GDT: Your New Jersey Devils (23-36-5) @ Washington Capitals (36-20-10), 7 PM, MSG+

[njdevils1982]

Nah, great hockey player, but can't respect him backing a monster over and over again publicly.

you do know there is an edit feature on these boards when you post something

 

[Tao Jersey Jones]

Should have gone with AuHauteChic.

Au Côte de Toque

I'll stop.

Who am I kidding?

I won't.

 

[RSeen]

Get the f*** out of here with morale victories Dano.

They lost because their defensive system is shit and not one goalie can make a big save

We lost because of goaltending. The defence has been adequate. We totally outplayed Wash, so if we lose because of goaltending once again, I think it is reasonable to look at morale victories. At this point its not about the record, its about player development.

 

[RSeen]

No team has lost more when scoring first then us.

Ruff has to GO

Its called having the worst goaltending in the league. Are people really not able to separate coaching and goaltending still?

 

[MadDevil]

Its called having the worst goaltending in the league. Are people really not able to separate coaching and goaltending still?

I think it's both. Yes, the goaltending stinks, but we also tend to be rather loosey goosey when it comes to playing with a lead. Part of that is just the fact that we're young and our best players are more offensive players, so they're going to make mistakes. But I think Ruff's system lacks structure and it bites us in the ass combined with our goaltending. Although it's good for our offensive players, so it's not all bad.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I think it's both. Yes, the goaltending stinks, but we also tend to be rather loosey goosey when it comes to playing with a lead. Part of that is just the fact that we're young and our best players are more offensive players, so they're going to make mistakes. But I think Ruff's system lacks structure and it bites us in the ass combined with our goaltending. Although it's good for our offensive players, so it's not all bad.

That's been an MO of Ruff's teams in general, the reason why he got so far in Buffalo in the playoffs is he had a top 3 goalie + peak Ryan Miller. It was the reason for his undoing in Dallas after that one great year they had. He's a stop gap coach, if he can develop Hughes and the young guys, he's done what he was supposed to imo. He won't be here when this team is competing in the playoffs or ready to take the next step.

 

[Tao Jersey Jones]

 

[Eggtimer]

I think it's both. Yes, the goaltending stinks, but we also tend to be rather loosey goosey when it comes to playing with a lead. Part of that is just the fact that we're young and our best players are more offensive players, so they're going to make mistakes. But I think Ruff's system lacks structure and it bites us in the ass combined with our goaltending. Although it's good for our offensive players, so it's not all bad.

Id say it is 85% horrendous goaltending and 14% PP coaching and 1% issue with Ruff. Ruff has come out before and said he lets Jack do whatever the hell he wants on offence as long he does what Ruff asks of him on defence. Be careful what you ask for . We could have a coach that handcuffs our skilled guys and benches the lids whenever they make one mistake . Favours vets over skilled kids. Ruff uses our core players in situations that normally coaches wouldnt put them in. Ruff has done exactly what he was brought here to do . Help the kids develop. Id say that Bratt Hughes and others have done exactly that .... he lets them do their thing that makes them the good players that they are.
Look at the Rangers and Gallant. He is crushing their young forwards confidence and not putting them in positions to succeed . Laf , Kakko , Anderson , Kratzov , Chytl , all haver done shitty since they have been in the NHL.
Give Ruff a beak. Im happy to have Bratt at a PPG pace and Jack over a PPG ...

 

[guitarguyvic]

I don’t think it’s “defense” per se. This team is super irresponsible with the puck at the blue lines. They try to blow the zone before they have control of the puck CONSTANTLY. They also consistently try to make high risk plays at the blue line in the o-zone. These are consistent issues that have not improved one bit all season. Combine that with extremely shaky goaltending and it’s almost impossible to win a game unless they score 4+ goals per game.

 

[Devs3cups]

Id say it is 85% horrendous goaltending and 14% PP coaching and 1% issue with Ruff. Ruff has come out before and said he lets Jack do whatever the hell he wants on offence as long he does what Ruff asks of him on defence. Be careful what you ask for . We could have a coach that handcuffs our skilled guys and benches the lids whenever they make one mistake . Favours vets over skilled kids. Ruff uses our core players in situations that normally coaches wouldnt put them in. Ruff has done exactly what he was brought here to do . Help the kids develop. Id say that Bratt Hughes and others have done exactly that .... he lets them do their thing that makes them the good players that they are.
Look at the Rangers and Gallant. He is crushing their young forwards confidence and not putting them in positions to succeed . Laf , Kakko , Anderson , Kratzov , Chytl , all haver done shitty since they have been in the NHL.
Give Ruff a beak. Im happy to have Bratt at a PPG pace and Jack over a PPG ...

While I get what you’re saying and agree with your premise, Kakko seems to have had numerous opportunities to succeed and Laf plays nightly on Zib and Kreider’s line. Maybe it’s just that those kids aren’t at Jack’s level, yet at least?

Their top offensive weapons are doing just fine which leads me to believe Gallant isn’t shackling the offense.

 

[Eggtimer]

While I get what you’re saying and agree with your premise, Kakko seems to have had numerous opportunities to succeed and Laf plays nightly on Zib and Kreider’s line. Maybe it’s just that those kids aren’t at Jack’s level, yet at least?

Their top offensive weapons are doing just fine which leads me to believe Gallant isn’t shackling the offense.

Gallant is not shackling the offence on the whole , but rather places more trust in the vets and hardly uses the kids in important situations. Laff is off the PP all together. Copp even gets PP time over him . They just got Copp at the deadline. They dont put their kids in the best position to succeed IMO

 

[Devs3cups]

Gallant is not shackling the offence on the whole , but rather places more trust in the vets and hardly uses the kids in important situations. Laff is off the PP all together. Copp even gets PP time over him . They just got Copp at the deadline. They dont put their kids in the best position to succeed IMO

True. With that being said, with Fitz putting his faith in the kids like he does and with his recent comments, I doubt he’d hire a coach that blocks their offensive creativity. I get the concern though.

 

[MadDevil]

I certainly don't want to the kids to be stifled, but there is a middle ground between letting them do whatever they want to and benching them for every mistake. I'm okay with Ruff letting them go now because we have nothing to lose. The season has been over for a while now. Might as well let them build up their confidence by putting points on the board. Hopefully we can bring in a coach that can build on that and add some structure so we can take a step forward. And by structure I don't mean like a Guy Boucher or Torts, but something better than what we have now.

And obviously we need better goaltending too. I don't think there's any defensive system that would allow us to be good with the quality of goaltending we get most nights the last couple years.

 

[tailfins]

Gallant is not shackling the offence on the whole , but rather places more trust in the vets and hardly uses the kids in important situations. Laff is off the PP all together. Copp even gets PP time over him . They just got Copp at the deadline. They dont put their kids in the best position to succeed IMO

What are you talking about?

By development, do you mean scoring? Or do you mean get better as hockey players?

Responsibility with the puck. Managing game situations. Defensive awareness. These are all part of developing as hockey players.

Do you see much improvement from our kids in these areas?

I’d much prefer to win 2-1 than lose 4-3 (or 6-3). That extra goal’s worth of offense isn’t as entertaining to me as a win.

 

[tailfins]

Gallant is not shackling the offence on the whole , but rather places more trust in the vets and hardly uses the kids in important situations. Laff is off the PP all together. Copp even gets PP time over him . They just got Copp at the deadline. They dont put their kids in the best position to succeed IMO

Btw, Fox seems to be developing quite well under the various Ranger coaches. Miller seems to be progressing as well. Lindgren too.

Laf had 1 point on the power play all year (an assist). He’s producing at a Sharangovich level (well, worse: Rango has a goal and an assist in roughly the same power play time).

If the Devils brought in a vet as part of gearing up for the playoffs, you’re telling me that you’d be upset if Sharangovich didn’t get power play time any more?

 

[Emperoreddy]

Ruff's system is hyper aggressive. It calls for the forwards to fly the defensive zone before there is complete possession of the puck, and asks the D to play extremely aggressive and deep in the offensive zone, which is why they get caught with odd man rushes the other way so often.

All 6 D do this and all 6 have gotten caught this year because of it.

It's also all off the rush. They have no plan in place to hold possession, cycle, and generate multiple scoring chances.

There has to be a middle ground system wise. Especially when playing this aggressive only gets us middle of the road offensively with an awful power play on top of it.

 

[Alex NJD]

Btw, Fox seems to be developing quite well under the various Ranger coaches. Miller seems to be progressing as well. Lindgren too.

Laf had 1 point on the power play all year (an assist). He’s producing at a Sharangovich level (well, worse: Rango has a goal and an assist in roughly the same power play time).

If the Devils brought in a vet as part of gearing up for the playoffs, you’re telling me that you’d be upset if Sharangovich didn’t get power play time any more?

Seems like all of their young dmen are progressing nicely while their young forwards are sinking. Interesting to think about

 

[tailfins]

Ruff's system is hyper aggressive. It calls for the forwards to fly the defensive zone before there is complete possession of the puck, and asks the D to play extremely aggressive and deep in the offensive zone, which is why they get caught with odd man rushes the other way so often.

All 6 D do this and all 6 have gotten caught this year because of it.

It's also all off the rush. They have no plan in place to hold possession, cycle, and generate multiple scoring chances.

There has to be a middle ground system wise. Especially when playing this aggressive only gets us middle of the road offensively with an awful power play on top of it.

You’re nailing why the power play is terrible. The team only creates offense via the rush, which doesn’t work on the power play. Basically another area where the kids must develop, but have not yet.

 

[tailfins]

Seems like all of their young dmen are progressing nicely while their young forwards are sinking. Interesting to think about

Eh - I wouldn’t go that far. The Ranger kids on the back end have had their struggles, too. I was just pointing out that the Gallant does have young players in important roles.

 

[haak84]

100% on Ty Smith. Worst defender on the devils in a long time. Even butcher was never this bad.

 

[TBF1972]

You are way too concerned about back to backs. Its a 20 year old kid . Think he is burnt out already ? Its not as big of a deal as people make it out to be.
Im sure if you asked him and he answered truthfully , he would have zero hesitation in wanting to play back to backs. Its not like he has played 55 games up until now and is gettign rode constantly . Give me a break on this shit that he is getting destroyed by playing too much .

And what is the alternative? Put in a goalie that is an automatic loss where there is a very good chance 6 or 7 goals are given up? Hell no . Im sure the rest of the team thinks the same thing but just cant come out and say it.

Automatic loss or loss or win, what's the difference for the current season.

Developing good habits, chemistry and the players is the best team can get out of this season aside from the high draft pick. I don't know, if results have the highest priority right now.

 

[NJ DevLolz]

Fine with this result. Again, the right players are dominating and producing. Daws isn’t on this team in October. Let them continue to play well and get another top 6 w or top 4 d in the draft. Anyone who is paying attention can see that the pieces are here

 

[Saint Beaurivage]

Sounds crazy to say but the last few weeks have been exciting to see our youth nucleus develop and enter the next stage. I think next year will be our first season to get excited about in over a decade. I still have faith in Blackwood. He is much quicker than Dawes and has shown me enough to realize he has the potential to regain where he dropped off.

Ruff on the other hand is not the coach we want to continue with. I like him as a person but we need more of a strategist and disciplinarian.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

What are you talking about?

By development, do you mean scoring? Or do you mean get better as hockey players?

Responsibility with the puck. Managing game situations. Defensive awareness. These are all part of developing as hockey players.

Do you see much improvement from our kids in these areas?

I’d much prefer to win 2-1 than lose 4-3 (or 6-3). That extra goal’s worth of offense isn’t as entertaining to me as a win.

The Rangers give up way more scoring chances and high danger scoring chances than us. They just get goaltending.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I don’t think it’s “defense” per se. This team is super irresponsible with the puck at the blue lines. They try to blow the zone before they have control of the puck CONSTANTLY. They also consistently try to make high risk plays at the blue line in the o-zone. These are consistent issues that have not improved one bit all season. Combine that with extremely shaky goaltending and it’s almost impossible to win a game unless they score 4+ goals per game.

Yeah and these are Lindy Ruff things. He loves fast transitions where forwards cheat out of the zone and defensemen join the rush.