Post-Game Talk: The 3 "GOATS" of the Game

[Devs3cups]

Still very early and not passing judgement yet but Nico has to pick it up . He knows this . It’s just a matter of doing it now . Bratt has always been a fringe player to me . I will gladly eat crow if he turns it around but I’m not seeing it .

I actually didn’t hate his game today. I thought he had way more jump than against Buffalo, if he keeps this up the points will come. I just wish he’d deive to the net more.

 

[billingtons ghost]

I have eyes. It was a stoppable shot from a guy who has scored 10 of fewer goals the last 4 years.

I’m not sure why people on here can’t understand that two things can both be true at the same time. That it awful defensive performance tonight with breakdowns galore AND the goaltending was bad on top of it. Saying that you should expect better goaltending than 4 goals on 8 shots shouldn’t be controversial.

Yeah it should - because just like SV%, it tells nothing about the quality of the shots - which were outlined: breakaways, breakdowns and wide open chances by their best scorer.

We didn't get excellent goaltending tonight, but even though people think a 5 hole goal is 'easy' - it isn't - it is one of the toughest shots to stop especially on a quick release on a breakaway when you're trying to stay on your skates to move. Not making excuses for him, but this kid has no book on anyone, and I'm sure he didn't expect Lucic to be able to hit that spot.

 

[My3Sons]

As bad as the game was Nico still not on for an even strength goal against. Maybe this is some sort of process he has to go through. If Mercer and Jack want to score Nico can be on for zero goals against at even strength at that point. How many even strength minutes is that? I’d be curious how that stacks up.

 

[tr83]

Nico feels like Adam Henrique 2.0

Scores some big goals, play competent to good defense, and be relatively invisible for long periods of time.

Bratt has been awful. The season is young, but he is by far the most disappointing so far

 

[NjDevsRR]

I have no worries about Nico. We know the level he can get at. I chalk it up to all the injuries the last two seasons, he’ll rebound.

Bratt, I like the talent, but too often a perimeter player. I would only package him for scoring help. If not definitely hold onto him as we know he has the ability to drive play and make plays.

Sharangovich, I think he will also be fine. Too much talent there. Get one in and his season will be rolling.

Kuokkanen is fine. He gets shit on too much. This is a perfect depth forward player who plays every game the right way. All the little things he constantly does gets unnoticed.

Tatar, hes been active. Much like Yegor, he just needs the first one to go in.

Pavel, God.

Mercer, God II.

Johnsson, God III…just kidding. But good to see him showing his worth as a bottom 6 guy.

 

[Eggtimer]

I don’t think any goals vs Daws were that bad on his part. I feel bad for the kid .
I’m still pissed off by the butt kicking we got . It’s just very disheartening when we have sucked fir so long and I thought this is the year we make some noise and compete for a playoff spot . I know it’s early but a loss like that is very very humbling . No one looked good ( except maybe Mercer and Zacha) . But players like Nico and Shara that I was expecting big things from have been very disappointing . Hopefully they turn things around .

 

[Emperoreddy]

Yeah it should - because just like SV%, it tells nothing about the quality of the shots - which were outlined: breakaways, breakdowns and wide open chances by their best scorer.

We didn't get excellent goaltending tonight, but even though people think a 5 hole goal is 'easy' - it isn't - it is one of the toughest shots to stop especially on a quick release on a breakaway when you're trying to stay on your skates to move. Not making excuses for him, but this kid has no book on anyone, and I'm sure he didn't expect Lucic to be able to hit that spot.

Chico felt Daws should have had that one.

 

[Emperoreddy]

 

[Alex NJD]

It's obvious to everyone the team is struggling to generate offense consistently right now. It was even more apparent tonight when we have ~2 lines with legit offensive talent and 1 of them is basically nullified all night since Calgary has a fantastic checking line of Coleman - Backlund - Pitlick. I like McLeod and all but he doesn't generate enough offense to play in the top 9. Gauthier is ok at 4C, not good not bad.

At even strength tonight the team generated
20 chances in 16:01 for Nico
17 chances in 11:46 for Mercer (Some of these overlapped I believe with the late empty net)
9 chances in 22:22 for McLeod and Gauthier combined. I understand McLeod may be getting tough minutes and what not but this is terrible.

I really think the team should call up Boqvist now. We have to figure out what we truly have in him at some point and I see no better time with Hughes out right now. Perhaps recreating that Shara-Bo-Kuokk line from last year's camp/preseason will help the two no-shows finally find their game. Potentially rolling 3 competent offensive lines and having a solid Vesey-McLeod-Studenic/other 4th line is far better than spending the next ~month or so running this band-aid lineup

 

[Emperoreddy]

I think some guys starting ice cold has created some real selective memories around here...or folks just never liked certain players and using bad starts as an excuse to grind the axe

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

Looks like Mercer and Zacha are the two 1st round centers that will have to carry us instead.

Yes, the real story here is that Hischier's ceiling seems to be 2nd line center. It works fine for us if Jack becomes a true 1st line center but if he does not then back to the drawing board. I mean seriously, when have we really seen the guy dominate the play and really carry the team? I think the closest reference point at the moment for him is Barkov. Nico is miles away from Barkov level, miles and miles.

 

[MadDevil]

Has glen turned heel on Bratt?!

 

[Devils090]

Been saying it about Hischier for a while now, guy just isn’t and never will be an impact player

 

[ThePrideofStockholm]

How bad was it?

 

[NJ Fan 12]

Mercer, Vesey, Wedgewood (though he wasn't an option). Probably Zacha if there was a fourth option.

Had it not been for Wedgewood, particularly in the first and some of the second period, who knows how bad the final score would have been?

 

[NJ Fan 12]

Been saying it about Hischier for a while now, guy just isn’t and never will be an impact player

And you've been wrong EVERY time you've said it.

 

[NJ Fan 12]

It's obvious to everyone the team is struggling to generate offense consistently right now. It was even more apparent tonight when we have ~2 lines with legit offensive talent and 1 of them is basically nullified all night since Calgary has a fantastic checking line of Coleman - Backlund - Pitlick. I like McLeod and all but he doesn't generate enough offense to play in the top 9. Gauthier is ok at 4C, not good not bad.

At even strength tonight the team generated
20 chances in 16:01 for Nico
17 chances in 11:46 for Mercer (Some of these overlapped I believe with the late empty net)
9 chances in 22:22 for McLeod and Gauthier combined. I understand McLeod may be getting tough minutes and what not but this is terrible.

I really think the team should call up Boqvist now. We have to figure out what we truly have in him at some point and I see no better time with Hughes out right now. Perhaps recreating that Shara-Bo-Kuokk line from last year's camp/preseason will help the two no-shows finally find their game. Potentially rolling 3 competent offensive lines and having a solid Vesey-McLeod-Studenic/other 4th line is far better than spending the next ~month or so running this band-aid lineup

Thanks for breaking this down. I mentioned in an earlier post that going into the season I thought Boqvist would be in NJ. Unfortunately, he didn't do much in training camp and has just one assist thus far for Utica.

Will be interesting to see what changes take place before Saturday.

 

[NJ Fan 12]

Geersten needs to be jettisoned into the sun. Somebody get him on the next Bezos c**k rocket, I'll gladly contribute a few quid.

After a debacle like that the Devils 12th forward/enforcer is your biggest concern?

Mmm. Ok I guess.

 

[Devils090]

And you've been wrong EVERY time you've said it.

Pure delusion to think otherwise, besides having the league MVP on his wing what has he done that’s been impressive?

 

[ninetyeight]

Two horrible periods and a one better period to give some false sense of security after the Flames got gassed from b2b games. The final score and 3rd period play doesn't tell how awful we were. Credit to Flames, coaching change has done wonders to them, they look like a completely different team this year. Someone please tell me how Mangiapane fell all the way to round 6, even when scoring over 100pts in OHL his draft year? Was he an overager? He now has 7 goals in 6 games.

It's been looking pretty bad ever since that Seattle Game, even though they somehow won that and the Sabres game (two teams that probably won't be in the playoffs though). It can't all be because of Jack? As usual I'm gonna give them 15 more game to really see what we have here, but I'm quickly sliding down to the doom and gloom camp if they don't figure things out. It's now the 3rd year since drafting Jack, and first of when we should be showing notable improvements. However aside from Jack and Zacha, everyone is playing worse than before.

What happened to Sharangovich and Kuokkanen, was last season just a fluke? They looked terrible even when playing with Hughes the first 2 games. Bratt is playing the worst hockey of his life, if he doesn't turn it around quick I'm starting to think we've already seen his full potential. I don't know what's wrong with Nico, he's better than this, we've seen it. I don't know if all the injury has made him too cautious but he doesn't look like the same player. We were expecting him to take big leaps forward when he's actually regressed. He has looked good defensively in the previous games, but he isn't nowhere near the offensive difference maker he should be. Subban is done, I was secretly hoping he'd get back to form this season, but he is absolutely terrible. I just can't believe this guy won a Norris, his hockey IQ is one of the worst I've seen. He doesn't make a single right decision, he always tries to pass to the wrong guy, he dumps when he should pass and passes when he should dump, he shoots when he should pass and passes when he should shoot.

I'm glad that at least Mercer and Holtz (in the AHL) are exceeding expectations, but if the core they were suppose to compliment doesn't reach their potential, then it's back to the start. Guys we pictured would be in the line up few years ago, Foote, Thompson, Boqvist, Clarke, right now it looks like none of them will become NHLers.

All that said, it's only been 5 games and we've been missing our #1 and #2 goalie and our #1 center. So maybe these are just off nights and there's some chemistry missing with all the new additions to the roster. But everyone really has to step up their game soon or perhaps this core isn't what we thought it would be.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

In retrospect, when you were 3-1, switching up all the lines and D combos doesn't make much sense. Said this in the game thread. Some of the blame, for last night's game here, is on the coaching staff.

Ruff should be a voting option.

 

[Whaddagoal]

In retrospect, when you were 3-1, switching up all the lines and D combos doesn't make much sense. Said this in the game thread. Some of the blame, for last night's game here, is on the coaching staff.

Ruff should be a voting option.

I'm agree with this too, was saying this to my neighbors at the game.

However I'd expect the players to put in a better effort overall. 4-0 after 1st period is downright awful. Give up 1 or 2 goals, and still compete, OK, but that wasn't the case, for first 5-8 minutes they didn't even generate a single high quality scoring chance. It was mostly calgary posession. I remember thinking to myself that this game looked like Washington in 1st period. Puck battles lost, no possession, pucks bouncing over sticks, passes misfiring, or to nowhere....etc...

 

[Whaddagoal]

How bad was it?

Like Washington bad (or worse), for roughly 2 periods. They came out in 3rd to play, basically.

PP awful, don't let the PP goal with Zacha (extra man) deceive you. Literally i couldn't think the PP could get worse from previous few games, and it basically did. They look like deer in headlines when they have the puck at blueline and on wall, and Calgary just pressurizes and the team doesn't know how to utilize the free space/advantage they should have. Pressure on the PP puck holder and he folds...

It's like as if the Devils PP is from a different, minor league squad and they're outclassed with the big boys. They can barely drum up 15 seconds of possession with a man-up! I don't know if it was in the Buffalo game or game before, but we went like 2 PP in a row (1 or 2 shots in entire 2 PPs). This game, there was a PP without a single registered shot ON net.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

I'm agree with this too, was saying this to my neighbors at the game.

However I'd expect the players to put in a better effort overall. 4-0 after 1st period is downright awful. Give up 1 or 2 goals, and still compete, OK, but that wasn't the case, for first 5-8 minutes they didn't even generate a single high quality scoring chance. It was mostly calgary posession. I remember thinking to myself that this game looked like Washington in 1st period. Puck battles lost, no possession, pucks bouncing over sticks, passes misfiring, or to nowhere....etc...

Agreed, the players need to execute. They have come out flat in several games now. It also did remind me of the Caps game.

 

[The Joker]

I just don't think our forwards are especially good and our system right now doesn't compensate. You can get away with a bad forward core if your coach is Barry Trotz for example, but Ruff's system relies on speedy attack which we are not doing at all at the moment.

Honestly? Our wingers suck. There is not one first line winger on this team right now. We were definitely banking on Sharangovich to become that but he seems to be in a sophomore slump right now. Zacha is a 2nd line winger. Bratt had a horrible start and right now doesn't belong in the lineup, but even at his best he is a 2nd line winger at most. Tatar is a 2nd line winger. Everyone else is a 3rd line winger or worse. Our depth on the wing is bad. We so need Holtz to hit.

Center looks better, but tbh Hughes is the only player on the team who could be considered a first line forward, but he probably would play 2nd line on a real contender like Tampa right now. He is on the right track to become an actual 1st liner though. Mercer looks very good and might be our best offensive center right now with Hughes out. Hischier looks like Zajac light right now.

You don't win a lot of games with no real first line forward in the lineup (with Hughes out) so we probably need to temper expectations for this season. I like our defense a hell of a lot more than our offense right now.