GDT: Devils @ Red Wings Happy Thanksgiving 7:00 MSG2

[Blackjack]

Trying to find something positive for him, and all I could find is his low and medium danger percentages are about league average so he isn't pulling a Blackwood and just letting in obvious stinkers, but that's not much of a silver lining.

That was always CJ Turturo’s point. Yes, the shots that Vitek lets in look like tough saves, so everyone blames the defense, but other teams also give up those kinds of chances, and they get way more saves.

Speaking of CJ:



Haha, feeling a little ornery tonight.

 

[JimEIV]

We came into tonight 11th in the conference, we are 13th (of 16) after that game. Both the Islanders and Buffalo went ahead of us tonight.

-7 goal differential after 17 games.

 

[devilsblood]

Mercer with a pretty brutal night.

2-14 cf.
1-8 sf
0-2 gf

 

[Devs3cups]

Dougie is what he is. Y'all can say he sucks or try to dissect why he has bad work ethic and more if you please, but he's always been the same player. Dude is a solid offensive D-man, he has a booming shot, he's good in transition, he's pretty slow and he'll have warts in his own zone. With all that being said, he's an important player for us and he's one of the best offensive D-men in the league.

The hate train is fully on for everyone. Board's a mess.

 

[devilsblood]

Dougie is what he is. Y'all can say he sucks or try to dissect why he has bad work ethic and more if you please, but he's always been the same player. Dude is a solid offensive D-man has a booming shot, is good in transition, is pretty slow and will have warts in his own zone. With all that being said, he's an important player for us and he's one of the best offensive D-men in the league.

The hate train is fully on for everyone. Board's a mess.

He's one of, but certainly not the only, issue.

 

[guitarguyvic]

That was always CJ Turturo’s point. Yes, the shots that Vitek lets in look like tough saves, so everyone blames the defense, but other teams also give up those kinds of chances, and they get way more saves.

Speaking of CJ:



Haha, feeling a little ornery tonight.

No I don’t believe this to be true at all. And it is not a fact. It’s an opinion. xG is measuring something based on a definition that is completely subjective and takes into account only one singular element of what contributed to the danger of a chance.

I’m downright sick of it at this point. It’s f***ing bullshit and means about as much to me as plus/minus.

 

[TF1970]

We are slower and older and the back line is less cohesive and not as good at jumping into the rush.

On the other hand the power play is vastly improved. No comparison there.
(Toffoli has fast hands but slow feet. He’s very much improved the power play - made a couple of awful turnovers in the first period tonight that led to goals against).

Our opposition has also improved tremendously. The rest of the league is taking a page from our speed game last year.

The speed thing is the one area maybe I would give them a little bit of the benefit of the doubt on. Because that could be due to the injuries forcing guys who are more grinder fourth line types (bastian, Lazar, etc) to play way too much and in roles with more offensive guys. Even Mercer as a center I don’t think is a fit in terms of having either speed or size/strength to thrive there at the nhl level. But again, that is not justification for the rest of the trainwreck we have been seeing in terms of breakdowns.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Mercer with a pretty brutal night.

2-14 cf.
1-8 sf
0-2 gf

Him and Toffoli were brutal tonight, but I think we'd have a harder time finding any positives out of anyone in this one.

Normally I'd say we have to flush this one down the toilet, but I think the coaching staff needs to use this as the prime example for what changes need to be implemented.

 

[Bleedred]

I don’t think we’re at the point of a goalie trade yet, when we haven’t even seen what Scott Clemm….. I mean Akira Schmid can do. Since we’ve been getting such great play from Marty….. I mean Vitek Vanecek that it’s been keeping him out of the net.

I don’t think Allen is better than Vitek but Vitek is probably about as salvageable here as Cayden Primeau would be.

You don’t usually come back from what happened last playoffs until you’re on another team. There’s usually no coming back from that when it’s your only playoffs here.

It’s bled over into this season and there’s really no end in sight.

And no, a good game here and there doesn’t mean there’s an end in sight. All the bad goalies everywhere have good games. Jonathan Quick has two shutouts this year and has had an inspiring 5 games. Think that sustains itself if he plays a ton more this season than he has been playing?

Vitek can be fine somewhere else, but he’s too far gone here.

 

[Emperoreddy]

That was always CJ Turturo’s point. Yes, the shots that Vitek lets in look like tough saves, so everyone blames the defense, but other teams also give up those kinds of chances, and they get way more saves.

Speaking of CJ:



Haha, feeling a little ornery tonight.

I feel like a lot of it is because of how slow he is to get over. Period is half way over by the time he gets from one post to the other.

 

[Devs3cups]

He's one of, but certainly not the only, issue.

Who does that not apply to on this team right now? They all have varying degrees of responsibility, but Dougie's pretty far down the list for me right now.

 

[devilsblood]

McLeod with a bit of a bounce back after a couple shaky games.

13-6 cf
5-3 sf
0-0 gf.

Who does that not apply to on this team right now? They all have varying degrees of responsibility, but Dougie's pretty far down the list for me right now.

Very few guys. He's not that low on my list though.

 

[TF1970]

Mercer with a pretty brutal night.

2-14 cf.
1-8 sf
0-2 gf

Part of that is He’s just not a center at the nhl level. So he’s not exactly in a position to succeed.

 

[NJDevs26]

Can I just say this?


Our goaltenders have been putrid since losing Roland Melanson as a goalie coach w/ the exception of last year.

Rogalski just isn't cutting it.

Well that's certainly A common denominator, along with the head coach and the system or lack thereof.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Part of that is He’s just not a center at the nhl level. So he’s not exactly in a position to succeed.

A few guys are being put in over their head because of the injuries.

 

[TF1970]

We came into tonight 11th in the conference, we are 13th (of 16) after that game. Both the Islanders and Buffalo went ahead of us tonight.

-7 goal differential after 17 games.

I keep sayin, what’s the GM gonna do about it? Gonna let yet another season go down the shitter??

 

[NJDevs26]

Mercer with a pretty brutal season.

2-14 cf.
1-8 sf
0-2 gf

Fixed

 

[Blackjack]

No I don’t believe this to be true at all. And it is not a fact. It’s an opinion. xG is measuring something based on a definition that is completely subjective and takes into account only one singular element of what contributed to the danger of a chance.

I’m downright sick of it at this point. It’s f***ing bullshit and means about as much to me as plus/minus.

I don’t disagree with you on xG, I think it can be misleading. But when I watch the games I see other goalies make difficult saves and I just don’t see vitek make them.

 

[JimEIV]

The only time I noticed Holtz is when he served the too many men penalty.

17+ minutes no shots...he wasn't the only one though.

Jack 22+ minutes 1 shot is probably worse

 

[NJDevs26]

I keep sayin, what’s the GM gonna do about it? Gonna let yet another season go down the shitter??

We're past the point where Fitz can realistically punt seasons...f*** it might as well throw the goalie coach to the alligators if Lindy isn't gonna be offed this soon.

 

[Devs3cups]

I keep sayin, what’s the GM gonna do about it? Gonna let yet another season go down the shitter??

Probably not panic like HFBoards users would. I'd think good GMs tend to look at the bigger picture. Not make decisions on 15 game samples where the top-6 was decimated.

Fitz seems like a very aware GM to me.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I don’t disagree with you on xG, I think it can be misleading. But when I watch the games I see other goalies make difficult saves and I just don’t see vitek make them.

Which the stats back up. His high danger save percentage is among the worst in the league.

 

[Devils731]

I keep sayin, what’s the GM gonna do about it? Gonna let yet another season go down the shitter??

I assume the front office has some sort of marker moment they feel is the crossing point from just games to trend.

Devils have finished 20% of the season but there were some injuries in it. It wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted to give it another 3-10 games before doing anything radical.

I may not agree but I think that’s probably the discussion internally.

 

[Louskoolaid89]

And one more thing?

The shutout-less streak is over.

Had to come to and end at some point, but still frustrating to see it go.

They didn't even get "goalied" they just looked bottled up and slow. Gotta give credit to Detroit too. They were so much better. The heat maps weren't good either.

 

[JimEIV]

I keep sayin, what’s the GM gonna do about it? Gonna let yet another season go down the shitter??

I'm sure they don't want to do anything with Nico and Meier out of the lineup.

It's a convenient excuse in my opinion but I would bet that's the discussion happening.