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

[Satans Hockey]

Omg so close god damn it

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Now it went from somewhat cruise to the playoffs, to this team might f***ing choke and miss it completely. It's annoying how so many of you guys were so cocky thinking that the playoffs were basically a lock the last week and that the Rags or Isles cant steal our last spot in the Metro.... It's like the thread that guy posted on the main boards about how good the Devils were playing back in December.

Have you guys not learned anything as this season has gone along ? This team is a big let down.

 

[Bleedred]

Now it went from somewhat cruise to the playoffs, to this team might f***ing choke and miss it completely. It's annoying how so many of you guys were so cocky thinking that the playoffs were basically a lock the last week and that the Rags or Isles cant steal our last spot in the Metro.... It's like the thread that guy posted on the main boards about how good the Devils were playing back in December.

Have you guys not learned anything as this season has gone along ? This team is a big let down.

#FireFitz

 

[Comparison Ford]

Now it went from somewhat cruise to the playoffs, to this team might f***ing choke and miss it completely. It's annoying how so many of you guys were so cocky thinking that the playoffs were basically a lock the last week and that the Rags or Isles cant steal our last spot in the Metro.... It's like the thread that guy posted on the main boards about how good the Devils were playing back in December.

Have you guys not learned anything as this season has gone along ? This team is a big let down.

That thread was the curse of all curses.

 

[CalamityX23]

I blame the loss of Erika for this curse

 

[NJDevs26]

I'm about a 1 as far as worrying about making the playoffs at this point, beating Columbus twice with the Rangers imploding did a lot to lengthen the margin for error - but still pretty blase about the team as a whole not believing this group can really do anything IN the playoffs.

It's like we're stuck in limbo at this point...which is better than the four-alarm fire missing the playoffs would have been, but still sucks in comparison to how much promise the season had in late December.

Why did I say something this dumb? This ****ing team can’t be trusted, with tougher games coming up I’m back at a 5 now ffs

It would be a fitting end to the season for us to die against the Rangers 3-2 while outshooting them 37-19

 

[NjDevsRR]

Gotta win both before the Jets gm and then try to split the Minny back to back

Id go right back to Allen Monday

 

[guitarguyvic]

All of Haula, Palat, Lazar, Bastian, Tatar need to go. Mercer I’d keep because in spite of how disappointing he’s been I still think he’d be a perfectly fine third liner if he’s surrounded by actual good players. The top six needs a legit sniper and one more guy who can hang with the core. We need a couple of really quality third line guys to go with Mercer and Noesen, but who could also not look completely out of place if they have to move up for injuries. Same thing for the fourth line to go along with Cotter.

That’s half the forward group that needs to be turned over. Plus we need better 13th and 14th options for the inevitable injuries.

We have almost no internal options for filling these needs and I don’t trust Fitz to get it done without botching up other areas of the roster. How the f*** are we in this position while up against the cap and after this many years of sucktitude? Horrible management.

 

[Bleedred]

Gotta win both before the Jets gm and then try to split the Minny back to back

Id go right back to Allen Monday

So would I

But they’re probably going back to Markstrom. You would think he’d have a good game if not on complete accident. Where the puck hits 8 posts but he only allows 0-2 goals.

 

[dzubrus8]

He doesn’t start anywhere near 60% in the dzone - you agree that you miss read or didn’t understand that stat correct?

I still mostly align with Jim here. To me it’s the ordinal ranking and magnitude that’s interesting, not the exact number. The fact that Mercer has way more of his OZ+DZ shifts starting in the DZ relative to other fwd’s on this team is meaningful. Whether it’s 60 or 58 or 90 the fact that it’s 10-20% more than the teams top six FWDs is an important takeaway

If you think about it as 60% of his OZ+DZ starts are in the DZ it certainly shows they trust him more as a defensive forward even recognizing that a lot of starts stats lose meaning due to NZ and mid-play line changes.

Also, it’s not like he plays 1000 shifts and 900 of them were in NZ or run of play. And even if they were in the run of play those changes can only happen in certain moments (you’re not going to get a change when you’re stuck in the DZ) so I wouldn’t put too much stake into those numbers missing from this figure.

This reminds me of people who bash +/- because it doesn’t account for special teams and it’s reflective of team play, etc.. Sure if you use it to say Dillon is so much worse now because his +/- last year in Winnipeg was 10 points higher (e.g.) then yes I think it’s an inappropriate conclusion. But, if you say “Kovacevic is +10 higher than XYZ while playing more defensive shifts and against higher QoC” to imply he’s more of a net positive at 5on5 then that has real merit.

 

[Billdo]

I don't particularly like this guy but apparently there's friction in the room.

 

[Bleedred]

I don't particularly like this guy but apparently there's friction in the room.

How the hell does he know this?

 

[edevils]

Now it went from somewhat cruise to the playoffs, to this team might f***ing choke and miss it completely. It's annoying how so many of you guys were so cocky thinking that the playoffs were basically a lock the last week and that the Rags or Isles cant steal our last spot in the Metro.... It's like the thread that guy posted on the main boards about how good the Devils were playing back in December.

Have you guys not learned anything as this season has gone along ? This team is a big let down.

I understand we're being let down repeatedly.

We still might make the playoffs. We might not.

What I won't do is doom post every time they lose a game.

 

[Billdo]

How the hell does he know this?

Good question although the specifics of it makes it at least plausible.

 

[edevils]

I don't particularly like this guy but apparently there's friction in the room.

If it's true, they're at least trying to hold each other accountable.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

I understand we're being let down repeatedly.

We still might make the playoffs. We might not.

What I won't do is doom post every time they lose a game.

It's not doom and gloom. It sucks when they lose and it's always fun when they win but they have been trending downward for 3 months now. Its the truth. Hopefully they make it just the experience and maybe come together as a group to knock out the annoying Hurricanes. They should be winning these games though, especially on home ice.

 

[Killing Joke]

We f***ed up not drafting this kid.

This is gonna be another missed good player thanks to Tom’s dog shit ability to evaluate talent.

 

[Killing Joke]

I want a cheap rental for one of Haula or Lazar spots, anything to get one of them off centering duties. A Kerfoot type would do fine if we can swing a cheap deal.

Then I want a 2C and a depth winger who can move up when needed.

A cheap rental like a Suter would help on the backend.


Do I expect all of this to happen? Nope. Do I hope a few of these happens? Yea.

Glass is fine. I’d keep him and meet his qualifying offer. There are no good available options this free agency.

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

We f***ed up not drafting this kid.

This is gonna be another missed good player thanks to Tom’s dog shit ability to evaluate talent.

He wouldn't be in the Devils lineup at all this season. How would that help them tonight ?

I'm still on the fence of them taking Silayev over some other players like Dickinson/Buium but we can't judge the pick this early too much. You have to remember that Silayev is playing in a better league than those 2. A league that doesn't let teenage defensmen play big minutes, let alone crack their roster.

 

[fire Fitzgerald]

We f***ed up not drafting this kid.

This is gonna be another missed good player thanks to Tom’s dog shit ability to evaluate talent.

Are you kidding me? (c) Tom F.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I don't particularly like this guy but apparently there's friction in the room.

Can we not with this shit? He says he made it up. Not every random Twitter boob is worth broadcasting.

 

[Omar Little]

As much as it would benefit us long term, I think we should bridge Luke and use the savings to improve our the team further. It’s clear the savings of ~3m + a year for the next 2 years would help improve the depth scoring of a team and/or help add towards another legit Top 9 scoring threat

 

[Mgd31]

Can we not with this shit? He says he made it up. Not every random Twitter boob is worth broadcasting.

That guy freaking sucks lol

 

[RSeen]

As much as it would benefit us long term, I think we should bridge Luke and use the savings to improve our the team further. It’s clear the savings of ~3m + a year for the next 2 years would help improve the depth scoring of a team and/or help add towards another legit Top 9 scoring threat

With a rising cap, we cannot bridge Luke. That would be a mistake IMO.

Give him 8 or 8.5, but we need term.

Fitz needs to find a way to fix the other issues on the roster.