A problem with our D core going into this offseason

Created by: iforgotmyname

Team: 2023-24 New Jersey Devils

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 3, 2024

Published: Mar. 3, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Legend

Left Handed

Original Team

Waivers Exempt

Right Handed

Position

Trade Clause

Max Perf. Bonus

Expiry Status

Term Remaining

McDavid, Connor

$12,500,000 ( Performance Bonus

$250,000)

NMC

UFA - 5

Description

Think there might be an underlying issue that is gonna need to be addressed this offseason in regards to our dcore...

One of Siegenthaler or Marino cannot be back in the lineup next year. Here's my opinion why:

The biggest drop off from this year's devils team to last year hasn't 100% been the goaltending. It has definitely affected us to a major degree, but the real issue is two-fold: Blocked Shots & Shots Against.

Ever since losing Graves and Severson, those 2 categories have affected us the most imo. And we are near the bottom of shots blocked this year. Which brings me to Siegs and Marino.

Both are really good puck movers, solid defenders, and on somewhat good contracts. But they are too similar in their play. And going into next offseason, I believe the focus should be around tough, 'grittier' type defensemen. I think Bahl should be moved or kept as a 7th dman. But other than that, we don't need to keep both Siegs and Marino. And i think the one to move would be Siegs.

LD 1 - Dougie
LD 2 - Marino
Luke - Nemec

Extras: Bahl, Hatakka,

Getting a top LD1 like a hanifin or someone else will tremendously help the young guys like Luke and Nemec so they dont have to play big minutes. Another issue we ran into was having to throw Nemec and Luke in the fire this year. Both of those players should have been sheltered with their minutes this year, but because of injuries, each have to play 20+ minutes when in reality, they need to be playing 18ish minutes a night.

Below are the Dmen I think the devils should target in the offseason to fill those spots that would be open:

Noah Hanifin
Chris Tanev
Jacob Middleton
Adam Larsson
Jani Hakanpaa
Nick Seeler
Gustav Forsling

That should be our shopping list along with looking for a goalie. And if i'm Fitz, you don't need to overspend for a goalie if you solidify the glaring needs on the backend. Get big-bodied, shot-blocking, gritty/physical defensemen....and find the right coach next year. Goaltending needs to be addressed...no question...but the core upfront needs to do its job so we dont have to rely on Vezina caliber goaltending most nights.

Buyouts

Cory Schneider: $2,000,000
Janne Kuokkanen: $325,000

Retained Salary Transactions

Christopher Tanev: $1,125,000 (50%)

Recapture Fees

Ilya Kovalchuk: $250,000

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2024
2025
2026

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
25	$83,500,000	$75,930,833	$422,500	$5,540,000	$7,569,167

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Meier, Timo $8,800,000$8,800,000 LW, RW UFA - 8	Hughes, Jack $8,000,000$8,000,000 C UFA - 7	Bratt, Jesper $7,875,000$7,875,000 RW, LW UFA - 8
Palat, Ondrej $6,000,000$6,000,000 LW, RW NMC UFA - 4	Hischier, Nico $7,250,000$7,250,000 C UFA - 4	Toffoli, Tyler $2,125,000$2,125,000 RW, LW UFA - 1
Nosek, Tomas $1,000,000$1,000,000 LW, C UFA - 1	Haula, Erik $3,150,000$3,150,000 C, LW NTC UFA - 3	Lazar, Curtis $1,000,000$1,000,000 RW, C UFA - 2
	Tierney, Chris $775,000$775,000 C UFA - 1	Holtz, Alexander $894,167$894,167 ($850,000$850K) RW, LW RFA - 2
	McLeod, Michael $1,400,000$1,400,000 C RFA - 1	Mercer, Dawson $894,167$894,167 ($400,000$400K) RW, C RFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Siegenthaler, Jonas $3,400,000$3,400,000 LD UFA - 5	Marino, John $4,400,000$4,400,000 RD UFA - 4	Daws, Nico $850,833$850,833 ($57,500$58K) G RFA - 1
Smith, Brendan $1,100,000$1,100,000 LD/RD, LW UFA - 1	Miller, Colin $1,850,000$1,850,000 RD UFA - 1	Schmid, Akira $850,833$850,833 ($57,500$58K) G RFA - 1
Bahl, Kevin $1,050,000$1,050,000 LD RFA - 2	Nemec, Simon $918,333$918,333 ($3,250,000$3M) RD RFA - 3
MacDermid, Kurtis $987,500$987,500 LD/RD, LW UFA - 1	DeSimone, Nick $762,500$762,500 RD UFA - 1
Hughes, Luke $925,000$925,000 ($925,000$925K) LD/RD RFA - 2	Foote, Cal $800,000$800,000 RD RFA - 1

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
	Vanecek, Vitek $3,400,000$3,400,000 G UFA - 2	Hamilton, Dougie $9,000,000$9,000,000 RD NMC UFA - 5
	Bastian, Nathan $1,350,000$1,350,000 RW UFA - 2

Top Comments

Mar. 3 at 9:23 p.m.

NHLfan10506

Joined: May 2019

Posts: 40,394

Likes: 18,425

Agree with mixing up styles, adding more shot-blocking.

But Siegs and Marino aren’t really puck movers. Siegenthaler is a one if the best dmen on transition (defending against the rush…his zone denial rate is among league leaders). Marino’s game is more about one-on-one defending, after Nemec, best gap closure on team. Also good against the rush.

The problem is puck protection. Too many exit passes ending up in the skates…and in bad spots. Smith and Bahl have two of the lowest pass completion rates in league. They are both good d-zone defenders, but errant passing out of d-zone leads to higher quality chances against (and hang goalies out to dry)….and offensively, it stalls our transition game in no-man land.

Siegenthaler - Hamilton
Hanifin - Nemec
Hughes - Marino

…is a solid blueline.

Add weight, heavier play on forecheck…with bottom-six forwards. Don’t sacrifice puck control out of blueline.

dgibb10 liked this.

Mar. 3 at 10:19 p.m.

iforgotmyname

Joined: Apr. 2017

Posts: 305

Likes: 78

Quoting: NHLfan10506

I disagree on your point about puck protection/dzone giveaways. We give up the 5th fewest turnovers in the Dzone.

And actually to your point about being good off the rush...i dont know their individual numbers, but as a team...we are 5th worst defending against the rush.

That's why I think one of Siegs/Marino needs to go because you aren't going to move Luke or Nemec. We are atrocious defending off the rush

Mar. 3 at 11:07 p.m.

NHLfan10506

Joined: May 2019

Posts: 40,394

Likes: 18,425

Quoting: iforgotmyname

It is not the amount of turnovers in d-zone. Its the quality!!

It’s (a) where turnovers occur and more importantly (b) that d-zone exit attempts do not turn into possession. So we missing out on the strength of this team.

We are giving up too much quality (ie, losing the puck just inside blue line, very bad; losing puck along boards; not as bad)…not getting quality possession for… Our d-zone exit success rate has taken a nose dive this year. Our o-zone entry rates have been similar… we are just not getting sustained pressure.

In short, too many passes in skates, which isn’t counted as turnover…but is counted as end of possession.

dgibb10 liked this.

Mar. 4 at 12:35 a.m.

iforgotmyname

Joined: Apr. 2017

Posts: 305

Likes: 78

Quoting: NHLfan10506

Not picking a fight, but what's the difference between a turnover and end of possession?? Are they not the same thing? A turnover to me is losing the puck, hence end of possession.

I definitely agree we are giving up WAY too much quality, but I don't think thats all because of our lack of breaking the puck out clean. We give up more goals off odd-man rushes then opponents' sustained pressure in our zone and we have the worst goals off rebounds rate in the league.

Maybe i'm looking through a microscope at a small problem, but that to me screams 2 things: Not enough shots blocked and not enough stick tie-ups and bodies cleared out front. Graves and Severson were not worlds better as passers compared to our current group, but they always got in front of pucks and did really well battling in the corners and net front. And that to me is what's missing from this group, we are so far from having a physical/gritty backend, that I think teams take us to be the softest d core in the league.

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