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

[Dgill]

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

That's what I am gathering. I have Hall in my yahoo league, he's been fantastic. You guys have a really exciting game breaker there. I have Henrique in my fantrax and he's been ok, which isn't good enough when you're with Taylor Hall. Thank you. Good luck against the Blues!

 

[Emperoreddy]

They need to play better. That simple and it is on Hynes to make that happen.

His job isn't easy right now, but he has to figure it out.

He definitely isn't on the hot seat. That is way to extreme.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

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.

It is true that Bylsma won a Cup and that buys some leeway (as does repeated playoff appearances, in general). I wasn't really aware that Crosby was a Bylsma backer, but if that is the case, then you are right best player on the team (and in the league, by many people's estimations) does have big input, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, just reality of the situation. Things would be different with regard to Hynes, since so far Hynes has no Cup and no playoff experience.

Also true that he didn't have a problem canning Therrien after the SCF appearance. Perhaps that bodes well for him having a sense of when to pull the plug on a coach.

Just to be clear, my post wasn't so much saying it was time to pull the plug on Hynes (because I don't think it is, yet). Rather it was considering the question of whether Shero's potential to cling on to coaches to long might carry over from his time in Pittsburg, or if he had learned anything from the Bylsma saga. My hope would be that he learned from the Bylsma saga and moves onto the Devils a little wiser about the pitfalls of potentially being too loyal to a coach.

That being said, I don't really think it is time to fire Hynes, partly because I'm not sure there is a better option out there, and while there have been issues with our structure, system, and motivation as a team, we are also talking about a second-year NHL coach, so growing pains must be anticipated, and there are some other good things about Hynes (like that he is willing to use and develop young players, etc).

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

They need to play better. That simple and it is on Hynes to make that happen.

His job isn't easy right now, but he has to figure it out.

He definitely isn't on the hot seat. That is way to extreme.

Seems a pretty accurate summation. I would agree with it.

 

[Emperoreddy]

They have a few days now st home where they can make adjustments before they go to St Louis.

 

[Bleedred]

Hynes and Nasreddine showed last year that they can coach defense, so it's not like they have never had that ability, unlike a guy like Dave Cameron. And they've only had horrible at defense for not even a month yet, unlike a guy like Tippett who appears to have forgotten how to coach defense 6 or 7 years ago. So I'd give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

But some of these games recently have been real ugly. The Nashville, Montreal and last night's game have looked like some of our most weakest offensive performances last season, where we barely averaged 20 shots. Only we kept the shots to under 30 in a lot of those games. The Montreal game was beyond embarrassing. They're not even a good team and the guy that makes them a good team, had his easiest game of the year.

The Montreal game was our worst since the Hydra coaching staff was here and it was even worse than any game then. That might have been our worst game in as long as o can remember.

 

[Emperoreddy]

It is a combination of factors I imagine. The unit itself has issues. It doesn't have the raw talent to just power through poor play

They haven't had a chance since around the Cali trip to spend time practicing and readjusting, so that plays a part.

We aren't getting good goaltending which also plays a part.

 

[Bleedred]

It is a combination of factors I imagine. The unit itself has issues. It doesn't have the raw talent to just power through poor play

They haven't had a chance since around the Cali trip to spend time practicing and readjusting, so that plays a part.

We aren't getting good goaltending which also plays a part.

We showed we could play much better than some of these games like the San Jose, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Montreal games and even last night's game. Although the Pittsburgh game wasn't quite as bad as it looked, due to the competition. And at least we had 30 shots that game. Montreal is not nearly good enough to be outshooting us 49-21. Before that game, we had an almost identical amount of shots for and against per game as them.

The only game nearly as bad in the last few years was one of those games after the coaching change, where we were outshot 42-16 or something by Boston in 14-15 and got shutout by some bum that no one's ever heard of, nor is in the league anymore. I think Cory allowed 2 goals and we might have allowed an empty netter.

 

[Bleedred]

Henrique has 4 points in his last 5 games, he hasn't really been that bad recently as far as production goes.

Still on pace for fewer points than the last few seasons though.

 

[thethinglonger]

On Star Wars night, we really played like the prequels.

Hopefully the game on Sunday against the heated rivals lights a fire under them.

 

[Emperoreddy]

On Star Wars night, we really played like the prequels.

Hopefully the game on Sunday against the heated rivals lights a fire under them.

They need to gut one out to break the snide

 

[NJDevs26]

They need to gut one out to break the snide

I thought the same thing after the Nashville game. That surge lasted one game.

What they need right now is Cory to be ****ing lockdown for a few games and get that ship righted while they still have a tough schedule, then maybe the team as a whole can get on a roll.

 

[Bleedred]

I thought the same thing after the Nashville game. That surge lasted one game.

What they need right now is Cory to be ****ing lockdown for a few games and get that ship righted while they still have a tough schedule, then maybe the team as a whole can get on a roll.

I'm feeling a strong game from Cory tomorrow.

Though I'm not completely confident it won't be another 30+ or even 40 shot game, or even a game in which we score more than 2 goals or have much more than 20 shots ourselves.

We BETTER not get outshot something fierce by this Rangers team. I'm already wearing thin on this lack of a system.

I'll be completely irate with Hynes if this happens against the NYR (a poor shot/possession team) of all teams. And it's not like having this lack of defensive system has done any good to help us score or generate chances the last 2 games. It's been good for nothing.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I thought the same thing after the Nashville game. That surge lasted one game.

What they need right now is Cory to be ****ing lockdown for a few games and get that ship righted while they still have a tough schedule, then maybe the team as a whole can get on a roll.

Cory really does need to step up big time. If he were playing like the All-Star he was last year, he could mask a lot of our defensive woes. It's just it feels like we've been waiting all season for him to get in stride, and that's very disappointing, at least to me.

 

[MadDevil]

Honestly, the team just looks shellshocked these last couple games. Maybe having three full days between games after tomorrow will help them get settled a bit. Let's just hope they don't have another game like that against the Rangers because lord knows they have opportunistic scorers on that team.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Honestly, the team just looks shellshocked these last couple games. Maybe having three full days between games after tomorrow will help them get settled a bit. Let's just hope they don't have another game like that against the Rangers because lord knows they have opportunistic scorers on that team.

The Rags must smell blood.

 

[Bleedred]

Cory really does need to step up big time. If he were playing like the All-Star he was last year, he could mask a lot of our defensive woes. It's just it feels like we've been waiting all season for him to get in stride, and that's very disappointing, at least to me.

I thought he was good in October, it was his best October since he's been here. But the eye test confirms as much as the stats that he's not been good since the Anaheim game. I think there's been 2 games where I could honestly say that he didn't allow at least one bad goal since the Anaheim game and those were the Winnipeg and Vancouver games.

And there's been 2 or 3 games in that stretch where he allowed more than one bad goal in a game. The Detroit game was the worst, if not even the worst he's had as a Devil.

With the 49 shots last game, you expect he'll probably allow 4 goals no matter what. But even I thought goals 4 and 5 were very bad. But we were out of that game well before he allowed the bad goals.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I thought he was good in October, it was his best October since he's been here. But the eye test confirms as much as the stats that he's not been good since the Anaheim game. I think there's been 2 games where I could honestly say that he didn't allow at least one bad goal since the Anaheim game and those were the Winnipeg and Vancouver games.

And there's been 2 or 3 games in that stretch where he allowed more than one bad goal in a game. The Detroit game was the worst, if not even the worst he's had as a Devil.

With the 49 shots last game, you expect he'll probably allow 4 goals no matter what. But even I thought goals 4 and 5 were very bad. But we were out of that game well before he allowed the bad goals.

Actually now that you mention it, I remember him starting the season out fine. Guess it's just hard for me to remember all the way back to October.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Honestly, the team just looks shellshocked these last couple games. Maybe having three full days between games after tomorrow will help them get settled a bit. Let's just hope they don't have another game like that against the Rangers because lord knows they have opportunistic scorers on that team.

Yeah these last two have been a different kind of bad. The Nashville game was bad, but they fought back.

Like you said they looked shellshocked these last two. IT honestly felt like Price flipped out and it spooked the life out of them? IDK but the last few games they seem to be progressively making more and more mistakes. It didn't help that Price going nuts lit a huge fire under Montreal's ass, and St. Louis just smothered us on top of it.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Actually now that you mention it, I remember him starting the season out fine. Guess it's just hard for me to remember all the way back to October.

He was great to start the season. His play really dipped after the 5 game winning streak, and December is historically his worst month.

We really really could use Cory stealing a game to help them regain some confidence.

 

[MadDevil]

Actually now that you mention it, I remember him starting the season out fine. Guess it's just hard for me to remember all the way back to October.

In his first 12 starts, he posted a .930 or better save percentage 7 times and was below a .900 save percentage just twice.

In his last 8 starts, he's posted a .900 or better save percentage just once, and that was against Vancouver.

 

[Emperoreddy]

In his first 12 starts, he posted a .930 or better save percentage 7 times and was below a .900 save percentage just twice.

In his last 8 starts, he's posted a .900 or better save percentage just once, and that was against Vancouver.

That is a big part of it. He simply has not been good enough, and he is the first to say it.

Everyone has bad stretches, and his career numbers show this won't last. It just sucks while you are in it. In a month when they are playing better a lot of this will be forgotten.

 

[Bleedred]

Cory has looked like the current Kari Lehtonen since the Anaheim game. It's like Dallas kidnapped him after our game there and sent us back with Lehtonen instead.

Only Lehtonen has been as brutal as the last 2 years, so I don't think Dallas has Cory.

Maybe Carolina has him and is dressing him up as Ward?

 

[MadDevil]

That is a big part of it. He simply has not been good enough, and he is the first to say it.

Everyone has bad stretches, and his career numbers show this won't last. It just sucks while you are in it. In a month when they are playing better a lot of this will be forgotten.

Yeah, I'm not worried. Cory is certainly not the only guy on this team who has underperformed for a stretch. You just can't hide a goalie being bad like you can a skater.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Cory has looked like the current Kari Lehtonen since the Anaheim game. It's like Dallas kidnapped him after our game there and sent us back with Lehtonen instead.

Only Lehtonen has been as brutal as the last 2 years, so I don't think Dallas has Cory.

Maybe Carolina has him and is dressing him up as Ward?

There is some serious zombie voodoo going on with Ward. Maybe Ward and Bobo performed some kind of Space Jam ritual and stole Cory's talent? Might of stolen some of Henry's talent as well as he has been poor as well.