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Confirmed : DeBoer is back


William D'Aquila

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No one expected 30 goals out of Ryder. But that is beside the point. At one point Ryder had only scored once in 30+ games. That's unacceptable no matter how many points he accrued at other points during the season.

 

I remember clearly Triumph saying Ryder would do "his thing" and bring 30 goals

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Eh, I don't think Brunner is terrible. I think he has a lot of creativity he didn't show much of until the end of the year especially after we'd been eliminated. I hope we get to see him in the playoffs in a devils Jersey

 

At this point, Brunner is the kind of guy you waive, and nobody ends up claiming.

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Look at this way...Brunner needed a tryout just to get a contract.  Based on what he did this past year, think the other 29 teams that all passed on signing him are any more enthusiastic about him this season?

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What Brunner needs is more hockey sense, could be waiting awhile for that to kick in.

and maybe some more confidence and a sense of direction.. so many times this season i thought to myself how lost this guy has looked out there.. it was strange he had a string of games where he was on fire and then for such a long time he was a complete ghost like he didnt exist out there.. i dont know, not the type of player we need around here though ..that isnt going to cut it for us
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TSN's Final Power Rankings of 2014

(as of April 14, 2014)

 

1 Boston
2 Chicago
3 San Jose
4 Pittsburgh
5 St. Louis
6 Colorado
7 Anaheim
8 Los Angeles
9 New York
10 Dallas
11 Montreal
12 Philadelphia
13 Minnesota
14 Columbus
15 New Jersey
16 Detroit

 

New Jersey Devils (35-29-18)

This Week 15

Last Week 19

 

Welcome to the best non-playoff team in the league this season, a Devils team with strong possession stats, a positive goal differential and a spectacularly abymsal 0-13 shootout record that made their overall record look far less impressive.

 

http://www.tsn.ca/fantasy_news/rankings/nhl/

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I'm willing to give Brunner a bit of a pass this year simply because he was injured so much that I can imagine it being hard to constantly have to readjust to the system and his linemates each time he came back.

 

I feel like he never played enough games in a row for anything to become automatic.

 

Having said that, he was the only player who Pete Deboer kind of called out for a lack of intensity. That worries me.

Edited by devils102
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I'm willing to give Brunner a bit of a pass this year simply because he was injured so much that I can imagine it being hard to constantly have to readjust to the system and his linemates each time he came back.

 

I feel like he never played enough games in a row for anything to become automatic.

 

Having said that, he was the only player who Pete Deboer kind of called out for a lack of intensity. That worries me.

 

He was also healthy-scratched at times.  Not all of his missed games were due to injury.

 

I wonder is Brunner is one of those guys PDB basically tells Lou to trade if possible, that Brunner is simply a player that PDB can't work with.   

 

Re:  potential with Brunner, again, he's not a 22 or 23-year-old kid.  He's already 28.  And what still sticks out to me is that he couldn't find a job until just before the start of the regular season.  Guys do fall through the cracks from time to time, no question, and under the circumstances, I fully get why Lou rolled the dice on him, but his first season with the Devils almost seem the validate the teams that thought "Yeah, had a feeling he wouldn't do much.  We didn't miss out on anything."

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Brunner was getting alot better at playing our system near the end. I mean he' still a weak little dude but he was hard on the boards alot from what I saw in the last handful of games. That alone tilts me in favor of a brunner over a ryder.

 

Ryder is clearly a more proven goal scorer, but Brunner seemingly to me is the better over all player. They both suck in the defensive zone though.

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I'd rather take Brunner based on the better possession player. All Ryder can do is take a shot and needs to be hand fed the puck. At least with Brunner he is fast and can hold onto the puck long enough and he's younger. If he could get a 20 goal season next year it will be great, maybe he will show up to camp with more determination.

Edited by Zubie#8
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He was also healthy-scratched at times.  Not all of his missed games were due to injury.

 

I wonder is Brunner is one of those guys PDB basically tells Lou to trade if possible, that Brunner is simply a player that PDB can't work with.   

 

Re:  potential with Brunner, again, he's not a 22 or 23-year-old kid.  He's already 28.  And what still sticks out to me is that he couldn't find a job until just before the start of the regular season.  Guys do fall through the cracks from time to time, no question, and under the circumstances, I fully get why Lou rolled the dice on him, but his first season with the Devils almost seem the validate the teams that thought "Yeah, had a feeling he wouldn't do much.  We didn't miss out on anything."

 

He probably couldn't find a job because he had certain contract requirements.  It's not like NJ signed him for a 1 year, $1M deal - he got a multi year deal coming out of training camp, and was paid higher than the NHL average too.  I'm sure if he wanted a one year deal somewhere he could've gotten one.  

 

His April gives some hope that he can slide in here someday - 19 shots in 7 games.  There's clearly a talented player in there, it's just not clear whether Brunner will figure out the finer points of the game.

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I like Brunner more than Ryder. He's younger and is a better puck handler. His assets outweigh his tendencies or limitations defensively and in fairness to Deboer he started giving Brunner more time with the work he was putting in and some confidence. Ryder is just so much more one dimensional than I expected and his skating has only gotten worse.

I also don't think Brunner, he really got fully up to speed after the knee issues. He was a burner early in the season and never quite returned with that same quickness and burst which hurt us since we are already a rather slow team in transition. I'd gladly go with Brunner than Ryder, I just don't know if we can dump Ryder at all.

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I think I rather have ryder.. when brunner goes missing he really goes missing and for long periods at a time.. only our luck that both of them happened to turn out to be basically a waste

Ryder went missing for more than a third of the season. He isn't much better than Brunner defensively either. At least Brunner has some quickness.

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Both Bernier and Ryder killed the Devils this year with their play and inability as guys who could be relied on more in shoutout situations.

Winger is still a huge need for this team even if you think Boucher and Matteau could become players in the next year or two. Clowe is also a major worry going forward with these concussions and the trio of Elias, Jagr, and Zubrus are right at the end of their careers and risks with age. Moving Henrique to wing might help soften the blow but opens up the need for another centerman. Lots of issues still at forward and with the 4th line needing a reshuffle.

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I don't know why we're picking "Brunner or Ryder", like we have 4 stacked lines of great players throughout or something. There were a couple games we had Stephen Gionta on the 2nd line playing with Elias. Hell, who knows where Ryane Clowe stands going into next season... We were even using Gelinas a winger. This is the New Jersey Devils offensive depth chart, and it's reeeeeeally bad.

 

We absolutely need first line offensive talent so that the move of Ryder/Brunner to the 3rd line can be made, no-brainer. Until then, there's no use debating which one we could do without, because we need everyone we can, just to still be "not good enough" haha... I may be in the minority here but I think we still need both players going into next season.

 

Neither contract is really that bad; the problem is not Brunner or Ryder, it's that we needed them to be the 1st liners that they really aren't. We're not all crapping on Zubrus, are we? No. But why not? Out of the 3, he was the least value for money...

Edited by DJ Eco
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I definitely thought Brunner looked better than Ryder in the last stretch of games. I liked the Ryder signing because I thought he could be a younger, better Sykora, but god damn is he an AWFUL skater and the man can't stick handle around a fvcking cone, much less an NHL defenseman. He is the epitome of one dimensional.

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