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

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I read about it the other day: no roster freeze during 4 Nations, but not to expect any trades during or right before it because there's no practices during it, so teams will use time to build cap space.
Feels like the Devils will try to send down Dowling and Daws to maximize cap space during the break then.
 
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saw this article today on jack hughes

"The Devils have outscored opponents 2-1 during Hughes’ minutes on the penalty kill. Of the 169 forwards who’ve logged at least 39 minutes in shorthanded situations this season, Hughes is the only player with a positive goal differential.

His underlying metrics indicate that’s no coincidence. Using the same criteria, Hughes ranks 1st in shot share (26.47%), 1st in shot on goal share (41.67%), and 1st in scoring chance share (30.43%)."

he has taken on this responsibility and done a pretty good job
 
Remember when Taylor Hall and a like 78 year old Jaromir Jagr were the only Devils to break 60 points within about a decade span?

Jack and Bratt are already there with still 1/3 of the season left to go.
They’re 10th and 11th respectively in points this year but in some dark corners of the Devils fandom they’re both overrated players you can’t win with.
 
Even though I like Nemec more, Casey played on the left side to start the season and was very effective. Could it be Casrey that gets the call for Siegs?
Casey scored goals but that pairing got caved. Part of that was Nemec being in a post injury recovery and playing like ass, but the results were Not Good enough that I’d prefer to have someone with more professional LD experience, personally.

If I were in charge I’d call up Misyul (who I still like as a meat and potatoes 6D kind of guy). Anybody else is going to give you PK staffing concerns unless we’re just gonna start force feeding Luke minutes everywhere. I guess if we call up Nemec, he can PK with pesce on the second unit, but I don’t necessarily love that.
 
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Even though I like Nemec more, Casey played on the left side to start the season and was very effective. Could it be Casrey that gets the call for Siegs?
Casey played heavily protected minutes and his underlying numbers were terrible.

Even if we disregard the underlying numbers we need who can somewhat handle Sieg's defensive responsibilities.

And last I heard Casey was hurt too.

Nico is replaceable? Yes and so is your heart and lungs. See how well that goes

I think we just finally retired the “disgrace” thing…
I think they mean his body parts are replaceable. Funny you mention his lungs, as I think he is on his 3rd set.........

........but you can not replace that mans heart.
 
Pesce and Hamilton had 91:34 minutes together in Carolina. 57 CF%, 66 xGF%, 10 GF 3 GA.

Good to know! I think I like the idea of Pesce there and bringing Nemec up. He's clearly got a fire lit under him and has been playing well in Utica lately.

I know points don't tell the whole story, but in the past 18 games, he's got 5 goals, 13 assists, and is a +9 on a team that had been pretty porous defensively in the first part of the season.

Even though I like Nemec more, Casey played on the left side to start the season and was very effective. Could it be Casrey that gets the call for Siegs?

It had been mentioned, but that pairing wasn't really playing that well towards the tail end of Casey's time here. They were starting to get caved and it was asking a bit much of him to play on his off side. His value really shined on the 2nd PP unit while Luke was injured.

In this crunch time of the season, if we're going to be without Siegs for a bit of time, I'd rather ask a veteran like Pesce who has played on his off-hand in the NHL in the past to shoulder that responsibility. It would be too much to ask of Casey at this juncture.
 
Thinking more about it, the best actual all around lineup moving forward until Siegs is back is probably:

Luke-Dougie
Pesce-Nemec
Dillon-Kovacevic

Would be a good excuse to try Dougie without the Dillon anchor and see if that gooses his results a bit, which I've been dying for Keefe to try for a while. I'd probably also give Luke a couple extra shifts with Kovy to try and cut Dillon's time a tiny bit, I just don't trust him. Keeping Dillon-Dougie and going Luke-Kovy would also be fine with me, I just think it's worse.

I'd be fine with Misyul getting a little run too, tbh.

Need siegs injury news so I can decide if we need a f***ing left defenseman now too.
 
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saw this article today on jack hughes

"The Devils have outscored opponents 2-1 during Hughes’ minutes on the penalty kill. Of the 169 forwards who’ve logged at least 39 minutes in shorthanded situations this season, Hughes is the only player with a positive goal differential.

His underlying metrics indicate that’s no coincidence. Using the same criteria, Hughes ranks 1st in shot share (26.47%), 1st in shot on goal share (41.67%), and 1st in scoring chance share (30.43%)."

he has taken on this responsibility and done a pretty good job
I think Jack still struggles a bit with defensive defensive position but his defensive position while thinking offense is crazy strong.

What I mean is that he isn’t taking the safe defensive position most of the time but instead is taking the defensive position where he can most likely create a turnover and win the the puck back. He’s very good at this and it forces other teams to play conservative around him or risk getting burned.

On the flip side, Jack risks getting burned as well by defending aggressively but he’s talented enough to win at a rate that makes it positive.

On the PK all this gets ramped up as opponents PP aren’t thinking defensively so Jack so when Jack does defend from a position of “turnover first” it creates some panic from the opponent and Hughes/Bratt are talented enough to take those turnovers the other way.

———————-

The short recap, Jack is a really good defender when viewed from an overall game standpoint but he doesn’t defend traditionally so he will be in bad spots at times.
 

If you have a no-trade list, what’s the first team on it?​

82 responses
In a survey of 82 active NHL players between Dec. 20, 2024, and Feb. 2, 2025, 48.78 percent of respondents said if they had a no-trade clause, the first team on it would be the Winnipeg Jets.
Winnipeg Jets

48.78%
Buffalo Sabres

19.51%
San Jose Sharks

8.54%
Calgary Flames

3.66%
Ottawa Senators

3.66%
Anaheim Ducks

2.44%
New York Rangers

2.44%
Other

10.98%
Note: Also receiving 1.22 percent of the vote each: Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, Utah Hockey Club, Vancouver Canucks, Vegas Golden Knights.
Source: Survey conducted by The Athletic of active NHL players from Dec. 20, 2024, to Feb. 2, 2025.

Huzzah for the devils!
 
Food for thought:

1) Does anyone else get anxious when TV switches to the behind the goal camera when we are on a penalty kill? Or even just in our own end. I hate it. It's fun when we we are on offense.

2) Is Nico better than Jack? Vaguely written on purpose
1. I just think it's an annoying camera angle in general and I wish they'd do away with it entirely. But I get what you mean with the penalty kill.

2. In terms of talent, no. But in terms of keeping the team together, absolutely. Jack's great, but he's not on the level of a McDavid/Crosby/MacKinnon in being able to completely control a game at will. That's fine, because some teams have never had those kinds of players in their entire existence. But he needs Nico to play a complete game.
 
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Is there a roster freeze for 4 Nations?

Surely there is

I read there was NOT, however the teams are expected to hold off on trade announcements until after the tournament because they don't want to draw attention away from it.

I'm surprised the PA didn't make a roster freeze a mandate for 4 Nations considering it would be pretty shitty to find out on the 12th you were traded and then you don't get back home to the 20th if your team makes the final to figure out how to sort moving your stuff/possibly your family.

I know the guys get paid a lot so my care about this for them overall is very small but I'm just more surprised the PA didn't make it a mandate to avoid a situation like this.
 
Huzzah for the devils!

Honestly really surprising to not see them at even just a small percentage.

There’s the whole “armpit” meme that is obviously unfounded, but lots of ignorant people seem to believe it. Objectively, Newark is also not a particularly “nice” city. Then there is the whole super high state tax thing.

At the same time, I guess travel is some of the best in the league and close enough to home for a lot of players…and one of the quickest flights to Europe. Also a good mix of not being in a fish bulb-type market, but still plenty of team support. And a team that should be competitive for the immediate and foreseen future.
 
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Food for thought:

1) Does anyone else get anxious when TV switches to the behind the goal camera when we are on a penalty kill? Or even just in our own end. I hate it. It's fun when we we are on offense.

2) Is Nico better than Jack? Vaguely written on purpose
i always expect a goal in this view for some reason lol
 
There’s the whole “armpit” meme that is obviously unfounded, but lots of ignorant people seem to believe it. Objectively, Newark is also not a particularly “nice” city. Then there is the whole super high state tax thing.
I seriously believe that The Sopranos changed the popular perception of New Jersey from something negative to... well, something still negative, but also funny and relatable.
 
saw this article today on jack hughes

"The Devils have outscored opponents 2-1 during Hughes’ minutes on the penalty kill. Of the 169 forwards who’ve logged at least 39 minutes in shorthanded situations this season, Hughes is the only player with a positive goal differential.

His underlying metrics indicate that’s no coincidence. Using the same criteria, Hughes ranks 1st in shot share (26.47%), 1st in shot on goal share (41.67%), and 1st in scoring chance share (30.43%)."

he has taken on this responsibility and done a pretty good job
The best forward in the history of the franchise. No question.

You can argue for guys like Haula and Drew Stafford, even some lesser known players like Elias and Kovalchuk but Jack is on another level. He's only 23 AND just added "PK Threat" to his resume. It's going to get even better.
 
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I seriously believe that The Sopranos changed the popular perception of New Jersey from something negative to... well, something still negative, but also funny and relatable.

That and Jersey Shore

1. I just think it's an annoying camera angle in general and I wish they'd do away with it entirely. But I get what you mean with the penalty kill.

I love that angle. It’s so easy to see the play develop from there.
 
Food for thought:

1) Does anyone else get anxious when TV switches to the behind the goal camera when we are on a penalty kill? Or even just in our own end. I hate it. It's fun when we we are on offense.

2) Is Nico better than Jack? Vaguely written on purpose
1) I like it for the most part, but sometimes they hang onto it too long when its back and forth behind the net, have yet to see a goal score for or against when in that camera though from what I can remember.

2) Jack is better than Nico. But in a fantasy hockey world, a team of Nicos would beat a team of Jacks in a 7 game series.
 
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Thinking more about it, the best actual all around lineup moving forward until Siegs is back is probably:

Luke-Dougie
Pesce-Nemec
Dillon-Kovacevic

Would be a good excuse to try Dougie without the Dillon anchor and see if that gooses his results a bit, which I've been dying for Keefe to try for a while. I'd probably also give Luke a couple extra shifts with Kovy to try and cut Dillon's time a tiny bit, I just don't trust him. Keeping Dillon-Dougie and going Luke-Kovy would also be fine with me, I just think it's worse.

I'd be fine with Misyul getting a little run too, tbh.

Need siegs injury news so I can decide if we need a f***ing left defenseman now too.
Dillon's been predominantly with Pesce the past couple games. Hamilton with Sieg's. Obviously the injury last night screwed that up.

Meh results for Sieg's-Hams.
 

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