gdt: round 2 onwards. 11am ET

[grcenter47]

26 minutes ago, pumpkin cutter said:

LOVE this kid.

Did he just wake up?

[pumpkin cutter]

6 minutes ago, grcenter47 said:

Did he just wake up?

Kid doesn’t probably know where nj is. Would love to see him play in the nhl, but cmon he’s not even sniffing the ahl. 

Edited July 24, 2021 by pumpkin cutter

[NJDevils1214]

25 minutes ago, grcenter47 said:

Did he just wake up?

It was prob between midnight and 1AM in Sweden at the time.

[slasher72]

3 hours ago, pumpkin cutter said:

LOVE this kid.

He really likes to have the puck.

[eldon]

That was a good interview.  Was funny when he got another call.

And I admire how hard he was trying to find the right english words for choose the right player to defend against.  

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

People keep referring to Bardakov who we took in the 7th as the Siberian War Machine. Ready made Bastian replacement. 

[Guadana]

My mark is 6\10 for this draft.

LD Hughes - high upside, big questions about defensive game, his playin with the puck. Pick doesnt make team better and dont solve the issues.  If Hughes will be better than Smith, this push Smith out of his position, Devils will must to find a trade for him. If Hughes will not be better than Smith, it`s a bad pick.
Story about left defenseman can play on the right side is false narrative for team who wants to win. Wrong side will hurt in puck battles, protectin the puck in passes and zone driving etc. Good player will handle it, but there will be mistakes and losing moment, than will add in big picture. Sometimes playoff performance cost 1 point. And all of this losing moments will add in more losing defensive battles, offensive losing possibilities and will add in more losing points.
But I dont think it`s a "bad" pick no matter how I like or not Luke Hughes as a player. I think he has better potential than Smith and I`m not a fan of Smith. And I like brother story. Jack was lookin as a happiest man of the world.  Hughes has potential to have very high upside, he needs to work hard on his defensive game. Good luck for him. I wish him success.
Not an excellent, but it is a good pick. We may draft Johnson, and "oh, boy" - thanks, universe, we didnt do it.

RW Stillman - bad pick. Stillman has some speed and grit. I do really think he will be good bottom six player. But he is potential bottom six player. This is not what you draft in first round, especially when you have so much holes as devils have. I like Stillman as a player, but Devils could made trade for couple of seconds or second and third and draft Stillman for needs and right defenseman for needs. Fitz did say he didnt want to trade down picks.
Or draft  Raty, who did score 4 goals after  the draft. Stillman is good as a player from draft, bad as pick in first round, bad as management decision. There were Morrow, Pinelli, Raty, Stankoven, Chibrikov, Chayka who can develope in players with higher upside.
Stillman as a player of needs is not a good pick, because we have some depth on the right side of offense for closest future, but have no depth on the right side of defense. Today roster, ahl roster, prospect pool - we are svck everywhere. As a pick for needs its a bad pick. If you want bottom six guy - trade this pick for saving bastian and you will have a player who is actually NHL player with very good bottom six stats.(ask Salvador)
I dont like this menegement decision more than a player. I think Stillman is a good as a player. But I`m talking about draft. Bad pick.

C\LW Salminen is a very good pick. I think it`s a bulls eye shot here. Samu was best ppg player in his junior league. He is in top-10 in history. Selanne, Lundell, Teravainen, Mikko Koivu are his neighbours. I dont like his skating, but I really like his vision. Great u-18 performance on world level. He is a great option for PP because of shot. He makes great decision on the ice to compansate his skating problems, I like his gap control. For a third rounder - great. Even for second rounder. Everybody was not so high about Lundell with his skating, now look at them. I cant say Samu is a player of Lundell level, but as a gamble in third round - great pick.

Goalie Malek is ok pick. We can draft him later, but I think he has pretty good stats for young goalie in his adult league. I dont know will he ever be an AHL goalie or more, but I dont think devils have better option. But I dont like that Devils dont draft from MHL. I dont like many things in russian hockey, but we are good in develope of hockey goaltenders.

LD Vilen - I dont like this pick. He is good player for that pick, but devils has option in Bar. Bar is a solid right defenseman. Vilen is another left defenseman. How many we have? 14? 15? And Severson, one year of Subban, softy slow Walsh and Mccarthy on the right side. This is a bad management. 5th round is a place to draft for needs. Especially when it is a need like that. And I dont think Vilen is better player than Bar.
Vilen is left "two way" defenseman, he was best ppg u-18 defenseman in Liiga this year. I will say his skating is awkward sometimes, but i will say he is avarage skater with good enough speed. I think he understand defensive game pretty well. Gap control, protecting the puck, puck battles - he looks good enough. I think he has some potential to be AHL defenseman at least, may be NHL defenseman. I think he looks solid overall and he is good enough for his pick in vacuum.
But he has no chance to be NHL defenseman in New Jersey. It`s a filler pick and I dont like management Idea to draft him. After picking Hughes, after picking Mukha and Edwards year ago.

RD Hurting. I dont have enough tapes. He isn`t slow from what i watched. This is a gamble and if a guy with his size will develope in SHL after 4-5 years, may be he will click in NA. But I cant say - we have one more option on the right side of defense. He has enough problems of very big defenseman, doesnt produce much. If he will be AHL player for 1 game - that will be some kind of success.

RW Bardakov. Bam. Great pick. Awesome pick. He is very close to be NHL ready. He is what can click in bottom-six. And he has a great floor for bottom six player. I did watch more than 15 of his games last year. He is very exiting to watch. he is great puck battler. he is very strong on the boards, he isnt great skater but he is very strong on his feets, he has good shot and he is forecheker you want to play. How good he is you ask me? I think he is good enough to be picked in third round I would say.  I think he has better chances to ne NHL player than other players from this draft except Hughes. He was 4th best U-20 scorer in KHL this year. And 8 goals for bottom line player is a great result.  I really like this pick.

_____________

Big questions from me
1) why Fitz didnt trade 29th for 2nd`s or for 2nd and 3rd. There were an option to draft Stillam and someone else. If Stillman were gone, Fitzy could be in postion to draft Raty or other player
2) Vlien over Bar. Ok. If you want to draft him, i`m ok. But we have black hole on the right side of defense on all levels. NHL\AHL\prospect pool. Dont draft some one and find some options on the draft. Dont try to place all of your eggs in the only one "Dogie Hamilton" basket. If you think some left defenseman will play on the right side - it is an option, but you have a great chance, he will not handle responsibility and pressure. 

Little question - time to draft MHL goalies. They are better develope and have better chances to be better NHL goalie. It`s a trend, it`s fact and someday you will find a brilliant, if you will dig harder.

Edited July 25, 2021 by Guadana

[NJDevils1214]

30 minutes ago, Guadana said:

Big questions from me
1) why Fitz didnt trade 29th for 2nd`s or for 2nd and 3rd. There were an option to draft Stillam and someone else. If Stillman were gone, Fitzy could be in postion to draft Raty or other player

Fitz said they were trying to move up and the deal fell through so they decided to use the pick. Quite possible they just ran out of time 🤷‍♂️. 

[Satans Hockey]

Smith was great last year, I absolutely don't agree that we should trade him if Luke becomes better than him. That would be a fantastic "problem" to have but you would keep both and have them be part of your defense for years. Not like our defense has the depth to not keep both. 

[mfitz804]

3 minutes ago, Satans Hockey said:

Smith was great last year, I absolutely don't agree that we should trade him if Luke becomes better than him. That would be a fantastic "problem" to have but you would keep both and have them be part of your defense for years. Not like our defense has the depth to not keep both. 

Yeah I don’t get it, you need at least 6 guys, if you have two who are just too good and could replace each other, you just put one on your first pair and one on your second pair, no?

Edited July 25, 2021 by mfitz804

[Nicomo]

6 minutes ago, NJDevils1214 said:

Fitz said they were trying to move up and the deal fell through so they decided to use the pick. Quite possible they just ran out of time 🤷‍♂️. 

It wasn’t that the deal fell through, the player he wanted got selected, so he backed out. 

[Satans Hockey]

Just now, mfitz804 said:

Yeah I don’t get it, you need 6 guys, if you have two who are just too good and replace each other, you just put one on your first pair and one on your second pair, no?

Exactly

[SterioDesign]

13 minutes ago, NJDevils1214 said:

Fitz said they were trying to move up and the deal fell through so they decided to use the pick. Quite possible they just ran out of time 🤷‍♂️. 

Yeah when you have 3-4 minutes to make a pick and try to move up or trade the pick for a player (meier was rumoured). And seeing how it went down (in the video), looks like things just didn't aligned and he didn't have time. Literally looks like the kid was next on their draftboard and they didnt have time to inquiry with like.... 20 teams to try to trade down.

[mfitz804]

9 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

It wasn’t that the deal fell through, the player he wanted got selected, so he backed out. 

I think that was exactly what Fitz said…I don’t think he ran out of time. 

[NJDevils1214]

11 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

It wasn’t that the deal fell through, the player he wanted got selected, so he backed out. 

Sorry, you're right that's more accurate to what I should have said. Thanks. 

[SterioDesign]

What's important to understand is that scouts have their own list. they don't go by the same list we see on TV. They all break down players and their own list based on ceiling, attitude, fit, etc etc etc So sure maybe there was 3-4 players "better" than Stillman ahead of him that we could have picked. But then obviously they were not a good fit in the eyes of the scouting team.

Guadana keep bringing up that we could have got Raty instead. Him falling from first overall to THIS LOW in 15 months, is the biggest red flag in the world. So that's completely ignoring interviews and the whole process our scouts did in interviews and analyzing all the players potential. Raty crumbled under pressure from being a 1st overall pick at that age. How are scouts supposed to project him handling the pressure playing in the NHL? He might in the end. But it's certainly a case of top talent but no character. And for sure that's not something Fitz is looking for. The kid himself admitted having lost the joy of playing hockey. You don't draft someone like that unless your team is stacked and you don't mind taking the risk

Edited July 25, 2021 by SterioDesign

[SterioDesign]

1 hour ago, mfitz804 said:

Yeah I don’t get it, you need at least 6 guys, if you have two who are just too good and could replace each other, you just put one on your first pair and one on your second pair, no?

Yeah plus we have Smith AND Hughes who both play both sides. Guanada tends to focus on the negative aspects since he just doesn't like the pick and ignores the big picture. There's pros and cons for a player being right or left handed playing on either sides. One scenario it's easier for puck battles along the boards, go around defender and able to take a shot from the outside vs having to cut inside towards the net to have a better angle. Or the opposite where left hand shooters can't take one timers from the point while they are on the left side. So they can't have one timers ala Kovalchuk, Ovi or Stamkos from the left side. Having to skate backward along the blue lines to take a shot vs cutting in and being on your strong side. etc etc It's really a preference thing and something the coaches have to figure out how to make it work. 

Every scenario brings some pros and cons. Literally. So to sit there and just point out the negative effects without bringing the positive, that's just trying to shove your preferred narrative down people's throat.

I for one been very frustrated playing NHL on PS4 with the Devils cause when im in the O-zone cycling the puck trying to get a good angle for a shot on net through traffic or wtv. i just never have good one timer options from the point cause the dmen are mostly shooting from the outside and can't face the pass coming from the inside. That's a big problem and mostly leaving guys having to skate the puck backward towards the middle for a slapper or take wristers from a wide angle.

 

[Guadana]

The big picture is Smith, Hughes and Sevs will play top-4 role. Even if we add Hamilton we cant split their time in PP and this defensive core have lack of defensive abuility. This is not how winning team built their defense.  This is a losing concept and this is how real picture is lookin. You can like any puckmover as a hockey player, but you never build winning team with majority of them in your top-4. And there are no place in thierd pair for a talent like that.

Большую картину он тут описывает.

Edited July 25, 2021 by Guadana

[SterioDesign]

18 minutes ago, Guadana said:

The big picture is Smith, Hughes and Sevs will play top-4 role. Even if we add Hamilton we cant split their time in PP and this defensive core have lack of defensive abuility. This is not how winning team built their defense.  This is a losing concept and this is how real picture is lookin. You can like any puckmover as a hockey player, but you never build winning team with majority of them in your top-4. And there are no place in thierd pair for a talent like that.

Большую картину он тут описывает.

You do understand that we almost started from scratch 5-6 years ago right? And that we've had a terrible D corp through that. We can't always just sit there and wait to add PRECISELY what you'd want us to find EXACTLY in your perfect world. Any player you draft or sign or trade for is rarely a guarantee. So you get what you can when it makes sense, you add skills when you can and then if it doesn't work you can make trades with what you have and fine tune your team.

It's not like Fitz will stop just there and call it a day with that top 4. You always look to improve but you need assets, luck and timing to do that

You have such a stiff and black and white vision on how to do things

 

Moi aussi je peu écrire des choses dans ma langue

Edited July 25, 2021 by SterioDesign

[Guadana]

3 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

You do understand that we almost started from scratch 5-6 years ago right? And that we've had a terrible D corp through that. We can't always just sit there and wait to add PRECISELY what you'd want us to find EXACTLY in your perfect world. Any player you draft or sign or trade for is rarely a guarantee. So you get what you can when it makes sense, you add skills when you can and then if it doesn't work you can make trades with what you have and fine tune your team.

It's not like Fitz will stop just there and call it a day with that top 4. You always look to improve but you need assets, luck and timing to do that

You have such a stiff and black and white vision on how to do things

 

Moi aussi je peu écrire des choses dans ma langue

=-D 
thanks.

this will happen when we start building a winning team, after we start playing competitively. This is what I wrote about. Thanks.

Something similar can be seen in Nashville at one time, in Carolina recently. Everything is right. You're already starting to think in the right direction. In the direction of future steps. That was my thought. It was not about "making a trade tomorrow".

[mfitz804]

53 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

You do understand that we almost started from scratch 5-6 years ago right? And that we've had a terrible D corp through that. We can't always just sit there and wait to add PRECISELY what you'd want us to find EXACTLY in your perfect world. Any player you draft or sign or trade for is rarely a guarantee. So you get what you can when it makes sense, you add skills when you can and then if it doesn't work you can make trades with what you have and fine tune your team.

It's not like Fitz will stop just there and call it a day with that top 4. You always look to improve but you need assets, luck and timing to do that

You have such a stiff and black and white vision on how to do things

 

Moi aussi je peu écrire des choses dans ma langue

You could do a lot worse than those 4 as your top 4. 
 

I know it’s on the street, but it’s in front of my house, that’s my fvcking parking spot. 

(I thought we were all putting statements from our homeland. That is a vey Staten Island declaration.)

[SterioDesign]

6 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

You could do a lot worse than those 4 as your top 4. 
 

I know it’s on the street, but it’s in front of my house, that’s my fvcking parking spot. 

(I thought we were all putting statements from our homeland. That is a vey Staten Island declaration.)

While we're talking about brothers...

Is this also triggering you that they gave Colton a Kirby Dach ersey replica?

[mfitz804]

2 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

While we're talking about brothers...

Is this also triggering you that they gave Colton a Kirby Dach ersey replica?

No, I don’t give a fvck about Chicago.