GDT: Devils vs. Capitals - 7pm, MSG

[Devs3cups]

Pickle-flavoured Gato, bruv.

 

[Bleedred]

@RangerDoggo probably went on a drunken bender after that brutal Rangers 3rd period collapse.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Also I love that Jack loves that we are rowdy lol...

 

[MakoSlade]

HA No.

Marino alone. Hamilton being hurt. Nico man strength. Haula > Zacha. Zetterlund. Wood. Simplifying the system. Assistant coaches. Brendan frigging Smith > Ty Smith and keeping Severson under 18minutes TOI with a defensive first plug. Everyone backchecking.

There is SO much different from last year's team. You drop one of those things and lose 10 standing points. Hell Marino might be worth 15.

Just getting rid of Ty and Zacha alone was huge. Both needed a change of scenery and were very representative of our problems as a team.

 

[Bleedred]

Just getting rid of Ty and Zacha alone was huge. Both needed a change of scenery and were very representative of our problems as a team.

I'd also argue a certain injured player, who has been in for exactly half of our losses to date and hasn't even appeared in a third of our games to this point in the season. You just know he would have probably played HALF the games or more if he were healthy. Basically every game Schmid has played (including the relief appearance and OT win) and probably 3-4 of Vanecek's.

 

[MakoSlade]

I'd also argue a certain injured player, who has been in for exactly half of our losses to date and hasn't even appeared in a third of our games to this point in the season. You just know he would have probably played HALF the games or more if he were healthy. Basically every game Schmid has played (including the relief appearance and OT win) and probably 3-4 of Vanecek's.

Ugh...I was so impressed with MBW when he took over for Schneider. But damn, it's been a rocky road for awhile now. This may be Lackwood's last chance! I'm not giving up yet though...

 

[Bleedred]

Ugh...I was so impressed with MBW when he took over for Schneider. But damn, it's been a rocky road for awhile now. This may be Lackwood's last chance! I'm not giving up yet though...

I was impressed too, but that was literally 3 and 4 years ago now.

It’s time to throw the towel in on him.

If there’s any chance of him “Bouncing back” it won’t happen here.

Divorce is badly needed here.

He really shouldn’t get any chances here. It’s Vanecek’s net now. He can play some games on back to back’s. I’m more than happy with Schmid in his absence, who is likely overachieving.

 

[Call Me Al]

he lost me with the vaccine bs and his play never won me back.

that said i don’t know why every day we need to rehash the (lack of) promise of a goalie that’s been out of the lineup for over a month already and at least one month more while the team is on the hottest streak we’ve been on in decades.

our management isn’t going to risk the playoffs in order to appease or showcase a player that they’ve already had a publicly tense relationship playing out the final year of his contract with little to no value attached. come on

 

[Bleedred]

he lost me with the vaccine bs and his play never won me back.

that said i don’t know why every day we need to rehash the (lack of) promise of a goalie that’s been out of the lineup for over a month already and at least one month more while the team is on the hottest streak we’ve been on in decades.

our management isn’t going to risk the playoffs in order to appease or showcase a player that they’ve already had a publicly tense relationship playing out the final year of his contract with little to no value attached. come on

Because like it or not, he has A LOT to do with this streak. His absence does.

I think missing him has a lot more to do with this streak/year than missing Zacha and Smith. Zacha is a better player than him and the other Smith probably is too.

So yeah, if someone brings up guys that haven’t even played here this year and weren’t even under contract to play here at any point this year and are citing their absences as reasons for our winning, your damn right I’m gonna point out the absence of some BUM that actually is under contract to play here this year.

And once again, that guy plays the most important position in the league, yet he’s one of the absolute worst players at that position.

Face it. This streak is NOT possible with him playing more games. We lucked out that he can’t play more. That’s all I’ll say.

 

[Call Me Al]

he didn’t play against the capitals last night

 

[Satans Hockey]

Because like it or not, he has A LOT to do with this streak. His absence does.

I think missing him has a lot more to do with this streak/year than missing Zacha and Smith. Zacha is a better player than him and the other Smith probably is too.

So yeah, if someone brings up guys that haven’t even played here this year and weren’t even under contract to play here at any point this year and are citing their absences as reasons for our winning, your damn right I’m gonna point out the absence of some BUM that actually is under contract to play here this year.

And once again, that guy plays the most important position in the league, yet he’s one of the absolute worst players at that position.

Face it. This streak is NOT possible with him playing more games. We lucked out that he can’t play more. That’s all I’ll say.

I agree with @Call Me Al that we don't need to rehash it after every big game Vitek has.

But yeah I'm with you on the same thoughts of Blackwood and been on the same page about him with you for a long time now but you definitely bring it up more than it's needed, we don't even know when he's coming back and we can worry about that bridge when we have to cross it.

 

[Nubmer6]

I'd also argue a certain injured player, who has been in for exactly half of our losses to date and hasn't even appeared in a third of our games to this point in the season.

Palat?

 

[Bleedred]

he didn’t play against the capitals last night

Neither did Smith and Zacha and they were brought up. They ain't played here since last season.

Not that I care that they were, by the way.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

That’s right Rango, you can play make a bit in this league too!

 

[Oneiro]

You never see Zetterlund and Goku in the same room at the same time.

 

[Bleedred]

Is Gato some kind of a Jack-ism?

I remember B-way was the first Jack-ism, though I don't think he ever said that again after that first preseason game.

 

[Guttersniped]

HA No.

Marino alone. Hamilton being hurt. Nico man strength. Haula > Zacha. Zetterlund. Wood. Simplifying the system. Assistant coaches. Brendan frigging Smith > Ty Smith and keeping Severson under 18minutes TOI with a defensive first plug. Everyone backchecking.

There is SO much different from last year's team. You drop one of those things and lose 10 standing points. Hell Marino might be worth 15.

Also who the f*** about cares about last season.

 

[Guttersniped]

Call me a crazy basterd but to me, an 18-2 stretch is as impressive as an 13w streak!

 

[Oneiro]

Re: last season, people are just going to rorschach test it and just view this year through the lens of whatever bias they have as to why things are working.

Analytics dudes are going to downplay the structure and veterans and talk about it as a goaltending + trend breakout. Grit and jam crew are going to pump up the backchecking, pressure and Wood, Haula, Smith, etc. Reality is more complicated than anyone's hammer-nail syndrome.

 

[Bleedred]

Is Marino really worth 15 standings points? Really?

And I just went on record as saying this was maybe the acquisition of the offseason in the ENTIRE league, but is he really worth 15 points?

I remember something that Crosby (in his prime) was only worth 13 points in the standings. McDavid is probably worth 15 points, but Marino?

Like I said, I think this was supposed to be our coming out party, but not so much our coming out of nowhere party like it has been.

If everything goes right last year (besides the goaltending), like Jack not missing 40% of the games, among other things, I think we were supposed to be a 90-95 point team. I'm gonna take the over and go 95.

Remember, the models had us at 91 points (or was it 89?) for last year. I think a lot of them had at us just under 90 this year, but likely biased in favor against us because of how last year went. There were a few models that were very HIGH on us for this year and had us at over 100 points coming into the year. Those guys were laughed at like A LOT just two months ago.

Yeah, if things don't go horrific for us last year, I think a 95 point team is semi-realistic. A 95 point team that's probably a 5 or 6 game exit in the first round, probably to Brunette's Panthers. I don't think it would have been the most shocking result to see us get in over the Capitals last year and get their spot. That would have been more of a clue or some kind of hint as to what we're doing this year.

 

[DerekDevils30]

Good to see goaltending bail out a less than stellar performance. Was the 4th game in 6 nights and a quick back to back. These types of games will happen on the back ends of busy schedules. Hope they are ready to go Monday at the Garden. Would love a win there

 

[Whaddagoal]

Is Gato some kind of a Jack-ism?

I remember B-way was the first Jack-ism, though I don't think he ever said that again after that first preseason game.

Yup, from the post game interview last night

EDIt: now i cant find it lol. Maybe it was from the MSG interview between periods in the buffalo game!

 

[Bleedred]

By the way, if we had 95 points last year or even 90, we likely don't make some of the player acquisitions or coaching ones that we made.

First of all, no Vanecek. Maybe we still would have gotten him if Bernier was toast, but us having 95 points last year probably would have been dependent on things like Bernier not being out from December for the reaminder of the year.

A hot streak and year from Gillies (just pretend here) probably means we bring him back to at least be the backup, like teams often do when an AHL goalie has a hot NHL streak. Remember Andrew Hammond in 2015? And that's just one of many different examples.

Marino might not be here if Ty Smith actually had a good season. And I know they don't play the same type of game/aren't the same type of defenseman, so maybe he still would have been here, but maybe not.

Andrew Brunette is probably not the assistant here for several reasons. First of all, Ruff isn't on the hot seat if we make the playoffs last year or even if we just barely miss the playoffs. And if we really were a 95-ish point team, that's probably also dependent on having a pretty good or much better power play and Recchi doesn't get fired.

Nas/McGill? Maybe Nas is extended if we make the playoffs last year or just barely miss, but maybe he isn't, just because of how long he had been here for.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

By the way, if we had 95 points last year or even 90, we likely don't make some of the player acquisitions or coaching ones that we made.

First of all, no Vanecek. Maybe we still would have gotten him if Bernier was toast, but us having 95 points last year probably would have been dependent on things like Bernier not being out from December for the reaminder of the year.

A hot streak and year from Gillies (just pretend here) probably means we bring him back to at least be the backup, like teams often do when an AHL goalie has a hot NHL streak. Remember Andrew Hammond in 2015? And that's just one of many different examples.

Marino might not be here if Ty Smith actually had a good season. And I know they don't play the same type of game/aren't the same type of defenseman, so maybe he still would have been here, but maybe not.

Andrew Brunette is probably not the assistant here for several reasons. First of all, Ruff isn't on the hot seat if we make the playoffs last year or even if we just barely miss the playoffs. And if we really were a 95-ish point team, that's probably also dependent on having a pretty good or much better power play and Recchi doesn't get fired.

Nas/McGill? Maybe Nas is extended if we make the playoffs last year or just barely miss, but maybe he isn't, just because of how long he had been here for.

Also no Nemec, probably no Casey. Last year was painful, but it turns out one final shitty year has set us up to do something special.

 

[Better Call Sal]