GDT: 2022 NHL Free Agency

[devlzfan]

I still think the Flyers are the favorite but I'm one that DOES want Gaudreau.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

if we sign johnny, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with bratt. it definitely makes him somewhat expendable, whether you guys like it or not.

I don’t agree. He’s not “expendable” simply because the list of moves where we actually get the better player is minuscule.

 

[Triumph]

If you consider Bernier could go on LTIR and Johnsson can be dumped to a cap floor team ($3.4M in cap hit for $750K in cash), that means the Devils could choose to spend up to $34.4M. If you include Boqvist ($1M), Wood ($3M settled before arbitration) and let's say Holtz ($894K) and Bahl ($795K) and Vanecek signs for $2.5M, that leaves $26.2M for two forwards a defenseman (good-bye Zacha). If Gaudreau and Bratt and said defenseman can be signed for a combined $19M, you'd still have up to $7.2M of cap space.

The problem with this is that if you go to LTIR with Bernier, any bonuses earned by anybody go on next year's cap, and that means Mercer and Holtz and potentially Nemec.

 

[TF1970]

probably the minority here, but don't want gaudreau. team has enough small forwards, don't need another no matter how talented he is. if they can keep it under $10 mil AAV i would consider it a good deal, but still im on the no side of this particular one.

 

[Traitor Zach]

If i had to make a gut call, I think we end up with Palat who short term may be a pretty good fit for what we need at forward and would really help.

 

[MachoDiablo]

Just gonna echo the point I tried to make yesterday: I don't think the vast majority of us are against the idea of having Johnny Gaudreau on this team. I know I'll be pumped if I hear he signs, the guy's fantastic.

Point is just that signing him is not necessarily the massive imperative some have made it out to be. If the team is ready to compete, it'll be ready to compete with or without Gaudreau. If it's not, he alone won't be able to fix that (note: I do think the team is ready, but after last year's frustrations it's hard to take anything as a given). There are reasonable arguments for the idea that missing on him now isn't the end of the world: the team will still have plenty of cap space and could turn towards someone like Palat, or they could wait to 'til next year's pretty big FA class to take the plunge on a big signing, especially if the team proves itself ready to compete and needs that "one big piece".

No one signing is going to change any of that this year; this team will make or miss the playoffs, or be a decent or a good or a bad team, 90% on the strength of the seasons they get from Hughes, Nico, the other young guys, and the goalies. I got why they spent the money on Hamilton last year, dude was a major player available at a premium position of organizational need, and I'm not against them spending what they think is reasonable to try and land Gaudreau, but the team, both next year's iteration of it and the club moving forward the next 5-10 years, is not made or broken based on where Gaudreau lands.

 

[FinnishDevil]

- Get rid of Zacha and Johnsson
- Make your best offer for JG
- Acquire harder to play against middle 6/bottom 6 forward or two via trade or free agency
- Get defensive veteran RD for Subban role

 

[MadDevil]

Since we'll probably be seeing these today...

 

[Devils731]

I didn’t hear the show in question so nuance is always up for debate.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

It’s kind of win-win here. I’d love Gaudreau on the team, but while it’s infra-division, nothing about him going to Philly makes them remotely competitive.

The Isles too I think have a nice defense and goaltending situation - a wild card there. Could go in a few ways.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I wonder if the Devils talk to Severson at all today about where his head's at, I'm guessing he's not all too happy about the Nemec pick but it is what it is lol

 

[BostonDevil]

I didn’t hear the show in question so nuance is always up for debate.

I’m sure he mentioned the problem of the cap in year 6 of the deal and how we’re not going to be good anyway so we shouldn’t bother

 

[Jersey Fresh]

I wonder if the Devils talk to Severson at all today about where his head's at, I'm guessing he's not all too happy about the Nemec pick but it is what it is lol

The guy’s seen enough prospects so jack shit for that to be on his radar.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

I wonder if the Devils talk to Severson at all today about where his head's at, I'm guessing he's not all too happy about the Nemec pick but it is what it is lol

I highly doubt he cares much about the Nemec pick at all.

Not gonna worry about some 18 year old dman who just got picked.

 

[jkrdevil]

It has been because it has a bonus, if that bonus is paid out today, there's only $4M left on a $7M deal. Some bonuses are paid out during the season, I haven't seen anywhere if that's true.

I think bonuses were still paid on the dates in the contract even though the league year got pushed back. So a July 1 bonus got paid on July 1. So his bonus may not be a July bonus.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

The guy’s seen enough prospects so jack shit for that to be on his radar.

I highly doubt he cares much about the Nemec pick at all.

Not gonna worry about some 18 year old dman who just got picked.

Probably true, but still never know if a guy takes something like that to heart until contract talks happen. And arguably would make sense for NJ to lock him ASAP.

 

[WetWholphin]

From a team composition perspective, I can understand the gripe some people may have with signing Johnny. He is a diminutive, high end playmaker (able to score goals) and we have two of those in Hughes + Bratt, not to mention we have Nico who I would consider a playmaker as well. We also have Gritsyuk waiting in the wings, but I wouldn’t bank anything heavily on him yet. What our top 6 is missing is heavy play and goal scoring. We have playmaking in spades, but we don’t have elite finishers (fingers crossed Holtz pans out). From this perspective, I would much rather add a player like M Tkachuk who brings heavy, aggressive play, some playmaking, and finishing ability. If you had to ask me which player I prefer we add between Gaudreau/Tkachuk… for this team I take Tkachuk.

BUT!

If we could sign Johnny without giving up any assets other than cap + future contracts, for around 10-11M/yr, I don’t think a team that has been outside of the playoffs+contention for essentially a decade has a particularly great reason to say no. Johnny would help this team, there is no question about that. The fact we have Nico and specifically Hughes on such team friendly deals is what would make signing Johnny much more manageable. Again, I would prefer Tkachuk, but he does not bring play driving ability like Johnny does and it is entirely possible that he earns himself a contract upwards of 8M/year + assets to trade for him. Johnny on his own is a PPG player, Tkachuk is not.

Ultimately I don’t think we get him, but I wouldn’t be upset if we did.

 

[Saugus]

I wonder if the Devils talk to Severson at all today about where his head's at, I'm guessing he's not all too happy about the Nemec pick but it is what it is lol

I don't think it should matter much to him. Nemec isn't pushing him out of a spot, not now and probably not even within the next few years. Ideally, we would probably want to have both anchoring the right side of their respective pairings in the years where we expect to be contenders.

 

[TBF1972]

if we sign johnny, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with bratt. it definitely makes him somewhat expendable, whether you guys like it or not.

i totally agree and i rather keep bratt at around 7m, than signing gaudreau for around 11m.

4m in cap space and the fact that bratt is likely getting better, while gaudreau will start to slowing down over the life time of his contract, should make the devil's priorities easy.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Probably true, but still never know if a guy takes something like that to heart until contract talks happen. And arguably would make sense for NJ to lock him ASAP.

He’s a veteran player who hopefully knows better than to take that to heart. Any player who’s upset/worrying or pissed off about who his teams picking in the draft and what position they play doesn’t have their head in the right place. That’s my opinion.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

He’s a veteran player who hopefully knows better than to take that to heart. Any player who’s upset/worrying or pissed off about who his teams picking in the draft and what position they play doesn’t have their head in the right place. That’s my opinion.

Agreed, I was just thinking out loud. I would love Severson back while having Luke + Nemec on ELCs

 

[Unknown Caller]

I wonder if the Devils talk to Severson at all today about where his head's at, I'm guessing he's not all too happy about the Nemec pick but it is what it is lol

Why would he remotely care about the Nemec pick? There are like 3 positions in hockey. He’s going to get pissed because they drafted a defenseman with a right handed shot who’s like 10 years younger than him? There’s no way he cares.

He’s tired of losing, so if anything he’s probably happy. In reality though, most of these guys pay zero attention to the draft.

 

[Triumph]

I think bonuses were still paid on the dates in the contract even though the league year got pushed back. So a July 1 bonus got paid on July 1. So his bonus may not be a July bonus.

I don't think this is true, otherwise we would've seen more trades on July 1. There'd be very little reason to wait for today.

 

[TBF1972]

Honest question to the ones who don't want Gaudreau? Would you rather spend the $10M in cap space on two or three question marks or on one sure thing?

i would not spend to the cap today.

i would keep cap space open. the core of this team needs to be playoff ready first, then you start to spend to the cap by filling out the roster with the missing pieces. just because you have cap space you don't have to go after the biggest name available in free agency.

 

[njdevil26]

I wonder if the Devils talk to Severson at all today about where his head's at, I'm guessing he's not all too happy about the Nemec pick but it is what it is lol

I doubt he cares honestly. Add to that right handed d-men I think is the thinnest area of the Devils prospect pool by far.

This is crazy for this team though... this is the deepest the prospect pool has been in over 20 years... multiple layers at each position. Actual competition. Gone are the days of drafting Bergfors/Tedenby/Josefson and just assuming they will become top six stars because there's literally no one else.