Quote:
Originally Posted by littlereddevil
To be honest, as much as Philadelphia makes sense, they have no cap space to sign him. New Jersey are still years away from even making the playoffs.
|
With Gaudreau? Nah.
Hughes, Hisochier and Bratt took big leaps and posted near point-per-game numbers. A top four with a duo of Gaudreau-Hisochier and Hughes-Bratt being complemented by Tatar and Sharangovich is a solid top 6. Zacha scoots down to a more third line checking role, powerplay big body instead of being relied on as a top six winger. Holtz still waiting in the wing.
Hamilton and Severson get L. Hughes and Nemec in the next year or two to form a decent looking top four pushing Graves back down to a really good bottom pair with Smith.
It's their goalie situation that keeps them as a maybe, but if Blackwood hasn't been solved and can bounce back to 2019 level play, that's an easy playoff team with Gaudreau and a couple years from now from peaking. (Nemec, L. Hughes on ELC, Holtz, Smith on low level bridge contracts, other major players signed long-term).
Keep in mind that there's very few teams that could acquire a Hart level player and still remain terrible outside of massive budget constraints. The Devils are young, but they partially struggled because they rarely had the team firing on all cylinders. Their newly acquired 9M defenseman missed 20 games, their top line center on pace for almost 100 points missed half the season. Add Gaudreau and full season of those guys, along with the aging of their young core and top prospects expected to make the team and make noise in the next couple years, seems like an amazing destination for Gaudreau. Just whether he would still prefer to play for Philly.