GDT: Caps and Devils 7:00 PM

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Watching last night you saw a young, talented team that’s been largely irrelevant and mostly terrible as an organization for the last 15 years with only two seasons in that time span finishing higher than 20th in the league (and one of those “higher finishes” being 15th) who has, as a result, accumulated a ton of high draft picks playing against a team that’s been at the top of the league for the same time period, has traded away a lot of futures to keep the core together, has won a Cup in that era, hasn’t drafted in the top 10 since 2007, and is reaching the end of their competitive window (barring significant roster changes). It was very much a game that showcased the cycle of life in sports; these are two ships passing in the night, as they say.

New Jersey has a bright future with some really fun young players and looks like they are finally coming out of a decade+ rebuild but hopefully we won’t be as shitty as the Devils were for as long as they were in order to get back to relevance.

 

[Neil Racki]

One team was young and fast, the other were the Capitals.

Darcy was amazing.

Hughes is the real deal.

Mantha and the puck just dont get along anymore. Hes in his head at this point.

 

[YippieKaey]

That 3rd period was tough to watch. I remember when we used to make our opponents look really bad. The opposite happened here. I think at some point in the 3rd the shots were 7-0 and we were hanging on for dear life, flipping the puck out of the zone the first chance we got.

Kuemper with a huge game to stole us a point. High-danger chances were 15-5 Devils at even-strength and 19-7 overall. Yikes.

Should have traded him at the deadline

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

One team was young and fast, the other were the Capitals.

Darcy was amazing.

Hughes is the real deal.

Mantha and the puck just dont get along anymore. Hes in his head at this point.

Hughes has to be in the conversation for best contract in the league. He could probably get $11M over 7-8 years if he was a UFA this summer. To have him at $8M for the next 8 seasons is ridiculously good value, assuming this year isn’t a flash in the pan (and there’s no reason to think it will be). He’s not the best defensively but he can improve and his finishing talent is off the charts. He and Hischier are a good 1-2 combination — Hischier is more defensively responsible but needs talented wingers to help drive offense and Hughes is a point machine that needs wingers who are a bit more defensively responsible. Makes it a lot easier to construct a team when you have players with skills that compliment each other nicely. And having multiple first overall picks doesn’t hurt.

My fantasy team appreciates his breakout season.

 

[Langway]

Amazing to think how far NJD have come in a year. They had the fifth pick last year! Their points percentage was lower than Anaheim's is right now. When it pops it pops and they've still got pieces coming. Similarly, when it breaks it breaks. And I doubt tweaking this fading group goes far enough reversing some fairly long trends. They're not really problem solvers these days...haven't been when it matters offensively since the Cup win. They don't generally think the game well enough to manage contests like a vet team should. So it's a lot of rinse repeat warning signs and bad habits that they're seemingly incapable of rectifying. Factor in declining athleticism and it's a rough trajectory.

Getting Carlson back will help but their recent roster strength was mainly the second pair and fourth line. That went to Boston so what's to be the new advantage? They'll have an off-season to craft one but...hell if I know what that might be. Add a Schmaltz type and I don't think it would be the second line. The third line probably also won't be enough of a match-up problem. The D core is highly likely to be worse than this year's initial version so they need to be pretty careful re: the wisdom of aggressively upgrading for next season. They may need to take their lumps, add another top 10-15 pick and hope that by summer of 2024 they're able to cycle out some vets and cycle in some much needed impact via that year's UFA class. That seems more doable than a single off-season conveniently all righting the ship. Getting the next coach right will be key but there's so much wrong instinctually for some and then athletically for others that as a team they have negligible upside. Quick fixes seem like a big stretch with that sort of core mix.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Amazing to think how far NJD have come in a year. They had the fifth pick last year! Their points percentage was lower than Anaheim's is right now. When it pops it pops and they've still got pieces coming. Similarly, when it breaks it breaks. And I doubt tweaking this fading group goes far enough reversing some fairly long trends. They're not really problem solvers these days...haven't been when it matters offensively since the Cup win. They don't generally think the game well enough to manage contests like a vet team should. So it's a lot of rinse repeat warning signs and bad habits that they're seemingly incapable of rectifying. Factor in declining athleticism and it's a rough trajectory.

Getting Carlson back will help but their recent roster strength was mainly the second pair and fourth line. That went to Boston so what's to be the new advantage? They'll have an off-season to craft one but...hell if I know what that might be. Add a Schmaltz type and I don't think it would be the second line. The third line probably also won't be enough of a match-up problem. The D core is highly likely to be worse than this year's initial version so they need to be pretty careful re: the wisdom of aggressively upgrading for next season. They may need to take their lumps, add another top 10-15 pick and hope that by summer of 2024 they're able to cycle out some vets and cycle in some much needed impact via that year's UFA class. That seems more doable than a single off-season conveniently all righting the ship. Getting the next coach right will be key but there's so much wrong instinctually for some and then athletically for others that as a team they have negligible upside. Quick fixes seem like a big stretch with that sort of core mix.

I think it’s a two year process (including this season and this upcoming off-season). Do responsible business this off-season, see how next season goes, sell again if need be leading up to the 2024 TDL, and hope that by the 2024-25 season there’s enough of a push from acquisitions and young guys to help buoy Ovi in his final years.

If they’re all still here, after two more seasons all of Backstrom, Kuznetsov, and Oshie will be UFAs. The real end of an era comes then. The team will likely be unrecognizable in a season or two.