Devils discussion (news, notes and speculation) - playoff edition

[Call Me Al]

mercer is fine. he should be a 3rw though not a center. he can pot 20 goals, kill penalties and fill in on top lines if needed.

the bigger issue is no center depth and no prospects capable of filling in so our entire bottom 6 is on vet contracts, particularly expensive ones with palat and haula for what they have brought. i don’t think the terrible drafting has gotten enough attention, it should be a huge indictment of fitz’s legacy here.

i still think nemec has value to us here - and probably more than he’d get back in a trade. it feels like the kind of trade we would regret within 3 seasons. knowing fitz it would be for a middle six role guy who might be out of the league when nemec becomes a top line all situations d man that we pine for. the sin has already been committed with him which was passing on other high end talent that was available at the draft.

honestly i’m struggling to see how he fixes this without creating more problems

 

[Edmonton East]

Who gives a shit what the line is, figure it out in camp

Lol you are missing the point. Noesen can't play top 6 minutes on a half serious team. Physically he cannot do it for a majority of games. Keefe is stuck running him into the ground due to injuries / shit roster construction. Poor dude looks like he's gonna pass out on the ice. Continuing to use him like this is begging for a significant injury.

And even if ya wanna ignore reality and pretend the above isn't the case, Noesen has 2 ES goals in his last 40+ games while playing 16min a night. But sure, roll with him in your fantasy top 6. That makes sense. Then be shocked when the team sucks again.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

sure did which they were dominated in half almost half the series won two squeakers and dominated the other two. you are correct*

who gives a shit if they lost 3 games in the series 10-0 as long as they won 4 games? Talk about moving goalposts.

 

[Devs3cups]

I truly feel like 2-3 solid bottom-6 pieces would right the ship. Might have to mortgage the future a bit, but at this point, f*** it.

 

[JrFischer54]

who gives a shit if they lost 3 games in the series 10-0 as long as they won 4 games? Talk about moving goalposts.

wow thats certainly a take and a half even for you

keep an eye on the advanced stats and let me know how we are doing on them! thanks

 

[JK3]

One young center on a cheap contract would make a massive difference in the bottom 6 from the Holtz, Nemec, Silayev drafts, ugh. Now we're going to have to take from somewhere else to fill that gap and spend even more cash on a middling vet, f*** you Fitz.

 

[NJDevs26]

wow thats certainly a take and a half even for you

keep an eye on the advanced stats and let me know how we are doing on them! thanks

Since when are wins an advanced stat lol

If anything you’re the one who is looking at style points more than wins in this case.

 

[Bleedred]

Honestly, Fitz bought himself another year with the playoff berth.

I don’t have much confidence in him anymore, but we can’t expect him to be turfed after a playoff berth. At least not just yet.

He could really create a lot of goodwill in shedding one of his messes in the offseason. Palat being the most obvious and biggest one.

We’re probably going to need him to be gone to make some significant improvements. The guy paced for 30 points playing with 90 point players this year. If he’s “in the bottom 6” he’s probably pacing for 20 points or less. Especially with one more year of decline and a much lesser shooting percentage year.

A potential Markstrom-Daws tandem could also go over like the Vanecek-Schmid tandem in 23-24.

 

[Bleedred]

I don’t think there is a stat, advanced or otherwise that says we had a good game yesterday. Other than the goalie stats.

So it’s really weird to mock “Advanced stats” in regards to anything that happened yesterday or for several months now, as I’m pretty sure we’ve been pretty poor in those stats.

Just on a whole the team didn’t have spectacular numbers this season, if I’m not mistaken, though they were pretty good at one point before somebody yelled Jenga and the tower collapsed.

The numbers were decent on the season, but I’m pretty sure much of that was before things fell off.

 

[JrFischer54]

Since when are wins an advanced stat lol

If anything you’re the one who is looking at style points more than wins in this case.

if you are getting blown out in a lot of games and squeaking out wins in others. thats a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge red flag maybe not to the advanced stat gurus on here but its is. then they proceed to get blown out the very next series even bigger then blow out losses in the ranger series

 

[JrFischer54]

I don’t think there is a stat, advanced or otherwise that says we had a good game yesterday. Other than the goalie stats.

So it’s really weird to mock “Advanced stats” in regards to anything that happened yesterday or for several months now, as I’m pretty sure we’ve been pretty poor in those stats.

Just on a whole the team didn’t have spectacular numbers this season, if I’m not mistaken, though they were pretty good at one point before somebody yelled Jenga and the tower collapsed.

The numbers were decent on the season, but I’m pretty sure much of that was before things fell off.

you'd think

 

[HoliksGhost]

It’s hard to win when you have players being asked to play above their capabilities.

 

[Homedresser]

Fitz doesn’t NEED to trade Mercer but he’s pretty well boxed himself in on Nemec

Nemec is gone with any respectable offer.

 

[Devs3cups]

Remember 2022-2023?

- Most points in franchise history
- Jack beating the point record
- Nico Selke nomination
- Ruff Jack Adams nomination
- Luke coming in looking like a stud
- Nemec with a great AHL season
- Winning a round against the Rangers
- Mercer looking like a legit piece


We will never get back to those vibes. We were only allowed one season.

So f***ing depressing.

 

[Homedresser]

mercer is fine. he should be a 3rw though not a center. he can pot 20 goals, kill penalties and fill in on top lines if needed.

the bigger issue is no center depth and no prospects capable of filling in so our entire bottom 6 is on vet contracts, particularly expensive ones with palat and haula for what they have brought. i don’t think the terrible drafting has gotten enough attention, it should be a huge indictment of fitz’s legacy here.

i still think nemec has value to us here - and probably more than he’d get back in a trade. it feels like the kind of trade we would regret within 3 seasons. knowing fitz it would be for a middle six role guy who might be out of the league when nemec becomes a top line all situations d man that we line for. the sin has already been committed with him which was passing on other high end talent that was available at the draft.

honestly i’m struggling to see how he fixes this without creating more problems

There's nothing he can do though, other than destroy the future.

Trade more 1st rounders, trade Nemec/Casey, sign depth players in FA for more than they're worth. He set himself up for failure and he most likely will damage it more to save his job a little longer.

They have 0 foward prospects ready to step in other than Grits as of right now. Maybe Lenni as a long shot. They need an entire 3rd line, and 1 top 6 winger at least, preferably 2. Need to reinforce the center position quite a bit as well.

Fitz needs to start drafting better. Building half your roster from FA is not it.

Fitz is in the worst of spots. Team is middling at best. The challeng is never landing 1 or 2 players to build around. The real task is building a TEAM to contend. So far he's not been able to do that through the draft, FA or trade. Like someone mentioned earlier, this offseason is the time to look at the core and see if they really believe they can build a winner around them. I think we've seen enought to know they can't. It's not like they've been together for 2 years. there's enough of a track record to show they can't win with them.

 

[Better Call Sal]

if you are getting blown out in a lot of games and squeaking out wins in others. thats a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge red flag maybe not to the advanced stat gurus on here but its is. then they proceed to get blown out the very next series even bigger then blow out losses in the ranger series

Yeah, the red flags were the PK and goaltending was atrocious. Vanecek had an .818 SV% in Game 1 and an .833 SV% in Game 2.

Our PK gave up 2/3 PPGs in Game 1. They gave up 2 on consecutive penalties in Game 2 before that game got blown wide open and became a penalty fest.

They made the changes in Game 3 with Schmid and PK adjustments I would imagine. They gave up 1 powerplay goal the rest of the series. And we all know what Schmid did.

For what it's worth, they only gave up 2 PPGs the entire series to Carolina as well. There were entirely different reasons we lost to Carolina in 2023.

 

[forceten]

Fitz is in the worst of spots. Team is middling at best. The challeng is never landing 1 or 2 players to build around. The real task is building a TEAM to contend. So far he's not been able to do that through the draft, FA or trade. Like someone mentioned earlier, this offseason is the time to look at the core and see if they really believe they can build a winner around them. I think we've seen enought to know they can't. It's not like they've been together for 2 years. there's enough of a track record to show they can't win with them.

He created this, though. He's absolutely responsible and the buck stops with him. He made the personnel decisions, the draft approvals.

 

[JrFischer54]

Yeah, the red flags were the PK and goaltending was atrocious. Vanecek had an .818 SV% in Game 1 and an .833 SV% in Game 2.

Our PK gave up 2/3 PPGs in Game 1. They gave up 2 on consecutive penalties in Game 2 before that game got blown wide open and became a penalty fest.

They made the changes in Game 3 with Schmid and PK adjustments I would imagine. They gave up 1 powerplay goal the rest of the series. And we all know what Schmid did.

For what it's worth, they only gave up 2 PPGs the entire series to Carolina as well. There were entirely different reasons we lost to Carolina in 2023.

all still the same. they had more blowout losses in the playoffs then combined wins. to some thats not an issue (the blow outs)

 

[CalamityX23]

I blame MTL for drafting Slafvosky.... unbelievable.... lol

 

[Homedresser]

He created this, though. He's absolutely responsible and the buck stops with him. He made the personnel decisions, the draft approvals.

He created this, though. He's absolutely responsible and the buck stops with him. He made the personnel decisions, the draft approvals.

He's definitely repsonsible. Just not going to be easy to fix. This is the hardest part of his job. He's going to have to make tough decisions about this core.

 

[Better Call Sal]

all still the same. they had more blowout losses in the playoffs then combined wins. to some thats not an issue (the blow outs)

Whatever makes you happy.

 

[forceten]

He's definitely repsonsible. Just not going to be easy to fix. This is the hardest part of his job. He's going to have to make tough decisions about this core.

I know. I don't have the answers either, but I don't have to because I'm not an NHL executive.

There's so much to address. As someone pointed out the idea to get bigger, stronger, more difficult to play against wasn't a bad goal. But you have to do it without losing that speed and skill identity. It's not easy, but you don't just do stuff to do stuff. We did stuff to do stuff, I think. I know most of us celebrated the moves. We're fans. We tend to look on the bright side. But damn if few of these moved worked out in the short or long term

 

[HoliksGhost]

Nemec is gone with any respectable offer.

That’s crazy talk. Nemec needs at least 2 more years development IMO.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

Mercer is a fraud. Send that dog to the farm in the countryside and get one that will bite an intruder, not lick them to death.

 

[TrufleShufle]

Mercer is a fraud. Send that dog to the farm in the countryside and get one that will bite an intruder, not lick them to death.