NHL: 24 team playoffs soon. Devil's season is over

[mfitz804]

30 minutes ago, titans04 said:

all based on your expected possible increase in performance.

Of course. Or at least I expect so. 

[jagknife]

So for those interested in hockey podcasts, give the Cam & Strick podcast a shot. Much less vulgar than Spittin Chiclets, no heavy Boston accents, and I think the best part is no Paul Bissonnette talking over every guest trying to put himself on a pedestal compared to their accomplishments.

Sure, Cam (Janssen) lets a few vulgarities slip (for those who might be handcuffed to listen around your tiny humans), but its nowhere to the degree of Chiclets. I listened to the one they had JR on to get started.

It kinda feels like they're hockey's Rick and Morty, with Cam filling the role of Rick just with some of his ramblings.

Anyway, hope everyone's healthy. A buddy of mine got tested for the COVIDs yesterday in NY and the local hospital here is starting to see an increase in positive cases for the first time since this broke out.

Stay healthy, my friends.

[Devil Dan 56]

5 hours ago, jagknife said:

So for those interested in hockey podcasts, give the Cam & Strick podcast a shot. Much less vulgar than Spittin Chiclets, no heavy Boston accents, and I think the best part is no Paul Bissonnette talking over every guest trying to put himself on a pedestal compared to their accomplishments.

Sure, Cam (Janssen) lets a few vulgarities slip (for those who might be handcuffed to listen around your tiny humans), but its nowhere to the degree of Chiclets. I listened to the one they had JR on to get started.

It kinda feels like they're hockey's Rick and Morty, with Cam filling the role of Rick just with some of his ramblings.

Anyway, hope everyone's healthy. A buddy of mine got tested for the COVIDs yesterday in NY and the local hospital here is starting to see an increase in positive cases for the first time since this broke out.

Stay healthy, my friends.

That's a fun podcast. Cam has some real great stories. One of my favorites is when he was in the AHL and someone changed his contacts and put Lou's number under his drinking buddy's name. Cam calls his buddy to go get hammered after a game and its a very unhappy Lou on the other end

[Devilsfan118]

On 5/16/2020 at 11:55 AM, jagknife said:

So for those interested in hockey podcasts, give the Cam & Strick podcast a shot. Much less vulgar than Spittin Chiclets, no heavy Boston accents, and I think the best part is no Paul Bissonnette talking over every guest trying to put himself on a pedestal compared to their accomplishments.

Sure, Cam (Janssen) lets a few vulgarities slip (for those who might be handcuffed to listen around your tiny humans), but its nowhere to the degree of Chiclets. I listened to the one they had JR on to get started.

It kinda feels like they're hockey's Rick and Morty, with Cam filling the role of Rick just with some of his ramblings.

I've given a few of their episodes a listen - the one with Kovalchuk was a good one.  It's a little less polished than Spittin Chiclets obviously as far as sound quality and flow.  

But I do have to say - to your bolded comment, Cam is about as headstrong and.. vaguely narcissistic as Bissonnette, if not more so.  The guy has such an incredibly overinflated sense of himself as an NHL player.  Like if you listen to him talk about the Devils' 2012 playoff run.. 'we' this 'we' that.. I get it, he was technically on the roster and probably practiced occasionally with the guys but he was a glorified black ace.  Zero TOI through that entire run I think. 

I don't particularly mind it because he's a hilarious guy to listen to tell stories, but you'd think he was an integral part of the teams he was on.. rather than a replacement-level goon.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

25 minutes ago, Devilsfan118 said:

I've given a few of their episodes a listen - the one with Kovalchuk was a good one.  It's a little less polished than Spittin Chiclets obviously as far as sound quality and flow.  

But I do have to say - to your bolded comment, Cam is about as headstrong and.. vaguely narcissistic as Bissonnette, if not more so.  The guy has such an incredibly overinflated sense of himself as an NHL player.  Like if you listen to him talk about the Devils' 2012 playoff run.. 'we' this 'we' that.. I get it, he was technically on the roster and probably practiced occasionally with the guys but he was a glorified black ace.  Zero TOI through that entire run I think. 

I don't particularly mind it because he's a hilarious guy to listen to tell stories, but you'd think he was an integral part of the teams he was on.. rather than a replacement-level goon.

Troy Crowder was much the same way.  You’d think from the way he’d talk about his offense that he was a perennial 40-goal scorer.

During his first full season, he actually did manage to score 5 goals in a 10-game stretch...both he and the Devils seemed to think that he could possibly become a poor-man’s Bob Probert.  Of course, Crowder scored a whopping one goal in 43 games to close out that season, and only finished with 150 GP in the NHL for his career (think it was a bad back that killed his career).  Thank god that Detroit signed him as a Group 1 FA...and that the Devils lost their case and didn’t get their compensation request of Probert.  They got Randy McKay and Dave Barr instead.  McKay was the more productive player for the rest of his career...though as I’ve mentioned before, Probert’s and McKay’s quick-glance career numbers are very eerily similar.  

Edited May 17, 2020 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[jagknife]

1 hour ago, Devilsfan118 said:

I've given a few of their episodes a listen - the one with Kovalchuk was a good one.  It's a little less polished than Spittin Chiclets obviously as far as sound quality and flow.  

But I do have to say - to your bolded comment, Cam is about as headstrong and.. vaguely narcissistic as Bissonnette, if not more so.  The guy has such an incredibly overinflated sense of himself as an NHL player.  Like if you listen to him talk about the Devils' 2012 playoff run.. 'we' this 'we' that.. I get it, he was technically on the roster and probably practiced occasionally with the guys but he was a glorified black ace.  Zero TOI through that entire run I think. 

I don't particularly mind it because he's a hilarious guy to listen to tell stories, but you'd think he was an integral part of the teams he was on.. rather than a replacement-level goon.

I agree, but from the episode and a half episodes I've listened to (Podcasts get me through runs and the drive to/from base), he at least can laugh at himself at lot. He was joking about how he was a plug in juniors and tried to kill Patrick O'sullivan a few times and missed.

At a minimum, its a great break from Paul "I have to tell every guest that I'm an ECHL all star and interrupt the duck out of them every single time they answer a question" Bissonnette. Hell, at least Cam lets the questions be asked before already injecting his own answer.

[MadDog2020]

4 minutes ago, jagknife said:

I agree, but from the episode and a half episodes I've listened to (Podcasts get me through runs and the drive to/from base), he at least can laugh at himself at lot. He was joking about how he was a plug in juniors and tried to kill Patrick O'sullivan a few times and missed.

At a minimum, its a great break from Paul "I have to tell every guest that I'm an ECHL all star and interrupt the duck out of them every single time they answer a question" Bissonnette. Hell, at least Cam lets the questions be asked before already injecting his own answer.

Sounds like Biz Nasty attended the Mike Francesca School of Broadcasting....

[titans04]

1 hour ago, MadDog2020 said:

Sounds like Biz Nasty attended the Mike Francesca School of Broadcasting....

I mean the guy use to parade around with his own wwe belt in the ECHL, to me that speaks volumes about just how much of an jackhole he truly is.  It's remarkable to me how he actually stepped foot on an NHL sheet of ice.

Edited May 17, 2020 by titans04

[Satans Hockey]

Personally I'll never be bored enough to ever listen to any of these morons yap away. 

[titans04]

24 minutes ago, Satans Hockey said:

Personally I'll never be bored enough to ever listen to any of these morons yap away. 

Same. +1.

[Nicomo]

You guys are missing out. Spittin Chiclets is fantastic. You should at least listen to some of the Devils related ones (Gomez, Rupp, etc). Then there’s occasionally crazy sh!t like Josh Hennessy telling the story about playing for Russian gangsters in the KHL, or Brian Burke talking about one his scouts almost fighting Nail Yakupov during his interview. Lol

I personally love it, and I’m not even really into podcasts that much. It’s pretty much the only one I regularly listen to. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by Nicomo

[Devilsfan118]

4 hours ago, Satans Hockey said:

Personally I'll never be bored enough to ever listen to any of these morons yap away. 

Give the interview with Scott Gomez a listen. It's so, so good.

[Jerrydevil]

On 5/17/2020 at 12:29 PM, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

They got Randy McKay and Dave Barr instead.  McKay was the more productive player for the rest of his career...though as I’ve mentioned before, Probert’s and McKay’s quick-glance career numbers are very eerily similar.  

That certainly worked out for the best! Randy McKay emerged as an enforcer/decent offensive player when Probert was at the end of his career. McKay was never a minus player in NJ and was plus-30 in 1998. And we all know how well he played in the '95 postseason. Fan favorite, for sure.

[nmigliore]

15 hours ago, Devilsfan118 said:

Give the interview with Scott Gomez a listen. It's so, so good.

Just listened to this, it's incredible. The stories are just pure gold. Did they ever do a part 2 with him yet? The one I listened to was from December.

[Devilsfan118]

11 minutes ago, nmigliore said:

Just listened to this, it's incredible. The stories are just pure gold. Did they ever do a part 2 with him yet? The one I listened to was from December.

Not yet, but I can't wait until they have him back again.  He barely even got into playing with some of the all-time great Devils.  

I'm willing to bet he has a ton of stories about guys like Marty and Dano.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, Jerrydevil said:

That certainly worked out for the best! Randy McKay emerged as an enforcer/decent offensive player when Probert was at the end of his career. McKay was never a minus player in NJ and was plus-30 in 1998. And we all know how well he played in the '95 postseason. Fan favorite, for sure.

Randy showed some teases of being able to provide a little offense at times through his first six seasons as a Devil, but from his 7th through 10th seasons here, he was actually a lot better offensively than people really remember...averaged a tick under 23 G and 25 A per 82 GP during those four seasons.  I remember a game against the Avs (I was there...it was this one: https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/199711140NJD.html) , where he got a little daylight as he crossed the blue line and was clearly going to shoot...I said to my bud "Randy the Rocket", and he then flat-out blew one past Roy.  McKay really came out FLYING in 1997-98...four goals in his first four games, then 6 through 7, and 7 through 9...at one point he had 17 G and 15 A through 42 GP.  He was a bit all-or-nothing that season (kinda like a poor man's Palms), but he enjoyed some real nice offensive bursts that year...he had 15 points through 18 games to start that 1997-98 season, and 15 more during another 16 game run.  He really did have a pretty good shot...even had a hat trick that year.  That was his real "Coming Out" year, as far as being able to provide some offensive goes. 

Lou really went for a home run at the time in trying to land Probert as compensation, but Detroit would have been rightly furious if the arbitrator had awarded the Devils Probert...and it wouldn't surprise me if someone behind the scenes told Lou "OK, you made a great case for Stevens, but no way can you make one for Probert."  McKay's numbers at that point in his career made him the perfect compensation for losing Crowder, even without Barr as part of the package...but I think Detroit was scared just enough by the Blues having lost Stevens for signing Shanahan that they didn't fvck around, and decided to throw Barr into the mix as well, to make the arbitrator's decision an absolute no-brainer.  

Based on what Crowder was at that point (he'd played just 69 games in the NHL, and outside of being a complete beast in fights, didn't bring all that much to the table), it's actually baffling that his name would be linked to players who would accomplish (or had accomplished) far more than he ever did.

 

Oh, and one last Crowder note...I obviously saw him play way back when and remember his fighting skills...but after watching some of his more famous ones now, you can really see why he could be so devastating.  For one, he had very good instincts as to what to do when...he would rarely rush right in, and would grapple if he needed to, until he could create a legit opening...but as Craig Coxe, Jeff Chychrun and even Probert found out, Crowder only needed the slightest window to start to deliver flat-out flush-faced knockout blows.  He made that aspect look easier than any fighter that I've ever seen.    

Edited May 18, 2020 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Jerrydevil]

7 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Randy showed some teases of being able to provide a little offense at times through his first six seasons as a Devil, but from his 7th through 10th seasons here, he was actually a lot better offensively than people really remember...

I seem to recall a game when McKay and Madden scored 4 goals apiece against Pittsburgh. MSG Plus should televise that one.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

5 minutes ago, Jerrydevil said:

I seem to recall a game when McKay and Madden scored 4 goals apiece against Pittsburgh. MSG Plus should televise that one.

Yeah, 9-0 Devils, heh heh.  That one was hilarious.  

[eldon]

That and the 10-4 game vs. Caps from 88 playoffs. Besides scoring, had tons of fights and scraps. Would want an extra 30 minutes added. 

[nmigliore]

25 minutes ago, eldon said:

That and the 10-4 game vs. Caps from 88 playoffs. Besides scoring, had tons of fights and scraps. Would want an extra 30 minutes added. 

I've been reading Stan Fischler's Devils Over The Decades series on the Devils website and a lot of the recent chapters have been about the 1988 team. When you read about some of these games, it makes you want to watch them, especially when they were well before your time (I was born in 1991 and didn't become interesting in Devils/hockey until 1998). Would love to see some of these big games (regular season and playoff), especially this one referenced vs the Rangers featuring a Pat Verbeek penalty shot: https://www.nhl.com/devils/news/devils-over-the-decades-ch-15---showdown-with-the-rangers/c-313503838?tid=277567796 

Hell, I would settle even for just the Blackhawks finale but all I could find is highlights via YouTube.

[MadDog2020]

6 minutes ago, nmigliore said:

I've been reading Stan Fischler's Devils Over The Decades series on the Devils website and a lot of the recent chapters have been about the 1988 team. When you read about some of these games, it makes you want to watch them, especially when they were well before your time (I was born in 1991 and didn't become interesting in Devils/hockey until 1998). Would love to see some of these big games (regular season and playoff), especially this one referenced vs the Rangers featuring a Pat Verbeek penalty shot: https://www.nhl.com/devils/news/devils-over-the-decades-ch-15---showdown-with-the-rangers/c-313503838?tid=277567796 

Hell, I would settle even for just the Blackhawks finale but all I could find is highlights via YouTube.

They showed some 88 playoff games on MSG+ a couple of weeks ago.... wish they’d play them more often.

[AEWHistory]

Are you guys familiar with the skit from the very first seasons of SNL about Gen. Franco?  He died after ruling Spain for about 40 years so, but it was like he was going to live forever the old fascist coot.  Anyway, so on the SNL news segment they had a bit for awhile with the update, something like: “And updating the situation in Spain: Gen. Franco...... still dead after two weeks.  We will update again on this new story.”

So I check this forum once a week or so now and every time I see this one thread at or near the top: “NHL pauses season, not cancelled”.  And the next week,  and next week, and next week..... and coming today I thought about that skit about Franco.  He was dead and that was it, but it made for a great joke that there would be an “update” on his dead status.  So why do I feel like I am living that joke!?  I have seen articles that keep insisting the season is merely paused.... like Franco I guess.  My guess is that it will be 2024 and we will still be seeing the same thing about the ‘19-20 hockey season: paused, not cancelled.

Ah, before I forget my update: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead after only four and a half decades!  Remember to keep following this decomposing news story.....

Edited May 18, 2020 by AEWHistory

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

16 hours ago, nmigliore said:

I've been reading Stan Fischler's Devils Over The Decades series on the Devils website and a lot of the recent chapters have been about the 1988 team. When you read about some of these games, it makes you want to watch them, especially when they were well before your time (I was born in 1991 and didn't become interesting in Devils/hockey until 1998). Would love to see some of these big games (regular season and playoff), especially this one referenced vs the Rangers featuring a Pat Verbeek penalty shot: https://www.nhl.com/devils/news/devils-over-the-decades-ch-15---showdown-with-the-rangers/c-313503838?tid=277567796 

Hell, I would settle even for just the Blackhawks finale but all I could find is highlights via YouTube.

Having lived through those games, and having seen many of them, it was fun...much different though than today's game.  We've been over how much more meh goaltending was, and how the speed was a bit slower all-around then.  

Burke described what was going on back then perfectly...the Devils were in it, but not really in it.  They had to bank just about every point in their last 8 GP just to squeak in.  And of course back then there were no charity points for OT losses...a loss was a loss was a loss.  They tied the Sabres 2-2 as a part of that desperation run...had they lost that in OT, would've killed them.  

I would love to see the final 8 games of that season again (Devils went 7-0-1, and won a number of those games big...outscored their opponents 41-15 for that run).  Some cool highlights:

Devils trailed 2-0 to the Caps in the first of those eight games, but rallied to win 4-2.  

They scored 4 unanswered third period goals to wax the Blues 8-2.

The Devils would blow a 2-0 lead to the Sabres and would settle for a 2-2 tie.  Game was tied from late in the second period on...obviously no margin for error.

Devils deal a serious blow to the Rangers' playoff hopes with a 7-2 win (Verbeek's penalty shot goal made it 3-1 in the first).  Much like the win against the Blues, the Devils score three unanswered in the third to put the game out of reach.

Devils squash another playoff hopeful (the Penguins) with back-to-back blowouts in a home-and-home:  a 4-0 shutout at the Meadowlands, and a 7-2 pasting in Pittsburgh.  In the second game, the Devils had yet ANOTHER monster third period, outscoring the Pens 4-0 in that period alone.  

Then onto their soon-to-be first-round opponent.  Devils jump out to a 4-1 lead before the game's even half over, and lead 5-1 late in the third before the Isles score a meaningless goal (off the stick of Brent Sutter...yes, THAT Brent Sutter).

And finally the game against the Blackhawks...Verbeek scored a big goal with just 8 seconds left in the second period to tie things up at 2-2, and then trailing 3-2 in the third, MacLean ties it up, and of course puts home the game-winner.  That game really was the beginning of MacLean becoming MacLean...he'd been up and down as a Devil to that point, and 1987-88 had been an extremely disappointing year for him before that monster game.  He'd continue to put it all together in the 1988 playoffs, and the following seasons.  That damned ACL tear in the 1991 preseason (last game no less)...I'll always believe Mac would've flirted with 50 goals that year had he been healthy.  He was lighting it up in preseason and just looked terrific.  

Edited May 19, 2020 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Jerrydevil]

Rewatching the 1988 Devils games is awesome, too, because you get to hear the voice of Gary Thorne. He's right up there with Doc in my book.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

34 minutes ago, Jerrydevil said:

Rewatching the 1988 Devils games is awesome, too, because you get to hear the voice of Gary Thorne. He's right up there with Doc in my book.

He gets a lot of hate on here because he was practically cheerleading for the Avs and Bourque back in 2001, but I loved his work with the Devils back in the day.  And I think he's got a great voice for punctuating those truly special memories (like MacLean scoring the playoff spot clinching goal, for one).