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

[Call Me Al]

again i can overlook the bad goals if he makes big stops that should've been goals which he did. then he stands on his head in overtime and the team takes a stupid 4min penalty!

i dunno man. giving up momentum and letting the crowd back in it is backbreaking. he wouldn’t have had to do any of those things if he didn’t let 3 out of 4 shots past him in 4 minutes.

taking the home crowd out of our game 4 less than one minute in because he doesn’t know how to look around a pretty weak screen is also on him. he also gave up the crushingly weak 4th goal that effectively ended the game with 10 minutes left.

this is the guy we went all in on, he has to be better in those spots.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

If Fitz can pull this off then great.

I think the issue here is that some of us don’t feel like that’s a realistic scenario. What seems more likely is we get someone similar to Mercer, which seems pretty pointless and wouldn’t move the needle for the other like four spots that need upgrading.

I just don't see how packaging Mercer with a prospect or draft pick(s) for a forward upgrade isn't a realistic scenario. Will they do it? Probably not, because I think they might be one of the stupid teams that thinks Mercer is better than he actually is, but yeah.

 

[JrFischer54]

i dunno man. giving up momentum and letting the crowd back in it is backbreaking.

taking the home crowd out of our game 4 less than one minute in because he doesn’t know how to look around a pretty weak screen is also on him. he also gave up the crushingly weak 4th goal that effectively ended the game with 10 minutes left.

this is the guy we went all in on, he has to be better in those spots.

hey i get it i agree you also cant go down 2 men when they cant stop their pp and the team just stopped the bleeding.

game 4 was a rough one

 

[HersheyBob27]

I think with some consistent time he could provide some offense. I'd rather him than the others tbh.

Not even close to worthwhile. He is a crappy teammate

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

lol theres no changing your mind so why bother. you have your blinders on its cool to each their own

Brother, you're the only saying this. There's been multiple people on this thread this morning saying that Markstrom was bad after game 3. Keeping a team in a game in OT where you were partially the reason the other team came back does nothing for your narrative in the series/game lol

 

[NJDevs26]

Great rebuttal, lol.

Markstrom wasn't good in this series after game 3, not sure how anyone can see otherwise

Because people are blinded by the last two periods when he propped up a dead corpse that he largely finished off in the first place.

 

[JrFischer54]

Brother, you're the only saying this. There's been multiple people on this thread this morning saying that Markstrom was bad after game 3. Keeping a team in a game in OT where you were partially the reason the other team came back does nothing for your narrative in the series/game lol

guy trust me after reading the hot takes at the deadline and people not wanting to make the playoffs on here i'm totally fine with that lol

 

[RANDOMH3RO]

I think Mercer is worth holding onto still. He’s had 2 whatever seasons in a row, but he’s durable super young and good for about 20 goals on a fair contract. It would have to be a pretty clear cut upgrade to make it worth trading him. If you’re just moving him for horizontal move for a guy who can figure into the 3C slot I think we end up regretting that deal big time. Shed salary in Haula and dougie and let the UFA in the bottom 6 walk and start fresh in the depth.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Teams win games and teams lose games. You know who also sucked? The canes goalie. But who won that game? The better team.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Teams win games and teams lose games. You know who also sucked? The canes goalie. But who won that game? The better team.

Yet coming into this series, we thought that Markstrom alone could shift and tilt this series. Instead, he did exactly that past game 3 for Carolina. The excuses for this guy have to stop. We gave more shit to Cory as a fanbase and he dealt with worse and more dogshit rosters than this one

 

[Better Call Sal]

It's fine to see it both ways. Markstrom pooped the bed in the second period. The first two goals barely squeaked by him. The first one is whatever, it was a PP and he almost got it having to go back across the crease. The second one almost immediately after is an absolute gut punch and brought life back into their team and the crowd. Keefe tried to settle things down, but they answered again pretty quickly. I think that was a screen, I'd have to look at it again, but regardless he let in 3 goals on the first 3 shots he faced. You can't f***ing let that happen.

All that said, he was phenomenal the rest of the way and gave the team a chance in the 3rd and OT to try and still take the game. It was as wild of a performance that I've ever witnessed in one game.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I just don't see how packaging Mercer with a prospect or draft pick(s) for a forward upgrade isn't a realistic scenario. Will they do it? Probably not, because I think they might be one of the stupid teams that thinks Mercer is better than he actually is, but yeah.

But don’t they need those assets to potentially upgrade the other forward positions? Wouldn't it be more realistic/effective to upgrade the other spots instead and just keep Mercer in a lesser role?

I guess it really depends on the cost and who’s really available out there.

This is why we as fans can only do so much in terms of specifics of what Fitz should do. It’s his job to figure this shit out. My faith in him is at its lowest point since he got promoted.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Yet coming into this series, we thought that Markstrom alone could shift and tilt this series. Instead, he did exactly that past game 3 for Carolina. The excuses for this guy have to stop. We gave more shit to Cory as a fanbase and he dealt with worse and more dogshit rosters than this one

The issue is we needed Markstrom to be perfect. We knew that coming into the series. But that's just ridiculous. Just because Fitz overpaid for a guy doesn't make him one of the elite goalies. He's an ok NHL goalie and he played like and ok NHL goalie in the series with his normal ups and downs. He's part of the team that wasn't good enough, but I fail to see how he alone cost them the series. He was just part of a flawed and injured whole.

 

[guitarguyvic]

The problem with blaming the skaters for yesterday’s collapse is that you’re essentially saying they should have bailed the goaltender out a third time in that game. They gave him a 3-0 lead - he blew it. They gave him a 4-3 lead - he blew it again. Then he finally plays like he should and it’s the skaters that have to come through a third time for him…that’s asking a bit much don’t ya think?

 

[guitarguyvic]

The issue is we needed Markstrom to be perfect. We knew that coming into the series. But that's just ridiculous. Just because Fitz overpaid for a guy doesn't make him one of the elite goalies. He's an ok NHL goalie and he played like and ok NHL goalie in the series with his normal ups and downs. He's part of the team that wasn't good enough, but I fail to see how he alone cost them the series. He was just part of a flawed and injured whole.

I think he can take most of the blame for yesterday’s game but I do agree with this sentiment overall.

 

[Triumph]

It’s doomerism to not work under the assumption that Fitz can pull off upgrading Mercer and numerous other forward spots at the same time? What a ridiculous thing to say.

It's doomerism because you are pointing at a totally separate issue. You don't think Fitz can upgrade the forwards regardless of what he does with Mercer. So Mercer has nothing at all to do with it. You are just talking about a separate issue.

Nowhere are you arguing 'Mercer's a good player' or 'Mercer has a definite spot on this team'. You talked past my point that the Devils already have 2 3RWs and that Mercer as a third-liner doesn't make sense. You're just saying 'Well, I don't think the GM can upgrade on Mercer, and do the other stuff I already think he can't do'.

 

[Call Me Al]

we didn’t need him to be perfect, we needed him to be even .800 through the first 10 minutes of the 2nd period

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

The issue is we needed Markstrom to be perfect. We knew that coming into the series. But that's just ridiculous. Just because Fitz overpaid for a guy doesn't make him one of the elite goalies. He's an ok NHL goalie and he played like and ok NHL goalie in the series with his normal ups and downs. He's part of the team that wasn't good enough, but I fail to see how he alone cost them the series. He was just part of a flawed and injured whole.

He didn't have to be perfect last night or in Game 4 imo.

You ask any of us if we scored 4 in Carolina, we should expect a win.

Game 4, he sunk us before we even had a chance to get our legs.

 

[NJDevs26]

Teams win games and teams lose games. You know who also sucked? The canes goalie. But who won that game? The better team.

He does suck but what bad goal did he give up aside from the one to Timo in Game 4? He made the easy saves last night and pretty much none of the goals he gave up were stoppable, certainly not 1, 3 and 4.

 

[Call Me Al]

He does suck but what bad goal did he give up aside from the one to Timo in Game 4? He made the easy saves last night and pretty much none of the goals he gave up were stoppable, certainly not 1, 3 and 4.

yeah lol, if markstrom made saves on most of of the goals we wouldn’t even be talking about them as stellar saves, they would have been as routine or as impressive as anything the canes goalie made, at least before OT

 

[guitarguyvic]

It's doomerism because you are pointing at a totally separate issue. You don't think Fitz can upgrade the forwards regardless of what he does with Mercer. So Mercer has nothing at all to do with it. You are just talking about a separate issue.

Nowhere are you arguing 'Mercer's a good player' or 'Mercer has a definite spot on this team'. You talked past my point that the Devils already have 2 3RWs and that Mercer as a third-liner doesn't make sense. You're just saying 'Well, I don't think the GM can upgrade on Mercer, and do the other stuff I already think he can't do'.

What on earth are you talking about? You yourself laid out how Mercer can be slotted into the third line. And I’ve said that would be his role on the team. I also haven’t said that the GM can’t “do the other stuff”. I’ve said it looks daunting, sure, and that rightfully my faith in him has waned given how the last two years have unfolded. And it will be even more daunting if we’re including Mercer as one of the upgrades he has to make.

 

[jkrdevil]

I mean, it's a catch-22. Yes, the Devils would be getting out of that term but their PK was butt with him out in this series which was pretty f***ing good with Dillon all year long

1.) I’m not going to read into the PK in the playoffs because playoff special teams is so matchup based.

2.) Another factor in the bad PK was that pretty much every other defensemen was injured or playoff injured. Also, they lost one of their better PK forwards in March.

So that’s less of a worry for me.

 

[hidek91]

Wait, what?

There’s no way “to keep him on the roster”, we didn’t qualify McRapey last off-season so he’s a UFA.

I'm talking about the initial decision -> we could have qualified him earlier and/or extended his contract.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

NJ needs to find a way to trade for Schenn and maybe sign Ehlers, I know it's quite difficult with the cap but our inability to develop middle 6 forwards is really hurting us.

 

[NJDevs26]

1.) I’m not going to read into the PK in the playoffs because playoff special teams is so matchup based.

2.) Another factor in the bad PK was that pretty much every other defensemen was injured or playoff injured. Also, they lost one of their better PK forwards in March.

So that’s less of a worry for me.

Thing is the undermanned D actually played well five-on-five...and Carolina's PP was poor in the regular season. It's completely fair to call out the PK for being **** in this series.