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

[Eggtimer]

I'd love Henrique back on the team. I think he'd be an excellent complimentary piece that can fill some of our needs and it would be awesome from a nostalgia/fan favorite standpoint.

Is there any credible reason to believe Fitz is actually interested in him, or is this just people throwing it out there as a plausible option?

Henrique doesn’t move the needle enough . IF we add anyine , it’s a Meier type or nothing . That’s my take on it but who knows what Fitz plan is . Maybe another depth D piece or ?

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Fitz isn't going to make any trades until the deadline approaches. That goes for buying and selling. Meier makes the most sense out of any player to go for but San Jose would be foolish to move him now before his value probably goes up closer to the TDL.

Can we sign Meier long term while still being able to pay Bratt 8 million plus ? Going after him might not be worth it unless we can lock him up for multiple years.

 

[MartyOwns]

Henrique doesn’t move the needle enough . IF we add anyine , it’s a Meier type or nothing . That’s my take on it but who knows what Fitz plan is . Maybe another depth D piece or ?

getting rico and palat in a few weeks would help a lot

 

[billingtons ghost]

I doubt many cup contenders have better lower pair defenders than Severson. I don’t think we’re better without him just by subtraction, I just wouldn’t keep him with any size raise.

I do think he has value as PMD and he drives offense even if it doesn’t show up in points.

Fitz did say in his end of the season presser that he wanted players who were “strong on the puck” and that’s Damon’s big flaw for me.

He actually has good size and strength but he lacks attention to detail when he’s around the net at times. He gets mushy around there in a way that I am tired of at this point, that I will admit.

He does a lot of things well though and as much as Smith playing over Bahl frustrates me they do compliment each other in a lot of ways.

I completely agree that as a bottom pair - it's ideal. But let's stop with the 'underated' talk. He does alot of things, but as a PMD, let's recap the other 'high risk, high reward' guys we have had... eg Zidlicky and Vatanan.

Now, I wasn't a huge fan of the Henrique trade. I thought Zids was flighty as hell too.

That being said - both of those guys SMOKE anything Damon Severson has ever done for this team.

I'll agree that Damon, on the whole, is certainly better than Vats ever was, and probably about the same as Zids - as, ... like those guys... he is pretty decent at taking the puck away.

However, Zidlicky could change a game, and actually did so pretty often. Vatanan at his best could do the same.

I know we all have a soft spot for Damon as a guy we brought up through the ranks. I loved watching him in the WHL when they came to town in Portland. I thought he looked like Paul Martin in the making. Speaking of Paul Martin - there's another guy who was probably just as offensively capable as Sevs, but was two or three times the defender, and certainly more underrated.

I don't want him dealt bc I don't think we'll get anywhere near the value back and it would probably hurt us more losing him than whatever we get back (although if something grand is on the table like Meier, I might rescind that). I've liked what he's done recently in actually showing verifiable improvement.

It's just that these painful painful episodes tend to erase a games worth of good play quite easily.

It'll be just fine when he's playing for someone else.

 

[billingtons ghost]

He does look like he lost some passion since being demoted to the third pairing.

Really? I kinda thought that he's been actually playing a perfect role. He may not be putting up points but I really like those guys as a bottom pairing. It's almost like we don't really have to worry which pair is on the ice most of the times - and I kinda thought he's really enjoying the winning.

If that's not the case, I certainly get being a little bummed that it is coming in his contract year - but the reality of it is: be better than Hamilton and Marino and then you don't have to be third pair, right?

Henrique doesn’t move the needle enough . IF we add anyine , it’s a Meier type or nothing . That’s my take on it but who knows what Fitz plan is . Maybe another depth D piece or ?

What about ROR or Tarasenko from the Blues or Bertuzzi from the Red Wings?

I like Athanasiou as a lower cost pickup. Love that guy's speed and north south game.

Monahan from the Habs?

 

[Devilfan79]

McLeod had a long look last year as a 3C playing with more talented offensive players and he fell flat on his face. He is not a player you try and force up the lineup. Even in juniors, he was the designated defensive specialist on the Canada WJC teams.

He is a very good 4C and that’s it. Nothing wrong with that. He knows his role and plays it well. If he is playing 3rd line or above minutes it is for defensive purposes only. Matching up against an opposition top center.

If you want to give him more minutes for him to generate offense, you’re going to fail badly. He just isn’t that player.

I disagree. I have been watching him play for ten years and have seen what he can do with the puck. I think he has been playing well enough to earn another opportunity. He is creating plays way more than he did last year.

 

[Camille the Eel]

I hope that Ruff and the staff can take the pressure off of the guys right now in this stretch of hockey. The mantra of “play the right way and forget the results” is the correct one, despite the recent losses. The nearly 50 shot effort last night was a healthy sign that the club is hitting reset and returning to character and we are still a club that recently ran off like a 15 - 1 stretch of play.

We’ll be okay. Literally the only way we can really blow this is for us to get overly hysterical about things now and lose our confidence. Relaxing and playing our game freely and without squeezing the sticks is the key now.

 

[Camille the Eel]

I disagree. I have been watching him play for ten years and have seen what he can do with the puck. I think he has been playing well enough to earn another opportunity. He is creating plays way more than he did last year.

Crazy at it is, he’s been one of our best forwards. If he could finish chances it would be nice as he gets a lot of them and it’s very clear now that he has very low skills as a goal scorer himself. But the other aspects of his game have been superb, he’s good at creating space off the rush, also at the cycle game, and in addition he’s excellent defensively; if paired with more skilled wings he’s capable of driving play for a line.

I loved his fight last night. Especially as he got concussed and lost time last year after taking a knockout blow to the jaw in a brutal fight that left him nearly unconscious and bloody on the ice; so his not showing any hesitation about stepping up for this one was admirable, and then he managed to defend himself against a tough opponent (who tied him up and tried to land hooks to his jaw, while McLeod angled away and turned his helmet) and even to turn the tables to deliver a few blows of his own after knocking the other guys helmet off at the end.

He’s a good part of our club.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

I'm not reading the last 5 pages but this.

 

[njdevils1982]

I'm not reading the last 5 pages but this.

a clown twitter opinion


now let's add ATOI to that


'15 ... 2nd on team
'16 ... 9th
'17 ... 3rd
'18 ... 5th
'19 ... 1st
'20 ... 1st
'21 ... 1st
'22 ... 1st

......it's like when the russian was leading the league in the same f***ing stat.... get more time...more giveaways over time

 

[OmNomNom]

I'm not reading the last 5 pages but this.

whats the giveaways/60 tho

 

[NJDevs26]

I'm not reading the last 5 pages but this.

Cue the ‘but he pushes play, creative players have turnovers!’ narrative

 

[MadDevil]

I'm not reading the last 5 pages but this.

You mean a guy who played a lot of minutes and had the puck a lot on a bad team was among the leaders in giveaways? Shocking.

 

[Triumph]

I'm not reading the last 5 pages but this.

Giveaways are a terrible stat. NHL should stop tracking them.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Most giveaways last season:

2021-2022 NHL Most Giveaway Leaders | StatMuse

Jeff Petry had the most giveaways in 2021-22, with 107 given away.

www.statmuse.com

I see a lot of all stars in there.

 

[MadDevil]

Funny, I seem to see some guy named Jack Hughes right there with Severson as a giveaway leader on the team. Guess he's a mistake machine too. Clean it up Jack!

 

[Bleedred]

There’s definitely bad giveaways, especially in certain situations and certain parts of the ice that could hurt you pretty badly

But that stat seems to feature guys who are actually really good and have the puck a lot.

Scott Niedermayer had a ton more giveaways in his career and per game than say a guy like Colin White? Probably by a ton more, as Niedermayer had the puck infinitely more than a guy like Colin White did.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

whats the giveaways/60 tho

Fair enough - just thought it was a valid point given how long it's held. He's not the only offensive D man on the team.

 

[OmNomNom]

Fair enough - just thought it was a valid point given how long it's held. He's not the only offensive D man on the team.

nah you're good, legitimately wondering

i think it's cherrypicking for someone who wants to dunk on sevo - yeah he has his issues but i think its somewhat overblown

 

[Guttersniped]

I'm not reading the last 5 pages but this.

How about rate considering Severson’s led the team in TOI for several years. The Giveaways/60 has players w/ >300 minutes TOI.

2014-15

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

 

[Guttersniped]

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

 

[Bcap88]

^ some of the names on those list are hideous lol

 

[Guttersniped]

^ some of the names on those list are hideous lol

Not going to lie, that’s a big reason I posted these.

Once I realized Yakovlev and Auvitu could get shout outs I knew what I had to do.

Also Kalinin coming in 10th in total ice time in 2015-16 is pretty hilarious but he played the 6th most games that season. A bunch of injuries and rando filler that year.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Funny, I seem to see some guy named Jack Hughes right there with Severson as a giveaway leader on the team. Guess he's a mistake machine too. Clean it up Jack!

Jack could clean his game up. And his takeaways have always exceeded giveaways.

Are you saying that Damon Severson is as creative and offensively potent as Jack Hughes?

Let's please keep our heads and spot the difference between a shithead defender with crap instincts and a generational puck hawking talent.

 

[Bleedred]

Kalinin - what a useless find by Lou on his way out the door.

Played a lot of the season Zajac and Cammalleri and power play time and still only had like 15 points in 78 games or something.

Dude wasn’t even really a scorer at the KHL level before that. Although at a much higher rate than he was in the NHL.

He had a pretty good first season back in the KHL after his two seasons over here, but looks like a one off. The two years after that were like NHL 4th line production years, kind of like his first year here was, only he wasn’t really playing on the 4th line that year…. 8 goals all year long. In fact, he scored 2 goals in his second to last game of the season. So he had 6 f***in goals through 76 games, seeing time with Zajac and Cammalleri/power play time and just 15 points in total through 78 games. He sucked. We sign one Euro league free agent forward and it’s one of the most skill less guys we could get. He was like something the Predators/Poile would have liked.

I remember liking Auvitu and thinking we didn’t give him enough of a chance.

Yakovlev……I don’t remember much, because I don’t think he played too many games here. Much less than even Auvitu did.

Nope, actually they both played 25 games with the Devils, only Auvitu played one more year (33 games) in the NHL with the Oilers. Yakovlev did not.

Man, the last couple of years have really taken a toll on my brain, that I can remember Auvitu but not really Yakovlev much.