Devils 2016-17 team discussion (players news & notes) Part II

[Better Call Sal]

I'll be at the game in Nashville on December 3rd! I'm excited to see Bridgestone Arena!

I'm looking into doing the same and taking a trip with my wife to Nashville for the first time. Hoping to find a good deal this month to fly down.

 

[Triumph]

Just curious... how much better is the ECHL than the OHL? I feel like if we send Blackwood there, we may as well have left him on the OHL to keep him from burning a year of his ELC.

Putting him in the ECHL doesn't burn an ELC year.

The ECHL is better than the OHL but not by a whole lot and the best players in the OHL are probably better. Regardless, even if Blackwood is in the ECHL, it still teaches him about how to be a professional player rather than another year in junior. In addition, he'd almost certainly get time in the AHL at some point.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Went to the crazy 5-4 OT game in Nashville last season. The arena and town is incredible! Must go to the Honky Tonk bar and Tin Roof bar. Also recommended Millenium Maxwell House hotel. Very affordable and nice, also includes a free shuttle straight to downtown Nashville.

 

[MichaelJ]

Any interest in adding Zbynek Michalek
to the D for this year.

 

[Bleedred]

While I don't think Wedgewood is good and have no faith in him, I'm hoping he isn't claimed and that he builds off of replicating last season in the AHL.

And I'm also hoping that if Kinkaid has a brutal handful of starts, it's time to get him the hell out of there and give him the ax as fast as we gave it to him during the CBJ game, before we first called up Wedgewood.

Because while I think he's been a better pro goaltender than Wedgewood so far and do think he should have made the team over him, my fuse with him is really short after last season. If we're punting away points when he starts or getting them in spite of him, I think we need to send him down and call up Wedgewood. Especially if Wedgewood is duplicating last season's solid play in the AHL.

Kinkaid was VERY poor last year and painful to watch some nights. I think he had 5 good games all year. Nashville (barely tested though) one game against Carolina, Toronto, LAK twice, San Jose and Boston. He was okay in the Florida game, before giving up a backbreaker late and on the 30th something shot of the game. Even some of the games where he played well on paper on (Carolina), he still allowed two piss poor softies that he shouldn't have.

I just hope in the case that Kinkaid stinks up the joint, we aren't scared of waiving him and then calling up Wedgewood. I'm 55%-60% sure Kinkaid probably will stink up the joint. I don't see Wedgewood being claimed today, but I've been wrong on that before. Never would have thought Urbom would have been claimed either, among many others all around the league.

 

[MadDevil]

Kinkaid had 8 games where he had a .920 or better save percentage, but also had 11 games with a .900 or worse save percentage. So he was either really good or really bad. But it was only his second year in the league, so that might not be that surprising.

Wedge basically had like 30 some good games after two very pedestrian seasons in the AHL, so I'm not sold on him being a better option than Kinkaid (who actually had slightly better numbers than Wedge over his first two years in the AHL).

I think the only real difference is Wedge is younger so people think he could get better. Personally I don't think he'll be any better than Kinkaid, so I don't really care if we end up losing Wedge to waivers.

 

[Bleedred]

Kinkaid had 8 games where he had a .920 or better save percentage, but also had 11 games with a .900 or worse save percentage. So he was either really good or really bad. But it was only his second year in the league, so that might not be that surprising.

Wedge basically had like 30 some good games after two very pedestrian seasons in the AHL, so I'm not sold on him being a better option than Kinkaid (who actually had slightly better numbers than Wedge over his first two years in the AHL).

I think the only real difference is Wedge is younger so people think he could get better. Personally I don't think he'll be any better than Kinkaid, so I don't really care if we end up losing Wedge to waivers.

I thought he was mostly bad.

I counted 19 or 20 bad goals allowed last year. If he allowed 7 fewer goals on the same number of shots, he would have had a .916 save percentage. 6 fewer goals on the same number of shots would have been a .914 save percentage. So the same as the year before.

1 bad goal vs Washington. 1 bad goal vs Vancouver. 2 bad goals @ Edmonton. 1 bad goal @ Carolina (only goal allowed in that game). 2 bad goals vs Carolina. 2 bad goals @ St Louis. 1 bad goal @ CBJ (2-25-16). 2 bad goals @ Nashville. 1 bad goal vs Pittsburgh. 2 bad goals @ Anaheim. 1 bad goal vs Minnesota. 1 bad goal @ CBJ (3-18-16). 1 bad goal @ Florida. 1 bad goal vs TBL.

That's 5 games with more than one bad goal allowed. That's pretty brutal for a goalie that had 20 starts and 23 games played total. I think he might have even allowed 2 bad goals in the last game vs TBL, I forgot if one of the first ones were bad or not. The Drouin 5 hole goal definitely was. He had 5 games with multiple bad goals allowed and 9 games with 0 bad goals allowed. 2 of those being in relief.

I don't have these off of memory, I dinged him very bad goal and saved it in a file. I'm weird like that. Though when looking at the file, I do start to recollect some of the goals allowed in my mind. Cory had 22 bad goals allowed all season and only two times did he have a game where he allowed more than one bad goal in the same game.

Wedgewood had 0 bad goals allowed haha.

 

[Zelmo]

I'm looking into doing the same and taking a trip with my wife to Nashville for the first time. Hoping to find a good deal this month to fly down.

I plan do drive up from ATL for the game with a buddy of mine. Was in Nashville when CHI was in town one yr. place was a ZOO (in a good way)! Lots of fans traveled down from CHI for the game. Made for an amazing atmosphere. I'm excited to say the least.

 

[Nubmer6]

Kinkaid had 8 games where he had a .920 or better save percentage, but also had 11 games with a .900 or worse save percentage. So he was either really good or really bad. But it was only his second year in the league, so that might not be that surprising.

I haven't really analyzed his games, so this is just a guess, but I feel like that's indicative of him having ability, but not having mental toughness. It may be that a bad goal may lead him to lose confidence. As a result, you end up deeper in your net instead of coming out to challenge, which leads to even more goals.

If that's the case, it can be overcome with maturity and experience.

Also, yes, I'd like to see Wedge stay because of his age. Kinkaid is only a couple years younger than Corey. I don't know how long it will take Blackwood to take over the reigns of backup duties, but it's nice to have more fillers until he does.

 

[Bleedred]

I haven't really analyzed his games, so this is just a guess, but I feel like that's indicative of him having ability, but not having mental toughness. It may be that a bad goal may lead him to lose confidence. As a result, you end up deeper in your net instead of coming out to challenge, which leads to even more goals.

If that's the case, it can be overcome with maturity and experience.

Also, yes, I'd like to see Wedge stay because of his age. Kinkaid is only a couple years younger than Corey. I don't know how long it will take Blackwood to take over the reigns of backup duties, but it's nice to have more fillers until he does.

The weird thing is that in 14-15, I think Kinkaid only allowed 8-10 bad goals out of 40 total. That's not bad at all and his even strength save percentage was .933, which was identical to Cory's that year. He was also .933 that year, as well as last year. And I've also noted that one impressive thing about Kinkaid's 14-15 season was that he did all of that with 0 shutouts. I feel like a lot of goalies might have sexier number just by collecting shutouts and making the mediocre or bad game less of a burden.

I think they both allowed a similar amount or percentage of stoppable goals that year, Cory probably also saved about a handful more goals that weren't necessarily bad goals that went in on Kinkaid, just some tougher deflections and stuff.

I felt last year, Kinkaid not only let in a few more deflected non-bad goals than Cory, he also let in significantly more bad goals. He did seem to implode at times, like in that St Louis game. He was horrendous that game and I remember not wanting him to play at all, since it was a non-back to back. But I preferred he played the tougher opponent and Cory played Colorado. I figured if Cory played in that game, we'd lose 2-0 instead of 4-2, like we did with Kinkaid.

Then of course, Cory gets in against Colorado and we do lose 2-0.

 

[Ben Matlock]

Are we not currently at 24 players, not including Merrill and Gazdic on IR? So one out of Helgeson, Santini, Speers, Wood, Kalinin or Josefson has to be dropped today. I doubt we'll be adding any waiver-players. The interesting ones will get picked up by other teams before us.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Devils programming on MSG+ today

 

[DevHock]

I thought he was mostly bad.

I counted 19 or 20 bad goals allowed last year. If he allowed 7 fewer goals on the same number of shots, he would have had a .916 save percentage. 6 fewer goals on the same number of shots would have been a .914 save percentage. So the same as the year before.

1 bad goal vs Washington. 1 bad goal vs Vancouver. 2 bad goals @ Edmonton. 1 bad goal @ Carolina (only goal allowed in that game). 2 bad goals vs Carolina. 2 bad goals @ St Louis. 1 bad goal @ CBJ (2-25-16). 2 bad goals @ Nashville. 1 bad goal vs Pittsburgh. 2 bad goals @ Anaheim. 1 bad goal vs Minnesota. 1 bad goal @ CBJ (3-18-16). 1 bad goal @ Florida. 1 bad goal vs TBL.

That's 5 games with more than one bad goal allowed. That's pretty brutal for a goalie that had 20 starts and 23 games played total. I think he might have even allowed 2 bad goals in the last game vs TBL, I forgot if one of the first ones were bad or not. The Drouin 5 hole goal definitely was. He had 5 games with multiple bad goals allowed and 9 games with 0 bad goals allowed. 2 of those being in relief.

I don't have these off of memory, I dinged him very bad goal and saved it in a file. I'm weird like that. Though when looking at the file, I do start to recollect some of the goals allowed in my mind. Cory had 22 bad goals allowed all season and only two times did he have a game where he allowed more than one bad goal in the same game.

Wedgewood had 0 bad goals allowed haha.

good job by you with collecting and saving the data. Kinkaid let in too many soft goals last season on a rather regular basis. His athletic ability allows for some great saves but it was moot with how many softies got let it. Wedgewood was outstanding in the NHL but really was a disaster in the AHL playoffs. I couldnt believe how badly he played after what he did in NJ. That is what ultimately cost him I think.

Kinkaid has sloppy and inconsistent technique, he's a read and react goalie by instinct. I think this might be too ingrained to be corrected at his age. Block butterfly fundamentals aren't what he falls back on. When it goes bad, he focuses too much on the puck, over commits, over plays angles etc. It's correctable but probably a long shot.

Had I not seen Wedgewood in the AHL playoffs, I'd be very upset at the decision.

 

[Devils Dominion]

good job by you with collecting and saving the data. Kinkaid let in too many soft goals last season on a rather regular basis. His athletic ability allows for some great saves but it was moot with how many softies got let it. Wedgewood was outstanding in the NHL but really was a disaster in the AHL playoffs. I couldnt believe how badly he played after what he did in NJ. That is what ultimately cost him I think.

Kinkaid has sloppy and inconsistent technique, he's a read and react goalie by instinct. I think this might be too ingrained to be corrected at his age. Block butterfly fundamentals aren't what he falls back on. When it goes bad, he focuses too much on the puck, over commits, over plays angles etc. It's correctable but probably a long shot.

Had I not seen Wedgewood in the AHL playoffs, I'd be very upset at the decision.

Wedge was not at his best vs Toronto in Game-7 but they were outmatched in that series. He was under siege, can't really fault him except a few softies in Game-7, especially the back breaking and series deciding goal late in the 3rd.

 

[I Hate Tie DOMI]

Are we not currently at 24 players, not including Merrill and Gazdic on IR? So one out of Helgeson, Santini, Speers, Wood, Kalinin or Josefson has to be dropped today. I doubt we'll be adding any waiver-players. The interesting ones will get picked up by other teams before us.

Santini and Wood are not waiver eligible, so one of them goes down to make it to 23. If they claim someone then the other goes too, but then they make a decision on Speers...9 game trial or back to OHL in order to call up Santini or Wood. Keeping Speers around probably means Helgeson is going to get some playing time while Santini is down.

 

[devlzfan]

Pulkkinen and Griffith look so tempting to pluck off waivers. If Speers truly was going to make the roster and play the nine games and go back to junior (I can't imagine he'd stay the whole season), then pull one of these guys off waivers to take Speers' spot and see what happens. They both have one year left on their entry-level deals and both can play right wing.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

Pulkkinen and Griffith look so tempting to pluck off waivers. If Speers truly was going to make the roster and play the nine games and go back to junior (I can't imagine he'd stay the whole season), then pull one of these guys off waivers to take Speers' spot and see what happens. They both have one year left on their entry-level deals and both can play right wing.

I would send Wood down. Once Speers goes down, he can't come back. Give him his nine game trial and see what we have.

 

[Triumph]

I would send Wood down. Once Speers goes down, he can't come back. Give him his nine game trial and see what we have.

This nine-game trial stuff - it really doesn't matter a whole lot whether Speers's ELC starts. The real threshold is 40 games on the roster which would mean he's a UFA a year earlier. Shero's on record saying that he doesn't really like the nine-game trial.

 

[Camille the Eel]

good job by you with collecting and saving the data. Kinkaid let in too many soft goals last season on a rather regular basis. His athletic ability allows for some great saves but it was moot with how many softies got let it. Wedgewood was outstanding in the NHL but really was a disaster in the AHL playoffs. I couldnt believe how badly he played after what he did in NJ. That is what ultimately cost him I think.

Kinkaid has sloppy and inconsistent technique, he's a read and react goalie by instinct. I think this might be too ingrained to be corrected at his age. Block butterfly fundamentals aren't what he falls back on. When it goes bad, he focuses too much on the puck, over commits, over plays angles etc. It's correctable but probably a long shot.

Had I not seen Wedgewood in the AHL playoffs, I'd be very upset at the decision.

Kinkaid's problems were 1. positioning and 2. related to that, misreading the plays and ending up out of position.

Positioning is so fundamental to an NHL goaltender. In the right spot, half the saves are the puck hitting you.

His lack of playing time has not allowed him to correct it. I wonder if he can. He's not an ideal back up because he's still raw and green and in a pinch if Schneider was hurt you wouldn't want him to learn up here. That scenario would basically be throw out the season.

 

[Billdo]

I would send Wood down. Once Speers goes down, he can't come back. Give him his nine game trial and see what we have.

He goes back, he isn't going to be here for a full season.

 

[MNDevilsfan]

Yeah, I'd like to see Speers get his trial run but if he isn't producing I hope they send him back. Don't really see the value in having a guy just be there in the NHL versus dominating a lower league. Then again, I'm not a professional coach.

 

[FooteBahl]

Yeah, I'd like to see Speers get his trial run but if he isn't producing I hope they send him back. Don't really see the value in having a guy just be there in the NHL versus dominating a lower league. Then again, I'm not a professional coach.

Can't he come back after his season is over like Zacha did?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Can't he come back after his season is over like Zacha did?

yes.

 

[Cheddabombs]

We got Parenteau lol

 

[njdevil26]

Renaud Lavoie ‏@renlavoietva 9s9 seconds ago View translation
PA Parenteau réclamé par les #devils #lavoiedubé


Whoa. Of all the times we have begged Lou to pick up a player on waivers. Shero gets it done haha.