Post-Game Talk: We need a New Goaltender(and Coach); Devils lose 4-1 (Poll)

[Azathoth]

16th in the league is not good for the type of team we are....If we were a defense first team with the ability to lock it down we could go to the Finals being 16th in 5v5 GF....But we are not...We play a quasi-freewheeling wanna-be up-Tempo that gives up tons of chances....Mid of the pack offense won't get it done playing firewagon hockey.

They are above average at generating chances but I agree they need to be way better at finishing those chances. They aren't really giving up a ton of chances thought, at least compared to the rest of the league (805 for devils vs 813 for league). Which again speaks to goaltending being a pretty big culprit.

 

[Unknown Caller]

I think most who are objective can agree that the Devils struggles are a result of a combination of (1) poor goaltending, (2) too many high danger chances against, and (3) lack of finishing ability on the wings.

They are actually effective at generating scoring chances, the special teams have improved, and they analytically are a pretty good team at controlling play (even adjusted emphasize high danger opportunities).

The Devils PDO is second worst in the league, which for yet another season, points to terrible goaltending and lack of finishing ability. Fix those two things and this team will start rolling.

 

[Tao Jersey Jones]

This is something I started noticing on Mac last year, he doesn't seem to have the knack to finding the puck in traffic, and that's something that you can't teach, some goalies have a sixth sense so to speak and you can see that in how they move when they're screened,, but whenever you see Mac in these situations his instinct seems to be to go to his knees and just freeze up and hope the puck hits him.

Going down to his knees too soon was Blackwood's problem in Binghamton.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Delete. Double post.

 

[guitarguyvic]

16th in the league is not good for the type of team we are....If we were a defense first team with the ability to lock it down we could go to the Finals being 16th in 5v5 GF....But we are not...We play a quasi-freewheeling wanna-be up-Tempo that gives up tons of chances....Mid of the pack offense won't get it done playing firewagon hockey.

I agree with this as well. This is sort of a tangible explanation of what it means to not have a team identity. A team built up of mostly finesse playmakers in a system that lacks much defensive structure…scoring only at an average pace is not much different than a team of big lumbering bruisers getting outmuscled and giving up above average amount of goals per game. Part of management’s job is to identify your team’s strengths and build a team/identity around that. If they can’t properly identify that, or they try to fit a round peg into a square hole…that’s just shitty leadership. See Edmonton, Buffalo…NJ?

But to tie this back into the goalie discussion, you inadvertently highlighted exactly why having bad goaltending is absolutely catastrophic for this team. You can’t play a loosely goosey style like this and have average goaltending, much less below average like we’ve seen.

 

[Lou is God]

Going down to his knees too soon was Blackwood's problem in Binghamton.

Case in point the first Coyotes goal last night:



It looks like he can't see the puck and he goes to his knees and the goal is scored over his shoulder, whereas if he was still standing that's a save.

 

[Unknown Caller]

They are above average at generating chances but I agree they need to be way better at finishing those chances. They aren't really giving up a ton of chances thought, at least compared to the rest of the league (805 for devils vs 813 for league). Which again speaks to goaltending being a pretty big culprit.

This exactly. And it was the same issue last year, although special teams was also a big culprit last year. This team does not have an issue generating chances, and while they give up way too many high danger chances, they still control the better of the high danger chances and expected goals.

They need players who can finish and they desperately need better goaltending. Nevermind elite goaltending, just get to league average. Fitz can say whatever he wants about development and patience and players "taking ownership in the dressing room," but it all hinges on fixing those two things and that falls on him.

 

[Triumph]

I don't get how some people can call out one specific thing as being the only, or biggest, reason we're still shit. When this team has as many holes as it does, one single thing isn't sinking this ship.

Offense needs to be better. We need actual top 6 wingers plain and simple in that regard.

The offense can be better, but I feel like the horrible goaltending and poor power play distracts from the fact that the Devils are actually scoring pretty well this year. They're an average scoring team. So this cannot be a big reason why the team's results are well below average. It would take a great offense to keep this team out of the cellar.

Defense needs to be better, from the players we're actually using to the defensive zone structure. We have a more veteran defense and younger forward group, so the fact that our structure more so relies on the forwards reading and reacting to the play because we chose to send both defensemen below the goal line makes no sense to me.

The defense definitely needs to improve - I don't understand why everyone here loves Graves and wants him to re-sign when he's UFA. He's not been all that good. Ty Smith has been bad. Subban hasn't been great but I don't see the Devils replacing hm with something better.

Goaltending needs to be better. Not asking for Vezina caliber play here but just better than what we've currently got. Doesn't help that we essentially have no backup again.

The goaltending is atrocious.

Fixing one isn't doing anything for the others. Maybe it masks the problem for a bit but the problem will still be there.

By all shot, chance, xG, whatever metrics the Devils are basically a break-even team. They do fine shooting-percentage wise too. They are just not getting the stops. Fixing the goaltending - getting .910 goaltending - would make this a 90 point team.

 

[Bleedred]

Blackwood was just on the COVID list a couple weeks ago, granted it’s hard to remember given we only had one game in the last ten days but multiple trips to the COVID list is factual. Of course, this stay wasn’t as long or as debilitating as his stay last year for one or two obvious reasons.

I know he was just recently on it, that's the only reason Gillies played that game last week against the Islanders, but my question is, did he even have symptoms this last time? Most guys haven't been and that's why the league even allowed the protocol to be changed with discontinuing testing of asymptomatic players after the all star break.

Covid is really not a valid excuse to look at what's gone wrong with him this year. I haven't seen anybody making relevance out of it when talking about any other player that's had it on the team this year.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Case in point the first Coyotes goal last night:

He also has a clear view of the puck as it's being released and then doesn't fight to track it. You can see him lose his line of sight and for whatever reason he collapses down towards the middle of the net.

Here he has a clean line of sight to the puck and has no reason to not make a save.

And milliseconds later when the puck is released he's made himself as small as possible and failed to track the puck.

 

[Unknown Caller]

By all shot, chance, xG, whatever metrics the Devils are basically a break-even team. They do fine shooting-percentage wise too. They are just not getting the stops. Fixing the goaltending - getting .910 goaltending - would make this a 90 point team.

Agreed on the goaltending, but the shooting percentage needs to be higher especially given that they generate more high danger chances than most teams which should theoretically result in a higher shooting percentage (since the quality of chances for the shots is higher than usual). Being bottom 10ish in the league in shooting percentage when you're top 7 in the league in high danger chances for is not cutting it.

 

[Tao Jersey Jones]

He also has a clear view of the puck as it's being released and then doesn't fight to track it. You can see him lose his line of sight and for whatever reason he collapses down towards the middle of the net.

View attachment 499965

Here he has a clean line of sight to the puck and has no reason to not make a save.

View attachment 499966

And milliseconds later when the puck is released he's made himself as small as possible and failed to track the puck.

Maybe Blackwood needs to change his eye drops.

 

[Devils731]

I agree with the talk that Blackwood is going down too early, is bobbling pucks, is getting small, and doesn’t appear to be tracking things well.

Part of these problems could come from confidence, which is probably more important for a goalie than anyone else. If you aren’t feeling confident as a goalie you end up trying to do too much and too little; usually at the wrong times.

The Devils poor defensive coverage doesn’t help the goalies with confidence either.

Blackwood really needs to get a couple of games off to help center himself. The team continually rolling him out there while it looks like he’s not in a good mental spot doesn’t help anyone.

Although, starting him coming off the break would have been a moment you would hope he could mentally reset but he’s back at square 1 now.

 

[Triumph]

Agreed on the goaltending, but the shooting percentage needs to be higher especially given that they generate more high danger chances than most teams which should theoretically result in a higher shooting percentage (since the quality of chances for the shots is higher than usual). Being bottom 10ish in the league in shooting percentage when you're top 7 in the league in high danger chances for is not cutting it.

It's fine, though, it results in an ~average number of goals. Could some guys be shooting better, sure, could they use someone who crashes the net, yes. Last night was an anomaly with the Devils failing to convert on chances.

Also the lineup the Devils iced last night shoots significantly higher - the Devils' lowest shooting percentage forwards, apart from McLeod, are Studenic, Boqvist and Holtz, who have a combined 1 goal on 46 shots. McLeod was the only forward last night with a below 10% shooting percentage.

 

[Buck Dancer]

I think it is really tough to pick a 'bigger' problem because this team is rife with problems. Everything has to go absolutely right for this team to win or we need an amazing effort from Bratt or Hughes. There is absolutely no basic solid workmanlike gameplay from game to game that we can count on to generate any offense. Our defensive breakdowns are terrible, and we aren't getting any goaltending to bail it out.

I'm not saying goaltending isn't a problem - I'm just finding it hard after watching last night's game to say that the vomit-like goaltending numbers are the sole cause of this team's demise - and we'd suddenly be a playoff team with great or even good goaltending.

We are frigging miles away right now from being a good team at really anything except having one generational player who is still finding his game and has alot of rough edges and some weightlifting to do - and maybe a few really good second-liners who are growing into their roles.

I fully agree, again.

On the first goal, Jaros was standing in front of Blackwood with a Coyotes player in front of him. He's probably the biggest dman we have on our team and not seeing him box out that player so Mackenzie can actually see the shot (which was extremely weak btw) in order to make the save is so frustrating to watch. On the 2nd goal, Graves gave away the puck on a missed breakout pass that resulted in 3 Coyotes outmuscling 4 of our guys in the slot, which saw the guy who was flat on his ass, get up and actually score the goal. The 3rd goal was a deflection, 3 feet away from Blackwood, where Severson just lost his man. For the 4th goal, Smith swung and missed on an attempted clearing chance right in the slot, that ended up in our net 2 seconds later.

Our horrible play without the puck is making Blackwood look like utter garbage. As much as people want to keep Severson, this is exactly why we should move on and try and get a more defensive dman. For a organisation that was so focused on team defence in the good old days, it's mindboggling to see so many posters that would be happy with a blueline that would include Hamilton, Severson, Smith and eventually L. Hughes and Shak. There's a difference between that potential lineup I just talked about and what the Habs are icing today, which is a bunch of slow defensive dmen who aren't all that great with the puck. Our dmen have to be able to play some type of defence in our own zone and they have to be able to clear the crease. Graves is good but he can't be your main shutdown guy and Siegenthaler looks fantastic... as a #3 option and it's not a knock on him at all because we need studs on our 3rd pairing as well.

This pond hockey style of play will never, ever, get you results at the NHL level. Some of it is on the system and most of it is on the way our roster was built. I really don't understand this system where wingers don't cover their points and has the center running around to break up plays but what do I know... Ruff is in the NHL and I work in insurance. We had 4 guys about 2 feet away from Blackwood when the puck was behind the net, including Tatar, who in a normal system has to be covering the right dman. He wasn't, Nico was a little late and we all know the rest. Can we get back to basics instead of trying to reinvent the game when we're at the bottom of the standings, again, with this absurd system?

This is flat out embarrassing

 

[guitarguyvic]

I agree with the talk that Blackwood is going down too early, is bobbling pucks, is getting small, and doesn’t appear to be tracking things well.

Part of these problems could come from confidence, which is probably more important for a goalie than anyone else. If you aren’t feeling confident as a goalie you end up trying to do too much and too little; usually at the wrong times.

The Devils poor defensive coverage doesn’t help the goalies with confidence either.

Blackwood really needs to get a couple of games off to help center himself. The team continually rolling him out there while it looks like he’s not in a good mental spot doesn’t help anyone.

Although, starting him coming off the break would have been a moment you would hope he could mentally reset but he’s back at square 1 now.

Your last paragraph basically contradicts everything prior. He had time off and it didn’t do anything at all.

The team was playing fine defensively until Blackwood let in those two goals. He wasn’t being shelled at all…the coyotes had only 7 shots at that point! If you can’t fault the goaltender in that situation then there’s no situation a goalie can be held accountable for, ever.

 

[Bleedred]

Oops. Wrong thread.

 

[Bleedred]

He also has a clear view of the puck as it's being released and then doesn't fight to track it. You can see him lose his line of sight and for whatever reason he collapses down towards the middle of the net.

View attachment 499965

Here he has a clean line of sight to the puck and has no reason to not make a save.

View attachment 499966

And milliseconds later when the puck is released he's made himself as small as possible and failed to track the puck.

I really did not want to give him a stoppable goal on this one initially, because he is kind of being screened and he's also being kept in the crease there, but exactly, if you he doesn't go down then that shot hits him. I don't think it's always a goalie's fault when it doesn't hit them because they go down too early, but he clearly has sight of this puck when it's released and goes down for no reason. It's certainly not a terrible goal, but it's really something to look at and consider when you're trying to figure out why he's been so terrible this year.

 

[Bleedred]

And let me point out again, one other HUGE problem with Blackwood currently is that he hasn't been able to keep the other team off the scoreboard in the first handful of shots he faces very often lately.

He was beaten on shot 3 last night

Shot 2 in the last Columbus game

Shot 5 in the first Columbus game he played (it was his only goal allowed) a couple weeks ago.

Shot 2 against Boston, which was a horrific softy.

Shot 11 against Washington. Not bad here.

Shot 3 against Edmonton.

Shot 4 against Buffalo.

Shot 10 against Vegas

Shot 6 against Philly (that was probably the softest goal he's allowed this year from Sanheim if you remember)

These are his last 9 games played and he's allowed a goal on the first 5 shots in 6 of his last 7 games played, a goal on the first 6 shots in 7 of his last 9 games and a goal on the first 10 shots in 8 of his last 9 games.

 

[Devils731]

Your last paragraph basically contradicts everything prior. He had time off and it didn’t do anything at all.

No it doesn’t. Confidence isn’t a mechanical construct; he may need time off from games while still being around the team and practicing.

Goal scorers go through slumps where nothing goes in and they start fumbling easy chances. Goalies get yips too, except they’re much more obvious and harmful so it can be harder to climb out of that hole.

If you can’t fault the goaltender in that situation then there’s no situation a goalie can be held accountable for, ever.

I did fault the goalie, I listed 4 things he’s doing poorly. I’m discussing ways the Devils should be looking to improve the situation; hopefully the team isn’t just saying “be better” over and over again.

 

[McDuffz88]

Tell me how the saves on those goals would be made last night from a technical goaltending perspective. Explain in detail please.

Imagine dying on the Blackwood hill. Baffles my mind we still got posters defending him. I just hope Fitz don't think like you.

 

[JimEIV]

They are above average at generating chances but I agree they need to be way better at finishing those chances. They aren't really giving up a ton of chances thought, at least compared to the rest of the league (805 for devils vs 813 for league). Which again speaks to goaltending being a pretty big culprit.

The Devils are the 8th best in High Danger CF and 11th worst in High Danger CA....That is essentially a wash...To me that says they are forgoing defense to generate offense. That to me looks like the essence of firewagon hockey...Trading chance for chance.


To have any chance of success trading chance for chance, one side of the equations has to be upper echelon...Goals or Goals Against..we do neither well enough to trade chances.

 

[My3Sons]

I fully agree, again.

On the first goal, Jaros was standing in front of Blackwood with a Coyotes player in front of him. He's probably the biggest dman we have on our team and not seeing him box out that player so Mackenzie can actually see the shot (which was extremely weak btw) in order to make the save is so frustrating to watch. On the 2nd goal, Graves gave away the puck on a missed breakout pass that resulted in 3 Coyotes outmuscling 4 of our guys in the slot, which saw the guy who was flat on his ass, get up and actually score the goal. The 3rd goal was a deflection, 3 feet away from Blackwood, where Severson just lost his man. For the 4th goal, Smith swung and missed on an attempted clearing chance right in the slot, that ended up in our net 2 seconds later.

Our horrible play without the puck is making Blackwood look like utter garbage. As much as people want to keep Severson, this is exactly why we should move on and try and get a more defensive dman. For a organisation that was so focused on team defence in the good old days, it's mindboggling to see so many posters that would be happy with a blueline that would include Hamilton, Severson, Smith and eventually L. Hughes and Shak. There's a difference between that potential lineup I just talked about and what the Habs are icing today, which is a bunch of slow defensive dmen who aren't all that great with the puck. Our dmen have to be able to play some type of defence in our own zone and they have to be able to clear the crease. Graves is good but he can't be your main shutdown guy and Siegenthaler looks fantastic... as a #3 option and it's not a knock on him at all because we need studs on our 3rd pairing as well.

This pond hockey style of play will never, ever, get you results at the NHL level. Some of it is on the system and most of it is on the way our roster was built. I really don't understand this system where wingers don't cover their points and has the center running around to break up plays but what do I know... Ruff is in the NHL and I work in insurance. We had 4 guys about 2 feet away from Blackwood when the puck was behind the net, including Tatar, who in a normal system has to be covering the right dman. He wasn't, Nico was a little late and we all know the rest. Can we get back to basics instead of trying to reinvent the game when we're at the bottom of the standings, again, with this absurd system?

This is flat out embarrassing

All good points. Presumably Fitz is ok with the system in place. That's an issue if the system is that flawed. He's not an idiot and I'd be surprised if you could recognize a systemic problem on the ice and he can't, which is confusing. You may very well be right about the system. Personnel is trickier. Fitz is trying to remake the defense but it's a bit of work in progress. Jaros is an injury fill in and you expect mistakes. Graves had a bad game last night but has been good more often than not to my eyes when healthy. He had that stretch after the leg injury where he couldn't move and was bad. Siegs has been very good most nights. He's carried his pairing most nights and that's impressive for a guy just getting his first shot at regular NHL minutes. I don't see why he can't function on a second pair as a solid number 4. Hamilton is a mixed bag and at times has looked bad defensively, but the game is so easy for him with the puck on his stick you live with it. Severson has been better this season than seasons past, but as you've noted he is what he is. It doesn't help that with Hamilton sidelined both Severson and Subban have to play up in the lineup with predictably meh results.

 

[AfroThunder396]

The Devils are the 8th best in High Danger CF and 11th worst in High Danger CA....That is essentially a wash...To me that says they are forgoing defense to generate offense. That to me looks like the essence of firewagon hockey...Trading chance for chance.


To have any chance of success trading chance for chance, one side of the equations has to be upper echelon...Goals or Goals Against..we do neither well enough to trade chances.

No, we're 11th best.

Boston 236
Seattle 279
Calgary 281
Colorado 282
Dallas 292
Minnesota 296
NY Islanders 296
Chicago 297
Nashville 297
Ottawa 300
New Jersey 300
Tampa 310
Pittsburgh 318
Carolina 319
Oilers 329
Vancouver 339
Toronto 341
Washington 341
Winnipeg 342
San Jose 342
Arizona 353
Montreal 359
Florida 365
Columbus 368
Buffalo 372
Los Angeles 376
Anaheim 385
St. Louis 385
NY Rangers 389
Vegas 392
Philadelphia 406
Detroit 414

 

[NjDevsRR]

No, we're 11th best.

Boston 236
Seattle 279
Calgary 281
Colorado 282
Dallas 292
Minnesota 296
NY Islanders 296
Chicago 297
Nashville 297
Ottawa 300
New Jersey 300
Tampa 310
Pittsburgh 318
Carolina 319
Oilers 329
Vancouver 339
Toronto 341
Washington 341
Winnipeg 342
San Jose 342
Arizona 353
Montreal 359
Florida 365
Columbus 368
Buffalo 372
Los Angeles 376
Anaheim 385
St. Louis 385
NY Rangers 389
Vegas 392
Philadelphia 406
Detroit 414

And look at the Rangers near the bottom. Amazing what above average goaltending gets you in this league and vise versa. Swap Mac and Shesterkins performances this season and the teams are in different spots in the standings.