New Jersey Devils 2020(ish)-2021 Season

[MadDog2020]

10 hours ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

I keep seeing his name come up. What's the deal with him? Why does everyone seem to think he's a sure thing?

I’m not saying anyone thinks he’s a ‘sure thing’, but he’s a highly regarded coach. He’s not a retread either, so that’s also something I guess. 

Edited May 4, 2021 by MadDog2020

[SterioDesign]

i really think that Ruff was just a stopgap for Gronborg. Makes perfect sense for everyone involved.

Let's say they knew they wanted him. But he wasn't available for another season or 2. Well the team was not going to be competing anyway. So you get a guy with experience like ruff. It's even something Ruff might have been okay with. He was probably not going to get another coaching job in the NHL at the time anyway. So that's keeping him afloat. Then he still has a chance that if things go well that he can keep his job or just get an assistant coach job or something

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nhl/news/devils-reportedly-contacted-swedish-coach-rikard-gronborg-head-coaching-position/u2pvouel2c0w1q1rl7prhupkp

Edited May 4, 2021 by SterioDesign

[SterioDesign]

7 hours ago, MB3 said:

A quick google search and I can't find a single thing about it. It wouldn't surprise me if he wanted to wait around and coach another expansion team, considering how well it went the first time, but I'm pretty in tune with Devils news and it sorta feels like you just made that up lol.

I think it's pretty safe to say that if he would have wanted to coach NJ. He would have taken the job. They interviewed him and he didnt coach this year so he literally decided to not have a job over taking one in NJ.

[NJDevs4978]

All this Gronborg talk gives me PTSD about how we were chasing Brent Sutter for like eighteen months before finally getting him to come.

[NJDevs4978]

22 hours ago, MB3 said:

I mean, “gap coaches” in sports absolutely exist...if there are no ideal options and you know you’re going to suck the next year or two anyway, hire someone who will start to establish a culture and then fire him for your top choice right before your fortunes take a turn.

kinda like the yankees with schowalter. 

What's the sense in firing a 'bridge coach' before the bridge has even been crossed?  It's not like another coach is going to get the Devils to win next year unless they make major changes this offseason and Lindy's won enough in his career where I don't think you have to consider him a bridge until and if you're a playoff team and want to be a title team, which is way down the road.  We're still on the rebuilding to playoff team road.

Maybe if they commit to Fitz long-term this offseason (since he's only on a one-year GM deal) they're letting him hire his coach?  Even though he was the interim at the time, I'm not sure he actually hired Ruff given they were announced as a package deal at the same time.

Edited May 4, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[titans04]

 

[DevsMan84]

20 hours ago, MB3 said:

A quick google search and I can't find a single thing about it. It wouldn't surprise me if he wanted to wait around and coach another expansion team, considering how well it went the first time, but I'm pretty in tune with Devils news and it sorta feels like you just made that up lol.

So you think that the Devils didn't even kick the tires on Gallant even though they interviewed both Ruff and Laviollette?  Interesting take.

[DevsMan84]

14 hours ago, MB3 said:

What? How do you continuously invent things that haven’t been said? 

The Devils talked to Gallant. I think he would’ve been a great fit. “Gallant had absolutely no interest in the job” is something you presumably invented, since there are fifty other reasons why they could’ve gone in a different direction. 

Oh FFS here you go again with your overly dramatic exaggerations and hyperbole schtick you have been putting on for as long as I have been on here.  LOL @ "continuously invented" like I am constantly lying.

What's not invented is how many members (especially new ones) you have driven off this website over the years with your behavior towards them.  That glenwo guy was not the first one by a good margin.

[DevsMan84]

4 minutes ago, MB3 said:

The glenwo guy said njdevs was a forum full of guppies and he was going to go back and swim with the sharks at HFboards once his suspension there was over.

I'm sorry I have taken him away from you. 

And yeah, your schtick has always been "make an absurd strawman's argument to bolster my sh!tty point." I don't think you're a liar, though -- Hanlon's razor and all that. 

He was one of many you have driven away over the 11 years I have been here.  I know for a fact I am not the only one who has seen that over those years.

lol if you say so that is my schtick.  You are pushing 30 (or are you 30 now?) and still have teenage tantrums and petulant outbursts on a near daily basis.  If that is not schtick then I am deeply concerned about both your mental and physical well-being.

[mfitz804]

Not getting involved in this, but that glenwo guy came here because he was suspended on another board, and proceeded to demonstrate exactly why that happened. 

[DevilMinder]

 

3 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

Not getting involved in this, but that glenwo guy came here because he was suspended on another board, and proceeded to demonstrate exactly why that happened. 

 

I agree. An unstable poster from another forum that upset our unstable posters.

[mfitz804]

Just now, DevilMinder said:

I agree. An unstable poster from another forum that upset our unstable posters.

I find this so offensive. 100% accurate, but so offensive. 

[NJDevils1214]

57 minutes ago, DevilMinder said:

 

 

I agree. An unstable poster from another forum that upset our unstable posters.

[Devilsfan118]

1 hour ago, DevilMinder said:

 

 

I agree. An unstable poster from another forum that upset our unstable posters.

WHO THE F*CK ARE YOU CALLING UNSTABLE FIGHT ME IRL

[titans04]

 

 

[NJDevils1214]

1 hour ago, titans04 said:

 

 

He doesn't say when though. 

[mfitz804]

Figured I would take this opportunity to sum up a bit on what was obviously a very unusual season. I am not going to throw "but its understandable because of COVID" in a hundred times, but I think that did cause us quite a few issues. 

1. Hughes. I think he looked a hell of a lot better this year compared to last. Not even close. This is what I had hoped to see. I feel about him the way some of you crazy people felt last year. He still needs to improve some aspects of his game, like the blind no-look passes to nobody, the giveaways, and of course, his post abuse. Some of these things improved from game 1 to game 56 which was a huge positive.

2. Goaltending. As a goalie fan I was definitely excited to have Crawford, and definitely pissed when he retired. This left us without a legitimate NHL backup, in my opinion. On top of that, Blackwood showed flashes of being a legit #1 starter, then he got COVID and struggled. He has to tighten up next year and I think he will. Not having even a mediocre defense in front of him obviously did not help.

3. Zacha, Kuokkanen, Sharangovich, McLeod, and even Miles Wood took a step forward. I guess Sharangovich I didn't have any expectations of, but he took a step in the right direction. Bratt started slow and started clicking. I am less worried about our young forwards than anything else. I still think we need to add 1-2 top 6 guys, and hopefully one will be a legit stud first liner.

4. Defense was absolutely pitiful, as were our special teams. I don't watch Severson completely ignore an opponent who scores and think its a coaching issue. But there are plenty of those as well.

5. Speaking of coaches, my gut feeling is we should keep Ruff and give him a full shot at a "normal" season. Everyone else should be let go and we should start fresh. 

6. Drafting: we need the best RD available. But we need a lot of other stuff too. I am not into following draft prospects so I have no idea who we "should" draft, but I hope we draft well. 

7. Free agency: spend money. Spend lots of money. Get someone to come here who thinks they are the key to making this team relevant again. Pay them a lot to do it. 

8. COVID: I hope the games are open to more people next season as I look to returning to the Rock to root for our boys. 

[Aitchmack]

6 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Figured I would take this opportunity to sum up a bit on what was obviously a very unusual season. I am not going to throw "but its understandable because of COVID" in a hundred times, but I think that did cause us quite a few issues. 

1. Hughes. I think he looked a hell of a lot better this year compared to last. Not even close. This is what I had hoped to see. I feel about him the way some of you crazy people felt last year. He still needs to improve some aspects of his game, like the blind no-look passes to nobody, the giveaways, and of course, his post abuse. Some of these things improved from game 1 to game 56 which was a huge positive.

2. Goaltending. As a goalie fan I was definitely excited to have Crawford, and definitely pissed when he retired. This left us without a legitimate NHL backup, in my opinion. On top of that, Blackwood showed flashes of being a legit #1 starter, then he got COVID and struggled. He has to tighten up next year and I think he will. Not having even a mediocre defense in front of him obviously did not help.

3. Zacha, Kuokkanen, Sharangovich, McLeod, and even Miles Wood took a step forward. I guess Sharangovich I didn't have any expectations of, but he took a step in the right direction. Bratt started slow and started clicking. I am less worried about our young forwards than anything else. I still think we need to add 1-2 top 6 guys, and hopefully one will be a legit stud first liner.

4. Defense was absolutely pitiful, as were our special teams. I don't watch Severson completely ignore an opponent who scores and think its a coaching issue. But there are plenty of those as well.

5. Speaking of coaches, my gut feeling is we should keep Ruff and give him a full shot at a "normal" season. Everyone else should be let go and we should start fresh. 

6. Drafting: we need the best RD available. But we need a lot of other stuff too. I am not into following draft prospects so I have no idea who we "should" draft, but I hope we draft well. 

7. Free agency: spend money. Spend lots of money. Get someone to come here who thinks they are the key to making this team relevant again. Pay them a lot to do it. 

8. COVID: I hope the games are open to more people next season as I look to returning to the Rock to root for our boys. 

I think you got that pretty spot on. I'd add that:

1. Ty Smith was far better than I thought he'd be. Still needs to work on his defensive play and definitely needs to get stronger, but there's no doubt he's an NHL player.

2. Bahl shows real promise. Probably needs to spend more time in the AHL, but I'm optimistic he's going to be a very good player.

3. Boqvist also started to show why the Devils drafted him. He could be Zacha 2.0, although hopefully he'll hit the ground running next season.

4. Subban played much better than last season. Instead of trying to win games by himself he seemed to concentrate on his defensive play first. More of that next season please.

[devlman]

1 hour ago, mfitz804 said:

Figured I would take this opportunity to sum up a bit on what was obviously a very unusual season. I am not going to throw "but its understandable because of COVID" in a hundred times, but I think that did cause us quite a few issues. 

1. Hughes. I think he looked a hell of a lot better this year compared to last. Not even close. This is what I had hoped to see. I feel about him the way some of you crazy people felt last year. He still needs to improve some aspects of his game, like the blind no-look passes to nobody, the giveaways, and of course, his post abuse. Some of these things improved from game 1 to game 56 which was a huge positive.

2. Goaltending. As a goalie fan I was definitely excited to have Crawford, and definitely pissed when he retired. This left us without a legitimate NHL backup, in my opinion. On top of that, Blackwood showed flashes of being a legit #1 starter, then he got COVID and struggled. He has to tighten up next year and I think he will. Not having even a mediocre defense in front of him obviously did not help.

3. Zacha, Kuokkanen, Sharangovich, McLeod, and even Miles Wood took a step forward. I guess Sharangovich I didn't have any expectations of, but he took a step in the right direction. Bratt started slow and started clicking. I am less worried about our young forwards than anything else. I still think we need to add 1-2 top 6 guys, and hopefully one will be a legit stud first liner.

4. Defense was absolutely pitiful, as were our special teams. I don't watch Severson completely ignore an opponent who scores and think its a coaching issue. But there are plenty of those as well.

5. Speaking of coaches, my gut feeling is we should keep Ruff and give him a full shot at a "normal" season. Everyone else should be let go and we should start fresh. 

6. Drafting: we need the best RD available. But we need a lot of other stuff too. I am not into following draft prospects so I have no idea who we "should" draft, but I hope we draft well. 

7. Free agency: spend money. Spend lots of money. Get someone to come here who thinks they are the key to making this team relevant again. Pay them a lot to do it. 

8. COVID: I hope the games are open to more people next season as I look to returning to the Rock to root for our boys. 

Now imagine someone saying, ‘Hughes had a sh!tty season because he only posted 31 points, and we have no reason to think he’ll be elite one day based on the season’. 
Agree with your comments though.

[mfitz804]

6 minutes ago, devlman said:

Now imagine someone saying, ‘Hughes had a sh!tty season because he only posted 31 points, and we have no reason to think he’ll be elite one day based on the season’. 
Agree with your comments though.

Even those of you who thought Hughes had a great rookie season admit that he was markedly improved this year. My entire position on him was I hadn’t seen enough from him to say that he was going to be elite and I wanted to see more. 

He still isn’t elite. There were big chunks of the season where he produced barely any points at all. But, he looked better than he did last year, where he was constantly pushed off the puck. He showed better ability along the boards and a better ability to maintain control. He still have the puck away a lot. He showed me more. 

Ultimately, the flashy skating and passing have to lead to more points. I won’t call a guy who doesn’t get the job done “elite”. Is some of that the fault of his teammates? Sure. Some is. But not all. 

But I also know you can’t rely on numbers this season. God willing, next year will be his first “full” season. And I again hope to see him improve over this year. 

[devlman]

1 minute ago, mfitz804 said:

Even those of you who thought Hughes had a great rookie season admit that he was markedly improved this year. My entire position on him was I hadn’t seen enough from him to say that he was going to be elite and I wanted to see more. 

He still isn’t elite. There were big chunks of the season where he produced barely any points at all. But, he looked better than he did last year, where he was constantly pushed off the puck. He showed better ability along the boards and a better ability to maintain control. He still have the puck away a lot. He showed me more. 

Ultimately, the flashy skating and passing have to lead to more points. I won’t call a guy who doesn’t get the job done “elite”. Is some of that the fault of his teammates? Sure. Some is. But not all. 

But I also know you can’t rely on numbers this season. God willing, next year will be his first “full” season. And I again hope to see him improve over this year. 

He’s not at that ‘elite’ tier quite yet but you can see him racing to that status real soon. He’s definitely improved this year over last. His defensive game really improved this season. That to me is extremely encouraging that he seems to have figured out that side of the game so soon.

I’d say, as you mentioned, his areas for improvement continue to be 1) bulking up, 2) finishing, 3) limit the turnovers. Those things I’m confident come with time, and hopefully that time is next season, where he will be a ppg player (especially with the roster developing and looking better under Ruff). When the powerplay improves, that’ll also help him reach that elite production level.

[mfitz804]

20 minutes ago, devlman said:

He’s not at that ‘elite’ tier quite yet but you can see him racing to that status real soon. He’s definitely improved this year over last. His defensive game really improved this season. That to me is extremely encouraging that he seems to have figured out that side of the game so soon.

I’d say, as you mentioned, his areas for improvement continue to be 1) bulking up, 2) finishing, 3) limit the turnovers. Those things I’m confident come with time, and hopefully that time is next season, where he will be a ppg player (especially with the roster developing and looking better under Ruff). When the powerplay improves, that’ll also help him reach that elite production level.

That’s a bold prediction. I’d bet on it but I don’t want to wind up with a Hughes jersey AND a Zacha jersey. 

[Guadana]

Before we didn’t sign any high level vet for him, I think 0,7-0,85 is more realistic mark for Jack for next season, if he will play with Yegor and Janne/other devils young player.

[Lateralous]

5 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

Figured I would take this opportunity to sum up a bit on what was obviously a very unusual season. I am not going to throw "but its understandable because of COVID" in a hundred times, but I think that did cause us quite a few issues. 

6. Drafting: we need the best RD available. But we need a lot of other stuff too. I am not into following draft prospects so I have no idea who we "should" draft, but I hope we draft well. 

 

Overall, I really like this summary but my only question is why does it seem like so many of you are hellbent on RD?   If we are going to get where we want to go, we really need 2 more top 4 D (yes I consider Severson a good #4) and preferably both are top pair guys, one for either side.   I love Ty Smith but he seems like a really good #3 in the mold of Ryan Ellis in Nashville to me.  Even if you want to argue Smith is our top guy on the left side going forward, we still need to acquire a top 4 for either side so why does it matter if its Power, Hughes or Clarke?   

[mfitz804]

10 minutes ago, Lateralous said:

Overall, I really like this summary but my only question is why does it seem like so many of you are hellbent on RD?   If we are going to get where we want to go, we really need 2 more top 4 D (yes I consider Severson a good #4) and preferably both are top pair guys, one for either side.   I love Ty Smith but he seems like a really good #3 in the mold of Ryan Ellis in Nashville to me.  Even if you want to argue Smith is our top guy on the left side going forward, we still need to acquire a top 4 for either side so why does it matter if its Power, Hughes or Clarke?   

You’re not wrong.