Sam Woo: HBSE names Thaddeus “Tad” Brown as CEO

r u new blogger?

r u new blogger?
- Eklblad

he woosed to blog here all the time for the woo jersey devils.

Can he take that same success and bring it over to the New Jersey Devils? Hockey is more of a team sport than basketball. You can’t just have “Big Three” players collude with monster contracts and just win games by playing majority of the minutes in the game. It will be interesting to see if he can adapt.

He's the CEO... what adapting does he have to do outside of marketing strategies and business related stuff? It's not like he's going to have any say over personnel decisions and day to day hockey ops. He's a business guy.

If the Devils are granting any sort of hockey personnel decisions to someone who just came from the NBA a minute ago, things have gone very, very wrong.

I miss Lou. Devils seem too busy marketing and growing the value of the company and the hockey product way down on the priority list.

Sick of all the announcements of new marketing partners, excuses to sell special practice jerseys and interviewing players on anything other than playing hockey. If only they worked on the team with the same gusto that they did to partner up with sports betting companies.

Woo’d again. You might know more about basketball than hockey from what I can see woo man, which isn’t much either way...

Pagnotta/The4thPeriod updated their trade watch list and forward-wise he has us linked to Vladdy Tarasenko, Johnny Gaudreau, Conor Garland, and Tyler Bertuzzi.

He also had us linked to Ardvisson along with LA and another team or two, so he got that one correct

I miss Lou. Devils seem too busy marketing and growing the value of the company and the hockey product way down on the priority list.

Sick of all the announcements of new marketing partners, excuses to sell special practice jerseys and interviewing players on anything other than playing hockey. If only they worked on the team with the same gusto that they did to partner up with sports betting companies.
- louietwostep

While Lou was here the team generally did a horrible job marketing themselves. Not sure if this is on him or ownership. His job did grow over time. It's not like they didn't try but Harris and Blitzer are much more focused on those things.

Conversely, Lou wanted to win hockey games and wanted to build a team that could compete with anyone. He spent money in pretty large amounts long before the team didn't have it's own stadium as a massive revenue stream.

Now the team is all about the fan experience and it seems to me like the owners are a bunch of cheap SOBs.

Wild buying out both Parise and Suter is pretty crazy.

Wild buying out both Parise and Suter is pretty crazy.
- Pomegrant

Very crazy honestly. I expected Parise, but not Suter as well. Both guys could actually be decent adds to a contender for pretty cheap. Both have still been fairly effective.

I expect Parise to go to the isles, but not sure about Suter. I'd try getting both of them honestly, but doubt they come here based on where theyre at in their careers

While Lou was here the team generally did a horrible job marketing themselves. Not sure if this is on him or ownership. His job did grow over time. It's not like they didn't try but Harris and Blitzer are much more focused on those things.

Conversely, Lou wanted to win hockey games and wanted to build a team that could compete with anyone. He spent money in pretty large amounts long before the team didn't have it's own stadium as a massive revenue stream.

Now the team is all about the fan experience and it seems to me like the owners are a bunch of cheap SOBs.
- Queenie_5_hole

Yes the Fan Expierence sucks when the team sucks. Who cares about the other stuff when he on ice product is boring. The Islanders were so much more fun to watch this year. They announce every internal hire like anyone really cares.

Wild buying out both Parise and Suter is pretty crazy.
- Pomegrant

What will their cap hits be for Minny 😳

What will their cap hits be for Minny 😳
- dmarsden2988

They save 10M this season, but per cap friendly the cap hits the following seasons are:
2021-22: 2.3M each
2022-23: 6.3M each
2023-24: 7.3M each
2024-25: 7.3M each
2025-26: 833k each
2026-27: 833k each
2027-28: 833k each
2028-29: 833k each

So they're getting tagged with like ~14.7M in dead cap during that 3 year span


Also, this likely means Dumba is off the table for trades, as now Minny can protect him alongside Brodin and Spurgeon

They save 10M this season, but per cap friendly the cap hits the following seasons are:
2021-22: 2.3M each
2022-23: 6.3M each
2023-24: 7.3M each
2024-25: 7.3M each
2025-26: 833k each
2026-27: 833k each
2027-28: 833k each
2028-29: 833k each

So they're getting tagged with like ~14.7M in dead cap a during that 3 year span


Also, this likely means Dumba is off the table for trades, as now Minny can protect him alongside Brodin and Spurgeon
- vlongo4419

Wow. I was fully expecting an LTIR retirement. I guess this way they can continue to play for a new squad going forward. That is a massive cap hit for those 3 seasons. Is their buyouts official or just speculation?

Wow. I was fully expecting an LTIR retirement. I guess this way they can continue to play for a new squad going forward. That is a massive cap hit for those 3 seasons. Is their buyouts official or just speculation?
- bikeguy99

Its official

Still pretty nuts to see the Wild do this because they are a veteran team with not a lot of young talent in the pipeline. Also because they get no cap relief in years 3-4 they can't really sign players long term still. Gives hope that Fiala might be available, although the cost will be a lot higher now that they can protect everybody.

Still pretty nuts to see the Wild do this because they are a veteran team with not a lot of young talent in the pipeline. Also because they get no cap relief in years 3-4 they can't really sign players long term still. Gives hope that Fiala might be available, although the cost will be a lot higher now that they can protect everybody.
- Pomegrant

Their pipeline is actually pretty decent honestly, they have some real game changers coming soon. Rossi, Boldy, Khusnutdinov, Khovanov, Beckman, and Firstov up front. Addison, O'Rourke, Hunt, and Johansson on the back end. And theyre only going to continue drafting extremely well now that they have Judd Brackett running their scouting

Pagnotta/The4thPeriod updated their trade watch list and forward-wise he has us linked to Vladdy Tarasenko, Johnny Gaudreau, Conor Garland, and Tyler Bertuzzi.

He also had us linked to Ardvisson along with LA and another team or two, so he got that one correct
- vlongo4419

Garland Yes. Everyone else…meh

They couldn’t have protected Dumba before and just leave suter exposed?

I’d take Parise back.. if he can still skate. Heck I’d take both on 2 yr deals if they can skate lol. Not sure that’s the case tho.

They couldn’t have protected Dumba before and just leave suter exposed?

I’d take Parise back.. if he can still skate. Heck I’d take both on 2 yr deals if they can skate lol. Not sure that’s the case tho.
- MartysBetter88

Suter had a full NMC and he wasnt going to waive it to be exposed, so he had to be protected. Both guys will be decent adds for contending teams, should be fairly cheap too

Garland Yes. Everyone else…meh
- RubberBiscuitz

I'd take all of them except Tarasenko, unless hes super cheap. Gaudreau would be more enticing if he wasnt a rental, but im still interested. Bertuzzi is 100% worth it if hes healthy but thats up in the air after his back issues this season. Garland is the best piece for sure though

Suter had a full NMC and he wasnt going to waive it to be exposed, so he had to be protected. Both guys will be decent adds for contending teams, should be fairly cheap too
- vlongo4419

Ah I see.
Idk I think Parise-Hischier-Bratt could be a good line. Would give us a veteran with leadership abilities that can contribute.

Ah I see.
Idk I think Parise-Hischier-Bratt could be a good line. Would give us a veteran with leadership abilities that can contribute.
- MartysBetter88

Yeah i mean i'd definitely take both guys if we could. I just dont see them signing with anyone besides a contender, given where theyre both at in their careers.

If i had to guess i would say Parise goes to the Isles, and Suter goes to either Toronto or Colorado

Also in other news, Erik Johnson agreed to waive his NMC so the Avs dont need to protect him. They can now likely go 4-4 and protect all of Makar, Toews, Girard, and Graves. So possibly another potential D off the expansion casualty market

Nothing completely shocking or "new", but Friedman on this 31 Thoughts Pod said he wonders if the Devils would be interested in either of the Vegas goalies, as a vet who can play a lot of games and split time with Mac.

He also followed up on his thoughts from a few weeks back saying he does believe we were offering the #4 pick around for a good young D, and thats something that could still be out there. Mentioned that he thinks NJ wants to try to make a big jump this year.