Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2023-24 season part III

[NJDevs26]

I think the underlying reason he's not making his presence known in Podcasts and other pressers is because of the whole McLeod fiasco and probably doesn't want to be answering any questions regarding that.

That's the one dark cloud hanging over the team this season we are forgetting right now.

Fitz had yet to comment Publically on that and he probably doesn't want the cameras/spotlight on him so he's basically hiding in his office under his desk waiting for the offseason so this can all blow over.

That doesn’t explain why Fitz was in the bunker the FIRST fifty games of the year when all this other nonsense was still happening with zippo accountability

 

[bossram]

Blaming Bratt and timo contracts is certainly a choice.

Graves has looked like ass in Pittsburgh and golden boy severson has been healthy scratched a few times on a dog shit Columbus team.
neither of them were taking a discount or a shorter than 5 year deal at what point you let Nemec and Luke rot away until they are 24 years old

Let’s not sign the 40 goal scorer and 80 point winger for Ryan graves and Damon severson who both got dog walked all series against Carolina

Yep. Fitz got the major roster decisions right. Graves and Severson have been horrible, and their contracts are absolute disasters.

The problems are, of course: Goaltending, Lindy Ruff, injuries.

Hard to for Fitz to have gotten around the degree of injuries they went through. Dougie out the whole season is just a massive blow.

Lindy sucks, should have been fired. I blame Fitz there.

As for goaltending, I thought Schmid would at least be able to handle a tandem role after a very nice season last year. Fitz probably should have tried to swap out Vitek for an upgrade though. Lindy and the goalie coach just have some way of simultaneously grinding a goalie down with too many condensed starts and then destroying his confidence. It happens with every guy.

 

[FinnishDevil]

Theres very little that I would deem untouchable in a trade for Saros. Nico, Bratt, Jack, Luke, Nemec. Thats about it.

I know he's having a down year but holy hell would it be nice to have a goalie with proven track record of being consistently good. He will bounce back whether its here or Nashville or Carolina.

If they'd ask for Holtz, Mercer, Casey, 1st etc I'd throw out any of them as a starting point and build from there. You'd have to be confident you can sign him July 1st though.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

Who is TT? Tristian Thompson? He’s not on the team anymore.

Toffoli

 

[Devs3cups]

We are still in very good long-term position whether we make the playoffs or not. The only way to jeopardize that is to start removing pieces now.

Meier and Marino will bounce back next year. It's really, really rare for players to just suddenly fall off a cliff in their mid-20s. Unless Meier's injury is more severe that they're letting on and he has permanent damage (in which case, forcing him to play through it now would be an egregious offense that the NHLPA would investigate, so I find that unlikely).

Siegenthaler I'm a little worried about, he hasn't looked good for over a year now. I hope having some extended time off helped him reset mentally. Otherwise that left side is an absolute shitshow. He really needs to step up his game, if he doesn't then we're going to need to bring in another defenseman to slot Siege down further in the lineup.

Luke will be back stronger next year, I have to think it's a conditioning thing. Going from college hockey where you only play on weekends to a full-time 82 game schedule is a huge jump. It's pretty common for rookies coming out of college to hit a wall in January and struggle across the finish line. People keep forgetting how young he is, he won't turn 21 until September.

Mercer, I don't know what the hell is going on with him. He needs to get his head out of his ass. His level of play is just totally unacceptable, especially for a guy in a contract year. I would bridge him for 3 years in the $4-5M range and tell him that if he wants a big boy contract he has to go out and earn it from scratch. Ruff is doing him no favors, but he shouldn't need to be coddled at this point. I get that 22 is still young, but he's played 219 NHL games at this point, he's not a baby anymore. I'm starting to worry he may end up being less like Bratt and more like Zacha.

Toffoli, I'd offer him a 2 year deal, take it or leave it. I think he can be a useful player, but giving him a long-term deal is just absolutely not something you can do to an inconsistent guy on the wrong side of 30. If he will agree to 2 years @ 5-5.5M then he can come back, otherwise I'm not shackling myself to him. If someone wants to give him a 4-5 year deal, go ahead and be my guest.

Jack needs to grow up. I'm sick of watching him pout like a baby. He comes off like a petulant baby. Still a phenomenal player, but when your top guy is throwing tantrums to the refs it's easy for people not to take your team seriously. He's definitely playing different after his injury, don't know if it's physical or mental, but either way the rest of the locker room looks to him for leadership. He needs to mature and show some responsibility.

I'm fed up with Bahl. No urgency to his game, no growth, no development. Just the same stupid mistakes over and over again, he doesn't learn. He's a 6/7 guy, that's it. Trade him now before the rest of the league catches on.

After going back and re-watching the stadium game, it's hard not to see parallels between Holtz and Owen Tippett. High 1st rounder, known for his shot, came around pretty slowly in his early years. Florida traded him and now he's blossoming with another team. I don't think he's some mega star in the making, but I do think we would regret trading him for a short-term addition. Eeli Tolvanen is another example of a young player with a great shot who struggled early, his team gave up on him, and now he's doing much better on a different team.

Brendan Smith should submit an application to Burger King, I heard they have an opening for assistant manager. I think his veteran leadership would be a valuable addition to their break room.

Agree with a lot in there. I’m not as hard on Jack, but he’s definitely frustrated. He’s still only 22 though. He’ll learn.

 

[Blackjack]

Lmfao, what type of crack do you need to take to want to trade probably the most talented player the org has ever had ?? JFC

I agree that he’s probably the most talented player that the organization has ever had.

He’s also soft, injury prone, and a terrible leader. He whines and quits on plays when he doesn’t get a call, and he throws shade at goalies while he’s not scoring or doing anything himself.

 

[JimEIV]

I'm also not happy that we seem to be using injuries as excuse.

There is no doubt injuries had a significant impact but the fact of the matter is if everyone stayed 100% healthy Bahl and Smith were always going to have to be top 4 PKers...and Bahl was always going to have to do some heavy lifting that he simply wasn't ready for.


Those things have nothing to do with injuries...we decided to go into the season that way

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Maybe we can use the guy we claimed?

 

[bossram]

I agree that he’s probably the most talented player that the organization has ever had.

He’s also soft, injury prone, and a terrible leader. He whines and quits on plays when he doesn’t get a call, and he throws shade at goalies while he’s not scoring or doing anything himself.

Shades of a young Nathan Mackinnon (and still does some of this stuff today).

I'll take that.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

My complaint is knowingly going into this season with 3 Dmen with a total of 68 games of NHL experience that would have to shoulder a heavy burden at some point.

It was unjustifiably stupid.

It strikes me as a calculated risk, and one that makes a ton of sense given the CBA. Young players have the potential to outplay their contracts massively given they are on ELCs / RFA contracts. Doesn't seem to be a critical error in retrospect given how well Luke Hughes and Nemec have played this year. Bahl on the other hand has been bad and maybe should not be in the lineup regularly next year. Perhaps they find someone to get in his way.

I do wonder like you do if maybe the best iteration of this team didn't trade for Meier and that money went to the defense instead. Especially given how bad Siegenthaler has looked. I actually do believe the Hanifin smoke/rumors and think the team was trying to turn Siegenthaler + into an extended Hanifin + Markstrom. If that happened though the defense would be even more top heavy and the bottom pair/depth would have to be even weaker / less experienced (cheaper).

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I agree that he’s probably the most talented player that the organization has ever had.

He’s also soft, injury prone, and a terrible leader. He whines and quits on plays when he doesn’t get a call, and he throws shade at goalies while he’s not scoring or doing anything himself.

It’s time to take a break

 

[vtdevils2k]

It’s time to take a break

It is getting ABSURD in here today, my GOD...

PLEASE win Thursday for the sake of everyone, Devils.

 

[McDuffz88]

I agree that he’s probably the most talented player that the organization has ever had.

He’s also soft, injury prone, and a terrible leader. He whines and quits on plays when he doesn’t get a call, and he throws shade at goalies while he’s not scoring or doing anything himself.

While Jack is those things I believe a lot of it stems from Ruff coddling Jack. Let's be real here. Jack loves Ruff because Ruff gives Jack a free pass to do whatever he pleases. Imagine we had a coach like Torts? Jack wouldn't be able to get away with half the things he does. I think all Jack needs is a coach who can make him more responsible. With that and bulking up during the offseason I think there's a whole level up we can see out of Jack. Imagine a Hughes that plays smart, and is 15 pounds heavier. That would be a monster.

 

[BostonDevil]

Shades of a young Nathan Mackinnon (and still does some of this stuff today).

I'll take that.

A bit of Crosby too.

Jack is so far down the list of problems with this team that it's barely worth mentioning.

I pray for the day when our point per game superstar is the reason the team is failing.

 

[JimEIV]

It strikes me as a calculated risk,

Yup. They gambled and lost. I think it was an inevitable loss...

The Bahl gamble to replace Graves was stupid and destined to fail. That's not the only problem... injuries cascaded the problem and exposed the inexperience.

 

[Nocashstyle]

Jack complained at a ref during one single play, three games ago, and it’s suddenly his MO as a player lol.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

This is the equivalent of blaming a child's bad habits over bad parenting. Jack is 22 for f***'s sake, he's still able to influenced heavily by better role models. Lindy's more at fault for Jack's behavior than Jack imo, he's never benched Jack or given him a tongue lashing which he's done with Bratt/Holtz/Luke, etc. f***, he's even benched Timo. Let's be serious

 

[Evgeny Oliker]

Just saw that Schmid was sent down and Poulter called up. Why?

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Jack complained at a ref during one single play, three games ago, and it’s suddenly his MO as a player lol.

I'm more pissed at his game which I still think is hampered from his injury than his random outbursts.

 

[Triumph]

Yup. They gambled and lost. I think it was an inevitable loss...

The Bahl gamble to replace Graves was stupid and destined to fail. That's not the only problem... injuries cascaded the problem and exposed the inexperience.

Bahl didn't replace Graves. I don't know where you are getting this idea except to make this silly argument.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Just saw that Schmid was sent down and Poulter called up. Why?

Re-arranging chairs on the Titanic at this point

Yep. Fitz got the major roster decisions right. Graves and Severson have been horrible, and their contracts are absolute disasters.

The problems are, of course: Goaltending, Lindy Ruff, injuries.

Hard to for Fitz to have gotten around the degree of injuries they went through. Dougie out the whole season is just a massive blow.

Lindy sucks, should have been fired. I blame Fitz there.

As for goaltending, I thought Schmid would at least be able to handle a tandem role after a very nice season last year. Fitz probably should have tried to swap out Vitek for an upgrade though. Lindy and the goalie coach just have some way of simultaneously grinding a goalie down with too many condensed starts and then destroying his confidence. It happens with every guy.

He'll fix the goaltending this summer, he can't do anything for the injuries like you said, but there's definitely something he can do about the old Ruffster

 

[forceten]

Jack has 17 points in his last 21 games. Horrific production.

No, but at last year's pace he would have 26 points in his last 21.

 

[JimEIV]

Bahl didn't replace Graves. I don't know where you are getting this idea except to make this silly argument.

He(Fitz) literally said that was the plan multiple times during the summer. I scoffed the moment it was said each time.

Once during e conference call I watched on YouTube.

 

[Blackjack]

It’s time to take a break

Don’t let me stop you

Jack complained at a ref during one single play, three games ago, and it’s suddenly his MO as a player lol.

You mean the play where he slammed his stick into the glass, broke it over the dasher, and then threw it onto the ice (which should have been a penalty)?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Blame goes directly to Timo Meier... injured or not.



Short synopsis:

This past summer the decision was to forgo Defense to sign Bratt and Timo to big contracts.. the defense suffered and Timo didn't deliver.



There are the cliff notes.

why do you keep saying this?

Luke and Nemec have been better than Graves and Severson. Period.

are you suggesting they should have let Bratt and Meier walk to sign those 2 scrubs, or?