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The New Jersey Devils 2021-22 Regular Season Thread


mfitz804

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1 minute ago, Nicomo said:

That gif from the play you like certainly hasn’t been used as much as I thought it would. 

Nope, not at all. People aren’t even annoyed by it anymore, things have to change so I can maintain my anticipated maximum irritability %. 

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2 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

Idk if I remember “great” but I certainly don’t remember being worried either. I just want this season to end at this point, and have some light at the end of the tunnel (a new coaching staff). 

I mean, all this sh!t happening, in a lost season too. I can imagine everyone involved just wanting it to be over just to hit the reset button and start over fresh.

If we see it, they see it that better goaltending and better coaching will help this team. Plus we still have some money to spend if we can so i'm confident that we can make something happen.

If we still have Recchi though.... then i really don't know... i want Nas gone more than anything cause he's been here for too long and i just want him gone no matter what. But his PK is top 10 while the Powerplay is at the bottom again and we have scorers

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25 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

I mean, all this sh!t happening, in a lost season too. I can imagine everyone involved just wanting it to be over just to hit the reset button and start over fresh.

If we see it, they see it that better goaltending and better coaching will help this team. Plus we still have some money to spend if we can so i'm confident that we can make something happen.

If we still have Recchi though.... then i really don't know... i want Nas gone more than anything cause he's been here for too long and i just want him gone no matter what. But his PK is top 10 while the Powerplay is at the bottom again and we have scorers

My problem with Fitz buying into the top 10 PK is we’re only short handed 176 times this season. Conservatively that’s just 352 minutes.

A hell of a lot more hockey is played at 5 on 5 than on the PK and we are ABYSMAL when even, too.

We CANNOT have the same coaching staff next year. It’ll signal more of the same bandaids on bullet holes, IMO

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Dougie started off this season playing very well, despite almost everyone else on the team underachieving. I'm not worried about him just yet, even if he has not been good since returning from injury. Extremely small sample size here, but something tells me that fracturing your face (or jaw) can really mess with you and impede your return to baseline. Nico was in a similar situation when he first came back. He was extremely underwhelming for weeks before he started playing like a top 6 center again. 

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25 minutes ago, Devilsfan118 said:

Not at all worried about Dougie, not even a little bit.  

Yeah over his first 20 GP or so, he was exactly what we were hoping to see.  If he was playing like this from the very first game, yeah, I'd start to worry.  I think he'll be plenty OK here over at least the next few seasons...maybe not $9 million per year OK, but I still think it was 100% the right move to sign him...and it's not like when you sign a UFA to big money, that you're expecting that player to live up to every last dollar of his contract.    

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8 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Yeah over his first 20 GP or so, he was exactly what we were hoping to see.  If he was playing like this from the very first game, yeah, I'd start to worry.  I think he'll be plenty OK here over at least the next few seasons...maybe not $9 million per year OK, but I still think it was 100% the right move to sign him...and it's not like when you sign a UFA to big money, that you're expecting that player to live up to every last dollar of his contract.    

Oh for sure, signing him was the right move and I think he’ll be ok. But facts are facts, he has not been good and has not lived up to year 1 of his contract. The injury, of course, being a huge part of that.

It’s the lack of scoring that is troubling me. We came in knowing that he maybe wasn’t the strongest defensive defenseman, and you can accept that when the trade off is that he is pouring in points. I think the lack of scoring just makes his defense even more glaring.

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image.thumb.png.9c24064b3fd23084ff402f98e0386116.png
 

So this picture is making the rounds on social media. Whatever your thoughts were on Nico being made captain, you can’t accuse him of not caring. This has honestly been about as rough of a 3 game stretch as I can remember for the Devils. And this picture really encapsulates this season as a whole (and let’s be honest the last decade outside of one year). Enough is enough. 

The young core of this team deserves so much better. This has to be a make or break offseason for Tom Fitzgerald in New Jersey. He needs to nail his next coaching hire (and let said coach bring in his own assistants), and give the team an actual chance with some legitimate NHL goaltending. If he doesn’t do both those things, he needs to go. 

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14 minutes ago, Nicomo said:
 

He needs to nail his next coaching hire (and let said coach bring in his own assistants), and give the team an actual chance with some legitimate NHL goaltending. If he doesn’t do both those things, he needs to go. 

I suspect you are going to be disappointed. 

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14 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I suspect you are going to be disappointed. 

It’s really not asking for very much. Hire a non-dinosaur for HC (and get rid of a guy who’s been here far too long), and give us league average goaltending. 

I’m not demanding he go out and sign Filip Forsberg at all cost, or trade for some top tier goalie or anything like that. Pretty reasonable expectations all things considered. 

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30 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

It’s really not asking for very much. Hire a non-dinosaur for HC (and get rid of a guy who’s been here far too long), and give us league average goaltending. 

I’m not demanding he go out and sign Filip Forsberg at all cost, or trade for some top tier goalie or anything like that. Pretty reasonable expectations all things considered. 

It’s not, but I suspect it’s not going to happen, at least not all of it. You’re probably getting Blackwood and Bernier if both are ready to go. And the coaches should be fired multiple times over at this point so I’m skeptical. 

You might have a better chance at Forsberg than a clean sweep of the coaching staff AND the goalies. 

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Haven't looked at the standings for ages because why would a Devils fan need to look at the standings in April. 

Montréal are only 5 points behind us. Just 5. A team that was looking historically bad at one point. 

I think someone posted on Twitter (could have been Shayna Goldman) that if the Devils had average goaltending this season they could have 9 more wins. That is still 12 points outside of a wildcard spot. 

I really don't see how Fitzgerald can keep this coaching team around and look to improve or challenge for that wildcard spot next season. 

I can understand not making a change now. He has left it too late. The market for replacements is non existent right now, and taking the closest available option will fvck up a potentially successful Utica season. But a week after our season has ended I want to see the entire coaching staff gone. 

 

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5 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Haven't looked at the standings for ages because why would a Devils fan need to look at the standings in April. 

Montréal are only 5 points behind us. Just 5. A team that was looking historically bad at one point. 

I think someone posted on Twitter (could have been Shayna Goldman) that if the Devils had average goaltending this season they could have 9 more wins. That is still 12 points outside of a wildcard spot. 

I really don't see how Fitzgerald can keep this coaching team around and look to improve or challenge for that wildcard spot next season. 

I can understand not making a change now. He has left it too late. The market for replacements is non existent right now, and taking the closest available option will fvck up a potentially successful Utica season. But a week after our season has ended I want to see the entire coaching staff gone. 

 

I 100% believe that a fully healthy team plus a completely new coaching staff put us in a significantly better position. 

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45 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

It’s not, but I suspect it’s not going to happen, at least not all of it. You’re probably getting Blackwood and Bernier if both are ready to go. And the coaches should be fired multiple times over at this point so I’m skeptical. 

That goaltending duo isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering neither played healthy this year. It’s possible with better defense and coaching, that’s a fine tandem. Unfortunately there’s no way to find out until October since Bernier is done for the year and I’m assuming we won’t be seeing Blackwood either. 

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Just now, Devil Dan 56 said:

That goaltending duo isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering neither played healthy this year. It’s possible with better defense and coaching, that’s a fine tandem. Unfortunately there’s no way to find out until October since Bernier is done for the year and I’m assuming we won’t be seeing Blackwood either. 

I don’t disagree, but he’s not going to be happy with that. 

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4 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I don’t disagree, but he’s not going to be happy with that. 

I’m not sure I will be either, but if both are healthy it’s a tough spot. Bernier played well in Detroit on some terrible teams and Blackwood has shown potential at times. It’s hard to get rid of both or even one. Bernier has over 4 million coming off a hip injury so who takes him and Blackwood fairly young in the goalie side of things. 

You’re a goalie guy, you know how some of their development tracks can be. I don’t think Schneider was a regular starter until he was 26 and he was great for a few years.  

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You can’t bank on both those guys bouncing back and being reliable for a full season. I personally think Bernier is probably done. He’ll be 34 when next season starts, and hip issues at that age - at that position? Yikes. 

I’m fine with Blackwood being back. We just need someone else to split starts with him.

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1 minute ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

I’m not sure I will be either, but if both are healthy it’s a tough spot. Bernier played well in Detroit on some terrible teams and Blackwood has shown potential at times. It’s hard to get rid of both or even one. Bernier has over 4 million coming off a hip injury so who takes him and Blackwood fairly young in the goalie side of things. 

You’re a goalie guy, you know how some of their development tracks can be. I don’t think Schneider was a regular starter until he was 26 and he was great for a few years.  

If they’re both healthy we are guaranteed to see one or both next season. Even if Blackwood can be moved, it’s not always easy to do that coming off a major injury. Same with Bernier, but at a higher salary. 

I don’t expect Bernier will be healthy, but I could be surprised. 

Schneider was a great goalie for us, then he got hurt and that was that. Unfortunate but that’s how things play out at times. 

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1 minute ago, Nicomo said:

You can’t bank on both those guys bouncing back and being reliable for a full season. I personally think Bernier is probably done. He’ll be 34 when next season starts, and hip issues at that age - at that position? Yikes. 

I’m fine with Blackwood being back. We just need someone else to split starts with him.

Definitely agree on Bernier, for reasons stated. I’ve pretty much been resolved to the fact that he’s not playing again at this age with that injury. Maybe if he was on the Lightning he might be motivated, but if you are so-so with the injury, do you really want to come back to play backup on a team with no real chance to win? (Assuming, of course, sh!t doesn’t get straightened out and we aren’t suddenly competitive next year). 

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I just looked at the list of free agent goalies that are available, and there are EIGHT former or current Devils goalies on that list. 

Couple of names I might look at depending on price, Vanecek and Husso in particular. 

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42 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

You can’t bank on both those guys bouncing back and being reliable for a full season. I personally think Bernier is probably done. He’ll be 34 when next season starts, and hip issues at that age - at that position? Yikes. 

I’m fine with Blackwood being back. We just need someone else to split starts with him.

I wouldn’t bank on both doing that and I’d be very uncomfortable if that was the duo coming back next year. Unless Bernier retires and goes on LTIR though I just don’t see how you get rid of him. I suppose they could buy out the contract. They have the cap space.

Blackwood definitely gets another year I think unless that relationship really is as damaged as is rumored.  His contract talks will be interesting next summer

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17 minutes ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

I wouldn’t bank on both doing that and I’d be very uncomfortable if that was the duo coming back next year. Unless Bernier retires and goes on LTIR though I just don’t see how you get rid of him. I suppose they could buy out the contract. They have the cap space.

Blackwood definitely gets another year I think unless that relationship really is as damaged as is rumored.  His contract talks will be interesting next summer

I don’t want to see Blackwood back, to begin with I never thought he was the guy to drive take this ship where it needs to go. After the injurie issues I want him back even less unless he is the new backup. Find a way to get a goalie in the off season. I read on here a bit ago about maybe trying to get someone like knight from Florida for a package. We need to make some type of attempt for a solid starting goalie. Blackwood isn’t going to cut it. 

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