It's way too early for any victory lap, but just taking a moment to show some appreciation for Fitzgerald:
Bringing in Brunette to support Ruff, whether it be the eye test watching games or reviewing the statistics, it's clear something is different about this team's game plan.
Locking up J Hughes early
Marino & Siegenthaler acquisitions, both locked up on team friendly deals for next 5/6 years!
Graves acquisition
Palat & Hamilton contracts may hurt at the end, but the timing for this team seems right.
Haula for Zacha, near term, great fit imo.
Incomplete grade on GK: it's not ideal, but Im not sure there were better options available without gutting a core piece, like Mercer, Rango etc. At least Fitz is trying, eg Crawford, Bernier, Vanecek....
Too early to judge his drafts, but if you want to complain about something, I guess you could point to Bratt's offseason negotiations, but who is to say what his agent was asking for? Also, Meh acquisitions like Tatar, Johnsson etc, but did they really hurt the team in the end, i dont think so?
I'm sure some will point to the positive prospect pool, which indeed is hopeful, but prospects are prospects until they are not. Until they impact the top club by performance or as tender for acquisitions, this is an incomplete for me, but its better than having the scorched earth LouLam left behind (credit due to Shero here as well)
Anyway you slice it, Fitz has done a solid job ... he's been patient with young core, supplemented the core with solid veterans and continues to build for the future with Cap flexibility and prospects / picks. Credit as well to ownership for showing faith in mgmt team. Need fans to step up now & show up, attendance too light.
Lineup below includes no UFAs or NJ UFA decisions and no real attempt to fairly value the RFA contracts or risk of walking them to UFA etc, as it's too early in the morning and I haven't had my second coffee yet. Long may this run of play continue. LGD!
“Left Wing” could be Wood again (or Foote or Gritsyuk or Filmon). Can probably find internally.
“Healthy Scratch” also could be Boqvist. He is looking like a useful 13F
“Better top-6 RW”. Give us one net-front beast, and I think the forward pieces are mostly complete. One area we probably need to look outside the organization to find.
“Left Wing” could be Wood again (or Foote or Gritsyuk or Filmon). Can probably find internally.
“Healthy Scratch” also could be Boqvist. He is looking like a useful 13F
“Better top-6 RW”. Give us one net-front beast, and I think the forward pieces are mostly complete. One area we probably need to look outside the organization to find.
“GK1AB” Dmitri Nikolayev maybe.
As much as I like Wood, I believe he is the kind of guy that gets considerably overpaid. There is alot of wear on that body & Im of the mind that the resources needed to resign him would be better allocated to acquiring that Top 6 winger they need. Ill be crushed to see Wood go, he has come a long way, adds so much intangible value, but if he gets the kind of offers I suspect ( and for his sake, I hope he does), NJ will be best served to thank him for his service & move on.
As much as I like Wood, I believe he is the kind of guy that gets considerably overpaid. There is alot of wear on that body & Im of the mind that the resources needed to resign him would be better allocated to acquiring that Top 6 winger they need. Ill be crushed to see Wood go, he has come a long way, adds so much intangible value, but if he gets the kind of offers I suspect ( and for his sake, I hope he does), NJ will be best served to thank him for his service & move on.
Yes, true. He probably doesn’t get a lot of term, maybe 3 years. Anything below $3m, yes. Between $3-4m maybe. Above $4m, no.
I've been staning Fitz for quite some time now, I love his body of work with the Devils.
My only nitpicks of his reign as of now are:
- Drafting Stillman ahead of guys like Stankoven, Zellweger or Pastujov.
- Prematurely waiving Wedgewood last season.
- Signing Palat to that contract instead of going for Niederreiter or Marchment.
Trading for Johnsson made a bunch of sense at the time, but agreed his tenure with the Devils has been far short of expectations so far.
Tatar is currently playing at a level way above his 4.5m AAV, if he can keep it up the signing will go down as yet another massive dub for Fitzgerald.
On the goalies, I think Fitzgerald just got the worst of luck with the Crawford and Bernier signings.
I don't think anyone of us faulted him for signing them when he did.
For next year's lineup I'd love to have Wood back, and possibly Severson provided he'd agree to an AAV below 6m.
Given how easy RHD are to move I think the Devils could comfortably keep the RHD corps intact for 23-24 (with Nemec getting another year to develop in Utica) and then look to trade either Severson or Marino in the 2024 off-season.
I did not put any serious time thinking about salaries, as mentioned in the description, but that sounds high, particularly for a wing. That's Kucherov, Ovi, Tkachuk territory. Bratt would be in Top 25 overall Cap hits at 9.5. Can't see it. If he gets that, good for him, but likely not good for NJ. Having a wing take up that much cap room seems like a decision they would regret. Guess we will see soon enough.
I've been staning Fitz for quite some time now, I love his body of work with the Devils.
My only nitpicks of his reign as of now are:
- Drafting Stillman ahead of guys like Stankoven, Zellweger or Pastujov.
- Prematurely waiving Wedgewood last season.
- Signing Palat to that contract instead of going for Niederreiter or Marchment.
I don’t think any of these were major mistakes. Stillman pick was a gamble, but it’s not like any of those guys were safe picks at the time.
He waived Wedgement because his starter was lying to him about his health (which is why Blackwood was in doghouse at end of last season, eventually had to fire his agent to repair relations).
Palat was expensive but brings so much more than Nino or Marchment. If we had a do-over, I’d still take Palat among the three.
I think his biggest flops were (1) not extending Bratt long-term last summer and (2) how he handled goaltending last year.
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