GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (24-12-3, 51 Pts) @ Anaheim Ducks (14-17-4, 32 Pts), 8 PM, MSGSN

[theoptimist]

Fitz has many headaches on this roster. None greater than Dougie Hamilton

 

[JK3]

Oh FFS didn’t know they were playing tomorrow, that means Allen is starting.

 

[NJDevils17]

I think blaming Hamilton is a mistake even if he’s been poor this year. He’s been a really important piece in bringing folks in and buy in. We’ll have to move him at some point but he’s not that far removed from a top 10 DMan season with us. He’s a guy that gets a lot of flack for messing up awkwardly given his size. All that said - he has not been good this year and fully understand that.

 

[Dylan9z9]

I think blaming Hamilton is a mistake even if he’s been poor this year. He’s been a really important piece in bringing folks in and buy in. We’ll have to move him at some point but he’s not that far removed from a top 10 DMan season with us. He’s a guy that gets a lot of flack for messing up awkwardly given his size. All that said - he has not been good this year and fully understand that.

The Ducks were blowing by him on fast breaks like he was standing still .... it was laughable

 

[Hisch13r]

I get what you’re saying and you aren’t wrong. I just wouldn’t trade Mercer for a bottom six player in what would basically be a lateral move. As great as Jack and Bratt are, it’s scary to think what they could do with a scorer and someone not named Andre Palot.

I’m sure there’s another deal out there that Fitz can make to address the albatross that is our bottom six. We have three 2nd round draft picks and one can surely be used here to bring in some help.

I think the improvements to Jack-Bratt adding a "scorer" would honestly be a lot more marginal than people imagine it'd be. They're already controlling 62.5% of the goals together this year. That might drop somewhat as the season rolls on since the xG is 58% but even then they're absolutely dominating the game together. They're up 25-15 in goals together at 5v5. For reference Kuch-Point is 24-15. MacK-Rantanen is 25-21. Matthews-Marner is 14-14. Barkov-Reinhart are 14-10. Jack-Bratt is in the upper echelon of duos. It's hard to really do all that much better than they're currently doing.

I do agree current Palat isn't the best option but at least he's stopped dragging them down. I do however think the mold of Palat is what I'd want over the typical scoring type who will end up also giving back a lot at his own end. One thing I've long said to do it flip Palat and Cotter and see how that goes. Cotter's numbers up there are great in the limited time and Cotter-Haula cannot play together.

The top 6 is great. The Nico line is among the best in the league. Jack-Bratt are elite no matter their 3rd wheel. It's really just a matter of figuring out the 3rd line. Depending on how cooked Haula is that really might not be possible in season but his numbers this year are also very good away from Cotter. We need a guy that can carry the load offensively on the 3rd line. The other option I guess would be like adding another top 6er and then sliding down Bratt to have him be the one driving the 3rd line.

 

[Signal]

He's probably worse than Wood was. Wood at least slung pucks on net like a freak and created chaos. Cotter does nothing. I really do think Dowling's a better bottom 6 option. I'd either have Cotter up with Jack-Bratt or out of the lineup.

I miss Woody. lol. I felt like I was the only one on this board who openly supported keeping him on the team. I loved his speed and willingness to crash the net. He’d be great on our bottom six.

 

[Mgd31]

Okay last time I will complain about the scheduling but we are the only game tomorrow and then don’t play again till Sat? Couldn’t have just made our game on Thursday?

 

[Signal]

We haven't had a coach that would actually do that since Jacques.

Loved when he said it looked like we forgot how to play hockey. lol

 

[Hisch13r]

I think blaming Hamilton is a mistake even if he’s been poor this year. He’s been a really important piece in bringing folks in and buy in. We’ll have to move him at some point but he’s not that far removed from a top 10 DMan season with us. He’s a guy that gets a lot of flack for messing up awkwardly given his size. All that said - he has not been good this year and fully understand that.

The guy is making 9 mil to be a 3rd pair PP specialist. He last scored a goal on December 2nd. Blaming him is not a mistake. He had a golden opportunity to finally score again and put us up late and he flubs it. Dougie was great. Dougie is not good now. Dougie needs to go ASAP.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Fitz has many headaches on this roster. None greater than Dougie Hamilton

If you think Fitz is stressing this roster right now you are nuts.

 

[Devs3cups]

Don’t think Cotter is playing badly.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

If you think Fitz is stressing this roster right now you are nuts.

There's a reason most sports GM's have no hair or a bad hairline, they're always stressing to improve teams

 

[Bleedred]

I watched them come back in the third against the Flyers the other night. They’re definitely not going to let us just coast for long stretches of time tomorrow. It’s going to be a very tough one for us to win. Especially being our second game of a back to back on the road three time zones away.

The Flyers are bad though. Honestly, I could make a case for the Flyers being worse than the Ducks, but moneypuck would argue with me. And I’m sure their playoff making chances will go up to 52% after their 4-0 win over the Sharks tonight.

But I don’t trust Allen at all. A good game from him since his hot start is play well for close to 2 periods before imploding like the Sands casino in AC.

 

[Bleedred]

I miss Woody. lol. I felt like I was the only one on this board who openly supported keeping him on the team. I loved his speed and willingness to crash the net. He’d be great on our bottom six.

He might be an upgrade in our bottom 6 right now, but that contract is so bad.

And at this point he gets injured a lot. He’s only played 16 games this year. His most recent game to date was November 27th.

Then again, he may not even be an upgrade now. He’s broken down at this point.

Good Devil when he was here, but his best days are over. He’d probably be out injured with something and we’d still be icing some bum anyway.

 

[Signal]

He might be an upgrade in our bottom 6 right now, but that contract is so bad.

And at this point he gets injured a lot. He’s only played 16 games this year. His most recent game to date was November 27th.

Then again, he may not even be an upgrade now. He’s broken down at this point.

Good Devil when he was here, but his best days are over. He’d probably be out injured with something and we’d still be icing some bum anyway.

Oh dang, I didn’t know about the injuries. Guess he can stay in Colorado then. lol

 

[Emperoreddy]

Did Keefe look disappointed? He should rip these players a new asshole

He said it was the worst two periods of the year and Marky should be pissed at his teammates.

He wasn't happy at all

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[MadDevil]

He said it was the worst two periods of the year and Marky should be pissed at his teammates.

He wasn't happy at all

Yeah but he didn't yell at the players or throw a bench so he clearly doesn't care.

 

[Emperoreddy]

He also said he hasn't liked our game since the Christmas break.

 

[guitarguyvic]

The problem with the third line is none of them can handle the puck cleanly. It’s always a bobble and defender on them to kill a chance or they miss on the chance all of together.

I mean even when they have a look they refuse to shoot. I’ve seen Haula do this numerous times now.

 

[Dialamo]

Based Keefe.

 

[Andre Palot]

Based Keefe.

Chief Keefe

 

[Bleedred]

He said it was the worst two periods of the year and Marky should be pissed at his teammates.

He wasn't happy at all

I’m glad to see he agreed.

Now I don’t feel like I was being so dramatic and hyperbolic saying it was maybe the worst game of the season.

Surely we’ve had worse beatings and our asses kicked worse than this, but they’re not exactly Tampa or whoever else we got stomped on by.

 

[Maine Fan]

Awful performance. And we have a Haula problem. Ducks took control of the game after it was tied in large part because Nico was off the ice and he had to fill in.

I think the improvements to Jack-Bratt adding a "scorer" would honestly be a lot more marginal than people imagine it'd be. They're already controlling 62.5% of the goals together this year. That might drop somewhat as the season rolls on since the xG is 58% but even then they're absolutely dominating the game together. They're up 25-15 in goals together at 5v5. For reference Kuch-Point is 24-15. MacK-Rantanen is 25-21. Matthews-Marner is 14-14. Barkov-Reinhart are 14-10. Jack-Bratt is in the upper echelon of duos. It's hard to really do all that much better than they're currently doing.

I do agree current Palat isn't the best option but at least he's stopped dragging them down. I do however think the mold of Palat is what I'd want over the typical scoring type who will end up also giving back a lot at his own end. One thing I've long said to do it flip Palat and Cotter and see how that goes. Cotter's numbers up there are great in the limited time and Cotter-Haula cannot play together.

The top 6 is great. The Nico line is among the best in the league. Jack-Bratt are elite no matter their 3rd wheel. It's really just a matter of figuring out the 3rd line. Depending on how cooked Haula is that really might not be possible in season but his numbers this year are also very good away from Cotter. We need a guy that can carry the load offensively on the 3rd line. The other option I guess would be like adding another top 6er and then sliding down Bratt to have him be the one driving the 3rd line.

Good analysis, thanks for the effort

 

[Maine Fan]

OH Well, let's not get too upset, we are still a good team that just had a bad game. Later

Enjoy the New Year. And have a healthy one also.