Devils 2019-20 Preseason/Season team discussion (news and notes)

[FooteBahl]

NHL network has Hall at #41 of top 50...f***ing disgraceful.

 

[glenwo2]

NHL network has Hall at #41 of top 50...****ing disgraceful.

Wow. Would love to see the list of the other 40 in front of him.

Bet at least a quarter of them don't belong ahead.

 

[njdevils1982]

NHL network has Hall at #41 of top 50...****ing disgraceful.

Wow. Would love to see the list of the other 40 in front of him.

Bet at least a quarter of them don't belong ahead.

to be fair he's ranked there because of last season's injury……rupp's comments in link

#NHLTopPlayers: Nos. 50-41

 

[Hisch13r]

Zacha is 100000% not a "bust"...I hate that word.

Busts are not regular NHL players

is he a disappointment for where he was drafted? Absolutely. That is something different

The main issue is he never had any business even being considered to go that high

 

[Devils731]

NHL network has Hall at #41 of top 50...****ing disgraceful.

If I remember the blurb, it said Hall is so good that he got ranked despite playing so little last year; so it looks like their list was heavily dependent on last season.

 

[FooteBahl]

to be fair he's ranked there because of last season's injury……rupp's comments in link

#NHLTopPlayers: Nos. 50-41

The only injury justifying a drop off like that would be an amputation of a limb with a side of ass cancer.

 

[SYWTom]

The main issue is he never had any business even being considered to go that high

That’s not true. There was plenty of lifts with him at 6-8. I hope he figured it out the end of last year. This kid still has so much potential. Don’t write him off just yet!

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

The main issue is he never had any business even being considered to go that high

I mean, thats just false.

Bob McKenzie had him 6th in his rankings
McKeens had him 6th
ISS had him 10th
Cox had him 8th

lets not act like he was somehow "overdrafted"....he went right around where he was projected to go.

 

[Cheddabombs]

I can't wait for my son to prove you all wrong this season

 

[Hisch13r]

That’s not true. There was plenty of lifts with him at 6-8. I hope he figured it out the end of last year. This kid still has so much potential. Don’t write him off just yet!

I mean, thats just false.

Bob McKenzie had him 6th in his rankings
McKeens had him 6th
ISS had him 10th
Cox had him 8th

lets not act like he was somehow "overdrafted"....he went right around where he was projected to go.

I know he was ranked that high but that never made sense to begin with. I get it was his first year in NA and yada yada yada but 34 pts in 37 games is not a guy you take that high. Even at the time of the draft I never thought he should've been ranked that high

 

[Blender]

I mean, thats just false.

Bob McKenzie had him 6th in his rankings
McKeens had him 6th
ISS had him 10th
Cox had him 8th

lets not act like he was somehow "overdrafted"....he went right around where he was projected to go.

Yup, it's revisionist history to claim otherwise. Everyone from 6 to 10 was considered about even in the rankings (Zacha, Provorov, Werenski, Meier, and Rantanen).

I know he was ranked that high but that never made sense to begin with. I get it was his first year in NA and yada yada yada but 34 pts in 37 games is not a guy you take that high. Even at the time of the draft I never thought he should've been ranked that high

Players are not drafted purely on boxscore stats.

 

[Hisch13r]

Yup, it's revisionist history to claim otherwise. Everyone from 6 to 10 was considered about even in the rankings (Zacha, Provorov, Werenski, Meier, and Rantanen).


Players are not drafted purely on boxscore stats.

You shouldn't be taking a guy 6th overall who can't even produce well in the CHL

Crouse was also ranked 7th by Bob
McKeen's 10th
ISS 4th

Back in 2015 it was clear he had no business being that high either

 

[R8Devs]

deja vu

 

[Blender]

You shouldn't be taking a guy 6th overall who can't even produce well in the CHL

Crouse was also ranked 7th by Bob
McKeen's 10th
ISS 4th

Back in 2015 it was clear he had no business being that high either

No, it was not clear, which is why they were ranked so high and were also draft high. I should have said 6 to 11, because Crouse was also in that same grouping. The consensus in 2015 was that all of those guys were about even in quality, but the way drafting and development works means not every player develops the same way or the way that you hope. This narrative that it was a bad pick even at the time is completely fictional.

 

[Hisch13r]

No, it was not clear, which is why they were ranked so high and were also draft high. I should have said 6 to 11, because Crouse was also in that same grouping. The consensus in 2015 was that all of those guys were about even in quality, but the way drafting and development works means not every player develops the same way or the way that you hope. This narrative that it was a bad pick even at the time is completely fictional.

Zacha and Crouse were the classic case of big guys who don't produce well in the CHL getting picked for their size and "toolbox"

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Zacha and Crouse were the classic case of big guys who don't produce well in the CHL getting picked for their size and "toolbox"

what was your opinion on Dylan Strome prior to the 2018-19 season? Bet you thought he was a bust

 

[JrFischer54]

NHL network has Hall at #41 of top 50...****ing disgraceful.

sounds like that year when people complained cory wasn't a top 10 on a list lol

 

[Edmonton East]

Zacha's lineup placement this year is going to be very interesting. I really don't see the point in having him C the 4th line. He does not strike me as the type of guy who would excel in that role.

Feel like he would coast and be demoralized. Some of you might laugh at that, but his crazy inconsistent play + numerous reports/quotes concerning his father + his general demeanor make me believe he is pretty fragile mentally.

Even coaching teens you come across players like this all the time. Usually (not always) ends up you either help them grow to where they think they need to be...or they flame out.

It's no secret on here that I never liked Zacha, but based on where he is at in his development, I think you need to at least give him the chance to build upon his finish to last season and start him in the top 9.

 

[R8Devs]

Zacha's lineup placement this year is going to be very interesting. I really don't see the point in having him C the 4th line. He does not strike me as the type of guy who would excel in that role.

Feel like he would coast and be demoralized. Some of you might laugh at that, but his crazy inconsistent play + numerous reports/quotes concerning his father + his general demeanor make me believe he is pretty fragile mentally.

Even coaching teens you come across players like this all the time. Usually (not always) ends up you either help them grow to where they think they need to be...or they flame out.

It's no secret on here that I never liked Zacha, but based on where he is at in his development, I think you need to at least give him the chance to build upon his finish to last season and start him in the top 9.

Something like:
Hall-Hischier-Bratt
Zacha/Gusev-Hughes-Zacha/Gusev
Coleman-Zajac-Palmieri (this line will get a lot of minutes so people shouldn't be worried about Palmieri's icetime because this line will probably get played more than Hughes' line at least at the beginning of the season)

Or they could do:
Hall-Hischier-Bratt
Gusev-Hughes-Palmieri
Zacha-Zajac-Coleman

 

[devilsblood]

Zacha's lineup placement this year is going to be very interesting. I really don't see the point in having him C the 4th line. He does not strike me as the type of guy who would excel in that role.

Feel like he would coast and be demoralized. Some of you might laugh at that, but his crazy inconsistent play + numerous reports/quotes concerning his father + his general demeanor make me believe he is pretty fragile mentally.

Even coaching teens you come across players like this all the time. Usually (not always) ends up you either help them grow to where they think they need to be...or they flame out.

It's no secret on here that I never liked Zacha, but based on where he is at in his development, I think you need to at least give him the chance to build upon his finish to last season and start him in the top 9.

Typically I would agree, but the difference here is our 4th line should be pretty stacked, and given they could draw a fair amount of favorable match ups should do quite well.

This is assuming the 4th lines minutes are not limited all that much, but I suspect outside the top line we will roll lines pretty evenly. Last year we saw Zajac who we all pretty much considered our 3rd line center have the 4th highest 5v5 toi per game. Bratt averaged less then Coleman and Wood. Heck Pietilla averaged more 5v5 toi then Zacha did last year. And I think the Devils may ice a "2nd line" that plays fairly limited 5v5 minutes. So I think there will be a lot of " " of lines this season, and I think Zacha will get a decent share of 5v5 ice time no matter which line he is on. He will likely get a good chunk of PK time as well.

The bigger question with Zacha could be how much PP time does he get. Now I doubt he sniffs the top pp unit(although as a faceoff winning center maybe he could replace Zajac?) but can he cement a spot on the 2nd unit?

 

[JrFischer54]

3 firsts plus severson for an unsigned Laine is a terrible deal for nj

I don't think he would be unsigned if he was traded here.


question

what would a signed laine go for trade wise? what would it cost us? say hes making 9 million and hes locked up for 8 years?

just for comparison i have seen people saying we would get a good/solid return for hall as a rental at the deadline. so just keep that in mind.

 

[RangerDoggo]

Just went and re-watched some highlights of Jack Hughes and Nikita Gusev. Everyone needs to shut the **** up and wait for the preseason.

Lack of hockey has made us all antsy, I’m doing the best that I can

 

[HBK27]

You shouldn't be taking a guy 6th overall who can't even produce well in the CHL

Crouse was also ranked 7th by Bob
McKeen's 10th
ISS 4th

Back in 2015 it was clear he had no business being that high either

It was not clear.

There was a consensus top 5 in that draft - all of which were selected with the top 5 picks. After that, there was a lot of different ways it could've gone. Players in the 6-15 range were all ranked very close. Many on the Devils board wanted NJ to trade down because of that.

Unfortunate for the way it turned out for NJ, given the players that were selected immediately afterwards (though you could argue that Boston made a much bigger blunder with their 3 picks given the 3 guys that went directly afterwards). However, without Zacha who knows how things turn out in subsequent years for NJ - we more than likely don't land Nico and Hughes. Maybe someone like Barzal/Provorov/Meir plus lower 1st round picks in 2017 & 2019 would've been a better package today and NJ would have a brighter future...maybe not. Tough to say. You just can't look at things in a vacuum though and swap out Zacha for someone else from that draft plus the current NJ team and it certainly doesn't work that way.

Personally, I'm still excited to see what Zacha can bring. Always knew he'd take a longer time to develop than many others his draft year and I'm still holding out hope he can become a Zajac 2.0, which is a damn fine player.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Hynes has his work to cut out and sew this lineup together. We have the raw material here to be a very competitive team but IMO it’s unusually unsettled to see just how you will put a number of these pieces together, including how to use Zacha, Smith, et al., who plays on the left of Subban and half a dozen other things I would think of if I wanted to go on typing with one finger.

Basic system issues as to how to get the most out of this roster are very much the first issue. I expect we will want to run and gun and that Hynes - based on past behavior - will want to see if we can be Tampa, Toronto or Calgary redux and just try to outscore folks - but I am personally unsure that this is the best idea.

I don’t have the answers here, just the questions. It should be an interesting camp. But I really do think how we do this year depends on coaching to a very unusual degree.

 

[Call Me Al]

i think he made a comment at the end of last season about the defensive structure trying new things but wanting to change from what they did