GDT: New Jersey Devils @ New York Islanders - 7:30pm

[Zippy316]

The Islanders feed on NHL Network talked about how the Devils bench was irate and screaming in the seconds even before the gl was scored. Something they said seemed to imply the coaches were some of the ones going off about it.

So I think you’re right, they probably wanted to challenge it, but it was too risky to do it heading into OT if we would have lost the challenge.

I think they were originally irate at a hand pass, but Barzal got the puck with his stick afterwards.

It’s likely Ruff trusted in Hughes/Bratt 5-on-5 rather than risk the game altogether, but I think that could’ve been overturned. I wonder if it was within the last minute if it would have been reviewed by the league.

 

[Devs3cups]

I'm just glad he was able to redeem himself after being the cause of one of the Isles goals.

I’d pin that blame more on Smith but Luke definitely could’ve pushed the puck harder.

 

[Zippy316]

I think we played a solid game overall, but the one major complaint I have through our first four games it that our d-zone defensive structure is horrendous. It looks like no one has any idea where they are supposed to be and it leads to way too many breakdowns.

Schmid last night looked like a game straight out of his first year. Timid, slow movements, seems to lack confidence because he doesn't want to overcommit any which way. Looked like it was mental last night for him. I think he will be able to break out of it, he's just gotta trust himself more when moving laterally that he's not overcommitting.

That’s Schmid’s game. Being in position and economical. We have to also remember that he’s only ~30 NHL games in right now, he has a lot to learn, but the technique is there.

 

[Zippy316]

The number of times the Devils had 5 players within 5 feet of the boards on one side of the ice yet only 1 player harassing the puck carrier is a problem. Hopefully more video and playing together will have it happen less often.

If you’re going to swarm the opponents then you need to constantly be applying pressure from multiple angles. It can’t just be guys standing around in a zone applying no pressure, filling no passing lane, and marking nobody. Way too often 2-4 guys on the Devils defense find themselves doing none of the above.

If you’re going to commit to a swarm then all 5 guys have to be on-board and constantly apply that pressure, even if it means you have horrific breakdowns sometimes. The Devils only partially swarm too often and that eliminates your pressure benefit and still leads to about as many horrific breakdowns so you may as well go all-in on applying pressure.

I don’t think the swarm is the right idea for the Devils but if they’re going to do it, they need to do it as well as possible, at least.

The issue sometimes I’ve noticed is you have guys like Bratt/Hughes sometimes that rather than attack the puck carrier they want to give space and go for the sneaky takeaway.

But if the opposing player reads that and calls their bluff, they have a ton of time and space and the Devils are swarmed to one side of the ice. That’s exactly what happened on the Horvat goal.

A guy like McLeod, Lazar, Meier, or Haula immediately engage and shut down the majority of options, making the rest of the defenders jobs easier on the swarm. It becomes so much harder to make that pass to Pulock on that Horvat goal and it’s more likely the opposite forward reads the play and shuts it down.

 

[JimEIV]

It's from January. Power plays finished up at 3.07 per game. And yes, power plays are getting more efficient, but that doesn't make up for the fact that A: there are far fewer of them and B: with the tomato cans gone from 4th lines, even strength scoring is way, way up relative to any time in the last 25 years.

To do a true era adjustment between now and e.g. 2003, you have to take out 3v3 goals, 4v4 OT goals, and empty net goals (I already took out my estimation of shootout goals) but I still think the PP is less important than it ever was. Which is fine, because it's still plenty important, but it is absolutely not a power play league, not at all.

A True era adjustment is not necessary when looking at PP rates and efficiency.

3v3, 4v4 and OT would only serve to bolster the Even Strength numbers artificially stealing from the percentage PP's are from the totals which would be antithetical to your argument.

PP's opportunities and conversations are on the rise this is a fact.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Timo was great, Hughes ot goal was awesome. The power play was incredible. We really needed that win after giving up that late goal.

I will say I'm absolutely sick of Kyle Palmieri, I'm glad he has to shave his ugly mug twice a day.

 

[Devils731]

The issue sometimes I’ve noticed is you have guys like Bratt/Hughes sometimes that rather than attack the puck carrier they want to give space and go for the sneaky takeaway.

But if the opposing player reads that and calls their bluff, they have a ton of time and space and the Devils are swarmed to one side of the ice. That’s exactly what happened on the Horvat goal.

A guy like McLeod, Lazar, Meier, or Haula immediately engage and shut down the majority of options, making the rest of the defenders jobs easier on the swarm. It becomes so much harder to make that pass to Pulock on that Horvat goal and it’s more likely the opposite forward reads the play and shuts it down.

For me, I’d prefer the Devils play a bend but don’t break defense and focus on generating turnovers up mid and high so I think Hughes, Bratt, etc…have the right idea for the wrong system.

So ya, Hughes, Bratt, etc…need to be more physically on their guys rather than playing off their man, even if it sacrifices offense and the breakout.

I don’t think the Devils should make that trade-off but it’s better to coherently play an imperfect system than to lack cohesion in any system, so everyone has to get on board for the Devils defense to be effective.

 

[Bleedred]

Timo was great, Hughes ot goal was awesome. The power play was incredible. We really needed that win after giving up that late goal.

I will say I'm absolutely sick of Kyle Palmieri, I'm glad he has to shave his ugly mug twice a day.

Even if he shaved it four times a day he’d still have the shadow. I have a permanent shadow too and I actually like the way I look 1 or 2 days after shaving more than the way I look clean shaven, because I never look clean shaven because of the shadow. I look like I haven’t shaven in a day or two right after shaving and I still look like I haven’t shaven in a day or two a day or two after I shaved. But somehow my beard isn’t as good as even I would think. I have plenty of thin, see-through spots all throughout my chin. I have a good beard, especially considering a lot of people can’t grow one at all, but it’s not a great beard.

And Palmieri looks better with the beard. It even makes him look older without it. I said that as soon as he got to the Islanders and had to shave it, a couple of days after he last played here.

I wonder if Islanders fans are sick of him? He’s nowhere near the goal scorer anymore that he was here and looked to start falling off his last season here, the year of the trade.

He’s paced for about 20 goals the last two years (didn’t get there because he only played 69 and 55 games) but doesn’t appear to be much of a threat to score much more than 20 (if healthy enough to play even close to 82 games) and his shooting percentage has dropped off since leaving, because he’s now in his 30s.

I think he’s only signed for two more years after this and the cap is going up a lot after this year.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Timo was great, Hughes ot goal was awesome. The power play was incredible. We really needed that win after giving up that late goal.

I will say I'm absolutely sick of Kyle Palmieri, I'm glad he has to shave his ugly mug twice a day.

Harsh on Palms!

 

[Whaddagoal]

Harsh on Palms!

Not after he fell like a bum and almost busted Palat's knee........!

 

[Triumph]

A True era adjustment is not necessary when looking at PP rates and efficiency.

3v3, 4v4 and OT would only serve to bolster the Even Strength numbers artificially stealing from the percentage PP's are from the totals which would be antithetical to your argument.

PP's opportunities and conversations are on the rise this is a fact.

PP opportunities are not on the rise significantly; you cited an article from January of 2023. You have shifted the goalposts - I was not arguing that power plays are not more efficient, in fact it's one of the first things I said. What I argued is that it's not 'a powerplay league' as you claimed - the power play is less important now than it was at any point in recent memory, as power play goals make up a lower portion of goals overall.

Re: your second paragraph - you don't seem to understand that I am trying to actually figure out the answer here, rather than just trying to win an argument.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

This was my favorite play from last game

 

[Satans Hockey]

Not after he fell like a bum and almost busted Palat's knee........!

I forgot who it was cause it was a bit ago but he ran one of our goalies at one point too in a past game

 

[Devils731]

This was my favorite play from last game

You’d think he had on figure skates and toe pick’d.

 

[Bleedred]

I’m not sure when to do the GDT, but seems like the idea was well-received.

Wouldn’t be as funny against just any team, but it could be a fun one for the Rangers game next month.

 

[Emperoreddy]

The Islanders feed on NHL Network talked about how the Devils bench was irate and screaming in the seconds even before the gl was scored. Something they said seemed to imply the coaches were some of the ones going off about it.

So I think you’re right, they probably wanted to challenge it, but it was too risky to do it heading into OT if we would have lost the challenge.

Ruff took a long look at it right after it was scored. They definitely were considering a challenge but let it go.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I’m not sure when to do the GDT, but seems like the idea was well-received.

Wouldn’t be as funny against just any team, but it could be a fun one for the Rangers game next month.

Either claim a game you really want to do and put it in the GDT thread or just call next and get the next one after someone loses assuming someone hasn't called next first

 

[Mgd31]

Even if he shaved it four times a day he’d still have the shadow. I have a permanent shadow too and I actually like the way I look 1 or 2 days after shaving more than the way I look clean shaven, because I never look clean shaven because of the shadow. I look like I haven’t shaven in a day or two right after shaving and I still look like I haven’t shaven in a day or two a day or two after I shaved. But somehow my beard isn’t as good as even I would think. I have plenty of thin, see-through spots all throughout my chin. I have a good beard, especially considering a lot of people can’t grow one at all, but it’s not a great beard.

And Palmieri looks better with the beard. It even makes him look older without it. I said that as soon as he got to the Islanders and had to shave it, a couple of days after he last played here.

I wonder if Islanders fans are sick of him? He’s nowhere near the goal scorer anymore that he was here and looked to start falling off his last season here, the year of the trade.

He’s paced for about 20 goals the last two years (didn’t get there because he only played 69 and 55 games) but doesn’t appear to be much of a threat to score much more than 20 (if healthy enough to play even close to 82 games) and his shooting percentage has dropped off since leaving, because he’s now in his 30s.

I think he’s only signed for two more years after this and the cap is going up a lot after this year.

He’s still signed for 2 more years after this? Jesus, feels like the guy has been there for an eternity already

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

I’d pin that blame more on Smith but Luke definitely could’ve pushed the puck harder.

I think it's more of lack of awareness of his partner that was the "fault", but I do agree that expecting the rookie to cover up for the veteran is absolutely ridiculous. Smith needs to be taken out asap.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

He’s still signed for 2 more years after this? Jesus, feels like the guy has been there for an eternity already

there’s something about him that’s just “like” that. I think of him as having a pretty short career as a Devil but it was part of 6 seasons and he’s something like top-20 in career goals in Devils history.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

I think that one of the underrated positive aspects to start the year is Luke’s defensive game so far.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s not perfect, but he’s looking better than I thought he would. He’s gonna make some mistakes, but he’s looking pretty steady back there imo while bring some good offense and transition.

Idk, he's playing exactly the way he did in college. His in-zone defense was fine (not amazing) in college and is fine in the NHL too. His transition is amazing but where he is prone to turnovers sometimes (almost all of his deficiencies in college were due to something stupid he did in transition). He did have some turnovers in the offensive zone too in college but I don't think it's happened yet here outside of preseason (but it's almost happened several times).

 

[NJDevs26]

I’m not sure when to do the GDT, but seems like the idea was well-received.

Wouldn’t be as funny against just any team, but it could be a fun one for the Rangers game next month.

A Sharks game perhaps?

 

[glenwo2]

I’d pin that blame more on Smith but Luke definitely could’ve pushed the puck harder.

I think it's more of lack of awareness of his partner that was the "fault", but I do agree that expecting the rookie to cover up for the veteran is absolutely ridiculous. Smith needs to be taken out asap.

I saw the play where he tried to chip the puck further up the boards (trying to get it out of the zone) but looked like he just lightly tapped it forward (or maybe he just flubbed it) and it was easily intercepted by the Isles player that led to the goal.

I blame Smith for A TON of things but this one's at least 70% on Luke.

Sorry man.

And again...good on Luke for getting that goal back by scoring himself.

He'll learn and get better.

That's the bottom line.

 

[Guttersniped]

Are you always miserable, or do you really just not like the Devils?

They’re no Flyers, now that’s a team with a future you can get excited about.

Didn't realize objectivity is "miserable".

Where do I get my pom poms and Koolaid?

On the Flyers board.

 

[Bleedred]

A Sharks game perhaps?

I think the first one is in December?

But that actually gave me a good idea for maybe the first time we play the Stars.

Too bad Hynes isn’t employed anywhere this year or I’d have a good one for that game.