Devs3cups

Fitz has been GM for less than 2 years. This honestly seems premature to me. Him keeping the coaching staff would make me question him, but I'd still be far from wanting him fired. People want to hold the goaltending against him, but he's tried to fix it for 2 years in a row, and it (miraculously) blew up in his face twice. The goaltending market was f*cked this year and people would've been just as pissed if he gave up major assets for a stopgap goaltending solution. In less than a year, he basically revamped the whole D with Hamilton, Siegenthaler and Dougie. Hamilton getting injured sucked and definitely impacted his play, but at the start of the year he was great. Siegenthaler was one of the top defensive d-men in the league this season and a shrewd move. Graves is a fine top-4 guy. The team is fine offensively, we're extremely good off the rush and scoring goals is not a problem (even with a sh!tTY PP). Sure, we could use more weight in general to score more off the cycling/zone pressure, and from what Marty/Fitz are on record of saying, this should be addressed. With proper goaltending, this team would've most likely been a bubble team, which is pretty much where we thought they'd be to start the season. Fitz has also drafted pretty well, especially in regards to Mercer and Muk (Holtz and Luke were obvious picks). Stillman is sort of questionnable, but I think he could be a good bottom-6 guy for us eventually. In all honesty, I think we should move on from the coaching staff, especially considering we know Ruff isn't the "coach of the future". Will they be gone? Who knows, maybe Fitz puts as much stock as we do in the goaltending as we do and is willing to give Ruff another shot after fixing the goaltending. The offense has been fine with Ruff. To me, the PP is inexcusable though, as is the defensive system. That has to be addressed imo. I wouldn't put Fitz's job at risk though. I honestly believe Fitz's moves and decisions have been pretty darn good, and he seems to have a good vision/plan as to how to build this team. Wanting to can him after less than 2 years at the helm and the moves he's made seems to me like impatience with winning, which is a fine way to feel, more so than what he's actually accomplished as a GM, which is pretty good in less than 2 years.

He’s an interesting prospect for sure. With Fitz’s talk about getting bigger, interior forwards in the pipeline, I could see Fitz going for Cutter Gauthier (badass name by the way). Great goalscoring ability, compete level, drives the net hard, has skill and goes hard in the corners. He’s the most “Tkachuk-esque” as it gets from what I’ve seen this draft. A nice mix of skill and grit. https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/526094/cutter-gauthier

One thing that I think we need to keep in mind is that the fact we're likely getting a top-7 pick this season is absolutely gravy. In normal circumstances (ahem, average goaltending, ahem), we're most likely drafting around 12th-14th overall. Getting another top tier high first round selection is a bonus, we shouldn't even be there, this team isn't as bad as their record. It's unfortunate if we don't get one of the 2 RD, but that's how I see it right now.

That's a bad goal on Daws.

That's just your brain repressing the horrible sight of Trav in an Isles jersey, don't worry

And this is extremely encouraging. We're seeing this core progressing and building chemistry.

Colorado has no problem winning in back to backs. They were 6-0-1 before last night.

He’s 4th all-time right now at 1.152, right under Rantanen who is at 1.154. In goals, he’s 1st at .606. 2nd is Spezza at .512.

He’s actually having a top 5 season all-time in terms of PPG in the AHL for players in their 19 year old season. In terms of Goals per game? He’s 1st all-time.

I saw him dig for the puck there, he pulled back and it went in. I thought it might be his goal. Good for him! Go to the dirty areas and keep it going!

Michigan ended their regular season last night. Here's Hughes statline for the season. Luke Hughes, D, Fr 34 16 16 32 0.94 Pt./G 82 SOG 19.5 Sh% 10 PIM GWG 0 PPG 3 SHG 0 +22 I mean, what a great season for Luke. Over 0.75-0.80 PPG for a freshman d-man is great. 0.94 PPG with barely any PP time, with mostly primary points. He honestly exceeded my expectations. The future is bright for him. We've got a good one, folks. Edit: Also, most points in the whole NCAA by a d-man. As a freshman. Impressive.

I believe he is the youngest d-man though.

Can't be understated how the goaltending affects this. As I said, it's absolutely brutal. Might be the worst stretch we've ever seen. Goals above expected is horrendous. Also, our PK, which Nas is responsible for, has greatly improved. Again, I don't want to seem like I love Nas lol, if he doesn't come back, I won't be sad lol. Just saying that he's not ONLY bad.

Absolutely agreed. From what we've heard, looks like Mac's heel was still injured when he played this season, so I'm willing to give him some slack. Let's hope he can comeback strong next year after some much needed rest. I also hope Bernier will be able to come back.

This team was in the playoffs because of most likely the best season from a Devils' forward ever. Hall had over 40 points more than our second scorer, it was, quite literally a one man job. I don't think it could've been built on in any way. You're 100% allowed to be unhappy with the team's situation though. I don't usually comment on this subject but I will say our cupboard was not only bare, it was EXTREMELY weak. We now have assets and good prospects to be able to make some moves and grow as the youngest team in the league. I have a hard time seeing how any fan wouldn't be somewhat optimistic for the future of the team when we see the steps that players like Hughes, Nico and Bratt have taken respectively and various categories, the addition of an elite #1 d-man, prospects like Mercer, Rango, Holtz, L. Hughes, Gritsyuk, Mukhamadullin, Zetterlund, etc. This team has some problems, that's for sure. We're also generating offense 5-on-5 at a top 10 clip, have a great PK, and an average defence and that's with the youngest team in the league. Our real problem is goaltending, it can't be understated. I'm definitely optimistic about the future, but I wouldn't say you aren't allowed to be unhappy, not at all. I understand it's frustrating to lose. I just think context is important. But I wouldn't want to tell disappointed fans that they can't be and I apologize if that's how my posts came across.