GDT: Devils vs. Blues - STAR WARS NIGHT - 7:30PM MSG

[Camille the Eel]

Anyone think that Shero is losing patience with Hynes and staff?

You know Shero's history in Pitt was also to build a club by concentrating on the forwards and back filling the defense. When you have Malkin and Crosby you fill in a supporting cast. They never had the big heavy defensemen as a foundation, at most they had the one guy (Letang) with high end puck skills to join the rush and a filling of Niskannen and Orpik types.

That looks like the blueprint here at the moment but I think they are all capable of adjusting their thinking. Just show me the big stud Chris Pronger/Shea Webber guy who's available right now.

 

[SansaStark]

as poor as the team has played there has been some really bad puck luck as of late. not to mention terrible calls against us.

even though he really wasn't producing that much, i believe zacha being out has hurt our line balance.

but really the team just needs a drastic change ASAP and a message needs to be sent. The current play is not acceptable and the lineup needs to be reconfigured drastically.

 

[Sir Fenwick Corsi]

Anyone think that Shero is losing patience with Hynes and staff?

It's hard to say because while the team is bleeding goals against and have looked pretty bad for a few weeks, they're also playing a schedule from hell and have a substandard defense. You can only work with what you're given.

I don't agree with everything Hynes does but I just don't get the feeling he's the issue here. The plan was for the team to play more uptempo this season vs. last year but they just don't have the roster to do this well enough. First weeks of the season, it's always easier to look better, but now teams are established and it's pretty clear NJ can't keep up with the better clubs. I think this staff would be well served to maybe tweak the plan here a bit and try to focus on a simpler more structured game. There is no cohesion in their game right now and they have to figure out a way to keep he puck out of their own net. It's really bad now. This is also assuming there is no outside help coming by way of trade. Something has to change systematically with the current group.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Anyone think that Shero is losing patience with Hynes and staff?

Probably Shero's biggest mistake in Pittsburg was sticking with Bylsma too long (I think that's the primary reason he ended up getting fired, to be honest). One of Shero's weaknesses up until now has been being too loyal to his coach, so we'll have to see if he has learned his lesson with regard to that, though I'm not necessarily advocating firing Hynes at this point, because I think it's possible that just bringing in an experienced defense assistant coach might help this team a lot. Also, if Cory got back to playing like the All-Star goalie that he is and that Shero was probably banking on him being, that could be a huge boost. Certainly, though, the question of if Shero has learned to pull the plug on a coach more quickly is relevant to the Devils going forward, even if not at the moment.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Morning after autopsy:

1) Team is playing extremely sloppy and passionless hockey. Hall and a handful of others seem to be the only ones playing with effort and pride, and that is totally unacceptable, especially in front of fans at home and after getting a beat-down from Montreal. After getting destroyed by Montreal, you'd like a little more response from this team, rather than just laying down for another beating last night. More structure and commitment to playing hard the whole game is needed from this team. Some of that is on coaching, and some of that is on the players. Almost everyone has to be much better than they have been the past two games, or else the Rangers are going to royally humiliate us.

2) The power play is awful and really needs to be fixed. Right now, it almost always gives more energy to the opposition than to us. Not good and not acceptable, and that's more on coaching than on players.

3) Team needs to stop taking air headed penalties. We take far too many, and it costs us whether on the scoreboard or just in overall energy.

4) Some have suggested going with an Andy and Lovejoy pairing in the capacity that Larsson and Andy used to take, but I worry that won't be effective. Andy seems to have deteriorated enough compared to last year that those kind of minutes would probably not be played as effectively by him, and Lovejoy isn't as solid defensively as Larsson is. Lovejoy can play a similiar role to Larsson in many ways, but he's not a Larsson replacement, and it would make me anxious to treat him as such.

Bottom line, team needs a lot of work if the optimism train is to get back on track...

 

[Zippy316]

Morning after autopsy:

1) Team is playing extremely sloppy and passionless hockey. Hall and a handful of others seem to be the only ones playing with effort and pride, and that is totally unacceptable, especially in front of fans at home and after getting a beat-down from Montreal. After getting destroyed by Montreal, you'd like a little more response from this team, rather than just laying down for another beating last night. More structure and commitment to playing hard the whole game is needed from this team. Some of that is on coaching, and some of that is on the players. Almost everyone has to be much better than they have been the past two games, or else the Rangers are going to royally humiliate us.

2) The power play is awful and really needs to be fixed. Right now, it almost always gives more energy to the opposition than to us. Not good and not acceptable, and that's more on coaching than on players.

3) Team needs to stop taking air headed penalties. We take far too many, and it costs us whether on the scoreboard or just in overall energy.

4) Some have suggested going with an Andy and Lovejoy pairing in the capacity that Larsson and Andy used to take, but I worry that won't be effective. Andy seems to have deteriorated enough compared to last year that those kind of minutes would probably not be played as effectively by him, and Lovejoy isn't as solid defensively as Larsson is. Lovejoy can play a similiar role to Larsson in many ways, but he's not a Larsson replacement, and it would make me anxious to treat him as such.

Bottom line, team needs a lot of work if the optimism train is to get back on track...

The power play has actually been very strong.

The problem is this team is flawed. 4/6 of our defense have huge weaknesses that are easily exposed every night. Also, we seem to be terrible at winning board battles. Aside from Hall, Zajac, and Palmieri, everyone gets outmuscled or doesn't create anything. You saw last night how the Blues won board battles, created space, and then created chances. Devils hardly do any of that.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

The power play has actually been very strong.

The problem is this team is flawed. 4/6 of our defense have huge weaknesses that are easily exposed every night. Also, we seem to be terrible at winning board battles. Aside from Hall, Zajac, and Palmieri, everyone gets outmuscled or doesn't create anything. You saw last night how the Blues won board battles, created space, and then created chances. Devils hardly do any of that.

Sorry, I don't think our power play has been strong. Normally the other team gets better scoring chances on it than we do, it's hard for us to gain the zone even on the power play, and when we gain the zone, we mainly just pass the puck around for awhile. The team is flawed but so is our structure, and that is in evidence on the power play.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I see an ugly game tomorrow against the Rags. Unfortunately, it may be the game that gets Hynes fired up. A win would possibly the Devils out of this slump, but I just don't see them beating the Rags who seem to be peaking again with two good road wins in beating the Jets and Blackhawks.

 

[severian]

I see an ugly game tomorrow against the Rags. Unfortunately, it may be the game that gets Hynes fired up. A win would possibly the Devils out of this slump, but I just don't see them beating the Rags who seem to be peaking again with two good road wins in beating the Jets and Blackhawks.

Fired up or fired? I'd feel bad if he got fired since he just moved onto my block a couple months ago.

 

[Satans Hockey]

I just checked my dvr to watch the post show and that game was so bad they didn't even bother having it lol

 

[HitemwiththeHyne]

Fired up or fired? I'd feel bad if he got fired since he just moved onto my block a couple months ago.

Hope he leased with an option to buy.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Anyone think that Shero is losing patience with Hynes and staff?

Not a chance.

 

[HitemwiththeHyne]

I just checked my dvr to watch the post show and that game was so bad they didn't even bother having it lol

There is an opportunity to partner up with Planned Parenthood for at least the post games on the new Devils Radio Network Partnership.

 

[HitemwiththeHyne]

Not a chance.

Well that settles that. In all seriousness, is it on the players or the coaches the last few weeks?

 

[Devils Dominion]

I just checked my dvr to watch the post show and that game was so bad they didn't even bother having it lol

MSG network had to immediately race over to the Knicks pregame show, after mentioning that and the Rags game a thousand times last night.

 

[Satans Hockey]

MSG network had to immediately race over to the Knicks pregame show, after mentioning that and the Rags game a thousand times last night.

My guide had it listed as 15 min Devils post game show and a 15 min Knicks pre game show but it was all Knicks lol

 

[HoliksGhost]

At this point I wouldn't mind JJ centering the fourth line, see what he does with the fast kids. Change things up a bit, Fiddler meh lately.

Even though PA scored, he could use a demotion as I see it.

The D well, as is, that won't be fixed anytime soon.

Cory needs to be Cory, or we are going to continue to get pummeled on occasion.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Well that settles that. In all seriousness, is it on the players or the coaches the last few weeks?

I'm going to go with "a lot of Column A" and "a lot of Column B" since there's plenty of blame to go around.

 

[HitemwiththeHyne]

At this point I wouldn't mind JJ centering the fourth line, see what he does with the fast kids. Change things up a bit, Fiddler meh lately.

Even though PA scored, he could use a demotion as I see it.

The D well, as is, that won't be fixed anytime soon.

Cory needs to be Cory, or we are going to continue to get pummeled on occasion.

I have no expectations of PA, he's a waive wire pick up and Fiddler whose on a one year deal. The problem is what has Josefson show any coach and GM to be here than at best a 4C and pk guy with some shootout skills.

I look at the core of guys on long term deals and that's what concerns me mostly really Hall, Henrqiue, Palmieri, Zajac and Camms. They need to be firing on all cylinders as does Cory for this team to even be in the conversation of a win.

 

[HitemwiththeHyne]

I'm going to go with "a lot of Column A" and "a lot of Column B" since there's plenty of blame to go around.

More and more I'm in the Column B. Perhaps I'm partial to the old adage of easier to fire a coach then a team.

 

[Sir Fenwick Corsi]

If I were asked to describe this team as a whole, I would say that they're small, timid and lacking strength. The forwards don't check well enough and get beat up around the walls and the defense is weak and gets pushed around far too much.

After tomorrow's game they have a few days off and I think priority # 1 should be to work on their structure and commit to playing a tighter and more defensive game in front of Cory. Yes, the team will struggle more scoring wise but they can't continue allowing this many goals a game. If the players are more responsible in front of him, it will give him the opportunity to find his game again which would be a huge boost for the team. Cory in top form gives the devils a puncher's chance more often than not but there is no chance in hell things get better for him playing behind the chaos we've been seeing. They're too easy to play against right now. I don't think the team has the personnel to really take that next step this season but they should be able to play better than what they've shown lately. Their defensive play has been nothing short of horrific for weeks now. Time for a new game plan.

 

[NJDevs26]

Probably Shero's biggest mistake in Pittsburg was sticking with Bylsma too long (I think that's the primary reason he ended up getting fired, to be honest). One of Shero's weaknesses up until now has been being too loyal to his coach, so we'll have to see if he has learned his lesson with regard to that, though I'm not necessarily advocating firing Hynes at this point, because I think it's possible that just bringing in an experienced defense assistant coach might help this team a lot. Also, if Cory got back to playing like the All-Star goalie that he is and that Shero was probably banking on him being, that could be a huge boost. Certainly, though, the question of if Shero has learned to pull the plug on a coach more quickly is relevant to the Devils going forward, even if not at the moment.

Of course it's also hard to compare cause Bylsma won a Stanley Cup his first year and because Crosby was a Bylsma backer (like it or not the best player in the league gets some say), so that was almost surely part of the reason for the overdone loyalty. He didn't have any problem canning Therien after a SCF appearance when they were on their way to crashing and burning the next year.

It's not as if there's any obvious guy to take over either if Hynes was canned, unless you're a believer in Kowalsky but I don't think they'd promote him until he started getting some notice around the league. Not to mention this team's still got a cap floor payroll and at best is a borderline playoff team anyway, I don't think Shero would do anything vis-a-vis Hynes unless the team really started quitting a la the Jets with Todd Bowles and/or the expectations of actually making the playoffs anytime soon finally got raised.

 

[Dgill]

Has Henrique been playing much with Hall? Hall seems to be really hot while Henrique not so much (fantasy question).

 

[Chessarmy]

Yes, they're playing together - and he still hasn't produced much at all. He's been a complete and utter disappointment.

 

[Zippy316]

I thought we have looked both tired and disorganized these past few games. We haven't had legs for half a dozen games and we have looked frantic since at least Nashville. Turning the puck over while trying oh-so-desparately to push the tempo even when it's not there. Confidence looks down too the last couple of games - this for the first time this season. Mirrored by opinion on this board.

Hynes and co. need to right the ship. Reduce sail maybe, tweak the lines, probably bring Zacha and JJ and some fresh legs back in (Quenneville up for Woods down maybe), maybe sit Parenteau for a game or two, probably bring Merrill in for bit and see what can be done. Above all a calm hand on the tiller. Everybody loses a few in a row, we're only one third of the way through the season, keep your eye on the bigger long-term picture.

I dissent on Bennet. I love what I see from him despite his not finishing. He's been decisive in taking control of the puck and his line with Kalinin and DSP has at last had an idea of establishing a forecheck. That said no reason to keep them together or even all on the ice.

I completely agree.

It seems like we constantly forecheck, but teams just break out through it with ease. We will pinch but not at the right times. We can't seem to consistently break out of our zone with the puck unless one guy takes it upon himself. We will tip/dump the puck into the zone, but never to where a forechecking forward will get to it. The few times when we do, there's no support for that forward. The Devils are not playing smart hockey of late. You watched the Blues last night and they did all the little plays to disrupt the Devils.

It was really frustrating to watch last night at the game. Devils were throughly dominated everywhere on the ice.