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

[Devs3cups]

We need to get the good vibes going here! Where’s the GDT for tonight?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

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.

I hate McLeod, but McLeod is 3x the player Wood is

 

[Hisch13r]

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

CJ posted the other day that they were like the 3rd worst xGA team since Marino went down. Subpar is an understatement

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.

Wood has not been an NHL caliber player for 2 months now

 

[Bleedred]

I hate McLeod, but McLeod is 3x the player Wood is

At this point he certainly is.

I don't think Wood has always been a bad player, but it's not unusual for players of his caliber to be toast by only age 27.

And especially not after missing an entire year with a major injury.

 

[Eggtimer]

I'm not particularly interested in extending Sharangovich at 4M. I like the player, but it's pretty clear the coaching staff has no idea what to do with him. If we add Meier that's just going to make the top-6 even more crowded. At this point he is just a glorified PK specialist.

I don't want to give 4M to a guy getting shuttled around the bottom-6 and can't produce at ES because his line mates are Boqvist and Wood or whatever. Especially since they refuse to use him on the PP.

Same . I like Shara but I just don’t see a good fit for him and our roster. He seems like a waste in the bottom 6 and isnt quite perfect in the top 6 (once we round out our roster ). 4 m for a 3rd liner is not tooo crazy , but not ideal and not the type of player I’d like in a bottom 6 role ideally .

 

[Hisch13r]

I'm not particularly interested in extending Sharangovich at 4M. I like the player, but it's pretty clear the coaching staff has no idea what to do with him. If we add Meier that's just going to make the top-6 even more crowded. At this point he is just a glorified PK specialist.

I don't want to give 4M to a guy getting shuttled around the bottom-6 and can't produce at ES because his line mates are Boqvist and Wood or whatever. Especially since they refuse to use him on the PP.

I don't see how he'd be getting 4 mil at this point anyway

 

[Devs3cups]

CJ posted the other day that they were like the 3rd worst xGA team since Marino went down. Subpar is an understatement

Yeah, I figured. So the offense is as advertised. Defense has been rough since Marino went down, that was also predictable.

I expect things to pick back up on D when Marino is back with Graves and Seves can join Smith again on the 3rd pair instead of Bahl/Okh. The 3rd pair has been very bad, regardless of who’s paired with Smith.

 

[Eggtimer]

Same . I like Shara but I just don’t see a good fit for him and our roster. He seems like a waste in the bottom 6 and isnt quite perfect in the top 6 (once we round out our roster ). 4 m for a 3rd liner is not tooo crazy , but not ideal and not the type of player I’d like in a bottom 6 role ideally . It is also disappointing that our bottom 6 hasn’t been great lately . That was a strength at the start of the season. I have no idea how to fix that or what is needed to do that. I wish we could find a way t have a bottom 6 like Seattle . But no way you can afford that when you have elite talent in the top 6. Seattle just has a pile of “good” , not great players so they can make it work for now.

 

[Hisch13r]

Yeah, I figured. So the offense is as advertised. Defense has been rough since Marino went down, that was also predictable.

I expect things to pick back up on D when Marino is back with Graves and Seves can join Smith again on the 3rd pair instead of Bahl/Okh. The 3rd pair has been very bad, regardless of who’s paired with Smith.

It shouldn't have fell off this bad though. It's the same top 4 as last year and we managed to be 14th in xGA last year.

 

[Bleedred]

Yeah, I figured. So the offense is as advertised. Defense has been rough since Marino went down, that was also predictable.

I expect things to pick back up on D when Marino is back with Graves and Seves can join Smith again on the 3rd pair instead of Bahl/Okh. The 3rd pair has been very bad, regardless of who’s paired with Smith.

I thought Smith has been solid this year for the most part, but his last two games have been horrible.

I thought maybe he had some stage fright playing against his brother (not really lol) but he followed it up with a game that was just as worse.

 

[Devs3cups]

It shouldn't have fell off this bad though. It's the same top 4 as last year and we managed to be 14th in xGA last year.

Yeah, I can agree with that. I’m not very concerned though. I expect it to be balanced again once Marino comes back. Sometimes a shakeup like that helps.

 

[Classic Devil]

LW: Hall, Elias, Parise, Kovalchuk, Richer
C: Hughes, Hischier, Holik, Gomez, Zajac
RW: MacLean, Langenbrunner, Sykora, Mogilny, Lemieux

As good as Arnott was, I don't think he makes it.

Edit: wow, Muller may not be on this roster anymore.

I doubt anyone cares, but on reconsideration:

LW: Hall, Elias, Parise, Kovalchuk, Richer
C: Hughes, Hischier, Holik, Muller, Gomez
RW: MacLean, Gionta, Sykora, Mogilny, Lemieux

 

[Call Me Al]

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.

what do you mean, Wood plays the half boards on PP2? It’s one of the most confounding strategies i’ve seen this or any team put out there in years. the guy with no stickhandling or passing ability, average shot at best and limited hockey sense playing a position that requires all of those things when he’s best suited to just parking his ass in front of the net and looking for garbage

 

[Devs3cups]

what do you mean, Wood plays the half boards on PP2? It’s one of the most confounding strategies i’ve seen this or any team put out there in years. the guy with no stickhandling or passing ability, average shot at best and limited hockey sense playing a position that requires all of those things when he’s best suited to just parking his ass in front of the net and looking for garbage

Wood does not belong on PP2. If I was Rango I’d be fuming. I might prefer Boqvist there to be honest.

 

[Louskoolaid89]

CJ posted the other day that they were like the 3rd worst xGA team since Marino went down. Subpar is an understatement



Wood has not been an NHL caliber player for 2 months now

Hahaha I got a friend that is defending Wood and telling me how important he is to this team.

 

[Bleedred]

Hahaha I got a friend that is defending Wood and telling me how important he is to this team.

Was a useful player for a handful of years. The hip might have ended that or maybe he just got old and 27 for a player like him is kind of old.

He’s been unserviceable since the Romanov hit that apparently was not a concussion and he was back the very next game.

Maybe coincidence? Maybe not? At the same time, he was pacing for wayyyyy high career totals about 20 games into the season. Even fans of other teams were talking about how dumb of a contract he was gonna get this off-season.

This is now easily the worst year or his career. Yeah, his rookie season there was a huge debate over his corsi numbers, but he was at least getting a breakaway every 2-3 games because of his insane speed. He’s rarely getting breakaways anymore and when he does, he hasn’t been scoring on any of them.

 

[Louskoolaid89]

Was a useful player for a handful of years. The hip might have ended that or maybe he just got old and 27 for a player like him is kind of old.

He’s been unserviceable since the Romanov hit that apparently was not a concussion and he was back the very next game.

Maybe coincidence? Maybe not? At the same time, he was pacing for wayyyyy high career totals about 20 games into the season. Even fans of other teams were talking about how dumb of a contract he was gonna get this off-season.

This is now easily the worst year or his career. Yeah, his rookie season there was a huge debate over his corsi numbers, but he was at least getting a breakaway every 2-3 games because of his insane speed. He’s rarely getting breakaways anymore and when he does, he hasn’t been scoring on any of them.

Was hoping he could be a poor man's Krieder at his best. Yeah somethings off. Like the guys hustle and heart. Skills aren't getting better like a Blake Coleman's did. Just been a scrub with low hockey iq.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

enough with these guys already

We could really use a defensively responsible hard working forechecker that can chip in some greasy goals to play with McLeod and Bastian. Preferably someone that’s very cheap and wouldn’t have to relocate too far.

 

[Triumph]

It's not the goal scoring with Wood, if he had his normal 4 goals or whatever over this stretch he'd still be awful.

 

[JK3]

I guess I'll get a GDT up, gimme a few.

 

[Rhodes 81]

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

Yeah, but worth pointing out that over the past 30 days we're still middle of the pack in HDCF%, SCF%, and with xGF% we're closer to 20th than we are to the next team down. We haven't been controlling the perimeter game the way the way we were, but last night constantly giving up prime chance after prime chance and not generating our own was the extreme example. Take out last night from the same sample set and our xGF% jumps 4 spots.

Not to say they've been great or anything, just closer to average than bad.

 

[Devs3cups]

I guess I'll get a GDT up, gimme a few.

JK3 to the rescue!!!

Yeah, but worth pointing out that over the past 30 days we're still middle of the pack in HDCF%, SCF%, and with xGF% we're closer to 20th than we are to the next team down. We haven't been controlling the perimeter game the way the way we were, but last night constantly giving up prime chance after prime chance and not generating our own was the extreme example. Take out last night from the same sample set and our xGF% jumps 4 spots.

Not to say they've been great or anything, just closer to average than bad.

Also, looking strictly at our xGF, we’re 7th in the last month. The offense is as advertised, D has taken a hit since Marino’s been out.

 

[Eggtimer]

It shouldn't have fell off this bad though. It's the same top 4 as last year and we managed to be 14th in xGA last year.

I think Marino’s play plus the tickle down effect of players sliding down to their proper parings and who comes out of the lineup is a bigger deal than I thought.
Having consistent pairs and handing out the right amount of minutes to each pair is important. Doesn’t overplay our top guys and with Marino in, it’s a very good group 1-6 .

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Meier-Hughes-Mercer
Palat-Nico-Bratt
Tatar-Haula-Sharangovich
Parise-McLeod-Bastian

Rotate in Z for Bastian if he can’t find his game. Let’s go Fitz.

 

[Bleedred]

We could really use a defensively responsible hard working forechecker that can chip in some greasy goals to play with McLeod and Bastian. Preferably someone that’s very cheap and wouldn’t have to relocate too far.

He'd for sure be an upgrade.

What is Wood better at than him at this point? He's faster?

I have a hard time believing they'll healthy scratch him and that if we did pick up a guy like him, that he'd be on the 4th line and not on the 3rd line lol.

I've still been waiting for him to be a healthy scratch and he's not.