NJ Devils Sign Pesce, Dillon & Noesen NHL FREE AGENCY & Offseason Recap

NJ Devils Sign Pesce, Dillon & Noesen NHL FREE AGENCY & Offseason Recap

[Music] welcome back Devils fans it is your host Ace here on running with the Devils where we are talking New Jersey Devils hockey all year long Please Subscribe if you’re Devils fan smash that like button share with a friend thank you very much and we go to now what I would call the the wrapup or so it seems of NHL free agency and before I get into the specifics everyone please I’m getting attacked a lot your boy Ace wears his heart on his sleeve and does give his opinions so if you’re just expecting just to see purely news and things of that nature while I do try to do that you know part part of what I’m doing here is going to be to give my opinion and talk to you guys about your opinions and so a lot of you I guess sensed my very blatant disappointment and a little bit of a shock to be honest when the first wave of free agent signings were coming out and and that’s the reality you know I saw all these things coming in I jumped on here and I was a little too harsh and that’s often the case with me I do wear my heart on my sleeve often I will come down a bit from my initial reaction and my initial reaction was you know very disappointed unfortunately with the fact that we missed out on a top six guy we were rumored to all those sexy names I went to bed at literally I think it was like 7 A.M looking at all the stam Co so you know that’s kind of where I’m at with that I came on here as soon as all these things came in and I was disappointed I did like the defensive moves but overall I was still feeling the sting of missing out on the top six guys and here we are to do a kind of comprehensive recap and so overall we did have a great day for the New Jersey Devils Tom fitr did improve this team dramatically and it started you know a few weeks ago and we got markstrom we all complained about a goalie all year long I wish that he had addressed it at some point last season and that’s one of my biggest knocks on Fitz Dr at the moment is that you know he just watched us drown while everyone knew we were missing a goalie didn’t do anything about it till deadline day then we got two of them yeah that’s water under the bridge at to some extent at this point but he went out and got markstrom loved the markstrom deal a lot of you disagreed with me with that but I wanted him from last season when we were rumored to him and so now we start with the goalie piece markstrom loved the deal for two years a competitor gonna give us a chance to win every night and I love the move and now we have to address the defense we moved out Kevin ball in that markstrom deal and we moved Marino the other day at the draft for some picks so obviously those two guys are going to have to be replaced what does Fitzy do in the first hour or so of free agency didn’t come as a surprise to anyone because we all expected this the rumors were out there we signed Brett pesy for six years at 5 .5 million a year a little bit lower than what a lot of the estimates were a lot of people were saying it might be closer to six six and a half I like the 5 a half million like pesy great placement for Marino going to be a lot more steady back there in front of markstrom and then we signed Dylan Brendan Dylan of the Jets to four million times three years I like him too he was on my list I really did want zadorov the monster truck throwback assassin absolute killer violent gentleman he is the definition of heavier edgier more violent I really wanted zadorov I don’t think the analytics Department was looking fondly on at him and so I don’t think he was ever a real option for the Devils they were probably never even in on him would have loved to see zadorov but to replace Kevin ball and John Marino with Brett pesy and Brendan Dylan those are those are pretty sizable upgrades in my opinion and so now with Mar shman net ball and Marino swapped out for peshi and Dylan we are going to be a much tougher team to score against that is a fact that is the number one area that we needed to fix a lot of you guys were attacking me and saying like I didn’t want that I 100% wanted that I am an old school guy I’m an old school fan Lou Lamar School of GM you build a team from the net out I came up as a kid in the Marty Broder ERA with Scotty neire Scott Stevens and a bunch of killers Kenny Dano on defense I appreciate gending and defense above everything I really do and so don’t get it twisted I’m all for that marstrom with peshi and Dylan represents a much revamp goal tending defense kind of symphony it’s going to be a beautiful Symphony back there for this for this team it’s going to be much harder to score against and it’s what we needed and so I do give Fitz the credit for addressing the number one glaring issue was we were getting scored on too much you fix that with getting a better goalie upgrading to your defenseman and I love it job well done by Fitzy on that front job well done markstrom peshy Dylan love it would have liked zidor of more but I’ll take what we got then we go out and continue to get heavier edgier more violent with the acquisition of Stefan n from Carolina was on the Devils years ago I liked him back then as you guys know by now I love all the Rough and Tumble guys and Stefon n is indeed one of them he gets a three-year deal at 2.75 million a year and our bottom six has got some dogs in it now Stefon N is a dog Paul Cotter is a dog I would have liked to see some dogs on defense but listen Rome wasn’t built in a day and I guess this New Jersey Devils team can’t be completely revamped in one summer although we are getting a major facelift here with all these moves but I love the N deal plays way bigger than he is I actually thought he was bigger than what he’s listed at at 6125 he plays a mean heavy game and he’s going to bring tenacity to this lineup as is cter so the bottom six is rounding out beautifully I’m very curious to see how that third and fourth line take shape throughout camp and I guess you know early on in the season I do believe that the devils and Fitz Dr are super high on CER and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets an audition on the third line because he plays wing and Center that’s going to give us a lot of different possibilities you know having a guy that can play wing and Center gives you a lot of flexibility especially in the bottom six so we might see him shuffled around all over the place before he finally settles in with his Lin mates and what will hopefully be you know some sort of long-term line to build chemistry over the season but cter is a big wild card I do think Fitz and The Devils are really high in him you read all the Articles it seems like they thought they kind of caught lightning in a bottle with him where we might have this guy that’s going to way overachieve what he did in Vegas and he was just a casualty of extreme forward depth in Vegas and he’s going to have a much bigger role here I’m hoping that’s the case but n and CER definitely make us way grittier way harder to play against and we all knew that was a problem last season that’s not going to be a problem this season and hopefully the way these guys play and their attitudes are kind of infectious to the rest of the group and everyone could just play a little bit chipper just play a little bit I’m not asking Nico to go out there and you know break bones but just play a little grittier and a little tougher than you’d normally do and listen I do think Nico is a very tough player because he takes a beating night in and night out I would just like him to just develop a little bit more of a snarl where you know he doesn’t always look like he’s going to cry I feel like he looks like he’s going to cry a lot I mean does anyone else see that I just feel like his facial expressions are are of a a very defeatist variety or a sad variety I just want to see him just develop that you know develop a little bit more of that Killer Instinct and maybe he will with a lot of these guys around him we’re going to have tough guys all over the place love to see the moves peshy Dylan n great free agency or ve very good free AG I’ll say very good free agency very good free agency but my my main issue and I I don’t want to keep harping on the negative but we did desperately need a top six forward and we did strike out and that was part of my initial disappointment that came through in the first video I recorded was that you know I’m literally I was up all night last night looking at all this I couldn’t sleep looking at everything you rumored to stammer rumored to maraso uh sucks to miss out on them I wouldn’t have paid stammer the $8 million I think you know he was going for a money grab it’s a taxfree state and now with the moves they made today you know who’s to say they’re not a contender right I mean you know the they could have a very good season next year they really could the one that stings is the marsho deal five and half million bucks I would have loved to have that guy on our team at that price plays a little bit a little bit tougher than a lot of our other guys has been through the playoff Wars won a KH SMI was over a point per game in that playoff when they won the cup and I think that’s the one that’s the one that stings for me because that I thought was a pretty good deal and I think he could have brought a lot to our our group I really do but he was probably determined you know to also collect state tax free paychecks with stammer in Nashville fun place to play by all accounts and it just wasn’t meant to be for us and I guess there wasn’t many other options there and with the cap getting Tighter and Tighter it was going to be hard to do it was going to be really hard to do but another thing that I forgot to mention earlier was a part of my disappointment for whiffing on the top six is that I was almost certain when we pulled the plug on the Alex Holtz experiment and essentially gave him away to Vegas I thought for sure that that signified okay we’re going to get a top six guy because we don’t have Holtz anymore and that’s not to say that Holtz would have been a top six guy but I think a lot of us thought he was going to at least get an audition at some point this season to maybe crack that top six or you know give us more flexibility in the top six but you know losing him yeah I definitely just thought we were going to we were going to bring in another another forward for sure and it wasn’t meant to be for whatever reason a lot of people are specul Fitz might be working the phones and trying to work a trade and he’s not done yet um I I can’t say for sure what I think about that I mean I I think he’s always looking to improve the team when he can but I don’t have any lofty expectations of a top six player materializing anytime soon and that might be a thing we look to do at the deadline you know who knows it’s going to be hard to maneuver at the deadline and be buyers if we are in a position to be pushing for a cup because we do not have that 2025 first- round pick that we dealt in the markstrom deal I was hoping maybe via trade at some point leading up to the draft that we would have been able to make a move to get back a 2025 first rounder to be able to be buyers the deadline but we’re going to have to get creative with maybe future draft picks prospects who knows but it seems like Dawson Mercer is gonna have to really step up this year we need a lot from Dawson Mercer and we’re going to need a lot better year from plot as well I know everyone keeps beating on plot for the contract you know it is what it is it’s a horrible contract and it’s not not going to get any better I’m just hoping that he could pick it up a little bit from last season and give us a little bit more if everybody across the board could give us a little bit more I think we’re going to have a fine year I really do think we’re going to have a great year we still have some lethal forwards with douge back I expect our power play to be lethal and I think it’s going to be a lot harder for the other teams to put Pucks in our net our defense got much better much more experienced and we have a way better goalie than we had all year long last year so when you add up all those elements overall I am happy just to clarify I am happy with our free agency I am happy with our offseason but I’m a little bit greedy and I’m always looking for a little bit more and I was really looking to get that top six forward I really was you know I thought you know stammer would have been a dream but that was you know that guy’s crazy money not worth the money but marsho at five and a half that’s that’s a tough pill to swallow I’d be curious to know if the Devils were truly in on any of these guys but that’s gone now so now we looked to the Future and we we are a better team we are a much better team and I expect this New Jersey Devils Club to be much closer to the franchise setting record 2223 New Jersey Devils then the last year debacle 23 24 injury riddled jinxed cursed New Jersey Devils I think the boys will be back next year I do believe we’re going to be in contention to win the division and I think we’re going to be a dangerous out in the playoffs for anybody that has to match up against us I do not think a lot of teams will want to match up against us I do not I call me delusional I’m expecting a big bounceback year for this New Jersey Devils club and I’m going to go out on a limb here and say right now that at a minimum we win a Playoff round how do you guys like those apples the New Jersey Devils will add a minimum make it to the second round next year you heard it from your boy Ace hopefully this doesn’t come back to bite me but I firmly believe the devils are easily winning at least one Playoff round next year and would love to see them go further the sky is the limit if the group starts clicking we get hot at the right time and you never know you never know what happens in this game but I’m hoping for the best and I’m I’m excited for the season I really am let me know what you guys think in the comments about all these moves you know my biggest sting of the day is I guess zadorov you know that was the one that I thought we realistically had a chance to get but you know I don’t think the analytics team was was liking him whatsoever and so we get peshi Dylan Stefon n and maybe something else a little bit of the smaller variety will come trickling in later I don’t know but let me know in the comments what you guys think about all this we definitely got a little bit heavier edgier more violent with n we have cter and now there’s some dogs in the room there’s some dogs in the room dogs on the ice I’m jacked for the season I honestly wish it wasn’t you know wow three three months plus a few days away it’s going to seem like an eternity because after the draft in free agency there’s not much going on in the summer guys not a ton you know I’m going to be here doing random things here and there but not a ton throw it out there in the comments I will be live tonight chatting with whoever of you Dr drops by at 8:30 we’ll doing a live talking about the Devils talking about free agency hope you guys could make it I’ll have the beverages ready grab a drink or several come join the conversation shout out to my little buddy zebra zebra games you cannot drink maybe you could get like a soda or an apple juice whatever it is you bring your beverage of choice you watch the live and we’ll all be here just uh you know talking New Jersey Devil’s hockey I know a lot of you are super down on Fitz and want to kill them I I think that’s unfair I just think part of it is we all kind of I don’t want to say bought the lie I don’t think it was a lie but I understand the frustration if you saw my first video when peshi and Dylan were signed I was visibly kind of frustrated and I think you know Fitzgerald just needs to stop talking smack because when he came out with big game hunting you’re like yeah big we’re going big game hunting and unfortunately to most people including myself peshy Dylan and and N that’s not big game hunting our team got better so that’s what you have to focus on I think if Fitz Dr didn’t set the expectations so high with all of his bravado and rah rah talk I don’t think people would be as upset but the combination of big game hunting with all the rumors to the big names it kind of set me up to be disappointed and I even said my expectations are not high but you still always hold out that little sliver of Hope and when it doesn’t happen it’s crushing it really is it really is this is like you know You’re Expecting Santa to bring you that really expensive Christmas gift you wanted and you go down Christmas morning the cookies and milk are gone Santa wiped those out cookies and milk are gone but that Shiny Toy you wanted is not there and that’s kind of how I feel right now but again looking back on the whole situation this off season free agency we had a great offseason we’ve improved in multiple positions and as a team I think we’re vastly improved I really do you know getting a real goalie upgrading to of the defense and then getting nasty bottom six guys overall we are going to be a much better team and you just have to focus on that it’s just hard for a lot of people and again including myself to get past the initial shock and disappointment because when you as a general manager go out there and tell the world we are going big game hunting you’re setting people’s expectations up here and you’re swinging at players that are down here so it doesn’t it doesn’t doesn’t drive and I get the disappointment but guys you know I’m not a huge Fitzgerald fan but I think he’s done done a lot this off season to make the team better and that’s really it it’s just all of his talk led to us all to be disappointed or at least some of us but I think it it was a good off season thus far it was a good day in free agency we have a little cap money left hopefully we pull a rabbit out of the Hat maybe in a trade down the line who knows Fitz dalal’s not speaking to the media today so maybe there’s some minor things in the works and we’ll find out but that’s all I got for right now but it is a good day it is a good day to be a New Jersey Devils fan it is a good day for the players the team got better we will be much better next year and that’s what you got to focus on I know I wanted the big game hunt too I really did I really wanted to go big game hunting but it wasn’t in the cards and fit strer just stopped saying stuff like that hope to see you all tonight on the live 8:30 I’ll be here beverages in hand talking to all of you do some live Callins maybe I’ll do some sporadic prizes I don’t know yet we’ll figure it all out but let me know in the comments I will talk to you all soon it is a good day to be a devil’s fan and I will talk to you all soon like comment subscribe and all that jazz until next time friends let’s go death [Applause]

NHL Free Agency is officially underway!

The New Jersey Devils have signed defensemen Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon along with forward Stefan Noesen.

The defense has been improved with the signing of these two players. We also added a nasty forward to the bottom 6.

The NJ Devils are a much improved and more physical team for sure.

HEAVIER. EDGIER. MORE VIOLENT!

Did Tom Fitzgerald’s “BIG GAME HUNTING” mantra lead us to expect more?

What about a Top 6 forward?

I discuss the New Jersey Devils day in NHL Free Agency, as well as the earlier Offseason moves in this video.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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