Devils will win the President's Trophy

[Jared Dunn]

one major issue, the head coach is Sheldon Keefe.

Notorious for his lack of regular season success so far

 

[Crow]

Paul cotter sealed it for me

 

[Bleedred]

Is oilers fans have the same issue with Dustin Schwartz. Our goalies work with different goalie coaches in the off season. But markstrom is cooked. He was cooked in Calgary.

He was good last year.

His 22-23 was the bad season.

 

[Oilslick941611]

He was good last year.

His 22-23 was the bad season.

Maybe we’ve just had his number, because i dont remember him giving us trouble.

 

[Bleedred]

I dont think the goalie with 1 good season in 4 years is going to lead you to the president's trophy. That's even before we take his age into consideration. Probably a good enough enough to make the playoffs though

I would say he's had 2 good seasons in the last 4 years.

One was a career year (21-22) and that was followed up with a career worst (22-23) unless you count when he was really young and shouldn't have been in the NHL.

His 20-21 was meh, but his 21-22 was really good and his 23-24 was solid.

Even if he's just meh this year it will still be an improvement over what we had last year. And he also seems to be a way better teammate than Vanecek, so when he plays badly he'll actually face the media and not let Lindy Ruff, Jack Hughes and the rest of the team answer for his poor play like the worthless coward Vitek Vanecek did last year.

Maybe we’ve just had his number, because i dont remember him giving us trouble.

He was known to be really bad against the Oilers. I don't recall if he was bad against them last year, nor do I have his numbers against them last year, but it was a major storyline in his really good season where he was the Vezina runner-up.

His numbers against the Oilers in both the regular season and playoffs that year were abysmal.

 

[Xirik]

Ah another one of these threads, i remember the one last year too, that turned out well.

To bad the Devils aren't a perfectly built team like the rangers.
The New York Rangers are a perfectly built team this year

 

[bert]

If he plays 75-80 hes scoring 120

That'll be something to see. This threads awesome, never seen such an outwardly confident fanbase that has made the playoffs twice in 12 years.

You think the reason the Devils crashed and burned last year is because of Marino?

Probably because Hughes cant stay healthy. But you guys do say he doesnt get hurt so its a riddle wrapped in a conundrum.

They did have a good offseason but wow you guys are really really confident.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Only 81 points last year but 112 the year prior with a worse roster

Jacob Markstrom, Brett Pesce, Brendan Dillon, and Paul Cotter added

Simon Nemec, Luke Hughes, Dawson Mercer all under 22 and likely building on prior seasons

Devils stay healthy and theyll be competing with the league's best for the regular season award

Has anyone posted the "that's a bold statement Cotton" or whatever.

That's a bold statement.

 

[DJN21]

I like the team and team make up. Nico is the real stud. Posts like this are just obnoxious and Hughes isn't the second coming no matter how much the fans want it.

I think they are a playoff caliber team easily if healthy. And the defense coming in the pipe will keep them there.

But settle down a bit OP...

 

[Video Nasty]

It must be really hard for you to move your neck if you didn't notice the stats the year before the one you looked at.

99 points in 78 games isn’t the best evidence in the world for predicting 120 in as little as 75 games, especially when the guy is coming off shoulder surgery.

What you should be bringing up is his electric start last season of 17 points in 6 games before his first injury of 2023-2024. Even though we can’t draw any real conclusions, it would make a little more sense for an enthusiastic call of 120.

Do players stop progressing at 21? And he paced for 97 with a broken shoulder?

The wheels on the bus go round and round

When Crosby dropped 120 at age 19, not a single one of us would have guessed that not only would he never hit that total again, but he would top 105 points just one more time throughout the remainder of his career. This stuff isn’t always linear, especially with the injury prone.

And I’d like to reiterate a small caveat. I understand his overall season pace was 97, but you said it was 97 with a broken shoulder, which is untrue (I understand he’s been able to avoid shoulder surgery for years). He had 57 points in 56 games from the first injury onwards, or an 84 point pace. The opening half dozen games really buoyed his overall totals.

Players usually don’t come back from shoulder surgery and light it up during that season, to the degree some of you are expecting from Hughes.

I think the safest thing to expect from both Hughes and the Devils is a mix of their past two seasons.

The Devils overachieved two years ago and underachieved last year. This probably makes them a 96-100 point team and third in their division.

Hughes seems capable of 115-120 one of these upcoming seasons, but 90 points in 75 games given the context is a more reasonable total to hope for.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

To bad the Devils aren't a perfectly built team like the rangers.
The New York Rangers are a perfectly built team this year

President team winner. Make the playoffs then try talking.

 

[Matty Sundin]

To me, they still look like a young developing team trying to find their identity and how good they can actually be still. They might make playoffs with 100 pts and maybe win a series. I think they still need to through growing pains in playoffs before they can be a president trophy winner and cup contender. They just not there yet unlike a team like Edmonton.

 

[Czechboy]

Palat was also injured and below his level... He may be in for a rebound too. I could see this being true.. I'd put devil's in that tier of potential presidents trophy winner. Things go well and they could be great.. good health and progression of guys like Nemec is key. I do think markstrom will have a good season.

 

[Kane One]

To bad the Devils aren't a perfectly built team like the rangers.
The New York Rangers are a perfectly built team this year

That thread was created by a Blue Jackets fan. This one was built by a delusional Devils fan.

 

[KevinRedkey]

Before the start of last year, odds makers had the Devils as the 4th most likely to win the cup. the team ended up being decimated by major injuries, and thus missed the playoffs entirely.

They are a better team than the one that was given the 4th best odds. In fact, their odds are 3rd (after Edmonton and Florida) this year - yet there's people in here saying they will be surprised if they even make the playoffs.

They could very well win the President's trophy, but I think it's more likely Edmonton wins it, and the Devils easily make the playoffs and potentially win their division.

 

[Phrasing]

look at the stats before last year.

That’s not an answer to my question or a valid response to anything I’ve said so far.

 

[Bizz]

OP misspelled 'Sharks'.

 

[Goose]

This is not a take I expected.

Thing is, it’s easy to argue against any team winning the cup or President’s Trophy. Both are hard to do.

I’d personally be surprised if NJ is Top 5 in points, let alone wins the PC.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Lol

No

 

[FMichael]

Id be shocked if they make the playoffs tbh

the cup belongs to edmonton either way

Oh - sorry you didn’t get the memo…The Cup is not supposed to travel north of the 49th parallel.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

It's actually a notably hard year to pick a President's Trophy winner.
I'd like to hear people's guesses.

I'm leaning towards Edmonton. They're gonna be mad. They got a full year of Knoblauch this time.
Stuart Skinner can derail it though.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

one major issue, the head coach is Sheldon Keefe.

He's a career .665 regular season coach.
He's gotten 115 points before. 114 was enough for the Rangers just last season.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Not gonna happen

IMO I think they will be battling just to get into the playoffs

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Only 81 points last year but 112 the year prior with a worse roster

Jacob Markstrom, Brett Pesce, Brendan Dillon, and Paul Cotter added

Simon Nemec, Luke Hughes, Dawson Mercer all under 22 and likely building on prior seasons

Devils stay healthy and theyll be competing with the league's best for the regular season award

No they won't, not with Sheldon Keefe behind the bench.

His teams always play up or down to their competition on any given night.

The reason for this is because he allows his team to take nights off, sometimes he'll get away with it because he has always had elite talent playing for him.

But as long as Sheldon Keefe is coach the Devils WILL lose between 10-15 points every year to teams they shouldn't lose to.

 

[Idiot Stick]

i hope you guys do win the pres trophy

then lose to us in double ot in game 7, its only fair