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

[Lou is God]

People just need to relax and set their sights to next year, these kids have had two rough seasons that have been 100% FUBAR, last year with Hynes shitting the bed and Shero getting canned midseason and the Hall distraction and then Covid-19 killing that season and wrecking havoc on this season.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

Nico has been better than Jack at every point in his career and looked better offensively in those last two games than I’ve ever seen him. Jack had a hot start but has been producing terribly since then. Nico is also a much more well-rounded player and isn’t a turnover machine. I don’t know why people are assuming that trading our best player and #1 center for a top sniper is gonna make Jack a better player and way better producer. We have multiple players playing with the same dumpster fire wingers who have more assists than Hughes. What makes him our best offensive player. I’d easily put Nico ahead of him and Zacha’s play this year too.

If you look at his skills compared to anyone else on our roster and still don’t have Hughes as our best offensive player, I don’t know what to tell you. The kid is still trying to walk in the best league in the world and we’re semi crippling him by giving him garbage wingers. Johnsson is not a top line player and Bratt’s play doesn’t mesh well at all with Jack.

Nico is our best all around player, that’s a pretty easy statement to make but he’s not our best offensive player. We’re trying to find wingers for our kids by taking Holtz and Mercer but none of those kids are locks to be the solution to our problems. Just look at their D+1 years and one would say that they’ve dipped more so then anything else.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

People just need to relax and set their sights to next year, these kids have had two rough seasons that have been 100% FUBAR, last year with Hynes shitting the bed and Shero getting canned midseason and the Hall distraction and then Covid-19 killing that season and wrecking havoc on this season.

Like Jim said, at same point we have to stop looking at next year and see something this year, some type of improvement.

I’m not asking to go from 26th to 7th best but we have to see some type of progression and we’re just stuck in neutral. Our best players right now are kids no one pegged to even make our roster and that’s just sad.

 

[Devils731]

So...what areas of his game have progressed?

He has been better defensively in the offensive and neutral zone. His defensive improvements in the defensive zone have been hit or miss; he’s still learning what he can and can’t get away with to create turnovers there.

 

[Lou is God]

Like Jim said, at same point we have to stop looking at next year and see something this year, some type of improvement.

I’m not asking to go from 26th to 7th best but we have to see some type of progression and we’re just stuck in neutral. Our best players right now are kids no one pegged to even make our roster and that’s just sad.

You see, to me that's the positive, it would be sad and worrisome if it was our aging vets who were playing well and our kids who were playing like crap, to me that's improvement. And another thing is its hard for Ruff and staff to work on the areas that need work when you have a team playing four to five games a week with little time off for meaningful practices, this is where the more experienced teams in the league have the advantage, any other season we would have multiple periods where we have four to five days off and you can really work with the kids, but we don't so they're really forced to learn on the job.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

You see, to me that's the positive, it would be sad and worrisome if it was our aging vets who were playing well and our kids who were playing like crap, to me that's improvement. And another thing is its hard for Ruff and staff to work on the areas that need work when you have a team playing four to five games a week with little time off for meaningful practices, this is where the more experienced teams in the league have the advantage, any other season we would have multiple periods where we have four to five days off and you can really work with the kids, but we don't so they're really forced to learn on the job.

It’s not a negative at all but you would expect our best players to be our best players and that’s the worrisome part of what I was trying to say. Expecting a nice stretch from a couple of rookies is always welcomed but those stretches have to be a bonus to the regular production we’re supposed to get from our key players and we’re not getting that atm and the main reason why we’re still at the bottom of the league point wise.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

I want Hughes to play better too, but so many things have conspired against the Devils this season that you really can't make a proclamation on a lot of these players either way. The super-compressed schedule, zero practice time, roster turnover, not to mention covid...any one of those things could throw players off, let alone all of them at once.

Despite acknowledging all of the above, yes, I will be whining in all of our GDTs.

 

[Lou is God]

It’s not a negative at all but you would expect our best players to be our best players and that’s the worrisome part of what I was trying to say. Expecting a nice stretch from a couple of rookies is always welcomed but those stretches have to be a bonus to the regular production we’re supposed to get from our key players and we’re not getting that atm and the main reason why we’re still at the bottom of the league point wise.

I think the main reason we're at the bottom of the league point wise was the long stretch of games when are special teams shit the bed, it allowed us to get beaten by a crappy Buffalo team three times and cost us several other games while our 5x5 was strong, now that our one area of special teams (power kill) has improved so has our overall play, look at our past six games, while we're only been 2-4 in them we've only been outscored 18-17 in that period.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Jack has 6 goals in 26 games vs 7 in 61. Saying there has been no improvement is asinine. He has hit a rough patch in a condensed, weird season — I don’t really care.

Put down the bottle.

 

[My3Sons]

It’s not a negative at all but you would expect our best players to be our best players and that’s the worrisome part of what I was trying to say. Expecting a nice stretch from a couple of rookies is always welcomed but those stretches have to be a bonus to the regular production we’re supposed to get from our key players and we’re not getting that atm and the main reason why we’re still at the bottom of the league point wise.

This team has only two best players. One is 19 and was playing well pre-Covid and the other has played five games between broken bones. That’s it for now. The team has no other best players. Bratt Zacha and Palms are complementary players to me. They will have peaks and valleys. Smith may be a best player eventually but he’s a rookie and has his ups and downs. So basically the team has one best player right now to my eyes. That best player doesn’t have wings that work with him properly (which to me is odd but I’m not watching close enough to hazard a guess why) and he may be overcoming Covid. It’s not surpassing to me how this is playing out but it isn’t hopeless as I see it.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

The level of expectation around here is worrisome. If we’re happy with the mediocre production we’re getting from our franchise altering center (yes I know he’s 19 and has crap wingers) the mediocrity of the state of our team has become a normality and that’s even sadder then our spot in the standings.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Hughes points per game has improved from .344 to .538. His shot has improved (shooting nearly double what he did last year), he's taken zero penalties this year and his defense is lightyears better (though still has room for improvement). So it's just factually incorrect to say he hasn't improved. Finishing has been a problem for the Devils all year and no one has been more emblematic of that than Jack, he could easily have 4-8 more points if he/linemates were able to bury the chances he created.

Regarding Bratt, he's T-2nd on the team in points since our return to play and he's T-3rd on the team in assists overall. I know everybody wants to grab a shovel and bury him for the one goal, but we all know he's not going to keep shooting at 2% all season. The goals are coming and he's generating chances every game. Before this season, his career points per game was 0.54 and this season through 20 games his points per game is at 0.55 which is somehow considered scratch/demotion worthy.

I'm not worried about Smith or Blackwood, both have cooled down after their amazing starts but I think that's more a consequence of the condensed schedule than anything else. Smith and Severseon have both played a huge amount of minutes and are obviously gassed. Blackwood, I don't know if it's confidence or conditioning or what, but I've seen enough of him to know he's an excellent goalie and he'll figure it out.

It feels weird that so many people are celebrating Zajac turning a corner the past ~10 games with his 0 goals and a bunch of assists, yet still continue to bash Bratt for his 0 goals and 2 fewer assists during the same stretch. It also feels weird that Hughes gets called off for his production dropping (2 points in his last 9), yet no one has said a word about Zacha and Wood having their production drop (3 points in their last 9).

Somehow the narrative has been flipped - NHL vets failing to produce has been accepted as normal, while kids struggling to produce is seen as franchise killing disaster. It's so bizarre to see 19-22 year olds get eviscerated for trying hard but not scoring on a bottom-5 team while the guys in their prime playing for contracts are allowed to coast as much as they want.

 

[guitarguyvic]

His confidence and creating scoring chances for his linemates who can't finish, he's also much stronger with the puck and his defense is also improved.

The only one I agree with is the last one.

 

[Lou is God]

The only one I agree with is the last one.

Well my first and third point is pretty obvious (at least to me) and I think our analytic posters in here could back up the second one.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

We have to add a significant player or two to help our kids be the players we’re expecting. I don’t want us to draft our way out of trouble for the next decade cause that scenario rarely pans out. We can keep giving shit wingers to Jack and hope he’ll turn those bums into top line players cause he has his own game to figure out. We are asking wayyyyyyy too much from an 19 year old and if Fitz doesn’t give him the supporting cast he deserves, we are screwing up a gem of a player. I’m not saying that we have to trade all our picks but we have to add legit talent and stop thinking that an 17-18 year old in juniors or Europe will save our franchise. We have a boat load of kids, let’s get proven talent to surround them and the second we do that, we’ll move forward.

It’s almost as bad as drafting Joe Burrow and giving him the worst o-line in the league.

 

[guitarguyvic]

He has been better defensively in the offensive and neutral zone. His defensive improvements in the defensive zone have been hit or miss; he’s still learning what he can and can’t get away with to create turnovers there.

I agree his defense is better. So he’s progressed in like one area but everything else has been stagnant as far as I can see. I saw some people reference he’s stronger on the puck...yeah no I don’t know how you can watch the games and make this conclusion. He’s easily pushed off the puck...maybe it’s marginally better(?) but hardly anything I’d call obvious progress. His good start to the season aside, I also don’t see him setting up his team mates any more than he did last year.

Yes he’s only 19 but these are worrisome trends.

This board takes the default position that he’ll be great eventually because he’s a #1 that came with a lot of hype and shows flashes of skill and vision. But you have to weigh that against what’s actually happening on the ice over time...that’s the part of the objective equation people refuse to take into account.

 

[Azathoth]

Hughes started the season off great with 8 pts in 9 games. He then went on to put up 6 pts over the next 17 games. If only there was something, anything that we could point out that happened between the first 9 games and the last 17 games that might explain the drop off in point production. Hmmmmm.

 

[MartyOwns]

He is a cunning linguist that's for sure.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

Hughes started the season off great with 8 pts in 9 games. He then went on to put up 6 pts over the next 17 games. If only there was something, anything that we could point out that happened between the first 9 games and the last 17 games that might explain the drop off in point production. Hmmmmm.

So now COVID is our excuse? Is it documented that he actually had it? We know Blackwood had it but I’m not sure Jack got it.

I’m no doctor but if he did get it, I can see an issue with his cardio, cause that’s what it affects first and foremost but his vision and shot shouldn’t be impacted.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

If you look at his skills compared to anyone else on our roster and still don’t have Hughes as our best offensive player, I don’t know what to tell you. The kid is still trying to walk in the best league in the world and we’re semi crippling him by giving him garbage wingers. Johnsson is not a top line player and Bratt’s play doesn’t mesh well at all with Jack.

Nico is our best all around player, that’s a pretty easy statement to make but he’s not our best offensive player. We’re trying to find wingers for our kids by taking Holtz and Mercer but none of those kids are locks to be the solution to our problems. Just look at their D+1 years and one would say that they’ve dipped more so then anything else.

Stop blaming Jack’s lack of production on the wingers he’s playing with. Good players make decent players better. Johnsson and bratt have both produced as decent middle six 40 point players in their careers and Hughes should be able produce atleast at a similar rate to that and help them stay at that production or better. Zacha is producing better than Hughes with the same average wingers.

Sure having an elite goalscorer would help put some points up as it would for any center but it’s not like Hughes is setting everyone up for grade A chances all the time that they’re missing like people on here are making it out to be. Hughes has the highest offensive ceiling but to suggest he’s better offensively than Nico who has consistently produced at a 50 point pace and doesn’t turn pucks over nearly as much is stupid.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I wonder if you can find a stretch of 20 games by a prominent number 1OA in year 2 where they had a dip in production? I don’t wonder, actually. Nathan MacKinnon from game 25-45 (21 games) had 3 goals 4 assists. It happens. It doesn’t matter.

 

[Lou is God]

Stop blaming Jack’s lack of production on the wingers he’s playing with. Good players make decent players better. Johnsson and bratt have both produced as decent middle six 40 point players in their careers and Hughes should be able produce atleast at a similar rate to that and help them stay at that production or better. Zacha is producing better than Hughes with the same average wingers.

Sure having an elite goalscorer would help put some points up as it would for any center but it’s not like Hughes is setting everyone up for grade A chances all the time that they’re missing like people on here are making it out to be. Hughes has the highest offensive ceiling but to suggest he’s better offensively than Nico who has consistently produced at a 50 point pace and doesn’t turn pucks over nearly as much is stupid.

Are you for real? If he's producing chances for his teammates (and he is) and they ain't burying the biscuit, how the holy hell is that on him? Some of you are now producing dumb takes, no offense.

 

[Cheddabombs]

So now COVID is our excuse? Is it documented that he actually had it? We know Blackwood had it but I’m not sure Jack got it.

I’m no doctor but if he did get it, I can see an issue with his cardio, cause that’s what it affects first and foremost but his vision and shot shouldn’t be impacted.

I'm pretty sure he said he did have it, though mild symptoms. But I'm sure he could still be feeling some effects from it.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Are you for real? If he's producing chances for his teammates (and he is) and they ain't burying the biscuit, how the holy hell is that on him? Some of you are now producing dumb takes, no offense.

He is not producing that many chances tho, he’s been good for a couple good plays per game lately and that’s it.

 

[Lou is God]

He is not producing that many chances tho, he’s been good for a couple good plays per game lately and that’s it.

Agreed, but all players go through stretches like this and I'd wish they'd stop pairing him with Johnsson, the guy just plain sucks and doesn't deserves to be playing a top-six role, I don't even think he's been an healthy scratch.