Derlique

If I'm a Jets or Giants fan, I'm riddled with anxiety for tonight's draft. At least for the Devils/Flyers last year, you knew you were getting one of two guys. Here, you could theoretically end up with 3,4 or even 5 different players.

I prefer a dman, but I still think this team has to go BPA. Aside from Nico, the young guys are still pretty big question marks. Bratt, Zacha, McLeod and Wood are unknowns at this point and we all remember how this team was stacked with dmen in '15 when we picked PZ. Now, we need D in the worst way.

I'm not the biggest NFL fan but I think it'd be cool to do this.

I'm a huge Francesa fan so this is good news in my book. I think his sports knowledge is average at best (though he's a pretty good historian on certain topics). However, his rants and demeanor are hilarious. I can't even call his personality a "schtick" like Carton because I genuinely believe he has no idea how pompous and arrogant he is. I don't think Joe wanted the afternoon drive gig. He was only working 3-4 hours and he's pretty old. I could see him turning it down due to not wanting to work as much.

He's pretty meh. I like that players respect him, play hard for him and he's obviously a great recruiter. I just can't help but to feel that NJ respected TB too much in the first game and a half. They hardly forechecked and got away with their team identity that got them to the postseason. I know he doesn't have the horses the opposition had but still. I also can't help but to feel that he values "grit" too much. I 100% agreed with Bratt sitting for a few games at the end of March. However, when you have Miles Wood doing jack **** for months at a time and Bratt actually looking dangerous in his limited time since being scratched, I just don't get his reasoning. Wood hadn't gotten a breakaway since God knows when, is poor on the cycle and was botching passes all over the place. This is a minor quibble, but....

Cory earned the net back and it isn't even a question, imo. What Kinkaid did in the last month and half in the season can not be overlooked. He got the job done, when a combination of Appleby, Lack and Schneider could not. In fact, I would not be shocked if he garnered a few Vezina votes. There is just one simple fact that can't be overlooked: he is Keith Kinkaid. 20+ games of hot play does not erase several seasons of average and inconsistent play. I, and I'm sure many fans, will be eternally grateful that he played such a major role in getting us back into the postseason, but he is what he is. The results were there but there were so many instances when the other team would miss empty nets, pucks would just squirt wide when hitting him or he was out of position and the puck just hit him. He gets credit for making these saves, but I think his play was certainly worse than the numbers indicate. Aside from the obvious, the best part about this playoff series is that Schneider got a win and stringed together three and a half marvelous games in high leverage situations. It was only a couple of months ago when he carried us in the first half of the season. Yes, he had a couple of rough outings before his injury but when you get hurt and play inconsistently, how the hell do you get into a rhythm? If Schneider can stay healthy, which is easier said than done lately, he is still an above average goalie. You can not say the same about Kinkaid.

It might have to be Bratt as the center piece to such a deal.

Would I rather throw 11.5 for Tavares or 8.5 for Carlson? It's Tavares without a doubt. I dont think Carlson is even that good.

From where?

Happy for the fans who were able to go last night. I'll be in attendance tomorrow, so hopefully they can pull out another W. This win is just massive on multiple levels. A. The fans have been waiting for playoff hockey for over half a decade. To win it in exciting fashion like that pretty much makes the suffering worth it. B. Cory Schneider played his ass off and was one of the main reasons why we won. IF he is hurt and can't play on, he won't have to go into the offseason looking for his first win in 2018. Schneider at his best is obviously lightyears ahead of Kinkaid at his, so if we're gonna steal this series, we need Cory at 100%. C. The team knows they can play with TB. They didn't play a perfect game, but I think a Devils victory was a fair result. Both goalies were incredible and I'm just glad the Devils made the extra play. Think of all the great players that have come through here and some of the great seasons they've had. Brodeur- 07, Elias-01, Parise-09, Stevens-94, Niedermayer- 04. Taylor Hall is probably the front runner to win the Hart Trophy and he showed why last night. He has been the best player in the series going up against names like Kucherov, Stamkos and Hedman. Mojo didn't get on the scoresheet but I think he was easily one of our top 3 forwards last night. That line with Zacha and Maroon is 100x better with him than it is with Wood. The best part is that he dished out some big hits and took a couple and didn't look any worse for the wear. Nico isn't getting on the scoresheet but his defensive competitiveness and awareness are off the charts for a teen. We're so lucky to have him. Hopefully he's able to reproduce after that pos Hedman tried to saw off his balls. Glad this series got a little chippy. Hedman and Sergachev were gooning it up at the end and it was good to see Boyle take care of the trash. I expect we'll see that gif of him with the crazy eyes for quite some time. Sergachev is probably just upset that Butcher is upstaging his loser ass in the series. I don't expect we'll win this thing, but you know, they have a shot, and we couldn't have asked for more.

Happy to see Johansson finally get in. Hope he holds up ok and he should seeing how Tampa isn't an overly physical team. His skill will certainly complement Zacha and Maroon much better than Wood.

Per Stein, Cory in starter's net, Mojo on a line with Zacha and Maroon.

Really don't think he's gonna break the bank in two year's time like Nico will. And if he does, that's good news. Hopefully he'll be our 3rw next year. God knows we don't need the Staffords or Bennetts of the world anymore

Yeah, the D is totally getting exposed here. If there's a silver lining to this probable playoff loss it's that it's getting embarrased in big games. Not sure Shero knew/knows how far away this group is being from being legit contenders and how much the blueline is holding them back. Honestly, there isn't one top pair caliber guy. Vatanen, Severson and Butcher are second pair guys. Greene, Moore and Mueller are third pair caliber and Lovejoy is a 7D. Compare that to TB where they have three top pair guys. I dont think Carlson is as good as the contract he'll get but I'm slowly coming around to the idea of him.

Wait, people are upset over this effort? Devils had 45 shots and Schneider didn't give up a goal in half a game. You're not in trouble until you lose a home game. There's just no margin for error

Will the games on NHL Network be televised on MSG?

All of the listed reasons are extremely important and some are interchangeable, but this is the order I came up with: 1) Hall 2) Getting Nico 3) Vatanen trade 4) Kinkaid 5) PK 6) Butcher 7) Schneider's first half 8) Emergence of role players like Coleman, Gibbons, Noesen 9) Hynes' coaching

The Devils will be underdogs, but I'd much rather face this team than say, Boston. That Bergeron line would be a nightmare to deal with and would likely force Hynes to break up Nico and Hall. Tampa Bay doesn't have that shutdown line so Hall and co. should get plenty of chances. Of course their offense is stupid deep with Stamkos, Kucherov, Miller, Point, Gourde and Johnson, not to mention Hedman and McDonagh are as good a 1-2 punch as there is. However, they have been struggling to keep the puck out of the net for a few months. Gotta just take advantage when Girardi and Sergachev are on the ice.

4 looongg days until we start. Lgd

Tampa

Sooo the Devils avoid Pittsburgh, Zacha gets two points, Nico scores AND we get to pick two sections higher after not leapfrogging Philly and the BJs (wait, we're not tanking anymore? ). Fine by me

Can't be understated how huge this is for the franchise. Let's start with Hall, shall we? The guy was scapegoated in Edmonton and a lot of their failures were pinned on him. The guy was deemed a locker room cancer, a drug addict and so on and so forth. They get a generational player, play him with Hall for like twenty minutes and deem they can't play together. He gets traded when there is a light at the end of the tunnel after gutting it out for 6+ years. He was a loyal soldier and got absolutely obliterated by local media and fans. Suffered through an awful first year in New Jersey while his old club was one game away from the WCF. So happy for this dude. How awesome is it that rookies like Nico, Bratt, Butcher and Coleman are getting this experience so early in their careers? How much will this experience mean for other youngsters like Zacha, Wood, Severson and Mueller? How good does this feel for loyal soldiers like Greene, Zajac and Schneider who suffered over the last five years? What will it mean for key UFAs (I'm looking at you Tavares) who see a young PLAYOFF CALIBER core being this competitive so soon. As a fan, this team is among my favorites. They have some of the biggest set of balls I've ever witnessed. I said I don't care if they get swept in the first round, I just wanna get in, but let's make some noise!

Wow

Please clinch tonight. Thx

3rd game in a week (Carolina/MTL) I went to and man oh man what an asswhooping. Crowd was 70-30 Devils fans but it seemed like so much more considering how lopsided the game ended up. What else can be said about Hall? I was too young to fully appreciate Elias' '01 year, but this is clearly more impressive than Parise's '09 season. I think it was important for him to have this type of game against a big market team. I saw a lot of people on my Twitter feed giving him some Hart love after last night. A multi-point effort vs. the Leafs would really go a long way with the Toronto media watching. I thought Nico had one of his best games of the season. I've really been focusing on him without the puck and holy hell is he impressive. So Will Butcher is going to finish in the mid 40s in points. That was...unexpected. I'm curious to see how he does going forward with a bigger role, but he's legit. I was laughing yesterday thinking about all the hype Kevin Hayes and Jimmy Vesey got and he's better than both.