GDT: Devils @ Ottawa 7:00 PM MSG+

[Bonginator11]

9 minutes ago, Fansinz88 said:

it just gets worse with every game

I think of this after every game that passes by on this horrible losing stretch 

[titans04]

1 hour ago, jagknife said:

I don’t think it’s just a lack of talent, they clearly compete against good teams, hell they give Tampa fits all the time.

There’s been a common thread since this team’s rebuild allegedly turned around: bad systems. (Well that and nASS and Fitz). This team plays well when they open up the opposition and actually pay a damn fast game. Problem is they feel so pathetically sorry for themselves, they aren’t aggressive anymore. That problem is bad leadership and atrocious coaching. How ducking long has the power play been pathetic with zero changes?

coaching isn’t the lone answer to this solution, but christ this team cannot make adjustments on the fly

 

EDIT: lone, not long. My typing sucks tonight

I'm too lazy to go back and look it up but I'm pretty sure teams lay down and take us for granted which benefits us. What I'm too lazy to look up are goalies etc. on who they put up against us. But yeah on any given night anything can happen but rarely does because the team stinks.  What's tonight make 7 in a row where any given night didn't happen again?

Edited February 8, 2022 by titans04

[SterioDesign]

I hate to say this but the only way i can explain this lack of... actions or accountability or... anything. Is if the management is actively tanking.

Which makes no sense after signing the biggest UFA last summer. If Bedard or Michkov were in the draft this year i'd get it too. But Shane Wright is not worth tanking for either

[Fansinz88]

3 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

I hate to say this but the only way i can explain this lack of... actions or accountability or... anything. Is if the management is actively tanking.

Which makes no sense after signing the biggest UFA last summer. If Bedard or Michkov were in the draft this year i'd get it too. But Shane Wright is not worth tanking for either

Yeah in case they didn’t get the memo it’s the wrong year to tank. Don’t know much about Shane Wright but it seems he’s nothing like the 2 coming the following year.. Even though tanking just gets more lottery balls. 

[SterioDesign]

3 minutes ago, Fansinz88 said:

Yeah in case they didn’t get the memo it’s the wrong year to tank. Don’t know much about Shane Wright but it seems he’s nothing like the 2 coming the following year.. Even though tanking just gets more lottery balls. 

Shane Wright is basically another Nico Hischier from what i could gather

[Fansinz88]

4 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

Shane Wright is basically another Nico Hischier from what i could gather

Yeah no thanks 

[slasher72]

3 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

Shane Wright is basically another Nico Hischier from what i could gather

Why cant we get lucky and draft a Heiskanan or Makar instead of a Hischier. 

[Fansinz88]

Just now, slasher72 said:

Why cant we get lucky and draft a Heiskanan or Makar instead of a Hischier. 

Why can’t we win the lottery the McDavid or matthews year? Just a dumpy franchise and no luck comes to those who don’t know what they are doing or care. 

[PacificDevil]

2 minutes ago, slasher72 said:

Why cant we get lucky and draft a Heiskanan or Makar instead of a Hischier. 

If we had drafted Makar and Colorado drafted Smith (different years I know), Makar would have been like Smith and Smith would have been like Makar

[Fansinz88]

1 minute ago, PacificDevil said:

If we had drafted Makar and Colorado drafted Smith (different years I know), Makar would have been like Smith and Smith would have been like Makar

Ha. Probably 

[hit the post]

Yet another putrid performance 

[SterioDesign]

6 minutes ago, slasher72 said:

Why cant we get lucky and draft a Heiskanan or Makar instead of a Hischier. 

I don't know why we can't... i just know that we can't 

[slasher72]

What keeps franchises in the basement, in addition to bad coaching, is terrible drafting and the devils have been doing both for over 10 years. When you whiff on Hischier considering the talent in that draft and whiff bigtime on Zacha considering the talent in that draft, coupled with bad draft picks taken after the first round, coupled with signed free agents who dont produce, you set your franchise back years and it's very hard to overcome that.

[mfitz804]

I turned it off, did we come back to win??

😂

34 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

I hate to say this but the only way i can explain this lack of... actions or accountability or... anything. Is if the management is actively tanking.

Which makes no sense after signing the biggest UFA last summer. If Bedard or Michkov were in the draft this year i'd get it too. But Shane Wright is not worth tanking for either

But he’s worth taking if we wind up there lol. 

[PacificDevil]

If Devils went off the board in 2017 and got say Heiskenen Shero would have been lynched on this forum. The only thing in question was Nolan vs Nico. I would say this giving Nico C put way too much burden on him. He can’t turn around the franchise by himself like Matthews or McDavid can but it seems like the added pressure totally dragging him down. He can still definitely be very good player but definitely needs wingers of 1). sniper, 2). power forward

Edited February 8, 2022 by PacificDevil

[mfitz804]

12 minutes ago, PacificDevil said:

If Devils went off the board in 2017 and got say Heiskenen Shero would have been lynched on this forum. The only thing in question was Nolan vs Nico. I would say this giving Nico C put way too much burden on him. He can’t turn around the franchise by himself like Matthews or McDavid can but it seems like the added pressure totally dragging him down. He can still definitely be very good player but definitely needs wingers of 1). sniper, 2). power forward

This board is full of re-drafters who do the “we could have drafted…” game when someone drafted after our guy winds up being better. There’s no guarantees that you get the best player available at your draft position. You can try, you may be right, but it’s never a definite. 

Drafting McDavid or Crosby or whomever first overall was a guarantee, but those type of players don’t come along too often. We picked two 1OA’s who were either 1 or 2 on most boards, and both #2’a are, well, number two. 

[SterioDesign]

32 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I turned it off, did we come back to win??

😂

But he’s worth taking if we wind up there lol. 

I'd honestly rather see if a team might be desperate at center and willing to trade a top prospect or young winger for him and get extra assets in addition to that

Edited February 8, 2022 by SterioDesign

[Nicomo]

44 minutes ago, PacificDevil said:

If Devils went off the board in 2017 and got say Heiskenen Shero would have been lynched on this forum. The only thing in question was Nolan vs Nico. I would say this giving Nico C put way too much burden on him. He can’t turn around the franchise by himself like Matthews or McDavid can but it seems like the added pressure totally dragging him down. He can still definitely be very good player but definitely needs wingers of 1). sniper, 2). power forward

McDavid and Matthews haven’t done it alone though. McDavid has Draisaitl, and Matthews has Marner, Nylander, and Tavares.

Yet neither the Leafs nor the Oilers have made a Cup run. It’s almost like GM’s have to build the right team around the star players or something…

[Jerrydevil]

24 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Drafting McDavid or Crosby or whomever first overall was a guarantee, but those type of players don’t come along too often. 

They don't. As many have pointed out, the Oilers haven't been able to capitalize on it with a deep playoff run. They have a different frustration than we do.

[mfitz804]

6 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

McDavid and Matthews haven’t done it alone though. McDavid has Draisaitl, and Matthews has Marner, Nylander, and Tavares.

Yet neither the Leafs nor the Oilers have made a Cup run. It’s almost like GM’s have to build the right team around the star players or something…

Was gonna say, neither has done it alone, nor with anyone else. When I referenced them I was only talking about picking the best guy in the draft. Sometimes that’s not even enough. 

[NJDevils1214]

The players are actively tanking by sucking. Management isn't actively tanking because they think it's the best course of action for the future(I.E. better draft position), they are passively tanking because they have no fvcking idea what to do about this situation. I know some people actually think Fitz sits in his office watching Seinfeld re-runs all day because he thinks everything is fine, but take off your tinfoil hats for a second-- there isn't a sane person working for the team that doesn't know they suck.

The new questions surrounding Blackwood may have seriously derailed things. Adding a starting goalie to your list of needs is pretty expensive and it was apparent by late December that management was letting this season ride out...again.

[Derek21]

1 hour ago, NJDevils1214 said:

The players are actively tanking by sucking. Management isn't actively tanking because they think it's the best course of action for the future(I.E. better draft position), they are passively tanking because they have no fvcking idea what to do about this situation. I know some people actually think Fitz sits in his office watching Seinfeld re-runs all day because he thinks everything is fine, but take off your tinfoil hats for a second-- there isn't a sane person working for the team that doesn't know they suck.

The new questions surrounding Blackwood may have seriously derailed things. Adding a starting goalie to your list of needs is pretty expensive and it was apparent by late December that management was letting this season ride out...again.

No team actively tanks. Not unless an owner is involved as Flores accused the Dolphins sleazy owner in the NFL. 

Either you have good players capable of performing or you don't. Hughes is a franchise player. To put up a point-per-game with that roster, he's achieved a lot. Subtract him and what do they have. Bratt is a good player due a nice raise. 👍 

Zacha was good last season. He is a complementary player. Hischier I loved watching for the Swiss. But injuries and doesn't score enough to justify the contract. Solid two-way center. Must stay healthy and produce more consistently. 

Sharangovich looks like a streaky scorer. I think he could be a 20 goal guy. Looking at their roster, there's no legit finisher. Holtz has a shot to become that. Not rushing him while the team is down makes sense. I like Mercer. He has some similarities to Barzal with the skating and ability to create. If that's their 3C, good. But maybe he would be better in the  top 6. Too good to waste. 

They can't replace what Hamilton provides. He's that great skating D who can jump in and run the power play. I know the PP sucks. But not having him hurts. I thought the addition of Graves would help. He's a solid 2nd pair guy. A third on a contender. They need Bahl to become a regular next year. Rushed Smith. He should be sent down. 

Without a reliable number 1 goalie, it's hard to be competitive. They had the right idea adding Bernier to mix with Blackwood. Injuries can't be predicted or Covid. They have a lot invested in that tandem. If Blackwood isn't it, Daws is young and needs to develop. Goalies take time. If I were them, I'd get what I can for expendable assets. 

The problem lies deeper than the coaching staff. It's a management issue. How can there not be more accountability? They need to add some high character guys who don't put up with nonsense. Like opponents targeting Hughes. You can't be vanilla.

Ask yourselves this question. How many players on the current roster aside from Hughes and Hischier (not going anywhere) are worth keeping? 

Hope all is well. 

[Nicomo]

7 minutes ago, Derek21 said:

thought the addition of Graves would help. He's a solid 2nd pair guy. A third on a contender. They need Bahl to become a regular next year.

Graves was playing with Makar in Colorado, and they were definitely a contender. He’s way better than 3rd pairing. 

Bahl is probably a long shot to ever be anything at the NHL level. At his size (and age) he should already be getting called up ahead of guys like Colton White. Arizona knew what they were doing when they threw him in that trade package (same with TB and Foote). 

[DevsMan84]

15 hours ago, titans04 said:

That's my point 84, more often than not it's more about the roster and way less about the coach. Philly another similar situation fire Vigneault (another top 6-8 all-time wins coach) because they should be better, bring in the next guy and they go on a what 13 game skid. Might not be the coaching, oh yeah the roster blows there too.  Anyway at the end of the day (or more accurately the year) it's yet more of the same.  The cycle of ineptitude runs so deep it seems insurmountable as the years drag on by. 

There have also been instances where coaching does make a difference.  Look at Vancouver this season.   The Rangers are largely the same team as last season minus a top 6 forward in Buch but are now one of the top teams in the league.  I doubt adding a fighter and 2 middle six guys made that big of a difference (with one of those players being out for a majority of the season).  I would think the biggest difference is Gallant.

[MadDog2020]

27 minutes ago, DevsMan84 said:

There have also been instances where coaching does make a difference.  Look at Vancouver this season.   The Rangers are largely the same team as last season minus a top 6 forward in Buch but are now one of the top teams in the league.  I doubt adding a fighter and 2 middle six guys made that big of a difference (with one of those players being out for a majority of the season).  I would think the biggest difference is Gallant.

Gallant for sure is making a huge difference. He should be in the Jack Adams conversation. They also lap us in talent though. Fox and Trouba are better than anyone on D that we have not named Hamilton, and Panarin is better than any of our forwards.