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

[britdevil]

Absolutely pathetic.

 

[RSeen]

We need another top 6 winger pretty clearly when we get into the later stage of the season.

Have to hope Mercer isn't the same player as last season but that is unclear. Palat/Tatar will not get it done almost certainly.

 

[JimEIV]

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.

 

[Call Me Al]

they 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

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Mercer needs to stop thinking he is a skill player and take the lunch pail approach, especially with puck management. He tries the hero play to the high slot every damn shift and kills the zone time.

There is a lot of positives. If they can tidy up 3 things in defensive zone they will be a very good team. Boardplay, getting in lanes from the right angle and safer plays exiting the zone. Boardplay is a tough one because he have grenade handlers that often put wingers in tough positions. The odd stretch pass to keep defensmen honest would help. Getting in appropriate lanes is a big issue, we give up very tippable shots to the fat part of the net every shift. Safe plays exiting zone is everything from avoiding difficult touch passes off backhand to ensuring the pucks protected leaving the zone, Bratt turned up ice on an exit last night and the Dmen easily got the puck and extended the shift

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.

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.

 

[JrFischer54]

So we had the picture of Marino on the ice then the pic of Jack on the ice in Detroit this year. I’m noticing a theme among our players

 

[dgibb10]

they 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

#GETA4CNAMEDLARSELLERPLEASE

 

[Blender]

Just how we predicted the scoring would be before the season started.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

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

 

[Whaddagoal]

All Hail Nico Hischier!

As of last night, tied for 1st in the league for goals scored. That was not on my bingo card to start this season.

 

[Mgd31]

View attachment 921767

Just how we predicted the scoring would be before the season started.

Yea that's just not going to cut it from Jack

 

[guitarguyvic]

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.

 

[guitarguyvic]

To my previous point…coincidence that these two guys are at the bottom of plus/minus on the team?

 

[Whaddagoal]

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.

I'd like to see Dougie with another partner before i cast him as toast.....

I am concerned as well, but want to see him away from Dillon for a few games.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

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.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1850009202556613102

 

[BurntToast]

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.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

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.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1850009202556613102

Not looking like shit in B2B with teams with their other teams backup in? I don't even fault them for the Detroit loss but that's still a comically bad loss in totality. They're losing games in the stupidest fashion, just expecting them to get better from what we've seen this from the Devils outside of 22-23 is wishful thinking. They looked slower than Lou's retirement home of misfits last night, I don't see how that doesn't raise a concern for the majority of this fanbase.

 

[glenwo2]

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)

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

And 3) They're getting LOSER POINTS. (something they couldn't even get last season)

The Metro is too good for a team to pull a last year's Islanders

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

Move Doug Hamilton for a team light on a D man if his jump does not improve. He is 31 and I would hate to see him at 32. Early season other GMs will look to add D to prevent a wasted season.

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

Those 2 tip in goals by the Islanders were perfect but the success of that happening twice are very slim.

This team is not as bad as I am reading in here.

 

[Devs3cups]

Hopefully they get the W tomorrow and build from there on the Western Canada trip. They’ve played better these last 2.

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

Pay attention to who is around Luke Hughes.

 

[NJDevs26]

I still want to give Dougie more time before I go to DEFCON 1, he is still getting the rust off from a long term injury and learning a new system. Then again I have a little more patience with guys who weren’t actively involved in last year’s shitshow in general than the ones who were (Mercer, Hughes to a degree).

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Hopefully they get the W tomorrow and build from there on the Western Canada trip. They’ve played better these last 2.

Ducks are better than last year's team and we'll probably get a backup once again with Dostal probably getting NYR tonight