Devils 2017-18 team discussion (player news and notes) V - Trade Deadline Madness

[Bcap88]

I think jim is just mad that vat’s pushed severson down to second pairing

 

[Bleedred]

Zajac was listed at 205-210 in college, so he's actually leaner now than he was back then. Also, his bad haircuts have apparently always been a thing.

Yikes! I can see the more fullness in his face. He was listed at 210 just a few years ago. I didn't realize he was 185 until someone posted it on here and said the strength and conditioning coach should be fired for not having him build some muscle haha. I actually thought it was a mistake, but here we are a couple years later and he's listed at 185.

I really wonder why he would lose 20-25 pounds around 30 years old, when he wasn't really that big to begin with? The only thing that I can think of is to get quicker.

 

[MadDevil]

The game is faster than ever and there's not as much grinding it out along the boards, so he probably decided to get lighter and quicker. I think other players around the league have done it too. Zajac just needs to take it easier with his offseason workouts. The only two major injuries he's had weren't even during the actual season.

 

[JimEIV]

Hmmm...this sounds exactly like Keith Kinkaid, who pretty much sucked up until about a month ago. Maybe we should use the totality of the season rather than selective sample sizes to judge players?

Except that is another of the many false narratives of this board...look up the game logs they are your friend..

Keith Kinkaid 2017-18 Game Log | Hockey-Reference.com

October Keith got 4 starts 3-1 with a .910 Sv%

November 2-0-1 .903 sv%

December 0-2 .848% .

January 3-1-1 .908%

February 7-4 .909 SV%

March 3-1 .921 Sv%

Keith never sucked. It is a bull shit made up narrative. Completely made up. A HF special - made up nonsense that gets regurgitated until it is just accepted as truth

 

[Triumph]

Except that is another of the many false narratives of this board...look up the game logs they are your friend..

Keith Kinkaid 2017-18 Game Log | Hockey-Reference.com

October Keith got 4 starts 3-1 with a .910 Sv%

November 2-0-1 .903 sv%

December 0-2 .848% .

January 3-1-1 .908%

February 7-4 .909 SV%

March 3-1 .921 Sv%

Keith never sucked. It is a bull **** made up narrative. Completely made up.

Having two games in December where Kinkaid stopped fewer than 6 out of 7 shots tanked his SV% and it's part of why even now his season SV% is worse than Schneider's.

 

[JimEIV]

Having two games in December where Kinkaid stopped fewer than 6 out of 7 shots tanked his SV% and it's part of why even now his season SV% is worse than Schneider's.

He got hurt in one of those games and had to leave early.

 

[NJDevs26]

Having two games in December where Kinkaid stopped fewer than 6 out of 7 shots tanked his SV% and it's part of why even now his season SV% is worse than Schneider's.

He had a lot more than two bad games before February. Twelve of his first nineteen starts he had below a .890 save percentage including four in a row in February and fourteen of those games he gave up 3+ goals before this latest ten-game surge where he's been a quality goalie. It has been a tale of two seasons for Keith, let's not pass it off as just a couple of bad games skewing the numbers early.

 

[JimEIV]

He had a lot more than two bad games before February. Twelve of his first nineteen starts he had below a .890 save percentage including four in a row in February and fourteen of those games he gave up 3+ goals before this latest ten-game surge where he's been a quality goalie. It has been a tale of two seasons for Keith, let's not pass it off as just a couple of bad games skewing the numbers early.

This is not right. At least not according to hockey references game logs.

He was under a .900 10 of his first 20 games.

In his first 20 games he was 10-7-2 with a .892 Save % .


It is also important to note that 20 of Keith's games takes us all the way to February 10th. So if it is a tale of two Keith's the story is more about starts...hes been winning the entire time though.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

I think jim is just mad that vat’s pushed severson down to second pairing

Without the acquisition of Vatanen, this team wouldn't be fighting for a playoff spot cause we'd have Severson playing top minutes and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

 

[JimEIV]

Yikes! I can see the more fullness in his face. He was listed at 210 just a few years ago. I didn't realize he was 185 until someone posted it on here and said the strength and conditioning coach should be fired for not having him build some muscle haha. I actually thought it was a mistake, but here we are a couple years later and he's listed at 185.

I really wonder why he would lose 20-25 pounds around 30 years old, when he wasn't really that big to begin with? The only thing that I can think of is to get quicker.

I would say that is a direct response to coaches wanting faster. That's probably a bigger comment on Zajac's commitment and professionalism to do what it takes to meet the requirements of the NHL.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Without the acquisition of Vatanen, this team wouldn't be fighting for a playoff spot cause we'd have Severson playing top minutes and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

You’re aware that Andy Greene plays top pairing minutes on this team, right? Severson hasn’t been close to a liability this season. He has been one of our best players.

 

[NJDevs26]

This is not right. At least not according to hockey references game logs.

He was under a .900 10 of his first 20 games.

1	2017-10-14	1	28-102	NJD	@	NYR	W	W	2	31	29	.935	0	0	60:00
2	2017-10-19	2	28-107	NJD	@	OTT	W	W	0	9	9	1.000	0	0	21:19
3	2017-10-20	3	28-108	NJD		SJS	L	L	3	33	30	.909	0	0	59:46
4	2017-10-27	4	28-115	NJD		OTT	W	W	4	27	23	.852	0	0	65:00
5	2017-11-05	5	28-124	NJD	@	CGY	L-SO	O	4	34	30	.882	0	0	65:00
6	2017-11-12	6	28-131	NJD	@	CHI	W	W	5	44	39	.886	0	0	60:00
7	2017-11-18	7	28-137	NJD	@	WPG	L		0	12	12	1.000	0	0	20:00
8	2017-11-25	8	28-144	NJD	@	DET	W	W	3	34	31	.912	0	0	62:32
9	2017-12-02	9	28-151	NJD	@	ARI	L	L	5	27	22	.815	0	0	60:00
10	2017-12-09	10	28-158	NJD	@	NYR	L	L	5	39	34	.872	0	0	60:00
11	2018-01-02	11	28-182	NJD	@	STL	L-SO	O	2	29	27	.931	0	0	65:00
12	2018-01-16	12	28-196	NJD	@	NYI	W	W	1	26	25	.962	0	0	60:00
13	2018-01-18	13	28-198	NJD		WSH	W	W	3	19	16	.842	0	0	60:27
14	2018-01-20	14	28-200	NJD	@	PHI	L	L	3	7	4	.571	0	0	12:15
15	2018-01-30	15	28-210	NJD	@	BUF	W	W	1	28	27	.964	0	0	60:00
16	2018-02-01	16	28-212	NJD		PHI	W	W	3	25	22	.880	0	0	60:00
17	2018-02-03	17	28-214	NJD		PIT	W	W	1	16	15	.938	0	0	60:00
18	2018-02-06	18	28-217	NJD	@	OTT	L	L	4	20	16	.800	0	0	28:40
19	2018-02-08	19	28-219	NJD		CGY	L	L	3	25	22	.880	0	0	58:47
20	2018-02-10	20	28-221	NJD	@	CBJ	L	L	6	50	44	.880	0	0	60:00
Rk	Date	G	Age	Tm	Opp	DEC	GA	SA	SV	SV%	SO	PIM	TOI
21	2018-02-13	21	28-224	NJD	@	PHI	W	W	4	35	31	.886	0	0	64:52

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

That's 12 out of 19 starts below an .890 from Hockey Reference...the Ottawa win and Winnipeg appearance were relief efforts. The 1/20 Flyer game was the early hook.

 

[JimEIV]

Without the acquisition of Vatanen, this team wouldn't be fighting for a playoff spot cause we'd have Severson playing top minutes and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

Severson wasn't in that spot before Vatanen got here....

Their best stretch of the year in terms of wins/losses has been with Santini on the top pair.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

You’re aware that Andy Greene plays top pairing minutes on this team, right? Severson hasn’t been close to a liability this season. He has been one of our best players.

Yeah, I'm aware that Greene can't handle top line minutes anymore and it's a blessing that we were able to find someone that would help him out on the right side because having Greene AND Severson/Santini on our top line would've sunk us, HARD.

Again, your love for a guy that is either good or below mediocre is astonishing. Potential is one thing but to say that he's been one of best players is just laughable. The guy has as many deflected goals in his own net then assists!

He's been playing like a #4 cause that's what he is ATM.

 

[JimEIV]

Yeah, I'm aware that Greene can't handle top line minutes anymore and it's a blessing that we were able to find someone that would help him out on the right side because having Greene AND Severson/Santini on our top line would've sunk us, HARD.

Again, your love for a guy that is either good or below mediocre is astonishing. Potential is one thing but to say that he's been one of best players is just laughable. The guy has as many deflected goals in his own net then assists!

He's been playing like a #4 cause that's what he is ATM.

Again, Severson wasn't used there before Vatanen got here so what are you talking about.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

Again, Severson wasn't used there before Vatanen got here so what are you talking about.

I'm saying that as the season moves forward, games are becoming tighter and having a Greene/Severson 1st pairing would've sunk us because Greene is a liability and Severson is lost more often then not in his own zone.

How hard is that to understand?

Edit: I'm just happy we were able to get a legit #2 in Vatanen because he's playing real well and I'd say he's been our 2nd best player after Hall in the last month+. Take away his first 10 games and he's on pace for 56 pts since!

 

[britdevil]

The mental gymnastics you guys go through to prove your point, really is absurd.

We're talking about players on the same damn team. I'm super glad we have both/all of them.

 

[NJDevs26]

Severson never being used there should also tell you something when they put a rookie Santini in that spot over him, and then after he fell down the elevator shaft to the AHL it was Vatanen. But if we didn't trade for Vatanen it would have eventually been Severson or (gak) Lovejoy back on the top pairing.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Yeah, I'm aware that Greene can't handle top line minutes anymore and it's a blessing that we were able to find someone that would help him out on the right side because having Greene AND Severson/Santini on our top line would've sunk us, HARD.

Again, your love for a guy that is either good or below mediocre is astonishing. Potential is one thing but to say that he's been one of best players is just laughable. The guy has as many deflected goals in his own net then assists!

He's been playing like a #4 cause that's what he is ATM.

You really don’t really know what you’re talking about at all. It’s hilarous. Severson has been very good all year and hasn’t deserved much criticism at all outside a couple bad games which is completely understandable for a 23 year old. On the list of reasons why our team isn’t great, he’s towards the very very bottom. He’s an excellent player now and will only get better, sorry you’re stuck in some alternate reality where the 23 year old is an issue on this team.

 

[NjDevsRR]

He was under a .900 10 of his first 20 games.

In his first 20 games he was 10-7-2 with a .892 Save % ..

Dude, you just showed how f***ing terrible Keith was in his first half, wins be damned those are laughable numbers for an NHL goalie and you are telling people about false narratives...

892 save percentage ta loco 892....

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Severson never being used there should also tell you something when they put a rookie Santini in that spot over him, and then after he fell down the elevator shaft to the AHL it was Vatanen.

It tells me that he’s best deployed in a role where he can drive offense. Being next to Moore or Butcher makes more sense. People will harp about his mediocre production, but that isn’t how you judge a defenseman creates offense. But even using those stats, Severson has 9 goals and 9 assists at even strength, Vatanen has 3 goals and 13 assists at even strength.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

You really don’t really know what you’re talking about at all. It’s hilarous. Severson has been very good all year and hasn’t deserved much criticism at all outside a couple bad games which is completely understandable for a 23 year old. On the list of reasons why our team isn’t great, he’s towards the very very bottom. He’s an excellent player now and will only get better, sorry you’re stuck in some alternate reality where the 23 year old is an issue on this team.

Lol... relax their buddy.

I've said this a million times, the kid has upside but to call him one of our best players all year is dodging reality because he hasn't. Playing in his own zone is pretty important for a blueliner and he hasn't grasped that part yet but it'll come with time and as for his offence, he's been average as well.

Scoring 10 goals is great but for someone who's being tagged with a great first pass, 10 assists is a joke.

I'll say it again so it makes you feel comfortable, he has upside but he has a lot of issues to fix before calling him "one of our best players".

 

[RSeen]

Who has been better than Severson other than Vatenen? Greene's performance hasn't been great and part of that is absolutely that he is playing too tough competition but I really do not see an argument for anyone including him.

 

[NJDevs26]

Who has been better than Severson other than Vatenen? Greene's performance hasn't been great and part of that is absolutely that he is playing too tough competition but I really do not see an argument for anyone including him.

lol that's a fair point and part of why I don't really buy the narrative on the D being above average in general. Certainly improved from last season adding Vat (plus Butcher who's been fine on the back pairing at least) but definitely a long way to go still when you have one recent add who looks like a top pairing guy and a huge dropoff after. Maybe the first 20-30 games I'd have said Moore would be above Sevs but he's fallen off again.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Lol... relax their buddy.

I've said this a million times, the kid has upside but to call him one of our best players all year is dodging reality because he hasn't. Playing in his own zone is pretty important for a blueliner and he hasn't grasped that part yet but it'll come with time and as for his offence, he's been average as well.

Scoring 10 goals is great but for someone who's being tagged with a great first pass, 10 assists is a joke.

I'll say it again so it makes you feel comfortable, he has upside but he has a lot of issues to fix before calling him "one of our best players".

There is no statistical argument that he hasn’t been good, we’ve already been over this.