GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (37-28-6, 80 Pts) vs. Vancouver Canucks (32-26-12, 76 Pts), 7:30 PM ET, ESPN+/Hulu

[NjDevsRR]

Was Markstrom bad tonight? I was at the game so I didn’t get all the replays obviously. I thought it was better than his recent games

 

[Devilsfan992]

Pesce!!! He absolutely should and could have cleared. He f***ed it up bad. I don't know why anyone else isn't as equally as mad at him as I am (on here) at least, lol

I get he saves us in other games, but that was bad

Thank you and BCS! I love Pesce but that's super disappointing to hear. Such a rough loss.

 

[guitarguyvic]

GM's tend to get inflated in the mind of fans once a team has a good season like they did in 22/23 when you can argue Shero was a part of that team up front, Fitz fixed the back end which Shero couldn't and they got a decent Vanecek season. Then he decided to make it his team even more and it blew up in his face f***ing miserably.

Did he fix the D that season? Or did he just happen to get a career year out of three guys who otherwise weren’t all that terrific both before and after that (Graves, Marino, Vanacek).

 

[Better Call Sal]

 

[Whaddagoal]

Was Markstrom bad tonight? I was at the game so I didn’t get all the replays obviously. I thought it was better than his recent games

He seemed pretty decent, TBH. Made some huge saves in some earlier moments in the real game.

Except for both of the SO goals, he was slightly out of position or bad angled for the last one.

 

[Eggtimer]

Changes aren't going to be made either way.

Probably not but at least it will provide motivation and confirm that changes to the roster need to be made. There is no way that they just roll with the same roster next season if they miss the playoffs . Fitz has to see that the forward group is a mess and they need to revamp the bottom 6 and add some depth up front .
But if they make the playoffs , Fitz may just shrug his shoulders and say “ oh well , injuries “ . He has to see that changes need to be made and if missing the payoffs is the only way for that to happen , then so be it.
I want them to make the playoffs but I want them to be true contenders and in order to be that , they need to address the lack of a bottom 6 .

 

[guitarguyvic]

I agree. At this point missing the playoffs could create too much of a very loser type culture within the team. We don’t want that. I think the team has too much potential to be motivated by missing the playoffs. Getting another taste of the big show is probably what will drive hunger into this team. I understand many are very frustrated and disappointed with the team right now. I wish it was better myself. But we could probably kiss the playoffs goodbye for the rest of this decade if they blew up the team to rebuild again. Let them have a first round experience this year. Then start fine tuning this team. I saw almost everyone predicting the Devils to be a top contender before the start of the season. Get everyone healthy by September and add some firepower over the summer and I believe we can be an extremely tough team.

The issue here of course is that this org’s management has not proven they can do this successfully.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Did he fix the D that season? Or did he just happen to get a career year out of three guys who otherwise weren’t all that terrific both before and after that (Graves, Marino, Vanacek).

Graves was always a patch work guy and played well in regular seasons, his issue was always playoffs for Colorado and it's not surprising the first year after moving on from him they won the Cup. We also saw what Graves did in our 2023 playoffs. He was just a placeholder for Luke, can't fault Fitz much there if you knew the player beforehand.

Marino was good too, maybe he played out of his skin 22/23 but he also was amazing himself and helped improve the group around him with his ability to breakout. This team can't break out anymore like they did with Marino/guys like Severson which is another issue in itself that Fitz broke a bit with this team.

 

[Devilsfan992]

The fact that Cholowski plays at all and is used in OT is beyond depressing.

This guy will go down as a meme among rando Devils defensemen that were here for a minute.

He’s like the Tim Sestito of defensemen. I hope he isn’t in the organization as long as Sestito was.

Shame on Nemec for losing his spot to this guy.

44 on 44 kept me laughing the whole game. Especially since it wasn't Wood

 

[Hisch13r]

Probably not but at least it will provide motivation and confirm that changes to the roster need to be made. There is no way that they just roll with the same roster next season if they miss the playoffs . Fitz has to see that the forward group is a mess and they need to revamp the bottom 6 and add some depth up front .

I have no doubt he knows there needs to be an overhaul. I don't have faith in him doing a good job fixing the mess he created though.

 

[jkrdevil]

Was Markstrom bad tonight? I was at the game so I didn’t get all the replays obviously. I thought it was better than his recent games

3 goals on 28 shots, so under .900 sv pct again. I didn’t like the second goal which went between his glove and the post. The game tieing goal he missed the puck with his glove and then it was under him after hitting the post. It wasn’t a good goal. And of course he went 50% on the shootout.

 

[Better Call Sal]

 

[guitarguyvic]

Graves was always a patch work guy and played well in regular seasons, his issue was always playoffs for Colorado and it's not surprising the first year after moving on from him they won the Cup. We also saw what Graves did in our 2023 playoffs. He was just a placeholder for Luke, can't fault Fitz much there if you knew the player beforehand.

Marino was good too, maybe he played out of his skin 22/23 but he also was amazing himself and helped improve the group around him with his ability to breakout. This team can't break out anymore like they did with Marino/guys like Severson which is another issue in itself that Fitz broke a bit with this team.

Last sentence is continually overlooked right now. Again why I don’t buy this idea that he has fixed the D. A good coach can teach mediocre guys to play pretty good defense. Passing and playing in transition, not as much. This d-core is extremely one dimensional and is constructed like a roster circa 1994. I’m of the opinion that the D needs to be tweaked, but he went and re-signed a “defensive defenseman” long term based on a half a season of play, and the two dynamic guys he drafted are being handled like they’ll be gone after this season. We could easily have a situation where he sort of patches up the forward group next year but we are f***ed again on D and goalie. And that’s probably the most optimistic outcome.

 

[Hisch13r]

Doesn’t appear to have mattered that much given that they’re extremely likely to make the playoffs. What matters is that their top guy is done for the year along with key dmen which has nothing to do with anything you ever said.

It didn’t matter for Carolina who was just as bad as us for a very extended period (17-16-3 from 11/29 to 2/25). Because as I actually said and you can go ahead and check it, health and goalie play are what actually matter when the playoffs start. We don’t have that so doom is now appropriate.

We're likely to make the playoffs because the Metro is horrendous. Any normal year this is likely a miss.

Cut the bullshit. f***ing lol at comparing that Canes stretch to what we've done. Canes were still 15th in the league over that stretch with the 5th best xG%. Devils from 12/28 up until Jack's injury were 28th in the league with the 26th xG%. I doubt the Canes have had a considerable stretch as bad as that since they became good in 18-19.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

3 goals on 28 shots, so under .900 sv pct again. I didn’t like the second goal which went between his glove and the post. The game tieing goal he missed the puck with his glove and then it was under him after hitting the post. It wasn’t a good goal. And of course he went 50% on the shootout.

The book on him is to shoot high, he looks so awkward going down into butterfly cause he's a taller goalie.

 

[Eggtimer]

Hopefully baldy gets fired after we either embarrassingly miss the playoffs or get swept in 3 by Carolina.

Swept in 3 would be monumentally bad . We lose so bad that they just forfeit the rest of the series and make it best of 5 instead of best of 7 lol.

 

[Coffee]

I don’t think Steve Levy pays close attention to the league. He just said there is no doubt Demko is Vancouver’s guy. They just signed Lankanen to a 5 year deal. Earlier he talked about Markstrom almost coming to NJ from Vancouver but had to make a stop in Calgary first.

They are going to run 1A/1B most likely. Demko can't play 65 games a season anymore. It is what it is

 

[Eggtimer]

Nico literally made the play to make it 2-1. and then won the faceoff in the final minute before Pesce and Palat f***ed it up

Good on him. He needs to do more .

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Swept in 3 would be monumentally bad . We lose so bad that they just forfeit the rest of the series and make it best of 5 instead of best of 7 lol.

Wouldn't be surprised if it's somehow worse than the Rags Caps series last year

 

[Coffee]

Some said Luke is the most talented in terms of raw talent of the three but I just dont see it

I think he is to be honest. Luke going to be legit superstar too

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

.

We're likely to make the playoffs because the Metro is horrendous. Any normal year this is likely a miss.

Cut the bullshit. f***ing lol at comparing that Canes stretch to what we've done. Canes were still 15th in the league over that stretch with the 5th best xG%. Devils from 12/28 up until Jack's injury were 28th in the league with the 26th xG%. I doubt the Canes have had a considerable stretch as bad as that since they became good in 18-19.

xG% for a stretch during the regular season — that famous thing that matters in the playoffs.

The team is also still top 4 in PP and PK. Jake Allen has also saved the 4th most goals above expected per moneypuck.

The crucial point here is that they aren’t done because their xg5L% from December 25th to whenever the **** was low. They’re done because their best players are done. None of that other shit means a whiff when the playoffs start.

 

[Marv4Life]

I thought the 1st round is a best of 7, not 5...

 

[guitarguyvic]

.

xG% for a stretch during the regular season — that famous thing that matters in the playoffs.

The team is also still top 4 in PP and PK. Jake Allen has also saved the 4th most goals above expected per moneypuck.

The crucial point here is that they aren’t done because their xg5L% from December 25th to whenever the **** was low. They’re done because their best players are done. None of that other shit means a whiff when the playoffs start.

This is just head buried neck deep in sand stuff. It matters because it tells you what this team is. What the hell do you think a team that has played like dog piss for 40+ games is gonna do in the playoffs, healthy or not?

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

This is just head buried neck deep in sand stuff. It matters because it tells you what this team is. What the hell do you think a team that has played like dog piss for 40+ games is gonna do in the playoffs, healthy or not?

Possibly make the Cup? This happened a couple years ago.

“Healthy or not” kinda matters. Sorry you don’t think so, but having a 99 point player matters. I’d like our chances against Carolina sans Aho, Slavin, and Ghost.

 

[Devs3cups]

Possibly make the Cup? This happened a couple years ago.

“Healthy or not” kinda matters. Sorry you don’t think so, but having a 99 point player matters. I’d like our chances against Carolina sans Aho, Slavin, and Ghost.

While injuries absolutely do matter, I'm sure the Canes would also like their chances even if we were fully healthy considering the team has played sub .500% hockey since the new year even when being fully healthy.