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GDT: NJ Devils vs. Dallas Stars - Niedermayer Number Retirement


Colin226

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Tell me my eyes fooled me. Did Scott Niedermayer skip over Kovalchuk when he was leaving after the ceremony and then Kovalchuk grabbed him or said something so that Scott would shake his hand? Oh, priceless. I watched that four times and my wife thought it was great too. He Ilya... psst... Scott doesn't care for you and he never played with you!

Your hate for kovy is strong, really!!!!

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The PK is now EVEN for the season 4 on 5. Wrap your arms around that.

It's fantastic. Remember how angry the entire board was about the passive box they started using late in 2009 with Shanahan and Pandolfo? Or in 2010 with Rob Niedermayer? Now the Devils are using only their best offensive players on the PK forechecking so aggressively with two players and looking to create scoring chances at every opportunity. It really is something to watch.

Edited by devilsrule33
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It's fantastic. Remember how angry the entire board was about the passive box they started using late in 2009 with Shanahan and Pandolfo? Or in 2010 with Rob Niedermayer? Now the Devils are using only their best offensive players on the PK forechecking so aggressively with two players and looking to create scoring chances at every opportunity. It really is something to watch.

It's beyond fantastic. It's ridiculous. :lol: The best team in the league last season was the Pens at -32. 09-10 was Chicago at -26. And just running through the next couple of seasons before that, -26 seems like a very low number.

Edited by maxpower
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Okay, that's the good. There is no bad. Just ugly. The Devils are only +5 on the power play this season which is by far the worst in the league.

yeah, that's awful but right now I'd just settle for no SH goals against. PP is probably the least important of the three, if, and only if, they can become a decent team or better 5 on 5, which they are not now.

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Okay, that's the good. There is no bad. Just ugly. The Devils are only +5 on the power play this season which is by far the worst in the league.

That's really insane. First, that 31 games into an NHL season, a hockey team can find itself even in the penalty kill. I can't help but wonder if that has ever been accomplished over such a long stretch of games.

And second, of course, how this same team can be so incredibly bad at the power play. Scary to think where this team could be if the power play was barely average.

Re: Niedermayer...though his speech wasn't terribly deep or emotional (mostly he thanked everyone who helped him along the way), in a lot of ways I feel like I know Scott the person better than I did before...ironic in a way, as I'll explain. First, it was clear that getting up in front of a whole of people is not really Scott's thing, and he wouldn't be alone in that regard. He struck me as very nice and very reserved, but someone who has trouble articulating himself and getting himself across clearly to those who don't know him well. He also seems like the kind of guy that takes a lot of time to get to know and does not open up easily. I'm sure his family and close friends will you he's an awesome guy on many levels, and I don't doubt them for a second...but it became clear to me that knowing Nieds on that level is a probably not a simple task...I think he's very selective in who he allows to truly know him.

And for those who wondered why Zach got more of a free pass for his slow start, when Kovy was more quickly criticized...you're seeing why now. If Zach's slow start had lasted the whole first half, I think the criticism would've picked up, but I think everyone thought Zach would get it going eventually...and after notching 11 points through his first 21 GP, he now has 16 in his last 10 GP. Even more amazing is that the Devils top four scorers aren't that far off a ppg pace.

They exceeded what I was hoping for...I wanted NHL-.500 while Zajac was out, and they bested that by three points. 1-0 with Zajac in the lineup. An away game/home game imbalance that's about to be corrected. Here's to hoping for good things...

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Was at the game last night, not much to say other than our PK and PP are ridiculous, albeit for very different reasons. Very good game from all 4 lines. Zajac looks healthy and you can already tell he'll make a profound difference on this team soon.

Also, go to talk to Doc for about 5 minutes last night and took a picture with him. Honestly one of the nicest guys out there, as we all know. Spoke about a few topics and then told him how much everyone misses him. He proceeded to tell me some stories about his past and how sometimes change can be hard at first, but good in the long run as happened to him several times when he replaced some other beloved commentators for other teams. He said Cangiolosi is an excellent commentator and soon we'll forget all about him. I just smiled and nodded.

Edited by Amberite
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A very enjoyable night. I thought the presentation to Niedermayer was done very well. The game of course was lots of fun an win is always fun. We can be a strong team when Zajac gets his legs and timing game ready and Josefson comes back.

Colin your GDT worked, thanks

Edited by LucifersDog
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