Fire Lindy and Green, Now

[My3Sons]

TL;DR: Fire everyone, this is a cancer from the very top to the bottom

Timo Meier is not working out on the LW side. Dawson Mercer has struggled all season and has been playing RW. That nobody had the spark to say "hey, let's swap them!" is insane. Holtz definitely needed some tough love to remind him of responsible play and positioning earlier in the season, especially after scoring where he'd revert a little, but he's also one of the best scorers 5v5 and /60 on the team, and when we've struggled, he's been buried on the 4th line getting under 8 minutes a game. It's insanity that he still has a shot at a 20 goal season despite such low ice time and scrub linemates.

I want Lindy Ruff and Travis Green fired ASAP - I never wanted Travis Green on the staff, it's such a huge downgrade from Brunette I'm not even sure how to put it into words because English despite its excellence at specificity STILL doesn't have the specifics enough to describe that gap. But I want Rogalski gone - it's baloney that every single one of the 327 goalies that have suited up for the New Jersey Devils over the last 3 years are trash. And have their worst seasons here. Our system is antiquated and one dimensional (Jon Cooper, who I'd love to hire here, called that), and that's a major problem especially when you have 3 starters with fewer games under their belt than a single full season like we had. But it's also goaltending coaching.

I also want the health staff replaced. It's an indictment of incompetence when we keep throwing players back on the ice after injuries that the Bad News Bears would say "you know what, maybe sit out the rest and ice it". We get injuries compounded all the time and now we have players playing with chronic issues. How many times do we have to have head injuries more than once in a game? How long before a player sues this franchise (and I'll be rooting them on)?

Some players have not really pushed hard. Some players need to be pulled aside and told we need to see more dedication to their craft. You don't get millions to play a child's pond activity to spend time before your folks call you in for dinner in winter and not be expected to treat it like any other profession. @My3Sons would get his license revoked if he just turned up in court without any preparation, if he filed paperwork incorrectly. Same here.

Finally, I despise this ownership. Sure they have stable money unlike Vanderbeek. JV was a fan, at least. These guys just count cash and treat the fans so poorly - reading the ticket thread it is astonishing how crappy they treat season ticket holders, and then an egregious 9% fee rise for a terrible product? We don't even win at home. The building kind of sucks. Walking through Pru center - it's so bland, grey, boring, lifeless. It's 99% big name companies - beer, food, whatever - and all of very low quality at ridiculous prices. $25 for a macro brew when I could buy a case of it for that, should I want to reduce myself to that. Featured new food items present only at one or two stands. PNC Arena here in Raleigh kicks Prudential Center's ass in all ways and it's an older barn. But it celebrates Raleigh - several food stands are partnerships with local restaurants. No fewer than 5 or 6 local breweries have beers sold. Stands/kiosks featuring regional foods. Also expensive, but it's higher quality by far. And the atmosphere is better, warmer, friendlier. And it shows because there's a frigging list for season tickets. Despite their fans being some of the worst in the league (I shake my head and even sometimes cannot contain myself when they just don't know hockey or act ridiculously boorish) it's a great place to take in a game. Prudential Center? Meh. And despite being further north why does our ice always seem crap? I've been posting that I miss John McMullen - that guy loved Jersey and wanted a team for us here, not teams like the NFL Giants and Jets and the MLS MetroStars/Red Bull using NY despite playing here for the majority of or all of their existence.

Sorry for the long post.

There are several attorneys who work in divorce law that show up unprepared. It’s amazing how they can function.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

Mike Vellucci. Guy has won at every level & its crazy he has not gotten an NHL HC look.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Solid post overall. As far as ownership, I was a big fan considering they have a ton of money and seemed content to just stay out of the way and let the front office do their job. But yeah, reading the arena thread and seeing how they treat STH's along with how dismal the food/beer selections are really have me turning on this group.

I'm pretty much done buying anything for myself when I'm at the arena. Would I love to have a nice draft beer while watching a game live? Yup! Is that even an option at Prudential? Nope! Last game I went to my kids each got a desert and we got a bottle of water. No longer worth it for me to spend any money on overpriced, generic beer choices or disappointing food.

Hell I didn't even touch on merchandise, take a look at most t-shirts in the arena next time, $40 plus tax for a lot of them. Even with the 20% discount for season ticket holders it's still overpriced. People can yap about inflation but I guarantee the vast majority here didn't get a 9% salary increase this year. Unless it's something special like Brylin night I don't even buy anything at the arena merch wise because it's all a rip off.

I hate that our country some how just accepted that being in a big arena means we all get to be ripped off. I wish I was more motivated to get a month of arena pricing protest going. They would all switch to fan friendly concession stand pricing real quick if nobody bought anything for a month.

Also @forceten it's sort of an excuse but a major reason the ice sucks here is our arena is one of the busiest in the country so the ice takes a beating because of it. I'm not sure how that one gets fixed besides booking less events at the arena which we know won't happen with our owners.

Overall I don't mind our owners too much because I do think they are willing to spend money to make the team better on the ice but I do admit that I'm not a fan of how many teams they actually own.

 

[Guttersniped]

Sharangovich has been playing pretty well for the Flames after a really slow start. He's a -16 but his point totals are up from last season. There wasn't much room for him in the the top 6 but he is outproducing Meier at a much cheaper price. Meier has really struggled this season but it has been a myriad of issues with him this season.

Shara scored 24 goals in 74 games with us, they knew he could produce.

We traded him because:
1) He didn’t produce when we or Calgary dropped him to a lower line.
2) He didn’t work with Nico (not good enough defensely, rush offense guy w/out cycle game).
3) He did work with well Jack at times but he’s even less physical than Hughes. Presumably they didn’t like the idea of keeping them together because even if could work they would be soft as butter and one dimensional.

Ironically Shara is on Calgary’s PP1 and Meier isn’t on ours. Starting in Dec a lot Shara’s points came from the power play.

Shara also has a hilarious 6 SH points (3G 3A), but he was always a threat there and he now PKs with Coleman and Weegar.

Shara isn’t a mystery, he’s a healthy player in his prime who was put in the right position to produce and he’s produced.

They got Meier because he’s a power forward who is a physical presence that actually goes to the net. Meier was playing hurt earlier this season, his skating was off and stopped hitting.

We traded Shara for Toffoli and he’s the reason Shara isn’t here so that’s the better comparison.

I get why they traded for Toffoli but I didn’t like that he would be a 32 year old UFA in a year when we traded for him and I don’t like it now.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I hate that our country some how just accepted that being in a big arena means we all get to be ripped off. I wish I was more motivated to get a month of arena pricing protest going. They would all switch to fan friendly concession stand pricing real quick if nobody bought anything for a month.

I hate to break it to you but there’s much worse things than this that have just been accepted by our society, this is just a symptom of that. It takes a gargantuan effort to get people off their asses to protest against those, if it even happens at all. No one is putting any effort into something like this.

 

[forceten]

I got an email in my inbox this morning from the Devils. I meant to add this to my long rant in the ownership part. It was celebrating the "exciting" 4-3 win against Montreal. Literally a day after a probably season-ending turd of an effort against Tampa. Talk about a day late, millions short. Sorry, no, I'm not interested in purchasing season tickets when the front office is so unprepared that they send out an email like that.

 

[MB3]

The amount of hand-wringing over a player who was a 25-year old healthy scratch for the majority of our playoffs last year is baffling.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I hate to break it to you but there’s much worse things than this that have just been accepted by our society, this is just a symptom of that. It takes a gargantuan effort to get people off their asses to protest against those, if it even happens at all. No one is putting any effort into something like this.

Absolutely but this is a hockey forum, there's many, many things I'd love to see fixed in our country but this isn't the thread or the place for that and hell, getting people aware of what Atlanta does and trying a concession stand protest is still way easier than fixing any of those lol

 

[ZYXWVUT]

i dont care about the excuses, the fact they have allowed the first goal at a historical league record rate AND the number of times they have been right in games heading into the final frame only to throw up absolute no-shows are fireable offenses, regardless of the roster.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I don't think I've seen anyone say that this season sucking is 100% because of Ruff and no other factors. I think we all agree that there are some issues with the way this roster is built, particularly on defense and goaltending. And player execution has certainly been poor.

But at the end of the day, the primary job of the coach is to get the best out of their players by any means necessary. Ruff has failed at that. Everyone has taken a step back this year. The players are not prepared for games, they do not give consistent efforts. They struggle with focus and discipline in key moments. Yes, it is up to the players to execute, but ultimately it is the coach that is responsible for the performance of the team.

I doubt that firing Ruff does anything in the short term. The odds of us going on a tear and sneaking into the playoffs are extraordinarily low. They still need to fire him. His performance is unacceptable and there needs to be some accountability for that. The players, especially the young ones, are developing bad habits and this absolutely cannot be allowed to continue for any longer.

This team needs a total attitude change from top to bottom. I'm sick of sulking losers skating back to the bench and smashing sticks. Grow the f*** up and do your job. That isn't going to happen with Grandpa Lindy behind the bench. I don't know who the long term answer is, that's a conversation for the offseason. But in the short term, Ruff is a detriment to the team and even day he remains unemployed he worsens that detriment.

 

[Bleedred]

Actually, Rich Chere did put out an article about how it’s time for the Devils to fire Lou, right after he fired DeBoer. The article slammed Lou and said it was his mess and he should have been the one to go that day. I’m sure it’s still floating around.

And Rich Chere was a guy who covered the team since before Lou was the GM.

 

[Omar Little]

I got an email in my inbox this morning from the Devils. I meant to add this to my long rant in the ownership part. It was celebrating the "exciting" 4-3 win against Montreal. Literally a day after a probably season-ending turd of an effort against Tampa. Talk about a day late, millions short. Sorry, no, I'm not interested in purchasing season tickets when the front office is so unprepared that they send out an email like that.

I got the same one, laughed out loud when I saw it

 

[forceten]

Yeah, agreed. The moves to upgrade were the right moves.

- Zetterlund for Meier is a major upgrade. Okhotyuk wasn't going to play here, even with these injuries, and Mukhamadullin was a prize piece to trade but necessary.
- Sharangovich for Toffoli [in theory] addressed some of the former's shortcomings and added a different dimension. The player himself at his age and extremely slow foot speed in hindsight probably wasn't the perfect fit, but he's going to give us 30 goals this year.
- Tatar f'd around and found out. He refused our offer and by the time he was willing to come to terms, it was too late. There wasn't a spot. That's on him, not us.
- Graves was too expensive and wanted a long deal. That was out of our hands.
- Severson was too expensive and wanted a long deal. That, too, was our of our hands, but good for us to get something out of it (although we traded it).
- Wood was going to be too expensive and with his injury past his biggest weapon was suspect. Lazar is essentially his replacement.
- Blackwood was done here and he was kind of a dickhead too. Schmid and Daws are as good or better.
- Boqvist couldn't get in the lineup although having that depth center would be lovely now, he signed elsewhere and hasn't gotten into the lineup there either.
- Nosek was a depth signing along with Tierney and Dowling. Nosek I think they hoped would play, but again, injured from 6th game and since coming back has been so slow that Toffoli looks like he's a speed skater.
- Miller was meant to be a good depth 3rd pair - injuries.

So, yes, we changed out 8 players from our 23 last year. Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, Mercer, McLeod, Haula, Bastian, Holtz were the retained forwards and all of them made hockey sense. Nolan Foote was intended to be one of the extras or rotate into the fourth line, but injuries derailed that from the start of the season and he still hasn't played yet. Hamilton, Siegenthaler, Marino, Bahl were expected to be the core D plus Hughes.

But the moves were all good moves.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

The amount of hand-wringing over a player who was a 25-year old healthy scratch for the majority of our playoffs last year is baffling.

He was a likable dude and a homegrown talent. I enjoyed rooting for him and watching him play hockey. He's doing well centering Huberdeau at the moment. This current team is simply not likable, you see it mentioned a lot in game threads. I don't know if that's simply because losing teams are not likeable, or the effort is lacking and that's driving us nuts but I do think in the social media age where we have a better understanding of the players off the ice that kind of matters.

If you're gonna ship away homegrown talent like Sharanagovich and Zetterlund to improve the roster, then the roster needs to actually improve or else fans are gonna be annoyed. Even with a ton of evolving hockey / jfresh charts saying it was a smart move.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

one thing too, im just sick and tired of the jack and luke show night-after-night and the coach having no control or leash on them. its absolute bullshit. bring someone in who can implement a more versatile system, plus not let those two run rampant at will. it doesnt even need to be someone who screams and yells, just a guy who isnt afraid to tell them to cut the shit and play the right way.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Absolutely but this is a hockey forum, there's many, many things I'd love to see fixed in our country but this isn't the thread or the place for that and hell, getting people aware of what Atlanta does and trying a concession stand protest is still way easier than fixing any of those lol

Oh I know this isn’t the place for it, I’ve learned that over the years lol. My point was I actually don’t think it’s any easier than anything else. There’s so much complacency about more serious issues, I don’t see how something like concession prices is gonna motivate people to do something. Best case people will “protest” with their wallets organically but even that probably doesn’t happen unless the team shits the bed again next year and it still might not be enough to make a difference.

 

[Oneiro]

Pretty unprofessional from Novo. He’s a kid, he’ll learn or get thicker skin. Guess they really don’t make guys like Doc or TG anymore.

Ruff sucks, but you have to decide if you want to a journalist or a blogger.

 

[MB3]

He was a likable dude and a homegrown talent. I enjoyed rooting for him and watching him play hockey. He's doing well centering Huberdeau at the moment. This current team is simply not likable, you see it mentioned a lot in game threads. I don't know if that's simply because losing teams are not likeable, or the effort is lacking and that's driving us nuts but I do think in the social media age where we have a better understanding of the players off the ice that kind of matters.

If you're gonna ship away homegrown talent like Sharanagovich and Zetterlund to improve the roster, then the roster needs to actually improve or else fans are gonna be annoyed. Even with a ton of evolving hockey / jfresh charts saying it was a smart move.

He was silly when he dressed like Santa. I genuinely never understood why he was so beloved online. Reddit treats him like he's an all-time great Devil.

He was a mediocre at best penalty killer. Streaky scorer who needed to be stapled to Nico or Jack to have even the remotest of chances at producing anything. He didn't make linemates better, he wasn't creative or intuitive with the puck, he didn't hit anyone (or even pretend to attempt to hit anyone).

I'm happy he's having the best shooting percentage of his life while playing PP1 minutes and 17+ minutes a game in Calgary. He wouldn't get those minutes here, so who cares?

You said "if you're going to ship away Sharangovich, the roster has to improve". Tyler Toffoli is on pace to score 36 goals, is that not improvement directly related to the trade of Sharangovich?

 

[Satans Hockey]

Oh I know this isn’t the place for it, I’ve learned that over the years lol. My point was I actually don’t think it’s any easier than anything else. There’s so much complacency about more serious issues, I don’t see how something like concession prices is gonna motivate people to do something. Best case people will “protest” with their wallets organically but even that probably doesn’t happen unless the team shits the bed again next year and it still might not be enough to make a difference.

It shouldn't be as hard simply because it's an easy protest that saves people money in the long run and it's easy to do, eat beforehand or sneak food in. Biggest problem would be all the booze hounds who can't sit for 2.5 hours without spending $16 on a can of beer lol

If more people realized what Atlanta did I think it would be easy to get people on board. It's a topic I end up talking to a lot of people about and the vast majority had no idea.

I'm getting older and crankier, in my younger days I'd get motivated and hand out fliers or make a giant display and stand across the street from the arena, would be funny to see how fast the team would react to make sure I'm as far away from the arena as possible lol

 

[MB3]

Pretty unprofessional from Novo. He’s a kid, he’ll learn or get thicker skin. Guess they really don’t make guys like Doc or TG anymore.

Ruff sucks, but you have to decide if you want to a journalist or a blogger.

I really need someone to tell me what's unprofessional about a journalist (checks notes) doing his job.

He's not screaming in the back room of a press conference or taking shots at innocent bystanders. He's saying that Lindy Ruff has not done a good enough job, and he's right.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Pretty unprofessional from Novo. He’s a kid, he’ll learn or get thicker skin. Guess they really don’t make guys like Doc or TG anymore.

Ruff sucks, but you have to decide if you want to a journalist or a blogger.

That's rich considering Ruff is 64 and is the one whining about our reporters being so hard on this team when the majority who ask questions are team employees with softball questions.

 

[ZYXWVUT]

the soft mentality over the entire organization from the top down is just disgusting. and it starts with the GM who is still too busy taking his bow from last season & nowhere to be found, after he was parading all over last season. and the whole press conference the day before mcleod news came out, only to vanish again after that is unacceptable as well. that is why i dont even believe he will make a coaching change, bc i guarantee hes way more involved than other GMs with the coaches and i think he is too chicken shit to make a change there. hopefully he proves me wrong on that last thing.

 

[MB3]

It shouldn't be as hard simply because it's an easy protest that saves people money in the long run and it's easy to do, eat beforehand or sneak food in. Biggest problem would be all the booze hounds who can't sit for 2.5 hours without spending $16 on a can of beer lol

This is just.... lame? I don't know what else to call it. I'd wager that 70% of the people in the building don't really care that the beer is over-priced. You're not going to be able to organize a sit-in protest at a sporting event where people are paying several hundred dollars to get away from their life, relax and be entertained.

Calling me a booze-hound because I pay $16 to have a mediocre domestic light beer is cringe as hell, though. Criticizing how other people spend their money is odd.

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

He was silly when he dressed like Santa. I genuinely never understood why he was so beloved online. Reddit treats him like he's an all-time great Devil.

He was a mediocre at best penalty killer. Streaky scorer who needed to be stapled to Nico or Jack to have even the remotest of chances at producing anything. He didn't make linemates better, he wasn't creative or intuitive with the puck, he didn't hit anyone (or even pretend to attempt to hit anyone).

I'm happy he's having the best shooting percentage of his life while playing PP1 minutes and 17+ minutes a game in Calgary. He wouldn't get those minutes here, so who cares?

You said "if you're going to ship away Sharangovich, the roster has to improve". Tyler Toffoli is on pace to score 36 goals, is that not improvement directly related to the trade of Sharangovich?

People enjoy that stuff, idk what to tell you. This is entertainment. The best shooting % stuff is a bit overblown now that he's gone cold. It's at 16%, last year looks like the outlier at 9%, he shot 14% the previous two years.

I meant the team as a whole is worse, so people are looking back and missing the good feels they had last year rooting for those players. Toffoli might be better but he seems like a mercenary (they all are when you get down to it but fans want to think otherwise).

I really need someone to tell me what's unprofessional about a journalist (checks notes) doing his job.

He's not screaming in the back room of a press conference or taking shots at innocent bystanders. He's saying that Lindy Ruff has not done a good enough job, and he's right.

As I said earlier, I don't understand what his job is. Is it just to write about his personal opinions? Cause that's what that report was. Write about interviews with players? Try to get sources inside the organization to feed him information?

The line between team blogger/journalist no longer exists in 2023.