Vladdy back yay. Cole oof.

Cirelli and Sergy signed long term. Cap goes up at all next few years Ceasar is gonna be an absolute bargain. Sergy might be a bit rich now but he's got the opportunity to take a big step with Mac gone.

Cole contract sucks but otherwise this is masterclass by GMJBB

Cirelli's was good.
Term on Cernak is probably too much.
Sergachev needs to prove he's worth that, but he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Vladdy should be good.

Cole sucks.

This way (Cernak) we don't have to trade for a Seabrook in 5 years. We've already got one in house.

Rutta signed for less and Cole. Guess he didn't wanna hang around.

Never mind 3 years.

I was expecting to sign cheaper vet LHD and better top 6 forward... I like Vladdy but that's not Pally's replacement.

Rutta got paid. Got for him.

Here's my take on opening night roster after Bogo and Cirelli surgery news.

Terrible moves today imo. Cole is fine for the role, but too much $. 2.5 to Names is laughable, and they have no replacement for Palat. Keeping Killorn is a blunder, and Serg was grossly overpaid. Could have moved Killorn for value and maybe convinced Perron or Stastny to come on down, while still signing Cole and having space for another 2-2.5 forward, all while having gained a draft pick or two out of a Killorn trade. They've gone from Palat. McD, and Rutta to Names. Cole, and Myers, yeah....

Cernak signing is too much term for a guy who just can't block a shot and stay healthy.

Cirelli is not worth $6.25 million a year.

Sergachev signing is WAAAAYYY too much AAV. $8.5 million??!!! Are you kidding me JBB?!

WHY ARE THEY KEEPING MYERS??? Has JBB gone mad? If you'd bought him out/traded him, you could've made a move for Marchment, or possibly even kept Palat and Rutta

And because of those extensions, they have to settle for Namestnikov and Cole.

So no, I am NOT HAPPY. If they somehow keep Palat I'll be a little calmer.

Yep, pretty much (See above post). Don't know why on earth JBB didn't buy out Myers (which they would've actually gained cap space from!) and/or trade Killorn. Could've got a Marchment, or a Perron, or even a Klingberg if they'd been smart.

Overall not impressed with the signings/ acquisitions today, alas, this is why we play the games. The Atlantic will be a blood bath next season.

The only reason not to buy out Myers was to not have the 633k cap hit next year, but that's a minor issue had contracts been handled well. For max term, Cirelli and Cernak's deals are fine aav wise(maybe a little overpaid, but possibly a little under what they could have pushed for). I didn't think all 3 would get max term, so I thought some would be less. Sergachev's deal is terrible. He's done nothing to deserve 8.5, nothing. He just got more than Hedman on his big deal, lol please. For 8 years, I maybe could've seen 7 aav, but that's it.

Even with these deals, they could have traded Killorn for some value, then made a push for someone like Perron, Stastny, Vatrano etc. while still having the room for Cole.or a similar dman and a.lower cost F like Names, Kubalik, Blackwell, Motte etc. Now next year, Tampa has 11.4 available(provided a cap increase of 1 million), to sign 8 players(4 F, 3 D, and a backup G). It will be difficult again, especially if they plan on keeping Colton and Foote.

When we brought in Rutta it was a wicked move in hindsight but a weird on at the time. Coleman. Goodie. Paul. I'm not worried about the Myers non buyout.

When has this team ever gone out and added a big free agent? Its all about draft and develop and sign complementary piece through free agency.

Losing Palat sucks. Absolutely. But they locked up the big RFAs long term. Which is good. The cap is going to go up again and when it does (at least) two of those contracts are going to be bargains. Cirelli in particular is going to become one of the best contracts in the league.

We knew they weren't going to be able fit everyone. But it's not like we're suddenly struggling to keep up in the division.

Paul Stamkos Kuch. Paul replaces Palat. Formidable first line. Especially if Stamkos has another year like last year.

Hagel Point Koepke. Let's get one of the kids in the lineup early and see what we've got. Probably deadline add here "with what money" the same money we find in the couch cushions every season.

Killer Cirelli Vladdy. Vladdy is a much better player than the one that left Tampa. If you've seen him play in recent years, he is a terrier.

Perry Maroon Bells Fortier whoever else I'm missing. Best 4th line in hockey? Maybe.

Heddy Myers. Heddy can play with anyone.
Sergy Cernak. #1 pairing of the future. Peanut Butter and Jam. Hits the spot.
Cole Bogo Foote. Not fast but effective for a third pair. Maybe needs deadline help. Or Perbix?

Vasy. Nuff Said.

The Powerplay will be better coached with the same key 4 and Perry/Cirelli/Killer mixing in. Still top 10 in the league.

PK. Took a massive hit with Mac out. But:
Heddy, Cernak, Sergy (really good when mac was out) Cole are all sound.
Bells, Killer, Paul, Cirelli. Dynamite.

This is still a contender. We just can't have any passengers and his time. (I'm looking at you killer. Repay their fair dammit)

Thinking about today's FA contracts, I don't like Cole but am okay with Vladdy.
The good thing about both are that they're 1-year deals that don't make any issues after this year if they don't work out.
I want to see where Palat's deal comes in at because if it's ~$5m and 4 years then I think we should have gone with keeping Palat and signed Fleury or some other cheap LHD.

Term on Cernak makes him our very own [future] Seabrook.
Honestly, I'm fine with Cirelli's deal. I had been budgeting $5.5-6.0M in my ACGMs, so it wasn't a huge miss.

Sergachev is the one that makes me do a double take. However, I think the important thing to consider with Sergy is that rather than worrying about what he's worth now, we almost need him to live up to this contract as whether we remain competitive once Heddy gets to around 35+ will depend on if Sergy really comes into his own in his late 20s like Hedman did.

I don't know if today made us a better team for next season or the future, but there's certainly less uncertainties about the roster's future.

Hearing Ondrej Palat's five-year deal with the #NJDevils is expected to carry a $6M AAV.Some details are still being finalized, though.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 14, 2022

I bet he would have taken $5M x 5 years if we offered it.
Up to Cole and Vladdy to prove JBB right (at least for this season).

I really hope the report from Seravelli that Palat came to JBB and said he would take the Paul deal to stay a Bolt isn't true. If it is, just lost some more confidence in JBB. Even in the later years of that deal, with the cap going up by then, 3.15 would've been a bargain for what Palat brings.

Where did Seravalli say that?

It was in a podcast he did(DFO Rundown). He said it was a rumor he heard 2nd hand, but nothing was confirmed afaik. I hope a rumor is all it was, because if there is any truth to it…

If that's true, that's very disappointing.

For sure the Lightning will be a contender this year, and probably will be in 2023-24 and 2024-25 too. But I worry that the enormous term on so many of these contracts JBB is handing out (not to mention the cap hit) is going to turn the Lightning into the next Sharks-stuck with a bunch of once-good-but-now-old/aging contracts that you have to literally pay other teams to take off your hands. I don't worry about Point, Kuch, Hedman, Vasi, even Cirelli etc. But giving that much money to Sergachev and that much term to Cernak is inexcusable barring a drastic change in either Sergachev's play or Cernak's durability. And for the life of me I don't understand why they're keeping Myers.

Well, I (and I assume most of us) will be entering this upcoming season with a large sense of uncertainty of how we'll look without Palat and McDonagh. Til then, I'm going to slow down my internet traffic to CF. See you all during preseason!

I want Pally back...

Ondrej Palat: “I was sad, I’m not going to lie, leaving Tampa after 10 years. I was kind of preparing myself the whole year there was a chance I was leaving Tampa. It’s a business.” Knew a week ago he was hitting free agency. Excited about Devils young talent + future there.

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) July 15, 2022

Gonna have to wait about 5 years for him to sign for 1 and retire. He'll be missed.

Well, I'm back a little sooner than expected. Can't help but feel for Coleman right now. Went to Calgary likely expecting to compete for the entirety of his contract, and only one season in and the walls are crumbling down.