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

[Better Call Sal]

So some people really want to pull the C off Nico and think that somehow solves a problem?

This stuff about Nico’s leadership is such subjective nonsense. He is the absolute last player on this team that I’m looking to call out in terms of needing change. There is so much else that can be pointed towards that is actually having an impact on the psyche of this team. His play as a leader is not even close to one of them.

 

[Team Concept]

1988-1989 was real bad. Missed the playoffs after reaching the conference finals and one win away from the Stanley Cup finals.

It did get us Brendan Shanahan though who ultimately got us Scott Stevens.

 

[Billdo]

Called that weeks ago. There’s something cooking in that room so whatever coach they bring in won’t matter if they don’t fix that. Is it the Hughes brothers? Vets clashing with the kids? I’m not saying Nico has been a terrible captain but they just need a total complete reset one of the ways no captain next year.

This is asinine. Calling for Nico's C is just absurd.

 

[OlfactoryHughes]

This is asinine. Calling for Nico's C is just absurd.

Annnd I’m sure would make things worse, and not better. This season just needs to end, and fitz need to go to work on our next coach, goalie, and team identity

 

[JimEIV]

The Devils are tied for 9th worst with Buffalo and Pittsburgh; the Kraken are tied in points but have a game in hand. This can go any way, but also if they finish 10th worst, they're twice as likely to move back as they are to move up. A regulation loss yesterday did make it more likely that they select 9th or 10th, but even if they finish at 10th, there's still an 19% chance that they are picking 11th or 12th.

Devils are tied for 8th worst not 9th worst.... your initial claim was a top 10 pick isn't very likely....you wanna bet on that?

Worst list:
1. San Jose .295
2. Chicago. 306
3. Anaheim .366
4. Columbus .425
5. Arizona .449
6. Montreal .455
7. Ottawa .462
8. New Jersey .507 9. Buffalo .507
10. Pittsburgh .508
11. Seattle .515
12. Calgary .530

 

[My3Sons]

Still think it is the top-down catering to the Hughes golden boys. They are allowed to run rampant without any accountability. That has to be fixed. But I have serious doubts it will be.

I agree this is Team Hughes. Nico as captain is subject those two getting their way which i suspect is something that comes from the top down. I think both Hughes brothers are sharp kids and very competitive. My guess is the right coach will communicate with them to help them define their games a bit more. With Luke we are dealing with a 20 year old kid in his first real season with no minor league seasoning. Jack is out there with one arm. That’s not easy in the NHL. The situation is not irredeemable and it’s probably fixed relatively easily but Nico is captain of a ship built by someone else and that would be true of any other player as captain

 

[MartyOwns]

Berube is available now, but I’m not sure I think he’s good. I’m skeptical he’s any good.

And I don’t blame him for the decline in St. Louis, but I just kind of think he caught fire with Yeo getting fired and him already being an assistant there and becoming interim head coach after that.

imo, berube needs a steve ott type with him behind the bench, which is why i wouldn’t mind him and elias/brylin/salvador back there with him.

i don’t see sullivan getting fired this summer, so he’s out. gallant is ok, but he’s not my first choice. more than anything, i’d prefer we go with someone who isn’t a retread from the good ol boys club, but who the hell knows who that could be.

this summer could determine fitz’s fate in nj, so i expect him to make some pretty big changes personnel wise.

 

[JimEIV]

Coaching, goaltending, defense...

Those things are structural and it's a damn shame. We should be way past the point of making structural changes after 9 years of rebuilding.

This May is a decade since Lou was relieved of his duties and if we do an honest retrospect, it's been a f***ing disaster. 9 summers whatever....next season is the 10th.

This season set the organization back years.

 

[MartyOwns]

This season set the organization back years.

how? we need a coach and a goalie, and maybe a couple of ufa additions. it’s really not as dramatic as all that.

 

[JimEIV]

how? we need a coach and a goalie, and maybe a couple of ufa additions. it’s really not as dramatic as all that.

There is a lot of missing depth both at forward and defense.

We need a goalie

You need a coach...a new coach is obviously going to run something very different from Ruff ...I would argue Hynes to Ruff is fastly different styles of play and we're about to do one of those vastly different styles of play shifts again....3 times in 9 years ...that to me says the organization has no idea what it wants to be.

So there's a ton of personnel changes that have to made in goal, defense and forward depth but the much bigger problem is that philosophy of style STILL hasn't been identified 9 years in. This is a mess...

We could change coaches every other week under Lou and we were ALWAYS going to play the same style of game... we're still trying to find ourselves almost decade later now

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Coaching, goaltending, defense...

Those things are structural and it's a damn shame. We should be way past the point of making structural changes after 9 years of rebuilding.

This May is a decade since Lou was relieved of his duties and if we do an honest retrospect, it's been a f***ing disaster. 9 summers whatever....next season is the 10th.

This season set the organization back years.

Our two most important defensemen were like 11 years old when Lou was last here.

We really weren’t set back at all. Valuable experience for the rookie D and we still own our 1st. That’s either going to be used on potentially big time player or used to trade for a goalie.

The disastrous season that “set us back” a couple years ago led to Nemec and was immediately followed by an amazing year. Of course the winning has to come with more consistency at some point, but this is still such a young group.

 

[JimEIV]

Our two most important defensemen were like 11 years old when Lou was last here.

We really weren’t set back at all. Valuable experience for the rookie D and we still own our 1st. That’s either going to be used on potentially big time player or used to trade for a goalie.

The disastrous season that “set us back” a couple years ago led to Nemec and was immediately followed by an amazing year. Of course the winning has to come with more consistency at some point, but this is still such a young group.

Failing and picking and failing picking...we start to look real stupid after a decade of doing it.

 

[Guttersniped]

1) Sure, let's ignore their ages 6 years ago. Everyone knew they were screwed this year and most knew it last year as well.

2) However, even this year, their roster wasn't THAT bad. Certainly not bad enough to completely no show dozens of games and get their doors blown off. They are prob the only team with talent in the league that no shows games more often than the Devs.

3) For the last time, this team clearly has a culture problem. They don't have a strong Captain or locker room contingent. So they need a strong coach/staff to balance it out that isn't afraid to ruffle some feathers. No kid glove bs. Sullivan isn't that.

There roster is not good, they rode the fumes of their system and were lucky to get some excellent goaltending earlier in the season.

If your best player is 36 years old your roster is not good. (And if they’re 41, like the 2013-14 NJ Devils, you’re really not good.)

Fans always think teams that aren’t winning always have a culture problem and teams that win don’t. Ergo, the culture talk is hypothetical nonsense since no one here has any access to that locker-room.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Failing and picking and failing picking...we start to look real stupid after a decade of doing it.

Far better than the cycle of mediocrity. Sucking major ass has some benefits. This was an “everything goes wrong” season. It’s hard to really put it all on the way the team was constructed.

 

[JimEIV]

Far better than the cycle of mediocrity. Sucking major ass has some benefits. This was an “everything goes wrong” season. It’s hard to really put it all on the way the team was constructed.

This teams fans have been chanting fire Lindy for years... beyond the injuries there is so much wrong right now...

At the very basic level this team doesn't even know what style they want to play. Since late January this team has looked like Stevens/Oates hockey of just breaking everything down to basic level. This shouldn't be the case going into year 6 after drafting our second #1OA. And next year will be no doubt another new direction. Just like Hynes was from Stevens/Oates and Ruff was from Hynes.

Forget about players this lack of vision is disheartening.

 

[tailfins]

Far better than the cycle of mediocrity. Sucking major ass has some benefits. This was an “everything goes wrong” season. It’s hard to really put it all on the way the team was constructed.

Major copium.

The Devils 2012 run to the finals was awesome. So much fun to watch. A deep playoff run every few years would be amazing. This BS of winning multiple cups is just that. No one can predict the future - life can intervene on even the best of plans.

No one should be happy about losing year after year. You can hope something positive comes out of it, but the risks outweigh the benefits to do it intentionally.

 

[Guadana]

Stamkos was captain when they missed playoff twice after being in play off.
It’s ok to miss some playoff years. Bad players should be changed for good. Bad coaching should be changed. Etc. stay with a core, find better complimentary pieces, work on defense etc. injuries will not hurt us every year. But I believe it would be not the last one when they will hurt, hope they will figure it out next time better.

A lot of work but a lot of drama. Luke, Simon, Jack, Dawson are very young.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Major copium.

The Devils 2012 run to the finals was awesome. So much fun to watch. A deep playoff run every few years would be amazing. This BS of winning multiple cups is just that. No one can predict the future - life can intervene on even the best of plans.

No one should be happy about losing year after year. You can hope something positive comes out of it, but the risks outweigh the benefits to do it intentionally.

Not copium at all. Who the hell doesn’t want to win? The only way we were missing the playoffs this year was this unbelievable concoction of things going wrong, including a player leaving for legal reasons. Just an insane amount went bad.

Without any doubt across most of the sports world, it is better to suck and bring in top talent than just chug along with no hope of winning anything plus no top picks.

 

[Guadana]

Devils are tied for 8th worst not 9th worst.... your initial claim was a top 10 pick isn't very likely....you wanna bet on that?

Worst list:
1. San Jose .295
2. Chicago. 306
3. Anaheim .366
4. Columbus .425
5. Arizona .449
6. Montreal .455
7. Ottawa .462
8. New Jersey .507 9. Buffalo .507
10. Pittsburgh .508
11. Seattle .515
12. Calgary .530

Top-8 opportunity is a huge piece on this draft. I can’t see how we will break top-7, but 8-9-10 place can bring very solid piece to the core.

 

[NJDevs26]

Still think it is the top-down catering to the Hughes golden boys. They are allowed to run rampant without any accountability. That has to be fixed. But I have serious doubts it will be.

Which in itself is an issue…Nico is the captain but it’s the other star center who has the ear of Fitz more

 

[Guttersniped]

Major copium.

The Devils 2012 run to the finals was awesome. So much fun to watch. A deep playoff run every few years would be amazing. This BS of winning multiple cups is just that. No one can predict the future - life can intervene on even the best of plans.

No one should be happy about losing year after year. You can hope something positive comes out of it, but the risks outweigh the benefits to do it intentionally.

No one does it “intentionally”, tanking is like bankruptcy, you do it because you’re already losing and can’t figure out how to win with what you have.

This team fought the realities of the rebuild process under both Lou and Shero. Half-assing the process is what drags it out longer. And that process, even when done “well”, can get ugly and take time.

The only “copium” I remember is this organization pretending we were competitive when we weren’t even close.

What happened years ago, under different GMs, with different players on the roster doesn’t have much at all to do with this season.

Last year and future success isn’t a product of a decade of losing. We didn’t get much of anything for a lot of that.

If you don’t see a player on the team, or a current asset from a trade tree, coming from picks or trades from those years then we got nothing for that losing.

It’s about now. If Fitz keeps struggling then he’ll get fired too. That’s sports.

 

[Guttersniped]

Still think it is the top-down catering to the Hughes golden boys. They are allowed to run rampant without any accountability. That has to be fixed. But I have serious doubts it will be.

Everyone is down on Jack because he isn’t producing at a superstar rate and that’s because he’s injured.

He should stop gutting it out for the team, since all it’s leading to is a portion of the fanbase thinks he’s a bad person when he’s not scoring.

No doubt his teammates don’t care or appreciate his playing hurt, and mostly fume about lack of “accountability” because Fitz was mean to Holtz in a presser.

 

[devilsblood]

I agree this is Team Hughes. Nico as captain is subject those two getting their way which i suspect is something that comes from the top down. I think both Hughes brothers are sharp kids and very competitive. My guess is the right coach will communicate with them to help them define their games a bit more. With Luke we are dealing with a 20 year old kid in his first real season with no minor league seasoning. Jack is out there with one arm. That’s not easy in the NHL. The situation is not irredeemable and it’s probably fixed relatively easily but Nico is captain of a ship built by someone else and that would be true of any other player as captain

I agree with this. Which would make the captaincy here in NJ very difficult for any player.

I'd like to see(not that it would be out in the open) Nico take charge a bit more, but yeah, tough gig given the young egos(don't mean this negatively per se) on the team.

 

[Maine Fan]

OK, they changed goalies and are still losing. I know a small sample.

they changed coaches but going from Ruff to Travis Green is not much of a change if one at all. they are still losing.

I have said all season "weak Defense." Yes in the off season they traded into a poor balance of youth and veteran defensemen. that remains while they are losing

all season, knowing we had a very bad defensive unit plus weak goalies I asked the coaches to get the offensive unit more involved with the defense and that never happened.

No big deal now, but unless the Devils get back to a strong defense they will continue to struggle.

In the Off Season Fitz needs to change the balance of the defensemen, returns of injured players will help plus Fitz needs to get another strong veteran D guy. then we have the D youth, great D to youth to build and maintain our defense in the future.

In the off season: we need a starting #1 starting goalie we now have 2 backups to pick from as backup plus a couple of young goalies coming along.

In the off season: we need a Head Coach that can play the mix for each game strategy, get us deep into the playoffs, the offense is there it just needs to be properly coached. Travis Green can't do this, his history as an HC says so, Vancouver fans say so, and hopefully, Devils fans say so...are you listening Fitz?

if the Devils, Fitz, gets the above goals in the off season, then 2024-25 is going to be the start of the new, stronger, aggressive, defensive New Jersey Devils. A base to build on each season, to win the Cup again and keep it. Look at the talent they have on offense, a great Captain with terrific assistants. Just get me a #1 Starting goalie, a HC and an improved defense.

The Future could look bright for the Devils for a long time.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Where is the proof that Jack is the secret GM?