Post-Game Talk: Devils beat Lightning 5-3!

[Better Call Sal]

I was really happy to see Matty on TV again yesterday and he called the game really well.

It's hard to believe he's been with the team pretty much through my entire fanhood from the late 90s to now. He's truly a nice staple for the organization. You know he loves the team, he pretty much comes out for every team sponsored event to represent them. Genuinely nice, pleasant to interact with. Him and Chico are gems.

 

[Whaddagoal]

They have one more win than us. Not sure how warranted that arrogance is.

Its kinda similar backhand slap comment like on the TB forum how it is absurd that they lost to our garbage team..

 

[Bleedred]

He’s been playing better then Severson and everyone wants to keep him. As a 3rd pair dman, Subban isn’t a liability at all. His shortcomings are way overblown.

Severson is 5 years younger than Subban.

Almost every time he’s out there we’re trapped in our end defending. That’s the eye test actually confirming what the analytics are telling us. And then he has to take a penalty sometimes just to get out of trouble.

Subban turns 33 next year. Best to let him go. What do you think he’s gonna take a million or two a year to play here? He ain’t gonna be worth much more than maybe $2.5-$3 million a year after this and that’s only a one year deal.

 

[JimEIV]

I was really happy to see Matty on TV again yesterday and he called the game really well.

It's hard to believe he's been with the team pretty much through my entire fanhood from the late 90s to now. He's truly a nice staple for the organization. You know he loves the team, he pretty much comes out for every team sponsored event to represent them. Genuinely nice, pleasant to interact with. Him and Chico are gems.

I agree. Wouldn't mind if he was the permanent play by play either.

 

[Bleedred]

I was really happy to see Matty on TV again yesterday and he called the game really well.

It's hard to believe he's been with the team pretty much through my entire fanhood from the late 90s to now. He's truly a nice staple for the organization. You know he loves the team, he pretty much comes out for every team sponsored event to represent them. Genuinely nice, pleasant to interact with. Him and Chico are gems.

I was just thinking, he’s gotta be possibly the longest tenured employee with the team. Maybe some people behind the scenes have been there longer. Perhaps someone in one of the offices or ticket reps that we don’t see, maybe one of them or some of them have been here longer.

He’s probably been with the organization for 25+ years. Chico has been around that long, but just not consecutively. He retired for a few years. I don’t think Matty has had any lapses of employment with the organization, lockouts not included.

 

[Buck Dancer]

Severson is 5 years younger than Subban.

Almost every time he’s out there we’re trapped in our end defending. That’s the eye test actually confirming what the analytics are telling us. And then he has to take a penalty sometimes just to get out of trouble.

Subban turns 33 next year. Best to let him go. What do you think he’s gonna take a million or two a year to play here? He ain’t gonna be worth much more than maybe $2.5-$3 million a year after this and that’s only a one year deal.

I’m not advocating to sign him to a 4 year deal but he can be a very good bandaid for a year, maybe two, max.

 

[Whaddagoal]

I’m not advocating to sign him to a 4 year deal but he can be a very good bandaid for a year, maybe two, max.

Id be down with that....

 

[njdevils1982]

Smoked salmon and vodka is my pairing

ya vodkas here too.

for after the meal

 

[Darkauron]

I was really happy to see Matty on TV again yesterday and he called the game really well.

It's hard to believe he's been with the team pretty much through my entire fanhood from the late 90s to now. He's truly a nice staple for the organization. You know he loves the team, he pretty much comes out for every team sponsored event to represent them. Genuinely nice, pleasant to interact with. Him and Chico are gems.

He is great. I enjoy his play by play a lot more than Cangi

 

[Bleedred]

I’m not advocating to sign him to a 4 year deal but he can be a very good bandaid for a year, maybe two, max.

I don’t think so. I’m ready to turn the page.

I’m hoping he still puts up some points and we move on at the end of the year.

 

[devilsblood]

Again, it was a 2 horse race between Nico and a legit bust in Nolan Patrick. We made the right choice, the end.

Elias Pettersson isn’t having a better season so far and there was never one hockey mind who had Cale Makar as the clear cut 1st overall pick. Certain drafts just aren’t that great and we won a lottery in a draft that didn’t have a generational talent to pick with the 1st overall selection.

Shit happens

I don't even care cause I like Nico and I like the direction(finally) that the team is heading in.

But Shero was known as a guy who liked good skating offensive minded d-men, even if those guys were small. And really given Butcher and Smith, they didn't even need to be good skaters. And there was some talk about Shero taking Makar, or trading down to get Makar or something like that. So that was his chance to go big on that philosophy, but didn't.

 

[devilsblood]

I love Mercer as much as anyone, but there’s no way he goes top 5 in a redraft because of a 16 game sample size to start his career. Top 10 maybe.

I think the redraft would consider that he fell on draft day, and had a really good d+1 year as well. Then factor in the 16 game sample. Which, we shouldn't downplay because his play in preseason absolutely warranted starting the year in the NHL, and he has since ran with the oppurtunity.

I think top 5 would be very reasonable. Top 3 even.

 

[Buck Dancer]

I don't even care cause I like Nico and I like the direction(finally) that the team is heading in.

But Shero was known as a guy who liked good skating offensive minded d-men, even if those guys were small. And really given Butcher and Smith, they didn't even need to be good skaters. And there was some talk about Shero taking Makar, or trading down to get Makar or something like that. So that was his chance to go big on that philosophy, but didn't.

There’s no way we can fault Shero for not trading down from the 1st overall pick, none. We would’ve lost our f***ing minds if that bobble head would’ve stepped up to the podium and said "we have a trade to announce” with the 1st pick of the draft.

 

[Nocashstyle]

Its kinda similar backhand slap comment like on the TB forum how it is absurd that they lost to our garbage team..

That seems to be a pattern right now…maybe this “garbage” team just isn’t as bad as previous years.

 

[devilsblood]

Mercer and Nico are 4 seasons apart...so your swap of talent there means you blew 4 season waiting for the real 1st liner. Getting #1OA usually means immediate help...not 5 years to figure out you got a checking center

So what's your point?

That it slowed down the timeline? I think that is fare. But it also enables us to have both Nico and Mercer. I'd drafting Nico, or at least his injury last year, plays into us drafting Luke. So yeah, extended the timeline, but allowed us to further stock the system which in the long run will be for the better.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

I don't think it is irrelevant at all. Especially when it comes contract time...I think Nico potentially being the 4th or 5th producers on this team with the other guys in front of him needing contracts is a major issue.

I also think having a 1st overall turning into a 3rd line center 5 or 6 years down the road is why the teams rebuild has stuttered so much...yeah the very good two way center with a high emphasis on defense is a wonderful piece to have to build a team...but you don't want to burn the highest pick in franchise history at that point on Adam Henrique or even a Travis Zajac...the lack of development from a production perspective killed years.

Feel free to post what you want, however doesn't it get a bit tiring to post ad nauseum about Nico? Granted we would all like to see him scoring more goals, but he does a lot of things other centers on our team don't.

 

[devilsblood]

There’s no way we can fault Shero for not trading down from the 1st overall pick, none. We would’ve lost our f***ing minds if that bobble head would’ve stepped up to the podium and said "we have a trade to announce” with the 1st pick of the draft.

Teams don't trade the #1, I get that. But would it have proven to be the right move? I think that's clear. And there was plenty of talk that Nico was not a franchise #1, so this would not have been like trading the McDavid pick.

Fans losing their sh*t about it? Fans are wrong a lot.

 

[bigd]

I would keep Subban as our 3rd pairing dman for another couple of years. He’s been great in what is a more sheltered role and brings some much needed leadership to the youngest team in the league. He won’t cost much and I can see him staying with us knowing we’re an up and coming team.

I just don't see that happening.

 

[glenwo2]

nico is a solid, very good but unspectacular player imo. i don’t know why i remember him being faster maybe it’s the knee injury or maybe i had rose tinted glasses but i see a really smart hockey player without any specific exceptional offensive abilities, be it passing shooting, stickhandling or general creativity. i guess you see that in advanced stats and he seems to be putting points on the board but he’s not really a standout player.

i don’t think it’s crazy to see more potential in mercer right now, and my hope is that the cap starts to go up again by the time we need to sign some of these guys to longer deals and the nico contract will look more like the zajac contract by the end of it in terms of how much proportional cap room it takes up

Absolutely he is a useful player. Consistent 50-ish points is nothing to sneeze at...but it's time to come to grips that this isn't a first line center, maybe not even a second line center in our current situation...this isn't an on-ice leader or an upper echelon player. I don't think the organization has come to grips with this yet as he's been used as the 1st line center pretty much since he's stepped into the league with little to no progress in his production.

There is nothing wrong with the player he is. But he is a cog in the machine... he's certainly not a difference maker. As soon as he's holding down the 3rd line the better off we'll be.

I remember someone here mention Nico could be Travis Zajac 2.0 or something.

Is that true?

 

[Zippy316]

Severson is 5 years younger than Subban.

Almost every time he’s out there we’re trapped in our end defending. That’s the eye test actually confirming what the analytics are telling us. And then he has to take a penalty sometimes just to get out of trouble.

Subban turns 33 next year. Best to let him go. What do you think he’s gonna take a million or two a year to play here? He ain’t gonna be worth much more than maybe $2.5-$3 million a year after this and that’s only a one year deal.

At this stage in his career, Subban is likely to go cup chasing, as he should. I see him bouncing around competitive teams for the next 2-3 years on cheap deals as he’s already made his money.

 

[devilsblood]

They've got to do something about Ty Smith. He's not getting better and it's really dragging the team down. I think sitting him for a game and using Colton White in his place makes sense.

The problem with Smith as I see it, is he is small and slow. Sitting him for a game is not going to fix that.

Shelter him like we did Butcher and he probably puts up really good #'s. And unlike then we have a top pair, and a fwd group for that matter, which can handle a boatload of difficult minutes.

Is he making mental errors which go beyond small and slow? Could a game off help clear his mind? I guess, but the root issue here is the physical limitations.

 

[Zippy316]

It’s nice to finally have a team that doesn’t just completely buckle when things get tough.

It’s going to be a dogfight to make the playoffs in this division. But just having some resolve and fighting back in tough games is going to go a long way for this team. Can easily see it making a ~10-12 point difference over an entire season.

 

[Lou is God]

I was really happy to see Matty on TV again yesterday and he called the game really well.

It's hard to believe he's been with the team pretty much through my entire fanhood from the late 90s to now. He's truly a nice staple for the organization. You know he loves the team, he pretty much comes out for every team sponsored event to represent them. Genuinely nice, pleasant to interact with. Him and Chico are gems.

I'd like to see Sal doing some color commentary once in a while, I love Dano but some games he just drones and on on stuff that is basically Hockey 101, he never really breaks the game down, at least that's my take.

 

[Triumph]

I think the redraft would consider that he fell on draft day, and had a really good d+1 year as well. Then factor in the 16 game sample. Which, we shouldn't downplay because his play in preseason absolutely warranted starting the year in the NHL, and he has since ran with the oppurtunity.

I think top 5 would be very reasonable. Top 3 even.

Dawson Mercer did not have a really good d+1 year. He had the D+1 year that would be expected out of a player drafted 18th overall. Byfield, Perfetti, and Jarvis all had excellent AHL results for D+1 players. The only basis for him going top 3 in a redraft are these NHL games which have been excellent, but I'm not sure I would bet against a lot of these other guys who've had slower starts.

 

[JK3]

I really like Matt but he's a little lacking calling the play by play, he's behind the play a bit with lots of long pauses, he has gotten a lot better though over the years. There were times listening on the radio in the past where you'd hear the goal horn and the crowd going nuts and finally hear...and a goal, was scored!

The best thing is that he just simply loves the team and is super passionate about them, he's been with them forever too. I love listening to him and Chico because they don't sugar coat anything and won't hesitate to call things out. The other thing I find hilarious is that they just go on this stream of consciousness ramble for minute after minute and not even come close to calling and talking about the game haha.