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

[JimEIV]

Funniest part is Lou is now in Toronto building the same ****ing team Ray is building here. High flying fast offense with a shaky defense.

Toronto just drafted Defensemen with their #1 (17 overall) and #2(#56 overall) picks and 2 more in later rounds. 4 of 7 picks in 2017

 

[Blender]

Toronto just drafted Defensemen with there #1 (17 overall) and #2(#56 overall) picks and 2 more in later rounds. 4 of 7 picks.

After years of focusing on high skilled forwards. We're still not where Toronto is in their rebuild, obviously.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

my favorite part is that we had to wait for 200 games or whatever the hell the arbitrary bar was for Merrill, and then we got there, and guess what? He isn't good

Now with Mueller, hes played 5 games for the Devils and like 50 in the NHL altogether at the age of 22, and hes already being deemed a bust.

Please tell me how that makes any sense

 

[Bcap88]

Toronto just drafted Defensemen with their #1 (17 overall) and #2(#56 overall) picks and 2 more in later rounds. 4 of 7 picks in 2017

yea cause they have the guys in place to do that......

 

[Emperoreddy]

yea cause they have the guys in place to do that......

And now we have the guys in place to also do that. Funny how that works.

 

[NJDevs26]

No question that management has not prioritized defense. The approach has definitely looked like a “good enough” approach as opposed to the forward group where they have expended lots of assets in the draft,trading, and are much more judicious in free agency to acquire skill.

The other part is if they could have gotten a top four D for 2nd and 3rd round picks they would have. But those players just aren't available for that price. There's a reason we got Hall for Larsson and the prices for Mueller and Gelinas were thought to be high.

Ray's exploited the market for undervalued forwards but the market for undervalued defensemen doesn't exist. You have to go to Nordstrom's to shop for defensemen in trade. And other than Shattenkirk (who they were in on) where were the FA defensemen they should have splurged on?

 

[MullerBrotenVerbeek]

Seriously guys, chill. We are going to make the playoffs and be fun to watch this year. We can draft D with our 1st (and 2nd and 3rd for all I care) and we probably have enough F depth that we might be able to ship someone out packaged with picks for an established D without messing up our F group. Nico jumping right into 1C and Bratt coming out of nowhere really gives us a lot to play with. Also don't we have that commie Dman coming over soon from the K?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

And now we have the guys in place to also do that. Funny how that works.

yup.

I will bet a lot of money that we will try to do one if not all of the following this summer:

1) Trade for a big time LHD. We have a lot of assets as far as forward prospects and our own picks that we could potentially package
2) Go for a big name UFA (like Carlson)
3) go heavy on defense in the draft. Our forward cupboard is pretty well stocked now so we have the ability to do this. Plus, this draft seemingly is big on D prospects.

 

[Bcap88]

And now we have the guys in place to also do that. Funny how that works.

Which is what im saying, Our offense was a huge question mark coming into this year and rightfully so Ray has focused on the offense part of the team since he has got here. Now we have some stabilizing pieces on offense my guess is he will start to look to defense while adding supplemental pieces to the offense

 

[JimEIV]

yea cause they have the guys in place to do that......

We haven't drafted a Defenseman with one of our first 3 picks since Ray has been here.

We drafted 1 defenseman heading to Harvard (which most likely means we won't see him anytime soon) in the first 3 rounds out of 11 picks.

In 3 years 11 picks in the first 3 rounds ONE Defenseman taken. ONE!!! And he's going to Harvard where players have traditionally spent 4 years. One!

 

[Blender]

We haven't drafted a Defenseman with one of first 3 picks since Ray has been here.

We drafted 1 defenseman heading to Harvard (which most likely means we won't see him anytime soon) in the first 3 rounds out of 11 picks.

In 3 years 11 picks in the first 3 rounds ONE Defenseman taken. ONE!!! And he's going to Harvard where players have traditionally spent 4 years. One!

...and? Shero inherited the worst forward group and prospect pool in the entire NHL. You need to draft and trade for those guys.

 

[Emperoreddy]

...and? Shero inherited the worst forward group and prospect pool in the entire NHL. You need to draft and trade for those guys.

Yes. And we can not sit here and pretend prospects like JQ and Boosh were ever going to cut the mustard.

I really like JQ but you have major issues f he is at the top of your prospect list along with Boosh who can’t find a team right now.

 

[Bcap88]

We haven't drafted a Defenseman with one of our first 3 picks since Ray has been here.

We drafted 1 defenseman heading to Harvard (which most likely means we won't see him anytime soon) in the first 3 rounds out of 11 picks.

In 3 years 11 picks in the first 3 rounds ONE Defenseman taken. ONE!!! And he's going to Harvard where players have traditionally spent 4 years. One!

and in the last three years we were ranked get this 28,30 and 28 in the league in goals for.....you really expected them to draft d men ?

 

[NJDevs26]

There were also a lot of D drafted high in the years before Shero got there, he had to allocate a lot of draft picks for forwards since the D was still far ahead of our forwards in terms of prospects/NHL talent three years ago. Of course the picture looks a lot different now with Larsson and Gelinas traded and Merrill cut. Josh Jacobs was also drafted high and has looked like bustville till recently. Now the only guys they have left from that group in the NHL is Sevs, who they did sign long-term and Santini who's just starting out.

 

[Emperoreddy]

And honestly the last regime didn’t do that great drafting D either.

Lars is a letdown as a 4th overall. Gely washing out, Merrill is on his way to washing out and can’t stsy healthy. Helgesen is a AHLer, Jacob’s looks like a AHLer

The only good defensive prospects Ray was given was Severson and Santini.

 

[My3Sons]

The other part is if they could have gotten a top four D for 2nd and 3rd round picks they would have. But those players just aren't available for that price. There's a reason we got Hall for Larsson and the prices for Mueller and Gelinas were thought to be high.

Ray's exploited the market for undervalued forwards but the market for undervalued defensemen doesn't exist. You have to go to Nordstrom's to shop for defensemen in trade. And other than Shattenkirk (who they were in on) where were the FA defensemen they should have splurged on?

I agree with you (see my earlier post saying as much about Mueller trade). I also agree that there haven’t been great moves left on the table by Shero for defenders. Hence why the “good enough” approach for now. I wasn’t implying that the approach taken was necessarily wrong. Just that it appears to be part of the current strategy. I’m content NJ didn’t sign Shatty. I’m ok with Zacha and McLeod picks viewed in context. I’m ok with the Mueller trade in context but I think many saw it as a very unlikely chance of success and some folks are focusing on that and not the context. Hindsight is always 20/20 and a load of nonsense in my view.

 

[BenedictGomez]

also, some of you guys are REALLY overrating draft picks here.

Which brings us to a second point that really should be obvious.....

The lack of knowledge regarding statistical success of a 2nd round draft pick, is shocking given people making these comments consider themselves "serious" hockey fans.

But to spoon feed it to some of you, there's only about a 1/3 chance a 2nd round pick turns into an NHL player who plays in >=100 games. A pretty low bar to begin with. So Mueller's already "house money" given he'll exceed that, along with the statistical 2/3 odds that whomever the Sharks draft with that Devils' pick will likely fail to make it as an NHL player.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I'm not sure I saw one person pencil Mueller in as LD2 definitively.

THIS.

Didn't see anyone say that.

I'd be beyond thrilled if he could step into an NHL role as a 22 year old rookie and just be serviceable in the #6 role.

 

[Emperoreddy]

The craziest part is we are off to our best start in a season in 15 years in huge part to the moves Ray has done, and some of us are trying to completely undersell what he has done for this team.

 

[Bcap88]

Ray is building this team exactly how he built Pitt in a way its going to be a high scoring team with average-above average defense. This isn't Lou's devils anymore that are predicated on defense those days are long gone

 

[JimEIV]

and in the last three years we were ranked get this 28,30 and 28 in the league in goals for.....you really expected them to draft d men ?

Yes. I do. The draft isn't for today. Especially when Defense is concerned, that is a 3 to 5 year proposition.

Santini was drafted 4 years ago and he's barely making a dent in the NHL today. We have no pipeline at all for Defense and it takes years for them to come up.

We have 2 forwards in the lineup that Ray has drafted, 3 if you count Zacha but I consider him from the past administration and 1 is #1 overall so even those forwards take time to arrive. The approach should be more balanced than 1 Defenseman in 11 picks in the first 3 rounds

 

[Bcap88]

Yes. I do. The draft isn't for today. Especially when Defense is concerned, that is a 3 to 5 year proposition.

Santini was drafted 4 years ago and he's barely making a dent in the NHL today. We have no pipeline at all for Defense and it takes years for them to come up.

We have 2 forwards in the lineup that Ray has drafted, 3 if you count Zacha but I consider him from the past administration and 1 is #1 overall so even those forwards take time to arrive. The approach should be more balanced than 1 Defenseman in 11 picks in the first 3 rounds

And it prob will be more balanced now that we have the offensive pieces in place.

 

[Blender]

And it prob will be more balanced now that we have the offensive pieces in place.

Or they have been picking BPA and this is just how it has fallen.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Some people will legitimately never be happy. Sad!

 

[Darkauron]

I'd be up for trading McLeod or someone perhaps if we can get an actually good LD. Interesting to see what happens if we are still in the playoff race at the trade deadline.