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Your thought on today / about the team so far ?


SterioDesign

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Well I'm assuming Henrique is automatic. I don't think Lou takes very long to get him locked up. I'm not so sure about getting Brunner now, even though I hope it happens. Seems like someone would have to be moved prior to that. Preferably through a trade.

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NONONONONONONO  Sal was exactly like this pre-concussion.    He was only good POST-concussion playoffs.  ONLY EVER THEN!!!!!  Not EVER was he really reliably GOOD before those stupid playoffs.  In fact he'd choke worst come playoff pre-concussion.

 

how quickly they forget. :argh:

 

I'm not referring to 2012 playoff Salvador. That was an aberration. I'm referring to pre-concussion Salvador who was a Blues mainstay for 7 years and played very solid defense here for a couple of years. 

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NONONONONONONO  Sal was exactly like this pre-concussion.    He was only good POST-concussion playoffs.  ONLY EVER THEN!!!!!  Not EVER was he really reliably GOOD before those stupid playoffs.  In fact he'd choke worst come playoff pre-concussion.

 

how quickly they forget. :argh:

What are you talking about? Getting Sal was one of the best trades LL ever made. He traded nothing to get to get him and has been a solid shutdown d-man ever since until last year.

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I guess what we're really looking for is that the team is better than it was in 2011-2012, right?

 

On defense, I don't think it's safe to say we are better yet. Losing Tallinder did not make the team better. The defense for the 2011-2012 playoffs was:

 

Salvador-Fayne

Greene-Larsson/Harrold/Tallinder

Volchenkov-Zidlicky

 

We've got Fayne and Larsson aging in a good way, while Sal, Volch, and Zid are aging in a bad way (presumably). Greene is likely getting better, too. The only way to determine whether the defense will actually be better or worse is if a move is made that would allow for a young defenseman to play, in my opinion. My instinct says, though, that Larsson will really step it up this year, and hopefully make up for the Salvador and Volchenkov factor.

 

As things are now, I would say defense will be about the same as it was in 2011-2012.

 

Offense is where we're seeing a lot of changes.

 

Players from 2011-2012 that are likely to start in 2013-2014: Elias, Zajac, Zubrus, Henrique, Josefson, Bernier, Carter.

 

Elias, Zubrus getting older. Henrique, Josefson getting closer to their prime years. Bernier, Carter, Zajac are probably going to be about the same, unless Zajac finally has his breakout year.

 

Lost: Parise, Kovalchuk, Clarkson, Ponikarovsky, Gionta (assuming he's in the AHL this year), Sykora.

 

Gained: Jagr, Loktionov, Clowe, Ryder, Olesz.

 

The question is: are the players gained good enough to account for the players lost?

 

We've said that Clowe is essentially a Clarkson upgrade if all goes well. It is my belief that Olesz is a Ponikarovsky replacement, who has potential turn out to be a lot better, especially under DeBoer again. Loktionov + Ryder softens the blow of losing Parise. I'm not sure they'll account for his effectiveness without the puck, but I think it's fair to expect these guys to exceed Parise's point production, hopefully by a good amount if Loktionov has a strong season. I won't get into a Sykora/Gionta analysis since Sykora became useless by playoff time, and we've got several guys who could clearly take Gionta's spot on the roster.

 

So that leaves Jaromir Jagr vs. Ilya Kovalchuk. You'd be crazy to think that this is a replacement, but don't be surprised if Jagr is able to score a lot of goals this season. But I guess my analysis of the offense ends here, with the conclusion that our offense will probably not be as good as it was 2 seasons ago, unless there's a change in the system.

 

But, I am confident that the addition of Cory Schneider will be enough to offset the loss of offensive talent with the departure of Parise and Kovalchuk. It seemed that there were times where Kovalchuk was able to take games into his own hands and really win a game for the Devils. Now with Schneider, I think that we may have acquired somebody who can save games on his own, like the way Marty used to years ago.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that I'm sure there was a lot of luck associated with that playoff run. We will need to be a better team than that in order to even make it to the conference finals next year. I think the variables lie in whether Schneider gets many starts and the progress of: Josefson, Henrique, Loktionov, and Zajac. But we're looking at a very good team for this season.

 

 

A few other things to keep in mind:

1. Jagr will NOT make Henrique into Giroux. There are no signs from Henrique's past that he has what it takes to be anything like Claude Giroux. Playing with Jagr will be no more beneficial to him than playing with Parise and Kovalchuk, IMO. Actually, I could see him doing more for Josefson or Loktionov than Henrique.

2. Just because I like the team going forward, doesn't mean that I'm ignoring the need for elite talent. As it stands now, Elias is the Devils' best forward. When he begins to decline significantly, we're going to be in a lot of trouble. There is no promising first line talent in the prospect system (yes, including Boucher), and I have absolutely no idea how they are going to address this issue moving forward. Rolling 2 second lines and 2 third lines is scary.

3. I am not going to be so quick to call Rostislav Olesz just another Steve Bernier. Call me overly optimistic, but I have very high hopes for this guy. He could be a fourth liner all season, maybe he won't even play much, but he could also return to the player he was during his first few seasons and become a sold second liner.

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I'd like to share a feeling about this years team. That feeling being, that there's no injury we can't afford. Without having a real superstar on the roster there's no one guy we have to look to, and not one guy that would make the wheels falls off this team if he went down, unlike Kovalchuk last year when he went down

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I'd like to share a feeling about this years team. That feeling being, that there's no injury we can't afford. Without having a real superstar on the roster there's no one guy we have to look to, and not one guy that would make the wheels falls off this team if he went down, unlike Kovalchuk last year when he went down

 

That's true. We're back to what Colin Campbell so eloquently called an "interchangeable group of forwards."

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I'd like to share a feeling about this years team. That feeling being, that there's no injury we can't afford. Without having a real superstar on the roster there's no one guy we have to look to, and not one guy that would make the wheels falls off this team if he went down, unlike Kovalchuk last year when he went down

 

I'll be a negative nancy:  This team is very screwed if Elias misses any significant time.  He's the only one, though.  Plenty of depth everywhere.

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I'd like to share a feeling about this years team. That feeling being, that there's no injury we can't afford. Without having a real superstar on the roster there's no one guy we have to look to, and not one guy that would make the wheels falls off this team if he went down, unlike Kovalchuk last year when he went down

 

Agree  with both this and 118's post.    Elias is still the key player we can't afford to lose, but he has been pretty durable.

Edited by MantaRay
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Agree  with both this and 118's post.    Elias is still the key player we can't afford to lose, but he has been pretty durable.

To you and 118, sure this team has key players that you would hate to go see down, but AI really believe even if it is Elias this year, we could overcome that injury

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To you and 118, sure this team has key players that you would hate to go see down, but AI really believe even if it is Elias this year, we could overcome that injury

 

I agree, we have more quality depth than we did, but Elias is such a key player on special teams and you can't replace his hockey smarts, that it would sting us quite a bit.  But yes, we could overcome it in the long run, now.

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I'm cautiously optimistic with the team as it stands now. I like the forward depth, I love the goaltending, and the defense should get younger as the year goes on. Someone will get hurt, and a new guy should have a chance to show what they can do. I'm not as confident as those saying they will win the division or conference, but I think without major injuries on offense or in net, they should be back in the playoffs.

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I'm cautiously optimistic with the team as it stands now. I like the forward depth, I love the goaltending, and the defense should get younger as the year goes on. Someone will get hurt, and a new guy should have a chance to show what they can do. I'm not as confident as those saying they will win the division or conference, but I think without major injuries on offense or in net, they should be back in the playoffs.

 

This is fair.  

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I agree, we have more quality depth than we did, but Elias is such a key player on special teams and you can't replace his hockey smarts, that it would sting us quite a bit.  But yes, we could overcome it in the long run, now.

 

Well said.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic with the team as it stands now. I like the forward depth, I love the goaltending, and the defense should get younger as the year goes on. Someone will get hurt, and a new guy should have a chance to show what they can do. I'm not as confident as those saying they will win the division or conference, but I think without major injuries on offense or in net, they should be back in the playoffs.

 

Agreed.  I mean, hockey's proven to be a pretty unpredictable sport.  But, right now, I think this team should be competitive.  

 

Back to its roots: strong team play, not only individual effort.

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What are you talking about? Getting Sal was one of the best trades LL ever made. He traded nothing to get to get him and has been a solid shutdown d-man ever since until last year.

Clearly everyone thinks defence is "solid" if you're correct 50% of the time - like a batting average. I find it unacceptable.  Sal has always been weak -- I'd love to have tape -- tape tape tape and have you explain to me what so good about him.  If he's in position and seeing what's going on then why the hell does he screw up so dammm much?  If you can't figure out why goals get by a guy sooner or later you have to kinda figure it's HIM.  Fine... he's INTANGIBLY bad.

 

Yes - I haev always said out loud once in every game the man has played "How the hell did that happen?"  There comes a time when hell yes -- you CAN hold a guy accountable for sh!t that doesn't seem to be his fault.  By God it IS his fault :rant:  2012 playoffs shoudl be the NORM   NORM!!!!!  what --- flipping ---- ever.

 

Fine Devils defense can just suck -- nice.  Nice standard.  No - it's not acceptable and you're in total denial if you think it is.

 

TELL ME SHOW ME HOW HES ANY GOOD... :puke:

 

:puke:

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Clearly everyone thinks defence is "solid" if you're correct 50% of the time - like a batting average. I find it unacceptable.  Sal has always been weak -- I'd love to have tape -- tape tape tape and have you explain to me what so good about him.  If he's in position and seeing what's going on then why the hell does he screw up so dammm much?  If you can't figure out why goals get by a guy sooner or later you have to kinda figure it's HIM.  Fine... he's INTANGIBLY bad.

 

Yes - I haev always said out loud once in every game the man has played "How the hell did that happen?"  There comes a time when hell yes -- you CAN hold a guy accountable for sh!t that doesn't seem to be his fault.  By God it IS his fault :rant:  2012 playoffs shoudl be the NORM   NORM!!!!!  what --- flipping ---- ever.

 

Fine Devils defense can just suck -- nice.  Nice standard.  No - it's not acceptable and you're in total denial if you think it is.

 

TELL ME SHOW ME HOW HES ANY GOOD... :puke:

 

:puke:

You lost me with intangibly bad. And in the sports world, doing something better than the other guy 50% of the time, makes you average. So again, Sal is much better than Cam ever was and that trade was great value.

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Not sure if any of you get the hockey news but my brother does and he said in the last issue they did line projections for the teams and the had Boucher as our 3rd line winger. Most likely too soon unless he has a breakout camp but he'd certainly add some scoring if he found his groove with the big club.

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I was just thinking about this, when was the last time we had this many solid passers on our team. Elias, Josefson, Loktionov, Zajac and now Jagr. Even Clowe is known to be a very good passer from behind the goal line. I think you may see someone like Zubrus come out of nowhere and score 20 goals.

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I was just thinking about this, when was the last time we had this many solid passers on our team. Elias, Josefson, Loktionov, Zajac and now Jagr. Even Clowe is known to be a very good passer from behind the goal line. I think you may see someone like Zubrus come out of nowhere and score 20 goals.

I wonder if we have enough players who can finish well. Maybe this year could help distinguish Henrique as a really solid goal scorer. But I definitely agree, even Olesz has some raw talent that may be put to good use this season.

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I was just thinking about this, when was the last time we had this many solid passers on our team. Elias, Josefson, Loktionov, Zajac and now Jagr. Even Clowe is known to be a very good passer from behind the goal line. I think you may see someone like Zubrus come out of nowhere and score 20 goals.

 

Oh my God is that Tedenby's music??!!

 

 

Maybe not.

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