ECQF Preview: Your New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes - We're Playoff Bound!

[Call Me Al]

We’re a putrid home team. They’re gods at home. We split even with them while fully healthy. We have always matched up poorly against them.

then don’t watch man. what’s the point of this? so you can get everyone here to agree with you and collectively give up and just circle jerk shitting on them? so everyone can pat you on the back and say you were right after they get eliminated?

no one here is saying they’ll win the cup. no one here is 100% thrilled with the job fitz is doing, most agree the lack of depth is unacceptable, drafting has been poor and the team has underwhelmed since december.

the difference is most of the conversation here is thoughtful and intelligent in approaching these points.

we have a series lined up against a team that we should consider one of our top rivals, and the strengths we actually do have - goaltending, defense and special teams actually compare favorably with their weaknesses. it’s gonna be tough and we’re not favored to win, but a hot goalie and strong defense can win games. they’ll still *probably* lose, but this loser mentality shit is tired af. i’d rather just enjoy a round of playoff hockey

 

[MadDevil]

Just to say that it isn’t just us, even if we’ve done it more regularly this season.

The whole division has basically gone "f*** it, who cares" since things have essentially been settled for weeks now.

 

[Triumph]

then don’t watch man. what’s the point of this? so you can get everyone here to agree with you and collectively give up and just circle jerk shitting on them? so everyone can pat you on the back and say you were right after they get eliminated?

no one here is saying they’ll win the cup. no one here is 100% thrilled with the job fitz is doing, most agree the lack of depth is unacceptable, drafting has been poor and the team has underwhelmed since december.

the difference is most of the conversation here is thoughtful and intelligent in approaching these points.

we have a series lined up against a team that we should consider one of our top rivals, and the strengths we actually do have - goaltending, defense and special teams actually compares favorably with their weaknesses. it’s gonna be tough and we’re not favored to win, but a hot goalie and strong defense can win games. they’ll still *probably* lose, but this loser mentality shit is tired af. i’d rather just enjoy a round of playoff hockey

I hate the Canes, but not like I hate the Rangers. I am very glad that no matter what happens in this playoff series, I am not going to feel the Bad Lieutenant level of existential dread like I did after the first 2 games against the Rangers in 2023. I will be satisfied if they win 2 games, and the only thing that could disappoint me is a sweep against. If they win, fantastic, I hate the Canes and it's been entirely too long since they won a playoff round against them.

 

[Devs3cups]

Wonder what top teams/Cup winning teams records were to end the season in recent years.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

The whole division has basically gone "f*** it, who cares" since things have essentially been settled for weeks now.

You can argue months with how the Devils came out of the gate from Christmas

 

[NjDevsRR]

I do think this Canes team is not as good as the one we played in the first half of the season. Swapping Necas for Stankoven is a massive downgrade. Necas was a fantastic player for the Canes. One of the most underrated forwards in the entire league.


At the same time, we are down Jack, Siegs, rusty Dougie. So we are far worse as well.

But, I do think this Canes team has some holes. It’s up to the Devils to bring 100% intensity shift after shift. If they do they, it’s a series.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

then don’t watch man. what’s the point of this? so you can get everyone here to agree with you and collectively give up and just circle jerk shitting on them? so everyone can pat you on the back and say you were right after they get eliminated?

no one here is saying they’ll win the cup. no one here is 100% thrilled with the job fitz is doing, most agree the lack of depth is unacceptable, drafting has been poor and the team has underwhelmed since december.

the difference is most of the conversation here is thoughtful and intelligent in approaching these points.

we have a series lined up against a team that we should consider one of our top rivals, and the strengths we actually do have - goaltending, defense and special teams actually compare favorably with their weaknesses. it’s gonna be tough and we’re not favored to win, but a hot goalie and strong defense can win games. they’ll still *probably* lose, but this loser mentality shit is tired af. i’d rather just enjoy a round of playoff hockey

Considering the poster, yes

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I do think this Canes team is not as good as the one we played in the first half of the season. Swapping Necas for Stankoven is a massive downgrade. Necas was a fantastic player for the Canes. One of the most underrated forwards in the entire league.


At the same time, we are down Jack, Siegs, rusty Dougie. So we are far worse as well.

But, I do think this Canes team has some holes. It’s up to the Devils to bring 100% intensity shift after shift. If they do they, it’s a series.

It's also up to this makeup of the team to prove Fitz right, it's another notch against him if this reiteration fails against the Canes which is the same team that possibly gave him CTE from the 2023 series.

 

[Devils731]

rusty Dougie

*rested Dougie

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Wonder what top teams/Cup winning teams records were to end the season in recent years.

Florida had like a 3-10 stretch from March into April last year

 

[NjDevsRR]

Wonder what top teams/Cup winning teams records were to end the season in recent years.

Last Season, the last eight games for each playoff team:

Panthers 5-2-1

Rangers 5-3

Oilers 3-4-1

Stars 6-3

Hurricanes 6-2

Jets 8-0(!)

Leafs 3-5

Bruins 5-3

Avs 3-5

Nucks 4-4

Preds 4-3-1

Isles 7-1

Caps 4-3-1

Knights 4-4

Lighting 4-3-1

Kings 6-2


Definitely seems like an anomaly this year for the Metro teams. And it definitely has to do with how early everything was clinched and with the seeding being steady for the last three months. Also an indictment on how poopy the East is as a whole as @ZachaFlockaFlame mentioned

 

[Whaddagoal]

Definitely not on the doom wagon. The regular season performances of the last 2 games suck bad, but I'm smart enough to know this is not their 100% effort. Do I like it? Hell no. Do I think it is bad juju to back off as much as they have, absolutely. But I'm not foolish enough to think this is representative of the Canes series.

I think NJ can make a very competitive series. This team is very different than 2 years ago, defensively, and if the goalie (Markstrom) plays fully dialed in, I don't think we are any worse than the Canes at all when things are going well.

If Nico, Bratt, Timo, can get going, with some contributions from Haula and Mercer and Glass and maybe just maybe a healthy-ish Dougie and Luke, I think we can very much make this a series to reckon with.

There are X factors like Cotter and Palat had a history of being good in playoffs (despite his shitty regular season mode), and depending if anyone else pops up (Sprong?).

We aren't counting on Tatar, Bastian, Lazar on paper, but who the hell knows what will happen. Lazar got a big goal against the rangers in 2023 in a game we lost.

I am genuinely sick of the doomer shit from the usual suspect(s). Let's get through 3 games of the playoffs before people start spouting the usual I told you so stuff.

All the serious fans in here (which is basically mostly everyone here) understands the limitations we have seen this season. We literally watched the whole regular season A to Z, there are few illusions.

 

[Killing Joke]

Not to mention Carolina hasn’t struggled for ‘months’ like we have

Nope, they haven’t. In fact they’ve gone on tears like after they traded Rantanen. This team won 3 conservative games once in like 3 months.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Not to mention Carolina hasn’t struggled for ‘months’ like we have

Nope, they haven’t. In fact they’ve gone on tears like after they traded Rantanen. This team won 3 conservative games once in like 3 months.

What are we doing here…

Canes literally did not win more games than they lost from November 9th to March 1st. They had a three month stretch of mediocre hockey and a flat goal differential in that time. Not 25 Devils level of bad but Devils aren’t some barometer here for the league.

The Canes were in that malaise for a while. You don’t have to whitewash that to make a point. They went 24-20-4 in a 3 month span. Thats an 89 pt pace team for almost 60% of the season…

They were very good March onward until the last two weeks. If the Canes didn’t have those 3 mediocre months they would be 20+ pts ahead of NJ, even ahead of the Caps who aren’t that good. Not just 5 games ahead of NJ.

Canes are still very strong but do not try to act like they didn’t go through a pretty mediocre period which lasted a while. They absolutely did.

2024-25 Carolina Hurricanes Schedule | Hockey-Reference.com

Check out the latest Carolina Hurricanes Schedule and Results for regular season, playoffs and more on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[Emperoreddy]

Not to mention Carolina hasn’t struggled for ‘months’ like we have

Yes they have

 

[NjDevsRR]

Yes they have

Canes did not win more games than they lost for 113 consecutive days. People trying to whitewash that is odd

Devils have had a miserable 2025 and have tough prospects for round 1. But people are now just a glutton for punishment and are piling as much as they can, even at the expense of facts.

Folks, its ok not to be pessimistic 24/7 and you don’t have to make things appear worse than they already are. Its also ok to hope for some good fortune in the postseason.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Also for the record. Devils are 18-20-4 since Christmas. Some folks make it out to be a lot worse. (Not excusing it at all, but some folks go overboard here)

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

This is the most winnable series coaching wise in round 1 from both sides. The only other one is EDM/LA. Anything that happens in those 2 series can be chalked up as sensible outcomes. It's up to the Devils to show up, it's frankly that simple.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Last Season, the last eight games for each playoff team:

Panthers 5-2-1

Rangers 5-3

Oilers 3-4-1

Stars 6-3

Hurricanes 6-2

Jets 8-0(!)

Leafs 3-5

Bruins 5-3

Avs 3-5

Nucks 4-4

Preds 4-3-1

Isles 7-1

Caps 4-3-1

Knights 4-4

Lighting 4-3-1

Kings 6-2


Definitely seems like an anomaly this year for the Metro teams. And it definitely has to do with how early everything was clinched and with the seeding being steady for the last three months. Also an indictment on how poopy the East is as a whole as @ZachaFlockaFlame mentioned

@Devs3cups I also found this interesting analysis. Its the cumulative playoff record for three groups of playoff teams. Each group is segmented by how they finished the regular season. The hot group had a good final ten games, the even group had an average final ten games, and the cold had a bad final ten games. Since 2014.

The cold teams overall have better records than the even and hot teams. Interesting indeed

Add this to the hopium pile lol

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Basically the entire East blows and as such, we have a chance. But I think you're kidding yourself if you think we aren't gonna need a lot of help and luck. I don't think there is a single series in which we wouldn't rightfully go in a fairly big underdog.

 

[theoptimist]

This is the most winnable series coaching wise in round 1 from both sides. The only other one is EDM/LA. Anything that happens in those 2 series can be chalked up as sensible outcomes. It's up to the Devils to show up, it's frankly that simple.

When do they flip the “effort” switch? I was told the goal is to be healthy and they just lost 3 in a row. This is coming from a team that nose dived after December 23rd (which is probably my favorite win of the season).

 

[Louskoolaid89]

The San Jose Sharks are 20-49-11. Going into every game the score starts out as 0-0 and anything can happen... When this series starts in Realigh it will be 0-0 and anything can happen.

 

[Call Me Al]

When do they flip the “effort” switch? I was told the goal is to be healthy and they just lost 3 in a row. This is coming from a team that nose dived after December 23rd (which is probably my favorite win of the season).

players aren’t going to put their bodies on the line and risk injury the same way when the reality is the outcome of the game changes absolutely nothing for them. that’s just how it is. if one of our guys got hurt in one of these games and misses the playoffs you’d be complaining about that too.

 

[Better Call Sal]

When do they flip the “effort” switch? I was told the goal is to be healthy and they just lost 3 in a row. This is coming from a team that nose dived after December 23rd (which is probably my favorite win of the season).

Nose dived in January, but in fairness, then leveled out. We can argue semantics on this board all day long, we’ve been consistently inconsistent. Our incredible December stretch was met with a brutal January. After we ended our 2-6-2 stretch in late December to late January, we’ve managed multiple streaks of 3 in a row or 4 wins out of 5. Unfortunately, we tend to even that out with a losing streak that has been equal to that or alternate loss-win-loss.

It’s been a very up and down year, but I once again find the presumed lack of effort some people go off about to be a standard cliche used by fans when the team loses a game. I don’t think there’s a question about the effort the majority of nights. Now I did not watch yesterday’s game and it seems to be the outlier given our playoff position and opponent are locked in, but for the majority of the season, I don’t think effort is the issue. It’s never just one thing. There’s multiple things we could review under a microscope that are going to require fixing when the season’s up.