Well, we beat the Rangers, but this still hurt my heart to lose. So many chances. Luke is coming. Schmid is young, so all hope is not lost. Vanecek was good most of the year so they can split time and hopefully Schmid can solidify himself as the guy.
Looking forward to hearing who was injured. Bratt better have 5 pulled groins, 3 ejected discs, and several meniscus tears, and a low grade concussion… and broken ribs.

Meier has to be back. Meier > everyone.
Bratt will be a luxury to have at a friendly price.
My biggest question is what happens with the coaches. The answer is “nothing, the team is young and developing”.

Will be interesting to see what happens with our bottom 6, and guys like Tatar and Haula.

Keep shaking my head at what a game changer it would’ve been to have Tkachuk instead of Bratt.

I think it’s time everyone realizes that this team could have never made it past the canes because they traded for the great puljujarvi.
- shvingter88

his contributions from the press box were unmatched

seriously though, you guys plug Nemec in there and Luke Hughes full time and you've got something special cooking.

The composure L.Hughes showed was off the charts.

Jack probably wasn't quite ready for the heavy lifting this year though. He's gonna need some help.

Rid yourselves of Tatar. What a waste he was.

Which high profile RFA that needs change of scenery are we trading Bratt for?

seriously though, you guys plug Nemec in there and Luke Hughes full time and you've got something special cooking.

The composure L.Hughes showed was off the charts.

Jack probably wasn't quite ready for the heavy lifting this year though. He's gonna need some help.

Rid yourselves of Tatar. What a waste he was.
- BINGO!

What, Tatar was great this year lol. He was arguably the best playdriver on the team, in line with Jack and Bratt. Let's not act like he was the only player who ghosted in the playoffs(*cough* Bratt *cough*). Everyone wants him back if he's willing to take a discount.

Which high profile RFA that needs change of scenery are we trading Bratt for?
- RubberBiscuitz

DeBrincat and Dubois are the only two that seem like they could be moved. Maybe some kind of swap with Ottawa could he made there, but I doubt it. If we end up needing to move Bratt, we're losing the trade and our forward group will be taking a big step back unfortunately.

I still have a little of faith that a deal gets done, but it's certainly far from likely.

Realistically Bratt hurt his position. His agent wanted a mega deal because the cap was going up and then the cap isn't going to greatly increase as predicted. He had a good season but still had stretches where he just didn't play that great and then converted that into a mediocre playoffs performance. He bet on himself and lost.

Before we were wondering if this guy was an 8.5 mil player potentially. Now it looks like he's at best a ~7mil or in that range.

Congrats to the Hurricanes on the win. And congratulations to the Devils on a great season. We made huge strides and should be proud. Let's continue the natural progression and we'll be highly competitive for years to come. We got a great young D, a very good young goalie, and some serious offensive and defensive talent. Our time is right around the corner!

Series surprised me as I thought it would be much closer. I have probably seen 40 or so Canes games this season (local market) and I can't recall them playing at that high of a level once. They really brought it. Aho, who always seems to me as a glorified 2nd line center, was a beast (rethinking that one, LOL). I thought coming in Jarvis would be the guy to watch, but Aho and Necas carried them.

Also, not surprised to hear Jack hurt his shoulder. You could tell as he went right to the locker room after the hit and never looked the same for the rest of the series.

But all is good in Devil Land...we will be a formidable force for years to come!

Realistically Bratt hurt his position. His agent wanted a mega deal because the cap was going up and then the cap isn't going to greatly increase as predicted. He had a good season but still had stretches where he just didn't play that great and then converted that into a mediocre playoffs performance. He bet on himself and lost.

Before we were wondering if this guy was an 8.5 mil player potentially. Now it looks like he's at best a ~7mil or in that range.
- Pomegrant

Agreed. And I don't see him taking that "little" unless it's on a 3, 4, or 5 year deal and gives him a chance to hit big in UFA while hes still in his 20s. I'm very curious as to how this ends and how Fitz handles it.

This could be an exciting offseason, I'm expecting movement up front. Both trade and free agency. I think theres a few free agents that Tom will be interested in depending on the cost, especially if one or both of Haula/Tatar arent back. Not a great FA class but I think guys like Bertuzzi, Bunting, Tarasenko, Rodriquez, Barbashev, ect will be of interest to him. Just don't go after Killorn please lol

I definitely see Haula coming back because his contract shouldn't come in all that expensive. I could see Tatar getting a raise somewhere pricing himself out.
Meier definitely looking like a guy who is worth the money and I could see Bratt taking a shorter term deal for less money to bridge himself into FA and the team also being okay with that.

We also have work to do on the bottom six. We know Wood is gone, go let some other team pay him dumb money to be bad. McLeod definitely put up a strong postseason but it comes down do how much he's looking to get paid because GMs love to overpay players like him (look at the Goodrow contract).

I definitely see Haula coming back because his contract shouldn't come in all that expensive. I could see Tatar getting a raise somewhere pricing himself out.
Meier definitely looking like a guy who is worth the money and I could see Bratt taking a shorter term deal for less money to bridge himself into FA and the team also being okay with that.

We also have work to do on the bottom six. We know Wood is gone, go let some other team pay him dumb money to be bad. McLeod definitely put up a strong postseason but it comes down do how much he's looking to get paid because GMs love to overpay players like him (look at the Goodrow contract).
- Pomegrant

For sure! Fully agree. Also McLeod depends on if he's in prison or not lol, but he really raised him game to a whole new level this postseason. Very impressed with him and I hope he can continue to stay at that level.

For sure! Fully agree. Also McLeod depends on if he's in prison or not lol, but he really raised him game to a whole new level this postseason. Very impressed with him and I hope he can continue to stay at that level.
- vlongo4419

Team might walk away regardless of that investigation outcome anyway. His media presence has been really subdued since all of that came out and obviously the team doesn't want to deal with that.

I will say the weird part with McLeod is that he developed incredibly as an offensive player recently, which is great, but almost would rather his defensive game be better. Now, it might help if his linemates were better in that regard anyway.

Team might walk away regardless of that investigation outcome anyway. His media presence has been really subdued since all of that came out and obviously the team doesn't want to deal with that.

I will say the weird part with McLeod is that he developed incredibly as an offensive player recently, which is great, but almost would rather his defensive game be better. Now, it might help if his linemates were better in that regard anyway.
- Pomegrant

His faceoffs

Without McLeod we may win 9 faceoffs all season

Devil's and 76ers owner Josh Harris has finalized a deal to buy the Washington commanders

Was known prior but now finalized pending NFL teams approval

There is something beautiful about Leafs getting knocked out on a disallowed goal and their fans throwing poop on the ice after they called us a disgrace for doing the same thing.

Dougie said he hurt his wrist "pretty bad" in the Rangers series, and is in discussion with the medical team to figure out if he'll need surgery or not.

Bratt on his contract situation: "I have full confidence in my agent and Tom that we'll get it done...We'll get it done, i'll see you guys for the next couple of years to come."

Bratt on his contract situation: "I have full confidence in my agent and Tom that we'll get it done...We'll get it done, i'll see you guys for the next couple of years to come."
- vlongo4419

I'm thinking ~3 years contract length probably works best for player and team to keep the cap hit down. Gotta think they negotiated themselves out of a 7-8 year megadeal.

Jacks isolated comment I saw on fb from twitter were interesting. Likely talking about Bratt.

I'm gonna say Haula isn't going anywhere lol. He said he told Fitz today that he doesn't want to play for anybody else and wants to stay here. Then Jack said he wants him here. So I think that may be the first contract we see get done lol

I'm gonna say Haula isn't going anywhere lol. He said he told Fitz today that he doesn't want to play for anybody else and wants to stay here. Then Jack said he wants him here. So I think that may be the first contract we see get done lol
- vlongo4419

Down the stretch and in the playoffs Haula played really well. Makes sense he'd want to stick around, especially if you play with Jack all the time. I would rather see him play 3C but we'll see how it pans out.

I’m sure you saw, but against Florida, Toronto got 1 goal out of 33.5M cap space between Matthews, Tavares and Marner. Yeesh

Jacks isolated comment I saw on fb from twitter were interesting. Likely talking about Bratt.
- MartysBetter88

What he say

What he say
- RubberBiscuitz

People have been trying to clip it to take it out context and say he was calling Bratt out. But he was specifically asked about all of the guys who need a new contract, and he basically said you can't just talk about wanting to be in NJ, if you want to be here then you just gotta sign the deal.

People have been trying to clip it to take it out context and say he was calling Bratt out. But he was specifically asked about all of the guys who need a new contract, and he basically said you can't just talk about wanting to be in NJ, if you want to be here then you just gotta sign the deal.
- vlongo4419

He’s not wrong. It was just one of the more crystal clear statements I’ve heard from him. Usually it’s “yea I’m excited and we’re excited and this is really excited and we’re excited about it”. So I feel like there may have been more seriousness behind this quote from him. Could be wrong tho.