Devils 2017-18 team discussion (player news and notes) - season begins!

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NjDevsRR

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I can see Hayes getting 10-15 goals if he gets parked out front on our powerplay. We need a garbage man up there.
 

Csonked Out

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I know there was a debate on the Bratt page about if we did the right thing picking McLeod. We were picking a center with that pick as it would be a weak position if we didn't luck out with Nico. I often wonder if we should have taken Logan Brown at 11 instead of trading back one, however with the 3rd round pick we got out of that trade, we drafted Joey Anderson. I am curious to see how that decision plays out over the next few years.
 

HenriquesJawLine

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I know there was a debate on the Bratt page about if we did the right thing picking McLeod. We were picking a center with that pick as it would be a weak position if we didn't luck out with Nico. I often wonder if we should have taken Logan Brown at 11 instead of trading back one, however with the 3rd round pick we got out of that trade, we drafted Joey Anderson. I am curious to see how that decision plays out over the next few years.
People would have been suicidal if McLeod had the year Brown did last year. McLeod also fits more how they want to play. And they took Gignac with the extra pick (7 spots after Anderson).
 

New Jersey Devils

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Currently listening to the new Devils podcast, and Amanda is interviewing Scott O’Neil. Guy is an awful interview. He sounds like he’s high or something. He just basically said he does nothing for the Devils organization directly.
 

JimEIV

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Feb 19, 2003
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I know there was a debate on the Bratt page about if we did the right thing picking McLeod. We were picking a center with that pick as it would be a weak position if we didn't luck out with Nico. I often wonder if we should have taken Logan Brown at 11 instead of trading back one, however with the 3rd round pick we got out of that trade, we drafted Joey Anderson. I am curious to see how that decision plays out over the next few years.
I think Brown would've been an even worse pick.

A forward was not the right play at our pick. Just my opinion. Not because of our situation today but because the best forwards were all off the board at the time of our pick. Chychrun was talked about as top 3 at various points, I believe he was ranked #2 at the beginning of the year. He fell in a similar way to Cam Fowler... McAvoy was also rising all year...after the run of forwards there were still awesome D on the board.

None of this means Mcleod isn't or can't be a good player, it's just there were clearly better players available to us. I think that was clear on draft day. I remember many here weren't thrilled on draft day by the pick.

Lots of time to see how things shake out and I would never write off any young player. The vast majority of the players from that draft have still yet to play a game. But when you go into the draft with a #11 overall you gotta come away with the best player available.
 

MadDevil

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Pick 73 was the Ottawa pick, at least when I looked it up it was.

It was their pick, but we acquired it when we traded down at the 2015 draft from #36 to #42 (which ended up being Blackwood). The pick we got for trading down in 2016 was #80 overall.

Thinking about it a little more, thanks to Ottawa, we essentially turned 2 picks into McLeod, Blackwood, Anderson, and Gignac.
 
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JimEIV

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But could you imagine...

a lot of people have both McAvoy and Hischier as favorites for the Calder...

Could you imagine if both were Devils this season. My goodness.
 

Zippy316

aka Zippo
Aug 17, 2012
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I think Brown would've been an even worse pick.

A forward was not the right play at our pick. Just my opinion. Not because of our situation today but because the best forwards were all off the board at the time of our pick. Chychrun was talked about as top 3 at various points, I believe he was ranked #2 at the beginning of the year. He fell in a similar way to Cam Fowler... McAvoy was also rising all year...after the run of forwards there were still awesome D on the board.

None of this means Mcleod isn't or can't be a good player, it's just there were clearly better players available to us. I think that was clear on draft day. I remember many here weren't thrilled on draft day by the pick.

Lots of time to see how things shake out and I would never write off any young player. The vast majority of the players from that draft have still yet to play a game. But when you go into the draft with a #11 overall you gotta come away with the best player available.

Chychrun's issue was he was a beast physically compared to the rest of his peers. If he couldn't use that physical advantage to be dominant at the OHL, what upside does he have at the NHL level? His NHL future was never in doubt it was his upside. Devils got to see him a lot as he played alongside Jacobs as well.

In all honesty, I think the Devils were going big upside. Chychrun would've been the safe LD pick, but McLeod had the upside of being a top-line center with speed to burn. I'm still hopeful we can get a Kesler-like center out of McLeod.

If I recall correctly, MacAvoy was a bit of a stretch at the time anyways. Bruins went with the local boy.
 

NJDevs26

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Not picking a D in 2016 is a fair second-guess perhaps (I won't say the same about 2015 cause the prospect pipeline was so ridiculously imbalanced at that point), but a lot of teams passed on the defensemen besides us. **** happens sometimes.

And yeah I don't get the McLeod second guessing at this point, people had their expectations way too high for him this year. He's still what, 19 or 20?
 

bearcountry17

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Jun 4, 2012
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Chychrun's issue was he was a beast physically compared to the rest of his peers. If he couldn't use that physical advantage to be dominant at the OHL, what upside does he have at the NHL level? His NHL future was never in doubt it was his upside. Devils got to see him a lot as he played alongside Jacobs as well.

In all honesty, I think the Devils were going big upside. Chychrun would've been the safe LD pick, but McLeod had the upside of being a top-line center with speed to burn. I'm still hopeful we can get a Kesler-like center out of McLeod.

If I recall correctly, MacAvoy was a bit of a stretch at the time anyways. Bruins went with the local boy.

mynhldraft.com compiled 11 pre draft lists and had McAvoy at 17. Also, McAvoy is from Long Beach, NY so not a local boy.
 

Zippy316

aka Zippo
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mynhldraft.com compiled 11 pre draft lists and had McAvoy at 17. Also, McAvoy is from Long Beach, NY so not a local boy.

I knew he was ranked a bit later, wasn't sure how late. He played for Boston U. in his draft year so I'm sure they saw a lot of him (which is what I meant by local boy).
 

My3Sons

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In three to four years when NJ is looking for younger option to fill Zajac role McLeod looks to be a good fit. Maybe he’ll never be a great producer of offense but if he can play with better players and anchor a fast tough to play against third line that is important and the kind of player most winning teams have. My expectation is that in the next year or so as NJ rotates in more young players the team will swap some vets for a couple of additional draft picks and snag some high upside defense prospects. Maybe in two years when Lovejoys contract is up other high profile defenders won’t be intimidated about signing here as UFAs and having to live up to his example.
 
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