GDT: Senators @ Devils 7 PM Because it's on the Schedule three

[MadDevil]

Okay. Y'all have a good night. I'm not letting this crap ruin what's left of my Saturday lol

 

[Guttersniped]

Jonas Siegenthaler is bad now bro. Franchise is cooked.

The D couldn’t figure it out with Dougie injured and two 20 year olds playing major roles — it’s over.

You don’t understand, we’re so screwed when this defense takes the ice next year.

Really starting to think Brendan Smith isn’t a true 1D.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

They have largely never had success. One season doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things

Half the defense is still in diapers. Also, what the hell does that mean? How does a record setting season with a playoff series win mean nothing in the grand scheme of things? Why does not making the playoffs in a injured ****ed up season mean something in the grand scheme?

You can see there’s no logic here, it’s pure doomerism.

 

[NJDevs26]

I'm not gonna lie though, they do have something to prove next year...another year of excuses and last year was a fluke. If they get back to 100 points and don't have to sweat out a playoff spot then fine this year was the anomaly going forward - Dougie injury, etc. But last year alone wasn't enough proof it wasn't, not after what they've done this year taking two steps back.

 

[Patrik26]

I'm not gonna lie though, they do have something to prove next year...another year of excuses and last year was a fluke. If they get back to 100 points and don't have to sweat out a playoff spot then fine this year was the anomaly going forward. But last year alone wasn't enough proof it wasn't, not after what they've done this year taking two steps back.

One of the things that will bear watching next season is the mindset of this team when they encounter any type of adversity, be it a major injury or losing streak.

 

[Devs3cups]

While I understand the point and I can sort of agree if this carries over for a few more years, but saying last year was a/can become a fluke is sort of wild in a way no?

Last year wasn't a simple "we made the playoffs" season. It was a FRANCHISE record setting season. A franchise that has had a lot of success, that has won 3 Stanley Cups, has never had more points in a season than last year's team. I have a hard time thinking that season can ever be seen as a fluke.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Frustrating night. The dude on reddit Devils who I gave an extra free ticket to never showed up , kind of sucks because other people messaged me for it the second I posted it up on there. They could of atleast got a free game if they were tight on $$$.

The game itself was not a good one minus them going up 2 to 1 with Bratt & Nosek scoring those much needed goals. Also the MacDermid fight was nice and the penalty kill was great. Other than that everything they did well the previous 2 games was non existent tonight. Allen was due for a stinker game , every other game he played he has been great. Wasn't his fault though, the Devils gifted Ottawa with some terrible turnovers. They feasted on them and made them pay while the Devils couldn't really get their offense going consistently all night. A powerplay goal would of been big but when you score 3 last game and I believe 2 the game before than you know it was due for a cool down game. It really was the 5 on 5 play tonight that cost them , it's a bit disappointing they played so well against a structured Jets team and than play a game like this against the Sens. This team is allergic to winning 3 or more games in a row. They are missing Dougie & Siegenthaler on the backend , the team still lacks structure. Can't let it seem like Green has really done anything great here since he took over anyway.

 

[Guttersniped]

Lest anyone forget. No accountability whatsoever. And Haula protecting his face LOL!

This Chabot move might be the second worst frustrated-player-smashing-a-stick moment I’ve seen. (The worst is Keith Ballard accidentally slashing Vokoun in the face.)



Good 2 minute breakdown:

 

[guitarguyvic]

You literally called their talent nebulous and said they had “talent” in quotes, which means not true. That’s obviously saying the talent isn’t legitimate.

If you said “I’m not sure the team makeup is where it should be” that’s different than questioning the talent itself.

I put talent in quotes because the phrase is nebulous. It tells me nothing about each player’s individual strengths and skill sets and how they fit in with the other players’ strengths and skill sets. It tells me nothing about the team’s chemistry. It tells me nothing about how they’re coached, the strategies and systems they employ, if there’s proper team structure, if there’s accountability both between themselves and from above. It tells me nothing about their commitment to play a team game versus trying to be an individual hero. Etc etc etc.

You want to make it into a semantics debate, fine, call it team makeup as you put it if that’s what gets the point across.

 

[JimEIV]

You don’t understand, we’re so screwed when this defense takes the ice next year.

Really starting to think Brendan Smith isn’t a true 1D.

View attachment 840762

I'd imagine that was a lot of Pk minutes tonight? We took 6 penalties tonight...4 in the first period alone.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

I was right by Haula's family during warm-ups by the Zamboni doors. His son was there holding up a sign for his Dad on his birthday with his family by his side. It was adorable as hell. It's unfortunate that his Dad was a -4 tonight and had a terrible game though lol.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Also MacDermid is a unit on skates. He's listed as 6 foot 5 & 233 lbs on the NHL site. They didn't fudge any numbers up. This guy has like 3 inches and 60lbs on me. I could only imagine how strong you need to be to go toe to toe with this fella.

 

[NJ07102]

They finally bury the season with a game that looked like so many others before. Very fitting.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Definitely a lot of work needs to be done in the off season...and we still are going to have to deal with a learning curve from Luke, Nemec and Bahl....but even with all the holes I think had we not seen the key injuries we saw this year, and the way they hit in consecutive order one after another, this season wouldn't have been nearly as bad...

So next year we should see Luke or maybe Nemec dropped down to #4 with Dougie healthy... Bahl down to #6... it should help a lot....if Jack, Meier and Nico can stay relatively healthy and we can get some forward help for the bottom 6....it should be a big difference.

I do think we need more than a couple roster alterations but it's not impossible.

You have to expect Meier to probably be a 65 to 75 point player next season , Mercer to bounce back and probably flirt with 60ish points as well. Jack also still has more to grow and him hitting 110 points next season is certainly possible. As long as Dougie is healthy than he should be good for 60 points at minimum as well. Luke is already a half a point per game player too as a rookie , Dougie might eat away his powerplay time so we might see a sophomore slump but he should still be good for 40ish points. Nemec is probably a lock for 30 points or more too. Shit just spit balling and projecting there is alot to like about this teams potential for offense , especially with Luke + Nemec being able to support Dougie on the backend for production. The harder part is going to get this team defensive help on the backend. We really need to bank on Marino & Siegenthaler bouncing back providing strong shutdown ability. We already know Fitz is bringing in another coach and goalie this summer but if things can click on offense a bit more with what we have here already than we should be improved. We are 11th in goals for but we can get back into the top 5 IMO.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

It’s ok to give up on a team and focus on other things. They’re not going anywhere this year. That much has been apparent for awhile but then they win a few and I start to hope for the best. Losing to an eliminated team during a must-win game is this season in a nutshell.

Just relax, we will trade for a goalie and our D will get better by Luke and Nemec maturing. Better to have gotten picks for Toffoli than to give up assets to shore up the D just for a 4-5 game loss to the Rags, Canes, or Bruins in the first round.

 

[glenwo2]

You guys are right. Might as well just fold the franchise at this point. There is no future with the likes of Jack, Nico, Bratt, Timo, Luke, Nemec, Mercer, Hamilton, Marino, etc. Just a bunch of unproven losers that will likely never win anything. I feel sorry for the poor delusional fans who think this team isn't going to be bad forever.

Let's blow it up.

Trade everyone and relocate the franchise to Idaho. LOL


The Idaho Potatos!!!!

 

[amikaro]

Losing to the Sens in a tight playoff race. Ouch!

Too bad my hoped died last night :'(

 

[britdevil]

I think you got my pineapple reference?

 

[Unknown Caller]

It’s ok to give up on a team and focus on other things. They’re not going anywhere this year. That much has been apparent for awhile but then they win a few and I start to hope for the best. Losing to an eliminated team during a must-win game is this season in a nutshell.

Just relax, we will trade for a goalie and our D will get better by Luke and Nemec maturing. Better to have gotten picks for Toffoli than to give up assets to shore up the D just for a 4-5 game loss to the Rags, Canes, or Bruins in the first round.

Forward depth is as big of an issue as anything though. They're going nowhere with the way the offense is currently constructed. They've lost about 7 solid forwards over the past 2 seasons and replaced them with absolutely nothing.

Shoring up goaltending is the priority, but this team needs to bring in about 3 legitimate weapons on offense if they're serious about winning.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Forward depth is as big of an issue as anything though. They're going nowhere with the way the offense is currently constructed. They've lost about 7 solid forwards over the past 2 seasons and replaced them with absolutely nothing.

Shoring up goaltending is the priority, but this team needs to bring in about 3 legitimate weapons on offense if they're serious about winning.

Forward depth is an issue, but the solution is very simple compared to our forward issues of previous eras. We have top flight 1C and 2C. We have two top line wings. Mercer is a wildcard. Does he hit a new level next year or does he stay in the rut he was in this year?

The McLeod loss really sucks because we wouldn’t have to think about center at all for a while with him there.

 

[Call Me Al]

the loss of team speed is really important honestly. it’s not just that last years team was so talented, it was that their skating and decision making was hard for other teams to keep up with for 60 minutes.

our top 6 still has that speed but the bottom 6 lost almost all of it with wood, mcleod and boqvist. even if they didn’t put up a lot of points they made the other team work hard every shift and made a game against the devils really difficult. it didn’t matter that they were softer because they were all over the other team all game and were difficult in a different way.

my expectations were that that would be the mold of the team and if/when we win the cup it will be because we are the fastest most skilled team in the league, and this season is forcing me to reevaluate that. i know that we have a ton of skill, but im not sure what the identity of the team will be next season and im not as confident that this team *will* win a cup.

last year my thoughts were that it’s only a matter of time. now im not so sure. and to be clear i didn’t expect them to necessarily repeat last season so to preemptively respond to all the “of course reasonable people would expect them to take a step back,” there is a HUGE difference between setting the franchise record vs. failing to show up against bottom feeding teams and getting embarrassed at home routinely to become a lottery team again

 

[Mgd31]

They need to try and package Holtz away ala Ty Smith for an upgrade. And then an additional 2 bottom 6 forwards. So you are probably looking at 3 new forwards at least. Holtz, Tierney, Nosek out for sure.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

Disappointing season for sure. Yes, they had some bad luck with key injuries and some pretty bad defense and goaltending throughout the season. While, many of you believe they’ll bounce back, in my opinion they’re definitely missing something. I believe we need to hire the best coach available, however, I’m not a big fan of the structure of this team. We need to get better in all 3 facets. Let’s see what Fitz does because I’m starting to lose confidence in his abilities as a GM. One good season in the past dozen years has me as a pessimist of this organization. Oh well, time to study the upcoming draft. I believe we keep our first round pick for not making the playoffs?

 

[JK3]

You can't really compare last years team to this one at all. 10 players are gone from that team as well as the coaches. They lost a ton of speed and depth, we had capable guys waiting in the wings to plug into the lineup instead of the Tierneys and Willmans. The chemistry of the team was great, they had a swagger, sometimes things just come together and click, that's gone now. Injuries hurt us for sure this year but TBH they didn't look all that great when we had our full lineup early on.

 

[Unknown Caller]

the loss of team speed is really important honestly. it’s not just that last years team was so talented, it was that their skating and decision making was hard for other teams to keep up with for 60 minutes.

our top 6 still has that speed but the bottom 6 lost almost all of it with wood, mcleod and boqvist. even if they didn’t put up a lot of points they made the other team work hard every shift and made a game against the devils really difficult. it didn’t matter that they were softer because they were all over the other team all game and were difficult in a different way.

my expectations were that that would be the mold of the team and if/when we win the cup it will be because we are the fastest most skilled team in the league, and this season is forcing me to reevaluate that. i know that we have a ton of skill, but im not sure what the identity of the team will be next season and im not as confident that this team *will* win a cup.

last year my thoughts were that it’s only a matter of time. now im not so sure. and to be clear i didn’t expect them to necessarily repeat last season so to preemptively respond to all the “of course reasonable people would expect them to take a step back,” there is a HUGE difference between setting the franchise record vs. failing to show up against bottom feeding teams and getting embarrassed at home routinely to become a lottery team again

Exactly. Almost more than goaltending, my biggest issue with Fitz is how he's completely neutered the aggressiveness and overall team speed, especially offensively.

When you fill out your roster with guys like Palat, Nosek, MacDermid, Tierney, etc. (and even Toffoli), the structure and identity of the team take an enormous hit. They've become painfully slow and plodding outside of the top guys.