Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - season begins!

[JK3]

Don't mind Casey getting sent down. I hope Misyul gets a few games, can't have these guys playing their off side, Kovy was ass last game there.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Oh thank god, I was really worried they wouldn't try Palat with Hughes and Bratt again just because they looked absolutely terrible together last game.

Jokes aside, I'm all for keep the solid 3rd line and figuring out what works for the top 6. Something else has to work....just has to.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Luke and Pesce didn't really have much or any camp. Probably going to take it super slow with them unless injuries force their hand

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

I think Palat with Jack is the right choice, maybe unfortunately. Jack can carry anyone as we saw with the Kuokkanen/Sharangovich season.

And I’m sure the numbers don’t back me up at this point but i still have a weird feeling that Jack and Bratt arent good for each other. I’d rather see Palat and Mercer doing work along the boards for Jack and then letting Bratt, Meier, and Hischier be the best line in the NHL.

 

[Emperoreddy]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848380591047065752

 

[Triumph]

Yes he can. Mackinnon does, McDavid does, Pastranak does.

Can Jack do those things? Sure. But does he? No, not really.

Jack isn’t a superstar. He’s not even close right now. He’s not even a good player. He’s a below average player right now.

Sure.

He hasn’t made a Dman look foolish in a long time.

Doubt that, he's just doing it routinely and you're not noticing - even in his diminished state, he's able to do it sometimes.

Making the playoffs and get ousted in the first round isn’t anything to me. This team is built to be a perennial contender. Which they cannot achieve without Jack at his highest level.

Oh okay. Well you may be good at watching Jack Hughes, but I am good at seeing shifting goalposts. So now the team has to win a round for them to be successful.

Jack can put the team on his back by playing the game with balance and blend. Simple passes and conservative puck management the majority of the time, then picking your spots when the moment calls for it (the good ones know when that is and when that isn’t) and executing a high level play or occasionally knifing through defenders.

Jack Hughes scored 99 points 2 seasons ago, and was on pace to be doing that again until he got injured last season. I think he's 'one of the good ones'.

He can’t do any of the above right now. There is no defending this player, you have to twist and stretch and constantly look to the past to make any legitimate defense of his play since he returned from injury last year. It’s the injury, it’s “look at 22-23”, “look at the beginning of 23-24”,
tired of it.

Injuries are a real thing that can have a real impact on how a player plays. I'm sorry that reality is intruding on this narrative of players are either good or not good.

Anyway that's my last post on this subject. Hughes has some immaturity in his game even at the best of times, but he is 23 years old and hopefully has a long career ahead of him. He has learned how to play the game at the highest level and he can learn to do that again.

 

[HoliksGhost]

Do not like

He’s literally a kid.

 

[DerekDevils30]

6 games in 10 days is a tough stretch. Not surprised there was a lot of slop at times.

Tampa is playing in Toronto tonight and tomorrow will be their 3rd game in 4 days so the Devils have a good advantage being off since Saturday. It’s a game where you’d like to see the Devils controlling the overall play.

 

[Saugus]

Sucks to see Casey get sent down, but it makes sense.

Guys are coming back soon from injury, and he has not been good enough defensively, despite the offensive fireworks.

I hope he tears up the AHL, gets another chance with the big club soon, and comes back hungry to stick next time.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Casey impressed pretty quickly just like Luke & Nemec did. Some development in the AHL will be fine for him as he will be getting a ton of minutes in all situations. Casey , Nemec & Luke's development is still in its early stages. It's going to be great to have all 3 of them hopefully for many years along with Silayev & the others in the pipeline.

 

[Mgd31]

6 games in 10 days is a tough stretch. Not surprised there was a lot of slop at times.

Tampa is playing in Toronto tonight and tomorrow will be their 3rd game in 4 days so the Devils have a good advantage being off since Saturday. It’s a game where you’d like to see the Devils controlling the overall play.

Me too, we have not been great against Tampa recently. Lost last 4 times at home.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848403249465839692

 

[Better Call Sal]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848403249465839692

That's awesome to hear.

I do think the schedule is boning us a bit, as Keefe has indicated a couple of times. It hasn't allowed for a ton of practice time for the team in between games, which I'm sure has made it harder to want to implement Pesce and Luke into what the team is doing.

Hopefully it will be in the really near future. Would love to see this defense at full strength. Pesce and Luke are two big pieces to have missing for the first 10% of the season.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Feel like that’s gotta be Thursday at earliest Sunday at latest.

Could see them coming in for second half of the back to back on Friday.

 

[HBK27]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848413424562409897

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[The Grinder]

I am kinda in disbelief how late I ended up picking Luke in my fantasy draft this year. If his return is imminent the gamble paid off. I assume they start him at PP2 but lets see what Keefe does when he is acclimated back full time into the lineup.

 

[SansaStark]

Sure.



Doubt that, he's just doing it routinely and you're not noticing - even in his diminished state, he's able to do it sometimes.



Oh okay. Well you may be good at watching Jack Hughes, but I am good at seeing shifting goalposts. So now the team has to win a round for them to be successful.



Jack Hughes scored 99 points 2 seasons ago, and was on pace to be doing that again until he got injured last season. I think he's 'one of the good ones'.



Injuries are a real thing that can have a real impact on how a player plays. I'm sorry that reality is intruding on this narrative of players are either good or not good.

Anyway that's my last post on this subject. Hughes has some immaturity in his game even at the best of times, but he is 23 years old and hopefully has a long career ahead of him. He has learned how to play the game at the highest level and he can learn to do that again.

We can agree to disagree then. I do appreciate that you actually engaged enough to have a debate. I only ask that you try to see the other side. I am not wishing Jack to suck. I want him to be amazing. But there trends are extremely disturbing to me. That includes the personality issues.

Just as you say you’re good at seeing shifting goal posts. Well, I’m good at reading people. And when I watch Jack closely I don’t see the patterns and traits that I see from the other greats. Doesn’t mean he can’t be that or that I’m not reading him correctly. But I don’t see this ultra competitive, do whatever it takes to be great, kinda guy when I see Jack. Not saying he doesn’t work hard, and that is just my personal feeling. I don’t think it’s entirely unreasonable to have this take.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Casey being sent down isn't a shocker, he was getting benched a bit late in games recently. Can't fault not taking out Kovacevic with his good start to the year besides the the last few games either and he PK's. One of Luke or Pesce being back very soon would be huge, preferably the former.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1848413424562409897

Didn't we face him once before too? The name is familiar.

 

[Bleedred]

Casey being sent down isn't a shocker, he was getting benched a bit late in games recently. Can't fault not taking out Kovacevic with his good start to the year besides the the last few games either and he PK's. One of Luke or Pesce being back very soon would be huge, preferably the former.



Didn't we face him once before too? The name is familiar.

He's legitimately one of the worst goalies in the NHL. He's been BAD no matter what team he plays on, peep his numbers, consistently an .880%-something/sub-890% goalie that is 29 years old and has been passed around on waivers. And he's only with Tampa because he's really cheap on the cap and they probably expect Vasilevskiy to play around 60 games.

There's a legit case to be made that he IS the worst goalie on a full time NHL roster. I often times forget he's an NHL regular and not still a third stringer in the AHL when talking about the worst goalies in the league. The Buffalo beat writer famously said of him when he was still there right before they lost him to waivers several years ago that ''He's so bad, he even gets lit up in practice'' or something like that.

We played him last year in the final ''Fire Lindy'' game. Lindy's last home game before the California road trip which ended in his firing. And we only scored one goal on him lol.

 

[MasterofGrond]

We’ll be seeing Casey again real soon I’m sure.

It’s really good to get Misyul some time. He deserves it.

 

[Wierzbowski426]

We can agree to disagree then. I do appreciate that you actually engaged enough to have a debate. I only ask that you try to see the other side. I am not wishing Jack to suck. I want him to be amazing. But there trends are extremely disturbing to me. That includes the personality issues.

Just as you say you’re good at seeing shifting goal posts. Well, I’m good at reading people. And when I watch Jack closely I don’t see the patterns and traits that I see from the other greats. Doesn’t mean he can’t be that or that I’m not reading him correctly. But I don’t see this ultra competitive, do whatever it takes to be great, kinda guy when I see Jack. Not saying he doesn’t work hard, and that is just my personal feeling. I don’t think it’s entirely unreasonable to have this take.

You can have that take all you want.

Expecting others to attribute any value to it is another story.

 

[TrufleShufle]

I can't believe you guys are losing your minds about Casey going down, it's not that big of a deal and we will see him up again eventually no doubt.

 

[AfroThunder396]

He's legitimately one of the worst goalies in the NHL. He's been BAD no matter what team he plays on, peep his numbers, consistently an .880%-something/sub-890% goalie that is 29 years old and has been passed around on waivers. And he's only with Tampa because he's really cheap on the cap and they probably expect Vasilevskiy to play around 60 games.

There's a legit case to be made that he IS the worst goalie on a full time NHL roster. I often times forget he's an NHL regular and not still a third stringer in the AHL when talking about the worst goalies in the league. The Buffalo beat writer famously said of him when he was still there right before they lost him to waivers several years ago that ''He's so bad, he even gets lit up in practice'' or something like that.

We played him last year in the final ''Fire Lindy'' game. Lindy's last home game before the California road trip which ended in his firing. And we only scored one goal on him lol.

"The worst goalie I've seen in 19 seasons of covering the Sabres."

https://x.com/i/web/status/1372984677678649344

 

[Bleedred]

"The worst goalie I've seen in 19 seasons of covering the Sabres."

https://x.com/i/web/status/1372984677678649344

That's the one!

I got the quote way wrong, but the main point was that he was saying the guy doesn't even make saves in practice, let alone games.