nessus

If this 10-shots Edmonton team were going up against Igor Shesterkin and the Rangers, I wouldn't be feeling too confident right now. Good think the Cats did their job last night.

All of Celebrini, Demidov, Levshunov, Lindstrom, Buium, Iginla, Dickinson, Parekh, and Silayev seem like they could be top 5 picks. There’s a solid chance the Devils get a real steal at 10 if someone like Buium drops, or another player or two (e.g Eiserman) goes really early.

The thing with Holtz is if he were tougher to play against and if he became good along the boards, I think we would have a good player there. When I watch him, I see some good and some bad. The production is promising, and I feel that some of the other things can be taught. But you can’t give a player with those kinds of deficits in his game forever. He really needs to come into next season flying if he wants to have a shot here. I think he knows that too. I agree with the ELC argument as well. Those ELC players could be so valuable.

This was the Cup final for me. Good night Devils fans! Kind of need to root for the Cats to win it all after being so invested in them this series.

Best video I’ve seen in a while

As one of Holtz’s bigger supporters, I would find it tough to trade Mercer over him. I made that thread in support of what Holtz has done but there is no denying that his game has some deficits. I still think he has to make some changes to his game if he is going to make any meaningful impact in the long term. Mercer hasn’t found consistency yet but he certainly is doing a lot of things right. But that being said, I don’t think Holtz’s value gets much lower than it is right now, and there’s still time for him to develop his game. There’s still a lot of upside there, and I still believe he can reach his potential. So for those reasons, I don’t think trading him is the best idea now. Agreed, a make or break year for Holtz.

During the 2023 draft, there was a clear #1 in Bedard, and no one was debating that. For much of the year, Michkov was second, with Fantilli beginning to challenge him for that spot toward the end (ultimately it was Leo Carlsson who went second). In this year's draft, there is another clear #1 in Celebrini, but after him, I am most commonly seeing another Russian player, Ivan Demidov at 2. Some lists have Levshunov or Silayev ranked second, but the latest I have seen Demidov is at 6. Michkov was objectively a stronger prospect than Demidov is. He was producing at a really great rate (good for 4th on his team in points in less than half the games played of anyone ahead of him). It had been his second season with KHL games under his belt before even being drafted. He ended up falling to 7th overall, which looks to be a steal of a pick for the Flyers, unfortunately. Demidov, while having very impressive production this season, is two leagues beneath the KHL in the MHL, and has not yet recorded a point in the VHL or KHL during his limited time there. Admittedly, his numbers in the MHL are pretty wild though. Is it possible that he could fall to the Devils' pick at 10? It would be an absolute home run if so. Ultimately, I do not think this will happen. While I think that as a whole, the top 15 players in this draft are a stronger group than last year's top 15, Demidov and Celebrini seem to have a pretty clear separation from the rest of the pack. But man, would it be cool to have a player like this join the Devils core group. We can dream. Number 11

In the beginning of this video, LeBrun talks about how Fitz really wanted Keefe. Fitz definitely did his due diligence by interviewing multiple candidates. Keefe was his guy from the start, and Fitz found a way to convince him. He deserves a lot of credit for making it happen.

Really happy with this. Keefe has done well as a coach at both the AHL and NHL levels. Not his fault that Toronto never had the roster to get it done. Posting this clip and another to try to get people excited about the hire Good intermission speech, meanwhile Lindy was probably taking smoke breaks between periods https://youtu.be/jSggUHzr2lA?si=JWpR6GF2Ab6ci6Cg Imagine your coach working the refs a bit

0.946 save percentage for Schmid, among the best in the tournament. Small sample size, but if that guy could only string together some consistency...

For the record, I do think Keefe is their most likely guy. Just a possibility I was throwing out there. They could want Woodcroft to be available for media purposes.

Not sure how much I trust these Twitter "insiders" regarding the Devils' coaching decision. But one possibility is that they've decided on Woodcroft but are waiting until the world championship is over to announce it. I didn't realize Woodcroft is an assistant coach for Canada until today.

Looking forward to them starting to embrace the spirit of 2012

Nice highlights video on Michael Brandsegg-Nygard a.k.a the Norwegian fella. Right shot, number 28 in red or white. He's second in points for Norway in the world championship tournament so far, and first in goals. I like him for the Devils not just because he could be the BPA at 10, but he definitely addresses a team need. This guy is physical, fast, and can shoot. In a men's league, he really does not look out of place as far as his physicality goes. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up being one of the first few guys to jump into the NHL, and he would absolutely be a welcome addition to the Devils in the next couple of years.

I definitely think Keefe takes a lot of heat for that underperforming Toronto team, but I don't think much of it is on him to be honest. Berube may show up and have the same issues with Marner and Matthews as Keefe had. I actually think he is a very good coach. Before getting the Leafs gig, he was awesome with their AHL affiliate. He won a Calder Cup with them. His last season got to a start of 11-2-2-1 before he moved on to the big club. That Marlies team finished the season second to last in the division. I think he may be seen as soft or a "players coach" based on the way the Leafs have performed, but that video a few pages back shows him calling out Marner and Matthews during an intermission speech. Also it would be nice to see a coach show some emotion (as in the video below). I really believe he would be a good choice for the Devils. Hoping they can convince him to lead this group. Between Hines, Ruff, and Green, we have not seen something like this in a while.