Prospects thread 2022-2023

[Patrick Sundstrom Ghost]

2 minutes ago, Lateralous said:

Yeah, but we’re talking about a depth guy that is really just insurance for injuries or kids not looking ready.  Ideally that player is going to be sitting in the press box most nights.   I don’t think that’s a situation you want to put Vilen in.   It sounds like a job for a vet who is just happy to have a contract in the NHL for another year, possibly even a two way if we consider Smith insurance option #1 

What you're saying makes sense, I just don't see the team carrying 8 d on the roster, so could they sign a guy who is going to be sent down and on waivers mutiple times, sure, but if there is lets say mutiple injuries, that type of player is not going to be someone who you want in the line-up consistently I don't think.

I agree though that Vilen is someone who they would only bring up to put him in the line-up, and not have him sitting in the stands to often.

 

[MadDog2020]

We signed Tyler Brennan to his ELC: https://www.nhl.com/devils/news/devils-sign-tyler-brennan-to-entry-level-contract--release/c-343593572?fbclid=IwAR3-9RdSSHvqH99-zrsTypiLIrqyA0JSz__EBZohARF5feZaTdp_1OjtXp8

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Hoping we can get this done and get him to Jersey. 

60 million rubles is $750k btw. We should easily have that sort of wiggle room.

[Patrick Sundstrom Ghost]

The question is does Gritsyuk want to be in NA, and if so, can he continue to make the improvements he needs as a player in the AHL if the team thinks he is not quite ready for the NHL.

I really don't want him to sign a 2 or 3 year deal with another KHL team, that would be very bad to me as he joins a new team and it's less likely he comes over here at all.

If he re-signs with his current team while at the same time signing with the Devils, he can continue to improve on the things NJ thinks he needs to do before he can compete for a spot on the roster here.

Guadana what do you think currently if you see this?

 

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

This guy is a Russian scout, but don't know his sources so treat with caution. 

[StarDew]

Where has Guadana gone? Miss his posts 😔 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Hasn't been here since 3/26, according to his profile.  Hope he's OK.  

[RunninWithTheDevil]

22 minutes ago, StarDew said:

Where has Guadana gone? Miss his posts 😔 

 

7 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Hasn't been here since 3/26, according to his profile.  Hope he's OK.  

He tweeted on April 13th FWIW, hopefully just busy with life

[Patrick Sundstrom Ghost]

1 hour ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

This guy is a Russian scout, but don't know his sources so treat with caution. 

Well this makes things less complicated because if he wants to play over here I sign him right now even if he has to play in Utica next season to begin with.

I know Guadana and others too might worry about him becoming a complete player and playing in a lesser league is an issue if you want him to reach his full potential in the NHL.

This is a legit worry, but I think you have to hope the coaching in Utica can help him reach the same finishing touches as him playing another season in the KHL would do.

Now if they don't sign him, this is very worrisome as he would look to sign a long term deal with a new team, and that team would have no reason to do so unless they had him for a long time.

I say lets him bring over and hope for the best as losing him now might prevent any future signing from happening for years.

[Nicomo]

3 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Hasn't been here since 3/26, according to his profile.  Hope he's OK.  

He’s still pretty active on HF. 

[Guadana]

On 4/18/2023 at 10:44 PM, Patrick Sundstrom Ghost said:

Well this makes things less complicated because if he wants to play over here I sign him right now even if he has to play in Utica next season to begin with.

I know Guadana and others too might worry about him becoming a complete player and playing in a lesser league is an issue if you want him to reach his full potential in the NHL.

This is a legit worry, but I think you have to hope the coaching in Utica can help him reach the same finishing touches as him playing another season in the KHL would do.

Now if they don't sign him, this is very worrisome as he would look to sign a long term deal with a new team, and that team would have no reason to do so unless they had him for a long time.

I say lets him bring over and hope for the best as losing him now might prevent any future signing from happening for years.

 

AHL is lesser competent league for him. I like idea to have him as more ready product. Like we see, our coaches didn`t help really well.
Devils will not lose his rights. If he will sign 1-2 or even 3 years deal -  it will change nothing. Gritsyuk will have more money in KHL, his ELC will be shorter, he will play in better league.
Another 1-2 years in KHL will help him to learn forecheck and make his 200-foot game better. Especially if he will be traded SKA\CSKA\Ak-Bars.
If he will join Devils this offseason - not a problem too. Just needs to more development. Both scenarios are good for him and for Devils.

I think that Gritsyuk`s agent is playing his games when he said that Gritsyuk will play in NA next year. Before we will hear it from official sources, I would prefer to not trust this words.

On 4/18/2023 at 9:34 PM, StarDew said:

Where has Guadana gone? Miss his posts 😔 

Everything is ok. I`m working hard on my career.

On 4/18/2023 at 9:56 PM, RunninWithTheDevil said:

 

He tweeted on April 13th FWIW, hopefully just busy with life

yeah, that`s right.

 

I`m making video about Bardakov`s playoff. Guy is legit forechecker. If he will decide to play in NHL, we will have great addition for our bottom lines, may be even middle six player.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20 by Guadana

[Patrick Sundstrom Ghost]

3 hours ago, Guadana said:

AHL is lesser competent league for him. I like idea to have him as more ready product. Like we see, our coaches didn`t help really well.
Devils will not lose his rights. If he will sign 1-2 or even 3 years deal -  it will change nothing. Gritsyuk will have more money in KHL, his ELC will be shorter, he will play in better league.
Another 1-2 years in KHL will help him to learn forecheck and make his 200-foot game better. Especially if he will be traded SKA\CSKA\Ak-Bars.
If he will join Devils this offseason - not a problem too. Just needs to more development. Both scenarios are good for him and for Devils.

I think that Gritsyuk`s agent is playing his games when he said that Gritsyuk will play in NA next year. Before we will hear it from official sources, I would prefer to not trust this words.

I understand what you're saying and I don't disagree about level of play, but I do disagree if he leaves his current team and signs elsewhere in the KHL, they will want a longer term commintment for a good salary for him and that is not a great thing for his future with the Devils.

Yeah he could sign a 2 year deal with a new team but do you really think a team will pay him what he wants for only 2 years?

I want him over here growing with the rest of NJ as soon as possible, not 3 or 4 years down the line, whether we own his rights or not, the future is now, and I want him to be apart of that much sooner than 2 years or longer.

I think he can learn how to play a 200 foot game in Utica, will the competition be the same, no it won't, but that does not mean he can not learn it here and be in the NHL as early as next season depending on how he does.

I don't know why his agent would be saying he will be here next year if it is not true, but I hope the Devils get a deal done.

 

[Jimmy Leeds]

Is Gritsyuk another Yegor?

[Guadana]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Leeds said:

Is Gritsyuk another Yegor?

yes. All russians are the same, even belorussians. Even I`m another Yegor. Devils can give me ELC. At least I will not take a penalty like Wood.

 

 

2 hours ago, Patrick Sundstrom Ghost said:

I understand what you're saying and I don't disagree about level of play, but I do disagree if he leaves his current team and signs elsewhere in the KHL, they will want a longer term commintment for a good salary for him and that is not a great thing for his future with the Devils.

Yeah he could sign a 2 year deal with a new team but do you really think a team will pay him what he wants for only 2 years?

I want him over here growing with the rest of NJ as soon as possible, not 3 or 4 years down the line, whether we own his rights or not, the future is now, and I want him to be apart of that much sooner than 2 years or longer.

I think he can learn how to play a 200 foot game in Utica, will the competition be the same, no it won't, but that does not mean he can not learn it here and be in the NHL as early as next season depending on how he does.

I don't know why his agent would be saying he will be here next year if it is not true, but I hope the Devils get a deal done.

 

Ofcourse  I hope he will sign 1-2 years deal. Of course it`s a bad situation if he will sign 4 years deal.
But precedents say different. 

 

I dont think he will learn how to play 200 foot game in Utica. Even KHL and SHL don`t give enough level of competition, AHL isn`t about it. It`s more about physical aspect and tempo aspect of the game. Players can teach the system there. Some teams have good skill coaches there. But it will not help with bad defensive\positional game. At least not as well as KHL days. Again - coaches matters. You just don`t need to worry if he will sign 1-2 years deal. Because our disput doesn`t change nothing. He will sign somewhere. In AHL he will learn the system and will start from "5th checking\open  ice forward" role, will play on limited minutes in NHL(if he will), he will learn how to play under physical pressure (i think AHL is more physical than NHL sometimes). If he will continue to play in KHL, he will continue to learn how o play against structure defense, he will learn positional game without the puck. Both situations are good for him and for Devils. Because we have great and talented roster, and Gritsyuk is very talented player who will play 1-2 years on ELC.
And I think he will sign KHL deal for 2 years. It`s logical for his development, for his money and burn a year of his potential ELC. You should not forget about player side - he wants to have more money.
(Ofcourse  I want to sign him immidietly, and than he scored right from the beggining on NHL level, I just watch his game and talk about realistical perspective where and why he can sign now).

Edited April 20 by Guadana

[Guadana]

 

Don`t forget we could draft another forward. But drafted best goalscoring defenseman for 18-19 yo in AHL(as 18 yo) with 0.5+ ppg rate (top-1 for 18 yo, top-5\6 for 19yo), most production was going from 5vs5(Russo and Walsh were PP qb most of the time) and with very good +\-(I know, +\- svck, but he is  second best player with +13(best one has +14). It`s look like Devils drafted even better player than I was expected.

Edited April 22 by Guadana

[Lateralous]

Do we still have essentially the same amateur scouting staff that Shero brought in?   

 

I was looking at our drafts since Conte was put out to pasture after 2015 and while there have been some misses, we essentially have been landing a top end player plus 2 additional assets in every draft up through 2020.  Miss on McLeod at 11?  No problem, we land Bratt in the 6th round.   Don't like the Holtz pick? here, we got Dawson Mercer with the next pick.   Kind of resembles our early 90s drafting and development and gives me hope that we'll still be able to land good players as our top picks start being used for deadline deals.   This is a really nice run: 

2016 

Jesper Bratt

Mike McLeod

Nathan Basitan 

 

2017 

Nico Hischier

Jesper Boqvist 

Fabian Zetterlund - Apparently was a piece the Sharks really wanted 

 

2018 

Ty Smith - Was at least good enough early that we turned him into John Marino  

Akira Schmid - At this moment in time, this looks like it has the potential to be a franchise changer 

Yegor Sharangovich

 

2019 

Jack Hughes

Nikita Okhotyuk - Again, a piece that helped us land Meier 

Clarke/Thompson/Gritsyuk - Seems like were on track for at least one of these guys to be a decent contributor at the NHL level

 

2020 

Dawson Mercer

Alex Holtz - Im sure he'll still have a half decent career even if he doesn't ever become the top line sniper we hoped he would be

Shakir Mukhamadullin - Again, Meier trade

Nico Daws?   

 

Even if you assume that our top pick going forward will be a late 2nd rounder every year, that's still  Bratt, Zetterlund, Schmid, Sharagovich, Clarke, Thompson, Gritsyuk and Daws all taken after the 60th pick over 5 drafts.   That's pretty impressive.   I know the early returns on Vilen at #129 in 2021 are also pretty good.     

[Guadana]

On 4/27/2023 at 7:04 PM, Lateralous said:

Do we still have essentially the same amateur scouting staff that Shero brought in?   

 

I was looking at our drafts since Conte was put out to pasture after 2015 and while there have been some misses, we essentially have been landing a top end player plus 2 additional assets in every draft up through 2020.  Miss on McLeod at 11?  No problem, we land Bratt in the 6th round.   Don't like the Holtz pick? here, we got Dawson Mercer with the next pick.   Kind of resembles our early 90s drafting and development and gives me hope that we'll still be able to land good players as our top picks start being used for deadline deals.   This is a really nice run: 

2016 

Jesper Bratt

Mike McLeod

Nathan Basitan 

 

2017 

Nico Hischier

Jesper Boqvist 

Fabian Zetterlund - Apparently was a piece the Sharks really wanted 

 

2018 

Ty Smith - Was at least good enough early that we turned him into John Marino  

Akira Schmid - At this moment in time, this looks like it has the potential to be a franchise changer 

Yegor Sharangovich

 

2019 

Jack Hughes

Nikita Okhotyuk - Again, a piece that helped us land Meier 

Clarke/Thompson/Gritsyuk - Seems like were on track for at least one of these guys to be a decent contributor at the NHL level

 

2020 

Dawson Mercer

Alex Holtz - Im sure he'll still have a half decent career even if he doesn't ever become the top line sniper we hoped he would be

Shakir Mukhamadullin - Again, Meier trade

Nico Daws?   

 

Even if you assume that our top pick going forward will be a late 2nd rounder every year, that's still  Bratt, Zetterlund, Schmid, Sharagovich, Clarke, Thompson, Gritsyuk and Daws all taken after the 60th pick over 5 drafts.   That's pretty impressive.   I know the early returns on Vilen at #129 in 2021 are also pretty good.     

Yes we do. Fitz fired  CHL scout, who promoted Mcleod, Smith and Stillman. And he changed  Castron position  and hire Denehey(our ex AHL coach) as Chief scout. 

Shero was pretty bad in first round, but he made right decisions with 1st picks. 

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Exited about this, he has had a really good year. 

Seems he has taken Schmids Utica Number. 

Edited May 1 by Chimaira_Devil_#9

[nessus]

5 hours ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Exited about this, he has had a really good year. 

Seems he has taken Schmids Utica Number. 

Blackwood right now:

 

I mean, he must have known by now that it's Schmid and Vanecek moving forward, but I'll take any excuse to use that gif.

[Patrick Sundstrom Ghost]

On a day we beat the POS NY team we also get two nice updates one something we knew was happening & one a complete surprise out of nowhere signing.

Vilen is here in Utica and he has taken his game to a completely different level and I honestly don't know what the team does if he plays as well as he did next season.

The good news is he is only a few months older than Luke, so him playing all of next season in Utica getting used to the smaller ice even if he does what Simon did will only be a good thing.

To think in a year we could have 3 young D in our line-up with another one ready to be put in, just crazy.

Having Bahl become the D we are hoped he possibly could, but probably would not, and him not only doing it to end the season, but then up his game in the playoffs, amazing.

The big surprise out of nowhere, Danill Misyul signed with the team and will be over here next year.

I know his career has had stops and starts, but it seems he played a good deal more this season in the KHL, and while his points prodection is nothing great, he was known as an excellent skater, so having him as a possible fill in guy a year or 2 from now is another great sign of how loaded this team is for the long term.

Now we just need to get Gritsyuk here, and I bet Guadana will disagree and think him signing with a new KHL team is okay, but for me, I don't see anyway one of the big teams there are going to sign him for less than 3 years and I think that's a very bad thing for the Devils.  

I hope the kid really does follow the Devils as was mentioned online at some point earlier this season and he decides to bet on himself and take less money to play in the AHL at first and get ready to help the Devils next season

[Patrick Sundstrom Ghost]

Oh and one more thing that came from yesterday with them signing Misyul and bringing him over for next season, they have to have their eyes firmly set on a guy like Bardakov and getting him over here after next season.

If anyone here has not seen the videos Guadana did on youtube on him, check those out, that kid is like a dog on a bone forchecker and defensively so impressive, he is the perfect bottom 6 player for the future of this team.

 

 

[Guadana]

1 hour ago, Patrick Sundstrom Ghost said:

Oh and one more thing that came from yesterday with them signing Misyul and bringing him over for next season, they have to have their eyes firmly set on a guy like Bardakov and getting him over here after next season.

If anyone here has not seen the videos Guadana did on youtube on him, check those out, that kid is like a dog on a bone forchecker and defensively so impressive, he is the perfect bottom 6 player for the future of this team.

 

 

Yeah, Bardakov is very interesting as potential bottom line center\complimentary middle-6 forechecker. 
About Gritsyuk - you know my thoight. He isn`t ready, AHL isn`t the place to work on his weak sides, and I think it`s ok to sign Haula and Tatar for 2 years, and than take Gritsyuk after. 

Misyul is pretty good defenseman without the puck. He is good skater for his size, the problem is the game with the puck. He makes mistakes with the puck in defensive zone sometimes. But he is still young, I think he should play enough minutes in AHL and make it competently. May be a couple of call ups and he can be a part of the trade like Okhotiuk was. Even if he will not be a good enough NHLer, he will help to play other young guys to win in AHL.

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Talvitie heading home next season. Bit of an odd time to announce this given they are in the middle of the playoffs, but I guess he has been told where his future lies. 

Slid backwards this year in terms of production. 

Has a very nice moustache though. 

[Nicomo]

Utica lost tonight but Nemec scored a nice goal. 

 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Regardless of what happens with the big club in these playoffs…man is it nice to know that Luke and Nemec will be on the Devils next season.

7 G and 13 A for Simon over his last 22 GP.