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

[Camille the Eel]

I missed all the post game interviews after the Wings game . Did Ruff and the players say / think they played well ? It would be somewhat worrisome if they did because they played like shit in my opinion . Passing was off , didn’t look that fast etc etc . VV made some huge stops and they capitalized on their chances , otherwise they didn’t play the way they usually play . Was pretty mediocre effort from what I seen ?

I thought their exits from the zone were a lot more methodical and organized than for the past few weeks, that the forwards weren't getting so far away up the ice from the defensemen and were coming back and putting themselves in position for not just one short pass but a series of 2 or 3 short passes to outflank the Wings' forecheck. And that similarly, moving through center ice we saw three men parallel with the puck and the defense not far behind so we had a 5 man unit with passing options.

That was a big improvement. It's something we had forgot about for a long time.

True we got pinned in by their forecheck a good deal but generally it was for a shift and didn't extend. The only time I remember successive shifts of us just not being able to clear our zone was in the second period when the game's first penalty was called against us.

 

[My3Sons]

Oh, I get why people jokes but these guys don’t want to quit and I get tired of people imaging these are all elaborate cover stories.

People accused Johnny Boychuk of faking his reason of retiring too. I watched his Zoom press conference, it was pretty emotional, he wasn’t faking anything.

Boychuk got cut in the eye with a skate in March 2020 and then came back for 3 games in the bubble playoffs. When he was concussed by a check from a player he didn’t see coming he realized doctors underestimated how much of his peripheral vision was effected by the eye surgery.

There were dumb debates about this on the main board, like the concussion and lost peripheral vision was some made-up cover story for some Lou’s LTIR cap shenanigans. As opposed to, you know, just the truth. Boychuk was crying at his press conference and I doubt it was over the joy he had from blessing the Isle’s with more cap flexibility.

If Mr Robidas Island could LTIR anyone he wanted then Andrew Ladd’s useless ass wouldn’t have been sitting on his roster for two years and he wouldn’t have had to pay the Coyotes a 2022 2nd & 2023 3rd to take him for the last two years of his deal.

As someone who has a child with a chronic auto-immune condition I'll add that if Hossa was a few years younger and this only presented itself in the last few years he'd have had the option of numerous new medications that treat the condition. There were also other tests he could have undergone to find out which environmental factors were the most irritating to his system and he could have mitigated those as well. He probably could have finished his career on his terms. This is the first time this level of detail about his condition has been publicized to my knowledge. If his condition has gone into remission in retirement without the use of medication that tells me it was almost certainly environmental and somebody didn't test him properly once it developed. Again, maybe it was the timing and in today's world he would have been treated with a better approach.

 

[MartyOwns]

amazing that hossa couldn’t continue anymore once his salary dropped to $1M a season. and amazing that he didn’t retire, just went on long term injury.

i’m not doubting he has a condition, but he was perfectly willing to get treatment when he was making bank. he was never going to play those last few years and literally everybody knew it when the deal was signed. that’s why those deals aren’t permitted anymore.

 

[Triumph]

amazing that hossa couldn’t continue anymore once his salary dropped to $1M a season. and amazing that he didn’t retire, just went on long term injury.

i’m not doubting he has a condition, but he was perfectly willing to get treatment when he was making bank. he was never going to play those last few years and literally everybody knew it when the deal was signed. that’s why those deals aren’t permitted anymore.

Why would he quit playing when his salary dropped? He still made the salary anyway. Plenty of guys haven't done that. It's one thing to sign a contract at 27 that implies a player will retire in some year, quite another to get to that year and want to keep playing.

 

[Saugus]

3 on 3 OT is going to be glorious to watch as well

No doubt. We can use another defenseman with that much offensive creativity to complement Hamilton. But I think there will be some growing pains with his decision making with the puck during OT.

Luke seems like just as much of a gambler with the puck as Jack does, and that will be infuriating the first time it results in a 2 on 0 breakaway goal against in OT. But I think he will be a net positive in those situations.

 

[Nocashstyle]

I’m hoping we get to see Holtz play an extended string of games with confidence. The difference was night and day

 

[devilsblood]

The NHL has the stats on their site, this is readily accessible. (Edit: For some reason it doesn’t directly link to it but this is under Team Statistics “Shots By Type” report.)

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

Tip In Goals:
View attachment 630545View attachment 630546
View attachment 630552

Deflections:
View attachment 630553
View attachment 630549View attachment 630550

Guess I can go to the site myself, but I would liked to see how we compare to the best teams.

Also, and I risk looking dumb here, deflections vs tips? Is that body vs stick?

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

The truth is almost all NHL players around age 36+ have chronic health problems, and can use them to LTIRetire.

 

[devilsblood]

I’m hoping we get to see Holtz play an extended string of games with confidence. The difference was night and day

Need a name for the Wood McLeod Holtz line.

Only thing we need to look at are the goals and points columns.

You did feel compelled to chime in while Wood was in the midst of a point production drought.....

 

[Nocashstyle]

No doubt. We can use another defenseman with that much offensive creativity to complement Hamilton. But I think there will be some growing pains with his decision making with the puck during OT.

Luke seems like just as much of a gambler with the puck as Jack does, and that will be infuriating the first time it results in a 2 on 0 breakaway goal against in OT. But I think he will be a net positive in those situations.

There’s no doubt that Luke plays a high risk game. When someone like Luke makes a mistake, it always seems to be egregious, and even further amplified by the fact that he’s a defenseman. However, with Luke’s talent and skillset, it definitely seems like the good will greatly outweigh the bad.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

With Dallas' loss last night, we're back up to #2 in the league in goal differential behind Boston

 

[MartyOwns]

Why would he quit playing when his salary dropped? He still made the salary anyway. Plenty of guys haven't done that. It's one thing to sign a contract at 27 that implies a player will retire in some year, quite another to get to that year and want to keep playing.

because he wasn’t going to go through the grind making slightly more than league minimum.

i mean honestly, when he signed that contract did you anticipate him playing those final years? of course not, everybody knew what that contract was. it’s laughable to think otherwise.

 

[HBK27]

amazing that hossa couldn’t continue anymore once his salary dropped to $1M a season. and amazing that he didn’t retire, just went on long term injury.

i’m not doubting he has a condition, but he was perfectly willing to get treatment when he was making bank. he was never going to play those last few years and literally everybody knew it when the deal was signed. that’s why those deals aren’t permitted anymore.

Why would he retire when he had a legit medical condition that prevented him from playing and he could keep collecting a salary?

As the article stated, the condition kept getting worse each year and he went so far as taking medication for it that was risky enough that could affect him in the future and that he was getting his blood tested every two weeks. Seems he pushed things as far as it could go - even if he went on LTIR a season or two earlier, he still would've collected his full pay so I'm not sure what you are getting at. You're just tossing accusations out there with nothing to back it up - it was very common at the time of Hossa's signing to have front loaded contracts. He was still productive his final season with 26 goals in 73 games and finishing 14th in Selke voting as a winger - all without being able to practice much with the team given his condition. Saying he always planned on retiring at that point is just baseless speculation on your part.

 

[NJDevs26]

The Hossa optics looked so bad you actually think there’s truth to it just because if it wasn’t true it’d be such a lameass, predictable excuse.

 

[Rhodes 81]

There’s no doubt that Luke plays a high risk game. When someone like Luke makes a mistake, it always seems to be egregious, and even further amplified by the fact that he’s a defenseman. However, with Luke’s talent and skillset, it definitely seems like the good will greatly outweigh the bad.

With all of the posters here that are convinced Severson is trash, reading through all of this when Hughes is here is going to be a goddamn treat.

 

[devilsblood]

because he wasn’t going to go through the grind making slightly more than league minimum.

i mean honestly, when he signed that contract did you anticipate him playing those final years? of course not, everybody knew what that contract was. it’s laughable to think otherwise.

I think you have a point in that, he dealt with the problem while he was making good money, but didn't think it was worth it anymore when that money was not as good.

But the issue looks real, and if not for the issue he probably would have kept playing, as he was still a good player.
Given the story posted, I don't see this as a scam.

 

[MartyOwns]

Why would he retire when he had a legit medical condition that prevented him from playing and he could keep collecting a salary?

As the article stated, the condition kept getting worse each year and he went so far as taking medication for it that was risky enough that could affect him in the future and that he was getting his blood tested every two weeks. Seems he pushed things as far as it could go - even if he went on LTIR a season or two earlier, he still would've collected his full pay so I'm not sure what you are getting at. You're just tossing accusations out there with nothing to back it up - it was very common at the time of Hossa's signing to have front loaded contracts. He was still productive his final season with 26 goals in 73 games and finishing 14th in Selke voting as a winger - all without being able to practice much with the team given his condition. Saying he always planned on retiring at that point is just baseless speculation on your part.

it didn’t prevent him from playing lol.

last time we went through this, i literally provided a slovakian interview he gave where he said everyone knew he wasn’t going to finish that contract. it wasn’t a secret. i’ll ask you the same question, did you think he intended to play when his salary dropped to $1M? literally EVERYONE knew he wouldn’t, and because of bullshit contracts like this the league doesn’t allow them anymore.

if you want to believe his stopping of treatments when his salary dropped was one big wacky coincidence, you do that. everyone else knew what this was when he signed it.

 

[devilsblood]

With all of the posters here that are convinced Severson is trash, reading through all of this when Hughes is here is going to be a goddamn treat.

But Hughes should be way more dynamic, which we will balance against his warts.

Luke is also 19 years old, while Sev's is 28.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

Dunno if posted yet, but Schmid has been called up.

 

[NJDevs26]

Luke will get more benefit of the doubt over Severson for a variety of reasons:

-#4 overall pick
-He’s a Hughes
-He does have much higher upside
-He (likely) won’t be around when the team is shitty for years thereby being identified with said shittiness like Sevs
-Because of the Rachel Doerrie nonsense

 

[None Shall Pass]

With all of the posters here that are convinced Severson is trash, reading through all of this when Hughes is here is going to be a goddamn treat.

Funny you mention that. Last night was Severson's first point, of any kind, since December 1. Over that stretch, that ties him with Marino and beats Okhotyuk, and that's it as far as our defensemen go.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Beautiful
(unless it means VV is hurt)

Best case Blackwood has been traded

 

[None Shall Pass]

OH THE INTRIGUE

Please be okay Vitek

 

[youryeah]

 

[bossram]

You did feel compelled to chime in while Wood was in the midst of a point production drought.....

It was actually someone else who posted Cordell's tweet about Wood's slump (which had more information than points).