Devils 2018-19 team discussion (news and notes) - part XVI

[Bleedred]

That feeling when you have tickets to go see your team play on the road and they're starting the goalie who's 0 for his last 20 decisions.

This prompted me to look up the last time Cory won a road game, as I knew his last several wins (including the playoff win) came at home. His last road win was actually December 5th of 2017 in Columbus. He's actually won 6 regular season games and 1 playoff game since then, all at home. His road losing streak is only up to 14 games though. He only started one game on the road between his last road win and the last time he won a game in the regular season and it was a 2-1 OT loss in Montreal.

 

[PWiz30]

This prompted me to look up the last time Cory won a road game, as I knew his last several wins (including the playoff win) came at home. His last road win was actually December 5th of 2017 in Columbus. He's actually won 6 regular season games and 1 playoff game since then, all on the road. His road losing streak is only up to 14 games though. He only started one game on the road between his last road win and the last time he won a game in the regular season and it was a 2-1 OT loss in Montreal.

To be fair, if they play another game like they did last night we could start Marty in his prime and still give up 5.

Wear it, but first write FIRE HYNES on it

The thought crossed my mind, but I'm going with my girlfriend who's already being pretty cool going to a hockey game on Valentine's day so I'll probably chicken out.

 

[SpeakingOfTheDevils]

One of the things I am fairly certain about is that you cannot judge players with any certainty in terrible situations.

Our coaching is inept. I think we are beyond debate on this. The team has taken on an amateurish face and it is more than troubling that our GM has done little to stop the bleeding.

There is absolutely no sense in talking about personnel until significant structural change occur....this is a bad path we are on.

I’m not ready to jump this far until September, and hypothetically there have been no significant changes to the roster.

I don’t think that will be the case, though.

 

[Bleedred]

To be fair, if they play another game like they did last night we could start Marty in his prime and still give up 5.

I've been pretty hard on Kinkaid this year, but I don't think he played as poorly as his goals against last night. He gave up a couple he should have had very late in the game and the giveaway on the second goal, but he should have been mercy pulled by about goal 5 or 6.

It's not a good look on the coach to leave him in there. Getzlaf had to tell Carlyle to pull Gibson in a game a week or two ago, when Carlyle didn't want to.

He hasn't pulled Keith in a while, so it's not like he just pulled him the game before and had to do it again. And it wouldn't have been a bad idea to warm Cory up for Thursday.

 

[Triumph]

Zacha's scoring goals, yes, and that shot he took last night is not one he would've taken last season. So I like that he is scoring goals. I like his work on the penalty kill - I think he's really good there. He anticipates the play well. I don't like his boardwork, I hate how he's played on the power play, and I don't think he's having enough of an impact most nights in general. He's definitely improving some, but I'd like to see a little more of A-game Zacha.

 

[devilsblood]

Career highs in goals and playing EXCELLENT defense and PK. I'm pretty sure he's taking the step.

That's one way to put it, another is to say he has 16 points in 51 games.

And I like Zacha, he's still only 21 and I think he has a lot of untapped potential, but the current version of Zacha? Very meh. At best.

 

[devilsblood]

Zacha's scoring goals, yes, and that shot he took last night is not one he would've taken last season. So I like that he is scoring goals. I like his work on the penalty kill - I think he's really good there. He anticipates the play well. I don't like his boardwork, I hate how he's played on the power play, and I don't think he's having enough of an impact most nights in general. He's definitely improving some, but I'd like to see a little more of A-game Zacha.

He's very prone to losing his footing while in control of the puck right?

He kind of has that old man Jagr type, back to the defender, puck possession game, but too often he losses his feet and falls to the ice, and loses the puck.

 

[Nubmer6]

 

[MadDevil]

I'm almost afraid to ask what Act IV would be.

 

[NJDevs26]

That's easy, no Hall, no Blackwood and post-trade deadline

 

[MadDevil]

That's easy, no Hall, no Blackwood and post-trade deadline

The post Lovejoy era is going to be hard.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Sure and who are they getting replaced by?

I dont see why you think replacing Lovejoy & Greene would be hard.

Greene is a shell of his former self, and Lovejoy is the #6 guy.

It would be as easy as one FA signing plus finally giving Santini the full-time chance I've been calling for for 1.5 years now.

 

[Triumph]

Santini is much worse than Lovejoy, so that's not a great fix. But in general it should not be hard to find a better option than Lovejoy 5 on 5.

 

[TrufleShufle]

Santini is much worse than Lovejoy, so that's not a great fix. But in general it should not be hard to find a better option than Lovejoy 5 on 5.

I feel like Santini has the potential to be way better than Lovejoy, if only he got the chance to play hockey for more than 20 minutes a month... I could be wrong, but I’d love to find out.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I feel like Santini has the potential to be way better than Lovejoy, if only he got the chance to play hockey for more than 20 minutes a month.

Reasonable hypothesis sounds so very reasonable.

 

[Triumph]

I feel like Santini has the potential to be way better than Lovejoy, if only he got the chance to play hockey for more than 20 minutes a month... I could be wrong, but I’d love to find out.

He's been one of the worst defensemen in the league over the last 2 seasons. He got a chance here in 3rd pairing minutes after coming back from his injury and the results with him on the ice are bad. It's hard to see what he's good at.

 

[TrufleShufle]

He's been one of the worst defensemen in the league over the last 2 seasons. He got a chance here in 3rd pairing minutes after coming back from his injury and the results with him on the ice are bad. It's hard to see what he's good at.

I’m just guessing here without looking it up, but I would wager to say he hasn’t played more than 3-4 games in a row in a long time. That has to have a factor in play at some point.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Hischier’s on pace for ~64. If he can keep this up, a 65+ season would be incredible IMO given the circumstances

 

[glenwo2]

Keith after the game last night lol

He looks trashed and I don't blame him if he drowned his sorrows.

He'd be wise to hide a cyanide pill in his blocker.

Or a shotgun.

Whichever ends the pain quicker.

(man...did this quickly become Morbid or what?)

 

[Bleedred]

Santini reminds me of a much better skating Volchenkov, who isn't as good with the puck. And I realize Volchenkov wasn't very good with the puck, which is my point exactly.

 

[Bleedred]

Keith after the game last night lol

Wait, are you sure that was after last night's game? I swear I've seen this picture before. I think it was either on the way to Europe earlier this year or two years ago. I think the story was that the Devils plane was on the tarmac for hours because of a mechanical issue, then they had to eventually wait for another plane to get there to take them because the initial plane was too damaged to safely fly with. So they were grounded for hours on the plane. I even remember picture of Henrique (I think?) and someone else eating a bag of popcorn.

I think this picture is either from that day or on the trip to Europe this year. Think it was when the plane was grounded, as him laying out on the floor while the flight was grounded would make sense.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

With the team in its current state

Nobody is off-limits but Hischier.

 

[Billdo]

With the team in its current state

Nobody is off-limits but Hischier.

You're probably right. I've even kind of soured on Palmieri.

 

[Edmonton East]

He's been one of the worst defensemen in the league over the last 2 seasons. He got a chance here in 3rd pairing minutes after coming back from his injury and the results with him on the ice are bad. It's hard to see what he's good at.

Because his advanced stats say so. Duh! You get such a hard on for players based on small sample sizes of advanced metrics. And you always ignore situational usage, which is even more impactful on bad teams.

Meanwhile a few posts up you commended Zacha for taking shots he didn't take last year....when in reality:

Last year 1.623 S/PG
This year 1.627 S/PG

Also note he's averaging over 80 seconds more TOI this year.

And no, I'm not gonna buy that you meant his shot selection is better or more confident. He was streaky just like this last year. Hell, he's done it earlier this year as well. A few games of looking great and then disappears for a dozen.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I've been pretty hard on Kinkaid this year, but I don't think he played as poorly as his goals against last night. He gave up a couple he should have had very late in the game and the giveaway on the second goal, but he should have been mercy pulled by about goal 5 or 6.

It's not a good look on the coach to leave him in there. Getzlaf had to tell Carlyle to pull Gibson in a game a week or two ago, when Carlyle didn't want to.

He hasn't pulled Keith in a while, so it's not like he just pulled him the game before and had to do it again. And it wouldn't have been a bad idea to warm Cory up for Thursday.

He didn't pull him so everyone wouldn't have to see Keith crying on the bench.