Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - camp edition

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Hisch13r

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May 16, 2012
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what does depth have to do with top end talent?

they are two different things.

If Siegs is a top 4 guy again then you should easily be able to get away with running out a top 4 of Dougie, Siegs, Nemec, and Dillon with a bottom pair of Hatakka-Kovacevic for a couple of weeks. If that sinks your season then you had far bigger problems to worry about anyway.
 
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JimEIV

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Feb 19, 2003
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If Siegs is a top 4 guy again then you should be able to get away with running out a top 4 of Dougie, Siegs, Nemec, and Dillon with a bottom pair of Hatakka-Kovacevic for a couple of weeks. If that sinks your season then you had far bigger problems to worry about anyway.
That backup defense is better than what we iced most of last year. Our defense can withstand injuries a lot better than our top 6 can.
 

MadDevil

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Feb 10, 2007
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Surgery recovery???



This is where I get accused of being pessimistic.

Not sure I see a Stevens or Neidermayer in this group - let alone all the top notch defenders that were with those teams.

In fact, don't see a number one shut down guy in the bunch.

Correct me if I'm wrong.
Not sure you see Hall of Famers who were among the best to play their position on defense? Wow. You got a point there.
 
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My3Sons

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Kinda concerning because he said he'd be ready for camp so how come he's not? Not too worried about it. We've got decent enough depth.
My guess is he is still having residual inflammation and it’s causing pain when he puts on his skates. Maybe he’s got some scar tissue in there as well. He will work through it but it could take some time.
 

Hockey Sports Fan

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The forward depth is a little underrated IMO, and I think it's mostly due to pessimism after last season's absolute trainwreck.

The Devils have:
4 unquestionable top line players in Jack, Bratt, Meier, and Hischier;
4 unquestionable middle-6ers in Haula, Palat, Mercer (any day now 🤞), and Tatar;
3 unquestionable bottom-6ers in Noesen, Lazar, Cotter (will be a fan favorite by December mark my words);
and then there's Bastian, Foote, and MacDougal or whoever who are almost certainly capable of playing NHL minutes even if it might not be pretty.

That's 14 forwards who could take a shift and not make me instinctively pull up a draft lottery simulator. And then there's Willman, Squires, Stillman, Labanc, all likely capable of handling a cup of coffee without checking the latest prospect rankings. Considering Toffoli, Holtz, Tierney, and Nosek all left for greener pastures, I think the depth could be a LOT worse.
 

Devil X

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Jul 9, 2007
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Have the injuries isn’t idea but let’s also remember what Keefe did with that defense in Toronto with bad goaltending.

The teams defense as a whole I expect will be better which will hide some of those missing players I’m sure. Plus the depth helps.
 

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