The 2021 Offseason Thread

[titans04]

it says the Devils would consider moving the 4th pick for a young D.

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by titans04

[Nicomo]

36 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I would not agree with that quite yet. He basically had a good April. He had 4 points in the first 15 games and 12 in the first 30. 

I’d like to see him continue along the path he was on in April and May (but mostly just April), but for me he’s going to have to show his ability to do it consistently before I am ready to say he’s a top 6 guy.

We were saying that about Gusev at one point.  

I mean, nobody is really proven on this team considering how young they all are, but scoring at an almost 30 goal pace as a rookie is pretty promising. He’s not just a shot either, Ruff used him in a lot of different situations.

Personally I’m super high on him. When everyone else was fawning over Koukkanen for (mostly) compiling points I thought Sharongovich was the far more impressive rookie (and Smith ofc). The Athletic actually did had a nice piece on him recently (I’ll link below), and I loved hearing about his work ethic. I’m betting on him building off his impressive first season. 

https://theathletic.com/2649578/2021/06/14/the-sky-is-the-limit-how-the-devils-yegor-sharangovich-became-a-breakout-young-star/

Edited June 28, 2021 by Nicomo

[Guadana]

6 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

From what ive seen Sharangovich is 100% a top 6 guy.

Kuokkanen it's strange. I know he did really good and was getting points but i honestly can't remember any plays with him.

Even if Kuokkanen is, does Fitz give long terms to Bratt and Zacha for playing wingers with Hischier? And if he will, do we thing Kuokkanen will be long term RW with Hughes when we have Mercer and Holtz? If we will bring him on the third line. do we really need in long term vet now?  I think 1. yes, 2. maybe and hope not, 3. no, we dont. There is a reason to sign two way forwards for the third line on 2 years contracts. Or we should trade Zacha for top-4 D(or Tkachuk. I would give them Zacha or Severson or even both, if Tkachuk will sign long term right after the trade), but we didnt trade Zacha still. or yet.

[SterioDesign]

43 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I would not agree with that quite yet. He basically had a good April. He had 4 points in the first 15 games and 12 in the first 30. 

I’d like to see him continue along the path he was on in April and May (but mostly just April), but for me he’s going to have to show his ability to do it consistently before I am ready to say he’s a top 6 guy.

We were saying that about Gusev at one point.  

Well if you look at say... Wood's season and Sharangovich... i'm still wondering if Wood can replicate that cause his goals were all over the place. But Sharangovich, just by looking at the way he played. I really didn't see a fluke there. It was a lot more "controlled". He's great at finding open spaces and if he has the puck "in good position", he'd put it in way more often than not.

I know it's different level, age, competition and everything. But what Sharangovich did this season is what i wanted to see Holtz do playing against his peers at the world junior. But all i saw was him being in good position, leading the tournament in shots, so he had his opportunity, but he just couldnt finish, would miss the net or shoot directly on the goalie, so as a "sniper" playing against his peer, not very encouraging so far. Sharangovich seem to be putting it in when he's in position at this level

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by SterioDesign

[Guadana]

If Sharangovich will not pan out, I dont know who will. Skills, speed, shot, skating, takeaways, he is big enough. ANd young enough. He started slowly, but when he was playing with Zajac and Hughes he was 0.5+ ppg player. And most importantly he started to look solid on NHL ice when he started to play with Janne and Travis. Hughes started to take points after he was put on Sharkannens line,  not the other way around. Everyone can fail, but I hope he will develope more. 

[mfitz804]

21 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

Well if you look at say... Wood's season and Sharangovich... i'm still wondering if Wood can replicate that cause his goals were all over the place. But Sharangovich, just by looking at the way he played. I really didn't see a fluke there. It was a lot more "controlled". He's great at finding open spaces and if he has the puck "in good position", he'd put it in way more often than not.

I know it's different level, age, competition and everything. But what Sharangovich did this season is what i wanted to see Holtz do playing against his peers at the world junior. But all i saw was him being in good position, leading the tournament in shots, so he had his opportunity, but he just couldnt finish, would miss the net or shoot directly on the goalie, so as a "sniper" playing against his peer, not very encouraging so far. Sharangovich seem to be putting it in when he's in position at this level

He does seem to be. But it was like a month that he was doing that. He was borderline invisible early in the season. 

Like I said, I hope he picks right up where he left off. I’m just not sold on a guy after such a short period of time. 

Edited June 28, 2021 by mfitz804

[SterioDesign]

2 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

He does seem to be. But it was like a month that he was doing that. He was borderline invisible wary in the season. 

Like I said, I hope he picks right up where he left off. I’m just not sold on a guy after such a short period of time. 

Maybe but it's also easy to point out why it may be. Young guys will always go through slumps and working the kinks on GOOD teams. So imagine on this team, through covid and without practices

[mfitz804]

Just now, SterioDesign said:

Maybe but it's also easy to point out why it may be. Young guys will always go through slumps and working the kinks on GOOD teams. So imagine on this team, through covid and without practices

That’s fine. It’s a great excuse for it. I don’t know if you call the whole season up until April a “slump”, or maybe he played above his average for a month, who knows. 

All I’m saying is, before I anoint a guy as a top 6 going forward, I would like to see a bit larger of a sample. 

I hope you are right, and I’m not saying you aren’t. 

[SterioDesign]

1 minute ago, mfitz804 said:

That’s fine. It’s a great excuse for it. I don’t know if you call the whole season up until April a “slump”, or maybe he played above his average for a month, who knows. 

All I’m saying is, before I anoint a guy as a top 6 going forward, I would like to see a bit larger of a sample. 

I hope you are right, and I’m not saying you aren’t. 

Thats totally fine. He just seem to have a lot going for him. Buddy won his spot out of nowhere this year, scoring like a mofo during the pre-season and training camp and he was one of the top rookies of this year. So to me he's at least an NHLer

[mfitz804]

3 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

Thats totally fine. He just seem to have a lot going for him. Buddy won his spot out of nowhere this year, scoring like a mofo during the pre-season and training camp and he was one of the top rookies of this year. So to me he's at least an NHLer

So far, so good!

[vadvlfan]

2 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

I know some (not saying you specifically) think the Devils don't want to spend money on the team, out of cheapness.  I don't think that's the case...Lou spent as much as he wanted to under the current ownership, then Ray came in and was clearly trying to build a core (from near-scratch) AND cap flexibility for when the core would be ready for reinforcements.  Fitz then came in and due to how the team performed really didn't have much choice but to deal off vets for whatever returns he could get.  It hasn't made much sense to spend big yet...PK was really a bit of a reach.  

Fitz doesn't strike me as being reckless...I don't see him spending just for the sake of doing so.  And as we've been over, having the space doesn't mean there's players willing to gobble it up...if I'm a UFA, I'm not sold on the potential of the Devils' core just yet.  I don't think a lot is going to happen this offseason, but I don't think it will be due to any penny-pinching...more because I don't think Fitz has any interest in being used as a bargaining chip, and I think he'd like to see his players have one more year of development (including guys like Holtz and Mercer) before he starts splurging on outside help.  I can see Fitz going after Coleman and a couple of mid-tier signings, assuming he has much interest in dipping his feet into the UFA pool at all.  

I'm hoping Fitz does dip into UFA pool. There are a couple very good game changers out there to be had. And not the one year wonder signings/trades like Ryan Murray. (not saying he was bad) Fitz will spend the $$, but will have to overpay/term.  Holtz/Mercer are years away from contributing. (you're right CR they need to season in Utica.) All of us will squabble a little about who to sign & who not to sign. But of course, I'll be right! 😀

[Guadana]

Sergachyov+Johnson for 4th 2021 if Clarke\Power arent available

[Nicomo]

1 minute ago, SterioDesign said:

Thats totally fine. He just seem to have a lot going for him. Buddy won his spot out of nowhere this year, scoring like a mofo during the pre-season and training camp and he was one of the top rookies of this year. So to me he's at least an NHLer

He also had 17 goals in 34 GP in the KHL right before coming over, too. The Athletic article I linked touched on what he changed wrt his shot, and our old buddy Brylin was actually one of the two coaches credited with helping him fine-tune it (basically don’t shoot like PK lol)

Two assistant coaches in particular — Sergei Brylin in the AHL, Mikhail Grabovski in the KHL — have put in the hours of work with Sharangovich before and after practices to fine-tune his shooting ability. It looks a little different than a typical wrist shot — I’ve used words like “whip” and “sling” to describe the motion. Dennehy said it reminds him of a lacrosse shot. 

It looks different this season than how he used to shoot, and that was by design. 

“Well, that was something that we had identified,” Woodcroft said. “It was myself and Mikhail Grabovski because Grabber did a lot of the physical work with Yegor, so I don’t want to step on his toes. One of the things that we had seen was, yeah, he would take too long to get his shot off. It was such a dramatic wind-up and a ‘here it comes’ type of process. We felt that if we could tighten it up and change the angle of the puck when it’s delivered, so kind of kill two birds in one stone, that he could catch a lot of people off guard. And he did have a powerful shot to begin with. So those two things, we worked on a lot over the last summer.”

[SterioDesign]

3 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

He also had 17 goals in 34 GP in the KHL right before coming over, too. The Athletic article I linked touched on what he changed wrt his shot, and our old buddy Brylin was actually one of the two coaches credited with helping him fine-tune it (basically don’t shoot like PK lol)

Two assistant coaches in particular — Sergei Brylin in the AHL, Mikhail Grabovski in the KHL — have put in the hours of work with Sharangovich before and after practices to fine-tune his shooting ability. It looks a little different than a typical wrist shot — I’ve used words like “whip” and “sling” to describe the motion. Dennehy said it reminds him of a lacrosse shot. 

It looks different this season than how he used to shoot, and that was by design. 

“Well, that was something that we had identified,” Woodcroft said. “It was myself and Mikhail Grabovski because Grabber did a lot of the physical work with Yegor, so I don’t want to step on his toes. One of the things that we had seen was, yeah, he would take too long to get his shot off. It was such a dramatic wind-up and a ‘here it comes’ type of process. We felt that if we could tighten it up and change the angle of the puck when it’s delivered, so kind of kill two birds in one stone, that he could catch a lot of people off guard. And he did have a powerful shot to begin with. So those two things, we worked on a lot over the last summer.”

Do you remember Langenbrunner shooting like that at times too? like he'd give himself suuuch a big fvcking swing. You always kind of saw the whole Snoopy thing in your head where he pulls the football away before the kid was going to kick it and fall on his ass lol

[mfitz804]

31 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

He also had 17 goals in 34 GP in the KHL right before coming over, too.

Reid Boucher scored a goal every other game in the KHL this past season also. Just sayin’. 

[titans04]

3 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Reid Boucher scored a goal every other game in the KHL this past season also. Just sayin’. 

Who?

[mfitz804]

5 minutes ago, titans04 said:

Who?

Exactly lol. 

[Nicomo]

9 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Reid Boucher scored a goal every other game in the KHL this past season also. Just sayin’. 

Not at 22 years old though. 

[SterioDesign]

15 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Reid Boucher scored a goal every other game in the KHL this past season also. Just sayin’. 

he had his shot in the NHL and never did what Sharangovich did though

[Nicomo]

1 minute ago, SterioDesign said:

he had his shot in the NHL and never did what Sharangovich did though

Exactly. Boucher had 20 career goals in 133 NHL games. 

Sharongovich just had 16 goals his first (shortened) season. 

[MadDog2020]

1 hour ago, Guadana said:

Sergachyov+Johnson for 4th 2021 if Clarke\Power arent available

I’d do that in a hot second. I doubt Tampa would though lol.

[mfitz804]

31 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

Exactly. Boucher had 20 career goals in 133 NHL games. 

Sharongovich just had 16 goals his first (shortened) season. 

I’m just pointing out that KHL numbers are meaningless. I’m not really comparing the two guys. Obviously Sharangovich is better

Shout out to my iPhone for letting me dictate “Sharangovich” while driving and getting it right.

[Guadana]

11 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

I’d do that in a hot second. I doubt Tampa would though lol.

Really intersting what kind of "good young defenseman" Fitz means. Makar\Q Hughes\Heiskanen? Its never happen. Girard/Toews? Hope not, because we can get them cheaper. Cernak? Cheaperer. C Foote? Cheapererer. Zadorov? Hope he will never play in NJD even he will pay Devils for it.

[mfitz804]

10 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I’m just pointing out that KHL numbers are meaningless. I’m not really comparing the two guys. Obviously Sharangovich is better

Shout out to my iPhone for letting me dictate “Sharangovich” while driving and getting it right.

Just to clarify, all I am saying is that it is a tremendous leap of faith to go from a guy having a good April to saying he’s a top six and part of our core going forward. I hope he is, I think he could be, but I need to see more of a sample size. 

Same thing I say about everybody else.

[Guadana]

3 hours ago, MadDog2020 said:

I’d do that in a hot second. I doubt Tampa would though lol.

BTW  about trade 4th for young defenseman.
tampa has draft problems. And they are in win now mode. They dont need in 4th pick. But. If Fitz trade Smith(he is protect for the draft) and nyi pick for Sergachyov? Are you like it or not?)