GDT: Devils @ Golden Knights, 10 PM, MSG+: Calm Down, Neddily Diddily Diddily

[SteveCangialosi123]

He could name 20 guys who could do this, but the only one that comes to mind is Andrew Copp, a guy who is in no way a 3C and would never sign here.

And even Copp doesn’t wear all these hats. He has been a great defensive forward in his career, but now he seems to have sacrificed the defense to create more offense. It’s so rare to actually have a player that can do it all, not just have the reputation of doing it all.

 

[Buck Dancer]

He could name 20 guys who could do this, but the only one that comes to mind is Andrew Copp, a guy who is in no way a 3C and would never sign here.

Again, teams will modify their rosters because of reasons x, y and z... which is also called cap issues, giving rookies a roster spot or tweeking their roster.

That concept seems extremely hard for you to grasp, for whatever reason.

If you give me a year where all the rosters where identical to the following year, I'll let it go and say that you are absolutely right but you won't be able to find anything... so I'll just save you the time. You're also talking to the guy (or was it you) who was under the impression that the "Blake Coleman line" was utilized as Tampa's 2nd line because of their icetime, so yeah.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

I know I’m cynical but I really hope Bratt signs a contract soon. I can’t help but feel that his current slight swoon is related to that.

Heard an interview with Buffalo's GM the other day where he talked about the danger of blocking the development of some of the higher end prospects by signing veterans and can't help thinking that that would apply to the Devils with players like Bratt, Zacha or Severson and the others.

If they are still here next season that means another year of waiting for the guys developing in Utica or available UFAs.

Let another club overpay. The Devils have seen first-hand what contented players with high contracts produce.

And it is not wins.

 

[Omar Little]

Well he has been used on the PK a little bit the last few games. And wow, yeah our center depth isn’t good when you take away the 1C and the 2C.

So the player you want needs to be:
- available
- a mythical “interior forward” with physicality
- provide defensive value at 5 on 5
- provide some scoring punch
- the ability to PK and actually do it well
- the ability to help the PP
- do all this while being paid like a 3C

Trade for Nicolas Roy

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Trade for Nicolas Roy

He’s an upcoming RFA it looks like. I would think Vegas would want to keep him.

 

[Omar Little]

He’s an upcoming RFA it looks like. I would think Vegas would want to keep him.

With what cap space? Vegas will need to make moves.

 

[Triumph]

Again, teams will modify their rosters because of reasons x, y and z... which is also called cap issues, giving rookies a roster spot or tweeking their roster.

That concept seems extremely hard for you to grasp, for whatever reason.

If you give me a year where all the rosters where identical to the following year, I'll let it go and say that you are absolutely right but you won't be able to find anything... so I'll just save you the time. You're also talking to the guy (or was it you) who was under the impression that the "Blake Coleman line" was utilized as Tampa's 2nd line because of their icetime, so yeah.

I follow transactions in the NHL extremely closely, and I can assure you that players of this ilk seldom move. Yeah, they move, but crucially almost nobody fits the description this off-season in the UFA market. So yeah, maybe two guys get traded? But trades are not very common, and the Devils shouldn't be trading for this type of player.

I wasn't that guy but ice time sure is a good way to figure out how coaches feel about players, rather than just labeling lines based on some other arbitrary number. I want to know what lines are being used the most and ordering those 1-4 seems like a good way to do that, if you want to attach a bunch of silly narratives to a line, then fine. I admit some NHLers don't like to think of themselves as 4th liners, and sometimes skill guys get used less often than 'the 4th line' as happened at points early in the season for the Devils. Whatever. I think of NHL forwards in terms of a top 9 and bottom 3, I definitely do not think 3rd lines represent anything at all special.

 

[Triumph]

With what cap space? Vegas will need to make moves.

This is exactly my point above. Vegas desperately needs centers, they are extremely unlikely to trade Nicolas Roy. They will figure out something else to do to cut salary. Roy should still be quite inexpensive.

 

[Omar Little]

This is exactly my point above. Vegas desperately needs centers, they are extremely unlikely to trade Nicolas Roy. They will figure out something else to do to cut salary. Roy should still be quite inexpensive.

Why does Vegas need centers? They have Eichel, Stephenson, and Karlsson.

 

[Triumph]

Why does Vegas need centers? They have Eichel, Stephenson, and Karlsson.

Fair, I hadn't realized Karlsson was signed for 5 more years and that Stephenson was definitely a long-term C.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Nico's response on Boqvist's goal at 1:15, "Ew."

 

[Devs3cups]

Nico's response on Boqvist's goal at 1:15, "Ew."

It was definitely a GROSS move!!

 

[Omar Little]

They likely need wingers cause Smith is a UFA (and they can't afford him) and they'll need to ship out Dadonov. That's why my thought was given them a salary retained known middle 6 quantity (Johnsson or Zacha) and some cheaper depth forward (Kuokannen, Boqvist) for Roy. If we took on Dadonov they would likely need to add a pick and/or prospect who is further away although preferably they would give us someone like Whitecloud and we (and they) could kill multiple birds with one stone.

 

[Guttersniped]

Thinking that no veteran 3C will be available during the offseason is absurd lol. You go on and on about adding a legit goaltender, as if it's something that easily done when it'll be borderline impossible... yet you think adding a veteran 3C is the hardest thing to do when in reality, there's going to be options left and right.

Andrew Copp is the 1st name that comes to mind and there's about 20 other names that can be added to that list as well. Do they have to be elite, absolutely not but saying Boqvist is a lock is foolish and premature, to say the least. He would be my "last case scenario" in regards to my wish list and I would try and bolster that position during the offseason. If it can't be done, we'll have Boqvist as a safety net but that's about it.

As for Zacha, he's always been utilized in a top #6 role, which isn't close to what Boqvist has had to deal with since his call up. It's also do or die for Boqvist and like I said, he's playing ok for the past couple of weeks but Zacha has accomplished way more than what Jesper has been giving us since we drafted him.

Copp is W/C, he can play center but he plays wing quite often. He would be a nice piece to have but not a guy I would pencil in the line-up.

There’s a very good chance that the Rangers, considering all they gave up for him, keep Copp. If they don’t keep him then he will be a very sought after UFA that most likely signs elsewhere.

And then who? Trocheck is definitely not happening.

I can see Fitz perhaps getting a depth guy, since those are more readily available, before I see him investing in a major piece at 3C, since those typically aren’t. And that means a center that leans a bit towards 4C.

Teams are searching for good 3C all the time, it’s a very common problem, as is a lack of centers in general. People are just being realistic here.

 

[My3Sons]

Heard an interview with Buffalo's GM the other day where he talked about the danger of blocking the development of some of the higher end prospects by signing veterans and can't help thinking that that would apply to the Devils with players like Bratt, Zacha or Severson and the others.

If they are still here next season that means another year of waiting for the guys developing in Utica or available UFAs.

Let another club overpay. The Devils have seen first-hand what contented players with high contracts produce.

And it is not wins.

I think the age difference matters. At 24 it’s reasonable to expect Bratt to keep playing well fo the foreseeable future. I think the third contract is the tough one. As an aside I know from your posts you see Bratt and Jack as too biased towards offense but neither are finished products and I would say that both are very determined and competitive or they wouldn’t have made it as far as they have. I expect both to round out their games with better coaching.

 

[Guttersniped]

Why do we have to have a 50 point center? Who's talking about adding another center that will bring us more offense?

What we need is a center that will do something else than just play even strenght minutes. We need a 3C that will be able to play on our PK, giving Nico more responsibilities 5v5 and at the same time, limit his PK duties where he won't have to dive face first to block point shots, limiting the odds of him getting injured.

Jesper Boqvist has no define role on our current team and if he wants to be given that 3rd line job, he better work on other aspects of his game.

You talked about it when you suggested Copp. He has 48 points in 69 games.

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

They likely need wingers cause Smith is a UFA (and they can't afford him) and they'll need to ship out Dadonov. That's why my thought was given them a salary retained known middle 6 quantity (Johnsson or Zacha) and some cheaper depth forward (Kuokannen, Boqvist) for Roy. If we took on Dadonov they would likely need to add a pick and/or prospect who is further away although preferably they would give us someone like Whitecloud and we (and they) could kill multiple birds with one stone.

If I remember correctly, Roy has played on the wing too. I think they prefer him over some older and more expensive wingers (Dadonov, Smith, Janmark).

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Well he has been used on the PK a little bit the last few games. And wow, yeah our center depth isn’t good when you take away the 1C and the 2C.

So the player you want needs to be:
- available
- a mythical “interior forward” with physicality
- provide defensive value at 5 on 5
- provide some scoring punch
- the ability to PK and actually do it well
- the ability to help the PP
- do all this while being paid like a 3C

Trocheck is the perfect player for this role. He ticks all the above points and he can win faceoffs, so we don't have to overuse McLeod for this role.

The only thing he wont tick is "do all this while being paid as a 3C". He'll get paid more than that, but given what he brings, i think he is worth it. I think he fills the team need more than bringing in a free agent winger like Nuke. If we can sign him to a Zajac like contract our center situation is sorted.

I want to keep Mercer at wing. He's more effective in that role chasing pucks for Hughes and Yegor. Those three work well together.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

I think the age difference matters. At 24 it’s reasonable to expect Bratt to keep playing well fo the foreseeable future. I think the third contract is the tough one. As an aside I know from your posts you see Bratt and Jack as too biased towards offense but neither are finished products and I would say that both are very determined and competitive or they wouldn’t have made it as far as they have. I expect both to round out their games with better coaching.

I give Hughes more runway since he is a long way from developing (but I'm seeing a lot more Eichel than Kane or Matthews in his game - hope I'm wrong).

Bratt does the same things he's done since his rookie year with nothing to suggest he is going to address his flaws anytime soon.

Let him put up his big numbers with another team that will be nowhere near the playoffs.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Vegas fighting for their playoff lives and they lose to us. We didn't have a particularly good game but we managed to score 3 goals thanks to Lehner having a bad night in goal. I really didn't think Vegas was going to slump this badly , they got hit with injuries pretty bad most of the season but they don't deserve to make it , especially with Eichel not playing up to his ability after returning from injury. I'm sure he will rebound next season , he's too talented of a player not too.

I'm glad we won , glad Hammond had a good game and glad Boqvist had a nasty goal to help him cement a spot on the roster for next season. This game wasn't pretty though. Our pp is still dreadful , way to many turnovers too during 5 on 5. The team grinded one out but we didn't look that great in the process of it. The important part is that we won when it was all said and done. These stretches of winning games here and there are whats keeping Ruff and his assistants remain on the payroll.

 

[My3Sons]

I give Hughes more runway since he is a long way from developing (but I'm seeing a lot more Eichel than Kane or Matthews in his game - hope I'm wrong).

Bratt does the same things he's done since his rookie year with nothing to suggest he is going to address his flaws anytime soon.

Let him put up his big numbers with another team that will be nowhere near the playoffs.

Given the struggle NJ has had to create consistent offense prior to this season and the relatively scarce number of point per game players you won’t find many to agree with you on that. I do think that Bratt has some more to develop in his game now that the offensive side is relatively straight forward for him. He will never be a Selke winner but as a winger he doesn’t have to be. It’s a lot more important for Hughes to develop that part of his game. We will see.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Being a good skater doesn't make you a good defensive player... what kind of logic is that? Mark Stone, who's one of the best defensive forwards in the game is a very average skater.

What makes you a good defensive player is your sence of anticipation and knowing where the play will go before it actually happens. Being one step ahead of the play will make you a good, responsible, defensive player... not speed or being good on your edges.

What you described is 5 on 5 defensive play. On the PK you guys with length and speed capabile of getting precise positions and have your stick in the right spot. Marner and Kovalchuk weren't good defensively but were good PKers.

Now if you are skeptical about his defense 5 on 5, that is fair. I simply project that he can be very good defensively thru glimpses of film. The way he anticipates and covers space in the neutral zone. NJ is so messed up in their own end that nobody knows where to go.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Trocheck is the perfect player for this role. He ticks all the above points and he can win faceoffs, so we don't have to overuse McLeod for this role.

The only thing he wont tick is "do all this while being paid as a 3C". He'll get paid more than that, but given what he brings, i think he is worth it. I think he fills the team need more than bringing in a free agent winger like Nuke. If we can sign him to a Zajac like contract our center situation is sorted.

I want to keep Mercer at wing. He's more effective in that role chasing pucks for Hughes and Yegor. Those three work well together.

Great player, but I would imagine he’s getting at least 6 per year, probably more. I just wouldn’t want to give him that money and I doubt he’d sign given our center depth.

 

[Guttersniped]

Trocheck is the perfect player for this role. He ticks all the above points and he can win faceoffs, so we don't have to overuse McLeod for this role.

The only thing he wont tick is "do all this while being paid as a 3C". He'll get paid more than that, but given what he brings, i think he is worth it. I think he fills the team need more than bringing in a free agent winger like Nuke. If we can sign him to a Zajac like contract our center situation is sorted.

I want to keep Mercer at wing. He's more effective in that role chasing pucks for Hughes and Yegor. Those three work well together.

He’ll be 29, he’s really the Canes 2nd line center, and is tied for 4th on their team in points (on a team that’s 9th in GF/GP).

He has 48 points in 77 GP, after having 43 points in 47 GP the season before. He’s had very productive seasons before that as well, the best being 75 points in 82 GP in 2017-18.

Trocheck would be a delight to have but there are teams that need 2Cs badly. That means he should get at least 7m with term. I don’t see Fitz going after him.

Fitz gave zero f***s about the 3C situation last off-season, or lack of center depth in general at all, outside of using PTO tryouts to get some depth pickups.

So it was basically “lol I don’t know Zacha? McLeod?” and we were lucky that Mercer could do it. If we don’t trade Boqvist then Boqvist is likely very much in play for the job.

If people want a gritty defensive-minded center Johan Larsson is a UFA. (I wanted him when the Coyotes grabbed him.)

 

[Omar Little]

If I remember correctly, Roy has played on the wing too. I think they prefer him over some older and more expensive wingers (Dadonov, Smith, Janmark).

I'm not 100% sure Vegas will have the luxury have "deciding" much this offseason. They will have to part with a nice piece to field a team and I don't see any NHL team doing them favors on their more overpaid/older players (Dadonov, Pacioretty, Martinez) and I don't think Vegas will give up their great value players (Theodore, Stephenson, arguably Marchessault and Karlsson)