I'm happy for Wedge because it's a nice story for the third/fourth string guy who has been out of the league for a while to get a win/shutout or have some really good games, but I still don't think he can be counted on to be a reliable backup.
Post-Game Talk: Devils 2 - Islanders 0: Wedgeout!!!
- Thread starter Emperoreddy
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Zippy316
aka Zippo
Wedgewood looked solid but his biggest drawback seems to be his rebound control. Coughs up way too many pucks in front of him or into bad areas after saves. That and his size seems to be what’s holding him back.
Looks like he can hold down the fort here and there but as an every day goalie, I think once he gets peppered with shots with traffic he’s going to struggle. Thankfully we only need him for a couple weeks here and there.
Looks like he can hold down the fort here and there but as an every day goalie, I think once he gets peppered with shots with traffic he’s going to struggle. Thankfully we only need him for a couple weeks here and there.
Emperoreddy
Show Me What You Got!
It makes me appreciate Big Mac more. He sucks up every puck he touches. You never see high danger rebounds or pucks bouncing in front of him like it was with Wedge tonight.
njdevils1982
Hell Toupée!!!
i thought his game 'today' he was very high in the crease when perimeter shots were happening. this is a good thing ….less net to shoot at.
with the in close plays…..he's a on the knees goalie, side to side push off shit...and a few times i was terrified when he slid across the crease too far to leave a possible back door goal.
but shit, its not as easy as it looks
just some observations
Jersey Fan 12
Positive Vibes
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Was it the system or the players? It would seem most of those players are gone or not dressing.
MachoDiablo
Registered User
Quite a bit of both, I’d say. Devils’ blue line has lacked talent the past few years, but they were also almost utterly structure-less under Hynes in his last couple of years. Bad goaltending was a culprit, but even once Blackwood came up they were constantly leaving him out to dry.
JimEIV
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In my opinion last night was another example of how bad Hynes' system and Shero's ability to address the defense properly was...
Put a defensive structure in place and the defenders and goalies look better...
Add a couple competent defenders to balance out the pairings along with the structure and you have the ability to compete...you give your forwards a chance to dictate by not being on their heels, stuck in their own zone for their entire shift....
The last 5 games are a small sample and probably don't tell much of a complete story....but if there is a story, it's how bad the previous administration ran this team.
Put a defensive structure in place and the defenders and goalies look better...
Add a couple competent defenders to balance out the pairings along with the structure and you have the ability to compete...you give your forwards a chance to dictate by not being on their heels, stuck in their own zone for their entire shift....
The last 5 games are a small sample and probably don't tell much of a complete story....but if there is a story, it's how bad the previous administration ran this team.
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Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
Yeah, Lou knocked it out of the park by drafting Ty Smith and you shouldn’t get that much credit when acquiring someone for a 5th round pick in a COVID era that saw teams cutting payroll.
The second you’ll understand that Lou put us behind the 8-ball for the past decade, the better you’ll understand that whoever was taking over was bound to fail. Shero wasn’t brought in to make us competitive, he was brought in to rebuild a sinking ship.
I’ve been disappointed in Jack Hughes since last year but his play so far has been simply eye opening and your constant rants about two 1st overall picks doing nothing is another reason why we’re having a solid start so far.
You need to give credit to the proper people and know how to say "I was wrong".
Call Me Al
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shero was brought in to make us competitive and he would still be here if his loyalty to a failing coach wasn’t blinding his loyalty to the team and its fans
It was my opinion for years that our D wasn't nearly as bad as they showed. I just always thought it was Nas' problem, not Hynes'. I'm still not 100% sure Nas isn't a problem, but I'm coming around.
I'll be convinced if I see our defenders actually progress year over year. I feel like under Hynes virtually none of our defensemen got better. Whatever we got when they first started playing for our team (plus a short adjustment period) was as good as they'd ever be for us.
If we were entering a full rebuild, I would fault Shero for keeping Cory instead of trading him for futures. I think he would easily have brought us that vaunted extra 1st rounder we never got for our rebuild.
That being said, I agree that we really didn't have much else to work with. Shero was at the point where he wasn't looking to build a team so much as he was working to acquire assets. We had to get to a point where we had enough assets to start start swapping for the CORRECT parts to build an actual team. Fitz is benefiting from that now.
ChicksDigTheTrap
No quick fixes, no cutting corners and no cheating
Actually the reports are he was let go because he was uncomfortable with the collaborative decision making model the owners wanted.
Call Me Al
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yeah those are reports. but i have a suspicion that if the team was doing well he wouldn’t have been let go. that “collaborative decision making” could have been him refusing to fire the coach after a horrible start and owners losing confidence in his own decision making. harris said outright that losing confidence in him was the reason for the firing.
Call Me Al
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i mean it could very well be true that shero didn’t like the owners wanting input on hockey decisions. but after making a terrible hockey decision on his own i’m sure the owners felt like a change was necessary
ChicksDigTheTrap
No quick fixes, no cutting corners and no cheating
Call Me Al
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ChicksDigTheTrap
No quick fixes, no cutting corners and no cheating
The reports are clear that the owners wanted the Analytics group more involved. Shero did not like the Analytics group reporting directly to the owner. Multiple people in the organization such as Marty have commented that the Analytics group is now more involved since Shero left.
I agree - and that the team is looking better and stacked with talent is very much Shero’s doing. The depth of talent is showing and Shero’s plan of just stockpiling picks is bearing fruit.
The Hall year was magnificent.
On the other hand his choice of coaching; and the veteran people he added the past seasons after the Hall MVP run weren’t as strong judgmentally as what Fitz has done.
Call Me Al
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shero didn’t quit though he was fired after “winning the offseason” and then sticking with a losing coach long past his expiration date when the season was effectively lost in november
Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
Not to help in continuing to rehash this topic, but yeah, if we didn't bottom out to start last year and Shero didn't hitch his wagon to Hynes as long as he did, he'd probably still be here. I'm sure things got testy with ownership and wanting a collaborative environment when it was clear that the team wasn't performing to the lofty expectations that everyone assumed they would have.
If the team stayed competitive the whole year but wound up missing the playoffs, I wouldn't have been shocked to see Shero stay but Hynes still fired. They ultimately did end up going down with the ship together though, even if Shero was here for an extra month or so.
If the team stayed competitive the whole year but wound up missing the playoffs, I wouldn't have been shocked to see Shero stay but Hynes still fired. They ultimately did end up going down with the ship together though, even if Shero was here for an extra month or so.
Everyone says the problem was Hynes but I don't see a lot of mention of the goaltenders, which were the real issue, as we'll see moving forward here. Wedgewood played well last night but he played against a garbage offense and he got some breaks. The Devils played all right defensively but they didn't just discover Dmitri Kulikov.
NJDevs26
Once upon a time...
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Kulikov and Murray are better low cost moves at improving the D than anything Shero managed in five years. The coaching thing is well documented and I think it’s at least 50-50 Shero would have just kept Nas as the coach too, since his whole MO is hiring young assistants without wattage.
It’s also true Shero was handicapped from improving the goaltending by Cory’s contract and that’s no longer a big factor. But it’s not like Fitz’s big acquisition helped there either.
It’s also true Shero was handicapped from improving the goaltending by Cory’s contract and that’s no longer a big factor. But it’s not like Fitz’s big acquisition helped there either.
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True, but to be fair Shero didn't have the opportunities presented to Fitz because of Covid. It's not common for a #2OA defenseman and a defenseman that was playing first pairing for a playoff team to become available at a reasonable price.
ChicksDigTheTrap
No quick fixes, no cutting corners and no cheating
I am not sure how this is turning into Fitz vs Shero. As I said before, Shero did fine but IMO it was time for a change Shero mistakenly thought the team could contend last year and is not longer here. All that matters to me is that I like where the team is at this time and I am confident in Fitz and the Analytics group/scouts, etc to keep it going moving forward.
Again, wait two months before saying this. Murray was available for a 5th round pick because he is injured all the time. Kulikov has yet to be on the ice for a goal against 5v5 so of course he's great now.
Both of these guys may have benefitted from the long layoff because they're so banged up. I doubt either one makes it through the season without missing some games.
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