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

[jkrdevil]

Holtz? I mean I think he can be slotted as one of the XXX's.

Not so sure about the others.

I don’t think he will or should be ready next year

 

[StevenToddIves]

I'll say it again - I don't know how anyone is confident saying anything about the play of this season. What Jack has gone through this season he will almost certainly never go through again, and that goes for all of the Devils players - they will never have to stop down in the middle of the season for 2 weeks while most of the team is sick, and then pick back up playing 4 games a week, every week. So that's why I'm not saying a whole lot about anyone's play at present - nobody looks like they're at their peak except maybe Kuokkanen and Sharangovich, and they seem to be getting some quite favorable bounces.

This might be the only time I've read "New Jersey Devils" and "favorable bounces" in the same paragraph all season.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Holtz? I mean I think he can be slotted as one of the XXX's.

Good chance he doesn’t make it next year. Fitz has made it clear that he doesn’t intend to rush Holtz or anyone else and Holtz has had a seemingly tough year in the SHL. Maybe he has a good summer and makes it tho, that would be nice.

 

[devilsblood]

I'll say it again - I don't know how anyone is confident saying anything about the play of this season. What Jack has gone through this season he will almost certainly never go through again, and that goes for all of the Devils players - they will never have to stop down in the middle of the season for 2 weeks while most of the team is sick, and then pick back up playing 4 games a week, every week. So that's why I'm not saying a whole lot about anyone's play at present - nobody looks like they're at their peak except maybe Kuokkanen and Sharangovich, and they seem to be getting some quite favorable bounces.

Meh, Zacha, Wood, Smith, Severon have all looked pretty good of late. I think Subban and Zajac have looked better recently as well.

 

[Nocashstyle]

The first 3 games are no more outliers than the last 3 games. The first 3 games were more productive but we shouldn’t discount them because they were.

I’ll do away with the last 10 games because the season has been such a grind; I consider those outliers due to the unusual lack of rest. I doubt you’d agree that I could do that, even though I have a supporting reason for it.

Or, that he has only scored 8 points in the past 23 games...which is close to 90% of the season. So forgive me for thinking those 3 productive games he scored 6 points are skewing his season totals when we’re trying to evaluate his production/development over the course of a season.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Holtz can barely put up a secondary assist in the SHL right now. I would slam the brakes on the idea that he will be a contributor any time soon.

 

[jkrdevil]

RNH is a much bigger commitment than Boyle, I think that a player like him may get 7 years even in a COVID era. A terrific player but the risk would also be there.

No unrestricted free agent forward for more than 4 years last year, and this year looks more grim from a financial outlook. RNH is not getting 7 years.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

What a silly response. Because the establishing trend is that those 6 points in the first 3 games are outliers. But sure, go ahead and take away his last three games. Still a 32 point pace. Still proving my point.

I’m not saying I don’t think Hughes will become elite. It’s just pretty ridiculous that for some you’re not even allow to utter anything remotely critical of Hughes regardless of the facts at hand. Yeah he’s young, yeah his linemates stink, yeah covid, the schedule, etc... at the end of the day, he’s still playing top line minutes for this team. He is not immune from criticism.

You can be critical about certain aspects of his game. Plenty of people have, including me. He still turns the puck over way too much for me.

However, making blanket statements like "Hughes has not improved since last year" are what I will NOT let slide (not saying you were the one that said that initially).

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Holtz can barely put up a secondary assist in the SHL right now. I would slam the brakes on the idea that he will be a contributor any time soon.

He is not being played in the top 6 anymore (which is common in his league for 18 year olds) and his entire team (including him) had Covid

I don't know why the opinion on the player would be any different than it was 6 months ago.

 

[Nico Hischier]

Is this a hypothetical line-up for 2021-22?

I don't see Gusev or Zajac back with the team. I think Maltsev will be the third-line center next season, he's looked very good. I also see Kuokkanen sticking in the line-up, he's also done an admirable job all year long slotting all over the line up. I'm going to repeat -- without making it the point -- that I feel Johnsson will be bought out or traded with some salary retained over the off-season. We also have to keep in mind that -- no guarantees of course -- Mercer, Foote and Holtz will also be vying for line-up slots next season.

Here's my guess for the line-up, barring of course trades and/or UFA signings:

Zacha-Hischier-Bratt
Sharangovich-Hughes-Mercer
Wood-Maltsev-Kuokkanen
Foote-McLeod-Bastian

Line up for this season. Palms doesn’t seem to fit well with either jack or Nico. He has been decent for us but the majority on here seem to be ready to move on including me. We could trade him for futures or I suggested a ufa for ufa swap with Tatar in Montreal and see if sharangovich Hughes Tatar would be a good line and we could resign him maybe if it is a fit. I’m skeptical about the kids making the jump next season especially to the top 2 lines so it would be nice to have a new veteran added that is not accustomed to losing like palms has been.

I agree Gusev is a goner and hopefully Seattle takes johnsson and not McLeod or bastian

 

[StevenToddIves]

Line up for this season. Palms doesn’t seem to fit well with either jack or Nico. He has been decent for us but the majority on here seem to be ready to move on including me. We could trade him for futures or I suggested a ufa for ufa swap with Tatar in Montreal and see if sharangovich Hughes Tatar would be a good line and we could resign him maybe if it is a fit. I’m skeptical about the kids making the jump next season especially to the top 2 lines so it would be nice to have a new veteran added that is not accustomed to losing like palms has been.

I agree Gusev is a goner and hopefully Seattle takes johnsson and not McLeod or bastian

Seattle's not stupid, they have some smart people in that front office -- they're not taking Johnsson if a talented kid like McLeod or Bastian are available. My expansion wish is that the Devils expose Butcher, who would likely interest the Seattle front office and allow the Devils to keep that talented group of young forwards together.

 

[Nocashstyle]

You can be critical about certain aspects of his game. Plenty of people have, including me. He still turns the puck over way too much for me.

However, making blanket statements like "Hughes has not improved since last year" are what I will NOT let slide (not saying you were the one that said that initially).

Correct and I don’t think that. He has improved. But I think some want to blissfully ignore a concerning stretch of lack of production. That’s all I’m saying. I’m obviously hoping it is due to COVID, the schedule, terrible team...it may very well be a combination of all those. But even so, we know he’s capable of more even at such a young age. For this team to take the next step, he needs to be part of the solution - excuses will grow tired.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

He is not being played in the top 6 anymore (which is common in his league for 18 year olds) and his entire team (including him) had Covid

I don't know why the opinion on the player would be any different than it was 6 months ago.

I think the opinions on him 6 months ago were premature, or overly excited cause he was/is outperforming Raymond. Not going to pretend I watch SHL games every night but it seems very risky to trust Holtz to be the guy to pair with Hughes next year. I think putting Holtz with Hughes next year as plan A is very likely to fail and we can't afford to go 3 years for Hughes to not have proper linemates.

If the team needs to "overpay" for Hughes's linemates so be it. The winger market is depressed, make it happen.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I think the opinions on him 6 months ago were premature, or overly excited cause he was/is outperforming Raymond. Not going to pretend I watch SHL games every night but it seems very risky to trust Holtz to be the guy to pair with Hughes next year. I think putting Holtz with Hughes next year as plan A is very likely to fail and we can't afford to go 3 years for Hughes to not have proper linemates.

If the team needs to "overpay" for Hughes's linemates so be it. The winger market is depressed, make it happen.

oh I totally agree...I'm not saying to count on Holtz for 21-22. I just meant the opinion of him overall moving forward.

 

[TrufleShufle]

I think the story on Hughes right now is just how much of a little kid he is physically relative to the league.

But I do think it's fair to say his season thus far has been underwhelming.

Idk, he doesn't get muscled out of plays as often as you would think. He is a little bit Patrick Kaneish in the sense of using his skating and IQ to avoid oncoming physical stuff.

I think his biggest issue is underestimating the competition. He has gotten light years better this year at not doing that, but he still does it a little too much with some of his passing.

I said it last year that the more he learns what he can and (more importantly) can't do, the better he will be and it's showing. I think he will continue to get better the more he learns what does and doesn't work in the NHL.

 

[Triumph]

Meh, Zacha, Wood, Smith, Severon have all looked pretty good of late. I think Subban and Zajac have looked better recently as well.

Pretty hard disagree on Smith and Severson. I agree about Subban and Wood but it bears repeating that they did not have COVID-19 in February. Zajac has been okay the last few games but still looks behind the play too often for my liking. Zacha's up and down, he looks better on the puck than he ever has in his career though.

 

[glenwo2]

I think the opinions on him 6 months ago were premature, or overly excited cause he was/is outperforming Raymond. Not going to pretend I watch SHL games every night but it seems very risky to trust Holtz to be the guy to pair with Hughes next year. I think putting Holtz with Hughes next year as plan A is very likely to fail and we can't afford to go 3 years for Hughes to not have proper linemates.

If the team needs to "overpay" for Hughes's linemates so be it. The winger market is depressed, make it happen.

So are some of the posters here with their Hot takes.

But I think we should try Rango and Kuokk with him first.

 

[hidek91]

No unrestricted free agent forward for more than 4 years last year, and this year looks more grim from a financial outlook. RNH is not getting 7 years.

Yeah but all of those forwards were worse players than RNH.

 

[Hisch13r]

Hughes has a 56.27% CF, 53.65% xGF, 56.48% SCF, 53.85% HDCF. He is consistently putting up a ton of 5v5 shot contributions. There is no reason to be worried at all.

 

[devilsblood]

Not groundbreaking stuff here, and we are certainly not the only team with a significant injury, but the lack of Nico has really crimped our style this year.

As an extension it has made Hughes life a fair amount more difficult.

 

[Unknown Caller]

He is not being played in the top 6 anymore (which is common in his league for 18 year olds) and his entire team (including him) had Covid

I don't know why the opinion on the player would be any different than it was 6 months ago.

Simply because he isn’t producing in any way, shape, or form. I’m not writing him off or anything, but let’s be realistic. Eklund is on his line and has been putting the puck in the net with some regularity, so I’m not entirely buying the bottom 6/covid excuse to justify his lack of production.

Djurgardens fans who watch him consistently have confirmed that he just does not look good right now.

Again, not writing the kid off, but he’s shown nothing to indicate that he should be stepping into an NHL lineup.

 

[Emperoreddy]

There is a funny counter productive argument here where Jack is accused of doing too much himself while in the same breath complaining he doesn't score enough on his own and that is wingers shouldn't matter.

Nico being injury prone because he took a puck to the face is so laughable I am pretty sure some of you are trolling at this point.

 

[devilsblood]

Idk, he doesn't get muscled out of plays as often as you would think. He is a little bit Patrick Kaneish in the sense of using his skating and IQ to avoid oncoming physical stuff.

I think his biggest issue is underestimating the competition. He has gotten light years better this year at not doing that, but he still does it a little too much with some of his passing.

I said it last year that the more he learns what he can and (more importantly) can't do, the better he will be and it's showing. I think he will continue to get better the more he learns what does and doesn't work in the NHL.

Thing is he needs to avoid that physical contact at all costs otherwise he get's thrown across the ice. Now because of his skating he is often able to avoid that contact, but it's not always the right play.

 

[Nico Hischier]

Seattle's not stupid, they have some smart people in that front office -- they're not taking Johnsson if a talented kid like McLeod or Bastian are available. My expansion wish is that the Devils expose Butcher, who would likely interest the Seattle front office and allow the Devils to keep that talented group of young forwards together.

I’d rather keep McLeod and bastian as well but hey you never know... someone might take johnsson over those two because he has scored 20 goals and McLeod or bastian haven’t shown that scoring touch. I don’t mind johnsson but I like him on the third line not the top 2. I do not like seeing him with jack. He kind of reminds me of Alexei ponikarovsky and I’m not really sure why

 

[glenwo2]

There is a funny counter productive argument here where Jack is accused of doing too much himself while in the same breath complaining he doesn't score enough on his own and that is wingers shouldn't matter.

Nico being injury prone because he took a puck to the face is so laughable I am pretty sure some of you are trolling at this point.

Sadly, they're not trolling.