Devils 2017-18 team discussion (player news and notes) III

[Bleedred]

Well they have a choice but it's not exactly an ideal one. For whatever other problems I had with Brent Sutter, he wasted very little time bypassing the 'proven' Kevin Weekes for Clemmensen when he saw Clemmensen was playing better. I hope Hynes does the same if it turns out the AHL guy is the better option.

One of the really good things that Hynes did personnel-wise a few years ago, was he said ''ENOUGH IS f***ING ENOUGH!'' and yanked Kinkaid and made the call up to Wedgewood.

Now Wedgewood really is not better than Kinkaid, but he sure as hell masqueraded as being better than him for that week. Obviously he was playing way above his head, but Hynes didn't waste much time at that point. This is not the first year Kinkaid has been lousy, it was happening that year too, though he's been even worse this year.

I was all for re-signing him, but now I'm starting to think we need to bury him next year and get a better backup. Especially if Cory isn't what he once was as far as efficiency goes. If Cory is only gonna give us solid/slightly above average/average goaltending from here on out, we need a better backup option for next year. And right now I think Kinkaid is playing for his NHL career. I have no doubt that it's on life support right now. And if he doesn't deliver, I think we're gonna see Shero sign a better backup.

Hynes has already publicly critiqued his goalies and honestly? That's one thing that I can't blame him on and I'm not even a Hynes supporter, but the goalies are making him look worse than he probably is right now.

 

[MadDevil]

Should have kept Wedge.







I figured I'd beat DD to it since he'll inevitably mention it again.

 

[Bleedred]

Should have kept Wedge.







I figured I'd beat DD to it since he'll inevitably mention it again.

I honestly think Wedgewood is probably worse than Kinkaid. Said it before, still maintain it.

His ceiling is higher, but let’s be honest, he’s only had one really good pro season. That ceiling is probably still on the floor and it might have even gone through the floor.

 

[NJDevs26]

The Wedge/KK 'debate' is HF-invented. No GM with a brain would have chosen to make Wedge the backup after last year where he was hurt most of the season and had four games of experience at the NHL level while KK had his second good year out of three at the NHL level.

 

[Bleedred]

The Wedge/KK 'debate' is HF-invented. No GM with a brain would have chosen to make Wedge the backup after last year where he was hurt most of the season and had four games of experience at the NHL level while KK had his second good year out of three at the NHL level.

And this is exactly why I was a proponent of re-signing Kinkaid last year and not giving Wedgewood the backup position on the NHL team.

I was for signing Kinkaid after last year, but it’s starting to look like it might not work out. One of the reasons that it’s not working out is also because it’s looking like Cory’s reliability may be in question over the last two years. The Cory of 2015-2016 and earlier was good enough to be able to get away with questionable backup goaltending, but I’m not sure the current Cory is.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

What would folks think about putting Johansson with Bratt and Hischier - and on the flipside have Hall get Zacha and Palmieri going on the second line (or first however the TOI works out).?

I think Johansson and Bratt have good chemistry and Hischier is fine as always it seems. Even when the kid isnt scoring he is doing things right and well.

 

[Smitty426]

What would folks think about putting Johansson with Bratt and Hischier - and on the flipside have Hall get Zacha and Palmieri going on the second line (or first however the TOI works out).?

I think Johansson and Bratt have good chemistry and Hischier is fine as always it seems. Even when the kid isn't scoring he is doing things right and well.

Its not a bad thought, mojo had better line mates in Wash, being dragged down a little? Zacha needs the continued praise to bring him out more to where he was drafted. I would keep TZ away from all of these guys, they need to fly and that just ain't Travis (who has his place on this team)

 

[Emperoreddy]

What would folks think about putting Johansson with Bratt and Hischier - and on the flipside have Hall get Zacha and Palmieri going on the second line (or first however the TOI works out).?

I think Johansson and Bratt have good chemistry and Hischier is fine as always it seems. Even when the kid isnt scoring he is doing things right and well.

Wouldn’t do it at all. Breaking up the top line is foolishness.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Wouldn’t do it at all. Breaking up the top line is foolishness.

To be fair - Bratt and Johansson had that 5-pt and 4-pt night respectively, IIRC. And they were moved off of that line next game.

I get keeping the top line together but at least be consistent with it throughout the lineup if guys are playing well. Zacha and Wood had a good few games before the break and then were moved away from each other. I dont see the logic behind it.

 

[Emperoreddy]

To be fair - Bratt and Johansson had that 5-pt and 4-pt night respectively, IIRC. And they were moved off of that line next game.

I get keeping the top line together but at least be consistent with it throughout the lineup if guys are playing well. Zacha and Wood had a good few games before the break and then were moved away from each other. I dont see the logic behind it.

Zacha and Wood were only broken up because Hall got hurt. They have been together for weeks.

 

[The 29th Pick]

I honestly think Wedgewood is probably worse than Kinkaid. Said it before, still maintain it.

His ceiling is higher, but let’s be honest, he’s only had one really good pro season. That ceiling is probably still on the floor and it might have even gone through the floor.

he's not doing well in Arizona, but not to many goalies would be on that team I guess

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Should have kept Wedge.







I figured I'd beat DD to it since he'll inevitably mention it again.

I bet DD hasn't looked at Wedgewood's numbers in awhile because they are horrendous

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

I bet DD hasn't looked at Wedgewood's numbers in awhile because they are horrendous

Or he has, and that's why we haven't heard Wedge's name in a while.

 

[Bleedred]

he's not doing well in Arizona, but not to many goalies would be on that team I guess

Raanta has actually been pretty good there. Quite a bit better than I thought he’d be, as backups almost always regress from their backup numbers when becoming a starter. He’s playing identical to how he did as the Rangers backup. He has only played 28 games, due to injuries early on, so maybe he’ll regress if he winds up playing 50 games.

 

[MartyOwns]

Speaking of the Flyers, you know what annoys me about the (and I know we're down to only like 3 people at this point) Kinkaid sympathizers?

They're fans of the same team that had Marty Brodeur. I really expect better from people who watched Marty for so long than to think this type of goaltending is satisfactory. It's not satisfactory, not even close.

I could see if we were fans of a team like the Flyers, that have went bumping around from journeyman to journeyman goaltender every few years, with not even a steady number 1 goalie for most of our lifespan, but this is the team that Brodeur played on for so many years, and this is why I'm a snob when it comes to this stuff and many others in our fanbase also are. So when we see a TRASH goaltender like Kinkaid has been this year and for 2 of the 4 years in his career, we see something off about that. It would be one thing if 1988 Sean Burke was the best goaltender in the history of the organization or if Chris Terreri was the best we saw in our lifetimes, but they weren't.

And in all honesty, the goaltending we've seen from Kinkaid this year is on par with the goaltending that we got from most of the non-Brodeur goalies in the organization between 1996 and 2008, sans a combined 20 starts from Clemmensen, Schwab and Beezer in the early 00's and maybe Mike Dunham in the late 90's. A few more stinkers and Kinkaid is approaching 2013 Hedberg. His NHL career is on the line right now and I really think if he stinks up the joint again, Hynes is not gonna waste much time to super gluing him to the bench and trying out Appleby or Lack, depending on how long Cory's injury is.

what on earth? come on, man lol. the people that feel kinkaid is an average goalie who is keeping our head above water and somehow maintaining (for now) a winning record befuddle you because we had one of the greatest goalies of all time on our team at one point? i'm willing to bet that compared to brodeur, all current and future goalies will be dog ****. go into the zacha thread and say how disappointing he's been since we had the privilege of watching alexander mogilny

 

[Nubmer6]

What would folks think about putting Johansson with Bratt and Hischier - and on the flipside have Hall get Zacha and Palmieri going on the second line (or first however the TOI works out).?

I think Johansson and Bratt have good chemistry and Hischier is fine as always it seems. Even when the kid isnt scoring he is doing things right and well.

I actually think I posted those lines twice. I'd really like to find a way to get two lines going.

 

[MartyOwns]

I actually think I posted those lines twice. I'd really like to find a way to get two lines going.

has zacha ever played with hall? I thought they did, with poor results, but I could be wrong. regardless, I’d be open to those lines too. we need palms to get going here and have a really strong finish to the season. hopefully the rest helped, I doubt he’s been playing at 100%

 

[Better Call Sal]

has zacha ever played with hall? I thought they did, with poor results, but I could be wrong. regardless, I’d be open to those lines too. we need palms to get going here and have a really strong finish to the season. hopefully the rest helped, I doubt he’s been playing at 100%

They started the season out with Zacha on the top line with Hall. Not sure when he was taken off the top line, but other than his 2 goal game in Toronto, Zacha didn't register a point until late October when he was playing with Gibbons and Hayes if I remember correctly.

Definitely agree on Palms, I don't think he's been 100% all season. Hope the rest did him some good.

 

[BenedictGomez]

So I just got one of these over the weekend, successfully hooked it up to my WiFi, and I'm pretty excited to see it work tonight.

Hopefully the Devils dont get shut out.

 

[njdevil26]

So I just got one of these over the weekend, successfully hooked it up to my WiFi, and I'm pretty excited to see it work tonight.

Hopefully the Devils dont get shut out.

Nice! I want to get one of those. I actually have the Budweiser Goal Pint Glasses haha. No horn.. but they light up like a goal light.

 

[JrFischer54]

i honestly would've kept wedge over kinkaid also. or at the very least looked elsewhere to get a somewhat capable nhl backup as opposed to kinkaid. you can throw any type of stats out there saying kinkaid is more then qualified nhl backup i don't care. he is bad and its a shame hes on the team IMO.

yes wedge has horrible numbers but lets be honest hes on one of the worse teams in the nhl. you guys constantly give cory passes when the defense gives up a ton of chances here. so why doesn't the same apply to the yotes and wedge? also keep in mind he was traded in season.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Kinkaid isn't good

Wedgewood isn't good either

/fin

 

[Azathoth]

So I just got one of these over the weekend, successfully hooked it up to my WiFi, and I'm pretty excited to see it work tonight.

Hopefully the Devils dont get shut out.

You know you just jinxed them right?

 

[Darkauron]

Kinkaid isn't good

Wedgewood isn't good either

/fin

Quoted for the TRUTH

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Is there a chance Santini is on the move for a forward?

I wonder why he is in Hynes’ doghouse - I also think, while they are different styles of player, management prefers Mueller over Santini. I think Shero and Hynes see him as the future top 4 to replace Greene and drop him to bottom pair.

My problem is we have too many LHD whereas Santini is a RD. Can Butcher or Mueller play RD? Also Santini seems like the team’s only defensive d for the future thus far.

I dont know what to think about the defense. It surely has promise but with the allure of some of the FA prospects on D the next two off seasons - I wonder what happens