GDT: New Jersey Devils vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

[Devs4L]

Elias has 1 goal, 3 points in his last 11 games. Zajac has 1 goal in his last 19 games...1 goal. Clarkson has 3 goals in his last 24 games. Henrique has 1 goal in his last 11 games. He had another stretch when he was goal-less in 9 games. Other players like Poni and Zubrus haven't scored to their potential when healthy either.

All of those players are capable of, and have produced in the past, much more. The above is the reason we haven't scored, and ultimately the reason we are where we are. That's not on Lou. That's on those players. It's their responsibility.

 

[Chessarmy]

Would it be wrong to amnesty buy-out your newly appointed team captain - cuz salvador has to go......

Why? I haven't seen a single person give me a credible explanation for why Salvador "needs to go". He is far far far far from the problem with this hockey club. How about Travis Zajac? Patrik Elias? Where is the offense? If you're going to point fingers, point them at the guys who have been part of the problem with the team. They're playing fine defensively, but can't score goals, so we're going to throw Salvador, of all people, under the bus? Say what you want about his captaincy, but there is no reason to waste time slagging on a guy who sacrifices his body routinely for the betterment of the team

 

[Tundra]

1) of we lose tomorrow to a shell of a buffalo team, out season is done. We realistically ain't making the playoffs.

2) Larsson should be put back into the lineup and not taken out. Let him make his mistakes and learn from them. It;s not like the rest of the D doens't make mistakes - Hell Salvador is out of position more then in it.

3. We need to throw Barch in there to fight. The last fight, Greek got his clock cleaned, before that, I can;t remember its been so long.

4. Marty has been stuck on win number 666. We have to get him off that number as it's obviously a jinx.

5. Put Josefson in for one of D'Agistini or Ponikorovsky.

6. Bench Salvador for once - keep him and A tRain off the ice and see how the team responds.

7. Point shots only work if you get a good screen, deflect pucks, or pounce on rebounds...we don;t do any of these and miss the net while we're at it. Power plays should focus on work down low.

Personally, i'd say to start reading up on the top 10 cause we're going to have a good shot at one of them.

How about someone telling Larsson to rush the puck??? The coaching staff needs to cut the chain and let him play his style. We need help to score goals instead of this 2-1 garbage.

 

[NJDevs26]

I was actually pretty positive going into this one but I did a complete 180 midway through. I really dont know when there winning again. I have ZERO confidence.

I don't remember the last time I actually DID have confidence in the team. Then again I can barely remember the last time we put two good games in a row together - probably the Pittsburgh home-and-home where the season crested.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

I was hoping a win tonight would happen and keep us in this race. But we have slowly fallen from first to 10th.

Ya.

 

[MadDevil]

Just to get some conversation going here. I just wanna know what you think, and forget Larsson for a second when giving me your answer please. How much would you put thiso on Pete/coaching staff in general? In my opinion Pete is a good coach, but not on oustanding one. An oustanding coach might be able to get more out of this team, but the roster he was given wasn't very good.

What are your thoughts? This isn't about how he's handled Larsson. I wanna know what you think about how he's handled the team in general. Is he/coaching a big reason Clarkson, Henrique, and Elias all are slumping at once?

I think Pete has done some really great things with this team. He brought in a system that we know works when executed properly. Part of the reason it hasn't worked this year is because he hasn't had the personnel for it. Stats don't show just how important Parise and Zubrus were to the system last year. They're both great at getting in on the forecheck and winning battles along the boards. Parise left this summer and Zubrus got injured two weeks into the season. So those are two key pieces of what worked last year he hasn't had.

He also hasn't been helped by having inconsistent goaltending. Down the stretch and into the playoffs last year Marty found that level he used to have in his prime. This year he hasn't been able to get there yet. Obviously the injury plays a part of that, but even when he's been healthy he's been up and down. Which is to be expected with a 40 year old goaltender.

Which isn't to say that Pete is blameless in what's going on. Some of the personnel decisions he's made are head scratchers, particularly on the back end. But that subject has been beaten to death repeatedly. His in game decisions in terms of line combinations and matchups are baffling at times. I think Pete is great at the overall scheme, but he struggles with some of the more minor details.

 

[Tretyak 20]

Also if we're gonna cut costs then I'd love to know what Shaw makes. Whether it's the coach or not it's an area we need a coach in specifically. Let Barr run the PP and PK. It can't be any worse, and even if it is we save some dollars.

Spot on. Ever since Shaw got here the offense has been freakin' terrible. The PP is worst of all. Tonight they get a minute + 5-on-3, and guys are just standing around with the puck on their stick! It's like they're waiting on the other team to move out of the way!!! If Shaw is back next year, I'll scream.

 

[Tundra]

We have the 11th worst record in the league. If we can keep dropping games, we got a shot at the holy grail.

 

[Kensu]

We have the 11th worst record in the league. If we can keep dropping games, we got a shot at the holy grail.

10th with Phoenix just winning their game vs. Colorado

 

[NJDevs26]

The only good thing about having the pick penalty hanging over us is people can't be rooting for the tank next year.

 

[Devs4L]

Pete's made some interesting decisions, and he's made some mistakes. But he's human. Those happen. Coaches are no different than players. The greatest of players may make a bone-head play from time to time. Same principle for coaches. Overall, I think he's done a good job and hopefully will be here for a while.

Games like the one against Boston prove to me that the coach is not the problem. The buy-in is not the problem either. Zajac having a golden opportunity tonight and hitting the glass is the problem. Things like that I'm not putting on DeBoer.

 

[Tretyak 20]

It actually still matters. So yes it is an important question.

Of course it's an important question. Marty could potentially score us a goal!

 

[Devils Dominion]

Effort is always there.
Just dont have the horses.

 

[DatBoyJPP]

The only good thing about having the pick penalty hanging over us is people can't be rooting for the tank next year.

Which is why we should have forfeited last years. Watch us get strong-armed into forfeiting a top 5 pick next year

 

[NJDevs26]

Which is why we should have forfeited last years. Watch us get strong-armed into forfeiting a top 5 pick next year

Other than Loktionov Lou's pretty much screwed the pooch on everything since Game 6. I like Matteau but they could have gotten rid of the Damocles hanging over their head easily and now it's looming large next year. The only good thing is it'll spur Lou to quit shopping at Woolworth's this offseason to try to replace the Parise-size hole in our offense.

And what's happened to Larsson this year is inexcusable by any standard. They need to get rid of Tallinder, let Zidlicky walk and get rid of this lame-*** merry-go-round. I don't care that the D allowed 20 shots or whatever, they have zero transition game and zero speed. If you're going to play a bunch of positional plodders on defense then just bring back Jacques for the 999th time. DeBo's system ain't winning with this group of forwards/d-men.

 

[Devils86]

I'm older than most people here and I barely remember it. I saw some of the 80s teams, but I wasn't emotionally attached yet to care too much. In 96 we were in it until the last day of the season. 10-11 even ended with the team going out in style rather than this crap.

It's completely unacceptable to go from 1st in the conference after 15 games to 10th before 40 games into the season. An oustanding coach might be able to get more out of this lineup full of turds, but Pete is just a good coach. Not a knock or anything on him. He just doesn't have the experience really to get more out of these turds than well... turds.

Having gone to the 3rd game ever as a HS senior I remember it well...the younger fan base( most on this board) are in a weird spot. They, out side of 1/2 a JMac season have never experienced a bad season , yet they have never enjoyed a Stanley Cup Championship in adulthood. . Having lived thru the teams of the 80s when I was as old as most are now you really need to enjoy how good we are year in and year out.We have been to 5 SCF in 18 years..the Rangers 0 Toronto not since 67. NYI 0 Philly 1 . Cant for the life of me understand those who say I'm done with this team yet they keep posting night after night. I for one am willing to infuse this team with some young talent and see where it can take us. Move a few of the young D for Forwards and we should be able to re tool fairy quick. IMO be;d be better off getting a top 12 pick than losing to pitts or Boston in 5

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

I don't remember the last time I actually DID have confidence in the team. Then again I can barely remember the last time we put two good games in a row together - probably the Pittsburgh home-and-home where the season crested.

Yup it was all downhill from there. I remember reading a thread on the main board after those 2 games saying how we were the team to beat in the Atlantic and if were the best team in the East or not. Those were good times

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

Elias has 1 goal, 3 points in his last 11 games. Zajac has 1 goal in his last 19 games...1 goal. Clarkson has 3 goals in his last 24 games. Henrique has 1 goal in his last 11 games. He had another stretch when he was goal-less in 9 games. Other players like Poni and Zubrus haven't scored to their potential when healthy either.

All of those players are capable of, and have produced in the past, much more. The above is the reason we haven't scored, and ultimately the reason we are where we are. That's not on Lou. That's on those players. It's their responsibility.

Good lord those numbers are worse than I thought. To say were offensively inept is an understatement

 

[Mogwai211]

It's completely unacceptable to go from 1st in the conference after 15 games to 10th before 40 games into the season.

This is really the crux of the matter IMO, how does this team just implode for no obvious reason? I don't think this is a PDB/coaching issue (yet), I tend to think it's more of an on-ice leadership (or lack thereof) issue. Nothing against Sal, but he's not exactly Scott Stevens. Problem is no one is really stepping up, no one is taking ownership. It's like a runaway train with a bunch of engineers in the control cab all looking at each other debating who's turn it is to take the helm.

 

[NJDevs26]

Yup it was all downhill from there. I remember reading a thread on the main board after those 2 games saying how we were the team to beat in the Atlantic and if were the best team in the East or not. Those were good times

I looked over the schedule, they actually did have a good week in mid-March. When they beat Winnipeg on Sunday, then took three points from the Flyers in that home-and-home. That's it though, that's literally the only time they've been able to string multiple good games together during this stretch.

 

[Devils86]

This is really the crux of the matter IMO, how does this team just implode for no obvious reason? I don't think this is a PDB/coaching issue (yet), I tend to think it's more of an on-ice leadership (or lack thereof) issue. Nothing against Sal, but he's not exactly Scott Stevens. Problem is no one is really stepping up, no one is taking ownership. It's like a runaway train with a bunch of engineers in the control cab all looking at each other debating who's turn it is to take the helm.

its called regression to the mean. This was not a 10-2-3 team just like Chris Davis isnt goint to have 150 HR and hit .720. Anybody who looked honestly at this team in Jan knew we'd be somewhere between 6-10 and thats where we will finish more than likley

 

[NJDevs26]

TG with another depressing stat:

Tom Gulitti ‏@TGfireandice 7m
Devils went 0-5-1 in first 6 games without Brodeur. Now 0-3-3 in first six without Kovalchuk.

 

[Cheddabombs]

I couldn't watch the game tonight but I'm not surprised in the slightest by the outcome. Can anyone give me a recap?

 

[Tretyak 20]

TG with another depressing stat:

Tom Gulitti ‏@TGfireandice 7m
Devils went 0-5-1 in first 6 games without Brodeur. Now 0-3-3 in first six without Kovalchuk.

If our D hasn't had a major infusion of mobility by then, Marty's retirement could absolutely cripple this team.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Of course it's an important question. Marty could potentially score us a goal!

I couldn't watch the game tonight but I'm not surprised in the slightest by the outcome. Can anyone give me a recap?

Devils were probably the better team, couldn't capitalize on chances and the powerplay was dreadful. Couldn't score on a 5 on 3. Toronto scored on a redirection and a weird bounce on a half breakaway after the Devils cycled in their zone for 3 minutes. Same story, different game.