Devils 2019 offseason team discussion (news and notes) II

[StvBroDan]

Go here in Five

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[glenwo2]

Go here in Five

Five what?

 

[NjDevsRR]

Hughes

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

What do yall think is going on with our defense this off-season?

We already have Vatanen Severson Greene Santini Smith signed, may bring back Butcher and Mueller.

Do we add a defenseman? Via trade or FA? Do we just re-sign our guys and roll with that?

Id like your thoughts guys because I think these questions make or break next season - defense has to be our priority after winning the draft lottery

 

[Emperoreddy]

May bring back Butcher? They are definitely bringing back Butcher.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

May bring back Butcher? They are definitely bringing back Butcher.

Well its not known yet so its a maybe as of now.

Plus we dont know what Butchers demands are nor if Shero is perhaps looking to move him.

Butchers skating does not fit our team makeup and his defense doesnt really make up for it. Hes still young and can grow more but maybe Shero wants to cash in on that value he has now before his weaknesses become too great

Severson can run a PP well, as can Vatanen if need be and Smith is expected to be that as well

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Well its not known yet so its a maybe as of now.

Plus we dont know what Butchers demands are nor if Shero is perhaps looking to move him.

Butchers skating does not fit our team makeup and his defense doesnt really make up for it. Hes still young and can grow more but maybe Shero wants to cash in on that value he has now before his weaknesses become too great

Severson can run a PP well, as can Vatanen if need be and Smith is expected to be that as well

You might not think much of it but they're not going to throw away Butcher the second something better comes along because it would send a message to college FA that they're just tools to us and nothing more. You don't want that reputation as a gm.

The only way I see him getting moved is if it's the last piece to get us to being a cup contender.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

What has Butcher done to deserve an automatic spot back with a healthy deal?

 

[Setec Astronomy]

What do yall think is going on with our defense this off-season?

We already have Vatanen Severson Greene Santini Smith signed, may bring back Butcher and Mueller.

Do we add a defenseman? Via trade or FA? Do we just re-sign our guys and roll with that?

Id like your thoughts guys because I think these questions make or break next season - defense has to be our priority after winning the draft lottery

There is a very good chance we add a big defenseman via trade. I’m thinking either Subban or Trouba.

The more I think about it, the more I think Butcher gets traded perhaps as part of a deal for one of the aforementioned. If not Butcher, Vatanen.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

What has Butcher done to deserve an automatic spot back with a healthy deal?

He hasn't done anything that deserves getting tossed aside.

 

[Bcap88]

What has Butcher done to deserve an automatic spot back with a healthy deal?

Second amongst defenseman in points

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Second amongst defenseman in points

Great, points points points. If not for the powerplay how many does he have? He sucks at skating and isnt that good defensively

Id much rather move him qnd acquire another top-4dman and re-sign Mueller.

Xxxx-Severson
Mueller-Vatanen
Smith-Greene/xxx/Santini
Greene/Santini/xxx

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Even If we keep Butcher I still want to acquire a dman

Xxx-Severson
Butcher-Vatanen (yikes on this pair)
Smith-Mueller
Greene

 

[OmNomNom]

Great, points points points. If not for the powerplay how many does he have? He sucks at skating and isnt that good defensively

Id much rather move him qnd acquire another top-4dman and re-sign Mueller.

Xxxx-Severson
Mueller-Vatanen
Smith-Greene/xxx/Santini
Greene/Santini/xxx

16 points without PP, 3rd behind severson and Greene

Sevo and Greene have 27 and 23 nonPP points. You are correct though, butcher sees the most PP toi/gp

 

[Bcap88]

Great, points points points. If not for the powerplay how many does he have? He sucks at skating and isnt that good defensively

Id much rather move him qnd acquire another top-4dman and re-sign Mueller.

Xxxx-Severson
Mueller-Vatanen
Smith-Greene/xxx/Santini
Greene/Santini/xxx

Yes let’s roll out mueller in a top 4 roll for a guy who has played 81 games combined in the last 2 years, whose going to replace butchers production? A free agent ? A trade?

 

[Bcap88]

Even If we keep Butcher I still want to acquire a dman

Xxx-Severson
Butcher-Vatanen (yikes on this pair)
Smith-Mueller
Greene

Mueller blows, and Greene is not going to get scratched

 

[Devilswede]

I mean it was tough year for everyone. Butcher still had 30 points and went through a bit of a sophomore slump. It's not unheard of.

Don't forget that this guy has 74 points combined in his first two years in the NHL.

He's valuable to us. He'll be back.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Mueller blows, and Greene is not going to get scratched

Mueller does not blow

like that just means youve ignored the games hes played in

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

I mean it was tough year for everyone. Butcher still had 30 points and went through a bit of a sophomore slump. It's not unheard of.

Don't forget that this guy has 74 points combined in his first two years in the NHL.

He's valuable to us. He'll be back.

Hes a PURE ppqb who is our worst skater on the back end but people want playing 20+ minutes. If hes playing 3rd pair EV minutes then fine, keep him. But hes not a good enough defender nor skater to be playing top-4 EV minutes

 

[Bcap88]

Mueller does not blow

like that just means youve ignored the games hes played in

He’s played an average 40 games over the last two years for us, certainly deserves top 4 minutes

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

who said butcher should be playing 20+ minutes?

 

[Bleedred]

He’s played an average 40 games over the last two years for us, certainly deserves top 4 minutes

Some of that was because of injuries.

I'm okay with moving on if we can find someone that's a clear upgrade. If we can acquire a top-4 (preferably a top-2) defenseman and we jettison him, that's fine. I don't care. If we're jettisoning him so we can keep Carrick and or play Santini, f*** that to hell.

And I know someone will point out handedness, but we've seen this staff play guys on their off-side at times.

At the end of the day, he's just a third pairing guy and so is Carrick. Santini is a fourth pairing guy, if you ask me.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

He’s played an average 40 games over the last two years for us, certainly deserves top 4 minutes

So if a player plays well in limited time - they dont deserve more.... because they were already playing limited time?

How the hell is any defenseman supposed to prove themselves with that mentality?

On top of that, its simply wrong to think Mueller has been poor in the time hes had. Defensively he has been practically the best minus Lovejoy’s insane PKing last year and Greenems blocked shots

ATOI 18 and he spent plenty of games playing well over 19+. Without Hynes pulling him every other game for rotation of guys (since the season was shit), hed have been playing 19+ every game. Not to mention he played around 19+ average for the first 20 games and then shit hit the fan so it was a combination of rotations and Hynes being Hynes, plus injuries

He most certainly can be a #4 IMO and has been when given the chance - yet each time an injury arrives or the team plummets and Hynes starts trying everything

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

And Im curious - who are we putting on the 2nd pair LD if its not Mueller? What if Smith isnt ready for top-4? Greene in the top-4 again? Butcher gets eaten up defensively.

Upgrade the top pair, let Mueller prove he can play that #4 defensive dman with good skating.

 

[Sheros expletives]

Mueller sucks, come on now.