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

[Devils731]

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.

I agree those 2 guys don’t go well together.

I think ice time is how they end up together as the coaches don’t want to give Smith/Bahl/Oht additional ice time because they’re playing even worse so Severson/Graves end up together by default.

If either of Bahl or Oht had stepped up and played pretty well then I’d say the coaches need to up their minutes and spread out the pairings but unfortunately they haven’t.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

How the hell are there still people responding to Jim? I really don't get it.

 

[Clam Jensen]

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

We’re going to need more threads dedicated to the boards bugaboos aside from the goalie one.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

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.

Yet people are ok with them as a pairing to get Luke in. I'm staying the hell away from that.

 

[My3Sons]

Graves can play well defensively at times and then at other times he decides he's Hamilton and he can gamble offensively. What about last night's game suggested to him he should be a riverboat gambler at even strength? Play solid defensively and if there is an opportunity for some easy offense fine but he pushed it unnecessarily and it came back to haunt him more than once. On some level I suspect he is biased towards offense more than he should be because of his pending UFA. It has to weigh on him a bit and he will make more in UFA if he has better offensive numbers.

 

[Bleedred]

I really don't want Graves back, as I think he'll be too much for what he is and that money is better allocated elsewhere.

I've always kind of considered it Fitzy's defenseman answer to the Marcus Johansson acquisition. A dude that's got 2 years left on his deal before UFA when we acquire him and we get what we can out of him for 2 years and let him walk.

 

[njdevil26]

I really don't want Graves back, as I think he'll be too much for what he is and that money is better allocated elsewhere.

I've always kind of considered it Fitzy's defenseman answer to the Marcus Johansson acquisition. A dude that's got 2 years left on his deal before UFA when we acquire him and we get what we can out of him for 2 years and let him walk.

I don't know how we figure it out but Hughes has to be ready next year.

I don't know if I want to throw all my eggs in the Smith/Oshkosh/Bahl basket for LD2 and LD3. I think Graves would re-sign at 3.75-4.25 which is fine with me.

 

[Bleedred]

I don't know how we figure it out but Hughes has to be ready next year.

I don't know if I want to throw all my eggs in the Smith/Oshkosh/Bahl basket for LD2 and LD3. I think Graves would re-sign at 3.75-4.25 which is fine with me.

I don't think Bahl or Okhotyuk will EVER be every night NHL defensemen and in the case they are? It won't be here.

Bahl could be back as the #7 again next year.

We're likely to see Smith most nights, but he may be phased out to the #7 at some point next year.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Last night was not a 'goalie problem's night. We gave up 23 shots in the first period, including multiple breakaways, odd man rushes (4-on-1) and plenty of glorious chances. I watched the NSH feed and it was all about Blackwood timely saves and keeping them in the game.

Severson, Graves, Smith all had bad games, okh his worst yet, but our forwards left them out to dry by flying the zone and losing every puck battle. There were at least three occasions where we got penned in for minutes at a time like it was a power play.

You guys bitch about Haula nonstop, but last night was a perfect example of why he's centering Hughes. Rango didn't handle the pass from Okh, didn't tie his man up and didn't even try to save the play by back checking. Goal. Game over.

Unfortunately, that is what the majority of our forwards do. They are young.

It's easy to spot when defensemen don't shut a rush down, but anyone with half a brain has to look at the separation between our forwards and D and see why those counter rushes are happening in the first place.

We might be the very best team in the league when playing 'OUR' game, when our forwards have time and space and can complete passes.

We are among the worst when teams take it away.

If NSH kept their foot on the gas, we may have been out shot 50-20 last night. It's only bc they went into a shell and stopped forechecking that Jack was able to create any offense at all by skating the whole length of the ice.

Our team is great, but we won't win a playoff game if we continue to play this way.

 

[MasterofGrond]

How the hell are there still people responding to Jim? I really don't get it.

Tradition

 

[Call Me Al]

i wouldn't make assumptions about 22 year old defensemen never being NHL caliber, but they definitely still need a little bit more development time for now

 

[njdevil26]

I don't think Bahl or Okhotyuk will EVER be every night NHL defensemen and in the case they are? It won't be here.

Bahl could be back as the #7 again next year.

We're likely to see Smith most nights, but he may be phased out to the #7 at some point next year.

I just hope Graves isn't seeking some kind of major raise. If he can come back at the numbers I was thinking:

Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Graves-Marino
Hughes/Smith-Nemec

That's fine haha

 

[MasterofGrond]

I don’t hate graves but I don’t love him. I probably think he’ll be a little overpaid come UFA. I’d rather try and sign more of a stopgap or trade for one.

 

[Bleedred]

i wouldn't make assumptions about 22 year old defensemen never being NHL caliber, but they definitely still need a little bit more development time for now

I think we can at least agree they won't be every night NHL players here?

We have at least 3 guys (one of them hasn't turned pro yet) that are considerably better prospects than either of those 2 have ever been.

Best case scenario is they end up NHL defensemen elsewhere. If they're full time NHL players here then it probably means somebody that we couldn't afford being a bust ends up a bust.

And then there's even Muk, who I'd still say is a better prospect than Bahl has ever been, even though I'm not very high on him either.

I've always been skeptical Bahl would be a long term NHL player. He's a bit reminiscent of Steve Santini.

I'm pretty sure both Bahl and Okhotyuk become waiver eligible next season.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

How the hell are there still people responding to Jim? I really don't get it.

Ignore function works

 

[Rhodes 81]

Yet people are ok with them as a pairing to get Luke in. I'm staying the hell away from that.

I honestly don't think we have a great partner for Luke aside from maybe Smith or maybe Seigenthaler. Probably just depends on who is healthy when he actually gets here. Severson/Marino draw the tough minutes too often, Hamilton would be a disaster, and I don't think he'll play on the right above any of those 3. My chaos theory is to play him as a 7th D and let a few of the D take shifts as wingers on the 4th line but that depends on who's healthy and playing well at that point.

Next season, I think he'll take Graves' role as the 2nd pairing offensive type with Marino, and Smith-Whoever will draw the toughest matchups.

Graves can play well defensively at times and then at other times he decides he's Hamilton and he can gamble offensively. What about last night's game suggested to him he should be a riverboat gambler at even strength? Play solid defensively and if there is an opportunity for some easy offense fine but he pushed it unnecessarily and it came back to haunt him more than once. On some level I suspect he is biased towards offense more than he should be because of his pending UFA. It has to weigh on him a bit and he will make more in UFA if he has better offensive numbers.

I think this is just the type of player he is. He loves to rip the puck at basically every opportunity when often he should keep the cycle going. Even if you go back to last year, only Ty Smith and Walsh have higher xGA/60 than him, and Walsh only played one game. Even if you look at his last year in Colorado, they had 5 regular D with a lower xGA/60 than him. He's a risk taker, and when his clappers go in or generate a rebound that's great, but when they don't it's no different than Severson's high-risk outlet passes.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

enough with these guys already

 

[Devs3cups]

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

That’s after a very successful January. Unfortunate.

 

[Hisch13r]

25th in xG over the last month. They’ve been legitimately bad for a while now.

 

[GameSeven]

Last night was not a 'goalie problem's night. We gave up 23 shots in the first period, including multiple breakaways, odd man rushes (4-on-1) and plenty of glorious chances. I watched the NSH feed and it was all about Blackwood timely saves and keeping them in the game.

Severson, Graves, Smith all had bad games, okh his worst yet, but our forwards left them out to dry by flying the zone and losing every puck battle. There were at least three occasions where we got penned in for minutes at a time like it was a power play.

You guys bitch about Haula nonstop, but last night was a perfect example of why he's centering Hughes. Rango didn't handle the pass from Okh, didn't tie his man up and didn't even try to save the play by back checking. Goal. Game over.

Unfortunately, that is what the majority of our forwards do. They are young.

It's easy to spot when defensemen don't shut a rush down, but anyone with half a brain has to look at the separation between our forwards and D and see why those counter rushes are happening in the first place.

We might be the very best team in the league when playing 'OUR' game, when our forwards have time and space and can complete passes.

We are among the worst when teams take it away.

If NSH kept their foot on the gas, we may have been out shot 50-20 last night. It's only bc they went into a shell and stopped forechecking that Jack was able to create any offense at all by skating the whole length of the ice.

Our team is great, but we won't win a playoff game if we continue to play this way.

I like the overall assessment, although I'd wager the last line is a but hyperbolic.

But one thing that seems to be missing recently, is the team making adjustments. Yes, we've had an uncanny ability to come back in games, even keeping yesterday's close despite the trash defensive play; but I kept looking to see them correct the mistakes on D and it just kept... getting... worse.

The comebacks have been fortunate and show resiliency, but relying on individual efforts to bail you out of poor run of play finally bit them on the ass last night.

I don't think we've seen the team play *their* game and dictate play as much as they had been earlier in the season and I'm hoping the rest helps them refocus.

It's almost like the opposite of our trapping years. Teams that can disrupt and slow down the attack are giving us fits.

Oh, and stop the grenade handling in our own end.

 

[Triumph]

enough with these guys already

I think McLeod and Bastian together can work. Wood is obviously just a black hole at this point but I want to see the other two guys without him.

 

[NjDevsRR]

enough with these guys already

 

[Devs3cups]

25th in xG over the last month. They’ve been legitimately bad for a while now.

Which is weird considering that since January 1st, they’re 7th in xGF. The xGF% has to be due to subpar defense?

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

Not sure how hot of a take this is but i don’t think Wood is a major problem. Anyone expecting to score 10-20 goals a season with little to no PP-team is realistically gonna have a long drought.

The problem is being stapled to McLeod and a rotating cast of 4th line RWs, IMO. The possession/xG stats look bad but i dunno if i expect much better out of a 4th line LW expected to chip and chase all night, especially when the whole team has been struggling in that regard for over a month.

 

[Bleedred]

I'm starting to think my proclamation of Wood being out of the league full time by the 25-26 season was a bit conservative.

It could come next year if he continues this. He'll be waived by December and if he isn't on a one year deal? That's the end of him. He'll be reduced to a call up at most and that's it. That's what happened to Kevin Rooney recently. Wood at this point is worse than Rooney.