Devils 2018-19 team discussion (news and notes)
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GameSeven
ἢ τὰς ἢ ἐπὶ τὰς
- Jan 11, 2008
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Cult of Hynes
Hynes is never wrong.
- Nov 9, 2010
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I'll sacrifice face off wins for actual offensive skill, especially since he seems to lose faceoffs on the PP quite often.
HenriquesJawLine
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- Mar 6, 2009
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Travis Zajac won 61% of his faceoffs on the power play thanks for playing
Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
That's fantastic, but Hynes likely won't until Nico starts winning more in the dot (which it looks like he has been so far in the preseason) and they figure out who the new net front guy will be (likely going to be Wood).
In due time, he'll come off the PP but be prepared to see him out there if they click the way they did last year.
EDIT: Someone already responded. But yeah, 'actual skill' would be nice, but the Devils are short on right-handed shooters
Maybe the system should be configured to better fit the personnel?
ThePrideofStockholm
Registered User
I'm going to see my NjDevils for The first time live in less than a week!
Cult of Hynes
Hynes is never wrong.
- Nov 9, 2010
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Faceoff wins mean nothing when the team has their scoring chances killed by a plug playing way above his skill set.
I don't think that makes sense either because the alternatives don't make sense. Certainly the Devils can't reverse what side their PP operates on - that would require even more right-handed skill and would put a left-handed shooter in the box that Zajac occupies now. I think this is how the Flyers run their power play with Giroux along the left side half-wall. That's a terrible idea for the Devils, though. The alternative is to run an entirely different formation altogether without a man in the box - I guess the Devils did that for some time within the last 2 seasons where they just had an umbrella of 3 guys up top with 2 guys standing near the front of the net, but I can't imagine that is better either.
Zajac's fine where he is - it's not a high-skill position he's asked to occupy. Once the PP gets set up he's asked to do almost nothing besides shoot, and he doesn't get very many opportunities to do so. I wish the Devils had someone better for this spot, but they don't, not really.
Alex NJD
Registered User
How many legit scoring chances can Zajac really mess up in front of the crease? Is he gonna start helping the opposing dmen clear the crease or something?
JK3
Go Easy-Step Lightly-Stay Free
Billdo
Registered User
Zajacs Bowl Cut
Lets Go Baby
Cult of Hynes
Hynes is never wrong.
- Nov 9, 2010
- 13,369
- 2,979
A PP operates differently than even strength. Every player on the PP fits a specific role to make that PP work. It's not as simple as just throw all your skilled players out there and let them improvise (although admittedly I wish NHL coaches did that more often).
We somehow managed to have a top 10 PP with not only Zajac, but Boyle on it, so clearly something worked (and the coach running it who fans bitched about then moved on).
We somehow managed to have a top 10 PP with not only Zajac, but Boyle on it, so clearly something worked (and the coach running it who fans bitched about then moved on).
RangerDoggo
The Devils have a culture of failure
I stopped listening to the new PDOcast today when Dimitri put us only above five other teams in his watchability rankings. As per his Reddit AMA today, he put the Canes as the fifth team in the Metro to make the playoffs, just above us. Because that’s worked well the last twenty million times the “experts” and their “advanced” stats have predicted the exact same thing.
Respect is given, not earned. Unless it’s us, in which case, f*** you, you’re not getting it.
Respect is given, not earned. Unless it’s us, in which case, f*** you, you’re not getting it.
To be fair, I don't think "watchable" means "good" in those rankings. It's more from a neutral fan's perspective we're not a team somebody is going to go out of their way to watch, which is probably true. It doesn't mean we're necessarily going to be a bottom 5 team in the standings.
And I'm not surprised by his ranking of Carolina. They've been the preseason darling for like 3 straight years now. The Metro is likely going to be a dogfight all year between everybody other than the New York teams.
And I'm not surprised by his ranking of Carolina. They've been the preseason darling for like 3 straight years now. The Metro is likely going to be a dogfight all year between everybody other than the New York teams.
Emperoreddy
Show Me What You Got!
We're also heavily biased though. Do you think the casual fan, who probably doesn't know much about the team, is going to seek us out given other options? I don't. And that's fine. If we keep playing this style and stay relevant more people will want to watch us.
It's weird, we always say we love being the underdog, yet get offended when people from the "outside" don't give us respect. That "respect is earned" thing applies just as much to us as it does anybody else.
RangerDoggo
The Devils have a culture of failure
Dimitri put us at #21 last season, and for making the playoffs and performing above what anyone expected, he puts us as lower than every team that made the playoffs last season except for Minnesota. And last season he used the same line as Emperoreddy did when it came to justifying his ranking. So it doesn't add up.
I'm not surprised either, but at some point you'd think he'd learn that the numbers don't add up when it comes to the Canes. Sure, they had a lot of shots on goal last season and dominated possession, but I'd be hard pressed to find a team that looked less threatening when sustaining possession than they did last season. Maybe that was the Bill Peters system, I don't know.
Anyway, I do like Dimitri, and he's just another name on the long list of journos who refuse to give credit where it's due. ESPN power rankings put us at #26, for God's sake.
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