Hate to say it, but aren’t you already? They also own the 76ers, and have no problem spending and making moves for them to improve since their obvious tanking spree ended a few years ago.

Maybe that’s what this is. The “process.” I see you are skeptical to trust it.

Can’t say I blame you.

But hey, if you’re willing to do it right, embrace it, and need a new GM, I think Sam Hinkie is still out there.
- Hesh_

Skeptical or not (and I completely am) we don't really have a choice here but to strap in for this ride and see where it takes us. The problem is so much of what has happened is just nonsensical... Everyone knew what the 76 were doing and the real question was how would it work out. Nobody knows what the Devils are doing or even trying to do.

Hate to say it, but aren’t you already? They also own the 76ers, and have no problem spending and making moves for them to improve since their obvious tanking spree ended a few years ago.

Maybe that’s what this is. The “process.” I see you are skeptical to trust it.

Can’t say I blame you.

But hey, if you’re willing to do it right, embrace it, and need a new GM, I think Sam Hinkie is still out there.
- Hesh_

I am not worried about ownership acquiring the Mets. Do you really think some old Billionaire is the reason a team is run well? This guy has deep pockets, and has no issues handing control over to Fitz, or whoever becomes the full time GM. Dev's have permission to max out the cap, take risks on KHL players, draft who they choose, and the owner simply signs cheques. All the owners want is more teams so they can have more celebrations in the spot-light. I am not going to panic, and hopefully they do acquire the Mets. Nothing wrong with that.

So Buffalo fired their GM Botterill, and surprise they hired a new GM at the same time. Don't know who this new GM is, but they had a plan. Might continue to be a tire fire plan....

So Buffalo fired their GM Botterill, and surprise they hired a new GM at the same time. Don't know who this new GM is, but they had a plan. Might continue to be a tire fire plan....
- redmonsters

Might not be happy about our lack of direction, but at least we're not buffalo.

Hate to say it, but aren’t you already? They also own the 76ers, and have no problem spending and making moves for them to improve since their obvious tanking spree ended a few years ago.

Maybe that’s what this is. The “process.” I see you are skeptical to trust it.

Can’t say I blame you.

But hey, if you’re willing to do it right, embrace it, and need a new GM, I think Sam Hinkie is still out there.
- Hesh_

I mean the whole "ownership not investing in the team" is kinda bullpoop. We may not have landed a big UFA but we've never really been able to do that and we were a finalist for Shattenkirk. We traded Hall and Coleman because even after all the moves this past offseason the team looked like hot garbage. The organization definitely needs to sort out the front office, but there has been nothing to suggest that we are on a shoestring budget.

So Buffalo fired their GM Botterill, and surprise they hired a new GM at the same time. Don't know who this new GM is, but they had a plan. Might continue to be a tire fire plan....
- redmonsters

It's awesome to see and organization as dysfunctional as Buffalo can fire someone and hire a replacement in timely manner. Although Kevyn Adams is not a particularly impressive pick.

I mean the whole "ownership not investing in the team" is kinda bullpoop. We may not have landed a big UFA but we've never really been able to do that and we were a finalist for Shattenkirk. We traded Hall and Coleman because even after all the moves this past offseason the team looked like hot garbage. The organization definitely needs to sort out the front office, but there has been nothing to suggest that we are on a shoestring budget.
- rmdevil313

https://www.capfriendly.com/

Really. We have the smallest payroll in the league and it's not that close. And that's with us retaining half of Hall, Vats and Simmonds to the tune of almost $8M! The numbers are pretty clear.

Also, while we haven't landed a true STAR UFA it's not like this team never signed any pretty high end guys. When Lou left he had signed Mike Camalleri who was one of the top two guys and was also a finalist on Paul Stasny for example. We arent' signing UFA talent because this team isn't trying to, not because they won't come here. Jake Gardiner was waiting for someone to make him a discount offer and we did Richard dispite having a horrible defensive core. Same thing with the ex-Islander defender who names escapes me.

WAKE UP! WE ARE RUN LIKE A SMALL MARKET TEAM.

Jake Gardiner was waiting for someone to make him a discount offer and we did Richard dispite having a horrible defensive core. Same thing with the ex-Islander defender who names escapes me.

https://www.capfriendly.com/

Really. We have the smallest payroll in the league and it's not that close. And that's with us retaining half of Hall, Vats and Simmonds to the tune of almost $8M! The numbers are pretty clear.

Also, while we haven't landed a true STAR UFA it's not like this team never signed any pretty high end guys. When Lou left he had signed Mike Camalleri who was one of the top two guys and was also a finalist on Paul Stasny for example. We arent' signing UFA talent because this team isn't trying to, not because they won't come here. Jake Gardiner was waiting for someone to make him a discount offer and we did Richard dispite having a horrible defensive core. Same thing with the ex-Islander defender who names escapes me.

WAKE UP! WE ARE RUN LIKE A SMALL MARKET TEAM.
- Queenie_5_hole

How did those numbers look at the beginning of the season? Because you seem to be ignoring the whole context of the offseason moves. So yeah, after the team plays like poop and management makes the smart decision not to double down on a poopty team, we have a low payroll. But the whole plan was to be competitive and then sign our MVP to a long term expensive deals. I don't know how not signing Jake Gardiner of all people, negates all the other moves in the offseason. I'd rather be positioned like Colorado in the future than Vancouver.

- cu45161

Jake Gardiner is exactly like every other defenseman we had and would have blocked Ty Smith for a while. He's also very average. We still would have been poop with him on the team.

How did those numbers look at the beginning of the season? Because you seem to be ignoring the whole context of the offseason moves. So yeah, after the team plays like poop and management makes the smart decision not to double down on a poopty team, we have a low payroll. But the whole plan was to be competitive and then sign our MVP to a long term expensive deals. I don't know how not signing Jake Gardiner of all people, negates all the other moves in the offseason. I'd rather be positioned like Colorado in the future than Vancouver.
- rmdevil313

We were among the bottom payroll teams at the beginning of the year as well. I think 3rd from the bottom was the highest we were.

Jake Gardiner is an example but every UFA there is an excuse and problem. Travis Harmonic was the guy we didn't go after last year. Did we even try on Shattenkirk the second time? Interesting.

Right now we are sporting Dakota Mermis, Connor Carrick and Freddy Cleasson on defense. So exactly how we managed to not sign a legit NHL defenseman is astounding. Greene being 90 years old didn't sneak up on us, nor did Sami Vats being trade bait.... Because obviously he's not perfect so we won't extend him...

The offseason moves from a UFA standpoint consisted of Wayne Simmonds; unless I'm forgetting someone. Yes we had two big trades and the big draft move which was nice and we added payroll in Subban. But we still have a tiny payroll. I don't see how the idea that ownership is unwilling to spend is bullpoop if they are consistently among the lowest payroll in the league. We are required to spend to the floor and we are doing pretty much that.

Taylor Hall said NJ never offered him a contract. What does that say? New York had no problem loading up the wheelbarrow with cash for the Bread Man. We, of course couldn't even pretend to be interested.

Well we won't see the Devils on the ice again to Q1 of 2021, so there is plenty of time to figure stuff out. This friggin pandemic has been a royal pain in the ass, but nothing about it irks me more than what it is doing to hockey.
- WayneZ

Just wait until the devils can play again and they continue to lose

We were among the bottom payroll teams at the beginning of the year as well. I think 3rd from the bottom was the highest we were.

Jake Gardiner is an example but every UFA there is an excuse and problem. Travis Harmonic was the guy we didn't go after last year. Did we even try on Shattenkirk the second time? Interesting.

Right now we are sporting Dakota Mermis, Connor Carrick and Freddy Cleasson on defense. So exactly how we managed to not sign a legit NHL defenseman is astounding. Greene being 90 years old didn't sneak up on us, nor did Sami Vats being trade bait.... Because obviously he's not perfect so we won't extend him...

The offseason moves from a UFA standpoint consisted of Wayne Simmonds; unless I'm forgetting someone. Yes we had two big trades and the big draft move which was nice and we added payroll in Subban. But we still have a tiny payroll. I don't see how the idea that ownership is unwilling to spend is bullpoop if they are consistently among the lowest payroll in the league. We are required to spend to the floor and we are doing pretty much that.

Taylor Hall said NJ never offered him a contract. What does that say? New York had no problem loading up the wheelbarrow with cash for the Bread Man. We, of course couldn't even pretend to be interested.
- Queenie_5_hole

I think what he was saying is, there was $10M put aside for Taylor and another $7M for Nico. With PK at $9M, the Devils showed they were not afraid to spend. The thought was that with all the youth on the team and the future contracts that will need to be given as they develop (Mackenzie, Bratt, Hughes, Palmieri, etc) then they wanted to manage the spend so they didn't come into future cap issues.

With TH leaving and Wayne off the books, yes it looks like we are not spending. But the plan was all centered around TH. Now that he is no longer on our radar, I wouldn't be shocked to see the ownership group open their change-purses. The draw of big fish to NJ has always been an issue and a big reason we aren't signing marquee FA's that would cost a lot.

We were among the bottom payroll teams at the beginning of the year as well. I think 3rd from the bottom was the highest we were.

Jake Gardiner is an example but every UFA there is an excuse and problem. Travis Harmonic was the guy we didn't go after last year. Did we even try on Shattenkirk the second time? Interesting.

Right now we are sporting Dakota Mermis, Connor Carrick and Freddy Cleasson on defense. So exactly how we managed to not sign a legit NHL defenseman is astounding. Greene being 90 years old didn't sneak up on us, nor did Sami Vats being trade bait.... Because obviously he's not perfect so we won't extend him...

The offseason moves from a UFA standpoint consisted of Wayne Simmonds; unless I'm forgetting someone. Yes we had two big trades and the big draft move which was nice and we added payroll in Subban. But we still have a tiny payroll. I don't see how the idea that ownership is unwilling to spend is bullpoop if they are consistently among the lowest payroll in the league. We are required to spend to the floor and we are doing pretty much that.

Taylor Hall said NJ never offered him a contract. What does that say? New York had no problem loading up the wheelbarrow with cash for the Bread Man. We, of course couldn't even pretend to be interested.
- Queenie_5_hole

What do you think the plan was after this season? Was it just going to be a 1 year window to win a cup and then ownership was going to let Hall walk? We had 6 mil in cap space to start the season and still needed to resign Hall, Hischier, Vatanen and Bratt this year, Palms, Coleman and Gusev the next. All that signing mediocre free agents to expensive deals would have done for us was guarantee that we'd be an easy first round matchup for actual contenders for a few years if we even make the playoffs.

And as much as I love Hall, he is a much riskier gamble than Panarin. Even aside from the injury issues Panarin's worst point total would have been Halls third best. Resigning him after how this season went would have given us an expensive but great winger for years when we would struggle to make the playoffs and then he'd be in decline when we are hopefully ready to start competing.

I think what he was saying is, there was $10M put aside for Taylor and another $7M for Nico. With PK at $9M, the Devils showed they were not afraid to spend. The thought was that with all the youth on the team and the future contracts that will need to be given as they develop (Mackenzie, Bratt, Hughes, Palmieri, etc) then they wanted to manage the spend so they didn't come into future cap issues.

With TH leaving and Wayne off the books, yes it looks like we are not spending. But the plan was all centered around TH. Now that he is no longer on our radar, I wouldn't be shocked to see the ownership group open their change-purses. The draw of big fish to NJ has always been an issue and a big reason we aren't signing marquee FA's that would cost a lot.
- ShoresideDevil

Exactly. The issue wasn't ownership being unwilling to spend, we just were never good enough to justify spending it on that core. I also find spending on Free Agents to be stupid 99% of the time.

You can make excuses for them forever but they will never spend on this team.

Toronto signs quality players and figures out how to work within the cap requirements. We don’t spend Richard in case we need to sign people who are no longer with the team.

There doesn’t really seem to be much of a plan...
Just like firing Ray and not really figuring out how to replace him for 5 months.

I think a lot of people think the rebuild time table should have been pushed up because Hall dragged us into the playoffs one year, but realistically the core of the team is really young and the rest of the players around them are garbage. Signing a couple of decent free agents don't help you become an annual contender, it just makes you in the race for a playoff spot then bounced in the first round.

Jake Gardiner is exactly like every other defenseman we had and would have blocked Ty Smith for a while. He's also very average. We still would have been poop with him on the team. - rmdevil313

We are never going to get a top pairing defensman that is going to fix all our problems there-fore we needed as many defenceman as we could/can get, you say he is like every other defensman but that would make him better then all but 1 of ours, and in terms of Ty Smith if Smith was good enough he would have made the team and if Smith is good enough this year he will make the team but as with last year just he alone won't be enough

We are never going to get a top pairing defensman that is going to fix all our problems there-fore we needed as many defenceman as we could/can get, you say he is like every other defensman but that would make him better then all but 1 of ours, and in terms of Ty Smith if Smith was good enough he would have made the team and if Smith is good enough this year he will make the team but as with last year just he alone won't be enough
- cu45161

Dude Jake Gardiner wouldn't help anything, he's absolutely terrible defensively. I'm so glad we didnt bring him in, because we'd be stuck with his contract for another 3 years for a guy who would actually make us worse when he's on the ice. I hate using +/- as an example but its pretty telling in certain cases like this. He is a -27 on a pretty decent Carolina team, the next closest is only -7. He is brutal. He'd just be another body blocking our young kids from getting an opportunity. We have enough borderline 3rd pairing D as is.

I think a lot of people think the rebuild time table should have been pushed up because Hall dragged us into the playoffs one year, but realistically the core of the team is really young and the rest of the players around them are garbage. Signing a couple of decent free agents don't help you become an annual contender, it just makes you in the race for a playoff spot then bounced in the first round.
- Pomegrant

I sure didn't think we were a contender the year we miracled our butts into the playoffs; but honestly I had hoped we'd stop being such an embarrassment...

I completely agree that a couple of free agents aren't going to turn us into a contender but a couple of decent defenders would have stopped us from being a defensive poop show. We've gone from a pretty bad defensive team to a complete mess of a defensive core.

These guys took over the team in August 2013. So that puts us around 6-7 years into a rebuild and we just finished as the fifth worst team in the league? What are we building?

But this isn't even about free agents. Most UFA aren't a great proposition and it's just another resource to supplement player development and trades. What this is about is we are rudderless. We aren't spending money and we don't seem to have a plan.... let alone the ability to hire a permanent GM and Head Coach.

What are we doing???

Dude Jake Gardiner wouldn't help anything, he's absolutely terrible defensively. I'm so glad we didnt bring him in, because we'd be stuck with his contract for another 3 years for a guy who would actually make us worse when he's on the ice. I hate using +/- as an example but he is a -27 on a pretty decent Carolina team, the next closest is only -7. He is brutal. He'd just be another body blocking our young kids from getting an opportunity. We have enough borderline 3rd pairing D as is.
- vlongo4419

Dude, it's not about Jake (frank)ing Gardiner. He's an example. IF you like Travis Harmonic as a better example use him. Either guy is a HOF defender compared to Connor Carrick and Freddy Cleasson who are in our lineup. And he won't be blocking any young kids because we have exactly ONE high end defensive prospect who's (probably) NHL ready.

You're waiting for a cavalry that isn't coming.

Dude, it's not about Jake (frank)ing Gardiner. He's an example. IF you like Travis Harmonic as a better example use him. Either guy is a HOF defender compared to Connor Carrick and Freddy Cleasson who are in our lineup. And he won't be blocking any young kids because we have exactly ONE high end defensive prospect who's (probably) NHL ready.

You're waiting for a cavalry that isn't coming.
- Queenie_5_hole

What? His posts are specifically about Jake Gardiner??????

Starting with:

"Jake Gardiner was waiting for someone to make him a discount offer and we did Richard dispite having a horrible defensive core. Same thing with the ex-Islander defender who names escapes me.



[] "


Then continues to talk about him. I'm not getting into this conversation at all, we all know everything about this team is a (frank)ing mess starting from the top with ownership all the way down to the actually players/team on the ice. I'm just calling him out to say that Gardiner is (frank)ing terrible and wouldnt have helped this team whatsoever. Some people just wanna spend to spend, even if it doesnt make sense.

What? His posts are specifically about Jake Gardiner??????

Starting with:

"Jake Gardiner was waiting for someone to make him a discount offer and we did Richard dispite having a horrible defensive core. Same thing with the ex-Islander defender who names escapes me.




- vlongo4419[] "


Then continues to talk about him. I'm not getting into this conversation at all, we all know everything about this team is a (frank)ing mess starting from the top with ownership all the way down to the actually players/team on the ice. I'm just calling him out to say that Gardiner is (frank)ing terrible and wouldnt have helped this team whatsoever. Some people just wanna spend to spend, even if it doesnt make sense.

Gardiner and Harmonic were examples of Free Agents we COULD have pursued because someone mentioned that NJ has trouble signing free agents. So they are examples of folks we could have signed. If you think Gardiner and/or Harmonic are the wrong guys that's fine. I'm doubtful they wouldn't be helpful above the AHL level guys we are running with but I get that these might be players to pass on.

The big picture point was that we aren't really trying to bring in free agents and the big knock on free agents is they get to much money. Which is completely true they mostly all get overpaid; but you aren't spending any other assets so it's a trade off... So overall it looks to me that Ownership has little interest in spending money on this team.

Gardiner and Harmonic were examples of Free Agents we COULD have pursued because someone mentioned that NJ has trouble signing free agents. So they are examples of folks we could have signed. If you think Gardiner and/or Harmonic are the wrong guys that's fine. I'm doubtful they wouldn't be helpful above the AHL level guys we are running with but I get that these might be players to pass on.

The big picture point was that we aren't really trying to bring in free agents and the big knock on free agents is they get to much money. Which is completely true they mostly all get overpaid; but you aren't spending any other assets so it's a trade off... So overall it looks to me that Ownership has little interest in spending money on this team.
- Queenie_5_hole

I have absolutely no issue with not spending money in free agency, especially with the timing of this team and recent strength of the free agent classes the past few years(Panarin aside, he was never coming here). We arent a couple "ok" free agent pieces from being anything near an annual playoff team. Why go sign mediocre players in free agency to have us suck a little less, still miss the playoffs and get a worse pick. This team wont be ready to compete for atleast another 2-3 years. Imo the owners have showed they dont mind spending money by letting Ray bring in a $9M defenseman on the downswing of his career, and throwing away $5M for a washed Simmonds, so i dont get that argument. Just because our GM was trying to build the right way and steer clear of free agency(he said multiple times that was his plan) doesnt mean the owners dont want to spend. Also, players also need to want to come play here, why would any free agent want to come to this dumper fire? Overpaying players to get them to come here is not the answer this team needs. When we're actually ready to compete, then go spend money on free agents if you think you're a couple pieces away. The ownership is awful because they're trying to be too involved, while also not doing anything at the same time(like deciding on a GM). Thats the issue, not their willingness to spend money on this team.

This team needs talent, yes. But free agency isnt the way to get that talent. We have a nice prospect pool, and we need to keep adding to it. Next step is for those prospects to actually take a step forward and become NHL players. Binghamton should have a lot of young talent next year, so that should give us a glimpse at our future. Its not the worst thing in the world if the likes of Foote, Bahl, Smith, Boqvist, Kuok, ect are all playing top minutes in the AHL getting acclimated to the pro game together. But in saying that, theres spots to be had with the big club, they need to go and take it.

Good hockey banter! Keep it up boys