Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2023 offseason part II

[Whaddagoal]

This off season has felt so quick to me. Probably also because so many good video games have come out so summer has flown by for me.

Woo hockey time!

Which games...................?

And yes, woo to the new season soon...

 

[MasterofGrond]

Yeah the Sabres have good players, but I'd like to see them maintain offensive production from their top guys while not giving up 300 (!) goals against before getting too excited about their lineup.

They had bad goaltending last year, sure, but they also got beaten by expected goal metrics 5on5, which is not traditionally the mark of a good team.

 

[Darkauron]

Which games...................?

And yes, woo to the new season soon...

Bauldrs gate 3 and Starfield are the big ones that have been taking up time!

 

[Whaddagoal]

Bauldrs gate 3 and Starfield are the big ones that have been taking up time!

I've been literally stuck in starfield since the date it's been out in early preload. Lol.

 

[njdevils1982]

this sabres love fest in the team thread is f***ing nauseating. check your heads

 

[My3Sons]

this sabres love fest in the team thread is f***ing nauseating. check your heads

I forgot how much you dislike that team. it's ok to give credit where credit is due. I can't stand the Cowboys but I can ackowledge they are a good team.

 

[njdevils1982]

I forgot how much you dislike that team. it's ok to give credit where credit is due. I can't stand the Cowboys but I can ackowledge they are a good team.

same story every year.....until i see it on the ice no credit can be given

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Which games...................?

And yes, woo to the new season soon...

Bauldrs gate 3 and Starfield are the big ones that have been taking up time!

That new Spiderman game coming out next month looks incredible too.

Yeah the Sabres have good players, but I'd like to see them maintain offensive production from their top guys while not giving up 300 (!) goals against before getting too excited about their lineup.

They had bad goaltending last year, sure, but they also got beaten by expected goal metrics 5on5, which is not traditionally the mark of a good team.

I think the answer there could be lower offensive totals but they get way more consistent goaltending with Levi. It's a weird argument but it's still one that I can get behind.

 

[Guadana]

They got Power-Dahlin ... not propects anymore but part of the core they build around. With Strabak/Johnson they may land a top4 d. Enough to build around for years to come.

I see Buffalo as a future power house if they manage to leverage half of their prospects.

Strbak has his own issues, it’s still way less than what we have. Even with Dahlin.
and yes, they will be the powerhouse, absolutely agree.

Ultimately the prospect pool is self limiting. Buffalo has signed Thompson and Cozens and Skinner and will sign Dahlin and Power and assuming Levi hits they likely sign him. Maybe all the contracts are decent value and they can add an additional player but thr cap only allows for so many players to get paid and more importantly there are only so many prime opportunities on a team. If NJ had four great center prospects we’d be happy but only one would stay if all of them panned out. The trick for Buffalo will be knowing who to keep and when to trade for their version of Timo.

I believe they will develop part in Europe and will trade some of what they have in roster. More talents never were a problem. I like Shakir, even if he will pan out and will be top four defenseman for many years, we still have some and have no power scoring forward. It was a good deal. I think Buffalo will make good deals too. May be with us too.

The D definitely needs some work but I also just think it just doesn't matter like at all. They've got the 2 pillars on the backend and they're both 23 or younger. I'm not as high on Samuelsson as some are but maybe he does become that Siegs/Marino type. They're also so insanely deep up front they could acquire 2 legit top 4 D and not even feel it.

Without good support from D, especially in their own zone, their offense means not a lot. Literally we saw it in previous season. Having two great defensemen is great, but they still need more, at least good well rounded defensemen. But I don’t think they will not figure it out, they have cap space, they have players to play with, the only question is about gm - will he understand that he needs to build defensive foundation to help the team to turn the corner. They have some good two way forwards in their prospect pool, but they still need to prevent net drive and win puck battles, be stronger against the cycling. And their prospects will take time. So I think they can find their good defensemen on the market or in trades, it’s not like they don’t have cap space or assets for that.

 

[Camille the Eel]

They got Power-Dahlin ... not propects anymore but part of the core they build around. With Strabak/Johnson they may land a top4 d. Enough to build around for years to come.

I see Buffalo as a future power house if they manage to leverage half of their prospects.

I think that both they and Ottawa can break out this year. Their division is very tough with Boston, Toronto and Tampa Bay. But either or both Buffalo and Ottawa look a lot like we did last year before the season to me. Clubs that have the talent to jump into contention.

 

[Hisch13r]

I think that both they and Ottawa can break out this year. Their division is very tough with Boston, Toronto and Tampa Bay. But either or both Buffalo and Ottawa look a lot like we did last year before the season to me. Clubs that have the talent to jump into contention.

I think the Sens will be good one day but aren't on the level of either of us. I think their core is a bit weaker and their prospect pool is god awful. A team that's been bad for half a decade shouldn't have a bottom 5-10 prospect pool. The core is strong enough that they could probably still contend but it's going to take a smart GM to supplement the core and Dorion definitely isn't that guy. Sabres could get there this year. Missed by one pt last year with no goaltending (tbf also no defense and no reason to believe that's changed much). Levi could be a big boost and offset them likely not shooting the lights out again and could still get them in.

 

[Guttersniped]

Yup. Luke played last year and in the playoffs and then wasn't at dev camp. Be shocked if he goes. Nemec was at dev camp so I'd expect him to play.

Nemac wasn’t at Dev Camp this year. Also Bahl and Walsh didn’t go to Dev Camp in 2022 but they played in the 2022 Prospect Challenge. And Bahl had played 24 NHL games over two years.

I’m still convinced Luke will most likely go to rookie camp and play at least 1 game in Buffalo.

If any ELC shouldn’t go it’s Schmid, he’s 23, been to at least 3 of these and played 33 NHL games, but that leaves us with Brennan and Poulter.

So it’s not surprising the one invite I did find was a goalie.

And of course it’s someone’s relative:
Riley Mercer! (EP)

Riley was at Montreal’s Rookie Camp last year and in fact was in net for the Habs when we got our one win (4-3). He also went to Ottawa’s 2023 Development Camp.

We’ve gone with 3 goalies before so it will probably be Brennan, Poulter and Mercer. (Unless there’s another invite).


2022
9 total Defensemen
7 ELCs: Bahl, Okhotiuk, Vilén, Vukojevic, Groleau, Walsh, Nemec
2 AHL deals: Jarrod Gourley (EP) (23 LHD) Filip Bratt (EP) (20 RHD)
No invites.
The two 2022 Dev Camp defender invites were from the NCAA and went back to school.

2023
8? total Defensemen
6 ELCs: Hatakka, Hughes, Vilén, Vukojevic, Misyul, Nemec
2 potential AHL Deals (Neither were at 2023 Dev Camp):
Will MacKinnon (EP) (23 LHD) signed Jul 20
Colin Felix (EP)(24 RHD) signed Jul 6
Born in Camden NJ!

The four 2023 Dev Camp defender invites were from the NCAA and are going back to school.

2022
15 total forwards but Clarke didn’t play due to injury.
6 w/ ELCs: Talvitie, Halonen, Foote, Clarke, Holtz, Stillman
1 Drafted: Filmon
4 w/ AHL Deals: Xavier Parent (EP) (21 LW/C), Garret Van Wyhe (EP)(25 C/RW), Noah Corson (EP)(24 C/LW), Billy Jerry (EP) (24 RW/C)
(All are now gone except Parent.)
4 Invites: Luke Bignell (EP) (21 C), Zackary Jones (EP) (21 LW/C), Daniel D’Amico (EP) (21 LW/C), Brody Crane (EP) (18 LW)

There were 3 forward invites at 2022 Dev Camp, 2 NCAA players who went back to school and a Euro FA who signed in Liiga.

2023
13-14? total forwards so far

6 forwards w/ ELCs:
Halonen, Foote, Clarke, Holtz, Stillman, Filmon
2 Drafted:
Brown (18 W) Squires (18 RW)
Potential AHL Deals:
5 were at Dev Camp: Xavier Parent (EP) (22 LW/C),Timur Ibragimov (EP) (22 LW), Erik Middendorf (EP) (23 LW), Filip Engarås (EP) (24 C), TJ Friedmann (EP) (25 C/W)
Also potentially Eric Cooley (EP) (25 W), signed July 10, not at Dev Camp

The five forward invites to 2023 Dev Camp were from the NCAA and are going back to school.

2022
4 total Goalies
2 ELC: Daws (21, 25 NHL GP), Schmid (22, 6 NHL GP)
1 Drafted: Brennan (18)
1 Minors: Isaac Poulter (21)
Daws, Schmid and Brennan got the 3 starts.

2023
3-4 total Goalies?
2 ELCs: Schmid (23, 33 NHL GP), Brennan (19)
Minors: Isaac Poulter (22, Sept 12 birthday!)
played in Adirondack & Utica as rookie last year
Invite: Riley Mercer (19)

 

[Saugus]

Didn’t Parise have a goalie younger brother who got nepo baby camp invites too?

It’s funny how often Mercer reminds me of him. Hope his contract situation doesn’t end up the same way, of course.

 

[Cheddabombs]

The Sabres!?! Rookie camp opens this week who cares about the Sabres!

 

[Bleedred]

Didn’t Parise have a goalie younger brother who got nepo baby camp invites too?

It’s funny how often Mercer reminds me of him. Hope his contract situation doesn’t end up the same way, of course.

Not only did he get camp invites, he was signed by Lou and played two years for our AHL team. He never even played in the AHL again after us, he spent most of the remainder of his career in Europe, but did have one random season in the ECHL after his first season playing in Europe, before returning to Europe for the remainder of his career. HockeyDB doesn’t even have him listed as playing anywhere for 10-11, before resuming his career for two more seasons in Germany and then Italy.

His performance in his first season in the AHL was pretty good. His second year in the AHL was pretty bad. We moved on from him after that year, in part because Jeff Frazee (our only legit goalie prospect at the time of at least the best one) was turning pro and probably in part because he was about to turn 26 years old and was an extreme long shot to ever make the NHL by that point.

He was actually Zach’s older brother by about two years.

 

[Guttersniped]

Not only did he get camp invites, he was signed by Lou and played two years for our AHL team. He never even played in the AHL again after us, he spent most of the remainder of his career in Europe, but did have one random season in the ECHL after his first season playing in Europe, before returning to Europe for the remainder of his career. HockeyDB doesn’t even have him listed as playing anywhere for 10-11, before resuming his career for two more seasons in Germany and then Italy.

His performance in his first season in the AHL was pretty good. His second year in the AHL was pretty bad. We moved on from him after that year, in part because Jeff Frazee (our only legit goalie prospect at the time of at least the best one) was turning pro and probably in part because he was about to turn 26 years old and was an extreme long shot to ever make the NHL by that point.

He was actually Zach’s older brother by about two years.

Not sure Jordan Parise was the problem.

The 2006-07 Lowell Devils had a buried Dan McGillis to score (68 GP), Mike Mottau’s last AHL season, Andy Greene’s only AHL season (52 GP), etc.

Spoiler: The 07-08 Lowell Devils had… not that.

2006-07

2007-08

The 2006-07 Lowell Devils 212 GF (25/27) and 220 GA (8/27).

The 2007-08 Lowell Devils had 183 GF (29/29)
and 270 GA (27/29).

 

[Devs3cups]

A few guys were apparently together at the Jets game tonight, namely Haula, Lazar, Bastian, Dougie and Toffoli.

Boys are bonding and camp starts soon… getting excited lmao.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

A few guys were apparently together at the Jets game tonight, namely Haula, Lazar, Bastian, Dougie and Toffoli.

Boys are bonding and camp starts soon… getting excited lmao.

Yeah I saw that, I thought I saw Jack somewhere but maybe not lol.

 

[Hisch13r]

Yeah I saw that, I thought I saw Jack somewhere but maybe not lol.

I thought I did too at first glance but it was Haula lol

 

[Owenay]

Not only did he get camp invites, he was signed by Lou and played two years for our AHL team. He never even played in the AHL again after us, he spent most of the remainder of his career in Europe, but did have one random season in the ECHL after his first season playing in Europe, before returning to Europe for the remainder of his career. HockeyDB doesn’t even have him listed as playing anywhere for 10-11, before resuming his career for two more seasons in Germany and then Italy.

His performance in his first season in the AHL was pretty good. His second year in the AHL was pretty bad. We moved on from him after that year, in part because Jeff Frazee (our only legit goalie prospect at the time of at least the best one) was turning pro and probably in part because he was about to turn 26 years old and was an extreme long shot to ever make the NHL by that point.

He was actually Zach’s older brother by about two years.

Jordan Parise was very good at UND.

2.51, .915
2.05, .908
2.13, .917
2.20, .929

That's what earned him the contract just as much or even more than being Zach's brother.

Also, in 2010-11 he played in Norway where he went 2.54, .903 in 22 games for Lørenskog.

EliteProsects is far superior to HockeyDB.

 

[BostonDevil]

this sabres love fest in the team thread is f***ing nauseating. check your heads

Sabres have been the darling of the league for years now. Almost like the media wants to will them into the playoffs but then will be sad when they replace Boston if they do make it.

I, however, will not be sad if Boston does not make the playoffs. In fact I’ll be thrilled.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

A few guys were apparently together at the Jets game tonight, namely Haula, Lazar, Bastian, Dougie and Toffoli.

Boys are bonding and camp starts soon… getting excited lmao.

One is not like the other lol (age).

 

[Emperoreddy]

A few guys were apparently together at the Jets game tonight, namely Haula, Lazar, Bastian, Dougie and Toffoli.

Boys are bonding and camp starts soon… getting excited lmao.

Once Dougie takes the group to a museum, we will know it's cup time

 

[Better Call Sal]

Dont worry, the Tatar Bazaar will live on.

In all seriousness, glad he’s out west with Woody. Loved him here and wish him all the best.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Dont worry, the Tatar Bazaar will live on.

In all seriousness, glad he’s out west with Woody. Loved him here and wish him all the best.

We are going to miss him. I wasn’t a fan (to put it mildly) before last season. But he was as consistent as anyone we had last year and quietly did all the things like digging out pucks from the corners and along the boards that you have to have to be a winner. That’s going to be hard to replace. Consistent effort he gave too.

He will be a good pick up for the Avalanche. Financial terms undisclosed. I’m curious at how much he signed for.