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

[jkrdevil]

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.

That’s why I say there probably isn’t many more goals that line can produce with a different third winger.

We need goals when Jack/Bratt (and Nico for that matter) aren’t on the ice. We need a center to play behind Jack and Nico and play PP2.

 

[Killing Joke]

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.

That's more of an indictment of how shit the team is 5 on 5 than it is of how good he has been. Bad teams have goal scorers too.

 

[billingtons ghost]

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.

I'm trying to resolve why the stats and the eye test doesn't line up with him. His game leaves alot to be desired in so many facets and it seems like this board is completely divided in those who say he's great and point at numbers and those who watch and say he's not a productive or helpful player right now.

If he was a fourth line guy he'd be great, but rn even Tatar is more dangerous, and there's a guy who can't succeed at anything on the ice rn.

His physicality is pretty much him getting killed. His strength isn't winning any pucks.

The more I watch him, the more he looks like Danius Zubrus but with a hard shot. Don't get me wrong, I like both big lugs, but for $9m? Oy.

 

[Devils731]

That's more of an indictment of how shit the team is 5 on 5 than it is of how good he has been. Bad teams have goal scorers too.

10 puts you tied for top 90 forwards in the league.

So again, not great but it’s pretty good.

 

[billingtons ghost]

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.

So you were saying he was just exceptionally lucky last year?

That's more of an indictment of how shit the team is 5 on 5 than it is of how good he has been. Bad teams have goal scorers too.

And a bigger indictment that he's playing with two of the best assist men in the league

 

[Devils731]

So you were saying he was just exceptionally lucky last year?


And a bigger indictment that he's playing with two of the best assist men in the league

You said he’s been an unlucky shooter for 3 years but this is the only year his shooting percentage is poor.

That’s what he’s pointing out, what you said didn’t jive with reality.

 

[Devs3cups]

I'm trying to resolve why the stats and the eye test doesn't line up with him. His game leaves alot to be desired in so many facets and it seems like this board is completely divided in those who say he's great and point at numbers and those who watch and say he's not a productive or helpful player right now.

If he was a fourth line guy he'd be great, but rn even Tatar is more dangerous, and there's a guy who can't succeed at anything on the ice rn.

His physicality is pretty much him getting killed. His strength isn't winning any pucks.

The more I watch him, the more he looks like Danius Zubrus but with a hard shot. Don't get me wrong, I like both big lugs, but for $9m? Oy.

I’ve probably seen less than 5 Tomas Tatar scoring chances in the last month and a half. Timo gets at least 1 good look a game. He’s just not scoring. Hopefully it’ll start soon, cause he’s definitely getting his looks.

 

[billingtons ghost]

You said he’s been an unlucky shooter for 3 years but this is the only year his shooting percentage is poor.

That’s what he’s pointing out, what you said didn’t jive with reality.

I don't think luck has anything to do with it. I think confidence, conditioning and motor getting you an extra second to put a puck on net instead of missing, changing an angle, beating a defenseman, getting to a better spot or lifting the puck has a lot to do with shooting skill.

I don't buy that his quality of shot is as good as what he generated last year. He's not nearly as dangerous... And when he IS in a dangerous spot, pucks roll off his stick or he's a step late, or a sec too show with his shot.

Deflections and rebounds have been a big part of his game, and he's not doing either

 

[britdevil]

 

[Devils731]

I don't think luck has anything to do with it. I think confidence, conditioning and motor getting you an extra second to put a puck on net instead of missing, changing an angle, beating a defenseman, getting to a better spot or lifting the puck has a lot to do with shooting skill.

I don't buy that his quality of shot is as good as what he generated last year. He's not nearly as dangerous

If there wasn’t some luck in shooting then players shooting percentages would be fairly consistent year to year but they’re usually not and sometimes wildly so.

Players in the prime part of their career don’t forget how to score out of nowhere but they can go through stretches where they flub some more chances than normal, goalies make crazy saves, pucks never hit a skate and go in, and they hit a few posts and out rather than in.

You said Timo has been an unlucky shooter for 3 years. Why is his shooting percentage only poor this year?

Generally, why don’t players consistently shoot about the same every year? Are players constantly getting out of shape and in shape? Are they forgetting how to score some years and remembering in others?

like this board is completely divided in those who say he's great and point at numbers and those who watch and say he's not a productive or helpful player right now.

You have it backwards, the people watching him play can see he’s generating a lot of chances lately while the people saying he’s bad are just pointing at the number of goals.

 

[Camille the Eel]

And I bet they lay an egg against Utah.

Just not sure if it will be an embarrassing 5-2 loss or a 4-3 (5-3 with empty netter) loss where we’re trailing by 3 goals at one point in the game, only to come back and almost tie it but just fall short. Like that f***in joke of a Buffalo game at the beginning of the month.

No - we will beat Utah just like we beat Montreal and Nashville after dropping prior games. We will come out strong against them. Playing 500 hockey and winning alternate games has been our pattern since Markstrom got hurt.

We were sluggish in the first after days off on the road, against a supercharged hungry Colorado club playing their first game at home after 4 nations. And sitting at altitude for 2 days doesn’t help your legs.

The penalty kill and Allen kept us in it in the first. By the third period Allen wore down - as he tends to do - when under an all night barrage of shots. He was punch drunk by the third period - had no idea where the puck even was on 3 of the last 4 goals and wasn’t moving any more.

I for one do not believe that a single “sniper to play with Jack” is going to make a huge difference for us. I think it’s more of a depth thing that will help and an overhaul of 2 or 3 bigger, faster and more skilled forwards next year and subtracting some dead weight.

Thus I don’t want to buy at the deadline. That’s where you get ripped off. It’s a sellers market at the deadline and you don’t buy in a seller’s market. A pure rental that does not cost a future first rounder or a real prospect - sure that’s different. But don’t, repeat don’t give up serious assets now.

We will grind it out and make the playoffs. I like the character and the defensive structure and the core of this club even as constituted. Becoming a team that will make the playoffs (and consistently do so in the future) was the primary goal this season in my eyes and I think we are that team.

 

[Oneiro]

This is a good, not great team. I'm hoping for a deadline trade for a player with 2-3 years of team control, maybe even more, because this year is not the dream. I didn't watch tonight but it's absurd that this is, at best, a 3-4 man team every night going on two months now.

Let's get in, hopefully win a round against the zombie Whalers and then get punched in the face.