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The Hockey Guy’s Devils post-season/off-season analysis



The Hockey Guy’s Devils post-season/off-season analysis



by DrunkenMcNugget

8 Comments

  1. MrMooMoo91

    Can’t expect THG to know everything but shocked to hear him focus so much on point totals for Timo, since he normally notices the little things.

    Lotta awful takes on who is coming back or leaving to. Probably 1 of his worst Devils videos imo, no big deal.

  2. Kornja81

    Love THG, but this video isn’t his best. I agree on his assessment of Shango not being used properly tho.

  3. ziti_mcgeedy

    I enjoy his breakdown of the contract situation, like others said, some weird takes but I appreciate overview.

    we’re certainly in the catbird seat in the NHL with the combo of young superstar talent locked down long term, great prospects (specifically D), obviously good team on the up and extreme financial flexibility with so many contracts expiring.

    Wouldn’t be surprised if we make a major splash, wouldn’t be surprised if we stay pat (and focus on Timo/bratt renewal)

  4. SubElitePerformance

    I would like to remind people that THG’s audience is everyone that doesn’t actively follow the team he’s doing the video on

  5. DevilsElevated

    Respect to THG as he posts very consistent and great content. I understand he’s not as into the team and may not know all of the little nuances we try to understand, but I disagreed a few times with him.

    In short I think it’s going to be an exciting off-season with a lot of Devils related news.

    Tatar and Haula will most likely be back. Tatar had 20 goals for 48 pts and went +41. That’s a heck of a season. I think both sides know that was an attractive two year deal for him back when we had more cap and needed his veteran presence. Haula hinted at wanting to be back next year in the post game interview and shows us that he was a pretty unlucky guy at times but can also rev it and score.

    I like Wood’s passion, energy, and speed, but I don’t think that he returns due to a few possible reasons. One of Severson or Graves has to be gone because Luke is ready to be in the show. If I had to choose I’d choose Sevo due to his higher offensive upside and speed as well as the lifelong Devil bias. If Graves is out then he gets paid on the free market and all the best to him.

    You sign Meier and Bratt long term. The numbers will vary between them, and the market is changing so they will naturally get paid at or more than Jack and Nico. You sign Shango, Bastian, Mcleod, and Boqvist for various amounts and term to keep a rotatable core of competent players. Depth is key to having a good team over an 82 game schedule.

    I have to believe that we give Blackwood some sort of offer to stay with the team in some capacity, maybe even some Utica time to rehab his injuries and confidence. Or a weird rotating 1BC with Vitek somehow. Otherwise we ask where he wants to be dealt to because we may not get much back for him anyways.

    Fitzy wants to keep Bahl to grow the big Dmen core and I hope he pulls some long term contract magic because that kid is developing into a steal for where he was drafted and how we got him. Smith has 1 year left and will operate in the exact same veteran player role playing as needed. Nemec will continue cooking down in Utica for another year but will get his 9 NHL games in so we save an ELC year. He takes Smith’s spot in the line up the following year. A few AHLers including Holtz have some prove-it years coming soon and I wish them all the best in trying to make this competitive team. Who knows what we do in free agency!

    All of this to say, I think we are going to get a surprise or two but believe part of Fitzy’s strategy to show what long term team commitment to the players could reward you. It could result in a team friendly deal down the road.

    In Fitzy I trust.

  6. Yeah, he had some really bad takes in this video, but to be fair he does have to watch 32 different teams and can’t know all the nuances.

    We’re not qualifying Timo at 10m. I would be shocked if signing Timo to a long term contract is not Fitz’s #1 priority, over Bratt and anyone else. The cap hit won’t be horribly far off from 10m, but it almost certainly won’t be 10m unless talks absolutely break down.

    Blackwood is not a question for us as far as the NHL club goes – if he is with the organization, he’ll be starting in the minors next year. Fitz’s actual #2 priority should likely be finding another goaltender, and if a deal is to be made, then we have to trade away one of our three. Whether that includes Blackwood or not, he isn’t going to be part of our tandem going forward after being benched for the entire playoffs. The fact that they still had Vanacek back up Schmid in the final game says everything.

    Tatar is not coming back unless he takes a seriously team-friendly deal, but even then I suspect Fitz will use his expiring contract as an opportunity to change things up. We likely need to rotate some pieces out to bring others in (or up from minors), and we have Haula who is likely the guy we stick with for what he brings and at the price. His regular season numbers were barely worse than Tatar despite his atrocious puck luck early on, and he was just simply better in the playoffs.

    Graves and Sevo are both going to free agency. It’s not fair to ask either to take a short/sweetheart deal, and Bahl’s emergence (combined with Luke and Nemec being on the way) really pushed both out instead of just one. We cannot sign either of them to multi-year contracts if we are looking at our cap more than 1-2 years out, and thinking about paying more of these kids as their ELC’s expire.

    There is more to what he said but ultimately, I expect we’ll see almost all our RFA’s back with the big club, while letting almost all the UFAs go… likely except Haula.

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