let alone allowing him to deal Taylor Hall for scraps (yes I realize that was probably about as good as they were going to get) a few weeks before showing him the door. Weird.
I was totally fine with the Hall trade with our luck he would have gotten injured and then not had any value 1st + Bahl + potentially another 1st is a decent haul
The Ron Hextall “Three years away from being three years away” traveling circus coming to Newark soon!
I think they will just keep Fitzgerald...he interviewed in a few other places in the past year or so so he was definitely in high demand around the league I'm just shocked at this timing. I am going to guess that the owners don't want to wait anymore and Shero was still preaching patience hopefully one of the national guys will pick up on it because the Devils beat writers are more interested in finding out what type of pie the players eat at Thanksgiving or shit like that
but, do they have enough pieces in place to turn it around soon and not be patient? I feel like they’re many pieces away from truly contending.
Hischier is starting to blossom into Bergeron lite Hughes should be a great complement. He was never going to set the world on fire but he has shown flashes. Blackwood has been really good after a rough start Gusev has been great after a rough start Coleman is on pace for close to 30 goals with no PP time they have 2 firsts and will likely get more picks at the deadline for some of their vets they really should not be this bad. They really just need a couple of defensive DMen to help turn it around and of course a coach who knows what he is doing.
I’m in the camp that them being bad this year should pay off in the long run. If they were hunting for a playoff spot or got bounced in round 1 leaving them with a middle first round pick that probably wouldn’t help too much. Yeah the experience would be nice, but get one more high draft pick in there and that might be the definitive final major piece that’s needed.
Here is what I would do if I were GM: - extend Sami Vatanen (hes a pending UFA) - trade Simmonds and Greene at the deadline to replenish some 2nd/3rds - package the ARZ 1st with whatever the fuck to get a legit top 4 LHD this summer - extend Palmieri, Coleman, and Gusev on July 1st (they are UFA next year) - go hard after one of Hoffman, Dadonov, or Toffoli - sign Muzzin or Edmundson
I’m going to find xbrokendownx’s posts from years ago about wanting helm and AA and blackmail him to giving us a 1st and 2nd for them
Gotta think the hall deal was his "please fire me" pitch. His lasting legacy will be 1 for 1, 2 firsts, and 1 playoff win.
the Devils just beat Washington and Tampa on back to back nights without their #1 goalie what a weird league
I know the results with Shero sucked but he inherited maybe the worst roster with the worst prospect pool in the entire league outside of Carolina at the time. The only saving grace they had was Schneider and then that went to shit after a couple of years. They were a total wasteland when Lou left. The whole Hall era felt like a waste of time with how far away the rest of that roster was & they didn't get many reinforcements aside from Nico and some diamonds in the rough like Coleman. I get why he was fired because the team still stinks and he should take some heat for some of their picks beyond the first round (although those guys are still pretty young), but this was the first year anyone expected the Devils to be good. Just seems like a move to save face for another shit season. That and I think the quick turnarounds from teams like Colorado and Toronto have kind of changed the idea of how long a rebuild should be.
There are rumblings that Shero wanted to blow it up and basically "start again" with Nico and Jack as the centerpieces...meaning trade Palmieri, Vatanen, etc. and I would imagine ownership nixed it Who knows if the real story ever comes out. Like I said, the Devils beat writers stink.
Reading these The Athletic articles about it I'm wondering wtf NJ ownership is doing I would be their GM for free Springsteen tickets and rebuild the ship the right way although I think Shero was right
eh, Burnside has a history of being overly negative about the Devils I'm not on board with firing Shero right now but I wouldn't take anything that dude says about NJ seriously