GDT: Lightning @ Devils - 7:00 PM - MSG+

[JimEIV]

We have the 3rd best high danger chance percentage in the league. In terms of numbers, we have the 11th best high danger chances against totals.

We have the second worst high danger goals against totals and the worst high danger save percentage in the league.

So, by the numbers, our team does a pretty good job of limiting good chances against, but our goalies aren't stopping those chances as well as every other team's.

Edit: These numbers are 5v5 from Natural Stat Trick

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

So our players can run around everywhere and not do their jobs because the goaltenders aren't stopping pucks?

Is this for real?

Gillies gave up 6 on less than 3 expected goals. How much more do you want the defense to do against the best team in the league? The players did do their jobs, every single scoring opportunity can’t be let in. Is this for real?

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

No, we wouldn't and the reason why we wouldn't is because we have no clue who to cover or where to be in our own zone. This system has guys chasing pucks left and right and has both our dmen go down low past the goal line, leaving the center to protect the crease/slot. It's the dumbest system I've seen in a long, looooooong while. The guy behind the net is probably the last guy we should worry about, unless Gretzky comes out of retirement.

No one is saying we're getting average goaltending but when everyone around the hockey world is aware that our goaltenders are hot garbage, you build a system to prevent AAA scoring chances and we're just not doing that. Denying our dzone coverage isn't horrible is even more of a concern to me, since it's the main reason why our crap goalies are having to stop shots they never faced at this level. Granted, there's stinkers from the side wall but the main issues are coming from areas we shouldn't be giving up to anyone.

Exactly. Other than Hischier and McLeod what forward consistently blocks shots?

And the nonchalance of Severson in his own end has apparently become contagious.

But it's far easier to scapegoat the goalies.

Hard to justify claims that Gillies SHOULD have stopped any of the six goals.

And often times this year he has made saves that reasonably could have been expected to be goals had it not been for his saves.

There is a reason both Daws and Schmid have far better numbers with Utica and it is not solely based on the level of scorers in the AHL.

 

[Bleedred]

This is not recency bias. I think Gillies is the worst goalie I’ve possibly ever seen here. Obviously Cory had some BAD stretches to start his last couple years here and to end his 17-18 season, but those .920% stretches that got everybody all excited and thinking he was back to normal usually evened him out. I’m actually being serious here.

Hedberg’s last 15 games here were also very bad, but Gillies I think the only goalie that I can remember that looked as bad as him was Louis Domingue.

He’s already played 5 more games and gotten 6 more starts than Aaron Dell got here. All of twilight Marty, twilight Cory and Kinkaid’s greatest shits had good stretches once in a while. Even Cory had a shutout in his second to last ever game played here and in the NHL and Kinkaid had 3 in his last year here. f***in Wedgewood had two last year. Even Blackwood had 2 shutouts this year.

I’m not saying it’s impossible because any bozo goalie can get one, but it’s almost hard to envision Gillies getting a shutout this year.

His only start that he even allowed one goal was to the f***in Canadiens! I don’t think he faced more than 2 or 3 dangerous shots on the 31 he faced that night.

Even in the games he plays well he usually is good for at least one WEAK goal. Like that Mike Matheson goal against Pittsburgh, basically all 3 goals he allowed in the LA game were low key stoppable ones. That AWFUL short handed goal against Tampa a few weeks ago where he gloved it and it popped out and he froze while it was put in the net. His glove hand is absolutely and utterly EMBARRASSING, but he wasn’t really beaten on any bad ones to the glove in this game.

 

[NJDfan86]

Exactly. Other than Hischier and McLeod what forward consistently blocks shots?

And the nonchalance of Severson in his own end has apparently become contagious.

But it's far easier to scapegoat the goalies.

Hard to justify claims that Gillies SHOULD have stopped any of the six goals.

And often times this year he has made saves that reasonably could have been expected to be goals had it not been for his saves.

There is a reason both Daws and Schmid have fat better numbers with Utica and it is not solely based on the level of scorers in the AHL.

I don't love engaging on irrational post but how the hell can you blame anyone but Gillies for goal 6? Come on now.

 

[My3Sons]

Props for the old school Lost in Space reference. I'll go one better for the entire season.

 

[Bleedred]

Exactly. Other than Hischier and McLeod what forward consistently blocks shots?

And the nonchalance of Severson in his own end has apparently become contagious.

But it's far easier to scapegoat the goalies.

Hard to justify claims that Gillies SHOULD have stopped any of the six goals.

And often times this year he has made saves that reasonably could have been expected to be goals had it not been for his saves.

There is a reason both Daws and Schmid have far better numbers with Utica and it is not solely based on the level of scorers in the AHL.

Come on now. After watching EVERY SINGLE GOAL in the league this year scored on a goalie (which I think is over 4300 last night) I’m pretty sure that the sixth goal was in the top-5 worst goals I’ve seen all year long. If we did a softy of the year compilation that cracks the top-5 or probably no less than top-6 by year’s end.

Almost everybody agrees that goal was very bad, but hey there’s always gonna be somebody you can’t convince.

Goal 5 was also as bad as it could be for a Kucherov breakaway goal. He played that like a f***in BAD 80’s stand up goalie. I don’t know what he was doing on that one. Since it was a breakaway I understand that others can’t go without blame, but that was as ugly as it gets for a breakaway goal scored by a superstar.

Goal 4 was also bad, but I could accept someone arguing it was a screen.

For me it’s hard to justify claims that Gillies couldn’t AT LEAST two of those 6 goals and quite honestly THREE of those 6 goals. Even in the games he plays good he allows a WEAK goal, like the Mike Matheson goal against Pittsburgh the other day.

Daws and Schmid are very clearly NOT READY for the NHL yet. They’re in their early 20’s and just turned pros. You can’t even compare why they look better in the AHL than in the NHL.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

If goaltending is really the sole problem right now then firing Ruff is not only unjust but stupid. If hypothetical "average goaltending" team is on the bubble, then this year is a massive success as Hughes and Bratt took their games to the next level, and Ruff did a great job (assume Zacha a lost cause and Smith's problems run deeper than coaching).

 

[NJDfan86]

If goaltending is really the sole problem right now then firing Ruff is not only unjust but stupid. If hypothetical "average goaltending" team is on the bubble, then this year is a massive success as Hughes and Bratt took their games to the next level, and Ruff did a great job (assume Zacha a lost cause and Smith's problems run deeper than coaching).

I mean it is completely plausible that this is a the case. Coaches have a short shelf life and are much easier to move on from than players so fans and front offices tend churn through them if the results aren't great regardless of the situation.

There might be some really fantastic coaches, and some really awful ones, but at the end of the day the talent on the ice is what drives a teams fortunes.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I mean it is completely plausible that this is a the case. Coaches have a short shelf life and are much easier to move on from than players so fans and front offices tend churn through them if the results aren't great regardless of the situation.

There might be some really fantastic coaches, and some really awful ones, but at the end of the day the talent on the ice is what drives a teams fortunes.

I'm kind of talking myself into the claim even. You have to tip your hat to Ruff and reward him for staying the course and not trying to win games with low event hockey any time he gets a lead given the dreadful goaltending, focusing on the big picture of developing a long term contender instead.

 

[McDuffz88]

If goaltending is really the sole problem right now then firing Ruff is not only unjust but stupid. If hypothetical "average goaltending" team is on the bubble, then this year is a massive success as Hughes and Bratt took their games to the next level, and Ruff did a great job (assume Zacha a lost cause and Smith's problems run deeper than coaching).

Firing Ruff is definitely not stupid. The goalie situation doesnt excuse the fact Lindy has been a poor coach for many reasons. Ruff has said recently that Geertsen play away from the puck is the best on the team. That quote alone shows why he isnt a good coach. Lindy also has no clue how to make adjustments. He either sticks with the same strategy all game or he just throws random people on lines & pray it sticks.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Goaltending is not the sole problem, it is however the biggest bottleneck to team performance by an enormous margin.

Our ceiling is a bubble team. There are other things we would need to address in order to improve our ceiling - forward depth, finishing, coaching, special teams consistency, etc - but the reason we aren't currently at our ceiling is almost entirely due to goaltending.

 

[Devs3cups]

Goaltending is not the sole problem, it is however the biggest bottleneck to team performance by an enormous margin.

Our ceiling is a bubble team. There are other things we would need to address in order to improve our ceiling - forward depth, finishing, coaching, special teams consistency, etc - but the reason we aren't currently at our ceiling is almost entirely due to goaltending.

Accurate.

 

[Eggtimer]

The difference between Tampa Bay and New Jersey is about 5 forwards, 3 defensemen, 2 goalies, and a coach

Disagree , 6 forwards , one D , 2 goalies , entire coaching staff

 

[jkrdevil]

If goaltending is really the sole problem right now then firing Ruff is not only unjust but stupid. If hypothetical "average goaltending" team is on the bubble, then this year is a massive success as Hughes and Bratt took their games to the next level, and Ruff did a great job (assume Zacha a lost cause and Smith's problems run deeper than coaching).

If the team had above average goaltending they would be hovering around NHL .500. That isn’t on the bubble that would be finishing nearly 14-15 points out in a normal year (probably even further out this year as the likely cut line).

 

[JimEIV]

Goaltending is not the sole problem, it is however the biggest bottleneck to team performance by an enormous margin.

Our ceiling is a bubble team. There are other things we would need to address in order to improve our ceiling - forward depth, finishing, coaching, special teams consistency, etc - but the reason we aren't currently at our ceiling is almost entirely due to goaltending.

I am glad you admit our ceiling is still a bad team.

 

[Eggtimer]

It’s good in some ways to have such a young team. Only going to improve from here on out and can play a fast , quick pace bs an older team.However, you can tell when we play against an experienced and /or very structured team , we get dominated. Those teams just do all the little things better . Add up all the little things you don’t do correctly and that results into bleeding goals against. Especially when you have terrible goaltending that can’t cover some of those mistakes.
I think we could use a little more experience to show the kids how to do the littlest things right. That falls on the coaches as well but having players that already know what to do and show through their play would help.
It’s hard to find the right team dynamic

 

[RangerDoggo]

No blame on the coaching, I see. It's bad. They should be fired.

 

[Bleedred]

No blame on the coaching, I see. It's bad. They should be fired.

We are on pace to finish with 64 points this season. Last year we finished with a 66 point pace over 82 games. These are the two worst finishes points percentage wish in I don't even know how long? Probably even before Lou took in over in 87?

We hit at least 70 points every year of the Shero/Hynes era. Goaltending is a LEGIT excuse, but nothing else really is. I mean, we were winning more when Hughes was injured (which is before the goaltending really bottomed out) for that 1.5 months than we are now. Dougie getting injured for 1.5-2 months is also not a good enough excuse and the weakest excuse of all would be the covid protocols and everybody who ended up on the covid list. EVERY team has had to deal with that to some degree. And we don't know when the next normal season will be. Even the league continues it's recent policy of not testing asymptomatic players going forward into next year, I'm sure they'll likely still have to test players when crossing the borders to play, which is exactly how Jack ended up on the covid list last week before the Canada trip.

I can already imagine two or three guys getting popped with a negative test and ending up in protocol before a 4 game Canadian road trip next year.

We could finish with 70 points this year, but we'd basically have to get points at an NHL.500 pace over the last 33 games. And I can already see that rescuing the coaches and certain players. ''Well we had a playoff point percentage over the last 30 games of the year'' which is like right up there with ''Well, Schneider was a .920% for 16 games to end the season'' and ''Yeah but did you see Zacha's last third of the season? Man it was GREAT!'' and our PP has already went from 31st or 32nd up to 25th or 26th lol. ''Yeah the power play was 5th best in the league from New Years till the end of the season!''.

 

[TBF1972]

I've been beating the drum about the team's problems extending beyond goaltending...but that was an embarrassing performance from Gillies. He looked like an absolute dope on the Kuch goal and the fact that that weak-ass, nothing shot by Perry went through him is nothing short of pathetic.

This reminded me of the Arizona game.

doesn't change anything about the fact, that the forward didn't hold their part of the ledger. if they score their mandatory 7 goals, it's a win.

 

[Goptor]

This is not recency bias. I think Gillies is the worst goalie I’ve possibly ever seen here. Obviously Cory had some BAD stretches to start his last couple years here and to end his 17-18 season, but those .920% stretches that got everybody all excited and thinking he was back to normal usually evened him out. I’m actually being serious here.

Hedberg’s last 15 games here were also very bad, but Gillies I think the only goalie that I can remember that looked as bad as him was Louis Domingue.

He’s already played 5 more games and gotten 6 more starts than Aaron Dell got here. All of twilight Marty, twilight Cory and Kinkaid’s greatest shits had good stretches once in a while. Even Cory had a shutout in his second to last ever game played here and in the NHL and Kinkaid had 3 in his last year here. f***in Wedgewood had two last year. Even Blackwood had 2 shutouts this year.

I’m not saying it’s impossible because any bozo goalie can get one, but it’s almost hard to envision Gillies getting a shutout this year.

His only start that he even allowed one goal was to the f***in Canadiens! I don’t think he faced more than 2 or 3 dangerous shots on the 31 he faced that night.

Even in the games he plays well he usually is good for at least one WEAK goal. Like that Mike Matheson goal against Pittsburgh, basically all 3 goals he allowed in the LA game were low key stoppable ones. That AWFUL short handed goal against Tampa a few weeks ago where he gloved it and it popped out and he froze while it was put in the net. His glove hand is absolutely and utterly EMBARRASSING, but he wasn’t really beaten on any bad ones to the glove in this game.

He was picked up for future considerations (nothing)
Guys picked off waivers at least return around $50,000 so its fair to say he is worth less than your average waiver claimed goalie.

 

[guitarguyvic]

doesn't change anything about the fact, that the forward didn't hold their part of the ledger. if they score their mandatory 7 goals, it's a win.

They can also learn to manage the puck responsibly and play defense, which would help an AHL scrub like Gillies out. Sorry...I know it's all the rage these days to cite xGA but I'm not at all convinced it's accurately capturing the quality of shots/chances.

 

[Bleedred]

They can also learn to manage the puck responsibly and play defense, which would help an AHL scrub like Gillies out. Sorry...I know it's all the rage these days to cite xGA but I'm not at all convinced it's accurately capturing the quality of shots/chances.

How much better can you really expect them to be though? Some of these shots are the type of shots that you'd be fine letting through because an average goalie is gonna make these saves.

Like goal 6 last night. If a goalie had to make 20-25 saves like that all night long I think everybody from the coaching staff to all the players would find that to be successful enough at playing responsibly and playing defense well enough.

There's also a pretty alarming number of point shots going in on Gilles, like the fourth goal last night and the Matheson goal in the Pittsburgh game.

 

[My3Sons]

They can also learn to manage the puck responsibly and play defense, which would help an AHL scrub like Gillies out. Sorry...I know it's all the rage these days to cite xGA but I'm not at all convinced it's accurately capturing the quality of shots/chances.

I'd add they need to up their hard to play against quotient as well. They have about four maybe five hard to play against forwards and only two of those are also physical. They have a couple of guys that play well enough you don't worry about it but that still leaves about five or six guys that aren't good enough to also be easy to play against. They really need to cash out on those players and replace them with guys that can handle that element of the game which should also help the team defense.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

from devils picks 1-28 only 5 players never played a game for the team…..foster is one and 2 will one day

trivia time

Like for the entirety of the Devils franchise? I found a couple more i think! Hopefully Luke Hughes and Mukhamadullin don’t end up on this list.

2001 28th Adrian Foster
1999 27th Ari Ahonen
1998 26th Mike Van Ryn
1996 10th Lance Ward (reentered in 98, FLA pick)
1990 24th David Harlock
1986 24th Todd Copeland
1983 24th Shawn Evans