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

[Ekiru]

Not sure why this is coming across as a negative. I didn't mention a thing about Nemec's interview quote. I'm merely referring to his attitude when down on the farm. Nemec has never liked any of his time in the AHL. He has avoided contact as if he were made of fine China. Any time he was returned after being in NJ he has just gone through the motions defensively and concentrated on going all out offensively. He acted like a pouting brat. He acted as if he had nothing to work on defensively.
He never played "bad", but did as little as possible in his own end. It was like he didn't want to take a chance of getting hurt in the minors.

All I'm saying about Casey is that the sour puss and "I'm too good for this attitude" is not part of his M.O.

You are right you didnt say anything directly about the interview. I took your comment about 'Nemec's take' as to mean his public comments on the matter; this would refer to the interview

As for his body language and dissecting his game, I wont get into that. Its just not worth much to me in the discussion of how he possibly feels... But if others see value in it Ill gladly take that into consideration

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Apparently it's 6 years to the date since Zajac's GWG v Florida then pushed us down in the 2019 lottery, I remember being so pissed when he scored that.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Apparently it's 6 years to the date since Zajac's GWG v Florida then pushed us down in the 2019 lottery, I remember being so pissed when he scored that.

 

[Bad Goalie]

You are right you didnt say anything directly about the interview. I took your comment about 'Nemec's take' as to mean his public comments on the matter; this would refer to the interview

As for his body language and dissecting his game, I wont get into that. Its just not worth much to me in the discussion of how he possibly feels... But if others see value in it Ill gladly take that into consideration

It's your option.

 

[Ekiru]

It's your option.

I simply choose to separate the player from the person. Though I do find this type of information (as you have provided) to be interesting, nonetheless, and appreciate it

 

[edevils]

I'm really excited to see some Devils playoff hockey again.

It would set us up nice for next season if one of Luke, Nemec, Casey, or Grtits has a great performance.

For a team with an established core, I'm pretty happy that we have four prospects that have the potential to pan out into NHL players (with some star potential as well). Could you imagine if all four of them stick with the team? Our team would look pretty solid over the next decade.

Alex Nikishin is rumored to be coming over to the NHL (Canes) in a similar manner to Grits. I've read some pretty hyped up things about him, and I'm interested in seeing him play.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Jesper Bratt can get into the top 3

Heck, Bratt''s the type of guy who could pot 12 points in the 5 games, especially with the schedule we've got to finish up.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

So many positives coming out of the victory against the Rangers. The play of Seamus Casey is one of the biggest positives from the game. If he continues to be at least decent defensively and not make the egregious mistakes that Nemec does, he should jump Nemec on the depth chart for good. Unlike Nemec, he hasn’t sulked at all about not playing with the big club. In fact, he’s been the polar opposite. The kid is special and I’m a fan.

Yeah, there's really no reason to not have Casey ahead of Nemec at this point.

The extra offense he's provided has been nice, but what's really separated him from Nemec is that he's had very few egregious mistakes, and has done a great job at picking his spots offensively. Two things you just can't say about Nemec.

Yeah, the Devils have been hemmed in a bunch with Casey on the ice, but if you watch, you'll see that's typically had very little to do with Casey himself.

He does need to work on getting stronger so he can better shut down the cycle, but he does a good job of keeping things to the outside and defending the front of the net.

Keefe finally gave him some well-deserved praise (see article).

What do we do next year if Casey is ready for a full time role? The long term solution is parting ways with Hamilton but that’s not going to happen yet (maybe 2026). Along with Kovo and Pesce, Seamus is blocked. Good potential problem to have.

It took one game for Seamus Casey to take Simon Nemec's lineup spot for good

"Unbelievable pass" was how New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe described Seamus Casey's pass to Timo Meier that led to his third-period goal that made t

pucksandpitchforks.com

Getting rid of Dougie ASAP would be an easy decision. He's been a 3rd pairing dman at 5v5, making $9M a year while being massive defensive liability.

And as we've seen, Luke is more than capable of running a top PP unit, and Casey could very easily run PP2.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Even though I know it is the most logical move, I'll be bummed when we move on from Dougie. I love that big goof.

 

[theoptimist]

I don’t f***ing care about Kirk Muller

 

[NjDevsRR]

I don’t f***ing care about Kirk Muller

 

[Davegarri]

I'm going to Switzerland in 10 days and will absolutely buy a Switzerland nico jersey if I see one somewhere.

 

[thebeernerd]

Even though I know it is the most logical move, I'll be bummed when we move on from Dougie. I love that big goof.

It might be as soon as next season at this point. But yeah, agreed. He really is more than just a good offensive play driver, he's a fan favorite, a locker room favorite, and our social media star. That's not easily replaced. I feel like we're the first team to really make him feel wanted.

 

[longislanddevil]

Yeah, there's really no reason to not have Casey ahead of Nemec at this point.

The extra offense he's provided has been nice, but what's really separated him from Nemec is that he's had very few egregious mistakes, and has done a great job at picking his spots offensively. Two things you just can't say about Nemec.

Yeah, the Devils have been hemmed in a bunch with Casey on the ice, but if you watch, you'll see that's typically had very little to do with Casey himself.

He does need to work on getting stronger so he can better shut down the cycle, but he does a good job of keeping things to the outside and defending the front of the net.


Getting rid of Dougie ASAP would be an easy decision. He's been a 3rd pairing dman at 5v5, making $9M a year while being massive defensive liability.

And as we've seen, Luke is more than capable of running a top PP unit, and Casey could very easily run PP2.

Very well stated, my friend. I know the cap is going up but would there be any takers for Hamilton at that $9m hit for three more seasons? It doesn’t help that he’s injured…

 

[AfroThunder396]

Dougie is still elite at pushing offense at ES and his defensive deficiencies are overstated. It looks really bad when he gets blown up on a bad pinch but no one ever talks about the really good work he does in his own zone below the hashmarks. He's much more physical in his own zone than people give him credit for and he can use his frame to box out defenders really well down low.

I'm convinced the lack of PP production is due to the lingering pectoral injury affecting his shot. People are ready to move on from him because of Luke's PP ability, but Luke's points/game and PP points are both identical to 32 year old Douglas having a down year as he works his way back from surgery.

Point is that while I would still explore a Hamilton trade for purely cap reasons, I believe he still has a lot of juice and that the team would be better with him on the ice next year than it would be without him. He is not a 3rd pairing defenseman or waiver fodder like some people on here claim he is.

 

[Camille the Eel]

On the power play I love Hamilton's shot but don't love his lack of mobility at the top of the diamond. Luke is better at personally carrying the puck in that spot. This year, evidently realizing that Hamilton doesn't have a great deal of lateral agility, the plan was for him to move it quickly from side to side, either to Bratt or to Jack Hughes.

Our power play has actually improved since both Jack Hughes and Hamilton have gone down, replaced by Luke and by our moving Timo Meier onto the right wing half boards. The one timer on Saturday was Timo at his best. But along with those moves we also moved Noesen out of the net front and replaced him with Mercer (?) maybe? Anyway the new unit has 3 different players and is operating in a more traditional manner, instead of the default being for Hamilton to give it to Jack Hughes, who attacks down the left side and looks either for a shot or a seam to pass through.

The new unit has more options and utilizes the threat of Nico Hischier in the bumper better. Our puck retrieval has been super and our zone entries - even without Jack - have not suffered all that much.

One of the welcome developments this spring has been seeing us win without Jack Hughes. I argued at the beginning of the season that learning to do this, and reducing our dependency on him, was a high priority. Keefe's system play has enabled us to accomplish this. The coaching and adjustments on the power play also deserve high praise.

 

[Nocashstyle]

Sprong should not be a healthy scratch again until he proves otherwise.

I was actually surprised to see he doesn’t have a point as a Devil yet, but the fourth line has been creating way more offense with him on it, than without.

 

[thebeernerd]

Sprong should not be a healthy scratch again until you proves otherwise.

I was actually surprised to see he doesn’t have a point as a Devil yet, but the fourth line has been creating way more offense with him on it, than without.

He's been improving since getting here. He's a goal scorer and those will come very soon, assuming he gets more chances.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Dougie is still elite at pushing offense at ES and his defensive deficiencies are overstated. It looks really bad when he gets blown up on a bad pinch but no one ever talks about the really good work he does in his own zone below the hashmarks. He's much more physical in his own zone than people give him credit for and he can use his frame to box out defenders really well down low.

He has the worst defensive metrics of any regular dman on the team despite getting heavily sheltered deployments.

People are ready to move on from him because of Luke's PP ability, but Luke's points/game and PP points are both identical to 32 year old Douglas having a down year as he works his way back from surgery.

I wonder why that is? Could it have something to do with Dougie getting twice as much PP time?

PP TOI avg:
Hamilton: 2:55
Luke: 1:35 (1:20 prior to Dougie injury)

PP points/60
Hamilton: 4.90
Luke: 8.48 (5.08 prior to Dougie injury)

A large proportion of that TOI for Luke came on the 2nd unit, who tend to start their PP shifts in their own end. Guys on 2nd units typically get about 0:40 of ice time per PP, half of which is spend just trying to gain the zone.

Luke has 16 points in 14 games since Dougie went down, including a team leading 9 PP points.

He's a vastly superior PP option at this point.

Point is that while I would still explore a Hamilton trade for purely cap reasons, I believe he still has a lot of juice and that the team would be better with him on the ice next year than it would be without him. He is not a 3rd pairing defenseman or waiver fodder like some people on here claim he is.

He literally plays on our teams third pairing at 5v5.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Sprong should not be a healthy scratch again until you proves otherwise.

I was actually surprised to see he doesn’t have a point as a Devil yet, but the fourth line has been creating way more offense with him on it, than without.

He's had a couple of plays where he essentially would have gotten the 3rd assist had such a thing existed. One was on the Haula goal against Calgary that I remember, the other one is escaping me. Might have been one of Glass' goals.

I think he's starting to settle in nicely. I much prefer what he has brought the past few games vs. what Bastian has brought the majority of the season.

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[Nocashstyle]

He's been improving since getting here. He's a goal scorer and those will come very soon, assuming he gets more chances.

I just realized you had to start your account over after the great HFboards collapse of 2025? Damn. My condolences

 

[britdevil]

 

[Mgd31]

In the 15 games since Jack went down:

Bratt - 20 points
Nico - 19 points, and 10 of those goals
Luke - 16 points
Meier - only 10 points, but 8 of those goals which is 2nd to Nico.

The big guns had to step up and they did.

Also Erik Haula - famer leading our team in xGF% during that stretch.

 

[thebeernerd]

I just realized you had to start your account over after the great HFboards collapse of 2025? Damn. My condolences

It was more of a pain in the ass to sign up again because of all the server errors. It's all good, though.