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

[Better Call Sal]

Does beek get a look for a ring? Helped secure the team staying in jersey long term

Given how his tenure ended, I'm thinking no.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Pandolfo absolutely does not deserve to be in a ring of honor lol

Ridiculous take and surprised how many agree with you. The ring of honor is to honor exactly the type of players like this.

If a guy who played 950 games, 819 regular season and 131 playoff games, helped win 2 out of 3 Stanley Cups, 3 out of 5 Conference championships and 8 out of 9 division championships for our Devils isn't worthy of a Devils ring of honor y'all are out to lunch this morning.

One of the most overrated Devils of all time IMO.

He wasn’t even a career Devil, which is all good and fine. I was happy to see him go.

He was toast before Lou even gave him that final deal.

He’s probably a nice guy, and he served a purpose at one point, but got a lot more mileage here than he should have

Woof what a shit take everyone's on this morning. He played a whopping total of 80 games with 2 other teams at the tail end of his career.

"life long Devil" shouldn't be a requirement for a ring of honor. This isn't about retiring jerseys, it's about honoring guys who helped this team win lots of things and giving them some flowers.

 

[JrFischer54]

Part of me would be fine with that but really Chico deserves his own night, especially since Doc has already had a couple solo, plus he was a player in the early days who’s been a good ambassador for the club from then on.

I thought Chico had a night already

 

[NJDevs26]

Given how his tenure ended, I'm thinking no.

Yeah I’m not even really sure he kept the Devils in NJ…he did preside over the Rock being built and put him in the Newark Sports HOF for that but as a Devils fan, dude was just cursed at best and possibly incompetent. The two biggest memories of the VBK tenure are the Kovalchuk contract mess and the financial issues his last couple years. Harris and Blitzer have owned the team now about as long as VBK did.

 

[Xirik]

Lou should get a statue anyway. Maybe at the other entrance opposite Marty's.

I'd love to see what a Lou statue would look like.

I think it should be like a gargoyle hanging off the side of the building, He did have his perch to watch the Devils play after all.

 

[JrFischer54]

Volchenkov deserves to be in the ROH

Wait you serious?

 

[NJDevs26]

Ridiculous take and surprised how many agree with you. The ring of honor is to honor exactly the type of players like this.

If a guy who played 950 games, 819 regular season and 131 playoff games, helped win 2 out of 3 Stanley Cups, 3 out of 5 Conference championships and 8 out of 9 division championships for our Devils isn't worthy of a Devils ring of honor y'all are out to lunch this morning.



Woof what a shit take everyone's on this morning. He played a whopping total of 80 games with 2 other teams at the tail end of his career.

"life long Devil" shouldn't be a requirement for a ring of fame. This isn't about retiring jerseys, it's about honoring guys who helped this team win lots of things and giving them some flowers.

I mean it’s not exactly Greene and Zajac’s fault they came up at the tail end of the Devils dynasty while Pando came up during the peak of it and was like at best the 10th most important player on any of those teams. They have two people in the RoH, he can certainly wait a while before more deserving people get put there.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I thought Chico had a night already

That was to send him off into retirement from the TV broadcast. I belive his wife had a sick family member at the time and they wanted to be closer to them in Minnesota and wanted to live there full time for a bit. He came back a few years later after that to do the radio broadcasts.

 

[CanuckCity]

What are your expectations for a (hopefully) fully healthy Hamilton this year? Is he going to get instantly bumped off PP1 when Luke is back or do you think that's less likely with Keefe in charge?

 

[Satans Hockey]

I mean it’s not exactly Greene and Zajac’s fault they came up at the tail end of the Devils dynasty while Pando came up during the peak of it and was like at best the 10th most important player on any of those teams. They have two people in the RoH, he can certainly wait a while before more deserving people get put there.

I didn't say to put him in this year, I'm just saying he deserves it at some point. Saying he doesn't deserve it at all is a ridiculous take considering the ring of honor is exactly meant for these type of players.

 

[Moist ReadOnly]

Leaders in shots the last ~100 games of Devils hockey;

Jack Hughes
Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier

Naturally, you put them all on the same line - duh

Excited that were letting analytics run the team instead of our new coach... woohoo!

 

[Better Call Sal]

Yeah, I like @britdevil 's take in that we should honor the older representatives of the team sooner than any of the guys who were recently out of the league. That's why I'd like to see the coaches or the announcers get inducted before anyone.

 

[Bleedred]

Ridiculous take and surprised how many agree with you. The ring of honor is to honor exactly the type of players like this.

If a guy who played 950 games, 819 regular season and 131 playoff games, helped win 2 out of 3 Stanley Cups, 3 out of 5 Conference championships and 8 out of 9 division championships for our Devils isn't worthy of a Devils ring of honor y'all are out to lunch this morning.



Woof what a shit take everyone's on this morning. He played a whopping total of 80 games with 2 other teams at the tail end of his career.

"life long Devil" shouldn't be a requirement for a ring of fame. This isn't about retiring jerseys, it's about honoring guys who helped this team win lots of things and giving them some flowers.

That would be fine, as long as we also put about 14 or 15 other guys (not all of whom are players) also in there.

If Pandolfo is in the ring of honor, then you gotta put MacLean in, you gotta put Madden in, you probably gotta put Colin White in, you probably gotta put Greene and Zajac in at some point. You gotta put Langenbrunner in. You probably gotta put Holik in there. Maybe even Randy McKay. Maybe even Rafalski. Maybe even Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez too. Arguably even a guy like Zubrus, although he played here in non-championship years. All of those guys best years were with the Devils, other than Zubrus. Claude Lemieux is another.

And then all 3 cup winning head coaches, as well as Doc and Chico and Lou.

All of these guys are either more or equally as worthy. I take back Zubrus. Putting him in may be like putting Parise in.

 

[Bleedred]

Leaders in shots the last ~100 games of Devils hockey;

Jack Hughes
Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier

Naturally, you put them all on the same line - duh

Excited that were letting analytics run the team instead of our new coach... woohoo!

I’m pretty sure most analytics say Jack and Timo suck on the same line.

I have no idea why this persists, with 3 different head coaches now.

 

[Moist ReadOnly]

I’m pretty sure most analytics say Jack and Timo suck on the same line.

I have no idea why this persists, with 3 different head coaches now.

Because analytics says you HAVE to put Tatar and Mercer with Hischier, because of that singular season (which excludes the playoffs and was an outlier anyway)

Im beyond over it as well

Meier and Hughes are volume shooters and should be separated

If theyre obsessed with Tatar being on Hischier's line then so be it - put Meier on the right side

 

[NJDevs26]

Leaders in shots the last ~100 games of Devils hockey;

Jack Hughes
Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier

Naturally, you put them all on the same line - duh

Excited that were letting analytics run the team instead of our new coach... woohoo!

A) Who cares about preseason lines?
B) I would think that kind of thing would be anti-analytics (loading up on shooters)
C) Can we actually see the Nico-Dawson-Tatar line NOT work for a few games before we rip it out of hand?

 

[Devils731]

I’d like the ROH to get more weird. It should certainly keep honoring individuals with huge accomplishments that aren’t number retirement worthy, like Lemieux, or coaches with large impact, like Lemaire, but I think it’s about remembering the people and things with large impacts in our memories.

As an example, I think it would be fun to memorialize the crash line in the ring of honor. Or if Maclean himself isn’t inducted, it would be fun to have a few guys involved induct his OT goal that sent the team to the playoffs.

Obviously there are people involved in these moments and memories but it expands the ROH beyond “people who weren’t good enough or can’t have their numbers retired”

 

[Moist ReadOnly]

A) Who cares about preseason lines?
B) I would think that kind of thing would be anti-analytics (loading up on shooters)

The analytics part refers to Hischier needing to be with Tatar and Mercer

And its not just preseason lines - this will be the lineup for Prague, minus Casey possibly slotting in for Nemec for a few games

 

[SansaStark]

there either is something deeply incompatible with the players on this team or they’re just not very good if they can’t coexist on the same line for a while and produce.

This isn’t on coaches anymore. This year is sink or swim and it’s directly on the players whether the team succeeds or not.

 

[NJDevs26]

That would be fine, as long as we also put about 14 or 15 other guys (not all of whom are players) also in there.

If Pandolfo is in the ring of honor, then you gotta put MacLean in, you gotta put Madden in, you probably gotta put Colin White in, you probably gotta put Greene and Zajac in at some point. You gotta put Langenbrunner in. You probably gotta put Holik in there. Maybe even Randy McKay. Maybe even Rafalski. Maybe even Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez too. Arguably even a guy like Zubrus, although he played here in non-championship years. All of those guys best years were with the Devils, other than Zubrus. Claude Lemieux is another.

And then all 3 cup winning head coaches, as well as Doc and Chico and Lou.

All of these guys are either more or equally as worthy. I take back Zubrus. Putting him in may be like putting Parise in.

I’d put in Holik just to hear his speech lol…yeah Claude is another good one I’d put in the definite category along with MacLean, Madden and Langs for players.

 

[NJDevs26]

The analytics part refers to Hischier needing to be with Tatar and Mercer

And its not just preseason lines - this will be the lineup for Prague, minus Casey possibly slotting in for Nemec for a few games

The roster being the same or similar does not mean the lines will be the same or stay static

And again can we see the Nico-Mercer-Tatar line NOT work for a few games before we rip them for chasing memories? Having certain lines in late September doesn’t mean they’re staying static till April. We don’t even know how frequently or infrequently Keefe changes his lines, you’re assuming it’s never or that analytics will demand never.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I’m pretty sure most analytics say Jack and Timo suck on the same line.

I have no idea why this persists, with 3 different head coaches now.

Yeah, no idea what that guy is talking about. Tatar was a +41 the last time he played primarily with Nico. You don’t exactly need calculus to consider trying that again. And there are no advanced stats that I’m aware of that show Timo should be with Jack. And Jack and Bratt are excellent together, always have been, and always will be.

 

[Moist ReadOnly]

The roster being the same or similar does not mean the lines will be the same or stay static

And again can we see the Nico-Mercer-Tatar line NOT work for a few games before we rip them for chasing memories? Having certain lines in late September doesn’t mean they’re staying static till April. We don’t even know how frequently or infrequently Keefe changes his lines, you’re assuming it’s never.

No, we cant

I dont care if the Tatar-Hischier-Mercer line is the best ever assembled - it f***s our other top line. Not to mention Tatar cannot be relied on in the playoffs

And the conversation wasnt about April - its about opening week in Prague.

Our top-3 shooters should not be on a singular line. This isnt rocket science...

Yeah, no idea what that guy is talking about. Tatar was a +41 the last time he played primarily with Nico. You don’t exactly need calculus to consider trying that again. And there are no advanced stats that I’m aware of that show Timo should be with Jack. And Jack and Bratt are excellent together, always have been, and always will be.

If youre so obsessed with Tatar being on Nico's line (like as if anyone more skilled wouldnt do even better; Nico does some seriously heavy lifting here) then put Meier on their right wing

But they havent because this is about analytics of the entire line, not just Tatar - weve essentially forced a brand new coach's hand

 

[NJDevs26]

No, we cant

I dont care if the Tatar-Hischier-Mercer line is the best ever assembled - it f***s our other top line. Not to mention Tatar cannot be relied on in the playoffs

And the conversation wasnt about April - its about opening week in Prague.

Our top-3 shooters should not be on a singular line. This isnt rocket science...


If youre so obsessed with Tatar being on Nico's line (like as if anyone more skilled wouldnt do even better; Nico does some seriously heavy lifting here) then put Meier on right wing

If that top line doesn’t work, it’ll be changed - that isn’t rocket science. They aren’t going to have Hughes, Bratt and Timo do nothing for a month just to lock in the second line. Different things have to be tried over an 82-game season.

 

[mdhockey13]

Comets fan here…based on some young guys playing well it’s possible someone makes the roster that is a surprise, maybe Casey. My question is who do you predict starts the season in Utica that you wouldn’t have guessed a month ago?