Guadana

I’m afraid to do that. Remember how people compared Mercer with Coleman. I didn’t like it, and with time I don’t like it even more). Someone’s call him Slovakian Jagr. I think it’s too much. Way too much. For me personally I could want him to be some kind of Holmstrom or Van Riemsdyk type of player, but for now he doesn’t look that way. sorry it’s really hard for me to find a good comparison. Anti Wood. Big physical two way smart forward with very good hands and good skating, but without high end speed and crazy boldness.

I think he will upgrade his shot and I do think he will adapt, but I don`t like his shooting work - techique, shooting decision, power of shot, accurate of shot etc. You should understand - I don`t think that he is useless or doesnt have NHL future. I do really think he heas potential to be even 1 ppg in good seasons. But I don`t like his shooting work(I think it`s one of the most meaningful thing Devils must ask on the draft from forward), compete level, physical game, two way game. His season isn`t end, and I plan to watch him more. It`s very often not high skill players with good compete level are successful on NHL level, like Aho. Lundel is more closing example. Lundel was VERY good two way forward, has better stats in Liiga. Zacha was freakin big and fast with good shot. Just imagine if he will put together. And now here we are.

Sometimes I overdo it. yeah. But, gddmn I don`t like Lambert =-D

"Shows flashes of great skill". Nice. Good comprehensive argument. I don`t think, that his "father story" is a big problem, but for someone it`s a flag. For me there are a lot of another more valuable red flags in his game, I did mentioned. A tonn of them. Slafkovsky is very interesting and intriguing prospect for me. I`m not done(like with Lambert, no matter how he will or will ot show flashes) with Slafkovsky. Players with combination of his skills are rare. I want to see more net oriented game from him. And with him I will ok if he will show flashes in that categort because of his compete level. If he will upgrade his scoring and clutch game - he will be one of my main candidates. I`m not ready to call him now.

Yeah. Lambert is great. Especially his father, who take his word every time when he wasn`t asked. (khm khm PZ). He create A LOT of points, oops, that was Kemmel from the same team\same age, and Lambert achived nothing as offensive minded player. WIth every red flags of offensive minded player(bad diffensively, lost phiysicaly etc), with absolutely bad shot technique\makin decision. Great add for our top-6. We need more softies! But yeah, like a driver he is good. reread and rethink. ______ Juraj Slafkovsky Height 192 cm / 6'4" Weight 102 kg / 225 lbs Shoots L https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/527423/juraj-slafkovsky - stats Let`s start from his speed. If you watch him in the game you can`t say he is slow or he is fast. His cruising speed is avarage. He work with the steam of the game, he is involved, but he isn`t faster. He can create speed on the breakaway, but he isn`t the guy, who will force every opponent. He can create speed "there", but will not add speed "after". On the other hand I`m very exited about his zone workin. From what I saw he workin in the game, sometimes miss his player, but he is much mire involved in two way game, workin on the 200 foot. And doesn`t lose the race. Skating overall is good, puckhandling is great. He is a big guy and he skates like a good skater, not great, but good enough. I think he has GREAT compete level. I think he will be good NHL player. Good hockey iq for the man of his size. Good two way game for his size. He play against, change opponents when situation ask him, work with defensive zones, he is pretty good playmaker, his puckhandling and body helps him to protect the puck and he use it for finding his partners. About his wing game. And this is a hard word from me. I cant say that I like how he create space for his own shot. If we want power winger for our centers, we must wait something like... Nolan Foote with good skating and speed. Juraj can create speed and I like how he protect the puck in breakaways, but I didn`t see this... menthal work, what you can see from scoring winger, when they standing here and there and focus on defensemen, and when defenseman lose attention, they immidietly change their position. Or actively fighting for open space, goin on the slot and workin on it. He play a lot on the perimetr. I want to see very egoistiс game from winger, but I think Juraj is too much altruistic. With his size and foote work he could(and must) fight for the spot, find a way to score on rebounds, close the vision for a goalie, play on the redirects. How he is working with rediraction? I didn`t see any attempt from him. I understand that he is good passer, he is watching ice very well. And I think he has enough to be good playmakin winger. I like his board work, how he protect the puck. I didn`t see enough drive from him, but I think he has good potential in this aspect. Because of his size, puck protection and skating. But I didn`t see enough... what I want. Devils needs in SHOOT FIRST player. And I think you can agree with it. The most consistent workers on the slot are Sharangovich(and I don`t think he is good enough in that kind of play), Bastian and Wood. And Nico. That`s bad. Yegor must be better, Bastian and Wood are good hockey players, but they are bottom line players. We don`t have enough... rebounders. And players who can redirect the puck. We`v got Subban, Hamilton, even Severson, Graves and Smith. They all can make pre-redirection play. But who try to make rediraction on regulary basis? I think only Johnsson. And it`s a problem. And I don`t see how Slafkovsky can solve it. I don`t see how he can solve the problem of slot work. And it bother me, because he has size to make it. His u-20 production is pretty good enough, but he didn`t score enough. And(like Lambert) he score nothing on adult level. May be, I say may be, he is very good potential partner for Nico. To make boards play and two way work to help Nico score more. And his passing abuility can help Nico to focus on scoring(I do really think Nico has 30+ goals potential with good two way winger). But I dont think he can help Jack enough. He works on the boards and along the boards, but I want to see more "cutting knife" work from winger, who play with Jack. You can say this is Zacha 2.0. Big czech player. But they are absolutely different. Zacha is pretty fast player with great shot and absolutely nothing as 200 foot player, Slafkovsky is a very good two way winger, with good board work, but isn`t great scorer with avarage shot. I think his summ of his skills is better to help team to play good every minute on the ice, but if you want some scoring - this is not your man. At least for now. He has good hands, he is great puckhandler and can score on breakaways, but in NHL I think players have 1-2 chances on breakaways in 2-3 games, and some of this chances NHL goalies will stop. 10-15-20 goals isn`t a level you wait from the winger from top-6 on the draft. Especially for the Devils, where is a lack of consistent goal scorers. But this is only vision. I do really think he is a great player who looks like he can grow on himself. He is smart, compete, involved in the game and make a real impact in the game on the both ends on the ice.

Like I said before - team is good, young and inconsistent, bad goaltending. and the most fun part for me - “Replaceable fourthliner” Bastian.

I`m not so high on Lambert. I found people call Lambert as Raymond of this year. Brad Lambert https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/414961/brad-lambert - stats Height 183 cm / 6'0" Weight 81 kg / 179 lbs Shoots R Position C/RW Time to figure it out. Will Devils sign Bratt for long term? If they will, so whats for Devils will draft Lambert? Devils have Hughes(2 штуки - Luke and Jack), Jesper and Dougie to drive the play. Even Nico. Mercer has great potential to drive the play. Do you know who Mercer is? RW\C. Do you know who Lambert is? Rw\C. Did you know Mercer has great potential as good 200 foot player? I did. Did you know Lambert has potential as good 200 foot player? I didn`t see that anywhere. And Mercer is much better in puckhandling. I think he has great potential as bone of contention in fan base. Someone will like him and will defend him, someone will hate him. I see great potential for absolutely different season from this guy, especially when he will play with different partners. 45 players one year, 75 next year, 45 points year after. He is nowhere close to Raymond. Raymond was very copmpetitive. His compete level was very high. He is very good forechecker. And I don`t like zone working and forechecking work from Lambert. And he is out of physical aspect of the game. Raymond can lose the puck battles etc but he is involved. And Raymond has much better IQ. He is great play driver, but he is taken the puck too much on my taste,I didnt see great puckmover vision. Good - ofcourse, but not great. Nemec have much better IQ. I dont think Lambert have excellent skating. And I really dont like his body work\technique in shooting. He reminds me Foudy with more playdriveing abuility(bad compersation). I don`t like him as top-10 pick, especially in this draft, especially for the Devils, who needs in absolutely another material. I`m still not a "fan" of any player on this draft, but Lambert is in the end of my list. No matter how easy I can imagine how he will produce 75+ points on the NHL level. Play driving is the most imprtant thing in NHL on my taste. But he has pretty low floor on my taste and I dont like combination of his prons and cons. Devils needs stabilily, grit and scoring in top-6 and stone cold defensive specialist in defense.

You cant trade your top-10 pick in the draft year like that, especially when you are still in rebuild mode. Only for M Tkachuk or something like that. This is how Colorado got Byram, Ottawa got Stuzle, Toronto got Amirov and Arizona got Guenther. Islanders got Dobson, Flyers got Farabee. This guys all are better than what teams got for what they trade for.

I was pretty good on him from the beggining, but he still is a sugar puppy for me =-D Anyway, when Smith perform as i expected, I see we have open spot for a job, that Luke can solve. Especially if Severson will gone. Ofocurse I have my own vision what kind of players help to win games, but if you have some kind of Quinn Hughes\Cale Makar, it doesnt give you a Cup right into your hands, but deffenitely will help. But we must find a good partner for Luke to help to make his magic. And I think we have one specific defenseman in that list. Jiricek. I`m not done and I don`t think he is ideal candidate to pick in 4-8 range, but he is on my "good" list for now. My first two are Jiricek and Slavkofsky. Jiricek is fun. Height 191 cm / 6'3" Weight 86 kg / 190 lbs Position D Shoots R https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/559522/david-jiricek - stats I don`t think he is from the same league as Sieder or Sanderson. He isn`t even Edvinsson. He cant drive play. What is exited - he is so great skater for THIS body. Long legs, lengs arms. He is cartroony. But skates pretty well. He reminds me Subban, if Subban could be a bit faster today. I know everybody hates Subban. But Subban is a good hockey player(i`m not talking about salary). And Jiricek looks like defensive version of him. I like how he watching game and play against. How he decides where he must go, watchin guys, change zone, etc. How he works in play against, using his body and the stick. Pretty good stick play against. He play against man, and play good. I know we all remember Kakko discussion and I wasn`t on the Kakko side, but when we talk about young defenseman - it`s a different story. It`s easy to dominate against kids with size or skill or both. But he is good defenseman in his age. Defenseman. Not "supporter" - defenseman. But you know.. I dont know what to think. He looks like his ceiling is there. May be he can mature more and gain more weight?... He can easy be havier on 14 kg. And I can`t imagine how hard his shot will be(there is a component of the game where he reminds me Subban a lot. In a bad and in a good way). But I think he has very good floor. He is fokin tall like a tower, can be havier, and skates pretty well. Surprisingly well for THIS body. And he read defensive game. Not for only you, but for any man who read it. Defensemen is the fokin gold now. Look at actual contracts. Defensemen are bank thiefs. And great defense is what you need to win. If we will draft defenseman this year, he will play NHL after next year or even after next 2 years or even later. And first three years will be on ELC. Its a 5-6 or even seven years. Hamilton deal will be over. Think about it.

I did start to make my pre draft job. Time to flex. I did like Seider pick very much. I did make a lot of pre draft job in 2020. I was pro Sanderson writer and pro Raymond. I ranked Quinn higher than Holtz and want him as our first pick, I was very pro Mercer and want him even before Arizona made the playoff and we could have 9-12 pick. The most fun thing was my anti Rossi position, because I didnt want another playmaking center. I still think he has good potential to be solid NHLer, I dont think its time to critisize him. But if you watchin today Devils game, you are understanding, that Devils problem is not the lack of small center with avarage speed\skating and good playmaking. I did make enough pre draft job last year and I was pro Edvinsson writer, and rank his game higher than avarage. I dont think Luke is a bad pick, I think it`s pretty good. Hope i will make another good pre draft job, I think I have good understanding of gm`s (Seider, Mctavish, Sanderson, Edvinsson were not surprisingly high for me) and I hope will tell you about prons and cons of the future potential devils pick.

Too bad Devils will draft in top-10 this year with a high probability. But it`s great there will be pretty good players on the draft. Bob McKenzie`s Mid-Season Draft Rankings Top 12 1 Shane Wright C (R) 6’1” 187 Jan 5 04 Kingston (OHL) [0] 2 Logan Cooley C (L) 5’10” 174 May 4 04 USA U-18 (USHL) [+4] 3 Joakim Kemell RW (R) 5’11” 176 Apr 27 04 JYP (SM Liiga) [+6] 4 Matt Savoie C (R) 5’9” 179 Jan 1 04 Winnipeg (WHL) [+3] 5 Juraj Slafkovsky LW (L) 6’4” 225 Mar 30 04 TPS (SM Liiga) [-1] 6 Ivan Miroshnichenko LW (R) 6’1” 185 Feb 4 04 Omsk (VHL) [-4] 7 David Jiricek D (R) 6’3” 190 Nov 28 03 Plzen (CZE) [+3] 8 Danila Yurov RW (L) 6’1” 179 Dec 22 03 Magnitogorsk (MHL) [0] 9 Simon Nemec D (R) 6’1” 192 Feb 15 04 Nitra (SVK) [+2] 10 Conor Geekie C (L) 6’4” 205 May 5 04 Winnipeg (WHL) [-5] 11 Brad Lambert C/RW (R) 6’0” 179 Dec 19 03 Lahti (SM Liiga) [-8]

I want Okhotiuk up! But I think they will use White.

About Nass. And the team. for all of you guys. I know it is frustrating to watchin loses. I`m younger, only 33. But im` watching games when normal people sleep. 03-00 in St Petersburgh. And I`m doin it more than 15 years. It ruined my life) so Lets start to talk about team. You would be surprised(hope you dont), but goaltending is a thing, team is really young and if we did have AN AVARAGE goaltending - Devils will be playoff team\fight for the playoff spot. I will talk about team, defense etc Devils are 10th in shot against. And 14 in shots for. It`s a GREAT. But somehow 25 in goals against. How? Because Blackwood fokin svcks! He is sevond WORST in SV% 5on 5 and 3rd worst in SV% overall between 40 goaltenders who play more than 15 games. If you think that our goaltending play against harder situations, no its not. (time for advenced stats). Devils create more dangerous chances than opponents. they are 14th in the league in that range(defference between HDC). Blackwood doesnt have load that doesnt see any regular goalie. More than that - his work is easier! Just check Shestyorkin numbers. Rangers did score 72 EV goals. As DEVILS DID! They are worser in defense and doesnt create more offense. Even in shots. But somehow (Blackwood) we missed A LOT MORE goals. And Devils are 11! in PK! Nas made good job this season. And its a reality. Even more - when he was head coach two years ago and this year, Devils were winners. I dont say "lets hire Nass as headcoach!", no I`m not, but he is making his job well. And our team is the youngest. That make problems when we talk about consistency. This is reality. If we did play with AVARAGE goalie (just imagine, avarage regular goalie has 91.5%+ 5on5, Blackwood has 89%) in game with Arizona (only 5 dangerous chances against, 11 HDC for) and lose - no one care. Because devils did control the game. Yes, we have two three sh-tbeds in our zone, but that it. Sometimes your opponent luck, and you are not. Especially if all of your leaders are young. But that was a game. Because we lost again and again, and even against Arizona. ________________________ I`m absolutely agree that changes must happened. But no one will trade starter level goalie now. Absolutely no one. Do we need in trigger man? of course. But we are no where playoff team and never were before the season. To overpay for. Coaching. I agree that Ruff must be replaced. And I was talking before even Ruff hiring that Bodreau is a good option. But other than that? I think they will give Ruff the time to the end of the season and... will watch closely how Dineen works. He just started. If Comets are second\third round playoff team, I trully believe he is our next HC. And I was thinking about it from the biggining. He was to good to be only HC in AHL. It was an raising opportunity from the beggining on my taste. I know i`m angry too. I`m starting to work with next draft. IN JANUARY! I was thought I will not do it this year, but I have not enough interest in regular season. It`s a sign. But i wil not hate this team. Because there are enough talent, potential and I have enough of love. I saw how another team built, how they did changed. And How dark and deep was our emptyness, when Lou gone. I really love Lou, I`m thanksfull to him for everything he did, but his Conte protection left us with oldest roster without any prospect, any persective. And Shero did make a lot of mistakes. And Fitz did some. The thing I dont like - he didn`t trade for better backup when Crow fall, and when Bernier fall after. Maybe he try - we dont know. But the thing is - we can`t find any good option now. Coaching? I dont think we have good options now. But, please, lets love your team. It`s hard to do it after games like this, but we are closer than some thinking. SMith svcks, Severson is a Severson, Zacha cant play 200 foot game and Tatar is Tatar. But team start to spend money, it`s a proccess, no matter how hard it is goin. We have core. And with games this core goin better and better. Nico and Jack play as we wannit. They are doin better and better. We have solid defense and some good defensive prospects. There are a lot to work with, there enough to change. It`s painfull sometimes. But Fitz did sign, did trades and trades works. I`m not a full liker of his job(we didnt sign defensive forward this summer, I dont like how he works on the draft day, I dont like we didnt find goalie right after Bernier injured), but the works is on. Hughes and Nico are better, defense(except SMith) is good enough, we have good prospectcs, Mercer will be better, may be Yegor will play on the top-6 level(I stil dont sure, but he have tools), AHL team is good and some of the guys will develope. If fitz will goin into the next season with Blackwood\Bernier tandem, k-ll him, guys, he is traitor. Im not against to change full management and coaching stuff, but I dont see a reason to make it as fast as we, angry fans, want.

Who will be our new coaching stuff? Whats a purposeto make it now? ANd.. Khm-khm. Nasserdine haiting IS OVERRATED. You, guys, try to find problems not where to look.

We have only one. Zacha isn`t NHL winger when he can`t score. He doesnt try to force position, he isnt good in forecheck and lose boards battles(that is funny for a guy of his size), he cant to play against in neutral zone and on the blue lines. He has great hands but he needs open ice to use it, why he was so good in PP, 4 on 4, 3 on 3. Ofcourse we need in pp specialist, but now he is off and it doesnt work. Nico did make better play with Bastian and Vesey, 4th liners. But they did dirty work and that makes Nico job much easier and makes a lot of spaves for him. I`m not sain we must use Bastian and Vesey as top-6 wingers. I`m sain we must find wingers who can do a lot of work. Yegor isn`t consistent. He had a long year, but for now he isn`t consistent. I can`t be sure he will be our top-6 player. And what we have? Only Bratt. Tatar? Meh. Hope everybody understand now why clubs with ambitions didn`t use him as top-6 regular player in play-off games. I`m not against him, he is ok for his role for the next two years, but he isn`t leading player.