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

[Hisch13r]

It would be hilarious to see Giroux in a Devils uniform.

Brock Nelson seems like more of a fit but I don't think we have the assets for that. And obviously not Rantanen who would, in most ways, be the ideal next to Jack and Bratt.

I'd love Giroux. Think the Sens will probably still be in the hunt though and won't be selling.

 

[Triumph]

I’m far from the biggest Boqvist fan but I don’t think the argument of ‘a Devils team who fell woefully short of the playoffs somehow didn’t have room for him in the lineup but two perennial contenders did’ is the one you want to make.

Boqvist was waived last season, so nobody had room for him in their lineup when he was put on waivers. He dressed for 46 games as a 13th forward for Boston and got into 8 playoff games out of the 13 they played.

It's not that the Devils couldn't've used Boqvist last season - they very obviously could've. It's that he wouldn't've been in their lineup to start with, he was basically 25, he'd been around the team for 4 years, and the Devils didn't have them in their long-term plans. He's a useful 3th/4th line guy. Apparently he's turned into a physical guy in Florida - they overcount everything there, but he's already going to smash his career best in hits if he manages to stay healthy and be dressed. Sometimes changing teams and being put on waivers is the thing that can get a player to play differently than what they were drafted to be.

 

[Comparison Ford]

i feel as though Lou would still not trade to us or rangers.

Brock nelson would be such a good fit on this team

 

[OmNomNom]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1851730806609449380

schneids is pretty good at breaking things down, love that he found a niche to work in

 

[NJDevs26]

i feel as though Lou would still not trade to us or rangers.

Brock nelson would be such a good fit on this team

Lou doesn’t do sell offs period unless the team is at least double digit points out by March. But he had no issue trading for Greene, Zajac and Palmieri with Fitz

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

That's how you run a team. Boqvist didn't fit in with their long-term plans so they went and got other players. As constituted, he doesn't dress in 2023-24 or 2024-25's opening lineup. It'd be very nice to have a perennial 13th forward but I don't really think it's fair to Boqvist to do that.

I think he would've been a regular for our 23/24 team, I would even love him for this year's team but it's water under the bridge. The bigger picture, the management moving one way too hard based off a singular season is concerning but they have such an awesome core I don't know how this mess this thing up.

i feel as though Lou would still not trade to us or rangers.

Brock nelson would be such a good fit on this team

I want Palms from the Isles

Lou doesn’t do sell offs period unless the team is at least double digit points out by March. But he had no issue trading for Greene, Zajac and Palmieri with Fitz

I think the poster meant selling a player, he probably doesn't care about buying from anyone besides the Rags

 

[Guttersniped]

@Emperoreddy @Triumph

Haha Found it. But my mind really crossed the eras wrongly. It was 2010-2011. Somehow I had placed it in my mind during the 2013+ eras

Matt Taormina. It was MacLeans pet offensive dman who made it out of camp and looked pretty spiffy on O but was bad overall, but Johnny Mac kept playing him and then he disappeared quickly as the season went to toast. Looking at it again, he had some time in the PDB season following but again didn't stick.

Anyway a bit of a detour but I found it.

Matt Taormina Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Salary, Title | Hockey-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats of Matt Taormina. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, trade, draft, salary and more on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

I think why I struggled a bit remembering was that Severson had a similar initial impression (very good start) but stuck around of course and ended up very good. My mind kept initially flipping to Severson, but was like no, I remember some other guy being a flash in pan type of Offensive d-man. (Not Severson).

It was Taormina.

He wasn’t MacLean’s “pet offensive” defenseman so much as he was Lou’s sad f***ing attempt to half-heartedly fill the giant void we had there.

2010-11 was “dead puck era” and we still stood out with the dead last offense with 2.09 GPG. (The next worst was 2.39.)

Greene was our defensive points leader in 10-11 with:
82 GP 4G 19A 23 pts
1 PPG 5 PPA 6 PP pts

Greene led in every category except goals because Tallinder had 5.

That was a f***ing travesty. So Lou kept trading for offensive defensemen before old man Zidlisky worked out in the short term and then Salvador inexplicably exploded in the playoffs.

The lack of offense from the defense was a constant problem for us and annoyed the hell out of me lol.

 

[Whaddagoal]

He wasn’t MacLean’s “pet offensive” defenseman so much as he was Lou’s sad f***ing attempt to half-heartedly fill the giant void we had there.

2010-11 was “dead puck era” and we still stood out with the dead last offense with 2.09 GPG. (The next worst was 2.39.)

Greene was our defensive points leader in 10-11 with:
82 GP 4G 19A 23 pts
1 PPG 5 PPA 6 PP pts

Greene led in every category except goals because Tallinder had 5.

That was a f***ing travesty. So Lou kept trading for offensive defensemen before old man Zidlisky worked out in the short term and then Salvador inexplicably exploded in the playoffs.

The lack of offense from the defense was a constant problem for us and annoyed the hell out of me lol.

It was probably a dead puck era for NJD only..lol, based on what our lack of puck moving guys.

But yeah we had a lot of problems generating offense from defenders.

 

[Whaddagoal]

He wasn’t MacLean’s “pet offensive” defenseman so much as he was Lou’s sad f***ing attempt to half-heartedly fill the giant void we had there.

2010-11 was “dead puck era” and we still stood out with the dead last offense with 2.09 GPG. (The next worst was 2.39.)

Greene was our defensive points leader in 10-11 with:
82 GP 4G 19A 23 pts
1 PPG 5 PPA 6 PP pts

Greene led in every category except goals because Tallinder had 5.

That was a f***ing travesty. So Lou kept trading for offensive defensemen before old man Zidlisky worked out in the short term and then Salvador inexplicably exploded in the playoffs.

The lack of offense from the defense was a constant problem for us and annoyed the hell out of me lol.

It was probably a dead puck era for NJD only..lol, based on what our lack of puck moving guys.

I just remember he came outta nowhere

 

[Xirik]

A Jiricek thread on the trade board, Get ready to light the beacons guys. I smell a Nemec trade thread coming.

 

[My3Sons]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1852397850518225155

My earliest memories of going to Devils games at Continental are of this guy standing up and starting the chants. What a legend. Happy he’s still doing it, but I’m not sure if it’s as often as he did in the 90s? I don’t make it to too many games anymore.

I remember that guy. He used to have more facial hair 100 years ago when he led the chanting. My recollection is that his hair was a bit lighter back then. Good for him being recognized. Give me a D!

 

[Xirik]

I remember that guy. He used to have more facial hair 100 years ago when he led the chanting. My recollection is that his hair was a bit lighter back then. Good for him being recognized. Give me a D!

my mind went dirty first and then it put the "Chant" and "Give me a D" together and I figured it out.

My brain needs to be studied.

 

[Better Call Sal]

If we somehow got Palms back, I'd be ecstatic. f***ing love that guy.

 

[Whaddagoal]

my mind went dirty first and then it put the "Chant" and "Give me a D" together and I figured it out.

My brain needs to be studied.

That never crossed my mind before during that chant.

And now you have polluted my mind ...

 

[Triumph]

Lou doesn’t do sell offs period unless the team is at least double digit points out by March. But he had no issue trading for Greene, Zajac and Palmieri with Fitz

I suspect whoever might be selling on the Island will not be Lou if the time comes. But I'm not counting the Islanders out yet.

I think he would've been a regular for our 23/24 team, I would even love him for this year's team but it's water under the bridge. The bigger picture, the management moving one way too hard based off a singular season is concerning but they have such an awesome core I don't know how this mess this thing up.

He would've been a regular for the 23/24 team because they basically never had a healthy forward lineup and they lost McLeod midway through the season.

I don't think management moved a specific way per se. They ditched Sharangovich because he was arbitration-eligible and Wood because he was UFA, both players got far too expensive for their roles here. Those players were never coming back after 2022-23. The trouble is, they didn't have any young players to step in, and that's a problem this season that they have gotten mostly lucky on so far.

 

[Nubmer6]

I remember that guy. He used to have more facial hair 100 years ago when he led the chanting. My recollection is that his hair was a bit lighter back then. Good for him being recognized. Give me a D!

My season tickets back at the old barn were directly across the aisle from him, so I know him fairly well.

He already got quite a bit of recognition. If I remember correctly, he and another season ticket holder raised our cup banner back in 95. I think a fair number of people held resentment against him for being the one who got to do that. I'm really not sure why.

 

[My3Sons]

My season tickets back at the old barn were directly across the aisle from him, so I know him fairly well.

He already got quite a bit of recognition. If I remember correctly, he and another season ticket holder raised our cup banner back in 95. I think a fair number of people held resentment against him for being the one who got to do that. I'm really not sure why.

He deserved it. He worked hard. No way I was getting up in front of that many people to rant like a loony. I was at that banner raising game when Puddy yelled at Stevens after the ceremonial puck drop.

 

[Whaddagoal]

If we somehow got Palms back, I'd be ecstatic. f***ing love that guy.

He's been scoring goals against us recently...

The guy needs to know when to have an off day.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

Fun little video that is actually very complimentary of us:

 

[Based Anime Fan]

Or, this season

 

[Forge]

If we are looking for a guy to replace Lazar at some point, I'd probably look at someone like Mike McCarron in Nashville.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

LMAO, forgot about the Offence VS Defence in 2013/2014.

 

[Xirik]

Fun little video that is actually very complimentary of us:

I think this video deserves some mainboard love. You should post it there.

 

[MadDevil]

If we somehow got Palms back, I'd be ecstatic. f***ing love that guy.

Plus he needs facial hair lol

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I suspect whoever might be selling on the Island will not be Lou if the time comes. But I'm not counting the Islanders out yet.



He would've been a regular for the 23/24 team because they basically never had a healthy forward lineup and they lost McLeod midway through the season.

I don't think management moved a specific way per se. They ditched Sharangovich because he was arbitration-eligible and Wood because he was UFA, both players got far too expensive for their roles here. Those players were never coming back after 2022-23. The trouble is, they didn't have any young players to step in, and that's a problem this season that they have gotten mostly lucky on so far.

Agreed, it's just the 22-23 depth was tremendous and they probably didn't realize how good it was at the time. Shara was fine because they essentially flipped him for a better playoff fit but they also just assumed they'd be a lock for the playoffs when nothing in sports is a "lock". Boqvist, in reality, wasn't a loss if they properly replaced him but they just decided to run it back and everything that could wrong did. I think my whole thing is they swing too much from season to season in terms of overreacting. It's a good thing they're proactive but you don't need to be like that in most situations when your core is as good as the Devils core.