Chuck the Duck

Love seeing the young guns playing well. Sharangovich looks great on Hughes' wing. On a unrelated and random note - what happened to PA announcer Kevin Clark? Had some random guy doing the PA at the game last night .

No. That said, I did enjoy watching him play during his brief time here. He was an edge of your seat player where, every time he had the puck on his stick you thought something was going to happen and he brought you to the edge of your seat.

I agree with you 100%. The success of Netflix and the cutting of cords has inevitably led to this - and it's only going to get worse. The Yankees are already starting to broadcast games over Amazon. I'm just waiting for every NFL game to become PPV.

The funny thing is, while this is as bad as any Devils season I can remember, I still feel that there are some serious bright spots that give a lot of hope for the future. Hughes' progression and playmaking ability, Ty Smith's emergence as a legit D in this league, McLeod showing he is an NHL caliber player, and Wood learning how to stop (sometimes) are all positives out of an otherwise dreadful season. Hopefully we get a top 5 pick and get a solid D to continue building towards the future.

This is a D heavy draft with some good top prospects. Hopefully the Devils pick in the 4-5 range, and can grab one of the top 3. I don't know much about prospects other than what I read and see in some YouTube highlights, but my top choices are Hughes or Clarke, with a slight edge to Clarke because he's puck moving a RHD (which we lack in our system) with a ton of offensive upside. With him on 1 D pairing, Smith on the other, that's a pretty solid start to a top 4.

I think the problem with Trenton is that there is no local ownership group willing to take the financial risk of running an AHL team and operating an arena in Trenton like there is in Bingo and Utica. From what I remember, the Devils were being paid $1-2 million per year to have their AHL franchise in Bingo. The owners of the Devils did not manage or control the arena. Seemed like a really good deal for the NJD. I would be interested to see what their demands on Bingo where.

Or the more eco-friendly Mr. Fusion.

It also helps that there is no state income tax in Nevada, while Cali taxes the hell out of you for just breathing their air. And it's not just CA. People and companies are leaving NYC in droves and heading to other parts of the country (FL, TX) with much lower tax rates and costs of living. Telecommunting is here to stay and it is likely going to force high tax states and cities to find innovative ways to retain population and high income earners.

Instead, they end up being poisoned to death. I'm not trying to start an international incident or get into a lengthy discussion on US/Russia geopolitical thinking. I'm also not saying that the news "media" in the US isn't a propoganda machine, but Putin's government has an "interesting" way of dealing with dissidents that's for sure.

Fondest memory of the cattle corral bridge was walking back across it with my dad after the Devils won the Cup in 1995. It was so loud in there, you couldn't hear yourself think. I was convinced the people banging on the corrugated metal sides were going to cause a panel to break loose and fall onto the roadway below. That thing was originally constructed as as temporary bridge with a life span of approximately 5 years. It was there for almost 20. Gotta love NJ.

My father and I had a rule back when we went to games at CAA ... if the Devils were winning or the game was close (tied or 1 goal difference) with under 5 minutes left, we stayed. If the game was out of reach, we left the first whistle under the 5 minute mark. Fast forward to today ... my kids want to stay to the end no matter what. They even want to stay to hear the on ice interview after a win then we rush out immediately after. They pass out in the car so, thankfully, my wife doesn't get mad when we get home after 10 pm on a school night. For some reason I find it 10000x easier to get out of Newark than it was to get out of the CAA parking lot and onto Route 3 West, so I don't mind staying till the end of games at the Rock.

Also, had one of the coolest Devils mask in recent history. Too bad it only saw game action once. In all seriousness, I kind of feel bad for Comrie. He gets claimed off waivers by NJ, has to quarantine for 14 days, is off COVID protocol list for like a week, then has to quarantine for another 2+ weeks due to the Devils Covid outbreak, then gets claimed off waivers by WPG and now has to quarantine again for 14 days upon his return to Canada. The guy has basically been stuck in a hotel room longer than Tom Hanks was stuck at JFK Airport in the movie the Terminal.

LOL! That was my first reaction too.

I didn't realize they were requiring people to use their own testing service. That's a total sh!t show. No private insurance will pay for that testing, making it stupid expensive just to attend 1 game. If people are that hard up to watch an NBA game live, go for it. But if the Devils implemented a similar protocol, that would be a hard pass for me.

NJ has free testing provided by municipalities and counties. In Morris County, the testing site is the county college where you go into a large room with several tables spaced more than 6 feet apart and proceed to spit into a tube until it reaches a certain line. It's gross, but its free and the results come back within 24-48 hours right to your email. Regardless, I'm likely to stay away this entire season and hope to be vaccinated before the 2021-22 season starts.

Bro ... World's Most Famous! You can't keep Broadway shuttered. Oh wait...

I agree. Ironically, it's NY that is opening up to fans before any of the other northeastern states. Kids can't even play youth hockey games in NY, but 1800 people can go watch a game at the Garden. Makes sense.

I agree with you. I will pass on this season, even though I've had covid and have a miniscule chance of getting it again the next 3 months. To each their own, but the hassle of getting tested before every game doesn't seem worth it for me. That policy also doesn't seem like a practical solution for major sports like hockey, baseball and basketball where teams can have multiple homes games each week and have large numbers of season ticket holders. Testing results take 24-48 hours to come back, and if you use a private facility you need to pay for the tests. Doesn't seem so bad for football where there are few home games that are only played once per week. However, over a 26 game home season (this year) that is crammed into a few months, that is a ton of tests for a recreational activity.

They definitely can't throw caution to the wind and will have to follow the protocols like every other team moving forward. Hopefully nobody is having major complications or symptoms and will all come back healthy shortly. I can't imagine that they will be forced into game action right away though. The players have been off the ice for over a week, and most likely 2 by the time their quarantine ends. They will need a few practices to ramp back up I would think.

Relax. I wasn't being serious, and was trying to draw out the only positive from an obviously bad situation.

Look on the bright side. If the entire team gets it now (which it looks like they have), we are good for the next 3-6 months without having to worry about any of the rostered players contracting COVID and getting the team shut down again.

Pretty much my thoughts on it. Going into the season with Blackwood-Crawford with Wedgewood the emergency taxi goalie, we looked to be in a good spot. Then Crawford retires, Blackwood gets COVID and Wedgewood has to step in to be the starter on a condensed schedule. Could have been a disaster, but he and Comrie have exceeded my expectations so far and kept us competitive. Hopefully Dell comes off the COVID protocol list and Blackwood recovers and is cleared to play soon so we don't keep pushing that luck.

That's scary. Glad to hear you are ok. Once I started getting symptoms, my biggest fear was having them worsen and needing to go to the hospital. They can't rollout these vaccines soon enough. I don't fear for me or my wife and kids as I do for my parents and in laws. Thankfully, we weren't around them where they could have gotten it from us.

I remember reading that he has a longer term contract here in NJ, but was given a bump in title and pay for 1 year to be the GM. The Devils would have to give permission to PITT to interview and/or hire him, even if they don't extend his term as GM of the team beyond this season as he still would be under contract with the team. Personally, I think he's done a good job in his limited time thus far and believe he should be given a full and fair shot here. I'm scared of who could be installed as GM if he leaves at the end of the season, as ownership seems to be in love with Chayka for some reason.

Devils optioned Merkeley to the taxi squad and added Bratt to the active roster. Not sure if that means he will play tonight, but he is close to a return to the lineup, which should help.