With already having Ty Smith, I wouldn't go after both of Rielly and Dunn. As a matter of fact, Dunn wouldn't make sense in New Jersey because he and Smith are the same type of players but Smith is younger and better. Don't waste a 1st one something you already have.

Thank God I'm not the only Devils fan that would prefer protecting Johnsson over McLeod.

I really like the Reilly signing, contract may be a bit rich but he'll be a great fit.

Why? In my mind Mcleod is looking to be a great 3C option behind Hishcier & Huhges. Right handed, played well on the penalty kill, won over 50% of his faceoffs.

Plus I think with Johnsson bad season at his cap hit for 2 more years Seattle might be less interested. My only worry is if Seattle takes Bastian.

"instead of 3 connor mcdavids i would prefer to only have just one"

What McLeod has going for him is fantastic skating to go along with decent edgework, additionally he has really good compete. Now those tools alone make for a replacement level NHLer, not a good one (or even an average one).

Though there are major drawbacks to his play that severely limits his upside, the most major one being having the stiffest wrists in the entire organization. This impacts everything having to do with puck handling, be it shooting, deeking, passing or just protecting the puck against pressure, meaning he's always gonna be a liability whenever he is in possession of the puck.
He has little to no offensive instincts, has no idea how to use his size and speed to generate chances (unlike Wood who does this really well), and hasn't showed any significant defensive acumen either. Do you realize how bad the Devils PK was this year?

I dunno man, I hope I'm wrong on McLeod but I just don't see it with him.

Sure, McLeod might be a good third liner. But I'd rather not hand Seattle a top 6 winger due for some serious regression (had 3rd best fancies on the team). Devils fans are thinking completely backward. Need the talent before you worry about the depth. Protecting replaceable bottom 6 players is bad business IMO, even if they're good bottom 6 players (McLeod and Bastian. love both)

I agree that as of now the offense might not be there but Mcleod did also start 72% of his faceoffs in the defensive zone, which I think put him in the hole to start. I think Mcleod brings what Hischier and Hughes don't. Hughes & Hischier combined (with Hischier only playing 21 games) for 26 hits while Mcleod was 2nd on the team with 89, had more takeaways than giveaways, and can play PK minutes so Hughes dont have too.

I think he Just fits in that defensive hardworking 3rd Center role to a tee.

I just dont see Johnsson as top 6 anymore. I think there is enough talent with Hughes, Bratt, Hischier, Zacha, Kuokkanen, Sharangovich, and possibly Holtz/ Boqvist/ Foote/ Mercer/ whomever they draft this year for top 6 options.

My biggest problem with the Devils going into the offseason is there lack of defensive minded players that can hit, PK, get turnovers and block shots.

I mean, okay. You don't see Johnsson that way because he was unproductive. But I can guarantee he regresses to his mean next season, be it for us or Seattle. My biggest problem is that they suck. I wanna build a talented core and then add the rest of that stuff. McLeod and Bastian bring it, but you can also just buy that stuff in FA every year pretty cheap. shrug.

That's the dumbest comment and comparison I've ever read 😂

You know there's only so much puck to go around right? You need to play players in the right role for them to succeed. When you have multiple players that are good at the same thing, it lessens the time on ice for them and hurts their production and thus hurts their value. Looo at Tyson Barrie when he got traded to Toronto.. he's a puck moving top 4 d-man that can run any top powerplay in the league. When he got to Toronto, that was Rielly's spot and Barrie struggled. As soon as Babcock got fired and Barrie got put on the top unit, he was back to his 60-point pace offensive style and then Rielly's numbers went down.

barrie isn't good though. if you want to win in the nhl you get good players regardless of what role they perform. no team goes out there thinking "instead of getting good players im going to get bad ones instead"

Barrie was and is a 50 - 60 point defenceman... that's pretty damn good in the NHL lmao

revisiting old ACGMs and lmao. Also peep that goalie I signed in this :eyes:

This in regards to McLeod?
I didn't watch the Avs game, did he do something stupid?