Can we get some line speculation going here please?

[Daniel]

bernier was in his proposed lineup. my point was that the suggested lines aren't realistic because zubrus isn't part of the team in his world.

 

right, what i'm saying is that it's even less realistic to expect Bernier to get a spot over Zubrus than it is Carter

[Triumph]

This team needs to roll 4 lines, and play all of them decent minutes. They can't expect Jagr to play the same minutes he played last year. The only way they have enough forward talent is if the 4th line is more like a traditional 3rd line, which means the kids will get minutes. I could see Boucher getting AHL minutes, but IMO Matteau is good enough to get top 9 minutes, or close to it. Even ignoring him, Gionta is not one of the top 12 forwards on this team. I've defended him in the past, but they absolutely need to move on. 

 

Gionta HAS played his way out of the lineup. Last couple years, there's been no one to replace him, unless you have some love for Tim Sestito. That's just not true anymore.

 

Matteau didn't even reach a point every other game last year in the AHL, and it's not like he was snakebitten S%-wise either and he played on a team that wasn't snakebit too.  I like him and I think he will be an NHL player, but that isn't very good, and it's certainly not indicative of someone ready to be given 12-14 minutes on a team that has playoff aspirations.  This is especially true when you consider that he has one season of waiver ineligibility left, so the Devils have to be preparing to have him on the roster next year.  I realize you could easily say the same about Gionta, and I'm not a huge fan, but he did not have a bad season last year.  Gionta plays a stellar bit of low-event hockey.  He's not going to give your line a ton of offense, obviously, but defensively that line was quite good.  He fulfills a role.  Late in games when NJ is ahead he can be subbed in at RW for any of the Devils horrendous RWs.  

 

The larger point is that firing the coach over that is utterly ridiculous.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Triumph

[ATLL765]

you don't have zubrus - he's on the team - i cannot see him being the one punted to make room for carter.

Wow, total brain fart there. Can't believe I forgot him. We really need to trade someone lol.

[Marshall]

Wow, total brain fart there. Can't believe I forgot him. We really need to trade someone lol.

 

"There's...too many of them!"

[lazer]

brunner is getting way too much credit here...after a year long tryout hes done nothing.

[2ELIAS6]

brunner is getting way too much credit here...after a year long tryout hes done nothing.

agreed hes way too streaky of a player.

[SterioDesign]

brunner is getting way too much credit here...after a year long tryout hes done nothing.

 

he's streaky but he got the same amount of pts than Zubs in 20 less games... so whats better? to actually produce and being streaky at times like Brunner or to be consistently not producing much like Zub? I know that zub is a beast a long the boards and doing a lot that doesnt show on the scoreboard but still.

 

i guess what i really mean is that he still has potential and upsides while some other players are simply going downhill but we use them to patch holes

Edited August 10, 2014 by SterioDesign

[Devilsfan118]

I wouldn't mind seeing Zubrus go - he's a 'team' guy and all, but he was pretty awful this past year.  Just a big body taking up space in all honesty.

[dmann422]

Zubrus is a pretty decent pker, after Henrique and Elias we don't have a lot of those. I'd prefer him over Brunner any day.

[lazer]

he has one good half season with another team so far.

 

he loses a lot of pucks/battles 

 

devils need left wingers so i doubt hes going anywhere and there is potential there.

 

(on brunner)

[ATLL765]

he's streaky but he got the same amount of pts than Zubs in 20 less games... so whats better? to actually produce and being streaky at times like Brunner or to be consistently not producing much like Zub? I know that zub is a beast a long the boards and doing a lot that doesnt show on the scoreboard but still.

 

i guess what i really mean is that he still has potential and upsides while some other players are simply going downhill but we use them to patch holes

Zubrus does other things well that Brunner doesn't though. If Brunner isn't putting up points, he's useless. Zubrus can work the PK, he is a decent possession player or at least he used to be, whether he is now remains to be seen now that he won't be propped up by Zajac and Jagr.

The better comparable is Ryder who he had an almost identical number of ppg, though he played in fewer games. I'd rather have Brunner over Ryder despite Ryder being more proven because Brunner can actually skate well and he's fast, which is a unique skill on this team. If Brunner can show some more improvement on the defensive side of his game this year, then he's the clear choice over Ryder imo. Plus, I think that Ryder would bring back more in a trade due to his track record.

[mouse]

Matteau didn't even reach a point every other game last year in the AHL, and it's not like he was snakebitten S%-wise either and he played on a team that wasn't snakebit too.  I like him and I think he will be an NHL player, but that isn't very good, and it's certainly not indicative of someone ready to be given 12-14 minutes on a team that has playoff aspirations.  This is especially true when you consider that he has one season of waiver ineligibility left, so the Devils have to be preparing to have him on the roster next year.  I realize you could easily say the same about Gionta, and I'm not a huge fan, but he did not have a bad season last year.  Gionta plays a stellar bit of low-event hockey.  He's not going to give your line a ton of offense, obviously, but defensively that line was quite good.  He fulfills a role.  Late in games when NJ is ahead he can be subbed in at RW for any of the Devils horrendous RWs.  

 

The larger point is that firing the coach over that is utterly ridiculous.

Good point re. Matteau.

Re. DeBoer, I'd agree if we had reason to be impressed with him. He's missed the cup 2 years in a row, though, and while he's done some things right, he's made some mistakes in youth development. I've given him the benefit of the doubt, because he's dealt with injuries, and bad rosters. If they stay fairly healthy, he doesn't have excuses this year. The forwards on this team are far from perfect, but there's decent talent for the right coach/system. If DeBo rolls Gionta, he doesn't know how to use the roster he has. Maybe I'll be wrong, and Gionta will play and they'll make the playoffs with a decent seed, but I doubt it.

[ATLL765]

Good point re. Matteau.

Re. DeBoer, I'd agree if we had reason to be impressed with him. He's missed the cup 2 years in a row, though, and while he's done some things right, he's made some mistakes in youth development. I've given him the benefit of the doubt, because he's dealt with injuries, and bad rosters. If they stay fairly healthy, he doesn't have excuses this year. The forwards on this team are far from perfect, but there's decent talent for the right coach/system. If DeBo rolls Gionta, he doesn't know how to use the roster he has. Maybe I'll be wrong, and Gionta will play and they'll make the playoffs with a decent seed, but I doubt it.

His roster management hasn't really been that bad, I'm much more concerned about Salvador getting time over more deserving defenseman since you can make the argument he should be sitting over Harrold even if Gelinas and Larsson haven't earned a spot over him.

Gionta isn't my favorite either and I'd rather him sit to have pretty much any of Josefson, Bernier, Sislo or Carter if he is re-signed, but Gionta playing is less of an issue than Salvador imo.

[2ELIAS6]

I wouldn't mind seeing Zubrus go - he's a 'team' guy and all, but he was pretty awful this past year.  Just a big body taking up space in all honesty.

exactly, he has gone down hill and in a hurry.. i dont care if he is a "team guy" or not we already have enough dead weight on this team that doesnt produce enough on the score board. i wouldnt mind cutting ties with him at all especially since they decided to grab rutuu now also..no need for zubss anymore time to send him off to the glue factory.

[ATLL765]

exactly, he has gone down hill and in a hurry.. i dont care if he is a "team guy" or not we already have enough dead weight on this team that doesnt produce enough on the score board. i wouldnt mind cutting ties with him at all especially since they decided to grab rutuu now also..no need for zubss anymore time to send him off to the glue factory.

He hasn't fallen off that far. He's not very good and is definitely overpaid at this point, but it's not like he's atrocious or hurts the team when he's out there. If we were right up against the cap, it'd be a different story. I feel like Ruutu was acquired for that role in particular with the knowledge that Zubrus wasn't good enough to play in the top 6 anymore as he used to be.

[2ELIAS6]

i wouldnt want rutuu in the top six either..

[Triumph]

He hasn't fallen off that far. He's not very good and is definitely overpaid at this point, but it's not like he's atrocious or hurts the team when he's out there. If we were right up against the cap, it'd be a different story. I feel like Ruutu was acquired for that role in particular with the knowledge that Zubrus wasn't good enough to play in the top 6 anymore as he used to be.

 

He's not helping the team either.  I don't think he's a very good penalty killer and soon enough he'll be bad there too.  Getting old sucks.

[DevsMan84]

Any chance that Gelinas might be traded since he is still un-signed?  Him and Carter seem to be the only players left without a contract from last year's team and while I can see Carter's reason for being un-signed (probably wants money and looking at fit) but Gelinas not being signed so far is odd.

 

I know Henrique wasn't signed last year until shortly before training camp but I don't think it's fair to compare them.

[2ELIAS6]

Any chance that Gelinas might be traded since he is still un-signed?  Him and Carter seem to be the only players left without a contract from last year's team and while I can see Carter's reason for being un-signed (probably wants money and looking at fit) but Gelinas not being signed so far is odd.

 

I know Henrique wasn't signed last year until shortly before training camp but I don't think it's fair to compare them.

just about the entire community over on HF thinks theres a good chance that he will be packaged up in some type of trade... thoughts are spinning up about some type of possible trade for wheeler maybe involving gelinas but i do not believe there is any type of solid foundation to that just people thinking.. maybe its time we start a new thread bringing over that topic here since it is so dead here lately.

[mouse]

Any chance that Gelinas might be traded since he is still un-signed?  Him and Carter seem to be the only players left without a contract from last year's team and while I can see Carter's reason for being un-signed (probably wants money and looking at fit) but Gelinas not being signed so far is odd.

 

I know Henrique wasn't signed last year until shortly before training camp but I don't think it's fair to compare them.

Unless Scarlett's farther along than we think, not likely. We'd be short d, short of reading d for d, and I don't see anyone giving up someone better or cheaper. Gelinas has a ton of potential, but he's risky enough nobody's gonna give much up to get him.

[2ELIAS6]

Unless Scarlett's farther along than we think, not likely. We'd be short d, short of reading d for d, and I don't see anyone giving up someone better or cheaper. Gelinas has a ton of potential, but he's risky enough nobody's gonna give much up to get him.

if he was to be traded away in some type of package for something, lou could always scoop up a veteran D to replace him with until one of the young guys were ready to come up.

[DevsMan84]

just about the entire community over on HF thinks theres a good chance that he will be packaged up in some type of trade... thoughts are spinning up about some type of possible trade for wheeler maybe involving gelinas but i do not believe there is any type of solid foundation to that just people thinking.. maybe its time we start a new thread bringing over that topic here since it is so dead here lately.

 

Wheeler is a pipe dream and I saw some of those ridiculous trade packages on HFBoards where they think we can get him if we package Gelinas and a middling prospect or pick for him.

 

I think if Gelinas gets traded it will be for an NHL-ready utility D-man.  Not only that but we would probably have to package at least a semi-decent prospect or pick for that.

[2ELIAS6]

i wouldnt be into trading gelinas for another Dman..especially not yet. If he is going to packaged and traded we need more quality scoring forwards and will continue to need forwards going into the 15-16 season as this season could very well be jagr's last year. I wouldnt be surprised if we packaged something up and traded him..just hope it isnt for a back of pucks.

[DevsMan84]

i wouldnt be into trading gelinas for another Dman..especially not yet. If he is going to packaged and traded we need more quality scoring forwards and will continue to need forwards going into the 15-16 season as this season could very well be jagr's last year. I wouldnt be surprised if we packaged something up and traded him..just hope it isnt for a back of pucks.

 

I don't think we would get anything decent for Gelinas unless he was packaged for a full time NHL player like Henrique or next year's first round pick.

 

A bottom 6 or utility D-man is probably the best we could hope for.

[2ELIAS6]

I don't think we would get anything decent for Gelinas unless he was packaged for a full time NHL player like Henrique or next year's first round pick.

 

A bottom 6 or utility D-man is probably the best we could hope for.

no way would i ever trade away henrique..or zajac even for that matter. It wouldnt make sense, we need to get young and to acquire top 6 forwards, dumping henrique for what? maybe someone equivalent to him just wouldnt make any sense he is still developing and is currently on pace developing nicely cant ask for much more(not saying you were saying to trade him)..just giving my view on that since i have read it before..would make NO sense. I wouldnt be opposed to possibly trade away next years draft pic depending on what it was going to get us in return, but it would be nice if we could figure out a way to dump ryder or brunner in a package for something.. would also help clear out some of the forwards we have right now.