The OFFICIAL Off-Season Thread

[jagknife]

6 hours ago, devlman said:

I will NOT be fooled by Damon Severson.  He must be off this team next year. We know what he is - a player who lives on bad teams. I’m not letting a small stretch of games give his poor tenure here a free pass. We have young defensemen in the wings. Cut ties with Severson and move on.

agreed with everything else!

Completely get it.

For me it’s the Stockholm syndrome of him waking up when we actually needed stability back there, even with his insane poor decisions tonight of flubbed passes into dangerous areas.

I won’t be heart broken if/when he moves on, but if I was GM, I’d have to consider it, if solely to allow Nemec a chance to have an oops season, or (more preferably) no Smith.

[NJDfan1711]

The morning after, and I'm already wanting next season to begin. 

[jagknife]

6 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

The morning after, and I'm already wanting next season to begin. 

100%, let’s freaking go (with all injuries fully healed, of course)

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Just one fan's take on what will happen with the goalies and D, as we leave 2022-23 behind us:

 

Goalies:

Schmid - He will get every chance to nail down the 1A slot.  He earned that with some stellar playoff performances...no, he wasn't great EVERY game, but I wasn't expecting a 22-year-old rookie to be that, and no one else should've asked that much of him, either.  Young, from-within, cost-controlled talent with potentially MANY prime years is EXACTLY what you want from your 1A goalie.  This is not to say that Schmid is some can't-miss lock, but he's done enough to get an extended look in 2023-24 and build off 2022-23.  

VV - Yes, he faltered big time in the playoffs...that's why he's locked into the 1B role until further notice.  The good news is that based off the 2022-23 regular season, he's a really GOOD 1B.  He's everything you could want in one, really...he can play 50+ games if needed, and provided extended stretches of terrific play.  His salary is also quite reasonable and the Devils aren't tethered to him long-term.  His largely brutal playoff will leave a bad taste in many fans' mouths, but you can absolutely make do with him in a defined 1B role who can step in as a temporary 1A (as long as it's the regular season).  

Blackwood - Those first two promising seasons might as well have been 10 years ago.  The last three have been mostly ineffective, when he's actually been healthy enough to play.  There's no reason to bring him back...he'll simply have to try to salvage his career elsewhere.

 

Defense:

Hamilton - obviously going nowhere.  Hopefully has a better playoff next year, but with both Luke and Nemec to be in the fold, it won't be as crucial for him to put up big offensive numbers.  Was a blast to watch in the regular season.

Marino - somewhat quietly, he has the best instincts of anyone currently playing defense for the Devils.  Guy seems to make the right decision (often the PERFECT one) 90% of the time.  An absolute steal of a deal and a complete rock.

Siegenthaler - similar to the two above, he's locked in and cost-controlled, and similar to Marino specifically, his hit is insanely reasonable.  He deserves another year to show what he can do come playoff time...if he turns in either a meh regular season and/or playoff in 2023-24, the remaining three years of his deal will be movable if Fitz wants to pursue an upgrade.  

Bahl - young, cheap, cost-controlled, and learning how to use his size.  Worth taking a gamble on to start next season, as far as giving him a spot out of preseason goes.  Give him 20 games with no scratches right out of the gate.

Severson - he's getting a lot of love all of a sudden, but it's not like he hasn't teased with promising stretches before.  He is what he is.  And is about to get overpaid in UFA both in AAV and in term for what he is.  Sorry Damon, Luke and Nemec have simply made you completely expendable.  Early on we may miss some of what you did well, but not for long.

Graves - was fully exposed as a transitional player...if you're a bad team looking to upgrade over bad players on D, you can definitely do worse than Graves...he absolutely can make an iffy D-corp better.  But against stiffer competition, there's obvious weaknesses, and you can only go so far with Graves being in your Top 4.  Colorado deemed him non-essential to the cause, and the Devils are about to do the same.  He'll have a long career in the NHL, but will forever be the guy that teams looking to get over the hump will move on from. 

Smith - a cheap 7D.  Bahl, Luke, and Nemec will see it to it that he'll be nothing more than that next year.

Edited May 12 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[pumpkin cutter]

2 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Just one fan's take on what will happen with the goalies and D, as we leave 2022-23 behind us:

 

Goalies:

Schmid - He will get every chance to nail down the 1A slot.  He earned that with some stellar playoff performances...no, he wasn't great EVERY game, but I wasn't expecting a 22-year-old rookie to be that, and no one else should've asked that much of him, either.  Young, from-within, cost-controlled talent with potentially MANY prime years is EXACTLY what you want from your 1A goalie.  This is not to say that Schmid is some can't-miss lock, but he's done enough to get an extended look in 2023-24 and build off 2022-23.  

VV - Yes, he faltered big time in the playoffs...that's why he's locked into the 1B role until further notice.  The good news is that based off the 2022-23 regular season, he's a really GOOD 1B.  He's everything you could want in one, really...he can play 50+ games if needed, and provided extended stretches of terrific play.  His salary is also quite reasonable and the Devils aren't tethered to him long-term.  His largely brutal playoff will leave a bad taste in many fans' mouths, but you can absolutely make do with him in a defined 1B role who can step in as a temporary 1A (as long as it's the regular season).  

Blackwood - Those first two promising seasons might as well have been 10 years ago.  The last three have been mostly ineffective, when he's actually been healthy enough to play.  There's no reason to bring him back...he'll simply have to try to salvage his career elsewhere.

 

Defense:

Hamilton - obviously going nowhere.  Hopefully has a better playoff next year, but with both Luke and Nemec to be in the fold, it won't be as crucial for him to put up big offensive numbers.  Was a blast to watch in the regular season.

Marino - somewhat quietly, he has the best instincts of anyone currently playing defense for the Devils.  Guy seems to make the right decision (often the PERFECT one) 90% of the time.  An absolute steal of a deal and a complete rock.

Siegenthaler - similar to the two above, he's locked in and cost-controlled, and similar to Marino specifically, his hit is insanely reasonable.  He deserves another year to show what he can do come playoff time...if he turns in either a meh regular season and/or playoff in 2023-24, the remaining three years of his deal will be movable if Fitz wants to pursue an upgrade.  

Bahl - young, cheap, cost-controlled, and learning how to use his size.  Worth taking a gamble on to start next season, as far as giving him a spot out of preseason goes.  Give him 20 games with no scratches right out of the gate.

Severson - he's getting a lot of love all of a sudden, but it's not like he hasn't teased with promising stretches before.  He is what he is.  And is about to get overpaid in UFA both in AAV and in term for what he is.  Sorry Damon, Luke and Nemec have simply made you completely expendable.  Early on we may miss some of what you did well, but not for long.

Graves - was fully exposed as a transitional player...if you're a bad team looking to upgrade over bad players on D, you can definitely do worse than Graves...he absolutely can make an iffy D-corp better.  But against stiffer competition, there's obvious weaknesses, and you can only go so far with Graves being in your Top 4.  Colorado deemed him non-essential to the cause, and the Devils are about to do the same.  He'll have a long career in the NHL, but will forever be the guy that teams looking to get over the hump will move on from. 

Smith - a cheap 7D.  Bahl, Luke, and Nemec will see it to it that he'll be nothing more than that next year.

thoughts on bratt? 

[capo]

9 hours ago, smelly said:

Shesterkin is a coin flip game 3 away from bouncingb the Devils quickly. And even then he almost stole the series himself. 
 

And WPG and NYI aren’t really relevant comparisons here IMO. 
 

Put their goalies on a talent-laden squad like the Devils and they can push you over the top. The fact that they couldn’t solely carry much lesser teams past top seeds doesn’t change that. 

Schmid did steal the series...

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

6 minutes ago, pumpkin cutter said:

thoughts on bratt? 

Gonna do forwards later.  

[Marv4Life]

Bratt, Severson, Graves, Wood, Brunette, all gotta bounce. Bye. IDC how. Just go. Find a way to get Sorokin. When your goalies get pulled like they did this postseason you have a problem. 

[Lateralous]

11 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

 

Siegenthaler - similar to the two above, he's locked in and cost-controlled, and similar to Marino specifically, his hit is insanely reasonable.  He deserves another year to show what he can do come playoff time...if he turns in either a meh regular season and/or playoff in 2023-24, the remaining three years of his deal will be movable if Fitz wants to pursue an upgrade.  

 

I think you nailed it on everyone.  The only thing I would add is that Siegenthaler's contract is so reasonable, and will be even more so as the cap goes up, that I'm fine keeping him even if he eventually becomes a third pairing defenseman when Nemec and Hughes slot up.   I'm not sure you could reasonably upgrade from Siegenthaler on a third pair or would ever really need to.     

[pumpkin cutter]

7 minutes ago, Marv4Life said:

Bratt, Severson, Graves, Wood, Brunette, all gotta bounce. Bye. IDC how. Just go. Find a way to get Sorokin. When your goalies get pulled like they did this postseason you have a problem. 

i can't blame the goalies. team in front of them sh!t the bed. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

2 minutes ago, Marv4Life said:

Bratt, Severson, Graves, Wood, Brunette, all gotta bounce. Bye. IDC how. Just go. Find a way to get Sorokin. When your goalies get pulled like they did this postseason you have a problem. 

So you've already decided that Schmid is a finished product and can't build off this postseason?  One that saw him put up a .921 save% and 2.35 GAA for the playoffs?

BTW Sorokin had a 2.60 GAA and .924 save% for the playoffs this season.  Maybe it's too early to assume that Sorokin's going to be this massive upgrade?

Not to mention he goes UFA after next season and will be due a big raise.  I don't think the Devils are in the position yet where they have to pay big money for a goalie.  

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

13 minutes ago, Lateralous said:

I think you nailed it on everyone.  The only thing I would add is that Siegenthaler's contract is so reasonable, and will be even more so as the cap goes up, that I'm fine keeping him even if he eventually becomes a third pairing defenseman when Nemec and Hughes slot up.   I'm not sure you could reasonably upgrade from Siegenthaler on a third pair or would ever really need to.     

Yeah I agree...I wasn't saying that the Devils should get absolutely get rid of him if he's meh-ish next year, as much as his contract wouldn't be prohibitive to other teams if Fitz ever decided to tweak the D-corp.

I like Siegs myself and hope he shakes off the playoff follies. 

[jagknife]

Goalie A - first two playoff season

Goalie B - first two playoff seasons

Goalie C - most recent two playoff seasons

Goalie D - Akira Schmid (blacked out bottom line is his totals, couldn’t crop further.)

Regardless of pulled or not, his numbers and on ice performance were fine. Sure he had an absolute clunker in there, the team also no showed twice and left him completely out to dry multiple times (admitted to by the captain).

if I’m looking for improvements, between the pipes isn’t it.

 

EDIT: Categories are: Shots/goals against/gaa/saves/sv% and shutouts (if applicable)

Edited May 12 by jagknife

[Devil Dan 56]

The Sharangovich decision will be an interesting one. Id hate throwing away a 20-30 goal scorer but he’s insanely unreliable and disappears so much. I wonder what the trade market is for him

I’d really like to re-sign Haula. Dude was exactly what we needed against the Rangers and down the stretch heading into the playoffs

I hope McLeod wasn’t involved in the team Canada mess. If he was then he can F- off. But if he wasn’t, he’s really carved a spot out for himself and adjusted his game once it was accepted he wouldn’t be what you want from a 10th overall. 

Edited May 12 by Devil Dan 56

[Devilsfan118]

Bratt in a package for Hellebuyck?

[Satans Hockey]

2 hours ago, Marv4Life said:

Bratt, Severson, Graves, Wood, Brunette, all gotta bounce. Bye. IDC how. Just go. Find a way to get Sorokin. When your goalies get pulled like they did this postseason you have a problem. 

Did you miss the goal Sorokin gave up in ot? He's not perfect either. 

Plus the Islanders aren't gonna give up their vezina candidate to a divisional local rival lol

[Lateralous]

54 minutes ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

The Sharangovich decision will be an interesting one. Id hate throwing away a 20-30 goal scorer but he’s insanely unreliable and disappears so much. I wonder what the trade market is for him

 

I had hoped Sharangovich was on the way to becoming a 30 goal scorer but right now he looks like a 24 goal scorer on a bad team and a passenger/healthy scratch on a good team.   I think he probably would hold some amount of value in a trade since his career stats don't look all that bad but if he's looking at maintaining his 2 million dollar salary, maybe just move him for a pick at draft if you could get a 3rd from someone.   

I guess it also depends on how many of the UFAs are coming back.   Depending on what Fitz is thinking, we might need to start the fall with him on the 3rd line.        

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Got to sort Timo and Bratt first. The rest will fall into place after that as you will know what you have to play with. 

It seems a real shame to not be able to get something for Graves, because his regular season will mean there would be demand. 

Sterio would not have liked Fitz getting nothing for a player. 

[NJDevils1214]

11 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Got to sort Timo and Bratt first. The rest will fall into place after that as you will know what you have to play with. 

It seems a real shame to not be able to get something for Graves, because his regular season will mean there would be demand. 

Sterio would not have liked Fitz getting nothing for a player. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

17 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Sterio would not have liked Fitz getting nothing for a player. 

Devils weren’t winning a Cup this year so what was the point of keeping Seves and Graves when you could’ve gotten something for each of them bad asset management…

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

1 minute ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Devils weren’t winning a Cup this year so what was the point of keeping Seves and Graves when you could’ve gotten something for each of them bad asset management…

Lou's fault the Islanders didn't swoop in. 

 

(Part of me missed SD, MB3 and Mfitz INDIVIDUALLY, but my enjoyment of this place has been rejuvenated since the constant name calling and bickering went away)

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

17 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Lou's fault the Islanders didn't swoop in. 

 

(Part of me missed SD, MB3 and Mfitz INDIVIDUALLY, but my enjoyment of this place has been rejuvenated since the constant name calling and bickering went away)

The whole “Well Fitz shouldn’t have hung onto Seves and Graves” viewpoint that he would’ve doubled and tripled down on would’ve turned into a multi-page fight I’m sure.  Everyone who didn’t agree would been put into a “You guys are all all-in all the time!” box.

If two of them could’ve just taken their constant squabbling to PM instead of forever clogging up threads with “Now I’LL get the last word in so everyone can see me do it!  Goooo me!” crap…oh well.

But what’s actually really awesome is how civilized the debates are now.  We’re all not going to agree on every last thing of course but the back and forths are far more constructive now.  No more “You must be a fvcking idiot if…”.

I could do without the “Devils are losing, time to chime in!” crowd, but it beats watching a 30-something-year-old mean girl and a 40-something teenager (who was a nice dude to be fair and who I did like) have insult death matches on a game by game basis.

Edited May 12 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Devil Dan 56]

29 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Devils weren’t winning a Cup this year so what was the point of keeping Seves and Graves when you could’ve gotten something for each of them bad asset management…

Just think of the 3 rd or 4th round pick we could have had!! 

[capo]

2 hours ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

The Sharangovich decision will be an interesting one. Id hate throwing away a 20-30 goal scorer but he’s insanely unreliable and disappears so much. I wonder what the trade market is for him

I’d really like to re-sign Haula. Dude was exactly what we needed against the Rangers and down the stretch heading into the playoffs

I hope McLeod wasn’t involved in the team Canada mess. If he was then he can F- off. But if he wasn’t, he’s really carved a spot out for himself and adjusted his game once it was accepted he wouldn’t be what you want from a 10th overall. 

What's interesting about Sharangovich is he was 3/4 liner in Binghamton and responsible checking forward. He found a scoring touch at the end of his tenure there and really found in the KHL.  He's a great 3/4 line guy. It's what he was bread to be in the system.  All of the sudden he starts scoring and he immediately gets billed as that guy. He's not that guy.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

18 minutes ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

Just think of the 3 rd or 4th round pick we could have had!! 

Fitz might've been able to fetch a 2nd for one of 'em, who knows, but most people know and agree that it can't always be about pure stockpiling of assets every year that your team isn't somehow some borderline lock for a Cup.  This season was a feel-good nice stepping stone kind of year...feel-good enough that I was willing to pass up fortifying the draft cupboard to see just how far the 2022-23 Devils could've gone.  Sometimes you lose guys for nothing...happens everywhere.  It's not always nuts-and-bolts "asset management".  The Devils derailed the Rangers so much that they canned their coach.  The kids won a playoff round.  That was worth not getting to say "What's Fitz gonna do with that 2024 second-rounder he snagged for Seves?"

Edited May 12 by Colorado Rockies 1976