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

[MadDevil]

I tried watching it but got bored rather quickly. It was also pretty late at night (or early in the morning for normal human beings) though so I might try watching it again. Although my "I've been meaning to watch this" list is ridiculously long already.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I tried watching it but got bored rather quickly. It was also pretty late at night (or early in the morning for normal human beings) though so I might try watching it again. Although my "I've been meaning to watch this" list is ridiculously long already.

Stick with it. It’s a nutty movie.

 

[markog]

Hobey tends to get simplified as "best player in college hockey" but there are some subjective components to it: Hobey Baker Award: History, winners, selection process



As mentioned, the Hobey voters seemingly like to vote for an upperclassman if they can unless there's just somebody who puts up a ridiculous season.

Here's a blip from when Will Butcher won it:



Voting for a graduating senior seems like a consideration even though most fans wouldn't care. It's funny, Vesey had a better statistical season as a junior but won Hobey as a senior.

Average fan maybe gets the Hobey Baker muddled with the award for "best NHL prospect." But nobody considered Will Butcher a better prospect than say Clayton Keller who wasn't a Hobey finalist as a freshman in 2017.

I've probably spent a little too much time recently trying to temper some posters' expectations for recent Hobey winner Dryden McKay on the main boards. Some thought he'd get fast tracked to an NHL spot but it's looking more likely that he'll have to work his way up from the ECHL next season.

Thanks.

 

[Billdo]

So barring the lottery process we are basically locked in at 5 unless we lose out and the Flyers win their last game?

 

[NJDevs26]

So barring the lottery process we are basically locked in at 5 unless we lose out and the Flyers win their last game?

They could tie Chicago with two wins and a Blackhawks loss, but I don't know how the reverse tiebreakers work...if it's ROW the Devils have more. It's hardly worth scoreboard watching over in any case...the #4 spot has a 9.5% chance of winning a lottery, the #6 spot has a 7.5% chance of winning one.

 

[devilsblood]

Using black and white film and lighting it so you expect nosferatu to come around a corner doesn’t make it art. I’m sorry. The premise was the cinematic equivalent of an Andy Kaufman bit from later in his career. Seeing how far you can push the audience by subtly insulting them is not creative. It’s just taking advantage of peOple who don’t know any better. He didn’t even get the myths correct. All that aside I could have fixed that movie with one change to the last scene. It wouldn’t have been great but at least it would have worked.

A little elaboration perhaps?

 

[Better Call Sal]

Amazing how I didn't even need to see the actual tweet first to know EXACTLY who it would be making that "information" public.

Suppose it's good to see them staying on brand after all of these years.

 

[Triumph]

They could tie Chicago with two wins and a Blackhawks loss, but I don't know how the reverse tiebreakers work...if it's ROW the Devils have more. It's hardly worth scoreboard watching over in any case...the #4 spot has a 9.5% chance of winning a lottery, the #6 spot has a 7.5% chance of winning one.

It is ROW but also there are two lotteries so it's ~19% versus ~16%.

 

[MauDevils]

At this point, we're statistically most likely to be picking 6th after the lottery.

 

[devilsblood]

Anyone interested in a Zacha debate?

His underlying #'s were really good this year. Second to only Bratt amongst fwd's.

 

[Darkauron]

Anyone interested in a Zacha debate?

His underlying #'s were really good this year. Second to only Bratt amongst fwd's.

Oh God no. Noooooooo. Why nooo

 

[devilsblood]

Oh God no. Noooooooo. Why nooo

Ah c'mon. We need to get in offseason shape.

 

[RangerDoggo]

Anyone interested in a Zacha debate?

His underlying #'s were really good this year. Second to only Bratt amongst fwd's.

You are the pigeon, the rest of us are the doe

 

[devilsblood]

You are the pigeon, the rest of us are the doe

At least I won I guess.

 

[Devils731]

Anyone interested in a Zacha debate?

His underlying #'s were really good this year. Second to only Bratt amongst fwd's.

As long as you don’t care about actual production 5 on 5 and haven’t watched him for years then Zacha looks good. Otherwise he’s a supporting guy that you don’t want to rely on.



E

 

[devilsblood]

As long as you don’t care about actual production 5 on 5 and haven’t watched him for years then Zacha looks good. Otherwise he’s a supporting guy that you don’t want to rely on.



View attachment 537015View attachment 537016View attachment 537017E

Talking more his on ice #'s.

2nd best cf%. 2nd best sf%. 3rd best xGF%. 2nd best xGA/60. 3rd best SA/60.

As a winger he looks like he's pretty solid as a low event defensive fwd.

It's true his individual shots(though a career high here) and points rates at 5v5 are not great, but pretty much in line with Tatar at half the price. Plus you get the versatility in terms of ability to play center, to play on the PK, and more effective on the PP.

Small sample but if you're looking at building a 3rd line his #'s with Boq this year are very good too.

I mean if you are looking to judge Zacha this year on how he played 3-4 years ago, then maybe you'll have a different take, but if you look at his #s from just this year, and the #'s were always something the critics liked to point to, then he's been pretty good.

 

[Triumph]

Talking more his on ice #'s.

2nd best cf%. 2nd best sf%. 3rd best xGF%. 2nd best xGA/60. 3rd best SA/60.

He played most of the season with Nico Hischier. He's never shown any proclivity for driving play before this.

As a winger he looks like he's pretty solid as a low event defensive fwd.

It's true his individual shots(though a career high here) and points rates at 5v5 are not great, but pretty much in line with Tatar at half the price. Plus you get the versatility in terms of ability to play center, to play on the PK, and more effective on the PP.

Small sample but if you're looking at building a 3rd line his #'s with Boq this year are very good too.

He won't be half the price next season, and comparing him to arguably the most overpaid forward on the team is not very helpful.

Every organization reaches a point with a player where they have to make a decision to commit to that player or not, and while somehow the Devils have stretched it out to 6 years, they just can't commit to more of Pavel Zacha. He's gotten better, but he hasn't corrected the biggest flaws in his game, and the rest of his game isn't good enough to support those flaws, at least not at what he will cost. I don't think Pavel is ready to commit to the Swiss Army Knife sort of future you've sketched out for him here, either - he wants a chance somewhere else to be a big part of a team.

 

[devilsblood]

He played most of the season with Nico Hischier. He's never shown any proclivity for driving play before this.



He won't be half the price next season, and comparing him to arguably the most overpaid forward on the team is not very helpful.

Every organization reaches a point with a player where they have to make a decision to commit to that player or not, and while somehow the Devils have stretched it out to 6 years, they just can't commit to more of Pavel Zacha. He's gotten better, but he hasn't corrected the biggest flaws in his game, and the rest of his game isn't good enough to support those flaws, at least not at what he will cost. I don't think Pavel is ready to commit to the Swiss Army Knife sort of future you've sketched out for him here, either - he wants a chance somewhere else to be a big part of a team.

His #'s are better away from Nico, while Nico's are worse away from Zacha.

And I compare him to Tatar because they are in that mix of players who could fill that 3rd line lw spot next season.

I'll concede that you have a much better grasp of the contract consideration for next year, I'm figuring he remains cheap but I admit I could be wrong.

Now is Zacha looking for a bigger oppurtunity then what he is getting here? Maybe, but as long as he is here, while we may not get the production we had once hoped, we can extract some value via that versatility.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Wanted to point out to all the haters that Jon Merrill came in 4th in the NHLPA Players poll on the category of 'best hair's.

That is all.

 

[billingtons ghost]

We just fielded a team that had at most 6 players who would play on a decent team in the NHL right now, granted with a few significant injuries. I don't see the massive prospect pipeline I expected at this point tho there are tons of slightly flawed fringe guys who may or may not develop and a couple of bluechippers. While the various camps want to jettison Sevs and Zacha, and I certainly agree we can't commit big money or term to either, I still think Fitz needs to do his damnedest to get both back on this team if possible on reasonable contracts.

 

[devilsblood]

Wanted to point out to all the haters that Jon Merrill came in 4th in the NHLPA Players poll on the category of 'best hair's.

That is all.

He's also played in 29 playoff game since he was scooped up. With more coming this year.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Wanted to point out to all the haters that Jon Merrill came in 4th in the NHLPA Players poll on the category of 'best hair's.

That is all.

This may be the first meme that Dano would approve of

 

[devilsblood]

We just fielded a team that had at most 6 players who would play on a decent team in the NHL right now, granted with a few significant injuries. I don't see the massive prospect pipeline I expected at this point tho there are tons of slightly flawed fringe guys who may or may not develop and a couple of bluechippers. While the various camps want to jettison Sevs and Zacha, and I certainly agree we can't commit big money or term to either, I still think Fitz needs to do his damnedest to get both back on this team if possible on reasonable contracts.

Sev's much more then Zacha. I'll make an argument that Zacha had a solid season, but we have plenty of lw options, and lw is a pretty easy hole to fill.

Sev's plays a position at which we have no organizational depth, and it's a pretty difficult position to fill league wide.

I don't want to overpay Sev's, but we might need to. We really don't need to overpay Zacha.

 

[My3Sons]

His #'s are better away from Nico, while Nico's are worse away from Zacha.

And I compare him to Tatar because they are in that mix of players who could fill that 3rd line lw spot next season.

I'll concede that you have a much better grasp of the contract consideration for next year, I'm figuring he remains cheap but I admit I could be wrong.

Now is Zacha looking for a bigger oppurtunity then what he is getting here? Maybe, but as long as he is here, while we may not get the production we had once hoped, we can extract some value via that versatility.

well, it's obvious that Zacha was carrying Hischier. If that isn't an indictment of advanced stats I'm not sure what would be. I'm somewhat agnostic on advanced stats but I'm skeptical that the anomaly you've uncovered in those numbers are a true reflection of their play. Zacha looks fairly disinterested to me for much of this season. His play has reflected that in my view.

 

[Eggtimer]

Hopefully a team heavy into advanced stats wants Zacha . Might be able to get a pretty decent asset for him?