Derlique Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 I am starting to like the idea of Steckel playing 3rd line center. He showed good scoring touch in the AHL and was never really given an offensive more offensive role in the NHL. Put him on a line with Tedenby, when Tedenby doesn't have to chase the puck he will be far better off. Ugh no. The guy has hands of stone and cant pass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0nMacIsaac Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Ugh no. The guy has hands of stone and cant pass 52 ES/SH points in 71 AHL games proves that to be somewhat false. He has enough hands to score at a good pace in the AHL and College. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derlique Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 True, but I'm sure we can both think of countless of examples of guys who dominated the AHL game that haven't been able to translate to the NHL. Worth a shot though, it's not like we have much of a choice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinn01 Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 True, but I'm sure we can both think of countless of examples of guys who dominated the AHL game that haven't been able to translate to the NHL. Worth a shot though, it's not like we have much of a choice Thats a huge step that many players cant handle. Only a select few can make the transition in a positive manner to the point where they will see more then a game or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chorske17 Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Discard the rest of the season and the fact that he had to be taught there was another side of the puck. Plus he played much harder under JL. 100M doesn't guarantee he's going to play hard if he doesn't care for the coach. Better pray he likes the new coach or he'll be gone in time to find another next off season. Then there's that pesky +/- #, but we know that's meaningless and a result of some bad line changes and poor puck luck, otherwise the guy was golden. +/- doesn't lie. Sure there are bad line changes, but you cannot tell me it doesn't matter. You think Scott Stevens NEVER going negative was LUCK? The guy (Ilya Kovalchuk) SUCKS on defense. You can say, he hustles back on defense, but I'm not impressed. I recall at least three games where Rolston and Kovalchuk were at the points and Kovalchuk made a poor decision. Someone intercepted the puck and Rolston was the one hustling back while Kovalchuk "coasted" back. You guys can trash Rolston all you want, but he definitely tried. He can play the point, but put someone there to cover him since he either doesn't care or is not able to play two way hockey. If he was GOOD defensively he'd be on the PK. And, I'll never FORGET the shoot-out attempt where Kovalchuk let the puck just slip off his stick. Hearing Chico say, "oh my... now that wasn't Kovalchuk's fault folks," on my TV was very humorous. Who's fault was it? The guy in row three with the string attached to the puck? C'mon. What next, you tell me Dan McGillis and Richard Matvichuk were GREAT pick-ups? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Dan 56 Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 And, I'll never FORGET the shoot-out attempt where Kovalchuk let the puck just slip off his stick. Hearing Chico say, "oh my... now that wasn't Kovalchuk's fault folks," on my TV was very humorous. Who's fault was it? The guy in row three with the string attached to the puck? C'mon. What next, you tell me Dan McGillis and Richard Matvichuk were GREAT pick-ups? Are you serious?? The puck slipped off his stick. It happens. It's on ice, you know. That somehow makes him useless? He spent the second half scoring huge game winners every week but you're gonna remember the shootout miss? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 I don't quite remember, but what was Kovy's +/- like when the team pulled its collective head outta its ass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overtime98 Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Kovalchuk is not Rick Nash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0nMacIsaac Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Two likely scenerios: Parise - Elias - Zubrus Kovalchuk - Josefson - Palmieri Tedenby - Steckel - Clarkson Parise - Elias - Tedenby Kovalchuk - Josefson - Palmieri Henrique - Zubrus - Clackson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilMinder Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 I suppose at least it happened now and not in the middle of a crucial season. I hope this doesn't affect Parise too much, we need him to have a good season. Yes we will overpay, but a moody underperforming Parise is the last thing the Devils want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devilsfan118 Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 And, I'll never FORGET the shoot-out attempt where Kovalchuk let the puck just slip off his stick. Hearing Chico say, "oh my... now that wasn't Kovalchuk's fault folks," on my TV was very humorous. Who's fault was it? The guy in row three with the string attached to the puck? C'mon. What next, you tell me Dan McGillis and Richard Matvichuk were GREAT pick-ups? Well that's a warning flag right there. If you can't 'forgive' a player for a single mistake made at (arguably) his 'rock bottom', then you're approaching Manta status on the blind hatred meter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 I don't quite remember, but what was Kovy's +/- like when the team pulled its collective head outta its ass? i think it got as low as -30. kovalchuk and his line only shot 9.2% at even strength (empty net situations not included). that should improve this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risky Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 "You will still miss 87.4% of all the shots you take." --Triumph Not as inspirational as Gretzky, but it does have a certain honest ring to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknown Soul Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Kovalchuk is not Rick Nash Yes because Kovy's better. He has 110 more goals, 104 assists, and 214 more points, while only playing only 1 more season then Nash. He's clearly better then Nash by far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 i think it got as low as -30. So he only went a +4 (or thereabouts) despite the team racking up wins. Granted, most of them were really tight affairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derlique Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Let's be real here...Ilya Kovalchuk probably won like 5 games on his own during our streak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Did you even read the article? Hes out til mid-November. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chorske17 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 So he only went a +4 (or thereabouts) despite the team racking up wins. Granted, most of them were really tight affairs. BINGO! I won't blame it all on him because that is unfair, but show me who else lost the puck and didn't make an attempt to recover it on a shootout before they got to the net. It wasn't going that fast. I'd take Rick Nash over Kovalchuk any day. Nash has heart, Kovalchuk...not so much. Kovalchuk has immese talent, but will NEVER bring his teammates to the next skill level on his line. I can't wait until some of you finally see it. How many games into the season will it take? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prucenterrules Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Nash has heart, Kovalchuk...not so much. Are you serious??? Kovalchuk and Zubrus were the only 2 players that showed up and had heart in the philly series in 2010. In the second half of last year Kovy played every game with heart and was a key reason in our turn around. Just look at his celebrations after his goals and Devils wins, that's fvcking heart right there. Yeah he isn't perfect out there but Ilya is a player trying his hardest to become a complete player and you just continue to rag on him and never look at the positives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onddeck Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 BINGO! I won't blame it all on him because that is unfair, but show me who else lost the puck and didn't make an attempt to recover it on a shootout before they got to the net. It wasn't going that fast. I'd take Rick Nash over Kovalchuk any day. Nash has heart, Kovalchuk...not so much. Kovalchuk has immese talent, but will NEVER bring his teammates to the next skill level on his line. I can't wait until some of you finally see it. How many games into the season will it take? O get out of here with that. You know Kovy played with heart the second half of the season, why are you saying this? The guy has a bad 1/2 of the season and you're sayin this.. I know he didn't have a good +/- but no one on our team did: thats what happens on a losing team.. Speaking of your boy Rick Nash, the guy has a negative +/- in half the seasons he's played Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0nMacIsaac Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 I love generalizations like "russian's have no heart" yet players like Heatley get a free pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewarkDevil5 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 As far as the +/- is concerned, in the month of February, while he was single-handedly carrying the team, he was a +9. He started to break down again in March as a -2 and then was worse in April once the season was already pretty much over with a -4 over the course of 6 games. There was a period of time when he was at around -15 or so and I was telling Triumph that he'd finish even on the season. Obviously it didn't happen, but he did a very good job defensively AND offensively in the second half of this year. Don't let a few games at the end where the wheels fell off because there wasn't anything left to play for fool you. He played with a great deal of heart and was without doubt the soul of this team during the second half of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneykoIsGod Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 If we wanna just focus in on one stat like plus-minus that some people put a lot of stock in while others can find clear reasons not to, let's focus on another. Game-winning goals. Kovalchuk had 9 of 'em. Only three players in the entire league -- Ovechkin, Perry and Sedin -- had more, and the next-highest total on the Devils was Elias with 5. Only 2 of those 9 were "throw-aways" that came in games that were decided by more than one goal (compared to 4 of Ovechkin's, 5 of Perry's and 6 of Sedin's). Meanwhile, 1 gave us our first win of the year, 3 were the lone goals in 1-0 wins and 4 came in OT. He also tallied one shootout-deciding goal, which doesn't count toward GWG numbers. So you could say he tallied 10 game-winners, 8 of which were keepers. And the shootout where he lost the puck? He scored the OT game-winner two nights later. So if you're gonna keep bringing one up, make sure you mention the other. Or just get over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagknife Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 I love generalizations like "russian's have no heart" yet players like Heatley get a free pass. Hey wait, Heatley gets a free pass because his friend died and his Ferrari was totaled... [i really wish there was a sarcasm button] Anyone who says Kovy has no heart did not watch a single 2nd half game last year, end of story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RizzMB30 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Parise - Elias - Tedenby Kovalchuk - Josefson - Palmieri Henrique - Zubrus - Clarkson Try Henrique at center on the 3rd line and I like that top 9 a lot...Elias and Parise are strong point-getters and will keep Tedenby from being such a detriment on defense and Tedenby will continue to learn good D. The biggest question mark will be how well that 2nd line plays and if Josefson can play between Kovy and Napalm, who had chemistry last year. It's odd because with last year we had too many vets in our top 6 and this year we will probably have a lot of youngsters in our top 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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