Nikita Gusev is already getting scratched..

[Kshahdoo]

It's been 9 games. Do you know that Gusev is shooting at an unsustainable 17.6%? Do you know that Hall is on the other end of the spectrum and shooting at an even more unsustainable 2.8%? Do you truly believe that trend doesn't shift very soon? Do you know that Hall is playing against 1st and 2nd lines while Gusev can't find his way out of his own zone against 3rd and 4th line plugs?

17.6% is pretty close to Gusev's average in the KHL, you know. And those "1st and 2nd lines" are rarely checking lines, you know. While 3rd and 4th lines mostly exist to hold opponents down. I'm not even saying about quality of linemates, which is kinda important as well... you know.

And please don't tell me about, how great is Hall defensively, I've been following (sort of) him since his 1st season in Edmonton and know everything about it.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

I remember getting trashed on huge on here for being in shock at NJ for giving him the money they did.

Success in other leagues doesnt always translate into success in NHL. I'd assume people would know this by now!!

 

[haveandare]

Nothing wrong with scratching him in hopes of him learning something. The idea that a player his age is unable to learn or adjust their game is silly.

 

[StoneHands]

17.6% is pretty close to Gusev's average in the KHL, you know.

This isn't the KHL. This is the NHL which is a MUCH better league. Nobody in the NHL, not a single player has averaged 17.6% shooting over the past 5 years. If you're expecting Gusev to shoot near 17% throughout his NHL career, I think you're going to be pretty upset.

And those "1st and 2nd lines" are rarely checking lines, you know. While 3rd and 4th lines mostly exist to hold opponents down. I'm not even saying about quality of linemates, which is kinda important as well... you know.

It's not the 90's anymore where the top 2 lines are stacked with one-dimensional forwards and 3rd lines are these crazy shutdown lines. Almost all of the top two-way forwards like Bergeron, Barkov, Couturier, etc all play top 6 roles for their teams because they're great defensive forwards who also push the play up ice. Against Boston for example, Hall's most common opponents were Chara, McAvoy, Bergeron, Patrnak, and Marchand while Gusev's were Grzelcyk, Clifton, DeBrusk, Kuhlman, and Krejci. Who would you rather play against?

The fact is, the more Gusev has played, the worse he fares because he has to play against better players. Gusev has played 3 games with roughly 15 minutes or more this season and every other game has been under 13 minutes.

Against Philly, Buffalo, and Boston he averaged 16:08 a game. In those 3 games he had 0 goals, 0 assists, -2, 4 shots, and a 29.4% Corsi. His team was 0-3-0 in those games losing by a combined score of 14-2.

In the other 6 games he's played he's averaged 11:01 a game. In those 6 games he has 3 goals, 1 assist, +1, 13 shots, and a 37.7% Corsi. His team is 2-2-2 in those games and were outscored 22-20.

And please don't tell me about, how great is Hall defensively, I've been following (sort of) him since his 1st season in Edmonton and know everything about it.

Nobody is claiming that Hall is a good defensive forward but his offense more than makes up for his defensive deficiencies. When Gusev averages nearly a PPG over a long stretch, he'll get the same leeway.

 

[ViD]

So I get to New Jersey to see Kucherov vs Gusev live and this happens ?
Thanks

 

[Albatros]

Nobody in the NHL, not a single player has averaged 17.6% shooting over the past 5 years.

Barbashev is 19.5 percent so far after 175 NHL games.

 

[HBK27]

Some more perspective on why Gusev is sitting tonight.

Devils also have a very busy November schedule, with something along the lines of 16 games in the next 32 days so he'll have plenty of chances to get in there soon and improve his game (likely starting with Friday vs. Philly).

Attention to detail(s): The numbers — good, bad and ugly...

While Gusev is tied for the team lead with three goals in nine games, the Devils have gotten buried at times when he’s on the ice at even strength. New Jersey has 34.44 percent of the shot attempts and 31.08 percent of the scoring chances in Gusev’s nearly 87 minutes at 5-on-5 this season.

The team’s expected goals percentage (xGF%) with Gusev on the ice is 28.26 percent. The only forward in the NHL with at least 50 minutes at 5v5 who has a worse xGF% is Philadelphia’s Chris Stewart, and he’s played fewer than 57 minutes. The Rangers’ Chris Kreider and Kaapo Kakko were below Gusev on the list before delivering a better performance Tuesday night against the Lightning, the same team the Devils face Wednesday across the river.

Gusev will be a healthy scratch for the game.

“It’s not about (Wednesday) for Goose. It’s about, where is he going to be a week from now, a month from now or two months from now?” Hynes said. “He’s a veteran player with tons of experience, but he’s a rookie in the NHL and that’s something we want to help him work through and we want to help him become a really productive player.”

So here’s one way the Devils are going to try to help him adapt: Gusev is going to sit with Patrik Elias, who is in town as a coaching consultant of sorts, to watch the game against the Lightning.
Elias, who has been a guest coach at times in each of the past two seasons, has a lot of experience as a player on the larger Olympic-sized ice surface, which Gusev is trying to adapt his game away from. Elias also coaches the Czech Republic’s U-20 national team, and as someone who scored 1,025 points in the NHL after arriving from Europe, might see the game in similar ways to Gusev.

Hynes also noted that Gusev has played a lot of hockey, counting his five preseason games, and the chance to watch an NHL game from a different perspective might help.

“Sometimes you see things, like you might have more time and space than when you’re actually playing all the time and it’s just a little bit of a reset for him,” Hynes said. “Then we’ll get him back up and running and we’ll see if we can get him more comfortable.”

 

[Kshahdoo]

Some more perspective on why Gusev is sitting tonight.

Devils also have a very busy November schedule, with something along the lines of 16 games in the next 32 days so he'll have plenty of chances to get in there soon and improve his game (likely starting with Friday vs. Philly).

Attention to detail(s): The numbers — good, bad and ugly...

Oh well, new time, where Corsi, which is actually pretty similar to +/-, just less important,has become the main metrics for players' evaluation.

 

[HBK27]

Oh well, new time, where Corsi, which is actually pretty similar to +/-, just less important,has become the main metrics for players' evaluation.

From a team perspective, I'm sure the main metric for his evaluation is what the coaching staff actually sees on the ice. NJ also has a very well developed analytics department that sure goes deeper into a lot of the numbers as well.

What I quoted was just one reporter's synopsis of the situation, which added the Corsi and XGF numbers in to put Gusev's performance into some perspective.

Devils fans and reporters in watching the games have seen his struggles and are not exactly shocked by this decision to have him sit a game and look at things a bit differently.

But yeah, if you want to completely over simplify the situation and boil it down to corsi then sure...

 

[NinjaKick]

Elias could have a big impact on Gusev. I hope he keeps his ears open.

 

[BMOK33]

Any Isles fan who complained about Lou wanting no part of him despite the low price now knows why. Trotz/Lou want nothing to do with forwards who cannot play defense

 

[Kshahdoo]

Any Isles fan who complained about Lou wanting no part of him despite the low price now knows why. Trotz/Lou want nothing to do with forwards who cannot play defense

Lol, yeah, offer them Johnny H and then watch reaction...

 

[StoneHands]

Barbashev is 19.5 percent so far after 175 NHL games.

Cool. I said 5 years, not 2.5. Let's circle back in 2022.

 

[paragon]

The game is just so different in Europe. I imagine a player who has literally no experience in North America feels like they’re playing a different sport when they come here, especially when they’ve been playing a different style into just about their 30’s.

It might not even be a league thing. Some players and coaches just aren't compatible. Not even guys like Crosby or Ovechkin are immune to this. When Hunter coached Washington everyone was talking how Ovechkin was done. Same with Crosby when he played for Mike Johnston. Granlund was on a 64 point pace last season with the Wild and after the trade to Nashville he has 9 points in 26 games. And it's not like Granlund or Laviolette are bad, they just aren't a fit. I also think both Nino and Lindholm trades showed how much of difference a change of scenery can make.

I wouldn't write Gusev off based on one season playing for a bad coach.

 

[DVision44]

9 games into his NHL career... he's only been scratched for this one... in the words of Aaron Rodgers... R-E-L-A-X!

 

[ColbyChaos]

Incredibly overhyped as the next panarin despite never being a third as dynamic

 

[Marv Merchants]

Jack Hughes struggles in every area and gets promoted to pp1 and line 1.

Nj gets a week off and Elias could've sat with Gusev on tape of Gusev himself playing.

Gusev produces with little toi and gets pp2 duty.

Simmonds is gifted pp1 duties.

I'll just leave this...

 

[HBK27]

Jack Hughes struggles in every area and gets promoted to pp1 and line 1.

Nj gets a week off and Elias could've sat with Gusev on tape of Gusev himself playing.

Gusev produces with little toi and gets pp2 duty.

Simmonds is gifted pp1 duties.

I'll just leave this...

Hughes got promoted to the top line after Nico was injured. He's also been instrumental in turning around a Power Play that didn't score in the first 6 games, but now has a goal in each of the past 3 - all of which Hughes has had a part in.

I'll just leave this...

Handicapping the chase for the Calder after the first month...

It took Hughes a little time to find the range. Six games into his NHL career, the league’s most recent first overall pick was pointless, his Devils were getting thumped whether he was on the ice or not and New Jersey’s power play hadn’t even managed a goal on the year.

In his last three games, Hughes has five points. He’s been instrumental in the turnaround for the power play, which has three goals in that span: he’s scored two himself with wicked shots from the left faceoff circle and helped win the faceoff on the third.

 

[Marv Merchants]

Hughes got promoted to the top line after Nico was injured. He's also been instrumental in turning around a Power Play that didn't score in the first 6 games, but now has a goal in each of the past 3 - all of which Hughes has had a part in.

I'll just leave this...

Handicapping the chase for the Calder after the first month...

You're missing the point. Hughes goes pointless and gets promotions while Gusev played better offensively than Simmonds for example and Simmonds got promoted to pp1. If you can't see how ass backwards that is then i don't know what to tell you

 

[DVision44]

Jack Hughes struggles in every area and gets promoted to pp1 and line 1.

Nj gets a week off and Elias could've sat with Gusev on tape of Gusev himself playing.

Gusev produces with little toi and gets pp2 duty.

Simmonds is gifted pp1 duties.

I'll just leave this...

I'm confused... you're suggesting swapping Simmonds for Gusev on the PP1? Lol...something tells me he's not the net front presence type..

 

[Trocity]

Looks like the teams that didn't get him dodged a bullet.

 

[Marv Merchants]

I'm confused... you're suggesting swapping Simmonds for Gusev on the PP1? Lol...something tells me he's not the net front presence type..

You have to watch games before you can have a respected opinion.

You remind me of middle aged people who don't read news articles and only follow fake news headlines without fact checks.

 

[DVision44]

NHL Network just showed a number of clips from just the last game alone that illustrate why Gusev is sitting and watching....

No forecheck... flying the zone... soft on faceoff support...etc...

2 of his errors led directly to the puck ending up in the net.... Grabner's SH goal and OEL's goal...

 

[DVision44]

You have to watch games before you can have a respected opinion.

You remind me of middle aged people who don't read news articles and only follow fake news headlines without fact checks.

You really have no idea what you're talking about and you want me to watch the games? ok... nice reply

 

[goonybird]

NHL Network just showed a number of clips from just the last game alone that illustrate why Gusev is sitting and watching....

No forecheck... flying the zone... soft on faceoff support...etc...

2 of his errors led directly to the puck ending up in the net.... Grabner's SH goal and OEL's goal...

Thankfully these are coachable things, if he wants to put in the time and effort to study the tape