GDT: Flyers vs. Devils - 7:00 PM - MSG

[palek1019]

That was the beginning of Marty's decline.

When someone asks me ''When did Brodeur really start declining?'' my answer is usually the start of the 2010 calendar year. Right after he had that 50 save shutout at MSG in January of 2010. His play in the 2010 calendar of the 2009-2010 season was drastically different from his 2009 play. And of course, I believe we were on pace for the best record in the history of the franchise through the 2009 part of the year or even up to the halfway point of that year.

Soft decline I would say maybe around the injury in 2008, but hard decline was 2010. Not the 2010-2011 season, but before that. And then the complete cratering came around when he came back from the pinched nerve in February of 2013.

His play from after that 50 save shutout through the playoffs and from then on was drastically different from his pre-2010's decade play. And you can even include the 2010 Olympics as a part of that.

I don't think it was all downhill for him from there, as he did have a 60-ish (I forgot what the number was) game stretch of .920%-ish goaltending from February of 2012 through February of 2013, which also included the entirety of the 2012 playoffs in that stretch.

But yeah, that second half of that season was heavy foreshadowing with what was to come the next season. We also played Marty 77 games that season at 37 years old. He really started looking absolutely exhausted from January onward.

I predicted us to lose that series to the Flyers that year in exactly 5 games. I felt like we had such a death spiral in the second half of that year that I can't even believe we somehow still got out of that year with the division win. That's how good we were in the first half.

Yeah, I didn't want us to win the division because we'd play the Flyers and that was the worst team to face when they were struggling like they were. I'm not sure why I remember that specific season. My memory isn't as good as yours (something I'm kinda envious of, lol), but I clearly remember how anxious I was before the series started, hah.

And I do remember that steep decline and how sad it was to see the end of the Marty era. Was glad to be at his last game. Feels like we've been in goalie purgatory since. Though I don't need to tell you that.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Someone needs to post the “first time?” Gif

My god people, act like you’ve been here before.

 

[Bleedred]

Yeah, I didn't want us to win the division because we'd play the Flyers and that was the worst team to face when they were struggling like they were. I'm not sure why I remember that specific season. My memory isn't as good as yours (something I'm kinda envious of, lol), but I clearly remember how anxious I was before the series started, hah.

And I do remember that steep decline and how sad it was to see the end of the Marty era. Was glad to be at his last game. Feels like we've been in goalie purgatory since. Though I don't need to tell you that.

My memory is not nearly as good as it used to be, as I said in the last post, but it's not as bad as I made it sound either.

I think we struggled against the Flyers that year and it was the same thing against the Canes the year before and absolutely the same thing against the Rangers the year before that. I clearly remember our only win in either 6 or 8 games against them that year was the shootout win in the regular season finale.

And we kept drawing opponents for a few years that we had lost a lot of games against in the regular season during those years.

I think that was the year we swept Pittsburgh, (YOU CAN'T BEAT US! chants in the building) who were the defending cup champions and off back to back cup finals appearances. I remember everybody wanted us to face them, but we got Philly instead.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Someone needs to post the “first time?” Gif

My god people, act like you’ve been here before.

You keep saying that, but many of the fans of this team were not old enough to remember or appreciate the last time we were there. Hence not knowing how to act.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Severson's post-game attitude is really bothering me. I've seen goalies who are less responsible for a loss beat themselves up more than this guy whose stupid ass unnecessary play basically cost the team a point. Not only did he not seem to have any contrition whatsoever, but he didn't even seem that bothered by the loss or the recent skid they're on. And he's already got the reputation for making these irresponsible care-free errors that cost the team points.

Just way too much of that Zacha-like laissez faire holdover attitude from our previous garbage seasons.

I've never been more sure that he has no place on this team after this season.

 

[NJDevs26]

My memory is not nearly as good as it used to be, as I said in the last post, but it's not as bad as I made it sound either.

I think we struggled against the Flyers that year and it was the same thing against the Canes the year before and absolutely the same thing against the Rangers the year before that. I clearly remember our only win in either 6 or 8 games against them that year was the shootout win in the regular season finale.

And we kept drawing opponents for a few years that we had lost a lot of games against in the regular season during those years.

I think that was the year we swept Pittsburgh, (YOU CAN'T BEAT US! chants in the building) who were the defending cup champions and off back to back cup finals appearances. I remember everybody wanted us to face them, but we got Philly instead.

Yep eight regular season games with the Rangers and our only win was the meaningless shootout at the end of the season, the only playoff win was in OT too. So not a single regulation win that year in thirteen games.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Oh, we need a win in the worst kind of way Saturday, that's for sure.

But Pittsburgh could have cooled down by the time we face them. You never know.

Carolina will be tough, but I think we could beat Florida twice.

Florida is underachieving, but they've laid some eggs recently and have really gotten themselves into some trouble and a hole.

Let's further bury them twice if we can.

I'd be more worried about Florida, Washington (not really, but a little bit), and I guess the Rangers and Islanders right now. I think the Canes and Pens are pretty much playoff locks right now, as are the 3 teams at the top of Atlantic.

I mean, nobody is a lock, but safe bet. I would say the Canes and Pens are safer bets than any of Florida, Washington or the two New York teams at the current moment.

It's more it being the second leg of a road back to back that worries me. They got to go to Carolina, which has been a house of horrors for us for years, then back on a plane to Florida.

Winning 1 out of two against Flordia would have been fine if we won more games the past two weeks, but we kind of need to beat them twice because I am not sure we best Carolina and I think Boston is going to beat the bricks off us

 

[Devs3cups]

Severson's post-game attitude is really bothering me. I've seen goalies who are less responsible for a loss beat themselves up more than this guy whose stupid ass unnecessary play basically cost the team a point. Not only did he not seem to have any contrition whatsoever, but he didn't even seem that bothered by the loss or the recent skid they're on. And he's already got the reputation for making these irresponsible care-free errors that cost the team points.

Just way too much of that Zacha-like laissez faire holdover attitude from our previous garbage seasons.

I've never been more sure that he has no place on this team after this season.

I thought the same thing while watching the post game. He comes across as really unbothered. Basically smiling the whole time. Weird look.

 

[Bleedred]

It's more it being the second leg of a road back to back that worries me. They got to go to Carolina, which has been a house of horrors for us for years, then back on a plane to Florida.

Winning 1 out of two against Flordia would have been fine if we won more games the past two weeks, but we kind of need to beat them twice because I am not sure we best Carolina and I think Boston is going to beat the bricks off us

I think we'll surprise against Boston.

I think we'll take one game against them.

They're due for a little skid of their own.

Looks like they lost tonight to LA in a shootout.

 

[NjDevsRR]

You keep saying that, but many of the fans of this team were not old enough to remember or appreciate the last time we were there. Hence not knowing how to act.

Eh. We had many bad streaks in 11-12 and 17-18.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Eh. We had many bad streaks in 11-12 and 17-18.

Sure we had bad streaks. That's basically all we have had over the past 10 years. I'm saying we haven't had a good team or a good record in a very long time.

 

[NJDevs26]

Severson's post-game attitude is really bothering me. I've seen goalies who are less responsible for a loss beat themselves up more than this guy whose stupid ass unnecessary play basically cost the team a point. Not only did he not seem to have any contrition whatsoever, but he didn't even seem that bothered by the loss or the recent skid they're on. And he's already got the reputation for making these irresponsible care-free errors that cost the team points.

Just way too much of that Zacha-like laissez faire holdover attitude from our previous garbage seasons.

I've never been more sure that he has no place on this team after this season.

I mean it wasn't exactly Zach Wilson type bad, but that's a pathetically low bar lol

I do think some guys adopt the carefree look and attitude as a bit of a defense mechanism (i.e. Alrodis Chapman smiling after giving up big home runs), but the problem with Severson is he PLAYS carefree too often as well. And yes I agree this needs to be his last season with the team...he's not a guy you should be giving any kind of big money or term to.

 

[Bleedred]

Severson's post-game attitude is really bothering me. I've seen goalies who are less responsible for a loss beat themselves up more than this guy whose stupid ass unnecessary play basically cost the team a point. Not only did he not seem to have any contrition whatsoever, but he didn't even seem that bothered by the loss or the recent skid they're on. And he's already got the reputation for making these irresponsible care-free errors that cost the team points.

Just way too much of that Zacha-like laissez faire holdover attitude from our previous garbage seasons.

I've never been more sure that he has no place on this team after this season.

I thought the same thing while watching the post game. He comes across as really unbothered. Basically smiling the whole time. Weird look.

Definitely. I usually don't pay much attention to stuff like that and I don't expect him to have his head in his hands, but he did come off like it was no big deal and it's just a play that happens. He probably had no idea Ruff was gonna sound off on it in the presser.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Sure we had bad streaks. That's basically all we have had over the past 10 years. I'm saying we haven't had a good team or a good record in a very long time.

This isn’t the NFL.

NHL, NBA, MLB are longgggg seasons. All teams, whether good or bad, will see bad streaks. It’s just normal. The amount of people going nuts, (many of them long time posters here) is just odd to me. Oh well. Time for some Z’s.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Yeah it felt weird compared to how annoyed Ruff was.

He came across as the burger boy he was complaining about in that article.

 

[Bleedred]

Eh. We had many bad streaks in 11-12 and 17-18.

Yeah, I think I posted earlier that we were 5 points behind this after 30 games in 17-18, but were about to have a 5 game winning streak/6 game point streak from games 31-37, which was basically our only thing close to a tear until the final month of the season.

But here's our 11-12 record after 30 games

16-13-1

We were ELEVEN points back of where we are right now. I'm not even sure if we were in a playoff spot at that point. Certainly right on the border. We had a strong December, but a mediocre January and then we really took off in February and didn't really look back after that. Though we did end February and start March on a 4 game losing streak of 0-3-1. And we even had a 2-4-1 stretch later in March before winning 6 in a row to end the year, which I think was our longest winning streak of that season.

But to dissect our record after 30 games in 11-12 even more, We had SEVEN shootout wins to that. Almost half of our wins came in the shootout. We were 7-1 in shootouts at that point. And we were also 2-0 in games decided in the overtime period. So 9-1 in games after regulation. We literally only had 7 of our 16 wins in regulation to that point in the year. We have 0 shootout appearances this year and 19 regulation wins.

The playoffs looked like they might not happen for a lot of the first half of that year. It looked like we were a coin flip to get in. Marty looked shot to shit, much like he did in the first half of the year before. We had a ''Devils need to seriously consider sitting Martin Brodeur'' thread because of it. Hedberg was playing well, but he was also playing way over his head, actually for that entire season he overachieved, That one of the best years he had in the NHL and he was 38 years old.

Marty turned it on starting in February and that's when the team pulled away from the bubble and solidified a playoff spot and started getting way more regulation wins, on top of more wins period.

This year has nothing do with that year, as I think there's only even 3 players in the league anymore that played on that team, but just putting things into perspective.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Eh. We had many bad streaks in 11-12 and 17-18.

Ha 17-18....we had a great record after like 15 games and that's basically the only reason we stayed afloat in a playoff position because for the ~55 games after that they were basically a .500 team. It wasn't until like the last 10 games of the season that they turned it on again to secure the playoff berth. And then we know what Tampa did to them in the first round, it was no contest.

11-12 was a great because they got better as the season went on and peaked at the end of the season+playoffs. Team started off as just barely above .500 in the first half, then they started winning more when they acquired Zidlicky, and then the acquisition of Ponikarovsky at the TDL + Zajac coming back from injury + the emergence of the Bernier-Gionta-Carter 4th line made them a way better team by season's end than they were at the start.

I don't know how anyone who's been a fan of this team and/or followed the NHL for more than a few years doesn't recognize how much of a roller coaster any given season can be.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Losing breeds losing and this team is super young so you have to be concerned that things snowball as they get more frustrated.

I wish Palat was back. He is a voice they need right now

 

[Devs3cups]

Losing breeds losing and this team is super young so you have to be concerned that things snowball as they get more frustrated.

I wish Palat was back. He is a voice they need right now

He was with the team when they did the hospital tours a few days back. I’m sure he’s involved even though he isn’t playing.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I mean it wasn't exactly Zach Wilson type bad, but that's a pathetically low bar lol

I do think some guys adopt the carefree look and attitude as a bit of a defense mechanism (i.e. Alrodis Chapman smiling after giving up big home runs), but the problem with Severson is he PLAYS carefree too often as well. And yes I agree this needs to be his last season with the team...he's not a guy you should be giving any kind of big money or term to.

Yeah I think the bolded can happen, and it may very well be the case with him given the amount of losing he's had to endure. Kind of a chicken or egg thing...is his attitude part of the reason they lost so much, or did the losing cause the attitude. Probably a mix of both, though it's hard to give him the benefit of the doubt given his on-ice play seems to mirror is off-ice demeanor.

It's not the kind of vibe you want in a locker room regardless of how or why he is the way he is.

 

[Bleedred]

Ha 17-18....we had a great record after like 15 games and that's basically the only reason we stayed afloat in a playoff position because for the ~55 games after that they were basically a .500 team. It wasn't until like the last 10 games of the season that they turned it on again to secure the playoff berth. And then we know what Tampa did to them in the first round, it was no contest.

11-12 was a great because they got better as the season went on and peaked at the end of the season+playoffs. Team started off as just barely above .500 in the first half, then they started winning more when the acquired Zidlicky, and then the acquisition of Ponikarovsky + Zajac coming back from injury + the emergence of the Bernier-Gionta-Carter 4th line made them a way better team by season's end than they were at the start.

I don't know how anyone who's been a fan of this team and/or followed the NHL for more than a few years doesn't recognize how much of a roller coaster any given season can be.

Yeah, we literally had no bottom 6 for the first half of that year.

I don't know how many games it was that we played BOTH Boulton and Janssen in the same game, but there were quite a bit. And I don't think both were a healthy scratch in the same game until the regular season finale.

We had no bottom 6. Tedenby played the first half of that season and scored one goal and it was off his skate. Pretty sure he had under 10 points before he was finally demoted to the minors when Ponikarovsky was acquired.

A couple old players really overachieved that year and the two names particularly were Johan Hedberg in goal and Petr Sykora having a comeback year after not playing in the NHL at all the year before and only 14 games the year before that and being 35 years old. That was also the last good season of Dainius Zubrus, who probably had his best season as a Devil that year. And you can't talk about that season and career years without bringing up David Clarkson, who by far had the best year of his career and got one of the worst contracts ever in the cap era not even an entire full season of hockey after that year.

The defense on paper was kind of uhhh meh? And it was one of the worst offense producing defenses we've ever had, at least until Zidlicky. I remember Zidlicky publicly asked to be traded here cause he wanted to play with Elias and Sykora and they were already friends and countrymates.

But yeah, like I said, the playoffs were not a gimme, nor anywhere close to guaranteed for a lot of that season. We were only just coming off our first playoff miss in 15 years the year before that. We had the Parise being a pending UFA thing hanging over our heads. A long playoff run was so unexpected and unimaginable at that time that many people wanted to trade Parise.

One other thing that was getting uncomfortable at the end of that year was Buffalo made a strong second half push. That was Ruff's last full year there. Buffalo came close to beating out Washington for the final playoff spot that year. They even beat Washington I think in DC late in the year. Ryan Miller was horrific in the first half of that year (that's when Lucic drilled him) and then turned it on in the second half of that year. I think they had a similar type of run to what we did under Lemaire the year before, only it wasn't quite as good, nor were they in quite the hole we were in to begin with.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Losing breeds losing and this team is super young so you have to be concerned that things snowball as they get more frustrated.

I wish Palat was back. He is a voice they need right now

I understand this concern but when you see what they did in those first 25 games it seems a bit premature to assume they're going to spiral to such a degree. It's not like this is a team that lucked their way to a bunch of wins off the back of some goalie hot streak or something.

Yeah, we literally had no bottom 6 for the first half of that year.

I don't know how many games it was that we played BOTH Boulton and Janssen in the same game, but there were quite a bit. And I don't think both were a healthy scratch in the same game until the regular season finale.

We had no bottom 6. Tedenby played the first half of that season and scored one goal and it was off his skate. Pretty sure he had under 10 points before he was finally demoted to the minors when Ponikarovsky was acquired.

A couple old players really overachieved that year and the two names particularly were Johan Hedberg in goal and Petr Sykora having a comeback year after not playing in the NHL at all the year before and only 14 games the year before that and being 35 years old. That was also the last good season of Dainius Zubrus, who probably had his best season as a Devil that year. And you can't talk about that season and career years without bringing up David Clarkson, who by far had the best year of his career and got one of the worst contracts ever in the cap era not even an entire full season of hockey after that year.

The defense on paper was kind of uhhh meh? And it was one of the worst offense producing defenses we've ever had, at least until Zidlicky. I remember Zidlicky publicly asked to be traded here cause he wanted to play with Elias and Sykora and they were already friends and countrymates.

But yeah, like I said, the playoffs were not a gimme, nor anywhere close to guaranteed for a lot of that season. We were only just coming off our first playoff miss in 15 years the year before that. We had the Parise being a pending UFA thing hanging over our heads. A long playoff run was so unexpected and unimaginable at that time that many people wanted to trade Parise.

One other thing that was getting uncomfortable at the end of that year was Buffalo made a strong second half push. That was Ruff's last full year there. Buffalo came close to beating out Washington for the final playoff spot that year. They even beat Washington I think in DC late in the year. Ryan Miller was horrific in the first half of that year (that's when Lucic drilled him) and then turned it on in the second half of that year. I think they had a similar type of run to what we did under Lemaire the year before, only it wasn't quite as good, nor were they in quite the hole we were in to begin with.

Oh wow I don't remember any of that stuff with Buffalo and Washington at all.

 

[NJDevs26]

Yeah, we literally had no bottom 6 for the first half of that year.

I don't know how many games it was that we played BOTH Boulton and Janssen in the same game, but there were quite a bit. And I don't think both were a healthy scratch in the same game until the regular season finale.

We had no bottom 6. Tedenby played the first half of that season and scored one goal and it was off his skate. Pretty sure he had under 10 points before he was finally demoted to the minors when Ponikarovsky was acquired.

A couple old players really overachieved that year and the two names particularly were Johan Hedberg in goal and Petr Sykora having a comeback year after not playing in the NHL at all the year before and only 14 games the year before that and being 35 years old. That was also the last good season of Dainius Zubrus, who probably had his best season as a Devil that year. And you can't talk about that season and career years without bringing up David Clarkson, who by far had the best year of his career and got one of the worst contracts ever in the cap era not even an entire full season of hockey after that year.

The defense on paper was kind of uhhh meh? And it was one of the worst offense producing defenses we've ever had, at least until Zidlicky. I remember Zidlicky publicly asked to be traded here cause he wanted to play with Elias and Sykora and they were already friends and countrymates.

But yeah, like I said, the playoffs were not a gimme, nor anywhere close to guaranteed for a lot of that season. We were only just coming off our first playoff miss in 15 years the year before that. We had the Parise being a pending UFA thing hanging over our heads. A long playoff run was so unexpected and unimaginable at that time that many people wanted to trade Parise.

One other thing that was getting uncomfortable at the end of that year was Buffalo made a strong second half push. That was Ruff's last full year there. Buffalo came close to beating out Washington for the final playoff spot that year. They even beat Washington I think in DC late in the year. Ryan Miller was horrific in the first half of that year (that's when Lucic drilled him) and then turned it on in the second half of that year. I think they had a similar type of run to what we did under Lemaire the year before, only it wasn't quite as good, nor were they in quite the hole we were in to begin with.

2011-12 is the year you're referring to with Buffalo and Washington...I think they were 8-9 points back of them at their nadir, not like 26. In mid-February the Sabres were 24-27-6 and got to 38-29-10, so a nice little 14-2-4 run there.

2011-12 Buffalo Sabres Schedule | Hockey-Reference.com

Check out the latest Buffalo Sabres Schedule and Results for regular season, playoffs and more on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

 

[Guttersniped]

Severson's post-game attitude is really bothering me. I've seen goalies who are less responsible for a loss beat themselves up more than this guy whose stupid ass unnecessary play basically cost the team a point. Not only did he not seem to have any contrition whatsoever, but he didn't even seem that bothered by the loss or the recent skid they're on. And he's already got the reputation for making these irresponsible care-free errors that cost the team points.

Just way too much of that Zacha-like laissez faire holdover attitude from our previous garbage seasons.

I've never been more sure that he has no place on this team after this season.

In his defense I’m guessing Severson’s never been more sure about that either.

Severson and Hamilton have atrocious numbers together over the last 2 seasons, it’s never good to see the two together.

 

[Bleedred]

I understand this concern but when you see what they did in those first 25 games it seems a bit premature to assume they're going to spiral to such a degree. It's not like this is a team that lucked their way to a bunch of wins off the back of some goalie hot streak or something.


Oh wow I don't remember any of that stuff with Buffalo and Washington at all.

In the end Buffalo missed out by 3 points to Washington, but they made a strong push.

And I clearly remember Devils Dominion on every street corner preaching that we better watch out for Buffalo and how they’re coming.

I had to look up their record, but they were 19-5-5 from January 24th through March 27th where they blew Washington out in DC 5-1 on March 27th before crashing down to a 1-3-1 finish after that game and I think they were tied in points for the last playoff spot after that game. Buffalo wound up finishing 1-3-1 after that game, while Washington went 4-1-0. Buffalo started that hot run with a 19-24-5 record. Their first win in that turnaround run was a 2-1 shootout win over the Devils in the last game before the all star break. We would have our very own turnaround win in the first game back from the all star break, beating the Rangers 4-3 in a shootout after David Clarkson tied the game with the goalie pulled.