The first goal, that is what the 10th time someone has been left all alone in the slot because everyone went to the corner? Just being sloppy in the defensive zone.
Also, the rushes. When ever the Devils attack its usually a 2 on 3, and when they defend its a 3 on 2. Or at least that's how it feels watching.
This:
vs
That:
Other teams third guy is rarely ever behind the play like the Devil's third man.
This this this. So much of this. That is all I can really say about those screen caps.
I think last night's game was the best piece of evidence that maybe some of the "negative" guys here aren't just being negative just for ***** and giggles. I mean it's one thing to be stupid negative and say strip the C from Salvador, fire DeBoer and Lou, etc., but far too many people have had their fan loyalty questioned by simply being honest about the situation. This is not a very good team right now and the brutal truth is that they haven't been good for weeks.
Here is the lineup NJ iced for game one of last year's final. Never mind the defense because it's the same group of guys regardless of how they're performing.
Zach Parise - Travis Zajac - Dainius Zubrus
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Patrik Elias - Jacob Josefson - David Clarkson
Ryan Carter - Stephen Gionta - Steve Bernier
extra: Sykora, Cam, Boulton
Look familiar? Yeah, all of the top 12 are still in the organization except ZP and the extras are a little bit different. Right on! We got this. This should still be a pretty good team.
Now take a look at last night's roster and what you see is this:
Alexei Ponikarovsky -Andrei Loktionov -Ilya Kovalchuk
Patrik Elias - Adam Henrique -David Clarkson
Stefan Matteau -Travis Zajac - Steve Bernier
Ryan Carter - Stephen Gionta - Tom Kostopoulos
extra: Barch
Now here is the problem. What you see isn't always what you get and what you should really see.... is this:
x -
Travis Zajac - x
Alexei Ponikarovsky -
Adam Henrique -
Ilya Kovalchuk
Patrik Elias - x -
David Clarkson
Ryan Carter -
Stephen Gionta -
Steve Bernier
the x's are pretty obvious and the small fonts are used to denote players who are under performing, all at the same time mind you. So if I knew nothing about this team and took a look at this roster, I could easily figure out that they're short two very very important wingers, and are missing a 3rd line center which just also happens to be a very important position. This is your true 2013 NJ Devils.
Now take a look again at what NJ iced last night and try to convince yourself that this is the same "team" as last year. It's not even close. This team simply walks a fine line because of just how little depth they posses. I wasn't expecting them to replace Parise, but they did nothing remotely even close to it. Inserting guys like Matteau, Butler and Tendenby doesn't cut the ****ing mustard.
Looks to me that there is still a pretty decent core here, but they're dealing with a major injury with no depth to speak of. Oh yeah, this little issue is also amplified by the fact that the core guys are by and large playing like ****. It just may have something to do with the fact that they're all being asked to play different roles on the team right now, but that just may be me, I don't know. Loktionov and Kostopoulos seem to be nice finds, but it's just too bad they're playing on a team missing a couple of key components.
Oh and just to throw a little more salt on the wounds.....
Hedberg (all overplayed 39 years old of him)
Frazee / Kinkaid
This ain't no damn slump.
