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If You Don’t Have Anything Nice To Say, Don’t Say Anything At All |
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Based on the proverb in the title above, here are my notes on the Devils game on Tuesday:
Next Up Pittsburgh Friday At The Rock
By the time the Penguins come to The Rock on Friday, the Devils could potentially already be in the Playoffs. Expect a bit of a shakeup in the lineup, getting a few guys in who haven’t seen much ice lately. The Devils must come out buzzing and anything short of a massacre of the Tuxedo Chickens would be unacceptable!
Arseni Gritsyuk ELC Buzz
There have been several reports floating around early this week about the potential signing of an entry level contract for the Russian Forward. Rumors having him signed and joining the Devils this season were reported on Sunday, followed by other entities claiming he would join after the KHL season (despite his club SKA St. Petersburg being already eliminated) fully comes to an end. Gritsyuk took to social media and posted his farewell to HIS KHL club, which does make his ELC with the Devils seem inevitable. How soon it is signed, under what terms, are yet to be determined. I can tell you this however, since Gritsyuk is over 24 years old, the max term is just one year at a $925k maximum. While the Devils are in decent shape cap wise next season, would it be worth burning that $925k max for a few regular season games and a little playoff taste? As much as I’d love to see him in black and red this spring, the ELC year would be much wiser spent in the offseason. With a full training camp, preseason, 82 games and playoffs, GM Tom Fitzgerald would have a much better read on the player, and be able to offer him a longer term deal that both parties can feel comfortable with.
FAN POLL: Who gets an ELC signed first; KHL Phenom, Arseni Gritsyuk and the Devils or Devils Guest Writer, Chris with Hockeybuzz? (Take your guess in the comments)
Dougie Hamilton’s Worth
After the last piece on Hamilton, I do see a lot of chatter in the comments on what the market would be like for the soon to be 32 year old, $9m per, defender.
My answer, I’m not really sure at this moment, but he does only have three more years left on his deal. He is still only 31 and will still be 34 when his final season ends. He still is about a 60+ pt guy over 82 games. Staying in the lineup has been an issue, but I don’t recall any nagging, recurring injuries. Most were freakish and shouldn’t make other teams flag him as injury prone. I won’t speculate on suitors and potential destinations at this time, but we will for sure revisit the Hamilton talk upon seasons end.
Thank You All!
I truly appreciate the passion in the comments, all the well wishes and insight is what makes writing these blogs great! Without you guys we have nothing! Special thanks to:
Jazz Master
Red Monster
Samuel Popailo
Dmarsden2988
TheAthleticisforLibs
Crushers68
(In no particular order, I love you all the same!)
Also don’t worry, I’ll most likely sign my ELC before Gritsyuk. It’s only a matter of time!
Lastly, if we put together some type of pre-game meetup at Redds or American Whisky, would that interest any of you? It may be too late for this season but putting out feelers for the future!
-Chris
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