Mailbag: Meier of Sharks trade option for Devils; Jack Adams front-runner

Here is the Jan. 25 edition of the mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on Twitter using #OvertheBoards. Tweet your questions to @drosennhl.

Is Timo Meier realistic for the Devils? What do you think they'll need to give up? -- @SammyStyls
Meier is 100 percent a realistic option for the New Jersey Devils to acquire before the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3. In fact, I think New Jersey is the perfect team to look at as a player for the San Jose Sharks forward, who has with a team-high 28 goals in 49 games, a 47-goal pace. The Devils' window to be a Stanley Cup contender is just opening now. They're already armed with a talented group of forwards who are 24 years old or younger -- Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, Michael McLeod and Jesper Boqvist. Meier is 26. He would fit right in if the Devils signed him long term. That's the key, but really that's the key for any team looking to acquire Meier from the Sharks. They need to sign him before he becomes a restricted free agent after the season, so any trade should come with a contract extension. The Devils are in position to offer him one at his market value, particularly because I can't see them bringing back both Tomas Tatar and Erik Haula, forwards who are eligible to be unrestricted free agents. Meier would help the Devils this season and they would be able to stomach his new contract going forward because he would immediately be a key part of the core group at the position.
If the Sharks trade Meier, the goal will be to get multiple pieces back to help fast track their rebuild. A first-round pick is a lock, and the Devils can trade one, especially if they believe it's going to be somewhere in the 20s, if not higher. The Sharks will want a top prospect, and if the Devils are in a win-now mode, moving a player like 21-year-old forward Alexander Holtz would not hurt them with Meier coming back. I think the Devils could even consider trading defenseman
Simon Nemec
, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. If they do, they should not trade their first-round pick this year too.
Luke Hughes
, the No. 4 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft and New Jersey's top prospect, should be off the table. The Devils can't trade him. The Sharks might also want another player, be it someone like forward Yegor Sharangovich, Fabian Zetterlund or Boqvist. New Jersey could live with that. Again, Meier is a potential 50-goal scorer. Regardless of what happens, the Devils would be getting the best player in the trade right now. The Sharks know that too. That will be the case with any team they work with on a Meier trade. They have to maximize the return, and the Devils can help them do that.

Who is your front-runner for the Jack Adams Award currently? A lot of good candidates with Dave Hakstol, Lindy Ruff, Jim Montgomery. -- @punmasterrifkin
You're right about a lot of good candidates for the award given to the NHL coach of the year. Hakstol from the Seattle Kraken, Ruff from the Devils and Montgomery from the Boston Bruins are certainly among them. You could toss Sheldon Keefe from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Peter Laviolette from the Washington Capitals, Rick Bowness from the Winnipeg Jets, Peter DeBoer from the Dallas Stars, Bruce Cassidy from the Vegas Golden Knights and Todd McLellan from the Los Angeles Kings into the mix too. I'd even argue for Jared Bednar considering all the Colorado Avalanche's injuries.
But it's Montgomery for me.
Too often we overlook the coach who has the best team, but there are reasons why the Bruins are the best team in the NHL this season and Montgomery is one of them. There is a skill to coaching a team that is good. For starters, you don't want to overcoach them. Montgomery has hit all the right notes. He has allowed his players to lead and have a voice while still implementing the style and structure they need. He gives them freedom to own the dressing room, but not the bench. He's found line combinations and defense pairs that work and hasn't deviated much except when injuries arise. He has old reliables, for example putting Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand on the same line, but he doesn't rely on them all the time. He recognizes the need to spread ice time when the schedule gets heavy, and if that means changing the lines and perhaps swapping out a player or two, so be it. There is no hesitation. If you're playing well, you'll move up in the lineup. That keeps complacency out of the Bruins' dressing room. Players want to play, and Montgomery makes the decision on if they do. There is no gray area there. He has the pulse of the team. He has pushed at the right times, particularly early in games, and he has pulled back when he knows its best, like late in games, when the Bruins have been at their best.
So, yes, there are a lot of good candidates, but Montgomery is outshining all of them. If he wasn't, the Bruins wouldn't be this good.

Are there any skills competitions you would like to see added to All-Star Weekend? -- @jreinitzesq
I am particularly fond of the classics like hardest shot, fastest skater and accuracy shooting. I like the additions of the pre-taped skill competitions too. They're fun, innovative and the players seem to genuinely enjoy being a part of them. But here are a few more that could be a lot of fun for fans in the building and at home, not to mention the players and the media too.
Goalie shootout:Goalies in full gear, including glove, blocker and their own stick, participate in the shootout, but they are the shooters. A forward or a defenseman will be in the net as the goalie, but he will not have a stick and has to stay on his feet. There are eight goalies at NHL All-Star Weekend, so they all participate. They get two chances. If they score, they stay in the competition. If they don't, they're out. Last one standing wins.
All-Stars Got Talent:A select group of six players pick the one hockey skill they're best in and try to do it. The winner is voted via social media. The NHL can bring in players who are not All-Stars to participate in this event (Trevor Zegras). Heck, bring in players who are not in the NHL to participate if they have a unique talent and a social media following.
I got input on this one from NHL.com staff writer David Satriano, who came up with the following two ideas.
Face-off Frenzy: Forwards take draws and must try and win the face-off/puck into the empty net from different areas on the ice. For example, they set up at the center-ice face-off dot and try to win it back into the goal. If they set up in one of the face-off circles, the attacking forward will try to win it forward into the net and the defending forward will try to win it backwards into the net.
Switching it Up: Have the players try and make shots with their non-dominant arm. Switch to lefty if they're righty, etc. Have a passer set them up and they have to shoot and score from five different spots on the ice: each of the face-off circles, each of the points and a net front deflection. This event is timed.
I also received this one from NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika.
Beach Soccer:Players play two-touch with a soccer ball before just about every game. They stand in a circle and the goal is to keep the ball up in the air. They can touch it once or twice, but it must stay up as they kick it to a teammate. If the ball falls on their last touch, they're out. So, with this All-Star Weekend being in Florida and events at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park, let's do two-touch on the beach, just like they do in warmups in every arena. Eight players, one circle, last one in wins.
Are there any stats, especially over multiple seasons on successful vs. failed penalty shots? You often see players appealing for one but with goalies getting ever better and prepared for shootouts could the man advantage statistically be better? -- @martmonk
It's almost comical to compare penalty-shot percentage against power-play percentage because there are thousands more power plays than penalty shots in a season. However, the penalty shot is still a better option statistically then a power play. I looked at the past five seasons, including this one with games played through Tuesday. In that time, there have been 180 penalty shots awarded and 51 goals scored, a 28.3 percent success rate. Meanwhile, there have been 31,228 power plays and 6,376 power-play goals, a 20.3 percent success rate. So by sheer numbers the penalty shot is still a better play than getting the two-minute man advantage. That said, I again stress that it's hard to do a realistic comparison because of the huge discrepancy in power plays versus penalty shots. There have been nearly six power plays per game in the NHL on average since 2018-19; there have been 0.03 penalty shots per game.
But players don't think about those statistics. If they're hooked or held on a breakaway, or at least feel like they've been hooked or held on a breakaway, they're going to turn to the referee to see if the penalty shot has been called. If they feel like it should have been, but it wasn't, they're going to want to know why. They would appeal for one because who wouldn't want an opportunity to go in alone on a goalie with a chance to score? Remember, as much as goalie coaches are helping their goalies scout the shooters, the rest of the coaching staff is helping the shooters scout the goalies.

---
Listen: New episode of NHL @TheRink