[Signing] Devils re-sign Jesper Bratt

[shiznak]

3 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

Carolina took Florida to the limit, by getting swept? Injuries are part of the deal, Ekblad was injured in round 1 with something like 4 fractures and 2 tears...

 

The reality is NJD played 2 playoff teams (they are good teams) that were nowhere near contenders. When comparing to the 2020 blues and knights.... it's obvious who was the harder challenge.

 

Didn't the rangers score 3 goals in the last 4 games or something?

Did you even watch the series? All the games were decided by one goal. Carolina’s and Florida’s xGA that series was almost a whole goal apart. Carolina also almost outshot the Panthers by 50. Tkachuk and Bob were the difference makers, that series.

 

You might have a case for the Islanders, but the Rangers had the 6th best odds at winning the Stanley Cup, before the playoff started. 

 

 

[MeanSeanBean]

2 hours ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

Our core played phenomenally in the playoffs, much younger than Bratt was, and maybe the bar for me was set too high. 1 goal in 12 playoff games for a 24 year old for me is a red flag. Not one that would make me trade the kid, but also makes me wonder if I'd be willing to pony up 63 million. Just to think Hughes as a rookie dman outscored Bratt by a significant margin, playing against much stronger competition (sorry but Carolina and Rangers were not as strong as STL and Vegas were in 2020), and Hughes is paid the same. 

Maybe this contract just makes Hughes' contract look even more like a steal.

 

NJD management doesn't know what it takes in the playoffs. They've been on the outside looking in, like we have, for nearly a decade. If they watched his playoff performance and are happy with it, that's their problem. ~10% of their cap on 1 goal in 12 games. It's an interesting decision. 

This to me seams like a strange fascination with 1 goal. Bratt also had 5 assists in that time, putting him at .5ppg in the playoffs this year, which isn't terrible. But, when we take into context shoot% it starts to paint a much more interesting picture. he was shooting at 4% clip in the playoffs this year, where he career average is closer to 13% in the regular season. In the last 2 seasons even higher, at around 14%. If he wasn't getting incredibly unlucky with his shooting percent, it's entirely reasonable that he scores 3-4 goals in those 12 games instead of 1, and then is 2nd in points behind only Hughes. Now his playoffs looks really solid given that he lead the entire team in the playoffs in puck control metrics, was 4th in takeways, and seemed to elevate his physical play going from 24 hits over an entire regular season to 12 in just 12 games in the playoffs.

[HorvatToBaertschi]

16 minutes ago, MeanSeanBean said:

This to me seams like a strange fascination with 1 goal. Bratt also had 5 assists in that time, putting him at .5ppg in the playoffs this year, which isn't terrible. But, when we take into context shoot% it starts to paint a much more interesting picture. he was shooting at 4% clip in the playoffs this year, where he career average is closer to 13% in the regular season. In the last 2 seasons even higher, at around 14%. If he wasn't getting incredibly unlucky with his shooting percent, it's entirely reasonable that he scores 3-4 goals in those 12 games instead of 1, and then is 2nd in points behind only Hughes. Now his playoffs looks really solid given that he lead the entire team in the playoffs in puck control metrics, was 4th in takeways, and seemed to elevate his physical play going from 24 hits over an entire regular season to 12 in just 12 games in the playoffs.

You're committing 63 million dollars to a player who's there to score and provide offense at a 1st line level, but is playing a 3rd line game. The playoffs are an entirely different beast, and he's very young, and will most likely learn with this young core as they make more playoffs. It's still a lot of money to dish out for a massive "?". 

 

It's not a strange fascination. Boeser has good underlying stats and has outscored Bratt in the playoffs even younger, and we see his contract as an anchor, even though it's 5 years less and 1.2 million less. Bratt has better points in the regular season, great. If that's what the devils are trying to build, a regular season team, then idk what to tell you. 

If he was a Canuck, we'd all be bitching about term and amount, so I find it interesting that this is seen as a strong deal.

 

I'm not saying I'm right, I'm explaining why I have my reservations about how good of a deal this is, especially when you bring in comparisons to other players around the same mark, that have outperformed him at every level by a considerable margin. 

[MeanSeanBean]

4 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

You're committing 63 million dollars to a player who's there to score and provide offense at a 1st line level, but is playing a 3rd line game. The playoffs are an entirely different beast, and he's very young, and will most likely learn with this young core as they make more playoffs. It's still a lot of money to dish out for a massive "?". 

 

It's not a strange fascination. Boeser has good underlying stats and has outscored Bratt in the playoffs even younger, and we see his contract as an anchor, even though it's 5 years less and 1.2 million less. Bratt has better points in the regular season, great. If that's what the devils are trying to build, a regular season team, then idk what to tell you. 

If he was a Canuck, we'd all be bitching about term and amount, so I find it interesting that this is seen as a strong deal.

 

I'm not saying I'm right, I'm explaining why I have my reservations about how good of a deal this is, especially when you bring in comparisons to other players around the same mark, that have outperformed him at every level by a considerable margin. 

How are any of these numbers 3rd line production?

 

I definitely feels it's a strange fascination. You're completely ignoring the facts that he actually had a solid performance even with a unsustainably low shooting%.

The Boeser comparison reinforces that to me. Boeser has never scored more then 55 points, while Bratt at a younger age can already shown he's evolved into a consistent 73ish point player. You seem to be basing your argument off 1 years playoff runs for each player, and if we take into consideration that shooting% Bratt would have had a higher ppg and ranked higher then Boeser on fancy stats. Which is particularly impressive because that one run Boeser had in the post he did play very well and had solid fancy stat numbers. 

 

It's fair to have reservations, personally I think it's a great deal for a hell of a player. But I think basing your entire argument off 1 playoff run of 12 games without even mentioning the context of that run is very flawed.

[AnthonyG]

On 6/15/2023 at 10:25 AM, Devron said:

Bro you can’t make more than Jack Hughes is basically how that went down.

 

Jack Hughes and Tage Thompson best contracts in the game 

Drysaddle too…. For now

[HorvatToBaertschi]

40 minutes ago, MeanSeanBean said:

How are any of these numbers 3rd line production?

 

I definitely feels it's a strange fascination. You're completely ignoring the facts that he actually had a solid performance even with a unsustainably low shooting%.

The Boeser comparison reinforces that to me. Boeser has never scored more then 55 points, while Bratt at a younger age can already shown he's evolved into a consistent 73ish point player. You seem to be basing your argument off 1 years playoff runs for each player, and if we take into consideration that shooting% Bratt would have had a higher ppg and ranked higher then Boeser on fancy stats. Which is particularly impressive because that one run Boeser had in the post he did play very well and had solid fancy stat numbers. 

 

It's fair to have reservations, personally I think it's a great deal for a hell of a player. But I think basing your entire argument off 1 playoff run of 12 games without even mentioning the context of that run is very flawed.

I mean you say he was unlucky to be at 4.3% shooting.... he played against a Vezina winner and a near finalist, in the playoffs where defensive checking is tightened. Maybe he just didn't up his game. Everybody except Hughes struggled offensively the entire playoffs.

 

The fact of the matter is that the Devils didn't have a good playoffs, except for Hughes. They got a mix of amazing goaltending and pathetic offense from their opposition in round 1, and won in 7 games. They then lost in 5 to a beat-up team, where they struggled to score. As one of the primary scorers on the team, you'd think he'd take some blame for 1 goal in 12 games, that's all I'm saying.

 

63 million is a lot of money. He's getting paid more than a lot of big names that have done more at a younger age and beyond. It's an interesting "gamble" from a team that hasn't made a serious push in the playoffs in 9 years, and have been a perennial lotto team for about 4 of those years. 

 

Edit: How are those 3rd line production numbers? You're using his stats to say that he's been physical, causing takeaways, and that .5 ppg is fine. All of that is something that in 2020 I expected Sutter to do. Not Boeser, not Pearson, and definitely not an 8 million dollar player. (I tend to use the Canucks as a reference point)

Edited June 16, 2023 by HorvatToBaertschi

[Bobby James]

Great contract, the Devils are looking excellent and so young still. 

 

Hahah a lot of Canucks fans here seem kinda annoyed with Bratt/NJ. Yeah he didn't have a great playoffs like a bunch of the Devils, but damn how can anyone argue against how that team is coming together.

 

Their top 3 forwards are all signed long term to good deals and are 24 or younger still (Meier is likely being added to this too, so another young 30-40 goal scorer with some bite too). They are young and don't have too many olders guys taking up too much cap, plus they are just starting their contention period, lots more cracks at the playoffs to come. Also 26 million left in cap space this offseason. 

 

I dunno all in all I'd say NJ looks pretty good and I like how they've been building that team and signing their young guys. Hopefully the Canucks can start locking in the young core to 8 year deals when the time/price is right. I think Petey will be a big factor in what our team ceiling is.

[Elias Pettersson]

4 hours ago, mll said:

That's probably not the team that's going to be in the finals going up against Vegas and the likes - NJD still really young and figuring out their team.  Their key guys are early 20s.  Players have still to fill out and there will likely be more changes as they identify their needs and who is worth to be there long term. 

 

Fitzgerald last off-season was talking of them having too many of the same players up front - adding Meier is a 1st step.  He wanted a big D-corps and made the adjustments to get there.

 

They seem to have enough flexibility/assets to make adjustments.  With NJD now on the rise it should also be easier to attract/retain players.  Sure looks like they have a bright and long future ahead of them.

With the loss of Severson and probably Graves, their defence will be getting smaller not bigger. They also have alot of guys to re-sign. Wood, McLeod, Meier, Bastian, Sharangovich, Graves, Bahl. Most of their bigger guys aren’t even signed. 
 

They have $26 million in cap space to sign 10 guys. That’s not a lot of money considering most of the guys who are unsigned are looking for big raises. Meier alone will be at $8 million+. 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Elias Pettersson

[mll]

1 minute ago, Elias Pettersson said:

With the loss of Severson and probably Graves, their defence will be getting smaller not bigger. They also have alot of guys to re-sign. Wood, McLeod, Meier, Bastian, Sharangovich, Graves, Bahl. Most of their bigger guys aren’t even signed. 
 

They have $26 million in cap space to sign 10 guys. That’s not a lot of money considering most of the guys who are unsigned are looking for big raises. Meier alone will be at $8 million+. 

 

Not all that different than any other team once players start coming off their ELCs.  Every team has to make decisions on who to keep or move on from.  NJD isn't stuck with bad contracts they'd like to move.  Boston for example has a list of players they'd like to move on from but will be harder to do while NJD can simply let UFAs walk and can even trade RFAs like Sharangovich if he's not seen as part of their plans - there's apparently been some calls there already per Friedman.

 

Bahl has established himself as a lineup regular - he wasn't to start the season.  They've added Luke Hughes and Nemec will get an opportunity - both will likely be continuing to add muscle as they work to become NHLers.  Don't really see them losing that much size over time.

 

Graves has to decide whether he wants to go to market or be part of their team.  Bratt was asking for so much more last off-season. He apparently offered 2 alternatives - 1 year bridge or long term at a higher number than Hughes.  NJD with no wiggle room to negotiate.  He went down on his ask this off-season because he wanted to stay.