2021 - 2022 Devils Grades

[Nubmer6]

A Erika, Bryce
B Cangi, Dano

F Arda Ocal, wherever he is.

What's wrong with Arda???

 

[Guadana]

You can’t have Johnsson and McLeod (or Vesey really) rated higher than Tatar and Zacha. The later two were much better. Also no way Severson should have a C. That is suggesting he had a bad season. Which he did not. Was one of the best of his career. B at least. Boqvist should get a B as well in my opinion.

It doesn't work that way. Players have roles, responsibilities, expectations, salaries and ice time. Foe example I would give A to Bastian if he did score 16 goals or more. But Zacha and Tatar would never take B for 16 goals. Only if they did play 35 games.

Severson was good offensively, but he wasn't defensively. He is defenseman. And I have standards.
Johnsson was much better as 200foot player than Tatar. And Zacha lost all of his little trust. After last season Johnsson was OK. Zacha and Tatar were not. They did start as top 6 players. Johnsson was bottom player, find some trust, lost it, but didn't hurt overall game much. Zacha and Tatar lost a lot of moments.
Boqvist was good in the second half of the season, but his defensive game wasn't really good. His offensive production overall isn't great. He is older than Kuoakkanen was year ago, his defensive game isn't better, his production isn't better. And after this season we can't say that he deserve spot and Fitz doesn't need to sign good two way center. Its debatable.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

It doesn't work that way. Players have roles, responsibilities, expectations, salaries and ice time. Foe example I would give A to Bastian if he did score 16 goals or more. But Zacha and Tatar would never take B for 16 goals. Only if they did play 35 games.

Severson was good offensively, but he wasn't defensively. He is defenseman. And I have standards.
Johnsson was much better as 200foot player than Tatar. And Zacha lost all of his little trust. After last season Johnsson was OK. Zacha and Tatar were not. They did start as top 6 players. Johnsson was bottom player, find some trust, lost it, but didn't hurt overall game much. Zacha and Tatar lost a lot of moments.
Boqvist was good in the second half of the season, but his defensive game wasn't really good. His offensive production overall isn't great. He is older than Kuoakkanen was year ago, his defensive game isn't better, his production isn't better. And after this season we can't say that he deserve spot and Fitz doesn't need to sign good two way center. Its debatable.

Severson was very good defensively though. That’s just not true. He has the odd breakdown or mistake but it is far outweighed by strong defensive play on a shift-by-shift basis.

Boqvist was also more than fine defensively and IMO certainly looks like he should be on the roster to start next season.

I am fine with the rest of it and can see where you’re coming from.

The Severson being bad defensively suggestions are just dumb at this point though and backed only by the odd noticeable mistake every now and then. Severson is our second best defensmen defensively (behind Siegenthaler) and he has played the most. and he had a great year offensively on top off that. And he’s good in transition.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Some of your guys grades made me wish I had you as teachers when I was in school.

Bratt: A, amazing year
Hischier: B+ (slow start killed him this year, played tremendous in the second half)
Hughes: A-, fantastic year but don't want him to rest on this year, keep this pace moving forward
Severson B+ best PMD, has his flaws but what type of dman who plays like him doesn't?
Sharangovich B, would be A+ if he didn't start the first month off without a goal
Mercer B, great start, hit the rookie wall, it happens
Zacha D, useless
Johnsson C-, good start then died
Hamliton A- pre injury, D when he came back the end of the year
Tatar C-
Graves C
Boqvist: B-, his end of the year was great, need that consistency from him moving forward
Subban D
Smith F, catastrophic year but I'm willing to give him next year
McLeod D-
Kuok - C-
Bastian B-, best waiver pickup of this season in the NHL
Vesey: C, good PKer
Siegs - A, unsung hero for this team defensively, one of Fitz's steal acquisitions
Zetterlund: INC, but I think he's a regular next year
Geertsen: FOH

Bernier: B
Daws: C-, shitty situation but had his up and downs
Blackwood, D
Gillies F
Hammond F

 

[Guadana]

Severson was very good defensively though. That’s just not true. He has the odd breakdown or mistake but it is far outweighed by strong defensive play on a shift-by-shift basis.

Boqvist was also more than fine defensively and IMO certainly looks like he should be on the roster to start next season.

I am fine with the rest of it and can see where you’re coming from.

The Severson being bad defensively suggestions are just dumb at this point though and backed only by the odd noticeable mistake every now and then. Severson is our second best defensmen defensively (behind Siegenthaler) and he has played the most. and he had a great year offensively on top off that. And he’s good in transition.

I'm not a fan of severson defensive play. He is very good on boards and behind the net, but he isn't good on the slot, he makes mistakes against breakaways, he lost his man or his zone against the circle.
But I understand that is a question of role and concentration. May be if he will play less time, he will play better.

Severson is really hard question for me now. Hope he will make "home discount".

Overall I like Boqvist and want to watch him more. I would prefer to NOT trade him, only if we can take starting goalie in hockey trade.

You should know C isn't a bad rank in my vision.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

I'm not a fan of severson defensive play. He is very good on boards and behind the net, but he isn't good on the slot, he makes mistakes against breakaways, he lost his man or his zone against the circle.
But I understand that is a question of role and concentration. May be if he will play less time, he will play better.

Severson is really hard question for me now. Hope he will make "home discount".

Overall I like Boqvist and want to watch him more. I would prefer to NOT trade him, only if we can take starting goalie in hockey trade.

You should know C isn't a bad rank in my vision.

Fair enough I kind of viewed C as bad. Maybe just a misunderstanding.

Severson plays a lot of minutes and is solid defensively though. He’s not great or perfect but he’s good in most areas defensively.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Fair enough I kind of viewed C as bad. Maybe just a misunderstanding.

Severson plays a lot of minutes and is solid defensively though. He’s not great or perfect but he’s good in most areas defensively.

His defensive miscues tend to cost the Devils in big spots which is probably why fans remember them a lot more. But there’s 31 other teams who would love a Damon Severson on their roster. I also think he’s got the rough spot of being our 1RHD in arguably the worst stretch in franchise history. He’s probably more of a 2RHD on a contender which hopefully we are soon with him and Dougie, if he re-signs.

 

[Alex NJD]

Am I bit of an optimist so grades may seem a little too high to some people. Team was solid 5v5 and on the PK despite poor goaltending. Team was average aside form below F level of goaltending and PP so there aren't many terrible grades

A: Exceeded expectations or were just outright great
B: Either met expectations or established themselves
C: Underperformed or met the expectation of being mediocre in the first place
D: Often disappointing/frustrating or just outright bad
F: Please Fitz never again

A
Hughes: Superstar breakout
Bratt: Star breakout
Nico: Star breakout (Only 26 centers scored at a higher pace)
Siegs: Went from meh 3rd pairing Dman to a phenomenal top 4 defensive dman

B+
Mercer: Solid rookie year, he will be an absolute monster in ~2-3 years

B
Sharangovich: Paced for ~25 goals and just under 50 points while playing a lot without Hughes
Boqvist: A top 3 player on this team for the final stretch of the season, turned a corner
Bastian: Paced for almost 15 goals. Adds some physicality and size. Played a little special teams. Can't ask for more from a 4th liner

B-
Severson: Once again forced into a 1D role he isn't exactly suited for. Had a career year offensively and was good defensively aside from the typical Severson moments.
Graves: Just like Severson he had a larger role than expected. (Ended 2nd in total TOI and 3rd in ATOI). Was good offensively and felt like a lot of his defensive issues may be system based?

C+
Hamilton: Was an A- or so pre-injury and a C- post injury. Overall disappointing but not worried for the future
Subban: Slightly better than I thought he'd be. Was solid on the 3rd pairing.
Vesey: Solid 4th liner

C
Zacha: Somehow paced above .5 ppg. Was quite streaky. 4th highest ATOI among forwards but provides nothing aside from some secondary scoring.
Johnsson: He was a lot better than I thought he'd be overall. Still does nothing aside from secondary scoring. Saved from D tier since his overall stats were at least somewhat respectable.
McLeod: Performed pretty much at my expectation. Often got too much playing time.

C-
Tatar: 30 points in 75 games for someone who got plenty of top 6 opportunities and playing time and paid like it too. Secondary scoring that provides nothing else.

D
Kuokkanen: He was solid to end the year but overall pretty disappointing season. I can't believe he played in 57 games I thought it was way less
Smith: No explanation needed I'm sure we all saw the same thing
White: I guess he's fine as a #7 type but 27 games is about 20 too much.

F
Geertsen: Gillies had more points than him.

I don't even want to think about goaltending it's an F overall. Daws and Schmid shouldn't have even been up this year so they get a pass I guess.

The group of Zetterlund, Foote, Holtz, Bahl, Okhotyuk, and Walsh get an A- for overall looking pretty solid

 

[glenwo2]

I really did try to see it and will admit he did make strides - going to the crease at times (which he rarely did in the past).

His numbers for such a bad team increase his value but way too many times they seemed to come on the one or two goals in a one sided loss.

While it's tough for me to overlook the image of him gliding back to the zone leaving a player with far inferior speed and skill to create scoring chances.

Too many losses to continue to excuse.

Well last time I checked, Jesper doesn't play the position of GOALTENDER (so he can't prevent these "one-sided losses") but you do you, I guess.

 

[TBF1972]

The cruelest, most relevant and most fair opinion that you can read here.

A Nico, Bratt, Hughes, Siegenthaler
B Mercer, Yegor, Bastian
C Severson, Boqvist, Daws, Nas
C- Hamilton, Subban, Johnsson, Mcleod, Vesey, Ruff
D Tatar, Zacha, Kuokkanen
D- Geertsen, Blackwood, Fitz
F Gillies
F- Smith and Recchi

I`m ok with Fitz, but I don`t like the way how he act with goalie situation.

Incomplete
Kevin Bahl (like)
Fabian Zetterlund (big like)
Alexander Holtz (ok. too early)
Jonathan Berniers (wtf again!)
Nikita Okhotiuk (big like)
Miles Wood (we missed this guy)
Andrew Hammond (meh)
Akira Schmid (not ok, but too early)
Nolan Foote (like)

gillies better than anybody else, is kind of hard to believe. the difference must be expectation.

just as a reminder. gillies won three games. in all three games the team scored 7 goals. in reality he hasn't won a single game for fhe devils. he just happened to be on the ice for three wins.

 

[TBF1972]

Player Grades:

Based on expectations and overall. So an expected 4th liner who played like a good 3rd liner isn’t gonna get an A but will have a better rating than an expected 2nd liner who played like a good 3rd liner.


B= Met expectations and was pretty good.


*=small sample


A: Bratt
A-: Hughes, Siegenthaler
B+: Severson, Hischier, Sharangovich, Mercer, *Zetterlund, *Bahl, *Okhotiuk
B: Boqvist, Daws, *Foote
B-: Bastian, Bernier, *Walsh (1 game)
C+: *Wood, Subban, Graves
C: Tatar, Zacha, Hamilton, Vesey, Hammond, *Holtz, White
C-: Johnsson, *Schmid, Mcleod, *Greer
D+: Blackwood, Kuokkonen (stronger finish)
D: Geersten
D-: Smith
F: Gilles

I don't agree with the measure (B=met expectation). The grades should be for actual performance and not for performance above or below expectation.

And I don't think you followed your own measures in all cases. Did you expect Bernier to miss most of the season? I agree withe the grade for Gillies performances wise but really question your expectations.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

I don't agree with the measure (B=met expectation). The grades should be for actual performance and not for performance above or below expectation.

And I don't think you followed your own measures in all cases. Did you expect Bernier to miss most of the season? I agree withe the grade for Gillies performances wise but really question your expectations.

Um you don’t agree with my measure? That’s kind of weird. It’s the measure I chose to use. And I wasn’t just going off of expectations if you chose to read. It was a combination of how well they performed overall but also in comparison with what I expected of them. I think that’s more than reasonable to do and most people seem to be doing it like that.

And what?! I absolutely did on Bernier. I’m not judging Bernier’s play off of him missing games due to injury. I don’t think you understand the point of this. I’m grading how he was when he played. What does him getting injured for a long time have to do with that?

 

[Guttersniped]

Um you don’t agree with my measure? That’s kind of weird. It’s the measure I chose to use. And I wasn’t just going off of expectations if you chose to read. It was a combination of how well they performed overall but also in comparison with what I expected of them. I think that’s more than reasonable to do and most people seem to be doing it like that.

And what?! I absolutely did on Bernier. I’m not judging Bernier’s play off of him missing games due to injury. I don’t think you understand the point of this. I’m grading how he was when he played. What does him getting injured for a long time have to do with that?

Lol, I was going to say, if you don’t like it, come up with your own grading system.

 

[markog]

They all stink and get F, worst season of all, even those when they won the lottery.

 

[TBF1972]

Lol, I was going to say, if you don’t like it, come up with your own grading system.

From my end keep out the expectation. Same level performances resulting in lower grades because of higher expectation doesn't sound fair. Siegenthaler in general gets graded too good. His offensive contribution isn't good enough to be rated an A. B is fine. You can have him as the Devils best D this season. But Severson can't be a full grade lower. Both looked best as a pair and they complemented each other well.

I am still torn between grading within the Devils only or make it comparable for the league. Devils only allows for better distinction within the team. While you can justify an A for Bratt or Hischier in the context of the Devils. They more belong into the B category, if you grade in the context of the whole league.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

From my end keep out the expectation. Same level performances resulting in lower grades because of higher expectation doesn't sound fair. Siegenthaler in general gets graded too good. His offensive contribution isn't good enough to be rated an A. B is fine. You can have him as the Devils best D this season. But Severson can't be a full grade lower. Both looked best as a pair and they complemented each other well.

I am still torn between grading within the Devils only or make it comparable for the league. Devils only allows for better distinction within the team. While you can justify an A for Bratt or Hischier in the context of the Devils. They more belong into the B category, if you grade in the context of the whole league.

This is just weird all around man. Most of these gradings people have done are based on expectations. We are grading how that player did this season. How good of a season they had. What we can expect from them is a huge part of how we can say they did this season. Siegenthaler gets graded good because he significantly surpassed people’s expectations and by his standard had a great season. He gets an A because he had a great season. Severson was actually better than him overall but we expected Severson to be better.

All that being said it doesn’t mean you have to do it like that. It is perfectly fine if you basically rank on just how good they were in general rather than how good of a season they had personally. I chose to do a bit of both.

The last part is weird too. We’re grading how the devils players did this season. Not making some ranking/rating to compare them to how good of a player they are compared to other players in the league. Jesper Bratt had a great breakout season and played like a good first line winger. That gets an A all day. Who cares if Connor Mcdavid or Huberdeau was better. That’s not what we’re doing here.

I think you’re kind of missing the point here but you’re free to make your own gradings off your own criteria rather than disagreeing with what I and pretty much everyone else is doing their gradings off of.

 

[Oneiro]

What's wrong with Arda???

Everything.

But to answer seriously, super annoying grating personality, low signal talker who fills up space, strong car salesman energy and there was absolutely no point to having him on a broadcast.

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

A+++
Siegenthaler, a big calculated, steady, physical, and undervalued steal! Where can we find more of them?

 

[glenwo2]

From my end keep out the expectation. Same level performances resulting in lower grades because of higher expectation doesn't sound fair. Siegenthaler in general gets graded too good. His offensive contribution isn't good enough to be rated an A. B is fine. You can have him as the Devils best D this season. But Severson can't be a full grade lower. Both looked best as a pair and they complemented each other well.

I am still torn between grading within the Devils only or make it comparable for the league. Devils only allows for better distinction within the team. While you can justify an A for Bratt or Hischier in the context of the Devils. They more belong into the B category, if you grade in the context of the whole league.

In the context of the whole league??

WHO GIVES A RAT'S ARSE ABOUT THE WHOLE LEAGUE?!?

This is a thread talking about NJ Devils Grades that we as DEVILS FANS give our DEVILS PLAYERS.

This isn't a "Let's Compare Devils Players to other NHL players" thread.

 

[Nubmer6]

A+++
Siegenthaler, a big calculated, steady, physical, and undervalued steal! Where can we find more of them?

Thailand (and/or Switzerland)

Everything.

But to answer seriously, super annoying grating personality, low signal talker who fills up space, strong car salesman energy and there was absolutely no point to having him on a broadcast.

Meh I kinda like him. *Shrug*