Devils discussion (news, notes and speculation) - offseason edition

[Devs3cups]

LENNI

 

[Cheddabombs]

Fitz cooking

 

[Mgd31]

I don't understand Fitz's comment regarding banging his head and depth scoring. What am I missing?

 

[Forge]

We have an American Pope now, so anything is possible

Almost anything

 

[SJinNewJersey]

I don't understand Fitz's comment regarding banging his head and depth scoring. What am I missing?

bang your head metal health - Suchen Videos

 

[JimEIV]

Almost anything

I'm really looking forward to the new wave of "American Pope" jokes.

 

[JimEIV]

bang your head metal health - Suchen Videos

Well, I'm frustrated, Outdated
I really want to be overrated...

The lyrics to that song are hysterical.

 

[RANDOMH3RO]

Is it realistic to hope this guy can be an nhl regular next season? It would go a long way if 2 guys on ELC’s could contribute next season.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I expect Gritsyuk to be a regular next year, I do not expect Lenni to be an NHL regular next year.

 

[Forge]

I expect Gritsyuk to be a regular next year, I do not expect Lenni to be an NHL regular next year.

Same

 

[Nocashstyle]

Since Lenni is almost an afterthought to Gritsyuk in every Devils fans minds…I’m half expecting Lenni to surprise everyone and secure an impactful NHL role this year while Gritsyuk underwhelms.

I don’t actually expect that and I think Gritsyuk will be great, but that’s just the way these things go sometimes too

 

[Billdo]

When someone says that a player leads the team in points, not scoring.....does that make any sense?

I thought scoring involved Points?

Am I taking crazy pills here?

Yeah, it's lazy and silly. His play directly led to more goals than anyone on the team. This is a fact. To say yeah but it wasn't goals is essentially pointless. If he finished with 88 points and it was 30 and 58 instead of 21 and 67 there would be little to no difference in the overall outcome.

 

[My3Sons]

You're completely ignoring the long goalless streaks from Timo, months in fact, and Bratt as well....you wrote 6 paragraphs and made believe that didn't happen but ultra-critiqued guys who largely played lessor roles while producing in the same general neighborhood of Bratt's 21 goals.... Timo was that bad as well until March.

You're making believe that the drought came from "just" secondary scoring, it absolutely didn't .... Timo literally went two months without a single goal


In the playoffs nobody really produced away from Nico.

Here are All the playoff goals.

Nico from Bratt and Pesce
Bratt from Haula and Hamilton
Nico from Meier and Palat
Mercer from Bratt
Nemec unassisted
Nico from Palat Meier
Meier unassisted
Mercer from Pesce
Meier from Pesce
Noesen from Nemec and Hamilton
Nico from Cotter and Noesen

Nico was on ice for 6 of 11 goals for....so was Pesce

Bratt on ice for 3 at least one was with Nico and Timo on ice for 4, I believe all with Nico...

We had Pesce and Nico producing and pretty much that was it in the playoffs.

The regular season and playoffs are two different animals. In the playoffs I’d say Meier produced a reasonable amount. In the regular season I think the entire team outside of Hischier could have been incrementally better (with the possible exception of Cotter and Noesen who I think both hit career highs in goals?). Mercer comes to mind for me. I love him as a player and want him to develop the consistency he needs and to stay with NJ for his entire career. That said he failed to hit 20 for the first time even if his overall play was better this season to my eyes than last season. If each guy beyond that small handful - including Bratt and Meier and Luke and Hamilton - scored two more goals the team probably wins a few more games and gets to 100 points and finishes in the top 12-15 in goals and we aren’t even having to discuss this. The issue is real but incremental not catastrophic as I see it. Beyond that you have injury issues like Bratt’s shoulder and Haula’s ankle sprain and Jack’s shoulder and Luke’s shoulder that probably skewed things a bit.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

 

[Better Call Sal]

I liked him in his brief stint. Worthwhile guy to keep around.

 

[NJDevs26]

I expect Gritsyuk to be a regular next year, I do not expect Lenni to be an NHL regular next year.

You might be right...but I think it's also more important for Gritsyuk to stick given his advanced age. Lenni has a lot more time, but it wouldn't shock me if he was ready for the NHL.

 

[longislanddevil]

Tom, how does it feel to have zero center depth and see Rossi and Perfetti having success while you go dumpster diving?

I’m still pissed about not drafting Rossi!! Look at the guys drafted after him, too….Perfetti like you mentioned….Lundell, Jarvis, Holloway. Granted, these three were projected more in the 11-15 range but Rossi and Perfetti were in the conversation at 7OA…alas, our amazing scouts took Holtz.

Sorry, gents….had to vent. Sore subject for me. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

[JimEIV]

I think it is fair to hold guys like Mercer and Haula and Tatar and Bastian and lazar accountable for goal scoring. If those 5 guys collectively scored 10 more goals this season we are right there with Florida for goals for this season. Meier did well to recover and get his 26 but he had a stretch where he wasn’t scoring and could have had 4-5 goals. There’s no one player that will fix a mediocre scoring team and make them great, but if everyone ups their game just a little it becomes a pretty easy accomplishment.

Bastian averaged 10:56 of ice time. Tatar 11:06...Lazar besides being injured all year averaged 10:34....these are 4th liners. I think looking for extra goals here is a bit of blame shifting...

Mercer had 3 fewer goals than Bratt this year. If your number #1 RW has 21 and Noesen your #2 RW has 22 goals...how many more should your #3 RW have? He had 19. The short falls looks like it's from #1 not 2 or 3.

Beyond all that...10 extra goals this season would barely put us the middle of the league in scoring...our offense wasn't mediocre, it was bad.

We finished 20th in Goals For...10 additional would have put us in a tie for 14th with Florida. That's still not good enough.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Mercer had 3 fewer goals than Bratt this year.

And 52 fewer points.

 

[JimEIV]

And 52 fewer points.

And 1 more 5v5 goals.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Mercer had 3 fewer goals and FIFTY fewer assists lol what the f*** are we even doing here man

 

[RANDOMH3RO]

Bastian averaged 10:56 of ice time. Tatar 11:06...Lazar besides being injured all year averaged 10:34....these are 4th liners. I think looking for extra goals here is a bit of blame shifting...

Mercer had 3 fewer goals than Bratt this year. If your number #1 RW has 21 and Noesen your #2 RW has 22 goals...how many more should your #3 RW have? He had 19. The short falls looks like it's from #1 not 2 or 3.

Beyond all that...10 extra goals this season would barely put us the middle of the league in scoring...our offense wasn't mediocre, it was bad.

We finished 20th in Goals For...10 additional would have put us in a tie for 14th with Florida. That's still not good enough.

I know you really want to rip on bratt, but he still scored more points than those 2 guys combined. I also hope that bratt can get back to that 30 goal mark next season, but it seems straight up ridiculous to focus your negativity on the most consistent and durable player we have who also brings more to his game every single season. He’s part of the solution, he’s not the problem.

 

[NjDevsRR]

lol what the f*** are we even doing here man

Play the stars less mannnnn

 

[Cheddabombs]

Mercer vs. Bratt, lord have mercy

 

[Billdo]

Mercer had 3 fewer goals and FIFTY fewer assists lol what the f*** are we even doing here man

Shitting on Bratt as bait.