GDT: Senators @ Devils - 1:00 P.M. - MSGSN, NHLN

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

That’s fine if you feel they don’t deserve some benefit of the doubt, but I feel like the stretch from late October through late December holds more weight than this stretch does. Again, I know I’ll take my lumps for being more optimistic than most but I have a hard time putting more stock into this stretch when I’ve seen these same players play up to the competitive level that I expect.

I’m not in the business of trying to be proven right or not. I’m a fan who invests in the guys who want to be here and seeing them succeed. I believe this group has what it takes and that Fitz will provide the reinforcements since he knows what this team needs. I really think we’ve gotten a shorter end of the stick schedule wise, excuse or not, and am honestly looking forward to the 4 Nations break when it comes.

I mean none of us take joy in being right about certain things that are true like this team's depth being mediocre. Again, you're right, it's up to Fitz to fix this but he's the one who's at fault for being in this place in the first place so it's just hard to trust. He's been the anti-Shero, mediocre at forward adds and very good at the defensive adds.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Fitz f***ed up getting rid of Zetterlund, Shara, and Boqvist. I get moving out one or two of them for upgrades, but not all three.

We’d definitely be a better team today if he kept Boq and traded Mercer instead of Zetts.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

if they are or they aren't all sick, Keefe is never going to say its an excuse. But its clear to me that they don't have the same jump that they had a few weeks ago. Is that illness? Fatigue? They're bored of the regular season? I don;t know

Fitz f***ed up getting rid of Zetterlund, Shara, and Boqvist. I get moving out one or two of them for upgrades, but not all three.

We’d definitely be a better team today if he kept Boq and traded Mercer instead of Zetts.

we upgraded on Zetterlund and Sharangovich was a healthy scratch in the playoffs. He is also having a brutal year. He isnt some consequential player.

I do agree that Boqvist should have been kept, it didnt make much sense to let him go for free. Oh well.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I mean none of us take joy in being right about certain things that are true like this team's depth being mediocre. Again, you're right, it's up to Fitz to fix this but he's the one who's at fault for being in this place in the first place so it's just hard to trust. He's been the anti-Shero, mediocre at forward adds and very good at the defensive adds.

I think there are some on this board who would beg to differ about taking joy in being right, but that’s neither here nor there.

I can’t be the only person who is not unhappy about the job Fitz has done, am I? How many people were happy with the supporting group that was here under Ruff that Fitz moved on from? I know some of them are playing better now (always loved Jesper Boqvist, but he was waived last year and played decently for Boston. I’m glad he’s found his niche). Rango got paid and has been the exact same player he’s always been minus the puck going in the net. Honestly, he’d fit right in right about now. No one can convince me that they wanted to keep Wood, especially at what Colorado gave him. Toffoli? Everyone wanted him run out of town last year because he was slow. Are we collectively wishing we were playing Lindy’s system that gave us a chance to score goals but neglected the other zone? Edit: I see Zetterlund got mentioned. Love the kid. If anyone is trying to tell me that they’d rather have him than Timo, I will call bullshit.

In terms of his adds this offseason, Noesen is a win. Cotter is a win. Tatar has disappointed but has played the 4th line for the most part. In his presser from Thanksgiving, he knows what he needs to upgrade. I think his defensive upgrades have been significant to what has made this team as successful as it’s been, coupled with the Markstrom add. I think we’ll be able to make additions that SHOULD help us out where we’re currently struggling.

 

[Call Me Al]

we need to add forwards and i wouldn’t understate the importance of the bottom 6 because we are absolutely wasting nico and timo playing them as a shutdown line against our opponents best players. it’s a huge reason our scoring is so abysmal.

the team is poorly constructed to the extent that we can’t even tolerate an injury to haula

 

[Better Call Sal]

we need to add forwards and i wouldn’t understate the importance of the bottom 6 because we are absolutely wasting nico and timo playing them as a shutdown line against our opponents best players. it’s a huge reason our scoring is so abysmal.

the team is poorly constructed to the extent that we can’t tolerate an injury to haula

I largely agree with you, but I don’t know if poorly constructed is what I would say. Maybe I’d say that we’re paying the piper for not having adequate center depth that losing Haula became so detrimental. But we’ve clearly seen guys that can player center (Mercer, Cotter) shouldn’t or can’t.

 

[Hisch13r]

I actually agree with Keefe that they haven't been defending horribly. They get tired at times, but overall their D game has been fine. Not December level, but not bad either.

The offense needs to start clicking again and I'm not too worried about that happening.

Yup. It’s not that they’re defending poorly. It’s that they’re defending more because they don’t have the puck as much. I am however worried about the offense. I have been all year.

 

[Hisch13r]

I largely agree with you, but I don’t know if poorly constructed is what I would say. Maybe I’d say that we’re paying the piper for not having adequate center depth that losing Haula became so detrimental. But we’ve clearly seen guys that can player center (Mercer, Cotter) shouldn’t or can’t.

You could say poorly or you could say inadequately. Either way the forward group wasn’t constructed well enough for this year. Haula falling off a cliff hurts a lot. Even if he was still the guy he’s been we’d still be lacking. It’d be an easier fix for sure because we wouldn’t also be looking for a 3C

 

[Emperoreddy]

A lot of narratives about the construction of the team will vanish once the team starts winning again, which is inevitably going to happen.

The idea that the team was somehow fraudulent for 40 games and somehow this ten game stretch is the true team is beyond nonsense.

But this shit is annoying. It's going to correct itself eventually, but the team really needs to rest up and gut check themselves to end this skid starting Wednesday.

This weekend was two of the worst games they have played all year. Today needs to be the last game they play at this low a level.

 

[Call Me Al]

i’d also say our player development has hit a wall too because outside of our high end top draft picks no one has stepped up into a role on this team since we traded zetterlund and that was 3 seasons ago

 

[Hisch13r]

i’d also say our player development has hit a wall too because outside of our high end top draft picks no one has stepped up into a role on this team since we traded zetterlund and that was 3 seasons ago

I don’t think the drafting has helped them. I think Ray did a lot better there than Fitz did.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Also sometimes a slump is just a slump. Our best players aren't playing well.

Sometimes that happens and it's hard to overcome that until they fix it.

The bottom 6 needs some extra juice, but the current team is plenty good enough to win lots of regular season games which has been proven for half the season.

I get some folks find joy in hoping their negative takes of the team are correct so there always has to be some major systematic issue that is uniquely a problem only our team has and it makes us the worst ever.

But sometimes it's just players not playing well and it ends when they find their game.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Maybe Haula is still the true drink stirrer?

I'm guessing this weekend was his fault, too.

 

[HersheyBob27]

A lot of narratives about the construction of the team will vanish once the team starts winning again, which is inevitably going to happen.

The idea that the team was somehow fraudulent for 40 games and somehow this ten game stretch is the true team is beyond nonsense.

But this shit is annoying. It's going to correct itself eventually, but the team really needs to rest up and gut check themselves to end this skid starting Wednesday.

This weekend was two of the worst games they have played all year. Today needs to be the last game they play at this low a level.

Keefe teams play their best hockey before christmas get used to it. He sounds out of tricks already

 

[NJDevilsFan21]

Fitz f***ed up getting rid of Zetterlund, Shara, and Boqvist. I get moving out one or two of them for upgrades, but not all three.

We’d definitely be a better team today if he kept Boq and traded Mercer instead of Zetts.

I'm glad we got Timo, but I really hated that we had to trade Zetterlund (I was really hoping Holtz+ was going to go). I always described him as one of the most versatile players the team had. At the time people were asking/proposing Mercer which was called out as crazy (and it kind of was at the time). Now I'd happily swap Mercer for Z 1:1. Z plays a hard physical game and uses his 220lb frame well.

 

[Dialamo]

I'm glad we got Timo, but I really hated that we had to trade Zetterlund (I was really hoping Holtz+ was going to go). I always described him as one of the most versatile players the team had. At the time people were asking/proposing Mercer which was called out as crazy (and it kind of was at the time). Now I'd happily swap Mercer for Z 1:1. Z plays a hard physical game and uses his 220lb frame well.

Yep it stinks but what can you do in that situation? There was no way we were giving up Mercer with how he was playing in 22-23. The Sharks didn't want Holtz. If we nixed a Meier deal at the time because we didn't want to give up Zetterlund this board would of lost their mind. I argue we made the right moves at the time and it hasn't panned out as planned so far. Any discussion of it now just feels like hindsight, or worse, petulant whining (not pointing at you).

 

[Unknown Caller]

Our defense cannot produce offense or enable the transition game and it’s killing our team. The top 6 will come around, the bottom 6 needs to be upgraded but is serviceable. The defense isn’t going to change and that’s a huge issue, because we’re loaded up with lumbering defensive defensemen.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Keefe teams play their best hockey before christmas get used to it. He sounds out of tricks already

29-18-4 last year after Christmas
29-14-5 the year before
34-14-5 the year before

 

[NjDevsRR]

Keefe teams play their best hockey before christmas get used to it. He sounds out of tricks already

Doing quick math here…

19-20:
Pre Christmas .575 pts %
Post Christmas .570 pts%

20-21: (covid schedule)

21-22:
Pre Christmas .702 pts %
Post Christmas .701 pts %

22-23:
Pre Christmas .705 pts %
Post Christmas .666 pts %

23-24:
Pre Christmas .645 pts %
Post Christmas .607 pts %

The differences are minuscule. The slight decrease also makes sense as good teams take advantage of the early part of the seasons where the rest of the league catches up to their play. Look at the Jets the last few seasons as a similar example to those Leafs teams

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I think there are some on this board who would beg to differ about taking joy in being right, but that’s neither here nor there.

I can’t be the only person who is not unhappy about the job Fitz has done, am I? How many people were happy with the supporting group that was here under Ruff that Fitz moved on from? I know some of them are playing better now (always loved Jesper Boqvist, but he was waived last year and played decently for Boston. I’m glad he’s found his niche). Rango got paid and has been the exact same player he’s always been minus the puck going in the net. Honestly, he’d fit right in right about now. No one can convince me that they wanted to keep Wood, especially at what Colorado gave him. Toffoli? Everyone wanted him run out of town last year because he was slow. Are we collectively wishing we were playing Lindy’s system that gave us a chance to score goals but neglected the other zone? Edit: I see Zetterlund got mentioned. Love the kid. If anyone is trying to tell me that they’d rather have him than Timo, I will call bullshit.

In terms of his adds this offseason, Noesen is a win. Cotter is a win. Tatar has disappointed but has played the 4th line for the most part. In his presser from Thanksgiving, he knows what he needs to upgrade. I think his defensive upgrades have been significant to what has made this team as successful as it’s been, coupled with the Markstrom add. I think we’ll be able to make additions that SHOULD help us out where we’re currently struggling.

In totality, no. The defense has improved tremendously under him, the top 6 has gotten better than what it was under Shero but the bottom 6 has gotten worse every year under Fitz. I also don't like how he swings the complete opposite one way after a bad year or bad stretch. Fitz has done a good job overall but there's some warts. And I constantly have to repeat myself with Boqvist, the point I make him about him is that they had no reason not to bring him back at the price unless Boqvist himself said he wanted out. They're paying a dude who goes out every 5th game, does nothing and plays 5 mins a game which is a strain on our forwards nightly at 1M for 3 years, there's no reason that can't be a player of Boqvist's ilk or Boqvist himself. It seems him/management want to go more physical/slower in the bottom 6 which is a shame because 22/23 blueprint was right there to copy for years.

 

[HersheyBob27]

29-18-4 last year after Christmas
29-14-5 the year before
34-14-5 the year before

Incomplete information thanks. By the way playoffs are after christmas

 

[My3Sons]

They have up a first goal to the first Sens scorer and that was Zub’s second goal of the season. What a stereotypical NJ loss.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Incomplete information thanks. By the way playoffs are after christmas

And if you did include his .430 postseason %, it doesn’t drastically move down the post Christmas splits

 

[MadDevil]

Fitz f***ed up getting rid of Zetterlund, Shara, and Boqvist. I get moving out one or two of them for upgrades, but not all three.

We’d definitely be a better team today if he kept Boq and traded Mercer instead of Zetts.

Oh stop. Half this board wanted them all jettisoned to the moon at some point, and now suddenly they were so important?

 

[HersheyBob27]

View attachment 963942


And if you did include his .430 postseason %, it doesn’t drastically move down the post Christmas splits

You can see the trend his teams are worse after christmas. 100% true