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

[GameSeven]

It's just Gillies right now. We don't have a second active goalie.

Fitz looking for goaltenders right now:

 

[FooteBahl]

Do we have a zamboni driver looking to get in his first NHL game?

What about the accountant dude?

 

[OmNomNom]

let's get marty back in net

 

[Guadana]

So for tomorrow it sounds like Bratt, Bastian, Geertsen, Kuokkanen, Schmid, Blackwood, and Severson remain sidelined with Covid (Hamilton as well but that's secondary to his broken jaw, poor guy)?

The lineup maybe looks like

Zacha Hughes Shara
Vesey Nico Tatar
Johnsson Mercer Boquist
Foote McLeod Studenic

Graves Subban
Siegs Jaros
Smith White

Gillies
@Guttersniped (years of season tickets finally pay off)

My guess is if nobody else tests positive by tomorrow they'll play. If the current situation was bad enough wouldn't they have canceled the game already?

Is Domingue free for sign? Maybe some Martin's sons still didn't try themselves in the net.

 

[Saugus]

We shouldn't be playing tomorrow. So watch the NHL drag us out anyway.

They are probably trying to avoid canceling games unless they absolutely have to, given how many already need to be made up later. But I can't see how they wouldn't consider this a must-cancel situation, given that we literally can't fill our bench with the correct number of forwards, and we'll need to raid our ECHL team for a goalie.

 

[Triumph]

So what? They're done anyway and will help the tank.

There is no tank. The Devils are 7th from the bottom right now and the only team that might realistically jump over them is Chicago. They would have to drastically bottom out to reach 5th worst, and it's hard for them to get worse goaltending than they are already getting.

 

[Saugus]

let's get marty back in net

Let's go full blown crazy and get Chico in there.

 

[Zippy316]

Devils knew since yesterday Blackwood and Schmid are going on the covid list.

That’s more than enough time for them to get a semi-capable goalie to backup tomorrow.

 

[markog]

There is no tank. The Devils are 7th from the bottom right now and the only team that might realistically jump over them is Chicago. They would have to drastically bottom out to reach 5th worst, and it's hard for them to get worse goaltending than they are already getting.

Well I didn't mean it litterally. They're done and will have another top 10 pick, that was my point.

 

[Zippy316]

Well I didn't mean it litterally. They're done and will have another top 10 pick, that was my point.

I wouldn’t say the Devils are done. Mathematically, the odds of making the playoffs in the East are extremely slim.

But for the sake of this teams future, the Devils aren’t going to just throw the towel this season. They’re going to want this team to play competitive games for as long as possible.

Playing competitive hockey into (and hopefully in) April is much more important to this team than another top 10 or 5 pick at this point.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I think everyone is a little overboard here. It isn't 'our centers, one winger and a bunch of shit' unless you are of the viewpoint that we need 4 full lines of ubertalented players with awesome player cards and super cool adv metric numbers.

That's not how winning teams are built.

I'll agree that after Bratt our priority is D- that Graves and Siegs should be Fitz's first business, followed by a 1b goalie with potential.

After that, clearly one top6 winger in a trade.

Holtz is coming.

Mercer + a kid from the pipe plus a good ufa two way fwd is great for the third line. Trotting out wood McLeod and Bastian for the fourth is perfect, esp if the first and second rounders games improve. They might be a third line really, as you could trot them out as shutdown... And then we just find kids with engines for the fourth.

I don't think we are that far away, esp if we turn some of those prospects into a top winger.

Ubertalented is a weird word to use, no one is saying add Ovechkin, McDavid, Kucherov etc. We need to put scorers in scoring roles. There's nothing wrong with bottom-6 players as long as they're in the bottom-6. If you're one injury away from top-6 Vesey and Kuokkanen you're not a good team.

The only forwards on this roster that have any business playing in the top-6 of a good team are Hughes, Hischier, and Bratt. MAYBE Tatar on a fringe team. On a good team Zacha and Sharangovich don't make the top-6. If they move Mercer to wing he would be a good option but we don't have the luxury of enough center depth to be able to make that move.

Look at Tampa, they had Yanni Gourde on their 3rd line. He would, like, the 4th best forward on this team. He's not an insane talent but he knows how to produce, unlike the guys we've played in our top-6 this season.

When this team is fully 100% healthy they are on paper kinda close to a wildcard spot - but no team stays 100% healthy all year, and good teams are able to handle a little adversity and get wins. We can't. We play hard, we have some good players, but we don't have the talent or depth to handle any real teams.

 

[Hisch13r]

I wouldn’t say the Devils are done. Mathematically, the odds of making the playoffs in the East are extremely slim.

But for the sake of this teams future, the Devils aren’t going to just throw the towel this season. They’re going to want this team to play competitive games for as long as possible.

Playing competitive hockey into (and hopefully in) April is much more important to this team than another top 10 or 5 pick at this point.

This playoff race is far more locked up than it’s ever been this early through a season. We’re 7 back and Boston has 4 in hand. We're 14 back of Pittsburgh who has a game in hand and is still somehow in a WC spot despite having literally the best record in the league for the past 2 months. 8 of the top 12 teams in pt% are East It’s flat out done. The East was decided a long time ago

We could be playing competitive games in the sense they’re close and we beat some good teams but we won’t be playing competitive games in the sense of a playoff race

 

[Hisch13r]

Ubertalented is a weird word to use, no one is saying add Ovechkin, McDavid, Kucherov etc. We need to put scorers in scoring roles. There's nothing wrong with bottom-6 players as long as they're in the bottom-6. If you're one injury away from top-6 Vesey and Kuokkanen you're not a good team.

The only forwards on this roster that have any business playing in the top-6 of a good team are Hughes, Hischier, and Bratt. MAYBE Tatar on a fringe team. On a good team Zacha and Sharangovich don't make the top-6. If they move Mercer to wing he would be a good option but we don't have the luxury of enough center depth to be able to make that move.

Look at Tampa, they had Yanni Gourde on their 3rd line. He would, like, the 4th best forward on this team. He's not an insane talent but he knows how to produce, unlike the guys we've played in our top-6 this season.

When this team is fully 100% healthy they are on paper kinda close to a wildcard spot - but no team stays 100% healthy all year, and good teams are able to handle a little adversity and get wins. We can't. We play hard, we have some good players, but we don't have the talent or depth to handle any real teams.

Gourde was 2nd line in TB. Goodrow-Gourde-Coleman was the 2nd line

 

[Better Call Sal]

Billy Guerin on Spittin Chiclets. He hits on his time with the Devils and mentions Jacques Lemaire as the best coach he ever had.

 

[Hisch13r]

Billy Guerin on Spittin Chiclets. He hits on his time with the Devils and mentions Jacques Lemaire as the best coach he ever had.

f*** Bill Guerin

 

[Zippy316]

This playoff race is far more locked up than it’s ever been this early through a season. We’re 7 back and Boston has 4 in hand. We're 14 back of Pittsburgh who has a game in hand and is still somehow in a WC spot despite having literally the best record in the league for the past 2 months. 8 of the top 12 teams in pt% are East It’s flat out done. The East was decided a long time ago

We could be playing competitive games in the sense they’re close and we beat some good teams but we won’t be playing competitive games in the sense of a playoff race

I agree with you. Devils likely need to pull off an insane run to get themselves into the race.

It’s still way more important for this team to win games and push for it then just give up and falter for another bottom five finish. All they can do at this point is try to win as many games as possible. It would really help the Devils if the Islanders get hot and do us some favors too.

 

[Hisch13r]

I agree with you. Devils likely need to pull off an insane run to get themselves into the race.

It’s still way more important for this team to win games and push for it then just give up and falter for another bottom five finish. All they can do at this point is try to win as many games as possible. It would really help the Devils if the Islanders get hot and do us some favors too.

I really can't see us falling off and cratering completely. The main reason our record is this bad is goaltending. I don't want to say "it can't get worse" because things can always get worse but realistically I doubt the goaltending will be much worse if it even ends up being worse and the skaters have looked pretty alright recently.

 

[RangerDoggo]

Playoffs were always going to be a pipe dream and it's almost certainly not happening this year. Maybe with league average goaltending, we could go on a run. But we don't have that.

The "meaningful games" benchmark, which was deliberately chosen as a goal by Fitz, is still achievable. I don't see a basement finish with two underwhelming teams (Flyers, Jackets) and one bad one (Islanders).

 

[bossram]

Ubertalented is a weird word to use, no one is saying add Ovechkin, McDavid, Kucherov etc. We need to put scorers in scoring roles. There's nothing wrong with bottom-6 players as long as they're in the bottom-6. If you're one injury away from top-6 Vesey and Kuokkanen you're not a good team.

The only forwards on this roster that have any business playing in the top-6 of a good team are Hughes, Hischier, and Bratt. MAYBE Tatar on a fringe team. On a good team Zacha and Sharangovich don't make the top-6. If they move Mercer to wing he would be a good option but we don't have the luxury of enough center depth to be able to make that move.

Look at Tampa, they had Yanni Gourde on their 3rd line. He would, like, the 4th best forward on this team. He's not an insane talent but he knows how to produce, unlike the guys we've played in our top-6 this season.

When this team is fully 100% healthy they are on paper kinda close to a wildcard spot - but no team stays 100% healthy all year, and good teams are able to handle a little adversity and get wins. We can't. We play hard, we have some good players, but we don't have the talent or depth to handle any real teams.

Totally agree with your point on the whole (NJ needs more quality players), but just wanted to chime in on the Gourde point. He was TB's most used forward in the playoffs. By ice-time, the Goodrow-Gourde-Coleman line was really TB's 2nd line. And by Gourde's even-strength production, he was a fringe first-line player. And then you've got to factor in he played shutdown minutes and very effectively suppressed opposition offence.

Obviously, New Jersey needs more good players to push other guys down the lineup. But Gourde is/was simply a very good player. That's it. If he were dropped on the Devils today, I'd have no qualms if anyone argued he'd be their second-best forward.

Playoffs are far out of hand now. Time for Fitz to liquidate non-essential roster pieces in hopes of having more quality players in the future.

 

[Hisch13r]

Totally agree with your point on the whole (NJ needs more quality players), but just wanted to chime in on the Gourde point. He was TB's most used forward in the playoffs. By ice-time, the Goodrow-Gourde-Coleman line was really TB's 2nd line. And by Gourde's even-strength production, he was a fringe first-line player. And then you've got to factor in he played shutdown minutes and very effectively suppressed opposition offence.

Obviously, New Jersey needs more good players to push other guys down the lineup. But Gourde is/was simply a very good player. That's it. If he were dropped on the Devils today, I'd have no qualms if anyone argued he'd be their second-best forward.

Playoffs are far out of hand now. Time for Fitz to liquidate non-essential roster pieces in hopes of having more quality players in the future.

*3rd best because Bratt and Jack are both definitely better but yeah he's just really good.

 

[bossram]

*3rd best because Bratt and Jack are both definitely better but yeah he's just really good.

Yeah I'd say Bratt is pretty close. I was leaning Gourde because he's a center and typically plays tough minutes.

Speaking of Bratt, Fitz should definitely be trying to lock the kid up long-term, before he ends up with 70 points at the end of the season.

 

[lucifer91]

Billy Guerin on Spittin Chiclets. He hits on his time with the Devils and mentions Jacques Lemaire as the best coach he ever had.

I love how time and time again, past players like Gomez, and now Guerin state that Scotty Stevens never had to say anything, just gave you the look....lmao.

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[None Shall Pass]

Like I get the math and stuff, I'm not dumb, but it's a lot more fun to root for the team while they still have a mathematical chance. Easier to market, too.

I totally get that there's a close to 0 chance of making the playoffs but I'm still going to root for it until there's an actual zero chance.

 

[Guttersniped]

I don't see this game being cancelled. We have most of our D/F roster players... we'll be forced to sign Mittens to an NHL deal or bring in an EBUG

Other teams have EGBUGed