GDT: New Jersey Devils @ Detroit Red Wings

[Devilsfanatic0421]

Now that I think about it. Marty was wise to leave.

Marty is finished, so I don't think it was entirely his choice.

 

[Wingman77]

Agreed.

The number of times I've found myself going to respond to something ridiculous only to exit out of the screen because it otherwise would have been a waste of time trying to explain something to somebody who isn't willing to hear what others have to say other than themselves has been incredible

Even coming here just to browse is a chore

 

[Whaddagoal]

I don't think the board has come that unhinged, what most people are seeing with Elias and Zajac are real problems.
(I was here during that disaster JMac start too. It's about the same vibe, even worse then IMO.... until JL got good press vibes and people livened up when this forum made ridiculous meme's to get through the horribleness)

Back to the topic, Elias is probably the biggest glaring issue here, second with Zajac.

Elias isn't just "not scoring", he's not even a THREAT or even possible THREAT. Literally in this game, it's like you don't even see him except when he takes the faceoffs now. Then he disappears. The only game in the last 5 that i remember him having a real good chance was the first St. Louis game.

The other games he was making mistakes left and right, more than creating anything.

WIth Zajac some kid should have stopped by his house for halloween and told him how he's horrible again, maybe it would spark him up. If one of those two guys would be generating something, this team might have won some of the last few games.

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

I think the reaction is worse than it would be because we have people routinely defending the glaring ineptitude & lack of planning on the part of management. The organization is more secretive, paranoid and misleading than Allen Dulles' CIA!!!

Just think how bad it would be if this was an actual hockey market and newspapers/media actually called out the organization.

 

[NJDevs26]

2010-11 was literally THE first season of extended losing (and only for half a season at that), and there was plenty of kvetching then - mostly with the Kovalchuk nonsense. Now there's been two seasons in a row of not making the playoffs and high-profile defections so it's not surprising the cumulative effect means a more cranky fanbase now than then.

Let's just not turn on each other here, okay?

 

[Tundra]

Just think how bad it would be if this was an actual hockey market and newspapers/media actually called out the organization.

In sleepy New Jersey, Lou can run this organization into the ground and no one shall dare say a peep. That's the travesty here. The only one to take Lou to task in the local media has been Larry Brooks. And Brooksie was notorious for taking shots at Sather and MSG too.I respect the guy for calling a spade a spade.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Pete DeBoer is the 2nd longest tenured coach in New Jersey Devils history.

He has won 108 of a possible 226 regular season games.

 

[Devils Dominion]

For those who were around in 83/84, Patty so far is Grant Mulvey.

Game just fell off a cliff abruptly.

I hope he is ok physically.

 

[glenwo2]

I actually decided to miss this game(record it and not watch it) and watch a UFC event.

Let me tell you : I'm so glad I did so. Almost every fight was a FINISH.

Compare that to having to watch this team once again struggle and....well it's obvious.

Though I did find it funny(checking the boxscore) to see that both Space Junk II and PooPoo-face got on the scoreboard....

 

[Devils Dominion]

Pete DeBoer is the 2nd longest tenured coach in New Jersey Devils history.

He has won 108 of a possible 226 regular season games.

Pete will break the losing record soon enough if we don't eradicate his tenure.

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

Pete DeBoer is the 2nd longest tenured coach in New Jersey Devils history.

He has won 108 of a possible 226 regular season games.

Disgusting. Its amateur hour in Newark. What a fall from grace.

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

I actually decided to miss this game(record it and not watch it) and watch a UFC event.

Let me tell you : I'm so glad I did so. Almost every fight was a FINISH.

Compare that to having to watch this team once again struggle and....well it's obvious.

Though I did find it funny(checking the boxscore) to see that both Space Junk II and PooPoo-face got on the scoreboard....

That goal by Tootoo probably bought him a few more weeks here, especially with the injury situation lol. He still sucks but at least he was able to put the puck in the net, unlike some of the clowns we have on this roster. *Cough, Zajac. *Cough, Elias. *Cough, Zubrus.

 

[Devils090]

Pete DeBoer is the 2nd longest tenured coach in New Jersey Devils history.

He has won 108 of a possible 226 regular season games.

and here's what i dont get

yeah you can say well he doesnt have a good roster and blah blah blah. he didnt have one in Florida and they canned him anyway. if he isnt good enough for Florida why the hell is he good enough for us?

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Just watched the "highlights." Teams are going to start shooting wide on Corey on purpose if this keeps being a thing.

I realize the issues are far deeper

 

[Devilsfan992]

Just watched the "highlights." Teams are going to start shooting wide on Corey on purpose if this keeps being a thing.

I realize the issues are far deeper

Honest question as I don't or haven't played hockey. Do goalies do something that prevent goals like this from occurring?

 

[Emperoreddy]

I'm not saying trade for some star player. Maybe dealing Zids for a pick or prospect, or selling high on Jagr, or not wasting assets on Ruutu.

I get that he is plugging holes, but part of the reason he has to plug holes with geezers is because there are no prospects to fill those holes. And there never will be until we, at some point, bite the bullet and call it what it is. A rebuild. You can't contend for the Cup every year and I think that is Lou's mentality every season. He seems to sacrifice the long term for the short. He needs to recognize that this team is not a depth player away from a contender, but an entire group of forwards away. You don't fix that in one season, and you don't fix that by trading picks for castoffs or holding on to guys that aren't in the long term plans at the expense of a decent return that could build for your future. And you certainly don't do it signing washed up FAs either.

Yes, I know a lot of these old guys aren't locked into long term contracts. And that's great because you could probably flip them at the deadline for picks or prospects. But Lou has shown time and time again that he won't do that. So what happens when all the old guys contracts run out? He either has to resign them or replace them with other old, washed up FAs.

Well with the drafting, you know the story. At least one of our first rounders didn't work out (Tedy) and the other (JJ) the jury is still out on. Henrique turned into a price, especially at where he was drafted.

The majority of our earlier round drafting the last few years has been two forwards (Matteu, Quenneville) who both should be NHLers, one goaltender (Cory), and defense. I think we can safely say we have done really well in net, and on defense. So we are left with forwards to develop, we have some decent ones in the tank but we definitely need more.

It can't be glossed over that we lost two superstar forwards in the span of two years and how much that set the franchise back.

Thing is Lou is never EVER going to tank. He doesn't agree with that kind of team culture that Edmonton, Buffalo, and Florida are living in. He wants there to be a competitive culture here, and he has good reasons to do it. We need every trick we can muster to lure free agents here because we aren't a big market, and we need to do something to convince the players we have to stay. Flushing this season and the next two or more seasons down the tubes in the hopes of getting high draft picks are not going to help us in keeping the super talented kids we already have from leaving. Lars is already annoyed, and Gely has an ******* agent. Why stay on a cellar dweller team.

The other problem with tanking is the odds are against it. We can have the worst record in hockey and still have a good chance of not getting the 1st pick.

The last problem is I don't think anyone one here REALLY understands how bad, bad can be. When this team was healthy this year, it wasn't bad, wasn't really good either, but not bad. Johnny Mac's team was bad. This year's Sabres team is BAD.

Grass is always greener on the other side. Watching this team REALLY and truly suck for years, I promise you, would be much worse then what it is right now. And we will be stuck hoping that these top 5 picks pan out (because a top pick does not mean auto-crosby) Lars was a 4th overall, and while the kid is going to be good, he isn't an instant superstar.

Fact is Lou is trying to keep this team competitive as he rebuilds. The blueline is coming along, the forwards need to be dealt with now. Honestly, outside of Clowe, none of his plug in free agent forward contracts have been bad. 3/4th of this board wanted Brunner, everyone liked the Ryder signing.

It has been three games, the team has some very key players injured. Difference makers (and I don't mean Clowe). Team loses like this with a healthy roster people have a point, but until then its a busted up roster having trouble keeping up.

A coaching change may need to happen at some point in the near future, but not now when most of the top 6 is injured. Especially not when there isn't any real replacement available. It is a non-starter move that would only please this message board, but not actually fix anything.

I do agree with you Unseen that some small sell moves make sense. I am all for selling Zids by the deadline no matter where we are in the standings. I like him, but he is redundant on this team at this point with Gely and the other kids showing offensive sparks. The futures we could get for him are worth more. If we are looking bad by the deadline dealing Jagr makes sense as well. Wouldn't do it until then because of the lack of talent we currently have, and it is to soon to throw in the towel on the season.

 

[awegrzyn]

Stephen Gionta now has more points than Zubrus this year.

Stephen Gionta is a better player, so why compare it like that
I have been running defensive stats since the beginning of the season and that guy is leading everyone in defensive plays. He is super consistent at it. On average, and prorated for his minutes on ice, he makes a good defensive play every 3.5 minutes. No other player gets even close to him in those plays.

Mike Callammari was second for a while, but he is not playing anymore, so I stopped counting him.

Our best D-men in terms of making a defensive play (blocks/poke checks/steals/etc) is Gelinas, and then Severson right behind. He is very consistent on defense.

I also think Kinky is a better goalie.

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

5 shots in the first 30 minutes. Not too shabby, i think we should make preparations for cup parade

 

[DevilSlovenia]

and here's what i dont get

yeah you can say well he doesnt have a good roster and blah blah blah. he didnt have one in Florida and they canned him anyway. if he isnt good enough for Florida why the hell is he good enough for us?

Well then you should get a rookie coach because otherwise you get someone who wasn't good enough somewhere else. For example: Dan Bylsma wasn't good enough for very talented Pittsburgh, why would he be good enough for team with a subpar talented team like New Jersey?

 

[Brooklyndevil]

Please Hockey Gods, Connor McDavid would be a good start. They owe us after stealing Super Mario two decades ago.

 

[captainscott]

and here's what i dont get

yeah you can say well he doesnt have a good roster and blah blah blah. he didnt have one in Florida and they canned him anyway. if he isnt good enough for Florida why the hell is he good enough for us?

He is a good coach. He just isn't the right man for this job. He likes a veteran team w veterans that an play. The guys he trusts are just no longer effective enough but pete is slow to bail on his vets. I think we all saw what he did w a veteran team that was actually good But now there are tough choices to make and he won't make them

 

[Camille the Eel]

I don't think the board has come that unhinged, what most people are seeing with Elias and Zajac are real problems.
(I was here during that disaster JMac start too. It's about the same vibe, even worse then IMO.... until JL got good press vibes and people livened up when this forum made ridiculous meme's to get through the horribleness)

Back to the topic, Elias is probably the biggest glaring issue here, second with Zajac.

Elias isn't just "not scoring", he's not even a THREAT or even possible THREAT. Literally in this game, it's like you don't even see him except when he takes the faceoffs now. Then he disappears. The only game in the last 5 that i remember him having a real good chance was the first St. Louis game.

The other games he was making mistakes left and right, more than creating anything.

WIth Zajac some kid should have stopped by his house for halloween and told him how he's horrible again, maybe it would spark him up. If one of those two guys would be generating something, this team might have won some of the last few games.

Elias has plenty to contribute but his legs look like they are going - so his creativity and scoring touch, his intuition on the ice - that is what we get with him - but all of those require that he be on the wing (not center) and paired steadily with a couple of guys who are good enough to set up those crafty plays and benefit from those intuitive passes

when Havlat and Henrique are back it probably works and Patrick is also going to give you that on the power play. His days killing penalties should probably be over because we need to skate there - lack of skating on the penalty kill is I think our problem.

 

[Sarge18]

This place is a shell of its former self

Never was it this unbearable, not even when we had the worst start in franchise history in 2010-11 was it this bad

You think this place is bad, you should check out the other place mentioned in that post. I've pretty much resorted to being a troll there since reading most of the posts destroy brain cells. God forbid you think for yourself there. At least here we have a little less groupthink.

 

[Devs4L]

Well with the drafting, you know the story. At least one of our first rounders didn't work out (Tedy) and the other (JJ) the jury is still out on. Henrique turned into a price, especially at where he was drafted.

The majority of our earlier round drafting the last few years has been two forwards (Matteu, Quenneville) who both should be NHLers, one goaltender (Cory), and defense. I think we can safely say we have done really well in net, and on defense. So we are left with forwards to develop, we have some decent ones in the tank but we definitely need more.

It can't be glossed over that we lost two superstar forwards in the span of two years and how much that set the franchise back.

Thing is Lou is never EVER going to tank. He doesn't agree with that kind of team culture that Edmonton, Buffalo, and Florida are living in. He wants there to be a competitive culture here, and he has good reasons to do it. We need every trick we can muster to lure free agents here because we aren't a big market, and we need to do something to convince the players we have to stay. Flushing this season and the next two or more seasons down the tubes in the hopes of getting high draft picks are not going to help us in keeping the super talented kids we already have from leaving. Lars is already annoyed, and Gely has an ******* agent. Why stay on a cellar dweller team.

The other problem with tanking is the odds are against it. We can have the worst record in hockey and still have a good chance of not getting the 1st pick.

The last problem is I don't think anyone one here REALLY understands how bad, bad can be. When this team was healthy this year, it wasn't bad, wasn't really good either, but not bad. Johnny Mac's team was bad. This year's Sabres team is BAD.

Grass is always greener on the other side. Watching this team REALLY and truly suck for years, I promise you, would be much worse then what it is right now. And we will be stuck hoping that these top 5 picks pan out (because a top pick does not mean auto-crosby) Lars was a 4th overall, and while the kid is going to be good, he isn't an instant superstar.

Fact is Lou is trying to keep this team competitive as he rebuilds. The blueline is coming along, the forwards need to be dealt with now. Honestly, outside of Clowe, none of his plug in free agent forward contracts have been bad. 3/4th of this board wanted Brunner, everyone liked the Ryder signing.

It has been three games, the team has some very key players injured. Difference makers (and I don't mean Clowe). Team loses like this with a healthy roster people have a point, but until then its a busted up roster having trouble keeping up.

A coaching change may need to happen at some point in the near future, but not now when most of the top 6 is injured. Especially not when there isn't any real replacement available. It is a non-starter move that would only please this message board, but not actually fix anything.

I do agree with you Unseen that some small sell moves make sense. I am all for selling Zids by the deadline no matter where we are in the standings. I like him, but he is redundant on this team at this point with Gely and the other kids showing offensive sparks. The futures we could get for him are worth more. If we are looking bad by the deadline dealing Jagr makes sense as well. Wouldn't do it until then because of the lack of talent we currently have, and it is to soon to throw in the towel on the season.

Great post. I agree with all this. Spot on all the way through.

 

[VaxjoDevil]

"Tough building" LOL

Nice one Pete.

Another fun answer that I loved.

"I don't know"

“I had concerns with a lot of our game tonight,†Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought the score was flattering. There weren’t many silver linings tonight. They were the better team and it was the right result. There wasn’t much good tonight. We can talk this all night, but I don’t have a lot of good to say.â€

Funny you left that part out.