Devils Team Discussion (current team/player news and notes) ‎2014-2015 Part XIV

[Devil X]

His 2 goal in 32 games at 20 going on 21 years old/2nd year pro in the AHL don't really say "upside"

Everyone knows that power forwards take a little longer to develop. You know that too. Im not writing off a prospect that people can argue was brought up to young and it hurt his development. Im also not saying the guy will be a top line forward. He is 21 y/o for crying out loud. But i do believe he will be better then just a 4th line forward.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

while we're on the discussion of organizational forward depth, i was looking at paul thompson's numbers again. he only blew up, numbers wise, this year with us. historically, he was on pretty decent teams in WB pens and the falcons, the years he was on there, but only now is he at a pretty good ppg pace. maybe he's also a late bloomer, just food for thought

He's almost certainly not as good a player as we've seen this season. But I think he was still a good chance that just needed an opportunity on a team like Albany with lots of openings in the top-6.

 

[Cowbell232]

The CBA requires players under the age of 25 to sign two way ELCs for their first pro contract. Players aged 18-21 must sign three year ELCs, players 22-23 sign two years, and players aged 24 sign for one year.

In my humble opinion, the CBA was written that way to avoid a harder way to completely re-write the waiver system and bonus structures for young players. I think that ELC would always be 2-way simply because of the waiver options available, I'm not sure why it was mandated that an ELC *has* to be 2-way, but that's another topic for us altogether.

I suppose the only real reason is to create a glass ceiling for young players in the AHL? But that shouldn't be in the scope of the NHL /PA CBA but rather a provision of the AHL/PHPA CBAs, right? This topic is a little out of scope for this board though, maybe we should move it? Lol

 

[MichaelJ]

while we're on the discussion of organizational forward depth, i was looking at paul thompson's numbers again. he only blew up, numbers wise, this year with us. historically, he was on pretty decent teams in WB pens and the falcons, the years he was on there, but only now is he at a pretty good ppg pace. maybe he's also a late bloomer, just food for thought

No harm in giving him a shot with our lack of RW.

 

[HobokenIrish]

Now we need 2 from my group of "uncertains" to develop into top 6 players ala Henrique.

My group of question marks
Queeneville
Wood
Kujawinksi
Blandisi
Coleman

Boucher has top 6 potential

Black is going to be middle 6 player

4th liners
Thomson (believe he has 3rd line upside personally)
Matteau
Baddock
Pietila

Not giving up on just yet
Myles Bell
Ben Johnson


There IS stuff there, even if some refuse to acknowledge it.

I have always thought there are some players who can fill roles with the Devils in a few years. What I think people, myself included, have been down about is that there are no Saviors on the horizon from that pool. A Parise type

Would you slot Miles Wood anywhere in the above? Probably no way to tell given he is only playing high school kids now and we didn't see an overabundance of him at the WJC

 

[tailfins]

There IS stuff there, even if some refuse to acknowledge it.

Agree. But, the issues are: 1) we don't have that many forwards in the "question marks" group; and 2) none of the "question mark" group have really broken out.

The Blandisi signing is a good example. This guy was at Buffalo's training camp and didn't get signed. Sure, he could be a late bloomer, but with Colorado, Winnipeg and Buffalo passing on him, he's a more of a Peverly, St. Louis kind of lottery ticket than a Kevin Hayes one.

The Devils have only 50 contract slots, and I'm not sure where they are at now. There are some college UFAs who'll be coming up - like Cody Wydo, who the Devils had in the rookie camp in 2013. The issue with the Blandisi signing is whether or not he's the right lottery ticket. I'd love to find a way for the Devils to shed a few contracts so that they could open up more slots. Deals like the Zid one where we shipped multiple marginal players out would be useful for that.

 

[MichaelJ]

I have always thought there are some players who can fill roles with the Devils in a few years. What I think people, myself included, have been down about is that there are no Saviors on the horizon from that pool. A Parise type

Would you slot Miles Wood anywhere in the above? Probably no way to tell given he is only playing high school kids now and we didn't see an overabundance of him at the WJC

Wood's in the question mark group of potential top6 surprises.

 

[tailfins]

while we're on the discussion of organizational forward depth, i was looking at paul thompson's numbers again. he only blew up, numbers wise, this year with us. historically, he was on pretty decent teams in WB pens and the falcons, the years he was on there, but only now is he at a pretty good ppg pace. maybe he's also a late bloomer, just food for thought

He's on an AHL contract, so we probably won't see him until next year. If we want him this year, he'd need to pass through waivers like Fraser did.

 

[Khione]

Nice! And Lou picked up an Italian.

 

[NHL Fanatik*]

Wood looked very underwhelming at the WJC.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Wood looked very underwhelming at the WJC.

A lot of the USA team performed pretty underwhelmingly at the WJC. I don't know if it was a coaching issue or what.

 

[JimEIV]

I have always thought there are some players who can fill roles with the Devils in a few years. What I think people, myself included, have been down about is that there are no Saviors on the horizon from that pool. A Parise type

Would you slot Miles Wood anywhere in the above? Probably no way to tell given he is only playing high school kids now and we didn't see an overabundance of him at the WJC

How do you know about any of them? The most goals we ever got in one season was from an 82nd overall 3rd round pick who didn't play his 1st full season in the NHL until he was 23 years old. They told us Brian G was going to be a 3rd line energy player who killed penalties too....

When we drafted Elias 51st overall he was a responsible 2 way center....1000 points later mostly from the Left wing...

Not much different from 2008 when our 1st round pick was supposed to the dynamic skilled player and Henrique was supposed to be the 3rd line character player...

Trying to pigeonhole 18, 19, 20 and 21 year old kids as "3rd liners" or "1st liners" is the silliest thing ever.

Let's first just hope for NHL players.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Don't know much about Blandisi, hope it works out some time down the line.

Conte did draft diminutive forward Alexander Kerfoot 12 spots ahead of Blandisi in the 2012 draft.
Kerfoot is playing for Harvard but has missed some time now due to injury.

 

[NHL Fanatik*]

Happy with the signing. But Id like some trades for youth as well, start moving pieces before it is too late.

 

[SeidoN]

how this all happened

Kings: "OMG lol Devils tonight. theyre so bland and easy"
Lou: "What did he say?"
Conte: "Something about Blandisi. Must be some prospect, lets snag him quick"

 

[Devils Trap]

how this all happened

Kings: "OMG lol Devils tonight. theyre so bland and easy"
Lou: "What did he say?"
Conte: "Something about Blandisi. Must be some prospect, lets snag him quick"

Lol , conte does a quick Google search .. My word , 69 points in 30 games .. Our guys couldn't do that in 82 games .. Sign him up

 

[SeidoN]

Lol , conte does a quick Google search .. My word , 69 points in 30 games .. Our guys couldn't do that in 82 games .. Sign him up

I can just picture Conte the night before the draft, being like "well better get ready for tomorrow *opens google and youtube*"

 

[Czech Trio]

Wood looked very underwhelming at the WJC.

Wood was one of the better forwards. And that is saying something considering he was given limited ice time and he went straight from prep to WJC where these guys are playing in juniors/college/mens leagues already.

 

[HobokenIrish]

Wood's in the question mark group of potential top6 surprises.

D'oh!!

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

Wood looked very underwhelming at the WJC.

I really disagree. You could kinda tell he wasn't used to that level of competition (another reason why staying in high school was dumb as hell...), but he showed that his skating and his IQ were up there with some of the best prospects in hockey.

Now that doesn't mean he's as good as anyone at the tournament, and historically, there have been some spectacular flameouts from guys who completely dominated the WJC (Hodgson comes to mind). But it's nice to see firsthand the skills we heard were high-end actually are. Who knows if that amounts to anything in the end.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

how this all happened

Kings: "OMG lol Devils tonight. theyre so bland and easy"
Lou: "What did he say?"
Conte: "Something about Blandisi. Must be some prospect, lets snag him quick"

 

[Emperoreddy]

Wood was one of the better forwards. And that is saying something considering he was given limited ice time and he went straight from prep to WJC where these guys are playing in juniors/college/mens leagues already.

Ya people forget the kid is still playing at the prep school level. That was a huge step up in competition for him and he held his own.

He is still a gigantic question mark. No one can really make any good predictions until he gets to BC.

 

[HobokenIrish]

How do you know about any of them? The most goals we ever got in one season was from an 82nd overall 3rd round pick who didn't play his 1st full season in the NHL until he was 23 years old. They told us Brian G was going to be a 3rd line energy player who killed penalties too....

When we drafted Elias 51st overall he was a responsible 2 way center....1000 points later mostly from the Left wing...

Not much different from 2008 when our 1st round pick was supposed to the dynamic skilled player and Henrique was supposed to be the 3rd line character player...

Trying to pigeonhole 18, 19, 20 and 21 year old kids as "3rd liners" or "1st liners" is the silliest thing ever.

Let's first just hope for NHL players.

You seem to be misunderstanding me.

I said that there are some NHL players there for sure. But that there was no PARISE- TYPE. I didn't pigeonhole a single person in my response did I?????

PS in your post you were tagging people as 4th liners. Is that the silliest thing ever?

 

[JimEIV]

Interesting story

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/recovered-blandisi-ready-to-lead-colts/

 

[Emperoreddy]

Type of signing I like. Virtually no risk with potential reward. Get young assets into the system. Hope to see a few more signings like this too