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

[My3Sons]

K.O.vy

I really like this lines. May be flip Tatar and Mercer to give opportunity for Meier to play on the right wing. It will bring right winger Mercer with right handed shot on the third line.

I'm not sure about sitting Nemec. Casey was good in PP, but Nemec is better 5 on 5, especially in the slot/against rushes etc.

Casey looks good right now. He’s playing his offside so it’s a bit tougher. The issue to me is that right now is Kovy is playing so well he has to stay in the lineup when Pesce returns.

 

[My3Sons]

K.O.vy

I really like this lines. May be flip Tatar and Mercer to give opportunity for Meier to play on the right wing. It will bring right winger Mercer with right handed shot on the third line.

I'm not sure about sitting Nemec. Casey was good in PP, but Nemec is better 5 on 5, especially in the slot/against rushes etc.

I already have Mercer playing on the third line.

 

[Ducks4Cup]

Toronto will be a better measure of how we stack up so I’m not gonna get too excited yet.

 

[My3Sons]

Toronto will be a better measure of how we stack up so I’m not gonna get too excited yet.

You know Keefe is going to want to win that.

 

[NJDevs26]

Toronto will be a better measure of how we stack up so I’m not gonna get too excited yet.

On the one hand, I agree...but on the other hand, I've seen us lose to so much junk over the years I hardly care who the wins come against

 

[Guadana]

I already have Mercer playing on the third line.

Damn. I was caught in an obvious trap.

Casey looks good right now. He’s playing his offside so it’s a bit tougher. The issue to me is that right now is Kovy is playing so well he has to stay in the lineup when Pesce returns.

I really like them all now. I don't believe in "win metter" after the first game, they controlled the game, slowed it down after 3 goals, limited opportunities for creations of really dangerous chances. Second game was from the books.
But I think in the next games someone will definitely make mistake. Or they will just use Casey in more offensive situations and Pesce and Nemec in more defensive situations. May be Pesce himself will be raw and they will give him more time.
May be they will build roster against specific opponents. I believe its better to use bigger and more experienced defense against teams like Boston, Toronto or Florida. On the other side its good to have better pp2 brigade against weaker teams like jackets to maximize opportunities to score.

 

[Devs3cups]

On the one hand, I agree...but on the other hand, I've seen us lose to so much junk over the years I hardly care who the wins come against

We lost to some bad teams in 2022-2023 too at some points. It happens.

 

[Eggtimers]

Feels good to have good goaltending …. And a good coach…. and D depth…. And good bottom 6 …

 

[Bleedred]

On the one hand, I agree...but on the other hand, I've seen us lose to so much junk over the years I hardly care who the wins come against

Yeah, last year we lost game two the worthless Coyotes in a shootout. Which was a red flag with last year’s team. And we constantly got throttled by bad teams last year. Including the second game against the Coyotes, which was also after Green took over.

And we constantly were destroyed by the Capitals, who made the playoffs by not even one point and had to have been one of the weakest teams to make the playoffs in an 82 game season in quite some time.

Honestly, I think it’s just a coincidence that we play those two teams after Toronto and that I’m naming them. But Arizona sticks out because it was game two of last year and we were constantly losing to Washington.

 

[NJ07102]

We never got any kind of traction last season. Not at any point did I feel as if this team would go on a roll. And they never did. Can this year's version do it? The way they played team defence in these two games, I'd say the odds are much better. Those two games were as good as any game they played last season.

 

[My3Sons]

We never got any kind of traction last season. Not at any point did I feel as if this team would go on a roll. And they never did. Can this year's version do it? The way they played team defence in these two games, I'd say the odds are much better. Those two games were as good as any game they played last season.

They got goaltending these two games that they rarely got last season. Hopefully that continues.

 

[Guadana]

Feels good to have good goaltending ….

Give Rogalski more time.

 

[Eggtimers]

Give Rogalski more time.

Who is the goaltender coach in Vancouver ? I can’t remember his name but he is someone I want to poach off of them . The man is incredibly good

 

[Better Call Sal]

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the opponent when we win, but we’ve seen plenty of evidence over the years that any team can beat their opponent on any given night in this league. It’s more important to see how the team played to earn that win, and honestly, both of these games were impressive for different reasons.

It’s felt like a night and day difference from last year so far, which is exactly what you want to feel like with a new coach at the helm.