NJ's Road to the Playoffs

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

people really don't understand how LONG 5 years is in sports, do they?

 

[Eric Sachs]

Unless we trade guys like Greene, Zajac, Cammalleri and Schneider for a lot of young players/picks now, I can't see the playoffs for at least 5 years

That's probably the only way that we guarantee ourselves not having a shot at the playoffs in the next 5 years.

5 years is an eternity in sports. Almost every team in the league will have significant roster turnover (>50%) in the next 5 years.

Trading away all your veterans is the Edmonton Oilers recipe for rebuilding. So yea, 5 years sounds good if we do that. Otherwise, 2-3 years is far more likely.. like any other competent rebuild.

 

[MadDevil]

If we don't make the playoffs within 5 years we're probably in deep **** and looking for another GM.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I think some need to realize there is a difference between what we need to be a playoff team, and what we need to be a contender.

You need a competent team that can score and stop goals, but you don't need superstar talent to make the playoffs. You need high end talent somewhere to make a deep run, but that is a different story and we aren't at that bridge yet.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I think some need to realize there is a difference between what we need to be a playoff team, and what we need to be a contender.

You need a competent team that can score and stop goals, but you don't need superstar talent to make the playoffs. You need high end talent somewhere to make a deep run, but that is a different story and we aren't at that bridge yet.

Agree with this. We aren't that far away from being a playoff team in my opinion, but contender status would be way down the road for us.

 

[HenriquesJawLine]

People also forget it's not that hard to make the playoffs in the NHL, we had a terrible team a few years ago and easily would have made it if we could win a damn shoot out. Being a cup contender is a different story.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

People also forget it's not that hard to make the playoffs in the NHL, we had a terrible team a few years ago and easily would have made it if we could win a damn shoot out. Being a cup contender is a different story.

True too, and we seem to be better at 3-on-3 OT than the shootout, so there's our big hope.

 

[newjerseydamo]

I voted 1-2 years.

I can see us being on the fringe this year, and with a lot of luck we might scrape a wild card spot, but with how aggressive the GM has been, I would think we could be in playoff mix in the next 1-2 years quite easily (all going to plan).

 

[Unknown Caller]

We aren't ageing like we were. In fact the team got a hell of a lot younger this year.

We definitely don't have any top 3 talent in the system barring someone coming out of no where and not counting Zacha, but we do have some potentially good middle 6 talent, which you definitely need no matter what.

We also have some stud blue-chippers on defense that are only starting to hit their potential.

It won't take us 5 years.

"We don't have any top 3 talent in the system...not counting Zacha," so in other words, we have top 3 talent in the system when you include Zacha.

 

[Emperoreddy]

"We don't have any top 3 talent in the system...not counting Zacha," so in other words, we have top 3 talent in the system when you include Zacha.

Well we might but ya I forgot about him as I was writing that.

Honestly depending on how certain guys perform this year and how the draft roles out we could have all the building blocks we need to start taking larger strides forward next year and the year after.

 

[Flowmaster Flex]

I agree that there are too many good teams ahead of us, but there's no way this is year one of a rebuild. This is about year 3 or 4. We had the fourth overall pick in 2011, we had a top 10 pick in 2013, we had a top 10 pick in 2015. We have like one guy on our defense over 24 and a ton of high end prospects there.

Based on your opinion, we should be trading Schneider, Greene, Cammalleri, and Zajac right now for prospects and picks.

Im curious who you are referring to? Because the only high end prospect I can think of is Zacha

 

[Unknown Caller]

Im curious who you are referring to? Because the only high end prospect I can think of is Zacha

I was referring to the defense and counting Larsson, Severson, Santini, Merrill, Gelinas, Jacobs, etc. as high end prospects. I use the term "prospect" to refer to age rather than games played. Imo, if you have a great player who is 21 years old, the future is bright regardless of whether he's played a random amount of games played or not.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I was referring to the defense and counting Larsson, Severson, Santini, Merrill, Gelinas, Jacobs, etc. as high end prospects. I use the term "prospect" to refer to age rather than games played. Imo, if you have a great player who is 21 years old, the future is bright regardless of whether he's played a reached a random amount of games played or not.

In a way, guys like Larsson and Severson have a higher value than a lot of high-end prospects, since they've shown that they can contribute at the NHL level and look like good players there. This is also true to a lesser extent for Merrill and even for Gelinas. That's just my view, anyway.

 

[Unknown Caller]

In a way, guys like Larsson and Severson have a higher value than a lot of high-end prospects, since they've shown that they can contribute at the NHL level and look like good players there. This is also true to a lesser extent for Merrill and even for Gelinas. That's just my view, anyway.

Agreed, and that's why I think some prospect rankings are ridiculous. There should be an age limitation rather than a games played limitation. A team like Edmonton won't have McDavid on their prospect list and that's a waste. The whole point of organizational prospect rankings is to see who has the brightest future, and when you eliminate the real high-end guys who are already in the league, the rankings are meaningless.

 

[Flowmaster Flex]

Agree with this. We aren't that far away from being a playoff team in my opinion, but contender status would be way down the road for us.

You are aware that the top 6 forwards on the team this year are Zajac (defensive centre, limited offence, inflated numbers from playing with Parise and Kovalchuk), Cammalleri (good player but injury prone), Tlusty (free agent PTO signing), Henrique (Good young two way player but not a top line centre on a playoff team), an old Elias who is running off fumes and Palmeiri who has never reached 35 points in his career.

I don't think that there is a team in the league, let alone the Eastern conference with less offensive talent in their top 6, I find it very hard to believe we aren't far away from being a playoff team. We have defencemen with some potential but have very limited experience compared to playoff teams.

We do have an outstanding goaltender for sure but goaltending can't be the only thing that carries a team to the playoffs. I doubt Montreal even makes the playoffs last year without Price and that says a lot considering they have guys like Pacioretty, Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Desharnais, Plekanec up front which is way more depth and talent than us. Not to mention a Norris Trophy winning defencemen in Subban along with Markov on the back end.

I think we are a lot farther from the playoffs than you think compared to many other teams in the East

 

[Flowmaster Flex]

I was referring to the defense and counting Larsson, Severson, Santini, Merrill, Gelinas, Jacobs, etc. as high end prospects. I use the term "prospect" to refer to age rather than games played. Imo, if you have a great player who is 21 years old, the future is bright regardless of whether he's played a random amount of games played or not.

Larsson has been in the league for 5 years now so I barely consider him a prospect, a good young player yes but not a prospect. From that list I only see Severson as a "High end prospect" with top 4 D potential. The others, for sure could be good NHL players but I don't see any having legitimate top pairing or top 4 potential on a team that is in contention

 

[NJDevs26]

People also forget it's not that hard to make the playoffs in the NHL, we had a terrible team a few years ago and easily would have made it if we could win a damn shoot out. Being a cup contender is a different story.

Well yes and no. We also won TEN overtime games that year which is a bit above average. Plus that year the cutoff line was 93 points. Last year it took 98 to make the playoffs in the East and 97 in the West. I wouldn't call that easy to get to even with all the extra points.

 

[Devilsfan992]

Teams who haven't made the playoffs last 5 years: Carolina, Edmonton

God Bless our souls if we follow the lead of these two ****** franchises

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

You are aware that the top 6 forwards on the team this year are Zajac (defensive centre, limited offence, inflated numbers from playing with Parise and Kovalchuk), Cammalleri (good player but injury prone), Tlusty (free agent PTO signing), Henrique (Good young two way player but not a top line centre on a playoff team), an old Elias who is running off fumes and Palmeiri who has never reached 35 points in his career.

I don't think that there is a team in the league, let alone the Eastern conference with less offensive talent in their top 6, I find it very hard to believe we aren't far away from being a playoff team. We have defencemen with some potential but have very limited experience compared to playoff teams.

We do have an outstanding goaltender for sure but goaltending can't be the only thing that carries a team to the playoffs. I doubt Montreal even makes the playoffs last year without Price and that says a lot considering they have guys like Pacioretty, Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Desharnais, Plekanec up front which is way more depth and talent than us. Not to mention a Norris Trophy winning defencemen in Subban along with Markov on the back end.

I think we are a lot farther from the playoffs than you think compared to many other teams in the East

As a fan of this team who posts around here quite a bit, I am aware of who are forwards are this year, yes. That's why I said we aren't that far away from being a playoff team, not that we are a playoff team. At the beginning of the thread, I think my estimate for making the playoffs was circa two seasons from now, which I consider a realistic evaluation. I would say that our forward corps has improved quite a bit since Shero took over and that's just one off-season.

Next off-season, Shero could pull off more shrewd trades and Zacha and Blandisi will probably be ready to play in the NHL next season if Blandisi isn't called up sometime this season. Boucher looks like he'll be playing this year, and he may or may not have top six potential. Josefson also looked pretty good playing with Henrique and Palmieri, so there's a chance he might be a better player than he's been in the past this season. I'm not Zajac's biggest fan, but there is a chance that he'll rebound (I don't think his production will be quite as bad this year as last). As for Palmieri, you have to keep in mind that he's played limited minutes on a very deep Anaheim team. That's why he was available so cheap, but there is a very real chance that he'll produce more than 35 points with more minutes, especially since he'll be wanting to earn a raise. And if we do finish badly this year, we have another top five forward to join Zacha in a year or two.

We also have a defense that is good (especially for how young it is) and can probably produce a decent amount of points.

Then we have our elite goalie Cory and a solid backup in Kinkaid.

I think two-three years from now, we have a solid, not spectacular forward corps, and maybe five or more years from now, Zacha will possibly have developed into a star. However, you don't necessarily need star forwards, just a collection of solid ones who can produce consistently, to make the playoffs if you have good goaltending and defense. That's what people are saying. People are saying that we'll have a solid forwards corps two or three years down the road and that, along with good goaltending and defense, should get us a playoff berth, especially since other teams in the East will probably be falling as we're rising.

That's my perspective. You're welcome to disagree, but we're all just making predictions at the end of the day, so there's no need for you to be condescending toward anyone who doesn't project it taking the Devils five years to make the playoffs.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Larsson has been in the league for 5 years now so I barely consider him a prospect, a good young player yes but not a prospect. From that list I only see Severson as a "High end prospect" with top 4 D potential. The others, for sure could be good NHL players but I don't see any having legitimate top pairing or top 4 potential on a team that is in contention

You don't think Larsson when he develops would be able to handle top pairing or even top four pairing minutes on a contending team? Why not?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

look at the team 5 years ago and look at it now

again, people do not realize how long that is in sports. its an ETERNITY.

 

[MadDevil]

look at the team 5 years ago and look at it now

again, people do not realize how long that is in sports. its an ETERNITY.

Greene, Elias, Zajac, and Josefson are the only guys on this team that were here for the 2010-11 season.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Larsson has been in the league for 5 years now so I barely consider him a prospect, a good young player yes but not a prospect. From that list I only see Severson as a "High end prospect" with top 4 D potential. The others, for sure could be good NHL players but I don't see any having legitimate top pairing or top 4 potential on a team that is in contention

Okay, so you don't consider Larsson a prospect, but you consider an older player in Merrill a prospect because he has played less seasons in the league. Got it.

And Merrill isn't a top 4 potential defenseman? What about Santini? Greene, Larsson, Santini, Severson, Merrill is five potential top 4 defenseman. Plus guys like Jacobs and Moore could always blossom into top 4 defenseman.

Anyway, don't be surprised if the Devils make the playoffs this season. Not likely, but possible.

 

[thethinglonger]

I think some need to realize there is a difference between what we need to be a playoff team, and what we need to be a contender.

You need a competent team that can score and stop goals, but you don't need superstar talent to make the playoffs. You need high end talent somewhere to make a deep run, but that is a different story and we aren't at that bridge yet.

This is why I answered 3-4 years in the poll. I do think we will make a push for the playoffs in the next year or so, but I want to be a contender, and I think 3-4 years gives us an adequate amount of time to develop the young defense core and bring in any prime forward talent (mostly through the draft)

 

[Bleedred]

Teams who haven't made the playoffs last 5 years: Carolina, Edmonton

God Bless our souls if we follow the lead of these two ****** francises

A Devils fan actually told me on here that Carolina is a WELL run franchise. This was a few years ago, right before Parise left and there were rumors that Carolina was among the team's that were gonna go after him hard. So the post is no longer there, after all the threads from 2012 and beyond were zapped.

Maybe since it had only been 3 years since their last playoff berth, they were still considered a well run franchise.