Post-Game Talk: NJ wastes an opportunity to gain ground

[StnTwnDevil]

This is the sixth time we've had a chance to make a significant move up.

0/6

I can think of 5 of them, but I'm probably missing one. 2 of them were very similar to tonights loss, which is the new way of losing they figured out when they played the Rangers outdoors. SJ was the other one. All these games had the Devils having a quick offensive outburst, followed immedietly by many offensive break downs and many pucks in their own net. I like Deboer but this is becoming a pattern that should be nipped in the butt, and he isn't. After these scoring outbursts, the team keeps pushing and taking chances, until they find themselves out of the game. A lot of them are individual mistakes, but its seems so wide spread that this should be something coaching related.

 

[Officer Rod Farva]

This team is very frustrating. They can never fight out of adversity, or take advantage of good situations...like tonight.

That falls squarely on the head coach and captain.

 

[MountainGoat]

for the love of god sit Salvador, I don't care if he has the C he sucks Hulk Hogan ****

 

[EnglishDevil]

Salvador absolutely needs to be out of the lineup, he's completely past it and consistently our worst performer every night. I don't doubt his qualities as a person or a captain, but he's clearly unable to perform to an acceptable level at this point and it's hurting the team. He needs to retire after this season or be bought out, make Greene or Jagr (if he re-signs) the captain instead.

I'm by no means suggesting this game is entirely on Salvador, but i haven't seen a single bright spot to his game this year, his play has been absolutely putrid night in night out. It's asinine if management thinks Larsson could perform any worse, Salvador is only in the lineup on merit of being a veteran and our captain at this point, anyone else would have been benched by now. Even if Larsson makes a few mistakes, at least he actually has some upside and isn't in the twilight of his career, i can live with the growing pains if it helps him become a better player.

Greene - Fayne
Gelinas - Larsson
Merrill - Zidlicky

With Merrill swapped for Volchenkov if we need a more physical defender against certain teams. PLEASE.

 

[Bleedred]

Reid Boucher probably could have done better than Ryder over these last 20 games. Ryder is just straight up swamp ass right now. Last year Lou said ''We feel a lot of our players had a below average year for their careers'' what's he gonna say this year? The only one really doing any better is Henrique. Ryder is producing under his career norm as well. Will it finally be time to sack the coach?

I can't think of any valid reason as to why DeBoer has earned a new contract. The excuses suck, he isn't a good coach, PERIOD. We have 6 years worth of evidence now. Enough is enough already. When you make the playoffs one year out of 6, you aren't a good coach. He made himself look pretty amateur last year even before Kovalchuk went down.

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

I don't think Deboer is a terrible coach but hes definitely run his course here. Its just not working anymore. His system, at times, can be extremely effective but it just too prone to blown leads and meltdowns, like tonight, because they expand so much energy forechecking and are too slow to get back. I would love to get a number on how many in game and end game collapses they've had with him as coach. It has to be over 20 by now. He has a great hockey mind but hes an awful in game coach. He strikes me as the perfect assistant coach. The only time hes done diddly poo in this league is when he rode the coat tails of Parise, Kovalchuk, Elias, and Robinson. Other than that, hes been garbage. 1 playoff appearance in 6 years is terrible, no matter what kind of excuses people make for the guy.

 

[MadDevil]

Can you really hold his record in Florida against him that much? I mean, that entire organization has been a joke for a long time.

 

[Bleedred]

Can you really hold his record in Florida against him that much? I mean, that entire organization has been a joke for a long time.

At first I didn't (though I was skeptical still) but I've seen enough of him here. We lose games the same way a lot of those Florida teams lost games. There's been some patterns that have carried over. I would be shocked if he gets another head coaching position in the NHL, not before serving time as an assistant somewhere.

 

[Mory Schneideur*]

At first I didn't (though I was skeptical still) but I've seen enough of him here. We lose games the same way a lot of those Florida teams lost games. There's been some patterns that have carried over. I would be shocked if he gets another head coaching position in the NHL, not before serving time as an assistant somewhere.

I want to say yes to all of this, but every time the team plays well it brings me back to 2012. Plus, I'm sick of the coaching carousel, its nice to have some stability for once.

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

He was doing the same things in Florida as hes doing here. Yea, those rosters weren't anything special but they were still blowing leads left and right and young talent shafted. At some point you just have to call a spade a spade. He just isn't a good coach.

 

[Bleedred]

I want to say yes to all of this, but every time the team plays well it brings me back to 2012. Plus, I'm sick of the coaching carousel, its nice to have some stability for once.

He's the longest tenured head coach we've had since Lemaire's first stint with the team in the 90s. I thought I read somewhere that the average lifespan of an NHL head coach with one team was 3 years? So that would have been average. Maybe not quite since one of them was a shortened season, but close enough.

 

[MadDevil]

The way I look at Pete's time here he was given a team with good depth and a pair of top line forwards, they go to the Stanley Cup Final. He's then given a team with little depth and one top line forward, they miss the playoffs. Now he's given a team with better depth, but no top line forwards, and it looks like they're going to miss the playoffs.

How much of it is the roster he's given, and how much of it is his ability as a coach? I don't think we can really be sure. This team has had a lot if turnover (at least up front) over the past couple years. They've lost some key offensive players and replaced them with stopgaps. It's not really a recipe for success, regardless of who is behind the bench

 

[billingtons ghost]

I don't know what games you guys were watching, but in mine - it was just individual ridiculous breakdowns in coverage and stupid plays being made.

I don't think Cory had much of a chance on any of those goals. Even the ugliest backbreaker that gave them the lead was still the result of a 3-on-2 because the ultimate slowe line was out there, and Greene decided to forget how to have any gap control whatsoever and let the guy crossover in the slot.

Anyway - terribly demoralizing loss. They've got to somehow pull it together and build on this.

 

[Devilswede]

This team....

...oh boy...

 

[Just Win]

7 goals against and our moron coach does not pull the goalie. Are you ****ing kidding me?

 

[Brooklyndevil]

Old and slow and they sure looked it. Embarrassing.

 

[Devils Unseen Hand]

I would call up Boucher & Janssen. I would sit out Ryder & put in Boucher & move Bernier up to replace Zubrus & have Janssen replace Bernier. Then, take out Salvador & put in ANYONE else!

Players who have been invisible need to sit & watch for a game or two.

Hate Cam all you want, if he was in the line up last night, the guy would have been crushing Red Wings & having them chase him around for retaliation.

The Devs had no energy, no fire, no passion. It also looked like a Johnny Mac team last night.

Let's see if they rebound tonight.

By the way...has Janssen even played in the last month or two up in Albany?

 

[MartyOwns]

Brunner too.....

yeah it could be ryder, or brunner, or henrique up until the olympics, or zajac, or anyone who doesn't have 701 goals. orrr there's a bigger issue here. and I say that not wanting to fire pete, at all. I would love to see what he could do with a younger, more balanced roster for a season or two.

he seems to have received the message, likely from Lou, that our young d needed to play. so I think he's starting to see the benefits of playing and developing the bouchers and larssons on this team. I still have hope that Lou will understand that this might be the second playoff miss for us in a row, which for him is absolutely unacceptable...so, maybe Lou makes some moves, and stocks up on the tomato juice.

 

[jagrgodr]

hate to say this, but may Zubrus needs to go back on the top line. Jagr has been such a negative player while Clowe has been up there. Personally i think it's just bad luck that goal's have been coming against Jagr's line.. and i'm a little shocked this hasn't happened more in previous games but there is no denying that the zubrus zajac jagr line is very very difficult to score against. I don't know if it's just bad luck, but something needs to change.

I wouldn't want to be the coach to figure this one out. Since elias and henrique are tearing it up though, i would play it safe with the Jagr line and add zubrus back up there. Jagr has turned up the heat on scoring so just get the puck to jagr and he will make things happen.. have zubie or zajac in front of the net and the other towards the blue line.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I was hoping, however, last night proved that they aren't a playoff team. I know Lou is never a seller, but I believe he mis-calculated this team. If he brings the same team next year I hope back next I hope they're in the
Mc David sweep stakes.

 

[Oneiro]

That damn Franzen is so hot right now.

 

[Just Win]

I would call up Boucher & Janssen. I would sit out Ryder & put in Boucher & move Bernier up to replace Zubrus & have Janssen replace Bernier. Then, take out Salvador & put in ANYONE else!

Players who have been invisible need to sit & watch for a game or two.

Hate Cam all you want, if he was in the line up last night, the guy would have been crushing Red Wings & having them chase him around for retaliation.

The Devs had no energy, no fire, no passion. It also looked like a Johnny Mac team last night.

Let's see if they rebound tonight.

By the way...has Janssen even played in the last month or two up in Albany?

What will Janssen solve? Our offense or our defense? The last thing we need if even less skill in the lineup. Also leave Boucher in the AHL. No reason to rush any more prospects, especially since DeBoer would bench him at the first chance anyway.

We also can't call someone up at the moment as we are at the 23 player roster limit. And i would be calling for Lou's head if he used one of the 4 call-ups we have until the end of the season on Janssen.

 

[Billdo]

Bryce Salvador isnt a NHL defenseman at this point. Hes been atrocious and I'd rather have Volch in, which scares the hell out of me. Ryder, Bernier, Zubrus, and Carter have been exponentially disappointing this year. Zubrus especially.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Why are we calling out guys like Bernier and Carter when our "#1 Center" has 10 goals and is on pace for 40 points (while playing besides a HOFer on pace for 70)? Zubrus and Zidlicky have the same number of goals. Henrique has double that goal total. If Eric Gelinas played as many games up to this point he would likely be at the same or higher totals. . That is disgusting.

 

[SeidoN]

Why are we calling out guys like Bernier and Carter when our "#1 Center" has 10 goals and is on pace for 40 points? If Eric Gelinas played as many games up to this point he would likely be at the same or higher totals. That is disgusting.

because hes not a #1 center. you CANNOT expect Zajac to magically produce first line points just cause we have noone better