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

[Goptor]

He could be so much more effective if he gave a shit

That sounds eerily like John Hynes' gameplan. Put the puck into an open area and win the puck battle by being better conditioned and a faster skater. Meanwhile the other team knew exactly what was going to happen and sends 2 players - one to tie up the attacker and the other to easily grab the puck and start an attack.

 

[Guttersniped]

That quote was in reference to the loaned players (Sharangovich, Merkley, Zetterlund, etc.).

Sharangovich was loaned to the KHL on 7/16 and he's played 19 games so far. One issue is he can’t play some weirdly endless mutant hockey season, his longest season was 18-19 with 68 AHL games plus 11 national team games.

No other loaned player has played as much, they all started in late September/October except Studenic who started in August but a COVID outbreak has limited his Slovakian team to 4 games.

 

[Oneiro]

I had a laugh. Pretty much lines up with what people say - can do it, but doesn't?

 

[MadDevil]

Who is the unlabeled Devil under Hughes there? Nico?

 

[Hisch13r]

That sounds eerily like John Hynes' gameplan. Put the puck into an open area and win the puck battle by being better conditioned and a faster skater. Meanwhile the other team knew exactly what was going to happen and sends 2 players - one to tie up the attacker and the other to easily grab the puck and start an attack.

This isn't a Hynes thing. The tweet even said he's not sure there's a historical comparison to be made with any other NHL regular. This is a Zacha only issue.

Who is the unlabeled Devil under Hughes there? Nico?

I'd assume so

 

[Ol Dirty Bstrd]

Zacha has the tools but lacks the drive. So frustrating. He is a complete passenger

 

[TorontoMedia]

I agree with these points, some of it to an extent. Zacha's biggest issue that I've seen is that he doesn't proactively do anything or create his his opportunities - he puts himself in very safe areas where he's not out of position per say but he's also not doing anything to help. The most frustrating thing that I see from his when he just stands in the middle of slot doing literally nothing while his teammates are working the puck around trying to create something. He's not moving trying to get free, he's not giving his teammates an option, he's not anticipating where the play might go. He's just there.

With that being said, could coaching help him out there? It's not going to be some instant solution but I think have someone else behind the bench can certainly help. Not only with the X's and O's of say when this is happening on the ice we want you to be here (because frankly it looked like he didn't know where to be half of the time) but also maybe the coaching staff also recognizes this and can help coach him through his thinking. He may not have a 180 shift in how he thinks the game but I think he can definitely still be influenced and make some changes.

Man I'd love to talk to him for one day.. show him all the times he's doing nothing in the offensive zone and be like what the f*** are you doing here!? Do something. Anything. Move your feet!

Not going to go into a ton of detail but I actually randomly ran into Chico when the devils were on the road earlier this year. Amazing guy, talked to me for almost an hour on a street corner and many things were discussed (probably some things he shouldn’t have told me but luckily I’m not the guy whose going to go tweet about it) but he basically said word for word what you did in terms of Zacha just not anticipating or moving.

I don’t know if he doesn’t have the motivation or the IQ, but there is no doubt he’s a frustrating player to watch.
How did Radek Faska play under ruff? I feel like he played his best hockey with him but not totally sure

 

[TorontoMedia]

Some of these posts have more effort put into them than Zacha has ever exerted in a game.

The sad part is this is true lol

 

[MadDevil]

I don't know even think it's a lack of effort so much as a lack of assertiveness. It's not like he's out there floating all the time or not backchecking or generally not giving a shit. He just never seems to take charge. He's constantly deferring and making the "safe" play, which is okay sometimes but it's not going to lead to much of anything offensively unless he's picking up assists merely by playing with players like Gusev and Bratt (which is where I think his "improved" point totals came from). He's a passenger most of the time, which would be fine if he did something like score goals, but outside of 2018-19 where he shot over 13%, he's never shown much finishing ability, and if he's not going to drive play or score, he's kind of useless 5v5.

 

[Guttersniped]

I don't know even think it's a lack of effort so much as a lack of assertiveness. It's not like he's out there floating all the time or not backchecking or generally not giving a shit. He just never seems to take charge. He's constantly deferring and making the "safe" play, which is okay sometimes but it's not going to lead to much of anything offensively unless he's picking up assists merely by playing with players like Gusev and Bratt (which is where I think his "improved" point totals came from). He's a passenger most of the time, which would be fine if he did something like score goals, but outside of 2018-19 where he shot over 13%, he's never shown much finishing ability, and if he's not going to drive play or score, he's kind of useless 5v5.

Someone mentioned him shooting more after Hynes was fired on 12/3, and while Zacha’s shot rate went a wee bit up after the purge, his shooting percentage 5v5 was an abysmal 2.5% which is why he had one 5v5 goal in 42 games. Even Rooney had 2 and Hayden had 3 in the same period. (Zacha had 2 5v5 goals in the 23 games under Hynes.)

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

 

[Triumph]

I thought on all these loans the devils said that they'll be recalled when training camp starts

They said that but the COVID-19 situation in the US was ebbing at the time. Now it's not, and while it's not exploding in most hockey regions, it's still increasing at an alarming pace there.

The AHL already said today that they are pessimistic about there being 31 operating AHL franchises this season. The Devils don't own the Binghamton franchise, Binghamton pays them money to operate the team. If there's no attendance, and I don't see given how things are going that there would be, I don't see how Binghamton operates a team - they will lose less money by not playing.

So yeah, I see Merkley coming back, but if these guys have to quarantine for two weeks before being eligible for camp and there's no AHL franchise for them to go to, I think the organization should leave them overseas this year, as much as that sucks.

 

[MadDevil]

Someone mentioned him shooting more after Hynes was fired on 12/3, and while Zacha’s shot rate went a wee bit up after the purge, his shooting percentage 5v5 was an abysmal 2.5% which is why he had one 5v5 goal in 42 games. Even Rooney had 2 and Hayden had 3 in the same period. (Zacha had 2 5v5 goals in the 23 games under Hynes.)

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

Wow, I knew Jack had a rough year, but 1.79% at even strength?

 

[nugg]

They said that but the COVID-19 situation in the US was ebbing at the time. Now it's not, and while it's not exploding in most hockey regions, it's still increasing at an alarming pace there.

The AHL already said today that they are pessimistic about there being 31 operating AHL franchises this season. The Devils don't own the Binghamton franchise, Binghamton pays them money to operate the team. If there's no attendance, and I don't see given how things are going that there would be, I don't see how Binghamton operates a team - they will lose less money by not playing.

So yeah, I see Merkley coming back, but if these guys have to quarantine for two weeks before being eligible for camp and there's no AHL franchise for them to go to, I think the organization should leave them overseas this year, as much as that sucks.

Actually the farm team is now owned by Harris/Blitzer.

 

[Guttersniped]

Wow, I knew Jack had a rough year, but 1.79% at even strength?

That’s just Dec 3 to March 10, someone mentioned Zacha shooting more and I just wanted to point out the one 5v5 goal part. (You can filter the results on Natural Stat Tricks by games within specific dates. I should have made it more clear that the link was games after Hynes.)

Jack shot 3.57% 5v5 and had 1 5v5 goal before Dec 3 giving him a horrific 2.38% and 2 5v5 goals for the year. This wasn’t just bad luck. He had a muffin shot, it often lacked deception and he often fatally hesitated before shooting, it was pretty clear he was used to scoring goals on teenage boys. He generated shots just fine though, 5v5 Hughes was 7th in shot rate for the year while Zacha was 20th. (for players w/ a minimum of 200 minutes of ice time.)

I was actually fine with how Hughes started out last season other than with how much his shot sucked, then he started to really droop in January before the All-Star break. I remember hoping he might come back energized after the break and then he came back and basically played like dog shit. The rookie wall smashed him by Jan 27th in my eyes, he didn’t much of anything other than show up for games after that.

Hughes can easily improve his shot and he got a lot of pucks on net when he was struggling so I’m not worried here.

I will say some other players were cartoonishly snakebitten under Hynes before he was canned, Hall had 2 5v5 goals in 27 games and had never shot as remotely badly before in his whole career. His shot was definitely wonky last year after coming back from his injury. Hall shot 3.23% 5v5 under Hynes and that was still better than Simmonds’ 2.22% 5v5, who had one 5v5 goal in 27 games. It was that kind of start to the season, lots of things went badly.

BTW, Zacha shot 11.73% 5v5 while Hynes was coach and shot 5.26% 5v5 for the year, which led to a total of 3 5v5 goals.

 

[Triumph]

Actually the farm team is now owned by Harris/Blitzer.

Oh, you're right. I don't know when that happened. Okay, scratch all that - Binghamton would likely play in that case. Daly has said basically that the owners know they are going to lose a lot of money but that they've determined that playing a season will lose them less money than just going dark for a year.

 

[Billdo]

Some of these posts have more effort put into them than Zacha has ever exerted in a game.

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

The sad part is you dolts thinking it's true.

I can somewhat understand it, because Zacha sometimes looks lazy when he plays. But jumping straight to the conclusion that Zacha, therefore, is a lazy player, is an argument totally void of critical thinking.

It might look lazy, but I characterize it as Zacha 'playing timid.'

He went from a hardass father with zero tolerance for mistakes, to a blowhard coach who arbitrarily punished mistakes. Zacha has been conditioned to micro-manage himself on the ice, and it completely neuters his game. He overthinks, makes a mistake, then turtles back into his shell.

It's all psychological with Zacha, and I don't think it's just the "confidence issues" we've been citing for years.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Having an AHL season seems pretty critical to NJ given all the legitimate prospects that will be there. Should be a priority.

 

[MartyOwns]

I can somewhat understand it, because Zacha sometimes looks lazy when he plays. But jumping straight to the conclusion that Zacha, therefore, is a lazy player, is an argument totally void of critical thinking.

It might look lazy, but I characterize it as Zacha 'playing timid.'

He went from a hardass father with zero tolerance for mistakes, to a blowhard coach who arbitrarily punished mistakes. Zacha has been conditioned to micro-manage himself on the ice, and it completely neuters his game. He overthinks, makes a mistake, then turtles back into his shell.

It's all psychological with Zacha, and I don't think it's just the "confidence issues" we've been citing for years.

let’s get this guy behind the bench

 

[Triumph]

I can somewhat understand it, because Zacha sometimes looks lazy when he plays. But jumping straight to the conclusion that Zacha, therefore, is a lazy player, is an argument totally void of critical thinking.

It might look lazy, but I characterize it as Zacha 'playing timid.'

He went from a hardass father with zero tolerance for mistakes, to a blowhard coach who arbitrarily punished mistakes. Zacha has been conditioned to micro-manage himself on the ice, and it completely neuters his game. He overthinks, makes a mistake, then turtles back into his shell.

It's all psychological with Zacha, and I don't think it's just the "confidence issues" we've been citing for years.

There comes a point where players have to fight through this - if they are ever going to be any good at all, they have to assert themselves on the ice. Zacha wasn't being punished for mistakes so much as punished for making mistakes and not doing anything else good. That's the difference.

Moreover, Zacha was barely punished - you guys make it sound like Zacha sat out weeks as a healthy scratched or was benched frequently in games. Neither of these things are true - he played 1 game under 10 minutes his rookie year, 4 under 10 minutes in his second season, zero in his third, and 1 last season. He was healthy scratched a few times as well. These are all perfectly normal things for a player with his results.

Nasreddine said it when he took over - guys need to know they're going to make mistakes but they need to have the confidence to make the right plays, and sometimes those involve making mistakes. This just isn't in Zacha as a player right now. He just defers whenever possible.

EDIT: the 'games under 10 minutes' are excluding games where Zacha was injured.

 

[Camille the Eel]

I will say some other players were cartoonishly snakebitten under Hynes before he was canned, Hall had 2 5v5 goals in 27 games and had never shot as remotely badly before in his whole career. His shot was definitely wonky last year after coming back from his injury. Hall shot 3.23% 5v5 under Hynes and that was still better than Simmonds’ 2.22% 5v5, who had one 5v5 goal in 27 games. It was that kind of start to the season, lots of things went badly.

BTW, Zacha shot 11.73% 5v5 while Hynes was coach and shot 5.26% 5v5 for the year, which led to a total of 3 5v5 goals.

I wish there was a stat on how many goalposts Hall hit in those 27 games. Specifically left - far side - posts. Seemed like an awful lot. Remember a couple in overtime even.

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

There comes a point where players have to fight through this - if they are ever going to be any good at all, they have to assert themselves on the ice. Zacha wasn't being punished for mistakes so much as punished for making mistakes and not doing anything else good. That's the difference.

Moreover, Zacha was barely punished - you guys make it sound like Zacha sat out weeks as a healthy scratched or was benched frequently in games. Neither of these things are true - he played 1 game under 10 minutes his rookie year, 4 under 10 minutes in his second season, zero in his third, and 1 last season. He was healthy scratched a few times as well. These are all perfectly normal things for a player with his results.

Nasreddine said it when he took over - guys need to know they're going to make mistakes but they need to have the confidence to make the right plays, and sometimes those involve making mistakes. This just isn't in Zacha as a player right now. He just defers whenever possible.

EDIT: the 'games under 10 minutes' are excluding games where Zacha was injured.

Has he shown it? No. But do I think Zacha has it "in him"? Absolutely.

I consider his timidness and risk aversion to be a product of his upbringing coupled with Hynes, whereas you consider it an indictment of Zacha himself. Reasonable minds can differ, and perhaps this is just a fundamental disagreement where we'll just have to wait and see.

I completely agree that there "comes a point where players have to fight through this" - next season is certainly the inflection point for Zacha. I trust Lindy and his strong track record with younger players to navigate Zacha's issues and to maximize his talent. Hynes, I think, had very rigid visions for each player, and that seemed to be the litmus test. Wood, for example, could make mistakes, contribute little else, but so long as he met Hynes' expectations for the pre-determined role assigned to him, Wood would continue to play a line or two above where he should have.

Zacha should fare much better under a more dynamic staff. There's a reason why Zacha's production jumped over 0.5PPG under Nas for 42 games after scoring ~0.35PPG in 200+ games under Hynes.

 

[Forge]

I'm just waiting on the Zacha for Weegar trade

 

[JK3]

I think one of Zacha's issues is just plain ol motivation, maybe I missed it but I've never really heard him comment about working harder or putting the effort in to improve his game, he just screams lazy to me. Until he hits the weight room I'm keeping the Zacha dad bod meme alive lol. The dude never shows any intensity or emotion either, just kind of a going through the motions type thing. Not that you have to be a screaming maniac but theres times I want to poke him with a stick.

 

[Bleedred]

I'm just waiting on the Zacha for Weegar trade

the very good and smart hockey people down in Florida know that PZ is not a shrewd enough investment for them and their forwards are too good to want to take on Conte’s beloved going away present.