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

[Ripshot 43]

Not going to be easy since it’s still early in the season, but I think we really need to start looking into acquiring some depth pieces. Ideally we can hold out until teams start realizing they are sellers but the 4th line (which needing an upgrade anyways) injuries are starting to pile up between Lazar, Bastian and Tatar now.

3 2nd round and 3 3rd round picks in 2025 (one of those will be gone depending on Allen playing 40 games or not).

 

[dgibb10]

What level of competition is he playing? It’s still great even if he’s sheltered I’m just curious.

Similar to the dougie pairing.

None of the devils pairings play particularly "hard" minutes. They send Luke and Hamilton out more in need a goal situations, and Pesce and Dillon out to preserve leads. Here's everyone on NJD except casey (didn't make the minutes minimum)

Something to note is the pairing before Luke and Pesce got back did play quite sheltered minutes (2 20 year olds), which will slightly boost the difficulty of the other 2 pairings in those 10 or so games.

Here's what the NJD pairings look like since luke came back

All very similar usage. He's not getting ridiculous minutes, but there's no effort to shelter him either.

 

[MasterofGrond]

Need this years Lazar

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

This is my mood right now after us beating the Wings on the road ^^^

I want to forget about that Stadium Series game but at the same time this pregame performance was epic lmao. Hope you guys enjoy a trip down memory lane , crazy it's already 10 plus years old...

 

[Oneiro]

I thought of this post again and it's funny thinking back on all the little things that were argued about on this board - Merrill being lost to expansion, the trade for Beau Bennett, the trades for Grabner and Maroon, Subban, etc. and some of those things definitely hurt, but the thing that was the most impactful, quite simply, is that Nico, Jack, and Jesper have gotten better every single year since 2020-21, and they've added solid pieces around those guys. That's not the whole story, but it's a lot of it - those are 3 of the best players in the league now, and there's other players around them.

I look back to when Fitz said that the growth of the young core guys dictated the pace of the additions around them and that was a concise summary of the way this would go. As much as I roll my eyes at the cliches, this has been a pretty typical process of learning how to win, from complete aimlessness to stretching and experimenting with what works and owning their talent on an individual basis to now refining the details and the defensive side of the puck.

But, as you said, it all goes back to having good players in the first place to build around and the debates around the quality of the core are the ones to look back upon and kind of smile. And I say that having been, not necessarily a Nico doubter, but someone resigned to a 60-70 pt two way guy, closer to Koivu than Kopitar. And what he's done this year...it's like seeing with absolute clarity why he was coveted in 2017.

 

[My3Sons]

I look back to when Fitz said that the growth of the young core guys dictated the pace of the additions around them and that was a concise summary of the way this would go. As much as I roll my eyes at the cliches, this has been a pretty typical process of learning how to win, from complete aimlessness to stretching and experimenting with what works and owning their talent on an individual basis to now refining the details and the defensive side of the puck.

But, as you said, it all goes back to having good players in the first place to build around and the debates around the quality of the core are the ones to look back upon and kind of smile. And I say that having been, not necessarily a Nico doubter, but someone resigned to a 60-70 pt two way guy, closer to Koivu than Kopitar. And what he's done this year...it's like seeing with absolute clarity why he was coveted in 2017.

Big talk from the guy who insists that Hischier is a 3C

 

[Blackjack]

Similar to the dougie pairing.

None of the devils pairings play particularly "hard" minutes. They send Luke and Hamilton out more in need a goal situations, and Pesce and Dillon out to preserve leads. Here's everyone on NJD except casey (didn't make the minutes minimum)

View attachment 937635

Something to note is the pairing before Luke and Pesce got back did play quite sheltered minutes (2 20 year olds), which will slightly boost the difficulty of the other 2 pairings in those 10 or so games.

Here's what the NJD pairings look like since luke came back View attachment 937642

All very similar usage. He's not getting ridiculous minutes, but there's no effort to shelter him either.

Thanks! I was under the impression that Siegenthaler and Kovacevic were getting really tough minutes, guess that’s not the case, looks pretty balanced. Must be really nice for Keefe that he doesn’t really have to protect anyone.

 

[njdevils1982]

This is my mood right now after us beating the Wings on the road ^^^

I want to forget about that Stadium Series game but at the same time this pregame performance was epic lmao. Hope you guys enjoy a trip down memory lane , crazy it's already 10 plus years old...

love me some doo wop!











i could go on .......

 

[tailfins]

I look back to when Fitz said that the growth of the young core guys dictated the pace of the additions around them and that was a concise summary of the way this would go. As much as I roll my eyes at the cliches, this has been a pretty typical process of learning how to win, from complete aimlessness to stretching and experimenting with what works and owning their talent on an individual basis to now refining the details and the defensive side of the puck.

But, as you said, it all goes back to having good players in the first place to build around and the debates around the quality of the core are the ones to look back upon and kind of smile. And I say that having been, not necessarily a Nico doubter, but someone resigned to a 60-70 pt two way guy, closer to Koivu than Kopitar. And what he's done this year...it's like seeing with absolute clarity why he was coveted in 2017.

Was going to post something similar.

The leap from Nico is a big deal. IMO, it’s what accelerates the timeline more than anything else. Bratt’s continued improvement is prob #2 on the list.

If those guys stagnated (at the level of very good instead of elite), I figured the timeline would be Jack, Luke and (hopefully) Nemo. There’s still time for regression, and we’ll see where Nemo nets out, but right now things are looking far more positive for the Devils than I thought was realistically possible.

 

[My3Sons]

love me some doo wop!











i could go on .......

There is a new Beatles documentary. I think I’m tapped out. I learned nothing new. The 8 Days a Week film gave us the same story. There was some new footage but nothing that redefined what we already know. Historical of course but I think the only thing left for them is to use modern tech to restore the old concert footage and clean up the sound.

 

[tailfins]

Someone ( @SteveCangialosi123 ) posted the Jack Han tweet from October about the NJD power play. Interesting to see he had an update a couple of weeks ago and the the Devils had made a change



Edit: John Fischer also had an interesting deep dive on the Devils power play:

Thank You, Jeremy Colliton for the Potent 2024-25 New Jersey Devils Power Play

One of the best parts of the 2024-25 New Jersey Devils is their power play, led by assistant coach Jeremy Colliton. This post goes into how they have been effective, what their results have been, and more as a way of saying "Thank you" to the team’s successful power play units.

www.allaboutthejersey.com

 

[njdevils1982]

There is a new Beatles documentary. I think I’m tapped out. I learned nothing new. The 8 Days a Week film gave us the same story. There was some new footage but nothing that redefined what we already know. Historical of course but I think the only thing left for them is to use modern tech to restore the old concert footage and clean up the sound.

ya probobly not much different then when i went to see the syd barrett documentary. nothing new learned with a bit of new footage.

 

[New Jerseys Devil]

If the diagnoses for Tatar is longer than a week (or two?), does that force us to go out and get a forward? Should we maybe look for one even if he comes right back?

 

[dgibb10]

Thanks! I was under the impression that Siegenthaler and Kovacevic were getting really tough minutes, guess that’s not the case, looks pretty balanced. Must be really nice for Keefe that he doesn’t really have to protect anyone.

Siegs and Kov were getting pretty tough minutes at the beginning of the year when Keefe was trying to shield the kids pairing of nemec and casey, but now they just kinda roll em

 

[NJDevs26]

The Markstrom thing has me concerned. I didn't want him to begin with because of his age. We would have paid far more for Saros or Askarov from NSH or for one of Boston's goalies, but my god... both of those trade partners look like they'd have been better. Hellebuyck is looking solid in Winterpeg too.

I don't know that Daws is our future starter and right now he's the best of our bunch. Goaltending is a continued issue here, even if this year's tandem is marginally better than last year's.

Why we aren't scoring in these games is beyond me too... we either score 4 or 0 it seems. Luke Hughes is playing lights out defensively but his offense has vanished nearly completely. Even with Meier out we had a number of players who could have contributed to get 4 goals... Jack Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, Cotter, Noesen, Mercer, Haula, Luke Hughes, Hamilton any combo here ...

Sigh. Yet we're 6th in point percentage so that's a major positive, but I can't help feel like we should be even higher. I think watching the Hurricanes "get worse" in FA and end up far better and seem completely unable to lose (except to us ha ha) makes it more of a sense of urgency than perhaps it should be.

Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving yesterday!

Saros, Swayman and Helly were never truly on the market, all their teams wanted to keep and extend them. Askarov wanted to get traded for playing time and couldn’t even beat out Vitekwood for a spot on a rebuilding team. Ullmark you had to sign for a lot more than two years and he’s been awful. People keep saying Fitz needed to do something, there was nothing besides this. The player has to play better.

 

[Bleedred]

Saros, Swayman and Helly were never truly on the market, all their teams wanted to keep and extend them. Askarov wanted to get traded for playing time and couldn’t even beat out Vitekwood for a spot on a rebuilding team. Ullmark you had to sign for a lot more than two years and he’s been awful. People keep saying Fitz needed to do something, there was nothing besides this. The player has to play better.

I honestly think the only reason Askarov isn't on the roster over Vitekwood is for the same reason Schmid kept getting sent down as soon as Blackwood would come back from injury, despite being the far superior goalie that season. They aren't gonna waive either of those guys, as both are on expiring deals and would probably be claimed. And they won't do the three goalie thing, just like we wouldn't. Most teams won't, but a few of them have been doing it for a while. Detroit being one of those teams.

But I didn't follow the Sharks preseason enough to know if Askarov had a poor preseason or camp. He looked great in the couple of games he played while Vitek was injured recently. Best numbers on the team, but he only played 2 games and was sent right back when Vitek came back after a week or two injured.

He's the only guy I may one day regret not picking up, especially since Markstrom/Allen are old and Daws is still a gigantic sized question mark. And not to mention we could have even picked him over Holtz back in the 2020 also!

But yeah, Saros, Swayman and Hellebuyck were never made available. I suggested Ullmark a year ago, but was more interested in maybe renting him for a year, and was fearing what we might have had to extend him for.

 

[Oneiro]

You just need a goalie to be "Kuemper in '22" good enough (.902 in the playoffs with a beastly offense). I think Markstrom can be that in the playoffs.

If we had another forward who could give you a little more offense than Palat (and Mercer actually) with the same TOI, I'd feel a bit better 5v5 with that kind of goaltending.

The goals are still there but we're playing a more defensive style. My assumption is that some of those goals that we're getting now, particularly on the PP, won't be there in the playoffs as it gets tighter with loose reffing. So in that case, you need more from Markstrom or this offense needs to ramp it up beyond the core three and Noesen.

 

[devilsfan950003]

I am not sure why everyone is acting like Foote is done here, or even that he played that bad on Wednesday. Who else comes up if a scoreline winger gets hurt? I agree he's done here long-term but that's been true for a while. I mean I guess they could move Tatar back up and then go with an all Utica 4th line with Halonen, that also makes some sense.

Bowers has played well enough to claim that 4th line spot for now and Meier's no longer serving the suspension.

Bowers looked solid on that 4th line. I would like to see that line play 10 minutes a game. They could try Foote and Bowers with Downling.

 

[Comparison Ford]

any word on the forward lineup today? Bowers back in im assuming.

Palat-Hughes-Bratt
Meier-Hischier-Noesen
Cotter-Haula-Mercer
Macdermid-Dowling-Bowers

4th line lookin a lil bit rough

 

[Lou Bloom]

With Mattehws and Knies returning from injury I wonder if a mid to late round pick for Nick Robertson would be a decent play for some immediate forward depth. Robertson played under Keefe in Toronto, and despite his poor results this season I've always like his potential as scoring forward in a middle 6 role. Could boost the bottom 6 scoring for cheap.

 

[New Jerseys Devil]

How has Simon Nemec looked in the AHL? Im so excited to hopefully have him back next season

 

[Devs3cups]

Gonna be a tough game against the Rangers. They can beat anyone in the league. Would love a win but not holding my breath.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Gonna be a tough game against the Rangers. They can beat anyone in the league. Would love a win but not holding my breath.

They are playing awful hockey right now. We are looking for a bounce back, team needs to throttle them

 

[DerekDevils30]

They are playing awful hockey right now. We are looking for a bounce back, team needs to throttle them

Even if the Rangers stink we need to get through Shesterkin. Would love to get a decisive win at MSG though

 

[Devs3cups]

They are playing awful hockey right now. We are looking for a bounce back, team needs to throttle them

They just won today and with the talent on paper they have and their goaltending, it won't be an easy game.