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

[Saugus]

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I'm glad I wasn't wrong. We're a plus 58 in goal diff. Second highest in the league and we'd be first if not for Boston's insane differential.

At this point I wonder if we are breaking records for swings from one season to the next in goal differential and standings points. Must be close to it, given how bad we were last season.

 

[BurntToast]

Playing a battle tested wild card team or the lack-luster Rangers who have the potential to explode. Pens/Islanders against most of the West would be a toss-up.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I don’t want them playing the rangers in the first round for selfish reasons. I want to make it to at least one first round playoff game but a series against the rangers is not something I can afford (both financially and health-wise).

I’m torn on what is preferable from a favorable matchup standpoint. I’m on record saying I’m confident the rangers are an overhyped paper tiger, but they also find ways to win when they shouldn’t.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I don’t want them playing the rangers in the first round for selfish reasons. I want to make it to at least one first round playoff game but a series against the rangers is not something I can afford (both financially and health-wise).

I’m torn on what is preferable from a favorable matchup standpoint. I’m on record saying I’m confident the rangers are an overhyped paper tiger, but they also find ways to win when they shouldn’t.

Give me the Penguins.

 

[Billdo]

At this point I wonder if we are breaking records for swings from one season to the next in goal differential and standings points. Must be close to it, given how bad we were last season.

Largest Goal Differential In A New Jersey Devils Season | StatMuse

The New Jersey Devils had their highest goal differential in a season in 2000-01, with a differential of 100 goals.

www.statmuse.com

 

[NJDevs26]

At this point I wonder if we are breaking records for swings from one season to the next in goal differential and standings points. Must be close to it, given how bad we were last season.

The Kevin Constantine Sharks jump from their second season to their third is supposedly the biggest in NHL history (58 points), not sure how to find the goal difference one.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

This will be airing weekly if not daily as we wind down the regular season.

 

[Bleedred]

This will be airing weekly if not daily as we wind down the regular season.

The TNT guys apparently remember it too and he didn’t even say it on their network.

Today they were talking about who could potentially beat Boston in the East in the playoffs. I think he said Tampa, Anson bizarrely said the Islanders and whoever else was on there (I can’t even remember) said Carolina.

Yandle told Anson he didn’t even think the Islanders would make the playoffs and Liam quickly shot back at him “You don’t even think the Devils are in the playoffs”.

 

[Guttersniped]

Brilliantly said. Great post.

 

[billingtons ghost]

That would just be a case of matching up versus a better line. Odds are your matchup line wont be the best in the playoffs as well (unless its this years Boston line) so yeah, sometimes theyll be outmatched.

But its better than Matthews and Marner vs Bratt and Jack or the 4th line. Boqvist-Haula-Bratt would maybe be quite the forechecking line, just off the top of my head


I think thats just Ruff's older hockey mind at play with the fourth line infatuation. But I also think McLeod is capable of being on a very solid fourth line defensively. I dont think Wood fits that bill and personally idt Bastian is better than McLeod defensively as his advanced metrics suggest

Good posts. So what did you think of tonight then?

 

[NjDevsRR]

Anson bizarrely said the Islanders

LMFAO. A very great guy but the man is a moron. Some of his analysis is incredulous.

 

[NHL Fanatik]

Good posts. So what did you think of tonight then?

I thought our defense was very stout today so they did most of the heavy lifting defensively. Jack with a goal off a turnover and the third line as currently constituted does some good forechecking. Think Nicos line did well today.

But I also didnt watch thoroughly so perhaps I missed some lapses

 

[DerekDevils30]

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

I thought that was an excellent game by NJ. They capitalized (bad goaltending) on their chances early then played a stifling game where they only gave Carolina shots from the outside. You need to be able to win numerous ways and NJ shows they could win with chip and chase.

Boqvist was exceptional tonight. He played physical, responsible hockey. I love when F3 ensures he is on top of their player in the offensive zone during 50/50 battles instead of drifting down low. Boqvist is always in a position to defend.

 

[Devils731]

Doing a little forward casting, in a couple of seasons the Devils may be getting the most goal contributions of anyone in the league from their defense.

Hamilton will still be scoring goals, Nemec has last years playoffs and this AHL year to suggest he will score goals, and Hughes has 2 seasons where he has been a good scorer.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I'm happy to say that the Devils won big last night in what I personally would say was their biggest regular season game in a decade. Just a truly impressive win against a very good Carolina team -- the Devils were clearly the better team. This is looking like a very special group of young players in New Jersey -- kudos to them and the management team which assembled them.

 

[Triumph]

If you’re not paying attention to matchups AND not constructing lines properly, you end up with Hughes and Bratt out there vs Mathews nursing a one goal lead with 5 to play. There’s a time and place to play the matchup game. First minute of a period, last 3 minutes of a period. Protecting a one goal lead late.

It’s malpractice to ignore that, just as it’s malpractice to run Madden, Pandolfo, and Shanny out there vs Staal in 09 every single time. Let balance and logic dictate when to matchup.

Again, you cannot fully control this - a line can get caught in the defensive zone and then matched up against, either as a result of an icing or a too-long shift, but also, what are you talking about? The Leafs line on the ice that scored the game tying goal against Hughes-Bratt was Bunting-Acciari-Kampf. So your anecdotal point about Ruff being bad at matchups isn't even making sense, unless you're talking about the Hughes shift before, which I don't see why you would be, because there weren't anywhere near 5 minutes left when that happened, or you're just hypothesizing about not paying attention to matchups at all.

I don't agree about the start of the period or the end of the period either. In an away game, I just start my best line and whatever the opposition counters with, fine.

Moreover, Hughes is 21 and one of the best players in the league, and Bratt isn't a veteran either - these guys need to figure how to be on the ice to protect leads. They did a pretty good job last night.

Doing a little forward casting, in a couple of seasons the Devils may be getting the most goal contributions of anyone in the league from their defense.

Hamilton will still be scoring goals, Nemec has last years playoffs and this AHL year to suggest he will score goals, and Hughes has 2 seasons where he has been a good scorer.

I'm not sold on Nemec as a goal scorer, at least watching the highlights a lot of these are just random shots from distance that don't seem to have much special about them. If he's getting closer to the home plate area on plays where he's not scoring, I'd be more convinced, but I don't have evidence of that.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I don't want to play the Rangers, but not because I'm scared of them. I just don't want a 50/50 home crowd for our first playoff series in 5 years.

Florida kind of scares me as a wildcard team, if their goaltending gets hot they could be a huge problem. NYI would suck to watch but I know we are far and away the better team. PIT seems like it would be really fun for us.

 

[tailfins]

Oof that looks awful to me with Siegs and Hamilton both in the corner. I know it worked, but

 

[Devils731]

I'm not sold on Nemec as a goal scorer, at least watching the highlights a lot of these are just random shots from distance that don't seem to have much special about them. If he's getting closer to the home plate area on plays where he's not scoring, I'd be more convinced, but I don't have evidence of that.

I’m not saying Nemec is a guarantee for goal scoring but here are some counterpoints.

He’s generating 2.2 shots per game while having spent a portion of the season without being on the PP. If that shot volume carries over to the NHL then he’s almost a double digit goals scorer at a 5% shooting percentage.

There are plenty of highlights of Nemec going deep into the zone so while we don’t have a shot map for him I don’t see why his willingness to go deep won’t translate to having more close in shots than normal.

Going by what Birnell has said, Nemec seems to be playing more freely now after being asked to focus on defense earlier in the season.

And of course you lump all this together with his age and playing for a team without a lot of dynamic players who create slam dunks for others.

 

[Devils731]

Oof that looks awful to me with Siegs and Hamilton both in the corner. I know it worked, but

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If the initial pass from the Cane from the corner was on the stick of the guy in the slot then I don’t think that play ends up getting praise.

But a function of the swarm is to put the opponents under pressure down low and in the slot to make it hard to give perfect passes, so maybe the defense gets credit for the pass not being good.

 

[Nubmer6]

I thought our defense was very stout today so they did most of the heavy lifting defensively. Jack with a goal off a turnover and the third line as currently constituted does some good forechecking. Think Nicos line did well today.

But I also didnt watch thoroughly so perhaps I missed some lapses

I thought that was an excellent game by NJ. They capitalized (bad goaltending) on their chances early then played a stifling game where they only gave Carolina shots from the outside. You need to be able to win numerous ways and NJ shows they could win with chip and chase.

Boqvist was exceptional tonight. He played physical, responsible hockey. I love when F3 ensures he is on top of their player in the offensive zone during 50/50 battles instead of drifting down low. Boqvist is always in a position to defend.

I still think they had a problematic start. They gave away several 2 on 1s and if the Canes had scored it would have changed the entire complexion of the game.

I feel like we think too much about our 1st period woes and end up pressing too hard to begin games. We're too focused on scoring and end up forgetting about defense and taking unnecessary chances. I wouldn't mind if we came out a bit more cautiously.

Other than that, I thought it was a pretty masterful game.

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

Oof that looks awful to me with Siegs and Hamilton both in the corner. I know it worked, but

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4th best goals against/GP in the NHL.

 

[Triumph]

I’m not saying Nemec is a guarantee for goal scoring but here are some counterpoints.

He’s generating 2.2 shots per game while having spent a portion of the season without being on the PP. If that shot volume carries over to the NHL then he’s almost a double digit goals scorer at a 5% shooting percentage.

There are plenty of highlights of Nemec going deep into the zone so while we don’t have a shot map for him I don’t see why his willingness to go deep won’t translate to having more close in shots than normal.

Going by what Birnell has said, Nemec seems to be playing more freely now after being asked to focus on defense earlier in the season.

And of course you lump all this together with his age and playing for a team without a lot of dynamic players who create slam dunks for others.

This is all fair - I guess what that translates to is Nemec scoring something like 5-10 ES goals a year which is still more than most guys accomplish.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I only don't want the Rangers in the first round for personal health reasons. But I'm really not afraid of any potential matchups in the East. I think we can hang with anybody. We've even given the Bruins a run for their money in our matchups with them this year aside from one bad period from Blackwood.