I wouldn't pay anything more than $1.5 million for Mcleod, He's very good on faceoffs and had a good playoffs, but he scored 4 goals this year.

I'm not advocating for paying him much more, but goals are not a good measure of the man.

McLeod had a 70% defensive zone start rate (by way of comparison, Hughes was 26.5% dzs%) ... And that's only down from 77% the year before because Ruff had him take important offensive zone draws only to skate off immediately after to be replaced. This guy plays the tough minutes backed up to his own goal & gives them some solid PK minutes too. His role is not to score goals, nor is he given much of an opportunity. The guy is an effective role player because he knows his role, knows his limitations & plays to his identity. That is extremely valuable in a bottom six guy. Too many other players don't understand this, extend themselves & make too many mistakes, as McLeod did in his early years. You are right, he is far away from that contract (3.7), but he's probably more valuable than 1.5, certainly on the open market he gets at least 2 plus.

Everything you said is true, goals and points aren't the only things that matters and McLeod is a good role player.

I just think teams tend to overpay bottom 6 players, and I'd like him to score a bit more before I pay him $2-3 million

Me too. I think he has at least 10-12 per season in him ... Let's hope he gets there.

Let me revise that. While I think he has it in him, it seems implausible to me that he can consistently reach 10 in the Devs system. With Hischier and Hughes available, McLeod will always be 70% dzs with NJ. Outside of those two, Bratt, few others, NJ does not allow the players to exit D zone skating or passing their way out, maybe along the boards with a player stationed on the D blueline occasionally, but not inside the D zone. If MM wins draw, Bastian & McLeod chip it out or try the long stretch to Wood breaking down the opposite wing, which, being super low percentage plays, result in a turnover & restart in neutral zone ... Kinda hard for me to see McLeod getting many shot opportunities given that ongoing scenario, but maybe I am wrong about that. Last year was his career high shot total with 90. By way of comparison, Hischier, who is closer to 50/50 zone starts put up over 250 shots ... Hughes at 74% ozs has shot total over 330.

10 goals while taking 90 shots is in line with NHL average shooting percentage, but that 4th line never gets the same quality of shots. They are typically solo efforts without traffic in front, during a change. When they do get oz time, they score at a decent clip, using low cycle and driving net, it's just the opportunity is rare. I'm just not sure expecting McLeod to put up over 8 to 10 goals is going to be realistic with this team.

The biggest decision for next year will be deciding upon a head coach. “Fire Lindy” is undeserved…but the reality is that so much of our success this season was owed to Brunette’s contributions. If we extend Lindy, Brunette will depart to be head coach elsewhere (maybe even NYR). In an ideal world, we could keep them both for another year and figure it out then. But if forced to decide this summer, I think Brunette has got to be the guy.

I would love to see McLeod locked up for 4-5 years. But it would likely be between $1.5m and $2.0m. He is a very good role player and that would be a good contract for 4C.

I also think we should bring Severson back. He is tailor made for our system. It will be a big commitment, but I think it’s worth it. We can deal with the RD logjam next summer (either trading someone or….heaven forbid, playing a righty on the left side).

Last big decision will be 3C. Haula wants to stay and is probably one of our better options there. I would love a guy like Backlund (would be hard to play match-ups against a middle of Hischier, Backlund, McLeod). But also, if the plan long-term is to put Mercer or Sharangovich at 3C, do we try to transition to that next year?

all good points especially about coaching considering Lindy hasnt been extended yet; Management has been patient which has lead to the bulk of our success. I would be okay if Ruff stayed though I do have issues with blending the lines up... just too many adjustments that lead to confusion. Brunette would be solid but we need a better coach for the PP as ours has been awful.

re: McLeod, because the cap is going up I truly think that bottom 6 wingers' agents may try to leverage this. If Mikey stays for less than what I had above? Fantastic... point being we need him and Bastian on the fourth line. They produce results especially when the top 6 is a bit stagnant.

Really would like to see Jordan Staal on the team, another stud faceoff guy, tough as nails, and just an overall talented HOF player. I think the more vets this core plays with the more positive impact it will have on them long term.

Love the "cult like" mindset with this org right now (article below) - also Jack made a statement in his exit interview about signing the deal if you want to play in jersey... Hats off to GMTF he personally should get the JG award by a mile considering we had 2nd overall last year.

https://www.nj.com/devils/2023/05/devils-jack-hughes-to-rfas-jesper-bratt-timo-meier-if-you-want-to-be-in-new-jersey-youve-got-to-sign-the-deal.html