GDT: The Second Half Push Begins: Your New Jersey Devils vs. Colorado Avalanche, 7:30 PM, ESPN+

[Whaddagoal]

That pass last night from Nico was magnificent. It’s one of my favorite assists from this season

I agree, both of his were nice reads and great execution.

It definitely also makes up for the Avs goal 1 gaffe too that went off his misplay.

 

[Bcap88]

Jack is probably back tomorrow

Saturday the latest

 

[Better Call Sal]

Injuries maybe hampering his performance but this seems to have been going on for a long time. He started the season playing just as poorly as he is now.

I kind of feel like we paid for a super duty hauling truck and are getting Toyota Corolla performance.

He certainly tops the list of disappointment for the season, but I feel as though it's been a trying year all the way around for him. After his bad start, he started to pick it up before his first injury. Then he returns far too early based on his performance afterwards, and when he finally starts to get in a groove again, it's another injury. All the while, he gets shuffled up and down the lineup more frequently than others which I also don't think benefits him.

I'm hopeful we can write this year off if he doesn't finish the year strongly. About everything that could go wrong for him this year has. He's actually probably the perfect encapsulation of the 23-24 New Jersey Devils to this point.

 

[Devils731]

Timo smashed into their goalie without taking a penalty while driving the net. That’s the type of stuff that I see begged for in the gdt so he should get some credit for that.

Timo definitely had more jump in his step last night. He was able to threaten going wide on people and was able to initiate physical contests around the puck. Those were things we didn’t see while he was playing hurt.

Timo didn’t have a dominate game or anything but his tools are coming back and I would bet that results will follow.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I would really like to see Timo get used on the top PP at some point, too. He had 12 and 17 PPGs the past two seasons. Put him somewhere on there to succeed, and I feel as though he will.

 

[Guadana]

Injuries maybe hampering his performance but this seems to have been going on for a long time. He started the season playing just as poorly as he is now.

I kind of feel like we paid for a super duty hauling truck and are getting Toyota Corolla performance.

after 0 points in three games he got 9 points in 9 games. after that he had two injuries. Its not an environment to judge hockey player.

 

[RNCDevil]

after 0 points in three games he got 9 points in 9 games. after that he had two injuries. Its not an environment to judge hockey player.

He makes some head scratching plays too. I think we all have some sticker shock with him. He eats up so much cap and doesn't seem to be that player. If he was 5-6 M, I don't anyone would have too much to complain about.

 

[Whaddagoal]

I would really like to see Timo get used on the top PP at some point, too. He had 12 and 17 PPGs the past two seasons. Put him somewhere on there to succeed, and I feel as though he will.

Yup that is on coaching. Whomever is running PP stuff. If they would give him a spot to shoot on the PP.

Issue is we have toffoli and Bratt and Hughes and Nico and palat all vying for PP1 with also Dougie/Luke/nemec.

I'd prefer to put Palat on PP2 and keep PP1 with Timo if push comes to shove.

 

[Guadana]

He makes some head scratching plays too. I think we all have some sticker shock with him. He eats up so much cap and doesn't seem to be that player. If he was 5-6 M, I don't anyone would have too much to complain about.

9 points in 9 games is enough for 8.8 mil. Even 9 points in 12 games. Give him some time to adapt for the system, give him a role on the right side where he played all of his career and you will have what you can expect from Timo - scoring winger with physical abilities. He wasnt famous for clean steady two way game.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

He makes some head scratching plays too. I think we all have some sticker shock with him. He eats up so much cap and doesn't seem to be that player. If he was 5-6 M, I don't anyone would have too much to complain about.

I disagree, he's been the worst he'll arguably ever be the duration of the contract imo this year. We saw him in his peak in the Rags series flipping it by getting into Shesterkin's head, he was the best forward in the Carolina series besides Jack and maybe even him since he was scoring more frequently and missed game 1 too. And not to mention, we saw the same thing with Dougie year 1 after his UFA deal and people said the same stuff around here, lol. I'd give Timo that deal again

 

[Call Me Al]

we’re paying $8.8 m to a 40 goal scorer and not putting him on pp1 with our best forwards. hes had different line mates almost every game. hes not playing the position that he’s played most of his career.

i put way less blame on timo than i do on our coaching. they are allergic to putting certain players in the best position to succeed

 

[Bleedred]

Vitek has been a .905 ish goalie in the last 10 games. He’s been absolutely fine. Yes he wants goal 3 back but he was a difference maker. He was great tonight

I got .896% in his last 10 games. Perhaps that's closer to his expected save percentage, but still considerably below league average.

.914% in his last 5 games though.

It's possible I ran these numbers wrong.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I got .896% in his last 10 games. Perhaps that's closer to his expected save percentage, but still considerably below league average.

.914% in his last 5 games though.

It's possible I ran these numbers wrong.

I am getting .914 in his last 10 appearances.

256 saves on 280 shots.

Edit: LOL I miscounted the goals. You are spot on. All hail Bleed.


Besides the first Tampa game I think Vitek has been good enough. Hope it continues

 

[Triumph]

we’re paying $8.8 m to a 40 goal scorer and not putting him on pp1 with our best forwards. hes had different line mates almost every game. hes not playing the position that he’s played most of his career.

i put way less blame on timo than i do on our coaching. they are allergic to putting certain players in the best position to succeed

He's not good enough to play PP1 for us, our PP1 was the best in the league without him on it, he's playing with different linemates all the time because he's been awful, and unfortunately there isn't really a spot for him to play RW on the team. This last thing is the only indictment of the team, but they should've done the research if he could adequately play LW to be there.

Sometimes optimizing for an individual player doesn't mean it's best for the team. I think we'll see Meier with Haula and Bastian/Lazar on Thursday if Jack is back.

 

[glenwo2]

Timo smashed into their goalie without taking a penalty while driving the net. That’s the type of stuff that I see begged for in the gdt so he should get some credit for that.

Let's be honest here.

The reason that wasn't a penalty is because he was tripped and the refs didn't call it.

 

[devilsblood]

You are correct, sir.

Seems Bratt is more thrilled for his teammates than himself.

He seems to downplay every goal (well almost) he scores.

We talk about the mental aspect of the game. And i know he is trying to keep an even keel. But i think expressing some more exuberance would be beneficial to Bratt.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

Let's be honest here.

The reason that wasn't a penalty is because he was tripped and the refs didn't call it.

Timo starts to go down before the stick even hits him. It looked like a trip in real time but he’s lucky it wasn’t a penalty.

 

[Call Me Al]

He's not good enough to play PP1 for us, our PP1 was the best in the league without him on it, he's playing with different linemates all the time because he's been awful, and unfortunately there isn't really a spot for him to play RW on the team. This last thing is the only indictment of the team, but they should've done the research if he could adequately play LW to be there.

Sometimes optimizing for an individual player doesn't mean it's best for the team. I think we'll see Meier with Haula and Bastian/Lazar on Thursday if Jack is back.

our pp was hot for a month and a half and has been dogshit since then, especially since hughes went down. saying he’s not good enough for it is ludicrous - he had 17, 17 and 12 pp goals the last 3 years, more than anyone had last year and more than anyone is on pace for this year.

his shot is a weapon and since hughes has gone down we’ve had a tepid pass-first power play, there’s virtually no reason not to put bratt in hughes spot and meier as a trigger on the rw half wall.

they’ve played every righty on the lw at some point or another but won’t try meier on the rw, so saying there’s no spot for him doesn’t make sense. toffoli plays lw when bratts on the line and they’ve done all righty lines at other points. it’s stupid not to at least try him there.

arguing that not maximizing meier is probably best for the team puts way too much faith in the coaching staff. they’re not above reproach for the way they handle certain players.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

our pp was hot for a month and a half and has been dogshit since then, especially since hughes went down. saying he’s not good enough for it is ludicrous - he had 17, 17 and 12 pp goals the last 3 years, more than anyone had last year and more than anyone is on pace for this year.

his shot is a weapon and since hughes has gone down we’ve had a tepid pass-first power play, there’s virtually no reason not to put bratt in hughes spot and meier as a trigger on the rw half wall.

they’ve played every righty on the lw at some point or another but won’t try meier on the rw, so saying there’s no spot for him doesn’t make sense. toffoli plays lw when bratts on the line and they’ve done all righty lines at other points. it’s stupid not to at least try him there.

arguing that not maximizing meier is probably best for the team puts way too much faith in the coaching staff. they’re not above reproach for the way they handle certain players.

I don’t see why he’d be on PP1 with everyone healthy. Bratt is a far better player and has unique chemistry with Jack. And Toffoli gives us a right handed shot plus he’s just a better shooter than Meier. No one else is coming off of that unit.

 

[Call Me Al]

I don’t see why he’d be on PP1 with everyone healthy. Bratt is a far better player and has unique chemistry with Jack. And Toffoli gives us a right handed shot plus he’s just a better shooter than Meier. No one else is coming off of that unit.

but everyone’s not healthy and hasn’t been for the bulk of the season?

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

but everyone’s not healthy and hasn’t been for the bulk of the season?

Including Meier. He’s been the most obviously injured guy on the team when he’s been in. I can’t really complain about his usage when he’s just been abysmal.

 

[Triumph]

our pp was hot for a month and a half and has been dogshit since then, especially since hughes went down. saying he’s not good enough for it is ludicrous - he had 17, 17 and 12 pp goals the last 3 years, more than anyone had last year and more than anyone is on pace for this year.

his shot is a weapon and since hughes has gone down we’ve had a tepid pass-first power play, there’s virtually no reason not to put bratt in hughes spot and meier as a trigger on the rw half wall.

I don't think Meier is a particularly good player on the power play. He has scored a lot of goals as a featured player on a bad to meh power play. Yes, it's true, if you feature a guy with a decent shot and just keep feeding him, he will score goals. What will he do to the rest of the power play? Anyone's guess. But hey, he's scoring, so it has to be good.

And all this is bearing in mind that Meier has played the vast majority of this season at less than 100% health. Last night his biggest chance, he flubbed and it ended up in the back of the Devils' net 20 seconds later. That's been the story of his season and why he's not on PP1.

There's plenty of precedent for this too. The Devils didn't just promote Alex Mogilny to PP1 when he arrived 20+ years ago. He played PP2 when he came here in 2000. There was more balance in ice time between the units back then, but Mogilny is a legendary sniper - they just wanted to spread the talent out and they did that.

they’ve played every righty on the lw at some point or another but won’t try meier on the rw, so saying there’s no spot for him doesn’t make sense. toffoli plays lw when bratts on the line and they’ve done all righty lines at other points. it’s stupid not to at least try him there.

What are you talking about? Holtz hasn't played LW and neither has Mercer, not for any length of time. Toffoli has played LW exclusively all season. They're very obviously not opposed to putting people on their off-wing, but to me Bratt makes a lot more happen on that side.

arguing that not maximizing meier is probably best for the team puts way too much faith in the coaching staff. they’re not above reproach for the way they handle certain players.

Meier has been injured almost all season. Leaving that out of this discussion is just wanting to find fault with the coaching staff.