GDT: Keith Kinkaid and Taylor Hall vs. Carolina Hurricanes

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NJDevs26

Once upon a time...
Mar 21, 2007
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Honestly the fact that an expansion team is leading the league should be an embarrassment to the NHL. They pretty clearly did too much to stack the expansion draft .

Except they love it. They want the next expansion team to get the same advantages. It juices up the demand for owners/expansion teams and promotes 'parity'.
 

Camille the Eel

Registered User
This is my thinking. I’m not happy with some of the decisions he’s been making. That said, I didn’t like our game last night and I didn’t like our game tonight. People are really quick to just say the Devils sucked in these games. Not true and it’s unfair to the opposition. Florida and Carolina played better and deserved to win. In each game, I don’t think the Devils found a way to create enough, control enough or match the other team’s compete level enough. Seriously, at no point were they a threat to win either of these games and it was a letdown considering their effort against Pittsburgh. Bottom line is that It really won’t matter who Hynes trots out there if the team doesn’t deliver with their best effort.

I didn't think effort was an issue against Florida. There, we played what looks like a good and talented team (pace Bleedred, Florida really does look like it has talent to me) that's hot, and matched them rush for rush until Cory let in a fluke goal that cost us a close game.

In Carolina, last night, first maybe we looked exhausted by the prior game in Sunrise. And Pittsburgh two nights earlier We didn't have our legs. That can be distinct from lack of effort in its way. There are nights you're just dead.

Then too, in the difference of apparent energy between us and the 'Canes, we'd already beaten them twice, and they were playing us not to have their season series swept; and more; if we beat them last night the playoffs are probably gone for them. It was do or die for them. Where was our killer instinct? Somewhere with our dead legs I'd guess.
 

AfroThunder396

[citation needed]
Jan 8, 2006
39,056
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Miami, FL
It absolutely maddens me how they try to hug the boards on PP zone entries. Other teams spread out and force us to the wall because they know their support will get there before ours. If they're going to spread out then we should attack the middle of the ice - we have the speed to do it. Hall and Wood definitely have the speed to split D in the middle of the ice, plenty of other guys do too. Not even to score on the rush, I mean if you score on the rush that's great, but even getting the chance to set up would be an improvement.

Lately out only PP opportunities have come when we've won a draw in the offensive zone and are able to maintain possession. If we lose the draw and they clear we never get it back.

Unrelated, but I'd like to keep Zacha and maroon together. They seemed to have some chemistry - Zacha is good at carrying and setting up, Maroon has a nice shot and deceptively good hands. Both are big guys that can battle along the boards. I think putting them with a speed demon like Wood or Grabner would give you a pretty good line.
 
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Camille the Eel

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. . . and now we are a tired club coming home against Vegas. Needing to win but recently out of gas and facing a quick turnaround tomorrow. I have a bad feeling about this one too, you have to fight that let down after coming in off the road, but we've bounced back well in most games this year. That is the challenge for the young club. If we want to push into April and towards May, we're going to need to learn to push through the walls and get back on our legs instantly.
 

None Shall Pass

Dano moisturizes
Jul 7, 2007
15,379
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Stack the draft? Lol people said Vegas had a trash roster after it was done

Seriously! Look at that roster. Out of the 23ish guys, there's like five anybody would've given a shit about prior to the season. And you can attribute so much of their success to Florida's GM being a total dummy.
 
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AfroThunder396

[citation needed]
Jan 8, 2006
39,056
22,927
Miami, FL
The problem with Vegas is that everybody was wrong. Everyone expected them to either: i) Take players high quality players that had to exposed for roster/contract reasons like Vatanen or Brodin and compete immediately, or ii) Load up on a metric shitload of high picks and draft a prospect all-star team while building for the future. They split the difference and got both - great young developing talent like Glass, Suzuki, Brannstrom, Gusev, Theodore, etc as well as the #1 seed in the west.

I think a lot of the frustration was because they didn't follow any traditional schools of thought. They didn't tank, they didn't moneyball, they didn't go overboard with analytics. They did a little bit of everything. None of the tribes can really take credit for it, so people are eager to call it a fluke. People had very specific expectations and now they don't want to give credit where credit is due.
 
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NJDevs26

Once upon a time...
Mar 21, 2007
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Stack the draft? Lol people said Vegas had a trash roster after it was done

Because all of us were guilty in thinking it was more or less a traditional expansion draft, and Vegas did a really good job finding under the radar young forwards that have done exceptionally well. I think most people thought they'd be competitive defensively and in net but few thought they'd get the contributions they have from guys like Karlsson, Erik Haula and even guys like Reilly Smith who was partly a cap dump.
 
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Devils Dominion

Now we Plummet
Feb 16, 2007
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Because all of us were guilty in thinking it was more or less a traditional expansion draft, and Vegas did a really good job finding under the radar young players that have done exceptionally well.

Yes like Karlsson but when they added Smith and Marchessault they really raised their talent and compete level.
 

Brick City

Ignore me!
May 21, 2012
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Pretty sure Vegas' GM also did the whole hey buddy, I won't take this guy from you in the expansion draft if you make it worth my while. If I recall that correctly, that was his real genius.
 

NJDevils17

Going Up?
Apr 21, 2013
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Vegas is going to miss the playoffs next year. It’s a really good story this year but the roster doesn’t have the talent to sustain this kind of production over multiple years. Just my take. Although Florida is f***ing idiots
 

AveryQuietMan

free chinese food for everyone
Oct 2, 2017
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Except they love it. They want the next expansion team to get the same advantages. It juices up the demand for owners/expansion teams and promotes 'parity'.

shero better be looking 2-3 years down the road. gonna have some hard decisions when we get to the next expansion draft.

fun times for the nhl and i think this expansion formula is fair. i dont want an expansion franchise to suck for the first two years. they should have an advantage in the draft.

watching vegas has been great this year. hope the same happens with seattle. if you are a decent gm with a decent team losing one guy should not be a problem. happens with injury every year.
 

Wingman77

Registered User
Mar 16, 2010
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Seriously! Look at that roster. Out of the 23ish guys, there's like five anybody would've given a **** about prior to the season. And you can attribute so much of their success to Florida's GM being a total dummy.

Some of the players they took that have had great seasons thus far always had potential, but were previously on teams where there wasn't enough room for them and caused them to essentially get blocked from being used fully. Similar to Palmieri with Anaheim. Other players were also bouncing around from team to team a bit and weren't fitting for one reason or another that now with full opportunity in this expansion situation, have created something for themselves.

That has been a pretty big factor in their success along with as you touched on, Gallant being a great first coach to have for this organization.
 

MadDevil

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Feb 10, 2007
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Nobody saw Vegas coming. Hell, I doubt Vegas even saw Vegas coming. I mean, William Karlsson is 3rd in the league in goal scoring with 35 goals. He had 18 goals in his first 183 games prior to this year. And he's just one of like half a dozen guys who are having career years for them.
 
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