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

[Whaddagoal]

Okay now THIS is very EXCITING.

Yes, Sarge is back, finally!

One of my favorite all time Devils, glad to see him back with the big (coaching) squad

He certainly paid his dues down in the AHL for awhile, I'm so happy to see him get a chance up here to coach, hope it works out for the long run!

 

[guitarguyvic]

They were a playoff caliber team last year with average goaltending and a powerplay that wasn't historically atrocious. They don't need to do much else to get there, and that doesn't even factor in development and the additional acquisitions they made. The metro is tight, so I'm not going to predict or guarantee anything about getting in, but they're absolutely a playoff caliber team.

Yes they were playoff caliber team if you take away two of the massive weaknesses that made them not a playoff caliber team.

A team that is "absolutely" playoff caliber should be an easy prediction for making the playoffs. It's rather contradictory to assert otherwise.

A lot of hedgy language.

 

[RangerDoggo]

Yes they were playoff caliber team if you take away two of the massive weaknesses that made them not a playoff caliber team.

A team that is "absolutely" playoff caliber should be an easy prediction for making the playoffs. It's rather contradictory to assert otherwise.

A lot of hedgy language.

I understand your point, but last season the goaltending was so bad it's pretty hard to repeat that two years in a row, and the worst power play coach this league has ever seen got fired very shortly after that season ended. It's reasonable to believe both of those will be better, although maybe not enough for a playoff spot.

 

[Eggtimer]

If we are not a .500 team this season , we are in a heap of trouble with the roster. We SHOULD be able to win 1/2 our games with the players we have should we not? I guess we still have some key pieces comimg with Hughes , Nemec , Holtz , Gritsyuk . I am very confident in Hughes and Nemec being massive boosts to the roster but we really need one of Holtz or Gritsyuk ending up a top 6 forward before we are a legit playoff team .

 

[guitarguyvic]

I understand your point, but last season the goaltending was so bad it's pretty hard to repeat that two years in a row, and the worst power play coach this league has ever seen got fired very shortly after that season ended. It's reasonable to believe both of those will be better, although maybe not enough for a playoff spot.

If Blackwood is truly shot...then I don't see why it would be hard to have a repeat performance.

Also, and I know this will start the 126th installment of this debate, but the uber-sloppy brand of hockey this team plays also contributes to the goals against. I don't believe for one second that someone like Vanacek is going to come here and make enough of a difference in the goaltending performance to turn this into a playoff team. It's going to take more than that.

In short, I don't believe at all that it's as simple as getting slightly better goaltending and PP production and voila we could compete for a playoff spot.

 

[MadDevil]

If Blackwood is truly shot...then I don't see why it would be hard to have a repeat performance.

Also, and I know this will start the 126th installment of this debate, but the uber-sloppy brand of hockey this team plays also contributes to the goals against. I don't believe for one second that someone like Vanacek is going to come here and make enough of a difference in the goaltending performance to turn this into a playoff team. It's going to take more than that.

In short, I don't believe at all that it's as simple as getting slightly better goaltending and PP production and voila we could compete for a playoff spot.

 

[NjDevsRR]

If Blackwood is truly shot...then I don't see why it would be hard to have a repeat performance.

Also, and I know this will start the 126th installment of this debate, but the uber-sloppy brand of hockey this team plays also contributes to the goals against. I don't believe for one second that someone like Vanacek is going to come here and make enough of a difference in the goaltending performance to turn this into a playoff team. It's going to take more than that.

In short, I don't believe at all that it's as simple as getting slightly better goaltending and PP production and voila we could compete for a playoff spot.

Goaltending being average and a healthy season from Hughes Nico and Hamilton will get us right there.

 

[Xirik]

Okay now THIS is very EXCITING.

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[Xirik]

View attachment 577957

Should I be scared that you had that already prepared or that you managed to make that in under two minutes?

 

[NjDevsRR]

Should I be scared that you had that already prepared or that you managed to make that in under two minutes?

Under 30 seconds lol

but you never know

 

[jkrdevil]

I would bet it's the same as last year, which I think was 8? I think it was 8 for every team? Or was it only 7?

I look for them to release the schedule for both ESPN and TNT sometime before the month of August ends.

8 is the max for ESPN (between espn and plus). Almost all of our espn games will be on plus.

 

[The Wumpus]

Has Comcast resolved their beef with MSG networks yet?

 

[JimEIV]

I have been away for a while has this been discussed?

Ex-Devils assistant Mark Recchi: Pavel Zacha is ‘way better than’ Erik Haula

Former New Jersey Devils assistant Mark Recchi had high praise for new Boston Bruins forward Pavel Zacha.

nj.com

 

[Camille the Eel]

If we are not a .500 team this season , we are in a heap of trouble with the roster. We SHOULD be able to win 1/2 our games with the players we have should we not? I guess we still have some key pieces comimg with Hughes , Nemec , Holtz , Gritsyuk . I am very confident in Hughes and Nemec being massive boosts to the roster but we really need one of Holtz or Gritsyuk ending up a top 6 forward before we are a legit playoff team .

If we are not at least competitive with the people we have in the dressing room, it will have to be thought a coaching or character issue. More balanced.

The caveat is we will still be one of younger if not youngest teams in our division and we still need to learn “how to win.” Which is a matter of will and determination as much as anything.

Health and injuries as always are an unknown variable. If we can get a full season out of Hughes: large question there. A great deal depends on him but the addition of Palat also takes some pressure off of him. I hope to see him not put so much pressure on himself; take shorter and fewer shifts; for it to be more of a 4 line team effort this year. For us to be more balanced.

 

[Nicomo Cosca]

 

[MadDevil]

I have been away for a while has this been discussed?

Ex-Devils assistant Mark Recchi: Pavel Zacha is ‘way better than’ Erik Haula

Former New Jersey Devils assistant Mark Recchi had high praise for new Boston Bruins forward Pavel Zacha.

nj.com

Yes. I believe we all came to the conclusion that nobody cares because it's Recchi.

 

[Nicomo Cosca]

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

If Blackwood is truly shot...then I don't see why it would be hard to have a repeat performance.

Also, and I know this will start the 126th installment of this debate, but the uber-sloppy brand of hockey this team plays also contributes to the goals against. I don't believe for one second that someone like Vanacek is going to come here and make enough of a difference in the goaltending performance to turn this into a playoff team. It's going to take more than that.

In short, I don't believe at all that it's as simple as getting slightly better goaltending and PP production and voila we could compete for a playoff spot.

again the Devils were top 5 in the NHL in fewest high-danger chances allowed at 5 on 5

Not saying the defense is great or anything, but no roster was doing anything with the quality of goaltending the Devils got last year. The goalies gave up nearly 60 goals above expected...thats almost like starting every game down 1-0.

 

[Bleedred]

again the Devils were top 5 in the NHL in fewest high-danger chances allowed at 5 on 5

Not saying the defense is great or anything, but no roster was doing anything with the quality of goaltending the Devils got last year. The goalies gave up nearly 60 goals above expected...thats almost like starting every game down 1-0.

Strangely enough, I think we had one of the worst records in the league when scoring the first goal of the game. I think our winning percentage was like 45% when scoring the game's first goal. It might have gotten a little better by the end of the year, but I clearly remember it was something like 44% over halfway into the season.

Now I constantly cited back in December/January a stat that Blackwood allowed a goal on one of the first 5 shots on goal he faced like 9 out of 11 games during one stretch. It might have even went up to 11 of 13 or 11 of 14 or something. It was something stupid like that and I just gave up tracking that stat once he got injured and shutdown in February, but it couldn't have gotten much better when Gillies started to play frequently.

With that awful stretch for Blackwood, he was constantly allowing goals on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, shots of the game. I the most shots he made it during the stretch without allowing his first goal was like 11 or 12 shots in one game.

There was one game against Columbus in January, which was one the only good game he played after probably the second or third week of December and one of the only good games he played at all after the start of December. We won the game and he only allowed 1 goal on like 30-something shots, but the one goal still came on the third shot of the game.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

 

[Bleedred]

Nice.

Very rare you see a player be so open about coming to play somewhere else. They usually give some kind of politically correct answer like ''Well, who knows? Tampa's been great. Look at all the success we have here. I'm just focusing on what we got going on here. I've been in the SCF both years I've been in the league here. I'm just really enjoying it here and not worried where I may or may not play years down the road from now''.

That said, I think we should definitely be interested next offseason. See what he can be had for. Probably just a draft pick maybe a player of not much consequence. It could be higher if he has a HUGE year this season.

I've made me feelings clear on Miles Wood. I don't want him back here in 2023 unless it's for a paycut from what he's making right now. Colton could replace his salary or even an expiring Haula. Colton is an RFA next summer.

Only thing is Colton is a bit older than he seems, as he's turning 26 next month and has only been in the league for 2 years.

 

[Bleedred]

I sometimes correct that and sometimes don’t.

I don’t generally gender posters, but realistically speaking, it is mostly dudes so it’s understandable that people would assume that.

It also doesn’t bother me. Actual misogyny does (though that can be so over the top goofy that it’s funny too), but other than some real weird shit that I’ve seen on the main boards, that’s not a problem here.

The last one I remember recently was a short lived post in a Evander Kane thread where someone gave young men very lively advice about not marrying or trusting women in general. A lot of “Sir This Is a Wendys” energy combined with “I’m acting like this is sage universal advice but it’s really a peek into my own f***ed up mess of a life”.

The mix here over 20 years (!) has always been pretty good-natured and friendly when I’ve been around. Definitely the reason the board works for me is the heavily involved mod presence. This would be a complete trash fire without it, sorry I don’t need to hear what every rando thinks about everything. I know back in the day people really whined and whined about oppressive moderation and I was always…



So thank you mods.

I‘ve been involved in other very other dude heavy things. Comic Conventions in 1980s were mostly dudes when I wasn’t a adult. I got into collecting comic art as an adult and that’s really all dudes all the time. I need to learn to knit and get on Pininterest or something lol.

It's funny because there was one girl here that was a frequent poster about 8-10 years ago. ManilaNJ was her name. She was a frequent poster here 8-10 years ago, but would still pop in from time to time over the years since then, but I bet it's been a few years now. With your sign up date being December of 2018 (and I don't think she's popped in the forum since then) I have often wondered if maybe you were her, even though I remembered your old Guttersniped account as I mentioned, but thought it's possible that was someone else and not you until you confirmed that was indeed your account.

So, sometimes I would think maybe you were Manila, but I also believed you probably weren't, just because she was an overly-optimistic poster. And that's not to say you were pessimistic or that her optimism was over the top, because it absolutely wasn't. I also remember her user title being something like ''Optimism unwavering''. There were probably times where she was critical of the team or management or certain players. Definitely not to the point where I am with certain players/coaches/etc, but she was reasonably critical at times, but also very positive. I don't think she would often rant about things in her posts like maybe you and definitely I would.

And I definitely don't mean that in a negative connotation. She's actually one of the posters I miss from back in the day and I clearly remember she said she lived in Edgewater, which is where my dad and his side were from.

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[Billdo]

That's neat. I remember wanting NJ kid Cam Dineen at the 2016 draft. He's from Toms River.