Devils discussion (news, notes and speculation) - part III

[Bleedred]

If Allen turfs this one they absolutely cannot play him on Sunday.

And if he has another 1st period like the other night they just need to pull him.

 

[TrufleShufle]

What happened to day to day?

When we get the information about his injury is day to day, but Nico is week to week.

 

[britdevil]

Where is Haula? Where is Daws?

 

[dendazen]

Mercer goes on one heater and all this crap will fade and you lot will be back on the untouchable choo choo train.

I don't get this trade rhetoric on Mercer, dude scored 3 goals less than Meier how is 5M more expensive, constantly on PK with good numbers, never missed a single game in his career, he is on pace for 40 points this season, I don't think it's too bad for 3RW.

 

[britdevil]

The Goodbye Fitz Tour begins tonight

If they circle the drain and Fitz goes MIA again, that executive suite might start to get hot baby.

For all the good he has done with the defense core, I'm struggling to see what his grand plan for the forwards is. Noesen was a quality get, everything else has question marks. Throw in his drafting record (forwards) and it get's dicey at best.

Keeping a lame duck for a coach for as long as he did is also criminal. I like Keefe, but jury is out there too.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

This could be a season killer

Seems reasonable

 

[NjDevsRR]

If Allen turfs this one they absolutely cannot play him on Sunday.

And if he has another 1st period like the other night they just need to pull him.

This is wild. You play Allen. He is a veteran in this league and is use to randomly being thrown into tough situations. And he is a guy who can have a good game after a bad one.

I aint throwing one of our kids in there again.

These scenarios are exactly why Allen is on the team

 

[Better Call Sal]

Just to put a bit more to the quote. For further context, we don't play again until Sunday. We have 4 games after tonight until the 4 Nations break.

Hopefully he can heal up and be good to go for the final stretch if he can't go next week.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Just to put a bit more to the quote. For further context, we don't play again until Sunday. We have 4 games after tonight until the 4 Nations break.

Hopefully he can heal up and be good to go for the final stretch if he can't go next week.

Best case scenario, he plays against Vegas and MTL

 

[Bleedred]

This is wild. You play Allen. He is a veteran in this league and is use to randomly being thrown into tough situations

I aint throwing one of our kids in there again.

These scenarios are exactly why Allen is on the team

Pardon me, but that’s bullshit.

You can’t just ride him like that. You can’t. So if he keeps sucking and costs us another point tonight we gotta play him again on Sunday because he’s a veteran? Really? If he’s not getting it done we have to keep him in because he’s a veteran?

These are the scenarios where Allen CHOKES the most in his career. Like when the Blues got rid of Elliott and made him starter, only to barely miss the playoffs.

If the Blues subscribed to this theory the AHL rando Jordan Binnington never would have been called up and they would have missed the playoffs, never mind not won a Stanley Cup.

This team should have no blind loyalty to Allen if he isn’t getting it done.

 

[njdevils1982]

Just to put a bit more to the quote. For further context, we don't play again until Sunday. We have 4 games after tonight until the 4 Nations break.

Hopefully he can heal up and be good to go for the final stretch if he can't go next week.

ya, with these issues with markstrom, nico and haula going on i'm now glad the 4 nonsense break is happening and i absolutely despise the idea of the 'tournament'

 

[NjDevsRR]

Pardon me, but that’s bullshit.

You can’t just ride him like that. You can’t. So if he keeps sucking and costs us another point tonight we gotta play him again on Sunday because he’s a veteran? Really? If he’s not getting it done we have to keep him in because he’s a veteran?

These are the scenarios where Allen CHOKES the most in his career. Like when the Blues got rid of Elliott and made him starter, only to barely miss the playoffs.

If the Blues subscribed to this theory the AHL rando Jordan Binnington never would have been called up and they would have missed the playoffs, never mind not won a Stanley Cup.

This team should have no blind loyalty to Allen if he isn’t getting it done.

2024-2025 League Wide Goalie Average

.900 sv %
2.8 GAA

Allen 24-25 .903% 2.7 GAA

He’s above average this season, stat wise at least. And he has had good games and also kept us in games even when he had a bad start. So why on Earth are we even talking about throwing in a kid in net at this moment? I mean if he gets blown up tonight, sure maybe. But whats the definition of that, 5/6 goals? 2 softies?

It’s not like he’s been doing that all season. He just had a good gm in Mtl. Idc 3 went by him that night, those 3 weren’t on him. He also had a very strong 3rd period in Philly to keep a team that didn’t show up in it. He stopped 3 sure fire goals in that period. So hopefully that momentum carries him into tonight and this weekend. Yes, he wants one of those goals back on Monday but damn, that happens in almost every single NHL gm.

We have much bigger issues than the backup at the moment

 

[Bleedred]

2013 DeBoer lets Hedberg completely crater us. That team wasn’t really good enough, but he just let that spiral by stubbornly playing Hedberg instead of giving Kinkaid or Frazee a shot in anything but relief.

2018 - Cory returns and is completely awful. Hynes allows Kinkaid to keep running with it.

I’m not saying Allen is as bad as 40 year old Hedberg or even the 2018 Cory. That’s not the point. The point is you don’t let Jake Allen have free range to keep playing like he did last game (and for the majority of the lasts two months) just because he’s a veteran. Jake Allen is 34 years old and wasn’t able to really do this kind of stuff even when he was 27-28?

 

[NjDevsRR]

Hell, Allen also made many huge saves against Boston in relief last week when the gm was still close . Idk why we are on his case at this moment in time.

 

[Guttersniped]

 

[NjDevsRR]

We currently have two goalies who have above league avg numbers. You play them. You don’t go diving into your prospect pool hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with a kid when we need wins right now.

If Allen has 2 or 3 horrendous games in a row, then fine. You go there, but not now with 4 days of in between gms.

 

[Bleedred]

2024-2025 League Wide Goalie Average

.900 sv %
2.8 GAA

Allen 24-25 .903% 2.7 GAA

He’s above average this season, stat wise at least. And he has had good games and also kept us in games even when he had a bad start. So why on Earth are we even talking about throwing in a kid in net at this moment? I mean if he gets blown up tonight, sure maybe. But whats the definition of that, 5/6 goals? 2 softies?

It’s not like he’s been doing that all season. He just had a good gm in Mtl. Idc 3 went by him that night, those 3 weren’t on him. He also had a very strong 3rd period in Philly to keep a team that didn’t show up in it. He stopped 3 sure fire goals in that period. So hopefully that momentum carries him into tonight and this weekend. Yes, he wants one of those goals back on Monday but damn, that happens in almost every single NHL gm.

We have much bigger issues than the backup at the moment

I’d love to see those numbers since Thanksgiving. They’re probably .880%-something.

I got it! .885% since November 30th. His numbers on the season still look overall decent because he was very reliable and pretty damn good up through November 30th. I think he was a .920% or close for his first 7 games. Those numbers have been trending downward since November 30th.

And Allen has also amassed these numbers while playing BACKUP. I think last game was the first time Allen started two in a row this season.

 

[NjDevsRR]

2013 DeBoer lets Hedberg completely crater us. That team wasn’t really good enough, but he just let that spiral by stubbornly playing Hedberg instead of giving Kinkaid or Frazee a shot in anything but relief.

2018 - Cory returns and is completely awful. Hynes allows Kinkaid to keep running with it.

I’m not saying Allen is as bad as 40 year old Hedberg or even the 2018 Cory. That’s not the point. The point is you don’t let Jake Allen have free range to keep playing like he did last game (and for the majority of the lasts two months) just because he’s a veteran. Jake Allen is 34 years old and wasn’t able to really do this kind of stuff even when he was 27-28?

Allen was really good against Boston and MTL. Wants that softie back against Philly but to his credit, had a great 3rd to keep them in it. Idk what else you can ask from a backup goalie.

You are putting the cart wayyyyyyyyyyyyy ahead of the horse at this moment

If Allen has a bad stretch, then fine. We literally are not even close to that yet

 

[njdevils1982]

Ah yes the classic day to day, to week to week, to he’s having a rib removed because he was a big Marilyn Manson fan growing up.

day to day, hour to hour, gate is straight, deep and wide...

 

[theoptimist]

If they circle the drain and Fitz goes MIA again, that executive suite might start to get hot baby.

For all the good he has done with the defense core, I'm struggling to see what his grand plan for the forwards is. Noesen was a quality get, everything else has question marks. Throw in his drafting record (forwards) and it get's dicey at best.

Keeping a lame duck for a coach for as long as he did is also criminal. I like Keefe, but jury is out there too.

Keefe just dealt with a heartbreaking loss to BOS in Game 7 last season and came back so soon to coach this mess. I respect him for that. I think he stays even with a new GM.

Not addressing the MM is Fitz's downfall. Even with MM on the active roster, we clamored for more depth. Knowing what we know now, I can't imagine people are okay with the Pesce signing. We needed a center (Stephenson/Lindholm) and we didn't land them. Unfortunate.

I remember getting flak on this board for thinking MM was worth $4-5M/year.

 

[Whaddagoal]

View attachment 969069

View attachment 969070

Getting close to a 8 here...

 

[njdevils1982]

Ah yes the classic day to day, to week to week, to he’s having a rib removed because he was a big Marilyn Manson fan growing up.

well played

 

[NjDevsRR]

I’d love to see those numbers since Thanksgiving. They’re probably .880%-something.

I got it! .885% since November 30th. His numbers on the season still look overall decent because he was very reliable and pretty damn good up through November 30th. I think he was a .920% or close for his first 7 games. Those numbers have been trending downward since November 30th.

And Allen has also amassed these numbers while playing BACKUP. I think last game was the first time Allen started two in a row this season.

My man. Allen has a .912 sav % since Markstrom went down

Idc what numbers a backup has when Marky took the brunt of the gms since November

What matters is what he is doing recently when we need our backup to be dependable. And he has done his job.

I honestly can’t understand someone being upset with Allen after coming in strong against Boston. Getting the job done in Montreal and keeping a lifeless team in it on Monday with a fantastic 3rd period after he let in that softie. Like, why on Earth are we even thinking about putting Daws in, who has had many disastrous games when we needed wins, or a kid for his first NHL gm, after how Allen played in the last 3 gms?

I will be onboard with you if he has 2-3 consecutive bad gms. But we really aren’t even at one yet.

I honestly dont get this mindset. But we agree to disagree

Edit: .918

 

[NjDevsRR]

Actually my math was wrong.

Allen has a .918 save percentage since Markstrom went down. You play him. And you also play him in Buffalo even it he shits the bed tonight. If he shits the bed tonight and Sunday, then it’s an actual discussion. And if it does happen, it doesn’t take away the fact that you play Allen these next two games after his last week.

 

[Guttersniped]

We currently have two goalies who have above league avg numbers. You play them. You don’t go diving into your prospect pool hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with a kid when we need wins right now.

If Allen has 2 or 3 horrendous games in a row, then fine. You go there, but not now with 4 days of in between gms.

Maybe this is just my delusion talking but I think in the short term Allen very likely plays better getting regular starts.

Allen, like many goalies, struggles a bit with back-up role and playing more will help him. I don’t see him sinking us before the break.

It’s dicier after the break because of the tougher schedule with two quick B2Bs. And I obviously wouldn’t want to role with him long term (I’m not that deluded lol).

Hopefully Nico is, at worst, out until after the break. It looked like a rib injury, I’m going to assume it’s that. I will emotionally collapse if the news is bad after the break about him however.