GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (32-21-6, 70 Pts) @ Colorado Avalanche (33-24-2, 68 Pts), 9:30 PM, MSGSN

[Devs3cups]

Palat and Pesce being 11M+ for the next few years is way worse. Timo is still a productive player, he's just snakebitten beyond belief right now.

Don't mind Pesce at all tbh. Palat is unfortunate, but he'll be gone soon enough.

I feel bad for Timo. 7th worst in the league in goals scored above expected (minimum 500 mins). -6.4 goals scored above expected.

 

[Killing Joke]

Some teams have players that are locker room cancers that kill the team, we got a GM that is one and killing the team. Bad drafting, bad talent evaluation in general, takes too long to make moves, too stubborn for his own good, over values prospects. Has no clue what the timeline of the team is.

 

[S1N4TR4]

I hate Blackwood.

I really hate him.


Have we won a single game against him since he "left"?

since being traded, blackwood has stopped 79 of 80 shots on goal against the devils.

he has given up 1 goal in 138 minutes of play.

yes, you read that correct.

(ps: not a cbj fan hating on you guys, just a huge stat nerd)

 

[billingtons ghost]

He hurt himself on the 4th goal for sure.

He should rage quit anyway. This team has been proven goalie killers.

You just have to look across the ice and see Blackwood with his .926 SV% with the AVS... And don't tell me it's a different Blackwood, bc he's got all the same game play as he has with us: the occasional weird brain dead play (trapezoid penalty), the occasional leaky arm, same big rebounds sometimes... And the same athletic, big goalie that takes away the bottom of the net and if he gets any sort of defensive support at all is capable of winning games.

Without Siegs, our defense is scattered with the mixed up d pairings. Casey sat a bunch bc the caving we saw in previous games was evident again at the start of this one.

Our forwards can't win pucks, can't clear the zone, turn the puck over and can't complete passes rn.

Hughes and Bratt are electric, but you got to see a player tonight in MacKinnon who is electric every shift and rarely makes big time mistakes. Nico is playing with schlunks. They should just put him with Jack and bratt and hope they score three each game.

Meier had one of his best games and still can't get on the board or win the puck when we need him to. Terrible.

Nose is great on the power play, and a decent third line guy and Cotter has his moments. The rest of the roster is full on trash.

 

[Bleedred]

This year's kinda meh, but I still like the long term outlook of this team

I do with the core, but there’s a lot of deadweight that needs to go. And we NEED to get faster again. The change in direction has not helped.

We probably have one more year of Palat, but Haula needs to go so bad that I’d rather pay him not to play here next year and have his full dead cap hit if we aren’t gonna buy him out. Not that it would happen. He’ll either be bought out or waived or LTIR. Maybe an outside chance someone takes him.

I didn’t even expect him to be this bad until year three, but I kind of did expect him to be this bad by year 3. He’s basically up there and as useful as the likes of Ponikarovsky 2.0, 13-14 Steve Bernier, 14-15 Zubrus and 15-16 Ruutu. I think one poster who I can’t recall used to call all of those guys space junk.

 

[billingtons ghost]

I hate Blackwood.

I really hate him.


Have we won a single game against him since he "left"?

We have scored one goal against him since he left. Total

 

[MadDevil]

Don't mind Pesce at all tbh. Palat is unfortunate, but he'll be gone soon enough.

I feel bad for Timo.

The fact that he has 1 goal on his last 50 shots is almost impressive in a weird way. You'd think at least a couple of those would squeak through or hit something and go in.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I have to say that this team’s D core is also over-rated. Yes they are good defensively, but they are incredibly one dimensional. Dougie is the only guy that is good in transition and can contribute on the other end. Luke is that type of player too but he still hasn’t learned how to not shoot the puck into defender’s shins. Everyone else is a garden variety stay at home guy. Really under-rated factor in the 5v5 impotence.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Don't mind Pesce at all tbh. Palat is unfortunate, but he'll be gone soon enough.

I feel bad for Timo. 7th worst in the league in goals scored above expected (minimum 500 mins). -6.4 goals scored above expected.

I don't feel bad for him. When you miss the net or shoot every puck along the ice, you don't get goals. I think there's a conditioning aspect. He lost his check and quit on the backcheck on one of the Nashville breakaways and he's been bad away from the puck and worse with it. His most dangerous shot was the one from the sideboards. It's just ugly

 

[Devs3cups]

He should rage quit anyway. This team has been proven goalie killers.

I don't disagree our defense in previous seasons didn't necessarily help goalies, but Allen's SV% this year is his best since the 2019-2020 season. Markstrom is having his best SV% since 2021-2022.

This year's team plays a way more responsible brand of hockey in their own zone. I've been happy with their defensive play overall. Now, they need to score more lol. The problems flipped lol.

 

[Killing Joke]

Right now Palát, Mercer, Haula, Lazar are about $13M of dead weight.

We can add Meier in there, even though he drives play unlike the rest of those guys. Issue is he's not producing how he is being paid to produce. I get he's not getting first PP time, which will impact that, but 20 games and 1 goal? Get f***ed. I know he's had insane chances and some bad luck, but come the f*** on already.

Dillon is another bad contract.

McCann and Evans should be the targets. Send Mercer one way to Seattle along with Nemec if it gets you a goal scorer.

Hatakaa should be up here over Casey and Nemec. Both get dummied in the Dzone. Only reason Casey looks better is he's a better skater and has a wrist shot. Reality is, they're both out of their depth here.

 

[Bleedred]

The fact this was a 2-1 game at one point is even more of a blow. It probably should have been 2-0 by the end of the 1st period and 4-0

Not sure if market correction or implosion was the reason 2-1 turned into 5-1 in 10 minutes. The team looked like it was imploded many times tonight.

To add to more of the embarrassment, Miles Wood gets point number 4 and assist number 2 of the season in his 26th game of the year tonight. And first point in 9 games lol.

 

[Devs3cups]

I don't feel bad for him. When you miss the net or shoot every puck along the ice, you don't get goals. I think there's a conditioning aspect. He lost his check and quit on the backcheck on one of the Nashville breakaways and he's been bad away from the puck and worse with it. His most dangerous shot was the one from the sideboards. It's just ugly

Yeah, I don't agree with that at all. Timo is having good looks nightly, quality shots from the slot, plays in front of the net, etc.. I've liked his play overall. Hopefully it turns around for him soon.

 

[Bleedred]

Palat and Pesce being 11M+ for the next few years is way worse. Timo is still a productive player, he's just snakebitten beyond belief right now.

I don’t agree so much on Pesce, but replace his name with Dillon.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I don't feel bad for him. When you miss the net or shoot every puck along the ice, you don't get goals. I think there's a conditioning aspect. He lost his check and quit on the backcheck on one of the Nashville breakaways and he's been bad away from the puck and worse with it. His most dangerous shot was the one from the sideboards. It's just ugly

Nah check the spreadsheet he’s great, just the unluckiest shooter in the league for three straight seasons with the devils. His shooting percentage has absolutely nothing to do with flinging long distance shots from stupid non-threatening areas.

We have a laundry list of players who consistently don’t bring to the table what we were told they would.

 

[mdj12784]

We should bring in our old buddy Brian Rafalski to teach the D on how to get shots through. Guy was a wizard. Low, deflectable shot

 

[Killing Joke]

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[Bleedred]

I have to say that this team’s D core is also over-rated. Yes they are good defensively, but they are incredibly one dimensional. Dougie is the only guy that is good in transition and can contribute on the other end. Luke is that type of player too but he still hasn’t learned how to not shoot the puck into defender’s shins. Everyone else is a garden variety stay at home guy. Really under-rated factor in the 5v5 impotence.

This is why I say we probably can’t dump Dougie next year.

We don’t know what Casey/Nemec will bring offensively and a defense Siegenthaler, Pesce, Kovacevic, Dillon and Nemec/Casey being 5 of the defensemen (and Hughes the other one) is like the modern NHL version of those Devils teams with no offense from the blue line post-Rafalski.

Four of those guys can’t break 20 points and you don’t know what you’re getting from Nemec/Casey.

 

[billingtons ghost]

I don't disagree our defense in previous seasons didn't necessarily help goalies, but Allen's SV% this year is his best since the 2019-2020 season. Markstrom is having his best SV% since 2021-2022.

This year's team plays a way more responsible brand of hockey in their own zone. I've been happy with their defensive play overall. Now, they need to score more lol. The problems flipped lol.

That's bc of Keefe and our stable uninjured D pairs. I also think that when we're relaxed and playing our game we have proven we can shut teams down.

The problem is entirely mental, bc on paper, this squad up front should be better.

We get into trouble when we either panic bc we seem overmatched and then everyone tries to do too much and over skates and they throw wild passes around and run around (like tonight)

Or
We get full of ourselves, abandon the system and play pond hockey.

We are just really freaking fragile and schizophrenic

I think we were that in front of Blackwood, but were also a significantly worse team that just had the same potential talent without any system or commitment to D.

 

[MadDevil]

Nah check the spreadsheet he’s great, just the unluckiest shooter in the league for three straight seasons with the devils. His shooting percentage has absolutely nothing to do with flinging long distance shots from stupid non-threatening areas.

We have a laundry list of players who consistently don’t bring to the table what we were told they would.

Timo scored 28 goals last year while shooting a career high 13.5%, but don't let that let get in the way of the narrative.

 

[guitarguyvic]

This is why I say we probably can’t dump Dougie next year.

We don’t know what Casey/Nemec will bring offensively and a defense Siegenthaler, Pesce, Kovacevic, Dillon and Nemec/Casey being 5 of the defensemen (and Hughes the other one) is like the modern NHL version of those Devils teams with no offense from the blue line post-Rafalski.

Yep except this is 2025. They aren’t gonna win a division with a one dimensional group like they could back in the day.

 

[Devils731]

I think people would be surprised that Palat is 4th on the team in 5 on 5 goals.

More than Mercer, Bratt, Meier, and Noesen.

Not that this makes Palat a lock to play on the first line but I think he’s generally been fine in supporting Hughes and Bratt. Palat helps allow them to freestyle as he generally has a good on the fly read of plays and where he should go in response to them.

I’d love a faster guy who works non-stop and provides good support to play with Jack and Bratt but there isn’t a guy like that currently.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Timo scored 28 goals last year while shooting a career high 13.5%, but don't let that let get in the way of the narrative.

Yeah I’m well aware of him “getting hot” after this team has already tanked the season. Still waiting for him to do what he gets paid to do, when it actually matters.

I think people would be surprised that Palat is 4th on the team in 5 on 5 goals.

More than Mercer, Bratt, Meier, and Noesen.

Not that this makes Palat a lock to play on the first line but I think he’s generally been fine in supporting Hughes and Bratt. Palat helps allow them to freestyle as he generally has a good on the fly read of plays and where he should go in response to them.

I’d love a faster guy who works non-stop and provides good support to play with Jack and Bratt but there isn’t a guy like that currently.

This says more about the forward group as a whole than it does about Palat individually.

 

[Devils731]

This says more about the forward group as a whole than it does about Palat individually.

His 10 is as many as MacKinnon and Matthews have this year.

It’s not great but it’s a pretty good amount of 5 on 5 goals.

A bunch of really good offensive forwards have less as well.