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

[Mgd31]

Experience and veteran leadership are huge in the playoffs, especially on a team that won't have very many people who have been there/done that. Maybe putting him on the 3rd line was relying too much on my memory of him being a stellar defensive pest for those Penguins cups, but I don't imagine he'll be all that expensive. He's an upgrade over Miles Wood, that's certain.

Sure, he would be better than Wood. But I am targeting Parise for an upgrade there instead.

 

[Better Call Sal]

We needed a compilation of the Vitek this Monday morning.

 

[Cheddabombs]

We needed a compilation of the Vitek this Monday morning.

He's so wholesome

 

[Bleedred]

Sure, he would be better than Wood. But I am targeting Parise for an upgrade there instead.

I have this feeling that Lou isn't gonna sell him off lol.

He didn't trade Greene or Chara last deadline, but I think the biggest difference is that Parise is a more productive player right now than either of them were a year ago. Neither of them had anything left in the tank at all. So I don't even think anyone would have wanted either unless it was for a 7th or something.

I'm pretty sure no one was going to sign either of them this past offseason either, especially if Lou wasn't going to again.

Parise will probably get another one year deal if chooses, which is probably gonna be from Lou lol.

 

[NjDevsRR]

We needed a compilation of the Vitek this Monday morning.

 

[Clam Jensen]

"That quiet old barn where the top marketing/entertainment effort was one guy with a trumpet was an absolute madhouse and the parking lot was even better."

Holy smokes this is a great line. It's so simple, descriptive and accurate that I can almost see it and smell it


My photo from my parade album.

My dad has the hat Dano had on, one of my all time favorite hats.

We needed a compilation of the Vitek this Monday morning.

How can you not love him.

 

[GameSeven]

I had blonde hair with a black beard, now I'm blonde with a grey beard.

I'll say that '88 thing was so wild and unexpected and pure fun like we shouldn't have been there with the kids.

The 93-94 run was my favorite bc that was man shit and we just wouldn't quit despite everything against us. The frigging fistfights in the cattle chute and Flyers/Rangers fans everywhere. Siege mentality. And Marty was sooooooo good.

The 94-95 was as sweet as it gets bc we just fulfilled prophecy. After the previous years baptism by fire... By the time the first round was done we were going to win the cup. It wasn't going to be easy, but that and the '86 Celtics and maybe one of the Golden State teams were as close as I've seen to just a pure winning machine. If we got one goal it was over.

The Stevens 2000 year was almost as great bc of the ALine and seeing one player on defense just singlehandedly devastate opponent after opponent.

Nothing tops being in the building that 95 year though. That quiet old barn where the top marketing/entertainment effort was one guy with a trumpet was an absolute madhouse and the parking lot was even better.

2023? I am in. After how tough this has been the past ten, it's going to be fun watch this team climb that mountain. It's a tall one.

I wish I could find video of the old cow tunnel so the new generation of NJ fans could experience it. The thing literally feeling like it could collapse over the highway with thundering chants after big wins. Feet stomping and banging on the sides in unison. Groups of guys mooing when it crawled to a standstill. Smell of the pretzels guys were hawking at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Nubmer6]

My dad has the hat Dano had on, one of my all time favorite hats.

I have a few... Unworn I think. Want one?

 

[JimEIV]

My dad has the hat Dano had on, one of my all time favorite hats.

How can you not love him.

So do I with the cup hologram sticker still on it.

It's in the garage on shelf somewhere probably covered in dust.

 

[Bleedred]

Somehow I'm 54 and still have only a little white in my hair.

I really wish I could recapture that feeling of the magical 88 run. That and 95 were the happiest I've been in my life. I'm hoping this year creates that for the younger fans that never got to experience it.

I have a little on my head, but maybe it's more than a little. I shave the sides to a zero every couple of weeks, so it never grows in enough to really notice much of it, but I see the tiny strands, especially when light or the sun shines on it. I don't shave the top of my head, but I don't see many up there, but I do have a few really long pieces assorted throughout the top of my head. They're not even in patches, but just weird assorted ones in different spots on top, which I can really only see if I look at myself for a really long time.

My beard is really gray though. Not that I grow it much, but there's a ton of gray stubble. There wasn't much in my 2012 playoff beard from what I remember, but just a few pieces. Normal for a 30-something year old. I noticed it a lot in my 2018 playoff beard a lot and I'm sure the 2023 one will really be brutally gray. My sideburns are also really gray, but I keep those shaved down, along with the rest of the side of my head.

At least my hands still look really young. That's one compliment I always get when people see my hands. ''your hands look like a kid's!''.

 

[JimEIV]

I was here this night and I got hit with a bottle...100% true story. Bled a lot too.

Freaking car was on fire and two dudes jumped from the top section into the lower bowl during the show.

Man I miss that arena.

 

[Saugus]

We needed a compilation of the Vitek this Monday morning.

Being a goalie buys you some space to be weird. Being a good goalie means they like you because you're weird.

 

[njdevil26]

Maybe we will go one day without a source telling us we're probably getting Meier. My expectations are at an all time high for acquiring a player we don't have.

 

[glenwo2]

We needed a compilation of the Vitek this Monday morning.

Gonna also miss Matt doing these interviews.

 

[Unknown Caller]

I'd sort of assume that the Sharks have scouts, and that those scouts see/hear the same things us fans hear. Casey's ceiling is dramatically bigger than Muk, so it wouldn't surprise me all too much if that's who they target.

They won't compete for a few years, I'd be surprised if NHL-readiness is something they care much about. They probably say that out loud as lip-service to their fans, though.

I thought the comment wondering if the Sharks "ever even heard about Casey" was a joke. Of course they know who Casey is way more intimately than we do as fans, and I'm sure he'll be their first ask over Mukhamadullin.

 

[Bleedred]

I was here this night and I got hit with a bottle...100% true story. Bled a lot too.

Freaking car was on fire and two dudes jumped from the top section into the lower bowl during the show.

Man I miss that arena.

I wonder what it looks like today? I'd pay $100 bucks to tour the inside of it just on the concourse levels and $200 bucks if it included a tour of the downstairs/locker room area.

In my head I see old zamboni's wrapped in spider webs, with rats and roaches crawling around everywhere downstairs.

Somehow, I don't think it looks as decrepit as I'm imagining, as I remember seeing something that it was still being used for some kind of rehearsal space as of just fairly recently.

I remember thinking how dated the concourse levels looked in like the late 90's/early 00's when the building was only even 15-20 years old. And after the Nashville stuff, talk of a new arena (in Hoboken) was already rampant by the late 90's.

I have some early childhood memories of being on the turnpike and the building going up. I was probably so young that I really shouldn't be able to have any recollection of it whatsoever. Especially since I didn't really understand what it was. We were probably going down the shore or something. It looked very much like that old picture that's easily found online when doing an image search, of just the steel frame of the building, which is like the only real picture you can find of that building under construction.

I'm pretty sure I went there to see the circus maybe the first year it was open?

 

[Unknown Caller]

Maybe we will go one day without a source telling us we're probably getting Meier. My expectations are at an all time high for acquiring a player we don't have.

I haven't seen a single source say the Devils are "probably getting Meier," which is why I'm trying to pump the brakes to an extent. Every source has confirmed the Devils have interest (which is obvious at this point), but I don't think I've heard anyone say the Devils are frontrunners or anything is even close at this point.

More than 50% of the time in these situations, a team other than the perceived front runner winds up landing the player. We can be confident that the Devils are making calls for him, but anything else is just smoke.

 

[Bleedred]

Does anybody remember when the Devils used to do a skills competition around all star break, with just our players? We may have also used the AHL players, I can't remember. Apparently some teams are doing this nowadays, as I saw something the other day where some team was having one at their arena for fans.

I can't remember what year we stopped doing them, but it had to be welllllll before the move to Newark.

I went to one probably in 92 (maybe 91?) with a couple of friends. We went with a friend who was a little bit older and already had his license and could drive.

I don't remember what I ate before I went there or if I just already had a stomach bug, but I remember being in the restroom for most of the event. Everybody was mad at me because they had to keep venturing up to the restroom to make sure I didn't go missing in the arena or venturing off somewhere or abducted lol. I kind of got the oldest one who drove us a little annoyed, because he didn't wanna be responsible for a 15-16 year old that got lost at the event, all because he couldn't stop shitting.

It had to be pretty bad, as I don't normally like to use public restrooms AT ALL and never have.

We all still laugh about it to this day, but some of them don't really remember me being in the restroom for a lot of it.

 

[JimEIV]

I wonder what it looks like today? I'd pay $100 bucks to tour the inside of it just on the concourse levels and $200 bucks if it included a tour of the downstairs/locker room area.

In my head I see old zamboni's wrapped in spider webs, with rats and roaches crawling around everywhere downstairs.

Somehow, I don't think it looks as decrepit as I'm imagining, as I remember seeing something that it was still being used for some kind of rehearsal space as of just fairly recently.

I remember thinking how dated the concourse levels looked in like the late 90's/early 00's when the building was only even 15-20 years old. And after the Nashville stuff, talk of a new arena (in Hoboken) was already rampant by the late 90's.

I have some early childhood memories of being on the turnpike and the building going up. I was probably so young that I really shouldn't be able to have any recollection of it whatsoever. Especially since I didn't really understand what it was. We were probably going down the shore or something. It looked very much like that old picture that's easily found online when doing an image search, of just the steel frame of the building, which is like the only real picture you can find of that building under construction.

I'm pretty sure I went there to see the circus maybe the first year it was open?

A tour would be awesome. I definitely would do that.

I saw so many events there. Concerts, circus, Nets, Indoor Box lacrosse, monster trucks, motocross... random stuff.

It was less than 30 minutes from my house to the parking lot. Depending on RT 3 traffic I could get there as quick as 15 minutes. My friends and I would go without tickets and pick them up either in the parking lot or at the box office day of. It didn't matter what it was, we had nothing else better to do . Stuff was so cheap I paid a dude $5 for a lacrosse game ticket once.

 

[Mgd31]

I have this feeling that Lou isn't gonna sell him off lol.

He didn't trade Greene or Chara last deadline, but I think the biggest difference is that Parise is a more productive player right now than either of them were a year ago. Neither of them had anything left in the tank at all. So I don't even think anyone would have wanted either unless it was for a 7th or something.

I'm pretty sure no one was going to sign either of them this past offseason either, especially if Lou wasn't going to again.

Parise will probably get another one year deal if chooses, which is probably gonna be from Lou lol.

Yea I could also see Lou retaining him just because

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

you simply love to see it

 

[Bleedred]

A tour would be awesome. I definitely would do that.

I saw so many events there. Concerts, circus, Nets, Indoor Box lacrosse, monster trucks, motocross... random stuff.

It was less than 30 minutes from my house to the parking lot. Depending on RT 3 traffic I could get there as quick as 15 minutes. My friends and I would go without tickets and pick them up either in the parking lot or at the box office day of. It didn't matter what it was, we had nothing else better to do . Stuff was so cheap I paid a dude $5 for a lacrosse game ticket once.

I've saw a lot of different stuff there too.

It was only like 15-20 minutes from my hometown, turnpike south or route 17 for the backway, traffic pending.

I think the last event I saw there was actually arenacross and I can't remember if that was 2008 or 2010. It was definitely post-Devils move to Newark.

I've seen ice shows there, wrestling. Monday Night Raw tapings, monster trucks.

I think I even saw Sesame Street live lol. I was probably 17-18, but I went with my friend's family and his younger siblings, who were all like 6-12 years old. I may have even seen a Sesame Street live type of thing wayyyyyy back in the early to mid 80's when I was a little kid.

I remember seeing the circus when I was like 2-3 years old, which couldn't have been at the Meadowlands, as that arena wasn't there yet. I know I went a few years later when it was open. I went at 2-3 years old to what I believe was Nassau Coliseum, but family members claimed it was MSG. We may have went to the circus at MSG, which I have no memory of, but this particular time couldn't have been MSG, as I remember the layout outside and even sitting on the steps you walk up in front of the building. There was a huge parking lot, there were buses everywhere. MSG doesn't have any of that, as it's in the middle of the city. Going back to Nassau at other times later in my life always triggered that memory, so I know that's where it was.

 

[My3Sons]

I have a few... Unworn I think. Want one?

I have two in unsullied condition never having been worn. I have one that I still wear once in a blue moon.

 

[JimEIV]

you simply love to see it

View attachment 643893

Kind of weird the graphic creator felt the need to project his numbers for each year? It almost looks deceptive if you don't know any better and glance quick.

 

[Whaddagoal]

We needed a compilation of the Vitek this Monday morning.

I never realized he used the 3rd person MORE than once. "The Vitek" AND "Stay me, stay my Vitek"

I thought it was only one time....