Post-Game Talk: Devils lose 6-1 to the Flyers; should it cost someone their job?

[Guttersniped]

Thought that about Calgary.

You thought that when Daws and Wedge were in the net and we lost 5-3?

 

[Guttersniped]

I think this gets to the heat of the matter. This is what I’m talking about when I say this organization appears to lack a commitment to winning and a coherent vision. It all comes across as smoke and mirrors good old boys club, except the boys aren’t old at all it’s actually a bunch of pups bullshitting fans. Passing off cheesy slogans as real hockey strategy. Bestowing the captaincy to a player for really no other reason than he’s one of two 1OA’s. Declaring guys who have proven nothing as core pieces and the faces of the franchise. It’s all very amateurish snake oil shit.

It’s only because he was 1OA… if you completely ignore everything about him as person. Just dehumanize him, don’t see any of the effort, toughness or leadership qualities he has (which coaches and other players see).

Plus you guys are being such saps for the dumb “C” thing. I do very much believe a team culture and a leadership group but ownership and coaches pick the guys who get the letter.

I’m deeply sorry if Nico doesn’t fit your precious mythological UberCaptain ideal. It pains me to know so many of you suffer because of this fabricated injustice.

And the faces of the franchise are… the current players on the team? And if you can’t say what the core pieces until you won a Cup… well that makes team building a difficult process early on I guess. It’s not like “core pieces” don’t get traded in the NHL either. It’s just a term for you current top players… this is pretty run of the mill stuff here. You must get angry at a lot of things.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Seems as if some of you have really managed to watch the whole game. For that, you deserve an award. I am back to scrolling through the rest of the games after they give up the first goal. Just like I have done every year since 2012 from December onwards. The years feel all the same. Good offseason, decent start, team meets resistance, teams melts like butter in the sun. Again and again and again and again. It doesn't matter who coaches this team, it doesn't matter who plays for it. Still the same year after year. Something is rotten deep inside.

That's kinda what it feels like, huh? Like it really doesn't matter who plays for or coaches the team. It's doomed to fail.

I'd love for the coaching staff to go if for no other reason than for the organization to show it cares about winning and this level of play is unacceptable. But I think Ruff and his staff is safe for the season regardless of our record barring something really extreme.

 

[Sheros expletives]

I didn't watch the game but the box score says we got.. abhughesd

 

[Nico13]

Another terrible performance from Hischier.

Time to trade him for future considerations.

 

[Billdo]

This is no different than the last handful of coaches and the way they ended. A new one isn't changing anything with this team. There is something internally flawed. I don't know what it is but I don't think a coach is changing anything this year.

 

[glenwo2]

Fitz said this about Nas when he explained keeping him, but replacing him with Ruff as coach.



Well that kind of makes Recchi a tougher sell I guess. (Unless he mostly talks about the 2017-18 Penguins).

We obviously had a strong PK in previous seasons under Lou, it was beyond filthy in 2011-12 (Salvador!) and great in 2013-14 (Greene!), then suddenly kind of pedestrian in 2014-15 (Merrill?). It perked up in Hynes’ first season, but the PK’s best year was the otherwise mostly pain-filled 2018-19 (Lovejoy!).

Despite a somewhat rough start this season, and being a bit unlucky (or not helped by goaltending), our PK is very much improved.

PK depends a lot on personnel and we’re getting great work from the guys who were here, particularly Severson but also McLeod and Subban. Plus big additions with Sieg, Vesey and Graves, and Kuokkanen has done an excellent job in his 1st year on the PK.

There’s something intensely annoying about Nasreddine still being here (I can’t sort of believe it) but the defensive systems is definitely Ruff’s thing. It would be amusing if Nas hung even after Ruff is gone. Amusing and annoying.

Ugh! Did Fitz say THAT?

Then my hopes that Nas gets the boot won't ever happen.

Nas seems to have the same number of lives as a Cat in this league...bah.

 

[glenwo2]

This is no different than the last handful of coaches and the way they ended. A new one isn't changing anything with this team. There is something internally flawed. I don't know what it is but I don't think a coach is changing anything this year.

Something is internally flawed?

Yeah. It's called "Goaltending". AGAIN.

 

[glenwo2]

If by “well” you mean terrible and the worst game of his season then yes, he played “well”, but I don’t think you mean that. The good news for Bratt is he got to break free from Tweedleblindpass and Tweedlefloater.

And the other good news is the Bratt/Boqvist/Vesey line didn’t scored on and was ok, unless you were hoping for much in terms of generating scoring chances. This is Boqvist and he only had ~15 minutes of ice time, and you expect a hint of a ICF? (Any shot attempt.) I kid Jesper.

It was sweet when Ruff, after Tatar-Mercer-Johnson gave up a goal, put back Johnsson-Mercer-Bratt so they could get scored on for old times sake.

Remember all that talk about Bratt's line (no matter what line he is on) being the best line?

Well as it turns out, he can't make chicken salad out of "John Hynes".

 

[MadDevil]

It's almost eery how similar our record has been at this point the last two years.

Last year we started 6-4-2...then won 4 of our next 15 games.

This year we started 7-3-2...and have won 3 of our last 15 games.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

It’s only because he was 1OA… if you completely ignore everything about him as person. Just dehumanize him, don’t see any of the effort, toughness or leadership qualities he has (which coaches and other players see).

Plus you guys are being such saps for the dumb “C” thing. I do very much believe a team culture and a leadership group but ownership and coaches pick the guys who get the letter.

I’m deeply sorry if Nico doesn’t fit your precious mythological UberCaptain ideal. It pains me to know so many of you suffer because of this fabricated injustice.

And the faces of the franchise are… the current players on the team? And if you can’t say what the core pieces until you won a Cup… well that makes team building a difficult process early on I guess. It’s not like “core pieces” don’t get traded in the NHL either. It’s just a term for you current top players… this is pretty run of the mill stuff here. You must get angry at a lot of things.

I wish I was able to post my thoughts as eloquently as you do. But I agree with you.

 

[MauDevils]

How does this happen? He played two shifts and was pulled from the game.

 

[Billdo]

Something is internally flawed?

Yeah. It's called "Goaltending". AGAIN.

I don't even think it's that as the sole issue. Sure we haven't had quality goaltending in 10 years but it's deeper than that. I think the ownership is ok with this, I think the players are used to it which is a massive problem, etc. Guys who we thought to be key contributors aren't. Everything about this organization except for Utica is a problem.

 

[NJDevs26]

They are likely very sick, on top of the COVID outbreak. That’s real and likely was a main cause for this loss.

Jack’s injury was an issue. The goalie tandem imploded. That’s bad too. Shit went wrong. If the team got healthier, if we got rolling with three lines with our three centers and and non-f***ed up goalies, I bet we would do better.

I don’t know what immediate changes people expect to magically change the team. If there’s a COVID outbreak, 1) Fitz isn’t firing people for performance 2) a new coach won’t save us.

I’d prefer a well thought out coaching change in May rather than a Hail Mary right now. Coaches don’t tend to get fired this quickly, GMs give them a little rope to pull themselves out, particularly when there’s adversity.

I don’t want Ruff here long term. I don’t think you should necessarily rush into a coaching hire for changes sake. There are more candidates in the off-season.

Do you think there are “serious changes” that would get us in the playoffs or something?

We’ve seen at least two coach firings this season improve their teams already, including the one that kicked our ass last night.

 

[MadDevil]

How does this happen? He played two shifts and was pulled from the game.

Was it last year or the year before where they played like half a game then postponed it due to covid? Or was that in the AHL?

 

[JimEIV]

The team seems to respect Nico as a leader, which means a lot more than what people on message board think when they pretend they can judge his worthiness for this sort of thing.

In a group of scrubs there is always one scrub to look up to.

It's like summer school valedictorian...
The tallest midget... The one eyed man in the village of the blind

 

[HBK27]

Is that you, Jonathan? The one constant through the last five years of slop - other than Severson, Zacha and Bratt - has been the ownership group.

Yet the crowd on here thinks firing a coaching staff is somehow the panacea to cure the Devils' troubles.

Both Mark Dennehy and Kevin Dineen have had great success at the AHL level with the ability to coach players and hold them accountable.

It would be nice if the NHL staff enjoyed the same luxury.

Jonathan? Huh?

Not sure what else ownership is supposed to really do, other than let the GM do his job and invest in the team, facilities, etc. Getting rid of the coaching staff is no cure, but maybe will help things start to turn around.

 

[HBK27]

It's almost eery how similar our record has been at this point the last two years.

Last year we started 6-4-2...then won 4 of our next 15 games.

This year we started 7-3-2...and have won 3 of our last 15 games.

Just one kick in the balls after another.

 

[guitarguyvic]

And I see that the built in excuses started just in time for some folks to cling onto, with guys getting sick, covid spreading, a few injuries etc. This is where we start our yearly tradition of dismissing the season’s failures due to things that actually started after they were already proving how much they suck. Folks will conveniently ignore that the team only won 3 of their previous 14 games before the “bad luck” hit the team.

I can already see it. When they continue to shit the bed the rest of the way, it will be “their season was derailed by {x, y, z excuses}…they just never regained their form after that! Let’s see if next year they can have a perfectly injury free season with no adversity and I bet they will be better!”

LOL…except it’s not really that funny

 

[MadDevil]

We’ve seen at least two coach firings this season improve their teams already, including the one that kicked our ass last night.

Eh, let's see where those teams end up before saying that. The Flyers have played like 4 games since AV got fired. Chicago is 5-6 with 3 ROW in their last 11 games after winning their first 4 under King. We all know about the bump teams sometimes have the first few games after a firing.

 

[glenwo2]

I don't even think it's that as the sole issue. Sure we haven't had quality goaltending in 10 years but it's deeper than that. I think the ownership is ok with this, I think the players are used to it which is a massive problem, etc. Guys who we thought to be key contributors aren't. Everything about this organization except for Utica is a problem.

It may not be the sole issue but goddamn it...it's a GIGANTIC issue.

Had we gotten solid goaltending all year long, we would not be in this position for the 2nd straight season.

Also, if we had gotten solid COACHING, especially on the Defensive side, we would be in a much better position as well. (I want NAS GONE.)

 

[Satans Hockey]

Just a reminder that we've had bunch of different coaches in the past 10 years and still sucked, and all of them you've furiously wanted gone. Don't know if firing Ruff is the right call or not, but I do know we'll eventually be calling for his replacement's head.

Ruff is only the 3rd head coach since the 2011-12 season, Pete DeBoer / John Hynes / Lindy Ruff. Stevens and Oates were interims after Pete and Nas interim after Hynes. Hynes stuck around for almost 4.5 seasons which was ridiculous.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

Does he play right wing and score goals?

lmfao

He does play RD and score goals.

 

[JrFischer54]

its crazy to think pretty soon these kids will have their 3rd coach and have only been in the nhl for x amount of time. quite possibly their 3rd gm too lol not really sure its the coaching or gm if you think about it

 

[NJDevs26]

Eh, let's see where those teams end up before saying that. The Flyers have played like 4 games since AV got fired. Chicago is 5-6 with 3 ROW in their last 11 games after winning their first 4 under King. We all know about the bump teams sometimes have the first few games after a firing.

Vancouver was the other, they’ve won four in a row since their switch. The Flyers have gone on a winning streak right after the mostly Vigneault ten game losing streak. Point is both teams saw an issue, addressed it and it appears to be working out. It just makes the Devils look worse doing zip, zilch and nada