Post-Game Talk: Panthers 2, Devils 1 OT - '16-17 Season Opener

[JimEIV]

Taylor Hall, Mike Cammalleri, Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique are all top end forwards - Zajac, Parenteau, Bennett should provide solid depth with Zacha not too far behind.

This team should be a playoff team.

The only big question mark is the defense. A lot of the Devils' success on the blueline will be determined by Severson. He needs to take a step forward this year and I think he will.

If our playoff hopes are resting on a just turned 22 year old defenseman, we should start looking towards next season.

 

[Cheddabombs]

If our playoff hopes are resting on a just turned 22 year old defenseman, we should start looking towards next season.

It's not solely resting on his shoulders. But if he's going to be on the top pairing all year he'll definitely be a very influential part in how successful our team is this season.

 

[JimEIV]

It's not solely resting on his shoulders. But if he's going to be on the top pairing all year he'll definitely be a very influential part in how successful our team is this season.

So you're saying Greene and Larsson were an influential reason for missing the playoffs last season? And the year before?

 

[Triumph]

So you're saying Greene and Larsson were an influential reason for missing the playoffs last season? And the year before?

Groan. What an awful argument. The Devils have hopefully fixed a lot of their depth issues at forward and we've been over these a million times. They have issues on defense though. Severson growing into a 22 minute a game D who can hang on a first pairing would go a long way towards alleviating those.

Without him or Auvitu developing into a guy who can be counted on, this defense is not likely to hold up.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I still think Santini is going to become our minutes sponge on the right side.

Doesn't help us this year, but long term I got faith in him.

 

[Cheddabombs]

So you're saying Greene and Larsson were an influential reason for missing the playoffs last season? And the year before?

Yea, of course. They played very well defensively but didn't contribute enough offensively.

 

[JimEIV]

Groan. What an awful argument. The Devils have hopefully fixed a lot of their depth issues at forward and we've been over these a million times. They have issues on defense though. Severson growing into a 22 minute a game D who can hang on a first pairing would go a long way towards alleviating those.

Without him or Auvitu developing into a guy who can be counted on, this defense is not likely to hold up.

They have issues on defense? Issues they didn't have last year?

What are you basing that on?

Are you are basing on giving up 1 regulation goal against last years eastern conference champions that put together a 47 win season?

The defense is 50% new.

Lovejoy is playing more minutes then Severson so far. Only Greene and Lovejoy played over 20 minutes last night and it was an OT game. The minutes were the most evenly distributed last night than we seen in years.

So far Greene, Lovejoy, Quincey and Moore are killing all of the penalties. Nearly evenly

Where are these defensive issues? And why in the world would Auvitu and/or Severson be the solution.

 

[iCanada]

I hope Hall has been good for yall.

We love Larsson here in Edmonton. I think this was a win-win trade.

 

[Bleedred]

Severson jumped directly into the NHL and began playing like a top-pairing defenseman. Putting him in the AHL would've been a disservice to him and the team. We can sit here and list off players who've bypassed the AHL or we can acknowledge that a player's development is not always linear.

I don't think AHL time would have hurt him either. But really, I don't think it hurt him either. I think it seemed to hurt Merrill the most, as he didn't even have much college games under his belt before turning pro, due to injury and suspensions. But even he had good analytics in his rookie year, if I'm not mistaken. Though he probably wasn't really as good that year as he wound up being.

 

[Emperoreddy]

They have issues on defense? Issues they didn't have last year?

What are you basing that on?

Are you are basing on giving up 1 regulation goal against last years eastern conference champions that put together a 47 win season?

The defense is 50% new.

Lovejoy is playing more minutes then Severson so far. Only Greene and Lovejoy played over 20 minutes last night and it was an OT game. The minutes were the most evenly distributed last night than we seen in years.

So far Greene, Lovejoy, Quincey and Moore are killing all of the penalties. Nearly evenly

Where are these defensive issues? And why in the world would Auvitu and/or Severson be the solution.

You mean Atlantic champs.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I don't think AHL time would have hurt him either. But really, I don't think it hurt him either. I think it seemed to hurt Merrill the most, as he didn't even have much college games under his belt before turning pro, due to injury and suspensions. But even he had good analytics in his rookie year, if I'm not mistaken. Though he probably wasn't really as good that year as he wound up being.

Injuries have been the biggest problem with Merrill, but he also has never benefited from having a stable partner. Merrill was playing next to the likes of Zids, Gelly, Moore.

Asking the kid to be an anchor when he wasn't ready for it.

 

[JimEIV]

I don't think AHL time would have hurt him either. But really, I don't think it hurt him either. I think it seemed to hurt Merrill the most, as he didn't even have much college games under his belt before turning pro, due to injury and suspensions. But even he had good analytics in his rookie year, if I'm not mistaken. Though he probably wasn't really as good that year as he wound up being.

The only thing that has hurt Merrill is constantly getting hurt.

 

[JimEIV]

You mean Atlantic champs.

Yeah.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Again I did not see any major issues with the D outside of Greene in the 1st.

The biggest problem was the team being out of sync, and most likely us not using the best line combinations. Someone was always a step in front or behind the play through the neutral zones, which lead to bad entries or straight up turnovers.

On the flip side (and I'll never understand why we can't give other team's any credit) Florida's top line was perfectly in sync and was buzzing all night.

 

[Triumph]

They have issues on defense? Issues they didn't have last year?

What are you basing that on?

Are you are basing on giving up 1 regulation goal against last years eastern conference champions that put together a 47 win season?

The defense is 50% new.

Lovejoy is playing more minutes then Severson so far. Only Greene and Lovejoy played over 20 minutes last night and it was an OT game. The minutes were the most evenly distributed last night than we seen in years.

So far Greene, Lovejoy, Quincey and Moore are killing all of the penalties. Nearly evenly

Where are these defensive issues? And why in the world would Auvitu and/or Severson be the solution.

Yeah, this unit should be fine. You're absolutely right. Auvitu doesn't have to be good. Severson doesn't have to be a top-pairing guy. They will just lug around Moore, who was a drag last year, easily. Greene turns 34 this month, he'll be fine, 34 year old defensemen with Greene's profile are usually great. Lovejoy and Quincey, D men over the age of 30 are just humming along in this league especially with their profiles.

The defense has problems. They didn't score goals 5 on 5 last year, so that's one issue. The Devils defense scored 10 goals last year 5 on 5 and 5 were by Schlemko. That's got to be improved upon.

The Devils may not give up more than an average number of goals this season, but their defensemen are not a strong point of the team, not yet.

 

[Bleedred]

The only thing that has hurt Merrill is constantly getting hurt.

Definitely.

But I don't think we did him many favors by bringing him up that early. I think out of the 3 of Larsson, Severson, Merrill, Merrill probably could have used the AHL start.

And injuries also took away quite a bit of college career too, as I believe he missed a good deal of one of his college seasons. Almost the entire season one year? Or was that for suspension? I know he was suspended once too.

I thought the defense was not very good, but it wasn't the worst we've played. It seemed everybody was getting pinned in. Greene was definitely the most noticeably worst one on the eyes.

The last time we played in Sunrise was one of the worst defensive games of last season, combined with a backbreaker Kinkaid sharp angle softy. And the coup de grace was Helgeson and Warsofsky and Jagr in the last few minutes. I think Warsofsky had his lunch money stolen and Helgeson covered the pass so poorly, that even he couldn't believe how lousy he played it.

 

[Oneiro]

I think most of the issues (if there are any) seem to have more to do with Hynes' system.

How many times has this group flubbed the breakouts from their own zone, last season through this preseason and through last night's game? Asking some very mediocre IQ players to develop a skillset they frankly don't have. And puck support, which was supposed to be a foundational concept for the team, was very poor last season and last night looked no different.

Plenty of time to work on it, new personnel and all, but a lot of holes appear when you try to get faster.

 

[JimEIV]

Yeah, this unit should be fine. You're absolutely right. Auvitu doesn't have to be good. Severson doesn't have to be a top-pairing guy. They will just lug around Moore, who was a drag last year, easily. Greene turns 34 this month, he'll be fine, 34 year old defensemen with Greene's profile are usually great. Lovejoy and Quincey, D men over the age of 30 are just humming along in this league especially with their profiles.

The defense has problems. They didn't score goals 5 on 5 last year, so that's one issue. The Devils defense scored 10 goals last year 5 on 5 and 5 were by Schlemko. That's got to be improved upon.

The Devils may not give up more than an average number of goals this season, but their defensemen are not a strong point of the team, not yet.

So you're speaking purely from an offensive perspective?

Well hell, sure we need Severson and Auvitu to make contributions.

But even still, I'm not sure I'm willing to shoulder them with the task solely.

From the looks of things Moore is going to be a top 4 Dman and Lovejoy is probably going to actually be the #2 in terms of minutes....I would not be surprised to see Severson as the #4 by years end, similar to the way Fayne was #4 in minutes while being on the top pair the majority of the time with Greene his last year here. I don't know this for a fact, but if I had to bet, I'd bet Lovejoy and Moore finish with more minutes than Severson this season. That's pretty much the way it went last night.

So even before we get to Severson and Auvitu, Greene, Lovejoy and Moore most likely will be the top minute getters and should be shouldering more of the responsibility.

Greene had 1
Lovejoy had 4 ES goals last year
Moore had 1
Severson had 1
Merrill had 1
Quincey had 1

Santini ?
Auvitu ?

It would seem there are a few players before Severson and Auvitu that need to step up their game?

 

[Better Call Sal]

I hope Hall has been good for yall.

We love Larsson here in Edmonton. I think this was a win-win trade.

He will be, I have no doubt.

Glad that Lars is getting the love he deserves. Treat him well

 

[Hisch13r]

Did we not just see Larsson take a few years to find himself in this league? And as for Severson's lack of production, is that surprising given the team as a whole has been really bad at scoring goals the last two years?

No we didn't. Whenever he played he was good. Dumboer just wouldn't play him. He wouldn't have went from bottom pair dman to first pair dman overnight after the coaching change

 

[NJDevs26]

No we didn't. Whenever he played he was good. Dumboer just wouldn't play him. He wouldn't have went from bottom pair dman to first pair dman overnight after the coaching change

Yes and no...he was good the season DeBoer got fired even before the change. But before that not so much in the previous two seasons. His lack of speed was a real problem before he took skating lessons and got smarter over how to play forwards.

 

[Hisch13r]

Top end? Hall is easily. The others are debatable. Henrique I don't think is top end at all. Cammalleri could decline at any season now, but he could be considered that I suppose depending on your definition. Palmeri I think is our 2nd best offensive forward and could be.

No way he's better than Cammalleri. Cammy put up 38 points in 42 games last year and Palmieri had 57 in 82. Cammalleri was better than Hall last season

 

[Hisch13r]

Yes and no...he was good the season DeBoer got fired even before the change. But before that not so much in the previous two seasons. His lack of speed was a real problem before he took skating lessons and got smarter over how to play forwards.

He was always solid defensively. When Robinson was still here for his rookie season he was really good. Put up 18 points in 65 games as a rookie and was solid defensively

 

[MadDevil]

Ah yes, the old DeBoer ruined Larsson excuse...

 

[captainscott]

Again I did not see any major issues with the D outside of Greene in the 1st.

The biggest problem was the team being out of sync, and most likely us not using the best line combinations. Someone was always a step in front or behind the play through the neutral zones, which lead to bad entries or straight up turnovers.

On the flip side (and I'll never understand why we can't give other team's any credit) Florida's top line was perfectly in sync and was buzzing all night.

that really was the difference in game florida played perfectly through the neutral zone and entered the zone flawlessly especially in third period putting pressure on the devils and they couldn't turn that tide. devils defense had zero time and space while florida defense had lots of it... made all the difference in the forecheck for both teams.