News Article: The Devils Are Due: The Sleeper Team For Next Season

[ajdevjet]

Our powerplay has been okay...9th last season, 21st the season before and 14th in 11-12. It could certainly be better though. One infuriating aspect is not having Zajac in there for every faceoff when he's on the ice. Positioning doesn't matter post faceoff loss on the PP, because they other team will just bang the puck down the ice.

I think top 10 last season is better than "ok" no ? I personally hate putting a forward at the blue line, I don't have any numbers to back it up but I feel a team gives up too many shorthanded chances that way.

 

[Bleedred]

I think top 10 last season is better than "ok" no ? I personally hate putting a forward at the blue line, I don't have any numbers to back it up but I feel a team gives up too many shorthanded chances that way.

Brunner on the point, especially in games we have a lead.

It's not as bad as Harrold, though we usually don't give up shorthanded chances when he's manning the point. We don't generate too many scoring chances with him either.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

I think top 10 last season is better than "ok" no ? I personally hate putting a forward at the blue line, I don't have any numbers to back it up but I feel a team gives up too many shorthanded chances that way.

PP% is a pretty random stat from year to year. I wouldn't be surprised if our true PP talent is more like middle of the pack.

Surprisingly, our worst defenseman in short handed goals against is Andy Greene over the last two years.

Most special teams stats mean jack though.

 

[Tundra]

This could be a top 10 PP with Gelinas playing most of the time. His shot creates chaos and as a result scoring opportunities ensue.

 

[Devils Unseen Hand]

Despite Pete's extension, if the Devils are either winless in the first 10 games or have a losing record a week or two after Halloween, I think Petey D. is out the door. There is little room for playoff failure next season & I think Pete knows it too.

Gelly & Cammy on the PP points will be a major plus for the Devils this season. Both bring it from different parts of the ice & that's a good thing!

What we need to see more this year is team toughness. Gionta shouldn't be our main hitter & the team needs to do a better job of playing sheriff on the ice. And I don't mean just fighting, I mean finishing checks & making open ice hits. Let the opposition know that there is a need to keep your heads' up.

Wanna see more of this:

 

[DevilsFanInFla]

I'd agree PDB probably has a short leash this season. In all fairness, 2012-13 was a lockout shortened season and injuries killed us (Kovy/Brodeur/etc) along with the departure of Parise. It also didn't help that PDB was insistent on playing Hedberg when he clearly couldn't handle it. That being said, it's hockey and injuries happen. You take 2013-14 and I honestly think he did a decent enough job. We lost Kovy and Clarkson, the latter of which actually played his career best hockey under DeBoers system and was an effective player whereas he wasn't so much prior. We signed Ryder, Clowe, and Brunner who all has to adjust to a team who were themselves in a transition. Clowe was injured half the season, Ryder became the ghost, and Brunner just wasn't as effective as anyone would have liked. Add to that a Brodeur situation that was damned if you do and damned if you don't and it's hard to hold him entirely accountable for the results. Now I'm not a PDB apologist but when we had a functional roster, he did pretty well. We have the best roster, at least on paper, that we've had since our 2012 run so I would expect us to do better. We've fixed the D logjam, added some players that just might be able to add offensive skills, and solidified the goaltending. At this point, if we suck then the blame falls squarely and solely at the feet of PDB. However, I hope we don't suck and make the playoffs, and even make some noise which I fully expect us to do.

 

[ajdevjet]

I'd agree PDB probably has a short leash this season. In all fairness, 2012-13 was a lockout shortened season and injuries killed us (Kovy/Brodeur/etc) along with the departure of Parise. It also didn't help that PDB was insistent on playing Hedberg when he clearly couldn't handle it. That being said, it's hockey and injuries happen. You take 2013-14 and I honestly think he did a decent enough job. We lost Kovy and Clarkson, the latter of which actually played his career best hockey under DeBoers system and was an effective player whereas he wasn't so much prior. We signed Ryder, Clowe, and Brunner who all has to adjust to a team who were themselves in a transition. Clowe was injured half the season, Ryder became the ghost, and Brunner just wasn't as effective as anyone would have liked. Add to that a Brodeur situation that was damned if you do and damned if you don't and it's hard to hold him entirely accountable for the results. Now I'm not a PDB apologist but when we had a functional roster, he did pretty well. We have the best roster, at least on paper, that we've had since our 2012 run so I would expect us to do better. We've fixed the D logjam, added some players that just might be able to add offensive skills, and solidified the goaltending. At this point, if we suck then the blame falls squarely and solely at the feet of PDB. However, I hope we don't suck and make the playoffs, and even make some noise which I fully expect us to do.

Ahhh like a breath of fresh air .....thank you for the positive reinforcement I agree with you on all accounts. Let's go devils !!!!!

 

[Missionhockey]

DeBoer has never had a good roster to deal with except for one year and he took the team to the Stanley Cup Finals. Even then, the team was tremendously top heavy for the majority of the year. They didn't really start to find balance until Zajac returned from injury and the addition of Ponikarovsky. That year they always had a solid top six, but the third and fourth lines were generally pretty bad.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Imagine these last two rosters without Deboers system, yuck.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

Team toughness, proxied by bone crushing hits, is really the last thing we need more of.

 

[JimEIV]

Team toughness in a 20 goal, 50 point Jamie Langenbrunner kind of way is really what is needed

 

[devilsblood]

DeBoer has never had a good roster to deal with except for one year and he took the team to the Stanley Cup Finals. Even then, the team was tremendously top heavy for the majority of the year. They didn't really start to find balance until Zajac returned from injury and the addition of Ponikarovsky. That year they always had a solid top six, but the third and fourth lines were generally pretty bad.

I thought last years roster was pretty good. But it had too many players(forwards) that played below expectations.

Imagine these last two rosters without Deboers system, yuck.

This is one argument I don't want to hear. The team has been pretty bad the last two years. Thus saying we would have been a bad team without Deboer, rings hollow.

 

[Missionhockey]

I thought last years roster was pretty good. But it had too many players(forwards) that played below expectations.

I did not have very high expectations for last year's team. I didn't expect Jagr to play as well as he did but I doubted that Ryder, Brunner and Clowe would be huge difference makers on a more shallow team. I was wrong about Clowe but he's always injured. We got pretty much what I expected out of Brunner and Ryder.

 

[DevilsFanInFla]

Clowe was productive when he was healthy, which makes it all the more disappointing that he played only 43 (I think) games. Not that he would have been the guy to carry us to the playoffs, just that he would have helped. I hope that his health is good enough to play again for us but given the rash of concussions I'm more worried about his long term health. I don't expect to see him play for us again anytime soon, if at all, unfortunately. If he does, I just hope he stays healthy.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

PP% is a pretty random stat from year to year. I wouldn't be surprised if our true PP talent is more like middle of the pack.

Surprisingly, our worst defenseman in short handed goals against is Andy Greene over the last two years.

Most special teams stats mean jack though.

The sleepy shot counters at the Rock are partially to blame for this (can't do road stats only), but the Devils are 28th in the league since 2011 when it comes to generating shots (29th at FF/60) on the powerplay.

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/teamstats.php?disp=1&db=201114&sit=5v4&sort=SF60&sortdir=DESC

They're 25th in that same span at SF%, so they're not outshooting opponents as thoroughly as most teams do on the powerplay. That said, I'm not sure if shot-share is a particularly useful way to look at teams' PP ability, but I thought that might help reduce the undercounting shots effect.

 

[JimEIV]

I did not have very high expectations for last year's team. I didn't expect Jagr to play as well as he did but I doubted that Ryder, Brunner and Clowe would be huge difference makers on a more shallow team. I was wrong about Clowe but he's always injured. We got pretty much what I expected out of Brunner and Ryder.

I thought Ryder would provide way more than he did...WAAAAAAAAY more.

In hindsight, maybe my expectation were a bit misguided..But for the last 4 years he has been well above a 1/2 point per game player...I wasn't expecting .4 ppg player to be honest. 34 points in 82 games??? That really was a major issue...Think how different production would've been with Ryder in the 50 point range.

Another thing was the 4th line...I expected a lot more from them - Ryan Carter met expectations with 7 goals in 62 games...But Bernier's 3 in 78 was hurtful to my soul. Especially considering he scored 8 in 47 games last season AND he was in a contract year. Same for Gionta...He had 3 more points last year in a lockout year than he did this season...Again in a contract year! 14 goals from the 4th line is about 10 shy from the neighborhood I thought they would be in.

We all knew Clowe's contract was a disaster because of his health issues...The day he signed the overwhelming words spoken here were "If he can stay healthy"

You take the lost production from Clowe's injuries, Ryder's inadequacy, and the 4th line, sprinkle in Elias missing 20% of his games --- That is an awful lot of production missing that the team absolutely needed.

 

[Missionhockey]

I thought Ryder would provide way more than he did...WAAAAAAAAY more.

In hindsight, maybe my expectation were a bit misguided..But for the last 4 years he has been well above a 1/2 point per game player...I wasn't expecting .4 ppg player to be honest. 34 points in 82 games??? That really was a major issue...Think how different production would've been with Ryder in the 50 point range.

Another thing was the 4th line...I expected a lot more from them - Ryan Carter met expectations with 7 goals in 62 games...But Bernier's 3 in 78 was hurtful to my soul. Especially considering he scored 8 in 47 games last season AND he was in a contract year. Same for Gionta...He had 3 more points last year in a lockout year than he did this season...Again in a contract year! 14 goals from the 4th line is about 10 shy from the neighborhood I thought they would be in.

We all knew Clowe's contract was a disaster because of his health issues...The day he signed the overwhelming words spoken here were "If he can stay healthy"

You take the lost production from Clowe's injuries, Ryder's inadequacy, and the 4th line, sprinkle in Elias missing 20% of his games --- That is an awful lot of production missing that the team absolutely needed.

Bernier was the worst one. He was given 2nd line minutes at one point. That's terrible!

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

There was a lot of good and bad luck working against Devils forwards the last few years. Before he signed with the Devils, Ryder spent two years shooting a good chunk above his career shooting%. Between that and the usual degradation with age, it wasnt likely Ryder was gonna be near that 30-goal pace with the Devils. Lo and behold, his sh% came crashing down and so did his goal total.

I still liked the signing at the time though, he brought an element mostly missing from the team, and I think a lot of us figured the threat of his shot would still help the powerplay. We just didnt realize how lacking he was at all those other elements besides shooting. But if he stays with the Devils, I think it's safe to assume he'll be a good bit improved from last season.

Similarly, the CBGB line all shot unsustainably high in 12-13, and their point totals reflected. Those numbers all fell back down to earth last season, but Bernier's basically caused an extinction event. The Devils won't continue shooting half the NHL average shooting percentage with Bernier on the ice this season. And hopefully after last season, Pete won't think twice about putting him anywhere near a scoring line. I think Bernier is still a great 4th line option.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I thought last years roster was pretty good. But it had too many players(forwards) that played below expectations.



This is one argument I don't want to hear. The team has been pretty bad the last two years. Thus saying we would have been a bad team without Deboer, rings hollow.

Do you think these last two rosters could have been top 5 in shots against and possession with a different coach? This team would be terrible playing on a different system. You think these last two seasons were bad? They could have been a lot worse if they weren't able to limit shots and be dominant in possession. Deboer has a big hand in this tam being competitive for a playoff spot. I find your statement hollow because these last two seasons could have easily been disasters.

 

[R8Devs]

As if having 46 wins in the last 118 games isn't a disaster or being 25th in the league in wins is some sort of accomplishment with this roster.

 

[NjDevsRR]

5 pts out of the playoffs with a 42 yr old goalie and going 0-13 in shootouts is not a disaster of a team. It's a team that should be in the playoffs. Losing Brodeur and adding Camm and Havlat only helps.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

5 pts out of the playoffs with a 42 yr old goalie and going 0-13 in shootouts is not a disaster.

the coach playing that goalie as much as he did was part of the reason we missed the playoffs.

 

[R8Devs]

Maybe he shouldn't have played that 42 year old goalie so much if that's an issue.

 

[JimEIV]

So let me see if I understand this….

Schneider cannot be faulted for the losses, Brodeur cannot be credited for his wins and Deboer is responsible for the all the wins/losses?

Is that right?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

the coach played the inferior goaltender in nearly 50% of the games. thats all that needs to be said.