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

Yeah, I have no issue with Keefe tbh, love the structure and defensive play he's brought. The top 6 is also producing even with that attention to detail defensively.

Now, if Fitz can't fix the bottom 6 this summer (we desperately need more scoring from there), I'll start souring on him pretty quickly.
 
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Devs3cups said:
Yeah, I have no issue with Keefe tbh, love the structure and defensive play he's brought. The top 6 is also producing even with that attention to detail defensively.

Now, if Fitz can't fix the bottom 6 this summer (we desperately need more scoring from there), I'll start souring on him pretty quickly.
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the d structure is excellent but we do sacrifice 5v5 offense - i wish there was just a little more balance. our top 6 is producing in the power play but our 5v5 goals haven’t been good enough
 
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Call Me Al said:
the d structure is excellent but we do sacrifice 5v5 offense - i wish there was just a little more balance. our top 6 is producing in the power play but our 5v5 goals haven’t been good enough
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While I do agree with that to some extent, our troubles wouldn't be as dire with adequate bottom-6 production. It's simply not enough. With even just a little more bottom-6 scoring, this team is probably in 2nd place in the division.

I'd be totally willing to trade away a bit of offense 5v5 from the top-6 for a better defensive structure, IF we had better bottom-6 scoring. We'd still have solid 5v5 scoring and solid D structure. The dream.

Right now, the team is 8th in xGF% 5v5, 7th in xGF, they're generating, they just have a hard time finishing. The top-6 is generating the vast majority of the offense, which in a sense is normal, but the bottom-6 as a whole hasn't pulled its weight.
 
Hooray!

Now we can play Allen the rest of the year instead of giving Calgary a top-15 pick for Markstrom!

But to be serious, I'm not too confident Allen will be a huge solution, as he's definitely had his extended slumps, but even they were just average bad. Markstrom's last 4 games have probably been as bad as any 4 game stretch a goalie has had here over the recent years.
 
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We should all be over the moon with how Allen has played this year. .910 save percentage is very good nowadays. I’ll be so agitated if he’s not the netminder on Monday in a critical game against Columbus.
 
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Bleedred said:
Hooray!

Now we can play Allen the rest of the year instead of giving Calgary a top-15 pick for Markstrom!

But to be serious, I'm not too confident Allen will be a huge solution, as he's definitely had his extended slumps, but even they were just average bad. Markstrom's last 4 games have probably been as bad as any 4 game stretch a goalie has had here over the recent years.
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Allen is not the answer.
 
HoliksGhost said:
Allen is not the answer.
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We can’t afford to let Markstrom work through it or whatever you want to call it.

If Keith Kinkaid can have a hot streak so can Allen. We don’t need a guy to stand on his head, we just need a guy who isn’t gonna allow 3-4 goals or more ever game.

Markstrom is hemorrhaging goals left and right.
 
HoliksGhost said:
Keefe is a good coach. Fitz is a good GM. Chit happens, 82 game season. This is not a Cup ready team.
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No, no, please don’t water last Friday down. Colossal failure by management how things went down but it’s been trending this way for awhile, since December 2023. Tom Fitzgerald is a crass and shortsighted general manager, it’s pretty evident now and we do our best to play nice on this free website. He needs to be fired. None of our top two centers play full seasons. He went into the season with Haula and Lazar. No more second chances.
 
It is what it is. The reality is there are at least 6-8 teams truly Cup worthy and we are not one of them. That said, the kids need playoff experience, so let’s get there.

theoptimist said:
No, no, please don’t water last Friday down. Colossal failure by management how things went down but it’s been trending this way for awhile, since December 2023. Tom Fitzgerald is a crass and shortsighted general manager, it’s pretty evident now and we do our best to play nice on this free website. He needs to be fired. None of our top two centers play full seasons. He went into the season with Haula and Lazar. No more second chances.
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He had one of the best summers of all 32 GMs, it’s not even debatable.
 
theoptimist said:
No, no, please don’t water last Friday down. Colossal failure by management how things went down but it’s been trending this way for awhile, since December 2023. Tom Fitzgerald is a crass and shortsighted general manager, it’s pretty evident now and we do our best to play nice on this free website. He needs to be fired. None of our top two centers play full seasons. He went into the season with Haula and Lazar. No more second chances.
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Sure, let's just ignore him doing everything on defense and in goal that we've been asking for because he couldn't prevent Jack Hughes from tripping and falling awkwardly into the boards.

Yes, he could have done a better job up front. I'm not going to give him a pass for seemingly being allergic to centers. Hoping that 33-34 year old Haula could hold down the #3 C spot was a gamble that blew up in his face. To his credit, he did address center at the deadline, so I don't think he's completely oblivious, even if it was a bit late.

I'm willing to give him this offseason to address the forward depth before I'm calling for his head. If he fails to address it again, or goes all in on the "tougher to play against" shit, then by all means get the pitchforks and torches ready.
 
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