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

[NjDevsRR]

NJ will be in precarious spot if they don’t split the rest of this road trip. Teams have caught up, it can’t be ignored or glossed over.

I do expect a big bounce back game against Utah after the dump game we saw in Colorado. Hopefully 2 pts there and sneak one out in Vegas. That would be a great step before Dal and Winn

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[Dialamo]

I'll make a "Custom title" bet with anyone that CBJ doesn't pass us. (Custom title, in case you don't know, is the thing I have under my username that says "Dano moisturizes". You have this too.)

Bet is called once it is no longer possible for one team to pass the other. Loser switches to whatever the winner says and has to keep it until the 2026 Playoffs start.

Easiest bet I will ever win friend. I predicted the Jackets would surpass us since October and it will likely happen as soon as next week. It also won't be long until the Wings, Senzzz, Rags, Flyers, Bruins, Habs, and Isles pass us too.

Book it.

 

[Devs3cups]

The only consolation will be someone getting flushed down the toilet.

I think this is a case of “be careful what you wish for”. Odds are we aren’t getting a better GM than Fitz if he’s let go. Fitz has his faults, like any GM, but overall I’m happy with his work. You most likely end up with a worse GM if you get rid of him.

 

[JK3]

The shilling for Timo is hilarious, you guys getting a cut of that fat contract?

Enough with the excuses, these useless pixie dust stats are mind numbing. Puck the puck in the net FFS.

 

[Bleedred]

I think this is a case of “be careful what you wish for”. Odds are we aren’t getting a better GM than Fitz if he’s let go. Fitz has his faults, like any GM, but overall I’m happy with his work. You most likely end up with a worse GM if you get rid of him.

I think we could end up with someone better, but I totally could see it being Marty (probably not Chuck) and that would be the total be careful what you wish for.

I think he deserves to stay if we make the playoffs, but don’t see them running it back with him in the case we complete the nuclear meltdown, which is still improbable at this point, but not completely out of the question.

 

[devilsblood]

I feel most on this board get it. He's not on the PP1, and he's actually playing very well.......

.....but he needs to score more goals.

1 goal in his last 20 games. Same as Bastian.

Bratt too. 3 in his last 20. Same as Tatar. And Bratt plays almost all his minutes with Hughes including top PP duties.

4 combined goals between Timo and Bratt over the last 20 games.

Mercer has 4 over that span. Cotter has 5.

 

[guitarguyvic]

So depressing that we are being treated to yet another season where it appears expectations will not be met.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I think this is a case of “be careful what you wish for”. Odds are we aren’t getting a better GM than Fitz if he’s let go. Fitz has his faults, like any GM, but overall I’m happy with his work. You most likely end up with a worse GM if you get rid of him.

If they don't get out of the first round it's 1 playoff win since 2020 when he got the full time job. Making the playoffs 2 times in 6 seasons and only 1 playoff round win isn't exactly a high bar for someone else to try to beat.

I'd be perfectly fine with firing him and moving on. A half decade being fully in charge is long enough.

 

[Killing Joke]

Tom needs to be fired. The fact we are at this point speaks volumes to how incompetent he is.

The Jackets didn't even come into this season with playoff aspirations, yet they are just 4 points behind us with a game in hand.

Tom is a cancer, his ideology hockey wise is a cancer, his drafting is cancerous.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

The shilling for Timo is hilarious, you guys getting a cut of that fat contract?

Enough with the excuses, these useless pixie dust stats are mind numbing. Puck the puck in the net FFS.

Or you can have guys like Palat/Haula who make up the same salary and don't even show up at all most nights. You can bitch at Timo for not goal scoring, but once again, this entire group of forwards isn't doing that at a decent clip this year besides Bratt/Jack/Nico/Noesen. Singling out Timo is just ignoring a massive issue with this team's finishing + bottom 6 being putrid dogshit. Timo scores 5-7 goals more than he has right now, the bottom 6 is still a massive issue regardless.

 

[Oneiro]

This summer? Probably not. The year after making that absurd jump in 22-23? Yes, Fitz arguably pushed all the wrong buttons that summer besides the Toffoli for Shara trade.

I don't think he did much of anything - is that what you meant? It was the right move to walk away from Severson and Graves. I liked the Miller trade, had no problem with Toffoli, who I think would've been solid on this year's team. Nosek got injured but probably is decent on this squad too. Tthe treatment of Boqvist was baffling, especially given how much of a leash Palat, Haula, Bastian, etc. get. He knew McLeod was toast and didn't do that much to address it. But these are all small fry things, not really huge in the long haul.

There's an argument that he totally nuked the overall team speed in three seasons and I just do not like that when you have four of the fastest players in the league and they are your core guys.

But I'm fine with Fitz because for the most part he makes errors of omission, not commission. The latter, like Palat, is much harder to unwind yourself from. I just hate his forward drafting and think it will have consequences without a course correction.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I think this is a case of “be careful what you wish for”. Odds are we aren’t getting a better GM than Fitz if he’s let go. Fitz has his faults, like any GM, but overall I’m happy with his work. You most likely end up with a worse GM if you get rid of him.

Highly disagree, Fitz is pretty average when it comes to GM's. He's pretty good at trades, dogshit at UFA, pretty good at building at defense, pretty dogshit at building a forward core. Any positive he has is met with a disturbing negative.

 

[Smitty426]

Highly disagree, Fitz is pretty average when it comes to GM's. He's pretty good at trades, dogshit at UFA, pretty good at building at defense, pretty dogshit at building a forward core. Any positive he has is met with a disturbing negative.

Noeson says hi

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I don't think he did much of anything - is that what you meant? It was the right move to walk away from Severson and Graves. I liked the Miller trade, had no problem with Toffoli, who I think would've been solid on this year's team. Nosek got injured but probably is decent on this squad too. I think the treatment of Boqvist was baffling, especially given how much of a leash Palat, Haula, Bastian, etc. get. He knew McLeod was toast and didn't do that much to address it. But these are all small fry things, not really huge in the long haul.

There's an argument that he totally nuked the overall team speed in three seasons and I just do not like that when you have four of the fastest players in the league and they are your core guys.

But I'm fine with Fitz because for the most part he makes errors of omission, not commission. The latter, like Palat, is much harder to unwind yourself from. I just hate his forward drafting and think it will have consequences without a course correction.

Yes, I'm talking about his ideology change up front, whenever it happened, was a massive downer to this team's future ceiling.

 

[guitarguyvic]

If they don't get out of the first round it's 1 playoff win since 2020 when he got the full time job. Making the playoffs 2 times in 6 seasons and only 1 playoff round win isn't exactly a high bar for someone else to try to beat.

I'd be perfectly fine with firing him and moving on. A half decade being fully in charge is long enough.

I don’t see this team cracking somewhere in the low to mid 90’s points, unless Fitz hits a couple of home runs by the deadline. I honestly am completely indifferent to keeping him. He’s been as mid as the team on the ice in my book.

I still think this team has suffered from a lack of clear vision ever since Lou left. The 2022 team would have been a good foundation towards building something more focused - roll with the speed identity and attempt to ADD bigger bodies/physicality to that identity. Instead Fitz REPLACED it with a bunch of guys who were the total opposite. I don’t believe he built a speed team on purpose - this is sort of an extension of the Shero approach (just less egregious) where you kind of just put parts together without a bigger picture in mind and the speed was a happy coincidence. Then even when he got that happy coincidence he still didn’t realize that he had stumbled upon an identity he could build on, he instead just squandered it. His choice in Lindy as coach was indicative of just a rudderless vision. Everyone knew Lindy had zero defensive structure in his coaching even before he came onboard, and then Fitz held on to him until the bitter end because he seemed more concerned with friendships than hockey results.

It’s been more than a decade since Lou left and I still have no idea what kind of team this org’s leadership wants to assemble.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Noeson says hi

Fantastic, in 4-5 years, he's made one good add in UFA among the plethora of garbage he's added in the same time period. Pesce will probably age horrendously as well.

 

[Bleedred]

If they don't get out of the first round it's 1 playoff win since 2020 when he got the full time job. Making the playoffs 2 times in 6 seasons and only 1 playoff round win isn't exactly a high bar for someone else to try to beat.

I'd be perfectly fine with firing him and moving on. A half decade being fully in charge is long enough.

I don’t think it’s fair to fire him if we don’t win a round. At least not just yet.

No playoffs and he’s gotta go. The serenade during the season finale will make Fire Lindy sound like a love song.

Now I know it’s still improbable we miss the playoffs, but also not out of the question either. Especially if we can’t win at a greater clip over the last 22 games than we’ve won over the last 22 games.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I don’t see this team cracking somewhere in the low to mid 90’s points, unless Fitz hits a couple of home runs by the deadline. I honestly am completely indifferent to keeping him. He’s been as mid as the team on the ice in my book.

I still think this team has suffered from a lack of clear vision ever since Lou left. The 2022 team would have been a good foundation towards building something more focused - roll with the speed identity and attempt to ADD bigger bodies/physicality to that identity. Instead Fitz REPLACED it with a bunch of guys who were the total opposite. I don’t believe he built a speed team on purpose - this is sort of an extension of the Shero approach (just less egregious) where you kind of just put parts together without a bigger picture in mind and the speed was a happy coincidence. Then even when he got that happy coincidence he still didn’t realize that he had stumbled upon an identity he could build on, he instead just squandered it.

It’s been more than a decade since Lou left and I still have no idea what kind of team this org’s leadership wants to assemble.

Well, yeah, it's been noted that Fitz blows at drafting forwards/up front and is good at drafting dmen while Shero was the complete opposite. The identity thing is mostly typical hockey lifer thinking where a young team gets punched in the mouth in the playoffs by a bigger/physical roster and the idea is to change it up completely instead of looking at the underlying issues that plagued them. All they needed to do is add a few blue liners with puck moving ability + goaltender and they were probably set for the next decade plus. There was next to no need to change anything up front besides fans who glorify toughness

 

[Killing Joke]

It's perfectly fair to fire the guy if we can't win a round since it would be his fault we cant. He's been a shit GM. One good year then he ruins what made the team good for size and grit that all sucks. He made us way slower each of the last two seasons. He took away offense as well. So while the goaltending is fine, this team can't score worth a shit.

His drafting also sucks. Nemec is a horrible pick considering what was available that would've given us more offensive depth. Silayev over Dickinson and Buiuv is horrible as well. Holtz sucked, Shakir over what was on the board sucked, Stilman in the first round sucks.

His contracts suck as well. Palat, Dillon, Haula, MacDermid. All of those players are worthless, and we can't move any of them since they all (minus MacDermid, plus no one wants him) have NTC / NMC.

 

[Smitty426]

Fantastic, in 4-5 years, he's made one good add in UFA among the plethora of garbage he's added in the same time period. Pesce will probably age horrendously as well.

Meanwhile Pesce has made Luke a great defender. Dillon addition is fine, we actually have a D now. Kovacevic trade was terrible huh? We were looking at Stamkos last summer, hmmm. March too.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Meanwhile Pesce has made Luke a great defender. Dillon addition is fine, we actually have a D now. Kovacevic trade was terrible huh? We were looking at Stamkos last summer, hmmm. March too.

I literally said he was good at trades...? And LOL, Dillon has been putrid ass for most of the year + Pesce has been garbage since the start of the new year and one of the reasons this team can't do anything on the back end since that pair with Luke has completely disintegrated metrics/play wise.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I don’t think it’s fair to fire him if we don’t win a round. At least not just yet.

No playoffs and he’s gotta go. The serenade during the season finale will make Fire Lindy sound like a love song.

Now I know it’s still improbable we miss the playoffs, but also not out of the question either. Especially if we can’t win at a greater clip over the last 22 games than we’ve won over the last 22 games.

A half decade is a long time, maybe it's not to some people and maybe my standards are too high but it's simply not good enough. Missing the playoffs or getting knocked out in 5/6 games in the 1st round really isn't that much different at this point. It's all not good enough.

 

[Oneiro]

Yes, I'm talking about his ideology change up front, whenever it happened, was a massive downer to this team's future ceiling.

Bastian, Lazar, Haula, Palat, Tatar - all these guys are gone soon or already losing ice time next season. There's a big blank slate there, the ceiling is not in jeopardy at all.

I think what's happened last year and probably this year is that he does not want to make a bad deal and the sellers like Buffalo and Montreal are trying to save face and extract more than picks for players that don't deserve that return.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

It's perfectly fair to fire the guy if we can't win a round since it would be his fault we cant. He's been a shit GM. One good year then he ruins what made the team good for size and grit that all sucks. He made us way slower each of the last two seasons. He took away offense as well. So while the goaltending is fine, this team can't score worth a shit.

His drafting also sucks. Nemec is a horrible pick considering what was available that would've given us more offensive depth. Silayev over Dickinson and Buiuv is horrible as well. Holtz sucked, Shakir over what was on the board sucked, Stilman in the first round sucks.

His contracts suck as well. Palat, Dillon, Haula, MacDermid. All of those players are worthless, and we can't move any of them since they all (minus MacDermid, plus no one wants him) have NTC / NMC.

Disagree on Silayev, he'll be a good player for this team. Holtz sucked because of Jack developing a shot, I'm tired of people using hindsight with Holtz to the umpteenth degree, he was the right pick at the time. Shakir netted us Meier, so don't see how that was a bad pick. Nemec, sure, but it was reported that he wanted to trade that pick for Matthew Tkachuk. That was also the time Severson was a year away from UFA and we had no clue what his future had in store, taking a RHD prospect was fine as insurance for Severson. We had McLeod/Boqvist/other guys who could've played 3C so taking Wright or Cooley was whatever. Agree on the last point though