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

[MachoDiablo]

Nothing wrong with X.

How long ya got.

 

[JK3]

Blue Sky lmao, is that a Summers Eve scent?

 

[Guttersniped]

Hi Guttersniped,

I don't agree that Blackwood was a good goalie. Out if his 7 years, check his record, he only had 2 years with more wins than losses. One of those years was a joke, he won 10 lost 6. So he only had one winning year. He was never that good for our Devils. Just my opinion. I think he hurt the Devils while with them. Vanicek was a backup goalie that had a great year with the Devils, just one.

Best they are gone. Moving on. Our present goalies know they must get better. They are working on improving.


Go Devils.

I don’t want to revisit Blackwood sad history in detail but he was injured quite often here.

It was constant problem in his last two seasons here in particular, those were nightmares for him because he was rarely healthy.

In the COVID 20-21 season he played with an injury quite a bit because we often had no other options.

The team publicly talked about “pain management” and it later came out that he didn’t practice on his non-game days because of the pain.

And then before 21-22 season Fitz said Blackwood was the healthiest he’d been in years. Mac preceded to get injured at least 3 times that season, with two of those being rather serious.

It’s impossible to say what exactly we would’ve gotten out of a healthier Blackwood but it would’ve been better than what we got.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

What does everyone think will happen with Luke's contract at the end of the season?

Assume the cap goes up $4.5m. Do you bridge him for 3 years at $5m or buyout/trade Palat and try and sign him long term at $8m.

I think if the team continues to play well and Palat plays well in playoffs, you probably have to keep Palat for another season and bridge Luke.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

no shot should they bridge Luke. That would be a failure.

give him the same contract Jack got

 

[Devils731]

no shot should they bridge Luke. That would be a failure.

give him the same contract Jack got

I only hope Luke will take the same contract Jack got.

If Luke is cutthroat about then he should really press for more on a 8 year deal. I’m guessing he won’t rock the boat too much and end up with the same basic deal as Jack.

If he does take the same basic deal then I think the Devils end up with a ton of surplus value from it.

 

[devilsfan950003]

Great move, the Noesen move was relatively easy to make per se but the Cotter for Holtz was a ballsy one and it's worked out great

https://x.com/i/web/status/1857521625857466436

#FreeTuna

I hate watching that 4th line. They're not even playing 10 minutes a game. Too much time on ice for the top three lines.

Without much salary cap to work with, can they send down Dowling, sit MacDermid, bring up Bowers at center? He won't wow anyone but he does bring some speed. What about Foote on wing? Nice shot brings grit and size. I'm just looking at internal options. If Lazar goes on LTIR, they could bring in a 4th line center via trade or waivers.

Any comets they can bring up? Improve that 4th line somewhat ? Better than what they have, maybe ?

 

[Bad Goalie]

You say he’s 20 and has to learn a new system and he’s stuck behind three veterans. He probably can play a third pair role but right now you have three more experienced guys ahead of him who can also. He was the youngest defender in the league earlier this season. He’s still basically a kid.

He's also playing in a VERY GOOD league! He won't own this league. Saying he has nothing to learn down here is ridiculous.
- He gets best down here the same way he gets beat up there.
- He makes bad decisions here just like up there.
- He is weak around the net just like up there.
- He get out of position down here just like he does up there.
- He gets caught up ice just like I saw him do up there.

He's 20-yrs -old and has plenty to learn and this league is like college and the NHL is Graduate school. Smart college students can do a lot of the work at the graduate level, but they are not fully prepared to excel.

Casey and Nemec are in the same boat. Nemec has payed 3 games and Casey has played 8. Casey has already learned more about when he can take the puck and go, when to pass it off rather than go too far turn it over, how to position himself defensively in order to take care of much bigger guys at the net front, and when to just dump it out or in rather than take the risk and try something that would be amazing if it worked, but end up in disaster if it failed. Nemec is still doing that kind of stuff. Nowhere near how much last year, but still too much and the results have not been good when he failed.

Casey has 9 points in 8 games a shed id at 7 games and is tied with Foote for the scoring lead just as he was after the previous game. They were shut out last game and no points were accrued by any Comet. Nemec is pointless after 3 games.

Both do amazing things and are a joy to watch. Their stickhandling, carrying the puck out of trouble, going by opponents who set up to stop them without losing a step, finding guys to pass to through traffic, and finding the net on shots with continuous accuracy are great to watch and should be causing a little guilt/shame in the forwards who can't do the same. However, in spite of this their their mistakes are just as clear as those of the rest of the team. Those mistakes are not what Keefe will expect to continue. That's why they are here. There are 6 guys in the NJ lineup doing a terrific job enabling Keefe and Fitz to feel very comfortable in sending these 2 extremely talented puppies down here where they can work on what they have been told to do so that when they become needed up there they will fit in just fine and arrive with less baggage than when they left.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

What does everyone think will happen with Luke's contract at the end of the season?

Assume the cap goes up $4.5m. Do you bridge him for 3 years at $5m or buyout/trade Palat and try and sign him long term at $8m.

I think if the team continues to play well and Palat plays well in playoffs, you probably have to keep Palat for another season and bridge Luke.

I’ll say 8.5 x 8. Right between Jack and Dougie.

 

[Triumph]

Great move, the Noesen move was relatively easy to make per se but the Cotter for Holtz was a ballsy one and it's worked out great

I really don't think that trade is a gamble. They were always going to shop both Holtz and Schmid. They just took a roster player over like, a couple of picks, and they liked what Cotter was offering. He definitely has defensive issues but he's a perfect 3rd/4th line winger - better than Wood, who is a similar player with a faster top speed and bigger drawbacks.

 

[My3Sons]

He's also playing in a VERY GOOD league! He won't own this league. Saying he has nothing to learn down here is ridiculous.
- He gets best down here the same way he gets beat up there.
- He makes bad decisions here just like up there.
- He is weak around the net just like up there.
- He get out of position down here just like he does up there.
- He gets caught up ice just like I saw him do up there.

He's 20-yrs -old and has plenty to learn and this league is like college and the NHL is Graduate school. Smart college students can do a lot of the work at the graduate level, but they are not fully prepared to excel.

Casey and Nemec are in the same boat. Nemec has payed 3 games and Casey has played 8. Casey has already learned more about when he can take the puck and go, when to pass it off rather than go too far turn it over, how to position himself defensively in order to take care of much bigger guys at the net front, and when to just dump it out or in rather than take the risk and try something that would be amazing if it worked, but end up in disaster if it failed. Nemec is still doing that kind of stuff. Nowhere near how much last year, but still too much and the results have not been good when he failed.

Casey has 9 points in 8 games a shed id at 7 games and is tied with Foote for the scoring lead just as he was after the previous game. They were shut out last game and no points were accrued by any Comet. Nemec is pointless after 3 games.

Both do amazing things and are a joy to watch. Their stickhandling, carrying the puck out of trouble, going by opponents who set up to stop them without losing a step, finding guys to pass to through traffic, and finding the net on shots with continuous accuracy are great to watch and should be causing a little guilt/shame in the forwards who can't do the same. However, in spite of this their their mistakes are just as clear as those of the rest of the team. Those mistakes are not what Keefe will expect to continue. That's why they are here. There are 6 guys in the NJ lineup doing a terrific job enabling Keefe and Fitz to feel very comfortable in sending these 2 extremely talented puppies down here where they can work on what they have been told to do so that when they become needed up there they will fit in just fine and arrive with less baggage than when they left.

It’s hard for some of thr posters to accept that 20 years old is still a developing age. I think being older we might have a bit more of a long term view? My youngest is 19 and my older two are not that far past 20 so I can relate to that age. My kids are all quite sharp and even then at 20 they were somewhat immature and lacked experience and nuance about some things. If NJ was a struggling team Casey and Nemec could stay in the NHL but letting them learn in the AHL makes sense to me. They will be back in thr NHL soon enough. My guess is it’s more a money thing. How much can an ELC play at the AHL level clamored to thr NHL?

 

[Satans Hockey]

Figured you all would get a kick out of this. Senses Fail, a band from NJ is running a contest to be shown around the state and even catch a Devils game with them lol...