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

[devilsblood]

McLeod is decent defensively, and a pretty good penalty killer. But those are fairly replaceable attributes, and we would likely be able to find bargain vets or promote rookies to fill that role.

McLeod certainly has not justified the crazy high minutes and sometime line-matching assignments that Ruff gave him last season. That FOGO shit needs to end, and I never want to see him out against an opposing top line if we can help it.

Maybe a bargain vet can fill that role. I kind of doubt it though, given guys who can win faceoffs are valued in the league. Defensive wingers can be had for cheap, defensive centers who win faceoffs are not nearly as cheap.

We are not promoting a rookie to play the role McLeod played this past season. Maybe you promote a rookie to play 4th line, and distribute the difficult assignments McLeod has played amongst Hughes and Haula(Nico was already playing tough minutes) but a rookie is not coming in and getting McLeods assignments.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I would imagine that Haula is going to get McLeod's assignments

hell, at this rate McLeod isnt even going to be playing, so

 

[njdevils1982]

He better not, he's going on tour with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry soon

the senior PGA tour?

 

[devilsblood]

McLeod is decent defensively, and a pretty good penalty killer. But those are fairly replaceable attributes, and we would likely be able to find bargain vets or promote rookies to fill that role.

McLeod certainly has not justified the crazy high minutes and sometime line-matching assignments that Ruff gave him last season. That FOGO shit needs to end, and I never want to see him out against an opposing top line if we can help it.

Maybe a bargain vet can fill that role. I kind of doubt it though, given guys who can win faceoffs are valued in the league. Defensive wingers can be had for cheap, defensive centers who win faceoffs are not nearly as cheap.

We are not promoting a rookie to play the role McLeod played this past season. Maybe you promote a rookie to play 4th line, and distribute the difficult assignments McLeod has played amongst Hughes and Haula(Nico was already playing tough minutes) but a rookie is not coming in and getting McLeods assignments.

I would imagine that Haula is going to get McLeod's assignments

hell, at this rate McLeod isnt even going to be playing, so

Pretty confident Haula would not handle the full extent of McLeod's defensive assignments.

But the sexual assault accusations certainly hang over McLeod's career like a boulder.

 

[JimEIV]

There was a deal from Amex for those interested (not sure it's still going on). It was something like if you switch your payment on Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ to your Amex card (and pay over 15.99 a month) you get a 7.99 credit on your card each month, up to 6 months..

I forgot the exact numbers, but it works out to the exact same price for ESPN+, but you get all 3. You just have to sign into your Amex account and scroll down to Offers (I think it was called), and activate the offer.

I miss my good ol fashioned cable so much. But I can't go back without the Devils though.

I despise every streaming service I have used this year...20 thousands remote clicks to get to see what I want to watch...Buffering....Hulu sometimes shuts down after so many hours - sometimes with warning, sometimes without...Last night in the middle of watching something a Privacy agreement changing noticed popped up GTFO....This is not progress!

Fubu sucked but they had MSG..Roku Idon't even know what the hekk that was...

FiOS was literally almost 3 times as expensive for the number of rooms and less channels I wanted.

What a mess Comcast has created for me.

 

[My3Sons]

I miss my good ol fashioned cable so much. But I can't go back without the Devils though.

I despise every streaming service I have used this year...20 thousands remote clicks to get to see what I want to watch...Buffering....Hulu sometimes shuts down after so many hours - sometimes with warning, sometimes without...Last night in the middle of watching something a Privacy agreement changing noticed popped up GTFO....This is not progress!

Fubu sucked but they had MSG..Roku Idon't even know what the hekk that was...

FiOS was literally almost 3 times as expensive for the number of rooms and less channels I wanted.

What a mess Comcast has created for me.

At some point every content creator will have their own streaming service that you will be able to buy individually. It will work well but it likely will be more expensive on balance than the traditional cable model.

 

[devilsblood]

I miss my good ol fashioned cable so much. But I can't go back without the Devils though.

I despise every streaming service I have used this year...20 thousands remote clicks to get to see what I want to watch...Buffering....Hulu sometimes shuts down after so many hours - sometimes with warning, sometimes without...Last night in the middle of watching something a Privacy agreement changing noticed popped up GTFO....This is not progress!

Fubu sucked but they had MSG..Roku Idon't even know what the hekk that was...

FiOS was literally almost 3 times as expensive for the number of rooms and less channels I wanted.

What a mess Comcast has created for me.

I'm in the same boat regarding Comcast. I went cheater box, and it sucks, similar story in that it takes forever to get to the game I want to see and then buffer's like crazy. I'd absolutely go legit streaming but I heard it sucked.

I legit need to start the process of putting the game on, 10 minutes before the game starts.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Maybe a bargain vet can fill that role. I kind of doubt it though, given guys who can win faceoffs are valued in the league. Defensive wingers can be had for cheap, defensive centers who win faceoffs are not nearly as cheap.

We are not promoting a rookie to play the role McLeod played this past season. Maybe you promote a rookie to play 4th line, and distribute the difficult assignments McLeod has played amongst Hughes and Haula(Nico was already playing tough minutes) but a rookie is not coming in and getting McLeods assignments.


Pretty confident Haula would not handle the full extent of McLeod's defensive assignments.

But the sexual assault accusations certainly hang over McLeod's career like a boulder.

I mean, Haula had better CA/60, shots allowed/60, xGA/60 than McLeod did last year and nearly identical high danger CA/60

I don't see why he wouldnt be able to fill that role.

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

 

[Richer's Ghost]

Chicago was smart enough to give Toews and Kane equal money

Like the Wild did with Parise and Suter?

 

[Mgd31]

Like the Wild did with Parise and Suter?

And then Chicago never won anything again after that lol.

 

[JimEIV]

At some point every content creator will have their own streaming service that you will be able to buy individually. It will work well but it likely will be more expensive on balance than the traditional cable model.

I never mind paying for quality. But I don't want to pay more for an inferior product than I had pretty much without issue for 20 years.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

And then Chicago never won anything again after that lol.

Those were retirement contracts to a tee, lol

 

[britdevil]

Like the Wild did with Parise and Suter?

 

[JimEIV]

Like the Wild did with Parise and Suter?

Those weren't their guys. Those were prostitutes.

 

[britdevil]

Those weren't their guys. Those were prostitutes.

Parise and his best bud Suter were picked up by Fletcher in a back street Twin Cities alley.

Kinky.

 

[Saugus]

And then Chicago never won anything again after that lol.

I think they'll take the Cups they did win before that, though.

 

[devilsblood]

I mean, Haula had better CA/60, shots allowed/60, xGA/60 than McLeod did last year and nearly identical high danger CA/60

I don't see why he wouldnt be able to fill that role.

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

57% offensive zone faceoff percentage for Haula.

24% offensive zone faceoff percentage for McLeod.

That's just 5v5.

On the pk McLeod played 2 minutes per game, Haula played 45 seconds per game.

McLeod took more defensive faceoffs then any player in the league last season.

You'd be ramping up the defensive responsibilities in a big way. Haula probably would pick up some of the slack, probably plays a more defensive role then he did with Boston last year, but no way does he pick up the full regiment of duties that McLeod handled last year.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

offensive zone vs defensive zone faceoffs is next to meaningless. We've been over this. The majority of the game is played on the fly.

 

[devilsblood]

offensive zone vs defensive zone faceoffs is next to meaningless. We've been over this. The majority of the game is played on the fly.

When you're comparing 2 guys who play a couple points of either side of 50% it's not a big deal.

When you're comparing one guy who takes 3 times as many d-zone faceoffs, and is often used as a fogo, to a guy who has a 56% ozone share, it absolutey has meaning.

 

[JimEIV]

Jack's faceoff % will increase next season...In fact he was 47% in his last 10 games last season...It'll get better with experience


Nico is good and Haula is a little better....There will be no need for McLeod to be rolled into situation like last year.

 

[devilsblood]

Haula had 444 5v5 shifts last year that started with a faceoff. 194 were in the offensive zone, 96 were in the defensive zone.

He had 786 shifts that started on the fly.

McLeod had 680 5v5 shifts that started with a faceoff. 102 were in the offensive zone, 363 were in the defensive zone.

He had 595 shifts which started on the fly.

For most players like Haula, it is true most shifts start on the fly, and the offensive/defensive faceoff zone starts are a rather small portion of his overall shifts.

For a player like McLeod most of his shifts actually started with a faceoff and a significant portion of his shifts started in the defensive zone.

So while the idea that "most shifts start on the fly" is likely accurate for most players, it is not accurate for all players.

And this is what I'm trying to point out, the role that McLeod played last year was exceedingly difficult.

 

[Guttersniped]

I would imagine that Haula is going to get McLeod's assignments

hell, at this rate McLeod isnt even going to be playing, so

based on what? From a quick look, Kuokkanen, Mercer, and Vesey all had better shot suppression and goals against numbers on the PK

Haula is likely trying for 3C, but we’ll see how it shakes out at camp.

We need some center depth, even if it means parking a guy at wing or in the press box. We have none in Utica, I don’t understand what people think would happen in case of injuries.

Also, McLeod & Vesey were our top PK guys. We’re much better off with keeping McLeod anchoring the rotation with Nico.

Kuokkanen unsurprisingly showed a ton of promise there but he’s gone.

As did Studenic. *sob*

Mercer barely did it but would make an obvious addition but Ruff would be breaking him in. They went back to Sharangovich, and seem to like his aggressive/offensive aspects, but his results have been not great. Haula hasn’t PK much in a while and hasn’t done it well in years.

The PK rotation is up in the air because there could be a PTO addition like Vesey though.

 

[devilsblood]

Jack's faceoff % will increase next season...In fact he was 47% in his last 10 games last season...It'll get better with experience


Nico is good and Haula is a little better....There will be no need for McLeod to be rolled into situation like last year.

Hughes won 34% of his faceoffs last year. It's true that will improve with time, it's encouraging he had a nice run late, but I need to see more before I consider him anything beyond bad in this regard.

 

[JimEIV]

Hughes won 34% of his faceoffs last year. It's true that will improve with time, it's encouraging he had a nice run late, but I need to see more before I consider him anything beyond bad in this regard.

I'm just saying if Nico is well above 50 and so is Haula it's not a problem to have Jack at 40 and improving. I don't think so anyway.

 

[megajake]

Our center depth is so bad. Still in shock we went Nemec> Wright....