2022 Free Agency thread

[NJDevils1214]

2 minutes ago, ajsgolf said:

This comes out of nowhere, makes no sense and a shot in the dark but what else are we doing besides waiting?

Any chance the devils get Tkachuk since they also surprisingly got Kovalchuk?  Both end in “chuk”.  I know, dumb as hell but why not mention it?  Again, what else are we doing besides just waiting?

If Eklund gets wind of the "chuk" connection he's going to have it up as an e3 in seconds.

[Devil Dan 56]

6 minutes ago, NJDevils1214 said:

If Eklund gets wind of the "chuk" connection he's going to have it up as an e3 in seconds.

“This just in… Fitz hit a woodchuk on his way to work today. My sources say  Tkachuk deal is imminent”

[NJDevils1214]

Not sure if this is legit or a QO vs actually re-sign

 

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

37 minutes ago, NJDevils1214 said:

Not sure if this is legit or a QO vs actually re-sign

 

confirmed 

 

 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

4 minutes ago, MB3 said:

I wish Jarmo was our GM. Blue Jackets look like they'll tear-down rebuild in approximately half of a year.

Right now they're over $6 million OVER the cap for 2022-23.  Yikes.

[NJDevils1214]

1 hour ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Right now they're over $6 million OVER the cap for 2022-23.  Yikes.

They're going to send someone to the ranch(Ari).

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

55 minutes ago, MB3 said:

They have 3 different wingers making 8+. That's... a lot.

Wonder if they try to package a prospect with Voracek to get out of that big ticket.

Yeah they seem like one of those teams that’s never going to be great value in relation to their results.  That seems like a lot of payroll for that roster.

[mfitz804]

1 hour ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Right now they're over $6 million OVER the cap for 2022-23.  Yikes.

That's $5m and change off their cap. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

15 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

That's $5m and change off their cap. 

Yeah was hard to imagine something like that wasn’t coming relatively soon, given their situation.

[Jerrydevil]

Things were already looking good this off-season, and now Devil killer Bjorkstrand gets traded to the Western Conference. We're one step closer to a playoff spot.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Guess no one’s buying into Kadri’s career year last season.  He might be taking a one-year deal to try to show last year wasn’t some fluke at this rate.  

[pumpkin cutter]

29 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Guess no one’s buying into Kadri’s career year last season.  He might be taking a one-year deal to try to show last year wasn’t some fluke at this rate.  

I think he’s going to be good on a good contending team. I can’t see him getting more than a 5 yr deal. He would look good on the rags if they can make it work. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by pumpkin cutter

[mfitz804]

2 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Guess no one’s buying into Kadri’s career year last season.  He might be taking a one-year deal to try to show last year wasn’t some fluke at this rate.  

Was just wondering about him and why he is still not signed somewhere. I think you are right, he’s probably asking for a fortune. 

[SterioDesign]

I don't see how Colorado can make it work.

They have 4 million in cap space now and they have multiple UFAs to sign next summer, many who will need a hefty raise too. Only Johnsson's 6m salary is coming off the book too so that won't even cover the jump in salary that Mackinon and Byram will require.

They'll lose more guys than what they have now... Really can't see how they add Kadri now unless they sacrifice a lot to make room

[SterioDesign]

6 hours ago, MB3 said:

They can't do it as-is. But they just won a Stanley Cup with Girard injured. If they trade him (which should be easy to do, he's a solid player at 5m with term and no NTC) there's plenty of room for Kadri.

Next year they have to sign Mack, but he's a Crosby-type guy. He's said multiple times he will eagerly take less money to ice a better team. Say he takes a modest $9.5m contract -- that's only a $3.25 raise from what he's getting, and that money already pops up when they let Compher walk. (You say "only Johnsson", but they can let Compher, Cogliano, Helm, and Johnsson all walk -- 3rd line players and 3rd pairing defenseman, for the record) and that's $12m right there. MacK's raise will be 3-5m, same with Byram. There's room. 

All of that plus a rumored massive jump in the cap, and they're set up totally fine. 

for sure but they would be down 2 dmen then with Girard and Johnsson leaving.

I mean, obviously they can trade away guys and make it work somehow. But like i said, they'll have to sacrifice and won't be as good after those moves most likely

[SterioDesign]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/tkachuk-exclusive-star-winger-explains-why-he-left-the-flames/?fbclid=IwAR0pNCdtVpcdnEtvwKWMBRBVo52hsBHfaD6rihLmFIL163HoQSMc37YjF-8

A bit more details about why Tkachu left Calgary

Also. I wonder if we were one of the 3 teams

Quote

Tkachuk said he gave Treliving a handful of teams he’d sign long-term with, maximizing the return. The list was quickly whittled down.

“We narrowed it to three teams that I would have been very, very happy to go to, but at the end of the day Florida pushed like hell and it all happened within a day,” he said, before explaining his choice in the Panthers.

“The thing I was most attracted to is the competitiveness and how close they’ve been and how good of a team they are and how great they will be in the future - it’s something I really feel I can help with.

“All the guys are in their mid-to-late 20’s. ... The chance to win was the most attractive. ... The sun, the beach and all that stuff – don’t get me wrong, that’s really, unbelievably attractive, but the chance to win trumps it all.”

 

[MadDog2020]

9 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/tkachuk-exclusive-star-winger-explains-why-he-left-the-flames/?fbclid=IwAR0pNCdtVpcdnEtvwKWMBRBVo52hsBHfaD6rihLmFIL163HoQSMc37YjF-8

A bit more details about why Tkachu left Calgary

Also. I wonder if we were one of the 3 teams

 

Florida’s D is garbage now. Good luck Matt (but not really).

[Guadana]

On 7/22/2022 at 10:06 PM, MB3 said:

I wish Jarmo was our GM. Blue Jackets look like they'll tear-down rebuild in approximately half of a year.

 

On 7/22/2022 at 11:40 PM, mfitz804 said:

That's $5m and change off their cap. 

Kekka is good, but he is nowhere to excellent.  

I`m ok with FItz. Cant imagine how people were act if we did sign Gaudreau for 10 mil and after trading Bratt for 3rd and 4th round pick

[SterioDesign]

3 hours ago, MadDog2020 said:

Florida’s D is garbage now. Good luck Matt (but not really).

Their defense is really not great. Bad news for Bob and Spencer

[Guadana]

12 minutes ago, MB3 said:

Not sure if you’re trying to say 27 year old, career high of 53 points Oliver Bjorkstrand is worth the same as 23 year old Bratt but if you are that’s a brutal take. 

27 yo forward with 57 points last season, 28 goal scorer who score 24 goals 50 points per season through career cost little more. We dont have a field to disput here.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Guadana

[Guadana]

Just now, MB3 said:

Bjorkstrand is 4 years older than Bratt and currently has 4 years left on his deal with a no-movement clause. 

Their value is not remotely similar.

yeah, he is in his prime and sign for reasonable deal and have not only one season where he was consistent scorer. This trade is awful. Please, lets stop. At least in this case. You can talk about who is more interesting asset, but that message was not about Bratt. No need to change the subject. This subject is just worth closing.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

52 minutes ago, Guadana said:

yeah, he is in his prime and sign for reasonable deal and have not only one season where he was consistent scorer. This trade is awful. Please, lets stop. At least in this case. You can talk about who is more interesting asset, but that message was not about Bratt. No need to change the subject. This subject is just worth closing.

The problem in that situation is that Columbus was over $6 million over the cap, and obviously couldn’t take back any salary.  And other teams knew it, so not like they were willing to give up anything substantial from a draft pick standpoint.  Given everything, a couple of mid-round picks was all Columbus could’ve expected to fetch.

Speaking of teams over the cap…Florida’s currently a few million over.  They have a lot of guys coming off in a couple of years though…and it looks like they’ll probably have just enough coming off next year to squeeze in Knight.  With the lack of first-rounders, gotta wonder how many ELCs will be making their way into their roster in the years to come.  Devils will be getting some nice relief there.

[Guadana]

13 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

The problem in that situation is that Columbus was over $6 million over the cap, and obviously couldn’t take back any salary.  And other teams knew it, so not like they were willing to give up anything substantial from a draft pick standpoint.  Given everything, a couple of mid-round picks was all Columbus could’ve expected to fetch.

Speaking of teams over the cap…Florida’s currently a few million over.  They have a lot of guys coming off in a couple of years though…and it looks like they’ll probably have just enough coming off next year to squeeze in Knight.  With the lack of first-rounders, gotta wonder how many ELCs will be making their way into their roster in the years to come.  Devils will be getting some nice relief there.

This is what I did tell long before the JG story.  Because of cap hell we will lost talent. 
Bjorkstrand deserved to be traded for a couple first rounds and good prospect. But was dealt for cabbage and parrot. It’s a bad management. Just imagine they could deal him in draft day. 
 

reason why we shouldn’t catch every big name. Because we can see how it is going. If we want to spend money, we should spend it on talent who can fix our real problems. Guys like Fiala and JG would add some scoring but can’t fix real problem and it would stay us without any cap room on fixing problems. I’m glad that Fitz didn’t shoot in organization leg and didn’t spend everything to sign/trade for big name players. I don’t wanna this way to save this franchise. So may be some fans from board wants. I can understand it. So they should definitely not root for Devils, because it’s look like Fitz will rule this ship for a long time. And I really like what he did doing. Not every step, but overall. Really like. I understand his vision and I really like it. And a lot of people don’t like my vision. Is it good or bad - it’s not a question. This is what it is. And if someone really doesn’t like everything I’m talking about time after time, they should definitely change their priorities. It looks like Fitz will going on the my way) 

[SterioDesign]

18 minutes ago, Guadana said:

This is what I did tell long before the JG story.  Because of cap hell we will lost talent. 
Bjorkstrand deserved to be traded for a couple first rounds and good prospect. But was dealt for cabbage and parrot. It’s a bad management. Just imagine they could deal him in draft day. 
 

reason why we shouldn’t catch every big name. Because we can see how it is going. If we want to spend money, we should spend it on talent who can fix our real problems. Guys like Fiala and JG would add some scoring but can’t fix real problem and it would stay us without any cap room on fixing problems. I’m glad that Fitz didn’t shoot in organization leg and didn’t spend everything to sign/trade for big name players. I don’t wanna this way to save this franchise. So may be some fans from board wants. I can understand it. So they should definitely not root for Devils, because it’s look like Fitz will rule this ship for a long time. And I really like what he did doing. Not every step, but overall. Really like. I understand his vision and I really like it. And a lot of people don’t like my vision. Is it good or bad - it’s not a question. This is what it is. And if someone really doesn’t like everything I’m talking about time after time, they should definitely change their priorities. It looks like Fitz will going on the my way) 

This is true and we're already seeing it... if and i focus on IF all our young dman do pan out... well Graves, Hughes, Severson, Siegenthaler, Hamilon, Nemec, Mukh, etc etc etc we can't keep them all.

But that's when its important to have a GM who's good at managing assets so that you have a cycle of getting rid of guys at the right time, taking the right gambles, getting a return for guys before its too late and get picks to draft more talent for the future and try to keep the long-term in mind all along.

[Guadana]

2 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

This is true and we're already seeing it... if and i focus on IF all our young dman do pan out... well Graves, Hughes, Severson, Siegenthaler, Hamilon, Nemec, Mukh, etc etc etc we can't keep them all.

But that's when its important to have a GM who's good at managing assets so that you have a cycle of getting rid of guys at the right time, taking the right gambles, getting a return for guys before its too late and get picks to draft more talent for the future and try to keep the long-term in mind all along.

I believe and hope Fitz is in position where he could lost good assets for free. Im talking about Graves and Sevs. But in this specific case O hope its because we will be in hunt for play off spot in the deadline period. I really don't know what I'm think about. On the one hand Sevs can bring us 1st round and/or good prospect. On the other hand boys should learn how to play the season to the end. 

 about Mulh and co, we have a lot of defensive prospects, I hope in the right moment he will find a way to trade some of some for good young power/interior forward. Sometimes teams doesn't find money for then. Hyman was a good example, whe Leafs lost him for free. Bjorkstrand is a good forward on great contract, but I understand he was traded to the west for free because Kekka didn't want to make eastern teams and especially metro teams better. Ottawa have questions with defense, and there are a lot of physical forward in their system, may be they will be interesting in some kind of trade(not for Shaq I think, but still). Even Vukojevich is mobile physical defensman who can play with the stick and help in offensive zone too. I believe devils fans don't even think about him, but gm's with bad defensive prospect pool and problems with cap situation could be interesting in him. But this is very hypothetical. I just wait when Fitz will  find a partner for the deal and pull the trigger. 

Find some centers would be great too. Schlaine, Baumgartner and Jaromir were drafted for depth center roles and didn't pan out. Hope Pytlik will find a way to re-boot his game. Good tools but he list a year of practice and it hurt him.