Fanuck

We starting this at 4 or 4:30?

Wrong on both assumptions. And I stand by my original statement, currently we have no 'guaranteed' NHL regular defensive prospects in the system. What we have is a couple journeymen and a couple kids that had promise but didn't develop like ppl hoped yet. This a absolutely must be priority #1 today imo. Only scenario I see not taking a D would be if Michkov unspeakably falls off a cliff and lands in our lap somehow?

We have literally no D prospects who are 'guaranteed' NHL'ers let alone 'impact players'. From all accounts Simashev would arguably be our best D prospect if not the best prospect in the entire organization the moment he was drafted were that to happen.

This is completely plausible, if not probable.

^ This is the way to look at it. Regardless of what happens before us (if we stay where we are), there's 100% chance that one of these guys will still be there at #11: Barlow, Wood, Reinbacher, Simashev, Benson, Danielson, Willander, Honzek, Yager, Pellikka. If I'm betting, it's one of the D-men from this short list.

If 3 scouts know this, then others do as well and he won't last past the top 10, some team will go 'off the board' and grab him.

Doesn't this guy realize he's wasting his time and putting his safety at risk? Just visit CDC Draft thread and he'll know everything there is to know about every prospect....

Lol....5th team in 7 years. Let me guess, he's just 'misunderstood' , right?

The organization would benefit greatly by having one or two players on ELC who can contribute meaningful minutes for a few years while they sort out their financial situation. Banking on the cap going up is a risky, risky gamble.

I suspect this is in no small part because the NHL doesn't want to be put between a 'rock and a hard place' so to speak. The NHL claims they support 'hockey is for everyone' initiative - but then when players themselves 'opt-out' of these jersey nights it puts them in a difficult position. They can't very well claim publicly that their organization is for 'everyone' and then sit idly by while members of their own organization publicly don't support their own initiatives. Note: this isn't a comment on 'why' players opt-out, just that it doesn't really support the 'hockey for everyone' initiative if the players themselves (even if it's just a few) don't support everyone.

The only certainty with this player is that someone WILL overpay him - both term and dollar. We need legit NHL calibre defencemen, but we don't need yet another overpaid/underperforming player on the team with an untradeable contract. Have we not learned this lesson folks? UFA is a risky, risky game......

I agree, something needs to be done. But what's management's succession plan? As I see it now, there isn't one. Clearly Dreis, PDG, Aman, Studincka, McDonough, Karlsson, ect...are NOT the answer. Podz, Hogs, Klimo, Lekk, Raty....I want them to pan out, but I'm not banking on it. They really, really need to hit on some picks this year - with our cap issues we absolutely need guys that are on ELC to contribute meaningful minutes next few seasons to buy us some time to get financially sorted.

Also interesting, Brock is 11th highest paid player (AAV) from his draft class despite being taken 23OA.

It really worries me that they'll see the #11OA as an asset they can dangle to address their terrible defense and/or lack of center depth. Trade the future for being competitive now has been Aquaman's mantra since forever sadly.

Why do they care, the NHL will bail them out of any financial concerns........Bettman will probably convince the BOG's to build them an arena eventually since they're his pet project lol.....

They currently have around $32,000,000.00 in cap space and they feel they need to buy out guys?

But does he follow Tryamkin?

I hear you - I guess my concern is that if you look up/down the line-up we currently have, and management says we need to bring in a 34yo (he'll be 34 in Nov) depth defenceman to set the training/accountability/intensity level for the club - well, then you've got bigger problems on your roster if you get my drift......and I get it - it never hurts to have too many stand-up guys in 'the room', but isn't that what management told everyone Miller was going to do when they gave him a career-defining contract recently - lead this club in the right direction?

If I'm not mistaken that's 16yo Coster Dunn from the Thunderbirds who comes in at 6' 160lbs while Sotheran is 6'3" almost 200lbs. I'm not saying Sotheran isn't a 'gamer', but I would be wondering why Faber is using this bout to prop up Sotheran's pugilistic abilities considering it's a total mis-match?

Please don't take this comment as a criticism, it's just meant to be an honest question - but who exactly would Schenn be mentoring if in fact he was brought back here? The only guys currently signed who will likely be regulars are: Huggy/Myers/Hronek. Sadly I don't see a younger defenceman in Abby that could play full-time next year despite people thinking the door is wide open for Rathbone/Hirose/Woo/ect....

Brunette ran the Devils PP/PK. Someone remind me, what were our special teams like under Green?

So let me get this straight: Aquaman puts his trust in Rutherford. Rutherford puts his trust in Allvin. Allvin puts his trust in Tocchet. Tocchet puts his trust in OEL. Allvin kicks OEL to the curb.....

From an organizational point of view I like this strategy. Waiting until you hit absolute 'rock bottom' is hard on an organization/fan-base. Why wait for that when you can start 'rebuilding' sooner? They didn't get the lottery so no point going through a slow descent in the standings for 3 more years.....

They're going to need to be very, very careful in the coming years they don't end up in a situation like the Coilers - where years of high draft picks have them paying huge amounts of their cap to only a few guys on the team and then they'll struggle to ice a complete, deep line-up and they won't be able to afford an elite goalie with experience.