Jump to content

2024 Offseason Thread - It’s FINALLY here


Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)
44 minutes ago, RizzMB30 said:


Barring some offseason training miracle. I can't imagine Palat ends up on Hughes wing. 

It's one of the "IFs" that CR76 was talking about. IF Palat can return to some kind of form this season. Fitz's answer has been Tatar. Barring some young player grabbing a spot and surprising, we are looking at 1 of Palat or Tatar in the top 6. It's a nonzero probability that there will be a surprise at training camp. 

 

You are right, it’s gonna be either Tatar or Palat in the Top 6 somewhere.  And that’s not ideal, but with better goaltending and D, hopefully that can be overcome until Fitz can try to potentially address it in season.

When the guy who was originally brought here to be a stopgap for Holtz is back and two years older, while Holtz has since been jettisoned…yeah, we know how it turned out.  Sadly the Devils have not been doing all that great in a lot of these drafts, outside of the Top 5.  Yeah they killed it with Bratt in the sixth round but that’s old news.  The AHL has become a development level for 3rd/4th liners and solid D…where are those guys for the Devils?  Fitz has had to find those players via UFA or trade more than he really should.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

You are right, it’s gonna be either Tatar or Palat in the Top 6 somewhere.  And that’s not ideal, but with better goaltending and D, hopefully that can be overcome until Fitz can try to potentially address it in season.

When the guy who was originally brought here to be a stopgap for Holtz is back and two years older, while Holtz has since been jettisoned…yeah, we know how it turned out.  Sadly the Devils have not been doing all that great in a lot of these drafts, outside of the Top 5.  Yeah they killed it with Bratt in the sixth round but that’s old news.  The AHL has become a development level for 3rd/4th liners and solid D…where are those guys for the Devils?  Fitz has had to find those players via UFA or trade more than he really should.

??? Shango/Zetterlund  turned out pretty good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Have Another Donut said:

??? Shango/Zetterlund  turned out pretty good.

Too early to say re:  Zetterlund.  And like Sharangovich, he’s getting minutes on a bad team out of necessity, which helps to boost his offensive numbers.  Let me see both of these guys be players that good teams would want to hang onto once they’re playing for something.

Calgary did make a solid commitment to Sharangovich, so they’re pretty convinced.  We’ll see how that goes in the seasons to come.

And to their credit, they had enough value to included in deals to bring back players that were considered to be good returns.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

Missing out on Marchassault pisses me off. fvcking Nashville 😡

Yeah not much you can do when he decides he wants to play with Stamkos and Nashville had the cap space to sign them both.  Also the first time that a bad contract (Palat) limited what Fitz could do.  That’s why it’s Tatar that’s here now.  Once Mercer’s re-upped, Fitz is really going to have to be creative in finding ways to find a possibly add a Top 6 forward later.  I know that Palat supposed to bring intangibles and clutch production but the version of him that we’ve seen for much of his two years here…that hit is really starting to hurt.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Yeah not much you can do when he decides he wants to play with Stamkos and Nashville had the cap space to sign them both.  Also the first time that a bad contract (Palat) limited what Fitz could do.  That’s why it’s Tatar that’s here now.  Once Mercer’s re-upped, Fitz is really going to have to be creative in finding ways to find a possibly add a Top 6 forward later.  I know that Palat supposed to bring intangibles and clutch production but the version of him that we’ve seen for much of his two years here…that hit is really starting to hurt.

I think Palat is a waste and if the Devils show they are a SC contender, I think Fitz will find a way to get a solid winger for the playoff run.

And/or maybe some young player emerges out of nowhere. It has happened before. 😁

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, 2ELIAS6 said:

The palat deal just sucks. He’s such a likable guy his play just isn’t what it should be for a contract like he has. I don’t foresee anyone wanting to take that on, but who knows. 

All they can really do is hope he somehow picks it up in the next couple of years.  The buyout with two years left on his deal isn’t too bad, but I’m sure Fitz would love to try to avoid having multiple years of pure dead hits.  If they buy him out with one year left, they’d basically regain $3.3 million of Palat’s $6 million hit for 2026-27, and have a full dead hit of $1.65 million for 2027-28.  I suspect that Fitz will live with that, if he can’t move him sooner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, RunninWithTheDevil said:

I speedwalk outdoors about 10 miles every day.

And suffice it to say it has not been pleasant lately…I try to find shaded areas, but when it’s this hot and humid that only does so much…

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Too early to say re:  Zetterlund.  And like Sharangovich, he’s getting minutes on a bad team out of necessity, which helps to boost his offensive numbers.  Let me see both of these guys be players that good teams would want to hang onto once they’re playing for something.

Calgary did make a solid commitment to Sharangovich, so they’re pretty convinced.  We’ll see how that goes in the seasons to come.

And to their credit, they had enough value to included in deals to bring back players that were considered to be good returns.  

Zetterlund and Sher, if we had one of those two, our right side wouldn't feel so weak. So it's too early to tell on Muk, but Zetterlund is a pesty feisty player that I do miss personally. He's looked good in SJ's top six and I think he's fast enough to give a Hughes-Bratt combo a player that will go into the corners and win a lot of battles, muck it up and give us a top 6 guy in him and Meier that really gives other teams headaches. Ideal guy that can fall down the lineup and if he plays the same way, he's still a problem for other teams. If he's potting 24 goals on a bad team and had a decent showing here, I can only imagine if we held on to him a little tighter as an asset. That one does burn a little. He's going to be part of the solution in SJ, not the problem, that's for sure imho playing with Will Smith or Celebrini. Sher in CGY is a more of toss up. He might get 30 again playing with Huberdeau even if the rest of the team is trash. I would take either of them or Toffs back over Tatar as far as depth on the right side. We got the right players out of these assets at least, so I guess all I'm saying is Z is more of a regret than Sher as far as missing them. Z would be cost controlled still before some team pays him 5m/year as a solid top9 RW. I don't think either of these two were more than complementary players, but it's in the past now. You give up Z, and then a season later say we need more grit, and that player sticks out in all that we gave up as far is fitting in very nicely now. Sher doesn't do much there, but Z would. Just my personal armchair GM two cents too.  Don't like the idea of giving up more assets for that RW. I've heard Ehlers might be avail in Winnipeg. 

7 hours ago, Bonginator11 said:

Dang I had no idea Zetterlund potted over 20 goals this season

Quite the player imo. Will watch his career with great interest. Sharks will suck again, but Vanny will likely bounceback (somewhat) and Blackwood staying healthy they at least have bodies. Have to in order to face all the rubber that goalies in SJ face. Z could end up being the gritty board play guy for a guy like Celebrini or Smith. Celebrini is already kind of that player too so you never know in a few years how they will look. It's just sellers remorse really looking at our right side. Not saying it's a failure but it's a glaring spot and teams like to make you pay for glaring spots in your lineup like that. Any GM you pick up the phone and ask about a right shooting forward will be licking their chops. 

4 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

All they can really do is hope he somehow picks it up in the next couple of years.  The buyout with two years left on his deal isn’t too bad, but I’m sure Fitz would love to try to avoid having multiple years of pure dead hits.  If they buy him out with one year left, they’d basically regain $3.3 million of Palat’s $6 million hit for 2026-27, and have a full dead hit of $1.65 million for 2027-28.  I suspect that Fitz will live with that, if he can’t move him sooner.

Really depends on how he plays this year. If it's more of the same, then yeah might be looking at a buyout, but if he plays to what he's capable of and is playoff Palat, you never know. I can't imagine another contender or Tampa possibly might take him back at half retained or something, too early to tell yet and need to see how he looks at camp. They are desperate for deals like that to fill out their bottom six.

Edited by RizzMB30
Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

 

That's an easy one for me to remember; that's my dad's, his oldest brother's, and his father's birthday (my dad was the last of five boys).  Only my dad is still with us; he turned 75 today.  His oldest brother would've turned 89, and his father would've turned 112.  

  • Like 2
  • Shocking 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

That's an easy one for me to remember; that's my dad's, his oldest brother's, and his father's birthday (my dad was the last of five boys).  Only my dad is still with us; he turned 75 today.  His oldest brother would've turned 89, and his father would've turned 112.  

Happy birthday to all of them CR!

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, RizzMB30 said:

Zetterlund and Sher, if we had one of those two, our right side wouldn't feel so weak. So it's too early to tell on Muk, but Zetterlund is a pesty feisty player that I do miss personally. He's looked good in SJ's top six and I think he's fast enough to give a Hughes-Bratt combo a player that will go into the corners and win a lot of battles, muck it up and give us a top 6 guy in him and Meier that really gives other teams headaches. Ideal guy that can fall down the lineup and if he plays the same way, he's still a problem for other teams. If he's potting 24 goals on a bad team and had a decent showing here, I can only imagine if we held on to him a little tighter as an asset. That one does burn a little. He's going to be part of the solution in SJ, not the problem, that's for sure imho playing with Will Smith or Celebrini. Sher in CGY is a more of toss up. He might get 30 again playing with Huberdeau even if the rest of the team is trash. I would take either of them or Toffs back over Tatar as far as depth on the right side. We got the right players out of these assets at least, so I guess all I'm saying is Z is more of a regret than Sher as far as missing them. Z would be cost controlled still before some team pays him 5m/year as a solid top9 RW. I don't think either of these two were more than complementary players, but it's in the past now. You give up Z, and then a season later say we need more grit, and that player sticks out in all that we gave up as far is fitting in very nicely now. Sher doesn't do much there, but Z would. Just my personal armchair GM two cents too.  Don't like the idea of giving up more assets for that RW. I've heard Ehlers might be avail in Winnipeg. 

Quite the player imo. Will watch his career with great interest. Sharks will suck again, but Vanny will likely bounceback (somewhat) and Blackwood staying healthy they at least have bodies. Have to in order to face all the rubber that goalies in SJ face. Z could end up being the gritty board play guy for a guy like Celebrini or Smith. Celebrini is already kind of that player too so you never know in a few years how they will look. It's just sellers remorse really looking at our right side. Not saying it's a failure but it's a glaring spot and teams like to make you pay for glaring spots in your lineup like that. Any GM you pick up the phone and ask about a right shooting forward will be licking their chops. 

Really depends on how he plays this year. If it's more of the same, then yeah might be looking at a buyout, but if he plays to what he's capable of and is playoff Palat, you never know. I can't imagine another contender or Tampa possibly might take him back at half retained or something, too early to tell yet and need to see how he looks at camp. They are desperate for deals like that to fill out their bottom six.

Agree on Z and Shango.  Too bad Sharks wouldn't take Holtz-we keep the Z train.  He's 24, plays big boy hockey and is just getting started.  Shango centering 1st line in Cgy is above where he should be-2nd or 3rd line center.  Still would have looked great here with Z on 3rd line- but ya gotta give to get.  Good luck to both of them.  Liked the article on Melovsky-3rd center of the future right around NJD Cup Time  2027

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Have Another Donut said:

Agree on Z and Shango.  Too bad Sharks wouldn't take Holtz-we keep the Z train.  He's 24, plays big boy hockey and is just getting started.  Shango centering 1st line in Cgy is above where he should be-2nd or 3rd line center.  Still would have looked great here with Z on 3rd line- but ya gotta give to get.  Good luck to both of them.  Liked the article on Melovsky-3rd center of the future right around NJD Cup Time  2027

The bolded...yeah, the Devils were getting Timo out of this.  The prime young piece going to the Sharks was more considered to be Muk (who due to Luke and Nemec had become expendable, especially for a guy like Timo).  Zetterlund had scored all of one goal over his last 25 GP as a Devil...sure, still a young guy at the time, but hard to pass up a guy like Timo, who was proven and not a guy who would need development time (though he did need time to settle in)...and of course, was known for having chemistry with Nico.

Z did finish up 2023-24 on a promising surge (22 GP, 9 G, 10 A), but sometimes young guys do that in garbage time on bad teams, getting free minutes where, say, obvious holes in their games are overlooked, because what does his team have to lose by playing him even if lots of mistakes come with the points?  Now he'll be a guy that teams to pay a little more attention to...can he build off what he did last year?  Was this a nice first step towards Z becoming a productive NHLer, or just a tease?  I don't have the answer of course...we'll get that in the seasons to come.  But in Timo's last three seasons, he's put up 38 G and 33 A per 82 GP.  Anyone see Z doing that?  

Said this before, but in some ways you absolutely WANT your kids going back the other way to become solid NHLers, so that your system doesn't gain a rep as churning out crappy prospects.  This way when you have an immediate need and there's a guy who fits the bill that you can nab, you don't have that team being overly hesitant to make a deal with you.    

 

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

The bolded...yeah, the Devils were getting Timo out of this.  The prime young piece going to the Sharks was more considered to be Muk (who due to Luke and Nemec had become expendable, especially for a guy like Timo).  Zetterlund had scored all of one goal over his last 25 GP as a Devil...sure, still a young guy at the time, but hard to pass up a guy like Timo, who was proven and not a guy who would need development time (though he did need time to settle in)...and of course, was known for having chemistry with Nico.

Z did finish up 2023-24 on a promising surge (22 GP, 9 G, 10 A), but sometimes young guys do that in garbage time on bad teams, getting free minutes where, say, obvious holes in their games are overlooked, because what does his team have to lose by playing him even if lots of mistakes come with the points?  Now he'll be a guy that teams to pay a little more attention to...can he build off what he did last year?  Was this a nice first step towards Z becoming a productive NHLer, or just a tease?  I don't have the answer of course...we'll get that in the seasons to come.  But in Timo's last three seasons, he's put up 38 G and 33 A per 82 GP.  Anyone see Z doing that?  

Said this before, but in some ways you absolutely WANT your kids going back the other way to become solid NHLers, so that your system doesn't gain a rep as churning out crappy prospects.  This way when you have an immediate need and there's a guy who fits the bill that you can nab, you don't have that team being overly hesitant to make a deal with you.    

 

Agree with most of what you say but my point was-if Sharks take Holtz then we have Z for 3rd line RW.  Not comparing him at all with Timo who obviously is better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Have Another Donut said:

Agree with most of what you say but my point was-if Sharks take Holtz then we have Z for 3rd line RW.  Not comparing him at all with Timo who obviously is better.


I would agree there. It's a possiblity. If you were going to move him down the line anyway. Hindsights 20/20 though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, Have Another Donut said:

Agree with most of what you say but my point was-if Sharks take Holtz then we have Z for 3rd line RW.  Not comparing him at all with Timo who obviously is better.

I know, I was more saying that if Z is the guy that gets that deal across the finish line because the Sharks would rather Z over Holtz, ya gotta take that chance every time.

Basically, I was agreeing with you that you gotta give to get.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.