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

[Emperoreddy]

To add to that Meier has been put in his off wing and bumper (again another position that wasn't his in SJ). So not only is it a new team and new system, but's it's also new positions. It probably doesn't matter on Jack's line where everyone ends up all over the ice, but he has looked a bit unsure on the PP.

If Jack's line doesn't figure it out over the next week or so, I'd like to see Lindy experiment with bumping Bratt down to the third line, moving Meier over on the RW on Jack's line, and even consider unstacking our PP1 if it gets Meier in a more comfortable role on the second unit - which could use a boost. Let Jack, Bratt, and Dougie run PP1 and give Nico, Timo, and Marino PP2. Eventually L. Hughes is going to come up and we're going to need to distribute the power anyway.

As long as we don't go into a death spiral, I would keep Timo on Jack's line for 10 games and then evaluate.

I don't think it's fair to expect him to work out all the kinks in like 5 games

 

[MadDevil]

Time and time again this season we have seen first hand how important faceoffs are yet people still insist on downplaying them like they know better. Evidence couldn’t be clearer

They matter situationally, but overall they don't impact games as much as some think.

Also, our team faceoff percentage is 11th in the league, so its not like we can't win a faceoff.

 

[glenwo2]

It feels like Bratt and the Devils are that couple that's been engaged for 5 years but still not married.

Co-Habitation?

 

[PK]

You seem to be inventing entire storylines based on the exact same lipservice that every player gives to the media during contract negotiations.

Do you expect Bratt to come out and say "nah my agent said I should take this but I think I can squeeze out another couple hundred thousand dollars lmao"?

Exactly. There’s zero reason to believe this is all some evil scheme by Bratt’s agent behind his back. Bratt hasn’t signed because he personally hasn’t wanted to.

 

[RSeen]

If we have any chance of catching Carolina for first, the next 3 games are essentially must win.

 

[Billdo]

Yeah but if Bratt isn't in the room to HEAR what Fitz's offer is, his agent could just relay to him some BS number that is a total lie from what Fitz offered.

For all we know, Fitz provided a number that Bratt would've accepted YESTERDAY but his agent decided to keep that to himself and try to break the bank instead while telling Bratt that FITZ is basically the one being unreasonable.

If that's the case then Bratts guy needs to be canned, they shouldn't be doing that. That's what happened with Freddie Freeman and the Braves. He wanted to stay in Atlanta and his agent never told him the Braves made an offer.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

I haven’t had a real chance to watch Meier in his Devils games so far.
I only able to catch a couple shifts.
How has he looked so far ? I know he will take some time to adjust but what does his game look like so far?
Can he keep up with his skating ? Does he drive the net more so than so than our other wingers ? Is he gettig open for Bratt and Jack ? Does he create open ice for those other two? Does he initiate contact or just respond to it if need be ?
Not so much in his devils games , but just in general , does he score more goals on the PP using a one-timer or where is he best placed on the PP ? Bumper guy or ?
I hope he and whoever emds up on his line gets on a roll amd the other big line does as well. I really think we will have 4 lines that can all be a handful for the opposition .
Im confident Meier will fit right in and help us in a big way , I hope it’s really soon here but I will t lose faith if it takes him some time to figure out our style and his line mates

He's definitely more physical than I thought he was and I liked how he hit Noel Acciari who put a few on Jack...Good to see a teammate finally doing that needs to be done more....He already said in his comments he feels they yield too much ice without contesting it imo...He came from a team that is bad but from a team that has had a lot of past success and I think he will bring a lot of knowledge to this team on what it takes to compete....

 

[devilsblood]

Not sure why there’s a need to change lines since we lost a game to a pretty good team due to a new guy making a few mistakes and our goalie not having his best night.

- First line seems to be doing fine
- Second line shows spurts of dominance and other times looks like they have a guy who just showed up from an awful team. It’s been 2 games.
- Right now they are clicking beyond what anyone could have expected. Don’t touch it!
- 4th line is the coach’s favorite thing since Mason Geertsen, he plays them too much as it is and there’s little chance he changes it without injury or a spot Lazar appearance

Let ‘em roll and get comfortable over the remaining weeks.

I don't think there is a need to change lines, but some posters get all upset if Lindy pulls a mid game shuffle, even if that shuffle sparks the team, and is short lived.

I also think we shouldn't shoehorn Meier onto a line. Yeah, see how it works on Jack's line, but don't jam it in if it's not working. And yeah Nico's line has been very good, but Meier on Nico's wing is pretty intriguing as well.

 

[devilsblood]

I haven’t had a real chance to watch Meier in his Devils games so far.
I only able to catch a couple shifts.
How has he looked so far ? I know he will take some time to adjust but what does his game look like so far?
Can he keep up with his skating ? Does he drive the net more so than so than our other wingers ? Is he gettig open for Bratt and Jack ? Does he create open ice for those other two? Does he initiate contact or just respond to it if need be ?
Not so much in his devils games , but just in general , does he score more goals on the PP using a one-timer or where is he best placed on the PP ? Bumper guy or ?
I hope he and whoever emds up on his line gets on a roll amd the other big line does as well. I really think we will have 4 lines that can all be a handful for the opposition .
Im confident Meier will fit right in and help us in a big way , I hope it’s really soon here but I will t lose faith if it takes him some time to figure out our style and his line mates

I see a bunch of responses already but I'll throw my two cents in.

He's looked amazing, especially vs Toronto. Maybe it's him being extra motivated coming to a good team and being put on a good line, or maybe, hopefully, he is just always this good. But he does look motivated. Real good quickness and straight line speed, showed some silky hands, was making plays defensively, playing physical, getting shots on goal. I was super impressed.

A couple bone headed plays, but they can happen, and maybe that comes with trying too hard. And the PP just looked like poo in general, so not laying that on him.

 

[Camille the Eel]

As long as we don't go into a death spiral, I would keep Timo on Jack's line for 10 games and then evaluate.

I don't think it's fair to expect him to work out all the kinks in like 5 games

I think Timo stays with Jack, it’s Bratt who should be bumped off the line and swapped with Palat or Haula, letting Timo return to his natural wing.

Bratt and Jack shouldn’t be playing together. It limits both of them. They both need the puck on their stick more, both need space, both like to circle back out high, both will give you zone entries by themselves.

Jack may be playing through an injury but his cooling off dates from playing with Bratt on his wing. It’s not just that the puck isn’t going in; he has the puck less.

Plus you want him with someone whose defense allows Jack to take more risks.

 

[devilsblood]

They matter situationally, but overall they don't impact games as much as some think.

Also, our team faceoff percentage is 11th in the league, so its not like we can't win a faceoff.

I'm surprised we are only 11th. I guess Jack drags us down quite a bit.

Taking faceoff% as a whole is big part of the problem with the stat. Kind of like how +/- is dumb because it's combining all these different situations(while also ignoring important stuff that happens in those situations, but that's a different debate) You are right they matter in certain situations, and then certain situations they don't.

So if Jack is dragging us down in faceoffs, but he rarely gets important faceoffs, then we are benefitting from our ability to win faceoffs moreso then that stat indicates.

 

[FinnishDevil]

Apparently the goalie thread is locked so I guess goalie talk goes here.

Thing about Vanecek or goalies in general. Workload. Vitek is already closing in on his career high in games played. I bet thats the biggest reason for the dip in his play. He has never played legit starter minutes in the NHL.

Not every goalie is capable of playing 60+ games in a season AND maintaining their level of play. I hope Schmid/Mac is given more starts the last few weeks cause I think Vanecek is still the clear best option of the three if he's on his game. And he needs to be if we want to win a round or two.

Starting next season I hope they try to split starts between him and Akira/whoever. Having strong 1A-1B tandem would be great.

 

[HBK27]

Nothing new, but Freidman notes that Fitz and Bratt are talking extension in his latest 32 Thoughts article.

32 Thoughts: Wrapping up the NHL trade deadline

In this weeks notes, Elliotte Friedman writes on Ottawa's big move for Jakob Chychrun, Edmonton's move for Mattias Ekholm and much more.

www.sportsnet.ca

 

[Saugus]

If we have any chance of catching Carolina for first, the next 3 games are essentially must win.

And then next week we basically have a mini-playoff series against the Lightning. That will be an interesting way to calibrate the team and judge our readiness for the playoffs.

 

[Devils731]

I like Jack Han and he shared one of his Devils tactics sheets as part of promoting this years ebook.

 

[glenwo2]

Nothing new, but Freidman notes that Fitz and Bratt are talking extension in his latest 32 Thoughts article.

32 Thoughts: Wrapping up the NHL trade deadline

In this weeks notes, Elliotte Friedman writes on Ottawa's big move for Jakob Chychrun, Edmonton's move for Mattias Ekholm and much more.

www.sportsnet.ca

View attachment 665859

 

[Eggtimer]

I think Timo stays with Jack, it’s Bratt who should be bumped off the line and swapped with Palat or Haula, letting Timo return to his natural wing.

Bratt and Jack shouldn’t be playing together. It limits both of them. They both need the puck on their stick more, both need space, both like to circle back out high, both will give you zone entries by themselves.

Jack may be playing through an injury but his cooling off dates from playing with Bratt on his wing. It’s not just that the puck isn’t going in; he has the puck less.

Plus you want him with someone whose defense allows Jack to take more risks.

Is there a place that would have stats that show time of puck possession by individual players on a per game basis ? It would be very interesting to see how much possession time Jack usually has when he is playing with Bratt vs. when he is not with Bratt .

Im not sure how much if an impact it will have on guys like Meier Jack and Bratt when they play with or without eachother and how effective they are , due to them all appearing to play similar styles - Bratt and Jack wanting to enter the O zone with the puck , and Meier and Jack bring volume shooters .
It’s a very good “ problem “ to have where we need to know how to distribute our elite forwards . I’m sure they will figure it out .
I almost wonder if Bratt or someone in the top 6 should drop to the 3rd line possibly and have someone like Palat swap out ?

 

[devilsblood]

Is there a place that would have stats that show time of puck possession by individual players on a per game basis ? It would be very interesting to see how much possession time Jack usually has when he is playing with Bratt vs. when he is not with Bratt .

Im not sure how much if an impact it will have on guys like Meier Jack and Bratt when they play with or without eachother and how effective they are , due to them all appearing to play similar styles - Bratt and Jack wanting to enter the O zone with the puck , and Meier and Jack bring volume shooters .
It’s a very good “ problem “ to have where we need to know how to distribute our elite forwards . I’m sure they will figure it out .
I almost wonder if Bratt or someone in the top 6 should drop to the 3rd line possibly and have someone like Palat swap out ?

To your point, for as unable as Haula was to score goals playing with Hughes, they did put up very good on ice numbers together.

That said, the 3rd line has just had a couple big games, and we should give the Meier Hughes Bratt line more time to see if they can gel.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Am I the only one feels like siegenthaler is the biggest culprit in trying to force breakout passes passed forecheckers along the boards, resulting is terrible turnovers? I seem to notice him doing this more often than anyone else on the team.

 

[devilsblood]

Am I the only one feels like siegenthaler is the biggest culprit in trying to force breakout passes passed forecheckers along the boards, resulting is terrible turnovers? I seem to notice him doing this more often than anyone else on the team.

I do seem to see an in general struggle from him of late.

I think some tried to pin him for the would be break out pass that hit Jack, but I thought that was on Hughes myself (never did watch a replay).

But he's a guy who leaned more defensive playing on a team that wants to move puck up ice quickly, so it does makes sense he would struggle a bit in that regard. Posters here get on Graves plenty for all sorts of stuff too. And Bahl has made his share of headscratchers as well.

 

[Eggtimer]

Definitely not a topic we want to think about , but what would Bratts value be if we were forced to trade him ?
I get it’s a very negative way to think if the situation and I don’t want to curse or jinx anything , but what would we be looking at for a return ? I would think we look for a direct replacement instead of draft picks ?
If this is a shitty thing to bring up , I’ll drop it .

 

[The Grinder]

Definitely not a topic we want to think about , but what would Bratts value be if we were forced to trade him ?
I get it’s a very negative way to think if the situation and I don’t want to curse or jinx anything , but what would we be looking at for a return ? I would think we look for a direct replacement instead of draft picks ?
If this is a shitty thing to bring up , I’ll drop it .

At this point you have to treat it as a realistic contingency.

Teams are not gonna do a equal value swap. You might get some contenders looking to send back futures but that’s no good for us anymore.

So the obvious answer is a direct 1 for 1 with Montreal for Anderson.

 

[None Shall Pass]

 

[My3Sons]

As long as we don't go into a death spiral, I would keep Timo on Jack's line for 10 games and then evaluate.

I don't think it's fair to expect him to work out all the kinks in like 5 games

By "we" you mean this board right? If the Devils are behind after the first it will be too late.

 

[glenwo2]

Yeah. Traffic SUCKS.