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

[njdevil26]

This season is starting to really become beyond demoralizing.

It's not like the team isn't trying... they just don't have it.

I've gone from anger to depression to acceptance.

Anything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong.

Unbelievable injuries early on, Hamilton missing most of the season, Siegs being hurt twice and his regression, Marino's regression, Mercer having a late soph slump, Jack getting hurt and missing time twice and obviously playing hurt, McLeod finally getting in trouble while he's at the top of his game, awful goaltending, a coach that lost the room, growing pains for Luke, he and Nemec slowing down because they have played too much hockey, Fitz waiting too long to fire Ruff, other teams asking for our best assets and trade pieces for a goalie...

We had amazing luck last year and everyone had a career year. This year is the complete opposite. Now that I've accepted they are not making the playoffs... I'm okay with it. They will be back next year hopefully with a coach that gets the best out of this roster, a "big game" goalie that Fitz has promised us with a more than capable backup in Allen....

We'll be alright.

 

[Guadana]

I don't think Travis Green will resign on his own. He might argue that he should return to the 2nd in command, Associate Head Coach in the very least. I think new HC with his own staff except he must retain Bryin as an assistant for continuity plus he shouldn't be a victim of Ruff and Green removal. What do you think?

I would save Brylin, he is intelligent, he is part of upper level crew, worked a lot personally, can help with adaptation to Gritsyuk and others. May be for our new future high draft pick. I would change other coaches, especially Green and Rogalski. And I hope Fitz understand that this team needs in shaking up

 

[None Shall Pass]

I don't really like to talk about "team identity" because it's a nebulous term, but I think this team lost a good portion of it with the departure of Wood and the McLeod situation.

Obviously, neither player is the talent that Nico, Bratt, and Jack are, but they skated fast as hell, crashed the net, played with grit, and in Wood's case, were capable of a random breakaway goal every now and then.

I don't think I would have liked giving Wood the contract that Colorado gave him, but of all the talk of players who are gone since last season, these are the two who I think we're missing the most. They'd make up the bulk of a really annoying identity line to play against.

 

[Guadana]

I don't really like to talk about "team identity" because it's a nebulous term, but I think this team lost a good portion of it with the departure of Wood and the McLeod situation.

Obviously, neither player is the talent that Nico, Bratt, and Jack are, but they skated fast as hell, crashed the net, played with grit, and in Wood's case, were capable of a random breakaway goal every now and then.

I don't think I would have liked giving Wood the contract that Colorado gave him, but of all the talk of players who are gone since last season, these are the two who I think we're missing the most. They'd make up the bulk of a really annoying identity line to play against.

Devils don't need to give Wood his deal. They just need to find a player to replace him for his duties.

 

[JimEIV]

Devils don't need to give Wood his deal. They just need to find a player to replace him for his duties.

Everyone thought that was Lazar.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

I am guessing 3-9-2 the rest of the way. Win one of the Pittsburgh games, one of the Ottawa games and the Philly game. OT Losses in one of the Ottawa games and one of the Toronto games.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I don't really like to talk about "team identity" because it's a nebulous term, but I think this team lost a good portion of it with the departure of Wood and the McLeod situation.

Obviously, neither player is the talent that Nico, Bratt, and Jack are, but they skated fast as hell, crashed the net, played with grit, and in Wood's case, were capable of a random breakaway goal every now and then.

I don't think I would have liked giving Wood the contract that Colorado gave him, but of all the talk of players who are gone since last season, these are the two who I think we're missing the most. They'd make up the bulk of a really annoying identity line to play against.

I was certainly in approval of all the moves that were made this offseason, but I do think that the amount of turnover potentially bit us in the rear end.

Even though he's had a tough year between Colorado and Seattle, I do think losing Tatar was tougher than we maybe all anticipated. I think he finally got comfortable in the system last year, and I think he served as a good presence for a guy like Mercer who maybe had to take on more responsibility on his line than he was ready for. He did a lot of the dirty work for his linemates last year.

 

[JimEIV]

The lack of depth is a serious problem.

There is no doubt injuries played a significant role in this season but what those injuries did more than anything was exposed the lack of depth we really have. Sure, any team that has injuries to key players is going to suffer but suffer to the extent of 3rd best team in the league to 24th? From 113 points probably to about 82 points? Go from 113 points home ice in the first round to 82 points top 10 lottery pick the following year something more than injuries happened.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Everyone thought that was Lazar.

For what it's worth, their production is nearly identical. Lazar has one less point in the same amount of games. And this is a new career high for Lazar in points, believe it or not.

Very different types of players in terms of skillset, though.

 

[Guadana]

Everyone thought that was Lazar.

Lazar is doing fine. He compensate the mess Wodd created. But in the same time depth scoring is what we need too add. As forechecking, as winning board battles. With losing Shara, Tatar, Boqvist and Wood and adding only Toffoli(only scoring), Nosek, Tierney and Lazar, we lost speed, overall scoring and puckbattling. Injuries of Dougie, Meier and Jack didn't help too. McLeod was the final piece to lose. They were borderline wild card team before, Jack isn't fully healthy, Timo wasn't healthy. Moral was and should be on the bottom of the deep hole now.

 

[JimEIV]

Lazar is doing fine. He compensate the mess Wodd created. But in the same depth scoring is what we need too. As forechecking, as winning board battles. With losing Shara, Tatar, Boqvist and Wood and adding only Toffoli(only scoring), Nosek, Tierney and Lazar, we lost speed, overall scoring and puckbattling. Injuries of Dougie, Meier and Jack didn't help too.

Wood was a significantly better goal scorer...and Lazar is a major down grade.

Wood has almost as many goals in the last 4 seasons (39) as Lazar has in his entire 516 game career (44).... and that's with Wood missing an ENTIRE year in the last 4 years ...so it's really 3 years to Lazar's entire career.

But we have these type of downgrades in multiple areas. And those downgrades coupled with injuries is a Yellowstone seismic explosion.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Wood was a significantly better goal scorer...and Lazar is a major down grade.

Wood has almost as many goals in the last 4 seasons (39) as Lazar has in his entire 516 game career (44).... and that's with Wood missing an ENTIRE year in the last 4 years ...so it's really 3 years to Lazar's entire career.

But we have these type of downgrades in multiple areas. And those downgrades coupled with injuries is a Yellowstone seismic explosion.

I don't see it as that substantial of a downgrade when we look at their current production, and Lazar being a much better 200 foot player than Wood is. Of course, Miles was good for the occasional one-man rush but he also was guilty of a backbreaking penalty quite often as well. He showed that quite a bit in the Ranger series last year.

Miles might still have some speed and a better goal scoring touch, but Lazar is a more well-rounded player with flexibility to play center as well. He's far from my concern in the bottom 6, he's actually surprised me a great deal. I never would have thought he'd be a regular when we acquired him, but he's been a nice little find. I'd like to get more depth in the bottom 6 so he can cement himself on the 4th line regularly. That's where he should thrive the most.

 

[Guadana]

Wood was a significantly better goal scorer...and Lazar is a major down grade.

Wood has almost as many goals in the last 4 seasons (39) as Lazar has in his entire 516 game career (44).... and that's with Wood missing an ENTIRE year in the last 4 years ...so it's really 3 years to Lazar's entire career.

But we have these type of downgrades in multiple areas. And those downgrades coupled with injuries is a Yellowstone seismic explosion.

Lazar is much better defensively. But yeah, depth scoring is still need. Game is bot about scoring only, parts of the game come into the scoring against. But wood's scoring wasn't compensate. So we can easily stay with Lazar but we need to find a player who can score and win puck battles. Instead of Tierney for example.

 

[JimEIV]

I don't see it as that substantial of a downgrade when we look at their current production, and Lazar being a much better 200 foot player than Wood is. Of course, Miles was good for the occasional one-man rush but he also was guilty of a backbreaking penalty quite often as well. He showed that quite a bit in the Ranger series last year.

Miles might still have some speed and a better goal scoring touch, but Lazar is a more well-rounded player with flexibility to play center as well. He's far from my concern in the bottom 6, he's actually surprised me a great deal. I never would have thought he'd be a regular when we acquired him, but he's been a nice little find. I'd like to get more depth in the bottom 6 so he can cement himself on the 4th line regularly. That's where he should thrive the most.

I see Lazar as significant downgrade.
In every aspect... physically, production, energy....and the fact that he's right handed and Wood was Left handed is another obstacle for our team with an overload of guys that need to play RW.

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

I don't see it as that substantial of a downgrade when we look at their current production, and Lazar being a much better 200 foot player than Wood is. Of course, Miles was good for the occasional one-man rush but he also was guilty of a backbreaking penalty quite often as well. He showed that quite a bit in the Ranger series last year.

Miles might still have some speed and a better goal scoring touch, but Lazar is a more well-rounded player with flexibility to play center as well. He's far from my concern in the bottom 6, he's actually surprised me a great deal. I never would have thought he'd be a regular when we acquired him, but he's been a nice little find. I'd like to get more depth in the bottom 6 so he can cement himself on the 4th line regularly. That's where he should thrive the most.

Plus - while not crazy different since both are lower cap hits annually...

Lazar has one more year at $1m. Wood is getting $2.5m for the next... 5 years?

I see Lazar as significant downgrade.
In every aspect... physically, production, energy....and the fact that he's right handed and Wood was Left handed is another obstacle for our team with an overload of guys that need to play RW.

Significant is a strong word considering we are talking about bottom 6 forwards. If in your opinion he's a downgrade in some aspects of hockey - I can see your argument. But significant downgrade in every aspect of hockey? I disagree

 

[JimEIV]

Significant is a strong word considering we are talking about bottom 6 forwards. If in your opinion he's a downgrade in some aspects of hockey - I can see your argument. But significant downgrade in every aspect of hockey? I disagree

Significant is the right word.

And we can play this significant debate game right down the line with

Bahl and Graves
Luke and Severson
Nosek and McLeod

Sharangovich/Zetterlund and Holtz/Toffolli...

We can keep going and argue the significance but that shit piles up fast

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Lazar has been far better than Miles Wood this season.

 

[Devils731]

Significant is the right word.

Wood has 3 more goals than Lazar and 1 more point. How is that significant?

Wood is also a team worst -4 while Lazar is a team best +11. Plus-Minus definitely has some flaws but it’s some food for thought since one of Woods downsides is his defense.

Wood has also taken 32 more minutes in penalties, but I don’t know if any of those minutes are for fighting, which I wouldn’t want to hold against.

 

[Camille the Eel]

I would save Brylin, he is intelligent, he is part of upper level crew, worked a lot personally, can help with adaptation to Gritsyuk and others. May be for our new future high draft pick. I would change other coaches, especially Green and Rogalski. And I hope Fitz understand that this team needs in shaking up

I would actively consider bringing Brylin down from the press box and putting him in charge. That is, if he’s got the other qualities you need in a head coach - administrative, ability to coach other coaches, authority etc. (since I don’t know Brylin). I would at least think about it anyway.

 

[MasterofGrond]

Wood has 3 more goals than Lazar and 1 more point. How is that significant?

Wood is also a team worst -4 while Lazar is a team best +11. Plus-Minus definitely has some flaws but it’s some food for thought since one of Woods downsides is his defense.

Wood has also taken 32 more minutes in penalties, but I don’t know if any of those minutes are for fighting, which I wouldn’t want to hold against.

Wood has taken 11 more minor penalties this season than Lazar in the same number of GP.

(Both have 1 fight this year).

 

[Guttersniped]

Nosek and Lazar make 1m. Tierney makes NHL min, 775k.

Lazar has been great value, particularly considering he’s missed 5 games and has to be banged up.

Nosek has a nightmare season due to injury.

Tierney was AHL depth we had to use an unfortunate amount, it happens.

I swear to god this board gets obsessed with 4th liners but if you look at playoff teams with injuries, random crap is in their line-up too.

We need more productive middle six guys but these players existing wouldn’t stop that, every team has roster spot forward filler due to the cap.

 

[JimEIV]

Yup all the guys who left suck and all their replacements are better and that's why we're going to have 30 less points this season and watching Daly turnover cards with great anticipation in a few weeks

 

[MasterofGrond]

Also, re: Wood vs. Lazar.

I think Wood is objectively a better offensive player than Lazar, this year slightly and more so historically.

However, that difference is completely dwarfed by the difference in their defensive value. Miles is and has been one of the worst defensive forwards in the league, while Lazar has been one of the best. And that goes beyond just taking penalties (since Wood has historically been above average at drawing them to make up for some of his bad ones). Wood's lines bleed chances when he's on the ice and have, again, for years.

I would take Lazar over Wood if they were making the same, at 1 vs. 2.5? Jesus christ, it's no contest.

 

[theoptimist]

MM was a core player. I remember the advanced stats gurus saying he sucked. Here you go.

 

[Clam Jensen]

MM was a core player. I remember the advanced stats gurus saying he sucked. Here you go.

His advanced stats this year were out of this world.