2021 Around The League Thread

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

6 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Fire Ruff. 

 

Just now, MadDog2020 said:

This is fvcking infuriating.

This is enough to get me off the Ruff bandwagon.  Let a loser like nASS hang around, you deserve what you get.  

[MadDog2020]

I really wanna know what the hell Alain Nasreddine has done as a coach to command this type of respect. 

[DevsMan84]

I really wonder what is going on behind the scenes to the point where Nass is the Teflon Assistant.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 minute ago, MadDog2020 said:

I really wanna know what the hell Alain Nasreddine has done as a coach to command this type of respect. 

Cashed in on Blackwood playing out of his mind (as well other goalies stepping up) when he took over as head coach.  For some reason the winning that had very little to do with him seems to have given him lifetime security here.  I don't get it at all.

[Guadana]

It could be a bomb in Ruff`s future with the club. Devils were pretty interesting team 5 on 5 this year. But PK and PP could burn our chances for play-off chances for the next 2 years.

[NJDevs4978]

7 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

I really wanna know what the hell Alain Nasreddine has done as a coach to command this type of respect. 

They might counter Ty Smith’s development 

I’m not saying I disagree with you but I think they probably do feel this season was particularly tough for the assistants so they get a mulligan.

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[MadDog2020]

1 hour ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Cashed in on Blackwood playing out of his mind (as well other goalies stepping up) when he took over as head coach.  For some reason the winning that had very little to do with him seems to have given him lifetime security here.  I don't get it at all.

Maybe some team will be stupid enough to hire him as a head coach, but that is highly doubtful. Only way we’re getting rid of him it appears.....

1 hour ago, DevsMan84 said:

I really wonder what is going on behind the scenes to the point where Nass is the Teflon Assistant.

Yeah that makes two of us DM.

[mfitz804]

Not going to say he had a video of Harris and Blitzer jerking each other off as a certainty, but...

[titans04]

1 hour ago, NJDevs4978 said:

They might counter Ty Smith’s development 

I’m not saying I disagree with you but I think they probably do feel this season was particularly tough for the assistants so they get a mulligan.

 

Thanks for posting this.

Coach I'll take your theory and post a couple facts.  The four of you failed miserably, the PK was a failure of historical proportions, dead last in the league. The PP at 14.19% was tied for 3rd worst in the league.  Anomaly or whatever you want to call this season every other team played by the same rules, lack of practice etc.  Yet you led a group that was an embarrassment on special teams. Take your mulligan I guess, Nass surely appreciates yet another one.

[Bonginator11]

3 hours ago, titans04 said:

 

 

Are you freaking kidding me?

[NJDfan1711]

I used to think meteorologists were the only ones who could suck and fail at their jobs and get a free pass for being wrong all the time, but turns out you can be a Devils assistant coach as well. 

[Nicomo]

4 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

I used to think meteorologists were the only ones who could suck and fail at their jobs and get a free pass for being wrong all the time, but turns out you can be a Devils assistant coach as well. 

And Lou used to fire coaches who were actually good at their jobs...

this is like the Bizzaro World or something lol

[SterioDesign]

53 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

And Lou used to fire coaches who were actually good at their jobs...

this is like the Bizzaro World or something lol

but he wouldnt fire his head scout who sucked for over a decade...

[NJDevs4978]

5 hours ago, titans04 said:

Thanks for posting this.

Coach I'll take your theory and post a couple facts.  The four of you failed miserably, the PK was a failure of historical proportions, dead last in the league. The PP at 14.19% was tied for 3rd worst in the league.  Anomaly or whatever you want to call this season every other team played by the same rules, lack of practice etc.  Yet you led a group that was an embarrassment on special teams. Take your mulligan I guess, Nass surely appreciates yet another one.

Point of order, it wasn’t ‘exactly the same for us’ considering we had to play 56 games with sixteen fewer off days than teams who didn’t have COVID outbreaks jamming up the rest of their schedule. That’s a lot less practice time for a new staff and a lot of new players in an already compressed season, among other things. 

I don’t think Nas should get the benefit of the doubt compared to anyone else on the staff since he was part of the last failed staff and it just feels like we’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, but they did at least have much better PK’s in other seasons with him.

I’m not a huge Recchi fan either but a lot of younger forwards improved this season, maybe we should give him some credit for that at least?

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[mfitz804]

6 minutes ago, NJDevs4978 said:

Point of order, it wasn’t ‘exactly the same for us’ considering we had to play 56 games with sixteen fewer off days than teams who didn’t have COVID outbreaks jamming up the rest of their schedule. That’s a lot less practice time for a new staff and a lot of new players in an already compressed season, among other things. 

It’s yet another reason to just say forget this season and let’s start fresh in October, playing a full season with a realistic schedule. Judging anything based on this stupid season is obviously a bad idea. 

[NJDfan1711]

13 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

It’s yet another reason to just say forget this season and let’s start fresh in October, playing a full season with a realistic schedule. Judging anything based on this stupid season is obviously a bad idea. 

Is it though?  I kinda hate that rationale, even more and more as I see and hear people mention it.  People act like the sample size and the length of the season was this crazy insignificant number.  They played 56 games.  That's not a small amount.  People also act like the players were somehow half-assing it out there or that they didn't play on a normal rink.  It's the same game, played by the same guys.  Yes, Covid affected it to a degree, and yes, the games were played in a bit more of a condensed fashion, but so what?  That renders an entire 4 month long season utterly meaningless?  Not for me it doesn't.   Call me crazy, but I'm capable of taking into account some of the unusual circumstances of this season while still using it as a means to evaluate team's and player's performances.  To completely discard the results of this season I think would be an enormous waste of time on behalf of a ton of people.

[NJDevs4978]

There’s also the fact we played just seven teams this year compared to thirty next year and nobody plays a non division opponent till the Conference Finals. Even at its best version this was always gonna be a pod season.

The lack of fans and atmosphere probably contributed to a lot of subpar home records including ours. This season was different in a lot more ways than just being 56 games (which is still longer than lockout seasons)

Edited May 13, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[jagknife]

2 hours ago, Nicomo said:

And Lou used to fire coaches who were actually good at their jobs...

this is like the Bizzaro World or something lol

 

1 hour ago, SterioDesign said:

but he wouldnt fire his head scout who sucked for over a decade...

Insert the Rocket Raccoon from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’:

THIS IS TRUE!

THIS IS ALSO TRUE!

[NJDfan1711]

10 minutes ago, NJDevs4978 said:

There’s also the fact we played just seven teams this year compared to thirty next year and nobody plays a non division opponent till the Conference Finals. Even at its best version this was always gonna be a pod season.

 

Yeah that's true, but you could also make the argument that because we played just seven teams, logic would probably dictate that we should have been able to figure some of them out and play better against them. Lord knows the teams that are in the playoffs this year actually did. 

 

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The lack of fans and atmosphere probably contributed to a lot of subpar home records including ours. This season was different in a lot more ways than just being 56 games (which is longer than lockout seasons)

That I just don't buy.  We are a team who constantly suffers from abysmal attendance, so I just can't take "lack of fans made us play terrible at home" as a reasonable defense for our league worst home record. 

Edited May 13, 2021 by NJDfan1711

[NJDevs4978]

Two teams were below NHL .500 at home last year and one finished with a .500 point total. This year seven teams were below NHL .500 at home and another three at a .500 point total.

If you want to compare pure losing records, sixteen teams finished with more home losses than wins this year. Last year it was just ten teams and a number of them were only one or two under. Taking the majority of fans out of home ice advantage and playing in sterile rinks had an impact on a good chunk of the league, not just us. Teams having ‘much’ better records on the road than at home like us and a few other teams really shouldn’t happen in normal seasons.

Edited May 13, 2021 by NJDevs4978

[mfitz804]

9 hours ago, NJDfan1711 said:

Is it though? 

Yes, it is. Condensed schedule, no practices with a (mostly) new staff and half a new team, and your starting goalie couldn’t breathe right for most of the season. And other guys probably had similar issues. 

Then, you played only against teams from one division,  and ours happened to be a hard division. 

You had AHL quality guys as your backup goalies because the guy you signed retired at the last minute. 

You traded away your veteran forwards and maybe the best defensive defenseman at the time. 

And Pavel fvcking Zacha led the team in points. 

That’s the season you want to judge things based on? Sure, little things you can say. Jack was better. Vatanen sucked. But to think you’re in any kind of position to judge this team based on its lack of success under all of those factors really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. 

[mfitz804]

8 hours ago, NJDfan1711 said:

That I just don't buy.  We are a team who constantly suffers from abysmal attendance, so I just can't take "lack of fans made us play terrible at home" as a reasonable defense for our league worst home record. 

That logic never makes sense to me. Obviously it didn’t affect most other teams, and certainly doesn’t affect the visiting team as they are kicking the sh!t out of us. 

[Guadana]

2 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

That logic never makes sense to me. Obviously it didn’t affect most other teams, and certainly doesn’t affect the visiting team as they are kicking the sh!t out of us. 

Last year SCF team Dallas will not play in play-off. I know about injuries. But their division wasnt so tough. Last year solid team Philly looks like sh-t. I understand that we will not be playoff team or Buffalo. But covid is really effect on a small things of physical aspects. And in professional sports those little things can change a hole picture every game. What we see particularly every game this year. 

[NJDfan1711]

11 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

Yes, it is. Condensed schedule, no practices with a (mostly) new staff and half a new team, and your starting goalie couldn’t breathe right for most of the season. And other guys probably had similar issues. 

Every other team played within those same conditions.  Next.

Quote

 

Then, you played only against teams from one division,  and ours happened to be a hard division. 

 

7 teams played in our division.  We were 2nd to last.  All of those teams faced the other teams 8 times - some of them learned their opponents and how to play against them.  We, apparently, did not.   Next.

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You had AHL quality guys as your backup goalies because the guy you signed retired at the last minute. 

 

Yeah, that sucks.  It's a fluke thing, though we're not the only team who had a backup goalie who was sub-par.  The guy is a backup for a reason.  For literally ~50+ years teams have won Stanley Cups with a sh!tty or unknown backup goalie.  Having a sub-par backup goalie should not (and does not) make or break your season.  I realize backup goalies are more important know than they were 20-30 years ago, but the point remains - it's a backup role.  We have/had a good starter, and he should have been good enough to get the job done, all other things considered.

Quote

 

You traded away your veteran forwards and maybe the best defensive defenseman at the time. 

 

That happened at the tail-end of the season.  Hardly relevant to the first 75% of the season.

Quote

 

And Pavel fvcking Zacha led the team in points. 

 

So?  That's only fueling my point.  What happened to the rest of the idiots?  

Quote

That’s the season you want to judge things based on? Sure, little things you can say. Jack was better. Vatanen sucked. But to think you’re in any kind of position to judge this team based on its lack of success under all of those factors really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. 

Yeah, it is.  All you did was just list a bunch of things that happened, and somehow created excused for why they should be accepted.  That's like saying your son got a D on his math test, but oh he didn't study, so it's ok.  Yeah, so?  fvcking study next time.  He didn't get a D because he only had 2 days to study, or his pencil wasn't sharp enough.  He didn't study, so he got the grade he got.  You want to blame Covid, a condensed schedule, a retired backup goalie, and justify our terrible overall record, our putrid penalty kill, or abysmal powerplay, and our pathetic home record, go right ahead.  I prefer accountability.  As a fan of this team, I demand it.  I wish our coaching staff/management did as well.  

[NJDfan1711]

20 hours ago, NJDevs4978 said:

Two teams were below NHL .500 at home last year and one finished with a .500 point total. This year seven teams were below NHL .500 at home and another three at a .500 point total.

If you want to compare pure losing records, sixteen teams finished with more home losses than wins this year. Last year it was just ten teams and a number of them were only one or two under. Taking the majority of fans out of home ice advantage and playing in sterile rinks had an impact on a good chunk of the league, not just us. Teams having ‘much’ better records on the road than at home like us and a few other teams really shouldn’t happen in normal seasons.

I understand what you're saying, but that argument doesn't hold any water because we literally play in a "sterile" rink almost every single season, so what's the difference?  You literally can't blame "Covid attendance" as a reason for our terrible home record this year, because we never have great attendance in normal years.