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

[Bleedred]

I wouldnt be surprised if he just kept coming back on 1 year deals.

I've never closed the door on bringing him back on a one year deal around what we're giving him with Montreal's retention. Even when I've been pretty down on him.

I'm just not at all sold on Daws. He'd need an audition at the NHL level this year for me to be convinced of that.

I'm still annoyed by his brutal wraparound goal. One of only two in the NHL so far this month. Elvis the kind of softies Merzlikins has the other. If his AHL play weren't so miserable this year I would have cut that a break.

He's probably our best performing shootout goalie over the last 4 years, so there is that.

Back to Allen - one thing I've been saying is that if we really wanted him back, it probably means he had a really good season and will get a raise on what he's getting this year. Not a raise on what he's getting both teams combined, just a raise from the Devils part in it.

 

[glenwo2]

But Luke's D looks fantastic to my eyes. A good amount of that is his skating ability, a good amount of it is his stick work, and a good amount of it is his ability to anticipate what puck carriers are going to do. But maybe an underrated aspect of Luke's defensive game is his effort level. Sure his skating ability allows him to make up space on a hard back check, but there is a want that is necessary to make that back check possible. And I think it's seen in small space plays as well where yes a quick first step allows him to get to a puck, but there is still that quick twitch thinking which ques the physical ability. Luke has that.

I kind of question if Nemec has that. Truthfully I think his game looks a little lazy. Yes there is a polish to his game, there seems to be an intelligence to his game, but is he attacking the play in a way that we expect a big time defender to attack the play? I dunno. Maybe what I'm seeing is a guy who is not a great athlete? Maybe what I'm seeing is a guy not in great shape. Maybe these things all go hand in hand?

PAUSE.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

Woah 4 girls but only 3 guys? What's going on here???

There's a hand coming out on the bottom left hitting the table.

 

[devilsblood]

you should've added a mute advisory to your post

Had mine on mute. Now I want to hear what's going on.

Well SOMEONE is filming this.

Another chick maybe???

 

[Billdo]

Nied's chafed against the conservative style of play the Devils asked him to play as well. So I don't think it's accurate to say Luke is developing on a path that is unlike Nied's path. Very similar actually imo. You kind of insinuate Luke is playing some freewheeling style of D, I'm not seeing that at all. I think Luke's D this year has been excellent.

Is Luke allowed more leeway carrying the puck? I think that is fair to say, but the game has also changed a ton since Nied's era when he was more an anomaly. Nowadays D-men carrying the puck is much more common, thus we should expect Luke to carry the puck more then Nied's did even if they are vey similar players when adjusted for era.

But Luke's D looks fantastic to my eyes. A good amount of that is his skating ability, a good amount of it is his stick work, and a good amount of it is his ability to anticipate what puck carriers are going to do. But maybe an underrated aspect of Luke's defensive game is his effort level. Sure his skating ability allows him to make up space on a hard back check, but there is a want that is necessary to make that back check possible. And I think it's seen in small space plays as well where yes a quick first step allows him to get to a puck, but there is still that quick twitch thinking which ques the physical ability. Luke has that.

I kind of question if Nemec has that. Truthfully I think his game looks a little lazy. Yes there is a polish to his game, there seems to be an intelligence to his game, but is he attacking the play in a way that we expect a big time defender to attack the play? I dunno. Maybe what I'm seeing is a guy who is not a great athlete? Maybe what I'm seeing is a guy not in great shape. Maybe these things all go hand in hand?

 

[devilsblood]

PAUSE.

View attachment 976320

Oh I get it.

 

[Zippy316]

I've never closed the door on bringing him back on a one year deal around what we're giving him with Montreal's retention. Even when I've been pretty down on him.

I'm just not at all sold on Daws. He'd need an audition at the NHL level this year for me to be convinced of that.

I'm still annoyed by his brutal wraparound goal. One of only two in the NHL so far this month. Elvis the kind of softies Merzlikins has the other. If his AHL play weren't so miserable this year I would have cut that a break.

He's probably our best performing shootout goalie over the last 4 years, so there is that.

Back to Allen - one thing I've been saying is that if we really wanted him back, it probably means he had a really good season and will get a raise on what he's getting this year. Not a raise on what he's getting both teams combined, just a raise from the Devils part in it.

You really that annoyed on Daws from a wrap around goal? He clearly attempted to poke the loose puck away and when Rakell surprised him with speed, he was left in a terrible spot. If he’s successful, the puck goes into the corner and nothing happens. I feel like that’s far worse goals like soft shots I would harp over than a wraparound that amounts to poor decision making.

I do agree that I doubt the organization will put all their chips into Daws as the backup with how much goaltending has been this teams Achilles heel. It’s likely they try to bring Daws back or at the very least they’re going to add some veteran 3G.

 

[NjDevsRR]

You really that annoyed on Daws from a wrap around goal? He clearly attempted to poke the loose puck away and when Rakell surprised him with speed, he was left in a terrible spot. If he’s successful, the puck goes into the corner and nothing happens. I feel like that’s far worse goals like soft shots I would harp over than a wraparound that amounts to poor decision making.

I do agree that I doubt the organization will put all their chips into Daws as the backup with how much goaltending has been this teams Achilles heel. It’s likely they try to bring Daws back or at the very least they’re going to add some veteran 3G.

Its more of the history of a handful of wraparound goals Daws has allowed in his short time in the big leagues. This has been discussed ad nauseam last season with many examples on how he is late to read certain plays and thus late to react

I still think Daws can pull it together. He has excellent one on one abilities. The rest of his game needs refinement

 

[billingtons ghost]

Luke Hughes has a 6.5% on ice shooting percentage and Dougie has an 11.2. Almost entirely just luck.

Skill only applies to goaltenders.

Bc shooting % is soooooo different luckwise to SV%.

Oh, wait, it's the exact analogue. How about that.

Luke's shooting% would be higher if he shot the puck when he should shoot the puck. He's a little green yet in the shot selection dept compared to Dougie.

 

[Bleedred]

You really that annoyed on Daws from a wrap around goal? He clearly attempted to poke the loose puck away and when Rakell surprised him with speed, he was left in a terrible spot. If he’s successful, the puck goes into the corner and nothing happens. I feel like that’s far worse goals like soft shots I would harp over than a wraparound that amounts to poor decision making.

I do agree that I doubt the organization will put all their chips into Daws as the backup with how much goaltending has been this teams Achilles heel. It’s likely they try to bring Daws back or at the very least they’re going to add some veteran 3G.

There have only been two wraparound goals in the month of February in the NHL. That one and one on Merzlikins on Saturday night.

Those “Soft shots” like ones from bad angles that go through either the goalie and the pads or goalie and the post are much more common. I see one of those every other night, sometimes nightly if there’s a good number of games on.

I actually notice a lot more goals caused by goalie giveaways.

The wraparound is pretty rare nowadays and after that one I’m now making it a point to count just how many of those I see the rest of the year. And in 9 NHL game nights and 66 games (I think I counted that right?) in February I’ve seen only those two. I can’t remember the last one before that, but I’m sure there were some in January.