Speculation: Trade Speculation Part V

[CerebralGenesis]

im much more optimistic with moose out of the net, not gonna lie

 

[BulletTheBlueSky]

I just never thought I'de say we have depth issues. We have always been the envy of teams for our depth. I just hope Zubrus comes back real soon. We are losing almost every battle in the corner with these stupid little footsie battles. Zajac is weak on the boards, WE are weak on the boards. Zubrus winiing those battle increases our time in the zone and our shots on net, thus our rebound opportunities. As long as Marty can return for the remainder with no issue I will forever hate hedberg, he alone CAN take the blame for the severity of this slide although not all of it. can't stop a dodgeball! I have zero appreciation for what he bring this year.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I think we'll make the playoffs, there's no doom and gloom I was very positive yesterday read the gdt. I just would rather keep our first than go 2 straight years without a first, further depleting our already lackluster prospect pool. Especially if we're getting ribeiro I hate him. He's good but I don't think he gets us to the next level so it ain't worth the 1st IMO. That's not doom and gloom that's just a difference of opinion. Cool your jets.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

Zubrus is on the ice for like 1/4 of the game. People should stop overrating his presence. He does not turn NJ from a 5-13 to a 13-5 team. Zubrus is a good player, but the last 20 games has more to do with bad goaltending and bad shooting than no Dainius Zubrus.

 

[MartyOwns]

having zubrus in our top 6 will help. a lot.

 

[Basement Cat]

Zubrus is on the ice for like 1/4 of the game. People should stop overrating his presence. He does not turn NJ from a 5-13 to a 13-5 team. Zubrus is a good player, but the last 20 games has more to do with bad goaltending and bad shooting than no Dainius Zubrus.

I agree with you but having him moves everyone down a peg. Poni has been on our first line for too long. I like him but he does not belong in the top 6 (Zubie isn't exactly a stud top 6 player either but he serves a purpose on a line with Kovy and Loki that Poni cannot). Last night we saw Gionta out there late in the third when we were down a goal, Carter too. I love these players for who they are but lets not kid ourselves as to where they should play. Having Zubrus moves us one step closer to reuniting CBGB and making them our fourth line.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Zubrus is on the ice for like 1/4 of the game. People should stop overrating his presence. He does not turn NJ from a 5-13 to a 13-5 team. Zubrus is a good player, but the last 20 games has more to do with bad goaltending and bad shooting than no Dainius Zubrus.

Well he does bump everyone down a slot so we have more competent lines. I agree he won't be a savior but he does give us the ability to role line that aren't completely terrible.

 

[GentlemanOfLeisure]

Devils next 6 games are as follows...

@ Car
Panthers
@ OTW
@ TB
@ FLA
Islanders


4 road games but all winnable. If the Devils dont get 8 out of a possible 12 points in this stretch its time for Lou to sell at the deadline. Their schedule after this stretch is ... tough. Bruins twice, Rangers twice, Maple Leafs twice, the Penguins, The Flyers in Philly, Ottawa, Montreal, Buffalo and Florida at home.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

Zubrus or no Zubrus... Lou needs to make a move in order to land someone that won't be shy of shooting the puck and can actually play in our top #6.

I've had just about enough of these waiver pickups and 3rd/4th liners sloted in a role they shouldn't be in, wich at the end of the day, is doing more harm then anything to our actual stars.

With that said, I wouldn't move our 1st since I see us selecting in the 12 to 17 range and we can land a very solid prospect in a somewhat deep draft.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

Well he does bump everyone down a slot so we have more competent lines. I agree he won't be a savior but he does give us the ability to role line that aren't completely terrible.

We don't roll lines that are completely terrible.

I question whether some of you are actually watching the games. The Devils have been outplaying their opponents at even strength the last ten games. They've been handily outshooting their opponents the last ten games. You don't do that with terrible lines.

The reason we've been losing is a combination of bad goaltending and poor shooting luck.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

We don't roll lines that are completely terrible.

I question whether some of you are actually watching the games. The Devils have been outplaying their opponents at even strength the last ten games. They've been handily outshooting their opponents the last ten games. You don't do that with terrible lines.

The reason we've been losing is a combination of bad goaltending and poor shooting luck.

whoop whoop!

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

We don't roll lines that are completely terrible.

I question whether some of you are actually watching the games. The Devils have been outplaying their opponents at even strength the last ten games. They've been handily outshooting their opponents the last ten games. You don't do that with terrible lines.

The reason we've been losing is a combination of bad goaltending and poor shooting luck.

i'll answer that question with a yes. we have, on paper, the worst forward lines in the nhl. while we havent played poorly, we have what 2 gpg the last month? kovy is essentially a non-factor ES bc of our lack of quality forwards. with lotki and zubie we have competent lines, without them we have GARBAGE lines. let me repeat, GARBAGE! have you watched any games but devils games? if you do then you could have something to compare our lines to. if you dont think we have poor forward lines atm get your homer goggles off.

 

[apice3*]

Zubrus is on the ice for like 1/4 of the game. People should stop overrating his presence. He does not turn NJ from a 5-13 to a 13-5 team. Zubrus is a good player, but the last 20 games has more to do with bad goaltending and bad shooting than no Dainius Zubrus.

That's not a fair thing to say at all. Zurbus' 1/4 of his game allows (when healthy) Ponikarovsky to play his 1/4 game on an easier line, which in turn allows Carter to play 1/4 of his game on an easier line. Plus Zubrus is the big body we need screening the goalie on the PP, because Clarkson isn't very good at it, and Bernier blocks more pucks than the goalie when he screens.

Zubrus' return effectively gives us 3 players. The same thing can be said about Loktionov.

Neither player is going to all of a sudden make everything click, but they both make the game so much easier to be played.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

i'll answer that question with a yes. we have, on paper, the worst forward lines in the nhl. while we havent played poorly, we have what 2 gpg the last month? kovy is essentially a non-factor ES bc of our lack of quality forwards. with lotki and zubie we have competent lines, without them we have GARBAGE lines. let me repeat, GARBAGE! have you watched any games but devils games? if you do then you could have something to compare our lines to. if you dont think we have poor forward lines atm get your homer goggles off.

I really don't care about what you perceive our team to be "on paper." What really matters is how they've performed, and all things considering, our forwards have performed pretty well. We should be looking for an upgrade, no doubt, however if you think are lines have played terribly you're simply not watching the games and letting your opinion become biased by the result.

If the Devils get average goaltending the past 20 games, I doubt you are crapping on our forwards in the same manner.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

That's not a fair thing to say at all. Zurbus' 1/4 of his game allows (when healthy) Ponikarovsky to play his 1/4 game on an easier line, which in turn allows Carter to play 1/4 of his game on an easier line. Plus Zubrus is the big body we need screening the goalie on the PP, because Clarkson isn't very good at it, and Bernier blocks more pucks than the goalie when he screens.

Zubrus' return effectively gives us 3 players. The same thing can be said about Loktionov.

Neither player is going to all of a sudden make everything click, but they both make the game so much easier to be played.

Zubrus' return gives us three players? That makes no sense.

While Ponikarovsky and Carter will benefit from playing on easier lines, it's not as if their performance goes from 0% to 100%. Maybe they go from 70% to 85% (arbitrary numbers, but the point is that going from facing 2nd to 3rd line competition at ES does not change your performance that much).

And Carter has actually played really well in Zubrus' absence.

Zubrus will improve the forward core, but the Devils would have probably gone through a similar malaise with him in the lineup.

 

[apice3*]

Zach Boychuk has played a combined 13 games for 3 NHL teams this season and has been waived by all 3. Watch us claim him.

 

[apice3*]

Zubrus' return gives us three players? That makes no sense.

While Ponikarovsky and Carter will benefit from playing on easier lines, it's not as if their performance goes from 0% to 100%. Maybe they go from 70% to 85% (arbitrary numbers, but the point is that going from facing 2nd to 3rd line competition at ES does not change your performance that much).

And Carter has actually played really well in Zubrus' absence.

Zubrus will improve the forward core, but the Devils would have probably gone through a similar malaise with him in the lineup.

Ponikarovsky has been pretty lousy so I feel like we will be getting a whole new player, and yes, CBGB has played well in their stints as 3rd line players, but they are elite when it comes to playing as a 4th line.

We still need another forward.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I really don't care about what you perceive our team to be "on paper." What really matters is how they've performed, and all things considering, our forwards have performed pretty well. We should be looking for an upgrade, no doubt, however if you think are lines have played terribly you're simply not watching the games and letting your opinion become biased by the result.

If the Devils get average goaltending the past 20 games, I doubt you are crapping on our forwards in the same manner.

i and most others have been saying we needed a forward since BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED. and after watching the games its become more clear that we need one. are you delusional? we cant score more than 2 goals. kovy, the best winger in the nhl, cant do anything ES because of our lack of forwards. and some of the "good" forwards we have havent played like they should (zajac). on paper and on the ice the forward are crap. im really done arguing bc there truly isnt an argument to be made here. not to be a **** but its pretty much fact that our forward arent cutting it

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

I suggest some of you go back to the first 15 games of the season and re-watch the goals that were scored. The Devils were getting a multitude of breaks, and not necessarily outplaying their opponents other than a 3-4 game stretch against the Pens and Rangers.

David Clarkson had no business scoring above a PPG to start the season. Reversion to the mean has been occurring over the past 15-20 games.

No one likes to accept that as reality because it means the Devils don't have 100% control over the outcome of their performance, but it's true. If every team in the NHL had an equal talent level, there would still be 100 point teams and 80 point teams based out of sheer randomness. People should really try to understand that idea.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

Ponikarovsky has been pretty lousy so I feel like we will be getting a whole new player, and yes, CBGB has played well in their stints as 3rd line players, but they are elite when it comes to playing as a 4th line.

We still need another forward.

I'll save you the suspense - Poni moving from the 1st to 3rd line doesn't give us an entire "new player." Poni will probably perform better, but remember that Ryan Carter/Steve Bernier have been playing really well in that role over the past 20 games. Is Poni going to perform that much better than their recent level of performance?

I agree though, we should add another forward.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

i and most others have been saying we needed a forward since BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED. and after watching the games its become more clear that we need one. are you delusional? we cant score more than 2 goals. kovy, the best winger in the nhl, cant do anything ES because of our lack of forwards. and some of the "good" forwards we have havent played like they should (zajac). on paper and on the ice the forward are crap. im really done arguing bc there truly isnt an argument to be made here. not to be a **** but its pretty much fact that our forward arent cutting it

Once again, the Devils should add a forward. I don't disagree.

What I do disagree with is the idea that our current forward lineup is terrible, or the worst in the NHL.

All you're able to come up with to support your "factual" argument is that we have the worst forward group "on paper." Color me unconvinced.

What do I have? That the Devils have been outshooting and outposessing their opponents pretty handily the past 10 games. You don't do that with a terrible forward corps. Choose to ignore that if you will, but at least come to the table with something over than "I think, on paper, our forward corps is the worst in the league for no other reason than that...it is."

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

We don't roll lines that are completely terrible.

I question whether some of you are actually watching the games. The Devils have been outplaying their opponents at even strength the last ten games. They've been handily outshooting their opponents the last ten games. You don't do that with terrible lines.

The reason we've been losing is a combination of bad goaltending and poor shooting luck.

When you have Poni as a 1st line LW, Zajac on our 3rd with Bernier and Carter and a 4th line that has Gionta with two AHL'ers/ECHL'ers... I have no idea how you can say, whitout joking, that we have solid lines.

We had some issues regarding our forward depth since training camp and nothing was done to correct that. Add to the problem that Zubrus went down with a injury and our forward core looks absolutely terrible ATM.

We lost a big piece in Parise and replaced him with Loktionov and Kostopoulos. I'm not couting Poni since he was with us most of last year. If you're going to tell me that a team who was already struggling to rack up #'s on the scoreboard, won't feel the impact of losing someone like Parise when being replaced by two question marks, then I don't know what to tell everyone.

Lou brought in Kovalchuk to balance out our secondary scoring and relieve some pressure off of Parise. Well now that Parise chose to continue his career elsewhere, we're back to square one and the alies Parise had when he was our go-to-guy are getting older, meaning that Kovy has to work twice as hard to compensate for a aging core and a lack of talent... thus the reason why he's playing over 25 ****ing minutes a game.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

When you have Poni as a 1st line LW, Zajac on our 3rd with Bernier and Carter and a 4th line that has Gionta with two AHL'ers/ECHL'ers... I have no idea how you can say, whitout joking, that we have solid lines.

We had some issues regarding our forward depth since training camp and nothing was done to correct that. Add to the problem that Zubrus went down with a injury and our forward core looks absolutely terrible ATM.

We lost a big piece in Parise and replaced him with Loktionov and Kostopoulos. I'm not couting Poni since he was with us most of last year. If you're going to tell me that a team who was already struggling to rack up #'s on the scoreboard, won't feel the impact of losing someone like Parise when being replaced by two question marks, then I don't know what to tell everyone.

Lou brought in Kovalchuk to balance out our secondary scoring and relieve some pressure off of Parise. Well now that Parise chose to continue his career elsewhere, we're back to square one and the alies Parise had when he was our go-to-guy are getting older, meaning that Kovy has to work twice as hard to compensate for a aging core and a lack of talent... thus the reason why he's playing over 25 ****ing minutes a game.

The Devils have issues to remedy at forward, no doubt. I don't disagree.

A lot of you are unduly obsessed with what we have "on paper." Carter and Bernier have played like legitimate NHL third liners this year. Time to update your perception of them.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

The Devils have issues to remedy at forward, no doubt. I don't disagree.

A lot of you are unduly obsessed with what we have "on paper." Carter and Bernier have played like legitimate NHL third liners this year. Time to update your perception of them.

so possession and shots = good forwards? oh. news to me. we cant SCORE! theres my evidence. we go months with scoring around 2 gpg and winning what, 1 game in regulation, yet im the one who needs to come up with stats to prove our forward core isnt good?

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Shooting percentage is driven by luck.