GDT: Free Agency Frenzy is here - NHLN coverage starts 11 AM

[OmNomNom]

Both 6’3 210 pound stay at home dmen that bring next to no offense and are solid in their own end. Mueller skates better, Fayne was stronger (also had the benefit of playing with prime Andy Greene). My definition of “just a guy” would be someone that literally every team has multiple of. Mark Fayne was above average for a couple years and mostly terrible in EDM.

"just a guy"s are needed though, so they can be paired up with adventurous PMDs who don't have to worry (as much) about the backend.

 

[Triumph]

Both 6’3 210 pound stay at home dmen that bring next to no offense and are solid in their own end. Mueller skates better, Fayne was stronger (also had the benefit of playing with prime Andy Greene). My definition of “just a guy” would be someone that literally every team has multiple of. Mark Fayne was above average for a couple years and mostly terrible in EDM.

I wish the Devils had multiple Faynes. They don't. Trade me 2011 Mark Fayne for current Steven Santini please. Fayne will always be underrated by Devils fans because he wasn't drafted high and he didn't score a lot of points. But he was really quite good.

Fayne's biggest strength IIRC was denying zone entries, which Mueller is horrible at, at least in the games of his that were tracked. They may have similar size and skating ability, but it turned out what they were good at was much different.

 

[OmNomNom]

lol went to the main devils page here

what do we do w yakovlev

 

[BulletTheBlueSky]

DeHaan tO TOR?

 

[OmNomNom]

DeHaan tO TOR?

i'll hurt someone

 

[StevenToddIves]

yeah but that's a coaching decision, and i think a lot of people would've preferred mueller at times over john moore

I agree with you, of course. But we all need to face the fact that John Hynes is still coach.

The Devils lost in five games last year to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The general consensus after the series was that, if the Devils are going to take the next step as a contender, they need to do two things: improve the blueline and the secondary scoring.

Ray Shero is certainly trying to achieve these goals. Deciding between John Moore and Mirco Mueller does not lend itself to a particularly strong blueline. But I think most hockey minds would agree that deploying De Haan/Butcher/Greene gives the Devils an extremely solid left side.

I'm not trying to pick on Mueller. But he was scratched in two out of five of the Devils playoff games, and many would agree with my assessment that he looked overmatched in the three games in which he played. I agree with you in your assessment that so did John Moore. But I think I agree with Ray Shero and John Hynes that Calvin De Haan is much, much better than either of those two players.

Of course, there is still no guarantee that De Haan signs with NJ. If not, there may be a plan B to get another LD into a Devils uniform. And if that doesn't work, it will be interesting to see what comes out of the training camp battle of Yakovlev vs. Mueller for 3LD.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I wish the Devils had multiple Faynes. They don't. Trade me 2011 Mark Fayne for current Steven Santini please. Fayne will always be underrated by Devils fans because he wasn't drafted high and he didn't score a lot of points. But he was really quite good.

Fayne's biggest strength IIRC was denying zone entries, which Mueller is horrible at, at least in the games of his that were tracked. They may have similar size and skating ability, but it turned out what they were good at was much different.

I liked Fayne. He was good with Greene (who was at the height of his powers then). Perhaps coincidentally he never did much after he left Andy Greene’s pairing. Perhaps not.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

>26 seconds

lol

 

[StevenToddIves]

I want De Haan. I want Maroon. and I want Duclair.

I also want a Karlsson+Ryan trade. What would it have to look like from our end? Severson + 1st round pick + McLeod/Zacha + what else?

Taking on the Ryan contract lowers the cost for Karlsson significantly -- but keep in mind that's because it's just an awful contract.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Moore.

He's easy to pick on given his defensive flaws but I wish him the best. He definitely wanted to be here and gave 100%. Not a bad signing for us at the end of the day at 3 years, $1.67 mil per.

 

[StevenToddIves]

lol went to the main devils page here

what do we do w yakovlev

If Shero cannot acquire a veteran LD this off-season, Yakovlev battles Mueller in camp for the third LD slot. If Shero does acquire one, I'd guess Yakovlev starts the season in Binghamton.

 

[njdevils19]

Moore.

He's easy to pick on given his defensive flaws but I wish him the best. He definitely wanted to be here and gave 100%. Not a bad signing for us at the end of the day at 3 years, $1.67 mil per.

He was a good guy and a hard worker. Hard to believe that a guy with those intangibles and that athleticism could not figure out how to improve his defensive positioning.

 

[OmNomNom]

He was a good guy and a hard worker. Hard to believe that a guy with those intangibles and that athletic could not figure out how to improve his defensive positioning.

well, when it comes to hockey sense, sometimes it just comes down to...

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

this is a joke

 

[mike30]

DeHaan tO TOR?

source?

 

[Darkauron]

this is a joke

WTF that is BS. He can go f*** off

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

 

[NjDevsRR]

#Frenzy

 

[SeidoN]

Voynov is garbage

 

[Darkauron]

Rip Macdonald

 

[OmNomNom]

if macdonald performs at the NHL level, i'll die

but i'm guessing fitzgerald and kowalsky didn't think he deserved an NHL contract

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

if macdonald performs at the NHL level, i'll die

but i'm guessing fitzgerald and kowalsky didn't think he deserved an NHL contract

 

[Jets012]

Even if we land De Haan, Butcher should still get top 4 minutes. Ideally Hynes doesn't become overly reliant on any of our pairings since we do not have a #1 defenseman.

Butcher is arguably our best defenseman on the team though. If he shows last year wasn't a fluke, that guy is going to do wonders for us

 

[Devils Dominion]

Very troubling that Ray didn't sign our best player in Bing

 

[Devs4L]

I'm going to try to not jump to conclusions on July 2nd with three months to go until the start of the season. We'll see what the next couple of months bring.

But what I will say is this is a crucial off-season for the Devils, and one where many teams make the mistake of staying pat because they're happy about their system and young players, forgetting other teams around them have good, young, developing players they feel will help them move up the standings too, but will also make upgrades via trade/free agency, and because of that complacency end up falling back to the pack. You can't always easily rebound from that kind of setback in subsequent seasons. It's partly why some teams seem to stay in a perpetual rebuild, or at least sometimes serves as the point when a rebuild went off the tracks.

Young players have to force their way on to the team. Similar to the way Bratt did. Even if that means you have to adjust and make roster moves to make room for them. Unless we're talking surefire, young stars, or generational talent, players that haven't played one game in the NHL yet shouldn't be looked at as upgrades and penciled in the lineup in July.

We did that in off-seasons past with Urbom, Merrill, Gelinas, etc.

Point is, this team can't enter the season as a similar team (+ more youth) to the one that slipped into the playoffs, lead by an MVP, career season, from Hall and eliminated in 5 games in the first round. Can't help but think it would be destined to take a step backwards, in my opinion.

But I'm going to have faith in Shero and believe he realizes this and is diligently trying to upgrade this team that is still sitting on about $25M in cap space.