The Devils are exciting

[BayStreetBully]

I don't think the Devils are quite there yet. Id reexamine that though around December. I think they are on the upswing but they are going to need more time. I do think they are deeper than the Leafs. But right now, I wouldn't even bet on the Devils making the playoffs this season...their Defense is extremely young and so are their most promising forwards.

You understand the Devils just beat the Leafs without 3 of their starters in the lineup right?

I think Matthews is a special player and I don't think that the Devils have anything close to him and that is a big difference... But depth? The Devils 4th line is largely fill in players and they dominated every time they were out there. Their bottom 6 scored 4 of the 6 goals. Wood got 2 he didn't even start the season, he was a healthy scratch. Coleman may not have a job when Boyle is healthy and Gibbons is pretty much an AHL player who is here only to kill penalties due to injury. They dominated in that game. Those players accounted for 4 of the 6 goals.

Being better than NJ this season doesn't really mean much they are still very much a work in progress.

I think Hischier will quickly make his way up the ranks. I'm not confident he will become better than Matthews, as last night's play would indicate a mismatch when they went head to head.

However, I think we may find that Hischier will quickly move up the ranks to become the second best player from their two respective drafts, after Matthews (2016 and 2017 combined). He's everything you want in a #1 pick, and everything you want in a cornerstone franchise player. Center, playmaker, can skate, multi-dimensional, great vision.

 

[TDK67]

I don't think the Devils are quite there yet. Id reexamine that though around December. I think they are on the upswing but they are going to need more time. I do think they are deeper than the Leafs. But right now, I wouldn't even bet on the Devils making the playoffs this season...their Defense is extremely young and so are their most promising forwards.

You understand the Devils just beat the Leafs without 3 of their starters in the lineup right?

I think Matthews is a special player and I don't think that the Devils have anything close to him and that is a big difference... But depth? The Devils 4th line is largely fill in players and they dominated every time they were out there. Their bottom 6 scored 4 of the 6 goals. Wood got 2 he didn't even start the season, he was a healthy scratch. Coleman may not have a job when Boyle is healthy and Gibbons is pretty much an AHL player who is here only to kill penalties due to injury. They dominated in that game. Those players accounted for 4 of the 6 goals.

Being better than NJ this season doesn't really mean much they are still very much a work in progress.

Devils aren't deeper than the Leafs, sorry. One h2h game doesn't prove superiority in that regard. Want to make an avatar bet around goals/points of lines 2-4 for both teams? Or lines 3-4?

I'm definitely impressed by the Devils and they ARE a million times more exciting than I've ever seen them but I don't think they're close to the Leafs and I especially don't think their depth is close. Happy to do a bet on that too.

 

[JimEIV]

I think Hischier will quickly make his way up the ranks. I'm not confident he will become better than Matthews, as last night's play would indicate a mismatch when they went head to head.

However, I think we may find that Hischier will quickly move up the ranks to become the second best player from their two respective drafts, after Matthews (2016 and 2017 combined). He's everything you want in a #1 pick, and everything you want in a cornerstone franchise player. Center, playmaker, can skate, multi-dimensional, great vision.

Even if that were the case, the gap between the two would still be very large. I think Matthews is a generational talent.

 

[glenwo2]

Devils absolutely deserve credit for being an exciting team. They attack with a ton of speed and clearly have some young players that are better than anyone knew about (who the hell is Bratt?!?). Last night was an entertaining hockey game to watch, even if my Buds got trounced. There were lots of lucky breaks for the Devils and I'd be happy to have the Leafs play them again tonight, but you have to give credit where it's due; you don't score 6 goals by accident. Their forwards awesome speed created lots of problems for the Leafs defense and then they jumped on the opportunities when they were there. I doubt that the Devils are a playoff team this year, but I think their fans will at the very least have a fun season of watching Devils hockey. Thank the hockey gods that those awful trap days are over. I'll be looking forward to the next Leafs-Devils game, that's for sure.

For the BILLIONTH TIME.....The Trap has not been used since THE LOCKOUT!!!! STOP IT.


(oh and did I mention the Devils are exciting this year....finally? )

 

[JimEIV]

Devils aren't deeper than the Leafs, sorry. One h2h game doesn't prove superiority in that regard. Want to make an avatar bet around goals/points of lines 2-4 for both teams? Or lines 3-4?

I'm definitely impressed by the Devils and they ARE a million times more exciting than I've ever seen them but I don't they're close to the Leafs and I especially don't think their depth is close. Happy to do bet on that too.

The Devils have rookies and teenagers on every single line. They aren't going to produce as much the Leafs this year. That's ridiculous.
We are also going to be moving players in and out of the lineup all season. Zajac, Boyle, Quenneville, Speers, Blandisi, have yet to play a game this season but they all eventually will.

Matthews, Nylander, Marner Kadri and JVR...that's an awesome 5, but after that?

I mean yeah there is Bozak and a 38 year old Marleau but they couldn't start on our 3rd line with Henrique and most likely Zajac when healthy. I mean Henrique is a former 30 goal scorer and Zajac is one of the best defensive forwards in the league.

Just put your depth chart by position.

LW
Hall
Johansson
Henrique also center
Wood
Quenneville also center
Blandisi also center

Center
Zacha
Hischier
Zajac - currently Henrique
Boyle - currently Coleman
Coleman could slide to left wing

RW
Palmieri
Bratt
Stafford
Noesen
Hayes
Speers

 

[TDK67]

The Devils have rookies and teenagers on every single line. They aren't going to produce as much the Leafs this year. That's ridiculous.
We are also going to be moving players in and out of the lineup all season. Zajac, Boyle, Quenneville, Speers, Blandisi, have yet to play a game this season but they all eventually will.

Matthews, Nylander, Marner Kadri and JVR...that's an awesome 5, but after that?

I mean yeah there is Bozak and a 38 year old Marleau but they couldn't start on our 3rd line with Henrique and most likely Zajac when healthy. I mean Henrique is a former 30 goal scorer and Zajac is one of the best defensive forwards in the league.

Just put your depth chart by position.

LW
Hall
Johansson
Henrique also center
Wood
Quenneville also center
Blandisi also center

Center
Zacha
Hischier
Zajac - currently Henrique
Boyle - currently Coleman
Coleman could slide to left wing

RW
Palmieri
Bratt
Stafford
Noesen
Hayes
Speers

I mean...your list just confirms the Leafs are better at every single position and at every single layer, sooo...

You don't think the Devils' depth will score as much as the Leafs' depth but you think the Devils' depth is better? Not sure how that makes any sense.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I mean...your list just confirms the Leafs are better at every single position and at every single layer, sooo...

You don't think the Devils' depth will score as much as the Leafs' depth but you think the Devils' depth is better? Not sure how that makes any sense.

Calm down my dude. And lol @ the Leafs being better “at every single layer at every position”. Hall is better than every player on your team other than Matthews.

And I’m sure the Leafs will be better this year, they’re further along on the rebuild. But their d still sucks ass and the Devils have a massive advantage at goalie. Not sure you realize how important that is.

 

[sr edler]

This Bratt guy is looking real good with the puck, and seems to be a skilled reader of the game. Hopefully Schneider will have a bounce back season and win the Vezina. He's due.

 

[Mayo Masseuse]

I don't get the hype. Their style is garbage, 1-3-1 trap is outdated. Who wants to watch that? And no Nico won't make the trap exciting...

 

[Cheddabombs]

I don't get the hype. Their style is garbage, 1-3-1 trap is outdated. Who wants to watch that? And no Nico won't make the trap exciting...

This should be sarcasm but I have a feeling it's not....

 

[DeVols]

Can we please quit with the Leafs vs Devils debate? Make a new thread on that topic if that's what you all want to discuss.

Excited to see this team against Washington tonight. Another good test for the youngsters.

 

[goonybird]

Well, he is a Flyers fan so he's probably serious

I don't know, the Devils have never played a 1-3-1 so he might be.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

What changed in a year?

 

[SeidoN]

What changed in a year?

Jesper Bratt decided to walk among us humans

 

[The Winter Soldier]

What changed in a year?

Lamoriello was kicked upstairs and Shero was hired. You can say this is what changed, and now the Devils have a plan to play attractive hockey, where they focus on youth, skill, speed, better usage of capspace, and better scouting due to this. You can say they went from the dark ages to the modern ages in 2 short years.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

What changed in a year?

They can skate now.

 

[SeidoN]

Lamoriello was kicked upstairs and Shero was hired.

its insane when you look at the 14-15 Devils roster then look at it now.

that team was almost legit AHL grade

 

[The Winter Soldier]

its insane when you look at the 14-15 Devils roster then look at it now.

that team was almost legit AHL grade

Those teams were almost unwatchable. It was boring stale hockey. As much as Devils fans don't want to hear it, that trap moniker stuck because it was just unattractive hockey. The players were often recycled signed to cap hits they had no business being paid. I really give Shero a lot of credit for rebuilding this team so quickly into a team you want to watch in such a short time. Agreed it's night and day from those days this year. The new Devils under Shero are indeed EXCITING!

 

[Fear the Wushu]

Those teams were almost unwatchable. It was boring stale hockey. As much as Devils fans don't want to hear it, that trap moniker stuck because it was just unattractive hockey. The players were often recycled signed to cap hits they had no business being paid. I really give Shero a lot of credit for rebuilding this team so quickly into a team you want to watch in such a short time. Agreed it's night and day from those days this year. The new Devils under Shero are indeed EXCITING!

We really haven't played the trap since the late 90's though, so it's kind of BS that other fans still think this way. We only utilized the trap for 1 of our 3 Cups, we just have one of the greatest defenses/goalie combo's in the history of the sport and they made containing high flying offensive teams look easy... The 2012 team had an insane forecheck, no where near a trapping team.

 

[Davegarri]

I pulled this from a 2015 GDT

Mike Cammalleri - Travis Zajac - Jordin Tootoo
Adam Henrique - Patrik Elias - Steve Bernier
Dainius Zubrus - Scott Gomez - Martin Havlat
Tuomo Ruutu - Jacob Josefson - Stephen Gionta

Andy Greene - Adam Larsson
Jon Merrill - Marek Zidlicky
Mark Fraser - Eric Gelinas

Cory Schneider
Scott Clemmensen

night and day

Lol so freaking bad. We probably turtled our way into a 3-1 loss that game like usual. Compare that to the lineup the other night:

Hall - Zacha - Palmieri
Johansson - Hischier - Bratt
Wood - Henrique - Hayes
Gibbons - Coleman - Noesen

Greene - Severson
Moore - Butcher
Mueller - Santini

Schneider
Kinkaid

And that lineup is missing Zajac, Stafford, Boyle, and McLeod if you want to include him.

We desperately need a top dman though.

 

[BayStreetBully]

What changed in a year?

I also think that Schneider's resurgence will give the Devils' skaters confidence to play their exciting style of hockey. Not every team can pull it off, as you need the elite type of goalie to support that style of play to bail you out when your offensive chances go awry. Probably the most important move for the Devils was acquiring Schneider a few years back.

That, and winning the lottery for Hischier will be a huge boost in my eyes.

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

Jesper Bratt has come out of nowhere, seemingly. Devils got their own swede named Jesper in the 6th round, lol. Dammit.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Those teams were almost unwatchable. It was boring stale hockey. As much as Devils fans don't want to hear it, that trap moniker stuck because it was just unattractive hockey. The players were often recycled signed to cap hits they had no business being paid. I really give Shero a lot of credit for rebuilding this team so quickly into a team you want to watch in such a short time. Agreed it's night and day from those days this year. The new Devils under Shero are indeed EXCITING!

It's just frustrating to hear the same lazy stuff for +20 years. We were boring because we were a garbage team, not because we played some boogeyman style that we actually weren't playing. If you want to hate us that's fine, but hate us for the right reasons.

It's also frustrating to hear a lot of fans, mostly Canadian fans, blame us for inventing the trap or ruining hockey. Where do you think Jacques Lemaire learned his system? Playing in Montreal, who won Cups with it long before we did.

 

[Blender]

It's just frustrating to hear the same lazy stuff for +20 years. We were boring because we were a garbage team, not because we played some boogeyman style that we actually weren't playing. If you want to hate us that's fine, but hate us for the right reasons.

It's also frustrating to hear a lot of fans, mostly Candian fans, blame us for inventing the trap or ruining hockey. Where do you think Jacques Lemaire learned his system? Playing in Montreal, who won Cups with it long before we did.

You can thank the Canadian hockey media and general ignorance for all that rhetoric. TSN was still saying we played in 'the swamp' 3 or 4 years after we moved to Newark. The trap stuff was still being said last year.

 

[Zippy316]

What changed in a year?

Team speed and most importantly depth.

Lovejoy was playing the top pairing last year, now he's not even in the line-up. We had anchors like DSP playing on the fourth line. We had lethargic guys like Cammalleri in the locker room. We cleaned house, brought in guys who can skate and play a faster style (Butcher, Johansson, Mueller, Hischier), and progression from some young kids (Zacha, Santini, Bratt).

Devils are now able to roll four lines who are all contributing and play with speed on every shift. Beforehand, Hall was playing 20+ minutes, Greene had 24+ minutes, etc. and now they're playing minutes where they can be effective every shift.