Devils Team Discussion (team/player news and notes) ‎2015/16 II

[Devil X]

So what are we thinking the opening night lineup looks like?

Cammalleri-Zajac-Palmieri
Henrique-Josefson-Tlusty
Boucher-Kalinin-Stempniak
Matteau-O'Neill-Ruutu

Greene-Larsson
Moore-Severson
Merrill-Gelinas

Schneider

I dont think O'Neill will be in the line-up. He is too new plus they seem to be saying he plays wing more then center anyway.

Tootoo got a whole lot of praise this preseason. He seems like the logical choice to leave out but it wouldnt surpise me 1 bit if Matteau or Ruutu were out.

Also Switch Palmieri and Tlusty

 

[217 Forever]

It's insane how quickly that average age dropped within only a few months

But what really stinks is that compared to those other two teams we would be a distant third probably if you asked personnel people to rank where the teams will be in a couple of years.

 

[Unknown Caller]

But what really stinks is that compared to those other two teams we would be a distant third probably if you asked personnel people to rank where the teams will be in a couple of years.

Yeah, and where would Tampa have ranked three or four years ago? Probably well behind Edmonton and look what happened. Minnesota was supposed to have one of the greatest prospect pools in hockey years ago, they're competitive now, but not world beaters.

 

[HenriquesJawLine]

Think it will be this

Cammalleri-Zajac-Tlusty
Henrique-Josefson-Palmieri
Boucher-Kalinin-Stempniak
Matteau-Gionta-Tootoo
Ruutu O'Neill

Hope Kalinin becomes a Marcus Kruger type

 

[HBK27]

I would guess that either tomorrow or Thurs we get word if they plan to name a Captain for this team or hold off. It will be interesting to see what why they go with this.

If they’re going to name a captain, I’d rather see it announced during the player intro’s on Friday night. Have the captain and the A’s just wear different jerseys for warm-ups.

I think/hope it will be Henrique, though Greene is a good pick as well.

So what are we thinking the opening night lineup looks like?

Cammalleri-Zajac-Palmieri
Henrique-Josefson-Tlusty
Boucher-Kalinin-Stempniak
Matteau-O'Neill-Ruutu

Greene-Larsson
Moore-Severson
Merrill-Gelinas

Schneider

O’Neil is not getting in the lineup until he’s had a few practices with the team.

I would guess the opening lineup is:

Cammalleri – Zajac – Stempniak
Henrique – Josefson – Palmieri
Boucher – Kalinin – Tlusty
Ruutu – Gionta – Tootoo

Greene – Larsson
Merrill – Severson
Moore – Gelinas

Schneider
Kinkaid

We’ll certainly know more based on today’s practice.

I think Hynes likes the chemistry between Kalinin & Tlusty, and will look to keep them together. Boucher seems to have shown enough to get into the lineup, especially on a team desperate for goals.

Matteau just doesn’t seem to have shown enough yet to crack the lineup and probably also hurt himself by taking so many penalties. I could see Merrill & Moore switching spots and I wouldn’t even rule out Schlemko getting the nod over Gelinas Friday night.

Frustrating opening night for the Devils is still more than 48 hours away, as some teams will already be playing their 2nd games that night.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Think it will be this

Cammalleri-Zajac-Tlusty
Henrique-Josefson-Palmieri
Boucher-Kalinin-Stempniak
Matteau-Gionta-Tootoo
Ruutu O'Neill

Hope Kalinin becomes a Marcus Kruger type

We'll have to wait til Saturday at the earliest to see O'Neill, more than likely next week.

Here is what I think will be Hynes' opening night lineup.

Cammalleri-Zajac-Stempniak
Henrique-Josefson-Palmieri
Boucher-Kalinin-Tlusty
Ruutu-Gionta-Tootoo

Stef
O'Neill

 

[217 Forever]

Yeah, and where would Tampa have ranked three or four years ago? Probably well behind Edmonton and look what happened. Minnesota was supposed to have one of the greatest prospect pools in hockey years ago, they're competitive now, but not world beaters.

We can only go by what we know of right now. To say that anything can't happen is foolish.

 

[Unknown Caller]

We can only go by what we know of right now. To say that anything can't happen is foolish.

I'm saying that anything can happen. I'm not putting a limitation on future events based on a team's prospect pool. The point is trying to "go by what you know right now" to predict a team's success 2 or 3 years down the road is useless. Tampa was drafting 2nd overall at Prudential Center, and two seasons later they were in the Cup final. Boston, who looked like world beaters at the time (with "superstars" Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton in the pipeline), didn't even make the playoffs two years later.

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Holy crap you can't fix stupid. Some guy on twitter is saying to TG that the Devils already screwed up a high draft pick by sending him back to juniors. I don't know why TG even bothers.

 

[Devilsgrl35]

Holy crap you can't fix stupid. Some guy on twitter is saying to TG that the Devils already screwed up a high draft pick by sending him back to juniors. I don't know why TG even bothers.

lol this isn't the NFL.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Holy crap you can't fix stupid. Some guy on twitter is saying to TG that the Devils already screwed up a high draft pick by sending him back to juniors. I don't know why TG even bothers.

Twitter & FB comments are typically garbage spouted by bottom feeders of the intellectual pool.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Holy crap you can't fix stupid. Some guy on twitter is saying to TG that the Devils already screwed up a high draft pick by sending him back to juniors. I don't know why TG even bothers.

Well, you know that's how the Devils ruined poor Scott Niedermayer, who might've been a Hall of Famer if he hadn't been sent back down to juniors for that extra year. So sad. Will this franchise ever learn?

 

[Brooklyndevil]

Yeah I just wanted to leave Gionta off. I didn't know when O'Neill would be available. At least speed-wise this lineup looks like it will be able to keep up with the Jets.

The starting line-up will include Tootoo. The Jets play a nasty game.

 

[Burner Account]

The Jets are a big, big team.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I'm guessing O'Neill, Gelinas, and Kalinin sit for the first game. Kalinin and Gelinas will be back in over the weekend.

 

[NJDevs26]

Guess Matteau and Gelinas are the extras today, commence board freak out

 

[Devils Trap]

Good. Gelinas is the 7th best Dman we have

If we really want to freak out , then Cory isn't at practice today. TG said his wife's delivery is expected very soon.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I think Hynes wants to experiment with points on the PP. Honestly, pretty much any of our D could probably play the point and not look out of place. Severson and Schlemko will probably get some extended looks, I don't know if they want to burden Larsson/Greene with more minutes.

Man, it's crazy to think of how far our defense has come. Remember when we were playing guys like Corrente, Taormina, and OMG? And now we have the luxury of sitting a guy with the offensive talent of Gelinas.

 

[Bologna 1]

im not gonna get on this already, but if those are the line combinations for Friday, im not a fan. why the hell would you roll lines that never once played together in the preseason? no Henrique/palmieri on the same line?

 

[Zippy316]

Lines today look interesting:

Cammalleri - Zajac - Palmieri
Henrique - Josefson - Stempniak
Tlusty - Kalinin - Tootoo
Boucher - Gionta - Matteau

Not sure how I feel about those.

Love these D pairings though. Merrill-Moore pairing has looked fantastic together.

Greene - Larsson
Merrill - Moore
Schlemko - Severson

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Good. Gelinas is the 7th best Dman we have

If we really want to freak out , then Cory isn't at practice today. TG said his wife's delivery is expected very soon.

I don't really mind Matteau and Gelinas being the extras. It's that accountability at work where they have to earn their spot in the line-up, and it's not like they can be sent down to the AHL, since they'd have to clear waivers which wouldn't happen where they might have more playing time (and at this point we probably want them in the NHL anyway). Matteau in particular wasn't that good in the pre-season (not that I'm giving up on him, but he was outperformed by others, so Hynes might want to give them a chance opening night instead) so this can be motivation for him to step it up. Gelinas I suppose might have been in competition with Moore for that offensive defenseman slot in the line-up and lost it for now, but hopefully that just motivates him to do better in the future.

Congrats to Cory and his wife on their soon-to-be-born baby, and I hope the delivery goes as well as possible.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

im not gonna get on this already, but if those are the line combinations for Friday, im not a fan. why the hell would you roll lines that never once played together in the preseason? no Henrique/palmieri on the same line?

No Henrique and Palmieri together seems odd to me, unless he's just doing something different in practice. I thought he was identifying pairs with the forwards, and Henrique and Palmieri definitely seemed like a good one to me. Like you I'm not going to jump all over this, but I find it odd too.

 

[NJDevs26]

It wouldn't shock me if Kinkaid plays Friday and just let Cory debut on Saturday depending on when the kid's born

 

[NJDevs26]

Lines today look interesting:

Cammalleri - Zajac - Palmieri
Henrique - Josefson - Stempniak
Tlusty - Kalinin - Tootoo
Boucher - Gionta - Matteau

Not sure how I feel about those.

Love these D pairings though. Merrill-Moore pairing has looked fantastic together.

Greene - Larsson
Merrill - Moore
Schlemko - Severson

It's actually Boucher-Gionta-Ruutu on the fourth line with Matteau as the extra

 

[Cheddabombs]

It wouldn't shock me if Kinkaid plays Friday and just let Cory debut on Saturday depending on when the kid's born

If Cory misses practice again tomorrow then I think that becomes a real possibility. As long as they split the two games I'd be happy. I don't want a repeat of last year, give Schneider rest whenever possible.