GDT: Devils vs. Bruins - 8 More to go… 7:00 PM - MSG

[NJDevs26]

I’m not sure we even got real reports on the Nico, Zacha or last Vat injuries tbh, or Palm’s latest injury. Maybe we did and I’m just not paying attention.

 

[Call Me Al]

did dani say that zacha had a concussion last night? is that one per season for him now?

still looked like our best player last nght, finally growing into the league

 

[Devils731]

I’m not sure we even got real reports on the Nico, Zacha or last Vat injuries tbh, or Palm’s latest injury. Maybe we did and I’m just not paying attention.

I’m so numbs to the injuries, I don’t even check to find out what is wrong with the guys anymore.

It wouldn’t shock me if half those guys could play if the Devils were in the playoff hunt.

I don’t think the Devils are holding back healthy guys but there isn’t a reason to play a guy at 90% and risk further injury right now.

 

[Oneiro]

If you can evaluate an insane amount of players for an extended time and do the soft tank thing while gathering this info, that's an opportunity that doesn't come around too often. Or at least you hope it doesn't.

 

[tr83]

I feel bad for Travis. He's such a solid player and he continues to have to grind it out on these shitty teams.

 

[Stephen Gionta]

I feel bad for Travis. He's such a solid player and he continues to have to grind it out on these ****ty teams.

The first 4 years of his career the Devils made the playoffs every season. Then they missed one year. Then they went to the Stanley Cup Finals. He's made about $50 million in his career. I don't feel that bad for him. But yes, such a solid player. One of the must under appreciated players in Devils/NHL history. The fact that he's never been a finalist for the Selke is insane.

 

[johnny pierogi]

Lol, think about what some people have to do to just get by. I will never feel bad for an NHL player on a bad team. But yeah, Travis is underappreciated. When he's hurt the team suffers without him, mostly because their faceoff % goes to shit.

 

[CHIP72]

The first 4 years of his career the Devils made the playoffs every season. Then they missed one year. Then they went to the Stanley Cup Finals. He's made about $50 million in his career. I don't feel that bad for him. But yes, such a solid player. One of the must under appreciated players in Devils/NHL history. The fact that he's never been a finalist for the Selke is insane.

Speaking as a more casual fan, Zajac has been my favorite Devils player for a few years now because IMO he is overlooked (largely because his greatest strengths are as a defensive player) and isn't a big scorer. If he played for a consistently good team, he'd be viewed as a good 2nd or 3rd line center and be respected as a guy who helped his team win.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Severson had one of his worst games of the year. Easily. 4 people saw it though, so everyone else will continue to tell me he's good.

Severson's going to finish dead last on defense......... for yet another year.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Where's Waldo Severson?




Did you find Severson kids!!!!!!??????

He was HIDING behind the net! Oh that Silly Severson and the places he'll go!

 

[AfroThunder396]

Call it 17 because rounding, gives us 80 points which is tied with Philly and only 5 behind MTL who currently holds the final wild card.

A relatively healthy team and better goaltending puts us close to where we were last year. This isn't as big of a step back as many would like to think. Getting a top-5 pick will help tremendously going forward and our core is still young.

 

[Oneiro]

LOL at thinking that having empathy for another human being is intrinsically related to their paycheck. Everyone takes pride in their work. Of course it's not a national tragedy that a quality player like Zajac doesn't have a cup win, but c'mon. The guy is more Devil-like than any player in the history of this team and he's been the sole reliable piece for a decade - the one player who has never cheated his entire time here. It would be incredible to see that dorky grin with the cup raised above it and it sucks that he's had to play with low-IQ, low-compete rosters for years now.

Also, as Bryce mentioned during the game, Severson went to Greene's side on that Bergeron goal because Greene broke his stick and wasn't able to move the puck. But regardless, he was horrific last night.

 

[BenedictGomez]

A relatively healthy team and better goaltending puts us close to where we were last year. This isn't as big of a step back as many would like to think.

Two important things:

1) That statistic is ridiculous hockus-pockus & really cant be taken seriously

2) Anyone watching this team even before Hall, Vats, Nico, (insert name here) went down knows it was a total train wreck.

To claim this team would have about 9 more full-blown 2 point wins without the injury bug is optimistic at best. In fact, oddly, I'd argue that after Hall and a few others went down, this team started playing more structurally sound. So while, yes, there's no team that could survive the Devils injuries this season, to claim they'd be fighting for that last playoff spot if not for injuries is completely unrealistic.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Two important things:

1) That statistic is ridiculous hockus-pockus & really cant be taken seriously

2) Anyone watching this team even before Hall, Vats, Nico, (insert name here) went down knows it was a total train wreck.

To claim this team would have about 9 more full-blown 2 point wins without the injury bug is optimistic at best. In fact, oddly, I'd argue that after Hall and a few others went down, this team started playing more structurally sound. So while, yes, there's no team that could survive the Devils injuries this season, to claim they'd be fighting for that last playoff spot if not for injuries is completely unrealistic.

The team was actually performing better than last year based on underlying numbers. They just lost an unsustainably high number of one goal games and had pretty poor special teams to start the year. Couple that with Cory/Kinkaid going down the drain, and that was the difference. I know it's crazy, but there are a lot of uncontrollable factors that determine ultimate results. The team was not nearly as close to a "train wreck" as you want to make them out to be.

 

[Bleedred]

2) Anyone watching this team even before Hall, Vats, Nico, (insert name here) went down knows it was a total train wreck

Due to Keith Kinkaid being the 31st best starting goalie in the league (that bum still ain’t gotten a god damn game in Columbus and he’s been there 14 games) and Schneider being completely unserviceable pre-February and completely unplayable.

Last year Kinkaid had a fluke year where he played unsustainably good the final 7 weeks and Schneider was at least serviceable (and better than serviceable) until he came back on March 1st of 2018.

 

[Azathoth]

did dani say that zacha had a concussion last night? is that one per season for him now?

still looked like our best player last nght, finally growing into the league

I think they did say he had a concussion.

 

[FooteBahl]

I think they did say he had a concussion.

That’s #3 for him if that’s the case right?

 

[Camille the Eel]

I agree. Our play was poor before the injury bug. It would be a mistake not to draw a number of conclusions from this season, and not to try to fix a number of problems, based on the idea that “if only there hadn’t been these insane injuries everything would have been okay.”

Hopefully Shero and his staff and Hynes will be clear sighted enough to assess what the problems are with complete honesty. Only then can you begin to fix them.

We need more then just this same roster and system healthy.

 

[None Shall Pass]

That’s #3 for him if that’s the case right?

Finally a Zacha hat trick

 

[MartyOwns]

I agree. Our play was poor before the injury bug. It would be a mistake not to draw a number of conclusions from this season, and not to try to fix a number of problems, based on the idea that “if only there hadn’t been these insane injuries everything would have been okay.”

Hopefully Shero and his staff and Hynes will be clear sighted enough to assess what the problems are with complete honesty. Only then can you begin to fix them.

We need more then just this same roster and system healthy.

agreed. it’s a bit lazy to say that with a healthy roster (which is never something to count on for next year) we would have been fine

 

[OmNomNom]

edit: nevermind, i get what was being said - he came back from a concussion

 

[Call Me Al]

yeah i think the major concern i have about that (aside from the actual concussions) is that i dont remember any of them being direct hits to the head, but just big hits where he gets whiplashed or doesn't brace properly. he's a big kid but that makes me nervous any time he's going to run into contact

 

[Triumph]

I don't think anyone's saying 'everything was okay' before the injuries, but more that this team with average goaltending and average OT/shootout luck was a bubble team, most likely on the outside of the playoff picture. That's what should've been expected in the pre-season too. The miserable goaltending and injuries have the Devils where they are now, and there's definitely visible flaws outside the net that need fixing, but the franchise is very far from hopeless.

 

[NJDevs26]

Lol, think about what some people have to do to just get by. I will never feel bad for an NHL player on a bad team. But yeah, Travis is underappreciated. When he's hurt the team suffers without him, mostly because their faceoff % goes to ****.

It just stands out cause Zajac and Greene are the lone prominent Devils that's had to deal with this seven year stretch mostly in the wilderness while everyone else was pretty much on a Cup team/contenders every year over the previous twenty years or left before the real losing started (a la Parise). And since Zajac's playing at a higher level people feel worse for him.

 

[BenedictGomez]

That’s #3 for him if that’s the case right?

Really? I hope that's not true, or it ultimately may not matter too much whether he's a bust or not. Once you hit #5, you're pretty much done. Crosby's next concussion, for instance, will probably be his last NHL game played.