Take out Ullmark, he has been pretty good, add Dougie Hamilton because he is looking like the next bob. He may be putting up some points but his defensive game sucks and he is extremely lazy and makes terrible plays that lead to odd-man rushes and goals from the other team

So is Sakic really that good or did he luck out?

Ullmark has been below average. He’s a tandem goalie, Boston wasted 5 million dollars on a backup goalie.

I disagree he has been pretty good for them, he is a quality starting goalie, Hamilton contract turned out to be a huge overpayment for what they are getting from him. Actually the next bob he has literally not tried the entire season

david savard

palmieri was bad in the 1st half but hes now turning it up. Id agree if this was a month ago but its starting to look fine

Armia/Hoffman were such weird signings, Habs were already overcrowded at wings.

Other candidates?

Ceci
Barrie
Forbort
Kuraly
Wennberg
Poolman

Ryan Suter would be one.

Is this ranked? If it is, I think Palmieri goes much lower (maybe even sneaks off the list?) He's showing some positive regression this last month, so he might wind up being closer to the player the Isles thought they were signing than what he was during the first few months of the season. I also think you push the Nemeth contract higher up because he got too much money AND an NTC

I think you gotta throw the Mrazek contract on there, too, - 3 yrs/$11.4M to play the way he's played has to be a huge disappointment. Same with Nick Ritchie's deal, even if it's not a huge cap hit - not many guys get cap-dumped 6 months after signing their contracts, but there you go. Not a great offseason for Dubas, tbh.

What are you referring to with Hamilton? He’s been fantastic this year. Underlying numbers are great as well as his counting stats. Him and Graves have been a fantastic pairing and compliment each other very well. It’s okay to be pissed about the Devils but don’t put their lack of success on arguably their best player who’s living up to his contract through year 1.

Mrazek

He's right Hamilton's defensive numbers have jumped backwards, but his offensive numbers are about on par with what they were in Calgary. Not as good as what they were in Carolina, but it happens

Sadly Mike Smith would be on this… anyways, who signs a 40 year old goalie to a 2 years deal? That’s asking him to decline, but not only that but sign a 40 year old goalie to be the starter!

There's a lot worse signings than the Jake McCabe

He was so good in Buffalo, his last 2 years. It’s unfortunate that he hasn’t been the same after his brutal leg injury from last year.

If you watch him play he is lazy he never tries hard to get back and he is a defenseman. He is frequently shooting into defenders and then there is an odd-man rush since he doesn’t get back and he is terrible at pinching. Among other flaws of his defensive game it makes it seem like he is not playing up to a $9 mil per year deal

Age doesn't matter if he's still got the skill to start

Yah but to be the starter! That’s usually 50-60 games, sometimes 70.. a 40 year old should not be the starter, you should always have a safety net, especially when your goalie is that old.

Again, if a goalie has the skill and durability to do it, the fact he's 40 shouldn't matter. You should always have a safety net, it's a contact sport on ice. But to say you needed to replace him because he's 40 is wrong. You needed to replace him because he isn't good enough is different.

I didn’t say we needed to replace him. All I’m saying is we should’ve only signed him to a one year deal. I don’t care who you are, signing a 40 year old to a multi year contract is super risky! I understand why Holland signed him, and I would’ve too, but I wouldn’t have done the 2 years.

He wouldn't have signed otherwise...

Maybe.. depends on how much he likes Edmonton. I think he would’ve resigned, but you never know.

His defensive metrics were never going to be spectacular- that’s not his game. That’s why Slavin was paired with him in Carolina, and that’s why Graves is paired with him in Jersey. He’s playing fantastic and worth every penny so far.

I don’t understand this- he’s not lazy at all. It may not look like he’s trying, but it’s because he’s 6’6 and his strides are absurdly long so it may not look like he’s putting in a ton of effort.