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Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2022-23 season thread part III

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A win tonight would be awesome but Dallas is really good. Going forward December is tough, hoping for four or five wins out of the eight games left.

Normally a young team may fall off a bit after the start we had so showing some resilience the rest of this calendar year would be just what the doctor ordered
 
Dammit! Wrong thread!

That's what I get for actually reading the team thread this close to gametime.
 
ScottyK said:
Haula wanted to completely deck that msg intern who shows up every now an then during his interview

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Like I said. On one hand, it's fair to call him out.

On the other hand, his skills are eroding. The sample size is now close to 30 games of this and this is a 31 year old player (turning 32 in 3 months I believe? I thought I saw he has a March birthday?), so while there's bad luck involved, this is also about his skills eroding. It happens to players at this age. Shooting percentages drop later in the career/into your 30's. Some players like Adam Henrique have somehow sustained it into their 30's.

Honestly, the Haula with Hughes stuff needs to stop. This isn't about Haula meshing with Hughes anymore, it's about Hughes being really good. I'm pretty sure most players would look good with him.

I dug into his game logs from last year to see if he had some kind of a drought to end the year, but couldn't find one. He actually had 3 goals in his last 3 games of the year. I think it was a 2 goal game in his third to last game and a goal in his second to last game of the year. Or maybe it was vice versa, but I remember it was 3 goals in his last 3, with a 2 goal game in there and the other being a 1 goal game.
 
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Saugus said:
Play-in games would be outrageously stupid. Every team with a pulse already makes the playoffs, they don't need to keep more teams in it except as a cash grab.

Plus it would screw up the market dynamics at the trade deadline if fewer teams are clear sellers.
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I disagree a bit. expanding the playoffs isn’t just about adding more teams to the playoffs, but increasing incentives for finishing higher in the standings. The stretch of the regular season is rather boring overall because it is either in or at and everyone starts the playoffs at the same place. No one really cares where they finish in the standings as long as there in. Expanded playoffs adds a pressure point as teams will want to secure a bye. Suddenly finishing top three in division matters more. Also, it protects the top seeds a bit more because of playing the 15th or 16th team in season they could easily end up drawing #20 with an upset. So now finishing first matters more.

Of course more teams in the race means more meaningful games and probably less incentives for tanking. 20 out of 30 teams is basically the same percentage of teams that made it in the mid-90’s post Florida/Anaheim expansion.
 
glenwo2 said:
Again, it is early. In Year 11 of the rebuild, the Devils may be ahead of schedule.

Year 11????
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LOL that's a double goof...year 11 would not be ahead of schedule in any rebuild and they certainly haven't been rebuilding for 11 years. It's either year 3 of the second rebuild or year 8 of the first one, depending on your point of view.
 
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Meh our lines still need some work. I missed the 3rd period but we still need to shake things up. Haula has been near useless next to Hughes & Zetterlund shouldn't be on the 4th line. We should roll
Sharangovich-Hughes-Mercer
Tatar-Nico-Bratt
Boqvist-Haula-Zetterlund
Johnsson-Mcleod-Wood
 
There’s no way we should send Schmid down once Blackwood’s conditioning stint is up. He’s been too good. Need to reward strong play and he’s been the devils best goalie this season even over Vanacek (in smaller sample).

If he has a few stinkers, sure it’s worth evaluating. But if he keeps this up. Can’t happen.

He’s leading the league in SV% (tied) for goalies with GP or more and is 2nd in GAA
 
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Captain3rdLine said:
There’s no way we should send Schmid down once Blackwood’s conditioning stint is up. He’s been too good. Need to reward strong play and he’s been the devils best goalie this season even over Vanacek (in smaller sample).

If he has a few stinkers, sure it’s worth evaluating. But if he keeps this up. Can’t happen.

He’s leading the league in SV% (tied) for goalies with GP or more and is 2nd in GAA
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He needs to get at least one real ass beating before they can really send him back.

Like I said, he’s getting lucky with post hits, but even if half of those posts turned into goals against, he’d still have the best numbers on the team.

He’s been the biggest surprise this season for me.

Even if he starts to suck, he’s WAY cheaper than #29 and it’s gotten to insanity levels with him also. Schmid is too new to really get insane with anytime soon.

How embarrassing would it be if he’s sent back and we start hearing Schmid chants one night when he wasn’t even in the building?
 
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Do we have any inkling at all about when Palat and Bastian will be ready to come back? I haven’t seen any updates on their status yet I’ve seen folks bring them up as if we should expect them to return soon…?
 
I think having some concerns about the current state of the team are valid. The last few weeks even with a couple wins haven't been great. Having said that, this team has already exceeded expectations and should be in the playoffs unless there is a massive implosion. I do not think this team is set up to move assets for rentals though at the TDL, or nothing major I should say.
 
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devilsblood said:
I guess it's good that Haula is cranky, but a reporter asking tough questions? How dare he?
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It wasn't a tough question though...it was a stupid question. If I am recalling correctly it was "how did you feel about the late goal"

How did we feel? GTFOH is a completely appropriate response to "how did you feel"
 
Billdo said:
I think having some concerns about the current state of the team are valid. The last few weeks even with a couple wins haven't been great. Having said that, this team has already exceeded expectations and should be in the playoffs unless there is a massive implosion. I do not think this team is set up to move assets for rentals though at the TDL, or nothing major I should say.
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Well this is the question. Is this just a to be expected mini slump after a great start? Or is this beginning of something worse? And while we fans are merely grumbling online or grumbling at the game, but the team can't be looking at his like "hey shit happens". They need to figure it out. We've slowed down a bit, teams have adjusted and are prepared for what we are trying to do. Now we need to make adjustments to our game in order to get back on track.

But if the team, from players to coaches, is rolling with the mindset of "look at our record" or "look at the shot totals" that would be not good. Obviously I don't think they are, but they do need to work their way back to winning games, it's not going to be handed to them.
 
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