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

[Devs3cups]

I think it’s a mental/confidence issue. Two key moments during this stretch - the Nashville game collapse and the rangers game collapse. I think both of those really shook them, if they hold down the fort for those 8 seconds, or jack scores on the penalty shot, things might look different right now. I still don’t think this is like last year’s team, whats pissing me off is how easily they’ve been rattled. This is the NHL you aren’t going to just steamroll teams for an entire season and being good isn’t just about what you can do physically it’s also about what’s going on between your ears. These guys need to man the f*** up and grt passed this adversity.

I don’t know how throwing Blackwood out there in the middle of this is supposed to help.

These guys made me a believer, and I still am. I hope they don’t make me look like a f***ing idiot for it.

Believing in your team doesn’t make you an idiot. This is different, but we’re still the youngest team in the league and ups and downs will happen. It sucks they’re losing, but I don’t feel they’re being killed out there at all when they lose. I 100% agree with the confidence though. A young team will go through this. Hopefully they shake it off and go on another streak.

 

[Bleedred]

I think it’s a mental/confidence issue. Two key moments during this stretch - the Nashville game collapse and the rangers game collapse. I think both of those really shook them, if they hold down the fort for those 8 seconds, or jack scores on the penalty shot, things might look different right now. I still don’t think this is like last year’s team, whats pissing me off is how easily they’ve been rattled. This is the NHL you aren’t going to just steamroll teams for an entire season and being good isn’t just about what you can do physically it’s also about what’s going on between your ears. These guys need to man the f*** up and grt passed this adversity.

I don’t know how throwing Blackwood out there in the middle of this is supposed to help.

These guys made me a believer, and I still am. I hope they don’t make me look like a f***ing idiot for it.

Believe it or not, I was actually calling for Blackwood to come in after it was 3-0 and Vanecek obviously didn’t have it.

My rationale was better let him work the rust off in a garbage time game that’s already over than come into the game he starts and try and work it off.

 

[MadDevil]

So, any ideas what the f*** has happened to this team?

Like, how does a team go from being elite in almost every metric for a third of a f***ing season and directly to being unable to score or get any kind of goaltending at all?

How does an entire roster go into a three week slump?

The simple answer is probably regression. I'm not sure the pace they were setting for those 20+ games was sustainable. Eventually there was going to be some kind of falling back to earth. I think it's led to some frustration by the players and it's probably causing the old cliche of gripping their sticks too tightly.

The positive side is they're still outshooting teams and getting chances. If they keep doing that pucks are going to start going in eventually. The bigger concern for me is goaltending because we know how much bad goaltending can affect a team, even if they are winning the shot/chance battle.

 

[Devils090]

So, any ideas what the f*** has happened to this team?

Like, how does a team go from being elite in almost every metric for a third of a f***ing season and directly to being unable to score or get any kind of goaltending at all?

How does an entire roster go into a three week slump?

Regression to the mean and honestly it’s probably gotten way mental at this point. The goals within the first/last minute of periods, the constant 2 on 1s, the missed assignments it’s all just mental breakdowns and when you start falling into those bad habits all over again it’s tough to break out of. Most importantly the goaltending has disappeared and we can’t get saves we were getting early on Vanacek was on fire some games but he’s not going to be able to do it on a consistent basis, we can’t keep letting him get hung out to dry. And can someone besides Jack step up offensively!?

 

[ninetyeight]

I feel like we are the only team in the league who never gets good goaltending for a full season anymore. This is some weird Marty curse or something. Seems like Vanecek is what everyone tried to tell us, but we didn't listen since we were so high from winning. To really be a top team in the league, you need that elite goaltender, someone like Kochetkov, Sorokin, Ullmark, Oettinger, Hellebuyck... Maybe Schmid, Daws or Brennan could become that, but how long away are they? If Vanacek keeps playing like he has recently and Blackwood will be Blackwood, they probably end up overloading Schmid and ruin his confidence once again.

Getting Bastian and Palat back will help, really didn't think how much we would miss Bastian and I've always been a big Bastian supporter. But in reality if we keep outshooting and beating our opponents in xG and still losing due goalies not being able to save atleast the expected amount, it doesn't matter who our forwards are.

The rest of the team is playing well, really incredibly well for a team in a 6 game losing streak. Sure the powerplay still sucks and there are bunch of mistakes, giveaways, chances and 2-1s given. But with good goaltending we should have won at least some of those games. We just have to hope Vanecek can get back to his early season form soon, and maybe Blackwood can give as few good games here and there. Otherwise we're out of the playoffs and will be the laughing stock of the league, after the run we had and all the shit we talked. The other fanbases are really letting us have it in the main board right now. They don't know nor care if the Devils are playing good, they just see that the Devils lost 6 in a row and think that's a shit team with a shit fanbase.

 

[theoptimist]

Folks, listen up. As long as they’re winning the Corsi battle, I know this string of bad luck cannot continue. If they play they way they did in the 3rd period last night, they’ll win more than they lose. Trust me.

 

[BurntToast]

What happen to this team?!

Our MVP went down;

In all seriousness. The team was night and day better after getting him back last year too. This team needs more guff.

Plus, team depth sucks. The 3rd line was meh, to begin with. They need another center, if Haula keeps playing up. Boq sucks, not offensive enough, defense is ok at best. Holtz tries, but if hes not scoring, he isn’t useful.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

Sorry if I missed it, but has there been any timeframe provided on Bastain's return or injury?

 

[Billdo]

They don't know nor care if the Devils are playing good, they just see that the Devils lost 6 in a row and think that's a shit team with a shit fanbase.

That's because Ws and Ls are all that matters.

 

[NJDevs26]

Sorry if I missed it, but has there been any timeframe provided on Bastain's return or injury?

Zip, zilch and none…which probably means that’s the timeline

 

[Unknown Caller]

What happen to this team?!

Our MVP went down;

View attachment 624749

In all seriousness. The team was night and day better after getting him back last year too. This team needs more guff.

Plus, team depth sucks. The 3rd line was meh, to begin with. They need another center, if Haula keeps playing up. Boq sucks, not offensive enough, defense is ok at best. Holtz tries, but if hes not scoring, he isn’t useful.

Or this team is just shooting about 2% and getting .800 goaltending over this stretch. It's really not that complicated. The team depth is fine and they'll regress when the shooting percentage and goaltending evens out again. The overreactions to results are unbearable.

Then when this teams rips off 5 wins in a row again in January and I bring up certain weaknesses in their game, I'll get flamed for being negative by the same people that are currently calling this team horrible.

 

[glenwo2]

Zip, zilch and none…which probably means that’s the timeline

I think we should just assume he's done for the year and move on.

'Cause that's how s--t rolls with the Devils this year.

 

[Azathoth]

What happen to this team?!

Our MVP went down;

View attachment 624749

In all seriousness. The team was night and day better after getting him back last year too. This team needs more guff.

Plus, team depth sucks. The 3rd line was meh, to begin with. They need another center, if Haula keeps playing up. Boq sucks, not offensive enough, defense is ok at best. Holtz tries, but if hes not scoring, he isn’t useful.

I kinda feel like the BMW line or whatever you want to call it was really a prime example of the sum being greater than the parts. Then Bastian goes down and now you have Wood and McLeod playing in various spots in the lineup and they don't look nearly as good (especially Wood where his poor IQ is more on display whenever he has to play above the 4th line). They are basically running 2 lines now and a jumble of forwards in the bottom 6 whereas before they had at least 3 solid lines every game.

 

[Devilsfan118]

What happen to this team?!

Our MVP went down;

View attachment 624749

In all seriousness. The team was night and day better after getting him back last year too. This team needs more guff.

Plus, team depth sucks. The 3rd line was meh, to begin with. They need another center, if Haula keeps playing up. Boq sucks, not offensive enough, defense is ok at best. Holtz tries, but if hes not scoring, he isn’t useful.

I refuse to entertain the notion that a plug 4th liner is the secret sauce for this team.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I think we should just assume he's done for the year and move on.

'Cause that's how s--t rolls with the Devils this year.

Not this year. Every year.

 

[devilsblood]

So, any ideas what the f*** has happened to this team?

Like, how does a team go from being elite in almost every metric for a third of a f***ing season and directly to being unable to score or get any kind of goaltending at all?

How does an entire roster go into a three week slump?

The simple answer is probably regression. I'm not sure the pace they were setting for those 20+ games was sustainable. Eventually there was going to be some kind of falling back to earth. I think it's led to some frustration by the players and it's probably causing the old cliche of gripping their sticks too tightly.

The positive side is they're still outshooting teams and getting chances. If they keep doing that pucks are going to start going in eventually. The bigger concern for me is goaltending because we know how much bad goaltending can affect a team, even if they are winning the shot/chance battle.

Regression to the mean and honestly it’s probably gotten way mental at this point. The goals within the first/last minute of periods, the constant 2 on 1s, the missed assignments it’s all just mental breakdowns and when you start falling into those bad habits all over again it’s tough to break out of. Most importantly the goaltending has disappeared and we can’t get saves we were getting early on Vanacek was on fire some games but he’s not going to be able to do it on a consistent basis, we can’t keep letting him get hung out to dry. And can someone besides Jack step up offensively!?

When I hear "sustainable" and "regression to the mean" I feel this is just stat talk, which doesn't really help explain what the problem is.

Now if when MadDevil talks about the pace, if he's talking actual pace of play, then I agree, we came out flying, needed to reverse the early losses cranked it up more, then got a sugar high once we got on that win streak. A young team burning itself out.

The mental aspect 090 brings up certainly plays into it as well. Again, I think we got too high on ourselves early, and now we're a little confused as to how to get out of this.

 

[Blackjack]

People use the term “regression” way too much without knowing what it means. It does not mean that the results flip over to the other side and balance out prior results that were skewed. It means that results track back to what expectations were, and as a result the overall results start to move in that direction too.

Regression is not losing seven in a row. For this team regression would have meant winning four of those games and losing three.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I feel like we are the only team in the league who never gets good goaltending for a full season anymore. This is some weird Marty curse or something. Seems like Vanecek is what everyone tried to tell us, but we didn't listen since we were so high from winning. To really be a top team in the league, you need that elite goaltender, someone like Kochetkov, Sorokin, Ullmark, Oettinger, Hellebuyck... Maybe Schmid, Daws or Brennan could become that, but how long away are they? If Vanacek keeps playing like he has recently and Blackwood will be Blackwood, they probably end up overloading Schmid and ruin his confidence once again.

Getting Bastian and Palat back will help, really didn't think how much we would miss Bastian and I've always been a big Bastian supporter. But in reality if we keep outshooting and beating our opponents in xG and still losing due goalies not being able to save atleast the expected amount, it doesn't matter who our forwards are.

The rest of the team is playing well, really incredibly well for a team in a 6 game losing streak. Sure the powerplay still sucks and there are bunch of mistakes, giveaways, chances and 2-1s given. But with good goaltending we should have won at least some of those games. We just have to hope Vanecek can get back to his early season form soon, and maybe Blackwood can give as few good games here and there. Otherwise we're out of the playoffs and will be the laughing stock of the league, after the run we had and all the shit we talked. The other fanbases are really letting us have it in the main board right now. They don't know nor care if the Devils are playing good, they just see that the Devils lost 6 in a row and think that's a shit team with a shit fanbase.

Huh? The prevailing thought from most of the posts on the main board is that the devils are not as good as their winning streak but not as bad as this losing streak, and will probably still make the playoffs.

The one post about how our fan base is fickle might be the most astute observation of all.

 

[HBK27]

Thanks Bro, wasn't it you that said back then no way we were going to lose 4 in a row?

No "Bro", it wasn't me that said that.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I have an epic GDT locked and loaded but I need to piggyback off of someone else posting the GDT

 

[ninetyeight]

Huh? The prevailing thought from most of the posts on the main board is that the devils are not as good as their winning streak but not as bad as this losing streak, and will probably still make the playoffs.

I think you might have couple of very vocal posters ignored

There's quite a bit of 'I told you so's, quoting old posts, bashing Marino etc there in about three different threads..

 

[glenwo2]

No "Bro", it wasn't me that said that.

Hey "Bro", got change for a twenty?


But I don't recall anyone saying we'd lose 4 in a row, though the fear was there (and it turned into reality)

 

[Devs3cups]

I have an epic GDT locked and loaded but I need to piggyback off of someone else posting the GDT

I gotchu!

Nevermind, @Better Call Dano beat me to it (with an epic Shoresy gif)!

 

[Guttersniped]

I was responding to @Blackjack saying and thread got closed on me.

Carolina is a mid team. They’re nothing special. If the Devils were real they would have come out and rolled them.

Nothing special? Huh? What?

Carolina is the best team in our division right now even if they just can’t hit the broad side of the barn at times. They control play better than any team in the East other than maybe Boston. They just can’t finish but no one can score on them lately so they’ve been pretty indestructible.

If you look at the underlying numbers since, say November 1st, Carolina has the best expected GF%. They’re fantastic defensively and get a ton of shots. They’re finishing still isn’t good but their goaltending has gotten much better. If Pacioretty was healthy they would be more dangerous.

I assumed eventually Carolina would overtake us, the losing streak just made it happen faster (unfortunately).

If the Devils never pull out the funk, then yes, we’ll have real problems. I assume they will, it wasn’t going to be against that team though.

I’m not enjoying being frustrated nor do I pretend to tell the future here other than we will eventually score more and win again.

We’re still in the playoff race and it’s December, the losing streak hasn’t ended our season. There’s plenty of season left for non-bottom feeders, we just forgot what competition feels like.

People had cut to discussing playoff rentals, as if we were going to be snug as a bug at the top of the Metro all year. The one prediction I made was an easy one, people weren’t emotionally prepared for a losing streak.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I gotchu!

Nevermind, @Better Call Dano beat me to it (with an epic Shoresy gif)!

@Better Call Dano

Thank you kind folk of HF