2018-19 Around the League Thread

[DJ Eco]

It's really all about the money as far as the Gomez situation is concerned. Imagine the Devils giving someone McDavid or Tavares money in 2018 and he's *only* getting 40-50 points a season. Even if he's playing well, that's just a bad deal financially, unless he's getting 80+ points on some superman sh!t like the other few players that justify that kind of money with their contracts.

A certain fairly large segment of Devils fans had Kovalchuk on their sh!t list because we gave him $6.67m and he *only* (sarcastic) scored at a 0.91 pts./game clip during his time here. And we got him in 2009, imagine in 2007 handing Gomez $7.36m/year for 7 years; that was a crazy amount then (still is) and under a much lower cap. He must have known things were going to get ugly at some point in New York (and later Montreal), but no one's going to say no to that kind of money for being a very solid (but not generational elite) player.

Edited November 15, 2018 by DJ Eco

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

37 minutes ago, DJ Eco said:

It's really all about the money as far as the Gomez situation is concerned. Imagine the Devils giving someone McDavid or Tavares money in 2018 and he's *only* getting 40-50 points a season. Even if he's playing well, that's just a bad deal financially, unless he's getting 80+ points on some superman sh!t like the other few players that justify that kind of money with their contracts.

A certain fairly large segment of Devils fans had Kovalchuk on their sh!t list because we gave him $6.67m and he *only* (sarcastic) scored at a 0.91 pts./game clip during his time here. And we got him in 2009, imagine in 2007 handing Gomez $7.36m/year for 7 years; that was a crazy amount then (still is) and under a much lower cap. He must have known things were going to get ugly at some point in New York (and later Montreal), but no one's going to say no to that kind of money for being a very solid (but not generational elite) player.

Sather fell into the never-ending GM trap of paying a good free agent like a superstar, then expecting superstar returns.  My only issue with Gomez is that he was right there with Sather when Sather was pulling his "The Devils didn't use him properly" crap...I remember too many idiot Ranger fans (yes, that's redundant for sure) claiming that Gomer would have 100-assist seasons with the Rangers.  Very quickly, Gomez's Ranger production was suddenly "not good enough", when it was really exactly what the Rangers should have expected...wow, so a guy who's only getting older couldn't wildly surpass what'd he done for the balance of his career?  He could only maintain?  Wasn't really a shock to anyone outside of dumb Ranger fans and Sather. 

But yeah, that's the problem with completely irresponsible overpayments for merely good players...and of course, it gets even worse once the decline years kick in...even worse for Gomer, he started fading right around the halfway point of his seven-year deal.  I've always had two theories as to why his decline came as quickly as it did, despite the fact that he wasn't really that old at the time:  1) I never got the impression he was that hard of a worker...I think he coasted off his talent for many years, and 2) I documented this in a post, but between not missing many games and being a part of three deep Devils playoff runs, he had played in a sh!load of NHL games for a 30-year-old...he played in 881 games as a Devil (10 seasons, regular season + playoffs) and also played 61 games with the Alaskan Aces during the lockout.  So he had a lot of miles on the odometer for someone his age. 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[DevsMan84]

7 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Sather fell into the never-ending GM trap of paying a good free agent like a superstar, then expecting superstar returns.  My only issue with Gomez is that he was right there with Sather when Sather was pulling his "The Devils didn't use him properly" crap...I remember too many idiot Ranger fans (yes, that's redundant for sure) claiming that Gomer would have 100-assist seasons with the Rangers.  Very quickly, Gomez's Ranger production was suddenly "not good enough", when it was really exactly what the Rangers should have expected...wow, so a guy who's only getting older couldn't wildly surpass what'd he done for the balance of his career?  He could only maintain?  Wasn't really a shock to anyone outside of dumb Ranger fans and Sather. 

But yeah, that's the problem with completely irresponsible overpayments for merely good players...and of course, it gets even worse once the decline years kick in...even worse for Gomer, he started fading right around the halfway point of his seven-year deal.  I've always had two theories as to why his decline came as quickly as it did, despite the fact that he wasn't really that old at the time:  1) I never got the impression he was that hard of a worker...I think he coasted off his talent for many years, and 2) I documented this in a post, but between not missing many games and being a part of three Devils playoff runs, he had played in a sh!load of NHL games for a 30-year-old...he played in 881 games as a Devil (10 seasons, regular season + playoffs) and also played 61 games with the Alaskan Aces during the lockout.  So he had a lot of miles on the odometer for someone his age. 

I think I remember that Sather himself stated that he believed that Gomez would be a 100-point player if he wasn't playing the Devils system.

[Devilsfan118]

So in other news, several writers from "The Hockey News" compared Pettersson to Gretzky.

They essentially said (not an exact quote): If you took Pettersson and put him back in Gretzky's place, he'd put up the same numbers as the Great One.

And they wonder why their publication is dying.

[NJDevils1214]

31 minutes ago, Devilsfan118 said:

So in other news, several writers from "The Hockey News" compared Pettersson to Gretzky.

They essentially said (not an exact quote): If you took Pettersson and put him back in Gretzky's place, he'd put up the same numbers as the Great One.

And they wonder why their publication is dying.

LOL...Wayne Gretzky....14GP....

[SterioDesign]

On 11/14/2018 at 5:32 PM, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

That was his right.  These players wait a long time to go to UFA...not like draft choices get any say as to who drafts them (though a small percentage either don't sign or force a trade).  The Devils signed both Tallinder and Volchenkov under IDENTICAL circumstances.  You probably weren't bitching about that. 

I disagree so much with the "It's not the GM's fault. Players have the right to test the market cause they never had a say etc etc" Obviously I know it's their right. But it's the GM job to protect his assets while he has control over them, it's a business. You don't let Wayne Gretzky walk and tell the fans "Well sure it would have been great to keep him obviously but hey... don't you think he deserves a chance to be happy? He never asked to play for us so let's be thankful" 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

That's not even the point I was making.  I didn't say a friggin' word about GMs or individual approaches (and even though you didn't mention anyone by name this time, it's kinda obvious who you're taking a shot at).  All I was saying was if a player actually does make it to UFA, he's earned the right to choose where he wants to go...that's the whole point of being a UFA to begin with.  He's not obligated to stay with the team that drafted him if he doesn't want to.  rob was clearly implying otherwise...that what Martin did was some sort of travesty simply because he chose to exercise his UFA rights.  Whether you agree or not with a GM allowing him to get to that point (and GMs EVERYWHERE lose UFAs at various points) is a different debate altogether. 

Think there's just a slight difference between one of the greatest ever to play the game and UFAs like Martin?  You don't have to go waaaaaaaaay over the top with an example to try to make a point.

The one case where I think players should be a little careful is to say too much, or lead fans to believe that they're probably coming back.  Of course, we shouldn't take anything players say as binding, but many fans still do.  Tavares did make it sound like he really did want to stay with the Islanders...until he didn't.  These players are really better off saying as little as possible when it comes to impending UFA, or just giving stock answers such as "As long as I'm with Team X, I'm going to do everything in my power to help my team win.  The rest will take of itself", but even then, you have fans trying to pick apart what little they do say, trying to read between nonexistent lines. 

 

Edited November 16, 2018 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

13 hours ago, Devilsfan118 said:

So in other news, several writers from "The Hockey News" compared Pettersson to Gretzky.

They essentially said (not an exact quote): If you took Pettersson and put him back in Gretzky's place, he'd put up the same numbers as the Great One.

And they wonder why their publication is dying.

Do you know what's great? Since all the mega hype started on Pettersson he has been held scoreless in four straight games . Did that ever happen to Gretzky? 

[jagknife]

6 hours ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Do you know what's great? Since all the mega hype started on Pettersson he has been held scoreless in four straight games . Did that ever happen to Gretzky? 

Probably....

 

...the year he retired

[mfitz804]

12 minutes ago, jagknife said:

Probably....

 

...the year he retired

You may be right. 

I googled it, and Gretzky's longest pointless streak was 4 games, and it was with the Rangers. I could not isolate whether it was the last season. 

That is pretty impressive. He went scoreless 3 games on 6 occasions, 2 games on one occasion, and 4 games on one occasion. Are you fvcking kidding me??

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Crazy as it will sound, Zacha once notched a point in SIX straight games (3/11/17 through 3/23/17)...all assists, and no multiple-pointers.  That was part of a run where he managed 17 points (6 G and 11 A) in 28 GP.  Has to be the most productive stretch of his early career.  And man does it almost feel like it couldn't possibly have ever happened...

Edited November 16, 2018 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Devil Dan 56]

9 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Crazy as it will sound, Zacha once notched a point in SIX straight games (3/11/17 through 3/23/17)...all assists, and no multiple-pointers.  That was part of a run where he managed 17 points (6 G and 11 A) in 28 GP.  Has to be the most productive stretch of his early career.  And man does it almost feel like it couldn't possibly have ever happened...

I'm a pretty big Zacha defender and I honestly am shocked by that. That's a respectable 40 point pace. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Just now, Devil Dan 56 said:

I'm a pretty big Zacha defender and I honestly am shocked by that. That's a respectable 40 point pace. 

50 points actually.  Yeah I wanted to look up if he had ever had three points in three games before (I figured he'd done it at least once), saw the six-game stretch, and then noticed that he was actually putting up a respectable amount of points before and after the six games.  I would take that from him now in a heartbeat.

[mfitz804]

7 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

50 points actually.  Yeah I wanted to look up if he had ever had three points in three games before (I figured he'd done it at least once), saw the six-game stretch, and then noticed that he was actually putting up a respectable amount of points before and after the six games.  I would take that from him now in a heartbeat.

He might give you that. For the season.

[mfitz804]

Rangers trade Ryan Spooner, who I thought they were high on, to Edmonton for Ryan Strome. 

[jagknife]

11 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

You may be right. 

I googled it, and Gretzky's longest pointless streak was 4 games, and it was with the Rangers. I could not isolate whether it was the last season. 

That is pretty impressive. He went scoreless 3 games on 6 occasions, 2 games on one occasion, and 4 games on one occasion. Are you fvcking kidding me??

Even in his final season, he still put up, what, 62 points?

[MadDog2020]

11 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

You may be right. 

I googled it, and Gretzky's longest pointless streak was 4 games, and it was with the Rangers. I could not isolate whether it was the last season. 

That is pretty impressive. He went scoreless 3 games on 6 occasions, 2 games on one occasion, and 4 games on one occasion. Are you fvcking kidding me??

When I look back at some of the stuff Gretzky did and his numbers, I almost have to pick my jaw up off the floor every time. It’s absolutely staggering.

Edited November 17, 2018 by MadDog2020

[Devil Dan 56]

2 hours ago, MadDog2020 said:

When I look back at some of the stuff Gretzky did and his numbers, I almost have to pick my jaw up off the floor every time. It’s absolutely staggering.

Absolutely. 50 goals in 39 games is still so insane. That's like NHL 19 on easy mode level good. 

[MadDog2020]

 

 

[jagknife]

Like Schenn on waivers by Anaheim. I say take a shot, contract is one year deal at 800k

[NJDevils1214]

7 hours ago, jagknife said:

Like Schenn on waivers by Anaheim. I say take a shot, contract is one year deal at 800k

I would pick him up if only to avoid Gryba playing. 

[SterioDesign]

not sure if it's legit but some dude on NHL Network Radio says that Jeff Skinner wants an 8-year contract worth $9.5M per year from the Sabres... maybe GMs knew that's what he was looking for on his next contract and none would want to pay that for just a year? I'm still wondering why his return was so little

[NJDevils1214]

Would anyone have guessed the Met would look like this by December? With the exception of WAS it would almost make more sense flipped upside down lol.

CLB - 26

NYI - 22

NYR- 22

WAS - 21

CAR - 21

PHL - 20

NJD - 18

PIT - 17

[Nicomo]

51 minutes ago, NJDevils1214 said:

Would anyone have guessed the Met would look like this by December? With the exception of WAS it would almost make more sense flipped upside down lol.

CLB - 26

NYI - 22

NYR- 22

WAS - 21

CAR - 21

PHL - 20

NJD - 18

PIT - 17

I’m not surprised CBJ are doing so well. They do this every season since Tortorella got there. Have ridiculously dominant stretches were they look like one the best teams in the league, only to get bounced in 1st rd every postseason. 

[Devilsfan118]

3 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

not sure if it's legit but some dude on NHL Network Radio says that Jeff Skinner wants an 8-year contract worth $9.5M per year from the Sabres... maybe GMs knew that's what he was looking for on his next contract and none would want to pay that for just a year? I'm still wondering why his return was so little

This is absolutely insane to me.  

In what reality is a 60 point guy, who might exceed that this year for the first time in a while, worth 9.5M?

In reality, he'll probably get 8 x 8 which is still insane to me.