GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (11-4-3) @ Wienerpeg Jets (11-4-3), 3 PM, MSG+

[Jersey Fresh]

Not sure what expectations you have for a 40-45 point player...but here's a fun fact...you won't find a 45 point player in the league that doesn't have at least 37 pointless games over the course of a season.

It's beyond not scoring and you know it.

 

[Bleedred]

Only 5 forwards played less than Henrique today, but Nico and Palmieri were two of those 5. Zajac was another, but I guess he's just being eased back in.

I wonder if this was be design, or by complete accident, that Henrique played quite a few minutes less? I think only 2 forwards actually played more than him last game and for the handful before that, frickin Hall was the only one who played more.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Not sure what expectations you have for a 40-45 point player...but here's a fun fact...you won't find a 45 point player in the league that doesn't have at least 37 pointless games over the course of a season.

Other 45 point players provide other intangibles when not producing and do not have the benefit of an excuse where it is ok to be completely invisible for 10-15 game stretches because he scores 45 pts. Its bullshit, and it has gotten old since we have a plethora of forwards who can take Henriques minutes and at least provide more energy. Enough is enough.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I was at that game when McKay jumped the glass!!

 

[The 29th Pick]

Sorry folks this was my fault. Turned on the game in the car it was tied for about a minute and then WPG went on their offensive tear. My bad. Next time I’ll shut it off after the first goal against.

Stay out of the car !

 

[Bleedred]

While this is factually correct the problem with Henrique is he really does add very little when he's not scoring. I would say it's Ryder-esque except he's not even scoring as good as pre-Devils Ryder (or as bad as Devils Ryder).

Funny you should say this, as I feel like Henrique looks like Ryder right now. I was thinking this earlier in the game.

 

[Blender]

Not sure what expectations you have for a 40-45 point player...but here's a fun fact...you won't find a 45 point player in the league that doesn't have at least 37 pointless games over the course of a season.

To skate and battle hard, and play solid defense on and away from the puck.

 

[Tundra]

Daneyko needs a monocle to go with that mustache.

 

[Cheddabombs]

I'd rather keep Gibbons where he's at. He serves a use as a fourth liner in limited minutes who causes havoc. The more you play him the less effective he is when he does play, IMO.

If anything, put Zajac there and get Boyle off of it.

I don't get that logic. Sooner or later you have to hold certain veterans accountable. Henrique has done absolutely nothing to deserve his powerplay time, for example, and Gibson is their leading goal scorer. I get it, he's riding an unsustainable high blah blah. Reward him a little bit, see where he can take it. Especially in a game like this where the top guys are struggling to find the net, maybe Gibson could be that spark-plug.

In the grand scheme of things it's a minor complaint. I don't think he'd be too successful on the powerplay but it's more about sending the message that if you show up and play well, you'll get rewarded in some fashion. Rather than gifting out top line powerplay minutes to Henrique and Boyle.

 

[My3Sons]

Stay out of the car !

Sorry I had no idea driving the middle one home from the lax game was going to lead to a collapse by NJ. But would it be so difficult for someone to give me a heads up before I start listening?

 

[NJDevs26]

The other problem is a lot of the 40-45 points Henrique DOES get come in bunches. He had like a ten point in four game stretch a couple years back and then went back to being invisible. He actually is wildly inconsistent but his cold streaks last longer than his hot streaks.

 

[Bleedred]

Trivia answer was McKay in game 4 against Boston in 1995.

For some reason, I forgot that was a 0-0 game until then.

I remember it, I just didn't remember that it was 0-0.

Although, I was thinking sometime in either the Buffalo series in 94 or the Boston series in 1995, as I remember Marty had 3 shutouts in that series.

 

[Zippy316]

I don't get that logic. Sooner or later you have to hold certain veterans accountable. Henrique has done absolutely nothing to deserve his powerplay time, for example, and Gibson is their leading goal scorer. I get it, he's riding an unsustainable high blah blah. Reward him a little bit, see where he can take it. Especially in a game like this where the top guys are struggling to find the net, maybe Gibson could be that spark-plug.

In the grand scheme of things it's a minor complaint. I don't think he'd be too successful on the powerplay but it's more about sending the message that if you show up and play well, you'll get rewarded in some fashion. Rather than gifting out top line powerplay minutes to Henrique and Boyle.

He has. The more he's played the less effective he's become.

Tonight he played little more than 10 minutes and was a factor every one of those minutes.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Not sure what expectations you have for a 40-45 point player...but here's a fun fact...you won't find a 45 point player in the league that doesn't have at least 37 pointless games over the course of a season.

Snarky.

I like it.

 

[Cheddabombs]

The other problem is a lot of the 40-45 points Henrique DOES get come in bunches. He had like a ten point in four game stretch a couple years back and then went back to being invisible. He actually is wildly inconsistent but his cold streaks last longer than his hot streaks.

And going off of Hynes/Shero's comments about Nico and Bratt. Rico's "B" game is terrible. He goes from "A" game to "F" game real quick. Either he's scoring in bunches or he's a liability out there with some careless play. I'm usually okay with Rico's cold spells but it does get frustrating.

 

[MadDevil]

I've accepted that Henrique is what he is, and rather than wasting breath bitching about the same things over and over again I'm just going to hope he gets hot (like he usually does at some point) or that when we have enough forward depth he either plays on the third line or gets shipped out for a defenseman.

 

[The 29th Pick]

Sorry I had no idea driving the middle one home from the lax game was going to lead to a collapse by NJ. But would it be so difficult for someone to give me a heads up before I start listening?

DVR the game, listen to Abbey Road in the car !

 

[Bleedred]

The other problem is a lot of the 40-45 points Henrique DOES get come in bunches. He had like a ten point in four game stretch a couple years back and then went back to being invisible. He actually is wildly inconsistent but his cold streaks last longer than his hot streaks.

The thing about Henrique that most people don't realize though is that his 45 points every season, come from being played A LOT. I don't remember what the stat was, but I think his points per 60 is pretty lousy. Not like Jacob Josefson bad, but pretty lousy. Paging @Jets012, he threw some interesting stats out the other night, regarding Henrique.

Another thing to look at. Henrique's career shooting percentage is 15.2%! That's insane! That's better than Ovechkin and almost every goal scorer around the league, other than Steven Stamkos. That's even slightly better than frickin Kovalchuk's shooting percentage up to his age 27 season.

His shooting percentage on this season is a still a bit over 9% and he only added his usual 1 (averages a under 2 shots per game) shot on goal tonight, so that didn't come down much. I remember it, it was a sharp angle shot in the 1st period. So if Henrique has a down season in shooting percentage, which wouldn't be a down season for most players in the league in shooting percentage, 9% is about league average, you get a 12-15 goal scorer, with how few shots he takes.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Really need to find a way to make Boyle a 4th line player. I do like the way the 4th line plays, and frankly I think it would best if Boyle were out of the lineup, but that' not going to happen. So I'd prefer Noesen scratched, Boyle to 4th line center, Zajac to 3rd, and Zacha to second. I think that' the best way to maximize the current lineup. When MoJo comes back, then a difficult choice would have to be made.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Stafford is another guy that's been meh for a while now. Though I'm less harsh on him because he's just a stop-gap free agent. But he's been getting top 6 minutes for a while now with some talented players and hasn't done much. I don't even know if I'd say he's snake-bitten, it's just been a rough stretch. When MoJo is back I'd like for him to take Stafford's place on that 2nd line.

Hall-Nico-Palms (this line was dynamite today, if they keep that up they'll be a force)
Bratt-Zajac-MoJo
Wood/Rico-Zacha-Stafford
Gibson-Boyle/Rico-Coleman

I don't know, find room for Rico somewhere.

 

[Bleedred]

I've accepted that Henrique is what he is, and rather than wasting breath *****ing about the same things over and over again I'm just going to hope he gets hot (like he usually does at some point) or that when we have enough forward depth he either plays on the third line or gets shipped out for a defenseman.

I don't want him scratched or anything, because he'd be replaced by a player that isn't better than him, like Jimmy Hayes. We have room to play both him and Zacha too.

I'd like to hold on to him for this year, but I'd trade in a second for an upgrade and not even think twice.

This offseason it should be explored, we can't bring him back on another contract after this. Poor investment for a multitude of reasons. Imagine he shoots 10% (which is still above league average) for his next contract? You have a 15-16 goal scorer, that's also considering that his shot production doesn't drop. And if it does, you might have a 10-12 goal scorer. And it's very unlikely that he starts shooting more to compensate for the decline in shooting percentage. He doesn't have the puck enough to shoot it.

One legitimate knock on Zacha is that he shoots even less than Henrique. He has the puck more than Henrique does, so I think Zacha can definitely shoot it more.

 

[Colin226]

Met a lot of Devils fans from Canada. That was the positive...

 

[Maine Fan]

Surprise Surprise Someone posted that the Winnipeg team was awesome. I watched the game and was surprised by the Devil's major breakdowns that let the Jets score 4 in a row. The Pegs jumped all over the Devils in the second period. I don't feel this was on Cory team breakdown and outplayed in the second. Henrique is a questionmark in my mind.

 

[Bleedred]

Really need to find a way to make Boyle a 4th line player. I do like the way the 4th line plays, and frankly I think it would best if Boyle were out of the lineup, but that' not going to happen. So I'd prefer Noesen scratched, Boyle to 4th line center, Zajac to 3rd, and Zacha to second. I think that' the best way to maximize the current lineup. When MoJo comes back, then a difficult choice would have to be made.

This has been another constant under Hynes. He doesn't seem to wanna play 4th liners on the 4th line. There's always gotta be one on the 3rd line.

Like I said, it's not the icetime so much that I'm concerned about, as much as it's having Boyle play on a line with 3rd line players. It's also not gonna help Henrique break out of his slump, that's for sure. They've been playing together.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Really need to find a way to make Boyle a 4th line player. I do like the way the 4th line plays, and frankly I think it would best if Boyle were out of the lineup, but that' not going to happen. So I'd prefer Noesen scratched, Boyle to 4th line center, Zajac to 3rd, and Zacha to second. I think that' the best way to maximize the current lineup. When MoJo comes back, then a difficult choice would have to be made.

I agree. I love Boyle. He's a great veteran presence, of course his comeback story is incredible, and he's real good on the PK and faceoffs. But as far as team identity is concerned, I'm not sure he's a fit relative to his competition with the team.