Source
r/devils•
JSav7

Fitzgerald's Presser

Just some notes on it.

Daws is staying up here. Not sure when he'll be sent to Utica for the playoffs but all his comments were about how he wants him to practice at the NHL level. Doesn't discourage the AHL but wants him to learn from Hammond. Even says that Blackwood can learn and get pushed too.

Blackwood should be back at some point this year.

Holtz might get called up for a few games but he likes what he's doing down there for now.

Subban's contract and lack of want is why he's still here.

Severson wasn't getting the same level of interest that Coleman got when asked about it "difference was I got calls about Blake"

Mukh situation is what it is. He's under contract which is good because Fitz doesn't think he could sign him today but it sounds like visas will be an issue with him coming over.

That's most of what stood out to me outside of his comments being very blunt. He gets fans frustrations, he wants goaltending that gives us a chance to win every night.

Posted Mar 21, 2022, 8:29 PM UTC

5967
MartyBro30#6 - Andy Greene•

Fitz basically said all the players they were willing to trade got little interest from other teams. Said he received few calls this deadline

45
MartysBetter29#31•

Not sure how I feel about him saying that. Kind of covers his ass from fan backlash but is it not devaluing those assets even more if he wants to move them in the summer?

-20
wearethedeadofnight#86 - Jack Hughes•

Not really, no. Salary cap played a big role at the trade deadline this year. Some years the best thing to do is hold em.

31
simplycycling#89 - Alexander Mogilny•

All it means is the right trade partner wasn't out there. I'm sure a heap of teams would have loved to have gotten Severson, but probably simply thought it would be too expensive - esp with Fitz saying he'd rather keep him, the other day.

3
sanbaba#22 - Claude Lefrigginmieux•

I get what you're saying; I guess the tradeoff is devaluing the players ahead of possible contract negotiations but yeah not sure I love it.

2
MartysBetter29#31•

If thats what GM’s have decided Seversons value is and what Friedman reported about him wanting to re-sign even for a bit below market is true, just re-sign the guy to a 3-4 year deal. I dont love him but if you arent getting a 1st+ for him I’d rather try him as part of the solution as a solid middle pair guy that might play bottom pair when Luke comes in.

35
banstyk#89 Alexander Mogilny•

People have gripes about Severson for his whole career but he is a solid top four right-handed defensemen… he makes mistakes from time to time but I’ve really never understood the hate. He also signed a very team-friendly contract last time around and my hope is he would sign one again. With all the issues this team has had at least we don’t have to try to find a right-handed defenseman.

24
MartysBetter29#31•

Yup well said.

4
PaversPaving#13 - Nico Hischier•

People act like he should be Headman bc he’s been our #1. Just unrealistic expectations dude has been a stud for us through the dark times. I’m pumped he wants to resign.

2
banstyk#89 Alexander Mogilny•

He was also like the last player picked in the second round when he was drafted - from the first minute he was with the Devils he over-performed yet there seems to be some weird expectation placed on him to be perfect.

2
DudeFalcone•

Well said. Agreed

7
littlegoatboy•

Good point about Luke. When ty was paired with Severson as a rookie they were great

4
specifichero101•

Ya I have issues with severson, but if he’s okay with sticking around even without a massive raise, I’m cool with keeping him. But if he’s looking to fetch 7 million dollars a year, I’m okay with moving him next dead line.

2
Gibbsey48#4 - Scotty Stevens•

I would have loved to see Johnsson moved, but he has stunk the last few months.

20
MellowKevsto#26 - Patrik Eliáš•

I wouldn't mind seeing Holtz for his two games, gives us something to look forward to in this closing stretch.

16
DekeaSaurusRex•

I want to keep severson, but do teams just not value him because he plays for the devils. He is a really good top 4 d man and to see Coleman had more interest is shocking to me considering some really bad defenseman got 3rds this deadline

15
ScrewOff_4x Draft Lotto Champs ('11, '17, '19, '22)•

GMs read GDTs with Devils fans doing nothing but shit on him

36
DekeaSaurusRex•

LOL for real. Yeah he makes some dumb plays and takes some bad penalties but for 90% of the rest of his game he is super solid.

7
m_ghesquiere#13 - Nico Hischier•

I think he is a quality top 4 d man. For 80% of games. Those 20% of games is what likely hurt his trade value. We were also likely asking for a high return for him. He wants to stay in NJ and fits our time frame. No real reason to trade him except if the offer blew out socks off

7
Skylightt#TeamN1co•

Severson falls into the category of Dman that many GMs undervalue. Coleman getting more interest doesn’t shock me. He was probably better or at least comparable. Coleman getting 2 firsts essentially and Severson nothing at all is surprising

1
TheJerkInPod6#28 - Damon Severson•

I’m really glad people are finally starting to wake up to this here. He’s not a bad player just because he doesn’t execute perfectly every single time. Nobody ever does. Yes, his most public mistakes have been big ones, but that sort of goes to show you how good he really is. If you can’t notice him on the ice most of the time and they’re not getting scored on or hemmed into their own zone, they’re doing their job right.

1
terrekko#88 - widdy88•

Feels like a second and a third liner would be what he’d get, but do we really need more forwards haha

1
rxbandit256#13 - Nico Hischier•

I can't disagree with you more on thinking Coleman had less value than Sevo. Coleman kept improving through his seasons here, did much so that by the time he left, he was a fan favorite. He has decent hands, very hard worker, had some incredible goals for us (how many one handed goals with defenders all over him?!) and was still getting better. We can't say any of those things about Severson. Sevo's value comes from him being a RD who's ok at his position, I really don't think he stands out at anything. I'll say he's had some fantastic passes, including a couple behind his back that ended up in the back of the net but those plays are few and far between... Oh man I miss Pickles...

0
PM180#17 - Petr Sykora•

I'm basically okay with this. I wanted us to get a warm body to put in goal for as little as possible, and Hammy for Schnarr meets both parts of that.

Figured there wouldn't be any takers on Subban. Zacha was tricky before he got injured, so again, not shocking. Would've liked if we could've sold off a couple underperformers, but by definition they're gonna be less appealing for other teams.

Didn't seem like any opportunities were there to weaponize cap space or anything, and we didn't fuck up, so I'll take it.

15
Tronz413#13 - Nico Hischier•

It sounded like Zacha would have only been traded in a hockey trade. There wasn't any interest in trading him for picks on our end.

2
mrSeven3Two#18 - Dawson Mercer•

Hilarious that Hammond is injured....

14
resistible#3 - Ken Daneyko•

Which is probably why we were able to get him in the first place.

2
HenriqueItsOver14#14 - Adam Henrique•

Perfectly fine with how Fitz approached the deadline.

Grab a body to spell Daws or MB29 if he comes back.

All the guys we’d consider trading minus Vesey aren’t pending UFAs and can be addressed in the off-season too.

Subban wasn’t getting traded because of his cap hit and it seems Fitz let him have a say and I’m pretty sure he’s been open about not being moved midseason before

11
Schnevets#33 Ryan Graves•

Crazy to think there is a chance we play 4 different goalies over these 20 games of meaningless hockey 🥴

9
whojicha•

When Hammond steps onto the ice for his first game we'll have set a franchise record by playing 7 goalies in one season.

'21-'22 NJ devil's setting club records!🤣

32
Gr3asy_L33f#20 - Michael McLeod•

just the wrong ones lmao

4
Ok-Distance6320New Jersey Devils•

also found it interesting that fitz said he plans on targeting NCAA free agents that are playing this weekend at regionals

8
rlxdengineer#70.8111- Kilometers Wood•

I don’t mind us holding on to players.

Subban is done this year. So no worries there. Team likes him. He likes the guys. Let them have fun.

Tatar is okay for 3rd line till holtz makes it to nhl and everyone gets pushed down and zacha is 3rd line. Same goes for johnsson.

No other really asset to trade. Rest of the folks are key members

5
Kilroy_1541•

I'm okay with this. All the devils have been doing since around 2015 has been trading for younger players or picks that don't pan out in exchange for losing proven people. Maybe some of these picks have finally panned out, just seems like the trades Fitz has made have been fairly lopsided against the devils, some in hindsight and some right away. They finally have a team that can score, just need a bit more defense and a consistent goalie, which I honestly think Daws can be in time, since he's shown clear improvement from his first NHL game.

4
srof12#10 - Alexander Holtz•

Re: the Muk situation is bad news for Gritsyuk. If Fitz doesn’t think he could get Muk signed right now, I’m not sure what we’re gonna be able to do with Grits.

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citizendevil22#22 Jordin Tootoo•

can’t believe they didn’t trade vesey but not the end of the world. probably will get pushed out of the lineup with guys coming back anyway

3
BlueBeagle8•

If they like what he brings to the room, that's probably more valuable than a 5th round pick or whatever else he'd bring back. Not a big market for 20 point wingers who can't drive possession.

8
MaroonMarauder#26 - Patrik Eliáš•

Not moving him also lets you keep the guys down in Utica without having to pull up a replacement. At this point, Utica has more meaningful games left compared to the Devils so let them finish out the year strong.

5
banstyk#89 Alexander Mogilny•

Could be right but to be honest I’d rather play Vesey than Johnsson

3
rxbandit256#13 - Nico Hischier•

Vesey is a hard worker and that counts, if he couldn't bring in anything of value, he's better here than getting nothing back.

2
Skylightt#TeamN1co•

Yeah I wish he would’ve gotten moved for a late pick just because we’ve got guys coming back in anyway

1
teenagediplomat#16 - Jacob Josefson•

I really wonder what happens with Mukh and any of the other Russian guys for that matter. No clue what the Ukraine situation means for getting guys like Gritsyuk under contract

3
Tronz413#13 - Nico Hischier•

You under played the Severson stuff. He sounded pretty clear he wasn't really interested in trading Severson and talked about how you can't easily replace him.

He wasn't interested in futures and was mostly looking for hockey trades (which would explain all that Zacha noise).

He likes the players he has and wants to supplement them, not subtract from them for prospects and getting younger.

Also it was easy to read between the lines he thinks goaltending is what primarily sunk this season.

The only guy he sounded like he was fine with trading was Subban, but admitted his cap hit and lack of want killed that.

3
[deleted]•

[removed]

1
Harrisonmonopoly•

I would’ve traded Zacha for literally nothing.

-17
srof12#10 - Alexander Holtz•

That would be dumb

6
Harrisonmonopoly•

Why, he’s not worth a fucking thing.

-9
srof12#10 - Alexander Holtz•

I’m sorry man I know people hate on Zacha here and rightfully so, but you have a 24 year old who’s scored 60+ points in his last ~100 games. In the view of hockey men around the league, he’s big, has a good shot and has positional versatility. Now we know he doesn’t really use his size, his shooting is inconsistent and he shouldn’t really play center. But that’s how people view him. He clearly has value, and giving him up for nothing would be even dumber than drafting him in the first place.

7
Harrisonmonopoly•

If he had value, teams would’ve been knocking on the door for him.

0
walked_pastonly three hopes: 63, 86 and 18•

Zacha, PK in roster. Whatever say Fitz failed deadline.

-46
kidkosher#26 - Scooter Lord•

PK makes 9 mil a year. There were plenty of just as good or slightly less good d men for way less than 4.5. Love or hate it money is money. Zacha is a dif story, personally glad he’s here (but that’s purely sentimental)

11
MellowKevsto#26 - Patrik Eliáš•

He probably would have traded Subban for nothing if somebody wanted him, just as a favour to him. Clearly nobody could fit him even at 4.5m.

It's fine if you think Zacha should be traded, I don't entirely disagree, but there will be more hockey trades on the table in the summer than there were at the deadline.

11
Gibbsey48#4 - Scotty Stevens•

Yikes you are getting dragged for a bad take.

9
dog_fantastic#26 - Patrik Eliáš•

Who or what do you think we could've gotten for Zacha that couldn't've waited until the end of the season?

8
Harrisonmonopoly•

I would’ve taken a hot dog cart and future considerations

-6
armchaircommanderdad•

How do you move a 4.5 million dollar bottom pairing d man?

7
GoudaGoudaGoudaGouda#63 - The ting goes Brrrraattt pap pap ka ka ka •

We can move Zacha literally tomorrow or during the draft or during the summer. There is no rush to move him now for what would probably be picks; shitty picks

4
whichwitch9#26 - Patrik Eliáš•

Zacha is injured, PK is a cap hit teams can't afford. Get over it- shouldn't be shocking nothing much happened

3
m_ghesquiere#13 - Nico Hischier•

I believe Vancouver was interested in Zacha. They are not sure where they fit into the playoff picture. Likely why there wasn’t a move specially with Zacha hurt

1
BrunnersNose#37 - Pavel Zacha•

Coming from the guy that calls Hischier a bust. Everything you say moving forward is meaningless.

1