GDT: Your New Jersey Devils vs. Calgary Flames, 7 PM, MSGSN

[forceten]

The only thing I can legitimately blame Fitzgerald & co for is not drafting Askarov with the #7 overall pick in the 2020 draft. We knew at that point we had no real NHL 1A goalies in the system, and we knew that he would not make it to #18 where we were picking again. We got Mercer at #18. If we ended up with Askarov, Mercer, Mukhamadullin (who becomes Meier) in that first round, we'd be in a better position today. But we went Holtz and the thinking probably was his shot was too good to pass up when Hughes was still seen as a playmaker. We did take Daws that draft, but by then 3-4 other goalies were taken (Blomqvist looks like he might be a good one from that list).

Vanacek was a good attempt. Young, was behind another goalie in Washington, Washington wanted to re-do their goalies completely, and we grabbed him relatively cheaply (3rd rounder) asset-wise and hoped he could be the guy. And last year his play was absolutely fine until the playoffs.

Can someone who is on the cesspool formerly known as Twitter tweet Novo repeatedly and have him ask the team - Ruff, Fitzgerald, the janitor, whoever - about Rogalski and why we haven't tried changing the goaltending coach after playing 10 different goalies in 3 years to the exact same results? Wouldn't that be better and an immediate option than trying to make a blockbuster trade, trying the same thing over and over, firing the head coach, etc.?

 

[Blackjack]

These charts aren’t the end all be all. I thought Jack was pretty solid in his first game back. Wouldn’t say any of those guys were trash except Timo or Mercer but that’s just the norm for those guys this year.

Looked pretty close to what I saw

You do realize that GameScore takes into account goals against, right? And that Vitek's trash play is showing up all over those stat lines? Some of those players did indeed play poorly, but just posting a graph like this and being like 'these guys were bad' is some real garbage.

The chart breaks out offense and defense separately. Go ahead and throw out the defensive figures because I agree with your point. The offensive side is still just trash.

 

[Devils731]

The number of times the Devils had time and space in the defensive zone last night and couldn’t even come close to having a reasonable option on where to move the puck was ridiculous.

 

[Call Me Al]

The number of times the Devils had time and space in the defensive zone last night and couldn’t even come close to having a reasonable option on where to move the puck was ridiculous.

i don’t think i’ve ever seen a team flip the puck out of zone aimlessly or towards a streaking player hoping for a miracle as much as this team

it almost feels like it’s part of some dumb breakout strategy rather than moving the puck with short quick passes

 

[guitarguyvic]

we are literally playing one of the worst goalies in the league the goalies that are available are absolutely literally better then him that is without a question. so the question is are the goalies available worth a late first and a prospect. if you and fitz dont think so then good lord wait til you see the ask for a top notch goalie lol

to the first bolded part you absolutely did ask me a question on the other gms not making a move lol. you ask i answered

but enough with the goalie talk you said what you think i said what i think it wont change it

The goalies available being worth a late first and a prospect depends on several more factors which you very conveniently never give any thought to. What level of prospect? How old is the goalie in question, how many years left on the contract, what’s the AAV? For example, an inconsistent statistically average goalie at the tail end of his career that is only signed for another year is not worth a first and a prospect.

But anyway, I’m not going back and forth any further with someone who apparently doesn’t know the difference between a question and a statement.

 

[forceten]

The number of times the Devils had time and space in the defensive zone last night and couldn’t even come close to having a reasonable option on where to move the puck was ridiculous.

VERY MUCH THIS. Unnecessary giveaways by just hot potatoing the puck up the boards or worse in the middle of the ice. Especially when the puck handler had time to make a play. Nobody at the points - I feel like when we're in the O zone, we're not at the points or on the side boards when the other team tries to clear and they clear on our offense super easily, but we struggle to clear.

There's a lot wrong with how this team is playing. I'd fire the entire coaching staff I guess. I am so frustrated and I can't imagine that the front office is pleased with this poor effort, poor execution, and insipid results.

 

[longislanddevil]

I don’t know how the goalie coach hasn’t been fired. And in a heinous, embarrassing way.

Like Fitz screaming “YUUUUUUUURRRRR Fiiiiiiiiiiiirrrddddd” Vince McMahon style and live-streaming it on the Devils YouTube channel.

People keep calling for Ruff to be fired, but Rogalski should not outlast him on this staff.

There needs to be a clean sweep of all things goalie in this organization after this year.

Rogalski fired, Vitek sent away, I’m really down on Marty and Clemmensen right now, who are the most higher ups on all things goalie totem pole of this organization.

It would be fine to start the clean sweep immediately by firing/waiving somebody tomorrow.

If that scumbag McMahon was our GM, Mcleod would be his favorite player.

I wonder if he would name his sex toys off the players’ names like he did with the wrestlers.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Without excusing Vanicek, I have to also note our poor defense on at least 3 of the bad goals. On the goal by Rooney (I think it was Rooney but could have been Kuzmenko), I think it was Bahl who was right there with the shooter but a step late and didn’t tie up his stick. He’s got to be better than that. Take the shot away. On the final goal, very similar soft play by Marino I think. He’s right there and boxing the forward out. Don’t let him handle that puck clean. Marino is consistently weak defending the crease. On the Flames first goal we have two players chasing into the far corner yet we let the puck cross the ice behind the net and change the side of attack. We could have killed that play.

Our D was consistently in a soft shell and not decisively shutting down plays and tying up shooters. Any one of those defensive players makes a better play and we are a lot better off.

We deserved a better result last night. What did we have nearly 40 shots? That’s always a good sign from this team. When we are playing well we should be generating a lot of shots.

I also liked how we kept coming back last night from 2 goals down. We showed a lot of fight. Hopefully this is the kind of unrewarded good effort that precedes some wins.

 

[Triumph]

The chart breaks out offense and defense separately. Go ahead and throw out the defensive figures because I agree with your point. The offensive side is still just trash.

The Devils had 3.4 xGF last night in a game where they had 2 power plays. That's not bad at all.

 

[guitarguyvic]

It's not unheard of but it's rare. Rare enough that I'm not going to hold it over Fitz's head as some proof of him being a bad GM. I'm not a fan of Ruff, but Jesus Christ the way some people talk about him you'd think he's 2010-11 John MacLean and the most obvious solution in the world was to tell him to take a hike and give Brunette the job. Never mind having a starting goaltender who has zero f***ing clue where the puck is half the time and has the rebound control of a bouncy castle. But oh, that's right the system is to blame for that. We can't expect a goalie to not consistently shit his pants behind it.

He doesn’t have to be John Maclean bad. The point is that we should be raising standards and it’s been very clear almost from the beginning that Lindy isn’t the guy who’s going to take this team to the next level. What made Maclean one of the worst coaches ever is he had no system. Lindy has a system but it’s simply way too high risk to sustain a high rate of winning at the NHL level.

It’s a rare scenario, but nonetheless obvious. He should have moved on.

 

[Blackjack]

The Devils had 3.4 xGF last night in a game where they had 2 power plays. That's not bad at all.

In a game where they were chasing for most of it, and again, against a bad team.

And again, almost all of that offense was coming from that one line.

 

[Devils Trap]

The goalies available being worth a late first and a prospect depends on several more factors which you very conveniently never give any thought to. What level of prospect? How old is the goalie in question, how many years left on the contract, what’s the AAV? For example, an inconsistent statistically average goalie at the tail end of his career that is only signed for another year is not worth a first and a prospect.

But anyway, I’m not going back and forth any further with someone who apparently doesn’t know the difference between a question and a statement.

You are fighting a losing battle. He told me last night he doesn’t care who the goalie is, give up Casey and a 1st cause it’s an improvement on what we have.

Thank god our GM isn’t so irrational.

 

[Camille the Eel]

In a game where they were chasing for most of it, and again, against a bad team.

And again, almost all of that offense was coming from that one line.

What makes you think the Flames are bad? They are above 500. A similar record to ours. This wasn’t a trash team that beat us last night. On the contrary they played a good game and made less mistakes than we did.

 

[Call Me Al]

What makes you think the Flames are bad? They are above 500. A similar record to ours. This wasn’t a trash team that beat us last night. On the contrary they played a good game and made less mistakes than we did.

what makes you think the devils aren’t bad?

 

[JrFischer54]

The goalies available being worth a late first and a prospect depends on several more factors which you very conveniently never give any thought to. What level of prospect? How old is the goalie in question, how many years left on the contract, what’s the AAV? For example, an inconsistent statistically average goalie at the tail end of his career that is only signed for another year is not worth a first and a prospect.

But anyway, I’m not going back and forth any further with someone who apparently doesn’t know the difference between a question and a statement.

when you end a question with a ? it seemed like a question that needed to be answered.

tisk tisk tisk i already said that brother! #lastword

You are fighting a losing battle. He told me last night he doesn’t care who the goalie is, give up Casey and a 1st cause it’s an improvement on what we have.

Thank god our GM isn’t so irrational.

no i didn't say i didn't care who the goalie is for that package. come on now

 

[Blackjack]

What makes you think the Flames are bad? They are above 500. A similar record to ours. This wasn’t a trash team that beat us last night. On the contrary they played a good game and made less mistakes than we did.

See, this. THIS right here is what drives me f***ing crazy with the overtime points system.

It intentionally inflates point totals and distorts W/L records.

Neither the Flames nor the Devils are “above .500” in any meaningful way. Last year there were 1312 regular season games and 2926 points handed out. That means the average points earned was 91.4. The median was 92.5. NOT 82.

NJ has the 19th best record this season, and Calgary has 21. They are both BAD hockey teams and well below .500

 

[guitarguyvic]

when you end a question with a ? it seemed like a question that needed to be answered.

tisk tisk tisk i already said that brother! #lastword



no i didn't say i didn't care who the goalie is for that package. come on now

Oh now periods look like question marks to you huh.

Ah yes now we start the trolling as is customary when you get challenged on your statements.

 

[Bleedred]

f*** all the Vitek sympathy

I can’t believe we have people in here bitching about anything but him after last night.

It’s exactly like I said it would be.

A million posts about firing Ruff and Timo sucks.

The defense sucks, this guy sucks, that guy sucks.

How about three soft goals?

Also, f*** the arena MC for drumming up a Vitek chant after he made a save on a f***in point shot in the 1st period.

That’s even stupider than the 9th place ribbon on the wall of Gaylord.

 

[JrFischer54]

It's not challenging...the several other GM's who also haven't made a move are all being dumb too? That's your position?

bruh trolling? stop no more please

 

[NjDevsRR]

The Devils have one more win than losses. So over 500

 

[Bleedred]

f*** Vitek

How about the Devils YouTube stream his public waiving today?

And they can do it in the arena. And their puppet MC can play the sound clip again, with canned chants of

“YOU’RE WAIVED! *clap clap* YOU’RE WAiVED! *clap clap”.

And then you can even invite the media down there and make sure they stick their microphones in his face as soon as it happens, so he finally has to answer questions.

 

[Bcap88]

Vitek not only gives up soft goals he gives up deflating momentum killing goals.

Devils go into the period 1-0 at the end of the first that’s a completely different game. Hell even if they go into the third 1-1 that’s a completely different game as opposed
To chasing half the game wondering if your soft as goalie is going to give up the third goal before you can get the second

Or he goes in an abysmal 5 minutes of player where he gives up 3

95 percent of his problem is rebound control

 

[JrFischer54]

f*** Vitek

How about the Devils YouTube stream his public waiving today?

And they can do it in the arena. And their puppet MC can play the sound clip again, with canned chants of

“YOU’RE WAIVED! *clap clap* YOU’RE WAiVED! *clap clap”.

And then you can even invite the media down there and make sure they stick their microphones in his face as soon as it happens, so he finally has to answer questions.

do fans boo this guy when they announce hes the starter? maybe they should start giving him the sarcastic cheers for the easy saves

 

[MartyOwns]

The only thing I can legitimately blame Fitzgerald & co for is not drafting Askarov with the #7 overall pick in the 2020 draft. We knew at that point we had no real NHL 1A goalies in the system, and we knew that he would not make it to #18 where we were picking again. We got Mercer at #18. If we ended up with Askarov, Mercer, Mukhamadullin (who becomes Meier) in that first round, we'd be in a better position today. But we went Holtz and the thinking probably was his shot was too good to pass up when Hughes was still seen as a playmaker. We did take Daws that draft, but by then 3-4 other goalies were taken (Blomqvist looks like he might be a good one from that list).

Vanacek was a good attempt. Young, was behind another goalie in Washington, Washington wanted to re-do their goalies completely, and we grabbed him relatively cheaply (3rd rounder) asset-wise and hoped he could be the guy. And last year his play was absolutely fine until the playoffs.

Can someone who is on the cesspool formerly known as Twitter tweet Novo repeatedly and have him ask the team - Ruff, Fitzgerald, the janitor, whoever - about Rogalski and why we haven't tried changing the goaltending coach after playing 10 different goalies in 3 years to the exact same results? Wouldn't that be better and an immediate option than trying to make a blockbuster trade, trying the same thing over and over, firing the head coach, etc.?

one of the hilarious things about this board is the (legitimate) griping about our goalies contrasted with the unwillingness to draft one in the first round. mind boggling

 

[Bleedred]

You know what?

I’m wrong.

How about we just fire Ruff, then we just keep Vitek (and Rogalski) here for the new coach to keep using?

I’m sure things will get better and Vitek won’t give up 40 footers or dead angle goals and shots at the side of his post or dick tricklers and goals from shots that come out of his glove once this trash system is replaced with another one. Those types of shots only happen in Ruff’s system or maybe some of the other very worst defensive systems.