Around The League - 2021 offseason part III

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Keep eating that cap space Armstrong

He is in no rush. He can be 10% over in the off season. As I said before, I really think Tank's agent screwed up giving Rutherford all their problems with the org. Army can be a prick. If anything he will drag this along.

 

[HyperX]

He is in no rush. He can be 10% over in the off season. As I said before, I really think Tank's agent screwed up giving Rutherford all their problems with the org. Army can be a prick. If anything he will drag this along.

Then Fitzgerald should seek business elsewhere

we cant be having a disgruntled GM of another team postponing our attempts at acquiring a top-6 forward

 

[MauDevils]

I doubt it's holding him up. He can sign Tatar at any point. And it's not like we couldn't afford both.

I'd guess maybe Tatar doesn't want to come here at this point. Not much of a market out there outside of those two.

 

[Devil X]

Then Fitzgerald should seek business elsewhere

we cant be having a disgruntled GM of another team postponing our attempts at acquiring a top-6 forward

I dont feel like GMs are the type to have all their eggs in one basket. What does or doesnt happen with Tank isnt going to stop Fitz from looking into other options. Im sure he already has or is and whichever one hits first he will go with.

 

[Devil X]

I doubt it's holding him up. He can sign Tatar at any point. And it's not like we couldn't afford both.

I'd guess maybe Tatar doesn't want to come here at this point.

Maybe the Devils dont want him?

There has been ZERO rumors around Tatar or any interest from any team let alone the Devils. Thats just been a board desire more then anything. With how silent its been on the Tatar front it wouldnt surprise me if he is signed with the Islanders.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

He is in no rush. He can be 10% over in the off season. As I said before, I really think Tank's agent screwed up giving Rutherford all their problems with the org. Army can be a prick. If anything he will drag this along.

Considering with how Tarasenko wants out and they’ve been accommodating trades for him, it’ll happen soon. They wouldn’t wait till camp
to trade, with every passing day teams are filling their rosters up.

Maybe the Devils dont want him?

There has been ZERO rumors around Tatar or any interest from any team let alone the Devils. Thats just been a board desire more then anything. With how silent its been on the Tatar front it wouldnt surprise me is he is signed with the Islanders.

That was said with Ryan Murray too and they actually had a need for him, Isles aren’t signing Tatar.

 

[Eggtimer]

Seth Jones is the guy you want on your team at playoff time regardless of what the colourful player card says

Sure . As your #2 or even #3 guy. He has been playing at that level for the past two years almost. Maybe he can be that #1 guy on his new team and different system and style of game but he wasn't that guy recently .

 

[Eggtimer]

Sanford too

And they were wanting to sign Bozak as well.
I am getting frustrated with whats going on with Tarasenko. I want to trade for him or at the very least know what;s going on . Who is or even can be in on him ? Can the Islanders even sign him ? Whats their cap situation?

Lou doing his Lou thing is very annoying with not releasing who they have signed and keeping everything hush hush . Should make a new rule where you have to release to the league when you sign a player. Who the hell knows what their cap is like now or what roster needs they might have as no one even knows who is all under contract by the Islanders. I guess its a smart move but its very lame.

 

[aboriginal]

now he can yell at everyone!!

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Considering with how Tarasenko wants out and they’ve been accommodating trades for him, it’ll happen soon.

There was a report (how true I do not know since it was Tanks agent and he did not say what the offers were) that 4 teams were willing to take Tanks full cap hit at one point. If the Blues were "accommodating trades for him" he would have been traded already. In the end he will probably be traded this offseason, but time is on Armys side IMO. What good is it to Army to get it done soon? He will have a full roster shortly.

 

[Guttersniped]

Moreso it was a "Conte draft" than a Lou draft. It's not unusual to see new GMs get hired a month before the draft and they don't necessarily have a ton of input unless their previous job had them following junior prospects. But even in those cases, sometimes they're not allowed to be with the new team for the draft. We saw Arizona hire Bill Armstrong from the Blues right before the 2020 Draft and that was conditional on Armstrong sitting out the draft for the Coyotes which led to the Mitch Miller debacle. Calgary hired Craig Button from Dallas right before the 2000 Draft and Button wasn't allowed to be at the Calgary table since he knew Dallas' list; I always find it amusing when people on the main board trash Button for Calgary's 2000 Draft when he wasn't allowed to be part of it.

Dean Lombardi was hired as Kings GM a month or so before the 2006 Draft. His previous gig had been pro scouting for the Flyers so he wasn't really up to speed on the 2006 prospects so he trusted the incumbent scouts to make the picks. Although Lombardi allegedly overstepped his bounds in the second round when the scouts wanted to draft Milan Lucic. At the time, the Kings prospect pool was reasonably deep up front but really thin on defense. As the story goes, Lombardi told his scouts to draft a defenseman instead (Joe Ryan - never played in NHL). I like to think when Lombardi traded for Lucic at the 2015 Draft, he was compensating for a mistake he made a decade beforehand.

Lombardi fired the scouts he inherited a few months after the 2006 Draft and brought in a new set of eyes. I think he's said something to the effect that the 2007 Draft felt more like his first draft with the team.

Looking at the staffs pre-Lombardi and it after on Elite Prospects, it was kind of a blood bath. Lombardi only kept a couple of scouts that predated his arrival and the rest were kicked to the curb immediately. That’s some Red Wedding-style shit right there, Dean cleaned house.

Shero actually kept a bunch of scouts he inherited. Off-hand I see seven scouts who predated him and then actually survived him (but two look gone/retired now). A couple others hung around for a few years after Lou and then left.

Some of the ones that left in after 2015-16 (unless otherwise specified):
Claude Carrier (73 yo)
The other director of amateur scouting (since 2002-03), but he was less known so he got less randomly hated on, no other teams listed so presumably retired.

David Conte (73 yo)
Went to Vegas as scout/senior advisor for 2016-18, then to the Islanders as a scout in 2018- present

Jeromy Conte (no age listed)
lol, not going to lie, he’s mostly the reason I’m making this list. No new team listed after this. (Lou?!?)

Chris Lameriello (49 yo)
This f***ing guy lol. He took a year off and then the Isles hired him as future Lou bait Director of Player Personnel.

Steve Kariya (43 yo)
scouted for the Devils 2014-16 and then started scouting again for Lou and the Isles 2018-present

Milt Fisher (~70 yo)
Started with the team in 1994-95, no new team listed

Dan Labraaten (69 yo)
A Swedish scout who joined Conte in Vegas for 16-18 and then presumably retired.

Jan Ludwig (59 yo)
The longtime Czech European scout ended up leaving after the 2017-18 season, after 24 seasons with the team, and now scouts for the Bruins.

Ed Thomlinson (no age listed)
Scouted with the Colorado Rockies in 1981-82! Needless to say, no new team listed.

Geoff Stevens (no age listed)
Can you guess who his brother is? He actually left after 2017-18, after scouting with the Devils since 2003-04, no new team is listed after that.

Side Note:
Bob Hoffmeyer (66 yo) stayed on until he left to join Lou and the Isles in the 2018-19 season

The 2020-21 staff had a couple of guys Castron poached from Columbus (Scott Harris, Niklas Evertsson, Claude Noel, Andrew Schneider) and from Shero’s time in Nashville (Greg Royce, Peter Horachek) and from Shero’s time in Pittsburgh (Andre Savard) and various guys who they just hired for other reasons and, uh, Chris Shero.

I have to admit was weird fascinated by seeing the mutations of the Devils staff after I discovered Elite Prospects.

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Then Fitzgerald should seek business elsewhere

we cant be having a disgruntled GM of another team postponing our attempts at acquiring a top-6 forward

I doubt Fitz is waiting around and he did say he was not chasing anyone. I would think (and hope) he is not chasing a 29 year old wing that is coming off a reported (I did not see any games) less than stellar performance at the Worlds. I do not think Army is disgruntled, it is just that IMO Tanks agent handled this poorly and Armys job is to do what is best for the Blues, not Tank. It does not appear to me that waiting is costing him anything and maybe one of the teams interested will put in a better off a few weeks from now. As a well known hockey GM said if you have time use it.

 

[Eggtimer]

So if we wanted to sign Bozak how would that effect us trying to get Tarasenko? For example we wanted to sign Bozak but the Blues wanted to as well but need to trade Tarasenko first but wouldnt move him to us if we signed Bozak? Ya I might be overthinking things a tad here but just curious as to would could be a possibility.

 

[Brodeur]

Looking at the staffs pre-Lombardi and it after on Elite Prospects, it was kind of a blood bath. Lombardi only kept a couple of scouts that predated his arrival and the rest were kicked to the curb immediately. That’s some Red Wedding-style shit right there, Dean cleaned house.

It was noted in Gare Joyce's book "Future Greats and Heartbreaks" that Lombardi gave the scouting staff a two year extension upon arrival and then canned then six months later. The book made it sound especially cold hearted or at least not normal. The Lucic story sounds plausible since Lombardi shoehorned the team into taking a defenseman with their top pick in 2007 and shocked most by taking Thomas Hickey.

It's been rumored that Lombardi's been working on a book while he's been out of the limelight. Definitely would be an interesting read.

Jeromy Conte (no age listed)lol, not going to lie, he’s mostly the reason I’m making this list. No new team listed after this. (Lou?!?)

If I recall correctly, the younger Conte was the scout who was responsible for the Miles Wood pick.

 

[mj2sexay]

While a top 6 winger seems to be (and should be) the priority, this team still needs a third line center in the worst way.

 

[JimEIV]

If I recall correctly, the younger Conte was the scout who was responsible for the Miles Wood pick.

The younger Lamoriello.

 

[Devil X]

So if we wanted to sign Bozak how would that effect us trying to get Tarasenko? For example we wanted to sign Bozak but the Blues wanted to as well but need to trade Tarasenko first but wouldnt move him to us if we signed Bozak? Ya I might be overthinking things a tad here but just curious as to would could be a possibility.

Way overthinking things….. just sit back and let things happen. It’s still like a month or more till camp starts plenty of time.

 

[MartyOwns]

well...anyone hoping for the legendary blake speers to be our top 6 savior, we can cross that off. he just went to arizona.

 

[Oneiro]

Man, I really liked Speers in that first camp where he turned some heads. Guess his injury messed him up after that.

 

[Guttersniped]

well...anyone hoping for the legendary blake speers to be our top 6 savior, we can cross that off. he just went to arizona.

Speers went there in the Hall trade, he was a RFA that they qualified. (It wasn’t hard, he got a minimum two-way deal.)

 

[GameSeven]

now he can yell at everyone!!

 

[aboriginal]

yes

 

[Normal Devil]

And they were wanting to sign Bozak as well.
I am getting frustrated with whats going on with Tarasenko. I want to trade for him or at the very least know what;s going on . Who is or even can be in on him ? Can the Islanders even sign him ? Whats their cap situation?

Lou doing his Lou thing is very annoying with not releasing who they have signed and keeping everything hush hush . Should make a new rule where you have to release to the league when you sign a player. Who the hell knows what their cap is like now or what roster needs they might have as no one even knows who is all under contract by the Islanders. I guess its a smart move but its very lame.

I would bet that people in league circles are well aware of who signed where.

 

[NJDevs26]

Keep eating that cap space Armstrong

Maybe Lou's already traded for Tank but he hasn't filed the papers

 

[Eggtimer]

Maybe Lou's already traded for Tank but he hasn't filed the papers

If that was the case you would think Fitz or teams that were in on him would be notified then someone from those teams would say that Tarasenko is not available or ?? Not sure if it would be said to media or any analysts/insiders or not if a team that was interested would mention that a specific player is no longer available.