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

[Bleedred]

Dougie is very expendable and his salary could be better used elsewhere.

There's no changing my mind now.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Palat, Noesen, and Haula are 7th, 8th, and 9th on the team among 5 on 5 ice time per game. They ARE being deployed as 3rd liners.

Again, the Timo hate is because he is not on PP1 and thus not getting PP points. No player is going to score at an elite boxscore rate without consistent PP time. His 5 on 5 point production is actually pretty good at 21 points. That is more than Nico, more than Brad Marchand, more than Auston Matthews, more than Dylan Larkin, Hertl, Stone, to name a few.

I think it is time to shake up the PP units and get him onto the first one. It isn't like we have been producing a ton of PP goals recently since the hot start.

Lol. Marchand has been awful for much of the year. Matthews, who has played 16 fewer games than Timo has five goals in his last four games. One on the pp. I'm not going to get into the fact that Stone has missed a ton of time, Hertl is just about over.

Timo has five goals in his last 17. One on the power play. He has looked

I know you don't watch the games. Don't care what 5v5 minutes look like. This isn't the NBA. Linemates matter in hockey, and Palat and Noesen have both been playing on the top lines all season long.

I agree about shaking up the PP. It's time.

 

[Oneiro]

The summer will have more changes but as far as this season goes, I don't know how much you can do given the constraints. I don't think one addition, of almost any magnitude, does much for our chances. We're a playoff team and you hope Markstrom gets hot and they get timely goals.

Fitz will have to turn over the group of Haula, Palat, Mercer, Tatar, Lazar, Bastian and Dawling in the next two years. It's not hard to do, especially when you move on from Dougie. The bigger issue is that you're getting no ELC contributions and the way Fitz is drafting, that may be the case for the entire prime of our core guys.

 

[NjDevsRR]

He never gets hurt because he doesn't play a good bottom 6 role. He loses pretty much every board battle with 1-2 seconds. It's not that he's durable so much that he's just never in a position to get hurt - he has zero physicality to his game. So the end result is he effectively does nothing.

Ehhh this is disingenuous. So was Zajac and Dano coasting it and or not engaged in their streaks?

I wouldn’t call Mercer soft. He does engage in the corners and drives the net. His instincts are just not there at the moment.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Also, Mercer is 8th on the team in blocked shots and 7th in takeaways

 

[HersheyBob27]

Ehhh this is disingenuous. So was Zajac and Dano coasting it and or not engaged of in their streaks?

I wouldn’t call Mercer soft. He does engage in the corners and drives his net. His instincts are just not there at the moment.

Mercer is so soft. He goes out of his way to avoid any and all collisions. Guys with consecutive game streaks don’t play physical. Think phil kessel. Never missing a game means you aren’t playing hard enough

 

[NjDevsRR]

Guys with consecutive game streaks don’t play physical. Think phil kessel. Never missing a game means you aren’t playing hard enough

“The all-time Devils list for most consecutive games played is now: Mercer (267 GP), Jay Pandolfo (307 GP), Kirk Muller (321 GP), Sergei Brylin (328 GP), Andy Greene (350 GP), Ken Daneyko (388 GP), and Travis Zajac (401 GP).”

All soft players!!! So soft, super soft. Tremendously soft players in that list, all of them…


Listen, if you want to explain why Mercer is soft or disengaged, I will listen. But don’t feed me bullcrap about how players who have games played streaks are soft. What a load of crap when we have historical data of many tough and durable players having long streaks of games played.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Lol. Marchand has been awful for much of the year. Matthews, who has played 16 fewer games than Timo has five goals in his last four games. One on the pp. I'm not going to get into the fact that Stone has missed a ton of time, Hertl is just about over.

Timo has five goals in his last 17. One on the power play. He has looked

I know you don't watch the games. Don't care what 5v5 minutes look like. This isn't the NBA. Linemates matter in hockey, and Palat and Noesen have both been playing on the top lines all season long.

I agree about shaking up the PP. It's time.

lol

"I don't care what the facts say" is an awesome take. How could I possibly dispute that?

Timo's 5 on 5 production is good. His overall production is not, because he does not get PP1 time.

I have not missed 1 game this year. Thank you for your concern though.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Come on Devils, any day now. Water is still too expensive though...

https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-orioles-announce-all-new-birdland-value-menu-at-oriole-park-at-camden-yards

The full Birdland Value Menu includes:

All Beef Hot Dog – $4
Pretzel Bites with Cheese – $4
Cinnamon Pretzel Bites with Cream Cheese Icing – $4
Nacho Chips with Cheese – $4
Popcorn – $3.50
Peanuts – $2.50
Packaged Desserts – $3
16 oz. Refillable Soda Cup – $4
16.9 oz. Dasani Bottled Water – $4
Selection of 12 oz. Beers (Miller High Life, Blue Moon, Leinenkugel’s, Stella Artois, Sierra Nevada) – $5
12 oz. Vizzy Hard Seltzer – $6
12 oz. Non-Alcoholic Beer (Athletic) – $5

 

[HersheyBob27]

“The all-time Devils list for most consecutive games played is now: Mercer (267 GP), Jay Pandolfo (307 GP), Kirk Muller (321 GP), Sergei Brylin (328 GP), Andy Greene (350 GP), Ken Daneyko (388 GP), and Travis Zajac (401 GP).”

All soft players!!! So soft, super soft. Tremendously soft players in that list, all of them…


Listen, if you want to explain why Mercer is soft or disengaged, I will listen. But don’t feed me bullcrap about how players who have games played streaks are soft. What a load of crap when we have historical data of many tough and durable players having long streaks of games played.

Ya except those are mid tier length streaks at best. Zajac was definitely on the soft side. Mercer is well on his way to 800-900 games of super softness. If you can’t see that mercer is soft I can’t help you

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[Saugus]

who needs a job!

I’m actually qualified for this position, but I doubt they pay enough for me to consider changing from my current job.

 

[devsfan8]

The only thing the Devils are literally missing in the bottom 6 is scoring. Other then Cotter and Mercer we are not getting it. If Huala and Tatar had 5 more goals each this would not be a conversation right now.

We have toughness. Mercer is a proven 20 goal guy. I understand how he has to go IF we are serious on Miller, but it woulld be silly to call Mercer useless when he provides the one thing we lack.. scoring on the bottom 6. That's well as his age, his 4 mill salary which is excellent for a 20 goal guy. I'd love to add someone to center him on the 3rd line without breaking up any of the team during a playoff run.

 

[bossram]

Lol. Marchand has been awful for much of the year. Matthews, who has played 16 fewer games than Timo has five goals in his last four games. One on the pp. I'm not going to get into the fact that Stone has missed a ton of time, Hertl is just about over.

Timo has five goals in his last 17. One on the power play. He has looked

I know you don't watch the games. Don't care what 5v5 minutes look like. This isn't the NBA. Linemates matter in hockey, and Palat and Noesen have both been playing on the top lines all season long.

I agree about shaking up the PP. It's time.

Here's two players at 5v5:
Player A: 20 5v5 points
Player B: 21 5v5 points

One player is an elite, two-way player. A real driver. The other is apparently an offensive disappointment. A real no show.

You wanna tell me which player is which and why?

 

[HersheyBob27]

View attachment 965399

He’s soft because he is allergic to contact. Kinda self explanatory

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Here's two players at 5v5:
Player A: 20 5v5 points
Player B: 21 5v5 points

One player is an elite, two-way player. A real driver. The other is apparently an offensive disappointment. A real no show.

You wanna tell me which player is which and why?

I can already tell what the goal-post moving is going to be on this one, but very good shout

 

[NjDevsRR]

He’s soft because he is allergic to contact. Kinda self explanatory

Again. Can you read?

I said to not use games played streaks to label anyone with one as a soft or disengaged player. Literally my point to the user who brought it up before you posted. I also literally said that I will listen to posters on why they think Mercer is a soft or disengaged player.


So why are you arguing to the abyss here?

 

[Incharge1976]

“The all-time Devils list for most consecutive games played is now: Mercer (267 GP), Jay Pandolfo (307 GP), Kirk Muller (321 GP), Sergei Brylin (328 GP), Andy Greene (350 GP), Ken Daneyko (388 GP), and Travis Zajac (401 GP).”

All soft players!!! So soft, super soft. Tremendously soft players in that list, all of them…


Listen, if you want to explain why Mercer is soft or disengaged, I will listen. But don’t feed me bullcrap about how players who have games played streaks are soft. What a load of crap when we have historical data of many tough and durable players having long streaks of games played.

I get your point 100% and completely agree, but the NHL is nothing like it was 25 years ago, even 10 years ago. It's way less physical.

 

[HersheyBob27]

Again. Can you read?

View attachment 965406


I said to not use games played streaks to label anyone with one as a soft or disengaged player. Literally my point to the user who brought it up before you posted. I also literally said that I will listen to posters on why they think Mercer is a soft or disengaged player.


So why are you arguing to the abyss here?

Really what is the matter with you? You want an explanation as to why he is soft and I gave it to you. Maybe he was born soft. It is what it is. If it quacks like a duck then it is likely a duck

 

[NjDevsRR]

Really what is the matter with you? You want an explanation as to why he is soft and I gave it to you. Maybe he was born soft. It is what it is. If it quacks like a duck then it is likely a duck

You are talking to a brick wall. I don’t think Mercer is disengaged, it’s fine if you do. I am not high on Mercer and think he can be packaged for something. That’s why I literally said “I will listen” in terms of people explaining why they think he is soft and or disengaged.

But I am literally responding to you about how you are implying that all players with long games played streaks are not engaged or soft. Hence my replies. You can continue yelling into the abyss about how Mercer is soft but that wasn’t the point of my replies to YOU.

Cheers, as always Bob

 

[Dialamo]

Dougie is very expendable and his salary could be better used elsewhere.

There's no changing my mind now.

Barring the unlikely scenario that he finds his offensive mojo again and paces 70 points a season for the remainder of his contract.....as Carlo from the Sopranos would say:

He's gotta go!

 

[Lou Bloom]

I'll put it this way. Does anyone think Jack's done developing as a player? I think he can get better and if Jack can get better, so can Mercer.

We're not winning the cup with Jack turning the puck over every shift. But would I give up on him now? Absolutely not.

I extend the same logic to Mercer and I think moving him is going to bite us in the ass.

Jack possessed dynamic skating and playmaking instincts even in his rookie season. Jack also made significant improvements to his game since his rookie season and is now one of the most dynamic forwards in the NHL. It's easy to expect an elite player on an upward development trajectory to keep improving their game.

Mercer by comparison is coming off his two worst seasons back to back and doesn't even flash any high end skills that would lead one to believe that there's untapped potential to be had currently.

Mercer is averaging nearly 18 minutes per game and has been played up and down the lineup in all situations and is still invisible the majority of games he's played.

I think trading Mercer is the most obvious move to make to improve the team.

 

[onmygameboi]

Jack possessed dynamic skating and playmaking instincts even in his rookie season. Jack also made significant improvements to his game since his rookie season and is now one of the most dynamic forwards in the NHL. It's easy to expect an elite player on an upward development trajectory to keep improving their game.

Mercer by comparison is coming off his two worst seasons back to back and doesn't even flash any high end skills that would lead one to believe that there's untapped potential to be had currently.

Mercer is averaging nearly 18 minutes per game and has been played up and down the lineup in all situations and is still invisible the majority of games he's played.

I think trading Mercer is the most obvious move to make to improve the team.

Let me play devils's advocate, if his performance and potential are low, why would someone send us back something of value?

I guess you could argue "for a change of scenery", but what do you think his value looks like? You'd do a Haula for Zacha type move?

 

[devilsblood]

Here's two players at 5v5:
Player A: 20 5v5 points
Player B: 21 5v5 points

One player is an elite, two-way player. A real driver. The other is apparently an offensive disappointment. A real no show.

You wanna tell me which player is which and why?

Player A is Timo. Player B is Nico.

Nico has 13 5v5 goals. He only has 7 5v5 assists, but 6 of those assists are primary. Only 1 secondary.
Timo has 9 5v5 goals and 12 assists, only 4 of which are primary. 8 Secondary.

Nico is an elite two way player, a center in fact, great face off guy. Good PK'r. At 5v5 I'd say he is the driver on that line, and Timo's lack of finish has dragged on Nico's point totals. I don't totally poo poo secondary assists, but Timo's numbers are very much boosted by them, while Nico is glaringly lacking.

Goals + primaries, Nico leads 19 to 13.

Further Timo is on pace for the worst 5v5 shot rate in his career. One of the worst 5v5 shooting % seasons. And the worst 5v5 goal scoring rates since he played 34 games as a rookie. He is our highest paid fwd. Yeah, this is a disappointment.

Merely comparing top line 5v5 point totals in order to show Timo is playing at a high level? Not the tact I would take.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Here's two players at 5v5:
Player A: 20 5v5 points
Player B: 21 5v5 points

One player is an elite, two-way player. A real driver. The other is apparently an offensive disappointment. A real no show.

You wanna tell me which player is which and why?

No, I literally cannot. Because unlike you and some on this board, I cannot take one derivative stat from a complex game without any context and then claim all moral high ground, like there cannot be multiple explanations for the stat.

I also don't claim simple correlations and comparisons to be "fact" like @Zajacs Bowl Cut