Devils 2020-21 team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - part VIII

[Balance]

Just spitballing, it'll be interesting to see how we're going to deploy these guys.

Bratt - Nico - Palms/Gusev
Johnsson - Hughes - Gusev/Palmieri
Boqvist/Kuokkanen - Zajac - Merkley
Wood - Zacha - McLeod/Bastian

Johnsson will probably be effective anywhere, with Hughes and Goose that line is pretty small though, maybe put Palms there.
I can't wait till we get Foote and Holtz up here, bigger guys that can shoot, that will really transform our lineup.
Bratt - Zacha - Gusev was good down the stretch but it blows up all the other lines and drops Hughes to the 3rd line. I'm still down on Zacha, don't know where to put him, he did move up when we moved Hughes to wing.
I still don't see Zajac giving up his 3rd line duties any time soon, I think Merkley is a good fit there as well.
Hopefully Boqvist can step in somewhere in the top 6 in the future, not sure what we have with Kuokkanen though.
That fourth line is big and can skate, they could cause some havoc. I don't want Wood anywhere near the to 6.
Bastian intrigues me, he looked good during his call up but that was a long time ago. I hope he could carve out a poor mans power forward type role.

If the team wants to move forward you can't have Zajac over Zacha. And it really doesn't make sense either wherein Zacha had his best offensive year to get downgraded to the 4th line. Zacha is scoring at a 40 point pace now and there's no player in the league scoring 40 pts per year on the 4th line.

 

[JK3]

If the team wants to move forward you can't have Zajac over Zacha. And it really doesn't make sense either wherein Zacha had his best offensive year to get downgraded to the 4th line. Zacha is scoring at a 40 point pace now and there's no player in the league scoring 40 pts per year on the 4th line.

Sure he put up some points with Goose and Bratt but that was in garbage time with a decimated lineup where he got moved up. Where do you put him? If we're running a traditional 3rd "checking line" he's not bumping Zajac. Zacha being good defensively is a myth, on the PK he's great but he'd get destroyed in that role.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

If the team wants to move forward you can't have Zajac over Zacha. And it really doesn't make sense either wherein Zacha had his best offensive year to get downgraded to the 4th line. Zacha is scoring at a 40 point pace now and there's no player in the league scoring 40 pts per year on the 4th line.

Zacha sucks

 

[AfroThunder396]

Defense is not the same as penalty kill. Zacha gets absolutely destroyed at even strength. He is a bad defensive player.

He doesn't produce anything on his own and most of his points come in late season garbage time. He is a decent accessory winger on the 3rd line but he absolutely should not be the pivot of the 3rd line.

 

[Darkauron]

Im willing to see how Zacha plays under a new coach. He's played his whole nhl career for shitty hynes and maybe our new coach can get more out of him.

 

[MartyOwns]

i’m sure we’ve had players more inconsistent than zacha, but i can’t think of any at the moment.

 

[JimEIV]

Defense is not the same as penalty kill. Zacha gets absolutely destroyed at even strength. He is a bad defensive player.

He doesn't produce anything on his own and most of his points come in late season garbage time. He is a decent accessory winger on the 3rd line but he absolutely should not be the pivot of the 3rd line.

That's just not true. He played 65 games this year - In his first 32 he scored 14 points and in his last 33 he scored 18 points.

In his first 20 he had 9 points
games 21 through 40 = 9 points
games 41 -60 = 10 points
last 5 games = 4 points

His production was uniform the entire season.

Pavel Zacha 2019-20 Game Log | Hockey-Reference.com

Zacha had a pretty good season, at least better than I think anyone is giving him credit for.

 

[Call Me Al]

he should be better under a coach that nurtures confidence in him rather than actively destroys it. the whole “you have to be a self starter” attitude under hynes was a cop out that ignored the reality that everyone gets motivated differently.

he probably won’t live up to #6 and he may prove to be inconsistent after all but his development has been hurt more than any other player over the past few years because of terrible coaching

 

[Triumph]

he should be better under a coach that nurtures confidence in him rather than actively destroys it. the whole “you have to be a self starter” attitude under hynes was a cop out that ignored the reality that everyone gets motivated differently.

he probably won’t live up to #6 and he may prove to be inconsistent after all but his development has been hurt more than any other player over the past few years because of terrible coaching

I don't buy it. You do have to be a self-starter to do anything beyond what Zacha is doing at the NHL level. The Devils treated Zacha with kid gloves relative to what could've happened in an organization with more talent - he was almost never a healthy scratch.

That said, he is almost certainly better than a 35 year old Travis Zajac and Zajac should be the 4th line center when the season opens. Zajac's offensive contribution days are just done.

 

[AfroThunder396]

i’m sure we’ve had players more inconsistent than zacha, but i can’t think of any at the moment.

One might say your memory is...inconsistent.

 

[JimEIV]

"Kid Gloves"

2018 November assigned to Binghamton
Devils assign Pavel Zacha to AHL | What shocking move means

2017 - Coyotes
Devils' Pavel Zacha: Healthy scratch Saturday

2017 Columbus and Colorado
Pavel Zacha frustrated not being in Devils' lineup

Devils coach John Hynes keeps his messages consistent

" While Hynes has been clear in explaining to the media what the organization wants to see from Zacha, the 6-foot-3, 210-forward said he’s not sure what he needs to show to get back into the lineup.
“To be honest, I don’t know,” Zacha said. “I didn’t talk to anyone so I don’t know what is going on. I’m not playing so the only thing I can do again is practice hard. I’m not feeling great.”

2016 - Capitols
Why Pavel Zacha is scratched for Devils vs. Capitals

 

[Cheddabombs]

what is this Zacha slander, i won't have it

 

[AfroThunder396]

That's just not true. He played 65 games this year - In his first 32 he scored 14 points and in his last 33 he scored 18 points.

In his first 20 he had 9 points
games 21 through 40 = 9 points
games 41 -60 = 10 points
last 5 games = 4 points

His production was uniform the entire season.

Pavel Zacha 2019-20 Game Log | Hockey-Reference.com

Zacha had a pretty good season, at least better than I think anyone is giving him credit for.

18 in the first 45 (0.4)
14 in the final 20 (0.7)

I can cherry pick numbers too.

 

[JimEIV]

18 in the first 45 (0.4)
14 in the final 20 (0.7)

I can cherry pick numbers too.

Cherry pick? I broke it in half and then every 20 games...I can't get much more granular than that? It is just incorrect to say he produced most of his points at garbage time...It is just not true.

He was at a half a point per game every 20 games for 60 games....

Now you want look at garbage collector this year...Look at Bratt. He had 10 points in first 30 games and 22 in his last 30...16 of those came in the last 20 games, which was half of his total.

 

[tailfins]

This discussion points out how big of a deal it would be for Zacha to blossom into a 45-50 point 2C.

With what Zacha is right now, though, there's a massive hold at 2C.

IMO...the Devils have:

A very good 2nd line line centered by Nico
A good offensive / poor defensive 3rd line in Bratt, Zacha, Gusev
Two fourth lines centered by Zajac and Hughes

This is not good.

Teams have done well rolling out three 2nd lines. Unless Nico or Hughes make a huge leap, that's what the Devils need to bank on. Zacha needs to be at least a passable 2C / high end 3C, and Hughes needs to become at least a good 2C. And then the Devils need to avoid paying first line rates for 2nd line players to keep the group together.

 

[Blackjack]

Nico is already, by any objective measure, a 1st line center.

 

[JimEIV]

Nico is already, by any objective measure, a 1st line center.

Just not by the points measure.

Nico was 57th in the league in PPG among centers. Zacha, our next best center, was 86th

NHL Stats

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Ideally Bratt-Zacha-Gusev sticks as a unit and we get enough talent to give Nico and Jack something to work with. Bratt and Gusev allow Zacha to be a passenger, he isn’t driving a line. Palmieri and Johnsson are solid, but we realistically need more for Nico and Jack to put up the numbers we want.

 

[Triumph]

"Kid Gloves"

2018 November assigned to Binghamton
Devils assign Pavel Zacha to AHL | What shocking move means

2017 - Coyotes
Devils' Pavel Zacha: Healthy scratch Saturday

2017 Columbus and Colorado
Pavel Zacha frustrated not being in Devils' lineup

Devils coach John Hynes keeps his messages consistent

" While Hynes has been clear in explaining to the media what the organization wants to see from Zacha, the 6-foot-3, 210-forward said he’s not sure what he needs to show to get back into the lineup.
“To be honest, I don’t know,” Zacha said. “I didn’t talk to anyone so I don’t know what is going on. I’m not playing so the only thing I can do again is practice hard. I’m not feeling great.”

2016 - Capitols
Why Pavel Zacha is scratched for Devils vs. Capitals

Yes, kid gloves - given the results of this player, to be a healthy scratch a few times and to be demoted once is not surprising at all, really.

 

[tailfins]

Nico is already, by any objective measure, a 1st line center.

The top 17 centers in the league all make $8 million or more. Nico slots in at #21. In a couple of years, that likely slots into the mid to high 20s after Barkov, MacKinnon, Zibanejad, Petterson, Barzal and Larkin get raises. I think that's reasonable for Nico. Not a steal by any stretch, though. And ideally, the Devils will need a couple of steals and to avoid overpaying.

 

[JimEIV]

Yes, kid gloves - given the results of this player, to be a healthy scratch a few times and to be demoted once is not surprising at all, really.

I think you and others are judging him unfairly. This has to be judging him purely against his draft year. The results haven't been bad..Not great, not as expected but not terrible either. If you come to grips with he's going to be a 3rd line center it all makes sense. There has been steady improvement and the results are probably exactly what should be expected for his usage as 3/4 C.

2020 - 86th in the league in PPG among centers - 22 years old
2019 - 109th PPG among centers - 21 years old
2018 - 127th PPG among centers - 20 years old

 

[tailfins]

Ideally Bratt-Zacha-Gusev sticks as a unit and we get enough talent to give Nico and Jack something to work with. Bratt and Gusev allow Zacha to be a passenger, he isn’t driving a line. Palmieri and Johnsson are solid, but we realistically need more for Nico and Jack to put up the numbers we want.

In fairness, that becomes 47 when you apply a 20 game minimum.

Browse - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

He was one or two big games away from Eric Staal and Sean Monahan in PPG. That's not great, but it's not embarrassing.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Zacha is like the definition of “just a guy”. His only real plus attribute is penalty killing. He’s not so bad that he needs to be jettisoned, he’s just there. The fate of the franchise rests with Nico and Jack, Zacha is basically an afterthought.

 

[GameSeven]

For me, I need to see how the young guys perform under new tutelage and system.

I had no faith in Hynes' ability to, one, coach to the abilities of his players and, two, adapt to game situations through any noteworthy adjustments.

Couple that with too many nights where you're trailing five minutes into the game and you have a recipe for a disaster of a season.

We've looked to signs of turning the corner before. Hopefully the pieces we have gel and start to become the foundation for continued improvement.

Which is also why I never get the sentiment of not making certain deals "before you're ready to contend". Sometimes, the team needs to improve incrementally, in order for your assets to increase in value, so that this value can be parlayed into something better and growth.

 

[Oneiro]

Drafting a third line center with a No. 7th overall pick in one of the most historically strong drafts at a time when there is no viable top center prospect in the pool...yup, that's forgivable.