Devils 2021-22 team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - part XII

[njdevils1982]

continue….to agree to disagree.

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[Tao Jersey Jones]

If they just keep starting the season over every 10-12 games we'll make the playoffs.

 

[Buck Dancer]

continue….to agree to disagree.

GTFO of here with that nonsense!

 

[BostonDevil]

After stirring the pot with the Draisaitl trade, I will now propose a similar deal that involves Matthews for Kuokkanen....

 

[Bleedred]

I don't even wanna say their names because they'll be on the list tomorrow if I do, but how many regulars haven't been on the covid list this season?

With Blackwood now on it, there's one player that sticks out that hasn't been on it yet this year, but it seems more guys than not have either already been on it or are currently on it.

 

[Bleedred]

In before our game Thursday is postponed only because Ruff/Fitz lobby to the league that they can't possibly play the Islanders without having Geertsen available to play against them and that they really can't play a game at all without Blackwood.

 

[Mgd31]

Sharangovich = Our Chris Kunitz?

 

[Hisch13r]

Sharangovich = Our Chris Kunitz?

Well Kunitz at least had a successful career as a top 6 before being stapled to Crosby and sometimes Malkin. Yegor has been nothing without Jack and great with Jack.

 

[Triumph]

I don't even wanna say their names because they'll be on the list tomorrow if I do, but how many regulars haven't been on the covid list this season?

With Blackwood now on it, there's one player that sticks out that hasn't been on it yet this year, but it seems more guys than not have either already been on it or are currently on it.

Nah, everyone's going to get it. The players I can remember not having it -

Fs: Hughes, McLeod, Boqvist, Mercer

Ds: Siegenthaler, Smith

 

[RangerDoggo]

The Athletic comment sections are getting upset about Shayna Goldman. Maybe the anger is misguided- it’s the website’s decision to put her in charge of our beat- but I get it. We already have AAtJ for (terrible) articles with stats-first approach articles with no greater context. We don’t need another person doing that, especially when we have one of the weakest cast of reporters in the NHL.

Masisak had his shortcomings but at least he was an actual beat reporter.

 

[Hisch13r]

The Athletic comment sections are getting upset about Shayna Goldman. Maybe the anger is misguided- it’s the website’s decision to put her in charge of our beat- but I get it. We already have AAtJ for (terrible) articles with stats-first approach articles with no greater context. We don’t need another person doing that, especially when we have one of the weakest cast of reporters in the NHL.

Masisak had his shortcomings but at least he was an actual beat reporter.

Shayna is great.

 

[Triumph]

The Athletic comment sections are getting upset about Shayna Goldman. Maybe the anger is misguided- it’s the website’s decision to put her in charge of our beat- but I get it. We already have AAtJ for (terrible) articles with stats-first approach articles with no greater context. We don’t need another person doing that, especially when we have one of the weakest cast of reporters in the NHL.

Masisak had his shortcomings but at least he was an actual beat reporter.

Masisak was not a beat reporter, at least not how I view this position from the days of the newspaper - he seldom wrote game summaries. He covered the team and went to practice and games, but the articles he tended to write were either semi-statsy blog-type posts or big features on a particular player (or coach or GM).

I get the fans getting upset at Shayna but it's not her fault, she writes good stuff. The Athletic should be smarter than to have a Rangers fan doubling as a Devils writer, but it's such a minor thing for them.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Again the issue is the local papers not hiring actual beat reporters, it's not the fault of the people who do report on the team for doing their job. Not their fault it isn't the job people want.

NJ.com is trash though so it is what it is.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Well Kunitz at least had a successful career as a top 6 before being stapled to Crosby and sometimes Malkin. Yegor has been nothing without Jack and great with Jack.

The Yegor / Boqvist / Kuokkanen line was great last year in camp, and then when Zajac centered them in the season. Last year it seemed like Sharangovich was getting Hughes's game right instead of the reverse.

I know this year he's struggled until he's been put on Hughes's wing recently but there's a reason everyone was so excited about him going into the year.

 

[Oneiro]

Local media institutions are toast, period. I've said it before but it's far more likely that a blogger gets scale and then gains team access than local papers upping their coverage.

There's a pretty massive opportunity in NJ for a savvy kid who's familiar, if not adept, with analytics and has good to great writing skills. Problem is it's hard to find these two things together - most of the empirically-driven guys are mediocre writers who are incapable of writing solid human interest stories which is also a part of the job description and probably one of the key advantages of team access. (The Athletic's article on why players flee CBJ is the kind of scenario where you need a deft hand to ask the questions and frame the narrative.)

 

[Saugus]

Local media institutions are toast, period. I've said it before but it's far more likely that a blogger gets scale and then gains team access than local papers upping their coverage.

There's a pretty massive opportunity in NJ for a savvy kid who's familiar, if not adept, with analytics and has good to great writing skills. Problem is it's hard to find these two things together - most of the empirically-driven guys are mediocre writers who are incapable of writing solid human interest stories which is also a part of the job description and probably one of the key advantages of team access. (The Athletic's article on why players flee CBJ is the kind of scenario where you need a deft hand to ask the questions and frame the narrative.)

I lead a team of data scientists and I have the same problem when hiring. The bolded is exactly what I'm looking for, but people with great technical skills often can't communicate about their findings, and the good communicators are lacking in technical chops.

People with both skillsets are unicorns, and they often know it. When there's a whole world of industries out there that need them and are willing to pay top dollar, they're unlikely to become beat writers for midmarket hockey teams.

 

[Hisch13r]

The Yegor / Boqvist / Kuokkanen line was great last year in camp, and then when Zajac centered them in the season. Last year it seemed like Sharangovich was getting Hughes's game right instead of the reverse.

I know this year he's struggled until he's been put on Hughes's wing recently but there's a reason everyone was so excited about him going into the year.

That line was Zajac had a ton of puck luck. They rode a sky high SH% with mediocre on ice results.

 

[Davegarri]

I'll start a blog for you guys, just give me some page views

Then I'll start rating everything bagels around NJ and then the country and call myself Davey Pageviews

 

[Hisch13r]

I'll start a blog for you guys, just give me some page views

Then I'll start rating everything bagels around NJ and then the country and call myself Davey Pageviews

Jack can be your costar for the bagel reviews

 

[Guadana]

From previous topic about drafting in past years
2015 I did want Marner for devils so hard, but in the momentum I wanted Werenski or Provorov
2016 was very painful for me. I did watch some of McLeod game and wasn’t excited. I expected we draft Chychrun and that was pretty obvious for me.
2017 I was in Nico camp
2018 I don’t really remember. I think I didn’t any pre draft job
2019 I was in Jack camp and didn’t have any idea to draft Kakko.
2020 was fun(nope) and I did a lot of predraft job. I wanted Sanderson/Raymond so bad. I wasn’t happy about Holtz, because Quinn were higher on my list before draft. I was very happy about Mercer because he was my top-1 candidate before we lost position when coyotes win pre-playoff round. Reichel were my second candidate. I was shocked when we drafted Shaq, I did want Marat, Peterka, Greig to be drafted there.
2021 Edvinsson was my choice. And I didn’t like they how we add Chase. I think Fitz easily could trade this pick and take Chase and other talented player in second round.

I think Devils did pretty fine job in post Conte era. I think they should build franchise from drafting defensemen because they are growing slower(of course I don’t think you must draft Byram over Hughes), and never draft slow small puckmoving defensemen with bad skating.

It’s very interesting how devils will continue to work on draft, because devils have some hard needs, but it’s not a great tactic to draft for needs when you have top-16 pick. And the most important thing is devils have 7 years of Hamilton deal and six years of Nico deal. That may be a window of our franchise and we are not even in playoff spot. Fitz should think a lot about trading picks for something we will not wait for years.

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Pronman's U23 ranking. Last ranking was from September.

2. (10.) Jack Hughes
20. (26.) Luke Hughes
32. (33.) Nico Hischier
46. (69.) Dawson Mercer
57. (52.) Alexander Holtz
80. (44.) Ty Smith
90. (95.) Nolan Foote
92. (154.) Shakir Mukhamadullin

Ranking the best under-23 NHL players: Who tops the list, Andrei Svechnikov or Jack Hughes?

 

[Lou is God]

Pronman's U23 ranking. Last ranking was from September.

2. (10.) Jack Hughes
20. (26.) Luke Hughes
32. (33.) Nico Hischier
46. (69.) Dawson Mercer
57. (52.) Alexander Holtz
80. (44.) Ty Smith
90. (95.) Nolan Foote
92. (154.) Shakir Mukhamadullin

Ranking the best under-23 NHL players: Who tops the list, Andrei Svechnikov or Jack Hughes?

Wow, he's back to loving Jack.

Mercer moved up some but not enough IMO.

 

[Azathoth]

Pronman's U23 ranking. Last ranking was from September.

2. (10.) Jack Hughes
20. (26.) Luke Hughes
32. (33.) Nico Hischier
46. (69.) Dawson Mercer
57. (52.) Alexander Holtz
80. (44.) Ty Smith
90. (95.) Nolan Foote
92. (154.) Shakir Mukhamadullin

Ranking the best under-23 NHL players: Who tops the list, Andrei Svechnikov or Jack Hughes?

It is nice to see most of our guys at least trending in the right direction.

 

[Devs3cups]

Wow, he's back to loving Jack.

Mercer moved up some but not enough IMO.

Rated Jack’s shot as below NHL average, but it’s definitely getting better.

Mercer is also way too low.

 

[Devils731]

Pronman's U23 ranking. Last ranking was from September.

2. (10.) Jack Hughes
20. (26.) Luke Hughes
32. (33.) Nico Hischier
46. (69.) Dawson Mercer
57. (52.) Alexander Holtz
80. (44.) Ty Smith
90. (95.) Nolan Foote
92. (154.) Shakir Mukhamadullin

Ranking the best under-23 NHL players: Who tops the list, Andrei Svechnikov or Jack Hughes?

It’s odd that Holtz is really producing in the AHL and drops but maybe Pronman just got to view him more now in the US.

An even distribution for teams would give teams ~3 players each so the Devils having 8 is nice; of course we should expect that due to draft position.

Would most Devils fans take Foote over Muhk in a vacuum? For me, it wouldn’t be a tough decision to bet on Muhk over Foote, if I had to gamble on one or the other.