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

[Devils731]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1849135424481968374

Some good news.

 

[NjDevsRR]

People need to prepare themselves for Pesce and Luke needing a few games to get back into the swing of things

 

[Better Call Sal]

i dunno what everyone else is seeing out there so far this season but to me it seems like the same attitude same mindset same woe is me attitude when the game gets hard. this isn't a doom post so dont take it as such but just basing it on what they have looked like so far. i said yesterday i still think they will make the playoffs and maybe it just takes more time for sheldon to break through to them its sad that is even the case after another coaching change.

It's more or less how I took the loss yesterday. They wilted in the face of adversity by and large, as Tampa took control after they tied it at 1 and ran away with it after tying it at 2.

The pushback came far too little, too late. And that should be something Keefe hits home with these guys. That can't be acceptable.

 

[TrufleShufle]

People need to prepare themselves for Pesce and Luke needing a few games to get back into the swing of things

No.

 

[Xirik]

No.

 

[NJDevs26]

Random thought: Toffoli would be a better fit on this team than last year's team

Except then we’d probably get bad Timo again

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I think I would prefer to go with a Luke-Dougie sheltered pairing. Yeah there is potential for some catastrophic mistakes, but that’s happening with Dillon anyway.

Siegs-Kovy
Dillon-Pesce
Luke-Dougie

 

[Hisch13r]

I think I would prefer to go with a Luke-Dougie sheltered pairing. Yeah there is potential for some catastrophic mistakes, but that’s happening with Dillon anyway.

Siegs-Kovy
Dillon-Pesce
Luke-Dougie

This is also what I’ve said. You can fallback on the Siegs-Dougie pair but Siegs-Kovy is elite and I’d like to keep them together unless I have to split it up. At least with Luke-Dougie, Luke has the skating to make up for mistakes and that pair could also bring positives offensively that Dillon-Dougie isn’t.

 

[Bleedred]

People need to prepare themselves for Pesce and Luke needing a few games to get back into the swing of things

I still think having one of them at 25% and the other at 50% is probably still an upgrade or a wash over whatever two would be playing if they're out.

And when I say 25% and 50% I mean rusty, not still 50%-75% injured lol.

 

[BostonDevil]

People need to prepare themselves for Pesce and Luke needing a few games to get back into the swing of things

I think YOU need to be prepared for instant outrage in here after 1 shift

 

[NjDevsRR]

I think YOU need to be prepared for instant outrage in here after 1 shift

Edit: I feel like this should be @Devs3cups avatar for now before the sad sponge.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I think YOU need to be prepared for instant outrage in here after 1 shift

We will have instant outrage before puck drop. Jack will have given a look in warm ups that gives away that he doesn't care.

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

People need to prepare themselves for Pesce and Luke needing a few games to get back into the swing of things

I just don't understand excuses like this.

Sure, they may need some games to start getting points (for Luke, not expecting that from Pesce). They don't need a few games to actually look like a hockey player. Just some weird thinking.

If they need a few games to start caring, to not look like a pewee player handling the puck, and to remember what defense is...we've got far bigger problems

 

[NJDevs26]

I just don't understand excuses like this.

Sure, they may need some games to start getting points (for Luke, not expecting that from Pesce). They don't need a few games to actually look like a hockey player. Just some weird thinking.

If they need a few games to start caring, to not look like a pewee player handling the puck, and to remember what defense is...we've got far bigger problems

Well Pesce more so than Luke, at least Luke has been skating for the most part and his injury wasn’t as severe. Plus both are in a new system.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I just don't understand excuses like this.

Sure, they may need some games to start getting points (for Luke, not expecting that from Pesce). They don't need a few games to actually look like a hockey player. Just some weird thinking.

If they need a few games to start caring, to not look like a pewee player handling the puck, and to remember what defense is...we've got far bigger problems

Ehhhh. There has been numerous examples of players taking a while to get back into NHL game speed after injury. I don’t understand denying that.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

lmao We're keeping dumb and dumber together

I was really scared of this happening. Luke and Pesce have been practicing together as a pair this whole time. No way they're breaking up Siegs-Kovacevic pair.

Maybe they shift half of Dillon-Hamiltons ice time to Luke and Pesce and Dillon-Hamilton pairing will be 3rd pairing in terms of ice time? We'll see....that frustrates me though if that is the pairings we'll still see on Thursday

 

[AfroThunder396]

I just don't understand excuses like this.

Sure, they may need some games to start getting points (for Luke, not expecting that from Pesce). They don't need a few games to actually look like a hockey player. Just some weird thinking.

If they need a few games to start caring, to not look like a pewee player handling the puck, and to remember what defense is...we've got far bigger problems

Conflating caring with results is annoying neanderthal-brain stuff I would expect Mike Keenen to say. Caring has nothing to do with anything. Neither of these guys have played hockey in months and neither got to have a pre-season or training camp. They are going to be physically rusty and it had nothing to do with "caring," whatever that's supposed to mean.

You can't simulate game intensity during practice, you can't simulate the timing of a guy trying to take your head off when you're working with team mates. No amount of mental prep is going to make up for the physical atrophy of their muscles, the timing of their nerves, the physical conditioning of their heart.

Modern athletes are finally tuned machines and these two have been sitting in a parking lot collecting dust for half a year, they are going to need a few laps to get back up to speed. This is pretty common across all sports, I'm not sure why you're acting like this is some brand new thing that our board has just come up with.

 

[NJDevs26]

Yeah I don’t really understand the reluctance to flip the d-pairings at this point either but it’s still October and it’s not like Siegs hasn’t played with Dougie before

 

[Hisch13r]

Yeah I don’t really understand the reluctance to flip the d-pairings at this point either but it’s still October and it’s not like Siegs hasn’t played with Dougie before

Dillon-Dougie has been helping to kill games recently. It’s awful and needs to change. Like maybe you could’ve kept them together as a 3rd pair if the D was fully healthy to start but they cannot be together with the load they’ve had to carry so far and I wouldn’t be keeping them together when you’ve got 2 guys coming off injuries and you don’t know how good they’ll be at first.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Ehhhh. There has been numerous examples of players taking a while to get back into NHL game speed after injury. I don’t understand denying that.

Yes, there are very few cases (even though it's happened) where a player comes back from an injury and immediately puts up points. I'd argue though the majority of players are able to come back and play a smart, simple game. I'm not taking this injury as an excuse for bad play

 

[Maine Fan]

As Devils fans we need to give Keefe time to settle in with the players. I would agree that our defense is not doing it's job. We have injuries, wrong pairing, veteran defenseman that aren't playing well. I expected more from our goal tending like buying us some games but the fault lies with the defense.


We fans must give Keefe time let's wait until we get to 20-30 games in before we get down on the team or compare team to team.

Thanks. LETS GO DEVILS


I don't know about you but I feel lucky to be a fan of the NJ Devils.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

This is also what I’ve said. You can fallback on the Siegs-Dougie pair but Siegs-Kovy is elite and I’d like to keep them together unless I have to split it up. At least with Luke-Dougie, Luke has the skating to make up for mistakes and that pair could also bring positives offensively that Dillon-Dougie isn’t.

Agreed with this. Hamilton is gonna cause breakdowns regardless of whose with him, so you might as well pair him with our most mobile dman.

Luke is a better defender than people give him credit for, and is so mobile he can cover for Hamilton. I also like the idea of Luke sliding down the wall and finding Hamilton as a trailing shooting option.

Siegs - Kovy
Hughes - Hamilton
Dillon - Pesce

 

[Cheddabombs]

Exciting news on Luke and Pesce! Luke sounds like he'll be back sooner than I expected, and Pesce honestly a little bit later, so we'll call it a wash. Should be a big boost even if it takes some time for them to get up to speed. Nemec has been cheeks so far.

 

[Guttersniped]

Speaking of Hamilton, minus-3 tonight but not much commentary here or in the GDT.

You missed the commentary on the Dillon-Hamilton pairing in the GDT because it’s there. (They’re doing badly btw, just fyi.)