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

[forceten]

We got worse before the break while the Canes had arguably risen to the top of the East. They’re playing ridiculously well now, definitely a top contender after a bit of a rocky start (comparatively, for them).

We’re a bubble team, every year that happens to some teams. GMs typically don’t get teams out of the bubble through trades. More coaches get fired than big trades.

Before anyone says it, Ruff wasn’t going to get fired when a bunch of guys were injured.

Agreed on all counts. Where we really needed to tread water positively we went 4-6 or whatever. Had we won one more before break and held on to beat Calgary we are all having a different conversation because we’d be one point out with several games in hand, and a 92% healthy (but all players in) forward roster. Siegenthaler is close to returning, Smith is back, and only long term person out is Hamilton (albeit a huge loss).

Two games - and pick two anywhere - San Jose, Anaheim, whatever. That’s the difference between being in a good spot as we get healthy and approach the stretch and being 5 points out.

We need to win tonight … but we haven’t done that much here in Raleigh

 

[NjDevsRR]

Agreed on all counts. Where we really needed to tread water positively we went 4-6 or whatever. Had we won one more before break and held on to beat Calgary we are all having a different conversation because we’d be one point out with several games in hand, and a 92% healthy (but all players in) forward roster. Siegenthaler is close to returning, Smith is back, and only long term person out is Hamilton (albeit a huge loss).

Two games - and pick two anywhere - San Jose, Anaheim, whatever. That’s the difference between being in a good spot as we get healthy and approach the stretch and being 5 points out.

We need to win tonight … but we haven’t done that much here in Raleigh

You going to the game?

Edit: Just read that you are. Enjoy!

 

[forceten]

You going to the game?

Edit: Just read that you are. Enjoy!

Yep! I try to make all of them here. If I’m around, I go. I do see canes games too, but almost always make the devils ones!

My son is also a devils fan. He is so irritated by canes fans

 

[NjDevsRR]

Yep! I try to make all of them here. If I’m around, I go. I do see canes games too, but almost always make the devils ones!

My son is also a devils fan. He is so irritated by canes fans

Lots of pain you have been through lmao

 

[glenwo2]

That God awful 2nd goal should have been a total back breaker, but the team battled back, and then he did what he has done all year and give up another back breaker

I swear he deserves a punch in the face for that.

It's like "Okay you a-hole, you gave up a back breaker but we'll fight back just because."

Then he gives up another backbreaker and my overall feeling is :

 

[glenwo2]

Anyone willing to give the "better brother" here a chance?

Jeremy Brodeur

echl.com

I wouldn't mind giving him a "cup of coffee" here to see what he's got.

I mean we don't have a real Goaltender anyway so he can't do any worse. lol

 

[Bleedred]

have to performed this exercise with other teams? just wondering what the leagues record is?

I’m sure nobody has a good record when scoring one or even two, but I’d have to think most teams have more than one win after 50-ish games when scoring two goals.

And I’m sure the record when scoring 3 goals is pretty good for a few select teams in the league. I’d bet in the prime Schneider Devils era we had a pretty good record when scoring 3 goals. Because it wasn’t often that we did.

I can tell you our one win when scoring 2 or fewer goals right off my head. It was the Seattle game where Schmid played back in December.

Unless I’m mistaken and we scored an empty netter than I can’t remember in that game?

That game was the game after Vitek’s 6-5 win over Vancouver. One of his two (maybe there’s even more?) wins while allowing 5 goals. The other being against Vegas a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Bleedred]

Anyone willing to give the "better brother" here a chance?

Jeremy Brodeur

echl.com

I wouldn't mind giving him a "cup of coffee" here to see what he's got.

I mean we don't have a real Goaltender anyway so he can't do any worse. lol

He looks like Happy Gilmore’s caddy.

Or even a caveman lol.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

The team has lost to some terrible teams while healthy and just lost to a team that sold last week and most likely will till the trade deadline, they're bad. Argue with a wall

the Devils are 6th in the NHL in xG% and 5th in the NHL in CF%

the Devils have the 2nd worst SV% at 5 on 5 and worst HDSV% at 5 on 5.

I guess you can argue that they aren't GOOD, but to say they are BAD is nonsensical. There is one part of the team that is straight up BAD (well, two if you count the coach)

 

[Bleedred]

I swear he deserves a punch in the face for that.

It's like "Okay you a-hole, you gave up a back breaker but we'll fight back just because."

Then he gives up another backbreaker and my overall feeling is :

I don’t even like him as a person anymore. I don’t care how goofy and likeable he acts when they show him at team events or how nice he was last year when he actually came out for interviews.

He doesn’t come out and talk to the media after games this year. He certainly did last year. He’s a far cry from “I need to find a way to make one more save. I let my teammates down” like Cory Schneider. It got stale hearing it every game, especially at the end when he really couldn’t do any better, but at least he was a standup guy.

That’s why I wanted to buy him out and not BURY him in the minors. I wanted the guy to have a chance at keeping his NHL career going. He probably threw that away by continuously signing with Lou and the Islanders having fortunate goalie health luck while he was there.

I couldn’t care less if Vitek is parachuted into Chicago or the hell that is currently San Jose. He could sign in f***in Brampton for all I care at this point.

 

[BurntToast]

The concern is who is available after this year? *Crickets*

The Devils haven’t won with what they got. If you keep waiting don’t expect it to get better.

Punt this year or not? Most guys will cost less during the offseason. Maybe you pray and hope the Devils get Ullmark, but the dude is injury prone.

I think you have to trade Toffoli to recoup assets and trade for Markstöm or Ullmark, maybe Saros. The question is when? TDL is not an option, this team will be cooked. If they want a playoff push, they need a goalie, now! I can’t see Toffoli making it past the TDL either way. It would be terrible asset management.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

I'd take a flyer on whatever goalie doesn't cost us any serious prospects or 1st round picks. VV's just not good enough .. he's costing us games. I'm sure just about anyone would be an upgrade over him at this point. We need to be just good enough to get some playoff action .. this team isn't a serious threat to win a title even with a guy like Markstrom. We can do a bigger deal on down the road.

I hope I'm wrong but I have a feeling this organization is letting feelings get in the way too much. Ruff with Vanacek. Fitz with Ruff. Vanacek is a great guy so I get it, but his on ice performance is not acceptable. Idk why they are still playing him.

if you think hughes is expensive now cant wait for you to see him on his next contract.

this is the window the devils have to win in now. i dont care about cheap prospect contracts 4-5 years from now because the chances those players even panning out are so incredibly small.

the team needs a goalie NOW for this window go ahead trade a first round pick which should fall in the mid to late round and whatever prospect in the ahl to get a goalie!

worry about this window and winning now not trying to play cap guru 4 years from now.

Definitely agree with you here. All the more reason to fire Ruff. He better not be the coach next season cuz at this point, doesn't look like he's getting fired this season.

 

[Devs3cups]

Fitz is as safe as it gets and I’m glad. He’s built a very solid core for now and the future. Hopefully he cans Ruff, but if he doesn’t right this instant my opinion on him won’t change too much. Thr goaltending needs to be fixed asap though.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Agreed. Step 1: Fire Lindy and goalie coach.

Markstrom would be an ideal fit with NJ. I've listed to Woodley's hits on this. Markstrom uses his athleticism and size to stop high-danger, laterally moving chances better than most goalies. He's relatively not as great compared to other goalies when asked to stop a clean shooter 1v1.

Contrast that to someone like Adin Hill. The platonic ideal of a big, "blocking" goalie. Vegas allows outside looks all day, because Hill swallows them. They allow very in-tight/crease "high-danger" chances because another strength of Hill is sealing the ice with his big legs. Vegas' defensive system solely tries to prevent those mid-range slot shots, which is a relative weakness for Hill.

Imagine implementing a system that fits your team. What a concept!

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

the Devils are 6th in the NHL in xG% and 5th in the NHL in CF%

the Devils have the 2nd worst SV% at 5 on 5 and worst HDSV% at 5 on 5.

I guess you can argue that they aren't GOOD, but to say they are BAD is nonsensical. There is one part of the team that is straight up BAD (well, two if you count the coach)

I'm a fan of advanced stats so I get it but this season is straight out of the 2013 lockout year where they were 1st in corsi and pretty high up there in xGF and got absolutely bundled by goaltending/defense. The offense is very good, I don't think anyone would argue against that. The defense is much more to be desired and everyone basically regressing besides the two rookies isn't the best sign for this team's season. And the goaltending doesn't have to be rehashed, we all know how bad it is

 

[forceten]

Lots of pain you have been through lmao

At least I got 93-12!

 

[JimEIV]

I’m sure nobody has a good record when scoring one or even two, but I’d have to think most teams have more than one win after 50-ish games when scoring two goals.

This has me curious so I went to look...first I looked for an average goalie.

44 goalies have played at least 20 games this season. The median in SV% is Elvis Merzlikins

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

Columbus is 2-16 when scoring 2 or fewer...one of those wins is a 1-0 shutout.

I'm going to look at another team with average-ish goaltending that's in more of a playoff position next.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Then Fitz deserves to be screamed at for following the same path as Shero with Hynes

I'm already labeling him as such. Any other gm would've fired Ruff already with this roster and how much they're underperforming.

Idk you got the stats to back it up. You have league wide analysts saying our goaltending is atrocious. Fitz allegedly scouring the earth for a goalie.

I'm not sure how deep in the sand your head has to be to not see our absolute biggest weakness is in net.

It's definitely a weakness. It's not the biggest. The biggest is the coaches.

 

[JimEIV]

Since Jake Oettinger was just above Elvis I looked at Dallas ...they didn't have nearly as many 2 or less games as Columbus...3 wins and 9 losses.

 

[JimEIV]

Above Jake is Logan Thompson. Vegas is 2 wins and 14 losses when scoring 2 or less.

 

[Devils Trap]

For the trade anything for the Markstrom crowd, why the hell would CGY trade anyone? They are about to be in a playoff spot

 

[JimEIV]

7 wins from 3 teams in 46 games with average goaltending when scoring 2 or less.

 

[BurntToast]

Its crazy. The Devils’ goalies suck. Everyone knows it. So lets allow close to 30 shots per.

The Devils management (GM) team valued offense over defense and goaltending this offseason and it backfired. The Devils didn’t need goal scoring.

Why are the Canes better with similar goaltending?

They now have a better PK, PP, GA, and Shots Against. I am also curious but lazy on amount of PP’s. There have been a few game the Devils were so passive they had ZERO PP’s in a game.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

7 wins from 3 teams in 46 games with average goaltending when scoring 2 or less.

so the Devils are winning at 6.7% clip when scoring 2 or less.

the 3 teams you checked are winning at a 15.2% clip when scoring 2 or less.

thank you for proving his initial point!

 

[JimEIV]

We are 2 wins and 12 losses in 2 or less goal games. Which seems to track with the other 3 teams with average goaltending.