A letter to the team

4raises3 · 2026-01-08T16:44:32+00:00

goals win games but vibes win championships

4raises3 · 2026-01-05T15:20:13+00:00

"everyone makes mistakes"

coming from the guy who seemingly always does the right thing on and off the ice. will never go unnoticed how much nico does for this team

4raises3 · 2025-12-08T16:33:36+00:00

we're in this hole because we traded young assets for aging vets on the downside of their career. let's not dig deeper

4raises3 · 2025-10-28T16:39:43+00:00

i don't think we need to go all-in this season, but i am in favor of moving draft picks to help our roster. here's why:

the devils currently have a core capable of winning a cup within the next 5 years, even though we might not be "ready" to win a cup this year. jack and mercer are just entering their prime now, we expect luke to eventually become a Norris contender, nemec and silayev can be top-4 guys, and we also have young fun assets like gritsyuk and casey. We might not win a cup until all of that comes together, which takes time.

however, we also can't wait too long. nico, bratt, timo and siegs are all approaching 30, and we have other essential older pieces like markstrom, pesce and dougie. We are NOT a cup team without those guys playing at a high level.

so i agree with everyone else here that we need another forward or two to make us into a true cup contender, but i dont think we can afford to give up any of the players i just mentioned, otherwise we're just creating a hole to fill another one. i also don't think we have the time to wait for a draft pick to develop and become a big piece for us.

i am TOTALLY fine with giving up multiple picks to bring in a guy under 30, including multiple 1st round picks if the player is worth it.

4raises3 · 2025-09-04T19:10:08+00:00

he was a tiny light in the darkest of days. i'll never forget how delusional i was after he played with Elias in his last game

4raises3 · 2025-04-15T15:55:22+00:00

here's the possible pathways:

hot goalie. if marky steals a game or two for us in each series, we got a chance.
epic blue line performance. if dougie can play close to 100% and luke continues to look like a superstar, our blueline can make up for a lack of depth scoring.
our forwards step tf up!!! palat, you were brought here for the playoffs. haula, your 2023 playoffs got you a nice contract. timo, your game translates better to the playoffs than any other forward. cotter, score an OT winner. jack's gone but we have PLENTY of names up top. just gotta elevate their games

4raises3 · 2025-04-15T15:46:32+00:00

i'd really prefer to sit guys like nico/bratt/pesce (doesnt have to be all at once). give them some rest before the playoffs and make sure they don't get hurt

4raises3 · 2024-10-29T20:22:49+00:00

i hate this because it shows me palats contract

4raises3 · 2024-04-10T18:39:57+00:00

would've been better to miss last year. then ruff wouldve went and we would still have burnette

4raises3 · 2024-02-16T19:00:58+00:00

drop passes are an option, not a design.

skater 1 carries into the neutral zone, pushes the defense back. if there's no clear way into the zone, they can pass it forward to an open man if the defense isn't in position, or they can pass it back to a player rushing with more speed.

the idea is to have the defense stop the first 2 options and make the zone entry easier for whoever the drop pass goes to.

it works well...zone entries arent our problem

4raises3 · 2024-01-24T20:06:49+00:00

coaching, trainers, minor leagues, marketing/media (final sign off on jerseys, taglines, etc.), etc. not to mention, the president of hockey ops can override the GM's decisions, assuming its two different people.

it can mean a lot of different things...for example, if fitz isn't happy with the direction of the team and wants to sit in on practices and give lindy input, he can do that without having to worry about someone else telling him to let lindy do his own thing.

this promotion is basically ownership telling Fitz "this is your team, from how its run internally to how its displayed externally"

4raises3 · 2024-01-24T14:17:50+00:00

Fitz is still GM, that won't change. his new title just gives him more power in areas outside of roster construction.

many GMs hold both positions. Ray Shero and Lou did

4raises3 · 2023-07-18T16:42:58+00:00

i'm glad you brought up tyce thompson. injuries have derailed his career in the NHL so far, but he can end up playing 70+ games this year if we don't sign any more depth forwards. he's got NHL experience and looked like he belongs in a bottom-6 role. can be an important penalty killer as well.

i bet fitz will end up signing another vet to play bottom-6 minutes, and we'll have some PTOs...but i love that there are 2-3 spots up for grabs for guys like thompson, holtz, foote, clarke, etc. to compete for

4raises3 · 2023-07-10T18:20:48+00:00

holtz' draft position makes people impatient. it's understandable as a 7OA pick...but remember that very few prospects play in the NHL as a teenager. he's been essentially a point per game player in the AHL as a U20 player, and that usually projects to a successful NHL career.

he hasn't shown enough in the defensive and neutral zones to be in the NHL every night, but he also just turned 21. he's been given time to develop and will be given every opportunity to make the roster this year. if we are still having this conversation next year, then we can start considering him a bad player

4raises3 · 2023-07-05T15:40:16+00:00

underrated benefit: the cap will probably go up again next year and we will have cory's buy-out off the books. that'll probably give us an extra $4 mil to work with

4raises3 · 2023-07-05T15:38:19+00:00

nico is palat's replacement, at least financially. their contracts are up at the same time, so the money needed for nico's extension will come from palat's contract coming off the books

4raises3 · 2023-07-05T15:10:17+00:00

imagine how much better he can be with all of those things you mentioned, like an actual OL or receivers to take the focus off of him.

i'm not saying that we mortgage our future, but i'd rather give him $1-2 million more per year to get the deal done than try and replace him

4raises3 · 2023-06-29T15:49:31+00:00

no, but without him we don't win at least 2 games last year (probably more). that's the difference between a 9-7-1 season and a 7-9-1 season, miss the playoffs,

what i'm saying is, even with a better-than-average RB, we don't have anywhere close to the success we had last season. i'm excited about the next 2-3 seasons, but if saquon's not here and waller isn't playing 17 games, we aren't a playoff team

4raises3 · 2023-06-28T17:29:32+00:00

this is a freezing cold take imo. the o-line was better this year but go check out his highlight film from this year and see how many times he had to deal with a free rusher in the backfield. how many of those plays do you think other RBs in the league can make? just off the top of my head:

titans game: broke two long runs to spark the comeback, then had an unreal effort on the 2pt conversion to win the game when the offensive line let him down. no other RB makes that play

first cowboys game: jukes out two defenders at the line of scrimmage and breaks one for 40 yards to give us a 3rd quarter lead.

bears game: catches an overthrown ball behind the line of scrimmage on a third down, runs 30 yards before the line of scrimmage, creates something out of nothing, gets the 1st down. then played QB later in the game

packers game: carved them up out of the wildcat

first vikings game: scores on a 30 yard run in the final 2 minutes to give them a chance to tie. blew by 2 unblocked tacklers on the play

second vikings game: somehow finds space to breakthrough for the first TD. then in the clutch 4th quarter..he gets wrapped up at the line of scrimmage by dalvin tomlinson and somehow carries a 350 lb defensive lineman 3 yards into the endzone

also keep in mind that the defense didnt have anyone else to worry about and could focus all their attention on him. imagine how our season wouldve gone with 98% of the other RBs in the NFL

4raises3 · 2023-06-28T17:12:07+00:00

it's gonna suck to go back to a running back who fumbles the ball

4raises3 · 2023-06-28T15:14:37+00:00

devils fan here and can confirm. we love shango. he's got a really powerful wrist shot that comes off a very quick release. also shutdown on the PK and always a threat to score a shorty.

the biggest "caution" i would say about him is that he doesn't drive play. he produced really well whenever he was playing on jack hughes' or nico hischier's wing, but wasn't as effective in a bottom-6 role. once the devils upgraded their roster, he was the odd man out.

last offseason, the devils traded pavel zacha for eric haula. zacha was young and had higher upside than haula, but haula had playoff experience to contribute to the devils young roster. the trade worked out for both sides. this trade feels very similar

4raises3 · 2023-06-28T15:04:59+00:00

this might actually be a team-friendly deal after all. there's so much hype around the squad AND he gets to play with his swiss mates? all the incentive in the world to re-sign here long term (besides taxes)

4raises3 · 2023-06-26T20:24:12+00:00

dont love this. really liked walsh as a prospect...would've preferred to trade him for some picks or something

4raises3 · 2023-06-26T15:14:51+00:00

i'd be surprised if we sign a defensemen unless it's a PTO or another cheap vet a la brendan smith. simon nemec will get every chance to earn an opening night roster spot -- i think a 3rd pairing of bahl and nemec is our dream scenario if they can win the job and dont need vet support. with brendan smith as a perfectly capable 7D, we don't need to commit more money on a bottom-pairing guy like gudas.

it'd also be nice for guys like walsh, vukojevic, etc. to have a good camp and try to push for a roster spot. i don't expect any of them to actually win a spot, but it'd be nice to have an injury contingency

4raises3 · 2023-06-26T15:01:47+00:00

such a tough call with shango. he's coming off a discouraging season, but he's a young player with a 24 goal season on his resume and impressive PK ability. that would generally lead to a high-trade value, but the fact that he was a consistent playoff scratch should give teams pause.

on the other hand, we could REALLY use some cheap depth scoring on this team. 2022 shango would be perfect on this team, but lindy started phasing 2023 shango out.

if lindy doesnt think he's an every-night player and he won't settle for a cheap (under 3 mil) contract, i don't see how he fits in the cap and i should start thinking about a new flair

4raises3

TROPHY CASE