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

[Devilfan79]

OK. Time for McLeod to be rewarded. Almost every single one of us are disapointed he never panned out to be that #1 or high end #2 that we hoped. . BUt he has been fantastic and outside of trouble scoring he has done his job and more. He made some great plays tonight and [played with confidence. Hit the post that woudl've tied the game. He has been quite succesful with zone entries and IMO has been one of the better players at doing so.
I truly believe he isn't going to be what we thought he was when we drafted him, but he is quietly becoming a heck of a better player than virtually ALL of us thought he was at the beginning of the season.

Give him a shot to play with better players. I'd like to try a Sharangovich-McLeod-Mercer line. Seriously. Stick Haula on the fourth line. He has no business playing on a line with Hughes. When you are on pace for 2 point something goals and 34 points in a season playing with Hughes you have no business being on that line. McLeod has earned a promotion. Haula has earned a demotion. If McLeod doesn't do anything after 4-5 games then send him back to the fourth. But when his confidence is high, and he seems to have the support form Ruff, there is NO better time to give him the shot to prove that he can be better.
When Palat comes back...

Tatar-Nico-Zetterlund

Palat-Hughes-Bratt

Sharangovich-McLeod-Mercer

Wood-Haula-BAstian-Holtz.

Boqvist

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

If McLeod is this team's 3C for a stretch run/playoffs, I'm going to chug battery acid.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

If McLeod is this team's 3C for a stretch run/playoffs, I'm going to chug battery acid.

The team needs to reverse things now or else this could turn into a death spiral. I want to relax and not worry about that as a fan, but the team can't be thinking about anything other than winning now. And as a fan I can't help but think the same way.

I'm not sure what is going on honestly. I don't think other teams are doing much different. The Devils just seem to have lost their mojo completely.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

The team needs to reverse things now or else this could turn into a death spiral. I want to relax and not worry about that as a fan, but the team can't be thinking about anything other than winning now. And as a fan I can't help but think the same way.

I'm not sure what is going on honestly. I don't think other teams are doing much different. The Devils just seem to have lost their mojo completely.

they absolutely do not need to reverse anything.

If they played that game 10 more times, the Devils would 9 of them. They were the much better team overall tonight.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

The team needs to reverse things now or else this could turn into a death spiral. I want to relax and not worry about that as a fan, but the team can't be thinking about anything other than winning now. And as a fan I can't help but think the same way.

I'm not sure what is going on honestly. I don't think other teams are doing much different. The Devils just seem to have lost their mojo completely.

It's clearly fine right now, Boqvist looks lost absolutely right now, I'm talking about when we get to March-April.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

they absolutely do not need to reverse anything.

If they played that game 10 more times, the Devils would 9 of them. They were the much better team overall tonight.

I mean, I don't disagree we were the better team, but that was the case a lot last season too. The difference is winning. At the end of the day, that's the goal. They have a ton of room for error with the historic start they had to the season. Kinda like Utica last year. Just don't want to follow up a historically good start with a bad second half. Need to find that winning touch again.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I mean, I don't disagree we were the better team, but that was the case a lot last season too. The difference is winning. At the end of the day, that's the goal. They have a ton of room for error with the historic start they had to the season. Kinda like Utica last year. Just don't want to follow up a historically good start with a bad second half. Need to find that winning touch again.

if you're the better team consistently, you'll win the majority of games. We've won 21/30 games so far this year.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

if you're the better team consistently, you'll win the majority of games. We've won 21/30 games so far this year.

Agreed. But but almost all of the losses this season have come over the last two weeks. To me that shows some consistency too. It is concerning to be losing with this consistency even if we are the "better team".

I'm not panicking though. It a mild, but growing, concern.

 

[My3Sons]

Agreed. But but almost all of the losses this season have come over the last two weeks. To me that shows some consistency too. It is concerning to be losing with this consistency even if we are the "better team".

I'm not panicking though. It a mild, but growing, concern.

They are a young team. What they did worked for a while and now they have to adjust as teams have adjusted to them. This is the first time Hischier Bratt and Hughes have been among the league’s better players and have teams specifically worried about stopping them. They are smart and will figure it out. It would help if they had one more legit top six talent (maybe Mercer or Holtz someday but not yet) to score with a bit of regularity. Still compared to last year they are much better.

 

[NjDevsRR]

This team made the Cup Finals

It was the New Jersey Devils

 

[Blackjack]

View attachment 622307
This team made the Cup Finals

It was the New Jersey Devils

Must be 00-01 with that tie in there.

Agreed. But but almost all of the losses this season have come over the last two weeks. To me that shows some consistency too. It is concerning to be losing with this consistency even if we are the "better team".

I'm not panicking though. It a mild, but growing, concern.

We see patterns where there are none. It's just noise. We had a few poor games that we won during the streak, and now we've played well in a few games we lost.

Maybe there's been a modest decline in their level of play, but it's not much.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Must be 00-01 with that tie in there.



We see patterns where there are none. It's just noise. We had a few poor games that we won during the streak, and now we've played well in a few games we lost.

Maybe there's been a modest decline in their level of play, but it's not much.

This one also made the Cup Finals, also the New Jersey Devils

 

[NJDevs26]

Must be 00-01 with that tie in there.



We see patterns where there are none. It's just noise. We had a few poor games that we won during the streak, and now we've played well in a few games we lost.

Maybe there's been a modest decline in their level of play, but it's not much.

I would have bet on '99-00 with the death spiral that got Ftorek fired. I know we struggled a little bit in '00-01 at the beginning of the season without Nieds and Arnott but it was a putter around at just under .500 type of struggling.

'95 would have been a possibility too except for the fact we didn't play interconference games that year.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I would have bet on '99-00 with the death spiral that got Ftorek fired

 

[NJDevs26]

LOL at having 9-0 and 6-0 wins over the Thrashers in that....they always started giving us trouble from like '03 on though.

 

[NjDevsRR]

LOL at having 9-0 and 6-0 wins over the Thrashers in that....they always started giving us trouble from like '03 on though.

And it snowballed to the crescendo which was…

THE BOULTON HATTY

 

[Bleedred]

LOL at having 9-0 and 6-0 wins over the Thrashers in that....they always started giving us trouble from like '03 on though.

We had some really pathetic losses to them back in our glory years. Even a couple of ties that probably should have been wins, pre-shootout era. The pre-deadline in 2003 Gomez healthy scratch game was a really big stinker that I remember.

At least one tie that I remember, it might have been in 99-00. Maybe our first game against them ever? Did Ray Ferraro have a goal in that game? Memory is way too foggy these days to remember that. I remember going ballistic over a tie against them in it had to be 99-00. Maybe it was 00-01. The details are way too blurry. 5 years ago I would have probably been able to tell you why that pissed me off so badly and had more vivid details of it, but middle age tho and dementia unfortunately runs in my bloodline.

And we'd always make their nobody goalies look good, like Kevin Garnett (did he even play more than a handful of games in the league?) and that Finnish guy. Not Lehtonen, it was a way lesser known guy than that and not nearly as good. This is like before Lehtonen. He was probably already drafted, but was in the minors. The guy that wasn't around the NHL for very long. Was it Pasi Nurminen or something? And did Garnett shut us out Or maybe it was just one goal on like 45 shots?

I remember Bob Hartley scratching Kovalchuk, allegedly for missing a team meeting, which was also the explanation for why we scratched him that one time. I can't remember if they scratched in our game or if it was the game before they played us, but it was the talk of the league at the time and a big deal. I think he wound up scoring a shorthanded goal against us too, which I believe was his first ever shorty in the league.

I tried to cheat and look some of this stuff up, but couldn't find out if he was indeed scratched against us, with just one lazy search.

 

[Blackjack]

We had some really pathetic losses to them back in our glory years. Even a couple of ties that probably should have been wins, pre-shootout era. The pre-deadline in 2003 Gomez healthy scratch game was a really big stinker that I remember.

At least one tie that I remember, it might have been in 99-00. Maybe our first game against them ever? Did Ray Ferraro have a goal in that game? Memory is way too foggy these days to remember that. I remember going ballistic over a tie against them in it had to be 99-00. Maybe it was 00-01. The details are way too blurry. 5 years ago I would have probably been able to tell you why that pissed me off so badly and had more vivid details of it, but middle age tho and dementia unfortunately runs in my bloodline.

And we'd always make their nobody goalies look good, like Kevin Garnett (did he even play more than a handful of games in the league?) and that Finnish guy. Not Lehtonen, it was a way lesser known guy than that and not nearly as good. This is like before Lehtonen. He was probably already drafted, but was in the minors. The guy that wasn't around the NHL for very long. Was it Pasi Nurminen or something?

I remember Bob Hartley scratching Kovalchuk, allegedly for missing a team meeting, which was also the explanation for why we scratched him that one time. I can't remember if they scratched in our game or if it was the game before they played us, but it was the talk of the league at the time and a big deal. I think he wound up scoring a shorthanded goal against us too, which I believe was his first ever shorty in the league.

I tried to cheat and look some of this stuff up, but couldn't find out if he was indeed scratched against us, with just one lazy search.

HOW DO YOU REMEMBER THIS GUY

Michael Garnett Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Michael Garnett, a hockey player from Saskatoon, SASK born Nov 25 1982 who was active from 1999 to 2019.

www.hockeydb.com

 

[Bleedred]

HOW DO YOU REMEMBER THIS GUY

Michael Garnett Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Michael Garnett, a hockey player from Saskatoon, SASK born Nov 25 1982 who was active from 1999 to 2019.

www.hockeydb.com

Only because of that shutout.

And look, he did shut us out AND he even beat us a week before that (17 years ago to the day, look at that) and those were his only two games against us.

That was his only year in the NHL .Looks like he only played 24 games in the league and all were that year.

And he even got back to back shutouts, as he shutout Montreal the next game after he shut us out. His only 2 in the NHL.

I remember we got shutout by a goalie named Mike Fountain even longer ago than that. He barely played any games in the league and I don't even remember what team he played for. Was it the Islanders? Or am I getting that confused with Anders Nilsson, who somehow had a significantly longer NHL career than Mike Fountain and is currently employed by us as a scout? I have to look it up.

The Mike Fountain shutout had to be in like 98.

FOUND IT! He played for Vancouver and shut us out in his NHL debut on November 14th of 1996 at home.

Nilsson shut us out in his first start, but had also played games in relief before that.

Mike Fountain only lasted 11 games in the NHL over like 5 years. That was his lone NHL shutout and he only had one other win.

 

[Blackjack]

If you are a bad goalie that shuts out the Devils, Bleed will remember your name for 25 years.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I mean, I don't disagree we were the better team, but that was the case a lot last season too. The difference is winning. At the end of the day, that's the goal. They have a ton of room for error with the historic start they had to the season. Kinda like Utica last year. Just don't want to follow up a historically good start with a bad second half. Need to find that winning touch again.

I don't recall us dominating any team like this last year, even in wins, much less losses. Even in games where they put 40+ shots on net with numerous good scoring chances, they were playing shitty D and giving up glorious scoring opportunities, regardless of what analytics was saying. And of course the goalies sucked too.

I'm not seeing any comparables to last year's team so far. At all.

 

[Devs3cups]

I don't recall us dominating any team like this last year, even in wins, much less losses. Even in games where they put 40+ shots on net with numerous good scoring chances, they were playing shitty D and giving up glorious scoring opportunities, regardless of what analytics was saying. And of course the goalies sucked too.

I'm not seeing any comparables to last year's team so far. At all.

 

[Blackjack]

Mike Fountain has an incredible number of sub .900 seasons on his hockeydb page. At all levels. He played 3 years of major junior and never cracked .900

The first season he had a .900 was his fifth season in the AHL. Seven years after he was drafted in the middle of the second round.

This is incredible stuff.

 

[MadDevil]

I don't recall us dominating any team like this last year, even in wins, much less losses. Even in games where they put 40+ shots on net with numerous good scoring chances, they were playing shitty D and giving up glorious scoring opportunities, regardless of what analytics was saying. And of course the goalies sucked too.

I'm not seeing any comparables to last year's team so far. At all.

Optimism? Who are you and what have you done with Vic?

 

[Bleedred]

Mike Fountain has an incredible number of sub .900 seasons on his hockeydb page. At all levels. He played 3 years of major junior and never cracked .900

The first season he had a .900 was his fifth season in the AHL. Seven years after he was drafted in the middle of the second round.

This is incredible stuff.

Mike Fountain and some of the Atlanta fly by nighters are basically the reason for the king time narrative that we make backups look like Hasek.

And I know there’s other strange randos that we’ve lost to or got shutout by over the years, but I honestly have forgotten most of those names.

Did we get shutout by the Italian guy that backed up Richter on the Rangers? I can’t think of his name, other than it being an Italian surname. I think he was in Hartford and maybe he shut us out when he played there?

Jason Muzzatti! That’s it! I had to text @Cage Helmet who’s still on the right side of 40 at least until Christmas and has a better memory than me at this point. Glad he was awake.

And now that I look at his career splits he does have 1 shutout and his ONLY career shutout in the NHL over the Devils. It was on April 4th of 1996. Which was in the dying days of what stood for 22 years as the one and only lost season. It was a 1-0 40 save shutout loss.

But then we turned around 2 nights later in Hartford and blew him up for 5 goals on 16 shots and he was yanked for Sean Burke 34 minutes into the game.