Such a massive overpay for Meier

the trade is based on like 4 different articles i read making mocks for meier.
top prospect (holtz) + a 1st rd pick + a b level prospect + a decent roster player

the second is in there for the retention.

how would you change it?

Penguins decline, they're not paying that for Blackwood and don't need him anyways.

elliote mentioned in the recent 32 thoughts that they were looking, but the pens are more of a placeholder team there tbh

Its a fair deal, I am scared about Holtz though. Why is he being scratched so much, and doing nothing at the NHL level?

He's a (barely) 21 year old rookie on a very good team.

Why not play in the AHL then? Its odd to just let a guy do nothing all year

Yeah, if NJ was still a struggling bubble team you'd likely see him getting a lot more time. Coaches will always say it's not their job to develop, they coach to win games.
I believe he's still waiver exempt (?) so if the Sharks acquired him, he'd likely go down to boost the cuda lineup.

I will say you're concerns aren't completely unwarranted. With how highly touted he is, he should be making a bigger impact. I'm not all that sold on him being a top winger in the NHL.

“ meier deal, imo, is going to be based off the debrincat deal.”

…then why double it?

If you took out Holtz, it would be plausible. But with Holtz, Meier would have to sign for middle-six pay to justify.

My guess, it will be….a top prospect (like Mukhamadullin, Foote, Gritsyuk, Zetterlund, Casey etc), a 1st round pick, and another smaller piece or two. With an extension, done at deadline, the smaller piece probably comes one bigger piece like another 1st rounder or another prospect.

Holtz, Nemec, Hughes, Mercer….these guys probably won’t be on the table. But we have a handful of other options, who if in SJS’s pool, would be their second best prospect.

He has lit up the AHL last year. I agree he should be playing more on the big team. But I think just playing with the speed with the rostered players is a better fit for him. His most recent game or two he has looked better. In SJ he would not be thrown out there asap to make a difference imo.

Hughes and Nemec would be the second best prospect in our system for sure, but I'd say Holtz is about on par with Bordeleau and Bords has looked much better at the NHL level than Holtz (granted in very limited time there) and he's a center which is pretty damn valuable.

He has not adapted to the speed the Devils are playing with right now. And let's face it not many teams are either. His release is lethal. For sure NHL caliber, and that was really how he was sold:

“His shot is incredibly powerful and accurate, making it difficult for goalies to stop even when they see it coming."
"Everyone agrees he has power to his game and that he’s got arguably the best wrist shot in the draft”
 "Holtz is one of the draft’s purest finishers and his shot-release combination is absolutely lethal.”
"Holtz (6-0, 192) is a strong skater and can get a hard, accurate shot off from anywhere in the offensive zone”
"Holtz is one of the draft’s purest finishers and his shot-release combination is absolutely lethal.”
"He is a natural offensive talent, with an elite release and quick hands.”
"Elite shooting and goal-scoring ability should translate to the NHL."
"Another awesome shooter”
"An elite shooter who can finish from all around the offensive zone”

Hughes, Nemec are more valuable than any SJS prospects, both are top-5 guys.
Holtz and Eklund are close, both around #11-20 tier.
Mukhamadullin, Casey, Gritsyuk not far behind them in #20-50 range.

Probably something like....

Luke Hughes
Nemec

Eklund
Holtz

Mukhamadullin
Casey
Gritsyuk

Bordeleau
Bysted
Filmon
Zetterlund
Foote
Lund
Walsh
Havelid
Vilen
Robins
Thompson
Clarke
Coe

(Mercer would be between Nemec and Eklund)

Sharks fans: Holtz will not be an NHLer
Sharks fans: Holtz must be included in Meier trade

(?)

(We can give them a bunch of guys that will not be NHLers. Perhaps, Jaromir Pytlick?)

For me Holtz is the minimum level prospect I want, but I am not super sold on him. I cant comment if he will be an NHLer but he clearly isnt one this year

Other sharks fans may have different thoughts, we arent a hive mind

Holtz hasn’t been able to outplay any of the wingers in our top-6, mostly because other guys have been playing well. But he plays on power play and has increasingly been used in important minutes. He doesn’t fit on a defensive or checking line. So they are developing him in-house instead of trying to stuff a square peg in round hole.

He will be fine. Will be big part of this team when we get to our peak.

Sharks fans know that Holtz has a high ceiling, but it's also clear he has hasn't been able to do much of anything at the NHL level. NJ fans seem to assume Holtz is a guaranteed top 6 player. Much like Laf and Kakko, they have time to figure it out and have a high ceiling but the sample size is getting bigger and their production is stagnant.

You can keep him if you value him that highly but if he doesn't take that next step, you could be stuck with a Kratzov situation. That dude has zero value now, but was seen with as high, if not higher, ceiling than Holtz two years ago. My god, is New York bad a developing high level forward prospects.

Also, I'm not sure what good copy and pasting his draft year scouting reports does. It's more important to see how he's progressed since then.

You're vastly underestimating Bordeleau. He had 5 points in 8 games last year centering a line with Gregor and Balcers in the NHL. He's an AHL all-star this year in his first pro season. He's also scoring a ton for primarily playmaker. Same with Eklund, but that's partly because no one else is finishing on the Cuda and they need to do a lot of heavy lifting.

Holtz just turned 21 the other day.
At same age, to the day,
- Holtz: 27 GP, 3 goals, 3 assists
- Meier: 36 GP, 3 goals, 3 assists

And Holtz has 2.5 years on ELC while Meier had 1.5 years.

We are in no rush. Goal-scorers are worth their weight in gold.

I like Bordeleau! Have followed him since his draft year and probably watched a dozen or so games while at Michigan.

Mukhamadullin is a unique player with size, speed, skating, shot, creativity. Probably more of boom/bust, but his upside is enormous. Gritsyuk was KHL rookie of the year last year. Started this year off slowly working around leg injury, but has been steadily point-per-game over last few months for Avangard. And Casey is a stud (and actually has higher ppg totals at Michigan than Bordeleau while playing center).

Sure, but this is for the 2023-24 season. My money would be they move DeSmith, resign Jarry and bring in a vet UFA for backup. Not going to spend draft capital on Blackwood lol

As a few others have mentioned here, your suggested Meier deal is way too rich to be realistic.
Fiala, a star winger just as good as Meier went for #19 pick + B level prospect.
Mark Stone, one of the best two way wingers in the game went for Brännström + a 2nd rd pick.
Taylor Hall, coming off a MVP season got the Devils a 1st + B level prospect + 2 warm bodies.
Alex DeBrincat, coming off two consecutive 40+ goal (per 82 games) seasons got the Blackhawks pick #7 in a rather underwhelming draft + 2nd + 3rd.

Meier is nowhere near a lock to even get Holtz + 1st, that'd be an extraordinary return for the Sharks.

"devils can go two routes with the defenseman:
1. pair a defensive guy with each of your high risk defenseman (offense or inexperienced)
sieg - hamilton
luke - marino
graves - nemec

or 2. play luke & nemec together (that's the first pairing in 2-3 years) and let them figure it out on the 3rd pair, while you have a legit shutdown pairing:
sieg - hamilton
graves - marino
luke - nemec

i went with the last one, but either works"

I like the way you were thinking about the defense pairings, I agree that Luke Hughes would thrive on the 2nd pair playing with Marino.
But I think there are better options for the overall 23/24 setup.
My main gripe with it is that I believe it'd be way too early to play Nemec in the NHL next season, apart from a 9 game cup of coffee as to preserve the ELC slide.
An additional year of development in the AHL would do Nemec wonders, just like Luke Hughes will have gotten two years in the NCAA before likely becoming a full-time NHLer for next season.
Besides, I'd bet that Okhotiuk, Bahl, Walsh and Brendan Smith would all be outright better players than Nemec come October 2023 anyway.

I think the Graves (and Bratt) signing is very optimistic, about 1m short in AAV to get him to resign with the Devils.
Given how many young up and coming defenders the Devils are gonna have to juggle, I'd actually prefer them to save the cap space and go quite young with their 23/24 D corps:
Siegenthaler - Hamilton
Hughes - Marino
Okhotiuk - Walsh (or Smith / Bahl)

While a little inexperienced, Bahl, Walsh and Okhotiuk will be entering their peak years at 23 (Walsh 24) at the start of the 23/24 season.
I think all three of them would be perfectly capable to take 3rd pair responsibilities and help the Devils into another playoff run.

Tarasenko would be a decent option to go after in FA.
The contract you signed him seems a little rich for term but the 6 - 6.5m AAV range seem reasonable to me.