The OFFICIAL Off-Season Thread

[NJDevils1214]

24 minutes ago, Lateralous said:

If you want to feel good about the start of the Devils, there’s a SDP podcast from last week where they are mesmerized by how well the Devils have managed the cap.  I think it’s the one titled “Deville”

 

I'm dumb, who is Sdp?

The Hockey PDOcast has talked about the Devils a lot more than Fridge and Marek have. They talk a lot of advanced stats though at times, so not for everyone.

Just now, NJDevils1214 said:

I'm dumb, who is Sdp?

The Hockey PDOcast has talked about the Devils a lot more than Fridge and Marek have. They talk a lot of advanced stats though at times, so not for everyone.

Nvm found it. Steve Dangle Podcast. Got it.

[RizzMB30]

2 hours ago, Lateralous said:

If you want to feel good about the start of the Devils, there’s a SDP podcast from last week where they are mesmerized by how well the Devils have managed the cap.  I think it’s the one titled “Deville”

 

Yeah, it's a good listen. I think they even say Fitz should've have been GM of the year over Jim Nill and they even said the trades that Fitz made were objectively just better than Nills'. 

It's mostly Leafs fans envy tho. They wish they managed their stars salaries better. We don't have to worry about trading one of the big four away.

[Lateralous]

6 hours ago, RizzMB30 said:

It's mostly Leafs fans envy tho. They wish they managed their stars salaries better. We don't have to worry about trading one of the big four away.

Fitz would never admit to it but when he says he had a lot of discussions about “team building” with Jesper Bratt, I’m sure the Leafs came up as a cautionary tail of what can go wrong if every top player takes every penny they can.   They were in a pretty enviable position the year Lou left coming off a 100+ point season and giving the Capitals all they could handle in their first playoff appearance.   It would have been hard to imagine back then that this group would only win one playoff series over the next 6 years.   

Edited July 4, 2023 by Lateralous

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, Lateralous said:

Fitz would never admit to it but when he says he had a lot of discussions about “team building” with Jesper Bratt, I’m sure the Leafs came up as a cautionary tail of what can go wrong if every top player takes every penny they can.   They were in a pretty enviable position the year Lou left coming off a 100+ point season and giving the Capitals all they could handle in their first playoff appearance.   It would have been hard to imagine back then that this group would only win one playoff series over the next 6 years.   

The Devils took some calculated gambles that fortunately paid off VERY well…Nico nor Jack were technically worth the money that they signed for at the time that they signed their extensions, but both sure are bargains now.  Hopefully they can keep combining for 150+ GP.

I forget who brought it up here, but signing Tavares really screwed them up, in that he set the bar for some of their other contracts…suddenly you’ve got two players making $11+ million AAV and one more almost making that much.  The Leafs also have everyone not only going UFA right around the same time (Matthews and Nylander after this season, Tavares and Marner after next), and since the Leafs didn’t offer max term to any of their own, three of those players will have potentially several prime years left, meaning they’ll be looking for another big payday.

It sounds crazy, but if I were them I’d be looking to blow it up, and get myself a boatload of picks and players and start over.  For one, they gave that group a good run, coupled with serious financial backing…Tavares has now been there five seasons.  How many chances should they all get?  Of course you don’t have to go full scorched earth, and can trade only one of the Core Four in trying to change the dynamic.  But it sure feels like that group just doesn’t have “it”.  And with their cap situation (now nearly $9 million OVER the cap), I don’t see how they can add enough to keep history from repeating itself as long as it’s generally status quo with regards to the same ol’ guys still being in the mix.

it just feels like their run as a “We have a real window here” core is done.  I wouldn’t give them one last chance.  

Edited July 4, 2023 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Lateralous]

Tavares was such an unforced mistake.  They already had a young 2C in Kadri that was coming off a 30 goal season.  If you think about they types of players and personalities that their team is still missing to this day, would there be any better players to add back into to that group that Nazem Kadri and Zach Hyman? 

They’re in a weird spot now where they’re basically just running out the clock on the Tavares deal to get cap space before they can move forward.  I don’t think MLSE has a lot of motivation to mess with the cash cow that is a 112 point second round Maple Leafs team which is why it looks like they are just going to run it back again.   

At this point, if Nylander is already asking top dollar on his next deal, they should probably just do a quality for quantity type trade to recoup some of the futures Dubas sold off while building depth and freeing up some cap space.   It would also set the tone for the upcoming Matthews and Marner negotiations although they’re in a tough spot on both of those because they each got a NMC that kicked in on July 1 walking each right into UFA if their contract demands aren’t met.   It really is crazy that Dubas got fired right into a higher level position with the Pens. 
 

[MadDog2020]

48 minutes ago, Lateralous said:

It really is crazy that Dubas got fired right into a higher level position with the Pens. 

Kyle Dubas is a walking personification of the Peter Principle.

Edited July 4, 2023 by MadDog2020

[jagknife]

11 years ago today, Parise paired with his little conspiracy buddy to sign in Minnesota.

I posted this on Facebook, and I feel validated I was pretty much dead-on:

What makes me laugh about Parise going to Minnesota is he asked Danny Heatley if they can win. Cause Heatley is so renown for his championship performances. Good luck living up to that contract.

[RunninWithTheDevil]

Tarasenko jumping the NYR ship. Rumored to be in talks with Carolina and the Sens. 

[jagknife]

34 minutes ago, RunninWithTheDevil said:

Tarasenko jumping the NYR ship. Rumored to be in talks with Carolina and the Sens. 

A few people reported last night it’s done to Carolina.

either way that’s a good move for the Canes and hysterical that the Rangers bought high and got nothing out of it

[NJDevils1214]

11 hours ago, RizzMB30 said:

Yeah, it's a good listen. I think they even say Fitz should've have been GM of the year over Jim Nill and they even said the trades that Fitz made were objectively just better than Nills'. 

It's mostly Leafs fans envy tho. They wish they managed their stars salaries better. We don't have to worry about trading one of the big four away.

I don't watch a ton of SDP cause even Adam(I think) who talks NJD up on that show while the rest of them were haters doesn't know a lot about the team.

When they were talking about which team had the best center depth right after they talked about NJDs cap situation they completely forgot them and I think agreed on LA because of AK, PLD, and Byfield.

Hughes, Nico, Mercer, McLeod, Haula.... Come onnnn. And Mercer and Haula can play wing too. That's depth baby!

[RizzMB30]

7 hours ago, NJDevils1214 said:

I don't watch a ton of SDP cause even Adam(I think) who talks NJD up on that show while the rest of them were haters doesn't know a lot about the team.

When they were talking about which team had the best center depth right after they talked about NJDs cap situation they completely forgot them and I think agreed on LA because of AK, PLD, and Byfield.

Hughes, Nico, Mercer, McLeod, Haula.... Come onnnn. And Mercer and Haula can play wing too. That's depth baby!

 

Eh, I don't listen for them to talk up the Devils, but I don't think they particularly talk down about them either. At least not recently. Both Jesse and Steve have come around on New Jersey. 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by RizzMB30

[NJDevils1214]

3 minutes ago, RizzMB30 said:

 

Eh, I don't listen for them to talk up the Devils, but I don't think they particularly talk down about them either. Both Jesse and Steve have come around on New Jersey. 

 

 

Idc about their opinion on the team. They can think and like whoever they want or don't want. I don't agree with THG on everything but I watch him. It's that they talk about things like they are fact and they're just wrong that I dislike.

I didn't hear anything in that podcast specifically that was wrong, but there were some things earlier in the season where they were off base on some things(like around the winning streak).

Edited July 5, 2023 by NJDevils1214

[vincois]

On 7/3/2023 at 1:51 PM, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Did the Devils get him?  Or this is someone you'd like to see Fitz pick up?

Kind of a vague post, not really sure what you were going for here. 

I'd like Fitz to consider bringing him (Richie) in. With B's a couple years ago, he was used on 1st PP. You can't move the guy in the slot. A lil protection for #86 as well.. 

[Jerrydevil]

Curious to see where Tomas Tatar ends up.

[RunninWithTheDevil]

100 days til opening night!

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

23 minutes ago, RunninWithTheDevil said:

100 days til opening night!

I love summer (though on brutally scorching days like this one...), but I'm never in any rush for fall to arrive, because with that ya know winter is on its way...and man I hate those short days, that dead colorless skeletal look that everything gets, driving to and from work in mostly darkness...ironically it's the cold of winter that bothers me the least, out of all of the more "hate-able" things about winter.

That being said, I can't remember being as stoked about an upcoming season as this one.  Not only can this team be REALLY good...they can also be really REALLY entertaining in doing it.  Obviously Lou's Cup-winning Devils were often better offensively than they're given credit for...all that "Devils constantly won 2-1 games" or "Marty was only facing 14 shots a game" crap was just that...total crap.

But this team really has "electric" potential...the one Devils team that I really saw get proper respect was the 2000-01 team...you had the "A" line, two in-their-prime D in Nieds and Rafalski who could provide offense, Mogilny go on a bender after a slow start...commentators actually had to come out and admit that the Devils were absolutely an exciting product, and not reliant on the T-word for success.

There's a superstar-in-the-making here in Jack.  There's legit stars here as well, who should all have several prime years ahead of them...it feels like SO much is possible.  As much as I never want to see summer end...I can't wait for this hockey season to start.  Man is this gonna be FUN!

[RizzMB30]

4 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

I love summer (though on brutally scorching days like this one...), but I'm never in any rush for fall to arrive, because with that ya know winter is on its way...and man I hate those short days, that dead colorless skeletal look that everything gets, driving to and from work in mostly darkness...ironically it's the cold of winter that bothers me the least, out of all of the more "hate-able" things about winter.

That being said, I can't remember being as stoked about an upcoming season as this one.  Not only can this team be REALLY good...they can also be really REALLY entertaining in doing it.  Obviously Lou's Cup-winning Devils were often better offensively than they're given credit for...all that "Devils constantly won 2-1 games" or "Marty was only facing 14 shots a game" crap was just that...total crap.

But this team really has "electric" potential...the one Devils team that I really saw get proper respect was the 2000-01 team...you had the "A" line, two in-their-prime D in Nieds and Rafalski who could provide offense, Mogilny go on a bender after a slow start...commentators actually had to come out and admit that the Devils were absolutely an exciting product, and not reliant on the T-word for success.

There's a superstar-in-the-making here in Jack.  There's legit stars here as well, who should all have several prime years ahead of them...it feels like SO much is possible.  As much as I never want to see summer end...I can't wait for this hockey season to start.  Man is this gonna be FUN!

 

While I loved those teams they were nowhere near as deep at forward as they were on defense. Also no where near as deep at forward as the current Devils. 

 

It was just so far more critical to have a deep defense corps in that era and the Devils/Lou nailed it. 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by RizzMB30

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

28 minutes ago, RizzMB30 said:

 

While I loved those teams they were nowhere near as deep at forward as they were on defense. Also no where near as deep at forward as the current Devils. 

 

It was just so far more critical to have a deep defense corps in that era and the Devils/Lou nailed it. 

 

 

Two H-O-F defensemen, a H-O-F goalie, a damned fine offensive defenseman in Rafalski and a great stay-at-home gritty beast…and of course plenty of guys who weren’t here as long but Lou seemed to keep finding other defensemen to fill in the cracks…he definitely knew how to navigate that era for sure.

[MadDog2020]

 

[MadDog2020]

 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

8 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

 

Sounds like they're either not convinced or don't want Schmid to get too comfortable or complacent.  Not really sure who his competition would be...VV is obviously locked in, and for the other spot it's Schmid vs...who?  Daws?  

[MadDog2020]

16 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Sounds like they're either not convinced or don't want Schmid to get too comfortable or complacent.  Not really sure who his competition would be...VV is obviously locked in, and for the other spot it's Schmid vs...who?  Daws?  

I think they want him to stay sharp and not get complacent, like you said. He’ll be in the NHL.

[moustic]

it's like i have seen this movie a thousand time already... with goalie it's always so tricky ! The young goal that jump to the occasion (this time playoff against the Rangers ! of course fans are excited) and all hope are on him for a bright future !
Sadly reality hits at the door and boom badaboom !

For me there is no doubt in my mind that Schmid must go back to AHL and show that he is ready.. Like really ready ! 
VV is currently the number one and we need a good backup to help him to light his schedule ... If no one is available, ok to put Schmid there. But he is the number two. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

6 minutes ago, moustic said:

it's like i have seen this movie a thousand time already... with goalie it's always so tricky ! The young goal that jump to the occasion (this time playoff against the Rangers ! of course fans are excited) and all hope are on him for a bright future !
Sadly reality hits at the door and boom badaboom !

For me there is no doubt in my mind that Schmid must go back to AHL and show that he is ready.. Like really ready ! 
VV is currently the number one and we need a good backup to help him to light his schedule ... If no one is available, ok to put Schmid there. But he is the number two. 

I see it more as VV is the clear 1B, but for now will be the 1A by default, as Schmid doesn't yet have a track record as an NHLer.  We'll see if Schmid can win the 1A job sometime during the season, but obviously has a lot to prove.  It's just too early to know.  

[moustic]

VV had a great season and run out of gas come playoff time. For me he is a 1A and need a strong 1B to help him in such a long season (and hopefully, post-season)