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I'm not surprised why Smith is playing ("veteran presence", "locker room guy", blah blah blah) but it's unfortunate Hatakka can't get an extended look in place of him. Smith is gone after this season while Hatakka is still just 23 and a pending RFA. The Devils have outscored teams 11-6 with him on the ice at five-on-five (and are in the plus for other metrics like expected goals and high danger shot attempts).

Yeah guys like Jack and Nico are not the problem here. Coaches who insist on not only on keeping Smith in the lineup but make sure to stick him with Nemec to boot…THAT’S a fvcking problem.

Best of luck to him. I am sure he was not having the best time mentally either.

Jack has 8 points in his last 5 games, 19 points in his last 15 games. Overall, his PPG pace (1.25) is nearly identical to last season (1.27), granted his even strength production has been down. Still, pretty impressive when it's pretty clear he's playing banged up.

Sometimes you just need a fresh start; hope Vitek does well out there.

Thanks for all the hard work and dedication @DevilMinder it's greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the Effing heart attack SH...lol

The thing about him is as much as he was blasted on here (and even though the Devils do little to make life easy for their goalies, he obviously wasn't great by any stretch), he's really only had one bad year, and his record itself this season somehow actually wasn't bad. He could rebound and be the middle-of-the-road guy to slightly above that he was prior. But even though it was a brief stay, it was already time for both parties to move on from each other. The potential for a serious blow-up had Fitz decided to bet on a bounceback was just waaaaaaay too strong. One narrative that needs to be quelled is that somehow a tandem of Allen and Kahkonen would've had the Devils in the playoffs, had they been here longer. These guys are absolutely playing out of their minds right now...and over their heads. It would be nice if the Devils could stop making them work so damned hard, but unless that happens, they're going to start giving up their fair share of goals. The looks that other teams get...

Yeah I'd MUCH rather see what Hatakka's got. I already know what Smith's got, and not much of it is worth watching.

This post more or less mirrors my feelings. If the Devils are not going to make the playoffs, they should at least use the remaining time to evaluate young players to figure out if they fit into the team’s plans for next season. Smith isn’t going to be here, but Hatakka might be, so why not pair him with Nemec and send Smith home? The Devils can survive 2 1/2 weeks without his locker room presence.

Just so everyone is aware, Satan was quoting an old topic, nothing has changed!

Schmid is technically graduated but this thread seems like the best place to put this. Encouraging to see him playing well again.

Definitely don’t but wouldn’t surprise me that they push an uneducated Lindy/Fitzy-fueled narrative Also, remember when Sean McDonough had an expression/tone other than channeling Ben Stein? (If it was from the outdoor game, I still haven’t watched the reply, lol)

How about broken bone?

More like the funny bone, but only without the funny.

The days of the workhorse #1 might be long gone, but he’s right about how volatile the position is now. You can count on one hand how many guys teams would be comfortable paying big money/term to.

These big brained coaches who think that they can force things because they “know more than the average person” will cost our team if Fitz doesn’t nail this hire. exhibit a: Timo has been on absolute fire since our coaches took the leash off of him and let him play his game. fitz brought guys in for specific purposes, and it would behove a wise person to use them for their strengths. and as for Smith… just 9 more games, 9. More. Games. Of that a$$hole

I figured it out, the blue button next to start new topic needed to be clicked to the left not the right. I guess I accidentally clicked it at some point and didn't even realize it. That's my bad lol

Try switching to night mode. Mine doesn’t look like that.

Doesn’t look any different on mobile.

For roughly a decade, the Devils didn’t have to worry about their own zone, period. It would be nice to get back to that.

Glad to see this happen, I think their location in D.C. is perfect... https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/27/dc-capitals-wizards-capital-one-arena-alexandria-bowser-leonsis/

Remember when Sean McDonough and Ray Ferraro called him the backbone of the Devils?

This is the post I meant to sh!t on Smith on… my phone is being fvcky

“You don’t know the game. You win by forcing guys with incompatible skill sets to play together and by selectively benching young players when they look at you weird.” - Lindy (probably)

Funny store with this one... as I live on Central time, games typically start "early" for me (6pm, 6:30pm) so I'm normally having to watch on delay after the kiddo goes to bed. I started watching this one on delay pretty late via Hulu instead of the ESPN+ app but at some point midway thru the 2nd period my feed kept reverting back to the beginning of the period when I tried to skip thru a commercial break (and I couldn't skip forward to where I originally was). Ugh. By then, the actual game had been over so I figured I'd just switch over to the ESPN+ app and watch the actual replay from where I left off... but unfortunately the only replay feed available at the time was the Spanish broadcast. It was getting late so I'm like fvck it, we'll just go with that. Even though I could only comprehend about 20% of the commentary (probably less), it was fun as heck. I like Steve Levy but I'm 100% listening to the Spanish broadcast next time we get a Sean McDonough game.

I love beating Toronto. I fvcking hate them.

I assume he played with Luke? Could be nice chemistry there. If he's a sophomore, does he play next year in college and then maybe attend camp in '25?

Speaking of Oettinger, he’s currently sitting at .899 sv% (so is Wedgewood) and yet the Stars are still in 1st place. Pretty impressive they’ve been able to overcome below average goaltending this season.

Not to mention guys like Heiskanen, Wyatt Johnston, Thomas Harley, Oettinger- Dallas has done a great job drafting the last few years.

Dallas has absolutely crushed it in the draft in recent years. Picks like Robertson and Stankhoven in the 2nd round? If that team doesn’t win a Cup in the very near future I would be surprised.

He’s a star in his own country, living a great life. There is no rush to leave that behind.

Boy I wish the Devs had grabbed Stankhoven instead of Stillman Kid is LIGHTING it up already

I got to the Northeastern Vs UCONN game earlier tonight. UCONN lost 4-2 but Samu Salminen had their one goal that wasn’t in garbage time. On a side note, UConn’s new on campus arena is gorgeous.

Back to talking about prospects. 😞