Devils 2016-17 team discussion (player news and notes) - Part IV

[SteveCangialosi123]

We have too much talent to be putting JJ on the PP this year. It made sense last year, it doesn't make sense this year. Nothing he does on the half wall makes up for the fact that he provides zero scoring threat.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Lebrun was right though. We are one of the quietest 8-3-3 teams out there.

 

[Triumph]

We have too much talent to be putting JJ on the PP this year. It made sense last year, it doesn't make sense this year. Nothing he does on the half wall makes up for the fact that he provides zero scoring threat.

It's quite early but right now he's running at 16 shots/60 on ice better than Zacha on the PP. At that rate it barely matters how much either guy scores.

 

[njdevils1982]

We have too much talent to be putting JJ on the PP this year. It made sense last year, it doesn't make sense this year. Nothing he does on the half wall makes up for the fact that he provides zero scoring threat.

yep

last season 3 of his 4 goals and 8 of his 10 assists were on the PP..... he had 1 SH assist which gave him a grand total of 1 goal and 1 assist at ES in 58 games

an offensive black hole

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

It's quite early but right now he's running at 16 shots/60 on ice better than Zacha on the PP. At that rate it barely matters how much either guy scores.

I couldn't care less about that number really. That stat means less then the fact that the PP looks horrible and we haven't had a PP goal since he's been back. JJ blows and he's not better than Zacha at anything.

 

[Bleedred]

Lebrun was right though. We are one of the quietest 8-3-3 teams out there.

THE quietest team, considering the BLOW Jackets aren't even in a playoff spot and I already had to read a thread about them being for real on the mainboard.

We have too much talent to be putting JJ on the PP this year. It made sense last year, it doesn't make sense this year. Nothing he does on the half wall makes up for the fact that he provides zero scoring threat.

We absolutely have too much talent to be putting JJ in the top 9 right now, even with Cammalleri out.

I'd agree on the power play too though. I think his PP scoring and non-production help on the PP was a borderline fluke last year. He's better at even strength than what he was last year and not as good on the PP, which still rounds out to a 20-ish point per 82 game player. Sounds more like a good 4th liner than anything.

I'm getting tired of him, it's to the point that I want him gone, all because Hynes insists on using him as a top 9 player.

I understand using him on the power play, since he was actually GOOD at that last year. But he was NEVER good in the top 9, so I'm not sure why he's still being played there. He's also causing Bennett and Zacha to produce at a dead clip. Same with DSP too probably, who had to play with him last game. He's easily our worst forward at offense, not named Kalinin and he's not even that much better than him.

 

[Cult of Hynes]

how long until peopel realize that JJ is actually good on the PP?

It's quite early but right now he's running at 16 shots/60 on ice better than Zacha on the PP. At that rate it barely matters how much either guy scores.

I couldn't care less about that number really. That stat means less then the fact that the PP looks horrible and we haven't had a PP goal since he's been back. JJ blows and he's not better than Zacha at anything.

People need to stop defending JJ and defending using him over Zacha.

 

[Triumph]

People need to stop defending JJ and defending using him over Zacha.

When Josefson is no longer playing on the Devils, I'll stop. Josefson is probably good on the PP. Zacha is 19 and probably isn't good at the PP yet. He's also struggling at ES.

 

[hutter]

People need to stop defending JJ and defending using him over Zacha.

JJ is nearly inconsequential to this team, and has only played half our games.

I'd rather people stop living in the fantasy land where Zacha has actually been a special player so far this season outside of one single game.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Zacha has been a non-factor the past 5 games aside from a few big checks.

He's 19 and raw, I don't expect much offensive output from him but I'd like to see him generate more chances

 

[Bleedred]

As I've said and maintained for a while now, JJ gets more **** on this board than he otherwise would, because he's used in a top 9 role and given all this PP time. The PP time I can understand for now, because he was good at it last year.

But he's used in the top 9 and with skill players, as if he's a 21 or 22 year old mint prospect. Boucher is younger and has actually produced at the NHL level. He is 22 (or just turned 23) and has over half as many career points as JJ in less than a third of the career games.

And as far as advanced stats go, Josefson has one of the worst point per 60 of any player in the league over the last however many years. Feed Me A Stray Cat (one of the most staunch believer in advanced stats on here) has stressed this point as well. When you've played 245 games over 6+ years and you're averaging 17 points per 82, it's time to stop talking about luck and throw all of that out the window. He's a clear anomaly in that regard, there's probably a few others as well.

 

[Zippy316]

Interesting article about the Devils defense: http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/20...fensemen-early-november-5-on-5-stats-analysis

They noted the Devils have been allowing more shots per 60 than they ever have. Not sure how long this goes back to, but I'm going to assume post-lockout.

 

[SeidoN]

Interesting article about the Devils defense: http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/20...fensemen-early-november-5-on-5-stats-analysis

They noted the Devils have been allowing more shots per 60 than they ever have. Not sure how long this goes back to, but I'm going to assume post-lockout.

main board says worst D in the league tho?

 

[VoidCreature]

Interesting article about the Devils defense: http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/20...fensemen-early-november-5-on-5-stats-analysis

They noted the Devils have been allowing more shots per 60 than they ever have. Not sure how long this goes back to, but I'm going to assume post-lockout.

They also said our scoring chances against are still below league average despite that.

Zacha has been a non-factor the past 5 games aside from a few big checks.

He's 19 and raw, I don't expect much offensive output from him but I'd like to see him generate more chances

His ice time has been steadily going down as well. He might be headed back to junior, not immediately but it's starting to look inevitable. Oilers fans seem to think Draisaitl and Zacha are similar type players, Draisaitl played 37 games in his 19 year old season, scoring 2 goals and 9 points in that time. Then he went back to junior, came back the next year and broke out playing with Hall. Might be a similar formula for Zacha.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

His ice time has been steadily going down as well. He might be headed back to junior, not immediately but it's starting to look inevitable. Oilers fans seem to think Draisaitl and Zacha are similar type players, Draisaitl played 37 games in his 19 year old season, scoring 2 goals and 9 points in that time. Then he went back to junior, came back the next year and broke out playing with Hall. Might be a similar formula for Zacha.

This is pure nonsense.

Zacha has been mediocre the last couple of games but he's playing with pure garbage and at wing. The revisionist history when it comes to Zacha's start is pretty laughable. He was fantastic early on. He displayed some incredible creativity that we haven't seen around here in years and solid defensive responsibility. He was easily a top 3 forward for us in our first couple games. Anyone who denies this wasn't watching the games.

 

[JimEIV]

Interesting article about the Devils defense: http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/20...fensemen-early-november-5-on-5-stats-analysis

They noted the Devils have been allowing more shots per 60 than they ever have. Not sure how long this goes back to, but I'm going to assume post-lockout.

So there was a great debate before the season started whether or not the defense was going to be better this season. Is it too early to revisit that conversation?

 

[Emperoreddy]

So there was a great debate before the season started whether or not the defense was going to be better this season. Is it too early to revisit that conversation?

All these stats say we are worse this year.

The big reason we haven't been bitten seems to be because the D is doing a good job limiting high percentage chances.

Also verifies how much of a liability Moore is. Hynes isn't running the Moore-Lovejoy pairing which is a good thing.

We are hanging in because we are attacking more to offset the defense chances against. We are bending but not breaking with the quality of chances given up.

Finally we are getting by because we have excellent goaltending. Cory and Kinky have bailed out the defense. It is kind of nuts we are near the top of the league in goals against.

 

[VoidCreature]

This is pure nonsense.

Zacha has been mediocre the last couple of games but he's playing with pure garbage and at wing. The revisionist history when it comes to Zacha's start is pretty laughable. He was fantastic early on. He displayed some incredible creativity that we haven't seen around here in years and solid defensive responsibility. He was easily a top 3 forward for us in our first couple games. Anyone who denies this wasn't watching the games.

I'm one of Zacha's biggest fans. I've been touting him here back before most had a chance to watch him, I bought a Sarnia Sting package just to be able to watch him. He's incredibly talented, I think he's going to be a number 1 center.

But his energy level hasn't been terrific, Hynes has talked about it. He's been slowing down. He has the worst CF% of any forward on the team, 28th from the bottom league wide.

https://puckalytics.com/#/skaters?T...esize=20&paginate=1&curpage=1&sortorder=false

Almost everyone who plays with him is less effective when they're paired with him.

http://hockeyviz.com/static/img/player/wowy/1617/N.J/wowy-1617-N.J-zachapa97-shots.png

He needs to work on his conditioning. I noticed it late in games in the OHL as well. I don't have any figures, but it seemed like most of his offense came in the first period.

I have no doubts about him long term, but he just doesn't seem ready.

 

[MadDevil]

Zacha is 19. There are going to be some growing pains. I think we've seen there is some very real ability there. It just might take a couple years for him to put it together. Which is why I don't think it's a big deal that Hynes and Co. are playing it safe with him. I do wish it wasn't playing with blackhole Josefson, but it is what it is.

 

[Classic Devil]

Zacha might need conditioning work, but he hasn't been helped by being moved to wing.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Zacha is 19. There are going to be some growing pains. I think we've seen there is some very real ability there. It just might take a couple years for him to put it together. Which is why I don't think it's a big deal that Hynes and Co. are playing it safe with him. I do wish it wasn't playing with blackhole Josefson, but it is what it is.

I would rather Zacha play on the 4th line with Fiddler and Lappin right now.

 

[Bleedred]

After Friday night's game, we were 22nd in the league in shots against, or 9th most shots allowed.

We were also 4th highest in the league in shots for.

So while we're allowing more shots, we're getting even more shots. I think we've average 3 or 4 more shots against per game than last season, but we've also averaged over 7 more shots per game than last season and have a positive shot differential on the season.

These might have dropped a little after Saturday's game, as we allowed only 23 or 24 shots and had 28 I think? I think Saturday might have been a season low in shots against.

We've looked a lot better from an attacking/shots perspective this season, aside from the first game of the season against the Panthers. That looked like a continuation of last year's team that couldn't generate many scoring chances, only with a much worse defensive game than last year. That and the Boston game were the only games we looked particularly weak. We were very bad in the second Tampa game, but somehow had the shots advantage by the end of the night.

 

[VoidCreature]

After Friday night's game, we were 22nd in the league in shots against, or 9th most shots allowed.

We were also 4th highest in the league in shots for.

So while we're allowing more shots, we're getting even more shots. I think we've average 3 or 4 more shots against per game than last season, but we've also averaged over 7 more shots per game than last season and have a positive shot differential on the season.

These might have dropped a little after Saturday's game, as we allowed only 23 or 24 shots and had 28 I think? I think Saturday might have been a season low in shots against.

We've looked a lot better from an attacking/shots perspective this season, aside from the first game of the season against the Panthers. That looked like a continuation of last year's team that couldn't generate many scoring chances, only with a much worse defensive game than last year. That and the Boston game were the only games we looked particularly weak. We were very bad in the second Tampa game, but somehow had the shots advantage by the end of the night.

I think a big part of that is our playing style. We're still structured defensively, but with the D pinching and all the extra speed we're clearly trying to push the pace. I'm not sure we ever played like this when Lou was here. It's fun!

 

[Bleedred]

I would rather Zacha play on the 4th line with Fiddler and Lappin right now.

I'd rather find a way to play Lappin on the 3rd line and get JJ the hell outta there and down on the 4th line with Kalinin and Fiddler where he belongs.

But I would rather Zacha play with Fiddler and Lappin than with JJ. The only problem with that though, is we'd have Kalinin also in the top 9 along with JJ.

 

[VoidCreature]

I would rather Zacha play on the 4th line with Fiddler and Lappin right now.

Lappin has the highest CF% on the team. Yes, higher than Taylor Hall. He's going to be in the top six before the season ends.

https://puckalytics.com/#/skaters?s...OIDecMin=0&TOIDecMax=99999&Team=&Player_Name=