GDT: Devils @ Kings - 6:00 PM - MSG

[britdevil]

You're literally pointing out the issue though. 3 games in a row yeah isn't good enough from them but they aren't going to be there for you every single game. The top 6 can't ever have an off night or they lose.

Maybe so, but I don't look at the guys getting less money and minutes to win me games.

Nico, Jack, Bratt and to a lesser extent Timo need to consistently bring it. Especially Nico, as he goes, so does this team.

You want more from Dougie and Luke too. They had poor games offensively.

 

[Bleedred]

It’s hilarious how on January 1st every team in the East above NHL 500 is in a playoff spot.

But there’s currently 4 teams all dead even at NHL 500.

And I’m sure the shitty Red Wings will be good enough the rest of the year to finish with 82-85 points and screw themselves out of a lottery pick.

 

[Comparison Ford]

tough loss today, I have to stop going to games.

only two games I got to go to this year was the 1-0 shutout against SJ and this game lmao.

 

[billingtons ghost]

I don’t think the stats are telling the whole story here. They have had games where they pot a lot and that pulls up the average. Very sink or swim production…again this doesn’t bode well for winning a division or going far in the playoffs…I’d rather see a slightly lower average but more consistency. GF averages also don’t necessarily paint a clear picture for finishing…the devils generate a lot of chances in most games so for them to go such long stretches without pulling through is a red flag. This also goes back to last season. They also have statistically been sort of whatever 5v5. It’s happening while a guy like Stefan Noesen is way overproducing his career average and we’ve had no injuries to the top six. What happens when he cools down or one of those top guys is out for some time?

I’m not saying this is a bad team, I’m just saying that these are warning signs as far as our contender status goes.

Wait, two games ago everything is dandy, right?

There's no shame in losing to the Kings at home. I thought we skated well and the D played well. The refs made some strange calls and the goalie interference was wild.

I know you guys are saying 'bottom 6 is the problem', but the reality is that Mercer/Palat/Noesen/Cotter/Tatar/Haula kinda all belong in the bottom 6 on a good team and are playing above their heads and now it's showing. At this point, Tatar, Cotter, Haula are fringe third liners at best and the other three would make a decent, not great third line. That's really where they've played historically on the good teams from which they came. Twenty five goals from any of them, even as good as Noesen's been, is wishful thinking.

Fitz probably needs to add a legit second line guy with at least a little size and grit. It wasn't super obvious that we got bullied by ANA or LA, but both these games were more physical and other than Nose, there was allot of perimeter play... Not too much traffic and an easy night for Kuemper.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Seems like it's 2022-23 all over again and Haula and Mercer are the new scapegoats instead of Miles Wood and Michael McLeod.

Devils get shutout by another team with some heaviness and structure but the scorers are absolved of any fault.

Tough to understand.

You aren't ever here when they win

Tough to understand.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Wait, two games ago everything is dandy, right?

There's no shame in losing to the Kings at home. I thought we skated well and the D played well. The refs made some strange calls and the goalie interference was wild.

I know you guys are saying 'bottom 6 is the problem', but the reality is that Mercer/Palat/Noesen/Cotter/Tatar/Haula kinda all belong in the bottom 6 on a good team and are playing above their heads and now it's showing. At this point, Tatar, Cotter, Haula are fringe third liners at best and the other three would make a decent, not great third line. That's really where they've played historically on the good teams from which they came. Twenty five goals from any of them, even as good as Noesen's been, is wishful thinking.

Fitz probably needs to add a legit second line guy with at least a little size and grit. It wasn't super obvious that we got bullied by ANA or LA, but both these games were more physical and other than Nose, there was allot of perimeter play... Not too much traffic and an easy night for Kuemper.

Who the heck said everything was dandy two days ago? The only thing I was saying was that expectations for this season have nothing to do with past seasons.

I don't see how these games were any more physical than any other ones. Opposition is just bearing down in front of their goaltender.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Every season has a big rut, even for the good teams

 

[MadDevil]

Every season has a big rut, even for the good teams

This isn't even the worst 3 game span they've had this season. They'll be fine. It does highlight the depth issues up front they have and will need to address at some point though.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

He has 5 pts in the last 10 and is essentially on a 40 pt pace and is good defensively. Mercer's a perfectly good 3rd liner. The expectations of what he could be and the rest of the bottom 6 being a complete blackhole makes people shit on him more than is deserved.

Out of fwds is second to only Nico in defensive zone starts as well...Gets too much blame here imo....

 

[JimEIV]

I believe 6 times being shutout leads the league.

Edit we are tied for 1st with Nashville with 6

Then the Islanders, Seattle and Utah with 5.

 

[ninetyeight]

Had they not shit the bed at Anaheim this would have been a more acceptable loss against a tough Kings team. But this is beginning to look like a downhill spiral soon. I thought this team was mentally strong to bounce back after losses, but I guess not. I was surprised how close the 23-24 december record was to this year, it's usually right about here that the team starts sucking and plummets to lottery.

The goal scoring has dried up completely, it's unacceptable to be this bad at finishing with the lineup we have. We seem to be the only team that gets outgoalied constantly.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Not sure what the Devils did to get such absurdly bad refs in their games. That being said, the goal scoring stuff was evident in the first month of the season when they were still relying on their top guys outside of Noesen going absurd on the powerplay. The bottom 6 is f***ing pitiful but hey when you bring up the guys they let go in the recent past who could provide depth scoring, it's always met with criticism

Had they not shit the bed at Anaheim this would have been a more acceptable loss against a tough Kings team. But this is beginning to look like a downhill spiral soon. I thought this team was mentally strong to bounce back after losses, but I guess not. I was surprised how close the 23-24 december record was to this year, it's usually right about here that the team starts sucking and plummets to lottery.

The goal scoring has dried up completely, it's unacceptable to be this bad at finishing with the lineup we have. We seem to be the only team that gets outgoalied constantly.

This is who they've been all year besides the random hot streaks from Cotter + Noesen depth wise, they're too top heavy

 

[Triumph]

The 'bottom 6' has its issues but right now the biggest issue is that pucks simply aren't going in the net. People who are otherwise reasonable on this sort of thing are either pretending to not understand or forgetting how long the long run is.

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

I am not concerned, we have a Champion team right in front of us. Bad calls had a lot to do with the end result over the past 2 games. This team can compete toe to toe and likely has a better chance to win in 7 game games with the best of them. Maybe the GM kicks it up a notch with a simple chemistry trade before the playoffs, but we are still an excellent team that can win the Cup.

Didn't we end the Kings long winning streak and beat them with "our same awful bottom 6 and goaltending team" 3 weeks ago?

 

[Satans Hockey]

My biggest complaint is the same thing I've been saying for years now. There should be a timer. A timer to challenge and a timer for the refs to look at it.

If the refs can't determine what the play is in 1 minute then it's NOT clear and obvious and the call on the ice stands. Waiting 3+ minutes is ridiculous.

 

[Camille the Eel]

One thing

Wait, two games ago everything is dandy, right?

There's no shame in losing to the Kings at home. I thought we skated well and the D played well. The refs made some strange calls and the goalie interference was wild.

I know you guys are saying 'bottom 6 is the problem', but the reality is that Mercer/Palat/Noesen/Cotter/Tatar/Haula kinda all belong in the bottom 6 on a good team and are playing above their heads and now it's showing. At this point, Tatar, Cotter, Haula are fringe third liners at best and the other three would make a decent, not great third line. That's really where they've played historically on the good teams from which they came. Twenty five goals from any of them, even as good as Noesen's been, is wishful thinking.

Fitz probably needs to add a legit second line guy with at least a little size and grit. It wasn't super obvious that we got bullied by ANA or LA, but both these games were more physical and other than Nose, there was allot of perimeter play... Not too much traffic and an easy night for Kuemper.

One observation re bottom 6 is that I actually preferred the Utica contingent - Dowling, Willman, Legare for their consistent dump and chase, forecheck to what we’ve been getting since from Bastian, Lazar, Tatar, whomever there.

The Utica crew was cycling and hitting and I thought Legare was about the best first man in on the forecheck we saw all season.

Keefe had us trying to establish a forecheck and cycle as a plan B. Last night we saw none of that. I hope we get back to that project.

 

[NJDevils17]

Blaming struggles on a single thing o two obfuscates the whole picture. It’s a really good team, among the best, with flaws.

One, despite massive possession numbers, their GF is always behind what their possession numbers indicate. Team needs to add a real finisher to the top six and become more willing to take a shot vs make one more play (has been an issue for years.) It’s part of being so skilled but we need a real finisher here IMO. Timo has been the best player here in this realm BTW, he deserves a lot of credit for his 5v5 work.

When the PP isn’t going, see above. 5v5 scoring is slower than where we need it accross the board. This is where not having a real threat in the bottom six is compounded because those guys aren’t getting the same PP time. Consistently not scoring from this unit when the top six is underperforming to xGF numbers means we get games like this.

That said, the top six can’t bring all the production. Even if you think they need to be better finishers / scorers (true), they’re still the only ones doing it.

Address this two ways:

- Legit top-six sniper / goal scorer. I think Palmieri would be great to bring back but it’s still a longterm concern. The org doesn’t have a guy who can fill this spot. We thought it could be Holtz but nope. I’d be shocked if Palat is here in 2026 so use that savings to get a guy here longterm? Probably parting with a good D prospect to do it.

- At minimum a true 3C but likely two guys for the third line. Haula is a 4C in the playoffs and needs to be. Cotter is a 4th liner as well. Again, who internally can address this? Lenni is a ways away and who knows if he’s an NHL player. Gritsyuk probably steps in as a true middle six guy but is that also a season away? Again, are you moving a Casey / Saliyev type for a bottom six player? No, but it’s going to be our 2nd rounders to get a good player.

I’m not going to harp on the scouting / prospect pool because they’ve been good and have drafted well outside the first round but not having scorers on their ELCs with the cap structure kinda sucks.

 

[devilsblood]

The 'bottom 6' has its issues but right now the biggest issue is that pucks simply aren't going in the net. People who are otherwise reasonable on this sort of thing are either pretending to not understand or forgetting how long the long run is.

I'm not looking to blame this on the bottom 6, but to brush this away as "the pucks simply aren't going in" is just putting your head in the sand.

Now part of it imo is we play a much more conservative style of play. We all thought the team needed to reign it in after last year, and it has, but there are some unwanted side effects of that.

Still this team should not be leading the league in being shut out. I'm sure Keefe and Fitz are trying to figure out ways to rectify this.

 

[My3Sons]

Blaming struggles on a single thing o two obfuscates the whole picture. It’s a really good team, among the best, with flaws.

One, despite massive possession numbers, their GF is always behind what their possession numbers indicate. Team needs to add a real finisher to the top six and become more willing to take a shot vs make one more play (has been an issue for years.) It’s part of being so skilled but we need a real finisher here IMO. Timo has been the best player here in this realm BTW, he deserves a lot of credit for his 5v5 work.

When the PP isn’t going, see above. 5v5 scoring is slower than where we need it accross the board. This is where not having a real threat in the bottom six is compounded because those guys aren’t getting the same PP time. Consistently not scoring from this unit when the top six is underperforming to xGF numbers means we get games like this.

That said, the top six can’t bring all the production. Even if you think they need to be better finishers / scorers (true), they’re still the only ones doing it.

Address this two ways:

- Legit top-six sniper / goal scorer. I think Palmieri would be great to bring back but it’s still a longterm concern. The org doesn’t have a guy who can fill this spot. We thought it could be Holtz but nope. I’d be shocked if Palat is here in 2026 so use that savings to get a guy here longterm? Probably parting with a good D prospect to do it.

- At minimum a true 3C but likely two guys for the third line. Haula is a 4C in the playoffs and needs to be. Cotter is a 4th liner as well. Again, who internally can address this? Lenni is a ways away and who knows if he’s an NHL player. Gritsyuk probably steps in as a true middle six guy but is that also a season away? Again, are you moving a Casey / Saliyev type for a bottom six player? No, but it’s going to be our 2nd rounders to get a good player.

I’m not going to harp on the scouting / prospect pool because they’ve been good and have drafted well outside the first round but not having scorers on their ELCs with the cap structure kinda sucks.

The one goal they scored last night was when Noesen and Meier went to the front of thr net. To me that sort of goal has been lacking for them. It’s rare that Jack Bratt or Palat are at the goal mouth. The third line will try to do some of that but don’t have the puck carrier to make it work. If they add a depth winger I’d like it to be a guy who will go to the net and screen the goalie as well.

 

[Triumph]

I'm not looking to blame this on the bottom 6, but to brush this away as "the pucks simply aren't going in" is just putting your head in the sand.

Now part of it imo is we play a much more conservative style of play. We all thought the team needed to reign it in after last year, and it has, but there are some unwanted side effects of that.

Still this team should not be leading the league in being shut out. I'm sure Keefe and Fitz are trying to figure out ways to rectify this.

The distribution of goals is going to have far more to do with luck than skill - the Devils are still an above-average goal scoring team and that's not even accounting for the fact that they have played less time per game than almost any team (only 3 teams have fewer games that went into OT than the Devils). The team needs more offense to compete for a Stanley Cup, but they don't have the cap room to add anything right now - the biggest issue right now is pucks not going in, full stop, and there's not a ton that can be done to fix that.

 

[Better Call Sal]

The example that I always go back to for those that think all teams don't go through this sort of thing throughout a year. The 56 win, 119 point eventual Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche from 2021-2022 finished the regular season 1-5-1 giving up 4 goals a game for that stretch. They proceeded to lose just 4 games in the playoffs on their way to the Cup. So we need to step back from the ledge about these streaks.

Now, for what the team does from here. It's a tricky situation right now. I don't think the team is playing poorly per se, I think that it's (unfortunately) another finishing lull that the whole group is feeling. Last night was an example of a team that feels snakebitten in my eyes. There were multiple plays where if the sure-handedness was there, we would have had a couple of goals. I'm specifically thinking of a chance (or two?) that Bratt had, I think Dougie had a chance in close that I feel he usually finishes. We had plenty of quality looks that we simply need to finish off if we want to win these types of games.

We have shown through the first half of this season that we are good enough defensively to compete with any team. I don't know if this stems from the team having difficulty balancing when they can jump on chances vs. holding back, but finding that balance will help things a great deal. I'm not worried about our top guys not producing for long stretches, I am worried about the depth scoring though. And with Fitz already putting a spotlight on that a month ago, I know he's looking to address it.

 

[devilsblood]

I just picked one of the teams that I heard was good this year, but Winnipeg has 5 guys with double digit goals, and 6 guys with 5 or more.

Devils have 5 guys with double digit goals and then 5 guys with 5 or more.

If anything the Jets look more top heavy. Their top 3 has 62 goals. Our top 3 has 49.

And I'm seeing some posters say "Aside from a hot streak from Noesen", but Noesen is our 2nd leading goal scorer. That's not an aside.

 

[devilsblood]

The distribution of goals is going to have far more to do with luck than skill - the Devils are still an above-average goal scoring team and that's not even accounting for the fact that they have played less time per game than almost any team (only 3 teams have fewer games that went into OT than the Devils). The team needs more offense to compete for a Stanley Cup, but they don't have the cap room to add anything right now - the biggest issue right now is pucks not going in, full stop, and there's not a ton that can be done to fix that.

The puck not going in is the start of the discussion, not the end of it.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

They need a big picture of Lindy Ruff posted at the entrance of the locker room and maybe they'll get motivated again.

 

[Brodeur]

Went to the game yesterday, probably the worst part for me was Devils social media approaching me and another fan with trivia while we were waiting for the arena to open.

First question was "Stefan Noesen wears #11 in tribute to which former King/Devil?" I completely choked since I was in the wrong mind space. My brain was thinking he was wearing it for somebody he grew up watching rather than a former teammate (Brian Boyle). Also maybe a sign that I've purged my memory of the 2013-2020 era teams.

Lost out on an autographed Dougie puck which I like to think I would have given to a kid shortly thereafter.