[Trade] Devils trade Vanecek and 7th for Kahkonen

[dgibb10]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Imagine strutting around like you're a hockey genius when you were a vocal cheerleader for the failed decade of darkness "oil change" core.

Didn't get enough being dead wrong, had to come back for more!

What are you talking about?

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Haha...that should shut the troll up

[dgibb10]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Positive side for New Jersey:
Kahkonen is perhaps better than the stats show playing on that terrible team
Allen is an experienced backup, and NJ is short on experience
What was there (Vanecek and Schmid) was NOT working. Had to change it.


Negative side:
Not much difference really between Vanecek's history and Kahkonen's. If anything, Vanecek (one year older only) has been the more consistent goalie with more starts.



To me, this is change for the sake of change and hoping the 'mix' does better. New Jersey is bleeding away picks in an effort to find reliable goaltending. I don't think they really accomplished anything, and the tweet about them still going to be 'big game hunting' for a goalie in the off-season speaks to that.


NJ just applied a roll of duct-tape around some pipes, hoping that it allows them enough time to wash that pile of dishes they have until they can get a plumber to get in there. Seems like a waste of perfectly good duct tape to me.

3rd+7th is less than I expected it to cost to dump Vitek's contract. Frankly we've lost nothing and now have a backup for next year and more cap space. Fitzgerald will continue to look for a goalie at the right price. The right price was not out there, and with all the injuries, this year was not the year to go all in. Jack is still not 100% and likely won't be until next season

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Baffling they didn't do this earlier, especially with two teams who have been long our of the playoffs. The price must have really come down.

When the Markstrom discussions were hot and heavy, I posted that they might look at Allen if Marky's price was too high. Hoping he found the late career form like Quick/Talbot did this year. I did not think that Kahkonen was in the picture at all.

I do wonder what it means for Schmid though, I think he needs waivers next year. Daws can go work on his game in Utica.

All in all, pretty happy with the moves today. Very similar to Calgary where they shipped out some UFAs to gain assets.

Hamilton's injury has to play a part in why the Devils did not buy now as well. Playoff experience would be valuable, but they aren't doing anything this year without their top dman and 2 rookies on d.

I love how impatient the Flames fans around here are with the Devils rebuild...they could be the best set up team for the future, but they should blow big assets right now for a 34-year-old goalie. IMO, they did the right thing, likely that pick is a 3rd and the cleared-out cap for next year when it makes more sense to go after a goalie. Also no longer need to pay for retention so that should get factored into the Allen trade too.

[dgibb10]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Hamilton's injury has to play a part in why the Devils did not buy now as well. Playoff experience would be valuable, but they aren't doing anything this year without their top dman and 2 rookies on d.

I love how impatient the Flames fans around here are with the Devils rebuild...they could be the best set up team for the future, but they should blow big assets right now for a 34-year-old goalie. IMO, they did the right thing, likely that pick is a 3rd and the cleared-out cap for next year when it makes more sense to go after a goalie. Also no longer need to pay for retention so that should get factored into the Allen trade too.

Fitzgerald continued to look at all the top options throughout. Can't blame him because the market ask was ridiculous. He'll continue to look into the offseason when prices should come back to reality.

Luke Hughes, Bahl, Nemec all in their 1st full years was never going to be a Dcore to take the team all the way.

At a reasonable price, earlier in the year, it would have made sense to go after a goalie/dman combo (Heck personally I was willing to throw out 3 1sts or so for Marcus Pettersson 50%+Jarry or Noah Hanifin+Markstrom). The asks were ridiculous, so fitz didn't make a move.

Also if you look at the actual timeline, the goaltending was playing decently enough for a large stretch in the middle of the year

[DeluxeMoustache]

Kahkonen is good. SJ is bad

He must be thrilled

[Captain Otto]

Originally Posted by dgibb10

Me: These are stopgaps, Tom Fitzgerald will continue to look for a long term option at the right price
You: posts tom fitzgerald saying he will continue to look for long term options
You: Ha, clearly you were wrong

I for one, love this posting style.

Can the mods flip some switch that forces Digby to respond in this fashion every time he posts?

Edit
Me: Can the mods flip some switch that forces Digby to respond in this fashion every time he posts?
Digby (or whatever): N'ah dawg. Thats not cool.
Me: lol
Mods: Done!

[FireGilbert]

What a disaster season for the Devils going from 3rd in the league to giving up on the playoffs while playing goalie musical chairs.

Will need to make a big splash this off-season to fix defence and goaltending.

[dino7c]

All your bad goalies are belong to us

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Their analytics guy might want to work on his resume for a new job soon.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

What a disaster season for the Devils going from 3rd in the league to giving up on the playoffs while playing goalie musical chairs.

This is what happens when you go from 10th to 30th in goaltending stats with the same goaltending.

Taking Hamilton, Graves and Severson hurt more than was expected.

[dgibb10]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

This is what happens when you go from 10th to 30th in goaltending stats with the same goaltending.

Taking Hamilton, Graves and Severson hurt more than was expected.

Siegenthaler and Marino took steps backward this year which was the more concerning thing.

Luke+Nemec replaced Severson+Graves adequately.

Hamilton was not able to be replaced, and Siegs and Marino were worse

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by dgibb10

Luke+Nemec replaced Severson+Graves adequately.

Lol no.

Luke is absolutely terrible in his own zone, which was a big part of the problem.

[dgibb10]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Lol no.

Luke is absolutely terrible in his own zone, which was a big part of the problem.

He's certainly a different playstyle than Graves, but in terms of value provided it's been similar (he's more of been what has been the replacement for Hamilton at a lower level) to what Graves brought

[midniteowl]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Hamilton's injury has to play a part in why the Devils did not buy now as well. Playoff experience would be valuable, but they aren't doing anything this year without their top dman and 2 rookies on d.

I love how impatient the Flames fans around here are with the Devils rebuild...they could be the best set up team for the future, but they should blow big assets right now for a 34-year-old goalie. IMO, they did the right thing, likely that pick is a 3rd and the cleared-out cap for next year when it makes more sense to go after a goalie. Also no longer need to pay for retention so that should get factored into the Allen trade too.

Blow up what big assets? Mercer is their big asset? Seriously?

[dgibb10]

Originally Posted by midniteowl

Blow up what big assets? Mercer is their big asset? Seriously?

If mercer hit the market he would fetch Multiple 1sts.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Hamilton's injury has to play a part in why the Devils did not buy now as well. Playoff experience would be valuable, but they aren't doing anything this year without their top dman and 2 rookies on d.

I love how impatient the Flames fans around here are with the Devils rebuild...they could be the best set up team for the future, but they should blow big assets right now for a 34-year-old goalie. IMO, they did the right thing, likely that pick is a 3rd and the cleared-out cap for next year when it makes more sense to go after a goalie. Also no longer need to pay for retention so that should get factored into the Allen trade too.

drafting some good young players is easy

turning them into a contending team is much more difficult

pretty much everybody in hockey can see what the Devils need, in order to take the next step

and losing Mercer wouldn't slow them down in the slightest

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by dgibb10

If mercer hit the market he would fetch Multiple 1sts.

LOL

go to bed

[dgibb10]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

LOL

go to bed

Go look at what Kirby Dach and Newhook got as RFA. If we would have traded mercer with much better production AND the year left making 900k on his ELC, multiple 1sts would have come.

And the bidding would have come from every team in the league.

Rebuilders like calgary would look for the 8 year deal to get long term value.
Contenders would look for a short term deal to maximize short term value and a cheaper AAV.

He can play every forward position, PK, PP, and never gets hurt. 22 years old.

Again, your lack of understanding of what the NHL trade market actually looks like is interesting.

[PepsiFree]

Did the Devils make the playoffs yet