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

[Billdo]

Isn’t most of the criticism of any player just short term stuff? I don’t recall anyone saying Haula sucked or was trash or wasn’t an NHL player.

Ppl def said that last part about our lord and savior Damon Severson.

 

[My3Sons]

Ppl def said that last part about our lord and savior Damon Severson.

People have been alternatively been setting fire to Damon Severson while others canonize him at the same time. That was always part of the Damon Severson experience.

 

[MasterofGrond]

People have been alternatively been setting fire to Damon Severson while others canonize him at the same time. That was always part of the Damon Severson experience.

the dichotomy of severson on the ice mirrored by severson discussions off it

what i will say though, as a canonizer, is I was so f***ing right we could really use him, jesus christ

(we made the right decision to send him off, but it's hurting us for sure)

 

[My3Sons]

the dichotomy of severson on the ice mirrored by severson discussions off it

what i will say though, as a canonizer, is I was so f***ing right we could really use him, jesus christ

(we made the right decision to send him off, but it's hurting us for sure)

I miss Sevs. I'm not sure he'd be a great partner for Hughes but he'd be better than Smith has done so far. Ultimately the cap is designed to force teams to move on from players at some point.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I hope Tierney gets a game at Dman, if only cause I'm personally curious how he'd look.

 

[Oneiro]

Nothing that's happening is all too surprising, really.

I'm a bit surprised by some of the exact numbers of how bad we've been, but I'll defer to Jack and see how the next series of 10 games go. I like that framework for looking at the team.

 

[MasterofGrond]

I miss Sevs. I'm not sure he'd be a great partner for Hughes but he'd be better than Smith has done so far. Ultimately the cap is designed to force teams to move on from players at some point.

He probably wouldn't. But if we had Sevs I'm certain we'd be running Luke-Marino and Bahl-Sevs.

 

[NjDevsRR]

HE BE STIRRING

 

[JK3]

Smith stinks but it’s not the third pairing that’s hurting us back there (for the most part).

 

[MasterofGrond]

Smith stinks but it’s not the third pairing that’s hurting us back there (for the most part).

Honestly, it kinda is. The Dougie pairing hasn't been as good as they were last year, but they're still a net positive. The Marino matchup pairing is treading water, but Graves-Marino kinda was last year as well.

Meanwhile instead of elite 3rd pairing Sevs minutes, Smith is getting absolutely caved in. Which means he plays less 5on5, which is good, but because he plays less 5on5, the top two pairings see more minutes, which is probably part of the reason they're not doing as well as last year.

When you gotta hide shitty Smith, you're working everybody else harder, and as much as I love Dougie, Siegs, and Marino, they're not elite guys you can just ride til the end. Luke I think will be some day, but not soon enough.

 

[Devs3cups]

Honestly, it kinda is. The Dougie pairing hasn't been as good as they were last year, but they're still a net positive. The Marino matchup pairing is treading water, but Graves-Marino kinda was last year as well.

Meanwhile instead of elite 3rd pairing Sevs minutes, Smith is getting absolutely caved in. Which means he plays less 5on5, which is good, but because he plays less 5on5, the top two pairings see more minutes, which is probably part of the reason they're not doing as well as last year.

When you gotta hide shitty Smith, you're working everybody else harder, and as much as I love Dougie, Siegs, and Marino, they're not elite guys you can just ride til the end. Luke I think will be some day, but not soon enough.

Soon…

 

[Mgd31]

Smith half assing his Halloween costume just like his play on Maroon last game

 

[Rhodes 81]

Severson always got roasted for turnovers, but those were simply a byproduct of him doing what makes him special, like how the best forwards lead the league in turnovers because they have the puck so much. Of course he's bound to have the bad pass to the opponent when he's trying to make so many tape to tape outlet passes from the D zone. We definitely have missed those, particularly with lines like the 3rd that don't have a natural puck carrier/zone entry guy. I think this is an underrated part of why that line has struggled so much.

I was on board the train to leave Nemec cooking for a while, but if Miller is going to be out long term I think you've got to bring him up if he gets into any sort of a groove. If the PK is going to suck anyway Smith isn't serving a purpose on this team. We need more natural puck movement from the back end to help reassert the 5v5 dominance.

 

[Cheddabombs]

The answer is obvious, trade for Severson at 50% retained. Let it be done, Fitz

 

[Billdo]

People have been alternatively been setting fire to Damon Severson while others canonize him at the same time. That was always part of the Damon Severson experience.

I enjoyed the Severson experience but I also love Zacha so what do I know...

 

[My3Sons]

I enjoyed the Severson experience but I also love Zacha so what do I know...

Had Zacha been a second round pick or a late first rounder, and been drafted a bit later inhe rebuild process he'd have been fine. He was unfairly asked to do too much and really could not have been successful even with what he did last season in Boston.

 

[RTC31]

Great start to the season. Devils are one of the teams I follow. Question for the fantasy people out there since you guys are closer to the team- Why has Dougie Hamilton been removed from PP1 .... i mean he has a $9M cap hit, had an incredible year last year and was a Norris candidate...surely this takes him right out of that as his production will crater. Wondering if the coaching staff is sowing seeds of dissent. Players are very proud people/Hamilton hasn't won a Norris yet so not exactly sure what they are playing at by taking his chance away.

 

[Classic Devil]

Great start to the season. Devils are one of the teams I follow. Question for the fantasy people out there since you guys are closer to the team- Why has Dougie Hamilton been removed from PP1 .... i mean he has a $9M cap hit, had an incredible year last year and was a Norris candidate...surely this takes him right out of that as his production will crater. Wondering if the coaching staff is sowing seeds of dissent. Players are very proud people/Hamilton hasn't won a Norris yet so not exactly sure what they are playing at by taking his chance away.

Because Luke Hughes.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Great start to the season. Devils are one of the teams I follow. Question for the fantasy people out there since you guys are closer to the team- Why has Dougie Hamilton been removed from PP1 .... i mean he has a $9M cap hit, had an incredible year last year and was a Norris candidate...surely this takes him right out of that as his production will crater. Wondering if the coaching staff is sowing seeds of dissent. Players are very proud people/Hamilton hasn't won a Norris yet so not exactly sure what they are playing at by taking his chance away.

Luke Hughes fits better on PP1 at the moment. I still expect plenty of goals from Dougie this year.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Great start to the season. Devils are one of the teams I follow. Question for the fantasy people out there since you guys are closer to the team- Why has Dougie Hamilton been removed from PP1 .... i mean he has a $9M cap hit, had an incredible year last year and was a Norris candidate...surely this takes him right out of that as his production will crater. Wondering if the coaching staff is sowing seeds of dissent. Players are very proud people/Hamilton hasn't won a Norris yet so not exactly sure what they are playing at by taking his chance away.

Because Luke as the QB on his unit is working really really well. Ruff also thinks both units are PP1 (PP1A and PP1B). Issue for Dougie is a bunch of guys on his unit are cold right now

 

[Rhodes 81]

Great start to the season. Devils are one of the teams I follow. Question for the fantasy people out there since you guys are closer to the team- Why has Dougie Hamilton been removed from PP1 .... i mean he has a $9M cap hit, had an incredible year last year and was a Norris candidate...surely this takes him right out of that as his production will crater. Wondering if the coaching staff is sowing seeds of dissent. Players are very proud people/Hamilton hasn't won a Norris yet so not exactly sure what they are playing at by taking his chance away.

Because Luke Hughes is very good and the powerplay is operating at 42%. Can't really argue with results regardless of how much Dougie is getting paid. He still has 3 goals and 6 points already.

 

[Camille the Eel]

What a weird schedule coming up. Three days off and then 3 games in 4 nights including travel on the road? Minny to St. Louis over night and then Chicago after one day off. It’s really a tall order and a stress test for a club who has only really travelled to Montreal and back once this season.

 

[Guttersniped]

the dichotomy of severson on the ice mirrored by severson discussions off it

what i will say though, as a canonizer, is I was so f***ing right we could really use him, jesus christ

(we made the right decision to send him off, but it's hurting us for sure)

Could we use him? Sure? He signed a 8 year/6.25m deal, he wasn’t even sort of an option because of that.

Severson staying here on a short term deal would have made zero sense for Severson. There was no possible way for him to stay.

We had to assume there would be some suffering involved with losing Severson and Graves.

Marino and Graves were a fantastic PK pair. Marino and Siegenthaler, not so much. 6 of 8 the PP GA have been scored against Marino/Siegenthaler.

 

[theoptimist]

Quite literally everyone knows Smith is an interim plan. Luke's is already better on his own (even with 9 regular season games played) a 36% xG with Smith and a 74% without him He was never even supposed to be the 6D. He was supposed to be the 7D. It was supposed to be Miller as the 6D. Then he had a tragic preseason and got hurt when the season started. The point here is that Smith might not even be a viable 7D anymore and his time as an NHL caliber player might be over.

I won't turn down a promotion either

 

[Triumph]

Not sure how I got through 3 pages of Smith is horrible (which he is, 5v5, so far) without anyone noting that he plays a lot on the penalty kill and he's actually been pretty good there, and also everyone else on there has been awful so far. Obviously with the extended PK shifts and the fact that he's on the 2nd unit have helped, but his numbers there are excellent. It's going to be very hard to scratch him as a result.

I'd like to see him on an L-R pair before declaring him finished at the NHL level. He's not at Salvador 2014-15 level out there yet IMO.