Are the NJ Devils already collapsing?

[Bleedred]

Not yet

But the decrepit #29 is returning very soon and that could spell HUGE TROUBLE for the team, if they think they're gonna experiment with giving him 40%-50% of the starts. Him being out is what really helped us, as we didn't have him to TANK games for over the last 1.5 months now. The record would not have been as good if he didn't get hurt and there would have been no 13 game winning streak, as he would have played too many games and he would have sucked badly in a few of them. I was hoping we didn't use up our margin for error before he returned, because we were really gonna need it then, so this losing streak even before getting him back is a little bit concernning.

But we really have nothing to fear but the return of a goalie that's been an .892% over his last 62 games played, who the organization really wants to keep squeezing blood out of his stones over a hot run that was 34-37 months ago. And not to mention the guy that's been playing in his absence has been a .939% lol. And Vanecek has definitely probably gotten roughly a handful more starts than he would over that time.

#MBWITWGITNHL

 

[HockeyVirus]

as history repeats itself endlessly like ground hog day, we can count on another first round out of the toronto maple leafs. sience.

Not sure what is so hard to understand about my point lol. If you want to throw my logic back in my face, it is not that the Leafs cannot win in the first round and therefore are guaranteed to lose (as I never said history repeats...) BUT that they don't deserve the benefit of the doubt that they will win.

 

[Forge]

I'm curious as to how the subsequent invasions of other, unrelated threads by Devils fans making snarky comments about Gaudreau and the Jackets doing not so well enters into this narrative.

Jackets are more or less catching strays there. That's definitely all about Jersey boy Johnny Hockey and devils fans like myself being jilted lovers and acting out

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Remember when it seemed the entire Devisl fan base was tagging me because I said as soon as things go wrong I don't think they pull out of it?

I guess we're about to see..

Why are you thumping your chest again over another probably shit take of yours?

 

[MarioLeMoose]

Come on now. This is reaching on trying to prove an arrogance point.

To be fair, he clearly doesn’t have a point

 

[Sasha Orlov]

They’re done

They should trade Hughes and kill Hischier

 

[MtoD]

While admittedly you can argue that bragging about playoff wins with cups is lame it's more lame bragging that your team lost in 6 in the SCF vs. 5.

Not sure how you read that as a brag, there's not a word in that sentence that declares the Devils as good, better or really anything. The Devils have been horrific over the past 10 years. The Rangers have clearly been better.

Let's just not pretend the Rangers have been the epitome of success, though.

 

[Stephen]

As a team, the Devils don't have a lot of track record with this young core so I think it's reasonable to consider this a regression and the onus is on them to prove otherwise. How far they regress or how they continue to stay at the top of the league will be TBD, obviously.

 

[2 others]

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[Viqsi]

Jackets are more or less catching strays there. That's definitely all about Jersey boy Johnny Hockey and devils fans like myself being jilted lovers and acting out

I don't doubt it; my point was more that the whole "the fanbase of the New Jersey Devils is not a monolithic entity" point goes both ways.

 

[Xirik]

They’re done

They should trade Hughes and kill Hischier

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Fickle fanbase, they’ll be fine and make the playoffs. Division winner, maybe not.

It's not really a fickle fanbase. But the fringe and bandwagon fans that appear when the team is good can be rather annoying for sure.

 

[Michoulicious]

They need size and grit in their top 6, that is kind of obvious.

And Vanacek being your #1 is kind of not great.

Beside that, they have a great young core and Luke Hugues will be good.

I just think their time will come in about 2 year.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Remember when it seemed the entire Devisl fan base was tagging me because I said as soon as things go wrong I don't think they pull out of it?

I guess we're about to see..

Lol. This will be a fun bump.

 

[Will Hunting]

They are great. At least that´s what their fans told us and were vocal with that statement.

 

[BTP]

Like I've said countless times on here:

They caught a lot of teams off guard on that streak due to them being so shitty last year. Teams took them lightly. As they play teams twice I expect them to lose more often

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I mean they’re a young team. Of course they’re going to go through some tough stretches. I think overall they will figure it out and break out of the mini slump.

 

[the_fan]

FIRE LINDY!!!!

 

[MtoD]

Had one of the "easier" schedules to start the season (average opponent ranked in the bottom 3rd of the league).

Have now lost what, 4 straight? Lost to the lowly Flyers, although they outplayed them and basically got goalie'd.

But their huge lead in points has dwindled, all the while the Canes, Pens, Rangers are all on big win-streaks.

Now they have one of "toughest" remaining schedules in the league: NHL Strength of Schedule Rankings
Not that anyone's schedule is easy or hard with today's parity.

Do you still consider them a top-5 team? Or are they settling as just another good team?

are we still using this site even though it has clearly flawed data extraction? linking this site is just downright foolish at this point.

their SOS is based on their composite power rankings.

The current power rankings have the Devils at 10. If you scroll down, it breaks the composite scores down:
Sagarian 19
numberFire 7
Moneypuck 21
Massey 2

Except if you go to the actual sites they link for those rankings, the Devils are listed at:
Sagarian 7 (it's actually Sagarin and not Sagarian so it's even funnier that the site owner can't even type the guys name right)
numberFire 13
Moneypuck 2
Massey 4

This has been like this all season. They are pulling incorrect information to generate their power rankings, essentially rendering the rest of their site useless. The Devils may have had the easiest schedule to start the season but this site is not the way to demonstrate that..

 

[Cheddabombs]

 

[DearDiary]

The Devils massive lead on the Metro has pretty much evaporated. Wouldn't surprise me to see them in the Wild Card spot soon

 

[Jauffre]

are we still using this site even though it has clearly flawed data extraction? linking this site is just downright foolish at this point.

their SOS is based on their composite power rankings.

The current power rankings have the Devils at 10. If you scroll down, it breaks the composite scores down:
Sagarian 19
numberFire 7
Moneypuck 21
Massey 2

Except if you go to the actual sites they link for those rankings, the Devils are listed at:
Sagarian 7 (it's actually Sagarin and not Sagarian so it's even funnier that the site owner can't even type the guys name right)
numberFire 13
Moneypuck 2
Massey 4

This has been like this all season. They are pulling incorrect information to generate their power rankings, essentially rendering the rest of their site useless. The Devils may have had the easiest schedule to start the season but this site is not the way to demonstrate that..

I initially saw it posted by a Devils' fan, didn't exactly fact-check it. Do you know of a better one to rate quality of opponents played/opponents left to be played?

 

[MtoD]

I initially saw it posted by a Devils' fan, didn't exactly fact-check it. Do you know of a better one to rate quality of opponents played/opponents left to be played?

I don't but that site is just flawed at its core so it's stats are just uninterpretable

 

[Will Hunting]

The Devils massive lead on the Metro has pretty much evaporated. Wouldn't surprise me to see them in the Wild Card spot soon

Yeah, those are 3 clearly better teams right behind them, all of them red hot, with easier schedules and with 50 games left. The Devils will still probably make the playoffs but I would be surprised to see them getting a home ice there.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

From a 140-point pace? Yes, yes they are.