Speculation: New Jersey Offseason VIII - Summer Heat Edition

[JimEIV]

I doubt Shero stands pat unless the market is just too expensive and he decides to roll the dice.

Think back to the late 2000's and the defenses the Devils rolled out then, it hurt them badly. Depending on Lovejoy to be the #3 dman is asking for a disaster. Tossing a rookie in to play over 20 is the same. Doing both is not something I want from a team that wants to make the playoffs.

Lots of time and lots of available dmen. Let's see what shero does this summer.

How do you come to this assessment? He's been a middle pairing Dman for the last several years on two good teams in Pittsburgh and Anaheim?

 

[Jets012]

Still think we need to go after Demers. Which is upsetting because I haven't seen any rumor linking us to him.

Really feel he gives us another top 4 D-Man that we desperately can use. I honestly think he's a great #3 and could even be a low end #2.

Greene-Severson
Demers-Merrill
Lovejoy-Moore

Santini

That's a lot better than what we are currently fielding.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

How do you come to this assessment? He's been a middle pairing Dman for the last several years on two good teams in Pittsburgh and Anaheim?

Yep. I think people around here are underrating the Lovejoy signing. I think it was a shrewd move.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Boucher has flaws in his game too. His poor skating will always hold him back. He's not all that great defensively either. While Blandisi does have a ton of flaws, most people were piling on him at the end of last season because of his sharp drop in production. I thought he still created some nice chances but he was just on a line with mostly trash. And at that same time, Boucher was on our best line consistently (Zajac-Palmieri). As a playmaker, Blandisi has to be with talent.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

How do you come to this assessment? He's been a middle pairing Dman for the last several years on two good teams in Pittsburgh and Anaheim?

Letang >>>>> Greene

 

[NJDevils17]

At worst Lovejoy provides a Salvador-esque role with great leadership and mentoring the young guys. Merrill, Santini, Severson and Moore are all still <25. That's very valuable to a young defense like that. Showing poise after mistakes and letting guys know it happens is crucial to confidence. I think that's why Sal was underrated at the end of his tenure when he wore the C.

 

[Billdo]

Letang >>>>> Greene

Letang doesn't play the middle pairing...

 

[JimEIV]

Letang >>>>> Greene

That's nice but it has nothing to do with Lovejoy.

His most common partners in Pitt:
DUMOULIN, BRIAN. 696:26
POULIOT, DERRICK 148:17
MAATTA, OLLI 65:12

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

That's nice but it has nothing to do with Lovejoy.

His most common partners in Pitt:
DUMOULIN, BRIAN. 696:26
POULIOT, DERRICK 148:17
MAATTA, OLLI 65:12

That has something to do with the overall quality of Pittsburgh's d though. Which was obviously the point you were making. Lovejoy wasn't the reason they had an effective D. It was Letang. And we don't have a Letang.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Letang doesn't play the middle pairing...

Obviously? When did I say he did? Pitt didn't have a cup quality D core because of Ben Lovejoy lol. It was because they had a star in Letang on the top pair. Lovejoy is okay, but it's a completely different situation.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

That has something to do with the overall quality of Pittsburgh's d though. Which was obviously the point you were making. Lovejoy wasn't the reason they had an effective D. It was Letang. And we don't have a Letang.

Obviously, Lovejoy isn't going to be the defining player on any defense. He's a competent, steady defenseman, though, who can play second pairing minutes on a team that isn't a disaster. That's the point that people are trying to make: that Lovejoy being on our second pairing wouldn't spell doom for this defense. We're going to have a defense by committee next year. I think that's pretty clear, but Lovejoy is a good member for that committee.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Obviously? When did I say he did? Pitt didn't have a cup quality D core because of Ben Lovejoy lol. It was because they had a star in Letang on the top pair. Lovejoy is okay, but it's a completely different situation.

Nobody is saying that Ben Lovejoy was the reason that Pittsburg had a cup quality defense. They are just saying that Ben Lovejoy on a second pairing is not an automatic catastrophe like most of this board is pretending it is.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Obviously, Lovejoy isn't going to be the defining player on any defense. He's a competent, steady defenseman, though, who can play second pairing minutes on a team that isn't a disaster. That's the point that people are trying to make: that Lovejoy being on our second pairing wouldn't spell doom for this defense. We're going to have a defense by committee next year. I think that's pretty clear, but Lovejoy is a good member for that committee.

Maybe, maybe not. If Severson doesn't improve, that's a toilet of a d core. If Merrill doesn't step up that's also a big blow.

 

[oxman44]

Kinda sucks we couldn't keep Schlemko. Ray held on to him on deadline day because he wanted him back. He did offer him a contract. Kind of a dick move by Schlemko & his agent imo. The Devils gave him a great opportunity and he was a good fit here.

I also would've liked to see Stempniak return. I thought it was a real strong possibility. He was a perfect player for our system and our team.

And I'm most surprised that Lorito didn't return. I think he's going to be a really good player in the NHL. There's a reason a team like Detroit made him one of the first signings yesterday. Sucks to lose him.

Did Ray offer a contract to Shlemko? I really want to know what happened there because I felt that was a no- brainer to bring him back. Solid defensively played PP and PK. That's actually kind of a big loss for us when you think about it after losing larrson. There's always two sides to these negotiations I wasn't sure what Ray was doing there.

 

[JimEIV]

Check this GA/60(goals against) over the last 3 years 5v5. Minimum 3000 minutes played

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...3000&teamid=0&type=goals&sort=A60&sortdir=ASC

His Goals Against over the last 3 years has been 1.85 with 3270:19 5v5 minutes played...that ranks him 10th in the league over that time. Andy Greene is 6th.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Maybe, maybe not. If Severson doesn't improve, that's a toilet of a d core. If Merrill doesn't step up that's also a big blow.

Okay, but none of that has to do with Lovejoy. I don't see how Lovejoy is to blame if the other members of the committee are bad, although I think Lovejoy is a veteran who can be helpful for some of the younger members of the defense. We weren't going to get an elite defenseman on the free agency market, and Schlemko wanted to sign elsewhere, and I'd give up Larsson a million times to get Hall.

 

[MichaelJ]

I don't want Demers at this point unless it's a short deal. With RHD being in demand, eventually someone will give him 4-5 years. That RHD3 slot is going to a kid or a PTO. We really should be focused on adding LHD if anything.

Also, Lovejoy isn't really replacing Larsson, a hopefully-improved-now-that-he's-paired-with Greene Damon Severson is. Lovejoy is just plugging the middle-pairing hole for now.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Nobody is saying that Ben Lovejoy was the reason that Pittsburg had a cup quality defense. They are just saying that Ben Lovejoy on a second pairing is not an automatic catastrophe like most of this board is pretending it is.

Most were happy with the signing. I'm happy with the signing actually. I just hope we get someone to pair him with that's better than Merrill or Moore.

And we're so susceptible to becoming a poop tier defense with one injury. If Greene goes down, oh boy. We need a little depth. But I believe in Shero, he's been incredible since day 1.

 

[NJDevils17]

Obviously? When did I say he did? Pitt didn't have a cup quality D core because of Ben Lovejoy lol. It was because they had a star in Letang on the top pair. Lovejoy is okay, but it's a completely different situation.

He also played with Fowler in Anahiem if IIRC as the 4. He's a steady guy who isn't flashy or great at anything. I would also argue Pitt did have cup quality d core because of Lovejoy. He played the best hockey of his career in the playoffs last year. He made a big difference.

My point being that he should be penciled into our second pairing as the 4 but he's going to be asked to play a larger role than that so we'll see how it goes.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Check this GA/60(goals against) over the last 3 years 5v5. Minimum 3000 minutes played

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...3000&teamid=0&type=goals&sort=A60&sortdir=ASC

His Goals Against over the last 3 years has been 1.85 with 3270:19 5v5 minutes played...that ranks him 10th in the league over that time. Andy Greene is 6th.

He's solid and I'm glad we picked him up...We're just not quite there yet. No need to panic though. Plenty of time for Shero to work his magic.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Most were happy with the signing. I'm happy with the signing actually. I just hope we get someone to pair him with that's better than Merrill or Moore.

And we're so susceptible to becoming a poop tier defense with one injury. If Greene goes down, oh boy. We need a little depth. But I believe in Shero, he's been incredible since day 1.

Well, I'm definitely not opposed to continuing to improve on the defense (at this point, I'm more worried about our defense than our forwards, which I never thought I'd say at the start of this off-season, ha ha) but I guess I have more question marks about other members of our defense than about Lovejoy. To me, Lovejoy has proven that he can handle being on the second pairing of a defense, so if our defense is a disaster, I don't think he'll be the reason. It's just going to be up to other members of the defense to prove that they can handle their responsibilities or for Shero to bring in other players to handle those responsibilities. But I think people are underrating Lovejoy if they think he can't handle second pairing minutes when he has done so just fine on previous teams.

 

[JimEIV]

He also played with Fowler in Anahiem if IIRC as the 4. He's a steady guy who isn't flashy or great at anything. I would also argue Pitt did have cup quality d core because of Lovejoy. He played the best hockey of his career in the playoffs last year. He made a big difference.

My point being that he should be penciled into our second pairing as the 4 but he's going to be asked to play a larger role than that so we'll see how it goes.

Yup...his two previous seasons before this one his most common partner was Fowler.

Fowler has not been good defensively for the last few years. Over the last 3 he's been one of the Ducks worst in goals against and shots against.

 

[RememberTheName]

Jason Demers signs with Florida at 5 years, 4.5 million prr

 

[NJDevils17]

Demers signing in Florida makes Petrovic a trade target. They'll protect Yandle, Ekblad and Demers in the expansion draft. He'd be a great value to trade for IMO. I'd be all over that if I'm Shero.

Bottom line is next summer there's going to be a lot of scrambling teams trying to protect the right guys. If I had to put money on it I'd think we're going to deal a winger for some defense next summer. We have a lot of forwards and if Bennett/DSP pan out we're going to have too many we want to protect. I'm not sure this summer is the time for a deal unless the right one comes along.

 

[Billdo]

Obviously? When did I say he did? Pitt didn't have a cup quality D core because of Ben Lovejoy lol. It was because they had a star in Letang on the top pair. Lovejoy is okay, but it's a completely different situation.

Lovejoy will be a middle pairing defenseman here. Aethon was talking about Lovejoy as a middle pairing defenseman on quality teams. You then for some reason bring up Letang, an obvious first pairing D, and for some reason try to incorporate him into this when he has nothing to do with it. Nobody said Lovejoy will be anything other than a middle pairing defenseman nor has anyone mentioned a Stanley Cup because of him.