Devils Have Options But It Will Take Some Work To Pull Off
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined the Power Play on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio with Steve Kouleas and Carter Hutton on Thursday and when asked about New Jersey adding a goalie, he stated that Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald will have to get creative to make things work.
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Carter Hutton: “We talk about trades. We talk about finding that rental player, you know, for me, is there a chance a team like Jersey or you know, if this young core makes a splash for a goalie on a big deal, a big name guy, a Markstrom, a Gibson, actually spending some real assets to get a guy that can solidify that position for years to come. Is that the play or is it a rental player? Where do you think they’re at with especially with the squad they have?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, they’re an interesting one, because it’s hard to get a sense as well if they want to go in that direction or not. I think they would like, like a guy, like John Gibson. I think they would definitely like to find somebody who can come in there be a long term or a short term, long term solution, like not a one off.
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For them to go out there right now, I mean, from their mindset with who they have right now in net with with Vanecek and I guess Daws for the time being and kind of seeing where things are at. To go out and get a guy like, like Jake Allen, for example, or, one of the one of the guys out of San Jose or something like that, like is that really gonna push the needle? Is that really going to give them enough to take that next step?
A guy like Gibson, a guy like Elvis Merzlikins, for example, who’s also out there, they’ve got term on their deal. Merzlikins is in the five range. Gibson $6.4 million. So it’s a combination of are you willing to give up for those assets? And then how are you going to work this out financially? Are you taking the full contract? Or are you going to look for one of those teams to retain and if there is retention, then you’re gonna have to compensate for that.
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So I think New Jersey is definitely a team that’s willing to explore a variety of options here. Markstrom has a full no move. So he’s going to have to sign off on a deal. Gibson has, I believe a 10-team no trade list and I think Merzlikins has some type of no trade list as well. So they’re going to have to get creative.
But I think Tom Fitzgerald is wide open to a variety of different situations here over these next two months.”