Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2023-24 season begins!

[Better Call Sal]

Timo will be fine.

 

[Guttersniped]

He's getting paid 8.8m he should produce imo. If he doesn't put up offense and is just a banger that's a worrysome development.

Meier is streaky even in his best seasons so people have to get used to that.

 

[tailfins]

I mean he played the majority of his time in SJ with Hertl. It's not like he can't play with other good players and it's also not like Nico needs to be puck dominant to play his game like Jack does. Timo should work with Nico. They also had a 68% xG last year together. Last year in the regular season with us his goal scoring was about in line with his SJ numbers but he was not getting any luck with assists. 0 2nd assists at 5v5 and a brutally low IPP of 39% after being double that his last 2 years in SJ.

I think we'll see the real Timo next season.

I know he had some time to adjust last season, but I think it takes some people longer to fit in. Particularly into an established culture. And, even though the Devils have a young team, I think there is a pretty clear culture and leadership structure. Figuring out when and where to asset yourself / how not to step on toes can be challenging.

Edit: my real point is that he's here for 8 years, so let's give him time to settle in. Whether that's this year or sometime in the future, who knows?

 

[ninetyeight]

Yeah I'm also not concerned about Timo, and we don't even need him to be a 40 goal scorer superstar, we just need him to do good things and keep winning. I was just stating that though he's been good, we still haven't seen the SJ Timo who was just incredible. Taking over games by himself, 5 goal nights etc. I don't know if it's a system thing, adjustment period or what, but doesn't matter as long as we keep winning and he's a positive factor for us.

 

[Classic Devil]

Yeah I'm also not concerned about Timo, and we don't even need him to be a 40 goal scorer superstar, we just need him to do good things and keep winning. I was just stating that though he's been good, we still haven't seen the SJ Timo who was just incredible. Taking over games by himself, 5 goal nights etc. I don't know if it's a system thing, adjustment period or what, but doesn't matter as long as we keep winning and he's a positive factor for us.

I mean I agree, but we're also paying him $8.8M. We need him to be a gamebreaker.

 

[MB3]

I mean I agree, but we're also paying him $8.8M. We need him to be a gamebreaker.

We're paying him $8.8m. We need him to be Timo Meier; which he is and will continue to be.

It's a great contract for a great player. Relax.

 

[RNCDevil]

Timo made some nice passes last night and could’ve had at least 2 assists, I remember thinking that to myself a few times last night but the 2 plays that come to mind were his pass to Mercer for the breakaway and a nice saucer to Nico in front of the net.

But it’s only 1 game and that line as a whole had a little bit of an off night. I doubt it’ll be like that for very long.

He also had that kicked in goal, which I give him credit for being there and doing the thing you need to do (kick puck to stick). It was a hair off.

 

[Hisch13r]

We're paying him $8.8m. We need him to be Timo Meier; which he is and will continue to be.

It's a great contract for a great player. Relax.

We paid him 8.8 because be paced for 40ish goals and 75+ pts the last 2 years. I think the production likely comes but it does need to come.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

The second and third lines didn’t spend any time together in preseason, right? I think that’s a big whiff from the coaching staff. You really needed two weeks to figure out Hischier is the shutdown center and you’d trust Mercer more than Holtz there?

The Holtz “demotion” makes perfect sense, but the timing of it was moronic and impacted the chemistry IMO.

 

[Hisch13r]

The second and third lines didn’t spend any time together in preseason, right? I think that’s a big whiff from the coaching staff. You really needed two weeks to figure out Hischier is the shutdown center and you’d trust Mercer more than Holtz there?

The Holtz “demotion” makes perfect sense, but the timing of it was moronic and impacted the chemistry IMO.

It’s really not a big deal. Haula and Palat have spent plenty of time together. Meier and Nico spent all preseason together. Nico and Mercer spent loads of time together last year. It’s not like we randomly threw together 6 guys

 

[My3Sons]

Like I noted yesterday, early season games are tricky because the bad teams don't know they are bad yet. In retrospect does it make any sense the NY Jets beat the Bills in the opening week? NJ won a game they would have lost last season and would have been destroyed in for several years before that. Winning on an off night is a big improvement and suggests to me this is a good team. Jack has really come into his own as a top of the league player and as long as you get an honest effort from the other lines they will score enough goals to win. Hibachi Man had what was a very important game given that I'm sure his playoff struggles wore on him all summer. His bounce back makes a big difference and should give confidence to the team. Hopefully Akira can improve on his performance from last season.

 

[Guttersniped]

My biggest takeaway was that Vitek looked good. Others flashed and Jacky delivered. I was pleasantly surprised with Noseks game. He was like Bizarro Wood (who scored an EN BTW).

The average margin of victory in the NHL is 2.02 goals and the average goals per game is 3.23. Games are universally going to be closer than the pre season Devils hype would suggest. So, I am thrilled with wins and Vitek looking solid.

Last year's Bruins were such an anomaly.

Bratt-Hughes-Toffoli had a SH% of 50% in the preseason 5v5, with 5 goals on 10 shots and 20 shot attempts in their 3 GP.

People were going overboard about guys being lucky in the preseason. Bratt had 1 point, an assist, in preseason last year and then had 30 points (10G 20A) in his first 28 GP played. Preseason is a warm-up, the production doesn’t matter.

The PP1 was jumping, Luke has already transformed it and he just got handed his NHL lightsaber. We need an elite PP and we have some of the elements coming together for that this year.

And Hamilton scores goals 5v5, that’s his super power. Good to see him pot one right away off of wrist surgery.

 

[Devs3cups]

Watch Timo score a hat trick tonight lmfao

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

It’s really not a big deal. Haula and Palat have spent plenty of time together. Meier and Nico spent all preseason together. Nico and Mercer spent loads of time together last year. It’s not like we randomly threw together 6 guys

i don’t think it’s a big deal, but i think it’s potentially a small deal that would have been REALLY easy to avoid.

 

[Bcap88]

Timo could have easily had two assist last night with some slick passing to mercer

Worrying way to much over 17 minutes of game play

 

[Guttersniped]

It’s really not a big deal. Haula and Palat have spent plenty of time together. Meier and Nico spent all preseason together. Nico and Mercer spent loads of time together last year. It’s not like we randomly threw together 6 guys

I wasn’t commenting last night but I just want to say when Sprong rang the puck off the post or scored I thought of you.

Hish13r when he watched Sprong on Detroit:

 

[Bcap88]

I also found it super interesting that they trusted holtz with a couple of the zone entries on the power play

Weather that was by design or accident is tbd

 

[Hisch13r]

I also found it super interesting that they trusted holtz with a couple of the zone entries on the power play

Weather that was by design or accident is tbd

Yeah I noticed that too. It seemed to happen more times than I’d expect for it to just be a coincidence. Tonight will shed more light on it

 

[Devils731]

I also found it super interesting that they trusted holtz with a couple of the zone entries on the power play

Weather that was by design or accident is tbd

In the preseason he carried the puck as well. He appears to be the guy who will take the first touch on the breakout so they trust him to distribute it properly, apparently.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I also found it super interesting that they trusted holtz with a couple of the zone entries on the power play

Weather that was by design or accident is tbd

He seems like he'd be the best bet for that unit to be the guy. I'm sure Nico and Timo have the ability, but Holtz probably has better natural puck carrying skills to get into the zone efficiently.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I like having 3 righties on that unit between Dougie, Mercer and Holtz but I need to let things gel a bit. I might consider a Palat and Mercer swap if they don't seem to mesh after a handful of games.

 

[Hisch13r]

He seems like he'd be the best bet for that unit to be the guy. I'm sure Nico and Timo have the ability, but Holtz probably has better natural puck carrying skills to get into the zone efficiently.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I like having 3 righties on that unit between Dougie, Mercer and Holtz but I need to let things gel a bit. I might consider a Palat and Mercer swap if they don't seem to mesh after a handful of games.

Mercer, Meier, and Hischier are all better puck carriers than Holtz. The 3 of them get underrated in transition because we’re spoiled with Jack and Bratt but Nico and Timo are pretty high up there for entries. Mercer’s a little lower (still good) but I think that’s more due to other guys carrying the load than his ability

 

[Saugus]

I also found it super interesting that they trusted holtz with a couple of the zone entries on the power play

Weather that was by design or accident is tbd

I think they trust him with it, but he might not always be the first choice. Sometimes the choice is forced by who the penalty kill unit is overloading toward.

So if the Detroit PKers were cheating toward denying Hischier clean entries, dropping it to Holtz to bring it in might have been the right read in that situation.

 

[GeNeXt]

I thought Timo's wheels looked better last night than after we acquired him. I don't think he was in great shape post-acquistion, but judging by his offseason videos it looks like he came really prepared this season.

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I don't think Timo was that bad last night, I get the production thing but he had the sick pass to Mercer to set up that breakaway that Husso stoned. He'll get it going, I have next to no doubts about him and what people are saying about his streakiness is very true. Pretty sure he started like the first 2 weeks of last year with no goals and then had like 10G's in 15 games or whatever it was.