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

[Devs3cups]

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).

I’m also going to give some leeway to Luke and Pesce. These guys have to learn everything and it should take a few games to a few weeks for them to get to their top form.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I’m also going to give some leeway to Luke and Pesce. These guys have to learn everything and it should take a few games to a few weeks for them to get to their top form.

Part of me thinks Pesce will end up being the dman version of Palat but it is what it is, they had to try to get a partner for Luke in some fashion. Just annoying they went for the dude with the hip injury lmao. I think we'll see great things from Luke this year, you can see he's a bit rusty right now. If/when Pesce don't work, I wanna see Luke with Dougie

 

[Whaddagoal]

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).

Luke last night had at least 2 majorly idiotic plays that almost led to a goal against. They boiled down to, him in his own zone with time galore, with the puck on his stick, and the one play he makes was the one that is most dangerous and right to opposition forecheckers. He (we) got extremely lucky that they didn't end up in the back of the net.

Same Luke from last season so far. I'm going to give him another 6-10 games but still seems very frustrating player.

Absolute brain fart or low IQ plays from him. Last year I cooked it up as rookie year, learning, but I'm sorta getting the impression now maybe he just not (yet?) a high hockey IQ player (but has lots of raw talent/skill). Same for taking the shots from the point hitting shinpads almost every time.

 

[Devs3cups]

Part of me thinks Pesce will end up being the dman version of Palat but it is what it is, they had to try to get a partner for Luke in some fashion. Just annoying they went for the dude with the hip injury lmao. I think we'll see great things from Luke this year, you can see he's a bit rusty right now. If/when Pesce don't work, I wanna see Luke with Dougie

I’m pretty confident in Pesce being a solid defensive player for us, but UFA signings are always tricky. He’s made some solid plays so far from what I’ve seen.

 

[Whaddagoal]

I’m pretty confident in Pesce being a solid defensive player for us, but UFA signings are always tricky. He’s made some solid plays so far from what I’ve seen.

He had some good defensive reads last night. Pesce will be fine for us, I believe.

 

[Devs3cups]

Luke last night had at least 2 majorly idiotic plays that almost led to a goal against. They boiled down to, him in his own zone with time galore, with the puck on his stick, and the one play he makes was the one that is most dangerous and right to opposition forecheckers. He (we) got extremely lucky that they didn't end up in the back of the net.

Same Luke from last season so far. I'm going to give him another 6-10 games but still seems very frustrating player.

Absolute brain fart or low IQ plays from him. Last year I cooked it up as rookie year, learning, but I'm sorta getting the impression now maybe he just not (yet?) a high hockey IQ (but lots of raw talent/skill). Same for taking the shots from the point hitting shinpads almost every time.

He’s a young offensive minded D-man who is in his second season, hasn’t had a lot of practice time and learning a new system. He’ll learn and lower some of those plays, but he’ll never be super solid defensively imo, he’ll balance it out with the offense though, which is what you want, and which was his game from the start. I do think he can be at least average defensively, especially with his skating/transition abilities. Very excited for him moving forward.

 

[Call Me Al]

luke also hasn’t really been able to practice with the team at all. he’ll be fine

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

He’s a young offensive minded D-man who is in his second season, hasn’t had a lot of practice time and learning a new system. He’ll learn and lower some of those plays, but he’ll never be super solid defensively imo, he’ll balance it out with the offense though, which is what you want, and which was his game from the start. I do think he can be at least average defensively, especially with his skating/transition abilities. Very excited for him moving forward.

Not sure I agree with this, yeah he can cut down on the boneheaded plays but all you have to do is as a coach there is tell him to rely on his instincts and not throw pizzas up the ice and rely on your skating when you feel pressure and if there's truly no outlet, just bank it off the glass. Or you could just put him a dark room with water/food and just watch Cale Makar/Roman Josi/Drew Doughty prime clips lol

 

[Whaddagoal]

He’s a young offensive minded D-man who is in his second season, hasn’t had a lot of practice time and learning a new system. He’ll learn and lower some of those plays, but he’ll never be super solid defensively imo, he’ll balance it out with the offense though, which is what you want, and which was his game from the start. I do think he can be at least average defensively, especially with his skating/transition abilities. Very excited for him moving forward.

Yeah. I'm not chalking him up forever, but it's raising my antenna for now. He is young but I hope he can truly figure out how to improve the D side because he would be a very impressive force if he could play both.

I hope to see a more mature defensive game this season and he has less excuses than last year. I'm certain the offensive stuff will be there, but I hope it doesn't come at large cost to his defensive play. Maybe Pesce will be a goon season partner to help him.

 

[None Shall Pass]

I said it in the GDT to some extent, but I really don't see the aversion to having Luke and Nemec spend more time in the AHL. Granted, that was the plan last season before injuries forced Nemec up, but Luke was never penciled there and I feel like he should have been.

It's a lot harder to hide young defensemen, especially two of them, than it is to hide a young forward. Bottom pairing guys to replace them in the interim can be found on waivers or for like a 6th round pick.

 

[JrFischer54]

I thought about it I’m going to give the guys a pass this season they are still young new coach guys back from injuries an even year going to odd year is always tough. Next year for sure compete for 8th place

 

[Triumph]

I said it in the GDT to some extent, but I really don't see the aversion to having Luke and Nemec spend more time in the AHL. Granted, that was the plan last season before injuries forced Nemec up, but Luke was never penciled there and I feel like he should have been.

It's a lot harder to hide young defensemen, especially two of them, than it is to hide a young forward. Bottom pairing guys to replace them in the interim can be found on waivers or for like a 6th round pick.

Luke was never going to spend time in the AHL. D men drafted in the top 10 who go to college just don't go to the AHL unless something goes wrong. Luke very obviously had the ability to jump into the NHL right away and so he did - it doesn't mean there won't be difficulties, obviously there will be, but the AHL wasn't going to teach him a whole lot.

 

[R8Devs]

Tatar-Hischier-Meier
Bratt-Hughes-Noesen
Cotter-Haula-Mercer
Palat-Lazar-Bastian

is what I'd run and probably go 11-7 some nights with either Palat or Bastian coming out because they should put Nemec back in. And Palat especially isn't adding much to the lineup and there's really no one the Devils have in the AHL either forward wise so it's probably worth it to double shift some guys with Lazar. Some days I kinda wanna see Casey as a winger lol to see if he could help with forward depth

When running 11-7 they could do something like this at times:
Siegenthaler-Kovacevic
Dillon/Pesce-Hamilton
Hughes-Pesce/Nemec
Dillon/Nemec

I'd like to see if a Pesce-Hamilton pairing could work in the long run even though its R-R because then you should be able to create two pairings that eat a bunch of minutes (and hopefully a better pairing for Dougie as well) that could create some easier minutes for Hughes-Nemec to succeed as a pairing. Doubt they'd try it though

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Tatar-Hischier-Meier
Bratt-Hughes-Noesen
Cotter-Haula-Mercer
Palat-Lazar-Bastian

is what I'd run and probably go 11-7 some nights with either Palat or Bastian coming out because they should put Nemec back in. And Palat especially isn't adding much to the lineup and there's really no one the Devils have in the AHL either forward wise so it's probably worth it to double shift some guys with Lazar. Some days I kinda wanna see Casey as a winger lol to see if he could help with forward depth

When running 11-7 they could do something like this at times:
Siegenthaler-Kovacevic
Dillon/Pesce-Hamilton
Hughes-Pesce/Nemec
Dillon/Nemec

I'd like to see if a Pesce-Hamilton pairing could work in the long run even though its R-R because then you should be able to create two pairings that eat a bunch of minutes (and hopefully a better pairing for Dougie as well) that could create some easier minutes for Hughes-Nemec to succeed as a pairing. Doubt they'd try it though

Been screaming for 11-7 because it'll create competition for the true 6 dmen who should play nightly while also getting Jack/studs more ice time since the 4th line is a black hole

 

[JK3]

I think Pesce looks really good for just getting back into the lineup, he's been solid. Luke on the other hand is a mess back there, it has nothing to do with learning systems, this is shit you learn what not to do with the puck when you're 10 years old. He really needs to clean it up and just make the simple play.

 

[longislanddevil]

I really like what I see from Pesce so far but Dillon, on the other hand…uggggh. Dillon should not be paired with another slug in Hamilton, period. Therefore, I give him a bit of a pass at this point as Keefe has not put him in a position to succeed. With Luke and Pesce back, Dillon should be on the third pair (ideally with Nemec). Kovacevic has come down to earth the last few games. He’s been a pleasant surprise overall of course but in a perfect world, he really should be the 7D because it means Nemec is playing well.

I did not think Siegenthaler’s game would return to the form we saw several seasons ago. Siegs has been playing at a high level and been one of our best players. I don’t think Hamilton will weigh him down that much.

Luke-Pesce
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Dillon-Nemec

 

[guitarguyvic]

Luke last night had at least 2 majorly idiotic plays that almost led to a goal against. They boiled down to, him in his own zone with time galore, with the puck on his stick, and the one play he makes was the one that is most dangerous and right to opposition forecheckers. He (we) got extremely lucky that they didn't end up in the back of the net.

Same Luke from last season so far. I'm going to give him another 6-10 games but still seems very frustrating player.

Absolute brain fart or low IQ plays from him. Last year I cooked it up as rookie year, learning, but I'm sorta getting the impression now maybe he just not (yet?) a high hockey IQ player (but has lots of raw talent/skill). Same for taking the shots from the point hitting shinpads almost every time.

If this team as a whole can’t fix this kind of stuff then I think we have to accept we have quite a few low IQ players.

 

[HoliksGhost]

I’m pretty confident in Pesce being a solid defensive player for us, but UFA signings are always tricky. He’s made some solid plays so far from what I’ve seen.

He does all the little things right. It’s subtle but he does so many things that our other D are constantly flubbing.

 

[NJ07102]

Same for taking the shots from the point hitting shinpads almost every time.

Seamus Casey is on a completely different level wth that, even as a total rookie.

Kovacevic has come down to earth the last few games. He’s been a pleasant surprise overall of course but in a perfect world, he really should be the 7D because it means Nemec is playing well.

I thought he was really good in the Isles game.

 

[Whaddagoal]

Seamus Casey is on a completely different level wth that, even as a total rookie.

In a positive way? We saw those 2 sweet goals from the point area, and Casey was able to get pucks through.

 

[NjDevsRR]

They have til December 1st before I drop the OH MY boot down.

6.0 on the Danometer

 

[theoptimist]

I thought about it I’m going to give the guys a pass this season they are still young new coach guys back from injuries an even year going to odd year is always tough. Next year for sure compete for 8th place

Weenie hut jr's

 

[Whaddagoal]

Mercer....needs to do something impactful on the offensive side of things. People jumping on palat all season but Mercer is worse when time and opportunity given is considered. And being younger kinda doesn't help here. Expect a lot more.

11 games

2g

1a

3p

ATOI: 18:12 minutes

The only forwards with a worst stat line are:

Lazar (ATOI 11:06 mins)

11 games

1g

1a

2p

Palat (ATOI 12:30 mins)

10 games

0g

1a

1p

MacDermid (who only played 2 games at like 3 mins)

 

[Oneiro]

Yeah. It's hard to shake the feeling of how mediocre Mercer is. This is a good coach, a good system, plenty of opportunity. And he's a passenger.

It really is put up or shut up time. He started the season strong but is another guy who really just becomes wallpaper when the team loses.

 

[Whaddagoal]

Yeah. It's hard to shake the feeling of how mediocre Mercer is. This is a good coach, a good system, plenty of opportunity. And he's a passenger.

It really is put up or shut up time. He started the season strong but is another guy who really just becomes wallpaper when the team loses.

It's the 11 game mark already, and you would assume within the next 5 games he gets a rhythm and starts producing like a top 6 guy. Any bad streaks or dry spells should be broken by 18-20 game mark. He's had chances, and he definitely impacted the game (penalty the other day).

Mercer got his bag (which a certain member of this community felt was a massive underpayment), but looking at it at the 11 game mark, I'm happy as hell we didn't give him more right now.

Also, I didn't realize the statline was so low until today, when I checked. I've noticed he was not producing much, but didn't realize he's only got those guys behind him.