GDT: #4 - SJ @ NJ - Revenge of the Swedes

[AfroThunder396]

I don't get the Kalinin hate. I didn't think he looked bad. Not amazing either but he is still adjusted to new country. Etc.

I don't think seems like some of the hate is over the top.

He's new, he's Russian, he's not the offensive savior, and he's not a "kid" (even though 24 is far from old). It makes sense to me he's a lightning rod for hate.

 

[Devils Dominion]

I'm sure we tired out the Sharks for NYb tonight.

Seems like NYb plays our opponents the next night.

 

[Balance]

Kalinin is better than Josefson.

One is a undrafted Russian and the other is our former 1st rounder. It's funny that in the NHL you get so many more chances just because your a former first rounder.

 

[Brick City]

You're preaching to the choir.

I'd extend 4x4 to a full 10 minutes, which would take approximately the same amount of time as previous 4x4 + Shootout.

If it's still tied after 10 minutes of 4x4, the game ends in a tie, JUST LIKE IT DID FOR MOST ALL OF HOCKEY'S HISTORY, and you end these farcical gimmicks.

I never understood the "ties dont sit well with people" nonsense. Oh really? Like in Soccer, the biggest sport on the entire planet that dwarfs all others?
I always felt the "ties dont sit well with people" thing was completely the invention of marketers who wanted shootouts in the first place.

I would also extend the OT to 10 minutes (not sure what format, actually liked the 3 on 3 but it's one game), but then after that definitely a shootout. Count me as the stereotypical American who hates ties. The soccer comparison is misplaced - it is not remotely as popular here as the rest of the planet. And yes I know the NFL has them but they are exceedingly rare.

The NHL might have allowed them for decades but they have also been the least popular sport for decades. Ties were properly dispensed with and doubt they will ever return. Besides, outside forums like these, it seems in game crowds and casual fans actually like the SO. Certainly could be wrong, but I do not think HF is representative on this one.

 

[Balance]

My gf was shocked how empty it was on a Friday night.

If wins dont start coming (and why would they), I think you're going to see Stubhub prices start to crash for most games. As in, $10, $12, $15 ticket prices, etc..

The best possible and most fair system would be :

3 points for regulation win
2 points for shootout/OT
1 point for shootout/OT loss.

So make OT have whatever, 3 on 3, 4 on 4, 2 on 2, whatever. However, don't equate the value of an OT win as much as a regulation win. First, you will see a lot less OT games. Teams won't be content as they are not to just make it to OT and get the extra point, next you'll increase the competitiveness of the game during the 60 minutes. Finally, you measure which teams are the best and most ready for the playoffs, not the teams who could earn extra points by losing.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I don't see much point in complaining about Kalinin. He hasn't looked great (but I didn't expect him to), but to me, he also hasn't been terrible. There are obviously still things he needs to learn about smaller rinks and about the Devils' system but I think the fact that he is adjusting to a new place with a different culture and language should give him a grace period of more than a handful of games before we declare him useless. He hasn't seemed extremely out of place to me, so I think we should give him more time to adjust and see if he can become a steady contributor for us. There's not much to lose. If he can't do the job, we just insert another one of the fourth liners we love to complain about in his slot.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I agree. With him and Schlemko too.

Kalinin looks to be here what he was in Russia -- a bottom six forward. I feel like he has a good skill set if he can continue to improve his game. Could be a nice bottom six piece for the future, he's got great size and good skill for his size.

The goal was the fault of those two. One coughed it up behind the net and the other wasn't covering his man. If that was Gellinas who coughed up the puck it would be bloody murder on this forum. No one gets more hate than Gelly gets, what's wrong with holding them to the same standard?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Kalinin is better than Josefson.

One is a undrafted Russian and the other is our former 1st rounder. It's funny that in the NHL you get so many more chances just because your a former first rounder.

yea no, he isn't.

 

[Devilsfan992]

Kalinin is better than Josefson.

One is a undrafted Russian and the other is our former 1st rounder. It's funny that in the NHL you get so many more chances just because your a former first rounder.

They both aren't good. However Josefson is better in every other area that's not scoring.

 

[Balance]

They both aren't good. However Josefson is better in every other area that's not scoring.

Not even touting Kalinin, I think he needs to adjust but he also needs better linemates. Hynes never gives him a chance on the second line but would rather shift him on the 4th line.

Josefson has been given every opportunity to succeed. Like, I've never seen a prospect so well protected. He'll just continually be weak on the boards, weak everywhere on the ice, never put anything in the net, and the coaches will just shift the lines around for him and place him with good players every night. Gomez and Bernier, with the same opportunity, played much better than Josefson ever has. An old Gomez that lost his job to Josefson for what?

Josefson is too weak for the NHL, he will never be a successful 2nd liner. He doesn't have any type of scoring touch nor passing ability. Why does the team shoot itself in the foot for him? Because he's a 1st rounder? Look, let's get over it. Tedenby and Josefson were busts, they did not belong in the 1st round.

 

[Balance]

Just to add: You can be weak and still be pretty good in the NHL. Like Larsson is not physically strong whatsoever as a Dman, but he is so smart with his decision making. His passing is crisp and you know he gets stronger year by year. Most importantly though is he plays by his strengths.

Josefson has no strengths whatsoever. He plays like a 3rd line grinder without the physical ability to back it up. He only pulls off the same move in the shootout, and that's all the dangling you'll ever get from him.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Josefson is probably a better hockey player than Kalinin, but relative to my expectations of them, Josefson is more of a disappointment. Kalinin is an undrafted twenty-four-year-old we just brought over from Russia, so I don't expect him to ever be more than a solid contributor for us if he amounts to anything (still too early to say). In contrast, Josefson was a first rounder who often looks promising but never is able to really produce, so it feels like we've been waiting for about five seasons for him to have a breakout, and so far it just hasn't happened and seems like it might never occur. Basically, Kalinin might amount to nothing, but the expectations for him aren't what they are for Josefson. Josefson might be a better player but so far he has mostly been a disappointment relative to what might be expected from him.

 

[Balance]

The other problem I see is that nobody blames the real problems of the team. Yeah, let's blame Gionta and Kalinin. Like the 3rd and 4th line centers have anything to do with the fact that the 1st and 2nd lines do nothing on the ice whatsoever?

What about the other top line players like Zajac just doing nothing offensively season to season. Man, speaking of Zajac. His contract is awful, absolutely putrid. You can play defense, so what? Put something in the net and that will make the difference. Zajac was just carried by Parise and Kovalchuk, he can't produce anything on his own without a star player. He leached off Jagr a bit but I know the fans will sour on him when they see that he literally does nothing offensively whatsoever.

The money he makes, he should put things in the net for a change. Zajac has not hit 50 POINTS in 5 years!

____________

Whatever, this team is terrible offensively. I knew the offense would get exposed when Kovalchuk left. Jagr than came and pumped it up for a season while Schneider stood on his head so the team looked pretty good. Now without Jagr the true colors are showing.

 

[EliasFTW]

I know we lost i know we got our first point, but how did we look some what competitive?

 

[Bleedred]

Kalinin is better than Josefson.

Umm what?

 

[Devilsfan992]

I know we lost i know we got our first point, but how did we look some what competitive?

We were terrible in the first period, complete garbage. The second and third periods we were better and had good spurts. Never did I find Deboer's Sharks as an offensive dynamo, if anything I found that they were playing a more conservative game, which ended up backfiring as Henrique scored with 3 minutes left in the game.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I know we lost i know we got our first point, but how did we look some what competitive?

We had an awful first period but by the third we looked much better. Except for that one goal at the end, our PP was terrible, managing to mess up two golden 5-on-3 opportunities in a row. We saw some cause for future hope and some effort, but also a lack of desire and skill at varying points in the game.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

The other problem I see is that nobody blames the real problems of the team. Yeah, let's blame Gionta and Kalinin. Like the 3rd and 4th line centers have anything to do with the fact that the 1st and 2nd lines do nothing on the ice whatsoever?

What about the other top line players like Zajac just doing nothing offensively season to season. Man, speaking of Zajac. His contract is awful, absolutely putrid. You can play defense, so what? Put something in the net and that will make the difference. Zajac was just carried by Parise and Kovalchuk, he can't produce anything on his own without a star player. He leached off Jagr a bit but I know the fans will sour on him when they see that he literally does nothing offensively whatsoever.

The money he makes, he should put things in the net for a change. Zajac has not hit 50 POINTS in 5 years!

____________

Whatever, this team is terrible offensively. I knew the offense would get exposed when Kovalchuk left. Jagr than came and pumped it up for a season while Schneider stood on his head so the team looked pretty good. Now without Jagr the true colors are showing.

I agree with you about Zajac needing to shoulder a large chunk of the blame for the Devils' terrible performance. With the money he makes, you would expect him to be a reliable two-way center (meaning capable of contributing offensively and defensively every game), but mostly he's just a very expensive shutdown center.

Relative to the expectations associated with contract and status on this team, I found Zajac the most frustrating player on the team last year. There were other players who were worse when contract and status weren't taken into account, but the expectations for those guys aren't what they are for Zajac. Zajac's lack of production is a big reason why the Devils haven't made the playoffs these past few years. He's just been a very disappointing player; I have no problem saying that.

 

[Devilsfan992]

Something is wrong with HF right now (At least for me on Google and IE). I can't go to the last page of a thread.

 

[yehyeh]

I went to the game last night, it was a good time. We looked good in our zone, but that's about it. Our NZ entry is still terrible. I loved watching Larsson and Severson. I got my tickets upgraded from section 134 to 16 for $5 on the Devils app, which was really cool. Only lame thing was the ****** bags near by telling me to stop cheering for the Devils?? Pretty disheartening. It's not like I was being a drunk *******.

 

[The Devil In I]

Just to add: You can be weak and still be pretty good in the NHL. Like Larsson is not physically strong whatsoever as a Dman, but he is so smart with his decision making. His passing is crisp and you know he gets stronger year by year. Most importantly though is he plays by his strengths.

Josefson has no strengths whatsoever. He plays like a 3rd line grinder without the physical ability to back it up. He only pulls off the same move in the shootout, and that's all the dangling you'll ever get from him.

Not sure what qualifies as strong to you, but Larsson handles opponents pretty well along the boards. Which definitely takes strength. He's by no means a "tough" defenseman who's gonna be throwing huge hits (though either last game or the game before he demolished someone in front of the net trying to clear him out)...but he's clearly got some strength.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I know we lost i know we got our first point, but how did we look some what competitive?

Completely out played in the first.

Close to even with the Sharks in the second.

Then we outplayed them in the 3rd and OT.

Only real blemish on the 3rd period was a long PP sequence we had that included a 5 on 3 that looked just horrible.

To the team's credit they didn't let that failure stop them and they kept going and eventually tied the game.

Multiple great chances to end it in OT but just couldn't bury it.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Something I noticed was our top guys are squeezing the sticks to hard.

I thought Rico, Camm, and KPalm were doing good things to set up plays and positioning but then one would screw it up by either not being able to control the puck, errant passes, and just a bad shots.

Camm should have 5 goals already but seems off.

 

[Devils Dominion]

I went to the game last night, it was a good time. We looked good in our zone, but that's about it. Our NZ entry is still terrible. I loved watching Larsson and Severson. I got my tickets upgraded from section 134 to 16 for $5 on the Devils app, which was really cool. Only lame thing was the ****** bags near by telling me to stop cheering for the Devils?? Pretty disheartening. It's not like I was being a drunk *******.

Always cheer as loud as you want as long as you're not dropping f-bombs or other profanity laced expletives.

 

[BenedictGomez]

You're all missing the key point in relation to Kalinin.

The Devils are so bad, they're employing a mediocre KHL castaway.