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

[Bleedred]

Who is this rando Neal?

I'm always happy to get quotes from people, just never heard of him before.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Who is this rando Neal?

I'm always happy to get quotes from people, just never heard of him before.

He’s from central jersey, was friends with someone who was friends with him. HUGE Devils fan, went to college for journalism. Currently writes Devils articles for a few not so well known sport sites. He does have some insiders.

 

[Cheddabombs]

"Rebuild is over" LMAO

 

[devilsblood]

Beyond Zacha and Johnsson, feels like a few trades have to be made over the next two seasons anyway. A lot of guys banging on the door up front. It's nice from a cap perspective but waivers + limited roles is going to force their hand on some of them.

Wood, Zetterlund, Holtz, Foote, Stillman, Moynihan and then Gritsyuk later on. Not to mention the upcoming LD logjam. If there's ever a time to try to do a quantity for quality deal - if it's even possible - it might be right now.

I still think things need to shake out, ie can Wood stay on the ice and get back to the player he was? Are guys like Zetterlund and Foote legit NHLr's? But yeah we are building some very solid organizational depth.

We don't need a 19 year old Holtz, or a 21 year old Foote in the league when they are not ready. I mean sure, as a team we stink at the NHL level, but the positions are filled by legit NHL players. So those guys, like Boq and Zetterlund can marinate. And if they are forced to marinate longer then they need? Welp maybe not great for their pocket books, but that is a good thing for the team.

Now I'd like to get to a similar situation with the goal tending. Bring in another starter, have Daws and Schmid in Utica for another 2 years perhaps, where even if they look ready, there isn't an NHL spot for them, but in case of an injury, they are there and ready.

 

[SKNJD9]

The actual quote from Sevo was " the rebuild is HOPEFULLY" over" I think he means in how the organization makes roster decisions

 

[Bleedred]

I f***ing HATE twitter so f***ing much.

It only lets you read so many quotes before it makes you sign in or sign up.

I have no interest in having a twitter account, but I did make one once and I forget the password and all that. I don't feel like going through the bullshit.

I just wanna read the quotes.

 

[SKNJD9]

 

[Guttersniped]

Meh. Agree with some of your post, but I think there's plenty of room for us not to always turn the puck over at every blueline we cross - and there's certainly something about having players that don't clam up as soon as the hitting begins - and there's something to be said about playing a shred of defense sometimes.

The thing that has crept onto this board is the silly idea that 'talent' means 5'8, 160lb jitterbugs and that the ENTIRE team needs to have a high level of talent.

I'm a hell of alot more impressed with the passes that Crosby and Bergeron and other great two way guys opt NOT to make than just the ones they make. Those guys (and the people appreciate them) don't want a Torts-like coach that wants his players to lay down in front and block shots. We don't need that. They also don't want unidimensional Thomas Tatar or Johnsson who might supplement scoring IN THE EXACT RIGHT SITUATION but add nothing else.

We've got lots of guys with lots of talent who have alot of growing to do, and I'm really happy about that because we will have a good team. But right now, it isn't about trying to add Johnny Gaudreau or TALENT. It's about finding the right pieces that complete this team and jettisoning some of the 'talent' that cannot exist on its own and doesn't make this team difficult to play against.

We are super super soft - and if you watch the playoffs this coming week, you're going to see WSH and FLA beat the crap out of each other in front of a couple of bad goalies. You'll see MIN play a solid D game and STL try to beat them up a bit. You'll see some talent-laden teams fold like they do every year. Kane isn't in EDM just because of his stick handling - he makes space - and as a result this might be the first year EDM might make some noise.

It would be really nice to fix the 'goalie situation' but I'm pretty steadfast in my belief that buying a Bobrovsky or Lehner will get us exactly what it got Vegas this year because we aren't good enough to protect them and they'll fall apart mentally - just like the ridiculous horde of goalies did for us this year. There's just no quick fix here unless you fix team defense first. We sure don't need to pump 6m+ into a #1 goalie because we'll all be wondering where his confidence went and we'll be checking Capfriendly every day for buyout costs.

Playing the game the right way and making good decisions and being physically dominant are pretty good talents too as will be amply shown by playoff teams. The qualities you derided and talent aren't mutually exclusive for many teams in this league, and it shouldn't be for us either.

Not sure why it always has to be one way or the other and not both.

Lehner was injured for a part of this year, that’s why he only started in 44 games, many while dealing with injuries. They’ve been a mess because they lost some depth and most guys were injured at some point, including the defense.

In fact Vegas dealt with an astonishing amount of injuries and it’s only because they’re so talented, the West is weaker and the Pacific is a clown show that they had a shot at the playoffs. If you think it was anything other than injuries you’re flat out wrong.

Mark Stone played 37 games, when he came back for this last stretch he clearly not healthy and had 2 points, both on the PP, in 9 games.

Pacioretty played 39 games. Martinez played 26 games. There were plenty more, the only other team with a similar amount of injuries was Montreal and they came in last place in the NHL because of them.

Boston has the best team defense in the league. You don’t just get that by wanting it, they built it through years of training their players their system in the NHL & AHL. And it’s a veteran team. We aren’t. Either you enjoy this process of watching a team grow or you can go watch a different, veteran team. There is no magical step that jumps us there.

People make it sound like we’ve been this high flying, high scoring “pond hockey” team for years. I don’t know when that happened, I mostly remember the endless years with the Devils having one of the worst offenses in the NHL. For a decade in fact. Hughes broke this season and he came back when our goaltending was at it’s low point. The team was a bigger mess last season but they barely got to practice, which is hard for young players.

You need a lot of plain old offensive talent to win in this league too and we lost for years because we lacked it. Bitching about our offensive talent is a weird take, it just started and they’re young. Nico was not good defensively until this season.

And everyone wants a really good coach for this team. Everyone would like good complimentary players. Good complimentary players are easier to get than players like Hughes, it’s why you want to get elite offense with high picks. The idea that we’re full up because we have a couple is not true either. We could us a bunch of stuff, that true of most teams. So? The team is still being built and finding it’s way after being nothing for a long time.

 

[SKNJD9]

 

[Oneiro]

Guess I'm going to do the good work this Sunday:



Wood says his hip was struggling to heal after games. That was why he decided to shut it down for the rest of the season...Wood on his RFA status: "It's out of my control. The only thing I can control is how my hip is and how I rehab it. I would love to stay here." Wood says he thinks the Devils are "super close" and wants to be part of it. Wood asked if he'll be back to the Miles Wood we've known in years past: "I have no doubt." Wood: "We were young, but I almost think we were too young this season." Says he thinks they're a few veteran players away.



Graves: "I came into the year with high hopes for the group, I thought we could push for a playoff spot...that was my initial thought with this group and on-paper roster...we had a lot of injuries, you have to take that into account...both goalies went down...tough to overcome." Graves on a positive in his first season in NJ: "I had a bigger role here than I had in previous years...it was a learning experience. You go from being 4th-5th guy in Colorado and just playing PK to having more responsibilities."



Says hand isn't 100% yet but should be good enough to represent Switzerland at the Worlds, which is his plan...Siegenthaler on what he needs to work on this summer: "Probably my offense...not trying to be Makar or anything, but work on my shot a bit."

 

[devilsblood]

Your post is a good one, but for me it comes down to bolded.

Goalies like determinism. The ubertalented ones can bail teams out of just about any situation because they are supreme athletes at the top of their game physically and mentally - and they deserve to be at the awards banquets and have their names on Presidents trophies and if they are lucky will carry a cup around at some point.

The rest of the middling mass can bail out an odd breakaway, and can typically at least have a plan in mind for what to do when things break down - but they usually need the clue of how it might break down. This goes for beerleague up to the NHL.

Goalies DEFINITELY know who are on the ice. You see defenseman A backing in towards you on a 2-on-1 and you know he'll cut the pass and so you play the shooter. You see defenseman B coming your way on a 2-on-1 facing the wrong way and in positional no-man's land and you load up on your skate edge because you're going to have to get across - AND THAT MAKES YOU VULNERABLE BECAUSE YOU ARE GUESSING.

The same goes for forwards and their assignments - you can be sure that Bergeron is going to get a stick on that pass, or be there to tie up a stick. And you see this and know this and it changes how you react to the situation.

To be a truly great goalie, you've got be guessing like 0% of the time. All reacting. Or all your guesses have to be right and work out for you.

The problem facing our goalies (and has been for the last 5 or so years) is that there is literally nothing to rely upon out there. There's no guarantee anyone other than Siegenthaler or maybe Graves is going to do something the same way twice - and Siegs is still young. There's no guarantee that anyone other than Nico is going to pick up the right guy. There's no guarantee anyone will move your screen, block a shot for you, get a stick on a pass. Anywhere on the ice.

That makes it just 100% guess time. Look at the shots that are going in. They make our goalies look frigging silly. Why? Because they are pushing in this direction when the puck goes the other way.

So, yeah - nothing we had on the ice in net was very good, although I'll maintain that Dawes probably had the best shot - certainly when he FIRST got there because he was flowing with confidence - and it wasnt' until he had seen enough of our team and its unreliability before things got kinda weird and he started having doubts and started really guessing.

They can deal with Ty Smith skating in circles and Subban sliding on his belly and Severson's odd decisions but just not game after game after game. Even the quality of the defensemen themselves is diminished if they are always caught out of position and scrambling after blue line turnovers - so there's that.

What's scary to me is that with Graves and Hamilton additions, we actually got BETTER. And that was until they split them up to play with worse defensemen or injuries split them up. At least the goalies had 1/3rd+ of a game of determinism; and I don't think anyone would claim Hamilton was signed be a shutdown guy.

Does the above make any sense to anyone? I don't know. I can just say psychologically for a fact that our entire goalie squad was beaten before it stepped on the ice most games because of the above.

Edit: and by 'determinism' I mean - if the guy gets past you, let it be to the outside. If you are going to play the puck with your stick or skate, make sure you can actually get it and not just deflect it oddly. Pls make sure you are at least somewhere where you need to be to cut passes, tie up sticks, etc....

I think you downplay that we played guys who were either, battling injury, were far too green, or were just not NHL level goalies.

But others downplay that playing a freewheeling style in front of said goal tending is going to make those goalies look even worse then they are. Now given the makeup of the team, I'm not sure I wanted the Devils to play a more conservative style, but young team playing a high risk style in front of non NHL level goaltending? The goalie death spiral we saw was not surprising.

Post automatically merged: May 1, 2022

I f***ing HATE twitter so f***ing much.

It only lets you read so many quotes before it makes you sign in or sign up.

I have no interest in having a twitter account, but I did make one once and I forget the password and all that. I don't feel like going through the bullshit.

I just wanna read the quotes.

So you really want to see what's on twitter, without having to be on twitter.

Post automatically merged: May 1, 2022

 

[Oneiro]

https://twitter.com/nealmchale


Hughes: "A huge goal for me next season is to stay healthy and play most of the games." On staying fully healthy: "It's not like I could have really controlled anything...two awkward injuries. It's frustrating. I'm the first guy to wish he played all 82 this year."

Hughes on the mentality of the team: "It's really hard to win. I don't want to come out and throw around these expectations....we have to have a big summer"

Hughes: "I'd like for our myself and our team to be playing important hockey down the stretch"

Hughes on the team identity: "The team right now isn't the team we're going to be successful with...we're building something right now with our pieces."

Hughes on Ruff: "I really like Lindy Ruff. We have a great relationship." Says he wants him to be around next season

Jack Hughes: "I've got a lot of respect for Lindy, he knows how to push me, how to push my buttons. We have a really good relationship, I'm a huge Lindy Ruff fan."

Jack Hughes will not go to Worlds with Team USA.

 

[Cheddabombs]

 

[Devils731]

That’s a guy who wants to win next year. He’s likely already 100% healthy, so he could play worlds, but instead is already focusing on next NHL season.

He’s going to get better and better each season for the next bunch of years.

 

[OlfactoryHughes]

Your post is a good one, but for me it comes down to bolded.

Goalies like determinism. The ubertalented ones can bail teams out of just about any situation because they are supreme athletes at the top of their game physically and mentally - and they deserve to be at the awards banquets and have their names on Presidents trophies and if they are lucky will carry a cup around at some point.

The rest of the middling mass can bail out an odd breakaway, and can typically at least have a plan in mind for what to do when things break down - but they usually need the clue of how it might break down. This goes for beerleague up to the NHL.

Goalies DEFINITELY know who are on the ice. You see defenseman A backing in towards you on a 2-on-1 and you know he'll cut the pass and so you play the shooter. You see defenseman B coming your way on a 2-on-1 facing the wrong way and in positional no-man's land and you load up on your skate edge because you're going to have to get across - AND THAT MAKES YOU VULNERABLE BECAUSE YOU ARE GUESSING.

The same goes for forwards and their assignments - you can be sure that Bergeron is going to get a stick on that pass, or be there to tie up a stick. And you see this and know this and it changes how you react to the situation.

To be a truly great goalie, you've got be guessing like 0% of the time. All reacting. Or all your guesses have to be right and work out for you.

The problem facing our goalies (and has been for the last 5 or so years) is that there is literally nothing to rely upon out there. There's no guarantee anyone other than Siegenthaler or maybe Graves is going to do something the same way twice - and Siegs is still young. There's no guarantee that anyone other than Nico is going to pick up the right guy. There's no guarantee anyone will move your screen, block a shot for you, get a stick on a pass. Anywhere on the ice.

That makes it just 100% guess time. Look at the shots that are going in. They make our goalies look frigging silly. Why? Because they are pushing in this direction when the puck goes the other way.

So, yeah - nothing we had on the ice in net was very good, although I'll maintain that Dawes probably had the best shot - certainly when he FIRST got there because he was flowing with confidence - and it wasnt' until he had seen enough of our team and its unreliability before things got kinda weird and he started having doubts and started really guessing.

They can deal with Ty Smith skating in circles and Subban sliding on his belly and Severson's odd decisions but just not game after game after game. Even the quality of the defensemen themselves is diminished if they are always caught out of position and scrambling after blue line turnovers - so there's that.

What's scary to me is that with Graves and Hamilton additions, we actually got BETTER. And that was until they split them up to play with worse defensemen or injuries split them up. At least the goalies had 1/3rd+ of a game of determinism; and I don't think anyone would claim Hamilton was signed be a shutdown guy.

Does the above make any sense to anyone? I don't know. I can just say psychologically for a fact that our entire goalie squad was beaten before it stepped on the ice most games because of the above.

Edit: and by 'determinism' I mean - if the guy gets past you, let it be to the outside. If you are going to play the puck with your stick or skate, make sure you can actually get it and not just deflect it oddly. Pls make sure you are at least somewhere where you need to be to cut passes, tie up sticks, etc....

Totally makes sense. Our C-grade defense, really pushed our D grade goalies into that F final grade.

Everything matters, goalies getting hung out to dry by poor team defense is going to make them look worse. But when they’re bad to begin with, that can also effect the way the team plays in front of them, and make the team defense look worse/lose confidence.

We need both, maybe a more established goalie, would have better been able to communicate his needs to the team in front of him. Sometimes It’s too easy to blame the goalies.

 

[Guttersniped]

I wonder if Yzerman grabs the Syracuse Crunch coach Benoit Groulx or we consider him.

Post automatically merged: May 1, 2022

What is the “post automatically merging” stuff? I see it other people’s posts.

Edit: Lol well I know now. Not sure I’m into this.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

Everything matters, goalies getting hung out to dry by poor team defense is going to make them look worse. But when they’re bad to begin with, that can also effect the way the team plays in front of them, and make the team defense look worse/lose confidence.

Completely agree with this. Everything falls apart when you feel like every shot from an opponent is dangerous. You lose the confidence to try things cuz you're always worried about turnovers. I think guys like Hughes are partially immune to that stuff because they're always thinking about attacking and taking chances, but the D and the middle/depth players really suffer. These are the guys who can be out of the league for good if luck doesn't go there way.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I mean every player will say that about the coach in that spot. I wouldn’t read too much into it.

 

[McDuffz88]

This is an important offseason but I think more for the direction of the next few years realizing we still have to be patient we are still a couple of years away from really being competitive....

A few more years away from being competitive?? Thats absurd. What are we gonna wait until Nico has 3 years left on his contract before we make strides? If we're still a few years away then Hughes & Nico will be miserable along with the whole fanbase. We got our top 2 centers in their primes. We need to compete now not 3 years from now.

 

[devilsblood]

Totally makes sense. Our C-grade defense, really pushed our D grade goalies into that F final grade.

Everything matters, goalies getting hung out to dry by poor team defense is going to make them look worse. But when they’re bad to begin with, that can also effect the way the team plays in front of them, and make the team defense look worse/lose confidence.

We need both, maybe a more established goalie, would have better been able to communicate his needs to the team in front of him. Sometimes It’s too easy to blame the goalies.

I think "D grade" goaltendig is pretty generous. Gillies played in 19 games for us this season, he played in 13 games prior to this season and 11 of those were in the 17-18 season. Hammond had played in 5 NHL games since 16-17 season. Daws and Schmid should have been AHL rookies this year, not guys playing in the NHL. Who knows if they will eve be NHL level goalies. Bernier and Blackwood were both hurt from the get go and only battled it out because we had no other options.

I know the D grade wasn't an effort to pump up our goalies, and I'm even on board with the notion that we played a style in front of said bad goaltending that is conducive to even worse goaltending, but it's pretty notable how bad the situation was.

 

[McDuffz88]

"Rebuild is over" LMAO

I think this speaks magnitudes for what the players really think behind closed doors. Of course they can't come out & say it but the players are miserable & if we can't be a competitive team our top players are going to want out as they should. No one wants to play their career away on a bottom dwelling team which is what we are right now.

 

[MauDevils]

Yegor had points in only 4 of the 14 games Hughes was out.

I'm still nowhere near sold on him. We need an upgrade there and shouldn't make the mistake of penciling him in for a top line role next year.

 

[Triumph]

Yegor had points in only 4 of the 14 games Hughes was out.

I'm still nowhere near sold on him. We need an upgrade there and shouldn't make the mistake of penciling him in for a top line role next year.

Ooh, this is a new one, I like it. Counting the number of games a player had points in. I bet he had more than 1 in some of those games!

Yegor with Hughes out had 31 shots on goal in 13 games and he missed almost the entire Rangers game with an injury. Consider me not at all worried about him - if Yegor is getting 2.5 shots/game, he is going to score, and of course he had 5 goals in 14 games, but yeah, points in only 4 games.

 

[devilsblood]

I think this speaks magnitudes for what the players really think behind closed doors. Of course they can't come out & say it but the players are miserable & if we can't be a competitive team our top players are going to want out as they should. No one wants to play their career away on a bottom dwelling team which is what we are right now.

The "top players" are part of the team too, they need to hold themselves to account as well, and I think Sev's knows this. He's not pointing fingers, he's saying we need to start winning.

 

[Tao Jersey Jones]

Exit interviews