Agreed, I don’t think NJ has been that bad to start the season. The things I mentioned above but I thought outside a couple games torched on the high cycle, NJ has done a good job sticking to their men.I think we need to give Keefe a little time to implement his program.
The Defense needs a little time to acclimate also...let's see what this looks like after 30/40 games...we have a lot of new faces here this year and it was never going to be plug and play.
I don't think personnel can really be addressed until Keefe has had a chance to fully implement his plan and see what we really have here...
And talks of Fitz on the hot seat after 10 games are purely coo coo.
#GETA4CNAMEDLARSELLERPLEASEthey should switch up the lines at this point
palat-nico-meier
noesen-hughes-bratt
cotter-haula-mercer
tatar-lazar-bastian
it’s clear from the power plays that noesen is the best at digging out pucks from the corners and has the skill to be a threat in close, he’d be the best complement to hughes and bratt. palat in L1 just because nico and meier don’t need him and whatever game he has right now can at least be useful forechecking and cycling, maybe get him going. or swap with tatar who has looked good.
bottom 6 whatever, third line has enough skill to hopefully score some goals and 4th i dunno, it’s what’s left.
i still think they will eventually be a good team i just hope it’s not after they dig a huge hole and make me completely disinterested in them, which has been happening earlier and earlier in the season each year
I’m pretty concerned with Dougie. He was already slow as dirt and not good defensively. Now we are just gonna assume that he can recover from a pretty severe injury back to his original form, at his age? I’m not convinced he’s gonna be the player he was prior, and that’s pretty bad because he doesn’t do anything else well to make up for it.
Where should the goalposts be 11 games in with a new coach while breaking in multiple D coming back from injury? And really the franchise player hasn’t even hit his stride yet.People are just gonna move the goal posts for this team until it's January and too late, so it's whatever. They've been trash since Utah, Nico is the only player who's shown up the last week and a half. Hamilton looks like he's lost a step too, not sure where this unbridled optimism is coming from that they'll turn it around. Not to mention, the goaltending is somehow on par with last year's shitshow
Where should the goalposts be 11 games in with a new coach while breaking in multiple D coming back from injury? And really the franchise player hasn’t even hit his stride yet.
And 3) They're getting LOSER POINTS. (something they couldn't even get last season)Two years ago they had that long Winn streak and that propelled them the rest of the year. The problem going 2 wins 1 loss, is that it leaves the Devils with a slim margin for error. Now they have lost multiple games. Lucky for them it’s 1) Early and 2) They are above NHL .500.
Make no mistake this team has a losing record and both goalies look shaky.
And 3) They're getting LOSER POINTS. (something they couldn't even get last season)
Hopefully they get the W tomorrow and build from there on the Western Canada trip. They’ve played better these last 2.