Confirmed with Link: Matteau to MTL for Devante Smith-Pelly
- Thread starter New Jersey Devils
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- May 1, 2011
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Haha no. I just made a joke a while ago that I would start keeping track like the one about Gomez from a few years ago.
There was also a ''Did the Devils win a shootout today?'' one.
Captain Lou
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- Apr 2, 2004
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I think that either directly, or indirectly, Jim has contributed about 90% of the posts in this thread. 900 posts about this trade is insane.
A true genius!
A true genius!
OmNomNom
Taco is Love, Taco is Life
Blender
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JimEIV
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He just hasn't been given the right opportunities.
Over 4 years Matteau has played 550 minutes. - 109 of those minutes are with Montreal. So with NJ he's had 441 minutes over 4 years.
For a little perspective:
Jiri Tlusty in 30 games has played 411 minutes this season
Franham has played 426 minutes this season.
Ruutu has played 338 minutes this season.
O'Niell played 228 minutes this season.
Tad bit of perspective, wouldn't you say?
BomaLightDevils
Registered User
Give me DSP 10/10 times with the way he has responded to coming here.
Not saying Matteau couldn't develop more with solid minutes but I don't see it, and if I did I still like DSP a lot more and I was a big Matteau supporter.
SteveCangialosi123
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DSP is now almost at a PPG pace in 20+ games played in the top 9 this season. Pretty solid for a 23 year old. The future is bright.
SteveCangialosi123
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Because he was a first rounder and that somehow entitles him to more time even though he's never shown any skill or produced at any level.
NJDevs26
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- Mar 21, 2007
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While the gist of this is true with Matteau we're going down a real slippery slope here considering some of the other scrubs that get icetime. It's usually a combination of earning icetime and other factors that come into play. They never felt Matteau fit their system from day one. He never proved them wrong, and hasn't yet since leaving.
JimEIV
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I completely, unequivocally 100% agree.
Now explain to me how O'Neill, Ruutu and Tlusty "earned" their ice time. Or freakin Josefson for that matter.
SteveCangialosi123
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Josefson is a center, is pretty good defensively, great in the shootout and power play. O'neill and Tlusty were given a shot because I guess they're viewed as "skill guys"..O'neill produced really well in the AHL and was given a shot to see if he could cut it in the NHL(too long of a shot) and Tlusty has had NHL success in the past. Ruutuu just sucks ass and doesn't belong in the NHL..not much can be said to defend him.
Blender
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Josefson is a solid defensive player that also performs well on special teams. He's a perfect player for a 4th line and Matteau can only dream of even playing solid hockey like he does.
O'Neill, Ruutu, and Tlusty are all bad players, but they are better than Matteau. Matteau also played 201 minutes in 20 games for us this season, so throwing out 550 in 4 years to compare to guys who have played 200-400 minutes this season is being disingenuous. The difference between Matteau and O'Neill is that O'Neill played 2 more games for us this season.
Matteau being a terrible hockey player has been further reinforced by the fact that Montreal clearly doesn't think much of him either. He is only averaging 49 seconds more per game with Montreal than with us and they have already had him as a healthy scratch.
DSP is miles better as a hockey player, and this trade was a clear win to everyone, except you it seems, before DSP even played a game.
- May 1, 2011
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Josefson actually produced some points, and has helped out the power play. Even though he's not producing many points at all and should be a 4th liner.
If Matteau had produced a little more offense, I maintain that he would have been given more of a chance. But he had the worst PPG of any forward on the name not named Ruutu.
And his PPG was even worse than most of the defensemen on this team too. Merrill went over 20 games before getting a point, but no one else on the back end was even as bad at offense as Matteau had been this year.
Tlusty had a proven track record as an offense producer before this year. For some reason, he just fell off a cliff sometime in the past year.
If Matteau had produced a little more offense, I maintain that he would have been given more of a chance. But he had the worst PPG of any forward on the name not named Ruutu.
And his PPG was even worse than most of the defensemen on this team too. Merrill went over 20 games before getting a point, but no one else on the back end was even as bad at offense as Matteau had been this year.
Tlusty had a proven track record as an offense producer before this year. For some reason, he just fell off a cliff sometime in the past year.
JimEIV
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And with 1 measly goal, he had a better Points/60 5v5 than almost every single bottom 6 player that has played this season.
SteveCangialosi123
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Wasn't that goal misplayed by the goalie? If he didn't show enough in practice to play over Tootoo or Gio then he didn't deserve to play. Just let yourself be happy. We turned him into a useful RW.
JimEIV
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I'd rather we turned a 4th round pick into a useful RW. Is that really an absurd or outrageous thought?
I think the biggest plus of this trade is now we can say we are a diverse team to the PC crowd lol
Blender
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You aren't getting a DSP for a 4th round pick, nor are you trading some of the trash we had for him. Trading Matteau works because he's still young and another team hopes to turn him around, but he was expendable to us because he played like ****.
SteveCangialosi123
Registered User
That's not outrageous. But who knows if that would've got DSP? Maybe they wanted a roster player? Management didn't like him and we moved him for a guy who's fit in great. There's no changing what happened, and whatever "mismanagement" occurred was under Lou, not Shero. Shero moved a guy that wasn't working out for a guy who is working out at a position we needed more.
