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

[TheUnseenHand]

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

Honestly it's mostly working. We are scoring quite a bit. But this system requires a good goalie because it's prone to giving up glorious chances and we don't have one.

 

[Omar Little]

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.

Yep they fly the zone like crazy. They are going to have to moderate that next year

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

The defensive structure of the team stinks, but that’s not really what this game was about. Washington barely generated anything, a good goalie doesn’t let in 4. Ty Smith stunk and we had a breakdown on what is normally an excellent PK.

 

[Unknown Caller]

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.
The
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.

Except the Devils aren't middle of the road offensively. They're 3rd in the league in HDCF%, 8th in xGF and 11th in GF. All of this with injuries to major players throughout the vast majority of the season. In today's NHL, the dump, chase and cycle game isn't what it was even ten years ago. Say what you will about Ruff, but offensively the Devils are a very dangerous team.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Yep they fly the zone like crazy. They are going to have to moderate that next year

I would be careful about neutering what this team does best. The roster is built to transition up ice quickly and create chances with speed and odd man rushes. If you reel them in and make them hesitate even a half of a second in transition, it's going to allow opponents to neutralize the Devils greatest advantage.

Again, even with their defensive structure, the Devils control the expected goals for and the high danger scoring chance rate with the best teams in the league. They need to get a goalie who can make a stop and keep playing with their current structure. The roster is built for it. They aren't the Islanders.

 

[Omar Little]

I would be careful about neutering what this team does best. The roster is built to transition up ice quickly and create chances with speed and odd man rushes. If you reel them in and make them hesitate even a half of a second in transition, it's going to allow opponents to neutralize the Devils greatest advantage.

Again, even with their defensive structure, the Devils control the expected goals for and the high danger scoring chance rate with the best teams in the league. They need to get a goalie who can make a stop and keep playing with their current structure. The roster is built for it. They aren't the Islanders.

I’m not suggesting it’s eliminated but just that it’s moderated a tad. It may honestly be a game management thing (I.e don’t fly the zone when you’re up 2-1 for in the third).

 

[MartyOwns]

just watched the game…the pieces are clearly here, which is exciting. smith though…oof. looking like a swing and a miss on that one.

 

[haak84]

The defensive structure is no where near as Hynes level bad. Severson looks much more responsible than a couple years ago. Throw in graves and siege and we have a much tighter defense.

Ty Smith is the biggest issue on our defense. It’s not even close. If we inverse his negative play and had a decent goalie, this is a 95 point team. I don’t know if he can be fixed based off of the decisions he’s been making in games. Looks like the rest of the league is getting bigger and faster and he peaked.

Hopefully we see a different player next year.

Jack Hughes is a magician and he’s started to look like a mcdavid/Kane hybrid. With the best takeaway skills I’ve ever seen. We are so lucky. Throw in hischier and bratts level ups and we are looking like a very good team over the next 5 years.

 

[guitarguyvic]

I would be careful about neutering what this team does best. The roster is built to transition up ice quickly and create chances with speed and odd man rushes. If you reel them in and make them hesitate even a half of a second in transition, it's going to allow opponents to neutralize the Devils greatest advantage.

Again, even with their defensive structure, the Devils control the expected goals for and the high danger scoring chance rate with the best teams in the league. They need to get a goalie who can make a stop and keep playing with their current structure. The roster is built for it. They aren't the Islanders.

I don’t understand this thinking. Being very good at a particular aspect of the game does not mean you abandon everything else in favor of it. Good teams can win games in multiple different manners.

The transition game can be their default/primary strength, but they have to recognize when they might need to pull back from that and adjust based on the opposition or in-game situation. If this team never learns to do that, then don’t expect for them to rack up more wins than losses.

My biggest concern - and this ties into development and the coaching staff - is that our young players are being allowed to develop bad habits that might not be so easily unlearned later on, especially considering some of those things may not be things that come naturally to them.

 

[Guttersniped]

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

Lafreniere is on the 2nd unit with Copp, they both got the same amount of PP time against the Pens (1:00). (Top unit got 1:00 too, Pittsburgh only took on penalty and they managed to split the PP exactly in half.)

 

[devilsblood]

The defensive structure of the team stinks, but that’s not really what this game was about. Washington barely generated anything, a good goalie doesn’t let in 4. Ty Smith stunk and we had a breakdown on what is normally an excellent PK.

I didn't watch the game, but I see Smith with a really good cf%. Was he really that bad, or was it just a bad gaffe or two?

 

[swiiscompos]

I didn't watch the game, but I see Smith with a really good cf%. Was he really that bad, or was it just a bad gaffe or two?

Quite a few pretty bad gaffes, which is when I noticed him. Before he basically gifted a goal to the Caps he was playing fine.

 

[Bleedred]

At least the whole ''Maybe Daws could be on the NHL team next year?'' stuff died down.

After 12 games of .916% from Daws, he's been an .852% over his last 5 games played. He's averaged about 3.8 goals per game and his GAA is probably even higher than that considering he was pulled about 29 minutes into each of the Vancouver and Calgary games.

Just f***ing play Gillies and take the f***in punch.

I would almost guarantee that Fitzy knows at this very moment whether he's bringing Ruff back or not. Gillies torpedoing us for 1-3 games more than likely isn't gonna change the circumstances from Ruff coming back to not coming back next year or make it go from a maybe to a no or a yes to a maybe.

I would bet his fate has already been decided, either way it happens to go.

I mean, maybe there's a chance that he could be leaning towards bringing him back as of now, but if we lose like 12 or 14 of the last 17 games then maybe he might decide against it by then?

No matter what happens next year, all I'm saying is that it's likely already been decided. Ruff is either a decided lame duck or he's coming back for next year. Gillies coming out and killing us in the second half of a back to back (where Daws has been particularly poor on the second half of back to backs anyway) isn't going to cost him anything that hasn't already been totaled.

And while Daws has had 2-3 times as many good games as Gillies has, his last handful are definitely treading Gillies waters.

 

[devilsblood]

Except the Devils aren't middle of the road offensively. They're 3rd in the league in HDCF%, 8th in xGF and 11th in GF. All of this with injuries to major players throughout the vast majority of the season. In today's NHL, the dump, chase and cycle game isn't what it was even ten years ago. Say what you will about Ruff, but offensively the Devils are a very dangerous team.

Maybe an odd example here, but when Jagr could no longer find a place in the league, despite being a good cf% and gf% player, I thought that was a clear indication of the direction the league was heading.

Granted there are old slow guys in the league, but I thought that was a signal of sorts.

 

[Bleedred]

I didn't watch the game, but I see Smith with a really good cf%. Was he really that bad, or was it just a bad gaffe or two?

I didn't think he was that bad, but made a very poor and careless pass that was picked off I think in our O-zone and was brought up the ice for an odd man rush and a goal against.