MasterofGrond
No, I'm not serious.
too early in the season for emotional hedging
we going to the f***ing natty boys and girls, let's GOOOOOO
we going to the f***ing natty boys and girls, let's GOOOOOO
Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2023-24 season begins!
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ZachaFlockaFlame
Registered User
- Aug 24, 2020
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Kings lost twice in the first round before that window opened for them though.
I agree with all.
Even if Devils were the best team in the league, the margins are ultra small, and it's just a small mental nap and you are out of the picture.
Canes played ridiculously good 2nd round. They deserved the conference final spot, and while they played much worse later in the ECF, they did show us what a 6-man defense can look like.
guitarguyvic
Registered User
- Mar 31, 2010
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The penguins missed the playoffs in 06, lost in the first round on 07, made the final in 08, won the cup on 09.
The hawks missed the playoffs in 08, went to conference finals in 09, and won the cup in 10.
There's no formula. Yes most teams have some playoff disappointment first. I'm not sure if that's indicative of anything, considering only a handful of teams make a deep playoff run every year no matter what stage the team is in.
Emperoreddy
Show Me What You Got!
Winning the cup is hard, we know that.
For me I'll worry about that come April and we see how the team has looked, how healthy it is, and what, if any, changes were made either at the deadline or with call ups
For me I'll worry about that come April and we see how the team has looked, how healthy it is, and what, if any, changes were made either at the deadline or with call ups
Things I'm concerned about:
-Will Toffoli actually be that much of an upgrade over Sharangovich
-Can Meier be effective when not getting as much of the puck
-Does losing Severson hurt our quick transition game too much
-What D are killing penalties if any of Smith, Marino, Seigs, and Bahl are out of the lineup
If we can answer those questions positively, I don't see any reason to not believe we will be in a good position come April
-Will Toffoli actually be that much of an upgrade over Sharangovich
-Can Meier be effective when not getting as much of the puck
-Does losing Severson hurt our quick transition game too much
-What D are killing penalties if any of Smith, Marino, Seigs, and Bahl are out of the lineup
If we can answer those questions positively, I don't see any reason to not believe we will be in a good position come April
Toffoli: Yes
Meier: Yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean effective == 40 goals, it could be 30 goals.
Severson: Not if Hughes picks up the slack
PK: Legitimate concern
Wild card: Will Nemec force his way to a callup?
I'm confident in Toffoli. But I'm worried about Meier. If he isn't effective, I'm confident we could spread the wealth and have him drive his own line.
As for Severson, I'm confident Luke can pick up his slack offensively (zone exits, scoring, etc). The question is if Luke can be nearly as solid defensively.
What’s there to worry about with Meier? A Meier/Hischier/Mercer line is gonna steamroll the league.
IMO, unless you’re lucky enough to be a top team when the rest of the league is relatively weak (Kings and Hawks) the best you can do is be among the top five teams and hope your number comes up one year.
The knights were not even close to the best team in the league last year, but they famously did not have to play against a single division champion.
The knights were not even close to the best team in the league last year, but they famously did not have to play against a single division champion.
glenwo2
JESPER BRATWURST
- Yes.
- Yes.
- Too soon to tell.
- Not applicable because None of them are going to be out of the lineup
- How is this even a question?
- See above
- Probably not, considering Luke is on the 3rd pairing
- Will be interesting to see if they go with Hamilton or Luke when one of those guys (likely Smith) is in the penalty box. You'd think they'd go with the vet in Hamilton, but who knows...Luke's skating could be an asset on the PK. Miller only got 0:25 of PK time per game last season, though he was at 1:06 two seasons ago with Buffalo - still have to think he'd get the nod if any of the four were out injured.
For the record, I don't necessarily expect any of these to be real problems, just putting the potential weaknesses out on paper.
As I've thought about it throughout the offseason I suspect Toffoli's even strength goal output may not end up being that much higher than what Sharangovich gave us, aside from that he will actually play on the powerplay so he'll do numbers there. I do think he's a safer bet to be more consistent with the rest of his play so Haula will end up in the top 6 less often, which will be a win. Just not expecting a career year from him or anything.
The thing with L. Hughes vs. Severson is that Hughes seems like more of his offense is going to come carrying the puck through the neutral zone rather than with the long outlet passes that were Severson's forte. This is by no means Hughes slander, but I do question if he might end up being more effective providing a boost to the lines without a natural entry man like the 3rd line whereas Severson was more effective getting the puck up ice to Bratt and Jack. Hughes might be a bit more redundant there. Again, that does not mean bad, just a thought that I want to see how it works out and which lines he ends up playing behind more often.
Meier could definitely swap with Palat or someone and strengthen that line, but we're also not paying him what we are to be a 3rd liner. I'm not really worried about it, but I do want to see how we utilize him now that it's not a mid-season addition. I like splitting him off from the Hughes-Bratt combo, just not enough puck to go around there.
If literally none of them are injured at any point in the season, we'll need the Devils' medical staff to get to work on curing cancer or something because clearly they can work miracles.
Sdevils42
Registered User
- Nov 30, 2016
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Haha never disliked Aho much until last years series. He and Fox are 1/2 on my player to hate power rankings.
Those are all good thoughts. We will have to see how it plays out. With respect to Meier, he is going to have to tailor his game a bit to look more for passing to Nico/Mercer when he is not in a good scoring position. Conversely Hischier can't just always let the game come to him and just make set up passes for Meier. They are smart guys they can figure it out. I think teams will force Luke to give up the puck rather than let him rampage through the neutral zone. The Devils are going to have to recognize this and have a number of set ups for this eventuality. Luke probably makes one guy miss so if teams overcommit someone should be open. Hopefully they can take advantage of that.
glenwo2
JESPER BRATWURST
So what you're really saying is that you EXPECT them to get injured at some point during the season?
Come on man...
No we are saying if they don't perform we will call my cousin Vito and they'll need to have some press box time................So what you're really saying is that you EXPECT them to get injured at some point during the season?
Come on man...
I think Bratt has been the best Devil in the preseason and I think he has another gear in him. With pressure off him on the contract front he can focus 100% on just playing well and he looks to be ready for the task. I expect him to open the season with a flourish and maybe flirt with 90 points this season. Really happy for him and excited to watch him. He works as hard as any pro at his craft and he has earned all of his success.So what you're really saying is that you EXPECT them to get injured at some point during the season?
Come on man...
Last year, a year in which we were frankly pretty lucky with injuries, we still only had 4 skaters that played all 82 games. So... yes I expect that out of a selection of 4 players on the roster one of them is going to miss some games. Last year, Hamilton was the only regular D that really wasn't a PKer. Now its Hamilton and Hughes, and the two guys currently out of the lineup that we expect to play are Miller and Nemec who are also not really PKers. It's not outlandish to suggest that we don't have a ton of depth for the PK on the back end. I'm not saying it's going to tank the season or anything, just something worth keeping in mind.So what you're really saying is that you EXPECT them to get injured at some point during the season?
Come on man...
Bratt just needs some consistency, or maybe he needs to learn how to pace himself. Remember how hot he started off last year and how he kind of fizzled out by the end. We need him more in the playoffs than we do in the first quarter of the season.
That being said, it seems he's worked on his shot quite a bit. Maybe he saw what it did for Jack last year. Maybe Holtz rubbed off on him. Either way, I'm expecting him to up his point totals because of it.
He looked tremendous in preseason to me and made it look easy. Shooting, skating, passing, stick handling was all on display. I've never seen him at quite that level before. It was just preseason but from an individual play level he was better than any other Devil to me and on a team that features Jack Hughes that's saying something.
glenwo2
JESPER BRATWURST
I think you all are misunderstanding my post.
I was answering this comment by Rhodes :
-What D are killing penalties if any of Smith, Marino, Seigs, and Bahl are out of the lineup?
Nothing about Bratt or the other offensive players.
(though...thinking about it, I don't think I'd want Smith to play every game but I was more focused on the Marino, Siegs and Bahl part)
I was just making a general comment about Bratt not related to any of your prior posts since seeing you post just reminded me how good Bratt looked in the preseason games.
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