CommonDreads

I was going by Points% which puts BUF into 7th and PIT into 8th. The reseeding is definitely the big kicker, I remember back when they reintroduced this crappy format it was with the hope the NHL could have it's own Bracket Challenge type thing that March Madness has, but it's just not worth making the playoffs an overall worse product by knocking out top teams sooner into the postseason.

I agree that the current playoff format sucks, but the playoff matchups are actually the same this year in a 1-8 format as well: 1. BOS vs 8. PIT, 2. CAR vs 7. BUF, 3. NJD vs 6. NYR, 4. TOR vs 5. TB Only real solution for this year would be a 1-16 format since the East is so loaded this year, but I do want the league to go back to the 1-8 format ASAP, nobody likes the divisional wild card set-up we have now.

Blame Amanda for the verbiage 😔 Sounds like 30 minutes was always the plan though, hopefully he feels good tomorrow and Thursday and can go against the Flyers, Saturday against the Wings is the game I really want him back for though

I really don't think Nico misses any more time than the average NHL player due to injury, I'm going to personally elect that getting beamed in the face by a teammate's slapper doesn't qualify you as injury-prone, sometimes freak accidents just happen and the new narrative that Nico is made of glass is insane to me

Nico's a full participant at practice today

New song on Friday too, I squealed with joy

I'm very curious what their plans for Mercer are when Nico is healthy. If the plan is for him to be on the 3rd line regardless, I would love for them to keep him at center and move Haula down to be the 4C in McLeod's spot. Hughes-Hischier-Mercer-Haula is some pretty unreal center depth and I would be perfectly happy with the wings around those guys. EDIT: Something like this looks really good to me Palat - Hughes - Holtz Tatar - Hischier - Bratt Sharangovich - Mercer - Zetterlund Wood - Haula - Bastian

I'm counting us as 5-1-0 in preseason this year because I refuse to count the game where we iced the Utica Comets against the Isles A team

What got me was at one point Butch mentioned the "possibility" of Barzal winning the Art Ross this year. My guy...what?

It's been a long time since I've watched a game with the Islanders announcers, god Butch Goring is insufferable

Thought the boys played really well last night overall, Jack's line especially was really snake bitten but they could have easily walked away with three goals themselves, we hit 4 posts so the 1-0 final didn't feel indicative to me of how we actually played. Vanecek looks so rock solid back there, if we can get good seasons out of him and Blackwood that's going to be huge for the team's playoff hopes. Johnsson I feel like knows he's playing himself off of this roster, guy has looked invisible for all of camp and I don't know what he was thinking on that botched breakaway last night, I'd rather have someone in our bottom six that fits more of a physicality/defensive role than a skill forward who doesn't score. Voo-kee-yay-vich also had a nice game last night, good for him, that pass on the Tuna goal was really nice.

I really hope tonight is Senyshyn's last game in a Devils sweater, because I say this with no insincerity, I think he might be worse than Mason Geertsen

If someone like Boqvist or Zetterlund is waived to make room for Geertsen, I'm going to lose my mind

I thought he was alright against Montreal, didn't show anything special but didn't play poorly either by any means. He's waiver exempt so I have to assume he'll be a victim to the numbers game, he'll probably be top line in Utica to start the year

Really fun game last night, just about everyone you wanted to look good played well last night. Palat seems to be a perfect complement for Jack, they were working like hand and glove it seemed, hopefully Holtz sticks with them and can be that pure finishing presence because that's shaping up to be a really good line. Zetterlund is making it really difficult on the coaching staff and management to get rid of him, I have to believe he's on the opening night roster, there's almost no chance he passes through waivers. There are too many bodies and not enough spots it seems like, I'm still wondering if at some point we see someone like Johnsson traded to free up that numbers game a bit, there are 15 forwards that seem deserving of being on this team and only 14 spots to give. At this point I feel like we're looking at: Palat - Hughes - Holtz Sharangovich - Hischier - Bratt Wood - Haula - Mercer Tatar - Boqvist - Zetterlund Johnsson/McLeod/Bastian Siegenthaler - Hamilton Graves - Severson Bahl - Marino Smith Blackwood/Vanecek Also I thought the new play-by-play guy was really good, he'll keep settling in but he felt very natural, really good choice to replace Cangy. The PA announcer also sounded like he was solid, although I would take just about anything over last year's disaster.

You're right, they're even better 🥲

Some things belong in the past

I’m so itching for training camp that I texted my brothers what I think the pairs could be in PRACTICE now with Hickey included, Christ help me lol

For league minimum and just nostalgia purposes, yeah maybe, but he hasn't played in a full year and the last time he did play he already didn't look great. Maybe it would work as a 13th forward that you could throw in in a pinch and play on the second PP unit

They could have gone 8 skaters and protected all of their d-men, but if they went 7F/3D they would have had to leave one of Spurgeon, Brodin, or Dumba exposed. They did that in 2017 and had to pony up Alex Tuch to Vegas to keep Dumba or Brodin, can't remember which one they left exposed back then.

Lmao it really is the offseason, after all

If Arizona is selected for one of the lotteries, it's just a re-draw for that selection. If, for example, the Devils won the first drawing and then Arizona's numbers came up for the second selection, that wouldn't negate the Devils winning the first selection, they would just re-draw for the second selection.

There's a currently a ~33% chance we stay in the Top 4, ~80% we stay in the Top 5, if we stay there I think there's a fairly good chance we'll be able to get one of Power, Hughes, or Clarke. I agree with nessus, I think Edvinsson is a bit of a reach if one of those three aren't there, so I would prefer looking the way of Beniers, Eklund, Kent Johnson, or Dylan Guenther in that situation. I'm just really hoping we can grab one the big defensemen with our first pick because I'm just more enthusiastic about the forward options in the early-20's than the defense options. Ceulemans is my favorite after that top tier or d-men, but something tells me he's probably gone before our second pick. Lambos, Svozil, or even Jack Peart would be options but I would rather have the luxury of being able to take one of the forwards there. Brennan Othmann would be an awesome grab at the Isles pick.

I do find it pretty neat, though, that a number of the players that will be available in our range already have connections to current Devils. Luke Hughes -> Jack Brandt Clarke -> Graeme Clarke Matty Beniers -> Played with Jack on the NTDP and U18's William Eklund -> Holtz's linemate for Djurgarden Even Jesper Wallstedt was Holtz's teammate at the U20's

I don't think Jack or Quinn immediately look to jump ship to where ever their brother is playing. However, I do think it's very possible that if Quinn hits UFA in 4-5 years and both of his brothers are sitting in Jersey there's a decent chance he would come here to join them. The three of them seem very close, I think if the stars aligned for them to all play with each other in the NHL that would be something they would be interested in. The Staals never did it, but there was never really a circumstance where they would have been able to. Marc and Eric played with each other very briefly for the Rangers, but they didn't have the cap space to keep Eric and Jordan was already locked into a long term contract with the Canes, so it's not like Jordan had the option to leave and join his brothers without demanding a trade. On the flip side, when Eric and Jordan were together in Carolina, Marc was locked into his contract with the Rangers and was focused on playoff runs with them, the stars just never really aligned for the Staals to all go to the same place.