DJ Eco Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 (edited) Hall played like ass last night, imo, and I'm kind of surprised no one has called that out yet on this board, while we're all getting bogged down with critiquing Subban and Zacha (who mostly did well imo) with a magnifying glass. Giveaways, sloppy passes, losing battles that Nico had to clean up the mess a few times, even screwed up a routine deflection on 2 dump-ins coming in from the blue line, lacked speed, etc. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that it's the rust from not playing this amount of hockey since last winter (before you tear me a new one for unrealistic expectations), but for someone whom most Devils fans wanted the "C" to get handed to on opening night, playing like that and not burying 2 golden breakaways in OT or a shootout attempt on Edmonton's backup goalie to put this nightmare start behind the team around him and the fanbase, that should yield more criticism than I'm seeing here, in comparison to Subban and Zacha. This is someone whose 8 year, 8 digit contract could be announced sometime this month, and he's mostly being given a pass; am I missing something here? Edited October 11, 2019 by DJ Eco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevsMan84 Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 1 minute ago, DJ Eco said: Hall played like ass last night, imo, and I'm kind of surprised no one has called that out yet on this board, while we're all getting bogged down with critiquing Subban and Zacha (who mostly did well imo) with a magnifying glass. Giveaways, sloppy passes, losing battles that Nico had to clean up the mess a few times, even screwed up a routine deflection on 2 dump-ins coming in from the blue line, lacked speed, etc. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that it's the rust from not playing this amount of hockey since last winter, but for someone whom most Devils fans wanted the "C" handed to get handed to on opening night, playing like that and not burying 2 golden breakaways in OT or a shootout attempt on Edmonton's backup goalie should yield more criticism than I'm seeing here, in comparison to Subban and Zacha. This is someone whose 8 year, 8 digit contract could be announced sometime this month, and he's mostly being given a pass; am I missing something here? I mentioned Hall's play was concerning me in a post I made yesterday afternoon. I am not hitting the panic button yet but if this is still happening in about 5-7 games from now I will start to go into panic mode. It is making it easier for me to accept him potentially walking. He seems to be playing scared/half speed a lot. I just hope it is rust from not playing for 9-10 months and him still feeling out his repaired knee. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Eco Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Just now, DevsMan84 said: He seems to be playing scared/half speed a lot. I just hope it is rust from not playing for 9-10 months and him still feeling out his repaired knee. Yeah, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt into early November, for sure. He's earned that much without a doubt, but it's concerning, and those breakaways in OT (and 2 shootout attempts so far this season) were low hanging fruit to calm our nerves a bit, and he didn't convert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicomo Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Hall looked good to me last night. He generated a ton of chances. And set up the go ahead goal. Finish just isn’t there right now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkin cutter Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 We get to play another home opener tomorrow! Hopefully they pull a devils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 22 minutes ago, Nicomo said: Hall looked good to me last night. He generated a ton of chances. And set up the go ahead goal. Finish just isn’t there right now. He's not handling the puck as well as he usually does, like someone else said, it seems like his feet are there but his hands are not. That said, he looked WAY better last night than the previous two, in my opinion. He'll be fine. Just as I said about 3 games, you don't decide whether to trade him based on 4 games either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundstrom Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 31 minutes ago, DJ Eco said: Hall played like ass last night, imo, and I'm kind of surprised no one has called that out yet on this board, while we're all getting bogged down with critiquing Subban and Zacha (who mostly did well imo) with a magnifying glass. Giveaways, sloppy passes, losing battles that Nico had to clean up the mess a few times, even screwed up a routine deflection on 2 dump-ins coming in from the blue line, lacked speed, etc. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that it's the rust from not playing this amount of hockey since last winter (before you tear me a new one for unrealistic expectations), but for someone whom most Devils fans wanted the "C" to get handed to on opening night, playing like that and not burying 2 golden breakaways in OT or a shootout attempt on Edmonton's backup goalie to put this nightmare start behind the team around him and the fanbase, that should yield more criticism than I'm seeing here, in comparison to Subban and Zacha. This is someone whose 8 year, 8 digit contract could be announced sometime this month, and he's mostly being given a pass; am I missing something here? i agree that i didn't think hall was all that good last night. i know that cordell posted favorable advanced metrics for him but i think that had much more to do with nico and palms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satans Hockey Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 56 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said: Also, I would just like to point out that losing makes us all fight and seem to hate each other. When we win, we never argue and say "Hughes is the best sniper on the team", while someone else counters back angrily or begrudgingly with "No, Palmieri is the best sniper!". It's amazing how this thread and several others about the team right now is basically a battlefield and people throwing slings and arrows, constantly disagreeing about virtually everything. There's so much more harmony when we're good, and maybe that's natural, but this bickering is unnatural. I guess we all need scapegoats and an outlet to vent, but I just want to say I love you all even though our team sucks right now. 1 playoff game win / 1 playoff appearance since 2012 will make even the most optimistic person become quite sour on this team. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdgeControl Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 some comments on last nights game at least we weren't trapped in our zone for most of the game, breakouts were better.. hynes worked on it our defensemen take turns making horrible passes, even PK seems to confuse himself skating the puck up ice we gave that top line way too many fast breaks with numbers due to stupid turnovers in the offensive end Im so glad palms took that shot and didnt pass it to hall, taylor seems to have reverted back to his "non-finisher" status hopefully its temporary agree with most about wood, if he was scratched, I think we win zacha, to me, is playing very well, nico, bratt, hughes so dam comfortable with the puck.. I think its going to get much better soon our young goalie wasnt a topic of conversation a good thing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikepeluso8 Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 are the wheels off yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 1 hour ago, Satans Hockey said: 1 playoff game win / 1 playoff appearance since 2012 will make even the most optimistic person become quite sour on this team. Agreed. All they have changed since then is the ownership, GM, coaching staff, and the entire roster except from two guys. And the jersey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Eco Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 (edited) 15 minutes ago, EdgeControl said: our defensemen take turns making horrible passes, even PK seems to confuse himself skating the puck up ice Yeah, something's weird, in those 5 days of practice between preseason and the opener, it's almost like Nasreddine had them implement some completely new and different kind of breakout pass. Instead of our defensemen clearing the puck around the boards from behind the net or in the slot, I've noticed they just whip it up the middle, a few times whizzing dangerously close to our goalies, and many times ending up on the opposing stick. I don't know what the thought process could possibly be, other than "they would never think we're just going to whip it up the middle"???? But I've seen a bunch of our players do it, it's like a super ballsy move, but has turned into giveaways more often than it's worked in generating a rush. It's almost like they were told to do this, and are doing it even when it doesn't look like the best option. Maybe they see what we see on the ice, and don't want to do it for that reason, so like you said, it looks like they're confused, but yeah, I've seen it enough times early this season (trying to play from the back right up through the middle) that this might be on the coaches/system telling them to make that dangerous play. Edited October 11, 2019 by DJ Eco 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikepeluso8 Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 FIRE HYNES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewarkDevil5 Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 1 hour ago, DJ Eco said: Yeah, something's weird, in those 5 days of practice between preseason and the opener, it's almost like Nasreddine had them implement some completely new and different kind of breakout pass. Instead of our defensemen clearing the puck around the boards from behind the net or in the slot, I've noticed they just whip it up the middle, a few times whizzing dangerously close to our goalies, and many times ending up on the opposing stick. I don't know what the thought process could possibly be, other than "they would never think we're just going to whip it up the middle"???? But I've seen a bunch of our players do it, it's like a super ballsy move, but has turned into giveaways more often than it's worked in generating a rush. It's almost like they were told to do this, and are doing it even when it doesn't look like the best option. Maybe they see what we see on the ice, and don't want to do it for that reason, so like you said, it looks like they're confused, but yeah, I've seen it enough times early this season (trying to play from the back right up through the middle) that this might be on the coaches/system telling them to make that dangerous play. I've been noticing exactly this and it more than anything else has me wanting the coaches' heads on platters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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