Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - part VI

[Call Me Al]

Yeah Devils matched up better against Tampa in 2017 too when we swept them. And the Islanders swept us this year but im guessing youd agree theyd beat us in the playoffs too?

Reg season matchups mean nothing in the playoffs and the Rangers are better in every facet of the game outside having a Tkachuk. Its a pretty ridiculous notion, to rather play NY than Florida, yes

the islanders didn’t sweep us we had one of our best games all year against them, but once they realized they need to collapse in the defensive zone and slow our game to a halt with physical play and clutching and grabbing we looked pretty impotent against them. i’d say that’s a tough matchup for us, yeah

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Who would’ve thought the straw meme with Haula would be literally?

 

[Nocashstyle]

Your example is a team that did something bo one ever has in NHL history (win game 7s away each series)

They have no Kopitar or Doughty or Quick...

You’re right, completely unheard of for a team that gets hot right before the playoffs to come into the playoffs playing well and upset in the first round.

 

[Bleedred]

The Panthers second half surge was actually predicted by a lot of people and sites, which I scoffed at and mocked for a while. If Bob was playing all these games and not Lyon? They might have fallen just short, but Bob is also capable of a mini hot streak, if someone like Lyon can do it. But even I said back in January or whenever Lyon first got called up, there's probably not much difference between 2023 Bob and Alex Lyon.

 

[Call Me Al]

The Panthers second half surge was actually predicted by a lot of people and sites, which I scoffed at and mocked for a while. If Bob was playing all these games and not Lyon? They might have fallen just short, but Bob is also capable of a mini hot streak, if someone like Lyon can do it. But even I said back in January or whenever Lyon first got called up, there's probably not much difference between 2023 Bob and Alex Lyon.

you definitely spilled a lot of ink shitting on sites that had the panthers with favorable odds to make the playoffs

 

[Bleedred]

Your example is a team that did something bo one ever has in NHL history (win game 7s away each series)

They have no Kopitar or Doughty or Quick...

They probably don't have a Doughty and they definitely don't have a Quick, but current Barkov isn't too far off from 2012 Kopitar and Tkachuk is definitely better than Dustin Brown ever was or Jeff Carter or junkie Richards or whoever else was on that team.

 

[NHL Fanatik]

Its DD level fandom for Florida - to parrot reg season matchup but then when given a direct comparable to our last playoff birth, it becomes strawman

If you want to face one team over another fine, but when called out on it for the ridiculous reasoning given dont just deflect nonsense. Either admit its just your personal belief or save the doom and gloom for somewhere else

Basically got someone advocating to lose the division tonight - pfft, loser mentality IMO

 

[Bleedred]

you definitely spilled a lot of ink shitting on sites that had the panthers with favorable odds to make the playoffs

Oh well, I own it. They shouldn't have even been as bad as they were for most of the year. I'm gonna chalk that up to coaching change, combined with maybe the defense got a little worse? Combined with Bobrovsky DEFINITELY worse and they were shooting pretty weak for most of the year, which I attributed to not having as strong of a rush game after Brunette was removed and replaced with Maurice. Too many people were citing trading 29 year old Huberdeau for 24 year old Tkachuk, as if that was some kind of a downgrade? Really? What is Huberdeau at being a winner or something? That was so dumb that anybody would even go there. I'm no Tkachuk fan, but it's funny to see that and think about that now.

I certainly thought they'd be in the playoffs before the season began, but definitely thought they'd justttttttt miss out in the end back in January-March. I also thought the Islanders would miss as well a couple of months ago, if not just because Barzal has been out a while and still hasn't come back.

I figured Pittsburgh would get in, up until two weeks ago. I thought it would be the Penguins and the Islanders two weeks ago. Islanders just because of Sorokin. Penguins just because the leg up on Florida and the softer schedule.

One other thing with the Panthers second half surge is they had a lot of home games in the second half and not as many on the road. I think it was something like in their last 32 games they only had 12 on the road. I wonder if a lot of the models projecting them to get in were also taking that into consideration.

My expertise is goalies though, which I'm undefeated on those!

 

[Desert Devil]

If we lose to the Panthers then we wouldn’t have beat the Rags. I’d much rather Florida first and then the Hurricanes or Rangers. Though it doesn’t matter in the end.

 

[Nocashstyle]

Okay, moving on. That poster is not worth my time.

 

[HBK27]

Who is Josh Harris, the soon-to-be new Commanders owner?

What you should know about the 58-year-old Josh Harris, who has plenty of experience in professional sports.

theathletic.com

Interesting tidbit in this article (LOL at the ending):

 

[Bleedred]

Its DD level fandom for Florida - to parrot reg season matchup but then when given a direct comparable to our last playoff birth, it becomes strawman

If you want to face one team over another fine, but when called out on it for the ridiculous reasoning given dont just deflect nonsense. Either admit its just your personal belief or save the doom and gloom for somewhere else

Basically got someone advocating to lose the division tonight - pfft, loser mentality IMO

I'm very happy to see people here finally agreeing with me on FLA. It's really about time. I've been saying to watch out for them for about 6 or 7 years now. Just look at how close they came to taking our wild card spot right out from under us at the end of 2018. That team has a ton of character and heart, which they showed with their strong second half this year to surge into the playoffs in the last few days of the season.

You won't be thinking this way after the NJD potentially faces them in round one, my friend.

Book it.

You better buckle up if that's who we get. Be careful what you wish for.

 

[NHL Fanatik]

Okay, moving on. That poster is not worth my time.

Yeah, id steer clear of someone calling me out for advocating giving up the final game of the year (for the division banner) too

Big bad Florida! Scary

 

[Guadana]

There wasn't nothing in the prospect pipeline, there just weren't big building blocks besides maybe Larsson and maybe one or two other guys if things broke right. Shero got fungible pieces most of his time here - guys who could be traded for something else - it was only when both the Subban and Gusev deals went sideways that he got nothing. Gusev was never going to bring back anything if he flopped, so that one was the highest-risk move.

Shero was pretty passive on the market for retooling gm. For example we did nothing on the market after 2018 season when we have only one productive line and made playoff with 1 point ahead. There were nothing in the prospect pipeline if we talk about the scale of construction new team, and he prefered to trade picks, he lost value of that picks.

Sorry, but I`m too lazy to repeat myself. Shero picked wrong direction and made wrong moves for this direction. His success(Nico\Jack) was result of his failure(he tried to copmete) I`m ok if people don`t want to admit, but it doesn`t change the the sequence of emerging problems, the sequence of Shero's solutions(or lack of them), and the sequence of failures that followed. And the problems that arose after that, which then had to be performed.

For example I like Fitz work. But I CAN`T praise him for winning lottery and drafting Nemec(like I don`t praise Shero for picking Nico\Jack) not because Nemec was\is bad, I like Nemec a lot, but because Fitz tried to compete and he signed goalie with history of injuries, and after he didn`t make moves to replace him, and when he finally did it, it was paper move. I understand that Jack\Dougie injuries were unluck and I can`t blame FItz for that. But this pick wasn`t result of his plan\strategy.

 

[NHL Fanatik]

View attachment 687474
I'm very happy to see people here finally agreeing with me on FLA. It's really about time. I've been saying to watch out for them for about 6 or 7 years now. Just look at how close they came to taking our wild card spot right out from under us at the end of 2018. That team has a ton of character and heart, which they showed with their strong second half this year to surge into the playoffs in the last few days of the season.

You won't be thinking this way after the NJD potentially faces them in round one, my friend.

Book it.

You better buckle up if that's who we get. Be careful what you wish for.

As usual your DD posts are gold lmao. plus you really kept his syntax going strong

 

[Nocashstyle]

View attachment 687474
I'm very happy to see people here finally agreeing with me on FLA. It's really about time. I've been saying to watch out for them for about 6 or 7 years now. Just look at how close they came to taking our wild card spot right out from under us at the end of 2018. That team has a ton of character and heart, which they showed with their strong second half this year to surge into the playoffs in the last few days of the season.

You won't be thinking this way after the NJD potentially faces them in round one, my friend.

Book it.

You better buckle up if that's who we get. Be careful what you wish for.

That poster registered March 1, 2023…yet he’s referencing DD who hasn’t posted in a few years.

Everyone, I think we finally found him

 

[Bleedred]

That poster registered March 1, 2023…yet he’s referencing DD who hasn’t posted in a few years.

Everyone, I think we finally found him

View attachment 687481

Nah he's been here longer, which he's addressed before and I do remember him having this name on an older account, if I'm not mistaken?

RangerDoggo is only from 2016 I think? I'd have to double check and look him up to see if that's accurate from me or not.

 

[Nocashstyle]

Nah he's been here longer, which he's addressed before and I do remember him having this name on an older account, if I'm not mistaken?

RangerDoggo is only from 2016 I think? I'd have to double check and look him up to see if that's accurate from me or not.

Sounds like a calculated and well planned return to me. I don’t buy it.

 

[NHL Fanatik]

Whoever we play first round has got another thing coming if they think they can beat us!

 

[OmNomNom]

le gasp

 

[NjDevsRR]

View attachment 687466

Who would’ve thought the straw meme with Haula would be literally?

 

[HBK27]

Vitek did take some hits last game - were a couple times I was worried about him being injured. Hopefully something minor if anything at all.

 

[Mgd31]

As is written in the prophecies, Blackwood was always to be our game 1 starter.

 

[NHL Fanatik]

As is written in the prophecies, Blackwood was always to be our game 1 starter.

I already had Nocah annoyed with me, dont get Bleed going!

 

[Bleedred]

As is written in the prophecies, Blackwood was always to be our game 1 starter.

I doubt we'll see him in the playoffs over Vitek if he's healthy enough to play, unless he gets SHELLACKED like Kinkaid did in the first 2 games against Tampa. And even then, it was a lot more logical to see Schneider being able to come in and do better than Kinkaid, despite the fact that Cory hadn't played a good game in the 2018 calendar year before that series.

Vitek would have to get bombed pretty bad for a couple of games, or he'd have to be hurt for Blackwood to get a start.

I could see him pulling Vitek in a garbage time game that already appears decided, like he did in the Winnipeg game a couple weeks ago.

I already had Nocah annoyed with me, dont get Bleed going!

I know he's kidding, but clearly I will not pass on an opportunity to release my bowels on Blackwood some more.

Not that I was really shitting on him with that post.....