iamtheprodigy

I don't agree 100% with everything in the OP, but I much prefer this to the doom and gloom threads by a great margin. There are a few question marks about next year, such as whether Elias and Clarkson are re-signed, what happens with the back-up goalie position, etc., but I feel confident that Pete DeBoer and Lou will have us in the mix again and fighting for a playoff spot. I think we all have to start to accept that the playoffs will not be a guaranteed thing anymore. Red Wings fans might be learning that same lesson shortly. There just aren't powerhouse, playoffs-guaranteed-every-year teams like there used to be. A lot of the league's "elite" teams are clubs that were terrible 5 years ago and reaped the benefits of their high draft picks. The Devils used to be one of the special teams that always made it, but now that concept is fading away, and we will be in the middle of the struggle just like everyone else.

Well, I've never seen an NHL coach get kicked out of a game before. Rooney has no class. Throwing the coach out when there's 16 seconds left? Seriously? Obviously just an ego move for him. I don't care what Deboer said, he didn't throw anything on the ice or try to attack Rooney, so let him stand behind the bench and vent for the rest of the game. To clarify, I am NOT saying that the Devils lost because of Rooney. I'm just saying that he's a terrible referee with no common sense. I don't think he has a personal vendetta against the Devils, I just think his incompetence in two big games for our team makes it seem that way. And yeah, that game sucked. Oh well. I believe that the Devils will be right back in the mix next year. (Cue the doom and gloomers telling me that it will take 5+ seasons to recover from the loss of Parise)

I never said that the Devils were losing because of the reffing, and the game's not over yet.

This reffing is a complete joke. Kovy gets blatantly tripped, there's no call, and instead the Devils get a bench minor. Wow. Just wow.

I really hate the way the refs are calling this game so far. Way too picky. The double minor on Carter made no sense. The rough on Hagelin was a make-up. The minor on D'Agostini was too picky. Let them play the damn game.

Because it only takes a couple of minutes to learn the players' names and it looks childish to consistently spell them wrong? I thought Josefson looked good tonight, taking Loktionov's spot. I also noticed that Loktionov's play had been slipping recently, but perhaps getting a game or two off and having Josefson push him to keep his roster spot will be good for him. It's a shame that one has to sit for the other, as I think they both have a future on the Devils and both need to keep getting experience.

Wow. I can't believe how long it's been since a win. Feels good.

I always have trouble taking people seriously when they can't even spell out players' names correctly. I understand that English might not be everyone's first language, but this isn't some minor grammar gripe, it's the players' names. They're on the jerseys. Learn 'em.

It wouldn't and it would probably just result in a more depleted roster due to suspension.

To update this impossibly ridiculous statistic: the Devils have now outshot their opponents a total of 92-42 in the last three games and have lost all three in regulation. I don't even know what to think anymore.

Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.

Usually I disagree with you on stuff but I am in full agreement with you right now. The Devils are an average to slightly above average team who are having historically bad luck. I don't know if I would believe some of these stats if I didn't see them happen with my own eyes. I keep expecting the luck to finally shift and it just doesn't happen. Another game dominated by the Devils, another regulation loss. I'm not saying the team couldn't be better, but they definitely deserve better than to be 0-9 in the last 9 games. A team this good doesn't play this well and lose every night without an insane amount of bad luck, there's just no questioning it anymore.

Really? You think making a thread to post two video clips that have nothing to do with hockey is okay? At least with people going crazy in game threads it is specifically hockey-related.

I know it's hard to tell anything about a defenseman from his scoring stats but those numbers certainly don't look very exciting.

The defense is fine. A few mistakes here and there, sure, but they play a low-risk enough game that they generally can recover from their errors. As others have been saying, the goaltending has just not been good enough. I'm not a Brodeur "hater" (meaning I don't instantly blame him for every single goal that he gives up), but he was awful last night. If he just keeps out one or two of those stoppable goals, it makes a huge difference. People try to minimize Brodeur's numbers by saying things like "Oh well even if his save percentage was a bit better, it's still only a difference of <10 goals over the season, it's not a big deal", but it IS a big deal when your team plays almost exclusively in one-goal games and is only a few wins out of a playoff spot. The offense hasn't been what we expected, but they showed up in full force last night and Brodeur couldn't make any saves for them. I still "like" Brodeur. I think he was pretty good in most of the playoff run last year. But he has simply not been good this year, and Hedberg is worse.

Well, the offense finally shows up for once, and Brodeur lets the them down..

If you don't see them play, it's safe to assume that they are amazing and probably exactly the kind of player the Devils need.

When you called him "soft". "Soft" in hockey terms is not a good thing. Maybe some people are too touchy about Larsson, but I would say far more people are way too critical of him and have unrealistic expectations. I don't agree with you that Larsson doesn't have good positioning on the boards and refuses to fight for pucks. I think he needs to build up more strength so that he can use his body better to win those puck battles, but I think that will come with age and experience. I don't think it's something he's doing wrong right now, particularly. His lack of unnecessary aggression I think will work to his advantage in the long run. He just needs to get a little stronger, a little faster, and a little more experienced. I think he is about where he should be in his development, I just wish he was playing every game.

You could say that about soooo many great NHLers. Not everyone has to be physically aggressive to be successful.

David "One Move" Clarkson.

Amount of shots don't mean everything, but they certainly mean something. Shot quality does vary somewhat, but not so much that looking at shot counts is meaningless. Generally speaking, shooting 5 times on your PP is going to get you more goals than shooting 1 time on your PP. Shots lead to goals. This part of your post is unnecessary and can only lead to more petty arguments. I'm so sick of the go-to diss around here being "You must not even watch the games!" None of us would be here if we didn't watch the team play. Everyone watches the same games, we just all see them differently. Please try to accept this and stop telling people to watch the team play.

Beginning to think the Devils may just never score again. I think I've forgotten what a Devil scoring even looks like.

Let's start small. LGD.

I don't think you (or Triumph for that matter) go around with ill-intentions but there have definitely been times where you came off that way. We all come off a bit harsher than we mean to sometimes because we're all passionate about hockey. That's part of what keeps the forum interesting. But the repeated arguments that tend to revolve around the same people get old, and I think we all know who those people are. Like Triumph said, DM can kick out anybody who crosses the line, and I think we should leave it to him to decide if that's the case with anybody. All the "you should change the way you post" talk is a bunch of crock, coming from either side. Anyway I'm sorry for further derailing the thread when I said I wouldn't. I am trying to think of something on-topic to say but now that the deadline is over, most of the trade discussion had died down anyway. I guess what I can say is that seeing all the Rangers' new players scoring tonight made me want to puke.

Not trolling, just (a bit snarkily) pointing out that you rub a lot of people the wrong way similar to how Triumph does, so maybe you're not the best person to be condescendingly lecturing others about how to act around here. But I shouldn't have said anything because I really have no involvement in this argument. Carry on.