Around the League 2018-19 Offseason Part II

[Emperoreddy]

I think Carolina is a little better than most of those teams, but goaltending will strike again and kill them. Can't compete with Mrazek/Darling as your goalies and their offensive depth is still suspect.

Suspect is putting it mildly.

 

[Cage Helmet]

i can think this of someone else too!

We know this already. Holland with Det right now is like if the NJD brought back Lou for another year or two beyond the time he was here for. Holland needed to be fired via promotion at least after the most recent season.

 

[MadDevil]

Wings fans don’t seem nearly as concerned about this as I expected.

Some also think they don’t have a bottom 3 roster, which is a bit amusing.

The contract itself actually isn't bad if Larkin continues to be a 60+ point player, or improves. It's the other contracts Holland has handed out in recent years that are going to keep them in purgatory.

 

[Devils Dominion]

I think Carolina is a little better than most of those teams, but goaltending will strike again and kill them. Can't compete with Mrazek/Darling as your goalies and their offensive depth is still suspect.

Yes, they have improved

 

[NJDevs26]

People compare Lou to Holland all the time and with some reason but Lou was never as bad sticking us with stupid long-term contracts as Holland has been with Detroit.

 

[Emperoreddy]

How has Carolina improved? They replaced Hanafin and Lindholm with Dougie and de Haan. I guess that is an upgrade.

They lost Skinner and added nothing significant at forward.

They replaced Ward with Mzarek and are still employing Darling for some reason.

 

[Bleedred]

People compare Lou to Holland all the time and with some reason but Lou was never as bad sticking us with stupid long-term contracts as Holland has been with Detroit.

Holland is also not as good as Lou all time. He inherited a stacked team in Detroit that just won the cup. He deserves credit for the 08 team for sure and some of it from the 02 team, but he inherited the 98 team that won the cup the year before and went to the finals two of the prior three years before he got there.

 

[R8Devs]

Svechnikov is pretty significant

 

[MadDevil]

Svechnikov is pretty significant

But they also traded away Lindholm and Skinner, and got back Ferland and Pu, so at best their forwards are a wash. Defensively I think they're pretty much the same if they end up dealing Faulk. Goaltending is still a question mark. And Brind'Amour is a rookie head coach. So unless it really was the culture that was the problem or Darling bounces back significantly, they're pretty much the same.

 

[NJDevs26]

Not to mention the huge downgrade at GM going from anyone to Waddell.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Also a huge gamble to pin all yours hopes of improvement on an 18 year old

 

[Bleedred]

Going from Ward to Mrazek is like changing dirty underwear for shit stained underwear.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Going from Ward to Mrazek is like changing dirty underwear for **** stained underwear.

Major upgrade at this point

 

[My3Sons]

To those suggesting CAR NYI and DET are mired in mediocrity just remember that a well coached and organized team that buys in and plays with full effort and emotion can be much better than the sum of its parts. Look no further than Vegas or NJ last season.

 

[Bleedred]

Major upgrade at this point

Mrazek has been worse than Ward for the past two years.

And he’s been brutal on two different teams, which is why he became a UFA at an RFA eligible age.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

some of these guys just love to pump everyone else up and bring the Devils down at every opportunity

its a tired act at this point, but you guys should know what they are doing by now

 

[Bleedred]

To those suggesting CAR NYI and DET are mired in mediocrity just remember that a well coached and organized team that buys in and plays with full effort and emotion can be much better than the sum of its parts. Look no further than Vegas or NJ last season.

What’s so well coached about teams like Detroit and Carolina? Detroit is coached by Trashill and Carolina has a rookie head coach that’s never been a head coach at any level, if I’m not mistaken. I don’t think Brindamour has ever been a head coach at all in any league before?

 

[R8Devs]

But they also traded away Lindholm and Skinner, and got back Ferland and Pu, so at best their forwards are a wash. Defensively I think they're pretty much the same if they end up dealing Faulk. Goaltending is still a question mark. And Brind'Amour is a rookie head coach. So unless it really was the culture that was the problem or Darling bounces back significantly, they're pretty much the same.

I don't think they're pegging all their improvement on Svechnikov. They improved their defense by a lot by adding Hamilton and De Haan even with the loss of Hanifin. I don't see how anyone can say they're pretty much the same defensively. We'll have to see with Svechnikov but if he was a Devil people on this board would think they are adding something significant to their top 6.

I was responding to the comment that said 'They lost Skinner and added nothing significant at forward.' which is obviously not true. comments like that are just as annoying/polarizing as DD's tirades because if the Devils traded someone like Henrique before the season last year and said they added nothing of significance to their forwards/and lost Henrique while completely ignoring Hischier they would get shit on and rightfully so.

idk where they'll end up but I think outside of Washington and Pittsburgh it's pretty hard to predict who will be in the playoffs from the metro.

 

[Triumph]

But they also traded away Lindholm and Skinner, and got back Ferland and Pu, so at best their forwards are a wash. Defensively I think they're pretty much the same if they end up dealing Faulk. Goaltending is still a question mark. And Brind'Amour is a rookie head coach. So unless it really was the culture that was the problem or Darling bounces back significantly, they're pretty much the same.

I don't know why it's assumed that Faulk will be dealt exclusively for futures. I don't think Carolina is much better this year, but they're on the way up.

 

[Emperoreddy]

To those suggesting CAR NYI and DET are mired in mediocrity just remember that a well coached and organized team that buys in and plays with full effort and emotion can be much better than the sum of its parts. Look no further than Vegas or NJ last season.

Except the three teams mentioned legitimately have very bad rosters. Carolina and the Isles have major major goalie question marks on top of bad rosters.

 

[My3Sons]

What’s so well coached about teams like Detroit and Carolina? Detroit is coached by Trashill and Carolina has a rookie head coach that’s never been a head coach at any level, if I’m not mistaken. I don’t think Brindamour has ever been a head coach at all in any league before?

I’m not suggesting they are. They may stink. I didn’t mean to imply they are well coached although I can understand how you might interpret that from my post. All I’m suggesting is that a bad team with the proper mojo can overachieve and it is probably worth trying to compete as a GM unless and until the season goes down in flames. After all, how many here think NJ is that well coached? The buy in aspect especially from the vets is probably more important.

 

[My3Sons]

Except the three teams mentioned legitimately have very bad rosters. Carolina and the Isles have major major goalie question marks on top of bad rosters.

Sure but maybe they stay in contention for a wildcard spot for 2/3 of the season and give their fans a reason to buy tickets and maybe one or two additional young players improve and promise better days ahead. As a team that is a much better scenario than wallowing in mediocrity and mailing it in so the vets quit on the season and the young guys get lousy mentorship and the fans stay away in droves.

 

[MadDevil]

I don't think they're pegging all their improvement on Svechnikov. They improved their defense by a lot by adding Hamilton and De Haan even with the loss of Hanifin. I don't see how anyone can say they're pretty much the same defensively. We'll have to see with Svechnikov but if he was a Devil people on this board would think they are adding something significant to their top 6.

I was responding to the comment that said 'They lost Skinner and added nothing significant at forward.' which is obviously not true. comments like that are just as annoying/polarizing as DD's tirades because if the Devils traded someone like Henrique before the season last year and said they added nothing of significance to their forwards/and lost Henrique while completely ignoring Hischier they would get **** on and rightfully so.

idk where they'll end up but I think outside of Washington and Pittsburgh it's pretty hard to predict who will be in the playoffs from the metro.

If they trade Faulk they'll have replaced Hanifin and Faulk with De Haan and Hamilton, which to me is not that much of an upgrade overall. Although if Fleury takes a step forward in his development then they could put together three pretty solid pairings, so maybe that's where the improvement comes from.

Agreed on the Metro being a complete crapshoot after the Pens and Caps though. The Rangers and Islanders could be pretty bad, but between Philly, Carolina, Columbus, and us it's likely going to be a dogfight all season.

 

[NJDevs26]

I’m not suggesting they are. They may stink. I didn’t mean to imply they are well coached although I can understand how you might interpret that from my post. All I’m suggesting is that a bad team with the proper mojo can overachieve and it is probably worth trying to compete as a GM unless and until the season goes down in flames. After all, how many here think NJ is that well coached? The buy in aspect especially from the vets is probably more important.

At a certain point you have to be realistic about your chances in the near term though. That's been Holland's problem in Detroit the last few years. I get wanting to keep the playoff streak going but once that ended they should have been all-in on the rebuild with all the older players they had and not much left in their farm system. That was Lou's problem to an extent his last couple years here and arguably now. You can argue with Trotz in Brooklyn he still had to take a shot even once JT walked out the door but leaving Trotz out of the equation it really made no sense to make win-now moves once they lost JT and deHaan too for that matter.

Even with Trotz, what's the celing for the Islanders...a Cinderella playoff berth and punted in the first round? That's the absolute celing, Trotz can't walk on water and lead this ragtag group to a Cup.

 

[Emperoreddy]

And I have no idea what the long term plan is in Detroit or Long Island right now.