I believe there were 2 players maybe 3 that created a poor locker room culture. There were guys who had 1 foot out the door and weren’t committed to the team here. I think Sutter had rubbed some ppl the wrong way and that toxicity is still created a rift. Zadorov spoke about it before his trade. What is best for Calgary is to create a new culture with younger guys. Get the old culture out now. I do hope Markstrom asks for a trade (quietly) before the deadline because it gives Wolf and Vladar an opportunity to grow as players and be part of building a better culture
Pretty sure Conroy wants Mercer instead of Holtz. Conroy wants centers and Markstrom is the Flames best chip on the table.
If it helps a team win a cup or two its always worth it. And when I look at NJ I see a team who is desperate need of a goalie. I would think one of the leagues best is well worth the investment
You're not wrong. Mangiapane has a year left. This team needs to draft a C round 1 this year. We needed to last year too, but no. We go ahead and draft a 3rd line winger with Moore, ASP and Ritchie still on the board.
Its beyond mangi too, because even if we move him we still got one of kuzmenko, holtz, pelts playing 4th line mins (huska loves hunt for whatever reason), sharangovich should be a winger too. Its such an unfortunate logjam idk who else u move in this case.
That's always said but Hellebuyuck wouldn't have guaranteed a cup. There wasn't even a guarantee he'd have been more helpful to winning a cup than Mercer at 900k.
I agree. Kuzmenko just doesn't really factor in the equation for me. If he needs to eat popcorn until he's a free agent I'm fine with it. What we need is one of Zary or Pospisil to become a center. That would be an important development. I hope we send Zary down to work on it for the Wranglers playoff run.
I can guarantee you Helle would put NJ much much closer to a cup than Mercer would given how the Devils are constructed right now. Without a doubt. Again, he is a top 3 goalie in the entire league, front runner for the Vezina and showing no signs if slowing down.
Not replacing Vanacek was a mistake. I do not believe moving mercer would have been the answer.
Adin Hill was an unrestricted free agent. With the tampering that inevitably goes on it would have been quite easy to give Hill more term and/or money. Same with Jarry, also a UFA.
It might be too late but the Devils should have seriously considered Markstrom a couple of weeks ago.
Yup. He'd have them in the playoffs by now. And you never know once you're in.
I get why they drafted Samuel Honzek but you are down on him ironically for the same reason Ritchie slipped and the Flames didn't need ASP in their system and Moore looks more like a middle 6 center than a top 6 one.
To me it's not just making the playoffs but giving the young guys a taste and then knowing what they need to work on.
