Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - offseason part I

[Devilsfan118]

i haven't seen one person here overreact lol...it's just a dumb contract to give out. very lou-esque

The person using this contract in reference to the Bratt negotiation, for one. Pretty steamy bad take.

 

[Traitor Zach]

who exactly did Macdermid "protect" last year? He sat and watched when Nemec got his ass kicked.

Of course the money is meaningless, its tying yourself to a useless player for 3 years that I have a problem with. I truly hope that this isn't a pre-cursor to rest of the offseason.

Latter part is fair - I don't love the 3 yr term either. But I don't see this precluding Fitz from doing the necessary moves and I don't see it being an example of doing it with more of these types of players. This is a one and done move.

 

[TrufleShufle]

The cap is going up 5 Macdermids next year and possibly another 5 the year after. That's 10 Macdermids, we have one.

Is he as close to as useless as you can get? Yea. But he does one specific thing and does it well. Keep him collecting dust in the back of your tool chest and just bring it out when you need it. Simple as that. The league keeps going in waves of "needing one" to not needing one of these players, the waves get smaller every year, but is not completely died out yet as much as we all want it to. Fitz said, screw it, and locked him up for 3 years so its something he never has to think about again. If the team "needs" that tool, it's there, if not, whatever.

 

[I Hate Tie DOMI]

Does Fitzgerald have a month's long summer vacation planned with no cell phone access? Why all these early signings lately?

 

[ndkjr70]

it's 1.15m for an enforcer who will probably spend the majority of his time in the AHL.

you guys are hysterical. I saw this thread and comments first and thought he got a 3/7.5 contract or something lmfao

 

[beekay414]

3 years to a turd player who offers nothing in a hockey sense. Great work.

 

[njdevil26]

This contract is fine. The 3 years is weird... but if we're ever in true cap trouble, it's because of Palat. Not MacDermid.

If Smith gets re-signed I'll freak out. But his house in Westfield is on the market so I think he's gone.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

At least Brendan Smith could PK to go along with his leadership capabilities. This guy just takes penalties and can fight the handful of enforcers that are even in the league still.

 

[JK3]

People are acting ridiculous here. My goodness the overreactions! Same people would be screaming at Fitz "why didn't you protect our forwards" every single game next season where we have one of our forwards cheap-shotted or we get run out of a building physically.

MacDerimid was playing when Siegs got his head elbowed into the third row. He isn’t going to protect anybody and will never be on the ice with Jack, Nico or Bratt.

He’ll have a “code” fight every now and then after one of our guys gets run, that’s about it.

 

[ndkjr70]

if kevin weekes' tweet was foreshadowing a f***in kurtis macdermid re-signing i'm fully out on that dude

 

[R8Devs]

The person using this contract in reference to the Bratt negotiation, for one. Pretty steamy bad take.

lol how is it a bad take. I said it's a deal that can be buried but Fitz made a big deal talking about guys taking less so there'd be more for depth and this is the depth he spends some of it on. Macdermid for sure is going to be on the team next season so thats 1.15 there. Boston got Heinen for 775k, Boqvist for 775k, and JVR for 1m, Canucks got Pius Suter for 1.6m. And there's more examples for good depth for low prices for a lot of these playoff teams

It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but yeah there's more useful depth out there for around said price. If Macdermid actually prevented players from getting targeted/hurt it'd be another thing but just in the short time he was here -- Siegenthaler got hurt by Rempe when Macdermind was on-ice, Nemec had to fight Domi when Macdermid was on the ice. So a lot of the time he's a guy that fights the guys after something happens or just fights the rare enforcer the other team has.

 

[njdevil26]

At least Brendan Smith could PK to go along with his leadership capabilities. This guy just takes penalties and can fight the handful of enforcers that are even in the league still.

Yeah but here's the difference. Mac won't play much. I have full faith Fitz is going to stock the fourth line with better players.

Smith will get a TON of playing time and responsibility.

 

[HBK27]

3-year term sounds surprising at first, but it's really a non-issue with a $1/15M cap hit.

If I'm not mistaken, you can bury $1.15M of salary in the minors:

Minimum NHL Salary & Buried Cap Hit | Puckpedia

The minimum NHL Salary is set in the CBA (11.12.a) and is as follows: 2012-13 – U.S. $525,0002013-14 – U.S. $550,0002014-15 – U.S. $550,0002015-16 – U.S. $575,0002016-17 – U.S. $575,0002017-18 – U.S. $650,0002018-19 – U.S. $650,000 2019-20 – U.S. $700,0002020-21 – U.S. $700,0002021-22 – U.S...

puckpedia.com

If that's the case and we can bury his full cap hit in the minors, than we could've signed him to an 8-year extension and it wouldn't have made a rat's ass difference to our cap. We can waive him at any point of this deal with zero impact on the cap. 3 years at $1.15M is better for us than a 1 or 2 year deal at a higher AAV.

The guy is 30 so his play shouldn't completely drop off a cliff anytime soon, but if it does...so what? Waive him and move on.

Let's face it - we have to have someone in the organization that can square up against Rempe. The guy injured two of our players this year and is going to be a Ranger for the foreseeable future. MacDermid addresses that issue - otherwise, they'd surely have to go shopping in UFA for someone...possibly at a higher AAV.

MacDermid seems like a good locker room guy by all accounts, is konwn by the staff/players, has the flexibility to play F/D and is accepting of a role as a 13th/14th forward that is frequently a healthy scratch.

The more I think about this signing, the more I like it.

Only possible negatives would be if you feel like he shouldn't be on the roster at all (in which case, tell me how you deal with Rempe) or you feel like the additional $375K cap hit between MacDermid and a league-minimum guy is somehow important.

 

[Bleedred]

That’s one line crippled if MacDermid plays almost every night.

When people start wondering why Bastian or the other 4th line guys hardly puts up any points anymore that’ll be a good answer.

I wish goons weren’t a thing anymore. Ban fighting if you have to.

 

[TrufleShufle]

MacDerimid was playing when Siegs got his head elbowed into the third row. He isn’t going to protect anybody and will never be on the ice with Jack, Nico or Bratt.

He’ll have a “code” fight every now and then after one of our guys gets run, that’s about it.

I see this argument a lot, where people always equate "protect" with Mcsorley. It's not like that anymore, you hear guys talk about it all the time. Players just feel better when these guys are on the bench with them in these types of games. Things happen that boil up shift after shift. Sending out a goon to change the energy of the game in their favor, or just being there chirping from the bench, whatever. I won't pretend I know the exact reason it makes other guys on the team more comfortable and free to play their game, but I'll believe them when they say it.

This isn't "I played the game you wouldn't understand," this is coming from guys currently playing saying they like it better when they are there.

It won't put a forcefield around guys obviously. I don't think anyone in the past 10-20 years has thought that.

 

[Dylan9z9]

Who are we drafting in the 10th spot?

 

[My3Sons]

lol how is it a bad take. I said it's a deal that can be buried but Fitz made a big deal talking about guys taking less so there'd be more for depth and this is the depth he spends some of it on. Macdermid for sure if going to be on the team next season so thats 1.15 there. Boston got Heinen for 775k, Boqvist for 775k, and JVR for 1m, Canucks got Pius Suter for 1.6m. And there's more examples for good depth for low prices for a lot of these playoff teams

It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but yeah there's more useful depth out there for around said price. Macdermid actually prevented players from getting targeted/hurt it'd be another thing but just in the short time he was here -- Siegenthaler got hurt by Rempe when Macdermind was on-ice, Nemec had to fight Domi when Macdermid was on the ice. So a lot of the time he's a guy that fights the guys after something happens or just fights the rare enforcer the other team has.

I agree I'd prefer he jump in when the other team goes after a good player. But if he drops the gloves with Rempe on the opening shift of every game against them and then fights him the maximum number of times for the next two shifts before each is thrown out of the game and he keeps Rempe occupied and prevents him from hurting anyone on NJ with a head shot he will have done his job.

 

[Bleedred]

Yeah but here's the difference. Mac won't play much. I have full faith Fitz is going to stock the fourth line with better players.

Smith will get a TON of playing time and responsibility.

I remember how Smith wasn’t gonna play much when we first signed him and will be the 7th defenseman.

He was mostly an every nighter through the first three quarters of the first season and basically an every nighter when he was healthy through the entirety of last season.

How many times was MacDermid a healthy scratch after we got him? 2 or 3 times? I even remember him missing one game because he was either sick or injured.

He’s gonna play a lot more than we want him to.

 

[MartyOwns]

The cap is going up 5 Macdermids next year and possibly another 5 the year after. That's 10 Macdermids, we have one.

Is he as close to as useless as you can get? Yea. But he does one specific thing and does it well. Keep him collecting dust in the back of your tool chest and just bring it out when you need it. Simple as that. The league keeps going in waves of "needing one" to not needing one of these players, the waves get smaller every year, but is not completely died out yet as much as we all want it to. Fitz said, screw it, and locked him up for 3 years so its something he never has to think about again. If the team "needs" that tool, it's there, if not, whatever.

that's all reasonable enough. what worries me slightly is fitz potentially signing this goon thinking that we're now going to be a tougher team to play against. there are plenty of UFA's this year that will fit nicely into our bottom 6 and give us an identity shift, and i really hope he still pursues them. if he had signed macdermind to a one year deal, i wouldn't worry about that at all.

 

[Traitor Zach]

Now if Fitz resigns Brendan Smith to a multi-year deal? You're free to attack - the gloves come off then for sure - "Shuddering" and hoping I didn't will it into existence.

 

[TrufleShufle]

that's all reasonable enough. what worries me slightly is fitz potentially signing this goon thinking that we're now going to be a tougher team to play against. there are plenty of UFA's this year that will fit nicely into our bottom 6 and give us an identity shift, and i really hope he still pursues them. if he had signed macdermind to a one year deal, i wouldn't worry about that at all.

That's fair but I really think it was a, "if we need a do nothing else goon, lets lock up the best one and never think about it again." At least I hope that, like checking a box, that's done, now lets build a hockey team. The 3 years was just a way to just not have to think about it anymore, hopefully.

 

[Saugus]

One underrated thing about him is that he gives you a versatile extra body that can play F or D which is helpful for road trip and cap purposes, but above league minimum on a multi year deal for this guy is crazy. My confidence in Fitz erodes.

Honestly, that describes Smith also. I would rather have him playing that role than MacDermid, but really I'd rather have neither.

Whatever. It's a throwaway contract for a marginal player, so I'm not going to get upset about it. But it's still odd.

 

[Rhodes 81]

I remember how Smith wasn’t gonna play much when we first signed him and will be the 7th defenseman.

He was mostly an every nighter through the first three quarters of the first season and basically an every nighter when he was healthy through the entirety of last season.

How many times was MacDermid a healthy scratch after we got him? 2 or 3 times? I even remember him missing one game because he was either sick or injured.

He’s gonna play a lot more than we want him to.

This is my fear and something I said about the Willman re-signing as well. Guys have a weird habit of continuing to get overplayed when they've already done it once for a certain team. It makes it feel like we might not get the bottom six overhaul we need this offseason.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

i haven't seen one person here overreact lol...it's just a dumb contract to give out. very lou-esque

Lou would have given him 3 years 2.5 per season.

 

[Rhodes 81]

Honestly, that describes Smith also. I would rather have him playing that role than MacDermid, but really I'd rather have neither.

Whatever. It's a throwaway contract for a marginal player, so I'm not going to get upset about it. But it's still odd.

Exactly, this is what Smith was supposed to be but then he was a regular. It worries me that Macdermid could be the same and a downgrade at that.