GDT: Your New Jersey Devils @ Carolina Hurricanes, 7 PM, MSG+

[Devils Dominion]

Garbage effort.

Just listed 5 games on stubhub

 

[Uli Hiemer]

Complete trash

 

[Bleedred]

Another concerning trend is that we always follow up some of our best games with a complete and disgusting dud.

Detroit was one of our best games in quite a while, the only reason it was close was because our penalty killing was a joke and absolutely atrocious.

We had that game against Pittsburgh, then went out and laid a steaming pile of **** against Calgary,

 

[Devils Dominion]

No emotion/passion nor a threat all night.
And vs Florida/Anaheim, too much lately.

 

[Bleedred]

Our home record is also suspect.

I liked our chances better at winning in Raleigh than here.

Cream of the crap team and at home, means a loss a lot of the times this season.

When was the last bad team we beat at home? I don't even wanna go back and look through the game logs.

I can't even remember our last win at home, Florida a few weeks ago, I know there has to be one since then though.

LOL think it was Detroit. When was our last win at home against a cream of the crap team? In November sometime?

Our last win over any of these **** teams was probably in Raleigh earlier in the month.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Another concerning trend is that we always follow up some of our best games with a complete and disgusting dud.

Detroit was one of our best games in quite a while, the only reason it was close was because our penalty killing was a joke and absolutely atrocious.

We had that game against Pittsburgh, then went out and laid a steaming pile of **** against Calgary,

Good point. It's like the team has a let down of energy after the "high" of a great win or else just can't sustain momentum for a winning streak. We had one early in the season, but since then it has been win one-lose one hodgepodge with points picked up by going to OT/shootout. I'd put up with the inconsistent record, but the inconsistent effort is inexcusable, especially in a season where we actually have some chance at the playoffs if we didn't send points sailing down the drain through lazy efforts. If this team gets back to working hard every night, I'll complain a lot less. I can forgive lack of talent, but not lack of work ethic and pride in playing for this team.

No emotion/passion nor a threat all night.
And vs Florida/Anaheim, too much lately.

That's what really bugs me. This team has lost the vibe of plucky underdog that they had for much of the early part of the season. The effort isn't consistent; no wonder the results are up and down.

 

[tr83]

Just watched the third period again.

The "effort" in the third is there. What isn't there is the passing ability. Too many fumbles and missed passes. There are times they get too damn cute. Behind the back passes and too many risky passes. Watched two go cross ice in the D zone. The horrible pass and catch between Larsson and Camm

The forwards weren't backchecking either. Zajac was noticably late several times on the backcheck. Guys didn't seem to know their assignment during the transition from O to D.

If it's not Henrique going to the net, the puck just doesn't get there. This is my BIGGEST beef with this team. I'm sure if the fans rewatch other games, I think this is what most of us mean when we talk about "effort"

The team lacks snarl. Josefson is a wimp. The coach should challenge him to hit two guys and take two shots on net a game. If he doesn't, scratch him.

 

[MadDevil]

It's not like they're half assing it out there. It's just, for whatever reason, their execution goes out the window at times. The forwards exit the defensive zone too soon, which leads to not enough support for the defense, which leads to being stuck in our own end, which leads to being tired and having to dump and chase when they finally get to the neutral zone. Plus they tend to overpass when things aren't going well instead of doing the smart thing and just getting it on net.

Maybe this is the team we were supposed to be and the first 30 games were the mirage. At some point relying on 4-5 forwards, one really good defense pairing and your goaltender is going to catch up with you.

 

[JK3]

Cammy had a pretty meh bunch of games. On the last goal he really dogged it on the back check and let the Canes gain the zone with ease. He was just coasting, thought he was going to the bench actually but stayed on the ice. That was a tough pass to Lars, kinda handcuffed him but he should have found a way to chip in deep.

The top six can't do it all every night. Broken record here but the bottom six needs to chip in more to keep us afloat (like Kalinin's goal last game). I really want to see Farnham in immediately (if he can go) just to inject some energy into these guys. Some how he draws penalties, don't know how he does it but it's indicative of our effort lately, we're barely on the PP. We've been lethargic out there for two weeks now. Throw Matteau in there, he really can't do any worse than what we have now. I have no idea what they are doing with him.

 

[Bleedred]

Not saying the effort is great on some nights, it certainly wasn't there at all against Florida. It wasn't much better the next game against Anaheim, especially considering Anaheim is TRASH this season. And it wasn't that great in this game.

But it all goes back to lack of a 3rd line. They erupted in Detroit, that's like a month's worth of scoring for them. Josefson has already hit his quota of points this month. He's got 3 points, which is a HUGE month by his standards. Then again he had 4 in October, before having a goose egg the next month to make up for it.

Ruutu needs to go away on a permanent vacation, 11 goals scored in 8 games he's played in this season. 4 of them were in the same game, then 7 in 7 other games that he's played. Guy is terrible and needs to be exiled from the team, or at least scratched. Then you put him on a line with Zajac and Palmieri to use a checking line to shut down the lowest scoring team in the league (one of the worst decision's Hynes made all season), that completely kills his otherwise productive (at least in Palms case) linemates from producing any offense. And I watched him kill a couple good chances that night, it was more pathetic than Bernier ruining scoring chances when he was forced to play with Elias.

So even if the effort is there, the ability of guys like Josefson, Ruutu, Gionta, Tootoo, Kennedy, to produce points is not there. They have zero ability to produce. Kalinin has been improving, I'll give him that. The ability for Tlusty to produce seems to have disappeared too.

 

[Bleedred]

Cammy had a pretty meh bunch of games. On the last goal he really dogged it on the back check and let the Canes gain the zone with ease. He was just coasting, thought he was going to the bench actually but stayed on the ice. That was a tough pass to Lars, kinda handcuffed him but he should have found a way to chip in deep.

The top six can't do it all every night. Broken record here but the bottom six needs to chip in more to keep us afloat (like Kalinin's goal last game). I really want to see Farnham in immediately (if he can go) just to inject some energy into these guys. We've been lethargic out there for two weeks now. Throw Matteau in there, he really can't do any worse than what we have now. I have no idea what they are doing with him.

It's not a broken record at all. Only if it's coming from me, because I feel like I'm the only one that talks about it at all, other than a few posts mentioning it in passing. Or by a few people that don't post daily.

Bottom line is that you're not gonna score much when everyone in your bottom six is on pace for 16 points or less. A 3rd line is not supposed to be made up of 16 point players, that's not good at all. IMO you need to be around a 30 point player over 82 games to be a passable 3rd liner in this league.

I feel like Tlusty should be given a little longer rope than most of them, because he's only 27 and while it's looks like he's finished, I'd still hold out on him longer than some of these other guys.

Josefson is motoring along right at his career average of 0.2 points per game, Tootoo is a sub 20 point player, Gionta ain't gonna give you much offense. Ruutu shouldn't be given the Tlusty benefit of the doubt because he's 32 and has been a BAD NHL offense producing forward for 2+ years and 160 games now. Tlusty has only been bad for about 60 games now. Kennedy is looking useless after a decent start.

NOBODY in the bottom 6 should be off limits for a healthy scratch though. Kalinin is the only one I would keep in there right now. And **** feelings. If Farnham is healthy, he should play right now. Don't have room? Waive Ruutu if you have to, he isn't getting an NHL contract next year anyway.

 

[Bleedred]

Just watched the third period again.

The "effort" in the third is there. What isn't there is the passing ability. Too many fumbles and missed passes. There are times they get too damn cute. Behind the back passes and too many risky passes. Watched two go cross ice in the D zone. The horrible pass and catch between Larsson and Camm

The forwards weren't backchecking either. Zajac was noticably late several times on the backcheck. Guys didn't seem to know their assignment during the transition from O to D.

If it's not Henrique going to the net, the puck just doesn't get there. This is my BIGGEST beef with this team. I'm sure if the fans rewatch other games, I think this is what most of us mean when we talk about "effort"

The team lacks snarl. Josefson is a wimp. The coach should challenge him to hit two guys and take two shots on net a game. If he doesn't, scratch him.

You made a post that Josefson only had 12 minutes tonight, and that the coach seems to be giving up on him too.

Now I didn't check the ice times tonight, if that's all he got, I wouldn't get hopes up too high.

I believe we only had one power play tonight, he undoubtedly would have probably gotten 2 or 3 more minutes, had we racked up the power plays. But then again, I'm not really sure how many minutes of power play he averages per game. He seems to get a lot more power play time than he deserves, that I can tell you. Not sure of the exact number of minutes though, whatever it is.

Combine that with the fact we only had one PK tonight too. I should have remembered that we only had one PK tonight, because we likely would have been scored on by their power play if we took too many penalties. With the way our PK has looked lately.

So just one power play for and against tonight, might be why Josefson had so few minutes. More so than the coaches giving up on him, like they really need to.

Josefson being in the top 9 is insanity. Trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results. 216 games now and has produced at approximately a 0.20 PPG pace. 0.20 PPG pace this year, 0.20 PPG pace approximately through all 216 games career.

 

[JK3]

It's not a broken record at all. Only if it's coming from me, because I feel like I'm the only one that talks about it at all, other than a few posts mentioning it in passing. Or by a few people that don't post daily.

Bottom line is that you're not gonna score much when everyone in your bottom six is on pace for 16 points or less. A 3rd line is not supposed to be made up of 16 point players, that's not good at all. IMO you need to be around a 30 point player over 82 games to be a passable 3rd liner in this league.

I feel like Tlusty should be given a little longer rope than most of them, because he's only 27 and while it's looks like he's finished, I'd still hold out on him longer than some of these other guys.

Josefson is motoring along right at his career average of 0.2 points per game, Tootoo is a sub 20 point player, Gionta ain't gonna give you much offense. Ruutu shouldn't be given the Tlusty benefit of the doubt because he's 32 and has been a BAD NHL offense producing forward for 2+ years and 160 games now. Tlusty has only been bad for about 60 games now. Kennedy is looking useless after a decent start.

NOBODY in the bottom 6 should be off limits for a healthy scratch though. Kalinin is the only one I would keep in there right now. And **** feelings. If Farnham is healthy, he should play right now. Don't have room? Waive Ruutu if you have to, he isn't getting an NHL contract next year anyway.

I mentioned the bottom six earlier in the year and got comments like who gives a **** about them, dime a dozen, people complain too much about them, just worry about the top 6. Our top six has been great, overachieving but great, when they go cold we desperately need help from the 3rd line like you said.

Tlusty is 27? I thought he was a few years younger than Patty lol. That dude has never been on my radar at all and even now when he's on my team lol.

 

[Bleedred]

I mentioned the bottom six earlier in the year and got comments like who gives a **** about them, dime a dozen, people complain too much about them, just worry about the top 6. Our top six has been great, overachieving but great, when they go cold we desperately need help from the 3rd line like you said.

Tlusty is 27? I thought he was a few years younger than Patty lol. That dude has never been on my radar at all and even now when he's on my team lol.

Well I remember last year many people were saying ''Zubrus isn't the problem, Gionta isn't the problem. We suck'' Well those guys wouldn't have been a problem on the 4th line. Having Gionta, Josefson, Kalinin, Matteau, Farnham, Tootoo, Kennedy, it's alright to have players like this, it's just that we have too many. Which means they have to play on the 3rd line or even one of the top 2 lines Gionta has been on the 4th line all season, so that's fine. I can't say I've had a problem with him or the handling of him this season.

Ruutu is not in that group because he's finished. He's not an NHL player, has no business on this roster and is arguably more useless than that Irishman we had. At least we averaged more goals per game back when we had him, before Ruutu came back and now we're motoring at just over 1 goal per game in every game he's played in this season.

I used to follow prospects a lot when I was younger, not so much now. Tlusty was on my radar before he was drafted by the Leafs at the 13th overall spot back in 2006. The Devils started out pretty bad in the 05-06 season, then drastically turned around when Elias came back from hepatitis. I was pretty set on the fact that we were probably gonna be drafting around 15th or so, right near where Tlusty was projected and where he did wind up going. Instead we made a good run, then somehow wound up with Carolina's 30th overall pick that year and got that monumental BUST Matt Corrente instead.

Corrente was like the Scott Stevens of busts. Injuries or not. that pick stunk. I think we would have been in Patrik Berglund territory had we had our own pick that year. Berglund is no superstar by any means, but he would be a GREAT 3rd liner on this team. A team that pretty much has no 3rd liners, other than the current Elias (he might never play again now) and Stempniak. Who has played amazing in the top 6 this season.

 

[SeidoN]

1pt out of a wildcard spot. officially in the worst possible spot

 

[theoptimist]

Didn't even catch the game, but yea, Josefson is hot garbage.

Do not resign him please.

 

[John Pedro]

Ruutu sucks. Don't get what people see on him to think he would improve this team.

Gionta is so much better than him. At least, Gionta is relentless on the forecheck.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Ruutu is a waste.
He adds nothing of value.
Mr Zilch.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

After watching Matthews play against Canada, I wouldn't mind being in a lottery just to have a shot at drafting him. The only reason we're even in a wild card race is due to the early success of 4/5 players. And some of those players are beginning to come back to earth. We don't have the depth to sustain being a playoff team. And it's not just the forwards, the defense isn't providing enough offense and our 5 on 5 play isn't very good. It is what it is and we are what we are. Better than last season, yet no good enough.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

It's not like they're half assing it out there. It's just, for whatever reason, their execution goes out the window at times. The forwards exit the defensive zone too soon, which leads to not enough support for the defense, which leads to being stuck in our own end, which leads to being tired and having to dump and chase when they finally get to the neutral zone. Plus they tend to overpass when things aren't going well instead of doing the smart thing and just getting it on net.

Maybe this is the team we were supposed to be and the first 30 games were the mirage. At some point relying on 4-5 forwards, one really good defense pairing and your goaltender is going to catch up with you.

They were significantly outplayed and outworked by Carolina. That's not a talent issue; it's a work ethic one. If it were a big talent discrepancy, this team wouldn't have been able to outplay Detroit last game (because honestly the score of last game flattered Detroit with how close it was). This team has flaws and it played at the high end of its potential early on in the season, but it's not as bad as this game made it look except when its being lazy and sloppy. If they weren't lazy and sloppy this game, they would've stood a much better chance at winning.

 

[Devils Dominion]

They were significantly outplayed and outworked by Carolina. That's not a talent issue; it's a work ethic one. If it were a big talent discrepancy, this team wouldn't have been able to outplay Detroit last game (because honestly the score of last game flattered Detroit with how close it was). This team has flaws and it played at the high end of its potential early on in the season, but it's not as bad as this game made it look except when its being lazy and sloppy. If they weren't lazy and sloppy this game, they would've stood a much better chance at winning.

You are on fire lately FJG with pinpoint analysis.
Kudos!

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

You are on fire lately FJG with pinpoint analysis.
Kudos!

Thanks I'll try to keep it up.