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

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ZachaFlockaFlame

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Aug 24, 2020
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I guess it is a little unfair to say Subban was garbage last year. Once he simplified his game and acknowledged he was mkre of a third pairing guy , he was actually decent.

Yeah he wasn't, I wonder if he's kicking himself a bit seeing us do this well. I'm sure Fitz floated something to him to come back as the 7D before going after Brendan Smith with the relationship he had with the youth of this team. But he's been toasting Messier on ESPN on the intermission for us lmao
 

ChicksDigTheTrap

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Sep 16, 2018
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I think that they've upped their attention to detail and compete a bit more. Nothing dramatic but enough to maybe make a 45-47 win team into a 52-54 win team. And as always, let's face it, it's a small minority of posters who want to dwell on the negative or have a bone to pick with certain players whether or not they do well. I think the consensus was that the team was set back last season by the goaltending coupled with the swarm system that exacerbated it.
Agree. I think the attention to detail got a boost from Fitz discussing Ruff with the 3 young star Fs. According to Fitz they really wanted him back and their performance shows how much they respect Ruff. Hard to believe now there were posts after the first couple of losses that Ruff should be fired and the players had tuned him out. Any other year Ruff would have Jack Adams waiting for him but it looks like he will have to settle for 2nd this year.
 

Guttersniped

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I do think poor @Devils731 made a very solid, and correct, point in an off-hand comment and somehow got pushed into predicted Nemec’s future goals/points lol.

We should have a ton of production from the blue line if the young guys, particularly Luke, hit the ground running, while Dougie continues to produce.

There’s a ceiling with defensive production because there’s only so much PP ice-time and only so much ice-time with the scoring lines. (This is why Quinn Hughes doesn’t actually make any sense now.) But Hamilton has 9 5v5 goals, his scoring outside of the PP is one of his strengths.

Nemec doesn’t have the traditional slap-shot from the point for the PP, but that’s separate from a wrist shot.

Anyhoo, Nemac is real mystery box to me, I’m not sure how productive he’ll be.
 

My3Sons

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Agree. I think the attention to detail got a boost from Fitz discussing Ruff with the 3 young star Fs. According to Fitz they really wanted him back and their performance shows how much they respect Ruff. Hard to believe now there were posts after the first couple of losses that Ruff should be fired and the players had tuned him out. Any other year Ruff would have Jack Adams waiting for him but it looks like he will have to settle for 2nd this year.
To be fair, those first two games, the team defense looked the same to me as it had the year before. If you go back and watch them they hadn't upped their effort after an easy preseason. There was a reason the fans chanted to fire Lindy. Thankfully the players turned it around quickly and with the better effort took off. Clearly they hand't tuned him out they just needed to realize it wasn't going to be easy in real games. I am a bit concerned the playoffs will be the same way at first.
 

Billdo

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If only we didn't have that let down in December but better then than now.

To be fair, those first two games, the team defense looked the same to me as it had the year before. If you go back and watch them they hadn't upped their effort after an easy preseason. There was a reason the fans chanted to fire Lindy. Thankfully the players turned it around quickly and with the better effort took off. Clearly they hand't tuned him out they just needed to realize it wasn't going to be easy in real games. I am a bit concerned the playoffs will be the same way at first.
I'm fairly confident Palat will have a major influence on that last part. Palat, Hamilton, Smith, etc have all had long playoff runs. They know what it takes.
 
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Guttersniped

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Yep and everyone who got utterly bashed for saying a decent goalie would do wonders and probably make them way better/playoff caliber needs an apology from everyone here, twitter or close talking to the team. I still remember the mock posts some posters alluding that we're better than the Rangers with a goalie and Shesterkin not playing a .940 would make us better than them. And gee, look what happened this year.

Some people overreacted, and some were wrong, but it doesn’t matter.

Last season doesn’t matter at all. We learned it’s incredibly hard to take the steps to being a good team and I’m really focused on enjoying that.

The alternate reality of “what if we had the 2021-22 Shesterkin in net last season” is meaningless to me because it wasn’t a possible outcome.

Going into this season I was curious to see what a healthy Blackwood could do. Alas…

Blackwood starting 16 games (and leaving one due to injury) is really the final chapter on last season’s goalie madness.

The dude has stuck stringently to his “stay healthy for around a month” this year:

0670F2B9-8CE5-48FA-8AF6-8510DE9DB211.jpeg

(Schmid’s Emergency Loans were Nov 5-Dec 19, Jan 5-Jan 6, Feb 21-ongoing)

We’ve only got 16 games left and Blackwood will likely have the fewest starts he’s ever had in his career. He had 21 starts in 2018-19 in his 1st pre-official rookie season.

I had no interest in Subban coming back and he looks content as an tv analyst. A nice guy but a cooked vet with a giant personality isn’t what the locker-room needed.
 
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Zippy316

aka Zippo
Aug 17, 2012
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I do think poor @Devils731 made a very solid, and correct, point in an off-hand comment and somehow got pushed into predicted Nemec’s future goals/points lol.

We should have a ton of production from the blue line if the young guys, particularly Luke, hit the ground running, while Dougie continues to produce.

There’s a ceiling with defensive production because there’s only so much PP ice-time and only so much ice-time with the scoring lines. (This is why Quinn Hughes doesn’t actually make any sense now.) But Hamilton has 9 5v5 goals, his scoring outside of the PP is one of his strengths.

Nemec doesn’t have the traditional slap-shot from the point for the PP, but that’s separate from a wrist shot.

Anyhoo, Nemac is real mystery box to me, I’m not sure how productive he’ll be.
Nemec strikes me as a Suter-type. Suter isn’t the first name that comes to mind when you think offensive defender, but he consistently put together 30 point season on the back end and hovered around 50 at times.

He was just a steady, efficient defender that was smart enough to also produce in his minutes. Granted, a good chunk of that production is likely a result of him playing so many minutes, but it’s also a testament to his game.

I think Nemec ends up as a similar defender. Not sure if he’ll ever hit 50 points, but if the defense thins out and he’s playing 25+ a night, I could see it.
 

Zajacs Bowl Cut

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Didn't Timo also have some weird goalless drought to start the season this year when he was still on the Sharks? And then obviously it picked back up with regression to his mean.

The production will come, he just has to keep blasting away.

through the first 11 games this year, Meier only had 1 goal but was averaging nearly 5 shots per game

he put up 11 goals over his next 11 games. These things always tend to average out.
 

billingtons ghost

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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.

Yeah I thought we played the way we have to in order to win, and unfortunately I do think that means that we will give up big chances and of man rushes and will need to rely on our goaltenders to bail us out.

VV earned that shutout for sure, but I don't know if that kinda game is sustainable with it current players.
 

Zajacs Bowl Cut

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Yeah I thought we played the way we have to in order to win, and unfortunately I do think that means that we will give up big chances and of man rushes and will need to rely on our goaltenders to bail us out.

VV earned that shutout for sure, but I don't know if that kinda game is sustainable with it current players.

did we watch the same game....?

that was the best game defensively they played in a long time.
 

njdevil26

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I just realized this and it's blowing my mind.

The Devils best season ever was 2000-2001 where they were 48-19-12-3 for 111 pts.
The Devils are currently 44-16-6 for 94 pts.

They need to go 9-7-0 (or any combination of 18 pts) in the last 16 games for this to be the best regular season in team history.


HWAT.

Also, Saturday in Montreal was a lot of fun. Also drove home to go to the game last night. I am still tired... but me, the wife, and our friend made it on HabsFanTV.

Fast forward to six minutes to see us.

 

ZachaFlockaFlame

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Aug 24, 2020
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I just realized this and it's blowing my mind.

The Devils best season ever was 2000-2001 where they were 48-19-12-3 for 111 pts.
The Devils are currently 44-16-6 for 94 pts.

They need to go 9-7-0 (or any combination of 18 pts) in the last 16 games for this to be the best regular season in team history.


HWAT.

Also, Saturday in Montreal was a lot of fun. Also drove home to go to the game last night. I am still tired... but me, the wife, and our friend made it on HabsFanTV.

Fast forward to six minutes to see us.



I applaud the blond haired woman (didn't want to assume that was your wife lol) for saying that Lindy's been fine but doesn't deserve the credit considering he still manages to piss this fanbase off with his lineup moves lol
 

Triumph

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Oct 2, 2007
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Yeah I thought we played the way we have to in order to win, and unfortunately I do think that means that we will give up big chances and of man rushes and will need to rely on our goaltenders to bail us out.

VV earned that shutout for sure, but I don't know if that kinda game is sustainable with it current players.

They gave up, what, 3 2 on 1s? I don't remember any breakaways. Giving up 2 on 1s is bad, but as long as they're defended well they're not outrageously high scoring opportunities.

It's never going to be 2003 again, hopefully.
 

Guttersniped

I like goalies who stop the puck
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I just realized this and it's blowing my mind.

The Devils best season ever was 2000-2001 where they were 48-19-12-3 for 111 pts.
The Devils are currently 44-16-6 for 94 pts.

They need to go 9-7-0 (or any combination of 18 pts) in the last 16 games for this to be the best regular season in team history.


HWAT.

Also, Saturday in Montreal was a lot of fun. Also drove home to go to the game last night. I am still tired... but me, the wife, and our friend made it on HabsFanTV.

Fast forward to six minutes to see us.



It’s like you married the board! (In the sense you have someone to bitch about the lines with at home…)
 
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