Magically Montreal takes slaf and based on current roster

Sharon Hughes Bratt
Mercer Nico Holtz
Zacha wright Johanson
Wood McLeod Bastian

Have to think Zacha is gone

Imagine if we can sucker Minny into trading fiala for Zacha+

Minnesota basically have to have all of their players come near league minimum so I don't think they can even afford Zacha. I think it would be Zetterlund and a 2nd to get it done.

NJ can't replicate the Avs as they have no one like MacKinnon...

This is very interesting, but it is necessary to click on this link sexy game the best online

Magically Montreal takes slaf and based on current roster

Sharon Hughes Bratt
Mercer Nico Holtz
Zacha wright Johanson
Wood McLeod Bastian

Have to think Zacha is gone

Imagine if we can sucker Minny into trading fiala for Zacha+
- dmarsden2988

I hope so! I just hope Sharangovich isnt part of the deal if we get him. Friedman said the Wild want back players on cheaper value contracts that can play and help them now.

Also, apparently just now on Sportsnet radio Friedman said, "Expect a Kevin Fiala trade in the next 24 hours....Devils and Senators remain the frontrunners."

To me it feels like the Cooley stuff is like people being low on Barzal and more recently Caufield. Both should've been taken higher and their size was part of why people didn't want to draft them. "can't teach size" is just a moronic valuation of talent.
- Pomegrant

Cooley is the guy

5) Would hate it as much as taking Holtz over Rossi/Perfetti

This is such a weird take. You act like either of them have burned the league down in scoring. Rossi has done literally nothing so far and Perfetti was only on pace for 1/2 pt per game. Holtz played only NINE games for a constantly injured/sick NJ team. What possible justification could you have for them over Holtz? Seems like you're fine with bias when it suits you.

There is no bad pick if we can get one of Wright/Slaf/Cooley. I lean Slaf b/c he's NHL ready and has experience playing against grown men already. If we take Cooley, we really need Jack to shift to wing. It makes no sense to waste Cooley on the 3rd line for more than 1 season.

This is such a weird take. You act like either of them have burned the league down in scoring. Rossi has done literally nothing so far and Perfetti was only on pace for 1/2 pt per game. Holtz played only NINE games for a constantly injured/sick NJ team. What possible justification could you have for them over Holtz? Seems like you're fine with bias when it suits you.

There is no bad pick if we can get one of Wright/Slaf/Cooley. I lean Slaf b/c he's NHL ready and has experience playing against grown men already. If we take Cooley, we really need Jack to shift to wing. It makes no sense to waste Cooley on the 3rd line for more than 1 season.
- jtylerm

It literally has nothing to do with what Holtz did when he was up here lol. He was literally drafted to play with Jack Hughes and outside of some preseason games he has yet to do so, so I couldn't care less about what he did when he was up here. I prefer Rossi and Perfetti because they aren't one dimensional passengers like Holtz is. They can drive play/drive a line themselves and don't need to rely on other players setting them up like Holtz. Their playstyles are way more translatable to the NHL game. Again, Holtz wasn't a "bad" pick, it was just passing on BPA to pick strictly for need.

I also said all 3 of Wright/Cooley/Slaf are good picks. Slaf is also NOT NHL ready, the worst thing we can do is rush him to him NHL and ruin him ala Kakko. Playing against men does not equal NHL-ready, good lord. He needs a full year or even more in the AHL first. And if we draft Cooley it'll be Cooley going to the wing, not Jack. Putting Jack back on the wing is the biggest mistake we could possible make. Jack is literally the last person we should be putting at wing. It's also comletely fine rolling with just 3 good lines. Good teams know how to utilize their best players. Cirelli is Tampas 3C but that didn't stop him from getting the 5th most icetime among their forwards when they won their cups, and having him helped when Stamkos got hurt. Between swapping him between 3C and top 6 winger, along with special team time, it works. A team can never have too many centers. That lineup flexibility and versatility is a *good* thing.

The Wild are trading Kevin Fiala to the Kings for the 19th overall pick and prospect Brock Faber.

The Wild are trading Kevin Fiala to the Kings for the 19th overall pick and prospect Brock Faber.
- vlongo4419

Way better pick than what we would've been able to give up. Don't know anything about Faber though.

I am sad.

Way better pick than what we would've been able to give up. Don't know anything about Faber though.

I am sad.
- Pomegrant

Yeah not sure how I feel. From an outside perspective that's not a great return and I'm positive Fitz could've beaten it without giving up anything major, but on the other hand Faber seemingly has a lot of value inside the NHL community. He was ranked as the Kings 8th best prospect, so maybe they really wanted a 1st this year(we obviously weren't giving up 2OA) or a 1st in general and Fitz didn't want to budge there? Not sure.

This probably means we're going to overpay for a winger(probably Gaudreau) in free agency. Ugh.

The Wild are trading Kevin Fiala to the Kings for the 19th overall pick and prospect Brock Faber.
- vlongo4419

They Kings have also extended him on a 7 year deal in the $7.9M AAV range.

I'm seeing a lot of people high on Faber but not sure if it's old hockey guy jargon or that he's actually good. I'd have to think the Kings did quite well for themselves all things considered and it makes sense they are trading some of the futures they've accumulated recently for an accelerated rebuild around their top vets.

They Kings have also extended him on a 7 year deal in the $7.9M AAV range.
- vlongo4419

Another of a long line of missed opportunities by our management. MIC KEY M O U S E

Yeah not sure how I feel. From an outside perspective that's not a great return and I'm positive Fitz could've beaten it without giving up anything major, but on the other hand Faber seemingly has a lot of value inside the NHL community. He was ranked as the Kings 8th best prospect, so maybe they really wanted a 1st this year(we obviously weren't giving up 2OA) or a 1st in general and Fitz didn't want to budge there? Not sure.

This probably means we're going to overpay for a winger(probably Gaudreau) in free agency. Ugh.
- vlongo4419

I'm not even sure Fitz can beat his meat

Another of a long line of missed opportunities by our management. MIC KEY M O U S E
- Crushers68

Yup, I said it back when it happened that winning the lottery likely hurts our chances at Fiala. (frank)ing sucks. He was "the" legit target that is an awesome player that both fits our window and also wouldn't cost a lot in terms of assets or money. Now any legit top line winger we could potentially go after will either require a ton of major assets(DeBrincat/Tkachuk) or a ton of money that doesn't fit what we're trying to build(Gaudreau/Forsberg).

Fitzys gonna make a mistake in the next few weeks trying to chase a winger. Pretty annoying tbh.

This probably means we're going to overpay for a winger(probably Gaudreau) in free agency. Ugh.
- vlongo4419

I really hope we're not going the Gaudreau route. It really boxes us into winning in the next ~4 seasons instead of being built to content for the length of Hischier/Hughes contracts. Obviously we still need to acquire a winger but I really don't want to do it through FA. If Nichushkin somehow signs for 7 and under then maybe but any of the 9+ contracts scare me a lot.

I really hope we're not going the Gaudreau route. It really boxes us into winning in the next ~4 seasons instead of being built to content for the length of Hischier/Hughes contracts. Obviously we still need to acquire a winger but I really don't want to do it through FA. If Nichushkin somehow signs for 7 and under then maybe but any of the 9+ contracts scare me a lot.
- Pomegrant

Agreed. Like don't get me wrong, Gaudreau and Hughes together would be insanely fun to watch, but at 10-10.5M+ that Gaudreau contract is going age pretty poorly. I could see the last 3ish years of that deal being an issue, unless the cap actually balloons halfway through his deal and we get bailed out. The hope is that theyre at such an elite level right now, that when they actually start to fall off its graceful and they will still be good instead of elite, but having ~20M tied up in Dougie/Gaudreau is not ideal. We're in such a great spot cap-wise and there's rumors the cap could start to significantly increase in 2-3 years so we *should* be fine, but I don't even want to risk it.

I really truly do believe Fitz will go hard for him though, and give him the Dougie treatment to try to get him here unfortunately.(Hopefully Philly offers him a blank check)

Todd was saying earlier in his discord that he's had sources inside the org tell him that "if the Devils don't get Fiala(which they ended up not) look for them to chase another big fish. It's "Go Time" for Fitz and the organization."

I think after the fiala domino this guarantees us trading the number two pick for puljujarvi, and then pk will be locked up. Should be a good season.

Agreed. Like don't get me wrong, Gaudreau and Hughes together would be insanely fun to watch, but at 10-10.5M+ that Gaudreau contract is going age pretty poorly. I could see the last 3ish years of that deal being an issue, unless the cap actually balloons halfway through his deal and we get bailed out. The hope is that theyre at such an elite level right now, that when they actually start to fall off its graceful and they will still be good instead of elite, but having ~20M tied up in Dougie/Gaudreau is not ideal. We're in such a great spot cap-wise and there's rumors the cap could start to significantly increase in 2-3 years so we *should* be fine, but I don't even want to risk it.

I really truly do believe Fitz will go hard for him though, and give him the Dougie treatment to try to get him here unfortunately.

Todd was saying earlier in his discord that he's had sources inside the org tell him that "if the Devils don't get Fiala(which they ended up not) look for them to chase another big fish. It's apparently "Go Time" for Fitz and the organization."
- vlongo4419

With cap management like this we're going to be stuck with the same problem the Rangers have where they are in cap hell unable to retain young players. Except we don't have a generational talent goalie and Gaudreau is worse than Panarin.

I'm really not excited to go all in this year. The goaltending options available are not going to make this team a contender now or in the future. It's just unrealistic to think that adding top line scoring talent fixes this team.

With cap management like this we're going to be stuck with the same problem the Rangers have where they are in cap hell unable to retain young players. Except we don't have a generational talent goalie and Gaudreau is worse than Panarin.

I'm really not excited to go all in this year. The goaltending options available are not going to make this team a contender now or in the future. It's just unrealistic to think that adding top line scoring talent fixes this team.
- Pomegrant

Just wait until you see puljujarvi flying out there, your mind will be changed real quick.

With cap management like this we're going to be stuck with the same problem the Rangers have where they are in cap hell unable to retain young players. Except we don't have a generational talent goalie and Gaudreau is worse than Panarin.

I'm really not excited to go all in this year. The goaltending options available are not going to make this team a contender now or in the future. It's just unrealistic to think that adding top line scoring talent fixes this team.
- Pomegrant

Yup I completely agree. I think they really want the playoffs. I have a feeling they're gonna overpay for both a winger and a goalie(Campbell/Husso?) to try to make that happen. I think Fitzy knows if this team bombs again and is in the lottery after next season then hes probably out. Tough spot to be in for him I guess if there's job security pressure.

really wouldn't be mad with johnny hockey. We would be up against the cap this year, but lots of dead weight comes off next year with tatar, johnson, bernier, and to some, severson. Sharangovich and mercer would be the only ones that are important that we would need to extend next season, and blackwood, depending on the type of season he has this year. So even at 10 mil for johnny, we would still be ok with the cap, especially if the rumors are true it will go up in 2 years. Stinks to miss out on Fiala, but no chance we were letting loose the #2

edit- 2 mil comes off the cap in 2 years with schneider's buyout. so that helps...slightly, but it helps

really wouldn't be mad with johnny hockey. We would be up against the cap this year, but lots of dead weight comes off next year with tatar, johnson, bernier, and to some, severson. Sharangovich and mercer would be the only ones that are important that we would need to extend next season, and blackwood, depending on the type of season he has this year. So even at 10 mil for johnny, we would still be ok with the cap, especially if the rumors are true it will go up in 2 years. Stinks to miss out on Fiala, but no chance we were letting loose the #2

edit- 2 mil comes off the cap in 2 years with schneider's buyout. so that helps...slightly, but it helps
- Devils91

I think the only player worthy of giving up the second pick would be puljujarvi. We might have to give up a bit more to get him though. But just think how stacked our roster would look with an elite player like him.

Pronman put out a new mock today based on "what he's heard." He has Slaf going 1 and then the Devils taking Jiricek at 2.

He says, "If the Habs take Wright, I think for the Devils it's a simple scenario and they take Slafkovsky. If Slafkovsky goes No. 1, it opens up possibilities. League sources seem somewhat skeptical they will take Wright, or atleast they don't view this as the likeliest scenario. The most common scenario proposed to me for New Jersey with Slafkosvky going first is the Devils taking one of the two defenseman in Jiricek or Nemec, or trading the pick. Jiricek is the more common name I've heard attached to the Devils between the two defenseman."