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

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Wait, what is this??

Losers No More, Devils Overshadow Rival Rangers, and Everyone Else (Published 2022)

The Devils once relied on defense and slowing down the game to win, but this season they are keeping goals out of the net and scoring them in bunches as well.

www.nytimes.com

Now, they expect to win and that, for some longtime Devils players, has been a culture shock. Damon Severson, a defenseman drafted by New Jersey in 2012, said the Devils had “weeded out” players (whom he chose not to name) who were content to go out after a 5-1 loss and devour cheeseburgers and fries, as though nothing had happened.

“It’s a shot to your ego,” Severson said of the bad years. “You’re a loser, you’re not good. But the worst part about it was that we had some guys that didn’t really care in previous years. It would be like, ‘I know I’m not going to be here much longer, so I’m just going to get my paycheck and hope we play well and then go home at night and everything is hunky dory.’
“It was a really bad culture and mind-set that way. It’s nice to see we’ve turned that page and brought in some better guys and got rid of the problems.”

 

[Devils731]

You have to be a Severson stan to interpret a desperation heave into the middle of the ice as anything but royally dumb, or to still think he’s one of the better defensemen in the league when the GM basically signed and traded for better replacements in two offseasons.

It’s not a desperation heave to try and feather a pass to an open guy in the high slot. That’s silly.

If Severson isn’t one of the better defenseman in the league, what do you think he’s signing for this offseason? Like $3.5 million?

 

[TonySoprano]

Not very many, it turns out.

Great, can’t wait to watch Brendan Smith skate around like a pee wee and take full responsibility for all the goals he’s on the ice for.

Hockey players should have a Catholic style confession booth that they use to own up to all their bad plays, but on the other side of the blind are the hockey media.

Smith is already playing, at least now he'll have an actual hockey player without shit for brains as his partner. Severson is a losing player. Always has and always will be. He has shown nothing to prove me otherwise

 

[Guttersniped]

What does that picture show? Is Todd his defense attorney or something? “There are two open players ready to shoot” so throw the puck in their general direction is a good idea?

You can watch it in real-time.



Severson should know he’s in real danger of flinging the puck into either A) oblivion B) straight to a Flyer if he passes that way. He passed it to neither teammate and Hamilton is in a terrible position to do anything about it.

We’ve been way better about puck management at the blue line. We’ve been way better at being patient in the 3rd period and letting the game come to us. It’s a tied game, there’s no excuse for his mindless aggression.

And the team has been way better in the 3rd and good about being patient. Ruff can be angry at Severson for this specifically, he’s trying to get the team to adjust their mindset.

Severson has played huge minutes for us for years and PMD are often under appreciated as people split defensemen into pure defense or offensive production. He’s been underrated plenty and isn’t uniquely prone to mistakes but trying to fix his mental mistakes isn’t bad or unfair.

We have 4 UFA forwards and 2 UFA defensemen on the roster, I’m definitely curious what Fitz does.

 

[NJDevs26]

It’s not a desperation heave to try and feather a pass to an open guy in the high slot. That’s silly.

If Severson isn’t one of the better defenseman in the league, what do you think he’s signing for this offseason? Like $3.5 million?

Open? He had a guy right on him…that was only open if you go by a faulty stillshot

 

[Devils731]

Open? He had a guy right on him…that was only open if you go by a faulty stillshot

The guy in high slot is completely open.

Mercer is open for the one timer and he’s opened his body and wound up for it. Severson tried to feather a soft pass to him, and it’s tipped softly by the Flyer reaching out for it.

If the pass hadn’t been tipped the shot already would have happened and Mecer still has an open lane to shoot at this still.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Do you not think Severson is in the top half of NHL defensemen?

- Play's on the third pairing
- Ranked 17th in plus/minus on a team that has a +30 5v5 goal differential, and the only players worse are young forwards who suck at D
- Has 6 points in 30 games
- Routinely makes catastrophic decisions at critical times when the team cannot afford it
- Has not improved this extreme flaw despite nearly a decade in the league.

He is an extremely flawed player. Subbing in Bahl for one game is not going to cost this team significantly.

 

[NJDevs26]

I don’t have the exact game on hand. It was a few weeks ago where the Devils had a powerplay late while leading, Ruff put out non-PP players on it, Devils played conservative on the PP, opponents came back, and Ruff ripped the team for not being aggressive on the PP.

And Lindy is wanting to have his cake and eat it too. He can’t rip the team for being cautious while having a lead and rip the team for being aggressive when tied with 8.5 minutes left in the game.

The Nashville game, but it’s not as if he put non PP players on it, he just put two defensemen on it instead of one. It’s not necessarily inconsistent to want a more aggressive approach on the PP with a lead in a more even game compared to wanting to play conservative even strength when you’re tied in a game you’re otherwise dominating. The only inconsistency was in having the second defensemen on the ice then assuming the team should infer be aggressive from that against the Preds. But when you literally tell guys on the bench what you want seconds before and one ‘vet’ just does his own thing as usual last night…

 

[Blackjack]

Smith is already playing, at least now he'll have an actual hockey player without shit for brains as his partner. Severson is a losing player. Always has and always will be. He has shown nothing to prove me otherwise

Cool, looking forward to all the excellent hockey Brendan smith will be playing now that he’ll have an actual hockey player without shit for brains as a partner.

I expect dramatic improvement

 

[JK3]

He's talking about the Flyer that's right on top of Severson. The other problem was look how high Konecny is.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Cool, looking forward to all the excellent hockey Brendan smith will be playing now that he’ll have an actual hockey player without shit for brains as a partner.

I expect dramatic improvement

so by this token, nobody can ever do anything wrong to be benched because the player coming in to replace them is theoretically probably worse?

They are sitting Severson (if they even do it) to set an example.

 

[Devils731]

The Nashville game, but it’s not as if he put non PP players on it, he just put two defensemen on it instead of one. It’s not necessarily inconsistent to want a more aggressive approach on the PP with a lead in a more even game compared to wanting to play conservative even strength when you’re tied in a game you’re otherwise dominating. The only inconsistency was in having the second defensemen on the ice then assuming the team should infer be aggressive from that. But when you literally tell guys on the bench what you want seconds before and one ‘vey’ just does his own thing as usual…

One guy? The last man back decided to be aggressive on the play too.

If it was so clear to everyone to take no chances then Hamilton would have been playing defense as the defender without the puck, rather than moving into the zone.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

At the end of the day, we aren’t a better team with a lefty-lefty pairing that includes Brendan Smith and that’s literally all I care about. I want to win games, the move doesn’t increase our chances of winning games. Nothing else matters.

 

[Blackjack]

One guy? The last man back decided to be aggressive on the play too.

If it was so clear to everyone to take no chances then Hamilton would have been playing defense as the defender without the puck, rather than moving into the zone.

Has anyone pointed out that Konecny was Hamilton’s man on that play?

 

[MadDevil]

Severson will be gone after this season and then we can all stop bitching about him and start bitching about somebody else instead.

 

[NJDevs26]

At the end of the day, we aren’t a better team with a lefty-lefty pairing that includes Brendan Smith and that’s literally all I care about. I want to win games, the move doesn’t increase our chances of winning games. Nothing else matters.

As has been pointed out ad nauseum the Devils still have a playoff cushion now. If you can’t use a mid December game to send a message in the big picture when are you going to? But apparently people here think you should only send messages to expendable players like Holtz

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Severson will be gone after this season and then we can all stop bitching about him and start bitching about somebody else instead.

I kinda get this but at the same time it sends a bad message to the actual core where they'll be punished harder than guys who come in for a year or two or expiring UFA's.

 

[NJDevs26]

Btw people hated when Lindy benched Bratt early in the season last year when he sucked the first few games, how did that work out in the long run? Sometimes what’s best for a single game isn’t what’s best for 82.

 

[guitarguyvic]

One guy? The last man back decided to be aggressive on the play too.

If it was so clear to everyone to take no chances then Hamilton would have been playing defense as the defender without the puck, rather than moving into the zone.

You know what...I am gonna blame Hamilton...he should have known he was on the ice with an idiot who likes to make the most irresponsible decision with the puck possible during game-defining moments. How could he have not foreseen that his D-partner would do this minutes after the coach told them not to force anything risky?

 

[Jack Be Quick]

Do you not think Severson is in the top half of NHL defensemen?

Could he be in the top 112 defencemen in the league? I'd have to look at every other team to make that assessment, but it's possible.

I'd hardly call that "one of the better" though.

 

[Blackjack]

so by this token, nobody can ever do anything wrong to be benched because the player coming in to replace them is theoretically probably worse?

They are sitting Severson (if they even do it) to set an example.

I’d be pissed off if my coach made the team worse to make a selfish, groundless point.

I’d be pissed if my coach singled out my own bad play because that’s the one the other team scored on, when there were half a dozen other plays that resulted in much better scoring opportunities that were saved.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Btw people hated when Lindy benched Bratt early in the season last year when he sucked the first few games, how did that work out in the long run? Sometimes what’s best for a single game isn’t what’s best for 82.

I mean that was more of a heated response because Hynes also did it multiple times like a dumbass and it didn't have have a good effect on Bratt.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

As has been pointed out ad nauseum the Devils still have a playoff cushion now. If you can’t use a mid December game to send a message in the big picture when are you going to? But apparently people here think you should only send messages to expendable players like Holtz

Holtz doesn’t need to be punished like a child either, he should just be in the minors.

There are likely dozens of more egregious mistakes made this year than that one. But when that pairing gets their shit pushed in and we lose, the message will be sent. Great.

 

[billingtons ghost]

It’s not a desperation heave to try and feather a pass to an open guy in the high slot. That’s silly.

If Severson isn’t one of the better defenseman in the league, what do you think he’s signing for this offseason? Like $3.5 million?

Let's just say that it was a terrifically I'll advised pass at the blueline. There was a clear choice to be made and it was down the boards.

He was only or defacto #1 bc our defense was trash the last five years. He has always been polarizing on these boards bc of his game wrecking brain farts.

He's right where he belongs on a good defensive team, as a good #5 defenseman with offensive upside and limited defensive liabilities..the likes we'd trade for when we won cups (chambers, malakov, etc..)

What do you want to pay your #5 defenseman? The RHD part makes it tougher.

I've liked his improved D play the last ten games or so, but I'm more than fine with a mediocre $3.5m replacement who doesn't have the fatal flaw decision making until Nemec claims a spot.

What does that picture show? Is Todd his defense attorney or something? “There are two open players ready to shoot” so throw the puck in their general direction is a good idea?

You can watch it in real-time.



Severson should know he’s in real danger of flinging the puck into either A) oblivion B) straight to a Flyer if he passes that way. He passed it to neither teammate and Hamilton is in a terrible position to do anything about it.

We’ve been way better about puck management at the blue line. We’ve been way better at being patient in the 3rd period and letting the game come to us. It’s a tied game, there’s no excuse for his mindless aggression.

And the team has been way better in the 3rd and good about being patient. Ruff can be angry at Severson for this specifically, he’s trying to get the team to adjust their mindset.

Severson has played huge minutes for us for years and PMD are often under appreciated as people split defensemen into pure defense or offensive production. He’s been underrated plenty and isn’t uniquely prone to mistakes but trying to fix his mental mistakes isn’t bad or unfair.

We have 4 UFA forwards and 2 UFA defensemen on the roster, I’m definitely curious what Fitz does.

I like your post, but to say Severson is underrated is absurd. The guy is, and always has been a Jake Gardiner style liability, classically.

The fact that he could skate and make a pretty pass now and again does not make up for the what? Fifty? Sixty? 100 games that we've dissected the profound depths of his disasterous play in a post game thread.

A stupid midwinter game against Philly doesn't matter a whit. BUT

I stand by my assertion that the day Severson vacates his spot on our blueline is the day we become contenders for a cup.

I don't want to be going into a game7 someday and just hear nothing but the ticking time bomb that is Damon Severson. You know it's coming. Admit it, damnit.

Now that we have capable guys, it's just all the more obvious.

 

[NJDevs26]

Could he be in the top 112 defencemen in the league? I'd have to look at every other team to make that assessment, but it's possible.

I'd hardly call that "one of the better" though.

Yeah when I see that phrasing merely top half isn’t what comes to mind.