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

[My3Sons]

Not like I had any respect for him to lose, but he somehow was able to paint himself like even more of a loser here. Just own up to the hit. “I thought I hit the wall, but I ended up hitting him.”

He sounds like a child that got caught doing something dumb and looking for any excuse to justify. What a coward.

the game is so broken in this respect. The refs and the lack of league oversight have so conditioned the players and coaches to accept the worst.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Casus

Belli

 

[JimEIV]

Yes and no. I'm not sure all the guys pay much attention to the team doings beyond their own motivation. If they don't care if the season's over it makes no functional difference in my view. For example, Timo is still apparently playing hard and I'm guessing it's because it was a crappy season for him and he wants to restore his confidence and show he's a better player than he was injured. He's trying his best. The playoff picture doesn't matter for that and I'd absolutely take something from his finish. From some other guys probably not, but as someone pointed out a few days ago Bratt's historical trend is to slow down as the season wears on so a slow ending for him is almost expected and has some meaning. It's a patchwork to me and I'd look at each guy as an individual rather than just write off a whole swath of games as having no meaning for the future.

Yeah I'm writing it all off. I think it's absolutely meaningless what anyone does in the final 14/15 games in a season where you're a bottom 10 team.

And honestly, as a fan, I kind of find new found performances in the waning stages of lost season a bit insulting.

Regardless of my feelings, purely from a logical standpoint, how am I to interpret 60 shit games and 10 really good ones in the dying phase of a lost year? Believe the good ones and make believe the 60 didn't exist? Find excuses for why the 60 happened and try to convince myself the 10 are more indictive of the players? Seems ludicrous to me?

 

[Nubmer6]

Regardless of my feelings, purely from a logical standpoint, how am I to interpret 60 shit games and 10 really good ones in the dying phase of a lost year?

Dunno. How did you interpret Zacha?

 

[JimEIV]

Dunno. How did you interpret Zacha?

When? Now? In our rebuilding years? In 2022?

Zacha never played for a team that was supposedly prepared to compete. I'm not sure I would draw inferences to teams that were annually picking in the top 5 to a team that is in the next step phase ....with the former you're just hoping that your young players are learning and growing....and as we learned yesterday, this is a team full of 300 game veterans now.

 

[My3Sons]

Yeah I'm writing it all off. I think it's absolutely meaningless what anyone does in the final 14/15 games in a season where you're a bottom 10 team.

And honestly, as a fan, I kind of find new found performances in the waning stages of lost season a bit insulting.

Regardless of my feelings, purely from a logical standpoint, how am I to interpret 60 shit games and 10 really good ones in the dying phase of a lost year? Believe the good ones and make believe the 60 didn't exist? Find excuses for why the 60 happened and try to convince myself the 10 are more indictive of the players? Seems ludicrous to me?

I don't disagree with you in the big picture on this just in the nuance. From a team perspective I agree you can't equate the end of a lost season with the long stretch of games where they played poorly. I'm just adding that for some individual players there might be something to how they finish. I'm not sure how you can ignore the transformation in Meier's play when it coincided with his health turning around. To me that's meaningful. Allen's goaltending is unsustainable but at least he's played well. If he'd come in and done horribly that would matter or would that not matter? To me his good play is helpful even if it won't be as good over a bigger sample size. It's tricky and overall, sure, they played poorly for much of the season and even if they finish well it doesn't redeem the season but maybe helps remind them if they can play well for 60 games instead of 20 games they are a good team so it's better than finishing with 20 even worse games.

 

[My3Sons]

Dunno. How did you interpret Zacha?

I find a guy that speaks both Czech and English and have Zacha speak in Czech and have the bilingual guy tell me what Zacha is saying in English. You know, standard interpreter stuff.

 

[njdevil26]

Man you weren’t kidding about the “dark” in that episode. Ricky sounds dejected as we all are.

Message for Ricky: more blame on the players, and not use the injury excuse.

You try telling him that so he can yell at you haha

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

game notes watching every single night for dawson mercer to finish the season on a rip.

he’s the piece i’m most comfortable moving in a trade for a big name goalie (saros, ullmark, etc).

No way should Mercer be traded.....He's gonna only get better.....

 

[NJDevs26]

Speaking of guys and junktime surges, just watch Mercer have a big run the last few weeks of the season lol

 

[Omar Little]

What about this as a crazy trade:

Devils 2024 1st Rounder and Schmid to Vegas for

Nicolas Roy
Brayden McNabb
Logan Thompson

 

[Andre Palot]

What about this as a crazy trade:

Devils 2024 1st Rounder and Schmid to Vegas for

Nicolas Roy
Brayden McNabb
Logan Thompson

Thompson isn't as good as some fans make him out to be.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Devils Isles Leafs wins in the next 30 hours and the Devils are two games back


@Cheddabombs

 

[Bleedred]

What about this as a crazy trade:

Devils 2024 1st Rounder and Schmid to Vegas for

Nicolas Roy
Brayden McNabb
Logan Thompson

I’m convinced there’s only about 7 teams in the league where Logan Thompson will look good as anything more than a sparsely used backup. He’s already on one of them. Vegas made Hill a Stanley Cup winning starter, but they also make Logan Thompson look like a solid NHL goalie.

I’ve been waiting for a while to see where he ends up and what stupid Korpisalo type of contract the new team gives him. I’d have to think Vegas wants to keep him until the need to re-up him because of how cheap his contract is.

Thompson isn't as good as some fans make him out to be.

Yeah I really don’t believe he’s good.

He reeks of someone like Vanecek that lucked into a good team and Rask became elite again under Cassidy after looking like he was winding down before that.

 

[Patrik26]

After we beat them in playoff games, yes, I’m petty like that.

There's a soothing feeling reveling in others' misery, especially rags and fishsticks fans.

 

[Patrik26]

In case you don't want to listen to this masterpiece, here are the lyrics.

Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'
You gotta have somethin' if you wanna be with me
Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'
You gotta have somethin' if you wanna be with me
I'm not tryin' to be your hero
'Cause that zero is too cold for me (Brr)
I'm not tryin' to be your highness
'Cause that minus is too low to see, yeah
Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'
And I'm not stuffin', believe you me
Don't you remember I told ya
I'm a soldier in the war on poverty, yeah
Yes, I am
Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'
You gotta have somethin' if you wanna be with me
Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'
You gotta have somethin' if you wanna be with me
That's right, ha, yeah
Gotta have somethin' if you wanna be with me
You gotta bring me somethin' girl
If you wanna be with me

Billy Preston ... My Sweet Lord from Concert For George .... AWESOME

 

[Cheddabombs]

Devils Isles Leafs wins in the next 30 hours and the Devils are two games back


@Cheddabombs
View attachment 838987

Sounds like we're still in the race if you ask me

 

[billingtons ghost]

Good thing we won’t need anywhere near this level of goaltending next year and didn’t need it earlier this year to put up points. Too many games to even count where we needed one more save than we got to get to OT.

You went into the season with two guys who's goaltending got you 100+ points the year before. I know it's fashionable to believe that they suddenly forgot how to play goalie, and not that the team that looked like complete crap in front of them all year long didn't have anything to do with it.

I'm sure Allen will turn himself inside out to stop the puck and maybe even get some good results if it holds up.

There's nothing in the way this team is approaching games this year that leads me to believe that all we needed was .946 level goaltending on a nightly basis and we'd be jockeying for a cup.

I can't imagine any frustration would set in.

Allen is a vet and a big upgrade. Good luck if we keep playing the same way.

 

[Guadana]

Yeah I'm writing it all off. I think it's absolutely meaningless what anyone does in the final 14/15 games in a season where you're a bottom 10 team.

And honestly, as a fan, I kind of find new found performances in the waning stages of lost season a bit insulting.

Regardless of my feelings, purely from a logical standpoint, how am I to interpret 60 shit games and 10 really good ones in the dying phase of a lost year? Believe the good ones and make believe the 60 didn't exist? Find excuses for why the 60 happened and try to convince myself the 10 are more indictive of the players? Seems ludicrous to me?

Meier has 27 points in his last 33. +2 injuries per season. He is doing fine. Not just ten games.

What about this as a crazy trade:

Devils 2024 1st Rounder and Schmid to Vegas for

Nicolas Roy
Brayden McNabb
Logan Thompson

No.

 

[Guadana]

You went into the season with two guys who's goaltending got you 100+ points the year before. I know it's fashionable to believe that they suddenly forgot how to play goalie, and not that the team that looked like complete crap in front of them all year long didn't have anything to do with it.

I'm sure Allen will turn himself inside out to stop the puck and maybe even get some good results if it holds up.

There's nothing in the way this team is approaching games this year that leads me to believe that all we needed was .946 level goaltending on a nightly basis and we'd be jockeying for a cup.

I can't imagine any frustration would set in.

Allen is a vet and a big upgrade. Good luck if we keep playing the same way.

If Allen would be regular Allen himself level of this year or summ of last 3 or 4 years, it would be enough. He would stop pucks, we would take a lead, team would not hurt themselves to even the score, there were no more stupid pucks after effort, no one should be a hero, there were less injuries. I think we would not repeat previous season but still we would be in solid play off spot.

Still need a lot to do with this roster. Not freaking crazy UFA 30-32 yo starter in 1 year away from the market that will take Mercer away in stupid idiotic trade by 69 iq gm who is in panic move. But good top-4 defensive LD, depth forecheckers who can skate and do it fast. Because it looks like we have one good goalie, no need great goalie with no depth(say hello to big cap hit, say goodbye to Mercer and other players who could be sign for free cap space), need in one more good or normal goalie. Not the worst goalie of the league.
Now we knew that good goalie can not help NOW to win regularly, but environment now is different than it was in the beginning of the season, points already lost and games when VV and Schmid ruined everything are already lost. We were good scoring team, advanced stats and eye test told everything, now with better goalies we see that this team even in worser shape can be protected by a goalie. To bad that goalies ruined first half of the season to help this team losing confidence and health.

F#ck stupid goalie trades. This team rules and more experienced Nemec and Luke will make much more impact next season. Depth sign needs to be signed. We cant repeat again the center depth hole, we should find better left defensive defenseman to hide Luke for more offensive and more limited role.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

I usually watch my dogs rolling around on the couch and then again when they stand in front of me demanding attention when I'm trying to watch the game, but I can only speak for me. It was easier when at least one of the boys was living at home since they'd have someone else to pester for petting and treats since my wife doesn't give them as many treats they tend to leave her alone if she's watching TV.

I know about wives that don't give treats.

 

[billingtons ghost]

If Allen would be regular Allen himself level of this year or summ of last 3 or 4 years, it would be enough. He would stop pucks, we would take a lead, team would not hurt themselves to even the score, there were no more stupid pucks after effort, no one should be a hero, there were less injuries. I think we would not repeat previous season but still we would be in solid play off spot.

Still need a lot to do with this roster. Not freaking crazy UFA 30-32 yo starter in 1 year away from the market that will take Mercer away in stupid idiotic trade by 69 iq gm who is in panic move. But good top-4 defensive LD, depth forecheckers who can skate and do it fast. Because it looks like we have one good goalie, no need great goalie with no depth(say hello to big cap hit, say goodbye to Mercer and other players who could be sign for free cap space), need in one more good or normal goalie. Not the worst goalie of the league.
Now we knew that good goalie can not help NOW to win regularly, but environment now is different than it was in the beginning of the season, points already lost and games when VV and Schmid ruined everything are already lost. We were good scoring team, advanced stats and eye test told everything, now with better goalies we see that this team even in worser shape can be protected by a goalie. To bad that goalies ruined first half of the season to help this team losing confidence and health.

F#ck stupid goalie trades. This team rules and more experienced Nemec and Luke will make much more impact next season. Depth sign needs to be signed. We cant repeat again the center depth hole, we should find better left defensive defenseman to hide Luke for more offensive and more limited role.

I like most of what you say here. I think the list of goalies that would be a big improvement is really short. Honestly I think that the team ruining goalies and the goalies ruining the team go hand and hand and it's a chicken/egg things.

You have two super young, middling goaltenders and a guy who has twice proven to be fragile in confidence. Injuries, unstable defense, and bad forward play cracked all the goalies over time.

I think a new coach, a good system, and a training camp to build confidence and some personnel moves to stabilize and introduce some physicality and we'll be in pretty good shape.

 

[Guadana]

I like most of what you say here. I think the list of goalies that would be a big improvement is really short. Honestly I think that the team ruining goalies and the goalies ruining the team go hand and hand and it's a chicken/egg things.

You have two super young, middling goaltenders and a guy who has twice proven to be fragile in confidence. Injuries, unstable defense, and bad forward play cracked all the goalies over time.

I think a new coach, a good system, and a training camp to build confidence and some personnel moves to stabilize and introduce some physicality and we'll be in pretty good shape.

At least bad feedback is still a feedback. I hope Fitz will make right conclusions and will make right moves. That will help. Because all we have some different opinions about what is right, what is need, what is overreacting, what is overtrust(that will turn in overthrust). Fitz is the only one who has salary to be smarter and act better.

 

[Devs3cups]

B. Smith playing 27 minutes last night is f***ing hilarious.

 

[NjDevsRR]

B. Smith playing 27 minutes last night is f***ing hilarious.