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

[Lou is God]

It absolutely was the norm for the previous 3 seasons...to make believe otherwise is just pure revisionist.

Been meaning to ask you Jim, you still stand by this comment:

 

[MadDevil]

There certainly is a lot of consistent smoke around Meier and the Devils. Yeah, the same few other teams are routinely brought up too, but it seems like most “insider/rumor” talk around Meier starts with NJ. It will be disappointing refreshing the page one day and seeing “Meier to BUF”

It was also interesting Friedman kind of echo what most of us Devils fans have thought about the rumors of Horvat/Devils. “It just doesn’t make much sense.” Also interesting to hear him say he thought if Tkachuk ended up going to St Louis instead of Florida, St Louis would have likely moved Tarasenko and the Devils could have been involved there too.

I'm waiting for somebody to Tweet that a trade with San Jose is imminent...and then it's Nick Bonino.

 

[Saugus]

It absolutely was the norm for the previous 3 seasons...to make believe otherwise is just pure revisionist.

I'm pretty sure it was literally yesterday that you said this is the happiest you've been with the D from top to bottom in quite some time.

This would... seem to be at odds with that.

 

[HBK27]

I'm waiting for somebody to Tweet that a trade with San Jose is imminent...and then it's Nick Bonino.

 

[Saugus]

I honestly don't remember a time post-lockout(2005) that I have liked our defense more than right now. We've had some good ones during that time but from D-Corp perspective 1 through 6, what we are icing right now is pretty damn good and should get even better with Luke and Nemec.

I'm pretty sure it was literally yesterday that you said this is the happiest you've been with the D from top to bottom in quite some time.

This would... seem to be at odds with that.

Apologies, it was on Wednesday.

Life comes at you fast, eh?

 

[JimEIV]

I'm pretty sure it was literally yesterday that you said this is the happiest you've been with the D from top to bottom in quite some time.

This would... seem to be at odds with that.

Yeah I am very happy with this Dcorp. And overall all they have been good...last night was reminiscent of previous years play...I don't really see how there is anything contradictory there?


This is still a top 4 team in Goals Against..last night was not indicative of that...but it absolutely was indicative of the previous 3 years.

 

[The Wumpus]

I'm waiting for somebody to Tweet that a trade with San Jose is imminent...and then it's Nick Bonino.

 

[NJDfan86]

Yeah I am very happy with this Dcorp. And overall all they have been good...last night was reminiscent of previous years play...I don't really see how there is anything contradictory there?


This is still a top 3 team in Goals Against..last night was not indicative of that...but it absolutely was indicative of the previous 3 years.

Last night was not reminiscent of last years play, it was reminiscent of the Monstars stealing all of the talent from our players like in Space Jam.

 

[Louskoolaid89]

I'm waiting for somebody to Tweet that a trade with San Jose is imminent...and then it's Nick Bonino.

Straight up for Haula or better yet Wood!

 

[Saugus]

Yeah I am. And overall all they have been good...last night was reminiscent of previous years play...I don't really see how there is anything contradictory there?


This is still a top 3 team in Goals Against..last night was not indicative of that...but it absolutely was indicative of the previous 3 years.

We didn't go from "shit defense the past 3 years" to "what we are icing right now is pretty damn good" overnight. There was progression from younger guys, and there were smart additions by the GM.

I'm not trying to slag you with some bullshit gotcha. But I think what is frustrating for a lot of the board (even the ones who aren't rose-glasses homers) is when you refuse to see or acknowledge that progression, even when it's obviously happening. And then when you do acknowledge it, the complaint becomes that it didn't happen faster.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Last year, the Devils allowed 2.7 xG/60 at even strength. This year, they are allowing 2.61 xG/60 at even strength. Pretty close!

Last year, the Devils allowed 9.95 high danger chances/60 at even strength. This year, they are allowing 10.53 high danger chances/60 at even strength. Nearly identical!

Just some information. Now, what is the biggest difference between this year and last year you ask? Hmmm, tough to tell!

 

[Bleedred]

Last year, the Devils allowed 2.7 xG/60 at even strength. This year, they are allowing 2.61 xG/60 at even strenghth.

Last year, the Devils allowed 9.95 high danger chances/60 at even strength. This year, they are allowing 10.53 high danger chances/60 at even strength.

Just some information. Now, what is the biggest difference between this year and last year you ask? Hmmm, tough to tell!

That loser #29 hardly ever plays.

And we haven't had to use Jon Gillies, Andrew Hammond or Nico Daws, who clearly wasn't ready for as long of an NHL run as he got last year, nor was Schmid.

 

[JimEIV]

We didn't go from "shit defense the past 3 years" to "what we are icing right now is pretty damn good" overnight. There was progression from younger guys, and there were smart additions by the GM.

I'm not trying to slag you with some bullshit gotcha. But I think what is frustrating for a lot of the board (even the ones who aren't rose-glasses homers) is when you refuse to see or acknowledge that progression, even when it's obviously happening. And then when you do acknowledge it, the complaint becomes that it didn't happen faster.

We literally did go from shit defense to what we have right now overnight. Literally!

Every single Dman sans Severson is a new addition...And none of the top 6 are drafted players sans Severson again.

2021 literally none of them where here except for Severson.

 

[HBK27]

Not sure if it was already mentioned, but on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman also mentions that when the Blues were trying to land Tkachuk this past summer they had discussed moving Tarasenko to NJ if they needed to clear cap space.

 

[Better Call Sal]

We literally did go from shit defense to what we have right now overnight. Literally!

Every single Dman sans Severson is a new addition...And none of the top 6 are drafted players sans Severson again.

2021 literally none of them where here except for Severson.

But I thought we should have seen gradual improvement in that timeframe? How could we expect that with a shit defense?

 

[None Shall Pass]

Every team in the league has a few absolute stinker games every season. We had one last night. It's okay.

 

[NJDfan86]

Every team in the league has a few absolute stinker games every season. We had one last night. It's okay.

Please let us spiral in peace

 

[GameSeven]

It's gonna be a loooooooooong 10 days after tonight's match, isn't it?

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Every team in the league has a few absolute stinker games every season. We had one last night. It's okay.

And we were still in a decent position to scratch out a point before Okhotyuk shit himself.

 

[NJDevs26]

But I thought we should have seen gradual improvement in that timeframe? How could we expect that with a shit defense?

And shit goaltending, but that’s for the other thread nobody goes to until we have to move posts there

 

[Bleedred]

And we were still in a decent position to scratch out a point before Okhotyuk shit himself.

I’m pretty sure that was the worst game a defenseman has played for our team this year. Every metric from the eyes on down seem to confirm that, other than the fact he broke even in plus/minus lol.

Bahl is no-count, but I don’t think Okhotyuk will be playing for quite some time.

 

[NJDevs26]

We didn't go from "shit defense the past 3 years" to "what we are icing right now is pretty damn good" overnight. There was progression from younger guys, and there were smart additions by the GM.

I'm not trying to slag you with some bullshit gotcha. But I think what is frustrating for a lot of the board (even the ones who aren't rose-glasses homers) is when you refuse to see or acknowledge that progression, even when it's obviously happening. And then when you do acknowledge it, the complaint becomes that it didn't happen faster.

The funny thing is Jim could take a victory lap if he wanted to on his argument that we weren’t winning cause we weren’t getting enough out of the #1 picks and now we’re winning when we are getting #1 pick performance (and health) from both. But instead he continues to relitigate Jack’s first two seasons and slag Nico as STILL not being enough somehow. There’s being contrarian and then there’s foolishly sticking with a losing argument for the sake of consistency and attention.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I’m pretty sure that was the worst game a defenseman has played for our team this year. Every metric from the eyes on down seem to confirm that, other than the fact he broke even in plus/minus lol.

Bahl is no-count, but I don’t think Okhotyuk will be playing for quite some time.

Easily. Smith was quite horrific himself too. Dumb icing and then the penalty right after.

 

[Rhodes 81]

Last night illustrated for me why I hate the Graves-Severson pairing. They're both high-risk, high-reward style defenders which is basically coaching 101 level don't put those players together. I mostly don't mind any of the line decisions the coaches make, but this one and the refusal to play Sharangovich on the PP to me are two big misses.

Graves has the worst xGA/60 on the team among D at 2.67 and Severson is 2nd worst at 2.58. Graves also doesn't do nearly as good of a job as Severson at making up for it with offensive outputs. Marino can;t come back fast enough to hopefully split them up.

 

[Saugus]

It's gonna be a loooooooooong 10 days after tonight's match, isn't it?

Unless we win like 7-0, I fear so.