.  Though yeah he still does sometimes interrupt the guests to get his one-liner in which is frustrating.

I really liked the original dynamic between RA, Whitney and the kid Granelli but I guess they just weren't getting the guests.  Biz must've opened a lot of doors for them.