JimEIV
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- Feb 19, 2003
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I thought so too. Bratt play a good game so did Tatar. But that's about it.
Post-Game Talk: Wild 5, Devils 2
- Thread starter Better Call Sal
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Unknown Caller
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- Apr 30, 2009
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They need to put Jack back in the middle as well. He just isn't suited at wing. Complete opposite of Zacha. I can't understand why they keep leaving the Jack and Nico combo together when they create absolutely nothing. The minute they put Jack at center, his impact on the game completely changes.
RNCDevil
Registered User
Not saying Nico is bad, but you want value X for pick Y. 1OA has big expectations. It's awesome that Bratt is an impact player and Mercer looks like a gem...but what's happened is that the Devil's have missed too much value with Zacha, McLeod, Nico, Boqvist, Smith, and very TBD on Holtz. I am not even suggesting these were wild reaches. It's just a lot of below expectation slots since 2015.
The other issue is the really have not been able to handle a heavy team like the caps or bruins. BTW, those teams have skill but I think their decisiveness creates those moments for skill. If you can only play Hughes, Hamilton, and Bratt pray-for-zone-entry hockey they just look ineffective for stretches.
Not sure a coaching change fixes things.
The other issue is the really have not been able to handle a heavy team like the caps or bruins. BTW, those teams have skill but I think their decisiveness creates those moments for skill. If you can only play Hughes, Hamilton, and Bratt pray-for-zone-entry hockey they just look ineffective for stretches.
Not sure a coaching change fixes things.
Billdo
Registered User
I was specifically talking about the power play, there is more than enough ability to not be a 29th ranked PP unit.
Buck Dancer
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- Jul 13, 2021
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I honestly feel like we need a major shakeup but unfortunatly for us, I don't see it happening. We can't have an invisible captain who generates absolutely nothing out there, especially when we're trying to help him out by having our supposed best player on his wing. He's been very "meh" since the start of the season and with the arrival of Jack by his side, he's not looking any better. Is it his constant injuries that have him playing a more reserved game, is it the fact that he feels too much pressure to be the captain of a rebuilding team that has his mind elsewhere, is it that we saw the best of Hischier because he was centering a guy who was playing lights out and won the MVP but when paired with normal players he's just average himself... I don't know. What I do know is that he is not of concerned when the opposition hands out their game plan and that's kind of alarming when he's supposed to be one of our key blocks for the foundation we're trying to lay down.
Nico is our captain and at the moment, we're playing like our leader... Half assing everything with very little care in the world. I would entertain offers on Nico to bring in some size and fire. A feisty guy that can play on our top line and when we need a spark, he can swing things around with a big hit or just getting in someones face. We're as soft as I've ever seen this franchise be for what is now 32 years of me rooting for this team. When I saw Bastian the other game throw a check and the opposing player actually fell flat on his ass, I told myself "man, I haven't seen that in months!". How is that normal when playing the fastest sport out there where collissions happen on a regular basis? Teams take note of that and as a player, when you know the other team isn't going to push back, it just gives you even more confidence to roll all over them.
Nico is our captain and at the moment, we're playing like our leader... Half assing everything with very little care in the world. I would entertain offers on Nico to bring in some size and fire. A feisty guy that can play on our top line and when we need a spark, he can swing things around with a big hit or just getting in someones face. We're as soft as I've ever seen this franchise be for what is now 32 years of me rooting for this team. When I saw Bastian the other game throw a check and the opposing player actually fell flat on his ass, I told myself "man, I haven't seen that in months!". How is that normal when playing the fastest sport out there where collissions happen on a regular basis? Teams take note of that and as a player, when you know the other team isn't going to push back, it just gives you even more confidence to roll all over them.
tr83
Nope, still embarassed
Agreed. Only a few guys are living up to their promise: Bratt, Hamilton, Graves (one off game), and maybe Vesey. The jury is out on Hughes of course.
I'm really disappointed in Nico. He has to be driving a line. He had two really good games. Thats not good enough. Hamilton is doing more from his defensive position to drive the play than he is.
I thought Ruff would be good for these guys. I'm wrong. The coaching staff needs to be cleaned out. Dineen needs to be the coach next year.
Buck Dancer
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- Jul 13, 2021
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It is evident that we have skilled guys on both units but it's also evident that we have too much of the same and are missing guys who can pull the trigger and generate chaos in the blue paint. Who's our shooter on both of our units... Hamilton and Zacha? Who's our net front presence... Mercer? How the hell do you want to generate anything when you're best threat to score is a dman who's standing as far as anyone from the opposing net and you have a kid who's still wet behind the ears and doesn't have the most impressive frame, try and screen a goaler that looks to be twice his size?
Our PP sucks because we have a bunch of pass happy forwards who can't shoot and won't establish anything in the slot, which is the main area you should control when trying to create high dangered chances.
SteveCangialosi123
Registered User
I thought the answer was stupidly trading Bratt? Now we’re stupidly trading Nico?
tr83
Nope, still embarassed
Smith HAS to go to the minors. Severson, who is better than 4 points, can't be babysitting him every night.
Rebel Devil
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- Mar 16, 2014
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Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
I don't think that there are drastic changes that need to be made here. I think the team, whether they want to admit it or not, is guilty of falling into valleys during the game and they're not structured or experienced enough to combat it.
The team plays a live by the sword/die by the sword type of hockey where it's a lot of back and forth, generating and scoring off the rush. And if that dries up the way it somewhat has and you have no PP to speak of to help supplement, well, you kind of end up on the losing end of more games than you win. On top of that, if your defense can't properly perform, then a team like the Wild who are red hot will make you pay. Graves hasn't looked as good in the past month as he did in October. Smith has taken several steps back. Subban is what he is at this point. That collective unit has regressed this past month and it's important to figure out why.
It's frustrating because the team has shown they can be competitive. There is skill here to make things work. I think the changes should be obvious with putting Jack at center and divvying up the talent/skill across the lineup. In addition, make the changes that are needed to the powerplay.
I don't know, it's hard right now. I really don't think there are any passengers here on the team, I think that much of the struggle right now is in between the ears with confidence and confusion. They have a chance to turn around quickly tonight and make us forget about last night. Hopefully we get that and some peace of mind heading into next week with two very winnable games at home in Ottawa and Philly.
The team plays a live by the sword/die by the sword type of hockey where it's a lot of back and forth, generating and scoring off the rush. And if that dries up the way it somewhat has and you have no PP to speak of to help supplement, well, you kind of end up on the losing end of more games than you win. On top of that, if your defense can't properly perform, then a team like the Wild who are red hot will make you pay. Graves hasn't looked as good in the past month as he did in October. Smith has taken several steps back. Subban is what he is at this point. That collective unit has regressed this past month and it's important to figure out why.
It's frustrating because the team has shown they can be competitive. There is skill here to make things work. I think the changes should be obvious with putting Jack at center and divvying up the talent/skill across the lineup. In addition, make the changes that are needed to the powerplay.
I don't know, it's hard right now. I really don't think there are any passengers here on the team, I think that much of the struggle right now is in between the ears with confidence and confusion. They have a chance to turn around quickly tonight and make us forget about last night. Hopefully we get that and some peace of mind heading into next week with two very winnable games at home in Ottawa and Philly.
RNCDevil
Registered User
I like your write-up. It definitely FEELS like they are far from being a playoff team, but it might be recency bias.
theoptimist
Trade Siegenthaler
Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
I don't fault anyone for being fed up because we've been waiting for this to turn for a while now, multiple GMs and rebuilds aside. But I try my hardest to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I figured there would be down times and that there'd be struggles. I didn't think Jack's return would magically improve things after missing nearly two months.
That said, I also didn't expect the PP to be worse in these first 20 games than last year's first 20 games. Don't know if anyone caught that graphic during the broadcast last night, but we are actually operating at a worse clip than last year. After adding in guys like Dougie and Tatar. That is something that is completely unacceptable in my eyes. And I have a tough time faulting the players there. It's clear to me that there is confusion on what to do once they're in the zone (even the entires can be an adventure). It leads to them freezing, overthinking, and becoming way to easy to defend. Therein lies the biggest issue I have with the team through the first quarter of the season.
I like the overall makeup of the team. I think there are pieces here that work along with a lot of talent being developed properly in Utica. I like the structure of the defensive group. I like our goaltending. I don't necessarily like how all of it is being deployed, however.
SteveCangialosi123
Registered User
Ty Smith’s play is an underrated big blow this season. I was banking on him taking a step forward and he’s been arguably the worst dman in the entire NHL. Literally tied for the worst xGF% among dmen in the whole league. It’s a killer.
theoptimist
Trade Siegenthaler
I am serious when I say, that in the offensive zone, I only trust Jack, Dougie, Jimmy, and the BMJ line. Everyone else looks completely lost.
guitarguyvic
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- Mar 31, 2010
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This is a team compromised of mostly good but not great players. All of whom basically play the same type of pass-first, off-the-rush, perimeter game. They also lack structure and are one-dimensional as a whole.
So how do you define “drastic”? Because to me the forward group needs an over haul in much the same mold as what Fitz is doing with the D.
Goaltending has also been inconsistent, even from Blackwood. These rebounds he’s giving up regularly are really bad and appears to be costing us just about one extra GA every night for the last couple of weeks. Time will tell if Mack ever actually becomes consistent enough to be the goalie everyone seems to think he is.
Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
ZachaFlockaFlame
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- Aug 24, 2020
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Not sure how you spend all that money in the offseason and still employ that bozo Recchi on the bench if you’re serious about winning. Reminds me a bit of shootout woes under DeBoer where something other than 5v5 play is hurting NJ even though that’s been terrible lately as well. Better show up tonight with an angry Jets team.
Buck Dancer
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I don't really care who we trade, I'm not emotionally attached to any players we have on our roster. If Bratt can net us the player we need so we don't look like a bunch of wuss's, so be it. If it's Nico, it is what it is. I don't really care who it is, just get someone in here with some fight, fire, balls and will add some much needed character to a group that's soft AF.
This notion that you seem to have, that keeping everyone will somehow eventually change the way we play, is flawed when it's clear as day that we're the easiest team to play against. In order to land a solid player, you need to give an important piece the other way. Moving Vesey won't get us anything significant, so we have to look at players that actually have some value. As of now, Nico's value is probably at it's lowest, so it wouldn't be the perfect time to move him but if that's the asking price for someone like MT this summer, I'm pulling the trigger ASAP. I couldn't care less if he's our current captain and if it's Bratt, I couldn't care less if he looks like our best winger, we need to add something we're desperatly lacking and if our goal is to win pond hockey games, we leave things as is but if we want to reach our goal of making the playoffs and potentially having a shot at Lord Stanley, we can't keep this soft ass team intact.
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Eggtimer
Registered User
I think our PP is one of the largest issues we have.
Not only is it not a positive , it takes away any momentum we have plus effects our top 6 guys in a negative way. When they struggle on the PP , it carries over into their 5 on 5 play. They have zero confidence and they all seem to be slumping and I think a large portion of it has to revolve around the dismal PP.
I strongly feel that a lot of our struggles are tied to the crap PP. If that ever got going , the rest of the game would improve. You can see that when they are struggling to score, they get too uptght and their play drops off. They seem to be a very fragile team. When they score first and score often , you can see their entire game pick up and everyone plays with more intensity and it carries over for a few games.
When they struggle , it takes them forever to get going again. Too inconsistent and too many ups and downs depending on diversity.
Not only is it not a positive , it takes away any momentum we have plus effects our top 6 guys in a negative way. When they struggle on the PP , it carries over into their 5 on 5 play. They have zero confidence and they all seem to be slumping and I think a large portion of it has to revolve around the dismal PP.
I strongly feel that a lot of our struggles are tied to the crap PP. If that ever got going , the rest of the game would improve. You can see that when they are struggling to score, they get too uptght and their play drops off. They seem to be a very fragile team. When they score first and score often , you can see their entire game pick up and everyone plays with more intensity and it carries over for a few games.
When they struggle , it takes them forever to get going again. Too inconsistent and too many ups and downs depending on diversity.
Better Call Sal
Salnalysis
I don't think we're that off base here. I'm with you on the lack of overall structure, which I attribute to coaching. I also do think there are mostly good players on this team that still have not reached their full potential yet. Whether they do or not remains to be seen, but I think that is what I refer to as a drastic change. People talk about shipping off players that are a part of the current core because the team isn't winning right now or they aren't performing to their expected capability. That to me is drastic.
I don't believe this team is complete by any means, but I guess I'm more patient than most when I'd like to see what some of these young players pan out to be. Sure we can look to overhaul and bring guys into the forward group, I'm not opposed to that by any means but there are some that I think believe we need to blow it up again which I don't agree with. That I find to be a drastic measure.
I think our goaltending has dipped largely due to our defense. Our goaltending played very well in the first month, but the recent struggles I believe have been more a result of the team starting to fall apart as a whole. Rebound control has been spottier but our goaltending has kept us in more games than its lost.
guitarguyvic
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- Mar 31, 2010
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Yeah I don’t get the attachment to these players either. When I think of the players I have been attached to as a devils fan over the years, it’s not because of where they were drafted or any artificial hype they received. They endeared themselves through the big impact they made on the ice, on the score sheet, and ultimately in the win column. I like a lot of these players, but I’m not attached to them in that way because they really haven’t been impact players and this team has sucked with them in the lineup.
DevilDog
The Original Dog
I saw the graphic. We have more Wins, more GF and a better PK, but somehow the PP is worse with Hamilton.
It’s almost like the players aren’t the problem…
AfroThunder396
[citation needed]
Once the puck carrier enters the zone, it take a long ass time for the other 4 guys to get to their positions. I think that's a big problem with our set ups - the puck carrier gets in, but then they have to play keep-away for 7 seconds while the other dumbasses get to where they need to be. Put the slightest bit of pressure on the guy with the puck and he's going to cough it up because he has no support.
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