OOT scoreboard 2025 playoff edition

[NJDevs26]

Fitz’s gameplan has to be “how to beat the Panthers”. Watching the Panthers, there is absolutely no way the Devils as constructed right now could beat them in a 7 game series. Just an unreal team.

It probably is to a degree, hence all the 'overcorrecting' toward being more physical

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

and Bob just going from a toad to the GOAT whenever he feels like it.

i said this last year. Bob treats this like a job. He did his early big presentations in his career, and got his promotion and notoriety.

Now he does the bare minimum in the regular season, but games up for the big projects in the playoffs.

It's quite impressive. And he doesn't look stressed out there. Just doing his job.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

i said this last year. Bob treats this like a job. He did his early big presentations in his career, and got his promotion and notoriety.

Now he does the bare minimum in the regular season, but games up for the big projects in the playoffs.

It's quite impressive. And he doesn't look stressed out there. Just doing his job.

Panthers GM with a generational decision-making in terms of keeping Bob and not going all-in on Knight as their starter.

 

[Mgd31]

Chandler Stephenson anyone…???

who?

 

[JrFischer54]

The Metro division is soft every year and get continually stomped by the atlantic teams. We say it each year without actually realizing it, when we talk about the Metro games being boring defensive snoozefests. Devils haven't been physical, Canes aren't physical, Rangers aren't physical, Caps have been an enigma.

Atlantic, Bolts, Panthers, and Bruins all play a physical game with the uncalled penalties. Team that makes it out of Metro is not prepared at all for the style of play once they get to conference finals.

The leafs are a metro team stuck in the Atlantic.

 

[Dylan9z9]

So was Timo really getting stoned by Anderson or was he just making Anderson look good

Florida has guys in front of Anderson they also had him going side to side with quick accurate passes and they have guys that can finish .....we had none of that

 

[JrFischer54]

Panthers GM with a generational decision-making in terms of keeping Bob and not going all-in on Knight as their starter.

Trading huberdeau after 115pt season took guts even with getting back Matt for him. That’s like sykora friesen level for devils. Which is why I’m not attached to anyone on the devils outside of Jack.

 

[JK3]

The Devils are definitely more physical than the past few years but there’s no way they could keep up with the Panthers.

It’s not even about speed so much as it’s pretty much going all out with relentless pressure in every zone.

The Devils were totally gassed and spent by game 5 of the first round. Their last game was sad and embarrassing to watch, they moved like they’re 75 years old even before they got to OT.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

The Devils are definitely more physical than the past few years but there’s no way they could keep up with the Panthers.

It’s not even about speed so much as it’s pretty much going all out with relentless pressure in every zone.

The Devils were totally gassed and spent by game 5 of the first round. Their last game was sad and embarrassing to watch, they moved like they’re 75 years old even before they got to OT.

Half their team was dead

 

[jkrdevil]

I think the biggest loss come playoffs was Luke in Game 1. You need skating and puck moving defense to beat Carolina (look at what Florida is doing). You put Luke back in the lineup, but keep Dillion and Kovy out and you probably have more of the skating defense you need to break Carolina and comeback in the series.

The emphasis must be on having defensemen who can skate and handle forecheck pressure.

 

[NjDevsRR]

The Devils were totally gassed and spent by game 5 of the first round.

This is pretty disingenuous without providing the context

 

[theoptimist]

Better than wsh, not as good as healthy Stanley Cup Champions/two times finalists/ex president winners/most likely future 3 times finalists Florida team.
I guess smarter Fitz would save Jack Hughes from injuries. And a half of defense.

We weren’t better than WSH both in the regular season and the playoffs. I’m not letting Fitz getting away with the Jack injuries as the reason he didn’t make moves for 1.5 seasons.

 

[NJDevs26]

Panthers GM with a generational decision-making in terms of keeping Bob and not going all-in on Knight as their starter.

Bob's contract probably had a bit to do with it...what's the last big goalie contract that got traded, let alone a $10 million one?

 

[NjDevsRR]

Folks just whitewashing the state of the Devils D corps in the postseason is an interesting route to take

 

[Devs3cups]

I think most people understand the context of the team in the playoffs. The injuries were next level, almost insurmountable. Most here have also watched this team all year. It’s fine to acknowledge that this team, even when healthy, right now is nowhere near the Panthers level.

 

[Guttersniped]

Trading huberdeau after 115pt season took guts even with getting back Matt for him. That’s like sykora friesen level for devils. Which is why I’m not attached to anyone on the devils outside of Jack.

Swapping Tkachuk for Huberdeau was a very easy decision.

Huberdeau is very one-dimensional. He’s prone to floating, a nonentity defensively and doesn’t drive play.

Huberdeau’s an exceptional passer/playmaker, but aside from that super power he’s not really a guy you want pay +10m plus on a contract that ends when he’s 38.

Tkachuk was a power forward coming off a 42 goal/105 point season and five years younger. You happily make that swap every day of the week.

To me, Weeger seemed like the much bigger loss when the trade happened. He and Ekblad were the backbone of the Panthers’ defense and Ekblad has had a tough time staying healthy.

But Zito is a magician when it comes to his defense, he always manages to find budget-friendly dmen who flourish there.

 

[thebeernerd]

I think most people understand the context of the team in the playoffs. The injuries were next level, almost insurmountable. Most here have also watched this team all year. It’s fine to acknowledge that this team, even when healthy, right now is nowhere near the Panthers level.

They still played their asses off against the Canes in spite of everything. But yeah, they're gonna need more to get over the Panthers hump if they face off next season.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

Swapping Tkachuk for Huberdeau was a very easy decision.

Huberdeau is very one-dimensional. He’s prone to floating, a nonentity defensively and doesn’t drive play.

Huberdeau’s an exceptional passer/playmaker, but aside from that super power he’s not really a guy you want pay +10m plus on a contract that ends when he’s 38.

Tkachuk was a power forward coming off a 42 goal/105 point season and five years younger. You happily make that swap every day of the week.

To me, Weeger seemed like the much bigger loss when the trade happened. He and Ekblad were the backbone of the Panthers’ defense and Ekblad has had a tough time staying healthy.

But Zito is a magician when it comes to his defense, he always manages to find budget-friendly dmen who flourish there.

Yes, but fans get attached to star players who were there during the tough times and helped build the team into a contender. Not to mention the locker room could revolt too. Still a ballsy decision at the time, even if now it's obvious.

Like I'd have a tough time trading Hischier for MacKinnon....as obvious as a trade that might be.

Hell, I wonder if Hamilton presumably being well-liked in the room (I assume this because I see him in the Devils instagram posts all the time and he's pretty funny in them) keeps him here for another year.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

I was chatting with a Canes friend and he said that starting Morrow over Nikishin twice explains everything wrong with Rod as a coach. He also said Connor McDavid would be a healthy scratch under him. Possibly an exaggeration there, but it's no secret that he wants players that play a certain way and if you can't swim, he's going to let you sink. It's clearly a high-floor strategy but the ceiling isn't "Cup winning team."

Personally, he wants Rod fired and things torn down, but Dundon wants that playoff revenue.

Does certain way mean just throw pucks on net from anywhere and dive at every chance you get

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

It probably is to a degree, hence all the 'overcorrecting' toward being more physical

Fitz missed the memo though that those physical players they have, are actually good

 

[Guadana]

We weren’t better than WSH both in the regular season and the playoffs. I’m not letting Fitz getting away with the Jack injuries as the reason he didn’t make moves for 1.5 seasons.

I watched all the caps games vs Canes. We were much harder opponents for Canes.

There are no team that will replace top-10 point producer of the league. May be Oilers because they have two.

 

[JrFischer54]

The Devils are definitely more physical than the past few years but there’s no way they could keep up with the Panthers.

It’s not even about speed so much as it’s pretty much going all out with relentless pressure in every zone.

The Devils were totally gassed and spent by game 5 of the first round. Their last game was sad and embarrassing to watch, they moved like they’re 75 years old even before they got to OT.

People will defend it because the injuries but I’m not totally convinced that’s the case and you are correct for a team that is young and fresh they certainly didn’t look like they had the stamina

 

[NjDevsRR]

young and fresh they certainly didn’t look like they had the stamina

Again, why are folks whitewashing what the roster had to deal with in games 2-5

We were running like 3 healthy D and only two lines because the bottom lines blowed. No kidding they ran out of gas

 

[NjDevsRR]

Utterly bizarre discourse going on here…

 

[JrFischer54]

Again, why are folks whitewashing what the roster had to deal with in games 2-5

We were running like 3 healthy D and only two lines because the bottom lines blowed. No kidding they ran out of gas

relax guy both can be true that they aren't that great in conditioning and also hurt. there were times in the season they would cut to the guys on the bench they looked like they got done running the nyc marathon