You let a guy roam free all season how do you get him to play a solid defensive game in the playoffs? And if you let him roam free in the playoffs you know they'll get shutdown and make costly errors to some scrub 3rd line that is waiting for mistakes.No, look what happened to the Islanders after a few years of making ECF's. Barzal was a shell of himself offensively and it took another trade to get him back up to snuff and he's once again with trash line mates that he can't elevate because he's been taught 2 way hockey. The Devils have the luxury to let their top center roam free unlike Edmonton since Hischier is a Selke caliber center. He locked down Zib and Aho last year in the playoffs, it came down to goaltending + the rest of the depth shriveling up which is what happens come playoffs.
BLASPHEMY!!Time on ice leader on defense in NJ’s best game of the year……….Simon “Ben Lovejoy” Nemec
Not likely to happen but if we can copy and paste both efforts (goaltending-wise and shot-blocking/positioning-wise) the rest of the way, we may make things at the very least interesting down the stretch instead of just sitting around waiting for the inevitable offseason to begin.He's a former first rounder so he's the first guy since Blackwood with a real pedigree.
Made some big saves tonight but God our shot blocking and positioning was just stellar.
We actually looked like an NHL team tonight.
I bet he would've let in that baseball-whack by that Jets player...Vitek would’ve let in the first shot of the game and we’d be trailing like always. There were a few prime chances he wouldn’t have had a prayer on and then the nightly goal with odor on it he’d let in.
If your leading scorer has 60 points you don’t have a winning hockey teaMI honestly wonder if our fans would accept a 60 point Jack with winning hockey? I think many if not most would prefer 100+ points Jack and freewheeling hockey with maybe defense.
This IS the "dead devils season" era, though.If your leading scorer has 60 points you don’t have a winning hockey teaM
This isn’t dead puck era
I swore he was from the 2009 draft, but he’s actually from the 2008 draft. 32nd overall pick, so not first round but barely into the second round.He's a former first rounder so he's the first guy since Blackwood with a real pedigree.
Made some big saves tonight but God our shot blocking and positioning was just stellar.
We actually looked like an NHL team tonight.
Gelinas was picked in the 2nd round, so he wasn’t exactly a later round pick.. (Got an early 3rd for him tho, and some sweet Gelly Bombs.)I swore he was from the 2009 draft, but he’s actually from the 2008 draft. 32nd overall pick, so not first round but barely into the second round.
I was gonna laugh about how he’s yet another 2009 draft class member who was acquired after the fact and after our pick. We’ve had lots of 2009 guys that we acquired years later. Kyle Palmieri, John Moore, Marcus Johansson, Sami Vatanen. And then Kulikov and Tatar in recent years. All of them with the exception of Kulikov were picked behind our first round pick that year Jacob Josefson. Palmieri, Moore and Johansson were all picked within 6 spots after Josefson. Moore was the very next pick.
There’s probably even more that I’m forgetting. We had a couple of fine NHL defensemen of our own in Eric Gelinas and Alex Urbom in the later rounds of that draft!
Wouldn't Lindy's face be more appropriate on Rachel Phelps? Or Josh Harris technically?
By the way:
If your leading scorer has 60 points you don’t have a winning hockey teaM
This isn’t dead puck era
i dont know how the conversation went but i'm going to assume something like this. hey want to trade allen to us? sure let me ask if he wants to waive his ntc. nah he said he doesn't want to because there wont be any playing time. then fitz should've said hold on there is 10000% going to be playing has he seen our goalies? i'm not trading for you to just sit you! can you go tell him that? ok hold on. . deal! if fitz took that excuse at face value without further detail then thats all on himSo how is that Fitz's fault? Lmao, he tried to do something and it didn't work out. It beats the head smashing that posters theorized here about him sitting on his hands for most of the year.
i dont know how the conversation went but i'm going to assume something like this. hey want to trade allen to us? sure let me ask if he wants to waive his ntc. nah he said he doesn't want to because there wont be any playing time. then fitz should've said hold on there is 10000% going to be playing has he seen our goalies? i'm not trading for you to just sit you! can you go tell him that? ok hold on. . deal! if fitz took that excuse at face value without further detail then thats all on him
Here’s the 8 earlier years for more fun, some of these lists gives me the sneaking suspicion that we didn’t have a lot of talent on this team at some point. (I also don’t really remember Mike McKenna’s stint as a Devil.)
The 66 points were in 67 games, basically a point a gameIt does happen....it happened just last year with Jack Eichel leading Vegas with 66 points....kind of where I got the idea
Won the Cup and had a regular season record of 51-22-9 (111 points), Finished 1st in the Pacific with a 66 point leading scorer.
But you are basically correct. It was really just more of a hypothetical.
Who was paired with Luke Hughes on D last night ? Anybody know? I see that Bahl, Smith and Nemec all also played above or around 20 minutes each.
We played a very good game in the center ice area, not letting them exit their defensive zone clean or rush through center ice. Regaining possession, counter attacking or at least clogging things up there. Standing or stepping up at their blue line.