I must disagree somewhat here. The Devils DID NOT have any defensive structure last year and somehow blamed goaltending for their woes. Alot of it was not the Goalies fault. We need a solid defensive system and a much deeper Offensive attack form a physical standpoint. Namely a Power Center and some relentless forecheckers for the 4th Line. Cannot underestimate the affects of losing McLeod. We also need two veteran D-men. They do not have to be high priced but we cannot in all fairness ask a 21- and 22-year-old kids to log major minutes and contend. The Key at this moment is Marino and Siegs. If neither one of them Rebound from last year's god awful seasons, then the problem may persist.
Last season at times , it was Smith and 5 rookies on D. And people wanted to blame Smith and the goalies. Classic. The entire D corp...is terrible defensively.
Pesce would be a great SECOND defenseman to bring in, but, in all honesty, there are other names I would go after before him. Also, it depends on his price. I feel like Pesce's salary could get out of hand very quickly. I heard speculations that it could reach as high as $7 million per season...at which point, I am a firm "no thank you."
Talented and experienced. A slight upgrade over Marino. However, we need LD more (preferably with grit). I won't complain if NJ gets him, but I think other d fit better for the cap space and team need. Edit: To clarify, slight improvement over '22-'23 Marino. Larger improvement over '23-'24 Marino.
Last year Marino wasn't good. The year prior, he was great. Dougie getting hurt while we also shipped out two defensemen who played 20 minutes a night, moved Marino into a position he's not prepared for. Hopefully, getting a top 4 defenseman, getting Dougie back... Will lead to Marino playing back to his capabilities.
I agree Marino was horrible last season, I hope he's the one moved out if there making another trade shipping a Defenseman out. Marino was awesome the first year we got him and same thing with Pittsburgh great early on and then was shipped out when he had a drastic fall off.
