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

[longislanddevil]

I wouldn't be shocked if we see a deal go down today. Fitz might feel pressured to finally commit to something if the prognosis on Jack is not good.

Has Donato actually been playing center for Chicago? Or has he been a winger? He'd be the guy I'd have my sights set on.

I’d actually want to go after McCann as he can play center if need be. He also has two years left on his contract after this season and makes only 5m per year. I wanted him even before Jack went down. The acquisition cost will certainly be higher for McCann as Donato is UFA but I wouldn’t want to give up an asset for what could be a “one and done” (when realistically we aren’t a real contender unless Jack returns.)

 

[jkrdevil]

A line can only put one puck in the net at a time. If Bratt was scoring more goals over the past 20 games, given his point production, it likely means someone else would be scoring less goals over that time.

Unless you think Bratt should be a 100-120 point player.

 

[youryeah]

I wouldn't be shocked if we see a deal go down today. Fitz might feel pressured to finally commit to something if the prognosis on Jack is not good.

Has Donato actually been playing center for Chicago? Or has he been a winger? He'd be the guy I'd have my sights set on.

last game or two he's been at center but before that it looked like a lot of time on RW.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I hope Fitz doesn't panic again. There is no replacing Jack. I hope he sticks to plugging the holes that existed before Jack went down with good, long term solutions.

I don't think he's going to do anything out of panic, per se. The deadline is Friday. He likely has his targets set, just might have been waiting until the final minute to pull the trigger. It's a sellers' market, so it wouldn't surprise me if we see fans more upset with the cost of the moves that are made.

 

[Triumph]

It’s not that the season ending totals for overall goals have been the issue. It’s the timely scoring, the stepping up in big moments in a big game that has consistently been an issue with this core. Their lack of finishing has always been an issue in that sense. Always with the xGF and never the GF.

lol no it hasn't. why do so many people have absolutely no memory of the last few seasons? it's like everyone got transported back to 2014 and have just memory holed the entire devils franchise the last 10 years. Or they just have no ability to discern what a team 'should' score.

Devils xGF versus GF, the 3 prior seasons before this combined (so from 2021 to 2024): +4
2018-2021: -1
2016-2018: -2

The Devils and xGF are in almost total agreement over the past 9 seasons before this one. The Devils have scored within 5 goals of their expected goal total over that time. It's possible there are large peaks and valleys in there - they were probably 10 goals above expected in the 2018 playoff season or something - but come on. Get real with this confirmation bias stuff.

 

[Killing Joke]

Like, losing him is a bigger loss than when we lost Nico, especially since it’s going to be for longer.

Luke was also apparently pretty emotional after the game to the point they had to ask the media to give him some privacy, which does not suggest it’s a good outcome for Jack right now.

This team with a healthy Jack the last few months has only managed to win 2 games or more 2 times. Last time Jan 22-25 (only two games in a row) and prior to that the last time in late December, the rangers game before the break than the first Carolina game on Dec 27th.

The last 12 games have literally been win one, lose one, win one lose one. And that’s with Jack, who as you can see is about as important to a team as his brother is with Vancouver, MacKinnon is for the Avs, Quinn is for the Canucks.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I don't think there's anyone suggesting that losing Jack is not a big loss. Of course it is. He is our most productive and, arguably, most important player.

As a fan, if anything, all I can hope is that this galvanizes the team in some fashion because you are now losing such a significant part of your offense. It is going to require guys to find a way to step up. That includes Fitz heading into the deadline and Keefe to put the right pieces in place in the lineup.

 

[Edmonton East]

I’m not that down on Bratt but he clearly isn’t a guy who can carry a team. A very good player, but has to be the guy riding shotgun, he doesn’t actually put it in the net enough himself to carry the team, especially without the guy on the end of most of the assists.

We better see Keefe try to ride top line heavy near term. It's their best option with how the roster is constructed. Bratt-Hischier-Meier. Running Bratt or Meier with a scrub center is pointless.

Sidenote: this silly new narrative that wing position doesn't matter at all is stupid. Sure, they rotate, but it still matters to some degree where they are generally aligned. Bratt refuses to shoot. He's painfully useless on the right side on the powerplay for example, where it's most obvious. People wonder why this powerplay fell off....an obvious big reason is teams began leaving Bratt open for shots, even in tight, while playing tighter D on the other players / in the slot. This is a long way of saying, if Keefe has a brain, under the current circumstances he has to at least TRY Bratt-Hischier-Meier. And yes, Bratt should obviously be on the left when the other winger is also a lefty but a shooter.

Considering how shitty they've been at scoring ES, it's concerning this hasn't already been given a look even with healthy Jack. I don't care how pretty Bratt and Hughes look together against inferior opponents, they don't complement each other enough to have them glued together all season. They both are weak driving the net. They both like carrying the puck. They both are ideally pass first playmakers. They both circle the perimeter a ton. Yes, Jack at least drives occasionally, but gets bumped off the puck. If these 2 "amazing" players truly worked well together, you'd be able to put some 3rd liner JAG on the other wing and get elevated production....which obviously didn't happen.

 

[Devs3cups]

Being a fan of this team is certainly challenging. There always seems to be something going wrong. Tough season.

Hopefully they can still make it and Jack comes back.

 

[MB3]

I don't think there's anyone suggesting that losing Jack is not a big loss. Of course it is. He is our most productive and, arguably, most important player.

As a fan, if anything, all I can hope is that this galvanizes the team in some fashion because you are now losing such a significant part of your offense. It is going to require guys to find a way to step up. That includes Fitz heading into the deadline and Keefe to put the right pieces in place in the lineup.

If Jack is lost for the season and THEN Fitz decides to finally make significant additions to the lineup I will drive to my closest pet store and start punting kittens.

Hopefully he's back this year. If he's not, there is legitimately no reason to watch this team.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Not sure if there’s any real motivation for them to get a deal done today. There’s Dallas tomorrow and then nothing until after the deadline.

 

[Better Call Sal]

If Jack is lost for the season and THEN Fitz decides to finally make significant additions to the lineup I will drive to my closest pet store and start punting kittens.

Hopefully he's back this year. If he's not, there is legitimately no reason to watch this team.

I mean, Fitz is going to make additions. The deadline is Friday. I'm going to notify all the local pet stores in my area to lock the kittens up.

 

[Killing Joke]

This should get him fired.

 

[jkrdevil]

lol no it hasn't. why do so many people have absolutely no memory of the last few seasons? it's like everyone got transported back to 2014 and have just memory holed the entire devils franchise the last 10 years. Or they just have no ability to discern what a team 'should' score.

Devils xGF versus GF, the 3 prior seasons before this combined (so from 2021 to 2024): +4
2018-2021: -1
2016-2018: -2

The Devils and xGF are in almost total agreement over the past 9 seasons before this one. The Devils have scored within 5 goals of their expected goal total over that time. It's possible there are large peaks and valleys in there - they were probably 10 goals above expected in the 2018 playoff season or something - but come on. Get real with this confirmation bias stuff.

My guess is most fans really only look at this stuff when it hits the negative valleys. So those points are what people remember. Not the corrections.

 

[Killing Joke]

 

[Cheddabombs]

This should get him fired.

A big part of this also needs to be put on the players, they have not been good enough to what reasonable expectations are.

Haula turned into a flat out pumpkin, whether you liked him or not heading into the season, his downfall has been significant. Mercer has regressed, Timo may have good underlying numbers but he has a pretty big contract we need more than that. Cotter had a strong start but has really cooled off.

It's not all on Fitz. I'm turning on him too but the players need to be held accountable as well.

 

[Better Call Sal]

This should get him fired.

Shit like this is exhausting because, at the turn of the year, we were 4th in the league in goals and had the 4th best goal differential.

I don't know what you attribute the blame to for this spiral that they've never been able to fully come out of. We all could have seen a market correction occurring with the likes of Noesen, Cotter etc. but the team almost universally falling into a scoring drought is difficult to understand.

I think Triumph nailed the biggest problems earlier in this thread. Haula going from a productive player in October to a shell of a player the rest of the way has exposed the depth down the middle. Mercer not having taken a next step has removed what was thought to be a potentially more useful player from the top 6 equation. And Meier not being able to finish despite having such a significant number of chances. Any of these not happening probably puts us in a better situation than we are currently in.

 

[TrufleShufle]

 

[Devs3cups]

Mercer not improving, Haula falling off a cliff and Meier being snakebitten for quite some time really didn’t help Fitz. This needs to be adressed.

 

[NJDevs26]

It's not that the offense is 'bad' per se, it's just maddeningly overrated in terms of what people think it should be compared to what it actually is.

 

[MB3]

I mean, Fitz is going to make additions. The deadline is Friday. I'm going to notify all the local pet stores in my area to lock the kittens up.

bro i’ll just shotput hamsters if the kittens are locked up. think you can stop me from destroying beautiful things in a fit of rage? you have no idea how clinically unstable I am.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

It’s not that the season ending totals for overall goals have been the issue. It’s the timely scoring, the stepping up in big moments in a big game that has consistently been an issue with this core. Their lack of finishing has always been an issue in that sense. Always with the xGF and never the GF.

Either way this injury is better for the long term.

This core wasn’t it. Not without some insane depth that most teams rarely have. Even a relatively healthy Jack & Nico would never have been enough to overcome to better teams.

Keep Nemec & Casey. Trade Kovy. Maybe markstrom too.

we need to find another elite 1C. We never should go into another season relying on Jack to be the driver, 1C of this team.

"This core wasn't it" when the most important players are 26, 23, and 21 is absolutely insane, sorry man.

"We need to find another elite 1C" as if they somehow grow on trees. Great take!

 

[JrFischer54]

team shouldn't be sellers at the deadline so everyone should just pipe down with that talk. i dont think anything changes plug the holes on the roster and try and win whatever you can.


this is going to be a worry and probably be a yearly occurrence with jack so we can't really punt the year if he gets hurt for extended amount of time. I know I know people will say build a better roster sure easier said then done.

 

[Cheddabombs]

It's not that the offense is 'bad' per se, it's just maddeningly overrated in terms of what people think it should be compared to what it actually is.

Part of it is probably overrated, but some guys are also having down years compared to even last year. Timo's numbers are down, Lazar's numbers are shockingly down (though he's had injury troubles), Mercer's are about on par to last year which is sad and he's probably our most overrated forward, Haula stinks.

Noesen is the one forward addition that's doing well. We also didn't know what we were really getting with Dougie after a season ending injury. His production has been fine, a step back from 2 seasons ago and his shot doesn't look as dangerous as it once was.

 

[jkrdevil]

team shouldn't be sellers at the deadline so everyone should just pipe down with that talk. i dont think anything changes plug the holes on the roster and try and win whatever you can.


this is going to be a worry and probably be a yearly occurrence with jack so we can't really punt the year if he gets hurt for extended amount of time. I know I know people will say build a better roster sure easier said then done.

I’m not worried that this is going to be a yearly occurrence. These have been kind of freak plays. I am worried about whether all these injuries have a compounding effect of limiting his ceiling of what he can be as a player.