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

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

again what mythical .920 playoff goalie a) exists and b) would be available?

I think if thats the line you're drawing, you're gonna be disappointed no matter what.

FYI Markstrom is a career .911 playoff goalie, so not really that different

Holy shit, you did not even read the post with what you're commenting back. I said at the cost that both of them are gonna cost + Saros's new deal adds an element that I'm not comfortable with him. You're a better poster than this, come on. And yes I rather Markstrom, he's elite 5v5 and the situations that the Devils clearly struggle in + the cost of not using the 10th overall pick is something that entices me within a goalie upgrade which Saros would need.

 

[Rhodes 81]

Boqvist walking annoys me because he's a possession forward that can play center, versatile, and play with speed. I think we win several more games with him instead of Tierney in the 13th forward role.

He provides no offense so it's not some irreplaceable loss though, it was just dumb to let him go for nothing.

 

[devilsblood]

Anything but a prominent HC is a big miss.

Is Sullivan even free yet? Or would we have to give up picks to get him?

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Boqvist walking annoys me because he's a possession forward that can play center, versatile, and play with speed. I think we win several more games with him instead of Tierney in the 13th forward role.

He provides no offense so it's not some irreplaceable loss though, it was just dumb to let him go for nothing.

It was dumb at the time because Boqvist in the bottom 6 was literally what made 22-23 NJ good due to their speed on every line. Getting slower was the dumbest thing we did last year and yes, that's over running back with the same goalies.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Anything but a prominent HC is a big miss.

Is Sullivan even free yet? Or would we have to give up picks to get him?

Not free yet. Friedman said he initially heard it was a lock that Sullivan was going back to Pittsburgh and he hasn't been told otherwise since. He also heard from a source in a front office to expect the "mother of all tampering investigations" if he does end up in New Jersey.

 

[ndkjr70]

Anything but a prominent HC is a big miss.

Is Sullivan even free yet? Or would we have to give up picks to get him?

he has an extension kicking in soon, but there's a lot of smoke that he won't be back in Pittsburgh.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Vitek always seemed like a good guy/teammate. Wish him all the best.

The Devils doctors and trainers are literally Dr Nick from the Simpsons I'm convinced lol

 

[glenwo2]

Not free yet. Friedman said he initially heard it was a lock that Sullivan was going back to Pittsburgh and he hasn't been told otherwise since. He also heard from a source in a front office to expect the "mother of all tampering investigations" if he does end up in New Jersey.

So bye-bye to future draft picks again....

 

[devilsblood]

He's going up against Toronto's 4th line primarily and Toronto's 4th line is awful, with Reaves holding the line down from doing anything.

I don't think McLeod being there or not being there had anything to do with the decision to move on from Boqvist. The issue isn't Boqvist, it's that the Devils system isn't consistently producing Boqvist-type players. This is where missing out on 2nd round picks in 2019 and 2020 hurt the team.

Boston probably won't keep him either. Teams tend to move on from guys like this pretty fast - it's just very hard to make it as a limited minutes ES player who doesn't play special teams and who has no physical dimension.

He's played 15 minutes against Reaves. 30 Minutes against others. 70% xgf away from Reaves.

Is he beating up Toronto's 3rd line which stinks too? Yeah, but that does show Boq is significantly better then those guys. If Boston moves on from Boq, Toronto should go after him.

As per Devils, it's not like we would have had to pay good money to keep Boq around. So we didn't need to replace him with a young draftee, we could have just kept him. But the team didn't like him, at least in that role, as evidenced by his usage in the playoffs last year.

 

[Devils731]

Anything but a prominent HC is a big miss.

Is Sullivan even free yet? Or would we have to give up picks to get him?

You can’t give draft picks for coaches anymore…but any tampering issue would be separate.

 

[Triumph]

He's played 15 minutes against Reaves. 30 Minutes against others. 70% xgf away from Reaves.

Is he beating up Toronto's 3rd line which stinks too? Yeah, but that does show Boq is significantly better then those guys. If Boston moves on from Boq, Toronto should go after him.

As per Devils, it's not like we would have had to pay good money to keep Boq around. So we didn't need to replace him with a young draftee, we could have just kept him. But the team didn't like him, at least in that role, as evidenced by his usage in the playoffs last year.

The reason the Devils didn't keep him is because he's an ES-only player who has no physical dimension. It's the same reason he passed through waivers. He's a nice player but teams are never going to actively seek out this type of player. They want someone who can do more stuff, even if they are worse 5v5.

I'll say there's about a 30% chance that Boqvist plays overseas next season.

 

[NJDevs26]

Vitek always seemed like a good guy/teammate. Wish him all the best.

What the hell did he have surgery on?

 

[Mgd31]

What the hell did he have surgery on?

Broken heart

 

[Normal Devil]

So bye-bye to future draft picks again....

I think so .. dubas mentioning the Devils not asking for or receiving permission to speak to Sullivan kind of tells me that they are miffed with the Devils. It would suck to have tampering taking place and then not getting their guy.

 

[NJDevs26]

I think so .. dubas mentioning the Devils not asking for or receiving permission to speak to Sullivan kind of tells me that they are miffed with the Devils. It would suck to have tampering taking place and then not getting their guy.

It probably is a bit pie in the sky to expect Pittsburgh to just hand over their coach to a division rival.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Hope Vitek gets his career back on track in San Jose. The radio silence on his injury was bizarre to me, especially as Daws/Schmid got played into the ground.

 

[None Shall Pass]

I think we need to make the playoffs more often before we worry tooooo much about playoff performers.

 

[TrufleShufle]

I think we need to make the playoffs more often before we worry tooooo much about playoff performers.

Dress for the job you want.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Dress for the job you want.

 

[Zippy316]

Boqvist walking annoys me because he's a possession forward that can play center, versatile, and play with speed. I think we win several more games with him instead of Tierney in the 13th forward role.

He provides no offense so it's not some irreplaceable loss though, it was just dumb to let him go for nothing.

It was dumb at the time because Boqvist in the bottom 6 was literally what made 22-23 NJ good due to their speed on every line. Getting slower was the dumbest thing we did last year and yes, that's over running back with the same goalies.

I think the Devils were concerned with what Boqvist would get in an arbitration case had they kept him.

They did the same with McLeod/Bastian not qualifying them, but obviously Fitzgerald said resigning them was a priority and negotiated their return before free agency.

I still think they should’ve done the same for Boqvist, but it does take two to tango once you decide not to qualify. Maybe they tried and Boqvist didn’t want to or maybe Fitz just wasn’t interested all along.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

Out of curiosity, what percentage chance would everyone say that the top six D next season opens up as the following (i.e. run it back with a new coach plus Hamilton)?

Hughes/Marino/Siegenthaler/Hamilton/Bahl/Nemec

 

[NJDevs26]

Out of curiosity, what percentage chance would everyone say that the top six D next season opens up as the following (i.e. run it back with a new coach plus Hamilton)?

Hughes/Marino/Siegenthaler/Hamilton/Bahl/Nemec

25-75…but it’s not likely to be a big change. Probably just swap Bahl out for a veteran guy, I assume the big changes on the ice will be more forwards/goalie

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Did not realize he was a FA. Could be a good option for the bottom of the lineup. Very solid player who has had some injury issues.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

Did not realize he was a FA. Could be a good option for the bottom of the lineup. Very solid player who has had some injury issues.

like the player, but he is ALWAYS injured. If we are talking about Vegas UFA forwards, I would point to Michael Amadio.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Did not realize he was a FA. Could be a good option for the bottom of the lineup. Very solid player who has had some injury issues.