GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (7-5-1, 15 Pts, 4th in Metropolitan) vs. Winnipeg Jets (7-5-2, 16 Pts, 3rd in Central), 8 PM, MSGSN

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

That’s called making adjustments, we’re not allowed to do that.

No, it's just because our head coach is hard headed moron.

 

[Emperoreddy]

If you are going to write the season off before we have even played 20 games with our full squad then idk what to tell you

 

[guitarguyvic]

Y’all chomping at each other when its a little bit of everything

System isn’t good enough

D play isn’t tight enough

Transition isn’t good enough

Goaltending isn’t good enough

Offense isn’t producing good enough

This might be true but what bugs me is these elements are not put into context. We do not have proven goaltenders, and there is no obvious upgrade available. We are stuck with them.

On the flip side, our skater group is comprised of numerous highly paid, proven players. And we have a veteran coach that has been around for like 170 years.

In my eyes, the latter is/should be more accountable than the former. We have basically zero options to make changes to the goaltenders. The things we can control are - D, transition, puck management, structure, etc. And the folks that control those aspects of the game are supposed to be where our top talent lies. Yet they are failing miserably.

A veteran head coach and a roster of highly talented skaters should be able to mitigate sketchy goaltending. The injuries to Jack and Nico are also exposing them as not meeting expectations. We shouldn't look like a f***ing lottery team, we went into this season with the expectation that we had reliable depth.

 

[Bleedred]

Last year Schmid did though. Vitek, for a part of the year at least, did as well.

Blackwood was a catastrophe, as evidenced by his non hd save % indicating a ton of softies.

But as a team we played a much cleaner game.

Fitz has already made no secrets about wishing to upgrade the Goaltending. Even publicly saying as much as early as this past offseason.

I don’t know, Schmid may have overachieved. Vitek was solid through the all star break and really fell off starting in February.

It’s still possible either turn it around and finish the season strong, but I think it may be Schmid that has the better chance of doing that.

But that’s also a shot in the dark from me and I try not to take shots in the dark. And we still don’t know enough about what Schmid is yet because he’s young and hasn’t played much.

Schmid hasn’t gotten the leash Vanecek has.

I have a legit theory that the Oilers waived Jack Campbell because Woodcroft kept going back to him after Skinner got blown up and wouldn’t let Skinner play his way out of it. Then they took his toy away, but the Sharks game was the end of it for Jay, who was already on a very hot seat coming into that game.

Ruff needs to let Schmid run with it these next two games.

 

[Devs3cups]

I don’t think there’s been a game so far this year where I’ve thought to myself “Man, we got some really solid goaltending tonight”, but there hasn’t been a game where I thought “Man, that was a very good defensive effort tonight”.

The best I’ve thought of both was “meh”.

 

[devilsblood]

last year Schmid had 14 starts

played 18 games averaging 50 minutes per game. Plus 9 playoff games.

Smallish sample, sure. But it's not insignificant.

 

[Bleedred]

Miller is (probably) healthy now. Or so it seems.

There’s no reason to run it back with the same defense after all these games where the score is rung up.

He has to scratch Smith for Miller next game, but I’m preparing myself for it to be Bahl or Siegenthaler.

 

[JimEIV]

If you are going to write the season off before we have even played 20 games with our full squad then idk what to tell you

I think it's seeing these glaring holes are what's so troublesome. Jack will be back and things will get better...hell, we might even go on a big run.

But many of the problems we are seeing right now just aren't going away any time soon. The defense is weak, goaltending isn't ever going to be a strength, physical play is nearly non-existent...these things aren't changing any time soon.

 

[devilsblood]

Fitz has already made no secrets about wishing to upgrade the Goaltending. Even publicly saying as much as early as this past offseason.

I don’t know, Schmid may have overachieved. Vitek was solid through the all star break and really fell off starting in February.

It’s still possible either turn it around and finish the season strong, but I think it may be Schmid that has the better chance of doing that.

But that’s also a shot in the dark from me and I try not to take shots in the dark. And we still don’t know enough about what Schmid is yet because he’s young and hasn’t played much.

Schmid hasn’t gotten the leash Vanecek has.

I have a legit theory that the Oilers waived Jack Campbell because Woodcroft kept going back to him after Skinner got blown up and wouldn’t let Skinner play his way out of it. Then they took his toy away, but the Sharks game was the end of it for Jay, who was already on a very hot seat coming into that game.

Ruff needs to let Schmid run with it these next two games.

I mentioned it earlier, but between the desire to get Akira back in Utica, and the longer leash for Vitek, it seems they are trying to protect a young goalie.

But another part of adding a goalie was depth. We've seen what injuries have done for like 5 straight seasons.

 

[NJDevs26]

No, it's just because our head coach is hard headed moron.

I was being flip, we agree here

 

[devilsblood]

Miller is (probably) healthy now. Or so it seems.

There’s no reason to run it back with the same defense after all these games where the score is rung up.

He has to scratch Smith for Miller next game, but I’m preparing myself for it to be Bahl or Siegenthaler.

I don't want it to be Bahl, and still think it will be Smith, but Bahl was not good tonight.

 

[jkrdevil]

Some of the 5 on 5 stuff gets cleaned up when Jack is back and healthy because we will simply have the puck more and bottom of the lineup guys will pushed to the press box.

Most concerning is the penalty kill. You can’t be giving up a PP goal against or two per game. The kill is dreadful.

 

[Bleedred]

I don’t think there’s been a game so far this year where I’ve thought to myself “Man, we got some really solid goaltending tonight”, but there hasn’t been a game where I thought “Man, that was a very good defensive effort tonight”.

The best I’ve thought of both was “meh”.

I thought the goaltending was good in the Chicago and St. Louis games. Those two teams are really no count at scoring or really anything though.

Maybe Vitek in the season opener. He was good that night. He allowed a third goal in garbage time with like 30 seconds left.

He was also good in the home Minnesota game, but I almost wanna say that was one of the better defensive efforts of the season.

 

[NJDevs26]

I mentioned it earlier, but between the desire to get Akira back in Utica, and the longer leash for Vitek, it seems they are trying to protect a young goalie.

But another part of adding a goalie was depth. We've seen what injuries have done for like 5 straight seasons.

Immediately checks Keith Kinkaid’s AHL stats…

3.59 GAA, .868 save in 5 games

Geez I can’t even ‘joke’ about him being here by Thanksgiving

 

[Killing Joke]

Who Hellebuyuck and his sub .900 save percentage?

He’d be the best goalie on this team.

Goaltending killed then again tonight.

 

[guitarguyvic]

If you are going to write the season off before we have even played 20 games with our full squad then idk what to tell you

Speaking for myself I'm not writing off the season. I'm simply stating what I think is an accurate assessment - this level of play is not playoff caliber. Even if Jack back, it's playoff bubble at absolute best.

Now you can optimistically say that the team will turn it around. But then you run into the reality that it's been fourteen games and they haven't made a single improvement. That's not a small sample size in the context of a season. They can still turn it around, sure, but it doesn't exactly instill a sense of confidence that it will definitely happen.

Last year they went through a slump in the middle of the season...it never looked this bad and it didn't last this long where the team was playing like dogshit consistently for a fourteen game stretch. I never got the sense that they wouldn't be able to dig out of it. This is completely different.

 

[devilsblood]

He’d be the best goalie on this team.

Goaltending killed then again tonight.
View attachment 768486

Oi vey.

 

[Xirik]

The big problem I saw with tonight's game is that players are just lobbing grenades at each other as "passes" and almost running into each other every other play.

Its like watching a orchestra try to play without a conductor.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

I just did a little back tracking and the Devils record vs teams sitting in a playoff spot as of now is bad. They are 1-6-0. That's not encouraging at all. I know it's early but the fact that most of our wins came against bottom feeders or bubble teams is a bit alarming.

 

[Bleedred]

I mentioned it earlier, but between the desire to get Akira back in Utica, and the longer leash for Vitek, it seems they are trying to protect a young goalie.

But another part of adding a goalie was depth. We've seen what injuries have done for like 5 straight seasons.

Just because you brought it up, I’ve had it in my head after tonight that Schmid could wind up sent to Utica out of nowhere.

I don’t think this game will do it, but it’s possible that it’s coming if his play doesn’t pick up.

Immediately checks Keith Kinkaid’s AHL stats…

3.59 GAA, .868 save in 5 games

Geez I can’t even ‘joke’ about him being here by Thanksgiving

But then I see this and Kallgren’s numbers and think Akira is probably more than safe for now.

If anything, maybe Daws is the first potential threat to that happening when he starts playing, if he plays well in the AHL.

 

[devilsblood]

Speaking for myself I'm not writing off the season. I'm simply stating what I think is an accurate assessment - this level of play is not playoff caliber. Even if Jack back, it's playoff bubble at absolute best.

Now you can optimistically say that the team will turn it around. But then you run into the reality that it's been fourteen games and they haven't made a single improvement. That's not a small sample size in the context of a season. They can still turn it around, sure, but it doesn't exactly instill a sense of confidence that it will definitely happen.

Last year they went through a slump in the middle of the season...it never looked this bad and it didn't last this long where the team was playing like dogshit consistently for a fourteen game stretch. I never got the sense that they wouldn't be able to dig out of it. This is completely different.

You do seem to ignore though that they were winning games at a decent enough clip prior to the injuries.

I agree the number of breakdowns have been atrocious this year, but we were still winning. If we were healthy, and cleaned up those breakdowns, then we'd likely get rolling.

 

[JimEIV]

You do seem to ignore though that they were winning games at a decent enough clip prior to the injuries.

I agree the number of breakdowns have been atrocious this year, but we were still winning. If we were healthy, and cleaned up those breakdowns, then we'd likely get rolling.

Prior to injury....not injuries. Definitely singular not plural.

 

[jkrdevil]

If you are going to write the season off before we have even played 20 games with our full squad then idk what to tell you

No reason to write off the team. They are .500 and are going to be getting back their MVP candidate in the next game or two. They were 7-3-1 before the injuries hit. Thankfully they built that bit of cushion. This stretch wiped it out, but there is proof of concept that the team will good when healthy.

Of course they have to get healthy, but it looks better on the front (though I would feel better with an update on Nico).

 

[devilsblood]

Just because you brought it up, I’ve had it in my head after tonight that Schmid could wind up sent to Utica out of nowhere.

I don’t think this game will do it, but it’s possible that it’s coming if his play doesn’t pick up.

Again, it's not Schmid's play. Certainly not tonight it wasn't.

And they can't send him down because they have no other option.

But if they were to send him down, it would be to protect his psyche from this slop being played in front of him.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I like Mikey, but McLeod in your top 6 isn't going to lead to wins. Tierny isn't a NHL player.

Smith is not only a massive negative on his own, he drags his partner down with him leaving us with two pairs that end up over matched.

These are all fixes the team will or can make that will lead to more wins.

The goaltending and PK are another matter