Been a fantastic offseason so far, brought in multiple top 4 D and a steady/reliable backup/1B to Mac. The Dougie contract is very good, as i figured it would cost atleast 9.5 or even creep into the 10M range, so im all for it. He will most likely age pretty gracefully and his projected value is likely to remain above or equal to the contract value

Now get a top 6 winger and a vet depth forward(3c?) so we can wrap this offseason up with a big fat A+

That was beautiful, Roger.
- MartysBetter88

god I'm going to miss him.

You guys got a GREAT one.
- BINGO!

Thanks Bingo. I have a lot of faith in your opinions so it's good to hear. Haven't seen Hamilton that much.

Bottom line is this team needs to take a shot and Dougie D doesn't seem like much of a gamble. The biggest problem with our rebuild is that top end talent is just hard to come by in this league. We've got some nice parts but needed to get some players who can make an impact. Graves and Hamilton are a big step.

Wonder if PK or Severson take a breather during powerplays now that we have Graves, Hamilton, Smith.

Why bold? Why?!

Why bold? Why?!
- neem55

Because he can

Wonder if PK or Severson take a breather during powerplays now that we have Graves, Hamilton, Smith.
- MartysBetter88

Graves plays on the PK?

I think the PP qbs will be Nico/hughes-hamilton

And Smith and either a forward or subban/severson

Zacha is interesting. He was like a new acquisition without giving up on anyone (Many had already given up on Zacha).

The questions is; id there follow through?
- Devils Advocate

I disagree about Zacha. I have given up. He put up decent, not great numbers this year. While that was nice to see, his defensive game collapsed. He was terrible in almost every advanced stat in his own zone, and only managed 8 blocked shots all season. That is less than 1/10th any selke nominee, and to be considered a shut down and pk specialist sure doesn't fit his game from last year. He is mediocre at best.

Anyway, we addressed some of our biggest needs yesterday. Dougie passes the eye test, as well as the analytics with flying colors. I don't care that this is his 4th team, he has been a stud with all of his clubs and hasn't given us reason to doubt him now. The contract is way better than Jones, and we didn't have to give up up 12th overall, and a second too boot. So A+ to fitz on fixing our biggest issue while not sacrificing picks and prospects.

I didn't like the Bernier signing, but have heard many guys who watched him plenty tell me I may be surprised. So I will have to wait and see. Regardless, we will still have 25-30M cap space next off season so all is great in Devs nation.

I just want Tarasenko and a Bastian replacement and Fitz gets an A+.
- rmdevil313

I endorse this! Even if he has lost some of his game, he can still be a huge shooting threat on the PP. With Graves bombing 103mpg shots and Hamilton opposite of him, we may be able to keep the other teams guessing. Last year they just had to watch palms at the top of the circle.

Thanks Bingo. I have a lot of faith in your opinions so it's good to hear. Haven't seen Hamilton that much.

Bottom line is this team needs to take a shot and Dougie D doesn't seem like much of a gamble. The biggest problem with our rebuild is that top end talent is just hard to come by in this league. We've got some nice parts but needed to get some players who can make an impact. Graves and Hamilton are a big step.
- Queenie_5_hole

Yeah he's not as bad defensively as many peg him as.

He has warts, sure, but mostly it's just that he tends to not knock guys around as much as you'd think a guy of his size would. He's still pretty good at stripping the puck from attackers.

His abilities on offence are as good as it gets from an NHL defenseman though. Pucks on net all night long, and he moves his feet to open up lanes. We're not talking blind point shots. He moves down to the tops of the circles. Finds soft spots in coverage and then gets the puck through.

I think Studenic might be a solid Bastian replacement and comes from within the org. Potential good "energy guy" that fans like.

3rd line center is a weakness right now too. Somebody who is more defensive minded that can be a Zajac replacement especially now that Zacha should be playing wing.

Short term help in a scoring winger definitely needed as well. Still some work for Fitz to do but I like everything he's put together so far.

Bye bye Saad.

Bye bye Saad.
- WayneZ

He was never going to take a 3 year deal, so im glad we passed on him at 5 years.

He was never going to take a 3 year deal, so im glad we passed on him at 5 years.
- vlongo4419

Yeah, 5 years is a bit much. Makes sense to pass but, still sucks. All of our defensive upgrades are going to be for naught if we can't add some goal scoring and no one is looking to give away top 6 forwards. Pretty sure Tarasenko will end up in NY so hopefully Fitz has a plan C.

Yeah, 5 years is a bit much. Makes sense to pass but, still sucks. All of our defensive upgrades are going to be for naught if we can't add some goal scoring and no one is looking to give away top 6 forwards. Pretty sure Tarasenko will end up in NY so hopefully Fitz has a plan C.
- WayneZ

Still a couple of options out there, im sure we'll add something up front. Either way this offseason is still a major W

Graves plays on the PK?

I think the PP qbs will be Nico/hughes-hamilton

And Smith and either a forward or subban/severson
- dmarsden2988

I meant I wonder if Subban or Severson get a breather during powerplays with the additions of Graves and Hamilton.

Yeah, 5 years is a bit much. Makes sense to pass but, still sucks. All of our defensive upgrades are going to be for naught if we can't add some goal scoring and no one is looking to give away top 6 forwards. Pretty sure Tarasenko will end up in NY so hopefully Fitz has a plan C.
- WayneZ

Let Lou make the dumb a-- Lou type signings of Tarasenko and Parise, neither are going to be helpful. Short of somehow adding Kucherov and Draisaitl to this group, we were never going to be a playoff team this year. Hamilton doesn't change that and neither will adding another top 6 scorer. This team NEEDS time to develop before we go blowing all our cap space on FAs.

If anyone had hopes of seeing NJ in the playoffs, go ahead and get over that now, it's not happening. We'll be a really fun team to watch and in around 2 years we'll definitely be a contender, but this year NJ will 1000% be golfing during the playoffs.

Bye bye Saad.
- WayneZ

Does Saad....domino Tarasenko out of there?

Still a couple of options out there, im sure we'll add something up front. Either way this offseason is still a major W
- vlongo4419

Literally a couple. Tatar doesn’t inspire me, and I would’ve rather not given up assets to land a winger like we’ll have to with Tarasenko.
3rd line C also remains open, and again, I’d rather not give up assets to trade for Henrique. We gave away a bottom pair PP guy for free.. maybe someone could give us something lol.
Or maybe we simply roll with
Johnsson-Boqvist-Kuokkanen
Wood-McLeod-Studenic

As long as the top 6 play well and develop, I really don’t care as much about what happens to the bottom 6. The solid D and G will help them anyway.

Literally a couple. Tatar doesn’t inspire me, and I would’ve rather not given up assets to land a winger like we’ll have to with Tarasenko.
3rd line C also remains open, and again, I’d rather not give up assets to trade for Henrique. We gave away a bottom pair PP guy for free.. maybe someone could give us something lol.
Or maybe we simply roll with
Johnsson-Boqvist-Kuokkanen
Wood-McLeod-Studenic

As long as the top 6 play well and develop, I really don’t care as much about what happens to the bottom 6. The solid D and G will help them anyway.
- MartysBetter88

Tatar is a better player than Saad lol, i would love to add him. I want either one of Tatar or Tarasenko way more than i wanted Saad. But after those 2 are gone Fitz would need to dig down deep a pull out a trade that nobody sees coming

Let Lou make the dumb a-- Lou type signings of Tarasenko and Parise, neither are going to be helpful. Short of somehow adding Kucherov and Draisaitl to this group, we were never going to be a playoff team this year. Hamilton doesn't change that and neither will adding another top 6 scorer. This team NEEDS time to develop before we go blowing all our cap space on FAs.


If anyone had hopes of seeing NJ in the playoffs, go ahead and get over that now, it's not happening. We'll be a really fun team to watch and in around 2 years we'll definitely be a contender, but this year NJ will 1000% be golfing during the playoffs.
- jtylerm

I had hopes of seeing the kids continue to progress, not hopes of making the playoffs.
I don’t think spending 4.5mil on Saad would’ve been blowing all our cap space lol. Hamilton was a beyond necessary great use of cap space for this season and beyond.

5 years is tough for Saad. I’d imagine we want the cap flexibility in his 3rd-5th years in case our kids really take off and command 5-8mil cash. A lot of kids in this 5yr window. But I suppose if we were up against it we could always package him with a pick to get cap space “future considerations”.

If anyone had hopes of seeing NJ in the playoffs, go ahead and get over that now, it's not happening. We'll be a really fun team to watch and in around 2 years we'll definitely be a contender, but this year NJ will 1000% be golfing during the playoffs.
- jtylerm

A simple “we still suck after adding Graves, Hamilton, and Bernier” would of been fine

I don’t think spending 4.5mil on Saad would’ve been blowing all our cap space lol...5 years is tough for Saad.
- MartysBetter88

Regardless of term, Saad wasn't going to matter here and people would be whining why we didn't spend more. $4.5 on Saad, $9 on Hamilton, more on someone else, this s--- adds up quick dude.

Hamilton was a beyond necessary great use of cap space for this season and beyond.

This remains to be seen. Undoubtedly, he'll be worth it the first 3 years of this deal, after that it's a crap shoot. Very few d-men over 30 are productive and Hamilton's game is more about size than skill. Skill ages well, size doesn't.

A simple “we still suck after adding Graves, Hamilton, and Bernier” would of been fine
- RubberBiscuitz

Then some other smart a-- d-bag would've been whining that I didn't give any explanation

Regardless of term, Saad wasn't going to matter here and people would be whining why we didn't spend more. $4.5 on Saad, $9 on Hamilton, more on someone else, this s--- adds up quick dude.




This remains to be seen. Undoubtedly, he'll be worth it the first 3 years of this deal, after that it's a crap shoot. Very few d-men over 30 are productive and Hamilton's game is more about size than skill. Skill ages well, size doesn't.
- jtylerm

That is just completely false. Have you ever actually watched him play hockey before?! Just because he's 6'6 doesnt mean he plays with size(because he absolutely doesnt). He actually avoids contact more than he probably should tbh. Hence why everybody is saying and projecting that this contract will age very well.