Devils 2015-16 team discussion (player news & notes) Offseason version

[Emperoreddy]

the thing I worry about is who the hell is going to play the PP on D?

Severson, sure. Merrill can't. Lovejoy can't (shouldn't)

Greene? his playing time is going to go up if thats the case

Moore. He was on it last season.

 

[Eric Sachs]

the thing I worry about is who the hell is going to play the PP on D?

Severson, sure. Merrill can't. Lovejoy can't (shouldn't)

Greene? his playing time is going to go up if thats the case

Guessing we'll be seeing a lot of Zajac at the point, which I hate.

Greene is going to have to get some PP time by default so hopefully Lovejoy/Merrill/Santini can handle PK time..

 

[NJDevs26]

They did say they wanted to take advantage of Greene offensively more so he, Severson and maybe Moore will be the three PP defensemen and they'll use at least one forward on the point. If Greene/Sevs are getting PP time though the second pairing becomes more critical cause they'll have to pick up some slack at even strength.

 

[NJDevs26]

Can people please stop penciling in Josefson opening night, he has had more than enough chances. Time to give others a shot in camp.

Right now they only have twelve forwards and kids, most of whom you don't want on the fourth line. If Pietella beats out Josefson for a wing spot in camp fine by me, but I'm not expecting them to stick potential top nine guys like Wood or Lappin on there, especially when both have very limited pro experience at most.

 

[Emperoreddy]

They did say they wanted to take advantage of Greene offensively more so he, Severson and maybe Moore will be the three PP defensemen and they'll use at least one forward on the point.

I think Camm was up top a lot when he was healthy.

 

[JimEIV]

The first pair will suffer next year but they were one of the best in the NHL so it's hard to replicate. The second pair will be just as good if not better. Lovejoy>Schlemko>Moore.

I think Lovejoy will be good for Merrill and his development. I bet he's much better this year. Lovejoy is a good guy to have here. Hopefully in 2 years he'll be the #6 guy but you can't emphasize experience and stability enough.

I willing to make a friendly wager that whoever Greene is paired with next season they have a better Shot ratio than Greene and Larsson had this season.

22 Shots For and 25 against per 60 for Larsson and Greene is not good.

 

[NJDevs26]

They probably will have a better shot ratio, cause the offense is markedly better than it was last year adding Hall, DSP for a full season, Bennett, Fiddler, maybe a Zacha/Quenneville/whoever is the third line center and clearing out the third and fourth-line junk (well almost all of it).

 

[Emperoreddy]

They probably will have a better shot ratio, cause the offense is markedly better than it was last year adding Hall, DSP for a full season, Bennett, Fiddler, maybe a Zacha/Quenneville/whoever is the third line center and clearing out the third and fourth-line junk (well almost all of it).

Ya the real question will be whether more goals are going in the net or not on both ends.

 

[JimEIV]

They probably will have a better shot ratio, cause the offense is markedly better than it was last year adding Hall, DSP for a full season, Bennett, Fiddler, maybe a Zacha/Quenneville/whoever is the third line center and clearing out the third and fourth-line junk (well almost all of it).

Without a doubt forwards play a huge part. But Greene and Larsson played behind the top 6 most often last season

 

[Zippy316]

Why aren't you too fond the defense?

Greene is going to Greene no matter who is with him. He has been doing it for 7 years with multiple partners. Unless he begins to slow down who ever he is paired with will be OK.

All the 2nd pairings we used last year were less than ideal. Mainly because you didn't have a player that was capable of anchoring the pairing. Schlemko was probably the best of the rest and he wasn't capable of anchoring a pairing. I think Lovejoy is much better prepared to do this. That should give us 2 dependable pairings, last year we just had 1.

After Greene - Severson, the rest of the defenders are more third-pairing quality or low-end second-pairing. After that, is Merrill and kids who haven't proved anything.

I'm ok with the Larsson trade simply because we won heavily on value and added a high-end forward that we lack in the entire system. However, it gutted our defense. We're trusting Severson to replace Larsson and while he did do that in early 2014-15, it's still a massive risk to take.

I just don't think there is enough quality depth, but on the bright side, the offense is much better and Schneider is Schneider. If Greene goes down though, that's not going to be pretty.

 

[Zippy316]

I willing to make a friendly wager that whoever Greene is paired with next season they have a better Shot ratio than Greene and Larsson had this season.

22 Shots For and 25 against per 60 for Larsson and Greene is not good.

It would be bad if they didn't with the improved offense.

On the Greene-Larsson pairing, I feel you are too hung up on the SF/SA. On the stats that really do matter (GF/GA), they were magnificent especially when you consider they were our shutdown pair. They played low-event hockey against the guys that want to play high event hockey and came out on top.

I fear that for Severson, the SF/SA might go up, but the GF/GA will certainly go down.

 

[NJDevs26]

It would be bad if they didn't with the improved offense.

On the Greene-Larsson pairing, I feel you are too hung up on the SF/SA. On the stats that really do matter (GF/GA), they were magnificent especially when you consider they were our shutdown pair. They played low-event hockey against the guys that want to play high event hockey and came out on top.

I fear that for Severson, the SF/SA might go up, but the GF/GA will certainly go down.

Plus they might use the pairings different this season anyway. Maybe (well really probably) the second pairing inherits more of the tough minutes.

 

[JimEIV]

After Greene - Severson, the rest of the defenders are more third-pairing quality or low-end second-pairing. After that, is Merrill and kids who haven't proved anything.

I'm ok with the Larsson trade simply because we won heavily on value and added a high-end forward that we lack in the entire system. However, it gutted our defense. We're trusting Severson to replace Larsson and while he did do that in early 2014-15, it's still a massive risk to take.

I just don't think there is enough quality depth, but on the bright side, the offense is much better and Schneider is Schneider. If Greene goes down though, that's not going to be pretty.

I think you're underselling Lovejoy. Look at his numbers the last few years . I think he is capable of anchoring a 2nd pairing and that should make whoever plays with him better.

 

[Zippy316]

I think you're underselling Lovejoy. Look at his numbers the last few years . I think he is capable of anchoring a 2nd pairing and that should make whoever plays with him better.

I saw the numbers. I was advocating him almost immediately after trading Larsson. I like the idea and reasoning behind him on a three year deal.

On the numbers, he does look like he should be a second pairing defender. However, it seems like most think he's a high-end third-pairing defender moreso than a guy capable of anchoring a second pair. I think he could be a fine #4, but not alongside John Moore or Jon Merrill.

I will take Hall + Lovejoy over Larsson every day, but I still think our defense is nowhere near as good as last year. Hell, Schlemko had a terrific year last year and he was anchoring our third pairing. Now we have Merrill, a rookie in Santini, and a cast of AHL/NHL tweeners penciled in for that role.

 

[JimEIV]

It would be bad if they didn't with the improved offense.

On the Greene-Larsson pairing, I feel you are too hung up on the SF/SA. On the stats that really do matter (GF/GA), they were magnificent especially when you consider they were our shutdown pair. They played low-event hockey against the guys that want to play high event hockey and came out on top.

I fear that for Severson, the SF/SA might go up, but the GF/GA will certainly go down.

Being upside down in shots playing 20 minutes a night 5v5 means you are a punching bag.

Only generating 21 and a half shots per 60 minutes while your playing that much time is a disgrace.

This is why I firmly believe that the first pairing we used this season was wildly overrated.

Spreading out the talent, time and offensive punch over two pairings should make the defense overall better.

 

[Zippy316]

Being upside down in shots playing 20 minutes a night 5v5 means you are a punching bag.

Only generating 21 and a half shots per 60 minutes while your playing that much time is a disgrace.

This is why I firmly believe that the first pairing we used this season was wildly overrated.

Spreading out the talent, time and offensive punch over two pairings should make the defense overall better.

The rest of our defense, the way they played last year, would've been killed if they played the same minutes Greene-Larsson had.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Greene and Larsson were continually used against other teams top lines and on the PK heavy minutes.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Plus they might use the pairings different this season anyway. Maybe (well really probably) the second pairing inherits more of the tough minutes.

The minutes and the assignments have to be more evenly dispersed this year.

 

[JimEIV]

The rest of our defense, the way they played last year, would've been killed if they played the same minutes Greene-Larsson had.

I don't disagree. But here is my point. Let's agree Larsson and Greene were the two best Dmen last season.

Having them together made the bottom 4 worse.

So why do it? If Larsson was some sort of " "Premiere" (a word I just saw used to describe him on this board) defenseman why wasn't he used to anchor Schlemko, Moore or Merrill and create two decent pairings that could play 20-ish minutes? Did Hynes not think of this? Or was one of those top two not capable of that? Something in between perhaps?

The issue as I see it was we had 5 defensemen that needed the aid of a Greene. Lovejoy should help ease that problem.

 

[JimEIV]

Salvador was continually used against other teams top lines and got heavy PK minutes the vast majority of his time here. Nobody in there right mind would call him a top pairing Dman when he was averaging 21:20 in 2013

That wasn't a good thing. That was a deficit of personnel that forced that situation. Same situation with our top pairing last season

 

[Cheddabombs]

the thing I worry about is who the hell is going to play the PP on D?

Severson, sure. Merrill can't. Lovejoy can't (shouldn't)

Greene? his playing time is going to go up if thats the case

Severson and Moore probably. I'd venture to guess we'll see the same thing as last season, running 4 forwards most of the time. If it ain't broke don't break it I guess

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Hall
Palmieri-Henrique-Cammalleri
Severson

DSP
Boucher-Zajac-Zacha
Moore/Greene?


for PP?

 

[JimEIV]

Severson and Moore probably. I'd venture to guess we'll see the same thing as last season, running 4 forwards most of the time. If it ain't broke don't break it I guess

And there are going to be more forwards to choose from. Hall, Boucher, possibly Zacha, possibly Bennett, possibly DSP for a big body. I'd imagine that they all get PP time at some point.

 

[Cheddabombs]

And there are going to be more forwards to choose from. Hall, Boucher, possibly Zacha, possibly Bennett, possibly DSP for a big body. I'd imagine that they all get PP time at some point.

Exactly. I'm not too worried about our powerplay this season.

I just can't wait for it to start

 

[tr83]

I don't have the time to do the math, but how much bigger and how much younger did they get after today including Zacha and omitting Gionta and Tootoo, who won't be here next year ?