GDT: Devils @ Blue Jackets - Jingle All the Way - 7:00 PM - MSG

[Andre Palot]

I don’t remember where it was but Quinn’s definitely said Jack’s the best. Idk where the whole “Luke’s the best” thing comes from

It's recency bias.

 

[Hisch13r]

It's recency bias.

I’m talking about the brothers saying he’s the best like I constantly see people say when the only time I remember one of the brothers declaring a guy to be the best it was Quinn saying it was Jack.

 

[Whaddagoal]

I thought Jack was saying Luke will be the best Hughes - said it once or twice over the 2-3 seasons.

Of course, its brothers being brothers.

I think Jack and Luke are going to have the similar impact for seasons to come. Luke is on a high right now, and the sky is the limit, he is so young and so good. With a coach set that understands how to pair him, and teach him some of the finer points, we might be bringing up a lot of Scott Niedermayer comparisons soon.....

His skating/ability to come back on the play, and his offense. Haven't seen an equivalent on this team since basically Nieds.

 

[Andre Palot]

I’m talking about the brothers saying he’s the best like I constantly see people say when the only time I remember one of the brothers declaring a guy to be the best it was Quinn saying it was Jack.

Oh I see.

Honestly, who knows then. Probably the brothers being humble amongst each other.

But in my opinion, as much as I enjoy watching Luke, Jack is the most dynamic and fun player I've seen wear this jersey since Kovy 1.0

 

[TheBeerNerd]

Don't read too much into Quinn and Jack pumping Luke's tires as the best of the brothers. PK Subban once said Jordan is the best of the brothers.

That said, Luke is going to be the most unique of the three, given his height and reach.

 

[Andre Palot]

I thought Jack was saying Luke will be the best Hughes - said it once or twice over the 2-3 seasons.

Of course, its brothers being brothers.

I think Jack and Luke are going to have the similar impact for seasons to come. Luke is on a high right now, and the sky is the limit, he is so young and so good. With a coach set that understands how to pair him, and teach him some of the finer points, we might be bringing up a lot of Scott Niedermayer comparisons soon.....

His skating/ability to come back on the play, and his offense. Haven't seen an equivalent on this team since basically Nieds.

Imagine the elite defense of those early 00s teams with the dynamic offense of that 2012 team

That's probably the best way you can sum up how insane this team is going to be in future years, if not there already. It feels so f***ing good to be back after the decade of darkness.

 

[Hisch13r]

I get the reasons to just not care about this loss but I just can’t not be bugged. Outside the PK being shitty you throttled them for 40 minutes and played one your best games. Like yeah that’s great but it’s such a dog fight in the division. They should be pulling through on nights like this. I remember saying recently they lose a lot of games that they should win.

 

[Whaddagoal]

Imagine the elite defense of those early 00s teams with the dynamic offense of that 2012 team

That's probably the best way you can sum up how insane this team is going to be in future years, if not there already. It feels so f***ing good to be back after the decade of darkness.

Yes,.

Also another random thought:

With Luke having Pesce as his linemate, who else can he learn better from, on improving stick play and angling/positioning? Pesce might be worth his contract even on that alone just to have Luke can spend a year or two just absorbing how Brett handles gaps, leads, and other in-game situations. I was one of Luke's biggest whiners last season, and seeing him play now is such a contrast to last year.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I get the reasons to just not care about this loss but I just can’t not be bugged. Outside the PK being shitty you throttled them for 40 minutes and played one your best games. Like yeah that’s great but it’s such a dog fight in the division. They should be pulling through on nights like this. I remember saying recently they lose a lot of games that they should win.

While this effort from the defense was not as air tight as it has been of late, they did just about everything imaginable to control this game and got goalie'd. Unlike the loss to the Sharks where it felt like we didn't get a ton of grade A looks, this game was chock full of them. If they're able to finish one of those earlier ones, it could be a very different game.

It's a funny game sometimes. I'm glad that Keefe continues to focus on where things went awry like he did in his presser and that the team showed both pushback to get it within 1 even late, and frustration when the empty netter went in. They're certainly not satisfied.

 

[Bramskii]

I get the reasons to just not care about this loss but I just can’t not be bugged. Outside the PK being shitty you throttled them for 40 minutes and played one your best games. Like yeah that’s great but it’s such a dog fight in the division. They should be pulling through on nights like this. I remember saying recently they lose a lot of games that they should win.

A lot of Leaf fans warned me when we hired Keefe that their team often found ways to lose when they were clearly the better team. Don't think this is a coaching thing necessarily, but seems like this was a trend when he was in Toronto.

Still a huge fan of what Sheldon has done so far.

 

[Andre Palot]

A lot of Leaf fans warned me when we hired Keefe that their team often found ways to lose when they were clearly the better team. Don't think this is a coaching thing necessarily, but seems like this was a trend when he was in Toronto.

Still a huge fan of what Sheldon has done so far.

The one thing that worries me about Keefe is his reputation of being a 'regular season coach'

 

[britdevil]

I’m talking about the brothers saying he’s the best like I constantly see people say when the only time I remember one of the brothers declaring a guy to be the best it was Quinn saying it was Jack.

Jack has said it on more than one occasion.

No need to take it so seriously. The point is that, it might actually be true. This isn't normally the case when dudes pump up their littlest bro.

 

[Devs3cups]

There always has to be something when the team loses. I’ve been very critical of their play when deserved this season, but not every loss is this huge indication and/or knock on the team. Feels like after every L the dissection, over-analyzing and conclusion drawing gets ramped up. Sometimes you play well and lose.

 

[britdevil]

My conspiracy theory is that the Devils social media team already has the 'collecting Hughes brothers like infinity stones' memes ready and stockpiled for that day.

 

[Devils731]

A lot of Leaf fans warned me when we hired Keefe that their team often found ways to lose when they were clearly the better team. Don't think this is a coaching thing necessarily, but seems like this was a trend when he was in Toronto.

Still a huge fan of what Sheldon has done so far.

I take with a grain of salt when fans of good teams think they lose too many games they should win.

The Leafs finished with 102-111-115 points the last 3 seasons.

So either the Leafs with Keefe should have had one of the greatest 3 year stretches of all time or it’s normal that better teams sometimes lose games to worse teams and sometimes lose games where they’re better.

I think fans often are happy to accept the fortunate wins where their team didn’t deserve it but find it egregious when teams lose a game where they were before. They want all the good fortune and can’t accept there is also bad fortune.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

There always has to be something when the team loses. I’ve been very critical of their play when deserved this season, but not every loss is this huge indication and/or knock on the team. Feels like after every L the dissection, over-analyzing and conclusion drawing gets ramped up. Sometimes you play well and lose.

Yup. This is where I'm at.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I take with a grain of salt when fans of good teams think they lose too many games they should win.

The Leafs finished with 102-111-115 points the last 3 seasons.

So either the Leafs with Keefe should have had one of the greatest 3 year stretches of all time or it’s normal that better teams sometimes lose games to worse teams and sometimes lose games where they’re better.

I think fans often are happy to accept the fortunate wins where their team didn’t deserve it but find it egregious when teams lose a game where they were before. They want all the good fortune and can’t accept there is also bad fortune.

Bingo. You nailed it.

 

[NJDevs26]

A lot of Leaf fans warned me when we hired Keefe that their team often found ways to lose when they were clearly the better team. Don't think this is a coaching thing necessarily, but seems like this was a trend when he was in Toronto.

Still a huge fan of what Sheldon has done so far.

How often could they have really done that when they won 50 games a year?

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Love that the boys looked pissed last night. Showed a lot of emotion. People are having a field day with Luke’s frustration at the end of the game, but I loved it. Shows they care. They played a heck of a game and I expect them to come out hungry against the Pens.

Every player should have been that frustrated watching that Rookie Jack move. That was so bad.

I get the reasons to just not care about this loss but I just can’t not be bugged. Outside the PK being shitty you throttled them for 40 minutes and played one your best games. Like yeah that’s great but it’s such a dog fight in the division. They should be pulling through on nights like this. I remember saying recently they lose a lot of games that they should win.

It’d suck to lose the division because of games against bottom feeders like that. Need to find ways to score.

Problem is it can’t be Jack/Bratt/Nico and sometimes Luke being relied on for three goals plus every night.

 

[MasterofGrond]

If you're the better team every single game of the year, every game you lose will be a "lost as the better team" heartbreaker. You're not gonna win 82 consecutive games because hockey is not a deterministic system.

I still want to try to be the better team 82 times (also unachievable!), because better teams win more games. And Keefe has done more to push the team towards that ideal than I could have possibly hoped for. I feel hopeful and confident every time the team takes the ice because a strong majority of the time, against good teams and bad, the Devils play really good hockey.

 

[Devs3cups]

Yup. This is where I'm at.

As long as they play solid hockey, they’ll win more than they lose. That’s all I care about right now.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

If you're the better team every single game of the year, every game you lose will be a "lost as the better team" heartbreaker. You're not gonna win 82 consecutive games because hockey is not a deterministic system.

I still want to try to be the better team 82 times (also unachievable!), because better teams win more games. And Keefe has done more to push the team towards that ideal than I could have possibly hoped for. I feel hopeful and confident every time the team takes the ice because a strong majority of the time, against good teams and bad, the Devils play really good hockey.

I agree with your general take for sure (you play better, you’ll win more than you lose). But in terms of goal scoring, the power play going ice cold has highlighted the difficulties they’ve had consistently scoring 5v5. Getting goalie’d or not, that has to be better.

 

[Devs3cups]

I agree with your general take for sure (you play better, you’ll win more than you lose). But in terms of goal scoring, the power play going ice cold has highlighted the difficulties they’ve had consistently scoring 5v5. Getting goalie’d or not, that has to be better.

They’re pretty middle of the pack 5v5 in goals scored in the last 10 with 20, good for 14th in the league in that span. They’re 4th in GA though. 6th in GF% 5v5 with 59%. I’d like more 5v5 scoring, and I suspect we’ll get there when the bottom 6 picks it up a bit, but they aren’t playing poorly 5v5.

1st in xGF% in the league at 5v5 in that span as well.

It’s a work in progress but I’ve liked how the team has played for the vast majority of the season. They look like a winner to me. Way more disciplined and structured.

 

[Triumph]

I agree with your general take for sure (you play better, you’ll win more than you lose). But in terms of goal scoring, the power play going ice cold has highlighted the difficulties they’ve had consistently scoring 5v5. Getting goalie’d or not, that has to be better.

They're fine 5v5. They've had issues scoring at times this season, and that's not particularly likely to continue. We've seen plenty of teams have rough 5v5 shooting seasons who explode in the playoffs.

 

[guitarguyvic]

A lot of Leaf fans warned me when we hired Keefe that their team often found ways to lose when they were clearly the better team. Don't think this is a coaching thing necessarily, but seems like this was a trend when he was in Toronto.

Still a huge fan of what Sheldon has done so far.

It’s the Maple Leafs, they always find a way to fumble the ball when it matters most. I don’t put a ton of stock into the idea that it has something to do specifically with Keefe.