What I Don't Understand About the Devils

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

That's a good way to put it. At least for us, and the situation we were in. We needed Larsson more than Hall, period. McDavid and Draisaitl are the highest scoring duo in the league -- even more than Sid and Malkin right now.

To be fair, they've played a combined 10 more games and only have 2 more points. Crosby and Malkin have a combined 68 points in 58 games, McDavid and Draisaitl have a combined 70 points in 68 games.

 

[KarmaPolice]

To be fair, they've played a combined 10 more games and only have 2 more points. Crosby and Malkin have a combined 68 points in 58 games, McDavid and Draisaitl have a combined 70 points in 68 games.

Yep. But it's still a fact so far. Drai has been producing just fine with Hall: ANOTHER alarm bell that all the people screaming how terrible the deal was for the Oilers that ended up being nothing but a hollow cry for a wolf that isn't there. Even if they finish as the 2nd highest scoring duo, that's amazing given their age. Sid and Malkin SHOULD be outscoring them, giving that they're are at their peak with much more experience. Drai and McD still have not hit their peak yet, and both are basically just 2nd year pros (I know Drai played some of another season, but he didn't play much of a role and had very limited minutes).

 

[JT Kreider]

Passing on Provorov and Werenski for Zacha was a mistake IMO, even if Zacha reaches his 2C ceiling. The former two players have such high ceilings at such a crucial position in todays NHL. I also thought Logan Brown was obviously a better option with their 2016 pick.

They could have started to resemble a team not unlike the 2016-2017 NYR in a year or two had the picked Provorov/Werenski and Brown rather than Zacha and McLeod. NYR doesn't have an elite 1C but they have a ton of depth, a 1D and great goaltending.

They should absolutely get involved in the Duchene sweepstakes.

Hall-Duchene would be a killer combo.

At the time, the Devils were lacking offense and they seemed to be somewhat set on defense.

Larsson, Severson, Merril, Gelinas, Helgeson, Santini etc.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

how is it far from the truth? When we traded hall for larrson, everyone said our scoring would go down. It didn't. People say we got ripped off. Our team is further ahead with larsson being a big part of that. How is that being ripped off? Explain. I brought up seguin because that's called a "hypothetical". Look it up. If it was seguin, then it would've been a landslide victory for nj. They didn"t get seguin (read: A franchise center) so it was not nearly as big as a win for nj as everyone on hear was screaming. Look at what your team got for kessel, and you are one to talk about the value of wingers??? Are you being ****ing serious right right!?! Get the hell out of here. Again, all you have to look at is the kessel trade. It's as simple as that. Wingers do not have the value as people like you seem to think, and it's been proven to you time and time again. Those are just the facts. Kessel is a much better goal scorer than hall is, and she be seen as just as much of a "franchise player" as hall is (i don't think neither are "franchise players", for the record).

what.

 

[Weberisbetter*]

Palmeri and Henrique arent scoring at a 25+ goal clip for one and have each only done so once in their careers. Drafting has hurt the Devils the past couple of years. Zacha shouldve been picked in the 10-15 range, instead they picked him over Provorov, Werenski, Konecny, Rantanen and Chabot who are all better players. Then they pick McLeod when they could have had Logan Brown or Charlie McAvoy.

 

[Weberisbetter*]

At the time, the Devils were lacking offense and they seemed to be somewhat set on defense.

Larsson, Severson, Merril, Gelinas, Helgeson, Santini etc.

Doesnt matter you take the BPA and Zacha wasnt even close to it. If they needed offense they should have taken Rantanen.

 

[Cawz]

This post couldn't be farther from the truth. The Devils offense has struggled in spite of Taylor Hall, not because of him.

One player isn't going to turn around an entire offense that has little to no depth.

Centers generally score less goals than wingers so that point makes little to no sense. Bringing up Tyler Seguin is irrelevant as he was not on the table and if he was the Dallas Stars would have asked for a lot more than just Adam Larsson.

The Edmonton Oilers were chastised for that trade not because Larsson is a poor player but because a young top 10 winger is worth a lot more than a young defensive defenseman. The fact that the Oilers received no + for a near-PPG player signed long term made it a poor trade made out of desperation.

Its kind of funny that you mention that Hall is signed long term, considering Larsson is signed longer term, and for almost 2 mil cheaper. So there was a plus - cap space.

Oilers are better in every category from last year. Shots, shots against, goals, goals against. NJ has a small increase in goals and more in shots, but have a way worse shots and goals against. So what improvement they have in offence is stifled with the decrease in defense, which also affects the offence (its hard to score goals when youre hemmed in your own zone all game - something the Oilers have been guilty of for many years until this year).

 

[Cawz]

Another factor is that the Devils have played 20/31 games thus far on the road.

Ouch

They should absolutely get involved in the Duchene sweepstakes.

Hall-Duchene would be a killer combo.

On both sides of the ice, for different reasons.

 

[Tripod]

What I also find odd, is that they are not a playoff team, yet are not sellers at the deadline either.

They missed the playoffs the last 4 years, yet have drafted 5, 6, 6, abpnd 9 players in each of the last 4 drafts. So only one did they accumulate extra picks. The others they had less than the 7 they start with.

They looked to have a good young D on the way a few years ago. Now, meh. I was a bit worried that the Flyers could young D could fall into the same fate, but after having Ghost and Provy's impact, it's already better going forward. Thanks for picking Zacha.

Schneider is a good goalie, he keeps them from being way worse than they really are. Would anyone trade their forwards for NJ's?

 

[KarmaPolice]

On both sides of the ice, for different reasons.

Aint that the truth.

Still, would be fun to watch. Lots of goals at both ends. That's action I like to see (as long as it's not my team allowing the goals )

 

[JarvisFunk]

Like Oilers fans know, if your defense can't get the puck out, or up to the forwards, it doesn't make a difference how much offensive talent you have up front, you wont be scoring.

See also: Dallas Stars

 

[KarmaPolice]

Like Oilers fans know, if your defense can't get the puck out, or up to the forwards, it doesn't make a difference how much offensive talent you have up front, you wont be scoring.

Truth. And THAT is why it was actually worth it to pay a big price for Larsson. I'm just glad it wasn't one of our centers -- especially McDavid (duh), Draisaitl and even Nuge. I'd rather keep Nuge over Hall. Nuge looked good as a winger just last night. That kind of flexibility has HUGE value. Hell just look at when Team Canada chooses forwards. How many centers do they pick compared to pure wingers? There are always a TON of centers chosen, even to be used as wingers, because that flexibility to be able to play both center and wing is just huge. But yeah, I love Larsson so much. He's the right-side pairing that Klefbom has needed for 2+ years. Finally we're almost set. We just need a perfect partner for Sekera, and our top-4 is set for years to come.

But yeah, you need big, strong D who will take and make hits to be able to move the puck up. Larsson is just that for us, and when Klefbom-Larsson are on the ice, I'm always very confident and relaxed.

 

[JT Kreider]

What I also find odd, is that they are not a playoff team, yet are not sellers at the deadline either.

They missed the playoffs the last 4 years, yet have drafted 5, 6, 6, abpnd 9 players in each of the last 4 drafts. So only one did they accumulate extra picks. The others they had less than the 7 they start with.

They looked to have a good young D on the way a few years ago. Now, meh. I was a bit worried that the Flyers could young D could fall into the same fate, but after having Ghost and Provy's impact, it's already better going forward. Thanks for picking Zacha.

Schneider is a good goalie, he keeps them from being way worse than they really are. Would anyone trade their forwards for NJ's?

Apparently the Rangers

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=2117433

 

[JimtheMagicalHamster]

What I also find odd, is that they are not a playoff team, yet are not sellers at the deadline either.

Lou's stubbornness. Last year, Shero finally embraced that we're bad and started accumulating picks. We ended up with an extra third and fourth last year and already have an extra second both this year and next year, plus an extra third next year.

 

[NoQuitInNewMexico]

I know very little about Boucher but he seemed like the kind of player the Devils should have tried to persist with, how/why did he get waived?

 

[izzy]

Also sucks that McLeod and Bastian are under performing this year

they need a prospect who is going to break out offensively

 

[Blue Line Turnover]

Truth. And THAT is why it was actually worth it to pay a big price for Larsson. I'm just glad it wasn't one of our centers -- especially McDavid (duh), Draisaitl and even Nuge. I'd rather keep Nuge over Hall. Nuge looked good as a winger just last night. That kind of flexibility has HUGE value. Hell just look at when Team Canada chooses forwards. How many centers do they pick compared to pure wingers? There are always a TON of centers chosen, even to be used as wingers, because that flexibility to be able to play both center and wing is just huge. But yeah, I love Larsson so much. He's the right-side pairing that Klefbom has needed for 2+ years. Finally we're almost set. We just need a perfect partner for Sekera, and our top-4 is set for years to come.

But yeah, you need big, strong D who will take and make hits to be able to move the puck up. Larsson is just that for us, and when Klefbom-Larsson are on the ice, I'm always very confident and relaxed.

Yeah, I would much rather keep Nuge over Hall. When he's on his game, he's much more valuable.

 

[Tripod]

And man, Severson has died off since his earlier good start.

Last 16 games: 4 points, -16 and has not been a + in any of those 16 games. And is aleady -1 tonight.

 

[doubledown99]

Oiler fan here...to my fellow Oiler fans - please stop with trying to justify the Hall-Larsson trade. What's done is done. This thread is about the Devils and scoring.

Now back on topic...I read an article a few days ago that interviewed Hall. He discussed the Devils struggles and said it was due to the defensive struggles and said the team was spending way to much time in the defensive zone and were getting hemmmed in there own zone. This resulted in the forwards being tired from defending and was affecting scoring. As an Oiler fan I'm all to familiar with this. Weakness on the blueline leads to a stifling of offense no matter how much talent you have up front. So the Devils will need to upgrade there backend which should improve the offense.

This comment is not in any way saying you should not have made the trade that will not be mentioned. You got more value so you should do it every time. But now Shero has to go out and get some D. If he does that the Devils will ascend in The standings (yes I know easier said then done)

 

[KPower]

And man, Severson has died off since his earlier good start.

Last 16 games: 4 points, -16 and has not been a + in any of those 16 games. And is aleady -1 tonight.

He's terrible, those threads were funny though.

 

[YEM]

Devils have drafted one player since '05 who has scored more than 50 g in his NHL career. Rangers & Flyers have four, Isles have six. No pipeline.

 

[Jets012]

And man, Severson has died off since his earlier good start.

Last 16 games: 4 points, -16 and has not been a + in any of those 16 games. And is aleady -1 tonight.

He's terrible, those threads were funny though.

The guy is on pace for 40+ points while carrying every partner he's played with this year. He's their best defender. He is not even remotely a problem right now.

 

[Suddenly Zyuzin]

At the time, the Devils were lacking offense and they seemed to be somewhat set on defense.

Larsson, Severson, Merril, Gelinas, Helgeson, Santini etc.

Hfboards has always had an issue considering prospects with barely any NHL experience as "set" for the future.

 

[KPower]

The guy is on pace for 40+ points while carrying every partner he's played with this year. He's their best defender. He is not even remotely a problem right now.

Sorry, I meant Severson is terrible defensively.

Carry on.

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

Calling Henrique and Palmieri *barely* 25g players is a bit generous, and that's when getting 1st PP unit time. They are not "25g+" players.