Post-Game Talk: Devils beat Flyers 5-2!

[RangerDoggo]

Well this was an easy three to pick. Mango and Hischier did good work but it's Bratt/Johnsson/Dougie and it's not really close.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Kinda feel bad for Bratt not getting a fun nickname in the polls. I was close to picking Awesome Mercer just for that name alone.

Big Johnsson was a given though

 

[JK3]

Kinda feel bad for Bratt not getting a fun nickname in the polls. I was close to picking Awesome Mercer just for that name alone.

Big Johnsson was a given though

Ha, I was thinking the same thing but couldn't come up with anything other than Unicorn I guess.

 

[Devs3cups]

Feelz… Super buddies

<3

 

[MadDevil]

Ha, I was thinking the same thing but couldn't come up with anything other than Unicorn I guess.

I would say the Swedish Sausage, but that could very easily be taken wrong.

 

[My3Sons]

Ha, I was thinking the same thing but couldn't come up with anything other than Unicorn I guess.

Blonde bomber? Scandanavian Speedster? Pickled Herring Play Driver? Fish Paste Flash?

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

I’d be happy with just hearing the correct pronunciation of ‘Bratt’ once. The suspense is tickling me.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

There is no way I'm giving Bratt 7 years @ 7M$ per because he has a nice stretch of games in the past couple of weeks. If he keeps this up and racks up close to 70 pts at the end of the season, it's something I might reconsider but let's not jump the gun here.

Dawson Mercer isn't on your list of "high skill forwards", really? In his rookie year, he's done things that Nico, Jack, Bratt, etc haven't been able to do and he should absolutely be on that list. I would even say that he should probably be 1st on that list with what we've seen from him since day #1.

Posters were adamant that paying wingers big dollars wasn't a smart thing to do, so we want to hand out a 50M$ over 7 years to Jesper Bratt? He is turning out to be a good and reliable player but you have to show me more then just 4 or 5 weeks of constant play in order to get paid like that. He's not going from making 2.75M$ per to 7M$+, that's just not happening.

I’d give him that money or close to it because you’re locking him up for his prime years. I don’t understand why you’d be uncomfortable locking him up from 24-30 but would happily trade him for a guy near 30 and needing a contract in 1 year’s time. Doesn’t make sense.

 

[Saugus]

Blonde bomber? Scandanavian Speedster? Pickled Herring Play Driver? Fish Paste Flash?

Sensible Furniture Shot Finisher? Social Democracy Speed Demon? Gender Equality Goal Enthusiast?

 

[Cheddabombs]

Blonde bomber? Scandanavian Speedster? Pickled Herring Play Driver? Fish Paste Flash?

Hot Brott
Naughty Brotty
Brott's Tots (more of a line name IMO)

 

[MartyOwns]

There is no way I'm giving Bratt 7 years @ 7M$ per because he has a nice stretch of games in the past couple of weeks. If he keeps this up and racks up close to 70 pts at the end of the season, it's something I might reconsider but let's not jump the gun here.

Dawson Mercer isn't on your list of "high skill forwards", really? In his rookie year, he's done things that Nico, Jack, Bratt, etc haven't been able to do and he should absolutely be on that list. I would even say that he should probably be 1st on that list with what we've seen from him since day #1.

Posters were adamant that paying wingers big dollars wasn't a smart thing to do, so we want to hand out a 50M$ over 7 years to Jesper Bratt? He is turning out to be a good and reliable player but you have to show me more then just 4 or 5 weeks of constant play in order to get paid like that. He's not going from making 2.75M$ per to 7M$+, that's just not happening.

yeah i’d rather go less term, even if it inflates his AAV slightly. i’d be wary of giving a 7 year deal to someone who has yet to hit 20 goals, although with covid that’s not necessarily all his fault.

 

[WetWholphin]

if bratt is capable of bringing consistency like he has since his benching, and he produces at a 60 point pace over the season, i would be okay with signing him long term @ a number starting with 5-6. 7 is stretching it. he is not a goal scorer. if he were consistently putting up goals at a 25 goal pace then i would consider 7 more reasonable.

 

[Hisch13r]

if bratt is capable of bringing consistency like he has since his benching, and he produces at a 60 point pace over the season, i would be okay with signing him long term @ a number starting with 5-6. 7 is stretching it. he is not a goal scorer. if he were consistently putting up goals at a 25 goal pace then i would consider 7 more reasonable.

It's not like he was playing shitty before the benching. He was still playing well and the puck just wasn't going in during a small 5 game sample. The only reason the guy hasn't been at a 60 pt pace in the previous 2 seasons is ice time. His production rate has been great.

 

[WetWholphin]

It's not like he was playing shitty before the benching. He was still playing well and the puck just wasn't going in during a small 5 game sample. The only reason the guy hasn't been at a 60 pt pace in the previous 2 seasons is ice time. His production rate has been great.

i dont think he was playing poorly as a whole prior to the benching, he has just been playing at a high level more consistently ever since then. finding chemistry with mercer and johnnson certainly helps too.

 

[HyperX]

It's not like he was playing shitty before the benching. He was still playing well and the puck just wasn't going in during a small 5 game sample. The only reason the guy hasn't been at a 60 pt pace in the previous 2 seasons is ice time. His production rate has been great.

Lets not pretend Bratt's consistency issues werent his own fault

 

[Bleedred]

the devils should stay away from any big contracts with term at the trade deadline or the draft. hughes, bratt, zacha, wood and most of the defense in 2023 will dry up the cap space quickly.

I think next year will be Woods last in NJ. Fitzy seems to really like Tyce and he plays for cheaper than Wood. What changed the cap equation IMO is that they need to prepare for Mercer's contract which was a very pleasant surprise. The other is letting Johnnson walk is not a foregone conclusion anymore either - another positive surprise.

Yeah, I think Wood is gonna be Henrique'd/Palmieri'd or whatever (Gionta'd if you want) out of here after next year.

We can't keep every guy and even if we wanted to, we usually don't. Wood will be 28 at that point and just seems like a player that won't be around past that year. I don't really think he's an essential player. He's only really had two years where he seemed to be a good goal scorer (last year was one of them) and who knows if he's even good anymore if he sits out a whole yet? We miss him this year, but we all know that we tend to part with players at a certain point when they're close to or at 30 and for Wood that's probably coming in about 1.5 years.

Now, if he doesn't really do enough to warrant a significant contract after he comes back from injury, maybe we bring him back on a very friendly deal, potentially less than what he's making now.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Hot Brott
Naughty Brotty
Brott's Tots (more of a line name IMO)

Brattman

Thats his jumbotron graphic when he scores

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Yea I like Zacha and will be always be a fan of his, but if we can get a better 5 on 5 guy to play in the top 6 here, I am all for it. I love Wood, but not as high on him as others are on here. I think he is best suited for a 4th line north south role and I think we can try and replace that internally if possible.

Totally agree on Wood. I love Wood but I do think the team views him as a premium 4th liner. If you saw the Ruff presser the day Bas got waived, it was a question about Wood that Ruff mentioned Bas. Ruff spoke about what Wood did and then mentioned that Bas could do some of those things. We also know Fitzy really likes Tyce as a potential 4th liner. Tough to justify paying Wood like a $3.5 mil cap hit/year more than those other guys IMO.

 

[Goptor]

Wingers don't get that kind of money unless they're hovering around the top10 in league scoring.

 

[Bleedred]

We don't have a history in the post-Lou era (neither Shero or Fitz) or keeping 28+ year old players when their contracts are up.

We signed Hamilton at 28, who was the best defenseman on the UFA market in a VERY long time. Possibly since Chara like 15 years ago?

We also gave 30-something year old Lovejoy a 3 year and 30-something year old Brian Boyle a 2 year deal, but they were for smaller money and really just role players.

Now if they see Wood as a role player, I think they'd sooner bring him back than if they see him as more than a role player.

The guys that are more than role players, but not exactly core players and you know who I'm talking about here. Marcus Johansson, Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique is probably another. Those are the kinds of guys that we just say arrivederci to once they're in their late 20's or just at 30.

Henrique was a bit of a different circumstance, we did get a similar aged player back in trade, but I'm pretty sure if he was kept, we would not have extended him. He was gonna be a UFA 1.5 years after we traded him.

And while we're at it, Vatanen was a guy that looked to be in between a role player and a core guy at the time he was dealt at the 2020 deadline. No one wanted him after that in free agency, so we brought him back to be a role player for a year. And now nobody in the league has him, as he's since washed out. Thankfully Vatanen was NOT extended by us before the 2020 deadline or he would have probably gotten a 2-3 year deal that he'd still be signed to right now.

Taylor Hall is a little bit of a different circumstance also. He was in his late 20's and he could have a been a core guy, he was certainly more than the in-between guys, but I don't think we thought it was a great idea for him to be a core guy and I don't think he wanted to stay either.

 

[MartyOwns]

wood was on pace for 25 goals last year, which is nothing to sneeze at. i am concerned about his injury, hips can be fickle bitches.

 

[Buck Dancer]

I’d give him that money or close to it because you’re locking him up for his prime years. I don’t understand why you’d be uncomfortable locking him up from 24-30 but would happily trade him for a guy near 30 and needing a contract in 1 year’s time. Doesn’t make sense.

Because locking up a kid who's career high is 16 goals and 35 points after his 4th year, going on his 5th, to a 7 year deal worth 7M$+ seems premature to me, to put it lightly. On the other hand, I would be more then happy to give a 29/30 year old a contract like that, maybe with less term, knowing he's a proven commodity and can actually generate a PPG as well as bring another dimension to our team we're desperatly lacking.

I guess I'd rather hand out a deal like that to someone who's already proven instead of taking a guess on what looks like a promising player, but hasn't showed he can do it as of this year and we're still very early in what is the 2021-22 season. We can't be taking guesses here, especially with the contracts that we'll have to hand out in a couple of years to our main guys.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I'm ok with up to 6 x 6 for Bratt today. If he finishes the season with 70+ points as part of the Devils best line it may be hard to get him to agree to that.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

It's not like he was playing shitty before the benching. He was still playing well and the puck just wasn't going in during a small 5 game sample. The only reason the guy hasn't been at a 60 pt pace in the previous 2 seasons is ice time. His production rate has been great.

Um, he definitely was playing bad. To the point where @glenwo2 called him out. You know that means he was playing bad.

 

[Oneiro]

He had some gaffes that ended up in the net and was overthinking some clear shooting situations but was still doing what he always has done: getting the puck going the other way better than everyone not named Jack or Dougie.

Real cute to watch people characterize him as a generic middle 6 winger this summer...