Confirmed with Link: Devils re-sign Blackwood

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Other than Nate Schmidt what real cap desperation moves have been made? The big self immolations never happened.

No team was going to give away good young long term players to save some cap.

Next year figures to be the real windfall cap-wise as teams have to operate under the same salary cap and will be even more pressed against it, plus players will no longer be opting out.

I think that's just the reality though, teams facing cap hell will figure out how to keep core players, weaponizing that space is not going to be a way to build a team, and it's a really odd way to plug in holes as you are constrained by the market of names teams are willing to get rid of. The Gusev opportunity was a really unique one but it looks like Subban was dumped by Nashville for good reason. In a year Devils will get chances to add Subban type players, a lot of whom have NTCs anyway so they might not even waive for NJ (Stamkos for example).

In any case back to the thread topic, Blackwood signed for 3 years at a great AAV is very nice. I hope the Devils at least sniff the playoffs all three years of that deal. Next year with a positive valued goalie tandem and condensed schedule the Devils really should be thinking playoffs, I think a lot will depend on the bottom 6 and defense if they make it.

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Don't kid yourself, with TB and maybe a third of the league in cap hell you had higher hopes for how that cap space was gonna be utilized when the offseason started.

I just hope we don't all congratulate Fitz in a year for the Devils not resigning Palmieri/Gusev/Murray any player approaching UFA and the Devils spend the next 3 years hoping Hughes/Hischier/Holtz take the next step with a broken team of misfit toys and 15 million in cap space.

edit: Replaced Palmieri's name with Hischier's

It is not the thread topic, but I have a feeling the front office is thinking more like I am and they are not placing that much value on this years record. I am more optimistic than most since the Devs played as the 8 seed after Hall stopped playing for us and I do not think the division is as tough as others think. Having said that I view this as the last "process" year where I am not that worried about what the final record is.

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Great deal. I would have been fine giving more. He is a draft pick that has progressed right on schedule and won games for the team last year. Lets hope some other young players do that this year.

 

[Forge]

Great deal. I would have been fine giving more. He is a draft pick that has progressed right on schedule and won games for the team last year. Lets hope some other young players do that this year.

Honestly, there's no reason he shouldn't have gotten the Jarry deal because I don't think the Pens bought out any UFA years on that one (I could be wrong though, admittedly) . To get him at so much less is an absolute steal in my opinion.

 

[Team Concept]

That's cheap. Excellent job, Fitzy. We have a top 10 tandem for 6.7 million.

Yeah, but we are paying Schneider 2 million dollars this year on the buyout.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

Yeah, but we are paying Schneider 2 million dollars this year on the buyout.

But on the plus side it's the last year of the Mike Cammalleri buyout.

 

[Blackjack]

Yeah, but we are paying Schneider 2 million dollars this year on the buyout.

Now that we know how far away from the cap we'll be, that Schneider buyout is so f***ing frustrating. Could have easily eaten the $6 million this year and next and had an extra $2 million in cap the following two years. I get that it was more about dollars than cap, but that is also frustrating.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

it was more about getting Schneider the f*** off the team. I don't think it was a financial decision at all.

 

[My3Sons]

I think Toews to Colorado and Murray to NJ would qualify, no?

Agree on Toews and Murray, so NJ was in on one and I imagine could have matched or beaten COL for Toews had they wanted to. Still, not the wholesale sell off many expected and to be fair, Toews at least returned multiple seconds which isn't the sort of deal that Murray and Schmidt moved in even if two seconds is very good value for Toews.

Also, count me among those who sees MBW as taking another step forward in his consistency if he can stay healthy and making this deal a very good one.

 

[Triumph]

Now that we know how far away from the cap we'll be, that Schneider buyout is so f***ing frustrating. Could have easily eaten the $6 million this year and next and had an extra $2 million in cap the following two years. I get that it was more about dollars than cap, but that is also frustrating.

There's no Corey Crawford without the Schneider buyout.

 

[Blackjack]

There's no Corey Crawford without the Schneider buyout.

What I'm saying is that it's frustrating to buy out a contract when you have gobs of cap space and then have to deal the penalty 3-4 years down the road when you could use the space to compete for a championship. That's what I'm saying.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

What I'm saying is that it's frustrating to buy out a contract when you have gobs of cap space and then have to deal the penalty 3-4 years down the road when you could use the space to compete for a championship. That's what I'm saying.

$2 million dollars is not going to make a difference one way or the other. I think you're way overreacting.

 

[Blackjack]

$2 million dollars is not going to make a difference one way or the other. I think you're way overreacting.

$2 million is meaningful to every cup contender except maybe Colorado. If we still suck in 3-4 years, sure, it doesn't really mean anything. But if the rebuild goes well and we're looking at a deep playoff run in 2023, it certainly could impact what we're able to do at the deadline.

 

[NJDevs26]

$2 million is meaningful to every cup contender except maybe Colorado. If we still suck in 3-4 years, sure, it doesn't really mean anything. But if the rebuild goes well and we're looking at a deep playoff run in 2023, it certainly could impact what we're able to do at the deadline.

A) Let's get to that point first (contender) before we have any angst over our 2023 cap, I'm only worried about when we start winning again tbh

B) $2 million might not even be what the cap will have increased by from now to 2023 in an ideal world.

C) We don't really have as much room as you think. CapFriendly has the Devils at $14 million under with nine forwards and six defensemen so you add in another four forwards and one defenseman that's about $4 million, then add in Bratt at whatever he comes out to be which will be at least another couple million.

So about $7 million or so left for a normally full roster with 14 forwards, 7 defenseman and two goalies, with which you could theoretically fit one more big move in before the season or early in the season. Without the buyout, with all the other moves they've made including Crawford they'd pretty much be stuck with the team they have now. Maybe they will wind up eating that cap space but there was really no way to know that at the time.

 

[NJDevs26]

There's no Corey Crawford without the Schneider buyout.

I mean you could have just stuck him in the AHL Redden-style and signed Crawford anyway but I don't think they wanted to do that to him.

 

[Billdo]

Yeah, but we are paying Schneider 2 million dollars this year on the buyout.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Fantastic value. We need more Big Mac gifs to celebrate.

 

[Darkauron]

Also, we get rid of cory and his contract and give him an actual change to play in the NHL and sign with another team. Which is nice after everything he has done for us. Would have sucked just for him to sit in the AHL. Also he still has not signed with anyone, the NYI deal never actually happened

 

[Guttersniped]

Also, we get rid of cory and his contract and give him an actual change to play in the NHL and sign with another team. Which is nice after everything he has done for us. Would have sucked just for him to sit in the AHL. Also he still has not signed with anyone, the NYI deal never actually happened

A potential problem of keeping Cory is having him around could have spooked potential UFA goalies.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I’m cool with signing our number one. Good deal.

 

[Triumph]

I mean you could have just stuck him in the AHL Redden-style and signed Crawford anyway but I don't think they wanted to do that to him.

Guttersniped already said it, but my point was that it's unlikely that a veteran like Crawford signs here if he has to compete with Schneider to be the backup.

 

[Bcap88]

Great deal, hopefully he continues to improve

 

[MachoDiablo]

 

[mtnet]

Glad to cross this off the to do list