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

[longislanddevil]

Fitz also said “it’s very different being an assistant coach than a HC,” or something to that extent. I may be inferring too much from that but I interpret it as, “Great assistant coach. Not so sure about HC material.” If Fitz isn’t on the hot seat, he’s close to being there. I would be shocked if he hitched his wagon to Green, who doesn’t exactly have a sterling reputation as a HC.

Green getting that trial run was probably the best thing that could have happened. It’ll be a tough to impossible sell to the fan base that he’s the guy to get the Devils to the next level. I just don’t see it. No reason to be panicked here IMHO.

 

[JK3]

Green wasn't hired for anything other there wasn't anyone left, he was plucked off the scrapheap to fill out an assistant role.

 

[Bleedred]

I think Novo's just being like Rich Cimini with the Jets and looking to stir the pot

Or Rich Chere back when he was a reporter for the Devils lol.

My thoughts are that he's half trolling.

 

[NJDevs26]

Or Rich Chere back when he was a reporter for the Devils lol.

My thoughts are that he's half trolling.

Chere definitely became that later in his career, after TG surpassed him as the go to Devils beat guy, or at least the one favored by the fans. I don’t know if he was always like that before though.

 

[Bleedred]

Green wasn't hired for anything other there wasn't anyone left, he was plucked off the scrapheap to fill out an assistant role.

The only thing that had me worried when we first hired him was that he was named associate coach.

We had never had an associate coach before the one year of Brunette before this one. It's a title that only about a handful of teams or so have.

I'd say the associate has more say in what happens on-ice than just a regular assistant, and it's also higher paying than an assistant coach as well.

 

[MadDevil]

I don't really care what Fitz says, I care what he does. I'll worry about Green staying when it happens. Until then I'm going to assume he's doing the typical GM thing and not just immediately announcing his entire plan for the offseason in detail 3 days after the season ended.

 

[Bleedred]

The only "good" thing Green did was show how poorly Lindy utilized Timo. That's literally it, nothing else got better.

Does that change with a training camp under Green ? Maybe. I'd rather not find out..

But the coaching options are really slim.. I don't see Fitzy going with a rookie and Berube's system doesn't fit this roster at all even if he is the support authoritarian/accountability guy Fitzy may be looking for.

It might end up being Green.

I don't think it will be Green, unless he's just an assistant/associate again.

There's too much at stake here. Green is known to be very bad in two different spots now, especially Vancouver for several years. I think I said his last 46 games coached in the league his teams are 16-27-3?

I would rather just re-hire Lindy. I know it won't happen, but Green is bad.

The fact that the nice things Fitz said about him were his communication and other things that really didn't touch on his x's and o's or ability to actually successfully run a team make me think it's because he doesn't believe those things, and just gave generic answers about how good of a communicator and ''Motivator'' he is or whatever word he used.

But then he also said something like he doesn't think about ''Systems'' and that systems don't matter and gave an answer that didn't answer that question about systems. Like when breakdowns happen it's because players aren't following the system.

 

[Bleedred]

Honestly, if it's McLellan, it's f***in McLellan. IDGAF at this point.

I always doubt he has what it takes to push a team across the line to a championship, but I also don't think he's so bad that he can FUBAR next year's team (if mostly healthy and with a goalie), just as I said the same about Lindy if we had kept him for next year.

I don't think McLellan is good, but I don't think he's gonna make your team much worse than it should be.

Green will make your team MUCH WORSE than it SHOULD be. He was doing that the entire time down the stretch with ABOVE AVERAGE goaltending. He was doing it before he got fired from Vancouver with above average goaltending.

 

[Bleedred]

When asked about the assistants and if they'll return, he acted non-committal, but said ''These are the same assistants we had 112 points with last year''.

I expect McGill and Sarge to be back, but Chris Taylor is probably gone as he was handpicked by Lindy. The new coach probably picks somebody to replace him and/or Green's position.

It sure seems like Rogalski is gonna survive this. Even with the way Allen was talking about staying in touch with him in his exit interview. It wouldn't be the first time a player talked about a coach in the future, but the coach was fired the next day, but the vibes are that either the two new goalies saved him or was never gonna go anyway.

 

[Bleedred]

Sideways?

I think Green was brought in with the thinking Ruff was going to be hear awhile.

Brunette was the likely heir apparent hire.

Yeah, I think you're right. Lindy was on the hot seat, a really hot seat when Brunette was brought in.

I don't think Lindy was at all on the hot seat when Green was hired.

My fear was that he may have been brought in if things go bad with Lindy this year, but Fitz explained after he named Green interim head coach that Green called him up in the summer of 2022 and asked for some tips and advice on what he needed to do to get back into the league. They go back a long ways. My guess is Fitz thought of him when Brunette was plucked away, probably liked the conversation(s) they had the year before and thought he'd be a fine addition as associate coach.

That all sounds very plausible.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

When asked about the assistants and if they'll return, he acted non-committal, but said ''These are the same assistants we had 112 points with last year''.

I expect McGill and Sarge to be back, but Chris Taylor is probably gone as he was handpicked by Lindy. The new coach probably picks somebody to replace him and/or Green's position.

It sure seems like Rogalski is gonna survive this. Even with the way Allen was talking about staying in touch with him in his exit interview. It wouldn't be the first time a player talked about a coach in the future, but the coach was fired the next day, but the vibes are that either the two new goalies saved him or was never gonna go anyway.

Goalie coach is such a 'right horses' position. He may not have worked with Vanacek and Blackwood, but works for Allen and the other guy. It's hard to say if he's bad or good really.

 

[Bleedred]

Goalie coach is such a 'right horses' position. He may not have worked with Vanacek and Blackwood, but works for Allen and the other guy. It's hard to say if he's bad or good really.

There's certain things I don't fault him for at all. Like Jon Gillies putting up an .885% on an expected .905%. That wasn't on Rogalski.

I never was for firing Melanson, that happened when Marty came in and formed a goalie department and he/Fitz hired their own coach. They fired Melanson as soon as Cory was bought out. Blackwood played well under him.

Blackwood plummeted when he got hired and most of the goalies regressed under him.

But as I've said, Blackwood had a mediocre to bad AHL career that foreshadowed his NHL struggles. Pretty good chance he was never going to be good anyway and he overachieved the first two years in the NHL.

He didn't do anything spectacular with the Sharks this year, other than go until the last week of February before he got injured for the first time. He was marginally better than he had been with the Devils. Evolving hockey really liked him this year. This was by far his highest GSAx year on their models. He was in the minuses on their models even in the first two years where he was good here.

I think he was right at breaking even on moneypuck for this year. He didn't really do any better than Kahkonen on that team, but both did much better than the AHL trash they've had to play a bit like Chrona and Cooley.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

I

There's certain things I don't fault him for at all. Like Jon Gillies putting up an .885% on an expected .905%. That wasn't on Rogalski.

I never was for firing Melanson, that happened when Marty came in and formed a goalie department and he/Fitz hired their own coach. They fired Melanson as soon as Cory was bought out. Blackwood played well under him.

Blackwood plummeted when he got hired and most of the goalies regressed under him.

But as I've said, Blackwood had a mediocre to bad AHL career that foreshadowed his NHL struggles. Pretty good chance he was never going to be good anyway and he overachieved the first two years in the NHL.

He didn't do anything spectacular with the Sharks this year, other than go until the last week of February before he got injured for the first time. He was marginally better than he had been with the Devils. Evolving hockey really liked him this year. This was by far his highest GSAx year on their models. He was in the minuses on their models even in the first two years where he was good here.

I think he was right at breaking even on moneypuck for this year. He didn't really do any better than Kahkonen on that team, but both did much better than the AHL trash they've had to play a bit like Chrona and Cooley.

I think it comes down to we were spoiled for goaltending for so long that we don't really remember (or some fans don't know) what not having a solid goalie is like. If Cory's hips hadn't exploded we'd be in a different position.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

If Green is back, that might be the thing that breaks me. Could see not being able to bring myself to taking the organization seriously to even care anymore.

 

[Billdo]

Fitz calling out something that annoyed me all season. I like that.

The fact that he seemingly didn't address while knowing it was an issue irks me. He's Lindy's boss. If Lindy isn't doing what expected he should've handled it.

 

[Bleedred]

The fact that he seemingly didn't address while knowing it was an issue irks me. He's Lindy's boss. If Lindy isn't doing what expected he should've handled it.

I mean, on one hand there's people in here afraid the new coach won't have complete control. I don't think you can have it both ways. It looks like Fitz was giving him complete control there. If people want the coaches to have full autonomy then I don't think they can support the GM meddling in most cases.

 

[MartyOwns]

i guess i misunderstood his quote about green. it sounded like a mercy flush to me

 

[Satans Hockey]

He made comments about becoming more mature on and OFF the ice. “You give an inch and they take a yard.” He even mentioned a lax dress code. I definitely got the impression he knows the culture has been way too loosey goosey and that he’s got to tighten the ship. Berube?

Dress codes are stupid to begin with but does anyone actually remember the guys wearing anything outlandish or even that laid back? Anytime I saw pictures from the Devils social media of the guys walking in nothing ever stood out to me to begin with.

Like are we talking about sneakers or beanies here? Lol

I'm not going further back than this but this looks like some real bullshit excuse when talking about dress code especially when you see the ridiculous stuff Pasta wears and how it clearly affects his play lols...

 

[Mgd31]

Too much oxygen being wasted talking about Green. He’s a dead man walking

Dress codes are stupid to begin with but does anyone actually remember the guys wearing anything outlandish or even that laid back? Anytime I saw pictures from the Devils social media of the guys walking in nothing ever stood out to me to begin with.

Like are we talking about sneakers or beanies here? Lol

I'm not going further back than this but this looks like some real bullshit excuse when talking about dress code...

I saw this on Twitter but John Marino was wearing a t-shirt today that looked like it hadn’t been ironed in years.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Too much oxygen being wasted talking about Green. He’s a dead man walking



I saw this on Twitter but John Marino was wearing a t-shirt today that looked like it hadn’t been ironed in years.

It's pick up your shit and leave day, I wouldn't expect them to wear suits to it but yeah that shirt is bad lol...

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Dress codes are stupid to begin with but does anyone actually remember the guys wearing anything outlandish or even that laid back? Anytime I saw pictures from the Devils social media of the guys walking in nothing ever stood out to me to begin with.

Like are we talking about sneakers or beanies here? Lol

I don't think the dress codes they have are stupid. If they went laxed on them for real than I wouldn't really care but wearing nice clothes like that is professional. It'd a good look for the players and the league. These guys are a practically millionaires so it makes sense to dress like you are one when you are at work.

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[JK3]

Awesome plan lmao, this f***ing guy, I can’t take it.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I don't think the dress codes they have are stupid. If they went laxed on them for real than I wouldn't really care but wearing nice clothes like that is professional. It'd a good look for the players and the league. These guys are a practically millionaires so it makes sense to dress like you are one when you are at work.

Everybody has their own opinion on that but I don't care about being "professional" That nonsense has changed over the years anyway where facial hair, long hair and tattoos weren't "professional"

Personally I don't care what they wear off the bus or from their cars to the locker room. Almost every soccer team in the world just wears their training gear into the building and nobody cares. It certainly has absolutely no affect on what they do when they play.

 

[Whaddagoal]

What I get out of the weight room stuff is probably aimed at the slim dudes (Jack, Marino, Mercer, Sieges). Luke seems weak on battles but he does looks like he does workout. Needs that dude strength more. It will come for Luke.

Definitely not directed at Meier, Palat, Bratt and Nico.

Mercer even mentioned it in his exit interview that his focus is to get stronger, so he has to be one of the implicated.

Jack should really take it seriously as soon as he gets healed up enough to continue normal workouts.

I like that Fitz calling that out it's definitely true.
But on the flip side.... This is not new news. He's been here for X amount of years and couldn't communicate that earlier to the same core guys with Ruff around? A bit strange. You also have a strength and conditioning coach and somehow is not influential?

Same with the "Accountability" statements on the new coach. It's not like he wasnt around to influence anything. It seems a bit of deflection / signaling game to put the focus on the players vs his off-season changes.

Overall, a mixed feeling but at least he held a conference about this situation and did talk about some hotbutton items discussed all year here.

We all know Bratt, Meier and a few others will be doing some heavy off-season work as always.