Triumph

I thought Zajac was finished after last season but he has been excellent to begin this season. The team has really, really needed him too - hopefully they can cut back on his ice time when Nico returns. Best game of the season so far, there were definitely problems but they outplayed the Islanders, and what a great night for Wedgewood too, good for him.

I haven't posted here in a long time but something about tonight makes me want to. Maybe it's the return of Devils hockey. Brutal first period but they got it together in period 2 - they're going to give some teams trouble with all that speed. Sharangovich drawing 3 penalties, pretty great, him being drilled into the boards, not so great. Thought there were some nice moments for Kuokkanen and Boqvist. And obviously if Blackwood isn't as incredible as he was, we're talking about a lot of different stuff.

The Devils should get a goalie, but goalies like Lehner aren't going to want to go somewhere where they might be taken in expansion. That's why they won't get him.

Why would the Devils give Lehner term? They have Blackwood. And yes, they can only protect 1 goalie for expansion, so it would mean exposing Blackwood or Lehner.

I don't know why Lehner would come here. Blackwood is clearly establishing himself as the starter and Lehner has been starter quality the last 2 years. The Devils are going to struggle to find a competent backup this off-season - but they should still buy Cory out.

Studenic was also drafted in the 5th, and Rykov - the Devils have missed a lot of 5ths over the last few years with Lou, they traded them in 2010, 2013, 2015. I don't particularly like the Simmonds trade, but on the other hand, the Devils have some RWs that they should get some time for here. Joey Anderson has played very well since his recall, Merkley too.

Vatanen finishes up 1 point short of Tapio Levo, but that's good enough for 2nd all time among Finnish Devils. Who knows, his career's not over, either.

it was really just for you - can't expect everyone to understand a throwaway line from a 37 year old movie.

It's only a problem if one side doesn't want to listen at all. If that was Shero's prerogative, he wasn't going to last with this ownership group, as that's not how they see things.

This is the first game I've seen since the Christmas break - glad I wasn't a jinx. Solid game against a decent team. Devils played them even and got a bounce. Blackwood was great. I still don't like the R-R/L-L pairings. Let's see less of that in 2020, please. Glad the broadcast highlighted Gusev's insane fake mishandle of the puck on the PP - I was pretty sure live that that was deliberate and had to go back to check. Sure enough. A bit ballsy to do it while up 1 in the 3rd period. The Islanders seem to have a ton of plugs. I don't know how they have won so many games.

Before this game, I wanted the Devils to get 30 shots on goal if they were ahead most of the game and 35 if they were behind - they're playing the most porous defense in the league. They were ahead most of the game and got 44. Huge performance. One to build on, I hope - they're not going to score 7 goals in a game for the rest of the season, probably, but this at least shows that they can be good against bad teams, now the challenge is to be okay against good teams.

They didn't play all that great but they didn't play poorly, either. Huge blown coverage on the only goal they gave up. Anaheim was tired as they played last night. Devils are making teams make mistakes with their speed. That's good. Blackwood is making saves, that is also good, as he wasn't doing this early in the season. The ice at Prudential Center is just awful. That should be the biggest offseason investment if possible - some way to improve the ice. A speed team like this should not be playing on ice this bad.

I mean, you made a statement that was incorrect - most players dealt at the deadline are traded for picks, not prospects - and are now digging deeper by moving the goalposts. How in the world are there 'hundreds' of 2nd and 3rd round picks that are unsuccessful versus each one that is? That too is ridiculous, and you can just pick a year and find even in the most dismal seasons that there are at least 2 or 3 players from each of those round that make a fine NHL career. So yes, there are 8-10 unsuccessful picks for each successful one, but Simmonds was signed for zero risk this off-season.

The Devils will likely retain salary on Simmonds but 'a middle of the road guy for Binghamton' - I doubt very much that will be the return for him. 2nd or 3rd round pick depending on how the rest of his season goes.