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

[NjDevsRR]

Well at least 3 of the 4 teams we have to catch also have tough schedules

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

Sparknotes:

Marek thinks Lindy's getting goalied out of his job, Friedman doesn't know if it's fair to pin it all on him
Marek brings up the loss of Hamilton being an underrated story line (duh), Friedman counters with Meier being hurt and not being of help yet on his new deal
Friedman mentions that the Devils can't totally go backwards from last year
Marek rebuttals saying that development isn't totally linear which many of here have said
Friedman thinks they're a flawed team and not sure if a coaching change even matters
Draws parallel to Edmonton but the above point where Edmonton has very good metrics but NJ is faltering a bit due to everything involved.
Thinks Dougie's cap will be rolled to LTIR then a trade but thinks the Devils have to do it asap
Doesn't think Ruff firing will spark them like Edmonton
Thinks a trade > firing will change NJ's fortunes

I love 32 thoughts and listen to it religiously but it’s obvious in this episode they don’t watch the team. You can’t compare New Jersey to Ottawa personnel wise. And also if you watch the team, you know it’s not just the goalies doing the them in.

Also, they don’t miss Dougie as much as they made it out to be unless someone has numbers to show me otherwise, I don’t think his impact this season was as much as it was last season to be fair, he wasn’t getting enough power-play time this year.

 

[devilsfan950003]

I think the fan-base needs to take a step back. Their 2022-2023 season was a fluke. However, remember the previous season, with 27-46-9 (63 points)? They were a disaster. Again, lets forget last season. Is this season's team improved over their 22-23 season of 63 points? Do we have two rookies and Bahl starting on defense this year? So there's going to be a learning curve. Meier hurt, goaltenders with below .900 save percentages, young D, tells me they are a playoff bubble team. NOT a Stanley Cup contender. Stop this thinking. They are a Wild card playoff team.

Let them learn and fight their way into the playoffs. Dont make any in-season trades that will force them to overpay. Keep their draft capital, trade UFA's at the trade deadline (if they are out of a playoff spot). If they don't make the playoff then they keep their first-round draft pick from the Sharks (who get their second round draft pick). Trade their first-round pick in the off-season for an established goaltender. Luke is gaining experience and now, just recently, Nemec is. Let them learn. The forwards have a lot of young talent, let them develop chemistry. Let Meier heal.

Don't panic. They're frustrating to watch, painful at times. However, they are young and there could be help coming this off-season. Consider this an improved, learning, healing, season. If we keep that in perspective, we won't be disappointed every game they lose.

 

[HoliksGhost]

Schmid just looks whatever, but Vitek looks absolutely cooked mentally, as I keep saying.

Everyone is playing in front of him the way a nervous, new driver would drive with a nagging asshole in the back or passenger seat. I’m using that example from my own experience. I had someone pretty tough on me when I started driving. I was afraid I was going to hit the parked cop car or run over the pedestrians at any moment.

Yet when I wasn’t driving with this person, I relaxed a whole lot and got a ton better. And never hit a pedestrian or a parked car. It was a complete difference.

And that’s how I think the team plays in front of Vitek particularly. Like they’re just waiting for the next accident.

No one trusts him anymore and he doesn’t trust anybody.

And he’s played poorly in what’s now a significant sample of games, whereas Schmid hasn’t played poorly in a significant number of games.

And he looked fine in the playoffs last year, whereas Vitek did not. He had a rough game or two, but Vitek didn’t even have a good game or two in the playoffs. Not one good game.

It’s hard to come back from what happened to Vitek in the playoffs, especially with what happened when he was not in the net. I mean, it’s hard to come back from that with the same team.

And speaking of Vitek and playoffs, I think game 4 of the Carolina series was the first of now three different times where he just bleeds about 3 goals in a 4-5 minute stretch or 3 goals on 4-5 shots in quick succession. It happened in that game 4 and took us out of the game in the 2nd period, and it happened in that Islanders game in the 2nd period where we came back and last night was a new low with three goals in 69 seconds.

We have backup goalkeepers starting

 

[Devs3cups]

I don’t think last season was a fluke. We have a lot of talent. I think we lost key pieces, we’ve dealt with way more injuries and our goalies aren’t getting the job done. We also need a better system.

This is a big learning year. Maturity and adversity. Taking a step back to take a step forward.

 

[njdevils1982]

boredom got me to looking up this tonight, no desire to watch any hockey.

bratt could be top 10 GP by end of contract

jack top 15

much turnover happens though.

(omit 38, 39, 51 and 62, scouties)

 

[Bleedred]

We have backup goalkeepers starting

Vitek is a fine 1a/1b I think, he just won't be that ever again here.

I don't even think he'll be a fine backup here.

He's a few steps away from completely unserviceable here and I'm sure it will continue. He'll have good games sometimes if we play damn near perfect, but we got the best of him last year.

Wouldn't be surprised if he has another season in his NHL career that tops last year, but I would be even more surprised if it happened here.

 

[MasterofGrond]

FREE MISYUL

 

[MadDevil]

I don’t think last season was a fluke. We have a lot of talent. I think we lost key pieces, we’ve dealt with way more injuries and our goalies aren’t getting the job done. We also need a better system.

This is a big learning year. Maturity and adversity. Taking a step back to take a step forward.

I don't think last year was a fluke either, but a lot of things did go right for us to be that good. Nico, Jack, Dougie, Bratt, and Mercer combined missed 5 games all season, and all basically had career best seasons (so far). The likelihood of that happening two years in a row, especially given Nico and Jack tend to get dinged up, probably wasn't all that high. Both Nico and Jack have missed time, and I think in Jack's case he might still be fighting something. And our drink stirrer Haula has missed time and who knows how healthy he is. Dougie is likely gone until the playoffs, Timo might as well be gone for as ineffective as he's been since getting hurt.

The margin for error on defense has shrunk given there is no Graves or Severson to log 20 minutes a night if needed. Bahl looked like he might be ready to take another step last year but it really just hasn't happened. Siegenthaler has been bad, Marino had kind of a tough start but has recovered a bit. But even in his case he's being asked to shoulder a lot with Dougie out and a rookie as the #2 RHD behind him. Nemec has done a solid job so far but he's a rookie, which is going to come with ups and downs. Same thing with Luke, who is probably a bigger risk taker than Nemec.

And the goaltending...yeah we don't need to go over it again. It would be easy to just point at them, or harp over every defensive mistake the team makes, but there are a variety of things that went well last year that just haven't this year. I also wonder if some of this isn't just that we're not surprising anybody anymore. Last year they were the cool kids that played fun hockey and just skated teams out of the building many nights. This year they're learning that this shit ain't easy. Teams come up with ways to counter how they play. Unfortunately I don't think the coach is very good at making adjustments to other teams adjustments. It all seems to be "this isn't working, let's break out the line blender again" or benching somebody for a period. Or at least that's how it feels anyway.

 

[NjDevsRR]

And the goaltending...yeah we don't need to go over it again.

@Bleedred :

 

[Bleedred]

@Bleedred :
View attachment 789065

But I do speak a little Italian, just not much. Only a few select words that I grew up hearing in the house!

FONGOOL!

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

But I do speak a little Italian, just not much. Only a few select words that I grew up hearing in the house!

FONGOOL!

Mushroom walks into a bar.

Bartender says, ”hey, we don’t serve your kind here!”

Mushroom says, “why not? I’m a fungi!”

 

[njdevils1982]

But I do speak a little Italian, just not much. Only a few select words that I grew up hearing in the house!

FONGOOL!

Mushroom walks into a bar.

Bartender says, ”hey, we don’t serve your kind here!”

Mushroom says, “why not? I’m a fungi!”

Faccabrute

 

[glenwo2]

lol idk we got walloped by a team that was just as good as us last night.

But this is why I was saying earlier not being in a playoff spot around thanksgiving was a problem. It's hard to move up spots, especially with us having the hardest schedule which includes the most back to backs, which we suck at this year.

Tom deserves a lot of heat for not addressing goaltending and taking so long at this point to do anything to right the sinking ship that is almost completely submerged in water.

I think Hell froze over.

You actually replied to me.

And if Edmonton was "as good" as us, they wouldn't have scored 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd.

Edmonton is the exception for the "playing down to the competition" department.

As far they go, the Devils are no competition.


Hopefully the Devils have better luck against Detroit.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

But I do speak a little Italian, just not much. Only a few select words that I grew up hearing in the house!

FONGOOL!

I never learned Italian but the curses I know in Spanish are absurd lol

 

[Bleedred]

I never learned Italian but the curses I know in Spanish are absurd lol

My longtime ex-girlfriend’s mom and her side were Spanish (a couple of generations removed from Spain) and her dad and his side were Jewish.

So we had a fun time with me trading some Italian curses and her teaching me all the Spanish and even some Hebrew curses.

I can’t remember many of them though. Those Italian ones stuck with me because I heard them growing up. I’m not sure if my mom and grandmother used to say them instead of the English ones because I wouldn’t know any better or what. I heard plenty of the English ones, so I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the reason.

Even my dad, who is actually not at all Italian would regularly use them.

My grandfather (mom’s dad) was not Italian and didn’t really say them. It was mostly my mom and grandmother (mom’s mom) and it was her mom that was where we got the Italian ancestry from.

And then when I grew up and The Sopranos started coming on, they said a lot of the same Italian swears and a few other phrases I grew up hearing.

 

[NjDevsRR]

My longtime ex-girlfriend’s mom and her side were Spanish (a couple of generations removed from Spain) and her dad and his side were Jewish.

So we had a fun time with me trading some Italian curses and her teaching me all the Spanish and even some Hebrew curses.

I can’t remember many of them though. Those Italian ones stuck with me because I heard them growing up. I’m not sure if my mom and grandmother used to say them instead of the English ones because I wouldn’t know any better or what. I heard plenty of the English ones, so I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the reason.

Even my dad, who is actually not at all Italian would regularly use them.

My grandfather (mom’s dad) was not Italian and didn’t really say them. It was mostly my mom and grandmother (mom’s mom) and it was her mom that was where we got the Italian ancestry from.

And then when I grew up and The Sopranos started coming on, they said a lot of the same Italian swears and a few other phrases I grew up hearing.

 

[njdevils1982]

View attachment 789163

 

[Emperoreddy]

Report the team has been discussing going after Allen.

I say f***ing try it if the price is right and hope Marty can goalie whisper him like he did in St. Louis.

Bottom 2 in team save percentage. We can't stick with this tandem any longer. Vitek is cooked and Schmid badly needs AHL rehab

 

[Nubmer6]

Mushroom walks into a bar.

Bartender says, ”hey, we don’t serve your kind here!”

Mushroom says, “why not? I’m a fungi!”

And... My imaginary ignore list grows.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I don't think last year was a fluke either, but a lot of things did go right for us to be that good. Nico, Jack, Dougie, Bratt, and Mercer combined missed 5 games all season, and all basically had career best seasons (so far). The likelihood of that happening two years in a row, especially given Nico and Jack tend to get dinged up, probably wasn't all that high. Both Nico and Jack have missed time, and I think in Jack's case he might still be fighting something. And our drink stirrer Haula has missed time and who knows how healthy he is. Dougie is likely gone until the playoffs, Timo might as well be gone for as ineffective as he's been since getting hurt.

The margin for error on defense has shrunk given there is no Graves or Severson to log 20 minutes a night if needed. Bahl looked like he might be ready to take another step last year but it really just hasn't happened. Siegenthaler has been bad, Marino had kind of a tough start but has recovered a bit. But even in his case he's being asked to shoulder a lot with Dougie out and a rookie as the #2 RHD behind him. Nemec has done a solid job so far but he's a rookie, which is going to come with ups and downs. Same thing with Luke, who is probably a bigger risk taker than Nemec.

And the goaltending...yeah we don't need to go over it again. It would be easy to just point at them, or harp over every defensive mistake the team makes, but there are a variety of things that went well last year that just haven't this year. I also wonder if some of this isn't just that we're not surprising anybody anymore. Last year they were the cool kids that played fun hockey and just skated teams out of the building many nights. This year they're learning that this shit ain't easy. Teams come up with ways to counter how they play. Unfortunately I don't think the coach is very good at making adjustments to other teams adjustments. It all seems to be "this isn't working, let's break out the line blender again" or benching somebody for a period. Or at least that's how it feels anyway.

I don't think we miss Graves all that much 5 on 5. He wasn't very good last year and was a massive drag in the transition game. The PK misses him, but him not being here alone shouldn't have caused this many PK issues.

We do miss severson so much as we went from having a very good puck moving Dman on our 3rd pair that could spot you 20 minutes on any night...to Brandon Smith who is barely replacement level. That's a big downgrade on top of having to work rookies in. Siegs regressing as bad as he has only makes it worse. It's probably to the point where we need to look at replacing Siegs completely.

The goaltending it goes without saying. This was a league average tandem last year that flirted with being slightly above average. This year it's bottom 3, might be bottom 2 after the Edmonton game. It's really really bad.

Injuries like you said. All the top dudes have missed time, and some are definitely playing with injuries.

Biggest issue to me though is mental stuff. Last year the team not only played with a ton of confidence, it played with great work ethic. We were never getting out worked most nights. We were first on puck battles. Out worked everyone. The only times they weren't doing that were during the major slumps.

That work ethic and confidence is not there this year and that's where you got to start pointing fingers at Ruff.

Xs and Os are important but a coach's main job is being a people manager. Making sure guys aren't slacking or cheating. That they are focused and ready to play. They are they not getting to high or too low.

We are never ready to play at puck drop. We take 1st periods off nearly ever night.

We can't keep an even keel. Either you gets nights like the Ducks game where they start playing way too hot and letting dirty shit get to them and Ruff can't get them to calm down. Or something bad happens and they sulk and Ruff can't get them back up.

They need someone to take Smith out of the lineup permanently and probably need someone to replace Siegs. Goaltending desperately needs to be addressed.

But Ruff might be the biggest issue that needs fixing. He doesn't seem capable of motivating or managing these players anymore.

Xs and Os aside, he had the guys playing as a team last year and playing the right way. He does not have that this year at all

The constant line juggling, which seems to be his only adjustment, only makes the confidence issue bigger as guys aren't able to develop chemistry, which we need in spades to play the way we want to play.

You can't play fast if you don't have chemistry with your line mates. Pucks stop going in the right direction and everyone gets stuck in mud

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

I think the fan-base needs to take a step back. Their 2022-2023 season was a fluke. However, remember the previous season, with 27-46-9 (63 points)? They were a disaster. Again, lets forget last season. Is this season's team improved over their 22-23 season of 63 points? Do we have two rookies and Bahl starting on defense this year? So there's going to be a learning curve. Meier hurt, goaltenders with below .900 save percentages, young D, tells me they are a playoff bubble team. NOT a Stanley Cup contender. Stop this thinking. They are a Wild card playoff team.

Let them learn and fight their way into the playoffs. Dont make any in-season trades that will force them to overpay. Keep their draft capital, trade UFA's at the trade deadline (if they are out of a playoff spot). If they don't make the playoff then they keep their first-round draft pick from the Sharks (who get their second round draft pick). Trade their first-round pick in the off-season for an established goaltender. Luke is gaining experience and now, just recently, Nemec is. Let them learn. The forwards have a lot of young talent, let them develop chemistry. Let Meier heal.

Don't panic. They're frustrating to watch, painful at times. However, they are young and there could be help coming this off-season. Consider this an improved, learning, healing, season. If we keep that in perspective, we won't be disappointed every game they lose.

Games are flukes, not seasons. This team is brewing with talent but lack cohesiveness. A couple of questionable trades but should be sitting in a playoff position, if not top of the conference. The chemistry, confidence, and system needs change immediately. The GM held on to Ruff way too long.

Fans are starting second guess the players. I know this won't be a popular comment but even the goalies can improve with a stronger defensive first system which will restore confidence.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

And... My imaginary ignore list grows.

Who dis?

 

[Billdo]

Games are flukes, not seasons. This team is brewing with talent but lack cohesiveness. A couple of questionable trades but should be sitting in a playoff position, if not top of the conference. The chemistry, confidence, and system needs change immediately. The GM held on to Ruff way too long.

Fans are starting second guess the players. I know this won't be a popular comment but even the goalies can improve with a stronger defensive first system which will restore confidence.

Honestly their most impressive games were where you can quite literally see the defense tighten up.

 

[jkrdevil]

Part of me is paranoid that this isn't Lindy's system but more the analytics people saying this is the best system for creating chances, and that we'll see the same shit with the next coach. It's probably about time we found out once and for all though since the analytics people weren't really running things under Shero (hence him not being around now).

I don’t think this is a massive system failure. Tweak defensive zone to always have a defensemen in front of the net. Offensively the forwards need to be on the puck quicker on an o-zone turnover. Too many of our offensive zone possessions are one and done. Finally cut down on the number of stretch pass attempts, especially early in games. The long passes are missing leading to icing or dump in and easy opposition clears. Also forwards need not fly the d-zone as much, especially those without foot speed to get back on a turnover (I’m looking at Taffoli).